Don’t ask!

First let me get this out of the way: This game rocks! Nerine’s story really sucked in the original game, so Nerine fanboys (*cough*) shouldn’t miss this.

But anyway, the story is about you (Rin Tsuchimi), Nerine (good sad that the other girls happen to be busy), Mayumi and Itsuki accidentally travelling back in time to the demon world twenty years ago and meeting a young Forbesii (Demon-King-to-be), his fiancée Ai, his maid Sage and his sister Cineraria (Ria-chan).

You soon realize that your presence in the love triangle between Forbesii, Ai and Sage is changing the past and endangering Nerine’s existence.

The playboy mansion

The entire game takes place in Nerine’s childhood home, the Demon King’s mansion. Who you talk to and what you say will influence whether Nerine’s mother-to-be ends up with Forbesii. (Which should long have taken place, but your sudden arrival messed it up)

Ai, Forbesii’s fiancée (hint: not Nerine’s mother)

There’s a watch at the top left hand corner of the screen and your decisions will cause it to move towards either the left (blue) or the right (red) side. When it reaches a certain level in the red zone, Nerine will be replaced with a red-hair version of herself. Like this:

This Nerine has a completely opposite personality

So, you have to make sure that your actions help to bring Forbesii and Nerine’s mother together. (Then again, if you like red, you can do the opposite and get the Red Nerine end)

Sage-chan (se-ji not sage)

Alright, I think you could’ve guessed by now. Yes, Sage-chan is (supposed to be) Nerine’s mother. *shock* Of course, this being the kind of game that it is, there’s an ending for her too (not a very good one at that). She’s quite cute. Nerine inherited her omelet-cooking skills from her. ^^;

Cineraria, or Ria-chan

Besides Ai and Sage, there’re also Bark (just as his name says) the bulter with homosexual tendencies and Cineraria, Forbesii’s sister. Ria-chan is actually Sia-chan’s mother-to-be and you can really see the influence. (Chair-throwing and what not) She’s the funniest character in the bunch and surprisingly, there isn’t a path for her. *shock no.2* She also learns of your plan to get Sage and Forbesii together and offers her “help”.

Get out of my kitchen!

Personally, I enjoyed Tick! Tack! quite a bit more than the original game. Almost all the characters are likable and it further expands on Nerine’s (underdeveloped) backstory. Two complains: the ending for Ai is better than Sage’s. What gives? And also, more Ria-chan pls kthx bye.

Happily ever after

If you like Nerine and found Shuffle! disappointing, then this game is highly recommended. Now if only they port the PS2 Shuffle! On The Stage to PC.

To end off this entry, Sage-chan pics!

Sage-chan~

Sage-chan~

I suppose I should sleep early to prepare myself for tomorrow…but I just can’t stop playing Tick! Tack!. I like it more than Shuffle!. Nerine(s?) is cute as always, but Sage and Cineraria are pretty interesting too. ^^;

The story is actually about Rin, Nerine, Mayumi and Itsuki going 20 years back in time by accident and ending up at the mansion of a younger King of Demon (wait, he’s still the crown prince). You, as Rin, have to make sure that your presence doesn’t screw up the past because if it does, Nerine’s personality and even her very existence may be in peril. Sage, the black-hair maid, is actually the future mother of Nerine (forbidden master-maid relationship?!? さããŒé­”王だね！), while Cineraria, the sister of the King of Demons, is actually the future mother of Sia. Yes, she’s a demon and she’s in love with the future King of Gods. (いわゆる「神ちゃん」)

Of course, you can choose to mess up history and Nerine will be replaced with a red-hair version of herself complete with a 100% different personality (but she still loves you anyway). Or you can even end up with Sage…

So, I dug out the original Shuffle! for PC (thank god for Windows Desktop Search) and finally installed it, just to find out if the series missed out anything about Nerine that I should know… (*cough*)

Read on for my thoughts after playing…

For those who do not know, Shuffle! by Navel was originally released for the PC in 2004. You play the main character, Rin Tsuchimi, an average guy who lives with his childhood friend, Kaede Fuyou. Together, they attend the National Verbena Academy, a school set up by the three worlds of demon, man and god. One day, two girls from transfer to Rin’s class. They are the daughter of the King of Demons and the daughter of the King of Gods and they both seem to know Rin’s name…

The game itself is standard harem fare with not much to offer in terms of creativity unless you count the demons-and-gods thing. The elfish ears of the demon race are a plus point, though. ;) The cast is the same in the game as the anime, but the character design is much, much better. Nerine just didn’t look as good in the anime (except for a few rare scenes where she looked somewhat like her in-game counterpart). Storywise, it’s what you would expect from a game like this: cute girls with tragic past.

Sadly I must say, the stories didn’t manage to stand out. I was right (remember my foreshadowing above?) to believe that the anime played around with the timeline in order to fit everything together, but at the same time it seems that the anime didn’t have to cut much to do so…because the game’s story is really short! Air was somewhat tiring with its epic novel-length story and I remembered wishing for something shorter, but Shuffle! is just waaaay too short! The two paths I tried contain nothing new compared to the anime and the endings leave you wondering which part was supposed to be the climax.

The characters are well-designed and the art is excellent, but the lack of a sufficiently well-developed story left a somewhat bitter aftertaste. I guess the only thing that Shuffle! has got going for it is the cute girls… Not that I’m against cute girls or anything, but I think Navel could have spent just a little more effort on the script.

Still, I will be lying if I say that I hated the game. I played through the paths for Nerine and Asa and they are both quite enjoyable. I will be playing through Tick! Tack!, a sequel based on Nerine’s family released just last month, as soon as I get my hands on it in a few days(?) time.

Now that I’m out of manga to read, I finally started playing Shuffle! (for PC). Nerine owns my heart and soul. ^^

Last day of school tomorrow. Liberation at last~ (well, not really) I might be catching Doom tomorrow, just to see how bad it really is.

On another note, my penpal has yet to reply. I guess she’s really ignoring me… ＿|ï¿£|O