Midnight Bells & Cinderella


Hakuouki Bakumatsu Musouroku
This one is pretty good for showing the action gameplay, although it doesn’t seem as if there’s any otome stuff in it unfortunately. You do get to play “What if” scenarios where historical enemies like the Shinsengumi and Joui Shishi team up, or the Shinsengumi and Chikage (not historical but enemies in the original) join forces.
At the end of the vid they show what you get with the limited edition, and it includes a little fake katana! Or maybe it’s a wakizashi, I can’t tell the difference.

Atelier Elkrone
Uh, I found a PV of this and thought it would be great to have some gameplay info, but this looks like any visual novel PV, there’s no gameplay shown at all. I hope some comes out soon…

Ouma ga Toki
It’s a visual novel, but I’m excited about it because the characters and setting sound really good (high school = ok, supernatural high school = much better!). Look at the homepage, right up in the left corner there’s a girl holding her own head.

Harutoki 5 Fandisk
I wish #4 had gotten a proper fandisk, but oh well. I’m sure I’ll get this sometime.

Strobe Mania
And lastly, I never put a Strobe Mania vid up, so here’s one – looks like there’s a bit of detective gameplay and I just ordered it, yay!

Kimi ni Todoke – I was catching up on the manga a few days ago (how can it be so long and not feel like it’s dragging yet??) and wondered what the game was like so I found this vid – it looks like you can get events, and maybe endings?, with not just Kazehaya but Ryuu and Kento too. I wonder if it would feel wrong not going for Kazehaya.

Fuji Sensei

Each character has their own major issues – and so far they’re fairly serious. Fuji (CV: Hirata Hiroaki) has a lot of baggage from an abusive relationship from his past (to not spoil things too much), Aoi (CV: Terajima Takuma) has a really good reason for not caring about the future (and no, he doesn’t have a terminal illness), and Wabisuke (CV: Hino Satoshi) has an obsessive sister complex. Wabisuke actually was a big part of one (two?) of Fuji’s endings, that’s why I got interested in him.

Aoi

This game is, as advertised, pretty dark. In each route, the other characters seem fairly normal, but when you get into their routes, they`re all pretty messed up by one thing or another. I`ve enjoyed the stories, they`re all very different, although I still don`t really get why they focus on Nazuna so much (except Wabisuke, he has history with her). They all say things like she seems really pure, and they want some of her innocence, but whenver I see things like that I wonder that they couldn`t find any other normal girls at their school – Nazuna is principled but not usually a martyr, and at least one of her classmates seems just as nice as her. But this is something that you sometimes have to just accept in an otome game, and as long as you can suspend disbelief about that, most parts of the story make internal sense, even when it`s twisted sense.
There`s also sex! Of course it`s off-screen, but it`s fairly plainly laid out (it`s usually in the kindan hard route), and I found that very believable, because let`s be honest, angsty teenagers in love usually don`t stay chaste. Lastly, something I really liked was the monologues at the end of each chapter by the guy you went on a date with – it gives an idea of what they’re thinking and some foreshdowing, without taking all the suspense away.

Wabisuke

As I described in the first thoughts post, the production values are very high in this game – the menus and dialogue boxes are very nice, and the art is beautiful. The characters are differentiated mostly by face and hair colour, they mostly have the same body type (tall and skinny), but they`re all quite attractive (still not sure about Seri though, he just LOOKS so young even though he`s not). The music is well chosen too, there are some creepy atmospheric tracks that enhance the feeling of wrongness in the stories when really bad things are revealed.

Overall, I`d recommend this for people who enjoy angst and real drama, as long as you can handle some heavy topics like abuse, mental instability, suicide attempts. etc. This is not the game you want to play when you want cheering up, but the characters are all fascinating in their own way and I do want to finish the rest of the routes. I think I’d even buy a fandisk, because there are three teachers who are fairly involved in the stories, but you don’t get to really know them well, and they’re all really good seiyuu as well, so I’m hoping that the fandisk will include scenes/routes for them (and considering one of them got 3rd place in the character popularity contest, there’s a good chance!). There is a drama CD and fanbook coming out in January as well.

So all in all, Gekka = thumbs up! And don’t forget to check the LOVE.101 site tomorrow for a short story!

Apparently 2012 is the year of police and detective games! There’s the Detective VitaminX game (in Feb), and Karin’s new game Eikoku Tantei Mysteria (with the son of Lupin III as a master cat thief!), and the new Tiny Machine Gun from Rejet, with the first CD coming in February and a game in September.

A few pages on Black Wolves Saga, which as I thought has the artist from Gekka Ryouran, and will be released in two segments – one, Last Hope, for the PSP, and the other, Bloody Nightmare, on the PC! In Last Hope you’re with Russ Bogard, a wolf boy, and in Bloody Nightmare you’re with two cat boys, Mejojo (pronounce the j’s as y’s) and Uuger (pronounced Ooje) von Garibaldi. LH is supposed to be a story of true love, whereas BN will show twisted love. Taking advantage of being on the PC, apparently there will be several ‘shocking’ scenes (it’s not R18 though, so I think they mean disturbing/violent). Now, is this actually an otome game? It actually sounds more like a visual/light novel.

New game from ASCII Mediaworks and Vridge, Koi wa Rule ni Shibararenai, for the PSP. In this game the heroine is suddenly appointed as the president of her school (not of the student council but the school!) She can change school events and rules, but the student council has a say as well and can either agree or oppose her decisions. Part of this game is trying to make the student council acknowledge you as the president. Next issue will have the cast, so I might do a post on it then.

Custom Drive is a different sort of otome game coming from D3P – you can customize your boyfriend, not only with accessories, hairstyles, and clothes, but even change their personalities! The producer says players shouldn’t worry too much about playing ‘correctly’, but just play how you want and enjoy the game. Each of the three characters introduced have their own short story up on the website that you can access through a QR code – I’ll have to see if mine works. They also have English descriptions (in SHOUTY CAPS, hehe):

Riito Touma (CV: Toyonaga Toshiyuki from Durarara!!): HE IS YOUR CHILDHOOD BOYFRIEND. Ok then!

Ruka Mayuzumi (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa): HE SEEMS TO LOVE YOU, BUT…? Sounds ominous!

Shion Kannagi (CV: Kimura Ryouhei): YOU WILL COME TO KNOW HIS SECRET. I hope it’s good!

More info on Koisentai Love & Peace for the PSP. I still haven’t listened to my drama CD of it, so when I do that I’ll post on it.

Sangokuren Senki is coming ot the PSP! (I don’t remember hearing about this but it may be old news) New events and CGs will be added, and an ‘episode’ for Genjou as well.

A new game from Takuyo – Kami-sama to Koigokoro for the PSP, where the heroine is training to be a nun and three of the guys are priests-in-training. Another love interest is a priest!

A new character will be available in Harutoki 5′s fandisk Kazahanaki. Rindou is a totally new character, an onmyouji who helps the heroine but acts cold to her, telling her to give up on being a miko. I thought they were missing something and I just realized – Harutoki 5 had no purple-haired bishounen! Rindou is a totally necessary addition. And Sou will also have a route!

Fandisk for Amnesia coming in March -= it’s called Amnesia Clatter.

And finally, there’s a teaser for a new game from Otomate, Hakuouki and Hiirno No Kakera’s producer and miko, the artist from Beastmaster and Prince. Not much is shown, but it’s set in the Sengoku period and apparently about oni. It looks very cool, I love miko’s art.

That’s all for now, more to come on Friday with B’s Log!

The first thing I thought was, ooh pretty! It has a distinct art style, partially in the characters but even more in the menus and dialogue boxes, with little details like a rose indicating the end of each sentence which is depetaled when you click for the next statement. the dialogue boxes are also vertical, besides the characters, which I feel makes a lot of sense on the widescreen PSP. The character art as well is very pretty, with wispy hair and shading that fades from light to dark on each character.

At the beginning, Nazuna is living almost alone while her parents work long hours and her older brother is away at a boarding school. She’s very focused on grades, especially after being dumped a while ago, and is at the top of her class.

Then her parents move away and she’s sent to board at the same school as her older brother. When she gets there she’s the object of attention from a select group of students in the ‘date club’, which sounds like a host club but even more sketchy since you go on dates potentially to secluded areas where you can do pretty much anything. They trick her so that she owes them money for dates (which she didn`t want), and a huge amount at that – over $10,000 by my estimate. She doesn’t want to pay, and I really liked her for this. If she had been alone she would have resisted to the last, but her brother is vulnerable since these students are all very powerful, so she agrees to a bet for the money: she’ll go on dates with them, and if she doesn’t fall for one of them, she wins and the debt is waived. If not, her brother has to join the club and pay the debt back 300Y per date at a time (this after saying their fee is 300,000Y each time). Also, until they decide the game is over, her brother joins the club as collateral.

Interesting, no? What’s also interesting is the whole feeling of this group being totally corrupted and generally immoral, which they really play up. I remember this being marketed as a very dark story, which aligns with this feeling. One other thing I loved is that Nazuna doesn’t just give up at this point, but tries to go to the authorities! She realizes that yeah, having a brothel openly operate on campus (not sure whether it goes that far, but they definitely try to give the feeling it does) should be way against school policy, and she goes to a teacher. Unfortunately, the date club students and their parents pay a ton of money for the school to overlook everything they do, so unless they’re caught doing something really illegal, the club is allowed.

This is the intro part, before you choose who you want to go on dates with, but it’s really long in-game. The first time I played I barely got to when Nazuna transfers schools.

However, once you get past the establishment of the bet, it goes fairly quickly. I’m almost done Fuji’s route now, and will have a review of that up soon.

At first Peter is just a mega-annoying kid who likes to run around and be loud, and is totally selfish even with his ‘lost boys’, the other kids who live with him. They’re more like his servants, who always do things for him and try to think up games to amuse him – often ones that are dangerous/uncomfortable. While getting into his route, Wendy decides that he’s more ignorant than bad, and she’ll reform him, and she goes about correcting him and pretty much treating him like her own kid. Peter doesn’t seem to mind, although he humours her only because he likes her, and he admits to doing so. He has no sympathy for anyone else, and assumes he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants.

As Wendy gets to know him, Tinker gets more and more jealous, and finally Peter tells her off directly. As you might guess, Tinker comes back later and confronts Wendy, and this is a major turning point in the story.

Another thing that happens in this route is Peter trying to get Wendy to eat his candy, and her gradually giving in. I thought this was done well because it’s related back to Wendy’s complex about her mom, who never cared about her after her father passed away no matter how hard Wendy tried to please her. It’s also slowly shown to relate to Peter’s feelings about his life before Neverland, although this part isn’t shown as much. This is where their relationship really grows, and it’s pretty believable.

During Peter’s route I did feel bad for Michael and John, especially John, but hey that just means I have to do their routes next. I’m looking forward to seeing how Wendy deals with her family issues there and if it ends up very differently.

And ending on an Angelique note, I FINALLY finished the knights route, and yes I think I will love it in the end, though I was kinda fast-clicking a lot of parts. It pretty much went down the way I thought it would, though more dramatic and awesome. And now I get to go for Gerhart, yay! (yes Gerhart! Tachibana Shinnosuke doing a dumb but nice guy that uses a huge sword, what’s not to love!)

Theresa lives with her adoptive mother and brother, Runo, in a small town on the planet Norg (style looks Medieval Europe-ishi). Runo acts younger than his age, because he was traumatized several years earlier when his older brother died, and he thinks it was his fault (I think the situation was one of those things like he died while looking for Runo or something).

In the town there have been several girls kidnapped recently, but they were each returned after one night away. And of course, one evening when Theresa is out to fetch Runo, who’s been praying to his brother in the nearby church as he often does, Theresa gets kidnapped. However, she’s returned after one night, and she doesn’t remember anything. Runo was really upset taking the blame for her kidnapping on himself, so he’s ecstatic when she comes back unharmed. He goes out to gather some fruit (IIRC), but this time he doesn’t come back. Theresa and his mother search far and wide for him, but there’s no sign of him. After a few days, the mother goes back to work, confessing to Theresa that she always felt that one day Runo would leave her. Theresa can’t stand the thought of just giving up, so she continues looking, and after a week she is looking in the forest when she finds a new path that she doesn’t recognize. A man shows up and suspects her of being a spy, and when she’s too afraid to answer, he says he’ll kill her to keep her silent. Theresa is so scared she runs away deeper on the trail, and comes to a large fortress. She sees many men doing military drills in the courtyard, and is looking for a place to hide when two men notice her.

She runs away again back into the forest. Somehow (sorry this part is hazy, and it doesn’t matter much) she passes out from fear, I believe because the first man has shown up and is threatening her again. When she wakes up shortly afterwards, many men are around her, including Runo! She’s very happy, but Renour says that he’s not going back home with her, he needs to stay there. Theresa doesn’t understand until a new man comes who seems familiar, and Runo calls him brother. The leader of the men, Levias, is a ringer for Runo’s dead brother, and Runo feels that he’s supposed to help Levias (also, this kid is very emotionally fragile). When she realizes his determination, Theresa decides to stay as well, and convinces Levias by saying she’ll take care of Runo. She’s also very surprised to learn that not only is he in Levias’ army, he’s a captain! All the men are, and Runo is learning magic from Levias.

I believe this is where the intro ends. The army is actually kind of a mercenary army, travelling throughout the universe (yeah they have a spaceship) and helping local wars be ended quickly through their overwhelming strength. The first time through you can’t get a character ending, so you go through the story of taking care of Renour, having him accept the violence of war, getting to know the other knight-captains, and eventually (IMO this part took too long), Theresa realizing that she has magic capability as well. You see, even before they met everyone, Theresa could always feel where Runo was, though vaguely. And after being kidnapped, she could tell exactly where he was – it was how she eventually found him. During their time at the fortress, the enemy (who at that point was unknown) attacked with magic, and Theresa somehow felt where the magic was coming from, allowing the knight captains to capture and interrogate the enemies. Though all the captains know about her ability, apparently it doesn’t occur to anyone that maybe Theresa would be more useful as a magician than the maid and quartermaster (that’s what she ends up doing most of the time, including making tea for everyone).

When she finally does start learning magic is after an episode where the fortress is attacked, and Levias says they need to power up the spaceship using Runo’s magic (Levias and other magic-users contribute as well, but Runo’s magic is pretty strong). But Runo is in no shape to use magic, and Theresa asks if she can try. She ends up filling the whole thing almost by herself.

Between the fighting and training scenes, we find out that the attackers are the Empire which rules the universe. Right now the Emperor is the fourth son of the previous Emperor, and Levias really doesn’t like him. It’s also implied that Levias is part of this family as well, and is planning a coup.

I’ve just gotten through a major plot twist, so I won’t say more than that as it’s probably near the end. But as you can see, the story of Angelique Maren Rokukishi is pretty complicated. I’m not sure how I feel about being forced to do a plot ending before I can really get into the romance – it’s not too bad, and you still get to know the guys, but not in depth, and the story can drag sometimes when characters are talking strategy and tactics – not just Levias’ army but you also see the Empire side. I also am hoping that in the other routes there’s less Runo, as he kind of annoys me whenever he shows up.

This is Otomate, so of course the art is pretty and the seiyuu are great. I love how the guys are actually varied in body type – you can see how Gerhart is large and strong and Giovanni is shorter and more lithe. In the first route there haven’t been many CGs, which is fine with me as I’d rather have them focus on the character routes. I think I’ll really like doing those, as several appeal to me, but right now I don’t even have much hint of what their route might be about (though it doesn’t stop me from guessing!). I bet once I start one of those, it will go really fast, but I have to admit right now I’m playing through just to get to the end.

So a bit of a lukewarm review right now for Angelique, but I’m hoping that will change. And now that you know the first 2/3 of the prereq story, you can just speed right through that and get to the good stuff

The one I’ve listened to so far is the Grimm Fairytales collection、volume 4. The CDs feature popular seiyuu reading familiar tales, but with a slightly more…sensual…vibe than you’re used to. There’s no _real_ adult content that I’ve heard, but the atmosphere is darker and more mature than, say, Disney.　

In the upcoming game, the characters were picked out from several of the CDs:
Navigator (CV: Inoue Kazuhiko) – kind of like a guide on your journey through the stories, in the CDs he does the prologues and epilogues to bookend each volume and tie things together.

Hensel (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) From Hensel and Gretel. This is one of the stories that’s in the Grimm volume, and he reads that one.

Zeus (CV: Kondou Takashi) From Leda and the Swan in the Greek Myth volume. Mmhmm, bird lovin’! (Gahhhhhh)

Hosokawa Tadaoki (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke) from the Warring Periods Koi Emaki volume. Gotta get a samurai in there somehow!

Bluebeard (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) from uh, Bluebeard　- I think this is original to the game（伊。絵。Ｉドンｔ背絵意ｔ音. Isn’t this the guy who…well, no spoilers just in case. But yeah…interesting choice.

Issun Boushi (CV: Suzuki Tatsuhisa) The male version of Thumbelina, from the first drama CD (no theme). Cute! I know whose route I’ll be playing first.

Prince (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) from The Little Mermaid on the Hans Christian Andersen volume. He doesn’t need a name, we all know him!

Aoyama Harima (CV: Shimono Hiro) from Banmachiketsu Yashiki. I don’t know this story but it’s in the ghost story CD…I hope it’s not scary. Seriously, I’m a big chicken.

In the game, you’re a young woman who’s invited by the Navigator into experiencing the well-known tales, but your choices can take the story into unknown territory (which, frankly, is good, because a lot of these stories are NOT love stories). All in all, it will be interesting to see how it turns out, there have been several games lately inspired by old stories and fables. Hopefully this one will be better than Mother Goose. Kannou Mukashibanashi is scheduled for January 19.

There’s actually a LOT of this game that you don’t see the first time through, and even up to the third time and maybe the fourth route I was getting new mini scenes between characters who I barely even saw the first time around. It also takes a few times to really understand what side each person is on, and who is “good” and “bad”. Several of the characters are neither, which really makes the characters interesting.

I can’t say too much about the plot because it’s too easy to spoil things, but I will say I like all of the routes you can get, even the school president! Several of them are bittersweet, especially that of the whole story’s ‘ringmaster’, but I never felt cheated at the end.

As for my favourite route, that’s tough – I still like Porthos just because he’s my type (and his little…problem cracks me up). I like Athos’ route, though he’s still a little bland in other people’s storylines. And I really enjoyed the ‘hidden’ character, whose route opens up after all the six regular characters are finished once. I think each route is well-done, so your favourite might depend on what character or plotline you like best (if you like bittersweet, go for the older guys).

Intro: It starts off a bit slowly, with the heroine D’Artagnan living with her father in a small cottage, apparently a bit far away from the nearest village. The setting is kind of AU 19th century France – there’s a mention in history class about the start of the French Revolution, so it’s after 1789, but they’re still only using candles etc., there’s no electricity or steam technology. It also seems to be inspired by Rose of Versailles in terms of outfits, hairstyles, etc., and of course the idea of a female swordsman!

At the beginning of the game, D’Artagnan is living a happy, simple life with her father, who enjoys looking at the stars. One night she wakes up after having a strange, forboding dream, and her father explains to her a very rare occurrence that will occur this year – the alignment of the sun, the moon, and Venus. She comments that it must be very lucky for such a thing to happen, and goes back to sleep. Her father doesn’t tell her, but thinks that actually it’s an extremely bad omen.
The next day D’Artagnan heads out to the village to bring some books back to the library. She gets a bad feeling and rushes back home to find her father being attacked by some kind of black monster! He kills her father, and is about to attack her, when she’s saved by a man with red eyes. He tells her he came to warn her father, but was too late. He knew her father and studied under him at the Chevalier Academy years ago. D’Artagnan is shocked, as she had no idea her father was a teacher, and is even more surprised when the man, Trevile, says the attack was likely an attempt to get something back which her father took from the school when he left. Trevile invites her to join the school, where she might find out why her father was killed and by whom. D’Artagnan accepts.

Some time later, D’Artagnan arrives at the school. The driver of her public coach asks her to delivery a letter to Athos, and says he’s well-known so she should have no trouble finding him. Walking through the halls, she drops the letter and it’s picked up by a beautiful young man with long blond hair and blue eyes. He thinks she did it on purpose, but she corrects him and goes looking for Athos. After finding out which room is his, D’Artagnan knocks on his door and opens it when there’s no response. She finds another young man inside, and assuming him to be Athos, tries to give him the letter. He says he’s not Athos, and she leaves to go searching again, finally finding him in the library. After going to so much trouble, she’s a little annoyed when he doesn’t even thank her, but says she could have just left it on his desk.
The next day, she’s surprised to find out that all three guys she met are the Musketeers, which is like the school’s Student Council. They’re very important, have a lot of power and influence, and are admired by the other students.
Discussing with Trevile how best to find out who killed her father, Trevile says that the best way would be to get the Musketeers’ help. However, they’re unlikely to care if D’Artagnan just asks point-blank, so Trevile suggests that if she can beat them in duels, they will have to swear loyalty to her (a tradition at the school), and will then help her. The hitch is that they’re the best swordsmen in school (a school famous for having elite students from the country’s aristocracy and talented scholarship students). So D’Artagnan starts to train, first with Trevile, and when he’s not available, Constantine, a young man who thinks she’s cute.

That’s the beginning 15 minutes or so.

Characters: I didn’t think I’d be interested in Aramis (the blondie) but he’s actually charming me. Not as much as my first interest, Porthos, who is just the type that I usually go for in otome games. Athos is fine, but hasn’t really shown much personality so far, just been the commanding, strong, quiet type. I really like D’Artagnan, she’s quite interesting. The guys have a discussion early on wondering why she’s so unemotional, and she is. It makes total sense considering that she just saw her father die violently, and is trying to find his murderer. Most of the characters are pretty well done, even the side characters like the students. I haven’t seen much of the school head Richelieu.

Strobe Mania, from D3, has a story and characters up.