Utakata no Uchronia - Review

Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Broccoli/Licobits.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://licobits-game.com/uchronia/ 

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v40519
Release date: 11-04-2024. 

 

I still decided to get this game but the price... why is this game so expensive?

I even bought it digital but 8000 yen? damn that is the price of a limited edition

from the PS Vita era. Idk if this is just broccoli or the economy tanking

but I can see why people just don't want to blind purchase these games nowadays.

 

I'll say it right off the bat, this game was definitely not another Piofiore yet

it could be its successor in spirit. Also while this is not an otomate game

you can definitely tell this was by former staff of theirs.

 

Pro's 

- Interesting story in the grand scheme of things...

- Most love interests were likable except one.

- Gorgeous art and fitting bgm.

 

Con's

- Needs a high level of japanese to fully understand the story.

- Length, focuses too much on the big picture that it cuts itself short.

- Overall plot/flow of the game gets a bit repetitive with every route.

- Yori, i'm not even going to say anything else here.

 

I really liked the OP movie back in the demo and they finally uploaded it on YT

seems like they waited till the actual release date instead of alongside the demo's release.

I hardly ever skipped the OP, it generally was nice to see everytime you boot up the game.

Like I said in my demo impression post, UtaChro is very scenario focused, I just

did not expect it to be on such a grandscale and the fact it was legit surprised me.

UtaChro is very focused on the world they live in and the relationships of the people

in Hinagiku's life etc. Utachro is rich in worldbuilding and interpersonal relationships

but due to all that makes for a pretty long game, no joke. Due to that the romance takes a

while to develop as well but I generally had no complaints because of the pace of it.

For some routes the resolution could seem rushed or good enough... oh well.

What I also like is the whole main cast is part of the plot and don't just

disappear off the map once you lock onto a route which is great.

System is same as piofiore, lots of choices; 2 main endings a best and bad end.

There's no affection/correct choice indicator so easy to hit a game over end.

It may be best to use a guide if you don't want any surprises. There's the switch the PoV

like in Piofiore but since this is from the same writer/director so its to be expected.

 

In terms of story I was hooked to some extent and wanted to see where it was going

but it was also a bit long-winded and the conversations were not always able to grab me.

In Utachro my attention often waned. I do not know if it was because of the level of

japanese or the dialogue just being... dry. Of course at times jokes were cracked

but comedy is not really the focus in this game and it was far and between.

The level of japanese UtaChro uses often betrayed me, because at times it is simple

but it also won't hesitate to throw some complicated kanji at you.

Haven't played Y7 yet but that's me whenever I encountered Kanji that tripped me up.

 UtaChro is also incredibly slowburn, I am glad I did Awayuki as my first route since it fit

really well and I liked their chemistry somewhat but it wasn't a route to bring out

the full potential of the story which was sad. Good starter but not much else.

I did Yori second because he was the resident trashbag and wanted him out of my hair

after the crap he pulled during Awayuki's route and at the end of the day

Yori just wasn't my cup of tea but it may be someone elses? Tobari on the other hand

was probably one of my favorite characters, the romance with him was just right as well!

It reminded me of non-toxic normal relationships, which after Yori was a breath of fresh air.

Idk what to say about Tsuyukusa other than that I am kinda tired of the friend-type routes

but he was one of the more relevant routes in the game, he did take a while to grow on me

and like Tobari I couldn't really see it till like chapter 4/5. Got not much to say about

Yashiro tbh but throughout most routes he was sorta just there, I remember him saying

I'm just an amnesiac guy somewhere which sounds about right till you get

to his own route and he just fucks everything up literally.😨

 

Hinagiku as a heroine was pretty great, good natured and a bit pampered like a princess

but also fearless and not easily afraid of situations she is getting herself into

yet at times she is still a girl you know? don't expect too much of her and I think she was

at her best in Tobari's route! I did prefer her over Naaya from Matsurika.

 

I also made a low effort meme for fun.

Yashiro could be a bit more to the left but for the most part this fits.

 

Overall UtaChro is overly lengthy and complicated, I only really enjoyed&remember the

interactions with the love interest & other fun interactions but there wasn't much of that.

The conflict going on in the town..... sure I was intriguid by what was really going on

but I just was kinda bored with how it was presented. Maybe it really is the dialogue

since it just didn't grab me most of the time. Or I just wasn't interested in the big picture

which just makes it a me problem. Your opinion could differ from this so I will still encourage

this game to anyone that likes scenario driven visual novels of decent length & don't mind politics

but idk the routes are kind of a hit or a miss. The only guy I really liked was Tobari

so I don't know what that says either, probably not much.

 

I know Uta-Chro is scenario driven but it really surprised me that there was

enough romance along the way and this was for me the saving grace.

If I had to be harsh this was a 5/10 but it gave me Tobari so... its a 7/10.

Uta-chro was just a really weird game, I came here for the scenario but left with romance.....

I still hope Aksys or someone else still picks up Uta-Chro... I mean its not Piofiore

but it has some of its elements as well as Nicola&Yang's love child Yori

which I am sure people will either love or hate. Even if that person is not me. 

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There are route restrictions and Yashiro, Tsuyukusa and Yori are off limits at the start.

Yori is unlocked by doing Awayuki, Tsuyukusa unlocks after doing Tobari and finally

Yashiro needs like everyone so no choice but to do him last.

My play order ended up being:

Awayuki > Yori > Tobari > Tsuyukusa > Yashiro >Finale.

I'll just recommend the same except maybe switch Awayuki/Tobari based on preference, this order

may be good to be able to go from those who're available at the start to a more important route.

Whether or not you do Yori right after Awayuki just depends whether you'd like to or not.

This game is even more restrictive than Matsurika and its not even funny.

Route babbles after the jump however the only routes I really wrote about

were Tsuyukusa and Yashiro, but only note-worthy things. This game is too long

someone else can do it if they'd like to but it ain't gonna be me. I'm drowning.

2045, Tsukiyori - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Mellow/Entergram
Platform: PS4/5,Switch.
Official Site: https://www.entergram.co.jp/tsukiyori/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v36012/

Release date: 21-12-2023.

 

I don't play much galge but for some reason I was just drawn to this game.

Idk if that is a good or bad thing but I'll go with good.

I suppose the aesthetic of the game really got to me and I was sold! 

This was my chill game the last couple of weeks for when I wasn't in the mood for something else

This isn't a particularly long visual novel its a 25ish hours at minimum.

Also this is a review for the console version and not the PC version.

Pro's

- Decent story and likable charactters.

- Gorgeous artwork and fitting BGM.

- Elle is E.M.T aka Elle Maji Tenshi.

Con's

- Lack of CG, there were places were one would be nice but there was none, especially epilogue.

- Technobabbles galore.

- Not many choices, basically a kinetic novel as there's only one choice to decide a route.

 

Art was pretty good, I guess it was also this that sorta sold me on this VN.

Music is nothing exceptional some good jams, it generally fits the mood.

 

 System is standard VN stuff, not much to mention here, the UI was comfy

and I could save/load without issues this time. I did notice there aren't really

any choices except for one that will decide which route you will end up on.

I suppose this is nice if you just wanna chill and enjoy the story without

having to worry about any bad ends of which there were none.

 

 There are only three heroines so that means three routes, great for when you don't

want to sit through like 6 routes and have to deal with less relevant characters.

Its kinda really obvious from the get go who the main heroine was, at first she didn't really feel

like she was meant to be a love interest but this got better later on especially her own route.

Story has some light sci-fi elements and is set in the not so distant future.

Sou our protagonist doesn't like androids but they're here to help! much to his distaste.

He was involved in an incident which let him to have to work with Yuuhi and Masakazu

after being caught in the act hacking stuff. Now Sou is cursed with helping them around

in finding a SUSpicious individual who the protagonist also happened to bump into.

I actually liked the first half of the game, the second half was more or less SoL fluff

and the more interesting plot had fallen into the background in favor for romance.

 

I'm meming now but I like how at the start of the game  Sou's like I would never simp for androids

but over the course of the game and at the end of the route its literally at your service my queen.

 

Anyway I liked how Sou got over his fear, he was also pretty proactive so the only disappointment

is that he doesn't have a full sprite like the girls, I think that really would have added to it.

Thankfully he does have a face! so I guess I will take what I can get here...

The pacing of the common route was okay and the story was easy to follow, maybe a bit

too easy to guess certain things but there were hints and some foreshadowing

but it was long and basically the whole main story is the common route+Elle

while the other routes deal only with lingering issues of the other heroines.

 

 The girls themselves were all likable and had their quirk, however romance wasn't really

the topic early on, there was plenty of time to get to know everyone till the second half

which is where the romance kind of started to come in.

There weren't really any routes that felt like they were self-contained as all girls were tied

into the scenario pretty well but the sad fact is that the story was mostly about Elle.

Both Yui and Shirabe are but an after thought. 2045, Tsukiyori is also a VN that focuses on

its scenario first and romance second so one may need to be a little patient.

How do I put this? if you played something like witch on the holy night but wanted it

to have actual romance and like hi-tech stuff then Tsukiyori might be for you.

I like to compare these two VN but that is mostly cuz of them having no real choices yet

in terms of story they are not really that similar at all its more or less in design.

 

I thought Tsukiyori was also lighthearted but it can have its tense moments

and it wasn't too over the top either, it had a good balance of fluff and seriousness.

The bad part is, it had a lot of dry segments, lack of CG and it wasn't always as engaging

so at times I was bored however it did manage to pick itself up so it wasn't too bad.

Most technobabbles went in one ear and out the other, so I guess half this game wasn't for me.

 

 

Me after finishing this visual novel...

 

Overall its pretty solid but it wasn't particularly great either.

I liked how I was able to get hooked with ease so Mellow did one job right...

sadly I think the transfer from PC to Console wasn't that great and it may feel lacking

as the 18+ scenes have been removed, thankfully whatever romance there is was cute.

I wish the kiss cg's were better since I have seen much better, the quality of Yui and Shirabe

is unacceptable to me in 2024 especially compared to some recent otome games I have played.

I'm glad atleast Elle was great but yea not a good look.

If you wanna get this do it for the plot and Elle but don't expect too much either

like it might be worth it for Elle's route but not full price for other routes. 

 

If you're still on the fence, it has a 4ish hour trial/demo which I found

more than enough to give a player a taste of what it is all about.

Only bad part is the trial can't carry over save data so...

I had to skip a bit to get back to where the demo ended.

Will write a bit about the characters after jump like usual, there will be spoilers

but there won't be a whole digest, the game/route is too long for that.

 

Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Review

Genre:Brawler/adventure.

Developer/publisher: Sega.
Platform: PS4/PC.
Official Site: N/A

 Release date: 28-8-2018.

 

Okay so since I wanted to see Majima-chan again I decided to continue my yakuza adventures.

Sadly I found out this is pretty much the last game he had any major role in before he became

a side character. As sad as it is, there is of course more to Yakuza than just Majima.

 

Pro's

- Exciting story with mostly good pacing.

- Great substories and fun dialogue in general.

- Optional content is actually optional, gotta go find it if you want it.

Con's

- Some chapters are too short and/or could be combined into one.

- No more stances/styles, I heard you like charge attacks?

- Sneaking missions can be annoying...

 

 Story takes place right after Yakuza 1, Kiryu adopted a daugher and I don't remember much else

except a bunch of drama with his sworn-brother among other things. Thankfullly

there was a recap so you can get up to speed on the events thus far. I dropped out 

of that after the first segment since I remembered enough already.

The pacing was generally better than Y1 and the markers were on point

so I didn't feel lost right at the beginning searching for a pickpocket or something.

The only time I was forced to look up a guide was in chapter 11... other than that there were no issues.

 I generally liked the flow of the story but in the beginning it did feel more

like a movie and there's very little gameplay or time for substories which lead to me forgetting

to buy healing items  so I went into the chapter 2 gauntlet with nothing but scraps gotten from

the endeavor itself and so I was forced to beat the boss at the end while kicking and screaming

because only charged attacks and running around seemed to be effective.😂

In short Yakuza 2 Kiwami was a pretty fun game that didn't overstay its welcome

or needs you to invest a large amount of time in it to see its story which

after the last game  I played was much welcomed.

More ramblings after the jump, I had a hard time choosing screenshots because this game

just had so much gold in it... I literally smiled again while looking at some.