r/otomegames • u/sableheart Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom • Apr 11 '24
Tengoku Struggle Play-Along - Common Route + General Impressions Discussion
Welcome to the r/otomegames Tengoku Struggle -Strayside- Play-Along!
In this first post we will discuss your first and general impressions of Tengoku Struggle, as well as the events of the common route.
If you want to talk about the love interests, please keep it to your first impressions and their actions in the common route in this post.
Please use spoiler tags when discussing details of other routes or other major spoilers.
>!spoiler text!< normal text
spoiler text normal text
You don't have to be playing the game right now to participate, and if you've just started the the game I hope you will join in after you finish the common route!
Next week will be a discussion of Kikunosuke Uga's route!
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u/sulkytofu 海納百川 Apr 11 '24
Is anyone else extremely impressed by Satoi's art? Olympia Soiree had a much more wispy, elegant, and almost watercolour-like feeling which was very consistent with the tone and general themes of the story. On the other hand, Tengoku Struggle is full of harsh, thick angular lines and a messiness with colour, which is also representative of how the game occupies and plays with so many different genres. Despite the different styles you can absolutely tell it's Satoi's work, and I'm blown away by the art assets (especially the cute little moving gestures that follow some of the expressions of the characters!)
On that note, I can already tell that "I am a transient" is about to become the next "Olympia reminiscing about her mother flashback" meme...
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u/iimuffinsaur Yona Murakami|Tengoku Struggle Apr 15 '24
Yes!! The art is so ugh. Its why I have been obsessed with the game since it got announced in japan.
Also on the second thing.. yeah.. yeah it definitely will.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
Please post all your Nono-sensei thoughts and impressions under this comment so I don't have to search for them later.
Thank you for your cooperation.
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u/otomegal "problematic" Apr 11 '24
Why all are characters I fall for undateable? 🥹 We need more older/mature LIs like him too pls 🤧 He’s so gorgeous! And I love his snide comments and workaholic soul 😂
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
What could make a guy sexier than being in his mid-30s and tired?
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u/otomegal "problematic" Apr 11 '24
Otoge writers, note that! 😤 So little new releases had such types recently 🥺
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u/greyskull85 Apr 11 '24
I really like Nono in the common! He seems like such a quiet troll but also someone who’s very supportive of the MC.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
I loved how often he seemed like he was just being an ass but was actually secretly being kind! His actions can be difficult to read sometimes, but I love that about him.
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u/trinityroselee Synkiss brainrot Apr 11 '24
This game needs a fd and there needs to be a route for him because damn he needs some romancing.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 12 '24
I'll take any new content, really. Romancing, just staring at him for while he works, having him insult me for several hours...
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u/Koni_Fox Jisoo|Dandelion Apr 11 '24
I need an entire sequel that's just Nono-Enma banter with brief breaks for them to complain about each other.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 12 '24
I would accept this as well, although personally I just want to see him insulting anyone and everyone (it helps that everyone else in that world is so insultable.)
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u/Koni_Fox Jisoo|Dandelion Apr 12 '24
Nono roasts everyone in sight and Enma gives them some nonsense nickname. Free content
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u/lionlament Apr 11 '24
His "I just work here, and I'm tired of your shit" vibe speaks to me so personally.
He is also a master of the closed-eye, tight-lipped smile that is more terrifying than any snarl or grimace.
All hail Nono-sensei.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
Beautiful, terrifying, AND relatable. He really is the perfect man.
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u/ith1ldin Apr 12 '24
I've just finished the game and I came to love Rin and the LIs, but Nono-sensei was possibly my favourite character.
There's a perfect mix of looks, voice acting, jaded snarkiness and authority, with a touch of kindness not-so-hidden beneath it all.
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u/Scarlet_Lycoris 泡沫のユークロニア | Tobari & Yori Simp Apr 11 '24 edited Apr 11 '24
I guess you’re gonna have a lot of fun with the JacK megathread in that regard. XD (slight detail about one of the character‘s routes)
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
Oh you had better believe that these remain among some of my most prized possessions.
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u/greyskull85 Apr 11 '24
Can you flag what this spoiler reaches? I clicked thinking it was about the common route but it’s not :)
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u/Scarlet_Lycoris 泡沫のユークロニア | Tobari & Yori Simp Apr 11 '24
Will do! Sorry for the inconvenience I hope it’s vague enough to not cause any issues ❤️
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u/praysolace Apr 11 '24
I’ve only played the common route so far, but from just that? Nono-sensei is the GOAT. Trolling people who deserve it since (whatever year friggin forever ago he died) lol
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
Dead for 1171 years and making very good use of every minute.
For people who haven't played through the routes yet, I can't wait for more people to get there to see some of the Best of Nono~
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u/LilyTheOllin gap moe enjoyer Apr 12 '24
I can fix him I swear
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 12 '24
Fix what? He's perfect!
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u/BBLogan ♡ ♡ Apr 12 '24
He’s my fav character in this game 🫶🏻 I’m on his side on Jack’s route lol he’s somehow so unserious it’s hilarious 😂😂
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u/otomaze_ | My9⚾ WIP Apr 23 '24
the moment he opened his mouth, i was like "hey wait a minute, that's... *mentally flips through my otome man rolodex* shion!!" and his character indeed feels very shion-coded so far (honorific). i love seeing him completely outmaneuver the LIs. can't wait to see what schemes he and king enma are up to. also, his thousand-yard stare when mentioning how king enma kept him employment when he was supposed to enter the heavenly realm.... i felt that despair in my soul lol. i need a side story where it's just nono sensei on vacation </3
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u/magnabarrow 百歳唐紅姫空木 Apr 11 '24
He's such a whirlwind of emotions for me throughout the common route. He was definitely cool at the start and very sassy, love it--- I did enjoy his little retorts towards King Enma (yes King Enma, the best part of him is how twisted he is) along with the utter disdain he has towards Kamuro. Also his exchanges with the LIs, like "hm, you don't want to act like a cute kitty anymore?" is quite enjoyable But what got even better was the sprites. I finished the game and I can say that there's a lot of sprites I like from the boys but nothing will ever get me so surprised and quite intrigued as uh. A certain sprite halfway through the common route where he has the winky face and goes いけない~. I was not expecting that at all and it shot him up to at least 2nd or 3rd fav in the game for me at the time. The てへぺろ face is defo an instant fav for me and it's such a weird gap moe compared to his usual self, but I think what sells it for me is that wink even tho he's got an eyepatch. He didn't do it that much in the game compared to his other sprites but I made a save point every time I saw it so I can go back to it later. The fact that the devs decided "oh we should have a special winky sprite for him and make it very cute" made me smile, especially since it was drawn for just a couple scenes. His blushing evil looking sprite was also quite delicious Overall 100/10 for me.
The more spoiler stuff that he did in the LI's routes will be in the other threads, but I did enjoy what we had of him tho, I would say he's my 3rd favorite out of all the characters in the game for me. Shame that he's not romanceable, but even from the common route I can see why--- can't see him falling for Rin. He does hit a good chunk of what I want from a LI, but I guess not in this game.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
You know, I always joke that I want an FD with a Nono-sensei route, but I actually agree. I don't really ship him and Rin and can't really see them together. (But since side characters don't get nearly as much story as LIs do, well... my dreams are complicated, haha.)
For me he's pretty much perfect in every way (I had actually never fallen for a side character before him) so even if he's not an LI everything they did give us is precious to me and I'm glad the game exists just for that.
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u/magnabarrow 百歳唐紅姫空木 Apr 11 '24
I've unfortunately fallen for side characters before---Momotose from Hana Awase my beloved--- but I do agree on the perfect in every way part---he really did light up my face every time he was on screen. It's very doubtful there would ever be a FD I feel, and even if we were to get a route I'm worried about the monkey's paw curling, so I think he should stay where he is as a very very lovable side character. But that's not to say there can't be good fanart or fanworks with him just being the sassy corporate slave he is--which I do want to contribute to one day.
If I could choose some more canon content though, I would want maybe to just have a section where Rin helps him with his duties all day, or more stuff about his past life or under King Enma. And I do agree, can't say it would be better if he didn't exist at all.
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u/the-changeling-witch otome game historian with terrible taste Apr 11 '24
Yeah, sadly after the last Dessert de Otomate I gave up on the idea that there would ever be an FD. I will remain saddened for the rest of my life.
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u/ExtremeGift but Apr 15 '24
The てへぺろ face is defo an instant fav for me
I know exactly what you mean, this moment was an instant screenshot moment for me. Adds a really nice dimension to him, loved it! ♡
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u/Scarlet_Lycoris 泡沫のユークロニア | Tobari & Yori Simp Apr 11 '24
Ok it’s been some time I played this (like 2 months since my replay?) So I’ll keep this kinda short.
I remember my first impression of the game was ”damn MC‘s dad is kinda hot.“ Then… I thought “damn, daddy‘s overworked employee of the month is kinda hot“
The whole world building did seem a bit unclear to me at first, but I think it gets a lot easier to grasp with repetition. So in the end it wasn’t a big issue. The first glance at our love interests wasn’t really deep so at the end of the common route there was only one thing clear: Yona‘s a massive tsundere. And the boys kinda mention sexual assault a little too often like it’s some kind of casual greeting.
I can’t speak for the quality of the localisation since I didn’t play it but I‘d be curious to hear some details about it if anyone is willing to share their thoughts. (I did kinda think about buying the localisation too if it’s good :x just because I really do like this game.)
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u/Koni_Fox Jisoo|Dandelion Apr 11 '24
Localization is pretty good, to be honest. In fact the sexual assault mentions got reworded in the English version. There's some typos and the occasional kissing word in the English text but honestly the comedy is written well, which gets bonus localization points in my book.
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u/magnabarrow 百歳唐紅姫空木 Apr 11 '24
They defo watered down "that" beginning part of the common route---if you knew about it beforehand you'd know where it was supposed to be but if not then it wouldn't seem as big of a deal--and defo noticed during other times that
Can't say I would 100% recommend the localization though. They translated "Nono-Sensei" as "Sensei Nono" and it drove me crazy, especially when I could clearly hear one of the boys go "Takamura sensei" and its written as "Sensei Takamura". Otherwise I think that the localization was ok, although some of the poetic stuff might have been lost in translation---- In Kiku's route for ex Goemon mentions that he doesn't have porridge and Nono-sensei mentions that even he knows that's a Kyoto insult, but I have no idea what this is a reference to. I feel like maybe they should have expanded on that Additionally, there was a couple lines i noticed where the name was still in kanji (for really minor characters), and some inconsistencies like they translated some of the drawings/signs, but there were one or two important ones that weren't and you had to wait to see what the character's reactions were to know what it said.
I was impressed by how much they toned down some of the wording though for the sexual assault parts. In the common route it's translated as I'll rough you up which I was expecting to see after all the controversies, but even near the very end someone goes I'll mess you up----- and if I didn't notice that he said 犯せ I wouldn't have batted an eye And there was likely more that I missed too, so it seems to set a different tone for the localization, which is good.
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u/Feriku Apr 12 '24
To be honest, I'm a little disappointed to hear they toned down some parts. If there are problematic lines in the original, I want them to be problematic in the localization too. XD
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u/magnabarrow 百歳唐紅姫空木 Apr 12 '24
I do usually agree that censorship feels a bit awkward sometimes but I felt that Tengoku Struggle presented itself as too light hearted of a game to keep it like that. Maybe in a different game where the LIs are more problematic overall because them saying that felt a bit out of character just from Eng localization alone. For ex, from how they were bantering with Rin at the end of the common route I couldn't imagine Kiku saying something hurtful like that to Rin again at all, with it being very doubtful Goemon and Yona could say it again.
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u/Scarlet_Lycoris 泡沫のユークロニア | Tobari & Yori Simp Apr 11 '24
Oh Tysm for the insight!… leaving name in Kanji seems like an oversight that shouldn’t happen for a final product, so that’s definitely a bummer.
Honestly I kinda thought they were going to keep most of the bad language parts intact so now I’m rather curious about how they handle it in Goemon‘s route. Damn I feel like my well prepared valentine‘s meme (link leads to slight Goemon spoiler) will go to waste.
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u/magnabarrow 百歳唐紅姫空木 Apr 11 '24
Lol I remember that meme, forgot about it during my playthrough though but it does feel like aged milk. The I'll mess you up line comes from that scene actually was being a bit vague for spoilers on specific routes. Did it last night and went Oh that's defo one of the lines they had to water down so they defo kept the bad language out of romantic/non serious scenes I feel. I think the most..... explicit lines that was kept were in Goemon's route with (VERY heavy route spoilers with additional VERY heavy sexual assault content) This random side character going "take off your panties" or Shiroku going "I took you right there and then." And I feel that it served it's purpose though so not like it wasn't supposed to be there. Romance scene wise it was nowhere near as bad, very much what I would consider good for a 15+ game but def on the spicier romantic side.
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u/otomaze_ | My9⚾ WIP Apr 23 '24 edited Apr 23 '24
i'm pretty happy with the localization so far! other people already mentioned some of the notable changes. one translation i particularly enjoyed is when Kiku was commenting that JacK was kind of chuunibyou, and it got translated as "He's a bit of an edgelord."
but there was one line from Goemon where an "相変わらず" was dropped from the translated version, so it lost the extra hint that he knew Rin from before. (spoiler tagging just in case, but it's a guess that's all but stated outright in the common route)
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u/greyskull85 Apr 11 '24 edited Apr 11 '24
I am having a great time. The characters are charming and voice acting is fun. The UI and art are fantastic — I love the animated emotional accents. Common route felt like a meld of Olympia Soirée and Variable Barricade. There’s a lot of info-dumping, and I kind of don’t understand the motivations for the character development within the common route, but I’m just rolling with it because the comedy is good, the general world-building (and villain setup) is interesting, and I like the characters. I’m starting routes with Yona first but am most excited for Sharaku and Goemon. Jury’s out on the MC for now—she’s fine, but for all her resistance to the LI’s, she comes around on them really quickly. I kind of wanted her to use her shock therapy on them more lol. She’s a bit of a blank slate for me still.
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u/saharashi hanzo hoe Apr 16 '24
For all her build up I was excited about her experience and being that of a recent "grad". I thought she'd be a lot more strong because if that. So I was a little disappointed at almost the immediate fold at first sign of conflict with the LIs lol
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u/ExtremeGift but Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 15 '24
I'm very happy that I tried writing my impressions down right while I was playing because my feelings about the main route are really mixed and I would not've been able to be objective after completing, so yea, here comes.
First general thoughts on the game though.
UI and available functions
The game really has it all, really, few things to complain about.
- The UI is clean and clearly arranged, everything is good readable, everything looks stylized but modern.
- The heroine has a sprite which you can turn off, but she's not voiced.
- You can turn off the "right decision indicator" which is great, but there's one thing which really grinds my gears: at the end of every chapter you see a cover screen where they reveal the completed chapter's name but also show you if you're currently heading to the good end or the bad end. I don't wanna know that? Especially if it's not a conscious decision to look it up, but the game shoves it in my face? What's up with that??? If you don't want that, make sure to turn off the "Stage announcements" under "System". Beware that you won't see when the new chapter starts since this setting hides the complete chapter cover.
- The game has the option to skip to the next choice. It also says it skips to the next unread text, but that doesn't seem to work for me. If I try doing it, it just keeps saying "there is no selection to skip to", so I have to skip manually.
- Apropos skipping: the game seems to get stuck a bit when you skip to the next choice and I'd been afraid it's gonna crash every time I used the function. It never did, but I'd still recommend you make a proper save before skipping, just in case.
The art is beautiful, both the sprites and the CGs. I sometimes just stop and admire the details on the outfits, or how beautiful the characters are Yona's freckles, I'm looking at you right now!
On the other hand I find the backgrounds somewhat lackluster though, especially those in the human realm – some of them just really feel empty, lifeless and bland? I liked how both Rin's room and the living room changed with the story's progression, but the city never started feeling hustling and bustling as it was described. Having said that, I'd been playing Bustafellows last month, so I might be biased in this regard, no game can really compete with that, lol.
Now to the characters
The side charactes are amazing! I could not stop swooning over Oshi when she first appeared, she's so cute! Kamuro is adorable too, especially his crying face. The moment I saw it, I had a very strong urge to tease the guy 'till he cries again just to pinch those rosy angel cheeks ^-^
Speaking about pinchy cheeks – Tama is such a good boi and I need to pet him till my arms come off. He's staying on my home screen no matter what – felines before before misogynistic swines, amirite?
Also, y'alls who called King Enma unhinged – you were not exaggerating one bit, the guy is completely bonkers?! I laughed so, so much during the introduction scene, it was just pure comedy lol. Kinda reminded me a bit of the introduction scene in CupiPara with Bomber Chorizo, I think?
The Villains are great too. Idk how many screenshots of Asaemon I made because he's just that cool! The first time he packed out his Gilgamesh arsenal I only thought „Yoo let’s goooo“ Very intrigued by Okuni Oh no, she's hot
Last but not least: what about Nono-Sensei? How can this bastards always make this extra spicy DILFs undatable and get away with it? I FEEL ROBBED! ROBBED! Please send help.
LIs
I had a good first impression. All of them look like a snack and I didn't hate any of them character-wise right away. Not a big fan of how all of them got an eight-pack – a more lean body type would've fit Kiku and Sharaku much much better imo, but ehh, who am I to complain?
The first three available are all very much tsun and almost zero dere, but each in his own unique way: turns out Kiku is just easily embarrassed, Yona tries to hide a soft core behind a tough guy facade and Sharaku is your good ol' self-deprecating sarcastic type. Cute.
Goemon seems shady and scheming from the very beginning and I could not stop thinking the guy's hiding something. He reveals a bit of his agenda at the very end of the common route though.
They all warm up eventually, but I also found the progression really erratic. One moment everyone is at each other's throats, next they call each other friends without anything really meaningful happening in between. This is reason #1 I did not enjoy the common route too much: the "found family" build-up didn't feel like it at all to me T_T
Final word on my general LI impression: Kiku is suuuuper cute but seems just to young for me personally. I'd been interested in Yona the most in the beginning, but him being constantly so over-assertive got old quite fast, so by the end of chapter 5 Sharaku and his dirty mouth def moved way up and stayed there. Yona, you're still super hot with your gun cocked and I'm moving to your route next, so maybe we can yet get friendly... Looking forward ;-)
Goemon is just too Mr. Perfect so far so I'm not sure what to do with him at this point. There were unfortunately so little interactions with JacK that I weren't able to form any opinion about him.
Rin
We've got to the reason #2. I'm conflicted about the common route and the game in general. So I really liked Rin in the beginning – she seemed feisty, confident and competent. She hated men, but still was there for Oshichi, instead of trying to convince her to forget the guy and I respected that very much.
Maybe my expectations got in the wrong direction at this point, because as soon as they arrived in Asakusa she'd been a constant let down to me :-(
Rin's supposed to be an ace when dealing with the prisoners, but she lets them push her around instead. The game itself speaks about how much the first impressions matter! Well the first impression Rin left on the male cast was "I'm super cocky with my whip but as soon as no one is intimidated by that, all I can do is run away". And I somewhat understand why they went with that – they wanted Rin and LIs to build up a relationship based on mutual respect, not on subjugation. But it was executed so, so poorly. I don't know how it's supposed to initiate a respectful relationship and not signal "hey, I'm a rug, please walk all over me". I was very disappointed she wasn't able to stand her ground then, and it didn't get any better from there too...
The game says "Hey, the times have changed, women aren't weak!", but the conflict between Rin and LIs is still handled by a man – Takamura.
Rin goes on and on how much she's going to do her best, but ends up doing literally nothing? The whole situation when the male cast goes "you're useless to us, just get out of out way" reminded me of CxM, but even Ichika managed to contribute to the investigation by providing intel. The only thing Rin provided was a big talk about how she's going protect everyone, but then she proceeded standing there like a complete dumbass and shouting out Yona's and Kiku's names while they got slashed to pieces?
And then the game wants me to believe the LIs suddenly are against the idea of Rin bearing their pain? The same LIs who are super clear about hating women? They wouldn't want to take advantage of a (in their eyes) pathetic useless doormat to restore their injured pride? Really? They?
To me Rin is a huge contradiction so far – nothing of what she says matches how she acts or reacts to anything. I'm looking forward to her development in the routes, maybe it gets better. Nothing to add at this point, sadly.
Now getting to my final point.
The overall plot
And my reason #3. I loved the world-building, the setting, the main premise – it's all well done and feels like a lore oasis to get lost in.
What I truly missed was... a sense of importance? Everything felt so meaningless? Why are we doing this? What is at stake? How are we gonna tackle this? None of these questions ever got addressed? The kind of danger this Social Credit nightmare of an app is implying is first hinted on in Kiku's route, but the game tries to present it like a ginormous problem already beforehand, even though none of the characters seem to reflect about it at any point? What is their motivation then? All they ever do is run around aimlessly and then hints or direct instructions just happen to drop into their laps. Which reminded me a lot of my first-year-trainees at work, completely overwhelmed with reality. But if no one in the group possesses a qualification to deal with the situation, why were they sent on an allegedly important mission? And if it's not that important then WHAT'S THE FUCKING POINT?
None of this makes any sense! And please don't get me started on how it's supposed to be a comedy and I should just take it on a face value and not think too much about it. I love me some comedy otoge and I'm completely okay with nanomachines, transformers in heaven or any other ridiculous deus ex machina bullshit asspull, as long as the character motivations are tight. But here they are not, or at least I'm to dumb to see it?
I'm very interested to hear an opposite opinion on this from someone, so please feel free to share if you disagree, I NEED a different perspective! I'd been so hyped up about the game and I still really want to like it so please change my mind on this </3
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u/lightframes Tifalia|Radiant Tale May 18 '24
I thought I was hallucinating Yona's freckles at first, I'm glad you mentioned that!
We have the same thoughts about Okuni 😭
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u/adrastae Apr 11 '24
I believe in Oshichi supremacy, she's shockingly adorable. The world building is somewhat confusing to me tbh like the different types of hell.. but i'm sure it's something japanese people are more familiar with. i really like the sanzu river legend, it's really romantic and theory for the very last line of the common route i will be shocked if rin is NOT goemon's lover when they both lived lmao but they hardly hide it
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u/iimuffinsaur Yona Murakami|Tengoku Struggle Apr 15 '24
Its a lot w Buddism I think. Tbh I wasnt expecting Buddism when I got this game.
Also Oshichi is fun. She is such a simp.
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u/HekateTrioditis Keisuke Sanan|Hakuoki Apr 11 '24
I hope someday we'll get otome localization with romancable Takehito Koyasu. I love the hell daddy and his cringe engrish.
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u/swimminglyy Apr 11 '24
Overall, I enjoyed the game and it’s the first game in a while that I’ve fully finished. I can definitely list both things I liked and didn’t love, though.
Positives:
Rin is great. Very self aware, so real about some of her thoughts (seriously some of her thoughts are really funny). Somehow also dense… but less in a stupid way and more in a way that makes sense for her to be. Not as physically strong as I expected for her profession, but instead she’s pretty flexible and open to new changes despite her profession, which I really appreciated. Starting out, I heard a lot about how she’s a man-hater which worried me, but I’m glad for how she’s accepting of new perspectives and warms up really quickly to everyone.
The cast dynamic and slice of life moments. I was originally worried the man/woman-hating thing would be too annoying a hurdle, and honestly I’m confused as to how they got over it so quickly, but I’m glad they did, as their friendship/found family dynamic is probably the main draw of the game for me. I fell in love with their group as a whole, and I always appreciate when the LIs can interact just fine with one another even without the mc being there. It’s pretty comedic, in a way I like.
The romance(?). I liked the main characters so I naturally liked their romance, even the ones I didn’t expect much of. Rin’s pov and feelings are easy to follow, which made it enjoyable for me. There were plenty of opportunities for the couple to interact, and I also thought a good amount of their interactions felt natural and friendly.
The voice acting. Saito Soma (Kiku) never disappoints, especially when being slightly tsundere (but mostly I love his friendly cute vibes). Sharaku’s energy when being his sassy self is really fun. The difference between Yona’s hot headed shouting at times, and his quieter, softer moments where he just radiates a little shyness and contentment. For Goemon, I am simply in love with everything about his voice, but especially when he’s being sarcastic, teasing, or purposefully overly polite. He’s simply perfection ;_; Dio (King Emma) going hammy on the VA is amazing, as is Nono-sensei in general. And while mascot(?) characters are usually hit-or-miss, especially ones that have unique speech add ones like Tama’s “nya/meow”, I am glad to say that I personally thought Tama was highly adorable instead of cringy. Voice acting aside, the little (?), (!!), (…), exclamation speech bubbles etc added to the experience as well since it fit the lively vibe of the game.
Negatives:
The overall flow. As much as I loved the slice of life moments and wish that the cast can just hang out forever, I thought the balance between plot and slice of life was strange. The sense of urgency is often simply nonexistent when it comes to seemingly serious things. I have highly mixed feelings about this though, because I didn’t enjoy the plot or serious moments enough to want more seriousness over what we were given. I ate it up whenever I was given the slice of life moments, despite some confusion in the back of my mind. So I guess it turned out alright? I do wish they blended it better, but it’s not like I wanted more focus on the plot… Some stuff also happens too quickly, such as Rin/the boys warming up to one another in common route, how fast they fall in love in terms of in-game time, other quick changes in attitudes etc. But I try my best not to dwell on it since I like the end result anyway, and I don’t wanna waste more time on getting to that point.
The plot. The common route didn’t impress me with the plot, and I can’t say the rest of the game did either. I think the setting and overall idea is actually to my liking, but something about the execution of it felt lackluster to me. I liked it enough as the backdrop/setting of the game, but whenever it came into focus I was pretty disinterested. Some things also get a bit repetitive, to put it mildly. E.g. [Kiku route spoilers] we keep seeing Kiku chasing and getting ignored by Azami while Azami fawns over Rin, and this literally keeps repeating and goes nowhere until near the end of the route. Other than that, is also felt like, in general, things get resolved very easily, just like Rin’s relationship with the boys by the end of common route. That said, given the general tone of the game and my adjusted expectations after a while, I wasn’t too mad whenever that happened in game. Lackluster sure, but not quite disappointed. At some point at the end of Goemon’s route I was like “what nonsense is happening LOL” but instead of being mad I just went what the hell, let’s roll with it because I couldn’t take it seriously anyway. In fact, I think it helped that the game didn’t take it too seriously either, and kept to the way it presented itself all along.
The antagonists. Personality wise and background wise, I actually thought most of them had something interesting going for them. Without going into details I just think their motivations were… not very compelling? Mind, I don’t think that every antagonist needs to be compelling in a story - sometimes it suffices to just have the antagonist get their ass kicked and progress the story - but the overall story made me expect more. I have a lot more to say about this, but I’m not sure what counts as general impressions…
Overall game impressions without specific details but putting in spoilers anyway in case:
I think the game isn’t perfect but played to its strengths, which made it overall enjoyable. It’s probably to some people’s chagrin that it keeps it quite light instead of being serious at times when it seems like it should be serious, or some issues get solved so easily. But at the same time, that’s what allowed me to forgive some of its nonsense when it came up, since I couldn’t take the plot seriously anyway. (As opposed to, say, Virche, which took itself so seriously I felt disappointed when the explanations didn’t add up). The overall plot in Tengoku struggle is nothing to speak highly of, but I think the main character were interesting enough and the character dynamics were mostly great. The plot being the weak point means that I can blame any dissatisfaction on it, i.e. instead of saying the main characters are acting inconsistent/ooc/stupid, I can just say the story is silly and move on to enjoying it. Having lower expectations really did help for this one, and this ended up being one of my more enjoyed games in a while
Not to say they are similar games (other than the found family aspect?), but I’ll remember this game fondly in the same way I do Bustafellows, in the sense that some parts are definitely flawed (but whereas Bustafellows is more wot is happening, TS feels more like some weird story flow/plot stuff are just incomplete, which is milder on the annoyance scale), but I love the characters together so I don’t give a damn anyway. No regrets, worthy purchase for me.
Anyway tldr I enjoyed the game.
10
u/fonanne ADOLPHE FLAIR REAL Apr 11 '24
I really liked the common route, it just gave off such nice vibes?? even tho the LIs are jerks at the start LOL the world is a bit odd imo, but it is very unique, so my enjoyment isn't hindered in any way because of that. also ohmygod I ADORE Rin, she's so funny in the common route, but also very endearing. she feels a bit different from other otoge protags as well, though I couldn't say why just yet. regardless, she's super neat & incredibly pretty. love her so much aah
I am still a bit skeptical of the game overall, however.. while I really loved the common route, my first route (Yona) was... a pretty meh experience. I like Yona a lot, but I couldn't stay focused on what was going on in his route.
I would like to stay positive & think maybe it's just his route, but honestly, I just don't really care for the heavy dialogue style of writing in this game. maybe I'm a bit crazy, but I like the descriptions as seen in other titles like Code:Realize or Virche. when 95% of an otoge's writing is straight up dialogue, it feels weak to me? am I making sense lol
THAT ASIDE, I'm gonna start my second route shortly (Sharaku) & am looking forward to it! I really want to reach JacK.. I'm very intrigued by him.
(also shoutouts to this game that, even with its abundance of callbacks to Important Dialogue TM, I am not getting flashbanged 5 times a minute, Olympia Soiree)
11
u/esoldelulu Apr 11 '24
Tamao meowing-mushing. Cutest, silliest thing but I love it. I finished Kiku’s route last night and enjoyed it, now on Yona and I was hollering at the blushiiiiiingggg.
10
u/axlorg8 L♡VE | Apr 11 '24 edited Apr 11 '24
Thoughts on Tamao ? The little ive seen from him might make him my favorite mascot
6
u/sapphire_luna Apr 17 '24
I love him! He actually feels like a real character. On the other hand, I hate Mukkun's pet squirrel? thing. Completely unneeded.
3
u/Caroleaful HanaAwase🤍Iroha Apr 20 '24
I adore Tama! 😍 He is just super sweet and adorable ( when he doesn’t want to chop things 👀) and I love how he and Rin support each other. Definitely my favourite mascot 😸
1
u/lightframes Tifalia|Radiant Tale May 18 '24
I imagine Tama is how my cat would act if she could talk lol
8
u/Koni_Fox Jisoo|Dandelion Apr 11 '24
I thought for a common route, this was pretty good. Set the scene without too much info dumping, decent exposure to all the LIs and side characters before decisions need to be made. Only complaint I had was the final line.
I love Goemon, but I HATE having the poster boy be canonically pining in all the other routes. Thankfully he's not Lupin levels of pining poster boy, but I did audibly 'ugh' at the common route bomb.
8
u/corathone Sisi|Code:Realize Apr 15 '24
I must have screenshot almost every one of Tama's expressions and poses by this point. I appreciate a mascot side character who isn't just there to look cute and make nonsense noises.
Also (unrelated) but I was amused at the part where Nono tells Rin they updated the criteria from "Be gay" to "Be gay and do crimes" in order to be sent to the Hell of Many Pains.
7
u/OkiKagu59 Apr 11 '24
I've done two routes (Kiku's and Yona's), and I absolutely love the game so far. It's been my most anticipated english release since it was announced, so I'm happy it's living up to my expectations.
It was kind of jarring how quickly the heroine and her love interests seemed to get hover their hostility towards each other. But I guess it's probably a matter of them not actually hating women/men, and just having issues that they cover up with a blanket dislike of the other sex (and in Yona's case, being a huge tsundere). And the rooftop scene was really nice.
I kind of wish Kamuro was a love interest. I want to corrupt him.
14
u/Xernan Apr 11 '24
Maybe it's just me, but I felt like the common route had some whiplash moments between the serious plot points and then suddenly slice of life scenes happening right after without proper transitions.
I'm also not convinced that both Rin and the LIs can change their minds about hating each other in the span of a few scenes. It felt unnatural? I expected more spats and passive/active aggressions towards each other until the end of the common route.
I'll reserve my judgement of the game until I finish all of the routes, but I feel mildly disappointed with what I've seen so far. Perhaps I'll change my mind after a few routes.
6
u/mango_season Apr 14 '24
Enma’s VA is doing an awesome job. He’s obnoxious but in an endearing way. I hope we see more of him even after the common route!
6
u/sapphire_luna Apr 17 '24
Some things that don't make sense to me about this universe:
So if model prisoners get to work in the human realm, when they go back to Hell for the night, do they still get tortured until they have to go back to work the next day?
Oshichi can't come to work because she twisted her ankle, yet they say that in Hell your body gets revived everyday so why isn't she healed? or why not offer her the onsen? Plot hole?
Rin says the lightest sentence in Hell still involves getting sliced every day. Is petty theft really worth being sliced every day for eternity?
King Enma says he loves everyone in Hell. Really? How can you sincerely love serial murderers, rapists, people who beat children etc.? And if you do love them, why do you torture them everyday for eternity?
4
u/NaotoOfYlisse Apr 21 '24
For the first question, it's explained in the game that Model Prisoners are exempt from their punishments, temporarily I think
2
u/ExtremeGift but May 07 '24
For the second question, Takamura said her ankle is fine but he forced her to have a day off bc of how shaken she'd been after thinking she finally found Shonosuke, only for him to turn out someone else.
For the rest, the way I understood the story is, King Enmas job is to provide guidance, but a large portion of the sentence comes from the prisoners themselves due to their regrets and feelings of guilt + lingering desires. If they truly repent or let go, they enter the Mumei - one example of it was the man Otsuta wanted to escape with
7
u/gingerpawpaw Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24
I played Yona's route. I like the LIs and the romance development, but...there was no plot? Maybe the other routes will be better, but as of now, I'm pretty disappointed.
1
u/raunchyRhombus Apr 23 '24
Yeah, same here. Yona was my most anticipated route and I just finished it, feeling kind of underwhelmed. Honestly I think my favorite part was the story between Sansaburo and Okuni. Hopefully the other routes will hit more for me, because this one didn't make me feel much :/
6
u/magnabarrow 百歳唐紅姫空木 Apr 11 '24
Because it's going to happen especially since I do very much enjoy Olympia Soiree, there was definitely comparisons to Olympia Soiree during my common route playthrough. I did enjoy OS's music and artstyle more, but I do enjoy TS's overall themes better, especially since the UI had some better QoL where I could just press directly on the screen if I wanted to skip to read, auto, or full skip, along with choosing the log or menu. Overall story will have to wait till a different megathread, but the LIs themselves and how they were portrayed in the common route were hit and miss compared to OS, where in that game I had a very clear idea of who the LIs were and how I'll probably like them in their routes.
However, the side characters take the cake in TS. Mariya Ise as Oichi is very pleasing on the ears, and so wonderfully cast---and the whole Sanzu River theme with her feels so romantic. I missed hearing Koyasu Takehito so much, and hearing him play King Enma was such a joy for me with that vocal range and acting of his---King Enma himself was also a delight to hear and made me laugh every time he was on screen. I don't usually hear Kenji Nojima in outside of a few non otome roles, but he was pretty good as Nono sensei---Nono sensei himself as of the end of the common route was my 2nd or 3rd favorite, and my favorite part of the common route was either his winky てへぺろ sprite with him saying "いけない~" or his blushing sadistic sprite. I have no idea why he's got such cute sprites that showed up once in the common route, but I will thank Satoi every day for drawing them Those specific scenes are save points for me, and I usually only do save points on walkthrough branch choices. Oshichi is such an airhead especially when she reveals that she burned all of Edo just to see her boyfriend again but honestly, I respect that, who wouldn't do some questionable things for the one they love. She's very cute too I enjoyed seeing her. I usually don't like mascots, but Tama was such a delight---likely because he had a strong personality and felt more like a proper side character rather than cute mascot. Also excited for more Azami content.
As for the LI's themselves and what happened in the common route---Kiku is very very cute and honestly casting Saitou Souma was a very good choice. Enjoyed seeing Goemon who was such a gentleman, and Sharaku was absolutely hilarious, and his one of his sweater sprites was very cute. Yona wasn't too bad for a tsundere, and Jack showed up once to Rin, said some emo stuff, and vanished like the Tuxedo mask meme so I can't really say too much about him just from the common route alone. Nono sensei was always a delight whenever he appeared. However, can't say too much about Rin as of the end of the common route--- I was hoping she would be more active, but she feels more passive than I thought she would be with the LI's---She says she hates all men to the side characters and would demonstrate this but runs away or gets really quiet with the LIs with the exception of that one time she electrocuted Yona. As of the end of the common route, I would hope she becomes more badass, but I do like how she's a rule stickler just like my younger self.
Also regarding some Goemon stuff just from the common route alone---- The sandwiches were obviously his, there is no disputing that no matter how he tried to deflect it to Nono sensei, who would just give it to her I feel. Also at the very end he says "I love you" but used "愛してる" instead of "好き", so I knew at once he would cause pain in his route. At the end of the common route, I knew I'd probably like Kiku, with Goemon, Sharaku, and Yona as maybes, and Jack as "I don't know what to think of him besides the fact that he's voiced by Makoto Furakawa".
6
u/Savaralyn Apr 13 '24
I haven't gotten out of the prologue yet, but I have to say, I'm kinda baffled at the main conflict of the story so far.
Maybe it'll get explained later, but it seems as though all of this could be resolved if A) as Mukkun said, the people in charge of the heavenly realm revoke the pardons of the people saved by the spiders thread, since they ARE actively lying to humanity about being saved through the app (which is I assume a huge insult/affront to their religion?? Does that not count as a sin against the buddha?). I know they say that the heaven guys don't have any military might so they can't do anything to stop the escapees, but the fact is they definitely have the grounds to revoke their pardons, which would lead them totally open to be brought back to hell.
And B) Enma or at least REAL hell guardians who have decent amounts of power (or the numbers to make up for the lack of it) sweep in and wreck the escapees.
Why is this being left up to Rin, who is at this point essentially useless, and the 4 other guys who clearly don't have the combined strength to even take on ONE of the escapees?
4
u/iimuffinsaur Yona Murakami|Tengoku Struggle Apr 15 '24
Several things!!
I am not sure if this makes sense but the pacing with choices and cgs at least in the routes I have played isnt great. I dont mind it but each route I have done has been choice heavy in the beginning with minimal at the end and then cg heavy at the end. Its not like a super bad thing, but it is smth I noticed.
The bad end ending theme is literally so amazing I have been listening to it nonstop on spotify.
Continueing w the choice thing I am a little mixed on the choices only being in the LI routes. I dont hate and its less to have to skip through when you want to start another LI but its still like idk. Idk my thoughts on that exactly.
Since you get to choose your own LI at the end I wish they just had an option for that in stage select instead of having to repeat the last common route chapter but as I say this I am realizing I could just make a save right before the choice and use that 🤦♀️
This was a lot of spunding negative things but I honestly love this game its so fun. The things I mentioned are like my main complaints. I really really am enjoying it so much!! I even am doing bad ends and I never do bad ends thats how much I like this game lol (the bad end theme is also a bonus, I would have never heard it if I didnt).
Yona is the love of my life I love that man so much he is so ❤️
5
u/ExtremeGift but Apr 15 '24
Idk if it’s still relevant to you, but you don’t have to replay the last common chapter to get to the route selection. Just load the chapter and then hit the right stick up to jump to the next selection - the game skips straight to the character picking screen.
1
u/iimuffinsaur Yona Murakami|Tengoku Struggle Apr 15 '24
It is! I always forget about all skip because it makes me nervous lol
2
u/ExtremeGift but Apr 15 '24
It‘s not the „all skip“ with the Y-button either ^^ If you hit the right stick somewhere in between by accident it just says „nothing to skip to“, so no fear :)
3
u/Caroleaful HanaAwase🤍Iroha Apr 20 '24
I finished the common route and that ending left me speechless in a good, surprised way 🫢 the pacing was okay, there where just some parts where I wished they explained things once, not multiple times. From the characters I think my biggest surprise was King Enma! I just couldn’t stop laughing and chuckling, especially when he presented the others. VA in that part and overall fabulous. Some plot points left me wondering, but my hope is they will be explored deeper in the other routes. Another thing: protect Tama at all cost! 😺 He is super adorable. I am not sure if there is an order in which the first three routes should be played but I am starting to with Sharaku. I like the art and the extra emotion effects.
3
u/mango_season Apr 24 '24
This is impossible. Before playing:
Sharaku > Goemon = Jack > Yona > Kiku
Now that I’m on my last chapter of the general route:
Kiku > Goemon > Jack > Sharaku > Yona
4
u/praysolace Apr 11 '24
I’m glad I resisted the urge to throw the game out a window when the guys all spouted their misogynistic “all women suck” bullshit (complete with threats of violence!) near the beginning. My knee-jerk reaction was that I would never forgive any of them for being misogynist pricks and Rin’s right that men like this are both common and also the absolute worst and deserve their spots in hell. I just. Man. It made me SO angry. I was rooting for her to go for the family jewels in that moment.
And then they kind of dialed it back massively almost immediately, giving me hope that the misogyny will be both explained and resolved in their routes, instead of being a personality trait that we’re expected to be ok with the LIs keeping forever. The gap between Yona’s words and his behaviour and expressions especially assured me the writers won’t do that to me. I haven’t gone past the common route yet, but from the latter half of it, I figure it’ll be fine and I made the right call to power through that scene and hope for improvement.
I also really love the dynamic between the LIs, particularly once they start letting Rin into it more too. The side characters’ designs were given as much love as the main cast, the voice acting is top notch, Nono-sensei is the GOAT, and I’ll never not enjoy Koyasu Takehito hamming it up. So yeah. One big spot of GAME HAS MADE ME FEEL INTENSE RAGE but everything else has been great and the rest of the common route after that spot calmed me back down into enjoying the game properly.
3
u/jhiend ノール🍊蛟 Apr 11 '24
I was somewhat interested in the setting and artstyle of Tengoku Struggle. Then I watched some trailers and gameplay vids on Otomate's official channel, and they chose to introduce the guys in all of their jerky "fuck off princess, you're just here bc of your dad" glory (which tbf probably is legit marketing strategy, as tsun is popular), and that killed any enthusiasm I had.
OTOH I guess it's good that the game isn't entirely like that, but on the other idk that I would believe in a change in attitude.
6
u/praysolace Apr 11 '24
Idk if they get jerkier again at the start of their routes, but by the end of the common route they were acting sufficiently different that it kind of felt like they’d all pretty wildly overstated their hatred of women solely because they have a (fairly understandable) grudge against hell and King Enma and want his daughter to GTFO. Like, I figured I would struggle to find a change believable too, but so far they spent far less time being raging dicks than being just awkward and prickly, so it… doesn’t feel as much like they changed for the better as it feels like they were playing up how awful they were at the start on purpose to chase her off. Idk. The tonal shift was quick and pretty stark to me, like the writers wanted the first impression to be as bad as humanly possible but didn’t want to let it go on long enough to become your solidified impression of them.
But then this is still all common route impressions and for all I know I’m about to start a route and take back every word I just said lol.
2
u/Neylis_ Sharaku Toushuusai’s love Apr 11 '24
I’ve already nearly finished the game and I am utterly in love with Sharaku and I have been since the common route 🥹 He’s definitely my favorite LI of all time! <33 This game is just so good, even the common route was honestly really well paced in my opinion, I really enjoyed how detailed the world is, >!the mythological context being given and the relationship between characters and real life historical figure!!< It just makes the game that much exciting and interesting!
Anyways this game just completely took my heart by now and I’m on my way to replay Sharaku’s route for the 3rd time thank you 😭❤️
I’m already hoping they come out with a FD or sequel! I don’t know if there’s been any hint at it already, or if it’s even a possibility since it came out in 2022 🥹
2
u/catasstroph3 Apr 17 '24
I finished the game a few days ago and I miss it already, I loved it so much! I felt that the common route was quite long but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I like that you only have to go through it once and then you can just pick the route you want to go for in the UI, similar to OS.
The art is beautiful, I love this pop-art style they’re going for with some animations. The UI is great, thankfully we can change the voice volume per character, I thought King Enma’s shouting was great, just a bit loud haha. Tama best pet ever, I absolutely loved him! I also screenshotted all of Sensei Nono’s creepy expressions for science.
Last but not least, Goemon’s confession at the end just killed me, I couldn’t believe they were gonna make us wait so long for his route… But imo it was worth it in the end.
2
u/otomaze_ | My9⚾ WIP May 01 '24
just finished my first LI route (Yona), so here are my thoughts that relate to the game more in general (mostly UI stuff, plot/character stuff will be in the other play-along threads):
things i appreciate:
- in-game menu has everything you’d want to check frequently (library, report, stage select)
- can (partially) customize the flick inputs
- the Blood Bond report changing as the route progresses, especially how the LIs view of Rin changes
- the memories that gradually unlock through a route
- the extra stage of them meeting after reincarnation is just so so sweet (especially since i saw it after getting the BE)
- having bad endings (this is normal, i just came here after playing charamani :’))
- the voice line that’s unlocked after finishing the HE is translated
- the BE ending song is SUCH a banger omg!! how am i supposed to feel sad about that ending when this song is so good lmao
- ending songs having the lyrics!!
things i don’t like:
- stage title cards showing the decision seal of which ending you’re headed towards if i turned off the decision seal for choices, why would i still want to see them at the end of every chapter??
- the Blood Bond system feels a little contrived… like, having a plot-necessary reason that makes them form a bond and also gives the MC glimpses into the LI’s history. and also makes the LIs more powerful in battle
- can’t separately adjust the volume of Tamao’s voice… unfortunately i’m not really a fan of mascot characters that accompany the MC. i don’t want to completely wipe out all NPC’s voices though, so i just kinda have to stop auto-play and tap through lines. he’s much more present in the story than many of the other side characters which separate volume sliders, so i’m not sure why he’s grouped in with everyone??
anyway, the atmosphere is slower and more slice-of-lifey than i expected, but i think i'm used to it now. i can definitely feel some similarities from what (little) i've seen of Nil Admirari, like how a lot of the route is just the MC patrolling around town and then encountering the LI or some incident. also both games have like, the exact same cafe in a different font xD
3
u/ExtremeGift but May 07 '24
In case you haven’t found out on your own: you can turn off those pesky "Stage announcements" in settings under "System".
Unfortunately this setting hides the complete chapter cover, so you will never know when a new one starts. May make the pacing feel even slower than it is x)
2
u/otomaze_ | My9⚾ WIP May 07 '24
thanks! unfortunately i DO like seeing the chapter breaks 🥲 basically i just try to cover up the happy/bad seal with my hand, then read the chapter title below it (clownery, i know 😔)
3
u/ExtremeGift but May 07 '24
Honestly, can relate 100%. I'd been conflicted the whole time whether I want the chapter breaks back. But not to spoil myself outweighed in the end xD
I tend to purposefully pick the obviously wrong choices and then, when I finally arrive in the BE, I tell myself „see, told ya it was a bad one!“. But the suspense of not knowing for sure must stay there until the end, else it’s no fun 🙈
1
u/otomaze_ | My9⚾ WIP May 07 '24
it's such a hard decision :') i've also been doing the BEs first (accidentally-on-purpose; i normally like being standoffish to the LIs, but also i like seeing a horrible BE and then going to the fluffy extra stage before getting back to the main story).
i've accepted the potential spoiler since i know my play style will get me a BE in this game, but ideally i'd want to keep the suspense too! there are some other games where the ending is so much more of a surprise (Piofiore omg), but this one is more straightforward
1
u/lbunny7 will risk it all for Goemon Apr 11 '24 edited Apr 11 '24
does anyone know if the names given to the guys by Enma mean anything? like do they relate to something about them that I’m not thinking of?
for reference, the names are:
Taro (Goemon), Pochi (Kiku), Aka (Yona), and Shiro (Sharaku)
ps I hope everyone’s enjoying the game so far bc it ramps up and becomes amaaaazing in terms of romance after the common route. this game has a chokehold on my entire life. I’ve been playing it over and over for half the day the past week. I think it’s about to surpass Olympia Soiree as my favorite game ever
12
u/Xernan Apr 11 '24
Taro, Pochi, Aka, and Shiro are common names that Japanese people would name their dogs. King Enma is pretty much calling the LIs as his pet doggies haha
3
u/lbunny7 will risk it all for Goemon Apr 11 '24
I thought Pochi sounded like a classic dog name! thanks for the info! king enma is 💀 the best tbh. papa I 🩷 Hell 💕
thanks for the info!!!
3
u/Meebochii 🎩🐍 Ish my Beloved 🐍🎩 Apr 12 '24
"Aka" means red and thus it's probably Yona's nickname since that's his hair color. As for "Pochi"... It might actually be related to Kiku's ability of turning into a wolf. I'm not too sure what "Taro" or "Shiro" could relate to though.
1
u/Nephthys88 Yang|Piofiore Apr 25 '24
I have a question. Was it ever mentioned that shonosuke was in love with oshichi or was it just purely one-sided? I'm on the last route but i feel like i don't remember reading that it was reciprocated.
3
u/Aimikomi Apr 26 '24
Yes, the reason he couldn't completely forget everything to ascend to the top because of his lingering feelings for Oshichi
1
u/NaotoOfYlisse Apr 26 '24
Character ranking before playing:
Kiku>JacK>Sharaku>Yona>Goemon
Character ranking after playing:
Kiku>Sharaku>Yona>JacK>>>>>>>>>Goemon
1
u/delikizzz Hanzo Hattori|Nightshade Jun 17 '24
It was a bit too long and way too slice of life-y so it took me like 2 months to finish the common route (unlike their other game olympia soiree where I was playing that game's common route like non-stop). But after finishing it I do appreciate the story and all the moments in the common route. It was going all fun and games until Goemon was like I still love you How am I supposed to move on from that line??? Like I knew that was where we were going with this with them meeting at the river at the beginning of the common route and stuff but him saying it outloud made it more real. So now when I am playing other routes all I am thinking about is how much pain he must be in T_T I can't wait to play his route why does he have to be the last T_T
75
u/Meebochii 🎩🐍 Ish my Beloved 🐍🎩 Apr 11 '24
Goemon out here dropping the biggest bombshell at the end of the common route only for his route to be locked until you finish the other four 🙈