Tsukihime:

I’ve been debating writing the review for the longest time. I’ve talked about the game off and on (and at great length, I might add)but actually writing a review… that’s heavy work. Heavy. I really like this game, and I’ll easily put it in my top ten games to play. It’s got depth, substance, and the characters are great. To cut down on my workload, I’ll be taking excerpts from my ramblings in other places.

The game divides into two portions: the Near Side and the Far Side. Near Side involves the two Arcueid and Ciel routes and your dealings with them, while the Far Side takes things closer to home and involves your sister Akiha, and the maids Hisui and Kohaku. I have been told that word for word, Tsukihime has more text than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy and I figure that’s enough reading to satiate anyone’s desire to read, read, and read some more.

On my own experience with Tsukihime, story-wise: I only had the barest of ideas- no, not ideas- unformed concepts about what I was getting into. Starting the Arcueid route, I was blown away by how things went from “this is who I am, this is what I’m doing” to “holy fuck shit crap, what the fuck just happened?”Things moved on from there, and got better and better. I got a feel for the world really quickly. The disparity between Arcueid’s nature and her personality was amazingly well-expressed. If Arcuied’s route and Ciel’s route were two sides of the same coin, I have to say that while Arcueid’s route was well defined and written, the complementary side (Ciel’s) didn’t reach me as well as Arc’s did. Once you’ve played through the Near Side routes, you unlock access to the Far Side Arcs.

The first route of the Far Side arcs I played through was Akiha’s, following through the natural (intended) play order. I had expected that when I played through Akiha’s story that there would be a reconciliation but instead I got a completely different story altogether. When I played through it back in December of ‘06, I wasn’t interested or particularly attentive, not to mention she wasn’t easy to like at all. I replayed parts of her route just the other day, though, and no one was more surprised than me when I discovered that not only could I understand her better, but I also started to… appreciate her motivations. I still don’t like her very much at all, but… well.

When I played through Arcueid’s, Ciel’s and Akiha’s routes, I was sort of… I don’t know… brusque to Hisui. Maybe a little rude. I figured, “Well, when I play through her arc, I’ll make it up to her.” Jesus Christ, wrong assumption to make. It wasn’t so much being nicer to her as it was fucking with an abused puppy. You give it a little food, coax it to let you pet it, and then you kick it. You repeat the process. Oh, man. I felt fucking bad. “Hisui, come here, I need help” followed by “Arrrg! don’t touch me, I hate you, go away!” … rinse, repeat. That was part of it. But at the same time, coaxing Hisui out of her reticence and hesitation, to the point where she eventually made her decision at the end to be by Shiki’s side was amazing. From the first time that I played the game to the last time a couple days ago, I’ve loved Hisui. She’s sweet, simple, and wonderful. By far and above she’s number one in my book, above any other character in any other game.

I can’t remember who told me, or when or where, but it was made mention to be wary of Kohaku. I had this… sort of visceral wariness of her when I finally did play Tsukihime that always put me on edge whenever I was around her and I didn’t know why. I have to say that if Hisui is my favorite because she fulfills me, then I’d have to say Kohaku is also a favorite (though not as much as Hisui) because she challenged me. Dynamic, emotional, dangerous, exciting. Kohaku comes as a close second to Hisui in the game, but for opposing reasons to Hisui. If Hisui was a refreshing beverage that put you at ease, Kohaku was a spicy dish that made you sweat!

Menus: moving around the game is a breeze. Saving, loading, skipping ahead, etc are all easy to do. Clean and simple interface.

Patch, Patching: My copy was pre-patched, I didn’t have to do anything. Yours may be different. Oh well.

Nestor Adult Games, Dissertation, Games, Japanese Games

What to say? This game was phenomenal. A couple of years ago, everyone was talking about “Saya no Uta” and how badass it was. I installed it and discovered it was entirely in moon, and tried it out anyway- aside from it being entirely incomprehensible, it was also very gory. It was only later that I learned it was done in “typical Nitroplus style” where it’s dark, bloody, and … grim. So, encountering this a couple years ago, my first reaction was to uninstall, delete, and forget about it. What’s the point of playing a game you can’t understand? I kept it around, though. you’re always hearing about translation groups picking up projects and I figured if it really was badass, I could wait.

Bang, right out of the blue, a few days around the Christmastime, the TLWiki popped out with an announcement that they were at 70% translation. a couple days later (those fuckers work fast!) they had a 100% complete beta patch. So, I downloaded the patch and installed.

Story: Man, you can get a summary of the story over on wikipedia if you want to know what it’s about. Saya, though. Saya hit me the exact same way Kohaku did in Tsukihime. Beautiful, sweet, playful, and she’s hiding something. She’s dangerous.

I didn’t get a very strong feel for the other characters because they seemed to be incidental, only there to drive the story along. Of course, part of it is the main character’s disconnection with everything around him, but the other part of it is that they didn’t feel as tangible or as welll done as Saya. Even Yoh, who … well, I do feel bad for her, terribly bad for her. She and Oumi were the only two that stood out besides Saya. There’s a scene where Oumi goes to Fuminori’s house (and later, Yoh does the same thing) that really fleshes out their characters.

Menus: Navigating around inside of Saya no Uta is a breeze. I had a little beef with moving from “previously viewed text” to “current text”- it’s not as intuitive as I’d like, but it’s not really that big a deal.

Patch/ Patching:You did see the brilliant and blatant TLWiki link up there and got the patch from their site, right? ‘course you did! It’s a lot more straightforward than their Chaos;head patch- install the game, back up files, unzip patch, copy patched files in and overwrite. no one-touch patch here, it takes a very small level of technical expertise. Minor. Like Copy/ pasting files.

No downloadables, but you can have a cute Saya~

Editus; more to say:

I took a break from playing games and focused my attention on other things, but every once in a while someone would start a Saya image flood and since I’m weak, I ended up playing through Saya no Uta a second time.

Lovecraftian references aside (and I picked them out substantially faster the second time through) there was a question of … (semi-spoilers ahead) whether Saya understood morality. With the exception of Fuminori’s abandonment of common morality, social graces, and tact in the face of his … affliction, (I don’t believe) she had a lot of interaction with enough people to cement morals. The counter to that of course is that she did feel shy/ guilty about her eating habits, which says that there probably was at least a recognition of wrongdoing, though playing with the neighbor and her sadistic abuse of Yoh reflect otherwise. A shame it wasn’t explored further.

A second thing I’d like to mention is the … “bad” end. I didn’t particularly like that ending because it was very sad, but the second playthrough was a bit more rewarding. I mean, sure the other option was sort of a … melancholic end, with the spores and shit, but frankly, the sad end was tragic in a romantic way and Kouji was portrayed as … a hero, liberating Fuminori from Saya, (but I still couldn’t help but feel Kouji was a dick) so there’s enjoyment there too, despite how much it sucks.

On the verge of tears, Kouji continues to swing his pipe furiously. The monster’s slimy fluids fly through the air, joining with the blood already covering his face.
The creature extends one thin, trembling tentacle to touch Fuminori’s shoulder, then lovingly caresses his blood-stained cheek??
And then it stops moving.
Even in its final moments, the monster would not let go of Fuminori. It died joined with him.

Man, that’s intense.

Finally, I’d like to be the first to stand up and say that Saya no Uta gets a lot of bad PR. Just running through a few reviews via google, I see “disgusting”, “terrible”, “sick”, and shit like that come up a lot in relation to Saya no Uta. I happen to think that there is a specific kind of person that gets off on condemning things he doesn’t clearly understand, and Saya no uta is a shining example of something that’s easily misunderstood. However, if there’s an open mind and an attentive eye, I believe that anyone can see past the gore and violence and see the love story that exists beneath the… for lack of a better term, candy coating.

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games

I’ve put off writing this review because it’d ultimately force me to return to the game. No, no, no. Don’t misunderstand, don’t get me wrong. This game is amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever made the statement “X game is the best, and no other.” If so, then I apologize, I’m going to break that statement. Overall I don’t have a particular favorite per se. To be frank, I judge on the quality of the story, not superiority or comparison over another. Well, I try not to, at least.

Getting back to it, this game hit me in a fundamental way that I don’t think I’ll be able to convey without describing large portions of my internal makeup, something I’m disinclined to do at this point. Nevertheless, I found this game had a tremendous amount of quality.

However, I’ll let you in on a secret: When I play a particular game (game is subjective, but work with me here, okay?) I have it running on one monitor, and a notepad doc open on the other. As I play, I take notes. What’s going on in-game, and how I’m reacting to what’s happening. I can’t possibly post the notes here, for one alot of personal shit is mixed in with it, as well as tremendous fucking spoilers, (not to mention it’s hugecat huge) but I’ll post excerpts in the hopes that perhaps you and I will maybe come a little closer to understanding Chaos;Head.

Now that I’ve gone through the opening (great music, BTW), This is awesome shit right here. The way things move visually- I hate to use evocative, but it is. It’s dizzying, when things move around, because it’s done first person. Things move and seem like you really are Takumi seeing them. Should I feel bad because some of the figures he has on his shelf are the same figures I have, or wanted to buy?

For me, I was captivated. I’d been hesitant to play the game, both because of the patch (more on that in a bit) but because, well, Nitro+ has a certain … well, noteriety. Not only that, but when people start going on and on and on about something, I tend to hate it out of spite. Boy howdy did people talk about it, and at length. I finally succumbed, however, and tried it out. Regarding the music- It was really great.

A metal stake… CLANG CLANG CLANG oh god not the music. Dude, fucking leave. This isn’t the time to be hanging out and listening to someone play “I’ve been working on the railroad, all the livelong DAY!” Just leave. Go. Get the fuck out of Dodge. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, just GO. Oh god. I’m done for. BAD END, right? Glad? What? Why is she glad? Awfully happy, too. And bloody. I can’t see anything in her eyes, her face is unreadable. Am I dead? Will I die? Is this one of his delusions? She knows me by name and she knows my school and she’s wearing the uniform.

I’m referring, of course, to this scene. All of the little details that were occuring as the scene played out kept unnerving me. One other thing that set Chaos;head apart from my more recent games. I felt directly involved. It’s hard to connect to a character when there’s future robots, or incomprehensible mgics, or things things like that. The main lead, Takumi, is not an admirable lead. In fact, getting into Taku’s head is like slipping on a glove that had jelly inside. slimy and disgusting. Combining that with the overall disturbing, somewhat nervous, paranoid aspect of the game, when things happen, I was reacting.

Holy- If I have the stake, then it must be real, right? Wait a second. Let’s think this through logically. If there really WAS a gory murder, a New Gen murder, and it was done with those stakes, me having one in my posession implicates me. Disregarding fingerprints and all, if she didn’t leave any prints and I was caught out I’d be fucked, true and proper. If I got rid of it, and the police went looking for evidence, and a helpful garbage man found it and turned it in, then again, because of prints, I’d be implicated.

When I saw the stake for the second time, I had this little brainstorm. Fairly self-evident, right? Immediately after typing this out, Takumi thought the exact same thing. Not a big deal, normally, but when I was in the game, the parallel in our thought processes not so much the content but drawing the lines to the conclusions, the processes behind it, that freaked me out and drew me in that much more.

Thoughts on the womenfolk:

Aoi Sena: Sena was a difficult girl to like. Very tsun, difficult to know or understand. I felt more and cared more for her mother than Sena, but there were some moments when she was delightful.

Kusunoki Yua: It’s hard to put into words exactly what about her I liked or disliked. Every step along the way, from beginning to end, she was there, she evoked a response from me, be it amusement, nervousness, shock, consideration, moe. The way she moved, in my mind, from trusted to untrustworthy band back again really affected me. Her “awakening” seemed separate from her, detached, and I wish I’d been given more clues.

Kishimoto Ayase: Just like Yua, it’s hard to describe just what about FES I liked so much. I dunno. Despite her cool exterior, despite her defenses, I really liked her. No, I think I know why I liked her. Part of it was the singing; I’m a sucker for a sweet voice and hers was crystal clear. Part of it was her restraint, part of it was the sheer enigma of her. When you get to her part, the website of the hospital that is linked on @chan is real, and loli-FES is cute~

Orihara Kozue: I just didn’t like Kozu-pii that much. I mean, out of all of them I’d encountered, I’d trusted her more than Sena, Yua, Ayase, and Rimi, but I couldn’t like her. Part of it was her external personality No. It was the disparity between her external personality and her internal personality that jarred on me. Also, her voice grated on my nerves, along with all the upuu~ hanyuu~ and whatall else she added into her speech.

Sakihata Rimi: She takes #2 in how much I liked her, but only by the barest of margins. The way she kept me on edge, flip-flopping between being kind and sweet and cold and untrustworthy, and finally reaching an end with her (apparently she’s the heroine and all) was so amazingly well done. The feeling of “I could trust her. Wait. What was she doing? Is she plotting something? Oh, she’s not suspicious at all, no, wait!” through the entire thing was so awesome. It was the journey I made with her that made is so rewarding, so enjoyable. Riding that mix of paranoia and hope, fear and empathy from start to finish was simply amazing. When Taku was at the darkest points, when things couldn’t get any worse, those clear, openhearted moments of pure human kindness made me fall so hard for her.

Nishij? Nanami: By far and above, #1 in my book. From start to finish, there wasn’t anything at all I didn’t like. She’s a good girl. No crazies, really! Her honest purity is soothing, I mean, come on I’ve been having to deal with Taku’s shit for a while and frankly, Nanami was a breath of fresh air. Beginning, middle, and end, she was simply amazing. Part of it, I suppose, was the fact that she was one hell of a moe-bullet, but from start to finish she was wonderful. An excellent contrast to Taku. I’m not a fan of tsundere, but her bouts of mild tsundere were well orchestrated and that was actually a part of why it is I liked her so much. I regret being unable to share her fish sandwich. I would have.

Overall this game was superior to most I’ve played. Rich and rewarding, disturbing and hillarious. There were a surprising amount of things in the game that exist on “teh interwebs”, making it alot more… interactive than I’m used to, but in an excellent “I’m participating in the story” sort of way. on a 1-10, I’d give it a solid 10.

Patching: It is complicated, and it’s very much an effort. Also, it’s clearly and blatantly a beta patch. It’s a shining fucking example of why I refuse to help people with patching problems. If you can’t get it to work, don’t ask me, because I had problems too.

Downloadables? You bet! I’ve packaged up Nanami’s ringtone, Suwa’s ringtone, and Let Me Pass into *.mp3 format, so you too can use them for your own nefarious preferences. Right click, save as. Link verified working as of 12/19/2008.

Whose eyes are those eyes?

Nestor Adult Games, Dissertation, Games, Japanese Games

So I started playing Wanko to Kurasou because I saw it on /jp/… more out of boredom than any other reason. I’m not a furry, closet or otherwise, but I’ve been wanting to play a good game for a while. Having motive, opportunity, and plenty of free time, I went through the necessary steps and installed the english patch. Let’s stop here for a second.

Some games’ english patches are difficult to install, awkward, or require you to jump through hoops. everything was smooth this time through.

Moving on to the story side, you’re a guy that doubles as a teacher. You’ve got a checkered past and lots of free time. You don’t particularly want a pet. But you get one, and she’s a helpless moe-blob of a dog girl.

It’s a decent read, though not particularly gripping. I guess it’s targeted at the furry/ closet furry audience and I’m just not receptive. But Mikan is cute, though.

I’m going to try to add more when the game is 100% translated.

======

I’ve finished the Nadeshiko route and overall it’s a drag. The game plays like a slice of life with a variety of small climaxes; again it appeals to more of a furfag furry audience. It seems to me that Nadeshiko end is a diplomatic end; the happiness isn’t particularly palpable and the end is well, it’s sort of mediocre. Still waiting for Risa end.

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games

You know, I never actually got around to playing this game until just yesterday. i mean, it’s been sitting there for years, mute and staring at me with somewhat accusing eyes. I mean, it’s a classic, right? I got around to it last night while waiting for another game to download.

So, I tried it out. I really like the menus; they were intuitive and easy to move around. the choices were a little silly. No, they were really silly. Not quite a throwback to the older menus that were time consuming to navigate through, (I’m looking at you, Three Sister’s Story) but … a half-step to the easy to follow menus I love and am familiar with. The stor4y was ridiculous. I’m supposed to care about a violent nutcase? She’s totally not my type! I’ll tell you who was my type, though, and I really was disappointed with her ending: Rika Shiraki.

Even though Rika was wholly under your magic, there was a certain sweetness to her behavior that the anime failed to deliver. In the anime, she was mindless, a lust-powered fuck puppet. In the game, there’s a certain amount of innocent sweetness. She’s kind, devoted (of course) she’s sweet, attentive, and altogether a desirable woman- completely different than the anime portrays. If I wasn’t in love with her when I cast the spell in the game, I was in love with her later. The game failed to deliver; a mediocre and unrewarding ending was all I got.

I feel a better usage of Rika-chan would have been to keep her as an alternative girl to Imari, outside the scope of magic. By avoiding the temptation of magic, you gain the opportunity to pursue her. Bah.

As I stated before, Imari was wholly unlikable. In the anime she had some sweet qualities; in the game she was violent, rude, petulant, pushy, and totally undesirable. After I hooked up with Rika and she walked in, she went ballistic. It’s ridiculous how inept and jeuvenile her responses were- if she wasn’t at all interested in me (and there was never any sort of ‘dere’ vibe from her) or, alternatively, if she wanted to remain my friend, she should have been more accepting of my relationship and accepted the fact that I only saw Imari as a friend and not as a desirable woman.

I haven’t yet completed the game, but I don’t really want to. the one girl I desired had a … mediocre and unrewarding ending; the others can rot in shit for all I care.

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant

I installed and started playing Yume Miru Kusuri again, but not because of Aeka’s route. Admittedly, I love Aeka’s route, she’s so wistful and filled with a certain sadness. Refer back to my statement months ago that if i met this sort of girl in real life I wouldn’t give her the time of day; however in reading and experiencing her story, I can’t help but feel moved to be all big and strong and protective. She’s a sweet girl, albeit not terribly bright.

You know, that brings me to a point I’d like to make. Back in the day, I was raised by my mother country to believe that all men and women were created equal. When I went out in pursuit of a mate, I originally had the expectation that I would find someone that is equal to me. lo and behold, that’s not the case at all. Setting aside my chauvanistic perspectives, I found that there was no actual equality, because the staggering differences between the two genders make equality impossible. men and women are wired differently. There is no equal value- Dammit, I lost the original point. Tangents. Bah.

Getting back to it, i ran through Mizuki and Nekoko’s routes looking for a particular scene I couldn’t place, and ended up falling a little for Nekoko. She reminds me a bit like Aeka; both have their own escape mechanisms, Nekoko’s just happens to be a bit… bizarre. Mizuki I can’t deal with; I just can’t get to like her at all. Nevermind the fact that her hoohas are the size of water barrels, her personality is about as flat as your adorable imouto’s chest. There are a couple of times during the end that you feel for her, but by and large I can’t stand her. I did like the flight, and the balcony scene and her actual ending. the rest is crap. Aeka, though. Oh man. She’s such a sweetheart, and she invokes a similar response that Yumemi Hoshino invoked when I ran through Planetarian. (In before CLANG CLANG CLANG and “The Junker lived!” “Bullshit!”)

This rumination all reminds me I need to play through Ever17. Never got around to it, dammit.

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant

Yes. The desire to protect something… is at the same time none other than the wish for something to violate it. -Nasu-

I like this sentiment, because it also describes the selfsame contradictions in religion. See, God is “good”. We don’t know that he is “Good” until there’s something “Bad” to compare him against. Therefore “God’s” righteousness is merely capitalizing on the human need for dichotomy and the intentional creation of an agent that would act as his negative number thus providing the choice.

To break it down simply, You want shoes to protect your feet. This also means you want to walk where your feet would otherwise be damaged without the protection afforded by those shoes.

To wish to be a hero is to wish for a villian to oppose you.

While we’re on the subject of Nasu, Heaven’s Feel is very near completion. And aassuming there isn’t a SSSSSSHHHHITSTOOOOOORM!!! around the deployment (in before the capabilities of the installer) I’ll be able to play through Sakura’s route by September.

UNG

Nestor Adult Games, Dissertation, Games, Imported piece, Japanese Games, Quick Post, Rant, Sociology

I’m going to talk to you about Kana: Little sister today. I haven’t played it again yet, though I’ve been planning to for several weeks. What I’m hoping to do at this point is convey to you why i like it so much.

Kana: Little Sister is one of the games that I personally would place at the top ten. It’s just me and my opinion, though, so don’t come yelling if it doesn’t do anything for you. It’s lonely at the top, though. The games that I love the most get played the least because good things should be savored. For me, if I read a book, listen to a song, play a game, whatever, it’s in my head for good. It loses it’s impact if it’s played over and over. 

I’ve played through Kana: Imouto twice now. Both times I’ve tried for and recieved different endings, and yet both times I feel as though I’ve really earned both of them. I don’t know why, but Kana sends a big, sweet, sticky moe-bullet through the cold machinery of my cynic’s heart. The protagonist is someone I can relate to. In almost every scene, there’s some aspect that I couldn’t help and nod and say, “Yeah, that’s pretty reasonable.” Of course there’s times when he’s just like me, he’s a dick, a bit cruel, whatever and i can’t help but think, “man, you’re such a dick.” There are times when he’s just a moron, but you can file that under being socially underdeveloped, and emotionally awkward. I used to be like that too, albeit in junior high.

But in conclusion, the protagonist is somoene I can relate with on some level or another. Kana herself is a sweet girl, albeit a total moe-blob. I didn’t really get a feel for her personality until I had cleared my first ending, and by then i was a blubbery heap of tears, which brings me to my conclusion: Kana Imouto is a great game, it invokes a broad spectrum of emotions. I laughed. I cried. I facepalmed. At one point in the ending I got I got up, yelling “What the fuck? No fucking way!”, forgetting in my rage that it was in the early hours of the morning and my roommates were fast asleep. i love the game because I connect with it on that level. It invokes those emotions. (Well, that and the moe factor from Kana) It’s also why i hate playing the game; going through the spectrum of emotions like that is exhausting.

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant

When I’m not out terrorizing the local Christian community with the blatant contradictions, total lack of verifiable and empirical information, hypocracies, and failures of their church or bemoaning the state of the U.S. Government and how I have observed that it has failed us, or buying all sorts of weeaboo paraphenelia, I’m playing ren’ai or dating sim games.

This time around, it’s Hitomi My Stepsister.

OTOH, I suppose I’ve been spoiled when it comes to “broken girls” in the typical ren’ai game; I mean come on, what could possibly compare to the broken girl than Kohaku? I’ve gotta be a lot more careful in picking the games I play ;_;

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant

So, I’m playing the Plus+Disc finally. The music is … I dunno. richer. more subtle. the interface is also a lot smoother and more professional-looking. It sounds and looks a lot better and the character designs are smoother. I like it.

Also, one of the arcs had this little picture:

Super Sacchin!

(Pssst! Sacchin! Hey, Sacchin! Over here! No, you can’t.)

Isn’t it sad?

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games