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| Tengoku Tumbleweed Side Struggle |
Developer/publisher: otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.aksysgames.com/tengoku/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v33150
Release date: 04-04-2024
I played this game inbetween others but this was one of those games
that I wish I could like more and only got good for me in the last two routes.
Due to it being what it was I wasn't in the mood to get through this but I also didn't
want to let this sit in my backlog for half a year so after Matsurika FD I continued.
Despite being aware about contents; I found it rather tame.
I mean without context they sound awful but within the narrative? oh.
Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours
this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.
If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself.
Pro's
- Strong-willed and self-concious heroine.
- All LI's are likable in their own ways.
- Great art and catchy music.
Grey area
- Quite long; route length is 10-12 hours on average.
- Story doesn't seem to take itself serious, weak resolutions in early route.
Con's
- The game can feel a bit draggy at times and has pacing issues.
- Bad CG pacing, there are droughts and moments with a lot at once.
Art was great,When I looked at the cover for the first time I almost
didn't recognize who the artist was, tho it definitely is Satoi's style.
Music was generally good and I had no issues with it.
The OP was good but I didn't feel like watching it everything. ED was fine.
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[System ramblings]
Standard visual novel stuff, nothing that stood out.
The common route was much like Olympia Soiree a long one-time introduction
without choices and it becomes entirely skippable on 2nd play.
Its also easy to see what's a good or bad choice as this is shown when you select a choice
so you can play this without a guide, there's only two endings per route; Happy&bad.
However the bad endings were IMO more like good ends.
The common route did hook me, the setting and introductions were interesting.
I liked how the heroine had a female friend with a sprite too.
There's a scene at the end of ch1 that kinda woah but what I found hilarious
is how tame the rest of the common route of seven chapters was. The early routes
such as Yona or Kiku were quite tame as well. I was actually disappointed at this, within
the narrative a lot of things did make sense but if I listed it separately it could sound awful.
Actually the game is rather tame in general... LMAO till the gloves are off in Goemon route.
Pacing was a tad slow for me but for a SoL character driven game its not bad perse.
Though things can get heated the game was for the most part pretty laidback which lead
to some shifts in tone, if you can't handle this TengoStray is likely not for you.
I'll add to this that TengoStray is a fairly long, especially the first time through.
Individually the routes had 12 chapters and it took around 10-12 hours to complete one.
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[Heroine ramblings]
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| She has a whip but... |
past life she had a personality! I did wonder how she turned into a misandrist
but the story wrote itself in such a way I kinda got why she had enough of them.😅
The narrative esp in early routes seemed more set on mellowing her out...
As she lived with everyone she got over that stuff pretty fast too and she tried
to approach them differently which also kind of clashed with the initial setup
but its okay people can change their mind so that's not bad per se.
I wasn't really sure what they tried to sell me during the first few routes and
if need be Rin can really hold her ground, its just she acts like a tiger but is in fact
just a cat and acts like any girl could. Rin's proactive but she was also a tsundere
so getting her to be honest was a struggle in itself. Sometimes she's just hostile😓
but also not incapable of self-reflecting on things as she is self-concious.
Rin is comparable to Olympia, not perfect by any means and it was obvious
she bit off more than she could chew, even so she regained her balance. Rin also
reminded me of Rinka from BAW; if they fleshed her out and wove her into the plot.
Rin shined the most in the locked routes as that's where she was given the most depth
and the early routes only touched upon it on a surface level. Considering her story
it also makes sense why that is the case. Maybe I had the wrong expectations
but I expected a bit more from her even in early routes.
I didn't always vibe with Rin Enma, yet I was in-sync with her in how
her perspective changed both on herself and the guys.
My sign also isn't very compatible with Rin who is a scorpio and at times
I did not understand her but she wasn't a bad heroine at all. Just not for me.
---
The LI are criminals but there was barely need to punish them.
I actually expected Rin to whip them more if they acted up but... this wasn't necessary! (haha)
imma be real the only one who really needs whipping is Sharaku. The times the whip was
cracked were few. The narrative pushed it yet was against doing it at the same time.
I don't know if the localization toned her down among other things but let me tell you
again Rin was at her most badass in Jack and Goemon's routes.
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| If you wanted to actually whip LI's then I recommend KLAP kind love and punish instead. |
The seiyuu cast are mostly familiar I personally don't hear Goemon's VA a lot
but this game made me like him a lot! I also did love some of the seiyuu for
the side cast like Koyasu Takehito as Daddy or Nojima Kenji for Takamura.
It was a good cast with classics but none of my fav's were in it.
---
The localization was good but this game was toned down, there's less vulgarity than what
the japanese were complaining about and there's not much that soured the experience except
some of Sharaku's phrasing near the end of his route but that's just him.
I always hear people complain about this otome but it was tamer than I thought.
---
[Overall ramblings]
Tengoku Struggle is what happens when you mix aspects of bad apple wars,
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| Despite grievances I think I am more satisfied with this than Cafe Enchante! |
varribarri and Olisoi. The setting is interesting but it can be kind of deceiving
as it ended up being much more slice of life focused than I initially expected.
The lore wasn't deep or anything but it was creative, the things I found myself
disappointed at was mostly the execution of the overall story
which felt like it was doing whatever at times.
This was a much slower paced game rather than an action packed one which lead to
pacing and tension issues. Olympia wasn't always able to meet her goals but she had
a more simple job. Rin does try but it may vary on the route and who her partner was.
Both the enemy and the heroes had goals but ends up being rather casual about it.
Sometimes you can't really do anything about a situation and this game was full of it.
I think I may be fine with slice of life when there's not some grand plot
going on but TengoStray certainly was an experience.
You see this game has its routes tackle things on a case by case basis and it tends
to ignore anything not related to that character or put it very into the background.
I can forgive some things but its understandable why I feel the way I do since
there's a lot of beating around the bush. I'm fine with some truths only shown in
locked routes but... I had trouble enjoying the early routes because they were all over the place.
In terms of romance routes ended in satisfying manner but I wasn't fully convinced
when it came to tying up all the plot threads. I found Sharaku to be a lil better
than Yona/Kiku but not by much. I thought its just because they're the early game
routes, those can be lacking and not tackle it all... then I moved on to JacK
who spiced up a lot of monotony that the starter routes had going on while being
hilarious at the same time. I thought there would be no route i'd like but I was wrong!
Goemon had a really good route as well but... the others started feeling like what if's.
---
TL;DR
a good time but it was a tad slow for me, the real struggle was the SoL along the way!
The romance is build on trust and its most enjoyed as a slowburn, early routes for me
like Kiku or Yona's was a real s t r u g g l e because while I liked them they never became fav's.
There was not much was going on and the real narrative is buried in the locked routes.
The main plot was kinda weak in early routes and very character+romance driven.
At times there is plenty of enjoyment, yet the plot was 404 not found.
Goemon's the only one which handled it well but when I looked back I got
a massive headache thinking about certain side chara's.😓
Its sad I didn't enjoy the first 3 routes and at that point I was like is there a route
in this game I really enjoy? the answer was yes. After three routes I struck gold with Jack.😄
So I basically suffered during the first half.😩Okay I guess I'll take the L's.
The best parts about TengoStray for me were the character interactions even when there
was nothing important going on. I didn't even dislike the LI's themselves. I just thought
some of the narrative within their routes particular the early ones could be better.
8/10
I would recommend TengoStray if you want an otome game about bad boys and life&death themes
with homey SoL/found family vibes. I wasn't disappointed with this game like with Enchante.
I'd probably not recommend TengoStray to those that don't like SoL, slowburn romance
or can't handle some mild forms of sexism since its just all that.
My Play order:
Yona > Kikunosuke > Sharaku > Jack > Goemon.
Yona and Kikunosuke are the beginner routes and can be interchanged.
Sharaku the intermediate one which is best done before Jack.
Jack needs the player to do the three initial routes and Goemon is locked behind him.
Recommended order:
Kikunosuke / Yona > Sharaku > Jack > Goemon.
Character rambles and some of my fav cgs after the jump.
Probably don't read further if you want to experience it yourself since its just
senile grandma rambles beyond this point with potential spoilers.
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