https://www.backloggd.com/u/HuFe/list/gay-visual-novels-ranked-bara/
It is “objectively” better than the first game
This time the storyline is that you are a pro-gamer, you are super good at a League of Legends parody so you look for a team in a weird place that works as an arcade, pizzeria, and laundromat at the same time. And they created a somewhat enjoyable minigame inside the main game to portray the matches, it’s pretty darn cool. Another thing they added is a rival: you can fully customize them using the character creation, and they can serve several roles depending on your choices (Friendly rivalry, deep hate, and/or act as a 7th romantic option). The characters and story and main storyline is a bit more compelling, I got invested in the life of more characters than in the first game. The character designs have also improved significantly. They already looked good in the first game, but this time they are so gorgeous that you stare at them even if they don’t do anything for you sexually. And speaking of that…
Subjective Complaint 1: I’m not attracted to any of these people
None of the main characters were even close to sparking something romantic in me. To be honest, if your game doesn’t have a guy with a full beard, it’s going to be tricky to hook me in. One thing that slightly bothers me is that the statistics favour femininity over masculinity. In the first game, there’s 4 girls and 3 boys to choose from, and all of them fit their assigned gender (Except Theo). This time is a bit more diverse. There’s 3 femme girls, 1 neutral presenting non-binary (Very good representation by the way), 1 neutral presenting boy, and 1 masculine presenting boy. Therefore, if you are attracted to masculine men like me, your only option is Locksley, and I don’t like Locksley very much. His mouth is weird, and his voice and vibe are annoying, he doesn’t feel like a real person to me. I ended up picking him (I almost picked one of the girls to be honest), I gave it an honest try, but I didn’t feel like I got to know him that well, it felt off. I wish I could form a throuple with the owners of the pizza place, but I don’t think the game offers that option (I love that they act as a single character with a heart split in two as their icon). Anyway, my point is that statistically there’s more women characters to choose from than men, and the characters tend to be more feminine than masculine too, which is like a bias on the developers’ part, not saying that it’s a bad thing, but it makes it harder to enjoy the game for me. And where are the butch lesbians? Think about them too! Masculine people unite!
Subjective Complaint 2: Character Creation is still disappointing
It’s slightly better than the one in the original game, but I was still unable to create anything that left me satisfied. This time they allow you to be fat, but this only changes the torso and legs, and the default face is skinny. Therefore, even if they give you the option (And I love the option), it’s basically unusable because the head-body combination looks really off. And the matter of masculinity persists, when you try to make a boy character, they don’t give you the option to make them stand straight, and they still have no beards on offer, and the face is more feminine this time, so they end up looking non-binary at best. Give me a beard option at least!
Other observations
I think there’s a bit of a contradiction in the setting, because in one hand there’s characters saying “it’s good that the videogame crash didn’t happen, otherwise video games would be considered for boys only” but then you also see some stigma associated with games, and some gender barriers as well. However, I still think it makes sense. It’s a world in which e-sport competitions are mainstream, and half of the players are women, but even if that was the case in our own world, those forms of discrimination would still exist, and it allows the writers to create narratives addressing those issues.
It is “objectively” better than the first game
This time the storyline is that you are a pro-gamer, you are super good at a League of Legends parody so you look for a team in a weird place that works as an arcade, pizzeria, and laundromat at the same time. And they created a somewhat enjoyable minigame inside the main game to portray the matches, it’s pretty darn cool. Another thing they added is a rival: you can fully customize them using the character creation, and they can serve several roles depending on your choices (Friendly rivalry, deep hate, and/or act as a 7th romantic option). The characters and story and main storyline is a bit more compelling, I got invested in the life of more characters than in the first game. The character designs have also improved significantly. They already looked good in the first game, but this time they are so gorgeous that you stare at them even if they don’t do anything for you sexually. And speaking of that…
Subjective Complaint 1: I’m not attracted to any of these people
None of the main characters were even close to sparking something romantic in me. To be honest, if your game doesn’t have a guy with a full beard, it’s going to be tricky to hook me in. One thing that slightly bothers me is that the statistics favour femininity over masculinity. In the first game, there’s 4 girls and 3 boys to choose from, and all of them fit their assigned gender (Except Theo). This time is a bit more diverse. There’s 3 femme girls, 1 neutral presenting non-binary (Very good representation by the way), 1 neutral presenting boy, and 1 masculine presenting boy. Therefore, if you are attracted to masculine men like me, your only option is Locksley, and I don’t like Locksley very much. His mouth is weird, and his voice and vibe are annoying, he doesn’t feel like a real person to me. I ended up picking him (I almost picked one of the girls to be honest), I gave it an honest try, but I didn’t feel like I got to know him that well, it felt off. I wish I could form a throuple with the owners of the pizza place, but I don’t think the game offers that option (I love that they act as a single character with a heart split in two as their icon). Anyway, my point is that statistically there’s more women characters to choose from than men, and the characters tend to be more feminine than masculine too, which is like a bias on the developers’ part, not saying that it’s a bad thing, but it makes it harder to enjoy the game for me. And where are the butch lesbians? Think about them too! Masculine people unite!
Subjective Complaint 2: Character Creation is still disappointing
It’s slightly better than the one in the original game, but I was still unable to create anything that left me satisfied. This time they allow you to be fat, but this only changes the torso and legs, and the default face is skinny. Therefore, even if they give you the option (And I love the option), it’s basically unusable because the head-body combination looks really off. And the matter of masculinity persists, when you try to make a boy character, they don’t give you the option to make them stand straight, and they still have no beards on offer, and the face is more feminine this time, so they end up looking non-binary at best. Give me a beard option at least!
Other observations
I think there’s a bit of a contradiction in the setting, because in one hand there’s characters saying “it’s good that the videogame crash didn’t happen, otherwise video games would be considered for boys only” but then you also see some stigma associated with games, and some gender barriers as well. However, I still think it makes sense. It’s a world in which e-sport competitions are mainstream, and half of the players are women, but even if that was the case in our own world, those forms of discrimination would still exist, and it allows the writers to create narratives addressing those issues.
Reviewed on Mar 28, 2023
2 Comments
Hello! Thank you very much, I didn't know that about Ashley. In the first game I was obsessed with Percy and I didn't pay attention to anyone else lol. From what I read just now, Ashley still uses female pronouns, and she's 100% femme presenting, so my point about the skewed ratios still stands.
HaloBlues
5 months ago
very well-written review!