#even if youre not interested in the character / story / gacha elements of it the rhythm gameplay is super super fun

[vocaloid-song-showdown]

Hello! Would it be possible to boost my poll blog? It's at prosekapolls , and the 1st bracket will start on Monday. Thank you in advance)

ofc !

i know there are some people who are into vocaloid and not sekai, but for everyone that is interested in it go check out @prosekapolls ^^

[thatgamefromthatad]

Seen these ads? (Obey Me! Review)

This is a visual novel/otome/gacha card RPG game with the same characters and themes as featured in the ads.

As stated in many of the ads this game centers around seven demon brother love interests (as well as some other potential love interests) although the game has a lot of plot elements other than just romance. Most of the ads that I’ve seen feature real art that appears in the game one way or another, and the ads tend to be focused more on the characters and theme in general rather than specific gameplay. Of the ads that do appear to show gameplay, most of the time it’s not really what you’ll see in the game but still follows fairly close to the actual game (for example, the “kiss, free, whip” ad on the top left doesn’t show real gameplay, but you can kiss or whip that character. But that specific art comes from a gacha card I believe and isn’t what you see when you do the kissing and whipping).

A few notes before I get into the full review:

I’m a lesbian, so I’m definitely not the target audience for this game, but I always try to be objective and open-minded when playing any game I’m not the target audience for (other examples I’ve reviewed in the past are Moments, which was also primarily targeted toward women who are attracted to men, Immortal Taoists, which involved a genre I had never heard of before and really had no interest in, Time Princess, which also wasn’t my favorite genre but was still a great game, and various Genius Inc. visual novels, which are targeted more toward high-school age boys as far as I can tell).

Speaking of lesbians, this game weirdly censors the word “lesbians” but not any other LGBTQ+ terms (that don’t include the word “sexual”) as far as I can tell; I decided it was enough of a one-off thing that it wouldn’t factor a huge amount in my overall review of the game, but I think it’s still something to take note of and not let off the hook since it definitely shows bias and can be offensive to players.

This game is rated 12+ on the Apple App Store, and I was pretty harsh on Crush Crush for being rated that way because I thought it crossed the line with some of its sexually suggestive content. I kept that in mind while playing this one, and personally I don’t think it crossed the line in the same way, at least not from what I’ve played so far; although it does have sexually suggestive content (most often when interacting with the character Asmodeus, who is literally known in the game as the “Avatar of Lust”), it’s much more occasional through tidbits of dialog as opposed to in Crush Crush where it involved a whole section of the game and was more interactive in nature. I would definitely still cringe at the thought of a 12-year-old reading some of this dialog, but I think it fits fairly within the App Store descriptors of “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity” and “Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes.”

Last note - there is a character in this game (Luke) who has the appearance and demeanor of a small child who you can interact with in a similar way to the other love interest characters, which concerned me for obvious reasons. I looked more into this, specifically reading into all of the different dialog options involving this character, and his responses never seem to be more than platonic, which is good. He still blushes when you give him gifts and stuff, which is kind of awkward, and it seems weird to throw a kid character into an otome game, but all considered I wouldn’t say the game is promoting anything inappropriate (unlike one of the Genius VNs that clearly involved relationships between an adult and minors).

Sorry I know that’s a lot of notes and disclaimers but I just wanted to that all out of the way as general concerns anyone might have trying this game or reading this review!

Without further ado, read my full review below:

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(I’m trying a new color-coding system to help highlight some of the main points of my review if you don’t want to read my entire essay word-for-word lol. Pink is a positive aspect of the game, red is a negative aspect/criticism and purple is not necessarily positive or negative but just something I wanted to highlight.)

😈 Is the game actually fun? Yes! Just in terms of production value, this game is top notch: the art and character designs are very appealing, the transitions between characters’ poses and facial expressions during VN scenes are actually animated (which looks much smoother and more natural than switching between still images), the voice acting is great (although the VN scenes aren’t fully voice acted, some parts like phone calls are and the characters say different phrases during scenes and battles as well)(Note: all the voice acting is Japanese), and the music is FANTASTIC and perfectly sets the vibe throughout the game.

The best parts of this game in my opinion are the different personalities of the characters and the overall plot; although some of the characters’ personalities can be a bit one-note at times (for example, one character’s entire personality that I’ve seen so far is that he likes to eat and is always hungry), the characters each have their own charm and play off each other well. I found myself getting invested in each of the characters’ desires and goals throughout the story, even the characters I didn’t particularly like. The story is also chock full of humor which is always fun, and the whole world and backstory built around this game (the “Devildom” setting and the idea of an exchange student program with angels, humans and demons) are also unique and impressive.

I really enjoyed the multiple modes of storytelling i.e. how the VN chapters are supplemented with text messages and phone calls from characters and an Instagram spoof with additional side stories to unlock. I know this isn’t a new thing in mobile games (even Gardenscapes and Homescapes do it to an extent lol) but add the compelling characters and overall production value on top and it’s a really enjoyable experience. Since the home screen of the game is set up like it’s your phone, with the different parts of the game represented as “apps,” the game kind of creates a feeling like you’re really living in this world with these characters where you can freely scroll through their Instagram feeds and check the messages you get from them on your own time. The shop where you can buy items and premium currency is called Akuzon (an Amazon spoof) and the place where all your gacha cards are is called “contacts,” which further adds to the immersive effect.

The “dating” part of the game is pretty cute although I haven’t gotten super far so I’m not sure of the full scope of the romantic interactions. From what I can tell, in addition to the dialog, blushy faces and bedroom eyes you get from characters when you give them gifts and touch different parts of their body (above the belt lol), when you raise your intimacy level with them you get additional phone calls and messages from them (I haven’t played a lot of otome games but I think that’s how a lot of them go). I wasn’t that invested in this part of the game but I think there’s some strategy that goes with using the right combination of gifts and touches to maximize intimacy boosts and get certain dialog, which adds a whole other aspect of gameplay in addition to the main game. I also noticed that occasionally your choices throughout the VN chapters will give you a small intimacy boost with a certain character; I kind of wish this was even more integrated since most of the time I felt like no matter what I chose it didn’t make any difference in my relationship with characters. Also, I don’t think there’s a way to “officially” date a specific character, it’s more about raising the intimacy level to earn more interactions but it doesn’t actually affect the main plot.

As far as the main mode of progressing through the game, which is winning “dance battles” with teams from your gacha collection, this part of the game has its own positive qualities such as the cute chibi forms of the characters that appear on screen and the fact that some of the special attacks show a little anime clip of the character (of course it’s less exciting when you see the same clip every battle but I still thought it was a nice touch). I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a rhythm aspect as the “dance battle” name would imply, and your main interaction during the battle itself is basically just tapping hearts that pop up and tapping the characters when their attacks are ready, but you also have the option to skip that whole interactive sequence and just get a result based on your team’s stats, so there’s not much to complain about there (especially since the battles are sort of a side note compared to the storytelling aspect of the game despite being the main element of RPG-based gameplay that allows you to progress). If you are interested in the RPG aspects, there’s plenty of that to work with (building teams, balancing attributes, managing resources/rewards to level up cards and progress through skill trees of sorts, all that good stuff) although you’re limited to an extent by how difficult it is to get a lot of gacha draws without paying real money. It’s even harder to be able to focus on both strategy and character relationships while playing for free when the same scarce currency is used for both gacha draws and gifts.

👿 Is this a free game or a “free game”? Despite what I just said, I would still consider it a free game - you can gradually save up some of premium currency the game gives out through tasks in order to pay for more gacha draws and other items, and as far as I can tell you can access the main story and the other parts of the game without hitting a paywall. I only got to the fourth chapter so far though so don’t take this assessment as gospel. Like with a lot of other freemium games you might feel pressured to pay (especially when you run out of gifts to give your lover boys, which was the biggest downer for me, or if you’re obsessed with wanting to collect a lot of cards or get a specific card) but since you don’t actually need to pay to progress I still consider it free.

There’s also an energy system where you hit a wall and have to wait if you run out, but I never ran out because of the huge amount of energy the game dumps on you when you first start, and it seems like there are a bunch of other ways to get extra energy as well. There also aren’t pop-up or watch-to-earn ads in this game that I saw.

💀 Features

Main visual novel scenes and storyline (the visual novel scenes come between dance battle stages and there are a few short side routes that branch off but still one main route as far as I can tell, I don’t think your dialog choices really make a different except for in how the characters react to you immediately afterward. Still the main storyline in itself is fun to follow and it’s fun to get different reactions out of the characters based on what you say)

Dance battles (I’m not fully knowledgeable about the minutia of the RPG system at play here but in general the outcome of the battle will depend on the level, rank and attributes of your cards compared against the difficulty and attributes of the stage you’re playing. There also “memory cards” that can be assigned to support your team and expendable temporary boosters called “glow sticks” that boost your stats for one battle. During the battle itself you tap hearts that appear to earn extra points and you can tap your characters when their power is charged up to “attack” your opponent and use special skills. There are guides online that go deeper into stats and strategies and such if you’re interested. Different stages have different rewards for completion and you can quick complete levels you’ve already beaten to mine resources you need)

Gacha mechanic and cards (the gacha area of this game is called “Nightmare” and there are a few different pools along with event pools each with their own odds and sets of cards you can get. For the default pools you get free draws periodically and I believe you get one free draw for each event pool IIRC. You also get a bunch of vouchers for draws when you first start the game which got me handful of SSRs and a couple URs to build a couple of solid teams right off the bat. In addition to drawing directly from gacha pools you can get some cards by collecting card pieces as rewards from stages and events until you have enough to get the actual card. Each card has its own set of stats/attributes, can be leveled up and has a skill tree of sorts that can be progressed through with resources mined through beating stages, although it’s more of an attribute tree than a skill tree since most of the branches just add points onto one of your card’s attributes. Some cards, the rarer ones, have special skills that can be used in battle)

One-on-one characters interactions and intimacy i.e. the “dating” part (there are two ways this occurs: 1) you can set a specific character to your home screen that allows you to enter into an interaction with them, with a refresh period in between interactions 2) the main way, which is through “surprise guests” after dance battles. These surprise guests show up frequently but not always, and they’re always one of the three team members you used in battle, selected randomly. For each one-on-one interaction you can do three actions - either give a gift, touch the character or ignore the character. Sometimes the character will also offer you a high five which counts as an action if you oblige. Different characters have different favorite gifts and touching different parts of the body can get a different reaction depending on the character and your level of intimacy I believe. Your intimacy level with a character increases depending on the combination of actions you perform, and sometimes the character also gives you gifts back like more energy or resources. There are guides for this online as well)

Text messages and phone calls (text messages are the main mode of storytelling outside of the main VN scenes - you get messages from characters or multiple characters in group chats that you respond to with preset messages or stickers similar to how you make choices during the VN parts. Some of the text messages correspond with the main plot as you progress, ex. A character texts you to be in a certain place at a certain time and next VN scene is of you two meeting at that place. I think other text messages also come up when you reach certain intimacy levels with characters. There are certain group messages that you don’t respond to where you’re basically spying on a group chat among characters and just get to see what everyone’s saying. In addition to written messages and emoji stickers characters will also sometimes send pictures. Phone calls are fully voice-acted dialog you have with another character and they seem to pop up when you reach certain intimacy levels - I’ve only gotten ones so far with the two characters I have the highest intimacy with)

Instagram spoof/“Devilgram” (Devilgram is an in-game photo sharing social media app similar to Instagram and the photos on there correspond to gacha cards. When you acquire the gacha card that corresponds to a Devilgram post you unlock a side story, but you also need keys to unlock further scenes from that story, which can be gradually earned through completing tasks and such)

To Do tasks (completing tasks on your To Do is the main way to earn premium currency in the game along with other rewards and resources. There are daily tasks, overall tasks and tasks specific to each character. Examples of tasks are completing a certain stage or number of stages, beating a stage using a team that includes a certain character or reaching a certain intimacy level with a character. There are also beginner missions when you start the game that I think stay available until you complete all of them)

Events (there are sometimes side story events called “pop quizzes” and gacha events that are available for a limited time, or sometimes an event has both a corresponding pop quiz and gacha pool. The pop quizzes are separate chapters with their own dance battles and VN scenes, and the battles will come with reward points that you can spend on different prizes. Sometimes there are unique cards you can only get from an event. Other minor types of events include log-in bonus events and events where you can get special types of gifts for your love interests. There’s also a feature where you can “time-travel” back to old events at some cost but I haven’t explored this much)

Jobs (you can assign characters to passively complete jobs that earn you a small amount of non-premium currency over time and also increases your intimacy with the assigned characters by a small amount)

Customization (you can unlock avatars of different characters to use for your profile and set the name you want characters to refer to you by throughout the game. You can also change the outfit of your homescreen character, change the homescreen wallpaper and change the homescreen background music by making purchases in the Akuzon shop or acquiring certain gacha cards)

⚖️ Ad Honesty Rating: 4/5 (just from the ads I’ve seen, especially the ones that appear to be running currently, there don’t seem to be blatantly fake ads and the ads show real art and do well conveying the theme and characters in the game. However some of the ads are misleading about the actual mechanics of gameplay and may also lead you to believe there are actual romance routes with the characters which is not really the case)

⭐️ Overall Rating: 5/5 (I definitely didn’t want to give this game a great rating just because it’s super popular on Tumblr but I can definitely see why it’s so popular. There are lots of things to do, the characters are very lovable, it’s funny, the art is great, the music is great and the lore and overall vibe are compelling and unique. It’s a high-quality game with a good story and I’ll probably keep playing it)

▶️ Ad Example:

▶️ Gameplay Examples:

Dance Battles

Surprise Guest

If you got through this review bless your heart ❤️ Special thanks to @human-watching-ads-from-devildom which is where I was able to view some of the ads since I was having trouble finding them elsewhere online and viewing some of them on the Facebook ad library.

Follow me for more reviews of those free mobile games you’re always getting ads for! Thanks for reading! 🥳

[ruakichan]

I tried Dislyte.  Lilith Games has a pretty sour reputation, but the aesthetic looked interesting so I gave it a shot.

If you’ve played Summoner’s War or Epic Seven, this game will be pretty familiar as it takes a lot of cues from those two.  The game is a turn-based grindfest RPG set in a weird urban-mythological crossbreed of a realm, which sounds way more interesting than the game has executed it.

The story is typical mobile fare, without any particular outstanding characters.  The designs are pretty top notch, and the illustrations are nice and clean, but the in-game models don’t really translate the charm of the illustrations as well and can look downright ugly on characters that don’t deserve it. Luckily the illustrations are used most of the time, so you’re spared Li Ling’s weird unhinged jaw...

... but not his terrible dub voice.  For the global version, the dub is in English and only English; you do not have an option to change the voices to another language or to turn them off.  The dub is so, so very painful and it’s exacerbated by the extremely cheesy dialogue that is probably meant to appeal to tweens.

Character ratio is pretty decent, although the women tend to lean more on the ‘not very monstrous’ side (so they can be pretty and sexy) compared to the variety with the guys. But most of the designs are pretty interesting and different from typical mobage fare, even if there isn’t much character personality to match. The writers also don’t lean in too much on the mythological figures these characters were ‘chosen’ by, so it just feels more like a design theme than anything relevant to the story or game.

The game’s music is EDM/Hip Hop style fare; you’ll like it or you don’t.  I enjoy EDM and found it somewhat generic but not offensive; we’re not talking TWEWY levels of catchy bops.  The game also has a rhythm mini-game, which offers a bit of a break from the grinding.

And most of your grinding is going to be dog-walking (raising low levels to high levels to feed to your higher levels) or gear drops.  The gear does have the dreaded RNG stats: the stat values are not RNG but the stats you get are, ie: if you roll crit damage, you’ll always get the same value of crit damage for that gear’s grade.  And of course, in games like this, speed, crit, and crit damage are the most desirable options, with speed being king.

On top of the RNG stats, upgrading has a chance for failure, something I thought was left behind in Korean f2p games from twenty years ago, but here we are in 2022.  Luckily, upgrading gear costs only the in-game gold and if you fail “x  amount of times” you’ll get a success the next time, so the gear upgrades serve as nothing more than a huge gold sink.  I’m not even sure why the failing exists since there’s a safety net and this doesn’t have a MMO economy so there’s no need for a gold sink... 

Summoning currency is extremely stingy, even in the honeymoon phase.  I haven’t played a game this ungenerous in the early stages in a long, loooooooooooooong time.  It feels pretty out-of-touch in modern gacha mechanics.  Since you will not be rolling often to get your stable built early, pray you get lucky with that 1% Legendary rate.  Dupes give stat boosts to characters, so while not necessary-necessary, if you’re a min-maxer, it’s going to be an important element for any meta characters.  There’s a 120 roll pity which is a bit yikes considering the stinginess of the currency.  It rolls over and resets whenever you pull a Legendary.

Rerolling has been extremely discouraged by the publisher, and it takes a while to do so regardless.  On top of that, the initial 10-rolls are rigged against you: the “guaranteed Legendary” you get is of one of only pre-chosen two. They’re not bad and will serve you fine in the early-game, but if you like collecting cool characters, this game wants you to spend.

And like other Lilith Games, they definitely do remind you that you should spend, with deal pop-ups and a number of various pay-to-progress options in the store, as well as two different tiers of battle passes. Cash shop is pretty pricey though, with even roll currency priced above typical gacha mobage market.

Battles are pretty fun. I enjoyed Epic Seven’s battles even if I hated how much of a job the game was, and this is a simplified form of that but still retaining some element of strategy.  The game does have auto but no sweeps, similar to E7.  There is a stamina system which has limited amount of refills AND the stamina refills you get expire after a certain amount of time.  Bit of a yikes if you like playing games for stretches, won’t be a big deal if you’re just a ‘dailies and go’ sort.

The game has a beta server that’s about over half a year old; currently they are not merged with the new global one, but it has been stated that a merging will happen at a later point.  If you’re competitive in pvp, this is a huge negative; an 8 month head start means you’ll never catch up when the merger happens unless you spend outrageously.

As a whole though, if you just play casually, it’s inoffensive fare. I’d be wary of spending or being too invested in the endgame though, since Lilith has a poor reputation in monetization and game balance, but in terms of just something to play with a simple, but fun battle system, there’s definitely been worse.  I haven’t dropped it yet compared to some other games.

Just kinda makes me sad that they had a really interesting lore-setup here and just completely dropped the ball on it.

[britishassistant]

I have 0 idea what Night Raven collage is and what series its from and every time I see the names Ace and Deuce I think Spade Pirates not anyone else and it makes me very confused, so explain... please. I'm tried of not understanding the stuff your writing about, because I want to read more of your stuff... mostly about Mayu but I'm willing to branch out if I understand what the frick is going on.

Night Raven College + Ace and Deuce are part of the Twisted Wonderland fandom!

Disney’s Twisted Wonderland is a Japanese mobile game with rhythm-based gameplay! It has a gacha system to collect and train characters not unlike Fate and Obey Me! Shall we Date? if you’re familiar with either of those! If not, don’t worry because that’s not essential to the enjoyment of the story!

All elements of the story are highly inspired by classical animated Disney villains and movies, with the main influences drawn from Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Snow White, Hercules, and Sleeping Beauty.

Most characters are based off the villains from these stories in some way, even if they’re henchmen or minor characters— Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade are based off of (also referred to as “twisted from”) the card soldiers who paint the roses red in Alice in Wonderland. On the other hand, the characters in the coffins up there, known as the dorm heads, are all based off of the main villains from each of those movies—except for Kalim on the far left. He’s based on the Sultan in Aladdin rather than Jafar for story purposes.

The story is basically as follows: the gender-neutral main character (who’s default name is Yuu or “you”) wakes up in a coffin to a monster cat trying to steal their clothes so he can attend magic school. This leads the main character to discover that they are in this magic school, Night Raven College, in another world, Twisted Wonderland, despite having no magic themselves and now can’t get home to our world. Twisted Wonderland is also odd because our Disney movies appear to be local folklore and legends there, but with a twist— the characters we think of as villains in the above seven movies are revered for being great or heroic beings, to the point where Night Raven College was founded in their name and the students try to emulate their qualities.

The headmaster dumps the main character in an abandoned haunted building on campus, and through a series of shenanigans, discovers that Yuu is really, really good at getting the wizards of this magic school to listen to them and follow their orders. This makes the wizards much more likely to win battles against far more powerful magical opponents than they would otherwise, such as those suffering from Overblot. Overblot is what happens when a wizard uses too much magic too quickly or gets too stressed with no outlet— the waste from magic use/negative feelings becomes an ink-like substance that transforms them into a monster, and they can only be saved by beating them up before that waste consumes them entirely.

The headmaster allows Yuu and their monster cat known as Grim to stay on as one student while he searches for a way to send Yuu home, because Grim has the magic while Yuu has the opposable thumbs. Yuu is given the title of “Prefect” or “Supervisor” because they’re supposed to make sure Grim doesn’t get into too much trouble at school.

From there the story is a series of formulaic episodes based around each of the seven movies: there will be a problem in/because of one of the dorms, Yuu will begin having semi-prophetic dreams about the movie the dorm is based on while trying to fix said problem, the key figure causing the problem who is based on the villain from that movie will have a breakdown and overblot, Yuu directs people to beat them up and save the day by giving them a Naruto-style “be a good guy now” speech. However, the writing and dialogue keep every episode fresh and make it easy to get genuinely invested in the characters and the story each time!

Because “Yuu” is intended to be a blank slate for the player to project onto, there are lots of different readings and versions of the character running around! My version is basically what I think would happen if Yuu themselves were a lot more concerned about how they got to this school and why everyone is turning into super powerful monsters that they can barely survive facing because they have no magic, with a lot of investment in figuring out how to stop the latter so they don’t die to their classmates. I tend to base their character off of traits seen in villainess otome manga and manhwa like Destruction Flag Otome and Beware the Villainess which are my guilty pleasures and which I feel fits the whole “villain” element of the Twisted Wonderland story.

If you’re interested, ShelBB has a translation of the game up on youtube to watch! Thank you for taking an interest and wanting to come along on this journey with me, despite following me for other stuff!!

[swordboiis]

1,000 followers??? Man you've come so far with this blog after a year, I doesn't even feel like that long ago when the 1 year celebration was held! Congrats on managing to reach 1,000 followers!! That's a really big achievement. So, out of every single series and game that you've ever watched/played throughout your life, who are your top 10?

I know oof the one year celebration was only a couple months ago. I remember when I first started this blog I hit 100 in the first month too. It's just great thinking I have so many people wanting to read this stuff!! I appreciate you all so much bless. Ok to your question I'm doing the one list since I don't play many games anyway. Even just answering from games and shows feels tough,,1. GintamaIt's one of the only long series I actually bothered watching it and even rewatch sometimes. While not all of the stories hit home with me, I feel it really teaches a lot. The comedy is funny and I just admire so much about it and how everything comes together when it gets serious. If I went in depth I could really go on just it's really. Really good. 2. Gurren LagannI watched it when depression first really dragged me down and it was a story I needed. The everything is possible screw logic it shows you is something that greatly inspired me and I still hold it dear. It was such a good, fun watch and I really love it. I'm honestly even considering getting a tattoo of something of it since it means so much to me it really saved me. 3. Baccano!First note is the English dub is so damn good,, Baccano is so much fun. I like a series I can enjoy. Unlike the other two above it didn't really teach me any thing since it's more hey life is constantly crazy and keeps going on rather than showing you something. But I love the way it's written and the characters are so full of life, as a writer it inspires me and the anime did a good job I enjoy it a lot. 4. 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 DoorsOne of the only games mentioned hey. Often anything with an element where you try to figure out the big picture as you play I don't take much to figure out plot points and while the murderer among them I figured out pretty quickly I still enjoyed the game. It made me like the characters (not Ace but y'know) and the puzzles and it completely blindsided me!! When we figure out where they were playing the nonary game the whole time I didn't even have a clue and I admire a game suprising me so badly!! It was just so enjoyable even with so much text making playing through it again for different endings a bit tiring I still really really liked it. 5. Ouran High School Host ClubA timeless classic I still think is great I even bought it on bluray. I don't need to convince anyone it's good, the manga definitely had the more satisfying ending but god I love it. A romance story will usually bore me but not this one!! I felt a bit for each of the boys and man it's funny. 6. Puella Magi Madoka MagicaAnother one I don't need to say much of. It's a tragic story, it looks great and sounds great. I enjoyed it a lot again to the point I bought a physical copy of it. Still haven't seen the movie I just appreciate the story it told and felt the elements were all strong. Weakest element was probably the characters actually hm. 7. No.6Like Baccano I went and read the light novels since I enjoyed the anime. Shion and Nezumi have such a good naturally progressing relationship it's interesting ahh I still feel the anime lacked a bit more on the general plot and not showing the what happens after the two seperate wasn't something I would have chosen to leave out but I still really enjoy the anime. Something I like rewatching sometimes. 8. Log HorizonProbably the only characters transported into a game world show I like. Not just because the main character wears glasses. I didn't really like the harem Shiroe had going on but outside of that it had a bunch of great characters. And mostly !! I loved the world building. The show starts slow but I really like it.9. Angel BeatsI also physically bought this one, when I first watched it I fell in love with(Noda) it?? It's really not perfect but I think what is there is so emotionally strong in what it showed. Also the whole message of even if you suffered in life you still deserve a chance at happiness is such a nice thought. 10. Idolish7For the anime rather than the game although the story is the same the game is a rhythm game with gacha. Troyca is doing such a good adaption it makes me feel so many emotions I have to stress eat every time I watch an episode. I already know the story and have never stress eaten before but I still do it. I have it at the bottom since it's ongoing and I'm really into it at the moment but time could shift my opinion.

[momobage]

Band Yarouze Review: It’s a battle of the bands!... and I love a fish man

Band Yarouze (バンドやろうぜ！) is a Japanese card collecting rhythm game made by Aniplex and Sony Music. The goal of the game is to collect cards through gachas and events by playing various songs performed by the four main bands: BLAST, OSIRIS, Fairy4pril, and Cure2tron. Unlike the other games, the player’s character isn’t really in the story; you are more like a bystander or “god-like” being who just observes and sometimes speaks to the members. Therefore, all you do is play the songs and unlock cards, events, characters, and band stories. 

I started playing Band Yarouze around March 2016 because the same friend who recommended Ensemble Stars wanted me to suffer more… I’m not even kidding. Even though I like rhythm games, I wasn’t too interested in playing this one at the time. A few characters caught my eye, but not enough to invest into the game. However right now, it is my second favourite game and brings me just as much suffering as Ensemble Stars does. 

Main gameplay: 5/5 ♥♥♥♥♥

The gameplay for Band Yarouze is extremely simple: tap, hold, hold-slide, and swipe (left and right) notes when they slide down towards the bottom of the screen. The notes follow the beat of the song, so it’s easy once you understand the flow. Rhythm games are very popular in Japan, but each of the mechanics are slightly different. I think out of the ones I have tried, Band Yarouze is the most forgiving. For example, some other rhythm games need hold and release notes at a specific time or they won’t count. This makes it difficult to play songs  with a full combo, especially if you’re on expert mode with a max note speed. However, in Band Yarouze, if you press a hold note a little longer than indicated, it won’t penalize you unless you miss the next note.

Another interesting point of the game is the event function. Almost all Japanese games have some type of event aspect. In typical games like Ensemble Stars, during the event time you play through and complete lives to gain points and rank up to collect event cards. But in Band Yarouze, you complete the song to gain points and objects (like keys, buns or chips) to either collect points, rank, or exchange items for event cards.

For example, during an event called, “Stand by Me GIGS: Nice Dream, Journey Mood,” (photo above) you try to collect points and rank up to get special cards and items such as stones and gacha tickets. You can also win steamed buns after clearing the event song and use them to play the time-limited event songs. However, in the current event, “Advent of the Quattro Virtuoso GIGS: Dante of the Purgatory,” (photo below) you go through the story challenges and play special lives. If you clear the Live, you win chips and exchange them for limited Super Rare (SR) and Rare (R) level cards. I find collecting points and ranking events easier and more fun than just exchanging items, even though it is easier and less stressful. I like that Band Yarouze changes the rules and mechanics for events because it keeps the game interesting. Even if you play the same song repeatedly, it is still challenging to collect or complete the event. I kind of wish other games would also change their event rules from time to time.

(Left: unbroken card, Right: Broken card. P.S. This is a boy, all of Cure2tron are crossdressing boys)

Unfortunately, Band Yarouze is only available via the Japanese app store and Google play store. As I mentioned in the Ensemble Stars post, you can download a separate Android Game Platform or create a Japanese iTunes account to access these games. There aren’t too many tutorials for Band Yarouze but gyrotalon from Reddit made a basic English guide to the game. This helped me understand the navigational system and how to BREAK and level up cards. You can also check out Banyaro English Tumblr and Banyaro English Twitter for translated event announcements, basic character information, and replies to questions from other Band Yarouze players.  

As always, it is free to play and has in-game currency called “medals.” I didn’t use to care about the gacha in this game before since it is kind of expensive (it costs 500 medals for a ten card pull). However, one of my favourite characters got a pretty card and it all went downhill from there. So far, I’ve spent a bit more than $350 on Band Yarouze, which I’m not even surprised. Honestly, since the past few events have been featuring my favourite band or characters, I’m surprised the number isn’t much higher. I spent a lot a few weeks ago, trying to get a SR of Shin. He came home after four or five 10-character rolls… but at least he came home… unlike a certain someone [Cough Koga Cough].

Overall, Band Yarouze is really fun and addictive. Even if you aren’t good at playing music games, you can still have fun trying to beat your score. You also probably don’t need to buy medals unless you want a certain card, but the game gives you many rewards along the way. I’d recommend this game to any beginners who don’t have much experience playing rhythm games. The songs are well composed, the characters are quite unique, and the game is easy to play.

Characters: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥♡

When I started playing Band Yarouze, there weren’t any characters that immediately caught my eye. My friend pointed out some characters that were my type and sadly, I completely agreed and my obsession began. Each band includes one vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer. They each also all play a different type of rock music adapted with modern Japanese elements: BLAST is classic/aggressive rock, OSIRIS is emotional/punk rock, Fairly4pril is alternative/indie rock, and Cure2tron is electronic/pop rock. I have members I like within each band but OSIRIS is by far my absolute favourite.

Their music and appearances are cool and edgy but their lyrics and sound are still so expressive. I love all their songs! My top three are “Darkness,” “Voice,” and “Heavenly Breeze.” Although there is only one vocalist, I love each member’s voice for its unique sound and way of speaking.

(My favourite Kyo cards. He is a beautiful angel with a beautiful voice who should never feel alone.)

Takara Kyo (Kobayashi Masanori) has a quiet but strong voice. His shy personality easily shows through his looks and attitude. But when he performs, it is breathtaking. Especially in “Heavenly Breeze,” Kobayashi’s vocal range and consistent control create a passionate and memorable performance. I’m sure I have cried listening to him sing; it was just so beautiful. Kyo struggles with his thoughts and problems internally but can relieve his stress through his singing. I can’t wait to hear more songs from him that are absolutely ethereal. 

(My favourite Ray cards. He is a silly and stubborn dork who should always dream big.)

Ray Cephart (Hanae Natsuki) has a confident and silvery voice. His voice reflects his energetic and playful side, as well as his serious and bossy side. Ray’s overall tone is quite high but leaves a ringing that isn’t necessarily bad. Although, within OSIRIS, I like his voice the least I still find him very charming and sweet. He may act like an idiot sometimes but it’s because he is a big dreamer who wants OSIRIS to become the best band in the world.

(My favourite Makoto cards. He is a strict realist who should continue to follow what he believes is right.)

Kurusu Makoto (Uchida Yuuma) uses a lower and quiet stern voice compared to Kyo and Ray. As an active medical student, his personality is always serious and blunt which easily reflects in his voice. He has this mix of sexual attractiveness and mysteriousness in the way his sentences flow. It’s hard to describe but I’d want to hear his voice if was a tutor explaining math I don’t understand. Even though he can be cold and harsh, he still dedicates himself to practice bass and help the other members of OSIRIS realistically achieve their goals.

(My favourite Shin cards. He is a mature, fish-loving old man who should always smile and help others.)

Finally, Koganei Shin (Umehara Yuuchirou) has a low and husky voice. I’m simply in love with everything about him. His voice is so calming and reassuring, it makes me smile easily. I really wish he had a singing part since he voices Hasumi Keito from Ensemble Stars and other popular idol characters from different games. He has a beautiful singing voice! Let my drummer boy sing! [Internally weeping]. 

As the leader of OSIRIS, Shin’s reliable personality easily reflects in his voice but so does his silliness and extreme love for fish, especially Hachibiki Sashimi (he works at his parent’s fish shop). Though I hope he always helps cheer people up, either with his music or simply his personality. I must say out of all my favourite characters from the mobile games I’ve reviewed so far, realistically, Shin is the closest to my idea type. He is handsome, cool, friendly, reliable, strong, smart, and responsible; what’s not to like? I know he’s only a 2D character and will never really exist, but if he did, I think I would just cry forever.

Story: 3/5 ♥♥♥♡♡

The main story in Band Yarouze is about the characters’ struggles and difficulties about debuting as a band. There are sometimes choices during a character’s story, but whatever you choose does not really change the outcome. There is no additional gain if you answer “correctly” except to see the characters’ different reactions. Event stories are usually really weird. Sometimes they have impossible storylines like the band members turn into eggs on Easter, or they get transported to the Underworld on Halloween. It could never happen, even in the game’s universe, but it kind of happens anyway and fans still love it. Sadly, there are very few English translations of the story. Even Banyaro English Tumblr doesn’t have full translations of every chapter, only the prologues and some event chapters. I think the game is either not popular enough to have full translations or the game doesn’t have a large international fandom: both are likely. I’ll wait for the day someone translates them all so I can enjoy my silly boys being silly.

Overall: 4/5 ♥♥♥♥♡

Band Yarouze is an amazingly fun, simple and addicting game for anyone to begin playing. The songs are catchy, the artwork is beautiful, the characters are unique, and the story is wild. I don’t completely regret spending money on this game. But I think would be little kinder to my wallet if OSIRIS and Shin were not involved. I would recommend this game to beginners who like great quality music and art. This would be your best option to learn how rhythm games work differently than puzzle, RPG, or other card collecting games. It can teach you to appreciate music and help you diversify in the types of games and music you may play or listen to. I think it will also make you feel like a music genius even if you’re musically challenged like me!

[momobage]

Momobage Interview: Questions for a games enthusiast

I still consider myself a relative beginner in the mobile game world since I haven’t explored many different genres yet. However, while the games and the developing companies are important, each gaming fandom and community make the playing experiences more enjoyable. Personally, meeting and becoming close with people can be difficult in real life. But, the people I have met and befriended because of mobile games have a strong understanding and connection for the game and its fans. So, I contacted Michelle from kurumiya on Tumblr. Michelle is 25 years old and lives in Scotland. She is a video game enthusiast and enjoys Japanese media such as games and TV shows. She also provides help and some translations for various Japanese mobile games through her Tumblr. I could tell she was such a nice and helpful person who really cared about the games she played and others in the gaming community.

Currently, what are your favourite mobile games to play? Why?

My current favourite games are Love Live, Kirameki Note and Smash Tap.

Love Live! School Idol Festival (ラブライブ！スクールアイドルフェスティバル) is a mobile game developed by KLab and Bushiroad which combines a rhythm tapping game and a card collecting game into one. It was also the very first rhythm game I played so it's just something that has always stuck with me.

Boyfriend (Beta) Kirameki Note (ボーイフレンド (仮) きらめきノート) is a mobile game published by Ameba Games and has become one of my favourite rhythm games that I've tried playing so far. Even though I knew nothing about the characters when I first began, the game was very easy to get into and events aren't too challenging for a free player.

My Hero Academia: Smash Tap (僕のヒーローアカデミア スマッシュタップ) is a mobile game developed by Bandai Namco. It’s a new game that I'm currently going through the "I love this game!" phase. Although it’s a simple tap to attack game and needs a bit of patience to play, it’s something that everyone can play for free without needing to pay for in-game purchases.

When and why did you start playing mobile games?

I started playing mobiles games about 3 years ago since they're easily accessible and many of them are free. It’s beneficial since you don’t lose any money if you end up not enjoying the game or get bored of it. I also usually play games that align with my interests, which is why I really like Smash Tap and another game called Fairy Tail Goku Mahou Ranbu (フェアリーテイル 極・魔法乱舞) since they are based off the original anime and manga.

What is your favourite part about mobile games? Story, characters, mechanics, etc.

The mechanics of a game definitely makes a game hit or miss for me since it is essentially what will keep me hooked on a game. My other favourite thing about mobile games is the luck element many of them have like gachas. [I commented, “YOU LIKE GACHAS?! You must have really good luck!” since my experience with them is usually bad]. The reasons I love gachas so much is because I kind of like the gambling element to it. You're using all your saved up in-game currency for new characters or items so it’s really exciting to see what you're going to get! Although there is no guarantee of winning something favourable, there is always hope in the next try. It's the same feeling when you say "One more time!" while playing a UFO catchers’/claw cranes and such.

Do you feel a stronger connection between you and some characters that you may not normally feel in other games you have played?

Not particularly. I don't think mobile games are as immersive as perhaps console or pc games because they are often limited in what you can do. Often the amount of time you can play for in one sitting is only fifteen to thirty minutes before you run out of stamina.

How do you react to criticism? Usually there are negative comments online on how a game functions or is not being fair, etc.

I don't really pay attention to criticisms or reviews of mobile games. As a more mature player, as long as I find it fun for myself then that's good enough. I also don't see mobile games as a long term commitment either. If something isn't functioning right or the game is failing to make improvements then it's too easy to just delete it and find something else. Eventually you forget about it and move on. In that way I think mobile games are very disposable.

Are there any games you stopped playing? If so why?

There's too many games for me to really mention that I've stopped playing, but some games I have stopped playing recently were A3!, Band Yarouze, and BanG Dream! The main reason I often stop playing a game is because as a free player you often reach a cap that you can't really surpass without paying money. For some other games, the game starts to focus on multiplayer functions too much, which again, relies more on how much money you spend on the game rather than your own persistence.

If a game doesn’t already have one, would you want to see developers create an animated series, real life mini drama, or character sung songs?

I think it really depends on the franchise and type of game, but I think there is definitely the option to branch out into different medias such as character songs and animated series for some games. Voiced characters and a good storyline are definitely needed beforehand though.

Since smartphones are so important in our everyday life, do you think that creates even more potential for mobile games, or does it defeat their purpose since it is so common?

With smartphones being almost a necessity these days and internet becoming more accessible, I think it definitely leaves room for improvement in the mobile gaming industry since it allows for more competition; which is good in terms of gaming quality. It's also a good industry for new developers, aspiring writers and artists etc. and allows for growth and new ideas which can only lead to newer and better games.

With the development of virtual reality, do you think future mobile games will try to incorporate it? Do you think it’ll be successful?

I think there is definitely a market for VR mobile games, but it will still take some time to produce something considered "good". I think as technology continues to improve, it will eventually be successful. But for now, I think we're still quite far away from making a "good" VR mobile game.

What kind of mobile games do you wish to see next? Are there any mobile games you anticipate for? Whether in the making or already released.

I personally hope to see some more RPG open world type of mobile games as I still haven't found one with the kind of feature I'd like to see or with a decent game progression rate. As for games that I'm anticipating, I'm highly excited for the B-Project: Muteki*Dangerous (B-PROJECT～無敵＊デンジャラス～) game (photo below).

If you could create any mobile game, no limitations, what kind of game would it be?

For me I would like to create a dungeon crawling/quest RPG sort of game with lots of character customisation like MapleStory, World of Warcraft and other MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). With customisation, it would make mobile games, especially dating/visual novel ones, even more emotional and personal. These types of games also have no limit on how long you can play you can play for hours at a time rather than perhaps 30 minutes.

If you could recommend one game to other beginner mobile game players, which one would it

I would recommend that people play Love Live as it's a popular game with a large community in both Japanese and English. So, there are multiple beginner tutorials, walkthroughs and other people to ask questions and talk to about the game.

As mentioned in the beginning, the gaming community is very helpful, especially for mobile game beginners. By conducting this interview, I understand how Michelle and I’s gaming experiences may be different based on the games we played. However, we can still bond over similar aspects in games or fan over characters we like with ease. These kinds of relationships with other players are what make mobile games so fun and special. A big thank you to Michelle for being so nice and doing the interview!