Blooming Diaries

Dreamlock cover of the game.

***Blooming Diaries*** is a role-playing game developed and published by Round 1 Industries.

The game is marked as the team's very first and very own original series created by themselves. It was initially going to be a original series by Imaginate but the team decided to make it their own original series, as if it was the team's very own original series.

The game was released in May 11th, 2021.

## Development

The idea of the game was conceptionaly created by Cappy. He kept a piece of art of a rockstar girl he drew 5 years ago named Riley, which leads him coming up with ideas of combining Riley with flowers and diaries, something that teenage girls are into.

## Gameplay

*Blooming Diaries*' gameplay is focusing on mostly being a hero.

The HUD (heads up display) is completely different than the rest of the role-playing games Round has ever developed. The Character slots are placed in the left of the screen, while the enemies' slots are placed in the right of the screen during battles. The battle menu is completely different from the other role-playing Round 1 has developed as well. It depicts a white shadow behind the character with 4 optional circles from up to down. The 4 options of the circles are "Act", "Defend", "Item" and "Switch". The "Act" option lets you pick 2 other options which is "Attack" and "Special". If one of them is picked by the player, it leads them to a menu of regular/special attacks such as slash or sunlight. The "Defend" option lets your character(s) defend themself(ves) from harm. It may sound like a "Act" option, but it is what it is. The "Item" option leads you to a menu of items of what you collected throughout the game such as perfume potion (which is basically fruit punch that taste really good), and/or fire resistance. Finally, the "Switch" option lets you switch to different characters you unlocked while progressing through the game.

## Plot

Leaving out of school due to detention, fellow protagonist Blossom walks towards a rock with a ruby sword. Sets the weapon free and wields it, a group of enemies known as the Bloomus has appeared. She defeated them and has came across a princess named Tiara who wants her to come to her dimension known as the Bloomiverse to save their world from the Bloomus, led by Queen Bloomerus. Sent back to the real world, she goes to school for the last time, gets a flower from her teacher with her friend Miko and has left out of school, ending their freshmen year.

## Trailer

A teaser trailer of the game was released on October 30th, 2019 before Halloween (Oct. 31st). Nothing much is shown for the trailer. It's just that Round 1 themselves is making their very own original role-playing game than a fan game.

In second case, at the end of the teaser, it says that it was going to be for the Dreamlock and PC but Round 1 then announced that the game will be only for the Dreamlock so that the game could be a console experience for RPG players akin to classic RPG games like *Super Mario RPG* and *Final Fantasy*.

## Gallery

The Official PosterThe old logo. This was brought back to replace the new one so that the sword in the logo is visible.Old Dreamlock CoverThe Special Edition (SP Edition) of the game, featuring Jessie as the cover art's focused character, replacing Blossom.The new version of the cover art. This was later removed due to the sword not being visible behind the text.The new logo of the game. This was later removed so that the sword behind the text can be visible.
## Reception

*Blooming Diaries* received mixed reviews. Despite its long development, the game was a success, selling over 540,000+ copies upon its first week of launch. IGN gave the game a 7/10, praising the gameplay, characters and their development, but complains about the confusing story between a story about a flower kingdom and a life-or-death scenario. GalacticGamer, Edge, Destructoid and NintendoLife scores it 7/10 for the same reason, while they praise the game's graphics and life lessons. GameSpot gave the game a 6/10, claiming that despite its long development, it was mediore at best, while praising its concept and character design. Digital Trend gave the game a 5/10 and calls the game "It Loves Me Not".

## Trivia

* This is the first Round 1 game starring a female character as the main protagonist.
* A Neo Reo version was planned, which means *Blooming Diaries* is a 2 gen console game.
* A sequel was going to be planned after the game's successful launch, but due to critic scores, Round 1 Industries wane from making a sequel and left *Blooming Diaries* as it is.
* Despite being well-sold, *Blooming Diaries* is often considered as the most forgotten game Round 1 has ever developed.