Well then.

I'll make it a thread. The longest thread ever. I wonder how long can I add replies to a tweet before it eventually collapses the internet.

Ah, time to start a videogame

*creates a spreadsheet*

The usual Chunsoft style data screen. Notice the bookmark, I've already completed this. Well, let's start a new one instead.

First in line is this guy, Amemiya Keima. He gets the detective route.

Chunsoft's detail system starts here too. Shame those blue characters make it real hard to read from the software.

Detective drama "The Great Running War" (?), we'll see this a lot later.

Everybody runs a lot, so there are rumors that the actors were only chosen depending on their running speed.

For now, here are the protagonists of this story: stern Goroichi, lazy Keima, and earnest Shiori.

For now, we need to patrol the Shibuya center for illicit activities.

Eh, this blurb about autosaving from Chunsoft. Says they pride themselves on having always done it in all their games. Maybe that's why they went with the Saturn for Machi.

The first "to be continued" of the game. In this game, you get a hint that you'll find a zapping point on another character's particular scenario Later screens won't be so forgiving.

I'm pretty sure the character in question is Ushio, but let's go with Umabe Rintaro for now. Probably gonna get a bad ending and stop for today.

Expectations are piled on me

People: expecting a crime story

Another continue screen... uh. I didn't think it was this hard to start with.

Maybe let's try Ichikawa?

This game experiments around a lot. Ichikawa's route is written in first person. Fitting of a more phychological narrative.

Weird, most likely dreaming

Allegories abound here

In this dream, I'm a shoemaker... when I fall asleep, these small creatures come and continue my job, but the shoes they make kinda suck.

Ah yes, this is the horror route, so to speak

But even this one is very very different from Otogirisou and Kamaitachi no Yoru

Like I said, the horror route

Dream's over at least.

Uh oh. A sign that something important's coming up. I will only get these warnings until 12am of the first day, after that I'm on my own.

Yep, here it is, the first zapping point. I could jump to Umabe from here, but for now, let's just write it up on the spreadsheet and continue with Ichikawa until the bitter end.

I tried to sleep, but now I got a phone call from someone (whom I will later discover to be Masashi) asking for a lot of money.

Because of that phone call, I decide to overdose on sleeping pills so nobody will be able to disturb my sleep anymore.

Well, that's for sure. Bad end!

The writing is a lot better than the average visual novel tbf. I'll continue later.

So Ichikawa met a terrible fate. We should try and undo this. How about getting Masashi into the fray? It is time to start the best route.

He was Friday.

Here we go.

First order of the day, for Friday, apparently is to meet with a mysterious beauty who goes by the name Sunday.

I love just about everything in this route, including how Masashi manages to play the role of naively nice, highly resourceful and sexually repressed all at once.

... well then. She's got compromising pictures from my past acts in a student revolt. This is gonna suck.

Ahahah, oh my god, Ryuji randomly arrives and save the day. I love this. I'll have to remember to stay clear of the department store when I start his route.

Ryuji convinces Masashi to drop the subject by mentioning that the company that should hire him is actually making weapons.

I love that Ryuji's sources are literally "oh, I know this one guy, he's a manager in the company"

And Masashi believes him like that.

Bad (?) end.

Let's delay this further. Instead of going with Ryuji next, we shall go for Yohei next. Time to see how Yohei deals with his own... mistakes.

So, Yohei received a letter from someone who asks him to meet him at the Hachiko statue, to discuss an urgent matter.

Probably a girl. And letters from girls are usually either good things or very bad things.

"What did you just say?"
"I'm pregnant"

Yohei doesn't look pleased

She looks earnest and maybe a little excited

He looks like he just had a seizure

"Of course, I remember you, Aya"
"My name is Ami"

Lmao, Yohei, you suck

Big time

Anyway, we are going to meet again later so we can go to a doctor together

"Don't worry, I'll be in touch"
"Alright, give me your number"
"Uh, on second thought, let's just meet at 6pm there"

Oh, Yohei, you sly asshole

This should be enough for today, I think. Man, I haven't even got past the 10am hour for any of the characters yet.

Short summary of yesterday, for those who didn't keep up!

Yohei banged a girl and now he's in deep shit.

And here comes the unpopular otaku. Apparently his hobbies include watching bishojo anime (specifically, the Invincible Mahou Shojo Sailor Dolls series) and actually drawing doujinshi of said series

An unsung hero to be sure

Okay, another guy who wants to blackmail me. Nice.

And thus, the most unpopular guy in school use this dark secret to become friends with the most popular guy in school.

Keima, is that you?

Always nice to see other characters occasionally pop up.

Wait wtf

Alright, so another bad end to solve. Looks like nobody is safe in this town.

It's about time we get something done. Only three characters left to start with. Perhaps Ushio will have better luck.

Ushio is an ex-yakuza, and apparently used to be a high ranking member of his family, even a candidate to be the next boss. Strange that someone like that would just resign so easily. Mmh.

So my objective today is proposing to a certain girl. I can't just go there empty handed, so what do I get her? Cake or flowers?

I imagine either is fine, but my choice will likely impact someone else's route. I'll go for the cake and see what happens.

My wandering for cake shops takes me to scare a girl away from a photo booth.

"Hey, I'm not yakuza anymore!"

Ushio please, read the mood

Ok, so I was wrong.

By the time I got my cake, an hour passed. In the meantime, there was a robbery and the girl was shot. Shit really does happen in this town.

My choice has been rectified, so the game continues. And I get the chance to jump to Keima's story again. We'll take that for now, and rest a bit.

This game isn't gonna be short by any means.

Mmh, rather than jump to Keima, I want to see where Ushio ends up for now. We can always save him for later.

Well, Ushio enters Aya's jewelry store with his yakuza style face and saying things like "no need for help, I can take care of what I want myself", which unsurprisingly doesn't go all that well with people

It's not clear to outsiders whether this whole conversation has been about buying jewels or stealing them.

Mmh? Someone trying to steal my waifu? Time to take out the gun

I love how these stories are all connected tangentially, instead of having everyone involved in the same plot

In this case, this is the president of a big company, and his rival company's president's wife is being targeted by Sunday and Masashi right now.

(also, zap point, yay)

Also, as far as I can tell from the surname, this guy is the father of Minako, who's currently Yohei's love interest

And Ushio's girl is Ryuji's sister

So yeah, the entire game is connected, but not in a way that the characters themselves could tell, unlike in 428

While Aya and Ushio keep misunderstanding each other, the plot moves along.

And it moves along quickly.

Well, that's that. The thief is an old underling of Ushio's, and he ended up involved in his scheme against his will.

They run away, and Ushio gets lost. We shall continue later.

I've kept Ushio waiting for a long time, let's see what awaits him.

Well, well. After running away, he's found by a film crew, who mistakes him for their lead actor.

Well, that was a climax.

I suppose they must have been happy with my real-life performance.

Ohoh, the director's assistant found out about my yakuza tattoo. Luckily he's too much of an idiot to notice it's real.

Ushio tries to leave the scene with his jewels, but he's stopped by a police officer. A real police officer this time, not an actor.

(spoiler: no, he's not. He's just a guy cosplaying as a policeman. Not even joking, he's a minor side character)

Hah, a blurb explaining why you need a movie permit, especially in Shibuya. It also explains "guerrilla movie making", as in, shoot the pictures and run before anybody can stop you.

Funny thing is that Machi was done exactly that way.

Anyway, Ushio has no choice to keep pretending he's one of the actors.

KAKAKA

Oh, so this is Shiina Michiru, famous for her many supporting roles, although she never really played a leading role.

She's got a pretty nice theme music too.

Seems that Ushio read the script and finally noticed what was going on, and who exactly he's been taken for.

Seems almost time to play Umabe's story, but let's keep going for a little longer, at least until a full stop.

Poor Sagiyama is treated like the idiot he is.

I got a warning for a zap point, looks like I'm still in mercy mode for now. That should disappear soon, seeing as it's 1pm now.

Heh. After trying to run away from the crew, I escape into a warehouse, and then someone randomly closes the door behind me.

I don't think anyone will come and rescue me for a while. Bad end.

I know how to fix this, but let's do something a bit different now. Ryuji's story will be a nice, if moody change of pace.

Getting all serious suddenly

I mean, Ryuji's story will have no shortage of strange situations either, but you can tell by the words and music that this will be a different route.

Oh wow, it's this late already. Better continue tomorrow.

I feel like I'm making some actual progress, which is good, AND compared to a few years ago, I'm getting more details. Which is even better.

Ryuji's tale must continue - meanwhile, I've freed up Masashi's route, but we'll get to that later. Probably a lot later.

At the park, we get a first glimpse of Ryuji's thoughts. He's definitely not a pleasant person. Apparently he thinks Japan has become rotten because they have been without wars for too long.

I guess being haunted by nightmares is one enjoyable thing about war

He also picks fights at random and then complains when he has to beat up amateurs, because hey, you gotta beat up a few amateurs once in a while.

A gang of delinquents attacks Ryuji with knives

I feel sorry for these guys, they are about to get destroyed

Ah, shame. Some police officers see me beating down those poor bastards and decide to arrest me. Bad end.

I'm almost done with this first round - only Yoshiko remains. With a guys-girls ratio of 1 to 7, she better have a great route.

Well, we are going to wacth a movie. Apparently, it's called "The Buried Gold of Love and Youth". It's a comedy about a couple who goes digging for gold in Mexico, but when they find it, it's stolen from them by a tacos seller diguised as a cactus.

I'd watch that.

Ok, so after watching the movie, Yoichi and Yoshiko are in high spirits and decide to get married immediately.

Bad end! (the game chews you out in the hints because the story can't continue this way)

I've played everyone now, so here's a first look at my time table so far. This is gonna get more entries as I keep playing. I'm not even close to completing the first day.