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Finale Update – August 30th: Update LIV: Sweet Fuse Fizzles Out Check out the opening here! Opening Theme: Jet coaster Rendezvous - By Dasoku (Lyrics by EBATA Ikuko) Welcome to the Sweet Fuse: At Your Side SSLP! I have stuck primarily to JRPGs since I started writing LPs on the site. One of those JRPGs was World of Final Fantasy, but the other two were partial dating-sim titles (Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars and Conception Plus: Maidens of the Twelve Stars). Now, the thing about those two dating-sim titles is that they were mostly aimed at dudes. You know, that kind where one self-insertable protagonist is thrust into a situation where he is surrounded by multiple gorgeous women and tasked with saving the world or some crap. There is no shortage of those kinds of games in Japan. However, even though most of these kinds of games appeal to men, there does exist a type of dating-sim that targets women: Otome games. Otome (meaning “Maiden”) games are typically dating-sims where the typical situation is flipped, meaning that the protagonist is a self-insertable lady that is surrounded by hot dudes.  Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, called “Bomb Decision” in Japan (…it’ll sort of make sense later, don’t worry about it), is one such otome game. It’s a romance/mystery visual novel that also involves some minor puzzle elements. It was a PSP title released in Japan in 2012 and North America in 2013. It was developed by Otomate (a subsidiary of Idea Factory) and Comcept (which is today a subsidiary of Level-5). Aksys Games published the title in North America. What is the game about? Other than romancing hot bachelors? The game follows Saki Inafune as she heads out to a new video game theme park that her uncle helped to create. Unfortunately, the opening ceremony is interrupted by a group of terrorists that kidnap Saki’s uncle, as well as the park’s management, and rig the theme park to blow. The ringleader is keen on making a deadly game of the situation and singles out 6 young men to act as the contestants. Saki also joins as a contestant, although in her case it’s because she volunteered. Is Saki a bad enough dude-ette to survive the various deathtraps, rescue her uncle, and save the theme park? Can she do it while also maybe grabbing a man-muffin along the way? We’ll find out. Also the terrorists are dressed up like Hogs, led by a guy named “Count Hogstein”, and Saki’s uncle is literally Keiji Inafune of Mega-Man/Street Fighter/Onimusha/Capcom fame… and Mighty No. 9 infamy. Wait, what was that last part? Hm? Don’t worry about it. Why do an otome game? I’ve been interested in doing one of these kinds of game as an SSLP for a while. I’m not the target market for these games, but I have played a few just out of a general interest in Visual Novels. I’m sure some other goons have done LPs of otome games before, but I don’t think it’s especially common. I figured this would be a nice change of pace and perspective for an LP. It also seems like it will be fairly short, so I don’t have to worry myself about investing 40+ hours on samey dungeon-crawling and tedious EXP grinding. Mainly, I want to see if this genre turns out to be fun for people. Also, I never did finish this game and I’ve forgotten a lot about what I did play (as it was about 6 years ago), so I’m kind of interested to see how this weird premise/story shakes out. Will there be thread participation, like in your previous LPs? Yes! Depending on the length of the game, I may decide to LP through every route. However, since I don’t yet know how long each character’s route is, I will be polling the thread on which character to tackle first. Each character’s route offers up different clues and information on the central mystery in the game. There’s also a character that only appears on a New Game+ playthrough. I don’t know if there is an accepted order to play through in terms of routes, which is why I’ll be leaving the decision to the thread. Puzzles are sort of a “get it right = continue, get it wrong = die” situation. Depending on how they work, I might look for suggestions from the thread on how to solve them, but this will mostly be for fun as there’s only ever one solution that will let us continue. Spoilers If you have somehow played this game before, then keep quiet about anything story/character related. The game is partially a mystery novel, so don’t be a dick and go spoiling anything about it. Will TCG be needed this time? This game is rated T in North America and got a CERO B in Japan (12 and older), so I don’t think I’ll need TCG for this game. The game case only lists Language, Mild Violence, Use of Tobacco, and Blood. Don’t get me wrong, otome games can and most certainly do get racy. However, I really don’t think we’ll be getting any of that from this game. Certainly not the kind of stuff that I felt I had to edit in the Conception LPs. ----------Updates---------- Stage 1 Update I: My Uncle works at Update II: Saki and the case of the "World's Slowest Poison" Update III: Ninja time! Also Towa's here Update IV: Saki's "Sweet Fuse" gets short Stage 2 Update V: Saki's Night Out Update VI: Saki's got the need for speed (Part 1) - Part 2 Update VII: Saki gets paranoid Stage 3 Update VIII: Saki-Doo, where are you? Update IX: Daddy Issues Update X: Fission Mailed Stage 4: Ryusei Mitarashi Route Update XI: Saki's Sweet Day Off Update XII: Wishin' you were here Stage 5: Ryusei Mitarashi Route Update XIII: Shore Leave Update XIV: First-name Basis Stage 6: Ryusei Mitarashi Route Update XV: Sweet Payoff Stage 7: Ryusei Mitarashi Route FINAL Update XVI: Blue Balled Stages 1-3: Towa Wakasa Route Update XVII: Déjà vu Stage 4: Towa Wakasa Route Update XVIII: Pity Party Stage 5: Towa Wakasa Route Update XIX: Slowly Making Sense Stage 6: Towa Wakasa Route Update XX: Metal Gear Saki: Tactical Otome Action Stage 7: Towa Wakasa Route FINAL Update XXI: Never Stop Never Stopping Stages 1-3: Kouta Meoshi Route Update XXII: It's like one of my Japanese animes Stage 4: Kouta Meoshi Route Update XXIII: Wait, those are real?! Stage 5: Kouta Meoshi Route Update XXIV: Night of the Living Dead Update XXV: Lazy Sequels Stage 6: Kouta Meoshi Route Update XXVI: Not JISHA Compliant Stage 7: Kouta Meoshi Route FINAL Update XXVII: Cruisin' on down main street, you're relaxed and feelin' good. Next thing that you know-- Update XXVIII: Very Lazy Sequels Stages 1-3: Kimimaro Urabe Route Update XXIX: Superstition ain't the way Stage 4: Kimimaro Urabe Route Update XXX: Exposition Dump Stage 5: Kimimaro Urabe Route Update XXXI: Your lucky numbers are... Stage 6: Kimimaro Urabe Route Update XXXII: My precious! Stage 7: Kimimaro Urabe Route FINAL Update XXXIII: And the whole world has to answer right now, just to tell you once again Update XXXIV: Jailbait Wait Stages 1-3: Subaru Shidou Route Update XXXV: An itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face Stage 4: Subaru Shidou Route Update XXXVI: 2-Step Verification Update XXXVII: He Wears His Sunglasses at Night Stage 5: Subaru Shidou Route Update XXXVIII: Shopping Spree Update XXXIX: Getting Warmer Stage 6: Subaru Shidou Route Update XL: Saki and the Pussycats Update XLI: To Protect and Smooch Stage 7: Subaru Shidou Route FINAL Update XLII: Shock and Awe Update XLIII: The Right to Remain Adorable Stages 1-3: Ayumu Shirabe Route Update XLIV: This is Saki Inafune, live on the scene for SFN Stage 4: Ayumu Shirabe Route Update XLV: Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind Stage 5: Ayumu Shirabe Route Update XLVI: I Understood That Reference Update XLVII: Crazy Wall Stage 6: Ayumu Shirabe Route Update XLVIII: It's about ethics in journalism Stage 7: Ayumu Shirabe Route FINAL Update XLVIX: Sugar Daddy Stages 1-3: ??? Route Update L: Paranoia Fuel Stage 4: ??? Route Update LI: Psyche Out Stage 5: ??? Route Update LII: At least one girl was totally into this Stage 6: ??? Route Update LIII: Motivations Stage 7: ??? Route FINAL Update LIV: Sweet Fuse Fizzles Out Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Aug 30, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2020 18:21
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Update I: My uncle works at  Upon starting a new game, we’re given the option of naming our protagonist. The default name is Saki Inafune. If you have played the game before, then the game will actually ask you if you just want to use the same name you used last time. It’s a very small feature that I think is nice, which I also can’t remember seeing used very often in other games. Sweet Fuse does a few things that I really like which I don’t often see in a lot of other games as well. I’ll point them out as we go. We’ll be sticking with the default name. I know better than to give the thread naming rights.  A quick note as we get the ball rolling here: I’ll be writing Saki’s spoken dialogue in plain text, like what you are reading right now (except not bolded).  (I guess I fell asleep after all…)Her thoughts will be written in parentheses, like what you see above. Saki also does a lot of narrating, but I’ll get to that in a few seconds once she starts doing it. …Ugh, shut up alarm…!*After shutting off her alarm* …Much better! (Well, Uncle, I hope you’re ready!)  He’d invited me to the pre-opening event, but I’d been so excited and restless I’d barely slept.Whenever Saki narrates, I will use the portrait you see above. Sweet Fuse is more of a traditional Visual Novel than Conception Plus and Conception II were. The main character tends to do a lot of narrating in between character dialogue in order to explain things that are happening or make note of important things. (All right KANE DE BOO, let’s hope it goes well!) This little guy is called KANE DE BOO, and he’s The Gameatorium’s mascot. My uncle gave him to me a while back.Something I like about Japan is that everything in existence has to have a mascot. He’s super adorable, but more importantly he looks like a rice ball, and rice balls are delicious.That’s logic I can get behind. You know what other delicious thing KANE DE BOO resembles? Bacon.  (I wish I could bring some of my friends, but the invite said it was just for staff and their relatives… Oh well! I’m sure I can have lots of fun all by myself!) All right, time to get dressed! Since she mentions getting dressed, here is a full shot of our protagonist. Not sure about the booty shorts/stockings combo, but I like the hoodie. Also, that character card came from the official website. …It may have been in need of some proofreading. I hope that doesn’t become a thing with this game. I had a hell of a time trying to keep up with the avalanche of errors in Conception.  (I guess he was telling the truth…) My uncle is Keiji Inafune, a game creator known throughout the universe.Yes, Saki’s uncle is literally that Keiji Inafune. The guy that got his start at Capcom with Mega-Man and Street Fighter. He’s also been a producer for the Onimusha, Resident Evil, Dead Rising, and Lost Planet games. After splitting from Capcom in 2010, he founded Comcept (who is one of the developers of this game. Which is why he’s in it). Those of you who are younger probably recognize him from the Mighty No. 9 fiasco from a few years ago. The game that was funded through Kickstarter and was essentially a direct copy of Mega-Man, except it didn’t play or look as good and the entire project was engulfed in flames due to accusations of mismanagement and badly fumbled decision making (such as Comcept trying to promote a new Kickstarter for a completely different game of theirs while Mighty No. 9 was still suffering from delays). He’d been telling me for years that his dream was to make a theme park from all of his favorite games. This is a flashback, but there’s no indication as to how many years ago it was. Saki’s room looks the same as it does now, but that could just be due to recycling the background art. Either that or Uncle Keiji told Saki about this grand dream of his last month and has already made it come true.  *End of flashback time* (It’s not that surprising he did it, really… He’s always making his dreams into reality, and video games are a pretty big deal these days. Every single thing in the park is based on a popular game.)[Conductor]: …Now approaching Kanehama Station. Kanehama Station, next stop. That’s… well, I guess you could open a theme park there. Kanehama Station is an actual stop in Japan, but it’s located all the way on the northern tip of the main island (just before you have to cross over the water into Hokkaido). The nearest city is Hachinohe, which has a population of like 200k. Or maybe they are referencing some local Kanehama Station in one of the larger cities that I’m not aware of. (Ah! This is my stop! I sure hope nothing bad happens today!) It’s “The Gameatorium!” …Where exactly are the video game influences? I made my way out of the busy station, and walked quickly toward the park, excitement putting a spring in my step. (This is it! This is The Gameatorium!) The only people who’d been allowed in were staff members, their families, and some news crews, but even so the place was packed.Shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. There were likely hundreds or thousands of people involved with building this place. Factor in their family members and that’s a decent crowd for an opening ceremony. (Ah ha! Looks like that seat’s open!) We smiled at each other as I sat down in the empty seat.Who is “we”?  God dammit… this is going to be just like Conception, isn’t it? Listen, from now on if you ever see [sic] in the middle of dialogue or narration, know that it means I’m transcribing the text exactly how the game shows it. In front of the stage was a whole row of cameras. They had to belong to the press. (It’s really getting a lot of attention, huh? I saw a story about how The Gameatorium was about to open on TV just the other day.) I was still looking around excitedly when I heard a drum roll start up. It sounded like things were about to start! From somewhere near the stage I could hear a band begin to play. (This is it! It’s finally starting!) It’s Keiji! And he’s wearing a circus master outfit for some reason!  Weirdly enough, Keiji Inafune the man does not voice Keiji Inafune the character. He’s actually being voiced by Norio Kobayashi. Odd. Oh, and Saki is being voiced by Maki Kobayashi. Not sure if there’s any relation between her and Norio. (That’s him! That’s my uncle!) I almost leapt up to wave at him before I caught myself. *Mr. Inafune then cuts out* (Huh? Is something wrong with the mic? I can’t hear him…) He stepped back from the mic, confused, and tapped it a couple times. (I hope everything’s okay…) I was starting to fidget when suddenly—  …What? What is this?! I could see my uncle running back and forth in confusion. (What the heck is going on?! Who was that voice…? What were they talking about?!) Are we sure that this isn’t just some marketing stunt? [Man]: H-Hey! Look! I turned toward where he was pointing— Wh-What—?! What the gently caress is that thing?  [Woman]: Who are they? Is this some sort of performance art…? (Of course! That would make sense…) My uncle has always been good at thinking up fun stuff, and he’s got a great sense of humor. The guys in the unitards ran up to the stage, and starting [sic] tying up the men in business suits. I couldn’t begin to guess what was going to happen next, so I just kept watching with bated breath.[???]: So, uh… I’ve done away with that park mascot thing… KANE DE BOO, right? The same mascot I had on my phone strap… I’m not sure who the hell even said that. Was it one of those weird mime dudes? (Gosh Uncle Keiji, you sure think of some weird stuff…) Everyone seemed stunned that the park’s mascot would be “done away with” on the first day. Looking at how worked up the audience had gotten, I was sure my uncle was feeling pretty proud of himself. Then suddenly, smoke filled the stage, and I could just barely make out something rising up from below it. (What is that…? A costume?) It looked a little like KANE DE BOO, but it was… different. Hello, everyone. Good morning! Hogstein’s arms tend to disappear and reappear at random. He just looks like a lump of crap in this sprite. I had to stifle a laugh— his voice didn’t match up with his costume at all!Hogstein is being voiced by “Tanoshingo”, who is a Japanese comedian. Also a chiropractor, which… I mean, you’ve got to pay the bills somehow, right? He performed an odd sort of self-indulgent pirouette and bowed.  And boy howdy is this place a waste! I can’t believe you people were going to give this joker your hard-earned cash! So, for your sake… I will blow it up. Boom!*The screen shakes as an explosion is heard*  Seems like the hog man has the firepower to back up his boasts. Huh—?! No sooner had he spoken than the Ferris wheel exploded in a thunderous roar of flames. We watched, mouths hanging open, as the symbol of the park crumbled to the ground in a cloud of smoke. (I-I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t just an act…)I think that’s a safe bet, Saki. Companies don’t tend to blow up structures that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a marketing promo. As soon as I turned back to the stage, the entire crowd erupted in panic. The screams of frightened people quickly drowned out the fading rumble of the Ferris wheel’s collapse. (What?! This pig isn’t done yet!? No, forget about him! I have to save Uncle Keiji!) I fought my way through hundreds of terrified attendees toward the stage. Even as I did, Count Hogstein continued his stupid speech. I will now choose seven people to join me in a seven-day-long game! The bombs I’ve set to go off on that day will be stopped if the players can beat my game and solve my puzzles.”or the JSDF decides to show up and gun me down!”   If they can’t, well… Then the bombs go off, and this park will be gone! Poof, gone! (Wh-What?! Blow up the park?!) Eh, you’re kind of just stealing Jigsaw’s whole shtick. Also the Joker’s. (What the hell are you talking about?! Taking my uncle and the park staff hostage isn’t a game, you jerk! This park is my uncle’s dream! And there were so many people looking forward to enjoying it…! What should I do…?) Now then… Who should I pick to be my seven little heroes? Oink! Who indeed… (R-Right!) Hey, hold on! Everybody else was trying desperately to escape, but I raised my hand high in the air. Count Hogstein frowned. I’ll take your challenge! (I don’t really know what his game is, and if I’m being honest this is pretty scary, but…) Count Hogstein stared at me for a moment, then snorted. There aren’t any take-backs here, kid. I’m not gonna care if you change your mind. I-I know what I’m doing! I stole a quick glance at my uncle, tied up and gagged. He looked worried. I gave him the slightest of nods, careful not to let Count Hogstein notice.Who wants to bet that he totally noticed? (I can’t let this park get blown up by that creep! I’ll solve his stupid puzzles and I’ll save my uncle!) So that’s it for the prologue. We’re heading into Stage 1 now. As far as I remember, the first few stages are part of a common route where we work on building up affection points. Eventually we will be heading down one of the character paths, but first we need to actually meet those characters. Let’s take a look.   How the hell did that get built underneath everyone’s noses? (Well, they told all the participants to come to this plaza, so here I am…)  There they are! Also… why does that dude in the green look so familiar? He looks like some other characters, but I can’t put my finger on who. (…I see six other people…) Count Hogstein had mentioned seven heroes, which means the other six people there were probably the other participants… Ladies and gentlemen! And you guys too. Please, pay attention! (That voice! It’s him!)Hogman isn’t actually on screen right now. I think the implication is that he’s being heard through speakers.  Well, look who’s finally decided to grace us with his presence. Oh my gosh, finally. I was getting super tired of waiting, you guys.Looks like we’ve got an early contender for “PK’s least favourite character”.  Although I hear his voice, I do not see the man… ah… pig himself. From where does this voice come? There. It’s coming from behind that statue. Statue…? Oh! I see it!Please tell me that you’re not only just now noticing the giant Hogstein statue dead center of the plaza. Come on Saki, be more observant than that.   …This thing is gross. (Ha ha ha… Yeah, you got that right.) Well, it looks like you’re all here, so let’s move on to the fun stuff. Oink! You’re about to be pitted against the devious game I’ve devised. In other words! You are seven noble warriors who dare to stand up to the monstrous Count Hogstein! Oink oink! I think I’d prefer Count Hogula, personally. (Well, at least he realizes he’s the antagonist…) First, though, I thought it’d be nice to break the ice by exchanging names. You all know mine already, but I think you’re still strangers to each other! Since I’m such a swell fellow, I’ll give you a little time to talk amongst yourselves. Adieu! …And now he’s gone. Something of a wild spirit, isn’t he?I guess that’s one way to describe a terrorist bomber.  So, uh, are we just supposed to tell each other our names and stuff…? Well, if we’re really gonna fight a villain we should probably have names. Knowing a man’s name is the first step on the road to trust. I’ll go first.Yes, finally! Hurry it up!  Subaru is voiced by Kenichi Suzumura. Wait… you’re a cop? Yes. I’ve got my badge right here… Whoa, awesome! I’ve never seen a real one before! What’s a detective doing at an amusement park? No way you’re off duty in that getup. Were you on security or something? Yes. I was in charge of security for the opening ceremony.  …He’s got you there, my man. Way to drop the ball by the way. Couldn’t spot a bunch of dudes wearing unitards and hog costumes roaming the park and setting up bombs everywhere. (He’s just… glaring. I guess he’s not the good cop.) Please, calm down. Fighting amongst our band will only lead to greater strife. Calm your passionate hearts. I am known as Kimimaro Urabe. I am, as you can see, a teller of fortunes.Kimimaro is voiced by Junichi Suwabe. (Well that’s a nice change of pace. He seems like he’s pretty nice, if a little weird. And he really does look like a fortune teller.)That’s not exactly a difficult look to pull off, Saki. I think just carrying around a crystal ball is enough to pass as one. Next would be… you. … (Did he… no hear?) Um, I think it’s your turn. What’s your name? Kouta is voiced by Masakazu Morita. Man, you’re cheerful. … (Huh. I guess he doesn’t talk much. But this kid… I feel like I’ve seen his face somewhere before.) …Anyway, guess it’s my turn, but do I really need to introduce myself? I mean, you’ve all seen me on TV, right? …No. My apologies, but I have little knowledge of the secular world… I don’t care about TV.I highly doubt that.  You look kind of familiar, but… I gotta be honest, if you were important, I’m pretty sure I’d remember you.Gotta say, so far I am totally on board for everyone dumping on this kid. Really?! None of you!? Oh my gosh, this is crazy! None of you have heard of the Junior Jr. Boys?! I was invited here today as a guest. (Of course! I remember!) The Junior Jr. Boys was a boy band that was super popular, mostly with girls. All the members were really cute, and a bunch of my classmates were fans. (Eh, boy bands aren’t really my thing, you know? That explains why he looked familiar, though…) I guess I’m just not very popular with old guys… I need to work harder on that.…Do you? Honestly, I think you’re better off riding the wave of young fangirls for as long as you can, then jumping ship to housewives when the time is right. I doubt you’d make much headway with older guys. Know your base. All right, I’m Towa Wakasa. It’s nice to meet you.Towa is voiced by Yūki Kaji. Something I haven’t really noticed until now is the mix of low profile voice actors with very prolific voice actors. For example: -Towa’s VA is also the voice of Speed-O’ Sound Sonic in One Punch Man, Clemont in Pokemon XY, Adol Christin in Ys VIII, and Johnny Joestar in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure -Kouta’s VA was Ichigo in Bleach, Marco in One Piece, Whis in Dragon Ball Super, and Tidus in Final Fantasy X. -Subaru’s VA is Kouichi in Digimon Frontier, Shinn in Gundam Seed Destiny, and Zack in Final Fantasy VII media. (I think that “old guys” comment might have made things a bit awkward here, but this kid’s definitely got the face of a star.) Sweet, I’m up next. Ryusei Mitarashi, lady and gentlemen. I’m an escort.Ryusei is voiced by Satoshi Hino. A what?! You heard me. In fact, I’m number one at Ulysses down in Ginza.Ginza? What the gently caress are you doing all the way out here? Ginza is like 700km south of here! …This game must be talking about a Kanehama Station somewhere in Tokyo. There’s no way it’s the one all the way up in the north.  A-Ah ha ha… ha…Dude, Saki is like… well, actually... she is of legal age (according to her character card anyway, and California law because that’s where Aksys is based in NA). On the other hand, that’s a localization change (Saki is 17 in the Japanese version). Regardless, maybe don’t be so quick to offer your “escort” services to this girl, especially when there is a police detective standing two feet away. (He doesn’t really look like an escort, but the way he talks…) So we’ve got a detective, a fortune teller, a nerd, a teen pop star, and an escort. He really cast a wide net when he picked this motley crew. All right, what are you supposed to be, then? You aren’t holding out on us, are you? Oh, sorry about that. Forgot give-and-take is the basis of any kind of information gathering… Ayumu is voiced by Ken Narita. He sighed. Then the only one of us remaining is you. You’ll have to excuse me for thinking your volunteering for this game is a little suspicious. (S-Suspicious…?)He’s not wrong, you know. Who willingly throws themselves into a death game? I’m Saki Inafune. I’m a high school student. I thought you might be. Why would a kid like you volunteer for something like this? To stop the bombs, of course! And to rescue the hostages! After I spoke, they all fell silent. You’re, uh… you’re pretty young.Just a peek behind the curtains: Everyone here is “pretty young” in relation to Ayumu. Detective Conan over there is only 22. Japanese Justin Bieber is only 17. Boy Toy is 24. Recent Mental Ward Escapee is 19. And Legal Scam Artist is 26. The oldest guy here is Ayumu, and he’s only 32 (which I guess technically counts as “ancient” in terms of anime age).  Why’d you volunteer, though? Are you totally nuts? Why didn’t you run away? That’s what I would’ve done. This whole thing is seriously whack. If we could leave, I’d go in a minute. I’m tired… No, we don’t want to aggravate him. It’s important to remain calm in a hostage situation, or you run the risk of escalating the criminal’s behavior. Seriously? Man, you’re a white knight, aren’t you… All your cop buddies this upright, or are you the star of the force? There is nothing more important than preserving human life. That’s true for any officer of the law, but more importantly, it’s true for any man. Yes, the hostages are most certainly a concern. Should I attempt to divine their fate with my crystal ball? Sorry, but I’d rather stick to information that’d be admissible in court.It works in Phoenix Wright. I… see. How unfortunate. Jeez… I wanna get outta here… …I think I need to sit down. (This is… disappointing. None of these guys really feel like hero material. But I guess none of them chose to be here, so I can’t really blame them for being upset. I’m just worried about whether or not we can pull this off…)This kind of confused me for a brief moment back when I first played this game. Namely that Saki is right about few of these guys being “hero material”. My initial thought was “Aren’t all of these guys meant to be heroic and chivalrous? Isn’t that the “point” of otome games?” Yes, it’s a stereotype, but the dating-sims aimed at guys are stereotyped as well (in kind of the same way actually). Thinking it over caused me to realize the logic to it, though. Some ladies like the “brave and strong prince sweeping you off your feet” angle. But other ladies hate that kind of thing, so I guess it makes sense to put in more cowardly or disinterested guys. That way you get routes with characters like Ryusei or Subaru where the protagonist is (I presume) protected and saved by the guys, and you also get routes where (once again, I presume) the protagonist takes charge and does the rescuing of the love interest (like Kouta and Towa). It’s weird that not many dating-sims/VNs aimed at guys do that. The stereotype is that guys always want to be the hero saving the damsel, but there’s definitely also guys out there that like a strong woman coming to their rescue instead. Usually in games like this (that aren’t otome games), the only variation in female love interests is varying levels of meekness. And no, tsundere’s don’t count in relation to what I mean. Tsundere characters are just angry and insecure.   (Oh, he’s back.) Now that you’re all best friends, I think it’s time to move on. Just follow my piglet to Castle Hogstein, if you please.  … This whole song and dance really chafes my rear end. Can’t he just come out here and talk to us? Please, Mitarashi, calm down. Given the situation in which we find ourselves, cooperation is likely the wisest course of action. I’m thrilled to see you understand. Now please, hurry! Our time together is short, and wasting it could cost you your life! What? Oink oink oink. Enough talking! Move it! Chop chop! Let’s just, like, listen to him, okay? Standing around here is boring anyway…Shut up, Towa. The grownups are talking. But yes, let’s beat feet. We need to find out what the whole death game thing is all about. All right, the castle it is. After all, they say a reporter’s best asset is his feet, right? (But… just what kind of game is he going to make us play…?) It wasn’t long before it opened up into a magnificent room that looked like a banquet hall from a period drama. Oink oink! Goooood afternoon everyone! Welcome to the world of despair!That’s Monokuma’s thing. Come up with your own ideas, pork chop!  You! A pig on a throne? What is this, some kind of half-assed political commentary…?I mean, he also introduced himself by condemning frivolous spending by a capitalist society. Not sure if it’s half-assed at this point. Although it is kind of overly obvious. Be quiet. He can hear you. Have you already forgotten about the hostages? Guh…!  Odd… There’s something strange at the base of the stairs… Looks like a box draped in blue cloth. … The box looked like it was about twice as tall as the piglets standing at attention next to it. What was in there…? This didn’t feel good. Weren’t you going to explain the rules? Uuuuh, well, once a day you’ll risk your life to challenge one of the attractions! That’s the game!He suddenly sounds a lot less sure of himself. Weird. He kind of let it slip earlier in the update as well.  Whoa, what?! The second rule is that you may not harm my illustrious person. That includes, of course, my piglets, who I think of as part of my own body. Sure. Fine. Next rule? The third rule should be obvious, but you are solely and legally responsible for any danger you might find yourselves in. I’ll have a waiver for you to sign. That seems like cheating…It also seems pointless. The guy is a loving terrorist. No court is going to uphold any loving waiver that he gets you guys to sign. The fourth rule… or, well, more like a condition I guess, is that if you can’t beat a game, then that attraction blows up! No second chances! You coward! What…? Oh no, my agent’s gonna freak! My sincerest apologies. Maybe you should think about that the next time you decide to go waste time having fun. Oink! What a jerk… And of course the sixth rule is that you’re not allow [sic] to escape. Obviously. Urgh… Oh no! As soon as he’d finished talking, Count Hogstein began to laugh, his stomach jiggling obscenely. (How can he laugh about killing people! He’s awful!) I frowned, trying to think of something to say, when—*The screen shakes a bit as Ryusei freaks out*  You son of a bitch! Stop! A man controls his emotions, he doesn’t let his emotions control him! Yeah, well I’m about to let my fist control his face! Shidou was doing his best to hold Mitarashi back, but I wasn’t sure how long he’d last. You need to calm down! If you get mad, you’re just doing what he wants! Correct. The rules prevent us from harming him. If we do, the hostages will be killed. Dammit! He swore and shook off Shidou, slamming his fist into a nearby pillar. With a slimy smile, he clapped his hands. At his signal, the piglets took hold of the blue cloth… It fell away from the box, revealing— Ah…! Guh! What I’d thought was a box was actually a giant cage, and inside of it was my uncle and the park management. So, he’s showing us how he can kill the hostages whenever he wants. Exactly. I hope you won’t hold it against me. After all, if you just follow the rules, I won’t be forced to do anything… unpleasant. Such as, for instance, dropping a giant metal ball. Oink oink! Metal ball?! As I spoke, he grinned and looked up toward the ceiling. I followed his gaze…  What?! There’s… there’s a giant metal ball over the cage!Thank you, Ace Detective. No…! It was all too clear what Count Hogstein’s message was. (That’s…!) It was what we were all thinking, even if I’d been too afraid to say it. That’s cowardly! They can’t even fight back! If you decide to hurt me, then… SPLAT! *Snort* Good thing he held you back, huh? Close call! Oink oink oink! He was so smug! I just wanted to punch him in that massive, jiggly, gut every time he opened his mouth.Saki, please stop describing his gut in detail. So long story short, you should try and follow those seven rules when you play through each attraction. There will be lots of puzzles for you to figure out, so I hope you’re ready to work together and solve them! And the ones we can’t beat will be… blown up? Wh-What?! Are you for real!?Was everyone unclear on that aspect? Did you think if you failed to beat one of the games he’d give you a couple of minutes to clear the blast zone or something? Well, if you can’t beat it, then you can’t get out, and if you can’t get our… Oink. …! He was talking about killing people! About killing us! How could he be so… so… casual?! Well, this wouldn’t be a very exciting game if your lives weren’t in danger. So make sure you don’t forget the rules! Oink oink oink! (I won’t let him get away with this!) Everyone else was staring at the arrogant pig, probably thinking the same thing I was. Everyone except for Wakasa… He slumped to the ground holding his head. I’d volunteered to play Hogstein’s sick game, but Wakasa hadn’t. None of them had… (I guess they’re victims too…) I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. There was no guarantee one of these men wouldn’t try to escape.My money is on Towa, personally. If anyone is going to gently caress us all over, it’ll be Towa. I knew my uncle, but apart from that the hostages were complete strangers to all of us. (I’m really not sure about these guys… I don’t know anything about them… No! I have to trust them! We’re going to be working together for seven days. If I don’t trust them…) I shook my head. We’d never be able to win Hogstein’s games unless we trusted each other. I leveled a glare at the pig. There was no way I was going to lose! Well, now that we’ve finished going over the rules, I think it’s high time we started today’s game. Oink! Finally getting started, huh? Today’s game celebrates the wonderful world of RPGs. Let’s move, everyone! Come along now! And we’ll stop it there for now. We’ve got our cast, our antagonist, the stakes, and the rules. Next time, we find out just what kind of “games” our plucky young protagonist is in for. However, in preparation for that, there is a small choice to be made. The Scooby gang will be splitting up a little next update, so Saki needs to pick a trio of guys to tag along with. Do we follow: Group A:  or… Group B:  
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Apr 27, 2020 18:22
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Group A please
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Apr 27, 2020 19:08
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Group B, they contain the dude I first hung out with when I played this game, and also my favorite of the dudes - yes, I've played this one! It was a really fun time and I'm looking forward to revisiting it. 
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Apr 27, 2020 20:54
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Voting A to start with (presumably they'll switch it up every game) Much as I'd like to somewhat follow along in Japanese since it looks like it's going to dip into poor translation occasionally, it turns out it was only ever released physically in Japan and the intersection of people who bought it, had their PSP modded for video out, and wanted to record it appears to be zero.
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Apr 27, 2020 21:30
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Group B. I'm most interested in Mr. Man Of The Night, Ryusei.
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Apr 27, 2020 22:16
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StrixNebulosa posted:Group B, they contain the dude I first hung out with when I played this game, and also my favorite of the dudes - yes, I've played this one! It was a really fun time and I'm looking forward to revisiting it. I liked the premise of it, because it’s so goofy. I'm honestly not sure why I didn't finish it. Could have just been a case of having too much to play. I actually got this game when I was snatching up every PSP title I could during stock clearout (the PSP was dead by 2013-2014, since the Vita had replaced it). I think it cost me $2.99 at the time. But I had also grabbed like 5 other titles at that price, so maybe I just hooked on one of those. If I had to guess, was your favourite Ryusei? He seems like an obviously popular one to me. Polsy posted:Voting A to start with (presumably they'll switch it up every game) I think it will get switched up, just to give more opportunity to build affection points evenly. I'm not sure when I'll do a vote on who to focus on. Maybe Stage 2, or maybe just whenever/if we get an individual choice instead of a group. There are some mechanics to still be introduced, so I'm going to wait at least until those are out of the way. I wouldn't worry about following along like you did for CP. The errors seem to be mostly confined to spelling and grammar. Honestly, the thing I'm most curious about is whether or not Otomate/Idea Factory/Aksys improved their quality over the years (in terms of VNs. I have a natural avoidance of Idea Factory RPGs). Otomate makes a ton of otome titles (including the "Code: Realize" and "Hakuouki" series). Although given what I've seen being dumped on Switch, I kind of expect the opposite to have happened. Side Note: I will never do a Switch VN. The English major in me would die inside before the second update started. A side note about some stuff with the LP: I only got limited feedback from the Sandcastle regarding image quality. The is a PSP title, so the screenshots you are seeing are scaled down from a 2x PSP resolution (PPSSPP only seems to let me work in multiples like 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x). 2x PSP resolution is too big for the archive, which is why I had to resize down. The original PSP resolution is much sharper, but I sort of felt like it would be too tiny (PSP resolution is only 480 wide), which someone in the Sandcastle sort of seemed to agree with. I'll do up a comparison shot tomorrow and you guys can let me know which you think works/looks better. As for character sprites, those seem to be the best I can do right now. Once again, I have been completely unable (using GLintercept and UMDgen) to yank the artwork out of one of these games and instead have needed to rely on cropping out from screencaps/artwork. Doesn't help that the characters in this game all have a very thick bordering on their sprites. If I can get a better quality/softer edged crop from GIMP then I'll eventually replace all of the expression sprites. As for Hogstein, his expression portraits are super wide, which I can't really work around. I hate that it throws off the alignment, but it’s the only way to get his facial expressions in there. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Apr 28, 2020 |
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Apr 28, 2020 01:20
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My fave was Ryusei! He's a good guy. Also you just mentioned Hakuoki and that game is on steam, split in half for some reason, and while I have no hours in it on steam, I played it on the PSP and also enjoyed it. It's a really neat supernatural story fusion with the shinsengumi and their history, and it was a neat way for a westerner to be exposed to that history. I think my favorite thing about Hakuoki and Sweet Fuse are that unlike some other otome I could name, the heroines are very proactive people who do get angry, do protest bad behavior and such. I root for them, and I root for them to land with the hottest guys, and the games deliver in often sweet ways, with neat plots.
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Apr 28, 2020 02:35
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StrixNebulosa posted:I think my favorite thing about Hakuoki and Sweet Fuse are that unlike some other otome I could name, the heroines are very proactive people who do get angry, do protest bad behavior and such. I root for them, and I root for them to land with the hottest guys, and the games deliver in often sweet ways, with neat plots. This is the reason why I like Izumi from A3 (which isn't an otome game because some of the boys are in high school and Izumi, the main character, is an adult), because not only does she get to snark at the quirks of the boys, but she has her own quirk in her curry obsession.
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Apr 28, 2020 02:48
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If this is post-capcom, pre-mighty number 9 Inafune, can we just leave him?
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Apr 28, 2020 12:40
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HardDiskD posted:If this is post-capcom, pre-mighty number 9 Inafune, can we just leave him? Count Hogstein is actually the good guy, he's trying to stop Mighty Nº9 from ever happening. I say we let him win, personally. It'll take a few sacrifices but it's for the greater good.
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Apr 28, 2020 16:03
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 This is an example of the original resolution screenshots. I think it looks better, personally. However I admit that it might be a bit too small. HardDiskD posted:If this is post-capcom, pre-mighty number 9 Inafune, can we just leave him? Blaze Dragon posted:Count Hogstein is actually the good guy, he's trying to stop Mighty Nº9 from ever happening. I say we let him win, personally. It'll take a few sacrifices but it's for the greater good. It's a trick ending situation. If we win, then Count Hogstein reveals the horror that will be released because of us. However, if we refuse to play the game, then Hogstein punishes us by funding MN9 himself using the money he stole from The Gameatorium. It's a no-win situation. We can't change the timeline. It's too late. Junpei posted:This is the reason why I like Izumi from A3 (which isn't an otome game because some of the boys are in high school and Izumi, the main character, is an adult), because not only does she get to snark at the quirks of the boys, but she has her own quirk in her curry obsession. I didn’t think about clarifying that, but maybe I should in the opening. Otome stuff is similar to dating-sims that are aimed at guys. Both of them are sub-genres within larger umbrellas of media. Just like there are games aimed at guys that don't necessarily involve romance, there are games aimed at women that don't necessarily involve it (like "A3!"). For a parallel to male marketed material, think of games like Kantai Collection. StrixNebulosa posted:My fave was Ryusei! He's a good guy. I kind of thought so. Out of the three in that group, he seems like the most popular archetype. I do like that about Sweet Fuse as well. Despite what I talked about in terms of "some women wanting to be the one in charge and not the one being rescued", a lot of otome games still involve the female lead being fairly passive. They are made to be special/the chosen one, but they also don’t take an especially active role. Basically, despite what people might think about this genre, Saki doesn’t quite appear to be the "norm". Like I said, Sweet Fuse does a few things differently that I really like. Saki is one of them, although we haven’t seen her really shine just yet. That happens when we start getting in to the whole death game thing.
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Apr 28, 2020 20:38
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Update II: Saki and the case of the "World's Slowest Poison" Is everyone ready for some actual mystery? What about games of life or death? I know I am. This update gets the ball rolling and also introduces a few mechanics that will make up the “gameplay” aspect of this game. Granted, those gameplay mechanics are mostly about affection point building, but still. Before the opening, my uncle had told me that the park was divided into seven different themed areas. Each area has a main attraction that represented the theme. During the intro update, we met our girl Saki and also the six hunks that she may or may not eventually shack up with depending on the thread’s wishes. Count Hogstein then started to lead everyone towards the first game. I glanced around as I walked, trying to compare what I was seeing to what I remembered about the park’s layout. No one spoke, and our footsteps were heavy and slow. Everyone’s mind was on what the pig had told us. (Whatever. Right now I need to concentrate on figuring out how to beat these games.)You can’t really do that right now, Saki. You have no idea what the games will be like. Let’s hold on that until we actually see what they are all about. I was glaring so hard at the back of the piglet’s head that I didn’t hear Shidou start talking. The pig already said that, bro! I got it the first time! Yeah, but I doubt that vile beast told us the whole story. We need facts. Details. We need to know the park. Urgh… Uh, well, I know a little bit about it. I explained to them what I’d been thinking earlier. So the main attraction in the RPG part of the park is probably— I know that’s supposed to be a Final Fantasy VII reference, but all I can think about from that name is how much I miss the Way of the Samurai franchise. Oh, so you know about all this, then? N-No! Not… not really. I just… happened to know that… one thing. All right? (That seems like kind of a weird response, but whatever…) Shidou frowned at Mitarashi, then turned to me. Y-Yes…? So do you just ‘happen to know’ these things too?It’s a video game franchise, Shidou. Chill the gently caress out on giving Saki the third-degree all the time.  Which Shidou should have guessed seeing as how he was in charge of security for the grand opening where only staff members of the park and their family were in attendance. Shidou is kind of a crappy detective in some respects. Like, yeah, questioning people and giving them a bit of a side-eye when they know a suspicious amount of information is all well and good, but this isn’t one of those times. Saki would have had to be related to someone who worked on the park in order to be invited to this opening in the first place, so of course she would know stuff about it. Hell, this is a theme park that’s about to open to the public. There’s likely been marketing material out there for months now. Is that so? Then… perhaps they were in the enclosure we saw earlier?Everyone in the park has a connection to people who worked on it! We were told that right out of the gate! Hey, Shidou? You want to be suspicious of people, then how about questioning what the hell Kimimaro, Ryusei, and Kouta are doing here. How did those three get invited to this park? Ayumu is a journalist, so he has an excuse. Towa seems to have been invited here to act as entertainment, so that explains him. But who the hell invited the male escort, tarot card reader, and shut-in? Yeah, they were… Excuse me? Yeah…To those of you pissed that Saki just took that little “even though you’re a girl” comment on the chin: Don’t worry. Saki is not going to be spending this entire game being cradled like an infant because she has boobs. She’ll give Shidou an earful for that little snipe later on… or maybe she won’t… it’s— Well, you’ll see. We’ll be getting to it during Stage 1. Oh… Please, accept my condolences. Urabe squeezed my hand reassuringly, and gave me a somber bow. (Maybe I should’ve mentioned my uncle earlier. Then they might have been more wiling [sic] to help me…)Probably not a great idea, Saki. You tell them and I’m sure Hogstein will find out as well (if he hasn’t already). I thanked him, and let go of his hand. …It’s called Samurai Fantasy. In the game, a party of adventurers set out for Edo Palace. The castle and the country have been taken over by the nurarihyon, and the adventurers have to stop them. Well look at you, Encyclopedia Meoshi. You some kind of game freak? Yeah… I like games. I heard they were gonna be giving out exclusive DLC at the opening today. That’s the only reason I came… (Oh… So that’s why he knows about it…)So Kouta just walked in here to get promo DLC? I get the feeling that the whole “staff members and their family” thing was a mistranslation. It seems part of this game’s mystery will be us trying to figure out what details in the story are true and which ones are just bad translation work. Meoshi frowned. Huh? What the heck’s DLC? Right. Fascinating. I think we’ve all got the basics here. But the question we ought to be asking, the question right in front of us, is “What sort of devious puzzles did the pig make?” Yes, he’s quite a villain. I imagine there will be traps and the like that we won’t expect. Shirabe sighed, and shifted the cigarette in his— (So he likes sweets? Huh… I never would have guessed. I totally thought that was a cigarette.) For some reason I found my eyes drawn to it. It was almost… hypnotic…Saki, focus! Yes, Pocky is indeed delicious and awesome, but we’ve got things to do. Well, no point in sitting around, then. Yeah… If all of… this hadn’t happened, what would Samurai Fantasy VII have been like? I felt sad. I had a feeling Uncle Keiji did too. It’s Samurai Fantasy VII! The gate looked like one from a European castle, but the towers that rose up behind it looked Japanese. It could have come across as cheesy and contrived, but I thought it was a nice touch. It’s just like the game… Really? Yeah. Yeah, that’s great, but check this out! Huh…? I turned to look— A statue of Count Hogstein! It was just like the statue we’d seen in the plaza. It does seem likely… Argh… I don’t want to do this! I want to go hooooooome!God, you are such a winy little poo poo. Just as Wakasa began to moan, Count Hogstein appeared on the screen. Now you must enter Edo Palace to defeat the evil nurarihyon who controls the country of Edo! As you have already been informed, this quest will put your life in danger! Oink oink! His disgusting voice echoed through the empty air. Uuuuuhhhhhh… Wakasa had covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. Just looking at him made me feel a little helpless and scared. (I volunteered for this. I have to face the consequences.) Shidou gave me a small nod. ”And she’s a girl! If she can do it while managing to fight off the vapours, which all women suffer from, then you can too.” Urgh… He slowly stood back up, but his face was pale, and he looked ready to collapse at any moment. Um… Maybe he should stay out here?I agree with that. Let’s ditch Towa. He’s dead weight. I don’t remember there being a rule about all seven of us having to go into the attraction. Yeah. He’s just gonna get in our way if he keeps freaking out all the time. Sweet, we’re all in agreement then. Probably smart not to put all our eggs in one basket either. Rather not be dismal about this, but if we blow this game, who’ll save the hostages?I mean, not Towa. Let’s be honest here. If we blow it and Towa is still alive, then the hostages might as well off themselves, just to save time. Then we’d only need, what, like one or two of us to actually go in there, right? Th-Then I’ll just— But before he could even finish his sentence, Hogstein’s voice rang out again. Where’s the fun if it blows up and some of you aren’t in it?Too loving bad! You laid out the rules and everyone having to participate wasn’t one of them, so piss off and let us leave Towa behind!  Besides, unless the seven of you work together, you’ll never be able to finish it… That’s our concern, not yours. Ah…! I glanced over at the others to see them staring silently at the screen. …That’s it, then. We all go together. Urgh… All right, I’m going.Fiiine. I guess we could always use a meat shield. Hogstein nodded sanctimoniously. Now then, please follow my piglet here into the castle! Oink! The person in black turned to us and gestured. … I get the feeling he wants us to follow him.That would be what Hogstein just literally said, yes. Thank you, Towa. The piglet nodded earnestly. The little creep can’t talk? ”And only the men!” Shidou strode off toward the castle without waiting for the rest of us to follow. I trotted along behind him, and the other [sic] slowly followed suit. As we got close, the castle’s gates began to grind open. Hey, what’re we gonna have to do in there? It didn’t speak, just twitched around like a worm in a frying pan.Weird. I got no idea what the little bastard’s trying to say. You think all of ‘em are like this? I’m not sure… Was it possible Count Hogstein had forbidden them from talking…? Do all of you have watches? We all nodded, and each held up a watch or a cell phone— anything with the time on it. Look at the time. Right now it’s noon on the dot. And we’ve got seven hours left. Right. I need you all to be alert. Will do! After all, if we didn’t stay alert… in seven hours, we’d be dead. We walked through the gate, and up to the castle. Up close, the towers looked even taller. The piglet gestured for us to go in. Inside was a long hallway that looked like a set from a period movie. I could just see a room at the end of it. I suspect that is our destination. Yeah, I think you’re right. We moved down the hallway slowly and carefully, until we reached the door at the end and stepped into the room. My, this is certainly extravagant… Just like the outside of the castle, the interior was also an odd mix of east and west. This particular room seemed to have a stronger European influence. In the center was a statue of a creepy-looking animal. A… lion, maybe? Looks like a Walk/Don’t Walk sign. The doors to the left and right had chains bolted across them— obviously we weren’t going out that way any time soon. This room is creepy. I sure hope we’re not going to get locked in here or something…Saki, please don’t say poo poo like that. You know what’s— …!  Rrgh…! Damnit! It’s locked! …You just had to say it, didn’t you?!Saki’s skill at figuring out game logic is a bit rusty, apparently. What are we going to do? We’re trapped, you guys… I’d meant it as a joke, but suddenly being trapped in the room with that statue didn’t seem so funny. Still, standing around worrying about it was only going to waste time. …If we want to get out of here, then we’re going to have to solve this puzzle. Here we go, first puzzle of the game. Let’s see what we’ve got going on in here. Hey, don’t do anything rash. We need to think about this carefully. Yeah, and then we’ll still be thinking carefully when this whole place goes boom! …Hrm. I guess you don’t get to be a police detective without being methodical… (We do need to be cautious, but Mitarashi’s right too… If we don’t move quickly, we’re gonna be in bad shape.) I started moving around the room, examining things, and before long the others started to do the same. They are the most suspicious things in this room. Come on guys, I know you’ve got seven hours to figure this out but that doesn’t mean you need to use every minute of it. I mumbled to myself and walked toward the statue. Then suddenly, I heard a mechanical voice begin to speak.[Announcer]: Awaken to your destiny, and slay the demon nue. Fail to slay the nue, and die by its poison. Huh. Think that was some kind of hint? A nue… hmm… What’s a nue? Oh my god, hurry it up! Of course they mean the statue! You think they were talking about the loving sign? Or the curtains? He raised a hand to point at the thing in the center of the room. Oh… so a nue is an animal? I’d thought it was a lion or something at first, but as I looked closer I could see that wasn’t even close. Ah yes, the nue. A Japanese creature of myth and legend. Whoa… That’s pretty cool. So why the hell’s it here? *A purple light scans down the screen* What…? What the heck is this?!Probably the poison that was mentioned just a minute ago. Get away from there! His voice was slightly muffled by the handkerchief he’d suddenly pressed over his mouth and nose. The rest of us all clasped whatever we had to our own faces. O-Oh no… Is this poison gas…? I’m afraid it probably is. By now the stuff pouring out of its mouth was purple. Clearly it wasn’t ordinary smoke. Smoke would have risen up, but this was slowly spreading out over the floor. Ayumu frowned, and rubbed a hand across his rough beard. Whatever happens, we can’t just start running around. There’s no place for this gas to go. If we move it too much, we might end up spreading it. Then what the hell are we gonna do…? We’re gonna die if it fills the room up!I’ll be honest, it’s looking more likely that our heroes are going to bite it during the first puzzle. A well-oiled machine they are currently not. Don’t shout! We need to keep the air still! The calmer it is, the longer that gas stays on the floor. Guh…! L-Let’s just calm down… We’ve still got plenty of time before the gas… um… We’ve got plenty of time! The little lady’s right. If we can solve this puzzle, we should be home free. The one thing I hate about mystery VN’s (especially ones with character routes/dating-sim stuff) is that every loving character currently present needs to get their own line reaffirming what we already know/just said. The room is filling with poison gas, you idiots! We know this! Can we please start talking about how to solve the drat puzzle? Ch-Chill out?! How are you so calm!? Wakasa, no—!poo poo, here we go. Towa is about to screw us. He shot across the room to the door we’d come in through, and began to furiously twist the handle. It’s locked! Didn’t you hear what I said? We have to keep the air calm! He had gone into a state of total panic, frantically pulling on a door that clearly wasn’t going to open. Were you even listening, you little twerp?! He said we’re gonna run out of air if you do that! Wait! I gestured desperately to Mitarashi to calm down, and walked as slowly and carefully as I could over to Wakasa. Hey! Wakasa! Listen to me! I like that Saki is now starting to assert herself, but I think we just should have let Ryusei punch Towa in the face or something. You have to calm down! We can get out of here! We just have to solve the puzzle! She’s right. Everything’s going to be fine. When had he…? As I was wondering how he’d moved so quietly, Shidou reached out to take hold of Wakasa’s arm. …Guh… really? Urabe spoke up. Look at the gas. It’s coming out very slowly. We have plenty of time left before it becomes dangerous. There is no need to be rash. Urgh… I saw his hand loosen and slide off the doorknob. (Shidou was awfully… reassuring…) Then again, he was a police officer, and of all the people there, he seemed the most reliable. When we said things would be all right, you believed him. (And Urabe made a good point too.) Slowly and carefully, we made our way back to the statue. The thing that voice said earlier sounded like a hint… Do any of you know what it might mean?Half an hour after the poison started seeping out, we finally start considering solving the puzzle to stop it from killing everyone. Good stuff.  The latter part appears to be fairly straightforward. Perhaps we should concentrate on the line which says “awaken to your destiny.” Maybe, but we still don’t know squat about this room. We need to look around some more. Yeah… We don’t have a lot of time, so why don’t we split up? Ugh… Fine. How’re we gonna split up, then? Um, let me think… So here is our first choice. I asked the thread to pick and ended up getting four votes: Group A, Group B, Group A, and Group B. Lovely… But that’s fine, at least for this instance. I can use this to show off a mechanic that I think is nice. To do that, we’ll first go with Shidou, Wakasa, and Meoshi to examine the panels. How about me, Shidou, Wakasa, and Meoshi look at those panels? …And why did you choose these groups? Huh? Wh-What, are they bad…? No. This is fine. Who cares?! Why are we whining about who’s doing what? We don’t have time for that!Thank you, Ryusei! Everyone stop bitching and let’s get to making progress. We’ve got 2 different clocks running, so stop wasting so much time over nonsense. Then let’s get going! And with that, we split up. Shidou, Wakasa, Meoshi, and I headed toward the panels. I took a closer look at the panels. Each one had a human looking silhouette. One panel was lit up. Yeah, they look like people… One of them has a sword, this one has a bow… Meoshi suddenly spoke up. There are names under each one. Hm. So I guess they’re not all fighters. Right. I wouldn’t really call a mage a fighter…Then you’re rolling the wrong character build. I was trying to figure out what it meant when Meoshi spoke. I think they’re classes. Classes? Wakasa piped up. Oh, you mean like in RPGs?Like the entire theme of this part of the drat park? Yes. That is exactly what it means. Listen, I swear that they don’t remain this stupid. At the very least they improve slightly after we get through this first stumbling block. Yeah. Right! Of course… I get it now! I punched my hand in victory. The panels had to be for character classes, just like he’d said.Not something to be proud of, Saki. He spelled it out for you, after all. But only one of them is lit up… Yeah, the monk one. Hmm… Why only that one? There had to be some sort of meaning to it… You, Meoshi. You know a lot about the game this attraction was based on, right? Yeah, I beat it once. Give me a summary of it. Quickly. A party of seven! That must be what the panels are! I realized I was yelling and quickly shut my mouth, but Shidou nodded thoughtfully. Yes, that must be it.Oh my god, Subaru actually does have different facial expressions! The seven heroes… But I don’t get it… Why is this guy the only one who’s lit up? Hmmm… We should report back to the other group and strategize. They must have found something by now. We all agreed, and headed back toward the statue and the other team.So this is where the two groups meet back up into one. Saki will talk about what the other group learned in their investigation, but it’s a brief summary. The nice thing about Sweet Fuse is that we can easily pop back and check out what the other group went through. Obviously, one option of doing this is simply making multiple saves and reloading one from just before the choice of which group to go with. However, Sweet Fuse has a different way of doing this.  At (just about) any time, you can open the menu in order to do stuff like save and load and adjust options. You also have the “Dialog” option, which let’s you look back through everything that’s been said during this play session (in case you missed some dialog or accidentally skipped through it or something). There’s also a button press that can do this from in game, but I can never remember which one it is.  Anyway, if you open up the log, you’ll be able to go back through the conversation and read what was said as well as check on which choice you made. You can also have the voice clips replay by pressing “Square”.  However, you can also press X to “Rewind”. Rewind will take you back to that point in the conversation so you can go back through it. This is really useful for checking out other choices or picking up affection points that you might have missed.  Again, you could always just make a ton of saves and reload as necessary. I still really like this feature though, and I wish that more VNs would do it. It’s a bit easier than trying to juggle save files.  The game will also highlight a choice you’ve already made in Blue (there will also be an arrow in the text log which points out the choice you last made). Anyway, we’ll use this opportunity to check out the other path, since the thread was too indecisive to pick just one. Myself, Shirabe, Mitarashi, and Urabe will check out the statue. Very well. Shall we…? I really didn’t want to get too close to a weird, poison-spewing statue, but it didn’t look like I had a choice.This group is a lot less mouthy than the other and they don’t go whining about Saki taking the lead.  Yeah. Shows up in stories. It varies some, but it usually has the head of a monkey, the body of a raccoon dog, the legs of a tiger, and a snake for a tail. Shirabe tapped his forehead with a finger as he spoke. You seem to know a lot about this stuff. In my line of work, you pick a few things up. Okay, that’s great and all, but I still don’t understand what the hell this thing’s doing here.Well, it’s express purpose seems to be very slowly killing all of you. And, unbelievably, it has so far been succeeding. Well, perhaps a closer examination will reveal more. Be careful of the gas. Right. We examined every inch of the statue, taking care to avoid the poison. Oh… What’s wrong? Push it! Push every button! I pointed to the base of the snake-tail. Found one on its belly, too. Is that so? Its leg appears to have one as well. All in all, there were five buttons. One each on the head, neck, leg, stomach, and tail. What do you think they are? Should we push one?Do it! Do it! No! Are you nuts?! Whoa, take a chill pill, man. I wasn’t gonna do it. Mitarashi grumbled and turned pointedly back to looking at the buttons. I wonder if pushing one of these will stop the gas… Hm… And now we’re back to the common route. Let’s talk shop. …All right, let’s go over everything: The panels are the seven adventurers from Samurai Fantasy VII. The only one that is lit is the monk. The five buttons on the nue are on the head, neck, leg, stomach, and tail. That’s everything, right? Everyone nodded. The panels and the statue must be… connected somehow. But what does “Awaken to your destiny” have to do with them…? Hm… (This is tough… What does “awaken to your destiny” mean?) As we thought, the soft hiss of gas filled the silence. (We have to do something, and soon, or…) You’ve wasted an HOUR on this? The hell have you been doing?! Man… We’re not getting anywhere. I say we just go balls-out and hit one of those buttons.YES! Button time! Huh? W-Wait, stop! I tried to grab him, but he just shook me off. Stop! Shidou dashed forward to try and stop him, but Mitarashi hit the button on the statue’s leg before he could. Everyone froze… Huh…? Huh. Now that mage one’s lit.See? Now we’re getting somewhere. Always push buttons. Yeah, it is! Ha! See? Just gotta go for it. What’re you all worried about anyway? Just… don’t do that again, all right? Hey! Back off, cop! You’re not the boss of me! Ah! Before anyone else could stop him, Mitarashi smacked the button on the nue’s stomach. Damnit Mitarashi, what the hell!? He grabbed the other man by the collar and shook him. No, stop! I tried to shove them apart, but as I did— Probably nothing good, but hey, at least stuff is happening, right? *Another pink light scans down the screen* The mage panel! It’s turned red! What? Gah! Th-There’s more gas coming out of its mouth! What?! Rrgh… Mitarashi and Shidou leapt away from the statue, and I could see that gas was indeed pouring out of its mouth much faster now. You idiot! Do you realize what you just did? Were you even thinking?! We’re risking our lives with every move we make here! Jesus, I’m sorry! But hey, look at it this way, now we’ve got some idea of what’s going on with these buttons! Yes, I… suppose so, but still! You need to learn to exercise a little restraint. … Meoshi quietly raised his hand. Did you notice something? Well… not so much notice as… remember, I guess. What did you remember, then? A trick? It’s weak versus arrows, but you can’t hit it with an arrow unless you, uh, set up the attack first. First the monk hits the legs with a special attack. That stops it. Then your mage hits the tail, which keeps it from casting spells.”Then the Tank fucks up by standing 1 meter to the left, which causes everyone else to fail, thereby making it all the Tank’s fault.” Finally, you use the hunter to attack with his bow… Monk, mage, hunter… There’s a panel for each one on here, right? Oh! So that’s why the monk panel was lit up! Mitarashi just got luck and pressed the right button. And now the mage one is lit up! Probably… So, next up would be… (Hm… Which button are we supposed to press next?)We get a choice here between “stomach” and “tail”, but come on; Saki isn’t that dense. The tail should be next. Right you are, missy. Even the best headline means squat if it’s not carrying the heavy weight of the truth. Use your noggin and the truth’s your friend. I think you may have a bit of promise. That choice was one that could provide affection points. The little animation you’re seeing above is technically called “Exp-LOV-sion”. All it means is that you can see when affection levels have increased with the different guy. You can turn this off in the menu, although I’m not entirely sure why you would. The current affection levels can be checked from the pause menu. Just a note: Rewinding undoes whatever affection boosts you got from choices that haven’t happened at the point you pick things up. So you can’t just boost affection and then rewind to pick a different character or option in order to farm affection points. (Okay, sounds like the tail is probably right.) Very well, I shall push the button. The tail, correct? When Urabe pushed the button on the statue’s tail, a small chime sounded. Ah ha! The red light on the mage’s panel has turned off! When the mage panel turned off, the hunter panel had lit up. It’s on the hunter now! You were right, Meoshi! Awesome… Now there’s only one more button to push. He let out a long, shaky sigh of relief. (Yeah, we’ve only got one button left, but… which one?) Meoshi had said the hunter attacked last, but he hadn’t said where. It didn’t take long for the others to come to the same conclusion, of course. The next button is the last one, but… which button is it? You, Meoshi. Where does the hunter attack this thing? Meoshi shook his head slowly. Sorry… I don’t remember. What?! You’ve gotta be kidding me! Don’t be too hard on him. Who’s going to remember every single detail of a big game like that?The Batomys in Valkyria Chronicles requires you to throw grenades inside the heat sinks after it overheats (or you can try and hit it with a Lancer round). Also, Gi Nattak in FFVII can be defeated immediately by using a Phoenix Down (or other full heal item) on it. That’s right, I’m calling Meoshi out on his lack of knowledge. This is bad… If Meoshi couldn’t remember, though, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do. Then suddenly, Shirabe spoke up. Attack with a bow… bow… bow… Wait… He was mumbling to himself and tapping his forehead with his fingers. (Is this some sort of nervous habit? He was doing it before, too…) In “Minamoto’s Slaying of the Nue” and Yoshitoshi’s “New Forms of 36 Monsters,” the nue is shot in the neck! You’re right! I think it was the neck! Okay. So the button on the neck is the one we should press next? (Wow, Shirabe sure knows a lot of stuff!) Very well, I shall push the button on the neck. As he spoke, Urabe leaned over and pressed the button. “One puzzle down!” I though. But…*The hunter panel turns red*  B-But… Why is the hunter’s panel red…?*Another pink scan of the screen* The gas was also coming out of the nue’s mouth faster than before. Damnit! What did we do wrong?! That should have worked! None of us had the answer. (It should have worked… Shidou is right, so what happened? Something’s off…) I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d missed some important part of the puzzle. I ran the announcement we’d heard earlier over and over in my head. (What am I missing from that announcement…?) So here’s the puzzle solving mechanic for this game. Well, the mechanic that doesn’t involve just making dialog choices anyway. Explosive Insight usually occurs when everyone is at their wits end. Saki will take a moment to think over recent information and try to discover the key to the answer the group needs. It works a little bit like the Testimony System from the Ace Attorney series.  The game will give us a few pages of Saki’s thoughts. You can flip through them with the left and right D-pad and select words or phrases using Up/Down. The words or phrases in blue are the important ones, but there are quite a few of them that can be selected.  You are allowed to place “Insight Bombs” on three of those blue words/phrases. There’s only one correct choice, so you basically get three chances at finding it. Let’s use this one as an example. The blue choices are as follows: - ”fail to slay” - “awaken to your destiny” - “statue” - “slay the nue” - “specific steps” - “attack the neck” - “die by its poison” This is the first puzzle, so it should be pretty easy. We’ll find out next update if Saki (and the thread) can figure out the keyword that will lead us to the answer the group needs to not die from poison gas. .gif)
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 03:12 on May 1, 2020 |
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Apr 30, 2020 23:28
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Psycho Knight posted:
Isn't this Mitarashi? He's the one who commented about Samurai Fantasy VII. quote:[ayussigh] Hey, what’re we gonna have to do in there? quote:[sufsweat] Get away from there! Lacking faces here. Also not going to quote but you wrote "neu" instead of "nue" several times in the update, and there's no [sic] there. I'm bad at mysteries so I have no idea which of the phrases is the correct one.
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May 1, 2020 00:30
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Blaze Dragon posted:Isn't this Mitarashi? He's the one who commented about Samurai Fantasy VII. Thanks for catching those. These LPs with multiple expressions per character are a pain in the rear end. I haven’t come up with a good system for easily doing "Find and Replace". The Nue=Neu thing happened because "nue" shows up a lot and also I have "neu" as an expression tag to represent neutral, so I kept having to switch between them while writing. That’s my bad. I'll fix that with the image tags in a bit. Edit: Also, the Piglet head icon is huge for some reason. The hell happened there? Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:24 on May 1, 2020 |
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May 1, 2020 01:14
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I'm guessing the missing piece of the puzzle is that each role is supposed to correspond to one member of the group and the right person has to push the button, so... "awaken to your destiny," I guess?
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May 1, 2020 01:25
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Psycho Knight posted:Update II: Saki and the case of the "World's Slowest Poison" I think this should be ought, right? I'm torn between specific steps and awaken to your destiny but they seem to have figured out the specific steps already, and awaken to your destiny seems to be the key expression here. Space Kablooey fucked around with this message at 01:32 on May 1, 2020 |
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May 1, 2020 01:29
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Yeah, it's been long enough since I played this that I don't remember anything about the puzzles. Awaken to my destiny. Also ugh reading this LP makes me want to replay it instead of waiting for updates.
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May 1, 2020 02:45
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Yeah, backing up "awaken to your destiny". If there are seven of us and seven classes, then each of us must correspond to one of the classes. So in order to work this out, we have to decide who Hogboy decided was the archer of these participants.
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May 1, 2020 03:15
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HardDiskD posted:I think this should be ought, right? Yeah, I got around to fixing that one. Also another Kimimaro portrait I missed. Not sure how "ought" became "ouahgt", but oh well. That's why you have proofreaders and editors, right Aksys/Spike Chunsoft? Ghost Car posted:I'm guessing the missing piece of the puzzle is that each role is supposed to correspond to one member of the group and the right person has to push the button, so... "awaken to your destiny," I guess? Seems to be the consensus of the thread. We'll go with that as one of the choices, and then I guess I'll randomly pick two others. StrixNebulosa posted:Also ugh reading this LP makes me want to replay it instead of waiting for updates. Normally you would be in luck, because people that followed my last 3 LPs know that I'm bad (or maybe good? Not sure how people feel about it) for rapid-firing updates. I tried to limit myself to once a week during my Conception Plus LP and that lasted for maybe a month before I was putting out updates every 2 or 3 days. This LP seems like it will be moving a little slower though. On top of the heavier transcription, I'm also fumbling around with those drat expression portraits. Haven't had to do that since Conception II. I need to come up with a new tagging system to make this easier on myself. Jadecore posted:Yeah, backing up "awaken to your destiny". If there are seven of us and seven classes, then each of us must correspond to one of the classes. So in order to work this out, we have to decide who Hogboy decided was the archer of these participants. Can do. The destiny thing seems to be what the thread has locked into and I think it's a fairly safe bet. The good thing about this whole mechanic is that it gives you three choices. This kind of thing is way more frustrating in the Ace Attorney series where you are trying to come up with a single statement that nonsensically matches up with some random trash you found on the ground (otherwise known as "evidence").
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May 1, 2020 13:28
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Oh man, this brings back memories. I will refrain from voting since I've played this a lot, but I certainly hope that we choose to flip our lid at every available opportunity
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May 1, 2020 13:36
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Jadecore posted:Yeah, backing up "awaken to your destiny". If there are seven of us and seven classes, then each of us must correspond to one of the classes. So in order to work this out, we have to decide who Hogboy decided was the archer of these participants. Yeah, is there a way to get someone else to do the button-pressing? RedHead is apparently the monk, and Braids is the mage...hmmm...I wonder if CopGuy could be the hunter---tracking down suspects is kind of like hunting, right? Him or Reporterman.
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May 2, 2020 05:18
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Update III: Ninja time! Also Towa's here When we last left Saki, she was trying to figure out the missing piece of information we need to solve this puzzle. Everyone in the thread zeroed in on “awaken to your destiny” as the key phrase, so we’ll go with that.  Remember, as long as one of the choices you made is the correct one, then you pass. Things will get harder as the game goes on, although I’m not exactly sure how much harder it gets. I would imagine that the number of possible choices will go up, but we’ll have to wait and see if the answers get more obtuse or harder to guess.  If you get the correct word/phrase, then Saki’s insight will be incited. If you don’t get the correct word/phrase…   Well, you can probably guess what happens. For this puzzle, a game over has Saki getting frustrated that she can’t figure it out. Then the boys start commenting that it’s getting harder to breathe, shortly followed by them coughing out their last words as the poison gas kills them all. Saki apologizes to her uncle as she dies. Future death trap game overs will likely be a bit more… messy, should we fail. Let’s do our best to avoid those outcomes, shall we? Also, in case you’re curious, the game over screen will give you a chance to “Try Again” if you fail the Explosive Insight segments. It will load up a line or two before the scene triggers. Seems kind of lenient to me, but I guess this is a T-rated game (12+ in Japan). You’ve got to have some way of letting younger players (or older players that are bad at mystery thinking) brute force it in case they can’t figure it out. We still haven’t figured out what “Awaken to your destiny” is supposed to mean. Could it be the hint we need?  It was very insightful of you to notice that. Well, if you “awaken” to your destiny, then that means you figure out what it is, right? (I think this is it! We’re finally gonna beat this puzzle!) The panels with those pictures on ‘em need a closer look. Maybe they’ve got something to do with awakening to our destiny. Um… I just thought of something…First time for everything. I’m sorry, Towa lovers. He instantly became my hate sink in this game and I don’t think he’ll be shaking off that status anytime soon. Well, spit it out, Wakasa. Yeah. So they put seven panels here for the party… and there are seven of us. You think maybe there’s a connection? You’re right! Count Hogstein did call us heroes… Maybe each of these panels represents one of us! Of course! To awaken to our “destiny,” we have to determine which panel corresponds to which person! That has to be it! So if Mitarashi and Urabe pushed the buttons earlier… Then they have to be the monk and the mage, right? I mean, he is somehow managing to make that crystal ball float. If anyone was going to be the magic user, it would be that guy. Hm… Perhaps because of how we look? Huh? What do you mean? I believe we must take into account our personalities and appearance, instead of simply looking at our actual careers. Then who’s the hunter? C’mon, obviously it’s this guy. Me? Why am I the hunter? Well, you’re a cop, right? That means you got a piece. He grinned, making a gun with his hand, and pretended to fire it. Honestly, my guess was Ayumu. He’s a journalist, following up on leads and tracking down info. I know that fits with Subaru as well, but I sort of pegged Subaru as being the Warrior since he’s heavily armed (well… “heavily armed” from a Japanese perspective, anyway). He’s also got the whole “Protect the public” thing going on, which is typical of the noble warrior/hero character. All right. Huh? Wait, that was a joke. Wh-What? Before anyone could stop him, Shidou reached over and pressed the button on the neck. Everyone gasped—Why? If Ryusei is wrong, then just have Ayumu run up and tap the button. They haven’t established any punishments for trying too many times. The gas starts coming out faster, but it would only take a second or two for Ayumu to give it a shot. Ah! The flow of gas from the nue’s mouth suddenly stopped. Look! The statue’s moving! Yay! We finally did it! And it only took an hour and a half… Great job, team… As it did, a chime sounded and the hunter panel turned green. All the gas is getting sucked out through the ventilation. He was right— I could see the thick fog quickly vanishing into vents on the walls. (It looks like we’ve beaten the first part of this game…) I let out a sigh of relief. It took only a few moments for all the gas to disappear. drat… I felt the entire room relax. Hm… Everyone, that is, except for Shidou. He was busy frowning at the nue. Is something wrong? So this is just going to keep going… Well, this is the first stage of the first area. We’ve got a long ways to go.We sure do. That’s why you shouldn’t be wasting so much time just standing around. Get a move on! All of the attractions have likely been modified to make them lethal, like this one. Again, I don’t understand that part. No court will side with Hogstein on the matter of “Signed a waiver that absolves the terrorist of liability for his death traps”. That just means that if we want to get through this we’ll have to be like the adventurers in the game and work together. They all nodded. Just then, a short tune played over the room’s speakers, followed by an announcement.[Announcer]: The Room of the Guardian has been completed. You have obtained a reward. A reward…?Sweet! Loot! Before we had time to ponder what it meant, the base of the statue popped open. There’s a scroll… He pulled it out of the chest and showed us.Ability Scroll? Maybe we can teach Towa a skill which makes him not such a pansy? This looks like a map of this attraction… See, here’s the room we’re in… Then there are two more rooms with puzzles in them.Great, there goes the next 5 hours of our time. I turned to see him glancing down over my shoulder at the map. There were indeed two more rooms. Two more? drat, this one took us two hours…BECAUSE YOU KEEP STANDING AROUND AND YAMMERING! Seriously, the path to the next area has been open for like 5 minutes and yet nobody has made a move towards it yet. Then we’ve still got five left, chum. We’d better get moving then, don’t you think? Right… *sigh* I’m not gonna live through this, am I? I just wanna go home…Yeah… We all want you to go home too, Towa. We headed down the stairs, toward the Corridor of Hate… Finally, a new puzzle. Let’s try and get through this one sometime before the end of the week, okay? When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we found ourselves in a long stone hallway. It was dark and gloomy, but there were torches mounted along the walls casting enough light to see by. This place is scary… … I moved a little closer to one of the heads, and noticed a set of panels. These are just like the ones we saw a bit ago… The one that’s lit now is… the bard?So, Towa then. Come on, that one is obvious. Huh? What’s it look like? Mitarashi pushed forward toward the panel— Whoa! Gah! This is an arrow… Sure enough, there was now an arrow embedded in the opposite wall.Wow, really upping the stakes, huh? Granted, this does mean that there’s not as much pressure to move quickly, which means we’ll probably be stuck here for eternity while everyone tries to figure this out as slowly as possible. drat, that was close! A second later and I’d have been a shish kebab… Have a look at this arrow. Too thick for a bow, don’t you think? This is a crossbow quarrel. If you want to die that’s your business, but I’d appreciate it if you could— just every now and then— look before you leap. Urgh… (That must have been scary, even if he won’t admit it…) If nothing else, the arrow sticking out of the wall was now a powerful reminder that we needed to be careful. D-Do you think each of these heads has a trap like that in it? Looks that way. Walk in front of one of those faces and you end up with a fancy new hole or two. Shirabe’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion as he finished, and Wakasa looked too shocked to speak. Then the voice was quiet. Oh, thanks! Would have been nice to know I needed to “proceed with care” before I just about got skewered. It was true that if the announcement had come on earlier he wouldn’t have been in danger, but if he hadn’t been in such a hurry in the first place…Eh. There’s a solid chance that that announcement is only triggered once somebody actually trips the arrow trap. I think it would have been the same result either way. Now what in the furious hell do they mean by “give ear to the song of the demons”? And what’s that “purification” nonsense about… Shirabe scratched at his beard and worked the candy around in his mouth. Perhaps it would be best to take these questions one at a time. Shall we start with “give ear to the song of the demons”? All right, well, obviously the “demons” are these ugly bastards. …And that’s all we really know. We need more information, people. Facts. Verifiable facts. Shirabe edged toward the nearest head. Very, very carefully, he began to examine it. Yes I do. This fella’s got a little light on his forehead. I figure it’s some sort of sensor. Let me see… Oh yeah. I see what you’re talking about.Don’t start crowding around the loving arrow shooting demon head! Every person in the room doesn’t need to personally confirm that little bit of info, you know. Time to put it to the test, then… Ah! I jumped as he waved his hand in front of the demon’s nose, but no arrow came out. Relax. See? Long as you don’t trip the sensor, no arrow. Easy. You scared me…Yeah, hey Ayumu? Maybe give people a little bit of a heads up before you go testing out theories. Saying “Let’s test it!” is not cool. He sighed, and told everyone to step back. He waved his hand over the demon’s face again, this time in front of the sensor.Now see? Couldn’t you have done that the first time? You guys all poo poo on Ryusei constantly for doing basically the same thing. Aie! Just like before, an arrow shot out of the demon’s mouth with blinding speed. Is your hand all right? Nothing to worry about, little lady. Pulled my hand away at the last second.Why did you even need to pull your hand away? The sensor is all the way up on its forehead. All you had to do was pass a finger through the laser. Don’t tell me you did a big sweep with your hand over the entire face or something. That’s fine, but there are a lot of these heads, and there’s no pattern to them. It would be impossible to avoid them all. Indeed… We all sighed. (There’s no way we can just… run past them or something. That means there’s got to be a way we can disable the arrows.) I was still mulling it over in my head when Wakasa suddenly spoke up. Did that… What is it? If you say so. All right, let’s get back to figuring out the puzzle. Mitarashi rolled his eyes. No one’s gonna blame you! Not like any of us know what the hell’s going on! Just spit it out, kid! He started to move toward Wakasa. (Hmm… I do want to know what he noticed…) There’s an obvious affection point for Wakasa here, but I don’t like him so I’m just gonna let Ryusei do his thing. If the thread decides on the Towa route for some reason, then I’ll just reload from here. (Mitarashi is being way too pushy, but we do need all the information we can get…) You need to tell us what you noticed. It might be the hint we need to figure out all this out! [sic] Um… I don’t really think it’s going to be what you think it is, but… I guess you’ve got a point. Wait, what? How is that an affection increase for Towa?! We were on board with just letting Ryusei intimidate him! …You win this game of reverse psychology, Towa fans. Why the heck are you being so secretive anyway? Well, at least I’d gotten him to talk. …I thought I heard something from the demon’s mouth. It was really faint, like a sort of… stretching noise. …Stretching…? Wakasa was still mumbling and thinking to himself when Shidou suddenly raised his head. “Give ear to the song of the demons”… Can you still hear it? He shook his head and frowned. So once the arrow fires, you can hear the noise for a little while and then it stops?Yes, the reloading mechanism. Come on, people! You don’t really need this spelled out for you, do you? Maybe, but… I could have just been imagining it. I mean, the rest of you couldn’t hear it, right? We may not have, but there is an easy way to determine the truth. Perhaps we should fire another arrow? Right, one more time, then. Wakasa, raise your hand when you hear the noise, then drop it when it stops. Okay. A-Are you sure I should do it, though…? You may be the only one of us who can hear it. …All right. Good. I’ll trigger the sensor. You sure? Are you gonna be okay? Saki, there is no reason for you to suddenly start doing this. Ayumu has already done it, so he’s got a better handle on it. Why are you just randomly deciding to try it out? I stepped up to the demon’s face, glanced nervously around, and then waved my hand over the sensor. Just like before, an arrow shot out and embedded itself in the wall. Oh…! His hand shot up. Then, before I could even react, Shidou stepped in front of me and waved his hand in front of the sensor. …? What had he done that for? I was still wondering when Wakasa lowered his hand. What was that? You were watching, right? I didn’t trigger an arrow. Oh! Yeah, you’re right! Ah, how clever. I see now… So the noise Wakasa heard was the trap reloading. Hm… Yes. My best guess is that it takes approximately five seconds. A fact we could have discovered ages ago with some simple testing. Finally, we’d figured out one part of the announcement: “Give ear to the song of the demonds.”A totally worthless part of the announcement, I might add. Again, simply testing the sensor more than once would have told us that. Being able to hear the reloading process changes absolutely nothing about how long it takes. It would be different if all of these heads were on different timers or something. I couldn’t hear anything though. You must have really good ears! All right, we’ve figured out how the demon faces work. Now we just need our bard to do his little performance one more time. Yes, I agree. They were right, the bard panel was lit up. But… who’s the bard? That would be you, Towa Wakasa. What? Me? And that’s your job, right? You sing, dance, entertain, etc. Besides, you were the only one who could hear the “song of the demons.” …Okay. I just need to do what you guys did, right? He glanced at me and swallowed. For a moment, I was worried he was going to say he was too scared to do it. (Maybe now that I’ve done it, he’s too embarrassed to say he was too scared to do something a girl could…)Come on, Saki. Don’t you start with that too. Wakasa said nothing, just turned back around and slowly approached the demon head. He waved his hand in front of the sensor… Oh, look, the bard panel turned off.So Towa’s role in solving this puzzle was entirely meaningless. He didn’t really contribute anything, because we could have easily discovered how all of this worked just by doing some very low-risk testing.  A ninja, huh. Well, we know it’s safe for about five seconds after the trap fires, but… In theory someone could trigger the arrows as they ran, using the five-second intervals to move past each head, but the coordination required would be… One slip-up and they’d be toast.How short is five seconds in your world? Holy crap, I can get out of my chair and leave the room in five seconds. You’re talking about crossing a laser pointer beam. You could leisurely walk past the demon heads in the time it takes those things to reload. My 90-year old grandfather could cover that distance in that amount of time. Everyone was silent. Then, finally, Shirabe spoke. Well, first we have to figure out who our ninja is. All we’ve got left is myself, the gamer kid here, and the young lady. Ain’t no way it’s me or her, so that leaves you, pal. Meoshi’s mouth tightened slightly, but he began to walk toward the demon heads. Meoshi…? What?! H-Hold on a second! Let’s not rush into anything! She is correct. The poisonous gas afforded us some margin for error. A crossbow bolt through the abdomen affords somewhat less. … Meoshi stopped, his brows knit. (What are we going to do now?) I think you guys are really overthinking this one. Is the “light that shines in the darkness” supposed to refer to these torches? Or maybe the sensors in the demons… No idea. We all shook our heads in silence. We really don’t have time to let you all sit around and discuss this for the next 4 loving hours. We’ve got a timer running. Let’s do this. I think we’re going to have to trust Meoshi. I didn’t like it, but there was nothing else we could do. We were out of options.Unless the mechanics of this trap were horrible translated and we’re missing some critical piece of information on how this works, then I think everything will be fine. It’s not like the guy has to run the length of the entire hallway in five seconds. He just has to swipe his hand, move 6 inches in 5 seconds, then repeat. …All right.Choosing “Let Meoshi try” is an affection boost for him, by the way. He looked me in the eye and nodded, then turned and headed down the hallway. Oh no… I can’t watch… Wakasa covered his face with his hands and turned away. Everyone else watched Meoshi go, but none of us felt good about it. …Here goes. He took a deep breath, moved into a crouch, and leapt forward. ”If we all Naruto run, the”— Never mind, I can’t finish that. That meme was stupid within 2 seconds of it being born. Wow! He quickly established a rhythm, touching a sensor, waiting a split second for the arrow to fire, and then moving past to the next one. drat… Look at that kid go…Again, I don’t find this particularly impressive. I know five seconds seems like a short amount of time, but when all you have to do is move past a laser pointer it may as well be an eternity.  He’s like a real ninja…Not really. A real ninja would have covertly taken out one of the piglets and put on his disguise, then slit Hogstein’s throat after getting close. Less Naruto and more Agent 47. Even Wakasa had lowered his hands to watch in amazement. In a few moments he disappeared into the darkness, and all we could hear was the “thwack” of arrows firing. Oh! A familiar chime echoed down the dark corridor. It looks like he made it. Guh! I threw up an arm to shield my eyes from the sudden light. As my eyes adjusted I looked up. I hadn’t noticed them before, but there were florescent lights all along the hallway’s ceiling. And down at the end I could see Meoshi, giving us the thumbs-up. Good job! That was amazing! I grinned and returned the thumbs-up. (He really is a ninja! There’s no way I could move like that.)Then you need to hit the gym more. Even a fat rear end like me could have done that. He sure hadn’t looked very athletic, but the way he’d moved… It would appear the sensors no longer… sense. As he spoke, he waved one of his hands in front of a demonic face. Nothing happened. He gestured toward a spot on the wall. It looked like the switch had turned on the lights when it turned off the demons. So this is what it meant by “purified by the light that shines in the darkness”… I’ll be damned. He wiped sweat from his brow as he spoke, and gave a wavering sort of grin. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and headed down the hall toward Meoshi. Well check you out, bro! Not bad, not bad! Mitarashi ignored him and gave Meoshi another hearty slap on the back. You really saved our bacon, kid. Yes, well done.Why weren’t you guys this appreciative of Saki when she figured out the whole “awaken to your destiny” thing? That was quite a predicament… Thanks! W-Well, uh, someone had to do it… He looked down at the floor as we spoke, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red. It looked like Meoshi didn’t take compliments very well.Whatever. At least we weren’t stuck on this puzzle for hours, like we were with the last one. We’ve only got one more puzzle left. Oh man… Why can’t we be done already? I don’t think I’m gonna make it… Yeah, there’s still another puzzle, but we got this far, didn’t we? That’s two puzzles! What’s one more?Depends. Are you going to spend 3 hours on the next puzzle? Because you’ve already blown a lot of your seven allotted hours.  I get that a lot. Wakasa gave me a look, but before he could speak—*Another chime goes off* Whoa! That’s the same sound we heard when we cleared the Room of the Guardian! The fanfare was quickly followed by an announcement.[Announcer]: The Corridor of Hate has been completed. There was a loud “clank” from the end of the corridor, like a lock opening. I let out a sigh of relief. (Only one more puzzle, and then today’s attraction is over!) Oh god, stairs! There goes the last few hours of time we have left. The Corridor of Hate led to a long staircase that took us up and up. According to the map, the last room is at the end of these stairs. So far we’ve spent… about three hours. How did you spend a full hour on that loving puzzle? You can’t even tell me that they spent time searching the room. It was a single hallway. Show of hands: Who thinks they are going to come right down to the wire on the seven hour time limit? I can totally see them blowing the last four hours on the last puzzle. We’ve really only been here for three hours…? It had seemed much longer. Maybe because I hadn’t been able to see that [sic] sun?”that sun”? …Is there more than one in your world, Saki? (It feels like we’ve been in here all day… I’m tired, and now I’m starting to feel hungry.) Then, almost as if he’d heard me, Meoshi suddenly sat down on the stairs. Are you all right?! Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to… rest a little… (He’s obviously tired out… That stunt earlier must have taken more out of him than he let on.) Mitarashi stopped and came back down the stairs toward us. He frowned, and took hold of Meoshi. Huh…? What, I gotta spell it out for you? Just lemme help. And maybe start training your body a bit, don’t just play games all day. You’re a man, aren’t you? With a grunt, Mitarashi hauled Meoshi to his feet and propped him up on his shoulder. Whoa, dang bro, you getting enough to eat?! I feel like I’m lifting a pillow! I’m fine. I watched them head off up the stairs. I’d been so busy thinking, I’d fallen to the back of the line. (Who knows what the next puzzle is going to be… I need to get up these stairs quick!) Still, they were a pretty rough climb. When we started I’d been hopping up them at a good clip, but now it seemed like they went on forever…Stairs are like that.  Are you all right, Inafune? Oh, um, yeah… Your life has been in more or less constant danger for the last several hours. There is no shame in feeling a bit tired. Another affection choice. I’m still getting whatever points I can because we haven’t reached a point yet where we need to start focusing on just one dude. After a moment or two of thought, I took Urabe’s hand. I was tired, and I didn’t want to get in anyone’s way. Thanks. …Sorry. There’s no need to apologize. I am happy to be of assistance. If need be, I can even carry you. I-I don’t think it’ll come to that! I’m fine… We have plenty of time left. Tiring ourselves out before we reach the final puzzle will help no one. A slightly slower pace would be a wise choice.There’s always “plenty of time left”, until there isn’t. Urabe smiled again, and gave me a conspiratorial wink. (He’s really nice…) At long last we reached the top of the stairs. In front of us stood a set of double doors. Everybody else was already there, taking a moment to catch their breath. There you are. I call bullshit. Egypt is not cool with people climbing on the pyramids, least of all some dime-a-dozen J-Pop boy band. Sure could use a pick-me-up right about now… Are you all right, Meoshi? Yeah. Mitarashi gave me a hand… Good. Listen, Ryusei. We can’t all have the body of a Greek god, like you do. Also, getting to the gym is kind of out of the question at the moment due to the whole virus lockdown thing. I was making such solid progress on the bench, too...  Everyone else was panting and tired, but Mitarashi seemed as energized and relaxed as he had an hour ago. Shidou looked as if he was about to say something, but before he could— Hogstein?! We weren’t likely to forget that voice anytime soon.[Count Hogstein’s Voice]: I have to say, I’m having a lot of fun watching you lose your minds. From somewhere safe, of course. Oink oink! Bastard![Count Hogstein’s Voice]: Ooooh, how scary! His attempt at manipulation was clear… To everyone except Mitarashi, apparently. Don’t let him provoke you. You can’t fight him, not here. I know that! Rrrrgh! He shook Shidou off and spat angrily. Shirabe appeared to be thinking the same thing I was. There are probably surveillance cameras all over the place. Right. He shoved another snack into his mouth and started scratching his beard.He is getting some good mileage out of those things. There’s no way in hell that I would have made a box of Pocky last for three hours. Hell, three minutes may be a stretch. [Count Hogstein’s Voice]: Well, at any rate, the next puzzle is the last one in this attraction, so make sure to enjoy it! Until we meet again! Well, if we meet again. Assuming you’re not all dead. And with that, he was gone. drat pig! What the hell was the point of that? Is he just trying to mess with us?! Yeah, well, I’ve been pretty pissed this whole time, you know? Didn’t exactly need his help. Yeah…Good contribution, Towa. Maybe, but a little taunting isn’t any reason for us to get our panties in a bunch. We oughta rest a bit before we move on. Meoshi’s looking pretty beat. Right. Sorry… Gaaah! I can’t deal with this! Soon as we get outta here, I’m turning that bastard into bacon! We agreed to rest a little longer before heading to the last puzzle. (Is he really just doing this for… entertainment? He’s taken the park staff hostage, and chosen seven “heroes” to solve these puzzles…) *After a little wipe transition to signal the gang taking a break* After a few minutes, we gathered ourselves and moved to the door, ready to take on the next puzzle. All right, let’s do this! Get your heads in the game, people! Mitarashi grabbed the doorknob and looked back at the rest of us. We all nodded back. Our short rest seemed to have restored some sort of calm. Even Wakasa looked determined. (All right! Time to go to work!) That’s a big room… We’re going to be in here for a while, aren’t we…?
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May 3, 2020 19:08
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Just a status update: The next update is being worked on. It's just going very slowly. Hasn't been a great week for me. I'm going to need input from the thread on which guy to pursue, but I'll hold off on putting up a poll until the next update is out. Quite a bit happens that could colour people's impressions of the guys and impact their decision on who to vote for. Hopefully this will all fit in the one update though.
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May 8, 2020 17:01
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Update IV: Saki’s “Sweet Fuse” gets short It’s time for the final puzzle of the first stage. We were supposed to have about four hours left until the day’s deadline, but I’m sure our intrepid group of mystery solvers has managed to waste at least an hour of that just getting here from the last puzzle. The walls were all sliding doors, but a massive chandelier hung from the ceiling. It looked like a house built during the late 1800s or early 1900s. In the center of the room was another strange statue. And just like before, next to it was a device with seven panels. Shirabe tapped his forehead and nodded. That’s a nurarihyon. What’s a… nurarihyon? It’s a monster that goes into people’s houses and drinks their tea. This one is… different, though.Ehhh… kiiiind of? The tea drinking thing is a modern (as in 20th century) interpretation of the nurarihyon that’s based on little more than drawings of it from the Edo period. Those drawings didn’t have any explanations attached to them as to what the yōkai being depicted was or did, so people have just been kind of guessing based on little scraps of writings that come to light as well as the paintings of it. For the “tea-drinking” interpretation, the nurarihyon takes it a little further than simply swiping people’s refreshments. It also supposedly sits around and smokes like it’s the boss of the place. They’re basically the yōkai equivalent of that friend that calls you up looking for “a place to crash for a few days… maybe a week. A month at most”.  This is the final boss from Samurai Fantasy VII. Ah. Well, that makes sense, I guess. Yeah. Moving carefully and checking everywhere for hidden traps, we slowly approached the statue. It’s beautiful…Why do you always look so sinister when you do that? What the hell, bro. Are you serious? It just looks like some sorta ugly alien. Being super weird right now, Kouta. He didn’t go so far as to touch it, but I got the impression that if he thought it was safe, he would have. (Meoshi is kinda funny…) I was watching him gaze appreciatively at the statue when I heard a familiar voice. It was… confusing.Seems pretty straightforward to me. Figure out who the priestess is and search the room for a “Holy Seal”. For the love of god, do not take the next 2 hours to come to this conclusion, Saki. A priestess, huh… The lit panel was a picture of a woman… We should investigate the room thoroughly. Once we know more, we can examine the hint more closely. Inafune. Yes? I think we should split up again. I would like you to decide how. Me? ….Why? You seem to have good… intuition. Does anyone have any objections? Fine. Whatever. Let’s just get moving. So we’ve got another choice as to who to go with. I don’t have the room in this update to show you every path and the thread has remained dead silent since the last update I posted. Both Shidou and Mitarashi have yet to get an affection point, but they are also both on separate teams in this choice. In the interest of spreading out Saki’s attention (until the thread decides on who they want to focus on), we’ll partner up with Mitarashi this time since he’s going solo otherwise.  Uh, do you guys know what these are supposed to be? Uh… well I’m pretty sure they’re demons. I think this is probably the Parade of 100 Demons.Whoa, hold up. *Checking the “choice” screenshot again* HA! Oh my god, either the translators or the developers completely forgot to include Towa in that “splitting up” option! I think this is a translator error, or more specifically, a text box issue. Because of “sliding doors” and “Mitarashi”, there is not enough space left to fit in “and Wakasa.” But if that was the case, then they should have just removed “sliding” and just written it as “Examine the doors with Mitarashi and Wakasa.” That probably would have been able to squeeze in there. Do you know a lot about demons? No, not really. I was just in this movie about demons, so I picked up some stuff. Can’t say I have. Did you play the character that bites it first? Because I might be interested in checking it out if you did. S-Sorry… no… Man, talking to you is depressing. I enjoy the collective dumping on Towa that everyone seems to have agreed to. Hey! It’s not my fault she’s some kinda shut-in! …Anyway, look. I thought these were real at first, but… They’re just painted on. See? Yeah, I guess you’re right. If they were real it’d be way too easy to get out of here.fakedoors.com. Hold on a second… I pointed to a section of wall. That one looks like a real door… Really? …Huh, you’re right. This one’s real. Wait, look at the other wall… There’s another one! What?! Then… I’ll bet only one of these is the right door… I don’t think we’re gonna find anything else. Let’s go see what the other groups found. Mitarashi and Wakasa agreed.*After joining back up with the others It only took a few minutes to go over everything we’d learned. Shidou reported finding a diamond-shaped hole going all the way through the statue, from its stomach to its back. Shirabe had found a mark on the floor that looked like three leaves of wild ginger. He suspected this was the “holy seal.” Okay, looks like we’ve found everything we’re gonna find. Now, how does this mess connect to what we heard? It’s not difficult guys, come on. Shidou reached over and puts his hand on my arm. Inafune, you’re going to have to do it. What? Why me? Well, you haver to be the priestess. You’re the only woman here, after all.Solid reasoning, except there is a glaring hole in that logic that I’m sure the LP readers will catch on to. That, and the only people who haven’t gone yet are you and Shirabe. There’s no way in hell he’s a priestess. Oh… Yes, I guess that make sense. All right, I’ll give it a shot! I took a deep breath and pushed the button. Everyone swallowed… Huh? Nothing’s happening… I’d been expecting… well, something. This was odd. Ah, of course. Shoddy workmanship on the death traps. That must be the reason. Right! I pushed again, as hard as I could. Um… I don’t think it’s even moving.Jiggle it a little! Try pushing on the corners! What? Maybe it’s broken…Just once I’d love to have a moment where a death game thing is actually broken and the psychopathic murderer has to tell everyone to hold up for a minute while he sends a maintenance guy in to fix it. He gestured for me to move aside, and pressed down on the seal with his foot. Oh. What the hell…? Why’d it work for me? I guess you must be the priestess. What? No no no no. That’s crazy! Lies! Look, if I’m either of those little pictures, I’m the warrior!I honestly think Subaru fits that mould better than you do. He’s been kind of the “take charge” and “let’s go” guy so far. Saki fits the role of Priestess better in my eyes, but it’s not because she’s the only woman in the group. The priestess (in this collection of classes) would suggest wisdom/guidance, which seems to be Saki's whole deal. Ayumu does fit that a bit as well, though. He looked hurt and a little flustered, but…Also, I cannot believe that this 32-year old man is getting pissy about being assigned the “woman” job class. Hnnk ha ha ha…It’s totally expected from someone like Towa of course, because he’s a loving grade-schooler that also probably thinks “What are you, gaaaay?” is the height of repartee. Are you kidding me? This old fart’s supposed to be a priestess? Ah ha ha ha ha! I suppose the old adage is true: One cannot judge a book by its cover. D-Don’t laugh at him! But it’s so… funny…You guys do realize that you need him to escape from this place alive, right? Like, all of your lives are in his hands right now.  It is a little strange, but… at least it looks like we got it to work. Shidou had remained silent until now, but he suddenly spoke up. Or perhaps Inafune isn’t actually represented by one of these panels.There it is. Have you caught on yet? What? Why? The warrior on that panel might be for whoever was originally intended to be here instead of you. I see. That would make sense. Right. Wait… wait, you’re saying I still would have been the priestess?! Calm down. It’s only a guess. But if you think about it, the fact that this game seems so specifically tailored to us is even more unsettling.It also raises a lot of questions like “Who was the seventh participant supposed to be?” and “If this was set up to be tailored to a carefully chosen group of people, then why did Hogstein cave so easily and let Saki muck up the whole thing? He could have just told her to get lost when she insisted on joining.”  The humor of the situation was beginning to ebb. Yeah, uh, I really don’t care who the priestess is. We figured out this part of the puzzle. Yeah… So, what do we do next? Oh hey, take a look at this. Part of the floor opened up. We all ran over to see what Wakasa was talking about. Sure enough, there was now a large hole in the floor. Looks like there’s something inside… Let’s see what it is… Mitarashi, either unafraid or unaware of the possible danger, stuck his hand into the hole and pulled out… Sweet! Looks like it. First time I’ve ever held a real one. This thing’s pretty heavy… Look, on the guard… Do you think this is…? Wild ginger… The same seal as before. This must be the holy seal, then? Tokugawa Ieyasu did have two swords from Muramasa that were considered heirlooms, although the modern day branch of the Tokugawa family only has one of them left in their possession (I’m not sure what happened to the other one. It was probably lost or misplaced at some point in the last 350-400 years). I don’t think there’s any real-life connection between them and the nurarihyon though. Yeeeeaaaah…. What it is, is totally sweet-looking. A holy seal, huh… Mitarashi drew the sword from its scabbard with a flourish, and swung it around a few times, grinning and posing.[Announcer]: You have obtained an item. The voice echoed across the room. I guess we got it right. Apparently. The next part is “defeat the demon king,” so… Well that’s easy. Mitarashi swaggered over to the statue and with one dramatic motion shoved the sword through it. See? Fits that hole perfectly.Must… resist… juvenile joke…  I suppose this would count as defeating the demon king. Mitarashi gave the sword a final shove, and the statue made a small “click,” followed by an electronic whirring noise. Hey, looks like that triggered something! What do you think that noise is?Nothing good, more than likely. Probably that. The light is… moving… We watched as it slowly turned to point at the top of the sword. It’s reflecting off the katana, and pointing to the… door on the right-hand wall! “The light of victory will illuminate your path.” That’s it. We’ve solved the whole drat thing. Yeah! I gave him a vigorous nod. All right Inafune, you open the door this time. …Warrior, huh…. Here goes!  Oh poo poo! We’ve got to fight the Demon Wall now! It’s just like Final Fantasy! What…? I stepped forward to get a closer look—*”You done hosed up” noise* A harsh buzzer sounded. The warrior panel turned red…?Well, yeah… What did you think was going to happen? Saki is supposedly the Warrior, but Ryusei is the one that grabbed the sword and stabbed the Demon King. I don’t recall the puzzle/lightboard mentioning anything about the Monk. Oh yeah, and maybe now is a good time to duck. Get down! As he shouted, I heard an arrow fire from the demon. Aaah! Suddenly I was frozen in place by surprise and terror. I squeezed my eyes shut—???: You idiot! Aieee! Something slammed into my body— “The arrow!” I thought… (No… Wait, this is another body…) I opened my eyes and looked up… drat… That’s going to require a band-aid for sure. Maybe even two. Urgh… You okay? Wh-What…?! His face was twisted in pain, and it took only a moment to see why: The bolt that had been meant for me was buried in his shoulder. Are you all right?! Guh… This, uh, hurts a little more than I expected… (Mitarashi saved me?!) I realized my mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it, but I felt awful… Here’s an affection point for Ryusei. The “correct” option kind of threw me off, but I guess that means I’m not really in tune with the characters yet.  What were you thinking?! Heh… Got some fire in you, huh? You’re all right. Again, I figured the first thing you’d say when someone takes a bullet for you is “Are you okay?”, but Ryusei is kind of the “tough guy” so opening with “What the gently caress?!” does seem more appropriate. Er… I-I’m sorry. I mean, thank you. I mean… I don’t know what I mean… Don’t sweat it. I don’t even know why I did it. Just kinda happened. He grinned. C’mon, it’s just a flesh wound. You’re acting like an old woman. That’s an awful lot of blood for a flesh wound, pal. And you gotta consider infection. Once I saw a man’s arm just turn green and fall off. Now, hold still…Thank you, Ayumu. Way to keep the situation calm by talking about the horrors of gangrene. We watched for a few tense minutes while Shirabe applied some rudimentary first aid. Here, take this! Thanks. I handed him my handkerchief, which he skillfully tied around Mitarashi’s arm. To be fair, you weren’t the only one responsible for this. This was definitely a group fuckup. Shidou grimaced and slammed his fist into a nearby wall. Hey, this isn’t just your show, man. Stop trying to act like a hero.Says the man that just acted like a hero. No, that’s not it! I should have been on my guard… told everyone to move away from the door…At least somebody is finally starting to think about common sense precautions that we can apply to every puzzle. …Well, I’ve patched him up as good as I can, but this man needs to get some real treatment, as soon as possible. Mitarashi nodded in thanks. Then we need to get out of here as fast as we can. So… what did we do wrong? Yeah. That’s the first thing we need to figure out. I tried to fight down the growing feeling of panic and go over what we knew, but I couldn’t hold my thoughts together. I was so sure that was the answer… As was I. Shirabe continued to mumble to himself and scratch his beard as the rest of us thought. But now there’re only two doors left! We’ve got a 50-50 chance of getting it right! Unless they’re both wrong… Heh heh…Towa, if that’s all it took then we wouldn’t have needed to bother with this entire sword and statue crap. We could have just stood off to the side and opened each door until we found the exit. I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood, but his words had the opposite effect. See, this is the one time where I could understand them taking like 30 minutes or an hour off. Someone almost got killed and another took a crossbow shot to the shoulder. That calls for a bit of a breather. (It must hurt more than he’s telling us… We need to do something, fast.) Let’s… let’s go over everything again. Starting from the beginning. I nodded, and starting [sic] running over what we knew in my head. (Shirabe pushed the switch, and then we found the katana with the wild ginger seal on it. That was the line, “Take in hand the holy seal, and with the prayer of the priestess.” Next, we stuck the sword into the statue… And it made a sort of clicking noise, which was the “defeat the demon king” part.) …Damnit! What did we miss?! (It seems like we did everything we were supposed to, but something feels wrong…) I wracked my brain for what that might be. (When we examined the room, did we miss something important?) Time for another “Explosive Insight.” Granted, we are still in Stage 1, so the answer should still be really obvious. The keywords/phrases this time are highlighted in bold: (I think we’ve got the announcement riddle figured out this time, so I’ll look at the stuff we found around the room. It turned out that the nurarihyon had a diamond-shaped hole that went all the way through the statue, from its stomach to its back. We also realized that the statue and its base were made of different materials.)Just a note: The statue and base being made of different materials comes up if you go with the group that checks the statue. Not really sure why Saki didn’t mention it in the summary she did when everyone grouped back up. It is mentioned if you go with Shidou and Urabe. (On the floor we found a mark that looked like a stylized three-leafed wild ginger plant. The mark appeared to be a button too. When we examined the doors along the walls of the room, it turned out that most of them were fake, and just painted on. …But not all of them. Some were real— three, to be exact. So… what are we missing?) ”Different” is the keyword here. …We forgot about how the statue and its base are each made of different stuff. So… couldn’t there be something hidden there? I looked up to see six stunned faces staring at me. I saw it, I even mentioned it, and then… In that case, perhaps we should consider what that difference might mean. We huddled around the statue and began to study it with renewed interest. (We have to figure this out quickly!) Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mitarashi, still trying and failing to hide how much his wound hurt. I began to circle around the statue. (Hm… What is this thing made of anyway?) Without really thinking, I reached out to touch it— Only to have my arm suddenly grabbed and pulled away. Whoa! What were you thinking?! You’re a woman! You shouldn’t be touching that thing! Guh…! He grabbed me, and now I was getting yelled at? Yeah, Subaru’s random misogyny is getting pretty irritating. Let’s do something about that, shall we? It sure sounded sexist to me. This is another mechanic, although it’s basically just a typical visual novel choice. Throughout the story, Saki’s temper will sometimes build up and reach a breaking point. We’re given the choice as to how she should respond in these moments. Should she blow her top and tear into the thing or person that’s pissing her off? Or should she hold back and let a cooler head prevail? Some of these moments can result in Affection Point boosts, other times they don’t have any bearing on affection levels and you’re “free” to play Saki however you feel.  In this case? You bet your rear end that we’re going to put Subaru in his place.  This game has some minor graphical hiccups because the resolution is being bumped for the LP in the interest of readability. That’s why you see that little weird box around Saki’s face. That doesn’t show up in the standard PSP resolution. Saki’s “Get Mad” and “Insight” moments are animated a little bit, so that’s where the problem is originating from.  Although it doesn’t happen for the “Shock” moments of the guys for some reason… Beats me.   A-Ah! Sorry… Yeah, okay, maybe I didn’t really think too hard about whether or not I should touch that thing. But my being a woman doesn’t have anything to do with it! What the heck were you thinking?! Well, I did stick my hand out when I shouldn’t have, and I apologize for that, but don’t do that again, okay? This is a case where “Get Mad” results in an affection increase. Remember, if you are really concerned about that part of the game, then you can always use the Rewind feature to pop back to the choice and try the other option just to make sure you aren’t missing an affection boost. I should have been more careful, but if I hadn’t called Shidou out on his malarkey I would have felt pretty steamed. Shidou hung his head and rubbed a hand over his eyes. Look I’m… I’m really sorry. I’m a police officer. A detective. My job is to protect people, but I failed. I was angry with myself, and I pushed that onto you. It was wrong.My dude, I think she’s more upset that you implied that her being a woman meant she should just stand back and not do anything. It’s okay, really… He bowed his head. You’re too serious, bro. I can barely even feel this. If I had a band-aid I’d be fine. If we’re being honest here, I don’t really like you that much, but we’re all still counting on you, all right? Back me up here. Yeah! You don’t need to be so hard on yourself. Mm… So, you all right now, Defective? Shidou pursed his lips. It’s “Detective” and you know it. Details! C’mon man, don’t sweat the small stuff! Ha… All right, I suppose you win this one. Shidou sighed, and gave us a small smile. We nodded, and turned back to puzzling over the statue again. Hey guys… You think maybe it turns? He pointed down toward where the statue met the base. Stand back. I’ll see if I can move it. Carefully, Shidou stepped forward and put his hand on the statue. When nothing happened, he slowly started to push… It moved! Not very far, but it had moved. It appeared that the katana could be used as a sort of handle to rotate the statue. Good. Inafune, I think you should take over now. About time you figured it out. There might be more tricks, so just go slow and be ready to get out of the way. Right. Got it. I moved the statue slowly, bit by bit, and before long… The head suddenly shot off and flew across the room, slamming into a wall and dropping to the floor. O-Oh man, that really scared me! I thought my heart was gonna stop! His eyes were so wide I could see the whites, and his breathing was fast and shallow. The panel’s green! So our warrior has defeated the nurarihyon.Yeah, it’s almost like there was some previously established connection between the panels and the character classes. Seriously, guys. It’s the entire gimmick of this stage. How could you forget about it so easily? Hrm. So our steps were right, in a manner of speaking, we were just missing one… Shirabe groaned and shook his head. Its pointing to a door on the left. Let me handle it this time… He strode off toward the door and, once he’d made sure we were out of the way, pulled it open. That’s it! Thank goodness… He let out a sigh of relief, and I follow suit. I’d never thought I’d be happy to hear that voice, but for once I was. Look! You can see outside! This must be the exit! We began to cheer. At last, we’d finally finished the first day’s game. Our faces were drawn and tired, but every one of them was split with a relieved grin.[Announcer]: Stage one has been cleared. You have obtained a reward. One of the floorboards in the passageway popped open. Inside was a treasure chest like the one we’d found in the first room. Laaame. He pulled it out and frowned at it. We can think about that after we’ve gotten you taken care of. How about you give that to me for safekeeping? Right! We need to get you treated! Let’s go! I broke into a run, and I heard everyone else doing the same behind me. (It wasn’t easy, but we did it! We beat Samurai Fantasy VII!) You’ve got to be kidding me. THREE HOURS?! I felt a chill go up my spine. If we’d taken just a little longer to finish… Ugh… You! I glared at the screen with the pig’s ugly face on it. Really, you did an excellent job. You used your strengths to complete each challenge. I was quite moved. As if! Oink! I imagine you’ve got some idea what sort of fun you’ll have to look forward to in the rest of our games now, hm? And you also understand just how high the stakes are. I felt everyone tense. We knew exactly what he meant. (We had a bunch of close calls already, and we’ve got six more days of this…) My chest tightened. We could only go on so long. Sooner or later, we would slip up, and someone would… (I… I can’t let that happen.) Shidou’s voice broke the silence. Oink? A reward? Yeah. This is a game, right? What kind of a game doesn’t have some kind of loot or treasure when you beat it?I think the reward for this game is that you all get to keep living. Why are you suddenly trying to fish for prizes on top of that? Shidou nodded in agreement. (They’re right, it’s not fair to have to go through all this for nothing.)I don’t think any of you truly grasp the situation you’re all in. (As for my reward… I’m just hoping to save my uncle.) drat… Pretty generous for a hog. Shidou’s face didn’t even twitch. I don’t know what you hope to accomplish with all of this, but I know what my reward will be: the safe return of all the hostages! …! None of us had expected that, least of all Hogstein, who began to shake with rage.Uhhh… what?  Gentle maiden…? What?! C-Cocky? Monkey!?Why the hell is he getting so pissed off? What, were you planning on keeping all of the hostages once these games were finished? That defeats the purpose of a hostage. You don’t have any leverage over someone if you never plan to release the hostages in the first place (and the others are aware of that). H-Hey, what do you mean by “snot-nosed”!? Meathead?! Are you talkin’ to me, pal!? I supposed [sic] the, ah, swindler would be me… What, does the truth hurt?! Who do you think’s been keeping you alive?! Stop that, you emo twerp! You too, you hairy old fart! Don’t even get me started on this detective who spends hours on his hair even though he’s going bald! Wh-What?! I’m not going bald! A-And this is just how my hair looks!  (What the heck is going on here?! Where did all these insults come from? I understood that he was angry, but this was going too far.) Oh, we’re definitely getting pissed this time.  That line is going to bug the hell out of me for the rest of this playthrough.  Aaah! Sooooorrryyyyyyyy! An apology’s not gonna cut it! Really full of piss and vinegar, isn’t she? Oink… All right, fine. I’ll return the hostages, just like you asked. Then, um… why did you get so mad? Oink oink, oh I just forgot that you’ll all be dead before the week is over, so I can promise you whatever I want. Ahem! Now then, I imagine all of you are very tired. Fear not, your hotel will arrive shortly. While you wait, you’re free to do… whatever you like. Explore the park! Eat at a restaurant! This is an amusement park after all. Amuse yourselves! Once you’re all finished, please be sure to meet up at the far end of Adventure Village. Oh, right. I apologize, but none of the attractions will function. At all. Oink Oink. Now, I bid you all farewell! Ah. The screen blinked out. That’s what he said. Not quite sure what it means…Yeah, that was a little strange. Is he going to airlift it in or something? Because that would be awesome. Meh. We’re gonna find out soon anyway. Meanwhile, let’s go have some fun! Without waiting for a response, he took off toward one of the park directories. …It would seem he really enjoys theme parks.Well, I mean he did come to the grand opening of one. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.Also, doesn’t he still have a horrible shoulder wound that we need to properly treat? That was probably why he knew so much about this one. I think he’s still kind of trying to hide it, so maybe we oughta leave him alone. True… If that was the case, though, he wasn’t hiding it very well. Still, no harm in leaving it unsaid.*After a screen wipe*  Apparently he hadn’t been listening to Hogstein that closely. Man… I never got to eat lunch. I’m starving. Can we go look for a restaurant? I hadn’t realized it until he said it, but I was hungry too. Starving, in fact. A wise choice. I’ve also grown somewhat peckish. A man can’t fight on an empty stomach, you know. I think I’ll join you. Yeah, true, but I think I wanna hit up the main office first. I’ll catch up with you guys later, cool? He didn’t seem to want to say it, but I had a feeling Mitarashi wanted to try and find something to treat his wound with. But… if the attractions aren’t working, wouldn’t that mean all the games are offline too? I still want to check. We don’t know squat about what’s going on here. I’m going to go see if I can dig anything up. All right, I’ll go with Mitarashi to the office, then. He’d gotten hurt because of me. It felt wrong to just leave him… Huh? Why? It didn’t sound like he was very fond of the idea. Um, I… You wanna help, then leave me alone. I’m a lone wolf, man. The brush-off didn’t get much clearer than that. (Hm… What should I do?) If I try and convince him to let me come, that’ll be… awkward. Good question, Saki. We’ll let the thread decide for you. Now that our heroes have made it through Stage 1, we need to make a clear decision on which of the guys we want to chase after. Everyone has a single affection point right now, but we need one of them to have a lead in order to get ourselves on their route. Vote Here Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:13 on May 10, 2020 |
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May 10, 2020 20:34
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I can only hope these dorks start getting a little faster in future puzzles. I suppose they're supposed to take a little longer for the first one, but at the same time, these have been generally very tutorial level puzzles. Voting for Meoshi because I like the cut of his jib.
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May 10, 2020 21:02
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Get stupid sexy Mitarashi 
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May 10, 2020 21:19
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I vote for Mr. Takes An Arrow For Our Heroine. Truly, a gentleman!
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May 10, 2020 21:23
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They kept the restaurant staff around? Very thoughtful. Also you have a stray '[topout]' in there.
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May 10, 2020 21:27
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Polsy posted:They kept the restaurant staff around? Very thoughtful. I'm curious about that. Are there people still in this park or are the protagonists just expected to fire up a deep fryer and cook for themselves? Maybe the piglets are manning the food stalls. Also, thanks. Got it fixed. I haven’t done my reading of the post yet, so there's probably other corrections to make as well. Jadecore posted:I can only hope these dorks start getting a little faster in future puzzles. I suppose they're supposed to take a little longer for the first one, but at the same time, these have been generally very tutorial level puzzles. Like, I know the passage of time is weird because these events are compressed through their nature as part of a medium, but I'm having trouble imagining what the hell they did to fill 3 hours in that one room. I'm pretty sure escape room games in the real world only take about an hour and a half at most, and those things are way more elaborate than what we’re seeing here. I can’t imagine standing in that mostly empty room for 3 hours trying to solve a puzzle that you already know the trick to.
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May 10, 2020 22:24
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Psycho Knight posted:Just once I’d love to have a moment where a death game thing is actually broken and the psychopathic murderer has to tell everyone to hold up for a minute while he sends a maintenance guy in to fix it. Yeah, you know, I'd never thought about it, but having done my share of real-world escape rooms, it really is unrealistic that there's never a moment in any of these games where they try something that seems to be the solution and nothing happens and then the mastermind comes in on the PA and goes "Uhh, sorry, guys, that was supposed to open the door but I guess there's a problem with the magnets, hang on a second..." (It's always the magnets, IME.)
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May 11, 2020 01:07
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Ghost Car posted:Yeah, you know, I'd never thought about it, but having done my share of real-world escape rooms, it really is unrealistic that there's never a moment in any of these games where they try something that seems to be the solution and nothing happens and then the mastermind comes in on the PA and goes "Uhh, sorry, guys, that was supposed to open the door but I guess there's a problem with the magnets, hang on a second..." (It's always the magnets, IME.) Fuckin magnets, how do they work! I just want to see that happen. I know it's a hard joke to use because death game stuff is usually serious or horror style and a joke like that would destroy the tension, but I think stuff like Sweet Fuse is just goofy enough to make it work.
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May 12, 2020 01:05
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No one's voting for the journalist! I'd be sad, as I did his route first - except that after seeing it I found I liked him a lot better as a supporting character instead of a love interest. It's been long enough that I can't remember details, but the age gap became something of a factor as to why I didn't care for him. I think. I'm still sad about that because I really like his design.
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May 12, 2020 01:42
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The manwhore is the only one who hasn't raised any red flags...yet
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May 12, 2020 01:48
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StrixNebulosa posted:No one's voting for the journalist! I'd be sad, as I did his route first - except that after seeing it I found I liked him a lot better as a supporting character instead of a love interest. It's been long enough that I can't remember details, but the age gap became something of a factor as to why I didn't care for him. I think. I'm still sad about that because I really like his design. I wouldn’t feel too bad about it, the audience for this LP is probably a lot smaller than others so there's probably not going to be much of a voting pool. Age gaps are a persistent issue with these games, although I will admit that it threw me off here. Male focused dating-sim/JRPG's with character routes usually have a creepily young girl in the mix, but the protagonist is still almost always within 4-6 years of them. Even the obligatory "older/mature woman" is like 26 at most. But this is (I think) the first time I've ever seen an age gap of 14+ years between the protag and a love interest. Obviously that excludes the stupid bullshit "500-year old that just looks like they're 12" situations. Now, I know it’s more "acceptable" in this case because the protagonist is a girl that is technically doing the pursuing, rather than the one being pursued. Even still, that’s a BIG gap. 32 isn’t old or middle-aged, but it does strike me as being outside the strike zone for teenagers. I would understand it if this were an M-rated title, because the general audience for the game would likely be women in their 20s, but this is T-rated. I'd imagine the playerbase leans more toward teenagers; the kind that think 30+ is ancient. But I understand where you're coming from on Ayumu as a character. He likely works well as part of the cast, but having him as a romance option just makes things weird. The two Conception LPs I did each had a character like that. Hwurmp posted:The manwhore is the only one who hasn't raised any red flags...yet I'm sure they'll all have skeletons in their closets. Keep in mind that Hogstein picked each of them to take part in this whole thing. They all must have some sort connection or shady thing that ties them to whomever is inside that pig costume (at least, I heavily presume it's a costume). They all must have done something to get on Hogstein’s shitlist. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 04:03 on May 12, 2020 |
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May 12, 2020 03:55
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I wish more visual novels had the option to call out on others' bullshit, especially in some where I get progressively angrier at both the offending character and the hero(ine) for putting up with their garbage to the point where the game/visual novel is relegated to the bottom of the endless backlog pile. Getting mad and screaming "What is wrong with you!?" is never not the best option and I am preemptively voting for this every chance I get
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May 12, 2020 11:03
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TracerK posted:I wish more visual novels had the option to call out on others' bullshit, especially in some where I get progressively angrier at both the offending character and the hero(ine) for putting up with their garbage to the point where the game/visual novel is relegated to the bottom of the endless backlog pile. Seconded. Being able to tell people to gently caress off when they're being shits is amazing and has made me like this story a lot more than that mess of a puzzle did.
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May 12, 2020 14:02
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TracerK posted:I wish more visual novels had the option to call out on others' bullshit, especially in some where I get progressively angrier at both the offending character and the hero(ine) for putting up with their garbage to the point where the game/visual novel is relegated to the bottom of the endless backlog pile. Blaze Dragon posted:Seconded. Being able to tell people to gently caress off when they're being shits is amazing and has made me like this story a lot more than that mess of a puzzle did. Seems like everyone likes that idea. As long as it's not a " Ryusei Affection" thing, I'll have Saki tell everyone to gently caress off whenever the choice is presented to us. Speaking of, the polling is closed now. Ryusei won out by a wide margin, so he'll be our first route. As I said in the OP, I'll look into the possibility of going through all of the other routes later on. I need to see how long this first playthrough takes, then check and see how much actually changes from route to route (it seems like it's mostly limited to particular scenes, at least for now), and finally I'll have to see how much time I have left before I possibly disappear from LP stuff for the fall/winter (assuming my plans don't fall through, which they are currently in danger of doing because of the lockdown stuff). I already started work on the next update. Hopefully I'll have it up by tomorrow, since it's shorter than the past few updates. Seems like the Stages are going to go by a bit quicker now that all the setup exposition is out of the way.
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May 16, 2020 17:42
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Update V: Saki’s Night Out Okay, so the thread made a clear choice for Saki to chase after Ryusei. That’s who we’re going to shoot for (no pun intended) this time. We’ll look into the possibility of doing all the other character routes once we get through Ryusei’s. I need to see what it would involve and where we are time wise (I may be gone during the fall/winter, so one playthrough may be all I can manage before then). I thought about it for a moment, and decided I should go with Mitarashi after all.So despite Mitarashi brushing off our plucky heroine, we’re going to have her chase after him anyway. The goal from this point forward is to get as many of Ryusei’s affection points as we can while limiting the affection points we get towards the other guys. Honestly, judging by how the choice/affection system seems to work (as well as including another mechanic that will pop up shortly), it seems pretty easy to get the route you want even if you aim for getting every affection point. But I’ll be avoiding the excess affection points just in case. Maybe there’s some kind of threshold point difference that has to be reached that I’m not aware of.  Oh well. Stuff to learn as we go, I suppose. Doesn’t change the fact that we’re going with Ryusei. What the hell is this? Didn’t I tell you not to tag along? I know, but I feel responsible for what happened. Please, just let me come with you. I knew he wanted to be alone, but running off just felt wrong to me. I needed to take responsibility for his injury. Mitarashi sighed. Look, I can take care of myself, all right? I’m not a kid. I don’t need you mothering me. *The screen shakes a bit* Ow! I felt something thwack me on the forehead, and it was a moment before I realized Mitarashi had flicked me! He’d moved so fast I hadn’t even seen it. Anyway, looks like we’re here. While I was still rubbing the red welt on my head, Mitarashi jogged off toward the office. (Urhg… I’m not a kid! Well, I mean I guess technically I am in school, but still!)That’s not really the metric for “kid”-ness, Saki. I’m in school as well, and I’m 30. Such is the miserable state of the job market. I frowned and ran off after him. Mitarashi grumbled as he wiggled several light switches to no effect. drat pig… Sure is thorough, I’ll give him that. I bet he’s shut off the juice to every building he doesn’t need. Probably… I’ll bet we can still find a first aid kit in here, though. Fortunately there was a sliver of moonlight shining through the window, which gave us at least a little illumination. I started to root through some drawers that looked like they might have what we were looking for. Ugh… Man, this is a pain. It was so dark that I couldn’t really see him, but his voice made him sound much closer than I’d thought he was.*The screen shakes* Aaah! Huh? What, you find something? N-No! Nothing! I doubt he thought anything of it— someone with his profession probably touched lots of hands. (I’m still just a high school girl, though… Touching some guy’s hand is kind of a big deal!) I was suddenly very aware of the fact that we were both in a dark, cramped room, very, very close to one another. Oh, h-here it is! Th-The first aid kit, I mean!Calm down, Saki. As I’d stumbled back from my close encounter, my other hand had brushed up against a box— the first aid kit he’d been looking for. Oh, awesome. Toss it over. N-No. I mean, you can’t really do it yourself, can you? What, you saying you’re gonna do it? Wh-Why do you think I came?! I forced him to sit down on a nearby bench and set to work. Ugh… This is a pain. Stop saying everything’s a pain. You’re gonna be in real pain if we don’t get this wound cleaned up.Yeah, Ryusei. Keep up the tough guy act and you’ll quickly find yourself with one less arm to drag around. Fine, fine… Is that really where he got hit? I could have sworn it was more shoulder and less arm. Then again, he did have that big coat/shawl on, so it was kind of hard to tell for sure. He pulled off his jacket with an exasperated sigh, exposing the area where the arrow had struck him… as well as several other areas.Focus, Saki. Now’s not the time, girl. (What I wouldn’t give for a working light right now…)Yeah, I bet. I pulled my focus back to the first aid kit, and quickly soaked one of the cotton balls in antiseptic.I know that supplies are kind of hard to find right now, but maybe you should try and find some water to clean the wound before you go slathering antiseptic on it. This is going to hurt a bit. It’s fine. I’m used to pain. Well he did kind of shrug off a crossbow bolt. Antiseptic is a bit of a step down from that. (Wow… I had a cut treated like this once, and it hurt like heck. He must be tough.) Um… Thank you. A lot. For… what you did back there. Man, this is why I hate kids. What…? I-I see… Besides, I’m an escort, remember? You could say it’s my job to protect a lady’s smile.That’s one way of looking at it. Although I guess that counts you out, huh? I’m here for ladies, not kids. Oh, hey, treatment’s done. Thanks!Dude, you’re the one that was throwing out business cards to Saki the moment you introduced yourself. Don’t start with that “kids” and “ladies” thing now. *Another screen shake* Guh—! He gave me a smirk, and patted me on the head. So what, you hoping to be a nurse when you grow up? (That doesn’t give him an excuse to keep calling me a kid, though!)Definitely the tsundere of the group. What’s up? You look like you wanna say something. He paused as he put his coat back on to look at me, one eyebrow cocked. Yeah, our Saki’s going to be aiming a little higher than “housewife.” D-Don’t treat me like a little kid… What, are you telling me you’re all grown up now? No, that’s… not really what I meant… I blinked, and suddenly his face was right next to mine. Well, if you’re an adult, then how about this…? Aaah! Gaaaah! That’s where I got shot!Hey, you’re the one getting up in her face. That’s what you get for teasing. I-I’m sorry! But you shouldn’t make fun of me like that! Okay, okay, my bad… Can’t say you’re acting like an adult, though.Can’t say any of you guys have been acting like adults, either. Urabe has probably been the most level-headed so far.  That choice was an affection increase for Ryusei, which should be obvious. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that would be impressed with “I dream of marriage!” (This is hopeless… There’s no point to arguing with him.) Well, we got what we needed. What do you say we go grab some food? You hungry? Yeah!Food time! We ran back to the restaurant to find everyone else already there, and proceeded to enjoy a delicious dinner. Everyone looked up from their mostly-empty plates. As far as I can tell, the area outside the park is empty. My guess is the pig’s using the hostages to keep the cops and the media away. The entrance isn’t locked. If we wanted to, we could just walk out, but then he’d kill the hostages.There’s a 90% chance that’s a trap anyway. Guaranteed there’s some kind of instant kill device set up at the gates that triggers as soon as someone tries to walk through it. There doesn’t appear to be any park employees anywhere: Everything’s being run by the piglets. No! Now what will Saki ride with the guys in order to have a romantic moment?! Everyone sighed. We’d known things were bad, but to hear it all laid out like that… Hogstein manages to appear inside the park without warning, makes a big entrance, kidnaps the entire staff, and seizes control. Just what is he? We don’t even know what he really wants. This has to be a huge amount of work… Is he just doing it for… fun? No idea. If he is, that’s a pretty messed-up idea of fun. Indeed. But even so, this seems like a great deal of trouble. He must be reeeeeal bored if he thinks this is a good time. When I get my hands on that little jerk… Well, we’ve still got a long way to go, so we’re all gonna need to work together! Everybody nodded. Oh, sweet. The Titanic. That’s something we should be climbing aboard. Also, maybe we really are near Hachinohe. There’s no way that a local amusement park managed to purchase open harbour space anywhere near Tokyo. Not to mention all those trees and that empty skyline in the background. Maybe this is supposed to be the moat that runs all the way around the park? The amount of money and work it would take to make something like that deep enough for a cruise-liner to sail in would be tremendous though. You’re talking a 30+ foot deep trench that runs like 10-20km around. After dinner, we headed toward Adventure Village. Shirabe seemed to know the way, so he was leading us. Whoa! What the heck is that?! Ah! At the far end of Adventure Village, a gorgeous cruise liner had been anchored near the riverside dock.poo poo, now that I think about it, where the gently caress did Keiji Inafune get the cash to afford a cruise liner on top of the amusement park? Even “small” cruise ships are like $200 million. Ah… Well, now I see what he meant by “arrive.” We all stared at the ship for a minute or two, amazed by its size and grandeur. So this thing must be from a game too, huh? Well, we may as well board. Keeping a close eye on his surroundings, Shidou headed for the ship. The rest of us followed. Fancy. As it turned out, it was just as spectacular on the inside as it was on the outside. The décor wouldn’t have been out of place at a five-star hotel. drat, I would’ve been stoked to get invited here if I wasn’t in the middle of some stupid game. Yeah… They both gazed around the lobby and sighed. Hm. Is it moving? Yeah, I think so. It had begun to move as soon as all of us were aboard. Shirabe frowned as several piglets appeared. …! …!I hate these guys. Looks like they still can’t talk. They began to wave their arms and bodies around wildly, trying desperately to communicate… something… without words. Are… are they saying they’ll show us to our rooms…? Huh? W-Well, I’m… not sure. Just kind of… instinct, I guess? We followed the piglets to the rooms we’d been assigned. As soon as the piglet shut the door and left, I collapsed onto my bed. After a whole day running around, lying down felt so, so good… Ugh… No, I’m gonna fall asleep if I stay here!I mean, sleep seems like a decent idea. What’s the problem? I had to clean up. With a mighty effort, I hauled myself out of bed and toward the bathroom.*After a slow black screen wipe* A shower was my first priority, and after I’d dried and dressed, I began to really examine the room.It’s not bad. Seems a little skimpy on amenities though. It was about the size of a spacious single in a hotel, but it was neat and pretty. It was also well-stocked with just about everything I could need.I know it’s tempting, Saki, but do not touch the mini-fridge. That’s how they get ya. loving $3 for a chocolate bar and $5 for water? Highway robbery. Just walk down to the end of the hall and hit up the vending machines instead. Still a bit overpriced, but it’s a good middle ground between walking out to a nearby convenience store and getting raked over the coals come check out time.  At last… Feeling refreshed, I finally let myself fall into bed. But… (So much has happened today… I’m tired, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep.) As soon as I lay down, my head was flooded with thoughts of my uncle, the game we’d just played, and whatever game we’d be playing tomorrow. (Just worrying about all of this isn’t going to get me anywhere…) The exhaustion from before was gone, replaced with restless energy. And what better way to make use of restless energy than by nagging one of the guys? Break Time are little interludes where we can get a scene with one specific object of affection. Sometimes Saki will get scenes with individual guys over the course of the story, but that only happens occasionally. As we just saw at the start of the update, while Mitarashi was going it solo, the other guys were partnered up with each other to some extent. If the thread had chosen someone other than Mitarashi, we wouldn’t have gotten that 1-on-1 scene. But Break Time is a guaranteed personal encounter.  The thread has spoken for this first play through, so we choose to spend our free moment with the sexy escort sporting the bloody hole in his shoulder.  I can’t get to sleep. Hm. Can’t say I blame you. Mitarashi was leaning on the deck railing, looking out over the river. He didn’t even bother to turn around when he spoke. What are you looking at? Our city. You can just see it from here…What city might that be, by the way? Oh… It’s beautiful. Like some kinda jewel. He was right. Through the gaps in the forest surrounding the park, I could catch glimpses of the city at night, and it was dazzling. Wow… It’s really pretty… Yeah. I did say that, huh… But that’s just the surface, you know? Scrape that off, and it’s ugly. Pretty skin, hateful heart. Kinda like a person.Really digging into your inner Blake, aren’t you? Could be Jonathan Swift’s “A Description of a City Shower” as well, although this setup strikes me more as a “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” kind of thing. Or, you know, one of the thousands of other poems out there that rips into illusion versus reality/mask versus truth stuff. Mitarashi… He looked… sad. Well, I guess I can’t expect a kid to understand, huh? That so? Well, what do I know, maybe you can. But maybe you’re better off not knowing. Um…? What? Look, I’m just saying it’s… good, I guess, to be able to appreciate something without turning it ugly somehow. I still don’t— Ah… achoo! I suddenly realized that it was actually kind of a chilly night. Ah man, you didn’t even dry your hair before you came out here, did you? Come on now! Hey! Wait! What are you doing!? There’s something about “picked me up bodily” that I find funny. It makes me think that he just grabbed her like a crash test dummy and shook her around. Taking you inside. If you stay out here you’re gonna catch a cold. Guh…! I can walk by myself, you know! Calm down, kid.An affection point for Ryusei pops up here. This is just for Break Time. It wasn’t the result of any choices that I didn’t show during this event. I pouted all the way to my room, but he refused to set me down. I am extremely disappointed in this game for not having a CG of Saki, with arms crossed and pouting, being princess carried by Ryusei. I flopped into bed, and was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Hm? It was supposed to be a peaceful day…???: Is Dad awake yet? Should I go wake him up? ???: He he… Why don’t you let him sleep in a little longer? Daddy hasn’t had a day off in a long time. He’s very tired. And you don’t want to get tired later, do you? Maybe you should sleep a little longer too. ???: Hm… Maybe. But… but what if it runs away while I’m sleeping?! ???: It’s an amusement park, dear. It won’t be going anywhere. It’ll be waiting for you when you get up. So let Daddy sleep in. When he gets up, we can pack some lunches and go to the park together. Does that sound like fun? ???: Yeah!  All right, that sure was a thing. Wonder what that was about? It sounds like a memory of Saki’s, but her name isn’t used, she hasn’t mentioned a pendant, and she never hinted at her parents being around. Maybe they were talking about a different amusement park and that was a memory from when Saki’s parents were alive? My bet is on dead parents. There are always dead parents involved somehow.  It had brought me breakfast, which I ate quickly before changing and heading out.Changing? Did they ship in extra outfits for Saki or something? Gotta hand it to Hogstein. He’s an rear end in a top hat, but god drat if his supply chain game isn’t on point. Morning! Shidou, Shirabe, Urabe, and Mitarashi were all already waiting in the lobby. Yo. They all looked up and waved or nodded as I walked in. Did you sleep well? Yeah, thanks for asking! Urabe gave me a quick, gentle smile as Shirabe began to talk. Apparently this boat’s gonna dock around 11:30. How do you know that? I asked one of the piglets. You… what? I wanted to ask what sort of gestures they’d used to communicate time, but I got the feeling there were more pressing things to deal with.That doesn’t sound that hard a thing to communicate. Make a finger motion like the ticking of a clock hand, then just motion “1”, “1”, “3”, and a closed fist for “0”. As Shirabe finished, Wakasa and Meoshi walked in. Good, we’re all here. I’ve been thinking we should exchange phone numbers. Calling one another shouldn’t be against the rules. What? Why? Just sounds like a pain in the rear end… Better safe than sorry. We have no idea what might happen out there. Show of hands who thinks that the group will immediately be split up? Seriously, Ryusei. You have absolutely nothing to base that assumption on. You think that every death game is going to be just like the one in Samurai Fantasy? I mean, I’m pretty sure we can see a “Horror Land” section of the park on the map. You know goddamn well that we will not be sticking together as a group in a place based on horror games. He rolled his eyes, but pulled out his phone anyway, and started sending his contact info to each of us in turn. (Looks like he uses that phone a lot… Well someone like him would have to, huh?) I, on the other hand, had never been good at using my phone. Trying to share contact information was always awkward and confusing.Christ, Saki. Were you living as a priestess in the mountains or something? I barely used my phone as a teenager either, but I still knew how to work the drat thing just by playing with it. Keep in mind that this game came out in 2012, which is presumably also roughly the time it is set in. Cell phones were not new fantastical devices in 2012. I think Samsung already had the Galaxy S3 out by that point. The iPhone was up to 5 or some poo poo. (I wonder how his arrow wound is doing…) I was still fumbling through screens on my phone, when Wakasa trotted up, phone in hand. Don’t sweat it. Your number will be promptly deleted as soon as this stuff is done with. Better yet, how about we not get your number to begin with? I’d sooner die than rely on you saving us. Right, sure. I’ll be careful. He watched me trying desperately to make my phone work for a few more minutes before sighing exasperatedly and grabbing it from me. Are you sure you’re a high school girl? Yeah! I’m just… not good at this kind of stuff. He rolled his eyes, shot through menus so fast I couldn’t even see them, and sent me his contact info. So just push this button and you’ll see this screen. Hit this one to confirm. Thanks! You really are a weird chick, you know that?Shut it, Towa. I couldn’t really argue the point, but it still wasn’t a very nice thing to say. At any rate, his instructions turned out to be helpful: I collected everyone else’s info without too much trouble, and gave them all my own. Why are tools of supposed convenience so difficult to use…? Y-Yeah… He let out a long sigh. Yeah, they’re real harmful. We should get rid of running water and indoor plumbing, too. They make life too easy.I said shut it, Towa! …That was legitimately funny, though. …I, uh, don’t usually get people’s phone numbers… I think this is the first time I’ve ever gotten more than one at a time. You serious?! I had to delete a couple people last week or I was gonna run out of space! Delete them…? Won’t that be a problem? Huh? Oh, no, not really. I mean, they’ve got my number. They can hit me up if they need something. Not like I was ever gonna call them anyway… (I was right when I met them yesterday… These guys are pretty weird.) Every time I look at him, I just wanna kick his rear end. Mitarashi glared at the statue and cracked his knuckles. Gooooood morning everyone! There he is! As he spoke, an image of Hogstein appeared on the monitor. Isn’t the weather just amazing!? It’s a wonderful day for a game, wouldn’t you agree? Oink oink oink. Somebody’s in a good mood. He’s off relaxing somewhere while we’re trapped here. Of course he’s in a good mood. Hogstein sighed dramatically. This whole game is about using your heads and following my rules, you understand? We know. If it’s a game, that means it can be beat. That means you haven’t made any puzzles that can’t be solved. I know the game won’t do it, but god am I hoping against all odds that we get to see Ryusei beating the poo poo out of Hogstein. Oh ho ho ho ho hoink oink oink! But will you be able to?!Depends on whether or not interest in this LP stays up. He really makes me mad! What an arrogant jerk! You better not underestimate us. Just then, a chime echoed across the park. Well, the time just flies! It’s noon already, which means it’s time for today’s game to start!Where are we going this time?  Aww yeah, we’re off to the races. Next time on Sweet Fuse: Some non-copyright infringing Mario Kart. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 17:20 on May 19, 2020 |
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May 17, 2020 01:34
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Wow Saki went straight to hand holding! I thought this was a wholesome game PK Anyway quote:As he spoke, an image of Hogstein appeared on the monitor. Shouldn't this be the "Saki thinking" gif?
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May 17, 2020 02:24
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