Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Right, time to get ourselves back on track.



This is unexpected as well.

: Hey, what's up? You look nervous.

: Yeah, well, er...I was kind of, um, wondering...

You're not going to start making fun of us for being awful at math so early, are you?



Hmm...

Well, XP is good and our chances at actually getting an ending are probably garbage. I didn't expect our Lit/Science decay to be so strong or our mental stamina pool to be so small. May as well give this a shot.

: Sure, what's up?



: Naoko and I got into a fight yesterday, and I kind of, er, accidentally said that any idiot can cook and that it's no big deal...

: drat, that's a bad thing to kind of accidentally say to Naoko...

: No kidding. I didn't really mean it...I was just so angry, it came out of my mouth before I realised what I was saying... I feel so terrible...and, um , she was really hurt by it.



: Wow, that's a harsh punishment for something I'm sure she knows you didn't mean...

: I know!

: So what do you need my help for?

: I need you to help me make meals every day. I...er...don't even know the first thing about cooking...

: Well, are you sure she really meant it? Maybe she just said it because she was angry at the time.

: Oh no, she meant it alright. I even shrugged it off at first, and then she said that if I didn't do it she'd tell the entire school embarassing stories stories from when I was little...

: Ouch...



: Alright, let's meet every day after school and we'll whip something up.

: Really? Do you think we can pull it off?



: That sounds perfect! I'll see you after school then!

Well, that was Tuesday. New event pops on Thursday.



This could be good.

: Satsuko, you're so funny! You need to visit more often!

: You think so? Maybe I will, then!

What the hell is Satsuko doing here?!

: Goon, you didn't tell me your cousin was coming up to visit!

: Yeah, it was kind of a SUDDEN visit...

: That's so nice, I love surprises! You must be so happy, Goon.

: Yeah...



: Satsuko, how do you celebrate Christmas in Sweden? That's where you said you're from, right?

: Oh! Er...yeah...



Savour this, Goon.



: (I don't know anything!)

: Er, we don't participate in traditional activities. We just spend a quiet evening at home.

: Oh, I see... Well, what do people usually do?

: Er...

: Er...



: Ah...

: (How was that, Goon?)



: (Right, I'll do that!)

: *sigh*

: So what are you and Goon doing to celebrate?



This is going in a dangerous direction.

: Hmm, not that I know of...

: Hey, you know what would be fun?

: What?

: If we had a party at the school!

I remember this event. This is troubling since it'll take up another day at the minimum.

: Hmm, maybe a New Year's party?



Well, at least we can hang out with Rena in this event. Though, we do have higher priorities right now.

: Clean the school...?



wait no, not this month

: A pre-holiday cleaning party!

uggh

: Do you think students will be interested in cleaning?

: Sure! I'll talk it over with student council...we'll work something out!

Great...

No, this event takes 3 days overall. This is moderately dangerous for us.

: Great!

Bah. We'll see how we go.



Well, we'll be working on helping Kazuki cook for the next bit. Exams? Eh.




Poor fellow. Goon only burns the food. This is surprisingly draining on our mental stamina and doesn't really boost Science. It does help Art.

Thursday 17 November triggers a new event. I'm running out of ways to say that in a new way.



: I'm not making this up, Aya.

: What's going on?



: It's not stupid! Goon's cousin Satsuko thought of it, and I think it's an amazing idea!

: The last thing I want to do is come clean up the school after my mom makes me clean the house!

: How's the event going to take place, Alice?

: What don't you understand? We're cleaning!

: I'm not stupid, Aya. We're going to make it really fun!

: Oh yeah? How?

: Are there going to be games and things like that?

: Absolutely!




: Hiroshi!

: Hey, Hiroshi!



: Hey, if nobody else wanted it then nobody would have voted for it!

: You pressured everybody into voting for it.

: What?! How?!

: You just did.

: You're not making any sense!

: Er, so when is this event taking place...?



Before exams. That is too soon.

: But that's on a Saturday!

: Oh come on, stop whining! We can't do it during the week. It'll be like a party!

I want those 3 days back, drat it

: Grr, this isn't fair!



: What?! You can't do that!

Gotta say, as I saw Alice more and more, I just stopped liking her as much. She's still okay, just not one of the best characters in this game.



: Oh? What do you think?

: I think it's great! I'm so excited about it!



: Hiroshi!

: Yes, I'm glad you guys decided to do something like this! The school deserves a fresh New Year's start like everything else.

: I agree completely. I'm sure this is going to be really great.

: I don't believe you!

: Is everything okay, Alice?




How could I resist?

: He just said he didn't like the cleaning party.

: What?! I did not!



That worked well.

: Ha! Caught in your own trap!

: He, he just heard me wrong!

: You should stick to your own opinions, Hiroshi...

: Come on, Naoko. This loser isn't worth our time- let's plan out the food we'll need for the party.

: Okay...



: Something sweet!

: Heehee, of course! A party isn't a party without lots of sweets!

: Heh, great.

: Later guys!

: Bye!

: .......

: Er, is everything okay...?



: I never thought you'd play dirty, but I see the game's on, now.

: What...?



That's an understatement.

: This isn't over.

: Well, you lied and-

: Naoko's not for you, and if you happen to forget that, my fist will remind you.



Oh dear.



We throw a bit of exercise into our schedule to balance things out but it doesn't go well. Then the party pops up.



: Come on, Aya, it should be fun.

: Oh yeah? How do YOU know?

: Well...



: I do not really mind. Cleaning is not that bad.

Cleaning is a necessary evil, in my eyes. A filthy house is worse than cleaning but it's still :effort:



Did I mention Kiku's family is mad rich?

: You know I never let them into my room.

: Yeah, well, you're crazy.

: *sigh* You would not understand...

It's, um, kind of awkward having people clean your room. My grandparents used to hire some servants.

: Hello, Lorde...

: Hey, what's going on?



: HEY!

: Your relentless whining really gets to me sometimes...

: Grr...



Warning - There's more Hiroshi this update.

: Good, Hiroshi!

: Geez, you bounce back fast...

: How's it going, Lorde-san?

: It's alright.



: Yeah, it should be fun.

: Heh, well, it really should be a good time after all.

: "After all?"



: Wow, that's awesome!

: Hmm, are you sure? I have heard otherwise.

: What are you talking about?

: Well, I seem to have heard that you hated the idea of this cleaning party from the start. And that you wanted nothing to do with it because you thought everyone would hate it.

: Err...

: But I guess you changed your mind when you found out that Naoko liked the idea, hmm?

: Grr...

: That is what I thought.

: She just put the thing in a whole different light, okay?

While LP'ing this game has made me like some characters less, moments like these are some of my favourite.





: Heh...

The noblest of causes.



: Welcome to the first annual New Year's School Cleaning Party!

: I know cleaning can be boring, but everyone knows it had to be done.

: So let's have some fun, okay?

: Right! Here's how the night is going to work. Everyone is going to pick a room and work in a group to clean it. And no slacking off! This is your for the night, and members of the student council will be checking each room after two hours.

Eesh, two hours of cleaning...?

I don't what all the groups are, but I do know the one with Rena. It'll do.



: Yeah, a FABULOUS prize.

: Well, it's alright...I wouldn't call it "FABULOUS"...

: Hiroshi! You have to tell them that or they won't get motivated!

: Fine, be dishonest...

: Oh shut up!



Comedy Hour isn't much at Shira Oka.

: Heehee, sorry about that, guys!



Rena's in the Garden. So let's roll.



: Hey, Rena.




Dude just zoomed in from the right.

: Hiroshi!

: Oh, hey.

: I'll be helping out, too.

: Really? Okay!

: Lorde-san, are you good at doing hard work?

We're not really good at anything. We're okay at Art, maybe.

: Well...I guess I'm okay...



: Thanks.

: I'm sure he'll do a good job, Hiroshi.

: Well, he'd better. I want this garden to be the cleanest spot in the whole school!

: Aww, don't work too hard, Lorde!

: Alright, I'll do what I can...

Our schedule basically melting down has reminded me that Goon is not very good.



: RENA!!

: Did you hurt yourself?

: Ow...I cut my finger while picking up that rusty metal can...

: OH NO! Go clean it out right away or it'll get infected! Hurry!

: Okay. Sorry guys, I'll be right back!

: ...

: You care about her a lot, don't you?



: I think that's really nice.

Can't be a jerk all the time, I guess...

: Thanks.

: No, really. It's nice to see an older brother really care for his sister.

: ...I guess I'm overprotective sometimes, but she's not always that careful.

: Really? She doesn't seem like the reckless type...

: It's not that... It's just that she thinks so differently from everyone else...



: Well, it's her decision.

: Yeah but...I don't know, messing around with that stuff doesn't sound like a good idea.

: Well...I'm sure she'll be okay.

: Yeah...I guess...

: I wouldn't worry about it.

: Hmm, let's take a look at the garden...



: Er, hi Alice...

: What are you doing here?

: I was just checking up on Rena.

: Hmm, you weren't helping them, were you? You know the rules, Hiroshi. Rooms student council members help clean are disqualified! Idiot! That's why we were all working together!



: That's right, he was just checking up on Rena.

Bro code? I dunno, but ratting him out would hurt us too.

: Well, where is she?

: She cut her finger on some garbage so she went to go clean it.

: Oh, I see...



: Heh, no problem...



Without the context, this looks like Hiroshi and Alice are teaming up to laugh at us. Not sure if that's better or worse.

: Well, it's because Lorde-san barely did anything...

We're still Scatterbrained and Lazy. One of those traits is likely giving us this negative outcome.

Grr...

: You guys should clean up a little bit more before heading to the cafeteria for refreshments.

: Fine...

Whoops.

: Come on, Hiroshi, we have more rooms to judge!

: Aww, man...later, Lorde-san.

Fade to black, then Rena's back.

: Hey guys! Where's Hiroshi...?

: He went to help Alice judge the other rooms. How's your finger?



: Heh...

: I just saw Alice! What did she think of the garden?

: She thinks we have more work to do...



I've done this event like 3 times, but I've never failed. Mind you, those were also late-game loops.

If we ever get there, we're going to be the Invincible Super Goon and it'll be great.

: Oh well, let's do a little more cleaning and then go to the cafeteria for some cookies, okay?

: Alright...



: Yes...please enjoy...

: So you guys have been here the whole time?

: Yup! We got out of cleaning by helping set up the refreshments.

There's no option to hang in the cafeteria. So you can't hang out with Yui and Aya for this event.

: It...was still a lot of work... It was not a leisure activity...



: It looks nice.

Aya would pick the second option. Hopefully, we're better than that. Slightly, at the very least.

: Thank you...

: Yeah, we spent a long time decorating. I'm glad you like it!

: I can tell you guys worked hard.

Goon would probably mess this up, no joke.



: Time to announce the winners of the competition!



: Aww...

: Sorry, Rena...

I'd be sad about this but things are going to get a lot worse before long.

: It's okay... we did our best! Thanks for all your help, Lorde.

: Sure.



Maybe in another life.



Hmm, Kazuki's event is going to finish on the 8th, likely and exams aren't going to go well...

Well, we'll deal with that later.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Cleaning your school on a Saturday does sound like the worst, agreed.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
...did Satsuko even show up for this? After suggesting it?

Alligator Pie
Apr 26, 2008

Give away the green grass, Give away the sky
That's actually a pretty good point. That lazy so and so! :argh:

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Nope.The event took up 3 days and she couldn't be bothered to show up. Not sure we'll ever get a proper revenge though.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012



So, we've got two weeks until exams and Kazuki's thing is due. I was pretty worried things were going south.



But a week full of success in cooking alleviates those. We'll probably be fine to get the cooking done, but I can't say the same for our exams.



Although having the literal last day before the deadline be a fail is a little concerning...



We get a call that Thursday. Getting a call from someone will save their phone number. I know for certain that you can get Hiroshi's, Kiku's and Suzu's number this way. I don't know if you can get everyone, but it's still a significant number of people.

: Hi! Hello, Goon...do you have free time?

: Yeah, I do. Why?

: I wanted to talk to you and Kazuki today...about the cooking I've had him do. Could you please come to my house, dear?

: Alright, I'll be there.

: Bye, dear!

Game: You arrive at Naoko and Kazuki's house.



This is the first time we've been in someone else's house, huh? Kazuki and Naoko aren't the only people with a house. We might be seeing Kiku's soon and we'll see some others if we ever get their endings.

We'll drop by Rena/Hiroshi's place and Yui's.

: Hey, you guys look really happy.



All I wanted. Yoink!

: Originally I made him do it because I was angry with him, but I was really only kidding...

: WHAT?!



: Besides, a girl needs to be pampered every now and then...

: I don't believe you...

: Heh, I'm glad it turned out well.



: Oh?

: Come on, you know I can hardly tell which end of a bowl to put food in... Lorde stayed after school these last few weeks and helped me make the food.

: Oh, that was really sweet of you. Thanks for helping out Kazuki, dear- he would have been in big trouble if the food was bad!

Wait, didn't you call us over since you knew we were helping with the cooking...?

: Hey!

: Have a good night, Goon. Thank you for all of your help!



It's nice to be appreciated.



Exams, huh?



We probably failed Lit. Possibly Science as well. Was it worth it?



We got a point of XP from it as well. Some people may not approve of our falling Lit stat though. Depends on how likely you thought getting an actual ending was for this loop, I suppose.



We go for a bit of studying after the exams to make sure we don't continue to fall behind so much. Sometimes, you'll see other characters trying to help out with these. It'll be either a critical success or fail. These are pretty rare so I'll try to capture them all if they pop up.



This is Thursday, so the day right before getting exam results back.

: Yeah, Aya lent me this one book that's really good!

Oh, ouch. I didn't realise we were that bad.

: Are you serious? Let me guess. A manga, right?

: Uh...

: *sigh* Reading such frivolous literature will not help you succeed in school or in life, Lorde.



: I guess so. What would you recommend?

: You really want to know?



For a modern audience, Count of Monte Cristo feels real difficult to follow. I have no clue about Italy or France in that period but the book reads like you should know these places. Also, it's like 100 chapters long.

What I'm saying is that it is not a good book for beginners or people who don't know much about Europe. I gave up, personally.



: That sounds great!

I did enjoy the Monte Cristo movie though. It didn't randomly segue into some random bandit's backstory for a few chapters.

: Well, I must be going now. Goodbye, Lorde.



Huh. Satsuko won't officially count a D as a fail for now, but it's still annoying.



I think I'll just be using the ledger to show off our grades from now on. We did alright in Art, but we're going to need to pull up that Lit and make sure our other grades don't fall too low. Next Monday triggers another event.



: What day is it?

: Well, today's one of the greatest days of the year!



She really does get excited over the end of school terms.



: Visit my family.

I love a good mystery. Maybe.

: Yeah, a lot of people do that this time of year, especially once New Year's Day hits. Thankfully most of my family is here in Shira Oka, so I don't have to go far to see them. Anyway, there's something I always look forward to at this time of year... Best thing there is.

: What is it?

: Wow, you've really never heard? Hold on a second!

: Oh?

: Oh, here comes Kiku now. Hey, Kiku! Over here! Hey, look, there's Lorde!



: What's going on?

: Nice to see you, Lorde.

: What's up?



We just passed a check here. If Kiku doesn't like you enough, she can decide not to invite you over. It's definitely a possibility for the next few loops and I thought it'd happen here.

: My parents usually go away around that time and I thought it would be nice to start some sort of Christmas tradition with some people at school.



: Hiroshi...?

: Enough, Aya.



: Later, Lorde!

On my first time playing through this game, I got rejected the first 2 or 3 times. Kiku doesn't have to like you much, but if she dislikes you, you're probably not getting in.

On Wednesday, we meet up with Aya again.



: Yeah?



Harsh. You'll get these "you failed" events if you get C or below on a test. B or above triggers the "hey, good job." It's random as to whether they check your Lit, Science, Art or Sports. Hopefully, they pay attention to our Art tests more...

: I did poorly. I didn't fail.



: Ah well.

: Never mind...I'll ask Kiku for notes next time.

You're welcome to copy from us, Aya. Just can't guarantee good results.

Friday finishes up the term with another event.



: Hmm?

: I was talking to Naoko about space food.

This events happens at the end of Year 1 Semester 2 every time. So I've seen this like 13 times.

: Space food?

: Aya wants to prepare food like the type astronauts eat.

: I was reading all about it in a magazine. Like, they have freeze dried ice cream and junk like that. Sounds pretty gross if you ask me.

: Well, you do have to keep in mind the limits of space. Just like how you have to alter recipes for high altitude.

Just checked and yeah, the difference in air pressure messes up baking. You have to make a lot of adjustments to adapt to that. That's pretty neat.



Hmm, we're missing an option here. I guess you get it on the second time going through this event.

: I bet cooking in space is difficult to do.

: I actually don't think they do.

Some stuff from NASA on the topic. You can do it, it just requires plastic bags?

: Then how do the astronauts not starve?

: I think they just take plenty of supplies up there with them, Aya-chan.

: What if you got bored of the food you have?

: Well, I think they give them a variety.

: Even so!

: I guess you would just be stuck with what you have.

: Aww man! Boring.



: Well, break is coming. Going to be off school for a while.

: I still don't see how this is connected.



: And so we were discussing the kinds of foods I could pack.

: I'm personally not very familiar with dehydrating food but it's something I haven't gotten to try yet.

: We could buy a food dehydrator together.

: Oh dear, so expensive! And I've heard that's actually bad for the flavour of the food.

: How can it be? Drying food is drying food.

: Oh, you don't understand.

: Anyway, anyway.



Neither of those are happening, Aya.

: You shouldn't drop out.

: Pfft, thanks, mom. So, that's what I'm doing. How about you guys?



: Aww, how painfully sweet.

: What about you, Goon?

: Oh, I know.

: Know what?

We're not very involved in this conversation, no.



: Not doing something important, like me.

: Teehee!



A single change over a event that'll fire 10 times is not great. We catch some rest until Kiku's party.



Christmas in Japan is less a religious thing and more a general commerical holiday. Christmas Eve is for lovers and they eat KFC a lot on Christmas. Some more info here if you've never run into this before.

Game: You can already hear people happily chatting, and you smell delicious food in another room.

: Yay, Goon's here!



: You're so weird. Yo, Lorde.

: Hello.



: Yeah, whatever.

And here I was feeling so loved. Pity.



Kiku hasn't realised this is our best.

: I'm not?

: I am not one to insult people, but you seem to be...not up to par these days.



I'll get to this next update.

: I will mark your schedule here, so that you'll know when I will evaluate your progress. It's good to be punctual! Anyhow. Perhaps we should get back to the party. Please, enjoy yourself.

Game: You look around to see who you can mingle with at the party. Hiroshi comes up to you.




: I'm surprised that YOU were invited, Hiroshi.

: Me?!

: Kiku doesn't like you at all.

: Yeah, well...



: Heh, I don't think anybody actually likes him.



: But do any of them actually like him?

: I doubt it.

: Everyone always looks so afraid when they're around Hiroshi!

: No kidding...

: It's time to eat, everyone!

: Time to eat...?

: You have really outdone yourself, Naoko. Thank you very much.



Yeah, fried chicken.

: Mmm! I smell a cake baking.

: Oh, you actually might be familiar with this cake, Alice!

: Oh, why?



: Um...

: Oh! It's a coin that's washed and put into the cake batter. When the cake is done, whoever finds the coin in their slice has luck for the year!

: Oh, how interesting...

Game: Everyone eats their fill of Naoko's cooking. You sit back, full and content from such a big meal.



: Aww, you should've saved room for the cake.

: Oh, I always have room for cake!

: But you just said that you're full...



: Are we going to cut the cake?

: Oh, I hope I get the lucky slice...

Game: Naoko cuts the cake into thick, even slices.

: Take the biggest one!



: Hmm...okay, I want that one!

Game: Rena chooses a slice, and digs into it as soon as it falls onto her plate.

: Come on, coin!

: Jeez, you've turned your cake into mush! Stop already, there's no coin in there.

: Aww, no coin...



No clue if there's a check for the second party. I can't remember one.

: Who has the coin?

: Hmm...

Game: Just then you hear Alice yell "I got it! I got it!" from across the room.



: No way, the cake knew that Alice missed home, so it let her have the lucky slice.

: Cakes can't choose things, Rena.



: Ugh, whatever...



: This was a great party, Kiku.

: Heehee, maybe I'll have one next year as well.

: Well, I'm thinking up some cool things too, so let's not think of next year until it comes!



Mm.



Next time, we'll deal with Kiku's fashion training.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
Oh, that's interesting. Do all these "life experience" events come at the expense of actual stat grinding? It'd be an interesting thematic choice, if so.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011




Why the gently caress are you of all people giving us poo poo about this?




Alice knows what's up :ocelot:

And does Kiku give everyone at her party poo poo for their clothes? I cannot imagine we are wearing anything truly offensive, but the rest of them have super casual clothes so what gives?
Shira Oka I know you wanna be Tokimeki but not all of those ideas were good or made sense.

Lord Koth
Jan 8, 2012

Look at our Fashion value - it's 9. To compare this with the recent tests, we basically have a D (and very nearly an F if I recall the break points correctly) in dressing ourselves. In all honesty, her pointing out we look like poo poo was put rather nicely, along with the offer to help. Use your own imagination to figure out what someone that bad at fashion looks like - well, at least we probably wash our clothes :v:.

Lord Koth fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Aug 15, 2016

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Fashion D is basically equivalent to wearing a shirt that hasn't been ironed in weeks. Fashion F is basically wearing a shirt with a massive sauce stain on it. Even Kazuki will give us poo poo for being unfashionable at Fashion F.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012



Right, so we had Kiku wanting to help us out with Fashion last time.



Let's see what Goon comes up with...



That's honestly more colour than I usually wear.



Alright, that's just plain terrible even by my standards.



It chews through our physical stamina, doesn't give us any stats and takes a good bit of time. Yet the reward at the end is totally worth it, so we'll shift to focusing on this until it's over.

The New Year ticks over and we meet up with some people on the 2nd.



: Hello, Lorde! I hope everyone had good dreams last night!

: Why do you say that?

: Oh! Lorde, you don't know?

: Know what?



: Yup!

: Why?

: Well, it's supposed to predict what kind of year you'll have.

: That can really happen?

: Of course it can!



: Naoko! What kind of dream did you have?

: Nothing special, really, Rena-chan...




: Hiroshi had a great dream, guys!

This is new.

: Yup!

: What was it about, Hiroshi?



Nice. Better than getting hit by a truck, I suppose.

: That's weird...

: Heh, clearly you have no idea...

: No idea of what?

No idea of anything, really.



Not too much info on that, but this info is legit. Either that or Shira Oka's research consists of looking at wiki pages.

: Really?

: Yes!

: Even an eggplant...?

But why do you not know this already, Goon?



: I had a dream about eggplants last year, but not this year...

: Hmm, well, maybe some of those lucky eggplants will carry over into this year.

: I hope so...

: So what kind of dream did you have this year, Lorde?



: Oh! Hawks are a good symbol but...what happened next?




: Ouch... Must've creacked your head pretty bad, huh?

: Well...then...

: Then what?

: ...Then everyone I know came and laughed at me...

Huh.

: Ouch!

: That's harsh...



I had never seen that specific dream before. I suppose looking at our grades, we're doing pretty awfully. But we're getting a lot of XP, so it's okay.

: Does that mean bad things are going to happen to me this year?

: Sounds like it... I wouldn't want to have a dream like that. Sounds like a curse to me!

: Well, they could...



We're probably not going to have time for extra events like the Culture Festival prep. There's one Culture Festival prep and there'll be another event like this one with Kiku that I'll grab but beyond that, we should try to avoid committing to much. Considering me, I'll probably turn down most stuff except for Kazuki or Rena's. :v:

: How?

: Just try to make changes where you think you need them...

Best way to stop falling behind stat-wise so much is to reject events that'll take up extra time. But sometimes, you don't get a choice to turn them down. There's actually a set of meeting sequences that pushes you into one of the events. Glad we dodged that.

: I'm sure that'll make things better!



He has faith in us. :3:

: Heehee, that's right! If you fail this year, it's clearly your own fault!

: Thanks...

: Don't worry about it too much, Lorde... the first New Year's dream is important, but you can work to make things better.

I don't know if this actually changes anything. I assume it's just a check to see how you're going.

: Alright, thanks...



We continue on with our Fashion > Rest schedule until Sunday.



: Of course I did.

: That's good to hear. After all, classes start again very soon.

Hard to miss the start of school considering there's an event every single semester start.

: Wait...they do?



: How unfortunate. So you didn't get everything done?

: Well...no...



Decent enough date location, don't go there much so I'm pretty sure I'm missing CGs from there.

: They reduced the price during the break so I could afford to go more and go on the wicked rides! But...besides that, er...

: What a pity! I did plenty.

: Yeah, yeah...oh, hey. It's Lorde. Lorde!

You only just noticed us?

: Hello. What's going on?

: Well, er. We were talking about the break.

: Oh?

: She didn't get everything done that she planned.



: Well, I organised all of my special writing paper.

: That's it?

: No, no, not at all. I got a lot of knitting done!

: You knit?



: It NEVER snows here, blockhead.



That is pure Rena. Also, it never snows in my area either, but I'm glad I don't have to deal with shovelling snow.

: *sigh*

: So I take it you didn't do much, Aya?

: Well, that isn't exactly true. I did make great strides towards my goal. I...well, I tried some of the freeze dried food that Naoko made for me.

: Was it tasty?

: If by "tasty" you mean "dry and disgusting", then yes. It was very tasty.



: I guess you're not cut out for all this space travel stuff, huh, Aya?

: Ha, as if.

: Well, if you don't like the food, how would you eat up there? Aya's poor tummy will go grumbly and hungry!

: I'll just tough it out and eat it anyway. Just like how Alice eats Japanese food.

: I don't know. Alice seems to like the food here, Aya.

Japanese is pretty good. Their rice is good, lotus roots are surprisingly good but I could never work up the courage to eat a raw egg.



: She makes a very good point, though, Aya. You would be suffering!

: Aw, it wasn't THAT bad.

: You made it sound like it was.

: Er, well. I guess it was okay. I mean, I'd be in space.



: If you say so...

: Don't worry, you guys. I'm going to make it. I've gotten the food down, I've gotten the reading down... I'm all set to go!



: ...Weirdo. Kiku says the whole thing's silly. She's always being such a dream-squasher.



: Yeah, tell me about it.

: Poor little dreams...

: Knock it off, you. Anyway... well, school caught me off guard. But it's alright. I'm sure I'll be out of there in a few weeks, anyway. I've almost got mom convinced to let me drop out.

: We'll miss you!

I wouldn't.

: Oh, I'll still be around town... before I go into space, anyway.



: NEPTUNE.



: Whatever. I'll see you around.



That marks the start of school. Monday throws us an event, so why not?



Game: She turns quickly and the two of you accidentally run into each other, causing her to bite onto her candy.

: Ow... Oh dear, I think I cut my tongue!

: Is it bleeding?

: A little, not badly... but that's not it, I'm afraid.

: Hmm?

: I'll be right back.

Game: She goes to get a drink of water before returning to her place in line.

: Oh dear... I hope this doesn't affect my palate! I'll be lost without it.

: What do you mean?



: I'm sorry, I'll taste everything for you!

This event always makes me giggle. Goon just goes from being all "oh, ok" to "MERCY".



She calms down quick though...

: I mean it!

: No, that's fine. I think it'll probably heal soon.

: That's good.



Good event, nice and short.



Anyway, we'll finish Kiku's stuff off next time. It's due on the 2nd, so we can probably make it.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
I am curious to see what you're unlocking with all this becoming a slave to fashion.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012



This is a random event. Once per loop, but we'll be wanting to see this again in the future.

Game: You notice a very long line in front of one of the stores.



I should go talk to her.



: Just running some errands. How about you?

: I'm waiting in line so I can buy a raffle ticket.



: The grand prize of the raffle is a ticket to visit the habitat, which will normally be closed to the public, for a day.

: Sounds like a good cause and a nice prize.

: Oh no! I didn't realize what time it was! I have to run home before I'm late! I hope I can make it back in time! Bye Lorde!

: Hey, wait...

Too late, she's gone...



I might as well stay in line and get a ticket.

Game: You wait in line for about half an hour before you get the chance to buy a ticket.



Yes, luck does affect the outcome of this scene.



: We'll know in just a moment. They're about to make the announcement.

Game: The announcer names the winning ticket numbers: 101928, 828394, and 284939.

: Did we win?

Game: You look down at your ticket and see number 449391.



If we had better luck, we could've gotten a better result. Best luck gives us one of the most useful things in the game. A bit like the reward from the Kiku event.

: Oh, boo.



Hopefully, we'll see the good outcomes of that event.



Regardless, we're done with Kiku's training a week ahead of time. Good news, especially since I put stats on the sideline again. Pretty sure we'll not going to pass enough exams this loop to go the end of 3rd year, even though failing those exams is a bit difficult.



: Hey guys!

: Hey...

: You seem down, Kazuki.

: Ugh, Naoko didn't pack me enough lunch again...

I remember that feeling vaguely. I mean, I had to pack my own lunch after primary school, but I remember it, sort of.

: What did she pack you?



: That's not enough?!

: Well, no... I guess I kind of have a big appetite...

: I'll say...

: Oh, how sad...



: Oh, hey Rena...



: What'd she say?



Asparagus, the Japanese pet fish...? Seems a little out of place.

: Er, what does that mean, then?

: It means that I can contact his spirit after all this time!




: Sounds weird to me...

: I'm not sure I understand...

: It's okay, Suzu. No one really understands Rena...

: No, it's not that. I don't think I clearly understand fortune telling...

: Hehe, that's okay. Most people don't understand it properly.

: What is it, then?



Like how I can predict that we're not going to end up with an ending this loop but we'll get tons of XP.

: I still don't get it. Everyone behaves differently but since the actions are unpredictable, how could one predict the future in any possible way?

: Hmm...

: I don't really get fortune telling. It's all just a waste of money.

Looks like Goon doesn't appreciate the art of swindling folks.



: Hmm...

: Just let me show you, Suzu.

: Fine, I would like to see.



The next day, we trigger the second part of that event.

Game: Rena warmly greets you all, looking eager to pass on her knowledge to others.

: Welcome!

: Thanks...

: Should we sit down?

: Yes, of course!

: So, what will you be doing?

: I'm going to read your palm, Suzu.

: Read my palm?



Game: Rena grabs Suzu's hand and begins to gently trace the lines in her palm with the tip of her finger.

: Hmm...

Game: Suzu seems a little uncomfortable, but suddenly Rena seems troubled.

: ...

: Something wrong?



: How could that be possible?



: And?

: There's just no feeling from them... it's so bizarre...



: No... it's just confusing... I've never encountered something like this before...

: Hmm, maybe the future just can't be predicted.

: Agreed!

: No! It can be predicted! Something's just wrong with your hand...

: I think it's perfectly fine...

: I guess we're done here...



It had to be you, didn't it?

: Hey, what's everybody doing in here?

: Rena's teaching Suzu about fortunes.



: No, she wasn't able to determine anything at all.

: Psh, figures...

: If you don't want to believe in it, then you don't have to be here, Aya!

: Fine, I know when I'm not wanted...



: I wish I could have gotten you guys to believe...

: Sorry Rena...

: Looks like logic wins this one.

Goon, you're nearly failing Science.



1 XP for 2 days of events but no stat checks is fine. We get a bit of reading done but Aya bugs us again on Friday.



: Hey Lorde. What's-



Game: She sniffs the air thoughtfully.

: Is there something wrong?



: Uh.. oops. I must have used the wrong shampoo this morning!

Goon, it's fine to use floral shampoo's. Although this is coming from a guy who actually likes flowers...

: Haha, weird... how do you even make a mistake like that?!

: I guess I was tired and grabbed the wrong bottle.



: Good point. He would sure have something to say about this.

: You should take better care of yourself.



This event can happen randomly when your Fashion is too low. There's a few different characters who will yell at you for different stats. For Fashion, Aya, Naoko and Kazuki will point it out. Yes, you can rebuked by the nerd for being unfashionable.

Luckily, it doesn't change our stats or anything. On Saturday, we finish Kiku's training.



The cursor leaves behind a trail of sparkles. I'd like to re-iterate that.

: Hmm.



: Yes?

: I just wanted to tell you this.



We've had a green bar in that for a week but it's nice to hand it in.

: You clearly have a taste for fashion.

ahahahaa



XP gotten but that's not quite the entire reward from this event.



Feels like we haven't spoken to Satsuko in a while but we spoke to her 3 updates ago. I dunno, she was in a lot of stuff at the start.

: Thanks.

: And there's a reward for you for all of this.




Goodbye, basic Groom command. Hello, Uber Fashion.

: Keep up the good work, Goon! It's really showing your effort.



So, I held off from explaining last time but what we just unlocked is a upgraded form of our fashion skill. In this case, it's Uber Fashion replacing Groom.

Upgraded trainings are generally much more powerful than their basic trainings. They take the same amount of stamina but have much stronger effects on your stats. So with Uber Fashion unlocked, we'll have an easier time keeping on Fashion if we put some time into it. We're not going to really keep up this run but it'll be very helpful in the future.

There's "Uber" versions of each of your basic actions. I've only unlocked these before:

Art/Music > Origami - Rate of Art/Music improvement goes up a lot. But the minor bonus to Fashion goes away. Still a net positive and quite easy to get. You need to finish Rena's route to get this and we'll unlock after we finish Rena's route. It's why she's a good choice for first route.

Exercise > Swimming - Rate of Sport improvement also goes up a lot. I've easily gotten 5 levels in sport from one week of training. On an end-game character, I've gotten 8 levels from one week. Stupidly good. You get it by having your Sports high enough when they come to sign up people for the swim club. Unlike other uber trainings, it's only around until the end of swim season, which is why there's an event where Aya complains about it. We're not getting into the team for a while.

Exercise also has the inferior version called Towel Manager. Don't use Towel Manager, there's no point. None of the other trainings have inferior versions.

Chat > Suave Chat - More Popularity, Fashion and Literature. Consumes less mental stamina than studying Lit so I sometimes use this to get a bit of extra Lit when I don't have the stamina. Clear upgrade even though it's not as strong as the others. You can start the training for this if you fail to get a Valentine's Day gift from a girl. It might be 1st or 2nd year exclusive, I'm not sure.

Rest > Meditate - Holy hell, this basically doubles your physical and mental stamina and boosts your recovery rate on top of that. to like 2.5x. If there's any one upgraded action you want, it's this one. When the event with Rena and the butterflies in this update triggers, if you have maxed Luck, it'll trigger another event in a month or two where you can start training. Rena really is helpful.

Supposedly there's also Literature > Cram Session from Alice. I hear you can get this by studying Lit like a mad man at the start of the year.

There's also meant to be Science > Robotics from Kazuki. Similiar to Alice but you study Science like mad.

Never unlocked Cram Session or Robotics but if you guys want to try for them next loop, we can.

Also, we say good-bye to a dear, dear friend.



The uber trainings have different animations.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


quote:

Rest > Meditate - Holy hell, this basically doubles your physical and mental stamina and boosts your recovery rate on top of that. to like 2.5x. If there's any one upgraded action you want, it's this one. When the event with Rena and the butterflies in this update triggers, if you have maxed Luck, it'll trigger another event in a month or two where you can start training. Rena really is helpful.

Yeah the rest are good but this one's amazing. We should go with Rena next route then.

Will we have enough XP to max out luck by then?

Rhiodise
Feb 22, 2013
I will say that from my experience you can get Robotics from actually doing poorly on a science exam and after Kazuki yells at you for it you can ask him for training. I've got no idea if this actually needs high science to trigger and might actually require having seen his ending path :shrug:
Honestly it's pretty weird they hide the better training behind RNG nonsense, but then again it is this game.

Yakumo
Oct 7, 2008
Haha, I never saw that fortune telling scene when I played this game. This game sure likes foreshadowing it's batshit endings in strange ways. That makes so much more sense when you've seen Suzu's ending. Poor Rena, picking the worst possible person to demonstrate on.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

We will probably not have enough XP to max out Luck for quite a bit. The Blessed quirk costs like 20 on top of the cost of the second-tier(12).

It's probably more important to boost our vital statistics first. Boosting those makes our bases and our growth rate higher so we can actually finish endings. Endings have a good chunk of XP in them, so finishing one makes the next route easier.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Can we at least pick up the 12 XP cost one soon?

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Yes, we're actually up to 10 XP. It won't take too long to get those last points, since there's plenty of events we haven't seen yet.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
Oh! That's actually interesting, I hadn't thought about upgradable actions before.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012



Well, we'd just finished off Kiku's fashion training. We're falling a bit behind in terms of our studies, but we'll manage.



That event with Aya and our shampoo does have a name. There's a few different variations like I've shown off, but this makes it pretty clear that our Fashion is not up to par. At the start of this loop, I thought we'd be fine but I don't think we can keep Fashion up to par if we want to pass tests and get XP.

Oh well. Monday throws us an event.



: Hey, Satsuko- what're you doing here?

: Is that any way to greet me...?

: Oh, geez...I didn't mean anything by that...

: ...



: Gotcha.

: ...

: Anyway, like I was saying.



: Oh, right.



Getting a gift from your first year's Valentine is a bit difficult. You need to be much better than our Goon. It's not anything to worry about too much.

: Really...?

: Oh, no!



All the guides say so, Satsuko says so, I say so...

Pretty much a consensus on our current Goon. We'll stop being a loser eventually, I promise.

: What?!

: None of the girls like you! We're such failures!

I'll check in with Satsuko at the end of this update about how people think of us.

: How's it make YOU a failure...?

: ...ah...Well... It is partially my fault...



: Gee...thanks.



: Just no girlfriend, huh?

: Right on!

: Great...

: Just you watch.



Hmm, something about Valentine's day and doing poorly...



I haven't shown these off in a while, have I?



Critical fail right there. We get another event on Monday.



I wonder what that flyer is for...Oh, a writing contest.

Game: WRITING CONTEST!!! Submit an essay arguing onee side of a topic that is important to you. Winning entry will be in published in "Shira Oka Weekly!"

Triple exclamation marks? Our local magazine is a weekly magazine?



: Are you entering that contest?

: I don't really see the point.

: What do you mean?



I'll change my opinion on Goon when he gets good.

: Isn't it a good thing to have strong beliefs?



: But the idea of debate is to inspire your own beliefs in people to get them to see your point of view.

: So?

: So that means that if you do a good enough job, you would have helped open someone's mind to something new.

: ...

: So maybe you should reconsider and enter the contest.



Another event after that one.



: I guess I really don't have any friends...



: Yeah...sad but true.

: Well...Kazuki didn't do well either.



: Anyway, we thought we'd hang out with you. Us guys gotta stick together, right?

: Heh, right.

: I just wanted... A little box of candy from someone...

: Kiku, I bet...

: Ahh...

: Heh!



Good job, Kiku.

: Wow, really? You got burned.

: If you say so...

: Hehe...

: Thanks, guys. I feel better already.

: Well, you know what your problem is, right?

: Er, no.

: What is it?



: I don't think that's a fair claim.

: But it's true.



Ah, a new super training to work towards... Well, we need 7 or 8 F's before we get sent back for failing in school, so have room.

...My standards for Goon keep dropping. Kind of depressing.

: Only on school days, though. I have better things to do with my time outside of class.

Translation - We have time to rest on weekends. Schedule for this should be lighter than Kiku's fashion training.



: Thanks.

: 'Course. That's what we're here for ...right?

: Right...



Well, we'll need to start that. Rest of the week's science goes well and then we have another event on Saturday. Though does it count as a new event if it's just the continuation of another event?



: Hey Kasumi, have you changed your mind about the writing contest?

: Well, I wrote something... I haven't decided yet if I want to send it in or not.

: What do you have to lose?

: I don't think it's any good.

: Can I read it?

: You shouldn't waste your time on it.

We're already wasting our time on everything, let's waste some more.

: It's okay, I want to know what your wrote about.

: Alright...



Poor Lit kicks in here.

: Well...?

: Uh... it's good.



: Well, it's a paper...

: If you weren't really interested, then why did you offer to read it?

: Well I guess... I guess I just don't understand it.



That's a tough essay to comprehend. You'd need something like B Lit to get the good result of that event, possibly A. We're not going to get that one for a while.



Training commences.



Mission success.




Jerk.

There are no critical successes for these training events. Or I've never seen one. Could be either, really. March 5 has another event.



: Goon, you know what time it is, right?

: Huh? Well... early afternoon, right?

: No, no, no! I mean, do you know what holiday it almost is?

: Um...

: Don't tell me you forgot!



: Oh... right...




Ha ha.

: Ahh, so romantic.



: No... I didn't.

: Well... then I guess it doesn't matter... We'll both be loners this year, Goon... no worries here. I wasn't looking forward to seeing you have a date for the holiday or anything... ah well.



Well, at least we can hang out with some people on Monday.



: I made myself the BEST lunch today! It's got everything I like!

: Oh?

: What did you make?



: Ugh, those fries are so bad for you... you should take better care of yourself, sweetie.

: Who cares! They're the most delicious thing in the whole world!

: It's so messy. Kind of...dirty.

: That's half of the fun!



: Can I try some, Alice?

: Sure!

Game: Alice hands you her lunch box. You try a few of the fries.

: Hey, this is delicious!



: I'll have to get the recipe...

: Hey, what's that gooey stuff all over your rice, Naoko?



Game: Alice leans in for a closer look.

: Hmm- UGH! That smells horrible! Eww, so gross.

I had a chance to try natto once. I did not try it.

: Heehee, you get used to it.

: I never really liked natto...

: It's fermented soybeans, Alice. Very good for you.



: Just try some.

: It looks slimy enough to clog my throat... looks like a nasty glob of something or other.

: Oh silly, just try a few beans. It's not really that bad.

: Yes, just try it.



: Sure, I'll have a mouthful.

Game: You eat a mouthful of natto but can't conceal the look of displeasure from your face.

: You're so brave, Goon!

Cowardice is not one of our quirks. I mean, neither is Bravery but...

: Blegh, that was hard to swallow...



: Good luck...

: Alright, here I go...

Game: Alice cautiously takes a bit of natto. She doesn't seem too happy...

: Well?



: Heh, I guess it does have a weird texture...

: I can't say I want to have it again, but I'm glad I tried it.

: That's okay. It's not for everyone.

: Yeah, at least you tried it.



Same.



We're one point off getting the next level of Luck quirk. We'll get the next point of XP off Hiroshi's super training so that's pretty soon.

Right, I'll get those relationships.

Characters:
  • Alice - Romantic feelings are developing. Also a good friend.
  • Aya - Absolutely no interest. Doesn't even consider us a friend. Last time we spoke to her, she laughed at our floral shampoo.
  • Hiroshi- Not interested. Not much of a friend. This is likely because we're on good terms with Alice.
  • Kasumi - Not really interested. Not a friend, but she doesn't dislike us. Satsuko worries about us when we talk to Kasumi...
  • Kazuki - Not really interested. Friendship is underdeveloped.
  • Kiku - No feelings for us. Not much of a friend. Made fun of Hiroshi so she's still great.
  • Naoko - Feelings are developing in the right direction. Friendship also in the right direction. Naoko is friendly, so this isn't too surprising.
  • Rena - Doesn't think of us romantically. Friendship hasn't really gone anywhere. Might be our awful Lit hurting our relationship here.
  • Suzu - No romantic interest. Not convinced of our capabilities. A fair assessment and she doesn't think of us as a close friend.
  • Yui - No romantic interest. Not much of a friend.
Man, I wish I had a sliding scale or actual names for these values.

Oh well. If you have any suggestions for where we should put our points, speak up.

Personally, I wouldn't go for quirks now since we need the raw stats more so, but it's still an option.

Unless you want to go for the Charmed quirk which is 15 points. That's less than expected but it's still a bit too much for us to go for right now. Encyclopaedic is also out for costing 20 points.

So we can go Determined at 10, Attentive at 8 or vital stats. 4 points for a point of Intelligence/Fitness, 2 for Creativity and 6 for Charm.

Not sure how Art is holding up okay when Creativity is our one vital statistic at 1.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Well if we get a shitton of exp for reaching an end, I guess there's no point in hoarding it for one quirk. Though we got two super trainings this cycle so at least things should be easier next loop, right?

I guess shove it into our vital stats, since we probably need high stats to even clear this route.

Rhiodise
Feb 22, 2013
The sad part is that those two super trainings are pretty much gimmes for your first run and aren't in anything that's gonna help your important school related stats :v: .
I agree though, let's dump some points into our Creativity so we can actually try to be a real art jerk in this art run.

Regallion
Nov 11, 2012

2 in creativity 1 in fitness

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Yeah, Suave Chat and Uber Fashion are not particularly useful. It's probably Meditate as the strongest. I'd like to get Robotics and Cram Session at some point since Lit and Science are the hardest stats to keep up. The mental stamina drain on those two is immense and it makes it difficult to keep them both up.

In other news, I should have some more free time in the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully I can avoid taking 2 weeks to get out an update.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012



Right, we're back here again. One week from exams and that Lit stat is looking perilously low.

...Well, we can afford 8 F's before we get sent back, I think. We've only got 7 sets of exams left. If we focus on Science, maybe we'll make it through. Maybe not.



Whatever happens, we'll still have a lot of events.

: Why don't you believe me?!

: Oh come on, Rena...

: But it's true! I wouldn't lie to you!

: I wonder what's up...



: Oh, hey Naoko. What's going on with those two?



Uh...

: Sure, what is it?



Up and at 'em, Goon.

: Wow, can I try it?

: Ugh, what's that smell!

: Stinky!

: That's disgusting...



: I see nothing wrong with the smell.

: Hey, I'm just being honest.



: I was just being honest, too.

: Anyway, what were you and Rena arguing about, Hiroshi?

: Ugh...

: Look!



: She thinks she invented some kind of love potion...

Well, this is getting dangerous.

: How does it work?

: Whoever drinks it will fall in love with the first thing they see!

: First "thing"?




: Hmm...

: Oh come on! It's just grape soda!

Game: Hiroshi grabs the bottle from Rena.



: Do you really want to take the chance, Hiroshi?

: Here, I'll prove it.

: Be careful! Close your eyes when you drink it and keep them closed until you're ready to look at whatever you want to fall in love with!

: Here it goes...

: WAIT!!!



: Hey, what the?! What's the matter with you?

: I just saved your life! I saw you had some weird bubbly thing in your hand from Rena so I knew I had to stop you from whatever crazy thing she thought up!

: I already drank it, you dummy!



: It's nothing bad, Aya. It's a love potion.



: So Hiroshi, what was the first thing you saw?

: I don't know. Aya ran into me just as I was opening my eyes.

: Hahaha!

: But it doesn't matter, because this stupid thing won't work anyway. Here you go.

Game: Hiroshi tosses the bottle to Rena as he leaves. Aya still can't seem to stop laughing.

: It does too work...



: Hiroshi must have seen something, Rena.

: You really think so?

: Sure. Just keep your eyes peeled and figure out what he fell in love with.



Goon felt awfully chatty there. After that is White Day.



: Nobody got me a Valentine's present! What was I supposed to do?

: Um...



: Why? If I didn't get a Valentine's gift it's obvious nobody likes me.

: Oh...

: Oh... :(

: Oh, Goon! It's all my fault!

: What?

: I'm supposed to be guiding you and... and I failed! I'm so sorry you didn't get a good White Day!

: Calm down, Satsuko, it's alright...

: No, no it's not! Can't you see? It's not right at all...



It's perfectly possible to still get an ending when if you don't get a Valentine's day gift the first time. It's a little more concerning if you get nothing in second year though. For us? Probably a bad sign.



We could've used a bit more time to study but events like us, apparently.



Eep. Tests go off without any complications, so that went alright, at least. On Sunday, an event chain finishes off.




: Hey Rena, how are you doing?



: I knew it would.



: Huh? What happened then?

: Just look at what Hiroshi's eating!

: Ugh, I can smell it from here. It must be that blue cheese octopus casserole...



I'm... sorry, Hiroshi.

On a brighter note, that's the last point of XP we need for Lucky!



:toot:




Odd.

: Oh dear, isn't it interesting how we make friends throughout our lives? I knew high school would be a really interesting time for me, but I never knew I would make such strong bonds with people.

Ah, I know what this is.

: Rena and Alice do seem like good friends.

: Oh my, they're the absolute best.



: I can only hope that we have more opportunities to get to know each other. Maybe I'll even make you your very own homemade bento one day, teehee!



I'll defer the explanation to the end of the update but the gist of this is that Naoko is starting to fall for us. Odd, but we have been seeing a lot of her.



The phone call took up a day so technically this is our second event of the week.

Maybe I should walk with her.

: Hey, Yui!

: Hmm?

: Hey, want some company?

: No thank you...

: Come on, isn't it lonely to walk by yourself all the time?



The second option sounds like it'd advance the event but it also feels like the creeper option. So...

: Okay, if you insist.




We're just finishing up Hiroshi's super training. It's due this weekend but we were pretty much done with it before the exams.



Ah, right.



It's not a F. Science was D, Art was C, Sports was C. I suspect we were pretty close to getting a B in Art. We were at 28 Art and 20 Sports.

We finish up Hiroshi's training.



Today is when he's going to evaluate how well I did at learning, right?

: What's going on?

: So. About the whole... talking to people thing.




: Well, I tried my hardest.

: I'd say. It showed.



Brief fade to black, then...



: Satsuko, what are you doing here?!

: Don't worry, I'll be quick.





: This new chat activity is leaps and bounds better than the old one you had, so you can use it from now on to get better results than you had before.

Standing in the middle of a field and waiting for someone to come and swoon over you is a little ineffective, I agree.

: Oh... and be nice to Hiroshi for a while, at least, will you? Since he helped you out well on this. It's the least you could do.



On Monday, we get another event. You know, I kind of hope the rate of events slows down in the holidays. Otherwise, I'll take like 50 updates to finish this loop. This is update 18, by the way.



: Huh?



: Oh, Alice...



: Oh? What is it?

: It's really hard. Clear your mind of everything first, okay?

We're done for. Goon can't answer something that hard.

: Okay...

: Okay, here we go.



: Your phone number.

Any dumbass can shoot down Aya, and we're already cool. :cool:

: Hey, great answer! It just so happens I'm offering a special deal on my number right now!

: Oh? What is it?



: Err...

: Heh, I'm only kidding.



: Sure.

I need to remember to start calling people. We've had Naoko's number for quite a bit, actually.





So yeah, two ways to get someone's phone number. Either by them calling you, or by them giving you their number. We got Naoko's through the first method but Alice's here is the second method. We can still see the event where someone gives you their phone number even if we have them, so we'll see Naoko's eventually.

Wednesday pops up.



: Oh... well...

: You shou... should not disregard artwork.

: Oh?



: Alright. I'll try to stop and study more.

This was originally an Art run, but the decay for the Intelligence based stuff is worse than I remember. I guess that sort of hurt our time on Art.

: Good...



oh come on, we already had an event yesterday

....

Argh! I knew I forgot something this morning...



: Hello, Rena...



: Oh, it's nothing.

: Come on, what's wrong? You can always tell us.

: I just forgot my lunch, that's all.

: Goon!

: Aww, that's sad... here, take some of mine!

: You should eat, Rena. He can have the rest of mine.

We've became strangely popular, considering what kind of Goon we are.

: But you barely ate any of your lunch, Naoko.

: Oh, I always have a huge breakfast, so I never eat all of my lunch anyway.



: I wouldn't feel right eating all of your lunch...

: How about I give him half of mine and you give him half of yours, Naoko?

: It's fine, I insist!




: Or faint from hunger...

: Well, I suppose I could have a little more bread...

Game: Naoko reaches into her bag and pulls out a glass jar filled with a translucent green substance.



: Hmm, interesting...



: What is it?

: Hehe, I don't want to ruin the surprise! Here, taste it!



: Here goes nothing...

Game: She spreads some jam on a cracker and offers it to you. You try your best to enjoy it, but something about it is strangely unpleasant to you.

Not sure if this event can be affected or we're always going to dislike the jam.



: Eh, it's alright I guess...

: Oh? You don't like it?

: I guess I'm just not that crazy about the flavour.

: Too sweet? Not sweet enough?

: No, it's nothing like that...



: Whatever fruit is used just doesn't have a pleasing flavour...

: Oh...

: What kind of jam is this, anyway?

: It's green papaya jam from the west coast of Africa.



: Well, I'm glad I was able to try something so unique, though.

: Me too.

Rena, when did you have the jam...?



Let's finish up the week.



: So, Goon.

: Yes?

: You're pretty far into high school, you know. It's close to a break, after all. You'll be starting year two.



: Not yet...

: Well, why not? Being unsure about yourself is just downright unacceptable at this point of life, Goon. You need to make the most of every moment.



Time passes by quickly in Shira Oka... when you're playing without recording or writing these up. Makes you realise how many events are in a normal loop.

: You need to focus on your goals or before you know it, all of high school will have entirely passed by and you'll be left nowhere...

This is an early loop. The only way of getting an ending is commiting HARD and even then, we're probably not pulling an ending off this loop. But I think our chances in the next loop are pretty good and loop 4 will be much easier.



: Oh, that won't happen.

: We can only hope... I always worry. Oh well. I guess we should just finish up break and go from there.



Mmm.

It's a nice point to end things but let me just explain something first.

Naoko just called us up and spoke to us about how she appreciates us. So I'll check with Satsuko about Naoko's opinion of us.

Feelings developing in the right direction and so is our friendship.

Uh, that's the same as last time... But the call means that we've passed some certain value of affection. This is just the first out of a possible four. When someone's feelings for you hit a certain point, you might get a call like this from them.

This is the first one, so it doesn't mean much aside from "yo, they're into you". The second call is more significant. There's a good chance you'll get a Valentine's day gift at that tier of affection. Each character has their own speeches for these. We won't see everything, but we'll see most of these. The third call is basically a good sign you're going into their ending and if you get the fourth, you don't need to worry about getting them to like you. The fourth call is pretty difficult from my memories and I can only recall getting one from Kazuki. So they're might not actually be that many for everyone.

Oh well. Part of this LP is trying to figure out stuff and write it down somewhere for reference. We'll see what happens.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


I guess we'll just hope for the best. If we can get more XP or super studies this loop will still go well.

I guess Rena's route should be next since you get so much good poo poo from it.

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

There's a lot of neat mechanics in this game, but it seems to be just on the side of tedious, doesn't help the art really is amateurish.

Rhiodise
Feb 22, 2013
I've been playing this game a little more recently and it really can not be overstated how irritating Satsuko is, and I really feel like that doesn't help the tedium at all. It's already coming across in the updates but man, she just seems to get worse as time goes on. Maybe it's due to the fact she just never lets up on anything you do even when you have no choice in the matter. On the plus side of things, getting lucky is a big help towards not failing every training and spiraling into a stress based despair so the next run is looking up when this one inevitably fails :v:.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
Haven't noticed any lurking deaths for us yet, which bodes well I suppose.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Over the past 3 days, one of my friends decided to start playing this game. He's already up to Loop 4 and he got an ending in Loop 3.

Makes this feel a touch slow. Well, at least I can take the fact that a Loop 3 ending is totally possible from that. We've nearly gone through a year. Next update covers April. The loops start from May 2nd.

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012



Here we are at the start of April. On Sunday, we get a call from Alice.



: I really just wanted to call and say that I've really enjoyed hanging out with you lately.

: Oh yeah?

: Teehee, I have! You're a pretty fun guy, you know!



: Am I like that?

: Not at all! You have a great sense of humor, and you're interested in a lot of cool things. I'm really glad we became friends. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Sorry for the weird phone call, teehee.



Alice's affection call at the start of the 2nd year, huh? That's not too bad. Pretty impressive for Loop 2, actually. Not sure we can make much of this though.

We go through a week of art and then I decide to finally call Alice.

: Hello?



We're just chatting today. I'll do the date later.

: Hey Alice! What's up?

: Oh, hey Goon! Hey, guess what?

: Hmm?

: The jazz CD I ordered just arrived!

: Oh, cool! What kind of jazz is it?

: It's all piano stuff.

: That's the kind of jazz you play, right?

: Yup! I'll have to study this CD intently...

: How do you do that?

: I listen to it over and over again and try to mimic what they're doing. Then I try to come up with a my own improv solos based on the song.

Speaking of music, this game does have music. I just have no clue how to tear it apart and I don't really feel like recording the music. I might do it later. Some of the songs are pretty good.

: Wow, that's pretty intense.



: It's cool that you have something you're really into.

I don't like having talking heads go on for forever but there's not much of note in this conversation. Aside from Alice liking Jazz CD's.

: I really couldn't imagine my life without music... I'd be a different person entirely!

: That's not good!

I love thinking about that sort of theoretical but it's just a thought experiment. We can't go back in time.

: I really hope I can be one of the best one day. I want people from all over to say "Man, that Alice could really play!"

: That's a good goal to shoot for.

: Hopefully I'll get into a good music school...

: Well, with the commitment you put in, how could you not?



: Just do your best!

: I will!

: Then you'll do fine, I'm sure.

: Well, I'm going to go put this CD in. I can't wait to hear it!

: Hope you enjoy it!

: Thanks, I will!

: Talk to you later!



Yeah, each character has their own line for the start/end of a phone call. I'll just use them as start/stop points for those events.

...Man, that call took like a minute of real life time. That's about on par with the average event.



I may have gone into this week a bit too tired for good results.

I call up Naoko.

: Hi!



We're scheduling a date. We're going to be doing a good deal of this through out the loops. Dates aren't particularly interesting but they're good for building affection.

: Oh, hello, Goon. What do you need right now?

: Well, I was wondering if I could ask you on a date.

We'll see if Goon's so bold with others eventually.

I keep saying "eventually", huh?

: Oh my, I see. Where did you want to go, then?



Alright, from here, we pick the date location. Different characters like different things (Aya likes the Amusement Park, Yui likes the Park, etc) and most locations have different places or things to go to. We're heading to the shopping mall this time. We've seen the beach, with Naoko, actually.



After that we pick a date. If we pick a day they're not free, we get another shot of picking a day. If we don't get a day after that, then the attempt to organise a date just fails and nothing gets done. Luckily a phone call doesn't take a day.

I'll be organising these dates on weekends since I think they're more likely to accept. Not sure if it's true or just a placebo thing, but it makes sense to me. We put it on the 22nd, just after this week.



We get a point of XP the first time we organise a date with a character. 10 dateable characters, so that's 10 XP to be grabbed. We'll bug Alice later.

: Okay, I wrote it down on my calendar.

: As did I. We're going to have so much fun!

: I sure hope we do.




It might be a bit harder to see but our second perk now has a gold star on it. We're officially Lucky now. 20 points to being Blessed which we should do eventually. Just not now. Maybe after an ending or two would be a good time to go for it, I think.

The day before our 2nd year of school starts, we run into Kazuki and Rena. Much better than running into Aya.



: No problem. I'm always happy to help out when I can!

: Thanks again.

: What's going on, you two?



Now there's a hobby I can appreciate.



: Oh, interesting.

: I'm happy you were able to get them to me so quickly, Rena.

: Of course. It's no problem, Kazuki, any time.

: Well, er, I feel bad asking favours from someone I don't know very well.

But you asked us for help with your cooking...?

: You know me perfectly well!

: I do?



Right. Sure.

: I suppose.

: And I'm friends with your sister. That makes us practically family.

: If you say so...

: I hope this book helps you with your project.

: I'm sure it will.



: No, it's okay. I, er, well, I get a lot of time to myself a...after I finish my work in the shop. I was going to do it as a in-between of sorts.

: How is work going in the shop, anyway?

: Er, great. I mean... it's giving me nice credit for school. I do want to do something involving mechanics when I leave school.

: Well, then this is good practice, I'd imagine.

: Er, yeah. I have to keep up good marks or else my parents won't let me keep working there. I know Naoko will enforce that for sure.

Ah, the mythical "parents in a dating sim".

: Heehee.



: And what does she plan to do, then?

: Oh, she's going to be a space explorer.



Mm.

: She's going to go visit Neptune!

: But Neptune is made up of gasses. It's all covered in helium... and hydrogen.

: That's what the spacesuit is for!

: Spacesuit or not... it's quite silly. I don't think... er, well, not currently, anyway... that a person could ever survive there.

: Oh well... she has her whole life to realise her dream.

: If it doesn't destroy her first, heh... she claims she's going to drop out.



we're going to see that every loop, guys

be glad i'll cut most of that out the next time we see it

School starts up and we dive back into events.



Aya + Science lab. Yep, I've run into this event too many times...

: Uh... hey, Aya...

: Enough chit-chat, I need to borrow your notes from the last science lab! Quick!

Game: Before you can answer, she grabs your notebook and starts flipping through the pages.



: Uh...

: Don't you ever take notes in class?



: HEY!



Yeah, we're getting this event because we're bad at Science/Math. So bad, in fact, that we get compared to Aya.

: Uh, okay...

: You too, Aya.



Mercifully short, but I'm not going to bother typing that out again. We'll see it a few more times, trust me. :suicide:



I'm impressed you aren't, Goon...

Game: When class is over, you stop to chat with her in the hallway.



: Huh? Well, I didn't sleep well last night.

: I could tell.. what's wrong?

: I had an unusually detailed nightmare... I watched as all my friends and family were being tormented right in front of me. *sigh* It was so terrible and I couldn't do anything to stop it. And they all hated me for not helping them! Argh, it was just so terrible!

: I see...



Rena is an especially good comedy option. If we see this event again, we're picking that option.

: Naoko's pretty smart. Let's ask her.

: Oh, that's a good idea... Naoko!



: Alice has been having nightmares.

: Hmm... have you been stressed lately?

: Why?

: The mind can do some odd things when you're under stress.

: I see...



: That sounds wonderful... thank you!



Wonder if I can get a point of XP by getting Rena to play therapist...



I didn't think we had enough energy to do anything this week without getting sick, so we napped in class. Not particularly effective, but it won't kill you.



So, uh, our date.



I don't see her anywhere... did she go home already?

drat! Maybe if I wasn't lazy I would have gotten here on time.


Looks like this is linked to our "Lazy" trait. If we get Determined at 10 XP, we might avoid this.



oh so you did wait for us

: Oh my, there you are, Goon! *pant* I'm so sorry!

Did she just get here, too?



This is Naoko telling us that we have the equivalent of an F for Fashion. This is going to hurt any positive outcomes from this date, HARD. Until we can manage something resembling an actual Fashion stat, we're probably not going to do too many dates. I'll still take Alice out for one, though.

: It's okay. I just got here, too.

Er, wrong line of conversion...?



The shopping mall splits into three date locations. Bookstore, Electronics and Clothing. We're heading off the to the Clothing Store since Naoko is into Fashion. Simple enough.



: Yeah, it's really nice.

Maybe you could buy something and improve your Fashion.

: Sometimes it's nice to find these smaller shops rather than go to the big department stores.

: Yeah...



...Still an improvement on Goon's current Fashion, even if Aya would laugh at us.

: Nah, it's fine. Hey, that's a cool broach you're wearing. Did you buy it here?

: Oh, I bought this in South Africa. My family was there for quite a while...

: Really? How cool!

: It's nice to go and see places... but anyway, this store sells some pretty cool stuff.



: They must be nice.

: The scarves they sell here are made out of the wool from Alpacas.

: Alpacas?

: They're sort of like llamas... they come from South America.



They're so doofy looking. I like them.

: I bet the wool is very soft.



: You never know, though. It might decide to snow one day, and I want to be prepared!

Sounds like something Rena would say.

: That's interesting.



: Yes, it was really creative.

: Ooh, what was it?

: It was a card made out of macaroni one of my little cousins made me.

: How cute!

: It was really was... too bad she cooked the pasta first. The card was all mushy when she gave it to me...

: Aww, well it's the thought that counts!



That went well. If you screw up a text prompt, sometimes they can walk off in a huff. It's not a good thing but since this finished up on a friendly note, we're fine. Probably not too much of a benefit because of our low Fashion, but it wasn't a drop.

We run into Yui on Monday.



: ...



Maybe I should go investigate.

: ...

: Hey Yui, what's going on?

: Oh... not much.

: It's really nice out today, huh?

: Yes... it can be nice out here...

: Yeah, definitely can't complain about the weather in Shira Oka.



: Yeah, that IS kind of weird.

: Winter is... kind of nice.

: Oh? You remember winter here?

: It was pretty...

: I bet snow is pretty, but everything dies.



Er...

: I guess that's the cycle of things, huh?

: Yes... the cycle... has to happen.

: It's kind of weird that our little town is a cog in the wheel.

: Hmm... I have to go. Take care.

: Later.

It's strange that she talked about winter. Nobody else really seems to remember it, let alone miss it. But Yui's particularly sensitive. I wonder why something like the memory of winter is so important to her...



Winter just doesn't happen in Shira Oka, huh?




: I guess...

: I see...

: It is nice... to be in school...

: You aren't happy to have a break, Yui?



: What are you doing, Yui?

: I... do not know... Perhaps I... will just rest...

: That sounds nice. I'm going to catch up on some work, and go shopping with Aya... You're welcome to come with us if you want, Yui.

: Oh, no thank you... but enjoy your week...



We woke up in Golden Week, on the Thursday. So that's basically a year passed. Loop 2 started in Update 5, this is Update 19. Sure took a while, huh?

Oh, and I did remember to put those last few points of XP into Creativity. We're up to 3 Creativity now, from 1.

We're going to need to pick something to pump up again.

Determined at 10 points.
Attentive at 8 points.
Intelligence or Fitness at 4 points.
Creativity or Charm at 6 points.

If you guys are getting tired of picking what to develop, you can just chuck it to me. The only options that really screw us over are the ones I've already vetoed.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


So essentially quirks go debuff-neutral-buff? So having determined wouldn't let us complete that school cleaning, but it would stop us from like being late on dates?

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

It's the sort of the thing you make up your own mind on but I read it as Incompetent > Competent > Hyper competent.

Like Luck is Jinxed > Lucky > Blessed.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Can I vote to increase our stats as you see fit and then put off points for determined

Attentive can probably wait.

probably.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
So... never winter, but sometimes Christmas?

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

Yeah, there's no Winter but they still celebrate Christmas. I mean, we celebrate Christmas in Australia during the summer, so it's not that weird. I always feel sorry for the poor bloke stuck in the suit.

Buried alive
Jun 8, 2009
^^^ December 25th is December 25th no matter what season you're in.

Blastinus
Feb 28, 2010

Time to try my luck
:rolldice:
Crap.
I think we should invest points into Fitness. Goon's gotta get himself swole.

Out of curiosity, how many cycles do you plan on doing?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Mysticblade
Oct 22, 2012

We'll be putting a point into Fitness, yeah. DmitriX wanted 2 Creativity, 1 Fitness and we've gotten the first part.

I'm going to try and do all the endings so that's about 10 different endings. We're probably going to fail this loop unless we're very lucky, so we'll probably get our first ending in Cycles 3 or 4. So we'll probably get to 13 or 14 if I do them all. To get the Golden Ending, you need to do all the other routes first. :suicide:

Luckily, there'll be a ton of repeated events that I'll reduce to "yeah, that thing happened, moving on" in the next few cycles. Like the back to school events.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply