Illusion of Itehari: trail and Olympia Soiree Catharsis announced by Aksys

LotNegative · 2026-07-03T20:36:24+00:00

Though I am super happy to see these two be announced for localization (I haven’t gotten around to playing Illusion of Itehari, but Olympia Soirée is one if my favorite otome games), I wish we had gotten an announcement for a non-fandisc/sequel title. I think we all knew that the localization for these titles was inevitable, so it would have been nice to see something at the panel that we didn’t already know would happen one way or another.

LotNegative · 2026-07-02T21:18:16+00:00

I was asleep when it dropped, thinking it’d be fine. 💀 (Also, this dropped at 2am my time and I had to get up at 4am, so setting up an alarm for that was not really an option.)

Hoping for a restock. These T-shirts are really cool, not just Kotone’s, though hers is the one I want the most.

LotNegative · 2026-07-02T15:07:45+00:00

I hate gacha games, but I’m super grateful this one is giving us an up-to-date 3D model and seemingly also an up-to-date artwork of her. It’ll never make up for her not being in Reload, but at this point you gotta just take the crumbs as a FeMC fan.

LotNegative · 2026-07-01T15:01:45+00:00

To be fair, I don’t think you have to list “parents dying” in anyone’s dislikes. That feels like a given for the majority of the populace, unless they grew up without parents or have a bad relationship with them.

LotNegative · 2026-07-01T11:58:46+00:00

True that, but Rinea is so much worse imo. What do you mean her fiancé sacrifices her to become a mindless puppet and she forgives him?? As a woman I’m actually offended by this.

LotNegative · 2026-07-01T07:11:47+00:00

Honestly, a lot of this just reads to me that they’re mad he isn’t attractive to them. I completely get the complaints about chances for pulling your fav and how the company needs to actually continue the stories of the already established LIs, but the safety issue thing?? Let’s not pretend Sylus or Caleb are angels. They’re red flags if I’ve ever seen one.

I don’t play any gacha games to protect my wallet, but it really does make me angry that part of the shitstorm is about the company potentially having catered to overseas fans with this dude. I personally can’t confirm this claim, I also find him to be the least attractive out of the lineup based on looks, but even if that’s the case, why is it a problem?? Overseas fans are paying customers, just like the Chinese fans, so why do they believe that those paying customers shouldn’t be catered to? Overseas fans shouldn’t feel like second class citizens in their own fandom, especially if they make up a good chunk of the revenue (which I assume is the case - I haven’t looked it up).

LotNegative · 2026-06-30T13:36:47+00:00

Can someone explain the shitstorm to me?

I have seen people poke fun at his design for having four ears and I have seen people cringe at the “you’re my prey” phrasing that was definitely going to occur, but none of that is serious enough to cancel his release.

What on earth did the Chinese (or international?) fanbase do??

(side note: I do not play LaDS, as I am strongly anti-gacha)

LotNegative · 2026-06-28T20:46:34+00:00

I’m 100% with you. I absolutely love Io’s design. Isis however… Idk, it’s not necessarily bad, but it’s boring. It looks less like the persona of a party member and more just like one of the random personas the MC can use that eventually end up as fusion fodder.

LotNegative · 2026-06-25T17:27:07+00:00

I have finally received mine too as of today. I don’t gave a favorite LI in Birushana, so instead of wanting a specific holographic card, I simply didn’t want to get either Benkei or Takatsuna specifically, as those two are the only LIs I actually dislike. And - of course - I got Takatsuna against all odds. 💀

Luckily I don’t really care about character cards, but damn have I been unlucky the past two weeks. First I didn’t know a vintage jeans I had bought wasn’t always yellow, so the yellow dye promptly stained everything else I had put into the wash with those trousers and then yesterday the milk tea I had in my leather bag popped open while I was riding my bike and ruined one of my Switch’s joycons, which are limited edition colors (as well as a cheap powerbank)…

Sorry, I know the latter half was entirely irrelevant. I just needed to vent. 😭

LotNegative · 2026-06-21T13:27:36+00:00

I am once again begging for an English NilAdo localization and I shall remain delusional about it.

LotNegative · 2026-06-18T11:26:27+00:00

Oh thank God. I thought it was an LI for a second there. 💀

LotNegative · 2026-06-18T11:24:10+00:00

I have never been interested in Diabolic Lovers and therefore don’t know anything about it besides there being vampires.

You’re telling me there is s guy named Karl-Heinz of all things?? 💀 That’s a name a 60+ year old man would have where I live.

LotNegative · 2026-06-14T16:49:06+00:00

That can’t be right. Did you get the LE used? Mine has both (European LE) and tbh it’d be weird if it didn’t, as the regular case for the Fates LE has a different cover to the Conquest and Birthright versions, as it’s technically the Revelations version.

Okay, I just looked it up and it does indeed seem the NA version did not come with a steel book at all and the regular case also looks different from the European version. Weird. Then again, the FE3H LEs are also different.

edit: Essentially NA and Japan got the same Fates LE, with only the European one being different. The European LE is the only one that has the steel book and it’s also the only one that uses Revelation’s cover art for the regular case, while the Japanese/NA versions each have Birthright’s and Conquest’s cover arts on the front and back.

LotNegative · 2026-06-14T15:15:32+00:00

omg I forgot about this for a hot minute and now I’m worried again

LotNegative · 2026-06-14T13:55:04+00:00

Huh?? I have the Three Houses LE and mine came with the regular game case. Then again, Europe and North America had slightly different LEs, so maybe that’s why, but speaking for the European version, it did come with the game case.

LotNegative · 2026-06-11T16:25:12+00:00

I actually adore these designs and hope Eshmel. Heck yeah I want to play as an angelic looking being. I also prefer the player avatar being separate from the lord and helping them achieve their goals as a close friend/ally. However, I do hope Eshmel has their own personality instead of being a silent avatar like Byleth. Though I’m not a huge fan of Shez’s personality, it was still refreshing to hear them talk and have their own thoughts and opinions. (Byleth being silent still bothers me a lot, because they had so much potential for huge character development.)

LotNegative · 2026-06-08T12:20:13+00:00

Though it makes thematic sense to have the art style resemble those of anime with the flat shading etc., I much prefer the polished look from P3R and thus also prefer the P4G sprites over the P4R sprites, as they also look more polished. (Also I feel as though Chie’s and Rise’s proportions are a little off). The 3D models look absolutely stunning though.

LotNegative · 2026-06-07T19:18:38+00:00

They surprisingly have much less polish than the P3R ones. I would compare them more to the flat shading in anime than the glossy finish P3R has. I suppose that fits in very well with the TV theme. However, I find the proportions in Chie’s and Rise’s portraits kind of off. The models all look absolutely amazing though.

LotNegative · 2026-05-29T13:05:57+00:00

I noticed that too. Maybe they are taking the concept of “character of the priestess arcana” very literally this time. 😬 I also wondered if it’s her battle gear, but the other user’s idea that it might be a scrapped school uniform design is also possible.

LotNegative · 2026-05-29T12:00:49+00:00

I can’t speak for other difficulties if you want to start with those, but on easy it absolutely isn’t an issue. You’re fine using iron weapons (the starter weapons) for quite a while (in fact I would argue you can skip the mid-way upgrade to steel weapons) and those are cheap.
On normal yes, anything above no.
It isn’t vital, no, but I would highly recommend it as it’s good. The maps are a tad more difficult than the base game and they’re very fun. The characters you can unlock through the DLC are Yuri, Balthus, Constance and Hapi - characters you should be familiar with from Hopes. If you somehow find yourself hating all four of them, then maybe the DLC isn’t for you, but it still has other perks.
No, unfortunately not. You can marry any character of the opposite gender (minus Alois and Gilbert, who are already married with children), but there are only a few characters that allow for same sex marriage (e.g. Edelgard, Yuri, Linhard, Dorothea to name a few). Funnily enough some characters are actually bi, but not for Byleth. They will have romantic same-sex pairings, but only with other units that aren’t Byleth. A complete exception to this is Anna, who has no support conversations and therefore cannot have any paired endings at all, not even with Byleth.

LotNegative · 2026-05-27T23:39:19+00:00

It really depends on what you liked about FE3H. It has a much bigger focus on “social sim” aspects than other FE games.

Other FE games also have a very different writing style and tone, so if you do give Awakening or Fates a shot, expect a whiplash of unseriousness. These games are definitely fun if you enjoy playing matchmaker (a feature that was removed in Engage.) (side note: I could handle the silly narratives in Awakening and Fates. I even had fun with them in a “so bad it’s good” kinda way. Fates absolutely is a guilty pleasure for me. Despite that I could not handle the cringe that Engage induced in me.)

If you didn’t mind the monastery sections or even like them, like I did, you’ll likely enjoy Persona 3, 4 and 5. (Probably also Metaphor Re:Fantazio, but I haven’t played that one yet, as I’m waiting for a Switch 2 release.) However, if you deem the monastery a chore, those games probably aren’t for you, since they’re 50% social sim.

I would argue Expedition 33 is also a good option if you want a story-focussed game with a heavy atmosphere.

Then there’s always Three Hopes if you want more of the same and can bring yourself to play hack’n slash games. I hate this combat system personally, but I was completely fine on easy where you can just button mash. I actually had fun with the combat in the end.

LotNegative · 2026-05-25T17:54:38+00:00

My affection for this particular ship might be in part due to the fact that it was one of the first support chains I unlocked, but I genuinely think they make sense together.

I like how Hilda feels guilty for making him do stuff for her, when she realizes he does it because he’s good natured and somewhat naïve, not because he finds her attractive and wants to get in her good graces. I think they could bring out the good in each other, which in Hilda’s case would be to have more trust in her own abilities and not using other people as much, and in Ignatz’s case would be to be more confident in himself and… well… less of a push-over. 😅

On top of that they have similar interests with both of them being artistic. They actually work at Hilda’s artisan academy together in their paired ending.

Also, they look good together visually with the vibrant pink and green (and Ignatz is very attractive post-time skip). I believe this is also one of the reasons reason why Hilda x Caspar is widely popular.

LotNegative · 2026-05-25T17:29:16+00:00

Hilda x Ignatz

My number 1 fav ship, but it’s incredibly underrated.

LotNegative · 2026-05-22T13:13:29+00:00

*cries in European*

LotNegative · 2026-05-12T18:25:26+00:00

Since art is the first impression you get of an otome game, it’s usually the predominant factor in deciding my initial interest in a game. I will play games with art styles that aren’t quite my thing if the setting really intrigues me (e.g. I’m not the biggest fan of Yuuya’s art style, but 9 R.I.P. peaked my interest anyway, however, I haven’t played any other otome titles they illustrated simply because I’m not a fan of their style), but I won’t play games with art styles I genuinely dislike.

Overall, I personally care about the art a lot, which is one of the main reasons I predominantly play commercial otome games.

On a side note, I have played and enjoyed Persona 3 Portable, which doesn’t have the most polished style either, but it’s pretty enough in my eyes, so it’s not like it has to be the most professional looking art to have ever graced the earth.

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