Star Crossed Myth -Department of Punishments- (Original Season One Cast) -- No Spoiler Review
Star Crossed Myth -Department of Punishments- (Original Season One Cast [Ichthys, Dui, & Scorpio])
System: Switch, Phone
Price: $29.99, Pay per Route (unknown price)
Voice Acting: No
ESRB Rating: M (17+)
Overall Rating: Stole 7/10 ♥s
Pre-Game Perception: A human that falls in love with zodiac gods. Give me my Western zodiac Fruits Basket with actual gods and not a cursed bloodline.
Morning-After Reflection: Sexy and fun game about a human that falls in love with the Western zodiac gods. Would like more spice, but I want to get to know all of the boys in this series.
Story: “Your days are dreamless and mundane until, one night, you notice a star sparkling in the heavens. Suddenly, the beautiful gods of the stars appear before you. Their goal? To erase their sins. This exquisite, heartrending true love…all began with a sin.”
Interest Rating: 9/10. This game was speaking to me. “Heartrending” and “sin” and I was like, “Yes, go on.” It sounded like it’d be tragic. And it’s about attractive men of the Western zodiac. Too many good things for me to pass up.
MC: Prepare yourself, this is another mobage Voltage title that was ported to the Switch. Yes, you know what that means, MC is as eyeless as they come. The cover art, however, has her with eyes, which was a little surprising since she most certainly doesn’t have any in the game. MC comes with no name, no sprite, she’s in ⅓ of the CGs, maybe ½, but not all. She isn’t voiced, as no one in this game is. But, much to my amazement, she actually has a backstory, personality, and a family. MC is not the typical blank slate that comes packaged with a self-insertable otome character.
If we’re going to talk about strength of character, MC has quite a bit. She has a lot of thoughts, and I was completely blown away by her reaction choices. You get a little bit of a feel for MC in the prologue, when you get a few choices that don't really matter, but are still nice to have. Then you pick your route. Trust me, there’s a reason I’m telling you this. So, I pick my dude, and he then does some stuff; and I, myself, as the person writing this, and the person who played the game, had a reaction where I actually said something out loud based on what just took place. Like if you’ve ever watched something and talked to the t.v., typically a “What? But why?” That was me. I exclaimed a flabbergasted question, and then clicked the next button, and the MC asked the exact same question. I knew, at that moment, that this woman was written in a way I would get behind everything she did. I had never understood a character so well as I did MC in Star Crossed Myth.
My personal bonding experience aside, MC has a job outside the normal, which is nice. She has parents that show up in a later story, which is nice. She does cook, and apparently is rather good at it, but I can let that slide as something women might find ideal in a self-insert character. Her age is ambiguous, which is nice. I’m not entirely familiar with the culture and how early/late societal pressure starts for making sure you find a husband, or when it’s acceptable to marry. With that left out of consideration, I would put the MC at mid-twenties. She doesn’t act too young, but also doesn’t have a mature air about her either. She is your typical otome MC in looks, (probably) 5’-5’2”, thin, light-skinned, brown hair and bangs that are too long and cover where her eyes should be. She is (mostly) consistent between routes, with a few changes here or there based on having a suitable accompanying personality that compliments the LI.
Likability Rating: Yu. Backstory? Yep. Personality? You bet’cha. Eyes? Sadly, no. Strongest self-insert I’ve come across. They should have just given her a name that was able to be changed.
Plot: Star Crossed Myth is a multi-story game, so there are several different stories per character spanning over two seasons. It has probably one of the more complex timelines I’ve played in this model with a clear Season One Main Story, then a not so clear Season One secondary Main Story which has to happen before Season Two Main Story, where everyone is on the same storyline again. That, coupled with a cast of 12 between two games, I’ve decided to break the reviews by title and into original Season One cast, and secondary Season One cast. Why is this all important? Well, because there is no real way to play all routes at the same time like you’re running the same story with just a different man on your arm. Also, the way the stories are written, it kind of both includes that you’ve experienced Season One Main Story before experiencing secondary Season One Main Story, but I guess you just didn’t fall in love? So the events took place, but they didn’t; but they did, just not fully… The only thing that is certain is that both Season One’s Main Stories should be done before moving onto Season Two Main Story, otherwise they cover events that took place while MC was with the other guys that never happened with the originals. It was super confusing my first time through when the prologue for Season Two told me of things that MC experienced and I was like, “Wait… when did that happen?”
All my initial confusion aside - and hopefully I was clear in my explanation above - the plot is both the same and different for each LI. It has the same start, and the same end goal, but getting there is completely different per character. Our story starts with MC hanging out in her apartment. She really loves the celestial bodies and works at a planetarium, and probably did some college classes on astronomy things because she just really knows a lot about what’s in the sky. Don’t ask me, I know very little about stars. One night, something strange happens with those twinkling stars above and some random and equally strange men show up in her apartment. Yes, in her apartment. Oh yeah, and they’re hot, but at that point I think it only really crosses MC’s mind once because she’s more concerned that there are six strange men somehow in her apartment on the fourth floor. The story unfolds and eventually you find out that these dudes are gods over certain star clusters that represent the Western Zodiac and they claim MC can remove some sort of mark of sin that they all have. And then you’re off! From that point on, the story is different per each route since the route focuses on the conflicts associated with that specific LI.
Replayability Rating: ★★★★☆ Each story is unique to the LI, and I find they don’t feel same-y at all. For this section of the game, you don’t need to do every route in order to understand the story, but playing one guy from each portion of Season One helps put events into order for Season Two.
Love Interests: I played the Switch version of the game, which has two games under the Star Crossed Myth title, separated into Department of Wishes and Department of Punishments. Each title has six dreamy dudes that I have further broken up by where they fall into the Season One story. That leaves us with three tasty men to journey through the story with. Today’s morsels are the gods of Scorpio, Gemini, and Pisces. In order to get on their route, you simply pick it from the story menu. Play the prologue in one route and these three are unlocked as playmates for our fantasy of men who are extraordinarily out of our reach. They’re gods, guys. There’s no way this is even reasonable in a setting where we’re everyday people trying to live in Tokyo.
There are two endings per LI, labeled Blessed and Forbidden, but don’t let the names fool you, they are both good endings. Voltage tends to give us good endings no matter what choices we make, just one is considered gooder. In this case, I think either are good and it is completely a personal preference on which is best. In fact, Voltage doesn’t even seem to know which is the “correct” ending to get since in ‘his PoV’ stories sometimes it ends with the Blessed End and sometimes it ends with the Forbidden End. Sometimes it doesn’t even cover an ending, so that isn’t even the foolproof way to determine what the writers thought was the best. In order to achieve either ending, there is a meter that tells you what way you’re heading based on the choices you’ve made for that chapter of the episode. As a note, both endings have the potential to have a CG specific to their respective end, so if you want those pictures, I suggest doing both.
You can pick your gentleman however you choose to pick them, as there is no recommended order since each story progresses differently based on the LI and encapsulates its own series of events and conflicts. So! Pick the one that seems most interesting to you. Or based on zodiac sign. Or maybe by height. I suppose just by hotness works too. Maybe all of these combined and calculated to reveal who your possible favorite will be, and go with that one. I certainly have my favorites, but when it comes down to it, out of all 12 LIs between both games, I really only dislike one. I feel neutral about a few more. And I have a hard time ranking like eight of them.
So let’s start with the tsundere, shall we? Ugh, this guy. Scorpio, God of Scorpio… Yeah, no, really. Luckily he’s the only one named after his sign, but there are a few others that come close. Scorpio shows up, talks about how crappy of a place Earth is, how disgusting humans are, is incredibly rude to MC at every corner-- and this is all in the prologue! It’s clear that he has some issues. What a rotten, mean-spirited, insulting, sexy, considerate, romantic-- wait a second… I wanted to hate him. I thought he was going to drive me crazy. But the more I played, the more I couldn’t help but peel back all the layers and get to the center of that cake. Because cake has layers and people like cake. I know I said I have a hard time rating ¾ of the cast, but Scorpio got to me and is up there in the top half, at least. Give this angryboi a chance to show you what really drives him. Both endings are good in the Main Story, but I particularly liked his Forbidden End.
God of Gemini, Dui, is next on our list. For no particular reason besides I just happened to pick him next. This guy is such a genuinely caring dude no matter what route he shows up in. He’s gentlemanly, kind, and so innocent. But I know my Geminis. :waits for the other shoe to drop: The typical trope in fiction for Gemini is that they are born twins, a trope I get so tired of. I get it. Duality, and the twin stars. It’s the easiest thing to write into fiction to showcase the constellation. Thankfully, Dui does not have a twin. Is that a spoiler? Maybe a minor one. Sorry! I’m about to apologize again, this time not for a spoiler though. Let me first say, I like Dui. I like his character a lot. I liked his Main Story a lot. I thought this constantly considerate god was going to be among my favorites. But! (There’s always a but.) But, his route was not given as much care and consideration as his character holds. His stories take a turn for boring, annoying, and trite. His was the first route I started finding major errors in, as well. (I did play him second in my own run-through, so that might have something to do with it.) I was just disappointed with how it felt like he got overlooked in his route that I rate him rather low in the game; but Dui, as a character, was easily added to my harem of husbandos. Both endings in the Main Story are good, but again I’d go for the Forbidden one. Maybe I’m just naughty.
How do you feel about jokes? I’m thinking you must like them because I find myself f*cking hilarious and you’re reading my review which is just chock full of me, the hilarious one. In that case, meet Ichthys, God of Pisces. Finding joy in the everyday is what Ichthys does best, he just wants people to be happy. His childlike wonder won my heart. His pranks are so legendary that they are referred to in every LI’s route, not just his own. His route suffers a little from (what appears to be) lack of forethought on the writers part; as his story continues through subsequent stories there is a problem with conflicts that feel last minute and forced. Perhaps it’s just his character personality that makes it difficult, but I don’t think he was thought through very well in order to keep a lasting story. It’s sweet though. All of it. I’ll take him for he is precious.
Boy Crazy Rating: 90%. Solid husbando material. I don’t think they’ll let me keep them all, but that’s my end goal here.
Romance: Very yes. This is a love story between a human and a god. The Main Story gives me enough romance for me to count this as one of the top romances I’ve played, and now that I’m thinking about it, that’s counting these three men (Ichthys, Scorpio, Dui) who I would say are on the lesser of the romantic stories. At least in the Main Story. Every story thereafter is basically about the couple in question and how they navigate life together, and that’s quite a bit of content of romantic, couple-y things. It’s a super love-filled game.
Heart Palpitation Rating: B+. Getting to read everything past the Main Story brings much love into the game that is already focused on love. I may have misplaced my heart of stone because of this game.
Spice: We get some slow burn going here, building as we consume more of the story. The main stories don’t have much when it comes to the heat, especially when it comes to these three. I say that, but this was the first shirtless CG I’d seen in an otome game, so I certainly thought it was more than a little hot. In fact, it’s one of my favorite pictures, sexy enough that I feel my heart speed up when looking at it, but not so lewd that I can’t tote it as perfectly acceptable to have in plain sight. There are half-naked sprites, a few CGs with partial nudity, and descriptions that imply intercourse - though it is never graphic, it is very clear what is going on.
Cold Shower Rating: Pass. What a M-rated title should have. It’s not super racy, but it certainly made me burn a few times. That cold shower was deserved.
Angst: There is a moderate amount of angst in Star Crossed Myth, overall. When it comes to these three… I think I might have put the angstiest characters together. Hahaha. Don’t get me wrong, the whole of the game can get pretty angsty at times. It isn’t a high drama llama rating, but it is better than “some violence” for angst levels. There is violence. There are no scenes of blood that I recall, however, there are descriptions of violence and blood. Each of the characters also have some angst to bring to the table. I enjoyed the amount of anguish the game gave me, though it wouldn’t sustain me for long if this was the only drama to be had. I need more tragedy in my life.
Drama Llama Rating: 7/10. The drama llama demands more tears. Unfortunately, we don’t have any more to give.
Voice Acting: Full of none.
Expression Rating: N/A. No rating to give on something that doesn’t exist.
Art: The art is art. Each character is designed in a manner that I didn’t find any of them to be easily confused with any other character. Even though everyone is wearing a uniform, there are bits of personalization to each uniform that even those weren’t exactly the same. Each LI sprite comes with two wardrobe changes, which are also different enough per character that it didn’t feel like it was all the same style or personality in clothing. There are a few facial changes and a few pose changes, but the sprites don’t move much besides that. The same backgrounds get used a lot, though I’m not complaining, really. They’re not super detailed, but they are more detailed than some of Voltage’s other backgrounds in other titles they’ve ported to the Switch. Oh boy, some of the “bad guys” are a bit ridiculous, to the point I wonder what the artist was even thinking designing them the way they did. And there are a lot of characters that aren’t introduced at all through art, which is fine, since they really only show up for one story. I don’t expect everyone to have a sprite. Overall, the art is okay. It’s not my favorite, but it’s passing and I have only one real complaint (being the bad guy design I mentioned earlier).
Still Picture Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Many limited. Such questionable. Very okay.
CGs: :sigh: It’s okay. It’s okay! I’ve certainly seen better CGs from Voltage, but there are too many odd anatomy issues for me to really dig these. Looking at these three dudes only, there’s a few CGs where things are wonky-- not many! But a few. The rest are really good, I think. But I have to rate it as a whole and not just 90% of the CGs from these three, which means it gets downrated, at least a little. They’re good choices, imo. Very impactful moments, and I can still remember what I read right around that time based on the pictures I was browsing in my album. There is also a nice little surprise, a high quality picture once you finish a certain number of stories per character.
Look at this Photograph Rating: 83%. If only there wasn’t the weird anatomy from time to time, this would be rated much higher. I like the art, and I like the choices.
UI/Mechanics: I played the Switch version, so I can’t speak to the UI for the phone. I think it’s a fine UI. It’s easy to navigate. It has touch features (as most Switch ports do). It’s clean and simple and doesn’t really need anything to walk you through how to use it. There are no special mechanics for this game.
What’s this button do? Rating: B. I had no issues figuring out how to play, save, or load.
Errors: :stretches those typing fingers: You ready for this? The quality control and quality assurance wasn’t very high for this game. I’ve come to realize there are a certain amount of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors to expect in most translated titles. Often, I overlook the most common of them, especially if they don’t interfere with gameplay or understanding the story. But when it comes to errors that make me stop and tilt my head in confusion, like somehow seeing it sideways is going to make it make more sense, then I just can’t ignore them and pass them by. Star Crossed Myth, unfortunately, is one of those games that I took pictures of the errors because I laughed so hard at how god awful they were.
That isn’t to say that the majority of the game isn’t pretty standard. In fact, most of it is what I would consider normal. It starts off rather strong, but the more you read, the more errors crop up. I don’t think there was a single Season Two story that escaped some large error, either coding or grammatical. And I’m talking BIG errors. These aren’t the small nit-picky ones like missing a punctuation. These are the ones where the wrong sprite was used in place of another character. A sprite, in fact, of a character that wasn’t even in that scene to begin with. These are coding errors where text was meant to be broken between two different pages, and instead was blocked into one with the coding visible between where they intended to break it up. These are sentences that make absolutely no sense and I had to try to decipher what was supposed to be said. The one that shall live in infamy in my household: “They’re got <MC name> by the arms, and they’re and their dragging her along the ground.” I laughed so hard I cried. I then showed everyone I knew and laughed even harder that I cried some more, if only because compounded with their face made it all the funnier.
The game still plays. The story is still readable. Just prepare for moments when things get bad.
Here there be Bugs Rating: Fail. It was a slow build-up, but eventually the colony was exposed later in the story. There be bugs here, yo.
Background Music: It’s a’ight. I played with the music on, though I’m not entirely sure why. It wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t grating at all. I thought it fit with the game, even if there are only like three tracks that play through this very long game. Yeah, that’s all I have to say about that. It’s a’ight.
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