Little Busters Impressions #2

Little Busters is of 6 story lines, and the 'refrain' sequel which is unlocked after completing all of them. A few of the reviews mentioned that the quality of the different heroine lines varies, and I can definitely agree on this. I completed 'Haruka''s storyline, and it was absolutely terrible. Her character went from repulsive to tolerable, her back story makes no sense (perhaps something is lost in Japanese translation), a major conflict feels really forced. It as if the writers ran out of ideas and were like, "Well, we need one more character". On other hand, 'Kurugaya' is my favorite character. She is a bit of a 'Mary Sue' character, smart, intuitive, strong, has a sense of humor. Still, I enjoy that kind of character more than the overly 'moe' energy of most of the other characters. I have not completed her story line yet, I also ready that in order to get her 'true' ending you need to complete 'refrain'. The 3rd character I played is 'Rin'. She is a bit of a middle ground. She has a very 'tomboyish' personality and is the only female member of the original group of 5 'Little Busters'. I completed one of her story lines, however, she actually has 2, the 2nd is unlocked after completing all of the other heroine's lines. Still I liked that she is the one who suggested that she wants to date the main character, demonstrating confidence and commitment. I look forward to seeing more character development from her. The final person I want to touch on is the main character. He is a bit different from 'Key''s other main characters. He is not a prankster, and is generally a hard working 'nice guy'. That makes him a bit boring, but I guess the male entourage that surrounds him, provide a bit of humor and a variety of characerstics. At 24 hours, I am not even half-way through the game, this easily makes 'Little Busters' one of the longest game I"ve played. It is also the longest Visual Novel I've ever played.

Little Busters - Initial impression

A few days ago, I got the Visual Novel 'Little Busters', one of the later work from Visual Novel developer 'Key'. I completed one the routes and while I am still playing the game, here are my initial impression. First of all, it is pretty long, it took me 14 hours just to complete 1 route. There are 5 or 6 more to go, as well as the 2nd part which is only available after you complete all these routes. There are several mini-games including the 'baseball' minigame and a fighting 'minigame'. After the first playthrough I am still struggling to fully understand the rules. For the story itself though, so far I felt a bit disappointed. All of the female characters appear to be overly 'moe', which is Japanese term meant to show 'cuteness', but it makes the characters appear a bit dumb. My favorite heroines in Clannaed were 'Kyou' and 'Tomoyo' because they were tough and independent. The only character who shows that sort of energy is he heroine named 'Kurugaya', but she appears plain weird in other ways. With that said, I did feel a bit interested in the main heroine 'Rin', after the first play through. (Apparently I can't get the full story right now). Also, I was expecting something emotional at the end, but nothing like that happened. The route ended abruptly, with a rather mysterious scene and no explanation. Either way, I'll continue playing, and see where it leads.

Franchises

So, it is not uncommon for video game developers, or movie makers, to be asked to make a sequel. I remember, begging for them for myself (after playing the first 'Kingdom Hearts' for example). However, let us think very carefully, how often were any of us satisfied by a sequel? I think more often than not, you find yourself disappointed. There is only one sequel that I can think of, over the last few years that I was satisfied with: Shrek 2. Shrek 3 however, went down hill. This of course brings me to a much scarier word than the 'sequel', which is the 'franchise'. It looks like these days, the moment something is good and makes money, the goal is to make a million episodes of it, and squeeze every cent out of it, until the fans are so sick of it, that nobody wants it. Think 'Kingdom Hearts', 'Star Wars', 'Assassins Creed'. Classics that were amazing when the first one, or maybe two games came out, eventually becoming bad and repetitive. I find that I value 'brevity'. Stories that are short, that get to the point quickly, and that tell you everything you want to hear. Perhaps the writer has another story to tell, but they shouldn't be pressured to do so, if there isn't one.

Tomoyo After

Buy on team here 'Tomoyo After' is a Japanese Visual Novel developed by a company called 'Key'. I am going to make a separate entry on what a 'Visual Novel' is. 'Tomoyo After' is also what 'Jun Maeda' referred to as a 'crying game', meaning it was meant to be so emotional and moving that the player 'cries'. And while, without spoiling anything,'Tomoyo After' certainly lives up to that, I find that aspect of the game somewhat annoying. Having played a few 'Key' games, I really like the art, the music, the humor. The sad part however, at some point becomes almost like "Ok, here is the depressing part again". I almost tend to ignore it at this point. Overall, 'Tomoyo After' tells the story of 'Tomoyo' and 'Tomoya', with kind of a 'coming of age' story, but more of a 'becoming an adult' story. 'Tomoya' talks about his job, increasing responsibility, relationship with his boss. But it mostly focuses on his relationship with his girlfriend, 'Tomoyo' and a few other characters.

Introduction

Sitting in quarantine, I find myself with quite a bit of free time. While I am looking for ways to learn and grow during this pandemic. I never the less find myself spending quite a bit of time playing games. And so I decided to do some blogging on what I am doing. The aim is mostly to write and share my opinions. In the past I attempted to rank games, and write reviews. I don't think giving a numerical review that really works. Apples to apples comparison don't work, and ultimately what I like, isn't what something else might like.