December 2012 Eroge Releases

Let’s end the year with a bang… or rather a boing for minori’s Natsuzora no Perseus, which definitely caters to those who like the far right end of the spectrum but also showcases a wonderful imouto in Ren. The all-ages Ima Sugu Oniichan ni Imouto da tte Iitai! by sprite features younger versions of Koichoco‘s Chisato and Satsuki. Those looking for comedy should try out PULLTOP Latte’s Kanojo to Ore to Koibito to. and Whirlpool’s JustyxNasty. I can’t wait to open my Christmas presents!

An annoyingly long month with way too many releases for my own good, praise be to whatever god caused delays. Not a bad month though there are some games with promise for once after some very disappointing months, whether they will live up to it or not only time will tell however. Even with the seeming variety this month there is still that feeling where each game is just a recolor of a dozen games before aside from a select few releases. This isn’t always a bad thing if they are well written but too many are little more than a broken ero record. Just once a year I would appreciate a Christmas present that wasn’t a reused hand me down being tossed around like the single unwanted fruitcake making its rounds every year.

Sengokuhime 4 ~Souha Hyakkei, Hana Mamoru Chikai~

Company: unicorn-a / げーせん18 (unicorn-a / Gesen18)
Game site: 戦極姫4 ～争覇百計、花守る誓い～
Release date: December 7, 2012
Comments:
The latest chapter of the Sengokuhime SLG series takes place after the death of Oda Nobunaga and features 65 female generals and 35 male generals, based both on famous and minor historical figures. New features including naval battles, new battle and domestic affairs skills, a training system and an easy mode for beginners. I didn’t play the first 3 and don’t plan to start now.

Make an SLG with gameplay worth the time and a story that manages to be better than nukige and I’ll consider it, till then pass.

Cross Quartz

Company: FLATZ
Game site: Cross Quartz
Release date: December 14, 2012
Comments:
This side-scrolling action game is the first title by FLAT’s sister brand, FLATZ. Miyu was cursed with having the people that she likes die. She had been careful with not having any guy get close to her, but one day she felt her heart beat fast for her best friend Riko. In despair that she may get Riko killed, she intended to hang herself. That’s when a magical cat named Yuu appeared. It revealed to her that she wasn’t actually cursed and that she was able to sense people who have their souls stolen by evil spirits. Miyu decides to become a magic girl and capture the Castle of Blandulg in order to retrieve Riko’s soul.

The story really doesn’t matter (it’s obvious what it parodies), since it’s mainly an action game. A doujin-level low-price action game. It’s not bad per se, but it’s the same rehash of puzzles and enemies. It serves as a good time-waster, but not much else.

See above, edit where necessary, paste and there ya go.

Ima Sugu Onii-chan ni Imouto da tte Iitai!

Company: fairys
Game site: いますぐお兄ちゃんに妹だっていいたい！
Release date: December 14, 2012
Comments:
This is the all-ages first game by fairys, the sister company of sprite. It takes place before Koichoco. Rikuto had a new younger brother Ayumu after his father’s remarriage. However, little did he know that Ayumu was actually his imouto and it was under her mother’s orders that she pretend to be a boy to him. Every day, his heart beats a little faster around his overly cute ‘otouto’ (imouto), while her heart aches in having to hide her true identity from her kind brother.

With the arrival of spring, Rikuto and Ayumu begin attending the popular private school Asaoka Gakuen, with Ayumu dressed up as a girl. As he became friends with his classmates, he noticed that they all had something missing. His friend from middle school, Matsuri, has lost sight of what it meant to be a girl. The cool-mannered Mao dresses as a boy even though she is a girl. The extremely shy class rep Kimika wishes to change herself. With Ayumu by his side, he sets out to help them seek out what they are missing.

Since it’s an all-ages game, we have a more mainstream cast of seiyuus: Chihara Minori, Itou Kanae, Taketatsu Ayana, Horie Yui and others. I played Koichoco mainly because of the art and the brilliantly designed OP, and it’s likely that I will do the same for Imaimo. This also means that the story will probably end up being just as disjointed as Koichoco, although I much prefer Ayumu as the main heroine than Chisato. Speaking of Chisato, she shows up in this game as Ayumu’s cousin, in addition to Satsuki. Even Non-chan-senpai and the monkeys show up in the background.

The trial starts with Rikuto finding out that he passed the entrance exam and then introduces each heroine before they all meet at the school at the beginning of the school year. It’s quite well-paced and is more laid back than Koichoco and the food research club’s antics. We get a glimpse of Rikuto and Ayumu’s feelings, although that just makes me wonder why Ayumu’s mother Ryouko wants her to dress up as a boy. All the characters are appealing and I want to know more about their stories. I also want Miku as my imouto.

So I’ll definitely try this out, but I can’t help but worry that with all the groundwork that’s been laid, we’ll get another random kidnapping and chase scene and it all goes down the gutter. Even the setting itself isn’t too believable with only Rikuto thinking Ayumu’s a boy just because he’s been told that, as opposed to believing what he’s seeing with his own eyes (she dresses up as a girl at school). If she looks like an imouto, then she’s an imouto. Even if Rikuto doesn’t know that she’s his imouto and not his otouto, my imouto sensor never lets me down! This makes me wonder if Hoshikaka‘s Ayumu was actually an imouto too… Maybe I shouldn’t put too much thought into this.

Ayumu as a little brother, where do I recall this from… I can’t quite recall but it brings a shiver down my spine when I try. Vague misgivings aside Koichoco was a train wreck and this looks to be more of the same for anyone who doesn’t have a close loving relationship with their ctrl key. There is no reason for a nonsensical plot of his little sister pretending to be a boy just because her mother wants her to for god knows what reason. While the rest of the cast are just as one dimensional and fall into the lazy writer cliches of fitting the protagonist in as a final puzzle piece that serves as an emotional crutch for the heroines. As an all ages game there are no H scenes to fall back on, nor are their characters anything special so I would say this is a pretty ill advised game.

Kiss Bell

Company: 戯画 (GIGA)
Game site: キスベル
Release date: December 14, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. It was nearing the end of autumn when the volunteer Christmas club started up at Ekoda Gakuen. It has been a tradition that it will be run by the newly-appointed student council president. Ichio decided to help out with the club to make amends for causing trouble at the culture festival. He gradually got to know the other members better: the hardworking and reliable student council president Chiharu, her quiet best friend and class rep Yumi, carefree senpai Ayano who understands him well, and earnest kouhai and public morals committee member Eri who keeps a watchful eye on him at all times. How will their relationships end up considering they all joined the club voluntarily? Surely, their future will be one that is full of joy.

Almost thought this Hotchkiss all over again since it’s the same artist, but this time they have a new set of writers led by Morisaki Ryouto (Re:birth colony), so maybe it won’t be a Gigamine™? At the very least, Yumi and Eri are quite moe so it can’t be all bad. If not, we can look forward to the next one.

Giga’s track record with games not of the Baldr series seems to be worrisome at best, and downright hopeless at worst. While I tend to take each game on its own merits this is severely lacking in that department, something that I have a suspicion Giga will be unable to make up for with good writing. A shame they couldn’t at least come up with something better than a volunteer Christmas club to bring the protagonists harem of potential H scenes together in a way that is easy for him to access. Maybe there will be a pleasant surprise and this will end up being a good game, but then again it is equally likely the moon drops out of orbit and collides with the Earth tomorrow, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

Tasogare no Saki ni Noboru Ashita -Applique FanDisc-

Company: あっぷりけ (Applique)
Game site: 黄昏の先にのぼる明日 -あっぷりけFanDisc-
Release date: December 14, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. This is the fandisk for Applique’s Miageta Sora ni Ochiteiku, Concerto Note and Tasogare no Sinsemilla. There are three after stories (one from each series), as well as three side stories and online mahjong.

It may just be my imagination, but it seems that the characters from Concerto Note look younger than before. If you’ve played any of the original games or plan to, you should consider checking this fandisk out (especially for Sakuya).

Hey look a fandisk for one of the precious few games that actually managed to make a little sister character appealing. Thanks to there being extra story for Sakuya from Tasogare no Sinsemilla along with a slow month I will end up playing this fandisk. I do however wish it was a game devoted solely to being a fandisk for Tasogare, but we can’t have everything I suppose.

Kanojo to Ore to Koibito to.

Company: PULLTOP LATTE
Game site: 彼女と俺と恋人と。
Release date: December 14, 2012
Comments:
This is the first game by PULLTOP LATTE. Haruto saved Ayano when he jumped out in front of an errant vehicle that was heading for her, but he got hurt in the process. She came to visit him every day while he was in the hospital and they gradually got closer. Even after he was discharged from the hospital, she helped take care of him until his injury was fully healed, spending every day like lovers. On the final day, he walked her to the train station and thanked her for everything she did for him. She responded by kissing him and saying that she didn’t stay with him only because he saved her. The next day, she came once more to his place, but this time as true lovers. However, their sweet time together was soon interrupted by his osananajimi Yuuko, Ayano’s best friend Tsukushi and her imouto Konoka.

I really liked all the characters and felt that this was like a properly-written Hatsukoi 1/1 (in other words, no forced drama). Looking at the sample CGs, I have a feeling it might go down the Love-bride eve path. Ayano sure seems open to it. In essence, this is an enjoyable chara-ge. Ayano is cute and polite (pretty much a perfect wife). Konoka’s playfulness rubs off on you. Susuki-chan is cute and even gets a route of her own in a patch.

However, if there was one complaint I’d have to make, it’s that there shouldn’t be oshikko scenes for Susuki-chan. I don’t want to see her pee and getting wiped. It just feels wrong. Give me a cute pic together in bed instead. NO MORE OSHIKKO SCENES!

Simple setup for a simple game. The only real problem is how the story starts in a relationship so the options are basically dump the girl the protagonist is supposed to like, cheat, or harem route. Aside from this as long as you aren’t looking for anything more than some standard story to serve as an excuse for H scenes I suppose this can function in the role of wordy ero content for the month.

Chaos Labyrinth

Company: でぼの巣製作所 (Debonosu)
Game site: Chaos Labyrinth -ケイオスラビリンス-
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
Christian woke up in an nondescript room without any memories. It felt like he had been sleeping for a long time. Leaving the room, he walked along dark passages until he saw the silhouette of a human. Relieved that he wasn’t the only one in the building, he walked towards it. However, it was a monster who attacked him.

Chaos Labyrinth is an old-school dungeon crawler, which also means that it’s a grindfest. The monsters are actually girls from your school and defeating them (and having sex with them) reveals their past. You need to defeat the same girl many times in order to temporarily turn her back to normal, although that requires you to return to the start point and lose all skills you had accrued to that point. You also can’t have more than one girl back to normal at any given time. I do have to admit the trial was fun to play with some puzzles, but it’s basically a time-waster (you can decide if that’s good or bad).

I don’t get why anyone would want to play a game that is essentially gameplay from the 80s on repeat for the sake of lame H scenes and virtually non existent stories but hey apparently enough people enjoy it to keep making these games. I think what I never understood most about this style is the battle system was terrible back when it first came out and was phased out rather quickly once games improved enough that other means could be used. I know eroge companies are lazy with gameplay and try to make it as simple as humanly possible but there are better options out there than this system.

Because you don’t need to think much at all. If you wanted a good SLG, you wouldn’t be playing an eroge in the first place.

It doesn’t have to be good, just not painful to play. I would rather not have to feel like im spending that much time doing work to get past something that is simply not fun.

Justy×Nasty ~Maou Hajimemashita~

Company: Whirlpool
Game site: Justy×Nasty ～魔王はじめました～
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
The school for heroes, Sousei Gakuen, and the school for maous, Zouma Gakuen, are within a stone’s throw of each other. Obviously, this led to daily fights between the two schools. Lately due to declining birth rates, it was decided that the two schools be merged together and Souseizouma Gakuen was constructed. However, this only led to increased skirmishes, especially when the two principals don’t like one another.

Kiyoharu was enrolled at this school by his father to become a dark lord. He was awakened one day with a girl on top of him, vowing to defeat him. Later at school, he was challenged by this girl Mana to a duel, but he managed to overcome her even though she was one of the strongest heroines-in-training since he was not going to die a virgin. When he revealed that his mind was not set on becoming a dark lord, she and other students from both sides tried to persuade him to join their side.

Ah Whirlpool, you never let me down. Moe characters voiced by prominent seiyuus (Kiritani Hana, Natsuno Koori, Aoyama Yukari, Toono Soyogi) and cute SDs (although not by Komowata Haruka). The story is written by Kimura Koroya (Tropical Kiss, Steal My Heart, Love2Quad), so it’s pretty chaotic. I don’t think it takes itself seriously, similar to ALcot games. Not bad, but not great – just as we expected.

Ok, it’s Whirlpool we all know what to expect, static copy paste writing with cute SDs, good voice acting, poor character interaction, and good art in a very standard style. Despite all the things they are known for I would have liked to see a little more effort put into the setting, if for nothing else than for the sake of the characters and ease of reading. Oh well wishful thinking on my part, at the very least the game will be ctrl friendly so if anything tickles your fancy auto read or ctrl spam should make the boring parts that make up a large part of whirlpool games go by much faster and easier.

Appare! Tenka Gomen [Matsuri] ~Koi to Arashi wa Ooedo no Hana~

Company: BaseSon
Game site: あっぱれ！天下御免［祭］ ～恋と嵐は大江戸の華～
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
This is the fandisk for Appare! Tenka Gomen, featuring some new characters and of course lots of icharabu scenes. With the world finally at peace, the students at Ooedo Gakuen prepare for the school festival. However, an inspector from the education head office arrived at the school with ill intentions.

This is pretty similar to Moeshouden, so don’t expect full routes for every character. Instead, there’ll be a few 3P and 4P routes. However, this series never got the popularity that Koihime enjoyed (and deservedly so). Pass.

More of BaseSon making the same mistake I feel they did with the koihime series, too many heroines, too little story and character development.

Gunknight Girl

Company: CandySoft
Game site: ガンナイトガール
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
In the year 2034, a large war had been going on for 4 years. Ever since a military accident near Ayato’s hometown last year, the townspeople had been fleeing the town due to fear of the army and encroaching battle lines. Now only those who are too old to move or had to stay in the town due to connections remained. With most of the students gone, his school was closed down and taken over by the ground self-defense forces as an engineering school for the girls-only #0 squadron of the 2nd ward. He didn’t like danger, but he was a bit curious and ended up joining their school as an outsider along with his two friends, Kentarou and Yuina. His views change when he realizes that even though the girls are in the army, they are still just girls. However, when gunfire soon broke out in the skies overhead and the oldest member of the squadron Sayaka went missing, the peaceful rural life that he once knew was no more.

Wow, the trial was really long, but it was quite interesting and didn’t try to swamp you with superfluous background material. There’s romance, army training and even robots, although personally I didn’t care much for the 3D robot animations. It took a bit to get going, but after introducing everyone and setting a basis for the story, it soon gets quite heavy. I wonder what the purpose of the experiments are and the effects they have on all the heroines? Yuina reminds me of Touhou‘s Nitori (she even loves cucumbers), while Renka is a very complex character (do-S mind in a do-M body). The OP is pretty good, so check it out.

In the year 2034 the world decided to change all formal military dress into marching band uniforms because apparently CandySoft finds it cuter. Of course with the front line moving towards a town the first thing you would want to do is make an all girls engineering school there, ya know to stem the tide as it were. Nothing would halt a military advance like a bunch of all girl engineers, yup. Furthermore it is best to make it an all girls school because uh, the military segregates them now or something perhaps? Or maybe I am going about this all wrong and they decided to offer up some non combat trainees to bribe the enemy by putting their school directly in the path of the enemy. I mean what else would trainees fresh out of boot camp undergoing specialization training as engineers do..? I suppose my point on that has been made so I’ll move on after I say this would have made more sense if it was not a girls only engineering battalion or something setup to lay a minefield, obstructions, and general fortifications as a defensive line in preparation. Sure they could and if they have half a brain will do something to that extent but they are students so it just doesn’t make any sense to put them on the front lines nor would they have any clue what they were doing nor be able to do it properly without some magical writer deus ex hax. All of the massive and glaring flaws with everything this game is based on dealt with now, the emphasis for the story appears to be “Oh its a war zone but they are still girls so lets pursue them romantically!” or something along those lines. Maybe its just me but time and place maybe? I don’t think in a similar situation I would be worried about chasing some girls skirt, but if I was the protagonist and they were assigned here I would sure as hell book it to the next town because a girls school near the front lines of a major war is a death flag if I ever saw one. I am of the belief we had enough strike witches before the series existed, I certainly do not wish for more of this crappy drama.

Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana

Company: Cabbit
Game site: キミへ贈る、ソラの花
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
Shuuya has been able to see ghosts ever since he was a child, but he kept it a secret from everyone. One day, he noticed a girl wearing winter clothes even though it was warm outside. She noticed his gaze and happily said ‘I found you!’. The girl Matsuri was a ghost who was scouting people who could see spirits for a new private school Suou Gakuen. Since he wanted to find out why he had this special ability, he decided to join the school where ghosts and those who can see them both attend.

The really pretty art was what put Kimisora on my radar. I also had high hopes for it since it’s written by Mikuriya Mikuri, who did well on Midori no Umi. The trial was OK. It wasn’t boring, but at the same time it wasn’t really captivating either. It was mentioned that ghosts don’t sleep nor eat, so there’s no way for them to relieve stress. I’m pretty sure that means that the two ghost heroines Matsuri and Sekka will have to overcome their problems with Shuuya’s help. Kanna’s voice is pretty high-pitched, so I had to turn her volume down. But whatever, the art’s pretty and the girls are cute (even the subchars). And the cutest one of all is the imouto An. My imouto can’t be this cute. Hau~ omochikaeri~!

So our protagonist can see dead people, congratulations you just made friends with an incorporeal zombie. Naturally one would follow this zombie apocalypse to its source which since this is eroge would quite obviously be a high school, since everything of significance seems to happen there in Japan. At this school many wondrous and profound occurrences happen to our protagonist and chosen heroines that lead to H scenes after which the game ends providing a subtle allusion to their future breakup over matters as insignificant as they are trifling as is the way of childhood romances. And they all lived happily ever after? Except maybe the people not ghosts, though I suppose once they die they could become ghosts, although maybe its not a happy existence being a ghost so that might not be so happy either, but at least they can haunt people so close enough, the end.

Himegoto Masquerade ~Ojousama-tachi no Tawamure~

Company: エスクード (Escu:de)
Game site: ヒメゴト・マスカレイド ～お嬢様たちの戯れ～
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
Itsuki doesn’t have any relatives, lost his memories and even has a fear of women. In order to overcome this fear which was causing problems in his adopted family, he was enrolled into the Saint Tiphereth Girl’s School as a girl. However, the model student Eri, who is known as the ‘Maria-sama’ of the school, found out about his secret. Since he also found out about her facade, they agree to help each other with keeping their secrets. In addition, she offered her body to him so that he can get used to touching a woman’s body.

With him spending lots of time with Eri, it was natural that other girls would be jealous of their close relationship. He soon had many enemies, but another girl vowed to protect him. She was Maya, the leader of the public morals group Chivalric Order of the Church where she was known as ‘Arthur’, and she was the only one who could rival Eri. With the two most charismatic individuals at school fighting over him, will it be possible for him to achieve the goal he came for?

Why are the protagonists in cross-dressing games always the cutest? But no matter how cute Itsuki looks, he’s still a pervert at heart. How can they say he has a fear of women when he feels up breasts at every chance and thinks like any normal guy (not that I’m vouching all guys are perverts…). The special system consists of simulation scenes where you can gradually get to know Eri better. It’s kinda similar to Love Lab, except you need to satisfy certain quotas to unlock additional actions. It gets repetitive fast and I really don’t see how one would want to go through all this when they can just get a save file or the HCGs. Pass.

Eroge logic at its finest! Fear of girls? No problem! Simply dress up as a girl, go to an all girls school and…. uhh well I’m sure the problem will fix itself, in the eroge world H solves everything and when you go to an all girls school there are enough opportunities for those healing situations right, right? All girl schools are so accepting of crossdressers that they would of course be in a rush to sleep with them were there identity to be exposed so you can bet the story will revolve around our protagonist protecting his precious chastity from the hordes ravenous girls in heat. If I were in his shoes I would be afraid too, hang in there stereotypical afraid of girls cross dressing protagonist eight hundred seventy one dash B, I’m rooting for your true end where you escape your girlish prison chastity intact! Anyway pretty standard guy puts on girls clothes winds up being mistaken for a girl despite his overflowing masculinity and thus winds up in a school restricted to members of the opposite sex whereby he proceeds to do everything he can to be discovered until through blind and what I’m told can be potentially hilarious happenstance ends up being discovered by every female with an actual face the school has to offer only to turn them into his minions that help protect the existence of his dangly parts a closely guarded secret. Whew with that impossible to foresee revelation out of the way we can get to the rest of the story! The end.

I doubt these protagonists are all that effeminate. There must be some trick to their makeup or something.

Now if they just teach me that trick I can act like a spoiled little brat of a sister and get taken care of for free!

Mirai Sekai no Planeta

Company: りぷる (Libre)
Game site: ミライセカイのプラネッタ
Release date: December 21, 2012 Delayed to January 25, 2013
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from October. In the near future, technology has progressed to a point where people can live both in reality and the internet world, Planeta. Satoru came to Planeta to enjoy a school life in the virtual world. But he was recruited to work for the detective team Sprites after meeting their leader Ayaka. At the same time, there was a terrorist attack in Planeta, caused by a hacker who went by Irurihito.

Never really liked Libre’s games much, but this is written by first-timer Umino Sachi, so maybe it’ll turn out differently. However, this month is quite loaded, so this one isn’t that appealing unless you like sci-fi stuff.

Best ending for this game? The girl you meet and have H scenes with is a guy in real life, with the ending being you meeting them in a dark alley in complete hard gay attire. Now that would be a realistic near future where you can live in both reality and the internet. In the interests of making things differently you could even have each heroine turn into a completely different type of guy in real life, one could be a fat, balding old man, another the stereotypical salary man, and yet another your typical mahou shoujo fan dressed up like sailor moon or madoka. Man I’m a genius I should totally write these games myself. I suppose in the interests of being a little serious I should point out the fact that while the idea does have some potential, its unlikely to be realized as there is little to nothing here that suggests anything beyond your average attempt at a near future sci fi.

PV

Ourai no Ghakthun ~What a shining braves~

Company: ライアーソフト (Liar-soft)
Game site: 黄雷のガクトゥーン～What a shining braves～
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
At the turn of the 20th century in a slightly different world than ours, the countless steam engines had dyed the skies grey and the sea black. In the place of the former port city of Marseille in the Kingdom of France was a large man-made island. This was the university town, Marseille Floating Academia, built with leading technology for the purpose of producing the best scholars in the world. It is full of energy reminiscent of the hidden sun and its beauty reminds one of the stars that no longer can be seen in the sky.

However, the town holds a secret which even the French government feared: it is under the control of the West Indies Company which controls all of Europe. No European country’s leaders could find out the truth behind the Academia nor could they intervene in their affairs. It’s as if the brilliant school was completely shuttered to the outside world. Students can only leave when they ‘graduate’ from the school which is governed by the ‘fraternity/sorority’ ruling bodies.

In 1908, a new transfer student Nikola Tesla introduced himself to the class. The self-proclaimed 72 year old vowed to save all 100,000 students in the Academia from their cursed fate. Then the bells of Ghakthun rang, proclaiming great joy for the university town.

The latest installment of Liar-soft’s steampunk series. If you haven’t tried playing one of their games, you really should. Its mysterious settings and presentation (fully voiced with double protagonists) may not be for everyone though. The trial made me want to know more about Neon’s past and her future with Tesla. I didn’t care much for the fighting parts, but I guess that’s the highlight for some. It’s electrifying after all.

I love steampunk settings so points for that, I would like to see more of this type of setting used, and used well. That said I have yet to find a Liar soft game that is well written, their style that mimics the overly verbose descriptions often used by certain classical authors tends to set a pace that doesn’t match their characters though can match the setting at times. As a result the pace of reading doesn’t feel like it matches the pace of the story itself and ends up losing the spark to drive the settings which define their games. Whether this will fall into the pile of Liar soft games where exposition drags the pace down to the point it is no longer fun to read or they manage to match the progressive flow of their story with their writing remains to be seen, I do hope for the latter though as the game does have some potential.

Ore to 5-nin no Yome-san ga Raburabu nano wa, Mirai kara Kita Aka-chan no Okage ni Chigainai!?

Company: onomatope*
Game site: 俺と5人の嫁さんがラブラブなのは、未来からきた赤ちゃんのおかげに違いない!?
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
The protagonist was living a relatively normal school life when one day, a baby appeared together with thunder! He didn’t believe it, but it was his own daughter from the future. Forced to take care of the baby, a ‘baby club’ was created at school with his classmates, kouhais and teacher helping him. That’s one problem solved, but then he inherited a large enterprise. Due to countermeasures against the declining birthrate, the rich must have multiple wives. So, he proposed to all the members in the baby club.

This title is just ridiculous. This isn’t a LN, ya know? There’s so many places in the synopsis where I could tsukkomi that I don’t know where to start. Pretty much a moe harem game (with a denpa OP), even if it boasts that the game will be about ‘family values’. A big family, I guess.

So, With Ribbon dumbed down to the point the writer doesn’t have to do anything aside from copy paste the basic obvious scenes that happen in almost every eroge. A sad state of affairs when money can be made off of so little effort. The whole club thing here is just so silly it doesn’t even deserve scorn, just by existing it makes fun of it self a million times more than anyone else could.

Natsuzora no Perseus

Company: minori
Game site: 夏空のペルセウス
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
Shinra and his imouto Ren have the ability to transfer ‘pain’ on to themselves by touching someone. Ever since they were young, they have been used by their foster parents for this ability. Tired of constantly moving from place to place, they decided to leave together to the rural mountain village of Tenryou-mura with the intention of not using their powers again. Even though they can temporarily lessen pain by taking it from someone, they are unable to cure whatever is causing the pain. However, his mother had told him that his ability is a gift for someone special in his life.

Their distant relative Sui greeted them and showed them around the school, where they met the bookworm Ayame and Touka, who had an angelic smile. They are the only students at the school and this suited the siblings just fine since they wanted to avoid contact with people as much as possible. Gradually, he learned about the ‘pain’ that each girl had. Sui had an injured leg, while Ayame suffered from her parent’s deaths in a traffic accident. His own imouto Ren didn’t trust anyone, relying only on him. However, Touka’s pain is on a totally different scale – just touching her had pain shooting through his body. This is the beginning of a tale of love and sacrifice.

This is a quick turn-around for minori after Supipara, which they lost money on. They should fare better this time around by going back to their roots and well… oppai (still got nothing on Clochette though). I was surprised by such an early H scene in the trial, but then the story got going thereafter (with a cliffhanger no less), so the depth is still there. I was worried with all the H promotion. The OP isn’t as brilliant as in the past, but it’s a wise decision considering their current condition. I’d want to use my powers for imouto Ren. She sure cares for him a lot and has feelings for him, even if he doesn’t return them. A sarcastic imouto is fine too.

This almost looks as though it could have been worth reading but then the emphasis on H pretty much ruins it, well maybe not for a lot of people who only care about that though why they would bother with anything beyond nukige is beyond me so my point stands anyway. It is possible that the actual game will avoid bringing the ero content into play too early and often although it has already set a bad precedent that hurts it a lot in my eyes. Even without the prominent H content there is little here that is truly unique. Most of the games that transition into rural areas with smaller closer knit family groupings and schools tend to follow very similar plot lines with the only real exception being the power the siblings share. While this can open up some avenues for the writer to change how certain issues are expressed and resolved it does little to change the fundamental plot based around the transition to a rural setting and dealing with the problems emotional and physical that the people there share. I shall allow others to wade through this potential minefield for me, while I do like the potential for some actual well written scenarios the chance for this shrunk drastically when they chose to throw H scenes in early for the sake of attracting the hormone fueled consumer.

It’s not really an emphasis on H, but the pace was just a bit quick in my opinion. At least the story moves along unlike in other games.

I don’t mean that the game is based on H content, but rather that by bringing it in early they are trying to bait out buys from players who would normally play nukige. It is unnecessary pandering towards a sub demographic that ruins a lot of story based games, which is why I hate to see the early use of scenes best kept for the right time and place.

Considering their self-proclaimed current situation, I don’t think it’s a bad move on their part. Besides, a trial isn’t always a good indicator of the full game.

It may not be a bad short term, but that doesn’t bode well for the game that comes after unless they want to shift over to full nukige. Usually a trial is a terrible judge of a game so I agree with that, only I have yet to see any game with early H scenes turn out decent in the end. There is a tendency to cheapen the process in a way that turns off the people who want to read a good story, and caters to people who don’t want to read and just want the H scenes.

Suigetsu 2 ~Tsuioku~

Company: F&C
Game site: 水月 弐 ～追憶～
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
This is the PC port for the PSP game of the same name. Moriya lives in the small hot springs town Mitomori-machi. One day during summer vacation while training for the archery club, he slipped from the mountain road in the forest and ended up meeting two young girls who were playing at the lake. He fell in love at first sight, but ran away after coming to his senses. However, when he returned home, the girls were there waiting for him. Hinata and Koyoi were the daughters of his father’s friend and he was supposed to look after them for a while. He and his imouto Nagomi wasn’t sure what to do, but upon the advice of their older sister Miyabi who had just returned home, they agreed to take the two girls in.

It’s been a while since a F&C title and the art seems a bit dated (although not in a bad way). Not exactly sure where the story is going, although there’s a rural feel, mikos and spiritual elements (OP gives a totally different feel though), so if you’re interested in those, you may wish to check it out.

While I have not played the PSP version, and well I am way too lazy to date both the story reminds me a lot of uh I think it was Kurenai no Tsuki, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong there. Anyway the idea of stumbling into two girls in or near water only to have them foisted upon the protagonist is in a general sense an identical means to supply the protagonist with some extra females choose from. The actual story is one of those where it will depend on how the game plays out as to whether it will end up being a good read or a waste of time.

Tonari no Puu-san

Company: たぬきそふと (Tanuki Soft)
Game site: 隣りのぷ～さん
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
Ichirou was laid off in a corporate restructuring and his unemployment insurance ran out. With his money lasting only 2 more months, he resigned himself to death. He thought about the only person who had smiled at him – a girl on a scooter that he had always seen when commuting to work. Deciding to see her panties before he dies, he sprawled on the road waiting for her. However, he was run over by her and ended up losing his memories. Feeling that it was her fault, the girl Risako brought him into her house and let him live there along with her sisters Misaki and Fuuka in exchange for doing house chores.

Ya, it’s a nukige. It’s a Tanuki Soft nukige. It seems the chars are getting less loli. He actually regains his memories shortly after, but decides to stay with them because, well… opportunity. But what’s the point of the story then? Oh well, it’s a nukige. Also, did you know that selling used pantsu is a decent source of income?

Yeah, sorry I don’t have fantasies about being a middle aged man invited into a home of young girls so I can sexually abuse them so no thanks for me.

Koiken Otome

Company: ユーフォニー (eufonie)
Game site: 恋剣乙女
Release date: December 21, 2012
Comments:
A long time ago, unknown beings known as Kotona invaded Earth in search of food. Humans were unable to repel them until after a few years, some people gained special abilities known as ‘douryoku’ which allowed them to exterminate the Kotona and return peace to the world.

Now, Seiichi attends the super-elite Kashinomori Gakuen which trains people with douryoku in preparation for another attack by the Kotona. However, even though he has great power, he doesn’t have the ability to manifest it, leading to him being labelled as ‘most useless one’. The rest of the students in his class all had great skill, but in particular one girl caught his attention. Akane had average powers even though she came from a distinguished family, so she trained hard daily to improve her skills. Watching her, he can’t but help to want to help her and that was when his ‘Amplifier’ ability awakened. It is an unidentified power which greatly boosts the abilities of people who believe in one another. As a result, he was greatly sought after not only in the school, but in the world.

It’s been a while since eufonie released a game; Their last one was the imouto-ge Hidamari Basket three years ago. The official site is really nice and I’m a big fan of Tateha’s art. I’m quite interested in this osananajimi Yuzu. Don’t you feel healed just looking at her? The trial felt very shounen-like with power levels, others bullying the protagonist and main heroine before they ‘power up’ and colourful battles (reminds me of fortissimo). It wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t really much comedy besides the usual fanservice scenes. Even though there’s human-eating aliens, it’s highly unlikely that the story will go the path of Muv-luv Alternative or Re:birth colony.

Once again a game where the protagonist is lazily given undue significance that causes the setting to bind him to the heroines instead of their own interaction naturally bringing them together. If they just want to make a game about the heroines why do they bother with all the extra tidbits that do little aside from take away from the character aspect of a game? It is not like there is anything here to scream amazing writing, story, or even just a plain good idea, it is generally pretty bland, tasteless, and cliche. Games like this could better serve their purpose not trying to add in the aliens and extremely random super powers or giving the protagonist an ability that essentially equates to the same type of interaction as the games where he uses H scenes to power up the heroines or some such nonsense. To me at least reading all the horribly written extra bits becomes a chore and makes me feel ashamed for reading something so bad, even to the point of feeling sorry for the people who wrote it. If they just want to make a game about standard high school romance comedy, then do so, no need to try to add in world ending significance to it if you can’t pull it off convincingly.

Micchi’s Top 4 for This Month

1. Ima Sugu Onii-chan ni Imouto da tte Iitai!
2. Kanojo to Ore to Koibito to.
3. Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana
4. Natsuzora no Perseus

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Tasogare no Saki ni Noboru Ashita -Applique FanDisc-
2. Ourai no Ghakthun ~What a shining braves~
3. Suigetsu 2 ~Tsuioku~

I’ve been a good kid this year! So many imoutos!

Assuming your sibling love does not cause the end of this world later in the month anyway.