More Otome Game Bullshit

As mentioned previously, I like otome games. And, as you've no doubt deduced by now, I also like writing long-winded journal entries detailing the stuff I like. Which brings me to the reason for this journal: blabbing about the mystery/college life sim "Nicole".



I've been playing non-stop all weekend, and let me just say, this game is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun! Holy crap. It's by Winter Wolves, who made another game I played called "Love and Order"...but "Nicole" is 678963647568970898768 times better.

The basic premise is as follows: Nicole is thrilled to have gotten into her top choice college, and she eagerly awaits her first semester of law school in Florida. However, as soon as she moves into the university dorms, she finds out that there’ve been a series of mysterious disappearances going on around the campus. So far, three girls have already gone missing, only to turn up 72 hours later with no memory of what happened to them. Nicole begins to investigate the disappearances, but she'd better watch out - if she's not careful, she could become the perpetrator's next target...or worse, she could end up dating him!

I got the impression that the people who wrote this game had a TON of fun working on it. The characters are vivacious and witty, and the story, while not exactly rife with plot twists, has just enough suspense to keep you wondering right up until the end. The main character, Nicole, was such a pleasant surprise - at first I wasn't sure how to feel about her, since she seemed a bit shallow at first, but then she turned out to be a freaking TUMBLR nerd, and I instantly fell in love with her (of course, they call Tumblr "Rollr" in the game - they swap out all brand names with silly substitutes, like "Stardoes" for Starbucks, "Lie's potato chips" for Lay's, and "Flype" for Skype). She's just so completely genuine and 100% true to herself at all times, and while she occasionally falls into valley girl mannerisms (being from California), she also has an impressive capacity for snark and a penchant for tumblr speak (she refers to two of the guys as her "BrOTP" in the game, for example). What can I say? The writing team obviously knew their target audience

Anyway, as the game progresses, you have the option to save up money and raise various stats by working campus jobs and participating in certain activities (such as studying, socializing, playing sports, etc.). You also need to gather "clues" by questioning other students and snooping around town looking for suspicious behavior. The stats you choose to raise, the stuff you buy with your money, and the number of clues you gather all affect gameplay, as does your interactions with the four main "suspects". Who are, from left to right: Jeff, Kurt, Darren, and Ted.


Whodunnit? Hurr durr

Jeff is a sort of melodramatic, self-aggrandizing pharmacology student, Kurt is a football jock dudebro with a penchant for horrible one-liners, Darren is an old-fashioned history nerd who is tumblr-famous but painfully shy in real life, and Ted is a workaholic Tsundere hardass with a southern accent and a hot cop father. The character development in each route unfolded really naturally, and I had heaps of fun discovering each guy's personality quirks and secrets mwhahaha. Nobody was who they seemed to be on the surface, and with the exception of one of the suspects (whose route I didn't particularly like because of reasons^TM that I won't describe for fear of spoilers), everyone's actions and motivations seemed believable. I picked out the culprit pretty early on in the game, but there was still a niggling suspicion deep down that I could be wrong, right up until the final scene. I also gotta give the game props for being realistic enough to end with the perpetrator going to jail, even in the route where Nicole fell in love with him. All four guys were convincingly flawed (with one being actually crazy) - no 100% perfect Marty Stu jerkoffs like you sometimes find in otome games. My favorite route was of course Darren's, because, um, introverted history nerd with glasses who is extremely hard to get? I think yes.

*ahem* Anyway, I definitely recommend this game, and I would love to gush with you if you've already played! Man, this makes me really want to create my own otome game for NaNoRenO (which is like NaNoWriMo, but for visual novels). Maybe someday...