2045, Tsukiyori - Review

Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Mellow/Entergram
Platform: PS4/5,Switch.
Official Site: https://www.entergram.co.jp/tsukiyori/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v36012/

Release date: 21-12-2023.

 

I don't play much galge but for some reason I was just drawn to this game.

Idk if that is a good or bad thing but I'll go with good.

I suppose the aesthetic of the game really got to me and I was sold! 

This was my chill game the last couple of weeks for when I wasn't in the mood for something else

This isn't a particularly long visual novel its a 25ish hours at minimum.

Also this is a review for the console version and not the PC version.

Pro's

- Decent story and likable charactters.

- Gorgeous artwork and fitting BGM.

- Elle is E.M.T aka Elle Maji Tenshi.

Con's

- Lack of CG, there were places were one would be nice but there was none, especially epilogue.

- Technobabbles galore.

- Not many choices, basically a kinetic novel as there's only one choice to decide a route.

 

Art was pretty good, I guess it was also this that sorta sold me on this VN.

Music is nothing exceptional some good jams, it generally fits the mood.

 

 System is standard VN stuff, not much to mention here, the UI was comfy

and I could save/load without issues this time. I did notice there aren't really

any choices except for one that will decide which route you will end up on.

I suppose this is nice if you just wanna chill and enjoy the story without

having to worry about any bad ends of which there were none.

 

 There are only three heroines so that means three routes, great for when you don't

want to sit through like 6 routes and have to deal with less relevant characters.

Its kinda really obvious from the get go who the main heroine was, at first she didn't really feel

like she was meant to be a love interest but this got better later on especially her own route.

Story has some light sci-fi elements and is set in the not so distant future.

Sou our protagonist doesn't like androids but they're here to help! much to his distaste.

He was involved in an incident which let him to have to work with Yuuhi and Masakazu

after being caught in the act hacking stuff. Now Sou is cursed with helping them around

in finding a SUSpicious individual who the protagonist also happened to bump into.

I actually liked the first half of the game, the second half was more or less SoL fluff

and the more interesting plot had fallen into the background in favor for romance.

 

I'm meming now but I like how at the start of the game  Sou's like I would never simp for androids

but over the course of the game and at the end of the route its literally at your service my queen.

 

Anyway I liked how Sou got over his fear, he was also pretty proactive so the only disappointment

is that he doesn't have a full sprite like the girls, I think that really would have added to it.

Thankfully he does have a face! so I guess I will take what I can get here...

The pacing of the common route was okay and the story was easy to follow, maybe a bit

too easy to guess certain things but there were hints and some foreshadowing

but it was long and basically the whole main story is the common route+Elle

while the other routes deal only with lingering issues of the other heroines.

 

 The girls themselves were all likable and had their quirk, however romance wasn't really

the topic early on, there was plenty of time to get to know everyone till the second half

which is where the romance started to come in.

There weren't really any routes that felt like they were self-contained as all girls were tied

into the scenario pretty well but the sad fact is that the story was mostly about Elle.

Both Yui and Shirabe are but an after thought. 2045, Tsukiyori is also a VN that focuses on

its scenario first and romance second so one may need to be a little patient.

How do I put this? if you played something like witch on the holy night but wanted it

to have actual romance and like hi-tech stuff then Tsukiyori might be for you.

I like to compare these two VN but that is mostly cuz of them having no real choices yet

in terms of story they are not really that similar at all its more or less in design.

 

I thought Tsukiyori was also lighthearted but it can have its tense moments

and it wasn't too over the top either, it had a good balance of fluff and seriousness.

The bad part is, it had a lot of dry segments, lack of CG and it wasn't always as engaging

so at times I was bored however it did manage to pick itself up so it wasn't too bad.

Most technobabbles went in one ear and out the other, so I guess half this game wasn't for me.

 

 

Me after finishing this visual novel...

 

Overall its pretty solid but it wasn't particularly great either.

I liked how I was able to get hooked with ease so Mellow did one job right...

sadly I think the transfer from PC to Console wasn't that great and it may feel lacking

as the 18+ scenes have been removed, thankfully whatever romance there is was cute.

I wish the kiss cg's were better since I have seen much better, the quality of Yui and Shirabe

is unacceptable to me in 2024 especially compared to some recent otome games I have played.

I'm glad atleast Elle was great but yea not a good look.

If you wanna get this do it for the plot and Elle but don't expect too much either

like it might be worth it for Elle's route but not full price for other routes. 

 

If you're still on the fence, it has a 4ish hour trial/demo which I found

more than enough to give a player a taste of what it is all about.

Only bad part is the trial can't carry over save data so...

I had to skip a bit to get back to where the demo ended.

Will write a bit about the characters after jump like usual, there will be spoilers

but there won't be a whole digest, the game/route is too long for that.

 

Yakuza Kiwami 2 - Review

Genre:Brawler/adventure.

Developer/publisher: Sega.
Platform: PS4/PC.
Official Site: N/A

 Release date: 28-8-2018.

 

Okay so since I wanted to see Majima-chan again I decided to continue my yakuza adventures.

Sadly I found out this is pretty much the last game he had any major role in before he became

a side character. As sad as it is, there is of course more to Yakuza than just Majima.

 

Pro's

- Exciting story with mostly good pacing.

- Great substories and fun dialogue in general.

- Optional content is actually optional, gotta go find it if you want it.

Con's

- Some chapters are too short and/or could be combined into one.

- No more stances/styles, I heard you like charge attacks?

- Sneaking missions can be annoying...

 

 Story takes place right after Yakuza 1, Kiryu adopted a daugher and I don't remember much else

except a bunch of drama with his sworn-brother among other things. Thankfullly

there was a recap so you can get up to speed on the events thus far. I dropped out 

of that after the first segment since I remembered enough already.

The pacing was generally better than Y1 and the markers were on point

so I didn't feel lost right at the beginning searching for a pickpocket or something.

The only time I was forced to look up a guide was in chapter 11... other than that there were no issues.

 I generally liked the flow of the story but in the beginning it did feel more

like a movie and there's very little gameplay or time for substories which lead to me forgetting

to buy healing items  so I went into the chapter 2 gauntlet with nothing but scraps gotten from

the endeavor itself and so I was forced to beat the boss at the end while kicking and screaming

because only charged attacks and running around seemed to be effective.😂

In short Yakuza 2 Kiwami was a pretty fun game that didn't overstay its welcome

or needs you to invest a large amount of time in it to see its story which

after the last game  I played was much welcomed.

More ramblings after the jump, I had a hard time choosing screenshots because this game

just had so much gold in it... I literally smiled again while looking at some.

Kannagi no Mori Samidare Tsuzuri - Review

Since the switch ver is digital only here's the PS Vita box art instead.

 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Matatabi.
Platform: PC/Vita/Switch.
Official Site: https://matatabi.tv/kannagi/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v22311

Release date: 22-2-2024.

 

I saw they released a switch port of Kannagi no Mori and since I did play the other two

Matatabi games I decided why the hell not? there's not many otome games I am interested

in nowadays and besides for some reason it is only 3300 yen which honestly

is a steal for like two games, but after playing I think the price suits it just fine.

I ended up finishing 4 routes while playing FF7 rebirth because at times I just

wanted to peace out and Kannagi no Mori was perfectly suited for that.

 

KnM was originally a PC game split into parts... ah so matatabi tried that sort of thing.

Thank god they later made a ps vita and now a switch port so you can enjoy it in one place.

Pro's

- Decent enough plot, compelling characters.

- Has relaxing vibes despite it having a sad tone at times.

- Art is pretty good. 

- BGM is relaxing... perhaps a bit to much.

Grey Area

- One route could seem really short but its long if you do all routes.

Con's

- Slow start, has some slight pacing issues.

- Switch port is bugged, if you want to save/load you have to use the touchpad

as the little text prompt thingy was unresponsive when you select yes for various things.

The OP movie was nice, I was instantly drawn to atleast two characters!

but this is not the type of movie i'd watch always every time I booted uup the game.

Sure its nice but after a few route I had just seen it... also it is a bit long.

 

 One thing I really liked was the art style of this game, not every character may have

drawn me in the same way but I really like the colours,style and vibe it gives off.

The cg's had plenty of variation that were good at showing the characters expressions

and the overall count of them was mostly even across all characters.

The voice cast are all A++ veterans so it was nice to hear them again as well.

 

System was just standard stuff and it wouldn't be worth commenting about

but some menu's were broken like it would ask me to save so i'd press yes

but nothing happens! the only way I could save/load was with using the touchpad.

MATATABI is at it again amirite? why is it always something omg but honestly

it was only slightly annoying and can easily be fixed by touching the screen

whenever you had to make a choice or save/load the game.

 

Story is Mizuki always could see things other people couldn't and was told to keep

it a secret from the only family she had. Things begin to change when she

sees her dead mom on a rainy night which is when dead people appear.

A man then leads Mizuki to a village to meet her grandfather... who turned ill

and now Mizuki is forced to manage his work which deals with spirits and their problems.

KnM is a slower-paced game and the music was soothing, so soothing that I got sleepy.

The early game was so relaxing I can't decide if this is good or bad, i'll go with good

since the vibes were so nice that Nao and Souta quickly grew on me.

Idk if it was because this was the first part or i'm not really that interested in the two initial

love interest but at times I did get a little bored due to how slow Youko-kitan can be.

I was more interested in Asahi... which may be why I had a hard time!

The heroine wasn't too bad, I found her fairly normal, at first she doesn't really

have the confidence to continue her grandfathers work which is understandable.

I liked how Asahi helped her grasp how she could help people. Didn't seem easy.

Compared to the last otome I sat through this felt much more normal

and I didn't really find much that made me go wtf! sadly that also meant

it was a lot less entertaining and less excitement due to being mostly nonbiri.

Like the scenes weren't always that engaging and it was really situational if it was

which isn't bad perse but I am just glad there were no routes that were a dumpster fire.

NGL Shinonome brought most of the entertainment early on.

Story generally focuses on helping spirits overcome their trauma and save them

so they don't become evil spirits. Due to the setting, I probably would only recommend

Kannagi no Mori if you like school-themed otome games with otherwordly stuff

and like slower-paced games that grab your attention slowly. I say it can be slow but it

also didn't overstay its welcome since I found the routes itself to be fairly short.

Decent story yes but overall while it can seem light-hearted the tone of it all still

had a very sad feeling to it. The very last route of this game gave me nothing but sadnesss.

I did like the character interactions and there were some funny scenes!

wish there were more of that but it wasn't that type of game.

Comedy was mostly used to lighten the mood which was why its great.

The pacing can be a bit slow but overall it was enjoyable, whenever Shinonome

was on screen there was never a dull moment.😂 I didn't really like the first half of this game

but there were moments it hit home so it wasn't all bad. It generally just was a comfy read!

 a little melancholic yes but it fits in with the theme of the game for there to be underlying sadness.

7.7/10

It was just good, not bad but not great. Unlike Matatabi's other games

there weren't any minigames or landmines either which is a plus. I'd recommend

Kannagi no Mori if you don't mind short but slower-paced games, The scenario had impact

in many ways, some subtle & some that hit a lil harder. This otome game is also great

if you're tired of controversial stuff and just want to mostly have a good time while also

getting served a decent enough plot with a well written heroine.

 

I think I preferred the latter half of the game Ryuuji over the first half Youko

simply for the fact it touched upon the underlying plot more. Its like Youko was extremely

standard in terms of otome games and more like a prologue of sorts.

Ryuuji is like hold my beer! ups the stakes and just delivers the plot better.

As for playorder the game is split into two parts with the last route in each part being locked.

So my play order ended up being like this:

Youko Kitan / part 1: Nao > Souta >Ichimaru.

Ryuuji Kitan / part 2: Hinata > Asahi > Shinonome.

 I can't really recommend anything other than Youko first and Ryuuji second.

The game does have a fail-safe that even if you were to do Ryuuji first you'll be okay

but if you get it on vita/switch and want to see all routes, best to start with Youko.

Maybe switch Nao/Souta or Hinata/Asahi around to suit preference

before the 3rd route of each part, there's not much else to it.

Spoilers are after the jump, there are some shoddy summaries as well as my favorite cg's.

 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Review

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Square Enix.
Platform: PS4/5.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 29-2-2024.

 

With the exception right at the beginning I generally liked the story and it was fun

exploring the world, they added a lot of detail to where there was none in OG.

I mostly played this game in the evening whenever the switch was charging

which is why this game took me a whole month to finish.

 

Pro's

- Decent enough plot I guess...

- Nice to explore the world, a lot more detailed.

- I liked it when Cloud told Yuffie to STFU at one point.

 

Con's

- One too many minigames and gimmicks. Quantity over quality, most (but not all) were awful.

- Padding, pacing issues and thus ends up overstaying its welcome.

- Retry from current battle or this battle? the wording on the game over screen was poor esp in ch14.

- Gongaga & Cosmo Canyon are the worst areas to explore, in this essay I will...

---

 

Story is... mostly loyal to the OG FF7 except they're adding in elements

that weren't there before but I already knew that because of part 1.

What is really awful is that all these changes don't even really seem to matter???

The prologue of the game had me in confusion noises but then it was mostly

same as OG. They got rid of the stupid CPR minigame which I am grateful for

but instead we got a rhytmn game to impress Rufus. ' -' 

Could've done without the dolphin minigame too but it was cute...

 

I know OG FF7 had minigames as well but this game really went overboard and added even more.

For the first parts of the game it really felt like I was doing anything but the main

objective because it was just that bloated but then again they extended the midgard part

from 6 hours to 30 hours in the first remake so not sure what I was expecting. /Shrug

So now you get 40+ hours of disc 1 while the original PS1 release

was only 30ish hours as a whole. That's a world of a difference amiright.

 

Replace Rufus with SE and Mako with Minigames and its a mood.

Atleast the character interactions were mostly great as well as this NPC's dialogue

because it has all the energy that I had when I was done with this game.

 

Its not like I disliked everything, I did enjoy seeing certain parts remade.

Like Barret in a sailor suit😂 as well as a prettier& more detailed world.

So despite my complain-no-jutsu it wasn't all bad... in fact I had fun with it!

its just way too bloated which made the game overstay its welcome

hench why when I was nearing the end I just didn't like it all that much.

 

I still tried to do proto relics and clear up sidequests in chapter 13 but each area

had such a laundry list of things to do which was also mostly the same

and just repetitive so I had to limit what I engaged with. At the very least

there's always something to do so FF7 rebirth is one of those rare games

that can actually last a while if you want it to. However at the end of the day

IMO this game ended up being just fine, not great but it ain't awful either

its just that there are a lot of questionable design choices.

I'm not really sure if I want to play the 3rd remake because of this game mostly.

 

FF7 rebirth makes me appreciate the original with how simple and to the point it was

yet in the remakes they padd it out so much that I end up running out of steam quickly.

Also let's not forget the fact they make it seem like they're gonna change things

but then are like lol nope. They only make it more complicated than it really is

or try to make everything more epic while also making it longer than it needs to be.

**Gonna add to this that without part 3... I just don't know what they even want to do anymore.

6/10

 No thanks, for now I am done with the FF7 remakeverse because I think

they all just took a piss on it at the end just how this chocobo is able to float.

More rambles and complain-no-jutsu after the jump... but I think I have already made myself clear here.

Utakata no Uchronia - Demo Impressions

 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Broccoli/Licobits.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://licobits-game.com/uchronia/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v40519

Release date: 14-3-2024.(Demo) 11-04-2024. (Full Game)

 

Since I wasn't in the mood to play as Red and Barret in FF7 rebirth

I took a few hours to check out this demo!

I haven't really done a demo impressions/review post in ages and I didn't even know

UtaChro was going to get one! which is good because I was a little on the fence.

 

I only tried out UtaChro to see what it would be like! and also kinda as a vibecheck.

I know things could always turn out different in the full game but whatever

who cares if you only end up liking 1 love interest or route!

UtaChro is developed by a bunch of ex? otomate staff and broccoli/TIS creation.

I like RiRi's art but overall it reminded me more of Piofiore and not Yunohana.

Backgrounds were pretty detailed in showing the environments, art in general was good.

Music? no complaints. The OP definitely catched my attention more and I liked listening to it!

sadly I couldn't find the OP on youtube yet to link here.

 

The demo had the common route & was definitely good for introducing the setting and characters.

The heroine Hinagiku is an Ojou-sama who is good natured...maybe a bit pampered

she gets treated like a princess and earned that nickname, lol.

Yashiro seems to have amnesia and they go around trying to jog his memory for a bit, doesn't

really work out yet. Tsuyukusa bumped into them, he knows Hinagiku and thinks Yashiro

is too close already, oh jealous are we? Tsuyukusa was pretty chill so whatever I guess.

The demo ended after you meet Yori but for the most part its just too early to tell

where any of it was going, romance was definitely not a focus atleast not at this point!

not a lot of fluff yet as well, I figured out from my two-ish hour expedition that UtaChro

is a scenario driven kind of game with romance not really being a focus.

Interactions were good and  it had a decent sense of humor too. Overall it seems UtaChro

 is more or less something like Piofiore but with a bit of steampunk! I kind of liked it?

Not really route impressions but I wrote a little about the love interests?

not all seem to have a lot of screentime in the demo so there's not much after the jump.