Review: Gokudou no Hanayome

The story of this VN focuses around Gokudouin Yuuichi, the successor to the head of a yakuza family whose power and influence spread to all corners of the world at one time, but is now greatly weakened due to the long period in which its leadership has been left to substitutes. Yuuichi, who had pretty much assumed that he would continue to live a normal life, is one day visited by a young woman, Habutae Asahi, who proclaims that she has come to marry him and help restore the power of his group in order to stabilize the underworld, which has become chaotic due to the void left behind by Gokudouin's growing weakness.



Plot 5/10- I could say a lot of things about this VN's plot... but to be frank it is really unbalanced. While the concept itself is interesting, and the characters are - mostly - decent as heroines go, the game is a drama/action/comedy that leaned a little bit too much toward the comedy portions, even at the parts where it should have been most serious. In particular, Amelia's path is ridiculous (as is her extremely annoying character). Of course, there were redeeming factors to the plot... in particular I was fond of the over-the-top fight scenes with the girls smashing their way through all enemies that dared to stand before them. However, the ridiculous aspects ate away at the parts of the story where it should have gotten down to business, making it difficult to hold a proper sense of tension, even when it really, truly felt like you should.

Visuals 9/10: Have to say I love the character design and artwork in this VN. I would even go so far as to call certain CGs - since I avoid major spoilers by policy, I'll leave it at that - were masterpieces in and of themselves. I really have no complaints at all about the visual aspect of this VN and would even go so far as to praise it without a bit of restraint.

Sound 8/10- The music in this game... made me really want to give this a 10/10. I'll still be recalling certain bgms years from now. However... the places where they use some of the songs are kind of inappropriate, and so I had to take points off for that. In particular, their overuse of my favorite theme - a really solemn one that brings a tear to the eye and seriously touches the heart - got used at a lot of inappropriate points. To be blunt, it didn't get used during the solemn scenes and made appearances in a lot of the h-scenes. When a cheery song flashes during a scene that needs a song meant to draw tears from your eyes, you are definitely going to feel something is wrong.

Overall 6/10: Overall, this game had enormous potential, with the concept of restoring a great yakuza family to power and the encroachments of a mysterious new force in the underworld... but it tried too hard to be funny at all the wrong points, inserting absurd story elements at points where they could only get in the way. From a visual and musical perspective, it is an excellent game. Which just makes it unfortunate that the story lags behind far enough to drag the rest of the game into the dirt.

Review: Ikusa Megami Zero

After fierce battles between gods, two different worlds joined to become a new one. Celica was born there and to protect innocents, he battles against monsters as a paladin of Barouhart, god of storms.

With a clear sense of justice and great skill with the blade, some call him a Hero. However after he meets a wandering seeker of knowledge and is tasked with purifying an ancient evil artifact, he begins to question his beliefs as he is drawn and more into events involving ancient prophecies, ancient gods and demon gods.

This is the prequel to the Ikusa Megami Series and covers the events that led Celica to be known as a God Slayer.

~taken from vndb


Plot 8.5/10- This is only my second rpg/VN and I have to say it is the best choice I've made in a while for games to play. Celica's meeting with Satia and the series of events that follow, full of love, hate, idealism, religious zealotry and all the other follies of human existence make this a truly interesting story, even for people who haven't played the other games (which I haven't, yet). For those who want an epic fantasy rpg story done in eroge style... this is probably one of the best choices you could come across. Unlike most VNs, I can't say I liked this because of the protagonist... rather it was the characters around him and their reactions to him that made the story flow so well. The greatest weakness of the story though is the sheer emotional impact of the end of the first part of the game is so overwhelming that what happens in the rest of the game just can't match up, except from an intellectual point of view.

Visual 9/10- Really, the visual quality of this game is so self-evident I almost couldn't bring myself to rate it. If there is one part of this game's visual aspect I didn't like it was the way they made the battle system look, with your attacks hitting a card representing the enemies rather than directly striking the enemies themselves... however, as that is a personal aesthetic preference, I don't think it should effect the rating I give this.

Sound 9/10- The music in this game just screams 'jrpg!!!' to you the second you start it up... and that is a good thing. For those who are sick of rpgs where the music is overblown and doesn't engage your emotions with the scenes you are watching, this game is an excellent choice. In particular, certain of the combat and dark scene bgms are really striking and will probably remain in my memory years from now. The voices were all very well fitted to the characters, with no real irritating choices to grate on the ears, so I can recommend this on that count as well.

Gameplay 7/10- Similar to old favorites like Grandia, this game uses a skill system where you gain the next level of any individual type of skill by using skills from that type over and over again. However, because of the sheer length of time it can take to say... max out your basic weapon skill (to let you use the ultimate weapons) or Rita's Ice magic... this can be an incredibly tedious process. For those getting new characters, be certain to set their advancement paths to what you think they should be used for or it'll automatically try to turn them into pure attackers... which I didn't figure out until the game was two thirds over so I had a pure mage character who had ended up focused entirely on physical strength...lol The battle system itself is a relatively standard one where your attacks and skills require a certain amount of time to build up and be unleashed, then a cooldown time afterward before that character gets a turn again. Because of this, the game can easily be interpreted as trying to force you down a certain path from the start for each individual characters, as some skills and attacks have really, really long cooldown times. (Rita's spear skills, for all their attack power, have such a long cooldown that it almost isn't worth it to max them out).

Battle screen



Celica's advancement screen


Unlike the others, you direct how he gains levels by actually putting the points into specific parameters. In my case, I just leveled them equally as I went, which worked out really well in the end, as he became an all-around powerhouse.

Other characters' advancement screen



With the other characters, you simply set a general path for their parameters to grow, and they automatically grow that way as long as you don't change it. Circle inside a circle is intense focus, circle is average focus, triangle is less focus, and x is no focus.


Overall- 8.5/10- Overall, this is one of the best rpgs I've played in the last few years... which is ironic, considering how many big-name games I've played during that time. For those looking for an eroge/rpg combo to play, I highly recommend this to wash away some of the truly foul rpg experiences of the last few years.

Review: Heliotrope- Sore wa, Shi ni Ataru Kami no Ai

There is a mysterious phenomenon that some people are given a divine power, but also given a terrible curse that will eventually claim their lives. Yashiro, the protagonist, has been living in despair for the half-year since his parents and little sister vanished, leaving him believing they abandoned him. One day, on the beach at night, he meets a talking starfish and suddenly finds himself falling into the ocean, where a girl gives him the sword, Laevateinn. Like this, he gets involved in a battle involving a mysterious island that will decide the fate of the world.

~Modified from the vndb summary


Plot 6/10 (if you hate self-pitying protagonists as much as I do) 7.5/10 (if you can stand self-pitying protagonists)- The plot of this story has a really great premise, with the world being protected by a system that takes a single Shingansha (the magic/espers of the story) as a Sacrifice that protects reality from the effects of human emotions. Unfortunately, it is harmed both by its hetare protagonist, who is driven to suicidal thoughts by relatively minor matters and doesn't seem to ever really get his act together, and terrible pacing at the beginning of the story, where you are thrown into the action without a chance to get to love most of the characters. The three heroines, Yuzuka, Mitsuba, and Iris are amongst some of the better ones I've encountered, with Iris' story in particular drawing in the player's emotions strongly. Unfortunately, due to the pacing problems I mentioned before, the story often feels rushed, to the point where you have to almost wonder what the hell is going on.

Visuals 8.5/10- I really, really like the visual style of this VN... the character designs, the action CGs, and the backgrounds are all really well done, leaving a strong impression on the player. I really can't name any part of the visuals I didn't like, to be honest.

Sound 8/10- For the bgms in this story, I'd love to give this a 10/10, but the voices during certain scenes (Mitsuba's voice when she goes psycho) are a little annoying.

Overall 7/10 (if you hate weak-willed protagonists) 7.5/10 (if weak-willed protagonists don't bother you)- Overall this VN is one of the better ones I've played recently, despite certain weak points in the plot and with the voices. I'd definitely recommend it for someone who wants a quick, dark story with a set of characters that grow on you (if you can get past the game's rather abrupt beginning).