Takumi Sumino is just so tormentable... his adaptability but paradoxically-coexistent fear of irreparable mistakes making him into somebody who just might sunk-cost-fallacy himself into stubborn self-destructive habits is such a nice little tragedy to spectate, and your making of this AU was such a cool approach to exploring that.
I appreciate that your AU heavily features the evolution over time of Takumi's feelings toward the other major characters, and that the same themes that pervade his character development in HNDR canon (regret being the big one!!! It's so foundational to his character that they made his soul-based-powers be time reversal, and you evidently caught that and ran with it!!) are still here, even in a very different setting... it shows that you appreciate Takumi himself, and are not just an obligate-fan of him as HNDR's protagonist or him as its player character.
There were several times playing this where I thought, "this is more effectively 042 than the actual 042" XD
I mean that not only in the sense that I explained in my comment about Our Shared Constellation (about the incredible scifi/mystery setup of HNDR canon making it difficult at times to sympathize with the characters about stuff that isn't directly related to The War) but also regarding how you actually have Takumi bear the reponsibility for his decisions and show how he is affected by trauma. The proper dissociative tendencies that you give him seem like such a natural result for a progressively introspective character such as him, to the point that I find myself imagining him develop these same habits in any scenario where he lives to adulthood, regardless of the nature of the consequences he faces.
I appreciate the symbolism you use in this game instead of directly showing NSFW scenes... (in a totally normal non-pervert way) I think in media that deal with these sorts of heavy subject matter, knowing when to present things that elicit strong reactions as a symbol instead, helps to not distract the audience from the overarching story. (Admittedly I was starting to get Very Distracted when Zen's CG showed up LOL so thank you for not letting me get too carried away) I loved the motif of the cherry... you managed to put so much meaning into a relatively short VN!
Also I enjoy seeing Aotsuki orchestrate elaborate scenarios while relying on luck for a lot of it to work out, in this totally unbelievable way that no normal person would ever gamble on... it makes you wonder if he ever prepares to fail, or if he doesn't prepare for that case because he's just single-mindedly trying to see how far he can pursue his ideals since he feels like he has nothing to lose otherwise. He seems to operate in an unconventionally reckless way for a "calculating" sort of character, but that's the very thing that enables a lot of the extremism that is central to his personality...
Sirei popping up to take up the entire screen just like in HNDR canon made me smile. He's such a crummy guy, it's just perfect for him to always be presented as this big nuisance XD
In the scene near the end when Takumi knocked on the door to the nightclub owner's office, that sound rang so clearly in my headphones compared to the immersion of the muffled-outside-loud-inside club music, that I thought that the knocking noise was IRL for a split second LOL but with the revelation of that CG and how it prompted Takumi to recall Nozomi's warning, I was easily pulled right back into the game.
Sorry for huge long comment, but I hope that you know that your work is appreciated!! Thank you for creating and sharing this :)
Oh yeah I heard a few areas of it glitching for most in other areas that it's definitely my slightly out of touch editor that I use for the current renpy version that I'll be uploading a better version tonight !! 🥺
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Takumi Sumino is just so tormentable... his adaptability but paradoxically-coexistent fear of irreparable mistakes making him into somebody who just might sunk-cost-fallacy himself into stubborn self-destructive habits is such a nice little tragedy to spectate, and your making of this AU was such a cool approach to exploring that.
I appreciate that your AU heavily features the evolution over time of Takumi's feelings toward the other major characters, and that the same themes that pervade his character development in HNDR canon (regret being the big one!!! It's so foundational to his character that they made his soul-based-powers be time reversal, and you evidently caught that and ran with it!!) are still here, even in a very different setting... it shows that you appreciate Takumi himself, and are not just an obligate-fan of him as HNDR's protagonist or him as its player character.
There were several times playing this where I thought, "this is more effectively 042 than the actual 042" XD
I mean that not only in the sense that I explained in my comment about Our Shared Constellation (about the incredible scifi/mystery setup of HNDR canon making it difficult at times to sympathize with the characters about stuff that isn't directly related to The War) but also regarding how you actually have Takumi bear the reponsibility for his decisions and show how he is affected by trauma. The proper dissociative tendencies that you give him seem like such a natural result for a progressively introspective character such as him, to the point that I find myself imagining him develop these same habits in any scenario where he lives to adulthood, regardless of the nature of the consequences he faces.
I appreciate the symbolism you use in this game instead of directly showing NSFW scenes... (in a totally normal non-pervert way) I think in media that deal with these sorts of heavy subject matter, knowing when to present things that elicit strong reactions as a symbol instead, helps to not distract the audience from the overarching story. (Admittedly I was starting to get Very Distracted when Zen's CG showed up LOL so thank you for not letting me get too carried away) I loved the motif of the cherry... you managed to put so much meaning into a relatively short VN!
Also I enjoy seeing Aotsuki orchestrate elaborate scenarios while relying on luck for a lot of it to work out, in this totally unbelievable way that no normal person would ever gamble on... it makes you wonder if he ever prepares to fail, or if he doesn't prepare for that case because he's just single-mindedly trying to see how far he can pursue his ideals since he feels like he has nothing to lose otherwise. He seems to operate in an unconventionally reckless way for a "calculating" sort of character, but that's the very thing that enables a lot of the extremism that is central to his personality...
Sirei popping up to take up the entire screen just like in HNDR canon made me smile. He's such a crummy guy, it's just perfect for him to always be presented as this big nuisance XD
In the scene near the end when Takumi knocked on the door to the nightclub owner's office, that sound rang so clearly in my headphones compared to the immersion of the muffled-outside-loud-inside club music, that I thought that the knocking noise was IRL for a split second LOL but with the revelation of that CG and how it prompted Takumi to recall Nozomi's warning, I was easily pulled right back into the game.
Sorry for huge long comment, but I hope that you know that your work is appreciated!! Thank you for creating and sharing this :)
this is perfect thank you
This has to be the funniest glitch ever that none of my playtesters got FUUUUC7TIGY9GYV9UPBU
the game keeps freezing on me when i reach the "beginning eito cg" or when karua is introduced. i do not know what could be causing this
Oh yeah I heard a few areas of it glitching for most in other areas that it's definitely my slightly out of touch editor that I use for the current renpy version that I'll be uploading a better version tonight !! 🥺
LON YOU ARE SO CRAZY FOR THIS!!!!! I am begging you, you gotta make them fuck nasty!!!!!