1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2. Gyromite (NES)
3. Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (Steam)
So, about a year and a half ago I discovered that I really dig visual novels. For the uninitiated, visual novels are a specific type of adventure game characterized by limited player activity and static graphics ("stills"). The name is meant to be taken quite literally, they are novels (well, short stories more often than not) experienced visually. Most of these games originate from Japan, and the ones that don't typically ape the Japanese anime art style.
There are many different varieties of VNs and, surprisingly, Steam offers quite the assortment. After some experimentation I've found that I don't have much use for the super-lengthy branching VNs (far too easy to run into a dreaded "bad ending" without a walkthrough) nor am I wild about the fan service-y eroge type (where the stories are just paper-thin rationalizations to display naked ladiez). No, what I enjoy best are the moderately-paced <10 hour well-written tales with heavy character development. What a revelation.
Enter
Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- (oh, another thing about visual novels is this annoying ass trend of using bizarre punctuation and capitalization in the title). The history behind this one is pretty interesting. It was initially released in Korea seven years ago, and was recently remade with new graphics and English and Japanese text options. Funding was provided via Kickstarter. Even in its remade state, Korea remains the setting and default voiced language.
The tale here is as old as time. Or at least as old as anime. Yes, what we have here is yet another
Robot Girl story characterized by all the appropriate clichés: it's an examination of the ethics of android technology as well as the nature of relationships between man and machine. To get into specifics, the plot of
Lucy is similar to that of
Chobits. Almost too similar to be considered a coincidence. Both scenarios begin with a young man discovering a discarded female android who is initially unable to communicate but eventually develops into a sort of servant and, later, a confidant. But while
Chobits features an adorably clumsy and affable male protagonist,
Lucy is seen through the eyes of a depressed high school student with an absentee mother and unloving authoritarian father. Yikes. And who is this young man? Why, it's
you. Yes, in a strange move the developers of
Lucy decided to write from the second person perspective. I suppose this is intended to be immersive, but it comes off as awkward because the text makes it clear that the protagonist is both "you"
and an 18-year-old Korean.
Lucy is a really gorgeous game. I found myself mesmerized by the
backgrounds of all things, and was left wondering if this tale was intended to be futuristic or if modern-day urban Korea simply looks this advanced. The sprites are well-drawn, and look much better here than in the original, and all feature a multitude of stills with the titular Lucy being the most "animated." Lucy is the only character with a "voice" and Korean voice-over is excellent, though the option for a Japanese voice is present as well.
Unfortunately, the way the story is presented is just okay (no spoilers I promise). The protagonist is extremely whiny and unlikable for the bulk of the game. He does "come around" - as expected - towards the game's conclusion, but his transformation happens too quickly. That isn't to say the game is too short - it isn't - but there's an undeniable problem with pacing here. The game doesn't know when to end either. There's a traditional ending with a credit roll, then a bonus scenario with
another credit roll (why?), and then
another scene that transpires decades after the main event. It's too much.
That isn't to say the writing is necessarily weak. There are some great vignettes and genuinely humorous moments. And (surprise surprise), there are some tearjerker scenes sprinkled in as well. In fact, the entire final hour (of the "main" game, that is) is pretty damn tragic. Yet all these scenes feel clobbered together in a clumsy fashion, and the tone of the writing fluctuates wildly.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this well enough but I'm also a fan of the genre. I'd recommend it hesitantly - only to those who already enjoy VNs and are looking for more. If you're unfamiliar with this type of game there are much better ways to get your feet wet.
