Koiyoubi (Day of Love) Interactive DVD (S) for 11.99

[ShiraiJunichi]

http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalo ... 1132/4/0/0
The right stuf has Koiyoubi (Day of Love), a non-hentai interactive DVD by hirameki, on sale for 11.99. Has anyone heard much about this title?

[mikey]

It's a romantic visual novel. Noting more, nothing less. It has no h-scenes, nothing spectacular, but it's really a very nice and relaxing thing to play. There's a a few nice girls to choose from and it's sort of a multi-perspective play (at some points). Takes place in school environment. Knowing you (from the posts), I'd say go for it, it was sort of worth the original price and it's really worth this one.

[PyTom]

Hm... I have DoL, but haven't played it in a while. IIRC, it's a de-hentaied hentai game, one of Hirameki's early DVD releases. The only one of those games I really liked was Hourglass of Summer. The rest weren't bad, but were merely averages. Still, average might be worth $12.

[ShiraiJunichi]

Well, I finally played this game for a little while, and I have mixed feelings...

The whole revenge thing really isn't working for me. What happened to Maho's crush? Where did it go? She used to really like him, but now, just because he can't remember who she is- even though it's been a long time- she wants to make him suffer. Her love must've not been very strong if it turned to hate so easily. It seems to be showing how selfish and self-centered love can be sometimes. Which, I suppose can be quite true with high school age people... ... I think I just gained a little more understanding as to why Mikey prefers games outside of the high school setting... It just seems so immature. And it makes me not like Maho. But, I'm in a bit of a dilemma... I'd like to think that if I was really nice to Maho, that she'd forgive me and stop seeking revenge (foolish idealistic me!!), but things don't seem to be going that way, and I can just imagine me falling for her, and then being dumped in the end, satisfying her childish desire for vengeance. And I really don't want that. Then again, being broken hearted at the end might not be such a bad ending, if the hero can act decently about it- or in other words, doesn't turn bitter and angry, hating Maho. But I can just imagine the main character acting just like Maho, and transforming his love into hate and anger- effectively giving myself the attributes that I hate about Maho. When true love is broken, it turns to despair and sorrow. Only shallow selfish love will turn to hatred and anger when it is broken.
So, I really don't know how I should play. But, it is giving me a lot of things to think about, which helps to make it a good game, I suppose.

I think this game is helping me realize some flaws I have in writing my own script. I think I tend to make all characters very moral, mature, and logical. But in reality, people are far from perfect. People make stupid decisions sometimes, and do stupid things. People act illogically sometimes, especially when deep emotions are involved. In my analytical mind, there needs to be a driving force, a motivation, behind every action. But in fact, things just happen haphazardly sometimes.
I think another problem I have is trying to arrive at a resolution too quickly. When I see a problem, I'd like to resolve it right away. I was watching R.O.D. yesterday, and the main characters encountered a large, very depressing problem. I kept wanting someone to say just the right thing that would solve the problem, but instead, they struggled through misery for a while, before they arrived at the perfect resolution. This had a lot stronger effect than it would have had, had the problem been solved immediately. Moral of the story: Sometimes you have to let you characters suffer for a while... I guess...

[mikey]

The revenge... I took that as a simple plot device, an idea, something that the creators needed in order to get the characters in a specific situation. Granted, they didn't make it really emotional, but it was to be expected. It's not deep-going (in terms of emotions), it's more the simpler side of romance. It was relaxing and okay for me, but this concept gives the game the attribute you rightfully pointed out - if you want to truly like or love one of the characters, they will not really contribute to it past their standardized character design. A lot of the experience from a game will come from the approach the player will have to it. I suppose you'd be right in saying that if it makes you think (even if it's just because you have mixed feelings), it's good. On the other hand, if it's not really fulfilling, then it just doesn't work for one. DoL was nice, but DoL didn't make me *like* (let alone love) any of the characters. I loved Mio from Private Nurse (even got her ending on my first playthrough) - that was emotional. This wasn't.

[ShiraiJunichi]

Well, perhaps I'm giving the game too much credit, and am thinking too deeply about it. I tend to over-analyze ^_^;;; . I played through it once, and it was nice, but I don't feel compelled to play again. I contrast this with Hourglass of Summer- the only other commercial bishoujo game I've played, and they feel completely different. I must've spent around 20 hours in a 2-3 day period playing before I stopped- and that may be attributed only to the fact that I had school the next day. But with DoL, a few hours of one playthrough, and I'm not too compelled to play again. Thinking about it, I think I actually liked "Go! Magical Boy" more than DoL. I think that there are also a few of Mikey's games that I preferred more as well- which just goes to show how much this community has to offer. Just because it's cheaper (FREE ^_^ ) doesn't necessarily mean that it's inferior.