Della Goes Gaming

Hello to you! I'm Della and I've loved video games and board games all my life, but lately I've been diving in a lot more, so I figured - why not chronicle some adventures? Thus this blog was born! Thanks for stopping by! EST. AUG 8, 2025

[dellagames]

fell off my otome obsession hard fam oops

been digging windrose and been playing black flag for the first time - i've never liked a control scheme in assassin's creed before so this is a shocker to me haha

i recently started 9RIP tho so that's been fun!

retro gaming has been what i lean most toward tho - chrono trigger on ds is what i currently have been playing handheld :)

[dellagames]

"Small Wonders" week (Alice) got me 4000 moonstones!

"Marvels of Nature" is currently up for voting! Let me know if you see it in the wild! I hope the reference goes over well :)

"Cozy Dreams" is the current theme and I think I did alright, so we will see after voting next week!

[dellagames]

Currently up for voting until Wednesday - Wild West Wonders! If you see this one out there, I'd appreciate a vote! <3

[dellagames]

I think the only way I'm going to end up posting here ever is by just showing off my Dreamsnaps so here we go again~

[dellagames]

me, playing code:realize: aww i love this steampunk romance stuff and i love all these characters -- also me, upon reaching saint-germain's route: okay but what the actual FUCK

[dellagames]

No otome games lately... I've been having far too much fun in Dreamlight Valley right now! Here's some of my recent Dreamsnaps~

[dellagames]

thank you little tiny game corner of tumblr for being the only social media i have that is free from the incessant media cycles everywhere else is infected with bless you for being my sanity and peace

[dellagames]

In other realms of games I play... Have a peek at my recently remodeled plaza in Dreamlight Valley~

...just ignore the night thorns, I leave those for star path duties!

[dellagames]

So I went into Bustafellows blind. I always start my otome games first run blind and don't follow a guide - I like the surprise of who I will get that way. Apparently, I'll be doing the Mozu route first! Looking forward to my autistic coroner cat loving boi storyline 💙

[dellagames]

current otome thoughts

code:realize - WHY IS THIS COMMON ROUTE SO LONG?

period cube - took a break and fell down a different rabbit hole in the mean time...

bustafellows - OOPS I AM NOW OBSESSED

[dellagames]

Currently Playing

Here's a what's what of games I'm currently swapping between! Yes, it does take me forever to finish a game this way... Makes sense as to why it takes so long between blog posts, right? Consider this a little look into how I feel about each game at this point in time!

Baldur's Gate 3 (PC)

I actually started this game once before as a halfling bard, but decided to start over after I took a long break and needed to relearn how the game works. Also, I had been very disturbed by the heavy flirting and innuendo, so mods are definitely involved in my current playthrough. I removed the romance aspect and added some custom classes so I could roll my half-orc artificer, and I am having a blast. I just finished slaughtering the goblin leaders Halsin needed taken care of, and then went and recruited Karlach. It only took... WHAT DO YOU MEAN ITS BEEN 19 HOURS OF GAME TIME?!?

Expedition 33 (PC)

This game is very much a love-hate relationship for me. I love the story and the characters and the world and the design of literally everything... But the gameplay is so gosh dang hard for me, even on the easiest setting! I know I'm not great at RPGs, but come on! I'm getting through this one slowly, if only just to see what happens. I may never actually write a full review of this one. But I shall henceforth proclaim my love for Gustave.

Fantasy Life I (PC)

I've literally only played about an hour of this endearing game, and just started my chibi life as an Alchemist! We'll see if this one stays in my repertoire.

Code: Realize (PSVita)

The premise of hot literature love interests in a steampunk setting got me immediately hooked, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to play it for very long sessions at a time. I'm still on Victor, my first playthrough! I think the problem is that it is extremely long; I'm finding that problem with Even If: Tempest as well. The set up is very drawn out, and I feel like it could have used a bit more trimming of the fat.

Period Cube (PSVita)

I've gotten to the midpoint of my second run and I'm liking learning new things about the world of Arcadia in each playthrough. This game is my current go-to otome, so expect it to be finished before the others on this list.

Even If: Tempest (Switch)

Drawn out, very long intro, but the world building and story filled to the brim with political intrigue and dark fantasy? I'm in it to win it.... Even if it takes me months. Maybe that's the true tempest we need to weather here?

[dellagames]

When I say I unlocked a newfound love for otome games, I mean it lol

[dellagames]

As I just recently discovered the joys of the PSP and PS Vita, I also rediscovered a love I once had years ago in the mobile game days of yore - otome games. I remember loving games from Voltage, my favorite being My Forged Wedding. I call it my favorite simply for the fact that it is the only one I actually recall the name of, but that is beside the point.

I started buying games from Japan in hopes that I could slowly begin to learn Japanese and use games as a tool (which is a process that is not going smoothly, apologies to my studying...) and ended up with a lot of otome games. So of course I started looking for any English translations I could find of them - official or otherwise. 

I did finally find the PS Vita port for Amnesia, a game I have a physical Japanese UMD for, but unfortunately it didn't grab me story wise like I thought it would, and I gave up on it. Then I tried another one I had a copy of physically; Diabolik Lovers. Again, I had to hunt down the files for Vita rather than PSP, but oh well. Again, I was disappointed... And disturbed. I never thought a vampire romance could make me disgusted, yet here we are.

The best thing about having modded hardware is the ability to have any game you want. Let's not dive into morality here - these systems are no longer in production or support, so let's not start with the "you should buy it" argument. It is nigh impossible for some of the titles available on these consoles - whether for availability or monetary reasons. Such is the case for the title I'll be reviewing here... Sweet Fuse: At Your Side for the PSP.

My play order was Shidou, Mitarashi, Wakasa, Meoshi, Mikami, Shirabe, Urabe. I probably would not recommend that order unless you're pretty sure you've put all the pieces of the underlying story together yourself - and definitely save Mikami for last. He unlocks after your first playthrough, but that doesn't mean you should jump right into it. I had already figured out most of the underlying lore anyway, so I figured I would go ahead.

This game is so lighthearted and fun, and doesn't take itself too seriously. I am usually a fan of more traditional romances, but when I read the description of this one, it immediately gave me Danganronpa thoughts and I just wondered - how the heck can you do a theme park Danganronpa romance otome game? Needless to say, they pulled it off with a great deal of imagination and laughter.

I am not going to get into details of the game and plot, as I highly recommend this game for the fun of it, and don't want to spoil anything. I will, however, give a list of categories and who my favorite love interests were for each.

Favorite character design: Shidou. The classically handsome cop? Sign me up.

Least favorite: Wakasa. Not a fan of the short kawaii boy band look.

Favorite personality: Mitarashi. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy him at first, but something about his humor and care for Saki stuck with me.

Least favorite: Urabe. There were moments that made me go "ew, Saki honey, no."

Favorite route: This one is tough. I liked the secret route of Mikami, even if simply for the ridiculousness of it, and I enjoyed Shidou as well.

Least favorite: Again, tough. The Wakasa boy band thing was a bit cringe, and Urabe's whole thing was a bit icky. I think I may have to go with Urabe here.

Shirabe made me laugh out loud with a few of his lines, and some situations were goofy for ALL of the routes... Which is probably why the game grabbed me hook, line, and sinker. I can't recommend this game enough if you're looking for a goofy, fun time.

[smartsmears]

There should be an extension where every single Mario Kart World image that gets posted to social media has text superimposed on it that says "Okay but...this game costs 80 US dollars."

Artist Rendition

[twinklestarsprites]

Since not a lot of people know, I’d just like to tell everyone the last physically released PSP game was a dating sim where you play as Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune’s niece and save an amusement park from an evil pig

Thank you for your time

[click-n-dragit]

Source - Me

“Sweet Fuse”

~Date Night!~

[dellagames]

Hello world! This blog of mine has been inactive for a while - so I figured I would repurpose and begin anew. I don't really know where to begin, but let's give it a shot!

My name is Della ~ nice to meet you! I'm an old school member of tumblr, been running around in this neck of the woods since around 2011 or so, so of course it holds a warm place in my heart and was my first thought of place to make my blog. I've been a gamer all my life, a trait installed in me by being raised in the late 80s and having access to the wealth of point and click PC games of yore. Monkey Island was like 90% of my personality in my childhood, and I am not kidding. Atari and Collecovision were always in my hands in my formative years... And gaming never really left my life. I was hooked.

Do I play "real games"? That depends on your definition. Some people say girls are "fake gamers" for playing cozy games or visual novels these days. But hey! I grew up in the glory days of Halo - FPSs and platformers are not the only form of entertainment, especially as I get older and can't keep up as easily! Tastes change, friends.

I consider all games to be real games. So I will try to remember to tell you about everything I play going from here forward, and maybe dip a toe in the past and reminisce about the olden days of games gone by.

My most recent playthroughs have been Mario Odyssey on the Nintendo Switch, and the PSVita port of The Nonary Games: 999. It took me far too long to finally crack into that now classic plumber platformer; it's sat on my shelf since release! And 999 caught my eye in passing as I was looking for a new point and click puzzle game - it had just enough puzzling to keep me engaged, but the real star that kept me hooked on that was the story! I couldn't put it down!

Now, the reason I have jumped back into gaming so often is that I recently jumped onto that handheld bandwagon of buying older - because WOW that Switch 2 reveal and release this year took the wind right out of these sails, I tell you what. I had been so ready for the new Switch until hearing that insane price. So I did what everyone else did... Found the consoles I missed out on the first time and got to modding!

First, the PSP - let me tell you how GLORIOUS this piece of tech is. It is the perfect size, it sits so nicely in my hands, and when I say it is the easiest mod job ever? It really is okay!? It took me literally 2 minutes to mod the thing and start downloading games to the memory card. Can not recommend this console enough!

Then we finally got our hands on a Vita, and what the PSP needed was a bigger screen and two thumbsticks - and, let's be real, to move away from optical drives because discs suck, we all know it, okay - and honestly? It hasn't left my hands hardly at all in the month or so I have owned it.

Did I mention the backwards compatibility once it is modded? Oh yeah. PS1 and PSP can run on this bad boy. And I didn't even mention all the emulators for basically every Nintendo console up to the GameCube.

So this dive into these new-to-me handhelds reignited my passion for games of all types. It's what inspired me to finally dig out my old consoles and CRT and get my game room hooked up with every old console I owned. I only have a single Sega console, the Dreamcast, but every Sony up to PS4? Check. Nintendo? Oh yeah. We got 'em.

Oh, and you know what else it sparked in me? Japanese game importing and collecting. Just having the original forms of these games, even though I can't even read them is so freaking awesome. And it reminded me of a game genre I hadn't thought of in years, since the early 2010s I would wager, and in their worst form on mobile phones of all things - otome visual novels. When I tell you I have gone on an otome spree? I don't think you understand the extent of my rediscovered obsession.

So yeah. If you bothered to read all of that word vomit, I commend you. And even if you didn't, thanks for the attempt. In either case? Welcome to my blog!

NOW PLAYING:

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (PC Port - co-op with my brother)

Mario Odyssey (endgame extras)

Code: Realize (PSVita)

Period Cube (PSVita)

Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (PSP)

World of Final Fantasy (PSVita)

NEXT UP:

The Red Bell's Lament (Switch)

Even If: Tempest (Switch)

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the current mess - I will be redoing my theme and everything but I really wanted to write about my current game life, so here it is! I hope I stick to writing, and I hope to hear from anyone who actually bothered to read this - what are YOUR favorite games? Let's goooo!