Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 05:32 p.m.
I spent the whole month playing Asmic Ace/Shout Design Works' Tokyo Majin Gakuen Gehouchou, the sequel to Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuuchou. It was very nice... I really enjoyed playing Kenpuuchou so I was waiting forever for Gehouchou to come out. I preordered it and finally got it in the beginning of this month... XD Happiness. First, let me explain what the series' game format is like... The Majin series is composed of half adventure, half strategy. The battles are (sort of) in the genre Tactics Ogre is in, but the rest of the story is like a choose-your-own-adventure format. Instead of making choices by actions or words, though, you use emotions (the gamemakers call it the "emotion input system"). Whenever a situation comes up and a character asks you a question or requests a comment, you input one of eight emotions. Out of four "positive" emotions, you can choose "love," "friendship," "agreement," or "happiness." The four "negative" emotions are "worry/puzzlement," "sadness," "anger," or "coldness." There is one more, "ignore," if you don't input anything by the required time frame. So with these emotions, you can advance the story in many different ways.
Now for the story. Kenpuuchou took place in Tokyo in modern time (in the late 1990s), but Gehouchou takes place during the Bakumatsu period (1866), during the reign of the Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi. You can start the story from one of the two start-up discs: the Ying disc or the Yang disc. If you start from the Yang one, you as the main character (by the default name Hiyuu Tatsuto) join a group called the Ryuusengumi to fight against the "evils" who want to destroy the Tokugawa shogunate. If you start from the Ying disc, you join a group called the Kidoushuu to avenge the people who were oppressed by the Tokugawa shogunate. So it's not just one-sided.... In the third disc, these two parties come together, and...
My comments. Some of the characters in the game are the ancestors of the characters that came out in Kenpuuchou, so it was fun comparing them... For instance, in Kenpuuchou, I really didn't like the descendant of one of my favorite characters, Kozunu Tenkai, because he looked like he wore dirty underwear. >_<; (I apologize, if by any chance, any Tendou fans are reading this) I started from the Yang disc (since I was a fan of Houraiji Kyoichi from Kenpuuchou, and his ancestor was supposed to come out in the Yang disc), but I liked the Ying one better.... The characters who came out in the Ying disc were mostly guys, so you'd probably understand why. XD My favorite characters in the game were Houraiji Kyogo, Kozunu Tenkai (aka Oyakata-sama), and Mibu Souha (an ex-Shinsengumi member who was being stalked by Okita Souji >:D)...
Anyway, this game made me really interested in Bakumatsu history, especially about the Shinsengumi. I want to read Rurouni Kenshin again, but no one I know owns it anymore... ~_~; So currently I'm reading Shinsengumi Keppuroku by Shiba Ryotaro. And I realized... uh, has anyone watched the movie "Gohatto"? There's a short story in this book which the movie was based on....... but I'll talk about that another time.
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 04:24 p.m.
Here is a list of what kept me entertained over the winter:
Harukanaru Toki no Nakade: I'm preparing for 2.
Tokyo Majin Gakuen Gehouchou: The sequel to Kenpuuchou!!! Oyakata-sama~!!
Toruneko no Daibouken 2: I love the Mysterious Dungeon series...
Angelique Trois: Luva~ Ernst~ Oscar~ Arios~ >:D
Atelier Lilie: I am an item collector, so I really enjoyed this game.
Shinsengumi Keppuuroku: By Shiba Ryotaro. I'm into Bakumatsu history now.
BASARA: I think this is one of the best shojo mangas.
BLACKJACK: Tezuka Osamu is my hero...
