My progress in MinDead Blood - report for Narg

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

*** Warning: Spoilers in varying density and importance to the storyline ahead! ***

So far I already had the endings in previous playthroughs that I made without using a kouryaku:
[list][]“¬ê√߬笪¬ëq¬Ç√å¬ñ√©¬ñ¬æ¬Ç¬Ø”[/][]“¬ã√∞¬é√í¬Ç√å¬ñ¬ñ¬òH”[/][]“¬ñ}-f¬Ç√à¬Ç√©¬éx"z¬é√í”[/][/list]After them, I was stuck and didn’t find any further endings - even though I actually used the hint that was posted about having Shizuru not drink blood being a requirement.
Basically, my mistake was to hide Shizuru in the mansion all the time and made him investigate that location first priority - without ever finding the place at the center with the cherry-tree!

December 16th 2007:
After I took a few hints from a kouryaku, I managed to get the ending “¬ñ¬æ"√∫¬Ç√ñ"¬¶¬ñS”. Still no new opening available, though.

Basically, the info that I obtained from the kouryaku were:
[list][]The ending happens before day 30[/][]Visiting the place wiht e cherry-tree is required[/][]Visiting the cherry tree on the wrong day is lethal[/][/list]
Conclusion: I now rely on the kouryaku, step by step!
Thus, I probably will now find some more still undiscovered “BAD ENDS” before I will finally finfd the exit to the next phase - and then have to decide whether I again start mess… -err- playing around on my own before I again use the kouryaku - or directly continue using it.

One thing’s for sure: whoever still thinks that “Snow Drop” was difficult has no idea what other games that are yet not released have in store regarding difficulty!

Hats off to everybody who managed to play through without help - or only the hints in Cyc’s hintpages!

#2

I actually had to use a walk-thru for one of the endings, because I could never get the visit timing right (got the events too soon or too late). MinDeaD won a few “hardest game” awards for the year it first came out, so there’s no dishonor in seeking out help. You’ve been playing that game for over a year now, haven’t you? :frowning:

Part of me is happy, because it means the profits have been good. There’s no fear of them going out of business. However the other part of me is unhappy, because old studios I worshipped like I do Cyc, lost my worship when they expanded and became “cash cow” factories that mass produced second rate garbage.

I seriously associate Cyc with quality. Granted it’s the Black flavor that has all the truly legendary stuff, but White surprised me tremendously with Shikigami (until then, everything was a dud IMHO). Vanilla Cyc has always been pushing “unorthodox” play styles – and if you’re looking for something different, they’re always fun.

Rose is yaoi… so I don’t linger there too much. :smiley:

#3

I got now finally the ending “Vampire Hunter” - and realized why I never could get it on my own: The entire path is blasphemy because Shizuru totally ignores the glory of Mayu & Mana twincest - just like my dear ol’ captain Justy Ueki Tylor did with Yumi and Emi! :frowning:

Hmm… does such a person exist in their staff? I don’t recall any noteworthy twincest in their games besides Mayu and Mana - but then, maybe I missed that when I decided to leave out “Extravaganza” and “Gun Katana” because of personal dislikes…

[ 12-16-2007, 02:48 AM: Message edited by: Unicorn ]

#4

Pure evil is what it is! Poor Mana! Poor Mayu!

You also never learn anything about the truth behind Shizuru or Yuka. One of the least “informative” endings… although one of the coolest. I assume, given the sheer age of your game, that you’re playing the original 2CD version and not the new DVD edition? If that’s the case, be aware that in the remake, “Vampire Hunter” is one of the four endings that could be canon. It has a unique vocal theme song in the DVD version and was promoted to such status. :slight_smile:

That’s unforgivable. :slight_smile:

Plus I would abuse the position for more twincest. :smiley:

Aside from MinDeaD and GunKatana, there’s also Senjyo.

-

[ 12-16-2007, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#5

Actually, I think I learned here quite more about Yuka - at least her past. I may even rethink my position of calling her a “bitch” - though she still is a female dog in heat! :wink:

Accepted - except already made posts.

#6

Now that you’ve got Vampire Hunter, you can get the better endings as well, because they aren’t even unlocked or possible to get before you get Vampire Hunter. Getting the second true ending won’t curb your vampire lusts at all. It’s also my favorite ending because it’s so intense and sad.

The Yuka ending is pretty badass too.

#7

Hmmmm… better endings?
You mean endings better than “¬ñ}-f¬Ç√à¬Ç√©¬éx"z¬é√í”?

I just got the endings “'D¬Ç√≠¬Ç√™¬Ç¬Ω¬è¬É¬å¬â” and “¬â√ü¬ã¬é¬Ç√ñ¬Ç√å√¶√ú¬ç√ü” and at least in my book they weren’t better - particulary the latter one.

Those guys from Black Cyc really must hate their greatest creations… :frowning: :frowning:

So far, I think I would have been better off if I’d not used kouryakus for prying open the endings that I couldn’t reach by myself…

#8

'D‚í‚ꂽƒŒ‰ is not an ending, but rather an epilogue of sorts.

¬â√ü¬ã¬é¬Ç√ñ¬Ç√å√¶√ú¬ç√ü is one of the four possible true endings (as I’m sure you’ve noticed by the credit treatment). But yes… it’s very heart touching… all those terrible events happening one after the other… :frowning:

You’ve only got one more true ending on MinDeaD BlooD to go, so you might as well go for it. Then you can see the final (and what Narg feels is the best) possible true ending on the expansion. :smiley:

#9

Terrible? You call them just “terrible”? :stuck_out_tongue:

#10

[quote]
Originally posted by Unicorn:
[b]Terrible? You call them just “terrible”? :frowning:

[quote]
Originally posted by Unicorn:
[b]Really best? Even better than “¬ñ}-f¬Ç√à¬Ç√©¬éx"z¬é√í”? :smiley:

Shizuru understands the chemistry in handling Mana and Mayu better in the expansion - well actually it’s Mana who’s the tricky one, ne? :wink:

#11

I just got the endings:
[list][]™R‚«Šè‚¢[/][]–¢-ˆ‚Ö‚Ì-·-§‚¿[/][]ˆ«–²‚ÌŒŒ‘°[/][/list]
While admittdly, that fourth “true ending” has its appeal with that bastard finally getting his ass kicked by we-know-who, I still find it quite irritating that out lovely pair plays no role in that ending at all. After all, I really liked those seesaw-scenes and what came from them…

#12

Heh… so now you’ve seen all three “possible canon endings” in MinDeaD BlooD.

Next you’ll need to see the last on the expansion. :smiley:

That’s the best one. 100% approval from Narg. If there’s ever a MinDeaD 2 - and I’m sure it would just use an all new cast, with major cameo crossovers - I hope the expansion’s story arc is how everything pans out. :cool:

[ 12-29-2007, 10:58 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#13

I pulledn an all-nighter and finished now the reamining parts of the game and thus also got the remaining three endings:

[list][]‘æŽO‚̏Ÿ-˜ŽÒ[/][]Ž€"¬‚ÌŽn‚Ü‚è[/][]Žx"zŽÒ‚̉ƒ[/][/list]
The funny thing here was: The latter two endings also had closing credits, so maybe they are kanon too. I’d prefer that particularty for the last one, which I even like better than “¬ñ}-f¬Ç√à¬Ç√©¬éx"z¬é√í”.

However, I would say that when Cyc made “MinDead Blood”, they only practiced for actually making “GORE Screaming Show” later! :stuck_out_tongue:

While the story depth in “MinDead Blood” is above par - and far above par if compared to most english localized erogames, but none of the characters in “MinDead Blood” can compete with Yukari - though I have to admit, Sakaki Yuka was the best competition for her!

However, I don’t think we should reinforce the hype for localizing MinDead Blood", because its difficulty-level is not above or beyond par, it actually redefined the meaning of the word “difficulty” for me.

Well, then I now turn to other games that I want to play more urgently - and turn to the Yaketsubako sometime next year. After all, I only agreed to finish this one before I order the new “Yami no Koe”, but that order can easily be delayed until the end of next year without risking that the new game would go out of print. :stuck_out_tongue:

#14

Naw. That’s the “generic” credits. They don’t really count. Just normal endings. Vampire Hunter was like this too - but in the DVD Special it got it’s own unique credits, and a vocal theme song. :slight_smile:

The four possible canon endings for MinDeaD BlooD are:

VAMPIRE HUNTER
‰ß‹Ž‚Ö‚Ìæ܍ß
–¢-ˆ‚Ö‚Ì-·-§‚¿
Žx"zŽÒ‚ׂ̈̋¶Ž€‹È (from the expansion)

Gore Screaming Show is a great game, and I agree that the story and character development is superior: however GSS also has a smaller cast, which makes a major difference (i.e. they can spend more time). Overall GSS is a LOT “slower” than MinDeaD in the pacing, and while there’s certainly a lot of urgency, it’s not a “the world is in danger” type of thing. More sex with MinDeaD too… plus MinDeaD has a more fun “choose your destiny” interface with the island map. Basically it just comes down to MinDeaD BlooD makes a good action thriller while Gore Screaming Show makes a good mystery thriller. Most important of all: the star of GGS is Yukari (and Gore second). The star of MinDeaD is Shizuru (and Yuka second). That makes MinDeaD VERY unique – it’s rare for the focus to be the protagonist in the plot (not just the “target for love”). Also if sales for titles is an indicator, MinDeaD is a more universal sell than GGS (i.e. it would go over better with the masses).

I strongly disagree. :smiley:

[ 12-30-2007, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#15

I think, that summarizes the main problem, Cyc had when they made “MinDead Blood”: with their big cast, they bit off more than they really could chew. That’s why they needed to split it up into the “true game” and the “Yuketsubako”.

Errrmmm… do you know which already english localized game that map-concept reminded me of? Moving the character around on a map with no clue what result that will trigger - neither in the short nor the long run?

If you don’t - the solution is coming up later in this post!

Please, explain to me what “universal sell” exactly means.

Then, I wonder why still people whine about the difficulty of “Snow Drop”. However, I needed back then only a small hint for solving the game on my own. For “MinDead Blood” I had to use a kouryaku - no ifs no buts!
Also, “Snow Drop” was one of my first ten b-games and my experience in that one as well as all the others afterwards should have helped me when I started years later playing “MinDead Blood”. But it still wasn’t enough…

Oh right, and because I just talked about it: of course it also was “Snow Drop” that I was reminded of by “MinDead Blood”'s map-concept!

Thus, I conclude that “MinDead Blood” will actually be as gratefully received here as was “Snow Drop”. Don’t you think it’s peculiar that in “Snow Drop”, the focus also was the protagonist?

You know, by doing that you first and foremost PROVE to Mana that you are a traitor who is just about to betray me, right? And someone who betrayed his faith-of-twincest-brother certainly would sooner or later also betray her! Thus don’t swing around a double-edged sword if you aren’t used to handle a bothhander! :stuck_out_tongue:

More seriously: I pushed my self lately quite hard for finishing the main game still in this year. Thus the mere thought of going right now for the Yuketsubako is a bit … repulsive!

Imagine you have eaten your favorite dish everyday for the last two months! Not once each day, but for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper! Always the same recipe. Now, you open your fridge, and you see - all enough helpings of that same dish for two more months and nothing else!

Then I wonder if it wouldn’t be wasted if I’d watch it right now - spoiled by my current surfeit from the main game.
When I used the kouryaku for getting all the scenes in the game and reached the fourth variation of Yuka’s torment atthe hands of Azuma-sensei, I even changed the game skip-text option in order to pass that over. Seriously: those four variations of the same scene with always the same outcome was a wasted effort on Cyc’s side!

Nobody knows what she is going to make when she is angry - that is the problem with girls like her as Arisa had to learn the painful way. One more commonly known example of that type is Kohaku!

Because I will only know that I have found that ending when it is too late for activating the music, I plan to re-watch it later on my desktop-computer, that also can handle the mandatory CD-DA better.

[ 12-30-2007, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: Unicorn ]

#16

Actually I think the problem is Cyc rushed MinDeaD out the door, since Yuetsubako was released only a few months after the main game. I mean its one thing for a company to know when a title of theirs will be successfully, but it’s another to just release the “fan disc” before you get a real following of fans. :frowning:

However Snow Drop is highly loved by b-game fans – (not ultra mega love, but more so than say… oh… Virgin Roster) it inevitably pops up on lists for “best plot” suggestions – so I think it’s just that people who can’t beat the game are merely more vocal than those who can.

Or as the Internet community says: “Less qq more pewpew!” :smiley:

Well only one is canon. The others were false. But even GSS has repetition. Gore’s dramatic entrance was only dramatic the first time.

Most eroge do… nature of the beast.

Well hopefully you’ll get an idea when the conclusion is reached: I wish I could give a good hint, but I’d rather not spoil anything… but since you can re-see the ending through the memory gallery, you can just play the ending with music. :wink:

[ 12-30-2007, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#17

Yo Unicorn! Forgot to add…

If you want, I can send you my game save that starts at the beginning of the Vampire Road route, so that you won’t have to go through all the “single character endings” first.

IIRC, it doesn’t require me sending the “full game” save which would unlock the entire gallery.

Would save ya time. And once the Vampire Road route begins, there’s no more dealing with the map or making decisions (it’s basically on cruise control for massive plot and dialog).

#18

Snow Drop isn’t actually that good of a game. It’s just that compared to most of the English releases at the time, it was a pretty clear improvement. It was one of Peach Princess’ first releases.

Games released prior to that had been either a) really old, or b) Jast titles; either way the graphics on Snow Drop were far superior. And it had voice! Not horribly dubbed voice, either. And the story was interesting, even if it did have flaws, compared to Paradise Heights or XChange 1.

I mean, the only really noteworthy games that had been released – barring C’s Ware titles – before that were Seasons of the Sakura (which I thought was OK) and Nocturnal Illusion, and NI was by a company that went bust!

SD is short, overly complicated, with a screwed-up game mechanics system. And it couldn’t decide whether it was a sexfest or not. But it was still better than what was out there at the time.

EDIT: Let me make this make sense a little more :slight_smile:

[ 12-30-2007, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: Nandemonai ]

#19

What? Did you just say that Legend of Zelda is harder than Castlevania? Come on … you can’t be serious. Zelda is fairly easy. I had a hard time as a kid, because I just sucked at playing games period but I replayed it a few years ago … and god, is it simple.

Finding everything is a challenge, yes, but beating the enemies is not hard at all.

And they did pass over hard games. Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan was not released for ages, because it was deemed to be overly difficult. (There were bonus stages you could only get to by not warping, and there were warp zones that went backwards. It’s awesome.) So they passed, instead reworking Doki Doki Panic! to be SMB2 USA.

[ 12-30-2007, 05:40 PM: Message edited by: Nandemonai ]

#20

Second Quest? How did you know you could walkthru walls? I didn’t figure it out for years, because I didn’t have a subscription to Nintendo Power, there was no Internet like today, and none of my friends cared about Zelda. Only when I finally got a used play guide, did I know that.

IIRC there is a guy that gives a rather if-ish hint… but yea… Zelda hints were kinda sucky to be honest. :slight_smile:

And also: vintage games a LOT easier to gamers today, because in retrospect they are kinda simple. Few months ago I played Contra on the NES for the first time (cause I wanted to catch up for the DS version)… beat it losing only two lives. The enemy bullets are soooooooooo slow. Did the same with Lifeforce on one continue (that solar flare level got me… but it was a one trick pony). However in their time, people evidently needed that 30 live trick to win. They didn’t get easier… I just got better. :wink:

Yea. I mentioned they used to passover hard games. During the 80’s and 90’s it was common for them to pass them over, as SMB2 or just dumb them down (Final Fantasy 2 on SNES). There were exceptions like Ninja Gaiden (US version is harder), but those were rare at the time.

Today it’s the opposite. For example the American Devil May Cry is a lot harder (as is Resident Evil)… and nearly all FPS-ish games from Japan get a ramp-up in hardness.

The thing that started this is actually simple: game rentals. Companies like Blockbuster used their influence to get game makers to make games that weren’t beatable in one rental.

Customers liked it, bought games they couldn’t beat via rental (especially RPG, since another renter would remove or screw your save), and game companies liked that even better.

[ 12-30-2007, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]