#just some random fucking guy vs game of thrones actor i guess...

[loudmound]

do you think jim is too pretty or still the right amount of "ugly" like james was in the original? i personally have a hard time gauging such.

[delikizzzplays]

Nightshade/ Hyakka Hyakurou Review (Spoilers!)

So I did something I should not have done while playing this game. I started it with Gekkamaru’s route. Some suggestions I saw for route order said it doesn’t matter who I start with as each route is spoilery in its own way. BUT THEN everyone on Reddit was like save him for last and I was already halfway through his route so I thought- fuck it -and played it anyways.

So yeah don’t be like me and save him for last or second to last.

Route Order I played: Gekkamaru>Hanzo>Chojiro>Goemon>Kuroyuki

Route Order I would Suggest: Hanzo> Goemon>Chojiro> Gekkamaru>Kuroyuki  (You can put Goemon last if you want to balance out the angst and leave the game with happy thoughts)

Level of Tears: Gekkamaru>Chojiro>Kuroyuki=Hanzo=Goemon ( I only cried during gekka and chojiro which I will explain during my spoiler filled character review)

Gameplay: It’s a typical visual novel where you get to make choices once or twice per chapter and sometimes none at all. Each route is 11-13 chapters long.  This game is unique in that you will see Enju’s sprite interacting with everyone on the screen. 

There is also moving background with leaves falling, screen shaking and so on. The game has great animation during action scenes for a visual novel. There are two endings good and bad, depending on how high you raise your affection with a guy will result on the ending you get. Bad ends also come with CGs so if you’re a completionist you need to play them. Also completing both ends unlock bonus scenes under memoirs which I have not read yet.

Music: Really good. The opening and ending songs are not included in the OST pack by the way so if you just want those you might need to head to itunes to get it.

Voice acting: So so good! Hanzo <3 This is one of those games when I wished our protagonist lady Enju was voiced as well. All the side characters’ voice actors were also top notch.

Gameplay time: 38 hours for me.

Story: There are two different plots. Depending on the character the plot will change which will result in how the murdered king will look. It is not a censoring issue it was done on purpose. There are a bunch of plot points that you will come across and they will get answered as you play the routes. When I was done with the game all the questions I had were answered and that is not the case with a lot of games so props to RED and D3P.

CGs: The art is obviously great as it is the same artist that also did Norn9. However, there are CGs that I felt were useless and “filler” where some plot points I think deserved a CG and we got a totally random pointless one instead of a more romantic scene. Also, not all characters get kiss CGs like WTF?! It happens in the story but no CG for the actual scene like why?

Side Characters: Kyara and Ennosuke are the OTP of this game. I ship them so hard. And the little girl is so cute and precious (although her whiny crying/wailing scenes can get a bit annoying at times so I would have to fast forward to avoid the sound). Also Lord Ie—was such a waste of a potential route. He has the same seiyuu as my baby Ukyo and he is literally the only member of the five elders with a character design so like why is he not a route?????

Now on to the bachelors:

Hanzo: He is the best boy imho. I loved his route the most not only because he is hot and has an amazing seiyuu but because it has the best character development. Enju grows as a ninja and as an individual as she trains to be a badass through her own free will. She also learns to appreciate her life and fight for it instead of choosing to sacrifice herself whenever there is a conflict. Hanzo also grows as a human being. He is a ninja who only knows the shinobi way and would not do anything against his master’s orders and does not see the fellow ninjas he works with as nothing but collateral damage if they were to die. He learns to connect with people emotionally and that there is more to life than killing people. His good ending is great while his bad ending is cheesy af but he is still my favorite. 

The only thing that bothered me about him was his age (and that wouldn’t have bothered me since it’s a historical show BUT he was friends/acquaintances with her mother and she even trusted him enough to whisk her away from her shitty life when she was pregnant with Enju… like what?) He is also the greatest shinobi ever.

Chojiro: I only cried during 2 routes and he was one of them. I did not enjoy his route as much because one: they are cousins so like incest why? (at least they are not siblings I guess??) second: they spend the route mostly apart as the story goes back and forth between what they are doing. I mean plot wise it’s good I guess but romance wise it’s like nope. The route still had its cute moments. CHojiro, like Hanzo, also goes through the whole shinobi life vs emotions dilemma but he is a harder nut to crack I feel like. The part where everyone died also sucked ass. But they all died back to back so I cried once during this route. 

(also the only character who gets a childhood ver. cg)

His bad ending was also better than his good ending. His character design and seiyuu is great tho. Also, he is the 2nd greatest shinobi.

Goemon: I called all the plot twists in his route except for the part where it was revealed that he was the leader of those ninjas with the red devil masks. I was like how many secret identities does he have??? He is the resident flirty guy who is also a great shinobi (he was trained with Hanzo and chojiro when they were kids and part of the same clan). His route is one of those good ones where no one dies and they all live happily ever after at the end. 

I called the plot twist when the kid they find on the road ended up being a shinobi of the purple masked guys so it wasn’t that big of an impact. I also called it when he was lying to Enju saying all these horrible things and “killing” everyone because they emphasized on him being able to trick people and being amazing with drugs, poisons, and antidotes so I knew it was a cop out. His bad ending really sucks though because that’s when Enju believes him being a traitor and basically gets herself killed. All that planning and plotting ends up being for nothing and kinda gave me Game of Thrones vibes.

Gekkamaru: He is the cutest babe. He is the overprotective bodyguard of Enju. He has a lot of cute moments but also a lot of tragic ones. I cried the most during this route.

 First, he murders his BFF Ennosuke for Enju’s sake. When it happened I was so surprised because he was the first route I played and didn’t think they would actually kill characters. Since all the characters died at different chapters I ended up spending the 2nd half of the game bawling my eyes out. He is overprotective but generally knows to control himself when Enju is like chill bro I’m a shinobi, too. He sees nothing but blood thought if she is in actual danger which is later on explained as this curse put on him by Enju’s mom. It is really sad and kinda makes you question if he really loves her or if it was part of the curse but he says he does really love her when the curse breaks so I’ll believe him!

Kuroyuki: The resident tsundere. His route made me really uncomfortable because of all the lies he told and how he manipulated Enju and made her completely dependent on him. It is such an unhealthy relationship I really enjoyed it when Kyara and Gekkamaru said it as it is and tried to get her to see the reality. (I posted some screencaps of those scenes) Of course when we learn about his past and what he went through the past eight years you would end up feeling bad for him but still like what the fuck bro you didn’t have to brainwash her with your weird powers gosh. 

His story and Gekkamaru’s reveal the most about the plot (each route reveals a key point but the brothers reveal the most so save them for last)

Overrall: I really enjoyed the game and would rate it a solid 4/5. If you like historical romance with plot and voice acting I would definitely suggest it.