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lunas-otome-blog · 6 months

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Luna's Review: Café Enchanté

Official Summary:

When Kotone inherits her grandfather’s Tokyo café, she discovers the shop holds more secrets than anyone could imagine.

The café is a meeting spot for beings from multiple, mystical worlds. You’ll meet the king of demons, a humanoid beast, a fallen angel, and more.

And when government agents monitoring non-human activities show up at your door, your new café is about to become a lot more colorful.

(Spoiler Free) Luna's Thoughts:

(Just as a reminder, I'm writing this for myself to keep track of my thoughts and leave a record of the games I've played. Others are welcome to read and feel free to provide your own thoughts, but please, no hate! They're just my opinions, nothing more.)

I was excited for this game. The premise sounded amazing: a cute cafe full of magical beings from other worlds? Sign me up! I love the colorful cast of characters, and the art is undoubtedly gorgeous.

But, while I enjoyed elements of this game, the setting falls apart almost immediately, and has very little to do with any of the routes, with the exception of the true end. The whole game is actually incredibly dark, complete with bloodshed and death in every route, which is normally not a bad thing, but it feels a bit misleading here.

You're told almost at once that the cafe is somehow sustained on payments from only a handful of romanceable characters, none of which use human currency or seem to have jobs that would involve payment, with the exception of the one human bachelor Rindo. This is nitpicky, I know, but I found it frustrating because it would have been so easy to write a way around this.

Let me be clear that I don't necessarily mind a game with a ridiculous premise. I love Mystic Messenger, and the entire game hinges on the fact that you have moved into a stranger's apartment and have somehow remotely taken on party planning for a charity group of people you haven't met. But the thing about Mystic Messenger is that the ridiculousness is upfront, right at the beginning, and once you get past it and accept the game for what it is, you can enjoy it.

This is not so with Cafe Enchante. There are many times in this game where just a little more thought could have made things make more sense. To me, the whole game was plagued with sloppy writing and baffling plot details that could have easily been avoided or explained in a different way — not to mention the litany of literal editing errors. It's also not translated very well in places — or maybe it is, and just written poorly in its original Japanese. Either way, it reads awkwardly a lot of the time

Overall, I was not impressed with this game. It just goes to show that pretty artwork and a fun initial premise do not necessarily make a good product.

Below are my thoughts on each route in the order I played them.

(SPOILERS BEGIN HERE)

Ignis Carbunculus Route

This is the route I got first, without trying. I actually did not want to get Ignis first, because I figured he was the tsundere character in this game, and I like to do those a bit later. He's actually not particularly tsundere at all, just hypermasculine and therefore not great at expressing emotions other than rage.

This is one of the darkest and, in my opinion, one of the laziest-written routes in the game. You're expected to believe that Ignis went on a rage, literally killed and ate many of his own people, including his family, forgot about it and then just continues on with his life, only to be conveniently reminded of his dark past at the right moment to advance the game. And the rest of his clan has been tolerating him because they're afraid of him, and for whatever reason, Ignis has never noticed everyone hates or fears him??

Ignis is also the only member of his species who can eat. The rest don't need to because they're born with all the calories they need for the rest of their lives apparently, meaning the beasts of the literal beast world don't kill each other for food, just sport. And oh, yeah, that's somehow also Ignis' fault.

I felt like this route could have been simplified in a way that made more sense. Instead, the writers had a vision and manipulated many small details to make the rest of the game work within that vision, resulting in a lot of strange decisions.

I'm aware this game isn't meant to be realistic, but Ignis' whole plotline seemed very contrived. It's like they had something written already but realized certain elements weren't congruent with other aspects of the game, so they just...manipulated elements of Ignis' route until it kind of fit.

Overall, I think Ignis' route was my least favorite. It felt the most rushed, the least polished, and assumed a lot of things conveniently went unnoticed for years in Ignis' life. There was just too much coincidence in this route for me.

(SPOILERS)

Il Fado de Rie Route

This was the second route I played, and overall my favorite route. It felt the most cohesive out of all the characters, and it was the longest aside from the true end.

That doesn't mean I don't have my gripes with it. My biggest one is that Il, who has apparently based his entire personality, including his name, on an otome game character, makes the baffling decision to tell Kotone about the game and literally recommend she try that character's route first, only to immediately regret it when he realizes she's going to notice something is off.

Like, I could understand it if the personalities were just similar, but he took the name, too. I cannot believe he would be so stupid as to forget the game that he stole his persona and name from and then just freely give away that information. What pisses me off so much is that Kotone could have so easily encountered this information on her own. Have her buy the game independently to surprise Il, and then discover the overlap herself. Why on earth would he just give her that information? It's lazy writing.

I did really enjoy how angels are basically human androids and god is a supercomputer. That was rad as hell and is a brilliant explanation for why angel magic is math based. I'd say this route has the best worldbuilding, including the gorgeous pretty-boy side characters.

I don't feel completely satisfied with how Il's route was resolved, as there's still some question to how much of his personality is his own, but ultimately it was the most solid route in the game. I didn't think I would like Il as I don't particularly enjoy his character archetype, but in the end I was pretty attached to him. His characterization in the true end route was adorable as well, and I adore his friendship with Misyr.

(SPOILERS)

Kaoru Rindo Route

Rindo was my second favorite route in the game. I think it's super funny that Kotone keeps talking about their age gap even though he's the second youngest character in the game at 42 years old.

His route is also (to my knowledge) the only route that lets you just straight up kill the person you're trying to romance, although it does dead end the game if you make the choice not to save him when you can.

The worst part of this route for me what the treatment of Rindo's sister, Shizuku. She doesn't get a proper sprite in her human form, so you have no idea what she looked like, and it makes it kind of hard to feel anything for her. I did like the utter horror of watching Mikado feed her with his blood with no explanation.

This is one of the darkest routes and the only one where a side character with a sprite actually dies. And when he does, you feel bad for him because he was just trying to protect the woman he loves.

It did feel a little predictable to have Rindo become non-human after oodles of conversations about whether or not humans and non-humans can have relationships. Honestly the game writers are cowards for not making Rindo look more extreme as a non-human. Make him a freak!!

I do appreciate that he remains non-human at the end, though. I feel like forcing him to become human again would have eliminated any of the growth he made during the route.

Personality-wise, Rindo is one of the cuter characters IMO. He's flirty but as soon as things get serious he backs off. Super adorable!

(SPOILERS)

Canus Espada Route

This route was...ok. Just ok.

Honestly, I was bored through most of it. I can't really say why. It just didn't appeal to me that much.

Right at the beginning it annoyed me by assigning a gender to Vennia. Like, he could have just been left nonbinary. It's canon in this game that fairies don't have genders anyway, so it would have been fine to continue using they/them pronouns. I guess otome games haven't gone that way yet but it would have been nice.

I did like Vennia's relationship with Titania, and in the end, when he betrays Kotone, it felt natural. You can't hate him because you know he just wants to protect his sister.

I thought maybe his headlessness would be plot relevant but on the contrary, we get literally no explanation for why he's headless and nobody else is. I get that they wanted to make him an interesting character, but we know his ancestor was not headless, so why is he? Aren't there other dullahans in Medio?

I do think it's hilarious that we don't ever get to see his face. The implication is that he does in fact have one, so I had predicted it would be revealed as part of his route, but they stuck to their guns and kept him headless throughout the entire route.

Idk why I wasn't impressed with this route. Worldbuilding-wise it was one of the more solid storylines. It just wasn't particularly shocking or interesting to me, so I didn't love it, but I suppose I didn't hate it either.

(SPOILERS)

Misyr Rex Route

This route was, quite frankly, absolutely ridiculous. This was the most obvious case of having an overall idea and not having the skills to execute it well.

So many things happened just because Misyr willed it to. For example, he gains magic powers and a semi-human form simply because he wanted to visit a four-year-old on earth? How does that even happen? This is already ignoring the fact that he transformed into an ash monster through forced evolution or whatever, which is already a stretch, mind you.

And if that's not ridiculous enough, we then get introduced to Noah, who is somehow an entire world. I actually found him to be more interesting of a character than Misyr, now that we know that Misyr's entire life consists of going to one cafe and doing nothing all day.

The most disappointing part of this route was Asmodeus, who was largely not relevant at all other than the initial shock of realizing Misyr wasn't the demon king. Why bother making such an annoying character for a brief gag? He could have been so much more but instead he's reduced to an unlikable flirt who kidnaps Kotone in order to provide an excuse for a cute CG, and then we barely see him ever again.

This whole route stinks of worldbuilding with no consideration for how certain elements would affect the rest of the world. You know how sometimes worlds in fictional programs (ie: Black Mirror) build their entire concepts around one aspect of society and don't bother fleshing out everything else? That's basically this whole route in a nutshell. It falls apart under the tiniest bit of scrutiny.

To top it off, the good ending of this route, and therefore the whole game, involves Kotone becoming the world herself, largely losing her human form, now cursed to live for eternity as a realm that turns people to ash????? Who decided this would be a satisfying ending for an otome game?

The one element I did like was the explanation for why non-humans look so much like humans. I think it's super cool that humans used to have superior technology and lost it and everything else grew from that. I like the biblical references as well.

Ultimately, though, this was a disappointing way to end the game for me.

#otome game #cafe enchante #review #otome review #this is largely self indulgent #feel free to ignore this #thank you

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tarticawhat · 5 days

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Nameless Route Review: Yuri - Could've Been a Contender

Again, SPOILERS Y’ALL. S P O I L E R S. Yuri marks my halfway point in Nameless. I have a lot to say so buckle up. Yuri, Yuri, Yuri. You had so much promise and potential. Too bad your route failed us all miserably. To expand a bit: Yuri, the only doll from Crobidoll’s adult line, is simply a bucket of smarm. He makes lots of money (somehow) and gets free things by charming women out of them.…

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#nameless #nameless spoilers #nameless the one thing you must recall #otome #otome game review #otome review #yuri nameless #yuri route #yuri route spoilers

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mythicamagic · 1 year

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Otomes I played in 2022

I thought I'd do some quickie reviews of otomes I've played recently such as: Hakuoki, Cupid Parasite, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly, Sweet Fuse, Taisho Alice, Variable Barricade, Theory of Fear, Diabolik Lovers HDB and MB, Birushana, Ikemen Prince, Ikemen Vampire and Ikemen Sengoku.

Whew, I played more than I thought XD remember all this ranting is just my personal opinion.

Aight so Hakuoki:

For the most part I didn't mesh well with this one. The months in game felt pretty drawn out and slow-paced, and I didn't latch onto any of the characters except for the demons. I'm not entirely sure why. I think I just didn't feel like mc belonged there- and that she was way more invested in the Shinsengumi than they were bothered about her. I did enjoy seeing some historical events play out in Hijikata's route, and I liked seeing Kazama show up to wreck shit. Kazama was great, Kazama gave me a few months of brain rot. I did LOVE the music in this game though, dayme it was beautiful, and it goes without saying but the art style of the CGs were gorgeous. I'm glad I played this one because it's seen as a classic but I didn't personally get the hype sadly. I actually watched a playthrough of a fan-translated spin-off game (SSL) and actually PREFERRED it, despite it being just a comedy game. Whats wrong with me?

Best boy: Kazama

Cupid Parasite

I remember having mixed feelings about this one, it was a mixed bag. Pretty ok! I really liked Allan's route and the voice acting was solid. Art style was interesting but it hurt my eyes after a while XD I think for me I just didn't find much of a 'replayability' factor. I enjoyed it fine, but it won't stay with me as one of the special otomes I love, capisce? I just couldn't stand Gil or Ryuki. Raul was fine and Shelby was fine, so overall it was just 'ok' for me.

Best boy: Allan. Really enjoyed Jupiters voice acting tho (from Yangs VA hehe)

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly

I remember while playing this game my friend hated its art style but man I LOVED playing this one. It felt really unique in terms of atmosphere, with mystery/suspense elements. It took me back to the earlier days of visual novels because I didn't look up a walkthrough for a bunch of this and it led to a lot of frustration and dead ends, but even that was kind of fun to figure out. Loved its twists and turns and bittersweet moments. I also loved having a voiced heroine with Beniyuri (which was one of my first experiences with the feature) and wish more heroines were voiced. Also this one had a BANGING OP, whooo! Reminded me of early 2000's nostalgia cheese, love it.

youtube

Best boy: Hikage and Yamato

Sweet Fuse: At your side

Hi um WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THIS OTOME? Yeah I think its a bit of a lost gem but if you have a PS Vita, I totally rec buying this one. It's such a fun ride, and with a great MC to boot. The Love interests in this game were all very unusual and not typical otome pretty boyz but I really enjoyed the way they were written. The groups chemistry was great as well. The age gap thing might bother some people though so keep that in mind before playing. Anyway, the setting and plot reminded me a little of Danganronpa 2 and I had a real fun time with it.

Best boy: Mitarashi

Taisho x Alice

Hooo boy people were excited for this on the otome subreddit. I sat down to try it and...

Well, I didnt think it was possible for an MC to ruin my game experience but here we are. I couldn't stand this game's heroine. Yes I understand why she was written that way, yes I enjoyed some of the guys and the end reveal was unique and impressive- but was it worth suffering through Yurika? Mn...possibly not. She seems to be somewhat divisive though and if you can stomach her 'memeing' and 'I'm not like OTHER GURLS' energy as she twirls, winks with both eyes and shouts to the world that she's SOOOO Quirky guyz- maybe you'll like this game. Thing is, even putting all...that, aside, I didn't like her attitude with Red by invading his personal space, and a certain thing she did in the last route made me incredibly uncomfortable but of course it was brushed aside bc she's the HEROINE GUYS.

Best boy: Ryoushi and lil gremlin man Alice- actually while I'm here, if you can stomach the MC, Alice's VA had probably the best performance I've heard in an otome. He was hilarious- and had super great range

Variable Barricade

Boy I was super hyped for this one, it was probably my most anticipated game of the year. Great art style, great common route, great voice acting...and then the routes went on. I've noticed people seem to share the same sentiment that they usually enjoy the boys routes but then shit hits the fan and the boy is insensitive, the main heroine is too harsh or dumb- the boy LEAVES, the guy is manipulative- point is, something sours the routes and they're hard to recover from. I really liked Hibari as a heroine at first but as the routes went on I was actively wanting her to NOT be in a relationship, as she demonstrated time and again that she just wasn't ready for one. I ended up selling this game as soon as I was done with it, which I feel sad about, because I really wanted to like VB.

Best boy: Taiga

Theory of Fear

I don't know why I played this game. XD I actually played a couple of 'indie' otomes like Trapped with Jester, Blooming Panic and Boyfriend to Death (the latter I wouldn't uh...call an otome...plus it awakened unpleasant revelations that I might be into some disturbing tropes so THANKS for that game. Never have I been more uncomfortable with being asked if I'd prefer a Hammer or Drill)

Anywho, Theory of Fear isn't discussed much. It's this awkward lil game with Russian voice acting you can find on Steam. Very 'this is someone's first fanfic' vibes, rife with sexual assault around every corner. Every time Yuki showed up I was like - oh boy here we go again. I found Sadaos route quite interesting in some ways though due to his way of 'fear exposure' and quite literally exposing the mc to her worst fears and mingling that with pleasure. I dunno, a twisted concept that made my brain itch in a good way. The game is bad no doubt about it and I don't rec it but I at least took something away from it. I really enjoyed Blooming Panic though and would totally rec that any day.

Best boy: Sadao- look don't you JUDGE ME

Diabolik Lovers HDB and MB

In keeping with this trend of dark romance stuff that shouldn't make my brain go brrr but does is Diabolik Lovers. It's not English Translated but with the first two games in the series now on Switch, I used fan translations to play through the games and had a grand ole time. This franchise is only for people who like trash men ok. These boys are awful in every way and quite frankly you can't defend any of their abuse or actions BUT... it's fiction. And if you enjoy your fav VAs whispering degrading things in your ear, moaning and blood-sucking noises (wear headphones for these games oml) then you'll lurve this series like I do. I found myself enjoying Reiji more than I thought I would and Shuu a little less than anticipated, considering I used to love him in my earlier fandom days. Subaru remains the undisputed champ though.

Best boy: Subaru

Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei

This game was aight! Better than Hakuoki in my opinion but I know people will come for my head by saying that lmao. It wasn't a perfect game and holy hell did some battles drag on (hi Benkais route) but it really introduced some unique elements plus the best Rivals/ Enemies to lovers trope I've seen so far in otome with Noritsunes route. I recommend this game just for his route, to be honest. I thought Tomomori would be my favourite but he fell a little short for me.

Best boy: Noritsune and Shigehira

Ongoing- Ikemen Prince, Ikemen Vampire and Ikemen Sengoku

I haven't finished all the routes in these mobile game otomes but yup they're my latest addiction. I'm obsessed.

I think Ikesen is my favourite of the three (I'm not touching Ikerev sorry) because of its writing being stronger in terms of just how fun and lively the world feels. Mc helps in a big way with that, and her chemistry with most of the guys is great to witness. Ikesen's menu layout is defo the worst though and could do with an update.

Ikevamp is aight, I didn't enjoy Comtes route like I thought I would and Leo made me sad but I'm loving Arthurs route, what a good boy. I have no gripes with the layout and the music is cute. I've spent the least amount of money on Ikevamp but still had a great time, which I feel is important if you want to be a free to play player. Also Faust route localisation WHEN?!

Ikepri's layout is the best no contest, everything looks super clean and stylish and the gacha systems are dangerous bc holy hell the cards look so good and pretty. Ikepri has hurt my wallet the most though and I defo feel the most pushed out of all of them to spend money. I think the writing is fine for Ikepri but oddly I enjoy the Events more the Routes themselves?? anyone else feel that way? I like it though, I just need to be stricter on myself not to get sucked into gambling because of it loll

Best girl and light of my life: Ikesen's MC Mai Mizusaki.

Best ikevamp boy: Faust

Ikesen: Mitsuhide or Motonari

Ikepri: Chevalier

#Otome games #otome review #ikesen #ikevamp #ikepri #diabolik lovers #sorry for the rant people

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reaperbabegaming · 1 year

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My Alien Roommate Game Review

Reviews can contain a few spoilers. Heavy, in-depth spoilers will have a warning. All opinions are my own and I have not been paid to do this review.

Dev Lead - WholesomeWraith Romance Routes - 3 male romances (BxB and GxB available) Rating - PG-13 (Sexual References and Humor) Genre - Comedic Slice-of-Life/School Romance + Thriller/Sci-Fi elements Available On - Windows, Linux, Mac Price - Name Your Own Price

Overall Rating 4/5

Summary (retrieved from Itch.io)

"Oh my God, they were roommates."

When an alien boy named Enoch lands on Riley's balcony one uneventful Sunday night, Riley's world is instantly turned upside-down.

Play as either the male or female protagonist, Riley (name changeable) and navigate the complicated maze of academics, friendships and rivalries that is high school, all while trying to keep the biggest secret in the entire world under wraps: the existence of your alien roommate.

Pursue three MALE Love Interests in this romantic BxB/GxB visual novel: the socially-anxious childhood friend Lucas, the intelligent but arrogant "Class President" Felix Yang, or last but not least, the man alien of the hour himself, Enoch.

Reaper Review

As someone who is known for their love of alien romances, I was immediately drawn to My Alien Roommate. The art was beautiful, the writing was hilarious, and I wanted more.

You, the MC, are a high schooler who lives alone when one night something crashes onto your balcony. After seeing a blue humanoid creature exit said something, you pass out, wake back up, think it’s all a dream, and then get freaking jump scared because you’re a scaredy cat and wasn’t expecting it! ….I mean maybe that happens to you.

The adorable creature, Enoch, is just too lovable in his cinnamon roll ways that you agree to help him stay undercover but he just isn’t satisfied with staying in your apartment. This leads to lots of questions and situations that you have to navigate through. Good thing you have awesome friends to help you (even if they don’t know all that’s going on and think you’re being a little…. questionable sometimes). Together you work to keep Enoch safe, enjoy your school life, figure out what is going on with your new and weird substitute teacher, and maybe dabble in some romance along the way.

CAST

Romances:

Enoch He/Him - The alien cinnamon roll that we love to roll our eyes at but would protect with our lives.

Lucas He/Him - The BFF, has our back 100%, and the voice of reason most of the time.

Felix He/Him - Class President, pain in our butt, but also gives me that enemies to lovers trope that I crave.

Others:

Kat She/Her - The last third of the best friend trio and who always speaks her mind and we love her for it.

Gallagher He/Him - Sus.

Each character is so different and distinct when it comes to design and personality that you can’t help but fall in love with them. Even if you don’t want to romance them there’s a part of you thinking “Huh, I wonder what they would do in this situation.” Except Gallagher. We don’t talk about him more than we have to.

I played the original demo (not the extended version) so I can only comment on the fraction of the game that I saw. I think the dialogue is dynamic and the choices that are available so far are really fun and make some great conversations, my favorite being when you have to vote for who’s partner you want to be on a group project. The first few chapters (which is what the demo covers) really lays a solid foundation of intrigue and gives you a slight taste for what each character can offer you in terms of romancing them.

That being said, I do wish I didn’t have to wait so long to romance the character that I want. The game gives you lots of chances with Enoch making him the easy romance in my opinion, with Lucas being next, and Felix being the hardest of the three. Can you tell which one I chose?

Other things to note:

The art quality is amazing throughout with the CGs being exceptionally beautiful.

A bit of mystery teased in Enoch’s backstory as well as some dangerous intrigue at the very end to really hook us for the main game release.

While there is no clear “This is the romance option” when it comes to dialogue choices, there is a numerical counter that shows if the player chose a bad, neutral, or good option.

65,000+ words making 5-8 hours of gameplay in the demo alone.

Developer is really responsive to feedback, especially quality of life comments.

With a kickstarter just around the corner, I’m very excited to see what all will be in the full game as well as what stretch goals will be offered.

If I’ve piqued your interest, check out the demo HERE and then come back and leave me a comment on if you liked it or not.

Also let me know if you think I should go back and play the extended demo!

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mekorausada · 2 years

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Otome mobile games

...simply, are bad. When I say bad, I don’t mean ‘Oh wow this story sucks, bad characters, etc.’ But I mean they are a mess with microtransactions, ads, grinding, waiting, and more. This of course doesn’t just apply to otome games but the entire mobile gaming industry as a whole.

This fact is proven even more with Cheritz’s new game, Ssum. It’s a decent game, I liked the trailer, I liked the guy, I really liked the layout of this whole game plus it’s got a sick concept that just wasn’t executed well, and it's really disappointing for a really well-regarded company like Chertiz.

Now the thing to understand is that mobile games are definitely different from laptop/console games with them being constantly developed, being on such a small screen, the smaller space on a cellphone, and the advantage of being able to use your mobile device anywhere makes it different.

Mobile games are a constant grind.

My big examples for today will be Tears of Themis and Mystic Messenger.

Both of these games are amazing, they’re filled with lovable characters and have cool plots and concepts. Despite this, it can be overwhelming sometimes.

Focusing on Tears of Themis, the gacha system is hell. At this point, I’m not even focused on how hot these guys look but on making my deck stronger to kick this NPC’s ass so I can continue with the story. There is ALOT happening and for a new player, it will be overwhelming. You need so much in such little time and it's amazing at luring you to pay them money.

Now onto Mystic Messenger, starting this game made me nervous. I had heard of the times here but oh man, it was way more. I want to focus on hourglasses here. Grinding in this game is hell. I have no problems with grinding but fuck no. 11 days is too much. A day feels like 5, sometimes they would reference something they said the other day and I would be surprised because ‘Wow that was just yesterday?’. I wasn’t able to do Another Story because it's 550 hourglasses and for the full experience of Secret Ending 1 and 2, you would need 420 hourglasses. That is insane.

So after being a very faithful mobile player for half of my gaming career, I have observed that if you are a mobile otome game. You either have: -A gacha system that you need to progress in the story

-Notorious waiting times

-A ticket system

-Gem system to pick some choices

wtf

#otome game #review #otome #otome review #game review #rant post #sorry for the rant #complaining #mobile games #mystic messenger #tears of themis #cheritz ssum #bruh #guys pls dont attack me #but like seriously 200 days???#this was before ssum but ssum was perfectly released lmao

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otomegamesandme · 10 months

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Otome Jam 2023 Thoughts: Intertwine

Intertwine

By: Crescence Studio

A recurring dream. A flash of deja vu. An undeniable connection.

Some say these are remnants of our past lives—echoes of the memories we’ve made in centuries past. When I ran into you on that fateful day…

I started to believe them.

This game made me experience a lot of joy after a pretty rough month, which means it immediately landed on my favorite lists for the year. I love Van so much, and the way this game is set up allows us to see so many different sides to him. The way each scene was played out and how they all strung together was simple but well done, and it made the ending so satisfying. I mean it when I say I was grinning like an idiot for the entire hour this game lasted.

The idea is simple, the setup is simple, but it's the simplicity and familiarity that makes this work so well and makes it easy to fall into. The art and overall aesthetic is gorgeous too (the GUI is so pretty, I think it's one of my favorite designs in any VN I've played thus far). The entire game is incredibly well done and I highly recommend it.

#otome jam #otome review #em reviews #em talks #josei jam #indie otome #ok but I'm not joking when I say this game cured my depression #expect to see this in my top otome games of 2023 list at the end of the year lol #intertwine vn

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jasmine-otome · 7 months

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Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei Review ⚔️

"Fifteen years after the Heiji Rebellion, the Heike clan has reached the height of its power, while the Genji clan remains devastated by defeat. Hidden deep within the mountains of Kurama lives Shanao, the youngest surviving male heir to the Genji name. However, Shanao harbors a deep secret known by very few.

The youngest heir to the Genji name is no man.

Her adventure leads her to find new cherished relationships, as well as something deeper than the feud between the rivaling clans."

This review will contain marked spoilers, which will be indicated by red text stating "spoiler zone" and will be struck through. The spoiler zones' endings will be denoted by "end spoilers" in green text.

Genre: Historical / Action / Adventure / Romance

Rating: ESRB T

Developer & Publisher: Otomate & Red Entertainment + Idea Factory International

Where to Buy: Nintendo eShop, Amazon

When I first heard about Birushana, I was super excited about the enemies-to-lovers route. Unfortunately, I took a pretty long break from gaming right before it was released, so I only got the chance to play it recently. I’m a massive fan of historical fiction, and this was my first otome series taking place in historical Japan, so I had a lot to expect. I had exceptionally high expectations for Tomomori, and I can confidently say he met all of them :). The game took me a little under 45 hours to complete over the course of a month; however, it’d probably take a little less time if you use walkthroughs most of the time.

I really liked the art, and the music was a perfect addition to immerse you into the time period. I loved how they implemented faceless sprites for most of the extras and how each character had multiple costume changes. Birushana is slightly unconventional in terms of directing, which I absolutely loved. The developers truly took advantage of the ability to move around the character sprites, which definitely ramped up the action.

The fight scenes were action-packed and incredibly immersive, as the sprites were constantly moving to mimic the energy of an actual fight (think piofiore gunfights on steroids). The developers also made excellent use of the perspective and rear sprites of characters, as well, which I don’t see too much. Overall, the art, directing, and music amplified the game’s immersion and made it super visually appealing and entertaining. All in all, *chef’s kiss*. 9/10

*the gif might be a little lossy since I had to really trim it down*

Birushana pretty much checked off all the boxes for my favorite features. It has a heroine portrait, bold and outlined text (making it so much easier to read), a flowchart, a status page, a dictionary, a skip-to-choice button, love catch, and sprite animation. The only thing keeping the system from being a 10/10 is the fact that the game itself was pretty slow and sometimes laggy. It was especially prominent when it came to disengaging the skip feature. Sometimes, I’d have to press twice to disengage, which is incredibly annoying when I accidentally activated "skip all". I typically play games with the second-fastest text speed, but I had to switch to the fastest speed since it sometimes lags between lines.

Instead of simply having points for each love interest, there are measures for strength, knowledge, and kindness. Not going to lie, this made the game kind of hard. Instead of getting as many points with your target love interest as possible, you also have to balance the other three measures…otherwise, you’ll end up on a bad end or the wrong route. When it came to Noritsune, I kept either getting a bad end or ending up on Benkei’s route over and over again until I gave up and decided to use a walkthrough. Benkei’s route was also a struggle since I kept getting bad ends. I can’t even begin to remember how many tries it took before I resorted to a walkthrough. Thankfully, after those two routes, I figured out exactly how to land on the proper route, and my struggle was no more.

Coupled with the fabulous directing I mentioned above, the fact that the sprites were animated served to turn the game into a cinematic masterpiece! It really coupled well to play upon the game’s adventurous nature. I’m not too particular about voice acting, but I think it was pretty good. I was rlly happy to learn that Tomomori's VA voiced Korosensei in Assassination Classroom and also had roles in various other series I really like, such as I’m the Villainess, The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today, Horimiya, High Rise Invasion, Boruto, My Love Story, and about a billion other series. Idk that was a bit random lol. 9/10

Birushana takes place in the Heian era of Japan and revolves around two Samurai clans: the Heike and the Genji. In addition to taking place in a historical setting, the game revolves around the real-life Genpei War and various battles that occurred alongside it. In fact, many of the characters and love interests are based on actual historical figures (although the writers do take various liberties, obviously).

The common route is pretty short (I didn’t track how many hours), and it differs from typical otoge as there are common parts during the individual character routes. Additionally, due to keeping in line with history, the unique character routes tend to be a little repetitive in some aspects, which was a bit annoying at times. Still, once I learned that it actually happened, it made sense why the developers chose to do that. While I usually play whichever character I feel like first, I decided to follow the developer’s recommended route order, and I feel like it really enhanced the gameplay experience. The best way I can describe it is pretty much layers. Each route is pretty much juicier than the previous one and unveils more and more each time. It also plays a lot of dramatic irony. There’s a LOT to be uncovered by the story, so it really encourages you to develop various theories and whatnot regarding the characters. I loved the more subtle touch of fantasy, so it wasn’t overly dramatic but still played an important role.

As for the endings, each route has a “Happy End,” a “Tragic Love End,” “If Ends,” and a couple “Bad Ends”.

*** SLIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

The tragic love ends were a bit like a lite version of Piofiore’s notorious tragic endings, but when it came to the happy endings, I wasn’t particularly satisfied. They felt more like normal endings than “happy” ones, but I guess it just boils down to keeping it realistic.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Something that I absolutely loved were the “If” endings. After completing each route except Noritsune’s, you’ll unlock an ending with one of four side characters earlier on in the route. As a lover of side characters, I was absolutely pumped when I realized it. Their stories apparently continue in the fandisc, which I hope IFI will announce soon. Shigehira was my favorite side character, and I was super happy once I realized that he wouldn’t be limited to an undatable. I really wished other games would employ that practice *cough cough* Dairoku *cough cough*. I think Birushana did a pretty good job of tying up any loose ends in terms of plotline. I had very few lingering questions, none of which were quite pressing or anything. Some elements felt a little band-aidy, but nothing that made me completely roll my eyes. 7/10

When I started the game, my rankings for love interests were Tomomori > Yoritomo > Noritsune > Shungen > Benkei. After I completed it, my rankings surprisingly didn’t change. I didn’t dislike any of the love interests (which is pretty rare for me), and I absolutely loved two of them. 7/10

*the game's route order*

Shanao/Yoshitsune Minamoto is the youngest heir of Genji, who has spent her life living as a boy in the Kurama temple and has been training all her life in hopes of one day standing up to the Heike. Throughout her life, the name of Genji, which she holds dear, has been weighing her down, pushing her towards combat when all she truly wants is to make the world a better place and live in peace. Birushana follows Shanao as she leaves the temple in Kyoto and embarks on a journey to defeat the Heike and achieve her dreams.

I really liked Shanao as a character and found her interesting throughout. She’s strong, resilient, and quick-witted; overall, she is a very admirable heroine. She takes a very active role in the story and isn’t just a damsel. She’s also extremely dedicated to her beliefs and gives her all to reach her dreams. I loved how her strength was showcased throughout and not subjugated once a love interest appeared. I’ve found that in many battle/action series, the FL starts out as some goddess of war, but once she meets the ML, her abilities are pretty much disregarded, and she just becomes the ML’s cheerleader (cough, SAO). Thankfully, Birushana strays away from this and keeps Shanao at the forefront. She’s pretty much one of those characters you can’t help but cheer on.

Noritsune Taira is the nephew of Kiyomori, the Heike’s leader, and the cousin of Shigehira and Tomomori. He’s a bit sheltered when it comes to the real world due to his upbringing, has a hostile attitude, and quite a competitive spirit. Like Shanao, although he feels pride in his clan, he also feels weighed down by it and begins to see her as a rival.

What got me really excited for Birushana initially was the existence of an enemies-to-lovers route, which happens to be Noritsune’s. While they never really seemed like enemies, they were definitely intense rivals. His route was pretty light compared to the following routes, but it was also an excellent way to start off the game. Something I really liked about it was the character dynamic between him and Shanao. He sees her as a rival to overcome and, in turn, is pushed to grow as a person and escape the shell of his family, learning what it’s like to be in the real world. Throughout his route, he pretty much matures from a sheltered, bratty, rich boy to someone who knows how to work hard, respect others, and is self-aware. They pretty much have that iconic battle shounen rivalry that pushes each other to do better despite being on opposing sides (kind of like Sasuke & Naruto) but with a romantic twist (speaking of Naruto, one thing that drew me to his character was the fact that he has the same pink hair and green eyes as my favorite character, Sakura).

One of the great things about Noritsune is that he never disregarded Shanao as a rival, even after finding out she was a woman, and didn’t even care too much for her gender in general. He always saw her as an equal and admired her strength.

*** LIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

I really loved how they could set aside their differences in the middle of the route and pretty much just be together for some time. Seeing them fight together was so power-couple. It absolutely broke my heart when they were separated towards the end.

*** END SPOILERS ***

I will say that getting on his route was an absolute nightmare without knowing how the game works, but I think it was all worth it for him.

Benkei is an exiled monk on a journey to collect either 999 or 1000 swords from the Heike (I forgot ngl). He’s a bit of a gentle giant and somewhat of a himbo. He is also incredibly loyal to Shanao as her “first vassal” despite having a bit of a notorious background. He also happens to be the oldest love interest in the game at 30 years old. Something I found a bit funny is how much older he looks than Yoritomo despite being only a year apart.

Benkei was probably my least favorite LI, but I did like his character. I found his himbo-ness quite funny and liked his route a lot, but I couldn’t really bring myself to see him as a love interest. Benkei takes great pride in being her vassal, and the two develop somewhat of a father-daughter relationship, bonding due to their lack of parentage...which made it hard for me to see them as a couple.

*** LIGHT SPOILER ZONE ***

One of the things about Benkei’s route that’s a bit unconventional (but I’m not complaining at all about it) is the lack of Benkei himself. This route pretty much felt like a Shigehira & Tomomori ad and is what turned me into a diehard Shigehira fan and got me super pumped for Tomomori lol. Safe to say, I was pretty satisfied with some of the bad endings. The route delves into the mysteries of Shanao’s origin and serves as a starting point for unpacking the layers of the story. It also really exposes the fantasy element of the story.

I wasn’t a massive fan of the romance in this route, as it felt a bit underdeveloped. Benkei pretty much served as a shoulder to cry on. Still, I will admit he makes a phenomenal side/platonic character.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Benkei's unwaveringly dedicated to Shanao and will do whatever he can in hopes of making things easier on her, even if it comes at his own expense. Overall, I liked the route (mainly due to the villains, lol) and I like Benkei as a character. Still, the chemistry as lovers wasn’t really there, in my opinion (but it was good in a more platonic sense).

Shungen is the son of Shanao’s father’s retainer and has been raised alongside her in Kurama since birth. He’s pretty overprotective when it comes to Shanao and is the pair's brain, while Shanao is the brawn.

I’m not typically a fan of the childhood friend troupe since they usually tend to go sour; however, Shungen exceeded my expectations. While the romance itself wasn’t anything to write home about, I did really like him as a character. He’s a bit nerdy and likes to read a lot, which, looking back, doesn’t seem to be super common. He’s also a talented flute player, which was also a cool addition. He cares a lot for Shanao and profoundly values her due to their close relationship throughout their lives. As opposed to Noritsune, he was more overprotective. He doesn't let her breathe as much, but it kinda makes sense since she's constantly in extreme danger (given the war and all). He’s definitely one of the sweeter LIs and seems quite innocent, lol.

This route was a big one in terms of plot twists, building upon the revelations in previous routes. While playing, I attempted to predict what was going on over and over again and got pretty close. It also unveiled even more questions surrounding Shanao, so it keeps you on your toes.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

My favorite part was probably when he played the flute for Shanao every day, which really tugged on my heartstrings. I laughed a bit at the thought of Shungen being called some player-inputted name, like idk Emily, once the big reveal came out. I liked how this route had a big focus on the emperor as opposed to simply the Heike as well. Something pretty interesting to see was Shungen’s little light-yandere streak, especially since he’s been portrayed as this sweet, intellectual character who doesn’t seem very threatening. The happy ending for this route was a bit surprising since I was scared I did something wrong, but overall, it turned out pretty well. I felt so bad for Shanao in this route, and I can’t even begin to imagine what she must have been feeling after learning the truth. Thankfully, it made Yoritomo’s route feel a lot less wrong.

*** END SPOILERS ***

This route hyped me up for Yoritomo’s route, so I was pretty eager to get through with Shungen’s, which might have limited my enjoyment a little bit. While Shungen was likable, I couldn’t care too much for their romance. This route really tugged on my heartstrings, and I liked Shanao and Shungen’s close relationship as friends. I think Shanao’s role was a bit toned down in this route and that there were a couple of conflicts that could have easily been solved via communication. But overall, it was a really great building block for the rest of the story and ramped up the dramatic irony in the following routes.

Yoritomo Minamoto is Shanao’s older half-brother who has been exiled in Izu for the past 16 or so years. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry, and just ignore it. He’s distant and closed off, and it takes some time for him to open up, but it makes sense given his background.

Having seen him throughout the previous routes, I was just itching to play this route. It’s full of angst, is pretty slow-burn, and really showcases the extent of Shanao’s dedication. She seemed a bit out of character for this route, but it made sense that it highlights how deeply she years for familial love. Being so far into the game, the route has a lot of spoilers, so I'll limit most of my commentary.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

Growing up essentially as an orphan, Shanao's been longing for familial love for years, and upon meeting her only family, she can’t help but be dedicated even if it’s bad for her in the long run. Yoritomo starts off very stoic, but Shanao slowly chips away at his exterior, and they begin to open up to one another. It absolutely broke my heart when Shanao overheard Yoritomo discussing with Kagetoki and ran away. I liked both the happy and tragic endings a lot. The tragic one kinda reminded me of a blend of Dante and Nicola's, who happen to be my two favorite Piofiore characters.

*** END SPOILERS ***

I really, really loved Yoritomo’s character design (his might be my favorite), and his CGs were by far my favorite in the game. His closed-off nature really made me yearn for some scenes from his point of view since I really, really wanted to know what was going on in his head lol. Throughout the routes, I couldn’t really figure out if he was a good or bad character, but that just made it all the more entertaining. The romance felt a little fast, but overall, it was my second favorite route, and I really loved his character.

Tomomori Taira is Kiyomori’s (leader of the Heike) 4th son, Shigehira's brother, and Noritsune's cousin. He’s a highly talented militarist but tends to stay outside of battles unless he holds a personal interest within them. Right off the bat, he discovers Shanao’s secret and pretty much becomes weirdly obsessed with her, hopping on a quest to make her his…or to at least die by her hand.

Tomomori was the individual character I was most excited about both before and during the game, and I can safely say that he did not disappoint at all. Being the game's villain, he plays a much more prominent role than the other love interests in other routes and even takes the stage in some. Since he’s interested in her from the start, it’s almost like the whole game is building up on their relationship.

I absolutely loved the dynamic between Shanao and Tomomori: he’s all flirty while she pretty much can’t stand him (however, she does seem to hold some feelings towards him that she’d like to ignore). After seeing Shanao doing all the heavy lifting in the previous route, it was nice to see the roles being reversed. I finished this route the quickest simply because I was so obsessed with him. Coupled with several plotholes that don’t matter too much, his route connected everything revealed in previous routes and added even more, especially regarding the story’s fantasy side. Some things I predicted pretty well, but others came out of nowhere, so it was quite exhilarating to learn the whole story.

*** MEDIUM SPOILER ZONE ***

I really liked how Tomomori’s route seemed to take a break from the war setting and had the two of them travel together. It was one of my favorite parts of Noritsune’s, so I was delighted to see something like that again. I thought the whole hand-holding thing was absolutely adorable, and I was obsessed with everything about Tomomori. I thought the ghost story scene was hilarious and showcased some lighthearted moments between the two despite literally being in the midst of war. You can tell he cares for her by helping her control her powers, which almost connects them as so few people have the same ability. Their banter is excellent, and they just seem like a couple who complement each other perfectly.

Shanao exhibits much character growth by learning about Tomomori’s perspective on things and his real-life experiences after writing him off as some wealthy noble who’s never felt struggle. It showcases the hidden parts of Tomomori, and the fact that he doesn’t care too much about the fairings of his family holds a contrast to Shanao, who cares deeply about hers despite being barely exposed and integrated into it. The whole “I want to see her cry” thing reminded me of Claude from I’m the Villainess, who I also love, which was pretty nice.

When the two separated, I was literally dying for them to get back together omg. When I saw all the “one month” and “several months” later, I was dying inside and felt terrible for Tomomori. First, his dad dies right before him, and then his girl runs off to the enemy on the same night 😭.

The happy ending for this route was probably my favorite since it didn’t seem so…lackluster. The whole Tokuko thing felt a little band-aidy, but what can you do, I guess. He gets a bit cringe-ishly possessive, but it seemed like it meant to play on his funny side, so I didn’t take it too seriously.

*** END SPOILERS ***

Overall, Tomomori takes the cake. The entire game pretty much builds upon the tension between the two, and the route ties together all the prior revelations. Tomomori and Shanao had the best chemistry, in my opinion, and have a great dynamic between their personalities. He’s a little crazy, but in a good way. The route integrates comedy perfectly into the game's setting and takes on some surprising twists. Throughout the route, he develops from a bit of a weird, loving creep to a fleshed-out yet slightly clingy character. All I could possibly want now is another love interest like him, no one compares 😭.

To be honest, I didn’t care too much about the side characters except for Shigehira, Tomomori’s brother, who I absolutely loved. From the moment I saw him, I was lamenting over the fact that he wasn’t an LI, but once I learned that he was one in the fandisc, it was like the world had been saved. I really enjoyed Shigehira’s “If” ending since it showcases their dynamic. It reminded me a bit of Shanao and Noritsune’s relationship, since despite being rivals from opposing sides, they don’t really dislike each other and seem to care for one another in their own way. He’s a little bossy and cocky, but his time with Shanao helps him grow and mature a little bit. I’m really begging for an FD localization just for him because I need moreeeee.

I also really wish we saw more of the sibling dynamic between Tokuko, Shigehira, and Tomomori. Shigehira mentions the three of them playing together as children, but Tokuko seems very branched off from the beginning. She was pretty annoying from the start but a bit of a necessary evil and seemed to redeem herself somewhat.

Two “prominent” side characters were Tadanobu and Tsugunobu, vassals for Lord Hidehira in Oshu. Tadanobu’s the goofy and flirty one, while Tsugunobu’s the more soft-spoken and wise one. In my opinion, they didn’t add too much to the story that a random extra couldn't have…they were kinda just there for some occasional comic relief.

Takatsuna is Yoritomo’s young retainer and probably the game's youngest character. I didn’t care too much about him in the actual game, but I thoroughly enjoyed his “If” route. He seems pretty nice, but that’s it.

One character I wasn’t a fan of was Yasuhira, Lord Hidehira’s son. I’m not really sure why Yasuhira even got a sprite since he was pretty much irrelevant throughout the story. He only seemed to complain for a couple lines about Shanao, and that was the extent of his character. I wish his sprite was used by the emperor instead or something.

Overall, I liked Birushana quite a bit. While Tomomori and Yoritomo really took the spotlight, Benkei and Shungen were a bit lackluster, and Noritsune was kinda neutral. Something that really amped up my impression of the game was the insane directing. The developers exceeded my expectations with the action scenes, which were captivating and full of movement, which doesn’t seem too common in otome games. Everything is super animated, and the fight scenes are incredibly action-packed. The romance aspect varied by love interests, but for the most part, it was more subtle, with war and family ties being the main centers of conflict. My most significant criticism was probably the prevalence of unskippable repetition since each route seems to follow the same course, with some things changed in between. The game is excellent at slowly revealing information and building upon it, giving you just enough information to predict some parts but not enough to predict all aspects of it. To sum it up, a pretty good game. 8/10

*** HEAVY SPOILER ZONE ***

Does Shanao have a random dad, or was she reproduced asexually or something?

If Rengetsu looked like some monster creature, how come Kiyomori recognized Shanao as her?

How’d Tomomori know Rengetsu was Kiyomori’s sister if he hadn’t heard about her before?

Why’d poor Shigehira have to die in like every route 😭?

*** END SPOILERS ***

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blerdyotome · 9 months

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Radiant Tale Otome Review

It's showtime! Check out my review of the latest otome game localization, Radiant Tale!

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#Aksys Games #game #Game Reviews #Nintendo Switch #otomate #otome #otome games #Otome Review #Radiant Tale

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peachyotome · 1 year

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First review of Ikemen Prince. Have you read this title yet?

I actually really like the game's structure more than I expected!

-Daisy 🌼

#otome #otome review #ikemen #ikemen series #ikemen prince #chevalier michel #ikepri #leon dompteur #yves kloss #nokto klein #licht klein #clavis lelouch #jin grandet #luke randolph #sariel noir #rio ortiz #keith howell #silvio ricci #gilbert von obsidian

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the-otome-freak · 5 months

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Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly Review!!

This is my first ever official, extensive otome review!! I hope y'all enjoy, I went through so many ups and downs with this game. I hope this review inspires more people to get the game, or maybe even helps people realize it might not be for them! I also attempted to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, but there are parts that might dive into spoiler territory. I made sure to mention it, if so! Enjoy~ . . . .

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly is a visual novel developed by Otomate and published by Idea Factory in 2015, available on the PS Vita and Steam. It’s an extremely dark, gothic story with very heavy themes and romance akin to Shakespearian tragedy. When I first picked up this game, I had been previously warned about the angst it contained but nothing prepared me for what I was about to experience. This game contains themes of death, guilt, regret, grief, trauma, isolation, and more. The last time I cried so much consuming a piece of media was when I watched Les Misérables for the first time when I was 15, so that says a lot. POTBB has an iffy system, but this is easily overshadowed by the incredible storyline, jaw dropping art, compelling cast, and beautiful soundtrack.

Before we get into plot points and character routes, I’d like to talk about POTBB’s system. It’s a typical visual novel at first glance, which means mostly just clicking in order to read the text and watching the events unfold. The features that set it apart however were quite interesting- and frankly quite frustrating as well. This includes its combat system and its flowchart.

POTBB has a combat system that pops up a couple times throughout the story while you’re fighting monsters. The instructions for the combat system were very vague and confusing, especially since I played on PC where the button configurations aren’t clarified in the “Options” menu, so it was a lot of trial and error. It instructs you to shoot your gun, but not how (on PC). I had to figure out on my own that I had to use the left and right click of my mouse to shoot/lock onto targets, so the first couple of plays I was very confused and frustrated. The object of the game is to shoot as many butterflies as possible in the allotted time while also getting a good score, which is achieved by getting combos. Playing the game earns you points. Another problem is that it’s quite glitchy and hard to lock onto the butterflies properly to shoot them, but with practice you can improve (with the sacrifice of a couple of hand cramps).

The other unique thing about POTBB’s system is its flowchart, which is useful because it allows you to jump to any point in the story you’ve already unlocked, but it can be very frustrating sometimes. You’re required to use the flowchart in order to access the “Side Stories,” aka extra content you slowly unlock as you play. To access the flowchart, you have to go to the menu. The game doesn’t notify you when you’ve unlocked a Side Story, so you just have to remember to check the flowchart every once in a while to see if any have unlocked. And even if a Side Story is “unlocked”, you still have to spend your points you earned in the minigame to actually view the content. Certain character routes, endings, and choices can’t be unlocked unless you’ve viewed these Side Stories. I actually got stuck a few times during my playthrough because I didn’t realize some of the Side Stories were unlocked, and you need to read them to progress. I found that the process of scrolling through the flowchart in the middle of the story often took away from the immersion, but it wasn’t awful.

On a positive note, I have to talk about POTBB’s art, which was created by Satoru Yuiga. Yuiga has an expressive, sort of water-color art style that adds to the spiritual and mystic elements of the game. I actually didn’t like the style at first; I thought some of the character sprites looked strange, but I quickly got used to it and was soon blown away. The CGs were gorgeous and added so much life to the characters. The facial expressions were so vivid, they displayed perfect depictions of terror, shock, love… I felt every emotion through the art. I’m looking forward to playing more of Yuiga’s games just because of her art. (Images below are promotional CGs)

Now, let's talk plot! (I summarize the Common Route in this section, so feel free to skip if you consider that spoilers!) The story and characters are the best thing about this game, in my opinion. You play as a girl named Beniyuri who has just woken up in a strange mansion with no memory of her past or even herself. You see the world through Beni’s eyes as she traverses the mansion and tries to figure out what’s going on and why she’s there. The mansion is dark, gothic, and scary. Its halls seem endless, every window and door is locked, and mysterious butterflies can be seen practically everywhere. And just when things seem their darkest, Beni hears the loud roar of a beast. Two large lion-like creatures appear and attempt to attack her. Imagine if a Minotaur had a lion’s head; that’s what they look like. She thinks she’s a goner, but suddenly she’s saved by a mysterious man with dark hair and purple eyes. They hide from the monsters together, and Beni learns that this man also doesn’t have any memories. They team up and explore, eventually coming across 3 other men in the mansion who also have amnesia. The four of them find a large hall within the mansion to make their ‘base’ where they’ll be safe from the monsters. They realize that they all have phones on them, and though there isn’t any service, each of them has received one message. “Collect the shards. Complete the kaleidoscope.” They’re in this mansion for a reason, and clearly someone is pulling the strings.

I can’t go into too much detail about the individual routes because the amount of plot twists and spoilers in this game are insane. I will describe each guy and a summary of what their route meant for me and how it made me feel. Some of the routes were phenomenal in their story writing and character development, others not so much.

The first route recommended is a man named Kagiha, the 2nd person that Beni meets in the mansion, and I have complex feelings about his route. He’s a tall, soft spoken, polite man with light brown hair and green eyes. He’s very kindhearted and treats Beni with a lot of care, cheering her up when she’s depressed about their situation. Kagiha was my favorite in the beginning simply due to how kind he was. All of them were in a very depressing situation with no memories and barely any hope, so his kindness was a sort of light in that darkness. I was very excited for his route and to learn his backstory. It turns out, his route is a branch of the “Best Ending” of the game, so you get to learn the truth about almost everything as you play through his route. I certainly wasn’t expecting this. I had been warned in the past about POTBB’s bittersweet endings, but I really wasn’t prepared like I thought I was. Due to Kagiha’s circumstances (that I can’t go into detail about), his route has two endings, and neither of them are “happy” in regard to his relationship with Beni. The “Best Ending” of the game does indeed end on a happy note, but they don’t end up happy together (again due to circumstances I can’t talk about without spoiling). The “Kagiha Ending” of the game does have them end up together romantically, but with very bittersweet conditions that’s more depressing than the alternative, in my opinion. I was very upset and I cried at both endings, regretting that I loved Kagiha so much because neither ending let him and Beni be truly happy together. But even though I was upset, I have to admit that the “Best Ending” was written phenomenally and deals with the concept of death, grieving, acceptance, and change in a beautiful way. The themes in this game are very heavy but discuss them in a beautiful, important way that really gets your brain going. I sat in silence for a while after the “Best Ending” just… thinking.

After that emotional wreck, I was ready for a happy ending or at least some more closure. Hikage’s route is recommended after Kagiha, which surprised me a bit. Based off of the cover art and his introduction, he seemed to be the “poster boy.” Hikage is the first man Beni meets in the mansion, the man who saved her from the monsters. I can barely describe his route without getting into spoilers, but it was intense. I didn’t like Hikage at first because he had this misogynistic mindset and constantly scolded Beni for being “weak, just like all women” and yelled at her for “slowing them down.” I wasn’t excited for his route because obviously it meant Beni would get more of this treatment, but I was honestly surprised at what his route had in store. There’s a major plot twist within the route and you come to understand why Hikage has this mindset, and that it doesn’t come from a place of misogyny, but rather trauma. The ending to his route shocked me so much and I bawled my eyes out. It definitely ends on a bittersweet note as well, but the very last scene offers some sort of closure (though not enough, in my opinion.) I overall liked his route plot-wise and thought it was also very thought provoking, tackling themes of abuse, death, mental instability, and despair. Romantically it was okay, but I felt like it took a side-seat to the plot which can either be good or bad, depending on how much you value romance and/or get attached to the characters. Without spoiling, I can tell you that Hikage is written in a way where it makes sense that romance isn’t the focus. Thankfully I wasn’t attached to Hikage as much as Kagiha, but I still cried a river anyway…

You’d think after two routes with horrifically bittersweet endings that the whole game will probably be this way, but surprisingly, the third route in POTBB filled my heart with joy. This route centered around Yamato, who’s a short-tempered, sporty guy with ice-blue hair. He has a bit of a foul mouth, often yelling or getting angry at their situation, but never in an irrational way. Yamato actually ended up being my favorite character overall. He has an unexpected soft side and his romance with Beni was the most realistic among the cast. I also felt his route was quite tragic, despite having the happiest romantic ending in the game. Yamato and Beni’s relationship is really complex, and they actually bond over grief and guilt. Both of them harbor so much guilt in their hearts and it shackles the both of them to their pasts, but by grieving together and finding strength in one another, they’re able to push each other to move on and grow. I really enjoyed this route in a moral sense. It teaches you that it’s okay to grieve and that people grieve at different paces, and sometimes it’s okay to bond over said grief. Healing and forgiveness take time, and having someone else there to heal with you can make you both stronger. The themes in his route were so beautiful and even watching his bonds with other members of the cast grow were incredible too. He has the happiest romantic ending in the game as well, which just added to how good it was. Interestingly enough, Yamato’s route also helped me come to terms with the bittersweetness of the previous routes. I was finally able to accept the circumstances and reasonings behind the depressing endings, allowing me to appreciate the game more as a whole.

After Yamato’s romantic end, I was excited to finish the rest of the game. I prayed that this next route had a happy ending as well, and that Yamato wasn’t just an exception. I began to pursue Monshiro, who’s a mysterious man who wears a fox mask that Beni has spotted wandering the mansion sometimes. I didn’t know what to expect from him during the first bit of the game because he’s sort of absent until the end of the common route. I was pleasantly surprised, though! I learned more and more about him as I played, even in the other routes, and he’s wonderful. He’s adorable, loving, and incredibly sweet. His route tackles themes of isolation and loneliness, with Monshiro being severely traumatized due to being alone in the mansion for several years. He’s very clingy with Beni and values their relationship more than anything, his main fear being him getting left alone again. His ending was quite happy as well, but their romantic development and deep connection never really got the ending it deserved. Their bond was almost as strong as her bond with Yamato, but I feel like in the end they didn’t get to express that to each other properly. It also felt quite short to me, I wish I could have gotten more content with them that wasn’t plot-related and just focused on their bond and how much they care for each other. Overall, I enjoyed it because Monshiro is so loveable, but the ending just left me unsatisfied and begging for more.

Now, the last route was a doozy. I’d like to clarify before I begin that this is all, of course, my opinion and perspective, so don’t let this discourage you from trying the game or loving this character! I will get into minor spoilers as well here, just because it’s hard to explain my feelings without talking about what happened. The last route I played was Karasuba, who is… not the best. I can confidently say I hate him, and his route didn’t really change that for me. He has bright yellow hair and yellow eyes, so his design was already creepy to me from the start, but his personality is much worse. At first glance he seems like a funny, happy-go-lucky class clown type, but his real personality is much more twisted. He flirts with Beni so intensely to the point of sexual harassment, but then backs off and laughs, pretending it was “just a joke.” Now this is already bad enough, but he’s just incredibly rude to everyone around him as well. He demeans Beni constantly for being “naive” and “cowardly,” all with a smile on his face as he pretends he’s saying it “for her own good.” He also constantly insults the other characters, starting fights with them whenever he can and giggling about it when it’s over. The whole “reason” behind why he acts like this is because he was bullied when he was a child. He projects his insecurities onto others and thus becomes the bully he hated so much when he was younger. He does later apologize for this at the end of his route, but I felt like one sorry just wasn’t enough to atone for the way he treated everyone? He sexually harasses Beni until she starts crying at one point, then backs away and claims it was “just a joke to teach her a lesson at how dangerous men can be.” He’s just awful and I don’t think he develops very much, even in his good ending despite his apology. His bad ending was even worse, which involved him brainwashing and manipulating Beni to be with him. I know some people who enjoyed his route and while I do respect that, it’s just hard for me to understand how someone would enjoy a character like him. I do think he’s interesting because he has deep flaws and trauma and instead of growing from it, he let them taint him and he ended up becoming the very thing he hated. So, he is interesting, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good love interest for Beni or even a good character in general. If I’d have to state one major flaw about this game, it’s Karasuba’s existence and his lack of character development or redemption.

After the 5 character routes are over, you’d assume that’s the end. The game actually continues after this, though, with the “Summer Camp” ending that unlocks last. This was my favorite part of the game. It’s a “What-If” scenario where every single character gets their happy ending, and offers a lot of closure after the despair you experience in the character routes. It healed me and freshened my mind after the tragedy. It’s a wonderful inclusion and I actually cried tears of joy while playing it, due to how emotional it made me.

Overall, Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly was an emotional rollercoaster that I will never forget. While yes it has its flaws, I don’t regret playing it. The topics covered, such as isolation, death, and guilt, were so heavy and intense; but they were also so meaningful and I feel like everyone should experience them. I feel my favorite theme was the deep dive into Survivor’s Guilt and how people process and deal with it differently. The mystery surrounding the mansion and their circumstances was also very interesting and the plot twists were well executed. The whole cast is so full of life and each of their bonds are extremely complex. Beniyuri is a wonderful main character and I found myself rooting for her and her happiness the entire time. I definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves tragedy and complex plots, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this game to someone who’d be uncomfortable with really dark themes like graphic death. This game definitely took a toll on my mental health for a few days, but also offered life lessons that I’ll no doubt remember and value for a very long time.

Rating: 7/10!

#otome #otome game #otome fandom #otomate #english otome #psychedelica of the black butterfly #potbb #idea factory #otome review #otome reviews #otoge review #otoge reviews #otome games #otoge #visual novel #visual novels #visual novel review #otomes

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lunas-otome-blog · 4 months

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Luna's Review: Hamefura Pirates

(The full game title is: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! ~The Pirate Who Summons Trouble)

Official Summary:

Katarina Claes was reborn as a villainous daughter in an otome game when she hit her head and regained memories of her previous life. She struggled to safely a destruction end and seize a happy future. Sure…. A romantic comedy of avoiding destruction flags is now available as an otome game. The stage of the game is the luxury liner, and the doom flag is a “pirate”?! This is the beginning of a new bad end avoidance story.

(Spoiler Free) Luna's Thoughts

As a fan of the Hamefura franchise, most notably the anime, I felt this game fits right in! The simple cel-shaded art, while not as exquisite as is custom in many otoges, looks like the anime, and the characters blink and move their mouths when they talk, creating the illusion of an anime.

Catarina is a rare protagonist in that she's not meant to be a fill-in for the player; she's her own character with her own backstory. As such, you're not allowed to change her name, and she's fully voiced, which is a rare treat.

They do expect you to be familiar with the anime and reference events in it several times. While it's not a prerequisite, there's not a ton of expose in the beginning and you're pretty much thrown into it without any backstory. I've seen both the animes so this didn't bother me, and in fact I would have gotten bored with a lot of unnecessary background, so I was pleased with this.

If you're expecting a heavy, serious otome game, this is not it. "Pirates of the Disturbance" is light and silly, and you get the sense that nobody is ever in any real danger. With the exception of the two game-only characters, there's little backstory to uncover for the romanceable characters because, again, the game assumes you're already familiar with them.

I would actually not recommend this game for those who aren't already fans of Hamefura. The fun of this game is in watching Bakarina fall in love and choose someone, which is something that is probably not going to happen in the main series. It's not a particularly involved game beyond that.

I had some hesitation about including two new characters as romance options, but Rozy and Silva actually fit right in and I loved both of them pretty quickly. I think Silva was actually my favorite character in the game.

The game has four different ending types: doom, another, good and happy. You have to pick pretty much all the correct options to get the "happy" ending, so they're difficult to obtain first go. If you don't want to skip through a whole route again, you can go to the final chapter using the chapter menu and set affection to high, and then you'll only have a few choices to get right. Some of the good endings are on par or (imho) better than the happy endings, so definitely try to get all of them!

Overall, I loved this game! It's light, fluffy and a nice companion to the Hamefura anime.

My route order recommendation is Geordo -> Nicol -> Keith -> Alan -> Rozy -> Silva.

Please find below my thoughts on each route in the order I played them. Spoilers ahead!

(Spoilers) Mary/Sophia/Maria Route

Okay so this isn't technically a route but it's what you get if you avoid picking a boy and just flirt with the girls and focus on eating the whole time. It abruptly ends the game pretty early on.

This was the first end I got because I wanted to see what would happen if I just let Catarina be herself. While I wish the girls had a more fleshed out route (or better yet, individual routes) I understand that Hamefura has never been a yuri series.

While I get that Sophia ships Catarina with her brother, and Maria's intentions may be closer to friendship, Mary's feelings are 100% romantic. This is confirmed in the anime and in the game, and she has always been on par with the men in the aspect of competing with Catarina's affections. So I would have liked to see Mary get a whole route for herself.

That said, I'm glad Catarina got a little time with the girls before getting to the boys.

(Spoilers) Geordo Route

Geordo is my least favorite boy in the main cast, so I did his route first. It ended up being a good choice, as his route was not particularly interesting.

There is a certain satisfaction of Catarina falling in love with her own fiance, but beyond that, this route isn't really substantial. Geordo confesses to Catarina, she struggles with it for a while, and then they get together. In one of the "another" endings, if you choose to avoid Geordo during a strategy meeting, he straight up kidnaps Catarina and bribes her with food and romance novels to stay with him forever lol. What trash.

Considering how tame these pirates seem to be, combined with the fact that they aren't allowed to harm the main cast, you never really feel concern for anyone in this route. You do get to see Geordo engage in a cool swordfight with Silva, and Catarina even gets to help out a little.

I think this route could have been improved with a little more angst, and the writers actually created a scenario that could have worked ... only to end it almost immediately. When Georgo confesses to Catarina, he claims that he's been pretending to like the rest of the group since childhood. This greatly upsets the pure-hearted Catarina, who just wants everyone to stay friends forever.

There were so many ways this could have provided for more conflict. Maybe Geordo had convinced himself that was the case and his friends needed to show him that their friendship was real. Maybe Geordo could take some needling to admit he likes the rest of the group. But the game just resolves it with Geordo immediately apologizing and coming clean to Catarina. It felt like they rushed what should have been the main arc of this route.

Overall, Geordo's route was predictable and standard. If you like the princely type, it might be for you, but I wasn't super excited about him.

(Spoilers) Nicol Route

Nicol's route is immediately more involved, with the introduction of a mysterious woman. You also get a lot more intro to Rozy. Overall, it felt longer and more composed than Geordo's route.

Geordo is Catarina's fiance, so there wasn't really any conflict with him liking Catarina other than her own obliviousness. But that's not so with Nicol (or any other character) who spends most of the route trying not to act on his feelings for Catarina. This sets up some delicious angst as Catarina doesn't understand why Nicol is drifting away from her.

Add in a mysterious Catarina double and a curse and you've got a much more interesting route than Geordo's. It keeps you on your toes. The correct choices are not always obvious.

I do think the witch/curse plotline was rushed, and the way they come into the information that saves the day is a little too easy. My biggest gripe is that this route didn't have to involve Nicol at all. If the point was to make Geordo jealous because Geordo resembles the prince who slighted the witch, then it didn't have to be Nicol who was affected. It would have been so easy to have Nicol be the distant relative of the prince or something and make it a role only he could play.

I also didn't get why Rozy confessed in this route. He's so nice to you and it was really heartbreaking to have to reject him. I guess the point was to allow Catarina to realize her feelings for Nicol are special, but I don't think this needed to come at the expense of Rozy's feelings. This doesn't happen in any other route. And now I have to deal with the fact that Rozy probably likes Catarina in every route. *cries*

There is also the existential dread when you realize that Catarina's original self (before she regains her memories of a past life) might be locked away inside of her. But let's not think about that lol.

That said, this route was a good length, the pacing was alright, and Catarina actually gets to do a lot, even if the debates inside her head are largely useless. She's an idiot so this checks out.

I love the "good" ending scene with Sophia proudly declaring she will never marry if Catarina becomes her sister-in-law. The Ascart siblings are truly a two-for-one deal and I am living for it. The "happy" ending was also lovely because you get to see Geordo being nice for once, telling Nicol he's glad it was him and not some rando Catarina fell for. Also Nicol's dad loves Catarina so much — it's so cute!

(Spoilers) Alan Route

Like Nicol, Alan is not supposed to like Catarina, but his angst is even deeper because she's his brother's fiancee AND he has his own fiancee. This is set in a slightly different timeline than the anime, but Alan and Mary still have their agreement where they stay engaged to avoid other attention while knowing they are both in love with someone else (though neither knows they have the same love interest lol) so you get some extra Mary in this route.

Alan and Mary are shown to be great friends who care a lot about each other, which is super sweet. You'll also get some extra Mary backstory and a confirmation that her feelings for Catarina are indeed romantic, and they even sort of get together in one of the normal endings. I really wish she got a proper route.

Anyway, back to Alan. He's the tsundere of the Hamefura world, so of course I was excited to play his route. And his tsundere nature does not disappoint. While his route does explore some fairly typical anime tropes, such as accidental kisses, hiding in closets together, et cetera, Alan's adorable reactions make it worthwhile.

I adore Liliana, the original character who has a super cute design. I found her faith in her husband very sweet, and she's a badass fighter, too.

Alan's route was the best paced out of all I had played thus far, and it builds up to a really nice ending scene where he asks Catarina to forget he confessed to her. Catarina, of course, refuses, and asks Alan to give her time to sort out her own feelings. It was all going so well and I figured it would all resolve in the after ending.

The Alan "good" ending is a total disappointment, so make sure you don't stop there. You find out that while Catarina and Alan have been meeting up secretly at school, there hasn't been any progress in their relationship at all. Catarina hasn't been able to end her engagement to Geordo, and neither Geordo nor Mary take her feelings for Alan seriously. Worst of all, Catarina herself isn't sure if she's in love with Alan or not.

In the "happy" ending, however, he does finally get the girl and their engagement is confirmed. Alan is still treated kind of poorly, however, as you find out Geordo and Mary, and possibly others, have been sabotaging Catarina's chance to confess. Geordo does finally relent, but not without first telling Catarina that he did truly love her. It was a sincere moment but why did it have to come during my lovely tsundere's finest moment? It was kind of a dampener on what would otherwise have been a pretty nice ending. I feel like the makers of this game might have something against Alan.

(Spoilers) Keith Route

I left Keith's route for the last of the main cast, because he's probably got the hardest time of all when it comes to romantic chances with Catarina. While they're not biologically related, he is Catarina's brother legally, and Catarina is also the most comfortable around Keith compared to all the other characters. I figured his route would be full of sweet, sweet angst and wanted to play it later.

For storytelling purposes, I'd actually recommend playing Keith's route before Alan's. The main villain in both stories is more or less the same, but you get more on a certain character in Alan's route. Having played Alan's route already, it felt like an oversimplification because I already knew more than I was supposed to.

That said, I have very little criticism for Keith's route. It was romantic, well-paced and, unlike Alan's route, Catarina is decisively into him. She even comes to terms with her feelings BEFORE a confession or any romantic action is taken. I feel like the writers must favor Keith with how well he was treated on his route lol.

Something I really like is that Keith doesn't necessarily reveal that his love is romantic for a long time. Like, WE know it is, but you're left wondering if he thinks he's just got really brotherly feelings. But after he accidentally goes for a kiss, you get this really nice introspection where he straight up says "I've been in love with her since I was 8 years old." And you realize he's been serious the entire time and just trying not to act on it. It made my heart flutter~

I had thought him being her adoptive brother might have factored into it, but not really. Catarina isn't bothered by it. Geordo lets Keith have her, and their parents are actually thrilled that their children are marrying each other haha.

In the "happy" end, everyone is a bit mean first though. Upon seeing them together, Mary cries, Alan and Sophia are like "be happy I guess, you weirdos" and Geordo is fuming. Only Maria and Nicol are able to contain their disappointment enough to congratulate them properly. It was kind of a bummer. I actually liked the "good" ending better.

Rozy is sus as hell on this route, which made me excited to play his route next.

(Spoilers) Rozy Route

Rozy's route confirms what was hinted at all along — Rozy is yet another childhood friend of Catarina's, and another rival for her affection.

His route was solid, but it felt longer and more like a true ending due to how far it continues past the plot contained within the other routes. I loved meeting his cousin/wingman King Albert and enjoyed how frustrated he made Geordo, my least favorite character.

I thought the final few scenes were a little rushed, and I wish we got a little more out of the endings. Their relationship is still a secret in both the "good" and "happy" endings. You do get a proposal out of the happy end, at least.

What I enjoyed most about this route was his friendship with Silva. We don't get a lot of male bonding in games like these, so I adored how much they care about each other, and how supportive Silva was of Rozy's interest in Catarina. It made me even more excited to play Silva's route.

When you play the common route after Rozy's route, you get a new cutscene where Rozy heartbreakingly reveals he's prepared to get on with his duties and disappear without ever seeing Catarina again. He's so pure T_T

(Spoilers) Silva Route

Ahh, Silva. I surprised myself by falling in love with him quickly, even on other routes. He was my favorite character in the game, though I think Keith's route was still the best.

Though Rozy's route reveals most of the main secrets of the game, it made me really excited to play Silva's route last, as he's literally the only romanceable character who isn't already in love with Catarina. She has to earn his love by being an adorable idiot, which of course comes naturally to her.

I really enjoyed how this route utilized some very classic anime situations, only to have Catarina's ditziness turn them in a different direction.

For example, the first time she sees Silva upon entering his route, he's half naked and getting changed. Instead of having Catarina do the usual anime girl "kyaa!" and blush furiously, she instead immediately assumes Silva is a cosplayer. Similarly, he attempts to seduce her several times by coming close to her and pushing her down, but she doesn't understand he's coming on to her at all, quickly diffusing the situation. He's never had that happen before, so he takes an interest in her.

Silva's route is a classic slow burn, which I adored. The romance in this route felt very natural. Catarina realizes Silva is kind, despite attempting to appear forceful, and starts to feel safe around him. Meanwhile Silva continues to be amused by how unique Catarina is. It takes quite a while for those feelings to develop into romance.

The final confrontation with Silva's longtime enemy was a little rushed, but I enjoyed Silva agonizing over telling Catarina about his past. Rozy notices this too, and he's just as good a wingman to Silva as Silva is for him in his route. Man, I adore these two so much. Their relationship is so genuine and wonderful! Make sure to check out the memory log at the end for the backstory on the sketchbook, because it's never explained in the main game.

Silva's route was pretty solid. In the "good" ending, he never directly says he loves Catarina — only teases her and kisses her enough to make her realize it herself. The "happy" ending though ... man, Silva cleans up nicely! It was so cute seeing him in princely clothes, having officially become adopted into Rozy's family and learning high society just to be worthy of Catarina. He even breaks his composure a little bit because he's embarrassed, which is the fun of flirty characters like Silva.

Overall, Silva's route was lovely, and I think it should definitely be played last.

#otome game #otome review #review #hamefura #hamefura pirates #doom flag #all routes lead to doom #pirates of the disturbance #my next life as a villainess #catarina claes

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