Visual Novels

March 22, 2008 at 12:20 am | Posted in Visual Novels | 6 Comments
Tags: narcissu, peace@pieces, planetarian, school days, visual novel, yume miru kusuri

A few months ago, I downloaded the trial version of Yume Miru Kusuri :: A Drug That Makes You Dream. I didn’t get to playing it until recently though and I must say, I was truly captivated. The demo motivated me enough to try out the full game (even though the demo only had a set route to follow).

Thinking that Aeka is the cutest of them all, I decided to try out her route first. Do I sound like an otaku fanboy by saying that? That I chose her because she was “cute”? But I’m not…. if anything I’d be an otaku fangirl but I don’t think I even scratch the surface of “otaku”-ism or whatever you’d like to call it. Or does that simply make me sound bi instead?

Wonderful CG~ Reminds me of Titanic though…

Anyway… I was truly captivated by her route. I read a few spoilers on accident (yeah right) about the different routes. I hear Nekoko’s is the best but I shall be the judge of that. Aeka’s route (although slightly unrealistic) was simply wonderful. I just finished her route last night at around 1:30 in the morning. I couldn’t even tell that time was passing by so quickly. I don’t want to spoil the game for anyone who may want to play it… but it’s well worth a shot!! Or at least I think so.

I think I got the “good ending” of Aeka’s route although I’m not so sure. I heard that the bad endings are signified by a lack of credits or something. There were credits… so did I get the good ending? I’m not so sure how the bad ending would end though, considering when I go to the “Events” section, all of Aeka’s events seem to be unlocked. That’s one mystery I have yet to solve.

My first visual novel and already I am captivated. Wha~ That led me to getting more…….

In Sickness and in Health…

That led me to downloading Narcissu. Narcissu, however, is linear and does not let you interact with the storyline and whatnot. However, I think it’s pretty good. And it’s perfectly clean. ;P No hentai or anything. You can get the English version of Narcissu here, thanks to insani. :3

Back to Yume Miru Kusuri… yes it is an H-Game… eroge… bishoujo game. (I don’t know what the correct term for it would be ^^;) I will tell you this much… no I did NOT play it for that reason. The story really was that good (in my opinion.) In fact, I think that Yume Miru Kusuri would still make a great game without the mature content.

I was a little shocked at the ending though – what with Aeka and Kouhei and whatnot…… I’m not going to spoil it!

Another visual novel that I came upon is Planetarian, which is by Key/Visual Arts – the masterminds behind Air, Clannad, and Kanon. I think I may get Planetarian as well – although the English version is simply a patch that works if you have the Japanese version of the game. I wonder if Kyoto Animation will make an anime or movie for Planetarian (considering that they’ve done three Key/Visual Arts works already). Although I wonder about that… since they may feel that they need to take a break from stemming series from Key/Visual Arts games. And of course there’s also The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya on it’s way soon after Clannad ends (which is coming soon ><). I kind of don’t want Clannad to end yet since the story has really started to gain wind the last couple of episodes… but at the same time I can’t wait for the “second season” of Haruhi. I’m afraid I don’t remember the name in Japanese though so you’re just going to have to settle with me calling it “The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya” for now. In some cases, I’ve heard it been referred to as “The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya” as well… although I prefer “disappearance” for some reason, even if it doesn’t sound as complex.

~ The Reverie of a Little Planet ~

The main reason why I want to play Planetarian is because: 1) It’s Key/Visual Arts ;; 2) I’m suddenly in a “visual novel! @w@” mode ;; 3) If KyoAni does decide upon making a series or movie out of this, I’d like to compare

Like Narcissu though, Planetarian is a “kinetic novel,” not allowing you to influence the storyline. Even so, I’ve heard some really good reviews about the game so I might look into that as well. Oh, you can get the English patch for Planetarian here.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I got Peace@Pieces – the game that I just couldn’t get over months before. The OP is just so cute! The only problem is… it’s in Japanese. So I had to go through all the trouble of downloading some English translation by the name of ATLAS as well as some Text Grab Hooker thing…… Very very complicated stuff. But in the end I got it to work. That was when I simply couldn’t stand the game anymore. The English was absolutely horrible. Slightly understandable, yes. But it just blew my mind – in a bad way. I felt like I was losing my so-called intelligence by the minute. I must applaud anyone who can stand such software. I understand that that is the best alternative but I think I’ll just hold off on that game for now. I simply started playing the game to obtain a picture of what the back of Anzu’s character looks like for cosplay references… but I’m at a loss. I don’t want to skip through the whole story just to find that picture… but I don’t want to try and cope with roughly translated Japanese. I guess I’m just going to have to figure something out.

Sometimes in the OP… it sounds like
the singer is saying “Reese’s Pieces”
(no it’s not a joke ;P)

Now that I think about it, Yume Miru Kusuri wasn’t actually my first Visual Novel. It was Peace@Pieces. I just regard Yume Miru Kusuri as my first since I could actually understand it… etc. etc.

On yet another note, there’s a group translating School Days for us! Oh how I LOVED that anime… now I’m willing to play the game – yes, even with the “naughty” stuff. No I’m not desperate enough to go out and buy the Japanese version – or obsessed enough. But I will wait for the Sekai Project to complete the translation. I can’t wait!

Great anime. Great game?

I don’t know what else to say without spoiling certain things. Oh, I forgot to mention that Narcissu is pretty interesting. But that’s all I’ve got for now.

I also forgot to mention that along with downloading the demo version of Yume Miru Kusuri, I got the demo version of Ever17. I hear that it’s a really good visual novel as well but to me, it wasn’t as appealing. Perhaps I’ll get the full game and give it another shot?

That dress must’ve been expensive…

As I play through the other routes in Yume Miru Kusuri, I may post reviews and whatnot along the way. That is, if I can manage to stop playing for a second to do so. Other than that, we’ll see what comes along. Right now I’m diving right into Kiriyama’s path (oh dear gawd… I misspelled it as ‘bath’ a few seconds ago). I hear that her route’s not the greatest and is also the most awkward – but hopefully I’ll learn to cope. I want to save the supposed best for last (Nekoko) but I truly do think that Aeka has stolen the cake for now.