December 2010 Eroge Releases

Arthur (♀). Lupin (♀). Role switching. Body switching. Text messages from the future. Doors to the past. Lottery to become a king. Clothes-shredding magic attacks. Talking horses. Mad scientists. Just another normal month for eroge.

Finally a month that does not outright suck, what a nice christmas present from the creators of eroge. Of course it would have also been nice of them to not release so many games this month for the sake of my fingers as well as my sanity. I would have been quite happy if Micchi gave me the present of punctuality with the post as well, but we can’t have it all and I suppose I should be thankful it came out before christmas. Here’s hoping that I will have a nice birthday present next month as well, come on Type Moon!

Characolle!

Company: Forgest
Game site: きゃらコレ！
Release date: December 3, 2010 (AliceSoft); December 17, 2010 (BaseSon)
Comments:
Characolle is a 3D game by new company Forgest, with collaboration from ILLUSION, that brings bishoujos from popular games to life (kinda). The first two installations contain Haruka and Narika from AliceSoft’s Beat Blades Haruka and Touka and Aisia from BaseSon’s Shin Koihime Musou. Kud from key’s Little Busters and characters from Lump of Sugar, SkyFish and Whirlpool have been planned for the future. Similar to ILLUSION’s games and Frontwing’s Time Leap Paradise, you can make the girls dance and pose. They can also be used as moving desktop accessories. Other than the fact that it’s popular characters instead of custom girls, there’s not really anything new here. Desktop figures are sooooooo 1990s.

Yay a dancing game with characters I already know, my christmas wish has been granted as all I have ever needed in order to complete my existence is a dancing 3D Aisha. Oh if only I actually cared about such things, this game would have allowed me to happily die in sheer bliss. Seriously though as much as I liked Aisha as a character, games like these amount to little more than using a moe pump to siphon the money out of blind and or brainless consumers wallets.

I actually agree with you on this, since without a story, there’s not really a point at all.

You know quite well you would no longer agree with me if it was a sana dancing game.

（｀・ω・´）v

（｀・ω・´）.|.

Let’s Kaitou! Nusume-kei!? -Ano Ko no Heart no Nusumi-kata, Oshiemasu♪-

Company: SQUEEZ sweet
Game site: Let’s快盗！ヌすみ系!? -あの子のハートの盗み方、教えます♪-
Release date: December 10, 2010
Comments:
This is the debut game by SQUEEZ sweet. Tomoki comes from a family of second-rate thieves and is relatively normal aside from his skill in billiards. In order to become a first-class thief, he enrolls in the famous thief school Kaisei Higashioka Gakuen, otherwise known as Kaitou Gakuen. Surprisingly, he ends up in the same group as Ai, a descendent of the world-renowned thief Arsène Lupin, as well as her friends, revolver-toting Ooka and sword-wielding Koyomi. At Kaitou Gakuen, in addition to normal classes, there is a ‘hands-on stealing’ class and subsequent test, which is full of ecchi traps. Will he be able to help them steal the targeted treasures with his superior decision making? How will things end up when their rival group Cats Pad and various detectives and other mysterious thieves also get involved?

As expected from SQUEEZ (it’s the same staff as the parent company), this is a comedy-filled nukige where bigger (boobs) is better. There’s the standard H animations, as well as a thief test with a time limit, so you’d better think fast (or memorize the walkthrough)! This time there’s the obvious Lupin reference, down to Ai’s blue shirt, red jacket and yellow tie. With a wide range of targets, there’s someone for everybody. I wonder why only in their games do B77 girls have C cups. I hope Rino gets ample screentime. Onii-san is waiting~

I suppose there is something commendable about ripping off something new, instead of getting in line for your turn to beat the dead horse of something like the Arthur legends *cough*. Unfortunately much of the appeal to Lupin has been lost with this game, instead it is just an ecchi festival involving a Lupinesque plotline. Aside from the rather obvious flaws, I do like the idea of timed choices forcing you to think fast and had this been used in a game with a story worth reading this feature may have been a winner. Sadly I never found Lupin to be attractive enough that I would want a female version of him in a nukige, so I am afraid I will have to pass on this particular game, regardless of the heartwarming nostalgia Lupin always manages to invoke.

Did you find any male historical figures attractive enough to want a female version?

Well there was Koihime, but it is not like I read Three Kingdoms before playing that…

Hello, good-bye

Company: Lump of Sugar
Game site: Hello, good-bye
Release date: December 17, 2010
Comments:
Over 100 years ago, civil unrest caused Japan to be split into two separate governing factions. As damages increase on both sides due to military advances, a ceasefire treaty was signed in the special territory of Morino to end the internal strife. Now Japan exists as two entities: Japanese Federation and the United States of Japan.

Kaito Toves is a special agent from the the United States of Japan who transfers to Tenshudou Gakuen in Morino to collect intelligence. His true name is unknown as this name is merely a pseudonym. After reporting to the school, he takes a stroll in the memorial park and meets a girl who was standing in a field of flowers. She introduces herself as May and asks for his name with a carefree smile. Without thinking, he tells her the truth: “Kaito Toves… while I’m here”. With those words, his fate changed and his new life begins.

This is my game for this month after playing the demo. The start seemed a bit slow, but by the end, I wanted to know what happens next. I loooooooove the tagline for the game: “It would be a wonderful thing if love was the reason for this mistake”. The OP is really nice and I’ve looped it too many times to count. I wonder if the tarot cards have any meaning. Whenever there’s politics involved, things are bound to be serious (unless it’s that game). It may seem like a straightforward plot, but I feel that this has the capability to be something awesome. Then of course there’s the charas. Moekibara Fumitake returns after a 1-game break with another stunning work, this time in widescreen! Woohoo! Just look at all the cute girls! Especially Koharu! She calls him nii-san and says she’s been waiting for him to come all this time! Awwwwww! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

It is really nice to see a Lump of Sugar game that actually looks and feels like a Lump of Sugar game,  I’m looking at you Prism Rhythm. The setup does give off the impression of something unlikely to be worth reading, especially since there is absolutely no reason for an intelligence operative to be a student in a high school, a university would have made a lot more sense, I cannot imagine any possible logical explanation for this to take place in a high school. Overall I get the feeling the writers may have bitten off a bit more than they can chew with the plot for Hello Goodbye, along the lines of Itsuka Sora, where even after reading it there is a bitter taste to the story thanks to how much nonsense was needed to bring it all together.  However I am willing to suspend a bit of my disbelief in order to give the game and the imaginations of the Lump of Sugar writers a chance to create a memorable experience out of a story undoubtably based on the transient nature of the protagonists existence.

You’d probably hear more off the high school grapevine than at university. Honestly, nothing remains a secret during those days…

Yes, because who is dating who is pertinent to international espionage, of course it is a little known fact that the cold war was fought over who got a date with the best looking girl in High schools.

Love is serious business.

Axanael

Company: ニトロプラス (Nitro+)
Game site: アザナエル
Release date: December 17, 2010
Comments:
Deep in the depths below Akihabara, a version of Russian roulette called the Kagome Game is being played on New Year’s Eve 2010. Six people take turns shooting a gun called Axanael, which has the ability to grant wishes. However, there is one bullet loaded into the cartridge, so one should be prepared to risk their life.

Coming from Nitro+, there’s definitely no concern for storytelling, which happens from the perspectives of all 6 players. Just like with Sumaga, the mysterious feel makes it a refreshing change from the standard moe-ge that have clichéd plots. Personally, I don’t have a problem with either. However, there’s something different when there’s a yankee and a yandere gothloli among the heroines. And c’mon, there’s an Indian with an ‘I love Akihabara’ shirt. What’s not to love about that?

After a very long string of disappointments from Nitro+ I cannot feel too inclined to play yet another game with a bad setup from them no matter how interesting their characters or plot may be. Nitro+ writers often fail to properly deliver on the stories they come up with, leaving a feeling as though they use absurdity as a gimmick to draw in sales with unique ideas they then do nothing worthwhile with. I feel that the older, pre Sumaga works were generally of much higher quality and far more interesting than just about anything that has come from Nitro+ since. Even with the idea of Axanael initially appearing to be something creatively unique, there is little here that is entirely new, the characters are not anything special in either their visual design nor personalities. It almost feels as though the writers looked through various manga for characters that don’t show up in eroge all that often to use popular archetypes which remain relatively untouched by eroge. Russian roulette is an often used element in stories to factor in a sense of danger to a characters  fate and wishes are a common theme in eroge period. Frankly I feel as though Nitro+ is following a similar business philosophy to Circus lately by providing rapid production of inferior quality games by using quick gimmicks thrown together with a rushed story. Only real difference between the two is that Circus reuses the same setting and characters, and can thus maintain a certain level of quality, while Nitro+ is all over the place and the quality of their stories and writing suffers greatly.

Sangokuhime ~Ransei, Tenka Sanbun no Kei~

Company: げーせん18 (Gesen18)
Game site: 三極姫～乱世、天下三分の計～
Release date: December 17, 2010
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. There can only be one dragon (emperor), however heaven sent a 3-headed dragon to the world. Soon an uprising called the Yellow Turban Rebellion happened, marking the beginning of a battle for supremacy. This is known as the period of the Three Kingdoms. But, you should’ve all known that already, having played Koihime and watched Ikkitousen, right? While Koihime has this game totally beat on character design and graphics, what Gesen18 offers instead is a better system (well, anything is better than jankenpon…). However, it’s not too much different from other ‘historical’ game systems. What I’m more interested in is Akatoki! below…

I find it somewhat ironic that with the success of Koihime none of the copycats have been able to even replicate the formula let alone improve upon it despite many attempts by various companies. It seems not one of the companies looking to cash in on the success of Koihime has realized the characters are what made Koihime successful, and to improve upon it would be a simple task by giving better stories and routes for the characters as the gameplay was not a large part of Koihime. Instead however everyone ignores the characters and focuses on gameplay or staying truer to the actual story, if they wanted to improve gameplay they should just mimic the total war series. Sangokuhime sadly has a battle system that looks more like a hassle than something enjoyable, quite a bad thing for the focal point of a game, in my opinion Sangokuhime will fade away into the void of forgotten games along with all other Koihime spinoffs so far.

OP

Demo

Akatoki! -Yume Koso Masare Koi no Mahou-

Company: エスクード (Escu:de)
Game site: あかときっ！ -夢こそまされ恋の魔砲-
Release date: December 23, 2010
Comments:
“This world will now be ours!” With those words, various things called ‘kurayami’ appeared. It’s as if they came straight out from a fairy tale, since they were somewhat cute robots, dolls and miniature cars. The police and self-defence forces somehow were scared of these weird things and ran away. However, humans have not given up as there is one way of defeating the kurayami… with magic! In Akatoki, there is a magic academy that specializes in training students to become magic users. Mayuto isn’t that skilled in magic, but he gets dragged into it since his childhood friends Miyu and Yuuji all aim to be magic users.

Escu:de always make such entertaining games. Akatoki! is a turn-based magic battle ADV where the heroines lose their clothes as they take increasing damage. It’s kinda similar to Twinkle Crusaders. The trial was really fun and the battle system was interesting, with elemental attacks, ability to change formation, do chain attacks and other stuff, like.. say, waste turns just so the girls can lose more clo- I mean, so they can charge up for a special attack. Plot is comedic as usual with silly enemies that I don’t mind beating up on. Lily looks so cute… although she isn’t what she seems. There needs to be more girls with heterochromia >w< If you want a fun and ecchi comedic game, this is it.

Why are games like these considered fun? Honestly I simply do not understand how gameplay that rips off and simplifies existing RPG systems could be fun, not to mention the story has little to no thought behind it. Games that use silliness without purpose are one of the things that makes me lose faith in humanity when I think that people actually buy into this garbage. About the only appeal I can see in this game is for horny teenagers with bad taste to play a game that focuses on battle damage moe. For anyone that complains about the current state of moe being used as a business, take a good look at yourself and ask if you are part of the problem.

Hey, don’t look down on battle damage moe!

Oh, sorry sorry, you have to look UP at it, my mistake. I forgot if you were looking down you would have no panty shots, and you can’t have battle damage moe without blatant panty shots.

D.C. Dream X’mas

Company: CIRCUS
Game site: D.C.Dream X’mas～ダ・カーポ～ドリームクリスマス
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
DCDX is the latest Christmas fandisk for the D.C. series. The highlight are crossover stories where the characters from both D.C. and D.C.II appear together (in a wide array of santa outfits). In D.C. ~Christmas Mirai Koi Yume~, Junichi and his friends get caught in a sudden burst of light and end up 53 years in the future. Is this really what the future looks like? How will they return to their original time? In D.C. II ~Day Dream Believer~, Yoshiyuki is preparing the ‘sexy sushi party’ at this year’s Christmas party at Kazami Gakuen. He’s called by Sakura, but when he gets to her office, he finds a small iron door that he had never noticed before. Curosity got the better of him and he went through door, ending up in the school’s hallway during Christmas party preparations… half a century ago! He went back and got his friends to check it out too, but soon there’s trouble.

Woohoo! Another D.C. game! Yume! Nanaka! Nemu! Sakura! I can’t wait to see Kotori and Nanaka together, as well as Yume and Nemu… and Miharu and Minatsu! AHHHHHH!!!! As a D.C. fan, this is a dream come true~ They also ported over the RPG Gakuen system and made a Christmas-themed mini game DX Dungeon, as well as a 3D Otome communication application, Otome to Issho. Ok, gonna stop drooling now. Basically it’s a huge D.C. fandisk, so unless you follow the series religiously like me, you’d best carry on and leave all the delicious bishoujos to me. *drools*

The year just would not be complete without one last DC game for Circus to suck even more money out of their pathetically pitiful fans wallets. If this is not an insult to consumers, I have no idea what could be. Apparently adding a santa suit and paltry crossover between games is enough to justify an entirely new game for Circus. If they were going to put their girls in santa costumes for christmas, the least they could do is change the santa myth to girls that fly around giving eroge to the good perverts that didn’t sexually assault anyone in the previous year.

As surprising as it is that people keep buying these games, Circus is the only one that offers something like a continued relationship with their characters. That is unlike other games where once it ends there is nothing new about a character no matter how much you like them DC just keeps going and going. For those sad and lonely people who get sucked into games like Love Plus obsessing over non existent characters, Circus has learned how to cater to them perfectly. If you think about it Circus is the digital equivalent of a pimp, they just keep on whoring out their characters for money.

I’ve been a good kid this year! Where’s my free eroge???

*Cough* Santa changed his name to Hongfire probably…

Knight Carnival!

Company: Nomad
Game site: Knight Carnival!
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
After the death of the strong king Uther, the land of Avalonia was in disarray. The witch Morgan’s desires to conquer the whole country made reunification of the land seem impossible. However, there was a legend that whoever can pull out the legendary sword from the stone is the rightful king. This girl was Arthur, the child of Uther, also called the “destined king”. When she pulled out the sword, instead of a sword in her hand, a man stood before her. His name was Caledfwlch, the God of War, and he was sealed within the sword due to too much debauchery. Now that he is free, he lends his overwhelming powers to her cause, but in return he requires ‘energy’.

Too. Much. Debauchery. Arthur (♀) has now opened up Pandora’s eroge box. Well, neither the scenario writer (Ookuma Jinpachi) nor illustrators Asakura Sakura and SASAYUKi have worked on anything but nukige, so this comical ADV is at least slightly different for the Nomad staff. It’s pretty much the same as the delayed 12+ due to the Arthurian legend influence, and there’s shades of Zettai Maou too. I’m having a hard time deciding which one is better since they both look awful. But here you play as a sword. That has to at least count for something, right?

If you are going to butcher a story, at least read the original story before you abuse the names and terms. Other than the fact this is an unoriginal nukige there is little left to say, as the story hardly warrants much commentary. For my money though 12+ will probably have a better story but Knight Carnival has better art, which for a nukige is much more important than story anyway.

Tiny Dungeon ~Bless of Dragon~

Company: ロゼブル (Rosebleu)
Game site: Tiny Dungeon ~Bless of Dragon~
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
The school Trinity was founded for people to hone their skills and to promote cooperation between the demon, god and dragon races to prevent another war. Despised for coming from a race that once started a war in the past, he came to gain strength so he can protect others. He became close to three powerful girls: Vell of the demon world, Note of the god world and Uluru of the dragon world. One day, Uluru met a suspicious robed person and fought them off. A few days later, a girl from the demon world named Von transfers into Trinity. Uluru’s maid servant Opera has a sense of uneasiness from her and warns Uluru. No one realizes that Uluru will soon confront her own past.

Bless of Dragon is the successor to the 1st episode, Black and White. It’s basically the route that you get if you chose Uluru’s route at the 3 doors in Chapter 2. Rosebleu’s plan of splitting basically what is one story into 3+ games is a good marketing/financial tactic. However, considering that each game is still full price, the first game didn’t gain many positive reviews since it felt incomplete. Opera would agree with me wholeheartedly that Uluru is the best of the three, so even though I didn’t play the first game, I’m somewhat interested in this. C’mon, all together now! U-lu-ru! Ka-ju-ta!

Tiny Dungeon Black and White was the surprise of the year for me, I have no idea what compelled me to play it but by the end I was quite glad I did. Not the best artwork or story perhaps, but nevertheless the writing and character interaction was just so enjoyable I had a hard time putting the game down. In addition I felt the concept of making multiple games with a single route may not be such a bad idea, as the game itself was quite long, about as long as most normal games average, so if each route is completely different you wind up with a much longer and better game than you originally would have with multiple routes in one game. Most likely to justify single routes the game did include H scenes for everyone, even though the route did not follow their characters, so by the end it was something of a harem route with focus on the heroine and her worlds politics as the route. Sadly while Ururu was funny as a side character, she lacks the feeling of a heroine, at least to me so this game itself I probably will not find as enjoyable as Black and White, but I will play anyway because who doesn’t need a good time without much to think about every now and again.

Opera would like to have a word with you.

Opera would have made a better heroine than Ururururururu.

Noble☆Works

Company: ゆずソフト (YuzuSoft)
Game site: のーぶる☆わーくす
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
Takumi is a normal guy who barely gets by with part-time jobs. One day, he was asked to attend the prestigious private school Rokuroku Gakuen while impersonating a rich student that looks just like him. Although he was hesitant to accept this strange request, circumstances (mainly financial) compelled him to agree to do it. However, he knows nothing about the celeb world. Will he be able to keep his cover?

This game probably was inspired by The Prince and the Pauper, with Takumi substituting for Akari’s sick younger brother Shuri. I was waiting for YuzuSoft’s next title following Tenshin Ranman, but I don’t feel as excited about this as past titles. But the HD graphics by Kobuichi and Muririn are as pretty as usual. They also brought on Komowata Haruka (Suzukaze, Prister, Yumina) to draw the SDs. Chibi Hinata is so cute, especially in the OP! She’s probably also a source of comfort for Takumi since she’s more like a commoner than the rest of the girls. Shizuru looks great with her beret too. This whole high society thing isn’t really for me; I can only take so much classiness.

Ah a Classy Cranberries that may be worth reading. Plot sure is simple, but even though it is not exactly believable I think it is better than trying to be too elaborate and ending up with an absurdly silly story. I will have to agree with Micchi that it doesn’t feel as entertaining as past titles, but for a different reason, I get the feeling they missed the atmosphere of their setting completely. Most of the game looks rather like any normal game, the characters don’t give off that prestigious vibe instead providing examples of your standard heroines found in high schools everywhere. Not to say they should be stereotypical ojousama characters, but the characters don’t do a good job of matching the setting or plot, leading to an impression the various elements conflict rather than complement one another. Still, I think the game may be worth a shot, as without playing the real thing any speculation one way or another, is just that.

Marumeru ~Soushinsha wa @ Mirai~

Company: アーベルソフトウェア (Abel Software)
Game site: まるめる～ソウシンシャは＠未来～
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
When his parents moved because of work, Yuuichi ended up on a small island in the Pacific. It’s a relaxing place and the school only has around 10 students. One of his classmates is his cousin Nagisa, who he also lives with. However, this tranquil island is shrouded in mystery and there are many traditional rituals and folklore. Yuuichi is excited about such things and one day, he came upon a strange cell phone. But why is there a cell phone here when there is barely radio reception? He meets a girl in front of the sacred tree at the local shrine. She tells him that this cell phone allows him to write messages to his past self and that she wants him to solve the mysteries of this island.

The plot actually sounds kinda interesting, since it’s quite similar to Steins;Gate. You have to take hints from the future to rewrite the past. So basically you’ll have to replay the game with mail you send on previous playthroughs activating more routes, and finally the true end. Sounds similar to Concerto Note. Whether or not Abel Software’s writers can actually make it an entertaining read remains to be seen. The girl with the straw hat is so pretty >w<

I was rather interested in this story before the cell phone, after however a large part of my interest died. I really liked the focus on tradition and folklore but why do the Japanese feel the need to include cellphones in everything, even when they obviously don’t belong. I swear the writers must have a hard time with childish block puzzles, trying to stick the square into the triangular hole or something. I am probably just being picky but in a story about folklore, why does it have to be a cellphone, I could buy into it if there was a scroll, or some imouto blood written on a wall, but really… a cellphone? As Micchi already said the game will depend entirely on whether or not the writers can pull off the story, as such I figure it can’t hurt to remain warily optimistic.

Yotsuiro Passionato!

Company: SkyFish
Game site: よついろパッショナート！
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
Otone is a normal boy, but his family is anything but normal. The day before he was to transfer into Fujimi Gakuen, his older sister Otona said that she was tired of being a girl and switched bodies with him using the ‘mind change’ special ability. Meanwhile, Kanade wanted to join the band club since she loved the band’s performance during the town’s Christmas Festa when she was small. However, the band club has been closed and she sets out alone to find people to join the club. That’s when she bumped into Otone (♀) and gets him (her?) to join the band.

Another K-ON game, but with even more yuri. Having the ability to switch bodies is hax. Then again, it opens up possibilities like reverse onee-chan H. Well, Zen can have that, while I claim genki (unlimited power) kouhai Hazumin. She’s another banana-loving kouhai like Miharu!

Engage K on mode. Just when you think something like K on cannot possibly get any worse, some mad scientist of a writer comes along with the sole purpose of ruining your day by combing stupid moe with absurd moe. What we get is a Frankenstein moe game of horribly epic proportions. If you are one of those “people” who happen to find mindless moe entertaining, or attractive or whatever it is you do with that garbage then the fish in the sky have provided a game just for you.

Princess Strike!

Company: あてゅ・わぁくす (AtuWorks)
Game site: プリンセス☆ストライク！
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
After the passing of the King of Nippon, a lottery is held to decide who will be the next king. The one who was chosen was Ataru, who up until now hasn’t had any luck at all. That morning when his osananajimi Hiyoko came to wake him up, two girls dropped down through the ceiling. Milfy and Sera were princesses, and they both wanted to marry him! Since his house was broken, he gets to live in the royal palace with them. Hiyoko couldn’t stand leaving him and came to live with him as a maid. Who will he ultimately choose as his bride?

I’m quite fond of the cute loli style that AtuWorks uses. The plot however is pretty ridiculous. I wish they at least put some thought into names instead of using Ataru. And why is there a random catgirl!?

I hope you appreciate the pain I go through to make comments on games this bad. When the plot amounts to, hey you random person be king, live in this palace, choose your bride, the end. What could you possibly find enjoyable enough to read it forever lies beyond the grasp of my consciousness. All this game amounts to is choosing which H scenes you want to view without anything to drive them, so get your CG ripping tools ready and you can save time if you happen to be one of those who like this art, as I can’t imagine anyone playing this game for the story.

Ore no Tsure wa Hito de Nashi

Company: ホエール (WHALE)
Game site: 俺の彼女（ツレ）はヒトでなし
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
This is the first game by Minato Soft’s sister company, WHALE. Yuuma attends Hanafusa Gakuen in the town of Minamihata situated on the peninsula. As the autumn air is starting to get chillier, he continuously sees strange things appearing before him. Trying to escape them, he heads to the school roof and thought things would be fine here. That’s when he looks up and sees his osananajimi Chikae in the night sky… flying on a vacuum cleaner.

All the girls are non-human, from witches to vampires, werewolves to androids. And there’s ‘air’. Oretsure‘s theme is becoming lovers with these non-human girls, solving problems that arise due to their special relationship and overcoming the racial differences. The setup is pretty random (there is a talking horse!), but I think it will turn out well. Loli vampire Hinata is definitely omochikaeri material. Don’t worry, I won’t let you be lonely, Hina-chan!

Now if you would excuse me, I’m gonna go loop the OP.

Supernatural is fine, a pointless gimmick for a game is not, this game feels a lot like Yougaku though probably with better writing. My main problem with the game is that there does not appear to be any purpose behind the girls not being human other than as an attempt to draw sales to what otherwise would be buried among dozens of other probably more interesting standard school love comedies. Hopefully there will be ample comedy to make up for the lack of real story here, so if I have time I will probably give the game a shot to see if they can make a fun read out of an uninspired plot.

I will never understand the need to make an OP like this for an adult game.

Hatsukoi Sacrament

Company: パープルソフトウェア (Purple Software)
Game site: 初恋サクラメント
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
Yuuhi is entering Millenia Gakuen this spring. Since he wanted to live by himself, he found himself an apartment room. However, when he stepped into the church next door, he found a girl lying there. Her name was Hikari and and she doesn’t remember much except that her goal is to help people. She ends up living with him at the recommendation of the apartment manager Noa. He thinks that if they go about helping people, Hikari may regain her memories. So, together they start up the ‘Big Sky’ club to solve students’ problems.

Nakahiro of Hoshimemo fame is the scenario writer, which makes me automatically interested in this game. It also sports a relatively well-known seiyuu cast, including Momoi Ichigo, Natsuno Koori, Gogyou Nazuna, Toono Soyogi and Kazane. I can definitely see Hikari being the true and final end. The heroines don’t seem as captivating for me though…

Hatsukoi Sacrament has to be the most uninteresting Purplesoft game to date, usually they tempt me to play against my better judgment thanks to intriguing plots and settings with a lot of potential to be a good read (Only to let me down with bad writing), but this time they somehow came up with a game that even good writing can’t save. Nothing like taking advantage of a girl with amnesia to set the stage for a story about kindness. Of course there is also the arbitrary desire Hikari has to help people, I would not be surprised if she turns out to be an angel in some retardedly predictable plot twist considering the setting, names, and her instinct to go around being an annoying samaritan. Besides all the other problems I agree with Micchi about the bland cast lacking the charm necessary to compel someone into giving the game a second glance.

We need more people like Hikari to counterbalance people like Zen.

Hey it’s not like I go around trying to hurt people, the way I see it they bring it upon themselves by being idiots.

Kagura Gensoutan ~Ayakashi no Hime~

Company: でぼの巣製作所 (Debo no Su)
Game site: 神楽幻想譚～妖かしの姫～
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
In the Showa era, Seiichirou trains various young boys and girls within a facility hidden deep within the forest on how to defeat youkai. One day, the director Sakura-hime instructs him to choose candidates from among the mikos to become the ‘omamori-sama’. Two girls were chosen – which of them will be selected as the ‘omamori-sama’? What is this role actually? A continuation of the Kagura RPG series, this title has no direct link to the previous title, Kagura Dochuuki. The main addition is a summoning system where youkai allies will be your meatshields fight along with you. This is pretty much an old-style RPG with a voice protagonist, so if you like them (and lots of youkai+miko H), go ahead and grab this. That’s you, Hemi.

Effort, mikos, monsters, and H. Otherwise Micchi covered everything, I see no need to be redundant therefore… moving on.

Sekai Seifuku Kanojo

Company: Navel
Game site: 世界征服彼女
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
Yukito is waken up every morning by his cute osananajimi Yumeko. Normally one would feel blessed to be in such a situation, but she’s actually a mad scientist who wants to take over the world! She would even create a robot just for this purpose, scaring the heads of state around the world to surrender without a fight. All he wished for is to live a peaceful life until graduation. Then he saw her at a press conference on TV declaring that she will be taking over the world before the end of the year. In the commotion that follows, another girl named Ako transfers into the school to stop her. Will Yumeko be stopped by New Year’s Eve or will his dream of a peaceful life vanish forever?

It seems like a lot of games are going widescreen HD nowadays and Navel is the latest. However, Nishimata Aoi’s character designs will never change. I guess she’s moved on from sunflowers to tulips. My interest in Navel’s games have gone way down since Shuffle! and this is definitely not as well done as Oretsuba. Pass.

Bad artwork? Terrible plot? Lackluster heroines? It would be shorter to think of what went right with this game, since as far as I can see that list would completely blank. Navel really needs to fire this artist already, or at least send her back to art school till she learns enough that she can draw, if I had her address I would send her an anatomical model in the hopes she might get proportions and poses right at least. Moving on to a plot that makes as much sense as My Girlfriend is the President, Navel must have really thought hard about this story. Yes a completely random Japanese high school girl is going to take over the world within a year because… well she is a mad scientist of course that is what they do! Did they get this idea from a western children’s comic? Then we have heroines who look about as unique and interesting as an ordinary pebble on the sidewalk, in other words they look like every other group of heroines that inhabit the world of eroge. Overall my impression of this game leads me to think this is another soul link, terrible in every way possible.

Yuurei to Koi Shitai!

Company: flap
Game site: 幽霊と恋したい！
Release date: December 24, 2010
Comments:
Kouichi doesn’t believe in the supernatural, even if it appears before his very eyes. He has an osananajimi, Aoi, who treats him roughly all the time, but he doesn’t mind it. One day, his house burned down and he was forced to move. However, his new home is haunted by a ghost, Nana. Kouichi isn’t fazed at all and actually tells her to just sit and be quiet. One hour later, it’s Nana that ends up pleading for him to let her stay with him. Aoi hears about this and isn’t happy at all. What will happen to this strange 3-way relationship?

Just like flap’s previous games, this is pretty much a nukige. Art is forgettable and don’t really care for any of the chars.

Am I the only one who thinks that someone who doesn’t believe in ghosts should be a little more annoyed to find someone else living in their house? I mean if you think about it wouldn’t it be more weird for him to just accept her there if she is not a ghost. Besides that we have the staple tsundere who is also a childhood friend to help keep enough traits in the game despite there only being two heroines. Too bad the art is not up to par with Links, despite the horrible story and writing that game had some good art and music. Ah well one less game for me to play this month is hardly a bad thing at this point.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni Chiru Episode8: Twilight of the golden witch

Company: 07th Expansion (Doujin)
Game site: うみねこのなく頃に散 Episode8 Twilight of the golden witch
Release date: December 31, 2010 (Comiket 79)
Comments:
The eighth and final episode of the Ryukishi07’s captivating all-ages Umineko no Naku Koro ni sound novel series. Will all the mysteries finally be solved and disaster averted? Which will it be: anti-fantasy or anti-mystery? Episodes 5-7 are included with this game. It’s been a long time and I’ve actually lost interest over time since more and more characters get added. Ok fine, I just want more Siesta screentime. I wonder what the next When They Cry series will be (if there is one).

I refuse to dignify this garbage with commentary.

Though about Micchis comment I bet the next one will be “Baka no Naku Koro ni” and it will be about the brain dead fandom the previous two series have spawned.

Ougon Musoukyoku

Company: 07th Expansion (Doujin)
Game site: 黄金夢想曲
Release date: December 31, 2010 (Comiket 79)
Comments:
Ougon Musoukyoku is a 2d tag-team fighting game based on Umineko. This makes perfect sense considering the epic battles in the game. It looks very fun, especially with the improved graphics. There’s a wide variety of stages and characters, each with their special abilities and moves. It seems there’ll be two secret characters as well (Bern+Lambda?) I’ve got to play this! Ange+Siesta410 all the way! >w<

I refuse to dignify this garbage with commentary.

Well, the story isn’t the main thing here since it’s a fighting game. Can’t you at least comment about the system?

For this game? No thanks, I refuse. I will never comment on anything by this asshole. It would end up as nothing more than a rant about how bad a writer he is and how much I hate the simpletons who actually like this crap.

But this is a fighting game…!!!

There are plenty of fighting games not based on the terrible stories written by a literary failure.

OP

Gameplay

Snow Drop ~first step in spring~

Company: R-SEVEN (Doujin)
Game site: SNOW DROP ~first step in spring~
Release date: December 31, 2010 (Comiket 79)
Comments:
This is the debut game by doujin circle R-SEVEN. Akito had always lived with his two sisters – lively and optimistic oneechan Sakura, and shy and pessimistic imouto Himawari. He thought that it would continue to be like this forever, but then one day Sakura was killed in a traffic accident. As the months passed by, he grew depressed and couldn’t move past her death, and his relationship with Himawari became distant.

One day, he found a girl lying on the ground on a sakura petal-strewn hill. She couldn’t remember anything but her name: Yuki. He couldn’t just leave her there, so he took her home with him. Then a few days later, Sakura appeared before him, just like nothing had changed.

I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time since the artwork is so pretty for a 1000 yen doujin game. The plot also sounds quite promising and there’s even a pretty nice OP. There’s also a Pannya clone in Puunya! And Akito, why are you taking home another girl when you already have such a cute imouto in Himawari!? She is so adorable! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Just like Micchi I too have been looking forward to this game with great anticipation, as the quality of this game is far better than many commercial games these days. The plot has me curious about what is going on with this story, giving me just enough information to be a tease, but not enough to truly decide if it is good or bad. The characters make me want to find out more about their lives, their history and their stories. Not to mention how the artwork puts many professional artists to shame (Navel and that Aoi artist for example). While I may not agree with Micchi when it comes to the imouto and I remain wary about the personality of the older sister, the game itself interests me more than enough to overcome my reservations. This is one of those games I definitely will be playing.

On a side note, Snow Drop makes me think of dropping Yuki off a building.

PS. Ribbon.

Her ribbon isn’t big enough to be a giant takecopter.

Maybe that ribbon is why she is alive after falling from the sky, it acted like a parachute.

Tooi Tooi, Yakusoku

Company: Circle Eilis (Doujin)
Game site: 遠い遠い、約束
Release date: December 31, 2010 (Comiket 79)
Comments:
This is the first project for Circle Eilis. It’s been 2 months since Gen’s close friend Kotone passed away from sickness. All that’s left from her is a letter asking him to go treasure hunting together. Along with it was an old map. Since it is his final promise with her, he sets out on this journey to find something precious. Probably a short dramatic game focusing on him, as well as other characters overcoming the deaths of their loved ones. The artwork is pretty and the website layout reminds me of Koichoco with the scrapbook feel.

Drama laden. Unless Kotone was secretly a pirate suffering from a bad case of scurvy I cannot see much here to enjoy unless you really like emotional drama stories, which incidentally I do not. Story wise though the game looks like it may be fairly well written and the art is surprisingly well done, the only real issue I find difficult to deal with is the game feels similar to EF in that there will be drama forced into the story for the sake of well… drama.

Kon Kon

Company: Festival (Doujin)
Game site: 魂々
Release date: December 31, 2010 (Comiket 79)
Comments:
This all-ages title about the supernatural. On the last summer day of middle school, Masaki is walking home and notices a transfer student and chases after her. She tells him that there is a god at the shrine next to them who can grant wishes. Since he doesn’t believe in spiritual beings, he’s more interested in her than this god. However, he feels like he’s being surrounded by smoke and leaves the area. The next morning when he wakes up, he hears a voice behind him: “If you don’t follow what I say, you will die”.

It’s hard to judge how this will turn out since Festival has only one previous title to their name, ABYSS -Satsujin Club-. One of the scenario writers, Nanami Masaki, worked on Lose’s Gothic Delusion, which was more known for lolis and battles than the story. It’s a short game with only 2 main heroines, so why not give it a shot?

The setup for this story feels a bit forcible with the whole “OBEY ME OR DIE PITIFUL SLAVE!” bit. I guess there is some possible merit to the game but with such a random design and dealing with middle school brats makes me lose a lot of interest.

Micchi’s Top 9 for This Month

1. Koiiro Sora Moyou FD Hello, good-bye
2. Akatoki! -Yume Koso Masare Koi no Mahou-
3. D.C. Dream X’mas
4. Snow Drop ~first step in spring~
5. Ore no Tsure wa Hito de Nashi
6. Tiny Dungeon ~Bless of Dragon~
7. Ougon Musoukyoku
8. Tooi Tooi, Yakusoku
9. Marumeru ~Soushinsha wa @ Mirai~

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Snow Drop ~first step in spring~
2. Hello, good-bye
3. Marumeru ~Soushinsha wa @ Mirai~

Now for an omake: OP for all-ages PSP game Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, coming out on December 16th!

That wraps things up for this year. Time for me to go back to playing…

If only you finished writing before you went back to playing last week you naked flying loli watching pervert… Besides is there even a point to your top picks when you add half the list?

… Oh, did you say something? I was a bit distracted.

That image speaks for itself.