{"id":547,"date":"2006-10-23T21:15:13","date_gmt":"2006-10-23T13:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2006\/10\/23\/yoake-mae-yori-ruriiro-na\/"},"modified":"2006-10-24T01:07:20","modified_gmt":"2006-10-23T17:07:20","slug":"yoake-mae-yori-ruriiro-na","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2006\/10\/23\/yoake-mae-yori-ruriiro-na\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoake Mae yori Ruri-iro na"},"content":{"rendered":"

After various delays and a slow start, I finally finished the true ending of Yoake Mae yori Ruri-iro na \u00ef\u00bd\u017eBrighter than dawning blue\u00ef\u00bd\u017e<\/strong>. I have to say, you need a lot of patience to reach the good parts of the game, because the first half of it is only slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, which places it on the same level of tedium as Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"YoakeMae\"<\/p>\n

But if you do manage to hold through, and unlike Tameiki, you will be rewarded for your patience. The second half of the story is well worth the effort. Of course, it’s not as perfect as it could’ve been with a better scenario writer, but it’s good enough that I have some regained hope for the anime, which BTW seriously needs to stop outsourcing its art to Korea.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n

Yoake Mae yori Ruri-iro na<\/strong><\/a> is a 2005 game from August<\/strong><\/a>, a relatively unknown company with only five works so far. The PS2 version with new characters is coming out on 7 Dec.<\/p>\n

Story<\/h3>\n

The story is set in very distant future, in a time when mankind is just recovering from decades of war fought between Earth and a terraformed Moon. The war was so devastating that it set technological progress back by decades if not centuries, which is why the settings don’t look futuristic (or maybe because the artist doesn’t like to draw sci-fi scenes…). Although the world is now at peace, there continues to be distrust between the Sphere Kingdom (Moon) and the Earth Federation. Travel between the two is restricted for diplomatic purposes and confined to a single spaceport on Earth.<\/p>\n

So anyway, one day the lunar princess (TSUKIHIME!), Feena fam Earthlight<\/strong>, comes to the main character’s house for home stay…<\/p>\n

Gameplay<\/h3>\n

The game play of YoakeMae is standard ADV fare. The first part of the game is divided into about three months or so, from May to August, and you pretty much make all the decisions needed by July. <\/p>\n

\"YoakeMae\"\"YoakeMae\"<\/p>\n

During the span of Feena’s home stay, there are various small events (eating bento together, going to the beach, etc) that try to develop the characters but fail horribly. They are seriously boring and a huge waste of time that could have been otherwise spent on developing the main story.<\/p>\n

\"YoakeMae\"\"YoakeMae\"<\/p>\n

Assuming you go for Feena’s story path, which is really the only route that is worth playing, the actual story only starts to reveal itself near the end of July, which means that two in-game months were wasted away on useless character events. Gao.<\/p>\n

But once the main story starts, it’s Good Stuff \u00e2\u201e\u00a2. The second half of Feena’s normal path deals with the various problems faced by Tatsuya and Feena as they realize their feelings for one another. Since Feena is the princess of the Moon and Tatsuya is just a regular guy from Earth, there are of course many obstacles preventing them from obtaining happiness.<\/p>\n

\"YoakeMae\"<\/p>\n

One of the obstacles is Karen Clavius, the person in charge of Feena’s safety and entrusted by the King to select the person who would be Feena’s husband and the future king.<\/p>\n

\"YoakeMae\"<\/p>\n

But needless to say, the couple manages to overcome all odds and prove to Karen and everyone else that the two the truly love each other and etcetera etecetera. The game ends with Karen heading back to Moon to recommend Tatsuya to the King.<\/p>\n

Happily ever after? Not yet! But I won’t tell you why… yet.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/h3>\n

When it comes to bishoujo games, it’s all about the characters and their stories. Sadly, YoakeMae is lacking in this department. Other than Feena, the other girls are uninteresting and undeveloped. I guess it’s a double-edged sword to have such a prominent heroine who is so cool, cute, mo\u00c3\u00a9, beautiful, exquisite and generally perfect in every way possible.<\/p>\n

I mean seriously, who the hell plays YoakeMae for anyone but Feena-sama? :P<\/p>\n

Game Paths<\/h3>\n

There are a total of six<\/strong> paths for the six girls, Feena, Mia, Mai, Natsuki, Sayaka and Wreathlit.<\/p>\n

\"YoakeMae\"<\/p>\n