March 2010 Eroge Releases

Free eroge! A game about sumo wrestlers! Cross Days coming out! What’s next? D.C. ending? Hahaha… never. Well, it’s an exciting month to say the least. se.Kirara made waves even in non-eroge circles with its announcement, although my top pick is Koiiro Sora Moyou, coming out after a six month delay.

This month is such a hassle, why oh why could they not release more fandisks, sequels, or delays this month. Would have saved me a lot of effort if I did not have to actually think up and type out a response to each and every game. I suppose it is a case of you never appreciate things till you lose them, oh how I miss thee terrible games.

Cross Days

Company: オーバーフロー (Overflow)
Game site: Cross Days（クロスデイズ）
Release date: March 19, 2010
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from… I forget. I’m not sure if this is an early April Fool’s joke, but Overflow has announced master up! For those that have forgotten what the plot is: Yuuki started to notice Kotonoha and also met Roka, who he got along with. He heard a rumor of a certain guy named Makoto who was two-timing and decided to confront his girlfriend about it. Just like previous games, there’ll be many hours of animation (and most likely many patches as well). I’m hearing that installation requires 11gb. Face it: we’re just interested in how it all turns out.

Hahahahaahahaa, 11 gigs is almost a gig per month it was delayed! I suppose it goes to show they were justified to delay it incessantly, actually making new content. Well all things considered I cannot say I really believe this date to be anything but a lie. Sorry Overflow, even a pure maidens heart such as my own is unable to stay faithful amidst a sea of lies and betrayals. Oh…  right there was supposed to be some kind of story to this but considering it will NEVER be released I don’t think anyone will be faulting me for completely ignoring the concept of the game.

Come to think of it, the lies and betrayals parallel the game itself.

You make a good point, maybe they are just trying to establish the ambience by tormenting the poor people who actually may want to play this game.

Dosukoi! Josetsu Sumou ~Mune ga Dokidoki Hatsubasho Taiken~

Company: ライアーソフト (Liar-soft)
Game site: どすこい！女雪相撲～胸がドキドキ初場所体験～
Release date: March 19, 2010
Comments:
It’s an eroge about sumo wrestling. That’s really all you need to know. The sumo battle part is basically choosing characters, each with different attributes, and then you just watch the screen shake. Pretty disappointing if you ask me.

No matter how much of a smartass someone is, in the end they are still but human. There is a limit to their potential, as well as their ability to fathom their world and how it relates to they themselves. It is impossible to truly understand everything which another human is thinking, leading to this chaotic world of misunderstandings both unintentional and deliberate.  When faced with a concept so alien the mind shatters under the strain placed upon it during a futile attempt to rationalize the situation there is little else for someone to do save admit the grave limitations of their human nature. Having borne witness to the birth of Dosukoi I feel only that I must be lacking the imagination to properly appreciate the concept as I sit here staring at my screen, utterly dumbfounded not only by the concept, but also by pondering just what compelled people to create a game and story based upon it. As I have reached the limits of my human capacity when gazing into this abyss of insanity, I am left to humble myself in bowing deeply before you, asking forgiveness for my inability to properly grasp, comprehend, relate, and critique a concept which has sublimated from the minds of men far greater than myself.

PS. SERIOUSLY WTF IS WRONG WITH THE PEOPLE WHO CAME UP WITH THIS!?! WHO WOULD FIND THIS EVEN MODERATELY ATTRACTIVE!?!?! NOT TO MENTION THEY NEVER TAKE OFF THE BLOODY LOINCLOTHS! DEAR GOD I KNOW I READ EROGE BUT AT LEAST ALLOW ME TO RETAIN SOME FRIGGIN INNOCENCE, THERE ARE SOME THINGS BEST LEFT UNIMAGINED!! THE OP ALONE HAS BEEN GIVING ME NIGHTMARES, I SERIOUSLY HATE YOU PEOPLE FOR MAKING THIS GAME!!!

I can’t help but agree wholeheartedly, albeit with less caps.

Happy Wardrobe

Company: Shallot
Game site: Happy Wardrobe
Release date: March 25, 2010
Comments:
This is Shallot’s debut game. When Meito was a child, he was forced by his parents to dress as a girl sometimes. Because of this, he really hates making clothes and cosplaying in general (especially as a girl). However, he aspires to join the drama club at Yuuei Gakuen and starts sewing costumes by himself. The next spring, he decides to join Sono’s drama club when he enters the school, but it was closed since it didn’t have enough members.

It’s another one of those ‘let’s gather a bunch of people together to save the club!’ plots. This time it’s the drama club, which I think has been done before (CLANNAD). Judging from the cover, I’m assuming they’ll exploit this to use every cosplay outfit there is. I don’t mind this at all; in fact, I like the OP song a lot.

I can only suppose this may only be my opinion, however it would be remiss of me not to vocalize my thoughts upon this matter. Cosplay. Yup that about sums it all up, this drama club appears to be little more than an excuse to dress up your bishoujos in outfits that suit whatever uniform fetish you happen to have. When looking a bit deeper I cannot help but feel a little put off by the sensation of mediocrity that oozes from this games every pore. I find it extremely difficult to empathize with the heroines at all, there is just nothing to make them feel humanlike in their presentation. Aside from the girls flaws we come to the main character who ..  I feel contradicts himself. He hates making clothes and dressing up… so why would he do it, not to mention join a drama club where much of the basis stems from those two activities. I suppose when you are effeminate enough, you no longer need to make sense. As if the characters and club setting were not bad enough, the whole save the club bit is getting old as a primary theme. When employed as a secondary theme I have little problem with it as being just another story element is perfectly acceptable no matter how cliché. However when used as the primary theme of your story there is just nothing there to appeal to the reader with new scenarios about character development or interaction. Having the “Been there, done that” feeling throughout the entirety of a game is depressing.

To be fair the drama club in Clannad was a minor issue that only slightly impacted the story, at least in all the routes I played, having completely ignored that boring and useless character whom I loathe more than your typical eroge protagonist, Nagisa.

Areas ~Koisuru Otome no 3H~

Company: Lapis lazuli
Game site: Areas～恋する乙女の3H（さんえいち）～
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
This is the after spinoff from Areas and is a love story about maidens, for maidens. Konoka and Ryiz both love Yuuya very much and one day confessed to him at the same time. As rivals in love, they were always around him, joining the same clubs as him, and making bentou for him. Suddenly appeared a quiet and refined girl, and he began to take an interest in her.

It’s a love triangle square! The original game wasn’t that well done, but since this isn’t a direct sequel and they’re focusing on 3 heroines only, I think it’ll be better this time around. Hau~ Konoka is really cute!

Go “Quiet and refined” girl! Conquer those opposing right angles of love! My own easily predictable opinions aside, I honestly cannot see how this is much different from most other eroge. The setup is fairly typical with an established group coming into contact with a newcomer who throws the whole situation into eroero chaos. Without something really special I see little point to bothering with this game, as there is precious little unforeseeable plot to be gleaned from a very typical eroge. If for some reason you are so supremely infatuated with the characters despite the fact they can be found in just about every other eroge anyway, then by all means play and enjoy watching their growth and development. As for me I would rather watch a stalactite grow, at least that is ever more unpredictable.

Cure Mate Club

Company: あてゅ・わぁくす (AtuWorks)
Game site: Cure Mate Club
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
Hiroto becomes a replacement teacher at Shuuou private girls’ school, the leading school in Japan for young ladies. Within this school, there’s a special place run by the students for themselves, a place where the maidens of high society mingle. This is Cure Mate Club. The owner of the club, Erina, meets him and makes him dress up as a girl.

Another one this month with the crossdressing theme. It’s obvious that they got this idea from the popular XBox360 game Dream Club (Secchan was adorable!). One thing that I noticed is that Hiroto looks REALLY baby-faced and small. And he’s a teacher!? That’s stretching it a little bit…

High class ladies, dressed as maids? Did they get their moe wires crossed? We obviously are not supposed to take it too seriously but that is akin to a hairy grown man dressing up as Faye, we all know both are completely impossible and are asked to suspend our disbelief for the writers sake. With such contradictions being presented in a visible and pervasive manner I take offense to being treated as though I am only going to play a game for a specific trait, or because there are cute 2D girls. While I surely cannot speak for anyone else my perception of most eroge players is that few play games simply for the appeal of a specific fetish, but rather the combination of a character’s personality and relationships that grow as they are sculpted by their setting. On the other hand Cure Mate Club feels as though they neglected the intersection of various elements bound by a solid plotline and story in favor of a quick gimmick to attempt appealing to a wider audience in a purely visual manner. Alongside se.Kirara, Cure Mate Club marks the two games this month that are more about quick trait appeal than a compelling heartfelt story.

I really have to make note that Micchi has a problem when it is a male teacher yet tends to like when there are unbelievably tiny female teachers instead. Choco sensei anyone? I am sure there are others as well but I cannot be bothered to remember them so they can’t be too important, not to mention my point as been addressed already anyway.

Yui in Hani Hani… but that’s not the point! It’s the fact that it’s a sho… oh wait, Negi. Never mind, pretend I never said anything. But I think that part of the appeal is because of the contrasts, like imoutos wearing daring underwear or an osananajimi actually being a yandere. We all know it probably won’t happen in real life, so why not be a bit creative?

Normally I would agree, however there is little creativity when you take pre-established character traits all of which on their own typically denote a certain type of game or design and throw them in a blender. I just get the feeling it was not done for creative purposes but just as a cheap appeal towards packing as many obvious traits into a package as possible for the widest set of instant visual attraction possible. Marketing trumping game design leaves a bad taste for me.

Floating Material -The hill where the star born-

Company: biscotti
Game site: Floating Material -The hill where the star born-
Release date: March 26, 2010 Delayed to April 30, 2010
Comments:
This is biscotti’s first game. Shun is the only male teacher at Kyoukasen Girls’ School, a well-known high class school also known as the “Water School” since it is situated in a forest and there is a lake on the school grounds. It is a place to heal the wounds of those girls who are hurt. He meets girls who shut off themselves from the world, those who don’t have confidence in themselves, those who are still traumatized by their past. He decides to help them move forward with their lives.

I’m really annoyed that their site is slower than a snail, since I’m actually kind of interested in this. Cute girls who need your help and love? Where do I sign up? The lively art is similar to another game this month, se.Kirara. Definitely gonna check this out!

Ah yes never underestimate the power of insincere H scenes to heal the heart of a troubled maiden. This is like picking a girl up on the rebound, taking advantage of her weakness to start a relationship based upon being a crutch when she is emotionally disabled. Yup such an honest and upstanding teacher he is, I am falling for him already! *Swoons* Besides the basis being one of taking advantage of pretty rich girls who have no one else to rely on, the heroines themselves are nothing special. I have said this before yet I think it has been a little while so I shall say it yet again, as a new company you need to stand out, creating the same old characters time and time again is not enough to establish yourself a niche in the marketplace anymore. Many of you who have played eroge will undoubtably recognize character types at a glance without any pesky reading, this of course includes all their possible traumas.

Let this be a lesson to all of the good children out there, do not grow up to become a worthless human like Shun…     kusu kusu

Don’t be like Zen either. He’d let innocent girls suffer instead of trying to help them. How worthless…     kusu kusu

At the very least I have no ulterior motives, I am pure in whichever choice I make, whether I would choose to help them or ignore them.

Maximum Magic: Quirk Of Destiny

Company: Lime
Game site: Maximum Magic（マキシマムマジック） Quirk Of Destiny
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
One day a castle fell from the sky and soon strange things began occurring around the area. The queen chose a young boy to investigate into it. While he is definitely smart and capable of great things, his personality is… well, a little off. He doesn’t follow orders well, doesn’t have common sense and likes playing tricks to scare people. Why did the queen choose someone like this for such a task? Some mystery, but in the end this is strictly a magic-based game. I’m not too interested and I’m sure Zen will say the same.

As much as I would love to sarcastically pretend I was extremely interested in Maximum Magic, that would take too much effort just to spite a single sentence that Micchi wrote. Not to mention I am sooo very indifferent to this game it might as well not exist in my eyes, there goes all my motivation. So I shall keep things as brief as possible, the basis for the setting and story are both extremely weak. Characters induce a yawn from me save for the protagonist, he really seems like my kind of character. Hmm what else… uhh well basically the just plain stupid and nonsensical story would be more at home as a magical girl storyline or otome game.

On a side note, is it just me or did that blue haired creature look a lot like the sentient toaster from DCII?

Now that you mention it…

RGH ~Koi to Hero to Gakuen to~

Company: Chien (シアン)
Game site: RGH～恋とヒーローと学園と～
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
Rin’ou Gakuen is a huge school with over 10,000 students. Iwao has been unlucky: being mistaken for a thug when he wanted to help the girls in trouble, getting in fights with the ‘school hero’, his dorm being a dump, etc. One day, he saw some students being attacked and he wanted to help, but… he can’t just help them as is since he’ll be thought as the culprit again. He decided to use ‘that’, and that was the beginning. The game is a slapstick love comedy. Chien’s art isn’t that refined and this time the story isn’t that good either. At least Puara! and Hinomaru were somewhat intriguing.

Should be renamed “Attack of the Pedobear”, then I might actually be interested in it for the comedic value. Well I suppose with the drought of lolis here Pedobear would be unlikely to make an appearance. I guess this is one of those games that despite being a comedy, still manages to teach us valuable lessons on life which we could all benefit from. In this case the moral of the story is that when you need to dress up as a bear for the sake of justice, the sequence of failures that make up your life has taken a significant turn for the worse.

Aside from the general silly atmosphere of the game what is left? Not a whole lot from where im standing, setting is very standard other than the ridiculously huge school, the characters are about as interesting as watching grass grow, and to top it all off the story appears fresh off the standard eroge assembly line. As Micchi took valuable time to mention the artwork I shall go ahead and say it is not really bad but nothing special either. Even the comedy comes across as boring, to the point I feel almost clairvoyant when gazing lifelessly upon the OP for this game.

Re: Seven – Boku ga Kimi ni Dekiru Koto

Company: LilacSoft
Game site: Re：Seven（リ：セブン） 僕が君に出来るコト
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
Naoya is a pretty pathetic guy, living and working at the slot machine store, Bisca. When he was walking home one night, he meets a girl who tells him that he will vanish in 7 days. The OP is pretty good with a different song style, and it also gives a few hints about the plot. Could it be that it is a world that repeats? What is the true purpose of the Operator? This might be a decent pick-up for those interested in a mystery title.

Potentially intriguing, whether it will actually live up to that is another story. However as I assume the slot machines are going to take on a fairly significant role I would have prefered something a bit more… uhh.. fun? That said I do have a few misgivings about the suggestion of a looping world. Ah well they did a decent job of baiting with a lot of unanswered questions and an op which really stands out this month. So far the only legitimate flaw I can cite without relying on mere conjecture would be the art style I feel does not quite suit the story and setting.

You want it to be a pachinko parlor instead?

I find it pretty funny you mention that, as I was writing I was thinking, “Well at the very least it isn’t a pachinko parlor”.

White Album 2 ~introductory chapter~

Company: Leaf
Game site: WHITE ALBUM 2～introductory chapter～
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from January. The art still looks weird.

And I still don’t care, moving on…

se.Kirara

Company: native
Game site: se・きらら
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
This is the first game by native and also the first non-doujin game that will be available for free. You can also get the game bundled with a figma from Max Factory for 2800 yen. Saki finally made it into Soushin Gakuen with the help and encouragement of his friends. Lifted by his achievement, he feels that it is just one small milestone in his life and he should do the most he can with his life. But everything won’t go smoothly. Together with the girls he meets at the school, he will make the journey to maturity.

As expected from being affiliated with a top figure company, the OP is fully animated and very impressive. The song is also very nice. Characters are cute and all, but I’m still not totally convinced that the story will be done well if they plan to just use it to sell the figma. Well at the least, it should be a nice chara-ge. No harm in checking this out, especially with such a sweet osananajimi in Yuu.

Once every few eons an event occurs when the stars align in just the right way to give birth to an event so unanticipated it normally would be considered nigh impossible. It appears this very event has occurred this month, where I find myself in very nearly complete agreement with what Micchi has said. Sure everyone likes a free game but everything points to this game just existing to showcase cute characters for people to buy. In a way it is placing the advertisement ahead of the product, that is to say we know their goal is to make people buy figures, therefore the game is not the purpose but rather was created solely to advertise their propriety figures. As a result the focus has already shifted from making a good eroge that sells well and compels people to keep playing, towards creation of a setting that forms an appropriate backdrop for an intensely visual expression of their character designs. What this results in is top notch artwork, cute looking characters, an ever so standard story, but no real soul to it all. No matter how much I could like a character from this game there is no feeling of it being a labor of love by its creators, but rather a dried out husk created for corporate purposes. As much as I am intrigued by the business decision to make the game itself free, I hope this game does very poorly, the sheer brazenness with which this ploy to get as many people as possible to feel attached to their characters does not sit well with me. I feel there are much more to well made characters than simply looking cute, or having the right traits, in order to fully bring them to life the writers need to bring all aspects of a story together in such a way that you cannot help but believe they could be real people. When I see a company essentially looking at their customers and potential customers and saying “Here, we will give you everything we think you enjoy in your favorite characters so you should buy from us instead” it feels as though their contempt for the people who buy their products has become palpable. By all means feel free to play the the game, however for the sake of future games and characters I would advise against buying any of the figures.

Oh the one disagreement I have with what Micchi said is Yuu, though I would assume that hardly needs to be mentioned.

Mare Mare Mare -Sister Plus-

Company: mana
Game site: メアメアメアSP（Sister Plus）
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
This is the same as the original Mare Mare Mare, but with a route added for imouto Ruri since she was so popular. Naturally, everyone loves the imouto!

Sounds more like they realized they forgot to include some candy for the sexual deviants who lust after their little sisters, as an afterthought they scotch taped the sister to the story as a trap for the less astute deviants.

Natsu ni Kanaderu Bokura no Uta

Company: パープルソフトウェア (Purple Software)
Game site: 夏に奏でる僕らの詩
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
When Haruka was small, he was friends with many girls. One day, those girls played a secret game amongst themselves and one of them never appeared after that game. Many years later, while enjoying the sea, he meets a girl who he thought was a mermaid. She was Kanon, the girl who had left them back then. He calls out to her, but she doesn’t acknowledge knowing him.

I have the feeling that Purple Software’s quality is starting to lower a bit. This game seems a bit average and I miss their animated OPs. Overall, I can’t say anything bad about this, but there’s nothing that makes me want to play it over other games.

Hmm I have to admit to being a little intrigued by the game they played as well as the artwork. Whether or not there is the potential to become a compelling story is up in the air however. Developing the air of mystery well is something I enjoy and I for one look forward to reading more of this story. I also have to say the skilled use of shading really brings a softer feel to the artwork that I find attractive despite the errors made with some proportions and poses.

Unlike Micchi I couldn’t care less if an OP is animated, in fact I tend to skip OPs as they are nothing but a nuisance with bad music to me. By placing such a juicy worm on their hook Purple has placed me in a position where I cannot help but give the game a shot.

I distinctly remember you trying out Memoria and Signal Heart, but not liking either.

Well I rarely hold things against a company, no one is perfect afterall. One game I may not have liked hardly means everything they make will be bad, plus not much else this month to be interested in really. Just comes down to one of those things where I can see a bit of potential in the story so I want to give it a shot, if it’s bad I can always just drop the game.

Oh hey this listened to me and made an animated OP!

Subarashiki Hibi ~Furenzoku Sonzai~

Company: ケロＱ (KeroQ)
Game site: 素晴らしき日々～不連続存在～
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
Subarashiki Hibi is a collection of 6 short stories. I’m not really sure if and how the stories link together, but the protagonist is different across stories. Art is beautiful, especially the sky backgrounds. I’ll probably play it just for “Which Dreamed It”, the sibling story from the perspective of the imouto.

I am not a fan of stories where your perspective shifts personally. I find that it is much harder to develop an attachment to the characters with so little time spent relating to them. If there was a single protagonist to identify with and look upon the world through their eyes I would have liked to play this game… Without such a character I cannot even be minimally interested in the stories.

Koiiro Sora Moyou

Company: すたじお緑茶 (Studio Ryokucha)
Game site: 恋色空模様
Release date: March 26, 2010
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from October. Seigo came to the quaint island of Kamina-jima a few years ago from Tokyo. He’s apathetic about everything and gives up easily. News breaks out that the school will close down after this year and some of the girls decided to petition against it. He thinks that if he helps them, then maybe they’ll like him and things won’t be as boring! Damn, he’s pathetic.

It’s a long 5 months waiting for this, but I’ve been faithful! Of course I have to be with “Onii, Uzai” imouto Mikoto and genki Aya! I’m getting back into the mood with Koisorajio restarting too. Must play! Now! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I had debated just copy pasting my October comment here to save time and effort however I have had something of a change of heart so.. forget everything I said back then. Well  almost everything, there is really only one reason for my change of heart, of course it is that one right there, yeah her. Since there appeared a character who interested me enough to want to know their story I will play that route, and most likely ONLY that route. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have a protagonist who is not so boring as to put me to sleep either. Afterall there are no characters portrayed so unrealistically as the protagonists are, viewing a world through the lens of a living being compared to a robot preprogrammed to fake “Kindness” in front of everything female is a nice change of pace.

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Koiiro Sora Moyou
2. se.Kirara
3. Floating Material -The hill where the star born-
   

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Koiiro Sora Moyou
2. Natsu ni Kanaderu Bokura no Uta
3. Re: Seven – Boku ga Kimi ni Dekiru Koto

Amazingly enough, Micchi and my first picks overlapped this month. In my defense however I would like to point out the only reason is that Koiiro happens to be the only game I am guaranteed to play at least one route of.

It’s not only us two. m3rry and Reikon decided to usurp us write their own preview in my our absence. It’s refreshing to read other people’s comments even if they do sound a bit like Zen, so please do check it out!