Rbz Posts
I am in a dilemma.
It's not like I don't have VNs to play. It's not like I don't have games to play, so to speak. I do not lack material.
But there's this horrendous reluctance to touch any of it, and the excuses were beginning to mount by the hundreds. Let's take some of the unread visual novels I have right now:
1) Cave Cave Deus Videt. This is one of the most interesting VNs I've played, and it's also the hardest and most mind boggling one. You'll have to play it to know it, but let's just say I'm currently stuck at a quiz where I'm tasked to find a 'something' that's gluttonous (since I tried to select objects that are 'greedy' but they're wrong) in a painting, which you can zoom in several times, while looking through freaking tunneled, spotlight vision. Long story short I gave up.
2) å›ã¨å½¼å¥³ã¨å½¼å¥³ã®æ‹. Honestly I don't know why. It's Nitroplus, it's yandere (or it seems to feel yandere the first 5 minutes I played it in the office... please forget what I say will you?), and yet for some reason I don't feel like picking it up. Maybe it's because of their new piracy protection stuff; it annoys me.
3) ãªã¤ãもゆるる. I don't mind loli, but it goes off topic and tsukomis so much that literally 80% of the stuff I read until now were jokes. This reminds me of another game who never got to the POINT OF THE FUCKING STORY even though I've been reading for nearly 8 hours and was riddled with the same problems (too many FUCKING tsukomis). They had to be from the same company or writer.
4) æšã®è·è¡›ï½žç½ªæ·±ã終末論～. Thanks to a certain someone on vndb who scared me to hell by saying that it has the exact same problem as Reminiscence (Epic start, lousy ending. I got DEPRESSED and TOOK 1 DAY LEAVE FROM WORK because of it man, it was THAT BAD), and was in fact a hell lot worse. It seriously scared me. I CANNOT suffer another go like that again without tearing off my hair.
5) DominancE. I'm not feeling horny at the moment DUH.
6) 幻創ã®ã‚¤ãƒ‡ã‚¢. Now this 1 is actually good. Fantastic music as usual; 3rd Eye does not disappoint when it comes to creating atmosphere. However, it has a few problems. One, its art was unfortunately a step down from Shinigami no Testament. Two, it's 7GB huge. Three, it has a piracy protection system that's annoying to crack, and while you're able to play it after crack ITH cannot hook its complete text. Basically you HAVE to load up the extra 7GB (totaling 14GB just to play 1 Visual Novel...) if you want ITH to hook up the text perfectly, like WHAT? Also, the opening read like a soap opera. Ugh.
Aaaaaaaaaaand that's about the 6 VNs I have in stock but was extremely reluctant to go through. Granted I'm probably going to read through 幻創ã®ã‚¤ãƒ‡ã‚¢ tonight, but in 4 1/2 hours EU LCS LOL 2013 is going to start so it's not going to be a 'until I black out' section. That makes me reluctant. WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME, GOD!
It's not like I don't have VNs to play. It's not like I don't have games to play, so to speak. I do not lack material.
But there's this horrendous reluctance to touch any of it, and the excuses were beginning to mount by the hundreds. Let's take some of the unread visual novels I have right now:
1) Cave Cave Deus Videt. This is one of the most interesting VNs I've played, and it's also the hardest and most mind boggling one. You'll have to play it to know it, but let's just say I'm currently stuck at a quiz where I'm tasked to find a 'something' that's gluttonous (since I tried to select objects that are 'greedy' but they're wrong) in a painting, which you can zoom in several times, while looking through freaking tunneled, spotlight vision. Long story short I gave up.
2) å›ã¨å½¼å¥³ã¨å½¼å¥³ã®æ‹. Honestly I don't know why. It's Nitroplus, it's yandere (or it seems to feel yandere the first 5 minutes I played it in the office... please forget what I say will you?), and yet for some reason I don't feel like picking it up. Maybe it's because of their new piracy protection stuff; it annoys me.
3) ãªã¤ãもゆるる. I don't mind loli, but it goes off topic and tsukomis so much that literally 80% of the stuff I read until now were jokes. This reminds me of another game who never got to the POINT OF THE FUCKING STORY even though I've been reading for nearly 8 hours and was riddled with the same problems (too many FUCKING tsukomis). They had to be from the same company or writer.
4) æšã®è·è¡›ï½žç½ªæ·±ã終末論～. Thanks to a certain someone on vndb who scared me to hell by saying that it has the exact same problem as Reminiscence (Epic start, lousy ending. I got DEPRESSED and TOOK 1 DAY LEAVE FROM WORK because of it man, it was THAT BAD), and was in fact a hell lot worse. It seriously scared me. I CANNOT suffer another go like that again without tearing off my hair.
5) DominancE. I'm not feeling horny at the moment DUH.
6) 幻創ã®ã‚¤ãƒ‡ã‚¢. Now this 1 is actually good. Fantastic music as usual; 3rd Eye does not disappoint when it comes to creating atmosphere. However, it has a few problems. One, its art was unfortunately a step down from Shinigami no Testament. Two, it's 7GB huge. Three, it has a piracy protection system that's annoying to crack, and while you're able to play it after crack ITH cannot hook its complete text. Basically you HAVE to load up the extra 7GB (totaling 14GB just to play 1 Visual Novel...) if you want ITH to hook up the text perfectly, like WHAT? Also, the opening read like a soap opera. Ugh.
Aaaaaaaaaaand that's about the 6 VNs I have in stock but was extremely reluctant to go through. Granted I'm probably going to read through 幻創ã®ã‚¤ãƒ‡ã‚¢ tonight, but in 4 1/2 hours EU LCS LOL 2013 is going to start so it's not going to be a 'until I black out' section. That makes me reluctant. WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME, GOD!
Kansei, Yousei visual novel game.
For detailed review, please visit the VN and Eroge forum section.
... What?
For detailed review, please visit the VN and Eroge forum section.
... What?
Finished playing Kansai and Yousei by Sakevisuals.
For Kansai, I'd have to say that it was pretty old or unpolished because even though it seemed to feature an interesting case, the culprit was so dead obvious that I didn't realize it in the first place. I kept expecting the plot to twist but it just... didn't.
Also, interactions with sub characters (those other than Li Mei, officer and the twins) are minimal, if not disconnected. There just wasn't enough lines to make you feel anything for them - although in real life it'll probably be the same case more or less - to give them life, and one of the reasons it didn't pop into my head who was the culprit because, well, they just weren't described enough.
I might even think that the first game, however simple it was, might have done better.
There was also the problem with the full screen option where every time you alt+tab out to check something and go back in, you lose control over some functions (like the skip button). Tap enter once after that and it'll revert to window mode (as if you had 'Alt' held), and you have to go into the options and set it back to full screen for things to work properly again. If you're wondering why I'm going through so much trouble that's because the graphics looks best in full screen. In window mode they just looked... weird or something.
By far the worst offense of the game was that there was neither the usual skip button on the text box interface, nor the choice to clear off the text box itself. This was basic setup even on the default Ren'py interface but for some reason they've decided to remove it, and it sucked hard. It was purely coincidence that I discovered the 'Tab' button was for auto skip, and before that I had to hold Ctrl all the way to the end. How annoying. The text box itself was also too dark and cover one third of the screen, so when you're trying to examine things it sometimes really felt like you're missing interactable objects.
However. Despite the flaws stated above, Kansai has managed to produce some pretty amazing characters. The twins, inspector Gurski and Li Mei are such wonderful people that even though the play time was short (I literally finished both games in just under five, or even four hours) they just shone brightly. The story may be bad, but Kangai and his new buddies' interaction made the entire experience shine. You'll have to play it yourself to see it.
Also, things get infinitely better in Yousei, the latest sequel to the series. Almost everything was about ten times more polished than it was before, and for once someone came up with a good textbox interface that didn't feel like it needed tweaking. You have about five small buttons (if I remember correctly) that allows you to select all of the basic functions of a Visual Novel, and an almost transparent text box which was crucial in an mystery themed game like this. And then the sprites were changed and improved into a much higher quality one, which was a delicious treat especially on a cute girl like Li Mei.
This time you get to interact a lot more with the characters, and deeper too with Kangai's new family. Really, the best trait of the entire series were its main characters (like good god, I love ALL of them, and I don't remember the last time I don't at least hate one). Li Mei was as usual adorable as hell and yet deadly to the bone; Aki was super cool and witty and god DAMN I love her antics; Naoki's cowardliness was given a good enough explanation that he now actually looked cool, and finally Miko is just THE cop anyone would like to befriend. Although it's best to avoid them altogether, generally speaking ^_^.
Oh, and did I mention about the voice acting? There's a clear improvement between Kansai and Yousei, and Yousei is seriously THE game to buy for if only just for the voices. They truly made the characters alive, and god DAMN again Aki and her voice actor were a match in heavens. Sakevisual must've been astronomically lucky to find the perfect match so quickly (since Kansai).
However, again, despite such a great cast of characters - and really, they're one of the best I've seen and hell, I'VE FINISHED BOTH GAMES IN LESS THAN FIVE HOURS! - the plot is just subpar. Once again the audience were treated to a delicious and far bloodier murder which investigation, ironically, was about as dull as mowing the lawn. I can tell you that it all boils down to click, talk, talk, click, talk a lot more. What's funny is that you would gather a tonne of information during the investigation, but only a couple among them are actually key to the case. I guess it's realistic, but it can also be borin.
Also, the Examine part of the game is still pretty much dead useless. With the exception of ONE - and JUST ONE - examination that's absolutely critical to progress the game (I had to check the walkthrough to pass that point because it's existence was completely random, unlike in Kansei where the object was actually pretty intuitive, and even on full screen most people wouldn't even notice that object), the others simply yield pointless observations. They need to enhance this part and actually make the exploration part relevant, rather than leaving it all up to conversations. I also dislike the fact that they didn't 'light' up an interactable object so it'll be easier to navigate and realize (like how Dangan Ronpa did).
The other thing that I feel truly annoyed about the series was that THERE WAS NO WAY TO CONFIRM WHICH ENDING YOU'VE GOTTEN. I, by pure luck and coincidence, managed to get the true end on my first try, but even now I'm still having doubts whether what I got was really the true end since there's no actual indicator at all inside the game. I actually have to check their walkthrough and compare ending scenarios to match which to which, and honestly this is just bullshit. I should not need to do this.
All in all, while Jisei, Kansei and Yousei may NOT be worth their price (I bought it on 50% discount so it's okay, but their full price felt a tad bit too high) if you measure by its length, the incredible cast of characters and excellent voice acting were worth the value. Buy it at your own discretion.
For Kansai, I'd have to say that it was pretty old or unpolished because even though it seemed to feature an interesting case, the culprit was so dead obvious that I didn't realize it in the first place. I kept expecting the plot to twist but it just... didn't.
Also, interactions with sub characters (those other than Li Mei, officer and the twins) are minimal, if not disconnected. There just wasn't enough lines to make you feel anything for them - although in real life it'll probably be the same case more or less - to give them life, and one of the reasons it didn't pop into my head who was the culprit because, well, they just weren't described enough.
I might even think that the first game, however simple it was, might have done better.
There was also the problem with the full screen option where every time you alt+tab out to check something and go back in, you lose control over some functions (like the skip button). Tap enter once after that and it'll revert to window mode (as if you had 'Alt' held), and you have to go into the options and set it back to full screen for things to work properly again. If you're wondering why I'm going through so much trouble that's because the graphics looks best in full screen. In window mode they just looked... weird or something.
By far the worst offense of the game was that there was neither the usual skip button on the text box interface, nor the choice to clear off the text box itself. This was basic setup even on the default Ren'py interface but for some reason they've decided to remove it, and it sucked hard. It was purely coincidence that I discovered the 'Tab' button was for auto skip, and before that I had to hold Ctrl all the way to the end. How annoying. The text box itself was also too dark and cover one third of the screen, so when you're trying to examine things it sometimes really felt like you're missing interactable objects.
However. Despite the flaws stated above, Kansai has managed to produce some pretty amazing characters. The twins, inspector Gurski and Li Mei are such wonderful people that even though the play time was short (I literally finished both games in just under five, or even four hours) they just shone brightly. The story may be bad, but Kangai and his new buddies' interaction made the entire experience shine. You'll have to play it yourself to see it.
Also, things get infinitely better in Yousei, the latest sequel to the series. Almost everything was about ten times more polished than it was before, and for once someone came up with a good textbox interface that didn't feel like it needed tweaking. You have about five small buttons (if I remember correctly) that allows you to select all of the basic functions of a Visual Novel, and an almost transparent text box which was crucial in an mystery themed game like this. And then the sprites were changed and improved into a much higher quality one, which was a delicious treat especially on a cute girl like Li Mei.
This time you get to interact a lot more with the characters, and deeper too with Kangai's new family. Really, the best trait of the entire series were its main characters (like good god, I love ALL of them, and I don't remember the last time I don't at least hate one). Li Mei was as usual adorable as hell and yet deadly to the bone; Aki was super cool and witty and god DAMN I love her antics; Naoki's cowardliness was given a good enough explanation that he now actually looked cool, and finally Miko is just THE cop anyone would like to befriend. Although it's best to avoid them altogether, generally speaking ^_^.
Oh, and did I mention about the voice acting? There's a clear improvement between Kansai and Yousei, and Yousei is seriously THE game to buy for if only just for the voices. They truly made the characters alive, and god DAMN again Aki and her voice actor were a match in heavens. Sakevisual must've been astronomically lucky to find the perfect match so quickly (since Kansai).
However, again, despite such a great cast of characters - and really, they're one of the best I've seen and hell, I'VE FINISHED BOTH GAMES IN LESS THAN FIVE HOURS! - the plot is just subpar. Once again the audience were treated to a delicious and far bloodier murder which investigation, ironically, was about as dull as mowing the lawn. I can tell you that it all boils down to click, talk, talk, click, talk a lot more. What's funny is that you would gather a tonne of information during the investigation, but only a couple among them are actually key to the case. I guess it's realistic, but it can also be borin.
Also, the Examine part of the game is still pretty much dead useless. With the exception of ONE - and JUST ONE - examination that's absolutely critical to progress the game (I had to check the walkthrough to pass that point because it's existence was completely random, unlike in Kansei where the object was actually pretty intuitive, and even on full screen most people wouldn't even notice that object), the others simply yield pointless observations. They need to enhance this part and actually make the exploration part relevant, rather than leaving it all up to conversations. I also dislike the fact that they didn't 'light' up an interactable object so it'll be easier to navigate and realize (like how Dangan Ronpa did).
The other thing that I feel truly annoyed about the series was that THERE WAS NO WAY TO CONFIRM WHICH ENDING YOU'VE GOTTEN. I, by pure luck and coincidence, managed to get the true end on my first try, but even now I'm still having doubts whether what I got was really the true end since there's no actual indicator at all inside the game. I actually have to check their walkthrough and compare ending scenarios to match which to which, and honestly this is just bullshit. I should not need to do this.
All in all, while Jisei, Kansei and Yousei may NOT be worth their price (I bought it on 50% discount so it's okay, but their full price felt a tad bit too high) if you measure by its length, the incredible cast of characters and excellent voice acting were worth the value. Buy it at your own discretion.
End Sleep short review.
So first, I'd state right out what drew a fickle person like me towards this Visual Novel. Number 1, a severed head and body decorated on top of a crystal formation. Number 2, silvery long hair. Yes, it's that simple to attract my attention.
In short, End Sleep is a murder mystery that discusses deeply about interpersonal (or was it intra? oh whatever) relationship and psychology. The length of the VN was by no means long - it was pretty short, featuring a small madness within a small space spanning for just a couple of days.
Usually I dislike short VNs (even though I'm an avid writer of one-shots - oh the irony), but this one, while not perfect, managed to live up to expectations and coerced me to complete everything.
I love it for its realism and simplicity. There were no overly elaborate plots or twists. Most of the crimes are fairly simple, and honestly it's surprising how hard to deduce the culprit because despite the small number of people, everyone seemed to be hiding something dark behind those smiles. And yet this is just part of being human.
Its realistic because most of the time, the protagonists and other characters acted properly as a real person would in real life. There weren't much dramatics, and there weren't much heroics, if at all. The 'sleep sleep' end even showcases a dark path where the protagonist realized his own crime and punished himself to an eternity of confinement (though it ended somewhat happily in the 'After Story' reveals). The idea was believable, and that's what made it good.
Above all, the most enticing part of this VN is its music. Its soothing songs can calm the heart, while the frightful ones never failed to string my tension, and even now I'd prefer to avoid those because it'll give me nightmares. That is awesome.
As for the faults of this VN, one would be that it could've benefited from more CGs. There were some scenes where it could've really used one but was never applied, and the tension and dramatics were significantly reduced.
The true end was considerably low key and ordinary compared to the other ones, and honestly that was only because it was real. I can't explain it, but if you ever read Swan Song then you'll probably get what I mean (specifically the happy end). And while it's good in my opinion, I believed they could've added an After Story for the True End. Every other heroine route had one (they also give clarification to mysteries that remained unsolved despite) so I didn't understand why they don't do it. I really want to see how 'she' grew up as a person, and not just a single, unnarrated CG.
Also, if you were expecting some sort of epic mystery then you'll be in for a huge disappointment, because that was not the focus of the story. The murders were simply used to describe the small world and the difficulties within it, and help tell a story where two souls were ultimately redeemed.
And it was beautiful.
So first, I'd state right out what drew a fickle person like me towards this Visual Novel. Number 1, a severed head and body decorated on top of a crystal formation. Number 2, silvery long hair. Yes, it's that simple to attract my attention.
In short, End Sleep is a murder mystery that discusses deeply about interpersonal (or was it intra? oh whatever) relationship and psychology. The length of the VN was by no means long - it was pretty short, featuring a small madness within a small space spanning for just a couple of days.
Usually I dislike short VNs (even though I'm an avid writer of one-shots - oh the irony), but this one, while not perfect, managed to live up to expectations and coerced me to complete everything.
I love it for its realism and simplicity. There were no overly elaborate plots or twists. Most of the crimes are fairly simple, and honestly it's surprising how hard to deduce the culprit because despite the small number of people, everyone seemed to be hiding something dark behind those smiles. And yet this is just part of being human.
Its realistic because most of the time, the protagonists and other characters acted properly as a real person would in real life. There weren't much dramatics, and there weren't much heroics, if at all. The 'sleep sleep' end even showcases a dark path where the protagonist realized his own crime and punished himself to an eternity of confinement (though it ended somewhat happily in the 'After Story' reveals). The idea was believable, and that's what made it good.
Above all, the most enticing part of this VN is its music. Its soothing songs can calm the heart, while the frightful ones never failed to string my tension, and even now I'd prefer to avoid those because it'll give me nightmares. That is awesome.
As for the faults of this VN, one would be that it could've benefited from more CGs. There were some scenes where it could've really used one but was never applied, and the tension and dramatics were significantly reduced.
The true end was considerably low key and ordinary compared to the other ones, and honestly that was only because it was real. I can't explain it, but if you ever read Swan Song then you'll probably get what I mean (specifically the happy end). And while it's good in my opinion, I believed they could've added an After Story for the True End. Every other heroine route had one (they also give clarification to mysteries that remained unsolved despite) so I didn't understand why they don't do it. I really want to see how 'she' grew up as a person, and not just a single, unnarrated CG.
Also, if you were expecting some sort of epic mystery then you'll be in for a huge disappointment, because that was not the focus of the story. The murders were simply used to describe the small world and the difficulties within it, and help tell a story where two souls were ultimately redeemed.
And it was beautiful.
Well, yeah. You won't know how shocked and shattered I am until you read this blog I posted at the wikia: Blog
But a second rewatch of the episode (thankfully) and a great guy's explanation left me more understanding about Weiss' attitude. Ruby did stumbled into a bunch of explosives due to her own negligence, and while Weiss shaking the bottle like a can of Coke didn't exactly give her much credit, she only started the personal insults when Ruby sneezed and exploded her into soot. Still, it really wasn't as bad as the first impression led me thought it would be.
... Which is the point. If the first impression sucked and required a second look to understand, then it means that there's something wrong that needed to be fixed.
But a second rewatch of the episode (thankfully) and a great guy's explanation left me more understanding about Weiss' attitude. Ruby did stumbled into a bunch of explosives due to her own negligence, and while Weiss shaking the bottle like a can of Coke didn't exactly give her much credit, she only started the personal insults when Ruby sneezed and exploded her into soot. Still, it really wasn't as bad as the first impression led me thought it would be.
... Which is the point. If the first impression sucked and required a second look to understand, then it means that there's something wrong that needed to be fixed.
The idea came, so I wrote. You won't believe how stumped I am now at any attempts to write RWBY after this one. Perhaps it's precisely because there was no world setting (this was written before the pilot episode) that I managed to portray what I want with the characters. As you can see, canon is quite different (with Ruby's trailer seemingly set into the future and thus setting back any semblance of coolness we hoped she would have right from the beginning, and Weiss being a... bitch. Good god I'm so disappointed with the latter).
If you're going to buy Civ 5 you must get the Gold Edition (because it includes all DLC except BNW). Otherwise the game's gonna haunt you with incompetency.
I couldn't spot the inconsistency now lol... it seems to have something to do with my computer lagging at that timing I guess. Or perhaps Ruby rotating twice made me wonder why the necessity to do so when she could just do it in one.
Oo Dangan Ronpa Zero's characters is in SDG2? Now that's something to look forward to.
Oo Dangan Ronpa Zero's characters is in SDG2? Now that's something to look forward to.
I didn't even know which execution video you're talking lol (because I'm way too lazy to check), but well I just have no interest beyond what's in store for the future. I can always read Dangan Ronpa Zero if I want to know exactly what happened in the past (though of course... they might reveal next to nothing at all).
On a side note the first episode of RWBY is out, and I'm not too disappointed beyond the fact that I swear I've seen that golden lady's character design somewhere before (in short: extremely stereotypical), and that the fight scene seemed a little... unnatural at parts. The ones I noticed were:
1) When Ruby rotated twice above her scythe and kicked the goon the camera seems... weird?
2) No recoil at all when Ruby shoots at the helicopter.
Other than that, just way too short to tell really.
On a side note the first episode of RWBY is out, and I'm not too disappointed beyond the fact that I swear I've seen that golden lady's character design somewhere before (in short: extremely stereotypical), and that the fight scene seemed a little... unnatural at parts. The ones I noticed were:
1) When Ruby rotated twice above her scythe and kicked the goon the camera seems... weird?
2) No recoil at all when Ruby shoots at the helicopter.
Other than that, just way too short to tell really.
I have all the mentioned skills lol; it's just that playing them on an emulator can be pretty frustrating . Do you know that you have to listen to the beat rather than following the screen (if on emulator) because the images don't catch up quick enough when the tempo quickens? It could be annoying ESPECIALLY when negative time happens. >_>
EDIT:
Now then, Dangan Ronpa review!
Whoever has a PSP and a fetish for Visual Novels should know this already, but this is one of the absolute best Visual Novels I've played this year.
Because I've just finished the game (and literally slept like, 5 hours per day just to get this done - my head hurts >_>), I literally don't have much words to describe my feelings other than, well, god DAMN this is good. Let's go by everything one by one, as usual.
Number one, the plot. The brief synopsis of the VN would be one: there are fifteen known high school students titled Super Duper Something that were trapped in this Kibo Academy. A weird-looking robobear then appears to tell them that if they want to leave this place, they'll have to KILL EVERYONE ELSE. Otherwise, they will NEVER GRADUATE and live within the Academy for the rest of their lives.
Even though the theme itself is kinda old already (I've played like what, Infinity series, 999 Hours, Secret Game series, read mangas like Judge etc, and they're all basically using the same setting... it's definitely an old theme for me now), the plot actually read pretty damn refreshing and nice, thanks to quite a number of bizarre elements that completely deviated from common sense.
Number one would be the Academy itself. First, you have freaking iron-sealed windows and exits that looked sturdy to take a couple of missile hits and more. Then you have freaking GATTLING GUNS just hanging around the corner like they're harmless little birds or something. Just by putting all these elements in, Dangan Ronpa has set itself up for one helluva ride, and it was up to whether the plot would disappoint or not.
And of course, it did not! Otherwise you would've seen me thrash talking it at the beginning *whistles*! Anyway story-wise this is beautiful. I can't really explain it, but things never really get stale, it never really gets boring, and it always manages to surprise with unexpected twists and turns that just keeps you GOING. Usually I'd be the first - being an obsessed reader and all - to sniff out how a plot's going to setup and unfold, but Dangan Ronpa has managed to outmaneuver my expectations in a surprisingly good way. While the ending and various unsolved mysteries (more on that later) can be a little underwhelming, it still did not fail its hype and managed to finish beautifully in the end.
Speaking of which, what is the final movie again? Apparently it's ??? when I check through the gallery, and I wonder if it's because I skipped through the ending video and so did not get it. If that's true then never mind, but if it's like a secret ending please let me know.
About the faults of the plot - though it's simply because the incident happen not to discuss about it, and so it is entirely acceptable - is that there are still a lot of mysteries in Kibou Academy that were unexplained. One would be the Malefaction something incident - just what exactly had happened that caused the entire world to screw up HUGE? While the End-of-the-World videos that Monokuma put up was certainly unreal (and possibly even fake or grossly exaggerated, but I can't tell without reading Zero first), it just... doesn't make sense. Even if we say the USA nuked Afganisthan, it still wouldn't affect the world to the level Monokuma had described. And to say it was all triggered by a simple mass murder in Kibou Academy? Not to say that it's not terrible, but heck, we have read newspapers where students murdered tens of classmates with a gun. Am I living a normal life? Yes I am, and I certainly don't give a damn about what's happening on the other side of the world.
I am aware that there are side stories that supplemented exactly the missing materials, but when Monokuma requested that Naegi solved ALL the mysteries, I thought they seriously meant EVERYTHING. Which they did not, meeeh. They didn't even say what the fuck happened in the old classroom where.
Which brings to the many small but existing contradictions in the VN. Let's take Monokuma for example. The dude always seem to be able to appear out of nowhere, and since this is a logical VN it HAS to come from somewhere. Let's assume that this somewhere is a hole or something. Let's even assume that there are such tunnel networks throughout Kibou Academy, and with multiple units of Monokuma set it many locations it can appear at anywhere and almost anytime. This almost certainly has to be true, because Monokuma has dropped by Naegi's place a million times and definitely NOT THROUGH THE DOOR.
So here's the question: Why did our protagonists never considered Monokuma's secret tunnel network as a possibility for escape? Of course, the possibility that these 'holes' are just storage space and a complete dead end, but to not even consider the possibility of something else is just... weird. They NEVER did investigate where Monokuma appear, you know.
The above is but one example, and to go on would be the ramble thousands of words without point. So let's move on to the gameplay instead.
Now then, there are several different stages in the game that keep things interesting. The first one would be a 1st person POV navigation style gameplay. You literally just walk around and interact with objects and people, and well, you get the gist. 'Investigation' basically involves Naegi running around and doing the above to solve mysteries. While the navigation is certainly basic, it is incredibly responsive would never fail to find an important object with a helpful button that reveals exactly what you need to interact. This is very good design, and something 999 Hours failed at (horribly), as I can't even begin to tell you how painful it is during 999 Hours where I failed to interact with certain objects in certain orders and things just doesn't goddamn progress at all. With a walkthrough, too.
But that's off topic. Next would be the Class Trial. There are several stages such as the prepare stage (equip skills and setup last minute review of information), Non-Stop Debate (you use evidences and testimonies you've collected called 'Ammunition' and shoot them at yellow highlighted texts called 'Weak Points'), Epiphany Diagram (Basically it's a word guessing game, though it can get surprisingly hard when you're staring down a fucking timer and cannot think), Choices (there's actually 2 different varieties, but basically it's make-a-choice lol), Machine Gun Talk Battle (a rhythm hitting game that's the most challenging part out of all), and finally Climax er, something (fill into the missing sequences of events with various images).
For anyone who has played the VN, there is no question: THIS is where Dangan Ronpa shines the brightest and made the game an absolute beast. Just play it out yourself and you'll know what I mean. You have to experience this, as words just won't suffice.
Sure, sometimes it's a freaking pain in the ass trying to get the Non-Stop Debate right (because the Ammunition you're using is sometimes pretty vague, and that the fact that you can convert people's Weakpoints into Ammunitions to target other Weakpoints make things quite confusing). Sometimes I feel like screaming into the monitor because I KNEW what happened, but couldn't quite find the right combination to get things moving. It can get frustrating too since the game just goes step by step in painstakingly slow fashion because it's trying to address to younger audiences as well. Pretty damn sure everyone felt Byakuya's pain at some point, "These IDIOTS."
While I feel like I didn't give the gameplay enough elaboration, it's going to be yet another thousands of words so let's just stop. Now, to the music! If it wasn't on a PSP I'm sure they could make it better, but I guess I'll just have to stick with the lower quality OSTs. They do suit the atmosphere wonderfully.
About the system. Polished, and while not without some faults, was pretty easy and comprehensive to use. By far the biggest SIN of the game was the need to unlock CGs/videos with Monokuma coins (sorry but like, FUCK man, FUCK THIS ACHIEVEMENT BULLSHIT) because there's literally no replay value to the game (you're just solving the same fucking mysteries after all), because that is the nature of a mystery: once you solved it it is GONE along with its potential of interest. Even if I just want to like, reread the story, it's still a pain in the ass to go through that many steps for it. Thank god this isn't a common occurance in VNs or the despair might just push me over. *wink wink*
In conclusion, a 9 out of 10. Speaking of which, Dangan Ronpa 2 looks to be equally as interesting, and I'll definitely get it when the NA version comes out. After all.
It's PUNISHMENT TIME! (Does that make sense to you? Oh and I JUST LOVE IT WHEN KIRIGIRI GOT SQ - *burns inner demon into dust*)
EDIT:
Now then, Dangan Ronpa review!
Whoever has a PSP and a fetish for Visual Novels should know this already, but this is one of the absolute best Visual Novels I've played this year.
Because I've just finished the game (and literally slept like, 5 hours per day just to get this done - my head hurts >_>), I literally don't have much words to describe my feelings other than, well, god DAMN this is good. Let's go by everything one by one, as usual.
Number one, the plot. The brief synopsis of the VN would be one: there are fifteen known high school students titled Super Duper Something that were trapped in this Kibo Academy. A weird-looking robobear then appears to tell them that if they want to leave this place, they'll have to KILL EVERYONE ELSE. Otherwise, they will NEVER GRADUATE and live within the Academy for the rest of their lives.
Even though the theme itself is kinda old already (I've played like what, Infinity series, 999 Hours, Secret Game series, read mangas like Judge etc, and they're all basically using the same setting... it's definitely an old theme for me now), the plot actually read pretty damn refreshing and nice, thanks to quite a number of bizarre elements that completely deviated from common sense.
Number one would be the Academy itself. First, you have freaking iron-sealed windows and exits that looked sturdy to take a couple of missile hits and more. Then you have freaking GATTLING GUNS just hanging around the corner like they're harmless little birds or something. Just by putting all these elements in, Dangan Ronpa has set itself up for one helluva ride, and it was up to whether the plot would disappoint or not.
And of course, it did not! Otherwise you would've seen me thrash talking it at the beginning *whistles*! Anyway story-wise this is beautiful. I can't really explain it, but things never really get stale, it never really gets boring, and it always manages to surprise with unexpected twists and turns that just keeps you GOING. Usually I'd be the first - being an obsessed reader and all - to sniff out how a plot's going to setup and unfold, but Dangan Ronpa has managed to outmaneuver my expectations in a surprisingly good way. While the ending and various unsolved mysteries (more on that later) can be a little underwhelming, it still did not fail its hype and managed to finish beautifully in the end.
Speaking of which, what is the final movie again? Apparently it's ??? when I check through the gallery, and I wonder if it's because I skipped through the ending video and so did not get it. If that's true then never mind, but if it's like a secret ending please let me know.
About the faults of the plot - though it's simply because the incident happen not to discuss about it, and so it is entirely acceptable - is that there are still a lot of mysteries in Kibou Academy that were unexplained. One would be the Malefaction something incident - just what exactly had happened that caused the entire world to screw up HUGE? While the End-of-the-World videos that Monokuma put up was certainly unreal (and possibly even fake or grossly exaggerated, but I can't tell without reading Zero first), it just... doesn't make sense. Even if we say the USA nuked Afganisthan, it still wouldn't affect the world to the level Monokuma had described. And to say it was all triggered by a simple mass murder in Kibou Academy? Not to say that it's not terrible, but heck, we have read newspapers where students murdered tens of classmates with a gun. Am I living a normal life? Yes I am, and I certainly don't give a damn about what's happening on the other side of the world.
I am aware that there are side stories that supplemented exactly the missing materials, but when Monokuma requested that Naegi solved ALL the mysteries, I thought they seriously meant EVERYTHING. Which they did not, meeeh. They didn't even say what the fuck happened in the old classroom where
Spoiler:
Which brings to the many small but existing contradictions in the VN. Let's take Monokuma for example. The dude always seem to be able to appear out of nowhere, and since this is a logical VN it HAS to come from somewhere. Let's assume that this somewhere is a hole or something. Let's even assume that there are such tunnel networks throughout Kibou Academy, and with multiple units of Monokuma set it many locations it can appear at anywhere and almost anytime. This almost certainly has to be true, because Monokuma has dropped by Naegi's place a million times and definitely NOT THROUGH THE DOOR.
So here's the question: Why did our protagonists never considered Monokuma's secret tunnel network as a possibility for escape? Of course, the possibility that these 'holes' are just storage space and a complete dead end, but to not even consider the possibility of something else is just... weird. They NEVER did investigate where Monokuma appear, you know.
The above is but one example, and to go on would be the ramble thousands of words without point. So let's move on to the gameplay instead.
Now then, there are several different stages in the game that keep things interesting. The first one would be a 1st person POV navigation style gameplay. You literally just walk around and interact with objects and people, and well, you get the gist. 'Investigation' basically involves Naegi running around and doing the above to solve mysteries. While the navigation is certainly basic, it is incredibly responsive would never fail to find an important object with a helpful button that reveals exactly what you need to interact. This is very good design, and something 999 Hours failed at (horribly), as I can't even begin to tell you how painful it is during 999 Hours where I failed to interact with certain objects in certain orders and things just doesn't goddamn progress at all. With a walkthrough, too.
But that's off topic. Next would be the Class Trial. There are several stages such as the prepare stage (equip skills and setup last minute review of information), Non-Stop Debate (you use evidences and testimonies you've collected called 'Ammunition' and shoot them at yellow highlighted texts called 'Weak Points'), Epiphany Diagram (Basically it's a word guessing game, though it can get surprisingly hard when you're staring down a fucking timer and cannot think), Choices (there's actually 2 different varieties, but basically it's make-a-choice lol), Machine Gun Talk Battle (a rhythm hitting game that's the most challenging part out of all), and finally Climax er, something (fill into the missing sequences of events with various images).
For anyone who has played the VN, there is no question: THIS is where Dangan Ronpa shines the brightest and made the game an absolute beast. Just play it out yourself and you'll know what I mean. You have to experience this, as words just won't suffice.
Sure, sometimes it's a freaking pain in the ass trying to get the Non-Stop Debate right (because the Ammunition you're using is sometimes pretty vague, and that the fact that you can convert people's Weakpoints into Ammunitions to target other Weakpoints make things quite confusing). Sometimes I feel like screaming into the monitor because I KNEW what happened, but couldn't quite find the right combination to get things moving. It can get frustrating too since the game just goes step by step in painstakingly slow fashion because it's trying to address to younger audiences as well. Pretty damn sure everyone felt Byakuya's pain at some point, "These IDIOTS."
While I feel like I didn't give the gameplay enough elaboration, it's going to be yet another thousands of words so let's just stop. Now, to the music! If it wasn't on a PSP I'm sure they could make it better, but I guess I'll just have to stick with the lower quality OSTs. They do suit the atmosphere wonderfully.
About the system. Polished, and while not without some faults, was pretty easy and comprehensive to use. By far the biggest SIN of the game was the need to unlock CGs/videos with Monokuma coins (sorry but like, FUCK man, FUCK THIS ACHIEVEMENT BULLSHIT) because there's literally no replay value to the game (you're just solving the same fucking mysteries after all), because that is the nature of a mystery: once you solved it it is GONE along with its potential of interest. Even if I just want to like, reread the story, it's still a pain in the ass to go through that many steps for it. Thank god this isn't a common occurance in VNs or the despair might just push me over. *wink wink*
In conclusion, a 9 out of 10. Speaking of which, Dangan Ronpa 2 looks to be equally as interesting, and I'll definitely get it when the NA version comes out. After all.
It's PUNISHMENT TIME! (Does that make sense to you? Oh and I JUST LOVE IT WHEN KIRIGIRI GOT SQ - *burns inner demon into dust*)
I'm at Chapter 5 of Dangan Ronpa, and oh boy I should've used PPSSPP much, much earlier. JPSP is a complete shit in every way compared to it.
The VN itself is totally fabulous and a heck lot better than 999 Hours, make no mistake. The controls can be a bitch to use on an emulator (especially during the MTBs), but it wasn't experience detrimental. Will give a full review later on, but right now I would recommend ANYONE at all to try out this game.
Also, I think this IS the VN I mentioned before, the one I said I couldn't remember what the title was. I kinda spoilered myself a bit when skimming through the prologue of its Side Story, but it coincides with 'that' scenario. Awesome.
Damn, the mysteries just kept me shivering with excitement! (even though most of them are incredibly easy to solve)
The VN itself is totally fabulous and a heck lot better than 999 Hours, make no mistake. The controls can be a bitch to use on an emulator (especially during the MTBs), but it wasn't experience detrimental. Will give a full review later on, but right now I would recommend ANYONE at all to try out this game.
Also, I think this IS the VN I mentioned before, the one I said I couldn't remember what the title was. I kinda spoilered myself a bit when skimming through the prologue of its Side Story, but it coincides with 'that' scenario. Awesome.
Damn, the mysteries just kept me shivering with excitement! (even though most of them are incredibly easy to solve)
Nitroplus being infinitely creative with anti-piracy stuff. You almost wish to see what they're going to pull next.
Author's Note: I already setup this in various sites, and seeing that there is a fanfiction section here... =3
Mirror, Haunt
Cold as fuck. Even though a thunderous snowstorm raged outside as if it would scourge the entire world to death, the residents of White Palace didn’t invest much in heating since they were naturally resistant to cold. Adam, as usual, had picked some of the most unpleasant places in the world for his thieving and banditry. Blake Belladona thought she had experienced the worst when they braved the ridiculous elements outside for an hour with naught but a white cloak.
“… Adam, go on ahead. I’ll hold her here.”
Her partner in crime, a young man of fiery red hair and tall posture contemplated the suggestion for a second. Despite the strange, rune-covered mask Adam wore that obscured both his eyes and upper face, he was obviously studying the unexpected foe with skin-crawling intensity.
“I’ll be back.”
The young woman placed a firm hand on the grip of Gambol Shroud, and did not answer. She could not afford to. Already the air’s chill was biting at her skin like fire, and soon the frigid environment would steal away even the tiniest reserve of strength. Blake thought they should’ve escaped the moment they were unveiled, not that Adam would ever back away until he got what he wanted. Blake fell back into a familiar stance and crouched downwards to the ground. She’ll have to end this quick. This was going to brutal, painful, and like all others, possibly the last fight of her life.
It was either that, or lose whatever little freedom she has left in this world.
---------------------------------
The princess of the frigid lands, Shiva was legend. Born into the royal family in year 2066, her birth had happened just a week before the Ice Spirit’s Festival, and so the court’s mood makers proposed to celebrate both events on the same day. Initially the Queen – a noblewoman from southern lands, uneducated with cultures of the north – had objected to the idea, but no child of Shiva has ever died of cold and with the King’s own persuasion at work, she finally relented. It proved to be the right decision, for it was that day the Ice Spirit Himself had descended on earth to bless the girl with His own glorious Mark. The baby girl who was sound asleep at that time, who has never even seen the glorious form of the World’s Great Elemental, would later be hailed as the greatest miracle of all times.
Her name, was Weiss Schnee.
---------------------------------
Weiss pondered over her options, and decided that an offense would do better than just stand. While the Royal Guards may yet catch the other man, his black and red countenance had spawned a most eerie feeling in her heart. It would be best if she could face him down herself. But first, she must capture this black-dressed, white-cloaked young lady who’s covering his back. Carelessness is bane, practice makes perfect. Her father’s rather poor attempts of makeshift idioms rang in her ears, and she felt her chest tightened with familiar pain. This was not the right time.
Suddenly her view became enclosed by white, and instinctively she struck out Myrtenaster to slash at nothing but fabric. Weiss understood that she had been tricked, but she bid her time calmly and sure enough, a gleam peeked out from the right to strike at her flank. Weiss switched hands immediately and slashed her rapier downwards in a perfect parry. The ambush had failed.
But Weiss did not expect the hidden knee. The powerful blow struck directly at the stomach, and she had to stifle a gasp as the wind went out of her lungs. The young swordswoman understood that she was in danger even as the intruder threw another rapid succession of scoring hits, and when her lifted feet finally landed back on ground she was immediately greeted by a flying kick. Weiss barely blocked the bone-shuddering blow with both her arms, and finally she managed to leap sideways and get away from the enemy. Weiss chided herself for being arrogant; she had underestimated the woman badly. It has been a long time since she felt real pain.
Suddenly the young woman felt short of breath, and her fists tightened a notch too strongly before she loosened them proper again. Weiss gazed at the intruder, and felt her heart hardened into stone and steel.
This is nothing. The thorns in my lungs, the burning at my ribs, all of it – they’re nothing at all.
---------------------------------
Blake Belladona was different. That was the kindest way to describe the black-haired girl, and the villagers weren’t kind. When she was born the midwife apparently fainted at the sight of her peculiar, amber eyes, and when words spread out Blake was called worse than a plague. No one – except her mum, who refused to say anything – actually knew who the father was, except that it had to be a beast, it had to be a monster, and that Blake’s mum was a mad, mad woman to let herself be raped – or god forbid, loved – by whatever the thing was. The ridiculous situation would’ve been laughable if it wasn’t so real, and every day turned out to be hell for the duo.
Blake however, grew up to be a good, obedient girl. It was a harsh, terrible environment, but Blake endured the unfair abuse and lived strongly. If they cursed at her, she would simply smile and continued on her business. If they tried to harm her, she would run far, far away before any of them could catch up. Ironically, the so-called evil had shown far more virtues and compassion than any of the accusers themselves. Still, Blake did not blame them for their fears. The malignant rumors weren’t completely untrue, and since childhood she had shown supernatural athleticism that easily surpassed the best fighters in town. Blake accepted the fact that she was different and that she would be shunned, and so she tried to smile despite the overwhelming hate. Even as her heart felt drowned and in despair, Blake did not stop trying to forgive.
Still, the curses never stopped, even if no one dared lift a finger against Blake and her mother.
---------------------------------
Blake was regretting like hell that she didn’t break a leg or two when she had the surprise advantage. Obviously she was too soft for not dealing the killing blow when she could, but she was not Adam, and she especially did not want to kill the people she was stealing from. This time though, things were looking dangerous. Contrary to that fragile, porcelain beauty look, the enemy was one heck of a swordswoman who darted deadly thrusts like furious raindrops and slashes that came spinning and striking hard like a whirlwind. Moreover, she was using some strange magic that boosted her mobility, and every time she leaped sky-high Blake had to run away like some pitiful mouse. It’s as if gravity has no hold on that woman!
“… Haahh!!!” Abruptly Blake drew her katana from its sheath in a single, powerful horizontal blow, and it finally forced the seemingly unstoppable foe back for an instant. The woman looked surprised, for Blake was now holding two weapons on each hand; the sheath – more like an oversized cleaver actually – and a katana. She has been fighting this entire time with just the sharp sheath and had not wanted to use her trump card until absolutely necessary. Her other hidden technique – the kusarigama style – could also counter the enemy’s ghost-like mobility, but since she used a black ribbon as the link it was as good as sealed considering how easily it could be cut.
Without giving the opponent time to reassess the situation, Blake rushed forwards like black thunder and smashed aside the rapier with brute force. The swordswoman tried to recover with a blind spot cut, but this time Blake’s katana met the rapier’s blade with ease. The heart stopping duel continued to rage, and while the white-haired woman continued to press Blake with her speed she was never able to score another hit. Blake was blocking every attack like an impenetrable fortress.
“You may be fast,” Blake muttered as she deflected yet another thrust, “But so am I.”
As the enemy’s blade slid harmlessly past her ears, Blake seized the opening and slashed directly towards the woman’s left thighs. With this she should not be able to give chase, and then finally she could go after Adam –
Abruptly, her vision exploded in blue, white, and burning red.
---------------------------------
Weiss Schnee grew up to be incredible. At the age of seven she has incredible mastery over different languages, and at nine she understood enough politics to aid her father in court. Her genius in both swordsmanship and magic notwithstanding, the girl was also beautiful as an angel, with her singular icy blue eyes most famed and eye-catching in the entire realm. But even those weren’t the reasons why she was so loved and adored. One day the king announced about a pleasant surprise for everyone, and a couple of weeks later, Weiss Schnee sang on stage. Never have the people of Shiva heard such a voice. Never have anyone thought that they would scream in their seats, cry in joy, or even kneel in prayer at who truly was the greatest miracle they have ever seen.
But the world was not kind. Year 2081, at the age of fifteen, her parents died of an unknown disease while travelling abroad, and suddenly Weiss found herself assuming the throne of one of the world’s largest empire in history. She has neither the time nor energy to grief as the enemies of Shiva threw plot after plot – sometimes in the form of deceptive courtiers, sometimes through subtle threats and bribery and ironic goodwill, and once even a cold assassination attempt – with infinite ingenuity.
But she thwarted them all. As time passed she grew smarter, wiser, and crueler. A ruler does not cower simply because a decision was harsh or morally incorrect, and Weiss pressed forth her beliefs with ruthless efficiency. She had had her people starved for months so they could endure harsh winters to come. She had lied like the wicked witch of tales, for it meant stability to her kingdom and the weakening of her enemies. She had even executed good men to thwart a rebellious plot, and as a result prevented a civil war that surely would’ve wrecked a million more lives.
It did not matter if her people rejected her, as long as they remained safe.
It did not matter if no one understood her, as long as the kingdom was protected.
It did not matter if her heart had turned into stone, and that she must lose the one true love she still yearns after everything she’s been through. Surely the ever-busy Queen could not afford any time to sing.
Surely… surely her parents would have been proud.
---------------------------------
Weiss heaved a tired sigh as she leaned a shoulder against the pillar of blue ice. Entombed inside the glacial structure was the mysterious intruder whom she, with much effort, finally managed to catch. The black-haired woman had impressive skill and tenacity, and she was the first person to actually rival her in speed. It was also why Weiss did not use Ice until the very last moment, for with that agility and craftiness she would’ve dodged it all too easily.
The princess took the time to examine her enemy’s features. A strong, lean figure, coupled with a strong jaw and firm-looking eyes. The flame-colored iris gave the woman an exotic, feline look, and the oversized black ribbon she wore over her head only made the resemblance more striking. Still, the woman did not look like someone who would stoop to crime, so why? Was it because of circumstances forcing her hand, or that she didn’t have a choice?
Was it because of her… again?
The stray thoughts distracted Weiss a moment too long. It would cost her.
---------------------------------
Her hometown burned.
When Blake saw the smokes rising from afar, she had thought it to be harmless open burning. But then the flames towered high with the sky black with uncanny, and finally Blake realized that something was terribly wrong. It was too late.
“Mum? Mum! Where are you?”
Her house remained surprisingly unburned, but it was only a matter of time before the fire reached it, and so Blake ran immediately inside and into her mother’s room. Most people would’ve run to the shelters by now, but her mum had always talked about a death wish. She had to check; she had to be sure.
That was the biggest mistake in her entire life.
“Huaaa! The demon child is here! I told you, I told you we shouldn’t have done it! It’s not my fault!”
What is that –
“How dare you! You were the one who suggested the whole shit! I didn’t want to –”
Why –
“You stupid fools, she bore a demon, a demon! Serves the bitch right that she dies! Now kill the demon before she comes to her senses!”
“Aa, ahh –”
---------------------------------
“ – AaAaaaaaaahhHhHHhhHHH!!!”
“!?” Weiss jumped backwards in alarm, and to her disbelief the supposedly indestructible cage had exploded into a million fragments. Out came a tall, shapeless thing that writhed eerily unlike anything Weiss has ever seen before, and the captive woman was nowhere to be found. The monstrous black moved forwards, and literally every cell in her body was screaming for her to run, but she cannot; not while it was in the palace. Weiss flipped the switch on Myrtenaster to channel Red: It was the most Powerful magic she had known, and if she timed this right then maybe –
“…??!!!”
Pain. Exploding flowers of red and black. How had she even dodged the death blow she didn’t know, but still it grazed her left eye and the damage was done. One side of her vision was completely marred by liquid red, and the black thing was closing in rapidly like a fog of death. Weiss swung her rapier in desperation, but she misjudged the distance and missed completely. It was over. She closed her eyes.
“Blake!!!”
A rough voice rang out. Abruptly the horrendous thing stopped, and with a shudder it receded into nothingness like smoke. The amber-eyed woman reappeared into existence from within, and as she fell unconscious to the ground the young man arrived to catch her firmly by the shoulders. Weiss tried to take a step forwards, but the young man stopped her with a glare hateful enough to kill.
“Consider yourself lucky today, queen,” he spat, “I would’ve let her.”
They disappeared.
---------------------------------
“Adam.”
Blake murmured from behind Adam’s back. The man was speeding down the mountain to lose any pursuers, and amidst all the howling wind he might have missed her voice.
“Did I…?”
You monster! Aaa,aa, aaaAAahHHgarrgggg –
“… No.”
He leaped down a crevice, and they vanished completely into darkness.
“No, you didn’t.”
Mirror, Haunt
Cold as fuck. Even though a thunderous snowstorm raged outside as if it would scourge the entire world to death, the residents of White Palace didn’t invest much in heating since they were naturally resistant to cold. Adam, as usual, had picked some of the most unpleasant places in the world for his thieving and banditry. Blake Belladona thought she had experienced the worst when they braved the ridiculous elements outside for an hour with naught but a white cloak.
“… Adam, go on ahead. I’ll hold her here.”
Her partner in crime, a young man of fiery red hair and tall posture contemplated the suggestion for a second. Despite the strange, rune-covered mask Adam wore that obscured both his eyes and upper face, he was obviously studying the unexpected foe with skin-crawling intensity.
“I’ll be back.”
The young woman placed a firm hand on the grip of Gambol Shroud, and did not answer. She could not afford to. Already the air’s chill was biting at her skin like fire, and soon the frigid environment would steal away even the tiniest reserve of strength. Blake thought they should’ve escaped the moment they were unveiled, not that Adam would ever back away until he got what he wanted. Blake fell back into a familiar stance and crouched downwards to the ground. She’ll have to end this quick. This was going to brutal, painful, and like all others, possibly the last fight of her life.
It was either that, or lose whatever little freedom she has left in this world.
---------------------------------
The princess of the frigid lands, Shiva was legend. Born into the royal family in year 2066, her birth had happened just a week before the Ice Spirit’s Festival, and so the court’s mood makers proposed to celebrate both events on the same day. Initially the Queen – a noblewoman from southern lands, uneducated with cultures of the north – had objected to the idea, but no child of Shiva has ever died of cold and with the King’s own persuasion at work, she finally relented. It proved to be the right decision, for it was that day the Ice Spirit Himself had descended on earth to bless the girl with His own glorious Mark. The baby girl who was sound asleep at that time, who has never even seen the glorious form of the World’s Great Elemental, would later be hailed as the greatest miracle of all times.
Her name, was Weiss Schnee.
---------------------------------
Weiss pondered over her options, and decided that an offense would do better than just stand. While the Royal Guards may yet catch the other man, his black and red countenance had spawned a most eerie feeling in her heart. It would be best if she could face him down herself. But first, she must capture this black-dressed, white-cloaked young lady who’s covering his back. Carelessness is bane, practice makes perfect. Her father’s rather poor attempts of makeshift idioms rang in her ears, and she felt her chest tightened with familiar pain. This was not the right time.
Suddenly her view became enclosed by white, and instinctively she struck out Myrtenaster to slash at nothing but fabric. Weiss understood that she had been tricked, but she bid her time calmly and sure enough, a gleam peeked out from the right to strike at her flank. Weiss switched hands immediately and slashed her rapier downwards in a perfect parry. The ambush had failed.
But Weiss did not expect the hidden knee. The powerful blow struck directly at the stomach, and she had to stifle a gasp as the wind went out of her lungs. The young swordswoman understood that she was in danger even as the intruder threw another rapid succession of scoring hits, and when her lifted feet finally landed back on ground she was immediately greeted by a flying kick. Weiss barely blocked the bone-shuddering blow with both her arms, and finally she managed to leap sideways and get away from the enemy. Weiss chided herself for being arrogant; she had underestimated the woman badly. It has been a long time since she felt real pain.
Suddenly the young woman felt short of breath, and her fists tightened a notch too strongly before she loosened them proper again. Weiss gazed at the intruder, and felt her heart hardened into stone and steel.
This is nothing. The thorns in my lungs, the burning at my ribs, all of it – they’re nothing at all.
---------------------------------
Blake Belladona was different. That was the kindest way to describe the black-haired girl, and the villagers weren’t kind. When she was born the midwife apparently fainted at the sight of her peculiar, amber eyes, and when words spread out Blake was called worse than a plague. No one – except her mum, who refused to say anything – actually knew who the father was, except that it had to be a beast, it had to be a monster, and that Blake’s mum was a mad, mad woman to let herself be raped – or god forbid, loved – by whatever the thing was. The ridiculous situation would’ve been laughable if it wasn’t so real, and every day turned out to be hell for the duo.
Blake however, grew up to be a good, obedient girl. It was a harsh, terrible environment, but Blake endured the unfair abuse and lived strongly. If they cursed at her, she would simply smile and continued on her business. If they tried to harm her, she would run far, far away before any of them could catch up. Ironically, the so-called evil had shown far more virtues and compassion than any of the accusers themselves. Still, Blake did not blame them for their fears. The malignant rumors weren’t completely untrue, and since childhood she had shown supernatural athleticism that easily surpassed the best fighters in town. Blake accepted the fact that she was different and that she would be shunned, and so she tried to smile despite the overwhelming hate. Even as her heart felt drowned and in despair, Blake did not stop trying to forgive.
Still, the curses never stopped, even if no one dared lift a finger against Blake and her mother.
---------------------------------
Blake was regretting like hell that she didn’t break a leg or two when she had the surprise advantage. Obviously she was too soft for not dealing the killing blow when she could, but she was not Adam, and she especially did not want to kill the people she was stealing from. This time though, things were looking dangerous. Contrary to that fragile, porcelain beauty look, the enemy was one heck of a swordswoman who darted deadly thrusts like furious raindrops and slashes that came spinning and striking hard like a whirlwind. Moreover, she was using some strange magic that boosted her mobility, and every time she leaped sky-high Blake had to run away like some pitiful mouse. It’s as if gravity has no hold on that woman!
“… Haahh!!!” Abruptly Blake drew her katana from its sheath in a single, powerful horizontal blow, and it finally forced the seemingly unstoppable foe back for an instant. The woman looked surprised, for Blake was now holding two weapons on each hand; the sheath – more like an oversized cleaver actually – and a katana. She has been fighting this entire time with just the sharp sheath and had not wanted to use her trump card until absolutely necessary. Her other hidden technique – the kusarigama style – could also counter the enemy’s ghost-like mobility, but since she used a black ribbon as the link it was as good as sealed considering how easily it could be cut.
Without giving the opponent time to reassess the situation, Blake rushed forwards like black thunder and smashed aside the rapier with brute force. The swordswoman tried to recover with a blind spot cut, but this time Blake’s katana met the rapier’s blade with ease. The heart stopping duel continued to rage, and while the white-haired woman continued to press Blake with her speed she was never able to score another hit. Blake was blocking every attack like an impenetrable fortress.
“You may be fast,” Blake muttered as she deflected yet another thrust, “But so am I.”
As the enemy’s blade slid harmlessly past her ears, Blake seized the opening and slashed directly towards the woman’s left thighs. With this she should not be able to give chase, and then finally she could go after Adam –
Abruptly, her vision exploded in blue, white, and burning red.
---------------------------------
Weiss Schnee grew up to be incredible. At the age of seven she has incredible mastery over different languages, and at nine she understood enough politics to aid her father in court. Her genius in both swordsmanship and magic notwithstanding, the girl was also beautiful as an angel, with her singular icy blue eyes most famed and eye-catching in the entire realm. But even those weren’t the reasons why she was so loved and adored. One day the king announced about a pleasant surprise for everyone, and a couple of weeks later, Weiss Schnee sang on stage. Never have the people of Shiva heard such a voice. Never have anyone thought that they would scream in their seats, cry in joy, or even kneel in prayer at who truly was the greatest miracle they have ever seen.
But the world was not kind. Year 2081, at the age of fifteen, her parents died of an unknown disease while travelling abroad, and suddenly Weiss found herself assuming the throne of one of the world’s largest empire in history. She has neither the time nor energy to grief as the enemies of Shiva threw plot after plot – sometimes in the form of deceptive courtiers, sometimes through subtle threats and bribery and ironic goodwill, and once even a cold assassination attempt – with infinite ingenuity.
But she thwarted them all. As time passed she grew smarter, wiser, and crueler. A ruler does not cower simply because a decision was harsh or morally incorrect, and Weiss pressed forth her beliefs with ruthless efficiency. She had had her people starved for months so they could endure harsh winters to come. She had lied like the wicked witch of tales, for it meant stability to her kingdom and the weakening of her enemies. She had even executed good men to thwart a rebellious plot, and as a result prevented a civil war that surely would’ve wrecked a million more lives.
It did not matter if her people rejected her, as long as they remained safe.
It did not matter if no one understood her, as long as the kingdom was protected.
It did not matter if her heart had turned into stone, and that she must lose the one true love she still yearns after everything she’s been through. Surely the ever-busy Queen could not afford any time to sing.
Surely… surely her parents would have been proud.
---------------------------------
Weiss heaved a tired sigh as she leaned a shoulder against the pillar of blue ice. Entombed inside the glacial structure was the mysterious intruder whom she, with much effort, finally managed to catch. The black-haired woman had impressive skill and tenacity, and she was the first person to actually rival her in speed. It was also why Weiss did not use Ice until the very last moment, for with that agility and craftiness she would’ve dodged it all too easily.
The princess took the time to examine her enemy’s features. A strong, lean figure, coupled with a strong jaw and firm-looking eyes. The flame-colored iris gave the woman an exotic, feline look, and the oversized black ribbon she wore over her head only made the resemblance more striking. Still, the woman did not look like someone who would stoop to crime, so why? Was it because of circumstances forcing her hand, or that she didn’t have a choice?
Was it because of her… again?
The stray thoughts distracted Weiss a moment too long. It would cost her.
---------------------------------
Her hometown burned.
When Blake saw the smokes rising from afar, she had thought it to be harmless open burning. But then the flames towered high with the sky black with uncanny, and finally Blake realized that something was terribly wrong. It was too late.
“Mum? Mum! Where are you?”
Her house remained surprisingly unburned, but it was only a matter of time before the fire reached it, and so Blake ran immediately inside and into her mother’s room. Most people would’ve run to the shelters by now, but her mum had always talked about a death wish. She had to check; she had to be sure.
That was the biggest mistake in her entire life.
“Huaaa! The demon child is here! I told you, I told you we shouldn’t have done it! It’s not my fault!”
What is that –
“How dare you! You were the one who suggested the whole shit! I didn’t want to –”
Why –
“You stupid fools, she bore a demon, a demon! Serves the bitch right that she dies! Now kill the demon before she comes to her senses!”
“Aa, ahh –”
---------------------------------
“ – AaAaaaaaaahhHhHHhhHHH!!!”
“!?” Weiss jumped backwards in alarm, and to her disbelief the supposedly indestructible cage had exploded into a million fragments. Out came a tall, shapeless thing that writhed eerily unlike anything Weiss has ever seen before, and the captive woman was nowhere to be found. The monstrous black moved forwards, and literally every cell in her body was screaming for her to run, but she cannot; not while it was in the palace. Weiss flipped the switch on Myrtenaster to channel Red: It was the most Powerful magic she had known, and if she timed this right then maybe –
“…??!!!”
Pain. Exploding flowers of red and black. How had she even dodged the death blow she didn’t know, but still it grazed her left eye and the damage was done. One side of her vision was completely marred by liquid red, and the black thing was closing in rapidly like a fog of death. Weiss swung her rapier in desperation, but she misjudged the distance and missed completely. It was over. She closed her eyes.
“Blake!!!”
A rough voice rang out. Abruptly the horrendous thing stopped, and with a shudder it receded into nothingness like smoke. The amber-eyed woman reappeared into existence from within, and as she fell unconscious to the ground the young man arrived to catch her firmly by the shoulders. Weiss tried to take a step forwards, but the young man stopped her with a glare hateful enough to kill.
“Consider yourself lucky today, queen,” he spat, “I would’ve let her.”
They disappeared.
---------------------------------
“Adam.”
Blake murmured from behind Adam’s back. The man was speeding down the mountain to lose any pursuers, and amidst all the howling wind he might have missed her voice.
“Did I…?”
You monster! Aaa,aa, aaaAAahHHgarrgggg –
“… No.”
He leaped down a crevice, and they vanished completely into darkness.
“No, you didn’t.”
(2,500 Words)
It should be around 10 minutes per episode. During RTX they released 1 and a half episode, and there are many who commented that Episode 2 was large incomplete (probably low quality rendering or something), around 18 minutes in total if I remember correctly.
And well, I'm not having issues with waiting (since I've already read the plot summary - it doesn't spoil anything important) since there's work to be done (not office work, mind you, those things are mostly very easily completed, which is nice - I can spend more time writing!).
Speaking about the wiki, I've posted some theories there - all pre-RTX - and a fan fiction called 'Mirror, Haunt'. My ID there is also Zolnir so feel free to visit and drop a comment, if you feel like it. =3
And now, THE EPIC REVIEW OFFFFFFF...
Drapeko! Review:
Let’s face the reality: Alicesoft has been screwing themselves up since recent years, and most of their games were a dial back from the epic they used to be. Rance 6 was one of the best dungeon-crawlers I’ve played even though it was just as torturous, and then there’s Sengoku Rance that still manages to baffle players with tonnes of joy despite being made in what, 2006? The thing is though, Alicesoft has been in decline. Daiteikoku was far more annoying than it was fun, Rance Quest was a complete bitch with high cost (level resets) and low return (1 or 2 CGs at most, BECAUSE THEY PUT A FUCKING CAP ON RANCE’S DICK, EVEN THOUGH THAT WAS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF THE ENTIRE RANCE SERIES. WHO IN THE FUCKING FUCK MADE SUCH A STUPID DECISION??). Even Pastel Chime 3 with all that quality reuses the same few backgrounds for battles again, and again, and again. Honestly, they’re just depressing as of late.
Drapeko though, fortunately, was one incredibly refreshing Visual Novel that offers a rather unique and interesting system with basic gameplay. The story features a prince with godlike sex skills but infinitely better heart than Rance’s, and despite sounding suspiciously like the common, boring-as-hell protagonist, his incredible sexual appetite (and the need to visit bad end events, but more on that later) more than makes up for the potentially debilitating setup, and along with the ability to generate huge amount of hilarity Esto more than qualifies as the funniest protagonist in Alicesoft history (some may say that Rance is more hilarious, but Esto doesn’t give you a guilty conscience).
About the plot, it is not special. Long story short everything ends well, and I’ll just sum the beginning up here in a short summary, and if you’d like to avoid spoilers then don’t read it.
One of the reasons that made me nod to the story – I may be a diehard fantasy fan, but I do think know what’s good when I see one – was that it develops the characters really well. Every heroine was given ample amount of events (since its common route all the way until Chapter 6) for players to study their character and learn about their backgrounds, and many of the sub characters were properly conveyed too. More importantly, all of them are INTERESTING. The Dragon Kuu needs Esto’s body fluid to gain energy (basically eating food) so she drinks his sperm since it’s the best and plentiful (lololol), the Hero Toru is a pervert, masturbation maniac and an exhibitionist, the Ghost Hotel Owner Solsu is also a pervert and an avid fan of homosexual materials (she’s fine with both yaoi or yuri) and any immoral relationship AND nosebleeds very cutely, and finally Sekiei is a loli sadist sex maniac who gets off seeing people suffer. How ironic that the Dragon Kuu was actually the most innocent out of them all, and the other human heroines are in many ways more crazier than the protagonist’s sexual habits. =3
This was large successful because of one reason: The unique system. First, there is no save in the game. Instead you select from a tree map and go through the events of the story, and that means at any time you may jump back to any scene you want and reread the parts you missed (because of a split choice etc). The other part that greatly supplemented the NEED to use this system (because there are people who would prefer not to read them and just move on), was that by getting a Dead End, Esto will gain EXP and level up. While I’m sure some people can blitz through most of the battles (and there aren’t many) with even a 20 level differences, it would be far easier to just watch the Dead Ends instead.
This is genius because not only the players would gain more insight about the characters, it also give focus to one of the best points of Drapeko: Humor. You just laugh like hell (and be protective of your anus) when the gay rapes Esto into a homosexual (1 of the Dead Ends) and the other showing Esto cum under the gay’s super high level tongue technique, causing the poor protagonist to hang himself the next day (similar, but just as god fucking hilarious because well… oh my GOD that saliva-sucking-squishing-whatever-sound is going to haunt me for a long time). The damn good humor and jokes just makes the entire experience SHINE.
Onto the gameplay. As I’ve said above, it’s basically a Rock-Paper-Scissors game with one more option to, †˜Joke’, which you can use to lose the battle. Unfortunately there aren’t many fights at all in this VN, and this is just a mini game that serves to relieve some boredom and tediousness for impatient readers. I do believe that they could’ve added in a lot more fights, but whatever (like, you don’t even get to fight the final-final boss, what!?). All of the battles except one are not worth of mention (because they’re too easy) except the First Battle against Alma. This you must read if you’re playing the game, or you’re going to frustrate yourself to no end trying to beat her.
First, there are 2 major patterns that she uses. One is before Esto is level 20, and another is equal to or after level 20. The pattern will have random elements after a certain number of time intervals (no idea how many retries it would take though), but they mostly stay the same.
Before level 20, she mainly uses attack by pairs. For example: 2 -> 2 -> 1 -> 1-> 3 -> 3. If you played it correctly, it is possible for you to win by countering every one of her attacks, but if you take even a single counter from Alma – or even just a draw – you will lose.
After level 20, you have no choice but to level up Esto until at least level 25 or 26 (I’ve tried on level 25 and got everything right, but Alma was left with 2 HP left and I still lost, so 26 should be safer) before challenging her. This would frustrate the crap out of you because Alma’s pattern goes like this: 3 (100%) -> Absolute counter -> 1 (Can random change to 2 or 3) -> Absolute Counter -> 2 (Can random change to 1 or 3). You MUST beat her before you eat her 3rd counter or you will 100% lose otherwise. Basically you try to counter -> take a hit -> counter -> take a hit -> counter -> use 1 or 3 (because using 2 means you’ll come after Alma, and she’ll beat you). Sometimes you may get lucky and she will not absolutely counter you, but it happens so rarely that it’s simpler to assume otherwise.
Ironically the gameplay was the weakest part in the VN – again, even though Alicesoft was supposed to be damn good at this – because 1, there’s not enough fights; 2, you don’t get to fight certain final-final boss; and 3, it is BULLSHIT that they set up the stupid rule mentioned above that intentionally delays your winning just because they want you to read more bad ends. Sure I get to enjoy a better, more complete experience, but heck… this makes the boss un-fun; as if the †˜intelligent’ guessing wasn’t simple enough already.
All in all, a good and refreshing game from Alicesoft regardless, and it definitely injected a dose of hope into me that not all future Alicesoft games are going to be crap. 8 out of 10.
And well, I'm not having issues with waiting (since I've already read the plot summary - it doesn't spoil anything important) since there's work to be done (not office work, mind you, those things are mostly very easily completed, which is nice - I can spend more time writing!).
Speaking about the wiki, I've posted some theories there - all pre-RTX - and a fan fiction called 'Mirror, Haunt'. My ID there is also Zolnir so feel free to visit and drop a comment, if you feel like it. =3
And now, THE EPIC REVIEW OFFFFFFF...
Drapeko! Review:
Let’s face the reality: Alicesoft has been screwing themselves up since recent years, and most of their games were a dial back from the epic they used to be. Rance 6 was one of the best dungeon-crawlers I’ve played even though it was just as torturous, and then there’s Sengoku Rance that still manages to baffle players with tonnes of joy despite being made in what, 2006? The thing is though, Alicesoft has been in decline. Daiteikoku was far more annoying than it was fun, Rance Quest was a complete bitch with high cost (level resets) and low return (1 or 2 CGs at most, BECAUSE THEY PUT A FUCKING CAP ON RANCE’S DICK, EVEN THOUGH THAT WAS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF THE ENTIRE RANCE SERIES. WHO IN THE FUCKING FUCK MADE SUCH A STUPID DECISION??). Even Pastel Chime 3 with all that quality reuses the same few backgrounds for battles again, and again, and again. Honestly, they’re just depressing as of late.
Drapeko though, fortunately, was one incredibly refreshing Visual Novel that offers a rather unique and interesting system with basic gameplay. The story features a prince with godlike sex skills but infinitely better heart than Rance’s, and despite sounding suspiciously like the common, boring-as-hell protagonist, his incredible sexual appetite (and the need to visit bad end events, but more on that later) more than makes up for the potentially debilitating setup, and along with the ability to generate huge amount of hilarity Esto more than qualifies as the funniest protagonist in Alicesoft history (some may say that Rance is more hilarious, but Esto doesn’t give you a guilty conscience).
About the plot, it is not special. Long story short everything ends well, and I’ll just sum the beginning up here in a short summary, and if you’d like to avoid spoilers then don’t read it.
Spoiler:
One of the reasons that made me nod to the story – I may be a diehard fantasy fan, but I do think know what’s good when I see one – was that it develops the characters really well. Every heroine was given ample amount of events (since its common route all the way until Chapter 6) for players to study their character and learn about their backgrounds, and many of the sub characters were properly conveyed too. More importantly, all of them are INTERESTING. The Dragon Kuu needs Esto’s body fluid to gain energy (basically eating food) so she drinks his sperm since it’s the best and plentiful (lololol), the Hero Toru is a pervert, masturbation maniac and an exhibitionist, the Ghost Hotel Owner Solsu is also a pervert and an avid fan of homosexual materials (she’s fine with both yaoi or yuri) and any immoral relationship AND nosebleeds very cutely, and finally Sekiei is a loli sadist sex maniac who gets off seeing people suffer. How ironic that the Dragon Kuu was actually the most innocent out of them all, and the other human heroines are in many ways more crazier than the protagonist’s sexual habits. =3
This was large successful because of one reason: The unique system. First, there is no save in the game. Instead you select from a tree map and go through the events of the story, and that means at any time you may jump back to any scene you want and reread the parts you missed (because of a split choice etc). The other part that greatly supplemented the NEED to use this system (because there are people who would prefer not to read them and just move on), was that by getting a Dead End, Esto will gain EXP and level up. While I’m sure some people can blitz through most of the battles (and there aren’t many) with even a 20 level differences, it would be far easier to just watch the Dead Ends instead.
This is genius because not only the players would gain more insight about the characters, it also give focus to one of the best points of Drapeko: Humor. You just laugh like hell (and be protective of your anus) when the gay rapes Esto into a homosexual (1 of the Dead Ends) and the other showing Esto cum under the gay’s super high level tongue technique, causing the poor protagonist to hang himself the next day (similar, but just as god fucking hilarious because well… oh my GOD that saliva-sucking-squishing-whatever-sound is going to haunt me for a long time). The damn good humor and jokes just makes the entire experience SHINE.
Onto the gameplay. As I’ve said above, it’s basically a Rock-Paper-Scissors game with one more option to, †˜Joke’, which you can use to lose the battle. Unfortunately there aren’t many fights at all in this VN, and this is just a mini game that serves to relieve some boredom and tediousness for impatient readers. I do believe that they could’ve added in a lot more fights, but whatever (like, you don’t even get to fight the final-final boss, what!?). All of the battles except one are not worth of mention (because they’re too easy) except the First Battle against Alma. This you must read if you’re playing the game, or you’re going to frustrate yourself to no end trying to beat her.
First, there are 2 major patterns that she uses. One is before Esto is level 20, and another is equal to or after level 20. The pattern will have random elements after a certain number of time intervals (no idea how many retries it would take though), but they mostly stay the same.
Before level 20, she mainly uses attack by pairs. For example: 2 -> 2 -> 1 -> 1-> 3 -> 3. If you played it correctly, it is possible for you to win by countering every one of her attacks, but if you take even a single counter from Alma – or even just a draw – you will lose.
After level 20, you have no choice but to level up Esto until at least level 25 or 26 (I’ve tried on level 25 and got everything right, but Alma was left with 2 HP left and I still lost, so 26 should be safer) before challenging her. This would frustrate the crap out of you because Alma’s pattern goes like this: 3 (100%) -> Absolute counter -> 1 (Can random change to 2 or 3) -> Absolute Counter -> 2 (Can random change to 1 or 3). You MUST beat her before you eat her 3rd counter or you will 100% lose otherwise. Basically you try to counter -> take a hit -> counter -> take a hit -> counter -> use 1 or 3 (because using 2 means you’ll come after Alma, and she’ll beat you). Sometimes you may get lucky and she will not absolutely counter you, but it happens so rarely that it’s simpler to assume otherwise.
Ironically the gameplay was the weakest part in the VN – again, even though Alicesoft was supposed to be damn good at this – because 1, there’s not enough fights; 2, you don’t get to fight certain final-final boss; and 3, it is BULLSHIT that they set up the stupid rule mentioned above that intentionally delays your winning just because they want you to read more bad ends. Sure I get to enjoy a better, more complete experience, but heck… this makes the boss un-fun; as if the †˜intelligent’ guessing wasn’t simple enough already.
All in all, a good and refreshing game from Alicesoft regardless, and it definitely injected a dose of hope into me that not all future Alicesoft games are going to be crap. 8 out of 10.
It's exactly as I mean; I can't select anything with robot girl, not even having sex. There's a number of girls that I could not do because of that.
I must've messed up the order somehow then, because there were 4 or so girls that I couldn't get any events on. The robot girl was one example.
And well, I was using mouse to slide the ice. Braking is harsh to say the least -.-. Also I don't actually remember that you could use keyboard for it... Did I screw up something somewhere somehow...? >_>
And well, I was using mouse to slide the ice. Braking is harsh to say the least -.-. Also I don't actually remember that you could use keyboard for it... Did I screw up something somewhere somehow...? >_>
No, you can get as many 100% as possible (there's a limit - about 6 to 7? - on how many heroines you can get 100% though, so you need at least 1 more playthrough to get the ones you don't get).
Reminiscence Review:
It’s been a while since I’ve written a review. Some of the reasons would be that I’m busy with my own writing project, a friend’s Visual Novel project, a writing competition, watching LoL livestreams and finally work. Most of you should be familiar with this, but not sleeping enough is not exactly the best motivator ever in the galaxy.
But that’s off-topic. Now, I did post a short first impression of the game in another forum, and it basically translates to this: †˜dayum, this shit is GOOD!’, and that’s because the VN’s quality for the majority of the game is top notch and impressive. The opening struck me especially hard because it mentioned some of my most heartfelt feelings, and after that that positive emotion persisted for a very long time.
One of the game’s absolute best traits was the diplomacy. It was absolutely entertaining to watch the protagonist scheme and plot his way towards victory, and the fact that he doesn’t always win despite the early streak was pretty realistic. Each and every case that was presented were well detailed, well explained, and solved in a reasonably satisfying manner, which is both amazing and deserved a mention. I especially want to praise this VN for the fact that it does not neglect its sub heroines as most other VNs did with theirs, and in fact I find myself enjoying Nozomi and Rin’s route the best out of all the stories. You could truly see the writer’s effort, dedication and passion here.
But that does not mean I can forgive the game for pulling another mother fucking Akatsuki no Goei on me, even though comparing its offense to its predecessor was like a mouse to an elephant.
For those who did not know, the original game Akatsuki no Goei was a bland, run-of-the-mill VN that was especially bad because most of the heroines have their story was literally cut off halfway due to budget or time constraints. It was like a Batman movie where you see the hero making its glorious entrance for the first time, takes out few goons and that was it. The End. That is basically Reika’s story. The only worse thing I could imagine was to add a priced DLC option that gives the viewers the choice whether to watch its continuation, but that is one helluva dark future that I do not want to think of ever so let’s stop.
And Reminiscence latter parts – especially the supposedly †˜True’ end (Kizuno) – stinks of the same bullshit. But before her, let’s talk about the sister. She was supposedly the second best heroine in the game – I believe you have to finish Nozomi and Rin’s route first before you can unlock her route – but to put it bluntly, even though I really like it up to the part where the protagonist saves her and the enmity between them was finally resolved, everything just go downhill from there onwards. Even before that I already disliked the poor truth behind everything that caused them to hate each other with killing intent (). It was both predictable and pathetic, and those who have read it would understand what I mean.
Let’s talk about the protagonist’s sister. By all means, the best way to handle this girl was to send her to a psychiatrist and keep her there, because that was exactly what she needed but for some reason the protagonist never thought of it. From childhood she had hated herself because Everything up to that point (though I still cannot stomach the protagonist’s stupid method) was pretty okay.
Afterwards though, she was portrayed as an obsessive bro-con. You would think that she would feel horrendously guilty after torturing her brother for such a long time (in a way, I guess she did), but the way she turned out after the resolution was less than satisfactory. Her attitude was already somewhat bad from the beginning (but justifiable) but after the budding of romance began, it turned out to be completely insufferable. Basically you sum up her character when the romance began in three words: Obsessive, maniac, and yandere. The yandere part was never really shown, but it was obviously there where she threatened literally every single woman – even her friends, albeit in a slightly more amiable manner – for simply breathing the air around her nii-san. Somehow the writer decides to turn the character with the most depth into someone that’s absolutely unlikeable and scary.
The decision here was just as astounding as to not giving a proper resolution to her attitude problems. This is where the signs of Akatsuki no Goei black spot began to creep in, because it was obviously they rushed the ending for whatever reason. Instead of continuing developing her obsessive behavior to the point where it caused another tragedy and go on from there – predictable, but quite appropriate – the writer chose the easy way out (I’m not even sure if it’s his decision, because if it was me, after all that effort I’ve put into the story, I would never in my life tolerate the easy out and make a sub part ending like this) and timeskipped. Basically, HURRAY FOR THE GOOD END! FUCK YOU!
Which brings us to Kizuno’s route. There’s already mention in another thread, but basically her character is bland, bland, bland, bland, god, bland. Yes, she is incredibly strong-willed. Yes, she in incredibly mature despite her young appearance. And... that’s all. Nothing else. The end.
… Wait, what? Okay, perhaps it’s precisely because she was so strong and independent that her story doesn’t need the usual dress-up. Okay, I accept that. But Kizuno’s route was supposed to be the true route of the story. Before the romance, there were many build-ups (The Queen and Maria etc) that hinted at massive plottings, schemes, and even more epic tragedies in the near-future, but they all translated to absolutely NOTHING in the end with a stupid ending that tries to be the above but failed miserably. The supposedly shocking twists that only served to bring more disappointment as they were all destroyed in the most unlikeable way possible. Having doing the work does NOT make the scene any better or even cool, since they handled the battle scenes so lousily. They didn’t even get the final CG right (show me the WORLD, you idiotic fool, not the mother fucking people who’re standing and gawking at the amazing sight we CAN’T SEE).
In fact Kizuno had more character development in the sister route than her own. At least there was some sort of confrontation there, and btw the. I honestly believe that they should’ve just combined the both Kizuno and the sister’s route together so that the protagonist’s family issue was properly resolved (at first I thought that those scenes were part of the common route because they were pretty authentic), then branch off afterwards, and with that at least Kizuno would have some sort of important development, but they did not. Likely because the effort would require at least double the length on what they have currently, and triple the effort on Kizuno because hers is the true route. I’m telling you, this stinks of that same old Akatsuki no Goei where they mash up a bunch of shitty endings and just toss it there because of whatever reason. Honestly, if you’re going to blasphemy your work like that you might as well make it shit from the beginning.
And about that title, Reminiscence? Bullshit. I’m not going to spoiler too much stuff here, but basically it references to However, this all happened in present time, which, you know, defeats the purpose of naming the game Reminiscence in the first place? In fact the protagonist’s story has almost NOTHING to do with the theme reminiscence. Maybe you’ll like to point out that the sister story does relate to it, and I agree, though in that case I could put the same bullshit title to every single VN – even those horrendous nukiges – ever in existence. Also, remember: the family issue was NOT resolved in Kizuno’s route. Maybe it’s to reminiscence about the old world 150 years ago, but heck, they handled the latter parts of the VN so poorly – I don’t even get to see the old world dammit, that STUPID FINAL CG IS SO STUPID – that whatever thoughts they’re trying to transmit here has completely failed.
Now, for the more objective part of the review. Art wise, very good. All of the female heroines were astoundingly cute (except Kizuno because, you know, she looks half my age ffs and I’m just 22). Music wise, normal. System? You can’t quit the game right away if you’re in the Save/Load confirmation (yes/no) screen, so that’s a minus.
Honestly, this looks like a setup for an epic-as-shit-blow-your-pants-off sequel like æšã®è·è¡›ï½žç½ªæ·±ã終末論～. Unfortunately I haven’t even read that VN yet because the original was so bad
. This is both incredibly disappointing and depressing, if only because Reminiscence had looked so promising at the beginning. 6.5 out of 10, and that I fear, is already too much.
Reminiscence Review:
It’s been a while since I’ve written a review. Some of the reasons would be that I’m busy with my own writing project, a friend’s Visual Novel project, a writing competition, watching LoL livestreams and finally work. Most of you should be familiar with this, but not sleeping enough is not exactly the best motivator ever in the galaxy.
But that’s off-topic. Now, I did post a short first impression of the game in another forum, and it basically translates to this: †˜dayum, this shit is GOOD!’, and that’s because the VN’s quality for the majority of the game is top notch and impressive. The opening struck me especially hard because it mentioned some of my most heartfelt feelings, and after that that positive emotion persisted for a very long time.
One of the game’s absolute best traits was the diplomacy. It was absolutely entertaining to watch the protagonist scheme and plot his way towards victory, and the fact that he doesn’t always win despite the early streak was pretty realistic. Each and every case that was presented were well detailed, well explained, and solved in a reasonably satisfying manner, which is both amazing and deserved a mention. I especially want to praise this VN for the fact that it does not neglect its sub heroines as most other VNs did with theirs, and in fact I find myself enjoying Nozomi and Rin’s route the best out of all the stories. You could truly see the writer’s effort, dedication and passion here.
But that does not mean I can forgive the game for pulling another mother fucking Akatsuki no Goei on me, even though comparing its offense to its predecessor was like a mouse to an elephant.
For those who did not know, the original game Akatsuki no Goei was a bland, run-of-the-mill VN that was especially bad because most of the heroines have their story was literally cut off halfway due to budget or time constraints. It was like a Batman movie where you see the hero making its glorious entrance for the first time, takes out few goons and that was it. The End. That is basically Reika’s story. The only worse thing I could imagine was to add a priced DLC option that gives the viewers the choice whether to watch its continuation, but that is one helluva dark future that I do not want to think of ever so let’s stop.
And Reminiscence latter parts – especially the supposedly †˜True’ end (Kizuno) – stinks of the same bullshit. But before her, let’s talk about the sister. She was supposedly the second best heroine in the game – I believe you have to finish Nozomi and Rin’s route first before you can unlock her route – but to put it bluntly, even though I really like it up to the part where the protagonist saves her and the enmity between them was finally resolved, everything just go downhill from there onwards. Even before that I already disliked the poor truth behind everything that caused them to hate each other with killing intent (
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Let’s talk about the protagonist’s sister. By all means, the best way to handle this girl was to send her to a psychiatrist and keep her there, because that was exactly what she needed but for some reason the protagonist never thought of it. From childhood she had hated herself because
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Afterwards though, she was portrayed as an obsessive bro-con. You would think that she would feel horrendously guilty after torturing her brother for such a long time (in a way, I guess she did), but the way she turned out after the resolution was less than satisfactory. Her attitude was already somewhat bad from the beginning (but justifiable) but after the budding of romance began, it turned out to be completely insufferable. Basically you sum up her character when the romance began in three words: Obsessive, maniac, and yandere. The yandere part was never really shown, but it was obviously there where she threatened literally every single woman – even her friends, albeit in a slightly more amiable manner – for simply breathing the air around her nii-san. Somehow the writer decides to turn the character with the most depth into someone that’s absolutely unlikeable and scary.
The decision here was just as astounding as to not giving a proper resolution to her attitude problems. This is where the signs of Akatsuki no Goei black spot began to creep in, because it was obviously they rushed the ending for whatever reason. Instead of continuing developing her obsessive behavior to the point where it caused another tragedy and go on from there – predictable, but quite appropriate – the writer chose the easy way out (I’m not even sure if it’s his decision, because if it was me, after all that effort I’ve put into the story, I would never in my life tolerate the easy out and make a sub part ending like this) and timeskipped. Basically,
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Which brings us to Kizuno’s route. There’s already mention in another thread, but basically her character is bland, bland, bland, bland, god, bland. Yes, she is incredibly strong-willed. Yes, she in incredibly mature despite her young appearance. And... that’s all. Nothing else. The end.
… Wait, what? Okay, perhaps it’s precisely because she was so strong and independent that her story doesn’t need the usual dress-up. Okay, I accept that. But Kizuno’s route was supposed to be the true route of the story. Before the romance, there were many build-ups (The Queen and Maria etc) that hinted at massive plottings, schemes, and even more epic tragedies in the near-future, but they all translated to absolutely NOTHING in the end with a stupid ending that tries to be the above but failed miserably. The supposedly shocking twists that
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In fact Kizuno had more character development in the sister route than her own. At least there was some sort of confrontation there, and btw the
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And about that title, Reminiscence? Bullshit. I’m not going to spoiler too much stuff here, but basically it references to
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Now, for the more objective part of the review. Art wise, very good. All of the female heroines were astoundingly cute (except Kizuno because, you know, she looks half my age ffs and I’m just 22). Music wise, normal. System? You can’t quit the game right away if you’re in the Save/Load confirmation (yes/no) screen, so that’s a minus.
Honestly, this looks like a setup for an epic-as-shit-blow-your-pants-off sequel like æšã®è·è¡›ï½žç½ªæ·±ã終末論～. Unfortunately I haven’t even read that VN yet because the original was so bad
. This is both incredibly disappointing and depressing, if only because Reminiscence had looked so promising at the beginning. 6.5 out of 10, and that I fear, is already too much.
Kaimax wrote...
So many VNs and eroges that came out that I would like to play..>_> God damn, why isn't there 2 or more of me...On the list
-Dorapeko (installed, Still at the start of chapter 3)
-Gimai Dakara Dekiru Koto, Imouto Janai to Dame na Koto. (Finished it, a pretty dark eroge released by MINK EGO, wished it was a bit longer and had more endings..a MILF ending)
-DominancE (Downloaded, haven't played it yet)
-Hitomi no Rakuin 3 (Downloaded, an eroge with a a hynopsis system)
-Denshanai de Now(installed, only finished 1 for now, it's about a "gentle Chikan")
-Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi (Downloaded, Nitroplus + yandere)
Will download
-Futagoza no Paradox
-Prestar ~Precious Star's Festival~
-Class Zenin Maji de Yuri?! ~Watashi-tachi no Rezu Oppai wa Anata no Mono Joshi Zenin Shiofuki Keikaku~ (Lol MBS Truth made a Yuri eroge)
I feel you man. Most of what you've stated I already downloaded but haven't finished (Reminiscence left me incredibly depressed to the point I actually skipped one day work >_>), and now I'm going through Drapeko.
