Trouble Magia - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/trouble-magia/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47011

Release date: 12-9-2024.

 

I wasn't originally going to get this but while on my second route of Hanakare I did crave

something with a little bit of story to it as Hanakare wasn't able to give that itch.

Either that or I would be playing the kaito files... but I wanted a break from RGG studios

so I decided to get otomate's newest game, the decision was mostly based on the fact

Trouble Magia seemed funny and not as heavy which is what I wanted anyways.

 

Trouble Magia also has a long subtitle which I am not even going to bother typing itout

i'll just be referring to it as trouble magia, I mean no disrespect but its simply too long.

I kinda felt bad for the seiyuu's having to say it aloud cuz aside the first time starting

up the game I never waiting for them to finish whenever I booted it up again. 

 

Pro's

- Interesting fun story & characters.

- Enough volume that there's enough time for plot,shenanigans & romance.

- Art, doesn't have a unique style but its good.

 

Grey area

-  Final route is significantly longer due to reasons but it did make sense of everything.

 

Con's

- Can seem a bit cliche.

- The length of this game can be a bit of a double edged sword as well.

- The long arse subtitle.

 

Honestly I don't think a lot of people got this game? I won't lie my first impressions

when I looked it up weren't positive... but that did change as I played it

and it was actually quite fun & interesting albeit very cliche at times.

I didn't really watch the OP a lot either like maybe a handful its not one of those

that I watch religiously everytime I boot it up.

 

Basic plot be like: Lucia wants to be a magic knight and gets to attend a school

however she also has a curse which makes her transform into a random animal

and it causes all sorts of problems in her life. She seeks to break it...

but also can't just tell anyone about it due to it happening abruptly.

Eir was the one who suggested attending the academy because there might be a way

there plus she could get some experience to pursue her own dreams. Two birds with one stone!

Speaking of stones Eir gave Lucia one since she can't go with her it could protect her if need be.

Due to a minor incident Lucia gets placed under supervision of the student council

and it gets even harder to hide the fact she's cursed. Luckily onii-chan lends a hand as well.

The game really follows Lucia's everyday life, it was quite entertaining.

She didn't get along with everyone at first but I really liked to see her fit into her new life

and grow closer to certain characters. Lucia is the type of heroine you wanna cheer on.

The writing was for the most part pretty good, it may not look it in the common route 

but its a good setup for everything that happens after.

I liked how in individual routes certain things that happen earlier

are still relevant chapters later. I really liked this, Matsurika did this as well.😄

On another note while it was not as repetitive as Mistonia, with each route you do

the more you will know of the overall plot which is introduced in small bits

hinting at something more, every route was interesting even if some

focused more on the characters individual problem.

I'd say each route still was relevant in some way but there naturally are ones that explained more.

I played in the order of: Lars > Rick > Alexei > Isaiah > Sion and this flowed pretty well

that I can recommend the same, Isaiah is locked and there's not much choice but to do Shion last.

Certain things will become obvious over time. This is neither good nor bad IMO

but even then it still managed to surprise me in routes 4 and 5.

 

As for the heroine, I liked Lucia's optimistic attitude she didn't seem the type to let things get to her.

 I also liked how proactive Lucia was, there was mutual trust and she was being relied upon.

Her design, specifically her hairstyle made her stand out, I liked it. She also had multiple outfits

as did most of the other cast so this game did seem like it had a bit of a budget.

At a glance it reminded me of Wand of Fortune except that the curse felt like they took

Lagi's problem and gave it to the heroine as she turns into an animal.😂

Art was decent, it wasn't amazing but its not awful or anything, I liked the colouring.

I got used to the style & the sprites were all great, what I really liked is that at times

the POV would switch to the guys and Lucia would have her own sprite too.

Music fits the setting and mood, definitely feels like you're attending some royal acadamy

and Ricardo's theme was pretty good, I banged my head to it.

System is standard stuff and nothing to write home about, its plain and simple

imagine wand of fortune but without the scheduling or rng stuff. Bless.

 

 I'll admit the game did start out a bit randomly with Lucia entering the student council

only for us to go back to the very beginning before she enrolled and getting the how's & why.

Granted they did point out her own forgetfulness so something must have happened.

I did really like the setting in this game and the backgrounds really added to it!

the vibes were pretty great too but as you're introduced to Lucia's new life at the school

I was never really were sure what would happen or if the curse would go off

so I suppose there was an element of excitement so the common route didn't bore me

but there were a few boring moments but I think any VN or game has that really.

 Some parts were actually kind of funny! I didn't really have any problems with the

pacing of the story due to this but it did slow down a little to focus on teamwork

because the teamspirit of the student council members was not the best...

especially Lars who just sleeps whenever he wants and tends to be like whatever

and then there's Ricardo with this cocky arse the comedy writes itself.

At times the interactions could also feel very down-to-earth which imo was a plus.

 

    The common route was on the long side,  a total of 12 chapters including individual route.

I wasn't really sure what they were trying to do, there's a heavy focus on school life and

character interaction. I mostly enjoyed it. There was so much time they spend with eachother

you could see how  they grew etc. There were enough hints dropped and by chapter 3 I already

was like some of seems related to the curse. So it wasn't half bad and it kept my attention.

With the way it was written it felt like an anime, it had a structure to focus on

the characters and problems that ensued. You slowly get to find out what the curse is as well

as figure out some deeper plot while getting to know the chosen love interest.

Also god bless there's a skip to the next choice option, you use it by swiping the screen!

 

The length of the chapters varied but it was a good common route simply for the fact

I was actually able to remember events that happened in it. Really the length is no joke

there's enough time for introduction, character development, fun and romance.

Its actually refreshing for it to be so well rounded but real talk I think the final chapter

especially Sion's was a little too long? maybe its just me...

==================================================================

I suppose part of trouble magia can seem like its very cliche but I think this

was a part that made it fun, its like the writers didn't care about that and just went with it.

Trouble magia made me realize writers can make a story as cliche as they want

its how you use those cliche's is what makes an otherwise boring story interesting.

The first route I did Lars was very interesting but then I moved to Ricardo

and realized I am unable to look at certain side characters the same way again.

Certain things just caught my attention more quickly than before as well... still each route

was unique in the way it did things and brought new things to the table so I can't complain.

---

My take-away is basically even if something seems cliche and overdone

it can still turn out pretty good! I mostly looked back fondly on the routes so all in all

it was a pleasant experience! I can't gaurantee you'll the same level of enjoyment as I did .

Most of the routes were unique, you got the obvious not as relevant to the bigger picture routes

and then there's some which go into it deeper, mostly the last two routes.

Like XYZ isn't as relevant as A & B but they're still a treat, you don't want every route

to be much of the same, I have sat through games like that and it gets old fast & that sucks.

After a dozen or so VN the way Trouble Magia does it obviously feels better to me

and I quite enjoyed the more character focused routes as well as the more involved ones.

I'm glad there was no secret route in this game and for that I am glad since

I did feel a lil tired by route 5.  Also I only did the best ends and merry bad ends, I ignored the other 

bad ends except for the one in Sion's route due to Mistonia PTSD, Sion's was kinda cute

but it felt like a joke end....... merry bad could range from sad to funny as well.

No fullcomp CG but the title screen is nice for a groupshot.

I'd recommend Trouble Magia to those that like their otome mostly lighthearted and don't mind

school settings or potential cliche's. This was honestly a fun otome if you let it be!

If you expect the most stellar writing and be blown away by it, or prefer it to be short&Sweet

then this game may not be for you. Let's be real; the plot was still pretty decent

and the writer really tried. Trouble Magia also felt similar to wand of fortune to me except

without the RNG bs. TBH while it won't replace WoF, trouble magia is like its little sister!

8/10

Its easy to follow the story, characters interact a lot and not a lot of monologues

which adds to the fun factor to me. The japanese didn't seem to be of high level

nor did the dialogue ever felt like it was dry  so that makes this game perfect as something

to test your japanese on but honestly I hope trouble magia gets localized. Its easy to overlook

due to a number of things but never judge a book by its cover you may just enjoy it anyway.

 

More rambles after the jump but I will be talking about the characters+digest the plot

so if you don't want spoilers don't read further. TBH its more like I am narrating some

of the events here and there with some commentary+share my fav CG's.

Not sure who would enjoy any of it because this game is pretty long and its a text dump

and I didn't write everything down either... why did I bother lmao. Enjoy that wall O text.

==================================================================

Gensou Manège - Review

 Genre:VN.

Developer/publisher: love&art/mages.

Platform: Switch,mobile.

Official Site: https://gensomanege.com/  

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25993 

Release date: 2020-01-30.

 

I saw this was on sale at the jpn eshop for 30$ and since I had considered playing it

a while back plus the fact these VN rarely go on sale especially otomate/koei let alone 

this low I was like why not? this is also by the folks who made meikoi which I really enjoyed.

This was also one of the first few new otome games on switch but back then I didn't have one yet

so I had to sit out on it till now as I took advantage of the golden week sale.

This game also has a soft/fluffy colour scheme which really helped anyway

I don't know much about this game and went in relatively blind.

Also the title of the game would be something like Carousel of dreams or Dream Carousel.

I am not a professional translator but that is what it simply what it would translate to.

 

Pro's

- Cute & Comfy with an okay plot! but need to do all to fully understand it.

- Interesting characters.

- Gorgeous art and the backgrounds are very well done.

- BGM fit the mood most of the time.

 

Con's

- Kiss CG's could leave to be desired (but still ok).

- Character design can be a bit colour-coded.

- Could've benefited from a slightly stricter play order.

 

OP is cute but not the stuff I felt like watching everytime I booted it up.

 

Gensou Manege ended up being more or less a light-mystery otome game hench why

I won't write too much here except some prologue bits below! this game seems perfect if you're

in the mood for cute and fluffy things but still want to enjoy a little bit of plot to go along with that.

--

The heroine Emma lost most of her childhood memories and she has some weird magic powers...

as well as a miniature carousal she inherited from her late father, she really treasures this.

One day she goes to the amusement park and meets Hugo someone who claims to know her.

Hugo asks Emma to work with him because the people who work at the park are stuck there

so he wants her to help release them with her magic. After thinking about it and acknowledging

her magic powers might be of help she ends up joining their troupe! most of the time

she's been teached to not let anyone know of her powers as well. What could come of this?

The setting is french themed, not sure when its supposed to take place but they had electricity

anyway it is entirely a work of fiction so its best not to think too hard about it.

--

 

This game does have a common route but its more of a get to know

everyone a little while getting used to working with them kind of thing. It didn't feel like

it was too long and its also there to decide which route you'll end up on.

Art is really good, the backgrounds are very detailed and sprite work is pretty good! once more 

I will say I really love the colour-scheme even the user interface...and most of the time

I don't really care about the latter so I think that says something.

Music is fitting enough... but it didn't stand out too much and its just okay.

 Seiyuu cast... they're all relatively well known maybe some a little less though some of

the voice actors I hadn't heard in a long time so it was good to hear them again.

 

System wise its just standard stuff, a little common route to check flags to get on

the preferred route! there's only two endings one good and one not so good.

It does have a minigame but its nothing too hard or annoying.

The weird part about this after the first minigame there is an option to skip it anyway

which gives you an auto A-rank(still need to fail it for the other end though).

After the first playthrough I decided to skip every minigame because while cute it got redundant.

 

As for play order... the guide I used said if you care for the story that its better to save

Hugo's route for later as it contains the most revelations and he unlocks Arnaud.

My order ended up being: Luciole > Crier > Lyon > Serge >  Hugo > Arnaud.

If I had to recommend any order it would probably be this:

Serge / Luciole / Crier > Lyon > Hugo > Arnaud.  Because Lyon is where some

revelations start rolling and it start making more sense, the way it works

is Serge/Luci/Crier do have hints about what's going on but you won't really get it 

till you do Hugo nor will it fully make sense till Arnaud's route. So the order of the first

three or four routes doesn't matter that much as its hard to see how it fits into the big picture.

This game has a certain bittersweet feel to it, there is still some comedy to be found

as expected from the dev's of meikoi but comedy is not really the focus.

All the backgrounds were so detailed and helped with the setting the game

and made it more immersive. The heroine Emma also had a sprite!

She's cute and was pretty pro-active as well I couldn't dislike her at all.

The music always helped to set the tone/mood of the scenes but like I already

said above its not that great either. Romance wise it was good it just that

some routes may seem to not have much going for them but still all connect to it in some way!

 

Now I am personally wondering... why does this one go so under the radar?

is it because its not from otomate? by some other dev and not in english?!

or maybe just bad marketing? idk... maybe most just weren't interested

cuz they didn't have a switch yet at the time it came out, I know I had to pass.

Anyway this was like such a feel-good otome game and I could tell they tried with it.

I definitely recommend checking this one out if you're in the mood 

for something cute and fun that still has an underlying plot to figure out!

even if its not on a sale and at full price I think its more than worth it

just be careful with your play order,there are routes that do have more revelations than others!

I think this game is also good for beginners just trying out the otome game genre as the plot

in most routes is not too heavy but its there and you're just mostly in for a good time!

 7,7/10

As for language difficulty its easy to follow its plot, it might be good as a test

if you think you have a good grip on your japanese.

 

Okay that ends the non-spoiler section and the rest is all just character rambles and CG

there's probably a better digest of it by now but I still wrote some stuff down I remembered.

 

Harukanaru toki no naka de 7 - review

Genre: Otome visual novel/RPG.

Developer/publisher: KOEI/ruby party.

Platform: Nintendo Switch.

Official Site: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/haruka7/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v26558

Release date: 2020-06-18

Time for the latest installment in this series, it seems we're going back to the sengoku period.
What I love about this series is the swept to distant land trope and how of KOEI know their history
like I remember looking stuff up about Dan no ura and other stuff from haruka 3 and it was like
I learned about japanese history in a creative or romanticized way.
Haruka 7 isn't an exception to their usual ways but they were very creative with for example
Okuni and other things, though i'm not sure what they were smoking in general lmao.

I didn't have much expectations for it but one thing that stood out to me is that most
of the seiyuu cast is identical to 6 and to an extend 5.

A quick look at all vndb entries for the series basically shows this is apparently a thing

for 1,2,3 and 4 as well... not sure if KOEI is playing favorites but they make it work?

That aside...
This game is accessible to newcomers! as lore gets explained though if u have played
other entries it might be a bit like oh I know some of that already cuz its familiar.
I actually hope KOEI gives this entry a try in the west.

Pro's
- Interesting characters, no one was completely unlikeable except maybe antagonist.
- Unique character focused routes.
- Art/music.

Con's
- Length, rpg part might get tiresome.
- Plot while interesting, can be a bit inconsistent.
- Sometimes months would pass but its not reflected well in events.

For the system, the usual VN with map movement to catch a characters event flag

there's battles as well but this time instead of mini srpg from 6 we actually get

a more normal rpg-like battle again, the sd sprite look cute.
We can rotate our hachiyo in battle on the fly to take advantage of strength and weaknesses
and they can use skills with others or on their own which is nice.
Better not forget to heal them when needed though...
You lvl up normally this time though I recommend setting onryou strenght
to weak unless you really want challenge as fighting too much can be a little draining.
Also either find a good guide or save lots because it is so easy to break
a character bond from a wrong choice making it unable to proceed their events
and in turn get their ending for the rest of the playthrough, trial and error works
with this but at times I can't help but get anxious at times.
You can skip battles on 2nd play but only ones you had fought...
they still have us fight the trash along the way, thanks I guess.
Can also fight the four lords; seiryuu,suzaku,genbu and byakko to get a useful skill but
unfortunately its more like a tradition to be able to enlist their aid this time regardless of story
then again I can't remember if it was ever needed in 3 or 6 but either way they're in.

After the first chapter and a bit of the second I was mostly positive and interested
in the characters and excited to do their routes. The only exception being Satsuki
he was annoying at first but over the course of the game he somewhat redeemed himself.

I didn't find the voice for Okuni fitting but it grew on me, you don't hear Shitanda a lot but
feminine bishies he does a okay job with.
That aside having to actually pick someone on my first play was hard! going forth between
Kuroda and Yamato, though it was nice playing without a guide the first play
but I was anxious without a guide to rely on, I kept up with 5 guys events
and while the story was already lengthy the individual made it even longer.
The story itself was interesting and not hard to follow (maybe for Yamato 😂) though
its quite long, chara events itself aren't long and whether it romantic varies greatly this is
more about journey than the destination kinda thing and what is there is nice.
There are some eh moments but that's it most of the guys are pretty safe as well.
Some routes are just not my taste like Yagyuu the 2nd half wasn't that great which I thought
was fine in routes like Kuroda, Yamato or even Musashi but for Yagyuu meh.
Its not like the story is bad perse but I can tell they tried too hard to give everyone
something unique the antagonist are also inconsistent sometimes one of them will disappear
off the face of the planet / shoved to the background and i'm like ok.
I think Haruka 6 was more consistent at doing the every end does it differently than here
and its really obvious this is by multiple writers as the quality of the plot varies a lot
like Yukimura's took a nosedive after the last boss and I basically liked every other ending instead.
Also I looked up one of the scenario writers and apparently he worked on some eroge... O_O
but this game was relatively tame though. 

I thought Nanao was pretty great, she acts independently a lot as well
and won't wait for her babe all the time, she speaks her mind so that was great
at times she did lose her brain but she's the do what she can type.
Side characters are also given portraits which after Dairoku I much appreciated
and the backgrounds/art in general looks nice, music fits the mood so can't complain.
Overall I did have a lot of fun, decent story and romance/otome part was alright
not every char might be my type but when I think about it no one was really dislikable
they all got their own ambitions and atleast the romance didn't feel that forced
for some it was obvious they needed a bit more time to figure things out.
Doing every route might be tiring especially if someone isn't your taste...
and whether the 2nd half aka the route is any good depends on that as well.
In the end I can say haruka 7 was decent, story was ok and the otome element was alright
so it was pretty well rounded compared to the last two otome games I played its just since
there are so many route there might be a few meh ones and plot not well-rounded in all.
What's funny even though I found Yagyuu's route meh I didn't dislike his character and for
Satsuki I don't like him that much as romantic interest but his route was still great
though if we are talking about Yukimura all I can say that's a pity compared to everyone else.
So take that as you will, overall this game was worth a purchase for me and can recommend it
if you like history and want something to sink time into as its a pretty meaty game
the only bad part is inconsistencies with its plot, things in one route might not be a big deal
in others or come up at all, this is the best I can explain without spoiling too much.
For score it shifts between a 7 and 8/10 so 7.5 seems about right...

For playorder it doesn't seem to matter and since there are so many love interest

its probably better to go for someone who you are interested in first play.

Pro tip: Its easier to try to keep track of as many events though at certain times their are

cut off points like in ch4 at oosaka and the other one is at ch5 of which rumor to follow.

Unfortunately you cannot go for Naoe and Kuroda at the same time or
Satsuki and Yukimura for that matter as its very cleverly split so having a save
in ch4 is recommended if you kept up with all events so far.

There are three story scenarios which i'll call: Neutral, White and Black.
Based on relevance of plot I am going to rank the routes from worst to best.

Neutral: Yagyuu > Yamato. (both were ok but i have soft spot for Yamato overall)
White: Okuni > Musashi > Satsuki.
Black: Yukimura > Kuroda / Naoe.

My playorder ended up being:
Which I think is actually recommendable, as Naoe might be more satisfying
in terms of romance after someone like Yukimura.
1stplay; Kuroda > Yamato > Yagyuu > Musashi > Satsuki.
2ndplay; Okuni > Yukimura > Naoe.

End of non spoiler section, there's more spoiler babble's after the jump
so you're warned on that note.

Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6 Gentou Rondo of Deus Ex Machina - Review

遙かなる時空の中で6 幻燈ロンド
Game: [Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6 Gentou Rondo]

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Ruby party, Koei Tecmo.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/haruka6/gentourondo/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19190

Release date: 2016-12-22

The sequel to Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6, given how I really enjoyed the original

I couldn't help but be surprised we got a sequel instead of a Fandisk because of that this game
takes place after the grand finale and now I have a sequel I never asked for but got anyway.
 Since this is a sequel, if you haven't played the prequel maybe skip this game
since it relies on past events and one can't begin to understand why there is this wall
between Darius and Azusa, sure they'll recap general knowledge and expect
you to be able to remember on your own.

Sadly this game hasn't had the greatest of receptions which made me scared...so after
I finished KgK momoyo tsuzuri I went into this right away because I had to know for myself
and in the end I sorta agree with the japanese impressions this is a very flawed sequel
an unnecessary one even, pretty sure they rushed some parts of it
in short; its just an average sequel to please fans but it wasn't at all a necessary one.

The game plays just like its prequel, you still have mission/goal from time to time
and you must balance the visits to the guy which end you're going for once again.
Also for those playing without a guide be careful with your choices
you could very well mess up and make it impossible to get the guys next event.
The battle system is improved but still easy, you're rewarded for finishing battles fast

and evolving talismans is a pain in the neck but once you're done with everyone said

 items to evolve talismans will be useless, also this time you get to choose which location to use
as a home base, like the demon-clans mansion or the cafe Haikara which Murasame frequently visits.
If you pick one that isn't tied to the character which route you're going for
 you can miss a few sub events during that playthrough.

Pro's
 - Arima/Shuhei route is better, tbh most if anything the indivual event/route is only worthwhile thing.
- Wan-chan is Totez Adorbs.

Con's
 - Story seems interesting at first but turns into a convoluted mess...
 - System, its like an rpg with a bit of time managment, So if you're not up for that avoid.
- Long common route not much individual, overall its a short game.
- Deus ex machina.
- Unvoiced sugar-content scenarios as paid DLC.  (눈_눈)

 There's also a demo available on JP PSN so if you have second thoughts
about the sequel please try it out, it contains the entire first chapter.

My play order:
Darius > Arima &> Shuhei > Tora &> Kohak > Ludo &> Kudan > Murasame > Man
 & Normal > Toudou & Grand end.
I mostly focus on two characters per playthrough making the total number of runs 6 or 7.
Because its easier to do than the prequel... and you have too much time on your hands anyway.
For a guide/walkthrough I recommend: http://neoromance.info/haruka/rondo or Half-adder.
I recommend going for only one character and the normal end first play, try viewing some
of Man's events till you hit a wall and don't forget to focus on upgrading your talismans.
If you were to only do one per play you just have more free time to focus on upgrading
and or capturing every onryou summon so its not bad either way.
There's no trophy for capturing pokedemons this time but I did it anyway.
You get some new scenes during the prologue on 2nd play from Man's point of view as a sign that his
route has unlocked, however I do not recommend doing it till you're done with everyone else.
Preferably do Man before the toudou/grand finale the order of the rest doesn't really matter
may as well get Darius out of the way early(no offense to mai husbando but it wasn't that great).

As for expectations for the routes themselves, I didn't have much of that and I'm glad
Arima and Shuhei got better routes than in the prequel because they deserved it
though I still think Darius had a more well rounded route back then than here. :(
The game is much shorter than its prequel and I went through the routes without
needing to say meh I don't feel like it now and go do something else.
Also
For those wondering if you need to do every character combination technique in one play no you don't.
The list resets, but rest assured you can get them all over multiple play so best to keep notes!
The most I got was 20... but I was glad to realize you don't need to go that far.

This wasn't that bad  but was it a necessary? Hmm... I honestly can't answer that.
Was saving Chiyo back then really such a good idea? maybe there was a consequence
somewhere someplace in a distant time that the two miko's and the hachiyou isn't aware of.
You'll find that answer in this sequel, warning that there are full spoilers further down below.
In short I give it a 5.2/10, I had a great time in most routes and most of them were enjoyable -event
wise- but it isn't all that great to sit through multiple times, the routes are essentially new versions, to
give us another opportunity, yeah some route brought up legit issues but I honestly wanted a continuation of the love ends but everything was reset to them being friends in this game, for some character it worked out for others it was a drag, you know I could put the prequel down
for a few weeks and continue later but since this is shorter and easier to play through
I couldn't and I am sorta glad for that. Also the plot wasn't engaging enough its like
they forcible created a problem when there was none which lead to one thing and the other.
The missions were less, too easy and not rewarding at all basically the first half
of the game is spend in the most boring ways like i said atleast the chara events made up for that.

The DLC controversy makes me roll my eyes and it makes me sad
Koei has taken such steps and one thing is for certain I won't support any of it.
This is a visual novel with some light simulation that shouldn't be the victim of addon content.
That aside I enjoyed most if not all the routes, except the grand finale as Kudan's end was much
better, it was pretty underwhelming this time yeah I am sure it worked out but it was a mess
I prefer Kudan's end over it which felt like it was the most complete ending in the whole game.
5.2/10
PS: Wan-chan is a maji tenshi.
---
more spoiler babbles after the jump

Harukanaru toki no naka de 6 - Review

Game: 遙かなる時空の中で6

English title: Beyond the stream of time 6.
Within the Expanse of Distant Time 6.

Developer/Publisher: Ruby Party/Koei Tecmo

Platform: PSP/PS Vita.

Genre: Otome Game, Visual Novel, RPG.

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v16060

Official Site: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/haruka6/

Release date: 12-03-2015.

I bought this game on a whim along with Clock Zero.
Both games have something to do with time too but aren't similair in the slightest.
I didn't review CZ, firstly because there is enough review and positivity about it
and secondly my feelings for it are summed up for it at the recommendation section.

Pro's
- Heroine is likeable.
- Interesting story.
- All of the characters are likeable even if to me some were you know less interesting?
- Seiyuu cast, Art and Music.
- If your attention span is low, Haruka6 may be just right since its not a straigh-forward VN.

Con's
- System, its like an rpg with a bit of time managment, So if you're not up for that avoid.
- There are eight routes, this combined with the above can lead to a long otomege.
- When I really think about it the story is a bit weak but as a whole I think its still okay
and gotta add that it wasn't bad or anything.
- One of the obtainable guys is a 35 year old, ossan... yeah thats right almost 20 years older than the heroine.
Just saying but Murasame is my favorite ossan so far. :P

My play order was:
Darius > Arima > Kohak > Shuhei > Murasame > Tora > Ludo > Normal > Kudan > Finale.
Every route was worth doing... and no route will spoil another chara's so play order won't matter
but some aren't tied to the overall plot that well. 

I have never played a Harutoki game before and I was relieved you didn't need to play the previous entries.
I started this while taking a break from Clock zero, which turned out to be just what I needed
to completely finish CZ after I finished a route, cuz oh my god that had a heavy plot >_>
 Harutoki 6 is surprisingly light compared to it and its great to come back to after a while.
 I Absolutely love how this otome game balances gameplay and story so well!
and I really have a thing for this sort of setting maybe its because I like RPG, history
or more like alternate world/timeline and the fantasy of being swept away to the past of an alternate world?
The gameplay is satisfying too and those who don't have a long attention span may
enjoy koei games more, even I get tired of regular VN where its just text after text...

Anyway one fine day our heroine Azusa was about to visit her grandma at the hospital but
she gets warped to an alternate world similair to the Taishou era, there she is told
she is the priestess of the black dragon, however the demon-clan snatches her away from the imperials whom are the ones who summoned her to this world.
 Kyaah Darius-sama sugoi sugoi! erm fangirling aside I started with Darius
which probably means I spoiled myself badly on some things luckily there are
still routes with interesting revelations like Murasame or Kohak, this makes it fun to do everyone.

Still this otomege also makes me go  ¬_¬ sometimes but not in the bad way!
I don't think this or any harutoki game had that of an amazing plot-line but it still OK...

I have my complaints and that the battle system is too simple for its own good is one of them.
and wish we could actually use skills and items...and that it was more fleshed out like a real srpg.
The art is good though, some of the backgrounds do feel cheap but the scenery is still is nice to look at.
 ~
Even when after a few route I couldn't be bothered and went back to something else, unless you are really enjoying yourself you may end up finishing it without doing other games etc.
Story is decent but not the best ever, also if you look up some IRL taishou period event
you might end up facepalming because these guys do know their stuff, and know how to
make it into something yes even if its an alternative world some things are strangely similair!
Even if there's not much of an individual route I like how all the endings in this game are different
from each other and TL;DR it just a bunch of character events during the main plot then beat the last
boss and thats it, atleast there's actual VARIETY in turn of events and add to the story
to make it worthwhile doing all routes some may be less interesting but its still good.
Like depending on the guy events leading up to the finale the events do change if only a little.
 I might not like all of the endings in this game but its not bad to do it like this, feels like an rpg
with multiple ends for characters and you have to get flag events to get said endings. So yeah this is 👍
 Sadly the endings of each character are just endings... I think I only really liked Darius, Kudan
and Ludo's yet in others they leave so much to our imagination and that fine
but for example Arima or Shuhei's post credit scenes while cute just felt a lil empty to me.
The other reason this game stands out from the other entries?
Azusa the heroine is the black dragon priestess as opposed to being
 the white dragon priestess in like every other entry.
Officially you do not get your hachiyou's till the end of the game but by that point
you should realize who they are and the game makes that hilariously obvious
anyway who says the black dragon priestess can't save the world? this one sure can.

One other thing though I wish Koei would stop being inconsistent with Kiss CG's, there's kissing but
they always seem to leave it up party to our imagination or its the lips almost touching thing. -_-
I get that they try and aim this at pure twelve year old girls but when
we look at Ludo and Murasame's routes I am like KOEI PLS
you can do it just fine, its an otome just give everyone the same treatment...
I mean come on there have been cero B games with normal kiss CG's like clock zero.
Its sort of tiring having to use imagination because in some there was kissing in the text..

If you need a guide I recommend Momokan.
Choro's guide for this was or is still incomplete, Momokan has charts for individual route.
So I have to recommend Momokan to you instead of Choro because this game suffers
from a long common route wait was there even an individual route?

I tried to follow Choro's guide on my first play w/ Darius and on my 2nd play
I did not get any new events till like later in the 3rd chapter thus making it a skipfest
since it tried to group characters which is nice but I felt its better to separate in this one?
Seriously do not do recommend unless you want/need to finish this quickly...

 Terms of overall enjoyment of route/ending:
Darius > Kudan > Murasame > Kohak > Ludohane > Tora >, Arima & Shuhei(tie)
Imho Darius, Murasame and Kudan have definitely the most interesting route/paths...
and are well balanced interms of romance/plot stuffbut that doesn't mean the others aren't worth doing, its just that the ones at the end barely gave me a good and memorable impression. :P

 My favorites at the time of finishing this game would be:
Darius > Murasame > Kudan  > Kohak / Ludohane > Azusa > Chiyo > Tora > Shuhei > Arima.
Wait what was the point it almost the same as above.
None of the characters are bad its just that some just aren't my type or that the route
 just didn't wow me enough, in this game Shuhei and Arima are my least fav with Tora following
even tho the latter is a hot stud.

 

The Harutoki series has been known as a hit or a miss but i think this entry is a solid one!

its also one of the oldest ongoing otome series next to angelique.

 

Some ramblings about the series from what I could find at this point:
Basically from what I gather from other reviews it was like don't bother with Harutoki 4 while it has
 great points and a 3d battle part with actual models it seems to fall apart at the second half.

I could even get behind the heroine but I doubt I will ever get to it the game seems to work

on a hellish flag system so hahaha no.
As for other entries haru2 sseems to be a step up in terms of stuff from haru1 but the characters
and seiyuus from haru1 are copy pasted under a different name... with different personalities. 😓
I think back then Koei was experimenting so its better to only play haru1 or haru2 not both. 
Unless you absolutely love this series to try out every game...
Harutoki 3 was were its at and apparently 3 is called a masterpiece, I can't
fully agree with that yet but it seems like an enjoyable otome RPG atleast...
Harutoki 5 may be good if love fushigi yuugi I plan to check it out some day

but most of the older games were only partly voiced this changed starting with haru6.

 

Anyway spoilers only after the jump.