Jump to content
  • entries
    25
  • comments
    131
  • views
    9014

Otomege Hakuouki for beginners


MaggieROBOT

1758 views

Hey everyone! Today I'll talk about one of the most popular japanese otomeges from one of the most popular japanese developers: Hakuouki! Seeing there's tons of releases/sequels/prequels/spin-offs of this game, in different platforms even, I'm doing a simple guide for everyone trying to start your journey but have no idea where to begin.

First, what is Hakuouki? It's a game by Otomate/Idea Factory, released back in 2008 for PS2, it tells you the story of some beautiful men in the Shinsengumi (that is, long story short, a special police force of the late shogunate period, 1864). The name of the guys are all from real existing persons, but some extra supernatural elements like demons and vampires were throw in the story for fun. If you're a fan of stories set in Japan's past so this game is just for you because the atmosphere is the best part of the game! Also with you like katanas. The main character is a bit bland and mostly useless, but the samurai boys are interesting enough! The fights are also fun, not super epic chuuni style, but good with some tragedy stuff. Also good to note is that it was first localized in 2012, a time where otomeges in the western market were still rare.

maxresdefault.jpg

Anyone wanted long haired bishies? They're all (except that second one from the left) so beautiful~

Still with me? Want to give it a go? Okay! Let's put things in order!

Looking at the english versions, the very first you should get is one of the following
    1) the Android or iOS version that's named simply "Hakuoki"
    2) the Memories of Shinsengumi version for 3DS, that have some side stories that wasn't included in the first PS2 version (that's also not included in the Android/iOS version);
    3) the Stories of the Shinsengumi version for PS3,  that also includes the fandisc (there's actually NO other way of reading the fandisc in english outside of this version); 
    4) the Steam version (the age check is because of violence and not porn), although I advise against this one simply because this version (also available for PSVita) was split in two parts AND PART TWO WASN'T LOCALIZED YET! YOU'LL ONLY BUY HALF THE GAME! Supposedly there new routes here, since it's a remake of the original, but you'll have to wait until next year to see the full game, or you can just pick the other versions. Part one's name is Kyoto Winds and part two is Edo Blossoms.

That's enough to understand the general idea of the game. Did you liked and want more? What's the next step? If you bought the PS3 version, read the fandisc, Hakuouki Zuisouroku, since it expands some stories of the main game (those stories aren't sequels, they happen in the middle of the first game)! And of course, there's some extra short stories for each of our guys, including ones that weren't available first time around! It's fun and fluffy most of the time, to break the serious atmosphere of the main scenario (Well, that's what fandisc are for...) ^.^ Unfortunately, you need to understand japanese to keep going...

Next entry in your journey is Hakuouki Reimeiroku, a prequel. The catch here is that title is not an otome. WHAT? Yeah, you read that right. The protagonist is a guy (no, sadly no BL), there's no romance to be found here and the focus is actually fighting, bloody fighting, even with the MC loses tons of them. And honor, friendship and loyalty stuff. Pretty cool actually, especially for people that don't play otomeges for romance! There's plenty of versions for you to choose (DS (should work with an emulator), PSVita and PS3), but no PC (I noticed that otomate seems to hate PC for some reason... ¬¬).

hakuouki-shinsengumi-kitan-full-908606.j

With no girls around, no BL is a waste of ikemens...

After that, comes Hakuouki Kaikoroku, a mobile game that expands even more the lore of the original. It's like a second fandisc, with more short stories and tons of interactions between our characters.

And, with that you just finished the main dish of the Hakuouki series! Wait, there's more? Well, of course, let's go over the spin-offs! I should note that all of them are completely useless to the lore, so only play them if you end up being a Hakuouki completionist.

On the serious side, we have the Urakata Hakuouki games (the first one and its fandisc). It's set in the same world of the main series, but with a new MC and new boys (all of them still based on real people). Weirdly enough, you can actually start here, since the story here is mostly recycling some ideas from the first game. So either you play this if you really REALLY liked the original's ideas or start with this title. This game also have RPG elements, something that didn't let the otomege fanbase all that happy...

On the silly side we have three more games: Hakuouki Yuugiroku and its sequel, just a collection of mini games with chibi characters and some short stories and CGs in between (but I don't think it's worth playing these for the story), and Hakuouki SSL, an officially made fanfic-of-sorts high school AU story. Yes, really. It's cute and happy, unlike the more serious main game, so if you want some giggles, this game is good enough.

2014-07-29-222421.jpg?w=550&h=311

Blush boys in a doki doki school scenario

And that concludes aaaaaaaaaall entries of the Hakuouki series. Phew! Was it worth? That's for you to decide. Lots of fans of the series were a bit annoyed by the constant milking of the frachise by otomate, but I think they finally stoped. I just hope they don't do same with Code Realize, bc I'm following this series for now, and I don't need more games than I can buy... In my humble opinion, a good place to stop is either after Reimeiroku or Kaikoroku. Or before Reimeiroku, if you're in for the romance.

Oh... there's still all those anime adaptations to talk about... Eer, this blog is about gaming so I'll stop here! For now. Next time, in BL news, I'll try to do my first review! :sacchan: Until then!

3 Comments


Recommended Comments

Hah, the part about AU high school spin-off got me by surprise. It sounds like an adaptation of a bad fanfic. :D

In a way I wish that was done more often though, sometimes after reading through a really tragic or suspenseful VN I wish I could see a story where these characters get a happy ending. Is the main game depressing enough to justify it? I usually think of otome as games that have a happy, romantic conclusion at least as one of the options. :)

Link to comment
2 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Hah, the part about AU high school spin-off got me by surprise. It sounds like an adaptation of a bad fanfic. :D

In a way I wish that was done more often though, sometimes after reading through a really tragic or suspenseful VN I wish I could see a story where these characters get a happy ending. Is the main game depressing enough to justify it? I usually think of otome as games that have a happy, romantic conclusion at least as one of the options. :)

Yeah, if you don't know the milking otomate, it surely looks like a fanfic XD

The main game have way more killing and sad backstories than your average otomege, so guess they did it for milk to make it super super happy, start to finish, but the conclusions are already nice and good. Just the path until the end is not that much.

Link to comment

I always wanted to play that VN since I own both anime seasons of it, but because of Otomate's PC paranoia the title was only available on consoles for the most time and I only play PC titles.

They seem to have lightened up a bit recently, since the title is now available on Steam. Unfortunately, it's apparently not complete yet, so I'm waiting for the full version.

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...