Tuesday, July 12, 2016

SA7: Silent Ability Seven - Review

 Game: [SA7: Silent Ability 7].
Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Petit-Reve
Platform: PS Vita.
Official Site: http://www.p-reve.com/sa7/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v16295
Release date: 2016-05-28

Decided to give another Petit-Reve otome game a try, skipped out on Goes! though.
In Goes! all guys voiced by female seiyuus which is nice in its own way but that game has an
uninspiring setting and after reading amazon reviews I decided to just skip out on that one all together.
On the brightside the heroine in SA7 is voiced so that was another reason to give
this developer one last chance before I probably decide to ignore them forever.
Which is exactly what I am planning to do, unless Petit-Reve decides to hire better writers and stop 
with trying to boldy go where no other otome game developer has gone before. 
Because sadly their games have all ended up being mediocre so far SA7 being no exception.

Anyway here's the OP!


 So one day when Yuki Ayaka walks home from school, she gets attacked by unknown.
The boys of Ark show up and save her, soon after it is revealed that Ayaka has an ability
 that can predict or more like see small bits of the future and so Ayaka ends up joining Ark.
Zero aka Rei is firmly against it but the others convince him, lol.
There also seems to be the element of a possible traitor... but the way they handled it was pretty bad
the whole setting takes itself lightly and not serious at all and not every route is worth it much like
otome game of the past there were only 3 route worth my time the rest felt like filler.


I based my play order off an amazonJP review this time since the person
mentioned that if you do Arthur too soon the rest might not be as interesting.

Recommended play order:
Eru(L) → Keel → Eiji → Zero → Arthur → Lead

If by some chance you are going to play this otome game, I recommend the same playorder.
Because Zero and Arthur routes reveal the most of the actual story and well
Lead's route was really enjoyable and a good way to end the game though
that might differ so might do Lead before zero/arthur.

Pro's
 - Voiced Heroine.
- Seiyuu cast,not much popular ones, its good in its own way.
- Art, its not bad and every guy had a kiss cg.
- Individual route is unique but some feel like omake.
- Common route + unique individual route.

Con's
- Mediocre story, nothing mindblowing.
- Too many routes, only two of them were worth it story wise.
- Characters are a bit stiff at times.
- Ending credits theme.

TL;DR start
Anyway SA7 tries the themes of secret organization, espionage and super powers
but as an otome game I feel it doesn't handle it well and that it doesn't take itself seriously at all.
Its hard to recommend this game to anyone but beginners but even then there are
better otome games I could recommend instead.

There was also no affection meter, to get on someones route
was basically to stalk him and if there is a choice that involves him select it.
It not hard once you know which spot the guy is at in town or you could just like use a guide.
The chart system is nice and all but a pain to 100% since it means selecting most if not all the choices.
Its nice but it just becomes a chore once you finish all the ends and you still have to go back for this.

I like the OP, Terashima's singing is really good but the ED was really out of place
like it was so cheesy, lol. I didn't like the ED at all, so I started skipping
 the ED after only two routes and I usually don't skip ED's.
Basically this game is lighthearted while somehow trying to be serious, though I did like how they
handled Tatsumi! except for the part that he's romanceable... that I didn't like.
Feels like they dumped all the moe onto Lead which makes it best
to save Lead for last to let's just say reward yourself with an adorable nerd!
Anyway most if not all the characters are average in terms of personality and the story doesn't take it anywhere new.


5/10
Its hard to recommend this otome game when it pulls off its themes in the most
mediocre way possible, its still possible to enjoy it but I'd wait till its on sale if you want
this game that much.
Also thats how I manage to enjoy their other game Soukai Buccaneers since I got that for 20$
but sadly I cannot use this same excuse with SA7, it wasn't worth full price.
I only liked maybe three routes in this game, Zero and Arthur are obviously the main guys
and for what its worth they had the better routes along with Lead.
Eru and Eiji's routes were boring and Keel's? why would I approve of a sixteen year old girl
romancing a 37 year old guy who even has a kid?! no no no no no no....
Even Murasame in Harutoki6 was handled better.
Not to mention the heroine was hard to relate to, I can't believe they let highschool kids into an
organization where they could get killed at night, she didn't even have that much training too.
This game took me three weeks to finish due to lack of interest, but its not that long at all
I just wasn't motivated to read more of a route at times because it just wasn't interesting.

SA7 will also get a trial/demo on Japanese PSN so if you want to try it out you can.

TL;DR end

More ramblings and possible spoilers after the jump.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Konoe Rui.
Codename: Eru(L).
CV: Yumihara Takefumi.
 The kuudere, he might not look it but he's quite capable he's also a police officer
and is loved by children and the elderly, he's serious, polite and friendly at all times.
 Rui is all about dat justice, he lives for justice... everything is for the sake of justice.
Yeah thats it, thats basically his motivation for being a member of ark and being a police officer.
He comes from a traditional japanese family, when Aya visits him one day to train
at his dojo then his sister came back early, so he hides her and the both of them leave quickly.
Oh and as turns out he cries his eyes out over dramatic movies, lol.
His route dealt with his sister, Rui got framed for being the traitor and there was family drama.
In all honesty, Rui's such a cutie-pie and for what its worth his route was okay
and the best ending even if a little was still satisfying for me.
Sadly I didn't end up liking Rui that much, his seiyuu didn't help either. T_T
To be honest Rui had the most disconnected route in the whole game, it was very self-contained.
This is why his route is best done first! also sorry but I didn't have the energy
to make a longer digest of this route besides it was kinda boring.
Romance ★★★☆☆
Plot ★★☆☆☆
 Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆
--------------------------------------------------------------
Udo Tatsumi.
Codename: Kiru(Keel).
CV: Kuroda Takaya.
Keel (left) and Lead (Right)
The resident ossan, he's a father and has a daughter... yet you can romance him www.
Look Petit-Reve I didn't ask for this... I like my ossans but i'd rather not romance them if they have kids.
 This route creeped me out a lot, he's a father and is twice the age of the heroine also
by day he's this adorable father figure who also works at a cafe/restaurant but at night
 he's some cool reliable sniper dude at Ark, anyway I do like him! I just don't wanna romance him.
Though as you can see I feel so conflicted about it I can't even do a proper summary.
Why... why must he be so charming?! Its wrong... right?
 Anyway Tatsumi can be so damn adorable but dat age gap bothered me so much its not even funny.
During most of Tatsumi's route I was pretty much like doing this is not okay, this is not okay!
I had hoped he'd be more of a father figure for Aya than a romantic love interest but alas...
Age gap aside, the gap between badass Kiru and the adorable Udo Tatsumi was enough for me to
enjoy this route if even a little...at one point even Kiru seemed charming to me! 
Gosh I think after Period Cube and this game I might have a thing for gap moe.
The route had a bit of drama about his past of when he was part of another team
but eh Tatsumi is a sweetheart and this route was good for all the wrong reasons... HELP me!  
Sadly my heart can't help but skip a beat for this man, raising a child on his own like that
with so much love Udo Tatsumi gets my full approval!(as a single dad).
 Also I prefer Kuroda Takaya's voice for Tatsumi more than the voice he used for the
Nude king at Oyayubi-hime which was just too deep for me, at SA7 he just sounds so suave~~.
I found that Aya was pretty cool in this route due to Kiru's guidance and training with guns, etc.
Its kind of sad how Tatsumi was more moe than Rui was, sure Rui was cute in his own way
 but in my opinion Tatsumi is miles ahead of the kid. ^ - ^
I also loved how Aya was gushing over Tatsumi at times. I'm like girl, please control yourself. 
She does so in every route by the way, its one of her good points.
How about no...
 Good thing is after Tatsumi Kabedon'd Aya he started to think is this really ok... 
Still I don't know how I should feel about this route, I like Tatsumi but at the same time I just cannot
find it okay for Aya to end up with him, i'm ok with him being a father figure for her though!
To my disapproval the route really seemed to push romance between Aya and Tatsumi. >_>
Aya moves into Tatsumi and Mai's house since she also lives alone since her parents are out
somewhere doing something but not really care for their daughter, sigh Aya's parents are so terrible.
 Sigh if it was a different time period like in the past then maybe I could let it slide but I don't find it acceptable.
 I just don't know about this, I like Tatsumi but come on...
He's 37 and has a kid plus he is smart enough to think this is a bad idea yet somehow
(partially thanks to Mai) is suddenly fine with treating Aya a 16 year old as his GF/wife.
Le-deep-sigh... Petit Reve, I'm 24 years old at the time i'm writing this and even though I like Tatsumi
because he's such an adorable single father, maybe its just me but I seriously think this is wrong.
I know that age doesn't mean anything when they really love each other but I still can't help
but find it difficult to accept especially given the modern setting of this game.
I dunno man, I like Tatsumi as a character but romance wise its a huge no-no for me.
Why couldn't Tatsumi just be a father figure for Aya? the heroine atleast deserved that much.
Oh well near the end he goes on a revenge quest with Julius leaving Aya and Mai all alone for days.
Aya decides to take action to help him come back... they live happily ever after in the best end.
Overall despite liking Tatsumi as a character I didn't like his route cuz it felt wrong to me.
Also forgive me for ranting about it, but sometimes I just have to get it off my chest.
I feel so conflicted about this whole route, I want to love him but at the same time I can't!
A 16 year old going after a 37 year old guy with a kid, yeah that doesn't sound right. 
To add fuel to the fire Tatsumi is the only guy who gets one extra CG.
Romance ★★☆☆☆ (Ew...)
Plot ★★☆☆☆
 Enjoyment overall ★☆☆☆☆
( ´_ゝ`)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hyuga Shouta.
Codename: Eiji.
CV: Kimishima Tetsu.
Shouta(left) and Rui(right).
 Shouta's a bit of a playboy, loves music and a university student with a part-time job.
 He's nice to all the ladies perhaps too nice which makes me wary of him for all the right reasons.
Never heard of his seiyuu before? thats right Shouta's seiyuu is a newbie, he does a good job imo.
Btw I will be referring to Shouta as Eiji most of the time.
Unlike the previous route I did, Eiji's route wasn't that much better, I wasn't
particularly interested in him at first but Eiji still kinda grew on me b4 shit happened.
In the beginning of the route they went on dates he gave her a present but then plot happened...
 Speaking of plot some drama obviously had to happen to keep things interesting.
Oh and can we get on the topic of fast hands? because as turns out Eiji betrayed Ark...
Guess what? Aya gets kidnapped by Eiji when Aya meets up with him alone
and spends half of the route at a safe house that the unknown own, she spends some time
with Eiji, Rena and the rest of the unknown gang.

Eiji-kun why?! why you do this?
Ofcourse he's still nice to her even still buys her presents, well I am sorry boy
but you cannot buy my love for you thats not how it works. >:3
So for the majority of the route Aya is locked up in unknown's uguu shack of love, yes I went there.
 Eiji tries to get Aya to join him and when that doesnt't work he proposes to her.
Aya refuses and tells Eiji to return the way it was...
Oh boy the way this route went down was really boring imo, I don't think Eiji is a bad guy
because he must have his reasons, which we'll go into right now.
After a while he just shows up again as Shouta and rescues Aya because she told him to cut the crap
and come back anyway his ''mission'' with unknown is over now, it was all a ruse, lmao.
So Eiji really wasn't a traitor after all he was spying on unknown for Ark, ofcourse escaping isn't easy
 cuz Arthur timely makes his entry to make things difficult but don't worry they get out.
Sadly Aya mostly refused to fight the pursuers since a friend was among them, yes Rena is that friend.
Sigh... they manage to get past them but Arthur appears once more, Eiji gets flashy and kisses Aya infront of Arthur.
 When they get back to Ark, Shouta gets treated for his injuries he proposes again and Aya accepts.
Shouta cuts his hair and does his best to make Aya happy from now on, they go over the data
Shouta got while undercover and so they try to stop unknowns plan while also rescueing Rena.
All's well that ends well though, they live happily ever after, though I prefer
Shouta's normal end AKA no love end over his best end.
Overall mediocre route, it was nice to see them try to save Rena but sadly I couldn't like it that much.
 like Rui's it also was pretty disconnected from the actual plot... >_>
I like Shouta but the route was rather boring, I couldn't get into it at all, this route was
about anything but Shouta, like after Aya got kidnapped it was more or less befriending Rena
and in the end when Rena almost lost control they save her because she's still a friend.
This ofcourse is all well and good but I get it he wants people to be happy but in my opinion
the route was poorly executed making it boring.
So far this otomege has been really mediocre, dunno why I bothered to summarize so much
of Shouta's route but whatever I got 9000 problems and Shouta isn't one of them.
Gotta love how the heroine gushes/fantasizes over the guys early on the route, thnx for the eye candy. ^_~
Romance ★★☆☆☆
Plot ★★☆☆☆
 Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆
 --------------------------------------------------------------
Naruse Rei.
Codename: Zero.
CV: Terashima Takuma.
 Serious, he is in the same grade as the heroine and he's also the staple childhood friend.
Because of the missions he does for Ark at night he is always so out of it at school, due to lack of sleep.
Speaking of his seiyuu I was never that big of a fan of him, I don't dislike him that much.
The whole Kokoro Connect thing sure didn't help me like his seiyuu but eh whatever
it doesn't stop me from enjoying his voice acting even if the guy behind it is a douche.
To tell the truth his voice acting for Rei was great! except in Arthur's route...
 I had hoped his route would be good... as in that he loses that cold attitude and becomes super dere in the end.
 It didn't quite go like that but in the very least it wasn't bad or anything.
Rei also doesn't really like the idea of Aya joining the team at first but gives in, lol.
He has a cute little brother and sister... so I can already see why he is with Ark.
Rei does everything for his family and as turns out thats his reason.
Honestly I really liked his route but its sad Rei's route is more well rounded than the others. 
Le digest~
So then its late at night and his little sister is on a shopping trip at the mall but then
these Unknown goons shoot the place up and take his sister hostage.
Nothing to worry about though since Zero and Aya are off to rescue her!
His sisters kind of shocked to see Aya and Zero... hmm guess he didn't tell him about his secret life.
Thing Rei takes care of his family all by himself so he has to work, his parents? gone with the wind.
After all this his sister is starting to worry about Rei, she doesn't want him to do anything dangerous.
When his sister gets mad at him for putting himself in danger for the sake of the family and runs off.
Oh well... Rei tells Aya that he'll tell her the whole story later and go on another mission.
After all that Ayaka acted more like the typical otome heroine, she was clueless
that she had feelings for Rei so her fellow friends had to tell her she's a poor maiden in love, lol.
All to the point her classmates got the wrong idea and tried to hook her up with a guy
who also had a crush on Ayaka, Aya rejects him ofcourse and Rei saw the whole thing.
 The guy even comments Rei and Aya looks great together... Rei says he doesn't have that sort of
interest and Aya starts crying and runs off, Rei thinks he might have said something wrong, lol.
Ayaka runs into his sister and brother and Rei's sister later lashes at him for making Aya cry.
 Rei goes to visit Aya later to apologize from before but Aya be like I dun wanna hear it now.
Rei's little bro Jun convinces Aya to listen to him and the two go for a walk.
He tells Aya she's special to him and that he likes her, Aya feels the same way and they kiss~.
They just misunderstood their feelings, since they are going out now they get a lot of
sweet scenes together, they go on more missions and dates, etc.
It didn't last long till one day Rei's little bro Jun freaks out when he sees Arthur.
Can you see where this is going? Aya and Rei have a talk, he tells her about the past and
Arthur might've been the one who caused the accident what killed Rei's parents.
Anyway Aya and Rei investigate some note Rei's parents left behind to get to the root of the matter.
 Mission time again, Unknown's up to no good so its up to Ark to stop them again.
 Aya tries to reason with Arthur to get him to surrender but ofcourse its not that easy.
Arthur appears to have a beef with Crawford so he goes after him.
Later Crawford reveals his schemes like the villain he is, Arthur and the others are just experiments
and as turns out Crawford's might be behind that incident too cuz Rei's parents knew too much etc.
Well as turns out Arthur's not so evil after all and would even be willing to work with Rei and Aya
just this once to get out of the mess they're in because they're Crawfords precious guests right now.
Aya's stuck with Arthur so she tries to talk/reason with him but she can't really get through to him.
Actually Arthur isn't that cold hearted after all though.
It seems Arthur is interested in Zero(Rei) though... meanwhile they're forced to go along with
Crawfords shitty plans. The next day tells em the truth he just wants to use Aya and the others
powers/abilities because hurrdurr he's entitled for it, also it seems Aya isn't exactly normal
Aya is shocked by the truth and when they reunite Zero comforts her.
Arthur doesn't seem to understand the reason why Zero and Aya embraced each other, lol.
So Aya has to explain their behavior that the lovee each other. (Arthur's route gonna be great!)
When they get back Zero's forced to go through Crawfords crappy tests...
When he gets back Zero gets at it with Julius and Aya pleads Arthur to save him since
he's mad they're not treating Aya like a human being but a tool/lab rat etc.
Crawford beams in and among other crap he spouts he reveals that the accident
 with Rei's parents was all Keikaku doori, infuriating Rei even further.
 Later that day they finally get through to Arthur, they manage to contact Ark and plan to escape.
 They manage to escape but without Arthur when they get back HQ they plan one
last mission and thats to settle things with Crawford once and for all.
But before that Aya and Rei search for a ring that belonged to Rei's parents.
 They find out the truth about Arthur, he's also test subject, Rei's father was a researcher
and Arthur was like a son to him, then the accident happened and Rei swore revenge
againts Arthur because he thought it was behind it, in reality it wasn't like that at all.
Rei is shocked by the reveal and almost breaks down but Aya embraces him.
Well Rei manages to calm down and the next day they go out on another date
and in the evenening Rei ends up proposing to Aya.
Ms.June got kind of mad that they got back so late but whatever we have one last mission to stop
Crawford and maybe save Arthur! All's well that ends well though... I feel like I summarized enough.
~
Overall Rei has a good route compared to the ones I did before him, I barely have any complaints.
Its pretty obvious now that the game is basically all about Rei and Arthur and the rest
of the guys have routes just for the sake of having them.
Despite the happy ending, the bad thing about the ending is that part of Arthur's case
 isn't resolved properly and that he'll probably show up again someday.
I wish they would touch up on that but whatever apparently Rei and Aya live happily ever after.
Also Zero had no bad endings.
The story was actually good this time! even though the romance was kind of cringe-worthy but eh
in my opinion it was better done in Zero's route than the others.
I felt like they put more effort in Rei's route than the others and I think thats bad, the route
was also longer than the others because all the revelations it had.
This was the only route so far that handled the theme of the game well, the other routes
were a boring snooze fest for me they just weren't interesting at all and worse of all
which you heard me say it at the start of my crap-summary this route was the most
well rounded route in the entire game so far, sigh now I fear for Lead's route.
The worst part of this route? Crawford getting away with everything and that things might not
 be over yet. Like come on please that really was a bad way to end it all. :(
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★★☆☆
 Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
 --------------------------------------------------------------
Arthur.
CV: Kudou Gaku.
The mysterious shinigami, a seemingly emotionless guy, he works for unknown.
After all the drama in the previous route I kind of felt bad for Arthur  because I was sure
there is more to it so I'd had hoped this route would reveal even more about him!
Incoming crap o summary le wall of text!
So since Aya is head over heels for the mysterious shinigame, she doesn't
 partner up with anyone nor talk with anyone about it and starts to doubt herself.
 Anyway when Arthur and unknown attack infinity during the common route
they barely manage to overpower him and are able to capture him.
 Since Aya still chases after the man of her dreams the one and only shinigami, she wants
to talk to him but Zero be like you what gurl? he's dangerous thats impossible!
It isn't easy to get Arthur to talk but Aya keeps trying and asks all kind of trivial things
like if he likes books or why he's in unknown but its like talking to a wall who won't talk back.
As we know from Zero's route he is coldhearted and has trouble understanding emotions.
They decide to give arthur a better room and try to talk to him again, Aya asks if he has
any favorite food and he finally replies with nothing particular.
Well that is some progress there!
Well Aya continues to get the man of her dreams to open up to her...
What are you a fangirl getting the once in a life time chance to glomp the guy of you dreams?!
Meanwhile Arthur is just going like ಠ_ಠ without saying a word, lmao.
The next time they are together Arthur finally ask what her name is, that's more progress I guess?
Anyway it seems Arthur managed to contact his friends at unknown but they order
him to go along and find out more information while he's captured at Ark.
They tell him to use Aya in any way since he didn't know how else to get this job done.
Meanwhile Crawford asks Rei to go along with his plans to steal something since he know about his parents.
Oh boy Crawford up to no good again is he?
So now we have Arthur trying to kiss up to Aya because he's ordered to do it.
When he gets contacted again he gets told to get into Aya's heart and even  to kiss her which he does
and this greatly confused Aya in the process since it all happen so fast.
When they meet again Arthur tells her he did it because he though thats what Aya wanted www.
Then he proceeds to asks how he can make her happy, so Aya asks him to tell more about himself.
So we find out that Arthur was with unknown for a long time and that he didn't have
a normal life like going to school and that he was a sample for some research experiments
to make the perfect soldier and we know from the previous route that Rei's parents and Crawdford
were involved in this plus that Arthur was involved with killing Rei's parents thnx to Crawford.
So when Rei hears it all when Aya goes to report he just runs walks off, when Aya goes back
to Arthur she gives him some much needed love since he's done some hard living.
Arthur doesn't really understand this since they're enemies but Aya explains it doesn't matter.
Later they talk about books and Arthur tells Aya he wants to hear her read it to him
since apparently he likes her voice but he ends up falling asleep, lol.
When he wakes up he asks if she can hug him again, d'awww.
Arthur is such a cinnamon roll, too good and too pure for this world, yes even if he does all those bad things.
 When unknown contacts Arthur again they tell him to get serious but he starts to doubt
unknown and doesn't exactly want to break out and return to unknown but still escapes.
 Rei finds out about the messages Arthur's been getting and gets fired up since he thinks
Arthur has been deceiving them not knowing Arthur has some internal strife going on as well.
Well Rei ends up telling the others and well they've been monitoring Aya's talks with Arthur.
Aya can't believe Arthur's been deceiving her... so they lock her up for a while and tell her
its gonna be okay since they don't want Arthur to use her any further and to calm down.
Crawford congratulates Rei for being the hero of finding it out, Rei just starts laughing
that he finally got Arthur where they want him, meanwhile the others all visit Aya.
Then Rei comes to visit to ask if Aya got any info on where he might been and gets a bit mad
when she says she doesn't know, Rei is still obsessed with revenge over what happened in the past.
Aya finds a message Arthur left behind b4 he escaped and regains the hope she lost.
Anyway now that Aya regained her composure they let her out.
Aya wants to save Arthur since she just feels she has to, Shiina gives the OK.
Meawhile Aya goes back to school since she hasn't for a while because of Arthur.
Aya has been so out of it though because her head is in the clouds thinking about her one and only.
Well here comes the operation to capture Arthur again, Aya sees him do horrible things and tries
to stop him from killing people, he replies its just cuz he got orders and he can't disobey.
She asks him if it was all a lie and he apologizes and gives her a chip but here comes
Zero aka Rei to ruin a perfectly good scene, Aya tries to stop him but Rei tells her to stop being
so naive since Arthur is the enemy, meanwhile Arthur runs away and enraged Rei gives chase.
Arthur tells Rei that he also wants to tell him something important, Rei says he's
the one who stole the real data before Arthur could on Crawfords orders.
Rei lets Arthur go this once and returns to the others.
Meanwhile when Arthur is back at unknown he realizes just how much he wants to be with Aya.
This feeling could it be love...?
Meanwhile Aya realizes just how much she wants to save Arthur, she wants to show him
all the fun and good things the world has to offer, later she investigates the chip
Arthur had and tries to the bottom of things because a lot more seems to be going on, she later
 meets him at the park at night she asks him about the message he left before he escaped back then.
Arthur tells her how he genuinely felt and that he's thankful for Aya being so kind
and making him feel all these new kind of emotions.
Anyway Arthur's mission this time is to get Aya he tells her to run but she won't.
Aya tells him she likes him, making him like why u no run away?! I don't want to hurt you.
He goes on about how is orders are absolute and how he doesn't exactly want to follow them anymore.
Aya tells him he doesn't need to follow orders and its okay to be selfish and tells
him to do whats right even if its agains orders, she believes in him.
So Arthur promises to protect Aya whether its from the Unknown or Ark.
Aya congratulates him on making the choice and that he's free now, now that he
can makes his own choices in life, they embrace and he tells her he wants to be with her.
Aya also tells him her feelings, Arthur tells her not to worry because he's there for her.
Among other things Aya asks him if he likes the sea but ofcourse he can't answer that
so Arthur asks if Aya likes it and she says she does so he likes it too, d'awww.
 They embrace again and they kiss, the scene was really sweet.
~
Anyway they part ways since its getting late, Aya still goes on another mission with Ark
which means they might have to fight Arthur but since he promised there
shouldn't be anything to worry about right? So Aya asks Eiji to stay with Zero while Aya goes off
on her own to have a secret reunion with Arthur, he's really happy to see her but
as Arthur is about to leave Zero comes in to ruin things since
 he still has s score to settle with Arthur, Aya begs Arthur not to hurt Zero.
Aya tries to run away with Arthur but here comes Eiji who aims at Aya and tries to get Arthur
 to surrender, while Arthur and Zero have a show off, Eiji stops Aya from doing anything.
Aya realizes both Zero and Eiji have become her enemies... so she uses a flash bang and escapes
together with Arthur but they run into an Kirishima a member of the unknown who decides to get in
their way as well since Arthur has effectively betrayed Unknown now to make matters worse
 Eiji and Zero catch up with him who tell her she is at the point of no return but
Arthur calmly tells her not to give up.
While Kirishima is bickering with Eiji and Zero, Arthur be like I love you Aya and
 I'll get us out of here even if I have to kill them all.
Things are getting hectic so when Zero was dealing with Kirishima so Aya decides to get the
attention of some unknown goons nearby so Eiji gets in trouble too and now
Aya and Arthur get the chance to escape but the goons still fire at them, Arthur gets hit.
Kirishima comments how the Ark fellas are the only ones left but get
 outnumbered by the goons, Eiji tells Zero now is the time to run
but Zero be like no I must have muh revenge... So Eiji literally has to drag him out of here.

 Meanwhile Julius comes in with his personal army to save Aya and Arthur on Crawford's orders.
When they get to infinity's headquarters Aya asks him why Crawford rescued them and he just
comments how much Aya had grown and how strong Arthur is, we already know from Rei's route
that Crawford is an entitled little shit who just wants a bunch super soldiers to serve him and will do
anything to make it happenm anyway Crawford tells them they should get some rest for now.
Aya and Arthur spend the night together... no, not in that way! though it was rather cute.

The next day Crawford bluntly tells Arthur that he wants to use him because of his powers so Aya
who is getting bad vibes tells Crawford she wants to talk about it with Arthur and he lets them.
They decide Crawford must have some other goal so they won't trust him, though
Arthur wouldn't mind going along Crawford it so Aya decides that
there has to be a better future for him.
Anyway Aya has tea with Crawford but not much comes from it, when she returns
 to Arthur he tells her he wouldn't mind doing whatever Crawford wants as long as
 Aya is there she even says she would join him but he be like no, she be like why?
 because he doesn't want her to get hurt, the two have a tender moment in which
they eventually embrace and kiss.
 Arthur ends up going along with Crawford while Aya waits for him to come back, when
 he does come back Aya wonders if this peaceful time they have could continue forever...
Later she is finally able to go into town again and would like to go back to school and see her friends
again since its a bit lonely just with Arthur so she goes for a walk till the sun's about to set.
She sees Rei and greets him who is surprised to see her and drags her with him to some alley
 and questions her, but she won't tell him were Arthur is when Rei asks. He gets angry
so she asks what is it he'll do if she tells him. Rei would kill him ofcourse.
Aya asks why Rei's so obsessed with revenge and tells him how Arthur is really like and what a
 good person Arthur is. However Rei tells Aya Arthur's the one who killed his parents
 and this is why he swore revenge against him and can't ever forgive him.

Aya can't get through to him since Rei despairs about how Arthur's most precious is Aya.
When Rei asks Aya one last time where Arthur is she still won't tell him, Rei tells Aya
he'll let her go this once since he just can't continue to hurt his childhood friend.
Now that Aya heard the truth from Rei she cant't really believe it so she will ask him about it since
she just has to know if its really true, Aya spots Arthur in the park and follows him to the harbor.
Crawford is also there some goons were apparently tricked by him over some shit regarding
 system security(Who the *** cares) so they basically want Crawford's head on a silver platter.
Arthur ends up killing the goons while Crawford laughs like the evil villain he is, Aya sees it all though.

When Arthur comes back he notices she isn't herself so Aya tells him she saw him and he tells her he
knew cuz he felt her presence and that he'd rather that she didn't find out about the shitty jobs
Crawford makes him do, Aya asks why and its because he wants her to be safe and happy
but Aya comments thats not what she wants, Aya doesn't want all this because its a lie.
Aya just wants Arthur to be happy, he tells her he's fine though but she won't believe it.
The two have another tender moment and Aya notices that Arthur is really happy right now
 and that he has a real smile on his face, he says he'll do anything.

Afterwards Aya tells him about Rei, she asks about if its true and it is
 but that whatever happens she's on Arthur's sides, she also asks him to stop killing and tells him
they both should runaway from it all and  live in some quiet place away from all this violence.
When they decide to elope but Julius tries to stop them since thats his job.
Arthur and Julius have fiery a showdown!
Julius admits defeat since deep down he's a good guy and the two make their escape, lmao.

Guess what? when they get to the harbor Rui and the other members of Ark show up to stop them,
since Rui was the first to try and stop Arthur he wants to settle things anyway they all gang up on
Arthur at once so Aya tries to steps in but she is unable to do much.
Ark wins in the end and Arthur tells him not to harm Aya, they all say he shouldn't be one to talk.
Arthur begs them not to harm her since she's precious to him so as they get ready to executen him
Aya begs them to let them go and live some place quiet. they refuse at first but since they can't bear to
see these two love birds beg for redemption Eiji lets out a deep sigh and says he's hungry so they end
up letting them go to some quiet place like Aya begged them to earlier, as long as
 Arthur and Aya never become an agent for some organization, topkek.

But before they can escape that Kirishima comes along to drag things on. >_>
 After they defeat Kirishima the coast seems clear, guess who's next in line to get in the way?
You may have guessed it but it is indeed Zero! He seems to have regained some of his composure
though the two still fight, Aya supports Arthur and well Zero asks if she remembers that one day
with her parents and Zero yells how she was so sad after it happened and tries to get her to reconsider.
Aya tells him that while she loves her parents Zero is still wrong for going about things.
She has made up her mind to save Arthur, after some more melodrama Arthur tells Zero that
Aya is right and that he will live somewhere in peace with Aya so he won't let Zero kill him.
Anyway Arthur and Zero have one hell of a fight, when Zero
aims his gun at Arthur Aya jumps infront of  Arthur to show Zero to stop him.
 So... Zero gets shot by Arthur and the two escape, also Zero finally drops the whole revenge thing.
Crawford admits he lost and drops the matter since they still have the data and they
 could just startover! this is a really nice ending, right? After all that our two love birds
end up sneaking in some container and get shipped to somewhere god knows where.
Anyway they live happily ever after, they found their peace and quiet, Arthur doesn't need to do
those crappy jobs anymore, Arthur will stay by Aya's side and protect her forever.
After the credits they live on some island in oceania and it seems that
 they will have one more mouth to feed soon. :O
~
This route was really cute, probably the only route I really enjoyed though
honestly its not without its flaws even if its in my opinion one of the better route in the game next to Rei.
Arthur doesn't know how to handle emotions and all but he gradually does warm up to Aya
even if his mission was to kiss up to her, he still fell for Aya because she made him
experience so many new things, though at most the overall writing was a bit naive.
The last bit of the route was dragging things on a bit though I felt like they could have
skipped the part with Kirishima but I guess they wanted to tie up all possible loose ends.
This route also made me realize how messed up Rei is and if I did Arthur before him, Rei's route
sure would've been less enjoyable since Rei is just so obsessed with revenge against
Arthur and the Unknown in general so it was painful to see him like that so I am glad that
in the end Zero realized he should move on and stop only seeing one side of things.
The bad thing? Crawford once again gets away with everything AGAIN? for the sake of a happy end. Sigh... one can only hope Ark gets to the bottom of things or something
but I doubt it since Crawford is such a pro at manipulating people and organizations.
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★★☆☆
 Enjoyment overall ★★★☆☆
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tachibana Rihitio.
CV: Mizushima Takahiro.
 Codename: Lead.
 Calm, collected and also the resident Ex-Hikikomori.
Well its time for the last route in this game to be honest I wondered
what else this route would bring because after Rei and Arthur's routes
Lead is a huge Tsundere dork and also very moe, one day(Still common route)
Aya wants to work part time at a store and when she tells her friends and Rei at school they're
surprised at her decision, when she visits a convenience store she runs into what appears to be
Lead but he just looks and smiles at her, Aya thinks he's weird and moves on, lol.
Anyway tsundere aside he's quite serious when he does his job but still
gets flustered easily anyway he helps Aya get the hang of being an Agent.
Lead is pretty much the leader of group, he can also pick locks with ease and a computer nerd.
Anyway moving on to individual route in daily life he's quite shy it takes Aya
a while to recognize him, he lives in an expensive appartment and is wealthy.
Overall his route was really cute, though his route was less interesting
that Rei or Arthur's routes but I expected this to be the case.
To top it off Lead was really moe which made it all worth it, at one point when he invites her
 over to his place they even play a videogame together which was funny to see.
Anyway they go on more missions, they try to get the masterchip back, I gotta say that the route
 was pretty boring story wise because almost nothing happened till the traitor part
so far I can't say that I liked this route other than the fact that Lead is freaking adorable.
Anyway Lead is being suspected of being a spy/traitor by the other members of Ark.
Hmm i'm having slight dejavu from Rui's route here.
Eiji and Keel help reassure Aya that it might not be true but still are like it might as well be, they
 let her visit Lead over some tea and they discuss the issue at hand and it gets quite comedic.

Suddenly the safehouse Lead is being held is under attack, they try to run but the door is locked.
But low and behold Lead can release the lock by hacking the system.
(If he can do this much why even bother locking him in there?)
 They escape in the nick of time from the attackers, a bit later at the park
Lead tells Aya not to be involved with him right now and leaves.

Ao Aya returns to Ark, when she returns everyone acts like
she has betrayed them and well she technically did.
Shiina tells her not to worry about it anyway they get an official order to apprehend Lead
but they can't find him, Aya is the only one who still believes Lead is innocent.
So now we spend much time with Aya and the rest searching for Lead.
She eventually meets up with him at the park at night and begs him to return, he refuses
 and tells her he's with unknown now, Kirishima joins up trolls Aya for a bit.
However Aya still firmly believes he didn't betray Ark and asks him once more to return
 because she believes in Lead with all of her kokoro.
Kirishima laughs and says how foolish Aya is so he tells Lead to kill Aya but he refuses
so Kirishima forces Aya to do it herself, lmao.
Before that happens Zero comes to the rescue... so Lead and Kirishima escape. >_>
Anyway Shiina finally tells  the others Lead didn't betray them, because Lead
is the one who is luring the real one out or whatever.
They give Aya some time off and leave the rest of the mission to Zero and the others. <_<

One day Aya starts dreaming about Rihito where she meets Rihito in the convenience store
and is surprised to see himand tells her to hurry up and finish picking out what she wants, lol.
Then Lead asks her to come with him to his appartment because why not?
They go eat sweets and play games~. Lead suddenly tells her to get ready and they go out to fight
Arthur they beat himbut then Lead joins Kirishima... after that she wakes up so she goes
 to see Sakurai, a doctor who works for Ark since Aya doesn't feel well.
After Aya has rested enough she finally goes back to Ark again, they go raid a base
that the  unknown frequently use or something in their next mission.
Turns out they fall right into Kirishima's trap and the whole building is going to explode soon.
Just when everyone lost all hope, Lead haxors the security system and saves them all
 from impending doom because Lead isn't a bad guy after all, Aya embraces him
since she is so happy to have him back and all.
 .Sigh we have yet another route where the guy is branded a traitor 
and he isn't really one, nice try Petit Reve.
When they get back to Ark a comedic scene ensues regarding  Lead's privacy
which involves his behavior online which is really embarrassing for him.

Lead tells her to meet him after class at his appartment. Huehuehue.
Rihito doesn't asnwer the bell so Aya lets himself in and finds him sleeping
then he suddenly grabs her, lol.
 She manages to leave and later rings his doorbell again later and he finally answers, when
Aya enters his room again Rihito tells her to forget what just happened.
After some talk Rihito wants to buy food at the convenience store but Aya says
 he should eat better food so Rihito suggest a restaurant instead then Aya suggest to cook
something for him which she does, Rihito wants to help but she doesn't need it. XD
They get on the topic of Neo NEET... but I'll leave it at that, after dinner Aya asks if she can cook
 for Rihito again and it'll be curry next time.
Rihito tells Aya more about himself and he used to be quite a gamer due to his ability, Aya e
ven asked him what he meant by FPS which he naturally explained...
Sigh why do they have to make Aya so dumb?
Anyway he sents Aya home for now and wonders what present he should get Aya.
The next time Aya enters Rihito's condo she sees him naked, oh you exhibitionist!
Rihito tells Aya to leave for a second like any normal person of course, after that Aya cooks for him.
The curry was great and there were some shenanigans, the next day Ayaka gets a strange call
telling she should go to the park, she meets up with Rihito who drags her to his room
 showing her he figured out where the masterchip is.
Crawford isn't pleased with this and definitely wants the data back so he's up to no good,
meanwhile Ark goes over their plans for the mission regarding the masterchip.


They infiltrate infinity, the guards are a bit suspicious but Eiji and Keel pull it off, lol.
Doesn't take long before Kirishima tries to stop them but Keel and Eiji take care of him.
Zero and Eru guard a crucial spot from Julius and Rena while Lead and Aya go for the masterchip.
Lead tries to hack into the system but someone on the other end
 make it seem like he succeed but he doesn't so Lead gets all emo, Aya tries to slap him out of it
but doesn't work... just then the others join them and they escape.
Mr:??? freaks out to Crawford because he didn't knew there was one in that room
the ''terrorists'' were in, meanwhile Crawford is all calm and collected.
By terrorists I mean Ark since they did try to raid Infinity.

When they get back to Ark Lead explain to Shiina they failed the mission
 and so he walks off into the distance being all depressed.
Lead goes back to his shut-in like life so Aya visits him to try and cheer him up, Aya
continues to visit him this takes a while for Rihito to recover his mojo.
When Rihito regains his mojo does and he goes back to work at Ark.
Before they go to settle things Aya and Rihito spend some more time together.
Well they finally launch another mission to get the chip back and ofcourse Kirishima
and Unknown get in the way but much like before the others members of Ark take care of]
 Kirishima and Rena so Lead and Aya can go on to get the chip.
As turns out Lead made an AI that he modeled after Aya, its really cute though.
 Rihito you're such a nerd for modeling an AI after Aya...
Rihito and Aya fight Arthur they naturally defeat him and after that when they get some
alone time he apologizes for running away from his issues and tries to kiss aya but..
 Rihito messes up like the nerd he is, he gets it right the second time though.
That whole scene was really cute to see!

They go on to the area the super computer is at and are stopped by a hologram of mr:???
Who is one of the Unknown's top members Haizawa.
You might also know him as Crawford's buddy, since he's always with him, anyway
he has  Lead play a little game with him.
Asche is the nickname Haizawa uses, Licht is Lead's nickname, Lead obviously wins
 even tho Haizawa tried to cheat but Lead shows him cheating is bad.
Lead gets the masterchip back and the girl, Haizawa tries to use a last resort dick move
 to release some poisonous gas into the room so everyone will die.
As turns out Lead's AI already hacked the security system so they can get away safe and sound.
Crawford be like omoshiroi.... and still gets away as usual.
When they get out Lead asks Aya to be with him from now on and kisses her once more.
 Everyone was looking at them making Lead very embarrased, all's well that ends well huh?
After the credits, Rihito and Aya are officially going out and he waited for Aya's class at school to finish.
Aya ends up introducing him to her classmates before Rihito takes Aya for a ride in his car. huehuehue.
 ~
I really liked this route, Rihito was so adorable I can't even begin to explain it.
Story wise it was okay but I didn't like the part where he was believed to be a traitor
nor the part where he became emo after he lost for the first time in forever but
I guess it fits in with his character? Oh well because he was such a tsundere dork
this route was probably the most enjoyable for me, I know Arthur is a cinnamon roll
who's done some hard living but Rihito? he's just so moe it hurts.
Romance ★★★★☆
Plot ★★☆☆☆
 Enjoyment overall ★★★★☆
 --------------------------------------------------------------

Route enjoyment:
Rihito > Arthur / Rei > Rui > Eiji > Tatsumi.

Character I liked the most.
Rihito >Arthur > Rei > Tatsumi > Rui > Eiji.
Rihito is pretty much my favorite character followed by Arthur.
Rei takes the third spot but everyone else? meh.
Its sad how Tatsumi was only cute in his own route I wish we saw that side more...

~Final thoughts~
Yep... overall SA7 was a disappointment, not even my love for Rihito and Arthur can save it.
 I didn't expect much out of this but I guess it was nice fodder to pass the time.
Sadly I had to force myself to sit through it, it took me like 3 weeks when it not even that long.
Though I'm starting to think Petit Reve's games are aimed at younger people in general, if you
already played these games for years you aren't missing out on them.
Honestly it wasn't bad but its not exactly good either... this is yet another petit-reve game
that tried to be good but ended up being mediocre, however they do atleast try I give them that much.
There is nothing wrong with the setting or overall story, in fact I did like some of it, its just that
I don't like it when the main villain who does a lot of shitty things just gets away with it.
(Or gets caught off-screen in the ending somewhere we don't see it.)
I didn't understand Crawford, he acts like a villain in Rei and Arthur's route but in other he isn't???

First of all there is too many routes and it should be obvious
I couldn't even begin to care about half of them since they weren't even part of the actual plot.
Sometimes this is good but only if they actually make it interesting, in this that isn't the case.
Most of the routes were pretty boring to me, to make matters worse barely any
of the guys were desirable, the guys of Soukai Buccaneers(except Leon) were a lot better imo.
Only Zero, Lead and Arthur appealed to me in this game and in my opinion they had the best routes.

Also it felt like they wrote Zero & Arthur's story first and the rest of the route after that.
The other routes are fine but they're less interesting, there are some hints in other routes
but they reveal most of the stuff in Zero/Arhur's route so doing them
 first makes the rest of the game a drag, thankfully I saved Rei and Arthur route for later.
As for Rihito his route is best done later due to the high moe content, it felt like
I was rewarding myself for doing his last since it was really enjoyable.

The overall story was fine but the way it was executed lies the problem.
 The art is okay but the bgm? passable at best.
Due to some parts of the story it does get old fast, I also didn't like how
they just let a girl like Aya join the organization just like that...
She is willing to learn the ropes but these type of stories just make less sense to me since I know in
reality it would never happen like that, it more or less taking advantage of youths with special powers.
Yes that was exactly what a certain villain in this game was trying to do.
It isn't an excuse to put a youngsters in harms way, as in fighting evil organizations
 even if they're willing to do so, I wish there were more capable adults around
Ark that could also fight and support them if they went with this sort of story.
I get that these sort of stories are common in anime and other media in japan but still...
As for the heroine she's okay, I liked her determination at times and I absolutely loved how she sometimes
would just gush and fantasize/dream over the guys but other than that I didn't like her that much.
Pretty sure it was just a side effect of her powers but whatever it made me smile when it happened.

Anyway I'm not saying it isn't worth it, I think if you're just getting into otome games and your
japanese is just enough, Soukai Buccaneers or SA7 might be an excellent choice for you
but if you already played a lot of otome games, its better to pass on this, or get it for cheap.
This otomege is still nice to pass the time but only if you really do not have anything else to do.
But if you have the time for this game you might as well invest it in something more worthwhile
and there are plenty of japanese otome games that do just that!
If you still want a game that tackles the teens with special powers theme, I really recommend
 Trigger Kiss to you its much funnier and the competition theme was actually done well
but romance-wise it was a bit lacking though. :(

Characters ★★★☆☆ (Arthur, Rei and Rihito were great.)
Art  ★★★☆☆(So-so.)
Scenario/plot. ★★☆☆☆(What did I expect? IDK.)
Music★★☆☆☆ (Average...)
System  ★★★☆☆ (Comfy...)
Enjoyment overall ★★☆☆☆
TL;DR Do not recommend unless you are a fan of Terashima Takuma and need sth with him in it.

I think Petit-Reve's games so far are nice if you do not want a complicated story and just another
otome game that doesn't try to be anything else and that is exactly what SA7 will give you!
So if that's what you want then go ahead! SA7 might be for you.
 Sadly I can't recommend this game or any Petit Reve game to beginners of the genre
nothing was that interesting except for two routes... another was great cuz MOE but eh... whatever.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review, I honestly doubt anyone else will bother with
    any Petit Reve's games they've all been mediocre and this
    doesn't look like it will get an exception!
    Also you are absolutely right about Tatsumi! thats just disturbing
    the dude has a kid yet you can romance him...
    I'd be fine with it if the heroine was older but not when she's only 16.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your review and sorry SA7 wasn't that good. Do you have any recommendations for those who are still beginners in Japanese? I was able to play Soukai Buccaneers! with some difficulty. Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Is it okay if I use some of the photos for a blog I run on tumblr? I will off course i will give credit to you and give a link to this review.

    ReplyDelete