The PSP/PS Vita Stores are Closing Soon!

UPDATE: Sony decided that they're not going to close the Vita's store after all, just the PSP's. They probably did that because of all the backlash they got online. So this post is just completely useless now.

 Everyone probably already knows this, but the PSP and PS Vita online stores are going to be shut down in the summer. (The PS3's store will be too, but because I don't own one of those I don't care as much...) Luckily you'll still be able to download all of your previously purchased games, but you just won't be able to buy new things.

I'm not really that bothered about it, to be quite honest. I just don't understand why the Vita's store is being shut now, when developers are still producing software for it. It had to happen eventually though. A lot of people seem to be upset about it. It is sad that some of the digital-only games might be lost forever. But there are better things in the world to care about right now.

Since this is an otome blog, all I'm going to be discussing is the romance games (English only, I don't know about the JP ones) found on the PlayStation Stores. Luckily, the PSP and Vita don't have any true digital-only otoge. Most of them you can get on other platforms. But if you don't want to play them on PC, it's probably best to pick them up while you can.

In this post, I will try to list all the digital-exclusive otome content on the PS Store that you may or may not want to pick up before it's gone. (I will also be rambling a lot, sorry)

Diabolik Lovers: MORE, BLOOD - A Review (Part Two)

Finally, after I don't know how many months, I finished this game. Of course, I did take a few week break, but it still took me forever. And these are my final thoughts on the Mukami routes. They weren't really that different from the rest of the game. 

Yes, there are going to be spoilers below.

Diabolik Lovers: MORE, BLOOD - A Review (Part One)

I'm back for another round of everyone's favourite abusive vampire simulator. Yes, I'm playing the original PSP version, only because I'm cheap. (Have you seen how expensive it is to import the Vita version?) Going back to this old handheld after playing my Switch Lite isn't actually that bad. It feels worse using the PSP after the Vita because they're more similar. 

This time I'm going to split this review into two. The first post will be about my main thoughts on the game and the Sakamaki routes, my next one's just going to be what I think of the Mukami routes as well as my final opinion. It may seem strange to split it up, but if I don't this blog will be without content for much longer. I don't want it to seem dead around here.

I wish I had the limited edition version of the game, because this cover would look so nice on my otome shelf...

As always, there'll be loads of spoilers down below. Also, there are no screenshots because I still don't have a way to transfer them off of my PSP. Be prepared for a massive wall of text.

:)

I haven't posted in a while, have I? It's because I've been busy completing Diabolik Lovers and I thought I'd finish the last two routes until I wrote another blog post. But I haven't finished yet, I'm almost there though.


Prepare for a massive dump of thoughts on Kanato's route, plus Laito's, even though I haven't really finished it yet.

(I dunno how much I'm gonna be able to write because I haven't played it since this morning, it's not that fresh in my mind now...)

Spoilers down below!

:3

Hello, everybody! I've been super busy this week so I had forgotten about this blog until now! Again, it is time for my regular update on whatever otome game I'm playing!!

Yes, I'm still playing Diabolik Lovers. But I'm almost done. I'm enjoying this game but I really want to play my next because it's on my Vita and I miss it. The screen and buttons feel so much nicer than the PSP's. Not that I dislike the PSP, it just feels old now that I have something better to compare it with.

Anyways, I finished Reiji's route today, meaning that I have two more routes to go. I suppose I'll just write some of my thoughts on it down below!

(Beware of spoilers!)

Hello.

It's been a long time since I've posted, hasn't it? Well not really, it's only been four days. Still, it seems like a while to me. But I decided to actually finish playing a route before I blog about it. I just realised that for some person who doesn't read this blog regularly (meaning anyone who isn't me) would have no idea what the hell I'm talking about right now if I don't actually mention the game I'm playing before writing about it. In 90% of my posts I just go straight into things without actually mentioning the name of the otome at all.

So, if you didn't already know, I've been playing Diabolik Lovers on my PSP using my poor Japanese skills, translated summaries and walkthroughs to actually get through it. Today I just finished Subaru's route, so I suppose I'll give my thoughts on that now because I'll be too busy later.

Beware of spoilers down below!!!

....

I haven't posted very often this week, have I? This Diabolik Lovers game is a lot harder to write about than the other otomes I've played, because it's not in my first language and because there's a lot less plot. It seems that I've been going through this game quite slowly, even though it seems like it wouldn't take that long to get through.

I think I'm going to be posting a lot less on this blog whilst I'm playing this game, because when I play I keep thinking about what I'm gonna write, and since there's not that much to report on really, I should just relax and not worry about this site.

Actually I almost wasn't able to Haunted Dark Bridal at all, because my cheap third party PSP charger literally broke in half yesterday. I'm not joking. I am so glad that my local second hand video game shop sells them, because otherwise I'd have to wait ages to get one off Amazon or something.

My old charger was one of those universal chargers, it can charge multiple consoles but not all at once. I only brought it because it was the only one they had, and the person who gave me the PSP didn't have the original power cable or nothing. Earlier yesterday it strangely stopped working, I thought it was my console's fault at first, and after troubleshooting it for a while with no results, the bit in the middle of the lead where the multiple charging cable types connected to the actual power wire just pulled apart. I have no idea why, but it was a cheap third party charger so it probably wasn't built very well.

This new charger I got is made by the same company unfortunately (it was the only type I could get!) but this time it's not a universal one, it's actually designed for the PSP and has an actual power brick instead of it being just a simple USB cable like before. Let's hope that it doesn't meet the same fate as the last one...

I was chuffed that I could complete Diabolik Lovers without having to order a charger online and waiting ages for it to come. Today I managed to complete Shu's route, but I haven't finished reading what happened in English yet. I can't be bothered yet, plus I kind of understand the main plot of it anyway to be honest.

Oh yeah, there's loads of spoilers down below.

I Can't Think of A Title For This

Hello, and welcome to another post about Diabolik Lovers! I'm super happy because my PSP didn't die on me today, but that's probably because I played it less. But I started a new route today, so that's also good!

 I did start playing Ayato's Heaven scenario but it wouldn't let me get past the first episode, I think that maybe it's because I didn't get enough affection points, because at the beginning of the game I didn't use a walkthrough and I think I got two choices wrong... :( But then I also think that the other two chapters are probably only unlocked if you get the other two endings. I don't know and I haven't find anything in English yet that explains it.

Like I said I was going to do in the last post, I chose my next route by random. I didn't do the common prologue at all, I just opened my previous save file and started my next route from the chapter selection menu. It said online that each prologue is really the same except for slightly different text depending on what character you picked, so I didn't miss out on much. I picked the route by closing my eyes and clicking the D-pad multiple times until I stopped and looked to see who I got. And who did I get, you ask? I landed on Shu's route, which is great because I actually wanted to get his anyway.

I Finished My First Route.....

I finished Ayato's route finally, except the extra Heaven scenarios, but those don't count. This entire route was just what I wanted really, and even though I didn't understand like 70% of it until I read the English summaries, I still really enjoyed it.

I would've finished it quicker if my PSP didn't die on me a few times. The battery seems way worse than when it was when I played Hakuoki. It barely lasts a day now, when the battery's only a few months old! Last year it would last more than two days. That's what you get when you purchase third party batteries... Oh well, at least if the battery goes, I think the PSP can still run on AC power, so that's alright.

Anyways, let's talk about the game, shall we? Beware of spoilers down below!

This Game is.... Interesting......

I have been continuing my journey through the very strange but also quite good game Diabolik Lovers: Haunted Dark Bridal. A minute ago I just finished reading the first main chunk of Ayato's route. It's been quite... interesting so far, but I've been enjoying it.

BEWARE OF SPOILERS DOWN BELOW, although not much has happened yet, so you should be alright if you've never played it before.

I'm Finally Playing Diabolik Lovers!!!

Well, I finally started playing it. The otome game I've wanted to experience for so long, Diabolik Lovers: Haunted Dark Bridal. Even though my Japanese absolutely sucks, I'm not going to let the language barrier stop me from enjoying my abusive vampire boys.

And it's amazing so far. Right now I would still be playing it if my PSP didn't die on me. So I decided to write my initial thoughts on it instead, and share a little bit of info on how I manage to get through it with my bad Japanese skills. Hopefully some of it might help someone else if they feel like playing it without knowing the language that well.

Enjoy a random dump of my thoughts down below! Beware of spoilers though!

I Finished It!

(Spoilers for Sweet Fuse down below!!!)

I finally finished Sweet Fuse. But I'm still missing loads of CGs for some reason... Let's just hope they're just depressing bad ending CGs only.

Interesting...

(MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SWEET FUSE DOWN BELOW! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!!)

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This post contains major spoilers for Sweet Fuse: At Your Side. This is also the last post you'll find that has been updated with a "read more" button. So scroll down the rest of the site with caution!!!

I've Almost Finished the Game....

Wow, this happens to be post number one-hundred and twenty! I've never gotten that far on any blog or diary before.

(Spoilers down below!) You know, I should really start specifying what game the spoilers are for because most people will have no idea what I'm talking about. The game talked about in this post is Sweet Fuse, by the way.







So, I'm on my second-to-last route now. I finished Mitarashi's, it was good, but since I completed it yesterday it's not as fresh and I've forgotten all that I've wanted to write about. But now I'm on Shidou's route. I have no idea why I'm leaving Urabe for last. Originally I was going to play his route third or fourth.

I think that Shidou's the "Main Guy" of this game, meaning that he's the canon love interest and that his route will conclude all of the major plot points in the game. In the other routes Saki usually ends up not playing another game and instead goes off with her love interest to do something else, whilst you see the others being forced to play. This time Saki doesn't go off on a separate task, her and Shidou continue playing the games with all the others. In the other routes you saw and heard what the rest of the games were, but now you're actually playing them with everybody.

I think that Count Hogstein's identity's going to be revealed in this route. They never cleared everything up in the other routes, so they're going to have to do it here. After playing the secret route you see Hogstein (I'm sure he's called something else in the Japanese voicing but I'm not sure what!) in a different light. When I had the sound off I imagined his voice as older and deeper than it is in the voice acting, but now I just imagine it as a younger voice like it actually is. I never would've expected that underneath that horrible pig costume is just a young male with serious problems.

The romance between Saki and Shidou can get slightly awkward at times, but it's cute. However, sometimes Shidou just acts really weird. Like once he just said to her "You're face, it's really round, can I touch it?" and I was just like "?????". Who says that to someone? And sometimes he just randomly touches her hair and stuff. I'm not sure if he doesn't know how to speak to women or if he's just a bit odd. Again, I looked up the voice actor for this character and he also plays Hikaru from Ouran High School Host Club, someone who is the complete opposite of what he plays in this game.  I also looked up on the Wiki for Shidou's age and it was 22, not much older than Saki. I actually thought he was a bit older since I think Hogstein once mentioned that he was going bald or something. He's actually younger than Urabe, which is also a surprise. At least he's not double her age, like a certain someone in this game...

I just finished reading the scene in his route where they all have to dress up in animal costumes. It's quite funny how embarrassed Shidou acts. None of the others really seemed to care about wearing them.

One thing I've noticed in at least two routes now is Wakasa getting jealous of Saki partnering up with one of the other characters. Maybe he's one of those characters who loves you in every route? Maybe he knows that he's in a game and he's sad that you've picked another route? I doubt that any of those things are true. He probably just likes Saki because she's the closest to his age, she's a girl and it's better than being stuck with some other older guy. He's still my favourite love interest from this game though.

This game has taken me longer to play than some of the others, like Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly. It has a few more routes than other games so that's why. I've said this before, but it's such a shame how underrated this game is. If it was more successful, it might've spawned fan-disks or ports or even drama CDs! I might've even been the first person to purchase this game from the PS Store in months! At least people can still buy it new digitally so that Otomate/Aksys can notice people purchasing it, knowing that at least a few people appreciate it. It probably sold a lot more than I'm thinking though, because otherwise there would've been no English translation.

What a great game though. Every single game I've been slightly unsure about has always surpassed my expectations. I suppose keeping your expectations low makes it easier for you to be impressed. If you set your standards super high then it's easier to get disappointed.

It's finally the weekend. You know what's strange? I play my Vita more in the week when I have less free time than I do on Saturday and Sunday when I have nothing planned. Also, in the short time I've had my Vita, I might've even played it more than my Xbox One, which I've had for over a year. I suppose the portability's done that. Portable games are the best.

I suppose I'll see you all later. It's the weekend so I want to have fun and take a break from blogging. Goodbye!!

Every Plot Point is Clicking Together.......

(Spoilers down below!)








Today I finished two routes. Well, I started the other one yesterday so I was already almost done when I started playing, but oh well....

Shirabe's route was good and all that, it's not very fresh in my mind now so it's harder to talk about. But the route I finished in only a day (actually only a bit over an hour of play time) was Makoto's. Apparently it's best to play that one last, but it doesn't really matter for me.

His route was actually a lot sadder than I thought it would be, but I was still quite happy because a few of my theories turned out to be correct! I predicted that Makoto might've been either the player Saki replaced or Count Hogstein, and both of them turned out to be true! And those random dreams that occured near the end of each chapter, they weren't Saki's like I had thought, they were actually his! I think I misinterpreted them a bit because sometimes I had to play without the sound.

Makoto's actually really sweet but also just quite messed up. Saki had to somehow fix him with the power of love. I thought a couple of times that the route was going to end with suicide like a certain other game that I was gonna mention, but shouldn't in case the reader hasn't played it, but luckily he survived to give Saki two kisses. The ending wasn't exactly the happiest because he still had to go to prison, but they made it seem not that bad because of their love or something. This route must be a bit shorter than the others, which I expected after playing the original Hakuoki's "secret" route which was literally just an alternate ending. (I'm still disappointed with that, by the way.)

I think that a lot of the character backstories from the other routes were spoiled here, so I can understand why this was locked. When I restarted the common route for the third time, there was also a character who wasn't there before, but he didn't pop up again. Earlier I said that I was missing things from Wakasa's route, and I think I've found one of them. When you play the common route before unlocking Makoto, there's a part in the story where you explore the park for the first time and you get to choose what character you do it with.  But once you unlock the extra route, you can't get it again unless you choose this one choice at the beginning that shoos Makoto away. When I did the common route to get Wakasa, I was unaware of this and ended up missing a CG of him. But today I managed to get it so everything's fine, I suppose.

But now I have to skip through the common route again to pursue Mitarashi. I've never found an otome that's easier to get the route you want, and all of the good endings, than this game. I have been using walkthroughs occasionally just to check my answers, like when I wanted Makoto's route I wanted to look up to see how to get his route without getting loads of affection points for the others. A lot of times I've gotten bad endings because I failed the mini game, or just made one wrong choice, but it wasn't like the other games where it's because I made hundreds of mistakes in the past and it's impossible to go back and see where I messed up.

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical of Sweet Fuse in the past because none of the love interests really appealed to me. I know people should be judged by personalities but I'm pretty shallow and just go by looks. Even after I had bought it I was a bit skeptical still, but I'm glad I played it now. It's like that with a lot of things I'm not sure about, I experience them and then end up loving them. This otome is as good as all of the other wildly popular titles, so it should be talked about more! Well, I suppose me covering it on this blog might give it a tiny bit more publicity... It would be cool if it had a fan-disc or something but I'm not really sure where they could take the characters once this is over... Maybe they could just do after-stories or something?

I wonder how people feel about the kinds of posts I write on my blog. People usually write reviews for video games, not personal diaries on them! I could do reviews but by the time I've finished a game a lot of the minor details will have slipped my mind, and I'm not going to write notes whilst I play because that'll ruin it. I suppose these posts could count as notes, but they don't really dive that deep into the plot so they're not. Writing these posts makes my blog slightly different, but I honestly think that this place is turning more into my own diary than an actual public website.

Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings. I still haven't learned how to conclude posts in all my years of blogging, so I'm just gonna say goodbye. Goodbye!

.

(Spoilers down below!)




Towa Wakasa is now my favourite character in this entire game, because he's so adorable. His ending was lovely, and it even came with a cute CG to add to the collection! When I went back into the "Diary" feature to see if I had gotten the good ending or not, a few of his chapters were missing for some reason. I don't know if it's a glitch or if I somehow missed out a huge chunk of his route. It seemed like I'd read the whole thing before. Meoshi's route was also missing a chapter. How strange.

I literally just found out from the Wiki that in the Japanese version of the game, Towa's meant to be 15, but in the English localisation he was made to be 17. I wonder why?

I just ignored it and went onto Shirabe's route to get it out of the way. Even though I started it today, I've almost finished it. The plot in this route is great, but the romance... I can't remember how old Saki's meant to be but if she's still in school, she can't be any older than eighteen. And how old is Shirabe supposed to be? It says online he's 32, which isn't as much as what I thought he was. In the game they act like he's in his fifties or something, but being in your thirties isn't that old! Maybe if Saki was a bit older, I could understand her falling in love with him, but the kissy scenes grossed me out because I think he's two old. They were even worse for me because I thought he was a lot older than he actually was!

But this route was worth it because it gives you some answers about the overarching plot! In most otome games I've played, each route connects to something bigger. I usually forget that when I begin a new game, and I did here. Everybody was invited to the park because they're all connected to a bus crash! It was mentioned in Wakasa's route (but he was unaware it was a bus accident) and in Meoshi's too. It's basically the tragic event that forms all of the character's motivations. I even think Saki was involved in it too, because of those dreams she has that seem to involve something like a car crash. Even though she volunteered to join Hogstein's game, I still think that she has something to do with it. And the person who was originally meant to be in the game but wasn't because of Saki offering to do it, I theorise that Minami was that person, because I dunno why his route would be "secret" or he would be a possible love interest if he didn't have some connection to the plot. At first I thought that he might've been Count Hogstein but I'm not sure now.

I love writing down predictions so that I can go back and see if I was right. People who've already played this game must be looking at them and laughing because they're probably all wrong. I don't know. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if I was correct!

Wow...

I hope I can speak Japanese well soon, because I just ordered the PSP Hakuoki fandisc for dirt cheap and free shipping on Amazon. It's from an Amazon voucher gift so it's not my own money. :) It was kind of an impulse buy but it was so cheap and I'm learning Japanese so..................

:)

(Spoilers down below for Sweet Fuse!)



Today I decided to start Wakasa's route. When I reloaded the common route, things turned out a bit differently. There was a new character, I forgot his name but he's the "secret" route. He hides in the shadows and none of the others really know about him except Saki, probably so they don't have to rewrite much of the common route. He's actually quite sweet towards the MC, but also slightly annoying. He just pops up in the middle of a game and stops Saki to chat when she's in the middle of stuff! I had no idea how the others didn't notice her talking to him.

I kept making choices that raised his affection, so I had be very careful and make sure that his affection didn't get higher than Wakasa's. Once I actually got onto the route, he just disappeared and I haven't seen him again since.

I thought that Saki was going to be protecting Wakasa and telling him that everything was going to be alright when he got scared, but things reversed. He got some inspiration from Mitarashi and changed quite a bit from when I first saw him in the game. Fun fact: His voice actor plays Kanato in the Diabolik Lovers series, is in the Hakuoki remake and plays somebody in Collar X Malice. It's strange, I'm starting to take more notice of the voice actors in these games.

I'm enjoying this route more than Meoshi's. The very first bit was quite similar, in the alien spaceship game they had to play, then it branched off and did its own thing. Wakasa is very sweet. I absolutely love him, he's probably going to be my favourite in the whole game. When they were in the hospital, he was absolutely horrified and trembling, but he still stood there and comforted Saki and told her it would be alright. That scene was absolutely adorable. When I first saw him and heard that he was a boy band singer, I thought that he was going to be a little princess, but I was very much wrong.

The route's also a bit like Meoshi's in that Saki and Wakasa are separated from the rest of the main cast for most of the story. I expect that's going to happen for all of them so that the couple can have a bit of romantic development. I'm at the bit now where Wakasa and Saki bravely went to rescue the hostages, and now they've just found out that Count Hogstein is actually more than one person! I'm glad that I'm finally about to find out about the villain and his motives. In Meoshi's ending (I think it was the good ending!) they didn't really find out about who he really was, in fact nobody managed to catch him at all!

I am very much enjoying this game, but I kind of also want to finish it quickly because I have Code: Realize: Future Blessings waiting for me. Usually even if I enjoy something I still want it to be finished quickly because I like the feeling of completing something. Sweet Fuse feels kind of underrated. I suppose it came out quite late in the PSP's life cycle, so most of the people on that console would've moved on, but then again it is playable on the Vita, but not many people play that anyway so it wouldn't've helped sales that much. I wonder how popular it was in Japan? It must've been if they localised it, or maybe it was just brought over because Aksys chose it? I heard that Aksys like to choose the least romantic games with the less doormatty protagonists. Online I read this interview by the person who wrote the English version of the PSP Hakuoki game rewrote some of Chizuru's lines to make her seem less passive and more suited to a Western audience.

I think I began to ramble on a bit there. It's probably time for me to stop writing now. See you all later!

(^._.^)ﾉ

Well, I've almost finished my first Sweet Fuse route. I'm pretty much at the end, with probably only like a few sentences and a final kiss CG to go.

(Spoilers below!)



I'm super glad that I chose Meoshi's route first. I thought that he was gonna be one of those quiet boys who doesn't actually speak to you properly until near the end, but he warmed up to Saki quite quickly. In the common route he was still a bit shy but the change started not far from the beginning of his route. He's not just a lazy hikikomori like you think he's gonna be, he's actually quite sweet and intelligent. There's actually a reason behind why he spends most of his days playing video games. I can actually kind of relate to his awkwardness sometimes, so it helped me to better feel a connection with this character whilst doing my self-inserting. He kind of feels like a cross between Hanzo Urushihara (my very first true husbando from Hataraku Maou-Sama, this light novel series I used to read) and Saito. It's funny, I looked up the voice actor for him, Masakazu Morita, and he's the official Japanese dubber for Zac Efron, meaning that he's done films like High School Musical and all that. The other otome games he's been in are Collar X Malice and Tokimeki Memorial Girls' Side.

Although there was quite a lot of plot here, there was still plenty of romance to keep people like me entertained. I got plenty of bad endings by failing the mini-game thing (I still can't remember what it's called!) but near the end I failed it and it still let me through alright. It was super easy for me to make the right choices, literally every single one I picked gave me affection points. I don't know for sure yet but I think I'm getting a good ending. This is the second game I've played which notifies you whenever you do something the character likes, the first one was Hakuoki and it was super hard to figure out which answer the chosen love interest would like, whereas here it's super easy.

The story is so interesting! The stakes are super high, literally every single bad ending involves the main cast dying in some way. It's like one massive escape room story in a big theme park that's video game themed. I love theme parks so much and this place feels like one I'd like to go to, except I wouldn't really because it just ends up turning into some death game. The villain, Count Hogstein, is super quirky and interesting. I don't really know his motivations yet but I'm sure I'll find out soon. His voice actually sounds like someone young trying to mask their voice, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's some teenager or something underneath. Near the end of Meoshi's route the story turned into some kind of zombie survival story, I normally don't care for horror but it was really fun, and it allowed for some great romantic moments.

Saki is such a wonderful MC. Whenever the screen turns red and she gets angry, you get to make her scream at people. I do it almost every time and it always works out well. Even Count Hogstein is scared of her anger. It's such a change of pace from the passive doormats we get normally, even though I usually don't mind those girls. Normally in most otome routes it's always the LI who does the first kiss, but this time it was Saki who kissed Meoshi first. She was comforting him because he was crying that he was useless and she just decided to kiss him. It was really cute.

I pretty much like all of the main characters even though I'm not really sure about some of them as love interests. Saki's meant to be still in secondary school yet she can still date Shirabe, a grown man with a child who's like twenty years older than her! I don't think I'll be able to self insert during his route, I'll probably just call the MC some name other than my own and enjoy it like a romance novel. Normally I self-insert with everyone but he's just way too old, I'm sorry, it's just gonna feel weird for me since I'm still really young like Saki... Next I'm gonna do Wakasa's route because I really like him. It'll literally be dating a J-Pop star, which should be interesting, plus I just think he's gonna be a good love interest. Since he's a bit of a scaredy-cat, I expect Saki to be the one doing all of the protecting and stuff whilst they're solving the puzzles and that. I suppose I'll be starting that on Monday since I'm taking a break from games for the weekend. I'm so glad I don't have to sit skipping through the common route for hours, this one's super short. Not Amnesia short where there's literally no common route, but probably one of the shortest I've played so far.

Wow, I did have a lot to write about today. I haven't seen many people discuss this game. It's a shame because it's so good! Anyway, that's all for today. See you all later!