VNDB: https://vndb.org/v34020
Release date: 2023-04-27.
Release date: 2023-04-27.
Otomate's latest game! when I looked at it prerelease it didn't
really grab me outside of the heroine being cute, some designs
partly reminded me of a PS2 otome game but when looking at it the plot
did seem interesting? so I gave it a try anyway.😊
Most of the seiyuus aside from a few are all pretty new, I guess the veterans
have become too expensive but it seems they've invested a bit in Kimuryo.
Still I think its nice they let newer talent get some roles too. Also since the title is so long
I'll be referring to this game as Tsuitsui instead, which also rolls of the tongue pretty well.
Pro's
- Story and Characters.
- Art is decent but the designs remind me of a ps2 era game.
- Music was good, it fits the setting/moments.
Con's
- It may look like a comedy but its really not.
- Not a lot of fluff.
- Length; no joke it is a long VN.
- No play order restriction, which IMO may have been necessary.
The story is about a princess who has high luck, some sort of power which
she uses to determine who's safe or something sadly this power isn't seen as positive
and they mostly refer to it as a curse. One day Cecillia starts trusting her intuition more
and learns it was actually trying to help her. Most of the knights she ends up choosing
were not really being suited for such a job! The guys also really seems like Cecillia just
picked them up from the street and some don't even have an interest in being a knight
which is probably the main reason that caught my attention.
They had to do some training-camp were she got to know them better and low and behold
some magic happened as she interacted with them and actually got them to take it seriously!
Art; its decent but some designs reminds me of some PS2 era game.
The heroine looked really cute though but some Cg's of the guys did not grab my attention
still it wasn't all bad and there were good ones! the backgrounds were especially well done.
Music was alright it fits the setting/mood. I didn't have any complaints but the OP
I did start skipping after a few plays not that the song was bad, it just not my thing
it also seemed kind of misleading and way too cutesy for what the game really was about.
The ED was really nice though! perfectly fitted the mood.
The game also had a generally chill vibe going on as well! especially in the common route.
There is best end,normal and game over end for each character so you may have
to watch your choices here and there (or just use a guide). I personally skipped
the game over/bad ends as they gave no CG.
The common route was long and it took its time to introduce the characters
as they did not become knights in a single day; god bless for that since
some of them really didn't seem like they were gonna be knights haha.
If you had to ask me, the common route was the most fun part, its the
personal routes where things start to get real.
The pacing wasn't too bad and the common chapters of introduction were paced well
its basically a pace I was comfortable with, at times a little slow/boring but..
we did get to know the characters and understand the setting etc.
The only time I was ever bothered by it was in the final route but then again
it had lots of great moments with the love interest too so I can forgive them.
The character interactions are also one of the best parts and i think
the characters did carry this game by a lot as well.
This game may seem light-hearted and knows when to have fun
however it isn't afraid to throw in political games or people plotting stuff!
Also after you complete routes there are new but short scenes from the guys POV.
off-putting or a creep or anything. For some sub characters it was easy
to tell that they were not
so nice like for example Claudia who is Cecillia's
sister totally has that villainess look.
Maybe in another world she's
the protagonist trying to save herself from certain doom!
Honestly I can tell the writers/devs sort of did this as a joke.
Cecillia on the other hand was a pretty good heroine, despite being lucky she still goes
through some shit alright but is able to keep her chin up and well in the case of Joseffy
being able to put a leash on him (or so it seemed to me). Cecy was both caring and headstrong!
I did find the overall the setting/lore and political intrigue to be particularly strong in Tsuitsui
as it certainly wasn't afraid to go all out with the heroine being a princess and part of a monarchy.
This was definitely not a rom-com but the story and characters were its strong points.
Some routes could turn out to be less interesting depending on the order of play, the romance
with the love interests was alright as they did manage to find a balance of how
things progressed, if kimiyuki had an odd balance or dragged they certainly
found the right balance with tsuitsui. However I want to make it clear that
Tsuitsui is not a short game, so if you end up getting this you're definitely getting
something with a bit of volume and a long final route. There's not much fluff but I still
think most of the best endings were fulfilling. So if this game never gets a FD
I wouldn't be too disappointed, I mean it would be nice if it did well enough!
Overall Tsuitsui was pretty decent to me, despite looking a bit generic!
so if you're up for something like an otome game version of game of thrones or
the dragon prince(but not really) this tsuitsui definitely gets my recommendation.
IDK how well this game did in japan, or if i'm one of the very few who imported but if
it didn't do well then otomate only has themselves to blame for misrepresenting this game.
Because it really seems like it was gonna be some light-hearted comedy which turned
into actually being something with a serious story with funny moment as but an after thought.
Needless to say I still think Tsuitsui was good but don't come here expecting a rom-com!
8/10
Play order doesn't seem to matter much as every route is self-contained
and each can reveals parts of the greater plot! there is no restriction
which really baffles me since there are routes that reveal more than others
especially Kier and Adel kind of hints at things.
Order of play that I recommend:
Toby/Milan > Joseph > Adel > Kier > Finale.
My own play order was:
Milan > Josef > Kier > Adel > Toby > Finale.
I still think this is partly fine since it flowed well enough and by the time of Adel route
everything fell into the right pieces so I am inclined to recommend this same order
with the exception of not doing Tobi last since I found it to be a little lacking
with the exception of his character development also Kier's route is best done last b4 finale.
Spoilers and character ramblings after the jump. I'll be mostly sharing two CG's per character
with the exception of the finale since I had too many favorites.
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