#otomerella

[otomerella-blog]

Destined to Love and Midnight Cinderella...

Alright, let’s do this!

Midnight Cinderella:  mSmfBeT2

Destined to Love:  P2018G2N3

Onward!

CS xo

[otomerella-blog]

Cybird’s Destined to Love, Midnight Cinderella

Just started playing Destined to Love from Cybird.  As usual, I picked one of the two redheaded love interests currently available - aaaand as usual, my romance with Ryoma Sakamoto is off to a bit of a rocky start because his sullenness and aloof nature keep clam-jamming the MC’s efforts to get close to him.  But I’m stubborn, and I have a thing for men in black boots, so bring it.

The writing is good so far, and the premise is intriguing.  I’m just hoping the pace picks up now that I’ve selected a route.  It’s my first Cybird otome, so I’m looking forward to finding out.  I’ll be playing it alongside another Cybird game, Midnight Cinderella...

  I haven’t been a princess in forever.  I admit I’m a little excited.  If you’re out there, Midnight Cinderella fans, do you have a route recommendation?

CS xo

[otomerella-blog]

Hi, I was wondering if you play any Cybird games such as Midnight Cinderella and Destined to Love? The fanbase for those games are so small which is a shame because I really love the writing in those games.

I haven’t tried either of those games, but I’d love to check them out. I’m getting rid of a bunch of otomes I’ve lost interest in, and was just yesterday looking for something new (something that isn’t from Voltage or Shall We Date for a change). I’ll download one right now! Thank you so much for the recommendation!

CS xo

[otomerella-blog]

Arabian Dreams: Vafa (Spoiler-Free Review)

First off, what a breath of fresh air Arabian Dreams!  The backgrounds are beautiful, the character designs are stunning, and the music is gorgeous.  While we still have a long way to go as far as POC in Shall We Date games is concerned, it was nice to see some characters that aren’t as pale as Vafa (which is often played for laughs). Vafa is a jinn/genie who hasn’t seen the sun in an awful long time.  As such, he’s eternally looking for the perfect opportunity to get a tan.  

Vafa is another character that falls under the tsundere trope, which can usually go either way for me - the character either comes off as an insufferable, irredeemable dick, or a decent blend of cool, feigned indifference and tenderness (when required).  Vafa is initially brusque with our MC, as tsunderes often are, but he’s rarely an outright asshole.  He’s snarky, vain, and very easy to like, partly due to our MC.

The MC is charming.  She’s a little naive, but not stupid, so I didn’t find myself suddenly yelling “Oh, COME ON” at my phone like I often do when trapped in the body of a lousy MC making a mind-numbingly dumb move.  She asks questions, she’s thoughtful, she has massive boobs --

Wait, what?

This is no reflection on the quality of the game or the story, or even the MC, but WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HER CHEST?  Now, I’ve got ginormous boobs myself, so I know they can be tough to keep under wraps, and I have no problem with cleavage on display.  That’s no one’s business but the owner of the breasts.  But I’m honestly befuddled here...

WHY.

I just...I don’t know.  I just don’t know.

Okay, back to...yeah.

The story was good, and the music and beautiful backgrounds mentioned above really do draw you further into it.  There are a lot of amusing fourth-wall breaks, and some really good twists that managed to catch me off guard (not that I’m Poirot or anything).  And, again, the character designs are stunning.  The CGs are...okay.  Maybe they’re amazing -- I can’t know for sure because I was so distracted by the MC’s decolletage.  

CS xo

[otomerella-blog]

War of Prayers, Liam (Spoiler-Free Review)

First, let me just get this off my chest and out of the way -- the story was eight bucks.  EIGHT BUCKS!

War of Prayers looks beautiful, and I loved most of the music.  There was this weird elevator music that would play during “casual” moments that seemed incredibly out of place, but overall, I quite enjoyed the music.  And the character designs are beautiful (though the missing lips took a little getting used to - everyone looked as though they were grimacing).  

I thought the limited number of facial expressions was a little strange and it could sometimes be distracting not having the facial expressions match up with the dialogue being spoken, or the situation playing out in the text.  During a literal “fight for your life” moment, Liam looked as though he was three seconds away from yawning.  I know it’s a small, seemingly silly thing to complain about, but it is a visual novel, after all.

Now onto the story itself.  

It’s tropey...like, really tropey.  But that’s sort of par for the course.  I did like that while Liam was supposed to be cool and somewhat distant, it wasn’t completely off-putting (ie Eisuke from Kissed By the Baddest Bidder, or Ichiya from My Last First Kiss).  While at times Liam can seem frustrated with the MC’s inability to consider the seriousness of the position she’s in, he never talks down to her or insults her.  Even though a new duty he’s not accustomed to and vocally opposes has been thrust onto him, he doesn’t take it out on our MC.  That’s a welcome change.

Another welcome change is that there are other women in this game in the form of the other prayer maidens, and they don’t exist merely to sabotage you or tell you how hot your potential love interest is.  I didn’t get to see as much of them as I’d liked to have, but that the prayer maidens exist at all is a big deal, especially in a Shall We Date game. 

The story takes us on some nice twists and turns - some of them come a little out of left field, and not in a great way, but for the most part the story was fun to read.  A few emotional beats are missed here and there - sometimes a moment will feel huge to the reader, but the characters seem to blow it off like it was nothing.  I think that maybe too much was squeezed into this single story.  Ideally I would have preferred if some stuff was left out and maybe made available in a second season.  The story is only sixteen chapters plus one ending, and there’s a lot of stuff the creators seemed desperate to cram into them.  

The main sticking point for me when thinking about starting another route is that eight dollars I had to spend.  I’m not expecting all the other stories are going to be the same, but some of the content will have to be - it can’t be avoided.  We’ll have to meet all the characters again, learn about the history of prayer maidens again, read about all the realms you visit as the MC again...Do I want to pay that much money again when 1/4 - 1/3 of the content is going to be repetitive?  I’m not sure.

If the price doesn’t bother you, War of Prayers (and Liam, of course) gets a thumbs-up from me.  

CS xo

[otomerella-blog]

Hold me, Rindoh. Hold me tight.

[otomerella-blog]

Oz+ (aka Nope)

Nope.  Just...nope.

I’ve chewed my way through many otomes.  I always finish at least one route.  I think this is the first time I’ve quit an otome midway through the first route I choose, but it just couldn’t be helped.

I feel like Oz is a culmination of everything that annoys me about “free” otomes.

- A single story ticket doesn’t get you anywhere.  I remember when I first started playing Destiny Ninja 2, a story ticket would give you a substantial amount of plot movement compared to some of SWD’s past “free” titles.  I thought, “This is great. Shall We Date’s finally throwing broke asses like myself a bone.” Nope.  The episodes in Oz+ are incredibly short.  I could spit and get through five story tickets before it would even make a splash.  Okay, I exaggerate.  But not by much, I’m afraid.  The MC spent two story tickets alone listening to Leonardo bitch about how someone stole his eggs at breakfast.  So you don’t lie awake tonight wondering who could have stolen them, it was Toto.  Toto deserves a mountain of eggs for being stuck in the middle of this mess.

- The prompts to make choices that move your place on the Love Meter forward make no damn sense.  Does my knowing that the Land of the Winkies’ main export is minerals bring a greater level of intimacy to my relationship with Heartmann?  Because that’s the most absurd kind of otome foreplay I’ve ever been privy to, and I’ve played Amnesia, fer chrissakes.

“Show your boobs” was not an option, so I ended up picking “Wave your hand.” Waving only got me a three on the Love Meter.  Heartmann is playing pretty hard to get for a straight guy living in a world that’s so devoid of potential future mating prospects that he had to wait for the only girl he’s ever been in contact with to reach legal age, then join a search and retrieve party to lure her back to his country with the promise of a massive birthday party. A three, my ass.

- Want to use the game’s currency (Spinels) to pay for all the items you’ll need to get through the story?  Godspeed.  If you want to buy the “simple party dress” required for Crowlie’s normal story, it’s 35,000 Spinels compared to 490 coins (520 coins cost $6.99 USD).  So unless you possess the patience of a monk (which I don’t), you’re going to end up feeding some serious real-life dough into this game.

- The avatar items up for grabs when you “blow a whistle” kind of...blow.  Does Heartmann need an axe with handle tips in five different colours?  No.  You know what he does need, though?  Shoes.  He needs a fucking pair of shoes.

Welp.  Looks like I’m going to have to hope a pair of shoes pops up on the next whistle blow, otherwise the Tin Man’s very human feet are going to get very cold come Winkie Winter.

-  There are two endings you’re striving for.  The “farewell” ending and the “true” ending.  If that isn’t a cash grab by emotional manipulation, I don’t know what is.  At the speed I’m currently moving through this route, I’ll be lucky if I manage to get the “Death by Firing Squad” ending.  If you want to pump up your love meter by a mere seven points, it’s going to cost you 300 coins ($3.99 USD).  

- The story thus far is so incredibly boring.  Fine, yes - I’m only on chapter five, but come on. Nothing even remotely intriguing has happened to keep my interest.  Five chapters in and my MC still hasn’t bothered to ask how or why Solomon decided to transform the Oz gang into humans, or why he was so insistent she have a boyfriend for her birthday.  But, hey - at least she knows that Winkie Country’s main export is minerals, so YAY.  

So, yeah -- Oz+ just isn’t for me.  I can’t even be bothered to finish the route, and Shall We Date’s greed has left the worst taste in my mouth.  I think it’s pretty much turned me off of future SWD “free” titles for good.

[otomerella-blog]

Finally starting Liam's route in War of Prayers. Shall We Date's Oz+ just ain't doing a thing for me. More (so much more) on that later. I love a man who can make magic with a needle and thread. I go through socks like woah. CS xo