Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category

Itty Bitty Review

Because I had to work late again I have no energy (and no memory power, which is why I can’t remember people’s names here), but I did play Ouma ga Toki a fair bit on the weekend. It’s good, but not as great as I’d hoped – I’ve finished two routes so far and they feel kind of short. I haven’t done Hisoka’s route yet, and I feel like that’s the ‘true’ one, so maybe that will feel more substantial. Also, since I’m not using a guide it’s quite possible I’m missing a bunch, although there aren’t that many choices to make overall.
I did Touno (Suwa, of course!) and the guy who helps out in the nurse’s room. One thing I found refreshing was that it was pretty heavily implied that once they were in a relationship, they had sex! Since they’re all youkai and pretty old, it makes sense that they wouldn’t be typically shy teenagers. Although it’s still not clear how old the heroine is – I think you only find out her whole story with Hisoka. I’ll have to finish his route next, but I took a break for some fluffy fun – Beastmaster and Prince ~Snow Bride~. Mofu mofu forever!

Ouma ga Toki

I’ve been working late so I’m kind of brain-dead, but for what it’s worth: I’m still not far into Ouma ga Toki, but so far I like it – the heroine is self-aware, kind of a smart-ass, and awesome in almost every way. There’s no gameplay and the music is bland, but the setting is fun and the characters are good so far. I’m trying to go for Tooya (CV: Suwabe Junichi), the banchou-type, but who knows how I’m doing – I can’t see any affection meter or anything.

Also got Kanuchi Futatsu no Tsubasa from amiami – SAL packet with no customs (phew). Now I have to decide how to order more games with the best shipping…

And still no Tokimemo 3! Booo.

C’est tout! G’night.

CD Japan

Along with Amiami, I’m trying out CDJapan, which I remember from a long time ago being pretty expensive. Well, it’s not a bargain basement, but their prices for special editions are totally reasonable, and they also often come with store specials. And the best thing about them is that you can always see how many of a certain edition of game or whatever they have available, so you can plan really well.

My first order from them was because I had tried to get Ouma ga Toki from Amiami, and a couple weeks later, they said they couldn’t get it for me. I rushed over to CDJapan and while, unfortunately, they didn’t have any limited editions left, they had the normal one still with the pre-order CD and a store special poster. So, since their shipping can be pretty expensive, I figured I may as well add some more to the order, and this is what I got today:

Clockwise from top left: Store special mini-poster (for once the do-S is doing something actually BDSM!), Kannou Mukashibanashi, two more store special mini-posters, Beastmaster and Prince fandisk, Ouma ga Toki, Renai Banchou pre-order CD (though I didn’t pre-order it, pretty sweet), Ouma ga Toki pre-order CD, and Renai Banchou Limited Edition.

That’s a pretty good haul, I think almost as good as some of my shopping days in Japan – though probably quite a bit more expensive. 　(；´Д｀) うぅっ。。

Anyways, I should be studying right now since I have a final exam tomorrow night, but I’m probably going to put Ouma ga Toki in my PSP very soon…even though I still haven’t finished one route in WoF II.　（；￣д￣）ハァ
And it’s only been four days since Ouma ga Toki came out! And I could have had it on Friday if I had known how much the customs would be (hint: a lot), then I would have gotten it virtually one day after release! I’m still waiting for Tokimemo3 PSP, and that came out in the middle of March!

I’ll still have to do some number-crunching and figure out whether it’s truly worth it to pay the extra shipping and customs fees, but CDJapan is definitely a contender when you want to make sure you get a special edition or pre-order bonus.

News

Not too many new games this month:

• Hiiro no Kakera 5! Shirahana no Ori. They list it as HnK 4, but we all know that ヒイロノカケラ, the one set in the futuristic city, was #4 so I’m gonna keep going with that. Anyways, it’s set in the Heian period and the art is by Ike, who did #4. Lots of nice costumes but no seiyuu announced yet! It’ll be interesting if they change them.
• A sequel for Asaki Yumemishi. It’s set for Jul 27 on the PC.
• A new Quinrose game that I almost missed because I thought it was Cinderella! Which it is…but the first was 12ji, and this one is 24ji. So maybe I was wrong and the Cinderella one is Noon Bells, and this one is Midnight Bells? This game features one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, Rosalia. Man, I should really get 12ji.
• Fandisk for VitaminZ – I thought VitaminXtoZ was that, but hey I’m not complaining – more Chisato is always good (o^-^o) ウフッ
• Fandisk for Wand of Fortune 2, which I’m finally playing now – I wasn’t sure if it had enough material for a fandisk but I guess so. It begins when Ruru runs into a little fairy called Bell that looks just like her

The seiyuu for Confidential Money were announced:
Kirishima Shun (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) – A genius with a 190 IQ who leads the group. He’s Japanese.
Daniel Johnson (CV: Miki Shinichirou) – A natural athlete who’s good with guns and joins the group to pay his friend’s medical bills, who protected him and got hurt instead
Allan Morris (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) – The quiet and serious treasurer, he’s a former air force member and can pilot anything.
Michael Watson (CV: Nojima Kenji) – a genius programmer and hacker
Raymond Davis (CV: Kawada Shinji) – a perceptive conman with a poisonous tongue
Luke (CV: Tokumoto Yukitoshi) – The coldhearted, do-S sniper who’s trying to get money to escape his criminal group, he’s also the resident pervy guy.

Other than that, there was some more info on Koi Sentai Love & Peace The P.S.P., which I’m really looking forward to, and lots of pages on drama CDs, which are great, but I want more games! Also several pages on Ai wa Kat-tun, which I’m pretending not to have seen.

I also heard a rumour that Kazuki Yone (Hakuouki’s artist) is being hired by someone for another game! That would be awesome.

Hana Awase

B’s Log came with a huge book for Hana Awase!
It has lots of gorgeous art by Yura.

The heroine, Mikoto, transfers to Kasen Campus where the students (mostly the male ones) are trying to become ‘kaei’ – people who control hanafuda (flower seals) and can use them to play ‘Hana Awase’, a game in which they can bring forth power (to do things? it’s kinda vague). Mikoto likes card games, sewing and cooking, and easily gets involved in things. She gets interested in Hana Awase.　The five boys in each year who win’ are called the Five Lights.
Vocab time:
華詠 (Kaei): The few (usually) boys who can use the power of hanafuda.
華アワセ (hanaawase): the competition level of kasen, which is so dangerous it can be fatal. It is only done by kaei and minamo. What the public knows is the ‘hanautsushi’ version only.
水妹 (minamo): The girls who support the kaei with all their body and soul. Always pure young maidens, one kaei will need many minamo to get strong, but a minamo can only dedicate themselves to one kaei.
泉姫 (senki): A minamo who is so strong that she can support a kaei all by herself and has enough power to move heaven and earth. There are no minamo at present who rise to that level, so right now the senki is like a legend.
華遷 (kasen): the game which uses hanafuda. It’s done at ceremonies, contests, and even required for national relations (international? not sure).

Characters:

Iroha (CV: Terashima Takuma) – the top of the top, the top of the Five Lights, and the object of the student’s admiration. He’s perfect and cool, and never shows emotion. He also has the ‘eyes of the moon’, which means that people can’t help but be attracted to him and there’s rumoured to be a test to get into his Chisengumi（地仙組）. The heroine also has this, but ‘the moon’ hasn’t appeared yet in her. Iroha acts the same way to everyone and is totally uninterested in love, but for some reason always shows up to help the heroine in a pinch.

Mizuchi (CV: Fukuyama Jun) – Brought up in a very strict household, Mizuchi believes in following the rules, and hates anyone who breaks them or betrays him. He’s used to discipline and became a Kaei as soon as he came to Kasen. He values the Minamo highly and treats them very well, grateful that they give him power, and so there are always lots of girls in his (鴻鵠組） who want to be his Minamo. He admires Iroha and wants to be like him more than anything else. Because he’s so used to controlling himself, he has no experience with love, and has never looked at any of the Minamo in a more-than-innocent way.

Himeutsugi (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke) – He got into Kasen by special selection, and like Mizuchi, quickly became a Kaei. He’s strong but modest, and always stays back a step from groups, but somehow has an open personality that makes people love him. He doesn’t like conflict, so doesn’t start Kasen contests on his own, but once he starts, he gives it his all. The people in his Gekkougumi (月光組） are mostly kind like him, and he takes very good care of his Minamo. He’s never had a serious relationship since he couldn’t stand to hurt someone’s feelings and he’s never let himself fall for someone…until he meets the heroine.

Karekurenagi (CV: Hino Satoshi) – He transferred in second year and quickly became a Kaei to everyone’s surprise. He is equally admired and feared, and often skips school to find trouble outside. He only plays Kasen when he wants. He always is with Minamo from his Oukagumi（桜花組）, and treats everyone in his group as his possessions. He seems to switch them all the time, but the girls appear to enjoy being played with by him.

Utsutsu (CV: Sugiyama Noriaki) – He became a Kaei in his second year, but disappeared shortly after. There are rumours as to what happened, but no one knows for sure. Right now his ‘Houougumi’ (鳳凰組） is led by a deputy, but without the charisma of a Kaei, it’s very small and there aren’t many Minamo. He knows the heroine, although it’s unclear how they meet, and he feels positively towards her. The quote on his page says, “Mikoto is my special one. I only need Mikoto by my side”.

Just talking about Hana Awase took a long time, so I’m going to do the rest of the news on Wednesday!

Mobile games and Pirates in Love

Many fans know that there are tons of mobile otome games available, but most are only for users on Japanese cell phone networks. However, there are some that seem to be available in other ways and I’m trying to track down how. So far I’ve gotten a Yahoo Japan ID, which allows me to start playing some f2p games, but I haven’t actually paid for any yet (I’m not sure if it will work).

But even better than sneaking my way into getting Japanese mobile otoge, there are a few available in English! Pirates in Love was the first I knew of, and though it started out as iphone/ipad only, it’s now available for Android phones as well.

I’ve been playing it and it’s a lot of fun, although the translation is AWFUL. It’s so bad it’s actually hilarious, so, in a way, it makes the game even more entertaining. It’s a comedy already, so it doesn’t ruin the game.

The character designs are really nice, but the backgrounds are inconsistent, either barebones CG, nicely drawn, or some that look like altered photographs. There a few CGs for each character which are just as nice as the tachi-e – whoever the artist is, I really like their style. There are no voices at all, and though the music is alright, there are really only three tracks (maybe four?)

Overall, I’d recommend Pirates in Love, although it’s expensive for what it is – $4 for each route, where you can’t save more than once (per character) and there’s no scene replay. I don’t know whether there’s more than one ending per character.

The same company, Voltage, also makes A Forged Wedding, which I’ve downloaded but not tried yet. And there are several games called Shall We Date? that explore various settings like Heian, the Warring States period, and a Medieval Europe/princes setting. Unfortunately, they’re blocked on my phone because I’m in Canada – boo! I’m working on getting around that as well, because honestly if I want to buy the game, why can’t I?

Hana Awase

There’ll be a big post tomorrow, but for now the cast for Yura’s new game, Hana Awase, has been announced: Terajima Takuma, Fukuyama Jun, Tachibana Shinnosuke, Hino Satoshi, and Sugiyama Kishou. I think the B’s Log I’m getting this week will have details.

Weekend videos

Some new vids out:

Vampire Sweetie, the R18 game from Sugar Beans that looks really sweet (I’m hoping it actually is)
 

Arabian’s Lost – it’s all showing CGs. I wonder if they removed the gameplay T.T

Kami-sama to Koigokoro – the new game from Takuyo where you’re a novice and fall for priests-in-training (and one actual priest I believe)

Bakudan Handan, coming in June about the niece of Inspector Layton(IIRC) and a bomb scare in an amusement park.

Jyuzaengi! Cat people in ancient China! And look, the PV has some animation. I think I’m pre-ordering this.

The new R18 game PersonA based on Phantom of the Opera.

Hitofuta Kihyou coming from Profitrolle March 28 for the PC.

Brothers Conflict Passion Pink, for the first half of the new stepbrother romance.

And finally, one adaptation, I want to get this but I have the PS2 versions…

Scarred Rider Xechs + fandisk portable

AmiAmi – good prices for games!

I finally checked out AmiAmi, and though their shipping isn’t free like YesAsia, the prices are cheaper, especially if you want to get limited editions. And since YesAsia seems to take longer and longer these days, I’m trying out AmiAmi for Ouma ga Toki. I’ll see how long it takes to get here, I’m choosing the relatively cheap SAL option.

Also, they have lots of drama CDs and other stuff – they had Alice x Cross but it’s almost all sold out

And my favourite part is that their otome games are in a whole separate section called “Games -> Bishonen“! LOL And you can even get (if you want) the tokuten version – some games come with special store exclusives. AmiAmi’s seem to be mostly library cards (cards you can use to buy stuff at bookstores I think), so I wouldn’t get them, although I have some from my shoujo manga days and they can be addictive to collect (they’re usually pretty and small, so they’re easy to store! but they’re functionally useless). I see that the Aoiza re-release comes with a drama CD…damn you Otomate! ＼(*｀∧´)／ ﾑｯｷｰ!!  Although really, charging more for the store-exclusive ones is a bit…I mean, I thought that point of it was to make you pre-order/buy the game new as opposed to waiting and buying it used somewhere. Oh well. Now I’m off to fill in my wishlist!

 

Arcana Famiglia Redux

As Ebi pointed out, I have had the wrong idea about Arcana Famiglia since the beginning – I thought the game came from a series of novels, but it seems like the only thing that came out before the game were some drama CDs, and those were specifically leading up to the game. Time for some geeky detective work(my favourite kind)!

Looking back at the magazines, the first time I saw anything was way back in the July 2010 Girl’s Style (released in June 2010!). It just had teaser pics of the guys (no Dante, guess he came after lol), with quotes – for some it seems a little different from their final personalities. It’s interesting because B’s Log doesn’t cover it at all until a year later, in their August 2011 (sold in June) issue! Although, they had it in their calendar for a few months before that. Maybe Girls’ Style had an exclusive deal or something.

Comfort was the actual creator although HuneX published it. Its vision was to be a combo of shounen manga (thus all the comic style speech bubbles and action) and otome game (with everything else). And it definitely succeeded – it will be an anime during the Summer 2012 season. It seems like the plot of the show is the same as the game, which I’m a little disappointed in – I thought they could have started it earlier and shown some history before getting into the tournament.

Just for funsies, here’s the first drama CD on Amazon.jp – Volume 1 Arcana Famiglia Piachure! La Primavera.

I haven’t finished Nova, who might be the last character I finish in Arcana for a while. Dante and Jory don’t interest me too much (although if I didn’t have such a backlog I’d totally finish it), but I’ve done everyone else. I find The Lovers ability pretty fun to use, I thought it was well done, and if you know where to look, I don’t find the fighting to be very difficult.

And after poring through magazines for an hour looking for it, I always forget how much is in them. Though I do the news monthly when I get them, it’s mostly just highlights – new games and ports/adaptations. There’s so much other stuff, including some fun little gag comics – I should put them on tumblr or something.