OK, I’m a little ashamed, but I’m going to admit it anyway. Ladies and gentlemen, I play translated “dating sims” from game companies in Japan. Yes it’s true that most of these are mostly just anime sex games covered up by a story. Some of them are pretty vile too. The Japanese seem to like rape for some reason, so I tend to avoid those games. However, I’ve gathered a collection of games I do enjoy and some I plan to finish at some point.
Honestly, I never saw myself liking anything like this. It pretty much all started while browsing SomethingAwful.com and seeing they had reviews for these types of games. I read a few of them and laughed. They made the games sound absolutely horrible. The only one they gave a good rating was a game with a very straight forward name. “Do You Like Horny Bunnies?”. Blunt to say the least. I decided to torrent it and see for myself. Sure enough, it was a fun game. The characters are likable, the music is heartwarming, the drawing are very well done and the story was half-decent. Made me want to become a sommelier for a brief period of my life. I never followed through with that or mentioned what my inspirations were at the time, but there you have it. It was at that point though that I wanted to try more of these styles of games.
You know, I use the word “game” but most of these are just illustrated “choose your own adventure” romance novels. Pretty weird for a 24 year old male to play. To my understanding there are a few of them out there that really are games. Brave Soul sounds like a full-out JRPG with sex. (Like every Final Fantasy nerd REALLY wants) Sadly it doesn’t work on Windows 7 64-bit so I’ll have to play it some other time.
My current run through is a game called Snow Sakura. I don’t actually have a box for it, but here’s what I assume was on it to give you an idea about the game:
My name is Tachibana Yuuji, a regular student with no particular plans for the future – until my parents left for Hawaii on a business trip last fall, leaving me in the care of my uncle in the wintry countryside of Hokkaido.
Small-town life on Japan’s northern island didn’t have time to get dull, as from the moment I got there I was reunited with my cousin and childhood friend Saki. She’s pretty demanding, but when I’m hanging out with her and her school friends I don’t mind; as I get close to them I feel like I’m finding meaning in life that I didn’t know I was looking for.
Legend says there is a flower that blooms here in the depth of winter… as the twilight deepens and a snowflake melts in the palm of my hand, I stand with a beautiful girl by my side. Will we be able to uncover its mystery in this fleeting moment?
That doesn’t really give you much of an idea. I’ve played it through once already and it’s a dating sim without any mystery to “uncover”. They reason the Snow Sakura blooms in the middle of winter is revealed with a decent scientific explanation when you try dating Rei who is a shrine maiden who tends to the Snow Sakura and surrounding temple and hot springs.
There’s one thing that really bugs me about the game though… Saki is your cousin. Your uncle’s daughter. She’s one of your potential romantic pursuits.. but she’s your cousin.. Another sad part is she’s one of the most likable characters in the game. It’s just a game, but some of these can get pretty fucking immersive.
There’s one game called Kana Little Sister. Your sister was diagnosed with a terminal illness and you’re spending your time as her brother making her remaining time alive happy. Before you ask, there is one way where you end up sleeping with her (fucked up), but out of every review I’ve read for it I read that grown men being put to tears over the story. I don’t know if that’s depressing or uplifting because it’s clear that people really do put a lot of thought into the stories and make them worth while to read or listen to if you understand Japanese. I played through a bit of Kana and stopped the second I felt like crying. I haven’t cried since elementary school so it shows you the potential emotional power some of these stories hold.
Now, back to the topic at hand. A lot of these games are actually really good. They shouldn’t be taken as teachings for dating because they’re fantasy scenarios, (Especially Do You Like Horny Bunnies? 1 & 2) but for the sheer enjoyment of decent stories and likable characters, these are worth a shot. I have a feeling I’ll be doing reviews of these games on this blog so keep looking back. I’ll be playing a few over again to do the reviews, but Snow Sakura is definitely next in line.
I’m half-way through Rei so I still have 3 more to go after this. Since I only play the game for an hour a night the reviews will be coming slowly. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep updating though.
Until next time,
TheGrOgStEr
