ThunderheadFred
The murder mysteries were weak and overly simple to start with, only to get buried beneath a pile of awkward and completely arbitrary trial mini-games.
The cast is a collection of shallow stereotypes that do have slightly more depth… but the game’s narrative mode doesn’t allow you any time to get to know them, so what’s the point? What little humor there is relies on obnoxious pervy fan-service ”jokes” about a bunch of terrorized teenagers, which is not only tiring but also pretty gross.
The premise never resolves itself, leaving about five billion lazily unanswered questions. And this is merely a personal gripe, but half the time I found the art, music, and sound effects just… grating.
Points for style, ambition, and production value; there’s definitely something charming about how much attention was lavished on certain parts of this game…. Unfortunately mostly the wrong parts. Hoping the sequels improve on this, because so far I’m not especially impressed.
Also, getting platinum on this was a special kind of hell. I ripped that trophy out of Monokuma’s cold dead hands.
The cast is a collection of shallow stereotypes that do have slightly more depth… but the game’s narrative mode doesn’t allow you any time to get to know them, so what’s the point? What little humor there is relies on obnoxious pervy fan-service ”jokes” about a bunch of terrorized teenagers, which is not only tiring but also pretty gross.
The premise never resolves itself, leaving about five billion lazily unanswered questions. And this is merely a personal gripe, but half the time I found the art, music, and sound effects just… grating.
Points for style, ambition, and production value; there’s definitely something charming about how much attention was lavished on certain parts of this game…. Unfortunately mostly the wrong parts. Hoping the sequels improve on this, because so far I’m not especially impressed.
Also, getting platinum on this was a special kind of hell. I ripped that trophy out of Monokuma’s cold dead hands.
F-Finally….. got platinum on Hakuoki
(Leans against a wall, gasping for breath)
That was….. a lot…….. of boys
(Leans against a wall, gasping for breath)
That was….. a lot…….. of boys
This review contains spoilers
This game is everything I ever wanted. I enjoyed literally every second of it. The switch port is a little stuttery at times, but other than that, this was a nearly flawless experience for me. There's a J-Pop idol dance finale. What more do you need??????
This review contains spoilers
I dunno what I was expecting when I started 999, but the anime successor to Titanic: Adventure Out Of Time was not it
Story = neat, full of conspiracy lore meta just like Uchikoshi’s other work. Unfortunately the number aspect felt deeply underutilized, with too-easy point-click puzzles mixed with a bunch of math problems, a map feature you never actually use, calculator feature you can’t use when you actually need it, clunkly visual novel mechanics desperately in need of a flowchart or full skip, and uhhhhh the final boss fight was literally just basic sudoku?.??..?
Moral of the story: better learn how to do sudoku before you turn ten or a mad scientist might incinerate you.
Overal solid 7/10, deeply entertaining but a bit of a spaz
Story = neat, full of conspiracy lore meta just like Uchikoshi’s other work. Unfortunately the number aspect felt deeply underutilized, with too-easy point-click puzzles mixed with a bunch of math problems, a map feature you never actually use, calculator feature you can’t use when you actually need it, clunkly visual novel mechanics desperately in need of a flowchart or full skip, and uhhhhh the final boss fight was literally just basic sudoku?.??..?
Moral of the story: better learn how to do sudoku before you turn ten or a mad scientist might incinerate you.
Overal solid 7/10, deeply entertaining but a bit of a spaz
2015
It’s…. Fine? I picked this up when I was building my physical otome collection for Vita, as it was pretty cheap and easy to get at the time. I don’t regret it, but I have a feeling I would have enjoyed this more if I was still a tween, or better yet, a Japanese tween. The story feels specifically tailored toward Japanese high schooler ennui, so as a 30-something American I definitely feel a bit…. Unmoved, shall we say. I did appreciate the feral theatre kid energy of the Bad Apples though.
It wasn’t BAD, but felt a bit like an outline of a visual novel, rather than a fully realized story. A lot of side characters (who were more interesting that the LI’s, most of the time) have subplots that never get resolved. Despite the short length, the game still repeats itself a lot, and the “choice” mechanics were basically color-coded railroads. The touch system was also just…… odd.
CGs were lackluster as well… overall, everything just felt kinda halfhearted. That said, I DID love the visual style and music. I just feel like this game needed more time in the oven.
It wasn’t BAD, but felt a bit like an outline of a visual novel, rather than a fully realized story. A lot of side characters (who were more interesting that the LI’s, most of the time) have subplots that never get resolved. Despite the short length, the game still repeats itself a lot, and the “choice” mechanics were basically color-coded railroads. The touch system was also just…… odd.
CGs were lackluster as well… overall, everything just felt kinda halfhearted. That said, I DID love the visual style and music. I just feel like this game needed more time in the oven.
This review contains spoilers
So basically you spend 20-30 hrs playing a realllllllly slow, clunky, repetitive visual novel with a few inconsistent and frustrating puzzle rooms and then the last hour is like “oh shit here’s the actual story” and suddenly they info-dump an actual apocalypse on you, and right when it gets to the part that has the potential to be genuinely interesting the game ends on a cheap OR IS it?!???
I admit after playing the third game I appreciated this one more, but it’s my least favorite of the three on its own.
I admit after playing the third game I appreciated this one more, but it’s my least favorite of the three on its own.