Foreword: I'm quite curious about BaseSon state before they rode the Koihime theme.
Title: Yuuhi no Mukougawa
Developer: BaseSon
Date: 2004-10-01
VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v1213
Youtube walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaPkM9uZLZM&list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv9P6w6Jmc3aamggcIEP8eAZ
Synopsis: Moriguchi Kazuto is just the ordinary high school student who attends a private school. He spends his days relaxing, regularly attending school and also enjoying time and talking about urban legends and rumors at the school's occult group. Among the club members are the shy underclassman Sayuki, the serious classmate Shizuka, the beautiful temporary teacher Shinamo, and the club president Shintarou.
One day, Kazuto wakes up after seeing a strange dream - and his life changes completely, his world flips around when he meets the strange girl called Miaka, who just keeps giggling without a worry in the world. He started hearing and seeing things others couldn't, and what these phenomenona pointed to was the urban legend of his school.
"The girl of the sunset."
The old story and the curse of the girl who jumped off of the rooftop and entered the "other side". And so Kazuto gets sent to an unknown, another world.
"You're coming with me, you're coming with me, you're coming with me--" the "girl of the sunset" chants. His every day life changes completely, and turns into a horrible and miserable nightmare. The sound of the ringing bell. What will become of Kazuto as he and the people around him slowly become eroded by fear?
Can Kazuto find a way to break free from the curse's chains? Can he find the true meaning behind "the girl of the sunset?" And what exactly is the "final day?"
Game type: School urban legend occult story
Character Design rating: 5/10
Protagonist rating: 4/10
Story rating: 6/10
Game quality: 7/10
Overall rating: 5/10
Rating comments: It was an exhausting journey for me. I was expecting something very different. What I got hit the worst spots for me.
Protagonist: No presence felt. All meaningful actions chosen by reader.
Characters: That's the most difficult question for me. I chose serious childhood friend / shrine maiden Shizuka and main heroine mysterious girl Miaka. The other two are much worse - totally shy Sayuki and clumsy teacher Shinano. Shizuka was a least partly enjoyable with her constant half-closed eyes look as if awaiting some pervert action. She kinda fulfills the role of childhood friend, so she dominates the stage. Another good thing about her is her family, notably father who presents the only attempt in the game to cheer things up a bit. Miaka just shows up occasionally and says strange things. No one knows which class she is from, and protagonist each time forgets to ask her about it. She remains black box right through the end, and that's not what main heroine should be like.
Story: The good thing about the story is that it's compact and takes place only at school. Pretty much everything else is bad. Members of the occult study club are in the center of attention. No one does anything in this club - reading books at best. But after protagonist starts to see strange dreams about sunset girl, it becomes a hot topic for discussion. But again - everyone in this game is incompetent. Miaka keeps talking about her lost diary, and club's greatest accomplishment is finding this diary. And of course this diary brings us to the end of Miaka route. Other girls stories are just about girls themselves. Now for the darker side of the game. Protagonist sees delusions about each girl in their routes. Apart of that each girl has a dark experience that becomes the center of each route. Rape, chains... all that stuff. And it produces only negative emotions. Game is closer to utsuge than to nakige, really.
Thoughts:
1) Game is pretty dark on its own, but just as two previous BaseSon works, there is NO humor in here, like at all. The mood is dense with all the seriousness, but then it turns into negative with approaching the girls stories.
2) At least a third of the game happens during sunset. All the crimson palette and all the delusions in form of dreams really reminded me Sayonara o Oshiete. The whole concept really looks similar, but with some normal school SOL part this time and without a touch of madness. But I really disliked Sayoshi, so it might affect my evaluation of Yuuhi no Mukougawa with a similar concept. Also some parallels can be done with Ashita Deatta Shoujo, but without the genius concept.
Overall comments: What we get in the result is a depressing game with no really likable heroines. Games is of really high quality, but it turns into a short-minded disaster. I can't stand occult theme, so it was a torture to read about it. What I see from first three BaseSon games is that it can make visual novels of high quality with great visuals, but it absolutely sucks at original stories. It's a great boon for them to have found the Koihime niche. If they continued as they started, they would have been bankrupt by now.
Foreword: A nice otaku game always catches my attention.
Synopsis:
Kenjiro is lazy and has no job. One day, his mother calls him and tells that she asked his aunt to hire him at her school. However, Kenjiro is a hardcore otaku - he has no social skills to speak of, can't get along with people, and has never dated a girl... When he arrives at the school, he is shocked to find out it's an all-girls' school, and has no idea what he should do!
Luckily he meets up with Nanase, his cousin he used to play together with when they were young. She, however, suddenly says to him, "Are you still an otaku? Don't talk to me at school."
When he is down, he suddenly hears a familiar melody, a BGM from some famous game. He enters the classroom and finds a girl playing the game. She introduces herself as Asuka, and she happens to be the one and only member of the Comic Club....
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv_bK0MS_DGj0C_UvdauhF91
Character Design rating: 9/10
Protagonist rating: 7/10
Story rating: 7/10
Game quality: 8/10
Overall rating: 8/10
I tend to undermine slice of life games since these games don't give me new stories. The more the importance of those ones that I can call masterpieces. And this is exactly such case.
Concept is fairly simple - an otaku becomes a temporary intern at a girls school and also an advisor to a comic club. Since it's a charage, it's natural to discuss heroines. There are five of them, but only four are geeks. The last one is our tsundere cousin Nanase. She is kind of main heroine because of her special status, but her route is the most boring one as it focuses on isolated from other members romantic relations. I was seriously disappointed by her route as there are lots of such developments in any charage. There are three authors in this game, and common route together with Nanase route are written by Hasegawa Ai, an AXL scenario writer whom I seriously dislike after Shield 9 and Like a Butler. Shinobu and Mashiro routes are written by Toki Houou who did mostly eroge, but participated in script creation for Sumikko Soft first game. Shinobu is the cutest heroine who tries to hide her otaku habits and leave a normal school life. Her route is the shortest of all and becomes a poor tennis spokon with the only bright spot is common for all heroines comiket participation. As for Mashiro, her route is quite fun, but focusing on emotions, realistic problems and worries, and thus leaves a somewhat heavy impression. The last two routes - Asuka and Shima - are written by Himenogi Aku who hosted a lot of moege/charage as a scenario writer. And his lively approach actually saves this game. Both routes are light, otaku-heavy and really fun. Incidentally, H scenes are also the most lively in the whole game. Finishing with one of these routes generally provides a better overall impression, so there is some evaluation split.
As for the flaws, can't say there are many. Protagonist is perverted and insensitive, but for a wild otaku it's a normal state. I did not like side characters, but they rarely show up. There are a lot of net and anime parodies and references that were incomprehensible without wikipedia even in 2009 due to aged material and letters omission, but those don't really obstruct experience. Of course I'd prefer a circle of friends story without individual heroine routes, but joint activities are also plentiful, so I did not feel locked up with a single heroine even in Nanase route.
I ended up praising the game even in flaws section. So let's continue with the praise. Otaku protagonist playing eroge is easy to sympathize with. Some nerd jokes were commonplace, but there was enough unique discussions. Sheldon Cooper would want to watch Shima route who is toy trains enthusiast with ability to discern them by the sounds made. But the deciding factor for me was circle of friends atmosphere. Zettai Karen! Ojou-sama does not live up to Genshiken as ultimate otaku heaven, but it is a a properly done and amusing dive into otaku atmosphere with unusual otaku heroines, and every such success counts.
Foreword: Clock Up team Dyo creates pretty conventional SF games unlike its older brother, so Zwei Worter is a good time to get acquainted with it to get ready for Rune Lord.
Synopsis:
In 2005, a group of meteors deals a big blow to humanity. But thanks to advanced science and technology, mankind overcomes extinction by creating new intellectual living creatures called "Dissolve".
In 2007, incredibly powerful outer space creatures called Elcid launch their onslaught against earth. Extinction is only avoided because of the advances made in the recovery of the previous disaster. But in the end, in just two years
nine-tenth of the population loses their lives.
In 2017, last surviving members of the human race, "Dissolve" and an another new race intellectual living creatures called "Hybrid" all band up together for their final stand against Elcid....
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvszhxhP2Xs&list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv_fPiCjwROyNolcwq9mBQGv
Game type: SF mecha battle story
Character Design rating: 7/10
Protagonist rating: 6/10
Story rating: 6/10
Game quality: 8/10
Overall rating: 7/10
It's minor masterpiece scores. There are many reasons for it. So every element needs separate explanation.
First things first. It's Evangellion! Just really, same bright atmosphere with some mecha battles and some psychological drama. Yukie is a copy of anime Asuka, and Sakuya is so much alike Rei. And these are two main heroines as well here. Zwei Worter actually has three main heroines with the third one being Illuda, guess just because she was the most memorable heroine in Dyogrammaton.
As for prequel-sequel link, I did not play Dyogrammaton, but people who played say that there is very little connection between the games, so it's safe to play right from Zwei Worter, but of course many elements like Shigure twin sisters are a welcome adaptation in the new game.
But the story is not really special, pretty much copy of Evangellion, and that poses trouble. Writers basically tell us to imagine that it's something like Evangellion and don't care to build a unique world. Explanations are lacking, and story becomes rough. Game also tries to be bright and preserve anime-like atmosphere, so it actually loses in comparison with Evangellion due to less serious approach. No deep mysteries are uncovered, it's mostly about heroines and mecha robot action scenes.
But when it comes to heroin routes, it's not that simple. There are four different writers for five heroines + one sub heroine, and that determines quality shifts. Basically, Sakuya is a paragon one with all elements fit in place. Illuda route is almost as good, but with some deterioration in the second half. Alias is really moe with her constant "nya" and nekomimi. But Yukie route is flashy and bland while Piano... plain weird.
There is also Append Story and Final Story. Append one is just one hour long and it's basically about side heroine Shigure and... suit! The suit is actually the most memorable heroine. She does not have a head, but is so funny that it looks really hilarious. Final Story actually has a revelation at the start, but ending is kind of meh.
Overall, game is of high quality and good variety. It lacks excitement, and active gameplay in battles with fast clicking only irritates (especially in one route when there are four battles in a row and you urgently need to do something), but those couple good heroine routes and couple crazy side characters pull it through.
Foreword: There was very limited selection of games to choose from in December, but I chose Eien no Owari ni because of phrase unfinished masterpiece that I glanced in some review. The fact that Tama-Soft made Lost Child also matters a lot for me.
Synopsis:
There is a high school that will be closed down soon - one day, Keisuke transfers to that very specific school. On his first day, he visits the newspaper club, but Ryo, the club's leader, acts very coldly towards him. He soon finds out that the club has been doing nothing due to lack of club members. For some reason, the members are also very distant from each other...
He gets interested in their strange relationship and decides to join the club. After joining, the atmosphere of the club gradually changes and their new relationship is established. However, he accidentally gets to know the reason why the members used to be distant to each other. It happened just when he transferred to the school...
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv9HyOG7idnOMuKaGgSeqEFs
Game type: Growth mystery nakige
Character Design rating: 8/10
Protagonist rating: 7/10
Story rating: 7/10
Game quality: 5/10
Overall rating: 7/10
In the end it's a SOL nakige with a twist of mystery, so just not a fitting genre for me, but still a masterpiece! It usually says a lot. It's rare to find something original and with human-like heroines in nakige, but it's exactly such case. But let's not jump to conclusions before the main part.
Concept is actually unusual. I can't avoid minor spoilers which are needed to promote uniqueness of this game. So Keisuke comes to school and tries to unite newspaper ghost club who suddenly broke apart after some incident last year. And first week of the game is just perfect, a supreme masterpiece. Then during second and third week nothing really new happens, and at all ends in super aggressive development and denouement. As for scenario parts, we start as Keisuke, but then after flagging a heroine we suddenly turn into past with another protagonist Keiichi. And we already know that something bad happened to Keiichi, which resulted in club stopping activities. And we eventually get to the point when this something bad happens. But afterwards we get to present already, but we can't be sure of protagonist identity anymore. It might be Keisuke, might be Keiichi, might be the same person. Keisuke disappears from everyone's memory. It remains as a big mystery. And basically in this game past determines future. Past incident is different for each heroine, so future differs greatly, but considered the bad incident it's unwise to expect a happy ending.
There are a lot of downsides of this game, hence the unfinished masterpiece label. Engine is even worse than in Lost Child in my opinion. I did not find text speed settings, so in the end text drew not instantly for me, and with higher than needed speed. Scenario is not impressive and has inconsistencies of common route with individual routes due to multiple scenario writers. Heroines are not flashy and lack charm. There are a lot of colorful side-characters, but none of them has voicing, so silence can last for a long time. Hozuki route is significantly shorter than the other two, and since Hozuki route is supposed to be the last, it creates a bad aftertaste. Absence of happy ending does not help evaluation either. There are only three routes which is below standard of four-five nowadays. No true route.
In game's defense, it is able to nurture sense of uniqueness and present great nostalgia atmosphere and bgm. First week is the paragon of an inspiring beginning. Game is able to remain mysterious thanks to the false protagonist move. Heroines in this game are very human-like, not tied by any cliche. Clumsy relations with these heroines are really cute. It's very rare nowadays when creators realize the inevitable bad impression, but stay true to their concept and don't introduce standard elements to appeal to everyone. Eien no Owari is the last and lesser known game of Tama-Soft, but discovering such gems is twice as pleasant.
