Fuwa VN Reading Club: Summer 2017 (Everlasting Summer)

[kyrt]

The Summer months are now here and the theme for June/July will be Summer. The poll will be open through the evening of May 28th 2017 (MST), at which time the selection for June will be declared and we'll all start reading.

As usual, please only vote if you intend to read along with the club. Now without further delay here are your nominees! (Chrono Clock and Everlasting Summer tied with 9 votes each and so this time only I've allowed both to win...normally we will have a tie breaker)

Everlasting Summer Discussion will be here. (For this first poll certain characters might not be able to be read initially it's what do you want to read first)

Chrono Clock Discussion will be in this thread.

Feel free to read one or both of the visual novels just keep discussion about each in their respective threads.

Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort

Spoiler

 

Welcome to your part time job at a Southern resort. Full of deep blue skies, clear seas, and vibrant vegetation this might just be where you find some summer love. Surrounded by many girls: energetic imouto-like Sango, affectionate airhead ojousama Riho (not that one), shy and earnest Shiori, or even the strict manager Nagisa you can thank your kouhai Umi for getting you this job. Now admittedly she is the cause of you losing your previous job but hey now you get to have some fun at a summer resort, that is if you can keep your new job. Might be easier said than done as immediately upon arriving at your new job things get complicated and you must now pretend to be Umi's boyfriend or risk being sent back home.

Koirizo is a fairly fanservice-y title which depending on route can also be a pretty relaxing and fun read.  The game is a fairly standard moege that takes place at a beach resort instead of a school with the main character Soutarou running into multiple girls on this resort island each with unique personalities. This is a bright and cheerful visual novel with great visuals and artwork and some quirky characters.

(edited vndb description)

 

 

Air 

Spoiler

 

Kunisaki Yukito's deceased mother left him with the doll and her last wish that Yukito look for the "girl in the skies" because it is his destiny to save her. Only half-understanding what his mother meant, Yukito has been traveling across Japan, vainly searching for this myth-like girl his mother told him about. His latest destination is a small, sleepy town where summer has just arrived; and his encounter with a young girl named Misuzu there sets the wheels of destiny turning....

"Just another summer day. A mundane, typical day. Maybe that's all I wanted." -Yukito

(edited vndb description)

 

Everlasting Summer

Spoiler

 

Meeting Semyon, the game's main character, you would've never paid attention to him. Just an ordinary young man with thousands, even hundreds of thousands of those like him in every ordinary city. But one day something completely unusual happens to him: he falls asleep in a bus in winter and wakes up... in the middle of a hot summer. In front of him is "Sovyonok" - a pioneer camp, behind him is his former life. To understand what happened to him, Semyon will have to get to know the local inhabitants (and maybe even find love), find his way in the complex labyrinth of human relationships and his own problems and solve the camp's mysteries. And answer the main question - how to come back? Should he come back?

(edited Steam description)

 

 

 

 

Chrono Clock

Spoiler

 

The protagonist of this story, Rei Sawatari inherited a pocket watch with a special ability; 'The power to go back in time five minutes.’. It's a power that he can use as many times as he wants, but it's somewhat difficult to make use of. 
If he uses it well, then there's no telling what he could accomplish. Our protagonist is just a happy-go-lucky boy who became a time traveler in order to have fun adventures every day. At first, he sets off to simply make his life more fun, like the romantic comedy of his dreams, but that changes when he witnesses a girl fall to her death.

Don't expect a narrative-driven experience but do expect a rather well done harem rom/com.

(edited vndb description)

 

 

 

Ever 17
 

Spoiler

 

Ever 17 is the tale of those who come to be trapped 153 feet within the underwater marine theme park, LeMU. During an apparently normal May day at the park, a massive accident happens, placing almost half of the facility underwater. The path to the surface and the communication lines are cut off. In addition, LeMU is under constant assault by severe water pressure, limiting time to find a means of escape to 119 hours. What follows is a story full of mystery, twists, interesting characters, and a fantastic story. Ever 17 was my introduction to the visual novel medium and even to this day is something I can't help but hold in high regard.

(vndb edited description)

 

 

[littleshogun]

Okay, right now I'd stalled Chrono Clock at the beginning of Makoto's route so I think it would be good time to continue that. Although I'm pretty much okay with whatever the winner is though.

PS - For now my vote goes to Chrono Clock if it wasn't obvious enough.

Edited May 21, 2017 by littleshogun

[akaritan]

A part of me really wants to play Koisuru Natsu even though I know I'd hate it, so I'm voting for that one in spite of myself. 

[Swim Swim]

Chrono Clock

[Fred the Barber]

Not gonna lie, I want to play all of them. I stalled out of KoiRizo after 1.5 routes (but want to go back), stalled out of Air after about 30 minutes (but want to go back), and am actually most of the way through Chrono Clock now (and it's awesome). Meanwhile, I never even tried Everlasting Summer or Ever17, but they're both high on my hype list.

[EdwardWongHPTIV]

I voted last time but didn't end up joining because I was being a cheapskate (was going to grab it on sale but dithered because of my back log). This time I actually have Koisuru and would be willing to grab chrono clock. Not to mention everlasting is free iirc? At any rate I'm leaning towards the former two but can't really decide.

I'll think on it before I vote.

[Fred the Barber]

32 minutes ago, EdwardWongHPTIV said:

Not to mention everlasting is free iirc?

Correct: http://store.steampowered.com/app/331470/Everlasting_Summer/

[Adorabear]

I ended up voting for Chrono Clock since I've been interested in reading that since it came out a few months ago. I'd also love to read Ever17, but sadly I wouldn't be able to afford the English copy right now. =( 

[Fred the Barber]

Whoa, Eternal Summer was winning by a lot last time I checked, but Chrono Clock really is making it a close race right now.

[Adorabear]

3 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Whoa, Eternal Summer was winning by a lot last time I checked, but Chrono Clock really is making it a close race right now.

It is really close indeed! Out of curiosity, what happens if both of the games end up tied? 

[PapaRabbi]

So I've already read Chrono Clock and Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort, and I'm not particularly interested in the other three so I don't know what to pick 

[FinalChaos]

Have been planning to get back into vns as I've finally got my summer vacations, and I might as well use this chance to start reading.

Voted Chrono Clock....

[kyrt]

7 hours ago, Adorabear said:

It is really close indeed! Out of curiosity, what happens if both of the games end up tied? 

If it happens you will find out!

[skrewball717]

Torn between ever 17 and Everlasting Summer...but since ever 17 isn't that close...i'll go with Everlasting Summer

 

 

...And make it a tie again! I already read the other 3 so

Edited May 28, 2017 by skrewball717

[Tamaki Sakura]

I voted for Air because it's a Key game I still haven't gotten around to reading, and it fits the summer theme. Chrono Clock or KoiRizo would be fine, too.

[Adorabear]

16 hours ago, kyrt said:

If it happens you will find out!

Well, it looks like that actually happened! XD

[littleshogun]

Guess I'll see what Kyrt will do to break the tie. Oh, and I'll read whichever VN that won the vote even though to tell the truth I favored Chrono Clock.

[kyrt]

In case it wasn't apparent there are now two separate threads;

this thread is for Everlasting Summer Discussion

Chrono Clock Discussion will be in this thread.

They tied and while I could have done a tie breaker I don't think anyone will be opposed to both winning? 

[kyrt]

I've updated the poll since people keep asking why certain characters are listed that can't be done right away...they are still listed but I explain it now. Basically I'm curious which character people are most interested in...probably should have just worded it differently or something. 

Anyway discussion can begin please remember to keep spoilers in boxes.

[Fred the Barber]

Just started this earlier tonight. I have no idea how the mechanics work, but I just got through Day One, and there sure are a lot of choices right out of the gate! Here's to hoping Kenji doesn't pop up with a bottle of vodka to murder me on the roof for choosing poorly...

[littleshogun]

Since this VN was apparently took many interest here in regard of vote, I'll try this VN later.

[Fred the Barber]

I spent quite a lot of time with the game already, and although I won't be playing any for the next couple days, I'm still hoping to finish it on/by Monday. The game is definitely looking to be about medium length, I guess? Not as long as a typical full-price Japanese VN, but also nowhere near as short as something like Eden*, for instance.

At this point I've finished the Slavya, Lena, Alisa, and Semyon routes. Lena was pretty weird throughout, and didn't really work for me (mostly because of the character, in spite of my initial appreciation for the character). Semyon's route was pretty interesting, and Slavya and Alisa were both all right; no complaints there.

Now, brace yourselves: a wall of text complaining about choices is coming.

Honestly, the game is not great about making clear what choices will lead to what kind of outcome: sometimes you just have to go to the right random location to get a scene with a girl. Also, apparently showing curiosity for a girl's interests is often a bad idea: I was surprised to see in the guide that, for instance, trying to figure out what book Alisa is reading is a negative for her, whereas simply saying nothing about the book she's carrying will get you +1 affection (with no feedback after the fact to make this obvious). The game design side of this seems bad, to me, and I'd contrast it with games like, say, Little Busters!, where both the reasoning behind any choice and the outcome of your choices are a lot more obvious:

• In LB, before making any decision, you usually have a very good idea of who it will impact and how they will take it. In Everlasting Summer, it's pretty non-obvious a lot of the time how someone is going to react, or often even who will be impacted by certain choices. There was one memorable point in Slavya's route (the last choice) where I literally didn't understand the meaning of either choice, let alone the distinction between them, but apparently there was a right answer and a wrong answer.
• In LB, people generally react to your decisions quickly and in obviously positive or negative ways, so you can quickly reevaluate (save scum it if you must, but regardless, at least you'll know better next time). In Everlasting Summer, quite often you don't get such obvious reactions, and so when, at the end, you get a bad ending (or even end up on the wrong route, in my case...), you still likely don't quite know what to go back and fuss with to fix it.
• In LB, even when your decision is a simple "where should I go" decision with no immediate tie to a character in the choices, locations have well-established associations with characters in the game, making those decisions actually thinly-disguised choices of "what girl should I go see?", assuming you have been paying attention to the girl you're going after. It's simplistic, but I find that kind of choice strangely rewarding: they're just as obvious as the simple "pick a girl" choices that you see in lazier games, but somehow more meaningful, and it kind of gives this feel that the game is winking at you. In Everlasting Summer, it often makes you choose a location, but the meaning of it is pretty completely unknowable: go somewhere and run into a random person there for +affection, CG, etc.,

All in all, on the choices, I kind of feel like I'm perpetually in the dark with Everlasting Summer. Maybe that was the intention (life is, after all, also not so cut-and-dry on what will be the outcome of your choices), but when the end result is the game giving me a bad ending for a character because I chose to go to the boathouse instead of the bus stop on day 3, despite no clues that the bus stop was the magical correct choice for that character on that day, it's just frustrating.

All that said, one thing I do really like is that a lot of the choices aren't simple +/- choices for one character. Instead, quite often your choice leads you to run away from a scene with one character, and then accidentally end up in a scene with another character. These are, in a way, charming and interesting, and I don't mind these very much even though the impact isn't obvious beforehand, since it is obvious immediately afterwards. They're good for rewarding replays when you'll "know better next time", which the game clearly wants to emphasize (I feel kind of bad for bucking that by using a guide, honestly).

[Zidan209]

@Fred the Barber

Spoiler

I am pretty sure that the last choice for Slavya is about wether you share the blame with her or let her take all of it. And in this case, letting her take all the blame was the right choice, because she couldn't stand how Olga views her as an angel that could never do something inappropriate and that she always thought Semyon was the one behind it. The choices aren't all illogical if u consider the characters' personalities (at least not all of them, because after the tournament, you get to choose one place out of the whole map and the outcome of that was indeed unpredictable). 

The choice where you can steal Alisa's book isn't really illogical if u consider her tsundere personality.

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by Zidan209

[littleshogun]

As for my experience so far, it's quite interesting game here especially with the mystery in regard of the Russian summer camp thing, which apparently it was Uni Soviet summer program for the teenage (Before falling obviously). For the characters, there's nothing special so far although we got Hatsune Miku (Any Vocaloid fan should knew her) and Lena (Good thing she didn't had hatchet here). As for the first route, I go with Slavya here first in order to synchronized it with the walkthrough and let's see what I could write about her route here later.

Edited November 27, 2020 by littleshogun

[littleshogun]

Finished Slavya route and unfortunately it didn't reveal much about time travelling thing that Semyon experience although it's hinted some interesting point though, namely that apparently

 

the camp was only dream and Slavya was actually also felt that way.

For my opinion about this VN, I'd find that apparently they put more effort to drawing sprite compared to CG imo. As for the music, nothing special imo. For the characters itself, let's just said for now I'm not quite fond with Elektronik (It's also used in Indonesian word by the way) because of his stupid card game that he invented and forced to be played at the first playthrough. For other characters, well not much that I could see aside from Slavya because she was the heroine this time.

As for next route, maybe I'll try Rena Lena's route. As for my opinion, still not much to comment here because there's still some question left unanswered imo, and besides I still not played other routes yet obviously.

Edited June 19, 2017 by littleshogun