An impulse buy… cos the “limited-time offer” was too great to resist x_x

PS2 Saint Beast offer

Released in Sep 20, 2007, the limited edition Saint Beast Rasen no Shou (セイント・ビースト 螺旋の章) game’s original price is 7800 Yen but it is now on sale at US$ 24.90! That’s like approximately 2700 Yen meaning it is 5100 Yen off the retail price o_O Since they offer free shipping to my region, I bought it. ^^”

For the uninitiated, Saint Beast is based on a fantasy series created by Arisugawa Kei. It is a spin-off of the series Angel Tales in a world where gods, guardian angels and animal spirits exist.

After tremendous success with Saint Beast Drama CDs focusing on the guardian angels (Holy Beasts), a couple of animes were created as well, namely

  1. Saint Beast ~Seijuu Kourin Hen~ (セイント・ビースト～聖獣降臨編～ 2003)
  2. Saint Beast ~Ikusen no Hiru to Yoru Hen~ OAV (セイント・ビースト～幾千の昼と夜 編～ 2005)
  3. Saint Beast: Angel Chronicles (セイント・ビースト ～光陰叙事詩天使譚～ 2007)

To be honest, I didn’t have much patience with the anime cos they were not that great ^^” I didn’t even finish watching the last two installments *gasp* The characters are cute and all but half the time you’re hoping they do something more about their attraction for one another but they don’t. The Drama CDs however were more fun and “action-packed” if you know what I mean lol~ The main draw of course, are the seiyuus XD

This game also features the original star-studded cast, including Morikawa Toshiyuki, Miyata Kouki, Sakurai Takahiro, Ishida Akira, Fukuyama Jun, Midorikawa Hikaru, Suzumura Kenichi, Sugita Tomokazu, Yoshino Hiroyuki, Toriumi Kousuke and Yasumoto Hiroki.

I’ll review the game when I get the time to play it. I’m not expecting naughty screen captures tho’ cos the game is rated as suitable for all ages. The official site categorised the game under the “Bishonen angel, friendship adventure” genre… lol~

The limited edition includes a Drama CD too :3

Official site: http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/game/ps2/saintbeast/

Quick Review:
Okie… I fired up the game and after a short while of playing it, I can begin to understand the attractiveness of 1st-person POV story adventure games like this.

In this game, you can choose to play a male/female angel who is tasked to descend to earth in order to search for the Holy Beasts and… etc. You can customise the name of the character too. So basically, the game is pretty much played out from your point of view. Your character is not voiced (the thoughts and replies are in the boxed text… which is a challenge for me lol~ anyway…) so when the characters interact with yours (i.e. you) they’re speaking directly to you… *meow* X3 That’s yummy for me since some of the game characters are voiced by my favourite seiyuus.

I’ve only played a few BL games. My only experience so far are of spectator or 3rd-person POV High-H (hahaha) PC games like Togainu no Chi, Lamento, etc. We can argue that it is not that much different from the Saint Beast game’s 1st-person POV since the choose-your-own-adventure style of gameplay is almost the same. However, it just feels different. For example, when I played Togainu, we’re pretty much playing as Akira’s POV, right? Although the game can be immersive, I’m always reminded that I’m not Akira when the characters interact.. LOL~ but I guess third person POV is a must, otherwise the H-scenes and pairings between the characters wouldn’t be possible XD

Hmm… maybe one day when the technology is advanced enough, we can input our names and the game will be able to programme the character voices to address the player by name even during gameplay… woo~

Gaaa… I have to find time to continue the game undisturbed…

Btw, if you know of any 1st-person POV, voiced BL game with H, please give me a buzz XD