Harukanaru toki no naka de 3 ultimate - DLC content

Didn't you know about this yet? now you do.

While I honestly love the game so far and my impressions are positive and since I haven't
post in a while since I am busy trying to full comp it I'll do a post trying to detail

 how shameless KOEI is trying to get money out of their loyal Harutoki 3 fanbase.

BTW the game itself sold great in its first week, partly due to nostalgia and it being full voiced! 

 Yeah I just do not wish to ruin my mostly positive review of this game so this'll be separate.

No one will bother reporting or share their own thoughts on this anyway...

The good out of all this? the scenarios are fully voiced compared to Harutoki 6 and Gentou rondo DLC.

The bad? obviously your wallet is going to cry a whole lot! really if you love the boys so much it will.

If you do not have a JP PSN and have the game on your PS Vita count yourself blessed. 

 ---

March 3 2017 Scenario pack 1 sequel scenario in spring.

(Masaomi, Yuzuru, Hinoe, Atsumori and Shirogane.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 800 yen.

You're laughing now but you'll regret it.

April 3 2017 Scenario pack 2 sequel in spring.

(Kurou, Benkei, Kagetoki, Ridvan and... Tomomori)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 800 yen.

Didn't preorder  the LE boxes? welp from this day you now have to pay 2500 yen

if you still want to romance Fujiwara no Yasuhira!

---

 

May 2 2017 Scenario to fight the black kirin... with after party for 900 yen.

Yeah its not like I wanted to fight you either...

 June 2 2017 Voice audio that was originally a first print for PSN DL version.

You can buy individually for 200 yen but the whole pack is 1800 yen.

(This one ought to be the most shameless, nice to see them sell it later but... ahahaha.)

---

July 3 2017 Sequel scenario in summer.

(Masaomi, Yuzuru, Hinoe, Atsumori.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 600 yen.

My himegimi... don't you want to spend more time with me? oh please do consider it.

August 3 2017 Sequel in summer.

 (Kurou, Benkei, Kagetoki, Ridvan.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 600 yen.

---

September 2 2017 Sequel scenario in fall.

(Masaomi, Yuzuru, Hinoe, Atsumori.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 600 yen.

Don't disappoint Atsumori-kun please.

October 3 2017 Sequel in fall.

 (Kurou, Benkei, Kagetoki, Ridvan.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 600 yen.

 ---

November 2 2017 Sequel scenario in winter.

(Masaomi, Yuzuru, Hinoe, Atsumori.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 600 yen.

Back again? i-i-its not like I wanted to spend more time with you b-baka.

 December 1 2017 Sequel in winter.

 (Kurou, Benkei, Kagetoki, Ridvan.)

You can buy individually for 180 yen but the whole pack is 600 yen.

 ---

 What can I do but sigh about all this? I can see they want to support this game in the long run

but I am so indifferent about this sort of stuff, I know its not that different from games but please this

reminds me of the Shining Resonance DLC schedule and my rant about how much it will cost you. 

However you can do the math yourself this time...   

I like how KOEI gave up on Shirogane and Tomomori's scenario's after the spring set dunno much

about Shirogane at the time of writing this but I have an unfavorable impression on Tomomori. 

I like supporting things I love and sometimes I won't bat and eye over it but DLC

 for visual novels especially otome games? oh puhlease I know I am not the only

one who feels this way many reviews on amazonJP just want them to stop this nonsense

 and want KOEI to include it with the game like it should be and I agree with them.
This isn't a mobile game and they should've included it from the beginning I do not know
about the quality of the scenarios but I heard they had amateurish writing and well
considering I could come up with something better I think I'll definitely pass now
 its just that because its voiced I actually want to buy it... someone stop me.
Its not that I do not want to buy but this is ridiculous and not the type I want to support.

Would you not gift this beautiful poor angelic young man some money?

Feel free to comment your own thoughts on this, I tried not to rant too much about it, lol.

Oh and I had fun making up the subtitles for the screenshots... they are inaccurate on purpose. 😂

Hyakka Hakyurou Sengoku Ninponchou - Review

Game: [Hyakka Hakyurou Sengoku Ninponchou]
English title: Nightshade. (Why tho?)

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Red Entertainment, D3Publisher.

Platform: PS Vita.

Official Site: https://www.d3p.co.jp/hyakka/steam/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v17287

Release date: 2016-2- 25

 I never thought I would be bothering with the JPN release and you may be wondering the same.
TBH its just an excuse to delay BWS... 😋
First off this game was on sale for 23$ at JPN psn... for like the second time and considering
console otome games rarely go that low the deal was too good to pass up.
Secondly I'm too deep into sengoku hell right now I may as well go with one more game.
I still plan to support the english release and replay down the line.
  

Okay since this game is coming out in ENG and there are detailed summary reviews elsewhere
 I'll just make this as short as I can while still going over like/dislikes.

First of all the OP movie is pretty good! MIKOTO is a pretty good singer and composer.

Like Geten no Hana, Hyakka Hyakurou is a more serious ninja otome game if you were to expect
something light-hearted like Shinobi, Koi Utsutsu you are looking in the wrong place.
Anyway many doubted D3P as this was first coming out in japan, after 3 kusoge releases
what would you expect? anyway reviews turned out to be favorable and it seems
D3P was only the publisher not the creator/dev of this which is RED entertainment.
RED is known for a few great otome... like the first Juuza Engi... or the recent Kenka Bancho Otome.
I'd love to add Scared rider xechs to that list but... as an otome it was lacking.

Pro's
-  Decent but straight-forward story.
- Interesting characters.
- Heroine.
- Art, should be obvious TEITA was in charge of everything.
- Music, beautiful a lot of tracks fit the scenes perfectly.

Con's
- Short.
- Part of the plot gets old fast.
- No jumping back via the backlog.😞

One of the first things that stood out to me is that the heroine has a sprite and is often seen
 next to the characters, not to mention she's pretty badass and involved but Enju really
 should think about herself more as she's doesn't mind dying for the sake of others etc.
 Also the art, the ART, this one screen below it could even pass for a CG but it is not.
The diversity in sprites also make the fight scenes that much more entertaining to watch.
Everyone had an even amount of CG's so this was another good point...

On the other hand the things that didn't stand out... the common route atleast half of it
 didn't leave a huge impression on me because almost nothing note worthy happened till the end
which is actually where the real plot starts and let me tell you its not as light as the common route.

Other than that the length was just right... any longer and the same-ish plot would become tiring.
Sadly this game wasn't very romance focused but atleast you get yourself a well written plot
 with an involved heroine but it not that deep, I just wish Enju had a voice she deserves it.
Another thing I liked, other characters do not disappear from the face of the planet some will
come to help out! this is great, I honestly feel some less story driven otome could learn from it.

System? standard VN stuff there's almost no need for a guide but if you want
all memoirs quickly you may as well use choro's.
There was no skip to the next choice option but skip was fast so future playthrough are mostly painless.
 Sadly this game does suffer from the I am sure I have been through this scene before
but since it doesn't classify it as old you can't readskip it because its a teensy bit different.

For playorder I went with the following...
Goemon -> Hanzo -> Kuroyuki -> Choujirou -> Gekkamaru
Goemon's route was a great way to kick things off and wasn't that heavy on overall plot and Kuroyuki is best done after Hanzo...
I only recommend this order if you like suffering😏 and want to finish one story arc before moving
 to the next since the first three and last two have shared plot but if you can't handle that
I still recommend using same order except saving Goemon for between Chounii and Gekkamaru.
Definitely do not do Gekkamaru first... his route perhaps had the best plot so consider it for last. :)

Some rambles on routes and CG's after the jump, minor spoilers warning just incase.

Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Den Ranki~ - Review

 

花朧 ～戦国伝乱奇～ Game: [Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Denranki~]

Genre: Otome Game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Otomate.
genre: Historic Fantasy.

Platform: PS Vita.

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

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v19288

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.

また 少し 強く なれる｡｡｡

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 あつい 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. 

この願い届けなら｡｡｡？

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.

Favorite Otome Game Openings

Okay I decided to do one of these, they are not in a particular order but these are my favorites.

Its more of the type I can't skip because A, the song is good  and B, the visual flow goes nicely with the song.

Though just saying do not judge a visual novel as a whole by its opening cinematic...
 There are some which I liked such as Clock Zero or Norn9 but they just don't give me
 that feeling... so I did not include them most of them are recent games, its a pain to find
good quality of older otomege sometimes especially ps2/psp ones.
 ~

 

Yuukyuu no Tierblade Lost Chronicle.

Should be obvious why this is included... simply beautiful.

Moujuutsukai to Ouji-sama.

Again another that should explain itself...

Wand of Fortune R.

This is such a warm opening...so fluffy and cute.

  Ken ga Kimi.

 I think the vita port OP is good too but something just feels more right about the original.

Meiji Tokyo Renka.

Personally I prefer this version of the OP but the others aren't so bad either

 its even included in the movie section for the vita port.

Kenka Bancho Otome.

I mean come on doesn't this get you pumped? 😁

 Period cube.

 I may not have liked this game that much but I never skipped the OP, the full ver is pretty good too.

 Collar x Malice.
Should speak for itself... 

Suuran Digit.

I never skipped the OP for this either, I liked the flow of it all.
Gotta admit I prefer the OP version of the song... the full version just isn't the same.

Hana Oboro ~Sengoku Den Ranki~,

Need I say more? really I can't bring myself to skip it once.

Geten no Hana.
This one is a bit weird but I like it...　the song is the same for both games.

 Oumagatoki Kakuriyo no Enishi.

The game may have been a snoozefest with only two worthwhile routes but I could never bring myself to skip the OP... maybe its the magic of hosoyan.

Eikoku Tantei Mysteria the Crown.

 I'm a bit indifferent about it but I don't remember skipping it a lot maybe once or twice.

Amnesia.
I do not like the game that much but it has an excellent OP.

Moshikami.
Uh the game may not have been what I'd like it to be but I never skipped the OP even once if anything it kept me sane but the whole vibe is misleading considering what goes on in it.

Sangoku Rensenki.
After the last trainwreck I had to give you something immensely cute to balance it out.

Code:Realize
Not the biggest MAO fan but its not bad or anything.

 Senjou no Waltz.
I almost forgot but I love Akino+bless4 the OP was pretty good but the actual game not so much,
and I have to add it even if I do not like the game that much it was worth it for Tifalet atleast...
or so I like to believe.

 Scared Rider Xechs rev.

Its a good OP, even if SRX as an otome leaves much to be desired.

Black Wolves Saga.
The moment I saw this in the game I was like wow I couldn't even pull my eyes from the screen.

Getsuei no Kusari Sakuran Paranoia.

This is one of those odd OP's that grows on you while you play the game.

I remember being meh the first time but after going deeper into it I just... welp.

Re:vice[D]

Catchy OP by Nano.

 

Mahoutsukai to Goshujin-sama.
I liked the OP sadly this was my second and last Quinrose game before they went bankrupt.
These OP's tend to be long so... well it makes sense why they only play once
I liked the overall feel of it though and barely skipped it.

 
Beyond the Future.

Dat KENN, I'm sorry but the next two are going to be a blast from the past.

Kami Naru Kimi to.
Didn't play this but the OP is so good pretty much makes it clear its a tear jerker. 

Desert Kingdom.
I like it but ur probably better off looking at the OP on the official site.

~

As for the last, I am an immense Akiko Shikata fan and well while I have not yet played
Haitaka no Psychelica or Kokuchou for that matter I just had to include both Kokuchou is not by her btw... just Haitaka the former is just really something else.

(Kokuchou)

 (Haitaka)

Geten no Hana with Yume Akari - Review (2)

下天の華 夢灯り
 Game: [Geten no Hana with Yume Akari Aizouban].

Genre: Otome game Visual Novel.

Developer/Publisher: Ruby Party / Koei Tecmo

Platform: PSP, PS Vita.

Official Site: http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/geten/vita/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v12865

Release date: 2016-09-08

 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.