Wow, it's been a couple of days now. For the most part, I've been playing a game called Shira Oka. I really enjoy it, but after seeing a good amount of the random events in the game, the endings I still need to get tend to drag on. Here's a super simplistic, but a bit long, review for the game.
In Shira Oka, you play as a guy who is a total no-good loser. No friends, he goes to the bar all alone. All of a sudden, he gets sick with a fever. He wakes up , totally burning hot, and sees a strange girl in his room. She explains that she's Satsuko, and has sent him back in time so he can try to do better and not be a loser. You get to do a character creation, in which you name the guy and set your stat points, it;s a pretty typical process. Some things of note though are the "sliders" for things like intelligence, fitness, creativity, and charm. They can slide one direction or the other. As an example, for intelligence, you can choose whether you're organized, clever, or in-between. These sliders can effect the way things happen in the game. You also choose a blood type and star sign, which also has an effect on the character and events. Then there's Quirks. At first, the character REALLY sucks. but if you spend XP points on the quirks, you can fail less. But they;re expensive. You meet 10 characters that you can get endings for. 8 girls: Aya, Alice, Kiku, Rena, Naoko, Suzu, Yui and Kasumi; 2 guys: Hiroshi and Kazuki. I'll say this here for anyone who plays: The game require that you go for Kasumi last! no matter what you do, you can't see her ending until you've seen everyone else's end.
During the game, you do activities like Literature, Math/Science, Fashion, Chatting, Art/Music, Sports, etc. that raise corresponding stats. Raising the school related ones helps you keep good grades, which is important. In Shira Oka, you can be sent back to the beginning if you get a certain number of bad grades. That's why it's also important to raise the non-school stats like popularity and fashion, because you can also be sent back for not getting close to anyone. Those things are unimportant to a couple of characters, but most do care. Unfortunately, it's a long process. You go through almost 4 years in the game. The first cycle you will always die. It's unavoidable. But even in subsequent cycles it's pretty common to fail at getting an ending. Luckily, you get to keep some of the knowledge you've learned from previous cycles. that's why I personally recommend getting the memory quirk early on: you can more easily remember things that have happened and make a good impression on characters with the things you know.
However, getting more endings also makes the game a bit harder. The more endings you get, the higher grades Satsuko expects you to get. So Instead of sending you back for a certain number of F's, it can get to the point where she sends you back for a certain number of Cs. Maybe even Bs, if I've heard correctly. I'm not that far into the game yet myself.
For an Indie game, Shira Oka is of a fairly High quality and features voice acting from some pretty well-known voices (Laura Bailey and Stephanie Sheh to name a couple). The on-screen character animation is also fairly good. the BGmusic is ok, but it tends to get on my nerves after a while. However, the Opening, Intermission, and ending themes are pretty cute and have vocals and subtitles.
For some numerical scores:
gameplay: 6/10 While some of the things in this game are interesting, after a while, doing the activities for stat boosting become a chore, and I personally see the same random events a bit too often.
music: 8/10. Well done
voice acting: 8/10 also.
Art: 9/10 For an indie game, it's really good
replayability: 9/10 At least until you get to the True End, then unless you're a true 100% completionist, it's not worth it.
Overall, I highly recommend this game. There's a bit of something for everyone: Endings that are complete tearjerkers to upbeat and somewhat silly endings. Some girls may feel a bit awkward having to play as a guy and get girl's endings, opposite for guys who have to get the 2 guys' endings. But it's ok. In the end, it's not really about romance, but about helping the character with a problem. Yes, there is a slight bit of romance, but it's mostly hinted at. There is no kissing or anything beyond that in this game, other than the quick kiss Satsuko gives the player every near year's, which is only mentioned in-text.
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