Non spoilery review of Namco High
Dec. 20th, 2013 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrNamco High is a dating sim preduced by Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck, with Ananth Panagariya from Johnny Wander as head writer and lots of different webcomic artists doing the sprites (which are pretty cute!).
You are Cousin, cousin of the Katamari Damarci dude, and can date various Namco video game characters (including the ship from Galaga) as well as three Homestuck characters. It is completely ridiculous and a lot of fun, and you can try 6 of the 18 paths for free. I got the full package and thoroughly enjoyed it. You play in your browser, the interface is functional but I miss autoplay, reverse and multiple saves.
You don't have to be familiar with any of the characters/games/webcomic. There are male, female and anthropomorphised inanimate object love interests and the protaonist's gender is never stated. There's a lot of "YOU'RE CRAZY" but it lacks Homestuck's "edgy" offensiveness. The paths don't seem to affect each other at all, but the writers have made a little effort to make them consistent. Switching from one path to another mid game seems to lead to bad endings.
There are six free paths (Galaga, Lolo, Valkyrie, Anti-Bravoman, Meowkie, Albatross) but the rest cost $2 each, $5 for 3 or $15 for everyone (unless you have Crunchyroll Premium membership, then it's $14). For the benefit of anyone wanting to decide what to buy, as well as the curious, here's some brief non-spoilery summaries of all 18 paths!
Asterixes denote free paths. I enjoyed them all well enough, most managed to have a cute little character arc and sweet romance/friendship as well as some funny jokes though they were all pretty brief.
Aki: What is the over achieving girl's Big Secret? Friendship with no romance, sweet and competant but didn't wow me.
*Anti-Bravoman: Over the top angsty goth woobie. Eh. Ok.
Davesprite: Lots of meta humour since he knows he's a video game character. Cute, light exploration of the nature of the self and free will. I don't think it would be as funny if you hadn't played a few other paths first.
*Galaga: by the book romance with the most beautiful spaceship in school. Enjoyable if that premise sounds appealing (which it did :D) The typical schoolgirl characterisation is weirdly inconsistent with Galaga's behaviour in the other paths.
Jane: A skeptic who thinks you are silly for insisting that you're an alien and there's a spaceship in class etc. This didn't wow me but it was kind of funny.
*Meowki: Adorable woobie pink kitten who wants REALLY HARD to be a good person. I was more affected than I expected.
Nidia: Fantasy heroine with a DESTINY she has mixed feelings about. Canonically into men, women and spaceships! I really liked it.
Taira: Undead samarai meathead jock and nerdy wimp learn from each other. More fun if you imagine Cousin as a guy imo :) This was pretty fun and cute and the Taira sprites are great (and done by the same artist as Cousin so they work together).
Tomari: You inadvertently make him think you're a mad scientist too, shenanigans ensue. Did not enjoy this very much, even with all the robots, though some parts were cute/funny.
*Al. B. Tross: he's just a typical highschool student, please ignore the way he keeps talking into his watch. This was pretty funny.
Blue Max: Woobie neurotic bullied nerd. Eh.
Donko: The most popular girl in school (also a drum) She takes you under her wing, Clueless style. Ok, felt a little too "guy romancing girl"-ish for my tastes, or something. Donko is an interesting character.
Hiromi: Get to know the taciturn motorbike rider. A bit show-not-tell to make up for Hiromi being so uncommunicative, but cute enough. Not romantic but has heavy lesbian subtext.
*Lolo: Moody cynical slacker girl. A bit heavy handed in parts but handled depression better than I expected and was sweet.
Mr Driller: Help him persuade his father to support his Passion For Drilling. I found the first 2/3 or so annoying, but was mostly won over by the end. I really didn't like the sprites, which didn't help.
Richard Miller: Conspiracy theorist obsessed with being fast at everything. A bit all over the place but he's endearingly bizarre.
Terezi: MY FAVOURITE HOMESTUCK CHARACTER DRAWN BY MY FAVOURITE HOMESTUCK ARTIST :D Non Homestuck fans will enjoy if they like humourous G rated interspecies BDSM. Probably better after some of the other paths for contrast?
*Valkyrie: Self confident sword making girl. Funny and bittersweet, I really liked it, but there's more story than could be adequately covered in the short span of the game and the end was rather abrupt.
No love interest: I found this a little confusing at the end but it was kind of cool.
You are Cousin, cousin of the Katamari Damarci dude, and can date various Namco video game characters (including the ship from Galaga) as well as three Homestuck characters. It is completely ridiculous and a lot of fun, and you can try 6 of the 18 paths for free. I got the full package and thoroughly enjoyed it. You play in your browser, the interface is functional but I miss autoplay, reverse and multiple saves.
You don't have to be familiar with any of the characters/games/webcomic. There are male, female and anthropomorphised inanimate object love interests and the protaonist's gender is never stated. There's a lot of "YOU'RE CRAZY" but it lacks Homestuck's "edgy" offensiveness. The paths don't seem to affect each other at all, but the writers have made a little effort to make them consistent. Switching from one path to another mid game seems to lead to bad endings.
There are six free paths (Galaga, Lolo, Valkyrie, Anti-Bravoman, Meowkie, Albatross) but the rest cost $2 each, $5 for 3 or $15 for everyone (unless you have Crunchyroll Premium membership, then it's $14). For the benefit of anyone wanting to decide what to buy, as well as the curious, here's some brief non-spoilery summaries of all 18 paths!
Asterixes denote free paths. I enjoyed them all well enough, most managed to have a cute little character arc and sweet romance/friendship as well as some funny jokes though they were all pretty brief.
Aki: What is the over achieving girl's Big Secret? Friendship with no romance, sweet and competant but didn't wow me.
*Anti-Bravoman: Over the top angsty goth woobie. Eh. Ok.
Davesprite: Lots of meta humour since he knows he's a video game character. Cute, light exploration of the nature of the self and free will. I don't think it would be as funny if you hadn't played a few other paths first.
*Galaga: by the book romance with the most beautiful spaceship in school. Enjoyable if that premise sounds appealing (which it did :D) The typical schoolgirl characterisation is weirdly inconsistent with Galaga's behaviour in the other paths.
Jane: A skeptic who thinks you are silly for insisting that you're an alien and there's a spaceship in class etc. This didn't wow me but it was kind of funny.
*Meowki: Adorable woobie pink kitten who wants REALLY HARD to be a good person. I was more affected than I expected.
Nidia: Fantasy heroine with a DESTINY she has mixed feelings about. Canonically into men, women and spaceships! I really liked it.
Taira: Undead samarai meathead jock and nerdy wimp learn from each other. More fun if you imagine Cousin as a guy imo :) This was pretty fun and cute and the Taira sprites are great (and done by the same artist as Cousin so they work together).
Tomari: You inadvertently make him think you're a mad scientist too, shenanigans ensue. Did not enjoy this very much, even with all the robots, though some parts were cute/funny.
*Al. B. Tross: he's just a typical highschool student, please ignore the way he keeps talking into his watch. This was pretty funny.
Blue Max: Woobie neurotic bullied nerd. Eh.
Donko: The most popular girl in school (also a drum) She takes you under her wing, Clueless style. Ok, felt a little too "guy romancing girl"-ish for my tastes, or something. Donko is an interesting character.
Hiromi: Get to know the taciturn motorbike rider. A bit show-not-tell to make up for Hiromi being so uncommunicative, but cute enough. Not romantic but has heavy lesbian subtext.
*Lolo: Moody cynical slacker girl. A bit heavy handed in parts but handled depression better than I expected and was sweet.
Mr Driller: Help him persuade his father to support his Passion For Drilling. I found the first 2/3 or so annoying, but was mostly won over by the end. I really didn't like the sprites, which didn't help.
Richard Miller: Conspiracy theorist obsessed with being fast at everything. A bit all over the place but he's endearingly bizarre.
Terezi: MY FAVOURITE HOMESTUCK CHARACTER DRAWN BY MY FAVOURITE HOMESTUCK ARTIST :D Non Homestuck fans will enjoy if they like humourous G rated interspecies BDSM. Probably better after some of the other paths for contrast?
*Valkyrie: Self confident sword making girl. Funny and bittersweet, I really liked it, but there's more story than could be adequately covered in the short span of the game and the end was rather abrupt.
No love interest: I found this a little confusing at the end but it was kind of cool.
