Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category

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.

Hana Awase Play report/review

I finally got through the introduction, which admittedly wasn’t that long compared to games like Hakuouki. But that creepy teacher really annoyed me. Apparently Mizuchi can only have one minamo (what? I thought they all had lots??) so Mikoto has to have a hanafuda battle with his current one, who is a total asshole (of course) and totally fixated on him (of course).
At first Mikoto doesn’t want to, but the teacher goads her into trying.

I’m trying out the teacher because he suggested I train. Of course, I save before choosing.

He gives some more detailed info on stats and tournaments. I reload and go to Momose to see what she has to say instead. She mentions that the fifth Light, Utsutsu, disappeared right after he became a light, which is interesting, though I knew that from the magazines. I’m looking forward to his route the most, actually, he seems the least likely to annoy me.
Then I ask about minamo, and here’s where my blood pressure goes up. Minamo have to be virgins; as soon as you lose your virginity you lose your power as a minamo. However, apparently as long as ‘it’s’ still in place it’s ok. Huh??? I guess women who didn’t have one to begin with, or who broke theirs through non-sex methods don’t exist? Or somehow your power knows when you’ve had sex? But apparently it just cares about the hymen (Momose says ‘some girls’ do other stuff but are still minamo), so…anal sex then? Whatever. I give that particular aspect a pass and try to forget about it. Only to be reminded that though sex is bad for minamo, the closer in romantic terms you are with your Light the more powerful you become as a support. So, like, you need to get close, but not too close? (Cause then you’re a no-good ho-bag, amirite??)
ANYWAYS. Let’s move on. She confirms that each Light only has one minamo, except for Kurenai because he hasn’t decided on one yet. She also says that after graduating, the best students in the game go on to work for the emperor, and most end up in government jobs. This makes me wonder, do they still have their minamo there? Are their minamo doomed to be virgins forever if they need their power? Hopefully I’ll know some of the answers by the end of this post.

I finish talking to her and encounter Aoi(meangirl) in the hallway. The teacher comes after and reminds me that if I win, she’ll have to leave the school. Which annoys me again because, if Aoi is a powerful minamo, why wouldn’t another guy want her? Or is she ‘used goods’ and thus not deserving of a spot at this school anymore?

I’m not using a guide, so I kind of jumped randomly around after this. I visited Mizuchi in the 2nd-year hallway but he told me to basically GTFO because 1st and 2nd years aren’t allowed to hang out together at school (odd rule but ok), and he is all about following the rules.

Then I go to the greenhouse where Mizuchi is watering plants (with his power I think) and I fall down and he very reluctantly carries me to the doctor, worrying all the while that he’s ‘dirtying’ me by touching me. Yup.

After I recover from his screaming fangirls, I decide it’s time to level up, so I head over to the teacher’s room and proceed to kick my way through several opponents. This is the fun part – the game is based on an actual game that I’ve only played a korean version of (maybe after this I’ll get better at it?) where there’s a special deck with various pictures on them, that make up various sets. Depending on which sets you end up with in your hand and play, the point value is different. In this game, it affects the attack value. Of course, the special oni card that chose you makes your attacks stronger than others at the same level, so it’s not too hard. The interface looks confusing at first but it’s quite helpful, showing you what potential hands you have and making the decision-making fairly easy. There are lots of practice battles you can do, and once in a while someone challenges you, and if you win you add a card to your deck.

I spent a couple hours doing that (what can I say, I’m an RPG-er at heart), and then continued on. There was an event with Aoi where she’s a jerk to you in front of Mizuchi and he scolds her, which was a bit satisfying. Until he leaves and she says it’s your fault and slaps you as hard as possible, which has a painful-looking CG. Of course the heroine doesn’t do anything, just looks like she’s going to cry, all the other girls blame you, and I turn off the game for the night.

…Actually no, I did manage to get through that scene, which had some redemption at the end. Aoi is obviously the ‘psycho girlfriend’ stereotype that we all know and love, I can’t wait to see how she attacks the heroine.

…(10 minutes later): I was right, she does attack the heroine but she’s possessed by a monster while doing so (encouraged by her weak spirit of course).

So for the first chunk of playtime, I’m not sold on this at all yet, although the card game is a lot of fun. Mizuchi is fine, I hope the heroine gets to know him much better in the next chunk of playtime I do.

January News!

News from Girl’s Style:

• A new series from Hakuouki – more info next month of course. It seems like a new heroine (please please please!), and I’d assume new main heroes too.
• Girl’s Style is going to run a series of new ‘stories’ from Hakuouki, extra stories I’d guess. Not sure if it will be a novel or a comic.
• Hanasaku Manimani has a website up! From redjuice and 5pb., the game is about a girl who gets sent to the Edo period and ends up in a specialized amusement parlour(?).
• Have I put up the seiyuu for Norn Noetto (Norn9)? If not, here they are: Team 1: Yuiga Kakeru (CV: Kaji Yuuki), Ichinose Senri (CV: Shimono Hiroo), Tooya Masamune (CV: Satou Takuya), Team 2: Azuma Natsuhiko (CV: Ono Daisuke), Nijou Sakuya (CV: Saiga Mitsuki), Kagami Itsuki (CV: Yusa Kouji), and Team 3: Shukuri Akito (CV: Sugiyama Noriaki), Muroboshi Ron (CV: Sugita Tomokazu), and Otomaru Heishi (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki).
• Cast announcement for Tsukikage no Kusari, Takuyo’s newest game in a while. Mochizuki Satoya CV: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, Kagurazaka Hibiki CV: Shingaku Tarusuke (for any PoT fans, he’s the voice of Kite!!!^_^), Inoguchi Wataru CV: Asanuma Shintarou, and Haruna Nozomi CV: Naruse Mikoto. I was going to get this anyways, but now I hope they have a drama CD…probably not since it’s Takuyo ; ;
• Issho ni Gohan will have a route for the android landlord, Satou (CV: Hatano Wataru)!

I’m tired, but I’ll do B’s Log soon.

Glass Heart Princess Review

I finally finished a game, yay! I was looking forward to Glass Heart Princess a lot for some reason, I think part of it is that it’s one of the few totally new titles in my recent history. And when I realized that there was gameplay other than visual novel style, I was determined to pick it up as soon as possible.

I was able to find a guide for it at love voice, the only one I saw. I really needed it too, especially for Shinnosuke (the butler).

The premise is that you’re an accomplished, lovely, rich student in your last year at an exclusive high school. Everyone loves you, your father dotes on you, you have an otaku maid who’s sarcastic and awesome, and a devoted butler who is willing to go to ANY lengths to protect you.

One summer’s day you’re being served tea in your vast gardens, as you do, when you have a sudden heart palpitation and pass out. You wake up in the hospital and are told that you have a rare disease called Glass Heart Syndrome. If you can’t strengthen your heart against tokimeki, you won’t live out the year.

Luckily, you’ve never been in love, so you have a (relatively) easy way of toughening up your heart – fall in love, go on dates, and train to up your ‘heartbeat limit’ all the while.

The first thing you have to do is pick your partner. The first draft pick is the school bad boy, Karasuma Yuikito (CV: Suzuki Tatsuhisa), who’s secretly a famous cat burglar. The second is the well-liked teacher, Asahina Tenma (CV: Hatano Wataru), who’s secretly a vampire mafia boss (yup). Your ‘last’ chance, if you miss these two, is Hoshino Kanata (CV: Miyata Kouki), an android from outer space visiting earth to gather data on it. And finally, if you miss all three, you have a chance at the true end, your devoted butler with a gun fetish and mercenary history, Masaki Shinnosuke (CV: KENN). There’s also a hidden character, a much younger ‘betrothed’ – I got his happy end but there didn’t seem to be much to it.

Once you ‘choose’ someone by having Cupid shoot his arrow at you during one of these encounters, you ask them out in various ways and can then choose a date every week. Leading up to the date is your training time, where you can train physically to up your max heartbeats, train in love to increase your love-intelligence (by studying shoujo manga and romance), and rest. At first you have only one activity for each of these categories and the training goes slowly, but you learn more training methods as you go. The only route I didn’t follow a guide for was Hoshino, where I just did one of each activity a week, and that seemed to work fine.

Once you get to the new year, if you’re still alive you then go into the route of the person you have a high enough score with (each date has a score e.g. Excellent is the best, then Sweet, Good, and Not Bad). There aren’t many choices here, but it’s the longest continuous story part.

I enjoyed it, but honestly the routes felt pretty short except for Shinnosuke’s, who I totally think is the true end. His is also the ‘hardest’ to get, since if you date him from the beginning, you don’t get some of his events.

I think the dates, though they’re fun, were very short, especially the beginning ones. There are also random events during the week where you walk home with your guy and discuss things with him, but it was very random – sometimes it only happened once a route. You can choose to visit your tea party friends during the week to get conversation topics, but it feels like a waste if you don’t get to use them (but at least it doesn’t take up a training slot).

Overall Shinnosuke was my favourite. Though they were all fun, his route was the longest and the relationship felt the most real – they even had a lot of backstory between him and the heroine. Even in his route though, it felt a little rushed. I would have enjoyed a longer in-between stage, where he isn’t sure of his feelings, or even after he realizes, before the external drama comes up and moves the conflict outside of the relationship.

I did really enjoy the lightheartedness of the story, and one thing that’s great is the small touches that (really) mostly add to Shinnosuke as a character – he’s had all this special training, and when you get to a certain level sometimes ‘guest’ trainers come on – and they’re all characters from past Otomate games. You don’t see them but they’re fun references. They also show up in the end of his route with their voices, and that’s great – I was wondering why Sugita Tomokazu was playing a bit part as the doctor, lol, I guess they had them fill in some small roles as well.

Also, in each route, you have a special New Year’s dream. In Japan it’s said that the first dream you have in the New Year is lucky or unlucky depending on what it is. Well, in this game, you dream of your guy, but in the setting of an Otomate game – though they don’t say the titles it’s very obvious which ones they are. And then you wake up and see that you were playing a game before you fell asleep

Overall I think this game is fun, but I don’t know if I’d recommend it 100%. There are other games I’d rate higher, but this is quite fun, and the art is great as well.

Hana Awase – First 5 minutes

Yeah, I suck for not realizing how late it was, I got 5 minutes into Hana Awase and now I have to go to bed!

First things I notice:

• Cool music for the title screen, and lightning fast system (of course my PC’s pretty good, I don’t know how it runs on an older computer)
• The window is quite big, and in widescreen
• It feels like a true light novel at first – background with text. But adding in voices (just the main characters)
• There’s an experience bar and a battle menu

 

 

Tokimemo GS3 – Skinship/Approach Mode/Date Communication

That’s a few words meaning similar things.

Fans of Tokimemo 1 and 2 DS will probably recognize skinship as the extra minigame added to use the DS touchpad and stylus.
Since the PSP doesn’t have those, they adjusted it. Now when you’re on a date and the guy is talking, you’ll see something like this:

The little flower in the top right corner means you can ‘approach’ him, by pushing the analog stick up (the heart shows how tokimeki he is). Once you do that, you’ll see the following:

As you can see, from the left there’s a square, triangle, and a white circle button. Also, you see a heart in the top left corner, and it will be ‘beating’. What you want to do is choose an action and have it go off at the moment that big heart is at its largest (this helps get a ‘critical’). This will then increase the number at the top right, which is pretty much a tokimeki meter.

Now it took me an amazingly long time to realize that in order to be able to use the square and triangle button in addition to the circle, you have to keep pushing the analog stick up and you’ll slowly move closer. And you can choose to either push a button once, or hold it down, changing the action (circle changes from nikkori to mitsumeru (from smile to look at), triangle from fureru to te wo tsunagu (from touch to hold hands), and square from itazura to ijiwaru (from tease to ‘mean’). When you first start on dates, guys often won’t let you get any closer than the circle range, and the square range takes a while to get to.

If you do this enough, eventually (it will take several dates) you’ll go into Date Communication Mode. These arelittle ‘vignette’ extra stories where you have to pick the right approaches to keep the scene going. It looks like the pic below, with screen bars and no text window.

Not too much happens (at least that I’ve experienced), but you get extra dialogue and it shows that your relationship is progressing. Date Comm can also happen at certain spots/times when you see a square button onscreen, like at cherry blossom viewing.

December News

A few days late!

• Hanasaku Manimani (not sure if that’s the actual title??) – new game from 5pb. and redjuice. Looks like the Edo period maybe?
• Prince of Stride, a light novel that’s been running in Girl’s Style since June or so　（it’s about a track team), is going to be a drama CD and game.
  Cast:
  Yagami Riku CV: Kimura Ryouhei
  Fujiwara Takeru CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko
  Kohinata Hozumi CV: Ono Shoudaku??
  Hasekura Heath CV: TBD
  Kuga Kyousuke CV: Suwabe Junichi
• The newest “Tokimeki” title will be for mobile (sob) and about idols. Specifically, two idol groups, X.I.P., the ‘wild’ group, and 3 Majesty, the ‘prince’ group. And it’s also a cooking game, where you work at a restaurant where these idols come a lot, and you make food for them.
  Man, I so want to be able to play this. Only Tokimemo could make B’s Log put a mobile game on their cover.
• Storm Lover 2nd! Totally new group. No cast info yet but the art looks cute!
• OMG. Quinrose is doing the last Cinderella sister! And HALLOWEEN IS A HERO. It’s like they read my mind. YESSSSSS. And it turns out Elise was(is) training as a swordswoman! Cool. No date yet but it will probably come out the end of March. I want it now.
• Otomate is releasing Desert Kingdom for the PSP on Feb 21! I enjoyed that game quite a bit, it`s kinda short but I liked the heroine and the characters. It’ll have new events and scenes. I might get this.
• They`re also releasing Natsuzora no Monologue for the PSP, also with new events and scenes. I still haven`t played the PS2 version I have, ergh.
• Some CGs from Geten no Hana – it’s looking more like Harutoki art now. Still no word on how much voice there is, so I’m going to assume it’s partial-only and leave it off my wishlist.

I think I missed some other smaller announcements, I’ll try and check the mags over again soon.

Tokimemo GS 3 – Preferences

Each guy has their preferred clothing style, date spots, parameters, clubs, and/or part-time jobs where you can work with them. If you wear their preferred clothing on a date, they’ll mention it and you’ll get extra tokimeki points (unless there’s an event like being hit on, or it’s too warm or cold for the season). Though apparently if you wear a particular style enough and they like you, their tastes will change! Pretty neat.

Ruka and Kouichi
These two brothers are the first two fellow students you meet, and they’re also friends from your childhood. Ruka is a playful daredevil, and Kouichi is a scary-looking tough guy who’s a quintessential big brother. Raka works at a flower shop, while Kouichi works at a gas station.

Ruka Preferences:
Clothes: Natural, Ultra Natural and Girly (Cute and Natural)
Places: game centre, amusement park, aquarium
Gifts: Hotcakes, Dolphin stuff, Gacchi Red Ranger mask, santa boot of candy
Valentine’s: Use the dolphin topper
Colour: Aqua

Kouichi Preferences:
Clothes: Vivid, Ultra Vivid, and Wild (Vivid and Sexy)
Places: amusement park, bowling, the farm, the motorcycle show at the museum
Gifts: a dartboard, antique radio, motorcycle B-movie poster, tiger object
Valentine’s: Use the candy cane or whiskey bonbon
Colour: Orange

Fujiyama Arashi
Arashi is a classmate that you meet once your fitness is over 60. He recruits you to be the manager of the judo club (of which he’s the only member), and he’s extremely tennen – he says exactly what he thinks, hides nothing, and is a little dense. If you want him you should really join judo. He works as a lifeguard.
Preferences:
Clothes: Activ,e Ultra Active, and Sporty (Active and Vivid)
Places: Physical activity (swimming, skating, skiing, etc), the balcony of the old castle
Gifts: Carved wooden (bearcat? raccoon?), Protein, a lily, an old scroll 書軸, alpaca stuffed animal
Valentine’s: Use the cookie #1
Colour: Blue

Niina Junpei
Junpei is a year younger than you, so he doesn’t enter Habataki High School until the second year. However because his hobby is picking up girls, you can meet him earlier when you’re out shopping if your fashion is high enough. He wants to be a playboy and admires Hazuki Kei. He works at a convenience store, and you can make him join the judo club if you’re in it.
Preferences:
Clothes: Sexy, Ultra Sexy, and Koakuma (Sexy and Cute) (also Wild)
Places: pretty much anywhere other than dark or high places (no planetarium!)
Gifts: a poster of Kei, lava light, sparkly strap, Ko-Nami elephant toy
Valentine’s: Use the sexy girl topping
Colour: Pink

Konnou Tamao:
The student president who’s always serious, nice and polite, and has a bit of an inferiority complex. He’s a year older so he graduates after your second year, but you can still go on dates. He’s in the student council but has no part-time job.
Preferences:
Clothes: Cute, Ultra Cute, and Older Sister (Cute and Chic)
Places: skiing, amusement park, farm
Gifts: Steam engine (ブリキの蒸気機関車), mini globe, a head mark (no idea what this actually is), alarm clock, scale model of Habataki Castle
Valentine’s: Use the cupid topping
Colour: Green

Shitara Seiji
A rich kid student one year older than you who’s a bit famous for his piano skills. He’s pretty rude and doesn’t have much common sense, but he’s got amazing hair and I find him kind of hilarious. Of course, he doesn’t have a job.
Preferences:
Clothes: Chic, Ultra Chic, and Mode (Chic and Vivid)
Places: Planetarium, aquarium, nowhere he has to exercise unless he already likes you
Gifts: Magic lamp teapot, tiki doll, old sheet music, sand picture, toy termin (qu’est-ce que c’est? I dunno)
Valentine’s: The music note, duh.
Colour: Purple

In addition to the regular six guys, there are three (or four) hidden characters which require specific events/stats/actions for them to appear, and are pretty hard to get endings with.

Tomorrow or Sunday, magazine news!!

Tokimemo Premium Girls Side 3 – Basics

The basic goal of Tokimemo GS is to have the guy you like confess to you at your high school graduation.
Each guy will require different stats to get his ‘best’ ending, and other endings.

Roughly, in Tokimemo GS3, the most strict requirements are:
Ruka: Studying 150 Athletics 150 Consideration 150
Kouichi: Art 150 Consideration 150 Charm 70
Arashi: Athletics 200 Consideration 150
Niina: Fashion 200 Studying 150
Konno : Studying 200 Consideration 150
Shitara: Art 200 Charm 150

There are several things that can reduce these stats requirements. Going on lots of dates (more than 40) will reduce them by 20. The guy being at ‘tokimeki’ level of affection will reduce it by another 20.

The basic screen of Tokimemo Girls Side 3, and all the Tokimemo GS games, is the following:

In the background you see your room (you can choose the style and it will affect your starting stats). On the left you see your current stats, they are:

Stress	Money
Studying	Art
Athletics	Consideration
Fashion	Charm

On the right, in blue and green, are the actions you can do that day/week, which will raise some stats and lower others. On a Sunday or holiday there will be two more buttons for calling someone and going shopping (or going on a date if you’ve set one up).

From the left, the blue buttons are:

Rest	Study	Art	Club
Exercise	Fashion	Charm	Miyo
			Karen

You can guess what these do. You can only join one club, and it will raise different stats depending on which one you pick.
Hanging out with Miyo will raise consideration and (I think) studying), and hanging out with Karen will raise consideration and fashion.

The orange buttons don’t take time away when you choose them. They are:

Outfit	Internet	Settings
Calendar	Messages	Save/Load

One of the most important things to do all the time is check your horoscope on the internet. The other important things to do all the time is save.

When you choose the computer and go to the horoscope page, this is what you’ll see:

The left is just a table of contents for your report, and the right shows what you’ll have the most and least luck in doing for the next four weeks. From the top, they are: Studying (this includes Art), Fun (covers Fashion and I think Miyo and Karen), Health (Exercise and Sports clubs), and Love (Charm and maybe asking guys on dates). At the bottom it also lists your lucky item for the season (in this case, a sun visor).

Using the horoscope will make raising stats much easier. When your desired stats are hard to get, that’s probably a good time to rest and reduce your stress.
Also, don’t be afraid to reload and try a week over – I’ve had weeks where I failed three days, then reloaded and got it perfect on the next try.

This is the basic setup of the game, but there is SO much more to it. Next time I’ll cover each guy’s preferences and talk about fashion styles, clubs, and part-time jobs.

Late News! November 2012

• Koibana Days is on the cover of the latest B’s Log – a PSP collaboration between Otomate and Kiramune, a label built by Bandai Visual and Lantis producing music by several popular seiyuu. It’s a gardening love sim! Main characters are: Araragi Tsukasa (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko), HImukai Youta (CV: Eguchi Tatsuya), YUrisawa Eishi (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya), Saotome Tsubaki (CV: Namikawa Daisuke), Takaoka Kikunosuke (CV: Kimura Ryouhei), and Sumidate Ritsuto (CV: Yonaga Tsubasa). More later!
• A new PSP game in the Quinrose world of Ouma ga Toki, Shinigami Kagyou! I haven’t even gotten Hyakki Yakou yet (it’s in the mail). Maybe after I play that I’ll see how I feel about how much they can use this setting without it getting stale. Interesting focus on shinigami though – the heroine is a shinigami and the main hero is someone she kills but he mysteriously still exists
• Finally a new console game from Takuyo! Tsukikage no Kusari will be for PSP, I think it’s in the mid to late Taisho era (the description sounds like it might lead up to WWII) The art is from Hirose Azumi who I think did Kaerubatake
• Ken ga Kimi, a new PC game from Rejet set in the beginning of the Edo era, with a heroine Kayo, who uses the naginata.
• Solomon’s Ring is a new game in four installments for the PSP, the first is out December 20. I feel like I’ve heard about this before, was it a mobile game or something? Or maybe the mags had something on it earlier (not much that I remember though). Oh, because it’s in four parts (the first game has three main heros), the game is only Y3129.
• Shiratsuyu no Aya! New PSP game from Otomate, the art looks all cool and contemporary but it’s not a school life game, it’s supernatural! The aim is to mix the everyday with the extraordinary.
• Finally a release date for Eikoku Tantei Mysteria – March 7. Why settle for just Sherlock Holmes when you can have Holmes Jr and Watson Jr? Not to mention Lupin Jr, and Marple (no Miss?), and Jack the Ripper? Plus, they have promo shots of the main character’s seiyuu in their character’s cosplay (done really well I gotta say). Should be interesting!
• Utapuri All Star is coming out March 7.
• More info on Neoromance’s new game, Katen(?) no Hana. It’s set in the Sengoku period, main characters are Oda Nobunaga, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori Ranmaru, and Momoji Naomitsu. Looks like they’re going for a different artstyle, could be good but I seriously don’t think I’m going to get it unless it’s full-voice. Harutoki 5 was ridiculous in how much was unvoiced.
• Usually I don’t announce mobile games, because we can’t get them, but this one – it’s a SHINee game!! Kpop is taking over the world!! Ahem.
• Wand of Fortune II Fandisk is out November 22. I haven’t even finished one route in WoF II.
Tags: News, renka days
Posted in Video Games

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