September 2013 Eroge Releases

SAGA PLANETS’ Karumaruka＊Circle highlights this month’s releases, as they try to assure their fans that the quality of their stories will not decline following the departure of scenario writer Niijima Yuu. One thing that’s for sure though is that an oniichan will do anything for their imouto, including going to a girls’ school like in Chuable Soft’s Noblesse of Rouge, saving parallel worlds in Macaron Soft’s Imouto Spiral, or spending equal time with all ‘imoutos’ in Rosebleu’s Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka? and Galette’s Oniichan Sharing. There’s also a remake of ALICESOFT’s Rance 01 -Hikari o Motomete- for those who weren’t into eroge back then… which is pretty much all of you.

A sad month for most who love to read a good eroge as it is full of swarms of rabid little siblings consuming all elder brothers in their path, rehashes of older games, and continuations of ongoing series. I wish only for a few games here and there that are not so identical to each other the feeling of them all being stamped from the same mold lingers throughout the game. Actually at this point I would go for some variance in the characters alone, not necessarily new but some less used designs at least would be nice to see now and again. Sadly each new month finds pleasure in betraying my innocent hopes and dreams by churning out prefabricated eroge content each more alike than the last.

Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka?

Company: ロゼブル (Rosebleu)
Game site: 1番じゃなきゃダメですかっ？
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
A slightly old-fashioned wooden apartment called Ittokikan (Maison Ittoki) lies at the top of a gentle slope located nine minutes walk from the train station. It is a place inhabited only by girls who are disappointed with their male siblings. Shou was to be a new resident, but naturally he was refused entry to the apartment. However, he was able to open their hearts with his initiative and positive disposition and was accepted into their group. In turn, they became lovestruck with him and it was suggested that he become an older brother figure to everyone in the household. This prompted the declaration by his non-blood related imouto Hisui that she will stop being his imouto. Could they be satisfied all being second for his love?

The game references Maison Ikkoku, down to the numerals in the heroines’ surnames. The pseudo family concept reminds me of Shiawase Kazoku-bu, but at least here they don’t change roles every club meeting. Of course, I can’t say no to what basically amounts to an imouto-ge (they all end up calling him oniichan, niisama, etc). The trial was enjoyable even though I thought that the obstacles were overcome too easily. For example, Ruri’s despise of men stems from her older brother attempting to rape her (that bastard! you fail as an oniichan if your imouto doesn’t love you!), but her guard quickly breaks down around our lucky protagonist and from some smooth talking.

This tops my list for this month (since Cocoro@Function! was delayed) since it’s got that slice-of-life feel and there’s plenty of comedy, parodies and dirty jokes. All the characters are quite enjoyable, and that includes the subcharas “What colour are your panties today?” Ai and “Cute pretty raburabu ikeike beautiful punipuni kyapikyapi curecure” Akane-chan. Have you listened to our primary imouto Hisui? That’s right, it’s Sana! She’s Agumi Oto voiced and sounds pretty much exactly like Sana! How can I say no to another Sana!? Hau~ omochikaeri~!

As the first of many, many, way too many little sister based games I can only sigh in disappointed resignation at this month’s releases. Par for the course with like minded games almost no effort is put into setting, story, or character development. Not that most people who are simply gaga for the word “Imouto” actually care about those as long as there are usually though not limited to childish looking and acting young girls calling the protagonist their brother. I have said this before but it never ceases to amaze me that people actually like when all of the heroines are the same or similar archetypes as that appears to defeat the entire point. The little sister character appeal is partially due to her being in a unique position apart from the others, and against all odds. Instead you have a story where you move into an apartment otherwise inhabited by a number of girls who dislike every other man close to them aside from you calling you brother in an attempt to get suckers like Micchi to buy the game. Try harder please, at least make it a normal apartment complex with normal people both male and female, with some variation to the characters. Sure it is more effort but when your game has so many identical competitors you really need to do more than call random gentle idiot protagonist number 13.462 a variation of “Onii chan” to have some hope of standing out.

Magical Marriage Lunatics!!

Company: MOONSTONE
Game site: Magical Marriage Lunatics!! -マジカル マリッジ ルナティクス-
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Yuuta is just your typical guy who enjoys an ordinary school life with his osananajimi Yuuna. Suddenly one day, a mansion appeared in his backyard, inhabited by the vampire princess Luce. One by one, other other-worldly princesses came to him, all of whom had made a childhood promise to be his bride when they grew up. He didn’t remember the promises, but then Yuufa also joined into the fray and proclaimed that she’s the one who will always be with him.

MOONSTONE is known for their chara-ge and this time you can choose between a vampire, a succubus, a tenko, a goddess, a witch or that childhood friend who you know will never win. It kinda sounds like Shuffle!, except Yuuna doesn’t seem like a yandere type. As for the story, well… if you can accept that they’re all princess and all happen to know each other even though they live in different worlds, and then they decide to all go to the same school as him, then you’re set! Karin and Luluna have their charms, but I’m gonna be cheering for the most normal one. Go Kanban Musume Yuuna! Yu♥Yu forever!

Okay lets make a game where the protagonist gets to score with a bunch of otherworldly princesses, that should be a sure hit. Now just to make extra certain everyone will love the game lets make the setting a standard high school romance where everyone just appears out of nowhere, brilliant! Nothing like a lazy plot line where ordinary school boy A has a bunch of special girls fawning over him because of something he conveniently cannot remember yet was apparently important enough that the girls remembered and held true to it after an average of ten years. I cannot help but admire how hard companies work to avoid five extra minutes of planning and discussion, and maybe two weeks to a month at most of extra effort required to not be so generically lazy. As much as anything outside the norm interests me I would rather heroines not spontaneously pop into existence for the protagonists romancing pleasure. Whats more the heroines could at least not be immediately attracted to or gunning for the protagonist without any kind of real preparation or development.

Oniichan Sharing

Company: Galette
Game site: お兄ちゃんシェアリング
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Seseri, Futaba, Chiko and Yuu are four very close childhood friends who share everything amongst themselves. Kazuki has been with them since they were young and loved them all like they were his imoutos (including his true imouto Seseri). One day, they wondered who’s oniichan he is. Of course, everyone’s oniichan! As such, he’s free to return to any of their homes and spend the night under the same roof as them. Wouldn’t you like to experience all these various daily lives with your imouto?

As Imosen has taught us, imoutos are very willing to share oniichan amongst themselves, just not with others. For oniichan, there’s no question which imouto is the most precious. They’re all equally precious to me! Especially when they’re so cute and adorable like these four! In particular, I love the erokawaii twins Chiko and Yuu! The story is kinda chaotic, but that’s to be expected from such a game. One new thing this title offers is the chance to view some H scenes from the imouto’s side as well. So now you can see for yourself just how much they love oniichan. It’s super imouto time!!

I would say this Kazuki fellow should have given his parents some condoms but since they aren’t all blood related that would not have solved the problem entirely. It is however quite rare to see a game this poorly made, even the games above have managed to maintain a minimum level of decorum in their design. Instead this is basically a nukige where the 12 year old “Heroines” call the protagonist “Onii-chan” or some derivation thereof. I suppose this does answer the question of how can you do worse than a barrel full of younger sisters, a nukige about said sisters.

Himegoto Union ~We are in springtime of life!~

Company: SEVEN WONDER
Game site: ひめごとユニオン ～We are in springtime of life！～
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Saizou seems to be a typical student, but he’s actually a ninja-in-training! Maybe destiny had something to do with it, but he met four girls who also had secrets which couldn’t be told to others. They were the blonde transfer student Himeria (who’s actually a princess), his model-like senpai Yuuki (who’s actually a heroine of justice), the beautiful swordsman Hijiri (who’s actually a girl in disguise), and his small kouhai Koharu (who has superhuman strength in certain situations). Himeria revived the local history research group, which became the ‘secret union’.

The trial wasn’t that interesting and honestly, the only heroine which appeals to me is Koharu. It might have to do with her being a Kirihana-voiced kouhai, but also because her dere side is pretty powerful. The pacing was not bad, so it could be a decent read if you’re not expecting anything too out of the ordinary.

I’ll admit when I am impressed by a game, and this game has impressed me. As a human I cannot help but be in awe of how mundane someone can make absurdity. Everything about this game from our randomly ninja.. ish protagonist to the silliness of the girls and their exceptionally boring abilities feels as if it should be appealing to the market as an over the top comedy. Yet somehow the game cannot feel cohesive enough to pull it off in a satisfactory way, instead resulting in another dull monotonous grind through eroge cliche. Maybe games like this are more entertaining when they are among the first five or ten games you have played, but after a few hundred it gets rather old and stale to the point it feels as though there is a secret template everyone copy pastes when they don’t feel like working to make a game.

Karumaruka＊Circle

Company: SAGA PLANETS
Game site: カルマルカ＊サークル
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
“You’re the master of this world!” With those words, Kaito was invited by his energetic turtle-toting kouhai Nicole to Seikai Gakuen’s student council room to join the star-crossing circle. All of the girls in that group are peculiar in their own way. Once every year, on the night of Tanabata, they gather to try to access ‘Karumaruka’. If they are successful, then they would be freed from their curses and their fear of the future.

Kaito, the 4 main heroines, as well as two side characters all have ‘maka’ (which basically are the seven sins). It could be viewed as both a blessing (special abilities) or a curse. As you probably know already, Niijima Yuu is no longer the scenario writer for SAGA PLANETS, so instead we have Seo Jun (Harupoco, Aemushi), Toishi Hiroki (AQUA, Sakusaki) and Mikuriya Mikuri (Midori no Umi, Kimisora).

So, what’s my first impression? The prologue was easy to read, and it definitely felt a lot like the openings for Natsunagi and Hatsusaku since there’s an element of magic and mystery in a school setting. Also, Kaito reminds me of Hatsuyuki, being distant from others and also embodying ‘wrath’. Not sure exactly what ‘karumaruka’ is and I hope that they take a true route approach like in their past games. Going niconico for Nicole~

Can there be an honorary eighth sin for stupidity? If only it were companies may think twice before releasing such a travesty were they to actually face potential punishment for inflicting harm upon the human psyche. Pretty standard setup, make the protagonist and his harem of potential H scenes share some secret that forcibly binds them together. thus allowing a cheap and easy to write means of tying them together with a red rope of fate thick and obvious enough even the most oblivious of protagonists let alone readers could see it coming eons away. Follow it up with a shared goal, some copy pasting of character designs complete with varying shades of hair color and changes in bust size lest the forgery become too obvious and there you have it, ready made eroge about the mysterious curse of the seven deadly sins all packed up and ready to go. Oh lets not forget to throw in the H scene reward for choosing a few options correctly followed up by the usual problem the relationship faces and post solution everything is resolved in a happy or bittersweet manner. Honestly though it may sound as though I am against eroge, the format itself is less of a problem, though would be nice to break from that also, but instead an issue of the writing itself. Writers who follow the eroge template as though it were a stencil turn a two dimensional story into a one dimensional string of words are the problem. What used to be the main draw in character development and creating a story that was both involving and interesting has degenerated into throwing the standard set of character designs into a standard setting with a few new words like “Seven sins’. All I would like to see is companies at least try, even if its not perfect, something that is not exactly the same as every other game released in the past year or so sans changing a few words around would be nice.

Noblesse of Rouge

Company: チュアブルソフト (Chuable Soft)
Game site: ノブレスオブルージュ -Noblesse of Rouge-
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Toshiya’s twin imouto Rui is part of the student council at Alexandra girls’ school, a school for the nobility, and is highly admired by all students. Rui injured her leg in a training accident and wanted him to take her place until she heals completely. The student council officers (D’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis and Porthos), fondly called the “three musketeers”, are happy to see ‘Rui’ again. Will he be able to keep up this disguise until Rui returns?

I would never have imagined there’d be an eroge based off the Three Musketeers, but here we are. I wanna hug Hotoha and An is a lovable idiot, but why is the male protagonist in crossdressing games always so attractive!? It also doesn’t help that the game’s fully voiced. Similar to previous Chuable Soft games, the map system has you visiting different locations and meeting heroines. However, I thought that most of the choices are too short and don’t add much. It seems like Rui (Louis) will return at one point since there’s a couple twincest scenes. Mmm…

Pretty much the same game as Kimi to Boku to Eden no Ringo from 2011. All they changed was adding in the three musketeers silliness to avoid it being almost one hundred percent identical.

Baldr Sky Zero

Company: 戯画 (GIGA)
Game site: バルドスカイ ゼロ
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from July. This is the latest title in the GIGA’s Baldr series. When Edward came to in the virtual world, he was in the middle of a battle. A giant humanoid robot (shumicram) distracted the enemy (virus) which was targeting him by yelling at him. The girl Sakura and him fought off the enemies’ attacks together and then helped out a girl who was being chased by the state army. As he was about to depart the virtual world, he remarked to Sakura that he could not remember his own name. Coming to in the real world, he found himself in a foreign room. He soon met Sakura again. She belonged to the Squall team of the Fenrir mercenary unit and this was their base. In the Southeast Asia State (SAS) where reality and the virtual world are separated, the only way to survive in this never-ending war was to pilot a shumicram, so he volunteered to join Fenrir.

There are numerous modifications to the battle system, including a branching system for development of new weapon and robots, and improved robots don’t only offer increased stats, but also better performance among active skills, increased drop rate or lowering detection by enemies. Rain makes an appearance here, but I’m not sure how much of a role she has here. Not really too interested in the ACT series or mecha in general, so pass.

Back to the only thing they seem to do right, there are few people not familiar with the Baldr series by this point. Like it or hate it this typically isn’t the type of game that anyone new to VNs would be inclined to start with so those of you know want to play or just ignore this game are already well aware and there is little need for me to say anything.

Muv-luv Alternative Chronicles 04

Company: アージュ (âge)
Game site: マブラヴ オルタネイティヴ クロニクルズ04
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the fourth and final installment of the Muv-luv Alternative Chronicles series. It includes Muv-luv Unlimited: The Day After episode:03, as well as two new stories, the Total Eclipse radio segment and some additional contents. Basically they’re churning out more append material for the Muv-luv franchise.

Continuation for those following it.

Rance 01 -Hikari o Motomete-

Company: ALICESOFT
Game site: ランス01 光をもとめて
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is a remake of the original Rance title which came out 24 years ago. The womanizing warrior Rance is accompanied by his magician slave Sill as they search for the kidnapped noble daughter Hikari. It uses an old-style chip-based battle system, but the layout is pretty polished. It comes with some spiffy BGMs as well. If you always wondered how Rance or Hani came about, now’s your chance to find out.

Obviously a game for fans of the series, definitely not my cup of tea though.

Rebellions: Secret Game 2nd Stage BOOSTED EDITION

Company: FLAT
Game site: リベリオンズ Secret Game 2nd Stage BOOSTED EDITION
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the 18+ PC version of the PSP title of the same name, which was itself a port of Secret Game: CODE Revise. It has a boosted scenario, new visuals and OP, as well as a new ‘secret game’.

Best way to make money is to release the same content with some DLC level extras as a whole new game on a different platform, then repeat the process back in a never ending tornado of cash.

Natsu no Osananajimi to, Fuyu no Kanojo

Company: Nephrite
Game site: 夏の幼馴染と、冬のカノジョ
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is Nephrite’s first title. The town of Nagashimo only experiences two distinct seasons due to its topography, with only short periods separating summer and winter. Seiji returned to his hometown at the beginning of summer after 10 years away and was happy that nothing appeared to have changed. Together with his lively osananajimi Karin, fellow proud transfer student Mitsu, onee-san-type cousin Yurari, complete-changed friend Atsu and imouto Yume, they founded the animation club to help the school with events.

There are 3 illustrators and 4 writers working on this title and the direction seems to be lacking as I don’t really see a link between them aside from the use of smartphones. Also, some CGs seem stiff. The only reason I’d play this is for the sharp-tongued imouto Yume who calls herself ‘Yuu’ and Seiji ‘Nii’. The speech gap makes me think of Shinikiss‘ Shizuku. You better not cheat on your imouto, doutei oniichan.

I have said this many many times but for a first release games need something more to appeal in a market where almost everything is the same. When content is the same or similar most people will go with the known company as a certain level of quality can be assumed instead of a complete unknown. In the case of this game much of the problem goes back to the animation club itself, as this provides too simple a means to bring the characters together. Even if not conscious of it most people would feel it fleshes out the story and progress as well as interactions too cleanly. Instead assuming no added depth was wished for in regards to setting, the creators should have focused on a gradual association due to varied circumstances brought about by choices. That is to say the game would focus on the protagonist being an individual, flesh him out more with some feelings of isolation in a new area and limited connections to the other characters who would be introduced in a more fluid natural way. Rather than having a shotgun named animation club loaded with heroines aimed at your face with the trigger being pulled so early on, a linear circumstantial introduction would help the characters feel more organic. To stand out focus on the choice system and branches, give the system some silly name as they always do and advertise that as a hook to get people interested in giving the game a chance. Even with something so minor the change in story flow provided would make people remember the game and characters more than something so generic.

Sangokuhime 3 ~Tenka Shinsei~

Company: げーせん18 (Gesen18)
Game site: 三極姫3 ～天下新生～
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is a continuation of the Sangokuhime series, with over 350 generals. In addition to the three kingdoms, there’ll be routes for Kouhosuu Gishin (Yizhen) and Ryofu Housen (Lu Bu). In the new battle system, up to 18 units can fight simultaneously and there are 6 different general types, which adds more balance. There are also 16 different types of troops which can be employed. I’ll be passing on this since I haven’t played the series, nor am I interested in tactical games at the moment.

Another game that fans are well aware of, and if not I usually advise starting series with earlier games. Sure there are often many new additions and fun bits with the newer games but once the game is done it becomes so much harder to go backwards with the less refined systems and stories.

Imouto Spiral

Company: まかろんソフト (Macaron Soft)
Game site: 妹スパイラル
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the first title by Macaron Soft. Seiji is a normal male student without a girlfriend, except that he has strange dreams almost every day. One day, he was going to be reunited with his imouto who hadn’t seem since they were small. However, not one, but five imoutos were waiting for him! It happened that some incident caused the protagonists from different parallel worlds to disappear and their imoutos went searching for them. All of them ended up coming to Seiji since he was the same as their brothers. At the same time, strange dimensional distortions started appearing around him, threatening the balance of all the worlds. How will he and his imoutos confront this crisis?

Macaron Soft is the latest reincarnation of C:drive and Citron Soft. Imoutos will save the world! The plot sounds ridiculous and it certainly delivers on it. If there’s imouto chuuni, this is it (only Mutsumi is normal). Mutsumi is the best imouto and Kokoro is an annoying moth. The unbalanced eyes in some of the tachi-e bothers me. If imoutos would come to me just by dreaming about them, why haven’t I woke up in a house full of imoutos yet? I need to level up more.

I would say they should try harder to be unique but anyone who uses the “Imouto” fad as a gimmick is beyond saving to begin with.

Yume ka Utsutsu ka Matryoshka

Company: エフォルダムソフトcrown (Effordomsoft crown)
Game site: 夢か現かマトリョーシカ
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
This is the debut title by Effordomsoft crown. Mamoru lives on the island of Shinonoshima, enjoying every moment with his osananajimi Miyako and close friends Isuka, Shiori, Nagi, Aoi and Kazushige. Their time together is irreplaceable to him and he believed that it would continue forever. However, he did not know he was about to fall into the abyss of despair.

He fell into a deep sleep due to a certain incident, and when he woke up, no one else remained except Miyako. Not wanting him to remain in sorrow, she told him about a ‘tradition’ passed down through generations. On the 100th night after the loss of their precious ones, if they are able to gather memories deeply connected with them and offer them to the island’s protective god Wadatsumi, then it might bring their lost ones back. They prepared for the ceremony while clinging on to the belief that it will work. 

They got this dream or reality thing down since I have no idea what’s going on after playing through the trial. The scenario is written by first-timer Sakigami Ryou. I don’t intend to play this, but well, at least the OP isn’t bad.

Rather poorly thought out deus ex machina from the start when gathering an insubstantial thing such as “Memories” brings people back to life. In the end just another believe and wishes will come true story. Even if the point of memories is to pick and choose which character comes back it is still lacking to create an emotional attachment that makes the reader really care about the whole situation as the protagonist does. Not to mention this has basically been done before with uhh Kiminozo I think it was, minus the whole oh memories will bring them back cheese and it being a group effort this time. The idea to take an accident and render a character invalid or otherwise unavailable is nothing new, and has been done to better effect before. Hard to respect them for trying to mimic previous successes by providing a stereotypical tragedy for a cheap emotional hook. If they wanted to go this route, the accident needs to occur after significant investment into character development. Since even this is not enough on its own, perhaps a timed choice achieved by clicking on a sprite during the event causes different outcomes, including the potential for the protagonist to be the one in the hospital and seeing a dream as whichever girl or perhaps even girls talk to him about their memories while hes in a coma. If they really wanted to go all the way they could even offer lets say three different endings, with the variables being time spent before the accident, two different timings for waking up under each “Route” and the choices for the final relationship problem after waking up and reclaiming their life. The point of this being a generic cheap tragic accident and magical wishes that make everything better do not a good story nor good game make.

Koi×Koi＝∞ ~Koisuru Otome ni Dekiru Koto~

Company: PeasSoft
Game site: 恋×恋＝∞（いんふぃにてぃ） ～恋する乙女にできること～
Release date: September 27, 2013
Comments:
Fuuma is part of the ‘love support committee’, founded by the school’s most popular idol Naho, along with his senpai Ayane and imouto Nagisa, to give those boys and girls in love a little stiff push. Overcoming many obstacles, their ultimate goal is to revive the legend of love in the school and to know the importance of true love.

The trial was H-only, so that pretty much shows you what’s the most important thing in love. Joking aside, it’s a standard eroge theme where those helping others seek love end up falling in love themselves. For me, I’m already in love with the imouto Nagisa and she’s in love with me, so we can skip through all the stuff in the middle and get right to the best part… the icharabu. What? You thought I was gonna say something else? They need to do something about the Clochette (a.k.a. balloon) syndrome though.

The helping others in love club idea seems to be the usual fallback when writers run out of ideas for anything else. Actually any made up useless club tends to be a fallback for writers who cannot seem to even imagine what an actual club must have been like or something along those lines. It is not as though there is a complete lack of legitimate club settings to use. Oh well, regardless PeasSoft is not known for their stories, and it would seem they have delivered yet again.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Ichiban Ja Nakya Dame Desu ka?
2. Oniichan Sharing
3. Karumaruka＊Circle

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. NO
2. MORE
3. Younger Sisters.
   

More Sana! More Sana! More Sana!

So next time Micchi decides to delay a post for a month or so someone needs to delete all record of Sana everywhere, or maybe assassinate Agumi Oto..