Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Celebrating All Things Romantic: Muv-Luv photonmelodies

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Feb 122021
 

Although I played Muv-Luv photonmelodies last year and even reviewed it over at VN Game Den, I waited until now to discuss it as part of our romance celebration.

It’s the second of the two short story collections translated as part of the Muv-Luv localization Kickstarter, and this one includes three stories.

Before I go any further, Muv-Luv photonmelodies is fairly dependent on you being familiar with the Muv-Luv story already, so if you’re a newcomer to the series, I suggest you stop reading this review due to the implied spoilers. (Instead, go take a look at the current contest rules to see how you could win a copy of the first Muv-Luv just by leaving comments on any blog post here!)

All right, now let’s get back to the photonmelodies review.

Unlike Muv-Luv photonflowers, which we discussed in 2019, even the stories set in the Alternative universe are on the lighter end of things (with “Adoration” being almost completely comedy while “Resurrection” has a serious start and climax with a lot of goofiness in between).

Then there is “Altered Fable: A Shimmering Shard of Spacetime,” which is set after the ending of Alternative in the new timeline.

Imagine Muv-Luv Extra, but with everything being even crazier. There’s a fair share of people who dislike Muv-Luv Extra due to it being a romantic comedy, but I found it to be pretty entertaining when I played it (and if you’re reading a “Celebrating All Things Romantic” blog post, I’m guessing you aren’t here for doom and gloom today) and enjoyed this twist on it as well.

It’s filled with silly situations, callbacks to Unlimited and Alternative, a spy story that adds a touch of seriousness to a mostly lighthearted story, and yes, romance routes.

I really enjoyed Muv-Luv photonmelodies, and while the darker parts of the series might be the most famous and beloved, it felt good to see all of these characters back in happy times for an extended story. It’s all good, silly fun, the sort of story that just makes you happy as you read it.

So if you’re wondering if Muv-Luv photonmelodies is worth playing, I’d say that depends on what you’re looking for. If the answer is lighthearted comedy and romance similar to what was in Muv-Luv Extra, then the answer is yes!

Have you played Muv-Luv photonmelodies? Share your thoughts on this lighter short story collection in the comments!

Celebrating All Things Romantic: LoveKami -Useless Goddess-

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 102021
 

Last year, we took a look at LoveKami -Divinity Stage-, which I found to be not worth playing unless you’re in it for the fanservice.

This year I moved on to the second game in the series, LoveKami -Useless Goddess-, and I’m pleased to say it’s much better all around.

Set in the same universe where goddesses have come to Earth to learn more about humanity, this story puts you in the shoes of a young man who finds a collapsed goddess named Akane and learns that she’s an Aragami – a goddess who does whatever she wants and causes trouble for humanity as a result.

She’s also supposed to be the goddess of the apartment building where he lives with his childhood friend (who is now his landlady), so when another goddess shows up with the intent of rehabilitating her, he decides to pitch in and help.

Like in the first LoveKami, there is a single choice partway through that leads to a scene with one of the three potential love interests and determines which route you’ll be on after the common route ends. And once again, one route feels more important than the others; since Akane is at the center of the main story, her route feels the most conclusive.

However, the other two routes still have interesting points and funny/sweet moments, and they aren’t all rehashes of the same basic story like in Divinity Stage.

It has a hefty amount of fanservice like its predecessor, but LoveKami -Useless Goddess- is worthwhile for more than the fanservice alone. To me, the main story of trying to rehabilitate Akane is much more interesting than the idol contest in the first game, and each heroine has a decent romance story as well. It might not be groundbreaking, but it’s cute and entertaining enough to be worth the few hours you’ll spend with it.

I recently picked up the third LoveKami title in another visual novel bundle, so we’ll get around to that eventually. In the meantime, share your own thoughts on LoveKami -UselessGoddess- in the comments and don’t forget that the first two LoveKami games are among the prizes you can win in this year’s contest!

Celebrating All Things Romantic: I’a I’a Cofflhu Fhtagnyaa

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  6 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Feb 082021
 

When you read the title I’a I’a Cofflhu Fhtagnyaa, you probably think one of two things: either “What is that nonsense supposed to mean?” or “Is that some sort of coffee Cthulhu joke?”

Yep, it’s a play on “coffee” and the “Cthulhu fhtagn” chant.

I’a I’a Cofflhu Fhtagnyaa follows a young man named Skar (or possibly Ska or Scar) who takes a job working a strange coffee shop recently taken over by a woman named Nako (or maybe Naiko). He meets two friends of hers and soon learns that something about this coffee shop is very strange…

…because the three girls are actually incarnations of Nyarlathotep, Hastur, and Cthulhu.

They’re fairly benevolent despite being eldritch abominations, which might be explained by there actually being more than one Cthulhu, etc., but since it also uses “Cthulhu” as a general term for all three, I’m not positive about that. You get a chance to back out for an early ending, but if you choose to stay on at the coffee shop, another choice will put you on the path of romancing one of these three entities.

When I saw this weird Cthulhu romance game pop up on Steam, I had to check it out. Unfortunately, the English translation is bad.

Really bad.

I’ve read visual novels with translation issues before, but in this case I believe it was machine-translated, because the whole script feels more like it was run through Google Translate than actually translated by someone.

It actually adds some unintentional humor, but it also makes it challenging to read. In addition to the awkward lines, the translation routinely mixes up pronouns and even changes character names.

There are a few other issues as well, such as a lack of proper text-wrapping, an odd screenshot delay that resulted in most of my screenshots having blank dialogue boxes, and a problem with the settings where the voice volume slider and the sound effect volume slider are swapped.

All of this is a shame, because it actually has the potential to be good. It’s pretty funny at times (when I understood what the dialogue was trying to say), the routes themselves are distinct from one another and have some sweet moments, and I’d recommend it… if it was readable.

For now, I sadly suggest passing on I’a I’a Cofflhu Fhtagnyaa, but if it ever gets a proper translation, it will be worth a look!

Oh. And you have to like tentacles. That comes up a few times.

Share your thoughts on I’a I’a Cofflhu Fhtagnyaa in the comments!

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