Thoughts and Impressions on Family Project (Spoilers)

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Well, finally finished every route in the game. I thought I would give some thoughts on how I felt during and about this game in a new topic. Discussion is welcome of course.

Overall Impression: the game is decent. I would not give the game as high a marks as its legacy entails, but for the sake of two paths it is well worth the play. The turmoil and despair becomes far too oppressive at points, but luckily it never descends into an experience that requires counseling to persevere…

Matsuri: a touching route for most of its progression, sadly I was severely dissapointed and confused with the ending. I also do not like how Aoba dissapeared once the final rush to the credits begins. First, the text made it seem as if many more years than 10 had passed, but then reverted back to a simple decade. There is also the fact that something is wrong with Tsukasa and I either missed it completely or it just wasn’t explained all that well. I also do not like the fact that very little is revealed about the other characters’ future in the epilogue. All of this is a major let-down from what is one of the more touching routes in the game.

Aoba: a touching ending, with some loose ends that bother me. But I love the trust and love that blossoms within Aoba and shows that she is not such a callous individual. I hated the scenes where she discusses her parents and husband though… in a “good” way though. I merely wanted to kill the bastards that hurt her. Also, there is some better exposition on the relationship between Matsuri and Aoba that is wonderful. However, there is still the issue of ambiguity clouding the rest of the Family Project. There is some exposition, but much is left unsaid and that bothers me. Also, her H-scene is probably the second best in the game.

Haruka/Chunhua: personally, I love the character and I love the ending to a certain extent. I enjoyed seeing him go into China and taking her back. Also, since much of the driving elements of the story are related to her particular path, she is more “in-tune” with what is happening. However, some wierdness with her mother and that retched ambiguity takes away from her path just a bit (although Tsukasa’s final comments do offer a glimpse). Also the fact that this path seemed to scream for more H-scenes at points, it is fairly tame.

Masumi: wonderful ending, slightly erratic route. This is the ending I most cussed at Tsukasa for being a complete and utter moron who is clueless to what is going on. It didn’t help that Masumi was quite complacent and willing with the entire deal. I wanted to reach through the scream and slap both of them repeatedly…and kick Soda as hard as possible. But, the final build-up where she finally realises what love really is and Tsukasa’s stressful inner thoughts was poignant. The ending is the second best in the game. Finally there is some exposition on the family and we seem them all come together to form a relatively happy life. I also love the interaction with the kid.

Jun: the best route in the game, although the final quarter is odd and strung me along to the point of frustration. Much like Aoba’s route, there were points that I would have gladly wrung the necks of Jun’s parents… doing that to your children… :evil: Luckily, the epilogue more than made up for it. Long and fulfilling, we not only get to see the resolution with Jun and Tsukasa, we get to see the rest of the family and Kei, Saya, and the principal. It was the most heart-warming ending of the bunch and the perfect pay off to the entire game. Also, this path seemed to integrate the H-scenes far better than the rest. Glad I saved this route as the final one to play. I was fairly dissapointed with the family aspects of the game until the epilogue played. And yes, I will admit it, with this one I broke down and cried a bit. But then I had pent up all the hope and the rage (and every other emotion) that was building and when that ending was playing I was finally given the release I was looking for.

All in all, the game is a worthwhile experience if one is patient to both play through the rather long routes, but also to wade through some of the less fulfilling areas of the game. While I wouldn’t call this game the greatest VN or erotic VN out there, Masumi and Jun’s endings easily make it a powerful and satisfying enough experience that I was hoping for.

I’m just glad this game was more like YMK instead of Kana… all that turmoil and suffering is actually allevaited for the most part.

EDIT: okay, replayed another route. I’ll probably add a bit of a character analysis later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

#2

how do you get the kei ending

#3

Not really sure… it was the first ending I got when I was trying to do the walkthrough. Try being nice to everyone and alternating between Matsuri and Aoba in their squabbles.

I planned on talking a bit about the characters, but I had to take a break on the replays. Some of those paths just have dark histories and it was starting to weigh me down in the real world (Jun and Matsuri’s… :shock: ).

#4

It seems likely that he picked Jun, but I could see him winning both sweeties :wink: .

It would seem out of place for him to have chosen Kei over Jun after all that build-up through the story.

#5

Bwahahahah, yes. It’s sort of like the iinchou’s route in Moshimo Ashita ga Hare Naraba and Girl A’s route in Yumemishi - an ending with a heroine that doesn’t have any H scenes or even much in the way of CG, and functions basically as a ‘screw everything, let’s just ditch these other girls who have too much associated drama/baggage and do whatever the hell I want instead’ ending. I think all eroges should throw something like this in, since it’s just a bit of writing and works as a nice touch =p

#6

Can someone explain to me why

Tsukasa at the end of Matsuri’s route, seems to be an old decrepit 70 something year old man? What exactly happened to him? First he almost loses use of his left arm, then his eye sight goes bad, that ending really confused me.

#7

It might be translation issues… but yeah, I was wondering the same thing since nothing was said about his injuries after the fire and Matsuri is clearly not over 50 years old in that scene. I think it is supposed to be 10 years after, but the text is kind of confusing on this.

#8

I’m guessing it was the knife wounds, even though nothing much was made of them after the incident.

#9

Maybe.

#10

Replaying that path again, just to see. But I remember there being a lot of scenes after the injuries where nothing was mentioned at all and 6 months worth of time at the very least.

After that ending I plan on finishing out the other paths again to finally discuss the characters a bit more.

#11

I’m waiting for the patch before any more runs on this one. I’ll also be skipping all the fluff with Hiroshi and Lau from now on…I wonder how hard it would be to edit out those scenes entirely.

#12

The game overall seems to be of a fairly low production value, although it might just be the game’s age shining through. Some of the CGs seem to be fairly mediocre, almost ugly, the main one I can think of being when Haruka/Chunhua comforts you by patting you on the head. In that CG her face looks almost distorted, and the slightly goofy expression on her face just compounds it. It’s sort of odd since a couple of the CGs seem much more high quality by comparison. Also, Haruka and Matsuri have a far larger number of CGs in total than Masumi and Jun (Masumi being the one with the least), which is sort of disappointing. The number of CGs overall seem rather low for a game of such a length.

The story was nice though. It’s occasionally very funny, and occasionally very frustrating :stuck_out_tongue: Personally I thought it was a bit too much strife and too little general happiness in it, but that’s purely a matter of taste and doesn’t have any bearing on the actual quality of the storyline, which I thought was very good. I did find it a bit harder to care about some of the chars though when there was so little display of actual affection between them and the main char (until the very end), but again, that’s probably just my tastes.

I’m still missing Masumi’s storyline, but so far I’d say I’m leaning towards Haruka’s storyline as being the best, but Jun having the most satisfying epilogue (with Haruka a close second). Overall though, I think it’s a very nice game that I’m happy about buying.

#13

Yea, the Chunhua face drawing was distorted, glad I’m not the only one to notice that.

#14

The music was pretty good, especially the piano centric melodies.

The typo issues didn’t bother me much, though I noticed them. The wierd symbol popping into the text was a bit jarring however.

The more I replay the game though, the more the eroge elements dissapoint me. They seem tacked on for the most part and for certain paths there probably should have been a few more (Haruka being the most prevalent).

#15

I think the funniest thing in the game though was the line IT’S OVER 9000 Even though it wasn’t meant to be in there, I laughed so hard I almost choked.

#16

Indeed, the music and VA were really good. The sample quality of the voices could be a bit better, but it’s about on par for the older VNs. The voice actors were great though, and the music was nice too, which is what makes the lacking CGs (both quality and quantity) such a disappointment, because for me they really stand out in an otherwise excellent title.

#17

Here’s the start of some character discussion/analysis I promised so long ago:

Matsuri: adorable for the most part, while understandably spiraling into a mild annoyance from time to time. I liked the character for her commitment and desire regarding the Family Project, and it was nice to see that she is one of the few characters that wishes to see it through regardless of everything else. Her strength was even more surprising once her familial situation came to light. How she managed to survive that for any length of time is a testament to her will. I wanted to reach through the scream and emasculate the little bastard of a “brother” and strangle the parents… although I would probably join the dark side and this game would probably no longer be suitable for sale in the US. I also like how she is both stubborn yet willing to cede when it comes to love. She is willing to wait, but she will be jumping Tsukasa whether he likes it or not :stuck_out_tongue:

Haruka: probably my favourite girl. There is just something about her that pulls me to her. Despite her outward goofiness and “blonde” moments, she is actually quite intelligent and wise. I love the interplay between child like innocence and love of life with the more sultry, mature nature she is able to portray from time to time. And she is strong as well. I mean, I’m not entirely certain of the extent of her “training”, seeing as she says she wasn’t part of it all that long, but it was nice to see that she did not let that ruin her life and drag her down the wrong path. How she dealt with her mother was quite interesting, and also showed a deep, complex compassion that is so damn intriguing, insipiring, and downright intoxicating. I really hope the implication in that path came true and that both the father and sister helped her finally “meet” her mother in every sense of the word. Also, her playfullness during her later H scene really begged for quite a few more H scenes and they really should have been in the game. Seeing her pure expression of joy when with Tsukasa like that was wonderful to witness. She really didn’t let her life drag her down.I guess in the end it really comes down to her being such a fun loving girl that I can’t be helped but obsess over her. Those final scenes of her pining for Tsukasa then her cathartic embrace/smile/tears when he proposes after tracking her down are just awesome.

I’ll come back a bit later and jot down a couple of thoughts and the rest of the ladies before I eventually get to the crazy old bastard and Tsukasa.

Edit: just some thoughtless spelling errors… can’t catch them all I guess.

#18

#19

I assume that is directed towards Tsukasa’s mental acumen, correct? He did do some ignorant and stupid things through-out the course of the game though, didn’t he?

I have to finish a couple replays so I can finish my little amateur hour here on character analysis. Hopefully I can finish it by the end of the month.

#20

I’m glad you guys are enjoying the game, because I still haven’t gotten my copy. :? I submitted a ticket almost two weeks ago, and still all it says is that the status is “open”. It doesn’t even list a priority for the ticket!