Voltage romance games: Lovestruck and Love 365
So! Voltage Inc is a Japanese phone romance game company with an app called Love 365. There's a US off-shoot, Voltage USA, with it's own app Lovestruck which has different games and a slightly different pay structure.
I've been playing around with both of them and having a lot of fun! I'm compiling a list of all the games I try at the end of the post.
From what I can see, both always have female protagonists, and have "free" romance phone games that encourage you to spend money but you can genuinely have fun with for free by slowly accruing currency or playing free games. They all also have autoplay, so you don't have to click too much.
Voltage USA:
Mildly diverse, has some games with female or even non-binary love interests.
You mostly spend money to avoid inconvenience, and have to go through the same rigmarole to replay episodes.
Voltage Inc:
VERY tropey and heterosexual, like interactive illustrated Harlequin romances.
You generally pay for a route outright, and can replay it at will, but there's some with the "pay to avoid inconvenience" model. Has free games.
All my posts about love 365 games
No spoilers below, just talking in general about what games I tried and how it all works.
Voltage USA:
Each story is divided into Chapters. Each Chapter is made of 12 Episodes, which you end up playing about once every 2 hours. They're moderately meaty, so waiting isn't too painful.
Certain extra scenes (especially sex scenes afaict, haha) cost premium in-game currency called Hearts. Episodes are unlocked with Tickets, you get a few at the start but once you use those up you only accrue on ticket every two hours, and they don't stack.
Replaying a seen Episode costs another ticket, which makes me VERY reluctant to spend real money. The Episode where I unlocked a heart scene has a little red heart next to it in the menu, so maybe I wouldn't have to pay hearts to see it again, just a ticket? There's a CG gallery you can look at whenever.
Tickets cost around 30c each, or about $5 a chapter. Hearts cost about 10c each or like $3 a scene. There's sales, and prices vary.
Choices seem to be purely a roleplaying thing, they get different responses in the moment but don't affect the overall plot or ending.
The only game I've tried recently is Love and Legends, is about a 25 year old woman from Chicago who suddenly finds herself in a fantasy kingdom recovering from a war with a Witch Queen. She is captured by people working for the local king, and at first they're suspicious, especially since the witch queen's minions seem interested in her. But eventually she becomes a trusted friend and falls in love with one of the group (or one of the bad guys!) I'm having a lot of fun with one of the female interests, Altea, but waiting for tickets is slooow. There was no prologue, but the first Episode for each love interest doesn't cost a ticket so you can try them all out easily.
I just finished Chapter 1 and it was good but ended on a CLIFFHANGER. Also like...they have a cute shippy relationship, and even kissed, but are still Officially Just Friends, and I can see this payment model encouraging the writers to avoid real romantic resolution and keep you coming back for little bits of fanservice. Which sounds very unsatisfying in the long term. So I'll play until the cliffhanger is resolved but am not sure how much further past that. It didn't feel emotionally hollow like The Arcana, though, more like one of those shoujo romance manga that never quite finishes.
Many years ago, back when you paid money to own routes outright, I played some of the Medusa route of the Greek God themed Astoria: Fate's Kiss, but got bored.
Overall: a mostly positive experience, and once I'm done with Altea I may smooch her sexy evil lady nemesis :D
Voltage Inc (Japan):
Here the currency is Hearts and Coins. You can gather them through various troublesome free actions but they don't naturally accrue.
As far as I can tell, Hearts only come up in "Love Choice" games, which use a similar model to Voltage USA. I haven't played any of these games but I think you pay hearts to unlock specific special scenes. I don't know if they also require coins.
I assume all the other games work the same as the two I've tried.
The prologue is free and introduces some/all of the love interests. Then you choose your route. Each route has a main story, consisting of 12 Episodes and two different endings, one more romantic and one more dramatic, which you get based on your choices in each Episode. The episodes are not super long. After that there's extra stories continuing the romance.
The first episode of each main story is free as a preview. Buying the whole main story costs 400 coins, which costs about $6, though I'm being offered a 300 coins for $1.50 sale to get me hooked.
(Hearts cost about 10 times as much and I have no idea how many of those you need to do anything)
I think you get to keep any routes you've unlocked and replay them, and $6 per route isn't too bad. So I'm not totally opposed to buying one if it jumps out at me, though it's still all a little sleazily designed to get you hooked.
When I opened the app it only gave me like 3 games to choose from, none of which were the ones I wanted, so I just chose the one with the most out-there premise, on the assumption that once I'd tried one game the others would become available (which they did). I then discovered the free routes section. I still haven't tried the games I was actually recced (My Sweet Bodyguard and Rose in the Embers) but have been having fun!
So! The first game I played was Irresistible Mistake, which had the tag-line "Can a One Night Stand Turn into Something More?" and is about a 27 year old woman realising she got drunk and had sex with a coworker (or possibly random strange dude) but not being able to remember the specifics.
It is VERY TROPEY and has MASSIVE consent issues. I played the prologue, and the free preview for the guy I found most interesting. Then I discovered that one of the other dudes is entirely free, so played a chunk of his route before the skeevy:fun ratio got too much and I stopped.
Then I started one of the other free routes, for a different game, and am currently enjoying it!
The free routes right now:
Permanently free, I think?
Irresistible Mistake: Shunichiro the seductive boss who doesn't believe in love. Can a One Night Stand Turn into Something More?
Just free for January:
Be My Princess: Wilfrid. A generous prince lets you stay with him, but he's engaged. (Not sure what "Free with Clip" means, probably ads)
Afterschool Affair: Shinichi the kuudere maths teacher. Love between two teachers at a school where dating is forbidden.
Scandal in the Spotlight: Nagito the predatory model. Be the secret ghostwriter for an idol pop band.
Love Choice:
Destind: Mr. Almost Right: Rei the rough and arrogant reporter. You were a 99% match on a dating site.
Some other routes, too? This part is a bit confusing.
Guess which game I tried. GUESS.
(yes, I am currently pursuing Mr Uptight Maths Teacher, I'm up to the middle of episode 3. It's ok, but not super grabbing me, and his maths teaching methods leave a lot to be desired EDIT: I finished his route and quite enjoyed it!)
My Reaction posts:
Love and Legends: Altea Chapter 1 f/f with a cute wizard. I mostly liked it.
"Irresistible Mistakes", mostly Shunichiro m/f after a drunken hookup with a coworker. Too skeezy for me.
After School Affairs- Shinichi m/f forbidden affair between teachers. This uptight maths teacher is free for the rest of January. I liked it!
My Sweet Bodyguard, To Love and Protect You are the president's SECRET LOVE CHILD and are assigned a SEXY BODYGUARD. Didn't grab me.
Scandal In The Spotlight: Secret ghostwriter to a boyband of jerks. Eh.
Sakura Amidst Chaos: Handmaiden to a Sengoku Warlord. Not good.
In Your Arms Tonight: Tsukasa Protagonist is either unhappily married or recently divorced. Tsukasa is a younger artist who thinks the divorced protagonist is married, and so just quietly pines. Really sweet and lovely.
Star Crossed: Dui About romancing star-sign-themed gods. Dui is Gemini, and has a 'split personality'. The route is about him reconciling these two sides, and is mostly pretty sweet, in a simple tropey way.
Irresistible Mistakes: Yukihasa, Butler Until Midnight: Yuma, Destind: Araya: I did not like any of these.
And then I got sick of adding links. Check out my voltage tag.
This entry was originally posted at https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/765442.html. There are
comments.
I've been playing around with both of them and having a lot of fun! I'm compiling a list of all the games I try at the end of the post.
From what I can see, both always have female protagonists, and have "free" romance phone games that encourage you to spend money but you can genuinely have fun with for free by slowly accruing currency or playing free games. They all also have autoplay, so you don't have to click too much.
Voltage USA:
Mildly diverse, has some games with female or even non-binary love interests.
You mostly spend money to avoid inconvenience, and have to go through the same rigmarole to replay episodes.
Voltage Inc:
VERY tropey and heterosexual, like interactive illustrated Harlequin romances.
You generally pay for a route outright, and can replay it at will, but there's some with the "pay to avoid inconvenience" model. Has free games.
All my posts about love 365 games
No spoilers below, just talking in general about what games I tried and how it all works.
Voltage USA:
Each story is divided into Chapters. Each Chapter is made of 12 Episodes, which you end up playing about once every 2 hours. They're moderately meaty, so waiting isn't too painful.
Certain extra scenes (especially sex scenes afaict, haha) cost premium in-game currency called Hearts. Episodes are unlocked with Tickets, you get a few at the start but once you use those up you only accrue on ticket every two hours, and they don't stack.
Replaying a seen Episode costs another ticket, which makes me VERY reluctant to spend real money. The Episode where I unlocked a heart scene has a little red heart next to it in the menu, so maybe I wouldn't have to pay hearts to see it again, just a ticket? There's a CG gallery you can look at whenever.
Tickets cost around 30c each, or about $5 a chapter. Hearts cost about 10c each or like $3 a scene. There's sales, and prices vary.
Choices seem to be purely a roleplaying thing, they get different responses in the moment but don't affect the overall plot or ending.
The only game I've tried recently is Love and Legends, is about a 25 year old woman from Chicago who suddenly finds herself in a fantasy kingdom recovering from a war with a Witch Queen. She is captured by people working for the local king, and at first they're suspicious, especially since the witch queen's minions seem interested in her. But eventually she becomes a trusted friend and falls in love with one of the group (or one of the bad guys!) I'm having a lot of fun with one of the female interests, Altea, but waiting for tickets is slooow. There was no prologue, but the first Episode for each love interest doesn't cost a ticket so you can try them all out easily.
I just finished Chapter 1 and it was good but ended on a CLIFFHANGER. Also like...they have a cute shippy relationship, and even kissed, but are still Officially Just Friends, and I can see this payment model encouraging the writers to avoid real romantic resolution and keep you coming back for little bits of fanservice. Which sounds very unsatisfying in the long term. So I'll play until the cliffhanger is resolved but am not sure how much further past that. It didn't feel emotionally hollow like The Arcana, though, more like one of those shoujo romance manga that never quite finishes.
Many years ago, back when you paid money to own routes outright, I played some of the Medusa route of the Greek God themed Astoria: Fate's Kiss, but got bored.
Overall: a mostly positive experience, and once I'm done with Altea I may smooch her sexy evil lady nemesis :D
Voltage Inc (Japan):
Here the currency is Hearts and Coins. You can gather them through various troublesome free actions but they don't naturally accrue.
As far as I can tell, Hearts only come up in "Love Choice" games, which use a similar model to Voltage USA. I haven't played any of these games but I think you pay hearts to unlock specific special scenes. I don't know if they also require coins.
I assume all the other games work the same as the two I've tried.
The prologue is free and introduces some/all of the love interests. Then you choose your route. Each route has a main story, consisting of 12 Episodes and two different endings, one more romantic and one more dramatic, which you get based on your choices in each Episode. The episodes are not super long. After that there's extra stories continuing the romance.
The first episode of each main story is free as a preview. Buying the whole main story costs 400 coins, which costs about $6, though I'm being offered a 300 coins for $1.50 sale to get me hooked.
(Hearts cost about 10 times as much and I have no idea how many of those you need to do anything)
I think you get to keep any routes you've unlocked and replay them, and $6 per route isn't too bad. So I'm not totally opposed to buying one if it jumps out at me, though it's still all a little sleazily designed to get you hooked.
When I opened the app it only gave me like 3 games to choose from, none of which were the ones I wanted, so I just chose the one with the most out-there premise, on the assumption that once I'd tried one game the others would become available (which they did). I then discovered the free routes section. I still haven't tried the games I was actually recced (My Sweet Bodyguard and Rose in the Embers) but have been having fun!
So! The first game I played was Irresistible Mistake, which had the tag-line "Can a One Night Stand Turn into Something More?" and is about a 27 year old woman realising she got drunk and had sex with a coworker (or possibly random strange dude) but not being able to remember the specifics.
It is VERY TROPEY and has MASSIVE consent issues. I played the prologue, and the free preview for the guy I found most interesting. Then I discovered that one of the other dudes is entirely free, so played a chunk of his route before the skeevy:fun ratio got too much and I stopped.
Then I started one of the other free routes, for a different game, and am currently enjoying it!
The free routes right now:
Permanently free, I think?
Irresistible Mistake: Shunichiro the seductive boss who doesn't believe in love. Can a One Night Stand Turn into Something More?
Just free for January:
Be My Princess: Wilfrid. A generous prince lets you stay with him, but he's engaged. (Not sure what "Free with Clip" means, probably ads)
Afterschool Affair: Shinichi the kuudere maths teacher. Love between two teachers at a school where dating is forbidden.
Scandal in the Spotlight: Nagito the predatory model. Be the secret ghostwriter for an idol pop band.
Love Choice:
Destind: Mr. Almost Right: Rei the rough and arrogant reporter. You were a 99% match on a dating site.
Some other routes, too? This part is a bit confusing.
Guess which game I tried. GUESS.
(yes, I am currently pursuing Mr Uptight Maths Teacher, I'm up to the middle of episode 3. It's ok, but not super grabbing me, and his maths teaching methods leave a lot to be desired EDIT: I finished his route and quite enjoyed it!)
My Reaction posts:
Love and Legends: Altea Chapter 1 f/f with a cute wizard. I mostly liked it.
"Irresistible Mistakes", mostly Shunichiro m/f after a drunken hookup with a coworker. Too skeezy for me.
After School Affairs- Shinichi m/f forbidden affair between teachers. This uptight maths teacher is free for the rest of January. I liked it!
My Sweet Bodyguard, To Love and Protect You are the president's SECRET LOVE CHILD and are assigned a SEXY BODYGUARD. Didn't grab me.
Scandal In The Spotlight: Secret ghostwriter to a boyband of jerks. Eh.
Sakura Amidst Chaos: Handmaiden to a Sengoku Warlord. Not good.
In Your Arms Tonight: Tsukasa Protagonist is either unhappily married or recently divorced. Tsukasa is a younger artist who thinks the divorced protagonist is married, and so just quietly pines. Really sweet and lovely.
Star Crossed: Dui About romancing star-sign-themed gods. Dui is Gemini, and has a 'split personality'. The route is about him reconciling these two sides, and is mostly pretty sweet, in a simple tropey way.
Irresistible Mistakes: Yukihasa, Butler Until Midnight: Yuma, Destind: Araya: I did not like any of these.
And then I got sick of adding links. Check out my voltage tag.
This entry was originally posted at https://alias-sqbr.dreamwidth.org/765442.html. There are
comments.