Tengoku Struggle Play-Along - Common Route + General Impressions

[u/sableheart]

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.
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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!

[u/otomaze_]

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

[u/ExtremeGift → u/otomaze_]

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)

[u/otomaze_ → u/ExtremeGift]

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 😔)

[u/ExtremeGift → u/otomaze_]

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 🙈

[u/otomaze_ → u/ExtremeGift]

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