Vehura Reviews – Celebrity Darling for Gree

Say hello to Kyosuke and Natsuki, who you can’t date in the English version of the game. *waves* (Haha. Get it? Wave… I’m hilarious.)

When you jump head first into the entertainment industry to make your dreams come true, what do you find waiting for you? A life-changing, non-stop scandal with the hottest boys in the business!  Your turbulent life in the industry is filled with trials—but what will be the future of your scandalous romance? A popstar, an actress, a singer… decide which path you’ll take, and aim for the top!

Note: This game has been discontinued and you can no longer play it.

Celebrity Darling is a free-to-play otome game by Voltage Inc. (I wish they’d release a pay version). It is one of the first otome games I started playing and the first that I completed, so it holds a special place in my heart.

You get all the game standards here: 5 love passes a day, in game ways to build up money and gacha points.

The game also has an interesting addition that I have yet to see be replicated, for free, in other games. At some point, you come along a mission where you have to buy one of two outfits to continue the story. And depending on which outfit you pick, you can continue from your point of view OR his point of view. I find it really interesting to get to see where your love interest’s feelings lie for you.

I do think that this game can be a bit overwhelming for new players of this genre. There is a lot to do and you have to be on top of things if you want to have an easy time advancing. I’ve had less of a hard time in this game as I’ve had in Be My Princess, but you still have to constantly be greeting and auditioning and unless you are ready to do some work, it may be frustrating.

Anyway, now it’s time for me to break down my opinions Pro/Con style!

Pros:

1. Several guys to choose from. Five so far. Three of them are in the same boy band so you can interact with other potential love interests in order to decide who to go for next!
2. Weekend Audition event making aquiring money easier. I’ve never had an issue come up in game where it took me forever to meet a money goal. *cough*bemyprincess*cough*
   
3. Four different gacha levels. This includes a secret gacha that opens when you finish the Sweet Ending for a character. Getting the three level items raises your celebrity status in game though I don’t really know what the celebrity status is for…
4. Greeting system is set up so it cycles through your mates for you. For those of you, like me, who find it a bit of a chore to do the greeting system in these games, this system is nice. No going back and sifting through pages. It just loads the next mate you haven’t greeted yet. You do have to do three clicks, which is teetering on a design no-no, but it’s still better than having to go back to the mates page for me.
5. Picture album!! Let me say, the picture album is great. You can view and save the pictures in different sizes. Only slight downside is, the images save as a .bin. I’ve found sharing them to blog (like tumblr) in a draft converts them to a .jpg making viewing them easier.

Cons:

1. No scenario album. I like to reread things and take screenshots. There is no way to go over the scenarios in this game, which is sad.
2. Compatibility is a shot in the dark. The game doesn’t alert you when you have made a good choice. The only way you know if you have is if, at some point, your compatibility with your love interest changes.
3. I have never been able to view my room. I’m playing on an andriod device and the room is just the bg with nothing in it even though there are a lot of things in it. I just blindly slap things into my room. I’m sure it looks like a disaster. No wonder my LI never visits. (hahaha)
4. (small con) Gacha costs a lot to spin. But, the gacha really does nothing but raise your princess level, give you more charm to win auditions, and get you items for your room.
5. Unable to view potential items for purchase. If you don’t have enough money and want to see how much money you need for an item, too bad, you can’t see it. The only album I can see in is ???. If I try to look in the others, I’m just told I don’t have enough money. Getting Pretty Woman’d in this game = lammeee…
6. Bugged route and showing you a route you can’t play. From what I’m reading Ryota’s route is bugged to the point where you can’t get the sweet ending with him. Want to date Natsuki? Too bad, he’s JP version only. Boos all around!

Tip(s):

• Like with all these games, max out your friends. Greeting gets your gacha, gacha gets you stuff, stuff can get you more charm, charm get you winning audition, winning auditions get you money for stuff. What’s not to like?
• Audition 2-3x a day. You’re gonna need that salary and fans for mission items.
• Did like your choice reaction? Back out! If you make a choice, and you don’t like the reaction it got, you can reset the level by immediately going to your home screen, opening your task manager, and killing the app. Then restart and play through the scenario again. I will let you know that my walkthrough will get you to the sweet ending. So, if you use them, you don’t have to really worry about that. 😉

Enjoy!