I don't even know how to describe this game. The closest thing I can compare it to is Academagia, a fantasy life simulator where you play as a student in a magic school. Its not as complex and you don't need to read an essay of text every 20 seconds. However I learned its based off some Japanese game called Princess Maker where you raise a princess and force her into prostitution or something fucked up. Knowing Japan you'd probably end up fucking her too. So that raised some giant red flags. I first heard about this game from people posting shit all over the forums about it. I was looking for something to entertain me and so I decided to see what this was about. I checked their site, Hanako Games, where all you see are a bunch of Anime games. This sent more red flags but then I read on and I basically learned that its made by girls for girls.
For too many people, "games for girls" means nothing but bright pink and dolls and dress-up and shopping. Well, those can be fun, but there are plenty of girls whose lives don't begin and end at the mall. Fiction for girls (and young adults in general) often focuses on other common girl-interests, like horses, magic, and fantasy. So why aren't there more girl games with unicorns instead of prom dresses?
We are not just "girls games", although we are definitely girl-friendly. Anyone who likes fantasy and adventure, anime games, or just cute stuff is more than welcome here. We hope you will enjoy what you find and come back in the future to see what other games we have made. We may surprise you!
Want to make your own adventure? Join us...
Alright, you caught my attention. How are they going to pull this off. I remember talking about how the gaming industry is male dominated and there are not many games aimed at girls without it being shit. Well since there seems to be decent positive reviews it shouldn't be too bad right? Well, to tell you the truth it isn't.
You start off as Elodie, a 14 year old princess being pulled out of school and dragged to the castle to find out your mother has died and you will become the queen. You dad, King Dowager, the Duke of Caloris, is a stupid loser who doesn't know how to lead and forces you to do it. From what I assume its a matriarchal society in the kingdom of Nova but its never really explained why. Perhaps its explained in one of the history texts or if you play the game further but I never got there yet without being killed. Yes you can die and you will die A LOT. One thing I can't seem to remember though is the names and the titles. How the shit are you supposed to remember all this without some kind of journal or something so you can look up when you're trying to appoint some random asshole to lead some country where the king was assassinated.
Anyways so your dad is useless and you now rule over the entire country at the young age of 14 and everyone and their pet dog wants you dead. It throws you into a short tutorial where it explains the statistic screen. You have four mood meters: Angry and Afraid, Cheerful and Depressed, Willful and Yielding, Pressured and Lonely. Raising one will lower one of the opposite mood and vice versa. The one which is the highest or lowest of the four determines your current mood. You will get bonus to learning skills depending on your mood. Skills are broken down into 4 categories, each with multiple subcategories and 3 subcategories for each subcategory. For example, Social skill is broken down into the following subcategories: Royal Demeanor, Conversation, Expression. In Royal Demeanor you have: Composure, Elegance, and Presence. While in Conversation you have: Public Speaking, Court Manners, and Flattery. Then you have shit like Intellectual skills with the following subcategories: History, Intrigue, Medicine, Economics, Military. Overall in total you have 42 different possible skills to learn.
Again not as complex as Academagia but it will make anyone's head spin the first time you play. You can plan classes for any of the 42 different skills. One morning class and one evening class. These classes will last the week so you will gain 2 points for every weekday in the week. A total of 10/100 points per class if the bonus is at 0. When you see bonuses or penalties you should probably pick or avoid that. For example, if you're depressed you suffer a -2 penalty to Conversation skills. You will learn a total of 2 + -2 each day gaining a total of 0 for the week. However if she has +1 to Conversation you will gain 2 + 1 each day making a grand total of 15 points for the week. On weekends you can do stuff that will change your mood like playing with your toys, playing tennis, sneak out of the castle, and the list goes on. It will also have an event which can be anything simple from a person coming to the castle asking for funding for medicine for soldiers. If you don't have the proper skills you will fail the skill check and automatically reject the project.
Basically all the skills you learn are for skill checks. Certain events require you to have a certain amount in a certain stat to pass it. However you don't always need specific ones. For example when a maid crashes into you. If you have courtly manners high enough you can pass the check to accept her apology, to apologize or throw her in jail. If you fail that check thats fine if your Reflex skill is high enough you are able to dodge the whole thing. However shit will branch out and some options are hidden unless you have the right skills. Some will outright kill you without the right skills. For example one part I was riding on a cart to a party and we were attacked by bandits. Because I have enough Reflexes I was able to dodge the arrow. On my second play through I failed to level that skill and chose to go to the same party only to get shot and killed.
On my first playthrough I leveled my Intrigue skill up and with high enough Foreign Intelligence I was able to discover my crazy aunt's plot to steal my throne so I had her assassinated. Yes I'm a fucking 14 year old girl sending an assassin to kill my scheming evil aunt. Then when her son came to the castle you have inner dialogue going "He doesn't know I'm the one who killed her mother." Wow I just became this giant evil bitch. It didn't really matter though I was so focused on skilling up my Social skills and History and Intrigue that I neglected my Military skills. When the enemy attacked us I lost all my troops and he gave me a choice. If I dueled him to the death with magic he will leave everyone and everything alive if he wins. If he loses his army will leave. Or you can choose to fight to the end. Well I never picked up my magical girl super transformation crystal because I decided to wait until I was crowned the queen like a good girl so I wasn't able to duel him. He said he doesn't give a shit its either your head or the country. And I'm like I am the fucking country. So I ran from the duel and our armies fought and I got defeated then executed. The end.
Then another play though I decided to up my Military skill from the beginning only to fail to discover my crazy aunt's plot and she led a rebellion. It was that I either marry one of her sons and give up all power or die. Well I said fuck off and I was executed. Its much more fun than I expected it to be. Theres so much stuff to do, each and every play though will be slightly different. Maybe you get a little further, maybe you fuck up somewhere. But the things that happens always remain the same. The skill checks always remain the same. Sure you may be thinking. The title is all pink and fluttery it must be super girly. Not really. Other than the girly aesthetics like pinkness and your pink haired princess theres nothing that will stop a guy from going "Ewwww gay! Not touching!" Plus who the fuck cares about it being girly. You don't really go around shopping for clothes or gawking at guys. Sure there are some marriage candidates but they're all purely political. You can force people into marriage or break it off as well. Some are just outright creepy like a dude older than your dad that wants to marry you. Like fuck off. I dragged him to the executioner and had his head chopped off. Take that for girly.
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