Title: クドわふたー Converted Edition
Developer: Key & Prototype
Release Date: 19th December 2013
Age Rating: 15+
Length: 10+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
With its memorable cast of characters and strong story, the original Little Busters game (more specifically the Ecstacy version) is one of my all time favourite galge. While her route in the original wasn’t one of the stronger ones, Noumi Kudyravka’s utter adorableness has made her one of my favourite heroines of all time. Therefore, the prospect of a Kud-only sequel/fandisc was utterly enticing. That being said, I’m not sure what took me so long to get around to playing this, given that I first played the original 10 years ago (have replayed it more recently though).
First things first, Kud is still crazily cute and her “Wafu~” catchphrase was definitely prevelant throughout this title. The main story of this game actually has pretty much nothing to do with the original Little Busters as the only other recurring character from that is Kanata – the rest of the gang, sadly, do not show up.
The basic premise of this title is that Riki and Kud are a couple and are staying at school during the summer holidays but there ends up being a major water leak in the boys’ dorm. The solution to this is to have all students remaining at the academy share the girls’ dorm. However, of course, they’re one bed short and Riki ends up having to secretly share a room with Kud. While there, they both end up entering a local contest to build a water bottle rocket. They also end up meeting elementary schooler Shiina and Kud’s old roomate Yuuki.
While Kud may be adorable, she unfortunately cannot completely distract from some of the bigger problems that the game has. In particular, the story is much weaker than I would expect, even for a fandisc. I might be more lenient on other companies but I know that Key games in particular are known for their writing/stories so I had higher expectations than usual.
The start of the game in particular felt like it took a long time to get going, with the “daily life” section of the game seemingly dragging on for hours. The story of the game is actually divided into two sections, who’s names I can’t remember ^_^;;;;
Anyways, the first section actually has a decent enough climax/conclusion even though the first half was boring. The second section is considerably more dramatic and what you’d expect from Key but it feels a bit cheesy. That may sound a little harsh but I can’t think of anything else to describe it.
Outside of the story, everything else was of great quality. The artwork by Na-Ga (my preferred Key artist) was lovely and there were plenty of images for the length of the game.
The music was also an area where the game excelled – the opening song was utterly adorable and the BGM was nice, my favourite track being “When we wish upon a star“.
Prototype’s port of the game was as clean as always so no complaints there. The PS Vita edition in particular didn’t really contain any new content but it has the same additional pool/fireworks episodes as the PSP port, which were pretty fun actually.
Final Thoughts
My Score: 6/10
If you’re a fan of Kud and want to play a cute game featuring many fluffy scenes with her then this is definitely the title for you & this game totally delivers in that regard. However, those looking for a more story-heavy game or just general fans of Little Busters may find Kud Wafter to be slightly on the disappointing side because it’s definitely skewed towards the fanservice side.
That being said, I’m still glad that I finally managed to cross this game off my to-play list.
Sorry for the short review this week, I just don’t want to spoil the story for those who do want to play!
Thanks for reading!
Zettai Renai! 