Cadisia is the name of the game world I've found myself in. First, to help you understand, I'll give you a simple explanation of Cadisia's systems, its world, and its story.
The Cadisia game system is like most typical dating sims, but what makes it different from others is its core relationship mechanic.
In other dating sims, the main character—the hero—has to talk to the girls and build up enough intimacy to make them feel good about him, which allows him to enter the route of the girl he chooses. In this game, that system is called HeartUp. However, the HeartUp value can also decrease. When it gets very low, we call it HeartDown. These two values are extremely important variables in the game.
This is because it's not just the heroines you can build a relationship with, but every single character in the game. You can use this relationship value to either increase or decrease your standing with anyone.
For example, if you choose to get close to someone to raise their HeartUp value, but another character in the game dislikes that person, then your HeartUp value with that character might drop.
When you have a high enough HeartUp value, it will trigger various events, also known as entering a route or Chapter.
Of course, a route can only be initiated when you have a high enough HeartUp value with the character you want to pursue. In a normal dating sim, once you enter one girl's route, all the other characters usually disappear or only show up as minor background characters.
But in this game, you can forget all about that. Because after you enter the first route, or Chapter 1, that's when you open the door to the real game.
What I mean by "the door to the real game" is that from this point on, you have to prove that you are the one truly worthy of the girl you have chosen.
The difficulty level of this game is divided according to the girl you choose to pursue. In this game, there are a total of four main heroines to choose from, as well as 12 secret female characters you can get an ending with from within another girl's route. But I'll save that topic for later. Let's get to the first girl.
Mikanil Olicia, the first heroine the protagonist can choose. Of course, if you choose to pursue her, you will find yourself on a path of comfort and happiness. That's because this girl falls in love with our hero at first sight. You could even say she's head-over-heels in love. But even so... don't be fooled by her cold-hearted cuteness. Because this woman is a top-tier yandere.
What's that? You don't know what that means? Ugh... for crying out loud. A yandere is a term for a girl who has an abnormal sense of love and feelings that are different from ordinary people. Sometimes it might be a love expressed with frantic emotion, or it could be a one-sided love where she devotes her entire heart. Or, in the worst-case scenario, it's a love that desires to possess that person completely, whether they are alive or dead...
And in her case, it just so happens to be the latter.
Even so, compared to the other girls, if you don't get close to any other women in her route, you can finish her story without much difficulty. She represents the Easy difficulty of this game, which is the simplest level. But all things considered, if you plan on pursuing someone else after her, the difficulty will instantly jump to Hell mode.
On to the next girl.
Abigail Holmes. Hmm... if the first girl I mentioned was Easy, the definition for this one would be Medium. That's right, Medium difficulty. Not too easy, not too hard. If we're talking about what makes it difficult, Abigail was born into an ancient, noble family, so our hero has to constantly show her his value. Overall, there aren't that many obstacles, and the methods to gain her acceptance aren't too hard either. That's the simple summary for her. But well, this girl is the character many players like the most. As for why... you'll just have to wait and see.
Rende Mula. Now for the third one. As before, she's different from the first two girls. She is the Hard difficulty. The reason she's considered hard is that her family has a rather... bad reputation. This forces our hero to fight through and deal with the various problems that swarm him until he can clear the final Chapter. It doesn't sound too hard, does it? But trust me... you'll get a major headache if you actually play it.
And now for the final girl.
Mikarov Locein Reinhardt. The last heroine available to pursue. To be perfectly honest... if anyone can finish her route, it means you have successfully completed this game.
Because this final girl is the most difficult heroine to get an ending with. I can't tell you what her difficulty level is, but I can say with full confidence why she is the hardest to finish. It's because in order to clear her final Chapter, you have to defeat the Demon Lord in the game.
That's right. This game's system also involves strength levels. We have to play and control the protagonist, making him stronger in order to clear the various events that occur, such as a monster attack on the school or villains trying to harm the characters you want to befriend, blah, blah, blah. It's all standard story stuff. But what's really interesting is how you make the protagonist stronger.
It's true that lately, there have been a lot of these hybrid dating sim games.
But what makes this game's system better than those others is perhaps the freedom it gives the player. We can choose what element or special power the protagonist has. Of course, we receive it at a very novice level, but these things can be trained. We can strengthen that power through practice or by fighting common monsters. But even so, this game doesn't have a fixed level system. Instead, it uses a system that's more like a publicly acknowledged tier list.
That system is called Ranking.
The ranks are measured from 1 to 10. The highest rank is 1, and the lowest is 10.
And if you ask how we know what rank something is... ugh, you people ask so many questions.
It's simple. For example, Basic-tier fire magic has three levels of power.
Rank 10 is a small flame, about the size of a toy marble. Rank 9 is a flame the size of a ball, or maybe 30-40 centimeters larger. Rank 8 is a fireball about 100 centimeters in size.
But even with these three levels, it doesn't mean you're good at magic. Large volume doesn't compare to the technique you've trained; it's just a measure of the person's raw power.
For instance, someone with a lot of magic power but poor technique might be able to cast a Rank 8 Basic-tier fireball. Conversely, another man with less magic power but greater mastery over the fire element might be able to use Intermediate-tier fire magic, but perhaps only at Rank 10 or 9.
So what's the difference between Basic and Intermediate tier? What a stupid question. Obviously, it's the destructive power. A Rank 8 Basic-tier fireball, if it hits a target, might at best make the other party feel a little pain or an itch. But of course, it's low-level magic. A swing of a sword or a simple strike can dissipate it. It's completely different from Intermediate-tier fire magic. If an Intermediate-tier fireball hits its target, the condensed fire magic within it will explode, resulting in an incomparably different level of destructive force.
Ah, I've been off-topic for a while. Let's get back to our main point.
As I've explained, the real gameplay of Cadisia begins only after you enter one of the heroines' routes. Because after you get through that, that's when the real fun begins.
Let's talk about the game's story now. Uh... even though I say "story," this game isn't very complicated. The truly complicated part comes after the protagonist chooses who to pursue.
We play the role of Akana Sei, the prince of the city of Akana, who wants to study at the most famous school here because he wants to become strong like the legendary hero his father used to tell him about.
That's the whole story... The hero is a prince, so of course, his looks are god-tier. Naturally, as you play, bits and pieces of the protagonist's backstory emerge, but trust me, you probably won't care about it.
As for the villains in this game, there are a looooot of them. So many that you could write all their names down and fill up several hundred pages of a notebook.
But as I said, this game has a HeartUp system. If we happen to befriend these villains, they won't bother us at all. On the contrary... they might even be willing to help us sometimes if we need it. But... most players probably don't care and would rather just beat them up to grind their skill Ranks anyway. Heh...
However... there is one character in the game that, no matter what you do, you can never get close to or make friends with.
That character's name is Sephiroth Alan Hylm. He's the very first villain to appear in the game. And what's more, he's the Prince of the Dark Lands, Yosehylm.
How about that... a super-important character who seems like he could be the final boss, right? But you don't need to worry.
Because that Sephiroth Alan Hylm... dies in the very first scene of Chapter 1.
What's the cause, you ask?... It's that protagonist of the game.
And if you ask for details... well, if you choose to pursue Olicia, the first heroine, this Sephiroth Alan Hylm guy will die after being killed by the hero. In that event, he happened to be in the sparring arena, and the hero decides to "look cool"... by brutally beating him up. When he can't take it anymore, Alan (let's just call this pathetic guy Alan) fights back, transforms into a giant black shadow monster, and starts rampaging because he can't control his power. And finally, as the script demands... he gets taken down by our hero. A pathetic death.
And there are many other parts. He gets killed by a girl because he annoyed her. He gets exiled from a country because he accidentally tried to blackmail its princess. And what might be called the unluckiest of all: while just walking down the street, a monster horde invades the city and he dies pathetically... There are many more of his great deeds, but I won't go into them now. If I did, we'd be here all day!
Ugh... I don't know what grudge the game's writers had against this character to make him die at the very beginning of the story, every single time.
As for why I've been talking about this guy for so long? Because I!!! am the one who ended up in this bastard's body.
Sigh... whatever. For now, I've told you almost all the information you need to know. There might be other systems I haven't mentioned, but I'll explain them later. From here on, you're invited to follow...
My damn unlucky life.