Nicole

I enjoyed this little mystery game, even though I got the bad ending.

Sort of difficult to get into at first, I had to use walkthroughs to properly understand the game and how it worked. It also heavily relies on RNG, so I had plenty of saves to load back into. Other than that, the storyline was decent. Also I don't have all the achievements while writing this review since the game decided to glitch and not give me the endings after I fulfilled criteria, so I watched videos of the endings instead.

Nicole was the second visual novel I've ever played in my life when I was 12 years old. It definitely took part into turning me into the visual novel-holic I am now, 8 years later. But replaying it now, it is very boring and out dated. I'm sure back when this game came out, or if you happened to be a VN baby, this game was good enough. What it gets right is good writing, good sound design, good art, and it's somewhat interesting mystery. What it gets wrong is the deal-breaker for me, even though I'm going to finish this game anyways for nostalgia. The love interests just suck lol. They all have big egos, anger issues, and are stereotype galore. They all kinda treat Nicole like crap in the beginning, I know they can get nicer as you romance them but it makes me not want to go into any route at all. The "life sim" part is not fun and can ruin your entire run. It's not easy to be immersed in the story because it consists of small scenes between large chunks of life sim choices. And it's just plain boring! I have more fun laughing at how unlikable the characters are and how much progression it is lacking.

There are much, much better visual novels to be playing, save yourself a good 12 hours.

Also keep in mind if anyone is actually thinking about buying this game, it didn't run for me the first couple times. But after uninstalling and reinstalling, it worked.

It's a pretty interesting game.
Stat raising can get pretty annoying and repetitive sometimes, but it's manageable. Music is ok, graphics are pretty good.
Story is kinda interesting? The ending ruins it a bit though. I mean, jesus christ Nicole, how stupid can you be to just go to abandoned building - no flashlight, no weapon, without telling anyone - because YOUR STALKER AND KIDNAPPER INVITED YOU??? Like, seriously, maybe she deserved to be kidnapped - it's just natural selection at work. And why tf didn't she go to police after the first few threatening messages? She didn't want to involve them? The goddamn POLICE?? No logic in this girl, I swear.
Characters are pretty cute, most routes are sweet and fun. Except Jeff. Jeff's route is just weird. .
Overall, I don't feel like I wasted time on this game. It was pretty enjoyable. If you're bored and don't mind repetitive stat raising, this game is worth checking out.

Minor spoiler ahead, clearly marked.

This was a neat blend of choices and time management. Increase the right stat for your chosen route, solve the mystery, and win his heart!

That said, there was one route I could've done without. Though playing it is needed for the full story, as is usual with these types of games, I didn't enjoy it. If I had known, I would have burned through Jeff's route on my first run and been done with it.

I am always very hesitant to voice my opinions online like this, but I wanted to find someway to express how I was feeling about this game. I will admit, I did not make it very far into Nicole but I don't intend on playing more of it. The daily tasks options isn't what bothered me, although I would have preferred a more involved game play in that sense. The issue I have with Nicole lies with the fact that I had a really hard time taking the characters seriously- specifically Nicole and Ted. This mainly stems from the really stilted dialogue. Most of the interactions I read through were awkward and painful, and even just Nicole's internal dialogue was a bit too much for me. I understand wanting to have a relatable protagonist but in a visual novel where so much of the story is told via these interactions it was difficult to read and enjoy.

Also, I would like to add that the first interaction with Ted was so cringey to read through I actually had to stop playing before coming back. Him being from Alabama and having a Southern Accent was the most ridiculous thing I have ever read because Nicole made such a big deal about it to that point that she came across as weird. Alabama and Florida touch, it made more sense for him to be there- in a neighboring state- for college than Nicole who traveled all the way across the country. I don't know why this was a big of an issue to me as it was.

It's an enjoyable enough experience but as many others have said here, get it on sale. I'd recommend it as more of a mystery game than an otome game because, seeing as the game is largely just you controlling Nicole's actions and occasionally and sporadically encountering the guys from time to time, the romance element is weak and the relationship building feels somewhat detached. Even then, it's difficult for me to even recommend this as a mystery game because it's really damn predictable. It wouldn't be so bad if Jeff just stuck to his approachable facade throughout the whole thing. I get that seeing him acting all weird happened by accident but there was no reason for that scene to be in the game and if they'd just taken it out and stuck with the fake personality, it would have been so, so much better.
Art was okay, the eyes looked a little... wonky, I guess? Plus, Nicole's description didn't always match what was on-screen (e.g. I believe she said Ted's eyes were very light and hazel but they looked more dark brown to me). Music was nice but again, didn't always match up with what was going on (the OST only has ten tracks and the mood of the tracks wasn't all that varied).
So yeah, if you want a cute little time-waster for about ten or twenty hours (ignore my play time, I sometimes leave VNs idling in the background so I've nearly always got extra hours logged on them), pick this up on sale.

It's a good concept with good men, but that's about it.

You play as Nicole in her first year of college, she learns that girls had previously gone missing and begins to investigate. Along the way you meet the 4 capture targets that cover an array of personalities but they're all thin men with medium to long hair.

The gameplay is too direct and the only "mystery" to solve is which stat is associated with which guy and getting it to 999 the most efficient way you can. The endings and events are predictable and sweet, but that's all they have going for them. Even the "Very Bad" ending stops shy of anything noteworthy.

The OST and art is good, especially the title song.

You're a cheerleader! Now you're not. Your friend's injured! Now he's not. Now he is again! The scenes are so disjointed. This is a romance game that can't keep track of your relationship with the guys. Writing and mechanics are disconnected. The romances and the mystery are disconnected.

Even if you're a dork who wants to date these four dorks (hi), this game is an immersion-breaker, which is unforgiveable in a game like this. It's sad because the art's cute as heck. Not even worth $5.

It's a solid dating sim/otome game. The story is not a masterpiece, but it's still a fun way to pass the time. Also, Ted is best husbando.

This is an interesting game. As a Winter Wolves product, I knew it would be great, as they don't seem to have any real stinkers. This game is the otome version (they appear to be working on a version with romanceable girls; though I'm not sure if the protagonist will also change genders). You are embroiled in a mystery, as a number of abductions are occurring on campus, and Nicole (you) decide to try and become Nancy Drew and track down the perpertrator.

While you are gathering these clues, you bump into four eligible men who... entice your interest. Through a series of resource management actions, you can win the heart of one of them, solve the mystery, or both. Note the Very Bad ending is when you solve the mystery... yet don't win the heart of any of the eligible men. Also, one of those you are wooing just might be the perp you hunt...

(Please read review before taking the thumb's up at face value.)

I wasn't sure about getting this game at first because of all the negative reviews, but I got it when it was on sale and I was pleasently surprised how much I enjoyed it. Though I can see why there would be quite a few thumbs down on this game, especially at it's full price.

Pros:
- The art and backgrounds are nicely done, and appealing to look at through the whole game.
(The Chibis of the characters are freakin' adorable!!!)

- Nicole herself is not a blank slate character. She has some personality, which seems to be a rarity in otome protagonists.

- Buying your guy gifts.... <3 (Though you might want to save the game if you don't want accidently give a $100 gift to the wrong guy.... like me.)

- I LIKED EVERY GUY!!! I can't stress this enough. Usually in otomes you have a favorite guy, but with this one it's hard for me to pick one! Jeff had his ' rough ' moments but, every guy had their sweet moments with Nicole that I loved. Darren was THE SWEETEST!!!!! <3

Cons:
- One of the biggest drawbacks the game suffers from is it's execution of it's premise. While the premise of Nicole has the opportunity to make a compelling story for the protagonist, it just ends up falling flat. And by the end if you choose to ' solve ' the mystery, it just makes Nicole look kinda dumb by running headfirst into danger without a second thought. The mystery ending feels like it was just put in there to have Nicole be the damsel in distress. Also, why did she not keep the texts as evidence, or tell literally anyone she could be the next to disappear?!? Okay fine , go get that guy yourself- but bring a weapon or mace or something!-_-

- While the stat raising wasn't a problem for me, it can start to really feel like grinding. Especially if you want to see both endings, which causes you to raise two stats all the way to full.

- Nicole does have a personality, but sometimes she can seem pushy and a bit unlikable at times.

- There aren't many CG's. The only ones you get are in the endings, and the only way to access them in the menu once you're done is to play the ending over.

- That Price. While I did enjoy this game, I'm sure my mood would sour if by the end of the game I realized I paid $20 for the stuff in the game that really irritated me. I got it on sale for around $12, and that was the main reason I bought it in the first place.

So in conclusion would I recomend this game,.... yes, on sale.

I got this game for around $12, and the amount of stuff I liked seemed to balance out with what I paid. There are some things in this game that just irritated me. The mystery aspects didn't really play that much into what I truly enjoyed about this game. The best part of this game really is the guys, which, to me at least, were all well done.

So, go get this game on sale if you're looking for another otome game.

This VN was so bad, oh god. Not only you have to raise status (clues + status related to the character you wanna romance up to 999), but the story was bad and the characters were also bad. Like other Winter Wolves games, this one fails because it gives more importance to status raising than story and character development. Having a nice art style, BGs and decent BGM is for naught if the characters are empty shells and if the gameplay is annoying instead of being fun. This game was really boring in my opinion, and I don’t recommend this even for free.

Also, after you raise the clues + status related to the character you wanna date up to 999, there’s NOTHING else to do on the VN. You simply gotta wait for the limit date to watch the ending. Argh.

1/10.

Eventhough the game has it's charms, the game mechanics and timing ruin it. I, like many others who have played this game, have followed the games directions of:

1.Romance the person to 100%
2. Get the character trait that corresponds with that romance up to 999
3.Get your clue bar to 999.

However, even if you do all three, if you don't do them in a specific order at certain times you will not get the good endings. It is infuriating to put in so much work and get none of the rewards. If the developers would fix this I would reccommend playing it, but since it is a common problem with all of their games I will go ahead and say save your money and buy a well constructed dating sim.

Do. Not. Buy. This. Game.
I paid 20 dollars for this game expecting a fun dating sim where you controlled a girl who could date one of 4 guys, solve a mystery, and even possibly end up dating the wrong guy and be in for an interesting plot twist. I got none of that. Every cent I spent on this game was money wasted. Not a cent of fun was found.

What I got was annoying task-managing, boring as heck characters with choices, and even the kidnapper is obvious. There's no mystery to it, he's only the kidnapper to add shock value and intrigue to his character. The endings are all pretty much drivel. You even at one point end up having a romantic route with the kidnapper, who by early on you should have ditched, making it a romance in the league of that of Twilight and 50 Shades of Grey, to say creepy and shallow.

The other characters are bland, and even the "bad" endings aren't even bad, just disappointing. You're wondering what horrible things might happen to Nicole if she dates the kidnapper or is kidnapped, but in reality, there's nothing much to it.

All this game consists of are clicking and doing tasks, and occassionally making text choices to get the right guy. And here's the thing, if you don't reaaaally work on getting the stats he likes /and/ say ALL the right things to him, you don't get the guy. It's literally an entire semester's worth of busy-work and clicking.

FINAL VERDICT; 1/10. Worst 20 bucks I ever spent in my life. You're better off playing freaking Sakura Clicker, at least that garbage at least gives you half naked women to gawk at while you do stupid fetchquests forever.

This is a fun and breezy otome game. In it, you play as Nicole, a college freshman, who is investigating the abductions of three girls at her university. The goal is to collect clues throughout the semester in order to solve the mystery by winter break. Since this is an otome game, you also need to build up your relationship with one of four guy characters.

Without giving too much away, the romanceable characters are essentially:
-Kurt - a flirty jock on the football team
-Ted - an obsessive workaholic
-Darren - a painfully shy classmate
-Jeff - an intelligent upper classman

My only complaint is that even if you collect enough clues by the end of the semester, the bad end seems to trigger if you don't have a relationship with one of the guys. I would have liked to have seen an alternate ending where, if you gather enough clues, Nicole effectively handles the mystery by herself without needing to also be in a relationship.

All in all, this was a fun otome game that I would recommend to fans of the genre. Also, if you're going to play this one, I would recommend romancing Jeff first.

This game doesn't get enough street cred.
=======

CONS:

- Generic characters
- Odd introductions
- Protagonist isn't very... relateable.
- Reviews state "culprit is predictable", and I am starting to believe they're right... :l
- No depth to story, really. It's just... yes.

PROS:

- Great visuals
- Very well animated character sprites
- Enjoyable banter and conversational options
- Lots to do!
- Allows focus on dating-sim + studies, or mystery solving, or all of the above!
- I get the feeling that there is some replay value to be had here... :p

Do I recommend?
Yes, I do.

Buy it on sale, though, I'd say.
It's a fun, intriguing way to pass time.

The story is incredibly shallow and so are the characters. Predictable stereotypes.
There is no 'mystery', anyone can figure it out immediately after you meet all the characters.
Solving the mysteries involves leveling up a 'clue' stat that unlocks cutscenes, and doesn't have any interactions related to solving the mystery yourself.
The game is easy because it's predictable, but if you're not immediately sure who to date, it's punishing.
All-rounding stats is simply not possible because of the sheer amount of points you need in a single stat.

Overall, VERY disappointing. When I bought the game, the reviews were positive.
It's at least a relief to see it sliding to Mixed, already.

So, I dont know how I ended up logging so many HOURS into this game.
I got it no more than a week ago (week ago~) and I really cant stop. But I cant really say if the game is good or not. I just want the damn guy to fall in love with me so I have to raise the stat he likes most. Then I have to be nice and even buy them gifts or they wont end up liking me. Man, men are so needy.
So I got the "good" ending and we took a selfie. Do you know how pissed i...was? a DAMN selfie?
Now I must play again and get the sexy (or it might just be sweet) ending.

Get this game
Dammit

Nicole is one of those games that I have a hard time understanding exactly why I like it as much as I do. With tedious gameplay that is neither engaging or interesting and a predictable storyline riddled with clichés and unbelievable situations, you'd think I'd have played an hour or two and tossed it in the "File and Forget" bin of my library. On the contrary, I found myself plugging 15+ hours into the game, playing through all four character routes, and falling in love with each of the guys along the way (well, 3/4 of them anyway). Perhaps this review is my way of figuring out just what makes Nicole so appealing to me despite so many flaws.

Our story begins with the title character arriving for her freshman year at college. She's a plucky, perky 18 year old girl who has spent most of those 18 years loving fashion, getting straight A's, and finding herself amongst the popular group of girls in high school. Oh, and she's never had a boyfriend or been kissed before. Not exactly the most realistic protagonist in the world, but she's likable enough despite being a tad annoying at times. After getting settled in, she stumbles across an article detailing the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of 3 female students who inexplicably have no memory of their time gone, but are so rattled by the experience they either drop out or transfer to another school. One would think campus kidnappings would have Nicole practicing a little caution, but it's not long before she's contacted by the kidnapper and warned that she'll be next. Logically, going straight to the authorities is out of the question; Nicole has no choice but to investigate the kidnapper herself. Yes...the story has some issues, but the mystery isn't what kept me playing.

As mentioned previously, the plot is predictable and character routes cliché-fests. BUT...I couldn't stop reading. For an OELVN (Original English Language Visual Novel) the writing is exceptionally good. Aside from a bit of annoying slang here and there, the characters are all well developed with their own distinct voices (something so many of these games lack), and the dialogue is fluid and for the most part believable. On top of that, I may have caught maybe 2 typos throughout the 4 routes, and that's pretty dang impressive considering how so many games in the genre are littered with typos, misspellings and awkward phrasing. So, despite my boredom with the overarching storyline, reading through the game was a pleasant experience.

And then there are the boys. Yes, they're your stereotypical romance tropes, but they're written believably well. If I had to boil it down to the one thing that kept me playing, it was the romance between Nicole and the guys. Watching the relationships go from acquaintance to friend, and ultimately on to something more, was enjoyable and interesting. The gradualness of the friendships and Nicole's slow realization of her own feelings was refreshing. Much of the romantic dialogue and situations were hilarious, other parts touching, and some scenes downright steamy. For an otoge, they hit a bulls-eye with the character romances. Granted, the premise for getting Nicole and each guy in the same room for the relationship to flourish was kind of boring and predictable, but easily forgiven considering how much I enjoyed the result of those encounters.

On the visual side of things, the artwork is quite impressive for the genre and a highlight of the game. This artist has worked on previous Winter Wolves titles, and I'm a big fan of hers. The style has a soft feel to it which is accentuated by the pastel palette used to color the work; this complements the romantic tone of the story quite well. The character designs are not particularly detailed or inspired, but they're nicely conceived and pleasant on the eyes. My only disappointment is that we don't get any CG's outside of the character endings. But this is a small price to pay to have polished and professional looking artwork for the entire game.

Now, to detail the most boring, drudging, soul crushing aspect of Nicole, which is the simulation gameplay. I generally do not find life sims to be very engaging, but Nicole's gameplay felt so much worse. You spend a good 80% of the 4 game months picking the same activities over and over to level up your clues in order to further the mystery storyline while also leveling the requisite stat for the guy you're pursuing. And that's it. You can literally go weeks without a single event scene triggering, and when all I want is to get to the next steamy romance bit, facing days upon days of nothing but the same monotonous activities again and again is torture. We're not even given flavor text after each activity to spice things up either. Unfortunately, by the time I realized how mind-numbing the gameplay was, I was already hooked on the feels that I forced myself through for that next romantic "hit". Thankfully there's a skip button (hidden away in the options menu, by the way, but at least it's there) that helped me fly through things a bit faster on subsequent playthroughs, because I don't know if I'd have survived it otherwise.

The rest of the gameplay consists of visual novel reading with a few dialogue choices tossed in to level up affection with the guys. Honestly, the game would have been much better as a straight visual novel using dialogue trees to further the storyline, although it would have probably cut the play time down by at least half. I wouldn't have minded this myself as I feel it would have made the experience MUCH more enjoyable, but I think it'd be hard to justify the $20 price tag for maybe 6 hours of gameplay.

In the end, I can only recommend Nicole to other female players who enjoy otome and a good romance now and again. Unfortunately, there's just not enough meat to the story to pull the guys in, and I'm not sure most would be interested in the romance aspects which is the game's biggest strength. Still, for a game that was painful to play at times, there are much worse examples of the genre out there. I'd suggest waiting for a good sale to pick it up. At the right price it's worth it for the steamy bits alone.


Bottom Line: 6/10

Curated by: Otome Rakuen & Chudah's Corner

If you're into otome/dating games, like a bit of fluff, and don't want to think too hard, this is the game for you. It's not a perfect game, but it's fun and charming if you're willing to enjoy it without over analyzing it.

The mechanics can be a little challenging at first, only because it doesn't clearly explain that in order to get the best 'true' endings, you have to really balance the order in which you max your stats by a certain time frame, and not before, or the game won't give you the 'true' ending, much to my chagrin. There's a lot of walk-throughs and guides out there for the game, but most of them fail to mention that first you work your guy's correlating stat, but not to maximum, then spam the clues stat to full, then complete your guy's stat, all before November. It's pretty simple to do on 'easy' and seriously, there's no negatives to changing the setting to easy, seriously, it'll save you a lot of headaches if you do, in case the random stat generator isn't kind to you and you put in all that work just to get the bad or normal endings.

Other than that, it's a pretty cute game. It's nothing groundbreaking, but I found it very addicting, I played through all the characters and endings in a few days. Once you get the hang of the stat system, it's easy to grind and enjoy the cut-scenes (even though it is, yes, a little grindy). The artwork is pretty and the story and character development is vastly superior to other games by the same developer.

If you can get this game on sale or discount, I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up. Just make a lot of saves, have a walk-through open to help you if you don't want to waste your time making 'wrong' choices, and enjoy the ride.

If only I could've given this a neutral rating, then it would've been better.

At the beginning, I did enjoy the game though that could be a result of my favorite kinds of characters being in it, but it all went downhill after that. Well... Let's just start with pros and cons.

Pros:
-Good art for the price
-Music is suitable for the changes in mood
-The stereotypes actually worked out rather well for the characters

Cons:
-The story felt incredibly rushed. Especially in Jeff's route. Not only that, but I feel like things were just thrown in to fix inconsistencies in the storyline
-Finding out who the killer is was way too easy. It made it feel like there was no point in collecting clues in the first place.

If you like playing a game more heavily leaning towards the dating sim side than the mystery side, then yes, this game would be good for you. Otherwise, I'd can't really say that I'd recommend it. I find the story to be equally important for dating sims or for visual novels, so I was a bit disappointed.

Storyline: 4.5/10
Art: 8/10
Music: 8/10

Play the game when it's on sale is pretty much all I have to say. Would I play it again? Probably not, but I still recommend this game with a thumbs up for the art and music.