Harukoi Otome Review

[BookwormOtaku]

It's nearly two years late, but here's my review of Harukoi Otome:

 

http://gamesforadultsandeveryone.blogspot.com/2015/07/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-ja-x.html

 

Somehow, having completed a review of this game is making me feel elation comparable to when I finally beat the Dark One in Arc the Lad 2

[TexasDice]

I wouldn't have many problems with Harukoi Otome, if it wasn't just so fucking boring. It's the slowest, longest and most boring thing I've ever read. If a VN makes the reader check the clock every five to ten minutes, because scenes feel like they go on for atleast an hour, it probably has pacing issues.

 

Every single route in HO has that one time frame, in which the main character tries to understand his feelings for whatever girl is next on the list and is depressed. These segments are filled with hours worth of nothingness and redundancy.

It usually goes like this:

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

*Protagonist wakes up*

Protagonist: "sigh, I'm feeling down..." 

*monologue about feeling down*

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

*Protagonist walks to school*

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

Riru: "Hey, are you all right?"

Protagonist: "Yeah, I'm fine."

Riru: "You don't look fine at all."

Protagonist: "I'm fine."

Teacher: "We start doing homeroom now."

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

*monologue about feeling down*

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

 

I don't even exaggerate here, it's the same scene, over and over and over again, for each route. (Except for Riru's. In that one, she's replaced by more monologuing...)

 

I would never recommend this to anyone. Well, unless you try to kill yourself through sheer boredom.

[XReaper]

that moment when u start reading yuikas route, after struggling through umis & repeatedly smash ur head against a wall...priceless

[Jade]

Hey! Our first and second route rank is the same! The rest.....not so much, especially for Yuika's route but since it's been so long since i last play it i would not elaborate as to why  .

 

And yeah i have to agree about how tediously long and boring this game is, there are some good party true but i find myself pressing that skip button more often than not

[Berilium]

I think because of this VN I began to realize my hatred towars unecessary drama.

[XReaper]

wouldnt excactly call it unecessary drama. for me the main complaint in yuikas route has been, that the drama was nearly identical with the one in umis, also the way its been handled by the mc, so yeah you basically are forced to endure the same shitload of selfhatred & whining twice + the hardcore annoying stuff when your "buddy" gets involved, too. the one at fault is definitely the writer, who decided to go for the, what feels endless, spiral of depression, instead of something else, which could have kept the reader way more motivated to continue reading.

[Kawasumi]

ah yes one of the first VNs I played (I played this and the horrible translated cross channel, not the best start lol)

I straight up skipped the Yuika route, I kinda liked the others because I didnt know that there were any better VNs out there at the time, but Yuika just didnt seem interesting and certainly not after trying all the other heroines.

I actually liked sonias route though, but yeah, now when I look back, it was definitely Riru's route that was the best.

[Darklord Rooke]

Every single route in HO has that one time frame, in which the main character tries to understand his feelings for whatever girl is next on the list and is depressed. These segments are filled with hours worth of nothingness and redundancy.

It usually goes like this:

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

*Protagonist wakes up*

Protagonist: "sigh, I'm feeling down..." 

*monologue about feeling down*

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

*Protagonist walks to school*

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

Riru: "Hey, are you all right?"

Protagonist: "Yeah, I'm fine."

Riru: "You don't look fine at all."

Protagonist: "I'm fine."

Teacher: "We start doing homeroom now."

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

*monologue about feeling down*

Protagonist: "Sigh...."

 

I don't even exaggerate here, it's the same scene, over and over and over again, for each route. (Except for Rimu's. In that one, she's replaced by more monologuing...)

 

Sounds abhorrent 0.0

[TexasDice]

Sounds abhorrent 0.0

If I got a penny for every "sigh..."  in Harukoi Otome, I could buy six copies of it. One for each route.

[Decay]

Sounds abhorrent 0.0

abhorrent sums up Harukoi Otome perfectly. I have a feeling that bookworm was way too kind to it. Incidentally, the two best routes according to him are the only two routes I've played (besides half of Umi's), and they were both awful. They did have some almost decent slice of life stuff but the moment they try to be dramatic they become pretty much the worst things ever.

[Ene]

Harukoi Otome is a masterpiece.    said no one ever.  

[Toranth]

abhorrent sums up Harukoi Otome perfectly. I have a feeling that bookworm was way too kind to it. Incidentally, the two best routes according to him are the only two routes I've played (besides half of Umi's), and they were both awful. They did have some almost decent slice of life stuff but the moment they try to be dramatic they become pretty much the worst things ever.

"abhorrent" is inaccurate. Harukoi Otome is 100% mediocre. Average. There are many games out there that are worse. There are many that are better. Harukoi is a solid 5/10.

[VinnieSyarif]

I'm just wondering. Where's oikawa's route. (Kidding lol)

[BookwormOtaku]

On 12/29/2016 at 5:31 AM, VinnieSyarif said:

I'm just wondering. Where's oikawa's route. (Kidding lol)

That would be hard to do now...seeing as Koihime Musou revealed he'd been two timing the MC with Kazuto