Today’s deck is the Autumn Miss Tarot.
Wait, I recognize this style. Don’t tell me…
I think that means I’ve used all four seasons from this manufacturer… I think.
Today’s reading warns against overthinking things like “does so and so hate me tho” which is always a welcome reassurance.
Slow day today. As much from not having any pending matters as because I’m TIRED.
I did do a bit of work, though. Mainly preparing some package I gotta send on Monday and sending a few emails.
I did finish the game I mentioned before, though.
The game is called 極道無頼EX:女警・鮎川光–処女が変態に変わる分かれ道, which roughly translates as “Yakuza Rogue EX: Female Officer Hikari Ayukawa – The crossroads where a virgin becomes a pervert”. And I already need to add context.
Circle Waku Waku has made two other games that are roughly part of the same “series” that they’ve taken to calling Rogue Yakuza or 極道無頼. Those center on a guy named Kouta in what I can best describe as “the Yakuza games if Yakuza was first about the sidestories”.
And so, this game is basically a gaiden game where you instead control a rookie cop with massive tits. Interestingly, this game is roughly a 1.5 game timeline-wise as evidenced by being able to meet Kouta. That’s not a spoiler by the way, he’s right there when you first see your PC at work.
The game’s main loop involves patrolling the main park and whenever you see an infraction you choose how to deal with it by choosing the right punishment for the crime (which you can see in your PC at work).
Smoking? Just a warning. An unarmed fight? Take them into custody. Some are kinda confusing, though. A drunkard blocking the street should only take a warning for being a nuisance, right? Nope! That’s littering which is a fine. Not to mention that sometimes it’s not quite clear if two faceless NPCs are fighting or just shouting at each other.
Some might fight back and that’s where a different gameplay part comes, a combat system where you use different moves on cooldown and when the enemy tries to attack you, you basically play simplified Osu to evade the attacks.
One cool thing about the system is that when you evade perfectly you regain energy (the points you use for the moves) which becomes more valuable later on with more expensive moves… one not-so-cool thing is that aside from cost and cooldowns there’s very little to manage with the moves. The descriptions say things like “perfect for bigger targets” but if there’s a difference it’s so negligible it might as well be just flavor text.
That said, the story’s great! Though that’s assuming you see most of it.
You see, I did my first run doing the best I could. I only lost two encounters, I kept the safety of the area up. I maxed out on pervertedness, but otherwise kept everything in check… and by the end I barely met half the roster.
Now, the matter here isn’t “boohoo you have to lose to continue the story” because if I’m playing a porn game where the PC is a girl it’s safe to assume that whoring oneself out is the ultimate goal, it’s a genre convention that’s easy to infer.
My issue is that it’s not clear on WHICH element one must lose. I maxed out my lust and was able to pacify criminals by letting them rail me, so why don’t I see the rest of things?
My coworker continues to make awkward comments but I never get the option to be a slut with him, I never see my boss, hell I’ve never seen a bunch of characters from the storepage screenshots! I maxed out the affection of like 4 other characters and I still got no extra events.
Do I need to let someone catch me while masturbating on public? Do I need to make my evaluation or the city safety low enough? Ironically enough, the game is so well-balanced that the idea of putting active effort to get those lower feels like a chore, and that’s assuming that it’s the right option and not just a vector for a game over!
I’m reminded of one of Acerola’s older games. If I remember right Kagura Games translated it as “President Yukino”. The gist of that game is that it’s an NTR game where you control the eponymous Yukino and then must make sure her BF doesn’t find out that other men please her better… EXCEPT that there’s a whole subset of events you might miss if you play too well because turns out her BF actually loves NTR and proceeds to spy on Yukino on her encounters with others.
The point being that if failure is something to be encouraged instead of punished, it should be telegraphed more, or in the case of Yakuza Rogue EX, telegraphed WHICH gameplay vector is the one where failure is encouraged.
Keep in mind though, that this frustration comes ENTIRELY from a place of love. I love this circle’s work and I really enjoyed this game. Hikari is easily up there in the pantheon of Main Characters I Want To Do Unspeakable Things To, and as such the frustration comes from not being able to enjoy more!
However, I like it enough that I’m gladly doing a second playthrough where I’ll experiment with that stuff to see what events I missed. And I don’t do 2nd playthroughs for stuff I hated.
Brain was also kind of a mess today, but I’d rather ramble about porn than repeat some brain worms in writing.