Sharing my recommendation for Visual Novel simulation game (Magical Princess) for N3- N2
I just wanted to share a game called Magical Princess. I played it and thought it would be a great addition for Japanese learners that are looking for a game to practice their reading and listening skills. I think it also makes a great entry point into the VN genre. You can finish the game with multiple ending choices in under 20 hours or less if you are a fast reader. btw there are 50 endings.
So, let’s start with What is Magical Princess?
It’s a Visual Novel game with a focus on character raising simulation. You are a widowed father trying to raise your daughter. Every choice you make has an impact on her future and her job. You guide her through her school years up until graduation day. From taking courses, part time jobs, people she interacts with etc. It also has dungeon RPG elements mixed in.
It has about 30 characters with unique personalities, 170 date scenes and 50 endings. It has amazing art, animated and expressive 2D character animation, voice acting. It is a very polished game. And It has sold about 300,000 copies with an overwhelmingly positive rating on steam.
Where to buy it?
Steam and currently on sale until Jul 9^(th).
Why is it good for Japanese learners?
Because despite being a VN and text heavy. The language barrier is relatively low since most of the lingo is slice of life genre. Think of Yotsubato (よつばと!) manga but a game version of it. Actually, this is the closest VN game that feels like Yotsubato. Both have single father and raising their daughter. Only difference in the game is, it’s a fantasy genre and your daughter is basically a student at a magical high school. If you are not familiar with Yotsubato. It’s basically the best entry point for people learning Japanese to read raw manga.
As to why I recommend this game for N3 – N2. Even though majority of the text is slice of life, sometimes we are dealing with vocabs and kanji from fantasy theme. I will show some example sentences to show the difference in difficulty level. Also, because its a VN game its very text heavy. But if you can read Yotsubato comfortably, and not familiar with fantasy vocabs. I would recommend it, only if you want to challenge yourself. In my opinion this game would act as a good bridge to N3/N2 level.
The overall language difficulty can fluctuate depending on who you talk to, what choices you make as you go about your everyday routine when you raise your daughter. I would say if you are at N3 – N2 level. Your reading comprehension for this game would be around 60 -70%.
As I mentioned its very text heavy. So, it might be a jump for people coming from reading manga or just textbook. But because its so interactive as a simulation game, it might be easier. Did I mention, its very relaxing and you can progress at your own pace.
Sentence examples
Slice of life/ easier sentence
· そういえばね、この間、なつかしい夢を見たの。
· おはよう！今日の朝ごはん、何？
· お母さんに似てきたなって思ってさ。
· ……そっか。ママ、美人だったもんね。
· どんな学園生活になるんだろう……
· ヘー……すごいけど、ちょっと怖そう
· ふあぁ、今日の授業終わり！疲れたあ。
· 今から食べに行こうね~。
· ショッピングだけじゃなくて、 アルバイトを募集してる店もあるみたいだよ。
Magic related/ higher difficulty sentences
· 新入生のみなさん、王立魔導学園への入学を心よりお祝い申し上げます。
· コッペパン神殿の大神官には、「紅き月が再び混沌をもたらす」と神託が下ったという。
· 学園内には剣術、魔術、社交の三つのクラスがあり、自分で好きな道を選ぶことができます。
· 昔の戦争じゃ、200体以上の魔物を一人で斬り伏せて王国を勝利に導いたって噂だぜ。
· 王都周辺では魔物による襲撃が相次ぎ、騎士団が対応に追われている。
· 召喚術師で、女王の側近
· 由緒正しい騎士の家系、ブルーベル家出身の王国騎士さ
· 違法な粉、盗品、偽造品、人の命ですら……東亜コインで動く。
recommendation / final comment
Some software I would recommend when playing this game. Luna translator and Migaku.
Luna translator has a OCR function and you can set it up to show furigana for kanji you might not know how to read. You are not using this as a machine translator but rather to copy sentences to show you furigana and you can also set it up to show definition of words. You might even be able to text-hook this game if you are experienced with VN and luna translator.
Migaku to track your vocab and to use it as a clipboard to review all the sentences, words you found difficult. And if you need, you can ask the ai to help you break down the sentences and explain it.
There are other programs that can perform similar function like Sugoi Toolkit and Yomitan clipboard. It will come down to personal preference if you want to use software to aid you or not.
I am not an avid reader, nor do I consider myself a VN expert. In fact, this is the first character raising simulation game I played. I am more of raw manga reader. But I found this game very enjoyable and a great reading experience. I reached the ending in about 12 hours and got 3 different ending choices. I did main quest plus side quests. It was a complete blind playthrough.
For a first playthrough I would recommend selecting the social class since it won’t throw as many magic related vocabs at you. Especially when you have conversation with your teacher. Currently doing a new game plus to see new routes and unlock new scenes and endings. I really feel this is the best bang for your buck as a VN game itself and to aid you in your Japanese language learning path.