ONE ~ To the Radiant Season

[big bad birtha]

If you have been paying any attention to my comments, you would realize that I was spending a great amount of my time playing this. Now, I personally believe that this is more than worthy of a topic. I will kind of copy Doppleganger's Ever17 topic in this, but it will be less refined since everything is coming from me right now.(that includes my attempt to put pictures in here.) I will also make it alot shorter.

...................

Incase you wouldn't of guessed, I love this. This is definitely the second best anime/visual novel/manga that I have had the chance to enjoy. Honestly, I wasn't really paying much attention to this title's translation status though, since I was paying more attention to Kanon and Clannad. The odd thing is that this had a translation status of 20% when I checked it, and a month later, it's finished =O. Also with this game's difficulty level, I felt a great sense of accomplishment with finishing each path. Now, useless jabbbering aside, here we go!

Now for some background history. This game was created by Tactics, a group who later formed to create Key. You can tell in the art and story that this is indeed related to Kanon, Air, and Clannad. It was produced by Nexton though. I don't know who the hell they are, but they were the ones responsible for the re-release of this game. This was initially released in 1998, but Nexton re-released a voiced version for Windows XP and 2000 in 2003 (the version I am playing). Then it was released for Vista. It also spawned an all-ages PS1 game.

The characters from this also re-appeared in a fighting game known as Eternal Fighter Zero. Actually, most of the things spouted about eternity, and even the main boss (well, until the Blue Sky edition of EFZ spawned.) came from this. Well, this is really all I know. I haven't done any real background searching, so this is really all the info I have. Now! Off to the actual game.

Story
The protagonist of this story is Orihara Kouhei. He is this mischievous boy, who is woken up every day by his childhood friend, Mizuka. He unwillingly attends school everyday and lives a boring, but still enjoyable life. Along the way, he meets five girls: a girl trying her hardest to become a lady, but fails every time, a girl waiting for something with all of her heart, a blind senior with a warm and strong personality, a mute first year who tries to convey her feelings, and a child trying to grow up. As peaceful life continues, Kouhei begins to feel uneasy about his own existence. Will he be able to enjoy everyday life like this forever, or has a silly childhood promise ruined it for him?

I am being really vague on the actual story because I am trying to keep from spitting out spoilers. Anyway, this is a great story. The plot revolves around Kouhei's everyday school life. You start in November 1st 1998, and it continues until December 24th. If you have made the right choices, then you continue into the new year, where you only make contact with the girl you have chosen, and you start to find out more about her, then you end up in a sex scene with her (I think two of the girls really shouldn't have one though.) After new year is where each story truly shines. All of the romances are done very very well. However, in every path lies the same base problem, so it might be a little repetitive. Also, everything is pretty much the same until New Year's, so there will be alot of listening to the same thing over and over again. There is one moment in each path that is truly touching. I don't think it has anything to do with the title, but it lets assume that's what the title means. Now, since I said that, off to the characters in order of when you meet them.




Nagamori Mizuka
She is the main heroine of this game. Well, I'll assume she is, since she is all over the start screen, box cover, and menu screens ^_^;. Anyway, she has been your childhood friend for years. She is also like your big sister in how she wakes you up every morning, is always watching you, and worries about you almost constantly. Mizuka is a very charming character. If you are eating lunch alone, she will come up to you and eat lunch with you. It's obvious that those two have been together for a long time, since she can read almost everything you do, so she instantly recognizes one of your jokes. Her path is definitely the most difficult to go through. The choices aren't tricky, but some of the choices are difficult to choose. She is also one of the two girls who are aware of Kouhei's problem. I personally think her story is the second best to the other girl with the knowledge of Kouhei's problem.




Nanase Rumi
Rumi is this girl who is trying her hardest to appear lady-like to her class-mates. However, she is very rough. The only ones who know of her rough exterior are Mizuka and Kouhei. Kouhei is always making fun of her rough exterior as well. One great quote from him to her is, "Are you going to be doing one of your all-night street fightings for Christmas night?" Rumi's path mostly consists of Kouhei bothering the hell out of her, from taking her lunch, to pulling her hair in class. However, you also try to make her win a popularity contest among the boys. One surprising thing about her path is how she acts after you become a couple. Also, her path is the most tricky out of all of them. Her path is LOADED with choices, and you have to go to the right one every time to get the good end. As for Rumi herself, I probably would dub her annoying if it wasn't for Kouhei. I never liked rough girls, so yea. The path itself is very touching. I would say it's the third best.




Satomura Akane
You first encounter standing on an open lot while it was raining. Actually, you run across her several times in that open lot while it is raining, but you don't find out why until later. Anyway, Akane is this quiet girl, who is really unfriendly. When you make contact with her, she greets you with "What do you want from me?" After you first meet her, you eat with her on the cold courtyard. Of course, she very slowly opens up to you as you spend more time with her against her will. Actually, she begins to ask if you are coming. However, there is a reason for her cold personality. I can already say that I think this is the best path in the game. Every moment she opens up to you is really touching.




Kawana Misaki
As you can tell by looking, she is blind. She also can eat alot, and has an extremely charming personality. She actually challenges you to a race to the school roof. Misaki lives right by the school, so your walks home with her are very short lived. As for her path, it revolves around you finding out more about why Misaki is blind and that she might not be as strong as she seems. I want to say more, but I will end up spoiling alot of her story, since you find about her pretty early. Oh, and her path is definitely the easiest. All of the choices you make are very straightforward. Her path is the only one I got a good ending on in the first try.




Kozuki Mio
Mio is a first year who can't talk. As a result, she always carries around a sketchbook so she can write what she wants to say. She is also very energetic and clumsy. Actually, you first meet her from her spilling hot noodles on you. She usually greets you by either pulling on your uniform or giving you a big hug. Mio is very sweet and adorable. Almost every conversation with her ends with me going "awwww X3". I also have a great respect for her. Look at her personality traits to figure out why. She's energetic, clumsy, afraid of dark and scary places and prone to giving you affectionate greetings. Her path revolves around you hanging out with her as she participates in club activities.




Shiina Mayu
Mayu is this girl who is pretty much a four year old (in mind not body). She can only say very short sentences or "Myuu". Mayu is also prone to crying if she doesn't get her way. Her path revolves around her trying to grow up and act her age. Compared to the other paths, this one feels really weak, since you don't share many moments with her. However, it is good nonetheless. The one moment I mentioned earlier is especially touching.


(No pic. available)

Orihara Kouhei
Dude, Kouhei is ****ing awesome! His jokes/pranks are awesome, and he handles dramatic situations with flare. His background story is also really good. Actually, he might even rival Yuuichi in awesomeness. I really don't have any problems with him except for the fact that he is a lusty bastard.

Alright. Off to the game mechanics.

Music
It's alright. The dramatic music, and the character music is pretty good, but some of it sounds like a giant train-wreck. However, I'm sure that's because of age. Well, only 5% of the music is actually bad. However, compared to Planetarian, Ever17, and Narcissus, this is pretty weak in that category.

Visuals
Blech! Age wasn't good to this. If you couldn't tell by the character pics. this isn't the best looking game out there. I wish Nexton gave a big graphical overhaul when re-releasing this because they aren't going to get many new fans with just a re-release. Most of the characters are hideous. The worst looking one is probably Suumi. I mean, just look at his freaking fore-head. However, they aren't so bad that they aren't enjoyable.

Overall
Well, if the visuals and the music were bad, then that must mean that the game truly shines in the story. Now, I prefer this to the other visual novels that I have played because this is pure romance as to where Planetarian is sci-fi, Ever17 is mostly mystery, and Narcissus is tragedy. Also, even though this is a h-game, the sex scenes are very brief. Mio and Mayu's feel really wrong, but they are easy to go through, since they conclude after a short amount of time. This is also very difficult. This is way more difficult than Ever17. I have only hit a good ending on my first try with Misaki. The choices are actually very vague that I hit the bad endings on as well. Here's an example. On Rumi's path, I hit the bad ending twice. Once was because I was about to follow her on the roof (vague) and the other was because I avoided the sex scene (I kind of understand that.) I recommend saving alot. Trust me, you will want to. Anyway, playing this was truly a joy, and I hope someone else here gets the chance to enjoy it, since this consists of some of the best romantic stories I have ever had the chance to encounter.

The only ones I really recommend this to is Doppleganger and Suigin, since they are the only ones who might even somewhat be willing to play this ^_^;

[Doppleganger]

Sounds interesting. Compared with the more refined Clannad and Kanon, does it still hold up as a classic? Also, how long is it compared with Ever17?

(read the whole review by the way)

[big bad birtha]

Well, I really can't say since I haven't played either of them (Kanon is still in the editing phase while Clannad's translation status is at 84%.) If you are referring to the anime compared to this though, then definitely. As I said, ONE is number two for me (of course, Kanon 2K6 is on top of it.) Actually, this pumped me up for the visual novels to be translated.

Now for the length. I would say that it's one a range from 50% to 100%. If I go after a path using all of the time I could, the it would probably take three days (that's without the skipping). If I'm not mistaken, it took just that long to finish most of the paths in Ever17 (again, without skipping). It was said that ONE is equal to a 1500 page novel.

[Doppleganger]

Three days for one path?

[big bad birtha]

Well, not three straight days. I mean three days where I play whenever I have the chance. That would probably equal about 5-8 hours. Also, I don't think I had a job or school when I played Ever17, so I had more time those three days to play it. However, I am pretty sure that it would take 3 hours of straight running thorough to finish each path (of course, I played it slowly to enjoy the flowers.) Then there's the obstacle of getting the good ending, which will kill about another hour or two (if you haven't saved like crazy, then you would have to start all over.) Rumi's path took an insane amount of time because I had a difficult time finding the choice I made wrong.

Anyway, I don't think there's that much difference in length between ONE and Ever17. I'm pretty sure that Ever17 is longer, but not too much longer.