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Machi ("街") is a Sound Novel published by Chunsoft for the Sega Saturn on January 22, 1998. It was the third in Chunsoft's Sound Novel series, following Otogirisou (a haunted house horror story) and Kamaitachi no Yoru (a closed-circle murder mystery), both on the Super Famicom. The latter was recently heavily localized and published on iOS as Banshee's Last Cry, for those of you who want to try some more classic Japanese games. Machi is a big departure from the previous two games in both graphics and structure. Graphically, it no longer uses the silhouette-on-drawn-backgrounds style used previously. Instead, it's mainly told through still photographs - more than 6000 of them - featuring real actors and locations. There's also the occasional short video clip. Structurally, the previous two games were highly branching CYOA stories taking place in small environments and with a small cast of characters. Machi is very linear and contains eight (or more!) completely different stories featuring different genres and styles in one game, with a cast of over 400 characters. To make up for the linearity, it has dozens and dozens of elaborate "bad endings" the player has to avoid. These also become the game's collectible element - reaching a certain number of them unlocks hidden story stuff. We want to see as many of them as we can. The game features eight main characters the player can choose from and switch at any time. Each of them has their own story, all taking place within the same 5 days around the area of Shibuya, Tokyo. The characters do bump into each other and influence each other's stories, but for the most part they are unrelated. The game had a PlayStation rerelease almost exactly a year after its Saturn debut, under the expanded title Sound Novel Evolution 3: Machi: Unmei no Kousaten ("Crossing of Fate"), which is the version we'll be playing. It was released along with Sound Novel Evolution versions of Otogirisou and Kamaitachi no Yoru which were full remakes as opposed to the port-with-quality-of-life-enhancements that Machi is. Years later a PSP port was also released (with the subtitle Special Edition). It contained two extra scenarios with no interactivity or visuals, but the graphics were trimmed to fit the PSP's widescreen display and references to drug use were cut. The PS1 version remains the best way to play this game, in my opinion. About the LP As with most visual novel LPs, I will be polling the audience for most of the choices. My comments are always in italics. This game has an insane amount of Japan-specific content in it and I plan to footnote heavily for those less familiar with the country and culture. Accordingly, my translation is not particularly localized (which doesn't mean it's literal, because that's a different matter entirely). Here's an example: Shibuya is one of Tokyo's largest districts, but the word is often used to specifically refer to the commercial, business and entertainment area directly surrounding Shibuya Station. It's one of Tokyo's trendiest and busiest areas, frequented by hundreds of thousands of people daily. It has skyscrapers housing many Japanese and international high-profile companies, an insane amount of shopping opportunities, countless restaurants and music venues and even its own small red-light district. The game features a Tips System. Certain words in the text are highlighted, and the player can choose them to get a screen of footnote-like information about them. The game distinguishes between two types of Tips: blue tips (marked in this LP with as underlined italics) are about general real-world stuff. Green tips (marked underlined and bold) are about characters and things related to the game's story. The tips will be shown as quotes under the paragraph they're linked from. There's also a Zapping System marked in this LP with a plain underline. I'll explain all about it when we get to it. True to its Sound Novel brand, this game has lots and lots of music in it, composed by three different composers. Not much of it is on Youtube and the long out of print soundtrack costs at least $60 used. So instead, I bought the PSP version of the game which includes a jukebox feature, and I'll record the tracks from there. The game also plays many sound effects to enhance the text, which I'll simply be describing. I’d like to thank everyone who helps me proofread and edit. The list currently includes Waffleman, VenBright, Fedule and Nidoking. I’ll update it right here whenever more people contribute. TOC Introduction October 11 - 10:00am - Masami Ushio October 11 - 10:00am - Keima Amemiya October 11 - 10:00am - Fumiyasu Ichikawa October 11 - 10:00am - Masashi Shinoda October 11 - 10:00am - Ryuji Takamine October 11 - 10:00am - Yohei Tobisawa October 11 - 10:00am - Yoshiko Hosoi October 11 - 10:00am - Jintaro Umabe October 11 - 10:05am - Yoshiko Hosoi October 11 - 11:05am - Yoshiko Hosoi October 11 - 11:20am - Yoshiko Hosoi October 11 - 11:32am - Yoshiko Hosoi October 11 - 11:36am - Yoshiko Hosoi orenronen fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Apr 18, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 04:43
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(Reserved)
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Jan 20, 2016 04:43
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 Let's first get in the mood by watching the opening movie, which you can do by clicking on this carefully-chosen still from it:   The title screen provides three options: Starting the game, Help (and settings), and "Special Information", which means trailers for other Chunsoft Sound Novels. There's nothing in the else I didn't already explain in the OP, so let's dive right in.   One and OnlyHere's the game's hub screen, showing the current story date (October 11) and letting us either choose a protagonist or display a story chart. We'll take a look at the latter option once we actually do something, but first let's go over the available protagonists one by one. The game shows us the character's name, age and job, as well as a title for their story. I'm also including a useful information table from the documentation.  “The Weight of Thinning Down” Yoshiko Hosoi, 20 years old, freeter (Played by Saori Itou) Name: Yoshiko Hosoi Sex: F Age: 20 Sign: Leo Height: 158cm Blood Type: B Hobby: Eating big Skill: Eating big Freeters are young people without a career (housewives excluded), who usually live with their parents and make their money from unskilled part-time jobs they change often. It was considered to be a major societal problem in the ‘90s. The word is a portmanteau of English “free” and German “arbeiter”, in its Japanese meaning of “part-time job”.  “The Wrong Man / Ushi” Masami Ushio, 36 years old, ex-Yakuza (Played by Masaru Matsuda) Name: Masami Ushio Sex: M Age: 36 Sign: Taurus Height: 186cm Blood Type: B Hobby: Alcohol Skill: Fighting  “The Calendar Society” Masashi Shinoda, 21 years old, college student (Played by Kousa Kusano) Name: Masashi Shinoda Sex: M Age: 21 Sign: Scorpio Height: 177cm Blood Type: AB Hobby: Pachinko, Taking walks Skill: None  “I’m Late” Yohei Tobisawa, 18 years old, high school student (Played by Keiichi Nakada) Name: Yohei Tobisawa Sex: M Age: 18 Sign: Gemini Height: 182cm Blood Type: O Hobby: Picking up girls Skill: Picking up girls  “Run, Otaku Policeman!” Keima Amemiya, 25 years old, police officer (Played by Masakazu Arai) Name: Keima Amemiya Sex: M Age: 25 Sign: Libra Height: 172cm Blood Type: O Hobby: Digital stuff like computer games Skill: Yo-yo champion  “Schrödinger’s Hand” Fumiyasu Ichikawa, 38 years old, TV writer (Played by Dankan) Name: Fumiyasu Ichikawa Sex: M Age: 38 Sign: Capricorn Height: 176cm Blood Type: AB Hobby: Watching movies (though currently it’s mostly for work) Skill: Drawing  “The Lost Foreign Legionnaire” Ryuji Takamine, 25 years old, mercenary soldier (Played by Yuuichi Masuda) Name: Ryuji Takamine Sex: M Age: 25 Sign: Libra Height: 183cm Blood Type: A Hobby: Reading Skill: Playing the tenor sax  “The Wrong Man / Uma” Jintaro Umabe, 36 years old, actor (Played by Masaru Matsuda) Name: Jintaro Umabe Sex: M Age: 36 Sign: Sagittarius Height: 185cm Blood Type: A Hobby: Eating sweets while walking Skill: Mimicking movie stars We can choose any of them, and usually I'd put up a vote now. Since we want some actual content, though, let's see what the default choice leads to. This is ex-Yakuza Masami Ushio, who is indeed the default despite not being the leftmost character on the screen.  When starting the game for the first time we're asked for a difficulty level. HARD is the same as the original Saturn version. NORMAL and EASY dumb the game down in various ways, so we'll ignore them.
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Jan 20, 2016 04:44
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 Excited chime!A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL  Higher pitched excited chime!A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL TO AYA TAKAMINE. THIS IS TODAY’S BIG PROBLEM TO SOLVE.  Masami Ushio quit the Yakuza six months ago. He’s not a Kanbu anymore, nor a candidate for the position of the head boss. But right now, he’s feeling just about as anxious as he did when going on a raid all by himself. Kanbu are the highest ranking officers in a Yakuza clan, second only to the Kumicho, the organization’s leader. Tip posted:"Yakuza" His current target isn’t some rival Yakuza soldier. It’s Aya Takamine, who works at the “Dougenzaka Beau d’Abord” jewellery store. A knife or a handgun can’t help him now. His one and only weapon are words. This is my best guess for the jewellery store name, which is only shown in transliterated Japanese in the game text. I did consult an actual French speaker about it. Dougenzaka is one of Shibuya's major shopping streets. Tip posted:"Aya Takamine"  The Wrong MenThe signal turned green, and Ushio stepped forward, full of energy.  His chosen strategy was drilled well into his mind. He’ll make her choose her favourite jewel, buy it and then give it to her and say, “MARRY ME” in the manliest voice he can muster. That’s all there is to it. He thought it wasn’t a bad plan for someone as boorish as himself. They had already expressed their feelings for each other when they shared a meal a while ago, after all. No need to worry. Everything’s going to go as planned.  BumpHe ran into a man’s shoulder. “Oops, ‘scuse me,” he apologized, but the man ignored him and kept walking. Tip posted:"A Man"  “Hey, buddy, what the hell?” Ushio grabbed the man’s shoulder. “You really got nothin’ to say after I apologized so nicely?!” The man brushed Ushio’s hand off.  “Hey!” Ushio poked the man’s shoulder lightly.  Music halts CrashThe man suddenly collapsed on the road. “EEEEEEK!”, a woman’s shriek soon followed, as well as the attention of various passerbys.  “What do you think you’re doing?”, said a young man in a coat who suddenly appeared and grabbed Ushio’s arm. “I’m not doin’ anything. This guy just fell down on his own. Let go or you’ll regret it.” “On his own? That makes no sense. What did you do to him?!” “I didn’t do nothing! I got important places to be, let me go!” Tip posted:Young Man in a Coat  CrashThe moment Ushio pushed the young man’s hand away, the mobile computer he’d been holding fell down and broke. The Wrong Men“Ahhhh! My Mini-Computeeeeeeeeer!! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!”  Turns out the young man was some kind of weird police officer. “W-Why did this have to happen…?!”, thought Ushio. Going straight is harder than it looks…  THE END Bad End No. 1 Game posted:Hint Yes, our first bad end. And we didn't even get to do anything! At this point the game lets us save and dumps us back into the hub screen.  Let's see what the story chart is about.  Simple enough. We can see where we are in each character's timeline and can jump to any point. Current Bad Endings are also marked. And now it's up to you. We can do as the game suggests and go to Amemiya's story to try and resolve this bad ending, or we can go read any other character's story. Every vote counts!
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Jan 20, 2016 04:44
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I think the audience will be more able to relate to Amemiya, so let's go with him!
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Jan 20, 2016 04:50
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I wanna see what Ryuji is up to, he looks interesting.
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Jan 20, 2016 05:04
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Amemiya seems like the kind of character I can laugh with, so let's go with that.
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Jan 20, 2016 05:14
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nvm I didn't scroll down to the other thread. I'm a dummy.
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Jan 20, 2016 05:24
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Waffleman_ posted:I think the audience will be more able to relate to Amemiya, so let's go with him!
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Jan 20, 2016 05:25
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You can't just give us the option of the Otaku Policeman and then put up a vote like you don't already know what the result is. Obviously voting for Amemiya.
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Jan 20, 2016 14:58
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Heard a lot about this game and really excited to be along for the ride! I wanna see Ryuji play that tenor sax, man.
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Jan 20, 2016 17:02
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Disappointed to hear that Last Train was so dull as a translation project, but this seems like an interesting alternative. Putting in a vote to go ahead and find out about the other Wrong Man, Jintaro Umabe.
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Jan 20, 2016 21:42
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I'd like to see what Fumiyasu was doing. Also, are Freeters related to NEETs?
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Jan 20, 2016 21:55
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Not at all. NEETS are Not in Employment, Education, or Training. Freeters just take a bunch of part-time jobs. I guess they can arise from similar attitudes, but they're not the same thing.
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Jan 20, 2016 21:59
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Yohei Tobisawa likes picking up girls? Sounds like he's a jerk. Let's play as him.
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Jan 20, 2016 23:14
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CaptianKatsura posted:I wanna see what Ryuji is up to, he looks interesting. Not an empty quote.
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Jan 21, 2016 00:54
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We're currently at a tie between Amemiya and Jintaro, so we need one more deciding vote. For your consideration: Jintaro's scenario begins with a bunch of short video clips which means I have to relearn how to make animated gifs, while Amemiya is probably the most difficult scenario to translate and research, for obvious and less obvious reasons.
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Jan 21, 2016 02:50
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Let's go with Jintaro. For GIFs you could always try GoonCam, unless you have more sophisticated methods you've used. Color Printer fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 21, 2016 03:02
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Amemiya, because this concept of otaku policeman must be explored further.
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Jan 21, 2016 03:27
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idonotlikepeas posted:Amemiya, because this concept of otaku policeman must be explored further. Unless Color Printer being first counts, I'm rebreaking the tie with this.
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Jan 21, 2016 03:40
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Oh, huh. So this is like Siren, except we're probably not in some otherworld toiling for the glory of a smiling god.
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Jan 21, 2016 05:08
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While this definitely won't win, I would like to vote to see Fumiyasu's death(?) from his perspective.
OddHaberdasher fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Jan 21, 2016 |
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Jan 21, 2016 13:41
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Kaima Amemiya, October 11, 10:00am Run, Otaku Policeman!   Keima Amemiya is The Otaku Policeman. ”Otaku” is... No, wait, this is probably a waste of my time. If anyone reading this doesn’t know what “otaku” means, please comment and I’ll elaborate! Keima has a more official title, of course. “Metropolitan Police Department Shibuya Central Station Juvenile Community Safety Division Affiliated Officer” Holding a carton of coffee milk in one hand, he’s been patrolling the neighbourhood as he does every morning. If you ask him, he’ll tell you to call him The Gamer Policeman, but everyone who knows him uses the word Otaku instead. Incidentally, while his name is Amemiya, the amount of people who mistakenly read it as Amamiya is considerably large. Amemiya’s name is spelled 雨宮. The first kanji here means “rain” (see the little drops outside the window?) and is read “ame” when used as such. When used in a name, though, the common reading is “ama”. Tip posted:“Gamer” Keima Amemiya is The Otaku Policeman. Yes, that is the proper way to address him.  He was just about to cross the scramble intersection when he noticed a disturbance. He could see a well built man standing in the middle of a small crowd of people. Scramble crossings are known by different names throughout the world. They’re intersections where the pedestrian lights go green all at once, so all traffic stops and people cross from all directions (usually diagonally). Shibuya has a large famous one, though I believe the one Keima was about to cross is a smaller one down the street. “Is that a Yakuza fight...?” What should a Juvenile Community Safety officer such as himself do, he wondered. Keima made his decision in an instant. A. “I am a Juvenile Community Safety officer. But hey, this man was a kid at one point.” B. “I am a Juvenile Community Safety officer. Someone else should deal with the adults.” And here’s our first proper choice to make. Usually I’d end the update right here and start a vote, but just this time I’m going to take command and choose option A in order to make a point. Music fades outKeima turned around. “Police! Excuse me, passing through!”, he called as he pushed through the crowd and into the center of the commotion.  “Ah!” A man about 40 years old with a pale face lay collapsed on the road. He didn’t look like a Yakuza at all. A scary man who looked exactly like a Yakuza stood next to him.  “What do you think you’re doing?”, Keima asked, instinctively grabbing the scary man’s arm. “I’m not doin’ nothin’. This guy just fell down on his own. Let go or you’ll regret it.” “On his own? That makes no sense. What did you do to him?!” “I didn’t do anything! I got important places to be, let me go!” Crash!The man tried to resist, which caused Keima to drop his Mini-Computer to the ground.”     “AHHHH! MY MINI-COMPUTEEEEEEEEER!!” First few notes of Bach’s Toccata in d minorKeima’s Mini-Computer breathed its last, long before its proper time.  “Y-YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!”, Keima snapped completely, and slapped handcuffs on the man’s wrists. The man whispered quietly under his breath, “W-Why did this have to happen...?!”  Thunder“YOU IDIOT!!” Keima’s boss’s words struck like a bolt of lightning. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”, Keima howled in resistance. “What officer arrests someone on such groundless charges, you imbecile?!” “B-But, he broke my Mini-Computer! That’s a crime, isn’t it?!” “If we arrest everyone who breaks a toy, Japan’s prisons would get full in 2 seconds!” “A-A toy...?! I can’t work for a neanderthal who thinks computers are toys! I QUIT!”  Keima quit his job. And then, one week later...  [Text: Gamer Diary / <White Crow> Game Pro Keima Amemiya] Invincible Beautiful Girls Sailor DollsKeima’s new TV career as an eccentric ex-policeman Gamer began. Oddly, this game predicted Youtube 18 years ago.  THE END Bad End No. 2 Game posted:Hint As I mentioned in the first post, it’s our job to try and get as many bad endings as we can. You get this one for free, all of the next choices will be up to you. But you do still get a choice - do we want to go and fix Keima’s decision right now, or do we want to go and read one of the other scenarios after all?
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Jan 21, 2016 23:01
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CaptianKatsura posted:I wanna see what Ryuji is up to, he looks interesting. I still stand by my original decision.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:11
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I'm curious about Fumiyasu Ichikawa - what caused him to collapse like that?
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Jan 21, 2016 23:23
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Well on the bright side this probably won't suddenly get a swelling fanbase that clogs up the servers.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:34
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I still want to stick with Inspector Rain Man here.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:46
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If you pick the "right" answer, can you go back and pick the other choice? or are you locked out of it for the rest of the game?TCat posted:Well on the bright side this probably won't suddenly get a swelling fanbase that clogs up the servers.
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Jan 21, 2016 23:55
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Mraagvpeine posted:If you pick the "right" answer, can you go back and pick the other choice? or are you locked out of it for the rest of the game? In the original Saturn version, you had to save the game before a choice comes up if you want to revisit it later (the game does warn you with an icon a couple of sentences before). The PS version added the story chart where you can jump back to any past decision.
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Jan 22, 2016 00:07
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That's a bad ending? Dude's got a much more fun job now, and he isn't working under someone idiotic enough to believe a computer is a toy. And anyone who breaks a man's computer deserves jail  This person is cool and I want more of him, stick with Keima.
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Jan 22, 2016 00:49
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Blaze Dragon posted:That's a bad ending? Dude's got a much more fun job now, and he isn't working under someone idiotic enough to believe a computer is a toy. That's far from the only bad ending in the game where the protagonist ends up better off with his choice despite derailing the plot.
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Jan 22, 2016 01:06
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Yeah, let's stick with Amemiya, try choice B.
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Jan 22, 2016 01:08
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Yeah, stick with the Otaku Cop for now. I gotta admit, the story chart thing, ability to switch between multiple viewpoints and place in the game's chronology as/when needed is kind of reminding me of Disgaea Infinite in a way.
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Jan 22, 2016 02:07
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Extra footnote: Amemiya drinks Yukijirushi Coffee Milk, one of the most recognizable coffee-drink-in-a-carton brands in Japan. The packaging underwent some design changes since 1998, but is still recognizable today:  The Yukijirushi Nyuugyou company (Officially "Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd." in English) was responsible for the largest ever food poisoning incident in Japan just two years after the game came out. It then went through a couple of mergers and is now known as Yukijirushi Megmilk and going as strong as ever.
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Jan 22, 2016 02:22
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I'm curious about the mini-computer. My immediate understanding of the term is a laptop, but a lot of video game consoles were called computers in Japan, like the Famicom and PC Engine. In fact, it kinda resembles the PC-9821 NB10. If what I heard about the PC-98's popularity and longevity among gaming enthusiasts is true, a huge nerd having one in 1998 and being aghast at it breaking is not surprising at all.
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Jan 22, 2016 02:55
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:I'm curious about the mini-computer. My immediate understanding of the term is a laptop, but a lot of video game consoles were called computers in Japan, like the Famicom and PC Engine. In fact, it kinda resembles the PC-9821 NB10. I haven't done the research yet (was planning to once we get a closer look at the Mini), but that model might just be it. We later see the tiny computer running some version of Windows, so a PC-98 variant is highly plausible.
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Jan 22, 2016 03:00
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I kinda wanna see what's going on with Yoshiko but Amemiya's a good second choice.
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Jan 22, 2016 03:14
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:I'm curious about the mini-computer. My immediate understanding of the term is a laptop, but a lot of video game consoles were called computers in Japan, like the Famicom and PC Engine. In fact, it kinda resembles the PC-9821 NB10. When I was editing the first update, my immediate thought was that he somehow had a DS in 98.
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Jan 22, 2016 03:18
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As before the update, I'm voting for Fumiyasu, to see A: why he collapsed and B: perhaps the simplest solution is to have him collapse elsewhere.
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Jan 22, 2016 12:25
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Fumiyasu for me too; let's complete this plot triangle and figure out what's going on from all sides.
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Jan 22, 2016 23:37
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