The Garden Society: Kykuit

[The Evil Maid]

This game has made my day! Seriously. I know that it's unlikely that anyone will see this comment, as the last reply to the thread seems to have been quite some time ago, but I felt that it needed to be said!

The characters were likeable, and they seemed 'real' to me as well... (some of them reminded me of people that I know in real life, so I found it quite easy to get into the game and relate to the people in it). That's always a really important thing, in my opinion. I often find it difficult to stick with this kind of game because the characters can seem so 'flat'... I guess I'm a bit picky about this sort of thing... but while you don't really learn all that much about the characters (which was appropriate in this case because you're the new kid), they still seemed... like real people. If that makes any sense at all.

The images were awesome! I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention to that sort of thing, focusing my attention on the story, but when the art does end up being good, it's a real treat! Nadine and Corus were my favorites - they're adorable! I loved tha backgrounds as well...
and the black and white was just perfect!

The music was great as well... I found that it suited the scenes and the general tone of the game.

Basically, the game as a whole put a smile on my face. Thanks so much for all of the time and effort you put into creating it.

[rioka]

I'm really glad to hear it's made your day! Now you've got me smiling too.

(And hooray - I think you're the first Corus fan! n_n)

[Sailor Kitty]

How does one get the easter eggs?
like miss B and Arthur?

[Sailor Kitty]

OMG, so sorry...
I need to get this dumb computer (and my brain) fixed.

[..?]

Just a mini review.

Artwork: 9.5/10. Love the artwork. It's really well done, and the backgrounds are all great - nothing feels out of place. I like howo the characters are shown, and the black and white adds, rather than taking away, as it has in some other games I've played. The characters wear practical and 'normal' clothes - not outlandish, and not too bland to just fade into the background.

Story: 5.5/10 While there's certainly effort put into it, I don't really get much of an impression out of it, and it doesn't grab me, or seem too original - though I suppose that was also to do with the gameplay; I'm not entirely sure I liked the layout of the game, but it was still very good, nonetheless. Some elements also seemed a bit inconsistent - I know that Arthur sort of explains away his miraculous ability to hold a conversation with people around the halfway point, but it just seems hollow. After running away from a girl, you'd think that this sudden change is a bit much. Also, the time frame was very unrealistic, but that doesn't really matter... (Not sure why I said it now...)

Characters: 9/10 Along with the artwork, I think this is where the game shines. The characters (though not quite so sure about the main character - hence the "9") are believable and don't "act out" just to create some kind of quick fix scenario, or a quick and abrupt end. They seem to dress according to their personalities, and they just have an overall 'look' that just appears totally in character - you can guess their personalities by looking (sure, may not always be right...) - and the script adds to this 'feel'. The characters are definitely one of the most important things in a game and/or story, and this showcases that fact.

Gameplay: 7.5/10 Sorry to say, but it can be quite repetitive, and that's just something that I'm picky about. I don't think that it has much reply value though, which is really just my opinion, looking at the other posts, so I wouldn't worry about it, but I'm just saying. I feel that after three playthroughs it feels a little empty, though I think that four endings should really be the minimum people play it, just so each girl's personality comes out

possibly a standard, probably one or two of the 'two girl' scenarios, 7, and 8.

though I think that solo girl endings are very easy to predict, and even the others can get a bit... .... Unfortunately, I don't think 8 really seems all that special, and I'd rather just stick with a different path if I was replaying it for the sake of replay. One thing I like a lot about it is that for the first playthrough, it's probably best to just go with the options that you would actually do, just because at that point most people won't really know what the girls are like and how specifically to 'woo' them (though lots would attempt to follow what they think would get them that girl, which sort of ruins it, IMO).

Overall: 8/10

Still, I really like the game, it's good, and no problems I can see that a lot of people would feel too strongly about. Though... I think it's NaNoRenO, so that kind of beefs up the score... Most of the things that I don't like about it are fixed by just having a nice attitude to gaming, so I guess I'm just in a bad mood today...
Anyway, good job!

[monele]

Nanoreno transcending time! And bringing back one of the first good VNs I played aaah nostalgic!

[rioka]

:does a double take:

Wow. Thanks for playing! And such a thorough review (even if you call it "mini")! D: <--- surprised and happy -->

Maybe I'll fair better in my next game. Hope you're in a good mood for that!

...should be done this weekend... :goes back to work:

[ashogo]

I'm way late here, but just downloaded the mac version off the ren'ai archives and got this error message:
Can anyone help?

[rioka]

Try this version and see if it works. If it doesn't, please reply back.

[Blue Lemma]

Yay new eclipse game coming soon
There goes any chance of productivity next week

(I never did get the special GSK endings, come to think of it... waaaaah )

[rioka]

Yay new eclipse game coming soon
There goes any chance of productivity next week

D: W-woah! And I thought I was being very secret by posting that little tidbit in only one place. Hmmm, I guess I shouldn't under estimate you guys huh? Well, there's more info up. ; )

(I never did get the special GSK endings, come to think of it... waaaaah )

:pats Blue Lemma's head and gives him a lolli: Try it again! You might get it this time!

[ashogo]

ok, well I thought I figured it out. I downloaded an older ren'py launcher (5.6.7) and the game opened and played fine. But after a few minutes it always seems to crash. No traceback error, just freezes. Sometimes it will also just crash right when I click on 'start game'. It might be something to do with the launcher, but I tried opening some other games with it and they didn't crash. So...I don't know.

[rioka]

GSK was released in a very old version of Ren'Py (it was released in 2005 after all... n_n) so I think that may be part of the problem. I'll update it to a more current version of Ren'Py and post it up sometime next week. =)

[ashogo]

GSK was released in a very old version of Ren'Py (it was released in 2005 after all... n_n) so I think that may be part of the problem. I'll update it to a more current version of Ren'Py and post it up sometime next week. =)

thanks, that would be awesome. I'm late to ren'py so I'm trying to catch up on playing all the good games.

[mikey]

Hi everyone,

Finally, our translation of the game into Slovak is done!!
http://atp.manga.sk/pages/gsk.htm

In the process, we upgraded the engine, re-coded the music into ogg.

Many thanks to Liu for proofreading!