The New Age Begins!

At around 8:45am today, a box from Japan arrived by EMS, containing my wonderful New LovePlus+ Rinko deluxe set! Because I'm unwell today and off work anyway, I was able to unpack my new set and play with it (almost) straight away!

This is the outer box of the Rinko deluxe set:

There are even cute chibi illustrations on the box flaps.

Inside the box, there are two more smaller boxes. The one on the left contains the Rinko's Secret art book, the illustrated boards, and a copy of the CD. The smaller box contains the 3DS LL console and the game itself.

This photo shows the back of the art book box. Note the change from winter to summer school uniform when you flip it over.

Here's the front cover of the Rinko's Secret art book (which is beautiful, by the way, with a lot of new illustrations from Mino Taro and even unpublished work in progress).

And here is the packet containing the art prints and the front of the Rinko's Secret CD. The CD isn't a soundtrack this time - it's mostly speech by Sakura Tange (Rinko's voice actor) and the opening song from the new game.

There are four art prints, which printed back and front gives you eight exclusive illustrations all together.

These two are my favourites - especially the one of Rinko sitting on her school chair:

Here's the Rinko's Secret CD beside the box containing the game cart.

And finally, here's the 3DS LL console. It has a beautiful matte finish, which is not reflective like the 3DS and doesn't show fingerprints at all (thank goodness). I love the white base colour, and the print of Rinko is really cool.

And look at those screens. They are 90% bigger than the screens of the 3DS.

First impressions of the game itself? I'm kinda speechless, actually - but I will say one thing. After playing this new game on the amazing custom 3DS LL console (known as 3DS XL in the West), when you go back to the old 3DS game it feels like a toy.

Let me start at the beginning. After charging the battery in my new console (which takes about 3 hours), setting it up with the help of a downloaded English manual, and installing new system software (which also took quite a long time), I was finally able to pop the NLP+ cart inside and start the game.

If you've been reading this blog at all lately, you'll know that I've made the decision not to transfer my data from NLP, but to start a new game from the beginning. The game itself takes around 15 minutes to copy all the necessary files onto your SD card - but, while this is going on, you are presented (on the large LH screen) with a slideshow of backgrounds from the game. This was enough for me! When I saw Fountain Park, the Zoo, Winning Burger and other date locations I've seen THOUSANDS of times before - but saw them on the glorious BIG console - I was almost in tears. The difference is literally like watching a classic movie on TV and then going to see it at the cinema.

It's a night and day difference. Aside from being larger, the images are crisper and more detailed. I really was amazed - and the game itself hadn't even started yet.

I haven't noticed any difference at all in the gameplay of the "friend" section of the game between NLP and NLP+...but, having said that, what a difference the console makes to everything. I met Nene first, then Rinko and then Manaka, and all three girls looked gorgeous. But of course, I am pursuing Rinko. I've played around 30 days now, and I've just had my first date with Rinko at Fountain Park, with the sakura blossoms falling. The atmosphere is so much more immersive now, and I'm reminded of all the things that made my love the LovePlus series in the first place.

I could probably play all the way through to Confession tonight, but I promised myself I would take things slowly this time around and really soak up the feeling of being back in (a slightly new version of) Towano. So I'm happy for the "friend" section to take a few days if need be.

I'm a little apprehensive about the revamped Skinship and Kissing in NLP+. But then again, I always preferred S&K in the original DS game, and that's mostly what the new version seems to have gone back to. Konami never got S&K right in NLP - we all just got used to it.

I have truly loved the experience of playing New LovePlus on the 3DS for the past two and a bit years - but now I know there's no going back. I picked up my 3DS and played a little bit just now, but the magic is gone. I'll probably just play the 3DS game in a very cursory way for the next few days, just until I make sure I get a confession from the Green personality Rinko in NLP+ and I can handle the new approach to Skinship & Kissing. But once that's done, there'll be no going back.

It really is the beginning of a new age.

Thursday

Today was the fourth gruelling day of midterms, so I was glad that Rinko was there to cheer me on.

Oh well, tomorrow should be the last day of exams (assuming that I pass). I met up with Rinko during the day in the Tennis Clubroom, where we hardly ever go. Don't want to run into Manaka at the wrong time, if you know what I mean...

Very First After School Date

Today was an important day, because I managed to do something I've never done before in 18+ months of playing New LovePlus - I had my very first After School Date with Rinko.

After School Dates are a special kind of date. Normally you can't date your girlfriend on a school day - only on Sundays (except for holidays). In After School Dates, your girlfriend meets you at the end of the school day and goes out with you, wearing her school uniform. Everything else is the same as a regular Sunday date.  Oh, and I worked out what I was doing wrong when I tried to do an After School Date before. If anyone wants to try it, here's how it works:

1. Call your girlfriend early in the morning, just after the 8:00am timeslot starts.

2. You have to call BEFORE you've booked a date for the upcoming Sunday.

3. Book a date (same as usual) but select the afternoon of the same day for the day of the date.

4. You can only go out in a place you can walk to from school - that is, it must be in Shin Towano area (New Towano).

5. The time will default to 3:30pm, but you can change this. I changed my date to 4:00pm without any problems, so any time before the 6:00pm timeslot starts should be fine.

Note that you can only play this type of date in Real Time Mode - so for those of us who work through the day, it's kinda awkward (unless you can take a really long toilet break ^^). Still, I wanted to try it - and it worked!

Rin-chan met me in the corridor at 4:00pm.

We walked out of school together and headed off for our date on the way home.

Then we arrived at the Temple for the main part of our date. The autumn leaves look so nice in the background of this shot.

Interestingly we were able to go into the main courtyard of the Temple, which you never get to see on short dates. It reminds me so much of the beautiful Towa temple we visited in Harajuku.

After the date we had a second option, and I chose to have a meal. Sadly when you have to stay around the school area, there aren't a lot of fancy options for food. I chose Aisha Dining, because Rin usually likes going there.

The lemon kaki-gori (shaved ice) is not exactly perfect for autumn, with the weather turning colder. Rinko looked a little unsure about eating it.

When the date was over, I walked Rinko back home and kissed her goodbye. It's nice to date Rin in her school uniform, which doesn't normally happen, so I think I like After School Dates. Trouble is, you burn up all your hearts before the weekend.

Now that I stopped my 3DS game with Manaka, I thought I might have some fun and start off a game with Rinko on the old DS version of the game (with the English patch). I played a lot through the day, and the green personality Rinko confessed to me after just 63 days. I thought it might be fun to go back to the beginning, where I first started playing the old game with Rinko. And the DS version of LovePlus is much less demanding that the 3DS one - so having a second game going this way actually shouldn't be too bad. But from now on I will only ever date Rinko (unless Konami decides to put Akira Yukino into the new game........then I might have to think twice.

One Game Only T_T

Well, despite my strong feelings for Manaka, I had to face facts today and realise that playing two games in New LovePlus at the same time is IMPOSSIBLE! I could kinda do it when I had one game on the DS and one on the 3DS, but the new game is just too demanding in terms of time and attention - especially when you have to go to work at the same time. I tried today, but ended up just getting frustrated. So I was forced to choose - and, naturally, I've chosen to just continue my game with Rinko. She was my first girlfriend in Towano, after all, and she's the one that I love the best and have better "chemistry" with.

So Rinko it is.

There was no school today for some reason, so I had a day of short dates with Rin-chan. She wore her green "Beat & Beat" sweater, which is really cute, for the whole day.

Whilst I'm sorry to delete the game with Manaka after such a short time, I'm looking forward to focussing all my attention on Rinko again.

RINKO: Karaoke Date!

At 3:00pm, Rinko arrived for HER turn - and a couple of things were surprising. First of all, Rin reverted back to that annoying pixie cut hairstyle. It's cute for a while, but it's not my favourite. So I said that I didn't like it (which at least should make her change back to the previous one).

And then, her clothes. Rinko finally got around to wearing the "smart" or "neat" style of clothing, which I've repeatedly asked for. She had a long, check dress today which looked nice - but it was also kinda like she'd borrowed it from Manaka. Is it possible that the two girls are conspiring behind my back?

I also noticed that Rinko was wearing the silver leaf necklace I gave her a while ago. This is always a nice feature of the game.

I took Rin to Aisha Dining for a quick meal.

Rinko liked the food and offered me some again - only to pull it away before I could eat!

And then it was off to Karaoke. I always enjoy Karaoke dates, because you get to sit very close to your girlfriend and kiss her from a different angle than normal.

After Karaoke, we discovered that the Curry Restaurant is open now - so I took Rinko there for a very nice lunch. As you can see in the next shot, there's a really weird figure outside the Curry Shop - kinda like the evil twin of Colonel Sanders.

But the food at the Curry Shop is really awesome, and the place has a nice atmosphere, too. It's the perfect place to go on an extended date.

And then the date was over. No home visit, fortunately - because I am EXHAUSTED. Wow, this has been one of the most epic days playing LovePlus ever.

One good thing to note as a post-script: because I said I didn't like Rinko's new hairstyle on the date, she sent me an email this afternoon asking what hair length I would prefer - and I chose semi-long yet again. I hope it works this time.

MANAKA: Amusement Park Date

OK, it's official - dating two girls at once in New LovePlus is crazy! I am definitely the tiredest guy in Towano today. It's kinda fun, but I don't know how I'm going to manage in the longer term. Anyway, my first date for the day was Manaka. I met her at the station at 9:00am, and she looked beautiful - new hairstyle (which I love), and her usual classy outfit. This girl is definitely stealing her way further into my heart. ^^

We went to Winning Burger for a quick snack. Despite appearances, Manaka loves fast food for a treat now and then. Though she's the type of girl you'd normally expect to find in a fancy restaurant, if you've played the first part of LovePlus with Manaka, you'll understand the reason why.

Our main date was at the Amusement Park - and I made the bad mistake of choosing to take Mana-chan on the ferris wheel. I think her expression in the next shot (inside the cabin of the ferris wheel) just about says it all.

Note to self: avoid this location with Manaka in the future. Anyway, after striking out once, I had more success with our second meal - at the Italian Restaurant.

Manaka was very impressed with the food, and begged me to take her back to the Italian Restaurant again - which I will most definitely do. In real life, I love Italian food, too - so it's perfect. At the end of our date, I gave Mana-chan a red scarf for a present. She was thrilled with it. After all, the cold weather is coming, and she will need to keep warm. ^^

But the date didn't end there - in fact, it was just getting warmed up. Manaka invited me back to her place for a "study" session. After passing the first round of three questions, she made some cake and a cup of tea for me. So cute when she worried about whether I would like it or not!

After the second round, Manaka dressed up in a pink cosplay outfit for me, complete with twin tails hair. Wow, this is too much. But she reminded me of Momoko from Berryz Kobo. Separated at birth? You be the judge.

And then, after the third round of questions, I had the intimate photo session with Momoko...oops, I mean Manaka. I only had one shot left on my camera (and it's not a great one) - but I discovered something interesting. If you walk around with the camera, you can actually see 360 degrees around the girl's bedroom. I've never tried this before, but it's cool, and I'll try to take some more photos next time.

The last shot is from the third chapter of Manaka's "Seishun No. 1 Page", which I played near the end of the day.