Cheap Harutoki games!

I’m not sure why, but Koei is releasing ‘best edition’ (read: cheap) versions of two of the most popular Harutoki games this month for the PSP.

The first is Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3 with Izayoiki Aizo Ban (best edition), one of the most enduringly popular otome games as rated by fans. I’m thinking of getting this, as I only have it on PS2, and as Izayoiki was a fandisk that you had to swap in and out with the original game to play, is a right pain, especially since my Japanese PS2 went kaput. In this version Izayoiki is one the same PSP cartridge as the original game, so NO swapping is needed! Yay! Plus, at only Y2800 this is pretty cheap. It’s an RPG (nothing too hardcore), so you get quite a few hours of playtime. And Shirogane was before his time as the sexy psycho who ends up being more popular than the main characters (I love him too, I can’t help it).

The other is the sequel/2nd fandisk for Harutoki 3, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3Unmei no Labyrinth Aizo Ban (best edition). It’s also new to the PSP and Y2800. It’s set after the ‘normal’, happy but not romantic, ending of #3, and is in the heroine’s world. The plot is totally unrelated to history in this one.

So if you’ve never played a Harutoki, and/or you’re interested in otome RPGs, I’d recommend getting the first game.

They’re also releasing Harutoki, the original game Hachiyousho (OK the original was on PS1, but Hachiyousho is the PS2 adaptation) for the PSP, but for some reason it’s more expensive. I don’t think it’s really worth it. Plus i just like #3 much better.

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3 Responses to “Cheap Harutoki games!”

1. Julia says:

   January 10, 2013 at 10:12 pm

   Aw yeah, HaruToki 3! The only downside to the PSP releases (unless they changed the coding for the bargain version, which I strongly doubt) is that there’s no install option, meaning lots of stuttering during fast-forwarding (and normal gameplay, but that’s less of a problem). I don’t know how the originals performed on the PS2, but the lack of a digital release (can’t even use that UMD application) for the PSP is a bit annoying. Buuuut if your PS2′s busted, I’d say get them, definitely. (No MixJoy is a HUGE plus, even if my first blind stumble-through got me Kagetoki’s Izayoiki ending and meant everyone was severely underpowered. :V)

   The best part of Tomomori’s (I… assume that’s who you mean? Shiro wasn’t too crazy) route was his ending; he was too creepy for the vast majority of the route for me to like him, but that ending was totally awesome.

   OPTIONAL: Er, at the risk of sounding like a squealy fangirl, which ending/guy was your favorite? Because this game revealed to me that I like sweet-natured, clever, older guys like Kagetoki who happen to be somewhat cowardly or otherwise hetare. Which was kind of a shock.
2. lijakaca says:

   January 10, 2013 at 11:25 pm

   Drat, I thought about checking his name but then decided, if he wasn’t Gin he must be Shirogane! Oopsy. Was Shirogane the actual name of Gin? I should really play it again (on the PSP!)

   Oh, I love fangirling about my favourite characters, though they always seem to be the unpopular ones! My favourite…um. Liz Vaan? It was before I realized his seiyuu was Ishida Akira, and my friend teases me about liking his forced low voice. What can I say, his storyline was so good for me.
   And even more embarrassing, Yuzuru. I just felt sorry for him being upstaged all the time by his flashy older brother, and though I liked the heroine, she was pretty dense in not realizing how he felt. And I loved that he was like a mom, making bentou and worrying about the heroine. So cute!
   I really liked most of the guys actually, though Kagetoki I didn’t appreciate until I played through his route. And Benkei is when I first grasped what ‘haraguro’ meant, lol. I think my least favourite is Masaomi, I just couldn’t fully sympathize with him.
3. Julia says:

   January 11, 2013 at 1:55 am

   In my defense, Kagetoki is an onmyouji with a magical gun that shoots fireworks and is voiced by Inoue Kazuhiko, so I feel totally justified for picking the laundry-man. (I know you said you liked him, but I get the feeling he’s not as popular.)

   Whaaaat, Ridvan is awesome, and I thought Ishida did a fabulous job with him. His story made the best use of the time-traveling mechanic by far, and I love it when games rationalize their systems within the world itself. I agree that Yuzuru had a much better route than his brother, but he got a little… possessive? Don’t think he was quite yandere, though, so still sympathetic. (I’m actually replaying the whole game since my Japanese has improved significantly, and it’s been long enough that I don’t remember several of the routes…) I think the Byakko pair just amused me by being physically weak, long-range housekeeping mages (I guess Yuzuru was a bit more of a tank, actually, but whatever) while Nozomi was busting out mad sword skills, and I love me some role reversals so it was really easy for me to ship them.

   So yeah, basically all the characters were really likable in this set of games, including the heroine (she could be pretty dense at times, which was frustrating, but she had ovaries of steel), and even ol’ Benkei at least had some reasoning for his haraguro beyond “I lurve you so much I want to make you my caged bird and kill everyone who wants to touch you lol.”