Otome Game Review: Amnesia V

Sorry for the huge (and uncalled for) hiatus! Life has been pretty rough lately and I haven't had the time to update or play much. However, life is starting to calm down so I can start blogging a bit more regularly!

So today I bring to you another game review for a PS Vita title; AMNESIA V. I haven't seen any reviews for this title yet (at least, from blogs that I have read). So I hope this helps a bit!

AMNESIA V
PS Vita (2013)
Otome, Visual Novel
AMNESIA V page


This version of the game is just a PS Vita port of the original PSP game that came out back in 2011. In December of 2013, Otomate released two of their more popular titles on the PS Vita; Hakouki and AMNESIA.

Note: I have never played the PSP version of the game so this review is based entirely on the PS Vita port.


STORY

I am here to help you!

The basic story to this game is that you, the Heroine, wake up in this really pretty world. It looks like a dreamy version of space in my opinion (sorry I couldn't find an image of it and I can't remember how to take screencaps with my vita... I'll update this eventually.). You then encounter this person named Orion. He looks pretty much like a 10-year old boy. Orion asks you a bunch of different questions about various things. Basically says you have gotten into an accident and while you were unconscious, something happened and he is trapped in your conciousness which gives you (wait for it...) amnesia! The only way to get Orion out of your head is to head to one of these "worlds" to figure out where your memories went. There is a catch though; you cannot let any of the guys find out you have no memories. This is bad (apparently) because you will either be sent to a hospital or be taken advantage of which will then lead to you having Orion in your head longer and you will then turn into a vegetable. So this is no bueno. You pretty much have to live life "normally" with no one finding out your secret... Fun times right?

After Orion explains everything to you, you basically get to choose what route you start off with out of the following:

♥ Heart = Shin
♠ Spade = Ikki
♣ Club = Kent
♦  Diamond = Touma
≈ Joker = Ukiyo (You cannot play his route until you play ALL the other guys routes)


CHARACTERS

There are a total of 5 guys you can date in this game.

From top to bottom and left to right; Shin, Ikki, Touma, Kent, and Ukiyo.

Shin: He represents the "heart" route. Shin is 18 years old and is a childhood friend. He is a total tsundere.
Touma: He represents the "diamond" route. Touma is 20 years old and is another childhood friend. He is the big brother type with a darker side...
Ikki: He represents the "spade" route. Ikki is 22 years old and is a playboy. He has his own fan club.
Kent: He represents the "club" route. Kent is 25 years old. Him and Ikki are best friends. Kent is a genius and is a bit socially awkward.
Ukiyo: He represents the "joker" route. Ukiyo is 24 years old and is an excellent photographer. He is an interesting character with a dark side as well...

The game also has it's fair share of sub characters. They are all different and really bring out the story in each game.

Left to right; Sawa, Mine, Rika, and Waka.

Sawa: She is the heroine's best friend. Sawa has a very bright and cheery personality and she is very dependable.
Mine: She is younger than the heroine (I believe shes a year younger than Shin). Mine also works at the same cafe as you. She is your typical cute Japanese girl.
Rika: A sophisticated older woman. She is the leader of Ikki's crazy fan club.
Waka: He is the owner of the cafe where you, the five guys, Mine, and Sawa work at. His personality varies between the routes.


GAME PLAY

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

 The game play for AMNESIA V is basically the exact same thing you will find in a typical visual novel; you are prompted with three (sometimes more) choices to choose from that dictates how your story will unravel. It's pretty simple. There are no mini games that randomly pop up either (which is really nice). It is a pretty straight forward game.

However if you are not used to walls of text, it can be a drag. Most visual novel style games feature nothing but a lot of text. It's pretty much like reading a book but you get pretty pictures. Bonus though is that the guys change their facial expressions depending on what is being said. That way if you don't know Japanese well or at all, you aren't at a 100% loss.

Ending clues

 An interesting thing with this game is that there is something called "parameters" that you can look at. There are three bars that tell you whats going on. If I remember correctly, one is how people view our home girl, how much she is trusted, and if the the boys are suspicious of our heroine having no memories. Touma is special and gets a different bar that I like to call the "bat shit crazy bar". When you play his route you will see... To be honest, I didn't really use this feature too much because I used a guide to play...

I love little bonuses!

When you get the good or normal ending (I think its the good one) you unlock this. This feature is just extra little scenarios that occur along side the games story for each guy. Each person gets one scenario... I haven't listened to them just yet but from what I was told this was also available in the original PSP version as well. Also as you finish a guys good ending, you unlock their ending video clip to watch. Each ending has the same song playing but the pictures that show up are different between the different guys.

Jan, Ken, PON!

A new feature for this version of the game is that there are two mini games you can play; jan-ken-pon (rock, paper, scissors) and air hockey. The games are fairly simple and you can pick between the five boys to challenge. When you play against Shin its pretty funny (he is a pretty bad sore loser). Ikku and Kent's dialogue is pretty funny too (but Shin wins). I really enjoyed the mini game feature. It provides a nice break between the different routes as well.

As with all Playstation games now-a-days (ie; PS3, PS4, PS Vita....), there are trophies. Amnesia V is no different. There are a total of 26 trophies; 1 platinum, 5 gold, 15 silver, and 5 bronze. I would say all the trophies are really easy to get EXCEPT one (well two if you count the platinum but that doesn't  count because you unlock that automatically when you get the other 25 trophies)....

There is ONE thing that pissed me off beyond reason with this port; Still (Picture)Touch Voice. This.Feature. Certain photos within the gallery (as with all visual novel game, there is a gallery for all the CG's you unlocked) are marked with a rose (it looks like the roses that the heroine wears). These special photos have little voice clips that cycle through that gives insight to what the boys thought during that particular event. Each guy has (if I recall correctly) 5 photos each. Within those 5 photos, there are 5 different phrases these guys will spill. It's a pain in the ass. You have to touch the photo in certain spots to trigger the voices and sometimes the same phrase will repeat.... I still haven't finished unlocking all the voice clips (and yes I am a completionest so not having the trophy for this is pissing me off). It is an interesting feature but a frustrating one...

Lastly, this game has a TON of different endings. Shin, Touma, and Kent all have one good ending, one normal ending, and two bad endings. Ikki has one good ending, one normal ending, and three bad endings. Ukiyo on the other hand... he has a grand total of SEVEN bad endings, one good ending, and one normal ending. A perk with this game (as with a lot of other visual novel games in general) you have the option to save in multiple areas. So you can dedicate a save file for the guys different endings. I usually use one file per guy but with Ukiyo and Ikki I had to use at least two different save files (due to how many different endings they had). I like a variety of different endings (I am a huge fan of bad endings) but I felt that giving Ukiyo freaking seven bad endings was overkill. Some were just super ridiculous and it got really boring after a bit... However don't let that deter you! All the guys good and normal endings (for the most part) are totally worth it! The reason why there are so many bad endings is because of the girl and her amnesia (ha!). There is another reason behind the large number but that is for you guys to find out


ART

Most adorable picture ever!

I really really love the art for this series. 花邑まい does the art and omg... It's just so breath taking... To be honest that is what really drew me into the game; its art. It's what actually kept me interested in the game as well. The details in each CG and each character is just amazing. I can go on and on about the art style but I won't bore you guys to death.


VOICE ACTING

This game has some amazing seiyuus featured. Kakihara Tetsuya is Shin, Taniyama Kishou is Ikki, Ishida Akira is Kent, Hino Satoshi is Touma, and Miyata Kouki is Ukiyo. I was honestly super excited for Kakki. He is super adorable... Ishida is another personal favorite of mine. I noticed he tends to voice act characters like Kent (I find it funny). The other characters also have fantastic voice actors as well. Each seiyuu really do their job at providing great voices for the characters! It really helps with the story.


MUSIC



The music in this game, to be honest, is ok. The background music is so-so but its not really annoying. I really enjoyed the OP and ED for the game though. I really enjoyed the ED song better though in this case.


RECOMMEND??

In all honesty, I felt this game was just ok. The story was a little weird and I felt some of the guys routes just dragged (like Shin and Ukiyo's). Orion got on my nerves at some point with how much he spoke but it is understandable since the heroine really just not talk that much at all. We need some commentary I suppose. But in some areas, it was just too much. One thing I really liked about the game (besides the art) is how different each leading guy is. It kept the routes a little more interesting. I liked how some of the guys changed from the start of the game till the end. It kept the story a little more interesting. However, the overkill with the bad endings got to me at some point and I just skipped some of them (*coughsukiyocoughs*). As a whole, the game is decent. It isn't the best but it's not bad either. In terms of difficulty, I would say its a 4 out of 10. It's not hard. The only hard part is trying to get through ALL the talking. It gets a little too much at some point... Especially if you don't know Japanese it just a bit daunting and its just like "No. Shut up and give me pictures.". At least thats how I felt and I can read Japanese for the most part... So I give this game a 3.5 out of 5.