Article

Otome Game Review: Ozmafia!!

August 31, 2016

Game: Ozmafia!!

Developer: Poni-Pachet SY, localized by Mangagamer

Summary by Mangagamer: Once upon a time, a girl, her pet dog, and three companions made a journey to meet a great wizard who could grant their wishes. But what if the girl hadn’t believed that “there’s no place like home”? Our heroine awakes to find herself in an unfamiliar land. She has no memories at all, not even knowing her own name. To make matters worse, the first person she meets is out to kill her. Our heroine runs for her life through the unknown streets, only to run headfirst into another stranger. Fortunately for her, this man is the don of the mafia famiglia Oz. He rescues her and takes her into his care. It is in this war-torn town that our heroine must find her way. Who will she come to trust… and even love?

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Platform: Windows PC only, but you can play the game with a virtual machine if you use Apple products. You can find it on Steam or through Mangagamer’s website. Mangagamers website, however, is very, very NSFW. While the game itself is appropriate for all ages, their website is not suitable for people under 18. If you are sensitive to explicit content or under 18, I’d recommend buying it through Steam.

Characters: You get a wide spectrum of characters from arrogant Kyrie to sweet, happy Sou and a lot of interesting minor characters. The developers did a great job of conveying each character’s originality despite there being so many.

Before starting the game, I had an idea of who I would like and who I wouldn’t, but when I actually played the routes my opinions changed. For example, I thought I would really like Kyrie, but then he got on my nerves most of his route >_<. He’s always “teasing” people by being sadistic, even to the heroine. It’s like, do you not have an off button? My favorite character was Caeser. His intentions are unclear at first, and he’s a bit gruff, but he’s actually a sweetheart.

The heroine, while appearing dumb, I would describe as very casual in her interaction with characters. Even if she isn’t the smartest person in the game, you get the feeling that she’s like “whatever” to many situations and just kind of runs with it because it might be interesting. I do think the romances are somewhat forced and it’s more obvious in some routes.

Story: I really enjoyed the storyline and it took me a minute to see the connections between The Wizard of Oz and the originality of the game. I really like the creativity and imagination used to create a fun plot and equally fun characters. Some routes were more interesting than others (I thought Caramia’s route was pretty dull although I liked him better than Kyrie), but overall it was an enjoyable ride. I figured for a game of this length and that many routes, not everything was going to be amazing. To get the full sense of the game, you really need to play the entire thing (and then play it again).

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Music/Voices: The heroine isn’t voiced but everyone else is voiced. I really liked the music, although sometimes the scenes didn’t leave you in the situation long enough to enjoy the tone (set by the music). For example, if there’s a tense scene, it could be a very short one. I suppose this is more of a complaint about scene lengths and not the music.

Gameplay: I used a game guide written by this blog to get through the game. The blog author, Annette, provides very, very detailed information about the entire game. I really enjoyed playing Ozmafia!! and there were only a few hiccups. My biggest complaint (which isn’t too big) is that it feels a little rushed in some spots. The endings made up for it, but I wasn’t getting any warm feels on some of them as a result. It was more like “that’s it?” This wasn’t true for every route and even some were better than others.

You get nine routes to choose from and the option to create love triangles between Caramia, Kyrie, and Axel. Although there is usually a proper order for the routes, the first one I did was Caesar and then I went back to the mafia famiglia Oz, to play it properly. You can also get a secret character route based on your choices. There was a feature I didn’t explore more but probably will to see what happens. Every Sunday, the heroine can go out and do what she wants. You can choose who she spends her time with on Sunday.

I did a straight walk-through without any deviations – meaning each time, I selected the character whose route I was trying to get through. I know some decision choices you make can alter who you end up with and the ending, but I don’t know if that’s true for who you choose to go with on Sunday. Each route has two endings, although, apparently, there are alternative endings where you end up with a different guy than you started with. It’s a lot to keep up with, and it was overwhelming at times, which is why I stuck with the straight endings for the purpose of this review. If you like a lot of variety, this is definitely your game.

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Art: Artwork is beautiful and well done. The pastel colors match the fantasy style of the game. A lot of thought was put into the unique fashions for each character. There was moderate amount of details in the background (especially with the streets), but most of the focus was on the characters. I was okay with that as most of them were lovely to look at.

Replay value: This game is LONG. No lie. There are so may different routes, features, and love triangles. It will take you forever to get through it once and then you’ll want to play it again anyway.

Audience: It’s rated for all ages and I recommend it for otome game lovers. This is the first otome game localized by Mangagamer, so it’s a good way to show your support for their efforts so they can localize some more otome games.