The Pirate Mermaid (beta demo) - Feedback/review

 

Ever since your father died searching for the mermaid's treasure, you've sworn to fulfil his dream yourself. Becoming a pirate was the best way of accomplishing that goal... until your mutinous crew dumped you overboard during the biggest storm of the century.

Miraculously, you are saved and find a sorcerer who will make you a magical contract – with a catch. He'll transform you into a mermaid so you can grab the treasure, if you bring him a red vial from the mermaid treasury. If you fail, you'll be turned into a lobster for his dinner.

Now, you have six days before the spell ends. Will you become rich beyond your wildest dreams? Fail the contract and become lobster bisque? Perhaps you'll fall in love with the mermaid prince or sorcerer...

Or corrupt them into joining your evil pirate ways.

First glance

As with any visual novel the first thing you see is, of course - the main menu. The drawing was very nicely presented, colourful and got me in the mood to really sit down and get right into it.

Following that was a short written intro and if I'm honest, anything like that I usually just glance over, but not with this one. The first few sentences were enough to reel me in, grab my attention and hold it firmly on what was in front of me. The story for me had it all, it told a beautiful tale of what was going on and stirred several feelings in me, such at sadness, anticipation and excitement. So in short just from that 2 minutes or so, I was already hooked. Beautifully done guys!

Sadly right after this I was called to eat and not wanting to waste a moment I ravaged my food like a starved dog and dived right bac to my computer.

I guess a lot of people might not like the thought of a female pirate because of the myths about them and whatnot, but at the end of the day this is a fantasy novel and I personally don't see anything wrong with it – In fact, I took an instant liking to the MC. I found her to be funny, cheeky yet confident, somewhat clumsy but it was really endearing and all round cute. I would even go as far as to say that I'd really love to cosplay her but I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't understand what I was trying to be haha.

The sorcerer I also took quite a liking too. I can't quite put my finger on why I like him though – I just do :3 Maybe it has something to do with the monocle, I don't usually see cute guys sporting one of them very often and actually pulling it off as well as him. Other than that, the little that is shown of him, he does have quite a strong personality. If you can't tell already, I've defiantly picked the one I want to romance first right here ^-^

Mikali... Something seems off about him to me – not the way he's written I mean as in he just seems too innocent to me; as if he's hiding something and I really want to find out what! I found his occasional blushing to be adorable/sweet and although he didn't stand out as much as the sorcerer I do look forward to getting a better understanding of him when the full game is released.

Jack the 'merbird' parrot I just LOVED all over. He's trouble and the MC would have it so much easier if she just ditch him somewhere but he's what brings most of the comedy to the game. I found myself smirking whenever he popped onto the screen and I'm sure the game wouldn't have as much life without him. 

Ignoring the minor typo here and there (as it's still in it's beta stage) I thought everything was described nicely. It has a lot of detail and was easy to follow. Not once did I have to re-read anything to get a clear grasp on what was happening.

The GC, backgrounds etc were stunning, my only complaint here is that I didn't get to see enough :( Obviously when the full game is available I wont have that problem haha

The only thing I did find a tad annoying was some of the sound effect but by the time I'd finished half the demo I wasn't noticing them as often. Not sure if that is a good thing or not but... yeah.

Overall I loved what I've see from this visual novel so far and I can truthfully say without hesitation that I can't wait to get my hands on the full version!

Anyone who managed to get through all that fangirl rambling I appreciate it! Either way you can get your hands on a copy of the demo here  and don't forget, if you do play it leave some feedback at the main site!!

a2~a due~ Review

 

"Con Amore. Play it with love."

It's been years since rocker girl Sona Song last talked to her father, a famous classical music conductor. So she's shocked, and a bit annoyed, when he leaves his orchestra to her after he dies. Though Sona just wants to slack off, she's soon visited by Yin Le Hao, her father's musical protégé from China. Hao doesn't speak any English, but he's determined to whip the orchestra into shape no matter what.

Features

• ~30,000 words
• 3 endings (Love, Friendship, and ???)
• 9 CGs and chibi arts
• theme song by the talented Gerald Ko
• lots of extras (music and Chinese glossary, bonus chapter, music box, etc.)
• unlockable “translation mode” for all Chinese dialogue
  

Sona Song

Sona is a highly independent punk-rocker girl who inherits her fathers orchestra after his death, much to her displeasure. The only reason she keeps it is for the money which she will only receive after each concert assuming she attends every practise without fail.

Hao Yin Le 

The only romanceable guy in the game Hao is very passionate about his conducting to the point where he forces high expectations onto those he works with, becoming seemingly agitated when they fail. He has tremendous respect for Sona's father whom he knew in China. Hao doesn't speak a word on English.

I can honestly say that when I first started this game I was unsure if I'd actually bother to finish it. I didn't like Sona much and Hao was hard to connect to but I'm really glad I carried on; it became so much better. Sona quickly started to grow on me and I couldn't help but like her more and more as the story developed – Hao too. It was made clear (at least in my opinion) that you aren't suppose to like Hao's character right away – that's why the language barrier is there... Well that and I think there's a 'love will conquer all' type message in there too.

The love ending left me wanting; It's wasn't really romantic in my opinion more... comical - in fact I found the friendship end more satisfying – there just seemed to be more closure. As for the ??? ending... well all I have to say to that is you really have to try it out, it's weird and funny all at the same time!

I found a lot of the sound effect to be rather obnoxious but other than that, I liked the novel quite a lot. There's sad moments that made me choke up and there's hysterical moments where I nearly spit my drink all over my monitor. My favourite thing about this game however, was probably the adorable chubby sketches in-between each chapter. Would I recommend this game? As long as your aren't looking for some to romantic; yeah. 

 

You can download the novel over at Lemma Soft Forums

Boku no Shokora - Review

“I will exchange your younger brother back to you in return for your homemade chocolate." 

Title	Boku no Shokora
Original title	僕のショコラ
Aliases	My Chocolate, His Chocolate
Length	Very short (< 2 hours)
Developer	BabyClan
Publishers	BabyClan  Ouiratsuike

Boku no Shokora is a short (about 2 hours) and sweet comedy game where you play as Komachi with the luxery of renaming her if you wish. One day she received a ransom note stating that her brother will be returned to her in exchange for her homemade chocolates. Fearing for her brothers safety she sets out to meet Takaomi. He's rich and handsome but is quite misguided in how he interacts with others.

There are a total of four endings for this game and none will leave you disappointed. Once you complete all of them there is a prologue in the extras which I strongly recommend reading; it explains how poor Komachi got into this situation.

Komachi

Komachi is a female junior college student who is narrow-minded when it comes to love. Her days are always filled with bewilderment thanks to her awakening feelings of love for the exorbitant Takaomi. When Komachi was younger she constantly had to protect her younger brother from the neighborhood bullies, and her continued fighting against them helped to polish her hard hitting right punch.

Takaomi

Having received special education for gifted children in order to be raised as a high society (class) person, Takaomi has a tendency to not know how to deal with people all too well. Komachi is the first person to have stepped so deeply into Takaomi's world that he visits her even though he knows it means getting punched. Komachi is a very important existence to Takaomi.

Youta

The number one most victimized person from these events. At any rate, his fate is that of one bears a trauma. He is constantly uneasy that his big sister will be the one kidnapped next time. Worried about his sister's relationship with Takaomi, Youta is putting off his own love for the time being.

I found myself spending most of this game laughing almost uncontrollably yet also falling for Takaomi's awkward charm. He knows what he wants but doesn't quite understand how to get it. It doesn't help that Komachi doesn't believe his intentions after he demands something even more crazy for her brothers return. This game is defiantly a little gem I would recommend to anyone – It's also free! 

You can download Boku no Shokora here although this isn't where I got my copy from.

You do need to change your system locale language to play this game. To do so, simply go to the Control Panel, then Clock, Language and Region (or Region and Language). Click the Administrative tab, then Change system locale to Japanese (Japan).
This can easily be changed back to English once you’re done playing by following the same directions and selecting English instead of Japanese.

And finally, something to swoon at :3

 

X-Note - Review

 

“Revenge is like dark chocolate. It's bitter, but sweet.” - Scid

X-NOTE - A Mystery Otome Game

10 years ago, Essi's mother died in a questionable accident. She left a USB flash drive with a locked folder called "X-note". Unable to understand the purpose of it, Essi continued living her life as a normal junior high school student. However, Essi is hardly normal, for she possesses power beyond normal human.

Essi's quiet life was interfered by a sudden visit of a young man named Yuon. He invited her to investigate a murder case and a mysterious disappearance in the Xen Institute, a school deeply related to Essi's mother. Tempted by the possibility of unlocking "X-note" and solving her mother's mysterious death, Essi decided to take his request. But what awaited her there was a lot more than what she could possibly imagine…

GAME OVERVIEW:

X-note is a blend between Visual Novel and Dating-Sim. Follow the story of Essi as she pursues the truth of her mother's death. The game spans for 30 days, of which you can train Essi's psychic abilities, explore the school, collect notes, and make choices to determine her fate.

Developer: Zevia Inc Production

 Spec: Flash, 65.4 MB, 800×600 

Genre: Mystery, Romance, Supernatural 

Rating: Teen 13+ 

Release Date: 8 March 2011 

 

This game may be over two years old now but playing it has really inspired me to start this blog and review visual novels which I've been wanting to do for a while now so lets dive right in...

 Essi

 

"It makes me think that life doesn't have to be complicated in order to be beautiful."

You play as Essi, a goth girl in her early teens who lost her mother through a questionable death ten years ago. Essi's mother left her a necklace which is also secretly a USB stick. The only thing found on it is a locked folder called “X-Note”. In order to open this folder and find out the truth about her mothers murder she accepts Yuon's invitation to join Xen invitation.

I enjoyed playing this protagonist quite a bit. I like how she actually feels like an actual person. She has her ups and downs, overcomes her fears and grows more confident as the story goes on. She's not a push over like some of the female protagonist I've come across, although she can be really ungrateful at moments which really did annoy me. 

 

 Yuon

 

A student of the Xen institute, Yuon was the one who invites Essi to the school in order to investigate a murder case and a mysterious disappearance. He knew about Essi's abilities and askes her to use them to find the culprit. Yuon is Serious and hardworking.

I'm still not sure what to make of Yuon; he wasn't a bad character but he wasn't great either. I just don't think I connected to his personality very well – Don't get me wrong, I don't mean it was written badly or anything, I guess he's just not my type haha. 

 

Anon 

 

“It's all good if you're fine.”

Anon is the informant at Xen Institute who seems more than willing to help Essi with her investigation. He's playful, somewhat obnoxious and never misses a chance to tease Essi; even going as far as to bring up her bust size on their very first meeting. He also loves anything that's green.

 I quite liked Anon, he's more or less always happy and I find the way he teases Essi to be quite endearing. I got quite a few laughs from his path and I could quite easily pick him as my favourite guy, however, I can imagine him being annoying for some. As a side not his cat face is adorable :3

Oure

 

“I use to be real good at hide-and-seek – particularly during winter.”

Essi meets Oure when she is lost upon taking a peek around the institute. He sports a white outfit from top to toes that completely matched his favorite pastime - watching the clouds. Naive and child-like, Essi has little trouble interacting with him.

I love how cheerful and seemingly care-free Oure was, he is always so happy to see Essi and I found his personality to be so adorable. His is defiantly the path I liked the most; the amount of times I caught myself thinking “He's so cute” :3

Stat building

i just want to point out that there is stat building in this game but its very minimal (once a day), takes only moments and Zeiva Inc have made it fun and exciting; such as watching a gauge and hitting the button at the right time, a memory puzzle and a matching the symbols system. You have a maximum of five (5) tries a day and if you fail even one day, you wont get the bonus ending but there is a quick save system so use it if you think you might get overwhelmed, especially more toward the end of each category when they are made slightly more challenging. 

Overall

Overall I've really enjoyed this game and I'm likely to remember and possibly replay it again in the future. I felt the story was solid, the twists are interesting and the characters great. It's made me laugh and it's made me cry and that does happen to me much in visual novels... well at least the crying part anyway! The good endings may not be all that soppy but you can defiantly feel the bond between Essi and her guy which left quite an impression on me. It's been really refreshing to play a game where you do have to play through all of the paths to have all of your questions fully answered. It made it encouraging to finish (not that I, personally needed it). The password system for the extras I loved; it's unique and works really well within the game. The only thing I was iffy about was the price, at least at first anyway... well that and the fact there was no Rexus path :'( but luckily, if like me, you really wanted to snag him Zeiva Inc are working on another novel called “Area-X” which will make the wish come true!

For anyone who hasn't already played this and is interested, you can find the demo and full game here

  I also suggest checking out Zevia Inc over on facebook for info on Area-X and the likes.

 

Couldn't help myself. I had to sneak this one in!