Pyrite Heart

Pyrite Heart's an interesting VN because it seems like a lot of other otome games, but when you get into it, it lacks the personality or flair of those games. Whether it's because the set-up steers into the inciting argument within three lines or whether it's because the protagonist actively picks a fight with everyone and everything constantly, Pyrite Heart feels like it's missing something – and it may be heart. To me it feels like Pyrite Heart took the easy way out on every turn. Instead of setting up the princess' personality at home, it immediately throws her into school. Instead of creating an opportunity for a natural relationship to happen, the princess forces it, attacking the first guy she sees, making him stand out as the main guy instantly but obviously. Of course, the protagonist is a very aggressive character, and that would be fine if she didn't feel like a shallow take on tsundere with more stubborn traits and an inferiority complex added in quickly. The love interests feel similarly shallow, with the option of either perfect-but-sensitive class president or sporty-and-mostly-loyal secret servant from home. While the dare's time limit of a week is realistic for some silly dare, it takes way too much away from what could happen in the actual story. Drama is quick and incredibly easy to see coming, and the whole premise of royalty is kind of confusing since it's presented as the Japanese Imperial House but seems a lot like a take on western royalty. Simple choices and good art be damned. This game is too quick to jump on reasons and challenges to give purpose and drive to its events, and in doing that leaves out some of the most important things you could find in an otome game: a moment of sincerity, a feeling of getting closer to someone, a semblance of fun.

Very short and very few options. It wasn't written particularly well or have much depth to it. The art was good but given the story seemed like it was written by a pre-teen (not a talented one either). Just... meh. Not terrible but not good.

I played this game when it was still free and I got this as a gift from a precious friend (hi Checkmate!) The price is just right for this short game, and the artwork is superb and I totally dig in the dakimura. I recommend this for those who are still starting out with Otome Visual Novels. Pro's -Great art -by far one of the best I've seen in a western otome visual novel game -Dakimura bonus -this ..this!! -Good female protagonist -i like her funny side and her pride. -Super hot guys -Good story - don't expect something spectacular because the game information says it all. This was refreshing amongst those depressing drama bohoo stories . Being angry tsundere princess is refreshing dammit!! *cough* (she speaks what in her mind, she mocks people, she's perfect!!) Con's -Short gameplay - you get what you paid for -No voice acting (the free version had voice acting and it was totally great) -Quick turn of events - because of the short gameplay, of course everything happens so fast (but that's how we get those gorgeous CG events anyway so no complaints here lol). -No Kenta Dakimura - *weeps* -Can't date the brother-*weeps* ~Info This game does not contain porn, it's a dating romance game targetted for female audience. It's commonly known as an Otome game and it's a Visual Novel so don't expect mini-games or whatsoever because it's a story game with simple choices to change the story. Feel free to google those terms up.

[i]Pyrite Heart[/i] is a cute, short yet vain visual novel without much depth or gameplay option. It certainly lacks character variety or story diversity. It might be considered eligible on means of display - with pretty enough art style, yet I find myself failing to recommend it due to it being completely stereotypical and uninteresting. Here we have tsundere princess Ahri Remono: the snobbish, know-it-all heiress of the royal family. After getting into an argument with his elder brother, the crown prince, Ahri takes his brother's challenge to survive outside of the royal palace like an ordinary high school student for one week. For the duration of that one week, she has to attend an ordinary high school without the aid or observance of any of her servants. No one is to know that Ahri is a princess. As she has always been ready to do so, Ahri accepts the challenge and ventures out to learn some lessons, and possibly find love "unexpectedly". Unexpected? Nah, not really. There are only 2 romance options to begin with and there are no significant characters beside those boys, Ahri and the crown prince anyway. A VN with 4 characters altogether. That felt a bit pathetic contrary to visuals and display of the game being in remarkable quality, accompanied with enjoyable soundtracks. Art style is beautiful and lively. It's like wrapping a lame, common gift in wondrously glamourous wrapping paper. It creates expectations only to fail living up to them. I must say that the story is incredibly short, with only 2 quite obvious branching paths. Each romance has a good, bad and a grand ending reachable through 3-4 dialogue choices. As it goes with any tsundere, there is a brief period of self-importance and aggression coming from Ahri towards the romance option, and a realization period with tears of desperation and frustration. It depends whether there is a happy ending or not, but the formula is foolproof. It is cute, but it's nothing interesting. There is nothing to shock or surprise you, no secret to discover, nothing unforeseeable. Thus, you get bored of watching Ahri and 2 glamorously pretty boys either flirt or argue eventually. It is nothing extraordinary, or remarkable. It sure is a sweet little game for your 3 dollars if you are strictly into VN gameplay and wouldn't like to miss anyone of them. As a final verdict, it is sadly passable. Please also check out Lady Storyteller's Curator page [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ladystoryteller#curation]here[/url] - follow for regular updates on reviews for other games!

Firstly, I play quite a few dating sims and visual novels so I have some basis of comparison. This game feels like it wasted potential. With solid artwork this game is very visually appealing but that's about where it ends in terms of good points. In one sitting of about an hour I beat the entire game and got what I assume to be all the endings and paths. Two good endings each ending with one of the males and the alone ending. Mind you I had the game skip all seen text but it's doubtful anyone would want to read it again. Ahri the main character has serious character flaws that seem to resolve too quickly. When they say you're spending a week out of the castle, you literally spend a week discovering your flaws and fixing them to a degree. While the dialogue can be interesting the characters just seem under developed. They're not horrible but it feels like one added bucket of water to a shallow pool of water in terms of depth of character. Overall for the price and play time, even on sale I would not get this game. It's far too short with only about 5-8 choices to make. From what I can tell there's only one or two choices that will determine which of the two male characters you end up with. It's also obvious which choice to pick to get a good reaction from the guy. Just having two guys is also dull and boring. You don't even get a make friend option. So basically you spend a week falling in love or realizing you have feelings for a servant and then devote your life to them. Uh-huh... Sounds like high school alright... Basically, while this game is cute and has amazing artwork, you're better off looking at screenshots for that. Save your money and maybe it will be in a bundle or something soon.

While the premise was cute and the artwork was very lovely, this really lacked as an otome game. One route took me half an hour, while a good otome game should call for 2 or 3 hours per route at minimum. Simply, it went too quickly. In an otome game, you have to treat your story like any other. Have them slowly get to know each other or be able to go out and do things. Our choices for a love interest are slim and we don't get any events or story outside the rushed romance. I'm sorry, but all in all this wasn't a good game.

I honestly do not know where to stand for this visual novel so therefore i am taking on a neutral review for this visual novel. Meaning yes i do recommend it but to a certain extent. (Go to the bottom for reason of standing on a neutral ground) [h1]The story[/h1] You will play through as a spoiled princess Ahri who's been shelterd all her life. And after a bet she made witth her brother about being able to survive in the outside world for a week, she transferred to a "common school". There she meets a fustrating rival and an unexpected nuisance. [h1]Audio and Visual elements[/h1] [h1]Visual elements[/h1] For a short visual novel there is alot of CGs which is surprising. Art style is good impactful and smooth art style being used. [h1]Audio elements[/h1] Music are relatively avergae nothing really crazy or good. But on 1 of the route i really loved the piano music being used there the piano really adds so much emotion to the situation i was rather surprised of them using a piano music in this short VN [h1]Reasons for a neutral stand[/h1] 1. The ending felt too rushed it is like they just wanted to publish this as fast as possible, I felt that if they put in more effort in adding more content to the story this would surely be a straight up positive review. 2. They could have done better in terms of branching out after the happy endings i really wanted to see more because there is still alot of room for more content but it is just "The End" and you get met by the credits. [h1]To sum up[/h1] The story is really cute and enjoyable in fact I found myself smiling throughout the whole playthrough but it is not worth at full price so i highly suggest to pick it up when it is on sale..

[h1]The good:[/h1] [list] [*]Visual appearance: A fairly high amount of CGs for such a short game, and quality ones at that. The art department is solid, nothing to complain about it; bishies, check; mandatory cute kitten, check; good backgrounds, check. [*]The script: somehow clichéd, though less so than others thanks to the protagonist's personality. It has its moments. [*]The eyecandy is there, and it's not overemphasized. [*] Scales well all the way up to 1080p in fullscreenmode, perhaps higher, haven't tested that. [*]Steam cards, I guess. [/list] [h1]The bad:[/h1] [list] [*]Very short, expect to finish a playthrough and still have cards to drop (well, perhaps not now with the 2 hours rule, but back when I played this it took me two playthroughs and then some idling to get the cards, that's how short this is). [*]The script: somehow clichéd, though less so than others thanks to the protagonist's personality. A tsundere protagonist is not something everyone will stomach, and many of the lines used to convey that feel forced or just ridiculous. [*][strike]You only get to pick one out of two routes, each has two endings and all end rather abruptly. Thus, there's very little replayability value.[/strike] ERRATA: There are actually six endings, as pointed out by Alexia in the comments (who also made a [url=steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=538226782]handy guide[/url] about it). Even so, I feel that the replayability value remains quite low. [*]As others pointed out, this used to be free and voice-acted. This is no longer the case on the Steam version. [*]This is a very subjective opinion, but I found the protagonist unsufferable. Not because I dislike the tsundere archetype, but because I really found her unsufferable. [/list] [h1]TL;DR:[/h1] A short otome VN which does its job relatively well but feels rushed and leaves you with a "they could've put more into this" kind of feeling. To recommend, or not to recommend this game? That is the question: and at the standard price tag I'll have to go with Nay. Wait for it to go on a hefty sale (or bundle), or skip it - unless you're the "gotta catch 'em all" kind of person.

+ Nice quality art. The included digital dakimakura enticed me to purchase this version + For the play length, there were a decent amount of CGs with many variations +/- Plot is very simple, but doesn't go anywhere/is not explored in depth +/- Refreshing personality for an otome MC (tsundere princess) who does exhibit growth. Most people would probably find her annoying, however she outshined any other character. - Pretty short with only 2 routes. The card drops took longer than completing the entire game - Romance felt flat. The male love interests have no depth. - The first version of this game was free and voiced. I played that version before they removed it I might recommended this if it were on sale and you need another basic otome game in your catalog. I decided not to recommend this because I do not like Winged Cloud's actions as a company. They treated their other otome game, "Guardian's Spell" and it's kickstarter backers so poorly that it has left a negative impression on me.

This is another game where I wish there were a more neutral option between whether your recommend it or not, or whether it was a positive or negative review. I didn't hate this game, but I wouldn't say I particularly liked it either. My biggest complain would definitely be that it's far too short. It takes less than a hour to get through the whole story once. Furthermore, it only took a couple of hours to view all the story paths. Yes, this is a romance visual novel. This is not to be confused with a sim game, because there aren't any stats or daily choices. There are two guys to choose from. During the story, there will be prompts for choices during high points of events. What you choose determines if you end up with a guy at the end. The choices are pretty obvious. The gist is: Don't be a jerk to the person you want to end up with. There's basically a good and bad ending for each guy. Another complaint would be the misuse of the word "love." I really hate that in stories, when people have known each other for, like, two seconds, and they say they're "in love." This story's duration is only 1 week, and yet there's characters proclaiming they're in love at the end. It would be "like" at best and infatuation at worst. I'm not saying that they couldn't make this game for that short of a duration, but it is ridiculous to use the word "love" in these circumstances. I would've enjoyed the game a bit more if they'd just had the characters proclaiming "like" instead. Despite all its bad points, there are some things I did like about it. The main character's personality is very flawed. I like this, because many stories have main characters that are almost too perfect, and therefore, not realistic. By the end of the game, she's learned some things and become a slightly better person. While the romance choices (the two guys) aren't exactly unique, they're definitely not of the most common archetypes either. The best thing about game was the humor, I think. The game made me giggle. If a game can make me giggle, it can't be *that* bad, right? Would I recommend it? Eh ... if you like very lighthearted visual novels and don't mind the flaws mentioned, then sure, but I would get it during a sale, at least.