LogFAQs > #977024948

Twilight Syndrome: Tansaku-hen & Kyuumei-hen (PSX)

Disclaimer: I didn't actually play these games directly as my Japanese isn't good enough for that yet, I watched a translated longplay on youtube.

These have been on my radar for quite a long while, but it wasn't until recently that I finally got the push to check them out one way or another as I was compelled to finally play The Silver Case within a fairly imminent date, and my seriation-obsessed self couldn't possibly fathom the idea of breaking that principle for a series that I don't actively hate.

It was definitely worth it. From what I could tell, the gameplay is halfway between a kinetic novel and something like Famicom Detective Club/Ace Attorney/Danganronpa etc. etc., in that there is definitely some gameplay and decision making but it largely consists of just moving around the game world and picking out responses from a list every so often (and sometimes examining things/talking to people, but this is largely inconsequential). On the plus side, this does go as far as to mean that each case has multiple endings, or more accurately one good ending and a handful of fatal or unambiguously bad non-canon outcomes.

The format of the stories is done interestingly. It's basically an anthology of Japanese style ghost stories/urban legends that follows one continuous plotline with three high school girls as the protagonists. As with many such stories, the interesting part comes from finding out how they unfold and learning the details of the backstories that made them possible, but something unique to this format is that there is an overarching story of sorts involving character development for Yukari, the girl who you end up controlling for most of the game, which resonates with some of the themes specific to each sub-story, and as you might expect comes to a big crescendo at the end of the last case. The way this plays out may end up feeling somewhat clich if you're not into it, but personally I think it's one of the best possible ways they could have executed a story like this in the medium. It helps that it has that unique HUMAN Entertainment style that makes certain other groundbreaking titles like Clock Tower and Mizzurna Falls stand out, even from a more modern perspective.

Going back to the reason I ended up checking these out at this time, there's also a secret bonus episode, "Prank", which from my understanding you can unlock by having good ending saves for all the cases on your memory card, and is a much more surreal and unconventional collection of scenes that leaves you with more questions than answers. Notably, this is apparently the only part of either game where Goichi Suda had full creative control (even though he had some degree of involvement directing some of the other cases), and it serves as a direct prelude to Moonlight Syndrome, which many fans of this one consider a kusoge due to (based on some comments I've read) some bizarre choices involving the characters from this game and general incomprehensibility, though thankfully(?) it does appear that it is also ignored by this game's other sequels. Well, I suppose I did ask for this, so I guess I'll go find out what that's all about next.