So I have to admit that I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to niche RPG dungeon crawlers featuring monster girls. I lived my best life on the PlayStation Vita when these niche role-playing games were finally translated into English. There were a lot more that we didn’t get, but now we’re starting to get a lot of them on the Switch. Today’s subject is Seven Pirates H, and even though it was first released in 2016, we are finally getting it here in the west on the Switch. The series is one of the latest releases in the Genkai Tokki series. Genkai Tokki includes such titles as Monster Monpiece, Moero Chronicle, and Moero Crystal. Suppose you know anything about those games and see that it is known for their monster girl designs and their dungeon crawling. Seven Pirates H special is that this is the first title in the Genkai Tokki series that’s entirely in 3D. How does its first 3D adventure fare? Let’s set sail and find out!
Seven Pirates H opens up by meeting Parute, a pirate who recently discovered a magical compass that’s not fully complete. A helpful but perverted companion named Otton explains to Parute that if she can find the missing pieces it will guide her to this legendary treasure. Pretty quickly after Parute runs into a kobold named Waffle and a slime monster named Jewel. The three promptly set off for adventures on the high seas as they attempt to collect the missing pieces of the compass. Honestly, the story is not groundbreaking but it’s a fun little diversion as you learn about the other monster girls and the surrounding world.Â
Some changes and sacrifices needed to be made when moving a Genki Tokki series from fully 2D into 3D. I wish the number of monster girls in the game was not reduced. Usually, there are many monster girls to collect in the previous entries in the series; however, Seven Pirates H dials it down as there are only seven playable characters in the game. I know it’s in the title, so it’s expected, but it’s still a considerable step down from what the series is known for. I think the game suffers because of it. The monster girls that we do get have fun personalities; however, each design makes it a little hard to tell what they are. While there aren’t too many playable monster girls, it is nice to see the trash enemies be converted into 3D models.
Moving to 3D has also affected the gameplay of Seven Pirates H. One of the reasons I like dungeon crawlers is for grid-based map making, and exploring maps and discovering what they hold and completing them yourself is a real treat. However, Genkai Tokki’s transition into 3D with this title does away with that and makes it closer to Compile Hearts other games like the Hyperdimension Neptune series. I don’t think this is necessarily bad for an RPG like this, but if when you want something a bit more complicated in a dungeon crawler, the maps in Seven Pirates H are pretty bare and basic.
Outside of the maps being what they are, the main gameplay gimmick for this RPG is that stats are correlated with different bust sizes and attributes. The player must touch the character’s breast and perform different motions to change this. Here is a tip that you get in the game: “bigger isn’t always better so you need to find out what that character’s strength is and play to it.” However, what I found is if you max out all the stats on everything It leads to weird-looking breasts on every character, which is generally what you want to do.Â
Overall, Seven Pirates H is a pretty okay turn-based RPG that mimics a lot of other Compile Hearts’ other RPG series. To be 100% honest if you’re a fan of the series for the monster girls and anime aesthetic, then you’ll probably feel right at home with this entry in the series. If you are a fan of the dungeon crawling and map building, you’ll probably be disappointed with the access. Seven Pirates H is not a bad game, and I believe it’s a low point in the Genkai Tokki series and a sloppy attempt at jumping onto 3D. I have faith in Compile Heart, so I hope whenever the West gets Castle Panzers, it’ll show that they learned their lessons and created a 3D Genkai Tokki game better than Seven Pirates H.
