narcissu

[PyTom]

http://www.insani.org/narcissu.html

Full work translation

08.15.05 Initial page release. Currently in QC. Expect RTM for all platforms this Sunday.

Very interesting.

[Chuck]

humm never heard of it but I shall be looking forward to it n_n
story seems a bit sad... but I will still look forward to it...

[Piroshiki]

So they'll translate it after all... Just finished playing through it, it was rather good. Pretty moving too, just my kind of story. Then again, how could one not like a story that opens with statistics on the number of suicides and that is described as "modern, dark, both the heroin and the protagonist are dying"?

[mikey]

Does that mean they are dropping their demo-only translations? Good news I guess...

Then again, how could one not like a story that opens with statistics on the number of suicides and that is described as "modern, dark, both the heroin and the protagonist are dying"?

Hmmm... sure thing... I guess.

The problem with "depressing" stories is that I usually don't like to be told that at the beginning. If you know Anna Karenina, Tolstoy's novel, it begins with the sentence that all happy marriages are the same, but all sad ones are different in their own way. I tend to think like this with unhappiness in general.

So I find it hard to tune in to a story that I don't know which kind of unhappiness it will carry - from the synopses I already have my ideas of sad and it's hard to fight them. It's much simpler for me to just plunge into the thing without knowing.

The other thing is that with overdepressing stories it's harder to reach people who aren't in a depressing mood. So it's kind of wiser to start slowly and not let bad things happen instantly.

[Piroshiki]

Does that mean they are dropping their demo-only translations? Good news I guess...

Probably not... It's a doujin game aviable on the Stage Nana homepage, so there's no problem with people illegally downloading it since it's already free.

And, it's not overdepressing, rather more contemplative than anything else. In fact, there isn't really anything "bad" that hapens even though you know that both characters will eventually die right from the beginning.

[edit] Fine, fine, "mikey" it is...

[mikey]

Yes, I just noticed ^_^. Well, I have to say, good choice then. This way there'll be no copyright hassles and we can play a full game.

(and don't think I haven't noticed "Mickey"!!!)

[Blue Lemma]

Hey, maybe "mickey" is mikey's evil mousey alter-ego

Why are so many of these stories sad? Why all the deaths?

[mikey]

Hmmm, it's a tough question. Sadness seems to mean seriousness and cheerful often seems to mean light-hearted.

I will usually protest if someone calls my games sad. I never meant them to be sad, I think their very essence is happiness. But who knows, maybe I'm falling into a trap, denying that Milk Swim is a sad story? Or River Trap, BP... Yet I always have so much fun writing the happy endings, that I don't think even for a second that the rest may feel sad. For me, it doesn't. And in my defence, all the true endings of my games are happy. So there .

One thing I have to also say is that I don't patricularly like when a game's story is judged by the number of people it made cry. I've seen it often enough and can never identify with it. Incidentally Kana is the perfect example - I even saw advertising texts talking about weeping fans. I just don't know about this. (I dislike Kana for different reasons though, I played it without knowing about the hype)

[rioka]

One thing I have to also say is that I don't patricularly like when a game's story is judged by the number of people it made cry. I've seen it often enough and can never identify with it.

Kind of like the Oscars where the "Best Movie of the Year" always tend to be Dramas...

I guess we'll be seeing an article about this, huh, mikey?

[mikey]

I guess we'll be seeing an article about this, huh, mikey?

I thought there was enough controversy for one month... I have to get used to hate mails again.

I can maybe feel for the games themselves though. If they get overhyped by the marketing dept., it's a pity for the project. They may be good, even above average, but raving reviews tend to have a way of making others angry. It's the underground feeling - some fans just feel much better when they can have games like these that "the West will never see" and they can idolize them to no end, having something others don't. It's so much harder to admit it's a solid game, exceptional in many cases, but also with shortcomings just as every human work.

[musical74]

*offers mikey a shield in case he needs one*

I've been pondering on how to respond to this for awhile, and the comments have made it harder to respond because I want to think about it more...

If someone were to ask me for advice on a game and told me *it's serious* I'd probably want a look at it, but if someone were to tell me it's a downer, I'd probably pass, because I don't care for games that are downers. When I view a game and get told something depressing right at the start, it usually makes me think *depressing game* and I don't want to deal with it.

Sadness seems to strike a chord with so many people and so there are a variety of games that deal with sadness and depression and so forth...think I'll stick to games that are upbeat or humorous =)

[gp32]

http://narcissu.insani.org/

RTM.

[Chuck]

ya the game is quite sad but oddly peaceful. atleast to me >.<

[PyTom]

Okay, I finished it. I'm not sure if sad is what I'd use to describe this game. In fact, I'm sure it's not. I don't want to give too much away, but I don't think the game's purpose was to make people cry, as in some other games. If you've been avoiding it for that reason, don't... you're missing a more complex experience.

I don't want to say too much, so I'll stop talking about the story. Let me just say I enjoyed it, and leave it at that.

Hm...

I think there's alot we in the OEL b-game community can learn from this game about production, in terms of having a few high-quality graphics. It looked like some of the character graphics were reused, as say both a normal shot and a reflection in a window. And the letterboxing probably serves to allow higher-quality graphics with less effort and less file-size.

Thanks go to everyone who brought this to us. I still haven't totally sorted out my feelings towards this game, which I guess goes to show how it was well done by all involved.

-------------
"There’s something to be said for ... beautiful places."
-- Apollo 15 Astronaut Dave Scott.

[gp32]

You know --

When I first translated this, I meant for it to be a shot across the bow to all English doujin b-game makers and to all English b-game localization teams out there. Haeleth and I both strove very hard to create a localization of this piece because we saw something in it that made us respond -- and, as our afterwords state, we did. This piece uses minimal, minimal graphics. It also uses fairly minimal music. Even the programming is minimal -- in fact, there are topcrash bugs in the *original* work that I ended up having to fix. And it was done on a fairly minimal timeframe -- a matter of a few months, by a small team working completely in its spare time.

Despite all of this, it succeeds in its mission with a devastating punch masked only by its understated elegance. If you cried when you read this piece, you are doing it a total injustice. If you read through only one translation, you are doing it a total injustice. If you sneered at the medical inconsistencies, you are doing it a total injustice.

Because none of that is the point.

So in the best, most optimistic sense, I say to you: you have been put on notice. Equal or surpass the caliber of this work. Or perish trying.

Seung Park
insani.org