During my time in Japan, I longed to leave Tokyo and go to a small place where there was no hustle and bustle and no lights at night, to see another Japan outside of the super city. During a holiday in the autumn, after a brief discussion with my friends, we decided to go to Gifu Prefecture to have a look.
Gifu Prefecture is small, with a population of only about 2 million. For foreign tourists, Gifu is not a popular tourist destination, so we did not do detailed homework, only found a few attractions that we wanted to visit, and then got on the train and set off. After visiting Gifu City for more than a week, I went deep into Hida City, saw many unique landscapes along the way, ate beef specialties, and returned to Tokyo happily.
Trains are usually my preferred mode of transportation when traveling, and when I go to Gifu, I am no exception
That trip was about 3 years old. I have long since returned to Beijing and have never set foot on Japanese soil again. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, even short trips have not been very convenient, and it is even more impossible to go to a foreign country. Over time, the contents of the memory about Gifu began to blur. The terroir and atmosphere there has become more and more distant from me, slowly fading like other past travel experiences.
When I came across the news of the game "Wind and Rain 4", I only thought that it was another japanese AVG game that didn't matter - the theme of traveling with beautiful young heroines was really not new, and the "Wind and Rain" series has always been an adventure game based on travel and love, and used real photos as a background. Although the publisher Japan's first introduction of 360-degree panoramic live-action footage as a selling point for Storm 4, I didn't take this mediocre love adventure game seriously – my library is full of beautiful girl games.
The promotional page of "Wind and Rain 4" shows 3 heroines
It wasn't until "Stormy Tales 4" was about to be released that I saw the familiar name Gifu in the mixed information.
I hurriedly and carefully looked at the introduction of "Wind and Rain 4". "You are a stalwart travel journalist who came to Gifu for 4 weeks to participate in a media match sponsored by gifu Shimbun. Please travel around the prefecture on a motorcycle, take photos, write manuscripts, and compete for a place at the top of the race. What kind of journey you will experience in Gifu, what you will discover, and what you will tell – it's all up to you. ”
Although I lived a life of writing all day, I had never experienced the life of a travel journalist who traveled in the wind. A full-time reporter who came to the local area with a mission, in his eyes, how is the gifu different from the Gifu I used to go by train and walk through, and where is the similarity? In Stormy Tales 4, I might be able to retake a trip to Gifu, look at mino and Hida's landscapes with another pair of eyes, and re-measure the length of Gifu with the trajectory of a motorcycle tire. So I bought Storm 4, got on a motorcycle, and embarked on a virtual gifu tour.
<h3>The other side of Gifu that I never saw</h3>
The first time I boarded the train from Nagoya to Gifu, I didn't have a clear idea of what gifu really was like. My only impression of Gifu is basically from the animated movie "Your Name" heroine Miyamizu Mitsuba's hometown , a standard Japanese countryside , there are no modern facilities, and it takes half a day to ride in Kyoto.
There are many mountains in Gifu. Whether it is a city or a small town, most of the mountains and forests are surrounded, and the heavy white clouds are pressed very low, as if they are to be pasted on the top of the mountain. Along the way, there are no high-rise buildings to be seen, only sparsely populated in the fields. In November, the East China Sea region is not warm, and the carriages of the mountain train look a little cold, and the windows are frosted. In such a place, what interesting landscapes can you see and what unforgettable experiences will you have? I was silently uneasy inside.
When I first came to Gifu City, the atmosphere of the depression poured cold water on me. Gifu City is the seat of the prefectural government of Gifu Prefecture, which is equivalent to our provincial capital. Walk past the square where the golden statue of Oda Nobunaga stands, and not far from the shopping street. In my mind, it should be bustling with people, but in fact there are no people in sight. Obviously it is a holiday, but there are no pedestrians on the street, and only the jingle of wind chimes can be heard on the empty street. The shops in the shopping street are closed, making me wonder if I have stepped into other time and space and walked to Gifu in the last days.
Even at noon, the shops in the shopping street are still closed
At the time, I only thought it was the result of Japan's aging. Maybe young people have gone to big cities to study and work, so that small cities have no fresh blood, and shopping streets naturally can't go on? After all, all the artists I have heard of from Gifu also work in a city like Tokyo. I didn't verify it, but secretly approved of my own inferences, and I didn't delve into it any further.
After starting to play Storm 4, I decided to start with the places I've been and chose to explore Gifu City first. The game introduces this place with such a short sentence as "You can feel the change of times in the street market", which is in line with my impression of Gifu City. This phrase is also reflected in the game. Not far from the station, we came to Yanagise Shopping Street – each shop had its roller shutter doors locked, and there were no passing residents on the long streets. "Sure enough, it's the gifu city I've been to." I sighed silently in my heart.
The once bustling Yanagise shopping street is empty
The protagonist of the game gradually deepens along the shopping street. The professional travel journalist began to explain the history of Yanageose shopping street as he walked. Around the 30th year of meiji (1897), the Yanagise area began to develop. After the end of World War II, on the burned ruins, Yanagise Shopping Street became the center of gifu commerce and entertainment, and gradually became prosperous, with families coming here to shop and eat. In the heyday of the Showa period, singer Kenichi Mikawa sang the song "Yanagise Blues", making the name of this commercial street known throughout Japan.
However, in the Heisei era (1989-2019), affluent people gradually began to shift from public transportation to private cars, and the focus of business shifted from the shopping streets in the city center to the large shopping malls in the suburbs. The shops in the city can't compete with these malls, and the customers are gradually lost. Slowly, shops were withdrawn from Yanagise shopping street, and more and more shops closed their doors all day. Eventually, Yanagise Shopping Street became the "Roller Shutter Gate Shopping Street" I was when I went sightseeing. The store's signs are still clean, and the customers and stores are long gone, as if frozen in slices of time and space. As he walks, the protagonist laments the unique charm revealed in the Showa atmosphere emanating from this abandoned commercial street.
I marveled at this unknown history and was ashamed of my own assumptions. It's just that the protagonist doesn't end his exploration. Crossing the shopping street to the main street, a building with completely detached walls and bare cement appears on the front. It turned out that this was a long-abandoned fiber asking house street. This is a commercial street that has been mainly engaged in clothing and fabric business since the end of the war, and once grew up with Gifu, but now it is no longer popular. When I visited, I just stared at the mobile phone navigation and completely missed this rough and gray façade.
The protagonist of the game continues to introduce that Gifu has been redeveloped in recent years, and new high-rise buildings have been built near the station, and the old fiber house street has been snubbed and forgotten, and quietly left there. On both sides of a road, the old Showa building with its detached façade and the newly built modern tower appear in the same picture, which makes people feel mixed.
Looking up at the bare walls in the game can't help but be shocked
I have also walked through the shopping street with the gate closed, but the story behind it, and the strong contrast between the past and the present, have been ignored by me, a tourist who is walking around. Without the self-talk of the travel journalist in "Stormy Tales 4", I am afraid that I still have a wrong understanding of gifu's business changes and believe in my own theory. Everything in Gifu is probably much more interesting than I thought. If I had the chance, I would like to come to that shopping street again, stand in front of the roller shutters that no longer rise, close my eyes, and maybe see the lively scene here in the Showa era.
<h3>Get a comprehensive overview of gifu's mountains and waters</h3>
In addition to preparing enough money and adjusting the time, traveling also requires abundant physical strength. Especially when the destination is in the mountains, it is difficult to enjoy the journey without a strong physique.
I'm not happy with climbing mountains, nor am I good at climbing mountains. So, on that trip 3 years ago, when I found that the next attraction, Gifu Castle, was built on Mount Jinhua, more than 300 meters high, I almost passed out - because the navigation did not find the bus information, my friend and I had just walked thousands of meters from the station to the foot of the mountain. Luckily, there was a cable car on the way up the mountain, allowing me to at least climb to the top of the mountain without effort. Still, going up and down when touring the towers still made me a bit overwhelmed. Gifu Castle thus became the only high-rise spot on our trip.
From the top of Mount Jinhua, you can overlook the entire city of Gifu
But the mountains of Gifu are exactly what characterize them. When I visit Hida Furukawa, I can't help but look forward to the mountains I can see from the high platform of the station - what will it be like to see Gifu from the top of the mountain? The protagonist of "Wind and Rain 4" does not seem to be afraid to go up the mountain and go down the water, park his beloved motorcycle on the side of the road, and climb up the mountain with a bang of courage, look at the stone mines behind Mount Mino Akasaka, and see the terraces at the foot of the Upper Stream Mountain.
What really sets Stormy Tales 4 apart is the 360-degree live-action panorama that this work introduces for the first time. Although the screen resolution is not high, being able to freely switch perspectives still allows me to really find the feeling of personal travel in the game. The scenery that the production team traveled around to shoot, combined with light music, made the journey in this game seem relaxed and fun - imagine simply picking up the console to experience the feeling of climbing to the top of the mountain and looking at the city in the distance, which may only be unique in "Wind and Rain 4".
In the game, the process of finding the Mino Akasaka Stone Mine can be described as "another village of willow dark flowers"
Walk through the mountain trails to see the crystal clear waterfall of Fuzhi Gorge
As he moves from attraction to attraction, the protagonist always rides his beloved Yamaha motorcycle on the roads of Gifu. When I thought that I could only stare at the driving screen quietly during this time, I realized that I was wrong - gently flicking the rocker can enjoy the scenery along the way from a full perspective during the protagonist's riding, and the cross key can choose which direction to turn at the next intersection. Although the previous games in the series were also taken with live-action photos, "Stormy Tales 4" finally realized a truly immersive travel game experience - riding yourself on a motorcycle and speeding on the road, feasting your eyes between the mountains and rivers, and feeling the grass and trees of Gifu with your heart.
Driving between two attractions isn't boring either – the scenery on both sides is always changing
Another detail of "Stormy Tales 4" that touched me deeply was the depiction of camping. The protagonist, who always rides on the road, does not stay in a hotel, and every night he finds a campground nearby to set up his tent. What to eat every night, how nutritious it is, and what the price is, the protagonist will record in detail. "It couldn't be better to match freshly roasted meat with rice that wasn't cooked soon. The full grains of rice are so soft, while the roast meat is elastic. The two communicate with each other, giving birth to a strong fragrance. In the morning, with a cup of his favorite hand-brewed coffee, the travel journalist is ready to go. A dashing and free camping trip was almost a luxury for me and difficult to achieve in reality, and Storm 4 gave me a chance to learn about the experience.
The protagonist's detailed description of the camping dinner made me very envious
When I can't travel, I often like to open Google Street View and find some interesting places to zoom in and make myself addicted to virtual travel. The form of "Wind and Rain 4" is a bit like Google Street View, but it is more complete and more refined. The filming location of each scenic spot was selected by the production team after taking materials from the field, and the details of the entire scenic spot were thoroughly displayed in a limited vertex position. The game's camera system gives the player full autonomy, and when I see the scenery I want to shoot anywhere, I can adjust the angle and press the shutter to take a unique photo of my own.
See the view you like and focus on taking a photo of yourself
With the protagonist's explanation of local history and culture on the way, I even felt that I was not playing a game called "Wind and Rain 4", but under the leadership of a travel journalist, I really came to Gifu in the summer, surrounded by blue skies and mountains, visiting one famous place after another in Gifu.
<h3>Take my heart to the far side</h3>
Although he always enthusiastically explains gifu's attractions along the way, the protagonist is a bit like a professional tour guide, in fact, the story that belongs to him and the heroine is also a very important part of "Wind and Rain 4" - after all, this is a love AVG, not a real "Gifu travel simulator".
As players, we are playing "Wind and Rain 4" with the mood of travel, and the protagonist who was sent to Gifu by the boss to collect materials and participate in the competition is working every day. He should update his blog from time to time and translate his observations in Gifu into vivid manuscripts to attract more readers. Several attractive female characters encountered on the road become the biggest variables in the protagonist's journey - as the plot progresses, and different heroines are deeply engaged, the attractions visited will be completely different.
When I first saw Yuzuhara Ilsun in the highway rest area, I was shocked by this big sister riding an FZR motorcycle and wearing leather pants. When talking to the protagonist, Riyang copes with it freely and seems a little playful. Hearing that I was a reporter for a magazine, I hurried to pose, showed my trademark smile and let me take a picture, and then rode away in my car. I thought to myself, if only I could see her again on the road.
The most obvious sign of Riyang Sister is her confident and sunny smile
In fact, the sun accompanied me almost the entire journey. After several scenic "encounters", the two naturally began to walk together, wandering between the various attractions in Gifu and enjoying a unique trip. Two riders drive through the path of Gifu together, make a wish together in front of the shrine, and meet their eyes at the top of the mountain... A month was a short time, and I had to leave Gifu and face separation from Nichiyo.
I would love to write hundreds of words to introduce to you how I and Riyang talked to each other along the way, what kind of troubles the two people held, and what choices they finally made. But this is an adventure game, friends, and I don't want my abrupt words to ruin your gaming experience. The road that two people have supported each other and walked together can only be experienced by personally playing "Wind and Rain 4". All I can say is that the love plot and travel part of "Wind and Rain 4" are completely disconnected, and there is no problem that the two systems are separated from each other. In the process of traveling around to collect materials, I gradually became addicted to the big sister of Yuzuhara Ilyang, who was somewhat bad, and unconsciously devoted myself to the journey with her.
The two people gradually got to know each other during the journey and untied their own knots
I used to yearn for the hida crater in "Your Name" and the babbling water of Yachiman in The County. Later I learned that Hida did not have craters. After 10 hours of gameplay, I woke up from a dream. The travel journalist returned to Tokyo, the result of the game was not good, but it was not too bad, and after the boss comforted and encouraged him, he prepared for the next business trip. My heart also changed from Gifu to the editorial office in Beijing, and the scenery in front of me suddenly changed from the landscape of Gifu back to the high-rise buildings of the CBD. The journey in the dream was so clear, and even the memory was more vivid than the one when I went with my friends. If you ask me now what attractions Gifu has, and what kind of history and culture are behind the famous places, although I can't answer the question, I can still say eight or nine.
I am sure that I did go to Gifu. The month I experienced with the rider named Yukihara Ilyang also seemed real and unquestionable. In Stormy Tales 4, I rode a motorcycle and walked all over Gifu.