Otome Daoshi – Fighting for Love – from Aksys Games and Idea Factory International is a new visual novel with a focus on martial arts. Learn more in our Otome Daoshi – Fighting for Love – review!
Otome Daoshi – Fighting for Love – from Aksys Games and Idea Factory International is a new visual novel with a focus on martial arts. You’ll be placed in the role of Shunlin, a Daoist priestess in training under your grandfather, Lihong, and will be joined by your panda pet, Mimi. The game takes place in the Kingdom Kayu, where every single citizen enjoys martial arts. Young and old, men and women, everyone has martial arts as part of their lives. You’ll find yourself in the Tournament of Valor in order to root for your childhood friend, Haoran. This year’s Tournament of Valor is very important, as it will decide who the strongest fighter in the world is. Unfortunately, a group of Jiangshi attacks the event, and this forces you to spring into action in order to defend the other spectators.
Becoming a Daoshi priestess is very important, since it’s a role appointed by the King himself! A Daoshi priestess is tasked with performing special burials in order to prevent a corpse from becoming a Jiangshi. What’s a Jiangshi? A Jiangshi is an entity that lacks consciousness or self-awareness, and it can, therefore, be controlled by applying a talisman to its forehead and ringing a bell. It’s a creature that is part of Chinese folklore. You’ve probably seen them before in other video games, since they have a very specific look and perform actions in a particular way. Since their joints can’t bend, they move around by jumping over and over again.
New to visual novels in general? Then you need to know that these games do the genre’s name justice, since they will provide you with what are usually novel-sized stories with a visual presentation. Makes sense, right? On top of that, there are subgenres within visual novels. One of those examples is Otome visual novels, which focus on having a female protagonist who can end up pursuing different story paths, leading up to ending with one of the potential male romantic suitors in the game. As the name suggests, Otome Daoshi -Fighting for Love- is part of this subgenre.
And now… let’s talk about the game’s other characters! First up is Haoran. He’s your childhood friend and a gentle-mannered individual who works at a restaurant for a living. He’s a bit like an older brother figure in a way, but, as you’ve probably guessed by now, that doesn’t mean that you can end up seeing him in a very different way! Next, we have Yuhang. He’s a contrarian young man who knew you and Haoran back in the day. He’s a bit brash and uses harsh words to hide his own embarrassment, which makes him feel even worse after it happens.
Longli is another potential romantic suitor. He’s a well-mannered man who works at the palace, which has made him gain the respect of those around him. And then we have Shaowu. Shaowu is a bit of a lone wolf character who has an intimidating aura. Yes, this does mean that deep within he’s got a softer, more gentle side… but you’re going to have to dig up that side of his personality during your interactions! If you’ve played other visual novels, you probably understand there’s a common route to work on first before you can branch out into the different specific routes for the aforementioned characters. Who knows, you might end up finding a secret route by the end of all the other character routes!
Otome Daoshi – Fighting for Love – is a new visual novel with a focus on martial arts. You’ll be placed in the role of Shunlin, a Daoist priestess in training under your grandfather, Lihong, and will be joined by your panda pet, Mimi. The game takes place in the Kingdom Kayu, where every single citizen enjoys martial arts. Young and old, men and women, everyone has martial arts as part of their lives. You’ll find yourself in the Tournament of Valor in order to root for your childhood friend, Haoran. This year’s Tournament of Valor is very important, as it will decide who the strongest fighter in the world is. Unfortunately, a group of Jiangshi attacks the event, and this forces you to spring into action in order to defend the other spectators.
As expected from a visual novel of the Otome variety, you, as the main female protagonist, can end up romancing one of the potential suitors depending on your actions, with story paths that will take you down different branches depending on the choices you make along the way. The game features voice acting, and, as has been the case for many recent visual novels on Nintendo Switch, it’s only available in Japanese. This does mean that, if you’re not familiar with the language, you’ll be doing a lot of reading thanks to the English translation that is presented as you play. There are also some manga-style story segments in the classic black-and-white presentation we all know and love, which certainly help set this one apart from other visual novels on the console. Otome Daoshi -Fighting for Love – is out on Nintendo Switch with a $49.99 price tag.
Disclaimer
This Otome Daoshi – Fighting for Love – review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Aksys Games.
