RPGM - Completed - GOMA AYAKAZE [Final] [Studio HOSHIWATARI]

Honestly this game was just fun to play. I was originally going to just check it out and then go on to something else, playing a bit every once in a while, but I got hooked and ended up beating the game in 2 sittings.

Story (3.5/5): Honestly nothing too crazy but generally solid core story with two nice main characters. I found myself pretty interested in the mechanics behind the various magic elements and overall worldbuilding. Didn't feel a super unique charm but was enough to keep me entertained and not just skipping through dialogue.

Gameplay (5/5): This is by far the draw of this game in my opinion. The main mechanic is essentially a "blocking" system where you choose 1/3 directions to orient your guard every turn. Blocking or damaging an opponent builds up a gauge that breaks their 'stance' (it has a different name but I forgot). Once their stance is broken you can choose to PERMANENTLY steal skills, stats for your character, or items (sometimes unique to that mob and useful). Enemies also have weaknesses/resistances, and there are a couple of combat styles you have that feel fun in their own little way.

I genuinely enjoyed pretty much everything that this game did. I liked running around the map trying to assemble little traps to make fights easier or progress the story in a certain way. Nothing felt overtly counter-intuitive, I was able to pretty much figure everything out just by checking the mystic vision or watching for the character portrait's indicator that a clue was nearby.

I didn't at any point feel frustrated when I was fighting random mobs. The ability to steal skills/stats/items from them (and the stance break mechanic to get there) actually made me enjoy what was essentially grinding. But the best part is, when I wasn't enjoying it or when I had already gotten everything from a particular type of enemy, I could just block them from spawning and then breeze through the map. This prevented missing clues from becoming incredibly frustrating. Very smart.

H Content (3/5): It's not super easy for me to pinpoint exactly why I thought this wasn't as good of an H game as it was a game game. The art is pretty good, the angles and themes weren't terrible, it has combat H which a lot of people like, the H scenes are integrated well into the gameplay, and you don't NEED to lose to collect the scenes. All of these are good things.

So why didn't it work for me? A lot of the scenes are borderline softcore. The ones that do show actual penetration are few in number and feel kind similar to one another. There isn't a real sense of progression/corruption even though there's capture mechanics. I feel like there was a lot of wasted potential in terms of integrating different H themes into the story, the lust mark being a good example. A bit more CG variety, maybe a bit more length to scenes to show the corruption occurring, and maybe more some gameplay elements for the captured character(s) would have filled things out.

Uniqueness: (5/5): There aren't many H RPGs with a variety of unique gameplay mechanics, and even among those far fewer that aren't obnoxious because those mechanics end up being terrible. This is an example of a combination of good ideas coming together to make something that feels fresh but familiar. Honestly you could easily make a longer game out of this, the last boss fight alone had some crazy new gameplay developments that would have added entire new elements to an already interesting RPG combat experience.

OVERALL: 4/5

This game is quite poorly marketed lol. Looking at it at first glance it seems like a generic nukige (generic h game without depth). The title also seems daunting since it was probably translated 1-1 from japanese to english "Goma Ayakaze", which shows the importance of changing the title to fit a more "English" sounding game (in order to appeal to more people).

Gameplay: TOP NOTCH for an H game, the base concept of combat is like a turn based sekiro with H elements lol (posture breaking and shit). Combat is a bit hard but fair and would rely on your intuition (if playing on normal mode) to pick the proper stance to dodge/mitigate damage from the enemy attack. There is also an easy mode which shows you automatically what stance to use so you can easily win. THE H SCENES ARE NOT LOCKED TO LOSING. This game offers an alternative way to get h scenes by killing certain enemies, getting certain skills, or picking certain items. Those H scenes are normally lose H scenes but they are unlocked in the gallery by playing the game properly and winning. The game offers 3 different boss fights for the 3 different endings based on which of the two girls got corrupted in your game or if none of them are (you can go full virgin playthrough for both of them). You also don't need to replay the game 3 times to see the different endings, there is an item which lets you choose the ending route/boss fight after clearing the game once. There is a decent new game plus option which unlocks new stuff (gameplay wise but no new h scenes). I managed to unlock all h scenes by playing the game and winning and loot goblin all the items in the game (I never needed to spam lose fights).

Story: A bit generic h game plot, but the characters are charming, cute and interesting with decent slice of life like dialogue.

CG/Art: I think the game is a bit lacking when it comes to cg, it could've used a bit more CG but the amount of CG in game is okay enough in numbers. The art is quite decent. There are battle H scenes but it is only softcore and no penetration.

I recommend this game to be played if you are looking for H games with interesting/unique mechanics/gameplay elements. One major downside of the game is the pacing of H scenes which may seem a bit of a downer since some parts of the game is focused on combat/exploration wherein no h scenes will mostly happen. The game is about 60-70% good gameplay and 20-30% only of H content.

Gameplay is very fun if you understand the mechanics. Even at max stats, not knowing what skill does what means defeat. There’s no level, so people complaining that it’s grindy are simply bad at gaming.

I play this more like a rpg than an eroge. I even prefer the no-clothes-damage option if it’s available. It feels like the skillfull fighter I’m controlling and the raped girl are two different person. (No but really, isn’t the art changed too much the moment her clothes are torn?)

It's so rare to see a hentai RPGM game actually make the RPG aspect of the game interesting. There's also proper map design so both combat and exploring the map feel like puzzles to unravel. I also took a quick peek at the scenes and there are not only quite a few of them, but they also seem quite hot . The only thing the devs could have done to bring the game up another level is adding voice acting (there doesn't seem to be any, which is a shame for the hscenes).