KALECHIPS'S PROFILE

Oh, I'm excited to try this. zakuaku was a charming game so it'll be interesting to see what came before. Thank you for translating!

Oh yay, a thread about gaming! I like looking at all sorts of things, so here is what I've been playing with a few impressions... This year, I felt a lot like playing a buncha dating sims (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ For research, of course!

I started off with a replay of Amigami アミガミ for PSP. I'd only done a once through before, but the game seriously impressed me. With it's creative character animation, smart dialogue and ultra-strategic mapping system, the whole experience feels very kinetic and alive in a way most other dating sims don't. This time I'm going after Ayatsuji, the cover girl. She's a girl who is maintains a perfect image as class representative, but something about her saccharine sweet voice and almost hilariously fake gestures of goodwill have me thinking something else is going on...? I could go on all day about the gameplay and the philosophy of it in comparison to Tokimemo, but perhaps you should just discover it for yourself.

Next up was Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Kiss ときめきメモリアル (holy mackerel what a long title!), a game I had played previously but couldn't enjoy. You see, the "Prince" of the game-- The fella that is supposed to be the true star ala Shiori in the original series-- is such a terrible asshole. He's standoffish and prickly and hardly sends a good word your way. I'm a fan of the other entries, but the second one simply didn't connect. However I've discovered three incredible things this second go around: 1) Christopher Weatherfield, the token white boy of the game, is incredibly stupid and thus very easy to fall for, 2) The Prince is just really stressed right now so I don't hate him anymore, i just need to give him some space, and 3) the game is super easy. It' insane. the routes don't interconnect much so you can spend the entire game with only 3 guys to manage, and the stat requirements you can clear with your eyes closed. With so few obstacles, the game is little less engaging than it should be. Still cute, though.

I was curious about Amigami, so I hunted down it's grandmother game, True Love Story トゥルー・ラブストーリー for PSX. Reading game guides often leads to a repeating sentiment: "While games like Tokimemo advertise boisterous girls with colorful hair, Turu presents a cast of more realistic, plain brunettes. That can be a detractor, but also a charm point." That pretty much gets to the point. Turu is no Tokimemo in terms of presentation, but it's homely charm and unique gameplay has warranted a fanbase all it's own.
Le epic screenshots below (‾◡◝)

What makes the game unique is its rejection of Tokimemo-style stat raising in favor of in-depth conversation puzzles. At the start, you select the season you want the game to take place in. This effects holidays, date spots, conversational subjects and even what girls are available. Then you adjust your stats. You can make yourself a star student who is good at everything, or a class clown who can't do a single push-up. It was super surprising to me that you could simply choose to be good at everything, but it turns out lots of girls have specific tastes! Also, it effects your conversation. The big pull of Turu is that you get to walk home with a girl and pick what you want to talk about from 30 or so topics. The idea is to keep her interested so she'll ask to take a detour with you and talk even longer. You even have to plan your route. It's recommended to pick routes with lots of trees so other girls won't spot you hitting on somebody else, lol. There's the school schedule system and day planning of course, but the walking home stuff really takes the cake. I can see how enterbrain has been polishing its systems to get to Amigami. Truly, an organic and well-though masterpiece (╯▽╰ )

I could go on, but that's whats most interesting right now. I still have to finish Sky High Chronos Endless and perhaps do and english play through of Heisei Pistol Show for old times sake. Parun's games are really the best. If you can, I suggest trying Re:Kinder and Maria's Suicide as well. I'll stop babbling now. Au Revoir...!

Oh, yays! This looks fun. I'll join in. [EDIT: my comment keeps getting cut off? I dunno why}

things I can do:
- Art! I can draw art of your characters, or make an avatar or something like that. No NSFW please ^_^" you can see my art here
- Reviews. I would love to write an in-depth review of your game, especially if it hasn't been reviewed yet.

things I like:
- Fanart of my characters :3 Sprites would be so cute!
- Music. I like simple, memorable tunes to hum along to~
- Review of my game is nice too

author=Darken
I managed to recover the translated version of the program but I maybe vaguely remember it when learning about the more alternate ASCII makers and such but this seems like an mmo maker of sorts? You were able to upload games to the site but also to a custom FTP, I'm wondering if the network part of it just refers to that feature. But then there's "soloplay" which leads me to believe theres some way of playing with other players. Very weird and not a lot of info on it, kinda plays like Diabo though.

This really sparked my interest. It's hard to find info on this at all. I can't seem to find a proper download-- the old ascii site's download button is snapped. I keep poking around on wayback machine and the internet archive and everything, can't seem to find it. I really wanna get my hands on the thing, though. If soloplay is an option, that opens up a lot of possibilities.

Thank you so much for the translation of this lovely doujin classic. I've been playing it all day and the mystery has totally grabbed me. There's a lot to this puzzle.