It’s Guest Review Wednesday and amazingly we have a new Guest Review by a brand new Guest Reviewer. Please welcome reader Jackie S, who has offered to take a look at a game that got a lot of buzz in lesbian/female/gaymer circles. A games that got so much buzz, in fact that I even heard of it. ^_^  

Take it away Jackie!

There are spoilers in this review.

In the computer game Gone Home, by the Fulbright Company, the year is 1995. You play 20-year-old Kaitlin Greenbriar, who has just returned to the US after a year abroad in Europe. You arrive after midnight at the new home your family moved into while you were away, but discover that no one is home. The object of the game then is to explore the house and discover clues regarding the whereabouts of your family.

The main narrative focus of the game and major point of interest for Okazu readers is the story of your 17-year-old sister, Samantha. Without her older sister around to confide in, Sam decided to write about her year as a series of journal entry “letters” addressed to you. As you progress through the house, you unlock narrations of Sam’s letters. Her entries tell the story of moving to a new school, being intrigued by another girl, finagling a way to meet said girl, becoming friends, becoming girlfriends, and their relationship from there.

First off, Sam is a fantastic, interesting character. She passes the “Would I invite this character over for lunch?” test with a resounding YES. Example: About three rooms into my exploration of the house, I found her assignment for health class lying around. It was a pretty awful assignment about the reproductive system – put sentences about “The Menstrual Cycle” or “The Life of a Sperm Cell” in order – that included the gag-worthy line “It is incredible how the female body knows how to prepare for pregnancy!” She had done the assignment and put them in order… within the context of a tragic, wartime romance story. (^_^) Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly) the teacher seemed to lack a sense of humor…

When Sam first sees Lonnie, her eventual girlfriend, she’s interested from the get-go. She hatches a plan to interact with her by challenging her to a game of Street Fighter, which doesn’t go quite as smoothly as planned (she gets her butt kicked) but accomplishes the main goal of making contact. Sam’s excitement as they start hanging out is obvious, and later her fervent hope that she’s reading the situation right really rang true for me. (A lot of this can be attributed to very good voice acting done for the narration.) It took me a while to realize, but Sam never questions her sexuality or her being in a relationship with another girl. She knew before the timeline of the game started that she likes women (“since, like, She-ra,”), and seems to have already accepted that as a part of who she is. That doesn’t mean, however, that she doesn’t struggle with parents, friends, and classmates knowing/finding out. The biggest issue for Sam, though, is the future of her relationship with Lonnie. Not because they’re gay, but because Lonnie, who is a year ahead of her, is in JROTC and planning on joining the army right after graduating. And then she’ll just be… gone. All of the issues in Sam’s life seem to be coming to a head as you near the end of her storyline and progress to the attic of the house. Honestly, I was a bit worried about what I would find in the attic…

**SPOILER  ALERT**

Thank goodness they didn’t decide to use the “lonely, rejected gay teenager commits suicide” trope. The ending is a little bittersweet, but also hopeful, and avoids a too-neatly-wrapped, unrealistic happily-ever-after ending.

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For me, one of the best things about Gone Home was how real it felt. Even though you never meet them, your family members feel like real people, especially Sam. The house feels like a real home that people actually live in. The level of detail the creators put into all of the STUFF in the house is pretty incredible: books, recorded VHS tapes, mugs, pads of paper, soda cans, bottles, and so much more, most of which you can pick up and inspect more closely. (I tend to spend way more time than necessary in games exploring every nook and cranny, but in this game that tendency was rewarded with all sorts of interesting discoveries! Like Dad’s adult magazine collection! 0_o) The nostalgia factor is also strong – it really feels like 1995 in there. The music, sound effects, and lighting combined to create an atmosphere that really fit how I would feel exploring a strange, empty house during a thunderstorm (of course) after midnight. Heck, I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t playing Resident Evil, and no one was going to jump around a corner at me wielding a chain saw. Which I sometimes have to remind myself of walking around my OWN not-strange house at night during storms.

Ratings:

Visuals – 8 Not the most visually stunning or beautiful game I’ve ever played, but the sheer level of detail of all the different knickknacks and paraphernalia is quite impressive.

Controls/Gameplay – 9 I don’t usually play computer games (more of a console gamer), but I picked up the controls pretty easily. I really liked being about to pick up and interact with so many things in the house. It took me about 3.5 hours to beat the game, and while I think I missed a couple things, I’m pretty sure I found most items of interest. YMMV on how much replay value there is and whether it’s worth spending $20 for a 3-4 hour game. (Though I got it on sale for $10!)

Story – 10 For two reasons: 1) Sam’s storyline by itself isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but as far as I’m aware it’s the first time such a story has been the main narrative focus of a game that isn’t a visual novel/dating sim/whatever. 2) I haven’t really talked about it, but the stories you can piece together about your Mom, Dad, and the great-uncle who willed the house to your dad are also fascinating, if much harder to suss out than Sam’s.

Characters – 10 Sam alone gets this, but reason #2 in my story rating also applies.

Yuri – 10 The main storyline is about a lesbian, in a lesbian relationship. It is not a “Story A” AND

**SPOILER** doesn’t end with any gay teenagers committing suicide. \(^,^)/

Service – 0 Because finding your Dad’s porn stash is more of a disservice…

Overall – 10 For what this game is trying to be, it does a fantastic job.

Erica here: Thank you Jackie for this review, it certainly sounds like it deserved all the praise it received. And Steam runs sales all the time. ^_^

Today we have a special treat. Long-time commenter C. Banana has joined the Borg taken up the pen and become an Okazu Guest Reviewer! How excited am I? Very, I assure you. As you know, I do not game, so I am thrilled to be able to let C. tell us all about a Yuri game. Take it away C!

I’m here to talk about an indie dating sim/visual novel in the form of Heileen 3: Sea Maidens from Winter Wolves. For those who don’t know, Sea Maidens is the standalone expansion to the otome game Heileen 3: New Horizons offering four potential Yuri romances. It does help to play the first two Heileen games but it’s not necessary as the third game explains enough that newcomers won’t be lost. If you’re considering buying the first two games, keep in mind that some Yuri fans may not like them, as they’re more Yuri-lite than the third game expansion gets. That said, if you own an Android tablet, Heileen 1 & 2 can be found cheaper on Google Play.

The setting for the Heileen series is during colonial times on an expedition to the New World. The game series puts the player in the shoes of the titular Heileen, a very young noblewoman, who starts out the series very spoiled and immature -although she does get better over time. The events of the first two games involve the initial expedition crashing, resulting in Heileen and friends being stranded on a tropical island. At the end of the second game, Heileen is rescued by relatively friendly pirates which starts off the events of the current game.

Before delving into the romance part, the simulation part of the game should be get a comment. Basically, you train Heileen’s stats and skills to possibly get a possible non-romantic profession ending for Heileen. Usually in simulation games, the first part of the fun comes from the discovery of all the mechanics. The next part of the fun comes from using knowledge of the mechanics to figure out the puzzle of how to use them to achieve your goals. Unfortunately, the simulation side of Heileen 3 is way too simple to find any of this kind of enjoyment from the game and it doesn’t affect the romance scenes at all, anyway.  It’s lucky for the game that the simulation and profession bits are not the main draw – but it does seem like a missed opportunity as it could have added to the game’s enjoyment.

As for the romances, they’re set up in the usual visual novel way, where the choices you make direct who Heileen ends up with (if anyone at all).  For Sea Maidens, the romantic choices are a childhood commoner friend (Mary), a vivacious women in her early forties (Lora), an ex-slave African woman (Ebele), and an irascible pirate lady (Juliet).  As this game was built off the original otome game, the early parts of the game do involve Heileen heavily crushing on guys. If you  only own Sea Maidens, the guys become  impossible to romance.  All of the romances are reasonably long as each playthrough should last multiple hours unless a player is skipping text like crazy.

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As for my comments on the romance paths…

Heileen/Mary – One thing that really surprised me about this route is how high the drama was during this romance, especially for a childhood friend option.  Luckily though the drama didn’t overstay its welcome for me and I ended up enjoying this route quite a bit.  As someone who’s played the first Heileen, it was nice touch that there was quite a bit of contrast to the Mary route in the first game as Heileen shows herself as much more mature and competent during the third game’s Mary route.

Heileen/Lora – A confession I’ll make is that I liked the Heileen/Lora route in the first Heileen game.  That said, playing this route in Heileen 3 actually creeped me out a little as the mother/daughter vibe of their relationship is played up at the same time during this route.  I’m pretty sure people who can get past that would enjoy the route a lot more than I did.

Heileen/Ebele – This romance certainly plays out significantly nicer than the others as, during this route, conflict between Heileen and Ebele is kept to a minimum.  I liked this route in a mild way but unfortunately that doesn’t give me a lot to say about it.

Heileen/Juliet – I romanced Juliet the first time through and on subsequent playthroughs, I kept being tempted to play through her route again.  One really positive thing about this route is that both Heileen and Juliet go through a fair amount of character development during this route.  The ending CG is without a doubt my favourite of the bunch.  Also, in what universe is a kickass pirate lady not considered a plus?

All in all, the potential romances offered are different enough that most people should find one route that they particularly like.

Art – 7
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5 to 9
Service – 5

Overall – 8

Erica here. Thank you so much for this review and the lovely picture which we all can enjoy. ^_^ Sincerely, I can’t thank you enough. 

As always, if any of you, my dear readers, would like to offer a Guest Review, please take a look at these guidelines. I’m always on the lookout for points of view that are not my own and reviews of things I can’t or won’t review. Thanks again C. and here’s to more great Guest Reviews!

I’ve said this before, and you know it well if you are a regular reader but, for anyone who might discover this review through the magic of search, I don’t play games. It’s not that I am philosophically opposed to them – I don’t find them an entertaining way of spending my time. Not board games, card games, RPGs, Visual Novels or computer games. Games simply are not my cup of tea.

So, I am always thankful when someone who has played a game with Yuri content writes a guest post for us! In this case, I’d like to welcome Taz, who answers the question, “Is FFXIII Yuri, or not?”

This review, like pretty much every review on this site, contains spoilers.

Take it away Taz!

In brief summary, the plot of FFXIII is as follows: A band of heroes, some more likely than others, get branded with the “l’Cie” cursed seal that comes with a mission, called a Focus: to become the beast Ragnarok and destroy the world. Through positive thinking and sheer bullishness, they resist their mission and instead defeat the being who tried to make them tools of apocalypse.

A large portion of the game involves your characters discovering new abilities, burdens and challenges. At the end-of-chapter divisions you’re often rewarded with a cut scene flashback from the near two weeks preceding the beginning of the game. Both the chapters and the flashbacks go towards showing you just how much can go wrong in a fortnight. This is balanced with heartfelt speeches about not losing hope (and sometimes not losing Hope) and being true to themselves. The speeches are in turn balanced by some wonderfully badass fight scenes and the characters Lightning and Fang (yeah, the names in this game border on unfortunate) being generally awesome.

Fang was a good suspect for being lesbian from the first release of her character design. She had the anime version of tough-girl styling and was named Fang, for a start. Also, Square couldn’t be accused of subtle weapon design: Her double sided lance must have raised a few amused and appreciative eyebrows. When first mentioning Vanille, Fang refers to her as her ‘partner.’ Considering that they were given the same mission at the same time, it’s not such a telling remark. That one of her next comments is about being willing to tear apart both worlds for the other woman does sort of draw attention to the possessiveness of the title, however. When Vanille is in more peril than usual, Fang starts to invoke the nearly requisite Psychotic Lesbian^TM scene, but it’s not so bad since she can’t actually make herself go through with it.

Vanille is a lot less obvious contender. My first impression was that she’s the bubbly, happy, possibly dim archetype with a little of the feral child (a la Mikoto of Mai HiME). Her attitude and actions in the early part of the game take on some very different implications when you learn more of her story. Of course, she’s still a version of the bubbly, happy type, but she’s not nearly dim enough to misunderstand just how seriously not good things are.

Yuriwise, what the game doesn’t have are the markers that define “couple”– no kissing, no confession. Fang and Vanille do hug a number of times and exchange significant looks. They are also inclined to shout each others names in distress, and at least once (well, Fang does, Vanille is busy feeling guilty) in happiness when they’re reunited. At the end of the game, they do become one… literally become one beastly Ragnarok who doesn’t destroy the world, but wipes out the monsters that are rampaging around, and makes a crystal pillar between Pulse and Cocoon which……might have served more purpose than looking impressive. Inside said impressive pillar, the two have become crystal versions of their human forms, holding hands in a sort of yin-yang like pose. It makes an absolutely gorgeous screenshot but also tends to make you think, “But actually, that would really suck.”

Art – 10
One of the few things that people really agree on concerning Final Fantasy is that it’s pretty.

Characters – 8
This, people are not going to agree on. There are some tedious moments, but by the end I even liked Hope and Snow fairly well, and I really didn’t think I would. And, though not mentioned specifically before in this review, Sazh is fantastic.

Story – 7
The story is uneven. There are some wonderful parts and some distinctly not-wonderful parts. It could just be me who feels this way, but I think that epic plots need to stop having significant connection to God, for at least a decade, so that it actually has a little shock value again.

Yuri – 3
There’s quite enough fodder for fond hopes, but nothing leaves the realm of implication.

Service – 3
It’s a video game, which with their semi controllable characters could be the impetus behind most self insert fan fiction…. Maybe I’m going easy on it, but as I don’t remember any bouncing boob shots (remember Tifa?), I think they kept it comparatively classy. Of course, manly Snow did get the Eidolon that was actually two hot babes.

Overall – 8

Final Fantasy XIII is what it aims to be: a fun game. It would still be a fun game even if there weren’t highly slashable characters, but they are a huge bonus.

Thank you Taz for an excellent – and amusing – review. Sounds like they’re the next generation’s Xena and Gabrielle.

It’s a safe bet that the ambiguity is placed there on purpose, since ambiguity sells. I’m beginning to understand that, too – by forcing you, the viewer/player to make decisions about the characters, it means you *make decisions*. Once you’ve picked an opinion, you buy into that opinion, and so, work harder at reinforcing it. That means you have to buy into the game as a whole, or why would you care at all? The more ambiguous a situation, the more you have to care to make your decision make sense. So, in effect, the less the story tells you, the more you’ll defend your point of view about it. It’s an interesting bit of psychological manipulation, isn’t it? ^_^