Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly

Had some free time last night, so I fired up Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly from Otomate. I picked it up in one of the Steam sales quite a while ago. It looks like it was ported to PC from PS Vita and, so far, that's my only quibble with it. The port was very clunky and you're just dropped into the game without knowing or being shown what any of the keys are to get to menus or to save or anything. By experimenting with the keyboard, I figured out that W takes you to one menu and O to another. But, annoying. I did try Googling too, but most everything I found was for the original on the handheld, which didn't help. It's most noticeable in a mini game (more on that in a minute) where it lags significantly.

But, let's talk about the actual game! I knew absolutely nothing about this going in, other than that I'd seen it on recommended lists (and I bought it for pretty cheap in the sale) and that it was from Otomate, so it'd likely be of decent quality. 

Apparently, it's one of the kidnapped / amnesia plots. The MC wakes up in a strange, elaborate mansion with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She's soon attacked by terrifying monsters but is saved by a "man with two moles." As they hide, they realise that they are in the same situation. He also has no idea how he got there. The only thing they have in their pockets are strange mobile phones with an anonymous message each. After a bit, they discover more people -- additional LIs (though romance definitely is in the backseat in this game; it's more about survival so far), plus a strange man in a fox mask and a young girl in a rabbit mask. 

They also soon discover that white butterflies = safety and black butterflies = danger. When they do kill monsters, they disappear and the essence leftover goes into something they are wearing. In the MC's case, it's a butterfly hair pin.

Right now, I'm just starting on Chapter 2 in what I believe is the Common Route.

As they don't remember their names or who they are, they take on the names they find attached to the rooms in a safe part of the mansion:

Beniyuri -- the name the MC takes on. After she/you regains her first memory after passing the first "test" from whoever has placed them in the strange, unescapable mansion, you know she has a father and a younger sister and a dead mother.

Hikage -- the first man she meets, with dark hair. He's gruff and probably the most practical of the bunch and not super trusting, but so far he also seems to be the first to follow after our MC if she gets herself in danger.

Kagiha -- the kind eyed man, and the second one they meet. He had arrived a few days before and found the safe place. He feels like he knows the MC and definitely has an interest in her, though there's some reticence that's unexplained. If I had to guess, at this point, maybe he's the unknown not-boyfriend friend in the flashback?

Karasuba -- the slightly flirty one who's a bit loud but doesn't seem particularly bad. Definitely the most flighty character with a blonde avatar. Interestingly, when they regain their first memory back, he was shaken by it. No idea what it was, but since he's the "cheerful" one, that was interesting.

Yamato -- the always grumpy, kinda angry one that is most likely to be impatient and go off half-cocked. He's got white/grey hair. He can't wait to get out of there. I mean, none of them can, but he's very anxious.

They do find out, partly from Usagi (bunny girl) that they have been tasked with finding the pieces to put together a kaleidoscope thing. I say thing, because once they start putting it together, it doesn't really seem like a kaleidoscope. Part of that process will be to kill the monsters as they hold shards that are part of it. They have no idea why and, as escape otherwise seems impossible (windows are unbreakable, front door unmovable, strange fog outside as far as they can see), they don't seem to have a choice. They do learn that they can make weapons from their imagination, though it doesn't always work for Beniyuri, even though she was the first one to do it (by accident).

So far, I'd say I'm liking it. The MC, while understandably terrified and scared, isn't a wallflower and she participates in all the planning and fighting. The LIs are all interesting enough. I'm sure the Fox Guy will figure in as well -- is he the master? Is he like them? Who knows at this point. 

The story is fairly engaging, the art is nice. A wee bit dated, perhaps, but good. The voice acting is good and you can even have the voice on for the MC (or toggle it off), which is nice. A lot of games don't do the VA for the MC for self insertion reasons, but I have always thought it felt a little odd when everyone else speaks.

I don't love the mini game thing you have to do (shooting black butterflies), but that's partly because it doesn't really work quite right on the PC as it freezes up. But you have to do it to unlock the side stories -- and the side stories seem useful, so I suppose I'll slog through it.

I think I'm still in the Common Route and not sure when/where it will diverge, so will report back. At this point, you know more about Hikage and Kagiha than the other two, so it's hard to have a sense of them. At any rate, promising so far! But dark! And not super romantic. But that's okay.

Edit: I played a bit more today and this is going to sound odd (maybe it's because I left the BGM on? All the clicking?) but it was making me tired. Or, maybe I just need more sleep. I did get a little farther and unlocked a bunch of the side story things.

Me Chat

Well, I kept seeing ads for Me Chat and it doesn't look like Cheritz's The SSum is coming to English any time soon. So I thought I'd give it a go even though some of the ads look downright skeevy.

So...can this properly be called an otome? Hm, maybe not. Or a joseimuke? Possibly. It's very open as far as what profiles you get (male, female, whatever). Wait, let me start over. It's basically, like, fake Tinder? You start by doing a quickie profile of your MC/character/avatar by choosing some interests and a star sign. I'm not entirely sure whether or not the customisation makes a difference. It might. And then you can swipe left or right based on basically a single picture and a one sentence description. Is this what real dating apps are like? I honestly really don't know. 

The game is split between you chatting with them and selecting answers -- some of the time. Sometimes, you get just one response, others you can select. Sometimes they "like" your answers and you get points to raise your relationship. The other half is going on actual dates/meet ups...if you unlocked enough relationship points.

Like a lot of games, it looks to me like it would cost a ridiculous amount to unlock the "bonus" content -- basically, images, sound bites with voice acting, and extra story when you are on dates. Paying the gems to unlock these things also serves to bump your relationship score up. As you start off with 100 gems, I used some to see how things were, picking a random variety. They definitely push it as the non-gem options often come across as rude. Like, one choice was: "I was wondering about how we matched on MeChat..." with a cost of 10 gems OR "You're cute but kind of lazy with making yourself look hot" like WTF. Why would anyone say that? So it makes it hard to pick the free options.

However, I wouldn't say the stuff you unlock mostly seemed worth it. At least, not the images or the sound bites. I mean, it was interesting to hear the VAs and they seem okay. But each thing ranges from 4-20 something to unlock and that means gems can go very, very fast. And, weirdly, if you don't unlock the things, you can continue on with the chat as if you had. Meaning, dude sends you a picture but it's all blurred out unless you pay to see it. But you can still continue on with the chat as if you had, even though you're clueless as to what the picture was.

I gather that you can only get so many matches in a day--but I'm not sure what the number is. I'd hit 5 and then it said no more...but then I logged in again awhile later and could swipe right again. So I dunno. Maybe it's so many every hour or some unit of time?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that when your "romance bond" hits a new level, you earn a couple of gems. Like, 4. So not much.

Anyway, I swiped left on all of the obviously cringe-y ones and the ladies (as I wasn't in the mood). I'd say so far that you can't necessarily tell what one is going to be like based on the picture / one sentence description. For instance, I swiped right on Martin Dixon, who made it sound like he was some sort of charitable dude with a good moral centre...and he's going on like he's a former spy and...I don't trust him at all. He is very James Bond looking and he goes after you with this whole Rosencrantz and Guildenstern question attack but...eh, I dunno. I suspect he's more like a master thief. Or a wannabe master thief. [Scratch that -- he definitely is -- just did another chat with him and he admitted it right out].

Anyway, I did do a couple of the dates and I'll talk about one because I nearly literally ROFL. So. Meet Eddie. When you first swipe on him, all you know is he loves corgis. You soon learn that he's a dog trainer and is helping a friend rescue a bunch of corgis from a bad situation and he's being overrun by them at his house. He invites you over to help -- and, apparently, you LOVE puppies. 

The picture is what greets you at the door. Eddie and his...is that a cod piece, or are you just happy to see me, Eddie? 

Anyway, you spend a day with Eddie petting puppies and giving them baths and having to wander around in a bathrobe because of...puppy pee. It was kinda sweet but there was a definite underlying weirdness to it. The inner dialogue is even about how you're not sure if he's into you or what. I...just...I dunno. It was a little weird. And every time they showed his picture, I had to snort. It's SO ridiculous. 

So far, I'd say the saccharine sweetness of this match makes me feel like it's a false flag. There's something going on. Something underhanded. So I am intrigued, but I'm also not loving it? Trusting it? Or, is it actually what it appears and you've been friendzoned? I really don't know.

Besides Martin the dodgy thief and Eddie and his corgi army, I tried... 

Yong Ho, not realising he's apparently an Idol or something and invites you to come meet him and play poker...or something. And it seems really skeevy. Don't like him. He must be one of the main dudes, though, as he's front and centre in the picture at the top.

Patrick Rask, who's apparently a pizza delivery driver who once delivered a pizza to you and, yeah, is a bit pushy and if it was real life, I would be totally concerned that this guy knew where I lived. Don't trust him. Don't like his pizza flirting.

Rory Adams, a dancer who also teaches kids but calls you darling. Cringe. But, honestly, he seems pretty decent so far.

Skyler Morrison, a, uh...well, I'm not sure. He claims to be some kind of a Game Master and gives you prompts of a D&D-style adventure but it's...kinda goofy? And the MC doesn't seem totally into it (based on the response options).

So........app-wise. It's easy enough to use. You can watch some ads to earn free gems. Graphics are...well, not really my style. And is Eddie's crotch supposed to make me laugh? Probably not. But it definitely does. The only other date I did so far was with Yong Ho and to say his style was not mine is an understatement (not to mention the date -- I would have been running for the hills). I'm wondering...if I pick enough rude options, do they stop talking to you? How do you get rid of them? 

I suppose I'll play around with it for a while longer but I can't say that it has completely grabbed me since most of the options look...well, like the kind of assholes you'd actually find on Tinder. And this isn't the kind of game I'll actually spend money on (not with what I've seen so far). So I doubt if it will last long in my repertoire. Man. I wish Cheritz would just release the Ssum.

Edit: Update...I saw there was a way to "switch counterpart" so I tried that on Yong Ho and re-did the date. But, uh...it was exactly the same, just a dude with a different haircut/color called Seong On. Still wearing the same ridiculous outfit even. Same exact dialogue. So. Yeah. But there's also a "reset story" and "unmatch" and...I am just gonna unmatch out of that mess. I don't need to get annoyed at a bunch of poser boy band members. Though why have a reset story if the only difference seems to be their face?? I don't get it. Lazy.

The Daily Life of the Immortal King

Little dude and I started a new anime and this time it is a Chinese one. Actually, we attempted to start about 3 new ones and this is the one we stopped on, as the others we were very meh on. It's called The Daily Life of the Immortal King.

It's...odd. And funny. Wang Ling was born with great powers (like, literally, he springs forth from his mother's womb and walks). At age 6, while out shopping for dry ramen to snack on, the takes out a Demon King frog beast, though everyone thinks it's one of the regular superheroes that does it. His parents figure they'd best keep him under wraps as much as possible and so he wears a talisman on his neck to curtail his powers and takes some dodgy golden pills to keep it under control. 

But, even so, he finds it harder and harder to hide things when he enters senior school. He's constantly having to erase people's memories (but only at 50%, not 100%, or else he might toast their brains) and save the life of Sun Rong (the girl). She's the daughter of some high powered family and very powerful in her own right, though he's trying to pass himself off as a low power level dude. She winds up falling for him, though some of that might be blowback from a spell (sort of). The other two boys (on the left in the picture) at first don't like Wang, but after some misadventures, they've formed a friend group. 

That dog? It's the frog demon's new form. There's a long story there, but I don't want to hash out everything. 

The thing we're really liking about this one is that it is completely and totally irreverent. There are weird, very random jokes. The deadpan-ness of Wang Ling. The self-serving Froggy 2 (frog dog). We're already on episode 9 of 15 out of the first season. I have no idea how the show compares to the novels, but it's very fun to watch. It was a good pick for the two of us too.

Edit: We finished the first season already! Chalk one up for a) summer and b) hubster being away. So little dude and I have been having anime + dinner nights. 

Actually fairly impressed with this one. I haven't watched a lot of Chinese anime (or a huge amount of shows, to be fair...I'm more often disappointed with them than not). There was a really good blend of humour and high stakes. And I do always love a deadpan hero with a hidden heart of gold. We'll be waiting for the release of season two!