Ripples

Introduction:

Another kinetic/linear story with the maker calling it short. Not much information written in the visual short story’s thread, either. Hm. This one’s going to be a complete surprise. All I have to guess the plot on is a plain, pink menu (coincidentally, it’s the same Ren’Py theme that The Rutabega had – what’s up with short stories and the color pink?). It goes by the name of Ripples, and this is sake-bento’s first released story on LSF. A search on the maker’s deviantart page says that this game was meant for her brother Kiyo. There’s not much else I can say in the introduction, so I’ll head right into the story.

Story:

The story is seen through the eyes of Koda, a photographer with a negative outlook on life. He hates people in general, never understanding why people even try to change the world. “Things never change,” he says. “…One person’s life is just a drop in the bucket.” One day, on a search for non-people crowded places to photograph, he sees a pink haired girl named Kuu kneeling over a bunch of kittens. A conversation starts from there, and the start of the development of a friendship. Through the story, you learn a bit more about the girl and her baking dreams.

Just as I was starting to get into it, however, the story ends. The ending was very sudden. It was almost like getting to the top of a hill on a rollercoaster ride. You’re there, about to go down and really get into something fun when…oh, what’s this? That’s the end of the ride. All this build-up, all this everything was leading to a very nice ride that had to come to a sudden end. Hopefully, sake-bento will find my words and decide to do a continuation because I felt kind of cheated here…or at least, badly teased.

I found it interesting that Kuu and Koda were opposites. You’ve got one down pessimist and one cheery optimist. Their conversations were good reads. I just wish we had learned the reasons behind Koda’s attitude.

Music/SFX:

Gentle background music, very good for reading. The music doesn’t disrupt my focus when reading and isn’t so weak that it shouldn’t be there at all. A satisfying balance.

Oh, and Kuu has a voice. Yes, a voice. Her accent makes her very cute. I was so glad that she didn’t have one of those squeaky anime voices that are so *in* right now or whatever. No, people, anime voices aren’t great. They’re annoying, especially when you’re trying too hard. That being said, the voice was natural sounding. The only issues I had were that in the beginning, her words were spoken way too fast. Slow down. Lines delivered slowly are better heard and more pleasant to listen to. Not only that, but, talking so fast loses the emotion required for a line.

For example, there’s the sentence: “Like I said, it’s because they eat them.” Slowing the line down would’ve given the delivery more strength and caused the way the voice went too far “up” (if you get me) at the end of the sentence.

By the middle to the end, though, the voice really works. The lines’ emotions match the expressions on Kuu’s face. Hardly any monotone pitch that you find in some games, both amateur and professional. I don’t know how most people in the OELVN scene feel about voice acting, but I believe this is an example of the fact that voice acting in OELVNs *can* work and work well at that. Good job.

Graphics:

It was a weird switch going from a real picture of clouds to the unreal background. It would’ve been better if the clouds were drawn or filtered heavily to better match with the background. There’s only one scene, so there was only that one background. I couldn’t exactly tell what that place was. Benches surrounding a square-ish water-filled well not too far from a circular mud pit. Or something. Buildings and a hill in the distance… A written description for the scene would’ve helped a lot.

Kuu was drawn to fit her personality – bright and happy schoolgirl. I wrote earlier that her hair was pink but that’s only one of the colors. It fades to a nice blonde-orange combo. The coloring on her hair was well-done, as were all the expressions she had.

There weren’t any special effects and hardly any customization. All that was different was the text box being rounded off at the edges. Oh well.

Other:

Why did it have to end like that? Blah…

In Closing:

A short kinetic novel with an endearing, if somewhat simple, storyline. If it had been longer, there’s no doubt that it would’ve left more of an effect on me. A good first effort that probably made the person it was meant for very happy. Download it here in its discussion thread.

The Rutabega

Introduction:

It’s been a while, I won’t lie. Midterms sucked up most of my time, but now that they’re over with, it’s time for more reviews. This time, I’ll be reviewing “Rutabega”, a visual short story about rutabagas. So what about the spelling? People take artistic licenses with spelling all the time. If Jacquie Peterson, the authoress, wants rutabagas to be “rutabegas”, then she can go right ahead. I mean, look at her name. It’s Jacquie, not Jackie, and it’s “rutabega”, not rutabaga.

I found the game on the LemmaSoft Forums in a very unassuming thread. Two lines of text, no pictures, no heavy description. There wasn’t much of a push for me to try the game, but I’m doing it anyway. Even The Rutabega’s website doesn’t explain what it could be. All you’ve got on the website is a slight tip-off of what the story may be about and that’s a picture of the highly disturbing vegetable.

The Rutabega starts with a pink menu featuring the words “a sad tale”. Interesting.

Story:

The story is about a new teacher to a school, a young Miss Reilly. To her surprise, her class’s pet actually isn’t a pet. It’s… It’s… Oh, God. It’s too shocking for words. It’s scary. It’s vomit-inducing. It’s something freaky. I… I can’t find the words to type. All I can type is that the story is EXTREMELY short. I wish the writer had done more with it, like having the kids intervene before the teacher can do *that* to the pet and the teacher trying to show what the pet really is through several school weeks or something.

It could’ve been a cute little game of convincing the kids that their pet isn’t exactly a pet. Unfortunately, it’s three minutes (maybe two, I don’t know) too short to offer a grand plot. For what it was, though, it worked in a brief sort of way.

Music\SFX:

N\A. It’s quiet…too quiet…

Graphics:

All those pictures were from Morguefile, am I right? Every picture is a photo of a “real” thing, so no drawn graphics here. The problems I found with the graphics were that the classroom picture wasn’t big enough to cover the whole screen. There’s a black border all around it because it doesn’t fit. When I hold down “CTRL” to skip what I’ve already read, I can see the former scene’s picture behind it. To fix this issue, just make the classroom picture larger.

A uniform image size for the pictures of the kids, teacher, and principal would’ve been better. Seeing one picture with a thick border and another with a thin border can make things look a little on the messy side.

Other:

Not much else to say. The game’s pretty plain all around. And hey, kids have had pet rocks before, I don’t see what was so wrong with that “thing” they had. Heh. It’s kinetic, no choices.

In Closing:

When the writer writes that it’s a short story, she means it’s a short, short story. Download it in its discussion thread here.

Death Note Doujinshi: Poisoned

Introduction:

DN.d: Poisoned is a visual novel that truly deserves more recognition, at least inside the OELVN circle. It seems to have some level of popularity on the outside, thankfully. There are probably three reasons for the lack of reknown within the circle. 1) The 18+ rating. It’s possible to avoid an 18+ path, though. 2) It’s a BL game. *shrug* I’m just saying. 3) It’s a Death Note fangame, not a purely original tale.

Months ago, I decided to play this game, despite number three on the list above. I had never seen Death Note before. Well, maybe I had seen fanart posted around a few times and heard about it a little bit. Other than that, I was entirely clueless. As of now, I still kind of am, as I’ve only seen the first six episodes. And, guess what? Poisoned doesn’t play assuming you’ve seen an episode or read a page of DN. That doesn’t mean it’s telling you all about the series, no… The game just plays. It’s a story you don’t have to know about Death Note to play. It’s not even a massive spoiler if you’re planning to watch DN later.

So, anyway, as most of you may know BL stands for Boys Love AKA two boys loving on eachother or some version of that. A doujinshi is a fanwork and, in this case, it’s a fangame. The game is by the talented Akane, whom has made a few doujin games before for other anime series. The engine used to make this game was RPG Maker XP, so warning to those spoiled by Ren’Py.

Story:

The story is about a group of kids at the Wammy’s House Orphanage. Among these kids is Mello, the chocolate loving “protagonist.” He spends his time mainly pissed off at Near, another boy who’s bright and soft. Mello is one of those types who’s obsessed with being #1. Near is more mellow than Mello, by far. There’s also Matt, a kid who’s friends with Mello and is repeatedly called a dog by said friend. How nice! There’s also Roger, who’s head of the House, and a little girl who’s a little annoying atleast to me.

When Roger gives Mello and Near a project they have to work on together, Mello is mad beyond belief. The story pretty much takes off from there. You’re given three days to complete the project and control Mello. Choose where he goes around the House, what he says, and what he thinks in true visual novel fashion.

Some of the story is a bit simple, but it was a fun read. The steamier parts were great, too.

Music\SFX:

I can’t think of any moment where the music didn’t match. Very well done. The music and SFX are part of what makes DN.d: Poisoned shine. It’s doubtful that anyone could hate the game music. I can remember once leaving the game up so I could listen to it while browsing sites. Yeah, it’s that good. Okay…actually, not really. It’s not on that level, buuut it fits the game like it should.

Graphics:

Awesome. What else is there to say? There’s not an off-thing about any of the art work. In fact, the art is such that I was mad that there wasn’t a CG gallery. Some have even said the graphics are on an amazing professional level. I wholeheartedly agree. I’m no drawn artist, but I really can’t find anything wrong. It all…works. One day, I might take the time to take screenshots of every CG. Heh…that’d have to be a really boring Sunday.

And, fine. I take it back. The hands and feet sometimes look a little disturbing. Otherwise, it’s all awesome.

Other:

There isn’t a skip feature or anything, so replaying might be an issue. A lot of people have complained about getting one ending everytime they play. All I can say is to find a guide on the game’s forum if you have to. Oh yeah and if you want to get the special ending or whatever, SAVE ALL YOUR ENDINGS TO ONE GAME SLOT!

In Closing:

Don’t miss out. Download DN.d: Poisoned here at its website.

Semester

Introduction:

“And after that, the class begins.”

Semester is a visual novel with a very dating sim-ish feel by Daggio, with artwork by Navetsea and script by Jovia. The plot is pretty typical…new kid (you get to name him) who’s new to the school. As this transfer student, you get to live dozens of repetitive days at school. And when I write repetitive, I mean repetitive. Seriously. The days repeat over and over again with the same choices…but I won’t get into that here, since this is only the introduction.

Once inside of the classroom, you get a chance to introduce yourself to the class. You’ve moved to this wonderful place because of your dad’s job. Wonderful… You’ve got to reach 160 unseen points with a particular character to reach a happy ending or whatever. The characters you’ve got to pick from are a guy named Roy, some girl named Maya, a student council member named Marina, and a quiet girl in the library. Exciting, huh?

Story:

It’s a school story. …Yeah. Um… Well… There are grammar mistakes here and there, mainly things missing “s”es or whatever. The tense gets a little off at times, as well, making several handfuls of sentences sound awkward.  Also, there are sentences missing spaces where spaced should be, such as, “Together,we are going to the cafetaria.” Hm, there’s a spelling mistake, too. There’s nothing extremely apalling, though, so if you’re not a grammar/spelling nazi, you should get on just fine.

I think I already mentioned something about this game being on the repetitive side. Seriously. I believe the aim of this game is to emulate real school life. Problem is, everyday of a normal school kid’s life isn’t always the same. Things happen. In my playthrough of the game (well, my third-ish playthrough, since I played the game weeks ago), Roy kept asking me what I wanted to do today. He asked me that everyday and everyday I went to the cafeteria with him. Nothing changed…then, it did. Just a little.

It seems like more than half of the visual novel is spent holding down CTRL (otherwise known as the “skip” command). There’s a lot of repeated text that’s highly unnecessary. Instead of having the audience read the same sort of “I went to the library and studied with my friends” stuff happening over and over again, the VN could go right to the important story parts.

For example, have one day focusing on a conversation about the girls between you and Roy, and then the next, a study session with Roy and the girls. During the study session, there could be the awkwardness of Roy knowing who you like and him possibly teasing you about it throughout the session. Something like that. Snap shots of school life, so the mundane gets skipped over.

Yeah…the game would’ve been better like that. There’s also a TON of choices that lead to the same events. One game player, Ren, shares my sentiments when she writes: “…I felt there were too many choices. . . .Nothing happens during classes, it took me maybe 3 times or more in the library before Anita spoke to me and I had to do the very same thing all the time.”

That’s how it felt to me, too, even though I wasn’t focusing my attention on Anita or anything. It’s like, text then the same choices as last time…then more text, often times text you’ve read before. If Ren’Py didn’t have a skip feature, I probably would’ve turned off the game early on.

The characters didn’t leave much of an effect on me, either. I didn’t get much of a reason to care about Roy or anything. And, ergh… An error?!?! I was nearing the end of the game when my Roy-focused adventure came to an end. Great… We were about to go play basketball, too. Good thing Daggio has released the source code with the latest release of Semester.

Music/SFX:

One track repeating, composed by Daggio himself. It’s pleasant enough, but after hearing it for the one thousand and eleventh time, you might find yourself bashing your head against a wall. Not that it’s horrible. No, it isn’t. It’s just the only song. I had to turn it down after a while.

Graphics:

I liked the style to the character art a lot. I especially liked Marina’s different expressions. Yeah… I decided to play it again on Marina’s path. Heh. The art was cute. The backgrounds fit in for the most part, even though there might’ve been one or two photographs amongst the drawn BGs.Some of the backgrounds and art were easy to recognize from other games, so they might not seem as fresh if you’ve seen them before. Oh and to clear that up a bit, the art I’m talking about were the ones from a free-to-use pack of art. As far as I know, none of the art in this game was ripped.

Other:

For whatever reason, I keep getting ending number five out of five. Gekiganwing, someone who had played the game and got into the same situation, writes that, “the game seemed to be rewarding the protagonist for focusing his attention on only one character… but in the end, nothing but a bad ending.” Kind of upsetting, considering all the time I spent playing and reviewing.Other players have reported crashes and bugs all over the place, too.

In Closing:

A visual novel that has its flaws…but sweet artwork. There’s a version that has the source code, so you can fix the mistakes if you truly want to. Check it out here at its discussion thread.

Idol\TYPE

Introduction:

“Dear Hirae…”

Idol\TYPE presents a different kind of experience to the love game genre and that is…typing! Yes. Typing. The player literally types the narrator, Reijiro’s words just as he does. The player repeats the same wording, same grammar mistakes, same everything that Reijiro does. It’s almost like actually living through the character.

The game works on the same system as “Mr. Typer“, a non-English game by mike.pr. I haven’t played Mr. Typer, mainly because I can’t speak its language, but I have played typing games prior to Idol/TYPE. My favorite one being Typing of the Dead – if you can get your hands on it, play it. But, I digress…

This ATP Projects game focuses on letters written between Hirae, a lowkey actress, and Reijiro, a fan who’s not just a fan.

Story:

Hm, two unique games in a row, this one being less of a visual novel and more of a typing game. Typing as if I were Reijiro was fun at first. Red marks barely appeared on the screen, I was feeling what he was saying…then, eventually, a question hit me. The question. Okay, maybe two questions, actually. I’ll get to them after I tell a few things about the story.

See, Reijiro is pretty much a regular guy. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember anything that’s notable about him, other than his dialogue (well…letters). He writes to a supporting actress, a favorite of his who’s not so famous named Hirae Erishima. At first, their letters are simple enough. Fan letters, that’s it, and a flattered fan, but soon, it becomes apparent that Reijiro’s feelings have developed into something more…

Why? How? Those were my two questions as I finished typing my third letter. Why was Reijiro falling for a woman he hadn’t exactly met face-to-face? I mean, you hear about it all the time. People falling for people they met in chatrooms. Hm… I think I can understand it a little. I just wish Idol\TYPE had offered some more insight into Reijiro’s day-to-day life beyond the letters. You know…something…even if it would’ve turned Idol\TYPE into more of a game/VN hybrid. No complaints here.

While it might’ve subtracted from the letter focus, it would’ve been nice to learn more about Reijiro’s life.

Music/SFX:

The music, wonderfully done by Evo, matched the letters well. When the timer, shown by Hirae’s disappearing image in the corner, is running low, the music picks up dramatically. It made me want to rush more, which is a good thing. If the music had stayed at its usual pace, there would be no sense of urgency. The music got the message across very well and there aren’t any complaints from me here.

Graphics:

Artwork by Kathryn, the artwork went with the game. I especially liked how Hirae’s picture in the corner would fade away as time ran out, or when you made typing mistakes. The typing screen was simple and straightforward – a piece of white paper on a wooden background, something that most likely is trying to emulate paper on desk.

Other:

This game is really frustrating at times. For one, there’s no save feature other than a limited “continue”, taking you back to the last letter you typed or the credits if you reached an ending. I suggest not trying to get all the endings in one sitting… Going back and retyping a huge letter once you pick a bad choice is irritating.

There’s a patched version that lets you make mistakes and stuff on the project’s website. Check it out.

In Closing:

A typing game! Download it at the game’s site here. Enjoy.

Monochromie: Blanche

Introduction:

“She is just here, that is all.”

Also known as Monochrome: White in English, this visual novel opens up with a white room and a woman. I have to admit that I agree with the RAA on this visual novel being surreal. The story jumps all over the place, from the white room, to people in labcoats, and a bizarre fantasy world. According to the author, Adorya, it’s a “science fantasy” visual novel and that “even [the] french jury couldn’t understand what I wrote”. Yeah, I couldn’t, either. I’m a fan of off-the-wall stuff but this visual novel is seriously out there. Good or bad, you decide.

There’s a bit of a background story to this VN, as is with all stories, actually. Monochromie: Blanche was written for the PenOfChaos Novel Contest 2007 with the theme of “the door”. The VN earned a “before last ranking in the contest,” unfortunately. I can see why it would earn that, looking at the English version alone. I’m afraid my French skills aren’t good enough to read through without difficulty and plus, I’d rather not play through a second time.

Story:

To say the least, it was…unique. A couple other players walked away with that same thought, one of them (risingbamboobanana) admits to not “think[ing] I’ve seen anything like it.” I agree. Me neither. I was even a little confused at times by where the story was heading. One moment, I’m reading what I think to be a depressing story about, maybe, a colorless world or something, then the next it’s like I’m reading a different story entirely, one of pure fantasy. Eventually, there’s a point where you choose a username and password to log onto a computer or something. I wasn’t expecting any of that, at all. Honestly, to me, it came out of nowhere.

The plot…well… I had a bit of a hard time with that one. It felt messy, like a mash-up of a bunch of stories into one. The narration is, at times, hard to understand. This may be due in part to it being written in French originally. There are a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes, not that I care too much. Just a heads up.

The beginning of the game, although mildly sad, was beautifully written. I wish more of the game had focused purely on that white room instead of visiting other scenes, too.

Music/SFX:

Right from the first time you can hear it, the music was jarring. It felt too video-gamey, too fast, and way too whimsical. When reading a visual novel such as this one, something more quiet and atmospheric would’ve been best. The “waaaah” sounds in the music distracted from both the words, the artwork, and the effects. Eventually, I had to turn the music way down. It just didn’t match. Good choice in the “rain” sound effect, though.

Graphics:

Now, this is where this visual novel really shines. From the changed .exe icon (at least in the Windows version – I haven’t played the Linux or Mac versions) and included readme file, you can tell that Adorya has put effort into making his/her game look good. I remember the gentle way the main menu faded in, very sweet. The artwork itself is simple, yet charming. One scene does have artwork of a better quality than the rest. You’ll know it when you see it.

The special effects in this game are pulled off wonderfully. If you’re impatient, don’t keep slamming spacebar to get to the next screen. Wait. Watch how the the picture zooms out to show off the white, empty space of the room. Watch the “static” effect later in the game. And pay attention to the soft zooms. Monochrome: White utilizes plenty of techniques to heighten the experience. If you need one thing to make you play this visual novel, it would have to be the effects. Hands down. Everything is excellently timed. Superb job, Adorya. The author has managed to create a more visually interactive experience despite all the pictures being still. That’s a tough feat, so, again, major props.

Other:

The preference menu goes away real slow after you try to get back to the game. It would’ve been better if it was sped up. There were two choices that I can remember. I chose one choice that starts with an O, then one choice that starts with a P, or maybe something else. I forgot now. It didn’t seem to have an effect on the story.

In Closing:

Monochromie: Blanche is a weird tale that is hard to follow at times, but enjoyable for those who are into graphical effects. It’s pretty original in its own…nice way. You can discuss Monochromie: Blanche (Monochrome: White) here at Lemmasoft Forums.

How Interesting, Not…

Hey.

I usually hate writing intro posts, but, this time I’ve forced myself to. I’m just a faceless someone out there reviewing visual novels in times of boredom. I enjoy writing and, hopefully like most of you, I spend my time trying to improve myself. I have serious issues with the concept of bandwagonning. Seeing large people fanning over someone makes me absolutely sick. My opinions are purely my own, entirely honest reviews. If they’re too harsh for you, you can kindly direct yourself over to Lemmasoft’s other review blog. I’m not here to sugarcoat my words. I’m here to help through criticism, no matter how brutal it may be.

Think of this as a learning tool. Spoilers will be clearly marked, as I *hate* looking up a review only to be spoiled within a paragraph. Yes, there are ways to do reviews without spoiling the whole novel. Oh, and there are a ton of sites out there explaining visual novels. I’m not going to waste my time to explain what they are. I’m only here to present a different kind of opinion about OELVNs, because you can’t get a pat-on-the-back all the time. There’s always going to be someone that isn’t in love with your work and sometimes, that someone has got to be me.

Now, about the name. Writing out vnr4.wordpress.com is a whole lot shorter than visualnovelreviews.wordpress.com first of all. Secondly, I had to tag on the 4 because wordpress wants usernames to have four letters, or whatever. And, lastly, “are-four” reminds me of the word “awful”. Put a weird accent on it. Do it. See what I mean? Also, I didn’t want to steal the other review blog’s name. Too late now, though, ’cause I kind of did. Oh, well. At least I’ve got a four.