Crescendo

[Arwyn]

Originally Posted by kujoe

Heh, I told you. And I'm with you on your favorites so far. My favorites are also Kaori followed by Yuka. Ayame's story is right behind theirs. You might also like Kaho's too.

I just wish the game was a bit longer. It's a pity that a good game such as this doesn't last long.

I agree. And after looking at the list of availible titles, and then looking at the ones that are similar to Crescendo, its a short list indeed.

Especially after following some of the threads on Da Capo, Kanon, Tsukihime, and KGNE, I really wish they were availble in translation as well. Hopefully we will see more titles in the future.

After Crescendo, I honestly admit Im much more interested in seeing some similar titles, but there just isnt much out there.

[Village Idiot]

Check out Seasons of the Sakura, and old, old bishoujo game that has characters designs taken from Eva, Magic Knight Rayearth, and another series that I forgot the title. Just a warning that unless you buy the JAST Collection version, the game will not work in WinXP.

It was the very first bishoujo game I've ever played, and I still think it's one of the best

Well, Geneon is bringing over Tsukihime the series here. Maybe, just maybe, the game will be released here too (heck, maybe if we're lucky, they'll; include the game in a collectors edition or something).

Working Designs (I think) is bringing over Sakura Wars. If that game is successful, it might spark higher interest in bishoujo games here.

Kana, Private Nurse, and Snow Drop are very good bishoujo games with great story/characters.

[AG3]

Originally Posted by Arwyn

Yuka's storyline was so emotional, I honestly didnt have the guts to go back and try the "bad" storyline. If the "good" ending made it feel like getting kicked in the guts a couple of times, Im afraid to see the "bad" one........

Actually, if you terminate the path early on, you will skip the more "traumatic" parts of Yuka's path and still get the bad ending. It's not horrible or anything, but it's a little bit sad when you compare it to for instance Ayame's "bad" ending.

Originally Posted by Village Idiot

Kana, Private Nurse, and Snow Drop are very good bishoujo games with great story/characters.

I never liked Snow Drop, I thought the game was too short, illogical and not very emotional. Low replayability too. But somehow, almost no one seems to agree with me, most people think the game is great.

[Arwyn]

Well, I should finish the game tonight, and I have mixed feelings about it. It has turned out to be something completely different from what I expected, and that is a good thing. I do find myself wishing it was longer, it was so well done I find I really hate to see it end so soon.

Overall I have to say it was completely different from what I went in expecting. The storylines certainly dont pull any punches, they were very realistic and pretty true to life. In fact, I think the overall quality of the storylines was some of the best stuff I have seen in any medium in years, and you wont belive how surprised I am to say that about about a game genre that I had dismissed out of hand before.

Of the storylines, Yuka's had the most emotional impact for me. There were several parts of it that were just raw, and the voice actress really pulled out the stops on a couple of sequences.

Spoiler:

The sequence when Yuka comes to Ryo's house and is sitting on his bed recounting what happend is pretty tough. Especially when she starts losing it after he hugs her. The voice actress in particular really does a powerful job conveying her anguish, especially when she starts in on how "dirty" she is, and that she deserves her miserable life. Ouch. Got to admit, my eyes were burning on that one. The writers really did a hell of a job with reinforcing her character and story with the images throughout it. The dirty angel in the statue in the amusment park was a perfect icon for Yuka's character, and she identified with it immediately. That symbolism was hard to miss, but it wasnt cliched at all, but very well done instead. The overall theme of her story, redemption through love, was very strongly presented and pretty powerful. If fact, I kept thinking that this was the kind of writing you would expect to see in a much more "serious" format, like a novel or movie, rather than a game.

Ayame's was right behind it. Once again, the voice actress was superb. I really felt sorry for Ayame in the first couple of storylines I went through, and when I played though her storyline I admit I was just flat stunned. An excellent job, but the subject and story wasnt one I could identify with or enjoy.

Spoiler:

I also admit this storyline made me damned uncomfortable. The storyline on this one was WAY darker then anything I expected to see in a game like this. The amount of guilt and self hatred Ryo and Ayame had for themselves was pretty tough to watch. It was admittedly well done, even though it made me uncomfortable. The voice actress really impressed me with the "confession" scene on the couch. The dialog and acting really was superb, very raw, very emotional, and very honest to the theme. I do admit though, I really HATED the path for the "good" ending. It took me a while to figure it out and I really, really didnt like that choice.

Despite the emotional impact of those two stories, my favorite is still Kaori. I think that is probably due to the story and the romance were much more "mature" then the other storylines. Plus, I admit, I really liked Kaori from a personality standpoint. If those characters were real, she would be the most appealing, even though I dont care for women who smoke.

Spoiler:

Kaori was the first storyline I played through, and of course I got the bad ending the first time through. That was the thing that had me sitting there thinking "ok, that sucked" followed by "there is a lot more to this game then I thought". There was a lot of internalized agnst in Kaori's character, but it was really interesting to see how that played out betweent the bad ending, and the good ending. Once again, the writers did a hell of a job tying in the background and in Kaori's case, it was the slow discovery the various hidden facets of her personality. The whole issue with the coffee cups, and Ryo's realization of what that meant was excellent, at that moment you really begin to get an idea that there are hidden depths, and the story follows that consistantly. The different scenes in the car, and the way they tied back into her personality being revealed where well done. I though they way the slowly chipped away at her shell and revealed more of her character was very well done, until her true nature is finally revealed at the end at Ryo's graduation. And I admit, I got a kick out of the ending when she kisses him in front of all the students.

I like Kaho and Kyoko's stories, and they really are one story as opposed to two different ones. I thought Kyoko's was sweet, and it was certainly not as emotionaly heavy as the other stories. I really felt for Kyoko, she came off as very sympathteic and sweet, and was certainly honest with her feelings. After some of the emotional rollercoasters in the other storylines, hers was a nice change of pace.

Spoiler:

The overall theme of isolation and loneliness and finding someone was nicely done, even though its not the most original. Still it was well done and nice. The way they portray her as emotionally isolated was very nicely reinforced by the scenes in her apartment, which was painfully spartan. Her lack of self esteem and the development of her character into something more positive and assertive were well done. Her storyline was well done, and the background/scenery/voice acting did and excellent job of reinforcing the story and her personality.

Kaho was the flipside to Kyoko's story, and I have kind of mixed feelings about it. Hers was the last I did, and I sort of wished I had done it earlier.

Spoiler:

Kaho's story was nice, and I think I probably should have done hers and Kyoko's first. Both of their stories were good, and the characters were appealing, but their stories are definately overshadowed by the other three. I really wish I had done Kaho's story earlier, I did it last, and she really winds up looking a little petty after the other girls stories. At one point I kept thinking "two years of beating around the bush? Get on with it already!". I was a little annoyed with her, but I think it was a combination of doing her story last, and having it overshadowed by the other, more emotionally powerful ones. Since I did hers after Yuka, I found her a little petty. I did however really like the way the way it played out between her, Ryo, Kyoko and Tomonori. The story wasnt bad, but it was hard to compare it to the other stories.

[AG3]

So now, after enjoying one of the extremely few ero-games of this magnitude, you're going to have to wait (probably) years for another one like it to be translated. Share the pain!!! MWA HA HA HA HAAAA!!!!

.....



The problem with playing games like Crescendo is that the mediocrity of the other translated games becomes painfully evident.

Excellent post, by the way!

[Village Idiot]

90% of all the english translated bishoujo games is just sex, sex, followed by more sex with bland characters and a non-existent story

[Arwyn]

Originally Posted by AG3

So now, after enjoying one of the extremely few ero-games of this magnitude, you're going to have to wait (probably) years for another one like it to be translated. Share the pain!!! MWA HA HA HA HAAAA!!!!

.....



The problem with playing games like Crescendo is that the mediocrity of the other translated games becomes painfully evident.

Excellent post, by the way!

Yeah, it figures, I finally break down and try it, only to find there is like 3 other titles like it out there and availble. Definately my luck.

Originally Posted by Village Idiot

90% of all the english translated bishoujo games is just sex, sex, followed by more sex with bland characters and a non-existent story

Yep, thats honestly what my opinion of the whole genre was before trying Crescendo. Obviously I was wrong, unfortunately not wrong enough. Its really sad to see as well. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky.

[Arwyn]

Well, I finished it, and I all can say is wow.

Originally Posted by AG3

The problem with playing games like Crescendo is that the mediocrity of the other translated games becomes painfully evident.

And that, on closing, is so true.



And damn guys, you could have warned me about that last one, Miyu's story was a killer.

Spoiler:

I started picking up the "something isnt right here" vibe pretty quick, and the when she disappeared at the date, plus the funny looks from passers by pretty much gave it away. But that ending, ouch. I was cool up until they got to the scene with her mother, and the picture. When her mom looked at Ryo and said it "looked like she was having a happy dream" and looked at him funny....... then thanked him... whooo boy did that one get under my guard. And the final pane at the piano, "please forget me". ...... That just killed me. I can count the number of times something I have watched has made me tear up on one hand, and that one just got added to the total. And its an bishoju game!

I cannot recommend this highly enough. How the hell something this well done cant be more popular is beyond me, the story, the voice, the overall quality really put this one over the top. I am still amazed, and very glad I got down off my high horse and tried it.

And of course, with my typical luck there are only a couple of other titles like this availible. Though that may not be a bad thing, I could see this getting to be a very expensive hobby if there were lots of titles of this quality.


And thanks for the recommendations guys, your comments were what finally convinced me to give it a shot, and I am really glad I did.

[kujoe]

Yep, a lot of the other ero games out there aim for pornographic entertainment more than anything else, but at the same time, I find it kind of ironic that the more well written love stories can be generally found in the same genre. Examples like Tsukihime and KGNE come to mind.

Moreover, the story of Crescendo doesn't treat sex as a "taboo" or something to be ashamed about. It's just there, and it's an acknowledged part of the story. Of course, one can argue that such scenes can be omitted, but you have to give it credit for trying to be "mature." Then again, in Yuka's case, I think such an omission would weaken her story.

[Arwyn]

Originally Posted by kujoe

Yep, a lot of the other ero games out there aim for pornographic entertainment more than anything else, but at the same time, I find it kind of ironic that the more well written love stories can be generally found in the same genre. Examples like Tsukihime and KGNE come to mind.

Moreover, the story of Crescendo doesn't treat sex as a "taboo" or something to be ashamed about. It's just there, and it's an acknowledged part of the story. Of course, one can argue that such scenes can be omitted, but you have to give it credit for trying to be "mature." Then again, in Yuka's case, I think such an omission would weaken her story.

I agree, in fact you couldnt do Yuka's story without it, not without massively rewriting it, and even then, I dont think it would have the same impact as the original.

Overall, I think Crescendo treated the subject decently. While fairly graphic, I would not class it with the other porn ero-games. The segements are brief, and are not gratuitous or really even porn. The segments just are not treated that way, nor is it exploitative or cheap. I think the writers struck an appropriate balance, and honestly, with the way the stories were presented, it would be very hard to present them without it. Certainly Yuka's, but Ayame's story as well.

It is interesting to see that so many good anime titles are based on the "thinking" ero games. After seeing KGNE, Kanon, Da Capo, and Tuskihime, I would really like to see them do one on Crescendo, so who knows.

For that matter, I would like to see those titles in and english sub now as well, but Im not going to hold my breath....

[AG3]

I too agree, the scene was a major part of her storyline. It could easily have been made gratuitous with loads of explicit descriptions and more CGs, but they made it all quite "tastefully". I have to put that in marks, considering the actual scene, but I still think Digital Object did a good job on the scenarios.

As mentioned earlier, Kyoko's and Kaho's scenarios are very "light" compared to the others, but I'll commend D.O. for including a mix of different scenarios. It would have been kinda weird if ALL of them were full of angst and terrible events, don't you think?

[Arwyn]

Originally Posted by AG3

I too agree, the scene was a major part of her storyline. It could easily have been made gratuitous with loads of explicit descriptions and more CGs, but they made it all quite "tastefully". I have to put that in marks, considering the actual scene, but I still think Digital Object did a good job on the scenarios.

As mentioned earlier, Kyoko's and Kaho's scenarios are very "light" compared to the others, but I'll commend D.O. for including a mix of different scenarios. It would have been kinda weird if ALL of them were full of angst and terrible events, don't you think?

Yes, I agree. Kyoko's story is very simple and straight forward. Kaho's is a little more complex, expecially with the effects on Kyoko and Tomonori. The other had different types of story and different issues they worked through, and I think it was one of the strong points of the game. I think D.O. did an excellent job, and I am still impressed by the quality of the writing in the different storylines.

[darkmoonv]

Does anyone here played the Jap version of Crescendo? I just got the US ver last week and loved it sooooo much I dencided to hack into the game to extract the CG, BG, BGM, SE and anything I could get my hands on (it was easy, by the way). I was surprised when I found many pictures I didn't see in my playing. I still haven't finished he game completely yet, but all those extracted pics are mosaic censored, the characters look younger (which is bad imo), and there are lots of new characters and loctions. For example, a pic named tex01.gg2 show a group of 5 guys looking like they're going to beat the hell out of someone, a series of pics named ev_kh02af.gg to ev_kh04bf.gg with a couple look like 12 year old Ryo and Kaho making love (censored of course), some back ground pics illustrate locations I've never seen, and much more. I think (actually, now I'm certain) they're from the Japanese ver, 'cause you all know when a h-game is translated into English, if the translating company has to change or delete something, they usually leave the original fata and just rewrite the code so that the game never calls to the "unneccessary" things. So, damn it, WHAT THE HELL DID G-COLLECTIONS TAKE AWAY FROM ME You don't come across great game like this often, and I want to get the best out of it. There're certainly more stories and more fun, touching hours of gameplay than what I'm having now. If I could read Japanese and got enough money, I'd get the DVD without second thought, unfortuantely I don't. I'm sure there's someone here who has both version, so can you please tell me the differences? I want to know it's worth my money, as I live in Vietnam and buying games online (which is the only way) is a real hassle and expensive.

By the way, I've read a post somewhere in this forum that says there's 3 titles like Crescendo out there. Is it true? Can anyone tell me their names? I'm really interested in romantic h-games where it's more about the art, the story and the feel than, say, rampant cock-plunging. The first time I saw Crescendo's covers, I sensed something different and knew I'd love this game. The covers, compare to other h-games, look beautiful, serious, if a bit sad. And the name, Crescendo, well, as quoted from mobiusfactor, is "Such a beautiful word. So artistic. So powerful. The rising of the might and the fury of music--the increase in its volume, its power, until it eventually reaches the climax of the entire piece, the explosion of art and energy, so fantastic and wonderful that it can sometimes move a man to tears because it's so powerful... and, like any crescendo, it finally dissipates, simply some weak ripple in an ocean of awe-struck silence." So, in conclusion, it's gotta be a great game, and you all know that.

[Village Idiot]

That was the pics from the DVD version of Crescendo. The DVD version has added scenes/storyline scenerios that was added.

Originally, the CD version of Crescendo doesn't have voices, but G-Collections ripped them from the DVD version and added it into the CD version.

[darkmoonv]

You mean there are more scenarios? Really? Are they good enough?

[AG3]

Adding voices to the game was a decision that G-Collections made mid-project after having worked on the game for some time, and it delayed the release somewhat. This happened before I joined the G-Collections boards, so I haven't seen G-Collections info about it myself, I've only heard it from the other memebers.

The G-Collections version uses some of the DVD version's resource files instead of cutting out the necessary content from them and merging with the CD version (and modifying other files as needed), which would probably be much more work.

As mentioned in the Surprised by Crescendo thread, the most similar titles to Crescendo are Kana - Little Sister and Private Nurse. I guess you could include Heart de Roommate to the list of games with similar length and gameplay, but the story has much less impact and is too lighthearted most of the time to really be compared with them.

Critical Point is mentioned, but it has a sci-fi story which is less romantic than the other games, and is shorter per playthrough. But each story branch and ending is very different from the others in the game, which is somewhat unusual in translated ero-games. It's a recommended title if you don't want pure romance, though there is some of that too in it.

[darkmoonv]

Thanks! I'll try the game yo mentioned. But what I'm looking for now is games with the same artist, whose name Yukarigawa Yumiya if I'm not mistaken. Do you know any? I like the way she express characters' fellings through their big eyes, and everything is drawn very detailed, except for the h-scenes. May be she's embarrased? I know she's a hentai manga artis but that's not an impossibility ;p

What about the CGs I found with young characters? Do they actually look like that in the the DVD version? No one answered my question yet x(

One more thing, anyone knows anything about Misaki Tomomi (Kyoko's voice actress)? Oh I LOVE Kyoko. It's a shame her scenario is so short and even crossed with Kaho's.

[AG3]

Originally Posted by darkmoonv

What about the CGs I found with young characters? Do they actually look like that in the the DVD version? No one answered my question yet x(

The "young" characters you are referring to are probably of the same person. She's the character you can unlock after having completed at least one ending for every girl (bad or good doesn't matter, I think), and starting a new game. Her scenario is short, though. The "extra" CGs from the DVD version tend to look slightly different than the normal ones, so you have probably confused the two types as two different characters.

Originally Posted by darkmoonv

Oh I LOVE Kyoko. It's a shame her scenario is so short and even crossed with Kaho's.

Kyoko is my favorite too


As for the other questions, I'm sorry I can't help you there

[darkmoonv]

No that's definately not Miyu. Well I think I'll post some pictures, so you can get some idea of what I'm talking about.
But what the heck ? How can I upload pictures from my HDD on to this post ? Anyone please tell me. I don't want to upload the pics to somewhere else and then link to them, that's a nuisance

[AG3]

Originally Posted by darkmoonv

How can I upload pictures from my HDD on to this post ? Anyone please tell me. I don't want to upload the pics to somewhere else and then link to them, that's a nuisance

You have to. You can't attach files or images to your posts at AnimeSuki, due to bandwith usage. There are free picture hosts on the web you can use.