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About
Western Release date: October 8th, 2020.
Developers: Otomate, Design Factory.
Publishers: Idea Factory, Aksys Games.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch.
Genres: Otome, Visual Novel.
Modes: Single player.
Rating: Mature (+17)
Introduction
Fated Memories is the first entry to the Piofiore series. I heard that the people who played this game really enjoyed it, so I went ahead and ordered a copy. This was the first visual novel I ever played on the Switch. It brought back memories from the time I played Hakuoki on the Vita and absolutely loved it. So I thought, ‘Hey, I might be in for a nice ride.’ Was my decision correct? Let’s find out.
Before we begin though, two things. In this video I’ll only be reviewing the first game of the series and there will be heavy spoilers. You ready to dive into the world of organized crime? Nice, let’s go!
Story
Piofiore tells the story of Liliana Adornato, a young lady raised in the church. She’s always kind and nice, helping the church Sisters with anything they may need. She’s always surrounded by little orphan kids asking her to play with them or read them a story, and she happily complies every time. You think her peaceful life would continue on forever? Heck nah. Destiny drags her into a world of crime, murder, mystery and a bunch of hot mafia husbandos.
The story takes place in Burlone, a cute little seaside town in Italy. The year is 1925. I think. I actually don’t remember, but it’s sometime around that time. The vibrant town of Burlone, which seems so relaxed and quiet, is actually the home of three big mafia organisations. We have the Falzone family, ruled by Dante Falzone and his right hand man, Nicola Francesca. Then the rich and powerful Visconti family, with Gilbert Redford at the head, and finally the cheeky Lao-Shu, with a bit of an insane leader, Yang. Although these families get into fights from time to time, their dynamic is interesting. Why? Because they have a common goal: keeping Burlone safe. Which is kind of ironic because they’re the mafia. They bring trouble at times, yeah, but more often than not they’re nice people, trust. Everyone in town knows this and respects the three families because of it. They have a sort of co-dependence, but at the end of the day, everyone wins.
Fate will make Liliana interact with each of the families, getting involved with a bunch of nasty stuff. The game has a total of five love interests. Two from the Falzone, one from the Visconti, one from the Lao-Shu, and… another one that is kind of an odd case. He’s also my favourite. Let’s go meet them!
Love Interests
Nicola Francesca
Voice: Kimura Ryohei
‘Even now, I find it difficult to tell you everything.’
At first glance, Nicola Francesca appears to be an easy-going, funny and very charming man. Despite his carefree attitude, he’s caring and can be very kind when he wants to. However, there’s a side of him that makes me feel a bit uneasy.
Nicola makes me feel wary of the way he talks, his expressions and general attitude. This is because he tends to hide everything behind a—very pretty—smile. Personally, I’m not a fan of having to decipher what someone truly means, mainly because I have trouble distinguishing sarcasm from what someone actually means. Despite this, it was both interesting and annoying trying to understand Nicola’s psyche. It’s undeniable that he’s an entertaining character, not to mention quite cunning! There was depth to his story, which made me enjoy his route more than I initially expected.
In other words, he’s hot, he lies a lot, he’s cheeky and he wears a funny little fedora. That’s Nicola, all right. Someone that made me feel on edge, but not always in a fun way.
Yang
Voice: Okamoto Nobuhiko
‘Madness is quite beautiful.’
My first thought when seeing Yang was ‘Wow, I’m really gonna like this character’ and I was right. Yang’s design is great, his villainous vibe is enjoyable in all the wrong ways, and Okamoto’s voice acting brings it all together!
Yang is the type of person that gets bored incredibly easily, so he has to find ways to entertain himself. Relatable! What is not relatable however is the fact that to him, people—and life itself—serve the sole purpose of amusing him.
The protagonist had a hard time understanding Yang’s actions and words, but to me he was pretty easy to read. How come I understood Yang but not Nicola? No idea. Something important to mention is that although I enjoyed this route, I also felt like the protagonist had little to no say in anything! At all! I value freedom dearly, so it was a bit uncomfortable reading these chapters.
There’s more to Yang that meets the eye, and I was very interested to know more about him. Was this route full of red flags? Yes, all over the place. Was it entertaining? Yes, very much so. All in all, Yang’s route kept me entertained. I mean, just listening to him say ‘I’m bored’ was nice, simply because his voice is smooth as butter. Also, the supporting characters Lan and Fei made the route all the more lively—or should I say ‘deadly’? Those two were so refreshing, definitely my favourite side characters from any of the routes!
But yeah, I like Yang a lot—as a character. As boyfriend material though? No, thank you. Moving on!
Dante Falzone
Voice: Ishikawa Kaito
‘My feelings for you won’t change whether you’re here, or whether you’re at the church.’
Dante was the one who caught my eye when I first saw Piofiore’s game cover (him and Orlok, actually!) so I was eager to meet him. One of the things I liked the most about his route is how the player got to slowly discover Dante’s real personality. It’s like uncovering a mystery layer by layer, a very enjoyable journey if well done—and Dante’s story was more than well executed.
The narrative’s pace was good—a tad fast in my opinion—but it didn’t feel hurried, and it didn’t fall short on excitement. When it comes to the Falzone family, I have nothing but good things to say. I know they’re the mafia but it’s intriguing how the image of them changes the more the player spends time with them. They truly feel like a family. Shout out to Leo and Carlo the kitten! I find them both really cute.
About the romantic side of Dante, all I can say is I liked it a lot! It felt natural and very sweet. Not all things are sweet though and just like with Yang, the protagonist had little to no freedom when it comes to Dante. Thankfully things did change for the better later on, but some patterns never change, huh?
Even though I think highly of Dante and his men, spoiler alert, the way he behaved during Orlok’s bad route was absolutely disheartening and straight-up traumatising. It made me doubt everything I knew about him. The Dante I knew and loved was elsewhere, for sure. Dang.
Orlok
Voice: Toyonaga Toshiyuki
‘I offer my very self to you.’
What can I say other than this man is a cutie patootie, a cinnamon roll personified? I finished his route the fastest and I don’t think it’s because the story was short. I really couldn’t wait to keep playing—it was that engaging.
Being a church person, Orlok gets along well with the protagonist. Sure, some of their views differ, but generally speaking they’re quite similar and found common ground right off the bat. There was a lot of chemistry and it was lovely to see it.
This mysterious informant and skilled assassin reminds me of a soldier who knows no fear and is solely focused on his mission. This is both a blessing and a flaw, one he later reflects on. Orlok is genuine, the kind of person that wouldn’t deceive you just for the fun of it (I’m looking at you, Yang!) He’s for sure my favourite kind of person, and I’m so glad they added a character like him. He’s quite different from the others, beginning with the fact he’s not part of any of the mafia families. He is however involved with everything in one way or another, very sneaky, very Orlok-like.
And his voice actor? Oh, my! Hearing him is like listening to a soothing lullaby. Orlok’s voice is truly sweet, just like his personality. Especially when he blushes, which he does a lot because he’s a cinnamon roll. Words really can’t express how much I like this man, so I’ll just stop right here cause I think you get the picture. He’s great!
Gilberto Redford
Voice: Morikubo Showtaro
‘I love Burlone. The town itself and the people living in it.’
First of all, what a name. I love it. And I also love the confidence this man projects. It’s great, I see myself in that and it’s quite comforting! Even though Gilbert uses irony a lot, I can follow along his cheeky remarks. The man has a sense of humour, that’s undeniable.
Romantically speaking he’s a little bit too bossy for my taste. There’s nothing wrong with him, but I personally like to have more say in the relationship. Going back to the whole lack of freedom topic, Liliana mentioned it herself in one of her monologues: ‘I feel like he’s making me dance on the palm of his hands.’ Her words, not mine.
I will admit however that there were plenty of sweet moments during Gil’s route. He can be rather charming, not to mention handsome. I mean, just look at him. I can definitely see the appeal of Redford. He’s absolutely gorgeous and a delight to the eyes—and ears. His voice actor, Morikubo Showtaro is just mwah! Amazing. Great work. At the end of the day though I couldn’t really click with him. Why? Cause I love submissive me. Ahem, Orlok, ahem. But if you like big tall men with a bossy attitude, Gil is your man. He’ll give you more than a good time!
Liliana Adornato (MC)
In the previous visual novel review I didn’t mention the protagonist all that much, but this time I want to, because I’m a little bit upset. Liliana is a young lady who’s always lived at the church. She’s kind-hearted and always willing to help others. She’s basically your perfectly well-behaved MC. I would have no problem with her if it wasn’t for the fact that it feels like she has no free will. Sure, the game offers you options, but at the end of the day it’s like being on a leash, taken from one place to the other without the chance to do anything about it.
Is Liliana your typical helpless damsel in distress female Otome protagonist? At times, yes, and it’s sad to see these tropes again and again. It gets boring quickly. This lack of autonomy in most Otome main characters is sad, and that’s why I didn’t mention it in my Hakuouki review. I turned a blind eye to the fact that Chizuru, the MC of Hakuouki, resembles Liliana a lot personality wise. I don’t mean to sound negative, but at the same time I think it’s important to bring it up. Standards like these are not helpful, especially for young players who might think it’s okay to stay quiet, to be a people-pleaser and to let others do literally whatever they want to them.
Don’t get me wrong, Liliana is a good person and she deserves nothing but greatness. It’s a shame that for most characters in the game, she's nothing but a tool. She doesn’t add anything particularly new to the table and just reinforces negative stereotypes and expectations put on women since forever, and that I’m not supportive of. I’ll end this statement with the wise words of my friend Ale: ‘I’m used to boring MCs, I redirect my attention to the love interests,’ to which I responded, ‘Thanks, that comment alone saved me.’
To not end on a bad note though I’ll say that the decision to have the protagonist in such a different world than the love interests was a good decision, it added contrast that helped the overall narrative. Having two clashing points of views is always an interesting dynamic.
Art
What else can I say other than the art is beautiful? It’s detailed eye candy, iconic and easily recognisable. I love staring at each CG, taking in all the little details like clothing texture, luscious hair, shiny jewellery, endless colours and gorgeous, vibrant eyes. I love it!
Music
There’s not much I can say about the music. It’s nice, relaxing, fun. It’s a bit of everything and that’s exactly what the game needed. Nothing really stood out though. If we compare it to the previous review I made for Hakuouki in which I pointed out that to this date I still listen to the original soundtrack of the game because it’s that good, I wouldn't be able to say the same about Piofiore. Don’t get me wrong, the music is lovely and it does what it’s supposed to, which is set the tone and accompany the story, but it’s not exactly memorable. If I can choose a favourite track, I think it would be La Grazia dei Falzone and the music that plays at the Falzone residence during calm days. It’s nice!
Replayability
If you take into consideration there’s a good ending, a best ending and several bad endings per character, I don’t think I will be playing those again. This is a relatively long visual novel, so I think one read is enough. I felt differently with Hakuoki though, even though the game is even longer. But that’s because I’m biased towards that game and I love most of the characters. Also, sorry if I make too many comparisons with Hakuouki, that is the only other otome game I have reviewed on the channel so that’s kind of my only point of reference at the moment.
Back to Piofiore though the game offers extra short stories and a sort of extra chapter per love interest, following the events after the bad and best ending of each of them. There’s a slo the finale. That was a very nice touch, you get to see their lives after all the shid that went down during the game. Very nice!
Overall Thoughts
Pioriore is a game that once picked up, will be difficult to put down. The stories narrated are immersive and intriguing. I also liked the fact that many Italian words were said throughout the story, along with the names of dishes and desserts. If you don’t know Italian, you could learn a few words just by playing the game and reading the terminology provided in-game, or checking the Dictionary from the Extras menu.
All in all, I enjoyed getting to know all the different characters, the mafia families and the city of Burlone. Plus I liked the mechanic where you could see the POV of others, including love interests. You could read their thoughts and see the world through their eyes. That was cool, I always liked that mechanic. Another cool feature was the ‘Meanwhile’ option, which allowed you to see other events that were happening at the same time. This kind of parallel narrative is used a lot in movies and shows, but I haven't seen it used that much in visual novels. It’s a geat idea, I must admit.
That being said, I wouldn’t fully recommend this game, and I’ll tell you why. First off, I only loved one of the routes, enjoyed two, and felt kinda indifferent to the rest. I never related to the MC, it felt pretty bad to see her treated the way she was and her just kind of accepting that. Like, girl please, do something. Some of the routes were pretty interesting, but not enough to change my opinion of the game. It might just be me though, I’m sure there’s someone out there that is itching for a story like this. With… and I quote this Reddit user: non-consensual, human traffic, torture, drugs and sex.
Piofiore just never clicked for me, personally. Other than Orlok’s route I mean, that was amazing. The game isn’t bad by any means, it’s just not for me, and that’s okay. I have no one to blame, however, I did willingly go into this game blind. Expect the unexpected, embrace the mystery, and enjoy it. That’s what I like to say.
Oh and, Yang? You’re such an asshole.
Shad’s Rating: 6/10
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