Style Boutique Collection Complete!

Something amazing happened and I finally found a copy of New Style Boutique for the 3DS! Now I used to own the game years ago but traded it in for Fashion Forward. I had kinda been missing it for a while now after playing Fashion Forward and Styling Star for so long. Luckily a EB Games store in town had a copy quite cheap and was the only location in my state to have a copy. So naturally I brought it straight away when I was in town next.

I've been playing the game a little bit and I'm enjoying the story line. It's fun having the old style Exhibition Hall where not all brands are open each day and limited editions items are available. And you really notice how similar this game is to Styling Star! The game is just called New Style Boutique here and not Trendsetters so it's hard to refer to in the game series. I totally forgot that bags were the big selling point of the game as they were brand new back then.

So here are all my Style Boutique games together at last! New Style Boutique 2 would have my favourite box art. Not as nice as any of the Japanese releases but the nicest out of this bunch. I personally prefer the 3DS cases over DS ones as the white is more stylish and looks better when games are stacked together.

New Style Boutique 3 Is Here!!

I got my copy of New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star on the weekend and I'm so happy!! I didn't have much time to play it over the weekend due to work commitments but I've already clocked 6 hours of game time.

Getting the game was a bit of a nightmare. Now I'm not one to pre-order games, but I find with rarer games like Style Boutique you do need to pre-order them as stores won't get many copies in or none at all. There's a few stores I can get my game from here and I thought really hard about where to get it from and still messed it up. I originally didn't pre-order the game from EB Games (Australian version of Gamestop) because last time I pre-ordered Fashion Forward with them, they didn't even hold my pre-order and said 'oh lucky we have one here on display'. I was really grumpy about that so it affected my decision to pre-order with them. So I didn't go with them and choose to pre-order with another store instead. So I go into the store by my work a few weeks ago to pre-order the game. After having to repeat the game title three times to girl because she didn't know what I was talking about, turns out the game had a different code on it and it wasn't showing up. They said they'll manually enter it and waive the deposit fee. I asked them if the game would be available to pick on the release day (25th November) and they ensured me it would. I double checked and they said it absolutely would be available as they get orders in all the time. And guess what? I go into the store on the 25th and the game isn't there. I was so angry, they said they definitely would have it and they don't. They said they didn't get the order in but their other stores have it. I asked them 'Do you have a copy I can buy today?' and they said no so I just left and ran straight to EB Games to see if they had copies. Luckily the stars aligned and they had 5 copies! The guy probably thought I was crazy running in asking for a fashion game. I explained what had happened and why I originally didn't pre-order with them and he thought it was amusing.

So I finally had the game, but couldn't play it all day due to work. But I started it up as soon as I got home and I've been enjoying it so far. You can definitely tell it's like the first one (trendsetters) more than the recent one (Fashion Forward). The new clothing items are amazing and I like that customers ask more varied requests. Everyone wants basic items, no ever asked for that in the previous one! The only issue I'm finding is the in-game clock moves quite fast and customers don't appear as much at the boutique as they did in Fashion Forward. Hopefully this will pick up once I progress and finish the main story line.

Will be posting some play journals soon and guides over at my New Style Boutique 3 Guide Blog. I've been taking lots of photos and there's just way too many amazing outfits to take photos of as well!