I'll admit I was in a bit of a rush to finish the current games before August releases come out, so take the following comments with a grain of salt.
I finished
千恋＊万花 with Yoshino's route. It was alright but as with most other routes the romance part was not the greatest. Probably the most problematic thing was that there's basically no big difference between what happens in this route and the others, and yet Yoshino's feelings are completely different. I can understand the MC's feelings being different as an extension of the will of the player, but for the heroine to act so differently I would have liked a couple more events to bring the two closer together. Other than that, the supernatural elements are more low-key in this route than the others and it deals a bit more with family, that was nice. Once they're resolved it's just a succession of ecchi scenes though, I was excepting something else maybe with the numerous people interested in Yoshino's particular position in the village, but nope, everything happens in between the credits and the epilogue and apparently without any major issue. Her first foray outside of her home village would have been a nice thing to explore as well, but it's all summed up in one line of the epilogue, kinda disappointing.
All in all, the game's pretty good but I think I preferred Sanoba Witch. Apart from Murasame's route I can't say I felt much of anything for the heroine, so from a charage's perspective it's a bit of a failure. I'd have gladly traded the triangle love route of Roka/Koharu for a bit more romance happenings (especially early stage) between Masaomi and the heroine of the day.
I've played a whole 30 minutes of
アマツツミ before deciding the game is not for me. During said 30 minutes, hypnosis (kind of? mind control at least) rape from one of the heroines, and the MC builds himself a place into the family of complete strangers with the same kind of methods. I don't like Saimin at all, and that felt just wrong, so no thank you. Reading some comments on EGS, looks like the MC also likes to fool around with other girls while on a relationship with one, that's another no for me. It's a far cry from
Chrono Clock which only had sex scenes as an after story...
I played a bit more of
恋する気持ちのかさねかた ～かさねた想いをずっと～. Yukie is as lewd as she was in the main game, I see the team decided to stick with her personality even though it really stands out from the rest of the game. Akane's story involves beach-volley as expected, and was fairly okay. As with many other routes Ren takes on the role of a supporter rather than that of a leading character, I kinda like that.
Lately the birthday appends of
PRETTY×CATION were finally released so I gave the game another try, but the text is as bad and the relationship as rushed as I remembered. Especially with Nozomi and Retche, I just can't get past the first ecchi without closing the game and shaking my head in disapproval. As far as the birthdays themselves, I only read Sakura's and it was mainly two very short sex scenes, nothing much else to write about. Certainly not Hibiki-Works's greatest work for sure.
EDIT : This post isn't nearly long enough so I'm adding some comments about
生命のスペア that I finished last night. Since it just came out a couple days ago, as you may have guessed the game isn't very long, it took me between 5 and 6 hours to complete. As usual with drama-heavy games I found the rather abundant ecchi scenes unneeded past the first one and skipped them all, I suppose reading them thoroughly could add a couple hours to the game, but I was just not in the mood. The game only features one heroine, Meguri, and only one path which is another small disappointment from me. I was expecting at least some possible variations, for instance Meguri choosing to let Ria do what she wants or not, or going with Ria and letting her again do what she wants or not, but the fate of the characters is set at the beginning of the game.
Not much to say about Meguri, she's a fairly typical heroine for this kind of stories, bright on the surface but with dark thoughts and anxiety underneath. She's voiced by Tachibana Mao which I personally think is a bit of a miscast. She makes a fine job for the most part but her screams and pain groans are more comical than anything else. Maybe I'm just too used to hearing her in lighter games, but I just couldn't take her seriously which made the dramatic pain sequences... not that dramatic. The drama that occurs with her is fairly predictable, especially given that the opening credits spoiled most if not all that happens in the game (hint : do not watch it). It was nowhere near as heart-wrenching as the drama that occurred in
できない私が、くり返す。, although it's written by the same guy and also featured a dying heroine. I didn't experience a single shock or shed a single tear throughout the game, but maybe my heart's just frozen to compensate for the surrounding heat. The last days in particular were honestly more boring than anything else.
I suppose my detachment also came from the rather hard-to-believe setting, with an unknown disease hitting people at random? Or is it genetic? But in that case why doesn't Ria have it... Is is a parasite? A virus? There are a lot of conditions we can't cure yet but we're not so ignorant as to not identify at least the possible sources of infection, especially for something apparently so widespread. Yet this disease at the end of the game remains as mysterious as a god's curse would be. Same goes with the designer baby angle, would a simple artist (apparently not that famous) really have the means to pay for the underground medical staff required for it? What was the plan for the transplant, kill Ria first or take her heart while she still lives? I'd image the surgeon who does the operation wouldn't be cheap or easy to find either... Details maybe, but I think going with a well known disease like cancer would have been a better decision in gathering sympathy and understanding, at least from me.
