Hmm, well I have hopes for Crescendo since the two bookmarks I got from G-collections are from it. So far they’ve seem to be giving out extras related to future translated games.
I love those bookmarks. I was getting tired of using those product reply cards as bookmarks 
And judging from the art on the bookmarks I really hope g-collections will bring cresendo over here.
Figured I would post my impressions with the game.
******* VERY MINOR SPOILERS COMING (Prologue spoilers)**********
I have achieved 6 endings now so I have not seen everything yet but have seen enough that I can give some impressions. First off I would like to state that Teacher/student relationships are very high on things I like in bishoujo games and I am willing to play darker games. This is going to be pretty much opinions and not a true review.
Story: The story is about Shuichi finally losing control over the dark urges he has felt for a long time and what happens when he does let his desires take over.
I think they should have created a longer prologue explaining Shuichi’s past quite a bit more. They barely delve into why he had no feelings for his father and about the abandonment he felt when Kumiko left without a word. Explaining these more might have given the player a bit more understanding about what happened when his darker side begins to take over. I also agree that the game was fairly short. Though I am not really that unsatisfied with game length since after achieving 6 endings I did play for around 10 hours or so. So achieving all 10 should take me about 14 hours which is not bad.
Artwork: I personally thought the artwork in this game was very good. I was a little worried about this aspect from the CG pictures available on g-collections page but those were put to rest when I actually began playing the game. I would rate the artwork as probably the third best english release in my opinion behind Chain and Tokimeki Check-in. Although since I am not a bondage type of guy, there was a bit too much bondage for my taste but I was able to deal with it.
Sound: I thought the voice acting was very well done and the music set the appropriate mood.
Overall: I didn’t mind this game as much as everyone else here seems to. Although I have played quite a few darker Japanese games so maybe I was prepared for it. I did think that its alot easier to be harsh on Shuichi since they neglected to build his character more. He just suddenly started dominating teachers and this leads to people not understanding his motives and disliking him. Its hard to like a game if you dislike the main character. I personally didn’t dislike Shuichi, just stating how I can see someone dislike him. I would have loved the teachers to be more developed as well. I really liked Yuki’s personality . Overall I would compare this game to Water Closet, if you can deal with the themes it is a good investment, but if you can’t stay away from the game.
Overall 8.5/10
Played on:
WinXp Pro
Pentium 4 2.4ghz
Gigabyte 8IHXP motherboard
512MB PC1066 RDRAM
Asus Geforce ti4400 (detonator 41.09 drivers)
SB Live
Had to post my specs since Doug did hehe
[This message has been edited by Bigdog (edited 01-14-2003).]
quote:
Originally posted by Bigdog:
Overall I would compare this game to Water Closet, if you can deal with the themes it is a good investment, but if you can't stay away from the game.
Wow. My thoughts exactly. I can only "sort of" deal with them, so as it stands right now, I am ambivalent toward the game; equally repulsed and intrigued.
I will say this, though: I thought the game really captured the spirit of abnormal psychology (as it were). I thought the flashbacks to his childhood with Kumiko were very illustrative to his "suppressed" violent tendencies.
quote:
Originally posted by Doug:
-Is an opinion only constructive when it conforms to yours?
Kindly put that straw man away. Let's keep the flamebait to a minimum, mm? The flame wars are for the off-topic thread...
quote:
Originally posted by Smithy:
Wow. My thoughts exactly. I can only "sort of" deal with them, so as it stands right now, I am ambivalent toward the game; equally repulsed and intrigued.I will say this, though: I thought the game really captured the spirit of abnormal psychology (as it were). I thought the flashbacks to his childhood with Kumiko were very illustrative to his "suppressed" violent tendencies.
Having taken a one semester course on abnormal psychology when in college, I am of course a completely qualified expert on the subject [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img] (yes, that IS sarcasm ^^)
And I can say that...more than likely...that just isn't accurate. Having not played Sensei 2 (and as it stands now I won't) I can't comment on specifics unless you want to post spoilers...but I don't know of any recognized psychological problem like what you're talking about.
Heh, more likely than not.
Pop culture in action…
Still… doesn’t Shuichi just scream antisocial personality disorder?
[This message has been edited by Smithy (edited 01-13-2003).]
quote:
Originally posted by Smithy:
Still... doesn't Shuichi just scream antisocial personality disorder?[This message has been edited by Smithy (edited 01-13-2003).]
Shuichi? The main character of Gravitation?
Heh, well I’ve taken more than a semester of abnormal psychology and those flashbacks do give indications of some type of disorder but they in and of themselves aren’t an indication. His behavior does lean towards antisocial personality disorder but technically (meaning according to the DSM IV), you can only apply that diagnosis to someone over the age of 18. (or is he 18, I’m not exactly sure.)
Hmm, strange, but now that Bigdog-san brought up the point, I realized that I didn’t exactly dislike Shuichi. I didn’t understand his motives (I really wished they developed that more) and absolutely disliked and didn’t feel comfortable about his actions, I didn’t dislike him. Now Hiro in Private Nurse I dislike. Shuichi, I’m not sure exactly what I feel about him, but it’s not dislike. Great, I’m going to spend the rest of the day analyzing myself now. (For that and the fact that one of the things that does stick in my head from the game is the thought “Hmm, I never considered using an electric toothbrush in that fashion before.”)
quote:
Originally posted by ekylo:
"Hmm, I never considered using an electric toothbrush in that fashion before."
If I recall correctly, you said the same thing about a litterbox, some months ago.
Perhaps you should face it: Everytime you think you are the top of anything, just minutes later another one shows up and tops you.
quote:
Originally posted by Unicorn:
If I recall correctly, you said the same thing about a litterbox, some months ago.Perhaps you should face it: Everytime you think you are the top of anything, just minutes later another one shows up and tops you.
Heh that's true. Then again, I don't own an electric toothbrush or a cat, so those items don't usually entering the realm of my thinking in the first place.
Electronic Toothbrush is the least of what I was amazed at in that game. My god there are some crazy S&M contraptions…
The funniest bit in X-change for me was the part where Takuya pulls up his shirt to reveal his new physique, and his dad nosebleeds into the newspaper he holds in his two hands. Flashback humor, that is. Too many bad endings in X-change made it a little bit blah.
quote:
Originally posted by bokmeow:
The funniest bit in X-change for me was the part where Takuya pulls up his shirt to reveal his new physique, and his dad nosebleeds into the newspaper he holds in his two hands. Flashback humor, that is. Too many bad endings in X-change made it a little bit blah.
Hehe, that part was funny ^_^. But if you disliked that there were too many bad endings in XC, you might like XC2 better. I know that each one of the four girls has 2 endings; a best and a happy one. 7+7=14 and then 23-14=9. In short, XC2 has more good endings than bad endings [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img].
quote:
Originally posted by Spectator Beholder:
I know that each one of the four girls has 2 endings; a best and a happy one. 7+7=14 and then 23-14=9. In short, XC2 has more good endings than bad endings [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img].
Hey, today is once again one of my apologetic days! [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/redface.gif[/img]
Since I am also responsible for this mix-up, I have to set that straight:
There are 7 so-called best-endings, one for each girl, that may become Takuyas steady girlfriend in the end.
There are also a lot so-so endings, but only very few really bad endings.
However, I think the best-endings are just the cream on top of the pie. I think, the game itself is quite more enjoyable than it's prequel, but also quite more difficult to find the really happy endings (that are for this reason called "Best endings" in their finishing credits).
quote:
Originally posted by Unicorn:
Hey, today is once again one of my apologetic days! [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/redface.gif[/img]
Don't apologize too much, it might become a bad habit :3.
quote:
Since I am also responsible for this mix-up, I have to set that straight:
There are 7 so-called best-endings, one for each girl, that may become Takuyas steady girlfriend in the end. There are also a lot so-so endings, but only very few really bad endings.
Oh, so there's only on ending for each girl? What a pity [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/frown.gif[/img]. But... Are you really sure? Others have hinted at there being other endings where Takuya might nd up with one of the female characters; shouldn't that be counted as a happy ending, then, if it's not a best ending? But I think that all of us in any case are at least relieved to hear that there is not a lot of really bad endings like in XC [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img].
quote:
However, I think the best-endings are just the cream on top of the pie. I think, the game itself is quite more enjoyable than it's prequel, but also quite more difficult to find the really happy endings (that are for this reason called "Best endings" in their finishing credits).
The more you say, the more I look forward toward playing the game! Hey, Lamuness! Hurry up the work on BS and XC2, darn it! Use ANY means to hurry up the work! You could even borrow some of my lemons [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img].
quote:
Originally posted by Spectator Beholder:
But... Are you really sure? Others have hinted at there being other endings where Takuya might nd up with one of the female characters;
You want to make me apologize again? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/eek.gif[/img]
I am not sure, because I have not yet seen all so-so-endings (and best endings either, only the Tisato best ending this far).
One of them was a special near miss on one of the girls, though and another one an Asuka normal ending.
quote:
Originally posted by Unicorn:
You want to make me apologize again? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/eek.gif[/img]I am not sure, because I have not yet seen all so-so-endings (and best endings either, only the Tisato best ending this far).
One of them was a special near miss on one of the girls, though and another one an Asuka normal ending.
For what? Becuase of what you just said or what I just said? In that case: no, because that you weren't the one we got that hint from :3. Besides, there are good reasons for thinking that at least a couple of the girls may have more than one ending with Takuya.
quote:
Originally posted by Bigdog:
Played on:WinXp Pro
Pentium 4 2.4ghz
Gigabyte 8IHXP motherboard
512MB PC1066 RDRAM
Asus Geforce ti4400 (detonator 41.09 drivers)
SB LiveHad to post my specs since Doug did hehe [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by Bigdog (edited 01-14-2003).]
I'm not worthy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
quote:
Originally posted by Nandemonai:
Kindly put that straw man away. Let's keep the flamebait to a minimum, mm? The flame wars are for the off-topic thread...
Flamebait? I was just trying to make a point.
[This message has been edited by Doug (edited 01-15-2003).]