Voltage Entertainment USA

General discussions not necessarily related to our games
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Solvus
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Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 11:31 pm

Voltage Entertainment USA

Post by Solvus »

I came across Voltage Entertainment USA on tumblr and known as Graphic Novel Romance Apps, a few of them do feature some chance of yuri with typically male romance but I haven't tried it out yet because they are only on Apple App Store and Google Play(I have a Kindle tablet :P ) I think there are 2 or 3 of the latest games that have both gender as choices, maybe :shock:

So if anyone can try it out or have already played it, can I hear your opinion on it?
lanawinst
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Re: Voltage Entertainment USA

Post by lanawinst »

Hey there!

I've tried most of their games and that depends a lot on what you're looking for? Do you like sweet? Funny? Dark?

If you want Yuri, you can play Queen's Gambit. I haven't tried the yuri pairing, I've only bought the guys route and I find it a tad bit cheesy and over-the-top but I'm a tough crowd, so maybe you would like it. It was also a bit buggy when I played it but they might have fixed it in the meanwhile. Astoria has a yuri romance too, and is closer in style and story to the japanese ones if that's what you're looking for but it's also more expensive, with a story cut into 2.99 euros chapters. The only route I've tried (Cerberus) was a bit meh, but as said before I tend to find most voltage games only mildly entertaining, and really enjoyed only a few: Speakeasy Tonight - My Killer Romance - In your arms Tonight (Mainly for Kippei) - First love diaries (for Nao, the rest of them are just your stereotypical yandere, tsundere,... character with over-the-top and very dramatic stories that makes no sense).

The Voltage USA game that is a must play for me is Speakeasy Tonight. It's a pure otome game and it's the best of all voltage games hands down. The only downside is that it's no longer supported so while it plays well still now, you won't get any new content. Actually this last comment can be applied to all their old games, they tend to sell less than their Japanese counterparts, not sure why because most are actually better games, but because of that, they seemed to develop a trend of quickly abandoning their games...

Hope it helps :)
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Pace675
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Re: Voltage Entertainment USA

Post by Pace675 »

Well I picked up the two aforementioned yuri versions of the stories of Queen's Gambit and Astoria. The cheese doesn't end with the guy's route still somewhat cheesy with the yuri version, but it is a good slightly spicy cheese, so money well spent. As a slight note and surprising enough the story does recognize your preferences for femmes and actually gives you a nice little back story, which surprised me. So hats off!

Now for Astoria yuri path (Just to put it simple I friggin luuuuuuv Medusa XD) the biggest draw back to the choices (most make little sense in raising the affection gauge and seem more haphazardous for the most part (Google search for the win!) and only reacll 2 out of the 2 whole seasons that actually take in consideration of what Medusa likes....Just a forewarning that they do have the art of cliffhangers down pat to get you to buy the next episode.

As for the overall story it is surprisingly well interwoven between the romance choices, where you get a different perspective of the story depending on who you romance (it all leads to the same point, but it is nice to have it told from another perspective).

Another big surprise and it actually took me time to digest (I can be dense at times :o ) The protagonist's boss is gender neutral, cudos to writers for that, seems like Voltage is being more inclusive with their stories now.

All in all both games to me is money well spent, but ymmv.
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Solvus
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Re: Voltage Entertainment USA

Post by Solvus »

So I did read this but never replied back, I'm sorry about that but thank you lanawinst and Pace675.

Just wanted to update this, if some don't already know already that the separate stories are now in an Omnibus app called Lovestruck!
At the beginning of any app, there were quite a few bugs, so the start wasn't great, the transfer was okay as in the stuff you bought being redeem/unlocked within the app worked out for me.

But my gosh it has come a LONG way. So many stories, different theme settings, plenty of romances to choose from, different art styles, and many yuri routes! They even have the gender "they" romances are also included, only 2 so far. They have all types of personalities, have new romance updates every week on Mon, Wed, and Fri. App is available in google, apple, and kindle fire.

__The downside is the tickets and hearts system. You can never truly buy the game seasons like you could before. Tickets are to read chapters and hearts are to pay for certain/some actions that sometimes tie to CG unlock. Thing is though they don't run ads, like never seen one so that's a bonus. So their income is mainly from buying hearts and other is selling some merch which is recently added.
__Know that the hearts you use in action is remembered so you don't have to repay it when you replay it. Also you can link your Facebook to remember progress across apps. There are a few weekends to earn free hearts, some contests with art to win hearts, some surveys. Since you can't fully buy seasons anymore, you kinda have to wait, if you're new it'll feel like forever, if you been there a while and it's not so bad.
__You can totally play this for free, the hearts choices don't affect the story too much other than some will tie into CG or totally makes you feel guilty lol, but it'll mostly feel like a bonus.
__Paying for hearts, I believe is worth it, you're paying for writing, coding, music, art, etc. Writing is pretty decent, they don't shy away from steamy scenes and the CG is good. I know it feels expensive so I budget myself $20-$40 a month depending on who, heck with the AAA games have been going such as buggy at launch, poor community feedback response, scammy microtransactions etc, now Lovestruck is worth my money even more.
__With Jack being so open with how games are made, I understand the process more into making games and know my money is going in the right place, though I wish those "give me free game" people in the reviews understood that more often. They should try putting in the work, time, money spent developing a game and see if they really want to give it out for "free" then.
__Most CGs is unlockable by reading, though one theme was heavy on locking them behind hearts, but later themes did not adopt this, thank goodness.
__Plus most protagonist are quite relatable or really hot themselves, *cough* sometimes I want to date them (sigh but they're "us" lol)
__Touches on all settings of serious, funny, sad, cute, steamy, etc. Not stale by any means, well I think but I'm a really simple person who is easily entertained so note that.

Technical:
A season contains 12 chapters, 3 chapters are released each week for any characters that are up at the time.
Characters are rotated when one season ends.
Tickets caps at 2 if no extra tickets are bought, a ticket recharges every 2 hrs 30 mins.
No ads
Lovestruck income comes from hearts and merch.
Usually 4 CGs per season of the character.
When CG is unlocked you get to "save/download" the art.
Recently added photo edit and stickers in app, like filters or snapchat?
Otome, female protagonist only(will refer to themselves as bi, sorta breaks it for me for immersion but I skim over it :P)
Engaging social media, they respond to questions, have some "character talk" it's sweet and neat.

Lovestruck has been so good for me, as ah well, I'm not quite ready to admit yet in person or out loud but I enjoyed it. Jack, your games really clarify myself, and Lovestruck has further shown what my type really is. Like dang, I never felt so happy and excited for some characters. Really wanted to write this. I still buy Jack's games and while waiting in between them, I'll be playing Lovestruck.

So anyone waiting in between Jack's games, I highly recommend reading Lovestruck, there are so many types and settings I'm sure you'll find a story or more to enjoy. Their library of stories only getting bigger. Check Tumblr for previews

All in all, I hope Jack will read some of these stories too.
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