Fault -Milestone One- Director's Cut Review

For decades, the peaceful kingdom of Rughznahide and its people prospered under its monarchy and the advances in Manakravte manipulation. Things such as war and violence were almost unheard of in this land that preferred peace and pacifism, until one day a mysterious group of people attack Rughznahide castle, setting it and the surrounding city ablaze in an inferno of death and blood in an attempt to kill Princess Selphine, successor to the throne of Rughznahide and inheritor of the unique and fabled Path-Down manakravte. 

On the verge of defeat, Ritona, Selphine's Royal Guard, casts a manakravte that transports them to a dark forest in unknown territory. Put on edge by the strange vegetation and a thick, heavy atmosphere seemingly devoid of mana, the pair sets off to find signs of life in hopes of finding out exactly where they are and how to get back to their kingdom. Along this journey, one major question weighs heavily on Ritona's mind; Just who were their assailants, and why do they seek the death of Selphine?

Shall We Date? Hero In Love Review

Karen Azuma* returns home from a translating job in Greece to find her father, Professor Azuma, precariously missing despite their plans to have a welcome home dinner. As she ponders why her father is absent, she hears a knock on the door; On the other side is Inspector Sakuragi, a detective for the Metropolitan Police Department. Ushering you to your father's lab, you find three strange men instead of your father. Sakuragi and the rest inform you that your father had been working on a secret project for the government involving superpowers in humans, that these strange men were a part of a team of people with superpowers your father put together to combat evil, and that he was kidnapped by a dangerous criminal syndicate known as Lakia.

Suspecting that Lakia may come after Karen next, she is forced to come under the protection of the A-Team as they investigate Lakia and try to uncover her fathers whereabouts. She must decide which of these three strange men will become her bodyguard 24 hours a day. Can Karen and the A-Team save her father and the world from Lakia's clutches? Will she find love in the arms of her bodyguard?

*Protagonist's preset name is Karen Azuma, but is renameable. For the sake of consistency and this review, I will refer to the protagonist by her preset name.

**Screenshots may not be native resolution due to the varying resolutions of mobile devices and the fact I used a computer android emulator for screenshots. CG's are in the resolution that the app saved them as, while other screenshots are at the resolution viewed from my emulator.

Over 9000 Busy

Sorry for the lack of reviews guys. I've been super busy as of late with April consisting of major overtime for inventory at work, semester finals (both tests and loads of essays), and the sudden death of a friend in march. I'm still alive and hopefully I will be posting a review soon. I was reading Steins Gate and I hope to finish that soon so I can review it. I just have the true ending to finish, but I was having some problems getting it despite following walkthroughs for it. Once I get that route I can start on my review for it.

In other news, this blog has hit 85k page views! When I started it, I never expected to get that many, especially within only a few months of opening my blog. Thank you everyone for coming and reading my reviews!

Jisei Review

An unnamed teengaer with no apparent family or ties wanders from city to city, burdened by the weight of the peculiar ability of re-living the final moments of a persons life by touching their corpse. While hanging out in a coffee shop, he unknowingly steps into a murder mystery when he comes across the fresh corpse of a woman in the bathroom, and as a result becomes the main suspect. In order to prove his innocence, he sets out to unravel the mystery and discover the true murderer.

During his investigation, he stumbles across another mystery as an unknown voice begins to talk to him in his head, seeking to help him crack the case for reasons unknown. Who is this strange voice in his head, and what does it have to gain from him uncovering the culprit? What deeper mystery lies behind this unknown teenagers face, and what is he truly running away from?

Deardrops Review

5 years ago, Suganuma Shoichi was given the opportunity of a lifetime; To join a world renowned orchestra in Germany as one of their violinists. Having learned and studied the violin since a young age, Shoichi jumped at the chance to climb up in the world of Classical music and reach new heights. During his stay in the orchestra, Shoichi became an idol to the Japanese and was frequently called a noble and the 'Violin Prince' of Classical. However, years later, an unknown scandal caused Shoichi to fall from grace and forced him to give up the limelight, classical music, and the violin that he had spent his entire life devoted to. Having had everything he had ever known torn from him, Shoichi returned to Japan and his hometown and began to live and work at a live house named 696, where amatuer rock bands frequemtly play.

While working at the live house, Shoichi meets a rude and arrogant regular by the name of Gonda Eiji. Unbeknownst to Shoichi, Eiji's arrogant ways pull him into a series of events that thrust him back into the world of music. It is at this small live house where Shoichi is introduced to the world of rock and his life of emptiness begins to change through events involving strange friendships, rock, and a band involving the unlikeliest of members. Can DEARDROPS make it, or will it fall apart at the hands of its fickle and volatile band members?

Starry Sky ~In Spring~ Review

Starry Sky is the story of the only girl at Seigatsu Gakuen, a school that specializes in celestial topics such as astronomy, horoscopes, and other topics related to these fields. Since the schools inception, Seigatsu Gakuen was an all boys school, but recently they've opened the school to girls as well...Thus, our heroine joins the school's astronomy section with her two childhood friends, Kanata and Suzuya. This is how she becomes the first, and only, girl of the school. 

As she enjoys peaceful, fun days with her two childhood friends at school, her class gets a transfer student, and little does the trio know at the time, but his appearance ushers in a change for the group. The half French-Japanese transfer student is none other than Yoh, a boy the protagonist knew from childhood. While his transferring to her class was pure coincidence, he instantly favors protag-chan and makes it no secret he is utterly infatuated with her. At first, Yoh is cold towards Kanata and Suzuya, but slowly he begins to become part of the group, and in the process inadvertently begins to change the relationship between protag-chan, Suzuya, and Kanata. Yes, sadly, their days of peaceful friendship are changing with Yoh's appearance and feelings long felt begin to bubble to the surface.

The Starry Sky series features main characters based off of the astrological signs.  In Spring features Pisces (Kanata), Capricorn (Yoh), and Cancer (Suzuya).

Visual Novels on Steam

Recently, Visual Novels have begun to gain traction on one of the biggest game portals around these days; Steam. With the release of Steam's Greenlight, Visual Novels have finally been given a chance to get on the platform and gain more exposure for this niche game genre. Me and a  friend of mine have discussed a possible Co-Op piece on a particular great, and surprisingly well unknown, recent feature of Steam that I feel that combined with the recent VN releases, and future ones, on Steam will really help spread and expand this genre further. In preparation for the piece, I have done some research and compiled a list, with links, of Visual Novels that are currently on Steam, Greenlit, and currently up for vote on Greenlight. This list is sorted by developer name alphabetically. Please note that a vast majority of VN titles on/trying to get on Steam are Indie titles at the moment, and so quality varies. This list will be updated monthly unless no new VNs show up on Steam during that time.

1/16/14 - Added 3 new VNs recently submitted to Greenlight.

1/18/14 - Loren The Amazon Princess now on sale!

1/21/14 - World End Economica Ep. 1 has been greenlit!

1/25/14 - Cinders added to Greenlight.

1/27/14 - Dandelion added to Greenlight and Princess Battles removed from Greenlight.

2/5/14 - Sunrider greenlit and Fading Hearts now on sale.

2/19/14 Cinders greenlit and Koenchu added to greenlight

3/15/14: Backstage Pass & HuniePop Greenlit, Roommates & Swords of Edo added to Greenlight.