His very next project would be Twilight Syndrome, an adventure game centering around a trio of highschool girls: Yukari Hasegawa, Mika Kishi and Chisato Itsushima, investigating paranormal apparitions in their home town of Hinashiro.
Suda was not initially assigned to the project, but his predecessor (who to my knowledge remains anonymous) had a mental breakdown during development and Suda, who pitied him and the rest of the development team, decided to step in as director to prevent the game from being cancelled (in his words “I felt I had no choice but to wipe his ass”).
According to him, development had reached a breaking point by the time he was brought in. However, the game’s assets were already in place, so unlike his experience with the Firepro games (for which he had to be involved on every stage of development, from planning to data insertion) his role as “director” was better defined and it mostly involved managing the assets that were already in place and expanding on what was already done.
Due to its troubled development, the game ended up being split in two releases, Tansaku-hen (Search chapter) and Kyuumei-hen (Investigation chapter), both released in 1996. Because of this arrangement, Investigation ended up having more than half of its scenarios produced from scratch under Suda’s direction. What I’m getting at is that Investigation, compared to Search, is closer to Suda’s vision than that of the original director, which is why the more light-hearted, drama-like tone gradually dissipates into a darker game during its second half.
Suda was actually quite critical of the original scenario. In this E.goo interview from 2003, which I have been referencing liberally, he claims the game’s depictions of various societal ills, such as bullying or suicide, had clear-cut, easy answers, which he considered to be a childish attitude. Having worked as a funeral director, Suda felt that matters of death should be treated differently.
Obviously he’d be able to discuss it freely in 2003 since not only had he left the company by that point, it had already been dissolved. But I noticed that even in this interview from the Twilight Syndrome Official Guidebook, which would have been given while he was still a Human employee, both him and his producer espouse the credits of Investigation over Search.
The previous director, who was retired at that point, ended up playing Investigation and called it a kusoge (shit game). However, Suda was emboldened by the positive critical reception of the game into gaining more control over his next project. That project would be Moonlight Syndrome, released in October 1997.
Суда кста режиссёром-то был только в мунлайт синдроме, который стоял особняком от твайлайтов.
Зантересовавшиеся сабжом EOPы могут посмотреть лецплей с переводом:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvj3ZoFnWFZ12Nu9JCGoc_ws1OVw9clsG
На мунлайт синдром можно найти похожий.
Вот хз.
https://www.paradisehotel51.com/sin/moonlight-syndrome/
His very next project would be Twilight Syndrome, an adventure game centering around a trio of highschool girls: Yukari Hasegawa, Mika Kishi and Chisato Itsushima, investigating paranormal apparitions in their home town of Hinashiro.
Suda was not initially assigned to the project, but his predecessor (who to my knowledge remains anonymous) had a mental breakdown during development and Suda, who pitied him and the rest of the development team, decided to step in as director to prevent the game from being cancelled (in his words “I felt I had no choice but to wipe his ass”).
According to him, development had reached a breaking point by the time he was brought in. However, the game’s assets were already in place, so unlike his experience with the Firepro games (for which he had to be involved on every stage of development, from planning to data insertion) his role as “director” was better defined and it mostly involved managing the assets that were already in place and expanding on what was already done.
Due to its troubled development, the game ended up being split in two releases, Tansaku-hen (Search chapter) and Kyuumei-hen (Investigation chapter), both released in 1996. Because of this arrangement, Investigation ended up having more than half of its scenarios produced from scratch under Suda’s direction. What I’m getting at is that Investigation, compared to Search, is closer to Suda’s vision than that of the original director, which is why the more light-hearted, drama-like tone gradually dissipates into a darker game during its second half.
Suda was actually quite critical of the original scenario. In this E.goo interview from 2003, which I have been referencing liberally, he claims the game’s depictions of various societal ills, such as bullying or suicide, had clear-cut, easy answers, which he considered to be a childish attitude. Having worked as a funeral director, Suda felt that matters of death should be treated differently.
Obviously he’d be able to discuss it freely in 2003 since not only had he left the company by that point, it had already been dissolved. But I noticed that even in this interview from the Twilight Syndrome Official Guidebook, which would have been given while he was still a Human employee, both him and his producer espouse the credits of Investigation over Search.
The previous director, who was retired at that point, ended up playing Investigation and called it a kusoge (shit game). However, Suda was emboldened by the positive critical reception of the game into gaining more control over his next project. That project would be Moonlight Syndrome, released in October 1997.