Omega: Game of Lascivity 2 -Power of God- Review
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:45 amHope this is the right part of the forums for this. Anyway...
Who wants to read along as I review a game you won't play by an artist you've never heard of that's only somewhat related to this board? While also hearing me make references to the game it's a sequel to that you also haven't heard of and won't play and that's even less related to this board?
I thought so!
Arranged for narrative enjoyment, from the worst to the best.
The Bad:
And The Winner Is...: Let there be no bones about this: I could not give one flying rat's shit about Kayo. I won't lie, there are some shipping related reasons here. She's beating out both Akane Tendo (a.k.a. "best girl"), a badass buxom kung-fu master who has also been the main character's stalwart sidekick throughout both games and who has more character in her nut-smashing little finger than Kayo has in her entire stupid stereo-typical moe-blob body, and Ayanokouji (a.k.a. "second best girl"), a badass buxom half--vampire warrior whose backstory actually kicks off the game in narration, and whose quest to become a "real" vampire is much more emotionally resonant than anything that happens to Little Miss Designated Girl I'm Supposed to Like.
*ahem*
So, yeah. Her competition is fierce, but here's the thing: Kayo was barely in the last game, and she's in this one even less, which isn't even a spoiler after the events of the last game's conclusion. She's a lame, two-dimensional cardboard cutout of a character in a game full of better women who are themselves full of more personality, and she wins by default before you even start playing. There's even a heartbreaking scene where Tendo, who's been in love with the main character for years, basically gives up on him and gives him her blessing after their scene together. And an even worse one after the explosive climax where Tendo points out that she *busted her ass* to save him while he was off diddling Little Miss Designated Girl I'm Supposed to Like, contributing nothing to the climax, before sighing and just walking off. If you ship the main character with literally anyone whom you, the player, will actually care about, then you will be utterly disappointed.
Does this segment seem long? If so, it's only because it's the biggest problem with the game.
Rapey Sex Scenes: There are a few exceptions here. Unfortunately, one is with Kayo, so there's really only one exception here that matters. (Tendo's!) Now, Tendo's is easily the best in both games, so there's that, but that still left me with a game unfortunately light on spank material. I mean, I was like, yay! Ayanokouji's actually going to get a sex scene! Then, boo! It's with the asshole villain, and she's clearly hating the entire thing.
Yay! Crazy zero-g supernatural powers sex! Boo! It's the villain who gets it. Again. And the girl hates it. Again.
Honestly, I think he had more scenes than the protagonist in this game. I appreciate that there're some people who can completely truncate their opinions of the characters from the sex, but I'm not one of them, and I can only give you my opinion.
Truncated Feel: This entry would have better served with more character stuff. It largely succeeds as a climax, delivering on the promises and implications of the last game, but fails as a conclusion, giving all of the characters a satisfactory and conclusive epilogue. And, as noted above, the protagonist is completely useless and unimportant to the resolution of his own game. If you want to actually watch the explosive, action-packed climax, you have to forego his entire sex scene with Kayo (and you should).
As a whole, it felt to me like this game would have worked better as a trilogy, with a third game devoted to fleshing out the characters more and adding more content, and with this game giving the player more time with the girls we actually care about. It feels weird to say that, since I'm usually tired of games getting stretched out, but this one felt like it was cut short.
One Movie: The game designer, out of his own pocket, paid a native English speaker to translate all the text and subtitle all the movies. With one exception, he got everything, and the translation is perfect.
Unfortunately, that exception is a rather long scene where Tendo tells a sleeping protagonist that she loves him and kisses him on the lips right as he's waking up.
Balls.
Manami's Voice Actor: The one monotone incompetent in a cast of surprisingly good actors.
The Meh:
Fixing The First Game's Problems: The first game had two major defects: long stretches of that uniquely adventure game problem where you just go everywhere and click everything trying to grab ahold of the next story thread without context, and the fact that the player character never had sex with any of the girls that you the player probably wanted to see sex scenes with.
Now, the first problem was fixed by making the game very linear and short in comparison. While certainly a... solution, it's not what I'd call ideal. I'm not one of those people who hates linearity in games, but while the first game was a full-on adventure game, this one is more of a kinetic visual novel, and the shift is not without its teething problems.
As for the second... well, you get scenes with the girls you actually want to see, but unfortunately, well, re-read The Bad for how that borked up.
The Good
Excellent Sound Design: With that one exception, uniformly skillful voice actors and actresses, even when some were a little more high-pitched, in accordance with the Japanese taste, where I prefer something deeper and throatier. Great kung-fu movie special effects, which are incredibly appropriate given the subject matter. Even the original tunes are pretty cool, from that badass fist-pumping title tune that plays over the fight scenes, to the tenderer remix that plays during Tendo's love scene.
Art Design: Not too over-the-top and stylized to be enjoyable, not so realistic it trips the uncanny valley. Well done on walking a tough balance well.
The Plot: Much better than it has any right to be. Fun, exciting, continues the story from the last one while still presenting a fine climax. It's mostly an excuse for the sex and fight scenes, but a good excuse with good characters behind it. Speaking of which...
Dem Fight Scenes: Positively badassical. Every last one of them. Funny, charming, awesome, occasionally sexy, everything you'd ever want to see in a good Hong Kong supernatural kung fu movie. Don't let the shortness of this entry fool you, this is easily the highlight of the game.
Conclusion
Is this game worth your money?
I'm not sure.
If this game were ten dollars, I would easily say yes on the strength of the fight scenes alone. However, because of the inflated price of the game market in Japan compared to the good ol' U. S. of A., it's almost twenty-five. And that's just a little too much for so little content by comparison. Perhaps if you like your sex-scenes a little rape-ier than I do, and if you find Kayo as a character less flat and boring than I do, then there'll be more for you here than there was for me.
As it stands? Here and now? Eh.
I would, however, ask that you not pirate it. Come on man. Dude paid money out of his own pocket to translate this game, a move most Japanese game makers don't even try to make. Be a pal. If you wanna try it, buy it.
Who wants to read along as I review a game you won't play by an artist you've never heard of that's only somewhat related to this board? While also hearing me make references to the game it's a sequel to that you also haven't heard of and won't play and that's even less related to this board?
I thought so!
Arranged for narrative enjoyment, from the worst to the best.
The Bad:
And The Winner Is...: Let there be no bones about this: I could not give one flying rat's shit about Kayo. I won't lie, there are some shipping related reasons here. She's beating out both Akane Tendo (a.k.a. "best girl"), a badass buxom kung-fu master who has also been the main character's stalwart sidekick throughout both games and who has more character in her nut-smashing little finger than Kayo has in her entire stupid stereo-typical moe-blob body, and Ayanokouji (a.k.a. "second best girl"), a badass buxom half--vampire warrior whose backstory actually kicks off the game in narration, and whose quest to become a "real" vampire is much more emotionally resonant than anything that happens to Little Miss Designated Girl I'm Supposed to Like.
*ahem*
So, yeah. Her competition is fierce, but here's the thing: Kayo was barely in the last game, and she's in this one even less, which isn't even a spoiler after the events of the last game's conclusion. She's a lame, two-dimensional cardboard cutout of a character in a game full of better women who are themselves full of more personality, and she wins by default before you even start playing. There's even a heartbreaking scene where Tendo, who's been in love with the main character for years, basically gives up on him and gives him her blessing after their scene together. And an even worse one after the explosive climax where Tendo points out that she *busted her ass* to save him while he was off diddling Little Miss Designated Girl I'm Supposed to Like, contributing nothing to the climax, before sighing and just walking off. If you ship the main character with literally anyone whom you, the player, will actually care about, then you will be utterly disappointed.
Does this segment seem long? If so, it's only because it's the biggest problem with the game.
Rapey Sex Scenes: There are a few exceptions here. Unfortunately, one is with Kayo, so there's really only one exception here that matters. (Tendo's!) Now, Tendo's is easily the best in both games, so there's that, but that still left me with a game unfortunately light on spank material. I mean, I was like, yay! Ayanokouji's actually going to get a sex scene! Then, boo! It's with the asshole villain, and she's clearly hating the entire thing.
Yay! Crazy zero-g supernatural powers sex! Boo! It's the villain who gets it. Again. And the girl hates it. Again.
Honestly, I think he had more scenes than the protagonist in this game. I appreciate that there're some people who can completely truncate their opinions of the characters from the sex, but I'm not one of them, and I can only give you my opinion.
Truncated Feel: This entry would have better served with more character stuff. It largely succeeds as a climax, delivering on the promises and implications of the last game, but fails as a conclusion, giving all of the characters a satisfactory and conclusive epilogue. And, as noted above, the protagonist is completely useless and unimportant to the resolution of his own game. If you want to actually watch the explosive, action-packed climax, you have to forego his entire sex scene with Kayo (and you should).
As a whole, it felt to me like this game would have worked better as a trilogy, with a third game devoted to fleshing out the characters more and adding more content, and with this game giving the player more time with the girls we actually care about. It feels weird to say that, since I'm usually tired of games getting stretched out, but this one felt like it was cut short.
One Movie: The game designer, out of his own pocket, paid a native English speaker to translate all the text and subtitle all the movies. With one exception, he got everything, and the translation is perfect.
Unfortunately, that exception is a rather long scene where Tendo tells a sleeping protagonist that she loves him and kisses him on the lips right as he's waking up.
Balls.
Manami's Voice Actor: The one monotone incompetent in a cast of surprisingly good actors.
The Meh:
Fixing The First Game's Problems: The first game had two major defects: long stretches of that uniquely adventure game problem where you just go everywhere and click everything trying to grab ahold of the next story thread without context, and the fact that the player character never had sex with any of the girls that you the player probably wanted to see sex scenes with.
Now, the first problem was fixed by making the game very linear and short in comparison. While certainly a... solution, it's not what I'd call ideal. I'm not one of those people who hates linearity in games, but while the first game was a full-on adventure game, this one is more of a kinetic visual novel, and the shift is not without its teething problems.
As for the second... well, you get scenes with the girls you actually want to see, but unfortunately, well, re-read The Bad for how that borked up.
The Good
Excellent Sound Design: With that one exception, uniformly skillful voice actors and actresses, even when some were a little more high-pitched, in accordance with the Japanese taste, where I prefer something deeper and throatier. Great kung-fu movie special effects, which are incredibly appropriate given the subject matter. Even the original tunes are pretty cool, from that badass fist-pumping title tune that plays over the fight scenes, to the tenderer remix that plays during Tendo's love scene.
Art Design: Not too over-the-top and stylized to be enjoyable, not so realistic it trips the uncanny valley. Well done on walking a tough balance well.
The Plot: Much better than it has any right to be. Fun, exciting, continues the story from the last one while still presenting a fine climax. It's mostly an excuse for the sex and fight scenes, but a good excuse with good characters behind it. Speaking of which...
Dem Fight Scenes: Positively badassical. Every last one of them. Funny, charming, awesome, occasionally sexy, everything you'd ever want to see in a good Hong Kong supernatural kung fu movie. Don't let the shortness of this entry fool you, this is easily the highlight of the game.
Conclusion
Is this game worth your money?
I'm not sure.
If this game were ten dollars, I would easily say yes on the strength of the fight scenes alone. However, because of the inflated price of the game market in Japan compared to the good ol' U. S. of A., it's almost twenty-five. And that's just a little too much for so little content by comparison. Perhaps if you like your sex-scenes a little rape-ier than I do, and if you find Kayo as a character less flat and boring than I do, then there'll be more for you here than there was for me.
As it stands? Here and now? Eh.
I would, however, ask that you not pirate it. Come on man. Dude paid money out of his own pocket to translate this game, a move most Japanese game makers don't even try to make. Be a pal. If you wanna try it, buy it.