Prince of Stride - Review

Game: [プリンス・オブ・ストライド]

Genre: Otome Visual Novel, fictional sport.
Developer/Publisher: FIFS/Kadokawa 

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://posweb.jp/

Release date: 31-7-2015

TL;DR

 Pro's
- Sports, not every otome game tackles this theme.
- The overall story had some interesting bits but very character driven.
- Characters, the main guys are likeable and fun to be around.
 - Seiyuu cast, Art and Music.
- Minigame is fun.

Con's
- Long common route+stat raiser, so after one route it becomes skipskipskip.
- The guys don't have much of an actual route. T_T
- Copy pasta.

Babby's first sport otomege...
At the end of the day this wasn't that much of an otome game but
I still like it alot, they focused more on the sport than the romance.... which
might be a huge miss for some people but I still thought it was really good overall.
Its really going to be a hit or miss... but I still think the way they pulled it off was fine
I thought it was fun for what its worth and there's not much of negatives for me.
9/10
On the bright side all the characters were amazing except some of the neon pink team but 
even then they managed to redeem themselves, except Shiki ok maybe he did become better. :P

 Let's stride!

Well that does look good on you~~

 Team work is important! but on repeat play this becomes a chore.

Let's train even harder!

I haven't even started but I absolute love this otomege! its really refreshing!
Maybe its because I never played a sports otomege before...

It takes itself seriously but doesn't try too hard in the progress and it has a good dose of humor! 

None of the characters managed to annoy me so far which I think is really good
and for once they all acted like high school boys.

I thought the minigame and team leveling was well implemented but actual dating?
no not really, the character will hang out but there's not much of that since everyone is so focused.

Atleast you're busy doing other stuff except reading, the japanese used isn't even hard.

I wanted to go for Kuga Kyosuke on my first play but he's not around much and I really
started to like Yagami Riku...  and I read you can start from 6/26 on future playthroughs
if you meet the condition for that character so that sure help if you want do everyone and its more
enjoyable if you can skip part of the common route like this & just get to the good bits. (´・ω・`)
I liked everyone anyway and none of the main guys were annoying so the order do not matter.
I was having a blast with this game and I pretty much did only do one chapter a day 

to prevent myself from getting burned...but even then its still is pretty short.

Team leveling can be a bit boring if there isn't any event afterwards and it
just skips to the next day, but honestly there are enough events that I don't mind it.
 I don't like stat-raisers that much but when I look back on this game its one of the few that I liked.
Since this game is actually pretty short and to the point, never did it drag itself out.
 

He sure eats fast....

Let's go!

 Give me a second okay...? other than this it also has timed choices.

Not bad at all for chapter 1~~

The answer to this question is...?

Oh no don't fight....!

Prince of Stride Idol Edition

I'm looking at you ofcourse, and no you're not weird.

Well its an otome game after all ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Well its really fun and somewhat takes itself serious so this is what I needed after the few silly
otomege I played recently, what's more important the guys actually look and act like GUYS 
and aren't too stereotypical unlike two other recent otome games I played.
I honestly do not care for modern style otomege nor for sports but if
 its as good as this then I will absolutely play it, because this game is just so refreshing to me.
Okay maybe its not that good since its far from perfect.
They really put alot of effort into everything to make sure its actually enjoyable!
Thank you Kadokawa and FIFS for making this otomege, I enjoyed it and I'll remember it
too bad there'll be no fandisk atleast I think, not sure if it'll work even.
It deserves a spot in my top 5 otome games, atleast for a while.

My only gripe with this game is its long common route and the amount of skipping you
will do when going for other characters if you already got an ending, its kind of Ugh... why?

Thankfully there are still new scenes, but still its a bit sad that there is no real individual route
this game isn't safe from copy pasta scenarios... like for example
Nana getting sick and the guy visiting her, luckily I am not bothered by this at all for once.
Atleast the overall game is really enjoyable for me and the endings are satisfying.
I don´t dislike long common routes but the skipping you will do on 2nd+ play is ridiculous
Who actually sits and read through all that twice? I don't have time for that. :P
 
And yeah the heroine isn't fully voiced, only select lines. it bothers me because
Kanahana has such a beautiful voice, maybe they ran out of budget? www
That there are no bad ends is a bit disapointing as well... sigh.
Also for the love of Meissen please choose a character on your first play you actually like
as you won't regret it, still its not that bad really and saving Reiji for last might be for the best
like I don't care about idols but the relationship he had with Nana was sweet.

My play order was:
Riku > Kyosuke > Hozumi > Heath > Takeru > Reiji
While I obviously like everyone but Reiji is my favorite. :)

I give this otome game a  9/10
Its a decent otome game and you should definitely give it a go sometime if you don't mind sport stuff.
Still it has a few bad points... but then again no game is perfect.
Honestly I would love fandisc of Prince of Stride with raburabu after stories and maybe fun scenarios
but considering how long its been I doubt it, even if its sorta successful most have most on.
I had fun and maybe my score is way too lenient... at least the endings ended where it had to
sometimes there's really no need for more even if there's room for it.

Characters ★★★★☆
Art  ★★★★★(No complaints.)
Scenario/plot. ★★☆☆☆(Its okay but some things got old fast.)
Music★★★☆☆ (Good...)
System  ★★★★☆ (Nothing too difficult.)
Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆(For what its worth its alright.)

 Oh and as for the anime, I really like it as of episode 3 they do a good job at
actually showing the matches, as in the game all you got is a top down view. :(
It's really great to see the actual race animated, there are some anime exclusive things
but honestly it would be rather bad and super predictable if the anime went exactly like the game.
Sadly the anime never explained stuff that was in the game like the telepathy thing well
if you want to know the story of Prince of Stride to the fullest just play the game I guess.
sadly I do agree that the anime made everything seem more BL-ish but it can't be helped I guess.
I don't mind the ships... just sometimes the fandoms go way overboard
and thats another reason why I avoid them.



Last edited on *24-2-2016*