Bleach Online

[Post #27 of the Blaugust Challenge!]

Fans of the manga and anime Bleach now have another medium to enjoy their hobby... somewhat. This browser based game plays a lot like Blood and Jade and League of Angels except with Bleach characters and anime styling. I still question how they got the rights to do this but whatever. The game begins with the player creating a soul from a choice from 6 "new" characters (not seen in Bleach before). There is no customization apart from adding a name to your avatar.

You will then find yourself with what I am guessing is the only quest hub in game. A gigantic area where all the NPCs regardless if they are on Earth or in the Shinigami realm or I suppose in Hueco Mundo (didn't get that far) show up to talk to. A portal leads you to battle zones which looks like a map with chibi versions of opponents. There are no divergent paths though. You have to beat monster A to get to monster B and so forth. Actually it's quite funny that the first person you fight is Aizen (one of the big bad guys), followed by what seems to be the series actual plot. I'm still not sure why because the translation is hilariously bad in most parts.

Yoruichi handles the cash shop in a maid outfit. Woo?

Fortunately random characters decide to join your team for some fights. You can also hire them to permanently be on your team from the tavern or from winning a best of 3 rock paper scissors gamble. Sounds like childs play? Well each attempt costs something like half a million gold so good luck. That's still around 75% cheaper than hiring them out right. You can gain a lot of skills as you level up, but in combat each character will only use the one you select as active, every other round. That is the extent of your input as in battle you basically just sit and watch, even in the pseudo PvP arena where you take on other players teams. Oh, you can try enslave the other players too and force them to work at your homestead - because uh... that didn't happen in Bleach.

And then there are the... "bonus" events. There's a lucky cat and gift timer boxes that give you money and items just for being logged in. You can try strip some random females of Soul Society as a daily task. You also have a homestead that you can upgrade and hunt down female hollows to steal their bikinis which you then use to upgrade your girlfriend who lives in your home (i think the first upgrade costs 500 bikinis?). And by upgrade I mean ditch the old one for a hotter one with bigger boobs. Oh you can interact with them too. Higher level girlfriends can give you more rewards when you talk to them, party with them, or "accidentally" fondle their breasts. There's actually a button for that.

While they got some voice lines directly from the anime I think, the music that I've encountered is repetetive and is not of the quality of League of Angels for example. The best part I think is the quiz which lets you answer one question about Bleach everytime you gain a level. Get it wrong and you gain a little money. Get it right and you get a lot of money. Nowhere near enough to save it though, because I give this game just one bankai out of five.

Blaugust Bonus: These are getting harder and harder to do so again I'll go with another of Belghast's writing prompts, one that has a short answer as to not let this post get too long. "Do you follow a games lore? There is often tons of lore both in game and out of game, do you follow it and even track down the tidbits that are not obvious.. or are you mostly oblivious to it?"

Generally speaking, no. The in-game story or world has to give it right to me (or at least feeds it passively through tasks for example) otherwise I don't actively look for it. Doubly so for anything outside the game because it's outside the game.