Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of the Fujisawa (Switch) Review

Continuing my visual novel kick, I recently picked up Kotodama: 7 Mysteries of the Fujisawa.  It is a unique blend of a visual novel story with some match-3 types puzzles thrown in for good measure.  While this does give it a bigger replay value than most visual novels, it's definitely not without its faults.

The story follows your protagonist after they recently transferred into the Fujisawa Academy.  Oh, and you also have a contract with a demon fox that gives you special powers.  These powers force someone to tell the truth by stripping away the layers of their deceit.  Using your special ability, along with some good old fashioned detective work, will allow you to uncover the titular mysteries of the game.

Events follow a typical visual novel narrative.  There is a lot of dialogue, and appropriate characters appear on the screen as they speak or are spoken to.  There are dialogue choices, but most will not appear during your first time through the game.  Without giving anything away, Kotodama has an interesting take on its story.  It sadly doesn't really have routes as other visual novels do, but for the most part, I appreciate the way the story is handled.

During the story, you will learn several key phrases.  Primarily, these give you experience for each of the elemental pieces in the puzzle mode.  There are even specific ones for each opponent that allow you to do extra damage to them.  For better or worse, all of these are necessary to get the best ending.  To make it harder, some only appear if you go to certain areas when you are allowed to choose from several.  There's usually a list, and some choices disappear if not taken immediately, with no real reason for it.  Even more unfortunately, not having all of the key and power words means you have to repeat the game loop until you get them, if you want the true ending.  A chapter select would have been best to save all the unnecessary time wasted when (not if) you start another playthrough.

The other element of the story is the few times your main character calls upon his or her power to root out the truth.  This manifests as a match 3 like puzzle game.  Unlike a more traditional experience like Bejeweled, you don't swap pieces to match.  Instead, you pick a piece, and it gets sent to the top of the 8x8 grid.  It's different than what I've played before.  While it's not the best, it's pretty fun, and has some decent strategy.  You also get some abilities to use, but...they aren't great.  They aren't even fully explained.  I think you use one, poke the opponent somewhere, and have a percent chance to get some extra turns.  If not, they lock some pieces, making it harder.  While these abilities can be ignored for the most part, they will sometimes help in a pinch.

Oh, did I mention that the main character pictures peeling away the opponent's deceit like layers of clothing?  Well, that's how it plays out.  No, really.  As you fill out each opponent's happy meter, it will reach one of four milestones, removing some of their clothing (not in the "real" world) and giving you more moves to complete the stage.  It's not quite as creepy as it sounds.  No one is ever shown fully naked, just in his or her underwear.  You read that right.  It's not balanced, but there is one guy that you use your power on, compared to the five girls.

Once you have beaten an opponent, save for the near-final boss, they are unlocked in the puzzle mode for you to fight when you want.  Plus, they each have four different sets of undergarments to also unlock.  Most fights are not that hard, save for a few towards the end of the main game.  However, if you acquire the power word for those opponents, they are much easier.  I did have to retry a few fights for the near-final boss the first time through the game.  I say retry, but you basically have to load your game, so make sure to save often and take advantage of the multitude of save slots offered.

Overall, Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of the Fujisawa was a decent visual novel and puzzle game hybrid.  The story has some nice ideas, but doesn't fully capitalize on its premise, and can easily drag on too long.  Puzzle sections can be pretty fun, though.   My only gripe was the ones at the end were really hard without having the special keywords.  If a sequel does get made and released, I would be interested in playing it for the story continuation.  Though it is not one I would get right when it releases.

The Good:
While mostly a visual novel, the match-3 puzzle aspect gives you a reason to play after the story ends.

The Bad:
Completing the game enough for the true ending can be a pain, and the final fights are difficult the first time through.

The SaHD:
No specific spoilers, but the ending was not fulfilling.

(Kotodama was purchased by the reviewer)

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