Spirited Heart Deluxe

Incredibly dull. The stat-raising is both easy (lots of time, few consequences, ability to save scum) and tedious (you gain stats from jobs slowly and randomly, the max stats are high, and paying to raise stats requires lots of grinding for cash). The lack of non-random events is probably the game's biggest weakness, because it means there's nothing to work towards, no reason to balance out your lower stats to pass checks (there are a few, but they're randomized and thus can't be planned for) or put any thought to planning and strategy. Some characters are more likeable than others, but they're all very shallow and only have a handful of disjointed scenes. There's no overarching story, or even any continuity between different characters' random encounters (for example, you can encounter Frebo in Hade's scenes, but when you get his first scene afterwards the game acts like you've never met before). The romance feels more like an afterthought bonus, which doesn't work when there's no strong stat-raising backbone to support it. Maybe when it was first released in 2009, when English visual novels and anime-style games weren't as common, the flaws were easier to overlook. But now, when there's so much more to choose from, the fact that [i]Spirited Heart[/i] still has a $19.99 price tag is absolutely baffling. ~ [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/31589634-Kimchi-Tea-Reviews/]Kimchi Tea Reviews[/url] ~

Three female protagonists to choose from. Six male and six female romances to pursue. It's a life sim! Spirited Heart is not a game I can really reccommend. I am a particular fan of life management style dating sims like this game but the way this game goes about it is more frustrating than rewarding and that's a pretty major black mark as far as life sims go. It does have some good things though! Having options as far as protagonists goes is always nice and customization options help you feel connected to the protagonist. While you're only really get to choose between three different female it does change the art and some of the dialogue so there is some distintion between them. There are also a good variety of romances available and a way to get a "good" ending without romance at all which is nice if you're more in to the personal development side of the game. Alas, all those good things have rather striking caveats. The customization options are basically superflorous and just provide a few points in different stats that are helpful but ultimately minor all things considered. No matter what backgrounds you had or what choices you picked you always end up in the same place, artist, pauper, or princess. Worse is that really you should pick that background that gives you the best legup on your potential mate or personal goal ending (which varies between the three selectable characters) but starting the game you have no clue what skills you'll need or where you can find your target romance. Sure there are a good number of romance options and they all are pretty distinct and cute but your ability to encounter them is random - AND they change locations, like one who initially worked on the farm might decide to go off and pursue art and you have to know that's what they'd do and then get the stats to be able to get in yourself to continue the relationship. This problem is made worse by the time limit and the fact that if your stats get too high you can get the personal ending and ruin your chance to get the romance ending so you can't get your stats too high! Even discounting the romances entirely the method of stat and money gain is very random too. Everytime you play a little dice game to determine how well you performed and... Well it just gets irritating. Playing this game ends up being clicking to do different jobs and randomly gaining a bonus of a penalty and then spending the money you made on vacations to reduce your exhaustion and depending on what sort of vacation gain a few more stats all while hoping for some interesting random event to occur to provide a brief reprieved from the monotony. I think there is a decent life sim and dating sim here but they really need to add some more random events to make the extremely random nature of the game more tolerable. It would be nice also if after meeting your romance in their initial and second location you could find them more reliable - perhaps using a stat requirement that needs to be passed in order to continue the romance. Or perhaps gifts? Just some ideas. The final nail in the coffin in this game is the price. Twenty dollars is a lot for this. If it were five or even ten dollars I think things would be far more excuseable. I reccommend passing on this title.

When I was buying the game, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia. I remember my childhood and buying demos so I could see the game to its end. However, my childhood had a better picture of this game than I do as an adult. I don't like it. It just doesn't do it for me. I wasn't able to refund it. I'm stuck with it. What I didn't like: Interface Gameplay Graphics The Stat-Raising What I liked: The realisation of having finally bought a game I coveted as a kid

♥ Sorta neat I liked the premise - I'm a sucker for simulation games, especially ones filled with choices. Unlike other games, there's many characters to pursue a relationship with, and along with being able to choose your character species, you can also choose whether to be straight or lesbian. Nice! -:) Then there's stats - essentially character traits like gardening, charisma, etc. that effect the jobs you can have, and the choices/outcomes to things. Unfortunately what I quickly realized was the game isn't about a story or choice - it's about the stats. ♥ The AI have strong personality This was something I appreciated on my otome-binge session. A lot of otomes tend to run together, at least to me, and have characters that are defines by cliches, and tend to blend together. Spirited Heart gave its characters strong, clear personalities and attitudes, along with flashes of background story that I liked. If only the devs would have given them more. I felt restricted, esp. the more I played, on where the game could actually "go". You have an end goal and need to stick to it - there isn't really time to focus on developing relationships, at least not w/out sacrificing the main "quest". If you're after the achievements, this can be an annoyance. Also I wish there was more development to the relationships - dialogue choices are essentially limited to one or two choices, and it's the same on every date (to vacation spots). There isn't much variety as you progress, and I wish there had been more attention paid to that. This game should have given higher priority to the story, relationships, and personalizing your character than stats and their effects - at least if the game was going to advertise itself as a "fantasy life" simulator. ✘ Disjointed From the flashes of a storyline to the lack of one, from pretty artwork to anatomical fails, nothing in this game really /flows/. Whenever it showed promise, like with the random character encounters, it'd revert to requiring the player to roll the dice over and over again, chasing after stats instead of a story. That's what this game seems to really be about - the stats. I don't think it advertises itself properly. This is a game more like D n D (without the story) than it is a "fantasy life" simulation game. It isn't like a typical otome game, or a Sims like game, nor is there really a lot of freedom provided to choose your own path. It makes you focus on stats and meeting the end goal first. And what's up with the time line - 30yrs old = death. ✘ The price (ಥ﹏ಥ) I /really/ wish that Steam provided a neutral review option. I was heavily split on whether to rate Spirited Heart positive or negative, and played more....and more...and more in order to decide. I ended up w/a perfect game - and looked at the store price. $19.99? 100% not worth it. While the game has enjoyable aspects, I don't think it has a high replay value (especially after you get all the trading card drops and achievements) and doesn't have a "wow" factor. There are many other games, similar to Spirited Heart, that I'd suggest first - and at a lower price point (Super Star for $1.99, Valentine Panic for 99cents, etc.) If you can get this game for less than $5.00 - maybe even $3.00, it'd be a lot more worth it. Roll the dice and play a different game.

Having played the original demo for this game when it first came out, I'd forgotten about this game over the years. So, when it showed up on my recommended feed... I just had to get it! The game itself is meh. The stat system is confusing at best, and infuriating at worst. The jobs systems makes little more sense. And plot? What plot! But, at the same time, I'm enjoying this game purely from a nostalgia point of view. The art style is as cute as I remembered it, and I enjoy the random encounters that the PCs have with the potential romantic partners! This is very much a game, that if you like it.... Well, you'll like it. But if you don't, then you'll hate it

I played this game years ago and remembered liking it alright, so I picked it up when I saw it on steam. My memory was not very accurate. The rng system for stat raising is extremely frustrating and the characters aren't particularly likable. I would give this one a pass

What i liked: -Amount of relationships to choose from -amount of jobs to choose from -that you can toggle off male/female encounters(which a lot of otomes don't have) -that the character's clothing changed -life simulators + dating sims can be fun -random encounters/unpredictability(not as easy to impress characters as some dating sims) What I disliked: -Price should NOT be $20, but $8 at best. - Short stories/actual lore -Graphics were meh -Music could have been better -solely based on RNG(everything is determined by dice rolls for your stats) Summary: It was a decent game, but for the price I definitely don't recommend it. Life simulators can keep you occupied and this was okay at that. IMPORTANT: Their website has a beta so TRY it out there first. Don't spend more than $10 on this game.

I played for about an hour and a half and I spent most of the time either irritated or bored. I was irritated by the the dice roll system and poorly thought out stat system. And the plot and characters are boring, and generally I play dating sims to enjoy the characters. Spirited Heart is poorly balanced and the writing does not make up for it.

I enjoyed “Spirited Heart” for what it is. I recommend waiting to get it on sale if you enjoy the demo. I didn’t mind the RNG gameplay. This review is just for the GxB events. [u]Pros[/u]: [list] [*]Adorable graphics. Each job has a corresponding outfit that looks different on each of the playable MCs. Fun to see the different combinations. [*]All three playable MCs have their own personality, meaning that they interact differently with each of the 6 guys. Relationship dynamics change, so it’s like you’re getting 18 different relationships. [*]The relationships are sweet, little bite sized morsels of their courtship. You don’t get a blow-by-blow, so nothing is really in depth. Just adorable little scenes that show the affection growing. The guys are likable and have different personalities. [*]The “random encounters” had me worried that I wouldn’t be able to find the guy I wanted, or that I would miss scenes. The guys stay in the same two locations that are listed in the relationships tab. You have enough in-game time to see all of the random encounters for your specific guy, and they take place in a certain order so you won’t miss any by not going to a specific job one day. [/list] [u]Cons[/u]: [list] [*]The job RNG might put people off. I don’t mind the “don’t go over” mini-game, but I can see why others might find this annoying. Try the demo if unsure. The constantly decreasing health and morale can also be slightly annoying. [*]The choices during random encounters are a bit vague. It’s unclear which one will raise affection when they both seem bad. For example, picking “embarrass him” is actually the good response. [*]There doesn’t seem to be anymore random encounters with your special someone after you become engaged. You just wait and spend time with them until the affection is high enough for you to get married and get the ending. [/list]

Would like it more if things were based less on chance. There are also very few events and very few things to do. The entire game is basically going back and forth between working and relaxing, skipping between all the jobs in an effort to meet people but not actually being able to since it's random. Earning money is also difficult, but I suppose it doesn't matter much since the only things you can buy are classes to improve skills and vacations.