I'm here with another game review~!ヾ(*´∀｀*)
(..like I said I would be.. heh ^ ^")
This time, I'm going to be reviewing Amnesia: Memories which I just finished the other day, so what better time to do the review than right now!? >ω<
So let's begin! n.n
--SPOILER WARNING--
I'm not going to go through each route in detail (because that would take WAY too long) but I'm going to talk about the characters and the game in general, so if you consider that a spoiler...
You have been warned.. x,D
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Amnesia: Memories
Amnesia: Memories is a Visual Novel/Otome game for the PS Vita system. If you're unfamiliar with Visual Novel and Otome games, I'll explain that now :3
Visual Novel;
An interactive fiction game which usually requires the player (obviously being yourself) to make choices throughout which will lead to different possible endings.
Otome;
A story based game that is usually more directed towards a female audience. The point of Otome games is to follow different routes that centre around a certain male character and to build up a romantic relationship with that certain character. Each character route usually has good and bad endings.
So with that explained, let's get right into the review! ^ω^
Story~
Amnesia: Memories is set in a fictional Japan.
The Heroine of the story wakes up in a space between worlds with a young spirit boy named Orion telling her that, by complete accident, he collided with her while he was on business in the human world. The collision caused Orion to then get lodged in the Heroine's mind and as a result of that, caused her memories from everything before that moment to disappear.
Her personality, relationships, family, job, school...all of it is forgotten.
After Orion has finished explaining the situation to the Heroine, you then have to choose which world you want to travel to. The choice is between The Heart World, The Clover World, The Spade World and The Diamond World (there is also The Joker World but you need to see the GOOD endings in every other world before you unlock that one.)
Also, yes I've played the game and I still don't understand why each world is named after suits of cards :,)
Once you've chosen which world you'll travel to, you wake up on the 1st of August and the story of the Heroine trying to regain her memories of her life and love interest (who she no longer remembers) without raising suspicion of her amnesia will begin.
Game System~
Because you're able to choose which world you play through, you automatically get a specific male character to focus on. For example, if you choose The Clover World, you're love interest in that route will be Kent and based on the choices you make, you'll see either his GOOD ending, NORMAL ending or BAD endings.
[ RANDOM TIP WITH SERAH ]
I do recommend that, after doing a blind playthrough of each route, you then use cheats to help you out.. ^ ^" because when I thought I'd made all the right choices to get the GOOD ending, I was surprised with the NORMAL ending and, like I said, you need all four GOOD endings to unlock The Joker World which is a route you definitely have to see.
Also within each separate route, the heroine has relationship of sorts with each male character that changes depending on what world your choose. So for example, say you choose The Heart World, Shin (who is the main character of that world) is your childhood friend. But if you choose The Spade World (which is Ikki's route), Shin is only your work colleague.
Game Flow~
From the 1st of August, the Heroine will have one month to regain her memories of the life she lead. She'll do this by interacting with people she knew, working at her job, investigating her surroundings and attempting to spend time with her boyfriend.
All this has to be done without raising suspicion to the fact the Heroine lacks all of her memories.
Before I mentioned the spirit named Orion? Yea...well he sticks around .-.
That isn't so much a bad thing since he does help you out, but he can sometimes be a little annoying :,) Just butting in a word or two to the Heroine while she's talking with other people..
But more often than not, he's quite cute :3 and some of the things he says can be really funny. I'm just saying that if he wasn't there, it wouldn't be the biggest loss ever >ω<
Your Mobile Phone~
The Heroine has a phone in the game which often has a relevance to how different situations play out. You sometimes get messages from your boyfriend or maybe a friend and you'll need to decide what response is best without raising too much suspicion (although you don't always need to respond to text messages.)
Also at the start of the game, your phone is a good source of information as looking at it will show what numbers you have saved, the names of the contacts and who you've spoken to.
Choices To Be Made;
Until the Heroine regains her memories, the choices she makes are how she asserts herself.
If she chooses incorrectly, the recipient of the conversation will get suspicious.
Although sometimes the only thing you can do is guess as you will occasionally get asked things that do have an actual correct answer that you may not know yet depending on what routes you've already played through as some routes give answers to things that are relevant to know in a different route.
[ RANDOM TIP WITH SERAH ]
The best way to make the correct choice is to use the character she is talking with as a basis for your choice. By that, I mean you need to look at what options there are to choose from and predict the response that won't raise any suspicion on the Heroine.
Even choices like these that seem "random" can raise suspicion if the answer seems odd to the recipient..
Parameter Meters~
The Parameter meter is how your measure the Heroine's favour towards the chosen character.
As you can see, there are three different parameters and these will change depending on the choices you, as the Heroine, make.
You have;
Affection;
This measures the amount of love the Heroine has for the chosen male character.
The higher the level is, the higher your chance is of reaching the GOOD ending.
Trust;
This measures how favourable the relationship is to the heroine.
The Trust level is separate to romance in the relationship, so the better the relationship is in general, this level will go up and if the relationship gets worse, the level will go down.
Suspicion;
This measures how suspicious the Heroine is to the male character.
Every time the Heroine says something she may not have said before or does something she may not have originally done, this level will go up.
The higher the Suspicion level is, the higher your chance is of reaching the BAD ending.
...though in Toma's, Shin's, Kent's and Ukyo's route...you can get the GOOD ending with the Suspicion level raised all the way to the top.
Kent guesses, Shin figures it out based on how the heroine acts, Ukyo just knows (..spoiler alert!!!) and it isn't actually said if Toma knows or not, but literally as soon as his route starts, the Suspicion level is already as high as it can be :,)
Doubt [ SECRET PARAMETER ];
This parameter is only available in Toma's route... SOO many reasons why.. > <;;
The Doubt parameter measures how much the Heroine doubts what Toma is telling her and rises when he says or does something strange or if the Heroine contradicts him.
Although, ironically, Toma's GOOD ending requires you to have a full Suspicion and Doubt level :,)
Extras~
As you play through the main game, you unlock Additional Content that can be found on the main menu.
Additional Scenarios [ Memories ];
Each Additional Memory is unlocked every time you get a GOOD ending.
It's basically just a bonus story of an event told through the male's point of view.
Voiced Images;
When you play through the game, you'll unlock different CG's that will be stored in the Gallery which you can access through the main menu. When you fulfil a certain requirement, a rose icon will appear in the top right hand corner of certain CG's and you'll be able to hear the thoughts of the male character when you touch different parts of the image.
It's really kinda cute because feelings from the male character that aren't shared in the actual game are told here and... Kyaaaah~ ♡ they're really cute! *ω*
..OMG BUT! In some images, you have to touch the heroines beeewbies!! SO DUTTY, AMNESIA!! >;3
Mini Games [ Rock-Paper-Scissors & Air Hockey ];
Just so these mini-games don't sound completely random, in Shin's route you play Rock-Paper-Scissors with him and Toma and Ikki, Kent, Toma and Shin play Air Hockey when they go to the Shinano Mountain Lodge :,)
Once you unlock this, you can play against all the characters in these mini-games and if you beat all of them, you will receive two special CG's that will be located in the etc. part of the gallery.
Characters~
Now for my favourite part...
The Characters!! >ω<
Main Characters~
Heroine AKA "Lucky B*tch"
Name; ..doesn't actually have one which makes it easier for you to choose one :,)
Age; 19
Seiyuu; Kaori Nazuka (only in the anime)
This is where I'd say something about her personality...but I just remembered it changes depending on the world you choose :,)
So...in Kent's route, it's made to think that she was always quite loud and argumentative but in Shin's route, it sounds like she was quite shy and sensitive..
Generally speaking though, let's say that she was very sweet, understanding and helpful to the people around her before she lost her memories ^v^
Kent AKA "Dorky AF Maths Nerd"
Name; Kent
Age; 25
World; Clover
Number of Endings; Four endings (GOOD, NORMAL and two BAD endings)
Seiyuu; Akira Ishida
MY FAAAAVOURITE!! ♡ω♡
He may be a hella dorky maths nerd and would very likely use the pick up line..
"U+ME=69"
But he is SO sweet! ;ω;
He doesn't start off this way, though. At the beginning of the game, Kent is quite cold and insensitive towards the Heroine's feelings and thinks that "love" is nothing more than a complicated emotion created by brainwaves.
He's also really awkward and blushes a lot when the Heroine says or suggests doing anything even slightly romantic. Like when he goes to kiss the Heroine at one point, he's so nervous that he actually bumps her head by accident :,3
But throughout the game, he warms up to the Heroine a lot and becomes really sweet *ω*
He's also really conservative when it comes to romance. An example being that towards the end of the GOOD route, when he announces that he will one day propose to the Heroine, he gets down on one knee and kisses the back of her hand ; / / / / ;
I LOOOOVE him!! ;ω;
Shin AKA "Badass Emo Detective"
Name; Shin
Age; 18
World; Heart
Number of Endings; Four endings (GOOD, NORMAL and two BAD endings)
Seiyuu; Tetsuya Kakihara
He's clearly the BEST!
..that is all.
Literally I am NOT even kidding when I say the majority of his route is like FUK THA POLICE!
In most of the routes, Shin is childhood friends with the Heroine and Toma so all three of them have pretty much always been together. Even though they're childhood friends, Toma will pretty much stop at nothing to cock block Shin from the Heroine > <;;
Let's see...
Well, Shin is very reserved and mysterious. Major HNNNNNNNG alert!! *ω*
He will often call the Heroine "baka" but I think he means it in a kind of affectionate way since it's clear that he really loves her <3
Also many kisses from this guy throughout the route, so... Th-That's good! ♥
Ukyo AKA "Beautiful Psycho Mermaid"
Name; Ukyo
Age; 24
World; Joker
Number of Endings; Nine endings (GOOD, NORMAL, and seven BAD endings)
Seiyuu; Kouki Miyata
Seriously, seven bad endings?! ..how delicious ; / / / / ;
His seventh bad ending is actually the BEST ending throughout the WHOLE game! It's just SO GODDAMN GOOD! UGH! > / / / / <
..I'm not a masochist, okay?! > <"
Ukyo, Ukyo, Ukyo... Where to begin with Ukyo?
I love his hair! ;ω;
..Okay, Serah. Get serious now.
. . .
Ukyo's personality is definitely "out-of-the-ordinary", let's say :,)
He actually has a split personality, so one side of him is really sweet and protective towards the Heroine whereas the other personality is really hostile and crazy! There's a reason for this, but it would take a while to explain :,)
He also enjoys Photography which is actually his job and, in his route, he turns up at the café a lot where the Heroine works and talks to her employer, Waka, and shows him his pictures. He's also a bit of a crybaby at times and becomes emotional easily, especially when talking or thinking about his grandfather.
Ikki AKA "Man Whore with a Perpetual Boner"
Name; Ikki
Age; 22
World; Spade
Number of Endings; Five endings (GOOD, NORMAL and three BAD endings)
Seiyuu; Kishou Taniyama
..I really, really, really hate this guy.
He's probably the worst playboy who ever lived!! >. >
He even has a stupid fanclub so his entire route is filled with screaming fangirls who want him WAY too much and they also make his route really annoying and irritating to play through.
While he is a playboy who flirts with other girls while making the Heroine wait hours for him to show up for a date...he is actually pretty polite and quite sweet.
I still don't like him.
Further along in his route, he actually becomes quite vulnerable and opens up a lot to the Heroine about things that he's dealing with. Yea, right.
I still don't like him.
It also actually turns out that when he was little, he made a wish on a shooting star to be popular with girls and this turned out to be a bad thing since he wasn't able to grow close to anyone since every girl who liked him tried to make Ikki and his girlfriend at the time to break up. Hence why now, he only dates girls for three months so none of them get too jealous.
The only reason he's so popular with girls is because the wish he made gave his eyes some sort of special power so that whenever a girl looks at him, they instantly fall in love with him and this leads you to believe that the only reason he's interested in the Heroine is because his eyes don't work on her.
I still don't like him.
Even though he outright says that he loves girls, wants them to like him and likes playing around with them, he yearns for real love and actually cares a lot for the Heroine.
...I still don't like him.
Toma AKA "Piece of TRASH"
Name; Toma
Age; 20
World; Diamond
Number of Endings; Four endings (GOOD, NORMAL and two BAD endings)
Seiyuu; Satoshi Hino
I hate Toma most of all.
Seriously, if anyone out there is actually a fan of this guy, answer me WHY?!
He's messed up. Beyond messed up. SO messed up that if he met Izaya, even he'd say..
"Whoa, dude. What the hell is wrong with you?!"
He literally needs to be thrown into a trash bin and left to rot because he is MESSED UP! ;A;
But I need to try and give an unbiased run down of his personality for this review, so...
Toma.
He's quite calm, relaxed and laid-back.
Also dresses like a bumblebee???
Even though he's weird and creepy...I guess you could say he really does care about Shin and the Heroine?
But! *takes a deep breath"
In his route...
He lies to the Heroine about being her boyfriend when actually he isn't and has some weird obsession with her so when it looks like she's targeted by people Toma takes her to his apartment for "safety" yea whatever you FREAK so he starts drugging her food to keep her asleep then when Shin shows up and is like WTF IS GOING ON HERE?! Toma shoves him off and forces the Heroine to drink some weird drug by kissing her??? and then keeps her in a giant dog cage.
*deep breath*
Yea...he's a DICK.
Go jump off a cliff into a dumpster, Toma.
Side Characters~
Orion AKA "The Navi of the Amnesia World"
Name; Orion
Seiyuu; Hiromi Igarashi
I suppose you could say that Orion is actually a main character...but I felt he belonged more in the "Side Characters" category...I'm not sure why :,)
I said Orion is like the Navi of the Amnesia world because he can be annoying sometimes...but only sometimes...he's cute, really :3
Orion is really eccentric and caring towards the Heroine. So much in fact that by the end of each route, they seem like brother and sister ;3; he's generally nice and innocent and...maybe slightly clumsy at times :,) I mean, he was stupid enough to collide with the Heroine and get lodged in her mind, so..
Sawa AKA "Needs a Mute Button"
Name; Sawa
Seiyuu; Satomi Moriya
Like, I love Sawa...but she really needs to shut up sometimes :,)
She doesn't pause to take a breath!
I suppose you could say Sawa is the Heroine's best friend since they know each other very well in each route :3
She's very bright and extravagant and gets along well with everyone in most routes. She's also kind, can be easily relied on and cares for the Heroine a lot ^ω^
Mine AKA "Two-Faced Kouhai"
Name; Mine
Seiyuu; Kana Akutsu
Basically...she's desperate and two-faced .-.
Mine is only friends with the Heroine in two routes...so out of five, that's not good.
She's one of those really annoying people who act super cute and friendly towards everyone, but is really cruel and harsh to the people she dislikes in secret. The person she dislikes here being the Heroine.
Rika AKA "Devil Lady"
Name; Rika
Seiyuu; Seiko Yoshida
She's the leader of Ikki's stupid fanclub.
She's horrible. Mean. A b*tch.
Rika is obsessed with Ikki and loves him a lot and detests the Heroine in the Spade route SO much that she actually tries to kill her in one of Ikki's BAD endings..
Geez..!
Waka AKA "Scary Boss Man"
Name; Waka
Age; 28
Seiyuu; Hidenori Takahashi
Waka is quite a funny character, actually :,)
In every route, he has a different personality..! Though not quite in the same was as Ukyo's split personality..
In one route, he may be an ex-assassin who threatens to kill employees if they make a mistake and in another route, he may be flamboyant and loves to dance! So, who knows who this guy REALLY is...
He manages the café where the Heroine works called Meido no Hitsuji.
My Thoughts~
I'd actually heard a lot about Amnesia before I played it. I mean, you've got the anime and a bunch of games and because none of them had been translated and I can't read Japanese...I couldn't play them ;O;
So when I heard an English version of Amnesia: Memories was coming to the PS Vita and since I LOVE Otome games, I was SO happy I couldn't even-- Like, I put the release date on my calendar and counted down the days until it came out X,3
I just gotta say...
Amnesia really is the BEST Otome game I've ever played! <3
Usually with Otome games, you need to play different routes more than once and sometimes that can be a bit boring if the story isn't gripping enough and the characters don't have enough depth...but I really LOVED replaying each route! I was excited every time (..apart from when I had to play Toma's route) >. >
Although...it would of made the game a bit better (..I guess?) if the routes for some characters were a bit longer because a few are kinda short /: like I said before, each route usually takes the entire duration of August to complete, so you play through the different days. But seriously some days are SO short that it's kinda like why even bother? > <
A couple of days also go by without the player having to make any choices and consists of the Heroine going to work and going home. I found that a little irritating, like...at least add something a bit exciting if you're going to make days super short and pointless like that! T^T;
I mean, the extra content isn't really anything to write home about, but it's a nice change from the main story and the mini-games are fun, I guess.. x,D
And the art style of Amnesia is A-MAZ-ING! Like, the art style even makes Trash Boy Toma look good! ;3; and also the trophies for this game aren't hard to collect either, it literally just requires you to complete every possible route and view all the extra content and BOOM! You've earned all the trophies :,)
If you have a PS Vita and enjoy Otome games like myself, I really recommend this game :3
It's easy to get into, it's very enjoyable, each route holds it's own sense of mystery and each route ending (even the BAD endings) are great to some extent! Especially Ukyo's! His BAD endings are awesome, I just...don't even know how to explain them :,)
There is also quite a lot of emotion in this game! O:
Thinking back...I cried during Kent's, Ikki's, Toma's (I regret to admit..) and Ukyo's NORMAL endings ;~; Kent's especially broke my heart </3
This game just has a great balance of everything you could ever want for an Otome game so I really recommend trying it and I can promise you now that you won't regret it! ^ω<
Overall Score~
My overall score for Amnesia: Memories is...
9/10
I would rate it a ten if there was maybe slightly more to the extra content and if there weren't those pointless short days I mentioned :,)
..and if Toma wasn't involved.
Sorry, I just HATE him! :,D
So, it's a nine from me because this game is just awesome, awesome and awesome! >ω<b
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So that was my review for Amnesia: Memories :3
I hope that you enjoyed reading it and that it was fairly informative. If you have any questions about the game, feel free to leave a comment and I'll reply back and try to be as helpful as possible ^v^
Thank you for reading and have a great day~! n.n
BYESIES~! c:
xoxo~
