Hanayaka nari Waga Ichizoku – Gameplay

I have so many otome games on my To Play list that if I don’t start playing them soon I’ll soon be left with nothing but otome games to play. The sooner I start clearing them away, the better. First up: Hanayaka nari Waga Ichizoku, brought to you by Idea Factory and Vingt-et-Un Systems, the same team that brought us Kanuchi: Futatsu no Tsubasa. It seems like Vingt-et-Un Systems specializes in otome games with gameplay – or at least they did, before they went belly up – so I’ll make their stuff a priority where possible.

First the story. Our main character, Haru-something (actually I named her Mama Kina, but she turned out to be an idiot undeserving of the name so I’m going to call her by the default name) takes up a job as a maid at the Miyanomori household. The rich, powerful and eccentric head of the household has 6 sons, each by a different mother, and has promised to retire within a year and give his fortune to whoever entertains him the most before the deadline. Of course it’s not so simple and there’s a lot of drama and violence going on within and without the family, but that’s not that I’m going to talk about today. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Finally finished Tokyo Majin Kenpuuchou. I’m not even happy.

But at least I scored myself a hot girlfriend, so that makes everything okay.

But at least I got a hug from the hottest girl in the game, so that makes everything okay…not.

Blaaah… I don’t care any more… The final boss was a bit tricky though, level 60 when my party ranged from 52 to 66. I was a bit overpowered, but better too strong than too weak, I guess. It’s good I spent time in the bonus dungeon because it’s easy to save in such a way that you can’t beat the last boss but can’t backtrack to grind either. Phew.

After all the time I spent making choices and cultivating a relationship with Aoi I thought I would get a character-specific ending once all was said and done, but the ending was basically “It’s over, let’s go home” and then the credits rolled. Bummer. There are some gaiden chapters after that, but I’ve had enough so I’m not going to bother with them.

Random thoughts on Tokyo Majin Kenpuuchou, good and bad:

– Since the story boils down to: there’s this Yellow Dragon and this bad guy who wants to get its power and you’re the Chosen One who can beat him, were all 23 episodes of fluff and nonsense really necessary? 5 episodes to introduce and flesh out the characters, another 5 to get the story really going and a last 5 to wrap things up would have been enough. Tokyo Majin Gakuen reminds me of Persona 2 (Innocent Sin) in a lot of ways. They both have a more-than-decent story at heart, but they take so long to get round to it that I lose interest before they get round to telling it. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Shining Ark – Good job, Sega!

shining ark coverI actually finished Shining Ark several days ago at 38 hours and 45 minutes, but then I spent another 6-8 hours doing the Extra chapter and fighting the bonus boss twice, and that’s why I’m only just getting round to reviewing it it. TL;DR version: the game is good, the story makes sense, I liked most of the characters and I had a blast with the bread-making gimmick but the combat was too easy, which was the only fly in the ointment.

38 hours was a nice good length, but I’m sure the game can be finished in under 30 hours if you ignore the character quests (I did all except one), ignore the bread and fish quests (I did all except one) and ignore Arice’s sidequest shop (I did all except one) so it’s not that long a game if you just want to focus on the ‘meat’ of the story.

However if you do focus on the story you might be slightly disappointed because it’s not all ‘deep’ and ‘meaningful’, just a simple “This is the problem we’re having and this is how we’re going to solve it” kind of story with a little environmental and anti-war preaching thrown in on top. I found it quite refreshing actually, especially the last boss battle, which wasn’t your usual moralizing beatdown but more a plea for forgiveness and understanding. I like the game so I’m not going to spoil, but it was a nice change from the usual. The Extra chapter also clears up any lingering questions about a certain character’s origins, so it doesn’t feel as tacked on as most post-game content tends to be. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Otome games with miscellaneous gameplay

Spinning off more otome games from the main list. ‘Miscellaneous gameplay’ is the catch-all term I use to cover borderline cases. Specifically:

1. Otome games with gameplay that doesn’t fit into other categories, e.g. quiz games, card games, misc mini-games (e.g. Hana Awase)
2. Otome games with gameplay I don’t quite know how to classify (e.g. Area-X, Drastic Killer).
3. Otome games with very little gameplay but just enough that I can’t ignore them completely.
4. Life sims with female characters that aren’t necessarily about romance but do include romantic options (e.g. Long Live the Queen, Atelier Annie). Life sims that are explicitly about romancing guys belong either in the simulation game section or stat-raising section.
5. Raising sims where you play a woman raising a boy, with romantic options (e.g. Dear My Sun!!)
6. Raising sims where you play a man raising a girl, but the girl gets to romance guys under your watchful leadership (e.g. Princess Maker, Ranshima Monogatari). This is really borderline and I just might remove those games later, but they can stay for now. Do please go on, this is most interesting →

Tokyo Majin Kenpuuchou – Please, just end already.

tokyo majin gakuen original coverMe and my big mouth. I think I jinxed Tokyo Majin Kenpuuchou by praising it too highly too soon. As a result it got a big head and now resolutely refuses to end. What I thought was the main story of the game turned out to be just a preliminary arc and there’s still a looong way to go before the end. Unfortunately I’d already thrown all my energy and emotion into the first arc so I was completely burned out by the time the ‘real story’ began.

Worse than that, the first arc took 13 episodes and the ‘real story’ is going to take another 13, but the game overall only has about 14-15 episodes worth of story. To fill the gap they’re doing a stretch-job of Dragonball-sized proportions. If you’ve never experienced pointless filler in a JRPG, this is your chance. You’ll get plenty of episodes that seem to have almost nothing to do with the main story, except at the end they throw out a loooong piece of exposition (i.e. “See, dudes, that was totally relevant”) then the episode ends and the next filler episode begins. Do please go on, this is most interesting →