First of all, thanks to Translated Games for making the English translation. Absolute legends making dreams come true for a lot of people, I'm sure. Also thanks to Tim Rogers for introducing me to this game, unfortunately I have not learned enough Japanese in my 23 years of living on this reality, so I can't and don't deserve to play the better version of this.
Simply put, this game is a goddamn menace! Imagine minding your own business, just trying to be best version of yourself so you get noticed by a cute girl you're interested in... and then a bunch of other girls decide that they want a piece of the action too. The "bomb" mechanic is a wild feature that adds so much drama to your romance story, and in the mid-to-late game there's no avoiding it. It's a very endearing game-ification of the rumor mill, as girls that you know can spread bad rumors about you if you ignore them for too long, potentially putting your relationship with other girls on shaky ground. There can be a lot of salt going around at the same time, and thus multiple girls can be in "bomb" mode at once, setting in motion a mad "defusal" rush, with the cost of your limited free time. Not only it adds a lot of tension to a seemingly innocent game, but also makes you appreciate the time you spend with your waifu-of-interest even more. It's a wonderfully engaging romance simulation that doesn't take itself too seriously, and has a lot of fun tricks up its sleeve, but it also has the restraint to hide them in settings that would maximize the surprise, even though many people would miss it as a result.
My only complaints are mostly quality of life elements, like the text scroll being too slow for me even on the fastest setting. I would also prefer if they toned down the "bomb" mechanic a little, as even though the added tension is very appreciated, it can feel annoying when multiple girls decide to bomb you out of nowhere. Instead, it could be better to add new mechanics that is hinting the player on a upcoming "bomb", allowing them to prevent it. Maybe they already did that in the newer games, I dunno, I'm just judging this game specifically. Also there's no VO in this version which obviously takes out a decent amount of wind off its sail.
Anyway, I would let a couple of the girls in this game kill me, so I think they did a great job with the characters. That's all you need in a game like this, really.
Simply put, this game is a goddamn menace! Imagine minding your own business, just trying to be best version of yourself so you get noticed by a cute girl you're interested in... and then a bunch of other girls decide that they want a piece of the action too. The "bomb" mechanic is a wild feature that adds so much drama to your romance story, and in the mid-to-late game there's no avoiding it. It's a very endearing game-ification of the rumor mill, as girls that you know can spread bad rumors about you if you ignore them for too long, potentially putting your relationship with other girls on shaky ground. There can be a lot of salt going around at the same time, and thus multiple girls can be in "bomb" mode at once, setting in motion a mad "defusal" rush, with the cost of your limited free time. Not only it adds a lot of tension to a seemingly innocent game, but also makes you appreciate the time you spend with your waifu-of-interest even more. It's a wonderfully engaging romance simulation that doesn't take itself too seriously, and has a lot of fun tricks up its sleeve, but it also has the restraint to hide them in settings that would maximize the surprise, even though many people would miss it as a result.
My only complaints are mostly quality of life elements, like the text scroll being too slow for me even on the fastest setting. I would also prefer if they toned down the "bomb" mechanic a little, as even though the added tension is very appreciated, it can feel annoying when multiple girls decide to bomb you out of nowhere. Instead, it could be better to add new mechanics that is hinting the player on a upcoming "bomb", allowing them to prevent it. Maybe they already did that in the newer games, I dunno, I'm just judging this game specifically. Also there's no VO in this version which obviously takes out a decent amount of wind off its sail.
Anyway, I would let a couple of the girls in this game kill me, so I think they did a great job with the characters. That's all you need in a game like this, really.