…and probably the lengthiest too. So yeah, just beware >.>’’

I finally finished the Renai Blogger game last last Sunday and I really enjoyed it to bits~! Not just because I was so moe in the game, mind you. A lot of things happened these past two weeks and so it took me this long before finishing the review. Sorry for the people who have been anticipating this post for so long

I was caught by surprise when Hinano announced the release of this game last August 2. I mean, it’s been 4 months already?! And I honestly didn’t think Hinano would release it this soon. More props to her for all the hard work, sweat and tears poured for this well-made doujin game. I also thought Hinano was gonna email us girls about singing a song for the ending credits or something, but I guess that plan didn’t go through. I’m glad it turned out that way too, so my voice will still remain a mystery or something lol.

Impz is such a flirt ROFLMAO

This game was quite an educational material, I should say. Aside from allowing me to learn how much my hair grew in the span of 4 months (since the ‘sample design’ I gave Hinano before was based on my new hair-cut that time, now it has grown and become more hideous than ever), this game also gave light to Impzy’s real identity (which, sadly, many people who are not so into the ins-and-outs of the blogosphere weren’t aware of till this game came out. Poor scarred people ). With Chase walking down the [unfamiliar] streets of NY, this also became a tour guide of some sorts, being Hinano’s Neo Venezia, as Omo puts it. And, for people like me who has never attended a single anime con all her life, the game brought me as close to an anime convention as I can get (at least, until the time I finally get to attend one). Then we also get to know Hinano and bits and pieces of her life, together with the rest of the bloggers. Too bad I didn’t get the NY jokes T__T;

It was a refreshing change playing a game that’s 100% guilt-free compared to other PC dating-sim / point-and-click games I played before *ahem*, though it was totally awkward seeing yourself in the most unthinkable and mushy of situations, in the parts where my game character appeared I had to wait till my brothers weren’t looking before I finished my own route coz it was embarrassing (or is it just me? >.>). Just for the record, my PC is in our living room, and right beside me is my brother’s laptop, and my 2nd brother’s PC. So yeah, no privacy for me until they all get to sleep and leave me in my own world downstairs.

First thing I noticed when I finally got myself to play the game is the cute icon, which briefly reminded me of this trap “cute.exe” executable program sent by a ‘friend’ before, you know, the one which pops this random terrifying image which only foolish scaredy bunnies like me fall for. So anyways, the game started, and what greeted me was this funky genki OP music which easily grew on me.

After being spoiled by all the game reviews I read before playing the game, I tried my best to be rid of any biases in deciding whose route I’m gonna get first, and the impromptu order turned out to be: CJ, Natsuko, Jen (no I don’t want to say ‘myself’ because it doesn’t sound right), and Hinano. I also tried forgetting the spoilers I’ve seen in the reviews, so that the game will still have that element of surprise, at the very least.

The overall thoughts I have on the girls’ routes is similar to that of Kuro’s, it was too short. All except Hinano were really easy to get (tsk!), the type of naïve girls who’d easily fall prey to “experienced” players (Chase can easily fit this bill, actually :P) I mean, giving your email address to someone you only met?! Way to go, loli Nyachan! Then I got into thinking that this is usually the case with one-shot mangas, with lightning speed romance developments, and eventually found the overall ‘chase’ to be fun and sweet, albeit short :3

I have some minor complaints though. I got confused with saving and loading somewhere along the way and ended up overwriting one of my saves. Thank goodness that this wasn’t a complicated game or I would’ve really banged my head against the wall. That, and I think I somewhat got spoiled by dating-sim / adventure games I played which offer the history / log feature and I was actually looking for that feature so I could look up the past cheesy dialogues

On CJ’s route

Since CJ was readily up for grabs right beside Chase during his first day in campus, I decided to go after her first. I mean, love is like a race after all, and you have to take hold of those chances whenever they come, amirite? I was actually expecting her to be more tsuntsun at first, like she’d purposefully ignore me and be hard to get, much to my surprise that she already had the hawts for Chase during their first meeting and readily accepted the invitation to go to the con! O_O But hey, this is just a game, so who am I to take this so seriously.

I don’t really know whether I should address Chase in the first person or second person POV, so pardon the confusing POV switch from time to time =.=;

Chase catches a glimpse of BL, for the first time in his life.

So I decided to tag along with CJ throughout her otaku adventures, where she drags me into the depths of her BL fandom. She was going all ‘minaide hazukashii~’ on Chase when she was checking out some BL stuff, but she was purposefully doing it, I tell you. Otherwise if she didn’t want her BL secret to be found out she shouldn’t even have dragged him to that place in the first place I just wonder about the real reaction of guys the moment they find out that a certain girl is into BL. Guys would typically squirm, of course, feel disgusted, or whatnot. And I guess their overall impression of the girl will depend on how normal she is in other aspects of her life. Or that’ll depend on the guy’s tolerance to FYGs. Bah, I’m talking too much.

Happy ending?

The events that followed in CJ’s route was pretty fun as well. The tsundere moments during the volleyball practice, the cosplay event and the Caramel Dansen. The ending was sweet and happy, for CJ that is, since I sort of lament Chase’s life after having been dragged into her yaoi world. Then the next thing we know, Chase will lose his sanity and find the beauty of BL after having been brainwashed by CJ and turn into a homo/bi O_O! And is it just me or does this ending remind me of Impz and 13sugars’ current relationship? Impz getting dragged into watching Junjou Romantica, for one

On Natsuko’s route

My grandmother got married at the age of 16, and had 11 kids. Whaddya say ’bout that?

So what can I say about NyaChan, the loli girl who basically flirts with the stranger that is Chase, during their first meeting. Asking for his email address right then and there is too much of an invitation, my dear. She basically tempted Chase into being a pedophile, then later on ditches him as a pedo when he finally gets lured by her loliness and confesses his BURNING LOLICON LOVE. That, or he gets killed by her mom after being a gentlemen. Tsk. Talk about not taking responsibility of your own actions. She’s one little nasty schemy bitch T__T

Unlike the other girls’ routes which were pretty much straightforward and would readily give you a hint of the good and bad choices, Nyachan’s route was the most tricky, at least for me. I mean, how would I know that helping out a 16 year old girl will get me into custody?! I immediately confessed during the train scene, got ditched, and got consoled by Impz (ROFLMAO).

Rants aside, I found Nyachan’s route to be the cutest. The “wait you wait for me~” really got me good. It’s quite a clichéd line but it made me go “awww~”. That, and Sixten’s ‘revelation’ of the secret forehead-kissing event CG probably helped as well.

On Hinano’s route

LOL @ doujin reference

I might be repeating what other people have said about Hinano’s path, but whatever. Just like everyone else, I found Hinano’s path to be the most enjoyable, most ROFL-inducing (I was laughing at the Gakuen Heaven and other BL mangas/doujins in the Kinokuniya background pic), most difficult route to get, and most developed story among the other girls. Some people might argue that the story was still relatively short, but for Chase to have endured all that time with the tsundere Hinano actually says something about his TRUE LUV. Hinano serves as the ultimate example of the ‘bitch’ (meant in a positive way, a totally empowered woman) that Sherry Argov describes in her book Why Men Love Bitches

It was kinda sad seeing Hinano’s experience in the con, in the artist alley and all I bet if the Otakon-table-hording issue came out any sooner, we would’ve seen a glimpse of Hinano’s RAEG featuring this issue at hand

Now I don’t know how accurate Hinano’s route is, vis-à-vis her real life, but if it was, JP has my full respect. It would’ve been more awesome if JP really had an actual cameo appearance in the game with one of the bad endings with Chase, but it’d be too much work, as JP has already said beforehand

On Jen’s route

I saved my thoughts for the last chunk of this post, not because it’s the best, but because it’s the most personal route of all. It’s that special

First off, I’d have to say that I like my :3 expressions throughout the game. I chatted with Hinano a few times and I never thought she’d incorporate my love for that emoticon in this one Real cute~! I’m just wondering why Hinano made me have a darker complexion than the rest of the girls, aside from adding colors to the pale cast (lol)? Perhaps it’s because Hinano thinks I’m a Filipina, a morena, or something. Sorry to disappoint you people with fetishes for dark-skinned women, but I’m not that dark because I am borne from the chinky-eyed yellow race

After having finished my route in the game, I completely understood how people (like Shin, >Kuro, and CCY) would find it bland, compared to the other ones. My route lacked the otaku fandom excitement of CJ, Natsuko and Hinano’s, and I only have myself to blame. Then again, at least that way, all my shameful otaku secrets weren’t revealed mwahahaha

I had a really hard time comparing my real-life persona to a certain character archetype. If I had not chatted with Hinano after the survey she did to get to know us girls, she probably would’ve made me a Mikuru, because that’s the impression she had of me. And I was like NooOoOooo, Mikuru kinshi! D: In the end, Hinano portrayed me as a real sweet yet tough, though quite an aggressive girl O_O! I mean, making the first move in kissing?! Not in a million lightyears I’d say.

OOC or not, it was fun seeing how my game persona turned out to be, considering that this is who I am in Hinano’s eyes. This also made me wonder how the readers of this blog actually perceive me as o.O I doubt my blog posts shows my multi-faceted self (or does it?), and as the quadrants in the Johari window also shows, there are certain aspects we have that are known to others but that we don’t know of, or vice versa. So yeah, feel free to share your thoughts on your perceived persona of yours truly, so I can understand myself better as well.

Aside from my game personality I also had a hard time picturing my open-otaku self, cosplaying and all that. I’ve never been to any con, never cosplayed, and never will, not unless someone sponsors for me or someone I know will be my cosplay buddy. I’m shy and cowardly when it comes to these things, so you can just see how reluctant my game persona was to participate in the more energetic otaku activities, not that I can do so wearing my yukata.

Moving on, as I was playing my route in the game, I didn’t have the slightest clue as to when I gave Chase my email-address, and how he was able to contact me regarding the NYAF too. I know I’m forgetful IRL, but for sure I’m not careless enough to give away my email-address in a whim o_o; But anyways, let’s just say ‘fate’ made that happen or something lol.

The hamster-ness of my route was real nifty too, and I never thought that Hinano will buy the idea of making Seleria my pet hamster in the game When I showed Seleria her hamster-self in the game, she initially thought she became a cat (‘catster’ according to her) because the hamster was too fat

Then, Chase contacted me through email about NYAF, and being the friendly girl that I am *cough*, I happily agreed. And the rest was history~ or something.

sekuharaaa!!!

Before I knew it, Chase had fallen head over heels for me rofl. I really went “awww” with the impulsive hug scene, and found it sweet. But honestly, if that happened to me in real life, I would’ve been scared out of my wits (and probably smack the guy on his face) and scream “SEKUHARAAAAAAAA!!” :O Then came the kokuhaku scene, where I gave my answer in the most unimaginable way possible. And voila! Happy ending desu~

Just for the lulz, I also checked out the bad endings in my route. It was rather hard making Chase ignore myself on gtalk for the sake of this, but I had to. Then I felt that my game persona was rather mean for blocking Chase on gtalk after that incident Well I do that to _some_ people but not for that reason lolz.

Afterthoughts

Lastly, before I end this post (and before it gets any longer than 2,500+ words), I’d like to once again thank Hinano for this sweet, fun, blogosphere-educational (lol) game, and for giving me a face in this faceless internet It’s a great “introductory game” for those who haven’t played any dating-sim / visual novels all their life. Now you can say goodbye to your renai game n00b days~! And, to those who voted for me in the polls way back the game’s conception, I don’t know what your true intentions are, but thank you nonetheless. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been part of this whole new renai blogger world. A big thanks to those who managed to read till the end of this post as well *gives a virtual cookie reward*

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