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Message: [QUOTE="LiberoVulpes, post: 188618, member: 204772"] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="538px" alt="Cover.png"]64230[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]The time has come, the wait is finally over, I have reached the end, and I am writing before the melancholy hits (if you have read a long VN, you would understand), it is time to put an end, to a nearly 2 months long journey. It is no secret that I love Visual Novels, they played a mayor role in helping me learn English, as well as spoken Japanese, some have actually changed my life and the way I see the world, so, its no exaggeration when I say, that they have a very close place very near and dear to my heart. And, these days, they are one of the few things that can make me feel something, but I digress… Here, I decided to cover a personal favorite, and, it would have been easy if I just wrote this from memory, but, easy is boring, so, I decided to re-read the whole thing, as, 1) the last time I read this VN, I was a teenager, 2) I wanted to read the stuff from the re-release, 3) I wanted to see what they did with the English Version, 4) Its a really good VN, 5) I want to give back to VNs, to give them the love they deserve, after everything they have done for me. When it comes to writing, Jun Maeda has influenced me greatly, with his works in Key being the first VNs I have ever read, and as I look at the kind of stories I write, my take on Magical Realism, and bonds between characters, is heavily inspired by Maeda. This was going to be a review, like the other games I have been reviewing, but, as my mental notes, and the things I want to say kept pilling up, it has evolved into a fully fleshed article, and, this won’t be my last VN article, believe that. Although, I myself am not a big fan of writing very long stuff, if there is a time in which I will make an exception, it will be for VNs. I will not judge you if the length of this article is unappealing, but, do keep in mind, that, for once, I am not holding anything back for the sake of brevity. This long winded introduction, its solely a sign of what’s to come, you have been warned.[/JUSTIFY] [HEADING=2]We are Little Busters![/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]If I was asked to summarize the entirety of Little Busters! In one sentence, it would be: Little Busters! Is a beautiful story. It had the difficult position of coming after what’s considered Key’s Magnum Opus, The Crown Jewel of the Nakige genre (more about this genre later), Clannad. And, to live up to THAT hype, was difficult, but, it was not impossible. Little Busters! Is still, a worthy successor, and to yours truly, peak Key. Although Maeda wasn’t as involved as he was with Clannad, he still knocked it out of the park, with his work in the scenario, and the music he composed. As for the English Version, there aren’t any changes to the story. It includes both the Original Routes, as well as the Routes and some changes from Little Busters! Ecstasy (Little Busters! Re-release), but, with the changes you would expect to the CGs, so, changes to the more risque ones, removed the sexual scenes (obviously), and, that’s it. BUT, in some routes, it is heavily implied when the +18 stuff happens, because its plot relevant, it isn’t shown, but you know it happened, this only happens in very few routes, if you think its a problem, don’t worry, its handled in a mature non-coomer way. Alright, alright, enough rambling, let’s talk about the game proper. The story follows a teenage boy named Riki Naoe, him and his childhood friends, are members of The Little Busters! A group dedicated to fight for justice, and vanquish evil, of course this is mostly an excuse to just go around and have fun. Although seen as childish by many, they do not care, their friendship and fun, is above all. Oh yeah, Riki has narcolepsy, but its mostly used as a plot device. Playing around, and going on adventures with his friends, was what saved Riki from his deep depression after loosing his parents, and he values both his friends, and memories, very dearly. But, as time goes by, things change, reality happens, leaving many lingering regrets, what is the secret of this world? Inspired by Kyousuke, the founder and leader of The Little Busters! Riki extends a helping hand to those who need it, just like Kyousuke did to him all those years ago, showing kindness, to those who need it. Showing how such a simple act, can mean the world to someone. Idle days that seem to go on forever, yet, happiness ain’t eternal, but, will you dare to fight a cruel fate? You must become strong to protect what’s dear to you, will you dare defy what the world has in store for you? Happy endings are all the sweeter, when they are earned. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][MEDIA=youtube]6QdEyjWcHQI[/MEDIA][/CENTER] [HEADING=2]Happy Times[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]As its the usual loop for romance VNs, you will be playing through the general route, accumulating favor with the many waifus, until you lock in with your favorite one, or the one you are most curious about, or the one with the cryptic requirements you looked up a walkthrough for (this is a joke, Little Busters! Doesn’t really have one of those). With you taking decisions at certain moments, either for different dialog, or to earn sweet affection points. And, as its the norm, you will be able to witness that heroine’s true self, as well as helping her deal with either a problem she has been dealing with her entire life, or something new, but with the potential of being life changing, sometimes both, learning more about her, and… God forbid, hold hands. Little Busters! Works a little differently (from the norm, but its similar to Clannad), as, it does expect you to go through all of them, instead of just going with just your favorite. It encourages replay in multiple ways, slowly adding more stuff to the general route, as you complete routes, so its not just holding skip read, or skip to the next choice, it even changes how a few characters behave. Some routes have some variations, like different dialog depending on some decisions made in the general route, or alternate endings. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="1011px" alt="Decisions decisions.webp"]64231[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Do be careful with your decisions, as there are bad endings a plenty for you to suffer through. It is a requirement for the True Ending to go through all the routes from the Little Busters! Team (bad endings don’t count), apparently the requirement was changed on this release, but I didn’t check. You can’t repeat routes (outside of loading a save) from the general route, until you have finished the True Ending, yes it makes sense story wise. As for the routes themselves, besides the fact that they are heavily dependent on your thoughts about its respective waifu, they can be hit or miss, depending on how much it resonates with you, or if you vibe with the character. Although, they all share the same overarching themes, of bonds, love, family and friendship, each route handles them in different ways, and how its handled can heavily impact how you feel about a route. There is some more content, in the form of mini-games, which you can turn off, if either you find them annoying, or, if its your whateverth run, and just want to quickly go to the route you are missing, or wanna see. For the mini-games, there is, the battle, and battle rankings, which is an auto-battler in which all the recruited Little Busters! Members randomly fight each other, using their skills, some items, and random weapons, this mini-game is involved with a few side-plots, but, once you have done the masked fighter storyline, and the unknown lifeform storyline (3 times), you can just turn it off, there is no reason to keep it on afterwards. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="1205px" alt="Battle.webp"]64233[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]However, some battles, are added for comedic effect in the middle of the story, and they will play regardless of the mini-game being turned off. Then, there is the baseball mini-game, baseball itself is the centerpiece of the general route, with the whole “Let’s make a team and call it Little Busters!” Being Kyousuke’s roundabout way of getting Riki (and Rin) to move forward, fully knowing he won’t be there to help them forever. The baseball mini-game looks simple, just hit the balls that Rin throws at you, if the ball you hit reaches another member, they will either send it back to build up combo, or end the combo and play a funny hurt animation, you can also hit the cats, which ends combos, but make Rin angry and makes her unlock new pitching techniques. The only problem comes from, not knowing exactly how to aim where your hit will go, even if you don’t want to hit the cats, you will do it, or sometimes you just won’t understand why you didn’t hit, or why it went in a seemingly random direction, there are some ways to make it behave, but its purely on muscle memory. You also get to enjoy some nice pixel art renditions of the gang. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="1114px" alt="Baseball.webp"]64234[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Is there a trick to it? I kinda figured it out, highest combo I managed to get was 12, it gets easier once the whole team is recruited. There are quite a lot of neat little details, like less athletic characters throwing the ball slowly, or more energetic characters jumping and diving around to catch the ball, or the more sportsy ones throwing the ball faster, and a lot of animations if you happen to hit someone who wasn’t paying attention, or isn’t currently playing, for comedic effect. And, some random chatter which adds characterization. At the end of practice, all recruited characters will have their stats increased, the ones that participated in combos, get a slight extra boost, these stats are for the battler mini-game, and for the match against the captains, which usually marks the beginning of the end of the general route. Do remember, that the more routes you complete, the higher Riki’s and Rin’s base stats become in subsequent runs, yes it makes sense story wise. Once you have beaten the captains at least once, you can turn it off if you wish, but bear in mind, its the main way to improve your stats, if you are still doing the battler subplots. The captains match, works differently, in which I could never fully tell if it was pure RNG, but it sure feels like it is, when it gets close, you will be prompted to pick positions and batting line-up (you likely won’t have the final member until around your 3rd run, so don’t sweat it the first few times), and, during the match, you get some decisions regarding strategy, but… Its luck. Sometimes, characters with good stats won’t do anything, or characters with bad stats will somehow score runs, sometimes characters will never catch a fly ball, other times they will be outing opponents left and right, Rin uses the special throws when she feels like it… I just go with Hit and Run, and base stealing, and hope for the best. That’s how I won multiple times, somewhat consistently. Once you have beaten them once, they will become a harder variant in subsequent runs, but, there is no real reason to keep beating them afterwards. For all the mini-games that you turn off, you will get some filler dialog for when some of the mini-games are supposed to play out, and the match against the captains goes to you losing automatically. There are some extra mini-games which only happen once, and there are 2 big mini-games in the post-game, but I will talk about those later. OK, now let’s go to the real meat of the game, this is just the appetizer, every bona fide VN fan knows, that the routes is when the real stuff happens. Sure I talked about them generally in this section, but now, we move on to Key’s strength, evoking emotion, and character writing. Don’t worry, I will not spoil anything, just share my thoughts on the characters, in their respective routes, and if they show up on other routes.[/JUSTIFY] [HEADING=2]To Extend a Helping Hand[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]Before, I mentioned the Nakige genre, so for the uninitiated, lets quickly cover what it is. This genre is known as “crying game,” or “tearjerker,” a genre for which Maeda is a pioneer, and a genre for which Key, the studio he is a co-founder of, is very well known for. It usually follows a simple formula, for all its routes, including the general one, in which the first half is focused on funny slice of life shenanigans where we get to know our cast, and have some fun with them, then, in the second half, that lovable cast, is put through the wringer. Little Busters! Is no different, it WILL tug at the heartstrings in different manners, are all routes sad? Well, some have some really depressing moments, but the hard hitters are very few. Is there an order for the Routes? Not really, but I do recommend doing Rin 1 first, then everyone else in whichever order you wish, and finish with Rin 2, afterwards is Refrain (True Ending), and then the post-game (more on this later) routes, I recommend leaving Saya for last. Each girl has her own music track, which truly embodies her personality, and can serve as a taste of what to expect in her route (if you know some music theory that is). As for my thoughts about the routes, lets go in the order I did them, again, I won’t spoil them, so I will be talking about them in general. I am also going to be mentioning their theme, but, that’s coming from my interpretation. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Choose your waifu.webp"]64232[/ATTACH] Rin - Kud - Komari - Haruka - Mio - Kurugaya[/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]So, Rin, both her routes, her theme is Dependence, to get to her route, all you have to do is help her with her little side-quests, the first time you go with her, you only get the first half of the route, and in the second one, you get to see it in its entirety. This is mostly because, as it happens in some VNs, Rin is the heroine that gets pushed to the player the most. Thoughts? She is OK, too tsundere for my taste, has cute moments when its related to her cats, has some funny moments in most routes, she improves in the second run, but, I just don’t find her that interesting. Second is, Kudryavka aka Kud, her theme is Belonging, to get to her route, you have to assist her with her moving in events, and find her a roommate, whoever happens to be her roommate adds extra dialogues to Kud’s, and some other routes. Thoughts? Best girl, a very lovable girl who likes to speak in broken English, she is the MVP in multiple routes, she is the sweetest and most wholesome cinnamon roll of the cast, and, DOES IT HURT to see her suffer through her route, her voice actress truly knocks it out of the park with her performance, listening to depressed Kud hurts, although I have some nitpicks with the route itself, overall its really good, it also has my favorite scene of the whole VN, she also has the most interesting alternate ending, and the joke route also involves her. Kud is so good in fact, she got her own spin-off sequel, Kud Wafter, which isn’t in English… Key, I am on my knees here, please give us Kud Wafter. Third, Komari, her theme is Happiness, to get to her route, just hang out with her. Thoughts? Although she is the comic relief character, and the butt of many jokes in the general route, her route really redeems her, it touches upon some really interesting topics regarding PTSD and trauma, its a very enjoyable route. She herself, its pretty funny and likable. Fourth, Haruka, her theme is Kindness, to get to her route, assist her with her shenanigans. Thoughts? She is the most complex character, although she follows the trope of the jokester who is suffering on the inside, she is a very likable tragic heroine, her route has some of the most thought provoking moments, and after its done, it truly changes your perception of her and her sister as characters. Fifth, Mio, her theme is Ideal, in order to get to her route, hang out with her, and help her when she needs it. Thoughts? I mean, she is alright, I am not into danderes, she gets sidelined in her own route, and her route feels really short, but she is a decent supporting character in other routes, she has interesting dialogues, and some jokes involve her, and that’s about it. Sixth and final, Kurugaya, her theme is Connection, to get to her route, just hang out with her. Thoughts? Although she is my least favorite character, as I am not a big fan of the onee-san archetype, and I don’t really care about the first half of her route, the second half truly rescues it in my eyes, and touches upon some really fascinating ideas about memory and connection between people. After all the girls have been completed, you will notice that New Game, gets replaced with Refrain. Refrain, is what would be called “The Answers Arc” in other VNs, and I won’t be saying anything else about it. Refrain its worth going through all the routes, yes its THAT good. I do warn you, they take the gloves off, so be ready to suffer, and cry a lot. So before we move on, lets talk about the male characters, all 4 of them. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="Our Boys.webp"]64235[/ATTACH] Not adding Kengo and Riki to avoid spoilers.[/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]We have Riki, who is the player surrogate, thankfully he isn’t a self-insert blank slate, he has a personality, and in some parts, we even get to hear his voice, for most of the game you will be seeing things from his perspective, his narcolepsy usually acts up as either a plot device, or to tell you that you got a bad ending. Then, there is Kyousuke, the leader of the Little Busters! He is the reliable older brother, and one of the best characters in the game, he is usually involved with most of the shenanigans, and can be a comic relief, but, when he gets serious, so does the plot, its impressive that they even translated his s***posting blog. There is Masato, who is the best friend of Riki, he is usually the comic relief, butt of multiple jokes, and its usually only focused on either his muscles, or helping Riki, he is an absolute bro, and he is also involved in the joke ending. Finally, Kengo, he is a more serious guy, until he isn’t, although at the start he is the no nonsense straight man of the group, when a certain event happens, he becomes another lovable idiot. Our boys, are at their absolute best, in Refrain.[/JUSTIFY] [HEADING=2]And Now For Something Completely Different[/HEADING] Yep, its not over yet. [JUSTIFY]After Refrain, all the previous girls are unlocked, and the previous routes get some extra content, Refrain becomes its own option in the New Game section, so you can replay it easily. And, 4 new routes. Another Rin route, I told you, she is the one they push on the player the most, but this route is accessed in Refrain. 2 of those new routes, involve supporting characters we already got to know, and the final new route adds a new girl, and 2 new mini-games, so I will leave that one for last, these new ones are accessed the normal way. So, first, Rin… Again, same themes, its an improvement over her previous ones, that’s it, there isn’t much else to say without spoilers. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="866px" alt="Choose your waifu 2.webp"]64236[/ATTACH] Sasami - Kanata - Saya[/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Second, Sasami, her theme is Love, to access her route, literally just don’t get any of the other ones. Thoughts? Its my favorite route, not just because it has some of my favorite tropes, or because I am weak to the rich girl archetype, although Sasami is annoying in the normal game, this truly redeems her, it really is a beautiful route, and that second half really hits in the feels. Third, Kanata, her theme is Conviction, to access her route, pick the option that mellows her out, and be nice to her. Thoughts? Kanata is the second most complex character, and, although she can be hateable in other routes, she can be very nice and even wholesome in her own, and her route gives a lot of perspective on her character, as well as making a lot of her behavior make sense in retrospect. I also have a headcannon about her, but I can’t say it without spoilers. Finally, Saya, her theme is Life, to access her, pick the option of sneaking into school to get your notebook, then, don’t let Saya intimidate you. This route is the highlight of the post-game, as it includes 2 new mini-games, and an entirely new and unique storyline, it even feels like its own short VN within Little Busters! The first mini-game, is first person Dungeon Crawling, this is no SMT tho, its just a simple move around, fight in rooms, figure out puzzles, and avoid traps, its simpler than I make it sound. As for the fighting, that’s the second mini-game, rail shooter, when you play as Riki, you have to quickly shoot the numbers Saya tells you, when you play as Saya, its a normal rail shooter. Its fairly merciful, and dying isn’t too bad. You can turn off rail shooting, but not Dungeon Crawling. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="1143px" alt="Saya Route.webp"]64237[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Also, Saya’s route has a lot of variation, like being able to play normally, or as an idiot, or the secret ending. It also has its own Refrain like True Route, and all you need for it, is to finish the route 2 times, don’t worry, it will be different both times. Thoughts? As I said, Saya is the highlight of the post-game, she is on a league of her own, she is the most interesting character, has the funniest moments, and has the most hard hitting moments, her route, is beautiful, fun, and bitter sweet. But, it can feel far too different from the rest of the game.[/JUSTIFY] [HEADING=2]Homestretch[/HEADING] [JUSTIFY]You still with me? Don’t worry, this is now the true end. When I say this is a love letter to a VN I love, I am not joking. Little Busters! Is a beautiful story, about love, friendship, and the human spirit. Little Busters! Is a magnificent example of the nakige genre. Little Busters! Greatly influenced Key’s later works, most notably, the amazing Angel Beats! Little Busters! Is one of my favorite Visual Novels of all time. And, I hope, I managed to get across how much I love it. If you got this far, I thank you a lot, have you played it? Are you curious about it? I am interested on reading your opinions on both VN and the article itself. Although its about 80 hours long, its worth it, I personally wouldn’t recommend the anime adaptation, the VN is better by far, as it usually is. Hope you enjoyed the article regardless. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="933px" alt="Little Busters!.jpg"]64238[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY] And now, imma play some Postal, enough about feelings, I need to get my edge back.[/JUSTIFY] [/QUOTE]

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