#ikegen

Design of the game

The game is based on historical characters and events of the past. Everything in this game is very traditional.

The sound of choosing options is like a wooden plate smacking against another (I love that sound). The menu style is cutely old‑fashioned.

The dollhouse interior and the characters' clothes are in traditional Japanese style. And the characters are breathing, not just blinking.

I don't have much furniture, and I like it better. The room looks similar to Sengoku, but the menu is the same as in Princes and Villains.

Gacha

It's not that different. There's a gold gacha where you get one free draw every day. There's a card gacha and an avatar gacha where you can use tickets or pearls. In this game we have pearls instead of diamonds – and I love it.

The tickets are the same for both (avatar and card), so you have to choose where to use them.

There's a point to collecting 10 tickets – you're guaranteed a 4⭐ card or avatar. But I'm not very lucky in this game. I only started getting 5⭐ cards about a year after. Just my luck.

When you start the gacha, you see an animation – a fox running to the top of the stairs. Pretty simple, but still cute.

There is a sign that there will be a 5⭐ card. A bird will fly next to the fox. I only noticed it once, so… I didn't make the video.

And if in other games there was a point to using every free draw in the gacha, here there's no such necessity. There's only one valuable item: kimono 5⭐.

Outside of that, there are pretty useless things (2⭐ cards, pretty plain clothes, and furniture). No tickets, no bottles, and of course no pearls. But there are small animals that sit on our girl's shoulder.

They are cute. But… too small. So if you wear bright clothes, it's easy not to notice them. Still, I find it cute, and it's really something I haven't seen in any other game. (There are pets in IkeRev or IkeSen, but they're part of the room decoration – it's different.)

Items from main route

The same as in any other Ikemen game: throughout the route, you'll collect a lot of clothes for our girl. But I think the combinatorics in this game is greater. For example, I bought premium hair on Tamamo's route, and after the next intimacy check, I got decorations that seemed to be made specifically for that exact hairstyle.

And I like premium clothes – they're fancy, richer, more beautiful. In IkePri and IkeVil, they're just bigger. And I don't want to make my girl look fat. Sometimes I even think that the normal avatar looks much prettier than the premium one. But here it's different.

One is beautiful, and the other is plain. Well, maybe just for me. I like bright colours.

Outing (analog of Salon and Escort)

It's actually very different from what we usually see in Ikemen games.

You do need to choose cards as usual, BUT they have to be with different characters. Why? Because you will see them.

This is how Outing starts: you see a map with several locations (six).

During the day, the boys move from one location to another. Sometimes they're all at different locations; sometimes two or even three are at the same place. And if that happens, and you choose that location, you'll hear a small dialogue between two characters.

Yes, I did say hear – they are voiced.

You can choose yourself who you'll take on an Outing, or you can push automatic mode (which jumps from boy to boy).

Why do you need to do Outings manually (outing together)?

Behind every 4‑ or 5⭐ card (and 3⭐ card from the main route) is a small story (3‑ and 4⭐cards contain one part of the story; 5⭐ cards contain two parts). The little number next to the symbol of the open book indicates this. If it's orange - it's already unlocked; if it's bleak - it's not.

To unlock the story, you need to do an outing with a boy for some time.

The unlocked story can be read through the library or on the card – the same way as in IkePri and IkeVil.

Another difference is there is no such thing as love levels. You don't need to choose the same boys all the time. With one exception. 

If the boy whose route you are reading right now is in your outing, you can get a short scene with voiced lines. There are in total 12 scenes. 

You can get the scene depending on:

how far you are in reading the route (1-8ch, 9-14ch, 15-20ch or 21-26), 

the time of the day (Japanese time) you make this outing (5-10am, 10-17, 17-5).

They show up pretty randomly, so collecting them is a bit of a problem (I read Yoshitsune's route twice, this is how I collect all of them). But... I find it quite challenging and fun. They are pretty short (two lines), but fully voiced. 

And you really hear the difference... from strangers (in episode 1) to madly in love (episode 4). Excellent job.

Another difference is the step of the outing, not 20 as usual, but 10. It can be quite convenient sometimes.

And the last one. If you for some reason need to spend more stamina you can eat... dorayaki.

I guess I should have expected a certain cat pretty soon... I collected a lot of them already, because I don't see much use for them. I have enough points to get through checks on the routes and there are no events anymore (sad).

Story mode

For reading some chapters of the story for the first time you'll get a present. It works only one time for each route. Pearls or gold (fixed present, you cannot choose it). But to do so, you need to push the symbol of the present under the chapter. You can do it anytime you like. It won't disappear if you change the route and return to it again.

You won't get the cards from the main route automatically (by reading the chapter with this card). To get it you need to finish the ending. One ending gave you the first card, the other - the second. I don't remember which is which. Even though they are 3⭐ cards they contain the story... the same you read in the main route, BUT from his POV. And it's extremely interesting. At least for me.

Again... these stories you need to activate first (using these cards in Outing).

Story

Actually there are a lot of little animations in the stories. The magic of different characters has different animations. Small, but very pretty. 

For example, the magic of Tamamo and Yoshino (MC). Every magical creature has its own magic. Not only animation, but also sound effects.

Kurama has an animation where he flies off. He's a bird after all.

I think it's very pretty… and it adds involvement in the world.

They used a pretty simple but effective way of significantly changing the sprites of the characters. Through the white...

And here we go... birdie and foxie with us. Cute...

I really love both zombie modes of Yoshitsune. First one you can already see in the prologue. The second one, the full zombie mode (did I just call Kurama zombie? Sorry honey!) I only saw on his route.

Another thing that I really love in the stories and didn't see it in any other projects... is... MC expresses strong emotions with one word.

Just think about it. If you have a sharp strong emotion that leaves you speechless you wouldn't think about it with a lot of words. Scary, painful, cold... and so on.. Just one word and it's like a lighting strike, you really feel how strong her emotion is. 

I don't wanna say that she doesn't explain her emotions in more detail, she does, but then the emotion strikes the most she thinks just one word. And this is so real. And I like it.

There are some pictures with monsters. Surprising right? There are several monsters in the game, the description gives you pretty vivid pictures, but some of the monsters have even images. I like it. The fact that we get more than picture of suiters is already a huge step.

Stories are very long and the development is very slow. Boys like to talk a lot. Through (usually) other characters you can learn about their past, historical or personal, and it's quite detailed. But starting from some point the story starts to spead up to the point "What the hell is going on?". 

We have, as usual, two (actually three) groups who are enemies, but it's not that simple. There are pairs of characters from different sides who share a common past, and that makes things very strangely complicated. You can only learn more about it on their routes... nobody else will talk about it. This game of unravelling more and more facts is strangely appealing and addictive. So… no wonder there were people who tried to combine all the information together, making chronicles of events (we have a very long story – the ayakashi live long lives).

As I mentioned before, the MC is different. Very different actually. She is still the same pharmacist who wishes to open her own shop, but the personality traits varied greatly. And I like that. The boys are different as well so they cannot like the same girl. And she is not the same. I know... Mai in IkeSen is awesome and she changes slightly from route to route, but... I still cannot say I really dislike her at some of them. I just feel annoyed sometimes. Here... I really wanna push her away and stand in her place sometimes. Benkei, bunny, you deserve so much better.

And finally... there are such things as rewards for your anniversary in the game – not based on how long it's been since you registered, but on how many days you've actually logged in. It's pearls or tickets. And it's always a bit of a surprise for me, since I have no idea how many times I've entered the game – I don't do it regularly. So any day might turn into a little celebration. I think it's nice.

I really love this game. Really, very much. And the only problem for me is how difficult it is to read it. I wish I liked Japanese at least a bit so I could learn it, but my brain refuses the idea, so for me it's like torturing myself. It's a shame that this game was never localized. I feel extremely happy that a few people actually did and some continue doing translations. That leaves me with hope that this game continues living, since it obviously deserves that...

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🔝 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 ℙ𝔸𝔾𝔼 🔝