Minor spoiler warning just incase~~
絶対迷宮 秘密のおやゆび姫
絶対迷宮 秘密のおやゆび姫
Game: [Zettai Meikyuu Himitsu no Oyayubi-hime]
Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Karin entertainment.
Platform: PS Vita.
Official Site: http://oyayubi.labyrinth-of.com/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v15248
Release date: 2015-07-30
Oyayubi hime is my first Karin game and its apparently well received in japan, however
i've also read that the overall story was a mess, well now that doesn't bode well does it?
Anyway I am glad I got this game out of the way...
TL;DR
6/10
I liked this game as it was still decent but it had some issues...
Pro's
- Interesting setting and story for being a fairytail adaption.
- Most of the characters are likeable.
- Art and BGM.
Lune,Svia and Esheru's routes are great and original.
- Not one but two yuri routes.
- Lune had the best route, his route balanced the plot and romance so well.
(Tsubame/Kuro kishi comes pretty close but eh...)
- Unique seiyuu cast.
Con's
- Doesn't feel like an otome game, IMHO only Lune and Tsubame/Kuro kishi routes did it right.
Like the otome bits came in too late, there was like almost zero development in the common route.
- The romance and plot in most of the routes is poorly balanced.
- The story has issues, mostly cuz of Freya.
- Long common route.
- Only Lune,Svia and Esheru's routes are original, the rest of the route overlap with each other.
- Lupian's route was too short... I felt nothing yo! nothing but sadness he got the short end of the stick.
- Miracle Flower Power Magical Girl Freya saves the day in too many routes*.
*(Sirius,Lars, Lupian,Albireo, Tsubame/Kuro kishi and Nude king routes).*
- Why does Truce not have a route?
- This otomege might only stand out if you haven't played that many yet.
Honestly I found this otomege rather charming, but it once again suffers
from a long common route, which makes 2nd+ play extremely short and/or rushed
to the point that it kind of loses its charm. :(
I absolutely recommend starting with Lune, it makes the game as a whole more enjoyable imho.
Besides he's likeable and he's one of the few guys who joins early so the romance felt natural.
(I can't say the same for Lupian and a few others though...)
Tbh the first half of the game aka the common route didn't feel like it was an otome game...
After the prologue which was awesome yet sad at the same time
the moon gives charlotte like what seems a million riddles/questions ಠ_ಠ
Turns out these riddles decides which love interest you go for and which NPC's you meet.
During her journey all sorts of NPC's keep asking Charlotte to marry her but she refuses everytime
because she is on her journey, along the way she also meets Lune, Esheru, Svia, Albireo etc etc...
These are the real love interests and btw two of them are girls!
Real yuri route in otomege are pretty rare so savor them, cuz who knows when we get another one!
Most of the time its just best friends forever which is also fine but they feel like filler
but this is not the case with oyayubi hime.
At one point they fight a boss like in rpg's... and a vocal song will play
hahaha I think Oyayubi hime would be a great musical anime but here is the bad part
the vocal song is the same everytime, Karin pls... ಠ_ಠ
(Look I know you guys are selling the vocal song cd's, why not properly use them in the game?)
Anyway later they even meet someone named hans, that sounds familiar no?
This whole game is a tangled mess of Hans Christian Andersen most famous works.
Again all of the above is the common route, so yeah its going to be a huge skip fest later.
After a while Charlotte goes with one of the ''love interests'' and parts ways
with the rest this marks the beginning of the character route.
Story wise I got the feeling that Oyayubi hime is a huge parody of things and the most
obvious one among others is the Little Mermaid or the Snow Queen.
If you don't mind this then yes it can be an enjoyable game imho.
Svia just really needs to let it go... *shot*
Also it seems Karin hates Lupian the Flower Prince or something because he barely shows up.
Like the first time I saw him was in the Lars route and well considering what happen
during the Grand finale, its a bit sad? maybe they are planning a fandisc or sth.
Still its such a bummer they treated Lupian like that... since he's like the canon
love interest in the original Oyayubi-hime story, I also never saw the point to
splitting up swallow knight and black knight personality for a route, to be honest.
This game has an enforced play order so like you could only do Lune, Sirius,Esheru or Svia
on first play, Albireo, Lars and Lupian unlock on 2nd, Nude king and Black knight on 3rd.
After that all thats left is the gag end and the finale, as I said earlier
I recommend starting with Lune. If you don't like yuri routes you could skip Esheru
and Svia, you're not missing much as their routes are pretty original and
self contained like Lune but you might as well do them.
The rest of the love interest are all tangled up into the ''real'' plot of this game.
Oh and because of the enforced play order there are some new events in the common route
on future playthrough but they be so short, only Ahiru's harem party stood out, like
the gang forgot about him so he hangs around at some bar at the underwater kingdom
while the rest have a happy fun time on da beach, lol.
Oyayubi hime is my first Karin game and its apparently well received in japan, however
i've also read that the overall story was a mess, well now that doesn't bode well does it?
Anyway I am glad I got this game out of the way...
TL;DR
6/10
I liked this game as it was still decent but it had some issues...
Pro's
- Interesting setting and story for being a fairytail adaption.
- Most of the characters are likeable.
- Art and BGM.
Lune,Svia and Esheru's routes are great and original.
- Not one but two yuri routes.
- Lune had the best route, his route balanced the plot and romance so well.
(Tsubame/Kuro kishi comes pretty close but eh...)
- Unique seiyuu cast.
Con's
- Doesn't feel like an otome game, IMHO only Lune and Tsubame/Kuro kishi routes did it right.
Like the otome bits came in too late, there was like almost zero development in the common route.
- The romance and plot in most of the routes is poorly balanced.
- The story has issues, mostly cuz of Freya.
- Long common route.
- Only Lune,Svia and Esheru's routes are original, the rest of the route overlap with each other.
- Lupian's route was too short... I felt nothing yo! nothing but sadness he got the short end of the stick.
- Miracle Flower Power Magical Girl Freya saves the day in too many routes*.
*(Sirius,Lars, Lupian,Albireo, Tsubame/Kuro kishi and Nude king routes).*
- Why does Truce not have a route?
- This otomege might only stand out if you haven't played that many yet.
 |
| I'm not sorry |
from a long common route, which makes 2nd+ play extremely short and/or rushed
to the point that it kind of loses its charm. :(
I absolutely recommend starting with Lune, it makes the game as a whole more enjoyable imho.
Besides he's likeable and he's one of the few guys who joins early so the romance felt natural.
(I can't say the same for Lupian and a few others though...)
Tbh the first half of the game aka the common route didn't feel like it was an otome game...
After the prologue which was awesome yet sad at the same time
the moon gives charlotte like what seems a million riddles/questions ಠ_ಠ
Turns out these riddles decides which love interest you go for and which NPC's you meet.
During her journey all sorts of NPC's keep asking Charlotte to marry her but she refuses everytime
because she is on her journey, along the way she also meets Lune, Esheru, Svia, Albireo etc etc...
These are the real love interests and btw two of them are girls!
Real yuri route in otomege are pretty rare so savor them, cuz who knows when we get another one!
Most of the time its just best friends forever which is also fine but they feel like filler
but this is not the case with oyayubi hime.
At one point they fight a boss like in rpg's... and a vocal song will play
hahaha I think Oyayubi hime would be a great musical anime but here is the bad part
the vocal song is the same everytime, Karin pls... ಠ_ಠ
(Look I know you guys are selling the vocal song cd's, why not properly use them in the game?)
Anyway later they even meet someone named hans, that sounds familiar no?
This whole game is a tangled mess of Hans Christian Andersen most famous works.
Again all of the above is the common route, so yeah its going to be a huge skip fest later.
After a while Charlotte goes with one of the ''love interests'' and parts ways
with the rest this marks the beginning of the character route.
Story wise I got the feeling that Oyayubi hime is a huge parody of things and the most
obvious one among others is the Little Mermaid or the Snow Queen.
If you don't mind this then yes it can be an enjoyable game imho.
Svia just really needs to let it go... *shot*
Also it seems Karin hates Lupian the Flower Prince or something because he barely shows up.
Like the first time I saw him was in the Lars route and well considering what happen
during the Grand finale, its a bit sad? maybe they are planning a fandisc or sth.
Still its such a bummer they treated Lupian like that... since he's like the canon
love interest in the original Oyayubi-hime story, I also never saw the point to
splitting up swallow knight and black knight personality for a route, to be honest.
This game has an enforced play order so like you could only do Lune, Sirius,Esheru or Svia
on first play, Albireo, Lars and Lupian unlock on 2nd, Nude king and Black knight on 3rd.
After that all thats left is the gag end and the finale, as I said earlier
I recommend starting with Lune. If you don't like yuri routes you could skip Esheru
and Svia, you're not missing much as their routes are pretty original and
self contained like Lune but you might as well do them.
The rest of the love interest are all tangled up into the ''real'' plot of this game.
Oh and because of the enforced play order there are some new events in the common route
on future playthrough but they be so short, only Ahiru's harem party stood out, like
the gang forgot about him so he hangs around at some bar at the underwater kingdom
while the rest have a happy fun time on da beach, lol.
My play order was Lune > Esheru > Svia > Sirius > Lars > Albireo > Lupian >
Swallow/Black knight > Moon/gag end > Nude king > Grand finale.
I had trouble with the romance in Sirius route, it just felt off , he wasn't with Charlotte
during the common route like Lars,Lune, Svia & Esheru, besides I had my eyes on
Truce the dragon more than Sirius... Truce even has a human form and is super tsundere. :D
I like Sirius as a character but because of how rushed the romance felt and the plot in the route
(lol, hercules ripoff) I just couldn't get into it, same thing goes for Lupian and Nude King.
Overall enjoyment of route: (& is tie)
Lune > Swallow/Black knight > Esheru & Svia > Albireo > Lars > Sirius >
grand finale >Nude king > Moon/gag ending.
Overall Lune was my favorite his route was one of the best I got no complaints.
Lars... well I really like him and despite alot of BS happening in his route I did like the ending.
Esheru and Svia's route are really nice and I'm glad I didn't skip them
but in the end I realized that i'm definitely not into girls.
Sirius, well you should know already what I think of him. ^^;
While the ugly duckling annoyed me at times his route was hilarious! like it was completely
over the top BS... it was so bad its good to the point I actually enjoyed it, I don't hate
him or anything he can be a bit being annoying at times but he's quite likeable.
I really pity Swallow/Black knight... I really do, he's just misunderstood and also one of the
few guys I actually like in this game and his route was decent compared to say Lupian.
Next up is Lupian whom I pity even more than I do Swallow/Black knight... despite
being the canon love interest in the original story he's treated like a sub character in this...
His route was way too short and uninteresting due to the skipping... the romance felt rushed.
the main issue here is that it branches from Lars, the grand finale only added fuel to the fire.
Nude King... I didn't look forward to his route and the route itself didn't really change
my opinion of him that much, the ending was rather trashy, like how is that possible?
Despite being a good end, it wasn't a happy one but in a way it was... >_>
I also didn't really like Nude king's voice... its same seiyuu who voice
Kiryu at Yakuza/Ryu ga gotoku, but its just too deep for me man.
Moon or rather the gag end? wait what was that? let's go to za moon yeaaaaaah.
''This may be one small step for me but its a big step for mankind...''
 |
| I finally found the right image for this ending. |
at the end of the day it was just there for the hell of it.
And finally we have the grand finale, after all that happened they all go on a journey
to look for the flower prince who apparently is nowhere to be found after the battle, maybe
this means he's canon after all? guess this leaves room for a fandisc but eh...
not sure if I want one but maybe someday and I hope that it'll fix some of the inconsistencies.
Oh and in the fandisc(but I doubt it since Karin only ever does director cuts...) please for the love
of Freya do Lupian some great justice and a real happy end with Nude King would be nice, because
like Lupian he got the short end of the stick, honestly the grand finale felt more like a normal end
or a harem end because they'll all leave on a journey together once more to find that certain someone.
Oh and on the other hand the extra scenario was really fun...
~
Do I recommend you this otomege? It wasn't that bad and its not a masterpiece either.
Its still decent and it can still be enjoyable besides the lvl of japanese required isn't that high.
The heroine is also voiced so that'll help alot.
So yes I recommend it, its an excellent title for one who hasn't played that many otomege
but if you've played alot of otomege already you'd better skip out on this
because of the parodies and all it really doesn't bring anything new to the table.
One more thing I really liked that this game had timed choices though, it kept things interesting
and for the most part my eyes were literally glued to the screen because of this.
On another note it seems Karin forgot to update certain parts on the official site...
Mainly the gallery, I have no idea why certain pictures still say ''coming soon''
http://oyayubi.labyrinth-of.com/gallery/index.html
Lol, maybe they plan a Director's cut after all? who knows maybe they're just lazy.
6/10
Oh and... let's fry this ore-sama duck!
Ahiru is rather entertaining and at times plain annoying but really Lune is not a MP3 player! lmao.
(This might be Kakki's most annoying role yet... )
Oh before I forget here's some eye candy~~
Oh Truce... why couldn't you have a route instead of the knight in shining armor Sirius?
~
Here's what I believe the routes/character are based on:
Thumbelina - Charlotte & Lupian.
The Little Match (Boy) Girl- Lars.
The elven mound??? - Lune.
(I dunno Lune's story didn't really give me any fairy tail vibes... it was pretty unique.)
The Little (gay) Mermaid - Esheru.
The Snow Queen and (lol) Frozen - Svia.
Golden treasure - Sirius.
The Ugly Duckling - Albireo.
The Tallow Candle? - Swallow/Black Knight.
(I got no clue to which Swallow/black knight belongs but this kind of fits the picture)
The Emperor's New Clothes - Nude King.
Characters ★★★☆☆
Art ★★★★☆(Its fine, no issues.)
Scenario/plot. ★★★☆☆(A tangled mess with only a few good route.)
Music★★★☆☆ (OK...)
System ★★★☆☆(Comfy...)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
TL;DR not recommended if you played one too many otomege.
~
6/10
~
Oh and... let's fry this ore-sama duck!
Ahiru is rather entertaining and at times plain annoying but really Lune is not a MP3 player! lmao.
(This might be Kakki's most annoying role yet... )
Oh before I forget here's some eye candy~~
 |
| Lars be like: who the hell are you and where did you come from? |
Oh Truce... why couldn't you have a route instead of the knight in shining armor Sirius?
Here's what I believe the routes/character are based on:
Thumbelina - Charlotte & Lupian.
The Little Match (Boy) Girl- Lars.
The elven mound??? - Lune.
(I dunno Lune's story didn't really give me any fairy tail vibes... it was pretty unique.)
The Little (gay) Mermaid - Esheru.
The Snow Queen and (lol) Frozen - Svia.
Golden treasure - Sirius.
The Ugly Duckling - Albireo.
The Tallow Candle? - Swallow/Black Knight.
(I got no clue to which Swallow/black knight belongs but this kind of fits the picture)
The Emperor's New Clothes - Nude King.
Characters ★★★☆☆
Art ★★★★☆(Its fine, no issues.)
Scenario/plot. ★★★☆☆(A tangled mess with only a few good route.)
Music★★★☆☆ (OK...)
System ★★★☆☆(Comfy...)
Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
TL;DR not recommended if you played one too many otomege.
~
This game seems really fun but I can see why the common route makes it lose its charm on future play.
ReplyDeleteI really like Karin's games but this one seems kind of bad from what they usually make, I can't wait for
Eikoku tantei mysteria since its a port and most reviews seems to be very positive
I do have high hopes but perhaps I should lower them a bit.
Oyayubi-hime can be a lot of fun for the most part, I just wish
DeleteLupian and Nude king's routes were better. :(
I'm also looking forward to Mysteria, I really start to like Karin games.