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. 

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

Trials of Mana - review

Genre:RPG.

Developer/publisher: Square Enix.

Platform: PS4,switch,PC,mobile.

Official Site: N/A

Release date: 2020-04-25.

 

This game is a remake, its apparently pretty faithful...

Gonna be honest here, I have never played a mana game but this

was a nice game to just casually play, it is linear  and little to worry

about missing anything except maybe the cactus thingies.

Most of them are easy to spot but there are a few easy to miss!

I wish I could be completely positive about my experience with this game but I can't.

Anyway...

I got into this while waiting for xenoblade 3 to come out... I decided to continue playing this

from the demo I tried a while ago, it was easy to pick up the pace and/or understand

what's going on plus when chara's mentioned this or that also please be warned

this game is fairly straight-forward in terms of plot, there's not a whole lot of talking

and its pretty on point nor does it ever drag itself out more than needed.

Sadly it seems this game has dropped tremendously in value, I bought it for 30$

and it is now even 20ish euros. After playing I can definitely see why... it is not long

so unless you really love action rpg's most people would give up cuz certain things.

 

Pro's

- A simple, yet traditional story with some replay value.

- Good music, the ability to switch to the original bgm is nice too.

- The ability to choose your protagonist and those who tag along.

- Most of the bosses are all unique and fun in design maybe a lil frustrating too.

 

Con's

- Over two hundred chests but most contents are healing or revive items....

- Class change items shouldn't be locked behind RNG, nor be able to get duplicates of.

^^(Maybe actually put nice things in treasure chests?)^^

- Terrible AI is terrible.

 

The quick and dirty  would be that this is something to look into if you want something traditional unfortunately this games pitfalls are the god awful AI, I think its even worse than ff15!

it also has a nice class system but I found it to be such a hassle when it came to the

second class changes which involves unknown item seeds... it is never guaranteed whether

you get a light or dark class item??? so unless you want to farm and put up with stupid RNG s

 you'll probably have to take what you can get. If you can get past all this it could be a fun game.

 

I am well aware that you can't always get what you want and I already sucked it up and rolled

with classes I didn't want, so I'd like to believe i'm mentally strong enough in that regard.

Anyway bullshit RNG is still bullshit RNG no matter how you slice it. Even worse

if it is determined from the moment you get the item from the chest. REEEEEE~

Anyways I adored the characters and even made a start to the second playthrough but it seems

aside from the prologue and personal motivations most will be the same, a guide said some

of the end game will be different so that is nice. Sadly the AI is horrendously bad

and I was frustrated at watching my team mates die over and over and over again

to the stupidest things. Good news though the only difficulty specific trophy you can

just switch to before the boss itself! so no need to suffer on hard the entire game unless

you want all the challenge! you can just play on normal till then.

 

Sometimes I wonder why I put up with BS like in this game... I must've been really bored

to plow through this game but hmm I guess what was nice was nice even if somethings weren't nice.

Hah... I don't think Chawlotte's UwU speech was ever a problem... IMO there were worse things.

I wouldn't be surprised if people gave up on this game... the beginning might seem

like this is gonna be super stress-free but the AI will end up testing you.

 

For what its worth a nice, fun game but it has noticeble setbacks!

I do want to play the other mana games someday, they do have its charm

but as you can see, you must be willing to get past some setbacks.

Now for all my screeching, another good thing is despite them recycling three bosses

the main game isn't any longer than it should be. If you're still up for more there is a post-game

scenario but I am not sure why they had to split it from the main game. Maybe because

due to the extra classes making MP no longer an issue thus breaking the game.

Anyway if I had to score it this game it might get an 6.7/10 from me which translates to

 well its fine really but could be a little better? it might be even better if you want

a game with not much talking cuz there really wasn't. At the end of the day this was a classic.

 

More rambles after the jump, its more or less just my own experience

with this game and some parts may be a little ranty.

 

Chouchou Jiken Rhapsodic - Review

 Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 

Developer/publisher: Otomate.

Platform: PS Vita.

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

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19851

Release date: 2017-11-30

I dunno why I bought this... I imported the first manga volume and was intrigued I guess.
Erena/Elena the protagonist seemed okay, there was a mystery vibe and the art is pretty
though the first promo art the protagonist looks like a freaking twig ready to snap. -_-
 I got the feeling I wouldn't like it that much so I bought the regular edition and I am glad.
Sydney's character trailer should've warned me but yet... I still bought.
PS: Some say they spoiled some stuff like Sydney in the promo image... but honestly speaking
if you don't know what the spoiler is you'd think he's some sort of fancy earl.

There are some difference from the manga like Erena for example... she is more typical otomate
heroine template which disappoint me because she appeared to have more personality in the manga.
 Don't want to say Erena was that bad since she had her moments in the game  where she managed
to shine if only a little. The rest flowed almost identically from what I had seen from the manga
dunno but in the manga it felt like Erena had more spirit, hopefully you get what I mean.
Part of me think the manga is supposed to be the main and this game just fanservice.(who knows)
for all we know this was supposed to be an interactive shojo manga... hench why
certain stuff is a bit all over the place and some routes especially the initial two
(Masanari and Haruka) can feel like filler compared to the locked ones.
If you care for the story then I'd say Ritomo is the true route of the game since everything
make sense but it all depends on preference, personally the guy is anything but likeable.

Play order:
 Masanari>Haruka>Sydney>Iori>Ritomo
The last three route are locked... I do know that doing Masanari unlocks Sydney.
doing both Haruka and Masanari get you Iori's route which in turn unlocks Ritomo.
So you could do Sydney second but I don't think that's a good idea... just do the 

initial routes first aka Masanari and Haruka and the rest will be natural to get to the truth.

Pro's
-  Just doing one route won't get you to the truth.
- Pretty art, well portraits look nice but CG's vary.
- Charming cast, atleast I found some of them to be 'charming'.
- MURASE AYUMU's stellar performance.

Con's.
- It can get a bit draggy at times and two routes are essentially filler.
- This womans blooood uwaaaagh, zombies overall writing may leave to be desired etc. >_>
- Protag/heroine was too ala otomate.
- You can't skip the credits, yep its 2k18 and yet they couldn't implement such a feature.
(There's no movie view feature either...)

The common route is basically a giant introduction too long for its own good each
chapter sort of introduced a character, chapters are not long but combined? they are.
Certain stuff will never change even if events play out slightly different
part of this is normal atleast there's something interesting to find out in the actual routes.
As for length its average, not too long not too short but the problem lies that its rather dreary.
There are two endings bad/good but its not very exciting since its just the typical two-choice system
where the correct choice raises affection which in turn lead you to best end, no guide needed!
Art is pretty, the music is so-so... bgm was awful in the long run definitely not worthy
to buy an OST of this.The OP/ED I can say these are fine but it not my thing.
I heard people say the lipsync is awful but honestly its OK most of the time it
looks awkward in some way so I tend to prefer no movement all together.
Characters seem interesting so there was drive to do the non locked routes to get
to the more interesting ones but uh TBH in the long run most of the story wasn't very interesting
since nothing makes any sense till the last two routes and even then... /shrug.

To get the platinum trophy you have to save the lines the characters say this is something
daisy2's games have had in the past, here's 60 slots but you only need a couple
to make a playlist and get the two remaining trophies.
In fact you can just spam the same line into all three playlist for the trophy.............
OTOMATE WTF ARE YOU HIGH? this isn't funny since there's not much
I'd classify as note worthy, if it had lots of comedy then yes but this is a waste
there's other games like for example Ninkoi that deserve this feature yet do not have it. -_-
Not saying there aren't any memorable lines but IMO... not enough to warrant this feature.

Let me try to keep it short...
Takes place in the early Showa period, shortly after WWII with some russian agenda mixed in.
So our heroine Erena is the unfortunate orphan who enjoyed a quiet life ever since an incident
in which her parents passed on from, she enrolls at this fancy school in the big city
after a sudden invitation and one day runs into these vampire zombie folks who want to devour her.
I kid you not I cannot even put it any other way,  for mystery driven chouchou jiken is decent
but it was too draggy and took forever to get somewhere. I feel this was meant to be a manga
 from the beginning like I already mention it but Erena is typical otome protag
aka meek and very otomate, I did had drive to figure out WTF was going on but my
first route didn't get very far nor did it make the guy feel relevant and it sucks if the dude
whom's route your on doesn't strike your interest at all.(like for me Masanari)
I think forced play orders are still good though but I think it is better to do Haruka first
since it felt like he was a whole lot more relevant and interesting than angry navy boy.
 Moving on...
The protag is 15 years old yet... most of her suitors are almost 10 years older, for the 

time period its ok but it is a little creepy. The plot only makes sense in the last 2/3 routes
This game seemed like a good mystery otome game that might be a little trashy
but it wasn't all that, it suffered from a rather cliche/over used protag has magical blood plot
which makes her wanted, the trashy bit never really gets that far, there's a somewhat decently writen
plot behind it all but you must have a pretty good attention span to get it, lots of TL;DR
 Well I wouldn't say its a kusoge downright since it had nice build up...
even then some stuff might not even add up to historic facts, partly that's fine but its not all
that great to get a load of bull, if you know your history of the period don't expect much.
In all honestly to me early on most of the plot was dull and only interesting if you like to have a
mouse nibble at ur toes like some characters could make it better which for me which
are Haruka and Sydney but that's it, Masanari's route was total filler and the plot
only picked up in Iori and Ritomo's route, Sydney? I like the guy but the route was still eh.

Most of the endings also gave me the is that it feeling like there could be more or better way
to end yet still... looking at you Iori suuuure let's go to sovjet together to look for more clues :eyeroll:
Especially with bad ends sometimes they tried too hard to make something of it

like bad fanfic I think Haruka's bad end is exactly that lmao.
While doing route no.2 so much flew by me that I just gave up all expectations...
 each route was unique enough though but sadly the last unlockable route aka Ritomo
makes you sit through the whole game from scratch unable to skip common scenes
just for a bunch of new flashback scenes in between old scenes. I'm like come on otomate?
It is so very fun to sit through it all just for a few scene here and there, also yes I did force skip it. -_-
Personally Haruka and Sydney's route are most enjoyable but tbh it might just depend on taste...
 whichever character you like the most will depend on personal preference.

5/10
''Chouchou Jiken seemed like it would be a decent mystery otome game but it
turned out to be hilariously average, its not a kusoge but its not exactly that good either.''

Shinobi, Koi Utsutsu Kanmitsu hana emaki - Review

 

忍び、恋うつつ ― 甘蜜花絵巻 ―
Game: [Ninkoi FD]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Otomate.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.otomate.jp/nin_koi/kanmitsu/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19847

Release date: 2017-9-28

Yep... its time for another fandisk but in all honestly I don't consider myself being that
much of a ninkoi fan anymore and sincerly questioned why I even bothered.😅
 Like I expected more fanservice but got an actual story about them maturing...

I tried not to be too negative and my final score reflects this, this FD is just fine for what it is.

I had mostly a great time with the original but I am sort of eh at coming back to it after so long...
because after like a month or two I wrote off its vita port as a one off game.
The original was far from perfect as well like it having copypasta problems with Takaie all being like you got no chance make your time! and their being meromero shenanigans with Kaede
slowly falling for her partner of her choice said partners all following a trope too.
I still liked it because of it was brainless fun stuff...
Honestly speaking this FD feels more like a sequel there's fanservice but honestly I found the
graduation story for everyone lacklustre some nice moments here and there but it wasn't worth it
overall. Well I shouldn't complain atleast it got a FD right? i'll just do a general review like the original.

Pro's
- Everyones getting married... yeehaw.
- More shinobi action if thats your thang, (honestly in a FD I do not want this).
- Music, its nothing memorable but it fits the scene most of the time.

Con's
 Art, its still gorgeous but there's a noticeable difference... did the original artist really work on this?
- This is subjective but the overall writing, fluff, comedy all could've been better, overall its meh.
- Too many characters... basically only do your favorite(s).

Most of my rage/discomfort comes from the facts that originally Ninkoi is a very fanservicey game
with the plot sort of just being there, with the FD I expected more fanservice but got
more plot instead to the point this doesn't classify as a FD but a sequel instead.
They did it backwards usually its story centric game > fluffy FD afterwards...
At this point I just feel Ninkoi was one of those one time experiences there was little need
for more but we got it anyway albeit a bit too late for some.

Regarding the OP theme... its okay but I don't like it that much and they should've
 gotten the old singer back. I got nothing against Hisano but her voice just does not fit
with the background music, I liked her work for shirotokuro but here? not really.

The theme of this installment is graduation... honestly speaking I barely remember

much about the original cept some small details and I did not replay it either
because other games have been taking up my time and honestly I didn't find a reason.

Not that plot was ninkoi's strong point yes it has one, the original story(psp) all seemed
 like a light-hearted fluffy otome game to me never taking itself too seriously.

Length? about the same as the original we got fanservice and ''plot'' both of which are
fine but compared to say KBO FD the times I really laughed out loud could be count on a single
hand. The plot varies depending on character but I didn't find the writing to be exciting
because redundancy re: exams/graduating and marriage, its good to see them mature
but I expected more fanservice and was let down.
Disclaimer: no not everything is the same, every guy has their own story
of maturing/problems etc its just some stuff gets predictable to me.
System wise its just select after story... standard VN stuff if you do well in that
mero-mero practice thingy you unlock bonus stories for one of them I am annoyed
because one of them is a flashback scenario which would be better before their after stories.
The shenanigans is why I liked ninkoi to begin with but ever since setsugekka koi emaki
it feels like otomate is trying to make this series take itself more seriously like expand
on the setting in detail but stuff I came here for like fanservice felt dry and/or watered down
compared to the original which is just such a shame.
I expected a fandisc but got a sequel with more plot/lore instead of fanservice.
That aside everyone gets marriage ends! wow thanks no not really, suddenly I appreciate
it when only one or two/three characters gets one, I guess I first realized
this with Geten no Hana but happy endings come in all sorts of variations like marriage
would be icing on the cake sure but when there's 10 characters some difference in the end would be nice.
Sometimes I was just like they're just gonna get married in the end... maybe its better to skip lol. 
It is sad if your fav doesn't get one but isn't it nicer to fantasize a little...?

I think each after story is about 3-5 hours, most of which is spend with them graduating
and working together on a mission, marrying and sexy times(maybe).
Every character basically still has their charm and the comedy's decent
but I feel that's lacking overall it may still be nice to wrap things up though.😅
Its funny there's indeed a story to ninkoi but here I am... drawn to the humor, shameless stuff
and the colorful cast of characters, I don't think the core story is bad I just never expected
otomate to get serious about setting and stuff with setsugekka koi emaki's additional ninjas.
 I mostly did one after story a day for some such as Ukita or Tadehito it took me two days
because simple put I lost motivation and they were a drag in general.
Had there never been a FD err I mean sequel I probably wouldn't have cared... I feel like the past
one and a half week have mostly been an exquisite waste of time except for a few characters.
Going to add this right here and I feel its going to be my trademark line for everything 
otome now its impossible to like every character especially in a character game like this.
Sooo I came here for a fandisk with fluff not a sequel with more plot, its like otomate doesn't know
the difference and whatever plot there was felt stretched out to me, completely uninteresting like
I couldn't even keep focused and just let it auto play and I still understood it if I zoned out.
Of course there's a few nice moments but yeah that's it almost not worth to write about.
 Atleast Garaiya's as adorable and chuuni as ever even outside of his own after story. =w=
 Sadly the seal on Kaede's jutsu breaking was just an excuse to give us this poor excuse of a FD... haha round two? why not! except this time with actual character development.
This is why I can still rate it a 6 out of 10 because even if not what I come here for THEY TRIED.

Depending on how much of a ninkoi fan you are... you may enjoy this or you may not
if you're like me and its been too long its better to pass on it, its hard to write
my thoughts on this, the content in this FD(sequel) is just okay I enjoyed what I could, the end.
6/10
Its fine... might have been better if it came out sooner rather than later.

 More ramblings after the jump.

Tsumikui ~Sen no Noroi, Sen no Inori~ for V - Review

罪喰い ~千の呪い、千の祈り~
 Game: [Tsumikui ~Thousand curses, thousand prayers~.]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher:Operetta, Dramatic Create.

Platform: PC, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://dramaticcreate.com/tumikui/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18295

Release date: 2017-06-29

Since I already played the demo I skipped to the point where demo ended, no point

in sitting through the prologue again which only was relevant 
for the sake of explaining how/why to begin with.

I think the way I wrote my review really reflects how this game tried to tell its story... lmao.
My general opinion of tsumikui is mostly the same as others... meaning its a mediocre
long winded game that has the potential to be so much better but it has too many short comings.
Look I played/read many vn's this year but this probably takes the cake for being long winded
to the point I often took breaks 4~ hours a day may have been all I could take! add that some routes
took 5/6 days and sub routes 2 at most, been stuck on this for two weeks or so, 4 hours
is a fair amount of time but sometimes when I wanted to progress further i lost the energy.
This in general was so difficult to write a review of... I feel like I spend more time
writing my dislikes than being positive, there may not have been much I liked cept Shiou or Ren.
Maybe its cuz its Operetta or maybe its me... but its probably me lol buut could be the developers.
Despite the demo hitting my interest I shot myself in the foot by purchasing the full thing
because I knew about the monologues and TL;DR , I knew...

Story is about some stuff happening 1000 years ago and a curse been running till now.
The same people from back then get reincarnated, they have to deal with remembering the past
 which wasn't pretty, Kaoru was lucky to have lived a fairly normal life for 15/16 years though.
Thanks Tsukasa...
Kaoru has to kill 1000 criminals to undo the curse or else she'll die, at first some parts may not be
easy to understand but the further you get the more you'll know but honestly it tends to drag itself
out with wordy narration that goes on and on.. then suddenly I find myself looking away
after I pressed auto mode since its way longer than it should've been, poor execution? maybe.
Its the writers job to keep it interesting not bore people with unnecessary junk text. That aside
there's a lot of  talk about past self, morality and also angst, how can Kaoru find love while
having to deal with all this? don't forget the teenage hormones that run amock!
Well atleast the first route I did aka Shiou's handled this surprisingly well
but honestly Touji's was better in certain aspects even tho he's an oyaji. >_>;
Complaints aside the story is good but yeah... I just didn't enjoy sitting through TL;DR monologues.

Pro's
- Interesting story that makes you want to finish it all the way even tho its meh at times.
- Art, obviously looks great- CG's move and multiple sprites.
- Voiced heroine, if you don't like it you can turn it off.

Con's
- Long and draggy.
- Music, fitting bgm in most scenes but others are average, also tracks wouldn't loop
and certain sub character voice(such as man A) are loud...
- TL;DR, they love being detailed and narration should've been toned down as it too wordy.
- The slice of life scenes made this to much like a shoujo manga...
- The battle scenes are boring due to text dumps ruining suspense of it all.

If you hadn't guessed this is a story centered otome game if you're looking for short, fun or to the
point otomege look elsewhere, I only ended up getting this because certain aspects intrigued me 
look its not bad it just gets a tad draggy and I don't got problem with monologues but I do when it is
used to further delay the story at hand that's just poor execution if you the reader
 get bored and just space out from it all and/or close the game as a result.
The heroine is a bit too accepting of certain matters but yeah what would you do if you are
told you'd die if you don't consume a 1000 criminals other than that she's mostly great?
Kaoru will speak her mind and wouldn't mind rushing the opposite way to save a friend.
Sadly she's inconsistent re:romance she says she's not interested then later she's uh I may like him also she's not exactly ''strong'' just willing but she can't do much either. So just a typical girl!
I guess feelings can change but in some routes it was irritating imo.
Scenes are still long and ruin otherwise excellent action scenes with monologues
basically they love to *record scratch* *freeze frame* while shit is happening
delaying the actual action and ruining the scene with pointless narration/monologue. x_x
I guess you can go figure why I dropped quinrose after two games.
Uh so let's mention that while I liked that Kaoru had a female classmate to talk too
but some part just weren't interesting, in most SOL scenes I was like move on please?
They have this grand plotline but deal with it so casually half the time I am just like lol ok.
Take that as you will but I am done mentioning this, I think early on Tsumikui
has a typical shoujo manga feel where not much happens except they made it into an otome
in which you can go after another guy that isn't the main interest which is obviously Ren.

System's easy enough and not worth mentioning except you can rewind read text making
backlog jump useless, there's skip to the next unread too so yay this is surprisingly comfy!
Sadly they don't turn affection meter off for locked routes... just don't try to go for Souta
Kagerou or Ren when you can't or you'll be disappointed if you hit a roadblock.

In short... *non spoiler*

Me trying to write out my thoughts on this game.

From the demo I figured this would be a mixed bag of all things and it sorta was but not
particularly bad also I wouldn't say it was a kusoge even though at times it gets awfully close.
Tsumikui is a somewhat enjoyable otome with a decent story at the core, its fun to find out its story
which is carefully told to you in an enforced play order which was recommended by the creators.

The themes it covers made me a little uncomfortable at times, angst, hate, morality and more
like I said there's little time for fluff but that doesn't mean there is no sweet romance scenes
its just poorly paced. Honestly speaking it doesn't really stand out that much in what it tried to do
but that doesn't matter it still managed to be decent just a lot of things just could be done better
Tsumikui is an example of being too story-driven and not being able to make it all interesting
or better put make the most of its themes.
Fun character interaction? BARELY, boring internal monologues? YEP.
I partly liked how sometimes they make you think this character isn't important and then a route
later he gets his spotlight... outside of that chara such as Tsukasa despite them being great
are just there, like he's interesting but they just never use his character properly. 😢
 I am also surprised this wasn't an R18 in the PC ver because then things could get randy...
also a little scary but its fine the way it is I don't need them to put disgusting shit in badends.
Also while the CG's were beautiful they're spread out poorly in some part I wish there was one
yet nothing then suddenly near the end of the route a nice spread of them in a row. 😮
Not everyone gets the same amount either, my bae Shiou got the most.
Either way with each route I played I wanted to press on as each one I did hinted something
that's covered in the next thus somehow making it enjoyable to unravel each characters mysteries
there was almost no route that was wasteful each character played did play a part but whether or not
it was worth it in the end... saa some routes just weren't well rounded enough. coughmorihitocough

If you want a meaty otomege I'd sooner recommend Ken ga Kimi than this game atleast
its more carefully crafted and the common route actually had a point.
Here? only a few route felt truly well rounded such as Shiou not to mention, Morihito gets screwed
over in more ways than one and honestly had the worst route of all. I never liked him because
he was annoying and only truly stops his Sera obsession in his own in predicable manner no less. -_-
Well that ends my non-spoiler section, I honestly can't give it any higher than a 6/10
and I agree with a lot of other reviews on certain facts and  that Tsumikui isn't that great.
Definitely do not recommend unless you love Operetta's works or something and can stand
huge chunks of text monologues... going on forever and ever detailing stuff
purely to make it drag out which makes an otherwise short vn much longer than need be.

So now you ask is the vita port worth it if I played the PC ver?
Well did you really like the original and the characters, especially Kagerou.
Personally I do not think its worth 6000 yen for the exact same thing with just a bunch of 
after stories  that aren't that long to begin with and a semi-new route unless 
you really like any sort of new content for a particular vn you liked.
If you haven't played PC ver and have a vita then yes go for it if you like longer otome games
I can't gaurantee you will like it but who knows! your opinion could differ
but if you never cared for Kagerou or didn't like it that much give it a definite pass. 

Playorder: 
(This order was recommended by the writer and makes sense, Ren is locked till last so no choice).
Shiou > Touji > Kagerou > Morihito > Souta > Ren.
Kagerou finishes off the Kuga arc and Ren the concludes the whole past arc.
This probably the one and only order you can even take there's really 
not much room to order it the way you want.

Character rambles after the jump...
There be spoilers, minor or major below so tread carefully but there won't be any summaries
 as this game is too wordy I doubt anyone will ever do it... its just too much really.

Tsumikui ~Sen no Noroi, Sen no Inori~ for V - Demo Review

Game: [Tsumikui]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher:Operetta, Dramatic Create.

Platform: PC, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://dramaticcreate.com/tumikui/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18295

Release date: 2017-06-29

Well time for another demo because its still a while before the games I am interested
 actually come out and me is bored... so let's try this and well it wasn't so bad at all.

The theme of Tsumikui is sin and reincarnation... and naturally

I was more interested in the past than the present.

Kaoru is a cute heroine but her past self way back in the heian-like period did something 

terrible and its come to haunt her in 20XX aka present time.

Kaoru is quite like a typical shoujo manga heroine... the daily life parts are nice

but honestly they are surprisingly draggy and TL;DR as the game did not pick up untill 
like an hour of highschool chitchat that barely had any importance to the plot except some moment
halfway through when bad people get brought up and Kaoru almost has a heart attack.
Atleast Souta was cute and I get they did it to show that Kaoru's life 
is not going to be the same but it could've been shorter?

It seems that this game mixed some things I like and things I do not like

and executes it in such a way that early on I was basically meh half of the time
but I admit when things picked up it did get better, even if Ren was a little
abrupt in that one scene, he did eventually explain what was going on
and eventually Kaoru is like please help me get out of this mess and well 
Ren is more than happy to help her cannabalize the souls of 1000 criminals
to undo a curse thats been running for generations, if she doesn't do this she'll die.

Of course its not going to go smoothly but that is expected, Kaoru's normal life is shattered
after finding out she's the reincarnation of Sera-hime and she's now being led 
on a cursed path she may or may not find happiness on.
Even then Kaoru needs a little time... because killing people even if they did bad things
doesn't feel right to an average highschool girl like herself but Kaoru is no doormat
she just needed some time to take it all in and is willing to fight for her life.

Either way the demo is of fairly decent length, you'll get to see all of the main guys
but early on you're only spending time with Ren plus they have the nerf to cockblock 
Ren's route behind SIX other guys! sweet mother of Operetta why you do this?!

Pro's

- Interesting story.

- Voiced heroine, her voice is ok, if you don't like it you can turn it off.

- Art, there's moving CG's too.
- Music, fits most of the scenes.

Con's.
- Pacing, TL;DR.

- Two main characters are completely ignored and treated like side characters.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri - Review

剣が君を守る

Game: [Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri]

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Rejet.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: http://rejetweb.jp/kengakimi/momoyo/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v18944

Release date: 2016-12-22

Sometimes a FD you didn't ask for is better than no FD at all.
Yes that's how I original felt when Ken ga Kimi Momoyo Tsuzuri was announced.
 KgK may not have needed a FD per se, the vita port additions were perfect but I guess
 that port sold well enough for rejet to give this game as a thank you for supporting. :)
I can say this game was worth my money thats for sure, Rejet mostly used
their budget correctly and otomate could learn a thing or two from this!

  That aside I loved the original, the vita port of KgK may not have been the best
but its definitely the definite version because of added scenes with cg's
and after stories not in the original PC version, however I can't really recommend KgK
to anyone but people with a decent grasp of the language because there is a lot of kanji
If you just started learning you aren't gonna be able to understand it much.
So I can only recommend if you have a high lvl understanding of japanese
and like old timey wafuu settings plus do not mind a slow and long visual novel.
I guess fans of hakuouki or similair otomege could enjoy Ken ga Kimi as well, because samurai boys.

Pro's
- Fills in some gaps in story the original game couldn't explain.
- Art/music.
- Seiyuu did an amazing job.
 - Lengthy compared to the average FD, it will last a while.

Con's
- Not every side story was as interesting as another was.
- Long winded.
 -  101 CG's yet no actual Kiss CG's. (눈_눈)

Like the original, Rejet still has this little fortune thing when you boot up the game and you can also
get side characters this time which sadly makes it even harder to see the character you like the most.

*Whale sound*

In short KgK Momoyo Tsuzuri is basically a collection of side stories, book 1 takes place right after
the common route when the boys have parted with Kayo and are on their way back to edo from Sunpu.
Book 2 and 3 both takes place some time before the gozenjiai(sword competition).
Those two are basically AU's side stories and doesn't really fit into the canon that well.
The individual scenario books for each character are great, some even go further
into certain matters of the original like for example Kei's and Enishi's first chapter.
Each chapter takes roughly one hour to complete give or take depening on your own reading speed.

You also collect bills during the first three books by viewing scenes
from the guys POV they unlock omakes which are really cute.

There is no recommended order for the FD but I feel like its best to start with Book 1 then 2 and
finally 3 since even if AU, its a common story and it just makes more sense this way.
After that feel free to jump into the individual books and from personal experience
its best to do Enishi's book before Saneaki's and Suzukake's before Tsuzuramaru.

Honestly I can't really recommend this FD if you don't want to go deeper into the world of KgK
or didn't like every character since it will take up a lot of time to read everything.
If you do want that then by all means please do because it is worth the investment
but still I have to say the sheer content of this FD is really overwhelming.

Personally Kgk momoyo Tsuzuri gets an 8.5/10 from me, its a great FD but part of me
feels like some of it wasn't really necessary and there are a few forgettable side stories.
Taking in the annoyance of not being able to access the menu where you select the books
you want to read from the main menu is also reflected in the score there's a quick workaround though.
Not everything stood out to me but honestly over half of it did, after playing this
I really understand every character that much better so yes it was a worthwhile investment.

There's more thought at the bottom of the post but in short i'm mostly positive and I recommend
this FD to any Ken ga Kimi fan who doesn't mind investing time into every character's story.
Rating

Plot  ★★★☆☆3.5 (Writing of some side stories varies some are better than others)
Overall enjoyment ★★★★★ (TL;DR a FD with content that is more than I ever ask for)

Zettai Meikyuu Himitsu no Oyayubi-hime - Review

Minor spoiler warning just incase~~

絶対迷宮 秘密のおやゆび姫

Game: [Zettai Meikyuu Himitsu no Oyayubi-hime]

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Karin entertainment.

Platform:  PS Vita.

Official Site: https://oyayubi.labyrinth-of.net/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v15248

Release date: 2015-07-30

Oyayubi hime is my first Karin game and its apparently well received in japan, however
i've also read that the overall story was a mess, well now that doesn't bode well does it?
Anyway I am glad I got this game out of the way...

TL;DR
6/10
I liked this game as it was still decent but it had some issues...

Pro's
- Interesting setting and story for being a fairytail adaption.
 - Most of the characters are likeable.
 - Art and BGM.
 Lune,Svia and Esheru's routes are great and original.
- Not one but two yuri routes.
- Lune had the best route, his route balanced the plot and romance so well.
(Tsubame/Kuro kishi comes pretty close but eh...)
- Unique seiyuu cast.

Con's
- Doesn't feel like an otome game, IMHO only Lune and Tsubame/Kuro kishi routes did it right.
Like the otome bits came in too late, there was like almost zero development in the common route.
- The romance and plot in most of the routes is poorly balanced.
- The story has issues, mostly cuz of Freya.
- Long common route.
 - Only Lune,Svia and Esheru's routes are original, the rest of the route overlap with each other.
- Lupian's route was too short... I felt nothing yo! nothing but sadness he got the short end of the stick.
- Miracle Flower Power Magical Girl Freya saves the day in too many routes*.
*(Sirius,Lars, Lupian,Albireo, Tsubame/Kuro kishi and Nude king routes).*
 - Why does Truce not have a route?
- This otomege might only stand out if you haven't played that many yet.