There is no easy way to describe this game.

Okay, so it’s about pigeons.  And it’s a dating game, of the otome variety, if you know the term.  In a high school setting.  Yes, it really is an actual game; someone thought of this.  And then made it.

And then it garnered enough attention on this side of the ocean to warrant a translation of the full version of the game in English.

It was released last night, and you can download it right here, a marvelously appropriate Valentine’s Day gift indeed.

What do you mean you don’t want to play the absurd dating game about schoolgoing pigeons??  OF COURSE YOU DO.

Okay, so let me level with you on some things about this game.  It isn’t some slapped-together April Fool’s joke.  There is a legitimate backstory behind the concept of the game’s premise, and it’s more intriguing than you think.  Furthermore, no matter which bird you decide to pursue romantically, you are guaranteed an entertaining and fleshed-out story.

So, let’s check out this game I’m playing, Hatoful Boyfriend.

I know what you’re thinking.  This looks ridiculous!  Okay, so it is ridiculous.  But it’s also really fun!  It’s crazy and fun!  Crazy-fun!  And I can promise you that before you’re halfway through your story, you will entirely forget that the characters are pigeons.  Really!  Okay.  I’m done trying to convince you of Hatoful Boyfriend’s legitimacy.  Let’s just play.

Bunny Bani.  That’s me.

Hmmm…

And then our friend, Ryouta Kawara, shows up:

Hey!  That’s not a bird, that’s a boy!  No, no, it’s just an image that’s simulated for you so you can attribute a human face to your birdie friend.  You’ll never see his cute Shotaro face again after this introduction.

The first term begins.  Bunny Bani goes about her first day of school, meeting all kinds of new birdie friends!

There’s Nanaki Kazuaki, our homeroom teacher.  Tends to doze off in mid-sentence.

The transfer student, Sakuya Le Bel Shirogane.  Bani-chan is optimistic, but he just sounds like a snob to me!

A trip to the library introduces us to this shy fellow, Nageki Fujishiro.

A commotion in the hallway just after that brings us face-to-face with Yuuya Sakazaki, the kind of birdie everybirdie should know.

Oh, dear.  Most players should want to avoid the intimidating doctor, Shuu Iwamine, after hearing Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy playing so ominously in the background of this introduction…

and then there’s Oko San.

That’s all of the birds that will be introduced for now.  If you happen to scope out the Demo Version of the game (along with the English Patch) because you’re not committed enough to drop ~$5 on the Full Version, these are all of the birds that you’ll see.  However, now that the full version is out, there is one… special… additional… character.

I’ll try to scope him out as best as I can, but the truth is I’ve already played through this once (last night, just after I finished downloading it), and went through the whole game without so much as a glimpse at the new guy!  Looks like you’ll just have to sit tight and read along with my adventures if you want to see if I can find him this time. :3

Now, before we end this introduction to our pigeony adventure, let’s see the first set of options we’ll get to choose from.  Let’s choose what Bunny Bani will spend most of her time doing after class!

Oh, oh??  What is this?  ‘Infirmary Staff’?  This is especially interesting, because remember that I said I already played through this once last night?  Well, that fourth option was not there that time!  There is an absurd amount of replay value packaged up inside Hatoful Boyfriend, not only due to the branches and branches of stories, but because of stuff like this – options that aren’t even available to you unless you’ve cleared the game a certain number of times.

And thus ends part one!  Which after-school task will Bani-chan choose??  Which bird will capture her romantic affections, and will she survive the ordeals ahead??  The implications are more grave than you even know…

One last time, here’s the link to download Hatoful Boyfriend for yourself.

Next: Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Ending

September 2011

Luckigrrl, a player of Ether Saga Online, commissioned me to draw her character! ^o^ We bonded instantly over having played a common game. <3

I’m super happy that folks are commissioning me to illustrate their characters in MMOs! Yes, people! I WANT TO DRAW ALL OF YOUR AVATARS! @<@

Ether Saga Online belongs to Perfect World Entertainment – Character belongs to Luckigrrl
Please respect the artist and do not use this image for any purposes (forum avatar, signature, Web graphics, banners, any personal use or commercial gain). (Exceptions?)
Do not trace, copy, or alter in any way. Do not remove signatures or watermarks.
Do not save and/or upload elsewhere (Photobucket, Flickr, Tumblr, etc.).

September 2011

My entry of Popuri for the Harvest Moon Collaboration Project.

Popuri, yeah! The cutest Harvest Moon character for sure! n_n She was really what drew me into the series back in the day, with that awesome pink poofy hair! Now she’s off to her super important job of watering the sidewalk outside the Florist’s Shop.

Popuri & Harvest Moon belong to Marvelous and Natsume
Please respect the artist and do not use this image for any purposes (forum avatar, signature, Web graphics, banners, any personal use or commercial gain). (Exceptions?)
Do not trace, copy, or alter in any way. Do not remove signatures or watermarks.
Do not save and/or upload elsewhere (Photobucket, Flickr, Tumblr, etc.).

September 16, 2011

Read Part 1 Here
Read Part 2 Here

Did anyone not see this one coming?? :O

Okay, I have something to admit.

I know basically nothing about Skyward Sword. ;_;

I have been a very poor Zelda fan in these passing months and have not been following any news concerning it at all. The only trailer I’ve seen for it was the video I posted back in my E3 post. In fact, I had to go back to that post and re-watch that video because I didn’t remember what was in it.

But I think this will actually be a good thing. My experience with Skyward Sword will be entirely new and exciting. c:

Amazon has a spectacular deal going on where you get a bundle that includes the game, a music CD, and a super slick golden Wii Remote +, detailed with the Hylian emblem. This bundle is extremely enticing to me because I don’t have any remotes with Motion +, and it’s necessary to have it in order to play Skyward Sword.

Plus, Zelda games are known for producing limited edition golden cartridges and other bonuses, and I’ve always tried to get my hands on those in the past. That remote just looks fine.

Here are your links, for both the bundle and just the game itself (still includes the music CD though!):

Thanks for reading! This will probably conclude my Games to Preorder This Fall series, unless I find a couple others being released for the holidays! 😀

September 12, 2011

Read Part 1 Here

Whoops, I was a little later than promised in delivering this post! Anyway, like I said the other day, there are some pretty bodacious games on the very near horizon, due for release pretty soon, so pay attention and quick!

This post is part 2 of three-ish.

Rune Factory will stay a niche title for probably ever, since Harvest Moon is a niche game to begin with and incorporating adventure RPG elements just went and made it a niche of its niche. Not all Harvest Moon players like the Rune Factory series – but then again, there’s some overlap that perhaps makes up for it. There are definitely a good chunk of non-Harvest Moon players that play Rune Factory, and I saw a significant increase of that after Rune Factory 3’s release, which provided for the first time an excellently-executed and well-polished gameplay experience for the series.

(Which doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the previous games, because I sure did, but even a fan has to recognize when a game doesn’t have polish, and the RF series lacked it until 3.)

Let’s hope that Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny continues that trend of exponentially increasing the enjoyment level of the series. It’ll be sent to stores on September 27 and available on September 28 (if Natsume continues their past habit of their games being available the day after the announced date).

There are a lot of things that make Tides of Destiny different from previous titles in the series. For one, players finally have the option of playing as a male or female protagonist, although even that’s been given a plot-driven twist! Second – and this makes me think that ToD may draw in even more non-Harvest Moon fans than RF3 did – the actual farming and harvesting systems are much less emphasized now. You don’t even have your own field to plant on, really, as planting spots are created with a magic rod! And you don’t interact much with the crops themselves – their growth is seen to by the monster companions you’ve befriended.

Fighting and combat seems to be much improved. Weapons have some pretty impressive animations (and anyone already familiar with RF is already aware that there are tons of different weapons), and the ability to jump and attack from the air has been implemented.

Another change is that character portraits are no longer displayed as art work during dialogue, instead replaced with the characters’ polygonal models. This allows for animations and such during conversations, plus, these characters just look pretty.

Oh, I’m glad I could get a screenshot like that last one – a large part of this game is centered around getting quests from townsfolk, most of which are going to involve traveling to islands across the sea.

Care to take a guess as to what method of nautical navigation is used?

If you answered giant robot that looks like a walking island, you’re correct! And, naturally, we can’t have a game with giant robots that doesn’t also include battles against giant sea monsters! WHAT DOESN’T THIS GAME HAVE?!

In addition to everything covered here, some other plusses Tides of Destiny can boast are nicely animated anime cut scenes, and a varied selection of bachelorettes (and a few bachelors for the female protagonist) to woo. If RF3 was any indicator of how unique (and insane) the town NPCs can be, the lineup for this one is sure to provide a lot of entertainment.

Alrighty! Now for those shopping links.

PlayAsia:

Amazon:

Part three will be along in the next day or so~ (I’ve learned not to promise next-day posts any more! XD) It’s a much more widely recognized title than my darling little niche games parts 1 and 2 consisted of. Also, it’s being sold in this really rad bundle that is making fans of the series nearly foam at the mouth in anticipation to get their hands on it. It’s gold and shiny. Okay, I am really bad at giving hints without totally giving away what it is I’m hinting at.

Update: Was it too obvious? Part 3 is here!