AI: The Somnium Files

I learned Japanese by going into this game cold, looking up everything everyone said, and then adding each new kanji I saw into Ringotan which tests you on handwriting them from memory. I can now handwrite some 3000 kanji from memory, and comprehend an extremely high amount of Japanese. One of the best series for breaking into native Japanese media as a beginner, because it has voices on almost everything, a log you can replay all voiced lines from at any time, and a decent mix of dialogue and narration. Would I love it in English? Honestly, I don’t know. But as a learning tool, it’s absolutely perfect.

i love this type of JP game that features an, albeit corny, yet very satisfying, well-rounded happy ending this game scratches a very specific itch in my mildly OCD brain: to click every object in the background, exhaust every dialogue tree, sit through characters repeatedly deliver variations of the same jokes, conversations, and wordplay across heavily reused scenes. its strangely comforting, almost whimsical. the game intertwines tension and humour effectively, then the plot twist arrives, and suddenly everything retroactively makes sense. "it was all planned"- -at first, i assumed every character was insincere and dodgy. however as the branching paths unfold and case unravelled piece by piece, everything aligned, it feels great. i would never forget when I leaned back in chair watching in terror as Saito pulled out his eyeball with the emotional investment of someone checking their email. no hesitation, no whimper. very nice game. I enjoyed Aiba as the voice in Date's head, a charming, witty companion. that said, why does she resemble a shrimp?

A mix of great characters, writing, scifi and funny voice lines. That dance number at the end delivered what i was expecting.