General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by amc9988

Hello, in hoshizora no memoria does anyone know what Komomo said in the end of her route? The one with no text and just voice where the background was white with ~Fin~. Thanks..

Kore kara wa zutto saki ni tomo ga aru ... We will live from now on forever together. Or something along that line. If I had to guess, I think it refers more to Kosame and Komomo-chan due to how the ending around the twins was resolved .

I finished Rio's route on DracuXRiot. First the non-spoilers: As expected my created subtitle of her being the "dere dere" route was very fitting . For a change Yuuto wasn't useless romance-wise and the chemistry between those to was quite sweet. Their common background may be plot related, but from a romance point of view you might as well call it "destiny" ^^.

Furthermore, I found Miu did an adorable job as a supporting character and her usual embarrased moments when Erina leads the conversation were very amusing. Although it was shown that each member cares much about Yuuto, it felt here that Miu's level of worry/care was somewhat higher, not counting the main girl obviously.

Random point of interest: The character animation that looks as if the character would sligtly jump/hop up and down (for the female cast) is absolutely adorable.

Spoiler for Rio:

The bad/annoying stuff at first: Personally, I found their first date + the lead up to ecchi 1 veeery awkward, maybe too awkward somehow. Funnily, once they became a couple Rio's cluelessness about sex didn't seem as tiresome as before at many instances aka Erina's breakfast talk about impotence. I found it quite funny. The scene where Yuuto caught her at the beach way before the Lycantrop drama went into the last stage was also sweet. A few VNs had the problem of the couple failing to communicate enough and here it was done, for my taste(!) correctly.
@Lycantrop plot: It felt a bit too sudden that Yuuto and Rio were "created" Lycantrops. Likewise the explanation that the psyeudonym of Vampire Eater was meant as in to erase the special ability + memory of the devoured vampire felt like it was changed to make the innital Lycan mystery less extreme or dark. If Sayo-sama had really died during her short confrontation with Ogi then I would have raged a lot. It felt a bit anti-climatic how she got "trolled" even though it was explained by her lack of knowledge of fighting a Lycantrop itself.
Lastly, the end where they drank each other's blood and exchanged their memories is from a romance viewpoint very corny, but also incredibly lovely. No reason for me to *not* like it Same for the wedding ceremony epilogue: Gimme more of it!
And was it only me or was the reaction of Miu-tachi when they revlealed their secret even more "relaxed" than during Miu and Erina's route? I mean it was basically like *Secret reveleaded* "So what? No probs, let's move on to dinner" *BAM* :3.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Zenken

Well, I'm more surprised with Shiro being totally nuts here ajajaa

And the little confusion about Wolfgang's gender.

Shiro has always been nuts if you realize...

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Mahou

I finished Rio's route on DracuXRiot. First the non-spoilers: As expected my created subtitle of her being the "dere dere" route was very fitting . For a change Yuuto wasn't useless romance-wise and the chemistry between those to was quite sweet. Their common background may be plot related, but from a romance point of view you might as well call it "destiny" ^^.

Indeed, ain't that the truth. While I still hold Erina's as the superior route overall, this was certainly a factor that made Rio's route a very relaxing experience (especially compared to Miu's ... present shopping ... aargh!). The overall lovey-doviness and Yuuto actually displaying a sense of awareness and ability to be somewhat romantic was very welcome, and made for an overall sugar overdose.

Furthermore, I found Miu did an adorable job as a supporting character and her usual embarrased moments when Erina leads the conversation were very amusing. Although it was shown that each member cares much about Yuuto, it felt here that Miu's level of worry/care was somewhat higher, not counting the main girl obviously.

To follow up on that thought, this is actually one thing I have come to appreciate about Dracu Riot - even when you are one someone's route, the other main heroines (Miu and Erina at least) still have their own little, but important, input upon how things play out.

Spoiler for general plot mussings:

In Miu's case this translates to being Yuuto's emotional anchor of sorts, seeing she is someone who has accepted his "vampire eater" status from the start. Without Miu being there to give him the final push when time comes to come clean with the rest of the gang (and serving as a living reminder that he won't necessarily be shunned), chances are he might have drowned under the pressure.

Indeed, irregardless of route, Miu is always the first to remind him that they are all friends, and to chastise him for not giving enough weight to said friendship. Whatever the route, she feels like the heart of their little gang.

Likewise, Erina also gets her moments to shine, though hers are more general plot related, as opposed to Miu's interpersonal emotional support of Yuuto. In Miu's route it was thanks to Erina that they managed to find the jamming devices and thus save the city.

In Rio's route, she was the constant go-to person for Rio regarding her relationship worries (much to Yuuto's dismay ), and i liked the bits where she urged Rio to clear up their initial misunderstanding before it gets out of hand. It was also her who found out where Rio went in the end (the seaside), thus enabling them to salvage the situation in time.

Indeed, having the others play important roles in the overall scheme of things, even when not on their own route, is definitely a strength of Dracu Riot, and it does well in establishing the friendship/bond between the little dorm gang.

Spoiler for Rio:

@Lycantrop plot: It felt a bit too sudden that Yuuto and Rio were "created" Lycantrops. Likewise the explanation that the psyeudonym of Vampire Eater was meant as in to erase the special ability + memory of the devoured vampire felt like it was changed to make the innital Lycan mystery less extreme or dark. If Sayo-sama had really died during her short confrontation with Ogi then I would have raged a lot. It felt a bit anti-climatic how she got "trolled" even though it was explained by her lack of knowledge of fighting a Lycantrop itself.

Spoiler for Rio / some Miu:

Actually I didn't find this bit too awkward, probably because it was already "speculated" by Ogi on Miu's route that Yuuto might have had a latent Lycantrope factor before becoming a vampire, which shouldn't be possible normally. Obviously I didn't know exactly what those implications meant at the time, but I feel Rio's route expanded upon that groundwork nicely.

On the other hand, I feel the appreciation for Lycantrope stuff is largely related to the order you play the routes in. I suspect that had I started with Rio's, I wouldn't have appreciated it all that much and it would have felt abrupt. Seeing Miu's route touched upon the whole mystery without giving any concrete answers, Rio's route almost felt like a follow up in this regard, shedding light on already established factors. It almost felt like a solution to the puzzle.

What I'm getting at is, playing Miu's route first allowed the mystery to be built up (along with a few clues), and Rio's route felt like the answer to a previously established question(s). Had I went with Rio first though, I have a feeling I would have found the infodump a bit too easy and the Big Secret being solved and explained without having time to properly sink in. Indeed, I think Rio's route works best when read after Miu's, but no so good the other way around.

As for Ogi winning against Sayo, that's to be expected I guess. I mean, Yuuto already got to play the superman by pulling flight out of his *ahem* and flying to Rio's rescue, before showing off with pyrokinesis and telekinesis, and then there is his body hardening ability ... and whatever else is buried in the genetic code of Lycantrop he is infused with.

And that's still nothing compared to Ogi, who likely has hundreds of different abilities at his disposal. A swiss army knife doesn't even come close to describing his potential, for all intents and purposes, a Lycantrop is completely hax to a silly degree. A normal vampire, no matter how experienced, really doesn't have a chance against that with their single ability, unless said ability is something extremely potent. (Wouldn't be surprised if Erina could beat one though, if she were battle minded - seeing her electricity knocked a vampire out cold for a day+ in an instant, I bet she could put a Lycan on his backside before he realizes what happened. But then she probably has the strongest ability of them all, so heh).

So ... yeah. Sayo is an excellent "tank" due to her ability, but it's no wonder she lost against something that has potentially unlimited ways to dish out the punishment. And who knows how old Ogi actually is, plus him having all the experience of the devoured vampires at his disposal. One would need something truly overpowering to take on a Lycan (like Erina's ability) , and Sayo simply doesn't have that, so her defeat was somewhat expected (and can't have her stealing spotlight from the main character after all )

Oh, and

Funnily, once they became a couple Rio's cluelessness about sex didn't seem as tiresome as before at many instances aka Erina's breakfast talk about impotence. I found it quite funny.

I so expected for Erina to explain it to Rio, with the follow up of Rio immediately jumping to Yuuto's "defense" and spiritedly proclaiming that's not the case at all. A shame that didn't happen, they missed out on a golden opportunity for some hilarious reactions from the rest

So ... yeah. If there is one advice I'd give to anyone planning to read Dracu Riot, it would be to not touch Rio's route until you are done with Miu. While not crucial, I feel it allows a good deal more appreciation for the events taking place during Rio's route.

[Balzac]

In the case of Ogi-sensei, either that, or:

Spoiler for Dracu-riot, Azusa:

Just shoot him with a special bullet!

The routes may also be grouped amongst Miu/Erina and Rio/Azusa. The former deals with retaining the vampire germ while the latter explores how it is removed.

It might also be argued that Miu's route serves as the "must-read first" route seeing as there are few major revelations related to the "plot" that are present there, unlike the major scraps that only appear exclusively in the other routes.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by Balzac

In the case of Ogi-sensei, either that, or:

Spoiler for Dracu-riot, Azusa:

Just shoot him with a special bullet!

The routes may also be grouped amongst Miu/Erina and Rio/Azusa. The former deals with retaining the vampire germ while the latter explores how it is removed.

It might also be argued that Miu's route serves as the "must-read first" route seeing as there are few major revelations related to the "plot" that are present there, unlike the major scraps that only appear exclusively in the other routes.

Leaves the question where Mrs. Reverse Trap fits into this scheme .

Originally Posted by Skyfall

(especially compared to Miu's ... present shopping ... aargh!

X_X Don't remind me. The job-related couple-faking afterwards wasn't really better in that regard . It feels like the developer realized themselves he's too stupid and quickly added some inner conflict for himself (1. dream conversation with himself about snatching Miu away to claim her for himself, 2. his "sudden" fear that Miu wouldn't accept him and his inner "demon")

Time to finish Azusa's route before I devote myself to Mashiro-iro Mutsu no Hana (and more if I find something that picks my interest) .

[hyl]

I finally have the time to start Natsuyume Nagisa and my first impressions of the entire prologue seems positive. I like the mystery surrounding Nagisa's past due to his amnesia and i have no idea yet how the 3 girls that he recently met are connected to Nagisa and the girl (according to the opening movie Ayumu) from his past.
However the prologue/common route does have a very slow start (also it felt pretty short, because it was pretty much only used to introduce 4 heroines) and it gives me the impression that the overall mood of the story seems much lighter than Hatsuyuki Sakura (an amnesia compared to revenge and ghosts).

So far Hitsuji (a pretty good performance from Goto Mai) seems the most interesting of the first 4 heroines and i will probably aim for her first.

edit: Seeing that some people compared it with HatsuSaku, i probably should expect something depressing or in the best case something bitter sweet at the end of each route

[Mahou]

Finished Azusa's route in Draco-Riot.
Well, I admit firstly that I didn't understand (language barrier-wise) much of the main story in the second half. With that being said, her route was okay-ish. I felt it wasn't super exciting, but it had in comparion with the other routes a different character screen time distribution .

Romance-wise: A slow start and a more or less steady progression afterwards. You might think the deal about HumanXVampire relationship would have been somewhat more critical, but that wasn't quite the case.

Spoiler for Azusa route:

From the parts I understood: It's the somehow the only route where Sayo had the least amount of screentime/importance during the late-game drama. And it's possibly the one route where an important character dies after the drama is resolved - Anna in this case. It was an - imho - nice surprise that Azusa turned out to be Anna's granddaughter. Somehow, the sub-conflict between Azusa her former clan members (vampire hunters) wasn't quite to my liking even though it seemed to be well enough tied to Anna's past + her present time plotting. The usual bunch of people who hate all vampire regardless of them being good or baddies.
The good part was when Anna hid in the student residence of Yuuto-tachi. She was the main shipper and initiator of YuutoXAzusa. I found that part quite enjoyable in general.

Yuuto's lycantrop problem in this route was mostly centered around Ogi's "mind control" and the past memory of Anna's partner in her past. Furthermore, as Yuuto was afraid to possibly hurt Azusa when in Lycan-mode he decided to learn how to use a gun in combat like she does, which in turn increased the time the two spent together pre- and post-becoming a couple.

As Balzac said, Azusa's route is also Ogi-Lycantrop encounter #2 with the battle quickly resolved thanks to an anti-evil bullet created to destroy the vampire virus.

So overall her route wasn't really bad or unenjoyable, but still not as awesome as Erina's or as cute as Rio's. Erina > Rio >= Miu > Azusa for me. As I value fluff and sugary moments more for my total entertainment, Rio's was slightly more satisfying than Miu's (who was the only driving factor in the relationship, but with a great performance as such), but not as to say "generally better or superior"!
Yes, I admit that Erina came somehow as a surprise because I tend to be wary with pervy characters, even though the ero-girl archetype does seem to be a rare case among the VNs I've played.

I put Nikola on hold for the time being despite of resulting that I don't really have a VN, which would absolutely wake my interest, to play at the moment D:.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Erina > Rio >= Miu > Azusa for me.

I'm not done with Azusa yet, but from what I'm seeing so far, I would rank the routes in the same manner. Erina seems like the clear winner both personality wise and route plot wise; there wasn't much to dislike about her route (aside from slightly over-scaled drama near the end, but not as bad as can be seen in other routes), and it managed to deliver a lot of good things at the same time.

Meanwhile, it feels like Miu got the short end of the stick as far as the content of her route goes. I absolutely love her as a character (still can't decide between her and Erina in terms of my favorite Dracu Riot heroine ), but her route ... simply isn't very good or memorable. It felt lacking a proper theme or noteworthy focus for the most part (unless we count Yuuto's uselessness on the romance front ... did I mention she also gets the most annoying romance plot ?), and then suddenly degenerated into overly exaggerated drama near the end with some completely over the top developments.

Rio's route on the other hand was simple and fluffy, which suits her character just fine. And they played upon those strengths quite well - a sweet and easy to digest experience; it might not have been very ambitious and thus didn't have the emotional punch and overall tension of Erina's route, but that also means it never had the opportunity to fall on it's face either (unlike Miu's route). It also helps that romance wise Yuuto managed himself surprisingly well.

So ... yeah. As much as I like Miu, I can't help but feel that she loses to Rio as an overall package. Miu >> Rio, but Rio + Rio's plot => Miu + Miu's plot, unfortunate as that might be :/

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Please not. The only saving grace of Hitomi's route was the ending. The rest was nothing more than huge mistreatment of her

Spoiler for Ending:

They ended as a family. No good romantic development between the two.

Originally Posted by Mahou

I would much prefer a Crescendo anime .

I agree. Hope they maintain the original art and story.

[PhoenixG]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

I'm not done with Azusa yet, but from what I'm seeing so far, I would rank the routes in the same manner. Erina seems like the clear winner both personality wise and route plot wise; there wasn't much to dislike about her route (aside from slightly over-scaled drama near the end, but not as bad as can be seen in other routes), and it managed to deliver a lot of good things at the same time.

Meanwhile, it feels like Miu got the short end of the stick as far as the content of her route goes. I absolutely love her as a character (still can't decide between her and Erina in terms of my favorite Dracu Riot heroine ), but her route ... simply isn't very good or memorable. It felt lacking a proper theme or noteworthy focus for the most part (unless we count Yuuto's uselessness on the romance front ... did I mention she also gets the most annoying romance plot ?), and then suddenly degenerated into overly exaggerated drama near the end with some completely over the top developments.

Rio's route on the other hand was simple and fluffy, which suits her character just fine. And they played upon those strengths quite well - a sweet and easy to digest experience; it might not have been very ambitious and thus didn't have the emotional punch and overall tension of Erina's route, but that also means it never had the opportunity to fall on it's face either (unlike Miu's route). It also helps that romance wise Yuuto managed himself surprisingly well.

So ... yeah. As much as I like Miu, I can't help but feel that she loses to Rio as an overall package. Miu >> Rio, but Rio + Rio's plot => Miu + Miu's plot, unfortunate as that might be :/

I blame the annoying romance at Miu's tsundere and Yuuto's donkan. Well my hatred against that arc-type is a bit biased

But for some weird reason when a tsundere is voiced by Ringo (Sayo in dracu-riot) I kinda like it.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

Spoiler for Ending:

They ended as a family. No good romantic development between the two.

Hitomi VN was never heavy on the romance, I would dare to say. Even the route of the classmate wasn't that "normal", iirc. Then again it's been many month since I played it, so my memory is hazy.

Spoiler for ending:

I based my statement around the outcome that the main realized he was a complete intolerable douchebag and decided to protect Hitomi in the good end when he spoke his mind about the messed-up family atmosphere to his father and stepmother(?). So yes, I agree that there wasn't a good romantic development, unless you count the last ecchi scene when they did it "normally".

Likewise with Crescendo. From a romance pov, there was a lot of anxiety (not necessarily a bad thing, though) in *most* of the routes, especially Ayame and Yuka. IMHO, the most normal route was Kyoko's.

@Dracu-Riot - Miu: I can see the dissatisfaction with her late-game drama, but for me it was, despite being overblown, quite entertaining (if only for the last CG after it was resolved ). Maybe I just appreciate dramas that don't give me the urge to punch my screen or make me want to strangle the MC in annoyance .

Still enjoying Mashiro-iro PSP. Of course, Airi is and has remained as my must-have route to complete first (while skipping through all of Sana's b1tching) . The common route changes felt nice, even though Yuzuki seems a bit getting-used-to at first.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by PhoenixG

I blame the annoying romance at Miu's tsundere and Yuuto's donkan. Well my hatred against that arc-type is a bit biased

But for some weird reason when a tsundere is voiced by Ringo (Sayo in dracu-riot) I kinda like it.

I honestly don't think Miu can be classified as tsundere, she is actually quite straightforward with showing her affection and intentions. (And this is coming from someone who hates the tsundere archetype with a passion intense enough to rival a star going supernova ).

Spoiler for Miu:

Pretty much the only time when she didn't immediately come out with her feelings (she did so eventually though because of how useless Yuuto was) was straight after the fact she figured out she likes him, and that's mostly because Yuuto didn't seem to display any special interest in her (the present shopping ...urgh).

Not shouting her heart out the next day after figuring out her feelings, when the guy doesn't display any indication of being romantically inclined towards her (and thus no reason to expect a positive result), doesn't really make her a tsundere. Rest of the time Miu is almost brutally honest about what she thinks and borderline wears her heart on her sleeve. Which leads to some endearing bashfulness given the image of maturity she tries (and often fails ) to portray. And that is what made her so likable to me.

Originally Posted by Mahou

@Dracu-Riot - Miu: I can see the dissatisfaction with her late-game drama, but for me it was, despite being overblown, quite entertaining (if only for the last CG after it was resolved ). Maybe I just appreciate dramas that don't give me the urge to punch my screen or make me want to strangle the MC in annoyance

The issue I had with Miu's late route drama was how poorly it was built up. It borderline came out of the blue and didn't really feel connected to what the route had been about up to that point. It didn't make me want to punch my screen, not even close (thankfully, I'm quite fond of my screen ), but it certainly stirred the urge to shake my head in disbelief.

Spoiler for Miu's plot:

The route mostly revolved around investigating the new drug and Yuuto's lycantrope factor, and IMO they should have stuck with that. Especially after Yuuto's nature was exposed during his kidnapping incident - it was the perfect time to capitalize on all that buildup and Yuuto's personal insecurities regarding the issue.

But instead we suddenly (and by suddenly I mean lacking proper buildup or even foreshadowing) have building vampire riot and then spec ops troops start blowing up the city and evil government clique, which literally appears out of the blue, plans on nuking the whole island along with all the humans living there and be done with it. Suddenly the world is ending! WTF, where did all that come from! 0_o

It's like the writers suddenly realized they are not happy with the fairly localized Lycantrope drama and decided to go out guns blazing instead. Except the buildup was sorely lacking for drama of the scale they brought out (the bigger the better, apparently ) and very much out of touch with the themes Miu's route had been building up.

There is nothing wrong with absolutely evil governments with itchy trigger fingers and willing to sink the whole city. But there is something wrong with introducing such an angle 15 minutes before the route's end, without any real foreshadowing of said group's existence or extreme stance. It was drama of the most "epic" scale the writers could come up with (for the sake of having an "epic" finale I guess), almost literally pulled out from a hat.

And that's my issue with the ending - not the scale of it in itself, but the fact something of such a scale was literally dropped on us from the blue. The route was very much okay prior to this, but what they did during the home stretch honestly felt unnecessary and somewhat soured the overall impression.

[Balzac]

Wow, I almost forgot, this is like my tenth anniversary of visual novel reading (never can remember the exact day, but I do know it was in April 2002). I can't believe how much time has passed

Ah, here's to a silent toast for myself. To ten years of bishoujos and slapsticks!

*waiting patiently for the next game to fall under my scrutiny*

[Cosmic Eagle]

Time sure flies.....

Been...wow, 5 years since I read Ef....the first Japanese thing I ever read alongside the Shana LNs...


I can't believe Ef is actually getting old...feels so weird

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

I honestly don't think Miu can be classified as tsundere, she is actually quite straightforward with showing her affection and intentions. (And this is coming from someone who hates the tsundere archetype with a passion intense enough to rival a star going supernova ).

Spoiler for Miu:

Pretty much the only time when she didn't immediately come out with her feelings (she did so eventually though because of how useless Yuuto was) was straight after the fact she figured out she likes him, and that's mostly because Yuuto didn't seem to display any special interest in her (the present shopping ...urgh).

Not shouting her heart out the next day after figuring out her feelings, when the guy doesn't display any indication of being romantically inclined towards her (and thus no reason to expect a positive result), doesn't really make her a tsundere. Rest of the time Miu is almost brutally honest about what she thinks and borderline wears her heart on her sleeve. Which leads to some endearing bashfulness given the image of maturity she tries (and often fails ) to portray. And that is what made her so likable to me.

Received the game earlier this week so now I can actually participate!

I'm actually not sure if I would call Miu a tsundere or not. I can see why some would see her that way, but I can also see why you would say she isn't. Incidentally, I haven't made it to the end of the route yet, so can only speak about what I've seen so far (I'm guessing I may be 2/3 of the way through?)

Spoiler for Dracuriot; Miu's Personality/Route:

I think the big thing is the way she sort of runs her mouth as part of her quest to look "mature" (like some weird sort of pride?). So for example, she's constantly giving Yuuto lip about being a good-for-nothing virgin, and seems to be constantly putting him down. But at the same time, she says this even though she's fallen head-over-heels in love with him. In one sentence she'll say "you're such a hopeless loser", and the next she'll say "but I can't stand when we're apart". Maybe she thinks the fact she's fallen in love with Yuuto is an indictment on herself? This is also coupled with the fact that she's ultra-easily embarrassed so puts on a "cold front" to hide her feelings. Goes back to the thing at the very beginning of her route where Yuuto accuses her of being a sadist, and she says she's actually a masochist; the way she talks him down makes it seem like she's on a power trip, but she's really not. It's just a sort of teasing.

I guess, rather than a tsundere, you could call her a "tough cookie". Maybe part of that goes with the job. The center is really "soft" though for sure; the way she constantly fails at acting mature and blushes after saying any dirty word is totally endearing and cute.

All in all, my impression of the game so far is that I like the characters and the interactions, but as I suspected I'm not as interested by the plot/setting as I was for some of the previous Yuzusoft games. Also, the "vampire power" part of the plot (particularly Yuuto's ability) reminds me a lot of Kamikaze Explorer, but I guess that makes sense given that it's a lot of the same writers. I think my favourite character in the game so far is actually Erina, but we'll see if that changes by the time I've finished everything. All in all, my initial ranking would say this is a solid "base hit" for Yuzusoft -- maybe not an all-time great, but definitely solid and recommendable (particularly if you look more for fun characters than "serious plot" -- there is a plot, but I'd say it's not the star).

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Received the game earlier this week so now I can actually participate!

Spoiler for Dracuriot; Miu's Personality/Route:

I think the big thing is the way she sort of runs her mouth as part of her quest to look "mature" (like some weird sort of pride?). So for example, she's constantly giving Yuuto lip about being a good-for-nothing virgin, and seems to be constantly putting him down. But at the same time, she says this even though she's fallen head-over-heels in love with him. In one sentence she'll say "you're such a hopeless loser", and the next she'll say "but I can't stand when we're apart". Maybe she thinks the fact she's fallen in love with Yuuto is an indictment on herself? This is also coupled with the fact that she's ultra-easily embarrassed so puts on a "cold front" to hide her feelings. Goes back to the thing at the very beginning of her route where Yuuto accuses her of being a sadist, and she says she's actually a masochist; the way she talks him down makes it seem like she's on a power trip, but she's really not. It's just a sort of teasing.

I guess, rather than a tsundere, you could call her a "tough cookie". Maybe part of that goes with the job. The center is really "soft" though for sure; the way she constantly fails at acting mature and blushes after saying any dirty word is totally endearing and cute.

All in all, my impression of the game so far is that I like the characters and the interactions, but as I suspected I'm not as interested by the plot/setting as I was for some of the previous Yuzusoft games. Also, the "vampire power" part of the plot (particularly Yuuto's ability) reminds me a lot of Kamikaze Explorer, but I guess that makes sense given that it's a lot of the same writers. I think my favourite character in the game so far is actually Erina, but we'll see if that changes by the time I've finished everything. All in all, my initial ranking would say this is a solid "base hit" for Yuzusoft -- maybe not an all-time great, but definitely solid and recommendable (particularly if you look more for fun characters than "serious plot" -- there is a plot, but I'd say it's not the star).

Spoiler for Miu:

Aye, I guess you could call her a (wannabe) tough cookie, she certainly is constantly trying to appear as mature. I guess it doesn't really annoy me though because of how see-through she is, and she never takes it too far, nor does she remain in denial when called on it - instead of doing the typical tsundere thing and trying to verbally weasel herself out of an embarrassing situation, she just ends it with her "U-ru-sai-i!" line, which might as well be a concession on her part that she was cornered

It sort of feels like fun and games on her part, rather than a serious aspect of her personality - and thankfully one that doesn't intrude upon her expressing her affection towards Yuuto. Yeah, she might toss out the virgin line from time to time, but like you say, the next sentence will be a honest and soft one. There were many cases after they started going out when I expected her to take a "defiant" stance, but instead got honesty without much pretense.

The whole virgin thing pretty much became a running joke between them I believe, considering she continued using it even after they had done the deed more than once. With Yuuto's typical response being "I'm not a virgin any longer, you should be the first to know that!"

So ... yeah. She might be a bit of a roundabout tease at times (in small dosages) and tries to put on airs (in a not very serious manner) at others, but neither really lasts, nor do these actions infringe upon her ability to be quite mushy and affectionate at any given time. Which is why I can't consider her a tsundere - she lacks the typical dishonesty of one, comedic banter aside, and is rather very open when it goes beyond poking fun and cracking jokes. (Or being genuinely angry I guess )

Other than that, I'm not surprised you like Erina - as has been said before, she and Miu rather stand out among the rest of the cast indeed. If your experience follows mine, you will like her route as well - it certainly did a better job at exploring the characters and making me feel for them than Miu's route did, not to mention a plot with better pacing and consistency to it's themes.

Will be interesting to see what you think of some of the final developments (plot wise) of Miu's route.

[Mahou]

IMHO:
The strong point of Erina's route is that it managed to build up a balanced mix of humour and seriousness/drama, even though the latter part would be debatable .
Whereas Miu's route tried to be too serious and/or uneasyness-creating. Common words in her route: Doutei , urusai, hetare. To put it friendly, if not for Miu's adorable character, I dare to say her route wouldn't be "worth" it. She's the initator of the relationship + the main voice of reason for Yuuto (during the drama).

A non-spoiler opinion about her "extra story" aka let's-find-a-reason-to-give-ecchi-without-being-too-obvious: OMG what a pain in the behind. Good job Yuuto for being even there romantically-useless. Yes, I mostly ctrl-skipped through it. I mean, would it have really been too much to give them a cute non-donkan, non-BS rabu-rabu time in her extra story? Exaggerated, it felt like a small part died inside of me

[Cosmic Eagle]

I just realized I should try Eden* some time....Minori work has to be good.


Anyone played?

[Balzac]

Someone else can answer better because I slept through the majority of reading that...

At least it was pretty.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Will be interesting to see what you think of some of the final developments (plot wise) of Miu's route.

Finished it last night (though I really shouldn't have stayed up that late ).

Spoiler for Dracu-Riot; Miu's Route Ending:

First of all, I see what you're saying about the plot seeming to come out of nowhere. But at the same time, I actually think it was a bit more connected than it seems at first. The key point is that Aqua Eden is basically a trap, and all the stuff that happened with the drug was a pretense to cause a disturbance that would cause that para-government group responsible for managing the "Vampire Problem" to execute their contingency plan to destroy the island (and the vampires). I sort of understand why the game delivered the plot the way it did, because they didn't want us to have too much of a clue about just how deep the rabbit hole went until the time came. Then, you're inundated with information, sort of the way Yuuto, Miu, and all the rest are. Of course, there are certainly some plot conveniences -- like the fact they conveniently had a missle launcher on their boat -- but it was set-up more than I expected. Of course, it's still cheesy as heck with a "Power Of Love" ending (they even said it! ), but I've sort of come to expect that from Yuzusoft.

The thing I liked most about the ending, though, was that they had a very good epilogue that actually wrapped up all the loose ends. I find this is so often neglected in eroge; they'll have a big climax, run the credits, and then do a brief "sometime later" scene and that's it. But here they tried to close all the open threads, and that left me with a good feeling about the story, despite some of the crazy over-the-top elements.

And yeah, having played the story to the end, Miu's "tsundere"-ness definitely gets less and less to the point where it's basically just a sort of teasing game she plays -- sort of banter between the two. And in a way it's sort of endearing, since it reminds them of where they started and how far they've come. I guess I'd say she's like an ultra-mild version of Hitagi Senjougahara -- she talks big, but is actually as docile as they come, particularly to the person she loves.

All in all, I ended with a good impression of this route, which was helped by the really strong epilogue that tied everything together and gave a good sense of finality to the story. And, as was mentioned, it emphasizes again that this story's main strength is its cast and dynamic between them. If this had been the last route I'd played, I would have been sad to say goodbye, but thankfully still some routes to go. Looks like I'm playing in the same order as everyone else; Erina is next.