Ayakashi: Romance Reborn ~ RIEview
Downloading Ayakashi: Romance Reborn was unexpected. When I went onto App Store that day, I had only intended to do some browsing – like window shopping, if you will. Although come to think of it, that's how people who don't have plans to shop end up spending way more when the temptations hit them in the face.
Or in my case, the attractive screenshots on the App Store.
I decided to give it a go, not feeling confident on how long I would be playing this. As one familiar with Voltage Inc., the company behind Ayakashi: Romance Reborn, I knew what I was getting myself into. An otome game, with romanceable guys of different personalities to reach their target audience, held together by a solid storyline and pretty graphic art to make sure their readers stay hooked.
Voltage Inc. has two modes of gameplay: the make-your-choice visual novel and the Gree/Party mode. I personally prefer the visual novel, because the Gree/Party apps are designed to encourage social networking among players, which is crucial to gain the extra coins that you would need to clear the missions that pop up in between chapters. While I will go into more detail on Voltage Inc. (and my experience with their games), Ayakashi: Romance Reborn is a different mode from what Voltage Inc. used to provide.
(Obviously I'm stating this based on the English versions that they have released. They may have released the Japanese version earlier or maybe simultaneously with their Gree/Party apps. I do not have that information as 1) my Japanese reading skills is on an infant level, and so 2) I can't read full-on Japanese text with some kind translator translating everything for me.)
WARNING: There are spoilers in this review, but it's nothing too major (i.e. giving the ending away etc).
Game Plot
You play as the titular main character Futaba Saotome (name changeable) who came in contact with a mystic wand that awakens her powers as an Onmyoji Diviner. As the saying “with great power comes great responsibility” goes as courtesy of one friendly neighbourhood superhero, her powers awake right at the time as evil terrorises her neighbourhood. But like all heroes, she will need all the help she can get to save the day and get to the bottom of the chaos.
While this may sound like the plot to almost every superhero story, Ayakashi manages to deliver – with three different main storylines nonetheless! You might be wondering what I’m talking about, but Ayakashi split their characters into three groups or factions as it is called: Dawn, Twilight, and Night. Each faction focuses on five characters, bringing fifteen romanceable characters in total. That’s right, these characters can be romanced in their own routes under each faction’s main storyline.
So, basically, each faction’s story is divided into two parts: the first part tells the story of the shared bond between you the MC and the five characters, while the second part focuses the lens on the character of your choice. The second part, that is the character-specific routes, showcases Voltage’s creativity where each route is unique. By unique, I mean that each character routes have different conflicts that the route aims to develop the character by the end of each route.
Once you finish a character route, the ‘Romance Sonnet’ for that character will be made available to you. However, just like the main story and the character routes, you will need a key to read it. Not the main story key, but the ‘Romance Sonnet’ key, which can only be earned in the Milk Hall. You will have to equip higher skill character cards to get a higher rank, thereby increasing the drop rate of the key!
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| The importance of high ranks! |
Moving back to the plot, I personally enjoy reading the stories. I am basing my experience with the released Dawn and partially released Twilight stories, as the other half of Twilight and all of Night faction are yet to be released. By release, I refer to the translation and programming of the English versions of the stories. All factions are released in the Japanese app, which makes sense as that is the first (and original) version of the stories. But not to fear if you’ve read them all! Every month there are event stories that Voltage Inc. releases, and you don’t need to use your main keys to unlock the stories, as the section on Events will explain further…
Verdict
Based on the currently available main and event stories, I give a rating of 4.5 out of 5. The story is interesting, and great in ensuring players will sympathise with the main character as she navigates through the many circumstances. I took off 0.5 for some character inconsistencies, like how Major Aizen was a total jerk in Koga’s route but more civil in Kuya’s and Ginnojo’s route. While I understand that Aizen is a supporting character, there has to be some consistency on his character. I mean, even the villain has consistency in his character, so surely Voltage Inc. could do the same for Aizen?
Character Diversity & Personality
Ayakashi has 15 romanceable characters, each with unique background and personalities that may be attributed to their past. Like all otome games, there are character troupes that players would be familiar with – the tsundere, the ‘do-I-look-like-I-care’ person, the much older romanceable character (AKA the uncle), the childhood friend…
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| The 15 dateable characters. The numbers in pentagon indicates the bond level with each character. |
It is important to note that the stories play an important role in determining how the character of interest will develop in their individual character route. Based on the available character routes, each character route has done well to provide a character flaw and then narrate in a way that the character was able to overcome said flaw. Note that while I did say it’s a flaw problem, in some routes there may be more than just flaw. For example, in Koga’s route, while there’s his ‘I-can-handle-this-by-myself’ attitude that was problematic, the other problem is his hereditary illness.
Verdict (4.5/5)
In a nut shell, great cast of characters, a bit predictable for some on the flaws and/or issues to be addressed in the individual character routes. With the exception of some inconsistencies for some characters, of which some are not released yet in the English version, I give a score of 4.5 out of 5.
Game and CG Art
Some background information: Voltage Inc. has released many otome games prior to Ayakashi, although Ayakashi is less visual novel as its seniors and more hands-on gaming. The similarity between Ayakashi and the other Voltage Inc. otome games is the art style. The art is especially beautiful in the CGs, which are the special character graphics that Voltage Inc. captures the special scenes. You will also see CGs on SR and SSR cards, both cards that can be found in diamond draws and the event-limited draws.
I generally like the art for most Voltage Inc.'s games, and this is definitely one of them. Unlike their older games, the home screen of the game allows you to set the character of your choice (or not, if you just want to be fair to all characters like me!) and see them come to life! By come to life, I mean that they actually move (like arms and torso) and changing expressions depending on what they say. Oh, have I mention each character is voiced?! Now there's a reason for you to finally unmute your phone while you're playing!
Verdict
Great art, as expected from Voltage Inc. 4.5, with 0.5 points taken off for characters with weirdly out-of-place facial expression and/or anatomy...
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| Yura, that kind of look can get you into a lot of trouble if you weren't looking at sweets... |
Game Mechanics
As I've mentioned in the previous two sections, Ayakashi is a different game approach to the typical Voltage Inc.'s games. It used to only be the Visual Novel and the Party version, which of course Ayakashi does not fall into either of the types. I would say that Ayakashi is sort of similar to Uta no Prince Sama and Love Live!. Even then the similarity really only stops at just the way the storyline is roll out (where the story is unlocked chapter by chapter instead of one whole chunk like past Voltage Inc.'s games), and the button functions like gacha (or draw) and viewing your card collection.
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| Home screen of the game |
It is surprisingly easy to get a hang of the game play. For one, it is less demanding in requiring your full attention as you can auto-patrol. Patrol is the way to unlock mini stories in the form of patrol chats, allowing you to gain gems that you will need to level up your cards, and is also a great way to gain exp (short for experience) for both the cards you put on patrol and your own player level. Each patrol will consume a number of LP (short for), where the LP limit will increase every time your player level increases until it hits the maximum of 200LPs.
Once you complete all patrols in the area once, you get to go on HQ orders. This uses SP, and unlike LP, they do not increase with every increase of your player level. You can only accumulate 10SPs at most, and any extra will disappear. HQ orders help to increase the bond level of characters you used, as well as gaining friend points which you can use to draw cards from the points draw.
Verdict
While the game may be different from the usual visual novel or Gree/Party versions that Voltage Inc. produced before, this game is no less easy to learn. Even if you’re stuck or forgotten what to do, there are FAQs everywhere. You can find the general FAQ in the Menu (top right of the home screen), or if you need help in, say, the Milk Hall, tap that question mark and get the direct help you need. So overall, a solid 5 out of 5 for game mechanics.
In-Game Events
While the team work hard to translate the main stories to English, at some point avid readers will be up to date with the latest chapters and be stuck waiting for the next update. So to combat the possibility of players dropping the game, Ayakashi releases events to keep players’ interest in the game alive. There are a few kinds of events they have released so far:
Story events, where the event revolves around a story that features a selected cast of characters. Each of the 10-chapter story is unlocked through accumulating points, which are earned from the four modes of event duels: Weak, Average, Strong, and occasionally Powerful. Each mode will give different amount of points, and uses different amount of SP depending on the battle power of your deck. The event duels will appear randomly in the event-specific patrols.
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| January 2020 Event, with the limited SSR Ginnojo upon achieving 1 million points |
In conjunction with the event, Ayakashi also releases an event draw of event-limited cards that will boost the points you can get from the duels. The event-limited cards consist of 1 SSR and 2 SR cards, and each card is different in element! I should mention that the element strength for the duels rotate each event, so you can get tech (the green element) as the Strong duel in one event but as the Weak duel in another event.
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| Event draw for February 2020 event |
Romance patrols, which is similar to the main story patrols. While the story events appear once a month, the appearance of romance patrols is subjected to the developers.
Special draws, which should not be confused with the draws that will provide point-boosts in the story events. For this year, Ayakashi has set to released birthday draws for the characters in their corresponding birthday month. At the time of this writing, April is Oji’s birthday month, so the special card in the birthday draw is Oji’s SSR card. Of course, whether you are able to draw his card even in the 10X pulls is purely dependent on your luck and the game’s algorithm.
Verdict (5/5)
With different events appearing every month, you can guarantee Ayakashi maintains the players’ interests in the game as the team works hard to translate the rest of the character routes. For this reason, I give a 5 out of 5 for in-game events.
To conclude, Ayakashi: Romance Reborn is worth downloading if you're looking for a game with: 1) a solid storyline, 2) diverse cast of romanceable characters, 3) great graphics for the eyes to feast on, 4) constant updates of events to keep the boredom away, and 5) easy to master mechanics for beginners. So what are you waiting for? Go download it now!
~ RieRie
~ RieRie
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