[Video Game] Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story: Falling in love again like a high school girl~ Review and some tips~

Can't call myself a real otaku without doing a real video game review entry~ (^-<)/ Well... I don't play nearly as much video games as I use to.... but recently I did get extremely addicted to the otome game (love simulation games aimed at girls~ therefore lots of eye candy guys to chase) Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story~ <3

Konami's official website for Tokimemo GS3
and the Tokimemo GS series on all this that~

fanart of Bambi and the princes \(^/////^)/ ~<3

This game first came out October 2010 on the NDS (Japanese edition only though...)~ so has been around for a while already (recently annouced that it's also coming out on the PSP platform in a premium edition Spring 2012! Q.Q me wants PSP....) If you're familiar with the Tokimemo GS franchise (with the famous/ infamous? skinship mode on NDS o^-^o), there's been a heck lot of improvements to this latest series compared to the old Tokimemo GS 1 and 2~ Not only can you date the prince that your heart desire... you can date two of them at the same time! X3 AHHHH~ (known as 3P mode or "W prince" mode, W= "double"...). Also your "girl" friends in this series are real genuine 2D friends... helping you out with guys info or fashion and no longer turn into b*tches if you happen to like the guy they like... Also there's an upgrade to the type of fashion that you can combine to come up with~

Anyways, I actually pick up this game late last year (or early this year.. can't remember now...) where I had only played through Arashi and Kou's routes (and the first attempt where I didn't get any prince endings at all... Q.Q... then I looked up the wiki's). And then during my more recent addiction phase I managed to finish playing all the individual prince's routes as well as accidentally triggering 3P- Arashi/Niina mode... (^///^)q

My preference of the routes:

Kou > Ruka > Arashi > Niina > Konno > Seiji

Honestly, I didn't really dislike any of them~ *shy* but I guess the first play-throughs  really had the best impressions... the later routes were more about seeing the CG's and dates rather than actually feeling Toki-toki at all... :3 I'll go through my impressions of each character after the jump~

Protagonist and girl friends: 

YOU! nicknamed Bambi by your girl friend Karen~ :3 (You're the one in pink hair in the middle of the picture)

Karen: the tall model-like girl (right in the picture) is the niece of the fashion gurus in the internet magazine on fashion (which you need to check before going on dates so you get extra points from the guys for being a fashionista) She works at a clothes/accessory store and is part of the volleyball team~ She'll help you with finding out what types of fashion your guy likes and how to combine clothes to get the upgraded styles~

Miyo: The short cute girl (left in the picture) who has an extremely keen sixth sense and has the ability to fortune tell~ She's your go to source for info on the guys~ She works part time at the cake/sweets shop and is part of the crafting club.

The Princes:

Kouichi Sakurai: The elder Sakurai brother and apparently the tallest guy (at 189cm) in the Tokimeki GS series. He and Ruka have been deliquents in middle school often getting into fights. Because of his height and wordless-ness (we find out later that it's really due to shyness) he gives off this scary vibe around him... once you get to know him better though you realize that he is this giant gentle teddy bear that often can't express how he feels (and thus tells Bambi that she's noisy etc). He's such a sweety~ <3 The reason that he often gets into fights is to protect Ruka.... (won't say more as it'd be a spoiler..). His voice actor Junichi Suwabe has a deep sexy voice~ Love it~ <3 Kou is also a very avid cook (he does all the housework at home... looking after Ruka) and he loves vintage American stuff like oldies music and bikes~ What's not to like about Kou~ other than getting into fights all the time... he'd be the perfect hubby~ reliable and dependent~ X3 Kou isn't involved in school clubs and works at the petrol station. 




Ruka Sakurai: The main prince of this GS series and younger brother of Kou, also had a deliquent background in middle school. He tries to portray this flirtatious character but is actually a way to distance himself from others. Initially he will always joke with Bambi (trying to make Bambi angry~ X3) but then once you get him to fall in love with you he becomes more gentle (I felt that even his voice changed)~<3 As the main prince of the this series he did have the best storyline~ and I fell in love with his culture festival play scene~ and was really touched at the scene where he repeated that Q.Q~ (avoiding a spoiler there... ;p). one thing that really annoyed me was the hair covering his right eye... >:( apparently he and Kou had the same hair style back in middle school... and so Ruka dyed it blonde (Kou cut it short) to distinguish between them~ Ruka loves hotcakes (the only dish that he can make) and dolphins (dolphin in Japanese = iRUKA~ XD)
Off topic, his voice actor is Tomokazu Sugita... who also voices Gintoki from Gintama! XD 

Arashi Fujiyama: The Judo club captain thus the "sporty" guy in this series. For him, I became the Judo club manager~ He was the first that I targeted so I didn't have any others to compare to... but later on I realized that there's not too much in terms of content in his conversations.. I guess that's his personality... direct, passionate and quite possessive~ X3 The reason that he's so high in my rankings is that I had felt toki-toki (*heartbeat*) in one of the CG scenes where he was like half naked when he asked Bambi for a massage after training... (>/////<) and also when he treated Bambi as if they were going out already although he hasn't confessed (ending scene) yet~ when Bambi gets him to Tokimeki mode she can also call him "Anata" (termed used by wife to call husband in Japan~) (>/////<) If Bambi goes overboard with the skinship he would also run off all shy etc~ He has a secret hobby of growing chrysanthemums and loves dogs~ He's (obviously) in the Judo club and also works at the indoor pool.

Junpei Niina: The Kohai (younger than the protagonist) in this series who loves fashion (and is a great fan of the main prince in the first GS series who became a famous model). Okay~ initially he is actually a little annoying with his hip jargon and flirtatious attitude... :T But Bambi will get to see his sweeter side when she softens him up~ ;) Because he is a year younger than Bambi (also his sore spot) Bambi can only start calling him up in the second year. There is however a way to meet him before then and if you complete all then you get a sweet CG where he embraces Bambi and blushes~ (first signs of his sweetness~<3) the reason that he scored higher than Konno sempai for me though was probably the fun that I had when I accidentally triggered Niina and Arashi's 3P mode~ (their 3P ending is hilarious~ XD) Niina's secret hobby is fishing.. although he will deny this at first 'coz it doesn't suit his style~ He works part time at the convenient store (which is great for stat raising!) and will join the Judo club if you became the manager~ (the story behind that is pretty funny also~ X3)

Tamao Konno: The student committee president and studious type. I don't usually like the studious type of guys (in 2D world)... but Konno sempai is such a gentle and sweet person different to what you would expect a student president to be~ He is probably the only guy that actually phoned Bambi after every date in the beginning to say he had a good time and for my playthrough he started taking Bambi home after dates the earliest~ (*sparkly eyes*) I love it how he blushes so much and is so shy (in a different way to Kou~) I found myself giggling a lot on his playthrough~ He is probably a closet train otaku (the best choice for all his birthday presents are train related) and looks so HOT without glasses! (o*-*o) He is also the younger brother of a girl character in the Tokimemo GS1 and is apparently undermined by her~ hehe~ such a soft gentle person~ He is (obviously) in the student committee and he doesn't have a part time job.


Shitara Seiji: The prodigy genius pianist that lost heart in playing the piano whom also happens to be from a rich family. His storyline has the typical (I don't think it'd be that big a spoiler...) heroine love shows him the will and passion to play the piano again~ He is the tsundere character in this game (as in he'll be all antagonistic to Bambi like a spoilt child and then after you've sweetened him up... he'd be nice to Bambi and appreciate her...). Maybe because I'm not so into tsundere characters... I found his spoilt brat attitude quite annoying... :T Though he does have some funny CG scenes and events~ He really likes trying out "peasant" foods since he's from a rich family and never got to eat them~ He's not part of a club at school (though he helps out with the wind band) and (obviously) does not have a part time job.




Playthrough rewards:

Through each playthrough if your fashion sense is high enough (leveling this up requires Bambi to wear the right fashion that's in for the season, you find this info in the internet magazine) Karen will give you different clothing or accessory items to aid you in your next playthrough. These are the items that she will give you~ <3

1. Red dress:  it's suppose to boost your other clothing's affinity... or to trigger some events when you wear it out... not quite sure what it does exactly, but I guess starting the game with a dress in the closet is not a bad thing~ (^^;)
2. Head band: suppose to make your fitness stats increase faster? and suppose to be more fun when you wear it at sports festival or the 2nd year school trip (pillow fight)... but the one time that I wore it at the pillow fight... I lost incredibly fast... :'(
3. Perfume: every time you wear this on a date... you'll be bothered by someone before your guys comes to rescue you... (this helps if you haven't accumulated enough clothes that your guy likes... and you can also have extra "touch" panels which will increase their toki-meter)
4. Santa Claus dress: wear this to the Christmas party everyone you have met in the game will come up to talk to you during the party~ and saves you from buying a dress for the party~ (^-^)y
5. Rose Queen training suit: you have to wear this from Day 1 of the game til April 6 the second year in order for this to work.... (that means no swimwear, yukata, dress or kimono when the options comes up... I accidentally removed the suit once and had to start the game over again for that route in order to gain the high stats... Q.Q) When you wear it the first year your stats will increase very slowly... and you'll also find that your stress levels increase by ALOT... so you'd have to sleep/rest a lot of the times... but when you take it off in the second year all your stats will increase by 2.5x !! (or something like that...) Awesome aye~ and it's also the first time when I used this top that I got a CG from the hidden character Oosaka sensei... (the scene was too hilarious... XD but sadly I wanted to get the main guys routes first... sorry sensei... X3)

I think you also get 50G more at the start of the game with each playthrough... capped at 200G though~ with that you can get pretty much get most of the clothing items in time for various events (yukata for the fireworks festival, swimwear for summer, and kimono for New Years). Also previous fashions that you have bought (and end the game with I think) will also be available in the respective shops from the start of the game.

Double prince (3P mode):
In the W prince mode only the following pairings have been allowed (it would've taken way too long to develop if every pairing from the 6 princes were implemented... :T)

• Ruka + Kou: The brother pair
• Arashi + Niina: The young/ passionate pair
• Konno + Seiji: The senpai pair

The order in which I played was (first couple of times failed to get a prince... D:) Arashi, Kou, Konno, Seiji, Niina then Ruka (was trying to save the best story line til last!). And because I had already played through more than 5 times before playing Niina so with the Rose Queen training suit my stats were so high by end of second year that I also triggered the double prince mode with Niina and Arashi halfway through. And BOY! after playing normal skinship mode so many time (gets a bit dull after a while... :T) double prince skinship is soo much more fun! with a roulette wheel to determine how you can advance on your boys~ (^-<)/~<3 I managed to get Niina's ending first and reloaded a third year save to get the Arashi/Niina 3P ending (wahaha so smart~ X3). 

3P skinship mode *sigh*~<3

Secret guys:
Like in the previous installments there are also secret characters that you can end up happily ever after with~ I haven't attempted to get their endings yet... (except the Oosaka-sensei incident) but they are the following characters:

• Oosaka-sensi: your homeroom teacher who happens to be a shota character (although he is suppose to be in his 20's) he is a very passionate teacher... and can be the supervisor for the Judo club if the events occur. Though he is a little be too enthusiastic for me to really fall in love with... though his dialogue in that CG scene that I did manage to get was quite touching~ Q.Q
• Tairou: The "normal" classmate that has a crush on Bambi. Playing his route may be quite interesting! as to activate him... you need to play a game of "Where's Tairou" (like in Where's Wally~ XD) he's sometimes hidden in the background of the touchscreen... and when he's there you're suppose to tap him... which will then trigger his events~ XD but miss one... and he's gone... :T
• The mysterious writer: some middle aged guy that I did encounter when he released one of his books... scruffy haired and bearded... haven't encountered enough to leave an impression yet... 
• The baseball kid: Now this guy I think I've only encountered once ever through my many playthroughs... He is 2 years younger than Bambi... and therefore by the time Bambi graduates he just started his highschool life... apparently he meets Bambi when he comes with his middle school baseball team to observe highschool baseball... (something like that....not too sure) and obviously he is a shota character... 

This is the first otome game that I have played THAT extensively... (others I usually fail at getting any guys at all... :T) and has really really really enjoyed this game (maybe enjoyed it a little too much)~ <3 I really liked the accidental 3P mode that I encountered and plan to go back and at least play through Ruka and Kou's 3P route too~ X3 But at the moment I think I've had enough of the game..... I can't bare pressing the buttons continuously and trying to skip as much of the repetitive dialogues without missing the specific storylines..... I shall update again when I feel like getting Bambi to seduce the guys again~ hehehe (*evil laugh*)