straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2014-12-08 02:23 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2014-12-08 02:23 pm
0040 | in which I discuss a game with the slightly embarassing title of Shall We Date? The Nilfheim
► Hidden Gem Book is the topic for today, but... I can't think of an answer for this one? Most of the books I really love are at least decently well-known. I guess I'll go with Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder, since it's a book I tend to gift quite often to fantasy-enjoying friends.
► Yesterday, I, um, apparently forgot to talk about Shall We Date? The Nilfheim like I had intended to. So I'll do it today.
Roughly, my feelings about this game can be split into two categories: the things I love and the things I hate. Let's start with the positive side, because there really are quite a few things I adore about it.
First of all, there's the game itself. I love how the options and diverging paths are set up— I personally haven't encountered anything like it before in an otome game. Basically, there are no "wrong" answers. Rather, there are answers which increase intimacy, and answers which increase trust, and depending on which one you focus on, you can reach either the Romance or Mystical ending. The only way you can get a bad ending is if you don't have enough points in either to reach one of the two endings.
I love this concept. Like I said above, I haven't seen anything quite like it in an otome game before, and it definitely made the game feel rather fresh.
Another thing that stood out to me was how it handled the main character, Isabella's... character design, for the lack of a better word. Basically, while you can see her hair and clothing, the rest of her is this dark outline, and it just has this really neat affect. I'm not really quite sure if I'm explaining it well, so here's a screenshot of her in-game (though, unfortunately, this example doesn't include any of the cute emoticons which are used to convey her expressions.)
Then there's the story. Of all the Shall We Date? games I've played so far, I think this is the best in terms of characters and, more importantly, world-building. Nilfheim is such an interesting setting— how often do you play otomes where (almost) everyone, including yourself, are already dead? There are other elements I liked about it, but that was one of the main points, I think.
Plus, Philippe (whose romance I did first) was quite adorable— an author! ♥— and I'm really looking forward to trying out the other paths as well. I also rather liked Isabella— unlike in some of the other Shall We Date? games, she isn't a caricature of a generic otome heroine. I'm not saying that she doesn't have traits of a typical otome heroine, because she does, but that's not all there is to her. ♥
So there are all the things I loved about this game. But there were also things which I really, really hated— and, as this earlier entry may have suggested, those things all have to do with its monetary model.
To be perfectly blunt, it's bullshit.
There are quite a few little things which annoy me, like how it doesn't give you enough dresser space for avatar items, and then offers you the option of either spending 10,000 of the in-game money— which is quite a lot— for one extra space, or paying about $1 of real money to get three extra spaces. Plus, when you get an item— whether it's through winning it in an event or by completing a mission— you only have around a month to claim it before it disappears, and you can't claim it unless you have room in your dresser / garden. Those are just blatant attempts to squeeze money out of the player.
Worst of all, however, is how the game handles CGs. Basically, there are these "checkpoints" which come up occasionally, and you have to do something in order to progress with the story. For most of them, you need to get some sort of avatar item (a dress, a fan, etc) in order to continue. HOWEVER. For each of those checkpoints, they have two options. One which you can buy with purely in-game money— and one which you'd need to spend the equivalent of $3-4 of real money to obtain.
Guess which one item is necessary to have in order to see the CGs?
It's ridiculous. Even paying $4ish per route— another cell phone otome game tactic which annoyed me when I first heard about it— is worlds better than that. It's just blatant money-grubbing, and not only does it really, really annoy me, but it also makes playing / enjoying this game much more difficult, as I have no intention of rewarding such blatantly not-consumer-friendly practices. I'd have much rather paid a set price upfront than have to deal with all of that, and it really puts a dark mark on what is otherwise a pretty great otome game.
For now, though, I'm planning on working on building up my in-game money— I'm thinking of having baseline of at least 20,000 or 30,000?— before I start another route to make it a bit less annoying for me. It doesn't fix the CG problem, but it's close enough, and anyways, I'm sure I can find the CGs online somewhere. It's not the same, but it'll be good enough.
► Yesterday, I, um, apparently forgot to talk about Shall We Date? The Nilfheim like I had intended to. So I'll do it today.
Roughly, my feelings about this game can be split into two categories: the things I love and the things I hate. Let's start with the positive side, because there really are quite a few things I adore about it.
First of all, there's the game itself. I love how the options and diverging paths are set up— I personally haven't encountered anything like it before in an otome game. Basically, there are no "wrong" answers. Rather, there are answers which increase intimacy, and answers which increase trust, and depending on which one you focus on, you can reach either the Romance or Mystical ending. The only way you can get a bad ending is if you don't have enough points in either to reach one of the two endings.
I love this concept. Like I said above, I haven't seen anything quite like it in an otome game before, and it definitely made the game feel rather fresh.
Another thing that stood out to me was how it handled the main character, Isabella's... character design, for the lack of a better word. Basically, while you can see her hair and clothing, the rest of her is this dark outline, and it just has this really neat affect. I'm not really quite sure if I'm explaining it well, so here's a screenshot of her in-game (though, unfortunately, this example doesn't include any of the cute emoticons which are used to convey her expressions.)
Then there's the story. Of all the Shall We Date? games I've played so far, I think this is the best in terms of characters and, more importantly, world-building. Nilfheim is such an interesting setting— how often do you play otomes where (almost) everyone, including yourself, are already dead? There are other elements I liked about it, but that was one of the main points, I think.
Plus, Philippe (whose romance I did first) was quite adorable— an author! ♥— and I'm really looking forward to trying out the other paths as well. I also rather liked Isabella— unlike in some of the other Shall We Date? games, she isn't a caricature of a generic otome heroine. I'm not saying that she doesn't have traits of a typical otome heroine, because she does, but that's not all there is to her. ♥
So there are all the things I loved about this game. But there were also things which I really, really hated— and, as this earlier entry may have suggested, those things all have to do with its monetary model.
To be perfectly blunt, it's bullshit.
There are quite a few little things which annoy me, like how it doesn't give you enough dresser space for avatar items, and then offers you the option of either spending 10,000 of the in-game money— which is quite a lot— for one extra space, or paying about $1 of real money to get three extra spaces. Plus, when you get an item— whether it's through winning it in an event or by completing a mission— you only have around a month to claim it before it disappears, and you can't claim it unless you have room in your dresser / garden. Those are just blatant attempts to squeeze money out of the player.
Worst of all, however, is how the game handles CGs. Basically, there are these "checkpoints" which come up occasionally, and you have to do something in order to progress with the story. For most of them, you need to get some sort of avatar item (a dress, a fan, etc) in order to continue. HOWEVER. For each of those checkpoints, they have two options. One which you can buy with purely in-game money— and one which you'd need to spend the equivalent of $3-4 of real money to obtain.
Guess which one item is necessary to have in order to see the CGs?
It's ridiculous. Even paying $4ish per route— another cell phone otome game tactic which annoyed me when I first heard about it— is worlds better than that. It's just blatant money-grubbing, and not only does it really, really annoy me, but it also makes playing / enjoying this game much more difficult, as I have no intention of rewarding such blatantly not-consumer-friendly practices. I'd have much rather paid a set price upfront than have to deal with all of that, and it really puts a dark mark on what is otherwise a pretty great otome game.
For now, though, I'm planning on working on building up my in-game money— I'm thinking of having baseline of at least 20,000 or 30,000?— before I start another route to make it a bit less annoying for me. It doesn't fix the CG problem, but it's close enough, and anyways, I'm sure I can find the CGs online somewhere. It's not the same, but it'll be good enough.