Amnesia: Memories Game Review

So...Another reason I've been MIA for a while besides studying was because I've been playing games... I recently finished playing Final Fantasy VII (Aeris so beautiful as always <3) for the third or fourth time and now I'm nearly done with Final Fantasy VIII as well (Eyes on Me is such a beautiful song as always, oh and Laguna is the best!). I think I've only finished FFVIII once in my life so this will be a thrilling experience :D And if you're curious about the random commentaries I make whilst I play these games, I have blog posts on those too haha (http://atopearth.tumblr.com/).

But today, I wanted to talk about a game I recently purchased on Steam on a whim. I've been curious about it ever since I read an article about this otome game (Japanese dating sim for girls) coming to Steam but I thought it would be something superficial and ridiculous with men left and right proclaiming their love for me (that's not entirely wrong I guess...) but it was actually something much deeper than that. Although it can get rather exaggerated and is mostly vanilla shoujo stuff (besides Toma's route), I think it does portray its stories and characters' feelings very well. I'm not sure whether how similar the anime is to this game but from reviews of the anime, it seems that it didn't do the game justice. I would assume so though, a lot of anime based on otome games can be quite bad in comparison to the game. I'd definitely recommend this even if you didn't like the anime though, a lot of people have liked the game despite not liking the anime.

Disclaimer (cons about this game)

Firstly, just to be clear, I'm not saying this is the best game ever but I do really like it despite its' flaws. For one, many may not like the fact that the heroine doesn't really talk or have a personality. To be fair, this is a dating sim so you'd insert yourself in her position, which is why there really isn't much about her but since I had very low expectations, I actually thought she had more of a personality than I thought and I could see why the guys liked her. Two, some people don't like that it's mostly talking and not many decision making choices. This, I'm perfectly fine with, I didn't mind it at all. Maybe it was a bit draggy for people but I thought the story was engaging enough that I didn't really care about decisions that lead to different endings. But, to be fair, I just wanted to know the story, I didn't play this because I wanted to play a game and see what kind of ending I would get, which is why I played following guides. Oh and some guys kinda have this "you're dumb, so listen to me" attitude sometimes and you can't even get out of it because if you don't listen to him, you end up dying lmao.

Other people have also mentioned that they dislike this because of Toma's route. That one, yeah I'll admit, it could be a dealbreaker but personally, I think it's a waste to dismiss all the other guys because of Toma's route. Just a heads up but his route involves false imprisonment, drugging and putting the heroine in a dog cage to protect her. Yes, disturbing right? But I knew that when I bought this game so I trudged through it with the expectation of it. Oh and the bad endings in this game involve death and murder in many ways that could be disturbing too such as being thrown into a well. To be honest, it's because of comments on Steam such as "finally a game where I can sleep in a dog cage like the filthy animal I am" and stuff like "I didn't trust my first boyfriend and ended up dead. So I trusted my second boyfriend 100%. He drugged me and put me in a cage to protect me. I win every time". I seriously couldn't stop laughing reading these comments! And since the game was only $4.49 on sale for some reason (usually $30 USD), I decided to buy my first otome game and I don't regret it at all! In fact, I'm so fascinated, I'm considering buying Hakuoki on my ps3 to check out the hype haha! But basically, if you're not into reading tons of text with beautiful boys talking to you, this probably isn't the game for you.

Gameplay, Art & Music
First things first, I was so shocked at how beautiful the art was. Sure, their clothing and appearance makes you think "why..." sometimes but overall, it's beautiful. Here's an example of a screenshot that I took. He's my favourite guy btw <3

Isn't it stunning? I was just so in awe at how beautiful some of these images were! And when the guys talk to you, whoaaa, their mouths movee! I feel so outdated with these games hahaha, something as simple as mouths moving shocks me hahaha! Not all the guys are as appealing as Kent though, hahaha, sorry I'm so biased because his voice actor is Ishida Akira and the moment I found out about this, that $4.49 was so worth it. He's the voice of Athrun Zala in Gundam Seed so I absolutely entranced with him and omg, I couldn't believe that I could find a guy that I loved both appearance-wise and voice-wise. My second favourite and possible equal first would be Ikki. I don't like his hair but he probably dresses the best and his story was the best, and his voice was actually very enamouring and fitted so well with the background music, it's like the entire Amnesia:Memories soundtrack was made for him. Not kidding. Btw the soundtrack is pretty nice and soothing, I like it, it usually fits well with the atmosphere as well. I only sorta dislike the "when there's trouble" soundtrack since it's quite unnecessarily unsettling, I dunno, I don't like it that much. And I do think that our heroine looks waaay better without a hat on her head, I'm so glad a lot of the images don't have her with the hat but dammit, Ukyo looks silly with his hat and long hair too! Oh well... But besides that, the heroine's friends/workmates are sooo pretttyyy! Mine is like the prettiest girl omg, her hair and everything <3

Gameplay as I said is very simple, You'll be either clicking most of the time or just using your keyboard keys to press z or just let it autoplay. I initially clicked it all the time but dang, all that text lmao, I got so lazy, I just let it autoplay. Also, to get the full experience, I wanted to hear them all so really, there was no point in me clicking since I was going to listen to them say their whole lines hahaha. But basically, every now and then, you will options pop up of what you should say in response to the guy. It usually ranges from 2-3 responses that you can choose from . Also, there's in total 5 good endings, 5 normal endings and I think 20 bad endings? Not very much I guess since it's like, one good and normal ending for each guy and then around 3 bad endings for each except Ukyo who has 7. Just a heads up, bad endings usually lead to the heroine dying lol. Gameplay is simple enough, pretty much just like any other visual novel.

Oh and if your'e bored, you can play mini games with the guys! You can either play air hockey or rock scissors paper with them. It's actually kinda fun since the rock scissors paper has a little twist where if you win, you have to press a button fast enough to attack them to get a point, otherwise they'll guard and you won't get a point. Also, even if you win the rock scissors paper but accidentally press guard, you'll instead lose a point. Haha, I found the easiest way to win this trophy (beating all 5 guys) was just to keep using scissors and then guard and attack when appropriate, made things so much easierrr. The air hockey was really fun too! Different guys had a different style of whether they were more defensive or aggressive and that was really interesting. Nice little mini games on the side hahaha.

General Story
For this one, I'll go through each guy's route and comment on what I thought about it but I'll tell you what the general gist is. Basically, as you can gather from the title, the heroine has lost her memories. However, this is because a spirit named Orion crashed into her and took up the space where her memories should be. This in turn makes Orion stuck with the heroine until she is able to gather her memories back and push Orion out of her head so for the benefit of each other, they must search for the heroine's memories. Convenient as it can be though, since Orion doesn't know which world the heroine is from, she has a choice of 4 worlds to pick from (another world is unlocked after the initial 4). Thankfully, she'll fit in every world because she belongs in each one since they're parallel worlds, but her life may or may not be different, hence the different men she gets to end up with I guess.

But yeah, Orion basically makes up for whatever the heroine is thinking or saying most of the time when she doesn't seem to be talking, which I guess is a pretty good idea since a lot of people probably think Orion is superrr adorable! He's okay for me, I feel like he's soo misleading sometimes haha. So, it's great that Orion dictates what the heroine usually thinks but they are also very distinct in that you can see how sometimes Orion will not agree with your decision or may agree reluctantly at times, making you think that you made the wrong decision when you're not so really, he's there for entertainment + projection of heroine's thoughts + there for you to doubt yourself. He's great company most of the time, I've doubted my decision so many times because of him even though I had guides lmao.

Characters + their routes (some spoilers!)

Heroine
The heroine's personality changes along with the route but I guess her general disposition remains the same. It's so funny that her work manager's personality changes quite a bit though, I love the one where his work motto is "the customer is the enemy!". If only there was a route for him too haha! She's usually quite stubborn and cute though, she's also loud at times and independent. You don't get to know much about her until her memories start to resurface though and when they do, you can really see that she has a personality and a good one. She's usually very hardworking but stubborn for what's wrong and right, I guess. Oh, and you get to name her whatever you want. I was so baffled that I got to choose a name lolll. Initially, I called her Angel because I thought she was so pretty but then I wanted a Japanese name and thought Kotori would suit her, so I opted for that. But most of all, I guess the heroine is very bright and friendly, it's usually her stubbornness that shines through and attracts the guys though hahaha. Oh and I'll pop some of my favourite screenshots of the game for each guy hehe!

Shin's route

Shin's route is the Heart World. As the heroine unravels her memories, the story mostly revolves around a mystery of whether the heroine accidentally fell down the cliff herself because it was dark or Shin pushed her, which eventually raises another mystery problem. To be honest, it was rather predictable, so I didn't really care for it but I guess it did have more depth and emotion behind the story than I initially thought. Shin is also her childhood friend turned boyfriend and a lot of the time, you're left wondering whether he's trustworthy or not. It's a simple and sweet story I guess if you get the good or normal ending. I'd say the story was the better one in this route but I'm sure many will beg to differ because a lot of people apparently love Shin. I'm not one of them. If you wanna feel like a detective solving a mystery, you might like this route even though it's predictable.

It's really hard to choose which guy I like the most and which guy I like the least since they all have pros and cons but Shin, although his story was okay interesting, he was the guy that always had this "you're dumb, so listen to me" attitude going on for the wholeeee story and that arrogant attitude most of the time pissed me off. He is very honest and frank and I guess, right in some circumstances since the heroine (in this route) does need someone to push her forward rather than baby her. So I guess they matched. Aaand he does always keep the heroine's best interests at heart. But nah. Still don't really like him. Shin's VA was okay and his appearance is quite good looking but I think I just can't like him. It's like his good points are his bad points and I can't decide whether I like them or not.

Shin's story I guess shows that in order to love, it can be scary to confess especially when you know they don't like you romantically but you've gotta take the plunge if you want them to look at you differently. I do admire Shin for how straightforward he is and how much of a risk he was willing to take by breaking this happy childhood friend relationship. Love is always about risks I guess? As long as you think it's worth it, then it is and in this case, Shin got the heroine to fall for him.

Ikki's route

Ikki's route is the Spade World. Btw, isn't this image superrr adorable?! The parfait looks good too haha. Ikki's route was one where I was expecting to dislike the most since my first impression of him in Shin's route was a playboy and a narcissist that thinks he's the best and can seduce anyone. But in actual fact, there's actually more depth to his story than I thought. In his route, you realise that for some reason Ikki and her are dating with 3 months for the time limit and that everyone around her says that the heroiue previously disliked Ikki very much because of his attitude towards women. Most of the time, I really doubted his sincerity towards this love because of the time limit, but it seems that he loved the heroine much more than I thought, he just didn't know how to handle his crazy fan club going on a rampage harassing her if he were to announce that the heroine were to be his permanent girlfriend. And seeing what the fan club did in this route and especially the other ones, you gotta understand how much of a dilemma it actually was. It really wasn't as simple as telling them to get lost and I guess that was interesting.

I think Ikki's route made me really believe that he loved the heroine. I also like the idea of how everyone loves Ikki because his eyes have this special power to attract people and make them like him and although initially you think it's one of those stupid stories where the heroine is just naturally immune to these eyes because you know, she's the heroine. But they actually make it unique but not impossible for other people and that causes doubt within the heroine on whether Ikki really likes her for who she is or merely because she isn't affected by his eyes. It was a rather touching story because of how desperate Ikki was trying to protect her feelings and everyone else's feelings. It was a bit annoying at times because I wanted Ikki to learn to prioritse the heroine better but nevertheless, it was enjoyable. Ikki's voice matched his character and the atmosphere of his story and this game's music very very well. I felt like everything was made for him because everything enhanced his personality for the better. I don't like his look very much though, his hair is a bit meh to me but the way he dresses is the best. I loveee how he dresses! He looks cool with sunglasses too~

I guess Ikki's route aims to show that in order to protect the one you love and to show that you love them, you've got to be a little more courageous to stepping out and really prioritising what you really love instead of always settling for something because that's how it is and that's how it's always been so why bother trying kinda thing.

Kent's route

Kent's route is the Clover World and his route was my favourite. It was a bit awkward at times but despite it's exaggerations, I thought their relationship was very real and Kent had the most character development as well. You hardly see character development in the other routes so yeah, I really appreciated his route. Basically, the heroine has just started dating Kent and it seems that they've constantly been arguing ever since they started dating. He also seems to believe that the heroine hates him but they still continue dating and so you're constantly wondering why they bother to be together, especially since Kent is a superr logical person that wants everything to make sense before he agrees with it. I still remember when he said he felt like holding her hand but he found no reason to have such a feeling so he was conflicted on why he felt this and whether he should be following his heart or not. He was so cute.

I think the heroine's amnesia helped this relationship the most as well, because if she didn't have amnesia, I don't think he and her could've accepted each other's differences and tried to understand each other better because they'll just keep on arguing. But yes, it was a very sweet route where Kent actually makes you do math questions lmao and if you want him to like you, you better do them and get it right hahaha! I also like how this story explored the idea of the heroine not wanting her memories to return because it could potentially destroy their relationship.

It was actually quite saddening when the heroine recovers the memory that Kent is always scared that she'll recover and then remember why she hated him before the amnesia. He was scared for a legitimate reason and she hated him for a legitimate reason as well which made it all the more interesting at how, if the heroine never had amnesia, they really might have just broken up because of that crack in their relationship. I liked the normal ending to this one more though. Love Kent's voice and his appearance though. His clothing is questionable when you see it in a body shot but overall, he's the best. I guess this route aims to show that love is irrational and that logic doesn't apply to it and Kent learns that, which is why I like him.

Toma's route

Toma's route is the Diamond World. His route was like...the worst LOL. And also, probably the only route where amnesia made the heroine's life much more difficult and harder than it should've been. It follows the basic premise of Shin's route where Shin and Toma are the heroine's childhood friends. But instead, in this one her heart leans towards Toma and always has ever since they were kids. His promise to always protect her is something she and Toma remember fondly. But it seems that Toma doesn't treat her as a girl and so she seems to be constantly vying for his affection, oh and her life is endangered with flower pots dropping and being pushed near train tracks etc and so she starts living with Toma for a bit...until things get out of hand. It's like he was more dangerous than the people outside! Putting her in a dog cage to protect her? Dang, Toma, your twisted idea of protection is out of this world. To be fair though, although it was twisted, he did believe that this was the best way to be able to guarantee that he could protect her. But yeah, no. I wanted a vanilla route :'(

Toma's a good guy though I guess. Too nice most of the time that it gets a bit suspicious though lolll. But I guess you can say that Shin and Toma are nice in opposite ways. I also like Toma's gentle voice. Not too fond of his look though. I think the hairband does irk me, not that it's a problem, but he looks soo much better without it lol. I guess his story mainly revolves around the theme that some people are willing to do anything to protect the one they love, he just went very overboard though lol.

Ukyo's route

Ukyo's route is the Joker World that pops up after you do all the other routes, because I guess you can say, he's kinda her one true love. I'm just so happy for him though after understanding his story. He suffered so much to get this happy ending and he really deserves it. I guess you could say that his route is all about actual story progression for this game, since it ties in the idea of the parallel worlds and why Ukyo appears in the other character's routes all the time seemingly as the same Ukyo and not a different version of him in a different world. But yeah, Ukyo's route was depressing, however it really cleared up why he kept killing the heroine in many bad endings, and it was all for a very legitimate reason that I think if I was in his position, everything would've happened as it did for him. His love for the heroine was most definitely the most sincere and pure as well. He sincerely cared for her happiness and that's all he cared about and you could really see it.

Ukyo's route is mainly trying to find out why he always knows what's going to happen to her in the future and why he is always saving her from danger and why he tells her straight out that he loves her and yet he does not chase her. It really shows how painful love can be but also how true and how much sacrifice people can be willing to do for love. I really liked Ukyo's story but I don't like his appearance and his VA. I wasn't very fond of his voice most of the time and his long hair with that cap never really made me think he was cute or cool but his story was nice, I liked it.

Overall: 3.5/5 - I liked this game!
I really enjoyed this game and think it's worth the money for a try when it goes on sale on Steam. It's my first otome game but I really liked it because of how there are pretty boys that usually have a nice vanilla story of how they came to like the heroine and why they are so into her. I've never watched the anime but these are nice romance stories that did move my heart a little. Their sincere love for the heroine was very beautiful and listening to the different voice actors w/ their respective characters really enhanced the story telling. I spent a solid 46 hours on this following a guide so I'm sure you'd get even more play time out of it if you would like to pick your own choices and see whether you are able to get a happy ending with the guys.I thought this game was really fun and would definitely replay it just because of how amusing the side characters were as well. They're very enjoyable and I was never bored at all because I was always interested in what the heroine had forgotten. It was mostly predictable but the way they told the story really shook my heart at times,

• The most memorable moments were in Ikki, Kent's and Ukyo's routes. Ikki, because when he shouted at the heroine for coming to his place as if she distrusts him when he has been trying his best to show how much he loves her, how much he cares for her and despite that she constantly doubts his feelings. I really felt bad for that one because I really did doubt his sincerity. I think the VA did a really good job for that part.
• Kent's route would most definitely be when the heroine finally tells him that she has amnesia and he had already surmised that this was the most logical possibility as to why she was acting weird all this time but a part of him wanted to believe that she changed on her own accord and not because of amnesia. It was depressing to see how disappointed he was, and also seeing Kent say he's scared for her to recover her previous memories and to remember what he had done in the past that made her dislike him, it made me really not want the heroine to remember as well. That part of the story was really touching and beautiful. I loved it.
• Ukyo..was when the heroine realised Ukyo's great love for her, it's a major plot spoiler so I won't talk about it but it was definitely touching in how much pain and suffering he had to go through because of how much he loved her.

All in all, I liked this game and would definitely recommend it if you have some time and are up for some nice romance stories with full voice acting and adorable guys lolll. And just for the amusing bad endings when the guy throws you in a well etc. Those bad endings were disturbing yet so interesting at the same time because some of them were actually pretty logical! Personally, I liked Shin's route bad ending 1 and Ikki's route bad ending 2. It felt like they actually bothered to make a bit of a story out of the bad ending instead of the heroine randomly dying. Although I have to say Kent's bad ending where he throws her in the hospital because of her amnesia was so hilarious and depressing at the same time. I was like, trust Kent to be the one to throw you into a hospital for amnesia lmao. But yeah, it was a very enjoyable game.

The Choc Pot, Sydney CBD

It's been a whole month since my last post! It's crazy how fast time passes by. I actually haven't been to any new restaurants in the whole month but I guess you can consider this one new since it's a new branch haha! I've been to the Burwood once and absolutely loved the choc pot, but the other day when I saw that this had opened right next to Aqua S at Regent Place, 501 George Street, I knew I had to try it!

I can't remember the prices anymore but altogether it costed around $40 with the drinks probably around $6.50 and the desserts around $12 at least probably. Food was served really fast and I guess turn over was pretty quick considering everything is about efficiency in the CBD on weekends and lunch times ahaha. Generally, there isn't a line though, or maybe I just had a lucky day!

Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae

Mmmm! This is written as a home-made salted caramel brownie smothered in melted dark Belgian chocolate, topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream and home-made honeycomb pieces. My friend ordered this one and I couldn't help but take a bite out of it! Personally, I thought the brownie's top layer was a bit too crunchy for my liking but I guess it balances well with the ice cream and chocolate sauce when eaten together. It was denseee for sure though, in a good way. Not an impressive option for your palate though considering its appearance.

Lord of the Crepes

I've always wanted to eat a crepe like a lady (lol) so I decided to choose this one! Apparently this has home made vanilla whipped cream topped with strawberries and drizzled with melted Belgian chocolate. Personally, I wasn't a fan of it though because of how overpowering the whipped cream was, it wasn't the flavour of the cream (since that was rather plain) that was overpowering but the sheer amount of it in the crepe that just threw me off and just made me think I was eating a mouthful of cream every bite. It was difficult to discern whether I was eating cream or crepe. Definitely a Lord of the Cream.

Caramel Hot Chocolate 

My friend said that there was no caramel taste to this and tasted just like a hot chocolate, but his taste buds might have been overtaken by the brownie taste hahahaha. 

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate 

On the website, it is stated that this was made with creamy Jersey milk and a mix of dark and milk Belgian melted chocolate (just like the normal hot chocolate), topped with cream cheese whipped cream. I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't get to try the cream cheese whipped cream since I knocked it over and it just melted in the chocolate hahaha. Surprisingly, this was better than I thought though but it was a good contrast with the plain taste of the crepe since this was rather sweet.  Quite sweet actually in that I felt it lost the appeal of the Belgian chocolate taste because it was overtaken by that red velvet cupcake icing sort of sweetness. But I didn't mind it I guess.

Overall, the choc pot is still the best dessert here for now! Unless I try other desserts like the waffles mmm, then I might do another little addition but yahh, personally, I wasn't very impressed with what I ordered this time but I think it was a nice enjoyable place to stay and eat some super chocolate-tey stuff in the city and close by to Town Hall station too! But then again...I saw a Guylian Chocolate open up nearby the station so maybe...

3 Types of French Toast

I've been rather addicted to playing FFVII again and studying lately so I've really only been eating at home or eating out at the usual places I like such as $11 steak and Rhodes Phoenix yumcha, yum~~

Thus, I thought I should do a different type of post, especially since the earlier two times I had lunch, I had french toast or someone else had French toast and I stole some hahaha. It goes to say that there are obviously many different types of French toast but I thought I'd just put these three into obvious categories which are thick, standard and Hong Kong style. They're all rather interesting and evidently are catered for different tastes and I guess that's what's fun about food. Despite them being the same thing, they're all made in different ways with different ingredients but are still essentially the same sort of food. I like that.

Thick French Toast

Three Williams Cafe (613A Elizabeth Street, Redfern)

Crunchy brioche French toast finished with fresh berries, yoghurt, roasted pecans drizzled with organic maple syrup ($18)

Personally, this was my least favourite mainly because I'm not a fan of thick bread. I'm also not very fond of the yoghurt as well so yeah, I don't even know why I got this lmao. I really didn't like the dry after taste of the yoghurt accompanied with the thick and dense bread that wasn't really sweet even with the maple syrup. I guess those with a milder sweet tooth would like this. The pecans didn't really make me any the more fond either, I guess I just wasn't fond of the whole combination. However, my friend enjoyed this so this one just wasn't my cup of tea. It just tasted way too much like a bit of soggy bread with some yoghurt to be frank and I didn't like that. Oh and a added review; I didn't like the housemade iced tea either, tasted very much like water, nor was it sweet either. Quite a disappointing experience in both regards.

Standard French Toast

Armory Wharf Cafe (Blaxland Riverside Park, Jamieson St Newington)

French Toast(brioche) w/ mango and berry salsa ($15.50)

I wonder if it's only because I only had a few bites out of this one that made me like it quite a bit or just because I really liked how sweetly everything came together and it has mango! I much prefer the light and airy texture of the bread that is on the thinner side and it's quite sweet as well, making it taste like..happiness? Hahaha, it was very sweet and good.

Hong Kong Style French Toast

Sun Ming (145-149 Church St, Parramatta)

French Toast w/ Peanut Butter ($5.80)

This is probably the first ever French toast I have tried and I love it the most. It's very simple with some melting peanut butter in between since the toast is all warm from the kitchen but this is definitely what I would call happiness. I've been back several times and I always get this just because of how well the honey, toast and peanut butter complement each other so well without it being overwhelmingly sweet or dense. It's the perfect snack. They also have a strawberry jam version which tastes good too but I think it could get a bit too sweet so I prefer the dense but melting peanut butter and I love how it comes to your table hot, making it a much more pleasurable experience. Therefore, this is obviously my favourite type of French toast hahaha. Simple and yummy! Also, cheap and good! Highly recommended~

Poporo Takeru, Market City

It's been a whileee! This is probably going to be the opening for all of my posts from now on since UTS has finally started their Autumn Semester and I'm already behind with my homework so here I am procrastinating lmao.

Anywho, this time, it's a place I've been to a few times in the past! Poporo (Shop 2A, Level 3, Market City, 9-13 Hay Street,Chinatown) is on the food court level of market city right next to the sushi train there (cheap for students! and pretty good!). It has been here for many years and it is a rather spacious little restaurant with comfortable chairs and a nice atmosphere. It's also fun how you can see the people eating sushi train hahaha!

Hotate Kinoko Spaghetti 1/2 size ($6.30)

Since my friend and I really like variety, we decided to just try 2 half sized dishes instead of settling for one hahaha. She got the this one which was a scallop and mushroom spaghetti, the taste was very light and cheesy but too oily for me. It was a nice plain spaghetti dish but otherwise, nothing spectacular.

Kaisen Don 1/2 size ($7.90)

I was super excited for this since I love fresh salmon on rice with mayonnaise but sadly this was a disappointment. I have no idea why this was soo sweet! It was so weird! Hahaha, I had to add so much soy sauce to the rice to balance it back to normal. I much prefer Ramenkan's kaisen don instead. But the salmon was pretty fresh and smooth <3

Spicy Soft Shell Crab Spaghetti 1/2 size ($7.10)

I was also quite excited to try this soft shelled crab boiled crab meat with spicy cream sauce spaghetti since it looked great on the menu and it didn't disappoint! The sauce was good in how it was spicy and creamy but it was too watery and spicy for me. It said it was mildly spicy but I had to take turns drinking water and eating my kaisen don to wash out the spiciness each bite hahaha (yes I'm weak). However it did taste nice. And if you haven't noticed, these half sized dishes have such generous portions! Like the kaisen don is very obviously smaller sized but these pasta dishes were pretty good sized portions. 

Mango Calpis ($3.90)

I love ordering mango calpis whenever I see it on a menu hahaha and this one although a bit watery tasted like the usual, sweet, cold and refreshing!

Overall, I would recommend coming here for an average cheap meal that will satisfy your stomachs and since it is in market city, it's really close to everything so super convenient for lunch if you're around the area and the service was quick and efficient. All in all, I don't mind coming back, but it's not somewhere I'd especially go back for.

Criniti's, Parramatta

Today, I was wondering how my friend in Italy was doing when I realised that I forgot to do the post on his farewell dinner at  Criniti's (291 Church Street, Parramatta)! Lol, but time will probably fly by really fast and I'll be blogging about the welcome back dinner in July in the blink of an eye.

Anywho, after getting rejected last time because we didn't have a booking hahaha, we decided to book this time and get in for suree~ I've been to Criniti's once before but that was the one in the city and it has been so many years I've forgotten whether I liked it or not so this was a nice memory refresh. It's also quite close to the station since it's really just down Church Street and really near San Churros (yum!).

Carne Amore (Traditional size $27)

Since we were all meat lovers, we opted for the carne amore which had tomato, mozzarella, veal, salami, double smoked ham, bacon, italian sausages, oregano & bbq sauce to top with and to be honest, I think it was pretty normal. It pretty much really did taste like a meat lovers pizza hahaha but I did enjoy it since I lovee pizza <3 wish there were mushrooms~~ The pizza base also wasn't very spectacular either in that it wasn't crunchy or soft but merely had that dense but tasteless doughy impression to me that I wasn't fond of. But, overall average.

Meatballs w/ Spaghetti doused in Napoletana sauce ($27)

LOL, so I didn't realise that the photo was blurry until I uploaded it here hahaha. To prevent headaches, the size of it has been shrunk but you can see the gist of it. It's Spaghetti w/ meatballs hahaha (obviously). 

Although very plain, I actually quire enjoyed this amongst the rest of the food because it was a nice breath of relief from all the other saltier food and was thus a nice condiment with the others. The Napoletana sauce was very light but had a rich tomato base that made it taste very refreshing and good for stimulating your appetite for more food. I'm used to plainer foods as well so I really enjoyed this simple but exquisite basic; the meatballs were very soft and palatable as well.

Ciccio’s Calzone ($29)

 My friend suggested calzone and I had no idea what it was so we just went for it hahaha. I'm all for new things I haven't tried!~ This contained mozzarella, san daniele prosciutto, zucchini, roasted capsicum, goat’s cheese & oregano which I found quite nice and interesting on the first few bites but after having a bit more, I found it extremely salty for my taste buds. I think it was probably the goat cheese that made me feel that way but yeah nevertheless, not my kinda dish. However, I was fond of the pita bread texture. Maybe I can try it with different fillings next time.

Sweet Potato Chips w/ chilli salt & parsley ($12) + aioli dip (?) $2

This was my absolute favouriteee! The last time I had sweet potato chips, I was super disappointed so I wasn't expecting much from this one but these were soo good! It was crunchy but soft and the chilli salt accompanied it so so well and definitely perfect to whet your appetite. I also  believe that we got the aioli dip which had a tinge of chilli and a refreshing creamy sour taste that just made it taste so addictive that we just couldn't get our hands off it. Definite recommend!

All in all, I think I do remember thinking years ago that Criniti's pizzas are very average and still do think so after this experience again but I'd definitely go just for the sweet potato chips haha! Also, with the variety and the bumbling atmosphere at the restaurant, I guess I can understand that it's definitely a nice place to enjoy a good variety of food with friends. Personally, I wouldn't mind coming again but it's definitely not a priority to be recommended.

CAT EAR HEADPHONES | AXENT WEAR REVIEW

Time for a different kind of post! I've had these for a while so I thought I might as well review them even though these are the first pair of headphones I've ever bought (I used to just steal my brother's headphones). Anywho~

In late 2014, I happened to chance upon these super cute headphones that I really wanted as my first ever headphones purchase and that's how this came into my hands around November last year. Although there were problems here and there in the delaying of production of these due to lawsuits etc, it still eventually came so I was happy! Thankfully, I am one of the backers that got a working headphone because I've read so many comments of the lights not working and it being so hard to get a replacement from Brookstone (which is now selling these as cat ear headphones after they supposedly bought the rights to it or something) and so if you're interested in these headphones, I think you should really contemplate whether you want them or not since their service apparently isn't the best and thus it could become rather frustrating to deal with.

When I first received these in the mail, I was like omg!! It is finally hereee! I was so excited to open the box and everything! It comes along with the beautiful illustrated box by Yuumei~ 

And then~ it comes with a mini briefcase to store the headphones! When I first heard from others that received theirs first that you get a box, I was excited but this is actually quite chunky lol. I can't imagine carrying this around unless I have somewhere to store it safely, I think I'd rather just hang the headphones on my shoulders. But, it is convenient if you really want to keep your headphones safe since it is pretty sturdy. 

Here's the product! Isn't it pretty? It's chunkier than I thought though~ When I wear this, it does feel rather heavy in comparison to other headphones I've tried and played with but I guess that's how it is since it has functional ears as speakers and proper cushioning. Although it is heavier, I can still wear this for 5+ hours without feeling too uncomfortable usually, but sometimes, I put this on and it gives me a headache lol, it is definitely quite heavy for sure. But yeah I've been gaming with this every now and then and it's pretty good. You can also move the ear pads(?) and let them sit nicely on your shoulders with the lights face front, but because of this, it can get quite annoying putting the earphones on since it keeps flipping around and it's heavy loll.

As for the LED lights, I charged them fully (couple of hours for a full recharge, maybe ~4? I forgot) and tested how long they lasted continuously and they surprisingly stayed on for a solid 10 hours. Pretty cool. Though it's kinda funny that the blue lights on the cat ears and the ones on my ear cups are a different hue though. The cat ears are like a light cyan whereas the cups are more like a baby blue lol. Oh, and just a heads up, you'll probably have to recharge the lights every time you use them because even if you don't use them, the lights lose their power and won't turn on. I charged mine and left it for a few days without using it and then when I tried to use it, it didn't work! Then I recharged it and it worked again so yeah~ it's annoying like that.

 I have to say that the cat ear speakers were rather disappointing though, when I tried increasing the volume to an audible level for those around me, it sounded quite scratchy and I can hear some static when I listened closely but I guess it's fine when you listen to it as a whole. Another gripe would be that, it's quite low volume for speakers, your environment would have to be pretty quiet if you want others to listen to your music through the speakers. But yeah you can tell that the quality is definitely very average if not bad (I'd say bad). Personally, I have no reason to use it unless I wanna be cool (which is never) so it seems more like just a gimmick to me, realistically, I wouldn't use it at all.

 The specs make no sense to me but maybe you'll want to see so here~ Specs are (copied from website):

Headphone Audio:

20Hz-20KHz frequency response

32 Ohm impedance

40mm drivers

Cat Ear Speaker Audio

200Hz-18KHz frequency response

4 Ohm impedance

32mm drivers

This also comes with a detachable boom microphone that is great for gaming~ Quite convenient. This works fine without a cable splitter on my laptop but many have been required to purchase a separate splitter in order for the mic to work on their pc etc. It is a bit short I guess but with a flexible cord~

I'm not a person that knows much about headphones but I think the sound quality is fine but not excellent. It's decent I guess. I can't tell the difference between this and my brother's $50 Sony headphones but that's me haha. I'm a very easily satisfied person, if it works, then it's fine. Noise cancelling is pretty decent, once I put these on, I'm in my own little world~ actually, not really lol I can still hear myself typing with this hahaha. 

Oh, another thing about these headphones, depending on how you wear them, if you bend over or bend backwards, they might fall off so be careful lol. But mine are usually fine, I've never really had a problem with this but others have and I thought I might mention it just in case~ But, I only game with these so yeah~

In order to cater for different sized heads, you can extend the sides to better fit your head. For me, It fits nicely without me extending anything.

On the right side, you have the buttons for lowering the volume, increasing the volume, hole for charging headphones, turning on the cat ear speakers and then turning on the LED lights. Sadly, if you turn on the cat ear speakers, then that'll be where the music then comes from and so you can't listen to your headphones and have your cat ears working at the same time. Also, it can be difficult and annoying to press these buttons when you're wearing your headphones since they're a bit hard to reach (for me anyway).

In addition, the + and - buttons are only for the cat ear speakers so if you're listening to the headphones and want to change the volume, you'll have to change it on the device it's plugged into. Also, every time you change from the headphones to the cat ear speakers, the volume auto resets to the lowest volume and so you have to increase it every time you alternate (which can be annoying) between the two.

I just realised this after having these headphones for months that if you were a backer for the Axent Wear Campaign, the cushion that is placed on top of your head will say "AXENT WEAR" whereas if you buy the headphones now from Brookstone, it will say "BROOKSTONE" instead. I guess that makes me feel a little special lol. Anyway, on the left side, you have the holes to connect the headphones to your chosen music device etc and for your mic as you can see. 

Closer look at the cat ears!

And you can flip those ear cushion cups whichever way you want to sit on your shoulders etc~

This is so embarrassing but sorry for the crappy selfies hahaha. I just thought it would be a better review if you could see what it looks like on my head. Don't mind my eyes looking at different places, I obviously suck at taking selfies lol!

Without the LED lights on. Also, as you can see, the headphones do sort of bulge on the sides making it look quite chunky and wide but oh well.

Lights on!

Lights on in the dark! Now I don't need to be scared of the dark loll

Anyways, overall, I think if you're interested in the whole concept of the cat ears and mainly want it for the cats ear appearance rather than as a headphone then you'll probably love this since I think for a headphone, it's really nothing special but it works decent for gaming and listening to music. For now, I have only seen one person with these around in Town Hall hahaha and I'm just too shy and lazy to lug these around on the go so I only game with these but I might wear them to SMASH or something this year just to make some use out of these loll. I mean, they were rather expensive!

 Not sure how much they are now, but they were I think $150 USD when I backed the Indiegogo campaign la. I'd say I'm quite mixed on whether this is worth it or not since I did buy it because I liked the cat ears haha. But I do think you can probably find better headphones for that price so yeah, it really depends on whether you want this more for the ears or the headphones.

MQ Fusion, Macquarie

This is probably like the third time in my whole entire life that I've been to Macquarie, like no kidding. Probably second time to the shopping centre haha. To be fair, Macquarie takes like an hour and a half to get to, which is okay for me but having to change trains like twice just turns me off it unless I need to go there lol. But yeah, my friends love Macquarie shopping centre though so we went~ and of course, I ate food hahaha.

I can't remember the prices of the dishes but they ranged from around $10-15 and we ordered 3 dishes that came to a total of around $38 or something with three people so it was fairly cheap and filling. I believe this shop is a Vietnamese Thai fusion and is called MQ Fusion (Shop 409 Level 4 Opposite Event Cinemas Macquarie Centre, 197-223 Herring Road, Macquarie Park); easily accessible to shoppers and those working near the centre. I saw quite a few office people having lunch here. It's a pretty small place that you'd probably walk past if you weren't looking, the only reason we stopped was because my friend saw salt and pepper soft shelled crab and pulled us in hahaha.

HAHAHA, sorry, I obviously was not awake since I didn't even bother moving the sauce etc to show you what the roast pork looked like hahaha. Well, doesn't matter anyway since I didn't like this dish. The meat was reallyyy hard! It seriously left me munching on it for days, I thought I'd never finish it lol. It's quite lightly salted, probably to complement the sauce that I wasn't really into since I don't like dipping roast pork in any sort of sauce but yeah, wish it was tender.

This Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crab although looked really good, had quite a thick batter so I wasn't the biggest fan for it. In addition, even though it was salt and pepper, it was really bland and so you were practically forced to dip it into the sauce if you wanted any sort of taste to it, Sauce was a bit sour and refreshing which was a nice complement but not my cup of tea.

My motto for trying new restaurants is always that there needs to be at least one safe dish that can't go wrong and this time, it was the Pad See Ew for me and I'm so glad we picked it because this was actually really good! It was lightly sweet but not overpowering at all and had a good balance of veggies and beef making it a very comforting dish. Beef was very nice and tender as well. I wouldn't have minded if there was more meat though hahaha!

I'm not particularly impressed with this place especially since 2/3 dishes weren't what I would've liked but I think for a quick and cheap lunch with a good ol' pad see ew, it's definitely worth it. But yeah, I wouldn't come back again.

Food Review | Bar Asia, Parramatta

Before I start, just wanted to say that I started another blog on stuff like anime and manga reviews + me trying to study Japanese and maybe some Chinese every now and then lol, just to separate things and make it more organised but also give me some more freedom in rampaging on about my interest in anime haha. This is the link if you're interested! =D

I think the day that food in parra is all going to become expensive is soon lol especially since they're trying to make Parramatta like the next CBD zzz. While I'm glad that there's more options of food in parra these days, the prices seem to go along with it. Everything I fondly remember of this place when I studied here in high school is sort of lost but whatever, my opinion won't stop this place from changing and it's supposed to be a 'good change' after all~ 

Anyway, I saw a drool-worthy dish of Bar Asia's (277B Church Street, Parramatta) on Instagram, so I happily suggested it to my friend for us to try it out for lunch. Although it is a bit more on the expensive side, we thought we'd just treat ourselves once in a while! (Although I probably treat myself all the time lol) There was no line and there were around 10 tables inside with a couple outside so pretty spacious and the food was served really quickly after I ordered at the counter. Efficiency at its best!

Lemon Grass Beef Vermicelli ($13.90)

This was the one I saw on Instagram! It looks pretty good yeah?! It has fresh herbs, bean sprouts, cucumber, fried onion, peanuts and dressing that makes it look so appetising~ The beef was very tender and the best part of the dish obviously hehe but I wasn't very fond of the dressing. Maybe it's because I usually eat pho when I have Vietnamese food but I thought that this was too sour for me. It was refreshing but it had that strong taste of fish sauce that I didn't really like with the noodles since it soaks it all up. The dish also has a lot of veggies so it's a well balanced meal but yeah, not my thing.

Grilled Chicken Vermicelli ($13.90)

My friend ordered this one which was basically the above except with grilled chicken; which was really tender and yummy as well. 

Pork Belly with cucumber + hoisin sauce ($5.90 each)

Dayuum, these sliders were expensive hahaha. Saddeningly, some of my pork belly was a bit hard so it wasn't as tender as I thought it would be. In addition, there was an overload of hoisin sauce which even the freshness of the cucumber couldn't save and so it just became super salty after a few bites. Otherwise, nice and fluffy bun yay~

Vietnamese Iced Coffee ($5.50)

Frankly, I've never actually tried Vietnamese iced coffee, so this was my first time! But, surprisingly, I really liked it! It was a tad bit too sweet but that's okay, I love sweet stuff. It was also really smooth and milky. I would recommend this. But, don't leave it for too long, otherwise the ice will melt (just like minee) and then it'll taste like water eughh.

Overall, I think it was an all right place but considering the price and that I don't often eat Vietnamese food anyway, probably unlikely I'd come back. Maybe I should have tried their Shaken Beef dish, that sounds yummy haha! But yeah, nah, I think I prefer my food more plain.

Food Review | Tim Ho Wan, Burwood

Yayy! Actual first post of the year! Lol, although 20 something days have passed already and it's nearly February gahh. Time passes fast. But, anyway, fast as it may be, I never seem to be able to catch up with it. Just like it's totally impossible for me to catch up with the trending foods these days like those scroll ice creams that keep popping up on my Instagram feed hahaha.

Another one that I'm late to would definitely be Tim Ho Wan (Westfield Burwood, 173-175/100 Burwood Rd, Burwood). I didn't even realise that it's like situated right next to the main entrance to Westfields haha, so it's super easy to get to by train or car and even though I went during lunch time, there wasn't much of a line at all. It's definitely very spacious but probably not the most comfortable if you don't get to be the one sitting on the couches and instead pushed to having to sit on the stools haha. Otherwise, service is very fast and efficient and everything we ordered came steaming hot and rather promptly for our empty stomachs.

Prawn Dumplings ($8.30)

I'm always a fan of the classics at yumcha (although this isn't exactly yumcha with the lack of variety) so of course I ordered these har gow <3 They were soo good! Prawns were sweet and the skin was glistening with the soft but perfect chewy texture. They were definitely steamed well on time! This was my favourite out of the bunch.

  

Vermicelli Roll with Shrimp ($7.80)

I was really looking forward to these but unfortunately they weren't as good as I wanted them to be. As always, quality prawns but the vermicelli roll itself was rather thick and lacked the slippery smooth texture that I usually like when it slides into your mouth.

Beef Balls with Beancurd Skin ($6)

My sister and I don't usually order these but she had a sudden craving for it so why not? These were very soft and lightly seasoned making it a very comforting dish that's good to eat for anyone. The beancurd skin is definitely what makes the taste more fluid than a simple beef ball. (Although I really can't tell whether it's even beef loll)

Trio Steamed Dumplings ($6.80)

As the self-proclaimed ultimate dim sim lover in the Su Family House (lol), although the ingredients were wonderfully sweet and fresh, I didn't think these 'special' dim sims were too different from the usual and would've much preferred those since the original comes with four pieces haha! Yes, quantity is important!

Beancurd Skin Roll with Pork & Shrimp ($6.80)

These are my absolute favourite and must-haves in every yumcha trip for me but sadly I felt these lacked substance to it. The balance of beancurd skin and insides were a bit disproportionate and thus made it more of a beancurd skin eating appreciation dish which I'd be all for if I knew that was what I was getting into but sadly I wasn't. 

Baked Buns with BBQ Pork ($7.80)

And finally to the buns that people said were the main reason to visit THW for! However, I have to say, I wasn't a fan of these, mostly because I prefer and think that the normal cha siu baos taste so much better. Personally, I thought the baked buns and the BBQ pork weren't a good match but that might be because these buns taste really similar to those Mexican buns sold in those Chinese bakeries and I frankly like them plain like that. For this bun, I felt the sweetness of the bun and the BBQ pork just clashed terribly and I couldn't find myself liking it. But yeah, that's my personal preference.

All in all, have to say I wasn't very impressed at all and I would much rather go to Rhodes Phoenix for any of the yumcha dishes I really like. But that's also because normal yumcha has so much more variety especially dessert-wise etc, I mean, the egg tarts at Rhodes Phoenix are to die for. But yep, overall, average food.