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| <!DOCTYPE html> | ||
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| <meta charset="utf-8" /> | ||
| <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../css/stylesheet.css" /> | ||
| <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="../images/favicon.png" /> | ||
| <title>The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass Review</title> | ||
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| <body> | ||
| <div class="header"> | ||
| <h1>NecRaul's website</h1> | ||
| <h2>No H scenes included</h2> | ||
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| <div class="navigation"> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="../kuroneko.html">Kuroneko</a> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="../about.html">About Me</a> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="../">Home</a> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="../posts.html">Ramblings</a> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="../3x3.html">3x3 stuff</a> | ||
| </div> | ||
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| <hr /> | ||
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| <div class="postheader"> | ||
| <h2>The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass Review</h2> | ||
| <em id="date">February 15, 2024</em> | ||
| </div> | ||
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| <img class="postimage" src="../images/posts/The Sekimeiya Spun Glass.jpg" /> | ||
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| <h3>Introduction</h3> | ||
| <p> | ||
| The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass (referred to as just Sekimeiya from this point | ||
| onwards) was a VN gifted to me by a friend from /vg/ during Christmas. | ||
| It's one of the very few OELVNs I've read and unbeknownst to me, it has | ||
| quite the reputation. I started reading through it on January 1, 2024, and | ||
| despite the fact that I had already finished it on January 14, there were | ||
| still mysteries I couldn't really grasp, details I missed, etc., so I | ||
| found it appropriate to replay it when I had more time to judge it | ||
| accordingly. The VN itself encourages this as you unlock "tips" after | ||
| finishing it for the first time, which gives more context to the scenes, | ||
| highlights things you might have missed during your first read-through, | ||
| etc. Along with this, although the true ending is explained pretty well | ||
| after finishing the game, the same can't be said for some of the other | ||
| endings. | ||
| </p> | ||
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| <h3>Mystery and Time Travel</h3> | ||
| <p> | ||
| This is a mysteryge, and according to one of the posts I read after | ||
| finishing the game, it's one of the best ones that have come out recently. | ||
| However, the original poster also mentioned that this doesn't mean | ||
| Sekimeiya is a good mysteryge, just that current mysteryges are bad. I | ||
| haven't played many mysteryges, but I've consumed a lot of media that has | ||
| time travel. Some of them good, some of them bad (mostly bad). So even | ||
| though I'm unsure what exactly makes a mysteryge good, I know what makes a | ||
| time travel story good: sticking to the rules set by the narrative. In my | ||
| opinion, Sekimeiya does this well enough. Up until the last chapter (which | ||
| explains a lot of the mechanics and mysteries), I never felt like the game | ||
| was being unfair. There are a couple of eyebrow-raising things in this | ||
| chapter and they become even more apparent in a later playthrough. It | ||
| would be a spoiler to go into it, so I'll avoid doing that, but I felt | ||
| like the game was playing by Jimmy Neutron rules at some points. This is | ||
| all due to the fact that it tries to juggle many concepts utilized in time | ||
| travel stories instead of sticking to a handful of them and utilizing them | ||
| really well. | ||
| </p> | ||
| <p> | ||
| One thing I liked, which many people (including the friend who gifted me | ||
| the game), will probably dislike, is the requirement of prior knowledge | ||
| when it comes to time travel "jargon" and a basic understanding of how | ||
| some of the concepts work. Terms like causal time travel, loops (and | ||
| infinite loops), bootstrap paradox, etc., are thrown around and although | ||
| they are given a rather basic explanation, this explanation doesn't | ||
| suffice. Now, this may be seen as the developers being inexperienced in | ||
| writing (from what I understand, this was their first VN), which | ||
| undoubtably is true in some instances, especially regarding characters and | ||
| the game being too wordy (come on guys, this is an audio-visual medium, | ||
| you don't have to write everything, we can see it on the screen), but I | ||
| don't think the same applies in time travel jargon. Each time travel story | ||
| will have different rules and explaining the rules of this one makes the | ||
| story unfold (if you have good reading comprehension and can keep track of | ||
| many things). | ||
| </p> | ||
| <p> | ||
| Still, this doesn't make solving the mystery trivial. There were numerous | ||
| times in my second playthrough where I had difficulties keeping track of | ||
| characters' movements, intentions, and much more. I should also mention | ||
| that the game has amazing features to help you solve the mysteries. Each | ||
| scene has a brief summary; you can also take notes for each scene. Jumping | ||
| to any line in the story and playing through that section is possible. | ||
| There's a chart (you unlock after finishing the game) that I won't go into | ||
| too much detail about, but it's essential to understanding the story. A | ||
| map is also present, that's useful for one of the time travel mechanics. | ||
| Using all these features, and information you gain from your initial | ||
| playthrough (and additional notes you can get in your second playthrough), | ||
| you are expected to solve the mystery. The game is rather ruthless in this | ||
| aspect as some mysteries are hinted towards but never fully explained as | ||
| the developers expect you to explain it in your own way. You have been | ||
| given all these tools, right? | ||
| </p> | ||
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| <h3>Conclusion</h3> | ||
| <p> | ||
| I enjoyed my time with Sekimeiya. It's not a VN without faults, but it is | ||
| one that I'll keep remembering. In fact, I'll probably replay it in the | ||
| future, which isn't something I do with most VNs. I'm looking forward to | ||
| the developers' next project. | ||
| </p> | ||
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| <hr /> | ||
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| <div class="footer"> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="https://github.com/NecRaul">Github</a> | ||
| <a class="navitem" href="https://github.com/NecRaul/kuroneko-dev" | ||
| >Source</a | ||
| > | ||
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