May 2014 Eroge Releases

The balloons are back! Clochette’s Sakigake⇒Generation! is an entertaining title where a group of friends play a new VRMMO, while mysterious events arise in real life as well. There’s also Qoobrand’s mysterious Majo Koi Nikki and SORAHANE’s Haruka Kanata, both of which were delayed from previous months. It seems to be a good month for those who love games with a slight fantasy setting. Other than that though, it’s probably better to look forward to next month!

Well this is what we get for having some hope after the eroge market had improved for a few months, our hopes dashed, and all the more proof that it is impossible to have nice things. When a few of the releases this month prove to be successful enough to warrant analysis into why, we will end up going ever deeper into the sinkhole of boring repetitive eroge based on some CG sets displayed to a female voice actor breathing helium to reach the kind of bubbly cute that apparently turns the primary demographic into mindless consumer zombies willing to buy anything attached to it.

Golden Marriage

Company: ensemble
Game site: Golden Marriage
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
“So long as there’s love, then I don’t need money”… that’s a lie! There’s no way that one could live without money. But that doesn’t mean that “pure love doesn’t exist, money is everything in the world”. It is only human to have these feelings, even if one cannot place a value to them. They balance their dreams and reality in this love drama of sorrow and joy, which leads them towards the ultimate end: marriage.

It just seems like a marriage game with a bunch of rich girls (aside from Kasumi who has a lot of debt). The protagonist Nagisa is extremely rich and his imouto Marika is a princess of some European country. The setting isn’t really one that I like, but it’s one that ensemble seems to stick with. Well, at least Marika is cute. She’s so pure and I’d sleep together with her every night. The art by Hayakawa Harui (Shoujo Shiniki∽Shoujo Tengoku) is also good eye candy.

Cluster of nonsensical mediocrity made to resemble a high class setting, not through ambiance but because Ensemble said so. The biggest problem with these settings aside from being stereotypical, is the lack of depth to characters, with little to no emphasis on developing story or setting, the characters must hold the game up with their development. Sadly the arbitrary declaration of high class from the point of view of people who likely have about as much class as a shirtless American football fan does not do the genre justice. When the point is more about exploration of setting and developing characters in relation to the setting, you cannot afford to simply pull random princesses and rich girls out of a hat to throw in your eroge shop for the player playing your protagonist to peruse at their leisure. It defeats the entire point of the setting and game itself to do so.

Re;Lord ~Helford no Majo to Nuigurumi~

Company: エスクード (Escu:de)
Game site: Re；Lord ～ヘルフォルトの魔女とぬいぐるみ～
Release date: May 30, 2014 Delayed to June 27, 2014
Comments:
In a world where swords and magic exist, the demon realm faced an unprecedented danger. Three ‘witches of disaster’ appeared and invaded a territory of the demon country of Saarland. Lacking skills due to the recent peaceful times and recognizing the witches’ overwhelming powers (including the ability to change the form of others), they surrendered the territory of Groesen to them. A half year later, the majority of the townspeople in Groesen had been turned into dolls. Wilfred decided to take back the land from the witches, and he possessed the only ability to defeat them.

This is a follow-up strip battle SLG in the same vein as Akatoki!, except the player can target which parts they want to take off. The result will also affect the H scenes. It’s best to keep some of their clothes on! The story is written by Nishimura Yuuichi (Furuiro), but c’mon, it’s a strip battle SLG. These witches have been bad. They need some punishment.

Who knew that the best way to get rid of witches was to strip and have your way with them, not toss a glass of water in their general direction. Which sums up the depth of this game, ankle deep kiddie pool. If all you want is stripping and H scenes your prayers have been answered, otherwise, lets just forget this exists.

your diary +H

Company: CUBE
Game site: your diary +H
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
This is the 18+ reverse PC port of your diary+ (PSP), with routes for Kaho, Natsuki and Hotori. The routes for original main heroines Yua, Sayuki, Yuuki and Kanade will also get new CGs and scenes. The OPs don’t seem to have changed aside from adding “H” in the logo. I don’t think I’ll play this just for one new character.

So, the worst game I have ever had the misfortune of attempting to play needs some more whoring, who would have thought. I have trouble believing anyone would have bought the port, let alone this port of a port with some extra CG images and moans added. If I were ever to write out exactly what makes a game bad, I would simply pick this up and point at it, the writing is a cataclysm of horrible, terrible, apocalypse of the written word, bad. The story was dull, had the pacing of a pyramid eroding, the characters were horrible cliches with vapid personalities completed by voice acting so uninterested it would have functioned better as a sleep aid. To top it all off, there was zero reason to care about anyone in the story, plus a setting that was so limited and poorly constructed it felt as though the whole thing took place in a magical cloud that simply formed rooms and scenery as it was called for. Even the art was pretty terrible, shading was lazy, expressions had less emotion than a mime, and the poses were awkward at best… Okay, I think I have ranted enough for now, despite the fact I could probably go on about every component of why this game was an atrocity that even a wide scale burning the game and its creators with flaming battery acid to make sure it cannot pollute the world anymore is too good for it, but for now I will just leave on the note that this game was of very poor quality, and should not have any additions to it ever, lest people think such standards are natural, and something to aspire to. Should the world ever actually reach enough of a deficit in IQ that people come to this conclusion as a majority, I will pray to every deity in existence that a meteor comes and puts our idiotic race out of its misery.

Kono Oozora ni, Tsubasa o Hirogete SNOW PRESENTS

Company: PULLTOP
Game site: この大空に、翼をひろげて SNOW PRESENTS
Release date: May 30, 2014 Delayed to July 25, 2014
Comments:
This is a winter-themed variety pack for Konosora, including a mini FD for main heroine Kotori, as well a drama CD of the Soaring Club’s winter camp, a soundtrack with Kotori’s character song and some digital contents, such as binaural system voices and wallpapers. The mini FD focuses on Kotori’s sweet cohabitation with Aoi following her leg surgery and rehab. It’s written in a diary format and features lots of ichaicha and ecchi.

Figures that PULLTOP goes back to the Konosora franchise due to the sales. I wouldn’t mind a C@F! fandisc, but I’m not holding my breath.

Easy month, easy month, thank you pulltop for helping to make this an easy month.

Shuki Shuki Daishuki!!

Company: Iris
Game site: しゅきしゅきだいしゅき！！
Release date: May 30, 2014 Delayed to June 27, 2014
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. Youji was half-forced by his older sister Mimi to be the new manager (in training) of the Fancy Shop USAMi, a cute store which is frequented by little girls. He got to know the shy Chikage who helps around at the shop, the pure Russian girl Tamara who lives next door, and the ‘little idol’ Aoi who ran away from home and now lives in the park. Their relationship grows closer and more intimate as they advance towards being a slightly risky lovey-dovey couple.

I’m staying far away from the sparkly oshikko.

Games like these should come with a built in program that automatically alerts the authorities upon install, thus allowing apprehension and subsequent castration of the offending criminal.

Happiness! Emotion

Company: ういんどみるOasis (Windmill Oasis)
Game site: はぴねす！えもーしょん
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
This is a re-release of Happiness! and fandisc Happiness! Re:Lucks, incorporating the E-mote Lite system from Witch’s Garden and expanding to 1024×768 resolution (ya~y). There’s no new content, but I was planning on playing Happiness! for Sana Sumomo, so I’ll end up playing this at one point or the other.

More of something that needs no explanation is fine by me, though anyone who actually buys this either has too much money or too little braincells as a single gimmick addition does not a new game make, although it does seem most companies wish that to be true, so they could pawn off generic crap with a silly gimmick for even better profit more often.

Haruka Kanata

Company: SORAHANE
Game site: はるかかなた
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. Kanata gave mouth-to-mouth to a girl who fell from the observation platform. “Could this be… a kiss?” she said as she checked off an item on a notebook labelled “Future List”. He returned home where his imouto Yui greeted him. They live together with their adoptive parent, Sister Asahi. He headed out once again to the observation platform, but there was a different girl there. He helped her fly a kite and she introduced herself as Kokone and called him senpai. On the way home, he met his osananajimi Shizuku and helped her carry some bags of food, walking side by side with her like always.

When he returned home, the girl from before was waiting for him. Her name was Haruka, and she had the same eyes, hair, feel and ‘blue wings’ as him. That’s normal… because they are twins. It was the beginning of a slightly mysterious and heartrending love story.

Suddenly a twin appears! Who dares separate twins when they are orphans!? Actually, now that I think about it, that would take care of the Westermark effect? SORAHANE’s stories generally are a step up from other chara-ge, although the trial was a bit disjointed. Also, they need to fix the system; it’s slow even on no-wait due to effects. However, with two imoutos, a genki kouhai and an osananajimi… that’s a good start already. Aside from that oshikko CG >_> Great OP song as always from SORAHANE.

I am honestly and completely confused at the leaps of logic reached by the authors of this game, I can think of no drug potent enough nor any insane person sane enough to produce something like this. I can only imagine the writer is a psychologist working in an asylum who decided to turn their notes on the babbling of patients they had given some acid instead of medication into an eroge. The story and characters are so all over the place that someone had to be simply cutting out large portions of text, presumably the incoherent portions of the stolen ideas. If you want to know what it is like to no longer be sane, or have fashioned a mind control ray deflector from your colander and some tin foil you may find something to like here, otherwise keep your braincells and kitchenware well clear of this particular minefield.

Himegoto Union Motto H! ~Kan no Ichi Kujou Hijiri no Icharabu na Nichijou~

Company: SEVEN WONDER
Game site: ひめごとユニオン もーっとH！　～巻ノ一 九帖聖のいちゃラブな日常～
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
This is the first of four low-priced after-stories for Himegoto Union, focused on Hijiri. It’s been a few weeks since they’ve become lovers and they’ve been having a sweet time together while keeping their relationship a secret from others. One day, a girl named Nanoka appeared suddenly before them, introducing herself as Saizou’s imouto. She clung on him and wished to become his bride. With Hijiri’s older sister Matsuri also joining the fray, what will become of their sweet time together? Hasn’t it become a harem life!?

I never cared much for Hijiri (Koharu’s the reason why I even played the original trial), so it doesn’t surprise me that they added new characters just to make things more interesting. Now when’s my imouto coming?

Basically a fandisk, where some random girl shows up, calls herself his little sister to appeal to all those who actually like that sort of thing, and being a bit touched in the head, our protagonist decides he is ok with that as long as he can get into her panties. The end.

I’d like to point out how this is supposed to be Hijiri’s story.

I’d like to point out that in her story they brought in arbitrary self proclaimed little sister out of nowhere. Explain please.

Everyone has an imouto. It’s only a matter of time before she shows up.

Throw her back before fish and game wardens arrest you for capturing one smaller than is legal.

Gangsta Arcadia ~Hipparcos no Tenshi~

Company: WHITESOFT
Game site: ギャングスタ・アルカディア ～ヒッパルコスの天使～
Release date: May 30, 2014 Delayed to June 27, 2014
Comments:
This is the fandisc for Gangsta Republica, with Shahluke being upgraded from subchara to main heroine. Walking the dog, replacing the sliding door, babysitting. It’s another day of ‘bad’ deeds by the Gang Club. However, there is one thing different: his senpai Shahluke is doing a ‘homestay’ at his house for various reasons. Even though there are many problems living together, their days are happy ones. But those days are gradually threatened by something unknown to them: “the Angel of Hipparcos”. Didn’t play the original since I wasn’t interested in the characters nor the plot, and my opinion hasn’t changed with this release.

Didn’t ask for it, don’t want it, but thank you for not making a real game.

Sakigake⇒Generation!

Company: クロシェット (Clochette)
Game site: サキガケ⇒ジェネレーション！
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
Shuuho attends Ubutsuchi Gakuen in the town of Minahama on the shores of Lake Ubutsuchi. He loves games a lot and started up an ‘entertainment research’ club with his imouto Ririko (who also loves games just as much) and his best friend Atsumori, where they gather to play games after school every day.

One day, the transfer student Anon asked them if they wanted to try playing a game which no one else had played before. Of course they were very interested, but Ririko’s best friend Yuria was openly distrustful of the idea. She was secretly a true ‘magician’ and sensed magical ability coming from Anon. However, since she wouldn’t give such an explanation to them, so she soon gave up trying to convince them otherwise. The five of them began to play the game that’s still in development: “Wizard Generation”.

As soon as they started, they found themselves in the middle of an open field. “Wizard Generation” was an extremely realistic VR game which appealed to all five senses. They were surprised at this unprecedented piece of technology and soon become absorbed in playing the game, even Yuria who did not initially accept it. Soon, the class rep Ouka and Shuuho’s osananajimi Natsume also joined their party. However, while they were enjoying the virtual game, the real world was about to reach a turning point.

I still find the balloons to be too big, but the trial was really fun to play! There was plenty of MMO jokes within Wizard Generation (similar to Futsuno Fantasy), such as running out of mana, missing attacks on the first enemy, overpowered mages, etc. I want to play it too! I’d make a magician or hunter naturally. The cast is star-studded, led by Natsuno Koori, Haruka Sora and Hoshizaki Iria.

Once again, we have the holy trinity: imouto Ririko (bishop), kouhai Yuria (magician), osananajimi Natsume (hunter). I especially love Yuria, not only because she’s the only hinnyuu (important for game balance), but she’s a koakuma type kouhai too! I’m also interested in seeing where the story goes since the trial left off with the lake glowing and Ririko being shown as an astral projection. Could it be that her magic powers are being awakened in the real world? It’s intriguing enough for me to overlook the huge oppai.

As per usual for Clochette, silly nonsensical story, standard characters, plus the big bad wolf who huffed and mightily puffed to blow their chests up. Nothing to expect from the writing, as if anyone ever does from Clochette, either you like the characters, and play it for them while ignoring the story, or you probably won’t play the game at all.

So THAT’S why they’re balloons!!

Clochette’s secrets revealed to the world.

Reminiscence Re:Collect

Company: てぃ～ぐる (Tigre)
Game site: レミニセンス Re：Collect
Release date: May 30, 2014 Delayed to June 27, 2014
Comments:
This is the sequel and ending to Reminiscence. The main story is focused on new heroine Suzuka, and subcharas Kazuha and Ren. Of course, there are also after stories for the 5 heroines from the previous game, Kizuna, Aki, Axela, Rin and Nozomi.

It’s been 2 years since Hidetaka became a special duty official. The others have gone their own ways since graduation. A big change has come for Hope Town and Dream Town with the discovery of a new city Yamato. They wished to maintain peace via diplomacy, but Yamato sent a one-sided demand for them to hand over all their technology. They were especially interested in the Kurayashiki name and requested Kazuha be sent to them. If their conditions were not met, then they would attack both cities with full force. The special duty officials from Hope and Dream devoted themselves to tense negotiations to avoid such an outcome.

Since this is the sequel, I wonder if Aki will love her nii-san…

Since this is the sequel, I don’t actually have to write anything… do I?

Kozukuri Shiyou yo Souma-kun ~Ecchi na Ko demo Ii Desu ka?~

Company: コンチェルト (Concerto)
Game site: 子作りしようよ ソーマくん ～えっちな娘でもいいですか？～
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
Souma is a young man who doesn’t like flashy things or things that stand out. His quiet life was turned on its head when a princess from another world came to his room. She told him that if he doesn’t have sex and make someone pregnant, then he will disappeared from this world. The girls around him become more assertive to save their dear Souma. During this short period left, will he be able to choose one of them and impregnate her?

In fact, Souma isn’t your normal guy. He was summoned to that other world to save it, and came back with super strength. OK, I included this game just because the plot is ridiculous. Yes, there’s preggo scenes. This is also Minase Yuu’s first game as illustrator, while the story is written by four people who must’ve had way too much fun. I’m almost tempted to play it for laughs. There is an imouto after all and she would definitely be the first to pounce save him.

So, why should I care if the protagonist disappears again? May as well just have a bus going on a school trip crash into a sperm bank to reach the same conclusion this game does without all the excess wordy baggage, or a protagonist better off dead. What is this, a back to the future plotline? If he doesn’t end up being his own dad properly he will disappear? Maybe there is even a system that changes his looks subtly depending on which girl he chooses! This eroge stuff is easier than I thought, just take any show or movie, and while high on Viagra and surrounded by porn, reinterpret it.

Houkago no Futekikakusha

Company: Nostalgic Chord
Game site: 放課後の不適格者
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. This is the debut work by Nostalgic Chord. It’s autumn at Shuuka Gakuen, a full-boarding private school. The first-years have finally adjusted to life at the school, the second-years are enjoying their time, while the third-years are reminiscing with graduation approaching. Itsuka is your average third-year student who likes soccer and hangs around with his close friends: twin osananajimis Asagao and Yuugao, fellow soccer club member and best friend Jun, partner-in-crime Kousuke, iincho Kanade, and homeroom teacher Shiori. There’s nothing particular special, but they enjoy each day happily. But then one day, their lives completely changed.

Nostalgic Chord is a sister brand of AkabeiSoft2. Why didn’t they just release it under COSMIC CUTE? It’s kind of a joke how they keep making and disbanding sub-brands. But anyway… the synopsis doesn’t tell you much, but what might ring a bell is that Takehaya is in charge of the story. He wrote Konakana, Kanishino, Asuseka and Secret Game, and you’re right in thinking that the story will likely take a darker, tragic tone than the exterior suggests.

While I won’t divulge the details too much, the trial is fully-voiced and starts off with the diary of younger osananajimi Yuugao. When looking at the character descriptions, I was wondering why she wasn’t a heroine and hoped that her subcharacter status wouldn’t be a death flag. Note that true to the AkabeiSoft2 brand, this isn’t your typical school-setting game and has action and death scenes. My biggest question is what determines the ‘marks’ and what role does new transfer student Haruka play in all of this. I’ll keep my eye on this as it probably will end up as a tearjerker.

This game definitely has a tragic air about it, which is not something I particularly enjoy, though a good bittersweet ending is nice from time to time. Difficult to tell how good the game will be, I feel that most often the best way to determine how it will likely play out is very beginning when all the characters are brought together. The reason is because more than anything it says a lot about the attitude of the writers and everyone else involved in the games creation, more so than a trial which is often meant and designed to be as catchy as possible to the point of being deliberately misleading. Not to say nothing can be gleaned from other sources, just that expectations for quality built upon the basic building blocks we are given in the form of a synopsis plus the trial become clearer with such consideration. In this case I feel the unification of the characters while not the typical blender where everything is thrown together then reduced to some grey, amorphous, unappealing slurry is not present, there is a distinct lack of any effort put in to really break away from a quick and easy starter by working it directly into the setting ahead of time. All this means is that things could go either way sadly, with an ever so slight leaning towards the likelihood of sub par. Thanks to this I won’t be holding my breath in anticipation anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean the game has no merits, as a bottom line there was more thought than usual, as the catalyst that defines all future actions and development cannot be the initial meetings for everyone itself.

Majo Koi Nikki

Company: Qoobrand
Game site: 魔女こいにっき
Release date: May 30, 2014
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. This is the first game by Qoobrand under the AMUSE CRAFT brand. Alice lives alone in an old barber shop in the shopping district of the rose-coloured town. It was the second spring at her school and nothing special happened. That was until one day when she was exploring a clock tower in a forest a ways from the school with a friend and found a strange diary which had been dropped. She took it home with her and when she opened it, the days of a young boy were spelled out there. It was the story of first love and a broken heart.

While it’s a new brand, it’s gotten a lot of attention since one of the scenario writers is Niijima Yuu, who left SAGA PLANETS after writing the ‘seasons’ games (Kamihami, Natsunagi, Kisaragi, Hatsusaku). I’m not sure which routes he’ll be doing, but I’m sure we could tell pretty quickly. Inugami Kira and Kozakura Ryou are two of the illustrators, so there’s no worries about the art. Samoto Fuuri is back as seiyuu, and I don’t have any problem with the others based on the available voice clips. Well, I don’t have any reason to not try it out.

Interesting plot device, though not as interesting as sheep BBQ. To be honest even the bitter jaded shell of a human that I am is interested in this game. Sure there is plenty to be wary of, but it is already subtly different than most of the games I have had the misfortune of bearing witness to over for months and months prior. At the very least they did not simply throw some heroines into a protagonist pit and wait for something to happen so they could sell tickets, but at least put the bare minimum of effort into the opening and setting. Though like any game the most important aspects are both the story itself and how it interacts with the characters to develop them and their relationships relative to the changes throughout, this points to the fact there may be some consideration put into those matters for once. No amount of trials or summaries can truly inform of the standards of quality for an entire game but, perhaps against my better judgment I do have a good feeling here for once, and I hope to see an enjoyable game.

I think you’ll have a magically good time.

What are you? A short, green, and irish eroge mascot?

Played the trial and just like Natsunagi and Hatsusaku, there’s a lot of mysteries. So it’s hard to figure out what’s going on. Well, at least it’ll be interesting. It seems like they skimped out on H scenes.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Sakigake⇒Generation!
2. Majo Koi Nikki
3. Haruka Kanata

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Yeah,
2. I think…
3. Not.

I wanna play Wizard Generation~ ><

I already forgot this month existed, and I just finished writing it, so see you all in June then?