#**blog

I wanna ruin our friendship; we should be lovers instead

cheesy-ass belldom moodboard bc this is what i do in my spare time

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As I just recently discovered the joys of the PSP and PS Vita, I also rediscovered a love I once had years ago in the mobile game days of yore - otome games. I remember loving games from Voltage, my favorite being My Forged Wedding. I call it my favorite simply for the fact that it is the only one I actually recall the name of, but that is beside the point.

I started buying games from Japan in hopes that I could slowly begin to learn Japanese and use games as a tool (which is a process that is not going smoothly, apologies to my studying...) and ended up with a lot of otome games. So of course I started looking for any English translations I could find of them - official or otherwise. 

I did finally find the PS Vita port for Amnesia, a game I have a physical Japanese UMD for, but unfortunately it didn't grab me story wise like I thought it would, and I gave up on it. Then I tried another one I had a copy of physically; Diabolik Lovers. Again, I had to hunt down the files for Vita rather than PSP, but oh well. Again, I was disappointed... And disturbed. I never thought a vampire romance could make me disgusted, yet here we are.

The best thing about having modded hardware is the ability to have any game you want. Let's not dive into morality here - these systems are no longer in production or support, so let's not start with the "you should buy it" argument. It is nigh impossible for some of the titles available on these consoles - whether for availability or monetary reasons. Such is the case for the title I'll be reviewing here... Sweet Fuse: At Your Side for the PSP.

My play order was Shidou, Mitarashi, Wakasa, Meoshi, Mikami, Shirabe, Urabe. I probably would not recommend that order unless you're pretty sure you've put all the pieces of the underlying story together yourself - and definitely save Mikami for last. He unlocks after your first playthrough, but that doesn't mean you should jump right into it. I had already figured out most of the underlying lore anyway, so I figured I would go ahead.

This game is so lighthearted and fun, and doesn't take itself too seriously. I am usually a fan of more traditional romances, but when I read the description of this one, it immediately gave me Danganronpa thoughts and I just wondered - how the heck can you do a theme park Danganronpa romance otome game? Needless to say, they pulled it off with a great deal of imagination and laughter.

I am not going to get into details of the game and plot, as I highly recommend this game for the fun of it, and don't want to spoil anything. I will, however, give a list of categories and who my favorite love interests were for each.

Favorite character design: Shidou. The classically handsome cop? Sign me up.

Least favorite: Wakasa. Not a fan of the short kawaii boy band look.

Favorite personality: Mitarashi. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy him at first, but something about his humor and care for Saki stuck with me.

Least favorite: Urabe. There were moments that made me go "ew, Saki honey, no."

Favorite route: This one is tough. I liked the secret route of Mikami, even if simply for the ridiculousness of it, and I enjoyed Shidou as well.

Least favorite: Again, tough. The Wakasa boy band thing was a bit cringe, and Urabe's whole thing was a bit icky. I think I may have to go with Urabe here.