Radiant Tale ~Fanfare~ - Review

 Genre: Visual Novel.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/radiant_tale/fanfare/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v42433
Release date: 31-08-2023.

 

Okay so Otomate decided Radiant Tale needed a FD and since I sort of liked the game

and they added a Liyan route I decided to get it! also it seems like Raditale FD releases

really close to Virche's FD, not even a week apart! 😱😱😱 I didn't realize this

till I was in the middle of Vilio's after and was like no rush right?! 😅

Good thing is this game wasn't that long... phew.

 

Pro's

- Enjoyable FD to compliment the original game!

- Gorgeous art and fitting music.

 

Con's

- After stories have choices but they don't actually matter.

 

 

As this is a fandisc it will have after stories for the main guys and 2 new routes for Liyan and Jinnia

which take place after the common route normal ending of the original Radiant Tale.

After and IF stories are roughly 3-4 hours in length, which honestly was enough as it never

did drag on long enough to overstay its welcome and most of them remained short&sweet.

I did set a good pace for myself and got through an after in a day so I spend

a good week on this which is pretty good value if you ask me but it all depends

how much time you have to want to set aside to sit back and read a little.

 

System is pretty standard as per usual, however I didn't understand why there were choices

in the after stories, said choices seemed to be there for the sake of it. Like congratulation Ion

or telling Ion that he was cool. I'm like... why bother at this point? there's no need for choices

if the outcome doesn't change or there is no dictionary or different scene to collect.

There being choices made much more sense in the new routes...

since there are normal ends but those give no CG.

Art is as gorgeous as ever and Usaba Kagerou and Miko have returned to grace us with more of

their insanely pretty art! Music is fitting enough and I did not have any complaints.

Honestly with most of the after stories I was pretty satisfied and I even ended up

liking certain characters more than I did in the original game which was really nice.

The after stories also further went into matters so yes if you loved the world view and lore

you'll be in for a treat for sure. So I can definitely recommend Radiant Tale to fans of the original

who can't get enough of it! The new routes may depend on tastes of who you were more

interested in. Its good they got routes because I sure was thirsting after one of them back then.

 

However I do think the afters could be either a hit or a miss... in my opinion it felt that

some of them didn't really had a good enough plot, I liked Ion,Zafora and Radie's...

but I had some issues with Paschalia and Vilio's afters and didn't enjoy them as much.

Both IF stories with Jinnia and Liyan were very enjoyable to me so there's that!

Anyway that is just my two cents and I still recommend Raditale FD if you really liked the original

since this is an amazing FD to compliment a good otome game!

9/10

For play order I mostly followed the same order I did in the original with the new routes last!

since this is a fd the order doesn't even matter I just decided this for myself

you could only do your fav's and skip any you don't like too...

Ion > Paschalia > Zafora > Radie > Vilio > Jinnia > Liyan.

 

The non-spoiler babbles end here and from here on i'll be writing about the afters etc!

and sharing my favourite cg's. So be warned there will be spoilers after the jump.

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Atelier Marie Remake ~The Alchemist of Salburg~ - Review

Title screen is random everytime.

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Gust/Koei.
Platform: PS4/5, PC, Switch.
Official Site: https://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/marie/
Release date: 13-07-2023.

 

I usually only like play 1 atelier a year but decided to make an exception

since this is a remake of the very first atelier game. There are no plot spoilers

in this post but I do share a few screenshots and CG's.

 

Pro's

- A remake of the original that isn't anymore or less than it used to be.

- Cute graphical style that give it a charming vibe.

- Interesting characters, made me want to replay atleast once to see their events!

 

Con's

- Game is overall too easy and i'd go as far as saying there is too much time.

- Annoying minigames for no reason... thankfully most are one and done.

 

Story is rather simple, Marie is a basically a failure and gets the worst scores

in the entire alchemy academy but she gets an extra chance since she still somehow

has some potential and its up to you if she even passes her exam!

 

More rambles after the jump...

 

9 R.I.P - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rip/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38068
Release date: 2023-06-29.

 

Otomate's latest visual novel! I didn't get started on it right away because

I was busy with FF16 but I still wanted to give this game a shot since it seemed interesting

and they brought back some golden-era seiyuu's I hadn't heard in a while. Oh boy! they

got me nostalgic for Kakki, KENN, Nobuhiko and Shinnosuke Tachibana alright!

I am not too familiar with Azakami or Shun'ichi though but it is always good

to see otomate try to use less popular seiyuus. Other than that I went in very blind

I didn't even know it was gonna be an occult mystery with suspense!

 

Game/story is presented as an occult mystery about people being spirited away...

The heroine Misa ends up hearing some scary stories/rumors and then she had a strange encounter

in the school hallway, she was also worried over her education when an accident happens...

Due to that Misa finds out crossed over to the spirit realm, most of the love interests

are spirits and such. I don't want to say too much so i'll stop her since its really better

if you don't know too much and can find it out on your own.

 

Pro's

- Story/character driven, good amount of suspense.

- Art, cg's are very well done.

- Music fits the mood and theme of the game.

- Short but it doesn't feel longer than it needs to be.

- Great heroine, she takes initiative.

 

Con's

 - 1 route has no epilogue cg's.💀

- High amount of bad ends.

The game can have a little bit of suspense too... but at times it can also be relaxing.

There was enough time to get to know the characters during the common route parts but who

you meet there depends on an early game choice, this was good since it kept each playthrough fresh.

Also it is best going into this game blind as knowing too much could ruin the suspense.

 

First thing I notice is that there are 8(9 if you count the final) routes, well this can

go both ways but I hoped this wouldn't be too long of a VN and it wasn't

the pacing was okay, it moved at a good pace and there was hardly a dull moment!

so I was happy it respects your time, maybe the love process was a little fast

and most characters are nice and easy to like. Of course there are exceptions

and certain characters could not be your cup of tea atleast that was me with Minami.

On the other hand my favorite was Koyou followed by Koharu, Sena and Yukimaro.

Due to characters being paired up and share a common route it makes the most sense

to do the other characters route/end right after. Also even if they shared a common route

they did infact have a individual route and it didn't feel like one character took up more time.

I was relieved at this since I was worried of there being too much shared plot.

 

The heroine Misa was great and good at taking some initiatives, I didn't find her annoying

and considering what she goes through... she handled it pretty well.

 

This game does have bad endings so if you want to avoid those or not in the mood

a guide is recommended. I do think the bad ends were still worth doing even if

they had no CG, as sometimes they gave little details or for better or worse

showed another side of a character. 

 

System was your standard stuff but in one route they had you input your characters

name and you could do it manually which threw the entire jpn dictionary at you. xD

Thankfully you could autofill Misa's name which begs the question... why even bother?

The bad end gotten if you fill it in wrong can be gotten through another choice too...

this was a really dumb design choice that makes 0 sense.

 

Art, looked really nice and before I played I was more positive about it

than I initially was about tsuitsui, so IDK if that says something other than its good.

The CG's were all well done, even if the amount was low its 7/8 there are variations

so i'm on the side of i'd rather most be of quality than half of them be looking off.

9rip also has 8 routes and one finale which is more than the usual 6 or 7 so I think

that says a lot and there's nothing wrong with it. Cg's are nice but it shouldn't be

the whole reason to buy a game, then you're better of buying an artbook!

Music was fine, I had no complaints and it fit the mood. ED themes change

depending which pair of love interests you go after which was nice. 

I think I can recommend 9rip if you don't want a visual novel that is on the long side

but still want something with an engaging plot, don't mind it being an occult mystery

that could test your nerves a little (its nothing too scary) and one or more characters interest you.

This was a very good life/death character drama type of otome game

the only real down side I can think of is the number of routes since by the time

I reached the final route I was kind of burned, thankfully it wasn't as long

as a certain character from Tsuitsui but it was still a nice finish even if it was short.

9/10

I can't ironically give this any less than a 9 because of a bunch of facts

and how refreshing each set of routes was, it balanced everything out nicely.

My play order:

Koyou > Sena  >  Kureha > Hibiki> Koharu > Yukimaro > Minami > Seiya >???.

 

Recommended play order:

It was hard to come up with a recommended order I think this works nicely:

[Kureha > Hibiki]  > [Koyou > Sena] > [Minami > Seiya] > [Koharu > Yukimaro] >???.

You could switch some pairs up due to preference but things to note is that

Koharu/Yukimaro is a bit of a healing route and had more fluff compared to others... it can

either be done after Kureha/Hibiki or after Minami/Seiya. Finally Kojou/Sena may be best

done before Minami/Seiya... it just works better in terms of story elements

same goes for making sure Koharu is done after Hibiki. Of course you could

change something due to preference, like even my own play order works out.

There's not much choice but to do ??? last as his only unlocks after doing all

anyway I hope this information was helpful in deciding a route order.

Character rambles and my fav cg's after the jump! the spoiler free zone ends here.

I should add that 9RIP is one of those visual novels that is best going in blind

as route summaries/thoughts etc could reveal too much.

So if you want to go in blind stop reading here cuz there will be spoilers!

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Final Fantasy 16 - Review

Genre: Action RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS5
Official Site: https://na.finalfantasyxvi.com/
Release date: 22-6-2023.

 

Okay so it is here, the latest installment in the FF series!

If I had to be honest I did not really like the vibes the game gave off at first

but I the story really managed to grab me to the point I delayed finishing digimon CS.

There won't be any story spoilers in this post but I will share a few screenshots of my journey!

 

Pro's

- A good storyline with a great cast of characters.

- Music and Graphics.

- Battle system is fun but it might take a bit for it to reach its full potential.

- A decent amount of optional content.

Con's

- A lack of a minimap, seriously why isn't there one? a lot of areas could benefit from this.

- Why is there no sprint button? Clive only occasionally sprints after running normally wtf...

- This game can at times be a bit much, its may need an acquired taste.

More ramblings after the jump!

Temirana Koku no Tsuiteru Hime to Tsuitenai Kishi Dan - Review

Tsuitsui ~The lucky princess and the unlucky knights~

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/tsuitsui/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v34020
Release date: 2023-04-27.

 

Otomate's latest game! when I looked at it prerelease it didn't

really grab me outside of the heroine being cute, some designs

partly reminded me of a PS2 otome game but when looking at it the plot

did seem interesting? so I gave it a try anyway.😊

Most of the seiyuus aside from a few are all pretty new, I guess the veterans

have become too expensive but it seems they've invested a bit in Kimuryo.

Still I think its nice they let newer talent get some roles too.  Also since the title is so long

I'll be referring to this game as Tsuitsui instead, which also rolls of the tongue pretty well.

Pro's

- Story and Characters.

- Art is decent but the designs remind me of a ps2 era game.

- Music was good, it fits the setting/moments.

Con's

- It may look like a comedy but its really not.

- Not a lot of fluffy content.

- Length; no joke it is a long VN.

- No play order restriction, which IMO may have been necessary.

The story is about a princess who has high luck, some sort of power which

she uses to determine who's safe or something sadly this power isn't seen as positive

and they mostly refer to it as a curse. One day Cecillia starts trusting her intuition more

and learns it was actually trying to help her. Most of the knights she ends up choosing

were not really being suited for such a job! The guys also really seems like Cecillia just

picked them up from the street and some don't even have an interest in being a knight

which is probably the main reason that caught my attention.

They had to do some training-camp were she got to know them better and low and behold

some magic happened as she interacted with them and actually got them to take it seriously!

Art; its decent but some designs reminds me of some PS2 era game.

The heroine looked really cute though but some Cg's of the guys did not grab my attention

still it wasn't all bad and there were good ones! the backgrounds were especially well done.

Music was alright it fits the setting/mood. I didn't have any complaints but the OP

I did start skipping after a few plays not that the song was bad, it just not my thing

it also seemed kind of misleading and way too cutesy for what the game really was about.

The ED was really nice though! perfectly fitted the mood.

 

The game also had a generally chill vibe going on as well! especially in the common route.

There is best end,normal and game over end for each character so you may have

to watch your choices here and there (or just use a guide). I personally skipped

the game over/bad ends as they gave no CG.

 

The common route was long and it took its time to introduce the characters

as they did not become knights in a single day; god bless for that since

some of them really didn't seem like they were gonna be knights haha.

If you had to ask me, the common route was the most fun part, its the

 personal routes where things start to get real.

The pacing wasn't too bad and the common chapters of introduction were paced well

its basically a pace I was comfortable with, at times a little slow/boring but..

we did get to know the characters and understand the setting etc.

The only time I was ever bothered by it was in the final route but then again

it had lots of great moments with the love interest too so I can forgive them.

The character interactions are also one of the best parts and i think

the characters did carry this game by a lot as well.

This game may seem light-hearted and knows when to have fun

however it isn't afraid to throw in political games or people plotting stuff!

Also after you complete routes there are new but short scenes from the guys POV.

All of the love interests were likable in some way so that was great, they weren't

off-putting or a creep or anything. For some sub characters it was easy to tell that they were not 

so nice like for example Claudia who is Cecillia's sister totally has that villainess look.

Maybe in another world she's the protagonist trying to save herself from certain doom!

Honestly I can tell the writers/devs sort of did this as a joke.

 Cecillia on the other hand was a pretty good heroine, despite being lucky she still goes

through some shit alright but is able to keep her chin up and well in the case of Joseffy

being able to put a leash on him (or so it seemed to me). Cecy was both caring and headstrong!

 

I did find the overall the setting/lore and political intrigue to be particularly strong in Tsuitsui

as it certainly wasn't afraid to go all out with the heroine being a princess and part of a monarchy.

This was definitely not a rom-com but the story and characters were its strong points.

Some routes could turn out to be less interesting depending on the order of play, the romance

with the love interests was alright as they did manage to find a balance of how

things progressed, if kimiyuki had an odd balance or dragged they certainly

found the right balance with tsuitsui. However I want to make it clear that

Tsuitsui is not a short game, so if you end up getting this you're definitely getting

something with a bit of volume and a long final route. There's not much fluff but I still

think most of the best endings were fulfilling. So if this game never gets a FD

I wouldn't be too disappointed, I mean it would be nice if it did well enough!

 

Overall Tsuitsui was pretty decent to me, despite looking a bit generic!

so if you're up for something like an otome game version of game of thrones or

the dragon prince(but not really) this tsuitsui definitely gets my recommendation.

IDK how well this game did in japan, or if i'm one of the very few who imported but if

it didn't do well then otomate only has themselves to blame for misrepresenting this game.

Because it really seems like it was gonna be some light-hearted comedy which turned

into actually being something with a serious story with funny moment as but an after thought.

Needless to say I still think Tsuitsui was good but don't come here expecting a rom-com!

8/10

 

Play order doesn't seem to matter much as every route is self-contained

and each can reveals parts of the greater plot! there is no restriction

which really baffles me since there are routes that reveal more than others

especially Kier and Adel kind of hints at things.

Order of play that I recommend:

Toby/Milan > Joseph > Adel > Kier > Finale.

My own play order was:

Milan > Josef > Kier > Adel > Toby > Finale.

I still think this is partly fine since it flowed well enough and by the time of Adel route

everything fell into the right pieces so I am inclined to recommend this same order

with the exception of not doing Tobi last since I found it to be a little lacking

with the exception of his character development also Kier's route is best done last b4 finale.

 

Spoilers and character ramblings after the jump. I'll be mostly sharing two CG's per character

with the exception of the finale since I had too many favorites.

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