Thanks for the OT Shiz!
Haven't dug too far into this but so far the story is great and I LOVE, absolutely LOVE, that the heroine seems competent. It's not a "first day on the job" situation, she's already mentioned multiple times that she got over that in her training so we don't have to sit through her incompetence.
Got all of Enomoto's endings yesterday before I got tangled up in other games. I really liked the presentation, art, music, etc, and the inclusion of scenes where you have to click on various elements in backgrounds and answer questions about motives and such. I hope those crop up more in other routes but they're probably only going to be used 1-2 times per.
Got all of Enomoto's endings yesterday before I got tangled up in other games. I really liked the presentation, art, music, etc, and the inclusion of scenes where you have to click on various elements in backgrounds and answer questions about motives and such. I hope those crop up more in other routes but they're probably only going to be used 1-2 times per.
I don't really notice it in most otome games, but I really enjoy the music in this one. Also, Enomoto is growing on me too. Sasazuka is just plain mean.
On Mineo's route.. I followed a guide (this one) attempting to get the Tragic End, but I ended up getting the Good End. I made all the choices listed, but nothing changed on either side. If there's a better guide I can get linked to, please, let me know.
EDIT: Found a better guide here. I finally just went to the Otome page on Reddit to find this (avoiding Google so I don't get spoiled accidentally). Brace yourself: A Pari Write-Up is coming.
On Mineo's route.. I followed a guide (this one) attempting to get the Tragic End, but I ended up getting the Good End. I made all the choices listed, but nothing changed on either side. If there's a better guide I can get linked to, please, let me know.
EDIT: Found a better guide here. I finally just went to the Otome page on Reddit to find this (avoiding Google so I don't get spoiled accidentally). Brace yourself: A Pari Write-Up is coming.
For the game as a whole... Love it. Love the flavor, the tone of it. It's darker, more 'adult', despite the fact it's otome. It's nice to see some mature characters rather than the teenagers most of otome games seem to be riddled with. The mystery/story of it is intriguing. Sometimes it got very wordy and slow, but Lord knows, I've read worse. I'll gladly take more plot and enjoy the romance taking a more slow burn. Makes the payoff so much better, in my eyes. One complaint: Where my megane hasubandos at, game? Yes, I want them.
Ichika... In the hierarchy of Otome heroines, Saki is still the best, followed by Cardia, and Ichika takes up the #3 spot. SHE DOES SHIT AND SHE ISN'T STUPID (most of the time) so I really freaking appreciate that. There are times where she seems a bit oblivious, but I can forgive that because she's hustling most of the time, working as fast as she can to save herself and anyone else who may be affected by X-Day. Her relationship with her brother was a decent side story, and I hope it ends up in more than just Mineo's route.
Mineo, how much do I love thee? Let me count the ways. He is the Impey. He is the comic relief, the butt monkey, the one everyone pokes at because its so damn easy. But unlike Impey, he doesn't see himself as a womanizer, but more the opposite. Despite being nervous around most women, he dreams of a married life, of a wife he adores. Ichika doesn't seem to be the type, but when her fiery personality came out,
and stoked his own back to life,
Mineo realized Ichika was exactly who he needed. He can't handle his liquor and idolizes samurai. He's a massive doof and I adore him a little bit. I actually laughed aloud at some of the things he said and did, and by the end of the game, I fell for him just like Ichika did. 8/10, subject to change as I go through more routes.
Good End:
Not much got answered, but I expected that, since Mineo is the overall recommended first route. As much as I know Aiji is the 'main' love interest, I would love to see a guy like Mineo take that spot. He is earnest, and energetic, and protective... When he took her back to the church I was like 'really?' but by the end of the scene, I was a gooey mess. AND THEY ACTUALLY KISSED. Fucking THANK YOU, CxM. This was the best payoff. Sogood. I loved it, and it was good to see Mineo get some closure. I expect that for all the guys really.
Bad Ends 1-7:
Most of these were 'death by bad decision-making.' Just by design, I know that shooter from the Shortcut bad end is going to pop up again at some point. That last bad end, with Ichika's brother dead, was the worst of them. You could just feel Ichika fall into despair when Nana shot him. However...
Tragic End:
That knife twist tho. For an end where none of the main characters die, it sure punches you in the damn gut. I was not expecting Ichika to cross the Despair Event Horizon and completely give up. Seeing Mineo yell for her through the train window... Tears. TEARS.
76 Screencaps... sheeeeesh. Not as many as usual, but my poor memory card...
I hope Takeru didn't get the Akito treatment where he's seemingly more rude in English than in Japanese because of the localization. He seems to be the most popular guy.
I'm pretty far into Kei Okazaki's route. Dude's awesome.
Not here to talk spoilers or anything of that sort though.
Mainly, I'm disappointed in the lack of proofreading. Collar X Malice, even by visual-novel standards, is a pretty massive game. Still, I'm picking up a lot of errors over the course of my route.
At one especially amusing point, Ichika says the following:
(Spoilers just in case)
"Well, as a fellow I was just curious to know what Todoroki was like."
It's supposed to be:
"Well, as a fellow officer I was just curious to know what Todoroki was like."
It doesn't detract from the fantastic plot and characters all that much, but eh...still bugs me.
I'm pretty far into Kei Okazaki's route. Dude's awesome.
Not here to talk spoilers or anything of that sort though.
Mainly, I'm disappointed in the lack of proofreading. Collar X Malice, even by visual-novel standards, is a pretty massive game. Still, I'm picking up a lot of errors over the course of my route.
At one especially amusing point, Ichika says the following:
(Spoilers just in case)
"Well, as a fellow I was just curious to know what Todoroki was like."
It's supposed to be:
"Well, as a fellow officer I was just curious to know what Todoroki was like."
It doesn't detract from the fantastic plot and characters all that much, but eh...still bugs me.
Unfortunately there are quite a few typos and at least three sentences were mistranslated - one in Mineo's route, a choice in Aiji's route (this is the worst one by far since it has to do with the culprit) and a sentence that was translated as "...". Otherwise, there are no more glaring translation errors from what I know.
I hope Takeru didn't get the Akito treatment where he's seemingly more rude in English than in Japanese because of the localization. He seems to be the most popular guy.
Unfortunately there are quite a few typos and at least three sentences were mistranslated - one in Mineo's route, a choice in Aiji's route (this is the worst one by far since it has to do with the culprit) and a sentence that was translated as "...". Otherwise, there are no more glaring translation errors from what I know.
It feels like the same proofer that handled Tokyo Xanadu, because sentences have a really poor tendency of having a linebreak in the middle before continuing on the next screen.
It feels like the same proofer that handled Tokyo Xanadu, because sentences have a really poor tendency of having a linebreak in the middle before continuing on the next screen.
It feels like the same proofer that handled Tokyo Xanadu, because sentences have a really poor tendency of having a linebreak in the middle before continuing on the next screen.
That could be due to the text boxes and the English script not fitting properly so it has to continue onto the next screen. Noticed that in some non-Aksys games before. Seems like a size disparity with English and Japanese scripts and not a translation quirk.
Platinumed the game! Besides the localization issues I really loved it, even moreso than C:R. I feel bad for my husband and cats while I've been fully absorbed and marathoning the game over the last few days, lol.
Takeru > Kageyuki > Mineo > Aiji > Kei for character rankings. Absolutely adored Takeru, but Kei just didn't do anything for me unfortunately.
That could be due to the text boxes and the English script not fitting properly so it has to continue onto the next screen. Noticed that in some non-Aksys games before. Seems like a size disparity with English and Japanese scripts and not a translation quirk.
It feels like the secondary text boxes were already present in the Japanese version, so perhaps the localization team felt obligated to use them rather than try to take them out.
If that's the case, why not put a whole sentence on the second page instead of just a sentence fragment? A quick QC pass would pick this up.
It feels like the secondary text boxes were already present in the Japanese version, so perhaps the localization team felt obligated to use them rather than try to take them out.
If that's the case, why not put a whole sentence on the second page instead of just a sentence fragment? A quick QC pass would pick this up.
Holy shit, Sasazuka is my favorite right now. More on him in a second.
Plot-wise, we got a bit more story, though again, nothing was fully explained, since this is an Otome game and nothing will be fully spelled out till the final/last two routes. But it's still more info than we got in Mineo's route. The relationship between Ichika and her brother comes up, though not as much as in Mineo's route. It kinda taps into the adult fear of not knowing what your kids are up to, as well.
I was not surprised that the culprit was different, and it broke my heart to see that Akito didn't remember ANYTHING about Kazuki. And once again, the villain is named Zero. Sorry, I didn't realize I was playing Zero Escape.
As for Sasazuka... Let's see: a genius with wild hair and odd eyes with a craving for sweets... who just happens to be a bit of a dick. So it's like L from Death Note and Akiyama from Liar Game had a love child, somehow. You know what, I'll take it, because I freaking love this guy. His relationship with Ichika takes a while to develop, which is great, as I said with Mineo's route. And during the CGs and other bits of his dialogue, in the few moments he lets his guard down, I got all gushy and squeeing and grinning like a fool. He's kind of a jerk, but by the time we got to his backstory, I understood WHY. He didn't change his overall personality, but it was clear by the end why Ichika fell for him, and more importantly, why he fell for her. HE IS THE BEST. 9/10 right now. #TeamDonut
Good End:
"You're mine." Aaaaaah, YES! Kissing in the middle of Shinjuku and giving NO FUCKS. I also find great humor in the fact he started off posing as her boyfriend, then ended up as that for real in the end. Poor Kazuki. I now see 'baka neko/stupid cat' as a term of endearment and nothing will change my mind. I love him so much. My favorite so far.
For real though. Zero is a douchecanoe.
Bad Ends:
Death. Yet again. Make stupid choices and Ichika pays the price, Mess up trigger time and Ichika pays the price. The time she died in front of Sasazuka was the worst. His voice acting though. As usual, dramatic scenarios play to his strengths like woah. Chills and feelings of dread.
Tragic End:
That's not quite correct; maybe bittersweet end? Despite the fact she was given a necklace, Sasazuka jetted off to America and was never heard from again, leaving Ichika alone and lonely. Bawwww. I guess maybe a reversal of what happened in Mineo's bad end, maybe worse since Ichika never got to say goodbye since he poofed without telling her.
For the record, I HATE the fact I have to complete the Good End before I can go back and get all the bad ends. I like ending plays on happy notes, goddammit!
And now, a few screencaps. I can't share much of them, but here's a few choice selections.
I don't recall ever laughing this much. He's hilarious and his banter with Takeru and Kei was amusing as well.
The concert bad ending and the tragic ending were something else. Although I do wish there was more to them.
I don't recall ever laughing this much. He's hilarious and his banter with Takeru and Kei was amusing as well.
The concert bad ending and the tragic ending were something else. Although I do wish there was more to them.
Well, they were basically saying, 'well, you fucked up'. They want to get you out of there so you can move on to a better end. That tends to be a habit with bad ends in Otome, IMO.
