Save the animals! Solve the mystery! Get the guys *grin*
Maker: AMEDEO
Platform: WIN
Genre: Shoujo, All Ages
Voice: Partial
Art: Sakura Kino****a, Kazuko Toyama
Scenario: yurie
Release Date: 12.10.2004
Patch: No
Official Site: http://kur-mar-ter.product.co.jp/amedeo/product/pdys.html
Trial Version: Demo movie only
Cast: Barius: Kenji Fujiwara, Takeru Hinata: Tetsu Shiratori, Ichirouta Moriya: Manabu Muraji, Kippei Kurahama: Kazuhiro Yamaji, Leroy Slutskaya: Takeru Shibaki, Chiyomaru Mikuriya: Reiko Tada, Seiji Sou: Shoutaro Morikubo
Overview:
In terms of otome games, this might be a pretty old game, but the characters are adorable and the story is very cute. It was totally worth playing (sometimes oldies are goodies)! Though not coded for Windows Vista, it installed and ran with no problems at all. It's kind of rare in the otome game world because it's a comedy. It's very light hearted, a perfect pick-me-up for that not-so-great day...
Plot:
Yuuka Futaba, is and average high school girl. She's supposed to spend her summer vacation at her aunt and uncle's house. Her uncle runs a pet detective agency and see Yuuka's visit as an opportunity to push their detective work on Yuuka and go off on a trip to find some mythical animal. Yuuka arrives at her aunt and uncle's house to find a gigolo robot named Bari (who thoughtfully removes his "gigolo data" for her...sanity). Bari's kind of...broken and seems like he has multiple personalities, too, but only sometimes. Bari is the one who tells her that she's going to fill in for her uncle as a pet detective, as her uncle and aunt are already gone. Thing aren't easy for Yuka, but she has Bari and her friends' help. Her first client is...
Gameplay:
You have to play each client in a loose order, but you usually get to pick from 2 or 3 clients. Each client has a full game length scenario that is completely different from all the other ones, so it's really like playing 8 games. It's not like life-death exciting (but it's really cute and funny...it actually made me laugh a few times...but you can tell it's for a younger age group but...sometimes...sometimes what Bari says is pretty...risque?)
There are a few puzzles, but they are pretty easy if you read the hints. The mini games are really cute and there's three of them. They aren't very hard either, but they are neat. After you solve a case you are given the option of a new wallpaper to use in the game, which is pretty neat, too.
Settings:
The setup was amazing! They had soooo many customizable settings! All the regular settings (Volume, text speed, window mode, etc.) plus neat ones like fonts and fades. You could even mosaic-out the cockroaches XD I'd never seen so many settings as in this game before (or now either).
Graphics:
I really liked the art. Everything was well done and nothing looked awkward. Well, actually the Surprise Character (??? is the surprise character's name for most of the game, btw.) looked a bit wierd because he was always smiling with his mouth open, but I guess there are people like that in the world, so happythe animals were really cute. It was definitely worth the time and money I spent on it.
Sound:
This isn't full voice. Only the main characters are voiced so it sounds kind of weird if you're not used to it. The BGMs are nice, but not anything special; they don't even stand out in my memory, but they weren't annoying either. The neat thing about this game were the voices weren't so typecast. They were really different from the smooth voices they use in most otome games. It was nice to hear a change!
Value:
I did play this game to full complete, which means I played it over and over and over. It didn't feel very repetitious for the most part. The only time it felt tedious was when I couldn't figure out how to get the good ending and I'd have to replay the same person's course over and over with slight variations (please note that I played this game when I didn't have much experience with otome games and so that was part of the reason why it was kind of difficult). It's pretty easy to get the good endings (the second time through a character's route a little dog will appear. He will nod for good answers and shakes his head at bad ones), but it was hard to get the not-so-good endings. In short, I do think I got my money's worth.
Walkthroughs:
The walkthroughs I've found and used are in Japanese. This is the best kouryaku guide I found:
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~peche/game/pet/index.htm
This one tells you about the Easter Egg to see Leroy's Show
http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~gamelady/pdys/pdys_top.html
Conclusion:
It was a really, really cute and sweet game. I think maybe some people might find it a bit too "young" for them, but it's nice to see the world in black and white, where everyone is good and has good intentions. it was definitely worth the time and money I spent on it. I didn't give it a "9" or a "10" because though it was cute and funny, some of the storylines didn't "draw me in" , so I think it could be improved upon.