/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Well that was a major waste of time. Finished Hanahime Absolute apart from Ayane and Anko since I heard they're gutted side routes. It's like the whole game suffers from too many cooks spoiling the broth and in general huge pacing issues. Played in order Reina > Maher > Polina > Hiyoko > Eve. Like the other anon said there's really no proper stakes in the tournament and no one has any reason for fighting until the end where it plays roughly the same in all routes.

Maher's route for example was pretty much nothing happening in it but boring 特訓 and ended with extremely abrupt final duel with the Queen despite how big of a deal they previously made it up to be, followed by like two lines of text and then instant time skip to everything being nice and dandy again, then credits roll. For being the original cover girl she sure did have the shittiest route. Completely pointless.

Reina's route was also really pretty weird with her instantly falling in love with the protagonist and then they get to confession ASAP without any proper development, though apart from that her route was somewhat better since they actually investigate the weird stuff going on with the tournament. It also ends with implications that there may actually be a semblance of plot and something more going on behind the scenes due to them mentioning Nao is developing something more than just a fun game with Crown Hearts, but none of it ever gets brought up again, not even in Eve's route. Reina's silly H-scenes with her rape doujinshi fantasies / roleplay gave a few pretty good laughs at least.

Polina's route's romance development also came out of the left field, though her route was probably the only one where I was at least somewhat invested in the story towards the end. The game could've used more of that sort of small drama so that there's at least *something* that makes the events feel meaningful in some way. Also the only route where the wishes even get brought up.

Hiyoko’s route was extremely weird as they went straight to groping, kissing and anal sex even before confession, then they go instantly back to normal the next day. Then in the scene right after it she blows the protagonist, and this is the first fucking time the protagonist starts worrying about incest implications. Then the main drama of the route then turns into Hiyoko worrying about incest being a taboo and that the society and the protagonist "will never accept her love". What the flying fuck?

Eve's route is only notable for "wow it's fucking nothing" despite her being the main heroine. Only improvement over other routes was that they didn't get straight to having sex at the start of the route, though any fun or meaningful relationship development and proper humor are still only conspicuous by their absence and the game instantly delves into the same exact end plot as in the other routes. I finally expected some more explanations or characterization for the Queen, why the rival fujobaits even fucking follow her despite knowing about Eve being controlled by Loki and why they're okay with constantly letting the protagonist's group grow stronger despite this being a PvP tournament with supposed stakes and the main prize being having any of your wishes fulfilled, or Nao's supposed motives in letting Loki roam free, but nothing. Nothing in this game can make sense even in a fun way and there's nothing that makes you want to read further apart from the false hope that it'll surely get better later on.

In short the routes themselves are too samey with same events, and romance pretty much instantly begins at the start of the routes, often trumpeted by a load of H-scenes. I'm not expecting any super serious plot from a spiritual successor to Kurukuru, but the heroine personalities or interactions are really nothing special either and if I was looking just for a pure love charage I’d pick something better. The rival pretty boys' camp also couldn't be any more uninteresting and bland compared to Kurukuru's variety of side characters and silly antagonists with their own funny character interactions and motives. It even misses the cute shit like Kurukuru's protagonist scolding the 雑魚 enemies and sort of befriending them. Protagonist himself is bland shit who only fights in story sections, but not in actual gameplay sections despite him being the most skillful player story wise and his only notable characterization is that he can cook and "muh broken promise with Shiki". I already covered why the gameplay feels like a downgrade to PSS in previous threads so I won't complain about it more.

I think the only genuinely good thing I can say about the game are some endgame battle tracks, which were able to get me at least somewhat pumped up in Reina's route. That and the sexy character designs. Sad that they're wasted on a what feels like a gutted and in all ways inferior version of Twinkle Crusaders.