Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~

I was a bit skeptical when I began playing Heartache 101: I thought it could be a superficial game, in which you can find simple dialogue and bland interaction.
This was not the case: this game held me playing for an entire playthrough, and left me a good feeling about it. That is not usual, especially for a free game.


Gameplay

Apart from the prologue and ending(s), the game is divided in 101 days: your goal is to make a girl fall in love with you and be your girlfriend.
Every day is divided in 3 parts:
- In the first part you're at school (you're a student), which is represented by a grid you must cross through its routes (like in table games). Squares can trigger encounters (mostly with girls), give you items to use on the grid (to move a specified amount of spaces) and special items (to make the grid change someway). Encounters are the main way to go on with the girls' stories and improve your relationship with them.
- In the second part you can visit several areas of your city (which you will discover during the game). In every area you mostly:
- Buy something
- Get something random
- Encounter someone (sometimes)
- Meet with a dated girl
- You can arrange dates in the third part of the day, through calling the girls of whom you've already got the phone number.

In the weekends you have a part-time work which is represented as a pacman-like minigame.

That's it! The phases are repeated each day. This could seem quite tedious, but it is not (at least it was not for me), because you have lots of new conversations every day (and the places you visit also change if you like to).


At the beginning, I thought the game had one major issue on gameplay: encounters seemed to me random, and quite difficult to make the girl you liked fall in love with your character in 101 days. This problem is solved by the Zodiac system: every day has a favourite sign: you will be likely to encounter girls of that sign. With three istances of a special item (orbs) you can influence stars and set favourite sign for a nice amount of days.
I found out that you find yourself making a choice:
- Spend orbs to improve your phone and make more phone calls -> more girls are going to like you
- Spend orbs and make more likely to encounter a specific girl -> that girl is quickly going to like you
This is a nice gameplay feature, because it solves a problem and define two possible game styles at the same time.

Dates are okay (because at the beginning you still must learn how to be smart and handsome), but I would introduce more variables here. A dynamic date could (and maybe will be?) another awesome feature of the game;

Other kinds of interaction could be introduced (but these adds should be tested, because they could break the aequilibrium of the game, which is indeed good).

Ah, and autosave is a *great* feature!

Graphics

Simple like in every visual novel game, but I found it effective and nice. Every character has a set of expressions (which in this kind of game is mandatory), and every place has a detailed background. Different clothing for characters could be a nice addition.


Dialogue boxes are okay, a bit more contrast would help eyes, though.

Some static (cutscene/background-like) pictures of the characters interacting with each other or with the protagonist would be nice too: there is a bit of distance between the main character and the girls, which could be filled in this simple way (even if it would require a graphics for the main character, and this could be a downside too).

Sounds

The soundtrack is simple too, but the themes and sound effects are enjoyable.
I found myself listening at them when having a pause from the game, and found them pleasant.


The sound of the of when you improve relations (related to the "+" animation) is like a clacson, and I don't like it very much (it's slightly hilarious, though).


Story

Storyline is good: advancing in relationships with the other girls, you find out more and more about their lives and stories. There are lots of conversations, conditional branches, and way to interact with the world.


In the next version of the game I would like to see a new kind of interation with "heartached" characters. I did not found a strong difference between "love" and "heartache", and introducing some intimate interation between the girl and the main character would make the last 20 days much more entertaining.

Longevity

The game is as long as it should be: when you reach day 90, you should have completed your quest in making a girl fall in love with you. 101 days are, therefore, a perfect amount of time (the last 10 days could be filled as mentioned before).
When you finish the game, you unlock new game modes, and you even have access to a character and story creator, in which you can design your own schoolmate girl and her personal story. And that is fine!


A nice idea could be introducing a post-game exclusive interation with the character who became your girlfriend (with a new gameplay only for this special part).


Conclusions

Now, on the game's grades!

Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8.5
Sounds: 8
Story: 8
Longevity: 8.5
Feeling: 9.5

Overall: 9 - Outstanding


It seems I should give the review a 4.5 out of 5 as a score, but I will grant this game a 5/5, where the +0.5 is due to my trust in further improvement of the game by the producers! ;)