Showing posts with label Asanuma Shintarou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asanuma Shintarou. Show all posts

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Den Ranki~ - Review

 
花朧 ~戦国伝乱奇~ Game: [Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Denranki~]
Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Otomate.
genre: Historic Fantasy.
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-1-19

Otomate first otome game released in 2017, I ended up buying it
 because it has a rich cast of characters and the story intrigued me. 
Sorta expected stuff like boring war scenes also fighting + onii-sama huehuehue which is
all well and good, I love history but i'm not a religious nerd so I do not mind a bit of fantasy
 in these type of games and as expected I wasn't disappointed in that, some parts were
fateful yes but there's a lot of originality which is I guess what most people complained about.
You may even think why pick this up? well... I was interested in it and that's usually enough.

The common route in hana oboro is maybe about 4~5 hours, I did not keep track
and with the character route you may end up at 8-10  hours at most including all ends and stuff.
I do not recommend doing routes in one sitting though, its not that long 
 but it all depends how motivated you are and some draggy scenes with war may even demotivate you.

The system is the same standard VN stuff except that it has a sort of bumrush timed flag system
in which you have to press L or R when it blinks, the blinking part is actual the hint so you can
pretty much do this without a guide, it needs to be in the right order or else you will go for a bad end.
You also get the choice to skip this minigame but what is the point if you need
to do all of them in a single run to get the bonus cg's, otomate y u do this..

Opening song is by ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D which is awesome I can not skip it not once, also
one of the members(U) voices one of the sub characters, Sanada Masayuki and for what its worth
he does a ok job but you can tell the guy is no seiyuu and otomate should have hired someone else.
Good thing is outside of say Shingen's route he barely get any lines...!

 Pro's
- Interesting story.
- Likeable cast of characters.
- Art, its beautiful also everyone had the same amount of CG's.
- Every route is unique/character focused.
- Decent in length.

Con's
- Inconsistent Heroine.
- Story feels unfinished, hint at a bigger picture.
- 長い and at times a drag, sometimes it felt like its been ages since the last choice.
-  There was maybe one music track that  iffed me also some SFX really eh... esp doki sound.
- No lip sync/moving mouths.

For play order, I started with Nagamasa-sama since it was recommended on the official blog
and let's just say it feels like most natural choice but honestly it was most boring.
Nagamasa > Shingen > Hanbei > Nobunaga > Katsuie.
Note,Nobunaga route won't unlock till after Hanbei whom is locked till 2nd+ play
Just use the same playorder I used... and you'll be fine if not I recommend Shingen for whenever
you want to relax and Katsuie for last...  because his route is overall balanced and dat twist!
which was a fun way to end the game even tho its very self-contained.
また 少し 強く なれる。。。
If I had to sum up how the routes were without spoilers it'd be like this:
Nagamasa - as dry as a desert but he can be surprisingly sweet.
Shingen - a refreshing oasis resort that heals your soul.
Hanbei - a cold summer breeze in a surprisingly あつい summer which turned into a typhoon.
Nobunaga - Spoils you in the beginning, still have to sit through a dry lecture
but  hey atleast you're rewarded with something cute in the end.
Katsuie - The rollercoaster ride you never knew you wanted but got anyway.

In short, a lot of time and money was put in to this game, even side characters got their own CG's
and everyone had an even amount of CG's too, some parts may leave a lot to be desired, sadly
to me the two poster boys routes (Nagamasa and Nobunaga) were the least satisfying of all.
I thought the heroine was alright she's no doormat and will stand up and fight
 against her brother but she does have her own personal insecurities considering
the time period some things may be laughable but whatever its fantasy, its not a kusoge.
Even if this game started out ok it was quite long compared to recent otomege I played, the text
is never ending and I feel spoiled by Koei's otomege in which scenes are short and to the point
but its not that long really, the length is about average.
 I say I prefer longer games but this really stretches itself and Nagamasa route was especially
difficult, as expected it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine which considering
the genre is good but could you make it a tad shorter? or more fluff kthnx.
Add fuel to the fire that Nagamasa and Nobunaga suffer from the just when it got good it already the end.
At times it was hard to see where the plot was going in the first few hours since it was so peaceful.
I'm all for a well thought out plot but at times I was just sitting there ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°) ok get on with it
like yeah thanks for going into hideyoshi and nene's love life which got nothing to do with plot. >_>

Sadly some parts feel unfinished to me... also what was the point of introducing that shota Hon
in Yukimura's ato gatari? did I miss something, now I am curious and after thinking about other things. I thought this is only the first part in a greater story also the ending of Alan's ato gatari...
Sigh... its just total sequel bait its not even funny! if there will actually be a sequel who knows
they may have as well have been baiting us, or give us some sort of confirmation he's OK.
However they did an excellent job in creating a unique otomege based on the sengoku period.
 I recommend it to those who like the genre of old timey fantasy games and do not mind
fantasy elements intruding the historical part however if you prefer shorter games
and dislike historic fantasy this may not be for you, its not that long though.
TBH I like it more than Juuzaengi because certain characters cannot be saved
but if you liked Juuza I think you'd still enjoy this since both aren't serious historic adaptations.
Also if you thought Onii-sama would be a crazy yandere I am sorry to disappoint because he was relatively tame.
Again I recommend it if you have the patience for ye olde style games...
7/10
Loses points for dull poster boy routes, but the other 3 were enjoyable. 
この願い届けなら。。。?
Okay usual spoilers after the jump, this game was long and for some routes such as Nagamasa
 I couldn't be bothered to write much... so thats more of a general opinion.
Just so you know Hanbei and Katsuie's part had the most spoilers I try to summarize but
the game is much more detailed so it'll look like crap cuz I still left a shit ton out.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Getsuei no Kusari -Kyouran Moratorium- - Review

月影の鎖 ―狂爛モラトリアム―
Game: [Getsuei no Kusari -Kyouran Moratorium-]
Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Takuyo.
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2016-12-21

 The FD of Getsuei no Kusari Sakuran Paranoia, since the original game was
anything but the typical otome game don't expect a lot of fluff from this.
Its still keeps the serious theme the original had so if you're in the mood
for something realistc/mature these games are an excellent choice but
I do not recommend playing this without the original since its a fandisk.
Nor can I recommend playing both right after the other even if this is short it still can give you
much despair, it didn't bother me but it may others to the point they might drop it.

I didn't particularly care for the OP movie this time, I only like watched it once or twice and then skipped it.
But yeah if you still don't get it, this FD mainly exists for Mamoru and the newly added
scenario for the Toudou brothers you may need new glasses. 😥

This vita port of Kyouran Moratorium really is what you'd call a definitive version
as it adds a new scenario with two guys Toudou Itsuki and Toudou Miyabi, they're brothers
and this made it a bit more worthwhile than the PSP version because of that.
Especially for the price and Takuyo's games tend to be slighly more expensive...
Sadly these two are completely new and don't appear anywhere outside of their own scenario
yeah you read that right they do not even appear in the other newly added IF scenario.
Anyway... the original features of the FD make it seem pretty short, the another stories are 
slightly longer than the good afters which are around 30 minutes at most. 
Mamoru's route was maybe 5-6 hours so together thats give or take 10 hours.
But if you add in Hanayagi IF story and the Toudou brothers routes....
that would make the length at around 25-30 hours, btw tour of koukashi is just a side dish.
If you have a lot of free time in the weekend you may just finish it very fast but if you
spread it out due to the despair getting to you then yeah it may take you a week or more.
Personally I finished this within 2-4 days... 
Also if you actually got this game I really recommend you to end this game with
the tour of koukashi as its the most fun and entertaining thing this fandisc has to offer.
 The part where Hibiki went on about the Dango got to me... 😂😂😂


Despite the added content it was still a short FD but after Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri
any other fandisk in general is short.😂
The seiyuu did a good job especially Naruse Makoto, thats one you do not hear often
and also Kanna Nobutoshi and Satou Takuya... they also had such a good performance!

TL;DR
I recommend this if you enjoyed the original, don't bother if you didn't since its more of the same.
It gets an 8/10 from me, same score as I gave the original, all of the good afters
 were great and the another stories weren't bad except maybe Satoya's.
The rest of the content was worth it too except Hanayagi IF story... which I personally didn't care for but that my own opinion.

My play order of the content was decided by personal preference which is:
Mamoru > Nozomu > Hibiki >Satoya > Wataru  > Hanayagi IF > Itsuki > Miyabi > Tour of Koukashi.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Getsuei no Kusari Sakuran Paranoia - Review

 月影の鎖 -錯乱パラノイア-
Game: [Chains of Moonlight Confusion Paranoia].
Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Takuyo
Platform: PSP, PS Vita.
Release date: 2016-12-23

TL;DR
8/10
This is like Spice and Wolf the otome game it gets close but not its quite similair, lol economics!
I guess it gets close to Clannad too due to ts tragic/depressive nature...
  Its not all that bad but this otomege is going to need an acquired taste as it isn't light-hearted
in the slightest, its probably the most realistic and mature otomege I've played thus far.
Also this game isn't for beginners of japanese language, you should've figured from
the old timey setting, economical crisis, talk of morals and politics...

Pro's
- Mature and realistic story of people trying to survive through dark times.
- Interesting characters and all the guys are likeable in some way.
- Art.
- BGM is well used, you can clearly tell if the scene is going to be happy, sad or no good.
- Unique Seiyuu cast.

Con's
- Story is one tough cookie, as its not light hearted in the slightest.
 - The main villain reasoning might be difficult to understand.
- Not much sugar content.