Operation Backlog Completion 2024

Celebrating All Things Romantic: Nekopara Vol. 4

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 032023
 

The Nekopara series continues to surprise me.

After reading through Nekopara Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3 in past years (not to mention the otome spin-off Catboys Paradise), this year I moved on to Nekopara Vol. 4 anticipating another story of Kashou starting a relationship with more catgirls.

So it’s quite a surprise that I’m mainly counting this as a “Celebrating All Things Romantic” review by virtue of the series itself fitting in the theme.

The past entries featured Kashou getting to know the catgirls who help him manage the patisserie La Soleil, helping them through their problems and conflicts at the same time. In the fourth volume, however, it’s the protagonist himself who takes the center stage.

An encounter with his father, who disapproves of his work in the patisserie and tells him his cooking is still lacking, leads Kashou to question himself and what it is that he’s missing. This entry largely focuses on his conflict with his father and his personal journey to overcome his doubts. It’s quite heartfelt, and its messages are surprisingly wholesome.

It’s still filled with catgirl antics and funny moments, but the focus was much more on Kashou’s character development.

Of course, this is Nekopara, so the lack of romance is mitigated if you get the 18+ version (or the 18+ patch). While this entry might not include any new relationships, the main character still has six catgirls to spend time with. What’s more, I learned that the 18+ content of Nekopara Vol. 4 actually contains alternate scenes as well, where if you say you’re in the company of other people, you’ll be presented with a different intimate/romantic scene instead of a sex scene.

I also learned that the console versions of the Nekopara games are not the same as the all-ages Steam version after all, but replace the sex scenes with different scenes.

That’s more complicated than I expected from Nekopara, but then again, it’s a series full of surprises. In short, Nekopara Vol. 4 does not focus on romance as much as the others, but will still have its share of romantic scenes and/or related activities depending on the version you play. Meanwhile, the core story is a surprisingly wholesome tale about fulfilling your dreams and seeing what drives you.

Volume 4 is currently the last game in the Nekopara series, although a new game called Nekopara After La Vraie Famille was announced in 2021. And don’t forget, you could win a Steam collection of the Nekopara series by participating in this year’s contest!

Valentine Video Games Festival: Nekopara Vol. 3

 Celebrating All Things Romantic, Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Feb 142022
 

We’ve come this far, so why not keep going? For our Valentine’s Day review, I continued on and played Nekopara Vol. 3.

Just like how the previous main volumes each picked two catgirls to highlight, Volume 3 focuses on Maple and Cinnamon.

Maple has a secret dream she has convinced herself can never come true, while Cinnamon wants to support her in any way she can. It’s up to the protagonist to help them through these conflicts… and of course become romantically involved with them along the way.

(The story acknowledges the silliness of this ever-growing harem and his insistence on prying into people’s business.)

Like in Vol. 2, you might be surprised at the emphasis on the story here, simple though it might be. It has a good message about following your dreams and even digs into the protagonist’s own backstory and motivations a bit. I’d be tempted to call it wholesome, except, well, Nekopara has a reputation for fanservice for a reason.

It has its share of ecchi content as usual, and even the all-ages version makes it very clear when the H-scenes occur in the 18+ version, with the characters even discussing them afterwards.

Aside from that, it tells a nice story with a number of sweet and funny moments (even Shigure had some funny lines, or maybe I’m just getting used to her).

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Nekopara has a very specific audience in mind, but if you aren’t in it for the fanservice, what you end up with is a lighthearted, fluffy romance story. The romance in this one didn’t feel as central, but it made up for that with a bit more following the characters and their new relationship after the main conflicts were resolved.

If you enjoyed the previous Nekopara games, you’ll most likely enjoyed Nekopara Vol. 3 as well, for a new romance story with your group of catgirls. What better to talk about for Valentine’s Day?

(And don’t forget, the whole Nekopara series is among the prizes you could win in this year’s contest!)

Nekopara – Catboys Paradise is Cute, but Feels Like an Intro

 Reviews, Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , , ,
Jul 162021
 

Yesterday saw the release of Nekopara – Catboys Paradise, the free otome entry in the Nekopara series.

Catboys Paradise started as an April Fools’ joke, but it got such a positive response that they turned it into a real visual novel. So, what is it like?

You play a young woman who recently inherited a café and needs to learn how to manage it along with four catboys who are there to help her, all of whom are eager to win her affections.

If you go into it expecting strictly a gender-swapped Nekopara, that’s not exactly what you’ll be getting. Instead of the animated sprites that always impress me in Nekopara, this one features regular still sprites (so no, you can’t pat your catboys’ heads whenever you want to). It is also split across four routes, with a common route leading up to a single choice where you need to pick which character’s route you want to follow.

Instead of the harem setup of the main Nekopara stories, Catboys Paradise instead has you focus on one catboy to get closer to in his route, with a few comments that suggest a true harem is impossible (although it’s also emphasized that the protagonist wants all four to be her “housecats” eventually).

Each of the four heroes is entertaining and loveable, and it’s a really cute story with some pretty funny moments. However, it feels more like an introduction to a story than a complete story in its own right.

You learn a little bit about the characters and grow closer to them, but it never makes it all the way to romance and ends feeling like it’s the prologue to your story with these characters. I hope that means they intend to make a full catboy Nekopara game if this is popular enough, because I’d love to see more.

If they do, I hope they reverse their decision to have a silent protagonist. Unlike the Nekopara protagonist, who gets his own dialogue, the Catboys Paradise heroine only communicates through nods and emotes.

And that gets really awkward in conversations, since the catboys have to repeat whatever she “says” so the player knows what it is, and more involved conversations mean they’ve got to repeat quite a bit. She’s a silent protagonist in a story that wasn’t written to support a silent protagonist.

It’s still a cute story, and Nekopara – Catboys Paradise is worth checking out if you want a free, cute catboy otome. I just hoping it’s leading to a more complete experience later down the line.

 Older Entries