Syl - 8 (Sylvia - 4 & Game Life Landscape - 2)

It is a year of reorientation in some turbulence.

I often write three anniversary articles per year to record the change of myself, my work and my entertainment (game life) respectively, while I continously miss the dates last year due to my inmature schedule arrengement. It is fortunate to finally slow down for a rest at the very end and beginning of the year. In order to prepare something for future revisiting, I finally put pen to paper to combine all of them in one. All in all, everything about me belongs to me, lol.

Game Life Landscape of Syl (ver20241231) created by Syl

Starting from trivia sounds fine, and the most time-consuming trivia (over 20 h) is unexpectedly our old friend minesweeper. Distinguish itself from other "endless minesweeper", 14 Minesweeper Variants innovatively introduces "only solution" to classic minesweeper to reform it into a "Puzzle Game". 14MV could also be credited with its "Creativity", but still overshadowed by "legendary-class" game The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. TSP is probably the most famous meta game with deep message spreading to question the essence of existence and the meaning of a game, while the main structure of the game is based on the splendid "Voicing" of "the narrator". From this point of view, TSP has definitely the "All-time Best Voicing". I also visited AAA game in 2024, like Control Ultimate Edition and it is a wonderful "Adventure Game". Sadly I am not a big fun of "SCP-like" worldview and its latter part storytelling is too obscure for me, which hampers a higher rate.

Spending time with friends is always a great fun. My new "All-time Most Amusing Game" goes to PICO PARK 2, where our 5-member group enjoyed ourselves so much and even our blaming and cursing each other are joyful as well. However, it is still too pale to be considered as the "Best Multiplayer Game". Considering that "Multiplayer Games" could be about either competition or cooperation, there would be a lot of choices. But I'm growing tired of competition and am getting less and less fun from "beating others" this year, with only those relaxing game "asking for some but not much intelligence" suiting me now. This may explain why Old Market Simulator based on simple "buying low and selling high" is my "This-year Best Multiplayer Game" and Mini Airways is my "This-year Most Relaxing Game". I've also tried some other "Multiplayer Games". Bread & Fred was definitely a nightmare of mine for its "two player Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy-like gameplay". Orcs Must Die! 3 also asked for "some degree of" intelligence. Though classifying it as "Strategy Game" might be far-fetched, I have not played any classic strategy game like previous Stellaris this year. In fact, most of my game time are invested on "Visual Novels (VNs)" as my previous wish.

I love good storytelling, especially those with excellent "foreshadowing" and "calling-responding". From this point of view, Phoneix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (or Gyakuten Saiban) is doubtless a masterpiece. Though I'm not a big fan of detective games and therefore its gameplay seems somewhat troublesome for me, I really enjoyed its storytelling. All of the sudden changes would turn out to be fully and naturally explained later and everything "strange" at first sight would turn out to be foreshadowing later. This is similar to previous "All-time Best Narrative" Itsuka no Memoraĵo ~Kotonoha Amrilato~. But considering that more characters and more complex relationship are better organized here, Gyakuten Saiban should be the new best. Its message spreading is also excellent, concerning both admination of justice and connections between people. As for characters, I do like Chihiro Ayasato but she quits the story so soon, later Mei Karuma is adorable but sadly not really a character of my kind.

Pic shot by Syl in Phoneix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy

Though having commented much, Gyakuten Saiban is not a standard VN. Before going to the "tomes", we can do a quick summary for some other VNs visited by me in 2024. According to "knowing enemy and know yourself" again, I visited Sanoba Witch in early 2024 and, from my point of view, it is "at least" better than the "proliferated" Senren * Banka ; For a similar reason I visited NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE, but its "Strategy Game" nature disappointed me. Once you realized that it is a game to unlock endings with different "upgrade" strategies, the existence of Ame-chan (or your OMGkawaiiAngel-chan) does not matter anymore ; I also visited Rei-Jin-G-Lu-P according to previous suggestion from a friend of mine, this game worth mentioning for its unique gameplay and system, but the narrative is barely acceptable. Though chosen as "This-year Most Terrifying", it has only spooky atmosphere with simple jump scares and twisted faces. My voting it is only a result of visiting no "classic Terrifying Game" this year ; Next work is Planetarian ~Chiisana Hoshi no Yume~ from Key, where Mlle Hoshino Yumemi set an early model for innocent human-serving robot. The theme song Hoshi Meguri no Uta by MELL is also impressive ; For Otome * Domain I do not have much to say. I am not into crossdressing at all and though I find part of myself in M. Minato Asuka, reading the "childlish" story was actually a disgrace of mine. This is the first (and the only) game ever to let me quit without finishing any route ; And finally Doukyuusei Remake, sadly I do not like simulation game (SLG) so I have basically played 12 min and quitted it.

Pic shot by Syl in planetarian HD

There are also some games that I have not finished yet and the first to discuss is old friend Saya no Uta. The "Last-year Most Depressing" retains its position, with my annual progress being simply one new branching point. The message spreading is definite, we should admire the humanity of Saya rather than discuss on the inhumanity of M. Fuminori Sakisaka. It is useless to justify or falsify the behaviour of a maniac, while noble and selfless pursuit of love is always worth eulogizing ; The story of Cross Concerto is relatively shallow but not that hollow. Having not finished the route of Mlle Ruri Yaegaki, a final decision might better be suspended. My rating would mainly depend on its storytelling of Ruri's "attidude to foretold destiny" ; The last "ongoing" work to discuss here is famous STEINS;GATE Series, which has already impressed me with its worldview construction and charater design. Though being not my kind either, Mlle Kurisu Makise with her characteristic stary eyes is definitely adorable. The phone interaction-based decision making of this game is also unique.

Pic shot by Syl in Saya no Uta

One-by-one detailed inspection could be started from Maitetsu - Last Run!!. If I have set a "Most Overestimated" title then it would go to our Mlle Hachiroku. From the very beginning I was expecting a deep story with profound message spreading. But this "excessively renewed" work only showed me repetitive and pale "problem discovery - problem solving" cycles progressed by "unexpected generous helpers" over and over again. Once you focus on the romance between M. Soutetsu Migita and Mlle Hachiroku from a "human-robot" view, it is acceptable (still there are tons of excellent stories about cybergirls). But the big picture is basically a patchwork no better than any Chinese online fantasy novels. There are something worth praising. Though being not a "standard" railway fan, I like metros very much and am quite glad to see professional knowledge of railway and history of Japanese railway development are so well integrated into this story. I quit this game after finishing the Hachiroku route with after story and judging that it is not worthwhile to go through the whole story. But basically it is of "above-avarage" quality.

I feel sorry for Summer Pockets for its being no laureated. But it is always a strong competitor for all titles, especially for the "Best Music". I've selected 12 soundtracks from its album to my collection and that equals to "Last-year Best Music" CLANNAD. Key has prepared its best staff cast for SP, bringing wonderful music like ALKATALE from M. Shinji Orito; Sea, Your Memory from M. Jun Maeda; Higenekodan no Bouken from M. Donmaru; Natsu wo Kizanda Nami no Oto wa.. from M. Tomohiro Takeshita ; Mabushisa no Naka from Mlle Ryou Mizutsuki and narrative song Tsumugi no Natsuyasumi by Mlle Emiri Iwai. The scenario from M. Kai (Fujibayashi sister route of CLANNAD) and M. Yuu Niijima (Hatsuyuki Sakura) is also of high quality, though our hero is absolutely negligible in the after story. A main problem is its similarity to CLANNAD, unexpected death, daughter with magic, sacrifice between sisters, forgotten and disappeared maidens... Everything seems to be "overshadowed" by CLANNAD. And its message spreading is unclear. When looking back at CLANNAD, you can easily feel the topic of "connections between people" in all routes of it and a sublimation of message to family love in its after story. However, here the topic seems to be fragmented, youthful summer vacation, dream pursuit, family love... I prefer Mlle Kamome Kushima for her story, but she is indeed simply an unfortunate maiden with dream to achieve, which is nearly independent to all the rest of story. It's hard to say there is something wrong, but this work is still far from perfection.

Pic shot by Syl in Summer Pockets

If SP is unfortunate, the lucky winner must be Marco to Ginga Ryuu, which took "This-year Best Art", "All-time Best Music" and "This-year Most Healing" in the meantime. The first title might be tricky, for most of its competitors are VNs, but the story is excellent. Though the entire story is constructed on surreal American comic-style humor, its message spreading is clear, focusing on characterization of Arco the galaxy dragon and also the connections between people. It also has some sketchs with philosophical thicking while that will not be expanded here. As for the music, though the composition of M. Yuuki Saito and the performance of Mlle Kaori Imazumi are excellent (like Universe, Aoi Hoshi and Ginga Ryuu no Uta). It is still hard for them to beat SP and former "All-time Best Music" Nier: Automata if we focus only on the music. The turning point is actually about Kiga to Hougyoku from Mlle Konore and Denderaryuba from Mlle Kirin. Though the first one seems too noisy for me now, it was just fine for me in April 2024. I was stressed and in struggle for competition at that time and it was the first time of mine to actually "gain strength to move on" from music ; The latter one might be better classified as conlang song rather than Japanese song, which is similar to those songs from Nier: Automata, conveying warmth in "meaningless" syllables to make me blurry and released. Though the ending of that section is not perfect, all those endeavours are part of me now and they are well-recorded by these music.

Pic shot by Syl in Marco to Ginga Ryuu

Finally, we have come to NUKITASHI (Nukige Mitai na Shima ni Sunderu Watashi wa Dou Surya Ii Desu ka?) 1&2. In fact I have only finished episode 1 and Touka route of episode 2, but they are enough for me to crown them "This-year Best of All". The worldview of this series is unique and apparently shallow, but the message spreading is profound. The main story of episode 1 is about fighting against oppression to create a "new world" of mutual understanding ; Episode 2 seems to extend this setting with tricks to restart and reverse the situation, emphasizing the importance of "understanding and being understood". This offers me a perspective to inspect myself. Before I came to understand myself, I did not know what to do expect to finish those are set for me. Later I was able to describe my own personality as delicate "profiles", but the main target is to "show them off" to let (or wish to let) others know myself. As I am growing older, such demand is dying soon. This could be explained that now I have already found some people understanding me, previous self-propaganda has then become a childish crying to arrest attention. NUKITASHI 2 has suggested that finding someone understanding us is an essential need to keep us from loneliness, while the suggestion after that remains blank, and that is what I am dealing with. For me, the emotional demand is thin, allowing me to be more occupied with my business after the confirmation of being understood. Would that be a trouble for my interpersonal relations ?

Pic shot by Syl in NUKITASHI

From this point of view, I am also at the tippping point of self-definition again. I do like my previous version with oppositing lady Sylvanas and Dr Angela, but, as I have encountered more and more "my-kind" characters, a more accurate version might be drawing near. I am sorry that I do not have enough time to refactor my profile now, but such question of life worth thinking in advance. I love selfless sacrifice, but such behaviours could also be graded according to their voluntariness. There was Mlle Kyou Fujibayashi from CLANNAD, who suppressed her own feeling to meet the expectation of her sister, where the sibling love matters ; There was also Mlle Erica from eden*, who sacrificed her own resource and life to support young and bullied Sion, where Sion later achieved her full potential as savior of human ; Later I encountered Mlle Fumino Kotoyose from NUKITASHI, who devoted all herself to keep everyone on the island she loved safe, where her actions is mainly redemption out of self-accusation. There seems to be a ranking, but in fact it is impossible to judge. In the year of 2024 we met Mlle Acro from Marco to Ginga Ryuu and Mlle Ao Sorakado from Summer Pockets. It seems fine to set Arco as the new idol - conditionally strong, lonely but sympathetic. She suffered a lot from loneliness and choosed to devour the sadness of Marco despite her caries ; Then she suppressed her hunger to avoid to harm others. She is exactly a character of my kind. However, the more comparison I did, the less meaningful it seems. It is always better to return to myself with the digested information.

I was in such a hurry during last autumn, and finally realized that nothing could be done in a rush. The world is changing so fast and there are always things to do. It is encouraging that people are born to solve problems and we are always on the way if we do not stop.


by Syl & Sylvia @ 2025-01-02 21:31:05 @ Beijing, Haidian District
originally posted @ https://www.cnblogs.com @ 2025-01-02