Author: Small black box - pineapple bun that has not entered the stream
In the eyes of most players, the three words "Yuzu Society" are not related to the word "Waste Meng", at least it is completely equivalent. Whether it is "A Thousand Loves and Flowers", which is the peak of the popularity of the Yuzu Society, or the "riddle joker" and "Starlight Cafe and the Butterfly of death" that have attracted much attention after this work, they are all known among the public as "waste cute works" that are longer than the human setting and shorter than the plot (at least shorter than the narrative), and the framework is similar and the selling points are assimilated, and it is no wonder that in the peripheral groups of the galgame circle, the situation that talks about the "Yuzu Society" must say "waste cuteness" and talk about "waste cuteness" must be said for a long time.
And naturally I can't be exempt from this peripheral group. For a long time, I've used Yuzu's work as a spice up of the game world and the exhaustion of my study life — it's a great way to think about anything and laugh a little! After playing several works in recent years, I naturally had a thought: "Is the former Yuzu Society the same as the current Yuzu Society?" ”
Guided by this line of thinking, I came into contact with "The Other Side of summer sky", a work from 14 years ago that can still glimpse a little bit of the eyebrows of today's Yuzu Society's works, but it also has many differences from them. As the last afterglow before the "abolition" of the Yuzu Society, the company's only "weeping" plot work, what kind of shock did "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" bring to me?
"The Other Side of the Summer Sky" is a game production by YUZU SOFT that tells the story of the protagonist Asakura Shota who uses the winter vacation to help her uncle run a small hotel on a small island called Tashin Island to help work - the introduction comes from the Encyclopedia of Cute Girls
Works from 14 years ago, the packaging is still not outdated
Although the feeling is quite different, we can also see in "The Other Side of summer sky" the advantages that still shine in Yuzu's works today. For example, the consistent cute painting style and the fine CG and vertical painting, even as a work that has been 14 years so far, "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" still does not make me feel the slightest violation in the style.
Of course, as the traditional art of Yuzu, the "Q version of CG" can not be less, and what has not been absent is Yuzu's love for the Japanese game industry - just like playing monster hunter terriers in "Witch's Night Feast", playing Resident Evil and Soul game terriers in "Riddle Joker", in this work there is also a tribute to Capcom's "Reverse Referee", and the elements of the game's ace cards play an important role in a branch line.
And just like the excellent musical interpretation in "A Thousand Loves and Flowers", the musical performance of "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" is also fascinating. Different from the Japanese wind background of "A Thousand Loves and Flowers", "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" sets the stage on a small island at a high latitude, but it is very abnormal to present the climate of "four seasons and summer", while the music of "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" well carries the "summer feeling" of the coastal town, the "sense of exploration" of the vision and the "sense of entanglement" between the emotions between the characters. When the plot moves smoothly, the light and leisurely music will immerse people in it; At a critical juncture in the plot, the music will convey uneasiness, pain, determination, relief and other emotions, making people unable to extricate themselves from it - and when these music is taken out and enjoyed alone, the corresponding scenes will also appear in front of my eyes, which is probably the effect of excellent game music on the game.
This 14-year-old work may have a slightly rudimentary system, but overall its packaging is still not outdated - even now, its excellent art and pleasant music are relatively excellent. However, what really attracts people to go back down the river and pour this cup of aging is not these parts that have been smoothly inherited, but more of its unique brilliance -
Different from other plot structures, although the temperament of Yuichi's works is scattered
As we all know, those well-known Yuzu Society works have a very similar structure - the protagonist first establishes contact with several female protagonists one by one in a not short common line, and after experiencing some events together, enters the branch line of each female protagonist at one or two time nodes. This kind of "common line + personal line" approach is actually a relatively common practice of the current waste meng works, which makes the player contact with each heroine before making a choice, and decides which heroine to "single push" during this period, which is compatible with the characteristics of the waste meng work with the role as the core.
"The Other Side of summer sky" almost gave up the plan to show the charm of the heroine through the "common line" - in addition to the "FPS special selection" that is still the tradition of yuzu Society, "The Other Side of summer sky" introduced three simple options at a fairly early stage, and completed the process from landing on the island to entering the personal line in just a few tens of minutes. However, although the common line is short, it does not seem too hurried at all, but methodically tells the beginning and end of the male protagonist's participation in a festival from preparation to the end, interspersed with vaguely pointing to the character's options to determine the route to enter.
In addition to the fact that the common line is so short that it can almost ignore its role as a "common line" today, "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" also deliberately separates the characters in the plot. Among the three characters that can be attacked in "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" (Miyoshi Yubiko, Nanajo Sasharo and Kamisaka Maoyuya), except for the cousin Miyoshi Yubiko who lives in the same place as the player, who will appear in all lines, Nanajo Sasharo and Kamisaka Maoyuya will hardly appear in other people's lines, which is also not conducive to fully showing the charm of different characters, but it will undoubtedly enhance the player's sense of substitution and "single push" for the protagonist.
In the process of playing "The Other Side of Natsuki", after I had completed the line between the characters of Miyoshi Yukiko and Shichijo Shasaro, I had not even met with another heroine, Uesaka Maoyuya, which is simply unimaginable in today's Yuzu Society works.
In the case of the common line is useless and the personal line starts early, it is not easy for "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" to maintain the "integrity" of this work. The story of each actionable character is actually a side branch derived from the root of the "Vision of the Island", which also makes the emotions and the different lines of the story have a certain degree of similarity; And the people and things in a line do not only appear in this line, in the seven Sasaro lines and the Kaishaka Maoyuye line, we can hear about the past of several years ago, and that past event just constitutes the core content of the Miyoshi Yuki sub-line - which makes the different lines have a subtle "sense of linkage", maintaining their independence while being unified to a certain extent.
And also connecting the whole story is the consistent male protagonist shaping - the male protagonist of "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" Asakura Shota impressed me deeply, no less than any female protagonist in the story. Although In terms of personality, Asakura Isota is still a typical royal male protagonist, kind, funny, stubborn, and giving everything for the person he loves is not a novelty at any time, but the more intense plot conflicts and emotional agitation in "The Other Side of Summer Sky" make this character more impressive. At least between different lines, even if I am faced with different people and different choices, the feeling that the male protagonist gives me is always the same.
Different souls, wonderful stories
As I said before, "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" enters each character's personal line early, and even before you enter the line, you usually don't even recognize the face of the attackable characters - and this choice naturally makes sense. Earlier into the personal line, "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" can concentrate more pen and ink on the portrayal of the feelings of the male protagonist and the corresponding female protagonist, without having to consider the problem of the male protagonist's image in the general common line to find a balance between "abstinence" and "self-propelled cannon". Therefore, although the emotional lines of the male protagonist and the corresponding female protagonist in the three lines of "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" are different, not all the feelings of the line are accumulated from scratch, and not all the lines have a long run of accumulating love, there is no doubt that there are similarities in the different lines - sufficient emotional description makes the emotional changes of each character moving enough.
In terms of the combination of emotion and plot, "The Other Side of summer sky" is also quite good. Knowing the heroine in a rather ordinary time, and then inserting some disturbing elements into a joyful daily life, and then rhythmically picking out uneasiness and laying new foreshadowing, and gradually polishing the emotions between the male and female protagonists in the process, the feeling of the left hand bumping the sugar and the right hand being knifed is really addictive - not to mention the strong impact of each emotional accumulation ushering in the burst, which is simply a kind of "pain and pleasure" top enjoyment.
The three branches of "The Other Side of the Summer Sky" are all very good and have their own characteristics, and if they are only evaluated in a high degree of generality of the entire work, they will definitely not be able to convey their charm. So what follows is a separate evaluation of the three individual lines, with certain spoiler content, and those who mind or have already experienced the idea can skip to the end.
Interestingly, The Other Side of summer sky provides some guidance on the order in which you play your character lines. From the beginning of the game when the protagonist arrives at Tashin Island, the first attackable character, Miyoshi Yubiko, will appear and appear frequently throughout the process; While preparing for the festival, another raidable character, Shichijo Sahara, will make a brief appearance in the woods next to it. As for the last one, Kamisaka, you can only meet him if you choose the right option — that is, if you play this work without any homework, you will naturally play in the order of "Miyoshi Yubiko - Nanajo Sasaro - Kamisaka Maoyuya" order.
And this order naturally has its own reason. As mentioned earlier, the other two lines will mention the "past of eight years ago" of the Miyoshi Yubi line, thus causing a certain degree of spoilers; In Kamisaka's line, the truth about the seven Sasharo families will also be revealed, thus destroying the plot structure of the grass snake gray line that the Sasharo line tries to create. The game guides the order of play, in fact, according to the degree of gradual disclosure of the secrets of Tasshin Island from low to high, to ensure that those parts that have important content in the plot will not be released in advance.
Structurally, Miyoshi Yubi line is closest to today's Yuzu Society branch line - a separate emotional cultivation plot, which picks out each other's emotions quite early, and then slowly unfolds the plot after establishing the relationship; In the daily life of a large amount of sugar, the seeds of uneasiness are sown through the abnormalities of the environment and the communication between the characters, and the secret of Tasshin Island is finally revealed. Of all the lines, the Miyoshi Yubi line is the simplest and flat straight line, and the final ending can also be said to be a pure reunion; In addition, the solid friendship that focuses on shaping the protagonist's "2+1" group is also a rare highlight.
The seven Sha Sha Luo lines describe the emotional changes between the male protagonist and Sha Sha Luo in great detail - from the process of the male protagonist's exploration of the secret behind Sha Sha Luo, constantly seeking the truth, and hoping to find a happy ending, we can clearly see that the emotions of the two people from the initial Pingshui meeting to closely relying on each other, and the establishment of the emotional relationship between the two in turn provides a strong impetus for the promotion of the plot. After the emotional climax of the two, the bond between Sasaro and his mother filled in its emotional content, and the delicate emotional portrayal between the mother and daughter, the exchange between the mother and daughter, which was quite hesitant but still close, made people feel moved.
Although the seven Sasaro lines nominally have a double ending, they do not seem to affect the change in the general direction, so they will not be repeated here.
As the last line I played, the plot of Kamisaka Maoyuya was the one that moved me the most. Frankly, I have thought for a long time about how to combine my praise for this line with the charm of the line itself, but in the end it is still difficult to do.
Whenever the male protagonist encounters obstacles on the way to save Mao Yuye, he will get up again after a period of depression, and then bump into a more cruel truth head-on - which makes the emotion of the Maoyuye line quite moving. One of the scenes that impressed me the most was when the male protagonist was injured by Mao Yuye's situation at the beach, and Mao Yuye, who had lost his memory, happened to come to his side and asked him: "You look sad, is something happening?"; And even if the male protagonist can't suppress the tears in his eyes, he can only squeeze out a smile and say "it's okay." This kind of relatively facing scene, but the emotion can not be conveyed, is really a great killer of my fragile tear glands.
summary
"The Other Side of the Summer Sky" is indeed a rather excellent and memorable work, and it is also a work that is incompatible with the Yuzu Society, which now holds high the banner of waste. I have no complaints about the Yuzu Society's embarkation on the road of waste, after all, many of the Yuzu Society's works have also brought me countless joys, but I still regret that there is no more "Summer Sky" appearing.
Finally, let's mention a little point, in the next work of "The Other Side of the Summer Sky", "Tenjin Chaos", the main menu mode of "heroines have appeared" that everyone is familiar with today is adopted; The main menu of "The Other Side of summer sky" is very simple, except for the title and a few options, there are only the beach and the waves - this is probably also the embodiment of some differences between the two.