Wrap the biggest regret of the year with 'mediocrity'
I'm ashamed that I haven't played all of ILLUSION's games — and arguably the fact that I've been actively exposed to 3D adult games itself isn't very common in my not-so-long gaming life. Because, I don't like the plot unfolding of those "industrial taste" at home, and I don't expect today's adult game manufacturers to make any more flowers in "gameplay".
But there are always exceptions.
2014's "Artificial Academy 2" counts as one. For a long time, the unique "interpersonal" system of "artificial school" made people feel that the buttery gameplay design was probably over, and four years later, although "Love Live" also used "campus simulation" as a game template, and also relied on technological upgrades and ILLUSION's globalization strategy to earn fame and fortune, but it always made people feel that something was wrong. And in the entire game market, you'd be hard-pressed to find another similar game... What the? You said I was off topic, the theme of this review should be an all-ages game released on June 1, 2023?
Don't worry, let me slowly sort out the logical relationship between this for you from the beginning.
LOOP8
I've described LOOP8 Séance as its "most anticipated game" in 2023 more than once—of course, after excluding "Zelda" or "Pikmin," which are "pre-existing" titles. To be precise, LOOP8 SÉANCE SHOULD BE THE "BRAND NEW GAME" I LOOK FORWARD TO MOST IN 2023.
As for the reason, it is simple, after all, there is rarely a game like "LOOP8 Séance", from the theme of the game to the main creators, all the elements hit my "good ball area". Japanese veteran game producer Yoichi Miyaji is in the lead, the hottest illustrator Morikura and animation supervisor Shingo Adachi are responsible for the character design, and the game music is provided by Tokuyuki Iwataru, and it is no wonder that Marvelous is so attentive to the promotion of this game.
In such a team composition, the core of "LOOP8 Séance", responsible for the world view, script writing and mechanism design in the game, is also a "big man" who has not been seen for many years - the last time I heard the name of "Yuki Shibamura" was probably a female web game that became popular with "Japanese sword anthropomorphism".
I also admit that the beautiful girl characters designed by Hiroshi Morikura (Ai Ai) and Shingo Adachi ("Lichriss") were really key factors that attracted me
Generally speaking, in order to describe a brand new work from a more objective point of view, I shouldn't trumpet the glory of the producer's past, but LOOP8 Séance is really special, and to illustrate what kind of game it is, you have to have some basic knowledge of Hiroyuki Shibamura, a legendary maker from the original PlayStation era. More importantly, I also hope you can understand what is "good" and what exactly "bad" is in LOOP8 Séance.
The time is 2000, at the end of PlayStation's life, a game called "High Mobile Fantasy" was quietly released, because the production company AlfaSystem itself is not rich, and the market contraction caused by the release of PlayStation 2, so "High Mobile Fantasy" had to be put into the market with almost "zero publicity costs". However, under such conditions, the game relied on the player's "word of mouth" to achieve an excellent result of "200,000 sets". At the same time, Yuki Shibamura, who was responsible for the script and system design of the story, also completely made a name for himself.
PlayStation's "gamearchives" on PSP, PS3, and PSVita are also the most accessible means of High Mobile Fantasy for modern players
If there's anything special about High Mobility Fantasy, it's "all."
From the setting to the story to the gameplay, "High Mobile Fantasy" almost writes "ahead" on the face. In addition to the unique appeal of the "human battle against natural enemies" setting in the theme of the game, the life simulation form divided into "battle part" and "daily part" also creates a super high degree of freedom unimaginable in the same generation. This is the fundamental reason why in the millennium, when the modern Internet was not yet fully formed, it was able to sell 200,000 units by word of mouth alone.
Take the works we are familiar with today, for example, the world view and story setting of the legendary text adventure game Muv-Luv, which is largely inspired by "High Mobile Fantasy"; The slightly "abstract" combat gameplay in "Thirteen Machine Defense Circle" is directly inspired by the "combat part" of "High Mobile Fantasy"; The rest of the most popular "everyday part" was learned by I sociology, which is deeply engaged in 3D adult games, which leads to my disease-free moan about "artificial school" at the beginning of the article.
I can't see that there is such a connection behind these three, in fact, the works influenced by "High Mobile Fantasy" are far more than that
Usually, when we mention "artificial school", the first thing that comes to mind for veteran players is not the pinching link it inherits from "Artificial Girl", nor the adult performances that communicate with each other in its industrial template, but its "AI social" system woven for each NPC's behavior. That is, the interpersonal relationship between players and NPCs, NPCs and NPCs, and the "school life" that unfolds on this basis, makes the game flow extremely free and "unpredictable". It's no exaggeration to say that once you get the fun in the system, all the other traditional adult parts of the game become boring.
The social system of "Artificial Academy" is certainly not original, as mentioned above, the core gameplay of "Artificial Academy" is actually to take out the "daily part" of "High Mobility Fantasy" separately and carry its own simplified AI system. It's just that at that time, probably no one would have imagined that this set of things would be so compatible with "adult games". But when it comes to "depth", it is still not a small gap with this family.
"Human relationships" that are not equal are extremely common in High Mobility Fantasy
In the world of High Mobility Fantasy, players take on the role of a young mech operator living in an officer academy, and can freely organize their day's action schedules on days when they don't need to go to battle. You can wander around the city, exercise your skills and fitness for the next brutal battle, and interact with your classmates or group members to develop deep friendships or loves outside of the battle.
Driven by AI with a distinct personality, each NPC has its own independent behavior pattern and interpersonal network, even in places that players can't see, from "acquaintances", "enemies" and "couples" to "remembering hate", "unrequited love" and "stepping on a few boats", scenes of love and hate are being staged. Players can choose to play as unrelated passers-by or participate in complex interpersonal relationships through "proposals" - this system-led game flow makes "High Mobile Fantasy" unable to give each player's different game experience according to their different playing styles, although they rarely have a complete plot and story structure in mainstream RPGs.
As for why it takes so much space to introduce an old game that has been released for twenty-three years, it is because this set of "daily parts" designed by Yuki Shibamura is actually the core of the gameplay of this "LOOP8 Séance". Or to change the favorite word in the game industry, except for the part of mecha combat without the former's worldview, LOOP8 Séance is undoubtedly the "spiritual sequel" of "High Mobility Fantasy".
Although the presentation has changed, "human relationships" are still the most critical element in LOOP8 Séance that determines the development of the story
The world view of LOOP8 séance is set in August 1983, which is similar to the real world, but fundamentally different. In this world, the circle of human life is being invaded by a creature called "Outer Transformation", and some human beings have to use the universe as the "last bastion". But soon, even this "last bastion" was devastated. The protagonist "Hiroshi", who survived the disaster, had to go to his grandmother who was far away on the earth, and began a summer story that takes place in the peaceful town of "Reihara Nakatsu". The ultimate goal of the game is to survive the confrontation with the Avatari until the end of August.
There is a wooden train stop, a rough confectionery house with an old machine in front of the door, and an old shrine with sacred tranquility in the mountains
In addition to the fact that the story also takes place in the context of "human beings falling behind in the battle with natural enemies", and the same goal of "surviving to the specified date" is also "LOOP8 SÉANCE" IS ALMOST THE SAME AS "HIGH MOBILITY FANTASY" IN THE GENERAL FLOW OF THE GAME - PLAYERS WAKE UP FROM THEIR HOMES EVERY MORNING AND CAN CHOOSE TO FOLLOW THE TEACHER'S ADVICE, GO TO SCHOOL ON TIME, AND INCREASE THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL STATUS; You can also ignore the eyes of others, run to practice various skills or abilities after leaving school, and establish unique social relationships with the residents of the town on the way; Or, you can also go around the town collecting the "extra protection" given by the gods, maybe one day when the time is reset, they will come in handy... Because the player's physical strength and energy in the game are extremely limited, and the speed of time passing is relatively fast, so plan your daily actions in advance to live a comfortable and fulfilling summer vacation——
Of course, these are only superficial. Beneath its calm exterior, Reihara Nakatsu is also connected to the Japanese mythology of "Yellow Springs Hirasaka", and as the enchantment is broken, the town is in danger of an invasion of "Kagai" every five days. The player's "daily part" of the day is largely a preparation for the next avatar.
The fall of Reihara Nakatsu was the end of the world
As briefly mentioned earlier, the biggest feature of the "everyday part" designed by Shibamura is the NPC actions that are completely handled by the "AI". Under the existing technical conditions and game framework, this game structure of "uneasy and common sense" completely breaks the game thinking that players have long cultivated, and the NPCs in the game also have their own behavioral tendencies, and are also constrained by the conditions of "energy" and "physical strength", allowing NPCs to act freely under the same conditions as the player, which will naturally make them look closer to living "humans". When interacting with them, players need to consider not only the personality preferences generated by the character setting, but also their current mood, state, and even the surrounding environment. And just as players have their own preferences, they will also record their feelings about others based on these.
Imagine how your friends would react if they repeatedly invited you out for a workout at twelve o'clock on a Monday. I believe that for most ordinary people, in addition to direct rejection, they may also quietly scold in their hearts. So, if it is an NPC who rejects such an offer, does that mean that he is more like a "real person"?
The deeper A has feelings for B, the more proposals can be made, and vice versa
High Mobility Fantasy uses almost the same AI system as LOOP8 Séance, which Alfa System named "Karel System". If there is any difference between the two, it is probably that LOOP8 Séance uses the version of the former upgraded for two generations, and in theory it can make more "human" behavior.
The "Karre System" takes its name from the Czech science fiction writer "Karre Čapek" (presumably), and the actual development process may span four generations, and its original intention was to reduce the human cost of game development. Today, you can think of it as a player-specific ChatGPT, but it is better at organizing all the conditions and values in a specific framework and putting it into the actions that best match the character's image than organizing logical language.
When B and C have a good impression of A at the same time, "jealous" feelings and behaviors will occur, including "quarrelling" with C that leads to further deterioration of the relationship, and the situation of suddenly being interrupted by a third party will also occur
Another major feature of the "Carrey system" is that it has a complex "affection" accumulation mode that is different from the simple "favorability". In this "LOOP8 Séance", including the player-operated protagonist "Yuan", 13 characters have independent "feelings" for the other 12 people, according to the three feelings "friendship", "love" and "hatred" of the unequal accumulation, the relationship between the characters will change in real time, "love hate" situation is not uncommon in the game. In a phrase familiar to JRPG players today, these different relationships in the face of different situations are the famous "Persona" in Jungian psychology.
However, it should be mentioned that LOOP8 séance represents the relationship between the characters very simple, and there is no difference in gender or status. Therefore, even two male friends or father and daughter will be represented as "betrothed" or "spouse", words that in the game represent more of an "emotional degree" than a "social relationship" in the true sense.
When faced with A's experience, B will react differently according to the one-sided feelings that A has
Then again, why didn't I continue to use this model in the de facto "sequel" of "Artificial Academy 2", "Love Live"? I believe that this is not only because the technical and development costs are too high, but whether players can quickly understand the logical relationship soon after the start of the game is also an urgent problem to solve - after all, no one likes obscure and complicated "beginner tutorials" and "instruction manuals".
In fact, having said so much, I am not confident that I can explain all of this in simple words. Because this set of things in LOOP8 séance is really "unique" in today's commercial games, and it is impossible to classify them by individual games or gameplay types. In order to thoroughly explain all the systems, "High Mobility Fantasy" on the original PlayStation was specially equipped with an incredibly thick game manual in the physical game box (of course, including character introductions and many other things that are not in common with "LOOP8 Séance"), and in the actual game, you can see the character behavior that was "visualized" as much as possible under the hardware conditions at that time, such as the "rayal" interaction line of sight, the character "volume" and "expression" when proposed to execute Wait, the emotional changes of the characters after each interaction are also directly reflected in the form of numerical values, and the atmosphere of the area where the player is located will also change due to the relationship between the characters present, which in turn will cause the BGM to change.
The design of "atmosphere" has been carried over to this game, and depending on the "atmosphere", the proposals and character behaviors that can be implemented will change
In contrast, LOOP8 Séance relies on overall "optimization" to make all this simple and easy to understand.
The special ability "Hell", which allows you to quickly see the current mood and action patterns of other characters, and directly understand the chances of success when making proposals. In the menu interface, the relationship between the characters is also visible, such as the tedious steps of "entering volume and expression while proposing" are eliminated, and even if you put all the conditions together, you can establish an intimate relationship with a character in just one day - at least in terms of the "difficulty" of interpersonal communication, it is indeed much easier to learn than "High Mobility Fantasy". What's more, although the total number of "playable characters" is a little less than in High Mobile Fantasy, when it comes to the personality and backstory of each character, they are more charming and three-dimensional than in the past. In this regard, the characters, scripts and voice actors of this work can each add one point.
But you have to ask me if this set of things makes the game more fun, or more suitable for the mass market? That's another story.
The most intuitive increase or decrease in values
First of all, it's important to say again that you should never treat LOOP8 Séance or High Mobility Fantasy as a regular "role-playing game" (although Marvelous directly refers to the game as a "youth RPG" in Chinese promotion), and after putting the highly free "human relationships" at the heart of the gameplay, they are not destined to focus too much on specific characters. At the same time, they avoided guiding the player through "force" as much as possible, and even reduced the basic story description to the smallest unit, all in order to create a different game experience for everyone in a unique narrative mode.
These premises brought a very rare game experience in the early stage of LOOP8 Séance - players who first arrived in the town lived a leisurely life, and they had the ability to go to Hirasaka in Huangquan, and then they got together with their partners who also had combat ability, and finally inexplicably defeated or lost to Kabi, and the game also entered the next stage. In this process, there are hardly any additional events or plot explanations except for the "invasion of the transformation" that necessarily occurs in the form of cycles.
Once a certain relationship has been reached, some important information that explicitly or implicitly indicates the plot will appear in the daily chat
LOOP8 SÉANCES TELLS STORIES IN A "FRAGMENTED" WAY, AND MANY PARTS INVOLVING THE BASIC WORLDVIEW, CHARACTER BACKGROUNDS AND MAIN STORY NEED TO BE OBTAINED BY THE PLAYERS THEMSELVES FROM THE TOWNSPEOPLE IN THE "DAILY PART" OF COMMUNICATION - IF YOU DO NOT ACTIVELY COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS, OR DESERT IN THE CHAT, THEN YOU MAY MISS SOME KEY INFORMATION. In a sense, this setting is indeed very close to reality, but conversely, it is also the opposite of the means of obtaining information that players are familiar with today. If you don't like this narrative, you naturally won't feel the fun of "building relationships" as a precondition for it -
But this is definitely not the player's problem - if you have to blame, you can only blame LOOP8 SÉANCE'S SYSTEM FOR BEING TOO PICKY. I can't comment on how good or bad it's any more than you can't comment directly on a certain genre with an unbiased and objective mood.
But this form of collecting story fragments does have its own fun
In my opinion, the key reason why "LOOP8 Séance" has not become more fun is actually a common problem with Marvelous's works in recent years, which is the "roughness" that is difficult to say.
Admittedly, I love High Mobility Fantasy and am very happy to see that twenty-three years from now there will be a title that can so comprehensively try to restore its core gameplay and temperament. But 2023's "LOOP8 Séance" is not 2000's "High Mobility Fantasy" after all, and to make such a game in the current environment will not only double the cost, but also face far greater risks than we see. After a little play, you will find that "LOOP8 Séance" is not the kind of "well-funded" game, but it is trying to hide its "roughness" as much as possible, and while trying to take into account the preferences of old fans, it also wants to reduce the difficulty of new players to get started, which has caused a kind of embarrassment.
As a result, LOOP8 Séance sets everything too simply, so that the "Carrey System" still does not create a more vivid cast of characters.
Everyday life could have been more exciting
As we said earlier, the "daily life" freely arranged in Reihara Nakatsu is the main gameplay of LOOP8 Séance, and the same content also occupies a very large proportion in "High Mobility Fantasy". But the difference between the two is that LOOP8 séance obviously has no room to give more meaning to "small town", and "Kumamoto City" in "High Mobile Fantasy" allows players to collect hidden items, enter the store to spend while exploring, and meet their favorite characters on the road, which can always bring some surprises.
But Reihara Nakatsu is more like a simple "stage set", which allows you to explore to a minimum, but because of the complete simplification of the system other than "interpersonal communication", the meaning of the player's exploration is only left to collect "plus protection", and the most operation is to press the "survey button" before running to a specific location - how fun can this be? (Especially if you are aiming for multi-week games)
People who want to deepen their relationship can see at a glance where they are, and they move quickly past
Also exposing the "roughness" of this game is another core mechanism of the game, "LOOP". In terms of setting, each time the player is defeated, they will fall into the next cycle, and the time will follow back to the first day of August. So, apart from a "break" that is full of homage and memes, LOOP8 séance doesn't have a "Game Over" in the traditional sense.
"Loop" resets the player's relationships and the ability points gained from previous workouts, but also retains the benefits of "Protect". Theoretically, each cycle of the player will become stronger than the previous round. CONSIDERING THE GAME'S "MULTIPLE ENDINGS" AND "FRAGMENTED NARRATIVE" DESIGN, THE SYSTEM ITSELF SHOULD BE WELL COMPLEMENTARY TO THE GAME (IN FACT, IT DOES ALLOW YOU TO HAVE A DIFFERENT STORY FLOW FOR THE FIRST FEW LOOPS), BUT LOOP8 SÉANCE FORGETS TO DESIGN A "SKIP READ DIALOGUE" OPTION. This results in the player having to re-engage with everyone again to have the exact same conversation every time the relationship is reset, which can make people feel a little dizzy after a lot of times.
In fact, in "High Mobility Fantasy", which also has a multi-ending design, "multi-week" is also preset as the player's basic play conditions, but it is specially designed to "skip some mandatory activities in the second week" - so in comparison, the so-called "loop" mechanism of "LOOP8 Séance" actually has too much room for improvement.
After "defeat", the game will automatically enter the loop, but you can also choose to actively go back in time and fix some "mistakes" that could have been avoided
I wonder if you're wondering if this review is nearing its end, so why didn't I mention the "non-routine" of LOOP8 Séance, that is, the "combat part"? This is partly because "combat" is not a big part of the game, and partly because I only sigh when talking about this part - as the only original system in the game, it has also become the biggest problem with LOOP8 Séance. If the above unpolished rough system is still a "minor problem", then the combat in this game is really a "failure" that drags down the game.
LOOP8 SÉANCE DOES NOT HAVE THE CONCEPT OF "LEVEL" IN TRADITIONAL JRPGs, and the combat is more of an addition to the "everyday part" gameplay. But even so, the production team gave it a unique meaning - the avatars who fight the player in the game are all from the possessed townspeople, and the road to Hirasaka will only open after the player locks the possessed character. In the face of former acquaintances or friends, they must use the three feelings they have cultivated in their daily lives to expel the world in an attempt to destroy the world, even if this is likely to directly cause someone to disappear from this cycle completely.
It should be reiterated that "battles" make up a small percentage of this game, so small that there are only six avatars to defeat in total. Therefore, there is almost no "maze-walking" link in this work, and the "Huangquan Hirasaka" where the battle takes place is actually just a "re-rendering + copy-paste" of the current scene - but this is not the point.
Find the possessed townspeople in Hirasaka in Huangsen
I'LL ADMIT, LOOP8 SÉANCE HAS A GOOD IDEA OF A "COMBAT" SYSTEM, WHICH TRIES TO FURTHER REINFORCE THE MEANING OF "HUMAN INTERACTION" IN THE GAME AND GIVE THE THREE EMOTIONS A CERTAIN STRATEGY THAT CAN BE USED IN COMBAT.
If you want to briefly explain the combat system of this work in a popular way, it is to further subtract from the traditional "three-player team" round command battle, although there is no level setting, but the protagonist's combat ability is still directly linked to the player in the "daily part", but in addition, the player can not directly operate the characters outside the world, and there are no functional instructions such as "props" and "defense" to use, and the "strategic" that command combat attaches the most importance to is all concentrated on the player's previous establishment" In other words, the better your relationship with your teammates, the easier it will be for them to cooperate with your battles, and the worse your relationship with the possessed person outside the body, the more ruthless the other party will fight you, which seems to be quite real when you think about it...
On the target selection menu, players can clearly see each character's relationships with others on the field
Unfortunately, this design has some fatal flaws. First of all, in order to play a better cooperation, Erhe has the ability to predict the behavior of other characters in advance, but in this way, Er's command selection becomes a "back hand" - under such a premise, the player instead becomes the person who needs to cooperate with the actions of teammates, which first makes the meaning of "AI self-judgment" lose most of the meaning; Secondly, and most crucially, because "bad relationships" are bound to have a negative effect in the game's battles, which makes it necessary for players to try their best to play as a "well-rounded" character in everyday parts, even if you may not want to have a good relationship with everyone - "getting along with everyone" in High Mobility Fantasy can sometimes bring more than just good things.
You see, even with a thorough understanding of the specificity of the game, the battles in LOOP8 séance are not fun. From the inside out, it exudes a sense of innovation for innovation's sake, a "force" of design for design, and even implicates the core mechanics of the game – such an idea is better than not.
The behavior of each character in battle will also be reflected in "human relationships", which can be regarded as re-emphasizing the importance of human relationships in the game
Fortunately, combat is not the focus of this game, and as long as you cycle a few more times, you can basically "walk sideways" in the game. It's just that subconsciously frantically flattering other NPCs' game bias made me indirectly lose the "social freedom" in "High Mobility Fantasy", and there is really nothing more embarrassing than this.
At this point, LOOP8 Séance has really become a tangled "mediocre" game. If you ask me if it's "good" enough, I'll probably laugh wryly.
As a video game, it's fun, but combined with all of the above characteristics, I really can't recommend it to most players. Because, I am very afraid to see your expectant but disappointed expression, after all, everyone has the experience of buying a COD pirated disc but containing a "company of heroes" - not that which is bad, but this gap is not acceptable to everyone.
Sometimes I also wonder, how much "memory correction" has been generated by the love of "High Mobile Fantasy"? But in the past two decades or so, not many people have dared to touch this type of game - ten years ago, everyone would have praised "Artificial Academy 2" as a masterpiece, but will it still be so smooth today?
In fact, when I started writing this review, LOOP8 Séance was not yet officially released, but I had a hunch - most players could not accept this "ahead" and "outdated" gameplay, coupled with its own rough texture, making it destined to not be "successful"... But it's 2023, so if I pass this store, where will I go to play this kind of game?