Yoshio: "My name is Yoshio Saotome to meet you. What's your name?"
A very standard plot introduction.
It seems that Yoshio will be the one to play the wingman for the main character in the later episodes.
A design often found in works with a campus theme.
Logically, the next part should be the section where you choose options based on the storyline.
After all, the so-called "corner of wood" is actually just "interactive novel."
Watch the story, choose your branch, and experience different plotlines.
Rather than a video game, it's more like the "interactive entertainment" that many major companies are now pursuing.
But...
Tokimeki Memorial is clearly not a typical visual novel game.
After the day's events came to a close and the main characters had all made their appearances and introduced themselves, the first day ended peacefully.
[Thus, with a mix of unease and anticipation] [I began my high school life...]
That's great...
Furukawa murmured.
If I could give myself a chance to go back two months, back to when I first enrolled in school.
I will definitely find a way to change my current situation.
Back then, I was just like " Furukawa- kun" in the game.
I'm filled with both anticipation and trepidation as I await my brand new campus life.
Unfortunately, if my life were an AVG (Adventure Game), I'd probably have created the worst possible ending...
"Um?"
The expected second day did not arrive.
Even the dialogue options I had imagined didn't appear.
Instead, several rows of attributes were displayed on the screen. [Stamina]: [100] | [Arts]: [40] | [Science]: [40]
[Arts]: [40] | [Sports]: [40] | [Popularity]: [32]
[Appearance]: [60] | [Perseverance]: [5] | [Pressure]: [0]
[ Furukawa: (What should I do starting tomorrow?)]
Once the subtitles were fully displayed, an action menu popped up beside them.
It's not a dialogue option, but more like an action list from early JRPGs.
At first glance, it seems to include humanities, sciences, arts...
Each of the options has its own corresponding attributes.
Functions such as [Club Activities] and [Making a Phone Call] are currently unavailable and grayed out.
It's clear that these will be unlocked gradually as the game progresses.
Next up are the settings and save options.
It was only then that Furukawa suddenly realized that this was not the text-based adventure game he had imagined at all. Decades later, dating sims have long since diversified into countless unique branches and have their own classifications.
However, in the Japan game industry in 1990, there wasn't such a detailed classification system at all.
The current game categorization is actually very simple and straightforward.
Action games, shooting games, role-playing games, simulation games, and Adventure games.
In fact, even now, casual gamers still categorize games like Quake and Doom as STG (Shooting Game).
It belongs to the same category as aerial shooting.
Only a select few hardcore fans with a truly deep understanding of Gamenova were able to extract the crucial concept of FPS from the transcripts of some interviews.
As for fighting games, they naturally fall under the category of action games.
This is understandable; whether due to limitations in technology or other reasons, modern video games don't really have many fancy features.
The so-called dating games were actually still classified as adventurous or adventure games during this period.
In other words, Adventure games.
By definition, any game that advances the story through reading text and investigating information can be categorized under "adv" (advanced/adventure). This includes detective games, adventure stories, and dating sims.
Going back a few years, its founder should be " The Portopia Serial Murder Case ", and its developer is Yuji Horii.
What followed was naturally the era of a flourishing of mature-rated romance adventure games.
Furukawa flipped through the game cartridge box, looking at the game types marked on it.
Since it's a Gamenova game, they didn't follow the messy regulatory system of the Japan domestic market at all, but directly adopted their own ESRB rating and game category tags.
The category clearly states "[Romance SLG]".
This is a "dating simulation game".
Even the age rating is for all ages!
wtf?
Every single move was completely unexpected.
It seems that from the very beginning, Gamenova never intended to compete with other mature-rated "romance adventure" games for market share.
It's as if... as if they're so confident that even without any adult content in the game, they can still get players to buy it.
Pure love? What the hell is pure love?
Naive! Arrogant!
Sexual desire is a stepping stone to human progress, sexual desire is the ultimate answer to games, sexual desire is innocent!
By daring to do this, Gamenova has undoubtedly placed itself in opposition to the vast majority of otaku.
This is outrageous!
This must be criticized!
Let's play around with it critically and see what it's all about.
After a brief study, Furukawa roughly understood the function of the different options.
Just as I predicted.
If you choose the humanities, your character will spend the following week studying humanities. Correspondingly, your humanities attribute will increase.
However, it's not all good.
Because of the fatigue from studying, physical strength will naturally decrease, and stress will increase accordingly.
That makes sense, after all, learning is not an easy thing.
Recalling the significantly increased difficulty of the courses after entering higher education, Furukawa sighed and shook his head helplessly.
However, his humanities attributes increased by 3 points.
But the cost of these three points is certainly not light.
"My stamina is decreasing, and now they're even deducting from my athletic attributes...!"
My exercise level, which was already only 40, dropped to 38 after a week of studying humanities subjects due to lack of exercise.
Even her appearance and willpower declined a bit.
Furukawa turned his head to look at a small mirror on the desk. His somewhat dejected face was reflected there.
That's totally understandable.
I can really empathize with that.
The game perfectly captures the effects of fatigue-induced edema and the mental torment caused by academic pressure.
If I had a panel like " Furukawa's," my situation would only be worse than his.
This game... I really understand it.
"It seems like we can choose which clubs we want now?"
A week has passed, and it's time to choose what to do again.
Unlike last time, besides the change in attributes, the previously grayed-out club button has now lit up.
That's right, it's about time for school club registration.
There were quite a few options, and each had a clear bias.
Literature club, art club, soccer club... Based on years of experience with video games, Furukawa had a gut feeling...
The secrets to winning over girls are hidden in these clubs!
If I'm not mistaken, there might be some exclusive roles hidden within different clubs.
To be honest, what truly shocked Furukawa about this game was not its stunning character illustrations or music.
It's not its exceptionally fine text, of course.
What truly amazed Furukawa was the groundbreaking game system of Tokimeki Memorial.
It's no longer a linear storyline, no longer driven step by step by text; instead, it completely empowers the player.
A very bold decision.
He has complete freedom to control how his role should be performed.
Or rather, how to enjoy school life.
It's not just about choosing what to do each week; now, you can even decide which club to join.
The question is... which club should I choose?
No, no, that's not right.
The question should be... which club will Shiori choose?
Furukawa hesitated, trying hard to recall Shiori Fujisaki's self-introduction on the day she enrolled.
"My interest is music appreciation... I think it's classical music."
After confirming it several times, Furukawa was about to press confirm when he suddenly remembered something.
When school started, my deskmate, " Yoshio," seemed to have said that I could call him if I had any questions.
Otherwise... I'll just ask him.
Open the phone book.
Besides Yoshio and Shiori, the only other person he had was Rei Ijuin's phone number.
Upon seeing this name, Furukawa almost instinctively showed a flash of displeasure on his face.
When this guy first appeared, almost every girl in the class screamed along with him. He was good-looking, came from a good family, and was rumored to be the chairman's son.
Having someone like that in your class makes it hard not to feel a sense of crisis.
especially...
The fact that Shiori was also in the class made him even more anxious.
Shaking his head, Furukawa dialed his good friend's number first.
Sure enough, just as he had shown at the time, he was an absolute know-it-all, an expert on women's affairs, practically an intelligence master.
[Clubs/Associations]: [Swimming Club]
"Huh? It's the swimming club? I almost chose the wrong one..."
Upon seeing the displayed content, Furukawa was startled, but a look of relief appeared on his face.
Fortunately, I was more skilled.
[Remark]:
[Enjoys listening to music, especially classical music] [Excellent academic performance, athletic talent]
"Hmm... it's really easy to misunderstand."
Shiori is practically perfect; she'd be the most dazzling one in any club she joins.
It's not actually fixed which club Shiori Fujisaki will choose.
Just as her birthday and blood type can be customized by players, her club... is also quite particular.
According to the program's settings, the month and day of her birthday are calculated using a simple formula and then moduloed to determine which club Shiori Fujisaki will join.
Even as the undisputed main female character of the game, her priority is higher than that of other characters.
Furukawa's guess was correct.
Choosing different clubs will indeed lead to the appearance of different girls.
However, if Shiori Fujisaki joins a club, she can directly replace the original character and appear on screen.
This is the absolute dominance of our leading lady!