Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~

"Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~" is basically an attempt at trying to make a ‘dating sim’ by using RPG Maker Software. I am surprised that as far as I could search, by typing 'dating sim' in the top right corner of this website, "Heartache 101" was the only 'true' dating simulator’ game (and it wasn't even at the top of the search findings, which is hilarious), everything else was a 'fusion' of ‘dating simulator’ and some other genres, not that those games are bad (or good, I haven't played them), but sometimes you just want a ‘Dating Simulator’, if you are like me, you woke up one morning and wanted to play one. I understand. Actually I don't what so ever why I got that urge, regardless I decided to write a review on the game, because I enjoyed it. So let's get started:



Plot (Yes this game as a plot):
To swiftly summarize the plot; you (insert player name) have a childhood friend called Miki, and she as a friend called Keika. Because you are a High school student who is a complete ‘noob’ at dating, (and yes you are in your 2nd year which means your sort of screwed by that point), you are challenged by Miki to get a girlfriend, and you only have 101 days, which is about a school period or 3 months + change; while Miki is also trying to get a boyfriend, so it's a bet, which is the perfect excuse to accidentally build an Harem because you are too nice to girls.





Characters (Yes, here is a list!):
Here is a list of the characters:
- Miki: Stereotypical childhood friend who starts off as annoying, and develops into having a huge crush on you...
-Keika: Stereotypical rich airhead girl who likes to spend money in every chance she gets, she also as a boyfriend, but we all know that won't stop you...
-Shioko: Stereotypical hot, popular, sporty and party type girl who you have a crush on, sort off (because plot). She also is quite popular with the opposite sex, which means every guy in school is your opponent, are you the one who conquers her?...
-Riho: Stereotipical 'he his a pervert' girl who gets an immediate bad reaction no matter how you meet her, she is a try-hard who studies way too much while managing the school's baseball team, but behind all that 'tsundere' action she is quite 'dere', if you know what I mean, if not look it up...
(And that was all the girls that you usually run across on a normal play through, now here are the unlock able characters)
-Akari: Stereotypical, just kidding. This girl as depression, which means she is always down and sad while struggling with her own problems, nice guy you will try to cheer her up the best he can, by becoming her friend, (I cried at the end of the route, many feels involved.)
Spoilers on how to unlock:
-Hinami: Stereotypical 'deredere' always happy girl whose dad and brothers are adventurers! Seriously she misses school A LOT, anyway she is a 'deredere' so yup, also her brother's might not like you dating her...
Spoilers on how to unlock:
-Tsubasa: Stereotypical 'detective's daughter' girl who skips classes all the time, yes she is smart and you will also have to be to win her over, you can help her solve crimes which makes her like you more, (they are not that hard, or maybe I am just a genius, probably both) besides her always busy personality it's quite enjoyable to see how unprepared she is when it comes to love...
Spoilers on how to unlock:
-Cheimi: The secret character, almost impossible to unlock on your own, I myself don't know much about this character, only that she is sort of a 'stalker'? I have no idea; there is a complete guide on how to unlock her out there on the internet, so instead of stealing his info I will just tell you to go there, Google search for “Heartache 101 secret character”.





Gameplay:
This plays out a bit as a luck/turn based board game where you role a dice that tells you how many tiles you advance. When the school day ends you can go to one location at the map, to either raise your skills or just because, there is all sorts of gifts and random events that occur all over the map, as someone who as seen them all (actually, it even said I had 104% of those encounters, I am obviously a wizard, like Harry…) I guaranty it is worth it to just go places for no reason. You have five skills, by increasing those you are better looking towards different types of girls and can get through certain skill requirement encounters like random questions or plot important happenings. At the end of the day in your room you can make phone calls, see all the information you have on the girls and your relationship, after that you have a menu where you can buy 'power ups' with blue orbs or just 'save' and 'quit' the game. You also have a part time job, which plays out as 'Pac-Man' and a 'stealth' game, but it's worth it if you want to go on dates with girls and give them present's. Also girls find out if you date other girls... Your next 101 days won't be boring, trust me.





Final things to mention:
I won't share my extremely detailed thoughts about the game and all the girls and all the random event's but I will tell you this. It takes about 5-9 hours to complete a run of the game, depending if you are playing in 151 mode and how experienced you are with it (difficulty as far as I know only makes skill's level up more slowly, it might also modify the tiles and chances of random event's, but don't quote me on that, seriously don't...) so you won't get bored. I got 4 of the girl's routes complete, I stopped playing because, I don't know. I am actually going to try playing this again and getting all the other endings, which should be fun. If I ever get the time to do so...



5/5 Recommend, it will definitely satisfy you dating sim desires. And for free!

author=papujack

-Review made by papuajck. 19/09/2015; 22:41. "Deal with it", why? "Because anime waifu dating sim, that’s why!”