Cafe Enchante - Review

Oh the misery.....

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate/Aksys.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: N/A.

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v24240

Release date: 5-11-2020.

 

Since I wasn't in the mood to start a completely new game, I decided to continue

on something from my backlog and that was Cafe Enchante. I started this earlier this year

but due to this games long common route I took a break after Canus's route.

Going back to this did make me feel productive as well as appreciating what I already have.

I wasn't constantly playing it, I frequently put it down after a chapter ended. 

 

Disclaimer: As this blog is just a place for me to write about games I play, if you

don't like what you're reading just close the browser/tab and move on. Its okay if not

everyone likes a game or certain aspects of a game. Yep it was time for a disclaimer again

maybe its better to add this permanently as a reminder its okay to not like

what everyone else likes both for myself and others.  

Pro's

- Interesting premise and setting.

- Great cast of characters.

- Gorgeous art and really good OST. 

 

Grey area

- Plot over romance type of otome. 

 

Con's

- No skip to the next choice option, making it hell to sit through the common route on subsequent plays. 

- Game ends up being far heavier than it initially appears.

- Sloppy translation.

 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

I loved the OP movie but I think it mostly suited the common route + first 2 chapters of a route

as there were moments where letting this play would not match the mood of the story.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

It was pretty long, the prologue and common route do a good job at setting the stage

but it was kind of repetitive. NGL this game false-advertisted itself about a cute story

about a cafe, which it can seem like it is but it goes far deeper than that.

If I had to give this game an award it would be most misleading.😂 

Cafe Enchante is a good example of don't judge a book by its cover, I wasn't

attracted to this game for heavy themes, it just seemed fun?  but alas a cute story

with some light drama it was not. However it knew when to have fun and when not

but I can't help but be a little disappointed by how short the individual route

was compared to the common route and how unsatisfying the ending was at times.

Like it just felt like something was missing or it left to be desired. 

 

Everytime you complete a route you also unlock a sort of extended prologue....

on its own I didn't really get what they were about, it hinted at something

which doesn't seem to be related to the original four routes. I figured Misyr

would go into it since he is locked but every time I saw a piece I was just confused. 

Art was great and I can't complain, the music was also one of the better ones.

In some games its just kinda there but Cafe Enchante had some really good OST. 

I do wanna add that while the BGM is good, you often go from the upbeat

title screen music to... the middle of a route and the mood whiplash is real. 💀

So when I was in the latter half of a route I would not put my headphones on till I loaded the save. 

 

The system was just standard stuff, nothing write home about.

Everyone has 1 best end and 1/2 bad ends.

I used a guide but this seems hell to play without one as there's no correct choice indicator

and its difficult to even guess what route you would land on so GG's to guide makers.

The UI was also pretty nice and stylish but not as eye-popping as Cupi-Para. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story?!

If Virche had a light-hearted tone, lost some of its extreme nature

but knows when to step on the gas pedal of angst. There it is! Cafe Enchante.

I'm late to the party as it is a rather old game already but to me this is like a cute version of Virche.

 Anyway the heroine Kotone inherits from her grandpa with its visitors being

from other worlds which sounds like it could be a simple but fun story yet it isn't

while there were some cute scenes this was not a romance focused game

but more of a plot-driven one. At most the romance part is woven into it. 

 Due to that it never really felt like an otome game and even when it was time for confessions

it wasn't that satisfying and in the end I found the LI's better non-romantically.💀

The common route also ended in such a way that I was actually fine with dropping out there

but still I wanted to check out Canus route so I continued! and eventually the others.

Also I gotta admit that they did craft a wonderful setting.

Canus route was one of my favourites, Ignis&Kaoru were OK in comparison.

Il had a good routes as it had some nice surprises, I'd say Misyr did as well

but I think it tried too hard and suffered truth route syndrome.

 ---

The length was such a double edged sword and just simply playing this game

1 hour before bed meant I was going at an absolute snail pace. So I had to plan longer sessions

to literally get anywhere early on. Its one of those games that loves to set the stage and

spend time with its characters, which is good but there were times I got bored

so this game is definitely not for people with short attention spans.

I started this game on january 10, the common route was SO LONG that I took

a break midway and didn't finish that and Canus route till like a month later.

This truly was my backburner game of 2025! because I didn't come back till september.

Of course in VN common routes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes! but Cafe's Enchante

was just too long for my tastes. At one point during the common route I thought I had already

entered a character route but then I looked at the guide and it said main chapter 4 out of 8.💀

Canus route was about as long as a route in fuyuzono sacrifice which is 5ish hours at best

other routes were slightly longer but after 3 of them I started to noticed a pattern.

Canus route was arguably the shortest, Ignis&Kaoru was slightly longer and Il's route was

significantly longer than any of the former with Mysir doubling down on that.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for the heroine; Kotone was alright, I can't be too hard on her due to her past

and I generally liked her. She was proactive and spoke her mind.

There are at times moments especially very early on I was like eh? i'm glad

she got better once she actually accepted and understood what was happening.

I found her to be surprisingly adult/level headed and down to earth with

a little bit of baggage, she can't handle tense situations at all it seems.

Sure Misyr's greeting was awkward but Kotone's initial reaction was kinda unjustified

not sure if it was the localization but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

Thankfully moments like that were only a handful so it wasn't a big deal

a lot of the times I could omit a line and read it as if it wasn't there. 

Overall I thought she was a pretty normal girl and i'm willing to forgive

the nonsense mid Ignis route due to bad translations. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Localization rambles

This was the most random and apparently the original was but... lack of QA is apparent.

As you already know yea the localization was awful but most of the awful was

at peaks and the rest generally read pretty well, I think had they actually handled this

game with more care there wouldn't be any problems. Now we have stuff like

the infamous box pusher, it read as terrible as when I found out years ago.💀

At times the dialogue in Canus route started to read like haiku's... and there were

odd line-breaks where there shouldn't be any. I've heard after this game's release

aksys has been getting better and I sure can get past the odd typo here or there

but still the damage these sort of things do remain ever a stain especially

when they don't get patched out which is the case here. Like people paid for this.

I often make a lot of typo's when I write stuff but I always fix them when I see them.

Perhaps putting out patches for games is expensive but I'd prefer it they

release the game a month later QA'd instead of releasing them like this.

I actually really liked how they translated Utakakata no Uchronia as Illusion of Itehara

which is very fitting for what the game is about, like Aksys can do it if they try! 

Sad we may need a port of this game for it to get patched up like norn9...

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

TL;DR 

Do I recommend Cafe Enchante? sure if you can get passed the sloppy translation.😅 

Cafe Enchante is for those who don't mind seemingly light-hearted settings that can turn out

to be deeper than it appears to be and want to be surprised by potentially mindblowing twists.

However I suggest beginners of the genre or those who seek shorter or casual experiences

to steer away unless you love angst&bittersweetness. I saw some people say this is

a cozy game but that only really applies to the majority of the common route and 1/2

chapters of a character route. I can however praise it for its plot twists but idk why

I just find myself not satisfied with Cafe Enchante as an otome game.  

i

Looking back at some routes this actually fits perfectly.

TBH I am glad I got to experience it... and its by no means bad, I am a little unsatisfied.

It has good content value, the common route is repetitive in nature and one could get bored during it.

The setting and characters is what pretty much saved this game for me and it was

still an enjoyable otome game to come back to!  its just at times I don't think it was too sure

of what it wanted to be? did Cafe Enchante wanted to be a cute SoL story about a cafe

with some drama? or an isekai action packed adventure?! because it seems it wanted to be both...

Romance was kinda lacking and not main focus but atleast there was, something.

Atleast it didn't make me wait for the best outcomes till after the final route.

Plot twist; the tape did not hold...

In terms of characters I generally liked everyone and didn't particularly dislike anyone

so at the end of the day you could say the characters carried this game really hard. 

I really liked Canus even if it ain't his route and I don't even care he has no head!

I saw people complain about the headless part but I'm loving him.💕

I thought Kaoru could seem like one of the more logical choices, but eh

when I really think about it this ended up being one of those otome games where

the romance left me so wanting and while I am happy with the best outcomes

I actually like mostly all of the guys more non-romantically outside of their route. 💙

Definitely a recommendation for those seeking to dip their toes into the misery porn genre.

7/10 

''Man... I don't think there's ever been an otome game where I said... I liked all the guys

outside of their routes and I don't need anything more than the common route.💀''

 

I wonder though... will the day come more smutty or fluffy otome games will get localized?

I know honey vibes was not perfect but it seems the ones with lotsa angst always make it over...

Is it that difficult to bring over something like Shinobi Koi Utsutsu or Tlicolity Eyes?

its mostly the plot focused ones from otomate but never the fanservice ones.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

There's apparently a locked route which require all others so

my play order ended up being what most people seemed to recommend:

Canus > Ignis > Rindo > Il fado> Misyr.

Route babbles and my fav CGs after the jump, its generally light in spoilers

and mostly just commentary if you want  no spoilers then stop reading here. 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Over RequiemZ - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Kogado/Otomate.

Platform: switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/over_requiemz/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v47013

Release date: 17-4-2025

 

I wasn't sure if I was going to get this game and it was literally a last minute decision

but I am glad I did because I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I ever would and it

had a pretty good story more so than a bunch of recent otomate games I played recently.

Also I could probably have finished this sooner rather than later however lately I don't

like it when I burst through games in a week but it lasted almost two weeks for me

so I slowed down my pace just a little bit, the game also is better with breaks

in between due to how intense the writing can be.

 

Pro's

- Interesting setting and complex characters.

- Mostly good pacing, atleast I thought fact side was.

- Gorgeous artwork, pretty consistent art.

- Beautiful music, I found it better than most of otomate's stuff.

- Replay value is high due to scenario split.

- You can completely ignore the dark side and get to enjoy the story with proper romance.

 

Grey area

- There's only one best ending, the other three are either bad ends, a tragic end or subjective good.

 

Con's

- Dorothy's route should've been locked.

- Most choices are meaningless except a handful that decided a branch or end.

 - Dark side can feel a bit drawn out, atleast one felt forced.

- The ending theme did not fit all the endings.

 

 

Over RequiemZ is loosely based on the wizard of oz.

The heroine Yuhiru gets isekai'd to a strange land and meets a bunch of guys

who are all convicted criminals alongside herself for reasons she doesn't get. The world

isn't quite like her own but she still recognizes elements here and there from it.

Due to her black hair and eyes, she is discriminated for it but she's not

the only one as one of the LI has suffered from it as well.

Yuhiru finds solace with a bunch of guys who like herself end up being charged for

crimes they didn't commit. The question remained of whether she can trust them or not. 

This honestly feels like a breath of fresh air. Yuhiru sets out on a journey with them

which really felt like a journey btw, the characters also had good chemistry

but this was mostly the first 5 chapters before it focused more on the LI.

I loved the character interactions, there was a good dose of humor at times as well.

 Even if they were criminals it didn't feel like they were bad atleast not at first

but you could tell there was another side to them so it was exciting to see how it'll play out.

I really loved how the writing could be rather intense, it was hard to get bored

and if I did zone out then the dialogue would snap me back into it.

 

Art looks gorgeous both sprite,CG and backgrounds are very well done.

Music Some BGM's were absolutely stellar I rarely praise this much but they deserve it!

It also set the tone of the scenes well and I like the OP a lot as well.

 

System; its a standard VN however  there's a route split for each character Fact and Dark

Depending on your choices you can tip the scales to either of those and get different endings

but other than that most of the choices were meaningless, it may change a dialogue line or two.

All the endings of which there were four per route were right at the end.

Yea the split sides basically are like this, yes.

Length; A single route would be 15 chapters in total, every guy had a sort of

common route/prelude which lasted for 5 chapters and then it splits into fact or dark

of which both are 5 chapters long.  Nothing seemed to drag on, I thought individually

chapters were short, it still delivered the scenario in a well-paced manner.

My first route was about 7-8 hours in length but depending on your reading

speed it may differ.  Its important to note that both sides are different in tone

from the other so you won't get the same experience twice.

 

I wasn't sure what was up with the choice system maybe that's to decide what ending you get

or if you can make it to the fact or dark. I used a guide so... i'm not sure if selecting a less

than good choice would result in a game over ending and I didn't have the energy to experiment.

Often there would be red choices, I thought that selecting the wrong one would give me

 a bad end but the guide listed none. This game also only has four endings per route.

They were at the end so the bad ones felt more like you reap what you sowed.

Still I think some bad ends may've worked in a type of game like this since

most choices are actually pretty meaningless and add nothing of value except

the ones that decide the route split or the endings at the end of it.

 

 

I liked the general feel of the game but I had so many questions...

like why was the heroine summoned? isn't this judicial system too harsh?!

The early parts of trying to survive outside of the city reminded me of the dark dragon and

the happy hungry bunch from yona of the dawn. The first half of the game felt rather calm

but there were moments of suspense like do you tell a LI the truth of where you came from?

Anyway for the most part the game was very enjoyable, I wanted to get to know the LI

and perhaps more about the world... which was my main motivation to keep playing.

The characters were honestly pretty great, I wanted to know more

about them all, in good and bad ways. Its been a long time

an otome game got that kind of reaction from me.

They all had some sort of underlying trauma and it could seem like the heroine

is a therapist but I thought she was just trying to be a good friend

and a good friend listens to someone elses troubles and doesn't judge.

The fact route tended to resolve issues while the dark route let them fester.

In most other otome games I am like eh a yandere but this game did

not present them the usual way, more like they could become one.

Most of my questions were answered by the time of the final fact route.

 

The fact side pretty much felt like a normal otome game to me...

It focused more on the character development,backstory and current problem

as well as delivering some proper romance as Yuhiru grows closer to the LI.

The dark side reminded me of stuff rejet would come up with

and that would probably be for folks who like yanderes or something.

The main plot in dark took a different turn which... opened up other problems.

So even if you don't like rejet type stuff I could still recommend this game.

I personally thought it was a hit or miss as I could stand Claude's dark route

but Molly's... was a very oh no wtf is this shit?! momento.

I kind of wanted to skip them especially since I came to love Noil a bit too much

still I wanted to see all of his character so I bit the bullet againu. 

 

Yuhiru was pretty okay? I did think she could have been fleshed out more

like she wants to go back home but... ends up finding a handsome man instead.😂

There's only one route where she is actually given a lot more backstory

so if you don't do it she can seem a little less interesting.

That aside I liked her interactions with the love interest and she was very positive and brave

 so I don't think there was much to dislike. She goes through some shit alright

but the worst of it was mostly reserved for the dark side. Which is optional.

If Ceres crawled it was so Yuhiru could fly.

 

Over RequiemZ reminded me a little of 9rip but with more horror/suspense. I wouldn't say

it was on tsukihime/virche level but it had a good dose of violence and blood.

I think without the fact side this game would've been unsatisfying for me

and it may have even steered me away had I tried to do the darkside first.

Other than that it was character focused but most routes would never go into

the same problem twice maybe this was a double edged sword.

Unfortunately, while I was lucky enough to play the most spoilerific route last

otomate may've been better off locking it but it seems they forget

and I am blaming the guy in charge of management.😩

Locking Dorothy's route should've been a thing.

In most routes there were more bad outcomes than good ones, like one best end

a sad end and then two endings that I thought were generally leaning to the bad side

but they could be good in a subjective way.  In the case of Noil I think he had three

good outcomes and one bad but two of them  were really subjective and it would be up

to the player to determine that.  So 4 endings so two for each side, I think there's

a lot of appeal to this otome game though and I was invested quickly in whatever

was happening. The dark side of the route is probably what most are going to come here for

but I'd probably recommend to do the fact side first just for a better understanding

of the LI more so if you care about plot+romance.

 

-- 

TL;DR: Over RequeimZ was more well-rounded, it was just the right length

which was a relief since I think Fuyuzono really rushed itself.  Its just that one route

should've been locked. There was just enough time for both romance, plot/character

development but it can be really intense and can not seem very otome.

Looking at it overall the actual story/character's were really good and given a lot of depth

that I can forgive it. Whatever scenes there were with the LI were very enjoyable but don't come

here expecting only fluff. When I look at Noil's route it spends more time building trust...

however trust is the foundation for everything and without that there can be no love. 

That is why I had no issues with romance. The fact side did feel to me like any other otome game

 Its just that some characters had stuff going on in their dark route that legit made me go nope

so it certainly is not for everyone. There was a moderate amount of violence

and blood, I don't think it was as extreme as Virche. I also see comparisons

and I just don't see it?  Virche made me depressed, Over RequiemZ had me hooked and

despite the dark side being less than good I was excited to go to the next character fact route.

It has intense and suspenseful moments but it also makes room for more calmer ones.

Dark side tended to... have more extreme ends as opposed to the fact side

which just had a tragic and good end.  I thought at times the split sides also complimented

eachother, this was most obvious to me in Noil's maybe because I enjoyed the route.

Noil Bestia was one of my favorite LI along with Kaize&Claude.

I can recommend this otome, more so if you miss rejet-like games and want a story full of suspense.

If I have to be really honest, if you're just here for the story&romance just do the fact side.

I feel the dark side is there for people that like darker stuff, once again its contents is not for everyone.

9/10

Should this get localized? absolutely! there's definitely an audience for this

but even if it doesn't the language difficulty is fairly low.

Lastly, I don't recommend binging or rushing through this game.

Take your time, the scenario is carefully written and going too fast

will likely not make you be able to take it in or enjoy its finer aspects.

 ---

 

There are no route restrictions so you can choose whoever you're interested in.

For my first play I ended up choosing Claude... as I played the routes

it all was so character driven, if I had to recommend anything then you can do

Claude,Molly,Noil and Kaize in any order but Dorothy is best saved for last.

I almost by a hair chose him first and was glad I didn't.

This game is best played without spoilers and its very hard to write about the

characters without spoiling  so if you don't want that then stop reading here.

Its mostly just me doing commentary and a poor digest of whatever happened

while sharing some of my favorite CG's, not all of them of course.

Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail - review

Couldn't take a screenshot of the title screen so uh have the keyart!

Genre: RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/5, PC, xbone.
Official Site: N/A.

Release date: 27-6-2024.

 

I have been playing FFXIV for quite some time but never wrote a review on it.

This post is mostly about the new expansion dawntrail and it isn't much about the previous.

There aren't any major plot spoilers in this post but anything could count as

a spoiler to some so whatever I guess this is just a blog post and I am writing my own

personal thoughts as a review of a game I played, if you don't like it then close the tab/browser.

Pro's

- Decent enough plot.

- Great character development for Krile and Erenville.

- The first four zones are beautiful.

Con's

- Levels are simply given to you and I personally don't feel like I earned the lvl 100.

- Recycles too much old tunes and enemy models as well, its like i've seen/heard this before.

- I get Wuk Lamat is a main character but she steals too much of the spotlight...

 

 The expansions features a slight graphic update with better textures and models

gotta admit I was a little nervous, my WoL turned out okay but there may have

been those the update wasn't too kind of. The developers were kind enough to

give players a free fantasia to edit the character again. Which is a good thing.

Not really great at taking screenshots but thought this was a nice spot in the game.

 

More rambles after the jump but if you want the short of it, I think Dawntrail is decent

however don't expect too much out of the story and just enjoy it for what it is not for what it is not.

 

Piofiore no Banshou ~Episodio 1926~ review

 Genre: Otome/VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/piofiore/1926/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25914

Release date: 12/11/20.

 

Sequel to the original game, though this one seems more honest about also being a -sequel-

unfortunately its lighthearted and is still as suspenseful as the first game.

At first I did think that this would be a FD but as time went on and info was revealed

it looked more and more like a sequel. FD's hardly introduce that many new characters.

 

Pro's

- Unique, character focused routes.

- Suspense and Unpredictability.

- Art and bgm are as good as its ever been.

Con's

- Cg's while memorable are far and between.

- Landmine bad ends.

- Most of the new sub characters are garbage.

- Some routes don't solve anything, inconsistent antagonists.

 

Meanwhile system is also back atleast this time auto mode will stop

and its harder to miss the meanwhile scenes which iirc wasn't a thing on vita.

They try to have these flashback aria's to help us remember scenes from the first game

with the guy's POV which is nice but this works the same as meanwhile so sometimes

i'd get annoyed because i'd just gotten into the scene and it would want me to

review the past or see a scene elsewhere, I honestly prefer just the meanwhiles.

Oh apparently the switch port of the first game actually had some new cg's? nice.

 

Episode Burlone, stories that takes place after the characters route in the first game

though its not a simple after story... the enjoyment you get here might vary.

For play order here, I'm going to recommend Donte for later as he has

the most spoilers and Gilbert is the most original and imo fun route out of all

but other than that you can do Gil's route whenever you want.

Yang,Orlok and Nicola are mostly self-contained so the order of play doesn't really matter

for them doesn't matter that much either! Just Donte later or midway if you don't want

a certain side character's story spoiled right away.

Alternativa:

Like the name suggest this is an alternative story set after the true end

of the previous game! it featuring 8 short stories which were mostly lighthearted

as Lily interacts with various characters (mostly side) within the year of 1926.

Most of the episodes are refreshing and perhaps a nice palate cleanser after one of the routes

but unfortunately for me I did them all after doing said routes which might be a blessing

in disguise because they all do seem to hint at more and after completing said 8 stories

you unlock a full route where you can get an alternative end with the main guys

as such it doesn't matter when you do either the mini route or Henri because

the story told here is completely separate from the after stories.

In all honesty the whole tone of this scenario was much more enjoyable than the after stories

itself, I do have to add that it had some weird vinyl earporn, otomate please...........😑

Not much else to say but just to do your fav guy in alternativa first because

it is copy pasta scenario and annoying to collect all ends.

 

Story for the after stories was interesting enough hard to figure out what was going on or why this

was happening but got explained as it went on, the length is that of a normal game so about 6-8 hours?

Each route was unique and dealt with various issues not addressed in the prequel

they brought in some new characters as well that're tied to the stories.

 Kind of hard to recommend this game unless you want more of the same, because

you're getting just that while it fleshes out the characters and relationship.

They did a good job with Yang even though I still don't like him all that much he's just ok to me now.

What romance is there is nice but it still retains a serious atmosphere.

The writing was exceptionally good and its still as unpredictable as ever the first game

also had that kind of suspense and if not use a guide you'll better brace yourself.

As there are landmines and one wrong choice could lead to an abrupt bad end just like the first game.

The chapter titles are also still in a different language! I always thought that was neat.

Yang's chinese, Donte in spanish, Orlok be German , Nicola's italia, oh and Henri in french.

The routes varied greatly in terms of enjoyment, I absolutely loved Gilberts

and liked Donte and Yang but Nicola was a disappointment but great as a refresher if you

had forgotten some of the stuff from the first game as for Orlok... sigh

that was just depressing to sit through and didn't really solve much if anything.

Donte's or Gil's route were probably the only well rounded routes in the whole game.😓

I mean that in terms of how it balanced plot/romance which is honestly kind of sad

nice that they all came in different flavors but the only one I truly enjoyed was Gil.

I also did like Henri maybe because it had no Theo! though disappointed

otomate didn't give him an ending but I guess that fad is over now.🙃

 

All things considered... it was a decent sequel, if you liked the original and want to see more 

including things getting fleshed out I could recommend this game and if the after stories

are too much then you can settle for alternativa? because the tone is drastically different.

Piofiore has never been an otome game that's for everyone in fact its themes

are not otome at all! I can praise it for not sugar coating what a mafia does

and I like that but i'm kind of disappointed for a reason I cannot explain without spoiling

but its related to the character Theo whom in Donte's after actually made me really angry and upset.

Its really funny how the main cast in the previous game could all do something

that could make you hate them but here its mostly the sub characters that are disgusting

especially Theo, idk I could make a rage post about him, lmao.

Also after I finished the after stories I got to alternativa which was fun at first

but then it unlocked a route and I was like there is MORE?! at that point I couldn't help

but feel slightly burnt because I was looking forward to Henri, though it was nothing

a small break couldn't cure! the tone of alternativa also helped.😅

Other than that this game was more than worth the price though! as there's plenty of content

its just that for some characters the afters might leave to be desired.

I tried to do the bad ends as I went through including the tragic end first but it was too much

and just went for the happy end which might have saved what was left of this game for me.

I know at the end of the day its just a game... and you can easily avoid the more gruesome ends

by using a guide but not everyone can stomach contents in which people die all the time

and there were too many bad ends were that happened especially in Henri's

I mean what was up with that?! in the whole game I think there's almost 20 of those.😓😓😓

That aside I think the piofiore sequel is decent but yea it ain't for everyone.

 7,4/10

I might not like everything but this was a pretty good sequel...

This is the end of the no spoiler section more ramblings/spoilers after the jump.

Gunka o Haita Neko - review

 Genre: Otome visual novel.

Developer/publisher: Primula.

Platform: Nintendo Switch.

Official Site: https://www.prot.co.jp/switch/gunneko/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22122

Release date: PC: 2018-09-28, PSV:2019-09-12, NSW: 2020-06-18 

Since I was thirsty and there's not much otome coming out I decided to cave in and get Gun-Neko
primula's latest game which was recently ported to switch by prototype!
I originally passed on the vita release because it was at the end of the life cycle and all
then not even a year later this got a switch port and I ain't got anything else so I was like why not?

I'm actually surprised no one had blogged about this game... but after sitting through it I understand.

Takes place in postapocalyptic world where humanoid cat people live among the ruins
of civilization, Japan is Tama's country (Wakoku) she lives there with Yuzu, Kuu and
was to be married to her cousin Koutaro. Kitty and Willow aka imperials come from
outside of japan they live in western style and use more advance technology.
Tama has always been pretty obsessed with humans, she was raised with care since
she's a bit special knowing the writer i'm not surprised most of her heroines have a quirk. 
The plot be like all these different cat people live in harmony till some human boy crashes
the wedding plans of the heroine Tama a princess and her cousin ala isekai style, now they have
much more problems on their hands as the empire moves in on wakoku

and this human boy gets to see how they all live strangely like humans did.

Oh dear did I just sum up half of this game in the non spoiler section...

Jokes aside that is exactly what this game is about, why are these cat people living so much

like humans once did?! who are apparently long extinct. Yep that's it.

Pro's
- Likeable characters.
- Comedy.
- Art/music.

Con's
- Length, it will likely test your patience.
- Interesting but executed in the most boring way filled with politics.
In most routes 90% of the time nothing happens does this say enough?
- Relies too much on the true end to make sense of whatever ''plot'' there was.

The opening is done by Ether which gave me GUST vibes.
Most of the seiyuu's are unknowns to me except Murase Ayumu and Ishikawa Kaito.

 

Tama herself was pretty cute, most of the guys were attractive, they're all based off of cat types so if
you love cats this might be a point of interest? I don't know that much of it so that was lost on me.
Art be pretty the backgrounds were decent as well and music fit the mood 
so I can't complain about any of that atleast.
System is typical choices but they have you occasionally do this sense of self thingy
where you click something left,right,up or down but this felt so unnecessary I was like but why?
The jump to the next choice feature was fantastic though...

Now I don't want to be too harsh right of the bat but is it legal for an otome game be that boring?

I mean it had some nice ideas but the plot was ok at best, chara's be likeable enough

and it has nice sense of humor as expected from the creators of taishou x alice.
That aside primula decided to do a take on the overused isekai trope: an otaku getting transported
somewhere expect harem and be OP but he ends up in an ikemen paradise instead.😂😂😂
 None of that really got explained or made sense till the true end which isn't unusual.

The length is definitely a blessing and a curse. Its good to get to know the chara's but if
the attention span is low one might get bored and in my case I did get bored at times, bored enough
to wonder if Ibuki was secretly the protagonist.😔 who doesn't even get a real route, most of
the time his entire existance is for comedic relief and support role, he gets written out
in many route very easily.😓 It makes sense for it to be that way buuuut i'm eh about it.
Though the whole thing with Ibuki was amusing it was hard to see what they were
going for at times I knew my patience was being tested, considering the writer
I'm not surprised, couldn't help but wonder if there would be psychological elements involved

but it was mostly politics instead atleast there was comedy which made it slightly better
they also love to change the perspective of the characters at times though
it only made it look more complicated than it actually was.

NGL after clearing I think my fav routes were the two childhood friends.

 

 

 

 

Overall this game isn't that serious and most of it was pretty relaxing? it took a while
to reach the individual routes or for things to get anywhere, if you don't have the patience
for this its gonna be an easy pass. I did find some of the political intrigue/world
to be interesting though it just wasn't engaging enough which just made me sleepy, I think
Kuunyan was my favorite but even his route left to be desired, each route does try
to do things differently so there's no copy pasta or 90% common 10% individual.
There is one landmine route which even lacks a proper ending, he may have deserved
such an end due to his behavior throughout but even so... atleast his route was short
still kind of feels like it was a waste I dunno just had to put that out there.
The true end wraps up any sort of questions one might have but it feels like the guys
just had routes because its an otome game and none really contributed to
the heart of the matter, when you do get there it also stops being an otome game.

 
At the end of the day this was mostly okay it might be better if you really love cats
and don't mind the militairy themes but if you want something short and sweet then maybe not
they know how to really pad it out at times which really bored me to tears.
I did like the romance and cute/funny moment which was for me the only saving grace
but considering how sleep inducing the plot is... I just can't recommend this game
unless you like games such as ye olde hiiro no kakera or Tsumikui so despite their being
a decently enough written plot beneath it all it was too long for its own good.
6/10

My play order ended up being:
Yuzu > Kotarou > Kuunyan > Shed > Kitty > True.
I'd probably recommend the same order, Shed and Kitty can't be done till 2nd play and

Yuzu or Kuu could be switched if need be, those two were probably most self-contained.

That ends the non-spoiler babbles.

Side Kicks! (otome game) - review

Cover is ok but could be better...

 Game: [Sidekicks.]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Toybox inc, Extend.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://joqrextend.co.jp/extend/sidekicks/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19743

Release date: 2017-3-30

While I originally had no intention to play this because it reminds me of SA7 and lol

 even the heroine has precog... and well its not an excuse to fangasm this time so why not?

That aside side kicks reception was very positive so I ended up buying it...
and well it wasn't bad but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece either its just good at what it tried to do.

Also lol there wasn't any other otome I wanted to buy till June so this fit in the gap quite perfectly.
I don't really like modern setting otome but I still think the selection of guys is good
but to me there was only one that appealed from begin to end, I guess my sixth sense is at work here.
Sorta sad... because I couldn't fully enjoy the first four routes but that doesn't mean it was bad.

Pro's
 -Interesting story and characters.
- Setting.
-  Art&Music.

Con's
- Too many choices that amount to nothing.
- To get to the real truth you must do everything... but at what cost?
- They couldn't decide how to balance the mystery and otome parts.

The game takes place in sakrada in the USA, I have to admit this is refreshing

instead of taking place in japan like most do but they all speak in japanese!

Yeah OK it a JP game and well a lot of fiction have that problem so who care about that.
At first its also pretty hard to notice this is an otome... it has so many things
that make you say what am I playing again? also some parts are a bit too detailed
which make me wish the focused a little more on the otome part.

It also noticeable it had very high production values, the backgrounds move.
in certain screens when its evening there are pretty lights which is nice to watch

and the music was very fitting I never was inclined to mute unlike WoF.
While the audio quality was great certain characters were too loud so
I had to lower the voices of Chika, Rico, Kurumi and Tsubaki somewhat.

The art was pretty good too even there are some slight derps here and there but maybe it intended
but considering the artist mostly did bishoujo/hentai work its understandable still
he did a good job because everyone was charming, esp Nora!
System was comfy, ain't got issues and skip to the next choices saves lives but I found it
weird I couldn't use it in certain segments even tho there was nothing new
maybe it was because there was a movie segment coming up.

Unlike Oumagatoki ~kakuriyo no snoozefest~ Side kicks! actually managed to be
more interested but it still suffered from the same issues, characters I can't
care about and episodic side story problem with too many choices etc.
 Regarding romantic interest its an incompatibility problem with myself don't let it bother you
I still find them likeable but personally except one guy I am like nope.

Sadly the chapter one plot was a bit predictable to me... but still interesting, it took a bit of
 a dive in episode 2 but it was still good overall since it goes into the bonds of the team
and that being part of the gang isn't all sunshine and rainbows, they put their life on the line.

In the end it did turn out to be something like CSI oh well you know the stuff
they show how they work as a team and if someone ain't there it'll fall apart.
Everyone got properly introduced and it made me curious but at times it was really
hard to see any romance since they're just good partner with some romance at the end
its like they forgot to shove in the otome element in some route like Shishiba. -_-
 I feel extra sorry for him because he knew she may have liked him...

I honestly love detective stories but compared to say collar x malice it was a disappointment.

Sidekicks is like Eikoku Tantei Mysteria and has the same problem as
over half of the routes do not bring you closer to the actual truth, mind you this is fine
but I think CxM did a better job at crafting it together since everything made sense in the end there.
Either way unlike Ayaka(SA7), the heroine of Side Kicks! Inori was actually more mature
she's 20 and fit right in the precog dreams weren't immature like we won't  have Inori derp
and have fangasm dream about the guys but sadly she didn't really stand out that much and
well I guess she was great for being able to do stuff when it comes to it but in the end
those precog dreams are just you know dreams there's nothing else to it, she was born with it.
Unlike the boys Inori has no interesting past she's literally just a typical girl from the streets
and due to the team figuring out her ability is useful she gets to join but
what about her parents? friends?! previous job? the game doesn't go into it
so apparently it doesn't matter so why should I care? the writers sure didn't.
Due to the above Inori is perfect self-insert material... and no its not a spoiler
since not even the game goes into it, Inori's just lucky I guess.

Next the million choices of that amount to nothing... like is it really going to matter
of picking the same dish as Chika or Hibari are having to get on his route?!
Also why is bloodtype supposed to matter?! who even cares!
I gotta admit I did enjoy the banter about them trying to choose a name for the dog...
but I didn't exactly like that the name of the dog is determined by who's route your on
since some guy is terrible at making names, looking at you Rico come on kitty? oh god no.
Also Nora get out, I may love you lots but he came off as an ass in that scene but 
to be fair all of the names for the dog were terrible, IIRC Shishiba's was Jinja(shrine)
okay maybe I was too hard on Nora but like... seriously naming the dog after yourself GET OUT.
Anyway before I forget what was even the point of Shisui's character? 
like his entire purpose is just to narrate and be cool in general.
''Come with me if you want the truth'' oh lol... you go and say that but storywise your entire
character didn't matter! do they intend to follow up on this game? but what about ____ then?
Oh well whatever they do I don't really care in the end SK! was a decent game in my opinion.
I guess I could say nice try toybox/extend but... some route it could've been better and this game
 still has routes for the sake of having them aka Chika/Hibari/Shishiba but it wasn't bad or anything
if fan of detective drama this is going to appeal a lot more to you.
For me this was one of those otome games where I only really like one guy and felt
 incompatible with most others, I can recommend it if you like detective stuff such as 
Eikoku Tantei Mysteria or Collar x Malice.
7/10
No more and no less, if I was really harsh it would've been less but then again it wasn't bad.
Again its recommended for those who like crime solving or else this
game will just bore you away but don't expect too much.

 There was one fatal bug in chapter 2 when they show you the paper with Tatewaki's plans
the game will crash so I hope you saved frequently or else you'll have to force skip your way back.
Other than that there were no bugs but its funny how they never patched it
 but I heard they're working on it now so no worries but man its been almost 2 months.
Priorities what are they? Extend sure doesn't know them!

Typical ramblings after the jump, spoilers beware.

Yuukyuu no Tierblade -Lost Chronicle- - Review

 悠久のティアブレイド -Lost Chronicle-
 Game: [Yuukyuu no Tierblade].

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Otomate

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.otomate.jp/tierblade/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19012

Release date: 2016-09-08 

Yuukyuu no Tierblade -Lost Chronicle- is a sci-fi otome game from yours truly, otomate.
 Did I have doubts about this otomege? sure for one its premise is similair to Code:Realize.
Okay its not entirely similair but you get the comparison right?
A heroine named ''Eve'' lives alone for 3000 years in a secluded space and her world 
slowly starts to move again when one day she meets Shudo, Atalva and later on Yajur and Lowe.
Luckily for Eve they're all handsome guys! even if Eve herself may not be quite human.
(Oh come on that much is obvious okay?)
I like how otomate's trying to explore into mecha territory because you sure don't see that often
 but to be fair one can make an otomege with any theme, sometimes it just doesn't work out.
 
Playorder:
 Shudo > Atharva > Yajur > Roh/Lowe > Cradle > True.
No choice but to do Yajur and Lowe later because their route unlock
 after you've done Shudo or Atalva and this really makes sense in terms of story.
Anyway do the order of Shudo/Altava in whichever boy you favor but honestly its not going to matter much. 
I recommend doing Shudo's route first then Atharva > Yajur and finally Lowe.
Lowe's route contains major spoilers and would only ruin the overall enjoyment if done too soon.
Dunno about Cradle but just do him before the true end I guess or before Lowe's.

Pro's
- Interesting story and characters.
- Pretty Art.
- Relaxing BGM.
- Common and Individual route while shared is nicely balanced.

Con's
- Junk system, while nice for collection purpose seems pointless storywise.
- Not many choices, less than 10 per route.
- Repeat content (mech battles can get draggy on 2nd+ play).

Overall this otomege is a romantic sci-fi adventure with as seen above well executed action scenes
I wasn't bored of them which is good!
A lot of the typical otome scenes are really relaxing and the BGM sure help a lot with this.
The story develops well, even if its ''peaceful'' at times its usually not for long and the game makes
this very clear by swifting the POV for a short scene with the ''villains''.

If you were worried that Yuukyuu no Tearblade was going to have an annoying system
like Wand of Fortune 2 you can rest assured. because its nothing more than a simple
select the area, find junk and move on, there is no RNG involved or anything.

After the last otomege I played(which was Oumagatoki), Yuukyuu no Tierrblade was pleasant.
As its quick to the point, good story, easy to like characters and a likeable heroine.
I expected tierblade to be the typical short&sweet with a fluff of tragic otomate game
and I wasn't disappointed on that note because this otomege sure was interesting.
There were lots of twists and turns along the way and the action scenes were cool
and to get the whole story you have to do every route, sadly after
only one playthrough it was pain stackingly obvious who the OTP was but that
 has never stopped me from finding my own biases a long the way.
I get why people could say the some battles are boring, especially repeat stuff
and honestly I only liked  sitting through the first battles with Sud,Atharva... Yajur just
happened too late and it was literally the same as if it were say Sud except now its Yajur.
I felt the Moujuutsukai team worked on it and I was right on that... no way could I not
recognize how the repeat content played out but atleast story wise it was surprisingly well written.
Forgot to mention this and you may have guessed it but the heroine
can be compared to Code:Realize's Cardia aka clueless at first but gets a grip
on the situation quickly and becomes badass esp in the true end.
  The only bad part may be the copypasta/repeat content, it was much
like Moujuutsukai to Ouji-sama but imo was less annoying maybe by the time I got to Yajur
so I can't complain except the part about Cradle's route but they were probably
were like y not both and just went with it, I don't even mind the whole all-saving
nanomachine-son trope, it works miracles yes but I don't think it was annoying.
9/10

Okay you know the drill by now, more ramblings and spoilers after the jump.
Just skip to the end of the post to avoid and see my fav route/chara with minimum spoils
because this game is best experienced without knowing what is going to happen.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oumagatoki ~Kakuriyo no Enishi~ - Review

 逢魔が刻 ~かくりよの縁~
Game: Oumagatoki ~Kakuriyo no Snoozefest~.

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel. 

Developer/Publisher: Extend.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://joqrextend.co.jp/extend/oumagatoki/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19140

Release date: 2016-08-25.

Otome game from a new developer, I was skeptic but tried it out anyway.

For playorder I used one an amazonJP reviewer recommended
and I recommend you to do the same, as Tokiwa's route is spoilerific and
doing him first would ruin the enjoyment in the long run.

Playorder:
Souta > Yoimiya > Hayate > Tsukishiro > Tokiwa > True end

Oh and I love the OP movie, Hosoyan singing is beautiful, I can't bring me to skip it ever.

Pro's
 - Interesting setting and characters.
- Insanely pretty art.
- Charming BGM.

Con's
- Heroine.
- pacing.
- Can get boring at times/TL;DR etc.
- Not every route is worth sitting through.

The first play is by far the longest due to common route also there are many choices.
Give or take 10 hours? 2nd+ play its cut down to about 6-7.
It's great they took their time introducing everyone and the setting
 but sadly the way they executed it made it so boring and only dragged it out
which reminds me of older games for example those of Quinrose.
I don't have a problem with long games in fact i'd take them over the short ones
but I can't help but critize the execution in this game because some parts were just boring to sit through especially the common stuff, it contributed nothing to the characters at all
all it was was some ghostbusting beavers or wtf those things were, oh well it could've been worse.

The heroine is very average though and I had trouble understanding her at times.
Sadly the guys don't say her default name, disappointing after all the other
otome games I've recently played which had this feature.

 Since it was so long they atleast knew each other longer I guess but pacing is another matter
and well if the romance was any good honestly depended on the route.

The system? you can't save when a choice is present so have to do it before or after.
Also the controls are different, used to ''camp menus''? this doesn't have it.
Press square and hold left dpad to save, right dpad to load and down dpad to skip.
Lotus system is okay I guess don't have problem with it also nice of them to use the vita touch screen for it.
Anyway I am thankful for the skip to the next choice feature especially so
because it such a really long game so it definitely needed that and another good point it doesn't skip
passed unread text! I wish more games had this feature and rejet sure could learn from extend for this alone.

One minus point is the screen dimming during auto mode, ah otomate how you've spoiled me!

Overall despite some of the boring parts of the story and pacing issues atleast two of the romanceable
characters were worth pursuing for me, those being Hayate and Tokiwa, the rest just weren't worth it.
All of them were combat capable but for the most part the writing didn't execute it well...
Good thing is no matter the character the confession scenes were oh so sweet.
In the end this game kind of reminds me of Quinrose games
 that suffered from stretched out scenes, TL;DR and way too many romanceable guys, lol.
Did I like this game? sure but its not without flaws, I'm just glad atleast two routes were worth doing.
Sadly I couldn't even begin to care about Souta and Yoimiya, it felt like they
just gave us them as options when they had no idea how to properly fit them into the story.
Atleast Tsukishiro made sense but then again his voice plus dull route just put me to sleep. -_-
Hayate was an adorable cinnamon roll and Tokiwa? he's just a tsundere dork, these
two along with the pretty art made Oumagatoki worth a purchase to me but
I am going to think twice before purchasing an Extend game again this was just average at best.
5.5/10

More ramblings and possible spoilers after the jump.