Jitteh Dawn - Synopsis

‘Lord Koji Ippongi’
‘Yes, Your Excellency’
‘It has come to my attention that you have married a half-demon.’

Story: You are Hogi Hasekura, an eager student who wants to find out a secret about the once-glorious Ippongi family.

Relationship type: Non-romantic

Length: 40-60 minutes (all endings)

Positives: Very intriguing mystery presented, effective use of character art.

Unusual Features: Impulsive young protagonist, very strong Japanese influence (for an OELVN), solo project.

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Jitteh Dawn - Review

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

Amongst the OELVN scene, particularly in 2007, there have been a lot of solo VN’s made. One of the advantages of working by yourself, is having total control over all the creative aspects of the game, and perhaps because of this, some very distinctive and original VN’s have been released recently. One game that can be described in these terms is Jitteh Dawn, particularly because of its’ unusual and intriguing storyline.

Personally, I found the story arc where Hogi continues to pursue his research to be more interesting. There were a lot of clues given as to what the Ippongi family’s secret might be, and with careful thought the mystery could be deduced, The other arc felt a bit odd, as the reader will probably have to suspend their belief for some of the wilderness scenes, particularly as to how the characters get lost. The other story element I found problematic was having Tatsunami immediately introduce himself as a member of the Ippongi family, which felt a bit odd, given the families notoriety. On the whole though, the story presentation was well done, particularly the opening allegory, which effectively foreshadows the Ippongi family’s secret. I should also add that the Death scene(s) are rather unusual.

The other thing that really struck me about Jitteh Dawn, was the protagonist, Hogi Hasekura. Although his age is not given, his over-eager and somewhat immature personality suggests that he is quite young. When playing I found myself enjoying his personality, but at the same time often wanting to stop him from saying or doing certain tactless things. However, that does not mean that I dislike Hogi – on the contrary, having a protagonist with a strong personality really made the game come to life. Also, without a protagonist like Hogi though, it is unlikely that any of the mystery would be uncovered.

One of the more unusual features of Jitteh Dawn (in terms of OELVN’s) is its heavy use of Japanese. Although a few OELVN’s use Japanese honorifics, and several have Japanese settings (and many display at least some Japanese influence), the extensive use of Kanji on maps and the family tree As an aside, the player does not need to be able to read Japanese. At the same time though, there is probably a hidden dimension to the game – for example the various name Kanji are unlikely to be randomly chosen. In some ways, perhaps this game might have worked even better in Japanese rather than English, although the OELVN scene would be much poorer as a result.

The character art (all from the public domain) uses a combination of head graphics and sprites, with Sayaka being shown at various times as both of these, depending on the situation. There is a version with improved artwork in progress, and this paragraph will be extended once the revised game is released.

Overall, I found Jitteh Dawn to be a very unique and enjoyable experience. It’s definitely worth playing if you’re looking for a VN experience that’s different from a typical romantic game.

Review by Ignosco

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The Loyal Kinsman - Synopsis

Story: In the 14th century, Gunther is a page on Castle Berwartstein on the verge of becoming a squire. However, when the knight who was meant to train him dies unexpectedly, Gunther suspects murder and begins to investigate...

Relationship Type: Non-romantic (male protagonist)

Length: 30-60 minutes

Positives: Very well written and challenging detective game, strongly evocative historical setting

Unusual Features: Medieval setting, solo project, young protagonist, non-romantic

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The Loyal Kinsman - Review

The Loyal Kinsman is the fourth mystery/detective game from the OELVN community, and the inspiration from it is derived from the third of the Jane Whitman games, The Wandering Child. Many elements are found in both stories, such as a historical, non-romantic setting, a large cast of characters, and challenging gameplay.

What particularly impressed me with the Loyal Kinsman's story was the character’s personalities and the setting. The feudal society with its’ Old Testament based morality is portrayed very well – and this VN, perhaps more than any other I’ve played so far, really made me feel like I was there, despite some of rather modern idiomatic expressions in the dialogue. The characters all came from a very diverse range of classes and backgrounds, and the resulting dialogue between them accurately reflects the conventions of a medieval society.

The game’s use of actual portraits as a substitute for character sprites was an idea taken from Mokenju’s games, (which use old photographs). This approach works has several advantages, particularly as the need for a sprite artist is avoided, which allows the script-writer to create a one person project using public domain resources without reusing existing character sprites. Notably, both the Jane Whitman games and The Loyal Kinsman both have historic settings, which the portrait approach is ideally suited. The music, whilst being more in a Renaissance than Medieval style, still suits the game’s atmosphere very well.

In terms of solving this mystery, Gunther is several stages ahead of the player, as he is able to link the evidence to provide a near-complete explanation for the murder and the surrounding circumstances. In contrast, if the player takes the correct path through the game, they will be able to deduce who the murderer was and some of the surrounding circumstances, probably without being able to figure out the background surrounding it. For me, having the mystery told in this way works well, as it allows for there to be focus on both the storytelling and the mystery, as well as providing a satisfying ending when the true ending is reached and all the details of the crime are revealed.

Overall, The Loyal Kinsman combines a well developed medieval setting with an excellent mystery story, and can be highly recommended to anyone interested in detective stories or historical settings. The game’s true ending definitely leaves open the possibility of a potential sequel, and personally, I would be very interested in reading more about Gunther’s future.

Review by Ignosco

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Time's Tear - Synopsis

Story: Kazuhiko and his brother Hideo are orphans living under the supervision of their caretaker. Then, one night, Kazuhiko has a dream. Will it help him pass a test in school?

Relationship Type: BxG

Length: 1-2 hours

Positives: Very well told unusual story, outstanding music, vast amount of artwork which is stylistically ideal for this sort of game, several unexpected plot twists, adventure-style mini-games.

Unusual Features: Young protagonist, user-friendly and children-friendly game, quasi-linear VN.

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Time's Tear - Review

Warning: Some spoilers below

Ostensibly, the Visual Novel genre at present is a rather adult form. A majority of VN’s deal with romantic (or perhaps not so romantic) relationships, and a majority of these games contain adult content. Although, arguably the VN is in some ways like an interactive children’s picture book, at present there are very few VN’s which focus on a younger audience (Hikari no Ribbon, in the Ren’Ai Archives is one of the exceptions). Although many of the games in the Ren’Ai Archives for example have an all-ages rating, this more relates to the lack of any potentially objectionable content, rather than implying that the story might appeal to pre-teen children. Generally, these games also have teenage or adult protagonists too, which might also make the games difficult to relate to.

Time’s Tear is a game that goes outside many of the standard conventions – the protagonist Kazuhiko is 10 years old, and the story in some places (though not always) feels like it is being told from a child’s perspective. As well as this, the romantic elements, whilst not insignificant are fairly downplayed compared to some of the story’s other themes. In many ways it feels like Time’s Tear has been designed to appeal to a younger audience. Whilst there is a lot of reading involved in many places it plays more like an adventure game. Probably for Time’s Tear to be successful with a younger audience, it would have to be approached as a computer game, rather than a 20000+ word interactive book.

One of the most innovative components of Time’s Tear are the mini-games. For me, they reminded me a lot of some of the adventure games from the early 90’s (choosing the right object or combination of objects to perform a task). All of them are well integrated into the story, and in some ways act as a substitute for a branching storyline. The mini-games will vary greatly in difficulty from player to player – but the game gives unlimited retries (and a hint when you don’t succeed). In this respect, the game is much more forgiving than most VN’s difficulty-wise, making it ideal for a younger audience.

Like most other ATP games, there are some subtle clues in the story that suggest what will happen in the ending. The ending manages to tie together almost all of the story’s elements, and was completely unexpected for me. What impressed me most was seeing the complete Time’s Tear poem on-screen after finishing the game – it really made the ending feel complete by having the game come full circle.

The main reason for this game’s success is probably Lordcloudx’s artwork. As Mikey mentions, the ability to draw anime-style children purely as children (without any of the common extraneous connotations), is rare among artists. His art fits perfectly with the game, and really captures the personality of each character. The amount of artwork for Time’s Tear is vast (58 images in the CG gallery for example) and processed background photographs - in the extras section, there is the expected CG gallery, but also a CYOI (choose your own image), where you can superimpose your favourite character sprite over any of the game’s backgrounds. I’ve never come across a CYOI gallery in a VN before, and it’s a very nice addition to the game. Because of the large number of resources used, the download is unfortunately very large for users who are on dial-up connections.

As with O3 (and a few other games), Renesis’s trance/ostinato driven music is outstanding, and is at least the equal of the music from an average commercial VN. The soundtrack (which comes with a printable CD cover) can be listened to in ogg format.

Despite Time’s Tear being a children’s adventure (and to some extent an adventure for children), there is just as much content in the game for older gamers (besides possible nostalgic feelings it may induce). It’s one a few VN’s that almost anyone is likely to enjoy.

Review by Ignosco

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Project Nattsu - Synopsis

Story: The protagonist is a young man, Shoichiro Yoshizumi, whose grandfather has a job as a summer remedial instruction teacher. However, his gramps' has to have a surgery, so Shoichiro will be a substitute teacher for a while... And then he discovers that he's going to teach three girls, not very far from his own age!

Relationship Type: BxG

Length: 20-25 minutes for one path, about 1 hour for all endings.

Positives: High quality ‘traditional’ Ren’Ai game, numerous well integrated choices, game has fairly universal appeal, informative Omake section.

Unusual Features: Ending 5

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Project Nattsu - Review

Warning: This review contains some spoilers

While it’s difficult to describe a game as being traditionally representative of its genre, Project Nattsu contains some stereotypical features, for example a quasi school-based setting in Japan (a few Japanese words are used too), with a ‘harem’ of females around a male teacher. There are a few more unusual features too, for example Anna’s best ending being non-romantic, and of course Ending 5. On the whole, the game doesn’t stray too far outside the standard ‘conventions’ of Ren’ai VN’s though.

Hime’s thoughts about each character are explained in the Omake section. To a certain extent the characters are typical stereotypes, which work well for a game of this length and genre. That is not to suggest that the characters are dull – on the contrary, these archetypes are used to create three completely different, yet likeable characters. The protagonist, Shoichiro is much more generic, which as explained in the Omake section is almost a necessity for this sort of game.

The overall gameplay is excellent, with well thought out choices than in some cases are not immediately obvious. Getting to each girl’s good ending requires a little thought, and the true ending (where you have to act in a way most in character with Shoichiro) can be challenging to get. [Whilst on the topic of endings, Ending 5 is one of the most amusing scenes I’ve come across in a VN.] Although the game only takes place over four days (with only the first three having any choices), there are a relatively large number of choices, which are all well-integrated into the storyline. Importantly, every choice increases/decreases the value of at least one variable, so that none of the choices are meaningless. I feel that this approach is by far the best for a game with a linear storyline – as only the ending, and small sections of text will differ on each playthrough, it makes sense to always let the player influence the ending they will receive.

Overall, Project Nattsu is the sort of VN that is likely to appeal to most Ren’Ai gamers. The gameplay/choices are at a good average level of difficulty, and are combined with likeable characters, and good CG’s and music. Whilst the story isn’t overly ambitious or deep, it always reads well, and along with the other elements creates an enjoyable ambience. I highly recommend Project Nattsu to anyone looking for a light-hearted, ‘traditional’ Ren’ai game.

Review by Ignosco

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The Missing Tickets - Synopsis

Story: Jasper invites Augustus to a baseball game with her, only to find out that her season tickets have gone missing.

Relationship Type: Non-romantic (play as Male and Female characters)

Length: Each part of the game (main game and extra stories) is about 10-25 minutes.

Positives: Very well designed game, light-hearted and fun to play, one-person project.

Unusual Features: The main game functions like a large-scale minigame, as do the extra stories.

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The Missing Tickets - Review

Warning: This review may contain some spoilers.

Unlike the other mystery/detective games from the Lemmasoft forums, The Missing Tickets is a light-hearted investigation of a ticket theft, rather than a murder. This is in no way a serious game, as can be seen when the motives of the culprit are revealed, and when playing I really got sucked into The Missing Tickets’ infectious sense of fun. Whilst the story in places is a bit short, this is made up for by the enjoyable and effective way in which it is told.

The characters are mostly based on real life stuffed animals, and this comes through in some of the designs (and I imagine partly in their personalities as well). All of the character sprites are coloured very brightly, which lets them stand out well from the darker backgrounds. Although the character sprites and their personalities aren’t overly refined, this approach works very well in a VN like this.

What struck me most while playing was the overall layout of The Missing Tickets. From the non-static main menu (which doubles as an introduction) to the information sheets on each character, everything is very well designed. The information sheets in particular might be worth including in future mystery games, to reduce the amount of note-taking that a player needs to do.

Whilst playing the game, certain choices will unlock one of the four bonus stories (minigames). Three of the extra games are very short, but Midnight’s extra story (a dating sim type game without the dating) is more substantial and fairly challenging, with multiple endings and three different statistics to juggle.

Overall, The Missing Tickets combines a fun experience with some very effective design features (which are worth looking at for any potential game creators). If you’re looking for an enjoyable way to spend 20-30 minutes, then The Missing Tickets is well worth downloading.

Review by Ignosco

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Winter Shard - Synopsis

Short evaluation:
Story: Bleak story in a medieval fantasy setting with gothic undertones and an anti-hero as the main character. The story has a good number of branches and the choices change significantly the story and the ending you get. Strong characters and many CGs help giving this game a powerful impact. The game contains some gory descriptions, but they are fairly short and well done.
Presentation: Good art and an impressive amount of CGs. Regular presentation and good music.
Strongest points: Interesting characters and story. Your actions affect the story profoundly. Unusual setting for the story.

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Winter Shard - Review

Warning: Spoilers below:

Well, I am quite a suspicious person to review Winter Shard, since I was one of the game’s beta testers and am very fond of bleak stories, complex anti-heroes and difficult moral dilemmas, all of which can be easily found in Winter Shard. For any regular VN players, accustomed to reading a romantic story in a familiar, modern-age scenario, Winter Shard may feel like a bucketful of freezing water. It has a dark story, which does not refrain from showing murder, war and tyranny as well as many tragic or disturbing scenes, like Rosetta and the flower that sustained her and Rosetta’s burial. The hero, while not completely unlikable, is far from the ideal hero of an average story. Although initially he may seem a cold hearted tyrant, in fact Frederone is much more complex than that, with a very basic, and human, conflict inside him: How to deal with the changes that inevitably come with time, especially the tragic death of someone we love. This is one of the main driving forces in the whole game and such a rich theme is explored by F.I.A. in a very tasteful, strong and above all dramatic manner.
The Gameplay is also a strong feature of this game, with a good amount of branching in the story, leaving you to deal with the consequences of your acts. There are endings for all tastes, from the romantic, to the evil, to something in between these two. The game must also be praised in the fact which the game doesn’t “punish” you for bad decisions ( except one single choice in the very beginning ). The player is given liberty to choose whatever path he wishes, and can be as evil, or as kind as he pleases without fearing that some higher power ( i.e. the morality of the author of the story ) will automatically punish you with death or lousy endings. One could argue that evil itself is already a just punishment for evil actions, but I’ll leave that for the philosophy conversations. The game does have a true ending, and one which I believe many agree to be the most satisfying of them all. None of the other endings are bad ( most, in fact, are fairly happy, with the exception of one sudden ending near the start of the game ) but the True ending is, by far, the most dramatic, moving and well executed of them all. While the other endings happen easily, with little or no conflict, the true ending reaches a truly epic scale in which creation and creator battle for their ideals and the story goes full circle, finishing in a bittersweet gran finale that would be difficult to surpass.
The art is fairly well-executed, with some sprites that deserve special praise like the hydra image or Rosetta’s burial CG. The quantity of event images is also good, and none of them feel wasted, each contributing to the story resulting in a unique effect. The game music can be found freely in the internet, but is still very good, and works well with the somber, moody ambience of the story. The sound effects are good, and presentation is normal.
Concluding this review, I can only say that it took courage and determination to make such a rich game, with a fair amount of violence, following almost no “standards” of the genre, with various paths and event CGs, it is a game that deserves praise and full merit for its accomplishments.
I did warn you that I was a suspicious person to write this review, remember?
Review by Mr. E

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The Nettestadt Troll - Synopsis

WARNING: This synopsis contains adult content.

Story: You play the role of a young woman, Katja, in the quaint hamlet of Nettestadt, in medieval Bavaria. Peace once again comes to the town after a failed uprising. But there is a new fear for the townspeople: The Nettestadt Troll. To appease this lost soul and leave the town alone, you are sent to live in an isolated cottage outside of town as the troll's concubine. The troll turns out to seem very human. As your relationship with him progresses you are granted certain freedoms. You use this opportunity to investigate to see if, indeed, the troll was someone you knew from the past.

Relationship Type: GxB

Length: 90 minutes

Positives: Solo project finished in two months, high quality in all game elements, very effective use of Ren’Py, first OELVN H-game.

Unusual Features: Minimalist approach, mystery/detective element to the game, several mini-games, character sprites only shown to the side in a ‘head-graphics’ type approach, female protagonist but at places has more of a BxG feel.

Sexual content: Some rape (not graphically depicted). Softcore H-scenes (genitalia are not shown and are described by euphemisms).

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The Nettestadt Troll - Review

WARNING - This review contains adult content, and some spoilers.

One of the problems I’ve had with Hentai games is reconciling the sex scenes with the story. These two elements are in some ways diametrically opposed to each other, and in some of the Hentai games I’ve played, some of the scenes seem to have no direct purpose in terms of the overall plot. One way to avoid an awkward juxtaposition of is to have a plot with sex as an important element, and this is the approach that The Nettestadt Troll takes. To quote DaFool, ‘The Nettestadt Troll is a story whose primary objective is to uncover: “Just who the hell am I having sex with?” ’. The game is not remotely close to a sex-romp though (the Hentai appears only after unmasking the troll in the endings), and more time is spent on establishing the backgrounds for each character and showing the abduction by the troll, the gradual development of a relationship between them, and Katya’s attempts to discover who is behind the mask.

The Nettestadt Troll does contain some mature content. There are two visually depicted H-scenes, one on each characters path after the troll has been unmasked (only topless nudity is shown, and the genitalia are described by various euphemisms. On another note, to unlock the 4th H-CG for each character, Katja needs to have acquired the herbal aphrodisiac.) The other sexual encounters (some of which involve rape) between the Troll and Katja are not visually depicted, but are described. On the whole, all of the mature content is tastefully done – however if you feel like you will be offended by it, it’s best not to play this game.

The creator of a solo project has some advantages over a team project, the biggest of which is total control. Having the ability to write, draw, program, compose etc all the elements of your game will ensure that it remains as close as possible to your vision. The obvious downside is the vastly increased workload, but in return it is possible to strongly unify the different elements of the VN. What I found particularly effective was the combination of the backgrounds and sprites. The zoomed-in backgrounds would not work especially well with a full-body character sprite, and so a head-graphic off to the side is used instead.

Perhaps the strongest of the game’s elements are the graphics, although every part of this game is of a high quality. The headshots used for the males and females are done partially by a pallet-swapping technique, but all of the characters are strongly distinctive and attractive. However, throughout the story, no one component seems to dominate, and what comes across a lot of the time is a strong unity between all the elements. For example, the first time Katja encounters the Troll, while out searching for the key in Chapter 2, the player knows that at some point in the minigame (exploring various areas of a map), that Katja will encounter the troll - but it is unclear when it will happen. The overall feel created by the ominous music and dark backgrounds culminate in the on-screen appearance of the troll’s CG. I should note that there are also some other menu based mini-games included, which integrate well into the game, particularly where you try to unmask the Troll in Chapter 5.

One of the other big achievements of The Nettestadt Troll is its utilisation of some of the more recent Ren’Py features to keep the overall download side of the game under 7 megabytes. By splitting the large backgrounds (which generally function as the maps) into four quadrants, when Katja journeys to a particular area within the maps’ area, by zooming in to the particular quadrant, effectively, another background is created from the original. Also, some of the ‘shading’ features within Ren’Py are used to produce alternate states of backgrounds (such as the grey backgrounds for the flashbacks). This efficient, minimalist approach to game creation is well worth considering, as it saves effort on the creators’ part, and can make the game more accessible to those using dial-up connections.

The Nettestadt Troll’s development thread is very extensive and the overall approach that DaFool took during the game’s development might be worth considering. The game was scaled down several times over the course of the thread, to ensure that the VN would be completed within the self-imposed deadline (two months). This approach is the same as that taken for NaNoRenO (make a complete VN within one month), and in both cases, the time-limit and the associated pressure are important factors in ensuring the games’ completion (and generally, games that aren’t completed by the deadline are usually left unfinished). In some ways, The Nettestadt Troll is a compromise from the original premise, but what’s far more important is that it’s a complete VN.

The above paragraph is not trying to demean The Nettestadt Troll or take away from DaFool’s amazing achievement. Almost all free games to a greater or lesser extent are compromised versions of what the creator would ideally have in mind, and the final version of this VN is still of a very high quality. The script can also be opened using Ren'Py - with the programming for the minigames and the use of the zoom function being well worth examining.

Overall, The Nettestadt Troll is a well-made love/detective story, designed to appeal to both sexes. Unless you would prefer to avoid games with adult content, this VN is well worth playing.

Review by Ignosco

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Elven Relations - Synopsis

‘We ought to do our bit at improving human-elven relations, don’t you think?’

Story: Takuya is a swordsman in the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Reachfar, who is sent on a unique mission into the Endless Forest to establish diplomatic relations with the Elven people. Could there be love awaiting him in the depths of the Elvenglade?

Relationship Type: BxG

Length: 60-90 minutes, 3+ hours to complete every ending/get all CG’s.

Positives: Very well written story (Ren’Ai/Fantasy), vast amount of artwork, RPG minigame, extensive omake and gallery (includes character expressions and backgrounds), highly replayable.

Unusual features: Choice between RPG minigame and narrative-style combat, very long-term project completed as a result of NaNoRenO 2007.

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Elven Relations - Review

‘We ought to do our bit at improving human-elven relations, don’t you think?’

Warning: This review contains some spoilers

As mentioned in the Omake section, Elven Relations was initially begun in 2003, but ended up stalling with about 2/3rds of the script done. It ended up being completed in 2007 as an IntRenAiMo project, making it one of the few games to be successfully completed after being left on hiatus for a long time.

The overall story of Elven Relations combines a traditional Ren’Ai experience with a relatively standard fantasy world (pre-gunpowder). At times the overall storyline and plot feel a bit conflated as the scale of the mission is rather grand, and everything goes very smoothly throughout. Even so, Elven Relations is (I think) the second longest Lemmasoft forums game, behind Gakuen Redux. However the game’s focus is more on the Ren’Ai aspect, rather than the overall plotline, and as chronoluminaire mentions, the depth of the game comes from the back-story, which requires multiple playthroughs to fully discover. Tohko, Yurika and Asilana all have very well developed personalities/backgrounds etc, and while certain parts of their stories are revealed on every path

One of the best features of Elven Relations is its replayability. Although the overall plot is the same no matter which character you pursue, there are changes not just in the interactions which the character you romance, but also in some of the other conversations. I particularly enjoyed the way other characters noticed and responded to your growing romance – it really increases the realism of the game. Elven Relations will probably require multiple replays to track down the best endings (particularly the semi-hidden Ending 1) – it’s definitely worth replaying to find all of the endings as they are all well-written and each of them has at least one CG associated with it.

Almost all of the art appearing in the final version of Elven Relations was completed under NaNoRenO conditions by Sunkitten. The quality is consistently high, and the amount is staggering (15 CG’s and many characters (including costume changes) with) numerous facial expressions). More importantly, the expressions are matched very well to the character sprites, for example Yurika’s subtle expressions fit her somewhat reserved personality. The backgrounds (a few of which are hand-drawn) and music were very well chosen too - and the gameplay never feels overly repetitive due the numerous resources employed over the course of Elven Relations.

The combat minigames are at the right level of difficulty – they require a little bit of thought (particularly the Dragon combat), but they can all be beaten even if the only character you defend is your love interest. In these sequences, the combat is continuous (as opposed to turn-based), but your actions can only take place (as menu choices) in a reactionary way (you can only decide how to interact with one of the NPC’s as they are attacked). The romantic interactions between your love interest are also carried over into combat, as one way to get ‘her’ to like you more is to protect her in combat, and in return, they will defend you in some way too (for example Tohko distracts enemies from attacking you by Fireballing them)

As there are only three combat sequences in the game, it raises the question of whether they are needed in the game. Personally, I much prefer this mini-game to the story-mode overview, as the written-out comments seem a bit perfunctory. It’s good to have the flexibility to choose between them though, particularly when replaying a characters’ path to achieve the best ending.

Overall, Elven Relations is a high-quality OELVN, with an excellent mix of Ren’ai, fantasy, and some other elements (eg humour). As long as you don’t approach the game expecting a really deep and meaningful story you are likely to really enjoy this.

:)

Review by Ignosco

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Pymalion - Synopsis

'Are you jealous?'
'Of a character I created? No way.'

'You have power over hundreds of people. People read your stories. People send you letters, and even gifts, without even knowing you. People have their lives changed by you.'

Story: Andrew is a successful manga artist that, in a fit of disappointment over his work, creates a character just like the woman of his dreams. But characters can't come to life, can they?

Relationship Type: BxG

Length: 20 minutes

Positives: Well told thought-provoking story, very effective expressions/poses for Andrew, extensive extras.

Unusual Features: Made entirely by one person, influenced/inspired by Greek tragedy/mythology and other Western literature, protagonist’s sprite is frequently shown on-screen.

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Pygmalion - Review

'Are you jealous?'
'Of a character I created? No way.'

'You have power over hundreds of people. People read your stories. People send you letters, and even gifts, without even knowing you. People have their lives changed by you.'

Although the Pygmalion myth has been retold many times by different authors, even showing up in another Visual Novel (as an important part of one characters’ path in a very highly regarded game), Pygmalion presents a relatively original, well told version, with a strong basis in real-life. The historical links this VN has with the myth are evinced through the inter-textual references made to other re-tellings, such as Andrew’s pseudonym being Higgins.

In some places the art is a bit rough, but it is always highly expressive. Andrew’s poses are extremely diverse and serve to express his internal emotions very well. Having the protagonist pictured on-screen as a sprite outside of CG’s is rather unusual – but it could almost be suggested that the statue and Andrew are both protagonists at these times. Besides, it’s much more interesting and effective to see Andrew, as opposed to the statue. The music is also very expressive and fits the story well – for example there are different tracks for Victoria depending on which personality you have ‘given’ her.

If you haven’t heard of the Pygmalion story before, it’s probably better to play the game before reading about it in the extras (or from any other source). For me, what was especially interesting about this retelling was the basis that it had in reality – Mr. E mentions in the extra notes about meeting someone whose had 'modelled' their personality after Sakura (from CLAMP's Sakura Card Captors). Although I’m no sociologist, for better or worse, there seems to be an increase in the number of people creating alternative personalities, or crafting themselves after existing ones. Personally, this was the most interesting aspect of Pygmalion for me – that the myth was presented in a 'real' situation.

It’s a question that’s well worth thinking about. The statue seems to point out to Andrew, and indirectly to any potential ‘creators’ the responsibilities that we have over our characters. As the old adage goes, ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ – and clearly most people acknowledge the power the written word can have on the human mind. What sort of responsibilities do we have as creators (moral or otherwise)? For me, it’s nigh-impossible to draw a clear dividing line, and strong arguments can be put up for any position that can be taken. The aspects of the statue as Hubris and Nemesis emerge at the end of the story, to present this choice. None of the three endings are 'bad', suggesting that the author doesn't want to advocate one view over another - instead leaving them open for consideration.

Overall, like a lot of the Lemmasoft forum games, Pygmalion is not a ‘typical’ Ren’Ai story. It’s a well told, thought-provoking story, which happens to include some romance. Like most of these VN’s, as long as you don’t go into it with the wrong expectations, you won’t be disappointed.

Review by Ignosco

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Starlit Sky - Synopsis

“… when people die they become a new star in the sky and live out a second life as that star, shining down upon their sleeping loved ones.”

Synopsis:

Relationship type: Essentially non-romantic (BxG friendship)

Length: About 60-80 minutes

Story: A story about a boy named Jack who is trying to reach the stars.

Positives: A very well told and moving story, highly effective and well utilised artwork and music, excellent ending.

Unusual features: Linear Visual Novel (no choices), two main and equally important characters whose relationship develops into a deep friendship (as opposed to romance).

Download Starlit Sky here.

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Starlit Sky - Review

“… when people die they become a new star in the sky and live out a second life as that star, shining down upon their sleeping loved ones.”

Spoilers Below

Starlit Sky is the story of both Jack and Marivel as they work together to fulfil a promises they have made. This is one of the first games to explore a relationship purely of deep friendship, rather than romance. It was originally conceived as a NaNoRenO game (made entirely in 1 month), but ended up being completed in May.

Describing the setting is difficult – it’s partially a combination of a (roughly) 19th century like world with a world of magic, where fairy tales can be real. Perhaps there is a degree of incongruity in this unusual setting but for me it never really detracted from the story – especially since many scenes in the story can be seen somewhat allegorically.

The protagonist is a fairly unusual age (13) for a VN – for much of the story, the slightly older Marivel is a more dominant character, due to her magical abilities and greater On the other hand, Jack is much more level-headed and in some ways wiser, enabling their characters balance very well with each other as they solve the problems they encounter together. As their friendship develops, they begin to share more of their pasts with each other, which for example reveals why Jack is always looking at the sky. Marivel’s story is only explained fully in the penultimate scene – although there are some clear hints given throughout the story as to why she forgot so much about her sister, I was very surprised upon reaching that scene. Significantly, the relationships Jack and Marivel had with their siblings, closely parallel their own friendship, except here their ages are reversed. The relationship they develop through the story seems to replace their previous friendships with their siblings.

Although Starlit Sky is mainly the story of Jack and Marivel, the secondary characters they encounter on their two side-trips are also very well developed. The theme of friendship is strongly prevalent again, as Jack and Marivel work together with Violetta, and then Kareena to solve the problems they encounter. For me, what was especially significant is that all three characters in each encounter were needed to best resolve the problem – for example without Jack, Violetta would have ended up taking the memory potion. I guess it was primarily because of the strong emphasis on friendship, that the story never felt sad for me, but instead was more of a heart-warming tale.

When I first discovered VN’s about 8 months ago, one comment I read (I think it was relating to Kana – Little Sister), emphasised that in a Visual Novel, you are playing primarily for the ending. From me, it is mainly (though not exclusively) the games with really well done endings that stay in my mind well after I’ve finished them. The ending to Starlit Sky is fairly short, but it is very moving and it really gives a sense of hope for the future, as Jack and Marivel both fulfil their promises together. Having the two stars showing at the end is a very effective artistic touch.

The character sprites in particular are utilised very effectively, with horizontal positioning and flipping used to show both the positions and emotions of the characters (ie facing away when they are angry or leaving the scene). I particularly like Violetta’s facial expressions, as they strongly enhance her personality. The music is also very well chosen – as a fairly small number of tracks are used, when certain pieces are repeated they link between sections of the story and emphasise the unified moods these sections share.

Overall, Starlit Sky is a beautifully told and moving story of friendship. As long you don’t approach the game expecting a story of romance, you are likely to enjoy this VNReview by Ignosco

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