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***relentlessflame*** · 2008-05-07, 02:55

Well, in the spirit of the thread, the latest game that has my attention is Fizz's Asanagi no Aquanauts. Only played through one route so far (that of the titular heroine, Mio), but I've been quite pleased with it on the whole.

Useless without pics, so...

Spoiler for Box Cover Art (Slightly NSFW):

Spoiler for LE/Pre-Order Goodies (Illustration Book, Bonus Disc Cover, and Telecard) (More NSFW than above):

(By the way, the School Swimsuit disc is a patch disc that simply converts all of the normal in-game swimsuits into school swimsuits, if that's your preference...

It doesn't actually change any game files, though, so you can turn it on or off by just renaming the patch install folder.)

Shinova already posted a summary of the trial version, which is basically the first hour or so of the game, so I guess there's no need to repeat the basic premise. So I'll jump straight to impressions (I'll use two levels of spoiler tags -- one for mild spoilers/the first few hours-ish, and the another for comments about the end-game scenario/overall).

Spoiler for General Impressions of Premise and Characters (Light Spoilers only):

Really, like Shinova said in the trial summary, the game has a lot of fun and interesting elements all packed together in a bit of a jarring way, but my overall impression of the game, at least after completing the first and titular story scenario, is quite good.

The game combines a lot of things you've almost definitely seen before if you're at all familiar with the anime/manga/bishoujo-game culture of the last few years: the tsundere ojou-sama with a secret that only you (the protagonist) know, the kouhai with obvious feelings that just can't seem to get across, the boisetrous and doting onee-san who's more than a little protective of her younger brother, and the mysterious quasi-loli beauty of few (and very slowly-spoken) words. I mean I guarantee that you'll recognize every single one of these characters pretty much instantly, even if you can't quite place them exactly. For people looking primarily for originality, this might be a strong negative, but I personally felt the familiarity helped me get into the game's story more quickly. It felt pretty much just like an anime, so it didn't take long to get into it.

In addition to all that, though, the game offers a number of other fun little quirks that, while again not entirely original, build a pretty good dynamic between the cast pretty quickly. I won't ruin them all, but a few of my favourites were...

The whole mermaid premise itself; it's pretty cute and pretty well played-out. It seems at first to be a bit close to Seto no Hanayome, but in the end it's a fair bit different too (more about that below).
The on-going joke about Mio's conspicuous "no-pan" situation -- because, after all, mermaids don't wear them, so why should she be inconvenienced by something so troublesome?
The immediate and obvious friction between Mio and Yuriko from the moment they first meet (at Aki's house). Sparks flying, tensions rising, "fish vs. cat: round 1 -- fight!" As they say, "epic".
Yuriko's almost Haruhi-Suzumiya-like tendancy to make decisions that implicate others, inform them after the fact, and use her own very persuasive methods to get her way (without ever seeming like any sort of bad person, deep down).
Mariel (pictured in the telecard above) -- the star-crossed foreigner who's lived in Japan all her life. Her parents are English, but she totally sucks at it, and her small stature and child-like mannerisms make her the brunt of every joke. It's really hard not to feel sorry for her.
Miyuki (often pictured next to Mio in promo art, such as above) -- a blend of the kouhai and childhood friend archetypes. The shy, kind-hearted, soft-spoken beauty, popular among the guys, who always goes out of her way to offer you lunch. Envy of the school? You bet! But there's always a catch, and it involves a lot of "gomen nasai! gomen nasai!"

If there are any flaws in the content, it's not so much for the elements of the story itself -- like I said, there are just a ton of fun ideas packed in there -- it's more the way they're executed that feels a bit disjointed throughout the whole story. It's sort of like they couldn't quite figure out how to tie everything together perfectly, so it often feels like the story's changing gears -- "okay, now we're doing this!" "oh yeah, and we should probably mention this!". Maybe some of the revelations just needed a bit stronger foreshadowing to tie things together? For example (and I'll keep this vague and nondescript), you go about 1/4 of the way through the story, and all of a sudden Yuriko brings up "by the way, I'm in charge of this event and you're all helping" -- I said before that's sort of a good thing about her personality, but it's a bit weird for the story. Also, you go at least half-way through Mio's story, and then all of a sudden they bring up the fact that, actually, she's been looking for someone important to her all this while. It's totally obvious that these things are to help move the plot forward, but it sort of gives the impression that they didn't really know entirely what they were doing when they started writing the story. And that sort of continues through the entire story -- it's like they had all these really good ideas, but couldn't quite figure out how to put them together in this format. I actually think the way it's structured would work a lot better in a manga or an anime, but it's presented more like a traditional visual novel with day seperators. Maybe they should take a cue from feng or someone in this regard.

Spoiler for Mio end-game impressions/comments (mild-to-moderate spoiler, but I won't give away the end. Still, don't read if you want to play the game yourself and don't want to be spoiled/pre-biased.):

The trend I was talking about just above sort of continued all the way to the end of Mio's scenario and, again, it sort of felt like they couldn't really figure out what they wanted to do. Mostly this was because they kept teasing you with a certain ending over and over, but then took it away at the last minute. And each time they did that, they'd again shift gears, and go on another bout -- sometimes a very interesting one -- but then they'd shift gears again and start on something else. There are a number of revelations that come out of the Mio end-game scenario, but they're not really fully fleshed-out or developed. Sort of more like they're "toyed with", but then set aside. But this could be because they'll play a larger role in the stories involving other characters, so I should be careful not to assume too much after only going through one path.

All that being said, I did still like the scenario, especially including the epilogue, which actually did tie pretty well to at least a big chunk of the story. I would say they pretty much saved it, and it definitely worked. If it ever got adapated to an anime, and they decided to stay true to the game's story, I could see it easily being cleaned up and perfected without much trouble. Just forcing them to re-tell the story in a shorter timespan, and so concentrating on the important things, would probably be enough to fix all my concerns. (Not that the game needed to be shorter -- the scenario was only maybe 10-15 hours. In fact, maybe that's the problem -- maybe they felt they had to pad the story for length? Anyway, enough about this issue...)

Incidentally, the biggest difference between this and Seto no Hanayome really comes down to Mio. Although Mio and Sun are both mermaids who've had their identity revealed to a guy and need to keep their identity mostly a secret from others, that's basically where the similarities end in terms of their characters. Mio, being a tsundere, brings a totally different dynamic to the story; deep down she's distant, resigned to her fate, and lonely. Her first instincts are to run away and face her problems on her own. So, in this story, she, rather than fate/family/other characters, is basically the main "enemy" of the romance. That's the tsundere way -- you have to break through the shell to get them to stop putting up their barriers. And, I have to admit, that was one of the things I found a bit frustrating about Mio as a character and in the way they portrayed that in the game. In the end, it's always about having them run out of excuses. But that's a tsundere for you, and it sort of goes with the territory. At first I considered this a more major flaw, but after giving it some thought, I think it's just part what it took to stay true to the character.

Anyway, so now that my ramblings have turned into this mammoth post, maybe I'd better wrap things up by giving my impressions about the technical aspects of the game (from what I've seen so far, at least). As Shinova said in his review of the trial, the in-game graphics are okay, but it's in the CGs (and certain ones in particular) where the game artists really shine; some of the art is just really, really well done. When I say that, though, I'm not necessarily referring to the CGs that "everyone's thinking of". All in all, for the most part, this is one of those games (like so many) that doesn't really benefit much from the sex scenes, or certainly need as many (there were 5 in Mio's scenario). The integration into the rest of the story (at least in Mio's scenario) ranges from decent to pretty bad; some of them are really just pandering throw-aways that don't really tie into the plot that much, and so stick out in not such a great way. It doesn't help that the sex scenes feature what has to be probably the single worse piece of sex-scene BGM I've heard in an ero-game... possibly ever. Other than that, though, the music in the game ranges from decent to very good, I'd say. The biggest highlight is the OP/ED pieces, which of course feature the voice of Mio, Yui Sakakibara. Speaking of which, the voice acting is definitely one of the other big draws to the game; all of the main heroines are very well-acted, with Yui Sakakibara being the obvious major highlight (and, really, you can see why they built a lot of the game's marketing around her as a main character -- it's a role she plays very well).

So, what's next? I think I'm going to try for Yuriko's scenario, followed by Miyuki. I'm not sure if I'll get to Kanaka because, to be honest, I'm just not sure if her slow-speaking dead-pan quiet-type persona is really for me (though she does get a fair bit more interesting and involved once she warms up to everyone - I guess that also goes with the territory too).

Anyway, from where I stand so far, I wouldn't have any problem recommending the full game to anyone who enjoyed the trial. I didn't feel it was necessarily quite as solid as a romantic comedy as something like Tsunagaru Bangle (which was a riot), and it doesn't quite have the writing chops of a big-name production, but it brings a lot of fun (if not entirely original) ideas to the table and combines them in a pretty decent way. Worth a look, anyway.

2008-05-07, 02:55	Link #2109
*relentlessflame* 　 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2003 Age: 41	Well, in the spirit of the thread, the latest game that has my attention is Fizz's Asanagi no Aquanauts. Only played through one route so far (that of the titular heroine, Mio), but I've been quite pleased with it on the whole. Useless without pics, so... Spoiler for Box Cover Art (Slightly NSFW): Spoiler for LE/Pre-Order Goodies (Illustration Book, Bonus Disc Cover, and Telecard) (More NSFW than above): (By the way, the School Swimsuit disc is a patch disc that simply converts all of the normal in-game swimsuits into school swimsuits, if that's your preference... It doesn't actually change any game files, though, so you can turn it on or off by just renaming the patch install folder.) Shinova already posted a summary of the trial version, which is basically the first hour or so of the game, so I guess there's no need to repeat the basic premise. So I'll jump straight to impressions (I'll use two levels of spoiler tags -- one for mild spoilers/the first few hours-ish, and the another for comments about the end-game scenario/overall). Spoiler for General Impressions of Premise and Characters (Light Spoilers only): Really, like Shinova said in the trial summary, the game has a lot of fun and interesting elements all packed together in a bit of a jarring way, but my overall impression of the game, at least after completing the first and titular story scenario, is quite good. The game combines a lot of things you've almost definitely seen before if you're at all familiar with the anime/manga/bishoujo-game culture of the last few years: the tsundere ojou-sama with a secret that only you (the protagonist) know, the kouhai with obvious feelings that just can't seem to get across, the boisetrous and doting onee-san who's more than a little protective of her younger brother, and the mysterious quasi-loli beauty of few (and very slowly-spoken) words. I mean I guarantee that you'll recognize every single one of these characters pretty much instantly, even if you can't quite place them exactly. For people looking primarily for originality, this might be a strong negative, but I personally felt the familiarity helped me get into the game's story more quickly. It felt pretty much just like an anime, so it didn't take long to get into it. In addition to all that, though, the game offers a number of other fun little quirks that, while again not entirely original, build a pretty good dynamic between the cast pretty quickly. I won't ruin them all, but a few of my favourites were... The whole mermaid premise itself; it's pretty cute and pretty well played-out. It seems at first to be a bit close to Seto no Hanayome, but in the end it's a fair bit different too (more about that below). The on-going joke about Mio's conspicuous "no-pan" situation -- because, after all, mermaids don't wear them, so why should she be inconvenienced by something so troublesome? The immediate and obvious friction between Mio and Yuriko from the moment they first meet (at Aki's house). Sparks flying, tensions rising, "fish vs. cat: round 1 -- fight!" As they say, "epic". Yuriko's almost Haruhi-Suzumiya-like tendancy to make decisions that implicate others, inform them after the fact, and use her own very persuasive methods to get her way (without ever seeming like any sort of bad person, deep down). Mariel (pictured in the telecard above) -- the star-crossed foreigner who's lived in Japan all her life. Her parents are English, but she totally sucks at it, and her small stature and child-like mannerisms make her the brunt of every joke. It's really hard not to feel sorry for her. Miyuki (often pictured next to Mio in promo art, such as above) -- a blend of the kouhai and childhood friend archetypes. The shy, kind-hearted, soft-spoken beauty, popular among the guys, who always goes out of her way to offer you lunch. Envy of the school? You bet! But there's always a catch, and it involves a lot of "gomen nasai! gomen nasai!" If there are any flaws in the content, it's not so much for the elements of the story itself -- like I said, there are just a ton of fun ideas packed in there -- it's more the way they're executed that feels a bit disjointed throughout the whole story. It's sort of like they couldn't quite figure out how to tie everything together perfectly, so it often feels like the story's changing gears -- "okay, now we're doing this!" "oh yeah, and we should probably mention this!". Maybe some of the revelations just needed a bit stronger foreshadowing to tie things together? For example (and I'll keep this vague and nondescript), you go about 1/4 of the way through the story, and all of a sudden Yuriko brings up "by the way, I'm in charge of this event and you're all helping" -- I said before that's sort of a good thing about her personality, but it's a bit weird for the story. Also, you go at least half-way through Mio's story, and then all of a sudden they bring up the fact that, actually, she's been looking for someone important to her all this while. It's totally obvious that these things are to help move the plot forward, but it sort of gives the impression that they didn't really know entirely what they were doing when they started writing the story. And that sort of continues through the entire story -- it's like they had all these really good ideas, but couldn't quite figure out how to put them together in this format. I actually think the way it's structured would work a lot better in a manga or an anime, but it's presented more like a traditional visual novel with day seperators. Maybe they should take a cue from feng or someone in this regard. Spoiler for Mio end-game impressions/comments (mild-to-moderate spoiler, but I won't give away the end. Still, don't read if you want to play the game yourself and don't want to be spoiled/pre-biased.): The trend I was talking about just above sort of continued all the way to the end of Mio's scenario and, again, it sort of felt like they couldn't really figure out what they wanted to do. Mostly this was because they kept teasing you with a certain ending over and over, but then took it away at the last minute. And each time they did that, they'd again shift gears, and go on another bout -- sometimes a very interesting one -- but then they'd shift gears again and start on something else. There are a number of revelations that come out of the Mio end-game scenario, but they're not really fully fleshed-out or developed. Sort of more like they're "toyed with", but then set aside. But this could be because they'll play a larger role in the stories involving other characters, so I should be careful not to assume too much after only going through one path. All that being said, I did still like the scenario, especially including the epilogue, which actually did tie pretty well to at least a big chunk of the story. I would say they pretty much saved it, and it definitely worked. If it ever got adapated to an anime, and they decided to stay true to the game's story, I could see it easily being cleaned up and perfected without much trouble. Just forcing them to re-tell the story in a shorter timespan, and so concentrating on the important things, would probably be enough to fix all my concerns. (Not that the game needed to be shorter -- the scenario was only maybe 10-15 hours. In fact, maybe that's the problem -- maybe they felt they had to pad the story for length? Anyway, enough about this issue...) Incidentally, the biggest difference between this and Seto no Hanayome really comes down to Mio. Although Mio and Sun are both mermaids who've had their identity revealed to a guy and need to keep their identity mostly a secret from others, that's basically where the similarities end in terms of their characters. Mio, being a tsundere, brings a totally different dynamic to the story; deep down she's distant, resigned to her fate, and lonely. Her first instincts are to run away and face her problems on her own. So, in this story, she, rather than fate/family/other characters, is basically the main "enemy" of the romance. That's the tsundere way -- you have to break through the shell to get them to stop putting up their barriers. And, I have to admit, that was one of the things I found a bit frustrating about Mio as a character and in the way they portrayed that in the game. In the end, it's always about having them run out of excuses. But that's a tsundere for you, and it sort of goes with the territory. At first I considered this a more major flaw, but after giving it some thought, I think it's just part what it took to stay true to the character. Anyway, so now that my ramblings have turned into this mammoth post, maybe I'd better wrap things up by giving my impressions about the technical aspects of the game (from what I've seen so far, at least). As Shinova said in his review of the trial, the in-game graphics are okay, but it's in the CGs (and certain ones in particular) where the game artists really shine; some of the art is just really, really well done. When I say that, though, I'm not necessarily referring to the CGs that "everyone's thinking of". All in all, for the most part, this is one of those games (like so many) that doesn't really benefit much from the sex scenes, or certainly need as many (there were 5 in Mio's scenario). The integration into the rest of the story (at least in Mio's scenario) ranges from decent to pretty bad; some of them are really just pandering throw-aways that don't really tie into the plot that much, and so stick out in not such a great way. It doesn't help that the sex scenes feature what has to be probably the single worse piece of sex-scene BGM I've heard in an ero-game... possibly ever. Other than that, though, the music in the game ranges from decent to very good, I'd say. The biggest highlight is the OP/ED pieces, which of course feature the voice of Mio, Yui Sakakibara. Speaking of which, the voice acting is definitely one of the other big draws to the game; all of the main heroines are very well-acted, with Yui Sakakibara being the obvious major highlight (and, really, you can see why they built a lot of the game's marketing around her as a main character -- it's a role she plays very well). So, what's next? I think I'm going to try for Yuriko's scenario, followed by Miyuki. I'm not sure if I'll get to Kanaka because, to be honest, I'm just not sure if her slow-speaking dead-pan quiet-type persona is really for me (though she does get a fair bit more interesting and involved once she warms up to everyone - I guess that also goes with the territory too). Anyway, from where I stand so far, I wouldn't have any problem recommending the full game to anyone who enjoyed the trial. I didn't feel it was necessarily quite as solid as a romantic comedy as something like Tsunagaru Bangle (which was a riot), and it doesn't quite have the writing chops of a big-name production, but it brings a lot of fun (if not entirely original) ideas to the table and combines them in a pretty decent way. Worth a look, anyway. __________________ [...]