Yahari Game demo Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru.（やはりゲームでも俺の青春ラブコメはまちがっている。）

Despite the fact that I appear to be a super professional expert of Japanese ADV games, I'm actually relatively new to the genre. After all, it took a bit a time to become a fully fluent, college reading level master of Japanese-foo moon symbols and all that jazz. Also it helps that the "pros" at IGNorant, Shitaku, PolySJW, etc. have as much knowledge as well... a room full of communication and media studies majors, which actually pretty much explains everything.

My master's thesis: "Protesting the tyranny of the graduate thesis patriarchy by submitting a single misogynistic image"

I kind of got off track (once again) but what I was trying to say is Yahari Game demo Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru. aka Oregairu aka Hamachi aka blah blah SNAFU oh look at my creative writing degree! is the first light novel → anime → "interactive medium" adaptation ADV game I've played. Sure, I have a pile of oreimo, haganai, sakurasou no pet, etc. etc. in my Closet of Shame™ gathering dust but god forbid I actually try to play my shit. Nope, I'd rather boot up a digital PSN game in my never ending quest to make room on my tiny Vita memory card (FU Sony). I got it on a PSN "sale" (#broke) but fortunately, you can now get both this game and the sequel on the PS4 for the amazing price of $80! (TODO: add affiliate link for $$$).

If you want to see this CG without the text, you'll have to buy it yourself (or YT I guess)

I have to say, for my first "licensed" game, I was quite impressed at the quality and volume of content. I haven't read the light novels but I did watch both seasons of the anime and it was ok, I suppose. Honestly, it was so long ago I forgot most of it but I did appreciate that it wasn't another typical harem dry hump orgy like nisekoi, haganai, oreimo, SAO (barf), etc., etc., etc.

Maybe I should become an anime critique (#jk #NotALoser)

The story in this game takes place during summer break and of course you have your usual heroine routes with Yukinon and Yuigahama. For some odd reason, I found Yuigahama's voice annoying even though Kujou Karen from Kinmoza is one of fav characters of all-time. In fact, I would marry Naochan in a second if given the chance.

Fuck Yuigahama, where's Nao's route??

Anyway blah blah, more of the same shit as the anime. The REAL highlight of this game are the characters that didn't get much air time due to being a trap or not being in the same school (you're too old for junior high). Yes, it's back. IMOOOOUTO TAIMUUU! Nothing like JC (don't Google Japan that) incest action to- wait, who's banging on the door?!

Just to be clear, this is not from the game.

So yeah, if you liked Komachi and thought you wanted to see more of her than her brief scenes from the first season, this game is for you. You can enjoy living vicariously through an anime loner boy hanging out at home during summer break waking up your imouto for breakfast. #BUYNOW!!

Imouto "tehe" (≧▽≦)ゞ in PJs, what more can you ask for?

Or if you're into traps, funny enough but Totsuka is one of the Heroine routes and he has the most complicated route with the most CGs. Unfortunately, the scenario writer (and original author) kept things consistent and didn't take the non-canon ending chance for some real BL, which seems like a missed opportunity... if you're into that shit I mean, which I'm totally NOT! #120%Straight

Unfortunately, the game doesn't take it to the next level

I also appreciated that Hachiman was voiced as well since I'm American and get a severe allergic reaction to BIGLY words. I'm not one of those creepos who needs a silent protagonist to immerse themselves into the game so it didn't bother me one bit. Pretty much everything is voiced which is great for multitask audio drama style play except oddly for his lines in the silence breaker sections. This is a section where you have to pick certain lines to increase or decrease the heart meter within a certain number of tries featuring Live2D fancy graphics.

Jesus, enough with the fucking teasing!

You have to fail and succeed all of these for a couple trophies so it's kind of a pain in the butt. In fact, getting platinum on this game is nigh impossible without a guide IMO. While I was easily able to unlock all the endings and collect most of the CGs, to get every type of mail involved things like raising Totsuka's flag, leaving Yuigahama's dog Sable with Yukinon, fail a silence break with her and then take Sable for a walk with both Totsuka and Yukinon.

Ahh Subject: Re4 the good ol days before all this line stamp shit.

In fact, even the trophy whores on psnprofiles took at least 3 hours to waste their money for a fucking trophy. If you think about these people staring at their Vita for that whole time, skipping text, and selecting dialogue options without reading them, you can kind of get a sense of how fucking loser they are. For the record, I took my time enjoying the content off and on for over a year and 7 months so I'm totally NOT a loser.

Thanks imouto for the plat!!!

Score: 3.5 unfortunately, there is no Kinmoza game so you'll just have settle for this ten hour video out of 5

I would buy a Kinmoza game for reals

All in all, if you liked the anime and want to see more of it, in particular Komachi or Totsuka, you can't go wrong with this one. The story is more of the same, it's polished, and there's a lot of content for your Oregairu fix (you have a weird addiction).



Additional screenshots for the Imouto museum.

Oh hell yeah, I would post the CG after she strips but well, why don't you buy it yourself via my affiliate link? (TODO: add link to fund game hoarding habit)

Ah, the old "maybe we're not related so not incest?" imouto route trick

Uh oh... what's going on down there?

Totsuka has the most CGs to unlock (#TRAP)

I just want to know for sure if there's a penis or not. The public deserves to know! #TruthMatters

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely

Shiin（死印）

Shiin is one of my insta-order games based purely on the cover art. Yeah, I'm still a sucker that way but as a big fan of horror games, how could I resist? I was even stupid enough to pre-order the PS4 version just for the extra goodies. I really should cancel that but then what about that 25 minute voice track CD?

There's one born every minute

As much as I love every horror game, especially on the Vita, I have to say this one was ultimately a disappointment. Given that it's by EXPERIENCE, you might expect this to be some kind of DRPG with horror elements. While I didn't expect quite that much, I was hoping for something at least with some exploration.

Your stats like the cake are a lie

If you've played Corpse Party: Book of Shadows, the gameplay is very similar to that game. There's a few rooms, hallways, and the like but that's about it. You move your flashlight around and investigate stuff. You can also pick an item to use from your backpack. Sometimes you have to make choices called Deadly Choice where you will die if you make too many wrong choices. No biggie because you can pick retry and try again though you may have to skip some text. That was a bit annoying.

 Need a hand? Haw haw haw haw!

The one unique part of this game is the boss fight at the end of each chapter. Given the clues that you pick up in your investigation, you have to pick the correct items to use every turn. However, it's nothing more than making educated guesses given the clues and retry if you don't pick the right items.

If this game is not a DRPG at all, it's not even a great ADV game. While Book of Shadows has its flaws, at least it had some character development and voice acting. I liked the fact that this game had characters of every age and gender and no qualms about killing any of them if you make the wrong choices. But there's almost no voice acting and very little dialogue. In fact, the entire game is very short and I beat it in a little over 10 hours while taking my time.

Think of the children!!!!

Thankfully, they released a new chapter that was free for a limited time and also included in the PS4 version. Since I was all up in the latest gaming news, I was able to nab it right away but the free download period is already over for the Vita version. (Sorry, fellow Jhipsters.) With the new chapter, I was able to enjoy the game for a few more hours and frankly it sorely needed that extra content.

Score: 2.5 oh I forgot to mention all those naked women in the game out of 5 (14 hours to beat)

Even ghosts have the decency to cover the important bits

In the end, despite the short length and all its flaws, I enjoyed the game. It has some great art that oozes with atmosphere. The story while minimal, at least had a satisfactory ending. And while the music lacked variety, the songs that it did have were excellent. The game was not that scary either so it might be a good one to try for those easily spooked.


Good music but apparently not in the CD soundtrack (LOL first comment)
The downloadable last chapter also hints at a new aberration so perhaps there's a sequel on the way. I hope EXPERIENCE can use this first entry as a starting point to a more fulfilling series. I appreciate they tried something new but would hope they do a more thorough job the next time around.

Hey, you girls see my wallet? My money vanished like a ghost!

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely

In search of GOTY for 2017

So in general I try to keep an open mind which is why all my GOTY posts are prefaced with "In search of". However, my current GOTY for this year is so strong, I highly doubt that I will find another game to top it despite the fact that I've so far played a total of about 3 games released in 2017 and beaten only one.

Is it the obvious choice: Persona 5? No stupid, this is a Jhipster blog and Persona 5 came out in 2016. Anybody following me on Twitter (the 2 people) could probably guess what my GOTY is and drum roll....

DJMax Respect

The DJMax portable series is my favorite rhythm game series but I've never written about them here because I usually like to finish a game before I post about it. For rhythm games, I like to at least clear all songs on the highest difficulty barring one or two that's clearly there to be nigh impossible. But holy shit, the best I can do on DJMax is 6-button mode on normal difficulty. 8-button mode and extreme difficulty is beyond what I would consider to be human levels of skill.

This isn't even that hard but in my defense, it's been years and I'm rusty.

DJMax Respect is, no question, the pinnacle of the DJMax series. Though I usually prefer portable systems for rhythm games, I'm actually glad this was on the PS4 instead of the shitty Vita baby buttons AKA the "thumb killer". And don't even get me started on the "when is this going to be on Switch" whiners. I was worried about lag but I've had zero issues even with wireless headphones and wireless controllers. Anyway, one day I'll do a full write-up of the whole series. For now, suffice it to say, this game is fucking awesome.

Fuck YEEEAAAAAH!!!

Other games I tried

Doki Doki Literature Club!
A great indie title, highly recommended (it's FREEEEE!!!) but it's in English... and cupcake is not really a thing to bring to school in Japan at least as far as I'm aware...

Games I plan to try later

Too many to list...

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely

Doki Doki Literature Club!

Wait, let me explain. In my Jhipster defense, I first found out about Doki Doki Literature Club! in my Jhipster news feed. I wouldn't have even heard about this English-only game if it wasn't for how super Jhipster I am. Um... so yeah... TAKE THAT! (Ego takes 200 points damage! Status: Bruised)

Little known fact: I also know English

I initially scoffed at the idea of playing a visual novel in English. UGH! This looks like some weaboo Japanese wanna-be galge soft porn. However, I was intrigued enough to as least give it a shot. After all, what did I have to lose? The game is FREEEEEEE and the only thing required was some of my time, merely a small chunk of my ever shrinking allotment as time viciously inches forward to my eventual demise. No biggie. So yeah, did I mention this game was totally free? Gratis?

Sad English games require legalese cause lawsuits even for a silly galge

Fortunately, it was not that long and I was able to reach the ending credits in about 3 hours. The art style definitely looks like a game that's desperately trying to look Japanese. I won't go into the story details because don't you hate spoilers?

I ain't writing no poem. Time to uninstall this shit.

Like when you're just trying to look up a song from the game and there's the screenshot for the final boss RIGHT in the suggested videos...

This is a not caption

Sometimes, I wonder, what it would feel like to KILL the spoilers, not like literally but more like feeling the crunch of bone and flesh with some blunt 🔨instrument🔨. In a figurative sense I guess.

Do you guys ever wonder about stuff like that?

Anyways, I thought this game was pretty neat. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of variety in music and routes. Natsuki's route is pretty sparse; would've been cool to see more of her. Even though 英語, I managed to skim through 全く読んでない

どうでもいいだろう
何の意味もないんだよ
何もかも

Score: 4.444444死死死死死死死/#ERROR

Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Who the fuck cares, nobody reads my blog anyway
2 - Worthless, like this blog.
3 - Get Out Of My Head. get out. getoutofmyheadgetoutofmyheadgetoutofmyheadgetout
4 - fuck it
5 -















i'm right behind you