Karaoke Date

Today's date was a lot of fun. The experience of dating in the new version of the game is much smoother than NLP, and the various scenes (including skinship and kissing) flow into each other without the jerkiness, delays and lag time that were so evident in the 3DS game. Dates seem to take longer to play now, though, with the average Sunday date taking just under an hour - and considerably longer if the date extends.

When I met Rinko at the station this morning, she was wearing her hair in a new, cute style (still short, though). Her clothes were a little more casual than I like, but still okay, so I let them pass.

We went to the Ramen Shop for a snack. I ordered the Pork Ramen Set, and for some reason Rinko had the same thing (which is unusual). The set included a plate of gyoza which looked absolutely delicious.

The main part of our date was Karaoke, which is a firm favourite of Rinko's. I wonder what songs she would choose to sing??

With the option of a second date location, I took Rin to the Amusement Park, where we rode on the Jet Coaster. She loved it.

Then our date was over, and it was time to take Rinko home. I walked her back to her place and kissed her goodbye.

At 12:00 noon I visited the Flea Markets at Fountain Park, where I bought a CD and my first Premium Date ticket (for the night-time Sakura viewing).

Later today we had a short date in the rain.

Monday - Back To School

Back to school today for a new semester (and a new school year, in fact), complete with singing the Towano High school song and shots of the school backgrounds with falling sakura leaves. But even the school environment looks bigger and more colourful on the new 3DS LL console!

After the opening ceremony, Rinko was waiting for me. Even though it's spring, the girls are still wearing their winter uniforms.

I called Rinko out of class in the morning for a brief catch-up, and booked a date with her for Sunday morning at Karaoke (I tried to book the date at the Art Gallery, but she didn't like it).

And, just like the 3DS game, Rinko showed up at lunch-time in the hallway.

I thought she might have prepared a bento lunch for me, but from memory you need to level up your Lover Ranking quite a bit first. Instead, she sat next to me to eat lunch and mentioned something about sandwiches.

And, at the end of the day, Rinko-chan was waiting to walk home with me. What a faithful girlfriend.

I met her in the afternoon at Winning Burger (Fast Food) for a short date. I still only have the two date locations in Shin Towano unlocked - Fountain Park and Winning Burger - but at leas now they are both at Level 3. Hopefully this means I can check out the Flea Markets at Fountain Park this coming Sunday.

Finally, even though it started raining, we went back to good old Fountain Park at night.

I just realised something about the new game. As much as I love the fact that the designers have gone all-out retro and made the second sign-on screen (with your girlfriend's heart in a big circle) the same as the old DS game, the different seasonal backgrounds you used to get in the 3DS game are gone. I guess it would be impossible to have both.

Another Snowy Date

Today was a fine, snowy day in Towano - you can see one of the tiny, soft snowflakes in the first shot, where I met Rinko at the station. She was wearing a pretty pale blue coat - but, underneath that, her clothes were very casual. I said I didn't like them (which I promised I would do this time around). I'm trying to keep Rinko wearing smart or cute clothes, because I really think they suit her better.

Anyway, we stopped at Aisha Dining for a snack. Well, it turned out to be a full meal, actually. Usually when I order food in town it turns out to be just a milkshake or some shaved ice - but today, it was real food. Wow, it looked good, too...

Then it was off to our beloved Mountain Area for the main part of the date. Rinko changed into a cute, green ski outfit. The snow was quite a bit heavier than last time.

The perfect thing to do after a morning in the snow is visit the Lakeside Restaurant. But once again, we ended up with a pretty large meal. Oh well...it is the holiday season, after all, so it doesn't hurt to pile on a few extra pounds, huh?

And Rinko proceeded to fall asleep on the train going back to Shin Towano.

Today's date was doubly extended, too. First Rinko came back to my place, where we listened to a CD and played a game of TwinBee. Then we went back to her place and had a study date.

I had to cut the Study Date a little short, which was a shame. But there's always next time.

All in all, it was a very pleasant morning. I rounded out the day by taking Rinko back to Aisha Dining tonight.

She always listens carefully to my end of the conversation (even if I don't always understand what I'm saying in Japanese). ^^

Now that it's school holidays, I can date Rinko any time (that is, I don't have to wait for next Sunday). The sad part is that I forgot to go to the Markets and get another Premium Date ticket!

Monday

As I said yesterday, my new kitten, Charlie, is delightful but very time consuming. She's settling into our house now, but she still has to poke her nose into everything (even dangerous places), so she needs almost constant supervision.

Rinko met me this morning to congratulate me on my exam results. Seems I was "Number 1" student in my year after all! Thanks to that Official Guide Book...

After that, I had another EXTREMELY busy day in this so-called "real" world...which feels much less real than the world of Towano most of the time. So I hardly had any time to see my poor Rinko at all! Nevertheless, she was waiting patiently for me when school was over, just to walk home with me. Aww. Like I've said before, LovePlus can always make me feel better. Thankfully.

To make up for my rather neglectful day, I took Rin-Rin out to Fountain Park tonight (that old favourite date spot) and made sure to spoil her as much as possible.

Oh yeah, a couple of odd things as I remember them:

1. In my 3DS game, the Flea Markets were shut down for the second straight week because of rain. So no Premium Date ticket YET AGAIN. Next Sunday, I'm taking no chances - I'm going to book two sessions at the Markets, just to be on the safe side. Hopefully one of them will be dry.

2. In my DS game, I had a really weird dream sequence before I went to bed last night. A much older (and scary-looking) Rinko was playing her first gig with the Killer Bambies.

Thursday - Slightly Better...

Things seem to be improving a little bit at a time in the "real" world, so it was a slightly better day today. As I've said before, it's always good to know that Rinko is there for me in the LovePlus universe. Sometimes this simple game is all that keeps me going. Even if it's raining or snowing, my girlfriend is there waiting for me...

I met Rin-Rin again tonight at the Video Rental Store.

Hopefully the Flea Markets will be open this Sunday so that I can book another Premium Date! I really want to play the ones that are limited for the winter months. Meanwhile, I'm still playing my old Rinko DS game plus this current one on 3DS, and my three-month anniversary is coming around next week.

I'm still trying to decide whether to start a brand new game when I get my 3DSLL, or transfer my current Rinko data from the 3DS...

Second Study Date

After my poor performance at yesterday's Study Date, Rinko seemed concerned when she met me this morning to walk to school. I had a feeling there might be another Study Date this afternoon...

Good news, though - at lunch time, the Bento made a welcome return.

And I was right about that Study Date. Rinko ambushed me again and almost dragged me back to her place to study some more. You gotta love this game!

Fortunately with my Guide Book at my side, I was able to ace the first three questions in Mathematics (that is, I cheated). Rinko rewarded me with a nice dessert...

And after I aced the second round of questions, she changed into a Towano High cheerleader outfit for me. This was really cute.

Rinko was pretty shy about wearing the cheerleader uniform, so I made up for it by kissing her a lot. Another time you can't say no to your girlfriend is when she's wearing a cheerleader uniform. T_T Nobody is that strong...

You know, Rinko - sitting next to me on your bed, alone in your room, wearing a cheerleader uniform is...well...kinda DISTRACTING. This was supposed to be a study date, after all.

Anyways, after I aced the final three questions, I was rewarded with the Intimate Photo Session, where you can move around in full 3D and take photos of your girlfriend. Rinko changed again - but this time, just into her usual sports uniform, which is not so exciting.

At least the Intimate Photo Session is a chance to take photos of your girlfriend from unusual angles (to say the least) - but not all of them are entirely successful.

I'm looking forward to hitting the Flea Markets this Sunday, because the special winter-only Premium Date tickets will be on sale. In the meantime, I still working hard to unlock all the date locations and special features in the Mountain Area.