#ikepri jp mc have this variation in personalities for each of the respective suitors and jp fandom really love this aspect of her

[hakuoyuki]

Hello! Is there an order to read the routes of Ikepri?

Hello Anon! Oh, yes. Absolutely.

I have also pointed this out before in a post I made before the release of ENG ver (here) so I'll copy the bit about the reading order over (but please do check out that post for additional references ^^)

Routes after starters are very very highly recommended to be read in order of release due to how heavily it will be spoiling the previously released route and how The Reveal in the route prior to it links to the subsequent routes.

The order: Act 1 Prologue → Starters → Nokto → Licht → Jin → Luke → Clavis → Act 2 Prologue → Sariel → Rio

Note: Details of Route Availability Status on JP ver can be found in this other post (here)

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Nokto route: The first route after starters, in JP it was released just 1.5 months after the app was released. You could say Nokto's route is the one exception to the above order (in terms of completing a route to at least 1 end before starting to next) but please, at the very least, read Yves' Ch 1 (or if possible to Ch 4) before starting Nokto's route since it'll add more depth to his route. Chev's and Leon's common route also adds more depth to Nokto's route as well.

From Licht route onwards, the story gets darker and darker real fast. I am Not Kidding. Please be forewarned.

Additionally, for all routes, True Love (Romantic) End is the true end. Both end clear stories all continues after the True Love End's epilogue. Passionate Love (Dramatic) End is the alternative ending.

Note: Despite what some people might say, regarding "true end" or the lack of for Ikemen Series, that really isn't the case for Ikemen Prince. (For JP ver at the very least). ENG probably changed the ending names to make it the same as the other ENG titles to make it "easier" for western audiences but that Does Not Change the fact that This Is The Case for JP Ver. As I have mentioned earlier, (this may not be obvious for the starters, but for Nokto route onwards they have made it absolutely clear that) both end clear stories all continues after the True Love (Romantic) End's epilogue.

Further more, event stories which continues after the release of routes also continues from the True Love (Romantic) End. It is also to be noted that unlike other titles, IkePri is Very Consistent in its writing and their event stories happens sequentially with references back to prior released contents such as events and even the main route (and happenings from True Love end). The only exception for this is "If Stories" but even with such stories, they are still consistent on the level of an alternate timeline where MC and none of the suitors have yet to become lovers.

However, since the timing of IkePri ENG release doesn't align with IkePri JP, I do not know how the consistency in event stories will be handled on the ENG ver since JP ver has quite numerous seasonal events and various events in between those which directly referred back to those seasonal events that happened before it.

Bottom line for event stories: For events which are Not "If Events", some contain spoilers from main route.

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Last words: After playing IkePri ENG for the past few days, I can't say I'm completely amused with all the changes the localization had brought about so I'll be sticking to IkePri JP but I'll be checking out the ENG ver leisurely. I have friends playing both versions so I am caught up to what goes on in ENG to a certain extent. But with IkePri now having multiple versions, do note that I am most well-versed in and more experienced with the original JP version.

#ikepri #ikemen prince #イケメン王子 #cybird ikemen series #cybird #ikemen series #asks #if i must i can bring out all the supporting details for why true love end IS the true end #but it will contain spoilers to max #bottom line is half the suitors events would no longer make sense if the story continues from their passionate love end #also the amnesia se actually referred back to scenes that Only Happened In True Love End #that was just One of the Countless examples #ikepri jp mc have this variation in personalities for each of the respective suitors and jp fandom really love this aspect of her #ikepri eng turned her into ikesen mc fallen into the wrong wormhole and showed up in rhodolite

[hakuoyuki]

Hi! Can you tell us the order of your favorite Ikemen games and why? I'm assuming your favorite will be Ikepri, but I am curious to hear your opinion about all the games you played in the cybrid ikemen world. I always find your explanation very in depth (even if I'm avoiding all spoilers for Ikepri so I'm not reading all your posts yet ;) )

Hello～ Yep, you guessed it! My fav is indeed Ikemen Prince

And since other anons also asked the same thing, I shall answer those here as well.

I've played all of Cybird's currently available titles under Ikemen Series (but that doesn't mean I'm active in all of them)

JP: All (excluding discontinued ones that can no longer be downloaded because it's taken off the appstores)

ENG: MidCin, DTL, IkeSen, IkeRev, IkeVamp, IkePri

TW: IkePri

TH: IkeSen (only did Yukimura's route), is waiting for IkePri

KR: None. (But is aware of IkeVamp 6 stars KR exclusive cards)

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I’ll be focusing on the JP version for all titles and my opinion will solely be on that because of the differences and variations that come with the localizations (especially ENG). For all of the titles, I am much more a fan of the original than the localizations.

My favorites in order & personal opinions:

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1. Ikemen Prince - First of all, let me just say with how dark the story is considering all the triggering contents and how IkePri does not hold back with its narrative and word choices... IkePri is not meant for everyone. At a glance, IkePri may seem like it’s a “fairy tale” but contrary to how the ENG localization is promoting it to be, it is not like that at all and even the VAs says so themselves in the interview. That it is a realistic story for adult (mature audiences) rather than a story that is full of sweet wonders.

And if I may borrow Hatano Wataru’s words from his interview.... “At first the title Ikemen Prince gives out a very glittery sparkly impression but upon reading the story line, it's how do I put it, very human. Because the characters are princes, they carries many burdens, there's traumas related to that, and things they learn and grow after overcoming it together with MC. It's not a story of perfect handsome men, but it's a story about imperfect humane characters that's very realistic.”

Asanuma Shintaro also pointed this out in his interview.... “After reading through the story, it gave me this thought that this isn't a ‘classic’ like the title implies it to be. Contrary to the image from the title, this work is meant for adults and I feel that gap with the title image really is amazing.”

I had to borrow their words for this because they really hit the nail on the mark here and this is exactly what I loves so much about Ikemen Prince that it’s my favorite of all. Furthermore, in the JP version... one thing which fans in the JP fandom mutually agree on is the fact that unlike the other titles, each of the suitors’ respective MC has a unique touch / differences to her that makes her that specific suitor’s MC and not the others’. In addition, IkePri is super consistent with their stories. The route and event and birthday stories, pretty much anything that happened on the same timeline gets referred back to / build on and you really see that they actually planned this out before jumping into the writing (unlike many other titles that lack consistency entire). And last but not least, IkePri’s game interface is like a combination of IkeLive, IkeVamp, and IkeGen and personally I just find that very comfortable to ease into because of how IkeLive was my main title before Cybird stopped updating it with new content.

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2. Ikemen Live - It’s honestly a shame that IkeLive is no longer getting any new content nor updates. IkeLive was my #1 favorite before IkePri was released (due to how IkeLive was announced to be put on an indefinite hiatus half a year before IkePri’s release, I have basically moved on but IkeLive still remain my top fav after IkePri). IkeLive’s story focuses on a “modern reality-based” setting set in Japan, in an era not so far into the future from now. However, due to it’s main conflict being all about “government vs rebel in modern society” “not wanting to be confined by the government / wanting freedom” with the medium used / limited being “songs with lyrics and instruments” (extremist groups, actual violence, and mentions of death of minor characters do exist in the story too though), the plot leans much more toward “slice of life” and there’s not the sort of “drama” you see with other more “popular titles” like IkeSen / IkeRev / IkeVamp / IkeGen / IkePri. I actually love the premise here and the slice of life aspect of it but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be so popular with most of the audiences.

In IkeLive, MC is a piano instructor who want to follow her dream after coming across her father’s music collection when she was young and she wants to compose her own songs in a society which had imposed a regulation on songs with lyrics making it forbidden unless it passed through the government’s approval. Songs which do comply to the government’s regulation are songs which “lack the influence on human’s emotions” and are basically plain and lifeless, there’s no “freedom” to it. The regulation (and the Music Control Bureau) resulted from how 19 years ago, one of the suitor’s father, the lead singer of divineBEAST band composed a song that brainwashes people and caused the whole country (Japan) to fall into mayhem after people went insane from being brainwashed. Breach of the Music Regulation Law results in penalties as specified in the law (I actually have the whole thing translated in case anyone want to know).

And since IkeLive is all about music... we actually got character songs and various song releases for it too! Every character that get a route has a character song they sings (it’s the song that MC composes for them). I really really looked forward to the character songs for the character with routes yet to be released but.... it seems like that they will never come due to Cybird had announced that they’ve pretty much “discontinue” it but is still keeping the app around. 😢

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3. Ikemen Revolution - Speaking of “a story that is full of sweet wonders”, IkeRev is one of them. I do admit that IkeRev’s MC really do act like the original child Alice in Wonderland’s Alice in a grown adult woman body at times and that the story really is ✨Power of Love TM✨ (and I hate that). But what I do love about IkeRev is the lore, the world building, and the characters especially their interactions! IkeRev really have this vast world building and history and lore for us to uncover. The best part about IkeRev is discovering these things through the story (but let’s ignore the limitation of magic and what it can do for now because so far in IkeRev they really went the .... is possible because magic. Magic of ..... basically just use magic to explain anything and everything despite “magic has limitations too”). On a side note, I no longer join events unless Dalim is in it because the battles are pain to do especially with Story Events that require you to tap through it one by one if you want a friend boost.

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4. Ikemen Vampire - So to start with, it actually took my friend half a year of persuading me to download IkeVamp because I just didn’t like the premise and didn’t find the original 12 suitors appealing initially. Even after I did download it and gave it a chance... props to the game interface being appealing and user friendly, but the early routes weren’t so enjoyable to me until at least half way through their routes. This changed starting from Jean’s route onward and I felt that the plot became much more fun to read and follow along. But IkeVamp just has.... tons of plot holes.... many of which still need an answer to despite all 15 suitors already having their routes released. I actually no longer join the events unless I actually really want to know what happen because IkeVamp really lack consistency and I simply don’t have time for nor the desire to read it.

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5. Ikemen Genjiden - Honestly speaking, I have quite a hard time sitting through and reading IkeGen routes like I did with IkeVamp early routes. The story just.... proceed so slowly that I couldn’t get into it. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m simply saying I don’t enjoy the way the stories were written out and I sat through “just to get it over with” until I’m over half way through the route that it actually got me excited to read and see how it ends. The suitors aren’t really my type at all either so there’s also that. But I do like IkeGen more than IkeSen because of two main reasons: MC behaves more maturely (partly because she was born in the era) and.... the BGM are so good!!!! I really love IkeGen’s OST and hopefully Cybird would release the soundtrack album for it one day like they did with IkeSen and IkeVamp.

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6. Ikemen Sengoku - I do find the suitors appealing (to a certain extend, I like their interactions together more than having a personal interest in the suitors as a love interest specifically) and the plot is enjoyable (out of curiosity for what will happen in the routes. the events... I don’t really enjoy at all); however, the thing about IkeSen is... I don’t like the game interface and the events are taxing to clear unless you’re really devoted and invested into it. For me personally, the suitors’ appeal and the story’s enjoyability simply doesn’t balance out over the effort (and cash) I need to invest into it. I haven’t been doing any new routes after Kennyo so I don’t know if this has changed yet but up to that point, IkeSen doesn’t really touches upon the “ugly side of war”

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7. Ikemen Bakumatsu (Destined to Love) - I actually didn’t finished all the routes here (lack of closet) so I only went for a few who piqued my interest. A much more mature story than MidCin. Although, I honestly couldn’t quite fully enjoy it as much as I hope to because I actually got into DTL because of how there’s Shinsengumi here and Toudou Heisuke was my fav from Hakuouki so DTL Toudou was the route I went for. They’re completely different to say the least (and yes, I like Hakuouki more when it comes to Bakumatsu era romance story with Shinsengumi involved). (Also complete bias here because I only finished Kirisato, Kyo, and Toudou’s route) But my fav route is indeed still Toudou’s. 

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8. Ikemen Oukyu (Midnight Cinderella) - MidCin (EN) was actually my first title and what got me attracted to it was the suitors. Right now I’m still on it in JP but I really don’t have much to say other than how it’s very fairy tales sparkly and “a story that is full of sweet wonders”

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9. the rest (100DP, Ikemen Celeb - Sleeping Beauty in the Suite Room, Ikemen Shin Ooku, Ikemen Yakyoku - Love Lies & a Heists) - I played them yes, but not really a fan. So I’ll opt for no opinion on these.

#asks #cybird #ikemen series #cybird ikemen series #not tagging the titles individually because i don't wanna clog each titles tag with this #yes i like ikerev more than ikevamp #and also yes i like ikegen more than ikesen #praying ikepri th handles the localization like tw did because tw really localized the content Very Well much better than eng #long post