Pyrite Heart: Otome game review

I'm back from the dead!  Yes, this might as well be an April Fool's joke since last I saw, I posted way back in April 2013.  My interest in otome games was re-ignited when I saw Pyrite Heart, voiced, clean art, and best of all- free!  It started with stumbling on Guardian's Spell, a WIP by Winged-Cloud on Kickstarter.

Review

The game itself is really short with an hour max for each of the two available guys featured on the cover (depending how fast you read).  I missed the hype train before the game without voiceovers came out, so I'm not struck down with disappointment.  However, do not play this game thinking it's the next Hakuouki, Tokimeki, Hiiro no Kakera, or whatever big name otome game you fancy.  The art is very pretty and clean, sure, but it doesn't save the cookie-cutter plot.  The premise is very simple, you play as Ahri Remono, princess to whatever European-style royalty family there is in Japan, who challenges her brother to a survival contest outside of her palace for one week.  The two guys you can pick are the loyal servant Kenta or the school president Ryuu.  I think the team must have placed most of their time and resources into the art and voiceovers because the story is painfully short given the designated time and simplistic plot devices.  You get the cosplay, doing-an-activity-thus-bringing-intimacy-together, accidentally hitting someone or getting hit yourself, and other plot devices.  There's no greater conflict other than Ahri getting by for one week without the comfort of her servants or palace (and that conflict quickly slams on her 2/3rds of the way into the story).  Kenta's story was kind of cheesy, because it takes on the master-servant relationship plot down to the tee, including implied reprecussions of breaking the taboo at the ending.  Ryuu's story was a big more refreshing to Kenta's with a resolved ending.  It pains me to admit that Ahri is a nice change of pace to the passive, Mary Sue heroines in many otome games, but at the cost of being a stuck-up, clueless bitch given her background.  The music fits, but nothing sticks out. Speaking of audio, while I appreciate the voiceovers, the volume was very inconsistent.  Not only was there no speech volume adjustment, but I had to deal with constantly adjusting the volume when one character spoke too loud and another spoke too low.  I have to give a hand at the female voice actor for making Ahri REALLY sound like a stuck-up bitch, but she kind of reminded me of Amanda Lee or other NA-based (or otherwise English) female voice actors.  Overall, I'd say give this game a whirl if you're craving for an otome VN fix that's free, in English, and killing time for a short story.

Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom PSP Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead, don't say I didn't tell you so...

I was super happy when I learned that Aksys made something out of the otome survey, which was bringing over Hakuoki.  I love Kazuki Yone's art and the whole idea of Shinsengumi romance bought me.  So I will review the game and then delve a bit into the 3 routes I have played.

Gameplay: There isn't much controller-heavy gameplay going on aside from pushing buttons to get around the UI.  To avoid killing the X button, pressing "Start" will make the dialogue progress however fast the player wants.  There is also the standard "Skip" feature for read dialogue or all dialogue.  The UI is simple to navigate and there isn't much to talk about.  The game relies more on choosing critical points of the story more than choosing dialogue choices to boost affection.  There's only about a maximum of 6-8 romance points which are gathered from the little batches of dialogue opportunities the player gets.  Despite being labeled as an otome game, it caters to the female audience's cravings for romance and bishounen men without too much romantic fluff.  The three routes I've played gives me the impression that all routes begin their romantic turning points in the second half of the game after Chapter 3.  Translation is expected to be flawed in some places, notably spelling errors such as "donno" with "dunno" and "fine" with "find" (in the context of pursuing someone).  Last minor problem is the dialogue choices.  It's a good thing Hakuoki has a quick-load feature, otherwise it would be frustrating.  Some of the dialogue choices are deceptive such as simple "Yes" and "No" which can drastically change the effect.  Many times I thought one answer was right, but it ended up pissing off the guy.  Didn't like how the endings for each guy hangs in the balance of giving blood or not (except for Sano).

Story: Chizuru (default name) Yukimura arrived in Kyoto to search for her missing doctor of a father.  When night fell, she was attacked by a group of bloodthirsty men craving for blood.  Luckily for her, Saito Hajime and Okita Souji came to the rescue.  Too bad the problem is that the Shinsengumi views her as liability to revealing the secret behind the bloodthirsty soldies.  Bound and trapped at their headquarters, Chizuru tries to tell the men that she's not a "guy" as once mistaken, but a girl and almost all the guys are in awe.  Eventually, she was free to wander anywhere so she can search for her father, the only reason why she could be free in the first place.