Shameless Promotion! Let's Play Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~

When I first created this topic, I was pretty sick and not feeling up to writing much of anything, so all you got about the game was the name, that it's a bishoujo game, who we are romancing, and a request for a name for our protagonist. Now that I'm feeling better, this game deserves a way better description than that. :)



As you can see, this is an LP for Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~, which was made by Robert Goodwin or flowerthief, as he is known on RPG maker, where the game was originally posted. In some ways, Heartache 101 is just your average bishoujo game (or boy x girl visual novel/dating sim, in short, it's a game where you play as a guy and can date girls.) However, there are quite a few things that set this game apart from other dating sims that I've played and make it one of my favorites.

One of these things is the writing, which is fantastic for a free game, and gives us some surprisingly complex and interesting characters, but what really makes this game stand out is the ability to add new content. Heartache 101 was intentionally given a rather cliched setting and concept to allow for easy customization and it's the only game I know of that lets your write your own routes and add them to the game (and let others add your routes to their games, if you so wish), which is just what I did with Junko Watanabe.

So, since this game needs more promotion, and since I'm shameless when it comes to showing off my own writing, I'm going to be going after Junko Watanabe in this LP. If you enjoy what you see, I encourage you to download the game yourself and perhaps even create your own character! (Links for both the official site and the game's page on RPG maker can be found in the paragraphs above.) Everyone at the RPG maker forums is nice and we'd all being willing to help or just talk about the base game or your own ideas. :) (Note: From time-to-time both of the websites I linked will go down, though not usually at the same time, fortunately. If they aren't working, that probably doesn't mean they're gone for good, so try again later.)

Wendy Darling, Utena Tenjou, Juri Arisugawa, Lita Kito, Amy Anderson, Mina Aino, Meiling Rae, Ruby Moon, Sakura Avalon, or Madison Taylor.

Much as I love the Sailor Moon references, I should point out protag-kun is a boy. But if you already knew that... CARRY ON.

Tappei-san.

Everyone must be Tappei'd.

Minsy.

What? It's such a masculine name. The most masculine one I could think of.

No obviously I did not know. Your first post didn't use pronouns. Okay so boy names hm? Li Syoran, Darien Shields, Siegfried Mytho, or Eli Moon.

Sakura Avalon sounds like a marvelous name for Protag-kun, though. Throwing my vote to Sakura Avalon! Yes!

Oknuj Ebanataw.

Mirror-cest GO!


Is that even a thing? I will bust a gut if that is a real thing.

Donmai's answer is fine with me. Japan.. a land where names go with either gender.

I want to go with Syaoran Li~!

Hooray my Cardcaptors suggestions have been given votes.

Well there was this running joke in the Maid RPG thread...that said, seconding this.

This game has a really fascinating concept. I'll probably be lurking around here somewhere.

/twitches/

I loved Cardcaptors when I was seven. Then I learned the horrors they put that poor show through and now I just argh

I have no suggestion so I just like everyone ('s posts)!

May I just say how freaking awesome it is, that this game allows users to add in their own content? How come the broken forum has not yet written a Chair-kun route or suchlike?

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
...
Eventually.

"Junko Watanabe" makes me think of Jun Watarase...

I humbly submit that we should make our Protag a delicious trap.

This is now my vote too.

Can we romance ourself if we do that?

Please, let's.

Since you know about it I may as well ask: did Happiness! ever get an English patch?

If it did, I haven't heard about it. Admittedly I've moved away from ero-games these days, though, so I'm probably out of the loop. There's always the old-fashioned way (ATH and a good Japanese dictionary program). Sorry. I did a quick Google search just to check and nothing came up there, either.

Also, if I'm wrong, I demand to be corrected. With links.

Bitchtits. My quest goes unfulfilled. </3 I normally don't play eroges, but.

But.

Jun.

Made me think of Jun Watanabe

edit: Wait, it was Miyuki Watanabe and Jun Yamamato, never mind.

Fair enough

Happiness! may never be truly brought to glory, but Jun will live forever.

At least the anime is subbed, if nothing else. If I knew any Japanese, or even of a Japanese-to-Korean patch, I would attempt to translate it myself.

Here we go!



I think most of these suggestions are too long, so we're going to go with Umazes' suggestion, with one little change...



There. Now whenever you see his name you can think of menstrual cycles. You're welcome.



Mensy: I thought that if I skipped brushing my teeth this morning I could make it to school on time. Looks like I would have needed to skip brushing my teeth as well. Find me a high school student who has never made this miscalculation and I'll eat my bookbag.

Mensy: Er, anyone except her...



Childhood friends are so supportive.

Mensy: If I'm late then I'm not the only one who is.

Miki: I have an excuse. I'm waiting for Keika. You know I always get to school a half hour early.

One of those people, huh? I'm on Mensy's side here. That's just abnormal.

Mensy: It sounds to me like you just manufactured your own excuse.

Mensy: (I don't know about the half hour thing, but in truth, Miki really does get to school early everyday. She hasn't changed since elementary school.)

Mensy: (If it wasn't for her best friend having the exact opposite disposition, we would never bump into each other at the front gate in the morning.)

Keika sounds like my type of woman.



I take it back, Miki is a girl after my own heart.

Mensy: Yeah, I know.



That this game is the best, that's all.

Mensy: Just what you thought it meant--that I know that you're terrible at science.



Stop it, Miki. We're going after Junko, so stop being so fabulous.

Mensy: Do you?

Mensy: (Actually, it's probably true if you add them all up. But I can't let her get away with this....)

Miki: Pretty sure!

Mensy: How can you even know that? It's not like we're in the same class.

Miki: That's because we're not in the same gender, Mensy.

Which is why it'd be pretty hard to have a trap Protag-kun in this game, sorry. :(

Mensy: So how are you so sure your grades are better?

Miki: Because I've seen yours.

Mensy: When?

When indeed, Miki?

Miki: When they're posted up, when else?

Mensy: Why do you look at my grades? We're not in the same class. We're not even in the same wing of the building!

Miki: I know, but I can't hel--well, anyway, I notice them.

Mensy: I don't think my grades are the worst.

God, you're such a bro, Mensy, I can't even handle it.

Miki: They're not the worst. I'm just saying mine are better.



Ouch.

Miki: That's not the point! The point is my grades are better! Or to put it another way, yours are worse! That's all.

Mensy: Grrrr.

Mensy: (Typical Miki. Always has to prove she's better than me.)

Miki: Do you wish we could be in the same class, Mensy?



I love this game.

Mensy: I could say the same for you.



Mensy: What kind of question is that!



Miki: She'd turn you away suggesting you check if the other neighbor kids were home. But of course they were already playing with me.

Mensy: I didn't want to play dolls anyway. I probably only wanted to eat your mom's cookies.

Sounds like the basis of a good friendship to me.

Miki: Oh. Too bad about that then.

Mensy: Does she still make them? I can't remember the last time I've been in your house.



Mensy: But cooking isn't your thing. There must be too much science in it.



Miki: You've never had my cooking so how would you know!

Miki: Have you?



Miki: I'm positively certain that I'm a better cook than you! Remember that cook-off we had that one year?

Mensy: Which one was that?



That's supposed to be Miki speaking, by the way.

Mensy: Later then.

Miki: Later. And better luck tomorrow. Don't forget that practice makes perfect!









Mensy: (We probably would have had a nicer relationship all these years if everything we ever did hadn't been made into some sort of bloody competition.)

But then this game wouldn't be happening either and that would be a shame.

We're about to get to the whole catalyst of the plot. Bear with me just a little longer. We'll get to Junko soon. :3

How much of a chance do you think that has of working?



None.



Mensy: I somehow doubt Miki got the same punishment. The teachers are softies towards the girls.

Mensy: That's what we all believe here in the male wing, anyway.

Mensy: You see, my school is one of those unusual schools partitioned to divide the male students from the female students.

Yet for all that, the Protag-kun from this game seems to do a bit better reading girls than some less handicapped Protag-kuns.



That said, why are you saying all this out loud, Mensy? You're not usually this dumb. I blame the prologue.



Mensy: For the most part, though, we don't have the distractions of girl's getting in the way of our studies, as the teachers would say.

Mensy: So...we have to create them ourselves. The distractions, I mean.

Mensy goes on to talk about Shihoko, the school's popular girl and his crush. I'll skip this part as the girls all get introduced within the actual story. Besides, we aren't interested in Shihoko this playthrough. If you want more of the dialog or to play more of the routes, I encourage you to download the game for yourself.





You'll probably recognize some of these free backgrounds from (P)lanets, which they also appeared in.





That is one of the added benefits of the courtyard, yes.

Miki: No, he's just here to stare at them.



Mensy: Uh, why do you think that?

Miki: Look at all your classmates. Isn't that what they came here for?

Mensy: I guess so. But I don't see any of them staring at you.

Miki: What's that supposed to mean?



Miki: You!!

Mensy: Don't shoot the messenger!

I'm not sure that that's quite the situation that phrase was meant to be used in, Mensy.







Mensy: I don't believe it. No boy could withstand a day of your nagging and bragging.

Miki: I absolutely could! Can you say the same?



I think we all know where this is going.

Sure enough, when Miki and Mensy next meet up...



Cut to after school!





Aw, who cares! Let's get out of this prologue and get to chasing some girls!

Day 1 of the actual gameplay.



Each day you roll to progress across a gameboard which determines which events you get, etc. Here's the key for some of the various symbols. We'll be trying to get as many of the girls as possible. I roll and land on one of the events. Unfortunately...





Since this is a Junko playthrough (and since I'm sick and lazy) I won't be going into the events that don't have to do with Junko, unless they are really, really interesting. This one's not particularly. It's just Miki letting us know that she's got a date already, so we better step it up. But don't worry, it introduces Miki, which we need to have happen for one of Junko's later events.

My next roll goes better. :D



By the way, I wrote all the Junko events, so feel free to praise the writing anytime.



Mensy: (Boy, it sounds sad when you say it like that, doesn't it?)

Track Team Member #1: Ah, watch out!



Mensy: (A girl just ran into me. Man, she really came out of nowhere. She must have been going pretty fast.)

Mensy: Are you okay?



Track Team Member #2: Junko, you should at least apologize!





I know I shouldn't say this since she's my character, but Junko's the best.

Mensy: (She's just now noticing?)



Mensy: (...)

Track Team Member #3: Watanabe! Do you have those drinks yet?







How should we answer her?

Do you need help? Being nice is good!

Helpful, we are. Did you also write Mensy's part for this route? I see similarities in style.

Yes, I wrote all the lines in the Junko and

events, even Miki and Keika's lines from the ones where Miki and Keika cameo. I did make an effort to make Protag-kun's dialogue consistent with its use throughout the rest of the game though. Hopefully I succeeded. :3

And since you guys are all so nice...





Mensy: With the juice and stuff. Maybe I could help you pick it up?



Look at that blush! I missed it, but there was also a + in the corner. :)

Junko: You're...

Track Team Member #3: WATANABE!



Just who is Masashi? I guess we'll have to play to find out. ;)

Mensy: (?)





And that's the event!

We get one more event before the day is done.



Looks like we're meeting Keika this time. She's come to let us know that Miki's got a date, as a "disinterested party." Just because she has a boyfriend doesn't mean she's disinterested! We let her know how we feel and end the event. We finish up the day at school and head out.





As long as we don't hit a bug and get sick, we get to visit somewhere everyday.



So far we don't have too many places unlocked, but we can get more as the game goes on. I decide to visit the library, one of the places that will up our stats. Afterward Mensy lets us know that he has a cell phone that he can use to make one call a night. This is an important part of the game because it lets us call for dates. But first we need to get a girl's phone number. And to do that we need to first get her a little bit friendly and ask her what her sign is. The phone also tells us what zodiac sign is prominent at the moment, which means we'll be more likely to meet girls with that zodiac sign.





Here's our stat screen. We don't have any numbers at the moment, so let's move on.



Here we are on the second day. Let's roll some girls! Or not. I finish the end of the week without meeting up with Junko again. It's time for my job as a janitor, which is basically PacMan. I suck at this game. D:



Finally on day 8 I get another Junko event. Let's do this. :D



Junko doesn't actually appear in this event, but we get to find out more about her.

Mensy: (What does she think she's doing against the wall like that?)

Mensy: (Is that her idea of hiding?)

Mensy: Keika.



Keika: Oh Mensy, it's you.



Mensy: What was with that guilty look on your face?

Mensy: You're planning something, aren't you?



Mensy: That's a bad habit, Keika.

Keika: So I'm told.

Mensy: (Just how many people has she tried this on.)

Mensy: (It seems the girl's classes are even livelier than I thought.)

Mensy: I wanted to ask you something, Keika.

Here we go!

Keika: Is it about the competition?

Keika: I promise I'll give you the best advice!

Mensy: (I'm so sure.)

Mensy: Do you know a Junko Watanabe?

Here we go.

Keika: Oh.

Oh?





Mensy: What, is there something wrong with Junko?



THE MUSIC JUST GOT INTENSE.

Mensy: A gang!? Seriously?

Keika: That's what the rumors say.



What should we say to her?

Well, let's get this show back on the road. I decide to ask her about the rumors.







Keika: and then run out.

Mensy: But that could be almost anything!



Keika: But from Miki said, she has definitely changed since last year.

Keika: She's on the track team and from everyone I heard, she loves it.

Keika: You remember that 1st year who did so well at the track meet last year?

Mensy: Wait, the one who did even better than the team captain? That was her?



Mensy: Maybe she got over confident in her skills, but...



Keika: That's what I was thinking too.



Keika: All the times she's missed class, the mysterious phone calls, the way she's distancing herself from people she was friends with...

Mensy: It's pretty strange.

Mensy: (But a gang? Is that really the only solution to this?)





Mensy: (I should get to class too.)

Mensy: (...)

Mensy: (I really am no closer to figuring this out, am I?)

It's after school and suddenly I'm getting another event.



Is it Junko?





Mensy, I know you need to win that bet, but back up now. Pedophilia is not cool. Also, the cutest music just started playing.

Mensy: (She's not wearing a uniform and she can't be more than 9 or 10...)

Mensy: (...)

Mensy: (What's an elementary school student doing here?)



She's so cute~ <3

Mensy: (Looks like she noticed me staring at her.)

Mensy: Are you lost? Do you need me to help you find someone?



Mensy: Are you waiting for someone?

Kid: Yep! My big sister!

Mensy: Didn't your big sister ever teach you not to talk to strangers?



Kid: I guess I forgot...

Don't frown at me! You're too cute to frown!



Mensy: (How could I when I don't know who her sister is?)

Mensy: I won't tell.



Nani nani?

Kid: What's your name?

Mensy: It's Mensy.

Kid: Hi Mensy!





Mensy: (She's gone back to singing.)

Mensy: (Isn't she going to introduce herself?)

Mensy: (...)



Mensy: (Oh well, time to go home.)

Well, there we are. That event couldn't have anything to do with Junko, could it?

What's with that one-handed pose that both Junko and Miki are doing? It looks...odd.

Also, don't tell me that little kid is a love interest. :(

Everything that I was thinking. Is it supposed to be a apology pose?

Don't worry, the kid's not a love interest. I wouldn't do that to you guys. D: Theoretically, someone could create a kid who you could date, but it sure as hell won't be me. And if someone does, I won't talk about it in an LP either.



So we got Junko's sign. She's a Leo.



Speaking of Junko!



Mensy: (Hey, that's Junko!)

Mensy: (Well, since I'm already here... A little eavesdropping wouldn't hurt...)

Atta boy, Mensy! Stalking is a-okay, as long as it's in the name of love!

Teacher: I'm sorry Junko, but you should have thought of that before you skipped so many times.



Awww, Junko baby, let me hold you.

Teacher: Look, Junko, I'll make a deal with you. I'll let you off just this once, but you have to do something for me.

Teacher: You have to promise me you won't skip again.



Teacher: Well, no one can't say I didn't try. You can go now, Junko.



So, should we pry?