Showing posts with label Tetsuya Kakihara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tetsuya Kakihara. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Kannagi no Mori Samidare Tsuzuri - Review

Since the switch ver is digital only here's the PS Vita box art instead.
 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Matatabi.
Platform: PC/Vita/Switch.
Official Site: https://matatabi.tv/kannagi/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22311
Release date: 22-2-2024.
 
I saw they released a switch port of Kannagi no Mori and since I did play the other two
Matatabi games I decided why the hell not? there's not many otome games I am interested
in nowadays and besides for some reason it is only 3300 yen which honestly
is a steal for like two games, but after playing I think the price suits it just fine.
I ended up finishing 4 routes while playing FF7 rebirth because at times I just
wanted to peace out and Kannagi no Mori was perfectly suited for that.
 
KnM was originally a PC game split into parts... ah so matatabi tried that sort of thing.
Thank god they later made a ps vita and now a switch port so you can enjoy it in one place.

Pro's
- Decent enough plot, compelling characters.
- Has relaxing vibes despite it having a sad tone at times.
- Art is pretty good. 
- BGM is relaxing... perhaps a bit to much.

Grey Area
- One route could seem really short but its long if you do all routes.

Con's
- Slow start, has some slight pacing issues.
- Switch port is bugged, if you want to save/load you have to use the touchpad
as the little text prompt thingy was unresponsive when you select yes for various things.

The OP movie was nice, I was instantly drawn to atleast two characters!
but this is not the type of movie i'd watch always every time I booted uup the game.
Sure its nice but after a few route I had just seen it... also it is a bit long.
 
 One thing I really liked was the art style of this game, not every character may have
drawn me in the same way but I really like the colours,style and vibe it gives off.
The cg's had plenty of variation that were good at showing the characters expressions
and the overall count of them was mostly even across all characters.
The voice cast are all A++ veterans so it was nice to hear them again as well.
 
System was just standard stuff and it wouldn't be worth commenting about
but some menu's were broken like it would ask me to save so i'd press yes
but nothing happens! the only way I could save/load was with using the touchpad.
MATATABI is at it again amirite? why is it always something omg but honestly
it was only slightly annoying and can easily be fixed by touching the screen
whenever you had to make a choice or save/load the game.
 
Story is Mizuki always could see things other people couldn't and was told to keep
it a secret from the only family she had. Things begin to change when she
sees her dead mom on a rainy night which is when dead people appear.
A man then leads Mizuki to a village to meet her grandfather... who turned ill
and now Mizuki is forced to manage his work which deals with spirits and their problems.

KnM is a slower-paced game and the music was soothing, so soothing that I got sleepy.
The early game was so relaxing I can't decide if this is good or bad, i'll go with good
since the vibes were so nice that Nao and Souta quickly grew on me.
Idk if it was because this was the first part or i'm not really that interested in the two initial
love interest but at times I did get a little bored due to how slow Youko-kitan can be.
I was more interested in Asahi... which may be why I had a hard time!

The heroine wasn't too bad, I found her fairly normal, at first she doesn't really
have the confidence to continue her grandfathers work which is understandable.
I liked how Asahi helped her grasp how she could help people. Didn't seem easy.
Compared to the last otome I sat through this felt much more normal
and I didn't really find much that made me go wtf! sadly that also meant
it was a lot less entertaining and less excitement due to being mostly nonbiri.
Like the scenes weren't always that engaging and it was really situational if it was
which isn't bad perse but I am just glad there were no routes that were a dumpster fire.
NGL Shinonome brought most of the entertainment early on.
Story generally focuses on helping spirits overcome their trauma and save them
so they don't become evil spirits. Due to the setting, I probably would only recommend
Kannagi no Mori if you like school-themed otome games with otherwordly stuff
and like slower-paced games that grab your attention slowly. I say it can be slow but it
also didn't overstay its welcome since I found the routes itself to be fairly short.

Decent story yes but overall while it can seem light-hearted the tone of it all still
had a very sad feeling to it. The very last route of this game gave me nothing but sadnesss.
I did like the character interactions and there were some funny scenes!
wish there were more of that but it wasn't that type of game.
Comedy was mostly used to lighten the mood which was why its great.
The pacing can be a bit slow but overall it was enjoyable, whenever Shinonome
was on screen there was never a dull moment.😂 I didn't really like the first half of this game
but there were moments it hit home so it wasn't all bad. It generally just was a comfy read!
 a little melancholic yes but it fits in with the theme of the game for there to be underlying sadness.
7.7/10
It was just good, not bad but not great. Unlike Matatabi's other games
there weren't any minigames or landmines either which is a plus. I'd recommend
Kannagi no Mori if you don't mind short but slower-paced games, The scenario had impact
in many ways, some subtle & some that hit a lil harder. This otome game is also great
if you're tired of controversial stuff and just want to mostly have a good time while also
getting served a decent enough plot with a well written heroine.
 
I think I preferred the latter half of the game Ryuuji over the first half Youko
simply for the fact it touched upon the underlying plot more. Its like Youko was extremely
standard in terms of otome games and more like a prologue of sorts.
Ryuuji is like hold my beer! ups the stakes and just delivers the plot better.

As for playorder the game is split into two parts with the last route in each part being locked.
So my play order ended up being like this:

Youko Kitan / part 1: Nao > Souta >Ichimaru.
Ryuuji Kitan / part 2: Hinata > Asahi > Shinonome.
 I can't really recommend anything other than Youko first and Ryuuji second.
The game does have a fail-safe that even if you were to do Ryuuji first you'll be okay
but if you get it on vita/switch and want to see all routes, best to start with Youko.
Maybe switch Nao/Souta or Hinata/Asahi around to suit preference
before the 3rd route of each part, there's not much else to it.

Spoilers are after the jump, there are some shoddy summaries as well as my favorite cg's.
 

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

9 R.I.P - Review

 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rip/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38068
Release date: 2023-06-29.
 
Otomate's latest visual novel! I didn't get started on it right away because
I was busy with FF16 but I still wanted to give this game a shot since it seemed interesting
and they brought back some golden-era seiyuu's I hadn't heard in a while. Oh boy! they
got me nostalgic for Kakki, KENN, Nobuhiko and Shinnosuke Tachibana alright!
I am not too familiar with Azakami or Shun'ichi though but it is always good
to see otomate try to use less popular seiyuus. Other than that I went in very blind
I didn't even know it was gonna be an occult mystery with suspense!
 
Game/story is presented as an occult mystery about people being spirited away...
The heroine Misa ends up hearing some scary stories/rumors and then she had a strange encounter
in the school hallway, she was also worried over her education when an accident happens...
Due to that Misa finds out crossed over to the spirit realm, most of the love interests
are spirits and such. I don't want to say too much so i'll stop her since its really better
if you don't know too much and can find it out on your own.
 
Pro's
- Story/character driven, good amount of suspense.
- Art, cg's are very well done.
- Music fits the mood and theme of the game.
- Short but it doesn't feel longer than it needs to be.
- Great heroine, she takes initiative.
 
Con's
 - 1 route has no epilogue cg's.💀
- High amount of bad ends.



The game can have a little bit of suspense too... but at times it can also be relaxing.
There was enough time to get to know the characters during the common route parts but who
you meet there depends on an early game choice, this was good since it kept each playthrough fresh.
Also it is best going into this game blind as knowing too much could ruin the suspense.
 
First thing I notice is that there are 8(9 if you count the final) routes, well this can
go both ways but I hoped this wouldn't be too long of a VN and it wasn't
the pacing was okay, it moved at a good pace and there was hardly a dull moment!
so I was happy it respects your time, maybe the love process was a little fast
and most characters are nice and easy to like. Of course there are exceptions
and certain characters could not be your cup of tea atleast that was me with Minami.
On the other hand my favorite was Koyou followed by Koharu, Sena and Yukimaro.

Due to characters being paired up and share a common route it makes the most sense
to do the other characters route/end right after. Also even if they shared a common route
they did infact have a individual route and it didn't feel like one character took up more time.
I was relieved at this since I was worried of there being too much shared plot.
 
The heroine Misa was great and good at taking some initiatives, I didn't find her annoying
and considering what she goes through... she handled it pretty well.
 
This game does have bad endings so if you want to avoid those or not in the mood
a guide is recommended. I do think the bad ends were still worth doing even if
they had no CG, as sometimes they gave little details or for better or worse
showed another side of a character. 
 
System was your standard stuff but in one route they had you input your characters
name and you could do it manually which threw the entire jpn dictionary at you. xD
Thankfully you could autofill Misa's name which begs the question... why even bother?
The bad end gotten if you fill it in wrong can be gotten through another choice too...
this was a really dumb design choice that makes 0 sense.
 
Art, looked really nice and before I played I was more positive about it
than I initially was about tsuitsui, so IDK if that says something other than its good.
The CG's were all well done, even if the amount was low its 7/8 there are variations
so i'm on the side of i'd rather most be of quality than half of them be looking off.
9rip also has 8 routes and one finale which is more than the usual 6 or 7 so I think
that says a lot and there's nothing wrong with it. Cg's are nice but it shouldn't be
the whole reason to buy a game, then you're better of buying an artbook!
Music was fine, I had no complaints and it fit the mood. ED themes change
depending which pair of love interests you go after which was nice. 

I think I can recommend 9rip if you don't want a visual novel that is on the long side
but still want something with an engaging plot, don't mind it being an occult mystery
that could test your nerves a little (its nothing too scary) and one or more characters interest you.
This was a very good life/death character drama type of otome game
the only real down side I can think of is the number of routes since by the time
I reached the final route I was kind of burned, thankfully it wasn't as long
as a certain character from Tsuitsui but it was still a nice finish even if it was short.
9/10
I can't ironically give this any less than a 9 because of a bunch of facts
and how refreshing each set of routes was, it balanced everything out nicely.

My play order:
Koyou > Sena  >  Kureha > Hibiki> Koharu > Yukimaro > Minami > Seiya >???.
 
Recommended play order:
It was hard to come up with a recommended order I think this works nicely:
[Kureha > Hibiki]  > [Koyou > Sena] > [Minami > Seiya] > [Koharu > Yukimaro] >???.
You could switch some pairs up due to preference but things to note is that
Koharu/Yukimaro is a bit of a healing route and had more fluff compared to others... it can
either be done after Kureha/Hibiki or after Minami/Seiya. Finally Kojou/Sena may be best
done before Minami/Seiya... it just works better in terms of story elements
same goes for making sure Koharu is done after Hibiki. Of course you could
change something due to preference, like even my own play order works out.
There's not much choice but to do ??? last as his only unlocks after doing all
anyway I hope this information was helpful in deciding a route order.

Character rambles and my fav cg's after the jump! the spoiler free zone ends here.
I should add that 9RIP is one of those visual novels that is best going in blind
as route summaries/thoughts etc could reveal too much.
So if you want to go in blind stop reading here cuz there will be spoilers!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, June 24, 2022

Final Roadtrip Fantasy XV - review

 Genre:RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/PC.
Release date: 2016-11-29.
 
With not much else to play I decided to look at games I once started but never finished...
which lead me to FF15! I did remember where I stopped it was after arriving in galdin quay
and met some suspicious guy. Knowing this I saw no reason to replay from scratch
and it was actually easy enough to get the hang of things again!
Casually adds even more screenshots... after making posts.
My reasons for dropping the ball on this before was simple, my old ps4 had a bug
where it would try to eject discs sometimes even when there's no disc inside as well 
as annoying beeping sounds when it tried to do exactly that (even when turned off).
It was not just me that had it but yea I couldn't really play disc based games cuz of this.
A shame really because this game was quite fun and I don't understand the hate it got.
I suppose I could have bought it digitally when royal came out but I didn't
and it just ended up being dropped till now.😅 (The old model was replaced by a slim)

Pro's
- Exploring and doing quests/hunts is fun.
- Cast has great chemistry and most of the time the vibes are chill...
- Story is straight-forward but this is not a character game.
- Scenery is beautiful and the OST is really good.

Con's
- Story can be pretty peak fiction but terrible execution and full of holes so if you want
to fill those gaps, you need the movie(sets the stage), dlc ep's and read the novel(epilogue).
- Magic system is a hassle.
 
 
More ramblings after the jump break.

Saturday, February 26, 2022

Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta... ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~ - Review

Usually I'll post the box art but... I liked this title screen and i've been doing it for rpg's too.
 Genre: Otome VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/hamehura-kaizoku/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v29251
Release date: 2022-02-10.
 
Long title aside hench forth it shall be known as Hamefura ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~!
Otomate decided to make otome game for hamefura a lightnovel which had an anime adaptation.
Unfortunately they decided to not give the girls full routes and only the guys are romanceable
this is something I didn't mind but I could see some might do. As it kinda felt subtexty/comedic
and to turn it into full harem; basically who doesn't love Bakarina? 😅
I also tend to be kind of wary of games that are based on an anime because they tend to exist
solely for fans and the quality of said game tends to vary greatly but hamefura turned out alright.
The art quality was very high and the style stays true to the anime and in terms of plot it was decent. 
 
OP movie; for some reason they have disabled the embedded version so here's the link.
 
Anyway this game/VN is like a side story in the hamefura universe it doesn't exist in the canon
if you ever wanted to spend more time with some of the guys now's your chance I guess?!
I'm not sure when this takes place but it acts as an extension of the first season... you could
probably play it without watching but this game doesn't go into who the chara's are
they briefly go over it in the prologue but that's it. The anime is pretty fun and s1 is only 12 eps
which isn't very long so why not give it a watch to get to know the series?
The characters unique to this game are locked though so if you don't know who to choose
i'd say Alan or Geordo first but honestly I really do recommend checking out the anime first
cuz this game really is more for fans, the general premise is even so
that the story in this game is a fandisc to fortune lover.
 
Pro's
- While not much to work with, each route was unique/self-contained.
- Characters are consistent and not OOC.
-Art is gorgeous.
 
Con's
- If you were hoping for fluff and only comedy/romance... this might be disappointing
as they actually tried to have a plot and characters to take part in it.
- Its better if you watch atleast S1 of the hamefura anime as the game does very little
to establish its cast,existing relationships or explain the world.
 
 Bakarina is voiced except some of her thought/monologue!
the art is pretty nice the style is like the anime and it doesn't seem to suffer from tracers.
Music is fitting nothing to complain about, the plot kinda felt like it was another
episode/OVA or something and depending on your choices you'll end up investigating an incident
that happens on the ship they're staying on with whoever you like.
The story isn't much but it can be interesting, all the side npc have sprites too
so its easy to tell them apart, voice acting was excellent as well.
 
System is just standard VN stuff, during the bakarina meetings where you have to select a choice
you can't save so you have to do it before it comes up. There is also a bug if you skip
too fast through the ideafactory/otomate/criware/OPmovie stuff when booting up the game
where the software just closes. So its better to just let all that play and if you do want
to skip the op movie just let it play 5-10 seconds.

Compared to recent otome I played it finally felt like I was playing a proper one again
uh what is a proper one is subjective of course but I think this one had some classic stuff.
I say that cuz Hamefura wasn't depressing, more fun and romance focused
its exactly what I wanted even though my expectations were low.
It was pretty enjoyable from start to finish and that's coming from someone that's not
that big of a fan as I liked the anime enough to check out this game.😅
It might be sad that the girls don't have full routes but personally I don't even want to think about
romancing Mary except as in a joke ending. Maybe there really are Mary fans out there
or Maria/Sophia so the fact there is 1 joke ending and the normal end is well... better than nothing.
 

That aside the game does feel kinda short but the pacing is okay and it doesn't seem
like it overstayed its welcome, any longer and I would have been bored tbh. Like I'd love it if games
took their time but you also don't want to get bored! Hamefura doesn't have that problem.
Its entertaining enough but it doesn't focus completely on the couple at all times
and I could see how some find that disappointing! they did try to have a plot that
made sense in the world of hamefura so I am not sure why this would be a bad thing
cuz if this game didn't have the plot it has then the routes would be super short and they average
at 6 hours or so which I think for what we got out of it was more than enough
either way I didn't have many complaints I was happy with Alan's route!

While this was an enjoyable side dish after the anime, if you don't like the novel/anime
or don't like any of the guys enough to want to romance them its probably better to pass
cuz this is nothing but fluff with a slighly entertaining story full of cute romance
so if you were here for some deep plot uhm look elsewhere cuz the hamefura game ain't it.
 It does have bad/death ends but only one or two per route and they're not long.

Most of this game still keeps the charm I got to know this series with! depending on how much
you like the other guys beside your favourite it might be a bit of a chore to do multiple
playthroughs as the general plot does kind of remain the same however each time
you do a new playthrough you unlock new scenes to understand the overall plot better
though some of these scenes only seem to exist to make it more obvious.
Unfortunately despite this game not being canon one route in particular has so much lore
and world building it felt kind of like a waste if this was only one game
I applaud them for the effort but it did take away from anything else.
Most of the characters in this game don't get much personal focus except Rozy/Silva
that's because they got that in the anime so they're not gonna waste time, for some it means
their routes were less interesting, I thought the main guy of this game would be Geordo but eh
classic poster boy curse with that one, Silva would like a word with him.
All in all ~Hamefura ~Haran o Yobu Kaizoku~ is mostly an enjoyable otome game
for fans of the series that want to actually romance the guy(s)! So if that's what you're looking for
or just another hamefura adventure in general it gets my recommendation.😄👍
But yea if you don't want bakarina to end up with anyone stay away from this game and pretend
it doesn't exist or something, as its jpn only at time of writing so it shouldn't be too hard.
8.5/10

My play order was Alan > Geordo > Keith > Nicol > Rozy > Silva.
Imo it doesn't really matter but I suggest to do your fav first which in my case was Alan!
Doing Alan first might not be the best, I do think Nicol flows well into Rozy's route.
If I had to recommend anything its probably Geordo/Keith > Alan > Nicol > Rozy > Silva.

Anyway the non-spoiler sections end here! some route comments along
with my fav cg's after the jump break.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Sweet clown ~Gozen San-ji no Okashi na Doukeshi~ - review

 Genre: Otome/simulation VN.
Developer/publisher: Takuyo.
Platform: PSV, Switch.
Official Site: http://www.takuyo.co.jp/products/sweetclown/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v16460
Release date: 2021-07-22.
 
What lead me to Sweet Clown? I started to look for something to kill time with
but not exactly in any hurry to finish it as a whole so this kinda became like a backburner game.
The japanese subtitle of this game is long (Gozen Sanji...) so I won't type it out
anywhere else in ENG it means: 3AM candy clown.
Considering the themes of this game this was for the better, its not as depressing as say Getsuei no Kusari nor is there too much despair like Virche but it isn't exactly light-hearted either.
Perhaps I wanted something not from otomate and since I feel like i'm a clown lately...
so I ended up picking up sweet clown after I had initially passed on the vita version
honestly how or why is Takuyo still around?! I wonder what there secret is...😂😂😂
 
Pro's
- Interesting story and cast of characters.
- Well-rounded routes.
- Art is pretty good but can vary.
- Music fits the mood/tone of the game.
 
Con's
- The routes do have a bit of a slow start... it takes a bit to get going.
- Sometimes it can seem that whatever choice you made doesn't matter also there are a lot.
- Le espresso depresso... wait this could be a pro.
 
A little bit on the plot... but it might be better to read the VNDB
description if you want to know what's it about!
Our protagonist Zakuro received an invitation for a 3am tea party, which leads her
to a castle owned by the sweet clown. There... she meets a bunch of other people
and the story slowly unfolds from there. It quickly becomes obvious Zakuro carries a secret.
She lost her brother when she was young and is extremely lonely and has some issues with guilt
over it... after meeting this sweet clown she ends up being selected to take over the role
unfortunately due to her issues things go far from smoothly.

The OP was pretty nice but apparently they changed it for the switch version.
I looked up the PSV version and uh i'm not sure why they changed
but it was most likely a licensing issue or they lost the file/was damaged
anyway this is the switch one.
 Oh well back on track, this game is probably not for people with fear of clowns and stuff
this is also a fairly mystery-oriented otome game more and play order is important.
What's recommended is Seisuke > Kuze or Takeru > Ouchirou > Manai.
There are also a bunch of endings 4 per route which are all toned differently
some more depressing than others, i'll be using the same order the guide recommended
and this order is very good because it makes the most sense with the overall plot.
 
I honestly found myself hooked right from the start and interested to find out more
and come back to it so I thought the flow of the story was pretty good
but it was kinda glum and so this is not something to look into if you want something light-hearted
its also not too dark! but if you want there's a more twisted end waiting for you.
The art and backgrounds were pretty nice and the music was appropiate so there's that
though I might have to say that while the art is gorgeous and there are nice cg's it did vary a little.
The system was pretty basic? there's a gazillion of choices so it might be better to use a guide...
what bothered me about the choice system is often there isn't even much of a difference
characters would often react the same as if the other choice was chosen which made me go
like thank god for the blue/red rose animation for affection which determines the endings.
Also you could literally make one wrong choice and be locked out of the best end... which
happened with me in Kobashi's route.... this combined with the mass amount of choices
makes me really want to tell people to use a guide unless you want to figure it all out yourself.

I did wonder why I passed on this game initially and it was probably because of some of the designs
and setting, even now some of those don't really vibe with me but still glad I did give it a try
because the story and characterization was honestly really good and in terms of despair
it might not be as extreme as Virche but when it hits, it hits.
 The prologue was a good setup albeit a bit long? it was ok cuz you slowly got
a better picture while also getting to know the guys if only a little.
I like it more than Shinigami to Shoujo cuz of the overall flow but this is by no means a simple
game like himehibi since  there are some layers of complexity in regards of the plot and char's
 so now you know why I won't be writing too much about the plot but i'll comment
a little on the character routes cuz I think this game is best experienced when you know very little like
psychedelica for example, the route which was most complicated was probably Takeru.
 
Most of the common route focuses on the heroine Zakuro and her internal struggles+the guys
trying to help her so they can go home each in their own way.
This isn't one of those otome games that has the heroine only help the guys its the other way around which honestly lead to an interesting experience. I do have to point out the routes
do start out fairly slow and once more that play order is VERY important, I did Seisuke first and
godbless I did because this guy completely became unlikeable in Souma's route! (atleast for me)
so for a moment I thought if I had done Souma first, I didn't want to bother with Seisuke anymore.😞
 
Overall this was a pretty good otome game with a well written story and heroine/cast
it might seem dark and dreary but it is definitely one that I can recommend.
The routes here are well-rounded in terms of plot and romance while developing both
the heroine and love interest. If anything some of the guys are just clowns really
but even then with 2 different endings per route+bad there's bound to be one outcome
that could suit your taste whether that's a happy outcome or a twisted version of it.
Weird thing was by the time I finished Souma's route I didn't even want to do the others... 😅
since the ending of it was so satisfying I felt no need to continue cuz he was also my best boi
but alas for the sake of the truth I continued on! if there was anything that I thought was a downside
is that routes take a bit to get going and it might seem same-ish how Zakuro had to overcome
her problems but every route added a new flavor its just that it might get a tad repetitive?
but as long as you're invested I don't think its a big deal! do have to be honest that if
you found your best boy the rest of the game could feel like a slog.
 
So all in all, Sweet clown is a pretty solid pick if you want something with a good story and cast!
but if you're not in the mood for a long and dreary read then it might be better to pass, there's
not much fluff either and its very character driven, the humor was a bit weird but it was there
if it wasn't I think this game would be plain depressing.
That's all I can say without spoilers really...
Sweet Clown is interesting but requires patience and perhaps an acquired taste?
I think I want to play something lighter next but this was still a good time killer
its definitely something to look into if you value character development..
8.2/10

That ends the spoiler-free section! there will be some route commentary below as this game
much like getsuei was far too long to digest and someone already summarized it anyway
so there'll only be commentary with a few of my fav CG's.

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Wand of Fortune R2 FD ~Kimi ni sasageru Epilogue~ - Review

PSP box art because I like it more.
Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: PSP, PSV.
Release date: 2018-10-04

The much needed FD for Wand of Fortune 2  ~Jikuu ni Shizumu Mokushiroku~
This is where I say its better late than never, since I did like the cast enough
to return otome hogwartz one more time for the much need epilogue to WoF2
because let's be real, WoF2 had so much character development that by the time
you got to the post credit scene and you'd see your handsome man all grown up
you'd either be like aww its over OR wtf?! growth spurt much? (looking at you Est)
to the point you don't even really recognize and want more time.

Pro's
 - Plenty of content and fanservice.
- No more gameplay.
 - BGM is a relic of the past...but has charms, OP theme's a good jam.

Con's
-Short, only reason I took so long is because I paced it out due to otome game drought.



So in the prologue of this FD; in some dream-like space she meets a fairy named Bell
and now Lulu has the power to visit the past or the future... 
because Lulu has had so many possibilities Bell's gonna help her out!
At first, me thinks this little scenario takes place after the true end of WoF2
but since she let chances slip she had regrets this is where Bell comes in
and she gets to spend lovey dovey time with her harem.
So many things! so little time!
 
There's the after stories to WoF2.
A scenario of a ball at mils clair where thanks to Bell. Lulu can go out with everyone
and finally there's loli-Lulu's big adventure... but that was so random I didn't write much of it.
 Ball scenario can get repettitive and the writing for each guy keeps it a bit more fresh
but its not long, an hour or so maybe less, still fun just gets redundant.
That ball takes place somewhere right after WoF1/mirai no prologue but before WoF2
but Lulu was so busy studying she completely forgot, idk its sort of weird trying to place this
anywhere and maybe its better to just believe Lulu forgot about it all together back then
which will actually all make sense once you do Solo's scenario, what a special boi.
There's a score card system where you can check what you have completed
but imo since its sorta obvious in the stories which element belongs to who but still nice
that you can check if you really completed a route (after/ball/great adventure) with that character.
There's also this mils claire DX thing which is basically interviews with the characters
and bonus voices which was the only awful thing to complete since it requires
playing with bell and feeding her stuff loli-Lulu finds in her big adventure
but its not too bad and can be done in no time so its not that annoying.

If you finished WoFr2 completely and still like the series I see no reason as to why one
should not get this. It has plenty of content and an extended epilogue to WoF2 is what
we all wanted the most and the rest is enjoyable, the overall content makes it worth the price
even if its still short, just because one after got me in a bad mood didn't ruin the whole game.
9/10

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Code:Realize Shirogane no Kiseki - Review


Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-12-21

The 2nd code realize fd... well we know the first (shukufuku no mirai) had more plot than fanservice
and that they sort of falsely advertised it so when this was announced I was like wow really?
surely they couldn't have put it as one game in the first place? but I guess
this is also to have yet another game to sell right after the anime finished airing. $$$hing
Oh well happy 2018 can't say I fully appreciated this FD but...
 atleast it gave content most fans wanted to begin with albeit a bit late.

Pro's
- Certain characters will finally get the epilogues they deserve.
- Triangle date, fanservicey but fun mini episodes.
- Art, Miko gets better and better!

Con's
- Christmas stories should've been shorter (looking at you Van).
- Was there really a need to split the FD?

This FD is christmas/holiday themed so I suggest you play it around that time of the year
it didn't arrive till the 28 for me but since I am not really that invested in the holidays 
I was just like i'll play it now before moving on to anything else like I do think
code:realize is a wonderful series but... I hope they won't milk this series too much so as much
as the idea of seasonal fandisk is nice I also dislike, I hope otomate doesn't get any more ideas.
Atleast the artist is still the same but I really hope this doesn't become the next hakuouki.

So what content is in this FD?
After stories for Finis and Sholmes because they needed it especially the latter.
A scenario titled Cantarella this is pretty much like the mafia one last time but better.
Christmas stories for the original characters set after Finis's after story.
An epilogue for the 5 original guys set after the after stories in shukufuku no mirai
to finish what the last FD started because apparently it couldn't be told back then. >_>

System? typical stuff, you select the story you want to read
there's no real need for a guide except for dictionary but since its so short
its easy to go back and select another choice so there's no fear.


To keep it short...
First off I don't want to sound ungrateful its just... starting to seem like code:rea is being milked.
Its short but the entertainment was there and the value was good... more so than tierbladeFD
speaking of volume it might be just right, I thought some of the christmas stories was too long for
their own good(especially Van) or maybe that's just me... I liked Impey's and Fran's a lot though.
Finis and Sholmes after stories... the latter bored me for some reason but still give good conclusion.
I think it would be better received if you actually like code:realize a whole lot, already said this at the
start of the post but it cannot be coincidence this came out right after the anime finished airing.
Cardia is a great heroine AND she kicked ass, got her happy future...  but there's not much else
that needs to be told is there? the more otome I play the more I realize that open ended
endings are perhaps the better kind like make your own fantasies instead of being spoonfed them
of course some could benefit from a little teensy bit more but I feel otomate is going overboard here.
I'm sure we could get a FD for everything that is new to Cardia but I hope that won't be necessary
the score is more than fair, I actually get tired of having to come back FD after FD, once is enough.
 7/10
''Its a nice addition with plenty of enjoyable fanservice but there's not much else to it.''
So do I recommend this FD? only if you are a fan and absolutely need more code:rea in your life.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Kenka Bancho Otome ~Kanzen Muketsu no My Honey~- Review

 ć–§ć˜©ç•Ș長äč™ć„ł ~ćźŒć…šç„ĄæŹ ăźăƒžă‚€ăƒăƒ‹ăƒŒ~
Game: [Kenka Bancho Otome] 
Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 
Developer: Red entertainment and published by Spike Chunsoft.
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-07-27

The fandisk of Kenka Bancho Otome... well it must've done pretty well to warrant one!
Since the previous installment was a last minute digital purchase, this suffered the same fate.
I didn't really pay attention to prerelease info or the anime shorts.
 Said anime just turned out to be an advertisement with mash ups from the original game.
When I looked at the official site I honestly found it rather lacklustre...
From what I did gather this FD contains side stories(summer themed) and after stories...
which was honestly all a fan needed to know, Whether this was word it or not... saa let's find out.
  I expected them to be fun and/or sweet but alas most were not as it seemed.
Also they have the first anime ep in the game itself.... dunno if just a preview
for the bluray release but it seems like a waste of space.


Pro's
- Still the same old boys we all know and love.
 - Comedy.
- A fun and to the point side story on da beech.

Con's
- Long loading, slow text skip which is bothersome in side scenario.
- Rintarou's after story is downright terrible.
- The writer still uses the same template for everything maybe its his/her thing.

The game is divided into two sections, first of is the after stories set after the love ends
in the original game, nothing else to it really. Secondly there's a summer camp scenario
which is sort of an AU friend scenario. Characters are grouped together such as
 Totomaru&Konparu, Kirarin&Yuuta or Hikaru&Sakaguchi etc.
Your choices in that scenario determines who you're grouped with at the end of that dunno
 the whole thing was maybe 4 hours at most, not including repeat play for other pair up.
The comedy is still golden and almost never a dull moment one could say its a pointless
scenario with nothing to gain but why would you have a problem with camaraderie? I don't.
I already started snickering less that 10 minutes in, compared to the last vn I played this is g r e a t
but I didn't have much fun doing everything in there for completion's sake
and you have to fight everyone once including minor chara for a trophy and it is here
I realized the loading time is sinfully slow... probably cuz Unity but it ain't rear pheles bad.

In short its an enjoyable FD to fans of the original but I thought the original wrapped most
stuff up nicely, I already said this but it must've done well enough for it to happen!
I guess if you hated the whole now that they know she's a girl and the guy trying to protect her
or stop her from fighting then it will be a partial miss cuz some of the after stories continue
 that line of thinking but they do try to make them come to terms on it that Hinako can hold her own.
The summer camp scenario is like an AU friend route for everyone... so there's that too
and you already know I liked it for what it was no need to go into it. 
All in all its not bad its just that some after stories are either a hit or a miss my favs were  Konparu
and Totomaru... the rest just followed with Rintarou dead last honestly even Houou was better.
The FD is decent but also a little short despite each story having some length
to it but still has that stupid template which in some was more noticeable than others.
When I look back only Totomaru and Konparu's after stories were really
enjoyable to me and the content they had is what I expect of fandisks.
I want to see the characters under relaxed circumstance not
drama about yakuza gangs or a brother yearning for attention. -_-
There's not much else left to say... without being more detailed is there?
8.2/10

Ramblings and possible spoiler and/or CG's after the jump.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Teikoku Kaleido -Banka no Kakumei- - Review

Game: [The Charming Empire]
Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Operahouse/Dogenzaka Lab.
Platform: Mobile, PC, PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-2-19 (English)

I got this game on steam because it seemed interesting and to take a break 
from a more heavy VN, something lighter seemed appropiate and so I bought this even though
I usually do not bother with english games and well I also supported Nightshade.
It had good art and the translation seemed decent oh and its fully voiced!
The music is a bit eh though... and the system was so standard
I could figure out the right choices without using a guide(if there was one)
and if I guessed the wrong one i'd reload usually but I still got the happy end first
the opposite choice led me to a normal end overall it was an easy ride no guide needed.
Well sometimes a simple otome game is good...
The whole theme of this is... what if I fell in love with a rebel leader?

Pro's
- Simple but decent plot and heroine was more proactive than i'd thought she'd be.
- Enjoyable routes, atleast imho.
- Art.
- Voiced

Con's
- Decent in length but its not that long really.
- Three of the romanceable characters don't have presence outside of their own route.
- Music, its sorta average and just there.

Though I found it weird how we suddenly got an introduction of the guys in the prologue
in a fashion thats totally out of place they even show random CG's but turns out this is intended.
It probably was for the mobage part to get you to buy the individual route and was
 too much of a hassle to change it for the steam version which comes with all.
 The prologue just serves as an introduction to the general story it'll change based on route.

The heroine Amane lives and ordinairy life with her grandparents in the countryside
 till she is summoned to the capital by her older brother who's also the ruler of the country.
Overall I think the heroine's okay, she's not a blank slate and will say what's on her mind or
atleast try and knowing this was a mobage I honestly was surprised at how proactive she is.
You start the routes right away after Soushi tells you why your here and I unfortunately 
picked Sera first and they just shove him into the scenario and pretend he was sitting
 in the car the whole time, quality writing amiright but overall it got a little better.
I know mobage stories are usually meh but it turned out ok... atleast make your story 
and characters consistent don't give me a prologue and suddenly go back to it
because hey, this guy was here the whole time! (lol Sera.)
The only flaw is that except Soushi,Kagemitsu and the guy whom's route your on disappear from
the face of the earth, I learned from Sera's route Kagemitsu's apparently a childhood friend
and Soushi's advisor but Sera a bodyguard and Kei another tutor don't exist outside their own route.
I never saw Tanba outside of his own route either oh well its good to see them focus on
 the individual but don't make it look like they come crawling from under some rock, lmao.

Playorder won't matter that much, Kei's route is the most self contained
so he may be best done first so in the end  I recommend this order:
Kei > Kagemitsu > Seras > Soushi > Tanba

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Wand of Fortune R2 ~Jikuu ni Shizumu Mokushiroku~ review

The R still stands for RNG.
ワンド ă‚Șブ ăƒ•ă‚©ăƒŒăƒăƒ„ăƒł 2 ~時ç©șにæČˆă‚€é»™ç€șéŒČ~
Game: Wand of Fortune R2.
Alternative titles: Wand of Emofest 2.
 Genre: Otome Visual Noel
Developer/Publisher: Otomate.
Platform: PSP, PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-3-09

Sequel to Wand of Fortune, continues from the true end, the guys are friendzone and Lulu
obtained all da elements and starts to see the world in pretty colors like she's high or something
anyway Lulu continues working hard with her newly obtained magic she loves so much but
Bilal has to move back to his country so Lulu gets sad, Edgar decides to take a memorial picture...
however something weird happens they get send to the past right sometime before the great latinum war.
-Yeah that right it no longer present time otome hogwarts and casually dating boys
 while studying magic since for better or for worse they tried to give WoF actual plot...
WoF was never about story but they didn't really try to make the overall interesting
the characters are what make it a whole lot better than its premise is.
That's not to say it wasn't interesting but the past is none of the characters concern
it only created a situation for them to mature (by angst n shit)-
 
When Lulu wakes up she meets some dude called Solomon, I know they spell it out as
Salo-mon but screw their romanization so give me a break please, I don't hear an ''a'' in there.😙
She find the others rather quickly and they realize they've been send into the past
sadly Lulu's wand breaks but gets a new trinket that will help them all return and Solo will fix her
wand but she has  to go through a lot of trouble first to get with her man of choice, cue tedious system!
The system is a little less annoying not once was I like uh I'm going to do something else...
I was more than motivated to start on the next dude's route and make a little progress.
 Anyway the whole prologue made me realize how much I love the boys of Wand of Fortune and
I loved seeing them adjust to their new situation.. some of it was absolutely hilarious to the point
the prologue took me forever to go through but all fun things must come to an end
and it was also hilarious seeing the guys react to Lulu's new clothes.

Sadly unlike WoF R containing its fandisc Mirai no Prologue, WoF R2 does not include its
respective fandisc I do not know why maybe both games were too much content or otomate just
want to milk the Wand of Fortune series for a little while longer whatever the case I was disappoint
but I think they did it because they want to put some time between it just as when they first released
and the only reason WoFR came with the FD was because WoFR2 retconned the romance anyway.
Also if you're gonna play this for the love of Julius do Solomon last, it won't even make sense if
you did him first or midway not sure if there was a lock on his route since no one mention that
and imo his route was the most interesting anyway.

Pro's
- Character development.
- Art, should be obvious no?
- System is more straight-forward but sigh rng.

Con's
- Boring linear plot. To be fair, WoF never had an amazing overall story.
- Copy pasta, some common route key events are the same just with different character.
- BGM its meh and sorta grating to the point I had to lower it.
- If I have to sit through the whole dragon RNG for ~extra~ one more time...

Here's the opening, its not as charming as WoF R was but its still good.
Sadly it only plays during the prologue, we get a boring monologue when starting the game up
instead, sigh otomate  you had one job one! I do not need to hear  welcome to the world 
of 350 years ago everytime I start up the game, let me relax with a nice song FFS.


Its not like I want to help you baka.
Like the prequel for the port they made the system slightly less tedious but it still tedious
and you can now make many stones at a time instead of one by one.
You pick a partner and have to go around picking up garbage so Lulu can make element stones
from them and you need atleast 50 stone to get the best ending of each character and you need
 not worry of having to match elements, if you go for Lagi its ok to have lots of earth too
since it all add up ofc you need to make like 80 stones for the grand finale but that's really it.
For story reasons some characters are also paired up with each other like Bilal/Lagi, Noel/Julius,
Est/Solomon and well Alvaro is the only one who's solo since no one wants to deal with him.😂
Certain common events also happen if you pick a different partner like Bilal getting his spirit
or Solo removing the seal from Est so that his tattoo shows, these aren't even spoilers because it
happen around turn 7 which is really early on in the game, this also shows how linear it is.
You also collect all these items from chest after scavenging through the same area multiple times
you can combine them for new items which you need for key events, even on vita playing
this game without a guide is definitely not recommended dunno how different
it was from the PSP ver but I doubt there was much difference in some cases
 like Lily's feather you need it to gather in an area to avoid frogs and you need a mirror
to reflect the cockatrice's stare of death right back at it but that's it really.
I think the system is okay but too repettive, all I can recommend is save often
sadly you can't save on the MAP screen but you can before selecting an action for the day
and well due to certain aspects I am about to go into reloading is still a prime feature in WoF!
My sincere condolences if you played this on PSP.
  It didn't take me long to realize this game suffers from the same terrible RNG the first
game has, past turn 10 enemies keep showing up RANDOMLY and as turns out
you need to save after every turn or use backlog jump to prevent you from running
into one unneededly, its really random if one show up or not so here I sat reloading 10~ times
to avoid or get one to show up, the guide I used has you fight one dragon atleast once during route
which is more than enough, btw its not actually fight you just use one element stone and bam. ~_~
I also went off the turn order because I was like hmm lets fight enemy if one show up...
but turns out then you can't get treasure chest on the exact turn as in the guide
cuz you didn't ~search~ because some RNG monster show up to cockblock.
 Enemy encount is random and dragons are super rare...
Also you can only do 1 action every turn, so people saying fight every dragon u see and I am like
no, not if you want those treasure chest since you can't make stones AND search/take holiday.

So when you take a holiday to get the feather from Lily do Mira's events alongside it as you get a
trophy for it, the guide I used never mentioned you can visit more than one chara at a time so please do if you want.You actually get to do Mira's event later down the line in Est/Solo routes but there's
no reason aside from Lily and Mira to actually meet the other characters on holiday.
PS: One needs to waste 5 days to visit Lily before she gives you the feather, Y is she so bitchy?
TFW the 4koma's drop from a bunch of random dragon more rage on that down below.
Anyway holy shit RNG was no doubt the most annoying thing, the gathering part itself wasn't
even a problem but hey otomate had to add RNG factor to it to still make it hell! the whole
RNG give me war flashback of WoF1 when chara refusing to hang out forcing one to use
backlog or quickload and try again wand of fortune? more like wand of misfortune. -_-
Even if the wof games gets an eng release I do not want to go through this twice
nor really recommend anyone to suffer it even though the chara's and stuff make up for it.
Same Noel same..  this is how I feel about the system after doing all the routes in the game.
To complete extra section you need to get item drop, every character has a specific area
where you could get an item drop from a rare dragon luckily the guide I used has you save
at the end when you have a few day left so just reload and search the area
 that is the same as their element as say Lagi's whom's drop is at Nebula road
but here it comes you need to fight a rare dragon who is RANDOM.
 OTOMATE Y YOU DO THIS?! so here I sat after finishing their routes revisiting a certain area
wondering wtf am I even doing because RNG wasn't going in my favor and for some character
 the dragon took its sweet time to show up while for other it just popped instantly.
After u did all that u unlock 4koma honestly Julius, Lagi and Bilal's were the only funny ones...
 Solo's was ok but Est's one was stupid and Noel's tried too hard to be funny. ~_~
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite my rage above it should be obvious by now that if you haven't played WOF before these ps vita
ports are better than the originals because the system has been relaxed and also there are new CG's.
If you don't feel like suffering through part one you could start with this since it gives you a
digest, please note that you will still miss out on teases in the prequel even if individual route don't matter.
The digest won't cover everything, I agree that the system is too much work though but hearing
Edgar fill you in on the details is just not the same in fact it was boring, WoF is definitely one of
those otome games where you have to work hard to get your happy ends, you should take the
journey with Lulu from the very beginning to get the full experience not jump in half way.😗
Except if the original WoF already satisfied you but I guess you wouldn't be here
 if that was the case or would you? oh well whatever if you like gameplay in your VN's
you shouldn't pass up on the WoF series even if said gameplay is terribad.

Without spoilers WoF2 was decent and the emofest that you could call character development was
worth it despite the overall plot being meh, it was linear the war stuff they get caught up in
is only a plot device to get them to mature in some route it was good in other it was bad the
 character shine the most but it ok TBH the overall plot in the prequel wasn't any better
which was actually just hang with a guy and snatch an element magic to be able to stay at school.
The system has been relaxed a great deal and despite RNG it shouldn't be that annoying...
Anyway most of the plot just exists to go deeper into the characters, hmm how to put it?
Like the game makes clear the future and the past are connected in more ways than one!
I only really liked a few events here and there plus the ending for most character, most of
the route itself was decent except, Bilal or Noel. Julius was the most balanced/actual fun
to me and sadly during most of the routes boring/slow paced moments I kept
zoning out except Julius, Solo, Est and Alvaro.
I AM SO SAD the sequel doesn't come with the FD but perhaps it understandable it was too much
work and they want to put a little space between it but I need the happy epilogues. Q_Q
Common route could take up to 2~ hours maybe shorter depending on new events, 3/4 hour for
individual so overall that decent in length, also I wish they'd just fully voice Lulu none of this
only a line here and there like before going out adventuring or like with casting magic
its such a waste of Horie Yui's lovely voice and its just weird to suddenly hear her speak. -_-
 Anyway some parts were great other parts not so great... but overall it was decent.
Atleast otomate understands we like our memories so unlike another company doesn't
remove old cg just because they may or may not be derpy and otomate still added new ones.
I don't really care for the tragic end only Bilal's was appropiate, but usually I force skip those.
There's an imbalance of romance in some route due to some focusing more on character issues
but overall it was ok, routes like Bilal just made me drowsy and with Noel its like I like you
but they made poor Noel look so pathetic I was like what now? I almost can't bear this...
On the other hand Lagi, Est and Solo were totally fine especially the latter.
Julius had the most balanced route in the game and thats a little sad
I'd love to say it was Alvaro but he's just a troll so lol nope (Atleast Lulu owns the shit outta him)
which is probably why everyone loves Alvaro's route.
I finished this much sooner than expected since the system never tired me, ok it partly 
annoyed me but it was much better, so if you love the first game don't miss out on this.
7/10
I recommend it to fans of the original but if you already played these games before you are better off
buying the artbooks, the new cg's are great and all but not sure if worth two times the suffering.
You can brush that it aside if you are just that of a hardcore WoF fan and need to buy every port it gets though.
Now if you'll excuse me I'll go sit in a corner and play other otomege while
waiting for the eventual port of the WoF2FD, adios amigos.

More rambles after the jump if u care about that.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Den Ranki~ - Review

 
花朧 ~æˆŠć›œäŒäč±ć„‡~ Game: [Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Denranki~]
Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.
Developer/Publisher: Otomate.
genre: Historic Fantasy.
Platform: PS Vita.
Release date: 2017-1-19

Otomate first otome game released in 2017, I ended up buying it
 because it has a rich cast of characters and the story intrigued me. 
Sorta expected stuff like boring war scenes also fighting + onii-sama huehuehue which is
all well and good, I love history but i'm not a religious nerd so I do not mind a bit of fantasy
 in these type of games and as expected I wasn't disappointed in that, some parts were
fateful yes but there's a lot of originality which is I guess what most people complained about.
You may even think why pick this up? well... I was interested in it and that's usually enough.

The common route in hana oboro is maybe about 4~5 hours, I did not keep track
and with the character route you may end up at 8-10  hours at most including all ends and stuff.
I do not recommend doing routes in one sitting though, its not that long 
 but it all depends how motivated you are and some draggy scenes with war may even demotivate you.

The system is the same standard VN stuff except that it has a sort of bumrush timed flag system
in which you have to press L or R when it blinks, the blinking part is actual the hint so you can
pretty much do this without a guide, it needs to be in the right order or else you will go for a bad end.
You also get the choice to skip this minigame but what is the point if you need
to do all of them in a single run to get the bonus cg's, otomate y u do this..

Opening song is by ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D which is awesome I can not skip it not once, also
one of the members(U) voices one of the sub characters, Sanada Masayuki and for what its worth
he does a ok job but you can tell the guy is no seiyuu and otomate should have hired someone else.
Good thing is outside of say Shingen's route he barely get any lines...!

 Pro's
- Interesting story.
- Likeable cast of characters.
- Art, its beautiful also everyone had the same amount of CG's.
- Every route is unique/character focused.
- Decent in length.

Con's
- Inconsistent Heroine.
- Story feels unfinished, hint at a bigger picture.
- 長い and at times a drag, sometimes it felt like its been ages since the last choice.
-  There was maybe one music track that  iffed me also some SFX really eh... esp doki sound.
- No lip sync/moving mouths.

For play order, I started with Nagamasa-sama since it was recommended on the official blog
and let's just say it feels like most natural choice but honestly it was most boring.
Nagamasa > Shingen > Hanbei > Nobunaga > Katsuie.
Note,Nobunaga route won't unlock till after Hanbei whom is locked till 2nd+ play
Just use the same playorder I used... and you'll be fine if not I recommend Shingen for whenever
you want to relax and Katsuie for last...  because his route is overall balanced and dat twist!
which was a fun way to end the game even tho its very self-contained.
ăŸăŸ 民し ćŒ·ă ăȘれる。。。
If I had to sum up how the routes were without spoilers it'd be like this:
Nagamasa - as dry as a desert but he can be surprisingly sweet.
Shingen - a refreshing oasis resort that heals your soul.
Hanbei - a cold summer breeze in a surprisingly あ぀い summer which turned into a typhoon.
Nobunaga - Spoils you in the beginning, still have to sit through a dry lecture
but  hey atleast you're rewarded with something cute in the end.
Katsuie - The rollercoaster ride you never knew you wanted but got anyway.

In short, a lot of time and money was put in to this game, even side characters got their own CG's
and everyone had an even amount of CG's too, some parts may leave a lot to be desired, sadly
to me the two poster boys routes (Nagamasa and Nobunaga) were the least satisfying of all.
I thought the heroine was alright she's no doormat and will stand up and fight
 against her brother but she does have her own personal insecurities considering
the time period some things may be laughable but whatever its fantasy, its not a kusoge.
Even if this game started out ok it was quite long compared to recent otomege I played, the text
is never ending and I feel spoiled by Koei's otomege in which scenes are short and to the point
but its not that long really, the length is about average.
 I say I prefer longer games but this really stretches itself and Nagamasa route was especially
difficult, as expected it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine which considering
the genre is good but could you make it a tad shorter? or more fluff kthnx.
Add fuel to the fire that Nagamasa and Nobunaga suffer from the just when it got good it already the end.
At times it was hard to see where the plot was going in the first few hours since it was so peaceful.
I'm all for a well thought out plot but at times I was just sitting there ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°) ok get on with it
like yeah thanks for going into hideyoshi and nene's love life which got nothing to do with plot. >_>

Sadly some parts feel unfinished to me... also what was the point of introducing that shota Hon
in Yukimura's ato gatari? did I miss something, now I am curious and after thinking about other things. I thought this is only the first part in a greater story also the ending of Alan's ato gatari...
Sigh... its just total sequel bait its not even funny! if there will actually be a sequel who knows
they may have as well have been baiting us, or give us some sort of confirmation he's OK.
However they did an excellent job in creating a unique otomege based on the sengoku period.
 I recommend it to those who like the genre of old timey fantasy games and do not mind
fantasy elements intruding the historical part however if you prefer shorter games
and dislike historic fantasy this may not be for you, its not that long though.
TBH I like it more than Juuzaengi because certain characters cannot be saved
but if you liked Juuza I think you'd still enjoy this since both aren't serious historic adaptations.
Also if you thought Onii-sama would be a crazy yandere I am sorry to disappoint because he was relatively tame.
Again I recommend it if you have the patience for ye olde style games...
7/10
Loses points for dull poster boy routes, but the other 3 were enjoyable. 
ă“ăźéĄ˜ă„ć±Šă‘ăȘら。。。?
Okay usual spoilers after the jump, this game was long and for some routes such as Nagamasa
 I couldn't be bothered to write much... so thats more of a general opinion.
Just so you know Hanbei and Katsuie's part had the most spoilers I try to summarize but
the game is much more detailed so it'll look like crap cuz I still left a shit ton out.