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| Title | Moero Crystal H |
| Developer | Idea Factory, Compile Heart |
| Publisher | EastAsiaSoft |
| Release Date | September 17th, 2020 |
| Genre | RPG |
| Platform | Switch |
| Age Rating | Mature |
| Official Website | |
A while back I took a look at the Nintendo Switch release of Moero Chronicle Hyper. I had a blast with this update to the classic monster girl loving classic. EastAsiaSoft has now released the follow up game in the series for the first time ever in English, Moero Crystal H. Needless to say I was very excited when they announced this a while back, and was eager to get my hands on it. I’ve completed the game and now we will see if this is as good as the previous release.
The story here follows a young man named Zenox as he arrives in the city to search for his father. Things will soon turn south, as through some unfortunate event he will be thrust into an adventure to save the very world! A thief has stolen the Bra of Darkness and is using it to corrupt all the monster girls of the world. Zenox, with his new friends Luanna and Ottan, set out on quest to save all the monster girls and retrieve The Bra of Darkness before catastrophe befalls the land!
While I found the story here pretty basic, the character banter and your interactions with the monster girls are very entertaining. This was pretty much the same in the last game as well, so I got exactly what I expected here. The writing team did a very good job of letting each girl’s personality really shine. I did notice a typo or two but nothing major or immersion breaking. Overall, I think this one is just as good as the first game in this area and fans will be very pleased.
Graphically, not a whole lot has changed from Moero Chronicle Hyper. The dungeon designs are a bit different than last time around, but the enemy models have mostly remained the same. There are new monster girls of course, and I found all their designs fantastic. Tet is especially cute, and I’m pretty sure it’s the horn that makes her that way! This is a dungeon crawler, so the reused fodder enemies didn’t really bother me at all. I play these games for the monster girls and it delivered some great ones.
The music in Moero Crystal H is top notch. The dungeon and battle themes are all very catchy and will be in your head for hours after you stop playing. You will notice that some of these are remixed tracks from the previous game, but they still hold up very well. The voice acting is where these games really shine. The Japanese cast does a wonderful job of bringing these girls to life and they really get into some of the “Loving Scratch” mini game sessions. This really immersed me in the overall experience and just like last time, I thought it wonderful. I will say if you are playing this in public and are easily embarrassed, you’ll probably want to have some headphones handy.
The basic gameplay hasn’t changed much here. Players will still crawl through the dungeons defeating H monsters and stripping the monster girls to free them from the Dark Bra’s influence. Each girl still has their Moe Effects, which grants the party perks under various conditions and the elemental combo system makes a return as well. One thing that has changed is each monster girl’s unique skill is available to them regardless of which panties you have equipped. This is a game changer since previously you were stuck with one set of skills if you wanted to have access to these.
Just because the dungeon crawling and combat hasn’t changed much doesn’t mean there haven’t been a number of improvements made here. Gone is that very annoying Egg system from the previous game. It has been replaced by a couple of things. First off, each girl has hidden dungeons within them! You will do special shoot-em-up stages for each girl to find their three hidden dungeons. One will unlock her last affection heart, while the other two will unlock her unique skill and the ability to mix and match underwear sets. This will not only give each girl a unique look, but you can combine skill sets with different stats than they would usually have. You will also find the building materials to upgrade their rooms in these dungeons.
Gone is the partner system with H Monsters as well. You will now pair each monster girl with up to two partners. They have basically the same effects as the H Monsters in the previous game. They give various buffs, will sometimes do a follow up attack, or recover HP / SP. The longer you leave the girl paired, the more affection they will gain for each other, and after a while you can make them roommates. This will give you access to the amazing “Double Scratch,” where you will scratch both girls at the same time! If you are successful at these, you get an unique equipable from each girl. These are usually pretty powerful and you can use them on any girl of your choosing.
In the new Soul Temple you can use the souls of your fallen enemies to buff your equipment. These souls can also be used to release the seals on the monster girls. Once these are released, you can equip unique buffs from each onto pieces of equipment for added effects. These include stat increases, gaining more EXP from battles or even reducing the encounter rate. You can only equip one seal at a time, so you will have to plan ahead to get the best results.
At the end of the day Moero Crystal H does keep a lot of the same assets as the previous game. The monster designs are basically the same and some of the music is remixed. The game does add some amazing new monster girls and the system changes make everything flow better. It is much less frustrating trying to get good equipment this time around, since it’s not based on potluck. For the $39.99 price tag you get 50 to 60 hours of monster girl goodness. I feel like fans of the previous game should jump on this ASAP. You will find a lot to love here. If you’re a newcomer to series this is the perfect place to give it a try. The game’s systems are more welcoming and you need no knowledge of the previous title to fully enjoy this one.
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Moero Crystal H was provided by the publisher for review.
If you would like the snag up a physical copy of this one Play-Asia still has them in stock for $39.99. If you use the link below it will help fund the site as well!
