[Let's Play] Café Rouge

After posting my "Be My Princess for GREE Let's Play", a lot of you guys requested me to do more of them - so here they are! :) 

I'm only going to do LPs (Let's Play) of Visual Novels that aren't available for play in a completed form, or are released episodically. It's cause I feel there's no point of doing a little demo play through of games that you can all finish by yourselves in one go, right? 

Today's one is titled Café Rouge, and I actually only came across it yesterday by chance. I decided to post it today since the gameplay is still pretty fresh in my mind. This one is COMPLETELY FREE FOR PLAY. Yes, a free otome game! 

In order to play, just google "Café Rouge Visual Novel" in the search bar, and you'll find several websites that are hosting the game. Similarly, you can head on over to the creator's Deviantart and play straight from there. As a prior warning, this game heavily relies on flash so I suggest updating yours before playing. 

Thus far, only five episodes have been released - but the game is updated periodically every 1-2 weeks or so. The latest one is Episode 5 (V), with the next one scheduled for released on August 31st. Overall, I can say I'm fairly impressed with how it's going so far, since I did finish all five episodes in the span of a couple of hours. 

Basically, you play the character Isis, who is your "average American teenager". She happens across the part-time job opening at Cafe Rouge. During the day, it's a normal, quaint cafe and bakery. But when night takes over, it is transformed into a five star restaurant-theater-café, with live stage performances and first class customers arriving in the middle of the night.

As Isis delves deeper into this strange café, she becomes entangled in the mystery of its’ haunted world. It is up to you, whether she will find friends or make enemies, whether she follows fate or makes her own destiny. Or perhaps even in such circumstances... she might find love? 

From the five episodes so far, I can genuinely say that the plot line is very interesting. There's still so many mysteries to be solved surrounding each character, and with every episodic release it brings something new to the table. The three guys I posted above are the possible date-able bachelors (from what I've played so far). 

All the characters are somehow interestingly intertwined with each other, so when playing through - I recommend finding and playing all the character paths, as you might find some new clues to add to the mystery ;) 

To do so, and to emphasise the "episodic release" scheme of things, the creator added the idea of "passwords" to the Visual Novel/Otome Game. It kind of reminds me of X-Note by Zeiva Inc. in that retrospect. Basically when you've finished one episode, depending on what choices you picked - it will provide you with a password to advance onto the next episode/chapter. 

Each of these passwords represent a particular character path, depending on your choices. From what I've seen so far, each episode can have anywhere between 3-5 passwords, which correspond with your decisions and what events you witnessed. I actually think it's a pretty good idea for this Visual Novel, since it's being released in parts. Not only this, but it practically forces you to play it over and over, in order to obtain your passwords ;) 

I can say that I spent a good few hours doing so, since this actually takes longer than you might think because of the cooking aspect of the game. Which of course, brings us on towards our next section. 

I honestly do share a strong love-hate relationship with this aspect of the game. Basically, all you gotta do is follow the instructions using your mouse, and finish over 50% of the bar for each part, before the timer rings. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. 

It reminds me a lot of Cooking Mama... but so much more difficult and incredibly frustrating. Seeing as how the mouse is all you have to work with, it's already pretty hard to control and complete the tasks. Not to mention the fact that you gotta complete one recipe each episode... and some of them are pretty glitchy. 

The time you get to finish the task is so little, and sometimes it fails you without reason LOL. Which of course leads you to re-doing the cooking aspect... maybe another 5+ times? Like I know for one of them, I completely filled the bar and it said I failed. I pretty much wanted to rage. Seriously.

Can someone please tell me how in the fourth one, that is not a full bar? My least favourite was without a doubt, the mixing bowl and the kneading. Other than the glitches, then I do gotta say in spite of the difficulty - it's pretty challenging and fun. It definitely spices up the game, and is quite a nice bonus. Not to mention the animations were done quite well, and the desserts do look pretty damn delicious <3

Once you've gotten the hang of it, then it's not too hard. It's still do-able, at the very least :) What I really didn't like was that because of the whole "password system", every time you wanted to replay... you had to do these kitchen tasks over and over. It really grated on my nerves after a while, and I sincerely wish that the creator had added some kind of password where if you've finished it once, you can just enter it next time on your replay and skip the kitchen task. 

The art itself, is honestly quite impressive considering an episode is released every 1-2 weeks or so. There's usually around 1 or 2 CGs each episode/chapter, or more depending on which one it is. I feel like the prettiest ones in the game are definitely between Isis and Ron/Ronnie, which is sad considering I'm totally going for Antoine at this point. I feel like he's the most mysterious of the cast, and his path is the most exciting thus far.

Valen isn't so bad, but his personality is far too... shy I suppose? And Ron is your typical nice guy, which I usually tend to avoid like the plague in Visual Novels. With exception to this one, as every path is important in this game. 

I did find that some of the body proportions in the game definitely needed some work here and there. As intense as the scene on the left is, I did feel that her neck seemed a little... too long for her body, and out of place ^_^" Perhaps, it's just me though. Isis on the right seemed a little off to me as well because of the awkward neck angle, but it's not really a big issue considering the game is a free release, and it's being regularly updated. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, then I am enjoying the game. The storyline so far has proven to be very interesting, and I hope that it continues at this pace within the later episodes. I would be so disappointed if it started out well, only to plummet later on ): I did notice that throughout each of the episodes there would be scattered grammatical errors here and there, but they weren't anything extremely obvious. 

The character cast is very interesting, and I absolutely adore them so far. They all have secrets of their own, which is what makes the storyline so great. The mystery is only thickening, and we still haven't really gotten in much detail yet. I do have to say that I wish the other characters were date-able (namely Demian & Chris) since I had been eyeing them from the very beginning. 

Who knows if they'll be date-able later on? We can only hope so haha. The art is pretty good for a free otome game, although as I said before - the proportions need some work. The CGs themselves are quite pretty, and if the game were to ever be released in a final, polished downloadable form - more CGs would be really nice ^_^ 

One of the best things about Cafe Rouge is without a doubt the music and animation cutscenes. It gave me chills at some points, and definitely shocked me more than a little in some scenes. The only other thing that bothered me about Cafe Rouge was the little to no control of the system preferences. 

No save point, no text speed/volume adjustment, CG gallery etc. Zilch. Once again, if it were to ever be released in a download format, this would definitely be one of the things I'd be looking for :) 

Other than that, this is a pretty solid game guys and I recommend that you check it out. For now, I'll be anticipating Episode VI on August 31st! Woo! 

[Comparison] Pirates in Love vs. My Forged Wedding

Hello everyone, it has been a while since my last post. Since I haven't been writing as many new blog posts as I used to, I have been trying to find the time to write more, as you guys always tell me how much you enjoy reading them :) 


Today I decided to share something a little different, so please let me know if you'd like to see more of these in future! The idea struck me when I realised that not everyone has the time or money to fork out to purchase many Visual Novels/Otome Games. And if you were to do so, you'd want to only pay for only the best, right? 


Voltage Inc. are notorious for their pay-per-character system, which is honestly very overpriced. It was what initially deterred me from playing their games in the first place, but after a while - I finally caved in. I do have to say that whilst I do not like the paying system, Voltage's games are really enjoyable and entertaining.


If you've read my reviews on both Pirates in Love and My Forged Wedding, then you'll know that I gave them both rather positive feedback. They're definitely some of the more popular otome games in the market, and I really can see why. Purchasing both can be fairly pricey on a lot of people, so I've compiled a comparison for both games. They're both quite similar, but very different in many ways. 


So, here comes the big question: which is better? 

Storyline: Although I adored the stories of both the Visual Novels, I do have to say that Pirates in Love takes the lead on this one. I mean, who doesn't love stories about being kidnapped by notorious Pirates of the seven seas? Not to mention the idea of bunking with one of these handsome bachelors? It's too good of an opportunity to pass up for an Otome Game Visual Novel. 

I felt that Pirates in Love whilst was cliche in some ways, it did include a lot more unexpected twists which I really liked. I found myself feeling quite surprised at some of the character backgrounds and stories, since they were rather dark and angsty. I mean, not everyone chooses to be a Pirate. There are many unforeseen circumstances as to how each of the crew members landed on the ship, and it's up to you - as the player, to uncover that :) 


My Forged Wedding on the other hand, is a lot more light hearted and humorous. However, in saying that, it is definitely the more cliche of the two. I mean, a marriage contract happening literally out of nowhere? The moments between the characters also, are nothing superbly amazing or unexpected. My Forged Wedding includes many more of the "typical otome game" elements. In saying that though, it won't fail to make you swoon either ;) 



Character Development: Whilst both story casts were each amazing in their own right, and did eventually grow on me - My Forged Wedding definitely took the cake for this one. For Pirates in Love, as much as I loved Eduardo - he was really the only character I felt was truly worth the play through. Although the others were great (design/art wise), I felt that their stories weren't quite up to my expectations. They were "so-so" at best, and failed to move me, as the player. For example, even though Russell caught my eye at first because of his handsomeness (LOL) his story and character development really didn't impress me. 


My second favourite character though, has got to be Morgan, since he included a great character story. Also, Thomas and Christoper didn't interest me at all as bachelors. My Forged Wedding on the other hand, I found myself wanting to play all of them (which is pretty bad for my pocket). Overall, their characters were much more fledged out, and realistic. I found myself relating to them better, and I did enjoy their character stories a lot more (as a whole). 


Yamato and Ren were my absolute favourites, and I do have to say that I was a little disappointed in Saeki's path. He seemed so passionate and interesting in the other guy's stories, but when it came to his own - it was quite the let down. Takao I had already anticipated since the very beginning, so it really didn't come as a surprise haha ^_^" 




Design: Although both games included amazing art, I guess it all comes down to preference on this one. To me, then My Forged Wedding was definitely better, art and design wise. The characters were a lot better designed, and as I said before - they made me want to buy all of them (which is great on Voltage's part... but not so much for my pocket). The backgrounds were much prettier to look at, and the colouring was a lot more vivid and "otome like". 


I felt that the lines themselves, were much more crisp and defined. The available bachelors I felt were a lot more handsome in comparison to the one's choosable in Pirates in Love. But as I also mentioned before, it really comes down to your preference in the end :)




Music and Voice Acting: Neither visual novels are voiced (which isn't surprising, considering its for the iPhone/Android Platform). But once again, I do have to say that I enjoyed My Forged Wedding's soundtrack so much more. The music was a lot more soothing, and at some points I found myself simply pausing to listen to the music itself. There was just something strangely addictive yet oh so relaxing about the tracks, which I highly recommend. 


I actually found myself searching whether or not the OST was downloadable haha. Pirates in Love on the other hand, whilst it did include a variety of music that suited the scenes, it just wasn't as pleasant to listen to. Not saying that it was bad in anyway, but when compared to My Forged Wedding - it does pale in comparison. 



System: Both of the games had very similar systems, but I do have to say that My  Forged Wedding was better in this aspect. I thought the design was a lot more crisp, and I really did like the speaking text box (it was quite pretty in my opinion). There were less spelling and grammatical errors in the translation, and not as many bugs/crashes. I did remember Pirates in Love crashing at various points, and having some issues with the download screen (When I purchased Eduardo, it stated that I had purchased Russel instead LOL). 


This was back in January however, so I don't know whether or not that error has been fixed. Please let me know in the comment section below if this is still happening :) 

Personal Opinion: All in all, it's pretty obvious at this point that My Forged Wedding was the better of the two games, creation-wise. When it comes down to the smaller details, then it was a lot more crisp in many areas, such as the design, music, characters etc. Although the story wasn't quite as original nor as adventurous as Pirates in Love, the storytelling and execution of the story was much better. 


At the same time however, they really are both great games. Whilst in the smaller details, My Forged Wedding may be the better of the two - generally speaking, then it all comes down to your preference which one you like more. Both have their pros and cons, and neither are perfect - but that doesn't in anyway, take away your enjoyment of the game. For me personally, then I did like My Forged Wedding better, since Yamato and Ren totally won me over. 


Let me know if you'd like to see more comparison posts in future, and tell me in the comment section below which game you preferred more! :D

[Update] My Forged Wedding Kunihiko Route & Yamato Epilogue!

If you guys didn't know, then I am without a doubt an iPhone user by heart. I used the Android system for a couple of months on my old phone, and once I went apple - I never went back. I find the overall system, and user friendliness a huge step up from android, and the lagginess/glitchyness really got to me on my old phone. 

If you guys are an avid follower of Voltage Inc. like I am, you'll know that their updates on the iPhone are truly disappointing. For Android, they're releasing new epilogues/side stories/characters almost every month, whilst us iPhone lovers have been left hanging for 3 + Months. 


I suppose I don't mind waiting all that much to be honest, since Voltage Inc. are working hard to cater for everyone's needs. But it's a definite bummer  when every time a new patch comes out, and it's solely for Android alone. I have learnt not to raise my expectations haha ^_^" 


But, Voltage hasn't forgotten us yet! 


They did after all release Be My Princess for Gree earlier in the month, and I posted a "Let's Play with Me" post, which you can read here. Not too many days ago also, they finally released the much anticipated Kunihiko's Route and Yamato Epilogue. If you have yet to play it, feel free to check it out here. 

Yamato's Epilogue

Of course, I've played them both already, and I do have to say it was the worthwhile wait. Yamato's epilogue was just so adorable and truly befitting of his character. It definitely made me swoon, and laugh in many places. It was a very nice touch of Voltage to include a softer side of him :) As for Kunihiko's route, then although I was a little reluctant to play at  first (since he's your uncle... LOL) I decided to play it out of curiosity.

Aikawa Kunihiko's Route

Although it is not my favourite, it was actually better than I expected. Story and character wise, then he was "so-so" in comparison to the rest of the cast, but I do have to say the group conversations at Long Island were hilarious in his story route. It felt as though literally every guy/possible dateable bachelor wanted you in this route, and Yamato actually blatantly confessed his feelings for you to Kuni... LOL. 


Much Yamato love there <3 It actually left me feeling torn, since he is my favourite character in My Forged Wedding, and for him to actually be so heartfelt in his emotions was quite a new experience. If you've played his route, you'll know that he's mean to you for most of it HAHA. 


Other than that, then it was a worthwhile update :) I will be posting two new blog posts soon, so be on the look out for them! As a clue, it'll have something to do with Pirates in Love, My Forged Wedding, and Frozen Essence :) :) x 

[Let's Play] Be My Princess for GREE

If you guys read my previous reviews on Voltage Inc's otome games (Pirates in Love & My Forged Wedding) you'll know that I adore their Visual Novels. Recently, they released a new title by the name of "Be My Princess". 

It's completely different from their usual formats, since it's used in conjunction with the GREE platform. I was quite intrigued by this change, and since I regularly follow their updates - I was definitely excited to try it out. I do have to say that I am disappointed with their lack of updates on the iOS Platform (since I am an iPhone user). 

All their updates recently have been for Android instead, so I was like "noo... why couldn't it have been for iOS?! ):" To my relief though, they haven't entirely forgotten about us - since they did release "Be My Princess" only a couple of days ago. You can download it from the appstore here. 

This isn't the kind of post that I usually write, but I thought it'd be fun to share my first experience with the game with you guys. It's a lot more casual in comparison to my reviews, since it's more so my ramblings and initial thoughts. Please let me know if you'd like to see more of these in future, or if I should stop these entirely ^_^" 


In all honesty, I would have actually preferred an update on the Pirates in Love/My Forged Wedding epilogues, sequels or side stories. In fact, they still haven't added Kunihiko's path for iOS, and it's already been released for Android. Although I initially didn't want to choose him as a "possible bachelor" (I mean, he's your uncle/relative!!) but after reading a few player's thoughts on the path, it's apparently quite good.


His path focuses a lot on the humorous dialogue between the other characters (Takao, Yamato, Saeki, Ren) and supposedly it's a lot more... corrupted? Dirty minded? Perverted? LOLOL. This was enough to pique my interest, since I think their banters at the bar are absolutely adorable. Anyways, onto my play through experience for "Be My Princess". 

From first impression, then its in the same format as "Pure Love", another free otome game for iOS. You can also download that from the appstore here. Basically, you can complete the game without paying anything at all (so it's technically free), BUT there is an extremely long waiting process. In order to progress through the game, you have a certain number of "love passes". You are given 5 per day at 11am UTC. 

Each time you pass through a section of a chapter, these are taken away. Once you use them up, you have to wait until they refresh (at 11am UTC) or you could purchase more passes using real life money to buy "PC" a.k.a. Princess Coins. I personally don't recommend these since they're just so expensive, and the chapter parts are relatively short. One section is split into maybe 8-10 parts or so, so it takes around 2 sessions/days to complete one chapter. 

This is terrible for impatient people like me, and it's merely a device used by Voltage Inc. for us to fork out our money ^_^" So even though the game is free, it may take months even to complete one character path. 

Of course, there is no such thing as "stacking" up love passes (that would be too kind, eh?) It will always stay at a total of 5 passes. Now, onto the game dynamics itself. 

It did add some rather unique features for you to do whilst waiting for your love passes to refresh. You have your "Princess Gatcha" which is basically like one of those "Wheel of Fortune" things. You can spin once per day for free, or collect 100 points to spin the wheel again. These can be gained through "greeting" your friends. The aim of this is after each spin, you receive items to complete your "collection".

NOTE: To enlarge the photos, just click on them for your viewing pleasure. :)

When you finish your "collection", you upgrade your rank as a Princess and receive special bonuses such as gaining more Royal Factors when you go to parties. 

I do have to say that gaining "friends" in this game is fairly easy, since you can just go through the list of other players, and send out friend requests. I got back 7 acceptances in a day (the max number of friends you're allowed to have so far). The game community is quite nice from what I've seen so far ^_^

Having more friends means more greetings (more gatcha points for the wheel of fortune) and a greater boost in "charm points" when you go parties!

So, what are royal factors? They're basically a certain amount of points you'll need throughout the storyline, since at some point a "mission" will come up. It may ask something like "Gain 5000 Royal Factors". You can stock up on these by going to parties. 

In order to have a success at a party (and gain royal factors, or in-game money as a bonus) you must have high charm points. These can be gained through going with a friend, or purchasing better clothes. Oh, I forgot to also mention but "Be My Princess" also includes your own "My Room" feature. Its basically your own "home" in the game, and through decorating it and gaining items to furnish - it also adds to your overall "charm points". 

Since its pretty hard to purchase in game items (they're expensive... both with in-game currency and real life money LOL) it's pretty easy to just bring a friend along. 

Here are some examples of things you can purchase:

Very cute, but too much money for my pocket haha ^_^" I do like the added bonuses, since it gives you something to do while waiting. In order to go to parties, you need at least "25 strength". These are much easier to replenish, since you get 1 point per 3 minutes. You could just check up every few hours or so, and click "go to a party" - so it's simple enough. 

Now, onto the bachelors themselves! I suppose this is the thing we've all been waiting for, to see who's path we will snag next haha. Since this game is quite lengthy with all the waiting and love passes thing, I do suggest to pick your first target wisely. The game is separated into the first five chapters or so as a "common route" to get to know the guys first, before going into the actual "character routes".

The character routes are definitely lengthy (with 15 chapters each) so this game will take a long, long time to finish. 

Let's meet our bachelors, hm? :) 

I really wasn't disappointed at all by the art, although it's pretty much an expectation with Voltage Visual Novels. I'm planning to go after "Prince Keith" first since in the promotional video he had some pretty good CGs/dialogue, and from my playing experience so far he is definitely the "tsundere" character. If you've read my past reviews, you guys know that I absolutely adore them in VNs. 

I'm also pretty interested in Joshua, since he's like the "misunderstood jerk" character, and Wilfred since he's like your typical golden haired bishie/prince from a foreign land *____* I'm not as interested in the other three, as Edward seems like the typical nice guy and the other two are just... "eh". There's nothing really that stands out about them, you know? :) 

This is my progress so far on the game: 

I'm only on chapter two of the game, so I can't fully judge it quite yet. I'm mostly saving up my "in game money", since who knows if I'll need it in future for a mission where it requires me to purchase clothes and such. I do have to say that I'm quite hooked on the game so far, since it reminds me of those addictive Facebook Games where you feel compelled to check every hour or so when you're bored HAHA ^_^" 

Ah, the days when everyone was spammed with Farmville Requests... oh wait actually, that's still happening >____>" Royal Factors wise, then I'm doing pretty well - for future missions, I don't really think I'll have any trouble with the number I have so far. 

In terms of Gatcha, then I'm pretty certain that I'm a bad luck magnet since I haven't been able to complete any collection so far and rank up my "royal status" </3

Final Thoughts: It's an interesting new idea by Voltage, I'll admit that. It never hurts to try something other than the norm. I do have to say that I don't like the whole "waiting game" aspect, since it makes the storyline feel so disjointed. You technically only read about 10 minutes of the story each day, and I usually don't remember where I left off at. "Be My Princess" is obviously somewhat of a scam by Voltage, to tempt us into buying love passes to continue the story, and thus have a higher profit margin ^_^"

Although it's not required to buy love passes - trust me, you'll be sorely tempted to do so (I know I was, but I refrained - since it's just too expensive). I actually prefer their "pay per character" system since it's a lot cheaper, and you can play the whole entire story at any time you wish, or perhaps even play it again. I do commend the other bonus features, since I found them rather interesting and a nice way to kill some time when you don't have love passes to burn. 

It's quite innovative, but strongly reminds me of Facebook games >___>" I also commend the writing, since the english is much better than their previous titles and also a huge step up from Pure Love (another otome game that I mentioned earlier that uses the same "love pass" system). All in all, I quite like the game and it's actually not that bad. I will see how far I go with this, since at some point I may rage quit or become bored with waiting.

A full review on this may not be up until some time, since this game takes literally forever to finish. Let me guys know how your game experience was, and if I should do more of these "Let's Play" in future :)