12 Yrs♥✓#
Saya no Uta
Silent Hill
The Cat Lady
Saya no Uta (lit. Song of Saya) is a Lovecraftian horror visual novel by Nitroplus with erotic content. The original plot is written by Gen Urobuchi. In 2009, an English fan translation patch was released. Later, in 2013, JAST USA released an English localization using an improved version of the fan translation.
Silent Hill
Silent Hill is a survival horror video game for the PlayStation published by Konami and developed by Team Silent, a Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo group. The first installment in the Silent Hill series, the game was released in North America in January 1999, and in Japan and Europe later that year. Silent Hill uses a third-person view, with real-time 3D environments. To mitigate limitations of the hardware, developers liberally used fog and darkness to muddle the graphics. Unlike earlier survival horror games that focused on protagonists with combat training, the player character of Silent Hill is an "everyman".
The Cat Lady
The protagonist is Susan Ashworth, a chronically depressed, middle-aged woman with no friends. Her only companions are stray cats, whom she summons to her flat by playing her piano. She is known in her neighborhood as the cat lady. One night, Susan decides to take her own life, but this leads her to explore a strange place in death where she encounters the Queen of Maggots, who makes her immortal and gives her the task of ridding the world of five psychopaths referred to as the "parasites". Susan then returns to the world of the living to wake up in a hospital bed and is soon forced to carry out her task. During this, she meets Mitzi, a cancer patient willing to be her new roommate. The game deals with mature themes such as depression, suicide, murder and cancer, but also provides moments of humor and hope.
12 Yrs♥F$✓#
Oh ho ho, Saya no Uta made it? Sweet, that's what I'll be (trying to) play this month. Always been on my VN bucketlist.
For those looking to pick up a copy, here's a link so you don't have to navigate the minefield of the JAST USA store: https://www.jastusa.com/catalog/product/view/id/354 Oh, and don't looks through the screencaps at work. Saya no Uta does have a few eroge scenes in it (only a few, if I remember correctly, are unfortunately shoe-horned in), so don't say I didn't warn you there.
For those looking to pick up a copy, here's a link so you don't have to navigate the minefield of the JAST USA store: https://www.jastusa.com/catalog/product/view/id/354 Oh, and don't looks through the screencaps at work. Saya no Uta does have a few eroge scenes in it (only a few, if I remember correctly, are unfortunately shoe-horned in), so don't say I didn't warn you there.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Yeah, I'm playing it in spite of the sex scenes (which I believe have the option to be censored and are supposed to be more unsettling than anything because of the context), not because of them. I'm mostly in it for Gen Urobuchi and all the reviews and comments I've seen about how disturbingly weird it is.
10 Yrs♥$✓#
uvehj
10 Yrs♥$✓#
I played this VN this past thrusday beacuse my spider-senses told me It was going to be chosen.
The game is simultaneously great and terrible, but not like Deadly Premonition. DP is so bad and quirky that its brilliant. This one is great at times and the worst thing I've read in my life other times. It has a great premise and outstanding music. the pacing is superb and it doesn't get stale.
On the other hand the sex scenes are bad and totally shoe-horned in there(except one of them that kinda makes sense and its not totally terrible) and sometimes its really cringey. The writing feels bad, no idea if its the writers faul or the translators, but I feel its both. there are only three endings and two choices, I'll recomend going for all of them: it doenst take much time. One of them was actually pretty good the one in which the world becomes a meaty hell, arguably making his game the prequel to Super Meat Boy Its actually pretty nice and the way it tells the reader via the doctor and Ougai's diary is interesting and far better written that the rest of it.
In the end I'd say, go for it. It has very big flaws and its outright terrible at times. But the story is interesting and at some points It actually feels unique and you can't stop reading. Plus its really short, you can get it down in a couple hours.
I'll try to play Silent Hill on my PSP this month, but I don't think I'll go for The Cat Lady.
The game is simultaneously great and terrible, but not like Deadly Premonition. DP is so bad and quirky that its brilliant. This one is great at times and the worst thing I've read in my life other times. It has a great premise and outstanding music. the pacing is superb and it doesn't get stale.
On the other hand the sex scenes are bad and totally shoe-horned in there(except one of them that kinda makes sense and its not totally terrible) and sometimes its really cringey. The writing feels bad, no idea if its the writers faul or the translators, but I feel its both. there are only three endings and two choices, I'll recomend going for all of them: it doenst take much time. One of them was actually pretty good the one in which the world becomes a meaty hell, arguably making his game the prequel to Super Meat Boy Its actually pretty nice and the way it tells the reader via the doctor and Ougai's diary is interesting and far better written that the rest of it.
In the end I'd say, go for it. It has very big flaws and its outright terrible at times. But the story is interesting and at some points It actually feels unique and you can't stop reading. Plus its really short, you can get it down in a couple hours.
I'll try to play Silent Hill on my PSP this month, but I don't think I'll go for The Cat Lady.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
I just went through one of the storylines, and I agree with a lot of that. Totally on board with the premise being great and the music mostly being pretty good. I would say that the pacing is too except for when a sex scene pops up out of nowhere, and then it's like the whole thing slams into a wall. If they contributed anything at all to the story I'd be perfectly fine with them, but for the most part they're just awful. At least there are only a couple, and they're quite short. It desperately needs a mod to remove them, in the same way To the Moon needs one to get rid of the puzzle sequences, because otherwise it delivers on the atmosphere pretty well at times, even if it doesn't really live up to the hype of "most fucked up game/story ever".
I might have more to say after finishing the other storylines, which shouldn't take too much time. Might go for The Cat Lady at some point too, because apparently I own that. Who knew?
10 Yrs♥✓#
TheOro44
10 Yrs♥✓#
Bible Black is the only VN I played so this will be interesting.
9 Yrs✓#
miked879
9 Yrs✓#
was gonna skip this month because i was hoping to play silent hill 2 first, and my backup was RE4, but since i can download and play silent hill on my Vita, i think it's gonna have to be the way to go. i just have no time to sit in front of a TV anymore.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Much to my surprise, it only took half an hour to finish everything else I hadn't seen the first time through. Didn't really change my opinion much. I did remember a couple things I thought of before though.
I thought the intro was really strong and set the tone very well, especially with the use of sound/music. It didn't quite manage to maintain that at all times, but I thought that was a great way to really bring people right into it (even if some other things took me right back out of it at times).
And I noticed how more than one of us commenting on the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sex scenes already. It's making me want to re-read Cthulhurotica, which combines sex/sexuality with Lovecraftian horror in a good way. And by "good" I don't mean "sexy" (it's more often "weird" or "unsettling", from what I remember). I mean the writing and ideas are generally good, and it manages to fuse aspects of both while still feeling fairly true to the Cthulhu Mythos, only as if it weren't written by someone asexual.
...so basically the exact opposite of how it's handled in Saya no Uta, where it's like, "We have to squeeze this in somewhere, because we gotta have some tits to sell our game." Heh.
I thought the intro was really strong and set the tone very well, especially with the use of sound/music. It didn't quite manage to maintain that at all times, but I thought that was a great way to really bring people right into it (even if some other things took me right back out of it at times).
And I noticed how more than one of us commenting on the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sex scenes already. It's making me want to re-read Cthulhurotica, which combines sex/sexuality with Lovecraftian horror in a good way. And by "good" I don't mean "sexy" (it's more often "weird" or "unsettling", from what I remember). I mean the writing and ideas are generally good, and it manages to fuse aspects of both while still feeling fairly true to the Cthulhu Mythos, only as if it weren't written by someone asexual.
...so basically the exact opposite of how it's handled in Saya no Uta, where it's like, "We have to squeeze this in somewhere, because we gotta have some tits to sell our game." Heh.
10 Yrs♥✓#
TheOro4410 Yrs♥✓#
Finished Saya no Uta. Was blown away by how GOOD it was. The soundtrack is godlike, the plot really interesting and the way everything was described was superb. Didn't mind the sex scenes, thought they were fine but the story is good as it is without them. It even made me question if I would stay with Saya and her human looks but with all the flesh and fucked up voices aswell or go back to the old life and forget the person that loves you more than anything.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
Finished up Saya last night, and wasn't particularly impressed. It was pretty neat from the outset, with the different perspectives on the world and excellent sound design, but yeah, the sex scenes kill it. Not only because so many of them seem unfitting, but I nearly shut the game off and instantly deleted it when I got to the kidnapping, enslavement, and rape stuff. Especially since the game still seemed to expect me to continue rooting for those characters. It was impossible for me to buy into the romance after that, and the constant changes in perspective padded out the length too much.
I'm happy for those of you that enjoyed it, but this isn't something I would recommend or return to any time.
I'm happy for those of you that enjoyed it, but this isn't something I would recommend or return to any time.
11 Yrs♥$✓#
Yeah, that was the low point of it for me too. I don't have a problem with things dealing with issues like that, but to say it wasn't handled very well would be a polite understatement.
12 Yrs♥F$✓#
I finished Saya no Uta about a week ago, such a weird experience, very creepy pasta. Most people summed up my thoughts well enough, but I did wanna mention something burningsoup said...
On the contrary, I don't think you're supposed to be rooting for them at all. The game makes it clear about halfway through that Fukimori lost all sense of his humanity, and Saya more or less was just being what she was. Of course, it's understandable for him to go insane considering what's happened, but rooting for them? Not at all, especially when, well... the things you mentioned happened. But rather than ruin what the story was telling, I feel that it re-enforced what's going on, as in the changes in his nature and how little, if any, of his humanity is left.
But yeah, it was interesting. Not my favorite VN by a long shot, but it was an interesting 4 hour experience or so (didn't track my time ._.)
Some jerk friend gifted me The Cat Lady, so I might try that out. Horror games freak me out, typically, and honestly I've heard this one's extra creepy, but I might suck it up since it's Halloween...
On the contrary, I don't think you're supposed to be rooting for them at all. The game makes it clear about halfway through that Fukimori lost all sense of his humanity, and Saya more or less was just being what she was. Of course, it's understandable for him to go insane considering what's happened, but rooting for them? Not at all, especially when, well... the things you mentioned happened. But rather than ruin what the story was telling, I feel that it re-enforced what's going on, as in the changes in his nature and how little, if any, of his humanity is left.
But yeah, it was interesting. Not my favorite VN by a long shot, but it was an interesting 4 hour experience or so (didn't track my time ._.)
Some jerk friend gifted me The Cat Lady, so I might try that out. Horror games freak me out, typically, and honestly I've heard this one's extra creepy, but I might suck it up since it's Halloween...
12 Yrs♥$✓#
Idk, your mileage may vary depending on the ending you get, but I was getting some pretty strong vibes that they wanted me to be sympathetic both in the ending where the doctor kills Saya and Fukinori feels completely lost, and then also in the ending where Saya transcends into some spore being and the game treats it as this really beautiful, sad moment.
Finished up The Cat Lady a few nights ago, and it was very different than what I expected. Oddly enough it didn't feel as much of a horror game as an interactive treatise on depression and mood disorders. Obviously there's scares and horrific imagery, but the content is skewed elsewhere. Not saying that's a bad thing, just my reaction to it. And while it treats mental illness in a fair and open light, it does occasionally drift into questionable territory where I wasn't exactly sure if it was trying to send a positive or negative message about people with mental disorders.
Aside from that, I enjoyed most of the puzzles that were there, even though towards the end they did spell them out a little too nicely to the point that I didn't feel like I was really coming up with the solution on my own. But the art and sound direction are the big draws of this game, and it always delivered creatively on those fronts. First chapter's a bit of a slog, but once it picks up it becomes a fun ride.
Finished up The Cat Lady a few nights ago, and it was very different than what I expected. Oddly enough it didn't feel as much of a horror game as an interactive treatise on depression and mood disorders. Obviously there's scares and horrific imagery, but the content is skewed elsewhere. Not saying that's a bad thing, just my reaction to it. And while it treats mental illness in a fair and open light, it does occasionally drift into questionable territory where I wasn't exactly sure if it was trying to send a positive or negative message about people with mental disorders.
Aside from that, I enjoyed most of the puzzles that were there, even though towards the end they did spell them out a little too nicely to the point that I didn't feel like I was really coming up with the solution on my own. But the art and sound direction are the big draws of this game, and it always delivered creatively on those fronts. First chapter's a bit of a slog, but once it picks up it becomes a fun ride.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
Finished "The Cat Lady" the other day, 8 hours flat to complete, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I agree with burningsoup in that it's not a traditional horror, in that there's nothing trying to outright scare you, there's little in the way of jump scares and the like, that said though it is a horrifying, haunting and wonderfully macabre game. Throughout the game I was constantly being reminded of David Firth's (Salad Fingers etc.) "A Black & White Cartoon about Roof Tiling", to the point where I would have been legitimately shocked had he not been involved or a direct influence on the game, and true enough he does appear in the credits of the game. If you enjoyed any of his works you will likely enjoy this because it's basically a game from any of that.
While I enjoyed the story and the characters it does feel at times confused and backwards. Susan is tasked with returning to life with the power of immortality to "hunt down five parasites", some hunter she was, as she proceeds to get murdered, kidnapped, assaulted in her own home etc. I mean for a story about a kind of redemption, saving yourself from the depths of despair and learning to live again by surviving the very worst humanity has to offer she was too readily the victim to things too quickly. I was expecting some more nuance to the parasites, the first one was really the only one to have any real character depth. It's kind of jarring since the other characters are much more developed and their motives etc. make it much easier to relate to their problems...for the most part, as an example, Susan's attempts to get released from hospital early sees her fuel a drug addicts desires, felt like a rather parasitic thing to do.
So yeah, it realises most of human aspects decently but sort of falters in making a game out of them, so the better parts of the game are typically just listening to and learning about the characters, uncovering their mysteries and experiencing the most macabre elements of humanity made manifest. The other thing I kind of didn't like was the "meta"narrative of it. Technically the entire story summarises depression to "as bad as you think things are, be happy you're not *insert horrific scenario here*", though maybe I'm being reductive. It's not very obvious because the story kind of follows the typical "heroic struggle against evil" with moments of pure anti-heroic catharsis in dealing out ultimate justice to pure monsters of people, especially considering the vile things she herself endures. Like I said though, I enjoyed it but it was far from perfect and I'm sure there's a few things I've forgotten or misinterpreted or whatever.
From a technical standpoint though the game isn't particulalry great. It's runs at a capped 40fps which makes it feel stuttery or something, and personally I didn't really like how it looked. I know it was kind of designed to look grimey and unnerving which is fine, but the sprites themselves, I had a hard time discerning the ages of characters for example, Susan looks like a really old woman most of the time, which I guess could be a visual representation of depressions affects on a person but with such low fidelity sprites it's difficult to say, so in short aesthetically I liked it, just not how it was executed. Overall it just felt like a very poorly made flash game, which probably isn't far from what it actually was. I mean it works, it sort of had I guess the intended effect, but I still think it could have been done better. I did like their use of colours in the game though, most games of this kind would resign themselves to a black, white and red only colour pallete but they don't limit themselves to that in this game which is great. Sound design, it's passable, low budget again to be expected and probably adds to the effect of the game. Also for a game controlled primarily with the 4 arrow keys it could get annoyingly finnicky at times, it's never a major issue, just one of those little things.
Anyways, I'm glad this thread gave me the excuse to play it because I never expected it to be what it was, and I'm glad it was what it was. I also learn that there's another game set in the same universe, "Downfall" which is / was getting a remake so I will look towards playing that sometime soon hopefully.
While I enjoyed the story and the characters it does feel at times confused and backwards. Susan is tasked with returning to life with the power of immortality to "hunt down five parasites", some hunter she was, as she proceeds to get murdered, kidnapped, assaulted in her own home etc. I mean for a story about a kind of redemption, saving yourself from the depths of despair and learning to live again by surviving the very worst humanity has to offer she was too readily the victim to things too quickly. I was expecting some more nuance to the parasites, the first one was really the only one to have any real character depth. It's kind of jarring since the other characters are much more developed and their motives etc. make it much easier to relate to their problems...for the most part, as an example, Susan's attempts to get released from hospital early sees her fuel a drug addicts desires, felt like a rather parasitic thing to do.
So yeah, it realises most of human aspects decently but sort of falters in making a game out of them, so the better parts of the game are typically just listening to and learning about the characters, uncovering their mysteries and experiencing the most macabre elements of humanity made manifest. The other thing I kind of didn't like was the "meta"narrative of it. Technically the entire story summarises depression to "as bad as you think things are, be happy you're not *insert horrific scenario here*", though maybe I'm being reductive. It's not very obvious because the story kind of follows the typical "heroic struggle against evil" with moments of pure anti-heroic catharsis in dealing out ultimate justice to pure monsters of people, especially considering the vile things she herself endures. Like I said though, I enjoyed it but it was far from perfect and I'm sure there's a few things I've forgotten or misinterpreted or whatever.
From a technical standpoint though the game isn't particulalry great. It's runs at a capped 40fps which makes it feel stuttery or something, and personally I didn't really like how it looked. I know it was kind of designed to look grimey and unnerving which is fine, but the sprites themselves, I had a hard time discerning the ages of characters for example, Susan looks like a really old woman most of the time, which I guess could be a visual representation of depressions affects on a person but with such low fidelity sprites it's difficult to say, so in short aesthetically I liked it, just not how it was executed. Overall it just felt like a very poorly made flash game, which probably isn't far from what it actually was. I mean it works, it sort of had I guess the intended effect, but I still think it could have been done better. I did like their use of colours in the game though, most games of this kind would resign themselves to a black, white and red only colour pallete but they don't limit themselves to that in this game which is great. Sound design, it's passable, low budget again to be expected and probably adds to the effect of the game. Also for a game controlled primarily with the 4 arrow keys it could get annoyingly finnicky at times, it's never a major issue, just one of those little things.
Anyways, I'm glad this thread gave me the excuse to play it because I never expected it to be what it was, and I'm glad it was what it was. I also learn that there's another game set in the same universe, "Downfall" which is / was getting a remake so I will look towards playing that sometime soon hopefully.
12 Yrs♥$✓#
I just wanted to add that I agree with some of Chronoja's points. The first parasite and last parasites were the only ones that really seemed to make much sense, whereas Susan just happened to be lucky enough (or unlucky enough, as the case may be) to come across the others. There was also the issue of Susan's neighbor which is never properly resolved.
I also had an issue with the four arrow keys controls. It does work most of the time, but it made getting in and out of the inventory frustrating at times, and I occasionally found myself advancing through dialogue because I thought they were done talking and tried to walk away.
I also had an issue with the four arrow keys controls. It does work most of the time, but it made getting in and out of the inventory frustrating at times, and I occasionally found myself advancing through dialogue because I thought they were done talking and tried to walk away.
There was something here, but now it's gone... Have a nice day