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Dies irae ~Amantes amentes~ review

Dies Irae Visual Novel Review

If it sold over 100,000 copies, it can’t be that bad. And that’s why I decided to back it on Kickstarter, despite its premise not making any sense to me.

If you are getting it on Steam, then the first 6 chapters (about 10 hours) of the game is actually free to play. If you have time to spare, then the free preview should give you enough of an indication whether you would like it or not.

If not, read on. Some spoilers ahead.

A bunch of Nazis with superpowers are trying to bring about apocalypse on Earth. At least this is how I perceived it after playing the first route. Essentially, this is the premise, but don’t bother trying to make too much sense of it, because there are too many layers and you will only understand more as as the routes unfold.

There are four routes - Kasumi, Kei Sakurai, Marie and Rea - and you should play them in this order as it would make more sense if you do so.

It deals with a lot of unexplained phenomena, so you will just need to accept what you see at face value.

The unfolding scene shows 1945 Berlin (World War II). Here you would be introduced to most of the baddies of Dies Irae. Apart being able to fly, chief baddies Reinhard Heydrich and Karl Kraft also order their superpowered Nazi subordinates to kill everyone in Berlin. Yes there is a reason why they did this, but you won’t really find out why until the end of the routes.

So after killing everyone, the chief baddies take three of their most powerful surbordinates and disappear into the sky. The massacre is part of a ritual they must conduct in order to gain strength. They reappear 50 years later, in modern day Japan, to complete the ritual, and this is when you get introduced to our protagonist, Ren Fuji, your average high schooler.

Sidenote: The baddie team call themselves members of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden, and they occupy certain positions in the order’s Obsidian Round Table. Each of the 12 members  also has two different names -  their real name and a bestowed name that’s a real pain to pronounce. They tend to introduce themselves like this: “I am badass-mythical-name, Number __ of the Longinus Dreizehn Orden Obsidian Round Table.”

You can imagine why Ren seems to be very confused when all these baddies start appearing out of thin air, exhibiting superhuman powers and talking about killing people and other mumbo jumbo.

On top of it all, Ren himself has been having strange dreams of a girl and a guillotine. Turns out that..small spoiler ahead...he has been singled out and forced to become one of the members of the Orden. Thus he suddenly finds himself bestowed with a super power - the power of the guillotine.

Here is when things start to become interesting and you see his friends Shirou Yusa, Kasumi, Ellie and Rea get dragged into the strange events happening in the city, and eventually the motivations of the baddies are revealed.

In gist, the entire city is about to be massacred and Ren has to save it.

I can understand why some people really found it frustrating and boring though. If you are used to newer visual novels and their narrative layout, there is A LOT of text to read, and it sometimes covers the ENTIRE SCREEN, resulting in the visuals being impeded. Oftentimes this can get really tiring on the eyes, plus the text is often deeply philosophical, heavy and bewildering at times. The narrative is very grandoise as well, and there is a lot of emphasis on the phenomenon of “foreknowledge”, which is the entire reason why the “massacre” is taking place. The baddies think that history repeats itself and all humans have sealed fates and they are trying to break the cycle.

There is also quite a bit of foreshadowing and mention of certain events, which make you anticipate the unveils later. Each member also has a certain spell, which they chant in order to activate/enhance their super power. This can get quite repetitive,as there are a lot of fights, but the spells are quite mesmerising and poetic, which are quite enjoyable to listen to.

All the characters are also well developed and you will empathise with them as you learn more about them. Even the bad ones, like Rusalka Schwagerin and Valerian Trifa . Essentially, putting aside all the supernatural stuff, this is a poignant story about trying to preserve your humanity and realize your desires in a world where all odds seem to be against you.

Enjoy the ride. Auf Wiedersehen.

#diesirae

[sleepingsupine]

Steam sale

There’s a big Steam sale this weekend on anime titles and visual novels. I bought Amnesia: Memories, Devil on a G string and Tokyo Babel on a 30% or more discount. I wanted to buy Cho Dengeki Stryker and Clannad, which were heavily discounted at 65% and 50% off but resisted at the last moment because I wasn’t sure I would like them. Anyway I played one character route (Kent) on Amnesia and am really pleased with the storyline, voice acting, art and graphics. Then I decided to play Devil on a G String, and was quite sorely bored and disappointed within the first 30 mins. I didn’t really get any sense that it was a highly anticipated thriller and mystery at all. It seemed more like slice of life with really high pitched irritating girls acting cutesy and all. Resolution was not HD too and I couldn’t expand to full screen. I thought maybe this was like a dating sim for guys and that’s why it’s like this. But then again I’ve played a really good one - Fruit of Grisaia - and it was nothing like this piece of trash. Can’t believe I paid $28 to get this shit. I hope it gets better soon.

*update* I forgot that Steam gives refunds, as long as the game has been played no longer than 2 hours and was purchased no longer than 14 days. I submitted a request and got refunded almost immediately. Yayy!

#amnesia #g senjou no maou

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:)

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Finally we see Eress' true form!

#wizardess heart #eress #vincent knight

[sleepingsupine]

Collection of lachrymatorys (or lachrymosas), these tear catchers or tear vials - sometimes worn on a necklace, sometimes merely held - were used to gather the tears wept by mourners at funerals, to hold the tears of people mourning the passing of loved ones. One type of lachrymosa had a special top which allowed the tears to evaporate (signifying the time to stop mourning), others had a sealed top to allow the tears to last for a year, at which point they would be poured on the grave of the person whom the tears were wept for, Victorian era, 19th Century.

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Waiting for Kiku and Yayoi :)

#ninja love

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Shiawase ne

#hijikata toshizō #shinsengumi

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Mibu-dera. Hakuouki fans hang their fan art at the Mibu temple in Kyoto :)

#hakuouki #hijikata toshizo #kondo isami #shinsengumi

[sleepingsupine]

Here are some more Hakuouki cosplay shots I found from YouTube . I think these are mainly Okita Souji’s shots though. The photography and colours are beautiful. I actually forgot Souji’s name when I was about to post this and was really wracking my brain over it. Okay Souji fans, so kill me now. The only thing I could remember was him threatening to kill people and saying “ki chan” a lot. Then I gave up and just Googled. I haven’t played Souji yet. But that’s not an excuse. I haven’t even finished Hijikata.

#hakuouki #cosplay #okita souji

[sleepingsupine]

Stumbled upon a Hakuouki cosplay video, and these are the best characterizations so far.

#hakuouki

[sleepingsupine]

I just finished Harada. Had a thought yesterday while watching Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi, what if Hakuouki were a Yaoi :)))))) All the girls would kill me now :)

#hakuouki #harada sanosuke

[sleepingsupine]

And just in case you want these, here are some cg’s without the Idea Factory/Design Factory logo (click image for better resolution).

Source

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Sale on Steam

And so yesterday, in one fell swoop, I bought:

Long Live The Queen   2.10 SGD fault milestone one   7.50 SGD Hatoful Boyfriend   2.62 SGD planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~   5.25 SGD Tokyo School Life  (only because it’s voiced) 9.90 SGD

#steam #visual novel

[sleepingsupine]

Okay enough said

#ntt solmare #demons bond

[sleepingsupine]

Woo hoo! Episode 11 is out. I've never seen a better vampire anime yet. The premise is starting to look a little like Attack of the Titans (human experimentation)...but who cares. It's a classic vampires vs humans anime thriller. Yippee!

#owari no seraph #seraph of the end

[sleepingsupine]

Heisuke Toudou review

Yesterday I finished his route in a couple of hours, after going through the painstaking common route for weeks. I do not want to do the common route ever again, all 3 chapters of it!

Apparently it’s pretty easy to get his good route. Just give him blood all the time and be honest with him. I still don’t like his character so there was no swooning for me. But I did get to see a fair bit of Chikage in this route and the best thing was, Chikage was on our side. *grin*

Also, there was a lot less fighting and Heisuke didn’t get beaten up much, I guess because most of the route didn’t take place where the front line fighting was. The MC mainly travelled along back roads with Heisuke…and Heisuke always had some help, believe it or not, in the form of Chikage or Sen.

Sen suffered a lot in this route though, at the hands of Sanan. And I didn’t like that. And Sanan became some sort of tyrant demon commander.. so the final showdown was vs Sanan rather than the other demons or the Choshu and Satsuma.

I didn’t even get to Ezo. And we hardly saw all the other characters, only Hijikata made an appearance. No Kodo either.

I would say it’s an interesting diversion from the traditional route and historical events that should have taken place.

I would have been bored to death if I had to go through the same events over and over again.

I’ll probably choose Harada next, then Hijikata and then Souji. I don’t like Harada either but I like him more than Heisuke, and I heard his route is quite heartwarming?

Then Hijikata, which gives me conflicting emotions because he’s so cold (but terribly good looking). And I heard his route sucked so I don’t really want to put him last.

So Souji would be last because I have heard good things about this idiot tsundere. And who knows, I might even grow to like him afterwards?

#hakuouki #heisuke #toudou heisuke #route #review #android