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So I finally sat down and read through Saya no Uta. That was Urobuchi as fuuuuuuuuuck. The two endings that could be considered good have Fuminori and Saya separated forever, with Fuminori in an insane asylum and Saya probably wandering around devouring poo poo forever, or everyone except Kouji is dead, with Kouji keeping one bullet ready for himself at all times in case it becomes too much. The other one ends with all of humanity being changed into Saya things, which... I mean, I guess that wouldn't be that bad? Saya was clearly intelligent, and if Fuminori really did see the world the way she did, people wouldn't even be able to recognize how loving horrifying everything looks. You could even say that, rather than an end for humanity, it's more of a paradigm shift. Oh my loving god. Yeah, definitely Urobuchi. I need some time to ruminate over this poo poo. 
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Dec 21, 2013 12:04
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Reading Deardrops now, thanks to that Mangagamer sale. Probably at least halfway through Riho's route, and... Man. I feel like I can't say anything about its quality, because I read Kira Kira pretty early in my list of VNs, and the more I read of this one, the more I think, "This is exactly what I wanted Kira Kira to be." I'm completely unable to be impartial about it, but I'm having a lot of fun! (Although I don't think any part of this can ever match up to the "learning how to be rock" sequence in Kira Kira. Best VN moment. It's been a few years but I still remember some of that voice acting.)
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Dec 22, 2013 06:51
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I haven't played Higurashi in a while due to a combination of a computer problem and schoolwork. I've picked it up again; I'm now on the second chapter, just past the part with maid Keiichi. It's sort of uncomfortable how far they took that, but I suppose Keiichi almost deserves it for trying to do similar things to the girls (including Satoko and Rika, which is really on the creepy side; how big is the age gap there supposed to be, exactly?). With all the slice-of-life stuff going on, it's easy to forget about Mion and Rena being secretly crazy/possessed/evil. As to the solution to the mystery, my opinion keeps shifting, and I still can't quite find an answer that explains everything. The "All-cast Review Session" makes the point that, even if we accept the supernatural explanation, we need to come up with Oyashiro's motive. The "unknown drug," while removing any need for supernatural methods for the actual killing, seems like a cheat; even in a story where toying with the violation of Father Knox's Second Commandment is the whole point, there's no reason to break the Fourth Commandment like that. With that in mind, hopefully there's some kind of trick involved to make the drug seem unknown, even if it's as simple as the guy doing the testing being part of the conspiracy.
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Dec 22, 2013 07:11
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I really wouldn't try to think of Higurashi as a mystery novel like Umineko is. Higurashi is much more of a horror work.
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Dec 22, 2013 08:38
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I would contest that a little bit. One of the big problems with the anime was the so-called "mood shift" away from horror in season 2, when really it was that the first season of the anime went so all-in on the horror aspect that it distorted the actual themes present in the story. I would say that Higurashi is a drama/tragedy with elements of supernatural horror alongside a mystery to tie it all together. It is however definitely not a literal mystery novel in the same vein as Umineko.
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Dec 22, 2013 15:42
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Einander posted:Reading Deardrops now, thanks to that Mangagamer sale. Probably at least halfway through Riho's route, and... Man. I feel like I can't say anything about its quality, because I read Kira Kira pretty early in my list of VNs, and the more I read of this one, the more I think, "This is exactly what I wanted Kira Kira to be." I'm completely unable to be impartial about it, but I'm having a lot of fun! I'm in a similar situation. I'm pretty sure I'm 3/4 into Riho's route, at least, and it's been okay so far. However, I can't help but feel that Kira Kira has more heart. I feel the more down-to-earth story worked in Kira Kira's advantage. The characters seemed to struggle more for far less. Also, the road trip part of Kira Kira was a ton of fun. A part of the problem could also be just that Shoichi isn't a terribly interesting protagonist, since he has so few flaws. Riho herself seems surprisinly shallow. Her introduction gave her an interesting conflict with Shoichi, but it turns out that her behavior has less to do with any personal drama and more to do with how goddamn thick she is. Usually a character this bullheaded would be the comic relief. But, hey, it's something out of the ordinary and she's got balls to spare. Gonda's story turned out to be pretty cool and almost makes up for not being given a full route. Still, despite all my whining, Deardrops is fun. Before starting Deardrops, I also re-read parts of Grisaia. Scene selection is pretty useful. Finding all the foreshadowings to the character routes was interesting. Grisaia makes the more standard writing in Period and Deardrops seem pretty boring in comparison. I still laughed at many of the jokes and I'll probably re-read more of the routes pretty soon.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:36
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Fate/Hollow Ataraxia reached 100%, buuut about 30% of that is google translate/babelfish that hasn't even been edited or sanity checked. At this point I don't even care about the drat game anymore, this is just one of the worst 'translation projects' I've ever seen.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:57
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The fact that it's looking like it'll be finished makes that not the case. I don't see how you can blame the guys doing the work because one idiot did something dumb.
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Dec 22, 2013 22:08
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Dr Pepper posted:I don't see how you can blame the guys doing the work because one idiot did something dumb.
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Dec 22, 2013 22:35
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Silver2195 posted:As to the solution to the mystery, my opinion keeps shifting, and I still can't quite find an answer that explains everything. The "All-cast Review Session" makes the point that, even if we accept the supernatural explanation, we need to come up with Oyashiro's motive. The "unknown drug," while removing any need for supernatural methods for the actual killing, seems like a cheat; even in a story where toying with the violation of Father Knox's Second Commandment is the whole point, there's no reason to break the Fourth Commandment like that. With that in mind, hopefully there's some kind of trick involved to make the drug seem unknown, even if it's as simple as the guy doing the testing being part of the conspiracy.
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Dec 23, 2013 00:17
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Endorph posted:Because this is the second time this exact thing has happened? You think they'd have learned from the first. My guess is that they caught someone using google translate and fire him, which they then recruit more unprofessional strangers that ends up using google translation. 
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Dec 23, 2013 00:21
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I believe the system they're using is allowing anyone to edit the translation similar to a wiki and then having one person go over everything to validate correct translations or retranslating incorrect translations. It seems like the important number to look at is the validated number which seems to be around 70%.
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Dec 23, 2013 00:28
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Okay, never mind, I retract a previous statement: now I'm pretty sure I can judge Deardrops objectively, because I absolutely loved Riho's route and Kanade's was awful. I think part of that is that Riho is Main Heroine as all hell; I honestly thought that everything after the pick scene and the opening movie was all part of her route, because she's incredibly central to everything from there to the route split and I think she and Shouichi have the most chemistry. And since she's so focused, the plot zooms in on the band, which is the most interesting part of the story. Even the way it ends feels very True Route. Another part of it is that Kanade's route is just kind of bad. Kanade's lack of confidence wears out its welcome by the time her route starts, it drops a lot of the band plot hooks from the common route (and most of the band plot, period), and some of the route events get really, really contrived. Not the fun kind of contrived, either. It's really weird to have such wildly divergent route quality. Hopefully the others are closer to Riho's.
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Dec 23, 2013 03:11
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The other two routes aren't bad per se, but they're really short. Even in comparison to Kanade's.
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Dec 23, 2013 06:45
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Just about to get into Song of Saya, should be, an interesting experience.
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Dec 23, 2013 07:07
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Austrian mook posted:Just about to get into Song of Saya, should be, an interesting experience. I'm not trying to be the bearer of bad news or anything, but please please please let us know how certain events make you feel. ...   
Soho Joe fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Dec 23, 2013 |
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Dec 23, 2013 08:30
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Soho Joe posted:I'm not trying to be the bearer of bad news or anything, but please please please tell us know how certain events make you feel. I don't know if I should be expecting something horrible, or hilarious, or what the gently caress but I'm excited.
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Dec 23, 2013 08:44
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So, I did a blind first playthrough of 999 and got the "Safe" ending. Should I bother getting the bad ends or just go for the true ending? I don't know any details about any of them, but I did look at a chart to determine what ending I ended up with.
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Dec 23, 2013 20:29
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Chaotic Flame posted:So, I did a blind first playthrough of 999 and got the "Safe" ending. The Axe ending is worth getting just for the ending CG, Sub ending gives a bit of character background that you can't get in the Safe or True routes, Knife ending is fairly useless. Try to hit every room at least once.
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Dec 23, 2013 20:37
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Get the Sub ending by going through the door you're not supposed to. (Remember the dialogues at the doors and you should get what I mean. If you don't, it's in the second set of doors.) That and the actual Sub ending add a fair bit to the True ending, if only as background.
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Dec 23, 2013 21:30
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I started 999. I got through the first three puzzle rooms. I can't help but be bothered by some things: -Nobody checked the ninth person's corpse. I even went to the 5 door hoping Junpei would check it, but no. It was mentioned half of his face was blown off and the other half was obscured by gore, and nobody actually witnessed his death. I call corpse switch shenanigans Umineko style. Or the bracelet is useful even after death, Seven knows it, and that's why he left the door to the room open. -Nobody seemed to check the corpse room for Snake, (1st class suite room view doesn't seem to show the area as a part of it) which is a pretty big oversight considering you could probably get everyone through the doors with just him -It's unclear if the status of the room changes back to vacated when everyone leaves it after clearing. If it does, you could fit 5, 6, 7 and 8 through the 8 door and then 1 3 and 4 afterwards. -Assuming the 9 door still requires bracelets to be used, unless I've missed something all the available options with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 include 5. If something happens to Junpei, everyone's boned. If we're going to be leaving people behind in the name of reason let's at least try to not have the escape hinging on the continued existence of a single person. On the other hand, I've only played this for around two hours and am massively overthinking. Sedating yourself is still a stupid thing to do in that situation. Everything and everyone is suspicious. Ottumon fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Dec 24, 2013 |
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Dec 24, 2013 03:02
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Ottumon posted:I started 999. I got through the first three puzzle rooms. I can't help but be bothered by some things:
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Dec 24, 2013 03:50
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Irony Be My Shield posted:Umineko episode 4 spoiler Well, it's a tangent either way. Yes, suspect everything in 999! Just about everything you listed Ottumon will be addressed, obviously.
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Dec 24, 2013 04:18
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Nate RFB posted:Weeeeeeeeell, technically, in the most literal sense, yes. (Umineko EP5) (Unrefuted Blue)"It may be true that all corpses, no matter whose, would not lead to a mistaken autopsy, ......but it has never been said that there was a rule against something other than a corpse being called a corpse." . I guess the red leaves open the possibility of using a dummy or something but I'm pretty sure that never happens.
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Dec 24, 2013 04:46
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Played some more Higurashi today. The waitress has her own sprite, so she'll undoubtedly be an important character. I guess she'll be the murder victim this time?...She's actually Mion! What a twist! I think Mion actually does have a twin sister named Shion, though. Twins are a convenient plot device for murder mysteries, after all. I'm interested in finding out more about Mion's family circumstances; based on a previous TIP, among other things, I suspect her family is heavily involved with the "Oyashiro" conspiracy. Keiichi's teacher bears an interesting resemblance to a certain Nasuverse character...
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Dec 24, 2013 05:39
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Silver2195 posted:Keiichi's teacher bears an interesting resemblance to a certain Nasuverse character...  Curry jokes and everything! Ryukishi asked for permission for her use; a little camaraderie between fellow doujin groups I suppose.
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Dec 24, 2013 05:54
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Some more 999 thoughts/silly theories, after entering the 1 door and doing the first puzzle: Snake is very suspicious because of his prosthetic arm. I didn't pay attention when he opened the first door but his bracelet is probably in the left arm like everyone else's, and unless we're in some Deus Ex future there shouldn't be a pulse. Therefore, he's not in any danger bombs or not, and can also ostensibly remove the prosthesis. I'm guessing the ninth person's body (or what passed for his body) was clothed in Snake's clothing and made to pass for his corpse. Both bodies conveniently have half their heads blown off too. Speaking of which, I'm highly doubting that a bomb in the intestines could damage your head. Something wrong with the corpses, I'm sure. Considering Snake has only a single arm, he would need an accomplice to carry the corpse around. He broke the 9 bracelet's screen and left it there, because he has some use for the 2 bracelet. If he didn't, he could've just left the 2 bracelet on the ground and picked it up later. There was also what looked like the letters L and R painted in blood on the wall next to Snake's supposed corpse, but I have no idea what they're supposed to be. Maybe they were just awfully conveniently placed splatters. Everyone is still suspicious. The existence of the 0 bracelet allows doors to be opened with just one accomplice in the group. For example, Snake could've hidden in one of the rooms Ace was supposed to search and waited until Ace "volunteered" to stay behind, not really taking the shot or having substituted it for saline or something. Again, unless I've missed something, there's no way to split up the groups two ways so each one has a door and a group goes to door 3. Snake and Ace, with the 0 bracelet are free to go grab the body, take it through door 3, do their thing and feign innocence (I didn't actually check the map, but I'm assuming door 3 loops back into the hospital room). Of course, if a single person can't use multiple bracelets at once, the captain would be alive and cooperating during all this. Snake would just pop out his arm and switch to the 9 bracelet, go through the 1 door with Ace and the captain, then kill the captain and finish faking his corpse with the 9 bracelet. Motive? What motive? No one's demonstrated any agenda so far, I've got nothing. (This is the part where the next time I play every one of my theories gets thrown out of the window by a revelation like "nope, rooms don't return back to vacated after everyone leaves alive")
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Dec 25, 2013 03:17
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I'm looking for some good mystery visual novels. Preferably the detective or whodunnit type. I have a 3DS and I live in Japan so I can probably get a hold of anything.
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Dec 25, 2013 16:12
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Higurashi and Umineko would be the big ones. Umineko is a little more explicitly "murder mystery with a detective" but Higurashi still has a very compelling mystery of its own. Great casts, great music, great games. G-senjou no Maou is more of a "detective thriller" or "cat and mouse game" in the vein of Death Note or something similar, but it might work I suppose. Dangan Ronpa has plenty of detective work and murder mystery solvin' even if much of it is wrapped up in stupid. A lot of style over substance but it can be fun as long as you avoid the fandom. Going the DS/3DS route, you have the entire Ace Attorney series. Obviously more centered on being silly or comedic but it's a very fun series. Start with the first game. Finally, while not exactly a murder mystery you might as well also go the 999 and Virtue's Last Reward route because as far as mystery stories go they are outstanding.
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Dec 25, 2013 17:09
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If your Japanese is up to it this is one question that might be better answered on Japanese fan sites. The murder mystery VN genre is immense in Japan, especially on mobiles and DS, but those of us outside the country only really get visibility on a handful that are especially quirky or that have higher than average production values. That said, other standard recommendations would be: Kara no Shoujo, which I haven't played yet but see recommended regularly. I believe it's (very loosely) a Chandler-style P.I. murder mystery? The Infinity series all have non-murder mysteries, but these days it's hard to recommend them over the 999 games unless you really hate gameplay. If you're desperate - and you've played all the other suggestions already - there's Again and the Jake Hunter games, but they're both more "crime drama" than mystery, and they're both average at best. (After the interesting but fatally flawed Lux-Pain, I had high hopes for Another Time Another Leaf - Kagami no naka no Tantei, but I've never seen a review. Has anyone played it?)
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Dec 25, 2013 18:02
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Is there any Choose Your Own Adventure: Cyberpunk VN? I'm interested in the medium because it's mostly story and there's a good chance they could do some really crazy in depth things with giving you choices, and I haven't played a good cyberpunk game since the Sega Genesis.
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Dec 25, 2013 18:52
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There isn't really a lot in that genre, but you could try Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer: http://vndb.org/v183
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Dec 25, 2013 19:32
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Kikokugai is really cool but also completely linear with no choices at all, it might not be what you're looking for.
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Dec 25, 2013 20:17
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Nate RFB posted:Going the DS/3DS route, you have the entire Ace Attorney series. Obviously more centered on being silly or comedic but it's a very fun series. Start with the first game.
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Dec 25, 2013 22:01
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As an old-school suggestion, try the English localized version of Eve Burst Error, which I believe is now available on digital download shops on MangaGamer in the All-Ages section. It's very old (the English release was in 2000) so there's a lot of quality of life improvements that people who only played modern VNs will miss (and the annoyance of "time to click on everything on this screen until the plot progresses somehow), but it's considered a classic semi "film noir"-ish type of murder mystery with a gimmick of 2 playable characters which you have to both progress to see the "full plot." Anyone who can play Snatcher or Policenauts (which are also technically kind of mystery stories, I guess) should probably be able to live with it though.
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Dec 26, 2013 01:37
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About to start playing Virtue's Last Reward either today or tomorrow, any route order you guys recommend? I know I have to get all the endings in order to unlock the true route.
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Dec 26, 2013 23:32
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It doesn't really matter other than I think left to right being considered a bigger mindfuck than the opposite.
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Dec 26, 2013 23:46
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As far as I'm concerned, looking at the in-game flowchart and trying to second-guess the best order to follow the paths was half the fun. The game doesn't let you get it too horribly wrong. (e: Oh, and if the game tells you something's really important and you need to remember it? That means it's really important and you need to remember it.) NRVNQSR fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Dec 27, 2013 |
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Dec 27, 2013 00:47
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I think it's funnest if you just pick your own path. The flowchart lets you warp back to any point so it's not like you'll waste loads of time by picking sub-optimal routes.
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Dec 27, 2013 02:01
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You can do everything in pretty much any order. I would recommend (if you want to be UTTERLY 100% BLIND don't click): Don't do the farthest right path on the flowchart first (cyan door->betray->red door) as it gives just a tad too much away if you're just starting out. Other than that, just do whatever. Enough gets mixed around in the various paths that you should get a satisfying experience no matter what you choose.
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Dec 27, 2013 07:12
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