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HardDiskD posted:Shouldn't this be the "Saki thinking" gif? Fixed it, thanks. HardDiskD posted:Wow Saki went straight to hand holding! I thought this was a wholesome game PK I'm so sorry. I made an error in judgement. You’re right, I should have had TCG covering up that salacious scene. Hand holding is way too hot and heavy for our innocent readers.
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May 17, 2020 02:43
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Saki "what's a phone" Inafune, niece of Keiji "how do I kickstarter" Inafune.
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May 17, 2020 15:00
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Psycho Knight posted:
is this a typo or a [sic]?
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May 17, 2020 23:33
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How much does our protagonist even know about the sort of devices and games her uncle is making a theme park about if she can't work her cell phone?
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May 17, 2020 23:38
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Saki: Wow, the stars are pretty-- Ryusei: We Wear The Mask That Grins And Lies
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May 18, 2020 01:00
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Blaze Dragon posted:Keiji "how do I kickstarter" Inafune. Oh no, he was very good at the Kickstarter part. It's every moment from pledges closing to the game's release that was abysmal.
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May 18, 2020 02:16
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mateo360 posted:is this a typo or a [sic]? I honestly don't even know. It could be either with this game. I'll fix it so that I don’t forget about it, but when I get the chance I'll go back and check my recording to make sure. Either way, thanks for catching that. Astrofig posted:Saki: Wow, the stars are pretty-- "Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets."  Ladies love the broody guys, apparently. For real though, this is about what I expected from Ryusei. This is about as close as he can get in a T-rated game to ranting about the prostitution and drugs and abuse and all the other illegal poo poo that goes down behind the facade of the city that he would no doubt have encountered as an escort (even if he is the Host Club kind and not the full-prostitution kind). If this was an M-rated title then Ryusei would likely say he operated out of somewhere like Kabukicho rather than Ginza. Jadecore posted:How much does our protagonist even know about the sort of devices and games her uncle is making a theme park about if she can't work her cell phone? Right? She doesn’t seem to know anything about the games the park is based on either. Not everyone follows gaming, but it seems weird that Saki is so technologically inept when she has a famous game developer as an uncle that she seems to be very close to. She doesn’t seem to be gamer, she hasn't said anything about sports or hobbies so far, and she barely knows how to operate a cell phone. What the hell does she do every day? Blaze Dragon posted:Saki "what's a phone" Inafune, niece of Keiji "how do I kickstarter" Inafune. Oblivion4568238 posted:Oh no, he was very good at the Kickstarter part. It's every moment from pledges closing to the game's release that was abysmal. This. He wrung close $4 million out of about 70k people. That’s about $65 a person. Essentially, he got 70,000 people to buy a $60 game before the ink was dry on the concept art using nothing but lofty promises and buzzwords like "Classic Japanese", "all-star team", "evolved", and "veteran." The only way you could get more "peak Kickstarter" than that is if you up and disappeared with all the money before people caught on that the entire project was in flames and started looking for refunds. It's more like a case of: "Saki 'what's a phone' Inafune, niece of Keiji 'how do I run a company' Inafune."
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May 18, 2020 17:17
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Note: This update is in two parts because I didn't quite have enough room to reach a good stopping point. I'll figure out something later when it comes to archive prepping. Maybe I'll staple the first part of this update on to the end of the last one. Update VI: Saki’s got the need for speed  Time to get back on track.  Saki and the gang were headed to the races last time. I wonder if it’s possible for them to blow six and a half hours on a death game that specifically revolves around going fast? I guess we’ll find out.  We were part-way there when Shirabe began to speak. So, where’s he sending us off to next? Hm… I think he said Alice… Alice something… Wait, why are you asking me?! Alice Kart Grand Prix…? Right! That’s—… Uh, I mean, what’s that? Never heard of it.Ryusei, it’s  (…Does he really think we don’t notice?) We all did the polite thing and ignored Mitarashi’s bizarre outburst.Honestly, you guys should be encouraging him to come clean about his gaming. These death games are all centered around the video games that the attractions are based on. Not being a gamer is a liability here. I mean, let’s be real here. Towa, Subaru, and Kimimaro have been dead weight so far. Kouta and Ayumu put in most of the legwork during that first game.  That figures. Why does Japan have this weird fascination with Alice in Wonderland? Cardcaptor Sakura had an episode revolving around it, One Piece did it, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Alice in the SMT series, Super Mario Bros. has allusions to it in just about everything it does, Kingdom Hearts… well… okay, I’ll let that one slide since it’s a game in partnership with Disney.  But then there’s also Heart no Kuni no Alice, which is an Otome-fied version of Alice in Wonderland with sexy Cheshire cat and White Rabbit. Probably for the best that I didn’t choose that one over Sweet Fuse. Those games get a little hosed up as the series progresses. Point is, why you gotta be latching on to Alice in Wonderland, Japan? You can mess with the other people on the track, so it gets played a lot at parties. It’s actually gotten to be kind of a hit with casuals.Got it. It’s literally every Kart racer in existence, except for really early stuff like Hang On! and Power Drift. He was right… even I knew people who were into Alice Kart. Mitarashi’s eyes had shone with excitement at every word Meoshi had said.  Do you really think it’s gonna be a normal kart race, though? I mean, yesterday we… um…It’ll be fine. Worst cast scenario, they make the Red Shell a literal heat-seeking missile. His face grew pale, and he trailed off, but at least it didn’t look like Wakasa was going to refuse to enter the attraction again. (I’m scared too, but I’ve gotta do my best! Especially now that Shidou’s gotten Hogstein to agree to release the hostages!)And your basis for believing he’ll keep his word is… what exactly?   Now, each one of you will compete in this race. The prize? A seat at a tea party!Lame! Give out trophies! Those seats are first come, first served, so only the pair that wins gets to go! Oink oink oink! My condolences to the losers. Now then, please, follow my piglet insiiiiiiiiiide! Guiiiiide! Take them in! With that, he was gone. Tea party…? I guess we won’t be getting off easy with just a race, then. Yes. I’m sure there will be more surprises later, too. Don’t let your guard down. What happened to that giant racetrack we saw outside? Why are we in the kiddy pool of kart racing? After a short walk, the attraction opened up onto the racetrack. Meoshi hadn’t been kidding when he’d said it was Alice in Wonderland-themed… There were decorations everywhere. It was pretty impressive. None of this stuff feels like it really goes with a race track… Yeah, it is a little weird, isn’t it? That’s what people liked about it. The disconnect made it really popular. No accounting for taste, I guess. Before we could continue, the announcer started up. Two? Hey, dumbass? You do realize that you recruited seven people for this game of Saw, right?  I’m guessing the karts are… those. Looks pretty standard. There are eight, but four already seem to have piglets in them. drat, now this looks like fun! Those guys are our opponents, then? Sweet. Time to kick some rear end! He seemed pretty excited to get started, and kept reminding us how good he was at kart racing. It sounds pretty normal, but… Why do I have a feeling it won’t be?Because it won’t? This is a death game, Saki. Of course it’s not going to be as simple as just taking a Sunday drive in a go-kart. Well, after yesterday I’d say that’s a pretty reasonable expectation. Yeah… All right, we should split into groups. Unfortunately, we’ve got an odd number of people, so someone’s going to be driving solo.Oh! Oh! Dibs on solo! You ever try coordinating with someone during Double Dash? It’s a disaster.  drat right. No, if you win then you’ll be the only person who can play in the tea party. I’ve got a feeling the puzzle is at that party. We need to have two people there. We all agreed that Shidou was right, so someone would have to pair up with Mitarashi.I guess he has a point. So… who’s going to go by themselves, then? (I’m really pretty terrible at kart racing… Maybe I should be the single driver.)Just what are you good at Saki? Jesus. Can’t work a cell phone, barely knows anything about games, can’t drive a kart. (But what if I screw that up and get in somebody’s way…?) I was still pondering it when Urabe spoke up. Let me be the odd man out. I get carsick very easily, and I’m not very good with fast rides to begin with. I’ve no doubt I would only be a burden to any partner, so I think it best that I have a kart to myself. Now for the groups. I suppose the best way to decide that is rock, paper, scissors. We nodded, and held out our hands. If you get the same thing, you pair up. Good? Yeah. Got it. Cool. Ready? One… two… Okay, so this would normally be a great time to poll the thread and see what they wanted to do. Ryusei is not a possible outcome for this, so I can’t have Saki stick to the thread-chosen hunk of man meat. But this update only just started, so I can’t really post it this early on. In the end, I let RNG decide. It replied with “Let’s rock!” Oh! So you and I will be pairing up, then. Meoshi will go with Shirabe, and Wakasa will go with Mitarashi.If you’re curious, Scissors pairs us up with Kouta and Paper pairs us with Ayumu.  Good luck, everyone. Do your best. Right! I will! (Although in my case that probably means I’ll be doing my best not to get in the way…) I climbed into my kart. God, it’s an even worse setup than I thought. (Wait… Urabe won’t be able to drive by himself!) I looked over at him. You needn’t worry. Apparently this kart has been made so it can be driven by a single person. Oh, good! He gave me a small smile, and I fell back into my seat, relieved. (So I’ve got the gas pedal and… What are these?) There were several buttons set across the dashboard. (But none of them are lit up…) I was still thinking about what they could be when Shidou spoke up. Hit the gas when I give you the signal. Follow my orders, and we’ll make it through this just fine. Right! Got it! I set my foot carefully on the gas pedal, but didn’t press down. Shidou started up the engine.Technically don’t need a comma there, but whatever. Let’s focus on putting pedal to metal!  (He seems like a good guy. I think I can trust him.) The engines on the other karts around us started up, the noise filling the air. A piglet holding a flag appeared at the edge of the track. It looked like he’d be giving the signal to go. The moment the light turns green, you floor it, all right? We’ve got a straightaway out of the gate, so keep it down. Just wait for my signal. R-Right! I got myself ready. Almost time… Three… two… one! Go! Hit it! Here we go!  Guh…! That initial burst of speed paid off, and with some skillful handling of the wheel, Shidou closed in on the group in front of us. We’re doing good… Hey, Inafune! Y-Yes?! We’re about to hit the corner. I need you to let off on the gas— bring your foot up about halfway. If we keep this speed up, we won’t make the turn.She doesn’t need to know the physics behind it, man. Just tell her what to do and leave it at that. There’ll be time for science lessons once this is over. Right! Halfway… I did as he said, and felt the kart begin to slow as we turned the corner. As we did, we managed to pass a piglet kart that had been just ahead of us. Suck it! Have fun watching from the stands as we’re stepping up to the podium! Got it! We glided around the corner, and as soon as we were out of it I stepped down on the pedal and our kart shot forward. (Giving me directions doesn’t seem to be distracting him at all— his grip on the wheel is sure, and every movement he makes is precise and calculated.) He was so confident that I didn’t feel scared at all, even though we were going really fast. I was a little surprised. Wow, you’re really good at this! He was right: We completed our first lap in the lead. Good work! We keep this up and we’ll win! I was already thinking about what kind of tea I’d have when suddenly—*The screen shakes* Aaaaahh! Gah! Wh-What?! Something slammed into our kart from behind, and I turned to see a pair of piglets shoot past.Those bastards! What the heck?! They were waving at us! Urgh…! What was that?! It wasn’t just a tap— we were hit! It felt like something ran into us… There was no time to think, though. While I was busy focusing on working the gas pedal… Mitarashi and Wakasa flew past us. As they did, their kart ran over one of the questions [sic] marks on the course, and— What was that sound? It looks like there’s more to those question marks than meets the eye. Yeah— oh, look! There’s another one! All right… With an expert twist, Shidou sent out kart gliding over one of the question marks. Oh, look! One of the lights here on the dashboard lit up! Specifically, the light next to the button marked “Boost” had turned on.Hit it! Let’s ram those fuckers!  I was just focusing on speed, so I didn’t notice the question marks. (So they are buttons for items, just like I guessed!)…You guessed that? Meoshi had said earlier that Alice Kart was a game that allowed you to mess with the other drivers on the track. Before I could try and remember more, I realized we were almost finished with our second lap. Let’s try using this button! I was just thinking the same thing. A boost should… well, do exactly what it says. I shoved my finger down on the button. Whoa! Guh! Don’t get thrown off! With a sound like an explosion, our kart shot forward at a tremendous speed. I dug my fingers into the sides of my seat and gritted my teeth. The boost ran out just as we reached the end of the straightaway, and as it did the light next to the button turned off. Good, that let us close some of the distance. He told me to step on the gas again, and I did. They’re all lit up! He nodded, but didn’t look over. Listen, Inafune. I don’t want to use anything other than the boost.What?! What?! But… why? The other items are dangerous. We can’t take the risk of hurting our fellow players.We’re not talking about attacking the others! We’re talking about attacking the piglets! Are you here to win or are you here to get a “Good sportsmanship” award?  Screw you, Shidou. We’re here to kick rear end, not eat dust. Are you sure? We could lose! That missile had really set us back. If we didn’t do something, we might lose. Wasn’t that worth at least some risk? That doesn’t matter. I’m not putting other people in danger for the sake of my pride. Uuuuuggggghhhhh… We should have gone with Meoshi. Thanks a lot, RNG. Guh… But we don’t have time to argue right now. If we don’t work together, we won’t even have a chance at winning. Right. We focused to going outside inside outside, and slowly moved up in position. Before long we were behind the lead karts. Come on, Subaru. Just let us hit the piglets. It’s only fair. They hit us first after all. Look! They’re trying to cut him off! Oh no… He was right: If Mitarashi didn’t do something, the piglets were going to run into him.You know who has the power to stop that from happening? Us. Missile those assholes! All right, here we go! I could see the finish line coming up. Hit the boost!You suck.  Right! I slammed my fist into the button, and the kart leapt forward again. We have you now! But just as we caught up to the piglets’ kart— Wha—?! Suddenly the piglet kart spun out of control in front of us, flying off the course.At least someone in this group is using the tools available to them in order to win. Did he use the oil?! drat—! With no time to react, our kart shot forward onto the same oil slick. I could feel the wheels begin to slide, and our course was taking us straight toward the crashed kart. We’re going to hit them!Turn into the skid! Saki, stay off the brake! Come on, it’s easy if you just stay calm. Let go of the gas! O-Okay! I pulled my foot back like it had been sitting on a hot coal. Hnnngh! Good man. I still take issue with your stubborn adherence to pacifism in It was closer than I would have liked. No seatbelts in these things? Come on, Hogstein. I know this is a death game, but that’s no excuse for ignoring common sense. That was scary… Yes. If we’d hit them at that speed it would have been… bad. Oh, are you all right? Yeah… I think so… I let my eyes drift closed for just a moment in relief, and when I opened them, Shidou’s face was right in front of mine. Ah—! Shidou was looking at me very intently. O-Oh, um… He frowned, and touched a hand to my forehead. (Well, yeah, I was kind of scared, but I think I’m turning red because of you…)All right, take it easy Saki. I know this is basically considered first base for you, but there are other matters to attend to right now. Matters such as the race results. The sudden blaring of the announcer’s voice pulled my attention away from Shidou and his warm hand.[Announcer]: Victory! It looked like Mitarashi and Wakasa had won.Oh, right! Yeah, who else remembers that Wakasa was also driving with Mitarashi? He was barely mentioned throughout that entire race, which I think is hilarious. Even the game is going “Wait, Wakasa was there too?” (Well, it’s good that they won, but we could have gotten hurt by that oil…)Yeah, you could have. You know what else could have happened? Mitarashi not using the oil slick and getting bumped off by the piglet kart, which probably would have resulted in them winning and all of you dying. (Man, I guess Shidou was right to be careful.) I let out a long, tired sigh. We opened the door to the next area in silence. I got the feeling that everyone else was questioning Mitarashi’s actions during the race, although Mitarashi himself was in high spirits. (But we had to win… Maybe that meant something like this had to happen.) If the piglets had won, we would have failed that game, and everything would have been over. Nobody could bring themselves to judge Mitarashi too harshly. (And it’s not like he tried to hurt any of us on purpose…) Beyond the door was a small forest. A blue sky spread out above us. The whole place felt… nice.Nice is not the word I would use. “Creepy” would be the word I would use. Maybe “unsettling.” It was all fake, of course: The sky was a painting on a domed ceiling, and the forest was plastic and metal. In the center of the clearing was a single house. (The chimneys look like… rabbit ears.) I was actually a little disappointed. It would have been pretty cute if it wasn’t part of this awful game.I disagree. [Announcer]: Wonderland Circuit, completed. The announcer’s voice rang through the clearing. All right! Mitarashi’s triumphant roar echoed across the dome. Apparently, Shidou had finally had enough.Oh, poo poo. It’s going down this time, isn’t it?   You. Let’s talk. Huh? Don’t you “huh” me. What you did back there was really dangerous. I sure hope you’ve got a good explanation. Ugh… What the hell, man? Why’re you giving this white knight noise? …Look, I didn’t have a choice, okay? If I hadn’t done something, we would’ve lost, and then we would have all been screwed.I’m on Team Mitarashi in this instance, by the way. You’re not going to survive these death traps by always playing safe. Sometimes, and I stress “sometimes”, you need to take risks. This was one of those times. The chance of accidentally killing one of the others was low enough that I think it was a good call when weighed against the alternative. And that was enough of a reason to put the rest of us in danger? Uh, yeah. What, you need me to spell it out for you? And I got a name, you know. “You” me again and we’re gonna have to throw down. Shidou grabbed Mitarashi by the collar and pulled him down to face him. The other man just stared back, unintimidated. *Mitarashi’s portrait kind of slides into Shidou’s momentarily, indicating an attack* I’d barely thought the words when Mitarashi’s fist slammed into Shidou’s face.And it’s on!  I’m getting real sick of your holier-than-thou attitude, bro! Let it go! …Ugh! Shidou stumbled back, then threw himself forward, driving a fist into Mitarashi’s stomach. Hnnf! Ah! They started trading blows, one after another, but they appeared to be evenly matched. We all just watched, shocked. No one seemed to want to step in. (What should I do?)  Please, calm down! Is fighting among ourselves not exactly what Count Hogstein would want? But his words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Oh dear… He sighed. (Urabe doesn’t look so good… He did say he doesn’t do well on fast things, but I didn’t think it’d be this bad.)He’s just carsick. Don’t worry about it. His face was pale, and the longer he stood, the more he began to waver back and forth. Someone needed to stop the fight, but I was getting more worried about Urabe with every passing minute. Ehh… Personally, I say let the two of them have at it until they collapse. They’re evenly matched, so I see no need to intervene. Buuut checking on Urabe is clearly an affection point towards him, so I guess we’ll make a token effort to diffuse the situation. (Ugh… I don’t want to, but if no one else is going to do anything…) Knock it off, you guys! It didn’t seem like they’d even heard me.Oh well, we tried. Dang… That didn’t do anything… He sighed and shook his head. It looked like there was nothing we could say to get through to them. Now, I think it’s past time the two of you stopped this nonsense. Somehow, Urabe managed to calm them down, and the fight ended. … …Rrgh… (Well, the fight might be over, but we’re still a long, long way from anything you might call teamwork.) We’d come together the day before, and I’d almost been optimistic, but today it seemed like everything was falling apart. I like this screenshot because it makes it look like Hogstein has little bunny ears. The pig’s voice hit me like a bucket of ice water. Everyone but the winning pair should head into that house over there. A tea party, huh? I can’t wait. Shirabe was the first to start toward the house, and the rest of us followed. A table had been set for a tea party, with stacks of fake dishes and tea cups spread across it. In the chairs were statues of a rabbit, a mouse, and a man with a hat. Mitarashi and Wakasa stopped at the table. The rest of us headed toward the house. As we passed the table, Shirabe tapped his forehead and began to speak. In attendance there are the March Hare himself, the Dormouse, and the Mad Hatter. The Hatter has incurred the wrath of the Queen of Hearts. Consequently, his watch has stopped at six o’clock. For him, it’s always time for tea.Good stuff.  …Not so good stuff. This is a very… peculiar house. As I looked around the room we found ourselves in, I had to agree. Outside it had looked quaint, inviting, and downright whimsical, but inside it was covered in metal plating with no decorations of any sort. There’s no way that ceiling’s up to code. Gah! I looked up to see that the entire ceiling was a metal plate covered in giant spikes. I think we can see out through those windows. He was right. Outside we could see the tea party. On the wall opposite from the door was a giant television screen. No, really? You think? As Meoshi spoke, a loud “clank” filled the house. Well, now the door’s locked. …It won’t open! It was looking like Meoshi’s bad feelings had been justified. (What’s going to happen now…?) We were trying to see what was going on outside when the announcer began to speak again. What?! As I spoke, I heard a metallic groan from the ceiling. It appears the spikes have begun to move! He swallowed, and wiped sweat off his forehead. Then… if we don’t do anything we’re gonna get skewered? Seems like that’s about the size of it. [Announcer]: But only if you can command the mad host to do so! (Wait, is this for the people outside…?) I looked around, and everyone nodded. We’d all thought the same thing. Everything was going to depend on Mitarashi and Wakasa.We’re boned. [Announcer]: And I’d hurry if I were you. If you don’t get them to the party soon, your friends are going to die! Although we couldn’t hear them through the window, we saw Mitarashi and Wakasa suddenly look up, surprised. Ugh… So our lives are in their hands. His voice was grim. If I’d just gotten in a fight with someone, I’d be uneasy about them saving my life too.Honestly, that’s not the part that would concern me. What concerns me is whether or not Wakasa and Mitarashi have the shared brainpower necessary to figure this puzzle out. Those two specifically are the “worst case scenario” when it comes to solving puzzles logically. Nothing we can do, though. We’re stuck in here. (Urgh… Watching people try to save your life when you’re helpless sucks.) I gave them everything I could think of on the way in here. I just hope it helps… Shirabe rubbed his forehead. I’d thought his sudden monologue earlier had been strange, but now I saw what he’d been trying to do. We all crowded around the two windows to look outside as Mitarashi and Wakasa came running over toward the house. Hey! Are you guys okay? Are you locked in? His voice came through over the speaker, just like the announcer’s had. I doubt either of these choices will make a difference considering they can’t seem to hear us. Just hurry up and solve it! I yelled as loud as I could, and tried not to think of the ceiling full of spikes moving slowly closer, but he didn’t seem to hear me. I gave up, and jabbed my finger at the ceiling.What is with this game and throwing random commas before “and”? Not going to say I’ve never done it, but this game does it seemingly all the time. What?! At Wakasa’s shout, Mitarashi left the door and ran over to the window. I don’t think they can hear us. The pig has made sure we’re just an audience. Shidou frowned, and made a shooing motion at the two men outside the window. (I guess he’s telling them to go back and solve the puzzle?) They didn’t seem to get it though. Mitarashi looked puzzled, and Wakasa just kept nodding.Oh sweet Jesus…   Damnit! I can’t get through to them. If only I’d studied the gestures the piglets make more closely…Dude, we all know that even if you did study those gestures, Wakasa and Mitarashi would not be the ones to understand what the gently caress you were doing with them. Could somebody bust out their phone and just type a quick message by notepad or something? Even if the signals are jammed, you could still hold up the screen to the window. He grimaced and punched a nearby wall. drat… Guess we don’t have a choice. They turned and stomped back to the table as we all watched nervously. Even though they were a ways away, we could still hear them talking quite clearly. Yeah. So… which one of these guys is the “mad host”…? Hm… There were three statues sitting in the chairs around the table: A hare, a mouse, and a man in a hat. (The man in the hat was the “Mad Hatter,” but…) Suddenly Shirabe groaned and smacked his forehead. Damnit! Is something wrong? That was more or less what he’d said before. I didn’t see the problem.Give it a moment. Is there something wrong with that? Well, in the book it’s the first time the “Mad Hatter” shows up… So a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that he’s the host.There it is. Huh? He’s not…? I would have thought so too… But the party is at the March Hare’s house. If it’s his house, he’s the host. …I hope they will be all right. I wonder if they will realize the true nature of the question… Damnit! If only we could talk to them somehow… Shidou had begun to pace back and forth restlessly. (This is awful… All we can do is watch!) We could try and communicate with gestures, but if they misinterpret what we’re saying, that’d be… bad. Shirabe frowned and scratched his beard. These guys are the March Hare, the Dormouse, and the Mad Hatter. Yeah, and this is the “Mad Tea Party” or something. (They’re going to decide this [sic] host is the Mad Hatter, aren’t they? This is bad…) I let out a sigh and pressed my face to the window. So how does the March Hare qualify as “mad”? Yeah… Interesting. Also entirely worthless right now. Supposedly the hares act… weird during mating season, which is where the phrase comes from. But in any event, the “Mad Tea Party” is called what it is because everyone there is mad. I see. Then the question is, will they… Shirabe mumbled to himself, almost like a prayer. Ha! This one’s a piece of cake. The host’s gotta be this guy. …! He was pointing, of course, at the Mad Hatter. Guh… That idiot… We all let out a collective sigh. You know what’s bugging me? That house. Why the hell did they give it rabbit ears? Rabbit…! Of course! That’s it! Whoa, drat, turn it down, kid. What is it? March Hare… oh! Oh, yeah, I guess that explains the ears, huh? Yeah. So that means the “mad host” is actually… Not the hat guy, but… the hare? He pointed at the statue of the March Hare, and we all sighed again, but this time with relief. Gah! Damnit Wakasa, you had it right! Don’t go messing it up now! Arg… This is driving me insane! I’m really starting to wish we had a different team out there right now…I was wishing that from the start. Inside of the house, the atmosphere was filled with anxiety and despair, and with every passing minute the ceiling full of spikes got a little closer. You’re right. We don’t want to second-guess ourselves too much. So… next we need to figure out how to “command” the host… No idea. Let’s go look at our host. They proceeded to examine the hare statue more closely. So what are we supposed to do to “command” him? That part seems really weird. Looks like he’s holding a card and… a pistol? As soon as Mitarashi spoke, the screen inside the house suddenly flickered to life. …What? We all turned around to face it. It sucks. Thrilling, right? Aggravating? Oink oink! …Why is he here? Probably just want [sic] to try and mess with our heads. It looks like your little friends managed to figure out who the “mad host” is, but I wonder… Will they be able to “command” him? Our faces went pale. It’s real…?! Oh no! What do we do?! There was nothing we really could do: There was no way to communicate with the others. I guess all we can do is pray those two knuckleheads don’t screw up.
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Feb 10, 2021 |
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May 22, 2020 19:30
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 What do you think about these? A six of spades, a king of clubs… Where did you find these? Inside the cups on the table. And the hare’s holding a card too, right? Yeah. Right now he’s holding the king of diamonds… You think there are any more cards around here? Dunno. Let’s look. After a few minutes of searching, they turned up several more cards. He printed out a custom playing card set?! Man, talk about attention to detail. They spread out all the cards they’d found on the table. …Hm… Do you think maybe we “command” the hare by doing something with a card that’s stronger than the one he’s got? Yeah! That’s gotta be— wait… He’s holding a king, though. If he had a six or a queen, sure, but how do you beat a king?Ace? Although I guess you don’t have one of those right now.  Urgh… Sure wish I’d worked a little harder at learning poker right about now… For the next few minutes they were silent, deep in thought. In order from greatest to least, the suits usually go: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs.That’s one of the ways to rank suits. Ranking is highly dependant on which game you’re playing. In this case I guess it doesn't matter very much if Kimimaro is right or wrong. I don’t think there are any games where a Diamond beats a Heart. I blinked. Whoa, you sure know a lot about cards. Ah, I see. So you based that order off of tarot card reading… which I'm fairly sure you got wrong by the way. As far as I know, minor arcana order is Wand (Club), Cup (Heart), Sword (Spade), Pentacle (Diamond). Not as though any of that will matter anyway. You’ll see in a second. Then… the only card that can beat the king of diamonds is the king of hearts… Right. If only we could tell them somehow… Almost as if he’d heard me, I saw Wakasa leave the table and come running toward us. The ceiling was down much farther now— just above our heads. There wasn’t much time left. I pulled my eyes away from it and back to Wakasa. (What should I do?)We get a choice here as to whether we should just tell Wakasa the answer or tell him to “do his best.” Option 2 requires us to have actual faith in Wakasa, which I most certainly do not. Sooo… I tried to make the shape of a heart with my hands, but— Bzzt! Too bad! Can’t let you just tell him the answer, can I? That wouldn’t be any fun at all. The shutter’s going to stay closed until he heads back!Figures he’d pull a dick move like that. Wha… That’s not fair! It stunk, but there wasn’t anything I could do. (Are we really just going to have to hope they get it right?) Wakasa ran off, back to the table.*The shutters reopen at this point* Hey, how’s it look? They’re okay, but we need to hurry. Figure anything out while I was gone? Yeah, I think I’ve figured out where the card goes. Right… here. The hare’s mouth? Do you know? Nope. Not a clue. Mitarashi grinned and picked up the king of clubs and the king of hearts. What’re you doing? Well, it’s gotta be one of these, so we’ve gotta make a bet. Are you a good gambler? I’ve played a little poker in my time. Let’s just leave it at that.So “No”, is what you’re saying. Great. He gave Wakasa a knowing wink. Wait… is that idiot just going to guess?! It’s looking that way. They both shook their heads, but it wasn’t like there was anything we could do. I thought about the king of hearts as hard as I could, willing him to pick it. You really think that’s okay…? We don’t have a choice. We don’t know the answer. Besides, we’ve got a fifty percent chance of getting it right… He stared down at the two cards for several long seconds before finally holding one of them up. This one. The king of hearts? Yeah. You gotta trust your heart, right?Flimsy reasoning, but sure. Not like it changes the odds. He grinned and tapped a thumb on his chest. A broken clock is still right twice a day… Yes! Shidou sighed. Get back, just in case. After Wakasa stepped away, Mitarashi carefully slid the card into the hare’s mouth. (I can’t really see what’s happening…) I’d scarcely thought those words when—*The screen flashed for a split-second and there’s a noise* Wha—! What?! Ah…! …! Was… that a gunshot? We all looked at each other, frightened. …  …That wasn’t my fault! You all saw! Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:55 on May 22, 2020 |
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May 22, 2020 19:31
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Hell yeah, Mitarashi got shot! That's another chance to get affection points with him by healing him, again! Metagaming aside, this game really likes having Mitarashi get hurt by weaponry, doesn't it?
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May 22, 2020 21:36
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Blaze Dragon posted:Hell yeah, Mitarashi got shot! That's another chance to get affection points with him by healing him, again! He really is taking a beating, isn’t he? He got a crossbow bolt in the shoulder roughly 18 hours ago, then he got into a punching match with Subaru, and now he's been shot. It definitely wasn’t through the heart like Hogstein said, because there’s no way the game kills him off without some kind player involved mistake, but even still, that’s a gunshot wound. And this is only day 2! Meanwhille, Kimi got a little carsick and Subaru probably has some bruises. I think that's the worst suffered by the other group members.
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May 22, 2020 22:01
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I'd forgotten how much this game likes to pick on Mitarashi. I do remember how much I internally screamed at the game during this part while everyone assumed the correct card had anything to do with actual card trump order.
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May 23, 2020 16:28
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kethryveris posted:I'd forgotten how much this game likes to pick on Mitarashi. I imagine people have caught on to what the problem is, but I won't mention it since the next update will be opening with an Explosive Insight that will talk about it. It does seem to establish a worrying trend of memory lapse in our group of mystery solvers though. Especially Ayumu and Subaru, who are supposed to have good critical thinking skills.
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May 23, 2020 16:49
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WOW. Okay. Now I'm morbidly curious what the actual answer was and how the hell you were supposed to figure it out. Also, you, uh, you sure this is Ryusei's path? Hard to romance a dead guy....
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May 26, 2020 00:29
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Recall that the attraction is set in Alice in Wonderland.
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May 26, 2020 03:10
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Update VII: Saki gets paranoid Last Update: RYUSEI GOT SHOT!  No! He… he had the right answer!Clearly he didn’t, Saki. Wakasa was shaking Mitarashi’s body. You bastard! He turned and yelled at the monitor. Oh, god. I didn’t even think about that. Literally our only hope right now is Towa. Urgh! The ceiling was getting really close. Urabe, the tallest of us, had to crouch down to avoid it.Now that I have a good look at this trap, those spikes on the ceiling really don’t look like they’d be very good at actually killing anyone. They are also fairly tall. Unless that ceiling is being pushed by a few hydraulic presses, then it looks like you could just lay down on the floor, position yourself between the spikes, and be totally fine (if a bit cramped). But he did have the right answer! It has to be the king of hearts! You really are a stick in the mud, aren’t you? How stubborn! You must have lived a pretty sad life. I mean, why do you think there are cards? Who can command the March Hare? My eyes widened. (Wait a minute… That means…)Come on, Saki. You can do it.  So, who’s figured out where everything went deathly wrong? Let’s take a moment to review Saki’s thoughts before I spell it out for everyone: (What did Hogstein mean when he said, “Why do you think there are cards? Who can command the March Hare?” Alice Kart uses Alice in Wonderland for the setting, so it’s not that strange there would be cards here. So who can control the March Hare? Apparently the king of hearts was wrong… That leaves us with the six of spades, the king of clubs, the queen of spades… the queen of hearts, and the eight of diamonds. So it has to be one of those… But… which one?)Something worth mentioning at this point, if only because knowing about this feature early is better than not (we certainly don’t need it this time), is that you can get some additional thoughts from Saki by pressing Triangle on one of the bolded words.  Sometimes these little “Help” thoughts just assist you by helping to arrange or clarify the situation. For instance, the help thought for the “eight of diamonds” has Saki clarifying what card the Hare is holding. Others point out which cards our heroes actually have at their disposal or which options definitely don’t work (like the King of Hearts, which Ryusei just discovered the hard way).  And then there are help thoughts that just outright give you the answer. It’s a helpful feature if you’re stuck or simply not catching on to something. Granted, there’s basically no punishment for getting the wrong answer since you can just start the Explosive Insight segments over if you fail them. But hey, I understand that there is no sense of accomplishment in that and it pulls some people out of the immersion.  Anyway, just something that’s worth pointing out early. It’s something else that Sweet Fuse does that I don’t often see from other games of this type (although Professor Layton is another game that does something like this). That’s it! The most powerful person in the world of Alice in Wonderland is the Queen of Hearts! That’s the card they need to give to the hare!Once again, our heroes solve the puzzle by remembering information that they had already established but chose to forget about almost immediately after it was first relevant. Of course! Shirabe nodded. Hogstein cheered. You are correct! drat… So the card the hare was holding, and all the kings… they were just decoys, huh? He’s got a point. Of course, the fact that you got the wrong answer in the first place is still shameful. Especially for Ayumu, who has been talking about the Alice in Wonderland story since we first arrived at this tea party. How in god’s name do you recognize that the March Hare is the actual host of the Mad Tea Party (and not the Mad Hatter), yet completely blank on the QUEEN OF HEARTS in a puzzle where the question is “who outranks the King”? For those unfamiliar with Alice in Wonderland, there is a King of Hearts character. However, the Queen of Hearts is the one that’s implied to “wear the pants”, as it were. She’s got a short temper and orders people executed basically all the time for little or no reason. The King of Hearts tends to go behind his wife’s back to pardon most of the people she condemns to death (because if he didn’t then they’d quickly find themselves without any subjects left to rule over). Basically, the Queen is the dominant one in the marriage. The King is implied to be too meek or weak-kneed to actually stand up to the Queen of Hearts, which is why he goes behind her back. He let out a roar of laughter that shook the house. I looked over at the others, and noticed that Shidou was… grinning.Excuse me? …You got all that? Oink?! Huh? He was looking outside, but why…? (Who was he just talking to?) You crafty little bastards. What?! The pig wasn’t the only person who was surprised. Everyone was too stunned to speak as Mitarashi leapt up, grabbed the queen of hearts, and shoved it into the hare’s mouth.[Announcer]: Tea party, completed. In your face! We did it! They cheered and high-fived one another. Oh! The ceiling! Yeah, it stopped… It had gotten pretty close, but wasn’t moving anymore. We were safe. That’s good and all, but… what just happened?Good question. … drat… Sure is good to be out of there. Yeah, but I don’t understand what’s going on. I looked over at Shidou and Mitarashi. Are you all right? Well aren’t you two proud of yourselves? Nothing to report. I could still remember the fight they’d had— it hadn’t been that long ago— but now they were acting almost… friendly? All right, I think it’s time you boys told us what’s going on here. Our young lady keeps saying she doesn’t get it. Yeah, I want to know what’s going on too. Indeed… We all crowded in toward Shidou and Mitarashi. Finally, Shidou cleared his throat and began to speak. Okay, I will applaud you for that. I genuinely expected all of you to completely forget that you had cellphones after you traded numbers. Congratulations for subverting my low expectations. What?! I didn’t even notice! I didn’t either. So how did you— Aaaaah… Very clever. Figured it out, huh? Oh! You mean your fight earlier was just an act? Shidou grinned. Pretending to fight let you get close enough to talk privately, and gave everyone a reason to assume you weren’t. Clever… Exactly. While we were struggling, I handed him a headset. I didn’t notice a thing!Saki, you know I love you, but please don’t sound excited about your lack of awareness. Really need you to start paying more attention to things. At least the audience has the excuse of only witnessing the “fight” through static character portraits bumping into each other. *Alternate perspective flashback time!*  What?! Punch me in the stomach! …What? Just trust me! Do it! I’m getting real sick of your holier-than-thou attitude, man! Let it go! *Body blow!* Hnngh…! Damnit, what the hell’re you—what?! Here… take this! What the… a headset?! I’m going to call you. Put this on, and you’ll be able to hear us. Got it?!*End of alternate perspective flashback time!* I see… I had a feeling they might need our help, and threw this plan together.You felt correctly. You know what, Subaru? I’ll forgive you for the Alice Kart thing. You had the foresight necessary to recognize that leaving everyone’s lives in the hands of Wakasa and Mitarashi was a death sentence, so you did something about it. Good man. Well, you sure fooled your allies. I hope your enemies fell for it too. Wow… I was right there, and I didn’t even know. Really? Gosh… Yeah, I had no idea. That was kind of a jerk move, Mitarashi. I apologize for tricking all of you, but I was sure the pig would try and interfere if he knew what was going on.This is my only issue with Subaru’s sweet plan. Subaru should have stayed quiet while Mitarashi pulled himself back up after hearing the correct answer and pretended to realize what the answer was (it’s not exactly a difficult puzzle). This may have allowed them to use the same strategy again some time in the future. Instead, they decided to openly flaunt the plan and be smug about it, thus ensuring that Hogstein will take steps to prevent the cellphone trick from working a second time. He bowed his head to us in a quick gesture of apology. Although, the biggest problem was his acting ability… or lack thereof. Whoa, hey, you take that back. I’ll have you know I’m a great actor. My work demands it! And besides, everything went fine, right? A-Ah, well, um… nothing! Don’t worry about it. You’ll learn when you’re older. Huh…? Best you put such thoughts out of your mind for now. Yeaaaah… Some things you’re better off not knowing.Okay, first of all, Towa? Shut your mouth. You don’t know what the gently caress Ryusei means either. You get the “acting” thing from your boy band stuff, but there’s no way in hell you have any idea what Ryusei means by it in terms of escort services. You’re a J-Pop Idol. Your entire career would be in flames overnight if you so much as got caught holding a girl’s hand. Don’t pretend like you know anything about escorts. Second: Why are you guys all dancing around this? Saki is 18/17. Telling her that escorts are only pretending to think you’re the hottest/most interesting person they’ve ever met is not going to destroy her precious innocence. Honestly, this is what I’ve never understood about hostess clubs. Why would I pay a bunch of money to have girls far out of my league blue ball me and pretend as though I had any legitimate chance with them? There are far cheaper ways of creating that illusion. Like dating-sim games!  Now if Mitarashi is the… other kind of escort… That might be a trickier explanation for our innocent heroine. Huh…? What the heck are you guys talking about?! They all coughed or looked away awkwardly.  He groaned a little, and rubbed at his chest.Oh yeah! That’s right! How in god’s name did you survive a gunshot to the chest? Did you actually get shot…? Yeah, that’s right! You were shot! Well, yeah, sort of. But I had a little help… Ah! I call total bullshit. There’s no way some dollar store serving tray managed to stop a handgun round from point blank range. When did you get that?! Hey, give me a little credit. Once I heard the gun was real I grabbed it as soon as I could. Good thing, too.Sorry, Ryusei. You get no credit for that batshit insane plan that rightfully should have failed. You want to know what would have resulted in me giving you credit? If you didn’t stand directly in front of the gun in the first place. Seriously, who does that? Even if you didn’t find out the gun was real, why would you ever stand in front of it?! But, didn’t it still hurt…? Yeah, it hurt like hell, but it doesn’t look like it did any permanent damage. That’s good… That’s an understatement. At this rate it’ll be a miracle if he lives to see tomorrow. Wouldn’t surprise me if a stray steak knife somehow tagged him in the throat while the group is having dinner later. (Although I guess the one yesterday was my fault…) I told you to hit me in the stomach, though. Why did you hit my face? And so hard… I feel like things aren’t where they used to be. Oh, you should talk! You just about knocked the wind out of me when all you had to do was wrestle me to the ground. Maybe I was a little upset about getting hit in the face. Yeah, well, maybe I was a little upset too. For a moment it looked like they might be about to fight again, but suddenly both men broke into smiles, and the rest of us followed suit.Aw, they’re friends now. How cute. That’s a good life lesson to teach. If you don’t get along with someone, just beat the poo poo out of each other. It's guaranteed to bring you closer! (Gosh, it sure feels nice to smile again…) I let out a long sigh of relief, but that relief was short-lived. Whoa, wait, what the hell?! Well what did you expect?! You cheated!You’re one to talk. Pulling that poo poo with the shutters even though you said nothing about non-verbal communication. His face had gone red with rage. Cheated? None of your rules prohibit communication within the park. Urrrrrgh… If it’s not against the rules, how is it cheating? You give us puzzles, we solve them. This whole game is about using one another’s strengths and following your rules, right? (I’ve heared that before…) He was quoting the Count’s own statements back at him.This is why you make sure that rules are as specific as possible. Back when I used to do RP stuff on a different forum site, I had created this one that was like a combination of Saw and Cube. Within the first few posts, people were already finding ways to make their characters untouchable by traps through loopholes. If you’ve ever been a Dungeon Master in D&D then you can relate to this as well. Players will immediately start looking for ways to subvert the scenario you have in place. If you leave any wiggle room in the rules at all, expect someone to instantly come up with a way to abuse the poo poo out of it. You’ve got to be thorough. Well, assuming you want to railroad everyone along a certain path. Honestly, I think it's kind of exciting when you have to find ways of defeating other people's loopholes using your own loopholes.  If I say you failed, you failed! And if you failed, then I’m going to blow this whole thing sky-high! Wh-What?! You can’t do that! You said— SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP! (That’s it, I’ve had enough! What is this guy’s deal?! If he’s just going to break them when he feels like it, what’s the point of having rules in the first place!?) This isn’t directed at Ryusei, so we can do whatever we want with this one. The thread prefers it when Saki gets pissed off, though. What’s wrong with you?!That graphics issue with these moments is bothering me to an insane degree, so I’ll probably avoid screenshotting them very often.  Oink! S-Sorry! We followed your rules, but you’re just going to ignore them?! That’s not cool! G-Guh… Argh! You’ll regret this! With one final incoherent grunt of rage, the screen shut off. Moments later, we heard a noise from the table.Man, Hogstein is a pushover. Either that or Saki is terrifying when angry. Did… did you guys hear that? Yes indeed. Let’s have a look here… A treasure chest. It looks identical to the one we found yesterday. Wait! We need to be careful. It could be dangerous. Let me open it. He approached the table as the rest of us backed away, and gingerly picked up the treasure chest.[Announcer]: Stage two is complete. You have obtained a reward! We did it! At last… And not a moment too soon. After that house, my nerves are shot. So what’s in it? Just like yesterday. Looks like a note of some sort. Hmm… Just kidding, I have no sweet clue what possible connection those two notes have. 7am/pm maybe? Time that the sun rises/sets at the moment? Good question. Good question… He frowned, and began tapping his finger on his forehead. I imagine we are all quite tired, yes? Perhaps we should take a short rest. Yeah, good idea. Why don’t we just sit down at the table? Too bad there isn’t any actual tea… That’s a solid point. …Yeah, I guess you’re right, huh? I’d prefer to leave this place as soon as possible, but… I am tired. Eventually, we all sat down around the table, except for Shirabe, who insisted on investigating the entire garden. After a few minutes of rest, we headed out.Well, at least the gang managed to get through this stage in a timely manner. Granted, they basically had to be forced along by time limits in ord—  ARE YOU loving KIDDING ME?! Seven o’clock… We cut it pretty close again, huh…HOW DID THAT TAKE 7 HOURS?! You did 3 loving laps in a go-kart and then got stuck in a trap with an explicitly short time limit! You can’t do that, game. You can’t keep expecting us to buy into the idea that all of these death games take nearly seven hours to complete just so that you can reuse the “Whew, we just made it. That sure was a nail biter, huh?” thing. It doesn’t work! We waited for the Count for a while, but he never appeared. Guess he’s not showing up tonight. You think he’s off pouting somewhere? Wakasa shrugged. Yeah, I’m starving. Me too! If I don’t eat soon, I’m gonna die! Then it sounds like everyone is in agreement. Good. The restaurant it is, then. We’ve got a lot to talk about. With that, we were off. We hadn’t gone that far before Shirabe headed off in a different direction. Where are you going? Oh, okay. See you later, then! As I watched him walk off, I felt… strange. (Huh… Why do I feel uneasy? Is something wrong…?)Could be the “That person is about to die” feeling. I spent the rest of the walk trying to figure out what I’d felt, but before I knew it… …We’d arrived. I didn’t notice this before, but is that restaurant in the center called “A Delicious Heart Restaurant”? I wonder if that’s a symbolic thing or if they serve various animal hearts as part of the menu. Also, they’re missing a “t” on that sign. Man, that pig must be working pretty hard to get all those traps up and running every day… …The attractions are being operated by the piglets. Except we can’t do that. One of the rules is that we can’t just randomly beat the crap out of the piglets because we feel like it. I suspect we haven’t heard them speak for that very reason… Oh… He wants to make sure none of them let anything slip. Damnit! That pig’s got every single one of his bases covered. Well, I mean, we don’t actually know for sure… Everyone was busy shoveling food into their mouths when they weren’t talking. I’d chosen fried pork and rice.Sounds good. …Going pretty heavy there, huh? Huh? Oh, ha ha. Yeah, I just felt like something heavy today, you know? I’m sorry… “going heavy”…? Ah, I see. …Wait, why are you answering for them? Uh, no reason I guess.Cut him some slack, Subaru. Kouta has been really light on lines during this stage. Is it good? Not too greasy? Yeah, it’s pretty good. Nice and crispy! I really like it. Listen, fat is what I am. Not sure what you look like under that big hoody, but I’d probably describe it as “skeletal.” You’ve got a long way to go before you get to "fat". Some rice isn’t going to kill you, man. O-Oh, right… For some reason, everyone seemed to be fascinated by my dinner. (It’s kind of embarrassing to have all these guys looking at me…) I’d shrugged it off and gone back to eating when my cell phone suddenly began to ring. Ah! Hey, you can’t contact the outside. That’s against the rules. He frowned as I pulled the phone out. Sorry, I didn’t… Wait, it’s a text. I looked at the sender, and my eyes widened. You mean legendary game producer KEIJI INAFUNE?!  The creative mind behind The guy who got taken hostage? Yeah! Keep it quiet, you two. We don’t know when he might be listening in. So? Hostages aren’t outside the park, so we’re not breaking any rules. That excuse didn’t go over well last time, remember? If he found out we were talking to the hostages, I doubt he’d let it slide.Which is why you should have kept that trick of yours a secret for as long as possible. Now he’s going to be a lot more vigilant about that stuff. You’re right. I read the text in silence, and then sent back a quick reply. It was only a few seconds before I got an answer. After several more messages, I was able to piece together what had happened to him and [sic] hostages. That is highly suspicious after what just happened earlier. I looked up at the others and nodded. They all seemed to understand. After checking to make sure we weren’t being watched, I handed my cell phone over, so they could see what I’d learned. …Keep this a secret. It might come in handy later. Right. Did everybody hear that? Yeah. My lips are sealed. Oh yeah, what ever happened to him? Didn’t notice until you mentioned it, but… yeah. I’ll go see if I can find him. As I stood up to leave, I felt the same uneasiness from before. Do you think you’ll be all right by yourself? I’ll be fine. I’m just gonna take a quick look around.”What trouble has ever been caused by splitting up?” Seriously, you guys are all dead when we reach the Resident Evil knockoff part of the park. I gave everyone a quick reassuring grin, and headed out of the restaurant. (But… what’s up with this weird feeling I keep having…?) I decided to start with the Racing Square. Whoops—! Then, just as I rounded the corner of a building, I saw him. Shira—…?! (Who could you be talking to…?) I ducked back behind the wall, then peeked out. He seemed to be using the statue with the screen in it that Hogstein always appeared on. (It’s on…? Does that mean you can use it to talk to other people? I mean, he couldn’t be talking to Count Hogstein… right?)Doubtful. That’s the obvious red herring. I felt my stomach flip-flop, just as the glow from the screen disappeared. Eee! I ducked back behind the wall on reflex. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t want him to know I’d been watching. Shirabe! There you are! Um… I’d expected him to be a little startled, but he seemed as unshakable as ever. Saki is a You were late, so I went to look for you. For now, I decided, it was better to keep my thoughts to myself. Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I was just on my way back. Ah… I didn’t want to mention what I’d seen directly, but… Did you… find anything? He grinned, the snack in his mouth twitching up as he did so. (He’s not going to tell me anything…) I didn’t want to be suspicious, but he was acting awfully strange. It would be a risky thing to do considering that you don’t have any definitive proof that he was doing anything shady. (Who was he talking to…?) Ultimately, I decided not to tell anyone about what I’d seen, and kept my worries to myself. Shirabe didn’t seem to be acting any differently. Good job today, everybody!Shut up, Towa. Agreed, but we all must be tired by now. Go get some rest. … No! No, that’s not it… It’s just… Just… what? N-Nothing! I was just… thinking, that’s all… Wh-What?! N-No! No! Ha ha ha… I confess, you’re rather charming when flustered. Don’t make fun of me! I turned and stalked off, my cheeks hot. I could hear them laughing behind me. (What a bunch of jerks!) I sighed and headed for my room. There wasn’t much point in talking about Shirabe until I knew more. (Today really tired me out… But after seeing Shirabe doing… whatever he was doing… I just feel drained.) I rolled over and let out a long sigh before I heard the sound of voices from outside my room. (Who is that? It can’t be the piglets… right?)Probably not. I have to imagine that Hogstein has those guys gagged or something underneath those masks. I doubt the only thing preventing them from talking is a strongly worded warning.  (Is he on his cell phone? He knows we’re not supposed to talk to people outside…) I sighed. I knew he wasn’t exactly a rules guy, but I hadn’t thought he’d go that far. He was going to get us all in real trouble. (So who’s he talking to? And why?)Everyone is suddenly getting very suspicious. Put on your detective hat, Saki. We’re doing some more investigative work. Maybe I was just feeling suspicious after catching Shirabe, but I decided to head out of my room and see what Mitarashi had to say for himself. Hey. (What should I do…?)There is a choice here as to whether we confront Mitarashi or just ask him how he’s feeling. As much as I would love to play hardball, there is an affection point for asking him how he’s doing. (I don’t think I’m going to be able to get anything out of him, though…)She’s right. Choosing to press him on the talking thing just results in Mitarashi stammering out the explanation that he was talking to himself and trying to organize his thoughts because of all the stuff that has happened. Saki realizes that she won’t get anywhere and just lets the topic die. Standing in front of him, I suddenly wasn’t so sure that asking him what he’d been doing directly was such a good idea. I was just, um, wondering how you were feeling… Better than a gut full of lead, of course, but that thing really packed a punch. Almost knocked me out, actually.And yet it still couldn’t pierce a 2mm thick sheet of cheap aluminum at half a meter. Oh… Well, take care of yourself, okay? I always do! I got the distinct impression that our conversation was over, and without a chance to ask about the phone call. We said good-bye, and I headed back to my room. I sat down on my bed, unsure of what to do next. (Wait, of course! I should talk to Uncle Keiji about it!) (Hopefully he can read that without the piglets seeing it…)Hopefully he had the brains to set his phone to silent so that Saki’s random text message to him doesn’t alert the piglets whenever they are standing guard. I told him about my suspicions regarding Mitarashi and Shirabe, and then sent it off. (That didn’t really solve anything, but at least I feel better now.) I closed my cell phone with a sigh. I was probably just still feeling kind of worked up. I decided to go outside and get some air. All right, let’s go. With a deep breath I picked myself up and headed out of the room. Time for another break… time…  Mitarashi! Hey. What’s wrong? You look half dead.He practically is half dead, Saki. Well, when I came down here, one of the piglets started waving at me. I think it was asking me if I wanted a drink. I said “sure” and they brought out some coffee, but… Oh, coffee is nice.Yup. Nothing better to cap the night off with than some good ol’ coffee. Really gets you in the sleeping mood.  What…? The smell drifting up from his cup was really good. Did you put some milk and sugar in it? Yeah, but… Something’s off.You think it’s poisoned? Let me see it. I took a sip.Okay… well, I guess we’re about to find out if it’s poison or not. Way to be cautious, Saki.  Are you nuts!? It’s bitter as hell! (Is there something wrong with his sense of taste? This is like coffee-flavored sugar water…) …What’s with that look? I’m not giving you a look! Really? Really! Okay. Good. Fine. He grumbled and lifted the cup to his mouth, bracing for an onslaught of bitterness. I grinned despite myself. Well, it’s just… you keep calling me a kid, and now you’re scared to drink a cup of coffee.Ah, the old “Coffee is an adult beverage” chestnut. Right up there with “Nothing hits the spot like a cold beer! It sure does suck that you aren’t old enough to have it!” loving Conception Plus… every Reone scene was some variation of that poo poo. Honestly, I don’t get the love people have for coffee. It tastes like what I assume the liquified contents of an ashtray would taste like. And if you’re just going to load it full of sugar and milk, then you’d be better off having hot chocolate or something. Urgh… Yeah, all right, I guess you got a point. (He’d probably get mad if I said it out loud, but Mitarashi can actually be kinda… cute.) Damnit! What are you grinning about now?! I’m doing no such thing. We stayed there, drinking coffee and talking, for about an hour until I decided It [sic] was time to go. (The phone call probably wasn’t anything, right? Right…) I wanted to trust him, so instead of asking about it I said my good-byes and headed back to my room. A quick check of my phone showed that my uncle hadn’t responded yet. (Guess I’ll just have to wait. He’s in a pretty bad spot. I shouldn’t be impatient.) I let my eyes drift shut, and almost immediately fell into a deep sleep. Yay! More vague memories! Maybe? We still don’t actually know for sure if these are Saki’s or not. In fact, now that a sister is being mentioned, it’s even more unclear. Saki hasn’t implied at any point that she has or had a sister. [Kid #1?]: Oh, oh, what are we gonna ride first?! [Kid #2?]: The roller coaster, duh! [Kid #1?]: Awwww nooooo I wanna go on the merry-go-round! [Father?]: Well, the kids sure seem excited. I guess taking the day off today was worth it. [Mother?]: Are you sure it’s okay for you to do this?  [Mother?]: You’ve never said anything like that before. What’s going on? [Father?]: Nothing, I guess I’ve just never found the right time to say it. [Kid #1?]: Hey! Hey! Are we there yet?  Weird. Anyway, that’s the end of Stage 2. It was a lot shorter than Stage 1.  Here is our Affection status so far, by the way. We’re slowly getting there with Mitarashi, although we apparently still have quite a bit more to go. Weirdly, we have slightly more points with Meoshi and Urabe than the others. I wonder where those extra points came from? Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 17:19 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 27, 2020 21:08
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So Shidou and Mitarashi's newfound friendship is entirely based on shonen rules. That makes sense considering Mitarashi seems to be roughly as resistant as a shonen protagonist. Also the game's starting to make us doubt the other characters, no doubt setting up for a traitor plot I will not care much for.
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May 27, 2020 21:47
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I never developed a taste for coffee. I like the way it smells, but that's about it. Give me tea or hot chocolate any day over coffee. I suppose at Mitarashi's job, he's a lot more used to drinking liquor and wine than coffee, since one of the main jobs of a host/hostess is to get the clients to buy a lot of overpriced booze.
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May 27, 2020 23:08
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Blaze Dragon posted:Also the game's starting to make us doubt the other characters, no doubt setting up for a traitor plot I will not care much for. All the dudes have routes, so I doubt any of them are traitors. My theory is that these are just red herrings and Saki is being paranoid. My other theory is that Ayumu and Ryusei were talking to their "special someone." That is to say, someone that was taken hostage in order to get them to cooperate in this whole thing. Maybe Ryusei has a little sister that was taken, which is why he gets flustered if you try and press him to answer you (he's the type to get embarrassed by accidentally revealing his soft/caring side). Maybe Ayumu's was a colleague or good friend. Hogstein has to be holding something over the heads of each guy. Plus, if Keiji is able to sneak out communications to Saki then others should be able to as well. That’s what I'm currently betting on rather than a traitor plot. The traitor thing seems to be a bit too blatant of an explanation to be legit. Although I will concede that maybe someone is a traitor and all these "so and so is being suspicious" moments is meant to throw us off on who it is specifically. kethryveris posted:I never developed a taste for coffee. I like the way it smells, but that's about it. Give me tea or hot chocolate any day over coffee. I like stuff that's labeled as coffee flavoured, like Coffee-Crisp or coffee flavoured ice cream, but yeah, I never developed the taste for it either. I tried all the different kinds (Black, sweetened, decaf, iced) and hated it all. I just find it funny that it’s considered a drink for "mature" people, as if sucking down caffeine and habitually purchasing it like you're an addict is the epitome of adulthood. It's especially funny (as a Canadian) to listen to people complain about having to rush or get up incredibly early to get to work or school because of traffic, only for me to pass by a Tim Horton's that has a line stretching 30 cars back every morning where people are spending like half an hour waiting to get their fix. You’re probably right about Mitarashi. He's a male escort, so he's likely used to sweeter wine like Ice or Port. Then again, I'm not sure what the alcohol preference is for ladies that hit up host clubs. Either way, I doubt bitter stuff is common on the menus.
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May 28, 2020 02:47
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Coffee by itself tastes like rear end, but contains lifegiving caffeine. Hence sweeteners and flavored creamers, which mask the rear end and cause the caffeine to become drinkable. Also, I'm betting Ryusei is an escort in the sense of basically a high-class prostitute. Hence why he's all 'NOT IN FRONT OF THE GIRL' about it.
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May 28, 2020 04:08
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I can't handle coffee, but sometimes I need a pick-me-up. That's what energy drinks are for!
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May 28, 2020 06:52
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Junpei posted:I can't handle coffee, but sometimes I need a pick-me-up. That's what energy drinks are for! That's the Gen Z way of doing it. I've never tried one (mainly because caffeine doesn't affect me anymore), but if I desperately needed to stay awake for something I'd sooner grab a can of Monster for the first time than I would choke down a cup of coffee. Astrofig posted:Also, I'm betting Ryusei is an escort in the sense of basically a high-class prostitute. Hence why he's all 'NOT IN FRONT OF THE GIRL' about it. It's really hard to tell exactly what he is. This is a T-rated game, so they're obviously going to avoid any outright references to prostitution, especially towards one of the romance-able guys (games with romance that are marketed to guys do the same thing. They want the love interests to be seen as "pure"). Also, they would likely want to sidestep the prostitute label since that's not technically kosher in Japan (hence the "compensated dating" thing). But at the same time, if he isn't the sex worker type of escort, then why use "escort" in the first place? Why not call him a host? You might say it's a translation thing for the sake of westerners who don't know what a host club is, but choosing escort seems like a poor compromise considering the word has a fairly clear meaning in the west for this kind of thing. I'll go find the Japanese character card for Ryusei later on and see if that clarifies anything. That's probably the only way to do it considering that there doesn't seem to be much Japanese footage of the game itself. I would say that he's probably the non-sex kind of escort though. These kind of games don't usually have love interests who are "experienced", because the assumption is that that would put off the player. Edit: I'll include this in the next update, just as a bit of trivia. I looked around and found Mitarashi's character card in Japanese. He is referred to as a ホスト (Host) and not an エスコート (Escort). This doesn't really prove whether or not he is the sex kind of worker, because Hosts sometimes have sexual encounters with their major clients (they are "acquaintances" after all. One of the many ways red-light workers skirt around the prostitution laws in Japan). That said, given that he works in a (supposedly) high profile Ginza club and is the top ranked guy there, I sort of doubt that he has the time or energy to run around sexing ladies up. The real question here is why the localization team decided to change "Host" to "Escort." Again, western audiences might not know what Hosts/Host Clubs are, but localizing it as "escort" seems to go a bit too far in the other direction. Oh well, not a big deal either way. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 17:06 on May 31, 2020 |
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May 29, 2020 14:22
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Based on experiences with prior VNs, I wonder if the ~mysterious flashbacks~ are going to turn out to be Hogstein's background as to why he wanted to take over and destroy an amusement park + all involved. If something went horribly wrong on that trip, that could be his tragic backstory... though why he's targeting this particular park and these particular individuals would still be a mystery. Anyway, I'm really liking Meoshi, Urabe, and Mitarashi so far. Shirabe also seems reliable, but agreed with what's been mentioned before about the age gap being a deterrent against pursuing his route. Also, another vote for coffee being disgusting. I usually use soda to keep me up on night shifts/early mornings, which makes me pretty unusual amongst my colleagues, but I legitimately can't stomach that bitter-rear end taste. The only coffee I liked was the cinnamon roll frappuccino at Starbucks, and I'm pretty sure that thing was diabetes in a cup with a splash of coffee.
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May 31, 2020 23:22
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differentiating posted:Based on experiences with prior VNs, I wonder if the ~mysterious flashbacks~ are going to turn out to be Hogstein's background as to why he wanted to take over and destroy an amusement park + all involved. If something went horribly wrong on that trip, that could be his tragic backstory... though why he's targeting this particular park and these particular individuals would still be a mystery. That's something I haven't really considered. Maybe Hogstein is the dad from the flashbacks that lost his kids/wife to some combined fuckup of the six guys? A tragic backstory for Hogstein wouldn't really surprise me. I'm just hoping that they don't use one as a means to try and redeem him in the eyes of the players. A lot of games like to pull that, as if a sob story and a promise to be a better person totally absolves them of terrorism and other wrongdoings. Update News: Next update will be tomorrow. I almost had it finished tonight, but it's 10pm at the moment and I've been on the PC all day doing various other work. I'll finish it up the last little bit tomorrow. There also appears to be a new character which I do not have a character head portrait for. Depending on how my efforts go in cropping out portraits for them, I may think about sticking the LP on hiatus for like a week or two and focusing on trying to clean up everyone's portrait. If I do that, I would need to go back and replace all the ones in updates I've done, so it could take a while (or I may wait and correct older updates during the eventual archive prep). I've been unhappy with the jagginess of the current head portraits since the LP started, but they were the best I could find at the time. I'll stew on it for another update or two.
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Jun 1, 2020 01:35
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Psycho Knight posted:That's something I haven't really considered. Maybe Hogstein is the dad from the flashbacks that lost his kids/wife to some combined fuckup of the six guys? Yeah, I'm thinking probably the POV character lost his younger sister (possibly the person who originally owned that pendant?) to some horrific amusement park accident that was secondary to lovely safety regulations - unfortunately not entirely unrealistic in and of itself. It doesn't seem like Uncle Keiji or Saki herself were involved with theme parks before, but who knows about the others? Agreed that even if true, it in no way justifies or okays the extreme measures Hogstein has taken for his revenge. Then again, sometimes a snail is just a snail, and maybe I'm just reading way too much into things.
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Jun 1, 2020 02:14
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I'll join in on the "hate coffee" bandwagon. I tried drinking it, tried to see what people liked about it, failed. I'm bad enough at sleeping without it anyways.
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Jun 1, 2020 14:02
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Update VIII: Saki-Doo, where are you? Last update: The gang completed a go-kart race and a timed puzzle, then they all wandered into a rift in spacetime that transported them 5 hours into the future. It’s the only explanation that makes sense for how it took them that long, trust me. Gah! Oh yeah, and Saki had another weird dream or vision or… something. Still no explanation for those things and Saki doesn’t even seem to know what they are about. (Gosh, that was horrible! Everybody betrayed everyone else…)…Or she was having a completely different dream? What in god’s name is going on here? The dream was probably just my brain trying to deal with what I’d seen Shirabe and Mitarashi doing the night before. I checked the clock. It was still early. No reply yet… Shoot. (I guess that means I’ll just have to handle things on my own, then.) With that decided, I hopped out of bed and began to get ready, but before long I heard a knock at the door. I peered through the peephole to see a piglet standing outside, so I opened the door to let him in. … He flailed about in something that seemed to translate to “Good morning” and then pulled in a room service cart. Whatever was on it smelled incredible, and my stomach rumbled in response. So what’s for breakfast? I hate you so much. You’re so creepy. They’re like mimes, except with spandex. (Still not talking, but it looks like he’s trying to tell me something…) My best guess was that my breakfast was going to be some kind of jello-like product.Gross. I wasn’t particularly excited for it, but the piglet pulled the lid off the tray with a flourish, and my eyes widened. Ah! I mean, that’s better. Still not really what I would look forward to for breakfast though. Then again, I’m a westerner. Eggs, cereal, banana, toast, waffles, bacon, any combo of those things is good. Wh-Whoa, this looks great. I love Japanese food for breakfast!”I say, as a Japanese person!” He replied with a thumbs up. (They don’t seem to mean any harm… But it’s hard to tell what they’re really thinking if they don’t talk.) I was still pondering that while the piglet bowed and left the room. Oh! Of course! He’d just left when I finally realized it. That wriggling… he wasn’t saying it was jello, he was saying it was fish! I grinned and went back to eating. At last, I was starting to feel like I could understand the piglets. Good morning. Good morning to you too, Shidou! Everyone was waiting in the lobby, just like the day before. Everyone, that is, except… (Shirabe and Mitarashi aren’t here yet. They were both on time yesterday…) I felt my suspicions growing stronger. (Arg… I wish this weird feeling would just go away…)It can go away. You just have to stop being paranoid about incredibly vaguely suspicious actions. Something wrong, little lady? You look a mite troubled. Gyaaaah! Daaaaamn. That’s right ladies, Mitarashi is open to the kinky poo poo.  I spun around to see Shirabe and Mitarashi. S-Sorry! I was just kind of… spacing out, I guess. Yeah, no kidding. You back on Earth now? Y-Yes… Don’t go too hard on her. I’m sure the young lady’s got plenty on her mind. He gave me a nod, and they continued toward the sofa where everyone else was already gathered. I found myself gazing out the window at the river beyond. They were talking about our plans for the day, but I didn’t feel like joining in. *Sigh* I kept replaying what I’d seen Mitarashi and Shirabe doing over and over in my head. What did it mean…? Is something the matter, Inafune…? Oh! Urabe! No, I’m fine… Then I paused. Should I tell him about what I’d seen? Would that make me feel better? (No… probably not.) Yeah, nothing wrong here! So I see, but do not feel you must exceed your limits for our sake. Your own health is paramount. He gave me a friendly smile, then returned to the others. All right, what are we in store for this time? All right gentlemen and lady. I wonder what sort of madness our troublemaker has for us today. Something awful, of course.Hogstein would be the shittiest of shitposters. We talked for a bit, discussing what might happen that day, but before long we were interrupted by a voice we’d all come to dread. Goooooooood morning, everyone! I hope you all slept well! Oink oink! (He sure seems happy today…) It made me uncomfortable. He’s probably up to something.Of course he’s up to something. Why would he not be up to something? This whole thing was designed specifically to gently caress with you six guys for some as-of-yet unknown reason. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was suspicious. Actually, oink oink, I’ve got a biiiig surprise for all of you! I don’t like the sound of that. I swallowed. Right. Urk…! I felt my stomach twist in my gut. My eyes flicked to Shirabe and Mitarashi before I could stop them.Great, Hogstein is fueling Saki’s newfound paranoia. (N-No, he can’t be telling the truth… This has to be some kind of trick! But… why would he go out of his way to say one of us is a traitor?)Uhh, because that would tear your group apart from the inside? Come on, Saki. You’re sharper than this… supposedly. I felt the atmosphere grow suddenly tense. Then Shirabe spoke. Exactly. … If I hadn’t seen Shirabe with the statue the day before, I probably would have agreed too, but as things were… (This just makes him even more suspicious… Then again, Mitarashi was on the phone too… Maybe he was talking to Hogstein…) The pig’s words about a traitor in our midst kept echoing around in my head. What’s wrong? You look like you’re only half here. H-Huh? Oh, sorry… Did I really look that out of it? You’re right, I know, it’s just… Hey, believe me, I know how you feel, but it’s way more likely he’s just trying to shake us up. Yeah, I know. I gave him the best smile I could manage, and tried to act like everything was all right. It wasn’t, though. Wakasa hadn’t seen what I had. How could he know? Oh! Right! The use of cell phones in any of our little games in the future is completely against the rules. They make things so boring.Great, there goes that. Do you see what I mean now, Subaru? Should have kept your mouth shut. But noooo. Everyone is just so eager to be a smug little prick when they think they’ve outwitted someone else. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move along to the next attraction! Today’s game is waiting! Oh, awesome. The loving horror themed attraction. That’s just what this group needs. We walked toward the next game in silence. (I guess they’re all nervous too…) This dire mood will do nothing for our confidence. We must raise our spirits! Incidentally, what is our destination? He clapped his hands together as he spoke, and look around smiling. I think it’s the Bloodstained Hospital. The original is a survival-horror game set in rural Japan. It sounded like Meoshi knew quite a bit. You explore an abandoned hospital with a flashlight, and try to avoid the zombies.Okay, so like a cross between Silent Hill and Resident Evil.  With maybe a bit of Fatal Frame thrown in. Or possibly Illbleed? Guess it depends on whether you see the “Health” system in those games as representative of physical health or mental health. I know you could definitely die of fear in Illbleed. H-Horror game…? Hey, “Mustard Clinic” at the Galactic Productions park has the same kind of hospital setup! Oh! Yeah, I remember! I went there for a gig once! Really? That thing’s a blast, right!? You seem to know an awful lot about it.  Oh man… I’m really, really not good with scary stuff… Well, at least it looked like we’d know a little about the attraction going into it… (I’m worried about the traitor, though…) I couldn’t focus on the game we’d be playing. What if one of us was working for the pig? I sighed and looked around.*An unknown character flashes across the screen*  Who the gently caress is that? Ah! What's wrong? I… I thought I saw someone moving in the shadows over there… Are you sure? I don’t see anything… Huh… Maybe it was one of the piglets? Or perhaps it was your imagination. Kinda hard to believe that pig’d let any intruders in here, you know? Hmm… Yeah, I guess that makes sense. It had looked too small to be a piglet. Perhaps I was just seeing things… Creepy. Also, the sign on the hospital actually translates to "Bloody Hospital" or “Blood covered Hospital.” Same thing, really. I only point it out because I was sitting there trying to figure out what the hell that first character was. Turns out it’s the third-grade Kanji “Chi” (Blood). I know it’s part of the learning process, but there’s still something humiliating about stumbling on a word that you know elementary school students could easily recognize. The Bloodstained Hospital was a strange building with a giant needle stuck into it.Oh, right. We’ll get to the contents of that other (non-Japanese) sign in a little bit. That one is plot relevant. That sure looks pretty spooky… *Whimper* I could see the blood drain out of Wakasa’s face. (I guess he wasn’t kidding about not being good with scary stuff…) I felt a little sorry for him, but we didn’t exactly have a choice. What do you think? Pretty easy, huh? Oink! Fareweeeeeeeeeell! His forced cheerfulness contrasted especially strangely with the creepy appearance of the hospital. In fact, it made it even scarier. Well, it seems we must enter before we can begin. Right. Let’s move it, people. No sooner had we approached the entrance than we encountered our first obstacle: There were three huge doors instead of a single one. …So we can just enter whichever one want? Wait, there’s something written over them… Hm… What language is that? I can’t read it… You know Italian?! I stared at him incredulously.I’m going to assume that Hogstein added that sign, because I’m having trouble connecting the dots between a horror game based in an abandoned hospital located in rural Japan, and Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy.” Ah yes… The gate to Hell, from Dante’s “Inferno”… He smiled knowingly and tapped his forehead. That was when I realized what was really behind the grim feelings I’d been experiencing. (It would suck if a traitor destroyed the team we’ve built, even if we have only known each other for two days… But if we lost even one person, we’d be in real trouble. Each attraction so far has needed every single one of us in some way.)I still dispute Towa’s usefulness. I truly believe we could have completed every game without his involvement. Hey, are you all right? Ah! Oh, yeah. Sorry. I just kinda spaced out for a minute. So, what should we do? Nooo, don’t do that you moron! It’s a HORROR game attraction for Christ’s sake. Yeah, that might be best. So how do we want to split up? I don’t have any real preference. Me either. I-I guess I don’t really care either. I-I mean it’s not like this place is s-super scary or anything… I would be happy to work with any of you. Mitarashi’s face broke into a wide grin, and I could almost see the gears spinning up in his head. (Wait, what’s he planning? This seems suspicious…) Wh-What? That cool with you? I mean, we gotta make groups eventually, right? … Meoshi didn’t seem particularly thrilled. Not that I mind, but… why are you picking him? Huh? W-Well, uh, no reason… You’re acting pretty suspicious, Mitarashi. What are you hiding?Oh lord, can we put an end to this already? I’m still fully on board with the idea that those “suspicious” things that Saki witnessed were red herrings. I’m not hiding anything, cop! You really gotta see the worst in everybody?! Just hurry up and pick a group! I could see another— possibly real— fight brewing, when Meoshi finally spoke. Wait… what? Gah! No! Shut up, you idiot! Wait, what is this…? Rrgh… Suddenly all eyes were on Mitarashi. He chewed at his cheek for several long seconds before finally conceding. Knew it. Red herring. Like… what? C’mon what the hell else would you ask a nerd about? Video games! I mean, like… all the attractions here are based off of games, so I started wondering about… stuff. W-Well who doesn’t do some research before they go buy something?! I’m not a search engine. He just wouldn’t shut up about it. I tried to get away from him by going to my room, but then he just called my cell phone… Wh-Whoa, hold on—! I see. I think I get it. I let out a silent sigh of relief. This meant that Mitarashi wasn’t a traitor! (But… I still don’t have anything that clears Shirabe…) I glanced over at him while everyone was busy teasing Mitarashi, but he looked just like he always did: totally unconcerned. If we could get back to the subject at hand, I’d recommend each group take one of the adults— Shidou, Urabe, and myself. Good. I agree. Hey! Are you saying I’m not an adult?! Shidou simply ignored Mitarashi’s protests, and rattled off the group assignments. Yes? I’ll keep an eye on you. I mean, I took an arrow for you already, right?You raise a valid point. A dedicated meat shield would be pretty reassuring. You can’t be trusted, Mitarashi. As an officer of the law I’m sworn to protect the innocent, and that’s what I intend to do. H-Hey, hold on, don’t you think you should come with us? I mean, we’ve, uh, got Shirabe… P-Plus it won’t be as scary with… more people…That sounds like you want Saki to be a meat shield for you. No dice, Towa. At least his motives were pretty clear… What should I do…? It felt nice to be wanted, but I still had to make a choice.Honestly, it’s about time that the guys started fighting over you a little bit. They’ve been barely acknowledging your existence so far and that’s kind of weird for a game like this. Ryusei’s tried to shake Saki off a few times now. Quiet now. We must allow the young lady to make her own choice. I silently thanked him. More desperate pleas were not what I needed. Not as hard a choice as you think, Saki. The thread has spoken. We’re tagging along with Mitarashi and Urabe this time. (I think I can probably trust Mitarashi, and Urabe always seems so calm…) Can I join your team? Good choice, kid. I am pleased that you will be joining us. And that was that. All right. I wish you all luck. If something happens… well, without our phones, there’s not much we can do, honestly.Thanks for that, by the way. Hopefully we will find a way to persevere on our own. I’m ready to take whatever they’ve got.Careful, Ryusei. The games have shown that they are totally willing to take you up on that offer. We can do it, guys! We nodded to each other as a piglet came trotting out to meet us. …! I was still trying to figure out what we were supposed to do when Meoshi spoke up. Oh, sweet. Fitbits! You can understand these creatures? Mostly I’m just guessing. Now that he said it, though, I could see that the piglet was holding several watch-life things out toward us. Are these… watches? There’s a button on the side. When I pressed the button, the LCD panel lit up. Yeah, I think you’re right! See, there’s a little heart icon next to the number… Then these must be our terror gauges. Interesting… they use our heart rates to determine our level of terror? Beat too fast, and it’s game over… He scratched at his beard, and the piglet nodded vigorously. Since we’re all wearing them, does that mean that we all fail if any one of us hits the limit? …! …! He’s saying if three of us get a game over then we all fail the game. I still wasn’t sure how he understood them, but the piglet didn’t show any signs of objecting, so he must have gotten it right. Good question! This is how you guys end up blowing so much time. Only three? drat… That’s not even half of us. This could be tough. I… I don’t think I can do this… Oh gimme a break! We haven’t even gone in and you’re already scared?! Chill out!Ryusei gives Towa a whack on the back* Aie!*And then the watch immediately starts to beep* Wakasa leapt nearly a foot into the air, and as he landed a ringing sound came from the device around his wrist. Holy crap kid, could you be wound any tighter? W-Well don’t just s-smack me on the back like that! Or turned on. That means you, Saki! (Gosh, I hope it doesn’t get too bad in there…) I headed into the door on the right with Mitarashi and Urabe. Oh, whoops. Guess we’re probably supposed to take this thing, huh? He plucked the flashlight from the hook next to the entrance and juggled it absentmindedly in one hand like a baseball. Everybody ready? Let’s go! Rrgh… I’m an adult too, damnit!You’re not helping your case, Ryusei. Especially so since you’re tossing around the one tool we have to help us in this upcoming game. He ground his teeth, grumbled, and shoved the door open.By the way, which member of the Scooby Gang do you think everyone is? Towa seems like the Shaggy, or maybe the Scooby. Subaru has got to be the Fred. Ayumu is probably the Velma. Kimimaro is maybe Daphne? I’m tempted to call Ryusei the Scrappy-Doo, but he’s not universally despised, so I’m not sure that fits.  It’s… quite dark. Of course it’s dark, you dork. What kind of haunted house has lights everywhere? He flicked the flashlight on and swept the beam quickly over the room. It doesn’t look like there’s anything here…Except for the blood and the gurneys. I’m sure we’ll get some scares later on, don’t worry. The hallway proved to be cold, and a little damp. It also smelled slightly moldy. …The atmosphere is rather eerie, yes? Yeah… Suddenly, the silence was broken by a voice crackling over the PA. Hey! That’s cheating! Knock it off! The labyrinth of the dead… Do you suppose this is some manner of… hint? Hell if I know. I figure it just means we gotta watch our asses, right? I-I guess so…? I gave him an uneasy smile. We don’t know what we’re gonna run into up there, so let’s get a move on. C’mon! We headed off down the hallway. Well, they sure got the “abandoned hospital” look right… Yeah… There’re chunks of… something all over the floor. Probably stuff that fell off the wall, I’m guessing. Huh… Our footsteps crunched as we walked, like the floor was covered in bits of broken glass. Um…*The screen shakes a bit* Gah! Dude! Don’t do poo poo like that! Just speak! Y-You startled me… You need to get yourself under control, kid. If your alarm goes off when a guy touches your shoulder, we’re boned.Don’t you go lecturing Saki. Tell Kimimaro to stop randomly grabbing people’s shoulders from behind without warning. The fault was mine, I apologize. I should have thought before I acted. N-No, I’m just nervous… I took long, deep breaths, and eventually my alarm slowed and stopped. Phew… Oh, um, was there something you wanted to say, Urabe? …Oh, ah, no. Nothing. Nothing at all. Really? Okay… Let’s hurry it up then, guys. Right! I fell into a brisk trot, but I couldn’t forget what Urabe had said— or rather, what he hadn’t said. We did the best we could, but kept running into dead ends and retracing our steps to try different things.Did you try the hand on the wall trick? (Are we even sure we’re actually trying new hallways…?) Nothing much happened, though, so I began to relax. But when we rounded an intersection— Whoa! Mitarashi skidded to a halt.What’s up? Wh-What’s wrong? Look! What is that… thing? I followed Mitarashi’s finger.  Oh, gently caress! The zombies have learned how to wield machine guns! It’s a “Land of the Dead” situation! The creature’s entire body was covered in gross, festering skin that split and cracked as it moved. In one hand it held a lantern, and in the other it had a gun. What… is… that… We froze, but the creature seemed to have noticed us. Its labored breathing quickening [sic], and it started to raise its gun. poo poo! Before I could react, he was off like a shot toward the monster. Wh-What?! Grrraaaaaaaaaaaaah! Look out! Damnit, Mitarashi! Can you go one day without being beaten, stabbed, or shot? Mitarashi had closed the distance fast enough to avoid getting hit, and drove his fist into the monster’s face. His punch threw the creature down the hallway with a tortured wail. Okay, we need to get something clarified here… What the actual gently caress was that thing? Did Hogstein get somebody to dress up as a zombie? Because if so, that dude is committed to his role. He didn’t immediately yell “What the gently caress man?!” after being punched straight in the face. Now! Go!No! We want this answered! He didn’t have to tell us twice. Urabe and I ran as fast as we could, Mitarashi close behind. In the dark I could barely see, and my foot caught on something. I started to tumble forward— Aaah—! But suddenly my body stopped, and I was lifted back onto my feet. You okay? Mitarashi’s arm was wrapped around my shoulders, and I could feel his muscles pressing against my back. Th-Thank you… What, you think I’m just gonna let people get hurt? That’s not how I operate, kid. Ah…! Suddenly my heart felt like it was beating very fast.Saki! Focus! You’re wearing a heart monitor that we desperately need to keep under control. Don’t make me get the spray bottle! (This isn’t the first time he’s put himself in danger to protect me… So why am I getting all flustered now…?) Yeah! I gave him a nod, but my chest felt a little empty. (…That’s right, he’s probably like this to everybody. Oh well. I was nice to feel special for a few seconds.) I shook my head to clear my mind and took off again. Good… Looks like we lost him. Yeah… Until that moment, I hadn’t realized that all of our alarms were going off. Yeah. We ducked into the shadows and waited. So what the hell was that thing anyway? He plopped down on the floor and wiped some sweat off his forehead. So you decided you were just going to punch it in the face, regardless of what it was?I mean, it did work. He almost got killed doing it, but I can’t argue with the results. Yeah. Could’ve been a lot scarier if I actually knew what it was, right? The thing I don’t get is why they gave a monster a gun like that. Monsters aren’t scary enough anymore?That was kind of stupid now that you mention it. What is our world coming to… Well, we still need to get out of here, and we should probably do that soon. If we just keep wandering around, we’re going to run into the monster again. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but what are we gonna do? You got any idea where the exit is? Hm… I looked around, but all I could see were pitch-black hallways— nothing that might indicate an exit. He began to wave his hand at his crystal ball, and as he did… (What…?)*There’s a flash of light green on the screen* …It began to glow softly. Whoa! How’re you doing that?! That’s crazy! Magnets. I got the feeling I’d never know the answer to that particular question, though, so I kept my mouth shut. I believe the exit is… in this direction. Urabe began to walk slowly down one of the hallways. Mitarashi and I exchanged a confused look, but turned and followed him. (It’s not like we’ve got a better idea, after all…) As we went, Urabe seemed to get more confident, and his pace sped up. He seemed to know exactly where to go. Does the crystal ball show you where to go…? Far more likely that he’s got a crystal GPS inside that thing. Before long, we’d reached a staircase. Good work, team! Let’s keep moving! Yeah! …Please, if I could have a moment… Huh? Before we could start up the stairs, however, Urabe spoke. What’s wrong? His face was uncharacteristically serious. I… But just as he began to speak— That’s probably not a good sound. What?! A scream echoed through the darkness. You’re gonna have to tell us later, pal. Let’s go! Without waiting for a response, Mitarashi turned and headed for the stairs. Telling Urabe to haul rear end is an affection point for Mitarashi, so that’s what we’re going with. Come on Urabe, let’s go! Urgh… We needed to find the owner of that scream. Guess you know what’s up, kid! He gave me a grin, and I nodded back. We’ll have time for you later, Urabe. Cool? Very well. It took only a few minutes for the three of us to reach the top of the stairs. All we found were more dark hallways. That scream could have come from anywhere… Damnit! He ground his teeth and grumbled to himself. I can certainly try. He waved his hands methodically over the crystal ball, and it began to glow. But… …I am afraid I cannot. Though I can locate the exit, the owner of the voice we heard eludes me… poo poo! He slammed his fist into the wall, but a second later we heard the scream again.[???]: Aiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeee! (There it is again!) I think it came from over there! Our exit is also in that direction! Good! Let’s move! Urabe and his crystal ball led us through the maze easily and quickly. We are approaching the exit! Then where is it?! Look! There! I’d paused to catch my breath, and noticed a door at the end of one of the hallways, underneath some emergency lights. That’s gotta be it! But we have been unable to locate the person who screamed…Sucks to be them?  Maybe she went through the exit! Only one way to find out! Let’s go! We shoved the door open and leapt through. The damp, moldy smell was gone, replaced by the harsh antiseptic smell of a functioning hospital.I think even ”Functioning” is maybe being a bit too generous in this case. This is an operating room, isn’t it… In the center of the room was a surgical table, with various unpleasant-looking tools laid out across it.Oh Christ… Are we about to cut somebody open in order to get a key or something? poo poo! Is that what Urabe is trying to tell us? Did you get a key stitched into you, man?  Oh… Is everyone all right? Yeah, I guess so. …Mm… Thank goodness nobody got hurt. Yeah. Um, you guys… I began to move slowly toward the table in the center. Hiding in the shadows I could see the form of a small girl, curled up in a ball. Are you okay? You don’t need to be scared. We’re not going to hurt you… Oh, it’s the little gremlin thing we saw earlier. Slowly and cautiously a little girl with a huge backpack stepped out into the light.Is she supposed to be a loot enemy or— Mai! Daddy! What?! As soon as she spotted Shirabe, the girl ran toward him and leapt up into his arms. We were all totally dumbfounded. (Daddy?!)[Announcer]: The Nightmare Maze has been completed. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. And I suggest you do it quickly. Yeah… Shirabe finally set the girl back down and turned to face the rest of us. Well then. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Dec 2, 2020 |
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Jun 1, 2020 15:36
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This will eventually be included in an Extras section on the main post. There was no room for it in the update. —Extra— Before we wrap up, there’s something I wanted to mention about Ryusei that got changed in translation. It’s not a big change, but it is strange one considering the connotations at play. Ryusei is referred to in the English version as a “male escort.” He even says that he’s the number 1 escort at Ulysses in Ginza.  The thread (well, mostly me) have been speculating as to whether or not this meant that Ryusei was a sex worker, or simply a worker at a Host Club. I found Ryusei’s character card from the Japanese promotional material for the game and found out that escort was a translation change. Ryusei’s Japanese character card refers to him as a ホスト (Host), not as an escort. Now, Hosts can and do sometimes engage in sex on the side (usually with their best clients), so it is possible that Ryusei does it. Even then, the word “escort” is a strange choice for localization. “Escort” is much more heavily associated with prostitution than “Host”, especially in the west where Host/Hostess Clubs are nearly nonexistent. If you’re tracking down a male escort, it’s fairly unlikely that you’re just looking to hang out with them for a bit and talk while sharing some drinks. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Jan 19, 2021 |
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Jun 1, 2020 15:38
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Psycho Knight posted:
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Jun 1, 2020 16:26
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Oh god, it all makes sense now. Also I'm so glad that everyone immediately shoots down the idea of a traitor because that plot point is never not stupid as poo poo. Everyone but Saki anyways, and it only took one update for her to find out why both Mitarashi and Shirabe were on their phones. The former just wanted some hot game tips and the latter likely wanted to contact his daughter who was taken prisoner by Hogstein. Which of course, leads us to a different question now: why is Mai not a prisoner now? I can't imagine she successfully escaped without Hogstein wanting her to. There's something really fishy there. Even moreso considering her appearance is in a chapter with no real gameplay (even for the standards of a VN), which is very unusual.
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Jun 1, 2020 16:48
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Probably the actual puzzle has to do with the huge backpack she's carrying.
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Jun 1, 2020 19:23
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Damnit, that's the smilie I was looking for during the update. Blaze Dragon posted:Also I'm so glad that everyone immediately shoots down the idea of a traitor because that plot point is never not stupid as poo poo. Everyone but Saki anyways, and it only took one update for her to find out why both Mitarashi and Shirabe were on their phones. The former just wanted some hot game tips and the latter likely wanted to contact his daughter who was taken prisoner by Hogstein. I'm glad as well. I don't hate traitor subplots, but they are almost always boring. In this case I mostly hated how Saki immediately started buying fully into the idea that Ryusei or Ayumu was a traitor based on nothing but witnessing them talking to someone. Then Hogstein announces it as a clear way of making everyone suspicious of each other and Saki gets even more suspicious. I don't think Ayumu was talking to his daughter that time though. He seemed pretty surprised to see her. Saki also mentioned that one of those display screens was on. I think Ayumu was actually talking to Hogstein, but not as part of a traitor plot. Ayumu is a journalist. He was likely talking to Hogstein in the hope of getting some information out of him. That probably prompted Hogstein to come up with the traitor idea, since Ayumu had split off from the group and wouldn't be able to prove his whereabouts without confirming his contact with Hogstein. Hogstein also probably knew Saki was out looking for Ayumu since he likely has control of the park's surveillance system. The whole situation basically fell into his lap. Blaze Dragon posted:Even moreso considering her appearance is in a chapter with no real gameplay (even for the standards of a VN), which is very unusual. HardDiskD posted:Probably the actual puzzle has to do with the huge backpack she's carrying. There definitely are more puzzles at work. My recording stopped a little bit further ahead from the update and a third challenge/puzzle was just kicking off, so the group isn't done here. I think Mai was just introduced quickly in this Stage so that the stakes of the death games would be higher since a child is involved.
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Jun 1, 2020 22:18
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I can't imagine any other reason than 'people don't know what a host is' for using escort, it's just unfortunate there isn't really a better western equivalent (at least, that you can express in one word)
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Jun 1, 2020 22:23
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Yeah, that was a pretty great way of handling the "traitor" issue - have everyone laugh it off and consider it ridiculous. I think traitors can be done well as a plot point, but it feels like the expected move in a VN like this, so the subversion is a breath of fresh air. Plus, I'm glad Mitarashi seems to be thinking - why wouldn't you take advantage of the game expert in a death game based around video games? Yeah, it's annoying for Meoshi, but it could literally save their lives to have more info. And I'd definitely try to be in his group at all opportunities if my rear end were on the line. Also, Mai is adorable, and I like her already. Though that makes pursuing her father as a boyfriend even more awkward than it was before...
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Jun 2, 2020 06:21
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Polsy posted:I can't imagine any other reason than 'people don't know what a host is' for using escort, it's just unfortunate there isn't really a better western equivalent (at least, that you can express in one word) That has to be the reason for the change, but it still strikes me as being weird, especially for a T-rated game. The whole "foreigners don't know what [Insert Japanese thing] is/are" thing was more understandable back in the 90's and early aughts, but even in 2012 (when this game was released) the internet was incredibly widespread and easy to access (hell, the PSP, which this game was released for, had a browser built-in). I feel like we should kind of be past the point of these types of localization changes. I know people are lazy, but come on, if someone playing this didn't know what a Host was and it bothered them that the term was unfamiliar, then Google it! It's a learning experience! It beats creating confusion or risking a huge misunderstanding born from a poor choice in substitute terms. differentiating posted:Yeah, that was a pretty great way of handling the "traitor" issue - have everyone laugh it off and consider it ridiculous. I think traitors can be done well as a plot point, but it feels like the expected move in a VN like this, so the subversion is a breath of fresh air. Plus, I'm glad Mitarashi seems to be thinking - why wouldn't you take advantage of the game expert in a death game based around video games? Yeah, it's annoying for Meoshi, but it could literally save their lives to have more info. And I'd definitely try to be in his group at all opportunities if my rear end were on the line. I mentioned that in a previous update. Mitarashi is clearly interested in video games (and theme parks) and everyone can see it. Just call him out on it and tell him nobody cares. Let him feel free to dive right into that hobby. You don't want someone who could have potentially life saving information to withhold it because they think the other members of the group might laugh at them. Honestly, if the group was smart, they would be scoping out the park in their free time and then having strategy meetings where Meoshi throws out all the information he can on the games the attractions are based on. At least that way everyone would have some base knowledge about what they are walking in to and the time to think on it (rather than Meoshi just mumbling some stuff about the game a few minutes before the stage starts). But then again, we're in a mystery/horror scenario. Some level of stupidity is unavoidable. It would be a boring game if the protagonists did everything logically and well thought out. There's a bit from Scary Game Squad about that which I really like. As far as Mai is concerned, I'm normally on the "I hate kids" train. They tend to mess things up or be insufferable/smug little brats. Mai will be engaging in the former almost immediately, but overall I'm not hating her so far (granted, I only recorded up to the start of the next puzzle). At the very least, I do kind of like her design. You can really see the Ayumu influences and I think it's cute that she does the same "Pocky hanging from the lips" thing that her dad does. That said... differentiating posted:Though that makes pursuing her father as a boyfriend even more awkward than it was before... If you think this makes chasing after Ayumu a little awkward, then wait and see what the start of the next update brings. Ayumu is... well, I won't outright condemn him... so let's just say that he's "rusty" on the parenting front.
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Jun 2, 2020 19:02
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Apologies for the weird lighting on Mai's character portrait. Once we have wrapped up Stage 3 I plan to stop the LP for a little bit and try to make up new portraits. I only have a little bit of footage of Mai in a brighter environment at the moment, which is why one of her portraits is better lit than the others. Update IX: Daddy Issues  So, yeah. We need to unpack this whole thing before we get back to escaping Racoon City Hospital. That’s… unexpected. How interesting. Yeah… Uh, okay, but… what’s she doing here? She still seemed scared, and had hidden behind her father’s leg to peer out at the rest of us. I’m… not sure. She’s all I’ve got left of my wife, but she’s been living with my mother-in-law.So she’s all you’ve got left of your late wife, but you dumped her off with the in-laws? Then… she doesn’t live with you? Yeah, pretty much. But, uh… Mai, what are you doing here? W-Well, um… She looked down at the floor and played with her hands as she spoke. Then I lost Grandma… You got lost in the park? …Yeah. That was three days ago! What have you been eating?! I have a lot of snacks in my backpack… Grandma likes to be prepared. So you’ve been wandering around this park for three days eating snacks…? …Yeah. Shirabe shook his head and sighed.And at no point did Hogstein or the Piglets take notice of this? drat… What are we going to do? What do you mean? Oh. No, I don’t think so. Really? Well, yeah. I mean, she’s been here in the park since all this started. She’s not really an “outsider”…I think you guys might be pushing your “Well, actually…” luck. Hogstein seems to have a short temper. There’s going to come a point where slipping through loopholes is going to draw some kind of retaliation from him. …I see. After yesterday we all know the bastard’s a Peeping Tom. So you’re saying if he doesn’t pitch a fit, we should be fine. Perhaps, but it will be for naught if we cannot escape from this attraction… Exactly. We need to focus all our effort on beating this game. We nodded. Good. Let’s go over the layout. So we’ve still got this puzzle and another one after it. Then that makes this the… Vivisection Lab? drat, no wonder this place is giving me the creeps. Then that table… N-No! H-How about we don’t think about that? Besides, this is just an amusement park! It’s not like they actually c-cut people open here! Right. Let’s take a look around then. Remember: Keep calm. As we moved off to examine the rest of the room, Mai edged up to me. Uh… what’s “vivisection”…?Don’t worry about it. U-Um… That’s how they figure out how the body works.…Sure. Let’s go with that. That’s technically correct… from a certain perspective. For those who don’t know: Dissection is when you cut open the body of something that’s dead. Vivisection is when you cut open the body of something that’s alive. Now obviously that’s what surgery is (at least, when the goal is to fix something that’s wrong in the body) and we are in a hospital. However, this is also a Resident Evil Hospital, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the more horrifying version of vivisection was going on in here. I guess that’s one way of putting it… Exactly. He grinned at me. (How is he so confident all the time…?) Well, there’s one way you could— Nevermind, that’s inappropriate. There’s an innocent little child present. Need to start toning down the language. I think there’s some kinda lock on the door over here… Well, we probably have to unlock it then, right? Seems like that’s the case. I don’t think we’ll be able to get this door open otherwise.Great work team. You have confirmed the presence of a lock and the fact that it keeps things closed. Time for a two hour break! He examined the doorknob closely, but was careful not to actually touch it. Huh… This knob doesn’t have a keyhole… Maybe we’re just supposed to force it… He strode over and reached for the doorknob— [Announcer]: You must escape before you become an undead monster with no will of your own. To find the message I have left, crawl along the earth and look to the heavens. Got it. Get on the floor and look up towards the lights. Easy. Mitarashi froze with his hand on the doorknob and looked around as the announcement finished. …That one was really creepy. It was like they were talking directly to us, you know?Because they were, you idiot. “Crawl along the earth and look to the heavens”… Not sure what that’s supposed to mean. Me either, but I’m sure it’s a hint. We just need to figure out what it’s for… I hate you all. That clue wasn’t even disguised! The only way it could be more clear is if they swapped “earth” with “floor” and “to the heavens” with “up.” Well, we’re not gonna do that by standing around talking. Let’s go, guys! Start looking! We all sighed quietly at his ridiculous enthusiasm, but started looking over the room anyway. Have you checked that cabinet? Nope. Let’s see… Meoshi and I began to go through the cabinet. …What are these? Medicine? Sure. Meoshi stepped out of the way, and Shirabe began to take the bottles out of the cabinet and set them on a wheeled cart. Let’s see… This one is just saline solution, I think… Yep, no smell at all… For each bottle he first squinted at the label, then popped it open to smell the contents. Uhhh… Hey, dad? Mind keeping an eye on your daughter? Hell, would someone keep an eye on the six-year old roaming around a room full of surgical tools and possibly deadly chemicals?  Nobody?! No-one at all? Not even Mr. Serve and Protect? Ah! No—!  Ew! This is really smelly! *Cough* *Cough* The jar forgotten in the face of its overwhelming odor, Mai’s hand let go and it dropped to the floor and shattered.Welp. Hope we didn’t need that for anything. Gah! Wh-What is this…?! *Cough*My guess is probably formalin. This is some zombie experimentation hospital or something, so they likely have some stuff to preserve tissue. Almost immediately the smell of the jar filled the whole room, and everyone began to cough. drat…! This smell…Yeah, don’t breathe that stuff in. It won’t make you drop dead, but it’s also not something you want to go huffing. Cover your mouths! We all retreated to a corner of the room, covering our mouths with sleeves and handkerchiefs. …Urgh… No… I’m okay… Sorry… Kids are kids, man. Don’t sweat it. C’mere…”Kids are kids” is the reason I don’t like kids. He draped his coat over Mai to protect her from whatever had been in the jar. (I guess he’s actually pretty nice, huh…?) It wasn’t long before the smell died down, but just as I was about to relax Shirabe rounded on Mai and started to yell at her. Ah! *Sniff* Waa… waaaaaaaaah! Shirabe was furious— angrier than I’d ever seen— and as Mai backed away from him, she began to cry.*Something starts beeping* His alarm started to sound. Hey, whoa, I understand how you’re feeling, buddy, but why don’t you lay off? She’s just a kid. There’s a reference I didn’t think I’d ever see in an Otome game. *And there’s the sound of our first loser* Oh![Announcer]: Game over. User wins. Calm down! We all have to stay calm! I know! I just… she… Shirabe seemed to have barely even noticed that he’d maxed out his terror gauge. Waaaaaaaaaah! (Yeah, Mai did grab something that could have been dangerous when she shouldn’t have. I can understand scolding her, but… She’s a kid, like Mitarashi said, but that’s why her dad ought to be keeping an eye on her.) So, here’s the deal. Saki is going to restrain herself this time. I know the thread is cheering for Saki to rip the heads off of anyone that ticks her off, but now is quite possibly the worst time for her to do so. (He’s probably just scared, and he doesn’t want to admit it so he gets angry instead…) Then Mitarashi spoke up. Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on her? We all should have been keeping a closer eye out. She’s just a kid.That’s a solid point. This was a group failure. Uh… Yeah, I guess you’re right. (Okay, good. I’m glad Mitarashi said something.)And nobody else had to set off their heart monitor. Yes, if Saki gets mad during that moment, her heart rate goes up and sets off her watch. We’re only allowed to lose 3 people that way and Ayumu is already out, so I think it’s better that Saki holds herself back in this one instance. I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Waaaaaah!Although we do still have to deal with this whole thing.  What are you—! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but Shirabe lifted up his hand like he was about to hit Mai. There was no way I was going to let him do that, but Shidou got to him first. Jesus, dude. I hate kids and even I think that goes too far in this case. No wonder Mai lives with the mother-in-law. Guh—! Shidou’s hand was gripped tightly around Shirabe’s wrist. What the hell is wrong with you?! Get a hold of yourself!*And there goes the next one* [Announcer]: Game over. Stellar job, everyone. Wh-What?! Me?! Shidou’s moment of heroism seemed to have maxed out his terror gauge.And now all eyes fall on Towa to be the final nail in our collective coffin. We still have two puzzles to figure out and the scaredy-cat of the group is still technically in the game.  Urgh. Now two of us are out… (That means if one more person gets a game over…) We’d need to be especially careful. I know tensions are high, but we must calm ourselves. No one has been hurt. We can succeed. I’m so sorry. I screwed this one up real good. So your first instinct is to try and beat the poo poo out of her? … You’ve got your head so far up your a— uh… butt… you almost hit your own kid. You’re freaked, I get that, but you just need to chill out. Right, Mai? *Sniff* *Sniff* Her crying had finally stopped, and Mitarashi bent down to pat her gently on the head. (It does seem like Shirabe and Mai aren’t very close, though…) …Right… …Okay, uh, let’s get back to looking around.For the love of god, yes. Agreed. The smell seems to have finally dissipated.*After a fade-to-black wipe*   Did you notice that all these knives and stuff are fake? They’re glued to the table. So those jars are the only “real” things? Yeah, and that makes them suspicious. Shirabe gathered up all the jars and arranged them on top of the surgery table. We found nine jars but, uh, now we’ve got eight. So what the blazes are we supposed to do with them?CHECK UNDERNEATH THINGS! CHECK THE CEILING! FOR GOD’S SAKE STOP FORGETTING VITAL INFORMATION!  Huh. Don’t get it. …What was that hint again? “Crawl along the earth and look to the heavens,” although I’ll be damned if I know what it means. We all set to thinking about the hint, and silence fell over the room. After a few minutes, I noticed that Mai— who seemed to have taken a liking to Mitarashi— was looking kind of puzzled. (Well, she’s just a kid. All of this stuff is probably really confusing…) But as I kept watching, I realized she was also being pretty fidgety. Please, 6-year old child, put us out of this misery. Is there something you wanted to tell us? Um, yeah… She nodded nervously. …There’s something on the table. What? Where? Underneath. It’s over here… She pointed to the far side of the surgery table. Wakasa walked over and crouched down to take a look. She’s right. There’s something here. Yes. Thank you for accomplishing in 30 seconds what 7 young adults couldn’t do in 45 minutes.  I patted her on the head and she giggled. It’s a drawing… What looks like a crown, and… three drops of water. If it’s on the underside, does that mean this is a low rain-king table?Boo! Shut up. F-Fine! You obviously don’t appreciate quality humor anyway! It appears to be written in blood, which suggests to me that it has greater meaning than a rebus describing the relative standing of a table. Yeah… You guys are hopeless! What do you have for us now, Ayumu? Something actually useful, I hope.  Of course not.  Ah! …He he he… Mai smiled so wide I thought she was going to hurt herself, and Shirabe gave her a crooked grin, apparently in spite of himself. All right smart guy, what the heck is this supposed to mean then? Now we’re making progress. Okay, so where’s the convoluted mixing system that forces us to pour out an exact amount of liquid by juggling them between tubes with different capacities? It then follows that the “ingredients” are nitric and hydrochloric acid. After all, “royal water” is just another name for… Aqua regia!I never took chemistry. What the hell is that supposed to do for us? Precisely. What’s that? So we just have to mix them together? Three drops… that’s water, so that must mean… three parts hydrochloric acid? Then the crown would be one part nitric. Correct. Then let’s get to it. He picked up the two jars and looked around. Anything around here we can mix these in? Oh, how about this? I handed a beaker I’d found on the ground to Shidou, and he nodded. He carefully measured out the right amounts of each substance and added them to the beaker, which was soon filled with a reddish-orange liquid. All right, now… What do we do with this?Let’s go find that zombie from earlier and throw it at him! Shidou and Shirabe looked thoughtful. I’d guess we’re supposed to pour it on that keyless lock. Could you hand it to me?Or, yeah. I guess we could do that too. Shidou did, and Shirabe walked over to the lock and upended the beaker of aqua regia over it. It’s melting! Looks like we were right. The melted lock fell to the floor with a thud, and as it did the PA crackled to life again.[Announcer]: Vivisection lab complete. Let’s move, people. The clock is ticking.”We’ve only got 4 hours left! It’s going to be close!”  Aw, they’ve bonded. Kinda weird how Mitarashi became the surrogate father figure here. Especially considering the biological father is standing two feet away. (Awww, that’s kinda cute – oh! A text from Uncle Keiji!) I pulled out my phone and began to read. (Yeah… I guess you’re right.)Okay, I guess we’re taking a moment to drag this issue back up from the grave. Let’s just get it over with. I took a deep breath and strode up to Shirabe. Can I ask you something? Sure thing, little lady. What’s up? Everyone else had already left. We were alone. Um… Last night I… saw you talking to someone through the Hogstein statu. He blinked in surprise, but his face quickly twisted into a sour grimace. Argh! He started to move toward the exit. Wait! Give it a rest. …We have to trust each other if we’re going to cooperate, and we have to cooperate if we’re going to get through the other attractions.I don’t know, your pathetic excuse for a team has managed to bungle their way through the games so far. Not sure cooperation is as necessary as you think. If we don’t trust each other, everything’s going to fall apart. I want to trust you, but I can’t do that if you’re going to keep stuff from me like this. I planted my feet and looked him in the eye. … Shirabe stared back at me for a long moment then rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. Well, spill it! Right… By now everyone else had made their way back into the room, possibly because they’d gotten tired of waiting for us. What’s going on? Um, well…*After a fade-to-black wipe* I brought them up to speed quickly, and when I was finished Shirabe began to speak. I got a call from someone who called themselves “M2.” They told me I’d learn the truth if I came to the park’s opening.Sound off in the thread: What case do you think Ayumu is chasing? My money is 100% on “the people/thing responsible for his wife’s death.” I would also ask “Who do you think M2 is?”, but I think that’s most likely to be Hogstein. Still not sure why he singled out Ayumu for this, but luring him in with the promise of finding answers seems like an easy way to get him where you want him. I was talking to the pig last night because I was trying to figure out if he was M2. He just blew me off, though…Called it. Also, there you have it. The big suspicious thing Saki was going crazy thinking about was Ayumu doing the exact thing a journalist/investigator/reporter would obviously be doing: Trying to pry information out of people. He sighed and scratched at his beard. I’m not the traitor. Cross my heart. …Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, if he was the traitor, why would he let Mai get caught up in all this? You’re right… I’m sorry I suspected you, Shirabe. (Then the pig was lying about there being a traitor!)Yes! Because it ferments unrest within the group! It’s like the easiest and most obvious way to get under a group’s skin and drive them to each other’s throats. It’s an incredibly effective mind game because there are few ways of reliably disproving the accusation and personal biases lead to everyone suspecting someone else. This leads to confirmation bias when a paranoid person starts attributing every action or word from the suspected traitor as being evidence of their ulterior motives. You can’t afford to completely brush aside the idea, but at the same time you don’t go full blown “investigation wall” like Saki did. My uncle’s advice had been right on the money. All of my fears about Shirabe were gone. We need to get moving. Only two hours left until the deadline. Right. Let’s go! …What the hell is that thing staring at us through the window? Well, this should be the last room. “Records”… right? There were several wooden desks spaced evenly throughout the room. On top of each one was a mountain of documents and old computers. Surrounding the desks were rows of bookshelves. Look at that… Not sure I like the sound of that. Hnngh… Looks like it’s glued to the desk. I guess we won’t be moving it.Do we need to? We only need whatever’s inside, right? Well don’t try and force it. Everyone else stepped back as Shidou approached the box and slowly opened the lid. This… this is… What the heck? There’s some sorta weird machine in there… …We have a lot less than 2 hours left now.
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Jun 6, 2020 |
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Jun 5, 2020 19:46
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If this game wanted to make me really not play a route, it sure succeeded here. Regardless of what you may think of children (I'm not too fond of them myself!), Shirabe's treatment of his daughter is horrendous and beyond unacceptable. I'm glad we're out of the dumb traitor plot but that doesn't change the fact that I'm not looking forward to his route if it ever gets played and I doubt he can do anything to fix how I feel about him now.
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Jun 5, 2020 20:10
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For real! Is an unattractive 32-year old who rages at his daughter really supposed to be an appropriate option for this protagonist? No thanks!
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Jun 5, 2020 20:33
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Yeah, uh, holy loving christ. On the plus side, at least Mitarashi is good with kids, and I like him a lot more for just jumping in like that. Shidou also wins points for reaming Shirabe out, and I honestly don't blame him for maxing out - child abuse is 100% something to get pissed about.
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Jun 6, 2020 01:19
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Dumping his kid on his mother-in-law after his wife died was already a romance disqualifier, did he think there was a gold medal for going the extra mile with child abuse? Mitarashi though  Shidou did good chewing that douchecanoe out too.
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Jun 6, 2020 01:40
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