| Game Rant: The boy, the girls, the cherry blossom tree and the talking [beep] (Eiden Fantasia) |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|03:37 pm] |
Fandisks are generally seen as cheap ways for a studio to provide more content for a story already established by a game without overly affecting the continuity. At the same time, they can be used to explore ideas and scenarios that the original game could not for whatever reason. It is because of this that fandisks can go in any direction while not bearing the burden of proof that is placed upon full-fledged sequels by the fans. There is also additional leeway given due to the player knowing that it is more of the same instead of a brand new idea or direction for the story.
This is not to say fandisks are bad, however. On the contrary, they are a good way to give the player something more while also further exploring the world, setting and characters without much commitement involved (from a story perspective). It is with this sentiment that I will talk about Overdrive's fandisk for Edelweiss, aptly titled Edelweiss ~Eiden Fantasia~.
Game: Edelweiss ~Eiden Fantasia~
Edelweiss ~Eiden Fantasia~ (EEF for short) was released on August 29, 2008 by the studio Overdrive. The game is meant to serve as a supplement or fandisk for Edelweiss, and as such the voice cast and production crew from the first game have returned to take us back to Eiden Island.
The player is once again placed in the shoes of Haruma Kazushi, second year student of the Eiden Academy and all-around idiot. Two months after the boys' arrival to the island, Kazushi & Co. find themselves girlfriendless (except for Appo) and still virgins (in the case of our protagonist). The main girls from Edelweiss make their appearance as side characters, but the spotlight is reserved for Fujisaki Rin and Takase Sakura. These two side characters from the first game finally get their chance to woo our protagonist, all while witnessing some of the more...strange aspects of Eiden Island.
The Players (Note: Since we have only two heroines, I'll go into some detail for the routes)
Takase Sakura CV: Nishizawa Hiroka
 Sakura is introduced in Edelweiss as a friend of Haruka (Edelweiss' lead girl). While generally cheerful and easy-going, she has a tendency to grope every other girl in the cast. She's also the only girl in the cast that will sit with the guys as they look at porn magazines, making her own comments about the women in the pictures. Because of this, most people have the idea that she may swing the other way.
This heroine's story begins on an average day, where Appo, Pierre and Daigo all confess that they were convinced Sakura was a lesbian. While her shock is comically portrayed, Kazushi's remark that he doesn't find her attractive makes something in Sakura's head click, leading to a contest between her and our protagonist. The terms of the contest are simple: Sakura would do everything in her power to charm Kazushi and make him find her attractive, while he would have to do everything in his power to resist. The winner gets to boss around the loser for an undisclosed time period.
Sakura starts off small by walking with our protagonist to class, but the game escalates as the other characters get involved in trying to help either (or both) sides. While Ran and Mizuki help Kazushi keep his composure, Appo & Co. try to help Sakura win our protagonist over (since they're convinced Sakura and Kazushi would make a good couple). The tactics employed definitely put our protagonist to the test, from love letters to hand-made lunches and even a date near the end.
As expected, Sakura's drive to win our protagonist eventually grows beyond the desire to win the contest between them and turns into a genuine attraction.
Spoiler: Kazushi eventually wins the contest, leaving Sakura a little frustrated (which gets worse when she realizes she's fallen in love with him). She eventually tries to look for a place to vent and finds a cave in the forest with a stone ball that is able to absorb her feelings whenever she vents. At one point, the stone ball leaves her so drained that she is emotionless throughout the entire day. The gang eventually starts getting worried, some thinking Sakura's strangeness is Kazushi's fault for not letting her win.
The truth begins to slowly come out when the flowers all over the island begin echoing Sakura's vents (which turn out to be her just yelling about how much she loves our protagonist). Eventually, the ball in the cave sprouts and becomes Sakura's namesake: a huge cherry blossom tree in the middle of the forest. Much to her chagrin, the tree also echoes Sakura's confessions of love for the whole island to hear. Still, our couple realizes how they feel about each other thanks to the strangeness of these events.
Fujisaki Rin CV: Isshiki Hikaru
 Rin is introduced to Kazushi and the player as Sakura's room-mate and Edelweiss' resident oppai girl. In a few words, she could be described as the foil for Sakura since she is demure, reserved and easily embarrassed. The first game hints that she has a crush on our protagonist, and EEF decides to explore this idea a little further while at the same time allowing us to learn about her.
Rin's route begins with our heroine waking up from a wet dream that involved our protagonist. Being the shy and demure girl that she is, she asks herself how she'd be able to look at Kazushi in the face the morning after something like that.
The following morning goes as normal, even if there is a bit of tension in Rin's behavior. The story kind of stays there until the class needs to elect their new iinchou (Class Representative). Unsurprisingly, the entire class decides to dump the responsibility on our protagonist. When the call for a vice-iinchou is made, Rin volunteers to help (admitedly because she'd be close to Kazushi).
Things get real weird when our protagonist has the fortune (or misfortune) of becoming the host of a homunculus. While nothing is really explained early on, we discover that this particular homunculus is not "man-made" (the way Mei was, for example), but created by the forces of the island itself for the sole purpose of storing energy and then being "sacrificed". In this case, however, it happens to replace our protagonist's genitals.
The homunculus (whom Rin names Poko-chan) explains that to gather energy, it needs to be exposed to a flow of energy between opposites, and mentions that one such flow exists when a guy and a girl are near each other. Driven by her feelings for our protagonist, Rin decides to move into Kazushi's dorm room until Poko can gather the energy needed to leave our protagonist's body and perform its intended role.
Of course, their lives are shaken up by other things, like the baseball competition between Kazushi's class and Haruka's class, not to mention what the chief alchemists of the island try to do to Kazushi when they discover Poko's existence.
Story, Structure & Game Engine
The story is set two months after the arrival of the boys to Eiden Island, so it can be assumed that EEF could be taking place anywhere from one month to 15 days after the end of Edelweiss. The game assumes that Kazushi did not end up with anyone (and could be playing off the "Alone" ending in that regard), but has him on friendly terms with all the girls.
Much like the first game, there are seinen undertones to the story, since the boys are focused on meeting girls and losing their virginity from the get go. There's a good amount of comedy used, from puns to side commenary made by the characters that make things entertaining. To top it off, the routes themselves are not very heavy on drama. Fortunately, the comedy bits are in that perfect medium between overdone ecchi comedy and clean comedy.
Structure-wise, the routes are linear with a dialogue choice or two for flavor. Choices do not affect the endings, but simply how the conversation involved goes.
The game engine from Edelweiss was not reused, with a standard dating sim engine in its place. Not too bad, since most of the options that matter were placed at the side of the text box.
Artwork
Character designs, as before, were provided by Katakura Shinji. There's not much new artwork aside from the event CGs and new interaction poses for Sakura and Rin. The rest of the artwork is borrowed from Edelweiss.
Audio & Video
The game is fully-voiced, with the original cast returning to reprise their respective roles. I'll admit, I had not noticed Isshiki Hikaru had voiced Rin back when I reviewed Edelweiss, so that was a nice revelation for me.
Ichibanboshi Hikaru of Milktub and ms-jacky are credited for the music. Knowing that Milktub was involved guaranteed that the soundtrack would be decent, which it definitely is. The ending songs added for Sakura and Rin were also up to par with those of the original five girls. While I usually don't like recycled songs, the fact that they had UR@N do a cover of the Edelweiss OP song was a nice touch.
As far as video, there's only the OP movie for EEF, which can be seen here.
Omake
There's no real extras to speak of aside from a harem route involving our protagonist and both our heroines (induced by a combination of alcohol and "magical" forest mushrooms...). This is probably the only real area where EEF is weak. I guess we could call the whole thing one giant extra for Edelweiss, but I was expecting additional stories focused on the original five heroines just for fun.
Verdict
A fun addendum to the Edelweiss mythos. Part of me thinks that Overdrive is trying to be a little more careful with how they use their franchises after the mistakes the production crew made back when they were Groover. In a way, this could be testing the waters to see how the fans would feel about another game set in Eiden Island. The setting certainly has the potential to be expanded even further (something that the Green Green series admitedly lacked). While it requires the player to know something about Edelweiss, this is one I definitely reccomend to anyone who wants a good laugh with likeable characters.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
Note: Stay tuned. I'll make an addendum for the side characters when I get a chance. |
|
|
| Rant: ...meanwhile, some Quickies |
[Sep. 25th, 2009|05:03 pm] |
Break time for me again, as I try to get into Sumaga and figure out what other game to take up after that. Kinda stuck there, since I also have the KiraKira and Edelweiss fandisks to go through, but I haven't been up for that as of yet.
AneImo2: The last fandisk to be released in connection to this game has really shaken any faith I had in boot-up. It's funny and sad at the same time, since their first impression game (AneImo2) was very well-done and lacked nothing while presenting a very nice set of stories. What bugged me is that afterwards they released 2H's, which was basically a yaru game with the characters from AneImo2. The latest fandisk, called ImoImo (since it focuses on Yui and Satsuki) has left me scratching my head over what they're doing with these characters.
This, of course, is in conjunction with the horrible two-part OVA that was based on the game.
R.U.R.U.R.: Just when I was about to give up hope, I found an interesting tidbit on light's website. As it turns out, the plans for the R.U.R.U.R. console port have changed, and instead of a PS2 release like originally planned, they have decided to release the game on PSP. ETA so far is this winter, and still promises new CG artwork, a new ending for Benibana, a grand finale-type ending and mentions the staff that worked on the PC version of the game will be making this one. There's also mention of a reformed (刷新) Ichihiko, but I don't know if they mean a change to his personality or just a change to his character design.
The pessimist in me is wondering how much they're planning to cut from the game (I'm unfamiliar with the memory capacity of UMDs). Still, I'm putting money aside for the limited edition release as we speak...
G.J.: Someone must have heard my sort-of good comments on Hime to BOIN and found them unacceptable, since G.J. has announced their upcoming game for November. Not that I could call it much of a game...
Anyway, the release will be called "Sano Toshihide, your personal manga man". The title already alludes to weird things. It's not much of a game, but one of those paper doll booklets with the cut-out clothes to put on them, but in the form of a PC "game". Existing Sano artwork can be modified and changed as the player would see fit, being capable of adding things and so on.
Yes, I'm also asking outloud "and this going to cost the same as an actual eroge?". I hope this is some sort of elaborate joke, otherwise I'd take it as a sign that G.J. doesn't have enough money to make a real game and is kind of forced to make something as ludicrous as this.
Then again, it could turn out to be brilliant and ground-breaking, but the chances of that happening are very, very slim.
Swan Song: I was finally able to play a bit of this game. To present some info on it, the game was developed as a joint work between Flying Shine and Le.Chocolat. It is a visual novel set in modern times, following the life of a young college student who must find a way to survive after a powerful earthquake causes most of his town to sink underwater on Christmas eve.
Sadly, I can't say much more, since the game files keep corrupting on me and I keep getting a read error on the script. The premise looks really good and I love the layout overall, but I won't be able to explore the story behind this game until I can get around those errors...
Featured Character:
Name: Ogushi Yuniko
Game: Seven Online Gamers ~Offline~
Designed by: Sano Toshihide
Voiced by: Kawashi Marino
Yuniko is first introduced when her character in Seven Warriors Online (a Samurai named NEEV) runs into our protagonist's own character in a forested aread after he gets separated from his party. She explains that she's been playing solo the entire time on her character, and made it as far as lv38 (SWO's level cap being lv40). Our protagonist offers to join forces with her, but she decides to test his skill before befriending him. After some thought, Eiyuu chooses to meet up with her one week later to duel.
After losing to him, Yuniko accepts him as her friend and makes him come to the Japan Auto Exhibition with the purpose of meeting up with him. Of course, our protagonist is lost amidst all the car afficionados, not even knowing what the person behind NEEV looks like. At the end of a seemingly fruitless day, Eiyuu has a chance encounter with Yuniko at a net cafe. As it turns out, she was the model that was having her picture taken with the various cars at the show.
Being older than the other characters, Yuniko is very laid back and not as finicky as Anko or Kohane. Still, she's somewhat vulnerable and very insecure of herself (despite being forward and decisive in-game). Upon meeting our protagonist face-to-face, she actually asks him what he thinks of her, admitting that her feeling of self-worth is derived from the opinions others. In fact, Yuniko's interest in Eiyuu stems from the fact that he doesn't openly think of her as strange.
As a side note, Yuniko's family owns a small restaurant, and her father has been wanting to find a groom for her to inherit and continue the family business. She was also a fan favorite in the pre-release character poll held by G.J.
Anyway, that's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei |
|
|
| Game Rant: The song in the stars (Hoshiuta) |
[Sep. 11th, 2009|10:32 pm] |
Story quality can be the deal breaker when it comes to how eroge are received by some fans. At times, art style and extra features may give certain games additional ways to appeal to the player, but can never make up for a deficient story line. Such games can be damaging when it comes to the company that produces them, and while certain players will accept the extras as a way to make amends, some of us may simply remain disappointed at the wasted potential.
It is with this sentiment that I will look at FrontWing's latest title, the third installment of the -uta series known as Hoshiuta.
Game: Hoshiuta
Hoshiuta was released on December 26, 2008 by the studio FrontWing. Much like the previous two titles, Fumio did character designs and Yamaguchi Noboru helped write the scenario.
The player takes the role of Suou Kazuhiko, a boy who has been living in the town of Mihoshi for a little under a decade. His life has not exactly been easy or carefree, as his parents died when he was a kid. With no one else to take care of him, he was sent to live with his grandmother Hina. Upon arriving, he is incorporated into the Suou family, which consists of Hina and her granddaughter Nanano.
As the years passed, Kazuhiko eventually found his place in the town of Mihoshi, and became one of the locals that proudly live in this little town. One year after the death of his grandmother, his everyday life is interrupted by the sudden arrival of two girls, causing a ripple felt by the locals. Thus, his life intertwines with those of five girls with varying motives and purposes, all destined to develop under the watchful gaze of the stars.
The Players
Kuroda Yui C.V.: Kimura Ayaka
 Yui is introduced as Kazuhiko's childhood friend and the person that has known him the longest outside of Nanano.
A native of the town of Mihoshi, Yui's family owns a ryokan (a traditional-style Japanese hotel), which is where she spends her free time. While she is next in line to inherit the hotel, she has proven to be irresponsible and whimsical (much to her mother's chagrin). It is because of this that she has come to greatly depend on our protagonist to help her get things done.
Having known Kazuhiko since grade school, Yui knows quite a bit about him and has proven to not hold back when it comes to telling people about what he was like when they were little. As the osananajimi character, she has also had a crush on him since childhood. Being unable to express how she feels, she'll sometimes try to boss him around and is known to have constant arguments with him. Still, the good and bad times Yui has shared with Kazuhiko throughout the years are testimony to how strong her feelings are for him.
On a comic note, Yui has a tendency to jump to strange conclusions when talking with Kazuhiko. She also has an odd fascination with bananas, and is convinced they make a person intelligent. |
Suou Nanano C.V.: Tamiyasu Tomoe
 Nanano is Kazuhiko's younger sister. In reality, she's a girl that his grandmother was already looking after when Kazuhiko was sent to live in the town of Mihoshi.
Being a year younger than he, Nanano has always looked up to him as an older brother, and does her part to help around the house by cooking meals and doing housework. As expected, Grandma Hina's death hit Nanano the hardest. In fact, the topic of her death is one of the few things that can bring down Nanano's normally high spirits, and usually leaves her in tears.
Nanano's motive is proven to be her desire to become a strong and dependable person. While her intentions are noble, her clumsiness has a tendency to show itself during her efforts, to the point where she'll sleep in without meaning to and occasionally screwing up while cooking. Her cooking is unquestionably good, though, and she manages to keep the house clean all the time.
Personality-wise, Nanano is usually cheerful and bright. She's not the smartest person in the world, but can hold her own up to a certain point. People sometimes treat her like a child, which grates on her nerves almost as much as being called "Nonono". That being said, she is very gullible and extremely innocent (the former making her the perfect target for people like Renge). She also has a tendency to sulk if something doesn't go her way. As proven in her picture, Nanano is almost always in the company of her trusty sidekick, the turtle known as Kamejirou. |
Amamiya Kurara C.V.: Yuzuki Kaname
 Kurara enters the story as a transfer student that has returned to Mihoshi-cho after many years. She has apprently met Kazuhiko at one point, but his memories involving her are very blurry as her route begins.
There is relatively little fanfare to Kurara's arrival, but she quickly befriends Yui and Nanano after she transfers to Kazuhiko's school. Her background is quickly glanced over, mentioning that she is the only daughter of Amamiya Masami, a nationally known businessman that is also owner of the Amamiya Conglomerate (which owns banks and numerous companies). To compliment this background, Kazuhiko is soon introduced to her bike-riding, trash-talking, former-yankee maid, Hirose Koume.
Kurara's route focuses on her desire to reacquaint herself with our protagonist, and later explores her feelings for him as they decide to have a relationship together. Things go along smoothly for our couple as Kazuhiko supports Kurara emotionally while coming to realize how much he cares about her. Still, their relationship is put to the test when the Amamiya family tries to organize an arranged marriage for their daughter, completely disregarding our protagonist for being "a nobody from a small town".
Highlight for spoiler: Kurara's route is the only route that explores the conditions under which the Hoshiuta will take place. After much research, our couple discovers that the Hoshiuta only appears when two lovers have hit a difficult moment in their relationship. It manifests as a small group of dancing lights that move about the small pool near the Lunar Shoal. In the case of Kurara and Kazuhiko, the Hoshiuta's light causes them to remember how they fell in love and why they love each other in the first place. |
Kinoshita Midori C.V.: Aoyama Yukari
 Midori met Kazuhiko and the gang several years before the story began. She was a member of the swimming club and was usually by herself before she met our protagonist.
At the time she's introduced, Midori is bound to a wheelchair. The regular members of the cast treat her like a normal person, and as her route continues, we discover how she ended up there. She was originally an incredibly good swimmer, to the point that Nanano would compare her to a mermaid. Her determination to do her best was boosted by Kazuhiko and Nanano's constant support, but a car accident ended her prospects. The damage to her spine was permanent, and cost her the use of her left leg. Midori eventually found the will to continue after Kazuhiko helped her focus on swimming from the perspective of a handy-capped person (using the Special Olympics as an example).
Still, Midori is weighed down by her inability to walk to the point that she feels no one would find her attractive. This has effectively destroyed any hope she had for a relationship. Midori also feels like she is a burden to others, and prefers to do things on her own. While she tries to use her cheerful disposition to hide these feelings, they have not gone unnoticed. Her father in particular has noticed it, and even mentions that Midori's "true" smile seems to come out only when she's around our protagonist. |
Yamabuki Renge C.V.: Mizuhashi Kaori (under the alias Aozora Karen)
 Renge meets our protagonist during the prologue, after the truck she was riding on almost runs him over. Instead of offering an apology, all she does is smirk at him before the truck continues on its way.
In a few words, Renge is a girl with too much time on her hands. Shortly after settling down, she starts playing practical jokes on everyone that crosses her path out of sheer boredom. This does not spare even the store owners in the commercial district. Her quick wit and convincing air of innocence has managed to get her out of trouble, but her true nature quickly becomes apparent to several members of the main cast. Nanano is particularly aware of how cruel some of her pranks can be.
It is later revealed that the reason behind her boredom is that she has a frail constitution, which prevents her from going to school. Aside from her routine check-ups, there's nothing to occupy Renge's time. Kazuhiko's involvement in Renge's life begins to bring out urges to experience something beyond her usual routine. Her involvement with the other characters exponentially grows when she learns of the local legend of Hoshiuta, and becomes determined to discover the truth behind it when it is revealed that finding the Hoshiuta will grant that person one wish.
Personality-wise, Renge is usually serious and arrogant. Her trademark smirk is the clear giveaway that she's up to something. She loves being in an advantageous position, and won't hesitate to lie or trick people to get what she wants. |
Story & Structure
The game takes place over the summer, starting on July 7th. The story will continue at varying lengths depending on the heroine Kazuhiko has chosen to pursue, and can continue well into September before reaching the conclusion.
The story itself begins before the end-of-term exams take place, where the characters will be introduced to a limited degree. Kazuhiko is presented with choices throughout the prologue and sometime into the post-OP story. Summer break begins just as the game decides to follow the story of one particular heroine. In the event our protagonist gets close to more than one, the game will present a choice to the player.
The story has a couple of places of note. Included are the city next to Mihoshi-cho, Satsuki-cho, and the Tsuki no asase (lit. The Lunar Shoal), the latter being connected to the local legend of the Hoshiuta (lit. "Star Song"). As told by Yui, the Hoshiuta is something very special that takes place at the shoal, and anyone who sees it will be granted one wish. The only real issue is that no one in the last couple of generations has actually seen the Hoshiuta, so no one knows what it looks like. Some say it is a shooting star, while others say it is the song of a mermaid that appears. No one even knows the conditions necessary for the Hoshiuta to manifest. As expected, several routes are connected to the Hoshiuta, and it is most prominent in Kurara and Renge's routes.
Pace-wise, the story seems to have a bad tendency to get to a certain point in development, then slow down and drag things on. This is most evident in Nanano and Yui's routes. Yui's route is also guilty of going overboard when stating the theme of the story (the story went overboard to prove that she and the protagonist have a past together and have known each other since childhood).
Then we have the Renge debacle. I don't usually give extreme details on routes, but this needs to come out to drive my point home. Renge is introduced after she nearly runs over our protagonist as she is moving into town. Of course, after a while Kazuhiko developed an interest in her due to her mysterious nature and wondered why she went out of her way to cause trouble. Renge revealed that she was frail and occupied herself with playing pranks on others because she can't go to school and had nothing else to do. After Kazuhiko vows to do fun things with her if she promised to stop the pranks, they start spending a lot of time together. When Renge gets wind of the local legend behind the Hoshiuta, Renge devotes herself to finding information, and even more so after she learns that he who finds the Hoshiuta gets a wish granted to them.
The game begins to hint that Renge may be seriously ill, and is confirmed and built upon when she refuses to reveal what she wants to wish for if she were to find the Hoshiuta. Then we find out that Renge's mother hates her and has distanced herself with her new husband in the US. Renge's father lived somewhere in the city next to Mihoshi-cho and was purposely kept away from her.
The story loses it after Renge finally reveals that her wish is to meet her father (which goes nowhere since the man reveals to not be Renge's real father), which is followed by Kazuhiko learning that the Hoshiuta legend was a fake story concocted to attract tourists. Then Renge reveals she knew the legend was a fake and that she's also aware that she's going to die soon. Then, after affirming her love for the protagonist, she promises to do her best to live, followed by the closing credits and no epilogue afterwards. In short, this is a story that tries to go in several directions and falls utterly short.
Game engine-wise, Hoshiuta is very impressive. The text box is semi-transparent, with a command pop up menu that appears if the mouse is moved to the top of the window. Aside from that, all commands are accessible by right-clicking, with the standard save and load options. The text log is fairly extensive, and include the option to replay spoken lines. On the bad side of things, there's a major bug that causes the game to crash during Kurara's route. Seems to only occur if the player tries to access the text log during the second beach scene.
Artwork
Fumio returns once again to provide the character designs. The designs are nice, but seem to resemble past designs a little too much. The large culprit in this department in Nanano, who is eerily like Nano from Yukiuta. Midori's design is also very similar to Shintarou's design for Akigaku's Touma Kotomi. The quality of the artwork is still decent.
Audio & Video
Hoshiuta is fully-voiced, with a cast of experienced VAs to bring the characters to life. Notable cast members include Kimura Ayaka (who played Kirishima Mizuki in AneImo2), Aoyama Yukari (who played R-Shirotsumegusa in R.U.R.U.R.) and Mizuhashi Kaori (who played Minazuki Taeko in Ai Yori Aoshi).
Elements Garden is credited for BGMs, while Fujima Jin is credited for the OP and ED songs. Music is probably the only part of the game I can't complain about, since it is up to par and includes a nice lullaby.
As for video, the OP for Hoshiuta can be seen here.
Omake
Hoshiuta packs quite a few extras. Clearing the game the first time will give access to a 30-minute bonus audio drama centered on Nanano. Clearing each route will also grant access to system voice sets compatible with most Windows OS' featuring the voice of the heroine whose route was cleared (Yui and Kurara each have an extra voice pack that gets unlocked along with their own). Clearing Midori's route will grant the player access to two extra ero-scenes featuring her. Clearing Nanano's route will unlock one extra ero-scene involving her.
Verdict
I'm at a loss of words, seeing how the game is extremely well-made in everything that was not story line. The art is definitely up to par for the most part, and the music is great. The voice talent is extremely likable, and I was pleased to see that Yuzuki Kaname (Kurara's VA) has been working on her acting skills. Of course, this and the extras do not in any way make up for the dull story lines and lack of purpose in the overall plot. It could be that Yamaguchi Noboru & Co. were trying to be ordinary with their use of the setting and overdid it. Still, that would leave the Renge problem to be explained (Personal Hypothesis: They had a falling out with Renge's VA, OR the writer in charge of Renge's route dropped from the game during development).
I'll officially write this one off as a fluke, specially seeing how great Sorauta was. I can't really say I'd recommend this one, unless your sole reason to play it would be to admire Fumio's artwork or listen to the music by Elements Garden. Then again, there's other games that can be used for that. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
そんなななののナノマシン。七の月の菜の花なのに、ななのの名前はななののものなの
"sonna nanano no nanomachine. nana no tsuki no na no hana na no ni, nanano no namae wa nanano no mono na no" |
|
|
| Rant: A [Subject] stole my Quickies |
[Aug. 19th, 2009|10:24 am] |
Having finished with Boy Meets Girl and Kazoku Keikaku, I can talk about my current game and what else is on my to-do list at the moment.
Hoshiuta: The third and latest game in FrontWing's unofficial -uta series of games, Hoshiuta has quite a few expectations to live up to given the elements that made Yukiuta and Sorauta worthwhile.
The protagonist is Kazuhiko, a boy that lives in the town of Mihoshi with his little sister, Nanano. Aside from the usual things with school and the people he has known for the last ten years, the story moves forward when a girl from his past moves into town.
Presentation-wise, the game has been very impressive so far, which alludes to FW spending good money on the game engine and music. Something interesting is that it also uses the backdrop of Tanabata, and will probably play off the themes surrounded with the story behind this yearly celebration. The only thing that kind of bugs me is that there's several similarities between some of the characters in this game and those from the two previous -uta games (Nanano is almost a 1:1 copy of Yukiuta's Nano, for example). Hopefully things will pick up, because so far I'm getting the feeling this game is being purposely flashier than the other two, which usually means plot and characterization may be inferior.
Do-overs: I'm not sure how my readers (all three of you) reacted to my re-do of my Rakuen review, but I was planning on taking some time to do some other games that I feel may not have been properly presented the first time around. Amongst these I want to do Yatou Hime Zankikou, possibly Seven Online Gamers ~Offline~ and Kisetsu no hanayome. Speaking of G.J. games...
Hime to BOIN: I gave in to morbid curiosity to see what G.J.'s excuse for making another BOIN game would be. I was pleasantly surprised since the game managed to turn out to be funny on its own. Admittedly, I also got a kick out of it because they made references to several of their past titles, which is always a plus when done the right way.
Anyway, the protagonist is a guy that is known as the Prince of Turn-downs, as every girl he has asked out on a date has flat out refused him. Just during his second year in high school, he already has a record of over 120 turn downs from girls in every class. His life takes a turn for the interesting when a magical door opens in his closet to another world. This world is a standard fantasy realm that is missing its crown prince.
As explained by Etsuko (a maid that serves the king of the other world), the prince found an ancient artifact that had the power to allow the bearer to travel across worlds. The downside of this is that the prince chose to abandon his duty of marrying and extending the royal bloodline and ran off to another world in search of adventure. A side-effect of this is that numerous rifts have opened, including the one to our protagonist's closet. As such, Etsuko asks that our protagonist stand in for the crown prince and attend the royal summit, where several kingdoms have sent their daughters to meet and hopefully marry the crown prince.
Much to his surprise/delight, all seem to be rather busty girls (courtesy of Sano Toshihide) that take a liking to him and don't turn him down. And the story kinda goes from there、loaded with useless yaru to boot...
Featured Character:
Name: ISF-ISAAC-0010102F R-Hinagiku
Game: R.U.R.U.R. ~Kono ko no tameni, semete kireina hoshizora wo~
Voiced by: Hinami Fuuka
Designed by: Izumi Mahiru
Character type: Tsundere
Hinagiku, or Hina for short, is introduced to us as Ichihiko's next door neighbor. She is suggested to being the same age as Ichihiko (unlike Mizubashou or Shirotsumegusa, who are "older" because of their roles as caretakers), and acts as the childhood friend that tends to pick on Ichihiko regularly.
Her role aside, Hina is actually a military-class chapekku (a chapekku being a humanoid machine composed of organic cells combined with nanomachine technology), able to interface and combine with numerous weapons, including the diverse World Toaster armaments. Hina is originally limited to Class-1 "Holdman" and Class-2 "Electriship", but in her route, she gets access to the most powerful known World Toaster, Class-6 "World Wrecker". Her original purpose was to protect her human masters, but it can be said that military-class chapekku are built to kill.
As we find out in her route, Hinagiku was opposed to awakening the last mankind and following through with the plan R-Mizubashou had proposed for him. This was for two reasons: she was convinced that humanity was reckless, irresponsible and capable of nothing but trouble (she goes so far as claiming it's the humans' fault that the robots are now wandering throughout space). At the same time, she likes being self-aware and being able to think for herself. Despite her opinion that humans were no longer necessary due to the robots having their own society, she was forced into the role of childhood friend. Her feelings for Ichihiko change over time as she got used to seeing him every day, to the point where she feels a tinge of jealousy because Mizubashou and Shirotsumegusa live under the same roof as him. Should the player nudge her towards our protagonist, her feelings continue to develop very quickly. As she grows to deeply care for Ichihiko, Hina comes to the realization that our protagonist is not being allowed to think for himself and make his own choices, instead being heavily influenced by his caretakers and the environment around them.
Something interesting to note is that Hinagiku is the only robot in the story that willingly crosses the boundary that separates robots from humans. She enjoys being her own "person" (despite HAL, Benibana and Mizubashou reminding her that there is a natural order and chain of command between the robots and humans), is "selfish" when it comes to things she really cares about (especially once she embraces the feelings she has for Ichihiko), and looks at our protagonist as an equal (unlike Mizubashou and Benibana, who believe the robots are there to serve and revere humanity). One could say that despite her being man-made, she thinks in human terms.
Food for thought: Hinagiku's translated name (Daisy) is played on several times in the story. She is associated with "The Brave Little Toaster". She is also associated with passages from The Little Prince that involve the fox. Lastly (like with all chapekku), she's associated with the nursery rhyme "What are people made of?" (where the "What are little girls made of?" section's "everything nice" is replaced with "nanomachine-filled cytoplasm").
Anyway, that's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
Looking for: Stand-ins to review Hime to BOIN on my behalf... |
|
|
| Game Rant: On the day we met... (Boy Meets Girl) |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|02:53 pm] |
The fickleness of our memories is an often-used element in stories. The fact that things slowly come to light as the story moves forward indeed helps in setting the pace of the plot in place.
Most stories tend to use traumatic experiences or sudden forgetfulness to explain why these tales unfold the way they do. Of course, while games like Key's Kanon played off the forgotten memories of the cast in this way, not every tale can rely on trauma and shock to move along. In such cases, additional factors must be brought in to support the use of this plot element.
FrontWing decided to bring in the seldom-used concept of magic to their take on this particular type of tale. While not terribly obvious, its presence not only influences the characters' memories, but also the respective fates of everyone involved. As such, today's title will be FrontWing's Boy Meets Girl.
Game: Boy Meets Girl
Boy Meets Girl (BMG for short) was released on February 24, 2006 by FrontWing. This is one FW's less-known titles, despite the fact that it featured a decent voice cast and managed to get two novels based on the game released in Japan.
The player takes the role of Inoue Yuuta, a boy who returns to the town of Tokimori after ten years of living elsewhere. Seeing that his parents had gone out of the country on job assignments, Yuuta found himself sent to live with his aunt and uncle. Of course, things do not go as planned, since his own aunt and uncle had also gone on a business trip to Brazil, leaving his cousin Chizuru in charge of the house until they returned.
Yuuta's return to Tokimori is filled with numerous reunions. Aside from his former-tomboy cousin, he meets again with Kasugano Haruna, a girl that he used to know ten years ago. The sudden arrival of a girl named Tsubasa Miu sets the story in motion as Yuuta gets reacquainted with his past, the memories of his childhood, feelings of forgotten love, and the mystery associated with the town's local attraction, the stone spire known as the "Spire of Memories".
The Players
Tsubasa Miu C.V.: Isshiki Hikaru
 Miu is a girl that met Yuuta ten years before the story begins, as the daughter of a family that had just moved into the town of Tokimori.
Miu's entrance into the story already suggests her importance, since she materializes near the stone spire in the outskirts of town that is known as the Spire of Memories (Omoide no tou). After she finally sees Yuuta once more, we realize that she doesn't remember much aside from the fact that she at one point was living in Tokimori, and knew both Yuuta and Haruna back then.
Much to our protagonist's surprise, Chizuru decides to allow Miu to live with them, on the condition that she help around the house and lend a hand with the Kumotani family's coffeehouse. This seems to work out, since Miu and Chizuru get along extremely well and compliment each other through their naturally playful personalities.
In general, Miu can be thought of as a simple person, finding joy and fun in things that the other members of the cast shrug off. At the same time, she is very insightful and likes to stay under the radar when it comes to what she knows. Her lack of understanding when it comes to certain things lead to comic situations that put our protagonist on the spot, as well.
Highlight for spoiler: Late in her route, Miu begins to remember her past and why she returned to Tokimori after ten years. In truth, Miu is the last survivor of a civilization of magic users that lost their world to an encroaching darkness called "The Nothingness". Miu (unknowingly) was entrusted with her civilization's legacy when she was sent back to the realm of humans. When she returned, her memories were lost (mainly as an after-effect explained in Haruna's spoiler section), including her feelings for Yuuta.
After remembering that she can use magic, Miu is bored with her power because she has nothing to protect, and no real reason to use it. This all changes when "The Nothingness" follows her into the human realm through the gateway between both worlds: The Spire of Memories.
On a side note, while the game never openly calls her one, Miu has a tendency to laugh like a stereotypical witch. |
Kasugano Haruna C.V.: Kimura Shouko
 Haruna is one of the two girls Yuuta used to know from ten years before BMG begins. Unlike Miu, Haruna has always been shy and reserved.
Haruna used to play with Yuuta and Miu back when they were kids, and got along quite well with both. Still, she always felt as the odd man in their trio, since the chemistry between our protagonist and Miu was very strong. Her feelings for Yuuta are so strong that she has managed to remember many things about him from ten years ago, hoping to one day meet with him again and tell him how she feels.
As a second year high school student, Haruna is president of the school's Magical Club. Contrary to its name, the club actually focuses on doing volunteer work and helping out when called upon (all while wearing proper attire). Much to her chagrin, the Science Club's president constantly tries to instigate competition between the two clubs, convinced that the idea of magic is silly compared to the tangible results gained through scientific research.
Her shyness aside, Haruna is easily led on for the most part. She's not a complete pushover, though, as going too far (like Mao's constant attempts to seduce her) will get some sort of physical reaction. She's also notably jealous, and her demeanor can easily change if her buttons are pushed too much.
Highlight for spoiler: Haruna's memories are a complete mess as we get near the end of her route. By this I mean that the "memories" she has of her childhood with Yuuta are in part mixed in with memories from both our protagonist and Miu. The reason is not clearly given until the very end, where we discover that Haruna was hit by a car when she was little. In a panic, Miu pulled out a magical book that according to her "uses the memories of the holder to turn it into magic". With the book in their hands, they gave up their memories together to save Haruna's life.
A side-effect of this is that Yuuta and Miu's childhood memories were transferred into Haruna. After our protagonist and Miu met again, Haruna's "memories" began to leave her to return to their respective owners. Of course, she is distraught at realizing this, fearing that her memories and love for Yuuta may all be fake, or even worse, memories that are not hers. |
Shingyouji Mao C.V.: Kusayanagi Junko
 Mao is introduced as an underclassman that is also the vice-president of the Magical Club.
At the beginning of the story, Mao acts like the jealous first year girl that is set on protecting Haruna from Yuuta. She can tell that her senpai has feelings for our protagonist, so she at first tries to keep him from joining the Magical Club. Of course, this fails since Haruna insists on letting him join them, feeling that they would benefit from having a guy around.
Despite initial antagonism and her attempts to make Yuuta look bad in front of Haruna, Mao realizes that Haruna's happiness is more important, and later decides to turn our protagonist into the "ideal guy" for her beloved senpai. Unsurprisingly, some her ideas on how a guy should be like tend to be outlandish, but at times does give worthwhile advice. The focus shifts to getting to know our protagonist when she realizes he won't be transforming into an ikemen ("cool guy") any time soon. Predictably, Mao falls into the same trap that characters of her type have since the dawn of eroge: Despite her initial dislike for the protagonist, she falls in love with him after getting to know him better.
Personality-wise, Mao is generally cheerful, if extremely protective of Haruna. She willingly does anything Haruna asks her to, which at one point leads Yuuta to compare Mao to a puppy. She also has a very perverse imagination that manifests whenever she thinks about herself and Yuuta, and accuses him several times of trying to ravage her (when in reality its her imagining a scene involving Yuuta ravaging her, and her enjoying it...). |
Kumotani Chizuru C.V.: Yoshida Satsuki
 Chizuru is Yuuta's older cousin, and is in charge of the house she shares with our protagonist while her parents are away on business.
At a first glance, Chizuru is a very non-serious character, preferring to joke around and do the occasional odd thing. At heart, however, she is a very responsible girl who feels a little overwhelmed by having to run her family's coffeehouse, "The Mysterious Spire" (Fushigi no tou). Her playfulness aside, Chizuru is actually very strict when it comes to the rules of the house, and often penalizes those that break curfew or fail to do as they're told with "fines" that must be paid by dropping money into her piggy bank.
A constant running gag with Chizuru is that despite making a living brewing coffee and baking snacks, she's actually a terrible cook (making any such comments in front of her is usually worthy of a fine and/or a chop to the head). This "trait" goes from gag to plot point when we discover that the reason her cooking is so questionable is because she lost her sense of taste a couple of years before BMG began. The cause is left unknown for the most part, but Chizuru has the feeling that it might be connected to the Spire of Memories.
As the older sister of the group (even if she's only a year older than Yuuta, Haruna and Miu), Chizuru is held in high regard by the other members of the cast. She'll preffer to be cute and playful (her "wake up skits" being proof of this), but can very easily put Yuuta in his place. At times her sense of humor gets the better of her, causing her to do more harm than good when it comes to some of the predicaments Yuuta gets into. Still, she greatly cares about him, and is in part attracted to him "that way". |
Souma Nanami C.V.: Nogami Nana
 Nanami is a girl that lives next door to the Kumotani family, and is good friends with Chizuru.
Being at least two years younger than Yuuta (the story hints that she is a second year junior high school student), Nanami still has many things to learn and understand ahead of her. As she is something of a slow learner, Chizuru at one point was tutoring her in Math and English. Sadly, after Chizuru's parents went away, there was no one to help her keep up in school until Yuuta came along.
Thus, Nanami starts off looking up to Yuuta as an older brother, not fully understanding things like romance and attraction. As she spends time around him and slowly picks up on the ideas fit for a teenage girl, Nanami starts looking at Yuuta with new eyes, and realizes that she likes him. This leads to a change in her appearance, amongst other things (she's one of the few characters out there that change their speech pattern mid-story).
Highlight for spoiler: Nanami does have issues that our protagonist must learn about and deal with. The reason she is so dependant on tutoring is because she received a head injury when she was a child, and thereafter had a lot of trouble remembering simple things. As the story progresses, Nanami's memory worsens to the point that she begins to forget people and recent events. Our protagonist is unsure of how to go about things, while Nanami grows fearful that she'll completely forget about Yuuta. Love wins in the end, but the path is fraught with peril. | Story & Structure
The story takes places over a couple of months. There is no real in-game calendar, and story progression skips ahead when needed. Since Yamaguchi Noboru had a hand in writing the game's script, there are preset interactions used throughout the majority of the story. These interactions all take place when Yuuta gets up in the morning, to find that Chizuru and Miu are doing some odd thing to try to wake him up (this ranges from playing word games to one of them pretending to be a "Wake up robot" reciting standard eroge stereotypical wake-up lines).
Miu's own presence is part of the underlying theme of magic that envelops the game's setting. The spire itself has a magical nature, and is the element that ties the fates of the heroines together. Aside from that, you have other things like Haruna's belief in magic and artifacts that are of magical nature (a book of memories, a piece of the spire itself, a magical music box).
That being said, the game's true focus is Miu and Haruna's story. Their routes are actually a lot longer than those of the other heroines, and deal directly with the game's use of magic (whereas Mao and Chizuru's routes make subtle hints of it and Nanami's route makes no reference to magic at all). Something interesting to note is that their rivalry for Yuuta's affections does not do anything to the friendship between them. Of course, this notion is somewhat distorted by the game's constant references to yuri (girl-on-girl romance). In fact, I could say the story also has yuri undertones because of Mao's obsession with Haruna combined with the yuri implications between Haruna and Miu.
My only real gripe with the story is that it never puts emphasis on the future of the characters. The endings are specially guilty of this, simply giving a feeling that they have a long journey ahead of them, but without any sign of how it turned out. Then again, I'm partial to the "many years later" type of epilogues.
Artwork
Shintarou is credited for the character designs. Personally, the characters are too similar to one another. There are traits here and there that set them apart, but as a whole there isn't much variation when it comes to the girls. The only character who was designed well enough to stand out on her own was, in my opinion, Nanami.
Sound & Video
As expected from other FrontWing titles, BMG is fully-voiced. This is one of the few titles out there where Isshiki Hikaru uses her higher voice range, since she is usually cast for older sister-type characters or serious, strong-willed females that require the use of a deeper voice (Asami from Sekai de ichiban NG na koi, Tou from Yatou hime zankikou, and Saori from AneImo2 come to mind). Kusayanagi Junko was great at portraying Mao, and Nogami Nana surprised me with how she voiced Nanami.
Elements Garden is credited for the BGMs, while Fujima Jin composed the OP and ED songs. The game's soundtrack is decent, if overly reliant on synthesizer. The track selection was somewhat iffy, but nothing really bad in terms of composition.
As for video, the OP for BMG can be seen here.
Omake
BMG is packed with a couple of interesting extras. Clearing Mao's route will earn the player a special scenario called "Mao's Scene", where Mao and Yuuta fully act out one of Mao's perverted visions of Yuuta ravaging her. Nanami, Haruna/Miu and Chizuru's routes yield audio dramas respective to each of them. For getting all endings, the game will unlock voice packs that can be unzipped and used to replace the standard Windows system sounds.
This is not mentioning Miu's route, which is an extra on its own, requiring the player to clear at least two other routes before opening up.
Verdict
A nice game to tide people over until something bigger and better comes along. The strong point of this game is actually the use of comedy (and in my opinion, Chizuru and Mao's routes were the best), from the quirky cast to the situations here and there. The voice cast was also impressive, and the presence of Elements Garden only helped the overall presentation of the game. Not really the best ever produced by FrontWing, but far from mediocre. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"Nee hee hee~..." |
|
|
| Game Rant: For want of love, for want of family, for want of china dresses (Kazoku Keikaku) |
[Jul. 28th, 2009|06:07 am] |
The bond between family members is something many people take for granted. Certain cultures encourage independence over ties with family, while others look down upon those who severed ties with their kin. Still, the idea of being without anyone to count or fall back on carries a certain appeal when it comes to a story. Loneliness and suffering tend to go hand in hand, and are usually good elements in the big picture that is character development.
One could argue that due to humanity's tendency to be social creatures, a group or family is a must for proper development as well as a requisite for survival. In the event that blood relatives cannot fill this void, people tend to turn to those with similar goals or interests to create their family structure. This is both good and bad, since people in similar situations can understand each other better, but lack the sense of duty that is present in those bound by blood.
Whether one has people around them or not is enough to make a great difference in what can be accomplished and what worries a person might carry, and Yamada Hajime managed to write what some would concider a "kamige" (Godly Game) centered on the themes of loneliness versus the warmth of a family. This game has recently been translated by Peach Princess, and despite being an oldie, is still fairly impressive. The game I speak of is D.O.'s Kazoku Keikaku.
Game: Kazoku Keikaku (US Title: Family Project ~Kazoku Keikaku~)
Kazoku Keikaku (Kakei for short) was released in Japan on November 2nd, 2001 by the studio D.O., and released in the US by G-Collections (a sub-brand of Peach Princess) on July 17, 2009. The game itself has seen a couple of re-releases in Japan, including a PS2 port that was released back in 2005. The title literally means Family Project, which in Japanese is somewhat funny being that it is the term for what we'd call "Family Planning" in English.
The player takes the role of Sawamura Tsukasa, a 20-year-old man living on his own while working part-time for a growing chain of chinese restaurants. For as long as he can remember, Tsukasa has been looking out only for himself, and openly rejects the idea of bonds with other people. His disdain is specially aimed at families, being haunted by a memory of his father giving him away to someone else.
Tsukasa's life takes a turn for the interesting when he finds a passed out chinese girl in the alley behind the restaurant he works at. Unsure of what to do about her, he carries her off to his apartment under the pretext that he'll let her rest before kicking her back out into the world. The girl's name turns out to be Wang Chunhua, an illegal immigrant that ran away from her "employers" when she found out she had been brought to Japan to work in a brothel. Soon afterwards, a half-crazed "elite businessman" named Hirota Hiroshi invites himself over to our protagonist's apartment, which subsequently gets destroyed when the Chinese mafia decides to target Chunhua.
The trio begins to wander around and eventually settles down in an abandoned lot, but not before running into a woman who was about to commit suicide. Then came an old flame of Tsukasa's, a homeless schoolgirl and a disinherited woman from a rich family.
In total, seven people who are down on their luck in various ways cross paths, and after Hiroshi's proposal of banding together in an agreement of mutual interest, form a "pretend family". This is how the Takayashiki Family Project begins.
The Players
Wang Chunhua/Takayashiki Haruka C.V.: Sasa Rumiko
 Chunhua hails from China as a cheerful and naive girl that was brought in by smugglers with the promise of a good job and stable life in Japan. After arriving, however, Chunhua found herself in a brothel. Aware of what was coming to her, she decided to run away with what little she could take, which included a bag filled with stimulant drugs (Viagra et al).
After our protagonist takes her in, both become targets of the smugglers that brought Chunhua to Japan (who seem to be connected to the Chinese mafia). This makes things very complicated, especially once Hiroshi's Family Project begins.
Chunhua's true reason for coming to Japan was to search for her mother, with a photograph and the name "Junko" as her only leads. Aside from her search, however, she enjoys the company and kindness of the other characters, and is specially thankful to Tsukasa.
Being a foreigner, she is treated as a bit of a supernatural character, capable of physical feats that leave the other girls in awe (and an infinite appetite to match). |
Takayashiki Aoba C.V.: Hokuto Minami
 Takayashiki Aoba is the only "true" member of the Takayashiki family, and is the owner of the house that the cast decides to live in.
At a first glance, Aoba is a very cold person who simply allows Tsukasa's small group to live in her house for the convenience of having people pay her rent. She easily deflects any attempts Matsuri and Masumi make to get close to her, preferring to go about her own things without being bothered by others. She is also the only character that openly thinks the idea of an "artificial" family is stupid and a waste of time, but is forced to accept Hiroshi's Family Project because of her need for rent money.
As we delve into her route, we discover Aoba is in a bit of a fix. The house she lives in was given to her by her grandfather, but the deed for the actual land the house was built on was never transfered over to her name. This means that she's technically living on property that's not hers. An agreement is reached, where she would pay rent to the current owner of the land, but cannot afford to pay the rent on her own. To further complicate matters, Aoba has no one to turn to, since her family disowned her after she broke off the engagement her parents had set up for her.
Despite her cold and stubborn demeanor, Aoba and Tsukasa are actually very similar in the way they look at families. While our protagonist remembers being given away by his family, Aoba feels she was used as a tool by her parents and has never received genuine affection from them. |
Ogawara/Takayashiki Jun C.V.: Imai Yuka
 Ogawara Jun is a 20-year-old woman who used to go to school with Tsukasa. She's the only character in the cast that has an actual history with our protagonist, even if she is generally associated with painful memories.
At first, Jun seems to be an emotionless person with a strong interest in money. People have a tendency to get the wrong idea about her because of the fact that she'll do anything and everything for cash, while showing little to no remorse when it comes to her more unsavory enterprises (like selling drugs and prostituting herself).
Throughout most of her life, Jun has tried her best to remain aloof from people, and preffers to never get emotionally involved with anyone or anything. This outlook on life is first put to the test when she "sold" herself to Tsukasa back when both were in high school. While she developed feelings for him, she would not allow herself to break the contract between them. This choice left Tsukasa hurting, and further reinforced his idea that bonds with people bring only pain and suffering.
Still, Jun's philosophy is put to the test yet again when she is dragged into the Family Project proposed by Hiroshi. Despite her attempts to get out of the arrangement, Tsukasa manages to get her to participate, on the condition that he'll pay her five thousand yen per month. |
Kawahara/Takayashiki Matsuri C.V.: Katase Yui
 Kawahara Matsuri is a homeless girl that runs into Tsukasa & Co. after she decides to camp at the seemingly-abandoned Takayashiki house.
Being the youngest member of the cast, Matsuri is already an orphan by the time she is introduced. Before Tsukasa came along, she was living in a vacant lot nearby, using cardboard boxes to protect herself from the elements. Because of this, Matsuri is very resourceful when it comes to living outdoors, and seems to greatly appreciate simple things. Aside from having no home to call her own, she also goes to school and works part-time at a small home business.
While hesitantly accepted into Tsukasa's small group, Matsuri becomes one of the staunchest supporters of Hiroshi's Family Project. All she really wants is a roof over her head and the warmth of a family. While the former is easily attained, the latter proves to be difficult because of Aoba's cold demeanor and Tsukasa's own opinion on families. Even though Tsukasa is the nexus that brings the cast together and Chunhua/Haruka is the catalyst to the story, Matsuri is the glue that tries to hold the "family" together during tough times. She also constantly attempts to get our protagonist to open up, and succeeds several times. |
Itakura/Takayashiki Masumi C.V.: Hatakeyama Miwako
 Itakura Masumi is a thirty-year-old woman that is introduced when her leg gets caught on the guard railing of the bridge she tried to jump off.
Simply put, Masumi is a person who regularly contemplates suicide. While this is treated as a bit of a gag every now and then, this presents very strong suggestions as to what her mental state is when not surrounded by others. As the story progresses, we discover that this particular heroine is weighed down by uncertainty, guilt, and shame. She was originally set to marry someone, but had to constantly give him money to the point where she gave him all her savings and even went into debt for him.
Having lost everything, she would have killed herself if not for Tsukasa saving her at the last minute. After trying to find her own direction in life, Masumi decided to join the group of wanderers led by our protagonist, and is later accepted into Hiroshi's Family Project as the family's "mother". While she is pretty good at playing the role of housewife and mother, Masumi openly admits to being weak if left on her own. This part of her really bothers our protagonist, who is convinced that people like that are more trouble than they're worth. Of course, Tsukasa eventually learns that while weak on her own, Masumi is stronger than most once she knows there is someone by her side. |
Story, Structure & Game Engine
The story takes place in the summer, spanning about four months before the stories resolve themselves. The prologue itself is rather lengthy, and covers a good chunk of the game content, all the way up until the Family Project begins. After this, the OP movie will play, and the story focuses on the trials and tribulations of these seven strangers who are brought together under one roof.
Story progression is not very even, but is good in pacing. For a good part of the post-OP storyline, the player is witness to small events here and there that slowly bring the cast together, or at least allows them to resonate to one another. Due to their character motives, Aoba and Tsukasa are obviously resistant to the family atmosphere, with the latter trying to remain aloof while the former simply rejects everyone.
Character development is determined by Tsukasa's choices throughout the routes, and reach as far back as the prologue. Should our protagonist fail to develop or bond enough to one heroine, the game will give a "bad" ending where he leaves the house unfulfilled. Partly, I can say this game's script truly leaves the question of who the true heroine of the game would be unanswered, since all character have very important plot points that are exclusive to them, while the rest of the cast is left undeveloped should the story go down a certain route.
Engine-wise, the game's engine is truly that of a game from 2001, and in my opinion was most hurt by the lack of a replay option for spoken lines. There is no real text box, instead a semi transparent square at the bottom of the screen. There's no menu buttons, and the options can only be seen through a drop-down meny that appears when right-clicking on the mouse.
Translation
Translation was provided by Robert/The Great Satan (don't ask), with editing being done by Shingo and MatsuriMatsuri. From a translator's perspective, the job kind of borders on lousy, since the script lacks consistency when it comes to speech patterns and lines of the script used throughout various routes (not to mention honorifics, which leads me to think that more than just three people were involved in translating this game). There are also blatant translation errors here and there, but not enough to ruin the experience.
From an editor's perspective, the translation did an incredible job at outlining the things that are more difficult to understand, offering explanations in parenthesis alongside with spoken lines throughout the game. Admitedly, the script in general expects you to know something about Japan in the first place, but makes it relatively easy to understand.
This being a Peach Princess sub-brand, there were bound to be some nonsensical lines and errors in translation (along with coding errors when displaying text), but I'm thankful those were kept to a relative minimum (compared to something like X-change).
Artwork
Character designs were provided by Fukunaga Yumi. The designs are overall nice, and consistent when it comes to character proportions. My only real complaint is that Kakei is a little short on CG artwork. There's even a scene where Matsuri and Tsukasa are in a pitch-black room, where Matsuri breaks the fourth wall and comments "so this is how the production crew was aiming to save money...".
That being said, Peach Princess is getting some heat due to the fact that certain CGs involving Matsuri were altered in the US release of Kakei.
Sound & Video
The game is fully voiced, and boasts of an all-star cast (at least, that's how Peach Princess is advertising the game). Indeed, several well-known VAs are present, including Wakamoto Norio AKA Hiroshi's VA (who would later play Chiyo's father in Azumanga Daioh, Dr. Markus in Yatou hime zankikou, and M.Bison/Vega in Street Fighter Zero).
BGM was provided by Nakazawa Tomoyuki and WATA from I've Sound, with Takase Kazuya (also from I've) credited for the OP and ED songs. The game's soundtrack is quite nice, relying on piano tunes to set atmosphere. The OP is an obvious KOTOKO song, but the ED song (Philosophy) has been hailed as a kamikyoku (Godly Song) to the point that it was included in the NicoNico Douga Kamikyoku Medley.
As for video, the OP vid for Kakei can be seen here.
Omake
Not much to speak of, aside from access to the full game soundtrack after clearing the game once.
Verdict
A very moving title in several ways. Kakei puts true emphasis on the concept of why we have families in the first place, while at the same time leaning towards the idea that a person cannot truly progress on their own. Tsukasa learns this throughout the story, as do the other characters. The game's music does a great job in helping set atmosphere, and the voice acting is (as expected) quite good.
I'd personally say the game is worth the $40.00 that Peach Princess is charging for the translated version, errors and all in mind. Mistakes and all aside, a definite keeper. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"In family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony." - Eva Burrows
Post-game Opinion
Peach Princess needs to get more editors, or look for people amongst current and former fansubbers (*coughmecough*) to work on those game scripts. For an attempt at bringing a true non-smut title to our side of the Pacific, there should have been a lot more effort put into how the script looked. What bothered me most was the lack of consistency in spoken lines. That aside, they went out of their way to make sure the player understood some of the more difficult to grasp jokes and references in the game. For that, I truly commend them, since few translators put in the effort to make sure the player understands what's going on. At the same time, I also appreciate the fact that the script expects the player to know something about Japan to begin with. |
|
|
| Random Rant: Something else, with Quickies |
[Jul. 19th, 2009|03:01 am] |
Live, from the Promised Land, I come bearing some sort of information on what's been going on lately, as well as a sudden revision to my plans for the next month or two.
I've spent the last two days running around Otakon, fruitlessly trying to get some autographs as well as collect some information. The con as a whole is pretty lackluster this year, with a major blow being dealt by the staff's innability to plan for the coming of Inoue Kikuko. I normally wouldn't react strongly when it comes to VAs, but Inoue Kikuko has a special place in my heart because of her role as Lobelia Carlini from Sakura Taisen 3. She's also known for being Tatase Ruko in the anime version of Ogenki Clinic, though the shocker for me was that she played Hasuma Kanae in Tsumamigui and Tsumamigui 2.
Anyway, my annoyance at Otakon's inability to handle those autograph sessions aside, there have been some interesting things going on. Now mind you, this is stuff I've heard by speaking with some of the Hen da ne guys in the dealer's room.
First and foremost, someone has actually stepped up to the plate in the fan translation front, since it seems To Heart 2 is currently being translated. I wish whoever was brave enough to undertake that the best, and hopefully someone that's not me will be able to review the game then.
Another interesting tidbit is that the company G-Collections has apparently stepped up and has translated a game that's not pure smut to english. This has massive implications to the direction of ero-ge will take in the US. Aside from extremely expensive works like Leaf and Key titles, there's plenty of good games that could be translated and brought over, but this is currently riding on how well their translated version of Kazoku Keikaku does. Provided nothing explodes when I return home, I'll do what I can to have a review on it up before the end of the week.
Kazoku Keikaku's arrival, however, means that I will have to delay my planned games. This includes Front Wing's Boy Meets Girl as well as my recently-procured copy of Hoshiuta. Sakashiki hito ni miru kokoro + Don-chan ga kyuu~ will also sit in the back burner until I get some more stuff sorted out.
On the eroge front, the Master Up for the new Dies Irae game is ready. Hopefully light will recover from the fiasco caused by the first game. I really wish they could give some information on the PS2 port of R.U.R.U.R., since I'm beginning to feel like it will be less and less likely to be released. I wonder what is holding that up.
Featured Character:
Name: Magara Arimi
Game: Sakashiki hito ni miru kokoro
Voiced by: Aoyama Yukari
Designed by: AKINOKO
Character type: Tsundere
Magara Arimi is a girl that's introduced to Sakashiki's protagonist, Kousaka Kazushige, as a cold and unapproachable person; a classic "ice queen" type girl. Of course, seeing that the story was simple in structure and character motives, Kazushige decides to pursue Arimi, finding her apparent dislike for him attractive.
Arimi hails from a family of doctors, and unlike our protagonist (who can't decide what he wants to do after school despite being very intelligent), her life has been chosen for her: her father decided that she should be an obstetrician. While she does what is expected of her, Arimi has always had a thing for history, but dares not show this side of herself in front of Kazushige.
Living up to her character type, Arimi drops her ice queen air when around friends, which is limited to Sumi Noriko (AKA Don-chan) and Sumi Majino. She also proves to be the return of the classic tsundere type character (by this we mean that she slowly warms up to the protagonist as the story progresses, instead of being a bipolar tsundere), since she goes from ice queen to loving girlfriend and stays that way all the way through the end.
In a way, Arimi is a very passionate person that is simply restricted because of her duty to her family, while at the same time mature enough to understand that her life has a direction, despite it not being something she truly wants to do. As her feelings for Kazushige change (all of it being driven by her discovery that she has a lot in common with our protagonist), the flood gates kind of open up. Of course, the true test for Arimi is near the end of the story, where the family obligation that gave her life direction suddenly vanishes after one of her older brothers gets engaged to an obstetrician.
Anyway, that's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
Live from the Promised Land, it's after Saturday Night! |
|
|
| Game Rant: Mama mia! Here we go again~! (Mama LOVE) |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|07:39 am] |
Gender roles and expectations are obviously powerful elements in stories, as they set the foundation for character interaction and character development. In the case of character interaction, it helps determine how characters get along, when their motives concur and when they become clear enemies. Character development is highly influenced by these elements as well, often being limited or expanded upon, and allowing a character to mature or degenerate.
While both of these factors are also influenced by things like social status, personality, and inherent strength/weakness, gender roles and the expectations society places upon them are the building blocks that help the story develop in the long run.
I first experienced strain in understanding gender roles when I reviewed Hermit's Sekai de ichiban NG na koi. While the story in the end was about a man and a woman developing feelings for each other and falling in love, their relative age combined with social views on relationships admitedly caused the story to touch a genre that I actually dislike very much. Hermit's prior title to this plays the reverse of that story type. While one could accuse me of bias, since this type of story favors a weaknesses of mine, I'll say that I was left somewhat dissapointed by the game's plot and shallow characters when it came to the big picture. I hope to be able to bring all this to light as we explore Hermit's second title, Mama LOVE.
Game: Mama LOVE
Mama LOVE (ML for short) was released on October 29, 2004 by Hermit. This would be Hermit's second title as a subsidiary of Will. One could call this game the conceptual predecessor of Sekai de ichiban NG na koi, down to the age gap of the "main couple", the quirky support cast and the concepts of forbidden romance used in the game.
The player takes the role of Sakuragi Kouji. Our protagonist is a senior in high school that at one point was the ace of his school's baseball team. An injury forced him into early retirement, crushing his dreams of being a professional baseball player. For the last five years Kouji and his dad have been living in an apartment building where, as time passed, the tenants of his floor became something like a surrogate family. Kouji and his dad, wedding dress designer Ryouko and her daughter Koyuki, and university student/ero-literature author Kaori.
Much to Kouji's dismay, his dad has a bit of a reputation as a womanizer, and most expect him to be a chip off the old block. Proving them wrong, Kouji is more serious than his dad, and already has his heart set on someone. Of course, the person Kouji is set on is (true to the game's title) Ryouko, surrogate mother of the tenants on the fifth floor, and Koyuki's mom.
While the plot focuses on the affair between Ryouko and Kouji (and all the trouble our couple goes through to keep it a secret from others), the game has a total of five heroines for us to get to know in this strange romantic comedy.
Heroine: Fujieda Ryouko C.V.: Maki Izumi
 Ryouko is the widow of apartment 503, living next door to Kouji and his dad, Akira.
By profession, Ryouko is a wedding dress designer that works for a wedding planning company. At home, she is the "mother" of the "family" that lives on the Florias apartment building's fifth floor. She apparently lost her husband many years before the story begins, since her daughter Koyuki makes no mention of her father, and Ryouko herself isn't really clinging to the memory of her dead husband.
Despite her age (while not clearly stated, is suggested to be in her late thirties), Ryouko is the game's true heroine, and the fully-receptive object of Kouji's desires. She started out as a mother figure for Kouji five years ago (when Akira and Kouji moved to Florias). She's always worried and looked out for him as the mother he never had. Somewhere down the line, Kouji promised himself that he'd someday marry Ryouko, and (much to our surprise) she returned those feelings six months before ML's story begins. While she is the adult in the relationship, Ryouko has a tendency to be childish and clumsy. It is because of this that Kouji takes the "lead", which seems to suit her just fine (and may be why she was attracted to him in the first place).
Externally, Ryouko still sees Kouji as a boy, and often frowns at how he behaves when they're alone. While part of her revels in the relationship she has with our protagonist, somewhere deep down there's a lot of doubt, and even feelings that she has no place in Kouji's future.
|
Heroine: Fujieda Koyuki C.V.: Noda Asumi (under the alias "Nirai Kanai")
 Koyuki is Ryouko's only daughter, and lives in apartment 503 with her mother.
As a foil for her mother, Koyuki is the temperamental-yet-less-passive best friend that has had a thing for Kouji since she met him five years ago. Of course, hell would freeze over before she would ever admit she has feelings for him.
Even though she is a year younger than our protagonist, Koyuki does not hesitate to put him in his place when needed, and is the stronger will out of the two. This does not mean she outright disrespects our protagonist, however. She cares about him enough that she'll respect his decisions when it comes to serious matters, but at times can see things that he clearly cannot.
While being one of the more shallow characters in the game (her route is basically a spin off of episode 9 of the Ryouko route), Koyuki is more involved than anyone else when it comes to Kouji's future and the outcome of the story. Being a person driven more by actions than words, she has a tendency to meddle and get things rolling when it comes to the other characters, largely because everyone else is too busy sulking or worrying about things (case and point being Ryouko's route, where Koyuki is the sole reason why Ryouko openly admitted she loved Kouji and wanted to be with him).
|
Heroine: Akizuki Kaori C.V.: Isshiki Hikaru
 Kaori is the "older sister" of the fifth floor's surrogate family, and resides in apartment 501.
Kaori was a university student when she met Kouji three years before ML begins. At present, however, she's an author of erotic novels. While most of her work involves actual books, she will do the occasional scenario writing for ero-game companies.
Despite being the "older sister", Kaori has proven to be unable to take care of herself, and welcomed the formation of the "family" on her floor. Her level of comfort and lack of female modesty with her "family" has led to her walking around wearing nothing but her underwear and a white shirt when at home.
Her irresponsible facet aside, Kaori is also one of the more perceptive characters in the story, being amongst the first to have suspicion that there may be something going on between our protagonist and Ryouko. At times, she will try to trick Kouji into admitting to part of this, but often fails or has the topic of conversation changed. That being said, she bears no ill will to the relationship (the way Ruri would) because she sees herself as a spectator and not one of the "main players".
|
Heroine: Kikunaga Ruri C.V.: Chatani Yusura
 Ruri is introduced as a girl that used to know Kouji before he moved to Florias. She's always looked up to him as an older brother, and presents herself as a timid girl. Of course, Ruri has a much darker side that at first only manifests when she and Kouji are alone. Simply put, Ruri is the "master" and Kouji is the "slave" in their brother-sister relationship. In fact, Kouji developed a deep fear of her back when they were children.
Ruri decides to track down our protagonist to renew their "relationship" by trying to blackmail him into going to the same university as her. At the same time, she aims to get away from her mother, who has remarried for the sixth time. Upon being refused by Kouji, Ruri sets herself to sabotage the relationship between Kouji and the other tenants by framing him of panty theft. When that failed, she tried to drive the other women away (specially Ryouko) by sneaking into Kouji's bed and pretending that they had been sleeping together.
Despite her faults, Ruri yearns for nothing more than to have a place in the world. She's convinced that she's the only one that truly cares for Kouji, but finds herself at ease with the other characters. While she can easily outsmart everyone else in the cast, she eventually learns to accept things as they are, and is almost as involved in the fates of the other characters as Koyuki.
|
Heroine: Christina Hostetler C.V.: Kanzaki Kanari
 Originally presented as Kouji's innazuke (betrothed), Christina hails from the US as the daughter of a high executive for the McDowell's fast food restaurant chain. While very new to Japanese culture, she's more than willing to follow on the arrangement made by her mother and Kouji's father, and dedicates herself to being the ideal wife for Kouji.
Of course, there's more to this story. Aside from being Kouji's fiancee, Christina is also an "agent" for the McDowell's company (because fast food chains need to have field agents experienced in the use of firearms and martial arts for some reason...), and is originally assigned to protecting Kouji. What she is protecting him from is never revealed, but things get dicey when an agent for the competitor company Burger Queen enters the picture and tries to kill our protagonist. (Yes, I'm having a hard time keeping a straight face as I write this).
To make matters worse, Chris is revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of the company owner, and was really sent away to Japan as a way of keeping the truth behind her parents a secret in the US.
|
Story, Structure & Game Engine
Much like Folklore Jam, ML's story is split into episodes. The game's true route (Ryouko) has eleven episodes in total, while the other routes (Koyuki, Christina, Kaori, Ruri) resolve themselves at earlier points in the plot. Each episode is structured the way a TV show episode would be: You have the opening movie for ML play, then the events that lead to the episode title being recited by Koyuki. The actual episode would follow, after which the credits video will play. After the credits, we get some after-show gag or conversation between the characters, leading to the next episode. There is also use of commercial break eyecatches during the episodes.
The way the actual story is written puts Ryouko and her relationship with Kouji at the forefront as far as how the story should end. This is both good and bad, since it allows us to see beyond what would be concidered the "bland" type of ending in other eroge (since a protagonist getting together with a mother-type character usually gets an ending that's not entirely fleshed out). The downside of this is that the other characters have little to no room to actually develop.
The story tries to compensate by focusing episodes on the other heroines, but there isn't much opportunity for the other girls to truly grow. The most notable victim of this flaw in the plot happens to be Koyuki. While she hints to her crush on our protagonist, things suddenly go full force in episode 9 and kind of stay there with no true resolution to Kouji's relationship with Ryouko (should he actually choose to pursue Koyuki at that point). The writers did a slightly better job with the other heroines, since each has a "set up" episode that helps the story head in their direction before getting to the actual ending.
The dynamics between the characters are a bit on the odd side. Akira (Kouji's dad) prefers to stay distant from everyone else, while Koyuki and Ruri are the only characters that really try to get things going, and are vital to the resolution of Ryouko and Kaori's routes. Ryouko basically drags her feet through the entire story (until near the very end of her route), as does Kouji.
Engine-wise, the game is pretty simple. The text panel has a portait part for the character's face to appear in when they are speaking. The game doesn't switch between character models during interaction, and instead uses the portrait section of the panel to help describe the mood of the characters and such. Aside from all the standards (text log, replay option for spoken lines, etc), the game also has a TV frame around it. To further give the impression that the game was created around the idea of being a romantic comedy, there are audience reactions throughout the story, often canned laughter and applause in reaction to some of the events and jokes used.
Artwork
Character designs were provided by Yama Bikko. Lots of bright colors used, though there's a bit of inconsistency to some of the characters when we get into the CG artwork. I hate to make it seem like I pick on her, but Koyuki is a good example of what I mean, since her chest looks notably bigger than it should be in certain CG's. Still, the designs are nice, and Yama-san has proven to be really good with facial expressions (something that the game happens to put tons of emphasis on because of its game engine).
Sound & Video
The game is fully voiced (sans the protagonist). While Maki Izumi sounds exactly the same as she did in almost every other game she's in, Isshiki Hikaru impressed me because her rendition of Kaori used her standard "oneesan" voice, but managed to make it sound different from her other older sister-type characters. Chatani Yusura (Ruri's VA) surprised me as well, since I had no idea that she had voiced Hinata in Folklore Jam.
The game's music was provided by Uzumaki Masao, with the OP song being composed by Arurukan. The music is alright, and fitting of the game. A couple of the tracks were pretty good, but some felt very throw-away to me. The OP song, on the other hand...let's just say I didn't like it very much.
As for video, the OP for ML can be seen here.
Omake
The game has only one extra, it being a harem scenario involving Kouji, Koyuki and Ryouko. Of course, it turns out to be a sample story that Kouji wrote at the request of Kaori, who went and sold it to an ero-ge company to make a game out of. The player has to have unlocked all character scenes and CG in order to get access to this extra.
Verdict
The game has a shallow feel to it. Maybe it was intentionally done (since romantic comedy TV shows do tend to be a bit on the shallow side), but still showed there was lots of untapped potential in this game. While I loved how they handled Kaori's route and how Koyuki was major character in several of the route resolutions, that was not enough to make up for the fact that the cast as a whole is just very lacking in terms of personality. There's too much stuff that's left open, some of it being just hints tossed here or there, and even the true ending is not as resolute as I would like it to be. On the plus side, there are several ideas here that would once again appear in Sekai de ichiban NG na koi, so I can't really say this game was a total waste.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"Don't f*ck with the McDowell's franchise!" |
|
|
| Random Rant: Quickies and then some! |
[Jun. 19th, 2009|02:33 pm] |
Ok, so I'm taking a bit of a break after plowing through my Rakuen replay and Patvessel. I did want to talk about some of my current games and maybe spoil some stuff from Pygmalion in this post, though.
Don-chan ga kyuu~: The long-awaited spin off title to light's Sakashiki hito ni miru kokoro has finally been released (I think the game has been pushed back twice sinte it was announced). As the title would suggest, the game would be centered on one of Sakashiki's minor characters, Sumi Noriko (AKA Don-chan).
I'm installing the game as I write this post, so I can't say much aside from the fact that the game is notably bigger than Sakashiki was (Sakashiki was around 500 MB or so. Don-chan ga kyuu~, on the other hand, is twice that size when installed).
The plan at the moment is that since Sakashiki (and assumingly Don-chan) are relatively simple in structure, I'll do a two-for-one review. It should work, especially since both games share characters (the only difference is that while Don-chan focuses on the title character, Sakashiki focused on Magara Arimi).
Mama LOVE: This is an odd game released by Hermit...well, this is hermit's second game, being released after Folklore Jam but before Sekai de ichiban NG na koi.
While the title is somewhat suggestive, the game revolves around a guy named Sakuragi Kouji. Kouji lives with his dad in a seemingly ordinary apartment building, leading a seemingly ordinary life. He goes to school (hurray high school student protagonists...), puts up with his dad's antics and deals with the people the live on his floor (including his best friend Koyuki and his next door neighbor Kaori). Of course, what sets the story into motion in this case is that, under everyone's noses, Kouji is having an affair with Koyuki's mother, Ryouko.
Anyway, what made this interesting is that the game seems to be presented as a romantic comedy TV show of sorts. The game engine even has a built-in TV frame around it, there are audience reactions (mostly canned laughter) and (once again) the story is separated into episodes.
The game is amusing enough that it warrants a review.
Pygmalion -The Dark Romance-: To start, I'm beginning to hit roadblocks with this game. I'm also beginning to run out of ideas as far as how to progress past certain points in the story. This is because the way the story progresses seems to be dependant on several factors.
Where Johaan stands with certain characters is one such factor. The presence of certain characters in his life also affect where the story goes (for example, the only way Johaan can meet Accele is if Roze and Asia leave the story). To add yet another layer, the player has the option of breaking the contract Johaan made with the demon Bell. This can rush you to a "good" ending with the heroine that has most affection with Johaan, can lead to the doll killing Johaan, or will cause him to return to his shut-in ways, making a new doll based on Julietta.
At first, I figured Johaan would be the only Faustian character in the game. However, as I got further into certain routes, I found that many people in the story have made some pact with Bell. This in a way takes away from his role in the story, but also adds a touch of complexity to the cast members that have given up something important in exchange for something else. I will speak of two such characters (chances are I'll copy these bits into the review for Pygmalion, if I ever get around to making one):
Rio Barone: Rio was a friend of Julietta back in college. While Julietta went on to meet Johaan Argent and make her own life with him, Rio pursued her dream of becoming an opera singer.
By the time she is introduced in the story, Rio is already well-known in the music world and hailed as a prodigious vocalist. As would be expected, she has a good following and is a stereotypical artist in the truest sense: she's whimsical, spoiled and impulsive.
At first, Maya (Rio's assistant) has to basically look after her off-stage by making sure she wakes up on time, cooking for her and ensuring she behaves overall. As we follow Rio's story, we see that Julietta spoke with her before passing away. Etta's last wish was that Rio look after Johaan in her absence. This last wish is what drives Rio to become less dependant on Maya, and is further driven once she develops feelings for Johaan. Thus, Rio forces herself to wake up on time, learns to cook and improves herself in hopes of someday being able to look after our protagonist. This desire to follow up on her best friend's final wish sours as we progress, and turns into antagonism towards the memory of Julietta once she falls in love with Johaan.
During Rio's route, one can see that a part of her feels like she's betraying Julietta by falling for Johaan and wanting to be together with him. One of the last chapters that focus on Rio even has her "see" Julietta sitting in the audience during her performances. Despite initial shock, Rio finds the nerve to tell this specter "Now be a good girl and stay in your grave".
Aside from the obvious, Rio is a generally cheerful person. She likes doing things her way (which often collides with what the directors want from her), and is somewhat of a practical joker. She usually gets a kick out of poking fun at Johaan, specially by using her acting skills to make scenes in public places (or to fluster him in general). She's also very passionate, and is unwilling to give up once she finds something she wants.
Rio's Pact - Rio unknowingly made a pact with Bell when she was just getting started as a singer. During an audition, Rio called out into the darkness for the strength to become a good opera singer (this is after she had been turned down several times). Bell answered her call, and listened to her as she proclaimed that she'll do anything to become an opera singer. Afterwards, her name was called out, as "Entry #13, Rio Barone". The price for her success was left unknown for a good part of the story, until Bell herself decides to simply kill Rio and take her life as colateral.
Something to note is that the opera that Rio performs in-game is called La Tragedia di Tohreit. This is composite in meaning, since it literally means "The Tragedy of Folly" (Tohreit being german for folly/foolishness). In context of the opera, Tohreit is the lead character, which happens to be played by Rio. Talk about symbolism, right?
Accele Romero: Accele is introduced as the owner of the restaurant/cafe Santa Alte. While she has a motherly aura, and often looks out for her employees, most tend to think of her as a bit of an airhead and eccentric.
She is initially treated as the employer of Johaan's younger sister, Roze. Roze sometimes mentiones her to Johaan, but Johaan and Accele do not meet until after Roze decides to return home to her parents.
Incidentally, what attracts Johaan to Accele is her uncanny ressemblance to Julietta. He at one point wonders if she is an older sister Julietta never mentioned, but quickly corrects himself. Accele takes a liking to him for reasons unknown, though at times she thinks of him as "a child looking for his mother".
Accele's Pact - Accele is the only character that could be called the "end result" of a pact made with Bell. Accele was originally married to a very abusive man that would beat her regularly. She eventually got tired of the life of pain and misery she was living, and called out to anyone who could help her get out of it. Bell showed up and made a pact with Accele.
As it turns out, Accele was pregnant at the time, and after making the pact with Bell, her husband suddenly died. Nine months later, she gave birth, but the baby was a stillborn. Amidst the doctors and nurses in the room, our favorite demon shows up and, grinning behind her surgical mask, simply says "payment collected".
"New life for new life". Accele eventually managed to set out on her own, and opened a cafe/restaurant that does fairly well. Of course, she owes her stillborn child for the stability in her life, and is very regretful of how things turned out. She looks at Santa Alte as her "child", doing her best to make sure her business continues to grow, but her life is scarred deeply. Bell visits her on occasion, to both mock her and see if there's anything else she might want.
-----------------
So yeah, that's some information right there. Seeing as the only OP movie I've found for Pygmalion is on niconico douga, which requires a membership to be able to view, I'll post this vid of Sakakibara Yui (Rio's VA) singing the OP song for Pygmalion. Just picture a bunch of floating doll parts and dark-colored liquids moving about the screen, and you have something close to what the OP movie for the game is like.
And that's that. For those of you who want to hear the full version, that can be found here. That's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei |
|
|
| Game Rant: Welcome! Mind the stuff being thrown at us. (Patvessel) |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|07:43 pm] |
The conflict between Law Enforcement and Criminals is as old as styles of story can get. The thrill of the chase, wit against wit and concept of justice versus deviance is indeed a powerful combination, and quite capable of making a story interesting and entertaining. Of course, as the ideas behind such stories evolved, comedy managed to wiggle its way into such plots, generating memorable and highly appealing movies and shows. From Police Squad to Police Academy to Naked Gun to KochiKame to You're Under Arrest!, the once serious face of Law Enforcement has proven to crack a smile every now and then. With this in mind, I present to you the next step in that proud line of police comedies, Yuugeki Keikan PATVESSEL.
Game: Yuugeki Keikan PATVESSEL
Yuugeki Keikan PATVESSEL (Patvessel for short) was released on April 20, 2007 by the softhouse May-Be Software. Taking a break from their more ero-centered games, the story revolves around the antics of the Toryo City Police Department, focusing on the crew of the floating patrol vessel, Aozorasho. The title loosely means Urban Police Warship PATVESSEL (Yuugeki literally means shortstop, as in the position in baseball, but connotates the local defense element of the position).
The player takes the role of Akashima Junsaku, a police officer that recently graduated from the police academy. He aims to follow in his father's footsteps (since his dad was also a police officer), and is excited upon finding out that he's been stationed in the city of Toryo. Much to his surprise (or dismay), he has been stationed at the large patrol vessel Aozorasho, which decides to crash land into the commercial district of Toryo just to pick him up. As it turns out, Junsaku was specifically recruited for his notable skills as a mecha pilot, specializing in the Peacekeeper-class Ject walking armor utilized by the department in its fight against crime.
Thus he is introduced to the crazy crew that resides on the Aozorasho and their mission to clean up the streets while doing large amounts of property damage AND avoiding stuff chucked at the ship by the angry residents of Toryo. Following the eroge formula, we have five heroines and three sub-heroines for our protagonist to meet with as he is integrated into the Aozorasho's crew.
Heroine: Nanase Hikari C.V.: Mirau
 Hikari is the commander of the Aozorasho, reigning supreme as far as what goes and how things are done on the ship. Most people that have been members of the crew for a while know how to deal with her, but any new recruits (like Junsaku) easily find her to be eccentric in her way of doing things.
To start, Hikari is the daughter of the national chief of police. When it comes to Hikari, the chief is apparently a total pushover, to the point that when Hikari said "daddy, I want my own flying police vessel!", the chief went ahead and gave her the Aozorasho.
Despite the way she got command of the Aozorasho, Hikari is not much of a "daddy's girl". She prefers to do things on her own, and in part hates the fact that her father is so quick to give her whatever she wants. That is not to say Hikari is mature and selfless, though. Given her quick temper and itchy trigger finger, Hikari has caused a good amount of property damage since taking command of the Aozorasho, often using the ship's Neo Nanbu Cannon to fire at people who angered her during meetings at HQ, people who made comments about the ship on TV or even angry citizens that choose to throw things at the vessel while on patrol.
Hikari claims that she had Junsaku transferred because of his exceptional skill as a pilot. While it plays out this way, the extreme amount of jealousy she shows when Junsaku is around the other female members of the cast and Hikari's compulsive personality hint that she probably thought he was cute and had him transferred to the Aozorasho because of it.
Note: Hikari was in part inspired by Ito Noizi's illustrations of Suzumiya Haruhi, down to wearing an armband with her rank on it and the hair ribbons. She's also very similar personality-wise, preferring to keep things interesting at the cost of following logic to resolve a situation. The cosplay incident drives this point home.
|
Heroine: Hatami Kuu C.V.: Kusayanagi Junko
 Kuu is the Aozorasho's chief operator, and the closest thing to a first officer. Acting as a foil for Hikari, Kuu is cool, collected and reserved under most situations. She is also the character that breaks the fourth wall, often reminding Junsaku and the player that what they're seeing is fiction.
Kuu graduated the police academy amongst the "elite" officers in training. As quickly proven, she is a genius in every sense of the word. She's incredibly intelligent, quite capable of dismantling even the most complicated computer programs and viruses, while also being very physically able (scoring perfect games in bowling, baseball and billiards).
Because of the fact that she's so good at so many things, Kuu feels that she can easily bore people, and prefers to stay inside the ship during off-duty hours. As Junsaku manages to get close to her, he learns that she yearns to experience the whole of life, especially love (Kuu enjoys playing dating sims because of this very reason).
The other side of the coin, as it could be called, is that Kuu was really stationed at the Aozorasho in an attempt to hide her from certain government officials. This is because Kuu is actually the product of a genetic engineering project to create a super-human known as the Organic Material Project. While Kuu originally believes herself to be empty (as the kanji for her name can mean empty), she eventually learns that the people in her life have given her existence meaning, bringing her one step closer to being truly human.
Note: Kuu seems to be partly-inspired by Hatsune Miku in appearance, while personality-wise she is similar to Nagato Yuki (also from the Suzumiya Haruhi books).
|
Heroine: Shinohara Itsuki C.V.: Oukawa Mio
 Sergeant Shinohara Itsuki is part of the Aozorasho's team of mechanics that work around the clock to maintain the Ject walking armor mechs that Junsaku and the other pilots utilize.
Being a true tomboy, Itsuki has next to no sense of female modesty, and thinks of herself as one of the guys amongst the ship's crew of mechanics. She also loves the mechanical aspect of the Ject, and gets easily excited when it comes to technological breakthroughs and innovative ways to use the technology currently available.
As a byproduct of her tomboyish nature, Itsuki feels that she's not attractive (she actually thinks that Yuzu and Hikari are more attractive than she is). We also find out that she's the standard "girl that's a tomboy because her father wanted a son and got her instead" type of character. This is further supported by her extremely laid back attitude to everything and her not being as squeamish as the other girls in the cast.
After meeting and getting to know our protagonist, Itsuki attempts to become more feminine to help accommodate the gender dynamics between them. Of course, the gender roles are blurred in their relationship, and in some cases reversed. At the start, Itsuki can't cook at all, while Junsaku is rather decent at it. Comically, even embarrasing situations have them reverse roles, like their sudden meeting in the bath, where Junsaku is the one that screams like a girl (as he tries to cover himself) while Itsuki is the one that tries to calm him down (before sardonically adding "Shouldn't I be the one screaming here?").
|
Heroine: Mayuzumi Reona C.V.: Nagasaki Minami
 Mayuzumi Reona is an officer that was transferred to the Aozorasho from the Toryo Police Department HQ. Much like Junsaku, she is initially very distraught to see how unprofessional most of the crew is, and is specially annoyed at Hikari's lacking behavior as a commander.
Lieutenant Mayuzumi was seen as a prodigy back when she was at the police academy, proving to be skilled as a pilot, a great marksman and deadly in hand-to-hand combat (she apparently earned the nickname "Lumber Jack" while at the academy). She's a very no-nonsense person, and is always focused on following orders and placing duty above all things. Her quick rise through the ranks, however, did not come without a price. Reona harbors feelings of a repressed youth because of her intense focus in studying and training while at the academy. While she prefers to keep these feelings buried, the easy-going nature of the Aozorasho's crew begin to slowly make Reona "slip" and start to relax a bit on her own (it is through these "slips" that we find that Reona loves first-person shooting games and boy-love manga).
Reona's competitive nature has earned her a rivalry with Itsuki, and causes her to do everything she can to come out on top against the other members of the patrol team (especially Junsaku). Her feelings for our protagonist change when she realizes that Junsaku is focused on the ideal of justice, while at the same time encouraging her to continue to rise up through the ranks instead of treating her like competition. She comes to further appreciate this aspect of our protagonist when HQ decides to play politics by arranging things so that Reona takes credit for arrests and detective work made by our protagonist (using the excuse that a mere patrolman should not be in the limelight).
|
Heroine: Kaitou Roll/Kouzuka Makiko C.V.:Kusunoki Suzune (under the alias Konotsuna Mayo)
 Kaitou Roll is a phantom thief (comparable to a gentleman thief) that prowls Toryo and openly invites the police to try to catch her by leaving a calling card with the time she'll appear and the item she plans to steal. She's a self-proclaimed pursuer of that which is gorgeous and elegant with a very annoying laugh.
Like every good masked thief, Roll has an alterego, in this case being Kouzuka Makiko. Makiko owns a dry-cleaner shop that does laundry services near the Akivahara district. She is also good friends with Hikari, to the point where Hikari lets her on board the Aozorasho on occasion (even though civilians are not supposed to be allowed on the patrol vessel).
At night, however, the constant battle between the Aozorasho's crew continues against Roll, even though as of the time Junsaku joins the crew, no one has managed to catch her. Junsaku's resilience and determination manage to get Roll's attention and even impresses her to a degree. As Junsaku quickly finds out, Roll is not the average thief, being incredibly crafty and with more than just a few tools in her bag of tricks, including a portable hand drill, a large sword named Caladbolg, and a harisen that can deflect bullets.
Despite being at constant odds, there are times where Roll will step in and help out as she can, even if she hates having Hikari call her "Yakisoba Roll" or, even worse, "Choleste Roll". On a comic note, the citizens of Toryo cheer Roll on while they boo and throw things at the Aozorasho.
Note: Roll/Makiko is heavily hinted to being Makiko, the washing machine monomusume. Her last name is also the last name of monogokoro,monomusume's protagonist, and her claim to be one of seven sisters (as there were seven monomusume in the game: PC, first-aid kit, panties, pillowcase, encyclopedia, washing machine, action figure) point in that direction. The help she gets from one of her sisters during the computer virus incident (where the computer virus that infects the Aozorasho's main computer is suspiciously named Acco like the PC monomusume) also hint that Patvessel and monogokoro,monomusume are connected in some way.
|
Sub-Heroine: Nonomiya Yuzu C.V.: Kusayanagi Junko
 Despite being small and loli-looking, Yuzu is the ship's cook, and also ranked sergeant. While the pilots and mechanics do their thing, she makes sure that they're properly fed, and is known for her great cooking. Not much more can be said for Yuzu, aside from the fact that she openly admits to having an older brother complex and wishes her chest was as big as Itsuki's.
|
Sub-Heroine: Suruga Hazumi C.V.: Nagasaki Minami
 Hazumi is the Aozorasho's medical officer. While she's in charge of check-ups and whatnot for the pilots and crew members, she is also seen as an "older sister" type person. Because of this, she is sometimes visited for advice and counseling (especially by the other girls on the ship). She has a thing for younger men, which places Junsaku in her sights very early in the story.
Hazumi is actually a Lieutenant like Reona (probably a bit of a joke since both have the same VA), but wears a Sergeant badge at all times.
|
Sub-Heroine: Momomoto Mitsuna C.V.: Oukawa Mio
 Mitsuna is the Aozorasho's second operator, working with Kuu and Hikari on a day-to-day basis. Completing the Suzumiya Haruhi references, Mitsuna is partly based on Asahina Mikuru. This makes her the "bottom" of the trio, often the victim of bad jokes (from Hikari and Kuu) and the occasional breast squeeze (from Hikari). She's easily flustered and tends to bite her tongue when she gets nervous (causing her to slur her speech). She is also the one that has to answer calls and apologize whenever the Aozorasho causes property damage, and occasionally begs the citizens of Toryo to not throw things at the ship.
Her docile personality aside, Mitsuna is a 5th dan in Judo (which makes her a master-level practitioner) and an avid fan of professional wrestling. Much like Kuu, she also breaks the fourth wall by doing off-side commentary whenever Junsaku gets lariats from Hikari or headlocks from Itsuki, often comparing their attacks to the likes of the legendary Tiger Mask and other Japanese pro-wrestlers. Needless to say, she's hopelessly in love with Junsaku, but is too afraid to actually come forward and tell him.
|
Story Structure & Game Engine
The game takes place over eleven days. While we're not given a calendar, the setting and events suggest the story takes place in the summer. The strange thing about the way the story flows is that there's no indication of there being daily progression, and few events go from one incident to the next.
The story begins with the character introductions, and then follows the Aozorasho's crew through their routine. The first couple of days cover ordinary incidents and problems Junsaku and the others must resolve, including mech-related crimes and dealing with Kaitou Roll. After the anniversary of the Aozorasho's maiden voyage, the story follows whatever heroine Junsaku chose to pursue.
During each day, the player will be able to interact with one of the heroines in order to push the story in her direction. While the interaction events are crucial to determining the story past the anniversary party, they compliment the events of the particular day with little input required from the player. There are no choices available for the player to make, which somewhat detract from the dating sim feel of this game. Something of important to keep in mind is that the story is laden with tons of references to current anime and other May-Be Software titles.
The sub-heroines fit in as support characters for the most part. They are also involved in the three ero-scenes the player is kind of forced to witness in the story: Hazumi on the first day, Yuzu on the third day, and Mitsuna on the fifth day.
Engine-wise, the game is pretty standard, following the tried and true textbox with a built-in feature to replay character lines by clicking on the character's name. The text log is pretty extensive, and the box itself is semi-transparent.
Artwork
Artwork was provided by Akaza. Seems this artist has been around for a while, and is generally employed by May-Be Software and AiCherry Software. As you can see, there seems to be an emphasis on bust size, but overall the designs are clean, if a little too similar to one another. Yuki Nami is credited for the mech designs.
Sound & Video
Patvessel is only partially-voiced, with the heroines and sub-heroines getting VA's assigned. As you probably noticed, Oukawa Mio, Kusayanagi Junko and Nagasaki Minami covered two characters. The voice acting is pretty decent, and I found yet another voice range that Oukawa Mio is capable of using (I didn't know it was her voicing Itsuki until I read the credits).
BGM was provided by Chichiyama Ato, while Sumiisan is credited for the game's OP and ED songs. Synthesizer is the order of the day, which does well since the game's light atmosphere puts its capabilites to good use. There's nothing too heavy in the soundtrack, but again, the game doesn't really need it. Still, the music is not anything to write home about, but decent nevertheless.
As for video, the OP for Patvessel can be seen here. Additionally, the game uses animated ero-scenes (which I'm not very happy about), which for some reason are stored as actual movie files.
Omake
The game has only one extra feature, it being an extra story that is accessible after getting the endings for all the heroines and all the sub-heroines. It's basically a harem story that seems to be the writers' way to say "sorry the game wasn't too focused on ero".
Verdict
It's been a while since I've laid eyes on a good police comedy, so Patvessel was a welcome sight. I particularly liked the way the game used comedy along with its quirky characters to get an entertaining story. The references to other games and anime was simply icing on the cake. Overall, I would recommend this title, provided the player can stomach two or three forced ero-scenes that have no real weight on the story. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"This is a work of fiction." |
|
|
| Game Rant: Are you ready to fall? (Rakuen) |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|05:30 pm] |
Note: This is a remake of my original review for the game below. As such I have removed the old review so that this may stand as a more accurate presentation of the game in question.
It should come as no surprise that the eroge market of today forces the player to search through thousands of titles on a monthly basis to find that one particular game that is not just decent, but great. While many companies and brands step up to the plate, few actually produce true quality titles that are overall entertaining yet meaningful. These games manage to stand the test of time, even long after the maker has dissapeared into the mists of history. Of course, the question then arises: what is it that makes a great game? In the case of TerraLunar's final release, it can be said that clever use of comedy combined with a great set of characters and a well-written scenario is enough to make such a title great. With this, I present to my readers (all three of you) Rakuen ~Ai kawarazu na boku no baii~.
Game: Rakuen ~Ai kawarazu na boku no baii~
Rakuen ~Ai kawarazu na boku no baii~ (Rakuen for short) was released on June 25th, 2004 by the softhouse TerraLunar. At the time, TerraLunar was part of a larger development company known as Getsumenkichimae (base on the face of the moon). The game's title literally means Paradise ~the case of "Never improve myself"~, the case being the making of the game Ai kawarazu na boku and the events surrounding it.
The player takes the role of a nameless protagonist that the script refers to as Boku (boku is a word one can use to refer to themselves in Japanese. It's less formal than watashi, but not to the point of words like ore). Boku is a ronin that moves to Tokyo in hopes of being able to study and prepare himself for the university entrance exams. His hobbies as an artist and the myriad of temptations of the big city have kind of caused him to waste his time away, playing games and watching anime instead of focusing on studying. His need for a job eventually landed him a job at MoonEarth, an eroge studio that at the time was needing a character designer. The studio's fate takes a turn for the worse when the scenario writer decides to entirely drop out just as the crew is producing their first title.
Seeing as the fledgeling studio is under a lot of scrutiny from its parent companies, this turn of events places MoonEarth in a very sticky situation. As such, the story focuses on MoonEarth's budget problems (the project director likes gambling budget money away by playing pachinko), scheduling issues (the lack of a scenario writer means EVERYTHING from character designs to CGs to BGMs and Voice Actor casting is delayed as well), and eventual crunch-time (since as of the game's start, MoonEarth has one month to create a game from scratch) as they trudge their way to releasing their first title, a game called Ai kawarazu na boku.
The game's five heroines are more than just potential partners for our protagonist: their involvement in Boku's life determine the fate of MoonEarth and his future in the world of eroge.
Heroine: Chikura Sae C.V.: Nagasaki Minami
 Sae (AKA Chikurin, AKA Sakurachi) is Boku's ex-girlfriend from high school. She was a year behind him, and has always called him senpai. On his graduation day, Boku gave her one of the buttons from his uniform. Sadly, he lost touch with her and did not see her since.
Our protagonist meets Sae once more on a random day at cram school. At first he doesn't recognize her, but soon remembers when she recognizes him. As it turns out, Sae didn't do well on her entrance exams, so she is preparing to take them again the following year. Upon finding out that Boku is also a ronin, she makes a promise with him that they'll get into college together.
For a majority of the story, Sae is an outsider to the events going on behind the doors at MoonEarth. This changes when the staff realizes they really need a scenario writer for Ai kawarazu na boku. Our protagonist decides to ask her to contribute (knowing of her little hobby for blogging and fanfic writing), and she hesitantly agrees. From then on Sae uses the pen name Sakura and manages to transform the game's base concept (which was three heroines, a normal girl, an angel and a devil) into something truly decent. While she gives her all to make sure the game comes out as good as it can be, Sae's true focus is the fulfilment of the promise she made with the protagonist.
|
Heroine: Mishiba Karen C.V.: Ayase Mayu, AKA Matsunaga Yuki (speculated)
 Karen (AKA Mishiba-senpai, AKA Hamster, AKA Chibi, AKA Chupacabra) is introduced as MoonEarth's eccentric (if overly playful) CG artist. She, along with Kantoku and Marqui are all that's left of MoonEarth's production staff at the time Boku joins them.
Karen, along with her friend Mikami Mika, was once a starving art student with nothing to her name. After Mika got her big break by becoming MiniMi Software's character designer, she was also brought on board to help. Tanaka Daizaburou (MiniMi's director of staff and scenario writer) holds her in high regard because he knows how talented she really is.
After breaking off, Karen helped form MoonEarth. As the story begins, she has nothing to do because without any artwork being made, she has no CG to create. In fact, Karen puts a very special emphasis on the relationship between the character designer and CG artist, since (according to her) both must compliment each other through their work and mesh well in order for the final product to be good.
That being said, Karen has a unique way of dealing with people. She for the most part is straight and to the point, and is unusually serious when it comes to people that dance around issues. She loves to take jabs at Boku for being an otaku (despite being a walking eroge encyclopedia herself), and also enjoys poking fun at his younger sisters for being like the eroge stereotype. Her speech pattern constantly changes, often switching to finishing her sentences with "nya". Should one make the mistake of angering her, Karen will respond with kicks to the face and bites.
Highlight for spoiler: As we later find out, Karen is actually half-Japanese (through her mother) and half-Dutch (through her father). She grew up in the Netherlands as the standard rich girl, with many responsibilities and duties to her family (as she was her family's oldest child). When her brother was born, her father placed all duties and expectations on him and stopped caring about Karen. After he tells her that no one would care if she was not around, Karen decided to run away to Japan and take up her mother's last name.
In Karen's route, her family tracks her down and tells her to return home when Karen's brother suddenly dies. Since the chosen heir of the family is gone, Karen once again is forced to take up the duties expected of her back in the Netherlands. While Boku is hesitant to let Karen leave, she decides to willingly return, as she feels she owes it to her brother. She makes arrangements so that she would return home after MoonEarth finishes producing Ai kawarazu na boku, but sends some of her people to Japan to purchase a copy of the game on release day. Karen's stay in the Netherlands is short-lived, since after a couple of (strangely convenient) international incidents in her home country, she once again finds herself in Japan to fill MoonEarth's vacant position for a CG artist. Karen's real name is Karen Van Duyn.
|
Heroine: Mikami Mika C.V.: Oukawa Mio
 Mika is introduced as MiniMi Software's character designer. She is a rather succesful doujinshi artist and is trying to prove herself as a mangaka as our story begins.
Unlike her boss/colleague, Tanaka Daizaburou, Mika is still on friendly terms with most of the MoonEarth crew. She and Boku had already met, since both were artists selling their works at a comic convention that took place before the story began, and is convinced their meeting was fated to happen.
As an artist, Mika is indeed exceptionally talented (enough that her artwork has a decent following and was pivotal in helping MiniMi Software make a name for itself). Elsewhere, however, she can be helpless, and even clumsy. She has a hard time around computers, which causes some problems with her work because she's so used to drawing everything on paper.
Being a kansai-ben speaker, Mika is relaxed and laid back most of the time. Almost too much, at certain points. While she is oblivious to the troubles caused by driving like an Initial D character or putting her credit card number on adult web sites, Boku is usually the one that has to look out for her.
Her relationship with our protagonist starts off as a friendship between fellow artists, but she manages to get him to become her assistant when she starts working on full manga. Of course, Mika develops feelings for him throughout the story, but Boku is hesitant to get together with her because unlike Mika (who is already established as an artist and has a steady source of income), he hasn't achieved much. While she is aware of all this, she admits that she can't do her work on her own, and wants him to be by her side to continue to motivate and inspire her.
Highlight for spoiler: Mikami is apparently the reason why MiniMi Software split into MiniMi and MoonEarth. As told by Karen, both Kantoku and Tanaka had a thing for Mika at one point. This rivalry manifested itself through creative differences between the two founders of MiniMi, which led to the split. Kantoku took Marqui and Karen to form MoonEarth while Mika stayed behind. As mentioned by Mika, they used to fight so much that she didn't know which of them to listen to. To top things off, the only person she really loved aside from Boku was Karen. Yes, she liked Karen "that way" (even if Karen would frown and simply say "but there's no penis involved." before walking away).
|
Heroine: Ann C.V.: Kusayanagi Junko
 Ann is the older of Boku's twin sisters. Boku refers to her as the "non-cheeky", demure imouto (younger sister). She in turn calls him Ni-niichan. Her age is not disclosed, but one can assume she's in high school.
Ann and her sister Aki joined Boku's family when their mother married our protagonist's father. Unlike the rest of her family, Ann has not given up on our protagonist, and for the most part worries that he's not responsible enough to take care of himself and do what he's supposed to do. Thus, after Boku fails the university exams the first time, Ann decides to move in with him to make sure he studies and goes to cram school. Ann is also the only person in Boku's family that respects and encourages his skill as an artist (in fact, she helped him sell his doujinshi back when he used to sell his work at comic conventions).
This is not to say that she'll let him get away with anything, though. In fact, Ann is actually very strict when it comes to sticking to duty, and has been known to get angry if Boku strays from the "true path". When she finds out that Boku is working for MoonEarth, she jumps on board and becomes the studio's manager. This leaves scheduling, budget planning and such in her hands.
As would be expected of a giri (step/adopted) sister, Ann is infatuated with our protagonist. This puts her in an odd position, since her relationship with Boku is platonic for the most part, even if they do have their uneasy and suggestive moments (which are almost always conveniently interrupted by one of the other characters). Despite this, Ann is still fairly jealous, and is often cold to most women that Boku could find attractive (most notably Mikami Mika).
On a funny note, Karen and Mika constantly poke fun at Ann for being so much like the younger sister characters commonly seen in eroge. It's gotten to the point where Mika and Karen call her a "real imouto character".
|
Heroine: Aki C.V.: Kaneda Mahiru
 Aki is the younger of Boku's twin sisters. Boku refers to her as the "cheeky", selfish imouto. Like Ann, her age is not disclosed, but one can assume she's of high school age.
Aki was originally in love with Boku's now-deceased older brother (referred to as Ichi-niichan), whom she viewed as a very responsible and incredible person. Thus, she in part wants Boku to be like him, but decides to make fun of him for being an otaku and a ronin. She's not as merciful as Ann is, which often puts her and Boku at odds with each other. They do get along through their common interested in anime, as she herself is a fan (and a cosplayer). Aki is also a lot more open when it comes to talking about sexually themed things like eroge, much to our protagonist and Ann's dismay.
Unlike the rest of the cast, Aki is very detached from the events of the game, basically doing her own thing while studying to be a voice actress. Just like Ann, she moves in with Boku to make sure things are alright with our protagonist, but also because there's a nearby acting school that she wants to attend.
A point of interest is that due to Aki's low level of interaction with the other characters, it is through her work that the protagonist develops feelings for her. Her talent as a voice actress shines in the story, since she is contracted to be a VA for Ai kawarazu na boku. Much to Aki's chagrin, Boku prefers to see her act as the innocent and cute imouto (which is nowhere near what her real personality is).
|
Story Structure & Game Engine
The game is set in the year 2004. The player is thrusted right in the middle of the action, on October 30th. This is where we see that MoonEarth is stuck without a scenario writer, leaving the production crew one month to come up with at the very least a master version of the game or look for new jobs. All events culminate with Kantoku getting hit by a car, after which the game rewinds and shows us how our characters got to that point. After this, the story continues through this to the release of the demo for Ai kawarazu na boku, and then the fate of MoonEarth is decided by which girl our protagonist chose to pursue.
Despite having times and dates set to certain scenes, there is no specific pattern for pacing of events. In other words, the game does not have daily progression. Something else to note is that the game is played in "wide screen" mode throughout, with the exception of CG event artwork. The blank spaces at the top and the bottom are actually used to get some of the jokes accross to the player; a good example of this is when Tanaka berates the MoonEarth crew for having Ann as an employee, when she's obviously a schoolgirl. The blank parts of the screen quickly flash "All characters in this story are 18 years old or older". Additionally, the game will shift into other modes to make a scene particularly funny, like when Mika asks the protagonist to pull down his pants, at which he panics and begins to have a visual novel-style monologue (a la To Heart, Tsukihime and such).
Mode-switching is also used to put emphasis into certain scenes, and makes use of narrative from the heroines for a stronger effect, This is most notable with Ann, Aki and Karen, who are given soliloquies at very important points in their respective stories.
The game engine is reminiscent of the old game engine for Comic Party, with a couple of extra features. The panel will allow the player to replay spoken lines, control the speed at which the text is displayed, save and load. The text log is not a separate window, but built into the text panel, so the player will have to scroll with the mouse wheel to find a particular line.
Artwork
Yamato Nawoyuki did the character designs, with Karen being credited for the game-within-a-game's artwork (for Boku no taisetsuna mono). Even though Yamato-san's artwork looks a little cartoony, it does an incredible job at presenting the characters to us.
Sound & Video
Rakuen is partially-voiced, with the five heroines being the only characters that are voiced. This is the game's only true flaw, since many of the extra characters (Kantoku, Tanaka, Marqui, etc) contribute as much as the heroines to the plot. That being said, the five they got are true veterans as of the time of this writing, with Oukawa Mio and Kusayanagi Junko (Mika and Ann, respectively) winning my vote for best VA in the game, followed by Ayase Mayu (Karen). Something to be aware of is that the directors preferred to use real Japanese, so Rakuen's script is amongst the closest thing we'll see to common spoken Japanese. There is much less enunciation, lots of slurring and use of slang/contractions.
BGM and the ending song (The case of us) were provided by Ben from Rock'n'Banana. Rakuen's soundtrack is entirely made of rock music, giving the game a relaxed feel when needed, while being fully capable of relaying tension in any scene. This soundtrack is great in my book because they managed to make a rock guitar version of the 2nd Movement from Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" String Quarttet.
As for video, the game has three movies included: OP and ED movies for Rakuen and the Promotion Video for Ai kawarazu na boku. The OP movie can be viewed here.
Omake
Rakuen's only extra is the game-within-a-game Boku no taisetstuna mono (My most important thing). This game was mentioned in the story as the latest and highly anticipated release from MiniMi Software. The "game" is not voiced, and has a limited selection of BGM tracks. A decent extra, but nothing awe-inspiring.
Verdict
As far as I'm concerned, this game has proven to stand the test of time through its own merits alone. I've yet to see a game that has managed to come even close to the level of Rakuen in terms of delivering comedy through a fan-centered setting with meaningful stories and plot elements. Makes it understandable to see how many of us actually mourned Gestumenkichimae going away forever before they could release their remastered version of Rakuen (fully-voiced, new extra scenario and more). Still, this is a gem of a game that I definitely recommend to anyone looking for comedy and quirkyness in a gaming company setting. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
NOT SAFE FOR WORK
...don't say I didn't warn you. >.>; |
|
|
| Game Rant: Dude, she's a high school student... (Sekai de ichiban NG na koi) |
[May. 29th, 2009|09:13 am] |
Few people in this world are strangers to the concept of forbidden or taboo romance. While the more popular examples are displayed as tragedies, there are obviously numerous degrees of this element. It can range from something as innocent as a student developing a crush on their teacher to the well-known "star-crossed lovers" story type. While environment and setting play a huge role in helping a taboo romance story progress, a defining part of the story is set by the characters, their mentality and relative level of maturity. All parts must come together well in order for the story to be taken seriously and not come off as stupidly cheesy or beyond our suspension of disbelief. With this in mind, I will speak of Hermit's recent release, Sekai de ichiban NG(dame) na koi.
Game: Sekai de ichiban NG na koi
Sekai de ichiban NG(dame) na koi (NG for short) was released on November 22, 2007 by the softhouse Hermit. This would be their third release as a subsidiary of Will. The game's title translates to The world's worst/most unnaceptable love.
In a break from tradition, the player is placed in the role of Yoshimura Osamu, a 29 year old man that, as our story begins, is walking home after getting drunk to forget the problems in his life. His wife left him and he recently lost his job as an accountant due to corporate downsizing. On his way home he bumps into a kind and attractive woman named Hinosaka Honoka, who consoles him and tries to cheer him up. Before parting ways, she mentions that if he needs a place to stay, to look her up.
Unsurprisingly, our protagonist is smitten by Honoka's kindness, and three months later decides to take her up on her offer. Her house turns out to be a large boarding house, but much to his dissapointment, Honoka is nowhere to be found. Instead, he comes face-to-face with Honoka's teenage daughter Mitoko. At first, Mitoko is hostile to him and attacks him when she thinks that he is the man her mother ran away with. After clearing things up, Osamu finds out that Honoka ran off with some man, leaving her daughter all alone to take care of the boarding house their family owned along with dealing with school and everything else. Feeling bad for Mitoko (not to mention he had made arrangements to move into the boarding house already), Osamu decides to stick around and help Mitoko while she waits for her mother to return. The story kind of goes from there, exploring Osamu's past and lacking traits as an adult, while also allowing the player to witness Mitoko's growth as a person with the support of her tenants and Ristora-san (Ristora being a contraction of "restructuring", which is a nickname everyone at the boarding gives our protagonist).
Because this is an eroge, there are four heroines in total for our protagonist to mingle with in this story of life, love and personal growth.
Heroine: Hinosaka Mitoko
 Mitoko is introduced to us as a senior in high school that is the acting landlord of Terrace House "Hi no saka" in the absence of her mother. In contrast to all the adults in the story, Mitoko is the most mature and responsible character in the game. Aside from her duties at home, she also studies for the university entrance exams while doing random part time jobs to cover the bills.
Despite the strong front she sometimes puts up when around others, Mitoko is actually very scared of being left all alone by her mother. Aside from this, she is very no-nonsense when it comes to dealing with most situations, and prefers to do the right thing over sulking. Her strong character and responsible personality initially goes very well with Osamu, since he at times needs the extra push from people like Mitoko in order to actually get things done.
Mitoko's relationship with Osamu starts off as an awkward friendship, a product of Osamu's desire to look after Mitoko while waiting for her mother to return. As things progress, Toko begins to develop feelings for him. At first, she figures it is just a simple crush, but further in the story she realizes her feelings for Osamu run very deep. While Osamu is caught in the threshold between "father figure" and "love interest", Mitoko comes to terms with her own feelings, but leaves the last word in his hands.
Though she is a high school girl, Mitoko is actually very short, as indicated by this picture.
|
Heroine: Amagi Kaya
 Kaya is Osamu's co-worker near the beginning of the story. At first she thinks of him as odd, but seeing his dedication to the small company they both work for, she becomes attracted to him. Realizing that she has a higher chance of getting together with our protagonist if she were to live under the same roof as him, Kaya decides to leave her apartment and moves into Terrace House.
After the company she works for goes bankrupt, the other tenants begin to call her Ristora-san #2, or nigo-chan (nigo = #2).
Despite having her own route, Kaya is treated more as a side character throughout the main plot. She does play a role in influencing certain characters (in fact, some of her actions affect the three other heroines of the story), but is often a spectator to the events of the story instead of being right in the middle of the action. Her big rivalry is with Mitoko, and in that respect Kaya will not hesitate to treat Mitoko as a child if it'll give her the upper hand. At other times, however, Kaya looks out for the young landlord in ways none of the other characters can.
|
Heroine: Sawashima Himeo
 Himeo is introduced as the only daughter of the rich and powerful Sawashima family. She happens to live next door to the Terrace House, and for the most part is on friendly terms with Mitoko. She is also a second year (going into her third year) university student.
When first introduced, Himeo is extremely distrustful of Osamu, feeling that a man like him should not have anything to do with "Toko-chan". Thus, she uses her family's resources to thoroughly investigate our protagonist, digging up everything from hour of birth to what grades he got while in school and more. Her conclusion was that Osamu was not fit to be even in the same room as Mitoko, and tries to drive him away. Seeing how that failed, but noticing his resourcefulness at work, she manages to get him a job at one of the many companies owned by the Sawashima family. The catch, however, is that he would have to report directly to her.
Himeo's protective behavior is explained when we find out that Himeo is more than just a friend of Mitoko. She is actually Mitoko's half-sister (by their father). In her route, Himeo feels like she should tell Toko, but is afraid of how her young friend would react. Her budding feelings for Osamu do not make things easier for her, since she is aware of how Mitoko feels about him.
On a comic note, Himeo has next to no alcohol tolerance, to the point where even the smell of alcohol can be enough to get her "drunk".
|
Heroine: Kouno/Yoshimura Asami
 Being a world-first as far as I can tell, Asami is introduced as our protagonist's ex-wife from two years before the beginning of NG. She is also a teacher at the high school Mitoko attends.
Asami married Osamu fresh out of college, and was relatively happy until their innability to produce children soured their relationship. Asami wanted to be a mother more than anything else, which eventually created the wedge between them that led to the divorce.
Two years later, Asami became a school teacher and was surprised to see Osamu once again. Initially, she appreaches him with friendship as her motive while also expressing worry for Mitoko (being aware of Honoka's "extended vacation"). While Mitoko doesn't appreciate Asami's attempts to get involved in her life, Osamu understands that Mitoko is at an age where she needs guidance and help.
While Asami tries to remain aloof, she takes note of how much our protagonist has changed (for the better) since their split. This, consequently, rekindles the feelings she once had for him back to full force. Of course, there's more to Asami than meets the eye as her story progresses: despite the fact that Asami initiated the divorce, it wasn't because Osamu was impotent (like he originally thought). It was actually because Asami found out she was steril. Feeling that she would never be able to make Osamu happy, she chose to break off with him. Only through Osamu's determinatin and a difficult choice made by Mitoko does this damaged relationship repair itself.
|
Story Structure & Game Engine
The game takes place over the course of one year. Two of the routes use that full amount of time (Mitoko and Asami) while the other two routes take less time to resolve themselves (Kaya and Himeo). The story itself is structured in episodes (much like Folklore Jam was). You have a short introduction that sets up the events of the episode, followed by the OP movie for NG and then the meat of the story. Unlike Folklore Jam, however, the game's episodes blend into each other, thus making up one large, single story instead of presenting the plot the way an anime TV series would. This leads to a better flow of the story from episode to episode, but sadly makes the eyecatches and use of the OP movie almost unnecessary (and sometimes, a needless interruption).
Unsurprisingly, Mitoko is the true focus of the game, being the character that brings the entire cast together. Since she's the youngest member of the cast, everyone is pretty much looking out for her. To reflect this even further, the development of all the other characters is tied to Mitoko in some way. This is most notable in Asami's route, where she does her part to help the divorced couple get back together by giving up on pursuing Osamu and filling the gap in their marriage ("Since you and sensei can't have children...I'll be your daughter. So...I wanted to say goodbye, Osamu-kun...and pleased to meet you, Dad").
Engine-wise, the game is a bare bones dating sim. Standard text box and everything. Something of note is that there are times where the game goes into "wide-screen mode", which is used for character monologue.
Artwork
The character designs were provided by Mikoshi Matsuri. I have to say I really like these character designs. There's something to them that give them the extra "umph" needed to be great. I don't know what it is (since I'm no pixelphile), but it's somewhere in there.
Sound & Video
The game is fully voiced, and (once again) breaking with tradition, even the protagonist has a voice actor assigned. The voices are all well done, and the majority of the cast is composed of known voice talent (including Isshiki Hikaru, Maki Izumi, Sakiware SPOON and Kisaragi Aoi). Something to note is that a good portion of the voice cast also appeared in Folklore Jam.
Music was provided by Studio Ladybug, with Katakiri Rekka composing the OP and ED songs. BGM's were decent, as were the OP and ED. Nothing to really write home about, but they got the job done.
As far as video, the OP for NG can be seen here.
Omake
The game packs two additional story chapters for Mitoko and Himeo (Sekai de ichiban OK[suteki] na koi and Sekai de ichiban 3P[ecchi] na koi, respectively). 3P is basically a harem story following up on a promise Himeo made in her ending (knowing how Toko feels about Osamu, Himeo promises that she'll share him with Mitoko when she gets older).
OK, on the other hand, brings about total closure to the game by reintroducing Hinosaka Honoka along with her fiancee. This particular chapter is very long, but ends with Mitoko and Osamu getting married.
Verdict
I'm not going to lie. This is the only game so far that has left me feeling dirty. Mind you, I do have a thing against stories where older men get together with much younger women (part of why I could never enjoy shows like Shinkon Gattai Godannar). Still, this game is too extremely well made for me to let my prejudice get in the way. In fact, I would say this game is yet another potentially good anime series/movie/OVA gone to waste. I would love to see this story turned into something like a six episode OVA, putting more emphasis in the drama and just entirely removing the ero.
All that being said, this is a good game I would recommend if one wants to play something that is not your average eroge. The artwork, voice talent and overall presentation of the game definitely make this one a keeper. One thing I do wonder is if Asami could be the foundation for the ex-wife character type. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
Yuumei: "30 year old man marrying a girl that just got out of high school"
A friend: "heh I was thinking just got INTO high school" |
|
|
| Rant: Hot batch of quickies |
[May. 21st, 2009|05:59 pm] |
Having seen sufficient new material and interesting developments in games like Pygamlion, it's time to get some stuff off my chest as far as what's been going on with me.
Pygmalion ~The Dark Romance~: As I somewhat expected, this game turned out to be impressive in structure and premise. The story is akin to a train speeding down a railroad, getting closer and closer to a precipice. The player has the brake handle easily within reach, and could use the brakes to keep the train from falling down the hole at any given time. Still, one feels this morbid curiosity to see what awaits if one holds out on using the brakes. That's pretty much what playing this game has been like to me.
Anyway, concrete info on the game would be good. As mentioned in my last random rant, the doll based on the protagonist's dead fiancee has three faculties: Mental Health, Intellect and Constitution. Intellect denotes the intelligence and comprehension levels of the doll. Constitution actually determines whether the doll can move on her own. Mental Health is self-explanatory (I got an ending where the doll was not psychologically healthy...let's just say it wasn't pretty...). To upgrade the doll, Johaan must sacrifice his bonds with the other characters (which manifest in the form of cards). This ritual can only be used to upgrade Intellect and Constitution. Mental Health can only be raised by spending time with the doll and demonstrating certain traits throughout the story.
Of course, aside from the doll you have other female characters that vye for Johaan's affections: Julietta's best friend, Rio. Johaan's own younger sister, Roze. Accele, a woman that very much ressembles Julietta. And so on.
The only downside to this game is that some of the scenes are outright disturbing (despite having no gore, horribly violent themes or nasty elements), and the game engine is too clunky for my tastes. On the plus side, you get awesome artwork like this and this as bonuses for clearing the game a couple of times.
Sekai de ichiban NG(dame) na koi: Literally meaning "the most unnacceptable love in this world" or "the world's worst love". Surprisingly, Hermit (makers of Folklore JAM) released this game.
The player takes the role of Yoshimura Osamu, a 28-year old man who has a tendency to run away from his problems, and is extremely indecisive. He initially comes off as the standard "loser-type" character, to the point where the other characters call him by some sort of nickname instead of using his name. Our protagonist's life is changed when he (in drunken stupor) meets a woman who consoles him on his way home. He falls in love with this mysterious woman, and decides he wants to get to know her better. After trying to find her for three months, he does manage to get an address. Instead of the woman he remembers, he comes face to face with the woman's daughter, Mitoko. As it turns out, Honoka (the woman Osamu has been looking for) ran away with a man and has left her daughter to care for the boarding house owned by their family.
Being only of high school age, Mitoko does her best to take care of things, but finds it difficult seeing that she's alone. Osamu decides to do what he can to help, and the story goes from there. To make things interesting, we have three additional heroines: Kaya (Osamu's co-worker), Himeo (an ojousama that's good friends with Mitoko) and Asami (WORLD FIRST: Osamu's ex-wife).
So far, the story is pretty good, and the situations are funny (not to mention the Wii and Nintendo DS are namedropped in the story). The only thing that kind of bugs me is that they tried to be episodic the way it was done with Folklore JAM. Still, it's difficult to tell where one "episode" ends and where another one begins, but so far, so good.
Featured Character:
Name: Yamazaki Eri
Game: Green Green ~Kanenone ROMANTIC~ (PS2), Kanenone DYNATIC ~GuriGuri~ (PC)
Voiced by: Maki Izumi (under the name Yanase Natsumi)
Designed by: Katakura Shinji
Eri is introduced as a soft-spoken girl with a tendency to make really bad puns. In contrast from characters like Midori and Futaba, she also has the air of an older person. While this doesn't give her any direct influence over the other characters, it does set her apart from others because of how she reacts to situations and events.
Out of all the girls in Green Green, Eri is the only one that was actually created with the "housewife" stereotype in mind. Because of this, she shows great skill when it comes to cooking and cleaning, even if she isn't extremely good at actual subject matters in school. This is further played on in the PS2 version, where Sanae sees her as a "mother-type" person.
Both games she is featured in take similar approaches to telling Eri's tale, but focus on very different elements.
Kanenone ROMANTIC: In romantic, Eri is revealed to have been married at one point. Less than a year into her marriage, her husband died in an accident. One could say she was the rarely-seen "high school age housewife". The bomb, as it could be called, is that after the death of her husband, Eri tried to kill herself. Having failed at that, she decided to hide the scar on her wrist under the wristwatch that her husband used to always wear. Of course, the watch itself is stuck at a certain time, and will not move.
Thus, the story plays on the fact that, as the watch would indicate, time has stopped for Eri. Her own development is stunted because she will not allow herself to love again, and at the same time she has no direction in her life. Upon allowing herself to love Yuusuke (Green Green's protagonist), her watch begins ticking again, noting that Eri is ready to move on with her life. In her ending, despite all the trouble created by Eri's secret, she returns to Kanenone Gakuen the following year as a lunch lady, thus allowing her to be with Yuusuke.
Kanenone DYNATIC: Dynatic, being a reader's digest version of the stories told in the PS2 releases of Green Green, focuses on Eri's love for cleaning, cooking and washing clothes. Additionally, the game explores Eri's strengths and weaknesses as a person.
To start, the other students grow to appreciate Eri for cleaning the classroom after school. Even though Yuusuke helps her do this, she is eventually nominated to be in charge of cleaning for their class. Unfortunately, the students begin taking Eri for granted, which leads to her flat out refusing to clean anymore. After some intervention from Yuusuke, the other students apologize to Eri and promise to help out from now on.
The initial connection made between Eri and Yuusuke eventually grows, which causes Bacchiguu & Co. to think there's something going on between them. While our protagonist enjoys spending time with Eri, neither has taken the first step towards starting a relationship. The icebreaker eventually came in the form of a truth or dare game between the girls, daring Eri to kokuhaku (prefess love for) one male student. She chose Yuusuke. The events that follow lead to a celebration of the "new couple".
From that point on, the story focuses on revelations in quick succession about Eri's past, including her dead husband and how she feels about life in general. Unsurprisingly, Eri feels unworthy of love because her first relationship met a lot of opposition from those around her (despite the fact that people had an issue because she was 16 when she got married and her husband was 20...). She also feels her situation is complicated, to the point where (in her opinion) Yuusuke is too young to want to get involved with her. The peculiar thing about her way of thinking is that she's only a year older than our protagonist.
While Eri is somewhat outlandish in concept, she is actually one of the most down-to-earth characters from the original Green Green timeline, equalled only by Kutsuki Futaba and Iino Chigusa. She was a nice addition to the cast, and I certainly wish more had been done with her. Then again, I'm partial to most characters voiced by Maki Izumi. >.>;
Anyway, that's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"Maki Izumi trifecta is now in play." |
|
|
| Game Rant: Snowflakes dancing to an unheard song... (Yukiuta) |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|04:38 pm] |
Looking to the past is, in my opinion, a critical element when it comes to appreciating advancement of a genre of entertainment. By this I mean that while we can stare in awe at what is seen as "current" material, looking to previous works is just as important in order to see just how far an idea, concept or mode has come since its inception. At times, the progenitors of modern entertainment far outclass their successors, mostly due to "originality" and at-that-time clever use of common elements. In other cases, you can see the foundation of the subsequent works within an idea that is still rough around the edges and could use some polishing. It is with this mindset that I decided to pick up and finish Front Wing/Survive's Yukiuta. While it is (in some ways) clearly inferior to its successors (Sorauta and Hoshiuta), one can easily get the feeling that elements of this game lingered long enough for them to be capitalized on and continue this unofficial "series" of games.
Game: Yukiuta
Yukiuta was released on December 19, 2003 by the studio Survive (which, at the time, was a sub-brand of Front Wing). A Vista-compatible version of this game was released on October 24, 2008.
The game places the player in the role of Hasegawa Akiomi. Our protagonist is a fairly ordinary high school kid, brash at times, but focused on looking after those in need. For the most part, he just looks after his younger stepsister, Nano, while going to school and devoting a good chunk of his time to fixing and maintaining motorcycles.
The month of December begins in a somewhat ordinary way for our protagonist, with the only change in the routine being the arrival of a transfer student named Fujimi Setsuna. Still, the air changes as the lives of five girls intertwine with Akiomi's, bringing about five tales of life, love, resolution and closure for our viewing pleasure.
Heroine: Fujimi Setsuna
 Setsuna is introduced to us as a girl that knew Akiomi ten years before Yukiuta's story begins. She met him while visiting her aunt, but could only spend a short amount of time around him before having to go back to Tokyo.
For the last ten years, Setsuna has been wanting to see Akiomi again, which is why she decided to return to the Tousaka Yama area (much against her mother's wishes).
For the most part, Setsuna presents herself as a very proper and polite girl, which is typical for an ojou-sama character. As it turns out, her family is very wealthy, but extremely traditional, which has led to conflict between Setsuna's own wishes and what her family wants her to do. Because of this, people that see beyond her proper and polite demeanor often classify Setsuna as spoiled and selfish (if not just downright strange).
As would be expected, Setsuna likes Akiomi because he doesn't seem to be held back by social status or rank the way most people are. Thus, this route focuses on Setsuna's repeated attempts to get away from the rules of her family to do as she pleases.
|
Heroine: Hasegawa Nano
 Akiomi's stepsister.
Nano is actually a girl that was abandoned by her mother more than a decade before the game begins, and was taken in by the Hasegawa family to raise her as their own. Despite her usually cheerful personality, Nano has been emotionally damaged to the point where she has to be sure she's not troubling others to be at ease (mostly as a result of her mother always telling her that she was in the way). This seems to work out fine when it comes to her relationship with Akiomi, since Akiomi is inherently inclined to take care of others.
There are moments where one can see Nano's true fears surface, but aside from that she's very happy-go-lucky, whimsical and even childish at times. She's not like girls her own age (since she likes fighting and FPS video games, plastic models and action movies), but still cares deeply for Akiomi. At times, the other characters encourage her to follow up with the crush she has had on him since they were children, which often leads to humorous results (like Junichi telling Nano that her brother would like to see her naked wearing only an apron).
When not treated as a main heroine, Nano is basically used as a comic relief character, which is made evident through the morning and evening preset interactions in every route.
|
Heroine: Aoshima Mahiro
 Akiomi's classmate.
Mahiro has known our protagonist since her first year in school. As a foil character for Setsuna, Mahiro is actually somewhat brash when it comes to expressing herself (which clashes with Setsuna's constant air of proper and polite behavior). Despite being friends with Akiomi, Nano and their mutual friend/pain in the neck, Junichi, Mahiro tends to be by herself when not in classes.
As we later find out, she is not really a lone wolf character. In fact, she likes having company around, but developed a tough exterior when people started ostracizing her because of her family's connections to the yakuza. This is sadly something that has been following Mahiro around since grade school, and people are inevitably intimidated upon finding out they're dealing with a girl from a family with ties to organized crime. It's gotten to the point where guys are afraid to ask her out on dates, and very few people will try to approach her. Out of the cast, the only characters who don't seem to care much about this are Nano, Akiomi, Setsuna, and Junichi.
Deep down, Mahiro wishes that she had been born in a normal family so that people would treat her like a normal person. She also seems to hate having other people put themselves through trouble for her (as displayed with the disdain she shows to every bodyguard her father has tried to get for her).
|
Heroine: Imai Yuki
 Yuki is a blind girl that literally bumps into Akiomi's motorcycle during one of her shopping trips. Despite her small size, she has a tendency to snap at people that may be trying to belittle her because of her condition, which included Akiomi for quite a while before she opened up to him.
In her story, we find out Yuki lost her eyesight at age 3, but still tried to lead a normal life. She made it as far as middle school (since Mahiro remembers her from back then) before deciding to try home schooling. After hearing about the legend of the wish-granting tree, Momi no ki, Yuki made it part of her routine to go out and pray to the tree on a daily basis. Despite her disadvantages, she tries to be as independent as she can be, keeping in mind that she can't get the most out of things like a person who can see (as exemplified when Yuki and Akiomi go see a movie).
Yuki doesn't have any friends in town, but keeps in touch with other blind people using a CB broadcasting system in her room. She also loves to read books, and has a large collection of them.
This route focuses on Yuki opening up to our protagonist while coming to terms with her blindness, and the possibility that she might stay that way for the rest of her life. Her biggest wish is to be able to see snow, and that all hinges on her constant prayers to the Momi no ki and/or a risky operation.
|
Heroine: Hasuda Hiromi
 A new teacher in Akiomi's school.
Hiromi is introduced to us when she accidentally crashes her car into Akiomi's motorcycle. While our protagonist is mad and demands restitution, she waves him off saying it's not important, preferring to point out that motorcycles are forbidden on school property.
At first, Akiomi vows to get even with her, but after numerous failed attempts he realizes that she looks a lot younger than she should be for a teacher. This realization turns into an attraction after she drags him to a bar and he sees what she is like outside of school. After this event, he constantly asks her out, and she humors him (mostly because she is bored). The antics escalate to the point where Akiomi decides to take advantage of Hiromi's youthful looks by making her dress up like a student so that they can go out on dates like a normal couple.
Personality-wise, Hiromi is somewhat on the irresponsible side, often going on drinking binges after work. She also seems to be willing to do anything and everything out of sheer boredom.
Highlight for spoiler: Hiromi is not who she claims to be. Late in her route, we get two important pieces of information: 1) the origin of the Momi no ki legend comes from the story of a man who lost the woman he loved 200 years ago. In despair, he prayed to the tree that his loved one come back to life, offering his own life in exchange for hers. Upon doing so, she came back to life and he died soon after. 2) Hiromi's real name is Sayo, revealing her to be the girl who was brought back to life 200 years ago by that very wish.
Sayo has been wandering Japan for these 200 years, taking up fake name after fake name, looking for a way to let go of the pain and guilt she felt over the death of her beloved. This is how she came across the real Hasuda Hiromi, a girl who at the time committed suicide after her boyfriend died in a motorcycle accident. Thus, one could say this route is about the end of Sayo's 200-year journey. |
Story Structure & Game Engine
The story starts on November 28th and runs through most of December. After a certain point, the game no longer keeps track of the days, suggesting that the routes end somewhere between the 20th of December and the 25th.
The setting is a small town away from the bustle of Tokyo, where life goes on as it normally would. The only place of note is the nearby forest and the large tree that is known as the legendary "Momi no ki". As told by a local legend, a person that prays to the tree on a snowy day will have a wish granted to them. Unfortunately, that is not the whole story, as most of the townspeople have forgotten the complete legend behind the tree and its miraculous powers.
The tree can grant a wish, but the person praying to must give up something in exchange for their wish. It must be something of equivalent value to what they are asking in order for the wish to come true. This could mean giving up good health, sound body, and even life in exchange for a wish.
The back story aside, the game takes a slice-of-life approach to telling each tale, but fails to make any of the routes connect to one another. By this I mean that all stories are stand-alone, where the only element that ties them is the Momi no ki. Routes are very character-centric, with relatively little input from characters that are not the protagonist and his chosen heroine. The stories are also very strange in execution, since constant character development is not used in this game. Instead, we'll see events and occurrences that are fairly ordinary used throughout the routes, and near December 12th or so, we'll get the event that triggers the ending sequence for the particular heroine Akiomi has chosen.
The game engine is simplistic, being there to aid story progression more than anything else. This includes the standard text box and log for dialogue, with replay options for spoken lines available. Akiomi will have preset interactions with Nano twice per day (once in the morning and once at night) before being given the option to interact with one of the five heroines. In order to do so, the player is presented a map of the town with icons for each of the heroines, opting the player to click on any of them to start interaction. Which heroine shows up on the map is dependent on where Akiomi stands with them as well as what part of the route he is in.
Artwork
The artwork was provided by Fumio. I could be imagining things, but these designs are a bit on the plain side. There's nothing that makes each character stand out, but then again, it might be the winter colors. That being said, they're still quite decent, but nothing that will drive the pixelphiles nuts.
Sounds & Video
The game is fully-voiced, with a decent mix of veteran VA's as well as some newcomers. I was surprised to see that Nishida Komugi voiced Hiromi, since I've only seen her "really-generic-heroine" roles like Aoi Ren from Akibakei Kanojo. Conversely, I was shocked to find that Midori Haruka (AKA Ciel from Melty Blood) voiced Setsuna. Best VA in this one was Momoi Momoko, who voiced Nano (and that's only because I can't see how anyone other than a really good VA would be able to talk the way Nano does for a prolonged amount of time).
Music was provided by clip, and to be honest, I was not impressed with it much. The soundtrack has some good tunes, but nothing to write home about, and certainly does not compare to Sorauta or Hoshiuta's soundtracks.
As for video, the OP for Yukiuta can be seen here.
Omake
Yukiuta has no extras to speak of. There's no additional story or anything like that to unlock by getting all the routes. What you see is pretty much what you get in this case.
Verdict
I have mixed feelings for this game. I was blown away by how well Hiromi's route was written, and the clever design and themes used for Nano (not to mention Nano's VA is really the best VA in this game). At the same time, I was disappointed with the flow of the stories, and the seemingly forced bitter-sweet endings for characters like Yuki. I understand the theme of this game, especially with the Momi no ki involved, is sacrifice for the happiness of another person, but I felt that could have been done better. I'd still say Yukiuta is a decent game, but only as something to play if you have nothing else to play for the moment. Considering most people remember this game because of Nano's antics, that's saying quite a bit. Anyway, that's my two cents for the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"One person's happiness can be another's misery..." |
|
|
| Rant: More Work in Progress |
[Apr. 10th, 2009|10:51 am] |
Alright. Things are coming along somewhat better than before, so I do have a couple of things to talk about this month. I'll hopefully have a full review ready before the end of April, but again, time is short for me, so I make no promises.
Raimuiro Ryuukitan X (Cross): Released by Elf as the sequel to Raimuiro Senkitan, Ryuukitan places the player in the shoes of Inukai Kyoshiro. Much unlike the first game's protagonist, Kyoshiro hails from a well-to-do family with a military background. As such, he is fresh out of the military academy when he is assigned a squad commander position. At first, Kyoshiro is eager to take on his new role, wishing to fight for his country more than anything else. Much to his dismay, he soon discovers that his squad happens to be the Raimu Squad (the same one that managed to turn the tide in Japan's favor during the Russo-Japanese war), and aside from his duties as squad commander, he also has to double as a teacher for the girls under his charge.
Thus the story focuses on the Raimu Squad's new objective, which is to recover artifacts of great power that were lost during the war, while Kyoshiro gets used to his new position and learns to cope with doing more than just military work.
That being said, I am not impressed with this game at all, and see why few even bothered to remember this, despite the large impact created by the first game. The writing is very flakey, and the flow of the story is good at times but lackluster everywhere else. I definitely want to cover all this in detail, so this is on my to-do list for now.
Yukiuta: Requested by one of my readers, I have decided to start playing this game to see how well it compared to Sorauta.
The player takes the role of Hasegawa Akiomi, a second year student in school that likes motorcycles. In a break from tradition, our protagonist is actually quite normal, and rather astute when it comes to dealing with sticky situations. He also has a tendency to look after those around him, mostly developed from having to look out for his younger stepsister, Nano, throughout most of his life.
The setting is actually quite normal, taking place in Tousaka City, covering a good chunk of the month of December. Unlike Sorauta, which had a main plot that encompassed all routes, Yukiuta has elements of its setting that tie the routes together, but nothing as far as a concrete plot. Because of this, the stories seem to be stand-alone, but are interesting nevertheless. Staple character types were used, including the childhood friend (osananajimi), younger stepsister (giri-imouto), and tsundere classmate. So far, so good.
Yoyogi Hitozuma Senmon Gakuin: I picked this one up on a whim, since the title is very funny to me (the title translates to "The Yoyogi Housewife Training Academy"). I'll admit, I dove into this one expecting a pointless yaru game. I was surprised to find that the shallow elements that hitozuma games are so notorious for did not appear at all in this title.
The protagonist is named Sakura Kouji, a freeter (in other words, a person that does not have a career and makes their living from doing random part time jobs) and second son of the well-connected Sakura family. He usually spends his time alone (that is, when not getting grief from his older brother, Shuuichi, and his aunt, Yukari), but maintains a platonic relationship with his sister-in-law, Kyoko. There are other women that are introduced in the story once the cast focuses on the events at the academy.
The academy itself is a place where women go to train in being better wives for their husbands, or when counseling for married couples is necessary. Thus, when Shuuichi disappears, Kyoko decides to enroll in hopes of improving herself as a wife. She manages to drag Kouji along (much against his will), and the story kind of goes from there. Today's featured character will explain this a little better...
Featured Character:
Name: Sakura Kyoko
Game: Yoyogi Hitozuma Senmon Gakuin
Voiced by: Maki Izumi
Designed by: SKYHOUSE
Character type: Aniyome (heroine that is the wife of the protagonist’s older brother)
Kyoko is introduced to us as a still-newlywed woman living next door to our protagonist, Sakura Kouji. The peculiar thing here is that her husband is none other than Kouji’s older brother, Shuuichi.
As our story begins, Kyoko’s relationship with Kouji is platonic, though she at times worries and dotes on him the way an older sister would. Kouji for the most part tries to leave her and Shuuichi be, despite the fact that he’s had a thing for her the entire time he has known her. Any attempt at maintaining that barrier is made null when Shuuichi suddenly disappears, leaving an ominous note behind saying he’ll be back in two weeks and asking Kyoko to “improve herself” in the meantime.
At first, Kyoko is distraught and downright depressed, wondering if she had done something to cause her husband to run away. Choosing to focus on improving herself, she decides to enroll into the Yoyogi Housewife Training Academy in hopes of becoming a better wife for Shuuichi. Seeing that she needs a partner, she drags Kouji along to pose as her “husband”.
Things get off to a rocky start between our “couple”, mainly because Kyoko treats Kouji the same way she would treat Shuuichi (a problem further aggravated by the fact that Kouji hates being compared to his older brother, having had to go through that his entire life). Before things get too sour, a communication exercise (involving baseballs, catcher’s mitts and an open field) sheds some light into their own relationship. From that point on, they do grow closer and find it easier to continue the ruse as a married couple when in classes.
As the two-week course comes to an end, Kyoko and Kouji face the end of their pretend-marriage with a tinge of sadness. Kyoko realizes that she’s fallen in love with Kouji, and Kouji tries his best to accept things as they are (in his own bitter, sarcastic way). Shuuichi’s sudden return makes things worse, as he confronts them and asks why they are living together. Standard drama ensues (Kyoko tells Shuuichi the whole story and how it’s all her fault, Kouji berates his brother for leaving Kyoko, Kyoko tries to calm them down but gets pushed away by Shuuichi, Kouji punches Shuuichi, Kyoko runs away).
The resolution is not as bad, however. Shuuichi reveals the reason he ran away was because he had doubts (over his sexual orientation) and wanted to get those sorted out before going into his fourth month of marriage. Having realized that he swings the other way, he wanted to break the news to Kyoko and do the right thing. Kouji is then kicked outside and told to find Kyoko and bring her home. Upon finding her (standard scene in the middle of the rain), Kyoko spills her heart out to him and confesses that even though she’s married to Shuuichi, she’s in love with Kouji. Our couple makes up, gets married for real...and then we’re graced with a picture of what Kyoko looks like two years after her ending.
That's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"One must not interfere in lovers' quarrels..." |
|
|
| Rant: Another set of Quickies |
[Mar. 14th, 2009|06:21 am] |
To prove that I haven't fallen behind (much), I feel I should share a couple of first impressions and other things that have been going on. Needless to say, I'm still short on time, but that's not important at this moment.
Terebi ga kieta hi: Literally meaning "The Day Television Disappeared". I had a feeling this story would be something different. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
The setting is simple: you take the role of someone who twelve years before the story begins witnessed a comet hit the Earth. Many people died, and in the ensuing chaos, your family was killed. You later find out that one man was responsible for the death of your family, so you vow revenge on him and his loved ones (including his only daughter). Fast-forwarding to the present, you’re about to start a new year in school, continuing a rather ordinary life. Your desire for revenge is dormant for the moment, but is soon reawakened when you run into this particular girl once again.
You decide to blackmail this girl into doing...unsavory things for you. She claims that her father had nothing do with the death of your family (despite her showing signs that she knows about you). You don't believe her, and turn her into your dorei.
That's the premise in a nutshell. I figured it'd be something with a little more substance, but turned out to be a damned dorei (slave) game. Only reason why I'd ever finish playing this one is to see if there's any light shed to the whole deal with the protagonist's dead family. There are other characters in the story, but the emphasis put into them is not as great as it is on the revenge thing they have going on there.
Pygmalion ~The Dark Romance~: The opening movie to this title really intrigued me, and from what I have seen so far, this is looking to be either really interesting or really dull. The player takes the role of Johann Argent, a reclusive sculptor that pretty much never goes out. Being so engrossed in his work, he doesn't get much of a chance to interact with people, until a woman named Julieta Galatea enters his life. At first she just pokes her head in to check on him every now and then, but their relationship progresses to the point where they fall in love and get married. Johann's work begins to attract potential patrons/sponsors, and with Julieta by his side, life seems to be taking a turn for the better.
This ends when Julieta falls ill and dies. Enveloped in grief, Johann returns to his shut-in ways. Attempting to fill the sudden void in his life, he began to construct a doll; a one-to-one replica of Julieta. Even after finishing it, sorrow continues to consume him because no matter how similar the doll is, it still lacks the spark of life. He implores to anyone who will hear him that he'll do anything to have his loved one by his side once more, and (as luck would have it) a demon answers his plea. In exchange for something that would be of equivalent importance, the demon agrees to breathe life into the doll to begin the process of "remaking" Julieta. And thus, the true story begins...
From what I can see, the game uses a somewhat complex system to get things rolling. Aside from the normal interactions of a dating sim, the creators seem to have borrowed the concept of the maiden circuit when it comes to the doll version of Julieta. By this I mean that the player has three faculties that comprise the doll (Constitution, Intellect, Mental Health) to balance around. I haven't tried any combinations as far as what stat does what in terms of story influence, so this could prove to be interesting. I'd assume that getting the "right" combination of stats or development for each faculty would lead to doll Julieta turning into real Julieta, but conversely this could be a story filled with bittersweet and dark endings.
Featured Character:
Name: Kannagi Aya
Game: Shiritsu Akihabara Gakuen
Voiced by: Maki Izumi
Code Name: Eroge Onna
Kannagi Aya is first introduced to our protagonist, Touma Souichirou, during a test held by Nami-sensei early in the school year. She comes off as a generally quiet and shy girl that gets flustered very easily. We begin to see a different side of her when Souichirou decides to camp out in front of a video game store overnight in hopes of getting the limited edition release of a new eroge. For some reason, Aya is also camping out in front of the store, and goes into a panic when she sees him. Being straight and to the point, Souichirou asks her why she is camping out for an eroge, at which Aya replies that she's there to get the game for her brother (who, according to her, is a hikikomori). This proves to be a lie when Souichirou goes to Aya's apartment to find a mountain of eroge stuffed inside her closet. Aya tearfully admits that she likes playing eroge, even if she feels ashamed of it for whatever reason.
Against her expectations, our protagonist doesn't make a big deal about it. Because of this, Aya grows fond of Souichirou, and even develops feelings for him as the story progresses.
The reason behind Aya's fascination with eroge becomes very apparent as the story nears the end. She is actually the daughter of the Kannagi family, who own several national businesses and is filthy rich. As such, her family had already betrothed her to the son of an oil baron from some country in the middle east. Aya's final request before following up on the agreement made by her family was that she be allowed to finish her schooling a place of her choice, and live as she wanted to live until then. This is why she had a small apartment where she kept all her things, and also why she enrolled into Akihabara Gakuen. In her own words, just like others have made decisions for her throughout her whole life, she likes the control she has over the characters in eroge and being able decide things for them.
Aya's wedding day arrives, and while Souichirou tries to shout some sense into all present, the bodyguards and security staff knock him out and have him taken away from the site. By the time he comes to, the ceremony is long over, and Aya is nowhere to be found. Nekomimi and Jet decide to drag Souichirou to the video game store to camp out another long-awaited eroge in hopes of cheering him up. As our protagonist sulks, Aya suddenly runs in and calls out to him. As it turns out, she reflected on his words (“You can’t let these people decide things for you! A person’s life is not a game!”) and decided to run away. The events that follow are unrealistic but funny: a showdown between the unwashed masses of the video game store and the bodyguards that are trying to catch Aya and drag her back, our couple hiding out in the park, and finally an impromptu wedding held right before AkiGaku’s principal, AKA the God of Otaku.
On a side note, Aya has a very strange imagination. In AkiGaku, her specialty is actually scenario writing, and her involvement in the class project (which for some reason is a student-made eroge) gets her in trouble, especially with the girls that are supposed to be the voice actresses. During one of the sequences, the girls make fun of her for writing a 25-page felattio scene, and for making all of her characters submissive maid-types.
Anyway, that's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei |
|
|
| The New Year's Issue |
[Jan. 28th, 2009|06:05 pm] |
(Really Really Late) Happy new year to all my readers (all three of you)! I know that I've been slacking on this journal for a while, but I have to confess things have not been exactly peachy on the Real Life front. I will not go into that at this time, instead opting to reflect on what has been seen in the last year, as well as what the year of 2009 will bring us.
2008: A Year in Ero-games
I will say first that I was very impressed with several of the titles I've seen in 2008, especially the stuff that came from Leaf and light. In all honesty, R.U.R.U.R. is the best game I have seen all year. The game still amazes me to this day, given the insane amount of detail involved in the setting, the main plot and everything else related to it.
Another game worthy of mention is To Heart 2 ~Another Days~. KiraKira has also left a big impression on me, even if I haven't had time to play Curtain Call just yet. One game I have not written a review for that really caught my eye was light's Sakashiki hito ni miru kokoro. You can find a review for that game here, though I'll probably make an entry on it when I get a chance.
I was saddened to get final confirmation that Getsumen Kichimae is truly no more, much to the dismay of not only those who enjoyed Rocket Summer and Sister Angel, but those who truly saw Rakuen for the gem of an ero-game it was.
On a personal level, I dove back into oldies like Comic Party, not to mention original To Heart and slightly-aged stuff like Folklore Jam. Tenshi no Inai Juunigatsu also was something I managed to replay this year. Only real dissapointment was Monogokoro, monomusume, if only because I liked the cast, but the game itself was terribly lacking in terms of actual story. I did get a chance to play Wana 2, but that's not something I want to go into, since the game was a bit traumatic for me because of a certain voice actress. *ahem*
2009: Looking Forward
There's a bunch of interesting things coming out this year. So far I know of Don-chan ga kyuu, the spinoff game for Sakashiki hito ni mirukokoro. Much to my chagrin, G.J. is releasing yet another "boin" game (aptly titled Hime to BOIN). There's also stuff like the PS2 adaptation of R.U.R.U.R. to look forward to.
As far as what the gameplan for 2K9 is, I think it's about time I dig up my review on Rakuen and truly remake it to fit the current format. Reviews on that particular game are beginning to disappear from the net, so it's now or never. Aside from that, I might actually be able to find time to do MuvLuv and its sequels (something I've been meaning to do for years). Ars Magna is also on my list, as are three Nitro+ titles I've been keeping an eye on. Yukiuta and Hoshiuta are in my definite future, as well. That's not even counting the stuff that I don't know about yet. Busy year for eroge, this looks like.
Video: ED Movie for Iino Chigusa
Game: Green Green
This is one of my two favorite songs from the complete Green Green series of games. The instrumentation was nice, as were the lyrics (which pretty much reflect Chigusa's route). Also, on its own the song sounds like something that would come out of a jam session.
Anyway, that's it for now. Hopefully things will hold together while I try to get this rolling once again.
-Moroboshi Yuumei |
|
|
| Rant: Transfer of Quickies |
[Oct. 27th, 2008|06:31 pm] |
As I currently sit at work, I figured I might as well type up an update on how things are going around here. I recently did a rebuild of my desktop PC, with a new motherboard. Given that technology has changed so much over the last 7 years, I had to give up my current HDs, which means that (once again) I've lost my collection of games. Amongst these are some that have proven to be problematic for a variety of reasons...
Dies Irae: Every copy I've found of this game will cause my system to freeze up, so I'm unsure if I should even bother continuing to look for this game. Then again, fate might intervene and make it so Shingo can review it (thus keeping me far away from it, much like it happened with Bullet Butlers).
Enough of that, though. I did get my hands on a couple of interesting games that should keep me busy for the moment...well, provided I have some time to play through all of them.
Terebi ga kieta hi: Literally meaning The Day Television Dissapeared. I'm unsure of what the premise of this game really is, given that it involves TV not existing in a world after a meteor hits the earth....or something. The title is amusing, and given the context of the game, we figure the kids in the story can find something else to do in a world without television. >.>;
Kissing!: Released by the studio Valhalla, but developed by Groover back in 2003. The story revolves around Koutarou, a guy whose family apparently does a whole bunch of business during the Christmas season. This guy eventually finds out that (to my amusement) his father is actually Santa Claus, and intends to have him continue the family tradition. Yes, I think this was inspired by The Santa Clause, too. Toss in a bunch of girls (including a set of twins, a mysterious transfer student and the staple childhood friend) and you have a...different....Christmas story in your hands.
Pianissimo: I’ve only played the first 15 minutes of this game, but that short amount of time has left me impressed with Innocent Grey. I was impressed to see a game basing itself on jazz (even if I'm more for classical music), and the amount of detail put into the characters seems to be notable. Definitely one I'll see through and through during my days off.
Featured Character:
Name: Kusanagi Tou
Game: Yatouhime Zankikou
Voiced by: Isshiki Hikaru
Weapon of choice: Nagi (katana)
Tou grew up on Kunitsu Island (a fictional island off the coast of Japan) and is recognized by the ruling families as the denshousha (chosen warrior/destined warrior) of the Kusanagi family. As such, her duties include representing the Kusanagi family in all official matters that concern the ruling families, as well as act as a demon hunter on behalf of her clan when the situation calls for it. The latter is what brings her to Mitama City after hearing of disturbances and sensing the demonic taint in the area.
Her early involvement in the hunt for demons foreshadows the participation of greater forces in the events that lead up to Yatou's main plot. Despite this, Tou is not necessarily free of burdens or secrets.
To start, Tou is not a true daughter of the Kusanagi family. Instead, she was adopted as the sole survivor of a village that was burned to the ground. Strangely enough, the reason she survived was because she was sealed within a small shrine, since the villagers treated her as a creature to stay away from. She never had a real name, often being called byotou (lit. vaccine) by the villagers. Kusanagi Saya, denshousha of the family and wielder of Nagi, manages to save her and offers her a place in her home. Having never had a family before, Tou accepted the Kusanagi clan as her own, and Saya as her older sister.
As Tou grew older, she became very close with Saya, and looked up to her as a strong warrior with a great sense of femininity. At the same time, Saya took notice of why the villagers feared Tou: she was not an ordinary person, but a ryuuhaku (a ryuuhaku according to the game's canon is a person that is the literal embodiment of a dragon's power). Tou's power was so great that she had been sealed as a way of keeping the village from harm.
Before leaving on the journey that would lead to her disappearance, Saya presented Tou with a hair brooch that would later prove to be a way to contain Tou's ryuuhaku powers. It was believed that a curse came with her innate power, but as long as the ryuuhaku part of Tou was suppressed, the curse would never take effect.
As seen in the game, Tou succeeded Saya as denshousha of the Kusanagi family, and while she takes her role seriously, she secretly feels she cannot live up to the standards set by her sister.
Personality-wise, Tou is serious and very matter-of-fact when it comes to dealing with most situations. Her sense of female modesty is not exactly the highest, which means that while other girls get flustered when in certain states of undress, Tou just continues as if nothing is happening. Despite being extremely disciplined, she will allow herself to be whimsical when it comes to minor things (like eating lunch early instead of waiting until lunch time like the other students). Though she appreciates the protagonist's decision to protect her from harm late in the story, Tou regards him as an equal (a feeling further developed when she finds out that he is also a ryuuhaku).
Tou's true weakness is her lack of understanding when it comes to modern technology. Small devices like cell phones give her the most trouble, even if characters like Sakurako make their use seemingly easy.
On an interesting note, Tou's secret as a ryuuhaku is not as well-guarded as originally suggested, since even Dr. Markus knew of it. If allowed to, he can capture Tou and Yuuma (Yatou's protagonist) in order to attempt to "breed" ryuuhaku in a controlled environment. "All in the name of science", as is characteristic of him.
That's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei |
|
|
| Random Rant: ...something something Quickies |
[Oct. 7th, 2008|01:03 am] |
I'm currently feeling the effects of Fall plague, and as such can't do much at the moment. Still, I have found some tidbits to keep myself somewhat sane in these trying times.
AZRAEL: I have finally found a copy of this game. Just finished installing it about 10 mins ago. I will say that so far it looks like something similar to a budget title. I think I'll write a full review on this game, given how impressed I was with the OP movie and what little I managed to find on it. More to come out of this one.
R.U.R.U.R.: In a true "OMGWTFBBQ!!!1!one" moment, Light will be releasing this game on PS2 under the title "R.U.R.U.R. -Petit Prince-". The announcement seems to be somewhat recent, making promises of new artwork, new CG's, and, most likely as a result of all the demands on niconico douga, a new ending for Benibana. I am really looking forward to this one, and will hopefully be able to get my hands on the limited edition release (if they have one). Let's hope this turns out to be worth the wait.
Sakura Taisen 3: Speaking of console games, anyone with a PS2 will probably want to know that Sakura Taisen 3 is slotted for an October 23 release. This is somewhat following the rerelease of Sakura Taisen 1 and 2 on the PSP.
Featured Character:
Name: Tohno Manami
Game: AneImo ~Ai to H no STEP UP!~
Studio: Pajama Software
Voiced by: Misaki Tomomi
BGM: Sumireiro koi (Violet-colored love)
Manami is introduced to us as one of two orphans that are taken in by the Tohno family during the game's prologue. She's the older of the two (the other orphan being her younger sister, Madoka), and was in high school at the time they were adopted.
Despite the comfort granted by her new family, she was the victim of a lot of harassment while in school, both for being a transfer student as well as her rather impressive proportions (the other girls in her class used to pick on her so much that she began to feel ashamed of her looks). She was always weary of boys as well, due to their aggressive advances.
While growing up, Manami has seen AneImo's protagonist (Tohno Kazuya) as a little brother to look after, and for the most part yearned for him to accept her as his "oneechan". Manami's view of Kazuya changed when he fought off some boys that tried to force themselves on her, to the point where she started developing feelings for him. She kept them a secret from everyone, mostly because she knew Madoka had a crush on our protagonist. As her own feelings become more and more obvious, this creates a bit of tension at the Tohno household.
Manami's character has "housewife" written all over it. She's in her mid-twenties as the main story begins, and prefers to remain inside the house doing household chores. She does the majority of the cooking as well. She likes plants, and has a small garden that she tends to from time to time (not to mention an impressive knowledge of flowers). She also keeps the peace around the house, and often has to keep Kazuya and Madoka's numerous arguments from escalating.
I personally wish more had been done with Manami's past, since it seemed like a very interesting element. The wakai-okusama element was pretty well-used, but the fact that her backstory left so many things out was somewhat detrimental.
That's it for today.
-Moroboshi Yuumei |
|
|
| Game Rant: From the skies above (Sorauta) |
[Sep. 26th, 2008|07:11 pm] |
As someone who has respected the works of the studio Front Wing for a while, I have come to expect some sort of intricate story and character depth when it comes to their games. Granted, certain titles bear songs infamous for rotting people's brains (Akigaku, Megachu!, and Sweet Legacy come to mind...), but they have also presented works worthy of being remembered. Today's title happens to have been requested by someone I know, and to be perfectly honest, I dived into it not expecting much. What I found was an amazing story that presented tons of questions during the first playthrough, but slowly revealed more and more of itself as I got closer to the game's true ending. The game I speak of is none other than Front Wing's Sorauta.
Game: Sorauta
Sorauta was released by Front Wing on August 27, 2004. This game is partly remembered as one of several post-Leaf titles to feature Fumio's artwork. A Vista-compatible version of this game is slated for an October release (October 24th, according to getchu).
The story places the player in the role of Konishi Michitaka, a young man that lives in a rural village, living what could pass off as a normal life. He goes to school and comes home to his older step-sister, Tamako. Of course, Michitaka is not really ordinary due to his ability to see and interact with ghosts. As the story begins, it is suggested that he gained this ability after surviving an accident that killed his parents. The very first ghosts he has ever seen, in fact, were that of his mother and father.
Unsurprisingly, Michitaka is somewhat emotionally fragile, and often looks to Tamako for emotional support. Despite this, he does use his strange ability for the better, often trying to help the ghosts he encounters. Aside from this, he deals with his childhood friend, Chika, who constantly makes not-so-subtle advances on him.
As the new term begins, the news that a student commited suicide on school grounds shake things up, and before he knows it our protagonist is dragged into a myriad of situations that are all tied to not only the girl that has died, but also other occurences connected to those truly behind her death. To follow the eroge formula, the game features five heroines for Michitaka to woo.
Heroine: Sakura Chika (Tomoka)
 Michitaka's childhood friend.
Chika is introduced to us during the game's prologue as a girl that constantly hangs around our protagonist in hopes of getting his attention. She's notably jealous of most girls that get close to him, especially when it is Tamako. Despite the fact that she's done everything but throw herself at him, Michitaka remains blissfully oblivious to how she feels about him. This (obviously) is a source of tension between the two of them, and the fact that Chika becomes more and more aggresive as her route progresses only helps make the situation worse than usual.
Personality-wise, Chika is a generally cheerful girl with a very friendly disposition. Because of this, she is somewhat popular at school. Some tend to look to her for things like gossip and information. She loves to spout random words in other languages (specially Italian and English) and tends to change the tone of her voice when semi-breaking the 4th wall.
Seeing her plight, a group of girls at school have formed the "Society to Get Chika and Michitaka Together" in hopes of being able to give this heroine a hand in what seems to be an uphill battle. On a side note, Chika's real name is Tomoka. |
Heroine: Setouchi Aoi
 A lonely girl from Michitaka's class.
As told during the prologue, Michitaka actually met Aoi before summer break even began. She had been stuck at school during a rainy afternoon since she forgot to bring her umbrella, and Michitaka offered to share his umbrella and walk her home. It was at this time that our protagonist learned that Aoi had no friends, and lived by herself since her parents were dead. He offered to become her friend, and she hesitantly accepted. Even so, they did not speak to each other until Michitaka ran into her again near the end of summer break. Figuring that she wouldn't remember him, he got reacquainted with her. We later find out that Aoi has counseling sessions with the school nurse every day, since something happened that led to her getting amnesia. Highlight for spoiler: Aoi as we know her in the main story is NOT the Aoi that Michitaka met before the prologue. To put it simply, Aoi's body is possessed by the spirit of a girl that died in a house fire 20 years before the story begins. The same person who is responsible for Mana's death somehow got ahold of a book with forbidden shinto rituals, including one that can place a soul into a body, which is how this other person's soul got inside Aoi's body.
Aoi is a gentle, if overly introverted girl. She knows more than she lets on, and will not disclose information on anything unless she absolutely has to. She's extremely good at running circles around the other members of the cast when talking to them, and can assess a situation with ease. She's also really good at reading people, as proven in Chika's route.
|
Heroine: Yuunagi Mio
 Friend of the murdered girl.
Mio and her best friend Mana are introduced during the prologue as two friends that kind of know Michitaka, but don't remember his name. Out of the two, Mio is the shy, homely girl.
It is unsurprising to see that Mio was hit the hardest when Mana died. She gets a chance to speak with our protagonist after Michitaka decides to talk to Mana's ghost to see if he could help her. When the police announced that Mana's death was classified as a suicide, Mio refused to believe the news, feeling that her friend would never do such a thing. Even though she felt a desire to investigate the circumstances surrounding Mana's death, Mana (through Michitaka) manages to discourage her from doing so, fearing it could be dangerous for Mio if a real murderer was involved. Instead, Mio decides to focus on finishing the picture book she and Mana had started before summer break began. Our protagonist lends a hand, as does Mana in the form of advice and artistic insight. As Mio begins to develop feelings for Michitaka, she also begins to slowly let go of Mana.
Mio is very inexperienced when it comes to dealing with boys. This in part is further aggravated by her overall shyness. Still, her character definitely grows when Michitaka enters the picture, gaining the strength to see things through, not matter how painful or sorrowful. |
Heroine: Nagasumi Mana
 The girl that died after falling off the roof of the school library.
Mana and her best friend Mio are introduced during the prologue as two friends that kind of know Michitaka, but don't remember his name. Out of the two, Mana is the brave, extroverted one.
Even though she sees Michitaka in the prologue, Mana does not talk to him until after the new school term has begun. At first, she is amazed to find someone who can actually see her, even though for the most part her being a ghost does not bother her. For a good portion of the story, she is in the dark as far as how she actually died, claiming she doesn't remember anything from the moment she set foot on the roof of the school library.
Despite the strange circumstances surrounding her death, Mana is more focused on how Mio is doing, and decides to help her get over her grief. She develops feelings for Michitaka in the process (since our protagonist is really the first boy she has ever been near), and eventually gives in to them. Sadly, once her time runs out, Mana has to move on to the afterlife, but makes a promise with Michitaka that they'll continue searching for each other until they can be together again. |
Heroine: Konishi Tamako
 Michitaka's cousin/older sister and Sorauta's true heroine.
Tamako is, geneologically, Michitaka's cousin. After his parents died, he was adopted into her family. Ever since, she has very willingly looked after him, serving as his source of comfort and pillar of support. Even though she's in her mid-twenties, she has no dating history, and mostly stays inside the house doing household chores or working on one of her books (she's an author).
Near the beginning of the story, Tamako continues to look at Michitaka as a little boy she has to take care of. She does not really come to see him as a young man until after she returns home from her trip to her family's shrine (and the subsequent kidnapping). It is at this point that Tamako's feelings for Michitaka change from those of a caretaker to those of a woman falling in love with a man. Her role is minimal in the main story, but her involvement in the events that help set the main plot into place is considerable.
Highlight for spoiler: Tamako is also responsible for Michitaka's ability to see ghosts. Despite her usual claims, Tamako can successfully perform the technique known as Hangon no Jutsu (Art of Opposing Souls), which allows the practitioner to grab a soul and place it into a body. When Michitaka and his parents were killed by the accident, Tamako performed the Jutsu on Michitaka out of her love for him (and since he was brought back from the dead, he can see ghosts). Afterwards, she swore she would take responsibility by looking after him for the rest of her days.
|
Story Structure & Game Engine
The story takes place over the course of several weeks, starting on August 21st. The prologue itself covers the 21st all the way through the beginning of September, where the main plot takes over (and ends somewhere around September 15). The setting is obviously going to be late summer, covering the summer break the cast gets from school before having to return in September.
As for the actual content, there are numerous bits of information sprawled all over the routes. Playing through one route will not reveal everything to the player. In fact, this may be Front Wing's way to encourage replay, since Chika, Mio, Mana and Aoi's routes raise a lot of questions and bring a lot of answers on their own, but Tamako's route (which can only be accessed after clearing the other four routes) is the one that ties all loose ends.
Some of the pieces of information revealed include how Mana died, why she was killed, who was behind it all, how Aoi fits into the story, how Tamako fits into the story, why Michitaka can see ghosts, and so on. Still doesn't answer why Chika spouts random Italian, but still...
The game engine is a simple one, and staple to Front Wing games. You have the standard text box, with a log that allows the player to replay voiced lines. One major weakness in the engine is that it does not have the standard text skip option by holding down left Ctrl. The player would have to leave the game in auto mode for a while before getting to any new dialogue. Another thing is that the game was not made to handle higher resolutions. I tried stretching it to full screen (which would be 1280x1024 for me) and the game just could not do it. One nifty thing, though, is that the menu screen has little icons of the five heroines. Each icon will have the word "Clear!" as the player gets the true ending for each heroine.
Artwork
Fumio (known for his work with Leaf) did the character designs for this game. Seeing his works again was like seeing an old friend, taking note of how much they have changed.
The characters themselves are nicely drawn, and display a great variety of features.
Music & Video
Fujima Jin of Elements Garden provided the music for Sorauta, so the soundtrack is not dissapointing. The score itself is not anything exceptional, but is still pleasing to the ear. My favorite BGM out of this game is Tamako's theme, "Kokage de anata to" (With you, under the shade of a tree).
As for video, the OP for Sorauta can be seen here.
Omake
No extras to speak of outside of Tamako's route. Given that any questions left over from the other four routes are answered in Tamako's route, it's a rather hefty extra.
Verdict
A great game for anyone seeking drama with a hint of comedy here and there. The characters are very deep, the plot itself has many layers to dig through, and of course you have good artwork to go with it. Definitely a keeper, in my opinion. Hopefully, Yukiuta and Hoshiuta live up to the standard set by this game. Anyway, that's my two cents on the matter.
-Moroboshi Yuumei
"Ciao carbonara!" |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
moroboshiyuumei's journal