Developer/publisher: Ruby Party/Koei and Nintendo.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/aq2fa/index.html
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v30145
Release date: 2021-01-29.
I heard about this game last year but didn't get to it, now that otomate decided to try to dive into
the no romance but friendship genre I was reminded of this and I thought huh why not?
from what I found it doesn't seem to be that bad and its reception in japan were mostly positive!
Honestly the title of the game is a bit generic so I wouldn't be surprised if many glossed over it.π
I was once again reminded to not judge a book by its cove- err title.
Side note, this game is a collab between Koei and nintendo.
There aren't really any major plot spoilers in this post, please enjoy the game for yourself
cuz this is one of those games like psychedelica that you just can't say too much about its plot.
Pro's
- Decent enough plot with some twist and turns.
- Amazing cast of characters.
- Great art and BGM to fit the mood.
- Quite long but pacing okay, has replay value/reason to redo a chapter.
Con's
- No touch screen support, a bummer for switch lite users.
- Some aspects of the mystery might be a bit too obvious...
- It might be overwhelming to unlock and/or see the side events alongside progressing the main plot.
^^Its okay to do it later to not burn yourself out.
OP Movie; I watched maybe once or twice.
Buddy Mission Bond is a mystery visual novel but honestly what I really liked the most
was the chara's. This may be a VN but it is more like an animated comic/manga!
The protagonist Luke is voiced by Kimura Ryohei and it has many other high profile seiyuu as well
such as Namidai, kondo takashi and morikawa toshiyuki. Kouki Uchiyama also
voices someone and he's easily my favorite besides the main gang.
Edward who became his role model and adoptive father. Luke eventually followed
in his footsteps by becoming a detective, he always dreamed of being a hero.Luke ends up on a case about a diamond thief which leads to him investigating
a case on his own and ends up teaming up with allies which lead to one thing and another!
I'd love to talk more of the story/side episodes but I think this game really is best
to be experienced when knowing as little as possible of its plot i'll still be sharing some screenshotsbut most of these won't give away the main story/are without context of whatever is going on.
Luke: Cinnamon roll too good for this world too pure... who wouldn't protect his smile?
Aaron: Best bro! despite his attitude this fact is undeniable by the end of this game.
Though he does need a stress ball or just take walks with doggie Luke....
I like how he never gets a new shirt... or maybe it just rips naturally.π
Mokuma: Moe oyaji??? laidback guy for the most part he also has a ''real shit'' mood.
Chesley: Didn't like him much at first, he's a bit twisted but his past made me sadactually twisted is putting it mildly he's a megalomaniac with varying lvls of moods
and also has a hateboner for Mokuma.π¨ Idk this guy was just 2weird5me?
all the BL themes in this game is basically Chesley's fault and to some extend Mokuma too.
None of them are perfect or anything but I learned to love them for better or for worse.¯\_(γ)_/¯
I liked how their alias/codenames formed BOND...
There's a lot of QTE and aside the usual choice you sometimes have to solve puzzles
and there's a 3d adventure element. So if you're up for that it is definitely
worth looking into it, it has a trial version on the jpn eshop if you're curious.
More rambles after the jump break.
during investigations, the jpn difficulty isn't that high IMO. While a visual novel this one is linear.
I think the difficulty ranged from easy to oh no gotta think for a second
other than that its not particularly difficult if you paid attention. If you need a guide
(mostly for hero guage) I recommend: https://h1g.jp/buddymissionbond/ since you can
unlock side stories for characters viewable after completing certain parts of the story.
By giving the right responses you build up a hero guage which affects ranking of the chapter
you can always replay the chapter to get a better rank and/or unlock side stories that need
a specific pair up so a guide is a last resort and/or a time saver.
 |
| It was tempting to select Ora-Ora! but it wasn't meant to be. |
in later chapters and critical talks since there's a limited time to do it.
I do have to say that some things were a little too easy if you actually pay attention
so its up to you if you want to use the guide or just go in blind. Though about that
CRRRiticalllu taaaaaalkuuuuu... this was probably the only thing that made me cringe
and you have to do that a lot so I was pretty much nottu dissu shittu againu everytime.
 |
| I love Mokuma's reaction to Aaron trying to talk things out in attack position... |
My favorite was in chapter 12, absolutely recommend it to be done with Mokuma/Chesley the first time. Honestly the graphics for it weren't too bad, it kinda felt like it was an rpg
as you pick a route and find out how to proceed to continue the story.
I didn't take a lot of screenshots of it but here's a few of the places you'll explore without context.
Luke doesn't need to be in the group in some cases and you can basically use any team but whether
that is helpful for the story is another matter cuz you may need someone to get the info to proceed
during investigation/critical talks so sometimes a character had to sit this one out, like I said above sometimes you need specific pair ups to unlock side stories, so there's definitely replay value.
There might not have been any romance but this game certainly still seemed
to be aimed at people who enjoy otome and/or bl stuff. Its probably this fact
that makes some steer away, still I thought this had very high production values
and I think its a shame to dismiss buddy mission bond for it as there's plenty of fun here
and its a pretty interesting VN but I understand that some people may not be interested in some of it.
I'm memeing with the following two screenshots but Aaron has that orders a single black coffee
and leaves energy, that is if he doesn't have to urge to punch someone.π
π
which really is a mix of otome to BL though the BL does feel more used as comedy.
 |
| Definitely no BL undertones here.... nope! |
Yea there are BL undertones here and there... and there is also some chemistry
between Luke and Sui and honestly they ended up on the I ship it list alongside Luke/Aaron
even though they're more like buddies than anything else.π
The story was interesting enough there are some twists and turns + side stories will reveal
more of perspective which was nice cuz I just couldn't understand Chesley from the story alone.
The character interactions were gold though! plenty of funny interactions. Due to it being QTE heavy buddy mission bond ends up being quite the interactive manga, there are even fights!
but honestly the strength of this game lies with its cast.
Sometimes I think the only thing stopping Aaron from punching anyone
is Luke holding him back or pulling his leash...
I really did enjoy the occasional banter or comedic scenes between the characters as well.
If I had any complaints is that the touch screen is not usable for the choices
this might be disappointing for switch lite players but I got used to it, haha
I think i'm just spoiled from otomate as most of their vn had touchscreen support.
I forgot to mention this but there is a specific pattern/formula so this game might
be a a bit same-ish/repetitive in the way you have to investigate/infiltrate etc.
This game is also fairly long, esp if you want to see everything, most chapters did end
on a note that got me intriguid into what happens next! which is very good
but I did start to run out of steam during the information gathering parts at times which is always
before a infiltration, they get worse when you have a full team and have to juggle your members,
atleast in long infiltration missions they give you an option to save. Sranking chapters is also fairly
simple, but ch9 I wasn't able to do the first time due to QTE at the end atleast I did it with
Aaron/Mokuma which had a sidestory so I only had to do it one more time
with Aaron/Luke for the other. So yea there's a lot to do but it might be better
to just view what optional stuff you can as you go through the game and unlock the rest
at a later time, cuz I was not in the mood myself to replay ch9 right away.
I do absolutely loved the scene with Aaron and the star slot machine... or the part with the gondola
in the final infiltration mission. I haven't laughed so much in a while it was gold! πππ
As you have seen the artwork is gorgeous... at first the art style reminded me of geten no hana
but alas its by Yusuke Murata who's known for one-punch man. If you want to know why it did
remind me of Geten no Hana, its mostly the style and because of Sui reminding me of Hotaru.
Sui coulda been the heroine if this game was written differently but this isn't the case
and Luke is very much the protagonist and Aaron his best buddy. There is one cg at the end of
the game that could be a nice 3p which was nice even if Aaron is the 3rd wheel. π
Final Thoughts!
It has some twists and turns, some you probably see coming others not. 3,5/5
Gameplay; This made the game very interactive & when not reading you're always doing something
from investigating a scene to looking around the map for clues & talk with npc & QTE events.3/5
Graphics; Its a vn and 3d explorations were limited, they did put effort into it and the modeling.
I was impressed with ch6,ch9 and ch12's infiltration missions. 4/5
Characters; SSS tier it was easy to come to like them over the course of the game
and the occasional banter/comedy between the guys just seals it. 5/5
Art; gorgeous in both sprite and background whoever drew this outdid themselves. 5/5
Music; It has some catchy tunes and it all fits the mood. 3/5
4/5 or a 9/10 overall.
Anyway this VN was pretty enjoyable and interesting enough with likable characters
its also a bit one of a kind? in terms of presentation and gameplay, with replay value too whether
to unlock an sidestory requiring different pairs during investigation/infiltration or ranking.
It definitely gets my recommendation if you're into mystery/detective stories! but it might not
be for everyone, if you only want to read or want romance buddy mission bond may not be for you.
Due to the nature of the game this post isn't very long. Am I glad I played it? the answer is yes
because honestly it was refreshing and well-rounded, I wasn't annoyed by much except running out
of steam during investigations before an infiltration part, which was also not voiced but if they
had to cut costs somewhere there probably was no better choice than there.
Other than that it was a fun game! and there's not much really to say about it nor do I want
to embelish it as the best mystery vn ever which it isn't but imo it was pretty good at what it tried.
I think this is worth looking into if you're looking for something slightly different
than the usual otome stuff and don't mind BL undertones. I'm gonna add to this with an edit: that
while there are undertones there is no clear romance and its mostly just comedy/shipping fuel.
Basically this is not a BL nor is it an otome but it might cater to those that like those genre's.
What's next? Birushana FD! but I am not sure what to expect from it
part of me is happy it got an FD but another part of me says did we really need it?
One more thing before I'll stop rambling even though buddy mission is a year old by now
I do hope this game gets picked up and localized on day and koei changes their attitude
towards VN one of these days but it seems they're only interested in bringing over games
that're either rpg's or warrior's games. Maybe Pqube or xseed could help because it is really
depressing to see koei's VN stay jpn only- actually this did come out in korean
but so did haruka 7 in chinese so apparently they can do it... just not in english.
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