Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Raise your hand if you picked up a copy of Sweet Fuse: At Your Side (PSP) yesterday

Sadly, my own hand is not in the air at the moment.

I actually pre-ordered it after first becoming aware of it many moons ago, but I canceled that pre-order after surveying all of the games I've already bought yet failed to play this year.

Now, I'm not ruling out buying a copy later this year, or maybe early next, but for the moment I've decided to live my life Sweet Fuse-free.

In the meantime, maybe I should share a brief description of the game with those of you who've never heard of Sweet Fuse.

Basically, it's a visual novel aimed at women, as it stars a girl who, while navigating a bizarre amusement park filled with video game-themed attractions, must also juggle the relationships that are budding with a handful (six, to be exact) hunks.

Sweet Fuse, which was developed by Idea Factory and is being published in North America by Aksys Games, is noteworthy for a few other reasons, too--chief among them being that it features Keiji Inafune (aka the man who created Mega Man), who helped contribute to the game's development. It also features character designs from the hand of Kumiko Suekane, of Ace Attorney fame.

I don't suppose any of you picked up a copy of this intriguing PSP title? If so, why did you do so--and what do you think of it so far?

Buy: Sweet Fuse: At Your Side

33 comments:

Kensloth said...

This looks interesting!

thegaygamer.com said...

It does, doesn't it? Now I just have to pick up a copy and find out if it's actually interesting :)

Zaphod65 said...

I was intrigued when I saw it pop up on the PlayStation Blog, but the article didn't mention that it was a visual novel and the trailer gave no hint of "gameplay." I think I'll stick to "Sprung," the Phoenix Wright of dating sims. lol

thegaygamer.com said...

Interesting! I wonder if they "forgot" to mention it's a visual novel so as to get more folks to check it out?


I've never heard of Sprung before now, by the way, so I guess I know what I'll be checking out (via Google) in a little bit :)

Zaphod65 said...

It's a cute little game, and I liked that you could play it from a male or female perspective. It was a DS launch title.

thegaygamer.com said...

Really? It was a DS launch title here in North America? How did I miss it completely??

Obscure Video Games said...

Did you see the gameplay trailer for it? Reminded me a little of Danganronpa with the words moving around the screen. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2013-08-27/sweet-fuse/at-your-side-english-gameplay-trailer-posted

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I'm didn't since I don't have a PSP. I know, I'm awful but I do plan get a Vita at some point.


Also if you still need the stego skull in New Leaf don't forget our plans to trade tomorrow at 6 pm (your time zone) and remember my town is Kakariko and my mayor is Sam.

thegaygamer.com said...

I hadn't before now, Steve. Thanks for pointing it out! Very much solidifies my desire to play the game at some point :)

thegaygamer.com said...

You're not awful, Sam! I love my PSP, but I totally can understand not owning one.


As for the stego skull: yep, I still need it, and I haven't forgotten our plans. What am I bringing you again--a Varia suit shirt, or was it the bottoms?


I'll go check our previous discussion so I don't bring the wrong thing...

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I remember Sprung but I never played it. I remember this one news story where a game card that was supposed to be be a Petz game but played Sprung instead and the mother was outraged by the dialogue she saw and after she said the lines I thought "children's cartoons have done/said more risque things than that".

thegaygamer.com said...

Ha! That's a funny story, Sam. Still strange that I totally missed on this game until now...

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

Yeah I still need one please. As for needing something else the only thing I can think of is the afternoon tea set nintendo zone dlc (which I tried to get today but it kept erroring on me). So if you have one of those can I please catalog it? Now that I think about it I still need the plesio torso and the mermaid chair but I'm not expecting you to have any of those to spare. Also do you want to catalog the crown and royal crown because those things are expensive and I'd rather have other people that want it have it in their catalog so they can buy it whenever they want instead of having to drop 1,000,000-1,200,000 bells then and there. Also ask whenever to save no matter how long I lasted saved because my internet might still be unstable.

thegaygamer.com said...

Great! I will for sure bring you a Varia suit shirt. I don't have an extra plesio torso at the moment, unfortunately, but I'll keep an eye out for one and if I dig one up I'll let you know. Also, I've yet to encounter the mermaid chair or afternoon tea set myself, so I can't help you with those :(


As for catalogging the crown and royal crown: that would be great! I'd certainly like to own both at some point, but I'm never ready when they show up in my shop.


Anyway, see you tomorrow at 6pm Pacific!

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I got ore from the money rock today so you can have those too if you want.

thegaygamer.com said...

That's very nice of you, Sam, but you may as well keep the ore for yourself--unless some of it is gold? I've hoarded my ore since I started playing the game and just today (interestingly enough) decided to start selling some of it because I've yet to use any of it. Have you used any of it, or are you like me?

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I've used some emeralds on the on some green set items in my Kitchen and I've also made 2 of the gold set items from gold ore and gave them to Zaphod65.

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah, so you've used them more than I have but you still haven't used that all that much. I hear ya :)

enorka miho said...

Going to check them on PSN to see if they have them there.. To be honest, and shamefully enough to admit, I had abandon my PSP since I got my PSVita. That aside, I will try this game out because, well, I believe in Keiji Inafune's word on bringing change to the Japanese developed games. So, I wanted to know what sort of things he had brought to us, which I am sure there are some out of the world things in there. So yeap, can't wait to try it!

apricotsushi said...

I preordered a copy from Amazon and Aksys was gracious enough to give me a code so that I could review it in a timely manner, so I guess I've got us covered! I'm very much looking forward to this, as the goofy premise is much more up my otome game alley than Hakuoki was

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah, well, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it, Anne! Also, thanks for letting me know I'd spelled the game's title wrong throughout this post. DOH!

thegaygamer.com said...

Awesome! It's definitely on PSN, BTW. Also, you're definitely not alone when it comes to abandoning your PSP for a Vita. I've heard that over and over and over. Me, though, I'm keepin' my PSP! :)

retr0gamer said...

I'll pick it up when I get some money. Playing Hakuoki at the moment and enjoying it.

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, really? That's great! I really liked it, too. In fact, I liked it enough that I have to get back to it sooner rather than later so I can get a good ending.

StarrySkyDancer said...

I just finished my first playthrough and I have to say it both amazed me and disapointed me at the same time. I think the story is compelling and thrilling on it's own, but it would have been nice to have some puzzel-solving to do instead of beiing some sort of brainless bystander. I was practically yelling at my PSP 'please, can I, can I? oeh, I wanna do it! Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase?' XD

But the art is nice enough. The characters are adorable (and one of them is gay, even though it is said in the most criptic way EVER). The main character is not as ditzy as most female heroines that usually appear in these kind a games (or manga's for that matter)

Before playing this I played Virtue's last reward and 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors, which has a bit more bite to it, and the threath is more real, since in those games characters really pass away, while in this game you kinda know it's an empty threath when bombs go off.


And the best of all, who doesn't like choosing their own hunky guy?;) Most other dating games I know of are a bit empty. it's nice that in this one they at least tried to add a good and thrilling story.

So for those of you who haven't picked it up yet, It is certainly worth it^^

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, thanks for sharing your impressions, StarrySkyDancer!


I'm sorry to hear you were a bit disappointed with the game, but it sounds like overall you think it's worth it?


You've just reminded me that I need to pick up Virtue's Last Reward sometime this fall/winter, by the way.


Gah! Seriously, there are too many games I need to play, and far from enough time to play them all :|

Barrylocke89 said...

Just remember that Otome games are Visual Novels, which are usually almost exclusively story. The fact that there's a little bit of a game element is a surprise in itself.


999 and VLR (beat 999, no VLR yet) is more of the exception to the rule.


You MAY want to look at Corpse Party, as that game has heavy Visual Novel style story but has some Adventure game elements; you even move your character around the map rpg style when you're going from one place to another. Note that Corpse Party is horror though (although I enjoyed it despite not caring for horror myself)

StarrySkyDancer said...

My review might have been a bit confusing (Sorry!^^'), but the game is really nice. I think on a scale from 1 to 10 I would give it an 7.5, so that's pretty good;) I just missed some things that similar VN games did have.

Have you already played 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors? Because you really should before playing Virtue's last reward. It totally spoils 999 if you play it the other way around. But I really loved both of those games because they are a bit more than just a Visual novel. Their story is amazing and the characters (at least from the first game) are really loveable (Even those who aren't supposed to be XD)

StarrySkyDancer said...

I have played VN games before. Just with some stories that concept is a bit better carried. In this one I just felt like it made it a bit more boring, because it left me feeling a bit useless, because I had the puzzles figured out waaaaaaaaaaaay before they even bothered too XD But overal I love Visual Novels, so I will be playing this one a couple of more times in the future;)

I have Corpse party. I just didn't start playing it yet, because...uhmm...horror stories freak me out a bit, hahha ^^'... But it seems to be pretty good, so I probably will play it in the future. During the day. With the lights on ;)

Barrylocke89 said...

Darn, and I was just about to suggest that I got the best experience with it at night alone with the lights off :P


At the very least, play with headphones or earbuds if you can. Corpse Party used Binaural recording of a lot of the sounds and voice acting, so certain sounds will sound like it's at a different distance, or even direction (such as behind you). But it only really works with some sort of headset.

thegaygamer.com said...

I've played 999, but I've yet to finish it. So, maybe I should do that before starting Virtue's Last Reward, eh?


Thanks for sharing more thoughts on Sweet Fuse, BTW!

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey there, Barry! Thanks for the comments :)


I've played a bit of Corpse Party already. Really enjoyed it, too, but then I got stuck--and I've yet to go back. Maybe Halloween will prompt me to pick it up again?

StarrySkyDancer said...

thanks for pointing that out^^ I'll try it when I play it :D