Pub Encounter: Hodo Yorihisa

Holy flipping fudge balls did I hate this route. It had been awhile since I did a Pub Encounter route and I'd set it up on the new-to-me laptop so I thought it'd be a nice little short diversion to try a new one. I'd done Yuze before and while it had some cringe going on, it was overall okay. So this time I picked Hodo Yorihisa since he's the writer. It said he had a "gentle personality" hahahahaha

So. Yeah. It jumps right in -- in the first chapter, the MC shows a bit of interest in him and then she discovers that he's her fav author. And he proposes a game -- basically, whoever falls in love first loses. Well, you know where that's gonna go.

I'm not going to recap, as it's like a gaslighting extravaganza. The MC's go-to move is to sob hysterically over everything. He's a raging manipulative asshole with a serious hangup about his dead wife (at one point he literally dresses her up in one of his dead wife's dresses). 

I got the "Good End" rather than the "Best End" because I didn't do a walkthrough. And, honestly, this is a time when I'd rather have wound up with a "Bad End" (which doesn't exist in this game) where the MC wises up, tells him he's an ass, and walks out of the pub, never to see him again or even any of the other dudes, who all kind of just stand by and let him walk all over this girl. 

I will NOT be going back to get the better ending or to do the date scenario. In fact, it may be a while before I pick up Pub Encounters again to get the taste of this one out of my mouth.

Also, as a writer, I'm rather offended. FFS.

From 5 to 9

I wasn't entirely in the mood for either Move to Heaven or Mad for Each Other today and I'd just seen a clip of a Japanese Drama, so...yeah...I started something new on Viki. No idea why, but it's called From 5 to 9. 

Junko Sakuraba, played by Satomi Ishihara, teaches English in Japan, but her dream is to move to New York City. Her goal feels far away. Takane Hoshikawa, played by Tomohisa Yamashita, is a monk and/or a Buddhist priest (not entirely sure which). They cross paths when Junko accidentally tosses ash all over him at a funeral she was attending (her feet had gone to sleep from kneeling so long). 

For reasons unknown (at least, by the end of the first episode), Takane becomes very interested in her and even manages to set up an arranged marriage meeting with her -- or rather, with her family, who trick her into attending it. She's got no interest in an arranged marriage, especially with this oddly formal monk/priest who doesn't seem to even listen to anything she says. Meanwhile, his grandmother would rather set him up with someone suitable for the temple.

So, at Junko's work, her old teacher (not much older than her) has come back and is now in charge. They're obviously interested in each other and he seems to be grooming her to take a position in the NYC office, where he normally lives. That'd be a dream come true for her. There's also another young guy at the office (maybe two?) who also seem interested in her, but she's mostly got eyes for NY.

In bad news, some rich bitch women who are only taking English classes because they like one of the hot male teachers, write a letter of complaint about Junko for no good reason. And she's made to travel hours away to the woman's vacation home outside the city to apologise. On her birthday. When she was supposed to be meeting boss dude and a bunch of NY bigshots at a dinner instead. Then she misses the bus and her heel breaks and the rain starts...she's having just a shitty, shitty day. That's when Takane shows up with an umbrella and a car. 

It's the first time he's been there for her without being annoying, though he's still kinda weird. But then he takes her back to the temple, rushes her inside and LOCKS HER IN A ROOM saying he's been acting really strange since he met her and he can't let her go.

So, yeah, that was a bit WTF. But I think the thing you've gotta realise about this show is that it's based on a manga. And every time I've ever seen a character called Takane, they're, like, literally half insane (i.e. Takane and Hana). If you didn't know it was based on a manga, you'd guess it 5 minutes in. It has that kind of feel. 

Interestingly, the very end also hinted at some perhaps interesting side stories with the other characters. 

Anyway, I wouldn't say this promises to be a great show. It promises to be a very manga-show. But I was in the mood for that kind of thing and at least they're close in age (unlike the other Takane). And the actors seem decent and not super wooden like some Japanese shows I've tried. AND! It's only 10 episodes. It promises to be very silly. Silly can be good. And, like, low angst silly. So, we'll see.

Edit: Ok, I finished it. And...by the end, I gotta say, it annoyed me and the only couple I felt like I could root for was the weirdest one (the BL-loving woman & the sort-of suave dude). Basically, the female lead went from I don't really like you to You're SO annoying to OMG I love you and then right to I'll give up all my hopes and dreams to be with you. And he goes from I love you and will never hurt you and will never give you up to now that I've seen how committed you are, I'll lie to you (even though I say I'll never lie) so you can be happy without me. 

And the grandmother was an evil beeyotch for no good reason. Like, at all. The FL reminded her or her old daughter-in-law. The younger brother was mean and awful for no purpose and no real redemption. I dunno. I knew going in that it wasn't likely to make sense, BUT...

The resolution was, apparently, that they do get married and he does take over as head priest of the temple. But then the very last scene is her with a suitcase off to NYC, like, immediately after they get hitched (i.e. complete the paperwork) and he seems to be staying behind. So...she's moving? He's not? For how long? I just...meh. 

Would I watch it again? Nope. I mean, I didn't absolutely hate it, but it wasn't at all satisfying. I'll leave it at that.

Mad for Each Other

I needed to try something funny to watch in-between episodes of Move to Heaven (it's good, but, man, it's heavy) so I tried something I'd downloaded an episode of ages ago. It's called Mad for Each Other. 

I was very confused when I first started it because I thought it had an entirely different actor as the male lead. The small cover image on Netflix (not the picture above) looked a lot like Lee Kwang-Soo. Though the actors really don't look alike at all. It was just the particular angle of the small picture. The male lead is actually played by Jung Woo, who I haven't seen in anything before. 

He plays No Whi-Oh, who has some serious anger management issues due to some incident in his past (no idea what as yet). The female lead is the actress Oh Yeon-Seo playing Lee Min-Kyung, who I've also not seen in anything, apparently. She's a paranoid OCD sufferer. 

The two wouldn't seem to have anything in common, except they are seeing the same psychologist and happen to live right next door to each other. No idea how they haven't run into each other before, but on this particular day, they keep running into each other. He's having a bad day. She's having an especially paranoid one, thinking he's following her. Things finally come to a head and at the end of the first episode, it looks like they're likely to wind up explaining themselves in the police station next. 

It looks to be sort of outlandishly funny and I more or less enjoyed the first episode. I wouldn't say I love it as they're both a bit hard to relate to -- though I might also be projecting because I'm having kind of a BLAH BLEH kind of day today and if I'd written this right after I watched it, maybe I'd have been more oh haha that was funny. I will give it another go, of course, whenever I need something over the top.

On the plus side, I love the female lead's look. I realise she's supposed to be kind of kooky, but, hey, it's kind of a me vibe.

Edit: wah, it took me a long time to finish this one. The first episodes were quite a lot of physical comedy and angst...I mean, funny angst, but angst. It was hard to see how it was going to develop into a romance. It did all come together at the end, though it very much tackled tough topics -- mental health, stigma around cross-dressers, bullying, dating violence, corruption...

So, I'd say I enjoyed it overall and it was a good show. It took me probably about half way through before I felt invested, but there wasn't anything *wrong* anywhere. Am I glad I watched it? Yeah. Would I watch it again? Probably not. I feel like it was a one-time watch. But it was good.

What?

Little dude is home sick from school. Went into wake him up / check on him. He's mumbling, stretching, not really awake.

Him: mumble tread mumble mumble?

Me: What?

Him: (a few more attempts, then) Apple or treadmill?

Me: Apple or Treadmill?

Him: Yes, apple or treadmill?

Me: (okay...) Apple.

Him: Pick a number between 1 and 12.

Me: 11

Him: Morning or night?

Me: Morning.

Him: Okay, thanks, mom. (rolls over and goes back to sleep).

Time Princess

So, back in January I was amazed to find myself playing a game called, horribly enough, Dress Up Time Princess. Well, I'm still playing it but they have since made some major updates and rebranded it as simply Time Princess. Which is marginally better but still makes me cringe. The general conceit of the game is still the same, but there are WAY more storybooks now and some new features. I'm caught up on my freelance gig, so I thought I'd take my free 30 minutes before I need to make dinner to write up an update post. 

The mechanics are still largely the same, though they have added an odd sort of story tree (the Mirage Forest) with missions and things you can unlock (including the only interesting bit: where the MC goes back in time to when her parents were her age). But, they haven't added to that in a while and it's a bit stalled out. Not sure why they did it if they aren't going to update it...which is actually a bit of a theme with a lot of these (see below when I go over each of the storybooks)...

The other major addition is a guild-like thing called the Society where you can gift your fellow society members items and unlock special outfit pieces. It's not terribly interesting, but is nice in that you can help people out and get some things. The first one I was in was kind of useless without many participants, but I moved to a new one and it's more active. Also kind of good (or bad, depending on your viewpoint) is that even though there's a chat function, it's not really used. So it's a very anonymous type of thing.

They've also added more mini-games. Some of which I hate (I'm terrible at flappy bird type things), some of which are okay (I rather like the bravery challenge one). It's a chance to earn extra stuff but you don't have to do it.  

But let me talk about the main thing -- the storybooks. There are two types -- basically, major storybooks (with a blue rimmed cover) and minor storybooks (with a green rimmed cover). The major ones can be multiple chapters and have full functionality. The minor ones are generally an expansion of a particular character's story from a major storybook. Sometimes, in fact, you even get to play as one of the characters you could have romanced with before. 

So, I'm gonna list 'em all (and will update this over time) and what I think of them personally. The biggest issue is that a lot of the stories really don't have an end but they also don't seem like they're going to finish them anytime soon.

Major Stories

• Queen Marie -- the original storybook, 2 chapters. I'm at 86% complete. I still think it's really a weird story in that you're a MARRIED character. That said, I find this one generally fairly interesting, especially some of the historical detail. 
• Swan Lake -- 1 chapter. 93% complete. Is the only one with voice acting. You'd think I'd really like this one but...eh, I don't really. The Swan Prince is really kind of annoying and his brother the wizard is, honestly, imminently smackable and I didn't hesitate in the one story path where you choose to stab him. The VA actually made it worse and I very very much wish I could find a way to turn it off. The MC herself is okay, but my preferred ending for her is really where the two brothers go their merry way and she rules the kingdom on her own.
• Romy and Julius -- 1 chapter. 84% complete. This one ends on basically a cliff hanger, which is really annoying. Story-wise, it was okay, though I didn't love it. I'm not even sure why they used Romeo and Juliet as a starting point, as they really changed it up.
• Gotham Memories - 4 Chapters. 88% This was the one I was really quite interested in but I gotta say after completing a lot of endings that I don't love it. See, there's the one newspaper guy (Davis) who is okay but a bit lackluster. Then Vittorio, the gangster, which is the only one there's any chemistry with who LITERALLY HAS YOU GO UNDERCOVER AND SLEEP WITH AN EVIL HOMICIDAL MOB BOSS and you agree to this because you...want to uncover the story. I mean, WTF. Then Charlotte, who's dad is a bad guy and one of the ways you have to get ahead is to betray her trust. And Diane, the DA, who, if you don't do exactly what she wants, is really a bit of a bitch. Well. At least the clothes in this one were nice. But I feel there are a lot of compromised morals in this one no matter what route you take.
• Helen of Sparta -- 1 chapter. 94% complete. Another very unfinished story. And really, most of it is just Achilles and Apollo bickering like bitchy little schoolboys. And the MC is underage. I feel like this one was a very missed chance to do something interesting, though it could be saved if they bothered continuing the story.
• Magic Lamp -- 2 chapters. 99% complete. This is one of the ones I've enjoyed the most. Both the love interests (Kahir, the prince, and Light, the genie) are interesting and engaging and decent (though Light really likes to be tsundere). The side characters are also reasonably complex and interesting with back stories that make sense. It also ends well with decent resolutions.
• Shadows of London - 1 chapter. 89% complete. Gah, would really like to like this more but it's another one that basically completely leaves you hanging without any good ending with any character. Both the possible dude love interests (the vampire and the doctor) were well written enough and engaging, but there's no resolution there for either of them. The girl Priscilla I found to be incredibly annoying and stupid. The story itself was mostly okay -- other than just not ending well (or at all, really)
• Little Women - 1 chapter. 96% complete. By all rights I should adore this one as Little Women was one of my favourite books when I was growing up. And she's a writer. But...it's just okay. And, hey, you can actually get yourself an ending with Laurie (though he's not a main character). But there was something generally lacking about it. I don't even know what. Didn't love it.
• Phantom of the Opera - 1 chapter. 92% complete. The MC in this one is unutterably stupid. And, honestly, if you know the story at all, why in the world would you ship her with the phantom? The best thing about it are the outfits.
• Taisho Adventures - 2 Chapters. 95% complete. This one is interesting and with decently developed plot & main characters. The MC is also reasonable. Good clothes too (though that seriously isn't why I play). The story was, however, fairly predictable. The side characters could have been a bit more developed too. But overall, not bad.
• Saga of Viera - 1 chapter. 84% complete. Another one where the ending is completely unsatisfactory and unfinished. I mean, basically she causes like a meltdown/war and they just...end it? Also a story very lacking in the romance part -- the one elf dude barely thaws and the dark elf lady is like a bunch of weird sexual tension. This could be saved but it's very frustrating in its current form.
• Tang Dynasty Hunter - 2 chapters. 97% I quite enjoyed this one but, again, they totally leave you hanging at the end! Both the love interests are fun/interesting and well defined. The MC is quite good. The setting was also interesting and had a fair bit of humour. BUT it needs another chapter. At least.
• Si-Woo's Sight -- 2 Chapters. 87% complete. This is a Korean Idol / Ghost story thing. The story and plot was interesting and I learned a few interesting ghost facts. Liked all of the characters okay. Wouldn't say the endings were particularly satisfying, but it was all okay.
• Princess Sissi - 1 Chapter. 44% complete. I have no idea why, but I have very little interest in this one. Maybe because it seemed really, really obvious who the love interest guy really was? Maybe because the girl character she helps is so snotty? Princess overload? I don't know. I only got as far as I did because I was doing the one thing a day for the daily missions. I didn't get to any real endings other than I think she died in one. I can't even remember why.
• White Snake - 2 Chapters. 55% complete. Huh, I thought I'd done more of this one. I did hit an ending or two, none of them good. So. The story is pretty interesting. I like the mythology. The main love interest guy was good too. I think I stopped because I kept running into dead ends and didn't have the time to go searching for a walkthrough to get to a good end. I do plan on finishing it at some point though.
• Dancing on Ice - 2 Chapters. 25% complete. This is the one I'm currently working on though I gotta say that it has probably my least favourite MC out of any of the stories so far. She's a hot-head figure skater accused of doping who doesn't try to clear her name and just bunks off to practice somewhere else with dreams of returning back. Her mom's a bitch. She kinda is too. The guy LI is prickly as all heck. The girl Nastia is saccharine sweet. I'm kind of curious to see where the story goes, but I can't say I really like it.
• Have You Seen Claudia? -- 2 Chapters. 2% complete. I haven't actually started this one. When I saw them post the teaser on what the new story was going to be and it looked like it was gonna be the H.H. Holmes murder hotel in Chicago, I was like WTF, really? And then, yes, it was. So I...seriously, W.T.F. Holmes looks like a romance option???? I just...wow. I mean, I'll probably try it just because I cannot imagine how they turn this into a story. I mean, what's next? Hitler? COME ON. It's a serial killer story!!

Minor Stories 

• Figaro Fever -- 100% A sub story to go along with Queen Marie involving opera. It's nicely self contained and a decent story. Worth doing.
• A Servant's Resolve - 100% Another sub story to go with Queen Marie, though this time you play as a servant who gets to know Lafayette. Interesting, some decent historical detail, though really an odd choice. 
• The Affair of the Necklace - 100% Another QM one, this time from the POV of the society lady that was trying to get you in trouble as the Queen over that super expensive necklace. Why did I finish it? I honestly did not care about her at all and learning about her motivations did not make me like her one iota better.
• A Precious Friend - 99% (which means I haven't finished constructing all the clothes) Yet another QM one, this time from Gabrielle's POV. Eh, it was okay. She's kinda cloying.
• The Western Wall - 100% A sub story for the Magic Lamp from Light's POV. Reasonably interesting and a bit of an insight into his character.
• The King's Mistress -- 98% Yet another QM one, where you are the Queen again, but this time you suspect the King of having a mistress (spoiler: he doesn't). It was a bit sweet but very, very predictable.
• Mysterious Island - 100% A Magic Lamp sub story with a side adventure for the MC. It was okay.
• For the Love of Flying - 96% complete. A sub story for Gotham Memoirs where you play as Charlotte and re-live her trying to get certified as a pilot. I...eh, just have no real interest in her. I finished it because of the clothes.
• Fated Encounter - 38% complete. A Queen Marie / Fersen story where hubby is very distant and she's torn by her encounters with the attractive Count. It's okay. I'm just such a prude. I mean, she's married.
• The Poet - 0% complete. A Magic Lamp side story that looks to feature Kahir. So I'll definitely do it. Will update once I have.

Amnesia: Memories

 So...I actually bought Amnesia: Memories (Otomate) ages and ages ago. And little dude and I sat down together and started the game. But we picked the LAST world from the list purely randomly and didn't get very far before both of us were like...ermmmm...maybe not. It seemed dodgy and like it was getting dodgier. Didn't trust anyone but there were so few choices that the MC makes that it was just, I dunno, kinda stressful. So I set it aside and figured I'd come back to it and try it alone and start at the first world in the list instead of the last. 

So, I finished my last major section for the freelance project today and hubby was out for some dinner meeting and little dude and I had watched two episodes of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and I had some free time...so I thought I'd try it out again.

This time, beginning in the Heart world. Which is, apparently, the world for Shin's route. But let me start over -- you wake up and there's a little fairy-like creature named Orion telling you that he accidentally wound up in your mind and he accidentally pushed all of your memories out of your head when he landed there. But, he thinks that if you get your memories back, it will push him out and he can be on his merry way. Just like the first time, I have to say I don't really trust what he's saying. But, ok. 

Then you wake up for real and find yourself in the hospital, which freaks Orion out because he was just going on about how you need to get out and experience things from your life and not get stuck in a place like a hospital or you'll lose yourself. Anyway, a guy (Shin) shows up and kisses you. So...your boyfriend? You have no idea. He takes you home, is a bit brusque, but overall seems mostly okay. He comes back again the next day and says some things and then confronts you about your memory loss as he was testing you and figured it out. You confide in him and get your first memory back (about him apologising to your dad at the hospital and saying everything was his fault). 

Anyway, it goes on in this vein as he takes you around to places, hoping to jog your memory and you also start working again at a maid cafe. According to him, the two of you are childhood friends and have been dating for just three months. He blames himself for the accident that injured you (and which is why he thinks you lost your memory...maybe). Then you start to discover some more...namely, that the accident was you falling off a cliff (WTF) and some people suspect Shin pushed you or had something to do with it. Someone else mentions a possible love triangle between you and Shin and Toma, another childhood friend that you also work with. But Toma is also insisting that Shin is a good guy and there's no truth to that. And there's stuff about Shin's dad killing someone?

Toma, incidentally, I'm pretty sure was the guy in the previous route that we tried and bailed on as he seemed dodgy as all hell. 

So, I know that the MC has a month to figure things out and I'm, like, 6 or 7 days in. I am liking this route more than that first one I tried. BUT given the setup, I...well...how do you trust any of these guys? It all seems so very, very suspicious. Which makes it hard for me to imagine romantic entanglements. Part of that is likely also because there really aren't very many choices that the MC makes. She's very voiceless. And the choices don't really...eh...show much personality? I mean, yes, she's got amnesia. So it really feels like she ought to be a tad bit more proactive, yes? Like, literally, the other characters ask her questions and there's no opportunity for a response at all. She just...stands there. Silent.

Though I do have to say that I am overall liking Shin much more than Toma. It's been a couple of years so I don't even remember why, but I just remember being like OH NO THIS GUY IS GOING TO KILL YOU YOU SHOULD RUN. 

The whole parallel worlds thing is odd too -- she's already regained one memory that everyone is telling her is wrong (she recalls Shin finding her first and everyone, including Shin, says it was some guys called Kent and Ikki). So...does that mean this is not her world? What does that mean for whatever final ending you wind up in? Is this one of the games where you have to go through every route and unlock some "real" ending? I guess we'll see. 

On the art, it's good (which it should be, considering who developed it), though there are some odd bits with the sprites like when Toma raises his arm and it's a bit wonky looking. The backgrounds are very low key and a bit undeveloped, but it kind of fits with the story and the MC's condition. 

Amplitude: A Visual Novel

I inherited the hubster's old laptop, which is MUCH better than the cheap HP that I'd bought to play Steam games on (and wound up very seldom using as it was so rubbish), so I installed everything on it. But, I've been so busy with a freelance project that I haven't really had any time to play--which is also why there wasn't a single post on here in October. Anyway, I did turn in all the roughs of the pieces that were mine on time, so I took an hour to dabble. I thought it would be nice to try something new (to me) and so I poked around in AMPLITUDE: A Visual Novel. 

I didn't know really anything going into this. And I'm still rather confused, honestly, as there's no tutorial. I thought it was going to just be a simple visual novel but there are crafting bits and street scenes and skills you can level up in. And that's cool -- but there's really no explanation on what you're supposed to do with it either in help text or in exposition. 

I'm gonna be lazy and just link to this description which is a perfectly succinct summary of the story so I can just talk about what I've liked so far and what I don't. 

The Good -- the story seems fairly interesting and it definitely doesn't feel like a typical visual novel. Well, okay, a little, as it borrows heavily on some sci-fi & fantasy classics, but it's not particularly derivative. Also, it seems like there's quite a bit to explore (if I can figure out how). Since you get to pick whether you want the MC host body to be male or female, I feel like there's some decent replayability (unless they weirdly used the exact same friends / situations?...huh, now I kind of want to start over and pick the dude to see if they do)

The Medium -- the art is acceptable, though not amazing. Actually, it's probably fair to say that it's just not totally my style but it is perfectly okay. I'll pop worldbuilding in here too as a maybe -- it might be okay, but I haven't really gone far enough to say yet.

The Not So Great -- can't say that I particularly love any of the characters -- either the Soul or the body she's taken over (I picked the Eve option -- for the teenage girl). But, I'm still early in, so maybe they improve. I'd say the Soul is more appealing than the teenage girl so far -- she's got anger issues and really just seems like a pill. Also, she's a petty thief and I kind of want to smack her.

Though, I suppose the biggest thing is that I can't say that the game has grabbed me yet, but part of that might be the bits where you're dropped into the room with crafting stuff and no explanation on how/when to use it or any direction. I figured out how to make a necklace (with the inventory I already had) and then, in the next scene, there was an opportunity to use it. But what if I hadn't made it? There was nothing telling me to (or even how). Also no idea how to collect more craftable items. And you don't get the options every time you are back in the room, so I feel like there may be some issues like with Backstage Pass where if you don't do something (that you have no idea you're supposed to do) at a certain time, then there are whole bits of the story that you're completely screwed over with and can't get to. On the other hand, I do like to play without a walkthrough -- but, a little of a tutorial would have been nice.

So, I guess I can say that the jury is still out on this one. It may also be that I don't have a huge amount of time to play right now and should've just tried out a game that had simpler mechanics where I didn't have to puzzle out how to do things.  Still, it's engaging enough that I'll go back to it...but maybe not until I'm done with the current freelance gig, the short story I need to write for an anthology, and some revisions on book 2. Sometime when I have the headspace. The spoons, man. I don't have enough spoons.