I remember playing this game back when I was in middle school and loving it, I'm college now. It was the first visual novel I ever played, so it makes me quite nostalgic, I think I'll play it again, since it once meant so much to me. So thanks to the people who created it for the memories!
I'm sorry but I couldn't do it. Everything screams r/im14andthisisdeep. Writing style is like me when I was 14 and trying to be fancy and deep and pretentious. I suppose they're children so it's no wonder but it's too much. The breakup scene in the beginning omg.. "Even knowing the suffering that awaits me" god sounds like an incel, not saying they are as I can't finish the game so I wouldnt know. Nobody speaks like this. It's like a weeb trying to be super deep or the emo kid thinking they're super special and nobody else understands!! It's painful to read. The opening block of text is so pretentious without actually saying anything. It's just reiterating what people learn eventually but angsty teen style. Then everything else is also sprinkle with pretentiousness. I got the heebie-jeebies lol. Brought back too many memories 😂
One Thousands Lies is a high school coming-of-age story focused on 6 students during their last year before graduation. The story focuses on their interactions in the present while alluding to some traumatic past events that have had a hand in shaping their path to where they are now. To the point of the title, the tale is a study in how all of us, whether subconsciously or not, try to influence the narrative surrounding our lives and choices, both for others and for ourselves — even if our attempts are sometimes nothing more than an exercise in deception and misdirection.
Through the everyday adventures of the main character and his orbit of friends, we start to get a sense of the shape of critical events that have shaped their view of the world, their place in it, and their relationships to each other. The "peeling of the onion" proceeds slowly, and most of the critical reveals occur in the epilogue, "One Hidden Truth", which is only available to play through once the main body of the novel has been completed. This is intentional; the story takes great pains to emphasize that for every truth that is core to our being, there are a thousand stories, explanations, justifications and deceptions that we weave around ourselves to protect ourselves and others from the thorny facets of our existence that we are reticent about or ashamed to confront.
At times the story grows burdensome under the weight of its own introspective and philosophical meanderings, but the emotional impact of the story is worth the frequently rambling journey.
Characters
The 6 main characters of the story are all very well developed. Diniz is perhaps the most opaque in terms of character development, but that is in a way simply intrinsic to his personality. Each character has their own quirks, and when they're not busy waxing philosophical, their interactions are hilarious and, at times, stirring.
My main objection to the heavy philosophical musings is that they are conveyed via high school students. It's rare to find young adults that age who analyze life, the universe and everything in such intricate detail. Consequently, the internal musings of the main character stretch the limit of plausibility, and when deep analysis of humanity starts to spill out into the dialogue between characters, it downright undermines the immersion. Yes, the story is trying to weave a set of concepts in preparation for the big reveal at the end; but in the absence of other, older characters who can serve as a platform for such observations, there remains little choice but to deliver the concepts through the most unlikely of demographics.
Interestingly, one of my favorite characters — for situational comedy — isn't a leading characters and doesn't even have a visual representation: the substitute teacher. I laughed every time the substitute teacher became haplessly involved in yet another prank, and of course the twist toward the end had me in stitches. (No spoilers.)
Graphics
The backdrops to this visual novel are very impressionist, which serves well to keep attention focused on the characters themselves. Each character is beautifully portrayed, with many different poses to convey the right mood at each point in the conversations. A few select scenes feature full in-scene character placement to further bring the characters to life during key moments in the story, and these are beautifully done as well.
The main character is not represented graphically; use your imagination. Most side characters (of which there are few) also do not have a graphical representation.
Sound and Music
The music appears to be largely composed of free-to-use or public domain content. The songs are diverse and well selected to support the storytelling; some reinforce the quirky relationships of the characters, and others do a good job of underscoring the more poignant moments of the story. A music player available from the main menu lets the reader play any of the tracks they have heard so far in the story and also doubles as a place to give attribution.
Sound effects are used judiciously but are well done and do help bring parts of the story to life more.
Gameplay and Controls
This is a kinetic visual novel. There are no choices to be made; you are simply reading a story with visuals. Interface is standard Ren'Py. The on-screen interface is intuitive enough for mouse usage, but the game does not have any sort of help screen for the keyboard interface (always appreciated since the game engine doesn't come with an out-of-the-box help screen).
Interestingly, the "Skip" function is enabled, which for a visual novel without any interactive elements, causes it to speed forward all the way to the end of the novel. Also, a recurring gripe I have with Ren'Py is that "Skip" is mapped to the Tab key, and it also reacts on key-up when using Alt+Tab to switch back into Ren'Py from another application — thereby triggering a Skip when it wasn't desired.
Conclusion
This is a beautifully portrayed story with fun, engaging characters. It suffers only from a top-heavy encumbrance of introspective ruminations and philosophical dialogue, which probably could have been more smartly presented by relying on the reader's ability to discern the author's perspective through more subtle conveyances. The result is a number of awkward speed bumps in the storytelling; but otherwise the shenanigans are fun and entertaining, the emotional moments are appropriately poignant, and the final reveals are especially impactful.
Like a gateway drug into visual novels. I first read this on recommendation from a dude in the forums(those still exist) of a manga reading website, and I fell in love once I got around to playing it. Now, 2 years later, I'm revisiting it and its still just as good as I remember. It does have some of the trappings of anime, the art style being the most obvious, but I still think it would stand on its own for someone not familiar with anime, its got a good amount of romance, but the philosophical and melancholic scenes are where it really shines.
But hey, I'm just a random guy on the internet, the game is literally free, at least download it.
Am I really gonna comment when the release was like 5 years ago? Sure! Why not?
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD
I really wanted to say that this vn is bad but I can't, the reason why I say that it's bad is because the story feels like it's made for critics or is made to be deep and with pretty big amounts of exposition.
The thing about this story is that its not made to please the viewer at all, especially the main character, basically everything bad that happens is his fault he is in the wrong pretty much all the time, in hindsight this guy pretty much stalked Luce sent the mails to himself so he could spark conflict and speak to her and broke into her apartment, and in the one hidden truth epilogue she was fine with it (to be fair it is teased that that didn't happen yet and its just a story), my man stabbed himself and cut ties with his friends to justify the fact that he wasn't blamed more for stopping the work on the building, his friends don't help much either Ziva just stood there not taking serious action even tho he was going out with him and Diniz did the same and Ausse being comic relief most of the time, also the fact that Claire wasn't real was kinda expected but still felt like bs on an emotional level and given the fact that he was acknowledged by Ausse at some point as being real. The fact that this is a kinetic novel also makes things worse because you cant control what girl you end up with, which also makes it less enjoyable (I actually liked Ziva more than I should have and would have liked an ending for her)
Now erase all I said above.
This vn was actually very good, feelings can't be controlled, sadness and depression can't be controlled, this game shows a very realistic scenario a human mind could work, sometimes people just self destruct and see the world however the want to see it and other people cant change their mind, people just get crushed under the weight of their own burden, cant take things back and shut themselves from other's out of guilt. I actually think the heroines are top tier, all very well written and cute, I cant help but root for all of them, all have good points and are way more realistic than the average vn heroine that is 95% fluff. There are also some funny moments like the speech Ausse gives at the school festival, the bit at the beginning and some nice references. Also the twists in the story are insane you actually cant really predict a lot of things that are gonna happen, especially in the epilogue I would not have imagined in a thousand years that he would stab himself.
I feel like this is at least 8.5/10 if I'm being critical but I'm gonna go with 10/10 because things with way less effort get a 10 and it's made by an english developer.
If you wondering if you should try this, the answer is yes* with an asterisk. In hindsight I should have probably focused on my studies more.
Okay. Where do I start, my taking 3 months to finish this because I just never wanted it to end or confronting the emptiest dark wholesome lie that is left within me after waiting so long only to be met with That end.
My One truth. In true Ciaran fashion I choose to run away from both those options.
Instead.My thoughts posed as questions and vice versa that will contain spoilers:
Ciaran cut his friends off? not much explanation as to why besides some psychological word Olympics (English literature student here) I understood the words and that they may have been lies in an of itself but maybe just like Ziva I am annoying and over psychoanalyse everything because it just doesn't add up to me.
Am I just missing the point? Is that the charm? Missing the point?
I may seem accusatory so I'll explain myself. Ciaran is a stoic man of his word and chronic gambler, is that the lie? Because throughout the story his traits seem to be of someone who would see tough things as too much effort and yet wouldn't avoid them for the sake of his friends. The same dude who knew Ausse enough to know that he wasn't lying about being a virgin. Obviously I don't know him so I might be wrong, I guess, I just feel kind of betrayed because Ciaran seemed to be a chaotic good or lawful neutral person when it really made a difference and yet at the end his character just makes a decision that is full 180° at graduation.
More questions that are more direct, straightforward and easier to answer posed as, well, questions:
1.Ciaran loves Claire?
2.Ciaran broke up with Ziva?
2.2.CIARAN AND ZIVA WERE DATING?
3.The animals in the wolf story reflect his friends?
4.Ciaran is actually schizophrenic which would explain the Bald Bastard being everywhere and working as everything on top of being able to serve dishes so fast and grenades that blow up with a bang releasing was it airsoft bullets? Comedic relief? I understand.?
5.I'm just butthurt because I thought Ziva was reallly good to Ciaran, but got broken up with for fucking legal loli Claire?
All in all I really liked this visual novel, I put in 17 hours making sure I read the text properly. I could of forgotten things too since I played it over a span of 3 months, so forgive me if I said something wrong or stupid.
You got no time to be reading this long crap but if you did please do let me know if I'm wrong or if you just are of a different opinion.
Except with regards to best girl, it's obviously Bald Bastard Ziva. I'm not wrong on that.
I don't really try a lot of human visual novels, But this particular one caught not just mine, But also my best friends attention too. we will be trying this out so thank you for making this wonderful game ^^
and i have finished the game again! i'd probably want to change the summary of this game from "a bunch of normal students making an impression of kokichi oma on each other with a bit of romance as well" to "five insane students and a sleepy nerd discuss psychology while annoying each other". because really, everyone but diniz is insane or crazy in some way or another.
i still love the game, and i'm still obsessed with it and may not stop recommending it to everyone who makes eye contact with me in the internet. glad i somehow came across this, this is one of the three games that hooked me into visual novels, so of course i love it
also, i am still in the warpath against ciaran as he declared that anyone who picks bulbasaur as their starter pokémon is his public enemy no 1.
Why the fuck would you make the option to download for free?! this was soooooooo fucking good (just finished it) holy mother fucking Christ was this good! Are you a god? A demon? a master of story writing? ALL?! fuck you how fucking dare you make such a good fucking visual novel! no seriously how could you fucking do this? nothing will beat it! FUCK YOU!
I'm making this a weekly chill series on my youtube channel I just got through the prologue but i'm realling enjoying it so far. Will write a bit further when I experience it to its fullest! I acutally happen to come by this by accident, I dont usually play many visual novels but OTL really caught my eye.
Awesome in the actual sense of the word. The depths this visual novel goes to is astounding. After completing it I was so depressed and I had to surf reddit for an hour before I came down from the (for lack of a better or even existent word) emotional low this game gave me. Every character and scene is just marvelously crafted until it ends in a heart-shattering finale that left me empty and sad but fulfilled at the same time. Still don't know what the prize on graduation day was going to be though.
// very spoily stuff below so if you haven't played this game yet do so it's very good, and if you haven't finished it, please do. //
that took around 6 hours. this is probably the greatest story i ever experienced so far. here's what I think of the six main characters in the story:
ausse - character development practically just starts and ends with "girls" and "skirt chaser". he seems a bit more shallow than the rest of the cast but maybe it's just me. he, of course, does have his own moments like the party, sled desk race and his clinic scene, but still... maybe i'm just half repulsed by his personality. oh and he also broke the 4th wall by mentioning fanservice
ciaran - a well sculpted mc. the description here practically sums up my opinion on him, but the flashback scene in OHT... why... also bulbasaur is the best kanto starter and there's nothing he can do to stop or @ me
claire - by the time of the rooftop scene i'm thinking that claire is mostly defined by "stalker" and "insane", then of course she hit my feels in a few of the next scenes like her proposal in the streets and the mall scene after ciaran's outburst on ziva
diniz - on my first few hours I half thought diniz was mostly just a joke character added to the description here, and my other half thought wonders if he'll be appearing in the next scene. then the first meeting happened. he's also kinda relatable too as he's a nice guy with interests in gaming + he seems smart
luce - best girl don't @ me but seriously she's almost as relatable as diniz as she's a friendly, bright girl who likes art. and also very very helpful. except during that entire stealing a car thing which seems normal then since I didn't really know who she is, but now it feels a bit more out of character since now I portray her as the good and sane girl
ziva - a witch who loves talking nonstop about nonsense psychology (which is really interesting) and is actually not tolerable yet another relatable character. I feel like she is practically the main trio (her, ciaran and ausse)'s leader and it fits so well due to her personality. she also prefers doing everything by herself instead of with groups so that's another relatable thing
I really love the description of the game here, and especially ziva's profile, as it gives the characters a bit more of a colorful personality. I also love the epilogue (One Hidden Truth) except the part where ciaran just stabs his foot, that was definitely uncalled for, and should be removed or at least made less graphic (although it really isn't graphic). the image scenes I think highlighted the most important scenes of the game (the rooftop scene, the evening pool scene, claire's piano scene, the argument(?) with ziva, the classroom scene with luce, the proposal, and the sunrise stairs scene in the epilogue. also I like how the epilogue references things you may already have forgotten by this point, most especially the chain binding three people (who is revealed to be ciaran, diniz and ziva) from the prologue. speaking of the prologue, that's probably the only noteworthy thing there, since I don't think the pianist or the apprentice made a proper appearance in the story, but that's probably just me.
and also this convo between claire and ciaran "On the other hand, I'd rather observe everything from afar." "That's just a nice way of saying that you enjoy watching me suffer." is my new mood quote now thanks
not yet through with this game (4 hours in with 3 pictures discovered but the pics are mostly endgame), but my fairly speedy reading speed (i often click once to reveal all the text, read quickly, and move on to the next dialogue box without skipping a beat) could mean that i’m one scene away from finishing this game just like another visual novel i loved...
all i can describe my book’s cover opinion in this game can be summed up with “a bunch of normal students making an impression of kokichi (from danganronpa) on each other with a bit of romance as well”, but of course you do not trust a book by its cover, as this is a really heartwarming and lovely story. <3
i wonder what’ll the ending be? and i wonder whether you or someone else who finished the game will press the reply button to spoil me the ending...
Hello, Mr.Keinart. I'd like to thank you for creating this game. I'm in a spot in my life where I'm stuck in my room at night with no internet and only my phone to accompany me and I desperately needed a "visual novel kind of friend". Most visual novels I know of put emphasis on romance and generally are very gimmicky. So when I saw that you openly declare that there is no hentai/choice, that convinced me to give it a shot. "The author has a story to tell it would seem. I am exactly in a mood to listen to one". And oh boy was I in luck with that choice. It was everything I wanted from the experience and then some. It took time to get accustomed to your whole work tbh. The corky introduction of the game on this very page with the main character giving vibes of a jerk, the sophisticated, confusing and rather long intro to the story that I, might as well confess, eventually skipped at first to clarify if I'll even commit to the game.. I think it's safe to say that to an extent you are testing your reader, so that only the right reader would choose you. Take me for one, after skipping that intro, I find myself bamboozled again, getting pranked by everyone including protagonist himself. Not exactly a thing to make me confident about reading the whole thing. But something did stuck with me about the whole thing. Something about it worked. And I think that something is a direct extension of the talent you poured into the game.
Now having completed it, I learned a lot of interesting insights from comment section here and on steam. I myself am a very simple, short sighted person, I never manage to "solve" a story on my own. Heck, I was just like "Please choose Claire!" for the entire second half of the game and then after marriage proposal I was like "Oh wow, that's a bit of an overkill, but damn I'll take it!". Now though.. I find it pleasant how you called Claire "special". Her way of channeling truth into the world in most unusual ways, completely and harmlessly piercing through all of Ciaran's complicated defences.. I guess she really is too good to be truth :d
I am generally pondering some of the details now, it will definitely take me second playthrough at some point to get more things sorted out. You seem to imply that the Baldy guy has a certain role too. Since OTL is altered in many ways by Ciaran's twisted good intent, it's tough to say what is real and what's not at times. His first encounter was an incoming punishment that luckily and unexpectedly was avoided. His later encounters all seem to overcomplicate a routine reality to Ciaran, and arguably all of them have something to do with Luce. Especially his school combat encounter made me think he is, in a way, Ciaran seeking to be punished, needing things to be tough to make sense. The restaurant encounter is probably Ciaran overcoming even that with Luce by his side. Maybe. Idk. As I said, I'm bad at this.
The savefiles having peculiar names is also a very nice touch to which I payed attention too late into the game. For example "Story of the last syzygy". I suppose in the game syzygy implies a line made out of Earth, Moon and Sun. And the last syzygy is perhaps the last time when Ciaran treats Claire and Luce equally, in a sense that they are both in his reach. On that day, Ciaran decides to embrace the moon and give up on the sun, thus it's the last syzygy.
The way OHT presents us Ciaran is interesting too. Now it's a dark, lonely(as it turns out) room with a silhouette on his computer, a way less charming, magical image than a mastermind that everyone subtly adores in OTL. Sets the tone nicely. And the box turning out to be empty, when Luce herself is around, just like the other side of the phone call turning out to be silent.. she was the delivery all along, the perfect image that somehow happened to have a living form, to Ciaran's astonishment.
It is also interesting how we get almost random hints of there being a different story going on behind the one we actually get to see unfold. Diniz appeared kind of out of nowhere. So did last talk to Ziva. It became more and more apparent that it's not your typical story of a guy choosing between three hotties. Ciaran has his own background, not exactly a protagonist of ours after all.
But what I wanted to tell you the most is how the most impact the game made on me wasn't the story, or amazing flow you mixed into it with dynamic pacing, comedy and deception, or the amount of themes and stuff you sneaked in it every here and there. No. Truth be told, I don't know what it was. I just know it was something else. Having played the game, seeing Ciaran endure tons of teasing, something that I'd personally never handle(making it a bit hard for me to strongly fall for Luce), thinking over about his phantom pain connected to his emotions.. The sense of "playing the role" this story gives is something else. It invites me to think differently about things. It invites me to be above things even in a state of misery, which is confusing, daring, absurd... and life affirming. It will take me time to process how I feel. I wonder if this is the impact you intended. Regardless, yet again, thank you for making it.
Thank you a lot for the comment dayfly! It means the world to me to receive this kind of thoughtful feedback.
You mentioned tons of things there! I really like that it made you think this much, that was the idea in a sense. To think and question while having a good time, that's all I ever wanted out of this and knowing it did for you is great. Especially if at the end it left you with some sense of loss, but still hopeful (for a reason hope is the final message of the game!).
The beginning being lacking is something that I thought about. The idea was to make a huge contrast of it with the rest of the story to make clear it is a different story and narrator, but I think I could have handled it differently. Probably my biggest mistake of the book now in retrospective, but as you say it also filters out people which was probably for the best on the long term.
Anyway thanks a lot, listening to your ideas was great. Let me know if you ever give it a second run :)
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You are The best comedy visual novel creator on itch.io, pls keep making more like this.
It was so good. I'll forever remember this visual novel.
I remember playing this game back when I was in middle school and loving it, I'm college now. It was the first visual novel I ever played, so it makes me quite nostalgic, I think I'll play it again, since it once meant so much to me. So thanks to the people who created it for the memories!
I'm sorry but I couldn't do it. Everything screams r/im14andthisisdeep. Writing style is like me when I was 14 and trying to be fancy and deep and pretentious. I suppose they're children so it's no wonder but it's too much. The breakup scene in the beginning omg.. "Even knowing the suffering that awaits me" god sounds like an incel, not saying they are as I can't finish the game so I wouldnt know. Nobody speaks like this. It's like a weeb trying to be super deep or the emo kid thinking they're super special and nobody else understands!! It's painful to read. The opening block of text is so pretentious without actually saying anything. It's just reiterating what people learn eventually but angsty teen style. Then everything else is also sprinkle with pretentiousness. I got the heebie-jeebies lol. Brought back too many memories 😂
Story
One Thousands Lies is a high school coming-of-age story focused on 6 students during their last year before graduation. The story focuses on their interactions in the present while alluding to some traumatic past events that have had a hand in shaping their path to where they are now. To the point of the title, the tale is a study in how all of us, whether subconsciously or not, try to influence the narrative surrounding our lives and choices, both for others and for ourselves — even if our attempts are sometimes nothing more than an exercise in deception and misdirection.
Through the everyday adventures of the main character and his orbit of friends, we start to get a sense of the shape of critical events that have shaped their view of the world, their place in it, and their relationships to each other. The "peeling of the onion" proceeds slowly, and most of the critical reveals occur in the epilogue, "One Hidden Truth", which is only available to play through once the main body of the novel has been completed. This is intentional; the story takes great pains to emphasize that for every truth that is core to our being, there are a thousand stories, explanations, justifications and deceptions that we weave around ourselves to protect ourselves and others from the thorny facets of our existence that we are reticent about or ashamed to confront.
At times the story grows burdensome under the weight of its own introspective and philosophical meanderings, but the emotional impact of the story is worth the frequently rambling journey.
Characters
The 6 main characters of the story are all very well developed. Diniz is perhaps the most opaque in terms of character development, but that is in a way simply intrinsic to his personality. Each character has their own quirks, and when they're not busy waxing philosophical, their interactions are hilarious and, at times, stirring.
My main objection to the heavy philosophical musings is that they are conveyed via high school students. It's rare to find young adults that age who analyze life, the universe and everything in such intricate detail. Consequently, the internal musings of the main character stretch the limit of plausibility, and when deep analysis of humanity starts to spill out into the dialogue between characters, it downright undermines the immersion. Yes, the story is trying to weave a set of concepts in preparation for the big reveal at the end; but in the absence of other, older characters who can serve as a platform for such observations, there remains little choice but to deliver the concepts through the most unlikely of demographics.
Interestingly, one of my favorite characters — for situational comedy — isn't a leading characters and doesn't even have a visual representation: the substitute teacher. I laughed every time the substitute teacher became haplessly involved in yet another prank, and of course the twist toward the end had me in stitches. (No spoilers.)
Graphics
The backdrops to this visual novel are very impressionist, which serves well to keep attention focused on the characters themselves. Each character is beautifully portrayed, with many different poses to convey the right mood at each point in the conversations. A few select scenes feature full in-scene character placement to further bring the characters to life during key moments in the story, and these are beautifully done as well.
The main character is not represented graphically; use your imagination. Most side characters (of which there are few) also do not have a graphical representation.
Sound and Music
The music appears to be largely composed of free-to-use or public domain content. The songs are diverse and well selected to support the storytelling; some reinforce the quirky relationships of the characters, and others do a good job of underscoring the more poignant moments of the story. A music player available from the main menu lets the reader play any of the tracks they have heard so far in the story and also doubles as a place to give attribution.
Sound effects are used judiciously but are well done and do help bring parts of the story to life more.
Gameplay and Controls
This is a kinetic visual novel. There are no choices to be made; you are simply reading a story with visuals. Interface is standard Ren'Py. The on-screen interface is intuitive enough for mouse usage, but the game does not have any sort of help screen for the keyboard interface (always appreciated since the game engine doesn't come with an out-of-the-box help screen).
Interestingly, the "Skip" function is enabled, which for a visual novel without any interactive elements, causes it to speed forward all the way to the end of the novel. Also, a recurring gripe I have with Ren'Py is that "Skip" is mapped to the Tab key, and it also reacts on key-up when using Alt+Tab to switch back into Ren'Py from another application — thereby triggering a Skip when it wasn't desired.
Conclusion
This is a beautifully portrayed story with fun, engaging characters. It suffers only from a top-heavy encumbrance of introspective ruminations and philosophical dialogue, which probably could have been more smartly presented by relying on the reader's ability to discern the author's perspective through more subtle conveyances. The result is a number of awkward speed bumps in the storytelling; but otherwise the shenanigans are fun and entertaining, the emotional moments are appropriately poignant, and the final reveals are especially impactful.
Definitely worth a read!
Like a gateway drug into visual novels.
I first read this on recommendation from a dude in the forums(those still exist) of a manga reading website, and I fell in love once I got around to playing it. Now, 2 years later, I'm revisiting it and its still just as good as I remember.
It does have some of the trappings of anime, the art style being the most obvious, but I still think it would stand on its own for someone not familiar with anime, its got a good amount of romance, but the philosophical and melancholic scenes are where it really shines.
But hey, I'm just a random guy on the internet, the game is literally free, at least download it.
Am I really gonna comment when the release was like 5 years ago? Sure! Why not?
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD
I really wanted to say that this vn is bad but I can't, the reason why I say that it's bad is because the story feels like it's made for critics or is made to be deep and with pretty big amounts of exposition.
The thing about this story is that its not made to please the viewer at all, especially the main character, basically everything bad that happens is his fault he is in the wrong pretty much all the time, in hindsight this guy pretty much stalked Luce sent the mails to himself so he could spark conflict and speak to her and broke into her apartment, and in the one hidden truth epilogue she was fine with it (to be fair it is teased that that didn't happen yet and its just a story), my man stabbed himself and cut ties with his friends to justify the fact that he wasn't blamed more for stopping the work on the building, his friends don't help much either Ziva just stood there not taking serious action even tho he was going out with him and Diniz did the same and Ausse being comic relief most of the time, also the fact that Claire wasn't real was kinda expected but still felt like bs on an emotional level and given the fact that he was acknowledged by Ausse at some point as being real. The fact that this is a kinetic novel also makes things worse because you cant control what girl you end up with, which also makes it less enjoyable (I actually liked Ziva more than I should have and would have liked an ending for her)
Now erase all I said above.
This vn was actually very good, feelings can't be controlled, sadness and depression can't be controlled, this game shows a very realistic scenario a human mind could work, sometimes people just self destruct and see the world however the want to see it and other people cant change their mind, people just get crushed under the weight of their own burden, cant take things back and shut themselves from other's out of guilt. I actually think the heroines are top tier, all very well written and cute, I cant help but root for all of them, all have good points and are way more realistic than the average vn heroine that is 95% fluff. There are also some funny moments like the speech Ausse gives at the school festival, the bit at the beginning and some nice references. Also the twists in the story are insane you actually cant really predict a lot of things that are gonna happen, especially in the epilogue I would not have imagined in a thousand years that he would stab himself.
I feel like this is at least 8.5/10 if I'm being critical but I'm gonna go with 10/10 because things with way less effort get a 10 and it's made by an english developer.
If you wondering if you should try this, the answer is yes* with an asterisk. In hindsight I should have probably focused on my studies more.
Okay. Where do I start, my taking 3 months to finish this because I just never wanted it to end or confronting the emptiest dark wholesome lie that is left within me after waiting so long only to be met with That end.
My One truth. In true Ciaran fashion I choose to run away from both those options.
Instead.My thoughts posed as questions and vice versa that will contain spoilers:
Ciaran cut his friends off? not much explanation as to why besides some psychological word Olympics (English literature student here) I understood the words and that they may have been lies in an of itself but maybe just like Ziva I am annoying and over psychoanalyse everything because it just doesn't add up to me.
Am I just missing the point? Is that the charm? Missing the point?
I may seem accusatory so I'll explain myself. Ciaran is a stoic man of his word and chronic gambler, is that the lie? Because throughout the story his traits seem to be of someone who would see tough things as too much effort and yet wouldn't avoid them for the sake of his friends. The same dude who knew Ausse enough to know that he wasn't lying about being a virgin. Obviously I don't know him so I might be wrong, I guess, I just feel kind of betrayed because Ciaran seemed to be a chaotic good or lawful neutral person when it really made a difference and yet at the end his character just makes a decision that is full 180° at graduation.
More questions that are more direct, straightforward and easier to answer posed as, well, questions:
1.Ciaran loves Claire?
2.Ciaran broke up with Ziva?
2.2.CIARAN AND ZIVA WERE DATING?
3.The animals in the wolf story reflect his friends?
4.Ciaran is actually schizophrenic which would explain the Bald Bastard being everywhere and working as everything on top of being able to serve dishes so fast and grenades that blow up with a bang releasing was it airsoft bullets? Comedic relief? I understand.?
5.I'm just butthurt because I thought Ziva was reallly good to Ciaran, but got broken up with for fucking legal loli Claire?
All in all I really liked this visual novel, I put in 17 hours making sure I read the text properly. I could of forgotten things too since I played it over a span of 3 months, so forgive me if I said something wrong or stupid.
You got no time to be reading this long crap but if you did please do let me know if I'm wrong or if you just are of a different opinion.
Except with regards to best girl, it's obviously
Bald BastardZiva. I'm not wrong on that.Have you read One Hidden Truth? It's an extra chapter that explains some of your questions. Click it on the main menu.
I don't really try a lot of human visual novels, But this particular one caught not just mine, But also my best friends attention too. we will be trying this out so thank you for making this wonderful game ^^
-Made a Video.
and i have finished the game again! i'd probably want to change the summary of this game from "a bunch of normal students making an impression of kokichi oma on each other with a bit of romance as well" to "five insane students and a sleepy nerd discuss psychology while annoying each other". because really, everyone but diniz is insane or crazy in some way or another.
i still love the game, and i'm still obsessed with it and may not stop recommending it to everyone who makes eye contact with me in the internet. glad i somehow came across this, this is one of the three games that hooked me into visual novels, so of course i love it
also, i am still in the warpath against ciaran as he declared that anyone who picks bulbasaur as their starter pokémon is his public enemy no 1.
Why the fuck would you make the option to download for free?! this was soooooooo fucking good (just finished it) holy mother fucking Christ was this good! Are you a god? A demon? a master of story writing? ALL?! fuck you how fucking dare you make such a good fucking visual novel! no seriously how could you fucking do this? nothing will beat it! FUCK YOU!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it so much. Hope it gets beaten by my new novel Lotus Reverie (coming soon) though! :)
I have the website bookmarked, definitely will buy!
I'm making this a weekly chill series on my youtube channel I just got through the prologue but i'm realling enjoying it so far. Will write a bit further when I experience it to its fullest! I acutally happen to come by this by accident, I dont usually play many visual novels but OTL really caught my eye.
Awesome in the actual sense of the word. The depths this visual novel goes to is astounding. After completing it I was so depressed and I had to surf reddit for an hour before I came down from the (for lack of a better or even existent word) emotional low this game gave me. Every character and scene is just marvelously crafted until it ends in a heart-shattering finale that left me empty and sad but fulfilled at the same time. Still don't know what the prize on graduation day was going to be though.
// very spoily stuff below so if you haven't played this game yet do so it's very good, and if you haven't finished it, please do. //
that took around 6 hours. this is probably the greatest story i ever experienced so far. here's what I think of the six main characters in the story:
ausse - character development practically just starts and ends with "girls" and "skirt chaser". he seems a bit more shallow than the rest of the cast but maybe it's just me. he, of course, does have his own moments like the party,
sleddesk race and his clinic scene, but still... maybe i'm just half repulsed by his personality. oh and he also broke the 4th wall by mentioning fanserviceciaran - a well sculpted mc. the description here practically sums up my opinion on him, but the flashback scene in OHT... why... also bulbasaur is the best kanto starter and there's nothing he can do to stop or @ me
claire - by the time of the rooftop scene i'm thinking that claire is mostly defined by "stalker" and "insane", then of course she hit my feels in a few of the next scenes like her proposal in the streets and the mall scene after ciaran's outburst on ziva
diniz - on my first few hours I half thought diniz was mostly just a joke character added to the description here, and my other half thought wonders if he'll be appearing in the next scene. then the first meeting happened. he's also kinda relatable too as he's a nice guy with interests in gaming + he seems smart
luce -
best girl don't @ mebut seriously she's almost as relatable as diniz as she's a friendly, bright girl who likes art. and also very very helpful. except during that entire stealing a car thing which seems normal then since I didn't really know who she is, but now it feels a bit more out of character since now I portray her as the good and sane girlziva - a
witchwho loves talkingnonstopaboutnonsensepsychology (which is really interesting) and is actuallynot tolerableyet another relatable character. I feel like she is practically the main trio (her, ciaran and ausse)'s leader and it fits so well due to her personality. she also prefers doing everything by herself instead of with groups so that's another relatable thingI really love the description of the game here, and especially ziva's profile, as it gives the characters a bit more of a colorful personality. I also love the epilogue (One Hidden Truth) except the part where ciaran just stabs his foot, that was definitely uncalled for, and should be removed or at least made less graphic (although it really isn't graphic). the image scenes I think highlighted the most important scenes of the game (the rooftop scene, the evening pool scene, claire's piano scene, the argument(?) with ziva, the classroom scene with luce, the proposal, and the sunrise stairs scene in the epilogue. also I like how the epilogue references things you may already have forgotten by this point, most especially the chain binding three people (who is revealed to be ciaran, diniz and ziva) from the prologue. speaking of the prologue, that's probably the only noteworthy thing there, since I don't think the pianist or the apprentice made a proper appearance in the story, but that's probably just me.
and also this convo between claire and ciaran "On the other hand, I'd rather observe everything from afar." "That's just a nice way of saying that you enjoy watching me suffer." is my new mood quote now thanks
<3 <3 <3
not yet through with this game (4 hours in with 3 pictures discovered but the pics are mostly endgame), but my fairly speedy reading speed (i often click once to reveal all the text, read quickly, and move on to the next dialogue box without skipping a beat) could mean that i’m one scene away from finishing this game just like another visual novel i loved...
all i can describe my book’s cover opinion in this game can be summed up with “a bunch of normal students making an impression of kokichi (from danganronpa) on each other with a bit of romance as well”, but of course you do not trust a book by its cover, as this is a really heartwarming and lovely story. <3
i wonder what’ll the ending be? and i wonder whether you or someone else who finished the game will press the reply button to spoil me the ending...
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Hello, Mr.Keinart. I'd like to thank you for creating this game. I'm in a spot in my life where I'm stuck in my room at night with no internet and only my phone to accompany me and I desperately needed a "visual novel kind of friend". Most visual novels I know of put emphasis on romance and generally are very gimmicky. So when I saw that you openly declare that there is no hentai/choice, that convinced me to give it a shot. "The author has a story to tell it would seem. I am exactly in a mood to listen to one". And oh boy was I in luck with that choice. It was everything I wanted from the experience and then some. It took time to get accustomed to your whole work tbh. The corky introduction of the game on this very page with the main character giving vibes of a jerk, the sophisticated, confusing and rather long intro to the story that I, might as well confess, eventually skipped at first to clarify if I'll even commit to the game.. I think it's safe to say that to an extent you are testing your reader, so that only the right reader would choose you. Take me for one, after skipping that intro, I find myself bamboozled again, getting pranked by everyone including protagonist himself. Not exactly a thing to make me confident about reading the whole thing. But something did stuck with me about the whole thing. Something about it worked. And I think that something is a direct extension of the talent you poured into the game.
Now having completed it, I learned a lot of interesting insights from comment section here and on steam. I myself am a very simple, short sighted person, I never manage to "solve" a story on my own. Heck, I was just like "Please choose Claire!" for the entire second half of the game and then after marriage proposal I was like "Oh wow, that's a bit of an overkill, but damn I'll take it!". Now though.. I find it pleasant how you called Claire "special". Her way of channeling truth into the world in most unusual ways, completely and harmlessly piercing through all of Ciaran's complicated defences.. I guess she really is too good to be truth :d
I am generally pondering some of the details now, it will definitely take me second playthrough at some point to get more things sorted out. You seem to imply that the Baldy guy has a certain role too. Since OTL is altered in many ways by Ciaran's twisted good intent, it's tough to say what is real and what's not at times. His first encounter was an incoming punishment that luckily and unexpectedly was avoided. His later encounters all seem to overcomplicate a routine reality to Ciaran, and arguably all of them have something to do with Luce. Especially his school combat encounter made me think he is, in a way, Ciaran seeking to be punished, needing things to be tough to make sense. The restaurant encounter is probably Ciaran overcoming even that with Luce by his side. Maybe. Idk. As I said, I'm bad at this.
The savefiles having peculiar names is also a very nice touch to which I payed attention too late into the game. For example "Story of the last syzygy". I suppose in the game syzygy implies a line made out of Earth, Moon and Sun. And the last syzygy is perhaps the last time when Ciaran treats Claire and Luce equally, in a sense that they are both in his reach. On that day, Ciaran decides to embrace the moon and give up on the sun, thus it's the last syzygy.
The way OHT presents us Ciaran is interesting too. Now it's a dark, lonely(as it turns out) room with a silhouette on his computer, a way less charming, magical image than a mastermind that everyone subtly adores in OTL. Sets the tone nicely. And the box turning out to be empty, when Luce herself is around, just like the other side of the phone call turning out to be silent.. she was the delivery all along, the perfect image that somehow happened to have a living form, to Ciaran's astonishment.
It is also interesting how we get almost random hints of there being a different story going on behind the one we actually get to see unfold. Diniz appeared kind of out of nowhere. So did last talk to Ziva. It became more and more apparent that it's not your typical story of a guy choosing between three hotties. Ciaran has his own background, not exactly a protagonist of ours after all.
But what I wanted to tell you the most is how the most impact the game made on me wasn't the story, or amazing flow you mixed into it with dynamic pacing, comedy and deception, or the amount of themes and stuff you sneaked in it every here and there. No. Truth be told, I don't know what it was. I just know it was something else. Having played the game, seeing Ciaran endure tons of teasing, something that I'd personally never handle(making it a bit hard for me to strongly fall for Luce), thinking over about his phantom pain connected to his emotions.. The sense of "playing the role" this story gives is something else. It invites me to think differently about things. It invites me to be above things even in a state of misery, which is confusing, daring, absurd... and life affirming. It will take me time to process how I feel. I wonder if this is the impact you intended. Regardless, yet again, thank you for making it.
Thank you a lot for the comment dayfly! It means the world to me to receive this kind of thoughtful feedback.
You mentioned tons of things there! I really like that it made you think this much, that was the idea in a sense. To think and question while having a good time, that's all I ever wanted out of this and knowing it did for you is great. Especially if at the end it left you with some sense of loss, but still hopeful (for a reason hope is the final message of the game!).
The beginning being lacking is something that I thought about. The idea was to make a huge contrast of it with the rest of the story to make clear it is a different story and narrator, but I think I could have handled it differently. Probably my biggest mistake of the book now in retrospective, but as you say it also filters out people which was probably for the best on the long term.
Anyway thanks a lot, listening to your ideas was great. Let me know if you ever give it a second run :)
I'm the same