Majestic☆Majolical - review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Dazkarat.

Platform: PC/Switch.

Official Site: http://dazkarat.jp/majemajo_sw/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v21895

Release date: 22/12/2022.

 

This originally was a segmented release much like taisho x alice on PC

but they have made an all in one switch port which collects them.

It took them like four years but it happened, and i'm actually kind of glad they did!

I never heard from this developer before but I was still excited to try out their game

maybe cuz it reminds me of wand of fortune if only a little! and with not much

new otome game releases I was like why not? why should I not support this game?

Also for the switch version there is a new route; Jasper Beryl so they have definitely tried

to make it worth to pick up the port if you hadn't played it before cuz there's something new.. 

The protagonist Lapis is an apprentice magician who is tasked dealing with some troublesome

humans and collect gems for science! by getting close to them. Regardless she remains optimistic

and tries her best! she also had a little spunk. She wasn't useless and could definitely hold her own!

 Though the part of collecting gems reminded me a little of Clamp's Kobato as well

but other than that the two series are not similar at all, just the bottle part.

Pro's

- A confident heroine atleast I found her to be so.

- Interesting characters in each volume that contrast each other well.

- Mostly light-hearted, doesn't shy away from bad ends.

- Amazing art and backgrounds, Music fit the mood.

Con's

- A bit on the short side...

- Playing it blind can be difficult because of not knowing how much or little gems are needed.

- NTR ends but really there were only two I consider being such.

 

The art style looked really cute and the backgrounds seemed pretty well done too.

I really loved the fantasy setting! is that the right way to describe it? hmm if I had to look

at the world design it reminded me of europe but not very modern.

The voice cast of this game had a lot of popular seiyuu that I went like OMG its Kaji Yuuki!

or Shimono Hiro as some of them I haven't heard in quite a while.

*If one of your fav seiyuu is in this game it could be worth a spin*

The pacing was alright, this vn wasn't slowpaced that it took hours for anything to happen

and I am really glad for that as otomate's VN's tired me out lately.

Nothing seemed to drag on for too long while still delivering cute moments etc.

This with some exceptions kept it light and fun! At times it did feel like it went a little fast but...

they were going to school and interacting like every day, falling in love can happen like this so its

not totally unbelievable. Honestly I found it heartwarming to see Lapis and Mitsuki grow closer...

 This game is more romance oriented, which is great if you're tired of games where

the romance is but an after thought! or get to dating right at the end.

 

System; There are four different endings and as well as a sort of petting minigame

this is how the protagonist is able to get gems; how many gems you get determine the end.

Its not annoying; especially if you use a guide telling you how much to pet the bishie

it might get a bit more difficult if you don't use a guide but hey if you're stuck they exist!

Playing it blind could be fun too! honestly after a bunch of otomate games

that only had happy and good ends, I very well prefer otome games or VN in general

that like actually make it so my choices can change what happens.

MajeMajo is one of those VN where depending on your choices things

could turn out a little different!

 

I did encounter a bug at the end of Ruu's route that caused my game to lag and crash

but with force skipping I managed to get to the ending... not sure why but it seems

that there is an extra graphical effect that just slows down the game to an extend it can

no longer function. I play on a switch lite so cannot tell if it is present on the other model...

but if it is, just force skip the text or wait out a patch? if there is any.

 

I thought it was great was how the guys of the volumes are different in contrast to each other.

MajeMajo can look a bit deceiving though like if you see the cover of the game

and think oh this looks like it'll be dark full of toxic love interests then i'm here to tell you

a flat out no its not like that at all, most of the game outside of  Shiki or Ruu's route was fairly light.

All of the characters did have their own set of problems yet this game is no diabolik lovers

but even then if you like to live dangerously those two routes exist.

I loved all the cg's! they were gorgeous. The music is like, at its best it adds to the vibe

and at its worst its just there. One may think this game is short but hmm is that a bad thing?

I think if you're tired of games that are long winded or just seem to keep going MajeMajo is

actually kind of nice because you get all the same things just that it knows to not let it drag on.

The love interests are diverse and you'd probably find someone that catches your eye or

are totally like oh hell no! despite it being short it was still fun to me.

Things to keep in mind is that MajeMajo focuses more on romance than its overall plot!

Vol1&2 are very character specific and its not untill vol.3 that it tries to focus on story and lore.

The addition of the Jasper route makes its story more well-rounded than its original PC release

you may as well ask why they didn't include it to begin with since it further

added to the picture+his character . So I think this switch port is pretty good

in value despite that 1 bug I encountered which is actually pretty game-breaking.😥

9/10

*Edit: Without the Jasper route it would be a 7/10 so I guess that shows...*

An enjoyable otome game that I will most likely remember for having extremely cute and heartwarming scenes as well as some whackos(not all of the guys are like that I swear!).

I could recommend this game if you have a good grip on your japanese!

as sadly it isn't out in english at the moment but that might change.

Since this game was segmented by volume I will be going by release order so my play order

will be like: Mitsuki > Shiki  > Shinnosuke > Shoutaro > Shell > Ruu > Jasper.

You can't do volume 3 till atleast one route is complete, Jasper unlocks after Ruu

but it is recommended to do Ruu later due to him having the most story spoilers.

So well there you have it! there's not too much choice due to how it works!

More character rambles after the jump! there will be spoilers + my fav cg's.

 

Suuran Digit Review

数乱digit
Game: [Suran Digit].

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Otomate

Platform: PS Vita.

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

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18161

Release date: 2016-10-20

Suuran digit, its basically a modern wafuu(old japanese style) otome game.
School settings usually put me off but this seemed interesting enough to give it a shot.
Sadly I think not many are interested in it or better put they were but Collar x Malice
and Yuukyuu no Tierblade took all the hype so this otomege went under the rader
well its sorta good it did because it wasn't that amazing or anything
it could've been much better, sure heroine can fight but she's lazy as f**k
and she only really puts effort into it like twice or so.

As much as I love the OP for some reason the full version isn't as good to me, this
is totally normal that the full ver doesn't live up to the TV/Game version.

 For play order I recommend startng with Takagi, this is due to his pacifistic deadpan personality
which can make for a boring route because of his I won't fight or protect you for that matter, lol.
Also for the love of Kuro do Yuuhi's route last since his route has the most spoilers of all
so basically you'll end up with this going from least to most spoilers.
For Meguru its really best to do him ASAP to save what likeability is left in him... 
Takagi > Meguru > Keitarou > Mitsu > Ousuke > Yuuhi.

Pro's
Most if not all charcters was likeable.
- Diverse seiyuu cast(A few popular but not the usual bunch)
- Art and BGM.

Con's
- Short and not enough choices, tbh it feels like mobile game at times.
- Meguru, you are either gonna love or hate him...
- At first it doesn't feel like an otome game.
- copypasta

The prologue, chapter one and two is just the introduction.
Too bad there isn't a lot of choices... and not much happens in the prologue + chapter 1/2
to the point its a long prologue and you'll skip over it everytime since nothing new.
In chapter 3 you get to choose between the rich kids aka the student council
or the poor kids(lol not really) which are part of a club called Suuken.
The common route isn't that long and the routes aren't either, in the first few hours
suran digit doesn't feel like an otome game which is fine the only character that
actively pursues Hiroka is Ousuke but Hiroka will have none of his advances in other routes.
Other than that the system is nothing to write home about, standard VN stuff.

Each route takes about 5 hours to clear(give or take)
If you're fluent japanese and a fast reader maybe even shorter.

Sadly there is copy pasta, some general scenes during the route are almost identical to others
and in some parts exactly the same but the game classify it as new so haha no read skipping.
The best example is the sports festival but good thing is depending who you go for some things
are different like who's side you're on but still it can get annoying some share the same event.

I liked the heroine's personality in general and her lazing around. lol
Also she isn't afraid of picking fights with people! Too bad they made her so unstable
now we have a both cool and lazy heroine at the same time!
But... when I really think about it this is good because no one is perfect and one
who is confident/courageous should be allowed to be overwhelmed and show weakness
but yeah what is consistency! surely there was another way...

The CG scenes are pretty short, they're like how to put it? Fleeting moments.
This is fine with me but a little more dialogue would've been better.
The general scenes are also quick to the point, there isn't any TL;DR but its wasteful.

Overall I wouldn't say its a bad, sure you'll skip like 1/2 hours of common stuff
on 2nd+ play but thats bound to happen, some of the routes are less exciting than others
and speaking of romance in some routes there is not enough of it, the sweet scenes
are too short for me to appreciate them and the ending esp Takagi's makes me wish for more
and I am glad the short stories delivered for once but other than that meh, just the beginning.
As much as I like a diverse cast of characters and their interactions in the case of Suuran Digit its
really a curse rather than a blessing because the first half of the route is a drag in most route
 except all of the routes in the student council arc(Ousuke,Keitarou and Yuuhi)

6.5/10
Is my final verdict, its not outright terrible but it leaves much to be desired.
My personal experience made it a lot better than it may seem but its not that good.
The original score was higher but before the end of the year I decided to look over
 what I played and reduced it by two points because it really wasn't all that great
nor did it leave a memorable impression on me, imho you're better of spending
 your money on Collar x Malice or Yuukyuu no Tierblade if you haven't already
that's not to say Suuran is that bad but... yeah its just doesn't stand out much.

Stop reading hear if you do not want any spoilers, I still avoid mentioning the big topics
and you now my digest are shit and full of my own thoughts sometimes.