Operation Backlog Completion 2026

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!

Celebrating All Things Romantic: Nekopara Vol. 2

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 052021
 

Three years ago, I played Nekopara Vol. 1 and Vol. 0 and found that they were silly yet oddly endearing stories, so this year I finally followed up with Nekopara Vol. 2.

Picking up after the events of the first volume, the protagonist is now managing La Soleil alongside the whole family of catgirls and trying to help them get along.

While the first Nekopara focused on Chocola and Vanilla, those two have a supporting role this time around, while Coconut and Azuki take center stage. The story starts out surprisingly strong compared to the previous one, as Coconut is struggling with self-esteem issues due to the mistakes she makes around the shop and Azuki’s harsh attitude toward her.

It has some genuinely sweet moments alongside the silly fanservice antics, although eventually the story loses its focus and becomes more about Coconut and Azuki recognizing their romantic feelings for the protagonist.

The romance focus is to be expected, considering the sort of game this is, but the ending felt abrupt to me. I thought there was more story yet to come, so I was surprised when I realized the dialogue was wrapping everything up for the volume’s conclusion. Of course, the 18+ version should be a bit longer since it has extra scenes (although the all-ages version makes it clear enough when those moments occur).

And once again, I’m impressed by the quality of the visual novel itself. The art and animated sprites look great, and even the ability to pet the characters at any point to get a voiced reaction from them shows that a lot of work went into it. People often look down on Nekopara as an example of bad or stereotypical visual novels, but it’s certainly not some cheap effort. Let’s just say it has a specific audience in mind and is laser-focused on giving that audience a good time.

Nekopara Vol. 2 is cute and silly, best-suited for catgirl fans but enjoyable enough even if you just want some lighthearted romance you don’t have to think too hard about.

I probably will pick up Vol. 3 and 4 someday, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, share your own thoughts on the Nekopara series and Nekopara Vol. 2 in the comments and don’t forget that every comment brings you closer to winning a prize in this year’s contest!

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