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| Honey, there's landmines on da beach. |
Genre: VN.
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v49600
Release date: 3-10-2024.
I wasn't originally going to get this but after the last game I played
something like this seemed appropiate, the premise sounded fun tbh.
Moeyo otome doushi fell off the radar after I learned its really short
so I just decided this would be the last otome of the year instead.
Pro's
- Fluffy and Spicy; romance oriented otome game.
- Character focused rather than plot focused.
- Length; doesn't overstay its welcome.
- Gorgeous art & music fits the vibe.
Con's
- Plot isn't really its strong point, its hidden away in a corner called the finale.
- Some of the less than good ends can be a killjoy.
.
Artstyle is pretty unique, at first reminded me of bad apple wars/dairoku but its
not the same artist, I guess its because the eyes and it having a similar look.
While most CG's were gorgeous there were a bunch with weird angles
or with the heroines face not shown or it cutoff near the edge but everyone
had a decent amount so I didn't mind if it that much. I will say that there was
one thing that I find unnacceptable and Theo was a victim of it. One of his ending CG's was not
positioned right which is a criminal offense, I could see another background behind the CG.
Another gripe is that they weren't evenly spread out through the routes and in some cases
there were a lot of them right after the other like at the end of Elijah's route.
Music is nice and felt really relaxing and gave it chill vibes
but I wasn't sure what was with the ar tonelico/NIER bgm's as this
made it seem more ambitious than it was.
Plot:
The protagonist Nagisa seems to be a pretty normal girl going about her day
till she rescues an animal CV:Toriumi Kousuke (Hello Simeon from Kai no kiseki!)
Something appears to be up and Nagisa starts tripping and next she finds herself
in a room full of antique with an unusual chessboard; usually the pawns are only
for two people but this board is for three? weird. The furball introduces himself as Colt
and the room they're in is some sort of space between worlds so he offers her a chance
since Nagisa seems to be a kind person that he wants to place his faith in.
Colt has basically chosen her to help save beings like himself
and hopes that she can offer them happiness till the last moment.
Next she wakes up she is in another world called Libalium and Colt isn't a
furball anymore and a human with wings as ears (Like Meteion I suppose...?)
Colt is more or less like a priest or kind of like a god.
Meanwhile Nagisa just thinks she is having a dream, lol.
Colt tries to explain she is in another world, and she's not dreaming
and eventually meets a bunch of guys who live in that world.
At first Nagisa doesn't have any idea what is going on really and the games begin.
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I liked Nagisa, her reactions to some things were quite natural but I wish she had
a sprite in the corner, its weird since when you go to the backlog she has a sprite there.
She could seem a bit unsure in the beginning but there were times she really shined.
With there being a game going on and all I think this game was shameless
about the fact that this was a reverse harem, boys don't fight over me but
then it is literally about that since Nagisa fell into the role of queen
and most guys are divided into different camps red,black and white.
Nagisa basically made it so the guys have to convince her to choose them
and well gonna say some of the guys had varying levels of how they went about it.
Honey Vibes was for the most part a fun isekai, there's a sense of seriousness but it also
doesn't take itself too serious and just rolls with what it tried to do without shame.
It wasn't too long or that anything dragged, the game's length is fine. Common route introduces
things and there's enough time to get a feel of everyone's personality before going into a route.Sadly the bad ends were such a killjoy idk what but had I gotten them by accident
the mood would be ruined and I don't think I would even want to see the best end.
This game shared some writers with 9rip and it definitely had a little bit of suspense
so I can see why this game suddenly went off the rails but still I don't remember
9rip being as bad as this?! the bad ends in honey vibes legit killed the mood.
While I won't complain about there being different outcomes some felt out of place or a bit
extreme and not what I initially came here for or fit with the setting. I will admit I didn't
do a lot of research on Honey Vibes but expected it to be dark was the last thing on my mind.
How interesting the plot in the route was varied a lot since Honey Vibes focused more
on romance and the character's personal issue than whatever plot there was which felt
like an after thought to me in routes such as Alvin. Finn's route complimented Alvin's
in a way its like the otherside of the same coin, both routes also had great romance.
In some routes the bad ends are also worse like Eno for example. Milo's route still good
not just in terms of romance but since I understood more in the grandscheme of things
and unlike other routes, Milo's bad ends atleast made me understand why its the way it is.
Theo's route was also decent, his personal conflict together with the overall plot was just
beautifully written, unfortunately he has some of the worst bad ends in this game.
Elijah was the only route that I thought was well rounded and actually focused on the
story/lore but even then it was still just character focused like all the rest which means
even if it seems more involved it isn't. They saved it all for the finale route.
So while in most routes the overall plot was never amazing, it was still pretty decent
since if you do all routes it connects well enough. If you come here for the
romance & your favourite voice actor is in here you'd likely be satisfied.
Story can peak in some routes and just dips in others, the characters carried this game hard.
As for the game as a whole, its fluff and spicy! I don't play a lot of otomes where things
get THIS steamy but honey vibes was on another level that most others felt tame.
Sadly most desire ends were awful, it just felt like another bad end where the one tied to rationality
is the only good outcome which all things considered is kinda lame.The LI's were all pretty good
but for some I immediately went like oh no! looking at you Milo but he as well
as Alvin were among my fav's so look how that turned out. The only one
I didn't like was Eno really. With 6 LI's there might be a favorite for anyone.
This game could be interesting to play blind but honestly i'm glad I used a guide
since there are just way too many landmine bad ends you could trigger.
Bad ends did at times contain minor plot revelations so I'd say its still worth
checking them out just don't be surprised if you get burned while doing so.
The actual story is left for the finale route which wraps everything up in a grand way
perhaps there is room for a sequel or FD? idk but it may need one since
after the finale most best ends just has me going is that it really?
8/10
I can't hate this game because its literally the best and worst of otomate in one package.
Its likely it will be picked up for english release and will be disappointed if it won't
since there's definitely an audience for this, no I know there is.
TL;DR Honey Vibes is quite enjoyable but if you're just here for an romance novel
i'd stay away from the bad ends if I were you unless you like to live dangerously.
This game is not all sunshine and rainbows and can get surprisingly dark in bad ends.
If this sparks your interest then by all means I will recommend this otome game.......
For playorder there weren't any restrictions so I just picked one in the moment:
Alvin > Eno > Milo >Theo > Elijah > Finn > Finale.
You can do whatever camp you want in any order due to no restrictions
the best I can recommend here is to just stick to one camp before moving to the next.
More rambles after the jump, just the usual some of my fav cg's etc
if you want to play don't read further.
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