I would absolutely recommend Lover Pretend. It does have some small flaws but those are nothing compared to how fun and beautifully made this game is. Every route was enjoyable to play, which does not happen often for me. This would be a good Otome game to add to your collection.
I am really torn about Paradigm Paradox. It did have some nice qualities here and there. For example, the story itself is an interesting idea and I liked playing the routes of Kamui, Ayumu, Mihaya and Ibuki. But the game does not bring a lot of innovative stuff. There was also a lot that was missing for me. The routes were fairly short, there were too many routes for me, and the plots were rushed, which also didn’t give me a chance to really see character development in Yuuki’s love interests. After saying all these negative points, I do feel it had so much potential that wasn’t used. I did like some of my playtime, but this would not be the Otome game I would pick up over all the other great ones out there.
I did enjoy the game and loved to see that the characters got their happy ending. But I must add that the original game was better. The reason for this is that it just lacked an actual storyline, and it was a lot of the same lovey dovey dialog. Some positives for this game were definitely the side character stories, the beautiful CG’s and the happy endings of Amnesia: Crowd.
Overall, I still love Piofiore: Episodio 1926 and I think if you are a Piofiore: Fated Memories lover, you will like this game as well. The first was a bit better for me personally, as this game was a little bit more of the same. But it had good stories that had me at the edge of my seat and the romance was really dialled up in this game for a lot of routes. Luckily this game actually had plot points and a story, it was not just them going on lovey dovey dates. So I still enjoyed this game a lot. However, this game was a lot darker than the first. It includes rape and attempted rape and involves a lot of bloodshed in gruesome ways. So, if that is not your style I would not recommend this game.
Amnesia: Memories was refreshing and I enjoyed playing it. One of the reasons is that some of the characters are not the generic Otome types you normally see, they really had some depth to them. Even the side characters were well-written and enjoyable. This would be the perfect game to get into Otome games. It is easy to follow and the plots are not difficult to understand. It is a must-play if you love Otome games in my opinion.
I enjoyed playing Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei and seeing different sides of the story and the war. Every character offered a different perspective on the war, and they had to fight a different battle each time. Each route also had a lot of interesting plot points to discover, which kept things interesting. And of course, I loved Shanao. She is a strong character who above all listens to her duty and her heart. Plus, she is a great warrior on the battlefield and a hard worker. In terms of finding the routes, I found the Love Catch and the flowchart very useful to navigate through the game and the routes. It is definitely a well-written plot with different perspectives and a lot of interesting characters. Although the routes have the same structures and certain events, they have done a good job of making changes to every route to make it interesting every time.
Overall I did enjoy the game, especially Taiga’s and Ichiya’s routes. Even the other endings besides the love endings I was satisfied with. The game also made me laugh multiple times, I especially laughed a lot about Ichiya’s and Hibari’s grandfathers’ reactions. They were mostly jokes but the game also used Chibi images sometimes, this made the situation ever funnier. I would categorize the game as a romantic comedy. As for what rating to give Variable Barricade, I had a tough time. Difficult to chose between I like it and I like it a lot. I definitely loved the story lines and the characters, but I sometimes had a hard time really getting into the stories. I think this was due to the way the game board was set up, it took me out of the flow of the story. So I rating I am going to give Variable Barricade is ‘I like it a lot’.
This is my very first time playing a visual novel, I never expected to be so engrossed in the game. And to be completely honest, I never expected to get so addicted, which makes Piofiore an amazing game to me. Piofiore: Fated Memories has a good balance of action and romance, which keeps you on your toes. The quality in graphics and enthralling storytelling have probably spoiled me for future visual novels, but we will see!