straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2013-06-20 04:28 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2013-06-20 04:28 pm
0004 | which originally didn't get a header, whoops
I really and truly hate moving, haha. It's just so stressful, and puts me in the worst mood. Uggghhh. I cannot wait for this to be over with.
Fortunately, I'm not actually moving things today, which is why I'm able to type out this entry right now. My mom put an ad in the newspaper for some things we got with the house that we don't actually need, and I get to be the lucky person who stays at home and takes care of the potential buyers. Yay.
(Except not, because social interaction. Save me.)
I've been spending my time playing a certain game (prepare for some massive fangirling later in this entry), but now I'm glued to the sale going on over at the Book Depository right now, so writing this fills in the time between each fifteen minute period quite nicely.
► Now, time for some more fangirling— this time, for indie otome games. Hopefully some of you already know this, but four days ago Zeiva (my absolute favorite indie developer), released Area-X (which can be bought here). It's a prequel (of sorts) to X-Note (which can be bought here), which some of you might remember as the game I spent the last two years rabidly fangirling. ^^;;
Anyways, if you like otome games, beautiful artwork, complex stories with complicated characters you can really fall in love with— play these games. Seriously, they're amazing.
I would recommend playing X-Note first, though. It's rougher than Area-X— the very beginning in particular, when the story is being set-up, feels rather rushed— mainly because certain events in Area-X lose their impact if you haven't played the first game, and there are some vague spoilers for certain plot twists in it. But yeah. They're both great games that have eaten away at my soul.
There are demos for both of them too, on Zeiva's website, if any of you all are curious.
► Before I get to the spoiler-y part of my Area-X fangirling, I want to talk about an otome game I played while waiting for Area-X to finish downloading. It's called Days of the Divine, and it's a free game that was made for NaNoRenO... this year, I believe? Anyways, it's rather good for a free otome game— on the top of my head, I can only think of one other one I liked better— and can be found here.
That being said, it's not perfect. I played the game in this order: Seiran's path first, then Liufan's second, and Maru's last. This... probably affected how I viewed the various paths at least a little bit, and my own character bias didn't help either, whoops.
One of my problems with it is that the world isn't set up too well in the beginning. I think they (Circle Pegasi, the creators) were trying to avoid an info-dump, but I felt a bit lost, and it took me a bit to feel settled and comfortable in the world they made.
I choose to play Seiran's path first, mainly because of the first scene in the game, right before he's sealed. I kind of went "...for an evil god, he's kind of adorable and sweet" and promptly fell in love. I rather adored how he tried to get to know Maru, and offered him his name and all that, which made a certain aspect of Maru's ending hit me rather hard.
Overall, I really loved his path. His and Biyu's relationship was lovely, and I really like how determined Biyu was to understand him, especially since she actually had every reason to give up and mindlessly hate him. There was just this strength of character there, and gah they made me fangirl.
Then I went to play the other paths, and that's where it began to fall apart for me.
I went to Liufan's next, mostly because he was the character that I had the least interest in, and I always try to end my otome gaming on a high note. Which... was probably a good decision, because I hated his path, and even Liufan himself, at least a little. He just— he felt so hypocritical.
So many of his beliefs mirrored what Seiran was saying, but the way he went about it felt just as bad as what Seiran had done. I also really didn't like how he took away some of Maru's powers, and kind of turned himself into a god. I mean, okay, it wasn't intentional, but it also lost him any moral high ground he could have had.
Also, Seiran's expression at the end just gutted me.
Finally, I went to Maru's path. I'd been surprised by how much I liked him when I played Seiran's path— I usually don't like the cheerful, kid-y ones— and was hoping that his path would be closer to Seiran's than Liufan's. (It... didn't hurt that I friendshipped the hell out of him and Seiran in Seiran's path.)
So, of course, I had to be disappointed. I did like the overall path better than Liufan's, but the way it ended... okay, am I the only one who was a little uncomfortable with Biyu praying to her romantic interest? That part definitely felt off to me. And, of course, the part where he killed Seiran. Just, that just felt unnecessarily cruel. I feel like so much of that character growth Maru had in Seiran's path seemed to just... not be there, in his own path.
So, yeah. Liked the game, liked most of the characters and the world they were in, but definitely had some major problems with it. Still, it is free, and it was made in a month. I can go a bit easy on it, I think, especially since the parts I liked, I really, really liked.
► Unfortunately, I need to get going now, so I won't be able to get to my (spoiler-filled) fangirling + thoughts over Area-X, at least not now. I haven't finished the game yet (I have one route left to play through, plus a variation on another route), so maybe I'll do it once I've finished that, so I can talk about it all in one entry. We'll see.
On a completely unrelated subject, I really need to get around to uploading more icons on this account.
Fortunately, I'm not actually moving things today, which is why I'm able to type out this entry right now. My mom put an ad in the newspaper for some things we got with the house that we don't actually need, and I get to be the lucky person who stays at home and takes care of the potential buyers. Yay.
(Except not, because social interaction. Save me.)
I've been spending my time playing a certain game (prepare for some massive fangirling later in this entry), but now I'm glued to the sale going on over at the Book Depository right now, so writing this fills in the time between each fifteen minute period quite nicely.
► Now, time for some more fangirling— this time, for indie otome games. Hopefully some of you already know this, but four days ago Zeiva (my absolute favorite indie developer), released Area-X (which can be bought here). It's a prequel (of sorts) to X-Note (which can be bought here), which some of you might remember as the game I spent the last two years rabidly fangirling. ^^;;
Anyways, if you like otome games, beautiful artwork, complex stories with complicated characters you can really fall in love with— play these games. Seriously, they're amazing.
I would recommend playing X-Note first, though. It's rougher than Area-X— the very beginning in particular, when the story is being set-up, feels rather rushed— mainly because certain events in Area-X lose their impact if you haven't played the first game, and there are some vague spoilers for certain plot twists in it. But yeah. They're both great games that have eaten away at my soul.
There are demos for both of them too, on Zeiva's website, if any of you all are curious.
► Before I get to the spoiler-y part of my Area-X fangirling, I want to talk about an otome game I played while waiting for Area-X to finish downloading. It's called Days of the Divine, and it's a free game that was made for NaNoRenO... this year, I believe? Anyways, it's rather good for a free otome game— on the top of my head, I can only think of one other one I liked better— and can be found here.
That being said, it's not perfect. I played the game in this order: Seiran's path first, then Liufan's second, and Maru's last. This... probably affected how I viewed the various paths at least a little bit, and my own character bias didn't help either, whoops.
One of my problems with it is that the world isn't set up too well in the beginning. I think they (Circle Pegasi, the creators) were trying to avoid an info-dump, but I felt a bit lost, and it took me a bit to feel settled and comfortable in the world they made.
I choose to play Seiran's path first, mainly because of the first scene in the game, right before he's sealed. I kind of went "...for an evil god, he's kind of adorable and sweet" and promptly fell in love. I rather adored how he tried to get to know Maru, and offered him his name and all that, which made a certain aspect of Maru's ending hit me rather hard.
Overall, I really loved his path. His and Biyu's relationship was lovely, and I really like how determined Biyu was to understand him, especially since she actually had every reason to give up and mindlessly hate him. There was just this strength of character there, and gah they made me fangirl.
Then I went to play the other paths, and that's where it began to fall apart for me.
I went to Liufan's next, mostly because he was the character that I had the least interest in, and I always try to end my otome gaming on a high note. Which... was probably a good decision, because I hated his path, and even Liufan himself, at least a little. He just— he felt so hypocritical.
So many of his beliefs mirrored what Seiran was saying, but the way he went about it felt just as bad as what Seiran had done. I also really didn't like how he took away some of Maru's powers, and kind of turned himself into a god. I mean, okay, it wasn't intentional, but it also lost him any moral high ground he could have had.
Also, Seiran's expression at the end just gutted me.
Finally, I went to Maru's path. I'd been surprised by how much I liked him when I played Seiran's path— I usually don't like the cheerful, kid-y ones— and was hoping that his path would be closer to Seiran's than Liufan's. (It... didn't hurt that I friendshipped the hell out of him and Seiran in Seiran's path.)
So, of course, I had to be disappointed. I did like the overall path better than Liufan's, but the way it ended... okay, am I the only one who was a little uncomfortable with Biyu praying to her romantic interest? That part definitely felt off to me. And, of course, the part where he killed Seiran. Just, that just felt unnecessarily cruel. I feel like so much of that character growth Maru had in Seiran's path seemed to just... not be there, in his own path.
So, yeah. Liked the game, liked most of the characters and the world they were in, but definitely had some major problems with it. Still, it is free, and it was made in a month. I can go a bit easy on it, I think, especially since the parts I liked, I really, really liked.
► Unfortunately, I need to get going now, so I won't be able to get to my (spoiler-filled) fangirling + thoughts over Area-X, at least not now. I haven't finished the game yet (I have one route left to play through, plus a variation on another route), so maybe I'll do it once I've finished that, so I can talk about it all in one entry. We'll see.
On a completely unrelated subject, I really need to get around to uploading more icons on this account.