Lover pretend (otome game) - review

Genre: Otome/VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/lp/
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22986
Release date: 25/03/21.

 

After the disappointment that was Ryza 2 and not much otome games coming out

I decided to get one of their newest release lover pretend a shot because

the premise seemed interesting and the art is gorgeous... AND it has an all-star seiyuu cast.

Other than that I had no real expectations...

Pro's

- Interesting story, unique character-focused routes.

- Likeable heroine.

- Art.

- Catchy BGM. 

- Light-hearted nothing too serious.

Con's

- Too many bad ends that don't add much of value.

- Some routes have loose ends that do not properly get resolved.

- The common route can get a tad repetitive by route 4.

 

Plot/characters

Chiyuki our heroine has two dreams on is to fulfill her deceased mom's dream to be a writer

the other to find her biological father whom she never met. The clues to him

seem to be in some script her mom wrote before she have birth.

Chiyuki thinks hmm maybe the people involved with my moms work may know something!

by some string of events beyond her control she finds herself cast in a drama herself

and has to pretend to fall in love while never really having done so.😅

Actually this sounds like a recipe for disaster...

Most of the guys are all popular too so Chiyuki has to deal with some of their admirers/fans

oh well atleast there was some conflict so it wasn't boring at all.

I did like Chiyuki a lot though she her personality was great whether it was telling

Yukito to go buzz off or trying to keep her act together... she had off moments

but all in all she was pretty human! which might be why I liked her so much

she knew what she wanted and went for it, the poster boy Kazuma was great too

the best friend Chiyuki could have or maybe as a lover too? who knows... but his route

I wasn't a fan of it. Yukito was ok but his route was full of general idol bullshittery with him being

a massive flirt  but I gotta admit I was trash for him by the time it was over. (wait what...? yeah.)

TFW I find out i'm trash for yet another 2d man...

Harumi is gonna be a no from me as he's more like a little bro. UwU

Riku was fine in more ways than one... his route was quite entertaining

and out of all for me he was an easy favorite. Asagi is well okay I guess?

he's the only one I don't have a strong opinion of might've been cuz his route was rather short.

System

The director of WoF,Reine and VB gave us his newest masterpiece 'pretend time'

but atleast this system actually somewhat works with the story flow and whenever there's some

problematic situation Chiyuki has to pretend to get out of it or something like that.

This system is basically just an excuse for plot development and only a handful

actually involve pretending. In the routes of Riku and Yukito it was good. For Harumi it was

okay at best, in Kazuma it wasn't really necessary and in Asagi it was like pretending? what's that.

Like in the beginning Chiyuki pretending to know how to be a girlfriend to having to explain

she has a reason to be around Harumi was good or Riku trying to pretend to be lovers

for personal reasons. Well this is miles better than the RNG in WoF

or that weird barricade breaking system in variable barricade.

With it being similar to reine des fleur also means each guy has like 4 bad ends...😱

most are just fail ends and don't add much but atleast you get prompted to save

before it starts so its actually very forgiving, thank you otomate.

It does get tiring having to do all endings but good news! there's no need for CG completion

maybe personal satisfaction........ so you can always do it, I gave up after Yukito's.

Atleast there's the option to skip pretend times you've already done and min/max affection you gain from it which made it even much more bearable, wow otomate really learned from reine huh? (maybe)

 

This was MOSTLY a light-hearted otome game about the ups and downs in the acting world

without it being too deep it still managed to tell a decent but entertaining story

and with the exception of one route whatever drama there was in the routes

didn't feel like it was dragging it down too much. The heroine was proactive and sassy

which lead to some hilarious scenes, overall she was pretty great.

Depending on the route the title of the script she writes changes as well.

I want to add... that this games theme really is more or less about COMMUNICATION

the characters are not perfect they have flaws and it might require some understanding

Harumi is literally just a kid with a less than ideal family situation but was willing

to IMPROVE and GROW despite that, the heroine being understanding definitely helped

if you truly want a healthy relationship with anyone romantic or not it is important

to be there for someone even if they said mean things and IMO this otome game did really well

which out of all routes I had to pick Harumi as the example but they all pretty much came down to it.

I mean you could dump someone for it too and sometimes you'll have to throw in the towel

and someone might be beyond your help but that's not what a game should be about

even if something looks bad there is still hope. Afterall if you give up its all over.

 

The common route served its purpose in setting up the potential pair

it was neither too long or too short. It made it feel like this game was from years ago.😂

Story was good at slowly revealing more information and her fulfilling her dreams but of course

some was halted based on who you go for as the guys problems were more important.

This is one of those where certain information is locked into the hidden route.

Which leads to routes being more or less self-contained, Yukito, Harumi being the biggest

offenders and to some extend Riku but it felt they kinda blue balled that one.  Don't get me

started on Kazuma... Kaz... oh you cute but dumb boy! the route was cute and all but then

you get hit with PAIN that is like when a truck hits you that came out of nowhere😓

idk it felt like the writer had a block and struggled trying to make something of it

because unlike the other routes the whole mood did a 180.

Either way none of the characters were terrible but the routes sure were... unique!

if any route managed to surprise me it was Harumi, his is the one that truly stands apart

from say Yukito or Riku. Kaz doesn't compare to any route if you do his you'll know why.

There were also a bunch of bonus scenarios you can read after you finish the routes

some with a extra cg others which was nice.

I think this otome is perfect if you're in the mood for something that has a solid cast with

a decent enough plot going on to keep you invested in it as a whole while you chase bishies.

Though that didn't stop it from some routes being less interesting as a whole

but i've played enough VN to know by now this is all too common.

Atleast the routes never bored me if anything I was a little lost at the direction of Harumi's route

both him and Yukito are probably the safest picks 1st play but it shouldn't matter much.

Lover Pretend had a better plot and more interesting routes than the last otome game I had played

which when looking back was quite barebones when compared to this game

it may have been more dramatic as well but hey its about acting? and much like

variable barricade these boys are far from perfect... all have their own issues.

The only thing that I think might be bad is the high amount of bad ends that don't have much of value

and making one important plot thread into a loose end that do not properly get resolved

till the final route which kinda makes sense buuut yeah a FD could fix this

but you can't always bet on that happening. At the very least all routes were enjoyable enough

that I could turn a blind eye to this. To be fair games like code:realize also did this...

so I do not make a big deal of it any more than needed.

All things considered, I didn't expect much and almost passed on it but managed to enjoy it anyway.

For what its worth this was a pretty okay otome game!

8,5/10

My play order: Yukito > Harumi > Riku > Kazuma > Asagi.

Which I thought was fine and the order doesn't matter that much might say Yukito or Harumi first

and no choice but to do Asagi last as he's locked till you do all.

 

That ends the non spoiler section, usual spoiler babbles after the jump.

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Atelier ryza 2 ~Lost legends and the secret fairy~ review

Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Gust/KOEI.
Platform: PS4/Switch/PC.
Official Site: https://www.koeitecmoeurope.com/ryza2/ 

Release date:  12/03/20 (jp), 26/01/21 (eng).

 

Well the sequel to atelier Ryza is here... didn't hear much positive when it came out

in japanese but that didn't stop me from trying it out myself and for the most part I had fun!

unfortunately the type of story Ryza 2 is trying to tell is very hit or miss

and well I did have a few complaints about it this post isn't spoiler-free

can a sequel be worse than the original? yes it can.

 

Pro's

- Exploring is fun! story was interesting to say the least.

- Battle system is slightly more engaging than last time... I actually like it more sans core item.

- Fii a cute!

 

Con's

- While the story was interesting it felt like a forced sequel, the ending is to be desired as well.

- Big thicc brain energy, Ryza is bimbo countryside alchemist.

- Most of the NPC quests aren't really memorable.

- Lack of optional bosses.

- The way to relearn old recipies and the skill tree system was balls.

- Gust for the love of sterkenburg get rid of the core item system. :( 

 

Otome Game ranking of 2020

Well for starters i've played more otome games than in 2019 😂

Which might be because I made the move to the nintendo switch

and honestly now is as good as time as among other games there have been

a decent number of otome games released for it. All of my games so far have

been digital purchases though, not only have the prices of games gone up(they probably

also cost more to make) the current crisis also doesn't help much.

I kept the rankings simple this time with a short non-spoiler summary of my thoughts.

Dairoku Ayakashimori. (🍀Beginner friendly🍀)

My first switch otome game! which was surprisingly okay except for thelacklustre plot or

the rather bland backgrounds and lack of sprites for some side characters.

It won't win any awards for that atleast! if anything the characters made it all worth it, I think

it would be perfect for beginners! The art was nice though and its not too long or too short.

The heroine Shino was cute and proactive too, since its a charage(character focus)

if your fav seiyuu voices one of the romanceable guys it might be worth it for a spin

I couldn't find much else to dislike it managed to be entertaining enough that

whatever brings it down it still will hold some value.

~

Shinigami to Shoujo. (🏆Best Story🏆)

A left over PSvita game I finally made time for, in terms of story it

was probably one of the better ones and definitely worth it for that alone especially if

you like to go deeper! or thought provoking plots but in terms of romance/otome? in that area

it might be a bit disappointing. With the exception of Kirishima route I think it would be

better suited as a straight-forward VN. The play order also didn't give much room for free choice

each route essentially hinted at a bigger picture which doesn't make sense till the last two routes.

As an otome game... it leaves a lot to be desired, I also thought the common

route was too long and Sayo's brocon was a little annoying though if you're willing

to get past that you do get a decently written plot in return.

~

Harukanaru toki no naka de 7. (🏆Most well rounded🏆)

The seventh installment in the series... which was one of the more

well rounded otome games I played this year it had a decent enough plot

and the romance was cute, it was also nice to watch certain characters grow.

There's lot's of sides to explore which made all the routes worth doing, imo the bad part

is the plot or motivation of some characters (mostly villains) might seem a bit whimsical

at the end this was a nice rpg-like otome game it was mostly light-hearted with a lil drama

I can't find much to dislike, though it has a lot of routes I suggest to start out

with the guy which catches your interest the most! if the gameplay part bothers you

this game has an ingame feature which tells you were to find or when the next event flag

for that character is which with timely saves made it very easy to progress through.

I can recommend Haruka 7! its also stand-alone so no need to play previous entries.😄

Gunka o Haita Neko. (I sleep...🐢💬)

Primula's second otome game, I passed on the PC/vita versions buuut

because I was thirsty I finally decided to get it when it came out on the switch.

Unfortunately and I hate to say it this was probably the most boring otome game I played

in a good while, its basically all about why these cat people lived so much like humans once did.

 The characters were interesting enough and it was cute but the plot in most routes just

wasn't engaging enough and was longer than needed even though I could tell

they made a decent attempt in the truth end it was barely relevant in the individuals. In the end

my fav routes were the two childhood friends; Yuzu and Kuu and I rarely like childhood friends.😓

 I can't recommend this game unless you enjoy slower paced otome games and don't mind politics.

~

Bilshana Senki ~Genpei Hika Musou~. (✨Personal favorite✨)

A historic fantasy from otomate and RED set during the genpei war

which I thought was quite enjoyable, I didn't dislike any characters by the end of it

and the overall plot was pretty decent as well the heroine was also very head-strong.

Though the only bad parts were that the scenario doesn't have much room for it

being that different, similar to hyakka hyakurou/nightshade. Every route reveals

another perspective of things the individuality of the routes and its cast being likeable

is what pretty much made it an enjoyable game for me despite the war stuff.

If you plan on playing this the order doesn't matter that much, I think that Tomomori is best for last.

 ~

 

Piofiore no Banshou 1926. (🌼Most depressing sequel.🌼)

 While it wasn't fun all the time and knowing Piofiore is definitely not for everyone

it still managed to be a solid sequel, my only problem is some of the afters aren't all

well-rounded but alternativa was a pretty fun story to continue from the first games true end

which at the same time also makes it possible to have an alternative end with every guy

might be a little annoying to do all the ends there though.

There's definitely plenty of content value in this game... the only bad part the afters all had

the same feel as the original some made everything even messier. Maybe that's good in a way

as it knows what it wants to be and won't try to be something its not.

I ended up liking more than I thought I would, I even ended up liking Yang whom I could

barely understand in the first game, Henri & Donte were fine but I enjoyed Gil's route the most. Unfortunately both Nicola and Orlok were duds for me and couldn't enjoy much if anything with them.

I am still kind of mixed about it but at the end of the day its just a game and if the vast

amount of bad ends are too much I recommend to just use a guide to avoid that and enjoy

the little things but yea if you weren't a fan of the original it might be better 

to steer away if you're not up for that because it really is more of the same! 

 ~

 

Himehibi Another Princess Days White or Black - (Classy highschool romance💝)

 Out of all otome games I played this year, this one was probably

the most simple yet intriguing in what it tried to do, I tend to avoid highschool

otome games but I thought this was pretty decent.

Its not particularly deep in terms of plot but it does go past the surface of a pretty face...

The routes all were unique as well and focused on the character of your choice

and at the end... it also makes sense why there is no canon character I mean there is bias

towards someone but said character is mostly a wholesome chad to the heroine.😂

Its also relatively safe though the black route has a sligthly darker tone.....

The humor might be a hit or miss but it definitely didn't overstay its welcome either

due to the highschool setting the entry level is also lower than most otome games so

it does have my recommendation if you just want something simple, cute and funny

buuut maybe not look here for a well written and/or deep story.

~

 

For 2021, there's not much otome games that interest me buuuut I'm still considering Bustafellows

and Cupid Parasite! the former is even getting an english release by Pqube! Not many of otomates

new titles interest me as at time of writing but I have my eyes on some but there's really not much

information available about some of their lineup so its wait and see with them. 😕

Himehibi Another Princess Days ~White or Black~ - Review

 

Genre: Otome/VN.

Developer/publisher: Takuyo.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: http://www.takuyo.co.jp/products/himehibi_wb/index.html

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v26906

Release date: 10/12/20.

 

Good old Takuyo is still around and released a new entry in the hime hibi series!

of which I have only played the first entry, I did buy the second one but never

played actualy managed to make time for it.😅 I did pass on their other new game

Hanasaku and maybe i'm glad I did as reviews weren't exactly doing it any favors.

 Who is Takuyo? that's a long story but they've been around for a long time.

Enough about that and more about Himehibi 3! which in terms of being of an otome game

was a little more simple than the other Takuyo game I recently played!

 

Pro's

- Mostly light-hearted but there seemed to be more to it all but not too deep.

- Pretty art, love the soft colours! most of the backgrounds are nice to look at as well.

 

Grey area

- Music manages to fit the mood most of the time but its nothing special.

 

Con's

- Kinda on the short side, but on the flip side it knows where to end.

- Not all route are well-rounded better not come her for a deep plot.

 - They should have used a different ending theme for the black lily route, too upbeat.😓

 

The OP is decent I guess, catchy enough.

Kisakino Emi is invited to enrolls at sumeragi gakuen, a high-class all boy school that is

undergoing an experiment of letting girls enter, all the boys are princes and the girls princesses...

Its is all a project/test held by the sumeragi group and she has been chosen to be a model student

like some of the guys have. There's a ranking system like Masamune for example is the rook

and Kazumi is a self-proclaimed unicorn(knight) wait why unicorn?! well there surely

was a good sense of humor around as well basically every romanceable guy is named

after a chesspiece and Emi's the queen she joins their commitee and with them prepares

for the festival, each route does this differently and you get closer to him.

Emi also has to deal with being a model student... Other than that a relative of Chiharu

typically tries to make things difficult for everyone involved, gotta have some bad guy I guess.

Depending on your choices you can get different type of route such as: white lily or black lily

there's four endings total, the former is happier than the other but what I liked about this

they explored different sides to the character and different kinds of love which kept things

interesting, for some this is for better others for worse basicallly black route is spicier.

Other than that the general system of the game was smooth and I had no real issues

on my journey to full-complete!

 

This game is set in a rich kids school thats fancy high-class but more up to date with current times

kind of reminded me of zettai kaikyuu but without the harsh class system.

Hmm... maybe the setting was too fancy for me atleast there were no annoying minigames

and was still pretty relaxing it also didn't feel like it took forever to get interesting

otome-wise like shinigami to shoujo this game was much shorter and to the point.

The common route served its purpose well enough to introduce and explain things.

There are many cg which is only the guy(s) some were good others meh.

The protagonist even comments how just staring at pretty boys is happiness enough

well atleast there are cg's with the two of them together so I can't complain much.😌

Himehibi1 also had this problem... but I guess its just a thing this series has

but this 3rd installment does it a little better than the first.

Also its ceroB(12+) so its probably better to not expect it to be that raunchy

because what was there was very tame which might be a blessing cuz there

are maybe two endings were the game was pushing this rating.

 

Emi is a good girl she might be more likable than the protag of himehibi1 but I did think Emi

is a bit too forgiving. Most of the guys are likable and the only one who pissed me off 

was Yumeji and paperbag-kun turned out to be worse than I expected.😓

There was definitely enough going on with the character(s) to keep me interested also the game

seems to know its cliches but actually not giving 2fucks about it and still rolls with it

characters like Kazumi would actually be boring were it not for their quirk

and I found his character to be very interesting!  though the humor was odd 

and a bit corney I feel you're either gonna love or hate it. Atleast every route was unique

and focused on that character which was a plus, some endings might feel lacking

but if you do all you will truly know everything about the guy (for better or worse).

 

This game was overall pretty simple in what it tried to do, I think I can recommend

this game if you want something light-hearted and character focused while not minding

having to look past the surface of a pretty face, cuz there are some ~problems~ some more obvious

than others. Romance wise... it depends for some it only gets good at the end

others are more well-rounded overall it was still open ended, I think this new himehibi

does kind of retain the old spirit its also not too bloated in length it ends when it should.

I think this game was alright... Kazumi's route while corny was fun😅 it might not

be my cup of tea but it wasn't bad! Masamune's route was very enjoyable

and he's definitely my husbando, the only route I didn't really like was Yumeji

but that was mostly because the guy lost his last shred of dignity in the black route

atleast his white route was still somewhat enjoyable but yea watch yourself with him and Paperbag because as much as I like to say there were no bad ends these two are like uhuh riiight?

Ah well otome games are always like that, one route that just rubs you the wrong way

you can't like everything but this game does a good job of finding paths that you could like.

Chiharu was the most well-rounded route and I also really liked him, he's so wholesome it hurts.😭

 Overall I think this was a pretty good otome game some parts might be a bit cliche

but that's not necessarily a bad thing if it doesn't try to be something its not and

the plot was okay too, for what it was worth this was mostly enjoyable.

I don't know what else to say but if you want to try a more classic

yet modern(for today's standard) this game is a good bet! that is if you don't mind it being simple.

7,6/10

My playorder was:

Kazumi > Masamune > Yumeji > Chiharu > Paperbag.

Idk if there was some recommended order but none are locked nor was there a story that had

to be played out in specific order so you can do whoever you fancy in whatever order you want!

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

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Piofiore no Banshou ~Episodio 1926~ review

 Genre: Otome/VN.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/piofiore/1926/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v25914

Release date: 12/11/20.

 

Sequel to the original game, though this one seems more honest about also being a -sequel-

unfortunately its lighthearted and is still as suspenseful as the first game.

At first I did think that this would be a FD but as time went on and info was revealed

it looked more and more like a sequel. FD's hardly introduce that many new characters.

 

Pro's

- Unique, character focused routes.

- Suspense and Unpredictability.

- Art and bgm are as good as its ever been.

Con's

- Cg's while memorable are far and between.

- Landmine bad ends.

- Most of the new sub characters are garbage.

- Some routes don't solve anything, inconsistent antagonists.

 

Meanwhile system is also back atleast this time auto mode will stop

and its harder to miss the meanwhile scenes which iirc wasn't a thing on vita.

They try to have these flashback aria's to help us remember scenes from the first game

with the guy's POV which is nice but this works the same as meanwhile so sometimes

i'd get annoyed because i'd just gotten into the scene and it would want me to

review the past or see a scene elsewhere, I honestly prefer just the meanwhiles.

Oh apparently the switch port of the first game actually had some new cg's? nice.

 

Episode Burlone, stories that takes place after the characters route in the first game

though its not a simple after story... the enjoyment you get here might vary.

For play order here, I'm going to recommend Donte for later as he has

the most spoilers and Gilbert is the most original and imo fun route out of all

but other than that you can do Gil's route whenever you want.

Yang,Orlok and Nicola are mostly self-contained so the order of play doesn't really matter

for them doesn't matter that much either! Just Donte later or midway if you don't want

a certain side character's story spoiled right away.

Alternativa:

Like the name suggest this is an alternative story set after the true end

of the previous game! it featuring 8 short stories which were mostly lighthearted

as Lily interacts with various characters (mostly side) within the year of 1926.

Most of the episodes are refreshing and perhaps a nice palate cleanser after one of the routes

but unfortunately for me I did them all after doing said routes which might be a blessing

in disguise because they all do seem to hint at more and after completing said 8 stories

you unlock a full route where you can get an alternative end with the main guys

as such it doesn't matter when you do either the mini route or Henri because

the story told here is completely separate from the after stories.

In all honesty the whole tone of this scenario was much more enjoyable than the after stories

itself, I do have to add that it had some weird vinyl earporn, otomate please...........😑

Not much else to say but just to do your fav guy in alternativa first because

it is copy pasta scenario and annoying to collect all ends.

 

Story for the after stories was interesting enough hard to figure out what was going on or why this

was happening but got explained as it went on, the length is that of a normal game so about 6-8 hours?

Each route was unique and dealt with various issues not addressed in the prequel

they brought in some new characters as well that're tied to the stories.

 Kind of hard to recommend this game unless you want more of the same, because

you're getting just that while it fleshes out the characters and relationship.

They did a good job with Yang even though I still don't like him all that much he's just ok to me now.

What romance is there is nice but it still retains a serious atmosphere.

The writing was exceptionally good and its still as unpredictable as ever the first game

also had that kind of suspense and if not use a guide you'll better brace yourself.

As there are landmines and one wrong choice could lead to an abrupt bad end just like the first game.

The chapter titles are also still in a different language! I always thought that was neat.

Yang's chinese, Donte in spanish, Orlok be German , Nicola's italia, oh and Henri in french.

The routes varied greatly in terms of enjoyment, I absolutely loved Gilberts

and liked Donte and Yang but Nicola was a disappointment but great as a refresher if you

had forgotten some of the stuff from the first game as for Orlok... sigh

that was just depressing to sit through and didn't really solve much if anything.

Donte's or Gil's route were probably the only well rounded routes in the whole game.😓

I mean that in terms of how it balanced plot/romance which is honestly kind of sad

nice that they all came in different flavors but the only one I truly enjoyed was Gil.

I also did like Henri maybe because it had no Theo! though disappointed

otomate didn't give him an ending but I guess that fad is over now.🙃

 

All things considered... it was a decent sequel, if you liked the original and want to see more 

including things getting fleshed out I could recommend this game and if the after stories

are too much then you can settle for alternativa? because the tone is drastically different.

Piofiore has never been an otome game that's for everyone in fact its themes

are not otome at all! I can praise it for not sugar coating what a mafia does

and I like that but i'm kind of disappointed for a reason I cannot explain without spoiling

but its related to the character Theo whom in Donte's after actually made me really angry and upset.

Its really funny how the main cast in the previous game could all do something

that could make you hate them but here its mostly the sub characters that are disgusting

especially Theo, idk I could make a rage post about him, lmao.

Also after I finished the after stories I got to alternativa which was fun at first

but then it unlocked a route and I was like there is MORE?! at that point I couldn't help

but feel slightly burnt because I was looking forward to Henri, though it was nothing

a small break couldn't cure! the tone of alternativa also helped.😅

Other than that this game was more than worth the price though! as there's plenty of content

its just that for some characters the afters might leave to be desired.

I tried to do the bad ends as I went through including the tragic end first but it was too much

and just went for the happy end which might have saved what was left of this game for me.

I know at the end of the day its just a game... and you can easily avoid the more gruesome ends

by using a guide but not everyone can stomach contents in which people die all the time

and there were too many bad ends were that happened especially in Henri's

I mean what was up with that?! in the whole game I think there's almost 20 of those.😓😓😓

That aside I think the piofiore sequel is decent but yea it ain't for everyone.

 7,4/10

I might not like everything but this was a pretty good sequel...

This is the end of the no spoiler section more ramblings/spoilers after the jump.