RPGM - Completed - The Three Charms - Lonesome Spirit [Final] [Minwa]

If it weren't for the many many minigames and puzzles haphazardly slapped in nearing its final quarter this would be a much better game to deal with.
It's sucks because I still like this game somewhat. It's just loaded with stalling busy-work.
Sad to say but the first title is still the best in the series in terms of a balance between story and gameplay. R did a really swell job of knowing when to hit you with overworld minigames and made sure not to forget to include monstergirl seduction with these sorts of moments.
This game however decides to leave seduction out of most of its minigames late-game and relegates you to boring puzzle-solving. Except the puzzles are extremely boring and monotonous, "guide the ball here! memorize the pathway or lose energy there! land on the platform on time or start over!" The only ones that felt mildly engaging were the ones based on a time limit or quick mobility. I get that Minwa wanted to branch out on overworld movement gimmicks but this is a very very poor implementation, and I would infinitely prefer "don't touch the wisps" minigames in the previous titles compared to this.
this title is definitely the worst in terms of pacing and progression by far, and because of that I think of it as the worst game in the series. It makes me long for the first game's ease of traversal through the story and swiftness of the dialog. If I wanted these lukewarm brain teasers I'd rather just go to a flash games website.

Really solid entry in an already great series. The story in The Three Charms games always is great, with this one being no exception. It isn't afraid to take itself seriously and actually has some pretty great moments. In terms of erotic content, this game (and the series as a whole) follows a structure of multiple cgs + text and some minor animations. Among games that follow this structure, I would say it is definitely on the better end.

The combat system is overall interesting and has a unique feel, albeit its a bit frustrating sometimes. Also sometimes it is a bit unclear as to what you should be doing, which likely is just an issue due to it being translated from another language. The humor also tends to fall flat, probably due to a similar reason.

Overall, a great game if you are into this sort of stuff, I would recommend playing earlier titles first though.

Played through the whole series. Proud of myself. Also, of this games, they are extremely enjoyable, in all the right ways! Here is, as per usual, the link to my Review on the Blog, and afterwards, the Quickview as well:

[The Link]

All Scores:
================ Plot = 9.5
======== Story = 10
======== Characters = 9
================ Gameplay = 9
======== Mechanics = 9
======== Complexity = 9
======== Uniqueness = 9
======== Replayability = 9
================ Scenes = 9
======== Visual = 9
======== Written = 10
======== Interactivity = 8
======== Replayability = 9
================ Development = ----
================ Obtaining = 9.25
======== Price = 10
======== Methods = 8.5
================ FINAL SCORE = 9.18

QuickView
A hidden gem of a game series, has an unique style, unique gameplay and "combat", extremely hot Scenes and Restraints, and an interesting story to play through! Having what amounts to a steal of a price, I can completely support purchasing this series, wholesale, right now, not even needing Sales or Offers for it! And the Dev group is still active, so we'll get even more content in the future!

I don't understand how a game like this can get such a high rating. Normally I'd be fine to say, "oh, well, there's no accounting for taste", right? But the problem is so many games like this get 4+ stars that then make me think they're good so I download them and get invested and... christ, where do I even begin?

You'd think this is a porn game right? No, it's an extremely lengthy story about a world with these youkai japanese demons and some guy doing stuff. There's no real skip button through the endless text, but there is a fast forward button. You can still expect the intro to take you up to 20 minutes of real life time to get through. How on earth does this make for any kind of an erotic experience? It's mind numbing.

So then you finally get into it. And the gameplay is just obscure puzzle solving and tedious navigation. Then if you're really lucky there's an event like, would you like to be kissed and get a hanjob? Oh, if you say yes, you die and have to go back to the last check point NONE OF THOSE THINGS MAKE ME WANT TO SAY YES! It's not even remotely tempting.
So then you endure that god awful gameplay and finally get to a boss, boy fighting a succubus sounds interesting right? [Complaints about obscure and brutal gameplay mechanics].
Edit: there's now a version of the game in the thread that has translated the in game explanation of the fight mechanics, so it's not unplayable anymore.

Oh and when you do lose to the boss you're presented with one whole static imagine that slides left and right on the screen. There's your intense climactic porn scene that you get for 50 minutes of gameplay. 1 imagine. Enjoy.

Conclusion:
Doubt you'd enjoy this game unless you're into wading through endless storytelling and being raped to death by monster girls in the form of a singular still image.

This is undoubtedly one of my favorite RPG Maker titles, and it has one of the best and most engaging stories you can find in this genre. Very heart warming too.
1. The main character, "Hakunen," may appear to be a stereotypical youngster who saves the world, but he has depth to his character. He is a human with few soccer-related talents, most of which are harmless, so he must rely on running away from danger to protect his life and sanity from "Yokais." The menace and terrors can leave scars on his mind, An example of this is falling from a height, which makes the threat and scenario more stressful. but if you threaten the people he loves and cares about, he won't run away any longer as evidence of the growth of his character.
2. Outstanding cast with a distinctive and imaginative design.
The majority of the supporting players in this episode are 1. Apsaras and 2. Vampires. 3.Valkyrie 4.Kraken 5.Tanugi They are not typical fap junk mindless harem like many other games; rather, they have depth and even insecurities to comprehend and resolve through their trip, battles, and "speacial interactions" with the main protagonist. (There are more, which you should go investigate for yourself.) Many heartwarming interactions with them, amusing cast interactions, and even some sad moments. Believe me, they have more depth than your typical awful mass-produced movies these days (I can't believe I just typed that, but it's the truth; even a porn game plot has more enjoyment).
3.Good combat to keep your mind on edge.
4.Hakunen and Hana is really heart warming couples to be honest.(They should have more moments for them)

I strongly advise you to complete all of the pre-quels before playing this edition so that the majority of the game's moments will have a greater effect on your enjoyment and the cast will even win your heart! (The previous game, "12 Girls of Mt. Mahoroba," is one of my favorites, but I absolutely adore this one.)

This Game will took around 7-8 hours of you time if you play normaly and cheat will cost only 4-5 hours if you cheat on buying lot vit and will herb and skip lot lore and bonus item. this game is good, it introduce new mechanic and there lot of lore and reference on this game. For Warning there FUTA Content that unavoidable but you can skip watch (thank to dev or translator team i guest ?)

Another great game from Minwa. Definitely recommend if you enjoyed the other games. The new characters are fantastic and are accompanied by a variety of good scenes. The difficulty is toned down from previous title's (which I don't mind) with some exceptions so most players should have a easy time getting through.

I barely watched any of the unskippable H scenes until after finishing the game, that's how roped in the story had me.

It's difficult to put into words why I liked the story of this game to the point that I'd legitimately call it a hentai masterpiece. Unlike many hentai games, especially in this sub genre, where the most personality the character can muster is: 'I'm so scared of sex!' and the greatest consequence the plot can play with is: 'Maybe the main character will get corrupted?' the plot has actual, lasting stakes built on consequences of the previous narrative.

While Hakunen could, at first glance, be replaced with any other 'I want monsters yokai and humans to get along!' protagonist, there's a nuance and humanity you don't often see with the cardboard cutouts that are supposed to be on the bottom end of a cowgirl. A fear of heights and dying induced by the events of the past game that have left such a deep scar that our hero questions his willpower to risk self-sacrifice again in the future, a wide range of amusing character comedy, and that stereotypical but always welcome determination that all builds up into a great climax where all that fear makes Hakunen's willingness to risk all the more engaging.

Playing the previous game is a must to feel the full impact of the plot!

I've finished the base game except for post-game content since its not translated yet. (Minimal Spoilers in review)
Note: You don't need to play the previous games to understand or enjoy this game but I'd still recommend playing the previous one first. Its still a direct sequel immediately after the end of the previous game so there will be a couple major spoilers and callbacks to things you're not familiar with but the real experience is the in-between content anyway when it comes to these games. This game has a new cast of characters as the focal point but also some of the character from the previous titles having some additional content here. Some moments in this game are casual sly nods towards the Protagonist's experiences in the previous titles and it'll be a tiny bit funnier if you understood it but nothing too big of an issue if it flies through your head.
Writing: Good for what it is but it definitely gets a bit too repetitive and monotonous at times especially with the H-scenes on top of some being outright unskippable. The cast of characters are mostly all likeable rather than on a black-or-white spectrum when it comes to personality/behavior so there isn't too much extremities when dealing with these "monsters". Following along and paying attention to the plot does have some payoff but for some people it may be annoying that its tied to gameplay and is sometimes necessary to progressing further in the game. The directing of the 2d pixel sprite characters used in the screenplay for cutscenes, dialogue, and map design are all well done and varied so its not stale and boring to go through and watch BUT it does get interruptive and eventually downright unbearably annoying if you fail a section too many times.
Gameplay: A weird departure from the gameplay of the previous title. I'm personally not a fan of the new Focus system and having to equip gear that automatically negates specific enemy skills without my direct input. Supposedly we can possibly(?) beat this game without gear since the game this time around has a point system in place to add replay value and challenge runs but I think the gameplay style+balance was compromised as a result. Battles are a slog to go through and extremely monotonous or braindead without much thought but on the plus side its not bullshit RNG based. There isn't just direct combat gameplay which is amazing because the game ties the encounters down with events leading up to the fight as well as puzzles but those are a mixed bag. If you've played the previous game, the puzzles are a lot easier to handle this time around since they're less dependent on quick dexterous movement+reactions. There is good attempts at trying to make as many different types of variations to the gameplay with these systems for battles and puzzles and its amusing but can be pretty frustrating if you make a too many mistakes... especially the final battle because its a culmination of everything you've learned but more relevantly the slog of a setback you have when you lose.
Futa content: Its strongly not my kind of thing but there is only one Futa enemy in this game and is completely unavoidable including her scene. The art doesn't get too explicit with the penetrative display because the poses mostly obscure/hide the Futa's Rod so its pretty tame for Futa content but I'm not so sure about the writing itself because I slowly skipped these scenes hehe. If you can bear how feminine the protagonist looks, you can probably bear staring at the Futa content while trying to skip dialogue as fast as possible. Another character temporarily becomes a Futa in one of the unlockable post-game scenes and all I'm going to have to strongly reiterate that this isn't my cup of tea and my soul is tainted.
Edit: Fixed/Revised some lines to make it easier to understand for newcomers and non-newcomers of this series. I also changed my review from 4 to 5 stars after realizing I failed to judge the encounters for more than just the direct combat itself.
Edit2: Mainly updated the Futa section and some additional sentences elsewhere.