Week 14: Starting June 30th
Home Thread!
This is being read as part of the Visual Novel Book Club.
Previous Part: Week 13
Next Part: Week 15 (starting July 7th)
Reading
This week we’re reading following the red keys on the flowchart. The organization is a bit different than previous weeks, so please see below for more information.
***Note: there is a missable scene; see “Further instructions” below for details!
Further instructions
Similar to last week following the white keys, this week we are following the red ones. The keys indicate scenes that need to be triggered in order for the white lock to be completed. Following this path involves going through door 5, then door 8, then door 6.
In order to unlock the red lock, certain flags must be triggered. This includes both making certain choices, and viewing certain new scenes as a result. Squares on the flowchart that don’t have red icons don’t need to be revisited to do this; simply going through the scenes with the relevant choices and dialogue will do. From the flowchart, you can go directly to dialogue sections, so there isn’t a need to replay puzzle rooms either.
Aside from which doors to enter, you are free to make whatever choices you like.
***Note: there is a new scene in the novel section following the 蒸気機関室 puzzle (the third scene of the door 6 branch) that isn’t marked by a key, so it’s possible to miss it if you just revisit the red key scenes. If you see サンタ sitting on the stairs holding a picture, you’re on the scene I’m talking about!
Note: it’s not always obvious when a section ends, so try to keep an eye on the flowchart when you think you’re getting close to the end. Below is a screenshot of how your flowchart should look and where the section ends. Screenshots are under a double spoiler so you can unblur one at a time (minimizing spoilers).
Screenshots (potential spoilers)
Current flowchart:
Stop here:
The end of this week’s assignment is an ending so you’ll circle back around to the beginning of the game after some information screens (and credits!) and saving.
General Advice
In the remastered version, novel sections have two reading modes: novel and adventure. The mode you are currently in is displayed in the top right; click on it to swap between the two. Novel mode includes both dialogue and narrative text, while adventure mode includes only dialogue. Which you read is up to you; novel mode generally gives you more information by nature of writing out descriptions of events, while adventure mode is less reading by nature of being only dialogue.
Note: the game will occasionally force you into the other mode. When this happens, you can simply click the button in the top right to swap back; however, if it forces you into novel mode, there may be a reason it does so, so proceed with caution!
Choices
The choices are under a double spoiler so you can unblur one choice at the time (minimizing spoilers). For those of you who would like to go through the game blind as to which choices matter, I am including baseline responses for all choices. However, for those of you who would like to make your own choices where it doesn’t affect story progression, whether a choice is critical or not is marked under a second spoiler below each choice.
Note: the appearance of some choices is triggered by previous choices, so if you pick different responses on ones that aren’t required for story progression don’t be concerned if you don’t see some of the choices listed below.
Choices
No required choices this week; see the “Further instructions” section above for more instructions, and please ask if you have any questions!
Guides if you want to check choices yourself (beware of spoilers!)
From what I can tell it seems like major spoilers and puzzle answers are hidden, but proceed with caution!
Puzzles
In case anyone has trouble with the puzzles or that just isn’t their thing, I’m including the relevant puzzle instructions. Of course you’re welcome to ask for help in the thread as well! If you are trying to figure it out I’d recommend asking for hints here first, as the guides are somewhat hit or miss with how much they reveal and how quickly.
Puzzle guides (beware of spoilers!)
No puzzles this week!
Discussion Rules
- Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter/part and any content in future chapters/parts.
- When asking for help, do your best to provide context. Pasted text, screenshots, descriptions, etc. Unlike book clubs we can’t flip to relevant pages, so we may need a little help identifying exactly what is being discussed.
- Feel totally at ease to ask questions or give your thoughts, any time! Clubs live and die by participation, and asking whatever question you have, no matter how silly it may seem, helps others who are reading it and even the answerer themselves.
- Have fun, and do your best to interpret anything said with as much good faith as possible
Participants
Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.
(Please feel free to update your status whenever you like!)
- I’m reading along
- I have finished this part
- I’m still reading but I haven’t reached this part yet
- I am not reading this VN
I think the next two weeks will hopefully be more manageable. Thank you all for bearing with me!