Many people I know have played a little game from around the 1997 era known as “Azure Dreams”. Some people will quip that it was the best game on the PSX of that genre and other will counter with “PSX? Wasn’t it on the GBC?” and both parties will be right.
I’ve played both versions of the game and enjoyed it for the most part. I do have issues with the dating part of the game and the subsequent misogyny that goes on with that aspect (damsel in distress, bathing suit scene, harem, etc.) however you can tend to ignore most of that and enjoy the monster taming mystery dungeon aspect. The GBC version has less of that as they took out most of the dating aspect and actually put in more dungeon to explore.
However the one on the PSX didn’t come to the United States intact. Many people will gloss over the changes by saying that only the voices were taken out however that wasn’t the only change made to the game. The reasons for these other changes are a bit puzzling to me, especially the Monster Book graphics. True the way it was arranged accommodated the Western text layout, but the other graphics?
From the two videos below (Lord Smapy’s Let’s Play of the game is being used for comparison) you can see that the intro was devoiced completely and cropped a little at the bottom (feet get chopped off). The title screen back ground and title font were changed completely. Other noticeable changes were the changing of the angel in the beginning a new angel was made and animated and the graphics on the Monster Book were also changed.
A few of the people I follow online have taken a play at Style Savvy, which is a fashion game of course aimed at girl’s. So I myself take a stab at this game as well in my new section called “Let’s FabStyle!” A video corner for the ridiculous, stereotyped, WTF and shovelware.
The name FabStyle comes from a new 3DS game coming out that looks more like an otome game than a simple fashion game. Style Savvy does seem to have a sequel coming out in Japan for the 3DS, simply called “Girl’s Mode” where now men will also come to the store.
My first initial impressions of the game are somewhat positive. It’s still pidgeon holing girls into thinking that fashion is the only thing they should care about. However it seems to have more production value behind it than the other fashion games.
Also take a look at the intro videos. Notice how some of the people’s skin color and hairstyles change. Some I nod and say “Yeah that’s probably for diversity.” and others are leaving me going WTF?
The first few gameplay videos I did the game audio was too loud so I made up some subtitles for them. Continue–>
Title screen with the images of the three main "gettable" men
Where to begin with this game? Well let’s get the positive out of the way, because it all goes downhill from there.
The positives, the music isn’t bad and the art is actually pretty good.
The neutral, the sound effects are a bit repetitive however get the job done.
The negative… well there’s the story. The story is about as sexist and misogynistic as you can get. The author goes out of her way to hate on women and she doesn’t even realize it. Yes I checked, sexism to her is an opinion. I submit however most of the major sexist things.
First we start off in the usual school setting and it’s come to our attention that the main character is SO SMART that she is bored of class. We then go
Haruhi the crossdresser
into the hallway after she is carrying papers and meet Haruhi. Haruhi (name probably taken from a certain OTHER crossdresser of anime fandom that involves a host club) is a crossdressing boy that “Wants to feel like a girl” by dressing in women’s clothing. While I have nothing against crossdressing this kind of borders on not understanding trans* issues than just a boy that dresses up in girl’s clothing as made confusing by the description in the game. Later in the game Haruhi raises his shirt to “prove he’s a boy” and wants the main characters affections. So it’s a bit confusing when he’s saying he wants to be a girl. I can’t make a final declaration on it, however it did bother me that we are to read this person as a girl and then “I’m not girl, I’m a boy!” In the anime that most likely inspired this character, THAT Haruhi always IDs as a girl (except when IN the club) and makes no sayings about “I’m have a boy’s mind, but I’m a girl” kind of thing going on.
Picture of the main characters mom saying "She'll never be a bride!"
Then we hit the “It gets worse!” mode, with the nugget the main character’s mom drops. “You’ll never be a bride!” because she can’t cook. I passed this off as a “Japanese Trope”, but no, the author really believes that women
MUST learn how to cook and MUST be brides. I can pass this off in a Japanese game because the culture over there is KNOWN for being sexist, so it’s a “well duh it’s a Japanese game”. Seeing in a game that isn’t Japanese however, I question it. I’m not going to say the Amero-UKo cultures are any better, however most of these tropes are indeed identified by the anime community and laughed at, even getting TVTropes pages.
“So” you think, “that’s it?” No that’s NOT it. Depending on the guy your after depends on the sexism you get. I’ll admit to only getting through two out of the three, because the third one is “No Boundaries Guy”. You have “Douchebag With a Heart of Gold”, “No Boundaries Guy”, “Almost Decent Man”.
All these paths will take you to an attempted rape scene. YES, attempted rape. For you see this is the “White Knight” moment where you either get saved by the school principal or one of the guys. Both of them will tell you of course that “It’s all YOUR fault for not keeping up, talking to random men, and walking around after dark.” Yes.. they really do, and we have a LOT of the main character crying and saying it’s all her fault with the guys telling her to “Be more careful” and that they will have to protect her.
In “Douchebag With A Heart of Gold”‘s path, we find out the main character’s brain has turned to mush and she’s as dumb as a brick, so dumb she needs a MAN to help her do her math, then she needs a MAN to copy her homework from. Basically all that smart stuff we were told about her in the beginning was just pure crap. It also get’s worse when she BARELY scrapes her knee and now can’t walk. YES, thus prompting the guy to carry her like a helpless damsel. It is stated that it’s “barely scratched”. If you can’t walk, your leg is broken. Which isn’t the case. If your leg is sprained you can kind of hobble-limp. That’s what crutches are for. Can’t walk, call 911.
Anyways the deal with this guy is that he has a power so awesome he can trash people with it and he’s hurt people in the past, blah blah tropey blah and he likes to feed kittens.
In “Almost Decent” guy, we get more info on the “Bitch Posse” because you know, women are always jealous of each other and LOVE to fight over guys and are bitches and don’t deserve to be taken seriously amirite? Well, let’s just say he brainwashes these women into liking him accidentally and wants to reverse it, so I give him points on that. Where he takes the sexist turn in when they are talking about being an item and he is going on and on about protecting her. You know because women are fragile creatures that ALWAYS need men protecting them. She however is going on about how she has to STOP DOING THINGS because it would UPSET HIM and MAKE HIM WORRY. FUCK! YOU!
“No Boundaries Guy” doesn’t warrant a play through considering well, he doesn’t know the meaning of the word consent. Going on about how he kissed the main character against her will through a sandwich. Which is all kinds of fucked up. He steals her sandwich, she doesn’t want it however he leaves a bite which he forces into her mouth and says they had an “indirect kiss”. Yeah, don’t want to go near this guy with a ten thousand foot pole.
Overall I really didn’t like playing the game and I really didn’t like the attitude of the creator when confronted with these issues. It’s a mark that the otome genre will constantly be filled with misogynistic crap like this if creators don’t take time to analyze what they are promoting when they copy paste Japanese culture.
