Installation
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Previous: Introduction
Well, since you're here, you're probably interested in figuring out how to start playing this game.
If you want to play this game, you can either play on a browser (computer or mobile device) or as a mobile app.
The easiest way to play the game is to just use an internet browser. You must be using Google Chrome in order to play the game, since this is the only browser that is officially supported by Girlfriend Kari. Other browsers will redirect you to an information site rather than letting you play the game. You can go to http://vcard.ameba.jp on any device with Google Chrome, including computers, smartphones, tablets, and more!
There is also a mobile app for the game. However, the mobile app is restricted to the Japan Play Store/Japan Apple Store, so you'll have to do some tweaking with your mobile device to set it to Japanese Locale in order to download the installation file. I'll try to host or link to copies of the Android app for the game, if possible.
Remember that you don't need the app to play! You can just go to the site from any browser. The only thing you'll be missing out on are a few handy notifications for events or for whenever your stamina refills.
I recommend playing the game on a computer through the browser version whenever possible, because the game tends to lag on a lot of mobile devices. Some of the login animations, event animations, and other scenarios use a lot of memory on mobile devices, so play on the computer for a much more smoother, lag-free experience.
When you launch the game for the first time, the game will ask you to create an account. The walkthrough will cover the account creation process on the next page. Make sure to remember the details about your account - all of your progress is saved and tied to that account! This means that you can log into the same account on another device and keep playing with all of your previous progress. This means that accounts are super-important if you want to play on multiple devices! To be concise, with an account, you can play the game ANYWHERE on ANY DEVICE as long as you log in! Your progress will carry over between devices.
Now, you might be wondering: Should I use the browser version, or should I download and play on the app? There are a few advantages and disadvantages to both. I'll explain them here.
Browser Version
This is the easiest and most efficient way to play Girlfriend Kari, because you can play the browser version on a computer! The game tends to lag on older smartphone devices, so being able to play it in a browser on a computer makes the game play a lot more smoothly with less lag than most other mobile devices. It's also easy to access: all you have to do is go to http://vcard.ameba.jp on any device that supports Google Chrome!
I recommend playing on the browser version whenever possible since it is the easiest and fastest way to get into the game.
Mobile App
The mobile app has both disadvantages and advantages to the browser version. It's up to you to decide whether or not installing the app is worth it!
Girlfriend Kari has two point values that recharge over time - a normal stamina and an attack stamina. In order to keep playing the game, you have to have a certain number of stamina remaining. Whenever you play, you'll lose normal stamina or attack stamina depending on what you do. These values recharge over time. More will be explained about this later in the walkthrough, as this is just a really brief summary.
With the App, you'll get handy notifications about when your stamina has been refilled, and when new events or content has arrived. This is really useful if you plan to be a pretty hardcore player on the game - it'll make sure that you'll never miss out on any events, and that you'll never be wasting any stamina. You'll always know exactly when you have more stamina to use again on the game!
However, there is a known bug in the app where some of the artwork for the cards will fail to load. The cards will instead look like gray cards like the image shown on the right. This can become really frustrating, especially when one of the main motivations to play the game is for the artwork!
In my opinion, it would be wise for you to both download the app and know how to play on the browser version in order to get the full experience of Girlfriend Kari, so you can get the best of both worlds. You'll get handy notifications from the app, and then you can just play on the browser version whenever you receive those notifications. It's pretty simple, and works pretty well!
To summarize, while the mobile app has its advantages, the browser version is more recommended because its more compatible with game mechanics and it's a lot easier to start up - all you have to do is visit the game website!
If you want to find out how to download android apps from the Japan play store, you can see my tutorial here. If not, you can just go check out the download page for the app.
Now, wasn't that easy?
Next: Setting Up
