Moon.

*Yawn* Hello again. So I've been quite busy talking to editors, emailing literary agents, and working out (broIlift) which are all great things in my book. I managed to complete Moon, and finished the first two routes of One in between all of that. Some other good news is; I should have my short horror story up on this blog at some point this week, and I plan on -finally- starting some character designs for my next project. I probably won't post any of the art here since I'm a terrible, terrible artist... I'll get there though. I can handle the Writing, coding, and music parts of a VN, but my art skills are still absolutely atrocious =(

That being said, Moon. Moon was the very first game that Jun Maeda had a hand in creating, and it is ridiculous how different it is from his main works. First off, this game came out in 1997, so it is quite dated, however, it actually does have a couple movie sequences, and a map that you're required to navigate. In that sense it's a much more 'active' visual novel as opposed to just text and pictures. The map that you have to navigate is fun at first, but then becomes quite monotonous after the first couple days. Theres one part in particular where you have to descend 20 floors, and it isn't a good time for anyone involved.

Moon is very much so a psychological thriller/horror, and is extremely graphic. Torture and rape are very prominent throughout the game. The story is as follows; the main character, Ikumi, finds out that the death of her mother had something to do with this organization named FARGO. FARGO is basically a religious cult that promises to give people an 'invisible strength' which is a form of telekinesis. Ikumi decides to enter the facility to try and uncover the mystery of her mother's death, unfortunately once you're in FARGO you're locked inside the facility and cannot leave. She meets a few friends, as well as, a mysterious boy who works for FARGO, but oddly helps her in the search to uncover the 'truth.' It's a very short time before she finds that the way FARGO teaches people how to use this 'invisible strength' is through mental and physical torture. It is explained that the only way you can obtain and be able to control such power is through severe mental and physical trauma. Throughout the game you relive certain events of Ikumi's past that she'd rather not recollect, and also watch friends of yours suffer in the worst possible ways.

In the end, I thought Moon was a great story. The map section still bugs me, if you're the kind of person that likes to get 100% CGs it's going to take much longer than needed solely because of the slow navigation. I do suggest using a guide to get the true ending, there's a good amount of decisions, and the correct answer isn't always the obvious one. Anyone who knows me knows that I love the dark, twisted stories, so this was right up my alley... and to my surprise, I had no idea it was going to be -nearly- as screwed up as it was.

And that's how I feel about Moon. I may or may not write about One when I finish it. It's a mediocre story, and pretty much just feels like an infant version of what Kanon would be afterwards. Something I'd like to do is do some kind of top 5 VN list and top 10 overall route list at some point soon. I think I'll do that. I'll also be starting Fate/Stay after I finish One.

Anyways, I'll try and update this way more often (2-3 times a week) so look forward to it. Any questions or comments about anything I talk about in any of my posts feel free to reply directly or you can email me at jgigola@gmail.com

~sweet dreams