Welcome to the world of Draculius. Vampires live secretly in the modern world, and the game takes place in Japan, of course, in a small city somewhere within. The story centers around our male protagonist, Ogishima Jun, who lives an ordinary life of a high school student, when suddenly his world is turned upside down by the appearance of Elshlant D. Annoyance, a vampire housemaid sent by the Brandle royal family to inform him of his secret heritage. And this is only the very beginning.
Interesting thing about vampires in this game are that their physiology and capabilities are far from traditional vampire lore, but their style, atmosphere, and feel adhere to classical vampire portrayals, which is a pretty interesting result the creators of the game have accomplished.
Cast of Characters
荻島 潤 (Ogishima Jun)
Our protagonist. Armed with clever wits, long hair, and the face of a girl's, he has lived alone in a house his long-deceased mother has left him and has been living the life of an ordinary high school student. That is until one day the vampire housemaid, Elshlant D. Annoyance, shows up at his doorstep with a letter from his paternal grandfather, Brian Brandle. Jun learns that his father, Id Demon Brandle, is the missing successor to the Brandle clan, the royal family of vampires. His father got tired of the vampire aristocrat's life and ran away to live a human life, falling in love with Ogishima Yukari, Jun's mother. Some time after Yukari's pregnancy, Id Brandle went missing, and Ogishima Yukari, a miko, placed a magical seal upon Jun before his birth in order to prevent his vampiric half from manifesting. Ever since Yukari's death, this seal has been gradually weaknening and it is at this point when the seal is on the brink of collapse that the Brandle family decides to offer Jun the chance to join the world of vampires as the official heir to the Brandle family, now that his father, Id Brandle, is missing, presumed dead. The Brandle family makes this offer to Jun under three conditions: 1) That Jun become a vampire suitable to being called the heir to the Brandle family. 2) That Elshlant D. Annoyance be sent to live in Jun's house as a maid and to serve as an evaluator to determine when Jun has fulfilled condition 1. And lastly 3) that Jun choose a bride from among a selection of possible suitors hailing from various aristocratic vampire families.
Personality-wise, Jun is somewhat reserved, and well-known for his gentleness among his schoolmates. He has a very quick mind and can swiftly come up with plans and deductions from various situation. He also enjoys teasing people from time to time, and is popular with the girls of the school although he doesn't really care. He dislikes the idea of hurting or killing someone, but treasures people he considers close to him and will act as necessary to protect them.
Quite different from most male protagonists. His quick mind and wittiness, plus the fact that he isn't initially that interested in women but aren't phobic of them either like many other leads are gives him further pluses. It's nice to watch him come up with all sorts of creative ways to get out of sticky situations.
エルシェラント・ディ・アノイアンス (Elshlant D. Annoyance)
Whatever you're thinking about her name, I'm sure I was thinking the exact same thing too when I first saw/heard it
. A second blood vampire, basically a vampire that used to be human and was turned into one by a first blood or shinso, vampires that were born vampires. Is a familiar/child vampire (how do you translate "
kenzoku"?) to Id Brandle, and has lived and served the Brandle family as a maid for over 180 years. She now serves Jun as his familiar and housemaid. Has a pretty hefty reputation and history amongst many humans as the "Witch of Cries" and many others, and is an expert magic user and hand-to-hand combatant. She is also an expert at healing and magical surgery. Her body is currently loli-sized due to some magical complications and to conserve energy. Jun calls her Belche, because she feels a little uncomfortable with people calling her by her first name like her original master, Id Brandle, did.
As one who has lived for longer than 180 years, she is very knowledgeable about not just things like vampire physiology and history, but of life in general, and gives off the impression of an all-knowing grandmother, gentle yet stern when necessary. Becomes a rock-solid pillar of knowldge and support for Jun during this time of great change in his life.
There's no real character stereotype to describe Belche. She's like a mother or grandmother, but with none of the negatives. A superb personality portrayal of someone who has lived for longer than human lifespans, in my view. Her interactions with the other characters are great to watch as she teaches them some life lessons one moment and then starts scolding them the next.
(clickable thumbnails)
リカ・ペンブルトン (Rika Pembleton)
An American from the state of Minnesota who transfers into Jun's class. Secretly she is an agent from Dailas Lean, a secret global organization dedicated to the extermination of vampires, whose members are derived from orphans all around the world. Think nuns with guns, without the religious bit. Her orders are to observe and if necessary, terminate Jun. An expert with a wide variety of firearms and explosives.
She's be the tsundere of the game, if you had to pick one, although she's in many ways different from the usual tsundere. Loud, hotblooded, quick to act without thinking, not very feminine, and not very sociable. Believes strongly in the concept of justice and serving Dailas Lean is her justice and reason to live. Impulsive, a little immature, and sometimes a little slow on the uptake, but possesses nearly unstoppable determination when she's committed to something.
What can one say? Hot, fiery, cute, hilarious, and badass to boot. Plus her voice acting is totally win---though pretty much everyone's voice acting in this game is great.
リアン・ルーチェ・ディメルモール (Rian Luche Dimemorl)
The fourth daughter of a vampire aristocrat from Britain, and one of the marriage candidates for Jun. Out of sheer curiosity and for fun she travels to Japan and transfers into Jun's class one month ahead of schedule, and also moves into Jun's house as his fiance, a role which she takes to with much gusto, much to Jun's bewilderment. A first blood vampire like Jun. Every vampire develops a special ability at some point during their lives, and Rian's is the "Brain Tyrant," which allows her to read and manipulate other people's minds and is unique to her alone.
An ojou-sama character at the base, but all similarities blur or end there. She is playful and mischievous, and a little childish in mentality. She often has trouble associating with ordinary humans and seeing things from their point of view. Typically has a good amount of self-confidence and pride. Quick to emotional extremes and quick to argue with other cast members. Also sometimes pretty slow on the uptake, and dislikes people making fun of her for that and any other reasons.
A totally adorable ojou-sama with practically none of the flaws that usually come with that character type. Has a very playful kind of mood about herself as mentioned, and shifts frequently back and forth from childish to elegant. Possesses none of the usual unbearable arrogance that one might see in common ojou-sama characters, and quickly and genuinely apologizes when at fault. You can't even say she's tolerable because there's nothing at all to find intolerable about her to begin with. She starts out seeming like an ordinary and somewhat shallow ojou-sama type and grows over time into a truly likeable character with depth and personality.
(I loooooove that expression of hers and you will laugh too when you watch the scene where that expression comes from.
)
ゼノ・ジェイルバーン (Zeno Jailsbern)
A lycanthrope, basically a werewolf, and Rian's familiar, and maid and bodyguard. Expert in melee combat, stealth, and detecting/hunting down enemies, on top of her various housemaid-related skills. Has been Rian's companion since childhood.
Very reserved, quiet, speaks in a subdued voice that feels monotone. Extremely loyal to Rian and to those who gain her trust, and will lay down her life for her mistress if ordered to. Gentle to those she considers friends and family, and merciless to all she considers her enemy. Very "my pace" and eccentric as well, with strange points of view and interesting things to say at times. Is considered a dog, which she pretty much is in a sense.
Total. Badass. Seriously gives Chuck Norris a run for his money. Well, a lot of ero-game characters can give Chuck Norris a run for his money. But are they also a super-sexy werewolf meido with a fascination for tsundere jokes and scenarios and bi-lingual wordgags?
I can easily see her having many fans.
ヴィスケス (Viskes, full name: Viskes Granchester)
A Dailas Lean commander and Rika's direct superior and sempai when Rika was much younger. A mysterious woman with mysterious motives and an equally mysterious personality.
高柳 操 (Takayanagi Misao)
One of Jun's childhood friends, attends the same school and same class. A little slow (quite a few people in this game are kinda slow at times
) and very energetic. Comes over to Jun's house every morning and walks to and from school together. Very competitive and hates to lose, and easily gets into arguements with other people. Has a big crush on Jun. Draws manga (often involving Jun). Also shares an important characteristic with a certain Watarase Jun from Happiness.
Kanami Shuuji (on the right; I couldn't get a good picture of him off the web)
Another of Jun's close friends. Captain of the kendo club. Lives with four sisters (all of whom hold big crushes on Jun
), and therefore gives Jun advice on women from time to time. A cool, reliable type of person eager to help Jun out whenever help is needed.
Mizuno Kanako
The former class president of Jun's class, but everyone still calls her 'iincho,' much to her protest. The smart, reliable, and orderly type of person. Would like Jun to pay more attention to his grades and take life more seriously.
End Cast of Characters
There's several other minor characters as well, but I decided not to go over them for now.
In any case, all the characters are made of many levels of
awesome sauce, and become even more
win as the story goes on and grow in depth and maturity as the game plays on. There's a palpable sense of growth and development from beginning to the end within our heroes and heroines.
It's also worth noting that this is one of a very small number of games that feature a main cast made up almost entirely of foreign characters. The spoken Engrish is pretty bad here like in most other games
but the creators apparently knew enough English to make a lot of
great language barrier jokes. Some of them are really creative.
And what makes this even better is that the creators even took into account the different cultures and dialects between the different English-speaking countries. Rika is American, Rian and Zeno are British, and Belche is apparently from Dublin, Ireland. A lot of jokes and insults are hurled from one end of the Western World to the other in this game, and it gets
extremely funny when they start commenting on each other's command (or the lack of) of the Japanese language.
I did mention tsundere jokes in my Zeno section, correct? Yep, this game plays around with and makes frequent fun of the tsundere concept.
It helps that the plot is quite excellent as well, with all events from beginning to end tied together in purpose and relationship. The story brings up some interesting questions and themes on vampires and their existences and lives, of the relationships between man and vampire and so on. It also brings up what kind of sense of morality a vampire might possess, and of what's important to a vampire compared to a human, and the consequences of such long lives that vampires lead.
Speaking of plot, the game is different from most ADV games in that it doesn't have a selection of heroines for you to choose from and play through in the traditional sense. There are two story routes: the Rian End, and the True End. The Rian End is short, about I guess around 13 hours, 14 max. It's more light-hearted, and more sexually-oriented. A little shallow too, to be honest, and underwhelming. You get only Rian or Rian+Zeno in the end. Not even a real ending really, since it stops abruptly with a h-scene and then the credits roll, no epilogue or anything. The Rian+Zeno end h-scene is really raunchy though.
I played through the Rian and Rian+Zeno routes first. I'm not sure what the purpose of those routes are, but they're there if you want to play through them. If you do decide to go through the Rian/Rian+Zeno route, then an
IMPORTANT NOTE: When you pass the ending h-scene and the ending credits start to roll, quickly drag the game window towards the bottom of your monitor so that you can't see the various CGs they show during the credits. Those CGs they roll during the credits are
EXTREME SPOILERS, so if you don't want to be spoiled to the true route, then for the love of all that is good, save yourselves and move that game window towards the bottom when the ED credits roll. You CANNOT skip the ED when you first see it.
This game has only a very small number of route choices, and there is one choice selection that decides which route you take---the Rian/Rian+Zeno one or the true route---and all the choices leading up to that one are the same for either route. When you get to this screen:
Pick the first option if you want to proceed down the Rian/Rian+Zeno route. Otherwise, go with the second option to get the true ending.
What is the true ending, you ask? Remember that they call these games "visual novels." Draculius pretty much fits that description; you get only one more choice screen down the road and then nothing else until the end of the game. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
And what a ride it is. I'm not certain what the average length of a story route in most games is, but Draculius' true ending took me at least 42 hours to finish. And it's 42 hours of pure win and awesome sauce. The game wastes no time grabbing a tight hold of your interest within the first game day. And then the game gets good. And then it gets awesome. And then it finally transcends into a flying, hypersonic train powered by awesome sauce dropping awesome-nukes on cities and people below. The pacing is pretty much nearly perfect; long conversations are long for good reasons, and short ones are kept short, and the game never feels too long or too short.
You can forget about the Rian route and just start off into the true route on your first playthrough if you wish and you'd be perfectly fine, and the only consequence would be that you'd be irrecoverably spoiled now when you go to try the Rian route.
Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, and comparisons don't always work, but I daresay I enjoyed this game more than I enjoyed Prism Ark, and that's a
hefty thing to say, although they're both really close in my book.
The game is pretty low-budget, so some of the awesomeness is lost unless you really imagine what it must be like, but with a high-budget anime adaptation...wow. And there wouldn't be any problems or confusion involved in picking which girl's route to follow or whatever. There's only the true route, and all the events and interactions are spelled out so it'd be easy for a studio to build a plot out of.
Right now that's a pipe dream since meromero cute isn't a Key or Leaf-like company, but for now I hope this post got you interested in the game. And I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I did.
2007-10-26, 06:36
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