Paradigm Paradox - Nintendo Switch

Perfect gift

Earlier this year I discovered the joys of the Otome genre and have enjoyed many delightful months exploring the different stories these romantic visual novels have to offer. While I usually prefer other settings other than contemporary, I was intrigued by the magical girl premise of Paradigm Paradox, and also want to support each localization effort, so I purchased it earlier than I might have otherwise.While not every love interest or route has been a favorite, and although there are other Otomes I like better, overall I have enjoyed my time with Paradigm Paradox. The premise is interesting with intriguing lore and worldbuilding, the "magical girl" aspect is unique and nostalgic, and it's fun having eight boys to romance. Though a consequence to that means that each route is rather short and the romance can't develop as much as it might otherwise, to me at this particular time this isn't a con. Lately, I've been bogged down with longer Otomes (mostly Japanese games that take me many, many hours per route due to my difficulty in reading a language I'm still learning), so in this case, I found the short routes refreshing and easy to do in a single sitting as a way to relax. I also found it fun romancing both the heroes and the villains. (Kamui from the heroes and Hyuga from the villains are probably my favorites.)Overall Paradigm Paradox is a fun Otome, with a fun story set to great art and music. And while it doesn't have a place on the "Otome Classics" or even on my personal favorites shelf, I'm really glad I supported its release, both to experience something different and to support the localization effort. It was an enjoyable visual novel to spend a few evenings with.

Theta colony had a dark secret. Guys turning into girls. Humans turning into kaiju. What can a high schooler with newly attained “super powers” to do? You are Yuuki Takanashi, a girl who is looking for something more. She lives in a dystopian world, where the Earth was destroyed by pollution and humans now live in contained dome colonies. One fateful night, Yuuki runs into a kaiju and was saved by four mysterious girls with super powers. Yuuki discovers she has powers too and was recruited to join the group.Paradigm Paradox feels slightly different from the usual otome, which makes it a good and an okay game. Typically, there is usually 4-6 routes. But this game has 8 routes, which took on average 2.5 hours to complete. The length of time has its good and bad points. The good point is that I love to run quickly through a route, since I am always in a rush to see the HEA. However, the main bad point is that you don’t get to be invested in the characters. As a result, the plots and romances got gipped. At the start, Yuuki tells you that she is not interested in romance. As a result, due to lack of romancing and due to reasons, she doesn’t even realized she loves the ML until they practically hit her over the head with the information at the VERY END. I wanted to learn more about the guys, but their stories kept being pushed to the side as the route focused on developing Yuuki’s back story.I was disappointed by the fact that there is so much potential. If there was more personal interactions that was not related with the missions, it could have worked. The problem is that the plot goes to extremes. For example, Yukinami was practically harassing and physically assaulting Yuuki for the first two-thirds of the route. Then, near the end, he became contrite and loving. I know this is just fiction. However, for Yuuki to be afraid of him to loving him because she felt sorry for him, I found that kind of weird. It would make more sense if they saw themselves as friends and leave the ending open.The artwork is charming. It has a refreshing anime style, like it doesn’t have much details and a very clean color palette. I love the voice acting. Especially Lize’s. I don’t know why, but it is so pleasant to my ears. And the editing job was good! There was only one translation error but the Japanese-English translation was pretty close. The music was okay. On a last note, this took over 25+ hours to complete, when the typical otome usually takes 45+ hours.So, would I recommend this? Yes and no. Depending on some factors. I pre-ordered this and I would always support otome releases if I can. However, if you are being careful with your money and deciding between games, the $50 price tag may be not worth it. If you manage to get this on sale, do so. This is not replayable for me.

Honestly, about what I was expecting given the premise. It was neither so good it stole my heart nor was it really upsetting in any way other than some of the usual silly otome boy shenanigans, namely a big one to me so far was Ayumu surprisingly coming in swinging at the beginning of his route. It’s a pretty standard otome, and that’s not a bad thing.So far I’ve only done all the Blooms boys/gals so I do have a bit more game to go. The routes go pretty fast but also there are also 8 romanceable boys so it can be a bit hefty.I will say I am very appreciative of the localization, but also that there are times when the translations will be a bit off. This would be a bit easier to overlook if it was just swapping words/phrases for a more relatable, but still similar western equivalent, but sometimes it’s very different.Like Kamui saying “you haven’t called me senpai (upperclassman) in a while” being translated to “you haven’t held my hand in a while” as opposed to something like “you haven’t called me your super cool upperclassman Kamui in a bit.” It’s not the worst thing, but if you’re hung up on what they’re actually saying in the Japanese audio vs. what the translation says they’re saying, it might not be for you.Other than that, the protagonist is kinda endearing. She has a lot of spirit and energy and while she may be a bit dense, she’s got a kinda himbo adjacent energy and it kinda makes you come around and support her. The boys are alright, I personally enjoyed Mihaya’s route most so far, Kamui’s a close second. And the side characters are quite lovely. Lize and Ritsu are my favorites as they’re very good friends to the heroine, but Kamui’s grandpa also surprisingly stole the show.Overall, I would say Paradigm Paradox is certainly worth a play. It can be a bit repetitive, but the skip function is fast and there is some fun to be had with silly shenanigans and friendship.

I liked the art and premise of the game so that's good. I disliked the writing though. It felt so repetitive when doing a new route. I played the game a few months ago so I can't remember specifics well but also even characters I liked I don't remember backstories or much about the plot much now so I guess that says something too.

Artwork is excellent, but the plot is definitely not for me.