al|together 2006 games

[DaFool]

This is the discussion topic for the 5 newly-released festival games. I have yet to play them, but thank goodness they're small enough to download on dialup over the weekend.

I guess I was expecting a deluge of games, since al|together 2005 had 7 games for phase 2 alone (10 total including the flagship Narcissu).

Adagio
At Summer's End
Instant Death! Panda Samurai
OMGWTFOTL (not suitable for minors) <--you can probably tell I'm probably going to download this first
Visions from the Other Side

Anyway, play, enjoy, discuss!

[mikey]

Well, Haeleth mentioned he had some time constraints these days, so it's possible that there'll be many more games in the coming days.

I'll grab them ASAP, and play and everything!

EDIT: Hmmm, the translations released are "just" insani's. Always on time, always delivering. Congrats.
EDIT2: And as for me, I'm starting with Summer's End ^_^
EDIT3: Also, their dev journal has the project post mortem for Visions

[Watercolorheart]

Yay! I love altogether!

I'm definitely playing Visions first, I always pick scifi/supernatural/fantasy, that's my genre ^_^

[Haeleth]

Let me clarify - yes, these are just the contributions from insani and the translators they've been mentoring, which they've decided to let you have on time instead of forcing you to wait for me. ^^

There are more releases coming: the main batch will take place when I finish verifying and packaging them, which will probably take a few days.

[Watercolorheart]

You know, out of all the games I played thus far (End of Summer, Adagio, OMGWTFOTL, and Visions from the Other Side) Adagio was my favorite, with OMGWTFOTL a close second for its sheer hilarity.

Strange ... but I didn't like Visions that much, even though the art was very nice. I dunno ... Red Shift impacted me a bit more in this regard, especially with the mysterious jingling bell. .

But can someone please explain to me the end of Adagio? I really did like it without total comprehension because I

thought it was symbolic, referring to how the dancer only danced during the full moon. But what I'd really like to figure out is the two words he said to our hero(ine?) ... it nevers says, perhaps leaving it up to us to guess at it ... but when I played through the game again, it still didn't make any more sense ... but I did love it for the atmosphere it created, anyway.

[mikey]

For me, clearly, out of the insani five, At Summer's End was the most fitting. I loved the simplicity, I loved the summer, and I didn't care much for the downsides (should there have been any). It sort of struck me as strange how great some of the BGs were, but I assume those were BGs from one of the sites that offer them for free. Banal conversations, no story and nothing really changes... that's my kind of game.

Other than that, I must say I never felt like target audience for any of the others. I liked the graphics in Visions though. Anyway, it was a good two hours spent with the insani five.

[Watercolorheart]

What was your impression of Adagio?

[mikey]

What was your impression of Adagio?

The idea of having two people like that was very inspiring, but that story, I would have preferred to have it told more clearly. Still, it has a lot of soul and you can feel it from the intensive atmosphere it manages to create in a matter of minutes, so it's too bad that it's somehow impossible to know exactly why. My problem is simply that I don't like to come to my own conclusions, that's why a lot of "fill-in-the-blanks-yourself"-art doesn't really work for me. So I really noticed the atmosphere, but somehow I never truly saw myself inside the story. And so, I don't really have an impression

[Watercolorheart]

Oh ... okay. Yeah, I was kind of hoping someone would explain it to me (lol). Maybe that was the author's purpose, to make you sit and wonder.

[DaFool]

OMGWTFOTL is truly revolutionary in the use of choices. (*considers adding a genuflect type choice in all VN choices from now on )

At Summer's End was a nice simple story, although it is evident which BGs they made, and which they imported.

Adagio was a nice poem. I won't really take it as a story, but as a poem, it is quality.

I'm off playing Visions.

[DaFool]

Visions was really nice, didn't know they can effectively narrate in first person with 4 characters!

Instant Death Panda Samurai was done with heart, was fun. The historical questions are random selection by the way, so play the game again, you'll get a different set.

[Watercolorheart]

Heh, I played Instant Death Panda Samurai, and I just kind of smiled at the archaic language, you know?

Verily and forsooth ...

I think I liked the omakes at the end the best. XD.

[mikey]

Well, Shii's list has been updated (and updated again), so it seems that at least one of the final 4 games is done... but it's the post-NaNoRenO syndrome in a way... once there's no pressure, things take a lot longer than with the deadlines in effect.

[mikey]

I finally played Wanderers, and it's a nice and very poetic piece, still it kind of manages to stay on the ground and that's something I admire. Very nice atmosphere, music and graphics. And it has a cute story as well. And you get to make choices, which is always good.

Anyway, the thing is, a lot of the games that have been translated use these graphics... http://shass.sakura.ne.jp/ (click on 640x480), and with time, they have a generic feel to them. I suppose it's normal, but still... the best impression will always be with the game you saw it first in.

[DaFool]

I can't find the new games not part of the 2006 5-pack.

http://www.shii.org/translate/


Regarding those free backgrounds... hehehehehe