Its a good game and I did enjoy it but compared to the others this company has released this one felt like it was lacking a little bit.
I’ll be honest it was a little hard to get into this game, after playing a few ninja dating sims previously it was a bit hard slipping back into that slice of life, rather then falling in love with those heroic jumping-in-front-of-the-sword sacrifices, I got the he-did-your-taxes sacrifices which just doesn't have as big of an impact.
If you are looking for a simple, cute office romance dating sim then this one is definitely for you.
Are the stories award winning? no, but that doesn't make them bad, these are reasonably easy going, cute stories that will have you occasionally kicking your feet and giggling. The variety on the characters there should be at least one that catches your attention
~ The Good ~
-The characters personalities don't waver to suit the stories, they are reasonably easy to read and getting the 'Happy Ending' is fairly easy on each of them.
- An Odd one to comment but the menus are a breeze to use, I've played a few dating sims where controls and menus are confusing so when it comes to one of these games i know i don't have to stress over that.
-The feature art (CGS) are gorgeous as always, a bit simple but still beautiful.
-The stories were nice and simple, there weren't any crazy events that seem unrealistic or forced, mostly all the stories seemed to flow nicely.
- A notable mention: the English signage in the background scenes absolutely cracked me up, 'Water is life' 'The radio saved my life tonight' and my personal favourite Karou's shirt 'Leave me alone'
~ The Not-So-Good ~
- The music, it does it job and sets the tone of the situation most of the time but the surprised/mischievous music was really random and tended to break me out of the story. i played majority of the game without it as it bugged me too much.
- The episodes felt a bit short, you still get a lot of game but they did feel shorter than other games.
- A faceless FMC, i know why they do it but it ruins the feature art (CGs) i don't exactly like when games have faceless characters as it breaks the immersion for me.
- Choices don't have much of an impact on the story, you may get one or two lines that could be different but other then that there is barely any variation. the 'Happy Ending' and 'Good Ending' is the difference you get and even then it can be very similar, i found some of the good endings felt more wholesome and cuter then the happy ones.
-There are no bad endings, which for some people may be a good thing but since having them once in a game that added excitement of possible fail makes the story all the more rewarding.
- The step sibling quirk... look i know they are actually related and they knew one another before that whole thing happened but its still kinda odd..
Now onto the characters themselves, spoilers for those who haven't played the game yet!!
I went into this game blind, I played the prologue and based who i wanted to play off that so the order ended up being, Akiyoshi-Kaoru-Minato-Chiaki-Shusei **this is not the order i rate them in!
Akiyoshi - this man pulled me in instantly with the power he seemed to resonate (and the slight a$$hole factor // a weakness of mine) and honestly this play-through was a bit of a disappointment. It felt like there was no progress at all then all of a sudden one episode everything happened [spoiler] he confessed in a damn graveyard.. like dude there's a time and place [/spoiler] The dialogue didn't feel overly natural, it felt like they came up with these cute lines then tried to fit them in and make them work. I didn't hate this story but it just didn't live up to those expectations I had for this character, so that could be my own fault there.
Karou- Originally he was going to be the first one i was going to play until Aki was introduced. His personality was another one I'm a sucker for (the strong silent type) and overall his look was the one i could appreciate the most. The story side of this one i found more entertaining then the last, [spoiler] plus this dude has a cat so that's bonus points [/spoiler] The story between these two felt a little more natural then Aki's route but I [b]HATED[/b] the sequel, I found the FMC to be completely and utterly selfish towards him [spoiler] The fact that the game always pushes the whole he doesn't open up and struggles to card then when he tries to finally do it with the FMC she COMPLETELY ignores it! ARGH [/spoiler] but other then that hiccup i didn't mind the story, it felt more realistic and seemed to flow better. On another note, where can i get that shirt?
Minato- this character caught my attention through the other twos play-throughs, the more he belittled me and picked on me the more i sat here like 'yes, this man is a real a$$hole of the story' So naturally, I ignored all those red flags and dove into this story. Now i was pleasantly surprised by this story, his personality didn't waver but expanded, his 'trauma' felt believable and the bickering, oh my gosh i loved it so much. I found this play-through out of all other ones to fell the most natural (at least for me it was) The sequel was a bit odd but I could look past it and the FMC felt way less annoying in this play-through then any of the others. The story itself was super cute and I was constantly giggling and kicking my feet.
Chiaki - I was once again drawn to this character cause of the a$$hole vibes but the mask is what put me off him. I wish I stayed away, out of all the routes this one pissed me off the most, the character really got under my skin, I didn't like his actions, I didn't like how it all gets blamed on his past, I didn't like his manipulation, I just didn't like him! another thing that bugged me in this story was the FMC herself, all the stunts he pulled and she just rolls over! ARGH there was the whole sibling thing that stayed pretty strong throughout this story compared to the others which was fine until it was suddenly okay to be with each other just had a bit of those Alabama vibes. I felt the pacing was all over the place and overall it felt really damn toxic.
Shusei - the lucky last play-through, he was last because i always find the 'Nice guy' trope boring BUT I ended up really enjoying this route, not because of the award winning plot (complete sarcasm there if you couldn't tell) but the relationship and the characters themselves was really nice and refreshing. out of all the stories this one felt the most realistic and natural, I loved how they actually helped one another and worked through things rather then letting them fester and grow out of control. it was just a really enjoyable story. [spoiler] and the excitement I had when I found out he was a fellow gamer! then speaking my language about otaku's! I was in heaven! The innuendos over the gaming actually had me laughing out loud, I really loved it [/spoiler] If I had to complain about one thing in this route it would be the damn step sibling thing stayed a hot topic right through, other stories it tended to die off and was ignored but this one it kept coming back up just to remind you how weird that sh!t is.
So overall what order would i rate these guys in?
Minato-Shusei-Kaoru-Akiyoshi-Chiaki
If you are planning to get this game i would recommend it but not full price and if you are picking between this companies games in my opinion 'The masquerade Kiss' is still the best one i played from them. If you've played them all already then this one is a good one to fill that void it just doesn't leave you thinking about it to much after unlike the others.
