So what has Tris been doing recently?

[lebateleur]

Well, Tris has been doing this. Spoilerific impressions follow here.

First of all, I love anything Sakurai Shu3 touches. She's just awesome, especially because she's never quite stopped drawing FFVII doujinshi, even when she isn't, and I do love me some nekkid Sephiroth. Our nekkid Sephiroth character here is half-human, half-white tiger, happens to go by the name of Blood, and is the self-appointed protector of a red-headed, green-eyed, innocent, cho-genki boy. coughcoughcoughIshucacoughcoughcough. (In the interest of full disclosure, the kid's name is actually Barn, and Blood's name is either Blood or ::ahem:: Brad, depending on whether one trusts the official website or Sakurai's official djs. Three guesses which one I chose to trust.)

Anyway, our dynamic duo boards their pirate ship in search of One Piece Barn's missing memories, which he can recover if he traverses the Grand Line five Seikai (star seas) and gains the treasures needed to open the Rig Veda. Of course, the latter is written in katakana, and for the longest time I thought it was supposed to be League Vader, which activated my Star Wars aversion with its horridness. The 'Duh, Rig Veda' moment didn't hit me until the very end of the game.

Anyway, Seika Houretsu is pretty darn good as far as BL games go, and it isn't just thanks to Sakurai's illos. The characters are rounded out nicely, much more so than in other games, and I actually found myself liking most of them by the game's end. Aside from Blood (the obvious favorite), I'm partial to Shun, who is a riotously funny queen (his 'shame on you, Rui' monologue is priceless); Nash, a character in the easy-going, swashbuckling gentleman ex-royalty mode (he also collects Daruma and does the ship's laundry), and Kyo, a black-clad, one-eyed antagonist with the requisite mysterious past.

The innuendo while on board the ship is consistently funny and clever (Hijiri, the lone NPC uke is the proud caretaker of two Miniature Giant Space Gay Hamsters ('No, they're both males,' he cheerfully informs the PC)), and the sex bits once one lands on an island are hot. And therein lies the source of my agony, because as in all such games, one much chose one's favorite NPC to pair off with in the end, whereas my perfect ending involves Barn staying on the ship and screwing everyone. They're all such fun characters; why do I gotta chose just one? Of course, you can not chose any of them and step through the Rig Veda instead, at which point the really interesting transgressive bits - bondage, incest, and so forth - really get going. Unfortunately, the microsuck security patch doesn't like this game, and keeps crashing it. There's nothing more frustrating (in every sense of the word) than spending upwards of an hour limping through a three-minute sex scene. I finally got fed up with this last night and reinstalled; here's hoping it solves my problems.

There are also a couple of drama CDs for the game - one that takes place in the Rig Veda, which I don't have, and the Fanbox, which I do have and love. This one has some of the best sex bits ever recorded in audio format, and there's also this great WhackaMole game where you have to be careful or you end up punching the NPCs in the nuts when they pup up in the mole holes. Have I mentioned yet what a complete nutjob Sakurai is?

So yeah, Seikai Houretsuden. Good stuff.


これで以上です

Comments

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Heh. If I can lay hands on this game somehow (amazon.jp or **coughbittorrentcough**), can you walk me through how to play it? Or should I just consider the prospect hopeless until I learn (A LOT) more kanji?

I have managed to get a couple of Japanese BL games to run on my computer by setting the locale to Japanese and restarting, so my problem isn't getting the game to run -- it's knowing what to do when the pretty boys stroll onto the screen, spit a lot of kanji at me and look expectant for a while before spitting even more kanji and wandering off. It's sort of surreal, really.

(Thanks for the highly entertaining summary!)

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sure. Like all such things, the game is pretty linear, so once you figure out which responses get you which scenarios, you're set, kanji ability or no. IOW, you can still get to all the good bits while letting the risque dialogue fly over your head. Amazon.jp sells it for about $30 off the list price, so if you want the official version (which might have a chance at running better), it isn't a bad deal.

Which games do you have, btw? Any chance of trading some with me? I'm always open to new diversions. And you're quite welcome for the summary. If there's interest in such things, I'll post more for other games I have.

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

I have bin/cue images of Silver Chaos and Gakuen Heaven. I managed to install Silver Chaos and get it working, only to be stumped by excessive furigana-less kanji; I haven't got around to trying Gakuen Heaven, but presumably it works. I'd be happy to share them if you don't already have them.

I'd love to hear about other games! Japanese game-playing is pretty much a complete mystery to me (and it doesn't help that I don't even play games in English, though mereflair has been pimping Suikoden II and III lately).

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, do get into the Suikodens. From a PC gaming standpoint, they're a disappointment (I have been a PC gamer for about 2 decades. My obsession is strong!), but they are extremely easy to play because they are so linear. And more importantly, from a fanficcer's standpoint, they're glee! Do play the Japanese versions though, as the language doesn't come across right in English, IMO.

Hate to tell you, but most (actually all) of the Japanese games I've played lack furigana. It's too hard to do on a computer screen. Games for younger viewers will have more hiragana, though. Anyway, definitely look me up on AIM. I'll trade you what I've got for what you've got, and then I can give you an idea of what's going on;)

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Well, given my current state of Japanese, I think I'd have to try Suikoden out in English first, or I'll never get anywhere. ^_^; But I'll keep the Japanese recommendation in mind. I understand the English Suikodens are for Playstation 1 & 2; are the Japanese ones also Playstation-based, and if they are, do you need a Japanese Playstation to run them? (Like the whole region-coded DVD thing?)

I didn't expect games to have furigana -- I doubt I'd be able to read that fast even if the furigana were there. But me and kanji without furigana at this point, well, 可哀相だ.

I'll look for you on AIM!

[fragilistikal.livejournal.com]

The woe of American puritanism.

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cause otherwise I'd have a job turning this stuff into English. ::sob::