La Corda d’Oro 4 shouldn’t be so similar to La Corda d’Oro 3

Koei Tecmo has announced a new otome, but you might want to temper that excitement. Yes, it’s great that the Neoromance line is being resurrected, but it turns out the next La Corda d’Oro installment is a blatant case of “you liked this, so here’s a slightly different version of it!”

That’s what’s happening with La Corda d’Oro 4. Koei Tecmo is taking all of the characters from the previous game, fast forwarding a few months and hoping everyone will want Kanade to fall in love with them again. We don’t know anything more about the game than that.

Which is a shame, because there’s nothing lazier than an otome game that reuses bachelors. Yes, I’m including Hakuoki: Sweet School Life in that assertion. You’ve already chased these digital men. We got them. Why would we need to go after them again? What, is Kanade as fickle as we are? Did she suddenly decide whoever she picked in the third game wasn’t appealing enough between the winter and fall semesters? It’s unrealistic.

It also reeks of a cash-in, which is exactly the situation. Koei Tecmo sees the Vita is the system for otomes this generation, and is going to capitalize on that with a slight variation on one of the most successful installments in the La Corda d’Oro series. Because hey? Wouldn’t that lead perfectly into a follow-up to La Corda d’Oro Blue Sky?

Of course, there is a bright side to all of this. Time for an awesome segue. Guess what I bought prior to E3 2015? I’ll just tell you, even though you’d probably get it right if you tried. I downloaded La Corda d’Oro 3: Full Voice Special! …And then I was promptly bombarded by work and prevented from falling in love with musically-inclined men. But, now that the fourth game has been announced, it seems like the perfect excuse to start playing the third game and sharing my thoughts on it with all of you.

So, what do you say? Who wants to hear more about La Corda d’Oro?