Arcobaleno! :review
I decided to play only my 4 favorite boys in this game 'cause I still have lots of games to play and don't have that many times ^^;
(clockwise, starting from 9: Nikichi, Haruto, Futa, Kaname, Ryunosuke)
the story is quite good, easy-to-understand, and so Italian! if I'm not mistaken, the gameplay is about a girl named Yuna who ran away from her house 10 years ago and was helped by a young man. he fed Yuna with his own made pasta and the taste still remains in Yuna's head.
now she's going into Italian cooking college 'cause she wants to be able to meet that man again.
the gameplay is pretty simple and even though it's not 100% pure visual novel, it's easy ^^
first, you have to take test in every 2-3 weeks and the test is pretty much about the order to make current recipe. in order to be able to cook, you need to obtain the recipe from the boys you'll be going after.
second, you'll get free times and during this time you have to visit the boys to trigger some events and even getting shooed (in a soft way) 'cause he's currently busy.
third, you need to set up your schedule per week to raise your stat. to be honest I don't really know why you have to raise your stat 'cause I don't think it affect your test.
what I like about this game is that you can focus on your chosen boy since the very first beginning. there'll be 5 episodes (or episodio) in the beginning and you need to answer the questions prompted correctly to get started into the boys route and receiving mails too.
here's my experience with the boys in my playing order:
Murota Kaname (CV: Fukuyama Jun)
I've been wanting to go for him first but when I first played the game I don't know which one was Kaname and I didn't recognize Jun's voice o__O I thought his voice would be like either Hanabusa Aidou from Vampire Knight or Kinose Azusa from Starry Sky but it turned out that he was using 50% of his low voice and 50% of his high voice, so perhaps he sounds more like Carl from Hanasakeru Seishounen LOL
he is friend of Yuna and he has liked her since the beginning but he's just too shy ;_; Kaname isn't in the same class with Yuna but he likes to grow Italian tomatoes so Yuna could use it in her cooking. and I like Kaname's recipes the most 'cause they are mostly contain tomatoes and are very very delicious-looking~!!
but what I don't like from him is that he's always hanging out with Futa (that I really don't like) but I guess he got the best last CG among the other 3 boys ^^
Nasu Haruto (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke)
the chef of the restaurant and the one who eats the most, even though he doesn't seem so o__O he's pretty cold in the beginning but Tachishin voiced him sexily that I almost fell for him when I was going for Kaname xD he also turned out to be the man who saved Yuna 10 years ago with his pasta, but apparently he didn't remember about it. he started to blush and caring in the middle way, which is sweet :p
and I must say he got the sweetest kissing CG *screams* xDD
I don't know but he's pretty serious in his route, but he's funnier in the other's route LOL
Saotome Nikichi (CV: Mizushima Takahiro)
I have to admit I like his voice, 'cause he sounds just like Nikichi with his normal voice ~_~ first, he's the manager of Arcobaleno and this man is 28 years old, and he doesn't look so!! but this man is so kechi!! all he cares about is money (well, but I understand why he's like that when I found out the reason later in the game), he's popular among girls and he got his special "sales talk" to lure out customers LOL
he always hit everyone with his harisen, especially Ryunosuke when he did something stupid. this happens a lot during the game and I always enjoy this moment 'cause it's so funny ^^
...umm, I'm not sure about this but sometimes he shows his other dark side unexpectedly ~_~
and he's the most aggresive one among the other 3 boys that made me go "kyaaaaaaa!!" o___O
Komatsu Ryunosuke (CV: Hino Satoshi)
I didn't like him first 'cause he looks so stupid LOL but when I tried to go for his route, damn.. I love this man!! he's stupid, sweet, hilarious, and very proud of himself xD
he can't cook so that's why he's being the owner of Arcobaleno, but he likes to create new recipes and force other people to try his awful cooking (just like what he did to Yuna in the intro part LOL)
I can't help to laugh when he starts to giggle like "fufufu.." 'cause Hino made it sound very funny LOL yappari, this man is the funny essence of the game ^^ I just can't stop smiling or laughing when playing his route.
and I can say he's very sweet!! he blushes a lot and isn't to shy to say embarassing things to Yuna ^__^ but I was wondering.. when did he confess, that suddenly he and Yuna went so lovey-dovey. err.. perhaps it was during the hilarious wedding-restaurant photo session LOL
I'm not interested in Futa, even I hate him 'cause of his high-pitch voice -_- and he seems like a crybaby. also, I don't really like the way Bazilio talks (I hate foreigners in otome game). the other one is Yagi, a magazine reporter who always looks for Arcobaleno bad side and he seems so evil ~_~
when you've finished playing the game you'll get a messgage and if you check it out, it's the message from the boy that you just finished playing, and he said that he's grateful about everything and he really likes you *dies* very sweet ^__^
I'm still missing 2-3 CGs per boy, and I wonder if I can get it by setting the corrent birthdate and play the omake just like Will O Wisp -_-" but I'm too lazy to do that, hope someone upload the CG pack later.
it annoys me a bit that the delay when the day changes is quite long ~_~ and sometimes when a character appear in some converstatiosn it took quite a long time too. but everything else's fine.
oh yeah, I read from B'sLOG that this game has 3 ED, harem or love ED, vs ED, and I forgot another one m(_ _)m but I'm not interested in getting the other ED as I saw Haruto looking terribly sad in the preview CG and said "do you choose him over me?" awwwwwwww I can't stand looking at sad bishies ;_;
overall, I like this game A LOT!! 'cause I really enjoy the gameplay that it's not 100% pure visual novel but still easy to understand and doesn't take a long time to finish a route. it took me 5-6 hours for the first play and 3 hours per route for the next play. compared to Wand of Fortune, it's really short ^^