VN Talk: Rose in the Embers - Part 2: Kyosuke

I picked Kyosuke for my first route of Rose in the Embers since he seemed like the nicest guy out of the four in the prologue. When the MC is being made fun of by some geisha at her new job, Kyosuke stops to offer her a handkerchief to clean herself up. It's clear he's a very important customer and far above her station, so the fact he took the time to look after an otherwise unremarkable maid, made an impression. Not to mention, he's the one who buys the protagonist's freedom at the start of the game.

The early chapters of his route are a bit rough though, as he has a rather capricious personality (which allows for him to buy her freedom but also dump her on one of his friends on other routes) and the game really wants the player to know just how big the social gap is between him and the MC.

VN Talk: Rose in the Embers - Part 1: Overview

In which I talk (write) about visual novels from a storytelling perspective...

Platform: iOS (also on Android)
Release: 2017

Rose in the Embers is a Love 365 title, which means that it's a part of Voltage's otome mobile app, which acts as a sort of game library for titles using the same engine and in some cases even sharing background art and musical assets. Though it's a romance visual novel like those I usually cover, it's pay-per-route, rather than getting all routes in a single package as you would in a console game.

I happen to like this one enough to have bought all the routes, so I figure it's worth a VN talk series. I'll only be covering the first of what Love 365 calls the "Main Story" for each route, which is the falling in love part of the romance. There is fandisc-ish material that follows the relationship as it progresses, but it's unequally distributed among the guys due to the modular way mobile content tends to get updated and sadly Rose in the Embers seems to have been retired so what there is, is all we're gonna get.

Rose in the Embers takes place during Taisho Japan (1912-1926), a period of transition in Japanese history when the country was adopting a lot of western culture, but it was still common to see people walking around in traditional clothing. Our nameable protagonist (who has no default name) is the daughter of a farmer who has gone into the city for a job that paid a lot of money upfront for her service; money that her family badly needs.

Of course, being a country bumpkin, she's unprepared for the ways of the capital, and soon learns that the money places her into indentured servitude for the proprietor of an extravagant inn; the kind that has rich and powerful customers who may want any number of things and "no" is never an answer. Our luckless protagonist (who I'll refer to as the MC for "main character" from now on) is horrified at the thought of prostituting herself and runs away from the customer she's supposed to entertain, causing a scene. Her boss gives her a choice, do what she's told or pay the money back along with the contracted penalty she cannot afford.

RPG Talk: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

In which I talk (write) about RPGs from a storytelling perspective...

Platform: 3DS
Release: 2016

I wanted to play Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse on release day (or very close to it) back in September 2016, but there was a slight complication in that Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice had come out out two weeks before and well, we know who won that battle, since my blog post for Spirit of Justice went up in Feb 2017. Since then, it remained in my backlog, occasionally resurfacing as something I should get back to, but not to the point where I was ready to commit to it, until this past fall when I wanted a shorter RPG and foolishly thought that SMTIV:A was going to be a medium length game.

It might be for some people. But I am a micromanager/compulsive demon collector, so folks, this was not a medium length game for me. It wasn't as bad as Persona 5 or Persona Q2, which I've previously complained about, but it was definitely in the "long" category.

Still, I was glad I finally got to it, because it's really different from the more abstract themes of the mainline games, and yet (or perhaps because of it), it really gets into the weeds on how this whole gods and demons and humanity interaction works. Why do gods want human worshipers? How do humans in turn affect the gods around them? I didn't expect this, especially given that its predecessor, the Shin Megami Tensei IV without a subtitle, focused primarily on the angels versus Lucifer conflict.

Seeing the local Japanese deities angered and dismayed by the interloping foreigners make it clear how absurd it is that the angels and Lucifer are battling for control over humanity in the remains of a country that was never Christian to begin with.

My Favorite Anime of 2021

One would think that being laid up for most of the year I would have been an anime watching fiend, and I was for the spring season (which aired right after my surgery, so I had plenty of time), but after that my interest waned, and overall this has been a year where I tried a lot of series and just didn't finish them.

Also two series that I enjoyed I'm not putting on the list because they didn't finish so I don't know what my final impression of them will be, but assuming they don't faceplant the ending, Attack on Titan and 86 may be here next year.

The series below are the seven I liked enough to finish, presented in the order I watched them. My top three picks of the year are marked with an asterisk (*).

Wakakozake

I don't normally get into bite-sized anime that only lasts a few minutes per episode, but Wakakozake was so easy to slip into. Literally the only thing that happens each episode is that Wakako tries something different to eat and drinks a little alcohol, but there's something attractive about a single woman willing to eat by herself and just soak up the taste of her dinner.

Vivy -Fluorite's Eye Song- *

If there is one anime I loved more than anything else I saw this year, it's Vivy -Fluorite's Eye Song-. It tells the story of the world's first sentient android who has been tasked by a time traveling robot to stop the robot apocalypse happening in the distant future, but the catch is that the driving mission in her life is to make people happy with her music. She's not built for espionage. The only way she can justify even embarking on this scenario is to stretch her reasoning to accommodate the fact that the robot apocalypse would prevent her from making people happy with music. Throughout the series Vivy grows and learns to become more than just her programming while never deviating from what she was created to do. The ending stumbles a little bit, but this is still head and shoulders over anything else I watched and the kind of series I'd recommend even to non-anime fans.

So I'm a Spider, So What?

Class outcast Wakaba is reborn as a spider monster in another world that behaves suspiciously like an MMORPG. This show is a bit uneven with Wakaba (also called Kumoko, literally "Spider Child") stealing the show as she nerds her way to survival in a dog-eat-dog realm of monsters. She's a ton of fun to watch, but her classmates who are also reborn, as humans for the most part, unfortunately feel very generic to anyone who's ever watched any sort of medieval fantasy media. The show suffered production issues towards the end, making for a bumpy conclusion, especially since the novel series hasn't ended yet.

The Saint's Magical Power is Omnipotent *

I'll probably pick up the books for this one. Office lady Sei is summoned to another world, which is a popular anime trope these days, but a high school girl arrives along with her, and the prince who summoned the titular saint from another world immediately dubs the younger girl the saint, leaving poor Sei to deal with being transplanted to another reality and not being the special summoned person. Though understandably upset, Sei is an older protagonist, so she doesn't spend much time sulking before carving a new life in this world. I really like it for having an adult protagonist and the slow burn romance between Sei and Albert is cute.

Moriarty the Patriot

Alternate telling of James Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories, where there are three brothers, Albert, William, and Louis, who together form the Lord of Crime. I loved the first half of the show, which shows how William and Louis came from poverty and were adopted into Albert's family, which gave them the legitimacy they need to complete their plan to revolutionize the class system in Victorian London. We see how the Moriarty brothers step up to help people the system won't, even though it often involves breaking the law. Unfortunately the second half stumbles and the final plan of William James Moriarty, the mastermind of the trio, feels poorly thought out.

Shadows House *

In a vast manor live the shadowy progeny of Shadows House and their attendant dolls. The shadows and their dolls look identical save that the shadows are completely black with no face. Their dolls serve as faces for them, providing the expressive context that might otherwise be missing when they wish to communicate. Ideally shadow and doll are in complete sync with each other, but Emilico is a free-spirited doll and Kate does not wish to mold her into a lifeless servant. Being based on an ongoing manga, the season concludes after a story arc rather than a series ending, but I quite liked the mystery and the shadow/doll interactions.

Backflip!!

I did not know men's rhythmic gymnastics was a thing until I stumbled across this show. It's a sleeper, but if you think you're even vaguely interested in a show about male gymnasts, it's worth a shot. It's funny, the gymnastics are extremely well animated, and the cast is highly likable.

My Favorite Games of 2021

In 2021 I played a lot more visual novels than I normally would due to so much of my time being spent either in cancer treatment or recovering from cancer treatment. I had neuropathy issues following surgery that largely prevented me from using my left hand for gaming (even typing was hard!), which was a definite factor in what I could play. Fortunately visual novels are easy to play one-handed.

These are the 12 games I liked the most out of the ones I finished in 2021, in the order I played them. If the game is available on multiple platforms, the one I played on is listed first. My top three picks of the year are marked with an asterisk (*).

Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch) *

I rushed to finish this one before surgery because I didn't want to lose interest or forget too much while hospitalized, and it turned out to be a good thing given my post-surgery neuropathy. Three Houses manages to refresh the franchise after Fates tried to retread too much of what made Awakening popular. The focus this time is on houses representing the continent's three countries at a military academy, and how they end up careening towards war. I think the first part of the game where everyone is playing school is overly long (if I want Persona I'll go play Persona), but the story is compelling and I like all the shades of morally gray.

Gnosia (Switch) *

Can you build a visual novel out of the Werewolf/Mafia party games? Why yes, you can! Gnosia's premise is that you're on a starship and one or more of the crew has been infected with Gnosia, which causes them to eliminate one other member of the crew every time they enter warp. You play every round of "Werewolf" in an attempt to cold sleep the Gnosia before they equal the number of the crew, in which case they win! But sometimes, you might be Gnosia. There's a time loop component where your protagonist is trying to put together the reason behind their looping and why Gnosia is on board to begin with.

Raging Loop (Switch, PS4, Windows, Android)

The other Werewolf/Mafia-inspired visual novel with a time loop. This is the one to play if you want a modern day horror bent, foul language, and a crass protagonist. Or, if you don't want to get into the weeds of playing an actual game of Werewolf and prefer the narrative work it into the story with the protagonist making most plays without the player's input. I enjoyed this one a lot too, and the story is stronger, since it's not reliant on rng or the player figuring out a particular mechanic. If you want a more traditional visual novel, this is the one to pick.

Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk (PSVita, Windows)

Partner game to Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly. There are a few easter eggs, but nothing that requires playing the first game. Though I like Jed a lot more as a protagonist than Beniyuri, I didn't like Ashen Hawk as much since the gothic mystery setting was swapped for a low fantasy Renaissance town. There are still mystery elements, like why nobody comes to or leaves town anymore, but they're side details that most characters don't worry about. Most of the game is taken up by the ongoing rivalry between the Hawk and the Wolf clans.

My Vow to My Liege (Windows)

Otome visual novel set in the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history by an indie Chinese developer. Tengyu takes on the persona of her deceased brother Fuchai in order to provide her country with a king and break the Sacred Vow her ancestors made with the deceitful Dragon God. Though this is a romance game, there is a lot of war and military action that will occasionally take primary focus, making this the most gritty otome I've played, above Hakuoki, which also took place during a war. Tengyu/Fuchai herself is quite proactive and fully capable of throwing her weight around as king, making her a refreshing change from most commercial otome heroines I've played.

Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir (Switch) *

Remake of an old NES adventure game! A teen detective is hired by the butler of the wealthy Ayashiro family to investigate the death of the family matriarch. The artwork is now modern day visual novel gorgeous with minor animations for some scenes. All dialogue is voice acted, including the protagonist and his inner thoughts. However, the gameplay has not been updated so if you remember those times in 80s adventure games when you had to do nonsensical things or talk to someone multiple times to progress the game, that's all still there. The story itself has aged gracefully though, and remains compelling throughout.

Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind (Switch)

Remake of The Missing Heir's prequel. Though this is probably better put together from a gameplay perspective, having been developed later, I'm not sure I liked it as much. Notably there's a very suspicious area that you're oddly never allowed to investigate that bothered me the entire game. The ending was a surprise I didn't see coming, though it felt karmically appropriate. Given the urban legend that's part of the story, this is definitely the creepier of the two Famicom Detective Club games.

Steam Prison (Switch, Windows)

Romance game following Cyrus, a young woman from the Heights, who is framed for the murder of her parents and sent down to the penal colony in the Depths as a convicted prisoner. I feel like this is a case of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as there's a lot about this game that doesn't feel fully thought out (despite the fact the writer clearly loves worldbuilding), and yet I had a good time with it. Most of the issue stems from fact that Cyrus's parents got murdered, yet we're trying to have a love story at the same time, and the game is usually not good about resolving both the romance and the murder plotlines.

The Great Ace Attorney: Chronicles (Switch, PS4, Windows)

This is actually a combination of Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, which I covered separately on my blog since they originally released as two individual games, but they're really a two-parter and the only way to buy them in English is as a bundle. Series creator Shu Takumi returns to write and direct the world-spanning story of Ryunosuke Naruhodo as he tackles cases in both Japan and Britain. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as the mainline Ace Attorney games, but if you want a little more drama in the usual formula, these games got you covered. Ryunosuke does all right as the new protagonist and Susato is now my favorite of the series' assistants.

Animal Restaurant (iOS, Android)

I'm not big on mobile games, but the simply named Animal Restaurant scratches my itch for building things while also being ideal for short play periods. You basically manage a restaurant run by cats for various forest animals (and as you progress, for city animals and even a few non-animals). While you can and are encouraged to participate in a variety of activities, the bulk of your earnings for upgrades, new recipes, etc. happen while you're away. You can't permanently buy your way out of ads unfortunately, but they're fairly unobtrusive and the game is set up in a way that you can choose whether or not you want to view any video ones. It's just you progress a lot slower if you don't.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS)

Pseudo-sequel to Shin Megami Tensei IV initially following the neutral route and then branching off to its own thing. Features a new protagonist, though the old one is still a part of the story. Apocalypse has a number of quality of life improvements, though gameplay is otherwise very close to its predecessor. The story makes it pretty clear what it's like living in a crapsack world where various deities and demons fight to decide the fate of humanity and expect humanity to simply obey them. The cast skews unusually young even by JRPG standards (half the party is fifteen or younger), but they talk a lot, making this one of the livelier mainline games.

Rose in the Embers (iOS, Android)

Period romance in Taisho Japan. Part of the Love 365 library app. Each route in this otome can be purchased separately, though I played all the main ones. (Side stories and sequel stories cost extra. It's mobile. Everything is piecemeal.) I'm not usually a fan of cross-class romance, especially the maid and master thing RitE has going on in a couple of its routes, but I love early 20th century stuff and this turned out better than expected. It helps that only one of the men is the super rich guy flinging around more money than he could ever spend. The others are decently off, but feel more middle or upper middle class.