Project Diva f

I bought a Vita a tad prematurely. It was a good few months between buying it and there actually being games I wanted to play. But Technika Tune and this game soon put paid to that, and now I’m very happy I own it – even if my 3DS does tend to take precedent.

I had a bit of an obligation to spend a whole lot of time on Project Diva f, because after all it’s the third game in the series I’ve owned – or fifth if you count the Dreamy Theatre extensions. I’ve played all the games except Extend, as I was waiting for Dreamy Theatre Extend when this game appeared. With Project Diva F now bringing the series to Western shores, with a UK release supposedly today (but, crappily, only online) and the game already available Stateside (physical copy), it’s likely I’ll never get around to getting Extend to work. Ah well!

Yesterday, I finally got my platinum trophy for the game, many moons after my purchase, ironically after perfecting every song in the game - what was required for the old gold trophy – when finally one random loading screen popped up and completed my collection. I can firmly say that it’s complete now, and I must say I hesitate to buy the PS3 version if all I’ll be doing is repeating the same songs and having to get trophies for things like stroking Kaito’s cheek for hours.

As an instalment in the series, it’s a good one, but I’m glad it wasn’t my first. The previous games had so many of the big-hitting tracks, including more or less the entirety of the Supercell album – though Black Rock Shooter finally made it with this instalment – that without playing them first I’d feel there was a whole lot missing. The track listing here still had some highlights, though, with ‘Fire◎Flower’ a highlight for me, and ‘Sadistic Music Factory’ graduating to a favourite thanks to the exposure it had here. 

‘Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!’, famous as the ‘Nyan Cat’ song, got included, sadly not in the ridiculous endurance style of the edit mode song I had, but with a strange remix with a variety of style changes I quite enjoyed (but wouldn’t listen too as music!), and more fun with Rin and Len in the form of ‘RimoCon’ and ‘Kagamines’ Hachi-Hachi Flowery Battle’. Oster Project’s chameleon act is represented with the 50s ‘Summer Idol’ and Dixie Flatline’s ‘The Dream Continues’ is a lovely hummable anthem. Meiko’s inclusion was quite enjoyable this time, with the breathy and fun pop of ‘Megane’ and the cool-sounding and utterly hilarious-to-read-the-subtitles-of ‘DYE’. It’s a bit of a shambles for the older-generation Vocaloids, though: Meiko is sadly represented by the screeching ‘Stay With Me’ and equally irritating ‘Nostalogic’, which I managed to make enjoyable only by giving her a hideous mask, making the video much funnier, and Kaito’s voice is notably daft on ‘Acute’ and ‘Ashes to Ashes’, despite two of the best, most over-the-top accompanying PVs. It’s also hilarious how he’s presented in the intro – while the twins are making art or playing guitar and Meiko is onstage performing, Kaito totally looks like he just got on the stage to dance along without anyone asking him to or wanting him there. Bless his idiot heart.

The quality of videos is much-improved. We can now have a number of background characters, much enhancing group songs, and there’s much more scope for moving between scenes. There’s also a clear attempt at variety, with one video mostly in anime style, lovely contrasts between fluffy light idol stuff and some of the darker concepts of the Vocaloids, and even the chance to put Shiteyan’yo on everyone’s heads (mostly Meiko). There are also some adorable little narratives, like the one for ‘Time Machine’, evidently about a brief summer romance between your Vocaloid and the viewer. It’s total fanservice, but the bittersweet goodbye is totally irresistible. Then there’s Ryo’s ‘ODDS&ENDS’, with its oh-so-subtle narrative of ‘this otaku’s life is utterly worthless, but now he’s discovered Vocaloid, started being productive and turned his life around into something wonderful!’ which would be a hideously transparent marketing ploy if it wasn’t preaching to the choir. Still, watching the lovely hi-res graphics is a huge step up from the PSP versions, and a pleasure distinct from playing.

I’m happy I’ve played F, but the tracklisting could certainly have been better, and that’s part of the reason the PS3 version may be on the back burner for me for a while. And I do wonder what’s left for future versions…apart from ‘Trick or Treat’ by Oster Project, there aren’t many songs I’m that keen to see included – though if they surprise me and put in something pervy like ‘Kagamine Len no Bousou’ or something extremely dark like ‘Gomen Ne’, that would be a huge plus. Neither are ever likely to make it, though. I suppose they could start including more peripheral Vocaloids more…