Going from right to left: Heroine, Yoshitsune, Benkei, Kotarou, Tsugunobu, Tadanobu

Minamoto no Yoshitsune (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke) – The son of the Minamoto clan. His deepest desire is to beat the Taira clan, and he fully believes in his older brother Yoritomo in Kamakura. His mother gave him a flute which he keeps with him at all times, and he watches over the heroine.

Musashibou Benkei (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou) A former monk of Mt. Hiei who now works for Yoshitsune. He’s intimidating without even trying to be, so he often scares people. He likes to cook and seeing people enjoy food makes him happy. Though he doesn’t show much emotion, he’s actually good at looking after people. (I am totally doing his route first. I knew I would like him, and I love his voice actor too!)

Kotarou (CV: Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) – A quick, nimble young man who’s good at talking to people, he has his own reasons for working for Yoshitsune. He has a complex about being short and is determined to become even bigger than Benkei one day. He can’t seem to help being mean to the heroine.

Satou Tsugunobu (CV: Miki Shinichirou) – Yoshitsune’s comrade who lives with him in Hiraizumi. He’s very loyal, and is almost too straightforward in his moral code. He also loves swords so much, he does some blacksmithing. He sees the heroine as a younger sister.

Satou Tadanobu (CV: Suzuki Yuuto) – Tsugunobu’s younger brother who’s an archery expert, and is seen as a bit of a womanizer. He likes to tease the heroine and watch her reactions.

Mikage (CV: Koyasu Takehito) – Yoshitsune’s mysterious teacher, he actually tries to kidnap the heroine.

The alchemy is also foolproof – whenever you make something it’s for a specific purpose, and the ‘correct’ combination is the only one that you can do.

I’m disappointed that the alchemy is so shallow, but as a visual novel it’s not bad. You do get to choose what tasks to do each day and it’s impossible to do them all. Right now I’m just doing the ones involving my target (Ralph) and then after that, either random tasks or I choose to skip out on them altogether and just mind the store. The tasks are separated into four sections; one for the three major festivals that occur during spring, and then one for Other (which seems to be related to the fairy Popotte maybe, or possibly a past Alchemist?).

C’est tout for today, I should finish Ralph tomorrow.

• Vampire Sweetie (PC)
• Black Wolves Saga Bloody Nightmare (PC)
• Scarred Rider Xechs + FD (PSP)
• Harutoki 5 FD (PSP)
• and Atelier Elkrone(PSP)

After not too much debate, I started up Elkrone first. One, I really want to see if there’s a good alchemy minigame, because I love collecting and making things in-game (yeah I am that annoying crafter in MMORPGs that wants all the recipes). And Otomate has done it before – Kanuchi had a crafting system that I really liked. And two, I’ve played Xechs and Harutoki 5 so the FDs can wait, and Bloody Nightmare…I need to work myself up to it, I hear it’s really dark. If it’s anything like Gekka Ryouran it’s gonna be intense. Vampire Sweetie I’ll probably play in fits and starts.

So far in Elkrone, I’ve only made one thing, but it seems really simple. You need three ingredients, and from my understanding you already have one or two of them (they’re more like catalysts and they don’t get used up) that you get from your fairy friend Popotto. Doesn’t seem very complicated, as you can tell when you have a match. I haven’t gone collecting yet though, so maybe that is more involved.

As for l’amour, I’m pretty sure I’ll go for Ralph (the main guy) first. I’m not even out of the intro, I’ve only met him, Johanne the adventurer, and the old weapon shop guy (voiced by none other than Madao! Gintama’s ruined me for this guy’s voice, good thing he’s not catchable). Ralph is a former classmate and classic tsundere, really obvious and pretty cute.

That’s it for now! Once I have more idea of the story (no idea if there’s an overarching plot but there are some hints) I’ll post again. And tomorrow or Sunday will be video time!

Issho ni Gohan, the cooking-centric drama cd series, is being made into a game by Otomate for the PSP – for release in September. The heroine becomes the landlady at a boarding house for a nearby cooking school which she attends (which all the guys go to/have graduated from). In addition to the affection meter which changes with your dialogue choices, it will have a cooking skill meter which also affects your endings, raised by cooking minigames and quizzes.

Characters:
Yoneda Hikari (CV: Kaji Yuuki) – the second-year student who’s able to become friends easily with anyone
Karasawa Rei (CV: Ono Daisuke) – the graduate with a harsh personality who’s running a nearby curry restaurant
Toriyama Yousuke (CV: Shimono Hiro) – the first-year who looks up to Hikari and is the house’s moodmaker
Daitou Natsu (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou) – a fourth-year in the Japanese food program, he grew up in a traditional Japanese house and knows archery and ikebana. He’s strict about people following the rules and has a hard time blending into groups.
Unoha Nao (CV: Fukuyama Jun) – the weak-bodied fourth year who’s a bit of an airhead, who’s also artistic
Umino Riki (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) – the popular second-year who DJs at a club to make money and wants to ‘produce’ a restaurant

Ther’s also a teaser pic about a new game about ‘glass heart syndrome’, and not being ‘allowed’ to get ‘tokimeki’(I think you’re not supposed to get romantic feelings in the game) from Otomate. More details next month.

And finally, a diagram showing all the different ways you can customize your guy in Custom Drive, resulting in (supposedly) over 1,000,000 variations: hats (5), glasses (5), personality (5), hairstyle (10), clothes (10), accessories (10), over 3 different characters. Now if I remember high school math, the law of permutations would mean that there are…hm, I only get 375,000 permutations. Either I’m wrong (impossible!), or D3 has some explaining to do! We won’t be satisfied with only 375,000, am I right?? …OK, I’ll give them a pass this time.

Looks like Quinrose is really getting into paired games! First there was 12ji no Cinderella and 24ji no Cinderella, and now there’s Ouma ga toki and Hyakki Yakou! The heroine, Tatsuta Ui, is a dragon god princess, who’s #1 in the school and uses fire. She’s half god and half youkai, and tries to live up to her royal lineage at school, but secretly feels hemmed in. I think the artist is getting better, the characters look more polished (although they still look pretty stiff – I think that’s a Quinrose thing). Other than the school setting, I don’t think there’s any connection – perhaps this is set before or after Ouma Ga Toki.

New game from Otomate, Genroh – by the same artist who worked on Nise no Chigiri (kya!), this is set during the Genpei Gassen, or the war between the Minamoto and Taira clans in late 1100′s (the same time period as Harutoki 3). The heroine, Saya, can see people’s feelings. The main characters include Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Musashibou Benkei (who is a totally gorgeous silver-haired bishounen here).

Double Score is a new PC games series from BlueMoon where all the romanceable characters are significantly older than the heorine – the youngest is eight years older, the oldest is 29 years older! There will be six games, each with two character routes, and there are also drama CDs coming out starting in June. The heroine has a part-time job as a miko at a famous love shrine, and through her work there, meets the other characters. The games will be Y2500 each, which seems kind of expensive for only two routes each (although I say this having spent $4 each on Pirates in Love routes, where there are no voices and the story is pretty short, so…)

And finally, the seiyuu for 24ji no Cinderella were announced!
Louis Reed (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) – A childhood friend who’s in training to become a knight
Linus Randol (CV: Yusa Kouji) – Your fiancee, who’s in the nobility
Oswell Savaret (CV: Tsuda Kenjirou) – A magician tutor
Damian (CV: Morita Masakazu) – A mouse monster
Feather (CV: Shimono Hiro) – the pigeon (goose? I can’t remember) monsters from 12ji
Spencer Hendrick (CV: Nakata Jouji) – maybe not romanceable? The prince’s servant
Sirius Bradley (CV: Takahashi Hiroki) – probably also not romanceable, a magician

I feel like there was more news than that, so I’ll go check Girl’s Style again. Sorry I didn’t post this earlier, I have no excuse – I bought some doujinishi anthologies along with the mags (you know those large tankoubon size ones for popular anime?) and was distracted. And yes, they were Bleach, and they only had about 15 pages of Ulquihime in all 400 pages, boo.

I wasn’t that interested in Arcana Famiglia for whatever reason, but Rita recommended it to me and I’m glad I got it on her rec. It’s enjoyable, has some innovative narrative tricks, and some neat (although mostly unnecessary) gameplay.

Arcana Famiglia the game is based on a series of novels of the same name. I’m not sure if the stories are totally the same (apart from the character endings which I’m pretty sure had to be created fresh), but you can tell that the worldbuilding is solid.

First, if you’re not familiar with the Tarot, it’s a set of cards that has 22 special cards called the Major Arcana. In the story, the Major Arcana can choose someone as their bearer, marking them with a stigmata, and that person gains powers depending on which card it is. There are also some heavy penalties to pay; these factor heavily into most of the storylines.

The heroine, Felicita, is the daughter of a mob boss, Il Mondo, who takes care of a Mediterranean island called Legalo. He has several teams of workers, each headed up by a captain who is a Major Arcana. On his 59th birthday (he’s looking good I must say!), Il Mondo announces that in two months, there will be a duel between all the existing Major Arcana holders, and the winner will 1) take over the boss role of the Arcana Famiglia, and 2) get to marry his daughter. In addition, she will be confined to the family mansion for the rest of her life.

Well, as you might guess, Felicita (along with some of the Arcana) don’t think too highly of this, so she determines to win the competition herself. Unfortunately she’s not that strong yet, so she needs to train.

Once you get through the introduction nad meeting all the characters, you start moving through days, choosing who to visit each day. Depending on the day, each guy might have just a chance encounter (short), a character event, or a love event. The game is nice and indicates this with symbols on the map selection screen. During most events, your choices affect the affection level of the guys. Also, you can use your Arcana power of The Lovers to peer inside the guy’s hearts and get a glimpse of their thoughts, also raising their affection a bit each time.

Taikoubou – a famous, genius military strategist. He makes excellent decisions on the battlefield to win, but will ruthlessly discard anyone he doesn’t see as useful. He’s arrogant and pushy, and a perfectionist, and strangely also very cheap.

Koutenka – A bright, gentle fellow sennin of Yousen’s. He was a human, but was kidnapped by the sennin. He’s a very hard worker. His demeanour is usually very polite and respectful, but once in a while shows his sharp tongue.

Shinjin – One of the 12 head sennin and Yousen’s master. He doesn’t talk a lot, and never gets emotional. Because of this, people think he’s cold, but he actually has very strong feelings, and considers Yousen very precious. He’s also very unlucky.

Kihatsu – a narcissistic prince who’s very odd, and sometimes confuses Yousen. However, in his base he’s fairly innocent and is the group’s moodmaker.

Otomate and Furyu are releasing a new, improved version of Aoiza Kaika Bunmei this year, with scenes and stories that ‘couldn’t get told’ in the original. I don’t know if they mean that they ran out of time on the original, or that they were added. I’ve been playing Aoiza recently, and it’s true that there are many questions that aren’t answered fully in this version, so it might be the former case.

D3 is also releasing a powered-up version of Storm Lover called Storm Lover *Kai*. It will be about 2 years after the original release date. This one will also have extra scenes and events.

But I have to say, I think it’s kind of unfair to release the same game twice on the same platform, fairly close together. There have been a few cases of this – Hisui no Shizuku Hiiro no Kakera 2 was re-released with significant changes as Shin•Hisui no Shizuku after the original did poorly, and Quinrose re-released Wizard and Master. However, Wizard and Master was after five years with totally new art and voices、I don’t consider it the same at all really.

Since these are both on the PSP, couldn’t they make the extra stuff available as a download on the PSN? Why make people buy it all over again if they want the new material?

Another game that did something similarly annoying was Harutoki 4 – its “fandisk” was more of an extended version, except the extra material was all in flashback-type screens; I don’t even think there were more CGs. I thought that was a bit much as well (though I bought it because I was hoping for more).

Though I’d like to play the new material, I　don’t think I’ll get these – I just checked, and Aoiza was released in August, and the new one comes out in May. 9 months between the original and the ‘improved’ version…no.

I know we often complain about companies emptying our wallets, but has there ever been a game that you REALLY felt ripped off by? I might add Love Root Zero to my list, as I found it had unacceptably low production values.

From the left: ??, Shuu, Kanato, Ayato, Raito, Reiji
The six brothers are the other main characters (apparently Kanato, Ayato, and Raito are triplets), and they’re all vampires:

Ayato (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) – A huge S, loves teasing, and has no commonsense

Kanato (CV: Kaji Yuuki) – the smallest and weakest, he’s easily sent into temper tantrums, and is also S and kind of yandere.

Raito (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke) – a perverted S who’s often suspended from school for harassment, he talks fast when he gets excited.

Shuu (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) – the oldest brother who’s lazy and unspirited about everything except music (also S).

Reiji (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki) – he acts and talks kind of like a butler, but is a very strict S about etiquette and sometimes makes up his own etiquette rules. His hobby is collecting fine china.

Subaru (CV: Kondou Takashi) – the youngest brother and violent S, he’s a loner who’s quick to start fights and doesn’t like his brothers prying into his business. He usually stays in his room.

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.