Showing posts with label Tamaru Atsushi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tamaru Atsushi. Show all posts

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Sullyland ~Nursery Rhyme~ - Review

/δΊΊ◕ ‿‿ ◕δΊΊ\
 Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site:https://www.otomate.jp/sullyland/
Release date: 1-10-26.
 
I guess we're playing mystery otome games now... well atleast with this game
I could sorta set my expectations due to the game covers. But NGL the QB bothered me.
Sullyland Nursery Rhyme seems like its a perfect pick if you enjoy getting seasonal!
 
Disclaimer: This is purely my own opinion and it could be different from yours
this is not meant to be some kind of all-truth, just an opinion that came from playing this.
If you don't like what you're reading then close the tab, move on and just idk play it yourself.
 
Pro's
- Interesting story and vibe that will keep you on edge. 
- Great group dynamic and character writing.
- Great art and fitting music.
 
Grey area
- Oldschool common route. Rather long. Repetitive structure.
- Contains sensitive contents, the severity may vary depending on the route.
 
Con's
- There was no need for that sheep movie more than once.
- Could be too SoL-ish if you expect more spooky stuff. 

 
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Art; its Miko, they did an excellent job as always. What's there to complain?
The after story CG's did look a bit... different but it was a cute style.
 Seiyuu cast is a mix of familiar voices and some new ones!
no one was an absolute fav but its always nice hearing IshiKai.
BGM was mostly pretty good, it had a few good jams and it suited the setting. 
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Sullyland is a mystery otome game with an eerie vibe but it was surprisingly sweet.
Ninomae Joe's the assistant director, the main one seems pretty new.
Basic plot: Prepare for the festival and hang with your friends by day
and be forced to play unsettling games at night, courtesy of a QB.
In doing so everyone reclaims or faces? their memories.
 Most routes focus on the LI's problem without the games, there are signs of a greater whole
but much like other otome games this isn't really touched upon till the final route(s). 
 
Heroine; Amane  is pretty decent, thoughtful and speaks her mind.
I can't see much wrong with her. She carries or navigates herself thru situations very well.
Her past however seems to be buried and after the initial two routes you can see
some truths slowly start to leak out but none of it made sense yet. (But why tho?) 
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System: It has some point and click minigames but other than that its mostly a straight-forward VN. 
While the ones in the common route can be a hassle, the ones during the routes
were mostly simple stuff where you examine objects in the room.
If there's any minigame I liked in particular it would be the escape room
and the one in chapter 4 of Ryokuha's route, that was nicely done.
It felt a bit experimental and they could have definitely done more with it.
There's a normal and a easy mode with hints. As well as ''scenario'' which skips it...
I didn't have any issues with it but I understand why some people
may not want to bother so its a good thing there is a scenario mode.
While the common route has fail ends this game has not many random bad ends. 
Each character has three endings Catharsis, Lunatic and nightmare with the latter two
being considered bad outcomes. Ryokuha is an exception and has no nightmare ending. 
 
The language difficulty is definitely intermediate, there were moments
you had to input japanese text to answer things. It should be accessible to learners. 
 
Sullyland is a long game, it took me 55-60 hours to clear all routes.
 A mystery doesn't need to be long but I did enjoy spending more time
with everyone and this was more descriptive than MiraMys ever was.
Common route took me 8ish hours maybe? that was done across two days
and I play casually with breaks, I didn't lose sleep over this.
 The routes were about 8-9 hours as well. Fast readers finish quicker of course
but it felt it had the same volume as Crazy Chain.
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  Overall it is interesting but... it may not be for everyone
particularly those who are looking for edge over sweetness.
That aside I still think it is a good pick for if you're in the mood for
something with a highschool setting that has an eerie vibe. 
Ninomae Joe may have rediscovered his childhood friends phase...
can't be a coincidence both his recent games have an entire cast of them.πŸ’€ 
It has this small town in its setting where its not unusual people
just knew eachother. I did think its a bit convenient.πŸ˜… 
The early hours felt like a class reunion of a bunch of people who hadn't gotten
together in a while. I didn't feel a particular strong attraction to most except Tera or Shiima.
Most LI's really seem normal... and then there is Neo.  
Neo's the only one that really made me think yea how about no. πŸ˜”
This was definitely a game with some stakes, if they didn't participate
in Shiro's game(s) and gather the memory pieces things looked pretty grim
but not all of it was that edgy. Shiro's games got on my nerves tho.πŸ˜“
The lunatic or nightmare ends felt like classic stuff as far as yandere goes.
Some LI's weren't that much of a yandere which for me is a relief, as the trope is repetitive. 
It felt like they decided to combine fact and dark from over requiemz into
one thing with the catharsis ending being the best outcome.
Sullyland's full potential isn't seen till you get to Shiima and Ryokuha's route.  
Imma be blunt: The common route was rather oldschool, there was a pattern.
 It did add quality time between MC and the characters, there was foreshadowing for
their route.  Its Reminiscent of Enchante's common route due to pace and length.
Parts of the past become more clear as it went on, an interesting ride to say the least.
The first time they got a crystal back I was like, that's cute but this can't be all right.
Ofc it wasn't. Due to the pattern I got tired and at times tuned out. Nothing a break can fix.
Most of the times I tuned out were during slow investigation scenes. 
I am glad its more descriptive so it doesn't feel like its over in the blink of an eye.
I actually got to see most of what I wanted as well as some shit without
wondering if it could have gone differently, its a well-rounded work!
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I will say I did think Sullyland would be edgier but it felt rather normal. 
Those hoping for edge, it is definitely there but it takes time to cook, the entire route.
 I mean there's definitely horrific details in here but they will be revealed at the right time.♥ 
Felt it was intended like I definitely fell for Tera over the course of my first play
and I would forgive any sins that could happen. πŸ˜… Tera's route did feel weak in terms
of overall plot  but its backed up by his development that I was reminded of Riku from OlySoi.
Kiseki was a surprise for me, I didn't think I'd even like him and his route fit in better thematically
unfortunately I could not enjoy Kiseki's bad ends as I lack the chain fetish for it.πŸ˜”
My feelings for Neo can barely be put into written form, its like math lady.gif 
Shiima rose to best boy status faster than a rocket could launch.♥ 
Ryo is great but... his route was a bit difficult, I loved his catharsis ending tho.
My fav's are 10/10's but overall the game fell into an 8.7/10. 
My complaints range from there being too much of a pattern and repetition
but eh the vibes, general narrative & individual struggles were still strong.
I'd say this was as enjoyable as TengoStray, atleast for me. both games
got the same issue of saving a lot of the important narrative for later.
    Sullyland is an otome game before anything else, it does have edge and
eerie vibes but tbh If you come here for only horror you may be disappointed. 
It leans more into psycho horror. 
Feels like I rambled enough already but it was a long game... so allowed. 
- 
Therefore I recommend Sullyland to those who like a well-cooked
character driven mystery with a good dose of sweetness!
It may not be for you if you prefer shorter to the point stories.
 
 ----
Sullyland will likely be localized, I see no reason why it can't and next
to crazy chain i'd say there's not much competition besides unlogical maybe.
There aren't much contents to worry about but there are definitely some horrors to uncover.
If it isn't its likely due some contents in the lunatic/nightmare ends but other than that... why not?!
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Recommended route order:
Tera / Kiseki > Neo > Shiima > Ryokuha.
This game has a highly restrictive order and only has Tera and Kiseki initially available.
Its okay to interchange Tera and Kiseki as you like since the rest is so forced as it is.
 
Kiseki: Fits the overall theme better than Tera, keeps the eerie feel throughout.
Tera: Slowburn and softer route mostly focused on his personal problems.
Neo: Unlocks after Kiseki and Tera.
Shiima: Unlocks from Neo.
Ryokuha: Needs Shiima so there's no choice here but last.
 
My play order: Tera > Kiseki > Neo > Shiima > Ryo. 
 
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Character rambles + some of my fav CG's after the jump so if you don't
want spoilers of any kind then stop reading here, thanks.
Its just incoherent grandma rambles and it gets worse the more routes I do. πŸ’€
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Monday, December 28, 2020

Himehibi Another Princess Days ~White or Black~ - Review

 
Genre: Otome/VN.
Developer/publisher: Takuyo.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: http://www.takuyo.co.jp/products/himehibi_wb/index.html
Release date: 10/12/20.
 
Good old Takuyo is still around and released a new entry in the hime hibi series!
of which I have only played the first entry, I did buy the second one but never
played actualy managed to make time for it.πŸ˜… I did pass on their other new game
Hanasaku and maybe i'm glad I did as reviews weren't exactly doing it any favors.
 Who is Takuyo? that's a long story but they've been around for a long time.
Enough about that and more about Himehibi 3! which in terms of being of an otome game
was a little more simple than the other Takuyo game I recently played!
 
Pro's
- Mostly light-hearted but there seemed to be more to it all but not too deep.
- Pretty art, love the soft colours! most of the backgrounds are nice to look at as well.
 
Grey area
- Music manages to fit the mood most of the time but its nothing special.
 
Con's
- Kinda on the short side, but on the flip side it knows where to end.
- Not all route are well-rounded better not come her for a deep plot.
 - They should have used a different ending theme for the black lily route, too upbeat.πŸ˜“
 
The OP is decent I guess, catchy enough.

Kisakino Emi is invited to enrolls at sumeragi gakuen, a high-class all boy school that is
undergoing an experiment of letting girls enter, all the boys are princes and the girls princesses...
Its is all a project/test held by the sumeragi group and she has been chosen to be a model student
like some of the guys have. There's a ranking system like Masamune for example is the rook
and Kazumi is a self-proclaimed unicorn(knight) wait why unicorn?! well there surely
was a good sense of humor around as well basically every romanceable guy is named
after a chesspiece and Emi's the queen she joins their commitee and with them prepares
for the festival, each route does this differently and you get closer to him.
Emi also has to deal with being a model student... Other than that a relative of Chiharu
typically tries to make things difficult for everyone involved, gotta have some bad guy I guess.
Depending on your choices you can get different type of route such as: white lily or black lily
there's four endings total, the former is happier than the other but what I liked about this
they explored different sides to the character and different kinds of love which kept things
interesting, for some this is for better others for worse basicallly black route is spicier.
Other than that the general system of the game was smooth and I had no real issues
on my journey to full-complete!
 
This game is set in a rich kids school thats fancy high-class but more up to date with current times
kind of reminded me of zettai kaikyuu but without the harsh class system.
Hmm... maybe the setting was too fancy for me atleast there were no annoying minigames
and was still pretty relaxing it also didn't feel like it took forever to get interesting
otome-wise like shinigami to shoujo this game was much shorter and to the point.
The common route served its purpose well enough to introduce and explain things.
There are many cg which is only the guy(s) some were good others meh.
The protagonist even comments how just staring at pretty boys is happiness enough
well atleast there are cg's with the two of them together so I can't complain much.😌
Himehibi1 also had this problem... but I guess its just a thing this series has
but this 3rd installment does it a little better than the first.
Also its ceroB(12+) so its probably better to not expect it to be that raunchy
because what was there was very tame which might be a blessing cuz there
are maybe two endings were the game was pushing this rating.
 
Emi is a good girl she might be more likable than the protag of himehibi1 but I did think Emi
is a bit too forgiving. Most of the guys are likable and the only one who pissed me off 
was Yumeji and paperbag-kun turned out to be worse than I expected.πŸ˜“
There was definitely enough going on with the character(s) to keep me interested also the game
seems to know its cliches but actually not giving 2fucks about it and still rolls with it
characters like Kazumi would actually be boring were it not for their quirk
and I found his character to be very interesting!  though the humor was odd 
and a bit corney I feel you're either gonna love or hate it. Atleast every route was unique
and focused on that character which was a plus, some endings might feel lacking
but if you do all you will truly know everything about the guy (for better or worse).
 
This game was overall pretty simple in what it tried to do, I think I can recommend
this game if you want something light-hearted and character focused while not minding
having to look past the surface of a pretty face, cuz there are some ~problems~ some more obvious
than others. Romance wise... it depends for some it only gets good at the end
others are more well-rounded overall it was still open ended, I think this new himehibi
does kind of retain the old spirit its also not too bloated in length it ends when it should.
I think this game was alright... Kazumi's route while corny was funπŸ˜… it might not
be my cup of tea but it wasn't bad! Masamune's route was very enjoyable
and he's definitely my husbando, the only route I didn't really like was Yumeji
but that was mostly because the guy lost his last shred of dignity in the black route
atleast his white route was still somewhat enjoyable but yea watch yourself with him and Paperbag because as much as I like to say there were no bad ends these two are like uhuh riiight?
Ah well otome games are always like that, one route that just rubs you the wrong way
you can't like everything but this game does a good job of finding paths that you could like.
Chiharu was the most well-rounded route and I also really liked him, he's so wholesome it hurts.😭
 Overall I think this was a pretty good otome game some parts might be a bit cliche
but that's not necessarily a bad thing if it doesn't try to be something its not and
the plot was okay too, for what it was worth this was mostly enjoyable.
I don't know what else to say but if you want to try a more classic
yet modern(for today's standard) this game is a good bet! that is if you don't mind it being simple.
7,6/10

My playorder was:
Kazumi > Masamune > Yumeji > Chiharu > Paperbag.
Idk if there was some recommended order but none are locked nor was there a story that had
to be played out in specific order so you can do whoever you fancy in whatever order you want!

This is the end of non-spoiler section, more ramblings about routes after the jump.
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