Has anyone else played cross channel with the English patch?
I think the game made my mind explode more times then I can recall. I nearly broke down emotionally a few times, and in the end, I still have this felling of… “That’s it?”. I don’t like the idea of bad endings being the only possible path. I don’t want to go into too many spoilers, but how many have played it and are willing to share thoughts?
Haven’t played it with the English patch, why? Does the English patch change the story?
Anyway, Cross Channel’s ending was perfect, I felt - in fact, I would say there are very few eroges with an ending as good as Cross Channel’s.
I wouldn’t know, the patch just translates the text and adds cultural notes.
I just can’t believe that the main character will be alone forever in the cross.
As Taichi is someone who can’t live with other people, that’s the only possible ‘good ending’ to Cross Channel. He’s content with it, too.
EDIT: And, for reference, Cross Channel’s ending is still a lot happier than the ‘true’ ending of some eroges - plenty of decent eroges don’t have good endings, and we still love them. That’s why we’re into utsuge, after all - godliest eroge subgenre =p
Nanaka and the revelation regarding her led me to have more hope towards a more peaceful ending, though.
I was actually thinking of getting this too… knowing that this fails to deliver a truly good ending in a multi-branch game, I’ll pass now.
Really, if you are going to design a multi branch game… have good, bad, and nuetral endings. Just having a one sided affair in such a game is just bad game design.
It’s true the ending was quite sad, but not only for Taichi. I’m really sad for Touko (and Youko) since those two girls really needed to be with Taichi. The other girls can manage without him.
A few days after seeing the end of CC, I finaly managed to accept how it ends (at least for Taichi). I guess sometimes it’s better to not have a happy end…
Nothing wrong with non-happy endings… but a multi ending game that fails to truly diversify its endings is inexcusable. The more bittersweet endings of certain eroge are wonderful, but then they offer a different theme from the other endings. As I’ve said elsewhere… all happy endings in a multi-branch game is just as damning. It defeats the whole purpose of multiple paths in my mind.
CC is not really multi ending, though. There are choices, but it is single path.
Even worse… do not offer such “choices” only to limit the story to one ending. That is a death knell for any game.
Yeah, nobody likes any of THOSE games
Man, what the hell do you know? You’re like those assholes that slammed Asairo just because you didn’t get to bang Waka. If an eroge doesn’t fit your cookie-cutter definition of what it’s supposed to be, it’s instantly not worth playing? It’s thanks to people like you that we don’t see more experimentation in the medium. You could do to widen your perspectives a little and see eroges as something more than a medium for your personal fantasy fulfillment.
Maybe we should just go back to having nothing but plotless dating sims?
This one is special, though, since it doesn’t even have choices until the last arc. At least, not in the original sound novel.
It isn’t just eroge, but all games. I feel the same way about a console game like Infamous as I do about eroge that fall to this artistic choice. I personally detest it. So yes, if those games offer “choice” in name only, I will tend to dismiss them. I do not dismiss games for something like a girl not being available in a specific eroge (such as in YMK). That is a minor quibble at best. It is in offering a game that is “affected” by choice but ultimately is limited to a single set ending that earns my contempt.
Ever 17 is also not in this category: considering the narrative intent was never to offer, or pretend to offer, differing endings but one overlapping narrative that appeals to temporal paradox and manipulation… it is different. In this, I view it much like “Figures of Happiness”, a game where the reliance on an idea such as “eternal recurrence” both validates each ending while also “canonising” one particular ending. All endings technically remain true, even though one ending is canon. It is the same with that game.
It is games like Kana, where there is little diversity amongst the endings or games like Infamous where “player choice” amounts to nothing but a set narrative that ignores that freedom that earns my apathy or outright contempt. Games like Ever17 are rare in being able to juggle such a narrative while retaining “choice”. But then the metaphysical hoops it has to leap through are about the only way to do so… Most of the time, such games fail miserably.
And don’t get insulting because I don’t agree with your opinion… I was clearly stating my opinion on offering true choice and multiple endings in a game. I do not have to agree with you. And please, actually learn my stance on erotica before spouting off such stupid blanket statements about my eroge habits. I actually desire intense emotional stories, not simple sex romps for my personal fantasy fulfillment. But please, continue your foolish rant…
Naturally, you’re allowed to have opinions. Heck, you’re supposed to have opinions. And that’s fine. The problem arises when it goes beyond that
See, if you simply preferred games with multiple, different endings, that’s fine. I have preferences too - I prefer games to have one ending. I prefer games to have all bad or at least bittersweet endings. If I’m playing a game where the protagonist is dying, the protagonist should die, no matter how happy or sad the ending in question is.
HOWEVER, you don’t see me saying things like “I don’t like (eroge X) because it has multiple endings”, or “The worst thing is to have a dying protagonist eroge where the protagonist ends up surviving in one of the endings. That’s the death knell for any ???”. So, why don’t I say those things? Because it’s NOT TRUE. Yet, that’s exactly what you��re saying - it’s not that you’d prefer it if (eroge X) had more varied endings, it’s that eroge X can’t possibly be good because it only has one ending!
Your opinion on endings is not the issue, it’s the fact that you’re so closeminded about it. You won’t give any legitimate criticism for these games entirely because the ending issue gets in the way of anything else. You can’t think of an eroge being good if it doesn’t meet your strict definition of what an eroge should be.
Except you’ve already shown that the whole LOTS OF DIFFERENT ENDINGS thing is more important to you than the actual quality of the game, so I don’t see why it matters to you anyway. You won’t like a game with a good story if it doesn’t meet your ‘acceptable plot structure’ criteria anyway.
Uh… no. In a “choice” driven game, multiple endings is a necessity. With multiple endings, actual diversity is a necessity. However, a game does not have to have multiple endings to get my attention. My favourite game, period, is FFX. There is only one ending. The same is true of other console games like the Tales series or Uncharted or Metal Gear. In fact, most games offer only one narrative path.
With VN’s, I prefer multiple endings just for the sake of replayability. Otherwise, I would simply prefer to read a book instead of sit in front of a computer for six hours to read. But if a game offers “choice”, then it better have differing results for each choice and that leads to different endings by default. Offering choice in a VN only to limit it to a single narrative outcome… that would be like having a DM offering choice in a table-top RPG but still limiting the actions to a single outcome that does not change regardless. Either choose to deliver a single narrative or choose to truly offer choice. To hang “choice” out there only to beat the gamer over the head with the lie is pathetic.
FFX has tons of choices. Heck, it even has stuff like affection levels. Yet you still get the same final outcome no matter what.
That looks very much like giving the illusion of choice, as opposed to stuff like Shin Megami Tensei where your choices can drastically affect the final outcome.
Does it offer you a choice to decline Guardianship? Does it offer you a choice to turn away members? Does it offer you a choice at at the end? The only “choices” offered are affection levels, a part of the game that has no bearing on any significant part of the story. Technically, you can “refuse” side-quests, however those only deepen the history of Spira and offer no choices in terms of how the story flows.
If you must, think of it in terms of the FF narrative versus a Bioware narrative. One intends to tell a singular narrative, every gamer knows this going in, and any choice involved is merely optional content that does not directly effect the story. The other intends a branching story with direct gamer control over the outcome of events, both significant and miniscule. While one can look at FF and say “choices”, any gamer should know that FF offers a single narrative path and no real “choices” to that path are offered.
Going into most VN’s and then offered choices, one expects to have multiple endings. If that VN does not deliver, then it is a failure as a VN in my eyes. Doesn’t mean the story is necessarily bad, just that the chosen method of delivery was not correct. Really, such a VN would probably be better served as a manga or anime. It isn’t so much that a VN offers only a single narrative, but such a VN, with choice, better be advertised for what it is or else the perception will suffer for it.
Not doing so is akin to Bioware creating a single narrative RPG, yet informing no one of this before release. The expectation of the product precedes it and the companies involved need to be aware of this.
Except you generally DO know in advance - I don’t know about you but I check things like kouryaku when going in so I’ve got an idea. I got Asairo because I knew in advance that it was single path (like I said, I love single-path).
The thing is that said VNs would not work better in any other medium because there’s no other medium that combines visual, audial and textual elements to create a story. Asairo couldn’t have been anything other than a VN. Itsusora couldn’t. Cross Channel couldn’t. Heck, ALL GOOD VNs work only as VNs. That’s why they’re VNs!
And, honestly, I think people should be more mature about their own expectations. If you’re disappointed in a game just because it wasn’t the exact game you expected to play, well, I’m afraid to say I don’t feel sorry for you at all. In fact, I think you deserve it. Maybe the people who go into these things with optimism - and if they find that, for example, said FF game offers multiple paths to victory or said Bioware game delivers a high-quality linear narrative they could take that in stride and enjoy that for what it is - are the ones that truly deserve to enjoy these things.
Finally, nobody liked to you saying the VN was multi-path when it wasn’t. You know that lots of VNs with choices - good VNs - are single path, so if you approach a VN and it’s a huge terrible surprise to find out that it doesn’t have ten different endings, well, that’s your fault isn’t it?
Most translated VNs are multi-path, and most of the non-translated VNs I own are also multi-path. I actually do my research in order to avoid said disappointment. This still requires one to be careful, however, since there have been implications that a game has multiple endings, when in fact it does not. Luckily, for Cross Channel I caught this topic. Maybe I’ll try it one day, maybe I won’t. But at least I am aware of what it is.
If Bioware created a single narrative game, I wouldn’t mind. However, it better be advertised as such. If they simply brush that aside, their history sets up an expectation for a particular type of narrative. Thus Bioware would deserve the heat if they did not advertise the game for what it was. Being open minded and foolishly forgiving are two different things. What you describe is foolishly forgiving. Bioware knows thier reputation, thus they need to make sure thier product is correctly advertised if they deviate from that normal experience. It is their fault, not the fans, if that doesn’t happen and the fans are “disappointed”.
It would be like going into a Mel Brooks movie that was advertised as his usual, only to find Schindler’s List. It might still be a good movie, but that doesn’t forgive what is essentially a lie. In business, they call that “bait and switch”.
I have been dying to play Cross Channel. I love Youko, good CG too