I met a pretty cool college freshman last week. (I am a junior, btw) He likes anime, video games, DDR, and he has his own computer. He’s the typical anime fan that likes anime-related stuff. People like this could enjoy bishoujo games, I’m sure. He probably just doesn’t know much about them, like most people don’t. I know he’s not offended by adult materials, so I’m thinking about buying a bishoujo game for him to try. It can’t be Brave Soul because there’s nothing else out on the market like Brave Soul. I mean, if you try something new and like it, you’ll want to find more things like it, right. And for a first time player I wouldn’t want a dark game. Beyond that, I’m not really sure. I think it would be good to get a game that’s not just a sex festival. So, what games are left? I think that leaves Private Nurse, Snow Drop, Kana, Come See Me Tonight (1 & 2) and Crescendo. I’d probably get Little My Maid but it’s not out yet. The first game I played was Private Nurse, and I’m not sure if I’d recommend that as a first game because I didn’t like how the sex scenes were random variations of similar CGs, and there were tons of sex scenes right at the end that gave the game an “odd pace” kind of feel. Still, it was great over all. I haven’t played Come See Me Tonight 2, but it has Miko characters which is a plus, but with the “harem route” it seems like it might be too much sex. Maybe not. I’m going to buy Crescendo for myself when I order his game, because everyone seems to like it. Maybe it would be a good one to play first. What do you guys think?
Tokimeki Check-In is still my favorite among the translated games.
Well I’d recommend Eve Burst Error for anyone who is possibly interested in the genre, because all of the sexual material occurs off screen in the English release. That way your friend could just play through what is basically an anime styled adventure game with a great plot. If he likes the game then start pointing him to the other games that have great plots and sex (like Divi Dead) since that way he probly won’t run in fear from the words “hentai game.”
I gotta say Kana, IMOP its the best i’ve played. It might be that I’m a sucker for a good tragic romance but I still say Kana.
You might look at one of the Viper games. Last time I lent a titles to a guy to try out that was the only one I got a possitive responce on. (doubtless becase of the ease and animation)
[This message has been edited by grimg (edited 10-03-2004).]
My suggestion: Check out what he owns in terms of anime.
(Warning: Much tounge in cheek humor. I blame MegaTokyo (Shoujo Manga), Dork Tower (Tentacles), and Something Awful (Dark Humor) for this.)
When looking at his collection;
If you see: Shoujo Manga: Crescendo
If you see: Angsty/Tragic: Kana
If you see: Long, Detailed Stories: Private Nurse
If you see: Comedy: Come See Me Tonight
If you see: Stuff With Naughty Tentacles hidden under the mattress: Buy anything, it really doesn’t matter now, does it?
I recommend Tokimeki Check-in! as well. Just the right balance of everything – not too serious, not too light, great artwork and music, good pace, a good number of endings, varying degrees of difficulty…
I don’t think a purely linear visual novel type bishoujo game is a good choice for a first time player because if his mindset is that it’s a “game”, getting such might turn him off.
I still push Heart de Roommate as a beginner game, especially for people who aren’t Raging Perverts like some of us to start with. The characters and situations are very familiar-feeling to anyone who’s watched much anime, it’s fun light entertainment, and getting the girl you want is not difficult. (That’s my problem with recommending TCI as a first game - you can play it and think “I think Girl X is cute” and have NO IDEA how to encounter Girl X anywhere to actually try to score with her.)
Don’t get me wrong, TCI is a great game of the style. It’s just that that style can be frustrating if you just want to Get The Girl.
The drawback to HdR is, of course, that it’s low on the interactivity level… there’s a lot of playtime where you aren’t making a lot of decisions, and there aren’t a huge number of endings. Push it as ‘interactive anime’ instead of a ‘game’ and it might go better. That’s pretty much what it wants anyway, with the whole episode structure and all.
Actually, I’d second a couple of opinions: check out the kind of anime he owns. If he’s got enough light stuff, Heart de Roommate would be a pretty good choice, since it’s built pretty much like an anime series, and won’t feel too foreign.
On the other hand, that’s one reason why the linear games aren’t necessarily so bad. My first two games were Desire and Chain, both of which had good story lines, and–at least in the second case–opened up like a good anime OAV. I got hooked into bishoujo on the strength of the stories and the graphics because of those games, especially Chain. While I did wonder why they called them “games” when it was more of an interactive story, it didn’t put me off the genre enough to stop buying them.
quote:
Originally posted by Wolfson:
[B]Actually, I'd second a couple of opinions: check out the kind of anime he owns.
Yeah, that's probably the most practical way to go about it.
If he likes light, romantic comedies like Love Hina etc. He may enjoy light and romantic b-games like Kango Shicyauzo 1 (heh), Tokimeki Check-in!, etc.
I don't really recommend Heart de Roommate because it's just too long for beginners, but then if he likes them light, wacky, and long then may be it will be good for him. Personally I was bored to death with Heart de Roommate and couldn't wait for it to be over... but then that's just me.
Desire and Divi-dead both have slower-paced stories and rather complicated symbolisms so I wouldn't recommend them to first time players either. Chain would be a good choice if you're set on getting a linear visual novel since it has an involving and straightwforward plot.
I wouldn't recommend Private Nurse for beginners either because not only is it long, it is also quite tricky if you're not used to playing these games yet.
Oh yeah, here's one with a great story and no sex: Hourglass of Summer.
[This message has been edited by rowena (edited 10-04-2004).]
Wow, I got a lot of responses in one day! Thanks for your imput everyone. I’m not really sure what kind of anime he likes. I should be able to ask him this week. Tokimeki Check In is a good suggestion. I forgot about that one. Maybe that would be a good choice. After all, It’s pretty much a pure bishoujo game. I mean, the game is just about the girls and that’s it. The only thing about that is that the graphics are a little bit, um, old looking compared with some of the other titles. Hourglass of Summer was one that I was thinking of but I can’t choose that for two reasons. First, I did want to give a bishoujo game that has some sex scenes in it but more importantly I don’t think a DVDPG is at all good for a first game. It’s no problem for self-proclaimed pros like us to keep a log with a pen and paper, but that might seem really annoying to a new player. He has his own PC so I figured that I might as well take advantage of that and get a PC game. I see where you guys are coming from with the whole “Heart de Roommate is like watching anime” idea, but I won’t get him that game because I don’t like that game. The girls are really annoying and immature, and I didn’t think it was all that funny. I think that I’ll avoid Kana just because of the whole “sister” concept. I just don’t think that’s the best thing to start with, you know what I mean. I see that nobody suggested Water Closet. I think that Private Nurse is a tricky game as well. I got the bad ending on my first play through. I think that Come See Me Tonight 2 might be good, but can you guys tell me something? How do the choices work in that game. I definately don’t want to give a game that has a choice system like Tsukushite Agechau 4 where the game just lets you pick the girl instead of actually making decisions. Just pick the same girl every time and you get that girl. That might seem a little too boring. If Come See Me Tonight 2 isn’t like that then I’ll consider that one. So I’ll have to check his anime tastes. If he likes romantic stores then I’ll go for Crescendo. If he likes comedy, maybe one of the others could work. Nobody gave thumbs up or down for Snow Drop. I have hardly played it. I like the graphics but the opening movie seemed to be really low quality. Other than that, I don’t know much about it. Thanks for your help.
I loved Come See Me Tonight 2, but it is pretty much a “choose one girl all the way” game.
As for Snow Drop, well, it’s a great game, but it also is a “sex festival”…the characters are all hornily humping everybody and everything in sight, and even though there’s a reason for that, it started to feel more than a little arbitrary to me.
I’d recommend PHANTOM OF INFERNO, is a great assassin story with lots of drama, and no on-screen sex.
If your friend don’t care about voices but likes great stories, try the JASTUSA PACK too, with that three old bgames, 3 SISTERS STORY, SEASON OF THE SAKURA and RUNAWAY CITY.
That’s right! The JAST USA Memorial collection!
It’s perfect for this situation. I recommend that one.
Snow Drop is a good story, but you have to get to the story first. Prior to that there’s a lot of sex scenes. Plus it’s a tad short.
Crescendo and Private Nurse are ones I’d be tempted to go with. If Little My Maid were out, I’d suggest that. Brave Soul might work, but isn’t representative enough of an average b-game.
There is, of course, the selfish angle: buy him Crescendo, not because you think he’ll like it, but because more sales of Crescendo means more games like it.
If he likes Tenchi or Love Hina, I’d recommend Come See Me Tonight. It’s kind of light/fluffy, though. Not nearly as much as, say, Tottemo Pheromone or DYLAHB…but it’s still there.
[This message has been edited by Nandemonai (edited 10-05-2004).]
Phantom of Inferno is not good because it’d a DVDPG, and it’s also an adult game with the sex scenes edited out. If I were going to get a DVDPG, which I’m not, it would be Hourglass of Summer.
Snow Drop has sex before you get to the story, huh? That’s kind of unusual. Maybe that’s not the best one to start with in that case. Maybe a good one to play later.
As for the Memorial collection, I see why you’re recommend it as it’s three nice games in one package so you can experience a few things at once. The thing about that is that they are all older, less impressive titles even if they are good ones. I think I would rather give him one decent, somewhat new game. None of the games are really new by the time they get to the US, but the games in the memorial collection look outdated. How are these games really played, he’ll wonder. Well, they’re not really “played” as much as they are read. It’s kind of like a combination of anime and manga. You have color and voices and music like anime, but you also have more detail into a still single still pictures instead of less detailed moving pictures. So it resembles manga in that way. I like the term “visual novel” more than “game.” Being that they are visual in nature, I’d like him to experience a game that is somewhat visually impressive. The important thing is that he’ll play thorugh the game and enjoy it, and if he’s not really impressed with the first game from the memorial collection, he might even play the others.
Nandemonai is exactly right about why I can’t start off with Brave Soul. I would like to see more romantic games on the English market, but the important thing here is have another fan of these games. Of course, if I think he’ll like Crescendo then I’ll buy that. That’s for the explanation of Come See Me Tonight. Kind of like Tottemo Pheremone but not quite that fluffy. That’s perfect if he likes comedy anime. I would get the second title because he likes Japanese culture and the characters are miko. By the way, can you understand the second one without playing the first game? It made no difference at all in DYLHB except that the old characters showed up for certain scenes but it really didn’t matter if you ask me. How about this game? I think that if he likes comedy I’ll get him this, and if he ends up buying a game himself later I’ll recommend Tokimeki Check In as a game with a little more challange. On the other hand, if a romantic story would work then I’ll get Crescendo. I’d prefer to get Crescendo but if he wouldn’t like it then I’ll go for the other game. I’ll know in a couple days which one will be better.
Edit: I didn’t even notice until today that Nandemonai is ¬â¬Ω¬Ç√Ö¬Ç√†¬Ç√à¬Ç¬¢¬ÅB¬Å@With it all lumped together as one word and only the captial “N” I just didn’t notice at all. That’s kind of unusual to use that as a name.
[This message has been edited by bishounen_blue (edited 10-05-2004).]
Well it really depends upon what you like since you’ve said what you don’t want (which exlcudes two of my favoritue games BS and Divi Dead (if you could even get a hold of the latter)), i guess imo the best ones from what i can tell for you would be in no paritulcar order:
Tokemi Check-In!
Heart de Roommate
JAST Mmeorial Collection
Yea i know the latter is especially dated, but the graphics were brought up a bit. If its graphics are really that important, then don’t pick it.
Tokemi Check-In! grahpics are a bit dated, albiet not as much as JMC, and not as bad as some games. Still, as i said if graphics are really key here, get a newly released game.
I usually go by another screen name, but didn’t want to use it (back … god, 3 and a half years ago) I was too embarrassed to admit openly I enjoyed this kind of thing. So I picked a new screen name.
I picked ‘Nandemonai’ because I wanted “nobody”, and thought that “nandemonai” meant “never mind”. Later I found out it could also mean “no one”, so I incorrectly got my nick correct.
I usually go by a rather more unusual screen name.
As for Snow Drop … you have to unlock the REAL endings. More accurately you have to unlock the REAL second half of the game. Now, the game is fairly well written throughout. But 1) it’s hard to unlock the second half of the game, and 2) some of the things you have to do in order to unlock the true second half smack of pandering to the audience. (I.e. "I realize they’re establishing character X likes character Y even though they’ve never met, but is forcing us to see TWO scenes of X masturbating while thinking of Y really necessary?)
The two Come See Me Tonight games are separate stories. You don’t need to play the first one to understand the second.
Also, since it seemed to be a factor on the JAST Memorial games, Season of the Sakura isn’t linear, requiring a number of choices to get one of the eight girls. And it is a classic, dated or not. It was also one of my first purchases, because of the low price and the number of the games, and I still like to go back and play it now and then. The JAST collection does give a fairly good overview of the different types of games that are around… one romantic comedy, one serious but linear plot, and one slightly wierd one that requires a lot of picking apart at the end to get the “good” ending.
Like the previous posters said, see what kind of anime he likes first before deciding which game to get. Depending on his tastes you may create a bishoujo fan or you may steer him far far away from bishoujo games.
That said, pick Cresendo!! Since he’s in College Cresendo’s plot should give hime fond memories of the wonder life as a High Schooler…hmmm come to think about maybe he might not want to remember HS life In any case get Cresendo