Review of Xchange

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Xchange was my first the first bishoujo game. I chose it because it had an appealing premise: what if Ranma had been a passive wimp guy?

I would say that the game delivered big time on this theme. I was very entertained. The game does have some drawbacks, so I guess I will go over the pros and cons.

Some of the weaker points of the game are:

* midi music
* no voice acting (text only)
* no animation
* not enough endings

On the other hand, some of the stronger points were:

* The midi music wasn’t that annoying
* The characters were interesting
* LOTS OF NAKED FEMALES & SEX

(I’m trusting that no one will consider that third point a spoiler.)

I’m not a big gamer but I found the game easy to play. I guess the key is that this is NOT a game that “you try to win” by “guessing the correct answers” but a game where you do a lot of “position saving” so that you can explore all the paths, so that you can get more LOTS OF NAKED FEMALES & SEX.

I was also pleased to find that there was a “shounen-ai” element to the game: since the hero is a guy trapped in a female body the experience of being a female leads him to do things that hetro guys normally don’t do. Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your tolerance) there is no ending to the game where he changes back but still wants to be with a guy who rocks his world.

As for porno value, I would have to give this game high marks. You, the player, get to guide the hero on a bunch of adventures with this new body, and the text is well written enough for you to get into the action. Not to mention lots of pictures of LOTS OF NAKED FEMALES & SEX.

So, I enjoyed it, and I look forwards to playing Xchange 2 as well.

#2

I think you’ll have a hard time finding a bishoujo game that hasn’t got MIDI music or has animation.

And there are endings where Takuya changes back…

#3
quote:
Originally posted by Benoit:
I think you'll have a hard time finding a bishoujo game that hasn't got MIDI music or has animation.

And there are endings where Takuya changes back...

It might be true that a majority of games don't have voice acting but there are a few (I just ordered Chain ~ The Lost Footsteps for one).


In Xchange there are endings where he changes back, but as far as I can tell, the endings from there all involve one or the other of the main females. In all of the endings where Takuya winds up with a guy he doesn't change back.

#4

I wasn’t talking about voice acting. Just about MIDI music.

#5
quote:
Originally posted by Benoit:
I wasn't talking about voice acting. Just about MIDI music.

Oops, right you are.

However, both Xchange 2 and Chain ~ the Lost Footsteps advertise full CD music, so all is not lost.

It makes me wonder if someday some guy is going to get the bright idea to get porno chycks to dub some of these games...

Craig

#6

Doesn’t TCI also have cd audio?

#7

Why ask when you can look it up at Peach Princess’ site? :stuck_out_tongue:
The site says MIDI and CD.

#8

Isn’t it ironic that we have a topic in the Bishoujo Games & Anime Discussion forum called Japanese B-games, while here in the Japanese Bishoujo Game Reviews forum we have a topic about English B-games? Like, what’s the point of having separate areas?

#9
quote:
Originally posted by perigee:
Isn't it ironic that we have a topic in the Bishoujo Games & Anime Discussion forum called [b]Japanese B-games, while here in the Japanese Bishoujo Game Reviews forum we have a topic about English B-games? Like, what's the point of having separate areas? [img]http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/vb/images/smilies/offtopic.gif[/img] [/b]

Yikes! I will put it in the appropriate section.

#10
quote:
Originally posted by resop2:
Yikes! I will put it in the appropriate section.

If, it wasn't in the correct area to begin with. This thread started as a review of a translated bishoujo game, so it belongs in the review section.

#11

It’s no big deal, but if you check the opening post in this forum,

quote:
Originally posted by Lamuness:
Now as for reviews, only Japanese bishoujo games only please. As for method of reviews you can do anything you like (ratings, essays), but keep things tasteful. However, do try to make some substance out of it (ie don’t just write “this game sucks” and that’s it).

And references (eg screenshots). Please ONLY post links to info that only comes from the game company’s site, or from other japanese game info sites (eg getchu.com).

Finally, copyright. Peapri will not use your reviews for any purposes at all. The writer of the review (not peapri) owns the sole copyright to the review. So don’t be afraid to post reviews here. However, Peapri is not responsible if your reviews get stolen for use by another individual.


Until this year people generally followed that guideline, but the last few topics have all been about English-localized releases.

I don’t think our moderator is too worried about it. At least, he’s never said so. This is such a low-volume discussion group, it may as well include all games regardless of language.

A little forum reorganization might make some sense. Why not have this as a review forum for all games, but make it for full reviews only. Anything less than a full review would go in the Bishoujo Games & Anime Discussion forum. That board could be renamed Bishoujo Games Discussion, and the Off-Topic Thread could be changed to Anime Discussion, since about 95% of what’s discussed there is just that. It probably would mean more administrative work for our resident game-writer, so maybe it’s best forgotten.

#12
quote:
Originally posted by perigee:
Until this year people generally followed that guideline, but the last few topics have all been about English-localized releases. [/B]

Well, most of those were by the regulars who were around when this forum was put together, so they knew the intent. And since then, I think most of them have cut back on their review writing here anyways, hence the lack of activity in general over here.

*shrug* Up to Lamuness-san if he wants to reorg or not. But even then, you know that people are still going to post on the wrong forum. (Quite a few "help" threads get posted willy-nilly, sometimes multiple times!)

#13
quote:
and the Off-Topic Thread could be changed to Anime Discussion, since about 95% of what's discussed there is just that.

In the same damn thread!
#14

Alas Unicorn got lazy on us and won’t review his latest aquisitions

#15