Bustafellows - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Extend.
Platform: PC/Switch.
Official Site:https://pqube.co.uk/bustafellows/(ENG)

and https://joqrextend.co.jp/extend/bustafellows/(JP)

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25197
Release date: 2021-07-30.

Bustafellows is an otome game that shares its setting with sidekicks! which I remember
as being alright sadly that game is PS Vita only and as of now hasn't been brought over or ported.

Good thing is you don't need to play that game to enjoy Bustafellows!
I am playing the ENG version as I bought it together with CupiPara but this has just been
backlogged till now. Due to the developers not wishing spoilers to be spread on the internet
which I am sure is only about livetweeting and preventing it being up on youtube/twitch in full
and TBH they have that right so I will be doing my best to try respecting that.

Pro's
- Interesting story, very easy to get hooked! great cast of chara's.
- Voiced heroine!
- Gorgeous artwork, outstanding visual scene direction.
- BGM fits the scenes/mood.

Con's
- At times there would be vocal lines but no text displayed, especially in movies.

- Some grammatical errors, text breaking out of the box.

- Not being able to save during non-timed choices.

 

 

The protagonist Teuta is a journalist who can for a short period of time
leap into the past of someone else. The story takes place in new sieg
and she tries to save a lawyer named Limbo.

Regarding the time-leap thing, I think it was well done and reminded me of harukanaru 3.

I liked how they actually went into some cause&effect & is it right to just go and  change things

at some point and it didn't turn into some gag or question chara's intelligence like in kuro no kiseki 2.

So imho Bustafellows did the time leaping thing right! it also doesn't happen too much either

so I think it sits on the fine line of yea its some kind of cheat ability but its not overused

which is why it was ten-times more bearable to me than in kuro 2.

As a heroine though, Teuta was a real treat! its rare to have such a proactive protagonist

that is already an adult but not quite have had a chance of romance untill now.

I think out of the older heroines she was surprisingly real so it was easy to relate to her!

Teuta didn't feel like she was immature or anything to me. She was well-written.

The only thing that is hilarious about her is the lack of cooking skills.......

I did like how Teuta had a sprite that showed her from the guys POV at times!

its even better than just a small icon next to the text, really makes her feel part of the story.

From the start I found it easy to get hooked and unable to put down the game!

the scenes were interesting and the pacing was pretty good and that was just chapter 1.

I think they had a very solid foundation here that you'd definitely be interested

to see what would happen next and honestly you probably don't want any spoilers either

with these type of games so like psychedelica its best to stay spoiler free and enjoy on your own!

 

I think my favourite character would be Crow, Limbo is okay and definitely husbando material

but Helvetica and Mozu kind of rubbed me the wrong way so i'd definitely had to

wait for their routes to get a better picture of their character(s) and well Shu.. uh maybe not?

To my surprise I ended up liking Shu a lot more than my initial impression as well as Mozu

its just Helvetica that ended up being my least liked! ah some things aren't meant to be. 

The characters all had nice chemistry with each other but romance was not really

the focus not at first atleast. Without the epilogues I definitly it was lacking.

The length was alright, its neither too short nor too long for me to get bored!

The system was pretty standard, text skipping is slow but there's a skip to the next choice option!

only problem is not being able to save during choices, like I'd understand during the few

timed ones but there were more non-timed choices where you should be able to save but can't.

 

Now for some of my dislikes...  I will be honest, for the majority of the common route this didn't

really feel much like an otome game but more like a crime drama with handsome guys.

At the very least it was interesting and I felt motivated to continue! The other thing

was how this game seems to have an obsession with the back of characters heads like

I'd prefer the face and see no reason to show the back of their heads. At first I thought

its part of some aesthetic and in some scenes I understood why they did it but there were

moments I was like idk why're they showing their back??? weird.

The UI while looking neat at a glance, was kind of clunky like i said above

you couldn't save during choices. Also I didn't understand why the epilogue just didn't

play normally I almost restarted the route and skipped out on some juicy epilogue romance.

Font was nice but I didn't understand why the text errors in Mozu and Crow's route hadn't

been fixed yet, sure human errors happen but a line breaking from text? that's pretty major

especially considering this game already had a patch. The localization is still pretty great 

but even after patches, there were a few misses and I think the final scene

in the game lacking subtitles is definitely a huge miss.

Let's not talk about the Fondue is a dessert incident... (its not, its a main-dish)

Still don't get me wrong with these few gripes I still think this was an excellent visual novel

and even if you don't usually play otome games I would still recommend it!

Granted I think this type of otome may still not be for everyone and it will depend

what you're in the mood for, this game wasn't exactly light-hearted as some routes especially

those recommended for later but I think the game as a whole, the themes do kind of lean on

the dark/heavy side and are definitely not seen in the run-of-the-mill otome game.

So if you don't mind that and want a mystery otome game/VN with a decent plot, fun

characters and good production values go for it!

 8.5/10

 

Since this is a mystery type otome game I will be following the recommended

play order of Limbo > Shu > Helvetica > Mozu > Scarecrow > True.

Even if all are self-contained and you can do whatever, this order does make

the most sense so I will recommend the same order of play.

There will be route babbles after the jump! there won't be any spoilers due to the developers wishes

and its just a small blurb of whether I liked their route or not without context.

The CG's shared in this post are also sample CG's from the official japanese/english websites.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Limbo.
CV: KENN.

  Ah Limbo, honestly I found him to be very likeable, perhaps the easiest to come to like out of 

the whole gang. The story in his route suited his position as a lawyer and there were some

nice twist and turns. Romance wise it was okay, the epilogue was a nice way to wrap it up too!

without the epilogue I would definitely be found wanting cuz the romance in the route itself

which was barely enough. Oh well it was still pretty good for being the poster boi!

I didn't find him particularly evil as he still has morals but I guess

he does fall into the if evil why sexy category.😅

Ido wonder why Limbo had like the most bad ends while the others all had like one...
~

Shu.
CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa.

 AT FIRST I wasn't really that interested in doing Shu's route but it was interesting to say the least!

maybe a little bit more mature? hmm idk romance wise there were some cute moments throughout.

Anyway I ended up liking the story AND the romance more than the one I did prior!

for some reason this route did feel a bit short but maybe that is because I no longer have to

sit through the whole common route which leads me to see how short the routes really are.

In so far I do think the pacing has been pretty good and honestly I had a hard time

putting the game down so it wasn't boring at all! How did I went from being

meh about Shu to oh no! he's cute?! I dig it. Nobody knows except my kokoro.
~

Helvetica.
CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki.

 Another guy I didn't exactly like, in fact most of the time he made me feel uncomfortable.

Helvetica is a plastic surgeon and a bit flirty, the part that is unlikable for me is

that despite being able to put himself in others shoes often just comes across as rude.

So I was atleast hoping the route would make me understand him better... and it did

its just that romance wise it wasn't my thing! like it was amusing to watch but I just

didn't like the constant teasing which just turned Teuta into a tsunderella.

I didn't mind Helvetica's teasing at times but I think they went overboard... which just turned me off.

I think the only thing which was great for me was his backstory and I can sympatize with him

cuz before this route I just wanted to spit fire at him and now i'm like oh no baby~

its just that despite i'm able to care, its not like Helvetica is my worst boy or anything? hmph!

The romance only really became bearable for me in the epilogue... its better late than never!

Idk if this even makes sense but I am just not really feeling the romance

in this game but I do enjoy seeing Teuta end up with them.

~

Mozu.
CV: Jun Fukuyama.

A coroner, he is pretty logical/theoretical... at times Mozu did really make me laugh

cuz his most of the jokes are unintended but I think Mozu knew at times what he was saying

its just that other people may be like uhm at his sense of humor. Mozu is oddly relatable.

Romance wise there wasn't much time for any and his route is pretty heavy from the get-go

buuuuuuut there was definitely chemistry between Mozu and Teuta so it was still nice to see

them grow closer! it did feel more slowburn compared to some of the others

but in the end I thought that the romance was a little lacking, yea its there but not by much!

The epilogue also had a reveal which literally made me go like oh my god?! why now...

at the very least it ended alright but it pretty much ruined the mood which is sad

and let me tell you, this route was already heavy, romance wise it was thin and stretched

which may have been appropiate? but idk I sure wanted some more time

with Mozu since the epilogue was just barely enough.
~

Scarecrow.
CV: Shirai Yuusuke.

 The boss of the underworld... who also just happens to be a complete clown

and is shy as a button. Crow was always fun to see tbh even when it not his route.

Overall Crow's route was interesting even if it started like are you guys seriously

going to do that? in terms of  story/romance it felt satisfying more so than other routes.

If I had to be super honest, despite me enjoying it, it did feel a bit all over the place...

also I was led to believe this route was heavy but idk that wasn't the case it actually felt

quite light in comparison to some of the stuff in Helvetica or Mozu.

The epilogue was icing on the cake and perfect way to finish it...

I do have some questions but eh if there was never a sequel or a FD i'd be satisfied with this one.
~ 

 

True end.

Well this was it, if you had any remaining questions about stuff this answers it all!

It was pretty fast paced and intense, saying anything else will ruin the suspense

so i'll just say it was a good way to wrap up the game.

There are also various side stories that add some more depth to side characters

or a little reference to sidekicks! as well as a another mini route which

are all a treat if you can't get enough of bustafellows.

TBH this route felt like being held at gunpoint while the reveals keep coming

with little time to actually process all that by the end I  was literally like ...MAN.

Also there was something that bothered me which has nothing to do with said plot, its

this game claiming fondue is a dessert??? i'm pretty sure fondue is a main-dish not a dessert.

A quick google search confirmed as much but yea that combined with a few remaining

errors basically sealed the deal and I wish this game had a little bit more care put into it.

I really dislike the final scene in the game doesn't even have subtitles... which just removed

any context from the last moments cuz I couldn't translate what was being said fast enough.

Oh I guess Teuta's powers were never really explained but I figured just like the heroine

from sidekicks! is that she is more or less just born with it and that's it.

~

 

Fav route:

Crow > Shu > Limbo > Mozu > Helvetica.

 

Fav character:

Crow > Mozu > Limbo > Shu > Helvetica.

Final thoughts!

Couldn't find a better picture of that artwork so have the limited edition cover instead!

 Honestly I thought Bustafellows was a pretty good otome game!

Teuta was amazing and she had spunk, was pro-active and voiced,  she is easily

among my list of favorite otome game heroines. Most of the guys were likeable

and if they weren't their routes sealed the deal, like for example in the case of Shu. I love

seeing the cast interact with each other too!  I also like the difference in swimsuits or the name

of the cat being different everytime, it all felt like flag checker to signal you are on this guy's route!

This game also had some pretty high production values and the cg's were all great.

Music was on point too and fit the mood/vibes. Story was interesting and I had

a hard time putting the game down at times. The only bad part is that the personal routes

are all self-contained to the guys own issues which lead to some plot threads being put

on-hold and forgotten till the truth route but eh plenty of otome games do this too

so this did not surprise me at all at this point. The localization was fine, font was easy to read

but there were some errors especially in Mozu's route and Crow had text breaking out

or the fondue incident like seriously that's a main-course not a dessert.

This game has been out for a year and i'm surprised they didn't even fix that...

 I get that its an oversight but this is stuff you'd expect from aksys

no amount of no spoilers past ch1 is going to save you from hiding this!

The final scene in the game has no subtitles... which IMO is a huge oversight.

Other gripes would be the not being able to save during a choice, there weren't 

enough timed choices that would make it valid not to be able to save during normal choices.

The obsessions with the back of the heads was lame, sure it made sense in some scenes

but there were plenty I was like why am I looking at the back of Teuta's head?????

I guess its more of a you are there as a reader or aesthetic kind of thing huh.

Finally I disliked how the capablanca stuff was copy&pasted in all of the routes, the plot thread

was never mentioned again there anyway, being forced to sit through it every route was tiresome.

8.5/10

Anyway gripes aside Bustafellows gets my recommendation if you're up for a mystery themed

otome game with a voiced heroine and don't mind it having some heavy topics

while it also not disrespects your time in terms of what it has to offer.

Sadly not all routes felt as well rounded and the heavy stuff outweighed it all 

like the case with Mozu, but that's just my opinion. Here's to the sequel!

Next game? idk yet but i'm not feeling otomates upcoming tsuitsui like don't get me wrong

but it feels generic as hell, from the plot outline to the CG's! which remind me of some PS2 era otome game. I hope to be proven wrong and that game actually turns out alright but hmm... not a good look.

Himehibi ~Princess Days~ Review

ひめひび -Princess Days-

Game: [Himebibi ~Princess Days~] 

Genre: Otome Visual Novel. 

Developer/publisher: Takuyo.

Platform: PS2, PSP, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.takuyo.co.jp/products/himehibi/himehibivita/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v1640

Release date: 2017-07-20

After the previous disaster otomege I wanted a more normal otome game that doesn't take itself
too seriously with light drama and since this is like the only recently (re)released game in my backlog I went for it. Being a Takuyo game, no one probably gives 2 cents about their games... but here I am!

Its pretty fun despite the cliche setting of girl goes to all boys school...
I went into this with little expectations which was probably for the best.
You've probably realized this ain't a story heavy otome game, it does have a story, some members
of the board of directors don't even want the heroine to go to this elite boys only school.
Some developments actually surprised me but its not much, I liked how every route
tried it slightly different. The language used isn't that difficult, they don't
 use that many Kanji so this is perfect for beginners but keep in mind
having a fair grasp of the language is still necessary.

Pro's
- Comedy, (mostly) light-hearted shojo-like otome game.
- Great cast of characters.
- Art, old but it still looks great.
 - Read text marking, no copy pasted scenes and can skip over with ease.

Con's
- Can't skip minigames on 2nd+ play.
- Have to hold R button to read skip.
- Repetitive scenario.

System... typical choices to make but also you need to do a minigame and succeed to give
out flyers to people so Aizaki can become the school idol(thank you Ken for this brilliant keikaku).
If you fail the dude may never notice you- nah I am kidding about that.
I still think the minigame solely exists to break the mold of only having to read
because I really don't see the point outside of Ken's subplot, it quickly became a nuisance
of having to hand out flyers and score 500~ points. Okay its not that hard because
it becomes memorization game, if blond bishonen, short black haired kid
or bandana dude show up on the screen its ok to press the button really early. ^^;
There's another minigame in the 2nd half to give fanservice... but you can get away
 with button mashing a little so its less of a hassle to get the needed 1000+ points.

Common route itself is pretty long, the latter part is shared with another character
but the routes aren't long its of average length, doesn't beat around the bush!
There's a flag system something like Geten no Hana or Harutoki, if you ignore
 characters it won't get you their ending. A downside... only way to skip is to hold
the R button but for some reason they automatically put it on skip all
from the start I don't even know if there was a readskip.
I wish Takuyo would have upgraded this game a little because this is so 2006-ish
well atleast the text already read was marked so it was easy to stop skipping. 
However I am sure I missed a new line appearing here or there... sometimes
I can't be bothered to go back for it, a line of text or two is not going to be a big deal.

The art... it doesn't look like it belongs in the current generation
but is it bad? not at all, infact its beautiful and fine the way it is
besides the characters still look handsome especially Rinto.
Music fits the mood... its not as bad as ye olde idea factory bgms that's for sure
as for the OP I let it play once or twice but then I skipped it.

In short:
If you are looking for an otome game with an amazing ''story'' I suggest you look elsewhere
himehibi is anything but that, its a simple but classy modern day shojo-like story.
Compared to the last otome game I played Aizaki was actually a decent heroine
Aizaki will speak her mind and isn't a doormat constantly moaning about her problems
she can't fix, she's pretty head-strong but that doesn't mean she's not allowed to be weak

or have girl problems.
The first route took me a while to finish maybe its because early on each ingame
day was relatively short and a bit of a repeat but I am glad it didn't go on longer than needed.
Overall this game's length is average but when I think about it its just right, most will fly by
on 2nd+play the unskippable minigames started to annoy me by route 4 but to be honest
they're not that bad at all.😅 The characters are all great tho except Kitsuneme-san😡
 they threw in a good dose of comedy I often found myself snickering at a piece of dialogue
so yeah it has fun, serious and sad moments but all in all it is light-hearted.
 You could say this game is like prince of stride except much older.
A turn off could be like two of the romantic interests are cousins to the protagonist
and she had a crush on one of them from the start but atleast they're not blood related.
 Ahaha this excuse will never get old will it?
That aside I still found them likeable so it didn't bother me that much... like I have seen worse.
I suppose I could critize the subplot of becoming the school idol and the minigame it
brings with it but eh... its part of the game and if you remove it you'd be left with very little.
If you are going to play this otome game I recommend to start with Naohito the rest of the order
doesn't matter just try to do the characters that are paired up with each other right after the other.
Naohito > Masaya > Hikaru > Yamato > Shinobu > Rinto; should be a good order. 

The game ends where it should, there's plenty room for more but part of me is glad
Takuyo doesn't really milk their games. Yes there's a himehibi 2 but it has a completely
different protagonist and some returning faces. That aside this didn't really leave that big
of an impression on me but it was still refreshing. Himehibi is perfect
for beginners/those who don't expect much out of otome games.

Since this is just a straight port there's nothing new or updated except now it can be enjoyed
on the clean psvita screen so if one has already played the ps2/psp version there's little reason
to get it unless you're a fan, ''i'd recommend himehibi if one want an otome game
with fun characters, a simple story that doesn't try to be something it is not''.

You should probably stop reading here if you don't want spoilers.

Black Wolves Saga Weib und Schwarz - Review

Game: [Black Wolves Saga Bloody Nightmare and Last Hope.]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Otomate.

Platform: PC. PSP, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.otomate.jp/bws/wus/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v8095

Release date: 2017-1-26

Vita port of BWS contains both games, they're relatively the same in terms of content.
This will be a general review and i'll try to cover both games
so don't expect synopsis or summaries since you should be able to read that elsewhere
I'll try to write more for others but eh I wasn't very motivated for some.
For the sake of all that is unholy I decided to start with BN because it was the first
to be released back then, may as well keep it consistent shall we? and well all I can say is that
I am glad I got this out of my backlog since I got it out of sheer curiosity.
TBH for BN all I remember is nazi cats and an angry wolf fighting each other
over a woman called Elvira they once liked but met an unfortunate end and the hatred
went on for a couple of years, how unlucky for Fiona to be the split image? \(⌒‿⌒)/
Sadly Fiona was engaged to Mejojo since she was little, he's way older than her too! what a pedo.
The main focus of BN is the cats... while LH focus on the wolves
 so it obvious the others sorta get the shaft in the game they're not the focus of.

Unlike the previous game I played this game was better in its overall presentation?
BN had a powerful opening, LH was slower and more otome-ish either way
this game is like a rollercoaster it starts off great then slows down and before you know
 shit went down because come on you knew it was gonna happen it just a matter of when.
Without spoiling that basically how the rest went down too... 😅
People weren't kidding when they said this game had an overall decent plot but uh
I had a hard time categorizing BN as an otome game untill I got to Julian, lol.

Pro's
- Interesting world and story.
- Most characters are interesting but some...
- Art.
- Bgm.

Con's
- Long common route, skip fest on 2nd+ play.
- Read skip was 2slow...
- The otome game bit may leave to be desired, felt more like straight-forward vn at times
and romance wasn't the focus I guess the twistedness was.
- If you don't like abuse stay away from Bloody Nightmare.
- Auger.

The OP is great, but oh boy that bias...

Well the bgm was stellar, A++voice acting and distinct art style, the narrative
at BN was quite brutal and shocking, most characters all seemed to be pretty twisted
but I can't help but be interested in them, sasuga rejet.
There's not much hope of romance with some of them? but I could already tell
this was not the main focus of the game, the intriguing story and dark fantasy theme was.
Heroine is ok considering her upbringing little did she know her peaceful life would turn
 into hell after all of that, can't help but feel bad for her not being able to do much.
 That said I liked how Fiona was in Mejojo's bad end at LH she was able to end him
since he was schizo and she didn't want to pretend to be someone she is not.
whoops did I just spoil something.. oh I guess I did glad it wasn't full context.
Moving on the story seems to ride on past events and there were a lot of flashbacks
which made for a very long common route, BN took me like 3/4 days to get through
also don't get me started on the switching of POV at times it felt like a regular VN but it seemed
LH had more unique content for each chara except the twins borrowing from each other.

I guess Zara was my fav next to Julian but he felt out of place.

No annoying system to rage about this time unlike the last otomege I played
its just the same old VN stuff, BWS may seem long the first time and yes it is long
 but sadly the BWS games are mostly common route so on 2nd+ play it'll just fly by
with a few pit stops here and there, just pay attention during your first play...
the political intrigue and zodivia bits were pretty interesting and so was
Mejojo,Auger's, Rath's and Arles past but I thought it was paced badly at times.
I think the common was way too long, you know I can stand common routes like in KgK
with a decent route after it but BWS was literally 90% common 10% individual...
and it wasn't that romance oriented and at times I had a hard time questioning
why Fiona fell for certain characters coughMejojo&Augercough.
Most of the torture scenes in BN were on automode and couldn't help but laugh...
at how crazy they were, yeah its shocking but it didn't faze me much.

TL;DR Fans of dark fantasy & twisted characters do not want to miss out on this
even if the otome part of the game may leave to be desired, some routes or end
may just be too much and I had a hard time to categorize this as full otome but
I think its still worth it if one wants something different from the usual stuff.
Whatever floats yer boat I suppose... 
I'm actually glad I finished it so fast because I couldn't care about half of the dudes because some
were completely unlikeable and when they did become bearable hint Guillan it was too late for me to care.
7/10