Fandisc to Collar x Malice! and I dare say it deserved one
since the original was more focused on plot than romance(not to say there wasn't)
they did still balance it out quite nicely though! it did deserve a better look into the future
especially for characters such as Shiraishi because we all know he deserved it the most.
Content wise its just the usual after stories and something dedicated to Adonis.
Pretty sure they followed up on that one bad end as well but I did not
get my hopes up for anything good to happen out of that.
Pro's
- After stories of decent length, varied endings for everyone.
- Art, hanamura just gets better and better!
- It's got the volume, more than tierblade(unfortunately so).
Con's
- ED theme be nice but its not in sync with credits and just cuts off/repeats, sloppeh.
Sysem Interlude: this further details events about X day; where some dude named
Chisato Tachibana brings up some suspicious facts to Ichika and the others. After story: continues on from interlud; the after story of the two. Adonis: Basically another side of the story. Side story/what if's: self explanatory.
First of all it is nice they go out of their way to give us another look to the whole
X day thing as a refresher especially after two years and have a nice movie
such as the story thus far at the start of everyones after.
Honestly I feel a lil conflicted about this FD most of this comes from interlude
it felt pretty low effort at trying to start something. -_-
The interlude part aside everything else is 👌 still the same guys we all know and love, no OOC.
The interlude was interesting as there are different paths to take, I went to unlock all
afters before actually doing them since it would only be a hassle to go back and forth.
Unfortunately nothing was truly interesting... it did expand on certain things
but the only good thing about this FD is the fanservice after story.
The after stories are of decent length, there's not much plot to it but the scenario
was interesting nonetheless it focused more on their relationship though.
TL;DR its recommended if you liked CxM and want to see more to the relationships.
If worried about quality/value of the fandisk, imo its more worth it than Tierblade's FD
which only convoluted the plot revelation after revelation but CxM manages to actually clear it up.
9/10
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 languageis 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.
Yep... its time for another fandisk but in all honestly I don't consider myself being that much of a ninkoi fan anymore and sincerly questioned why I even bothered.😅 Like I expected more fanservice but got an actual story about them maturing...
I tried not to be too negative and my final score reflects this, this FD is just fine for what it is.
I had mostly a great time with the original but I am sort of eh at coming back to it after so long...
because after like a month or two I wrote off its vita port as a one off game.
The original was far from perfect as well like it having copypasta problems with Takaie all being like you got no chance make your time! and their being meromero shenanigans with Kaede
slowly falling for her partner of her choice said partners all following a trope too.
I still liked it because of it was brainless fun stuff...
Honestly speaking this FD feels more like a sequel there's fanservice but honestly I found the
graduation story for everyone lacklustre some nice moments here and there but it wasn't worth it
overall. Well I shouldn't complain atleast it got a FD right? i'll just do a general review like the original.
Pro's
- Everyones getting married... yeehaw.
- More shinobi action if thats your thang, (honestly in a FD I do not want this).
- Music, its nothing memorable but it fits the scene most of the time.
Con's
Art, its still gorgeous but there's a noticeable difference... did the original artist really work on this?
- This is subjective but the overall writing, fluff, comedy all could've been better, overall its meh.
- Too many characters... basically only do your favorite(s).
Most of my rage/discomfort comes from the facts that originally Ninkoi is a very fanservicey game
with the plot sort of just being there, with the FD I expected more fanservice but got
more plot instead to the point this doesn't classify as a FD but a sequel instead.
They did it backwards usually its story centric game > fluffy FD afterwards...
At this point I just feel Ninkoi was one of those one time experiences there was little need
for more but we got it anyway albeit a bit too late for some.
Regarding the OP theme... its okay but I don't like it that much and they should've
gotten the old singer back. I got nothing against Hisano but her voice just does not fit
with the background music, I liked her work for shirotokuro but here? not really.
The theme of this installment is graduation... honestly speaking I barely remember
much about the original cept some small details and I did not replay it either
because other games have been taking up my time and honestly I didn't find a reason.
Not that plot was ninkoi's strong point yes it has one, the original story(psp) all seemed like a light-hearted fluffy otome game to me never taking itself too seriously.
Length? about the same as the original we got fanservice and ''plot'' both of which are
fine but compared to say KBO FD the times I really laughed out loud could be count on a single
hand. The plot varies depending on character but I didn't find the writing to be exciting
because redundancy re: exams/graduating and marriage, its good to see them mature
but I expected more fanservice and was let down. Disclaimer: no not everything is the same, every guy has their own story of maturing/problems etc its just some stuff gets predictable to me.
System wise its just select after story... standard VN stuff if you do well in that
mero-mero practice thingy you unlock bonus stories for one of them I am annoyed
because one of them is a flashback scenario which would be better before their after stories.
The shenanigans is why I liked ninkoi to begin with but ever since setsugekka koi emaki
it feels like otomate is trying to make this series take itself more seriously like expand
on the setting in detail but stuff I came here for like fanservice felt dry and/or watered down
compared to the original which is just such a shame.
I expected a fandisc but got a sequel with more plot/lore instead of fanservice.
That aside everyone gets marriage ends! wow thanks no not really, suddenly I appreciate
it when only one or two/three characters gets one, I guess I first realized
this with Geten no Hana but happy endings come in all sorts of variations like marriage
would be icing on the cake sure but when there's 10 characters some difference in the end would be nice. Sometimes I was just like they're just gonna get married in the end... maybe its better to skip lol. It is sad if your fav doesn't get one but isn't it nicer to fantasize a little...?
I think each after story is about 3-5 hours, most of which is spend with them graduating
and working together on a mission, marrying and sexy times(maybe).
Every character basically still has their charm and the comedy's decent
but I feel that's lacking overall it may still be nice to wrap things up though.😅
Its funny there's indeed a story to ninkoi but here I am... drawn to the humor, shameless stuff
and the colorful cast of characters, I don't think the core story is bad I just never expected
otomate to get serious about setting and stuff with setsugekka koi emaki's additional ninjas.
I mostly did one after story a day for some such as Ukita or Tadehito it took me two days
because simple put I lost motivation and they were a drag in general.
Had there never been a FD err I mean sequel I probably wouldn't have cared... I feel like the past
one and a half week have mostly been an exquisite waste of time except for a few characters. Going to add this right here and I feel its going to be my trademark line for everything otome now its impossible to like every character especially in a character game like this.
Sooo I came here for a fandisk with fluff not a sequel with more plot, its like otomate doesn't know
the difference and whatever plot there was felt stretched out to me, completely uninteresting like
I couldn't even keep focused and just let it auto play and I still understood it if I zoned out.
Of course there's a few nice moments but yeah that's it almost not worth to write about.
Atleast Garaiya's as adorable and chuuni as ever even outside of his own after story. =w=
Sadly the seal on Kaede's jutsu breaking was just an excuse to give us this poor excuse of a FD... haha round two? why not! except this time with actual character development.
This is why I can still rate it a 6 out of 10 because even if not what I come here for THEY TRIED.
Depending on how much of a ninkoi fan you are... you may enjoy this or you may not
if you're like me and its been too long its better to pass on it, its hard to write
my thoughts on this, the content in this FD(sequel) is just okay I enjoyed what I could, the end.
6/10 Its fine... might have been better if it came out sooner rather than later.
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. ~_~
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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.
I won't be bother to write much since I already said a lot in my review for the first game. Yume Akari is the sequel to Geten no Hana which continues from the grand finale and since the individual endings didn't matter I decided to let it rest before going into this but after four months and a depressing FD I decided its time to finish this! Like the prequel its not accurate to history to make it an otome game but they did a good job of sticking to some parts atleast. Anyway... Hotaru continues to serve Mitsuhide and protect Nobunaga from outside threats as the shield of Azuchi. What is Hotaru's dream? she will surely have one more chance to find it closeby to her.
Pro's
- Plot is okay...
- Every guy is still likeable.
- Art.
- Individual ED themes (though only Hanbei and Kanbei are new)
Con's
- Short, after one play the rest of the routes will fly by.
- Some of the previous guys routes feel like new/alternative versions.
- Annoying card minigame to replace 50% of the battles.
Yume Akari adds two new love interests Hanbei and Kanbei since the new story is centered on them and here comes the hard truth, without them there would be no sequel. The two come to investigate the shield of Azuchi while crashing at Hideyoshi's place... Ok since this is the spoiler free zone that all you will get out of me, this game plot is better found out on your own. Everyone else gets a route as well but like I explained before everything is reset till a certain point so for the old guys basically becomes an alternative take...a second chance or so to speak.
There's also this card game thing and well you win by get matching cards... this is actually to break the mold of having to only do the fighting minigame, its the only way to get flowers and incense now also unless you want challenge just play on easy I doubt anyone wants to bother doing it on higher difficulty and waste even more time on it. Especially on Momoji's route, lol. The old fighting minigame is still there for story fights but I can't help but question why the new one is needed for the kusumono(intruder) fights? oh well no use thinking about it. You can lvl up 3 stats, precog,kunai(more hits) and one that heals your health by using them in the new minigame, max lvl is 10 but there isn't much use for it unless you want to play it on higher difficulty which is not difficult just more annoying/time consuming.
The sequel like its prequel is a fairly short game, first play should take anywhere from 8 ~ 10 hours at most which is roughly the same as its prequel, 2nd+ will be done in 4~5 hours. You can also use incense during conversations with characters, which leads to some 🔥 scenes.
Too be honest I wasn't sure whom's route to do first so I just followed the same playorder as before. You can't do Nobuyuki on first play not sure about Hanbei but I do not recommend because spoilers. For first play just go with normal end or someone you're familair with other than that order does not matter. Personally it would be better to save the new routes for last... unless you are really curious and can't wait that long till you've done everyone if I had to recommed anything at all please do Momoji before Hanbei and Mitsuhide before Kanbei this'll be no problem if you save Hanbei and Kanbei for later.
My play order: Mitsuhide > Momojiji > Nobuyuki > Hashiba > Ranmaru > Ieyashu > Nobunaga > Hanbei >Kanbei.
For a guide just us Syrup26 and Choro for whatever Keywords you are missing.
In short for those not wanting to scroll down below, I recommend the sequel to Geten no Hana fans
but do not expect a true sequel but an extension of a story that couldn't be told back then.
Most of the original chara are just alternative routes anyway, the new after stories for them were nice though.
The sequel's story is okay but has some hilariously obvious things at times, I mean
who could that bamboo hat man be? he looks awfully familiar. 😕
This game has a lot of common scenes and like I mentioned 2nd+ play will fly by even quicker
than its prequel since there is less to do and stuff, regarding common scenes its honestly
not that different from the average visual novel since somethings will never change.
I still love how most Koei games have their own solution to the predicament at the end
even at Harutoki6 Gentou Rondo I enjoyed that(despite me headdesking at times). Also remember how I said no one ever actively pursues the heroine in the prequel? Haha... that didn't last long as it was obv Kanbei was interested in Kikyou(Hotaru) but don't worry there's a plot reason for this to explain his behavior still while Kanbei shows his interest, he atleast knows when to back off, so yeah its not bad.
Moving on I thoroughly enjoyed the new characters routes and sadly I think they were the most
worthwhile content? sure it was nice to help Nobuyuki or Ieyashu again or spend time with Ranmaru
but I'd honestly wish for a fandisk and get to see them under more relaxed circumstances.
Its really sad the stars of this game are Hashiba, Hanbei and Kanbei though everyone else did have
an enjoyable route but to me it felt like most of the effort went into the new routes.
For score it gets an 9/10 from me, it gets less points from me due to me getting nostalgic of some
of the routes characters had in the prequel and the new route feeling like an alternative. Maybe I nagged a little but I really did enjoy it overall... and still recommend this port because no matter how you look at it the characters and plot are well written.
I'm a little sad its over though, Yume Akari is probably the last entry... and did a good job of making it feel complete.
There's spoilers below, some sections more than others but i'm sure you've
realized you can read the full summary and character background in detail at koei wiki
and so I won't bother to be detailed and will drop things out/ summarize it in my own way if at all.
The sequel to Harukanaru Toki no Naka De 6, given how I really enjoyed the original
I couldn't help but be surprised we got a sequel instead of a Fandisk because of that this game
takes place after the grand finale and now I have a sequel I never asked for but got anyway. Since this is a sequel, if you haven't played the prequel maybe skip this game
since it relies on past events and one can't begin to understand why there is this wall
between Darius and Azusa, sure they'll recap general knowledge and expect
you to be able to remember on your own.
Sadly this game hasn't had the greatest of receptions which made me scared...so after
I finished KgK momoyo tsuzuri I went into this right away because I had to know for myself
and in the end I sorta agree with the japanese impressions this is a very flawed sequel
an unnecessary one even, pretty sure they rushed some parts of it
in short; its just an average sequel to please fans but it wasn't at all a necessary one.
The game plays just like its prequel, you still have mission/goal from time to time
and you must balance the visits to the guy which end you're going for once again.
Also for those playing without a guide be careful with your choices
you could very well mess up and make it impossible to get the guys next event.
The battle system is improved but still easy, you're rewarded for finishing battles fast
and evolving talismans is a pain in the neck but once you're done with everyone said
items to evolve talismans will be useless, also this time you get to choose which location to use
as a home base, like the demon-clans mansion or the cafe Haikara which Murasame frequently visits.
If you pick one that isn't tied to the character which route you're going for
you can miss a few sub events during that playthrough.
Pro's
- Arima/Shuhei route is better, tbh most if anything the indivual event/route is only worthwhile thing.
- Wan-chan is Totez Adorbs.
Con's
- Story seems interesting at first but turns into a convoluted mess...
- System, its like an rpg with a bit of time managment, So if you're not up for that avoid.
- Long common route not much individual, overall its a short game.
- Deus ex machina.
- Unvoiced sugar-content scenarios as paid DLC. (눈_눈)
There's also a demo available on JP PSN so if you have second thoughts
about the sequel please try it out, it contains the entire first chapter.
My play order:
Darius > Arima &> Shuhei > Tora &> Kohak > Ludo &> Kudan > Murasame > Man
& Normal > Toudou & Grand end.
I mostly focus on two characters per playthrough making the total number of runs 6 or 7. Because its easier to do than the prequel... and you have too much time on your hands anyway.
For a guide/walkthrough I recommend: http://neoromance.info/haruka/rondo or Half-adder.
I recommend going for only one character and the normal end first play, try viewing some
of Man's events till you hit a wall and don't forget to focus on upgrading your talismans.
If you were to only do one per play you just have more free time to focus on upgrading
and or capturing every onryou summon so its not bad either way. There's no trophy for capturing pokedemons this time but I did it anyway.
You get some new scenes during the prologue on 2nd play from Man's point of view as a sign that his
route has unlocked, however I do not recommend doing it till you're done with everyone else.
Preferably do Man before the toudou/grand finale the order of the rest doesn't really matter
may as well get Darius out of the way early(no offense to mai husbando but it wasn't that great).
As for expectations for the routes themselves, I didn't have much of that and I'm glad
Arima and Shuhei got better routes than in the prequel because they deserved it
though I still think Darius had a more well rounded route back then than here. :(
The game is much shorter than its prequel and I went through the routes without
needing to say meh I don't feel like it now and go do something else. Also
For those wondering if you need to do every character combination technique in one play no you don't.
The list resets, but rest assured you can get them all over multiple play so best to keep notes! The most I got was 20... but I was glad to realize you don't need to go that far.
This wasn't that bad but was it a necessary? Hmm... I honestly can't answer that.
Was saving Chiyo back then really such a good idea? maybe there was a consequence
somewhere someplace in a distant time that the two miko's and the hachiyou isn't aware of.
You'll find that answer in this sequel, warning that there are full spoilers further down below.
In short I give it a 5.2/10, I had a great time in most routes and most of them were enjoyable -event
wise- but it isn't all that great to sit through multiple times, the routes are essentially new versions, to
give us another opportunity, yeah some route brought up legit issues but I honestly wanted a continuation of the love ends but everything was reset to them being friends in this game, for some character it worked out for others it was a drag, you know I could put the prequel down
for a few weeks and continue later but since this is shorter and easier to play through
I couldn't and I am sorta glad for that. Also the plot wasn't engaging enough its like
they forcible created a problem when there was none which lead to one thing and the other.
The missions were less, too easy and not rewarding at all basically the first half
of the game is spend in the most boring ways like i said atleast the chara events made up for that.
The DLC controversy makes me roll my eyes and it makes me sad
Koei has taken such steps and one thing is for certain I won't support any of it.
This is a visual novel with some light simulation that shouldn't be the victim of addon content.
That aside I enjoyed most if not all the routes, except the grand finale as Kudan's end was much
better, it was pretty underwhelming this time yeah I am sure it worked out but it was a mess
I prefer Kudan's end over it which felt like it was the most complete ending in the whole game.
5.2/10 PS: Wan-chan is a maji tenshi.
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more spoiler babbles after the jump
