WARMTH LIKE HOME UNAWARES

So, I am just gonna catalogue my thoughts on Hikamitchi and my run here as I play through to try to get all his stills and his fated confession.

A little reference on the gameplay:

Starting with Simple room, I'm going to basically study once to meet Hikami-kun, then join student council and spam that until the end of the game to avoid meeting other boys. Yeah, it'll be that easy, as student council raises the study and care stats a lot. I'm going to avoid hanging out with Onoda-san in hopes of avoiding a rivalry. Gonna work at Annelie, which is annoying because we'll have to meet Masaki-san, but it's worth it for the stat gains, and it'll be the first job we get access to, anyway.

So yeah, let's start!

I want to say, initial impressions of Hikami-kun are POOR. Basically you meet him by him punishing you for being 15 seconds late, and he won't let up about it. He forces you to report your name and class, which is how you exchange names.

I get that they're trying to establish him as a by-the-books guy, but they could have made this a scene you get to see AFTER meeting him, right...? While he is strict about the rules, I don't think this is really indicative of his personality over all.

Immediately after that, we get his first scene -- him riding his bike... with a helmet! He's all smiles this time, and encouraging us to worry about safety first. This is a much better way to meet him, I think. They should have had this be his meeting scene, tbh. You could still be curious and ask him about the helmet and hand signals and that could lead to exchanging names. That would at least start you off on the right foot, instead of having your first meeting be such a downer.

I'm not going to comment on everything I do and every date... just put out some notes if I have something to say.

Hikami-kun being a stickler for the rules is so cute...? I really liked his little speech he gave on the new disciplinary committee captain day thing. He was kinda calling out the entire student body and then they got mad hahaha. But he was kinda right...? Idk, I liked it at least XD

I managed to get him to friends level just after xmas! I think that's the fastest I've ever gotten someone to friends.

It's funny how if you say something that isn't exactly correct he will correct you XD But in a well-meaning way.

OK I finally got him to like and now I can call him Hikamitchi :D What I really like about him is that under his stern demeanor he's actually quite passionate and nice, and he gets flustered so easily, too; it's so cute!

I like that when I asked him what kind of girl he's interested in, he didn't know, but when he was rambling to himself thinking about it, his first thought was 'good at science' lol. Also he mentioned liking kids, so he must be family-oriented. What a cutie! His future aspirations (wanting to become an astronomer and make new discoveries) are also quite profound, which is cool. I like a passionate guy with lofty aspirations.

In my previous playthrough, I got a scene where he is practicing yelling out good morning to all the students. It was SO adorable, but I haven't seen it yet in this playthrough D: I wonder what triggers it.

OK, I finally got it.

I got a 'love talk' I think -- we went to the aquarium and there were jellyfish, and I could say fu-nya-fu-nya~<3 and I was like 'wtf' so I did, and he got really embarrassed and then turned around and said he wanted me to by myself in front of him and we had a little lovey-dovey moment. I think I actually got another one when he asked me what the people in the past were thinking about from the tower and I said "maybe the same as us."

And yeah, I finally got the fated confession--!! Picked up all CGs along the way. Except for the ending ones from other endings, of course. I ran into VS mode with Onoda-san near the end... didn't manage to get her friendship back up but still got the ending anyway. Looks like if the boy likes you enough, the girl can't steal him away.

Haaaaa it's almost 3AM lol. Time for bed! Tomorrow we start Morimura-kun's run!

So, I can't remember if I had hard decided on this in the last post, but I'm going through the 4 Girl's Side games to romance all the 'brainy' guys and see who is the best.

I've done Morimura (1) long ago (in college, eep), and I had a failed run at getting Hikami (2)'s reversal ending recently... then I got Honda (4)'s true ending, which I talked about in the last post... so the only one I hadn't seen at all was Konno (3). In fact, I hadn't even played Girl's Side 3rd, so this was an entirely new experience for me.

Konno-senpai was... definitely the most disappointing of the brains. ( spoilers )

As for the game... it's suppsoed to be the best game in the series, but a lot of that opinion was solidified before the 4th game came out and the English-speaking fandom never latched onto 4th because unlike the first three, it doesn't have a fan translation, being on the Switch instead of the DS. After playing both 3rd and 4th, I feel like 3rd is more like a prototype of 4th, which improves on all its systems in every way. But that's just first impressions -- there's still some stuff I haven't gotten to play around with yet in 3rd. I did enter a triangle (the throuple system) in my first game with Kou-kun and Ruka-kun, but it didn't go much anywhere, and I didn't escalate it to PVP. So I have no idea what all that is like -- but the Marie Garden feature with friendship groups seems like more refined version of this system.

I do love the idea of poly relationships in games, but maybe it's some kind of internalized polyphobia or something, but it just feels so... awkward or unnatural for all these high school boys too all come up with the same idea of doubling up to date the same girl lol. I guess 3rd just takes place in a very poly-normative society...??? Hahahahaha.

I did accidentally get the triangle ending #1 for Kou-kun and Ruka-kun my first playthrough (I messed up my stats and had to replay to get Konno-senpai's proper ending T_T) and it was basically the three of us being besties and hanging out. But the triangle ending #2 is much harder to get -- you basically have to enter a triangle AND get both guys to fall for you, meeting their individual ending requirements. But stay in the triangle...? IDK lol.

Anyway, next up is a revenge run of 2nd to try to get Hikami-kun's ending. I was going to try again to get the reversal ending, but it's super hard and I'm just trying to get through the 4 brains right now, so I think I'm just gonna do a normal run for him and go for all his stills.

I'm not sure if I should go for his normal ending or accidental kiss ending -- they're both the exact same requirements, just one of them you have to get his accidental kiss at the beginning of the game. So there's no save-scumming to get both easily, you have to do the exact same playthrough TWICE lmao.

Actually I think if you go for someone's reverse ending and DON'T dump the 'backup' guy, you'll get their normal (non-kiss) ending, so I should go for the kiss ending first, then I can use him as the 'secondary' for a reversal ending later and get that ending then. OK, it's settled! Accidental kiss with Hikami-kun and then aim for all his stills!!

Also, a ramble about nicknames: ( Read more... )