Reseñas recientes de ChaoticTapestry

I want more visual novels in general, especially otomes, to come to the west for me to read and enjoy. That said, I hope that the ones come over are ones I can actually truly enjoy and love. I have mixed feelings about The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya. I originally bought it in 2015 going, "lol, otome game that needs my support, but...male prostitutes, lol."

I enjoyed the Japanese architecture, the attire, and the character designs - a lot of the men truly are that flashy; or are deliberately attempting to look so to catch the eye of potential customers. That much is fine.

The setting, however - the world building - was absolutely horrendous. I grew up hating the convenient excuse of female-only races that had to lure men (and upon luring them, the men could enjoy themselves); so why would I suddenly appreciate the reverse? Or something similar. The idea that MEN ARE RARELY BORN ON THE ISLAND, SO WE DECIDED TO CREATE WHOREHOUSES OF IMPORTED MEN is just a stupid, convenient excuse that annoys the heck out of me. I certainly wouldn't appreciate the reverse concept either.

However, simply having a house of male courtesans / prostitutes to appeal to a clientele not so commonly targeted...that's fine, in theory, if they'd just gone that route. And I do appreciate the realism that most of the men, under all the flair and presentation and glamor, do not actually want to live their lives there. They were sold, traded, or otherwise dragged into a situation that they have to adapt to and deal with.

The female character is "true" to the culture of the world the game has built and does not think of how unwilling they might be until it comes up in each route itself, but then, she also never intended to deliberately seek the attention of male courtesans, either. She's caught up in that world accidentally and is shown to have a sympathetic perspective from the start when encountering a couple that has to escape the island since one of them is, in fact, a male courtesan that has not yet paid his debt to the house that took him in.

There's parts of this game I like. There really are. I especially liked the CGs; the art was tasteful when it was sexual (heck, I actually really liked some of those scenes overall) and I really like how soft everyone's hair looked. I also love that the female character wasn't generally faceless - she was extremely cute, and the most attractive character in the entire game to me. My tastes revealed, I guess? Whoops.

That said, certain routes feel like a chore to complete, and I end up feeling like this world setting would have been better as a bigger budget game instead of a port from a mobile game. For what it is, it isn't that bad - most mobile otomes in my experience are extremely worthless to play - but this one didn't feel like that. It just felt like it really missed the mark on potential, for me.

A setting like this with a lot more world buildup and less direct focus on romance routes (while still maintaining the romance later on) would have been extremely intriguing, but that's not what was created. This game, and its setting, might have been able to convince or trick me into enjoying the worldbuilding a lot more if there was a much longer prologue, with a lot of character interaction and circumstance to force the female protagonist into these characters' lives. Something that took much longer to read, with more intricately detailed routes once the paths really branched.

Instead, I have to say that this isn't an otome I'd recommend unless you're wanting something that is a step up from most mobile otome games, but isn't as good as Nameless, Sweet Fuse, or Hakuoki.

I keep forgetting to write a review for this because, despite the title, it's Always Forget About This Empty Game. I'll summarize it using my notes from finishing the game's routes back then.

If you want something short, sweet, but ultimately meaningless: Go for this game.
If you want a more substantial VN/stat-raising game, go for something like Backstage Pass.

Always Remember Me was nice on a shallow end, but ultimately not something I'd ever touch again unless it was simply to bust out the last achievement I failed to get for completion's sake, and I honestly don't feel it's worth it. During earlier days when there was almost nothing substantial or worthwhile for otome game lovers to play, this was an option. I simply don't think it's worth it anymore when there's infinitely better things to play these days, and I felt like I'd wasted my time even before that.

There's some cute elements to this game, and one surprising one - I was surprised by the stalker subplot, but it's so tiny it hardly bears being called a subplot, and it could've been handled in a much more interesting way.

TL;DR: Do not recommend. There's better stuff out there, and unless the sequel to this game that just game out is a SIGNIFICANT improvement, there's no point in peeking at this one.

Keep in mind, this is a review written immediately after playing the game ONCE, and my opinions may change after experiencing different choice sets. I will update this later.

OVERALL: I liked this game and would recommend it to people who enjoy visual novels with self-awareness and humor. There needs to be more visual novels that're worth playing and replaying, and this is one of those from the looks of it. The achievements imply some very different endings that are truly based on your decisions throughout the game, and it certainly looks like the ending I got was tailored to the choices I'd made throughout mine. I'm certainly going to be playing it a few more times through.

PROS: Entertaining writing, characters that fit the mood and theme of the story, and the surprises at the end of the game as things begin to wrap up. I was also very pleased with certain characters especially, such as The Bro, and how the BDSM side of things was handled with The Beauty.

CONS:
There are definitely cringe-worthy moments throughout the game that I don't think were intended to be cringy, such as implying that everyone in Kentucky is racist (?) and some other, uh, delightful moments of speech like that (like how one person could only say something they did because they were white...yikes). On the other hand, these are Canadians, and I've known a lot of Canadians who actually talk the way this game does, so it's realistic as far as the ridiculously PC-level discussion sometimes goes. Sometimes it just sounds like the characters being themselves; sometimes it sounds...really awkward and takes the reader out of the scene. To each their own, however - some of it is well-done, others not. Overall, I like the writing, just not those parts.

I'm probably just boring, but I wasn't really fond of how sex came across as cheap, easy and...just, the ease in which certain people agreed to sharing was distressing. Still, that's a personal preference, not a real negative to the writing itself. Some people will love the game that much more for it, and the game never hides what it's doing. The honesty of the characters just enjoying themselves is refreshing; the easy acceptance of people clearly sexing each other up without discussing it with prior established relations, not so much.

I don't think I can say enough how much I adore this game.

Huge bonus points for the lack of a million romantic partners, too, though I realize I might be alone there.

This is a really good political intrigue of a visual novel, and I adore that not every route is a "Romance Route".

I only have two complaints about the game: One, that it ends, and two, that one of the plot twists is actually...incredibly unbelievable, as there was an enlightening but unethical study back in the day where almost every single young man put through a similar situation proposed in this game ultimately took their own life, unable to tolerate being raised into and forced into being something else. Those that didn't were miserable, and most ultimately followed suit. For that reason, while I appreciated the take that this game had on it, I thought it ruined the believability of such a thing. I do appreciate the game acknowledging just how difficult of a situation it is, though.

10/10 would skip playing Poopatine.

10/10 best chaotic and glitchy nonsense racing game yet.
Love making my friends suffer through races.

I love 2D fighting games with a good story, and if you do too, this should be right up your alley.
I do think the stories of Blazblue and Guilty Gear are better than this, but the cons with both still put Skullgirls high up on the playing field with my two previous fighting game loves.

I adore Skullgirls, succinctly; if you like fun 2D fighters, you likely will too.

But when do I train D-Dog to wear a cardboard box like his dad?

I've decided to update this from Not Recommended to Recommended, because I still think this game is very fun, and I think that message got lost in my review at the time I wrote it years ago. It's fun, it's not perfect, and there are things I love and things I don't, and things that appeal to me that I think would absolutely not appeal to other people.

I've left the original review below:

Given their eyes, I can only assume that everyone in this is secretly a cyborg trying to pass as a human being. This creates a much better understanding of some of the incomprehensible social decisions several of the characters make, and the main character's extreme lack of characterization until she interacts with everyone more. Best Artificial Intelligence. Clearly, the fairy is only there as a navigational system for the AI's judgment calls.

It has a lot of things going for it...and a lot of things completely not. As one of the initial otome games to be released stateside, I was eager to support more of a genre coming out and bought it the day of its release.

I'll try to encapsulate the pros and cons as succinctly as possible.

PROS:
- You play the cutest character in the game (or maybe that's not a pro)
- The game itself clearly thinks succumbing to the whims of a creepy stalking and controlling boyfriend is a bad idea, and tells you so if you actually get a certain character's good ending by questioning your taste.
- It's another otome in the market that's fun, even if it isn't stellar.
- The final route is pretty damn fun.
- Shin is probably one of the most refreshingly sensible characters I've seen in a visual novel when it comes to using his brain. I just wish he didn't look like a Hot Topic victim, though if he was the only one who did, it would make more sense as a style choice? Everyone dressing this way was pretty bizarre.
- Ukyo.
- I can only assume that every single character in this is secretly a cyborg trying to pass as a human, given their eyes.
- Has one of the most healthy relationships I've seen in the Clover route, though it's also one of the most boring routes to me ever. I would've much preferred it if the Clover route had more of a murder mystery going for it, with Ken being extremely helpful and aiding the character or...something. I dunno, that route REALLY NEEDS SOMETHING, but it still gets in the PRO section due to the rarity of a sane relationship in otome games.

CONS:
- TOMA, for a lot of people will be a con.
- A lot of Ukyo's appearances are less intriguing than intended, even if I get the intention behind the portrayal, it's still a bit of a failure.
- Some of the style choices of the artwork itself is ridiculous, such as proportions and the like at certain angles. This is a preference thing and I probably wouldn't notice it as much if the men didn't look designed for the next Hot Topic Barbie Contest.
- Most of the routes are really, really, really uninteresting for me.

Ultimately I think a lot of people will love Amnesia...and a lot of people really won't. Ultimately, I recommend going for better visual novels, or better otomes, if that particular subgenre is what you're searching for.

Better Otomes in particular: Sweet Fuse for the PSP, Nameless on Steam, Hakuoki on PS3, VITA or PSP.
Better Visual Novels in general: Any visual novel with an interesting plot like Fate/Stay Night, Fruit of Grisaia (from what I've played; Haven't completed this one yet), or Nameless.