Heys! It's been such a long time; thought I would make a blog entry °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
First and foremost, I would like to say that I won't be making any updates on the Hakuoki games on iOS/Android and PS3. You can send me a message for help about it though (as I've been getting some recently) and I'll gladly help you to the best of my knowledge.
Sooo after not getting over my FFXV hype yet, I got this game this month and played for a week in order to finish it. I've been eyeing this game on Steam among several others, but I think I kind of got motivated to get and play this game.
Synopsis from Steam:
Nicole is thrilled that she managed to get into her first choice school and is looking forward to experiencing college life there. However, as soon as she moves into the university dorms, she finds out that there’s been a series of mysterious disappearances going on around the campus! So far, three girls have already gone missing and Nicole could be next if she’s not too careful – not quite the ideal college experience Nicole had in mind.
Essentially, there are four guys to go after. Go pick one ladies:
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| I have no idea why Jeff has long hair in this image |
First off, let me be clear that I first went after the guy who first came across my screen. Although. I do recommend going after him during your succeeding playthroughs after your first. In other words, don't go after him the moment you see him and hold him off until you went after the others. You'll see why if you play the game. Jeff is a science-freak so he likes spending time at the school laboratory. *MILD SPOILER* Jeff is basically your typical nice dude-turned-creep. He's entertaining to go after but his personality is infuriating. I hated the way he gets pushy with Nicole. I don't even know why he's a candidate to go after, and I regret going after him. To be fair, he does get some decent character development in his route.
Second in the image above is your typical jock, Kurt, who has some ego. I wouldn't really say he's way over his head, but he tends to be full of himself at times. Out of all the guys, his personality was the most entertaining that I experienced. I personally wouldn't be a jock-type of girl, but he's worth running after.
The one with the glasses is Darren, who's as shy as he looks. I'm not going to mention what his hobbies are as that would spoil the game, but if you're reading in-between the lines and are playing the game (or has played the game) then you know what I'm talking about. Darren is really cute as a person. During my first playthrough, he stole my attention away from Jeff because he seemed adorable as a character, causing me to go after him during my second. What I dislike about him though is that he's too meek for a guy. It's cute, yeah, but personally I wouldn't be the one pushing the guy IRL. Some of his personalities do mirror mine though, so I guess that's why I was drawn to him.
The last of the bunch is Ted. I can't really say much about him, except that he's a country boy who runs a local small grocery store. I don't really like him that much; truthfully, he appealed the least to me. He often wears a stern face and has an uptight personality. However, he is the token tsundere of the group, so expect him to be flustered when Nicole pays him a compliment.
One thing I noticed in this game is that the dialogues in-between characters do not change when you're giving them presents (yes, you give them presents to raise the affection level). *MILD SPOILER* There is a point in-game where some guys will avoid you in their respective routes, but they'll talk to you normally when the prompt to give the present pops up when it shouldn't be so. I think this is something the programmers/writers/and quality assurance team overlooked. It's really not something to be overly concerned about, but I was kinda bothered by this aspect.
Speaking of giving presents, this is not unique since most dating sims have this feature. However, I was also bothered where you have to buy presents for a guy (not to mention work your ass to acquire the money) in order to greatly increase the level of affection. I would have preferred more dialogue exchange and guess the correct response. It would make the relationship between characters meatier. (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑
I wish I could give my own feedback for the game music. Sadly I played this game with the sounds muted since I was listening to my own playlist while playing the game. I know I shouldn't have done that, sorry. (⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯)ﾟ
The artwork is pretty decent. The characters are appealing enough, but nothing for me to gush over. I don't mean to bring down the work of the graphic artist. but it's simply not my preference. With that, kudos to the hard work on the art.
What I also don't like about this game is that the 'mystery' was too easy. I was able to guess the perpetrator during my first playthrough. When the succeeding playthroughs came, I was already bored and just wanted to see what changed in the dialogue (which is not much).
Progressing through the game is pretty much straight forward, The story itself follows a main story route and forks off to the your desired guy when the affection level reaches 50 and above. There are 10 endings in total: 2 for each guy (1 normal ending and 1 true ending) and the bad endings. Personally, I didn't bother getting the bad endings so I wasn't able to see it.
What I do like about this game is that the affection level does not drop whenever you make an incorrect response to the prompts. Unlike Hakuoki, I would be stressed whenever I picked the wrong answer. Then again, getting the affection level up is easy once you access online buying in-game.
I did follow this blog's guide to progress the story though. I read through her posts and it seemed people are having a tough time getting the true endings. If you are planning to play this game sometime in the future, I suggest you read her guides thoroughly and follow it faithfully to a T without the need to read her text in red. You might even finish the game earlier than December 21 like I did.
I'm sorry if I might seem like I'm bashing the game, but that isn't my intention. It does have its merits but it's my own personal review. I did enjoy progressing through each character's story though, so I can say my time wasn't wasted playing this game. Do play it when you have a chance (/^▽^)/
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