Nicole, Mystery~Otome Game.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]



Title: Nicole
Producer: Winter Wolves
Platform: Windows XP/Vista/7/8, Mac OS 10.6+ and Linux
Site: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


Story: Nicole is thrilled that she managed to get into her first choice school and is looking forward to experiencing college life there. However, as soon as she moves into the university dorms, she finds out that there’s been a series of mysterious disappearances going on around the campus! So far, three girls have already gone missing and Nicole could be next if she’s not too careful – not quite the ideal college experience Nicole had in mind.


I've been watching this and I think I just might get it, cuz it looks better than I'd expected~

I'm interested in this game, so I'll definitely give it a shot. The art is gorgeous, too! :)However, I'm a bit afraid 'cause Love & Order is a terrible otome game. However, maybe they have a different writer for this so I'm going to play it soon!

The art is pretty,but I'm not a big fan of Winter Wolves's gameplay. Still, I'll keep an eye on this game.

I'm hoping to get this in the next couple weeks. I love the art work, and it looks really interesting. I played Winter in Fairbrook and Always Remember Me, and I liked both pretty well, so I'll give this a try. If anyone plays it soon, let us know how it is! I haven't heard anything yet.

Laramie Castiel wrote:I'm interested in this game, ...However, I'm a bit afraid 'cause Love & Order is a terrible otome game. However, maybe they have a different writer for this so I'm going to play it soon!

OMG That game is on my to play list, is it really that bad :s I should read up reviews on it then. 

Leetstreet boys have been posting OSTs for the game and that got me really interested. I've been watching it since a few of its initial designs were posted up so I kinda wanna see how it plays out.

Akuni wrote:

Laramie Castiel wrote:I'm interested in this game, ...However, I'm a bit afraid 'cause Love & Order is a terrible otome game. However, maybe they have a different writer for this so I'm going to play it soon!

OMG That game is on my to play list, is it really that bad :s I should read up reviews on it then. 

Leetstreet boys have been posting OSTs for the game and that got me really interested. I've been watching it since a few of its initial designs were posted up so I kinda wanna see how it plays out.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I checked for reviews online, and none of them seemed liked as though they were written by people who actually played the full game, let alone played OTHER otome games. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

More than just "bad", it's really lazy. One of the characters' sprites were poorly cut-and-pasted onto background (there's like white outlines from the original background)! There are no differences in the routes except for a CG and a very brief deviation in the ending. I think they initially sold it for like $20 (don't hold me to this, I'm not sure), and the price dropped at some stage. Maybe, my memory's a bit fuzzy.

Whatever the price was I bought it for, it wasn't worth it. You know, usually I never am so negative about a single game; this is rare of me. I still got Always Remember Me some time ago, but it's very far behind on my backlog.

Still, the writing of a company's game is obviously dependent on the individual writer(s), so I'm not holding Winter Wolves against Love & Order. It was a great concept, but it was so terribly wasted!

^I read some reviews on Nicole and apparently it doesn't seem like a total waste, but I'll wait until someone who actually reviews Otomes plays it.

Akuni wrote:^I read some reviews on Nicole and apparently it doesn't seem like a total waste, but I'll wait until someone who actually reviews Otomes plays it.

There doesn't seem to be any extensive reviews yet, but here's one in the comments section of this Otome Jikan article: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hmm I think I'll take the plunge and support it~ We'll see how that goes when mons get on my credit card again.

Think I'll support it, although I've never tried a Winter Wolves otome game before . More of a Cheritz/Voltage/Zeiva/Otomate fan so far... but never hurts to try new things!

I'm really hesitant on nicole. I definitely love the art from winterwolves games. The art was one of the main reasons I got always remember me and love & order. The latter being a huge disappointment like laramie stated earlier. Always remember me wasn't that horrible, but it was rather bland on character development and the like. Still the art's gorgeous   

I'm hesitant on nicole. While I definitely want to support the oelvn community, I want to see more reviews of the game before I finally decide. I heard the mystery aspect was easy to solve though.. 

The oelvn community definitely needs support, but I think I'll stick to waiting it out for just a bit longer^^

I'm gonna wait, too, mainly because of the plot. Mystery games are usually a hit or miss kind of game, depending how obvious and easy the mystery is. I don't want to waist my precious money on a game that missed the mark ¬_¬ Is there a demo of this game?

I wish I can like this game but it seems similar to Love and Order, which I disliked, not only in art style but the amount of stat building before anything interesting happens. I do like stat building sims but only if there are lots of events in between raising stats, which Winterwolves games tend to lack. I have only enjoyed their RPGs.

Sad to say not many OELVN have been to my liking because I really want to support the developers but I cannot continue to purchase mediocre games just for that.

By the way, I just noticed that Nicole reminds me of Fiona from Haunting Ground:

Spoiler:

It's not only the hair style,but the fact that both girls are smart and not very athletic(as they've both said ingame xD).

I've played this and...it has more events than the other ones from WW. But still, the stat-raising takes up a lot of time...
About the story and character development, it also shows a big improvement from their previous games.

@Reina-chan : One of Winterwolves' previous game was "Law and Order" ? [shivers]

Reminded way too much of my office work : I couldn't stand it !
Sad because the "mystery" seems more "realistic" than "Nicole"'s one.

Yea, there's a demo Loki on their website.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I played the demo and idk...I'm still kinda skeptical about it, I wonder if its worth it anymore :/ for 20 bucks too >.>

But I think I'll plunge and buy it anyway, just to see how it goes.


@Kyrie, I agree. :/ I think some of these developers (based on the reviews I'm reading lately) need to do more market research before just 'making a game' and selling it.

Thought I would post a semi-detailed review on this game since I played it recently, and maybe someone was curious. I’ve played through Jeff, Ted, and Kurt’s routes the last few days. Still need to do Darren, and probably the "bad" end. I’ll just say that I really like this game, and I think it’s a good sign that Winter Wolves is improving. I’ve played Winter in Fairbrook (which I liked), and Always Remember Me, which I stopped playing half way through because I thought the characters were sort of bland.

Likes:
- The characters. Nicole is smart and has a backbone, which I really love in a MC, and I feel that’s hard to find in otome games. There is only one thing I dislike, which I’ll go into later. I also really like all the guys, more then I thought I would. I had an impression of Jeff in my head before I started playing, and he ended up being totally different. His route was a roller coaster. Ted and Kurt were great also. There were a lot of funny moments. I found myself laughing and giggling to myself quite often.
- The art. Obviously it is gorgeous. Not many CGs, but it is a pretty game to play through.
- The music. I almost wish that I bought the special edition of the game so I could have had the music tracks that come with it. I found myself humming the main theme around the house today.

Dislike:
- Nicole does everything on her own! On one hand, I admire her courage, but I keep thinking, why doesn’t she call the police!!! But, there would be no mystery in the game otherwise, so I have to give some leeway.
- The stat raising. I know this will bother a lot of people. I didn’t like it at first, but once I made it through the first route, and realized I could easily max out my clues and the required stat for whichever guy, I was fine with it. Of course, I put the game on easy so I wouldn’t have to worry about it. There is a lot of time in between events (especially in the beginning), but I also felt there were a good amount of encounters with the different characters too.

So basically, I wanted to point out that even with the stat raising, I think the characters and overall game is worth it. Especially if you can get the game on sale. I also followed a walkthrough/guide, so I didn't waste time not knowing which stats were for which guy.

I was always disappointed by Winter Wolves games:
Always remember me, Love and Order, The Amazon Princess, FlowerShop (1 et 2).

But still I tried Nicole and... it was a great improvement !

The characters were more developed than in the other games. I really had fun meeting the guys, especially the guy with the Southern accent (Ted ?)
This game was also what triggered my love for Dandere.



Ted: My first playthrough~ His bad temper attracted me. I saw this hostile behaviour as a challenge to me and I had to get him ! During his route, he was so funny that I didn't even notice the other guys. Which is rare, since I can't keep my eyes on a single man. His reactions were really fun, and I made sure to try all of the choices with him.Not much to add about him except... Keep him for the end <3


Kurt: He was a bit mysterious. Darren seemed too boring and Jeff had already appeared as the good student in Ted's route. So I wanted to quickly brush him off and replay Ted's route. But Oh! What a surprise~ He was just as fun to be with as Ted. He has a sweeter mouth than him though, which tends to annoy me. But the player could feel a certain distance he'd put between him and the others. And this of course triggers our hunting instincts I guess.


Jeff: He is supposed to be the perfect student, the popular guy who has a good grades, looks, personality. Which is true... except for that last point. Jeff is your mad scientist, you'd want to avoid. He was really annoying. At first. When you get to know him, though he keeps that arrogant trait, he is actually like a child playing with Alchemy. He also has a huuuge secret (Like Darren) But I won't spoil you anything. I loved how he'd mistreat the heroine but cares for her when she'd actually get hurt. It was kind of weird but fun to read xD


Darren:... My Dandere ! I thought he was the most boring out of the pack but !! He is a very shy guy who doesn't even want to speak to you at first. Eventually, you learn he has a huuuge secret, which doesn't fit his shy personalty. Enough hints ! I guarantee you'll like him~ Darren is the cutest, the sweetest and the most... umph >< I never liked the Dandere types before him. But he managed to make me fall for him~ I'd recommend the game mainly for Darren. So just play and... enjoy !


The Mystery Case:
First, you have to know that though Nicole is presented as a mystery game, the mystery itself is secondary through the story. You first concentrate on the guys and if you manage to lvl up you Clue Gauge enough to trigger all of the events, then you'll get the last part story and all. The worst ending I think is when you get all the Clue Events triggered but there is no guy who saves you in the end and...
So, the guys are the main focus if you don't want to get the worst ending !
Also, I don't really like the mystery/detective/horror (Except for Zombies and Meitantei Conan) kind of games, but I really liked this mystery case !!

And because Ted's father is hawt~:

All in all, I enjoyed that game while I never managed to finish any of the others Winter Wolves games. Though I don't know if I'd pay 20euros for it. It's a bit expensive considering how short it is. Plus, in most of the CGs, the hands looked like having been crushed or something. It was kind of creepy xD