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alias_sqbrPart 1
Part 2
Background information and links to other reaction posts
Time for the second half of the story!
Which it absolutely is, like, Kyoto Winds does end at a pause in the story where certain things have been tied up, but it's just a pause. You really want to see what happens next. And I know the Steam page says it's "part one of a series" but so is Dragon age Origins, you know?
Anyway my spoiler free review of Hakuoki (based on Saito’s romance) is that I really liked it! If you like the sound of enjoyably tropey samurai+supernatural romance with bittersweet longing and baddass fights and Team Bonding give it a shot. Just bear in mind it starts out VERY SLOW.
**Spoilers**
So, I was saying to a friend that I really like the complex emotional stuff going on with vampirism in these games:
It worked REALLY well with all the Samurai Honour and sacrificing yourself for the cause and the line between honour and corruption when you're murdering people and dealing with messy politics, especially since it's becoming increasingly clear that their way of being warriors is doomed, both because of the rise of guns, and because the political faction they are dedicated to is on the verge of being destroyed.
"what do you become to achieve your goals in that situation"
"losing your humanity" made literal
And then I watched the trailer for Edo Blossoms and uh...
ALSO VAMPIRES ARE HOT
(I can't believe I had no idea Hakuoki had vampires when I bought it)
Looks like everyone's trading their long pretty hair and pretty kimonos for medium length pretty hair and pretty 19th century suits. I can live with this.
(except Yamazaki, who is committed to the way of the mullet ninja)
I did have a moment of urrrgh associations with late 19th century/early 20th century Japanese soldiers and double checked everyone was too old to have been involved in the invasion of Korea or work with Nazis.
ANYWAY. TIME TO BOARD THE SAITO TRAIN TO ANGSTY VAMPIRE MAKEOUTS.
Ah, I saw some speculation about how a sequel to a dating sim would handle previous points: it doesn't. You just choose any of the dudes and it shows their story. (I ASSUME, since I JUST PICKED SAITO)
And there is a like 4 page summary of the previous game's events which doesn't even mention your hot evil twin or being a demon etc. It will be a fun surprise for new players, I guess!
Aaaand I am reminded of an annoyance I hadn't mentioned before: the DUMBASS NAMES whoever created the steam achievements chose, they are all anachronistically silly and disconnected from the tone of the moment, which throws me out of the story.
*Checks I can still save and looks at the Warrior Record*
OH NO HE HAS A CORRUPTION METER (it's low. FOR NOW) Also he's "Closed"??
YOU WERE IN FULL BLOOM FOR HER SAITO DID THAT MOMENT WITH THE SWORD RELATED HAND TOUCHING MEAN NOTHING
Aw, cinnamon roll vampire Heisuke offers some advice on making Saito look after himself better as a vampire, and gives some medicine for if Saito gets vampire!sick. Also he is the only person to refer to Saito by his given name, Hajime, and it's adorable.
(If you're curious, Saito refers to Chizuru by her family name, Yukimura, with no honorific)
Chizuru decides to explore her old house for vampire info to help Saito, and...
OMG CHIZURU'S DAD
Chizuru: DAD!!! :D :D
Me: Chizuru did you forget your dad is evil
OMG CHIZURU IS ADOPTED
EDIT: This is never brought up again.
Dad: But I always cared for you as my own daughter. No, more, because...
Dad: BECAUSE I KNEW YOU WOULD BE LORD KAZAMA'S DEMON BRIDE :D :D
Chizuru: Oh that's right my dad is evil D:
Dad: The humans will fight amongst themselves and demons shall RULE JAPAN :D :D
Ah so the real villain wasn't imperialism it was DEMONS. Fair enough.
Chizuru: What happened to make my dad so evil??
Me: Ah, poor girl, he was always evil but you never noticed...
Dad: BWAHAHA! I USED TO BE A WEAK DEMON TAINTED BY HUMANITY BUT MY VAMPIRE POTION HAS MADE ME STRONG
Me: righto
A wild Saito appears! He fights Chizuru's dad!
Dad: Ha, as if a human could defeat a demon! *starts throwing ACTUAL SCALPELS*
Saito: *wipes the floor with him, because Chizuru's dad may be a demon on steroids but he's still a doctor with no combat training throwing scalpels*
Dad: WAIT MY BLOOD IS FREAKING YOU OUT. YOU ARE A VAMPIRE DOOMED TO BECOME A MINDLESS BEAST WHO PREYS ON THE INNOCENT :D *stabs self with his own scalpel*
Saito: *starts losing stoically*
Me: This is...quite the first meeting between boyfriend and parent, huh.
Scalpel dad:
Amagiri *appears*: SO WE HAVE ORDERS. AWAY FROM HERE. AND THESE HUMANS I DO NOT KNOW OR CARE ABOUT.
Dad: But I wanted to kill this vampire :(
Amagiri: If this man...who I do not know...is a vampire he's doomed anyway.
Dad: Fiiiine.
Saito, standing in full sunlight, stabbed, resisting bloodlust, angsting: I'm...fi... *is not fine*
And then you get the choice to offer him blood, offer medicine, or Make him Endure. GUESS WHICH LEADS TO AN IMMEDIATE GAME OVER.
The walkthrough said "offer him blood" but I was like "He just went to SO MUCH EFFORT to resist blood, and I got this medicine especially" so I did that and it didn't help and he was just sick and miserable for HOURS so I felt bad and redid it.
I was rewarded with SEXY GENTLE BLOOD DRINKING where he is super polite and can't look at her afterwards and she's like "Aw, I guess drinking someone's blood would be pretty awkward, poor guy".
And uh, looking at this walkthrough there is a lot more sexy blood drinking in my future. Oh no :D
And then it's WESTERN UNIFORM MAKEOVER TIME. Everyone is baffled by how to use buttons. A surprising amount of manly chest is on display considering the waistcoats and cravats, though Saito is sensibly buttoned up.
Ohhh Kondou doesn't die he just slowly descends into becoming a bad leader :( (Also apparently he has a wife and kid! This is mentioned once)
It's also occurred to me that, since I'm on the Saito specific path now, anyone else can die D:
Also, Chizuru's dad has developed an EVEN BETTER vampire serum for the Imperialists and I think Sanan is going to try to swap Chizuru for it D:
Checks: am at 50%...open buds, I guess? And mid level corruption :/ I've only been playing for an hour and a half, this is SO much more fast paced. I'm at around the end of chapter 2 of four.
AND THEN I PLAYED FOR THREE MORE HOURS STRAIGHT UNTIL I WAS DONE
It was really good! Blood drinking with understated mutual pining, bittersweet final stands, and a fairly satisfying conclusion.
So: Saito's backstory is that he's samurai class-wise, but noone respected him because despite his evident skill he is left handed which is Doing It Wrong. Also he was challenged to a duel by an aristocrat and won, and even though that was what he was "supposed" to do he was charged with murder and stripped of his samurai status. He wandered adrift until joining the Shinsengumi, who welcomed anyone, even commoners, and made him believe in the Path of the Warrior again. (the word "bushido" is said a lot in Saito's path, and translated various ways) He vowed to follow Hijikata and Koundou's orders without question until he died, presumably in battle.
(What was Saito's family like? He never says, and Chizuru ruefully decides there's no point asking)
Also: through the (many many) political ups and downs, the one people who have been the most steadfast supporters of the Shogunate, and the Shinsengumi, are the Aizu domain.
Of the remaining captains: Okita is dying of tuberculosis (why he didn't become a vampire is presumably explained in his route), and Harada and Shinpachi got so angry at Koundou's leadership decisions they left to fight Imperialists their own way.
AND APPARENTLY YAMAZAKI DIED OFF SCREEN AND NOONE MENTIONED IT BEFORE.
So, low on numbers, and with no other allies, the remaining Shinsengumi are in the process of moving to Aizu, staying in temporary lodgings as they travel.
But somehow the bad guys have found out the location and are attacking in huge numbers! Worse, the vampires Sanan (evil) and Heisuke (nice?) have vanished!
Me: OH NO DID SANAN TURN HEISUKE TO THE DARK SIDE???
Chief Koundou has been increasingly depressed and useless recently but he stands straight and tells everyone to run, he'll hold the bad guys off. Commander Hijikata says he'll stay too.
Saito: We should all stay and fight. We might win.
Hijikata: But how embarrassing would it be if we all died? Instead, you can lead the Shinsengumi into the future.
Saito: Ok dad ;_;
As they escape they see THAT BASTARD SANAN telling the enemy how best to murder EVERYONE.
I didn't think he could fall lower than my expectations BUT HE DID.
Not wanting the sacrifice to be in vain, they keep running. More A+ sexy blooddrinking with mutual pining ensues.
And then...Hijikata arrives to meet up with them! Along with cinnamon roll vampire Heisuke who had been trying to stop Sanan :D :D
But Koundou is dead and even though I have been expecting it for like 50 hours I teared up. The bad guys called him a farmer and refused to give him an honourable death but he faced his doom with pride ;_;
Saito angsts about possibly turning into an evil vampire like Sanan one day and Chizuru tells him she has faith in his ability to know what is right and do it, no matter what.
Hijikata's orders are to leave the Aizu to die while the main Shogunate forces go elsewhere.
Saito: ...no. That's wrong. I cannot abandon them.
Hijikata: Did you just disobey my direct order?
Saito: nnnngggg........yes.
Hijikata: MY LITTLE BOY IS ALL GROWN UP :D :D
Saito: I'M NOT CRYING I'M FINE
Hijikata: Anyway everyone lets say our heartfelt goodbyes to Saito before he dies in the hellscape of death this place is about to become.
Chizuru: I'm staying.
Hijikata: Did you hear the bit about a hellscape of death?
Chizuru: *stares lovingly at Saito* Yes.
Saito: What. *stares in loving shock at Chizuru*
Hijikata: *observes Chizuru and Saito* Come on everyone lets let them have a nice tragically romantic death in peace.
And then Chizuru and Saito have a very romantic mutual declaration about staying by each other's sides, not because of orders or duty but because they just...want to, and kiss, knowing that tomorrow brings their death and I'm not crying I'm fine.
At this point I was like 85% sure they wouldn't die but that 15% of doubt sure gave it some extra pathos.
The night before the big battle:
Chizuru: Let's stop worrying and have sex
Saito: AGSDFHJ....ok :)
And then it fades to black.
They go to storm the Castle Of Evil Vampires when...Harada and Shinpachi (who left to do their own thing) show up!! HOW CONVENIENT.
They're just done fighting a bunch of vampires when one manages to choke out a moderately long tragic backstory about being a farmer who was honoured to be invited to the Imperial Army before he realised it involved being experimented on, and then he TURNS INTO DUST.
They go into the Vampire Castle and are being overwhelmed by vampires and Chizuru's evil dad cackles about how Saito's vampire powers are sucking his life force so he won't have long to live.
Cinnamon roll vampire Heisuke: Yeah well, YOLO!!! You guys escape while I kill Chizuru's dad :D
And then he presumably does, because we never hear about her dad again.
Demon Lord Kazama: Oh look the fake demon brought me my wife :D Not like you have any good reason to protect her any more I guess.
Saito: I ALONE DEFINE MY DESTINY. STAB STAB STAB.
Kazama: THESE STABS ARE TOO POWERFUL WTF *goes super saiyan*
Saito: Oh no now his stabs are too powerful D: D: *endures much woobifying stabbing*
Chizuru: Maybe I should use my sword?
Amagiri: *stabs*
Kazama: WHAT THE FUCK AMIGIRI *stabs*
Amagiri: He is...the truest samurai...I have ever met....*urk*
Kazama: HE IS A LOSER FAKE DEMON *stabs Saito some more*
Chizuru: I mean obviously I can't beat Kazama, but if I can distract him...yep. I am definitely...about...to...use my...swoooooorrrrr
Heisuke, Harada, and Shinpachi: *SURPRISE STABS OF NAKAMA*
Kazama: WHAT. THE. FU...
Saito: FINISHING MOVE STAB
Kazama: *dies*
Amagiri: Hi I am fine now! Also BTW I know this handy cure for vampirism. Bye!
We get a short summary of what happened to the country and Shinigami afterwards, which was like 25% happy ending, 70% TRAGIC BUT NOBLE DEATH IN BATTLE, and 5% tuberculosis, but I guess that is what actually happened to those dudes.
And then Saito and Chizuru go live with the Aizu in exile and ponder how things change and wonder if maybe the world will be more peaceful now...as they head into the early 20th century...
...and then they live happily ever after. CALLING EACH OTHER BY THEIR FIRST NAMES AND EVERYTHING.
The End.
And no, we never see ANYTHING of Demon Princess Sen or Evil Twin Kaoru, and Chizuru never actually uses her damn sword. I am pretty confident the first will happen in some other path, but as for the second...*sigh* Still, even if her being passive and devoting herself to him wasn't the most subversive arc ever they were clearly both devoted to each other and he was adorably concerned with consent especially for a Japanese het male love interest.
At least I'm guaranteed some more vampire angst. Afaict every love interest becomes a vampire on his path. I don't feel like seeing Saito's bad ends right now, but apparently that happens with a mix of general bad choices and/or letting the "corruption" grow by not letting the love interest drink Chizuru's blood. OH WELL, IF IT'S FOR THE GREATER GOOD....
Not sure who I'll do next. Maybe Hijikata, the game clearly wants you to, to the extent that he and Chizuru have moderate UST even when I was actively avoiding his path. And he is pretty cute.
Otherwise, Heisuke is a sweetie pie and I'm almost used to his weird sprite expressions. And Harada is both cute and charming. Most of the others seem ok but I am wondering how well fleshed out the new ones are, and also if I can bring myself to romance THOSE BASTARDS Kazama and Sanan.
I've heard there are groups of love interests with similar plots, I remember Saito and Hijikata being part of the group it's good to play first but not the others. I'm also not sure if I want to do each group one by one or do one of each group to get a feel for the overall plot then pick and choose.
WE SHALL SEE.
Oh also I checked Saito's Warrior Record at my last save, at the start of the final chapter, and he was in full bloom and middling corruption after I followed a walkthrough completely.
5 hours total playtime for the whole game, which doesn't seem like that much until I remember there's TWELVE paths, and it's not clear how many scenes will be repeated between them...
Next: Hijikata Part 1
Part 2
Background information and links to other reaction posts
Time for the second half of the story!
Which it absolutely is, like, Kyoto Winds does end at a pause in the story where certain things have been tied up, but it's just a pause. You really want to see what happens next. And I know the Steam page says it's "part one of a series" but so is Dragon age Origins, you know?
Anyway my spoiler free review of Hakuoki (based on Saito’s romance) is that I really liked it! If you like the sound of enjoyably tropey samurai+supernatural romance with bittersweet longing and baddass fights and Team Bonding give it a shot. Just bear in mind it starts out VERY SLOW.
**Spoilers**
So, I was saying to a friend that I really like the complex emotional stuff going on with vampirism in these games:
It worked REALLY well with all the Samurai Honour and sacrificing yourself for the cause and the line between honour and corruption when you're murdering people and dealing with messy politics, especially since it's becoming increasingly clear that their way of being warriors is doomed, both because of the rise of guns, and because the political faction they are dedicated to is on the verge of being destroyed.
"what do you become to achieve your goals in that situation"
"losing your humanity" made literal
And then I watched the trailer for Edo Blossoms and uh...
ALSO VAMPIRES ARE HOT
(I can't believe I had no idea Hakuoki had vampires when I bought it)
Looks like everyone's trading their long pretty hair and pretty kimonos for medium length pretty hair and pretty 19th century suits. I can live with this.
(except Yamazaki, who is committed to the way of the mullet ninja)
I did have a moment of urrrgh associations with late 19th century/early 20th century Japanese soldiers and double checked everyone was too old to have been involved in the invasion of Korea or work with Nazis.
ANYWAY. TIME TO BOARD THE SAITO TRAIN TO ANGSTY VAMPIRE MAKEOUTS.
Ah, I saw some speculation about how a sequel to a dating sim would handle previous points: it doesn't. You just choose any of the dudes and it shows their story. (I ASSUME, since I JUST PICKED SAITO)
And there is a like 4 page summary of the previous game's events which doesn't even mention your hot evil twin or being a demon etc. It will be a fun surprise for new players, I guess!
Aaaand I am reminded of an annoyance I hadn't mentioned before: the DUMBASS NAMES whoever created the steam achievements chose, they are all anachronistically silly and disconnected from the tone of the moment, which throws me out of the story.
*Checks I can still save and looks at the Warrior Record*
OH NO HE HAS A CORRUPTION METER (it's low. FOR NOW) Also he's "Closed"??
YOU WERE IN FULL BLOOM FOR HER SAITO DID THAT MOMENT WITH THE SWORD RELATED HAND TOUCHING MEAN NOTHING
Aw, cinnamon roll vampire Heisuke offers some advice on making Saito look after himself better as a vampire, and gives some medicine for if Saito gets vampire!sick. Also he is the only person to refer to Saito by his given name, Hajime, and it's adorable.
(If you're curious, Saito refers to Chizuru by her family name, Yukimura, with no honorific)
Chizuru decides to explore her old house for vampire info to help Saito, and...
OMG CHIZURU'S DAD
Chizuru: DAD!!! :D :D
Me: Chizuru did you forget your dad is evil
OMG CHIZURU IS ADOPTED
EDIT: This is never brought up again.
Dad: But I always cared for you as my own daughter. No, more, because...
Dad: BECAUSE I KNEW YOU WOULD BE LORD KAZAMA'S DEMON BRIDE :D :D
Chizuru: Oh that's right my dad is evil D:
Dad: The humans will fight amongst themselves and demons shall RULE JAPAN :D :D
Ah so the real villain wasn't imperialism it was DEMONS. Fair enough.
Chizuru: What happened to make my dad so evil??
Me: Ah, poor girl, he was always evil but you never noticed...
Dad: BWAHAHA! I USED TO BE A WEAK DEMON TAINTED BY HUMANITY BUT MY VAMPIRE POTION HAS MADE ME STRONG
Me: righto
A wild Saito appears! He fights Chizuru's dad!
Dad: Ha, as if a human could defeat a demon! *starts throwing ACTUAL SCALPELS*
Saito: *wipes the floor with him, because Chizuru's dad may be a demon on steroids but he's still a doctor with no combat training throwing scalpels*
Dad: WAIT MY BLOOD IS FREAKING YOU OUT. YOU ARE A VAMPIRE DOOMED TO BECOME A MINDLESS BEAST WHO PREYS ON THE INNOCENT :D *stabs self with his own scalpel*
Saito: *starts losing stoically*
Me: This is...quite the first meeting between boyfriend and parent, huh.
Scalpel dad:
Amagiri *appears*: SO WE HAVE ORDERS. AWAY FROM HERE. AND THESE HUMANS I DO NOT KNOW OR CARE ABOUT.
Dad: But I wanted to kill this vampire :(
Amagiri: If this man...who I do not know...is a vampire he's doomed anyway.
Dad: Fiiiine.
Saito, standing in full sunlight, stabbed, resisting bloodlust, angsting: I'm...fi... *is not fine*
And then you get the choice to offer him blood, offer medicine, or Make him Endure. GUESS WHICH LEADS TO AN IMMEDIATE GAME OVER.
The walkthrough said "offer him blood" but I was like "He just went to SO MUCH EFFORT to resist blood, and I got this medicine especially" so I did that and it didn't help and he was just sick and miserable for HOURS so I felt bad and redid it.
I was rewarded with SEXY GENTLE BLOOD DRINKING where he is super polite and can't look at her afterwards and she's like "Aw, I guess drinking someone's blood would be pretty awkward, poor guy".
And uh, looking at this walkthrough there is a lot more sexy blood drinking in my future. Oh no :D
And then it's WESTERN UNIFORM MAKEOVER TIME. Everyone is baffled by how to use buttons. A surprising amount of manly chest is on display considering the waistcoats and cravats, though Saito is sensibly buttoned up.
Ohhh Kondou doesn't die he just slowly descends into becoming a bad leader :( (Also apparently he has a wife and kid! This is mentioned once)
It's also occurred to me that, since I'm on the Saito specific path now, anyone else can die D:
Also, Chizuru's dad has developed an EVEN BETTER vampire serum for the Imperialists and I think Sanan is going to try to swap Chizuru for it D:
Checks: am at 50%...open buds, I guess? And mid level corruption :/ I've only been playing for an hour and a half, this is SO much more fast paced. I'm at around the end of chapter 2 of four.
AND THEN I PLAYED FOR THREE MORE HOURS STRAIGHT UNTIL I WAS DONE
It was really good! Blood drinking with understated mutual pining, bittersweet final stands, and a fairly satisfying conclusion.
So: Saito's backstory is that he's samurai class-wise, but noone respected him because despite his evident skill he is left handed which is Doing It Wrong. Also he was challenged to a duel by an aristocrat and won, and even though that was what he was "supposed" to do he was charged with murder and stripped of his samurai status. He wandered adrift until joining the Shinsengumi, who welcomed anyone, even commoners, and made him believe in the Path of the Warrior again. (the word "bushido" is said a lot in Saito's path, and translated various ways) He vowed to follow Hijikata and Koundou's orders without question until he died, presumably in battle.
(What was Saito's family like? He never says, and Chizuru ruefully decides there's no point asking)
Also: through the (many many) political ups and downs, the one people who have been the most steadfast supporters of the Shogunate, and the Shinsengumi, are the Aizu domain.
Of the remaining captains: Okita is dying of tuberculosis (why he didn't become a vampire is presumably explained in his route), and Harada and Shinpachi got so angry at Koundou's leadership decisions they left to fight Imperialists their own way.
AND APPARENTLY YAMAZAKI DIED OFF SCREEN AND NOONE MENTIONED IT BEFORE.
So, low on numbers, and with no other allies, the remaining Shinsengumi are in the process of moving to Aizu, staying in temporary lodgings as they travel.
But somehow the bad guys have found out the location and are attacking in huge numbers! Worse, the vampires Sanan (evil) and Heisuke (nice?) have vanished!
Me: OH NO DID SANAN TURN HEISUKE TO THE DARK SIDE???
Chief Koundou has been increasingly depressed and useless recently but he stands straight and tells everyone to run, he'll hold the bad guys off. Commander Hijikata says he'll stay too.
Saito: We should all stay and fight. We might win.
Hijikata: But how embarrassing would it be if we all died? Instead, you can lead the Shinsengumi into the future.
Saito: Ok dad ;_;
As they escape they see THAT BASTARD SANAN telling the enemy how best to murder EVERYONE.
I didn't think he could fall lower than my expectations BUT HE DID.
Not wanting the sacrifice to be in vain, they keep running. More A+ sexy blooddrinking with mutual pining ensues.
And then...Hijikata arrives to meet up with them! Along with cinnamon roll vampire Heisuke who had been trying to stop Sanan :D :D
But Koundou is dead and even though I have been expecting it for like 50 hours I teared up. The bad guys called him a farmer and refused to give him an honourable death but he faced his doom with pride ;_;
Saito angsts about possibly turning into an evil vampire like Sanan one day and Chizuru tells him she has faith in his ability to know what is right and do it, no matter what.
Hijikata's orders are to leave the Aizu to die while the main Shogunate forces go elsewhere.
Saito: ...no. That's wrong. I cannot abandon them.
Hijikata: Did you just disobey my direct order?
Saito: nnnngggg........yes.
Hijikata: MY LITTLE BOY IS ALL GROWN UP :D :D
Saito: I'M NOT CRYING I'M FINE
Hijikata: Anyway everyone lets say our heartfelt goodbyes to Saito before he dies in the hellscape of death this place is about to become.
Chizuru: I'm staying.
Hijikata: Did you hear the bit about a hellscape of death?
Chizuru: *stares lovingly at Saito* Yes.
Saito: What. *stares in loving shock at Chizuru*
Hijikata: *observes Chizuru and Saito* Come on everyone lets let them have a nice tragically romantic death in peace.
And then Chizuru and Saito have a very romantic mutual declaration about staying by each other's sides, not because of orders or duty but because they just...want to, and kiss, knowing that tomorrow brings their death and I'm not crying I'm fine.
At this point I was like 85% sure they wouldn't die but that 15% of doubt sure gave it some extra pathos.
The night before the big battle:
Chizuru: Let's stop worrying and have sex
Saito: AGSDFHJ....ok :)
And then it fades to black.
They go to storm the Castle Of Evil Vampires when...Harada and Shinpachi (who left to do their own thing) show up!! HOW CONVENIENT.
They're just done fighting a bunch of vampires when one manages to choke out a moderately long tragic backstory about being a farmer who was honoured to be invited to the Imperial Army before he realised it involved being experimented on, and then he TURNS INTO DUST.
They go into the Vampire Castle and are being overwhelmed by vampires and Chizuru's evil dad cackles about how Saito's vampire powers are sucking his life force so he won't have long to live.
Cinnamon roll vampire Heisuke: Yeah well, YOLO!!! You guys escape while I kill Chizuru's dad :D
And then he presumably does, because we never hear about her dad again.
Demon Lord Kazama: Oh look the fake demon brought me my wife :D Not like you have any good reason to protect her any more I guess.
Saito: I ALONE DEFINE MY DESTINY. STAB STAB STAB.
Kazama: THESE STABS ARE TOO POWERFUL WTF *goes super saiyan*
Saito: Oh no now his stabs are too powerful D: D: *endures much woobifying stabbing*
Chizuru: Maybe I should use my sword?
Amagiri: *stabs*
Kazama: WHAT THE FUCK AMIGIRI *stabs*
Amagiri: He is...the truest samurai...I have ever met....*urk*
Kazama: HE IS A LOSER FAKE DEMON *stabs Saito some more*
Chizuru: I mean obviously I can't beat Kazama, but if I can distract him...yep. I am definitely...about...to...use my...swoooooorrrrr
Heisuke, Harada, and Shinpachi: *SURPRISE STABS OF NAKAMA*
Kazama: WHAT. THE. FU...
Saito: FINISHING MOVE STAB
Kazama: *dies*
Amagiri: Hi I am fine now! Also BTW I know this handy cure for vampirism. Bye!
We get a short summary of what happened to the country and Shinigami afterwards, which was like 25% happy ending, 70% TRAGIC BUT NOBLE DEATH IN BATTLE, and 5% tuberculosis, but I guess that is what actually happened to those dudes.
And then Saito and Chizuru go live with the Aizu in exile and ponder how things change and wonder if maybe the world will be more peaceful now...as they head into the early 20th century...
...and then they live happily ever after. CALLING EACH OTHER BY THEIR FIRST NAMES AND EVERYTHING.
The End.
And no, we never see ANYTHING of Demon Princess Sen or Evil Twin Kaoru, and Chizuru never actually uses her damn sword. I am pretty confident the first will happen in some other path, but as for the second...*sigh* Still, even if her being passive and devoting herself to him wasn't the most subversive arc ever they were clearly both devoted to each other and he was adorably concerned with consent especially for a Japanese het male love interest.
At least I'm guaranteed some more vampire angst. Afaict every love interest becomes a vampire on his path. I don't feel like seeing Saito's bad ends right now, but apparently that happens with a mix of general bad choices and/or letting the "corruption" grow by not letting the love interest drink Chizuru's blood. OH WELL, IF IT'S FOR THE GREATER GOOD....
Not sure who I'll do next. Maybe Hijikata, the game clearly wants you to, to the extent that he and Chizuru have moderate UST even when I was actively avoiding his path. And he is pretty cute.
Otherwise, Heisuke is a sweetie pie and I'm almost used to his weird sprite expressions. And Harada is both cute and charming. Most of the others seem ok but I am wondering how well fleshed out the new ones are, and also if I can bring myself to romance THOSE BASTARDS Kazama and Sanan.
I've heard there are groups of love interests with similar plots, I remember Saito and Hijikata being part of the group it's good to play first but not the others. I'm also not sure if I want to do each group one by one or do one of each group to get a feel for the overall plot then pick and choose.
WE SHALL SEE.
Oh also I checked Saito's Warrior Record at my last save, at the start of the final chapter, and he was in full bloom and middling corruption after I followed a walkthrough completely.
5 hours total playtime for the whole game, which doesn't seem like that much until I remember there's TWELVE paths, and it's not clear how many scenes will be repeated between them...
Next: Hijikata Part 1
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Date: 2018-06-29 11:27 pm (UTC)I find it really interesting that letting someone drink your blood is the 'low corruption' option -- I wasn't actually expecting that to be the case, I just went along with it because it seemed right to me (and, y'know, sexy blood drinking CGs). I wasn't expecting the game to agree with me!
But I guess if you're thinking of it in that metaphorical sense, then it totally makes sense that building strong relationships with people (who will willingly give up their blood to you) is a good way to help you stay sane ...
On non-blood-related topics ... Chizuru's dad is such a dick!!! And deserves to die offscreen.
I kind of love that Saito's angsty backstory is ... that he's left-handed. I mean, obviously it is not just that, but still. Left handed.
Their love declaration is so sweet! And neither of them expect to be happy but ahhhh ;_;
no subject
Date: 2018-07-01 12:50 pm (UTC)Yes, it makes sense for both watsonian and doylist reasons :)
Hijikata's path tried to make me care about stabdad and really didn't succeed. STAB STABDAD.