Sometimes Otome

[sometimesotome]

Nightshade (Spoiler Free) Review!

The Plot: Nightshade has the player take the role of the Koga and Iga ‘Ninja Princess’ and the events that surround her first mission.

Thoughts: The art is beautiful. The music is beautiful. The plot is beautiful -- sometimes. Occassionally the series suffers from tonal shifts that makes the game suffer due to how poorly it handles them. All in all the game is worth a play, and holds up as one of the better otome games.

Full Review under the cut!

The Art: The art is clean, and pretty. Every character has a pleasant color palette. There are animated weather sprites that help with immersion. Sprites had variations based on weather, such as a character’s hair being down when it rains. There isn’t anything negative to be said about the art, and ultimately the art was consistent, and well done.

The Boys from Left to Right:

Chojiro: The main character’s childhood mentor. He was a big inspiration to her, and he’s the reason she goes on a mission in the first place.

Gekkamaru: The main character’s bodyguard. He’s loyal to a flaw, and will protect the main character’s everything - including her modesty.

Goemon: The playboy character. He’s very laid back, easy going and fun. He has a secret he’s keeping from the main character.

Kuroyuki: He’s the main character’s childhood friend. However he had to go away on a mission for eight years, and has just recently come into contact with her. Kuroyuki is the most playful of the bunch, and carries a mischievous smile. Hanzo: This ninja is known as the strongest. He’s very rigid, and a man of few words. His gaze is very sharp. Personally, my favorite character was Hanzo, but all of the characters are charming in their own regard. The Music and the Voice Acting:

The music was very good, and had all kinds of variety. The music could range from era appropriate flutes to sick guitar riffs for action scenes. The voice acting was spot on, and really fleshed out some of the characters. Hanzo’s voice actor really sold me on the ‘gruff but kind’ aspect, and I feel this could only be accomplished through skilled voice acting. The Story:

Nightshade had a decent story, but this was it’s weakest link. First -- the good.   The main character is a strong willed protagonist, and this is very important for a lot of readers. The story was fun, and the character interactions felt realistic. It wasn’t weighed down too hard by tropes, and ultimately a good story is to be had here. Some routes are fluffy, but there is a layer of suffering to be had through out it all.  This is also where Nightshade fell flat - in the way the story was sometimes executed. It varies from route to route, but the game suffers from poorly executed tonal shifts. Sometimes the story goes into suffering for the sake of suffering, and it really affects how you can absorb the story. Other times the plot is so hamfisted that it might fail to make it past your suspension of disbelief. Without going into spoilers, there are certain scenes that are absolutely ridiculous, and attempt to serve as plot twists. Instead they leave certain plot holes, and this goes back to the suspension of disbelief. The verdict on the story is that it’s better than most cell phone games, but doesn’t live up to the standard of games like Code: Realize. I’d put it on the same level as Oz Mafia!! where the game is primarily great but with some heavy drawbacks. Review Recap:

Pros: The music, the voice acting, the art, and a fantastic protagonist. Cons: An inconsistent story quality, that can be anywhere from fantastic to the point of invoking tears, to kind of stupid and unenjoyable.

[sometimesotome]

Ozmafia!!! Review (No Spoilers!)

Plot: You play Fuka (changeable) a girl who finds herself in a sticky situation when a man named Caesar claims her as his prey. Fuka joins the Oz Mafia, after he life is saved by their group. The game’s bulk consists of Fuka’s life afterwards, and the mystery of her amnesia.

Thoughts: The game has a ton of good things going for it, but the game is also flawed, but there’s a good game to be enjoyed here. There is little to disappoint you. There’s enough CGs, and content but sometimes the execution feels a little strange, and the replayability is difficult due to the nature of the game’s formula. The routes are interspersed between the main plot, and thus you skip for a minute and then you wait as opposed to minimal replaying. Lastly there is some problematic content, but it doesn’t ruin the game, as there is enough of a game to enjoy even if you skip those routes. Specifics under the cut.

Characters from left to right:  Boys of Mafia Oz

Axel - The third in command. He can’t aim very well, and thus uses a shotgun. He’s a tsundere type due to his awkward and rigid nature, but ultimately one of the sweetest characters in the game. He plays the role of the tin man.

Caramia - The don of house Oz. He’s a self proclaimed group dad, and he’s rather patient. He’s an all rounder type character. He’s a very effective leader, and he’s also a talented cook. He plays the role of the cowardly lion.

Kyrie - His role is the scarecrow. Kyrie is a bit of an Okita Souji type jerk teaser for those of you who have played Hakuoki, except he never sweetens up outside of a few sparse scenes. He’s ultimately always playing mind games and undermining the intelligence of everyone around him, MC included. There are plenty of routes outside house Oz. There is a GxG friendship route in the form of Pashet the motivated matriarchal leader of the mostly female house Boots, Soh and Caesar have routes among the wolves. Soh is the gentle of the two, and Caesar doesn’t really fit into a stereotype, and ends up being an odd mix of murderous and sweet despite not being a character I’d personally consider a yandere. Hamelin has a secret route, and fits the stereotype of yandere more. Scarlet is the datable character from Grimm, and also the shota, if you don’t count Soh due to Soh being visually older than Scarlet. Scarlet is the mature voice of reason in a house that has seemingly nothing but mad men. There’s also Robin Hood who is a married man and a brothel route that will be discussed in much greater detail

Here’s a shot of my favorite boy just to insert a bit of my self more into these reviews where I try to be super objective. Personally I loved the game and every part of it. The problematic parts didn’t affect me at all and you might be the same way too!

The Art:

As seen above, the art is a very high quality. There are tons of nice CGs, and there are no flaws to be found here. The backgrounds are nice, and I like the aesthetic, personally of the way things are colored. It’s not a super stereotypical anime style but the lack of pupils might bother some.

The music & voice acting:

The music stands out as being of a good quality. I did not get bored listening to the music, even though there was so much game to be experienced here. Allegedly the game was expanded upon and not completely voiced over. This may explain some of the missing voice acting. That’s the only downside for the voice acting.

The Story:

The story is cute and charming for the most part, and quite long - about the length of Code: Realize or perhaps longer. There is a grand finale or some sort of prize for accomplishing all of the stories, and is hinted at by manga gamer so I’m not going to consider this a spoiler. It felt like a gross tone shift, and completely out of place. The story had issues with it’s structure as a visual novel, and will be addressed below. The setting felt pretty realistic, and the citizens definitely felt like they had more than a bit of time put into them to show how the roles of the mafia affected their daily life. This is a facet of quality writing. The world wasn’t an accessory but a real thing. There’s an interesting rival system, but it’s kind of out of character for the MC up to that point with her established personality. 

Ultimately the bulk of the routes were charming, but there was also problematic content for some users which will also be mentioned in the misc. section.

The Structure:

Normally I don’t include a section for structure but I feel the need to talk about the structure in length, and instead not include it in the story section. Typically there is a common route, and individual routes when you play otome games. This did not happen with Ozmafia!!! as the game is entirely a common route where you pick individuals to spend time with, and that will affect the ‘route’ you are on. This leads to a lot of replaying the game in a very slow, and non streamlined way. This may affect users negatively, but this is ultimately a small issue in the grand scheme of things. There’s a lot of skipping, then reading, then skipping some more. It can be a little tiring to re-skip through the same scene many times.

Miscellaneous:

Users may appreciate knowing that there is problematic content in the form of non-con and mindbreak in some of the routes. Without going into spoiler territory, steer clear of Robin Hood and the Brothel Route. There are interesting characters to explore here, but if it’ll be rough on you as a player please avoid them. This may also be a deal breaker for some people, but it did not bother me. Dark themes are present in otome games.

To Recap Pros: The music, the art, and the style of writing. The characters are interesting, and there is a lot of content. There are a good amount of CGs.

Cons: Not fully voice acted, but a vast majority is. Random shifts in tone plague the game. The problematic content might be a deal breaker for some. The game is available on mangagamer’s website as well as on steam if you wish to purchase Ozmafia!!

[sometimesotome]

Code: Realize Review

Plot:  Code: Realize is about the protagonist Cardia (the name is changeable) who lives in an abandoned home in the forest. Her body carries a deadly poison, and touching her is enough to be killed. When the British military tries to take her in, legendary phantom thief Arsene Lupin steps in and saves her. He promises to steal her heart and help her find her father, as he’s looking for him too. Joining them is Victor Frankenstein, Impey Barbicane, Van Helsing, and Saint Germaine. What happens when Cardia realizes that she’s in over her head?

Thoughts:  The art is strikingly fantastic. The characters have interesting designs without being too cluttered. After playing the game, I’d like to say it’s an otome game any fan could enjoy because of it’s great pacing, and easy to get into story. It never felt like it dragged on despite being an absolutely massive game. The writing was great, and I always felt the stakes. The interactions were charming and I always loved watching the banter between the characters. The whole game was an absolute joy.

Characters, and final verdict below the line!

Characters:

Arsene Lupin: Gentlemen thief extraordinaire. He sympathizes with the MC for being locked up her whole life. He promises to steal her heart. He’s probably the most balanced in the group. He has his goals he has to achieve in finding Isaac Bedford. He steals for a good cause kind of like Robin Hood. He is the final route much like Ukyo from Amnesia.

Impey Barbicane: A lighthearted character who claims he’s in love with the MC. Although he’s very goofy, he takes his work very seriously. He fixed up an injured corgi named Sisi and gave her a mechanical prosthetic. Arguably the kindest in the group. He’s also the group’s chef.

Victor Frankenstein: The most mild mannered guy in the bunch. He’s very soft spoken, and tries his hardest to be brave. He’s the one who came up with Cardia’s second outfit. Her skin melts through all clothing but her special outfit, so he reverse engineered her an outfit she can move around easier in.

Saint Germain: He’s the most mysterious in the group. Everyone lives in his mansion filled with antiques he’s collected. Saint Germain lets the group stick around because he finds them all very amusing, so letting them room in his home is worth the trouble.

Abraham Van Helsing: He was originally adamant about killing Cardia because of some misinformation. He joins the group without trusting them much. Van Helsing bears a heavy cross known as his past. If you appreciate tortured characters then there are tears to be shed on his route.

Pros:

Almost everything is a pro for this game. The music, art and writing are all fantastic. The character writing is great. The story is simple enough so every single person could get into it, and the pacing is great so you never feel like the story is just trying to fill or that it’s dragging it’s feet.

Cons:

The game itself is massive so you might feel impatient getting to Lupin’s route even if you’re having a great time on everyone else’s route.

The Verdict:

An absolute must buy. There is so much good in this game, that I feel like it’s the staple otome that everyone fan should have played. If you somehow haven’t played Code: Realize then it is a shame, and I hope you will soon. The game is such a great value, and I can’t praise it enough.

[sometimesotome]

Mystic Messenger Review

The third game by Cheritz, Mystic Messenger is the first game the company released on mobile devices. A flawed game that’s charming enough to deserve a glance from mobile otome game players.

Plot:

Mystic Messenger is about the nameable protagonist going through a series of events that leads her to a chat room for a group called the RFA. This organization is dedicated to throwing parties to gain funds that go to charity to better the world. The RFA had lost one of its members some time ago, and hasn’t hosted a party since. What happens when they ask you to take up the former member’s role and throw parties yourself?

Thoughts:

The game’s story is delivered in an interesting way. It unlocks over the course of 11 days, and you don’t have to be present for each individual scene which unfolds mostly in chat room conversations. There are also visual novel sections, though the game is primarily in the chat room setting. That being said, this affects the writing, since there’s no room for descriptive writing, since chat rooms are primarily dialogue.

Characters From Left to Right:

Zen: A charming narcissist trying to make it in the world of musical acting. He has a penchant for smoking, and drinking. 

Jaehee: Jumin’s hardworking assistant, and Zen’s fan. She’s the voice of reason in the group.

Jumin Han: A trustfund kid who’s taking over his father’s business. He loves his cat to the point of driving everyone around him nuts with his pictures of her.

707: An internet troll hacker. You’ll rarely find a moment where he isn’t joking, but his life is shrouded in mystery.

Yoosung: He’s a sweet college aged kid that’s very friendly, but let’s his gaming hobby consume him.

The characters range from awful and unbearable to charming; some of which I’d consider among Cheritz’s best written characters. This is unfortunate being paired with the time mechanic, and the freemium content. If a player tries to replay the game, and doesn’t wish to wait they can spend hour glasses on previously unlocked content.

This makes replaying the game for missed CGs absolutely painful or very expensive.

Compared to other freemium games like the Shall We Date Series, or some of Voltage’s freemium games, there’s more to be had with Mystic Messenger. Fans of Cheritz might be disappointed since they can’t pay X amount of money and have everything unlocked, but freemium users will be pleased. To compare to the story ticket model, you get access to a couple of lines every four hours. Playing Mystic Messenger on max speed still took me multiple hours for a playthrough despite only responding to chat I’ve previously read before.

The pros of Mystic Messenger would be the individual routes, and the amount of content in each route. With a length comparable to all of the routes of OzMafia or Code Realize there’s something to be had in this free to play mobile game. The art is very pleasing for the most part, but there’s a lot to be desired. The writing is fairly compelling, and some of the tracks are alright but there aren’t very many of them.

There are very many cons that might deter you from the game. There aren’t very many tracks, and with the length of the game this might end up wearing on you. Consequently its hard to take some of the emotional scenes very seriously if you’re hearing the same song that played in every other emotional scene and this breaks immersion. Another thing that grossly broke immersion was the obvious difference in artists between the main sprites and the supporting character sprites. The difference isn’t subtle, and its rather jarring. The game since launch, and to the time of this post, is still riddled with bugs. I’ve personally gone out of my way to help other users come up with bug fixes for some of the better known bugs. Cheritz at least has provided ample compensation for it, but I’d prefer having a polished game on launch. The difficulty of replaying the game is also a major turn off as it makes CG collecting and completing the game nearly impossible. The main characters aren’t voiced during the sparse visual novel portions of the game which were all too few.

The verdict:

For regular Cheritz users it may stray too far away from the Cheritz pay to play model to be considered something you’ll spend your time on. The playthroughs have enough content to justify the 11 day route time, but this might be more for the Voltage, and NTT Solmare crowd. The game is sub par for a Cheritz game, but it has its moments. Whether or not you should play this game boils down to how much you’re willing to put up with. If you need something to kill free time with, and don’t wish to spend any money then you should pick this up over some of the Voltage Gree games or the Shall We Date+ games. If you’re a Cheritz user and expect something as good as Dandelion or Nameless then you better look elsewhere. If you’re curious despite the bugs, the difficult replayability (the skip feature is a VIP package only deal), and the mismatched art; there is a good story to be found at the bottom of it if you pick the right characters. You get what you pay for, and I hope Cheritz goes back to their old style of games for their next project.