+ophanium | spring edition: August 2012

GUILTY CROWN : LOST XMAS
producer : Nitroplus
release : 2012
preliminary score : ****1/2 [ greatly recommended, especially for fans of guilty crown ]

the game we've been waiting for has finally been released, and earlier today our team had the chance to give the first three phases [ the story for the visual novel was set to unfold in episodic format, reminiscent of the original anime ] some play - all three of which has fully captivated us to continue with our play of the game.

as far as the story goes, the plot was set 10 years prior to the mainstream timeline of the tv series, focusing on the two escaping experimental biological weapon subjects scrooge and carol [ both was curiously branded as failures ] from ghq's research facility located in oshima; the point of origin for the apocalypse virus [ the impact crater was shown with carol giving out elaborate explanation over the virus for scrooge earlier in phase 02 ]. having successfully escaped from oshima, the two are being relentlessly pursued by the ghq troopers and its special unit known as 'ghost' consisting of the androgynous present, the mysterious yet childish past and the yet-to-be-seen yet to come [ all three ghost operatives, plus scrooge and carol were inspired from a christmas carol ]. also thanks to the information handed to him by carol, scrooge had his eyes set for the enigmatic organization daath, ultimately leading him to meet kurousu ouma on his way.

later in phase two, it was revealed that the lost christmas event has yet to occur [ the historic outbreak was about to take place as both scrooge and carol reached tokyo on christmas eve ], as mana was shown to be waiting for her father and shu at the church in roppongi, with gai arriving right after haruka left. not to mention it was intriguing for us to learn that scrooge might be having some connection with gai tsutsugami, as he was shown of having some of gai's memories from his days with the oumas, most especially that one particular memory of the time when gai was discovered, saved and named by mana and shu.

from the initial look, lost xmas doesn't seem to deviate much from what the tv series has established prior, with most of the details regarding the primary viral 'antagonist' [ apocalypse virus ] as well as the enigmatic void genome [ the ghq seems all out interested in developing it into highly effective biological weapons ] being given a slightly more in depth answers and explanation throughout the phases of the story. character progressions has yet to be available from the first three phases, but we can certainly see the prospect of both scrooge and carol affecting and changing each others' personalities, views and perceptions over all the things around them. there has been a number of emotional moments in between the action-filled drama, and when such moments does come, they were truly sights and moments to behold, especially for those who'd love to see more interaction and bonding to happen between scrooge and carol :3

as with other visual novels out there, once in a while players are given two choices to choose from of which will influence the path and direction of the story as well as interaction between scrooge and carol [ different choices will lead to different remarks and expressions from carol; for example her being either compassionate or sadistic - a-la mana - against the enemy ]. apart from than that it was just click and read for the entirety of the gameplay. also interesting to note is that saving your game won't be as troublesome as sonicomi [ which was also developed by nitroplus ] as you can practically save at any points of the game, except during the cutscenes.

[ carol's urging scrooge to 'party hard' with the ghq troopers ]

the first and foremost key strength of the game for us came in the form of its two leading protagonists; both scrooge and carol was shown to have slightly more pronounced and vivid personality / attitude in them when compared to the leading characters from the original tv series; scrooge for one is a one badass *bleep*er you definitely don't want to mess with; a tragic hero of whom was denied of his humanity by ~~science~~ humanity's own curiosity and greed, carol, on the other hand was - to our surprise - more yandere-ish and sadistic than her moedorable successor inorin [ and thus, never let her carefree and youthful looks fool you ]; she's even more livelier and richer in personality than inorin was - sometimes you'd wish for her to be a bit more reserved like inori lol. further into the game you will also get to see cameos by characters from the tv series, all set in their appropriate looks and appearances before the mainstream timeline of course.

presentation wise, lost xmas is one hell of a masterpiece for a visual novel; the art and designs were impressively gorgeous and stunning, with sleek and clean minimalistic interface [ menus were hidden from sight, and can be accessed via right clicking anywhere on the screen ]. the characters were all wonderfully designed and well suited to the feel and atmosphere of the story [ not being overdone like most futuristic character designs often were ]. not to mention there were brief animations [ courtesy of production i.g. ] thrown in for selected events, as well as some degree of limited animations being used in place of action-filled moments and scrooge's void extraction sequences [ the latter being further complemented with a portion of βios ].

the music and voice acting were [ hands down ] superb and fantastic, as the music were being entirely imported from the tv series with the only exceptions being the main opening theme and some vocalized insert songs that was specially written for the game. the voice acting on the other hand won our greatest praise, and nitroplus certainly did a really good job at casting in asumi kana, sakurai tomohiro and kobayashi yuu for each their respective characters - their performances were so damn fantastic [ most noteworthy was asumi kana's performance as carol = nyaruko + tachibana miya ww ] we're getting constant eargasming from each time we're playing the game.

[ more screenshots from phase 01 - phase 03 at our facebook page ]

character : Sena Kashiwazaki
series : Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
producer : Good Smile Company
official page : [ click ]

more niku goodness coming our way, and frankly speaking this is one of the most excellent scale kashiwazaki sena pvc we're seeing, which of course will certainly be going up onto our figure procurement list. also interesting to note was good smile company's official description of the character in subject - "...she has lovely blond hair, blue eyes and big breasts" - which was very, very bold and honest, so to write :D

overall, this 1/7 scale pvc sena looks absolutely stunning and fantastic according to the product shots we've had so far. her sculptwork was simply amazing and quite rich in details, due to the company's use of 3d printer since. the paint job as well looks similarly gorgeous itself, most remarkably for her elaborately patterned skirt, finely justifying the price set for her, indeed. to top it all, the expression she had on her face is definitely worth [ our wallets ] dying for x3

slated for release this december, this magnificent 1/7 scale pvc sena is currently open for pre-orders at the price of 6800 yen, inclusive of tax.