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You may have noticed that over the last few years I\u2019ve covered quite a few fan-service games. Surprisingly, the reason I often pick these kinds of games up is that they often have some really interesting and sometimes even completely unique mechanics which push the industry forward. I won\u2019t lie, I do also enjoy the odd bit of smutty humour, even if I\u2019ve commonly criticised the level to which the fan service occasionally goes<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s time for another entry in this seemingly ongoing series, \u201cGames which shouldn\u2019t be played on public transport.\u201d Let\u2019s have a look at Seven Pirates H<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Genkai Tokki: Seven Pirates H <\/strong><\/em>is the fourth entry in the Genkai Tokki series, following Monster Monpiece<\/em>, Moe Chronicle <\/em>and Moero Crystal<\/em>. All originally developed for the PlayStation Vita\u2019s Asian market, the second, third and now fourth entries have slowly trickled their way over to the west as Nintendo Switch ports \u2013 see our reviews of the previous ports at https:\/\/invisioncommunity.co.uk\/moero-chronicle-hyper-review\/ and https:\/\/invisioncommunity.co.uk\/moero-crystal-h-review\/ respectively. In my previous encounters with the series, I\u2019ve praised the tongue-in-cheek character and creature designs, unique aesthetics and interesting ideas brought to the table whilst finding the fan-service invasive at best, creepy at worst. When I found out that the next one, Seven Pirates H<\/em>,<\/strong> had a swashbuckling aesthetic I just had to try it; but unfortunately in many areas, it feels like a big step backwards from the heights of Moero Crystal H.<\/em><\/p>\n

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You start Seven Pirates<\/em> playing as Parute, a young Pirate shipwrecked on an island and searching for a ship. She has a magic compass, which apparently<\/em> can point to a legendary treasure, but which hasn\u2019t actually worked for as long as she\u2019s had it. Luckily for her, Otton \u2013 the only returning character and notorious pervert dick-seal \u2013 drops in and is able to get it working. From this point on, you control her and her growing band of pirate monster-girls as they search for treasure on the high seas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pretty straightforward plot, and whilst it\u2019s no Monkey Island <\/em>it gets the ball rolling. On the bright side, at least you aren\u2019t searching for panties this time. As she travels around searching for treasure Parute encounters various monster girls, each with a unique look. Whilst in previous titles the playable roster has been very extensive (80+ I think; I have to admit I never got around to finding them ALL,) Seven Pirates H<\/em><\/strong> has 7, although you do come across others. Once all seven treasures are collected there are a few more events, but overall the plot is pretty bland compared to previous games. Admittedly, the plots of the others weren\u2019t exactly Shakespeare \u2013 searching for the panties of light and the bra of darkness being a particularly strange quest \u2013 but it almost feels like this time around they were more focused on the transition to 3D than including quite as much ridiculous humour and interesting story-beats.<\/p>\n

Character Designs<\/h2>\n

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Luckily, some of the character designs themselves are just as good as last time; despite the fact that they are far less numerous. I\u2019ve always enjoyed the unique way in which characters have portrayed their monstrous inspirations \u2013 using lore and mythology to inform design \u2013 and whilst there isn\u2019t as much originality of thought in the designs I did like a few. Jewel is a notorious slime girl with a massive gun, and I love the fact that her hat, hair and some of her clothing are made entirely of said blue slime. Throughout her design are a number of skulls, harking back to the idea that in games such as Dungeons and Dragons slimes are fearsome foes thanks to their ability to melt organic matter. In other words, I think a few people got a bit too close! Then there\u2019s Claret, who is inspired by the Kraken and other giant squid monsters. Her headdress creates a beak-like shape and her clothing \u2013 which splits at the bottom into tendril-like strips \u2013 is covered in studs and buckles which resemble suckers. Her personality also completely fits this concept, with her truly monstrous urges conflicting with her pretty face to great effect. Both examples mirror what I love about this series \u2013 unique and original twists on mythological creatures, but unfortunately, there are far more duds this time around. Sakyura \u2013 the demon\/succubus \u2013 is practically nude aside from a few strips of leather (granted, slightly resembling wings,) and her horns. Yes, it\u2019s arguably demonic, but I\u2019ve seen it before too many times. Poron is supposed to be a skeleton, but in actuality, the only skeletal aspects of her are the multiple skull motifs on her jacket and hair clips. When you compare these to the kitsune Yoko, the kikimora Papain and Moero Crystal H<\/em>\u2019s skeleton Neferia it\u2019s easy to find them disappointingly lacking. I understand that the pirate aesthetic left less room for originality in the designs, and I like the fact they generally stuck to monsters found in that setting, but there\u2019s no excuse for this dip in quality after setting the bar so high. Before, characters had clearly distinct personalities derived from their inspiration but which also made them their own character. Here, the monstrous origins are harder to find and the personalities just seem to meld into one another. There aren\u2019t even any other costume options here \u2013 whilst in previous titles, each girl had at least four, with at least one of them showing a lighter, more humorous side to them.<\/p>\n

Enemy design has also had a distinct drop in quality, with most simply returning from previous games with copious recolours. They\u2019re still all either genital-inspired or tongue-in-cheek, but the actual number of original designs has taken a dip and I found their 3D representations lacking in the charm and humour of previous entries.<\/p>\n

Gameplay<\/h2>\n

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The gameplay this time around has had a big change too \u2013 switching from a first-person dungeon crawl to a 3D third-person wander. Previously, you would search a dungeon\u2019s many floors in a turn-based fashion, with events occurring as you moved, random encounters and combat happening in a turn-based, static-sprite fashion. Whilst the combat remains a turn-based RPG affair, exploration of the dungeons is free-moving with overworld monsters which can be avoided. On one hand, it feels easier to engage with, and I liked being able to search out certain enemies when looking for particular loot. However, the downside to this is that dungeon design has also taken a dive off of a cliff, with mostly linear areas and very little in the way of reaching the exit. Before, an area would take a number of hours and multiple trips, but that\u2019s all been stripped down leaving them feeling a little cold and lifeless despite the tropical sun. Again, it\u2019s disappointing to see.<\/p>\n

Outside of these areas, you travel around a relatively large, 2D open sea map, which slowly expands as you complete quests. These quests are delivered by the Booby-kin, who you find on your adventures and who provides info, merchants and in-battle abilities. Unfortunately, the quests they provide boil down to either killing a number of a certain enemy or collecting a certain type of item, leading to a hefty amount of grinding in the under-levelled areas for the sake of it. Nothing interesting, just \u201cfetch this\u201d or \u201ckill that.\u201d There are also some limited character events on this map, but again, they\u2019re just short VA cutscenes without the personality or charm of previous titles.<\/p>\n

Combat System<\/h2>\n

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The combat system, thankfully, does bring with it a few new mechanics; although I still don\u2019t feel it replaces what has been stripped out adequately. Instead of elements each girl now has a type and the red-green-blue forms a type-effectiveness triangle. You can change each girl\u2019s type using certain abilities in battle \u2013 a welcome addition \u2013 but there\u2019s far too much emphasis on this with actual damage number being vastly changed by it. It also doesn\u2019t help that basic attacks do negligible damage. Each girl has special attacks, however, which are activated using their H energy. This builds up through successful attacks and taking damage. At 100, the girl enters an elevated state known as \u201cexcited,\u201d and at max, they enter \u201caroused,\u201d from which they will die after a number of rounds but which also allows them to use ultimate abilities. Using the specials (consisting of status changes, buff\/debuffs, poisoning and healing etc.) is the only real way to do any significant damage, and unfortunately, it takes a good number of rounds to build up the meter. Battles often feel drawn out as you wait either for a smaller ability to be usable or their arousal attack to be ready. The smaller attacks barely even have their own animations. Thankfully at least the ultimates do, even if each seems to exist solely so that the camera can highlight either their crotch or breasts. I did find some of this funny mind \u2013 the legs-akimbo leaping bonk of Waffle making me giggle in particular. Finally, certain bosses require a finishing move from Otton, the aforementioned penis seal. To activate it you much increase his\u2026excitement\u2026by rubbing the girls frantically. In handheld mode, this felt gross as it felt like I was simply rubbing off a perverted seal. It didn\u2019t help when this AMAZING FINISHER turned out to be a literal white beam spraying from the top of his bulbous head towards the enemy. Yes, I did just write that. Overall though, the gameplay just isn\u2019t that compelling. I\u2019d even go so far as to say it\u2019s boring at times and gross at others, and that isn\u2019t even mentioning the fan-service portion.<\/p>\n

Oh, my lord. This next section I\u2019ve been absolutely dreading writing \u2013 may God have mercy on my soul and may my mother never read it.<\/p>\n

Abilities<\/h2>\n

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In more RPGs, you level up automatically, with stats increasing and abilities unlocking as a matter of course. In some, you have to actively go out of your way to level up once you have enough experience. In this, you unlock \u201cbooby extracts\u201d by collecting experiences which can then be used to level up outside of battle. Doesn\u2019t sound too bad yet, right? But what if I were to tell you that in order to level up you needed to pull, squeeze, pinch and tap the character\u2019s chest in the \u201cbooby training\u201d minigame in order to make any meaningful progress? Well, you do, and in doing so you change a number of different elements of their breasts, which also confer bonuses and penalties to different stats. Do you want Parute to hit like a truck at the expense of defence? Enlarge her spheres to frankly painful levels and it\u2019ll be reflected both in her stats and on her model! Want Jewel to be small and perky? You can do it! On one hand \u2013 completely objectively \u2013 the mechanic is probably the most interesting thing about Seven Pirates H<\/em><\/strong>, as it uses dynamic character-model modification as an indicator of stats and abilities. This has been seen in a couple of other games, but as far as I\u2019m aware never with quite as many variables, and in this aspect, it\u2019s a true success. The physics involved are also very impressive, even if larger characters do end up looking like they\u2019re smuggling bags of booze into a festival from the way they bounce around. On the other hand, it\u2019s simply too far. After being exposed to so many fan-service games I\u2019ve become pretty hard to shock but this made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and like a true piece of work. If it were an optional extra mini-game \u2013 like in most other examples of the genre, I wouldn\u2019t be so critical of the lingerie-clad breast-bouncing fan service. For it to be a central mechanic to actual progression, repeated hundreds of times without an opt-out just spoils it. The first time it was vaguely amusing to rapidly inflate a pirate, but by the hundredth, it had just become annoying and gross.<\/p>\n

I feel like most of the issues with Seven Pirates H<\/em> <\/strong>come down to one thing and one thing alone, as is often the case when a series tries to evolve \u2013 the transition to 3D.\u00a0 In the early days of 3D, this was fatal to so many titles, as developers spent more time on a new engine and graphical progression than making an actual good game, I can\u2019t help but feel like the Genkai Tokki<\/em> guys fell into this age-old trap. Yes, it\u2019s a good-looking game with a cutesy aesthetic and lovely, thematically appropriate music, but it\u2019s not a good<\/em> game. It\u2019s incredibly short when compared to its predecessors, has a tiny under-developed roster with no additional costumes, has a lack-lustre story and quest structure and a small number of abysmally designed dungeons. Yes, some of the charm and humour of Genkai Tokki <\/em>did make the transition, but in all honesty, this entry is a huge step backwards and it\u2019s unsurprising that since its original release in 2016 there have been no new Genkai Tokki<\/em> titles announced.<\/p>\n

If you like the sound of some cheeky, rude humour with relatively optional fan service and great character designs inspired by mythology, Genkai Tokki <\/em>is definitely where you\u2019ll find it. Unfortunately, Seven Pirates H <\/em><\/strong>is not<\/u>, and I simply can\u2019t recommend it as a first dip in the franchise. Yes, there is some<\/u> good here \u2013 it feels very charming and pirate and the 3D battles do look much nicer than in previous entries. I liked the aesthetic design of the dungeons, and they\u2019re much simpler to navigate if extensive, challenging first-person dungeon crawling isn\u2019t your thing. However, before even considering picking this up I\u2019d recommend trying Moero Crystal H <\/em>\u2013 it\u2019s simply a much better, considerably more fleshed-out place to get your fix of tongue-in-cheek puerile giggles.<\/p>\n