May 2012 Eroge Releases

There aren’t too many games this month, but there’s two that definitely warrant attention. Both minori’s Supipara and PULLTOP’s Kono Oozora ni, Tsubasa o Hirogete feel like more than just a game – it’s almost like watching a movie. For those that another form of interactiveness, Yatagarasu’s Furuiro Meikyuu Rondo is a mystery game where there are no save slots, so make sure you make your choices wisely! No month is complete with an imouto-ge and this month it’s Parasol’s Koiimo SWEET☆DAYS. But they’re mine, so hands off.

With the release of TERA online I am thankful for a slow month full of games that would be more of a punishment game to play. For people who like the childhood friend thing this is a month based on showering you with eroge, with slim pickings for the rest.

Supipara – Alice the magical conductor. Story #01 – Spring Has Come!

Company: minori
Game site: すぴぱら – Alice the magical conductor. STORY ＃01 – Spring Has Come！
Release date: May 18, 2012
Comments:
This is minori’s 5th title about ‘Wonder’, in which they aim to create a dynamic tale with characters that come to life. This all-ages interactive novel is the first of many planned stories in this series. It’s springtime with the sakura in full bloom. Yukinari returned to his hometown of Kamakura and was welcomed by his older relative Sakura (in a maid outfit). He had wished for a peaceful life, but it’s always lively being surrounded by the sharp-tongued half-blooded Hotaru and the lazy anime-loving witch Alice at the coastal school. Due to some persuasion by his friend, he ended up on the committee for the school beauty contest. With all the contestants (heroines) having their own peculiarities, there’s plenty of enjoyable events (and troubles).

Did you know Supipara stands for ‘Smile, Peace, Passion, Love’? Well, now you do. The OP is beautiful as always, but this one felt more like a show-off of their animation skills than telling the story itself, aside from the intro and the overall whimsical and happy mood. minori tries to create characters that aren’t just confined to being a character from a game, but also gave them Twitter accounts so they can interact with players outside of the game. Inside the game, the interface makes the heroines quite dynamic, changing their distances to you and even walking together. However, this also means that your computer needs to have the right specs to run the game. From the small trial, I’m quite interested in knowing who Yukinari actually is and what’s his relation to the witch Alice. There’s a lot of fairy tale references, including The Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Snow White. I’m quite curious as to how this game will turn out since it’s a lot more open than their past games which have focused on telling a story like a movie.

While the idea for this game is fine, the creators did not put enough effort into supporting their bland and overused style of premise to actually bring such standard archetypes to life. Without themes being more subtle the story will never be able to carry the characters in a way that could cause enough connection that they would last in memories for years to come. As such an ongoing style of games evens out to little more than a gimmick. On the actual story there is nothing here we have not seen before so if you are looking for anything other than another charage with some weak allusions unskillfully woven in to provide something to read about this is likely not a game for you.

FUTSUNO FANTASY

Company: EX-ONE
Game site: FUTSUNO FANTASY
Release date: May 25, 2012 Delayed to June 29, 2012
Comments:
“The maou who brought darkness and chaos to the world will be defeated by the hero who is chosen by the goddess.” That’s what the legendary grimoire Libra told the maou Jade. Not wanting to meet his demise so soon, he sought out the chosen hero, Hisui, and her party and joined them under a false name, Jay. But with Libra’s omens always being correct, is it possible for him to change his fate?

This is just an ordinary story about a typical hero defeating a standard maou and achieving a normal happy end. That’s why it’s called Futsuno Fantasy. Of course, even with a standard story (more because it’s a parody of your typical RPGs – any similarities to other RPGs abbreviated as ‘FF’ are unintentional), this game could turn out well. However, they really need to work on their body proportions. I do like the 8 bit sprites and the system though.

I admittedly chuckled at the Final Fantasy parody in the title, though the game itself amounts to little more than an eroge version of the Manga Superior with reversed gender roles. What will make or break this game is the parody humor, we know the story itself will not be anything spectacular and I am sure everyone reading this already has at least a rough idea of how the game will play out. So whether or not the game can entertain us along the way to our preordained destination is the real question. This also provides a problem for this commentary as there is no good way to get a solid read on the meat of the game without playing the actual game, trials only give so much and are often misleading in terms of quality. On this game my stance will remain cautiously optimistic, hoping for the best but prepared for a train wreck.

Fortuna Rhapsody

Company: Symphony
Game site: Fortuna Rhapsody
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. In the town of Hazama-chou, legends about a goddess have been passed down through generations and there was a shrine dedicated to her. Returning home one night, Kouhei saw a winged girl descend from the sky at the seaside. It was late and she seemed to have taken a liking to him, so he brought her to his osananajimi Kiyo’s house. Later he found out that the girl Fey had lost her memories and he ended up taking care of her. Even though she didn’t appear to be from this world, she was readily accepted by everyone and joined him at his school.

Remember what happened with the previous game by Symphony? Yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up coming out next year. A long wait for your dokidoki mafumafu goddess loving.

Nothing like a walking, talking, winged H scene falling in your lap to start off a story. Of course just to make it a little less random there has to be the inclusion of a legend to lend credibility to something few could suspend disbelief for. Next turn her into a baby bird that imprints onto our strangely lucky protagonist so he ends up stuck with her to get things moving without putting in any sort of creative effort. Copy the standard plots and scenes that have been successful in previous eroge and let the artwork do the rest. Here we have something that might as well be written by a high school drop out taking eroge 101. While there may be nothing horribly wrong with the game there is absolutely nothing here worth the investment of time and money unless you absolutely must have wings or the word goddess to even consider playing a game.

Kono Oozora ni, Tsubasa o Hirogete

Company: PULLTOP
Game site: この大空に、翼をひろげて
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
Aoi returned to his hometown of Kazegaura where a gentle breeze blows through the streets, having lost his direction in life. On the hill lined with windmills, he met a wheelchair-ridden girl Kotori and watched the gliders overhead in awe. With his osananajimi Ageha in tow, they resurrect the soaring club in order to fulfill a childhood dream: to fly on a paper airplane.

I love childhood dreams. They’re so simple, yet sometimes seemingly impossible to achieve. The crisp character designs and captivating backgrounds help compound this notion. I have no worries about the story with Konno Asuta (Natsu no Ame) and Nanau Misou (Sukima) in charge. Ageha and her imouto Hotaru, as well as the twins, Asa and Yoru, are really cute. Some people may be playing for the twins, but I want more Hotaru.

A premise as flimsy as a paper airplane yet I can’t quite dismiss it completely based on that alone. Most eroge seem to lack either a creative or  balanced foundation that leads to much of the story crumbling down around itself towards the end which often prevents a satisfying conclusion from being reached. In this case while I cannot say the story is completely uncreative thanks to their established goal, the basic concept of necroing a club as a lazy excuse to bring characters together reflects poorly upon the potential for the rest of the game. Removing the club aspect and turning it into something more personal that leads to various meetings as a result, perhaps with variance according to character backgrounds and routes would have given the plot more merit and the characters more depth. It seems the writing will have to overcome these hurdles to make the game enjoyable beyond character moe buttons, a tall task indeed yet one I have some hope this game may not go the way of Icarus and manage reach a more positive conclusion.

Shiawase Kazoku-bu

Company: パープルソフトウェア (Purple Software)
Game site: しあわせ家族部
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. Kazuki transferred to Amanogawa Gakuen in the middle of the school year. His childhood friend Honoha invited him to the unofficial ‘family club’ where the members pretend to be a family. In addition to the club leader Ougi and imouto-like kouhai Runa, they are soon joined by the robot Misora, the student council leader Mikage, his effeminate classmate Yuuki and energetic kouhai Suzu. For Kazuki, who had lost his family at a young age, he did not understand at first the meaning of family nor the purpose of the club, but he felt at ease with such kind people at his side. Gradually after spending more and more time with them, they become precious to him, just like ‘family’.

It’s no secret that I like heartwarming family-related stories and this one is no different. The scenario is written by tiro and Wakase Ryou (Suzu7, Natsunagi, Akizora, Kisaragi) and while neither the characters nor story are deep, I thoroughly enjoyed the trial. It was mostly a mix of comedy and heartwarming moments. There’s some hints of Ougi and Mikage’s past, as well as Runa reminding Kazuki of his imouto. The constant changing of family roles was pretty funny, although some jokes were reused one too many times. But with all his kouhais calling him oniichan or some variation thereof, how can you not like that!? Especially Runa with her Sana-level delusions! Hau~ omochikaeri~!

Ran out of ideas for clubs? Not a problem! Lets just make up some random heartwarming illusion based around a club then make a game about it, those geniuses who play it will never realize the difference! Come on now lets face it, what kid in high school is going to want to be a part of let alone create a family club. I will let Boku wa Tomodachi slide since its just friends, this ripoff of the idea however is not heartwarming, touching.. well unless its old priest on young child, nor is it romantic in any way shape or form. For a Purple game this is quite lackluster, without the emphasis on unique setting their lack of scenario will doubtless leave this game forgotten.

Ibuki no Kiseki ~Kohaku no Omoide no Naka de Seirei ha Yume o Miru~

Company: ミルククラウン (Milkcrown)
Game site: イブキノキセキ ～琥珀の思い出の中で精霊は夢を見る～
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
Hiroki met a mysterious girl named Ibuki by the large tree on a hill behind the school. She had saved him when he was about to fall from a branch. They became close friends and soon had feelings for each other. One day, his family was forced to move due to a large-scale urban redevelopment plan. After settling down in his new home, he attempted to find Ibuki, but was unsuccessful.

Many years passed by and he had forgotten about the events from his childhood. Having returned back to his hometown, he accompanied his osananajimis Ichino and Mikan on a visit to places from his childhood. The large tree was no longer on the site of his old school which was now demolished. He wondered if it was chopped down. The next day, the tree stood once again on the hill. Sitting on a branch waiting for him was Ibuki.

Ibuki is obviously a tree spirit (that’s over 1000 years old), but for some reason all spirits in eroge look like children. While the story sounds relatively innocent, all I’m seeing on the OHP is HCGs, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt of being more than a mere loli spirit nukige. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Rather than force Ibuki to be loli would be more interesting if she reflected his age. However I suppose it would be hard to pitch such a game to your average pedo Pete. Without much to drive the story beyond some simple background I doubt there is much here worth reading unless all you are after are the loli HCG, in which case I suppose the lack of reading is not much of a problem.

Kessen! Otome-tachi no Senjou 3

Company: unicorn-a / げーせん18 (Gesen18)
Game site: 決戦！乙女たちの戦場3 ～電撃作戦！戦果はエースの名のもとに～
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. After the end of the second World War, a scientific experiment by the leading post-war nation went terribly wrong, annihilating most of the country. With the world balance suddenly in tatters, countries once again began to fight each other for supremacy. Out of this new war emerged three nations: the Republic of Japan, the Howell Kingdom and the Schwarzwald Empire.

Then followed a Cold War when each nation assembled new troops and conducted weaponry research in preparation for an impending battle. The Inter Operation System (IOS) was one such new secret technology founded by the Republic of Japan, by which soldiers are able to control military units without any prior knowledge. Operation is as simple as moving one’s own limbs. This new technology drastically reduced the time required for training new soldiers who would be able to battle in the air, on the seas and on land. The only limitation is that only those who are suitable for the IOS can use it. Yuuichi is a cook for the Japanese Fourth Army with no prior battle experience. However, one day he was found to be suitable for the IOS and assigned to the frontlines.

The third installation of the Otosen SLG series, for military and bishoujo lovers, featuring 25 generals and new skills along with a revamped map system. When the heroines take damage in a battle, there’ll be an ecchi cut-in scene with shredded clothes. The game consists of three parts: adventure, intermission and simulation. There’s over 400 types of military units and 100 maps.

Well, I’m not really interested in yet-another-WWII-based-game, especially one where the story is pretty much the same except with names replaced. The problem I find with games with so many heroines is that the character development is pretty much nil as there’s just not enough time/space to take care of everyone. It also means you get only one H scene per heroine… two if you’re lucky. And 3D really doesn’t fit in; it looks so jarring.

A travesty based on a protagonist straight out of Nadesico and a post WW2 theory that conveniently ignores the military, economic, and social situation of the world even were the US to be instantly gone. Well we all know how bitter Japan is over that and how much they love to postulate different endings. Even forgiving that the premise of their IOS system is something so shamefully stupid the only way I can envision this to have arisen is through the creators getting drunk enough to allow their fresh sushi to climb over their keyboards in a haphazard manner and adopted the ensuing rubbish as a means to legitimize pointlessly incorporating little girls into a wartime scenario. I hope they all lose the war and die.

Furuiro Meikyuu Rondo ~HISTOIRE DE DESTIN~

Company: Yatagarasu
Game site: 古色迷宮輪舞曲 ～HISTOIRE DE DESTIN～
Release date: May 25, 2012 Delayed to July 27, 2012
Comments:
Yukito worked part-time at a tea house called the Fairy Tale Forest at the corner of a quiet residential street. Fairy tales and picture books, along with music boxes lined the antique interior with the sweet aroma of black tea in the air. One day, a giant wooden box was delivered to the store. Inside were a lot of bunny dolls… and a mysterious silver-haired red-eyed girl. The girl Saki told him that the wheel of fate was out of whack and that he will die after one week and that he will bring misfortune to anyone near him. While he did not believe her at first, accidents happened around him just like she had warned. Will he be able to fix the wheel of fate before the week is up?

This is a mystery ADV where you have to avoid the bad end. To make it difficult, there are no save options and the game autosaves. There are no choices to be made, but rather you have to use keywords that you collect over the course of the game to initiate conversations. Characters affected by the wheel of fate have a fate parameter may be lowered depending on your keyword usage. They die when their fate parameter reaches zero, which I guess you want to avoid. You’ll probably have to go through a few bad ends in order to solve the mystery, à la Higurashi. Of course you could use a walkthrough, but why not take the challenge and solving it yourself?

I must say I do like the idea of being able to kill off characters you don’t like, one can only hope that it won’t negatively affect the routes of the characters you do like however. On the other hand it will be exceedingly difficult to pull off a story like this successfully, the complexities involved in a story involving fate and changing it are not something easy to account for. Given the method of change which is reasonably the use of words for a simple game I think part of the appeal is lost when it becomes about collecting and using said words. Though more difficult from the creators perspective, giving the reader the chance to select words from conversations completely on their own to dictate the path of the game would involve the reader in the mystery more. Allowing for failure with such a system would give you knowledge of what happened and a second more obvious way to change things, leaving the story to be told in a less superficial manner that still involves the same plot elements. As is though it is my opinion that the game is structured in too linear a fashion to take proper advantage of its own system, relegating something that could have been interesting to a potentially annoying gimmick that attempts to make a story interesting beyond its own merits.

While that idea is quite interesting, I’d assume it would be a lot harder to design and implement. Baby steps. 

Even babies need something to strive for, the most successful companies are willing to discard the training wheels and jump at opportunity rather than fade into the mists of obscurity.

Sakura No Reply

Company: onomatope*
Game site: 桜ノーリプライ
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from April. When Ichigo was small, he lived with his grandmother on a small island surrounded by the ocean and mountains. Due to his parent’s work, he moved away, leaving behind his sickly imouto Minto and close friends. He did not have any plans for his future, but then he was chosen to be part of a student exchange with their sister school. So he returned to the island and reunited with his now grown-up imouto and childhood friends. On this small island where the sakura do not bloom, will the hope and love in their hearts blossom?

Is this D.C.II? The setting is similar, Ichigo has the same powers as Yoshiyuki (ability to make sweets appear in his hand) and Minto and Mikuri are voiced by Kinomi Hijiri (Yume) and Hinaki Ai (Otome). Ichigo even tells Minto a story about an island where the sakura blooms all year round and grants people’s wishes. I’m not sure if it’s due to all the similarities that I’m really interested in this title or not, but the trial was entertaining and it should be a good chara-ge. I love all the charas, especially Minto and Chiyoko! Chiyoko reminds me of Sukima‘s Chiyoko (she’s even called Choko!) or Achikoi‘s Yuuyu, with her energetic personality and laugh-inducing antics. Really love the OP and Hatori Piyoko and Pan’s art. Definitely gonna play this (after the actual D.C.III)!

DCII a few years and dozens of games late I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually better than the trite garbage Circus comes up with, after all they have plenty of material to work with. Not much else to say, it seems Circus passed the DCII ball on to someone else to milk for awhile as they have finally moved on to DCIII.

Yojouhan Princess

Company: ぱらいそ (Paraiso)
Game site: 四畳半プリンセス
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
This is the first title by Paraiso. The small European country of Hoegaarden is abundant in resources and rich in history and culture. It has great influence on international affairs despite its size. A poor student Hibiki watches the news about the princess Pecheresse coming on a visit to Japan in place of her sick father. When he was a child, his family was quite prosperous and he had played with her while accompanying his father on a visit to Hoegaarden. It was a very precious memory to him, even if she had forgotten about him. Then when he was about to leave for his part-time job, standing there was the princess. “It’s been a long time, Hibiki. I’ve come to fulfill our promise.”

Damnit, why didn’t I make promises with someone when I was a kid? Regrets aside, how can you even fit six people (Hibiki, tennen princess Pecheresse, teasing maid Vedett, tsundere knight Stella, self-proclaimed rival princess Premiere, unskilled assassin Duvel) in a 4.5 tatami mat room? Even Papakiki wasn’t that tight. Belgian beer names may sound exotic to the Japanese, but to us, it sounds like… Belgian beer. But having so many cute girls in your room, I’d drink to that.

Typical princess heroine game. I do wish they would put more effort into how the characters meet and interact in these games, it is all well and good to come up with such plots if that is what people want to read however the same old childhood promises, arranged marriages, and forcible settings just kill off what should be one of the most interesting points to such games. Instead we get a never ending cycle of reuse involving the same plot points, same character designs, and even the same obstacles and resolutions to said obstacles. In the end while such games can be fun at times I grow bored after the very early part of the game or at most end of the common route when the comedy starts being left out in favor of drama and plot resolution.

Kamigakari Cross Heart!

Company: ういんどみる (Windmill)
Game site: 神がかりクロスハート！
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
It’s been ten years since Shougo had seen his osananajimi Anzu in the rural town of Amamisaki. Her body has rounded out nicely, with her chest being quite large. But why was she naked in the ofuro with him!? “See, your wish has come true, hasn’t it?” It was a mysterious puppy by her side that said that. The puppy was a shinshi (divine messenger) that can bestow divine power on the someone so that their wish can be fulfilled. Shougo was quite confused, but before he could figure it all out, his classmate Koneko and cousin Hijiri also have their own shinshi.

The concept of Windmill’s 10th anniversary project is a return to their origin: moe and ecchi, with lucky sukebe service scenes and icharabu H scenes. They’ve definitely hit both marks with this title. The plot is…. well, it’s not what you’re playing Kamikuro for. It’s obvious when the shinshi have the ability to transform the girls into a ‘mahou shoujo’ complete with kemonomimi, but without any additional powers. That’s pretty much a sign of catering to kemonomimi lovers. Wanko Anzu and Hijiri who always teases Shougo are fun to have around, but it’s Koneko-chan who’s the most adorable – I wanna take her home!

This really is the month for childhood friends, almost every game has the childhood friend element included with the typical moving away story. This game however lacks the story to make the heroines interesting enough to drive this game along on anything more than H scenes. I suppose that if the typical accidental bath scenes and such entertain you, and all you want the game for is H scenes with cute looking dolls then you have a real winner here.

You’re right… I didn’t even notice it was the sixth game this month with that set-up. Although it’s usually not the central element.

Sora to Kumo to Kimi no Koi

Company: クライン (KLEIN)
Game site: 青空（そら）と雲と彼女（きみ）の恋
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from March. A few days into the new school year, Takayuki gazed at the clouds in the sky from his favourite spot on the roof and drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, he noticed a boy about to confess to a girl. Unable to leave, he ended up watching as the boy was quickly turned down by the girls, who he recognized as the new transfer student known as the ‘one with the steel skirt’ since no one has been able to win her love. However, she turned to him and kissed him to his utmost surprise.

A seemingly normal school love story, coming from KLEIN. And of course there’s the requisite imouto in Kurumi to tempt me. However, I don’t have high hopes for this. It’s KLEIN after all.

One day a random and unremarkable boy happened to be at some random location and by sheer chance ends up being confessed/kissed/raped by the most sought after girl in his tiny little school. Of course these actions lead to jealousy in the one or two girls who secretly had feelings for our unremarkable protagonist and acts as a catalyst to bring in more random females attracted to his protagonist pheromones. Either that or he is the only person in the world to get a bottle of Axe that works as advertised.

I think eroge protagonists are on to something….

Whatever they are on, I want some.

Koiimo SWEET☆DAYS

Company: Parasol
Game site: 恋妹（こいいも）SWEET☆DAYS
Release date: May 25, 2012
Comments:
Yamato looks like a typical guy, but being surrounded by one oneechan and two imoutos, he greatly loves his sisters a lot. One day, his older sister Azusa informed that he will be transferring to a girl’s boarding school as part of a test case for coeducation initiative. He also has to help the school board chairman’s daughter Yurika with various duties. Reluctantly he heads to school and waiting there was his imoutos Aoi and Akane who lived apart from him, as well as his osananajimi Ena who’s like family to him. His imoutos shower him with pent-up love, having not seen their oniichan for so long.

IMOUTOS ARE THE BEST!!! SISCON+BRACON STORIES ARE THE BEST!!! All four heroines are just my type. Very happy that they aren’t following the Clochette trend and all heroines are 77 or under. My fav is Aoi, but Ena is fine too (I’d like an oneechan like that!). Thank you Azusa for fulfilling an oniichan’s wish! It doesn’t matter if the story is good or not if I like the art this much. That’s the sign of a true chara-ge/moe-ge, no? Or maybe imouto-ge…

Sigh, Micchi, Micchi, Mucchi, what am I to do with you? Too much of the same thing here for my tastes regardless of the abundance of little sisters. However unlike a certain blogger, I don’t care what size their chest is as I am not looking for children in my eroge.

You’re referring to Aedes, right?

Aedes is too macho to like little girls!

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Supipara Alice the magical conductor. Story #01 – Spring Has Come!
2. Shiawase Kazoku-bu
3. Kono Oozora ni, Tsubasa o Hirogete

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Kono Oozora ni, Tsubasa o Hirogete
2. Osananajimi
3. FUTSUNO FANTASY

Done! Back to D.C.III!

Done! Back to TERA!