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Tag: mystery
“Nicole” Game Review: A Dating Sim Full of Mystery
Can Nicole avoid becoming the next victim?
Nicole, Nicole… For a game advertised as kind of a mystery thriller, I was expecting a well-grounded protagonist, someone serious and intelligent with a good head on her shoulders. Instead, we get… Nicole. But even though she was kind of vapid and air-headed at times, I actually kind of liked her. She’s endearing and emotionally strong when it’s important, like when she has to tell the guys to get over themselves or when she decides to face the abductor head-on instead of letting him scare her.
Like the titular character, the game was not what I expected, but I liked it nonetheless. As other reviews have mentioned, it takes a long time for it to get going, but once you know what you’re doing, the annoying introductory phase goes by in a flash. I was worried about the stat-raising component because I tend to fail miserably at that (which is why I’ve avoided Winter Wolves’ other otome games thus far), but in this one you can set the difficulty and you only have to raise two stats to get both endings for each character – Clues and a main stat for whatever guy you’re going after. I’m not sure what the difficulty setting changes exactly, but on Easy mode, even with my fail time-management skills, I found it easy to get my main stat and Clues maxed out at least a month before the end of the game, with plenty of money to spare for gifts and stuff. So it ended up not being too bad at all.
I will say that if you’re looking for a mystery game where you get to play detective and piece together all the clues, this probably isn’t the game for you. It’s the kind of game where you can still get a good ending by skipping the mystery portion altogether, which tells you a lot – basically, the mystery is only a subplot, not the main storyline. The main story is about a girl trying to get through her first semester of college and meeting a bunch of cute boys (and girls) in the process, and of course each boy has their own little subplot. That’s not to say the story isn’t good, it just relies heavily on the everyday interactions between the characters – which is perfectly fine, because the interactions are awesome. They are what really makes this game fun to play.
That’s my basic, spoiler-free assessment of Nicole. And for those who have played the game and want to hear what I thought about it, read on.
WARNING: Major spoilers ahead!
Maybe interactions like this should’ve been a red flag. So, I went for Jeff first… which, in hindsight, was not the best idea. But from the trailer, he looked like the most mature one, and I knew I probably wasn’t interested in Kurt (I avoid the flirty jock type like the plague) or Darren (sorry, I tend to avoid the shy type, too, because they’re too hard to talk to). Boy, was I wrong! Not only was I wrong about Kurt and Darren (after playing through the “common route” part once, I actually came to really like them both), but of course, I was completely and utterly wrong about Jeff.
Here’s the breakdown of my reaction to Jeff’s route:
Introduction scene: “Oh look, he’s the prince type, all smart and handsome and kind and perfect… Hmm, but he’s a pharmacology major and is acting suspicious about it? Uh oh, I bet he has something to do with the whole abductions thing.”
Second scene: “Aww, with the way he gets all upset about being called perfect, I bet his ‘troubled backstory’ has something to do with not measuring up and all that. Poor guy…”
Discovering his ‘true self’: “Umm…wait. Wait a second. He’s actually the creepy, egocentric mad scientist type? Umm….well….okay, I guess I can roll with that. He’s still sexy and smart, right? Not to mention he looks hella fine in a suit. Yeah, okay, I can still do this.”
Potion motive revealed: “Oh, so that’s why he was acting so suspicious. Well, what harm can come from making a weird potion, right? It’s not like it’s going to actually work, not with that ridiculous ingredient list. Maybe he’s not involved in the abductions after all. I mean, he’s kind of pathetic if he thinks he can make people like him by mixing up a potion like that… That doesn’t seem like the kind of evil mastermind who abducts and drugs young women.”
Arboretum scene: “Awwwwww, so cute! He’s starting to care about me~ I wonder if he realizes it yet?”
Potion fails: “*in a Nicole voice* Like duh, of course it didn’t work, you weirdo. Wait, wait, don’t get depressed! Nuuuuuuuu, don’t be like that, you’re making me sad. … … Woah there, no need to get violent! Umm, I’m not sure whether to be scared or turned on right now… Wait, no, please don’t wallow in your self-loathing! Nuuu, the feels…”
Afterward: “Aww, my poor baby… I just want to hug you and make everything better~ I really, really hope you’re not involved in the abductions because I don’t think my heart could take it. You’re not, right? I’m just being paranoid, RIGHT?!”
Normal Ending: “aslkfljflk; so cute~!!!!! You’re just too awkward and adorable, I can’t take it! And of course, with as much as you love me, there’s no way you’d ever want to hurt me, so there’s no way you’re involved in the abductions. I’m sorry for ever suspecting you, baby! I’m sure that when the abductor does come for me, you’ll be there to protect me just like the sweet and adorable boyfriend you are~”
Special Ending: “………..Damn it, I freaking knew it. WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME, JEFF? I HATE YOU SO MUCH. I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGA- D’awwwwww, but look at us all cute and holding hands and stuff… You know, three years doesn’t sound that bad. IT’S OKAY, MY PRECIOUS BABY, I’LL WAIT FOR YOU~ <333”
Ted’s affection increases slowly but surely. …And then after 15 minutes of wallowing in feels, I went and did Ted’s route to see how the ending is actually supposed to go when you don’t fall for the bad guy like an idiot. I can’t decide which one I liked better. I really liked Ted’s and Nicole’s chemistry together, and I definitely liked Ted more as a person (you know, because he’s not a psychopath who drugs and abducts women to perform experiments on them…), but is it terrible to say that I was more interested in Ted’s father during his route? Poor kid, he probably gets that a lot.
Yep, that about sums up my experience with Nicole. If I do another route, it’ll be Darren’s next. I’m not sure I’ll ever do Kurt’s…I do appreciate his interactions with Nicole, but I just have a hard time seeing it. Darren seems like he’d be really interesting to get to know, though, and he’s a lot like myself. I like the idea of getting him to open up more and be more like his online self because that’s what I’d like someone to someday do for me (too bad I’m not nearly as cute as Darren is). I also have to admit that I’m a little interested in the female romance version. I don’t generally do the GxG routes, but Bethany (the library assistant in Jeff’s route) was just too cute.
Feel free to comment or discuss the game with me. I would love to hear your opinions!
Originally posted December 30, 2013 on Tumblr.
“Sweet Fuse” Review: Thrilling Romance in a Deadly Amusement Park
This is part 2 of a post describing my thoughts on some games I’ve played recently. Click here to read part 1, which is about the game Beyond: Two Souls, released by Quantic Dream.
There may be minor spoilers ahead…
This time, I’ll be talking about Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, an otome visual novel by Idea Factory and localized by Aksys Games.
I wasn’t expecting much, but it was on sale (according to some Tumblr post floating around) and I figured I needed to do my part to support the localization of otome games, so I picked it up. To my surprise, and despite the bright colors and goofy-looking villain, the story turned out to be very dark and engaging, and all the character interactions are what really make the game shine. There were definitely moments that made me laugh out loud, as well as somber moments that reminded me how short and tragic life can be.
All these characters seem pretty goofy at first, and the premise seems ridiculous beyond measure (seriously, I’m supposed to be scared of a guy in a pig costume threatening to blow up an amusement park? WTF?) but they all have their stories that unfold as you go along, and you’ll have to play multiple routes to see the tragic mystery unfold.
I don’t adore the main character, Saki, as much as I adored Jodie in Beyond, but that’s not surprising because you don’t get to spend as much time getting to know her. It’s not clear whether her parents are alive or whether they’re worried about her while she’s participating in these life-threatening games, and she never talks about herself, her family (other than her uncle), or her home life at all. Based on her dialogue (both internal and external), she feels like a pretty generic otome heroine with the kind of logical thoughts and conclusions you would expect from a typical morally good person; there’s nothing that particularly stands out about her or her personality, other than that she’s willing to put her life on the line to save her uncle (which, again, is kind of standard for game heroes).
What does make her unique, though, is that 1) her skill is reviewing information and picking up on what the others may have missed in order to solve puzzles, which saves the others’ lives in most situations; and 2) when something doesn’t sit right with her, she’s not afraid to get mad and call others out on their bullshit (usually with hilarious results). It’s so funny seeing these grown men who think they’re all that cower in fear at the wrath of this little high school girl. I also think that through her “rage moments,” she fights back against Hogstein (the villain) more than anyone else, which is pretty awesome.
Gameplay
The gameplay is really simple. It’s mostly just a standard visual novel: scroll through text and occasionally choose from different options to change the direction of the story. For the first half, a lot of the choices are just to determine who you’ll end up with. The second half is unique to the character you have the highest affection with at the end of Stage 3, and those choices are mostly to get more affection with that character so you can get the happy ending.
At certain key moments, it’ll be up to you to get some “Insight” and figure out which part of the puzzle everyone is missing. Only one word is right, but you can guess three things, and as long as one of them is the right one you can move on. If you fail, it’s game over in most cases, so make sure you save at least once per chapter.
Here is the walkthrough I used, in case you’re like me and are only interested in getting certain endings…
Shidou is the handsome police detective. Romance
I’ll be honest, I didn’t look up anything about the characters or anything before I started, so based on the look of the sprites, I thought Saki was around 15 or 16 years old, Wakasa and Meoshi were about the same or a little older (17-19), Mitarashi was in his 20s, Shidou and Urabe were in their 30s, and Shirabe was in his 40s. That didn’t stop me from doing Shidou’s and Shirabe’s routes first, but I did feel a little guilty about it. As a 20-something who is attracted to older, mature men, it made a lot of sense to go after Shidou, Shirabe, or Urabe, and I really appreciated having so many older options because normally there’s only one, if that. But… it was hard to separate myself from Saki, this young high school girl who has no business flirting with these men twice her age when she’s still a minor, and so as a result, the feelings I felt while playing these two routes were a mix of “ASFJKDSL THAT’S SO FREAKING SWEET AND ADORABLE” and “OMFG, WHY AM I DOING THIS? THIS IS SO CREEPY, I’M SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON.”
Since beginning writing this post, though, I’ve looked at Aksys’ website, which claims that Saki is 18 (I’m not sure I believe it, not when they specifically mention her being still in high school) and Shidou is actually the youngest of the adults at only 22 (I don’t think I believe that, either… I mean, how could he have already been promoted to detective? He’s barely old enough to have graduated from the police academy, right?). Shirabe is only 32, which I guess makes sense if Shidou and Urabe are only 20-something. Uh…so… my impressions may not make as much sense now that I know their “real” ages. That said…
Shidou is the cool, sexy, and intelligent police detective. I did him first for…well…obvious reasons: his awesome hair, his sexy voice, dat suit. At first, he’s kind of annoying because he pushes chivalry too far and is always talking about how Saki is a woman and so she shouldn’t be putting herself in danger, but once she calls him out on it (I thought it was hilarious that he liked getting yelled at), he reverts to more of a neutral “I just want to protect everyone” stance. He’s the natural leader of the group, and though he’s not a one-man team by any means, it’s obvious that everyone would have a hard time without his quick thinking and overall badassery to help them through the games. And I get the feeling that his route is one of the few where you actually play every game in every stage, so in retrospect, it was the perfect route to start with.
His romance was very sweet and, even though the story only lasts for 7 days, it felt very believable and not at all contrived. You could see how his general protectiveness gradually turned into “I really want to protect this person” as he learned to open up to and even rely on Saki, whose emotional strength and intelligence he recognized and admired. Still, though, I was surprised that the age difference was never mentioned (now I realize why – four years isn’t that bad), and when they started dating at the end, I kept thinking, “Gee, better not let any of your cop buddies find out what you’re up to or you’ll be in biiiiiiig trouble, bud.”
Shirabe is a grumpy old dad, making the romance a little awkward. Shirabe is pretty much the typical old-man journalist trope, similar to Motomi from Togainu no Chi or Soseki from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. He’s knowledgeable about a lot of things, though he plays his cards close to the chest at first, and respects Saki’s intelligence and insight. Unlike Shidou’s route, which was just as much about the team as it was about him and Saki, Shirabe’s route was pretty much all about his daughter, Mai, and him searching for the truth about his friend’s death, leaving the team behind for the entire second half of the game. Though it sheds some more light on the story’s mystery, you miss out on a lot of important events, so I suggest NOT doing this route first.
His romance suffers from the same thing Motomi’s does, for those who have played that game – his affection feels gentle and fatherly…until it doesn’t. In other words, it goes from “Aww, you remind me of my kid” to “I really wanna bang you” in the space of a breath. Okay, okay, it’s not quite that bad in Shirabe’s route because at least you can kind of pinpoint the scene where the shift starts, so it’s not so sudden (and he never compares you to his daughter since she’s too young). Personally, I thought his story was more interesting than Shidou’s, but because his story took precedence, the romantic chemistry wasn’t as strong (and it suffered from the usual “Aren’t I too old for you?” attempted push-away). Still, it definitely had its moments, especially since I felt that they were on pretty equal footing – sure, Shirabe protected Saki as expected, but Saki also risked her life to protect him, so it was a two-way street. I liked that a lot.
Anyway, I’ll probably play a few more routes before I put this one down, because it’s driving me crazy that I don’t know the whole story yet. >o< If I do play some more routes, I’ll probably post my impressions of those as well, assuming I don’t get too lazy.
Oh, and if anyone knows how to transfer screenshots from your PSP to the computer, tell me! Then I can replace these pictures with my personal favorite screencaps and CGs. 😀
Originally posted December 8, 2013 on Tumblr.
“Nachtigal” Game Review: Gothic Adventure in a Vampire’s Lair
Title screen for “Nachtigal” featuring the two possible love interests. My impression of this game can be summed up in one word: Beautiful.
The design was beautiful. The art was beautiful. The music was beautiful. The characters were beautiful
ly quirky. For a “short” game, it was well-paced and the characters were surprisingly well-developed. Overall, I really loved it and I suggest that anyone who loves otome games or vampires should play it. Seriously.It’s available though a pay-what-you-want system (which I think it genius) and can be downloaded here. You don’t have to pay anything if you don’t want to, but the peeps at Cyanide Tea are behind a lot of really great, high-quality games (including Break Chance Memento, which I’ve been looking forward to forever), so support them if you can!
Warning: Possible spoilers for Luca ahead!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this game, it’s that if I were ever trapped in a house with sexy vampires, I would get myself killed in less than five minutes. Yeah…that’s encouraging, right?
Thankfully, though, through the heavy use of the rollback feature, I managed to get Luca’s ending. If you don’t know, Luca is this sexy mofo:
Miranda finds herself swept off her feet by the charming Luca. Let’s be frank: Luca is the classic cold-and-stoic-until-he-meets-the-right-girl type that I love, plus he wears a suit, which is an automatic +100 sexy points. There was very little chance that I could not like his route.
That said, here’s a little background: though he’s technically part of the Nachtigal family, Luca is more like Adrian’s
butlerservant. He’s cold at first, being quick to snap your neck at the slightest insolence (pro tip: don’t even try to talk out of turn), and in contrast to Adrian, he cares a lot about tradition and formalities.However, once you melt his icy, icy heart with your optimism and wit, you realize that he’s not as stiff and mean as he seems at first (of course). In fact, he’s actually pretty laid-back and finds it fun to tease Miranda, which is pretty cute. They have a lot of great dialogue together, and seeing them gang up on Adrian in one scene was particularly hilarious.
Another of my favorite scenes was when Luca tells Miranda that he actually prefers her in her baggy jeans and jacket as opposed to the fine Victorian dress Adrian forces her into at the beginning. Just sort of shows that he only cares about formalities where the Nachtigal family – and specifically Adrian – is involved because that’s his ‘duty’, but when it’s just him, he doesn’t really care about all that.
So yeah… I’m pretty happy with my choice and I’m more than satisfied with how it played out. And Luca’s route gave me just enough insight into Adrian that I’m interested in playing his route, too, even though he’s not my usual type.
…Now to wait for the walkthrough so I can get all the other endings, haha. <3
Feel free to comment or discuss the game with me. I would love to hear your opinions!
Originally posted November 5, 2013 on Tumblr.