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[Vampire On Titus]

New trailer for Nippon Ichi Software's upcoming time loop adventure game, Asatsugutori. It gives a brief overview of the game's mechanics, mirroring the recently updated sections of the game's official website. Asatsugutori is a murder mystery game where you collect evidence and travel back in time to prevent the victim's death from happening.

​

You collect two kinds of items, psychical evidence and information, and use both to solve the mystery. Physical evidence cannot be taken with you through time jumps but information can. Certain events happen in correspondence with time so you may need to loop and be in the right place to uncover particular facts of the case.

Once you gather all the evidence you enter a "reasoning" phase where you'll have to piece together your clues to logically deduce how the killing took place and prevent it.

A machine making a quiet noise, an IV-like device in her right arm.

When the Hibari wakes up, she finds herself in a strange room and meets seven other girls in the same situation.

An announcement comes from above the confused girls.
"Only the last survivor will be allowed to leave the building.
"We recommend that you make every effort to survive for as long as possible.
　If you work hard, you might even be able to use some form of magic."

A few days after the girls begin their inexplicable life together, an incident finally occurs.
Hibari regrets not being able to stop the deadly scene that happened before her eyes.
"If only I could go back to the time before she died: ......"

The next day, when Hibari wakes up and goes to the cafeteria, she finds the girl who was supposed to be dead is still there as she was yesterday.

The ability to go back in time

With this power, I can start over again and again.
I will never let anyone die again.

Plot synopsis from official site, translated via DeepL.

Unfortunately NIS has an established track record of never translating the adventure games they develop. But I've recently found text hooking Switch games to be surprisingly doable compared to other emulated games. So I may actually play this when it comes out in November. It seems well put together from what I've seen so far and I like the look of the muted earth tones in its color palette. Character designs could be a bit less samey, but they've still got charm.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

It’s the 80s and the Christmas is coming, Vinny, Nick and Tony are young and their new cable signal descrambler just arrived. That same night while trying to decrypt a pay per view adult channel, they pick up the distress signal of an alien spaceship crash-landing in the woods near their town… Things only get weirder as they realize that the towering alien is killing very specific members of their community!

Explore the world oozing with nostalgia, check the Video Buster Store for clues, challenge other kids at the Laser Llamas Arcades, go learn a new trick at The Emerald Sword comic store, try to get along with the punk looking Lost Boys at their hideout or even dare to ask THE BULL, the quintessential 80s Action hero, for some help!

Follow the story that pays tribute to 80s classics like The Goonies, The Explorers, Monster Squad, The Lost Boys, They Live, Terminator, and Aliens among others and a gameplay that combines mechanics of Point and Clicks masterpieces like Full Throttle with its own unique twist and more.

Your decisions do matter, and the way you make these three friends interact with each other increasingly affects their friendship and the whole story, changing the way they solve the game puzzles, the locations they visit, the answers they find, the story, everything.

Uncover the truth hidden behind the alien invasion… well sort of. Why here? Why is it killing locals? How can the boys stop it? Will they tune in the adult channel after all? The answers to these and other questions… in Unusual Findings.

• Follow the Sci-Fi coming-of-age story. Three friends fighting together against the unknown… things (maybe against some known things too).
  
  
  
  
• See, Grab and Talk action tokens, an inventory to use and combine items and your wits it’s all you need to play.
• Stylized Pixel Art. All the charm of pixel art of the past with more colors and the new effects of the future. Some pixels look so real they can almost jump out of the screen*
  
  
  
  
• Go back to a simpler time where mix tapes where a thing, Commodore 64 was a king, kids could play outside late at night and the only thing to worry about was THE GIANT KILLER ALIEN TRYING TO GET YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS.
  
  
  
  
• The decisions you make affect the relations between characters and thus the puzzles, the game progression and the story.
• The most radical music a synthesizer can play. Cool popular Synthwave Music alongside catchy tunes made exclusively for the game to power up the 80s vibes.

*The pixels do not actually jump out of the screen, In case you actually see a pixel jumping out the screen please visit an ophthalmologist... or/and look for psychological help.

Announcement trailer & info for a new adventure, Unusual Findings, are out. Looks like a well produced indie effort with a lot of personality. A throwback to 80s paranormal/SF/teen adventure films, comparisons to similar throwbacks like Stranger Things are unavoidable -- but, hey, it looks better than the actual Stranger Things game TellTale was making anyway. Apparently it's coming out this year so I assume the upcoming KickStarter campaign will be for finishing touches or ports.

 

[GreenAlien]

both are free until 29.09.
Also, a lot of other old Microids titles are less than a 1€ right now..

 

[Vampire On Titus]

New Agatha Chrstie game out today.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

In case anyone else missed it in the other threads: 2064 Read Only Memories is free on epic today.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Warp Frontier came out yesterday. Cant say I know too much about this one, it's really got that style of animation Fuz hates lol. I played a bit of a demo for it during a Steam festival and kinda bounced off it quickly but take that with a massive grain of salt. Might be worth a look for ppl who want a tonally serious sci-fi adventure.

 

[Bartski]

Drifter demo is up on Steam. The game is due for late 2022

 

[arvfab]

New trailer for Nippon Ichi Software's upcoming time loop adventure game, Asatsugutori. It gives a brief overview of the game's mechanics, mirroring the recently updated sections of the game's official website. Asatsugutori is a murder mystery game where you collect evidence and travel back in time to prevent the victim's death from happening.

​

You collect two kinds of items, psychical evidence and information, and use both to solve the mystery. Physical evidence cannot be taken with you through time jumps but information can. Certain events happen in correspondence with time so you may need to loop and be in the right place to uncover particular facts of the case.

Once you gather all the evidence you enter a "reasoning" phase where you'll have to piece together your clues to logically deduce how the killing took place and prevent it.


Plot synopsis from official site, translated via DeepL.

Unfortunately NIS has an established track record of never translating the adventure games they develop. But I've recently found text hooking Switch games to be surprisingly doable compared to other emulated games. So I may actually play this when it comes out in November. It seems well put together from what I've seen so far and I like the look of the muted earth tones in its color palette. Character designs could be a bit less samey, but they've still got charm.

Sounds interesting and reminds me of an underrated game: Shadow of Memories.

Hope this time they do translate it.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Sounds interesting and reminds me of an underrated game: Shadow of Memories.

Hope this time they do translate it.

Shadow of Memories is a such a weird yet wildly entertaining game. I hadn't put the similarity together in my head before you mentioned it, but you're right. The premise is pretty similar, although presumably Charles Martinet wont be voicing an effeminate demon that you're bargaining for your life with.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Impostor Factory is a narrative-driven adventure game that is categorically out of its mind.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Watts and Dr. Rosalene have peculiar jobs: They give people another chance to live their lives, all the way from the very beginning.

But this isn't their story. Probably.

Instead, it's about Quincy. Let me tell you a story about him.

One day, Quincy was invited to a fancy parteh at a suspiciously secluded mansion. So, he accepted and went; because even though the mansion was suspicious and secluded, it was also fancy and had a parteh.

In fact, it turned out to be so fancy that there was a time machine in its bathroom. Quincy could wash his hands and time-travel while he was at it. Talk about a time-saver!

But of course, then people start dying, because that's what they do. And somewhere along the way, things get a little Lovecraftian and tentacles are involved.

Anyway, that's around 1/3 of what the game is really about.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Key Features​

• A story that will make you curse at the screen
• A cozy mix between adventure game elements and classic RPG aesthetics
• Dialogues that read so wrong but feel so right
• An espresso execution with zero filler and no time drains
• long cat

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

F.A.Q.:
Q: Is playing To the Moon & Finding Paradise necessary before playing this game?
A: Impostor Factory can be played independently, just like the games before it.

Q: Is Impostor Factory the sequel to To the Moon & Finding Paradise?
A: Maybe not. Maybe it's a sequel. Maybe it's a prequel. Maybe it's both. But again, there is no prerequisite to playing Impostor Factory.

Interesting direction Freebird Games took for their launch trailer, lol. Third entry in the Sigmund Corp. series after To The Moon and Finding Paradise. The series has managed to find a pretty huge audience and this game already has 2k+ Steam reviews despite only being out for a few days. Never played them myself but maybe I should get around to it someday soon. Also, add another Time Loop game to the growing list.

 

[kingpotato]

Whoa, Syberia 1&2 are only $2 together on switch right now! I guess I found a starting place. Thanks Vampire On Titus and Danjin44

both are free until 29.09.
Also, a lot of other old Microids titles are less than a 1€ right now..

Of course they were free right after I bought them...

Just finished the first Syberia and I enjoyed it overall. Honestly the best thing about the game might be the main character Kate. Puzzles were very straight forward and I didn't really get stuck with the exception of the factory/leg making section. I didn't have to use a guide at all which was nice, but some of the humor fell flat especially during the University section. Starting up the second right away.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Of course they were free right after I bought them...

Just finished the first Syberia and I enjoyed it overall. Honestly the best thing about the game might be the main character Kate. Puzzles were very straight forward and I didn't really get stuck with the exception of the factory/leg making section. I didn't have to use a guide at all which was nice, but some of the humor fell flat especially during the University section. Starting up the second right away.

Each of the two times I've played Syberia I brute forced that puzzle and didn't understand how the solution was actually supposed to be arrived at. But recently when showing part of the first game to a friend on Discord (they were curious about the game after the giveaway) I finally found it out. There's a pamphlet you can pick up in the hotel they goes over the history of Voralberg automatons, one of the sections shows the correct properties of the series v2000 legs (or whatever Oscar's model was called) and that's how you're actually supposed to figure it out.

I agree that some of the humor in the game doesn't land, I'd also say the university section is the low point of the game overall. Although, I do like the bit at the very end with the seeing impaired watchman. My favorite part of Syberia is definitely the setting, followed by Oscar & Kate. There's a really appealing fantastical quality to the larger-than-life caricature of industrial era Europe that Benoit Sokal created.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Started playing another JADV game called Mikagura Shoujo Tanteiden (or Mikagura Girl Detective Agency), it's a game that I've noticed comes up fairly often in Japanese blogs about ADV games and retrospective articles. A fondly remembered game and was even name dropped by producers of Ace Attorney & Danganronpa as a progenitor of the "contradiction finding" style of mystery adventures. From what I've played so far there may some truth to that, moreover it's just been a lot of fun.

Interviewer: Are there mystery games or series that left an impression on you?



Terasawa: Mikagura Shōjo Tantei Dan (‘The Mikagura Girls Detective Club’). In my eyes, the roots of Gyakuten Saiban and Danganronpa lie there. When this game was released, I was working with Human. I had never seen a game mechanic before where a gauge would become smaller if you used the wrong item on an utterance in the game. There may have been games like that before, but it was the first time I saw it and it was an eye-opener. It was a good, and very nicely made game for the time considering Human’s reputation.

Interviewer: There are really a lot of fans of Mikagura Shōjo Tantei Dan both in and outside the industry.

Terasawa: There really are. I didn’t really have it in mind while working on Danganronpa, but when I looked back, I realized that Mikagura Shōjo Tantei Dan might have been the roots. I have no idea if people in my team even know the game though (laugh).

Eshiro: I’ve been playing mystery games ever since the PC98. I remember that you had to input the commands yourself. Games like Salad no Kuni no Tomato Hime (Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom) and Mystery House. Then the hardware developed, and we got the point ’n click style of Myst.

I've only been through the prologue case (which functions mostly as a tutorial) and a bit of the first, but the scenario has already grabbed me -- as well as the nicely animated/expressive character portraits and catchy music. When playing you move around a map screen questioning suspects while you gather clues & evidence. During conversations or P&C investigations you'll be prompted with suspicious information and must choose whether or not to pull the "deduction trigger." Doing so on the correct testimony or object will give you deduction points, if you get 20 then you've completed the current section. It's not entirely AA-like because you're not specifically finding contradictions each time. You may also have to pull the trigger on suspicious behavior or some pertinent new fact that a suspect accidentally let slip. This winds up actually being a decent challenge because there's so many potential red-herrings to pull the trigger on, you really have to give it some thought because it doesn't let you save scum & if you mess up too much you'll get a game over. I finished the initial part of chapter 1 with a single pull to spare.

(On the top right is your remaining number of attempts, top left are your current deduction points)
​

At the moment everything has been impressive to me. The case I'm currently on started as the disappearance of a high-class young woman but turned into a murder investigation when she was found disfigured and placed as an attraction for a circus freak-show. So despite the game's cutesy look and charming character designs, the subject matter can get somewhat gruesome. Mikagura Shojou Tanteiden has a really good pace to it as well. It doesn't get bogged down in repetitive text the way many JADV games (even the ones I adore) tend to. The convos are entertaining and brisk which makes running around interviewing a ton of suspects an enjoyable process.

(So far each case has many people to question & places to go)
​

It's pretty lucky I can even play this game, actually. For a long time I was only aware of the PS1 version. Some of you may know from my other JADV posts that text-hooking emulated games is a hassle and often impossible. But randomly looking up some videos I noticed someone playing with an entirely different style of UI and discovered that the 3rd game (which became an +18 title developed a totally different studio and looks pretty bad) was released on PC and actually came with PC ports of the first two games. Thanks to that I can actually play these games and that's awesome because I can see why Mikagura Shojou Tanteiden the subject of many fond remembrances.

​

 

[Vampire On Titus]

New trailer announced the release date of Kathy Rain Director's Cut, it'll be dropping on October 26th. The trailer also shows off some of the added scenes & promises a new extending ending to the game (many people felt the original's ending was lacklustre). Looks good to me, I'll probably give it a whirl when it comes out.

 

[Danjin44]

When are we getting new trailer for AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA!?

 

[Fuz]

The Pierre Gilhodes appreciation group | Level 2 du prochain Gobliiins5 | Facebook

Level 2 du prochain Gobliiins5 !

www.facebook.com

 

[GreenAlien]

Short retelling of Dagon. It' very limited as a game. There is some optional looking for the needle in the haystack point&click game-play for those that like that . A VR version will launch sometime this month.

It's free.

 

[Fuz]

"Overwhelmingly Positive (3,648 reviews)"


Surprising.

 

[GreenAlien]

If On A Winter's Night, did someone try this? The trailer is pretty good and the game is free on steam..

 

[Fuz]

Why is that free?

 

[Vampire On Titus]

It's been free for a minute on itch.io before it hit steam. Very gorgeous and well written narrative focused adventure. I played up until the 2nd scenario and just didnt get around to finishing it a few months ago, but that's not for a lack of quality. Just had other things in life come up around that time.

 

[SweetShark]

It's been free for a minute on itch.io before it hit steam. Very gorgeous and well written narrative focused adventure. I played up until the 2nd scenario and just didnt get around to finishing it a few months ago, but that's not for a lack of quality. Just had other things in life come up around that time.

I have already installed on my PC, but as you said, RL gets in the way to even starting it.

 

[Fuz]

For someone who hates virtual novels, I sure play a lot of them.

Yes, I started playing AI: The Somnium Files.
Random thoughts up to Psyncin' in the Main 2 point.


I bloody love the writing, it's really good. I blody love the bad sexual juvenile humour. It's all really up my alley.

I bloody hate the stupid shooutous - making silly jokes is ok, but that stupid shit feel completely out of place and ruins the atmosphere of the game, which should still be a murder mistery.

I also hate the time limit and the camera in the dream sequences - especially considering that since in the rest of the game I "drag" the viewpoint keeping the right button clicked, I inverted the X and Y axis. And ofc it's a giant pain in the ass when you have free movement AND I have the side camera that gives me balance problems AND it's time limited.


Yes, I'm ranting, you guys know it's my favourite sport, but I'm really liking the game.

By the way, I knew since the first moment that Pewter would turn out as a piece of shit. Man, I'm so smart it's scary.

Moma best bro.

EDIT: btw, question. I chose to believe Iris, does the story changes much when you chose different branches? Do I need to replay it (=watch it on youtube) or I won't be missing much anyway?

 

[Danjin44]

EDIT: btw, question. I chose to believe Iris, does the story changes much when you chose different branches? Do I need to replay it (=watch it on youtube) or I won't be missing much anyway?

If you played 999, it has same type of flowchart, you can jump to any section of the story when it gets divided later on.

 

[Fuz]

If you played 999

I didn't but I just had Iris die. Son of a bitch. gotta go on another branch.
I am... not very fond of this system.

 

[Danjin44]

I didn't but I just had Iris die. Son of a bitch. gotta go on another branch.
I am... not very fond of this system.

You eventually have to play every branch to get the full story.

I LOVED this game I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

lol AI is explicitly not a VN, Fuz, so it's not surprise that you like games like AA or AI and generally disliked VNs. I'm gonna have to make that thread on the history of Japanese Adventures because the erroneous western categories lead to too much confusion.

This same thing happened with Yahtzee's review of GAA where cautioned is fans at the start, "Don't recommend me other VNs, I like Ace Attorney because it's not like other VNs." Yup, that's because it isn't one and if categories of JADV games weren't so muddled in the western context he could instantly transition to an entire history of games he'd enjoy playing, instead of getting recommended something like Clannad or Tsukihime and bouncing off immediately.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[Fuz]

lol AI is explicitly not a VN, Fuz, so it's not surprise that you like games like AA or AI and generally disliked VNs. I'm gonna have to make that thread on the history of Japanese Adventures because the erroneous western categories lead to too much confusion.

This same thing happened with Yahtzee's review of GAA where cautioned is fans at the start, "Don't recommend me other VNs, I like Ace Attorney because it's not like other VNs." Yup, that's because it isn't one and if categories of JADV games weren't so muddled in the western context he could instantly transition to an entire history of games he'd enjoy playing, instead of getting recommended something like Clannad or Tsukihime and bouncing off immediately.

If the gameplay is, basically, just "click to read the next dialogue", I consider it a VN. AA and AI have some gameplay, but not that much. They might not be full fledged VN, but the difference isn't that big.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

This videos breakdown is overall closer to being right, or perhaps just completely right but is transitioning between the western and eastern context without making that explicitly clear to the viewer. When he's giving his breakdown about the genealogy of Japanese Adventures and says "both styles were lumped under another new name, Visuals Novels" that's not entirely correct. That did happen, but only in the west and much later. in Japan the term "Visual Novel" is very rarely used and tends to be a marketing term in the context of a developer invoking the aesthetic of the "Leaf Visual Novel Series," which is where the term originated. The entire umbrella of the genre is almost exclusively referred to with the abbreviation ADV. When someone's trying to be particular, distinctions are generally made by manner of interaction. "Command Input ADV" for games where you type phrases like "pick up key" or "examine door" to interact. "Command Select ADV" for games where the interaction is done via a list of verbs & nouns in a menu. "P&C ADV" for game where you interact with a point and click interface. And "Text ADV" or "Novel Game" for games where the interaction consists primarily of reading and making simple narrative choices.

Another small fault with the video is that the level of gameplay actually doesn't fall quite so neatly into ADV and NVL categories. There actually are many JADV games with very minimal problem solving (scores of low effort porn games in the 80s and 90s like this) and some NVL games that actually have deep reasoning/puzzle solving components (such as the Trendy God series). The categories really are split upon the manner of interaction w/ the game world more than anything. But this is a minor nitpick because effectively the games with deeper interaction tend to be the ones w/ more puzzles and problem solving.

Still, when he later goes on to refer to games such as 999 as VNs, that's not really accurate. It's only that way because of the western miscategorization, as 999's creator, Kotaro Uchikoshi, explains in "The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers:"

JS: How would you define the difference between adventure games and visual novels?

KU: First of all, the visual novel term does not really represent the genre in Japan. This is accepted as the genre and regarded as the genre outside of Japan, overseas. In Japan people basically think about it as… We have the adventure game, we have the sound novel, and we have the bishoujo genre. But there is no visual novel genre per say. With me personally, when I made 999, and Virtue’s Last Reward, these are not referred to as visual novels, they’re referred to as actual adventure games. Whereas overseas they’re referred to as visual novels. But in Japan, we don’t really make that distinction [between visual novels and adventure games].

Likewise, Kazutaka Kodaka draws this distinction regarding his Danganronpa series in an interview with USGamer Where he recalls that DR was originally intended to be a NVL but they decided to make an ADV game instead because he felt it would sell better:

USg: Visual novels have only been viable in America for roughly ten years, thanks in part to the Phoenix Wright series. Why do you think it's taken so long for America to understand this genre, and what do you think about the future of this genre in our country?

KK: I'd like to draw a distinction between visual novels and something like Phoenix Wright. Visual novels are generally composed of text on a screen that the player is reading—and then, they're usually limited to PC. When you look at Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa, you actually see gameplay elements, and that's what made these games catch on. I feel there's a big opportunity in America for visual novels, but that depends on how much gameplay developers are able to incorporate into them.

USg: Danganronpa has more gameplay elements than most games of its type. Did you incorporate these elements to keep players moving between various types of actions?

KK: It was actually a sales-driven idea. At the time the first Danganronpa released, visual novels in Japan weren't really selling well. We figured that, if we make this game and market it as a visual novel, it's probably not going to do very well. In order to avoid that problem, we decided to add a lot of gameplay elements in order to make it more appealing—to draw that distinction between adventure games and visual novels. Actually, when we were developing the game, when we started to incorporate the interactive elements, many times, the staff would say, "Do we really need this? Why don't we just tell the story as it is?" But I knew, if we did this, it wouldn't be viable on the market. In spite of contrary opinions, we pushed it through.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

If the gameplay is, basically, just "click to read the next dialogue", I consider it a VN. AA and AI have some gameplay, but not that much. They might not be full fledged VN, but the difference isn't that big.

Sure. At the end of the day a label is secondary to experiencing the game itself and enjoying it for the merits of that experience, whatever ppl decide to call it. But, personally I do think the distinction has utility, not only because it's accurate to the history and culture of where these games are developed. But it's effectively the Eastern equivalent of the Western distinction between "Adventure Games" "Narrative Adventures" and "Puzzle Adventures/Myst-likes." They're all under the same umbrella genre but the categories help ppl know what kinds of experiences they're likely to also enjoy. I don't have much interest in Novel Games (although certain ones like 428 Shibuya Scramble, I might enjoy) but other JADV games like Ace Attorney, Death Mark or Hotel Dusk, where I feel like I'm taking a more active role in figuring things out/solving the mystery, do appeal to me a lot.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Played a bit of the prologue for this one, seems well made and I like the art style, but I didn't finish it because I just wasn't in the mood for a children's fantasy story. But it's been out for a week and has a 100% positive rating on Steam, even if it's only 51 reviews that's still pretty impressive.

 

[ShadowNate]

Swery's The Good Life will be released in a few hours (Steam says in about 13 hours for me). They've started sending keys to backers, and apparently some of the press already has reviews published.

The reviews read like... it's a Swery game.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

The Sundew is out today. Good god, another game I want to play... I think I'll actually get to this one soon-ish though because it gives me Technobabylon vibes and I enjoyed the demo.

 

[TripleSun]

Just ran across this PnC browsing Steam and it piqued my interest for its peculiar art. Steam says it's coming Oct 2021, but their Twitter has been silent since last year and other sites say Dec 2021 release lol. Doesn't really spell a good feeling for it actually coming out.

[edit] Oh and I just realized their Steam page says it released in May, yet the page says Wishlist for Oct 2021. Lmao okay yeah this game is totally abandoned.

 

[Fuz]

For someone who hates virtual novels, I sure play a lot of them.

Yes, I started playing AI: The Somnium Files.
Random thoughts up to Psyncin' in the Main 2 point.


I bloody love the writing, it's really good. I blody love the bad sexual juvenile humour. It's all really up my alley.

I bloody hate the stupid shooutous - making silly jokes is ok, but that stupid shit feel completely out of place and ruins the atmosphere of the game, which should still be a murder mistery.

I also hate the time limit and the camera in the dream sequences - especially considering that since in the rest of the game I "drag" the viewpoint keeping the right button clicked, I inverted the X and Y axis. And ofc it's a giant pain in the ass when you have free movement AND I have the side camera that gives me balance problems AND it's time limited.


Yes, I'm ranting, you guys know it's my favourite sport, but I'm really liking the game.

By the way, I knew since the first moment that Pewter would turn out as a piece of shit. Man, I'm so smart it's scary.

Moma best bro.

EDIT: btw, question. I chose to believe Iris, does the story changes much when you chose different branches? Do I need to replay it (=watch it on youtube) or I won't be missing much anyway?

Man, this game is sad as fuck.

(Mayumi)

 

[Danjin44]

Man, this game is sad as fuck.

(Mayumi)

This game can be both laugh out loud funny at times and crazy sad and make it work, it one of my big reason why I personally loved this game.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

These new AI impressions are making the lack of any NirvanAI news sting that much more. I'm a man walking a vast dry desert, desperate for even a single drop of water. Pls SpikeChunsoft... give us something!

 

[Danjin44]

These new AI impressions are making the lack of any NirvanAI news sting that much more. I'm a man walking a vast dry desert, desperate for even a single drop of water. Pls SpikeChunsoft... give us something!

 

[Vampire On Titus]

The real question is has this thread influenced Fuz to become enough of a degenerate to pre-order NirvanAI for this figurine?



In other news: my finger may or may not be hovering over the purchase button.

 

[Danjin44]

In other news: my finger may or may not be hovering over the purchase button.

I already pre-oder CE edition when first got announced

 

[GreenAlien]

Root Letter Last Answer

It's a visual novel. The story is ok for the most part, but it could be so much better. Descriptions are lackluster and a lot of dialogue is somewhat simple as well.. Also, I was hoping for a less linear experience. You can travel to different locations, but it always tells you where to go and if you go somewhere else to explore.. there is nothing there. You can ask questions, but only one is relevant, the others are random bullshit like "How is the weather?" or "What is your favorite food?". You can present items, but again, most of the time only the one required to advance the scene has any dialogue. Sometimes you enter into "interrogations", which work a bit like in Ace Attorney games, you have to counter arguments and present the right items..
The ending stories don't work well together. They aren't supporting each other and are each self contained in their own alternative universe.


Also... I started with live action mode. Since the game has to be played multiple times for different endings, I thought it would be nice to be able to change things up by changing the graphics, but I had a hard time actually changing to anime/classic mode after I got used to the actors (and you are able to skip more or less straight to the alternative endings, so no need to retreat old ground anyway).

 

[Fuz]

The real question is has this thread influenced Fuz to become enough of a degenerate to pre-order NirvanAI for this figurine?

Nah.

I liked the "game" but I stand by my point that the shootouts are stupid as fuck and ruin the atmosphere. Also, Mizuki being basically the Hulk and able to DESTROY dozens of armed, trained mercenaries but hitting Saito with a friggin' iron pipe multiple times and doing no damage at all is fucking stupid. Classic anime trope, but overused, cheap and really annoying.
Cool story, though. Big mindfuck with all the conscience switching, but it actually makes sense in the end. And as I said before, the writing is overall excellent and the juvenile humour is right up my alley. Love it.

Btw, is the sequel supposed to have Mizuki as the main character? Huge letdown for me - I don't like her particular trope and we'll miss all the bad humour we had from Date.

 

[protonion]

I just wishlisted Hermitage: Strange Case Files that appeared today on ps store.
I loved the trailer and the only review I found from noisy pixel gave it a 9.
I'll give it a try when I'm done with my back log next month.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Root Letter Last Answer

It's a visual novel. The story is ok for the most part, but it could be so much better. Descriptions are lackluster and a lot of dialogue is somewhat simple as well.. Also, I was hoping for a less linear experience. You can travel to different locations, but it always tells you where to go and if you go somewhere else to explore.. there is nothing there. You can ask questions, but only one is relevant, the others are random bullshit like "How is the weather?" or "What is your favorite food?". You can present items, but again, most of the time only the one required to advance the scene has any dialogue. Sometimes you enter into "interrogations", which work a bit like in Ace Attorney games, you have to counter arguments and present the right items..
The ending stories don't work well together. They aren't supporting each other and are each self contained in their own alternative universe.


Also... I started with live action mode. Since the game has to be played multiple times for different endings, I thought it would be nice to be able to change things up by changing the graphics, but I had a hard time actually changing to anime/classic mode after I got used to the actors (and you are able to skip more or less straight to the alternative endings, so no need to retreat old ground anyway).

Yeah I basically agree with this take, Root Letter is very okay. I also was disappointed in the linearity of the game, especially since there's so many locations w/ nicely painted BG art. I got a decent ending then YouTubed the "true ending" because I didn't have much interest in replaying the whole game. IIRC the branching comes down to the choices you make when remembering the letters to your penpal.

From what I've seen the sequel, Root Film, is even more simplified and linear which killed my interest in it. I like the new character art but the BG art is a total downgrade.

Nah.

I liked the "game" but I stand by my point that the shootouts are stupid as fuck and ruin the atmosphere. Also, Mizuki being basically the Hulk and able to DESTROY dozens of armed, trained mercenaries but hitting Saito with a friggin' iron pipe multiple times and doing no damage at all is fucking stupid. Classic anime trope, but overused, cheap and really annoying.
Cool story, though. Big mindfuck with all the conscience switching, but it actually makes sense in the end. And as I said before, the writing is overall excellent and the juvenile humour is right up my alley. Love it.

Btw, is the sequel supposed to have Mizuki as the main character? Huge letdown for me - I don't like her particular trope and we'll miss all the bad humour we had from Date.

Since I like Mizuki's dumb strength I've got a different vantage on this, but regardless I think there'll still be many interactions between her and Date in the game. There's also been some banter between Uchikoshi (writer & director of AI) and the new director of NirvanAI on twitter that seemed to indicate the cheesy humor would still be present. Probably not to the extent of the porno mag running joke, but that kind of humor has been present in every Kotaro Uchikoshi game I've played so I suspect there'll still be plenty of it in NirvanAI. Much to the dismay of several journalists and communities who hate that aspect of his games and groan through it every time.

 

[Danjin44]

Since I like Mizuki's dumb strength I've got a different vantage on this

I still can't get enough of Date's reaction when he first find out about Mizuki's inhuman strength.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Kathy Rain director's cut is out now. I enjoyed the initial release of Kathy Rain, it's a well made indie adventure with much indebted to Gabriel Knight that still has its own distinct style and a fun protagonist. The newly released version boasts a streamlined single click interface (ugh), expanded ending, new puzzles and overall 700+ new lines of recorded dialogue.

Seems like a pretty significant revamp and I was intending to replay Kathy Rain but held off for this release. So I'll see how it stacks up against my memory of the OG version.

 

[Fuz]

The newly released version boasts a streamlined single click interface

 

[plushyp]

Btw, is the sequel supposed to have Mizuki as the main character? Huge letdown for me - I don't like her particular trope and we'll miss all the bad humour we had from Date.

I had the same reaction as you. Would have loved to play as Date in his original Falco body.

 

[rkofan87]

Kathy Rain director's cut is out now. I enjoyed the initial release of Kathy Rain, it's a well made indie adventure with much indebted to Gabriel Knight that still has its own distinct style and a fun protagonist. The newly released version boasts a streamlined single click interface (ugh), expanded ending, new puzzles and overall 700+ new lines of recorded dialogue.

Seems like a pretty significant revamp and I was intending to replay Kathy Rain but held off for this release. So I'll see how it stacks up against my memory of the OG version.

i just got this one looks fun any point and click with va good or bad is on my list.