Desire - Spiral of Perversion Review

After finishing YU-NO, I found out that both its writer, Kenno Yukihiro, and main composer, Ryu Umemoto, collaborated on three other visual novels before creating YU-NO: Desire, Xenon, and Eve: Burst Error. Xenon never had a western release, perhaps due to its very short length and lack of success in Japan, but Desire and Eve: Burst Error did. I decided to play Desire first, simply because it was made first. 

An original aspect of Desire's story structure is that it is split into three routes which each feature a different protagonist. The first route stars Albert Macdgul (no idea why there's no vowel in between the d and the g), a journalist who visits an island research facility called Desire to write a story on the island's research that has been concealed from the public until now. The second route follows Makoto Izumi, the chief technician of Desire and Al's girlfriend. The protagonist of the third route is not revealed until you have completed the first two routes.

Al's route starts off nicely as it takes place on a mysterious and isolated island and has several characters for Al to meet and secrets for him to uncover. Much of Al's route serves to introduce the setting, characters, and story to the reader. Most of the route is slowly paced but is still interesting as it reveals several mysteries for the player to ponder on, such as why Kazumi came to Desire, where Tina came from, and why Martina is so focused on her research. Later in the route, the story picks up its pace as Al finds himself in the middle of an internal power struggle within the Grandchester Foundation, discovers people who have been murdered by an unknown killer, and experiences the results of Martina's research. There are a couple of plot holes that are left over by the end of the route, but most of these are answered by the following two routes. I found Al's route to be an enjoyable and thrilling ride. The main problem with the route is that Al finds himself entangled in relationships with several women who work on Desire. These sub-plots in which Al learns about the problems of these women are a bothersome distraction which did not contribute to the main plot very much. They would have been more worthwhile if they revealed more about the mysteries of Desire or if they featured more interesting characters. 

A bird's eye view of Desire

Makoto's route covers the same timeline that was presented in Al's route. The setting, characters, and major plot events are also the same as in Al's route. What is different with this route is that Makoto is the protagonist and the story is presented from her point of view. Thus, you are able to view a different side of the story and obtain more details about plot events that allow them to make more sense. Unfortunately, only about half of the route spends time on delivering these details. The other half of the route is filled with sex scenes that depict the twisted relationship between Makoto and Kyle. By the end of the route, Kyle plays a significant part in the plot and helps Makoto with problems that she encounters on Desire, but for the vast majority of the route his role is to be Makoto's sadistic master who transforms her into a slut for the audience's enjoyment. In addition, there are two other women who have sex with Makoto and ramp up the game's raunchiness. I was desperately wishing for these sex scenes to end so the game could continue with giving more information on Makoto's side of the story. Usually, I compare sex scenes to comic relief whose purpose is to relieve the tension that the audience has accumulated from serious or tragic elements in the story. However, this routes's sex scenes are poorly placed in the story, ruin the pacing of the plot, and make the characters unlikeable. I only received moderate enjoyment from Makoto's route.

The game tries to convince you that women will eventually fall in love with you if you rape them enough times.

The final route presents the story from yet another character's perspective and fills in plot holes from Al's route that Makoto's route could not cover. This route contrasts with the other two routes in that it is presented like a kinetic visual novel with no gameplay or sex scenes. This benefitted the game by giving you the last few crucial plot details that were necessary in order to comprehend the game's story without having to deal with sex scenes that detract from the story or gameplay that would have given an unnecessary surplus of detail on the setting and characters that you were already familiar with. 

Upon completing the final route, you unlock the game's ending. After watching it, I felt like I was still lost on the finer details of the game's plot, but I was incredibly satisfied with how the game concluded Al's and Tina's stories. I thought that the ending combined with the final route wrapped up the game's story nicely.

The characters in Desire mainly act as vehicles for the plot and are not very interesting, except for Al and Martina. Al's jokes and antics are often amusing and he is usually kind and caring, while Martina is cold and logical yet has a deep understanding of human emotions and love. Romance between characters is rushed and character development is minimal due to the shortness of each route. 

What secrets does Martina keep hidden within herself?

The gameplay in Al's and Makoto's routes is menu-driven like most older visual novels. I've already discussed the pros and cons of this gameplay style in my previous review. As mentioned earlier, it is good that this gameplay was cut from the final route because the game had already given enough details on the setting and characters in the first two routes.

Desire has stellar visual design. The characters and environments are detailed well, there are enough CGs to accompany each scene, there are character portraits at the left of the dialogue boxes which show the facial expression of the character who is currently speaking, and there is even a plethora of short animated cutscenes.

This game has a superb soundtrack. It has variety, tracks that match several different moods, and most of the tracks can be listened to multiple times outside of the game. There are sound effects at appropriate points in the story and good voice acting for all of the characters except for the protagonists of the first two routes.

The erotic content in this game greatly lessens the enjoyment of Makoto's route, as stated previously, and also reduces the enjoyment in Al's route by making Al less likeable due to him cheating on his girlfriend.

One of Al's many sexcapades on Desire.

Desire may suffer from boring sub-plots which focus on uninteresting characters and from excessive and poorly implemented sexual content, however, it is a solid game with a good sci-fi mystery plot and ending, great visual and sound design, and a terrific soundtrack. 

Score: 7/10

Visit VNDB for more info on the game.

YU-NO - The Girl that Chants Love at the Edge of the World Review

 

  

YU-NO - The Girl that Chants Love at the Edge of the World is a hybrid between a visual novel and a point-and-click adventure game. I first became interested in this game when I started listening to the game's music and found out that the music came from an old visual novel from the 90s. I researched YU-NO and discovered that unlike most visual novels from the 90s (and the present to some extent), the game was heavily focused on its plot rather than on its erotic content. I also found out that the game had received a great deal of positive reception throughout the years and has influenced more modern and well-known visual novels such as Clannad, Muv-Luv Alternative, Cross Channel, and Steins;Gate. In the end. I decided to try the game for myself to see what it had to offer.

The beginning of a long and perilous journey through time and space...

For the majority of the prologue, YU-NO fools you into thinking that this game is just your average

high school romcom visual novel. You are introduced to the protagonist, Takuya Arima, a perverted delinquent who flirts with his female peers and teachers while he attends supplementary classes at Sakaimachi Academy. The prologue is the weakest part of the game because it introduces a setting, characters, and plot that visual novel players are all too familiar with, making the game seem generic and uninteresting. Once Takuya receives a strange device called the Reflector from his supposedly dead father, however, YU-NO does a complete 180 and introduces the player to a complex plot that flips the player's previous expectations on their heads.

The introduction of this device hints that there will be much more to this visual novel than just dating schoolgirls.

After the prologue comes the main game, which is split up into four routes. Like most visual novels with more than one route, each route focuses on the romance between the protagonist and one of the game's heroines. Unlike many visual novels, however, each route also focuses on delving deep into the mysteries that Takuya comes across while exploring the town of Sakaimachi. In Mitsuki's route, Takuya learns about the rumors surrounding Ryuuzouji's mansion and tries to expose the truth behind them. In Ayumi's route, Takuya learns about the shady business and research being done by Geo Technics. In Mio's route, Takuya learns about the hidden secrets that dwell within Sword Cape. In Kanna's route, Takuya learns about Kanna's past, her necklace, and her connection with Takuya's father. So while you can see that the game focuses on romance and characterization like most visual novels, the main drive for playing through the game is to uncover more details about the game's plot.and world.

I became completely invested in discovering these details for myself as I played the game and tried to figure out the reasons as to why certain events happened and why certain characters acted the way they did. I felt especially compelled to do this because the game has excellent pacing. Something interesting is always happening, whether it be a dramatic plot twist or just a brief moment of comic relief. Very rarely does the game employ any slice-of-life scenes that don't add anything to the story or characters.

A business meeting? In a decrepit old shed? Yeah, right. 

Since the game blends together a multitude of different genres such as science fiction, drama, mystery, and fantasy and explores the complex concepts of time travel and alternate dimensions, you would expect the game's story to become a convoluted mess of loosely connected ideas and themes that fails to tell a coherent story. Thankfully, YU-NO avoids this by weaving together a tightly bound narrative that explains all of its concepts and ties all of its genres together. The story is highly detailed and broad in scope, featuring a wide range of topics like parallel worlds, lost civilizations, hypnotism, genetic research, and environmental engineering, yet it still feels very focused on expressing a specific set of ideas and themes, such as the idea that time is reversible yet history is not and the theme of destiny and whether one has the power to control it or not.

When you finish the four main story routes and collect all of the jewels, you unlock a final route. I had originally expected this route to be merely a short epilogue that only lasts an hour or two, but this route is in fact the longest route in the game and contains an in-depth plot that answers many of the questions that one had about the first four routes. I had heard that in the original planning for the game, this route was supposed to be even longer than what was presented to us in the finished product. This makes sense because the plot development and world-building feels rushed in some areas, but I still feel like the final route does a great job of wrapping up the story of the game and presents one of the best endings I have ever seen in a videogame. The ending feels like a surreal, out-of-body experience that offers complete emotional satisfaction at the end of one's journey with the game. After completing the game, I was incredibly impressed and feel like I can guarantee that YU-NO has one of the best stories ever told in a video game.

Not your everyday emo teenager suicide.

If you think about the characters negatively, most of the characters fit neatly into common archetypes found in anime and visual novels. For example, Takuya is the perverted delinquent, Mio is the classic tsundere, and Kanna is the coodere. If you think about the characters more positively, though, you will find that they grow out of their archetypes as you observe more of their actions and learn more about their past and present selves. Takuya seems like he only has girls in his mind, but as you investigate objects throughout the game, you learn that he has a wealth of knowledge on various subjects and excels at detective work, such as figuring out the meaning behind a mysterious tapestry. Mio acts hostile towards Takuya because of an event she witnessed him involved in in the past and not just because she dislikes him for some irrational reason. Kanna may seem like she does not care about human contact, but as you learn about her line of work, you realize that she needs it just as much as anybody else.

Mio and Yuuki often visit Sword Cape.

During the main four routes, I feel like almost all of the characters get enough screentime to flesh out their personalities. They also get put into a variety of situations which cause them to act differently and display different emotions, which makes them all the more believable. Mitsuki is the one exception where it feels like she did not get as much characterization as the other heroines, but that is understandable once you realize that her route is the one that is the most focused on solving the mysteries of the story and the least focused on characterization. Minor characters such as Yuuki and Hojo get brief but still satisfactory characterization which suit the roles that their characters are given. The characters introduced in the final route of YU-NO unfortunately do not get as as much characterization as the characters in the first four routes, though they are still interesting and believable (except for the one character who existed solely for a BDSM scene). Character development is present for several characters such as Takuya, who becomes more active and less depressed as he learns more about Sakaimachi, and Ayumi, who becomes more open with her emotions and beliefs towards Takuya after experiencing difficulty with her work. Overall, YU-NO presents great and likable characters who make the story even more enjoyable.

You will come to detest Toyotomi and his shitty blueberry suit.

The gameplay in YU-NO is the most dated aspect of the game, yet it is also what makes the game unique. For the prologue and the final route, the game uses a menu system from which you can select options such as "Investigate", "Talk", and "Move" in order to advance the story. This is how most visual novels from the 90s played, rather than modern visual novels which only require clicking the mouse in order to advance the story. I think that many dislike the 90s gameplay because you can't proceed with the story until you have selected each option from the menu 2-3 times. This may cause a lot of tedium and frustration for the player who only wants to continue reading the story. However, the menu-driven gameplay provides many details on the setting, characters, and story that most modern visual novels often skimp on. Some may also prefer this gameplay because it requires more interaction from the player, which makes the visual novel feel more like a game.

For the main four routes, YU-NO employs point-and-click adventure style gameplay. This provides for even more details and interaction than the menu-driven gameplay, but it could also cause even more tedium and frustration. For example, there is one part in Kanna's route where I know where the person I'm looking for is hiding, but I have to click on several other parts of the environment multiple times before being able to click on the spot where the person is hiding and advance the story. I obtain a large amount of details on the setting, yet it costs a great deal of time to proceed to the next interesting plot point. This gameplay also utilizes item collecting and management. This is good for those who want more interaction from their visual novels, but it also causes a great deal of backtracking if one does not have the necessary items needed to complete a route. This is why the text guide that comes with the English translation patch is recommended, so that the player can follow the recommended route order and eliminate any needless backtracking for items that could interrupt the flow of the story. YU-NO's gameplay also uses a divergence map from which you can use jewels that you have collected in order to warp to specific coordinates in space-time. This gameplay element connects to the game's idea that parallel worlds exist superbly and is also what make the game stand out from both other visual novels and other adventure games.

YU-NO is not usually labeled as a puzzle game, however, the game will surprise you when towards the end of Mio's route, you happen upon possibly one of the most difficult math-based puzzles in all of video games. Right before entering the final route, you will also encounter two more puzzles. The first is easy to figure out because the answer is given in the game's opening, while the second is a tedious language-based puzzle.You can either spend hours trying to figure out the aforementioned puzzles with pen and paper, or you can take the easy way out like I did and look up the puzzle solutions in the game's folder. 

The divergence map on display.

YU-NO's visuals may also appear dated since they use a limited amount of pixels and colors. However, I think that the designers used what they had available at the time well enough to deliver a pleasing visual presentation. The art of the characters may appear to be too similar to other anime art styles from the 90s, yet I think the characters were given enough detail to make them recognizable as 

characters that exist from this particular game. The backgrounds are highly detailed and showcase each setting marvelously. I thought that there were enough CGs to accompany important events in the plot. A dividing aspect of the visual design that is common to most visual novels is that the protagonist's face is hidden. This makes it so that you can place yourself into the position of the main character and become more immersed in the story, yet it makes CGs featuring the protagonist seem awkward and perhaps even cheesy.

A gorgeous shot of a mysterious forest.

Modern video game fans will find the soundtrack to be too simple and boring; merely consisting of beeps and boops. However, for those who can appreciate synthesis music from old video games from the 20th century, this game's soundtrack is too good to be ignored. The soundtrack evokes every kind of emotion possible and is composed with enough skill and variety to make it listenable even while not playing the game. I was originally interested in this game because of its music and have enjoyed listening to several tracks multiple times. The only problem with the game's music is that certain good tracks are only played once in the entire game. In the end, I think the soundtrack is amazing and is one of the best soundtracks to ever be recorded for a video game.

The other aspects of YU-NO's sound department are also well done. The sound effects are numerous, varied, and effective, especially the ones that play when a new mystery is unveiled. The voice actors do an excellent job, for they always put great effort into reading their lines. One unique and positive aspect about this game is that the protagonist is voiced, compared to most visual novels who don't have voiced protagonists.

This game does not hide the fact that it is an eroge, for the first thing you see upon starting the game is a topless woman, eventually followed by a pantyshot of Eriko. The camera angles in the CGs often emphasize the sexual attractiveness of the women by showing their panties, cleavage, and how well endowed they are. For its time, this game has relatively few sex scenes at one scene per heroine. These scenes are also fairly short, especially compared to modern eroges. These scenes are usually placed at appropriate parts of the story where Takuya is becoming romantically close with a heroine with exceptions including a mutual masturbation scene in Mitsuki's route and the previously mentioned BDSM scene in the final route. There is blood-related incest in this eroge, but it doesn't occur until the end of the game and was kept mostly to a romantic level. Honestly, the erotic content for this game was minimal for a 90s eroge and did not bother me that much.

This scene has about 10 different descriptions of her panties.

In conclusion, YU-NO has one of the best stories and soundtracks ever made for a video game, It also has great characters, outstanding sound and visual design, and unique space-time travelling gameplay mechanics. The greatest accomplishment of this visual novel is that even after 20 years, it still outshines the vast majority of games that have been produced until now. Its only noticeable flaws are its generic prologue, partly rushed characters and plot in the final route, and overabundance of fanservice and clicking on objects. I would have to give YU-NO a 10, which means that it's not perfect, but that its flaws are not detrimental enough to diminish the amount of satisfaction gained from playing this wonderful game.

Score: 10/10

Visit VNDB for more info on the game.