Posts Tagged ‘otomate’

Tidbits (mostly about Oomi in HnK1)

Wooo what a productive weekend (in gaming terms, not so much in, say, cleaning terms, or getting organized terms)! Even though I was pretty mad on Friday because my website was down when I wanted to write about the SYK fandisk – it’s happened before, and if it happens again, I might change my hosting sevice.

Anywyas, I finally finished the original Hiiro no Kakera – I had never done Oomi’s story, so I did that and his bits in ~Ano Sora no Shita de~. Hmm, I tried to take it slow and read everything, but I got impatient sometimes because the story is so long, and near the end it’s like, okay, I know he does this, I know this happens, hurry up and do it and get to the ending battle! It was satisfying to finish though. I was surprised that his guardian backstory wasn’t anything special, I guess one good thing about having an older character is that you can have their issues coming from their current life instead of a past one, heh. I think his storyline was also one of the sadder ones (not necessarily for his story, but for what happens to other characters in it).

Anyways, I think I actually like the ‘Oomi’ storyline better in the new Hiiro no Kakera. In the original, for me, a lot of the suspense and drama was diluted because I’d done all the other storylines and knew most of the plot points already. In the new one, it doesn’t depend much on plot, it’s more of a character struggle, so it works even if you know the basic story.

And another milestone – I finally got the real Tomomori ending in Harutoki 3 Izayoiki!! I had the ‘fake’ one, and was disappointed, but went online to check, and found out what I had to do. It only took a few minutes, I should have done it a long time ago. Ah, Tomomori ~fans self~ Anyone thinking Edward Cullen is the ultimate in sexy bad boys should play Harutoki 3 – Tomomori blows him out of the water.

Now I’m playing Lucian Bee’s again trying to finish it – I had two characters done when my save file got corrupted, so I had to erase the whole thing and start over (yeah, I was NOT happy). But now that releases have slowed down for the winter, I can finally go back and finish stuff! My orderly Excel-spreadsheet* loving side is very happy! Maybe I should make another To Do list…hmmm…

* Some of you might know, I keep track of my otome games in an Excel spreadsheet, and have a percentage complete as well with lists of endings to check off. Yeah, I’m a list person…

Told ya so!

SYK fandisk, coming in March. I was one month off ^_^

Shin Tamayorihime – Hiiro no Kakera

I’ve been playing the new Hiiro no Kakera, and it’s good, although it doesn’t have the same punch as the original…I guess it would be tough to, since most fans are familiar with the storyline. I was really impressed with the seiyuu though – I totally forgot that they were all the same as the original! Except Touma, he sounds almost exactly like Takuma (has he ever done a very different voice?)
So far I still have Touma and Shun to do, but I’m taking a break so I don’t get bored. And their personalities are totally different too.

The six guardians are, of course, descendants from the original six, except for Shirou, who (though he may be descended from Ryou since he has the same last name) was more made into a guardian rather than being one naturally. There are two enemy groups trying to control Kanna City’s source of (spiritual) power, one being the Tenyakuryou (sp?), whose head scientist raised the heroine, and the other being the Teni, a religious group whose leader says she is the Tamayorihime. Half of the guardians have connections to the Tenryakryou and half to the church, and depending on whose route you go into, the ending ‘boss’ will come from one of these groups. Then there are the mysterious twins Kyousuke and Teppei (both acted by Ueda Yuuji), who act as both deus (dei?) ex machina and comic relief. I really like them, and almost wish they could have more part in the story.

The story isn’t as angst-filled as HnK1. Each route has its intense moments, even happy-go-lucky Shirou, but they’re not drawn out for long (IMO Shinogu’s is the most angsty so far). Also, at least so far, there’s been no route where it’s the heroine + 1 guardian against the rest, so the story’s atmosphere isn’t as oppressive as Hiiro no Kakera 1 was. Overall, whether these changes are good or bad is a matter of taste. Personally I think I’d like to have seen some more story for each guardian where it’s just him and the heroine – one of the downsides to having the guardians on your side is that there’s a lot of group scenes and not too many one-on-ones. And the scenarios for each character could, I feel, have been explored more. It is ‘easier’ to get through the story though – in the original sometimes I wanted Tamaki to just run away, the whole village (including her grandmother) seemed horrible

How do you guys like it? Which do you like better, and why?

Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku

Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku is the newest title for the PSP coming from Otomate (developer Vingt-et-un Systems) sometime in 2010. It’s set in Kyoto during the Taisho era. The heroine Haru grew up poor, and at the beginning of the game, has been hired into the Miyanomori household, a powerful zaibatsu (think Doumyouji’s family in Hana Yori Dango) as a maid. What she doesn’t know is that the head of Miyanomori has just stated that he is stepping down, and will choose a successor from his six sons, sending the whole family into disarray.

The six Miyanomori brothers:

Left: Tadashi, Right: Isami

Tadashi (34 years old): The oldest son, Tadashi always assumed that he’d inherit control of the Miyanomori concern, and he has a tendency to look down on others. He’s in charge of the family’s banking business, and is a workaholic.

Isami (31 years old): Isami has a high rank in the military, and only cares about his country. He thinks that if you’re not increasing the power of Japan, you’re useless.

Left: Shigeru, Right: Susumu
Shigeru (26 years old): As opposed to his older brothers, Shigeru hates rules and being controlled, and loves freedom. Though he’s part of a huge
zaibatsu, apparently he’s been seen performing in the city’s entertainment district.

Susumu (22 years old): As a police officer, he has a strong sense of duty and morals. He strongly respects his brothers and family.

Left: Hiroshi, Right: Masashi

Hiroshi (18 years old): Curious about everything, Hiroshi’s hobby is invention. He’s very friendly and often chats with Haru.

Masashi (16 years old): Masashi is immature and childish – he only does what what he wants to, and dislikes anyone who disobeys him. Sometimes he also shows a cruel side.

Haru is drawn into the sons’ power struggles. The time limit of the game is one year. The gameplay includes setting your schedule of chores (and I believe these affect parameters).

S.Y.K. – Fandisk coming in 3…2…

I’m playing S.Y.K. ~Shinsetsu Saiyuuki~ right now, determined to finish everyone so I can get Gokuu – yes, to get his true ending apparently you need to finish everyone else first! Well, the number of characters is small (3 or 4, I’m not sure if the ‘kakushi’ character counts), so it’s not horrible – just enough to make me determined to do it ASAP!

The game is set up a bit like a TV series – there are 12 chapters, and near the beginning and end of each the theme songs play. Also, there’s a ‘Next episode!’ teaser after each chapter (until you get to the character-specific ones, usually 9 or 10). The first time playing takes much longer than subsequent playthroughs, especially since after the first time, you can choose to completely skip the first two chapters (basically the character intro and setup chapters).

Each chapter is a mix of story dialogue and ‘gameplay’, where you choose a point on a map and then go through events for it. The event is usually someone asking for help, you choosing to help or not, and then choosing which of your comrades will help them. This will increase their affection level, and if it’s successful, your ‘toku’ level will also increase. Toku is kind like the miko level in Hiiro no Kakera, except here I think you can raise it as much as you like. There are also character events, and then the main event of the chapter.

So far my favourite character is Gyokuryuu. Though there’s hardly any romance in his route, he’s touchingly devoted and his story was, for me, the most emotional. And he’s just so cute, with his semi-bloodthirstiness and amorality! That sounds wrong, but once you play you’ll know what I mean (plus, Miyata Kouki is excellent voicing him).

The art is, as you would expect from Otomate, beautiful, both the regular art and the CGs. There’s quite a lot of narration, sometimes I get bored and don’t read all of it, but it definitely gives the story volume. And I *think* they re-used some music from Hiiro no Kakera – I mean to go back and check later, but some of the background music sounds awfully familiar. I don’t really mind, it’s nice music, and they do have several new tracks (and of course the OP and EDs are new).

So far I’m really enjoying it – the guys are all very different, and it’s fun to see their different approaches to solving the same problems. They also do a lot of fighting and joking with each other, and some of the dialogue is quite funny. Also, you find out different things about the guys in each route – since the heroine was actually the original Sanzou Houshi 500 years ago, the four companions are all also reincarnations of the original four…or something like that

Oh yeah, the title of the post? Even after playing for only a few days, I’m sure this game was designed with a fandisk in mind. There are at least 3 characters I’d really like routes for that don’t have them, and at least 2 more that are possibilities.

So fine, Otomate, make your fandisk and I’ll buy it, darn you! I’ll even take a guess at when the fandisk will come out…hmmm…I’ll say January/February 2010.

Anyone else out there playing this? Who’s your fave so far?

Wand of Fortune – first playthrough

When it rains, it pours…I just got Wand of Fortune, just a couple days after receiving Arco Baleno, Kazeiro Surf, and Himehibi 2. I thought it would probably be easy to get into so I started it up, and it’s pretty fun so far. It’s a sim, not just a visual novel, so it’s taking longer than, say, Will o’ Wisp did. But it’s not difficult, or at least I don’t think it is – I’ll find out when I get to end and see if I got Ragi ^_^.

After the introduction, where you meet all the characters and the school staff, as well as get the goal explained to you (to raise your magic stats, as well as get high enough in one element), you start on a regular weekly schedule. You choose where to go in the morning and evening (thankfully you can see where people are before you commit), and you’ll encounter someone on the way to and from school. You can only choose to raise your magic stats in the daytime, since that’s when the instructors are available, but you can raise your elements anytime by choosing one of the guys. Once you meet the guy, you then choose to either raise the element (by studying with them), or talking to them and raising their affection level.

That’s the weekday progression – on Saturday you stay in and rest, and can see your memories and cards, and on Sunday you can go to town as well as wander the campus.

Also, at certain points in the game, there will be special date events which I think are required to complete the guys’ routes.

There are a few other features to the game to enjoy as well:

• Memories – you find these coloured jewels in certain places depending on the guy, and they show you little snippets of his memories
• Card game – a simple card game where, if you beat a character three times, you get a special card that will make them say ‘things they would normally never say’.
• Missions – I’m not sure if these make much difference to the story, but if you choose someone on the map that has a star beside them, you’ll start a mini storyline that will culminate in a ‘mission’ that you do on the weekend, and has a chance to raise the affection of one the guys involved (usually two on each mission).

It seems the game goes through about 20 weeks, and since you have to choose where to go everyday, it takes a bit of time to get through everything. I’m only about halfway through, and I’m going for Ragi. So far there hasn’t been any major angst, but it’s quite fun, and I think once you go through once, other playthroughs will be pretty straightforward.  

So in short, Wand of Fortune is a fun, fairly simple sim otome game that has enough sidequests and events to keep me interested for now, though I’m not sure I want to try doing more than one or two routes in a row.  I’m going to try and finish Ragi’s route tonight, so then I can finally try Himehibi 2!

Love x Loop Release Pushed Back

Otomate has just announced that Love x Loop’s release date has been pushed back from July 23 to August 20.

Too bad! Although there are so many new games now (especially from Otomate), I can’t say I’m totally surprised. Yay for split shipments!!

Death Connection: Set for December

Yup, I thought it was scheduled for October,  but it’s now officially December. I don’t mind, the fall has quite enough money-sucking games already!! Oh, and the site is now open. The Story and Information is up, characters are coming soon.

Hiiro no Kakera Day, October 1 2009

OK, let’s lay it all out on the table: The first day of October this year is now officially Hiiro no Kakera Day.

Why? Well, let’s take a look…

1. The newest installment in the series, Hiiro no Kakera Shin Tamayorihime Denshou (New Tamayori-hime Legend) is released for the PS2 – 7140¥. One thing I just noticed, the Hiiro no Kakera is in katakana for this game, whereas in the original and #2 it’s kanji/hiragana.
2. Hiiro no Kakera Aizouban, the original Hiiro no Kakera game and Ano Sora no Shita de, along with the extra scenes and events added to the PSP version, is released for the PS2 – 5040¥.
3. Shin* Hisui no Shizuku ~Hiiro no Kakera 2~ is released for the PS2 – 6090¥. Several, even most aspects of the game are being improved or simply re-done. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this before: the voices have been re-recorded (with the same seiyuu) and the soundtrack has been re-done as well. Also, there are ‘added special effects’; I have no idea what this would involve, hopefully they’re not too cheesy. There will also be new scenes and CG’s, and while that’s normal for a re-release, the amount sounds like more than usual, and each character will have more ‘action scenes’ in his storyline. A staff member says that the whole story and each route will also be more dramatic, and responding to fan requests, even the characters themselves have been improved.

I’ll be very interested to see what this will turn out like – it was actually Hisui no Shizuku that really got me into the Hiiro no Kakera franchise. For some reason, though I had the original, I didn’t get into it, and really just rushed through one route without really understanding or appreciating the story. I think it might have been timing, and the fact that it was the first long, straight visual novel I played. Hisui no Shizuku, for some reason, was easier for me to get into (knowing the basic plot from HnK helped a lot), and motivated me to go back and play HnK 1 again (though I still need to finish Shinji and Suguru, eheh).

So, with three games from the same franchise coming out ON THE SAME DAY (oh, did I mention the twin pack of HnK Aizouban and Shin HnK 2 coming out as well?), I’m just going to call October 1 Hiiro no Kakera Day.

Now whether I’ll buy these is a good question…I’ll pay close attention to further updates on what the changes to HnK2 will be, maybe I’ll play it again to try and figure out the differences between it and HnK1, which was, and is, so popular – even now, 3 years after it was released, Takuma and Mahiro are STILL in the top 10 characters, and the game currently sits at #2 on B’s Log popularity poll.

I think I’ll probably get the HnK2 remake, and of course I’m planning on buying Shin Tamayori-hime Denshou. But the Aizouban…I dunno. I already have the original and Ano Sora no Shita de…is it worth the 5040¥ for the Christmas event and a few new scenes? If anyone has the portable version, is there enough extra for the money? Hmmmm……

Anyways, just for fun, here are the original promo videos for

Hiiro no Kakera

and Hisui no Shizuku Hiiro no Kakera 2

No vids that I could find yet for Shin Tamayori-hime Denshou!

New games for fall!

Whee, several more games announced in this month’s B’s Log and Girl’s Style!

Fall 2009

• Signal – for the DS from D3 Publisher – set as a kind of sequel to one of their first otome games, Backlash
• Crazy Rabbits – for the PC from Tiaramode, this R18 game involves a company that specializes in…making couples break up. Interesting!

Winter 2009

• Last Escort -Club Katze- for the PS2 AND the PSP (at the same time!) from D3 Publisher
• memories – R18 game for the PC from Chocolatier, a new otome game brand. The basic story is of a heroine who transfers to a new high school and meets several guys, all different ‘types’ – the ‘cool guy’, the smart student president, the playboy, the cute innocent guy, and the older man.

Lots of news about other, not brand-new games as well, including…a Hiiro no Kakera 2 remake!!! Not a port or adaptation, this is a pure remake…I might do a post on this later. In fact, just look at all those HnK releases – I think I’ll name October 1 Hiiro no Kakera Day!

Other news on release dates and adaptations:

• July 24: Souten no Kanata for the PC from Mi-o (YAY I was waiting for this!)
• Sept 17 2009: Hoshi no Furu Toki Portable for the PSP from Otomate – woot! I tried to order this (the first Otomate game from Kazu Kiyone) and they couldn’t find it – apparently they are starting to re-release old titles as “Otomate Classics”
• Oct 1 2009: Hiiro no Kakera  Shin Tamayorihime Denshou for the PS2 from Otomate
• Oct 1 2009: Shin*Hiiro no Kakera 2 for the PS2 from Otomate
• Oct 1 2009: Hiiro no Kakera (original) Aizouhan (Perfect Edition) for the PS2 from Otomate
• October 2009: Death Connection for the PS2 from Otomate
• Fall 2009: Nade Pro (the seiyuu game!) for the PS2 from Gungho Works