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alias_sqbrMasterlist of Code Realize posts
So for Christmas I got a copy of Code Realise :D :D
This is a Steampunk dating sim by Otomate, creators of Hakuoki, about fictional characters like Dr Frankenstein etc in Victorian London. I'm enjoying it so far!
Playing on the couch requires a little more energy than lying in bed, so this will probably end up being a bit spread out. Plus I'm still poking at Nameless to write some fic.
This is my first time playing a visual novel on the Playstation, which will be exciting. If past experience is any guide Cam is totally going to walk into the loungeroom during any especially weird sex scenes(*) but on the upside the graphics look very pretty on the big screen! (I've mainly been playing these games on my itty laptop)
I'm using the default name, Cardia, I'm not sure if it's voiced but she seems like a pretty established character so I'm not expecting to do much roleplaying.
Cardia: Who am I? Where am I? Why do I exist?
Cardia's dad: You will lead the people from God's cradle to the expansive world of knowledge.
WAIT IS SHE A ROBOT
OR SOME OTHER SORT OF SCIENTIFIC MONSTROSITY
:D :D :D
Dad: But because I love you, I must keep love from you. The more you know of love, the more you must suffer. Because you...are a monster.
Me: :D!!!
Six years later, 1853:
It just occurred to me that screenshots are going to be a pain in the butt. I actually pressed the screenshot button by accident while searching for the options button but have no idea how I'd get them from the Playstation to my computer. (The options button is NOT the "option" button. That's the auto button. Obviously)
OOH A GLOSSARY. JUST LIKE HAKUOKI
Telling me...what binoculars are. Thanks, Otomate!
Wait was that Okita (Showtaro Morikubo)?? OMG IT IS. HE'S PLAYING THE ROMANCEABLE INVENTOR IMPEY BARBICANE :D
Also he apparently played Kuzco in the Japanese version of The Emperor's New Groove, if you want an idea what he sounds like haha.
Everything's in third person omnipotent point of view now, which is interesting.
Impey and someone I assume is Gentleman Thief Lupin are staking out a heist against hexagon-decorated royal guards run by a man called Rempart Leonhardt...wait looking at his full sprite that is some heavy duty bee imagery IS QUEEN VICTORIA SOME SORT OF HIVE MIND BEE CREATURE??? She definitely seems to have more power in this universe than she did in the real world, so. A bee creature seems entirely plausible (or maybe she just thinks bees are cool) I'd make fun of his name but to be fair I'd have laughed at Impey Barbicane too and that's 100% authentic 19th century European.
Leonhardt has his guards surround a seemingly abandoned mansion, on behalf of the mysterious Twilight task force, which is run by a man called Finis.
Leonhardt: So this is where the monster has made it's den...
The glossary tells me Queen Victoria is "A competentbee leader who prioritises the expansion of her realm". I wonder if this game will explore colonialism like Hakuoki did. Using the glossary feels more natural on the console, I couldn't be bothered on the PC. Aww "For the purposes of this game, aether exists", my science communicator heart is glad they are making sure their Steampunk game doesn't teach players bad physics.
WAIT. WE'RE IN WALES?? DOES THAT MEAN PROTAG IS WELSH???
Ok from now on, in my head the in-universe voice of Cardia is Eve Myles.
Ooh Leonhardt has been given a special monster detection detection device. Was he sent by Cardia's dad? *has had Dad expectations set very low by Hakuoki*
Leonhardt is endearingly grumpy at having been given vague but alarming information like "The creature's touch causes flesh to melt and fall away". As the soldiers cautiously explore the abandoned building it feels like the start of a horror movie. They bash in the door to a dark room filled with an unsettling number of toys, in the center is an unmoving shadow. And then the moon comes from behind a cloud and the shadow moves it's head, revealing herself to be an ethereally beautiful girl, looking almost like another doll.
*hands game prize for best introduction of a dating sim protaganist*
And now we're finally in Cardia's head again! She wanted to dream forever, and is sad she was woken by these unfamiliar men, with their dogs that remind her of being chased in the past.
Soldier: Can this girl really be the monster?
Cardia, internally: Yes :(
The soldiers' dogs don't like her, and one bites her and then...ok wow, that's gross. LET'S JUST SAY IT DIES.
Cardia watches with fatalistic melancholy as the soldiers now react to her with fear. Awww but Leonhardt says not to point their guns at a lady. I mean, it's sexist, but at least he still sees her as a person. He politely asks her to come with them, and seeing no alternative, she agrees. She wonders if they're going to kill her and feels relieved at the idea. She has only one regret...
Haha Cam came in and nothing exciting was happening onscreen but he looked at me in horror as I described the dissolving dog scene with glee.
BOOM! HEIST TIME!
Lupin stands silhouetted on a crumbling tower, looking very Tuxedo Mask. ...why are you wearing a mask if you're just going to tell them your name? Maybe it's a pseudonym. *knows nothing about Arsène Lupin*
Lupin apologises to Cardia for stealing her in a gentlemanly French way (using "watashi" pronouns, which is interesting /weeb) He picks her up and and reassures her that he will make sure not to touch her skin, I am expecting a lot of glove porn in this game.
Hahaha he made his silhouetted "body" explode and uses the smoke to pretend to be Leonhardt giving orders, angrily accusing the real Leonhardt of being the imposter. As they escape, Lupin is boyishly delighted with his own cleverness. Aw but when he realises Cardia is sad he immediately gets concerned, but since it's existential despair at her own existence there's not much he can do.
Ok I am 90% sure they're writing "mademoiselle" but he's saying "Ojosan". Anyway he says he's here...to steal her heart! Literally?? But in exchange he'll fulfil one wish.
A deep seated desire bubbles up from where it had been repressed deep in Cardia's heart.
Cardia: I want...to touch you. To feel your warmth. Is that possible?
Lupin: Your wish is my command, mademoiselle.
Out of context that's sweetly romantic but in context it's more "are they going to murder each other??". Which is the best sort of romantic :D
Opening credits!
Cardia dreams of the past (we later find out this was two years ago). She woke alone in the abandoned mansion with no memory of who she was. But her father had left a note with numbered rules. The first rule is: Never leave this mansion. And at the end it says "I promise I will come back for you. But you must follow these rules, because...you are a monster."
She broke the rules, and brought misfortune on those who tried to love her. And then she kept herself shut in her room for a long, long time.
(Does she not eat?)
She wakes in a field and blinks at Lupin.
Lupin: Are you overcome by how handsome I am? That happens to me every time I look into a mirror ^_^
Aw Lupin was just trying to make her laugh so she'd show an expression other than "sad" and "blank". He offers her breakfast then asks how eating works for her, apparently stuff dissolves very quickly but she can taste it, and it's a long time since she ate.
Ha, I was curious because his voice seemed vaguely familiar, and Tomoaki Maeno's been in a bunch of stuff, notably White Blood Cell from Cells at Work and Michele Crispino from Yuri on Ice. Lupin's nothing like either of those guys, but he looks like Shin from Amnesia in a fancy hat.
Cardia is disturbed to know he found out about her from secret government files on her, and dubious about his claims to being a thief of justice.
Ooh. So her heart is a gem containing unlimited energy called the Horologium. Cardia's Mysteriously Vanished Evil Scientist Dad, Isaac Beckford, created it then put it inside his own daughter. He also invented the NeoSteam Engine that made everything steampunk, and created "Steel London" (like regular London, but METAL), appointed a successor, and vanished.
HMM WHAT DOES THIS REMIND ME OF. But the emotional vibe is different to Hakuoki even if the setup has some similarities.
Lupin: Let me know if you have any other questions! My question for you is: do you really have the Horologium embedded in your heart?
Cardia: Yes, let me show you *starts undoing clothing*
Lupin: o.O
I saved a screenshot but have no idea how I'll get it here (edit: OK I can save it to a USB stick, but that was too much hassle so I just googled and tried to avoid spoilers). Anyway, she has a big fancy pattern of gems all along her décolletage which is not where the heart is but never mind. Googling Horologium brings up some interesting time and astronomy related links, hmmm!
Cardia: Can you tell me anything about the Horologium?
Lupin, blushing: Yes, once you put your clothes back on.
And I may stop there for now!
I looked up the other main characters' voice actors.
Arsène Lupin: Tomoaki Maeno aka White Blood Cell, Michele Crispino
Abraham Van Helsing: Junichi Suwabe aka VICTOR NIKIFOROV
Victor Frankenstein: Tetsuya Kakihara aka Shin from Amnesia, "often plays the uke in BL"
Impey Barbicane: Showtaro Morikubo aka Okita from Hakuoki
Saint-Germain: Daisuke Hirakawa aka Rei from Free
Also a bunch of them are in Uta no Prince-sama and Diabolik Lovers.
From the bottom going clockwise: Cardia, Van Helsing, Saint-Germain, Impey, Frankenstein, and Lupin in the centre.
Lupin wasn't wearing a top hat in any of the promotional images I found but he has one in his sprite, with little cogs on it because STEAMPUNK.
Anyway this was fun, I will definitely be playing some more. Note that I haven't had any choices yet! I also haven't seen any of the love interests other than Lupin on screen, I feel like I'm being pushed towards him pretty hard so far. Which is fine cos he's cute and likeable! Though Frankenstein the shy looking scientist with the uke voice is looking pretty good too.
Also, Otomate protagonists tend to be a bit passive and cluelessly spacey, but that works pretty well with a suicidally depressed amnesiac who has never really spoken to other people before.
(*)Back in the dark ages when I mostly watched anime on dvds in the loungeroom, Cam had this amazing ability to only ever walk in during fanservicey moments, even when they were the only such moment in the whole show. It's given him a somewhat skewed idea of my tastes (I say, playing a dating sim where the only screenshot I've taken is of the protagonist's boobs)
So for Christmas I got a copy of Code Realise :D :D
This is a Steampunk dating sim by Otomate, creators of Hakuoki, about fictional characters like Dr Frankenstein etc in Victorian London. I'm enjoying it so far!
Playing on the couch requires a little more energy than lying in bed, so this will probably end up being a bit spread out. Plus I'm still poking at Nameless to write some fic.
This is my first time playing a visual novel on the Playstation, which will be exciting. If past experience is any guide Cam is totally going to walk into the loungeroom during any especially weird sex scenes(*) but on the upside the graphics look very pretty on the big screen! (I've mainly been playing these games on my itty laptop)
I'm using the default name, Cardia, I'm not sure if it's voiced but she seems like a pretty established character so I'm not expecting to do much roleplaying.
Cardia: Who am I? Where am I? Why do I exist?
Cardia's dad: You will lead the people from God's cradle to the expansive world of knowledge.
WAIT IS SHE A ROBOT
OR SOME OTHER SORT OF SCIENTIFIC MONSTROSITY
:D :D :D
Dad: But because I love you, I must keep love from you. The more you know of love, the more you must suffer. Because you...are a monster.
Me: :D!!!
Six years later, 1853:
It just occurred to me that screenshots are going to be a pain in the butt. I actually pressed the screenshot button by accident while searching for the options button but have no idea how I'd get them from the Playstation to my computer. (The options button is NOT the "option" button. That's the auto button. Obviously)
OOH A GLOSSARY. JUST LIKE HAKUOKI
Telling me...what binoculars are. Thanks, Otomate!
Wait was that Okita (Showtaro Morikubo)?? OMG IT IS. HE'S PLAYING THE ROMANCEABLE INVENTOR IMPEY BARBICANE :D
Also he apparently played Kuzco in the Japanese version of The Emperor's New Groove, if you want an idea what he sounds like haha.
Everything's in third person omnipotent point of view now, which is interesting.
Impey and someone I assume is Gentleman Thief Lupin are staking out a heist against hexagon-decorated royal guards run by a man called Rempart Leonhardt...wait looking at his full sprite that is some heavy duty bee imagery IS QUEEN VICTORIA SOME SORT OF HIVE MIND BEE CREATURE??? She definitely seems to have more power in this universe than she did in the real world, so. A bee creature seems entirely plausible (or maybe she just thinks bees are cool) I'd make fun of his name but to be fair I'd have laughed at Impey Barbicane too and that's 100% authentic 19th century European.
Leonhardt has his guards surround a seemingly abandoned mansion, on behalf of the mysterious Twilight task force, which is run by a man called Finis.
Leonhardt: So this is where the monster has made it's den...
The glossary tells me Queen Victoria is "A competent
WAIT. WE'RE IN WALES?? DOES THAT MEAN PROTAG IS WELSH???
Ok from now on, in my head the in-universe voice of Cardia is Eve Myles.
Ooh Leonhardt has been given a special monster detection detection device. Was he sent by Cardia's dad? *has had Dad expectations set very low by Hakuoki*
Leonhardt is endearingly grumpy at having been given vague but alarming information like "The creature's touch causes flesh to melt and fall away". As the soldiers cautiously explore the abandoned building it feels like the start of a horror movie. They bash in the door to a dark room filled with an unsettling number of toys, in the center is an unmoving shadow. And then the moon comes from behind a cloud and the shadow moves it's head, revealing herself to be an ethereally beautiful girl, looking almost like another doll.
*hands game prize for best introduction of a dating sim protaganist*
And now we're finally in Cardia's head again! She wanted to dream forever, and is sad she was woken by these unfamiliar men, with their dogs that remind her of being chased in the past.
Soldier: Can this girl really be the monster?
Cardia, internally: Yes :(
The soldiers' dogs don't like her, and one bites her and then...ok wow, that's gross. LET'S JUST SAY IT DIES.
Cardia watches with fatalistic melancholy as the soldiers now react to her with fear. Awww but Leonhardt says not to point their guns at a lady. I mean, it's sexist, but at least he still sees her as a person. He politely asks her to come with them, and seeing no alternative, she agrees. She wonders if they're going to kill her and feels relieved at the idea. She has only one regret...
Haha Cam came in and nothing exciting was happening onscreen but he looked at me in horror as I described the dissolving dog scene with glee.
BOOM! HEIST TIME!
Lupin stands silhouetted on a crumbling tower, looking very Tuxedo Mask. ...why are you wearing a mask if you're just going to tell them your name? Maybe it's a pseudonym. *knows nothing about Arsène Lupin*
Lupin apologises to Cardia for stealing her in a gentlemanly French way (using "watashi" pronouns, which is interesting /weeb) He picks her up and and reassures her that he will make sure not to touch her skin, I am expecting a lot of glove porn in this game.
Hahaha he made his silhouetted "body" explode and uses the smoke to pretend to be Leonhardt giving orders, angrily accusing the real Leonhardt of being the imposter. As they escape, Lupin is boyishly delighted with his own cleverness. Aw but when he realises Cardia is sad he immediately gets concerned, but since it's existential despair at her own existence there's not much he can do.
Ok I am 90% sure they're writing "mademoiselle" but he's saying "Ojosan". Anyway he says he's here...to steal her heart! Literally?? But in exchange he'll fulfil one wish.
A deep seated desire bubbles up from where it had been repressed deep in Cardia's heart.
Cardia: I want...to touch you. To feel your warmth. Is that possible?
Lupin: Your wish is my command, mademoiselle.
Out of context that's sweetly romantic but in context it's more "are they going to murder each other??". Which is the best sort of romantic :D
Opening credits!
Cardia dreams of the past (we later find out this was two years ago). She woke alone in the abandoned mansion with no memory of who she was. But her father had left a note with numbered rules. The first rule is: Never leave this mansion. And at the end it says "I promise I will come back for you. But you must follow these rules, because...you are a monster."
She broke the rules, and brought misfortune on those who tried to love her. And then she kept herself shut in her room for a long, long time.
(Does she not eat?)
She wakes in a field and blinks at Lupin.
Lupin: Are you overcome by how handsome I am? That happens to me every time I look into a mirror ^_^
Aw Lupin was just trying to make her laugh so she'd show an expression other than "sad" and "blank". He offers her breakfast then asks how eating works for her, apparently stuff dissolves very quickly but she can taste it, and it's a long time since she ate.
Ha, I was curious because his voice seemed vaguely familiar, and Tomoaki Maeno's been in a bunch of stuff, notably White Blood Cell from Cells at Work and Michele Crispino from Yuri on Ice. Lupin's nothing like either of those guys, but he looks like Shin from Amnesia in a fancy hat.
Cardia is disturbed to know he found out about her from secret government files on her, and dubious about his claims to being a thief of justice.
Ooh. So her heart is a gem containing unlimited energy called the Horologium. Cardia's Mysteriously Vanished Evil Scientist Dad, Isaac Beckford, created it then put it inside his own daughter. He also invented the NeoSteam Engine that made everything steampunk, and created "Steel London" (like regular London, but METAL), appointed a successor, and vanished.
HMM WHAT DOES THIS REMIND ME OF. But the emotional vibe is different to Hakuoki even if the setup has some similarities.
Lupin: Let me know if you have any other questions! My question for you is: do you really have the Horologium embedded in your heart?
Cardia: Yes, let me show you *starts undoing clothing*
Lupin: o.O
I saved a screenshot but have no idea how I'll get it here (edit: OK I can save it to a USB stick, but that was too much hassle so I just googled and tried to avoid spoilers). Anyway, she has a big fancy pattern of gems all along her décolletage which is not where the heart is but never mind. Googling Horologium brings up some interesting time and astronomy related links, hmmm!
Cardia: Can you tell me anything about the Horologium?
Lupin, blushing: Yes, once you put your clothes back on.
And I may stop there for now!
I looked up the other main characters' voice actors.
Arsène Lupin: Tomoaki Maeno aka White Blood Cell, Michele Crispino
Abraham Van Helsing: Junichi Suwabe aka VICTOR NIKIFOROV
Victor Frankenstein: Tetsuya Kakihara aka Shin from Amnesia, "often plays the uke in BL"
Impey Barbicane: Showtaro Morikubo aka Okita from Hakuoki
Saint-Germain: Daisuke Hirakawa aka Rei from Free
Also a bunch of them are in Uta no Prince-sama and Diabolik Lovers.
From the bottom going clockwise: Cardia, Van Helsing, Saint-Germain, Impey, Frankenstein, and Lupin in the centre.
Lupin wasn't wearing a top hat in any of the promotional images I found but he has one in his sprite, with little cogs on it because STEAMPUNK.
Anyway this was fun, I will definitely be playing some more. Note that I haven't had any choices yet! I also haven't seen any of the love interests other than Lupin on screen, I feel like I'm being pushed towards him pretty hard so far. Which is fine cos he's cute and likeable! Though Frankenstein the shy looking scientist with the uke voice is looking pretty good too.
Also, Otomate protagonists tend to be a bit passive and cluelessly spacey, but that works pretty well with a suicidally depressed amnesiac who has never really spoken to other people before.
(*)Back in the dark ages when I mostly watched anime on dvds in the loungeroom, Cam had this amazing ability to only ever walk in during fanservicey moments, even when they were the only such moment in the whole show. It's given him a somewhat skewed idea of my tastes (I say, playing a dating sim where the only screenshot I've taken is of the protagonist's boobs)
