Gameplay
The gameplay mostly consists of reading and listening to the conversations provided. Every now and then, a "Please Select Your Destiny" event will occur, giving the player multiple choices on how to respond. The choices selected determine who will be Rin's destined love; depending on which route the player takes, there will be between 8 and 12 multiple-choice questions. At a certain point in the visual novel, a translucent image of the destined character appears when the day changes indicating who Rin has fallen in love with after which the multiple-choice events become almost nonexistent. Near the end of the game, two sex scenes will occur. After some more conversation the visual novel ends. After the visual novel has been completed at least once, players can view CG (computer graphics) artwork they have observed, skip to scenes or endings for characters they have viewed, and listen to music they have heard in the game.
The PlayStation 2 version varies from the PC version as all the sex scenes are removed and the player may follow two new storylines: Mayumi Thyme's and Kareha's. Additionally, Kareha's younger sister Tsubomi makes her first appearance in the PS2 version during Kareha's path.
Shuffle! Essence+ allows the player to follow the storylines of seven heroines, including four new storylines: Tsubomi's, Sakura Yae's, Nadeshiko Benibara's and Daisy's. In Daisy's path, Erica Suzuran makes her first appearance as a secondary character and Ruri Matsuri appears as the second main heroine, but she does not have any sex scenes.
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