Recent reviews by Maje

Years pass and yet, I'm still very fond of this game. The story is rather simple and not surprising, but it's written so well and lightly that I found myself really captivated. The final answer to the mystery was satisfying and I was actually glad to complete everything.
The characters are very likeable and every route made me like it's guy, even if he irritated me at first.
Artworks are really pretty and catch the eye. All assets work together well and give you nice visual experience.
If you don't like stat raisers you might be not that happy with this game, but in my opinion the stat raising part is easy and not that annoying like in some other games.
So, I definitely recommend giving Nicole a try!

This game. This damn game. Oh boy.
It took me ages to play through it because it's /that/ bad. Maybe I'm just spoiled by tons of good otome games I have played, but still. It's a while since I played a game I disliked this much.
The story is... bad. The premise is the same that in Dandelion ~Wishes brought to you~, except everything is more shallow and badly written. Bad writing is the worst thing about this game. Jokes feel forced and unnatural, drama feels forced and unnatural, romance feels forced and unnatural... You get me. It feels like the story is a frankenstein's monster of various moments from other stories, put together without care if they feel right, just because "oh here we need a romance scene" "and here we need something dramatic" etc etc.
Characters are mediocre, but some of them are likeable. Bad writing totally kills them, though, and at the end of every route i felt myself hate the guy at least a little bit. There's way too many cliche tropes too, which combined with bad writing leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Artworks are pretty bad too. Anatomy of characters is bad and the sprites look really ugly most of time. CGs are alright, but they don't save the game.
As for music, I found it incredibly annoying after a while. I had to turn it off eventually because repetative annoying music was giving me a headache.
To summ it up... This is a bad game. Sure, you can buy it and try it out for yourself, but... well... there are other games you could be playing that will actually give you some value and enjoyment, while this is a mediocre experience /at best/.

This game is really well written and long. Story is interesting, and I quickly got attached to characters. I had lots of fun playing through it and discovering every ending. Honestly - I can't believe this game is free! I definitely recommend AIRIS, because it's more quality than some of paid otome games available.

A very pleasant, pretty game, just as expected of roseVeRte. The story is really nice and enjoyable, although overall plot feels unfinished... I suppose that's because a sequel is planned? But as a story of the heroine and Ronan, it definitely feels satisfying.
Art is very good, although i must admit, i do miss the usual art style. Music is pleasant and i'm absolutely in love with the theme song!
At first i wasn't very sure what to think about characters, but i've grown to like them. Everyone is likeable and well written. My faves are Juli and Mars though, i hope we will see more of them, haha.
In overall, How to Take Off Your Mask is a solid, good game, and i definitely recommend it.

I already wrote a review under the last game, Kurenai, but i feel i should put it there as well, so maybe someone will try this game.

Finally played through the last one and now i can review them all together!
I grew to absolutely love East Tower series. When i started out with Akio, i was pretty "okay sure" about it, not really negative, not really positive. It had its nice moments, it had its annoying moments, but mostly it felt casual. A game to play and never think about it again, i suppose.
Then i played second game. And third. And fourth. And i changed my mind.
East Tower Takashi is much better than Akio, and i enjoyed it way more. It felt more natural and balanced drama-humour better than Akio, and i grew to love Takashi as a character. But still, the first two, they're only the beginning.
I fell in love with East Tower during Kuon's story. In my opinion, it's much better written than the first two, and balances out everything surprisingly well, even though plot gets more complicated than in previous games. It completely sucked me in and made me enjoy every second i spent playing.
And then, finally, Kurenai. Now that one is good. I shouldn't be surprised, since there are signs like, you know, order of routes or increasing price, and yet. I still can't believe how Kurenai managed to meet all my expectations and then exceed them.
Kurenai tells you everything you wanted to know and more. It uncovers the whole story, and doesn't leave anybody out. The amount of choices combinations is just stunning, and it took me about half of my play time to hunt everything down. Which is both a good and bad thing (i can now recite some choices order from memory after clicking them repeatedly a couple of times), depending if you like that kind of thing or not. The whole story is actually really interesting and even though some things are predictable i still found myself thinking "but... maybe it's actually not true?". East Tower manages to make you wonder and teases you all the time. I, for one, couldn't resists and beat both Kuon and Kurenai in one sitting.
The best thing in all of the routes is heroine. She isn't your typical shoujo/otoge heroine, oh no, she is a character in her own right and it's impossible to overlook her. I think i loved her the most in Kuon's route - her comments and thoughts were just so relatable! She's absolutely irreplacable and that is a thing many games with female protagonists fail to deliver well.
The other characters are just as good. I guess with Akio and Takashi you just don't spend as much time as you do with Kuon or Kurenai, so naturally they don't feel as developed and complex, but they have their good moments. Kuon is really interesting, and i personally like that sort of character with that sort of plot (avoiding spoilers is so hard!). Same goes for Kurenai, who managed to capture my heart almost instantly. Even the side characters are great and i liked them all.
I know some people make fun of/dislike East Tower's graphics, but i genuinely like them. Although sometimes they look weird/anatomy is wrong, i absolutely love colouring, textures, and how diverse positions/expressions are. I think only in Akio i was frowning at art, but East Tower captures you with its plot and completely overshadows its graphics. It should also be noted that there's a lot of cgs, the winner being Kurenai (117 cgs, although a lot of them are different versions depicting one scene; still, that's impressive!).
The music is also really good, some of the tracks are still stuck in my mind. Music also completes the picture; when i turned it off for a while i felt like something was lacking and playing was less enjoyable.
All the voice actors are good, and i'm so glad we can enjoy japanese voice acting in these games! It feels so right.
So, to sum up my review: East Tower series is really good. I enjoyed every second while playing it and felt it was so worth my money. I recommend it to anyone, whether they like visual novels or not, because East Tower is a good, solid story, that definitely deserves more praise.

Finally played through the last one and now i can review them all together!
I grew to absolutely love East Tower series. When i started out with Akio, i was pretty "okay sure" about it, not really negative, not really positive. It had its nice moments, it had its annoying moments, but mostly it felt casual. A game to play and never think about it again, i suppose.
Then i played second game. And third. And fourth. And i changed my mind.
East Tower Takashi is much better than Akio, and i enjoyed it way more. It felt more natural and balanced drama-humour better than Akio, and i grew to love Takashi as a character. But still, the first two, they're only the beginning.
I fell in love with East Tower during Kuon's story. In my opinion, it's much better written than the first two, and balances out everything surprisingly well, even though plot gets more complicated than in previous games. It completely sucked me in and made me enjoy every second i spent playing.
And then, finally, Kurenai. Now that one is good. I shouldn't be surprised, since there are signs like, you know, order of routes or increasing price, and yet. I still can't believe how Kurenai managed to meet all my expectations and then exceed them.
Kurenai tells you everything you wanted to know and more. It uncovers the whole story, and doesn't leave anybody out. The amount of choices combinations is just stunning, and it took me about half of my play time to hunt everything down. Which is both a good and bad thing (i can now recite some choices order from memory after clicking them repeatedly a couple of times), depending if you like that kind of thing or not. The whole story is actually really interesting and even though some things are predictable i still found myself thinking "but... maybe it's actually not true?". East Tower manages to make you wonder and teases you all the time. I, for one, couldn't resists and beat both Kuon and Kurenai in one sitting.
The best thing in all of the routes is heroine. She isn't your typical shoujo/otoge heroine, oh no, she is a character in her own right and it's impossible to overlook her. I think i loved her the most in Kuon's route - her comments and thoughts were just so relatable! She's absolutely irreplacable and that is a thing many games with female protagonists fail to deliver well.
The other characters are just as good. I guess with Akio and Takashi you just don't spend as much time as you do with Kuon or Kurenai, so naturally they don't feel as developed and complex, but they have their good moments. Kuon is really interesting, and i personally like that sort of character with that sort of plot (avoiding spoilers is so hard!). Same goes for Kurenai, who managed to capture my heart almost instantly. Even the side characters are great and i liked them all.
I know some people make fun of/dislike East Tower's graphics, but i genuinely like them. Although sometimes they look weird/anatomy is wrong, i absolutely love colouring, textures, and how diverse positions/expressions are. I think only in Akio i was frowning at art, but East Tower captures you with its plot and completely overshadows its graphics. It should also be noted that there's a lot of cgs, the winner being Kurenai (117 cgs, although a lot of them are different versions depicting one scene; still, that's impressive!).
The music is also really good, some of the tracks are still stuck in my mind. Music also completes the picture; when i turned it off for a while i felt like something was lacking and playing was less enjoyable.
All the voice actors are good, and i'm so glad we can enjoy japanese voice acting in these games! It feels so right.
So, to sum up my review: East Tower series is really good. I enjoyed every second while playing it and felt it was so worth my money. I recommend it to anyone, whether they like visual novels or not, because East Tower is a good, solid story, that definitely deserves more praise.

A very sweet, peaceful game. Even though things develop rather slowly and plot isn't very surprising the whole story doesn't feel boring and is quite enjoyable to read.
I don't really have anything specific to add... It's simply a good game. Everything (visuals, music, story) works together nicely, leaving you satisfied when you finish it. Definitely worth a try if you don't have anything against kinetic novels.

Much less of a dating sim than the previous game, but still incredibly good. Holiday star reveals more about characters and introduces new ones, therefore making it a really fun experience for people who liked Hatoful Boyfriend. Well... it also manages to slap you into face with your own heart a couple of times, but that's also nothing new when it comes to Hatoful Boyfriend games.
I absolutely love backgrounds and human design sprites in this game. I could've stared at them all day, honestly. The music was also really good and well chosen.
I loved the first Hatoful Boyfriend and i love its sequel just as much. Definitely get this one too if you liked the first one!

I must say, i quite enjoyed this game. Although the plot is pretty much easy to guess after doing only one route, it's still fun to play through them all and see various viewpoints of the same story. Which is, in my opinon, fairly interesting and original. Enough to stay in my memory for some time, i think.
Characters were... okay, i guess. I don't think they were very memorable or unique, and i have neither negative nor positive feelings towards them. They fullfilled their role, and that's what matters.
As always art leaves mixed feelings because it's not very good, but at least it is consistent and nothing stands out too much. I am also quite a fan of colouring, it looks really good.
Music was a big plus, it really is very nice.
To sum it up, personally i recommend this game.I had a couple of hours of fun with it.

I really enjoyed this game. Even though the premise is the same, all character have routes that feel different and show the situation from a slighly different angle. Everyone has very different, as i call it, Drama Plot, and sometimes it can be really, really surprising. A couple of routes totally went the way i didn't expect and that was really cool. My favourite is Iroha, i think, but i honestly liked them all a lot.
But man. The art. It's so stunning and wonderful, a huge part of my gameplay was staring at cgs or sprites in pure awe. As a fellow artist, i felt that artworks in this game were totally my art goals. I'd recommend the game for that alone, and yet it has a very well done story with it. Amazing!
Music isn't really outstanding, although there's one track (which i fondly call Takao's Theme, since it plays for the first time when he shows up) that i love wholeheartedly. What's good it's that common music doesn't get annoying even after playing all the routes.
I liked how gentle and not very vulgar nsfw scenes were. As for someone who doesn't really enjoy nsfw things, it was a huge relief, since i was afraid i'd just have to skip some scenes while sighing annoyed.
What might be not everyone's cup of tea is that the game is ultimately sweet, happy, and cute. It tries really hard to show some drama and action, but the sugar and love overwhelm everything. It is not essentialy a bad thing, and is perfectly enjoyable, just be aware that it's that kind of game where love always wins and is the most important. After money.
As for downsides, it's kinda sad not everything from the vita port of the game was brought to steam. I also felt sad that there's no equal amount of side stories per character. It kinda feels like something is lacking, but i have no idea whether original japanese game has more stories. If it does, i hope they will be implemented eventually.
As the game is now, i don't think i can recommend it for the full price. But when it's discounted, go for it. I spent some quality time playing this game.

Oh yeah, and heroine's mother is the best character in the game. Just sayin'.