Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story

Hello!

It's been a while since I wrote anything and the reason is that I haven't been playing anything reasonable. Mainly free visual novels that haven't been worth mentioning really. I did start playing the Witcher 3, finally! It's going to take me some time to come up with enough material though, so just wait.

 So I recently started playing Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side and I have to admit, it's quite addicting! The idea is quite basic: You go to high school for three years while increasing your stats, making friends and possibly even meeting your boyfriend~. I didn't read any guides before starting so I was totally lost in my first walkthrough. I became the most popular student in my 3rd year with my high stats, but I kept changing my target so I didn't get a boyfriend. This time I made some preparations and I know what to do. There are six possible boyfriend candidates and on my first walkthrough I didn't even meet the sixth one, how mysterious... I'll try to woo Ruka this time, even though my favourite's Junpei!

What makes this game extremely difficult at first is dressing up. Every month there's a different trend and by dressing accordingly you may increase your fashion level. In the beginning you don't have much to pick from since you only start with 125 coins. Later on you may choose a part-time job but it'll take a long while to have a proper closet. On top of following the trends you must dress to your target's liking. For instance I've discovered that Ruka likes when you dress up naturally or cutely, but once my style was too vivid and he was absolutely terrified. A bit superficial I think but hey, it's just a game. Different occasions have their own clothing, for instance during the fireworks in summer you dress up in a yukata (if you own one!), in the Christmas Party in a dress and on the beach in a swimming suit. Just keep in mind that you need to be fashionable and to your guy's liking in all occasions... So troublesome.

 Every Sunday you have the opportunity to invite a guy to a date! I even read that it's possible to have a three-way date once you're familiar enough with the guys, but I think it's difficult enough to date one person yet alone two at the same time... Anyways you should keep a lookout on special events and in general what's going on around the town. For instance I still haven't had the chance to see the fireworks with anyone since like I mentioned, I was a bit lost in my first walkthrough.

What I haven't understood yet is the approaching system. I'm playing on a PSP but on a DS you can touch your date through the touch screen, which is incredibly weird!! You may approach them, touch different parts of them and oh God, this is getting super weird. I still don't know how to approach the date but I guess I'll find out sooner of later by just smashing the buttons. Going on dates is one way to increase your relationship, also by calling them with the appropriate name and answering their questions correctly.

 So what I got really excited about once I begun playing is that TMGS 3rd has animated sprites! It's the first time I've seen something like that in a visual novel since most of them only have the characters' mouths moving. In TMGS the whole character moves and I think that's pretty neat. Also, in the beginning you give out your name and if it's found in the voice acting database, the characters actually call you by your real name instead of "hey, you" like in so many other visual novel games. I have a Finnish name so of course they don't call me by my full name, but "Takai San" is pretty close! I actually got a bit flustered the first time they called out my name, ha ha... I keep cracking up though when Junpei calls me "San-san". Equally ridiculous would be Kun-kun or Chan-chan.

There are also a few minigames in TMGS 3rd but my favourite of them all is the guys or they even make it themselves. You also have both options in the game but I think making your own chocolate is more personal. If the guy accepts the chocolate they may return the favor on White Day, one month after Valentine's Day. My chocolates look terrible every time (try drawing a heart with a D-pad!) but so far Junpei and Ruka have enjoyed them. There's other minigames as well, mainly part of the Sports Festival in school, but they're not as fun as the Valentine's minigame.

 I think Ruka is pretty weird. During the Cultural Festival you may bump into him while he's acting as a guide to the guests. You don't know this during the first year and he asks you "Is something bothering you" or something similar. I automatically thought it came out of the bushes. Once you tell him that all's okay, he pretty much tells you to get the fuck out of his way. Nice. At the time I was going on dates with him every second weekend and I thought our relationship was okay, but that event made me pick Junpei instead. In the end I was trying to target Junpei but I still ended up with Ruka (your save file has his image and he hangs around you when you do activities). I guess he was impressed by my popularity and good grades.

There's so many things I haven't explained yet but I think I got the most important ones covered. I'll be back with another game next time, possibly Witcher ;-)