A Quick Look At: Lovely Little Thieves

Ah! There’s nothing like the smell of new EVNs in the morning!

Admittedly, for our little corner of the Internet that’s not a rare occurrence. It seems that, at least for this year, we have plenty of new groups and projects to pick from depending on our own fandoms and interests.  But few of them cover a genre tied so closely to Western popular culture as horror movies. Since the inception of ‘the moving picture show’ there have been horror movies and while it will never be as psychological as it once was, thanks in large part to an industry that doesn’t know the difference between shocking and scaring someone, I am very pleased to see a revival of sort in horror games.

First Impressions: Backstage Pass, Pt. 2

Well we were going to get into this at some point. So before I get into why I like the boys of Backstage Pass, let me get into way I mock most romance targets: male or female.

Certain stereotypes and clichés are going to be a part of every fictional genre; it just comes with the territory. But in romance breaking out of those clichés is like climbing K2 without an oxygen mask, Sherpas and in your underwear. The roads of romantic attraction are well-worn and deviating from that path is dark and uncertain: which leaves many writers with one option – stay the course. This leads to the same bland, underdeveloped cast regardless of their target audience. Like I joked about in the teaser for the AMG Reviews, when you cut down to the marrow, there really isn’t a lot of difference between Exhibit A and Exhibit B: it all comes to your POV.So what does this have to do with Backstage Pass?

First Impressions: Backstage Pass, Pt. 1

For the better part of this year, I have been arguing that the EVN community needed to begin discussing the concept of ‘Mario’. If you haven’t read anything on that, allow me to suggest you do so or be branded a traitor. But, for the benefit of time, the short version is that I believe that within the next year or so the genre of visual novels, at least in the West, will begin a sort of ‘golden age’. Why? Because it costs nearly nothing (in corporate terms) to create a high-end visual novel, which means there really isn’t a reason not to exploit the medium by creating the highest quality on the cheap and marketing them to fans of the Telltale line of games.

SO, my argument is that the medium needs to define itself before said exploitation happens. This is done through a game that unites the hardcore and casual fans, as well as be a standard for what the genre is capable of. In other words Mario. Again, to keep a long story short, some thought I was insane. The regulars of this site know any question of my sanity is old news, but it was actually a debate for a while with me still ringing the bell on it until recently.Why? Because after talking about it all year, I think the launch of the EVN Mario is upon us…and of course it would be spawned from otome.

First Impressions: Solstice, Pt. 2

OUR HERO EVERYONE!

Solstice is split between two different main characters: Galen and Yani. Both have their own personal secrets and motives for coming to the North, but of the two Galen could have the bigger personal experiences while Yani has to most to accomplish with the larger world. Er, perhaps I should explain.

First Impressions: Solstice, Pt. 1

There seems to be an irrevocable connection between this site and Moacube.For those of you familiar with VNs Now lore (do we even have lore yet?) my first interview for the site was with Tom Grochowiak: the founder of Moacube. After that, as the development of Cinders continued I released my first actual visual novel feature on its inspiration; Cinderella. My first actual video on something actually related to visual novels was about what I was looking forward to for Cinders. And on the very first episode of VNs Now! TV, the release of Cinders was squarely in the spotlight.

So, we’re pretty much a crime family at this point yeah? With Cinders successfully under their belt, the group has been busy with two games: Bonfire which doesn’t fall under my purview but is still insanely enjoyable. So if you haven’t picked up a copy, I’d recommend at least checking it out. The second title is Solstice which shows that this group has more going for it than just a fairy tale. First, let’s start with the world we are preparing to enter!

First Impressions: Break Chance Memento, Pt. 3

…You guys should see the word file on my laptop for this feature. This is getting ridiculous and I fully blame everyone at Cyanide Tea for their extensive bribes that apparently manage to hit the expository button in my brain to make this happen.  Anyway let’s go into exactly what this entire thing is about on a thematic level because, if there’s going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth, it’ll be there.

Also, potential spoiling warning here because I was bribed very well to do this and I think you should all see my payment!

MEMORY AND MEMENTOS

Break Chance Memento is offering a pretty unique view of time travel that deserves not to be looked over in order to understand the deeper gameplay elements. But to get to that point, maybe we should try to understand exactly how Cyanide Tea is using the concept of time travel. Usually in time travel fiction, the method of travel is pretty standard in that time is a fixed stream that we can observe physical via the passing of the seasons, the length of both night and day and most importantly through possibly the second greatest invention of all time: the calendar. What is the first great invention of all time? The Teapot: of course. BUT I digress from my point. The point is that ‘time’ as we understand is a very fixed construct and ‘time travel’ is possible by working within the construct and using our methods of understanding it like a map.Now anyone who has seen a Doctor Who episode or Back to the Future is aware of all of this and BCM pretty much kicks this idea in the balls with Natsume’s little invention. The device uses ‘mementos’, which are sometimes negligible personal affects as a sort of waypoint for the traveler. This may seem like a cute little gimmick, and it very well may be, but this entire feature is about looking too deeply at this game and taking educated guesses at stuff that probably means nothing SO I’m going to say if it was just a cute little gimmick it was a completely unnecessary one. The standard time travel device is good enough since the method isn’t really the point: going back in time to stop a murder is the point. The Time Traveler (whose name constantly escapes me and the other nickname probably would’ve earned me scorn) could’ve just said, ‘Here’s the date your brother died Shuuki. Go back and save him and you’ll just owe me later’ like every other science fiction, time travel plot since the 1800s and the characters are good enough to carry it.So then, what’s up with the mementos? A theory: ‘time’ in BCM is the collective flow of human memory rather than a fix construct. To irk fanboys, let’s just call this version of time the ‘life stream’…yes I am that much of a jerk. Using this idea, time travel is far more complicated because you just can’t jump back in the life stream to any given point. It has to be a determined point that can only be accessed through the traveler’s memory.

Okay, I can see some of your eyes glazing over so let me use an in-game example. In order to save Masaharu from a bloody fate, Shuuki needs an item connected to Masa that he came in contact with on the day of his murder. And even then it can be any item, but an item that has a heavy enough emotional weight attached to it for the device to connect to. And eveneven then, Shuuki’s time in the past is limited. Why? If time worked as time works in good old-fashioned reality, there shouldn’t be so many constraints to just go back to one date in the past.

The mechanics of the world are extraordinarily complex and while the demo was relatively easy on this front, it also made clear near the end that you’ll have to strategize with different mementos in order to correctly navigate the life stream and fulfill whatever objective is staring you in the face at the time. As much as I like the characters and story potential, special recognition should be given for mending such an interesting idea on how to play the game with its plot. Along with that, it’s a very good story mechanic because it allows you to give each character room to grow outside of the ‘normal’ timeline. It has the potential to be a very deep system with multiple ways to achieve your object from basic detective work to more…er…creative ways of creating mementos.

Shall we discuss this particular game theme now? Yeah…let’s.

THE SCIENCE OF DEATH

What could possibly be the logic behind these crimes? I’ve stated before that this killer with an exclusive hold on world-changing technology seems bent on making Shuuki and the Amamiya’s suffer. But why?I have been tip-toeing around this one for most of this feature, so let’s talk about it now. In a world where time is determined by the strengths of one’s emotions at one particular moment, it stands to reason that the feeling of seeing someone you love not just dead but gruesomely murdered has very few equals. The only task would be creating that scenario…in other words, killing as many bastards as you possibly could to allow you to move through time more simply. This is barbaric of course, but if you could ensure that death has no consequence…then it’s still pretty barbaric. But, it is a strong methodology for a scientific mind.Allow me to explain.

Consider for a moment Masaharu’s case. The memento Shuuki uses to save him has little face value. Okay, I know I just said they ALL have little face value but this one was different. It was a to-do list that he presumably wrote on his own and left in his room. No strong emotions or any particular moment was attached to it before he was murdered. It was just another list in a long list of list he probably wrote in his life.  It literally had zero meaning right up until the minute he died and it had a great deal of meaning…for Shuuki.

The list is literally the last thing Masa wrote before he died, which gives Shuuki a direct personal connection to it with all of the good and bad emotions that entails. THAT is was makes it work (again this is just a theory) and goes to show the shock of someone’s death is a more useful to form a point in the life stream useful to for breaking the barrier of time. And, ultimately, what did this useful bit of inform cost? Because of Shuuki’s actions Masaharu is alive and well: not remembering a second of his gruesome death. It’s the perfect experiment, isn’t it?

I’m not saying ANYONE introduced so far would think that way, I am saying that a scientific mind pushed far enough would. Because you’re not really killing anyone are you? It’s just an honest to goodness test that cause only momentary discomfort.

See, folks, what you need to understand me is that I love a good villain and in my lifetime I’ve plotted out a few good ones. What I’ve learned is that truly great villains will use any justification possible to convince themselves that they’re in the right. Whether it feels good to do it, or morality is on their side, or the ever-popular ‘I didn’t really hurt anyone’. And, while the scene of Masaharu’s death is graphic and tragic again as long as Shuuki succeeds, the serial killer really didn’t hurt anyone.

I believe I’ve created a paradox: a serial killer who doesn’t actually kill anyone.

To someone intelligent enough to pull off this particular murder spree, it’s gold. All they’re doing is an experiment and, thanks to Shuuki’s actions, no harm has come from it; only the knowledge of how to properly travel through the life stream. But you’d have to be a pretty desperate bastard to have this train of thought.  We’re talking someone with serious issues who wants for their experiments to succeed so badly that this sort sick logic is an acceptable escape…and so far no one introduced fits that profile.

…right?

Last warning for spoilers guys. If you want to get the full version with no immediate surprises: stop reading now.

WHAT LIES AHEAD

Remember the simple days when all we had to worry about from Cyanide Tea was Liam being a prick? Those were pretty good times.If you follow me on Twitter, you know I can be a cheap bastard. Properly bribed, I can make myself provide content that even Game Informer would’ve stopped me a long time ago over. So as a result of this well-written feature, here’s my reward…Chiaki’s murder scene.Keeping my outrage at a minimum this sets up a multitude of fronts for the full game. For starters it confirms what the demo hinted at in the end in that pretty much everyone is a target now and there is little Shuuki or anyone can do to actually stop their horrifying deaths. On just a story-writing level this will allow great development for Shuuki who not only has to try and prevent these crimes and find the murderer, but also has the unenviable task of remembering his friends and loved ones being ripped apart. Suffice to say, the snarky whore we have on our hands at the beginning of the game will not be what is left at the end and like another of my favorite protagonists this year, Booker Dewitt, it will be interesting to see what sacrifices he will find himself making by game’s end to make it all stop. Or, on the flip side of the coin, maybe he’ll find he has more in common with the predator rather than the prey?

Another more subtle factor in this little spoiler is a gameplay one. I mentioned earlier the importance the memento system and this small picture hints at its overall significance. The demo gives you an option of who to spend your time before the fecal matters hits the room ventilation device and clearly that will continue on as the game goes forward.  It is reasonable to assume that the more time you spend with someone the better chance Shuuki has of finding, or even inadvertently forming, the memento that will save their life. It also opens up the possibility that there will be characters Shuuki won’t be able to save because of the time he spent with someone else. I doubt Cyanide Tea will follow through on this end, but it will make your choices much more costly…and presumably the pain a cut a little deeper.

Finally this spoiler pic shows me that family will play a much larger role in the game than sexuality. On the official forums and what not, Break Chance Memento is listed as a BL (Boys Love) game. However, I rarely mentioned that in this feature…outside of that whole thing of Shuuki’s night a love hotel…because overall it holds little stock in the actual plot. There is no denying most of the cast’s sexuality, but at the same time it isn’t presented as anything worth reader investment. I can say that comfortably because in both murder scenes, so far anyway, it’s a family member that finds the victims. Shuuki finds his brother and Chiaki’s Mother (I pretty sure that’s his Mom’s design anyway) is the one who finds him. I for one am interested in seeing where this goes…and even more interested in the inevitable backlash of the fangirls who expected this title to revolve around whomever Shuuki managers to lure into bed.

So those are my impressions for Break Chance Memento. I was, as you can probably tell, very impressed by the demo. The story caught me immediately, the characters all eventually grew on me and it looks and plays very well. I cannot wait for the full game to be available to us. In the meantime you can support the team by purchasing BCM related products here. And for news and updates as we get closer to Break Chance Memento’s official release, continue to follow this very website.

First Impressions: Break Chance Memento, Pt. 2

Well after Part One my friends, I’ll promise to keep this short. After all, I don’t want to drop below average in the second part, especially since most three-part series don’t get any higher than its midway point. I assure you that the intellectual quality of my work will not shrink in the face of your growing expectations of me and I promise you this will be a head above any other blog happy to remain underwhelming. Yes my friends: today is going to be a good day to go big and ignore anything that stays small.

Also, Chiaki is short.

First Impressions: Break Chance Memento, Pt. 1

So, for roughly two years now an English Visual Novel I have been openly interested in is Cyanide Tea’s Break Chance Memento. The group spent most of 2012 getting the harmony of their collective efforts in tune and after two strong showings, BCM stayed high on my radar. In the past few weeks, a new demo covering about two chapters of the game was released and it is good. So good that I had to talk about it…I just didn’t realize I’d be talking about it quite this much.So what was once going to be just a quick blurb advising you to at least check out the demo regardless of your feelings of its genre is now an epic three part look at what Break Chance Memento is shaping out to be! All of this is pretty much my first impressions and reflections of those impressions…and somehow it will be the longest feature on this very site. Weird. Anyway, the first two parts will cover my impressions of the characters and the scenes that best showed their potential and the third part will cover the themes of the game and I will discuss what could either make or break this one: the time travel mechanic.

I will warn you in advance: this has pretty much gotten as long as it has because I dive pretty deep on this one. A lot of this will be my own theories but it’s all based on what happens in-game. If you want a short version, here it is: it’s good. The two chapters really get you invested in the story without giving a great deal away and, like many a good demo, leaves you with more questions than answers. If you have not done so, this feature will involve some spoilers from that demo so feel free to go and play it, then come back here alright? For everyone else, let’s start with the main cast and, what better place to start than with a certain long-haired twat?