Posts Tagged ‘PC’
Deep breath…ok here it is! LOVE.101!
Well, here we are, one week late (sorry miruki!) but I have finally put up my game’s website!
LOVE.101 will be a little otome game set in university. As the heroine, you’re trying to survive the first semester as best you can and see if you can meet someone special at the same time!
Several updates are still to come, and hopefully I can get that ugly link border away from the buttons (I should have just coded it in Flash), but it’s up!
More info on the characters, game system, and of course, release details, to come in the days to come!
Quinrose’s First Game
Mahoutsukai to Goshujin-sama was Quinrose’s first commercial game. It was for the PC, and like following Quinrose games, was fairly drawn out and had a good bit of content, but was not up to the commercial standards of today.
In the October B’s Log, Quinrose announced a totally re-vamped Mahoutsukai to Goshujin-sama. I actually have the original, and can say that this will definitely be totally new.
Just compare the two pics below: the first is from the original, the lower one is the new art:
The character screen of the old version
And the cover of the new version
And not only the art is being redone. There were no voices in the original (I was a little disappointed after paying $50 for it!), but the re-release will be full voice. And to make it even better, they’ve revamped the system (which is acknowledged to be kind of slow), are adding tons of new scenes, and made each route deeper. Apparently the original had a large number of endings (I wouldn’t know, since was never able to finish it…) but they weren’t very involved, so the new version will have fewer, but more involved endings.
I am really looking forward to the new version – I tried to play the old one a little and still couldn’t, it was just too slow (the gameplay and the actual processing speed). The release date hasn’t been announced yet, but we know that it will be for the PC.
Seiyuu – Souten no Kanata
The list of voice actors for Souten no Kanata, one of the PC games I’m really looking forward to (I’m a sucker for historicals!) was announced in B’s Log last month.
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Ryoyuu: Hosoya Yoshimasa
Kei: Yanai Hitoshi Shui: Mizushima Takahiro Ryuurou: Chiba Susumu Taishin: Kawada Shinji |
That’s the main characters, here are the secondary ones (note the guy that looks like Cloud with an eypatch, I wish he had a storyline!)/end FF fangirl wish…
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Taito: Maeno Tomoaki
Keimei: Obata Noriko Reimei: Shimada Rei Gakuhou: Oohara Takashi Engyou: Higuchi Tomokazu Meiran: Sugiura Nahoko Hakutenson: Nishigaki Yuka Koujun: Takahashi Kenji |
Blood Call
Brand new from icingCandy (a label from Interchannel), Blood Call for the PC has an interesting setup.
The main character, Futaba, is living a normal life with her mother in the city Glazheim, where humans and hanki, people who look mostly like humans but have superhuman abilities, live together in apparent peace. What Futaba doesn’t know is that her father, whom she thought was dead, was actually the head of a group called “Freikorps”. She comes home one day and her mother has disappeared and her apartment is vandalized. Strange men try to kidnap her, but before they can, two young men show up and save her. They are twins, the older Shirou (CV: Hino Sou), and the younger Reimei (CV: Nakamura Shuuichi), who worked for her father, and have come to fetch her to be the new head of Freikorps.
It turns out the group is in a covert battle against another group Nede, headed by Jin (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki), that is performing experiments on humans and hanki alike, enhancing their abilities even more. There’s also Cain (CV: Namikawa Daisuke), who is a Nede member totally loyal to Jin, though he doesn’t agree with Nede’s experiments, Kugami Kyou (CV: Ishida Akira), Freikorps’ doctor, and Wataru (CV: Suzumura Kenichi), who used used to be a Nede member.
Random Tip – Love Revo Ichinose Ren
Someone asked me a while ago about Love Revo (sorry it took so long!), and specifically about Ichinose Ren, whose route is the hardest to finish. I thought some general strategy might help – now this is from the PS2 version, but AFAIK it still applies:
1. The first month, spend as much time as possible on Research. Get it up to 100, it will make everything you do more effective.
2. Starting the first weekend in May(the second month), start inviting the guy on dates every week. Save and reload as many times as you need for them to agree – it will take several times at the beginning.
3. When it’s time for the guy to ask you to come along on his vacation (July 1), his heart should be green.
4. For Ichinose, you also need to be at least 90-95kg by that time.
5. Buy the CD of soothing music 『 ヒーリングミュージック集 』 ASAP – when you’re getting hungry, you can use it to reduce hunger without snacking. The sauna suit 『 頑丈なサウナスーツ 』 is also very effective – I think you can only buy it on the weekend.
Hope this helps!
New games!
Yikes, I thought I wrote about the several new games in the June mags, I guess I just updated the calendar.
Well, there are several:
PC games
Dare ni Demo Ura ga Aru – from Amedeo, this (all-ages) game has two sisters as the heroines, a perfectionist teacher and her little high school student sister.
Bloody Call - from icingCandy (a label from Interchannel), a supernatural game set in a world where humans live alongside hanki, similar to humans but with superhuman abilities. More on this later, since my description started to take up several paragraphs!
PS2 games
Death Connection – the newest title from Otomate, with the artist from Kanuchi. This title is in a totally new direction, it’s set in 1960’s Italy, and…most of the characters are dead – but more on that later. the main character Amelia is an orphan that was brought up by a priest with Joshua, who is like her big brother. One day, she gets thrown in the middle of a Mafia war, and the priest is killed. Joshua and she run away, and Joshua gives her a jewel and tells her to use it to summon a spirit to protect her. The four spirits she summons are Vicious, Luciano, Gloria, and Nicole (who is a transvestite). Unfortunately, the summoning wasn’t perfect, and the spirits can only protect her by doing the same kind of sin that led to each of their deaths (if I read correctly).
That’s it for now, I’m working on scanning some pics and going more in-depth on these and all those other upcoming games I’ve been ignoring for too long!
Vitamin Z status: Done everyone, working on perfect and zapping 
Little Anchor: Done everyone except Violet, who will come after VitaminZ!
Souten no Kanata
The first thing I thought when I saw the article for this new PC game from Mio was “ZOMG pretty!” And the guy in the above pic reminded me of Izark from Kanata Kara, one of my favourite manga series, which helped 
The setting is medieval east Asia, in a country called Kou. The main character, Airei, is an orphan who was mostly raised by her father until he died several years ago. She’s just trying to make a living in a city called Anto while the country is in a state of unrest because the current emperor has fallen ill. One day she discovers the legendary beast Uto, who declares that she will be the one to lead the country to peace, and enters her as a spirit. So somehow, Airei is judged to have the power to ‘decide’ who will be next emperor…
Characters:
From left to right:
Ryoyuu: Airei’s childhood friend who’s a military officer. He’s responsible and serious, and worries about Airei.
Kei: A mysterious man whose name might not even be real, all Airei knows is that he’s very nimble and doesn’t talk much.
Ryuurou: A civil official from an aristocratic family, his gentle exterior hides a cynical personality. He usually appears calm but is hard to read – sometimes he smiles even when he’s angry.
Shui: A 16-year-old who longs to rise in the military ranks, he trains as a soldier. Maybe because he comes from a humble farming family, he puts a lot of importance on birth and sometimes prejudges people by their status.
Taishin: The quick-witted merchant who knows how to work a crowd. His father was from Kou while his mother was foreign, and he brings exotic goods from abroad to sell.
I believe this will be a visual novel, and it’s expected to be released next summer. It’s from the same company, Mio, that did Asaki, Yumemishi, which I haven’t played, but have heard mixed reviews of. Has anyone here played it?
I’m hoping that Souten no Kanata will live up to my expectations – it already seems to have a good story and interesting characters. No seiyuu news yet, but I’ll post that when I find out!
Ayashi no Miya ~妖ノ宮~
This new princess simulation from the makers of Palais de Reine, Kogado, comes out on September 19. You take the role of a princess whose mother was suspected to be not fully human. In the info released as of now, it’s not clear whether or not this is true, and if so, what her mother was – an animal spirit? a demon? In any case, we know her father was the ruler of a large part of the eastern country Hachiman.
Now that her father is dead, the country is in turmoil, and she is only one potential ruler. The first thing you do is choose one of the 4 advisors, the Shitennou, as your backer in your bid for the throne. (One of them is a wolfman, which I love – hey, animals are cute!) That will determine where you stay. Then throughout the game you can choose many different paths with the eight guys who can be captured, from gaining their loyalty as a leader or being their partner in what they normally do. The selling point is that you can choose to act differently, and the guys’ reactions will change a lot based on that.
Now, the guys! First up, the “Wakajishi”:
Recruited at a young age as a talented warrior, Sukiwaka goes where he pleases and does what he wants.
Ayashi no Miya’s childhood friend who’s very fond of her and always tries his best to support her.
Somewhat shady, Kounosuke is a fortune-teller that always shows up unexpectedly.
Yes, a half-kitsune exorcist! At first he’s wary of Ayashi no Miya’s rumoured paranormal powers, but he tries to teach her to use them in the right way.
And now the more established members of the harem , the ‘Shikasen’:
Imari fought and won over a strong demon long ago and gained immortality, and now he’s 130 years old. At first he treats Ayashi no Miya harshly, but if you show him your honesty and become friends with him, he will be an extremely strong warrior for you.
Ooh, and he’s one of my favourite seiyuu! Miyake Kenta is also Konokage-sensei from VitaminX <3 <3 <3
Rokujouin Mikage: A high-ranking playboy
Tenzou is a foreign etiquette expert who’s travelled a lot in order to become knowledgeable and teach others about culture.
Another seiyuu I’m happy to see, as I don’t know much else he’s done – Hinoe from Harutoki 3! (and of course, Inori and whatsisface from 1 and 2, and Touya from 4). Yukinoshin is dedicated to perfecting his “kabukeren”, a performance art.
In the latest B’s Log, a few more characters were shown – a ninja, Yakou, who is looking for a new master after the old king died, Kumegawa Teruharu, a power-hungry aristocrat in the same department as Sawato, and Kaensha, a fire demon who rebels against Hachiman’s ideal of demons and humans living together.
It will be interesting to see what the gameplay itself involves, I liked Palais de Reine but it was, in some ways, a lot harder than the average otome game; it had a lot of strategy and some luck involved. Not that that’s bad – there are a lot of fun gaming hours in that game, and I want to go back and do more sometime.
Now, back to Hanayoi Romanesque for me – I’m only a few chapters away from the end!
Sangokuren Senki
From Daisy² for the PC
I thought I’d take another look at Sangokuren Senki today (yeah, it’s Sangokuren, not Sangokushi like I said before), and learn some more about it. The premise is that the main character, a normal high school girl named Hana, reads a book in a library and is transported to the time of Sangokushi, or the Three Kingdoms (the story was first introduced as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and also popularized in the war strategy games Sangokushi Senki) of China in the second and third century AD. She first meets a character named Koumei, who tells her to go and join Gentoku, who turns out to be a general of one of the armies. Somehow she’s mistaken as an advisor, so throughout the game she helps direct the army. Though you start off with the Gentoku army, depending on your choices you can join one of two other armies, Moutoku’s, and Chuubou’s. Apparently these were all real people in the story, because the designer talks about how she (he?) changed or went with the popular image of the characters.
So, here are the main characters in each army:
*********Gentokugun*********
Gentoku! The general, he’s a big brother type who inspires loyalty and is loved by his troops.
Fuyouhime – she becomes friends with Hana and likes to talk about girl stuff with her, but she also fights.
Unchou – he is usually calm and reserved, but will tell his opinions to close friends. He and Fuyouhime bicker a lot.
Shiryuu – he’s not very friendly in general, and especially to women, but he’s a genius with the spear.
Yokutoku – Not great at thinking, Yokutoku is likely to act without thinking. He’s very fond of Gentoku, and apparently though he’s usually friendly, when he gets drunk his personality changes.
*********Moutokugun*********
Moutoku - the second general, he looks like he doesn’t take responsibility seriously, but actually he’s an expert at being in charge and governs a large area.
Bunjaku – Moutoku’s right-hand man, he is serious and always wants to do what results in the most advantageous situation.
Genjou – He’s worked for Moutoku for a long time and is good friends with him. He’s friendly and trustworthy (I don’t think you can capture him though)
*********Chuubougun*********
Chuubou – Arrogant but somewhat insecure at heart because he’s trying to live up to his dead father and older brother, Chuubou commands a large navy in addition to his land forces.
Shoukou – Cheerful and good at archery, Shoukou is Chuubou’s younger sister who wants to join the fighting.
Koukin – Always smiling but never showing his real emotions, Koukin worked for Chuubou’s older brother before he died. He loves music and has a soft manner, but plays a key role in commanding the military.
Phew, that’s a lot of characters. I should really read that Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel I have and see who these guys are…but it’s really long! And I think it’s just the first volume…maybe I’ll buy the Coles notes version instead.
Anyways, so this game looks fun too (I know I know, like you need MORE games to buy ) and it is supposed to come out sometime this winter.
Maybe tomorrow I should do a game or two that’s actually coming out this fall, hehe. Is there one you want to know more about? Lemme know in the comments!
PC otome games – Quick Overview
Who doesn’t have a PC or Mac at home? If you’re reading this, you probably do, and that means – you can play otome games!
For the longest time, I thought you needed a Japanese operating system to play Japanese PC games – how sadly misguided I was! How much otome goodness I missed!
Then I discovered that Japanese games will play on normal Windows, though you might have to set your language option for Non-Unicode programs (in your Control Panel) to Japanese.
Now I’m happily playing PC otome games, and the only hitch is how ungodly expensive they are for importing from Japan. Seriously, if anyone wants to set up a competitor to Himeya, which is the only online store I know of to buy these at, feel free! Amazon Japan will not ship electronics (PC or console games) outside Japan, so we’re kind of
limited for options.
Even so, it’s worth the effort, because a lot of otome games don’t make it to consoles. Consoles have a much bigger requirement in terms of licensing and sales numbers to be profitable, so a lot of smaller games are released only on PC. Some, like Princess Nightmare, are so successful there that they go on to be released on consoles. But why wait?
Here’s a selection of all-ages tome games for the PC.
Quinrose:
Heart no Kuni no Alice/Clover no Kuni no Alice: Two games about the adventures of Alice in Wonderland (kind of). Loosely based on the Lewis Carroll classic, it’s full of fantasy, violence (not on-screen), colour, and strong characters. Very popular, and of course, Heart no Kuni no Alice is coming to PS2 in the next few months.
Mahoutsukai to Goshujin-sama: The first in Quinrose’s otome game catalogue, this game is set in a kingdom of magic where the princess main character unfortunately has no magic power at all. To protect herself, she sets about finding herself a servant who does at the world’s foremost magical school, but she only has 25 days to do it. Arabian’s Lost follows on this game; though the plots aren’t really related, it’s in the same world.
Coming Soon
Crimson Empire: The third game from Quinrose set in the world of Mahoushi to Goshijun-sama and Arabian’s Lost, Crimson Empire is set in a country based on swordsmanship and strength. The main character has been trained in combat by none other than Curtis Nile from Arabian’s Lost, and has sworn to protect her prince in the battle for the throne.
Kogado:
Coming Soon: Another princess simulation from the creators of Palais de Reine, Ayashino Miya is a story about a princess (with possibly the prettiest character design I’ve seen recently) rumoured to have special powers who has to decide how (if?) to take control of her kingdom, while dealing with the many people who also are involved in it.
Pretty!!
Karin Entertainment:
You may recognize this company as the creators of Princess Nightmare. They’re making a new gothic otome game called Exorcism of Maria, where the main character has to exorcise 100 demons before her 14th Hallowe’en or she’ll die. She has a partner demon Uriel, and meets several other paranormally-gifted boys in her travels. Each has a deeva or partner that they can summon (similar to Uriel), but not all are demons – some have angels, some have animal spirits. Due out in 2008. Oh, and they’re already planning another game after Maria called Zettai Meikyuu Grimm, using Grimm Fairy Tales as inspiration. The main character Henrietta lives happily with her 3 stepbrothers, the brothers Grimm, but one day the 2 older brothers disappear. 5 years later, when Henrietta turns 15, she and the youngest brother Ludwig find the older brothers’ research journal…in this game, Henrietta gets involved not only with the brother Grimm, but characters from the fairytales such as Little Red Riding Hood (here a boy), Hamelin, Rapunzel, and the Frog King.
The early pictures and character designs are freaking adorable, so even though I’m not a huge fan of young protagonists, I think I want this!
Mio:
Asaki Yumemishi: Coming out next week, this is a paranormal game that features three groups of potential allies – humans, spirits, and oni. The main character is trying to earn money by getting rid of harmful spirits during her summer vacation and meets lots of different characters, some who help her and some who fight her. Very nice art!
Sanctuary:
D.C.
Girl’s Symphony – the first otome game from a company with a lot of experience in the dating sim genre, this was just announced and has a regular high school setting. The 16-year-old main character has just started living with her cousin after her parents move overseas for work, and has a secret – when she gets excited, her feelings are broadcast out loud without her saying anything.
Well, I think that’s enough PC gaming goodness to last a while, don’t you think? At least till I finish some more of Alice (I just finished Blood’s route tonight! Next up..maybe the twins)