Let's Play Tokimeki Memorial - crosspost from SA forums

[Texaporte]

Chapter 19: Winter 1997/98, All Realities, All Dimensions are Open to Goon

Four months to go. Nothing left to do. Time to goof around and reap the rewards for 2.5 years of what was basically hard labor!

12/1-12/6: Concert Band
12/7 (Sunday): Midterms

12/8
Goon: (The first day's test subject is linguistics.)


Goon: (Perfect.)

12/9
Goon: (The second day's test subject is math.)


Goon: (Perfect.)

12/10
Goon: (The third day's test subject is science.)


Goon: (Perfect.)

12/11
Goon: (The fourth day's test subject is social studies.)


Goon: (Perfect.)

12/12
Goon: (The fifth day's test subject is art.)


Goon: (Perfect.)

12/13

1st - Fudou Gunpei, 494/500
10th - Fujisaki Shiori, 450/500
25th - Tatebayashi Miharu, 420/500
26th - Ijuuin Rei, 419/500
32nd - Himoo Yuina, 409/500
79th - Katagiri Ayako, 354/500
94th - Mikihara Megumi, 336/500
273rd - Saotome Yoshio, 190/500

Yes, I could've probably reloaded until it was 500/500. But I didn't need to be THAT perfect.

12/14 (Sunday): Call Shiori

Goon: Want to go to the skating rink with me on 12/28?
Shiori: Let me check... yes, that's fine.

12/15-12/20: Concert Band
12/21 (Sunday): Sleep
12/22: Exercise
12/23 (Holiday): Preen
12/24: Ijuuin Christmas Party

Goon: (They're holding a Christmas party at the Ijuuin house today. I should probably head to the grounds.)
Goon: Here I am at the Ijuuin house. No matter how many times I see it, this place still looks enormous to me.


Man in black: Would you happen to be a friend of Rei-sama?
Goon: I don't know if we're friends, but we're classmates.
Man in black: That's good enough. Please come inside.


Goon: Looks like the party's just starting.
Rei: Welcome, everyone, to the pride of the Ijuuin family - our Christmas party.
Rei: Forget your dreary everyday lives, and make merry tonight!
Goon: He's saying the same thing again.


Rei: I am amazed you made it in again this year. I suppose this means that you look reasonably good to some people...
Goon: You know, Ijuuin...
Rei: Yes, peasant? Do you have a question?
Goon: This is something I wonder about every year. What's actually in that cocktail glass, anyway?
Rei: Hahahahahaha! I shall enlighten you, ignorant peasant. Inside of this glass...
Goon: Inside of that glass...
Rei: Is something I will never tell you. But I will at least say that it is not alcohol.
Rei: After all, it would be bad for minors to drink!
Goon: Y, yeah, I know that. But what is it?
Rei: You can take that question with you to the grave. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Rei: And now if you will excuse me.
Goon: I bet it's just juice...


Shiori: Ah, Goon. You were invited too?
Goon: Shiori, I didn't know you were here.
Game: Talked to Shiori for a while.
Shiori: My friends are waiting for me, so I'm going to go meet back up with them.
Goon: Okay, see you later.


Megumi: Oh, Fudou-kun! You were invited here?
Goon: Mikihara-san, I didn't know you were here.
Game: Talked to Mikihara-san for a while.
Megumi: Um... sorry... I have to go...
Goon: Don't let me keep you. See you later.


Yumi: Fudou-san, you were invited?
Goon: Yumi-chan, I didn't know you were here.
Game: Talked to Yumi-chan for a while.
Yumi: Yumi came here with some classmates, so it's time to go.
Goon: Don't let me keep you. See you later.


Ack...! Th, this is... an Ijuuin Rei photo book! I have a headache...
Goon: (It would've been better to get a girl's present. ...I guess I'll go home.)

Was this the nightmare scenario? Yeah, probably. Am I gonna reset? Nope! It doesn't matter anymore! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA wait what's that sound

REE REE REE REE REE REE

Megumi: Uh, um...
Goon: Oh, Mikihara-san.
Megumi: Um, uh, if it's okay with you... can we walk home together?
Goon: Yes, that's fine. It is late, after all.
Megumi: Th, thank you.
Goon: Okay, let's get going.
Megumi: O, okay.

Yep. Still doesn't matter.


Megumi: ?!
Goon: Hmm? What's wrong, Mikihara-san?
Goon: (She's running off...)


Megumi: This kitten looks abandoned...
Goon: (She heard this kitten's cries...)
Megumi: Poor thing, shivering like this...
Goon: (Mikihara-san really loves animals, doesn't she.)
Cat: Meowwww
Megumi: It was cold, wasn't it? I'll take you home really soon.
Cat: Meowwww
Megumi: You're hungry, aren't you? Don't worry, I'll warm up some milk for you.
Goon: Mikihara-san, you should hurry and take him home.
Megumi: Y, yes, you're right.
Goon: (I accompanied Mikihara-san all the way home.)

Look, signs of personality from Megumi-san that aren't defined by hopeless devotion to Goon!

12/25-12/27: Exercise

12/28 (Sunday): Date with Shiori

Goon: (Today's my date with Shiori. I should go meet her in front of the skating rink.)


(usual pleasantries)


Shiori: Can you skate well?

Option 1: I can handle myself pretty well.
Option 2: Well, I can fake it.
Option 3: The surface of the ice seems treacherous...

Only one of these answers is Perfect, and therefore the only right choice.

Shiori: Good. There are a few things I'd like you to teach me.
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression!)


(usual pleasantries)

12/29-12/31: Sleep

1/1 (New Year's Day): Hatsumoude event


(ding dong!)
Goon: Who's there?
Deliveryman: Here're your New Year's cards!
Goon: (Sweet! Shiori, Katagiri-san, Himoo-san, Mikihara-san, and Yumi-chan sent New Year's cards. How lucky!)

(ding-dong!)
Goon: Hmm? Who could that be?


Shiori: Happy new year!
Goon: Happy new year. That furisode looks really good.
Shiori: Oh, thanks... hey, do you want to head out to Hatsumoude...?
Goon: Option 1: That sounds good, let's go.
Shiori: I'm so glad you didn't say no. Let's go!


Goon: Alright, let's go pay our respects.
Shiori: Yeah, we shouldn't waste any time.


Goon: what should I pray for?

Option 1: Success in academics
Option 2: Health
Option 3: Luck in love

As explained in Chapter 6, the best choice is almost always to ask for success in academics. But wait! It's year three! So it really doesn't matter! Awwwww yeah, time to wish for health. Because it's not like we need help from the likes of YOU, God.

God: (Your wish shall be granted.)
Goon: (Hmm? I feel better all over.)


Shiori: Hey, what did you pray for?
Goon: It's, uh, it's a secret. What about you, Shiori?
Shiori: Mine's a secret too. Because... hey, should we go pull our fortunes?

This year, I pulled...


Suekichi, or Good Fortune Ahead. That's right, there is. How did the piece of paper know?!

Goon: (Eh, I guess it's not bad.)
Shiori: Hey, how's it look?
Goon: Go ahead and see for yourself.
Shiori: Ooh, not bad. This might be the best result anyway.
Goon: What about yours, Shiori? Let me see!
Shiori: Well... okay, I don't mind.
Goon: Wow, you pulled Great Luck! No fair hogging all the luck.
Shiori: But, um, you know what they say, "moderation in all things".
Goon: You don't have to console me, I don't really care.
Goon: (I. Am. So. Jealous.)

Same ol', same ol'.


Shiori: We graduate this year, don't we?
Goon: Yeah, it really is soon.
Shiori: To tell the truth, I prayed for courage...
Goon: Courage? What for?
Shiori: Because on graduation day... no, forget I said that. We should head home already.
Goon: You're right. Let's head home.
Goon: (Now I'm really curious.)

Oh, you'll find out soon, Goon. Your day will come!

1/2-1/3: Sleep
1/3: Event!


Goon: The concert that everyone in the club worked so long to perfect went magnificently, and we took first place at the national orchestral competition.
Goon: These are the fruits of our 3 years of hard work.
Goon: With this, the path of a musician has opened to me.


Shiori: ...
Goon: Shiori, is something wrong?
Shiori: We... we really won.
Goon: Yeah, we sure did.
Shiori: It's so incredible... it's like a dream.
Goon: (I'm glad all our hard work paid off.)

Perfect.

1/4 (Sunday): Concert Band
1/5-1/10: Concert Band

'cuz why not?

1/11 (Sunday): Sleep
1/12-1/17: Concert Band
1/13: Message from Miharu

This is the only way Miharu interacts with you, other than by trying to throw her body into you like a linebacker. It's... I guess it's endearing in a "god, could you stop tackling me and stalking me" way

Goon: (Oh? There's a message on the machine. Let's hear it.)


Miharu: Hello, this is Tatebayashi.
Goon: Huh? Who's that?
Miharu: This Sunday, could you... oh, I'll call you again later.
Goon: What's with that call?

Yeah, seriously.

1/15 (Holiday): Study Lit
1/16-1/17: Concert Band
1/18 (Sunday): Exercise
1/19-1/24: Concert Band
1/19: Go home with Yuina



Sure! It doesn't matter much if this accelerates bomb timers anymore, we only have a 40-day window left and there haven't been any bomb warnings! We're CLEEEEEEARRRRR

1/25 (Sunday): Sleep
1/26-1/31: Concert Band

1/26: Walk home with Ayako



Doesn't hurt!

2/1: Say Goodbye to Memorial Spot, then Sleep


Goon: ......

The only thing listed, other than the notice that the magazine is going on hiatus, is a thank-you note for years of loyal readership.

2/2-2/7: Concert Band
2/7: Praised by Shiori for a perfect week
2/8 (Sunday): Sleep
2/9-2/10: Science
2/11 (Holiday): Preen
2/12-2/14: Science
2/12: Walk home with Yumi

I don't caaaaaaaaare


Yumi: It's so close to graduation.
Goon: Yeah.
Yumi: It'll get lonely at school...
Goon: It won't be like that at all. Your friends will still be there, won't they?
Yumi: Yeah, but...

I don't caaaaaaaaare

2/12: Bomb warning!

Okay maybe I do caaaaaare

2/14: Valentine's Day


Rei: Hello and good morning.
Goon: Every year, the same old bullshit, Ijuuin.
Rei: There is nothing to get that angry over.
Goon: I want to get angry. Every year...


Goon: ......
Rei: Well, try not to develop an inferiority complex, at least.
Rei: Hahahahahaha...
Goon: ......

I would miss you, Rei. Except I don't caaaaare


Ayako: Oh, Fudou-kun. Here, I got you something.
Goon: Chocolate? Th, thank you.
Ayako: It... it's giri chocolate. Giri. But a little bit of it isn't giri.
Goon: I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Ayako: Um, bye!
Goon: I wonder why she was acting so flustered...


Yumi: Oh, Fudou-san. Here, have some chocolate.
Goon: Thanks, Yumi-chan.
Yumi: You can accept any chocolates you get today, but please don't eat any other than this one, okay?
Goon: Huh? Uh, sure.
Yumi: Really? Cross your heart! Okay, bye!
Goon: (Did I just make a really dumb promise?)


Yuina: Ah, Gunpei-kun. I made these while I was running an experiment, so you can have them.
Goon: Hey, thanks.
Yuina: I think it should be fine, but if your extremities go numb, let me know immediately.
Goon: Why's that?
Yuina: I put a little bit of something special into this.
Goon: I'm glad for the thought, but...
Yuina: Now, if you will excuse me.
Goon: (What's in this stuff?)

REE REE REE REE REE REE

Megumi: Um, um, uh, here... please... accept this.
Goon: Gladly! Thanks. Mikihara-san?
Megumi: I'm so embarrassed...
(running footsteps)
Goon: Her face was all red, she must've been really embarrassed to do that.


Shiori: Hey, Goon. This might not look like much, but...
Goon: Th, thanks! I'm so happy you did this.
Shiori: I was so embarrassed that I couldn't give this to you at school...
Goon: Why not?
Shiori: Because... I put something special into this chocolate...
Goon: Wait, you mean...
Shiori: O, okay, see you later!
Goon: A lot of her feelings, eh...?

As a note, the highest affection ratings come last on Valentine's Day. So Megumi leaped into second place over Yuina in spite of us barely talking to her! This is why she's dangerous...

Goon: (I got a pretty good amount of chocolate this year. Seems like I'm pretty popular.)

2/15 (Sunday): Call Yoshio


It was Yuina's bomb all along! Well, it doesn't matter anymore anyway... as long as I don't do anything stupid for the next 14 days.

And, just for kicks

[fixed]Katagiri Ayako
Note: Tends to be sick on swimming days.[/fixed]

2/16-2/21: Concert Band
2/21: Praised by Shiori for a perfect week
2/22 (Sunday): Science, and Life-changing decisions


Goon: Tomorrow is the college entrance exams.

Option 1: Go take the college entrance exams
Option 2: Give up on college and take the employment exams
Option 3: Become a musician

The best option is to follow Shiori, but honestly, we could do anything at this point. But since the point of this run-through is to become the winner at life, it's time to take the true winner's path and make it into the top-flight universities on the first try!

Goon: Where should I test for?

Option 1: Take the test for a first-rate university
Option 2: Take the test for a second-rate university
Option 3: Take the test for a third-rate university

Perfection is the only option!

Goon: Alright, let's go take the test for a first-rate university!
Goon: Looks like I didn't forget anything, I'll head to the test center.
Goon: (It's time to put my all into this!)


This is structured exactly like midterms/finals, but is just a long series of stat checks. Get enough passing grades, and the result is...


Goon: (Perfect! That acceptance letter is mine!)
Goon: (Acceptance letters go out on 3/1, eh)

2/24-2/28: Concert Band
2/26: Say no to Yumi
Yumi threat level: Don'tcareanymore
2/26: Message from Miharu again


Miharu: Hi, it's Tatebayashi.
Goon: Hmm? Didn't I get a call like this before?
Miharu: Did you do all the homework for tomorrow? If you're done, can you let me know?
Goon: I haven't done it yet.

I... I just got back from my entrance exams and graduation is in days, what kind of homework are you even talking about you loopy-haired freak

2/27: Say no to Megumi
Megumi threat level: FREDOOOOOOOOOOO

Coming up next post: The Last Day of High School

[Texaporte]

我はクー
I am the coolest cool.
我は効
I am the utter victory.
我は神
I am the perfect god.
我は一吹きのラッパにて全ての「憎悪」を吹き飛び「爆弾」を処理する
With trumpet in hand shall I blow away the bombs of this world and cleanse them in the fires of reloading.

我が名は「グーン」。推して参る！
Chapter 20: I am Goon. The End Has Come!

3/1: THE LAST DAY!


Goon: The graduation ceremony's finally over. The principal's speech went on for way too long...


Goon: Huh? There's a letter for me in my desk. Who's it from?
Goon: Let's see, "I'm waiting for you under the legendary tree". There's no name signed anywhere.
Goon: I have to hurry.


I have to admit, because of the next part where it scrolls up, I thought for the briefest of moments that it'd be Megumi and the game was trolling the hell out of me.




Goon: Shi... Shiori?
Shiori: I'm sorry for calling you to a place like this.
Shiori: But there's something I have to tell you today, no matter what.
Goon: What do you have to tell me?
Shiori: I've never dated a boy before.

Translator's note: Just to clarify, going on a date with someone and dating them steadily are different, linguistically and culturally. She's been ON dates before, obviously - but never DATED dated. So it doesn't sound quite as silly in Japanese. I just didn't want to say "go steady with a boy" because that sounds incredibly 1950s.

Shiori: But it's not like I wasn't interested in boys.
Shiori: I wanted to date a boy... and I received a lot of love letters, too.
Shiori: But I didn't feel like dating any of them.
Goon: Wh, why not?
Shiori: You... because you were always right there next to me.
Shiori: Up until now, I always thought of you as just a childhood friend.
Shiori: No... I think that I just tried to believe that, because I was afraid you would realize my true feelings.
Shiori: But today... on graduation day, when we could never see each other again, I finally realized this feeling myself.
Shiori: I'm so embarrassed that I could just run away, but... I can't stand just being friends anymore.
Shiori: I want you to look at me as a girl. So I'm gathering up my courage and saying it:


Shiori: I love you.
Shiori: I love you more than anyone else in the world.


Goon: To tell you the truth...
Goon: Shiori, I...


Shiori: I, I don't get it... I should be so happy... but I can't stop these tears.
Shiori: I can... I can believe you, can't I?
Goon: Of course you can. I love you, Shiori.
Shiori: I'm so happy...
Shiori: Never leave my side again...


And that is how the curtain closed on my three years of high school.

When I think about it, it feels like all I did was go to band practice.

In any case, I'm really glad I graduated.

I made it into a first-rate university, so I guess there's nothing to say about that.

Oh yeah, Shiori made it into the same university. We're already talking about college life together.

Shiori is cute and attracts attention from just about everyone, so I'm a little bit worried, but we will always be able to walk our paths together.

Because, like the legend this school has passed down through the years, our love will last forever.

Only a few things left: One, if you'd like to see the full, high-res Shiori ending, there's an excellent video available here: [video type="youtube"]DgmxxLhc5Wc[/video]

Two, the credits are here: [video type="youtube"]c54vwP7ENdw[/video]

Three:



There will be a brief intermission before I start up the Yuina playthrough.

[Texaporte]

Yuina, Chapter 1: A Goon of a Different Color

Hello! It has been a while. I would like to introduce to you a new friend.


His name is Fudou Gundayu, which is a name I stole from a 20th century physicist named Aida Gundayu. Gundayu wrote such fascinating-sounding books as "The Tale of the Universe: From Fire to Atomic Energy" and "The Simple Universe: From Atoms to Man-Made Satellites". I figure it'd be a fitting tribute to our :science: run... and totally not just a coincidence stemming from my Googling of real names that include "goon".

This new Goon's goal in life is to explore other aspects of high school life, and as such, he will be joining the computer club! This will not only catch Yuina's attention early, but also neatly avoid most people who aren't Yuina or Saki. For reference, these are the stats that Yuina demands before she finds this new Goon to be worthy:

[fixed]Stamina: N/A | Lit: N/A | Science: 120+
Art: N/A | Sports: N/A | General Knowledge: 100+
Looks: 60+ | Guts: N/A | Stress: N/A[/fixed]

How easy is this compared to Shiori? Well, it took over two full years to build stats to Shiori's standards, and it attracted a ton of unwanted attention. Meanwhile, you can fulfill Yuina's stat requirements within 9 months of the beginning of the game, with no particular difficulty.

First order of business: Join the computer club.


Easy! The computer club builds Science, Guts, and General Knowledge (in that order), while eating way at Looks, Sports, and generating tons of Stress. It's just like being a real engineer! But weirdly, since the computer club is so good at building Guts (and because I spent some Sundays exercising), the first girl we meet is actually Saki. I swear that this was not planned!

I was planning to meet her after Yuina, she just beat my schedule by a week.

5/8: Meet Saki


Goon: Whew, it's finally recess...
Saki: Fudou-kun.


Goon: Y, yes, that's me. And you are...?
Saki: Oh! I'm the manager of the baseball club, Nijino Saki...
Goon: So, why're you talking to me...?
Saki: You have guts. Together, we can make it to Koushien!

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a high school baseball story. Sue me!

Goon: Sorry, but I'm not very interested in baseball.
Saki: Is that so... if you joined us, our team would be so much stronger...
Goon: Sorry. But I think you're really overestimating me.
Saki: Not at all! But... I can't force you.
Goon: Maybe if I feel like it, I'll go check it out?
Saki: Okay! I'll be waiting for you. See you then!

Dammit, Alternate Universe Goon... when a girl asks you to play high school baseball, manga says YOU SAY YES!


Yoshio: Whoa! Wasn't that Nijino Saki?
Goon: Seems like it.
Yoshio: What did the idol of the sports clubs want to talk to you about?
Goon: She was trying to invite me to join the club.
Yoshio: Hmmm? Whoops, class is about to start.

As a note, "sports club" is a blanket term for all high school sports, and it is the opposite of "literary club" which covers pretty much anything else.

5/14:

[fixed]Nijino Saki
Birthday: January 13th
Sign: Capricorn
Blood Type: A
Measurements: 81-59-82 (32-23-32)
Club: Baseball
Notes: The idol of the sports clubs. Her hobby is cooking.
She's the kind of person who likes watching sports more than playing them.[/fixed]

Some day, I will go back and Goon will be a baseball star so I can live my sports dreams through him. However, today is not that day, because the point of this run is to...

5/16: Meet Yuina


Goon: Hmm... what does ICE mean?


Yuina: It stands for "In-circuit Emulator." It's a device that lets you test your development targets in conditions very close to the real environment, in real time.

I cannot begin to tell you how hard this line was for me to translate. Goddammit, I should've just let her kidnap Goon for knowing too much about science.

Goon: Oh. Thanks, um....
Yuina: Himoo Yuina. You should at least learn the names of your fellow club members when you join.
Goon: S, sorry, Himoo-san...
Yuina: That is the kind of thing that keeps you from learning these rudimentary concepts.
Goon: (This counts as rudimentary?)
Yuina: You need to focus more on your studies. Now, I must excuse myself.
Goon: Sigh... what a stern woman.


If you want to read Yuina's profile, you can find it in Chapter 3. It's exactly the same. For now, we skip ahead to...

6/3:


By spending a lot of early-game time exercising, Goon has earned second place in the Scavenger Hunt Race! Unlike the last playthrough, the strong finish plus actually knowing three girls means that there's a folk dance after the sports festival in year one!

Goon: Okay, time for the folk dance. Let's do this right!


Yuina: You really like this kind of thing?

Goon: Alright, next is Nijino-san.


Saki: Oh! Lead on!

Goon: Alright, next is Shiori.


Shiori: Lead on.

Goon: The folk dance wasn't that bad.

7/7:


And now, we fast-forward to Yuina's birthday on 7/7... which is exactly the same event that it was in Chapter 3 of the Shiori playthrough. No whip this time - just the book on the theory of 6th generation computing.

7/15:


Thankfully, our focus on Science and only Science mean that it's easy to lie low and not draw Megumi's attention. However, it is recommended for Yuina playthroughs to be able to at least match her scores, so we'll need to tack a little over a hundred points onto Goon's test scores before it's all said and done.

8/14: Computer Club Summer Camp


I am including this screenshot because it's cute.

8/15:


Yuina: Have you compiled your program yet?
Goon: No, I can't think of a good algorithm.
Yuina: You should focus more on learning your math and physics.
Goon: Y, you think so?
Yuina: If you have no pride, why not try referencing another person's program?
Goon: Analyse another program... could you let me study yours, Himoo-san?
Yuina: If you can parse it, I do not mind. If you can parse it.
Goon: "If I can parse it"...?
Yuina: Well, try and do your best.

Welp.


I am including this screenshot because it's funny.

So as of 8/20/1995, Goon's stats are:

[fixed]Stamina 137 | Lit 45 | Science 104
Art 62 | Sports 98 | General Knowledge 60
Looks 74 | Guts 38 | Stress 1[/fixed]

Basically, he's about 5-6 weeks away from fulfilling all of the stat conditions we need. See how easy this is compared to Shiori?! It's ridiculous!

Next time: Attack of the Killer Koala

[Texaporte]

Yuina, Chapter 2: Enter the Archnemesis

This update is a little delayed due to the aforementioned Xsplit crash - I had to go back in time and replay just about 6 months worth of TokiMemo. So these events happen very slightly differently from how my current save game goes - I'll let you know the differences.

10/14: Culture Festival - computer club edition


Goon: Today's the culture festival.
Goon: The computer club is doing PC fortune telling in the exhibition room today. I should hurry and set up.


Yuina: Fortune-telling is such foolishness. Did you make this program?
Goon: Yeah, it predicts the compatibility of two people based on their blood types...
Yuina: I shall do a quick inspection of your work.
Goon: It's fine, you don't have to...
Yuina: Stop complaining and lend me your computer.
Goon: Yeah, yeah, please check out my program.
Yuina: I just enter the data here, yes?
Goon: Okay, so let's check my compatibility with you, Himoo-san.


[fixed] * PC NMS_9000 *
Himoo Yuina Blood Type: A
Fudou Gundayu Blood Type: O

* PC NMS_9000 *
Now calculating...

* PC NMS_9000 *
Your compatibility is good.[/fixed]


Yuina: How did the program arrive at this conclusion?
Goon: Because our compatibility is good?
Yuina: That cannot possibly be right. Could it be anything other than a bug?
Goon: I, I can't deny that, but...
Yuina: Is it fun to make something like this?
Goon: Well, yeah, to a point...
Yuina: It must be nice to be so easily amused. I am envious.
Goon: Is, is that so...
Goon: (That's how the culture festival ended)

Amusingly, the day after the culture festival, I set up a date with Yuina at the arcade. This wasn't exactly a mistake, but...

10/15: Date with Yuina


Yuina: This kind of thing is worthless.
Goon: Option 1: S, so, do you wanna just go home?
Yuina: Good idea. Being here is just a waste of time.
Goon: (Eh.)


Yuina: My research has been delayed, but oh well.
Goon: Th, thanks... I think.
Yuina: We should head home, Gundayu-kun.

Yep. Doesn't like video games or non-useful things to do with computers. Oh well! Speaking of which, we fast-forward to:

12/9: Praised? by Yuina for a perfect week


Yuina: You seem to be assembling a worthless little program. Well, do your best.
Goon: Th, thanks, I will.
Goon: (Next time, I'll definitely surprise Himoo-san...)

Coincidentally, the day after this was a date with Yuina too.

12/10: Date with Yuina


Goon: Looks like they're doing a big clearance sale today.
Yuina: A huge sale, you say? This is the perfect time to stock up on supplies! Don't just stand there, give me a hand.
Goon: Y, yes ma'am.
Goon: (You don't have to be in such a hurry, they won't sell out...)


Yuina: This, and this! Everything is so cheap. I have to buy it all up.

I recognize a spark plug, some circuit board components, and uhhhhhhh

Goon: (Himoo-san, you look really scary when you're shopping.)


Yuina: I seem to have picked up quite the haul.
Goon: Yeah. Should we head home?
Goon: (Because I'm tired...)
Yuina: Not yet. It looks like there are other stores like this holding clearance sales.
Goon: Whaaaat? We're still going?
Yuina: Quit your grumbling and come with me.
Goon: Yeah, yeah...
Goon: (I want to go home...)

12/3ish: The Saki Tangent

At this point, I just want to go on an aside and mention how utterly normal Saki is compared to pretty much everyone else in this game. She consistently made #1 or #2 in the popularity polls back in the day, and it's pretty much based on being a very normal girl who would be fun to hang out with if she existed. Let's take a little more of a look at this! The day will look funny, but again, it's because I had to reload to recapture the footage. Rest assured, this did actually happen in chronological order this run.


Saki: Hmm?
Goon: What's wrong?
Saki: Do you think that kid's lost?
Goon: Yeah, you might be right.
Saki: I'll go talk to him.
Goon: Nijino-san sure is good at taking care of people.


Saki: This boy is definitely lost.
Goon: What should we do? Should we take him to the security office?
Saki: We should do that.
Lost child: Wahhhh, no no no no, I don't wanna go anywhere!
Goon: (What's with this ungrateful little brat?)
Saki: This could be a problem.
Goon: For sure. What should we do now?
Saki: How about I stay here and try to calm him down, while you go to the security office for him?
Goon: I guess there's no better way. I'll be right back.

PA: A lost child has been found in the shopping center.
Goon: (Whew... well, they announced it. I should head back to Nijino-san.)


Goon: Hmm? Where'd that brat--I mean where'd that kid go?
Saki: Right after the announcement, his mom came here to get him.
Goon: Oh, good.
Saki: Yeah, I'm really glad. Thanks for your help.
Goon: No, it was nothing.
Goon: (No one can say no to you, Nijino-san)

12/23: Date with Saki/show people what the Somersault movie looks like


Goon: (Somersault is an action movie that lets people see their favorite characters from a video game on screen in live action.)

Before you ask, yes. You can believe your eyes, that is actually a bison wearing boxer shorts fighting against a flash kicking penguin with Guile hair. Best part is?


Saki: That was really fun!

Most of the girls like it. Saki and Yuina both especially like action movies. Even Street Fighter: The Movie.

And before I forget, here is another thing about Saki that makes her really super-normal: in one of my footage reloads I decided to go ahead and invite Saki to Hatsumoude at the shrine.


Saki: What did you wish for?
Goon: It's a secret. You?
Saki: I wished for the baseball club to win and go to Koushien.

Really, really normal. And then, in this recaptured footage run, I accidentally triggered the delinquent fight with Saki while trying to get footage of that previous event in the shopping center. I might as well show you Saki's battle sprite and animation!


She's a white mage!


Okay okay okay I'll stop


Okay okay okay end Saki tangent, back to the main Yuina run.

1/1: Hatsumoude with Yuina


Goon: Himoo-san, are you free right now?
Yuina: I suppose you could call it that.
Goon: Then do you want to go to Hatsumoude with me?
Yuina: Very well, I shall accompany you.
Goon: Want to meet in front of the shrine?
Yuina: That is acceptable. See you soon.

Goon: Himoo-san doesn't look like she's here yet.
Yuina: Looks like I kept you waiting.
Goon: Shall we go pay our respects?
Yuina: I don't believe in any god, but I will go through the motions for now.

Remember - the only thing worth wishing for in TokiMemo 1 is good grades... so yes, that's what I wished for this time around.


Yuina: You must have wished for something trivial, yes?
Goon: It's, uh, it's a secret. What about you, Himoo-san?
Yuina: I did not wish for anything.
Goon: O... oh. Hey, want to go pull our fortunes?

In this run, I pulled daikichi, the best luck that can be pulled from a fortune.

Goon: (Awesome, I feel like good things are going to happen this year.)
Goon: Hey, look, I pulled daikichi!
Yuina: Good for you. It must be nice to believe in such things.
Goon: Y, yeah...


Yuina: I wonder if there's a god you can pray to for good luck in conquest...?
Goon: Hmm? Did you say something?
Yuina: No. We should head home.
Goon: Y, yeah, you're right.

1/28: Back to reality(?)


Yuina: What do you think of the koala we just saw?
Option 1: It's pretty cute.
Option 2: Its eyes are scary.
Option 3: It's really ugly.

For 90% of the cast, the choice here is 1. But Yuina is, of course, the 10%.


Goon: Option 2: Its eyes are scary.
Yuina: You can see its true colors!

She... she seems so happy about this.

2/14: Valentine's Day!

Ah, a nice calm Valentine's Day! No need for perfection, no worries about crazy girls sneaking up on the affection rankings, just...


Shiori: Gundayu-kun, I'd like you to come meet me behind the school.
Goon: Yeah, that's fine.
Shiori: Thanks. Come soon, okay?
Goon: (If it was chocolate she could've just handed it to me here... why was she acting so shy?)

Wait... why is Shiori blushing? And why is she asking Goon to come meet her behind the school? Only two things happen there, confessions and fights...


Goon: Hey Shiori, I'm here!
Goon: (Meeting me in a place like this... could it be... something more than chocolate?)
Shiori: Hey, there's a girl I'd like to introduce you to. Wait here for a second.
Goon: (Sigh... Shiori didn't want to talk to me herself. But who could she want to introduce me to?)

What... is this strangely familiar feeling?

Megumi: But I'm so embarrassed... I don't want to go through with this.
Shiori: What are you talking about? This is your chance! You have to have some courage.
Goon: (I can almost hear them talking over there...)

And why... why do I hear strings?


REE REE REE REE REE REE

Megumi: Um...
Goon: Y, yes?
Megumi: M, my name is Mikihara Megumi. P, please accept this...
Goon: Th, thanks.
Goon: I'll gladly acc... huh? She just ran away.


Shiori: Sorry, that girl is really shy.
Shiori: Meg, wait up!
Goon: (Shy, eh? But she was cute.)


Yuina's chocolate-giving habits are unchanged from the previous game, since she's still only at friendly status.


Saki: Here's your chocolate. I made it myself.
Goon: Oh, thanks.
Goon: (But it looks like everyone else got the same thing. It's definitely giri chocolate...)

2/18:

Note that this is not an accurate reflection of my current game state - this was all to get extra footage, which is why Saki is higher than Yuina. But DAMMIT Megumi! Why are you already in first place?! We just met yooouuuuuu

3/10: Back to Yuina


Yuina: That dolphin show we just watched. That obedience was so great to see.
Option 1: Dolphins sure are smart.
Option 2: Aren't dolphin teeth scary-looking?
Option 3: Dolphins are mammals.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but for 90% of the cast, option 1 is the best. Yuina is not 90% of the cast.


Goon: Option 2: Aren't dolphin teeth scary-looking?
Yuina: You really are looking at the important things, aren't you?
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression!)

Welp.

3/14: White Day, Yuina edition

Goon: (Ooh, Himoo-san showed up at just the right time.)
Goon: Hey, Himoo-san.


Yuina: Gundayu-kun. Did you need something?
Goon: Here, take this. As thanks for Valentine's Day.
Yuina: That is an admirable attitude. I accept this gladly.
Goon: I'm glad you look so happy.
Yuina: I, I'm not happy at all. Excuse me...
Goon: (She seemed pretty panicked. But I'm glad I gave that to her.)

3/30: Goon's Birthday


(ding dong!)
Yuina: Ah, Gundayu-kun.
Goon: Hey, Himoo-san. What's up?
Yuina: Today is almost certainly your birthday. Here is your present.
Goon: Himoo-san, you got me a present?
Yuina: It's, it's just a little consideration for a future subordinate, is all.
Goon: (I'm such a lucky guy to get a present from Himoo-san!)

The game never tells you what Yuina gives you - you can leave it to your imagination!

4/4: Meet Yumi

Refer to Chapter 9 for the full version of this event.

4/7: Enter the Archenemy


Yuina: Whenever you go to the zoo, it always makes you want to do some experimental genetic engineering, doesn't it?
Goon: S, sure?
Goon: (I don't think that there's anyone who thinks that...)


Yuina: EEEEEK!
Goon: What's wrong, Himoo-san?!
Koala:


Goon: What was with that koala?
Yuina: It must be a new kind of biological weapon. I don't know who ordered the attack, but if it is war they want, it is war they will get.
Goon: Um, Himoo-san? What are you talking about?
Yuina: Everyone who gets in my way must be crushed. Ah, I'm all fired up!
Goon: ...
Goon: (She isn't listening to a word I say.)


I would like to point out that this counts as a good date. Himoo Yuina, ladies and gentlemen.

So ends year 1 and begins year 2 - the year of the alien attack, among other things! It's also the year of the Ayako Tangent, so next time: the fabled beach episode, featuring a hydrophobe!

[Texaporte]

Yuina, Chapter 3: One Crazy Summer

Let's see, where were we..


Oh, right. So, back here in Tales of Easy Mode, we've pretty much fulfilled every game requirement by the time one year has completed. We only have two or three Yuina events left to get, and so it should be easy!

Except for the part where I started getting bored.

4/22: Yumi happens to have a pair of tickets to the baseball game.

Pretty convenient, so sure, let's say yes.

4/28: Baseball game with Yumi

It's totally normal to take your 6-year-old daughter to the park, right?

5/10: Saki wants to walk home together.

There shouldn't be any harm to it.

5/16: Meet Ayako

This can't possibly backfire!

5/16: Might as well walk with Megumi


5/19: DEAR GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE

It's fine. This is fine. It's just... time to reload a little bit, that's all.

RELOAD COUNT: 1

5/12: A walk in the park with Saki

Saki: It'd feel really good to run down a path as picturesque as this, don't you think?
Goon: Option 3: Yeah, it does seem like it'd feel great.
Saki: Right? We should run it together some time!
Goon: (Looks like I made a great impression.)

I'm not going to report every single date, since many of these are repeats, but this one does show a different Saki outfit, so I'll allow it.

5/19:

Ahhhh, much better. Still need to watch out for Shiori, though. Being able to ignore her for 3 months is convenient, but I can't just go randomly saying yes to a ton of things anymore. It was a good wake-up call. Time to say no to, like, pretty much every walking-home event and date offer now.

5/21:

Sorry, Saki.

5/23:

You too, Yumi.

5/25: Praised by Yuina for a perfect week of engineering and saying no to other girls

Yuina: This is what you have for me? Well, keep it up.
Goon: Th, thanks.
Goon: (Next time, I'll wow her for sure.)

We've upgraded from dismissive disdain to begrudging respect. Gettin' there!

6/1: Sports festival: Don't Stand Out Edition
In order to keep all 6 girls at a manageable level of affection, it's time to do badly at sports!


All according to plan. And then, the post-race folk dance!


Yuina: Consider yourself one of the rare few to whom I grant the honor of being close enough to touch.

Uhhh, thanks Yuina. Importantly, her coming first in line is a very good sign. She's very far ahead in the affection rankings.


Shiori: Lead on.


Megumi: Uh, uh, um...

Sometimes, I wonder if Megumi is not stuttering at all, but in fact casting some kind of nightmarish spell on Goon. The thought keeps me awake at night.

6/2: Bomb prevention date with Shiori.

Nothing new here, let's move on.

6/6: Yumi invites Goon out on a date
Normally, this would not be notable enough to point out. However...


HOLY CRAP YUMI WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOUR HANDS

6/17: Saki invites Goon to watch pro wrestling with her
6/23: Pro Wrestling with Saki

You have to admire the kind of girl who wears a cherry-patterened sleeveless pink blouse to a wrestling match. That is all.

8/4: Beach date with Yuina

Mystery Girl: Sorry! Did I keep you waiting?

Goon: Huh?
Mystery Girl: Whoops... sorry, I thought you were someone else.
Goon: That's the same girl who keeps tackling me at school...

By pure RNG, we have achieved an event that many gamers in the '90s would have KILLED for. KILLED. Miharu's route is incredibly luck-based, where you may not meet her at all in a 3-year run-through. And sometimes, like this, she decides to horn in on someone else's date, as befits her stalker status. I... I really have no idea why she's popular, other than her Last Boss difficulty. Anyway, she runs off and leaves things to:


Yuina: I will go and change.


Something about this picture really disturbs me. The shadows on her arm make her seem really muscular, and it just doesn't look right overall. I'll... I'll get over it.

Yuina: I have something I want to investigate.
Goon: Option 1: Should I help?
Yuina: Probably. But that will not be necessary.
Goon: (Looks like I made a pretty good impression.)

8/12-8/17: Computer club summer camp


Yuina: I took a look at the software you gave me yesterday.
Goon: I'm not very confident in it, but what did you think?
Yuina: It is far below my standards.
Goon: What wasn't good about it?
Yuina: The part that stands out the most is its user unfriendliness.
Goon: I didn't think about the user at all... I'll start over.
Yuina: Well, do the best you can.

Harsh... but fair.

The Ayako Tangent

Ayako is another of the girls who really stood out from the cast back in the day - she hovered in the top half of the popularity polls, and was able to get her own side game because Miharu's voice actress was busy recording the lead role for True Love Stories, a game that was being made to capitalize on Tokimeki Memorial's success. Again, this game came before the reign of moe - Ayako's popularity was mostly based on her sense of humor and general quirkiness, not on her representation of a particularly well-known archetype. Although I could be wrong - maybe English-speaking artists with a love for H.R. Giger was a thing back in the '90s. I wouldn't judge.


This is Ayako's sprite for when she tags along for an art activity, which she did for a few days after Goon met her. She blows a little kiss on successful days.

Months later, it took me 4 tries to get her to go to the beach - she has a special event there in spite of her... aversions.

8/18: Ayako at the beach


Ayako: The weather's pretty brisk today.
Goon: Y, you think so? It feels really hot to me.
Ayako: Hontou? I don't think it's hot at all.
Goon: Hey, Katagiri-san, let's go for a swim.


Ayako: Um, I feel kinda cold, so I'll pass.
Goon: You say you're cold, but you're sweating. C'mon, let's go.
Ayako: Uh, no, I'm not sweating because it's hot.
Goon: Then why're you sweating?
Ayako: Th, this is a cold sweat.
Goon: Huh? Why cold sweat?
Ayako: I'm scared of the water. Please, don't make me.

Goon: If that's the case, you should've just said so.
Ayako: Well, it's pretty embarrassing to be afraid of water.
Goon: Not at all. Everyone has stuff they can't handle.
Ayako: Arigatou, thank you. But I do want to swim with you.
Goon: You don't have to be in hurry. Just get used to it little by little.
Ayako: Yeah, I'll try that.


Ayako: Today was really exhausting, but we should do this kind of thing again.

Ayako also has one event that comes with the school trip - you have to go to Okinawa, though, which has a high English-speaking population thanks to the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security - Okinawa houses almost 30,000 military personnel, plus support staff and family. If you invite her along with you...


Goon: ......
Ayako: What's wrong, Fudou-kun?
Goon: I think we're lost.
Ayako: Shinpai shinaide, there's someone right over there.
Goon: Huh? But Katagiri-san, that's a foreigner - oh, she's already talking to him.


Ayako: Sumimasen, but can I ask you a quick question?
Foreigner: "Yo, whaddaya want?"
Ayako: Onegai, do you know the way back to the hotel?
Foreigner: "Yo man, I have no idea what you're saying. What're you trying to say? You better go to the information booth, there's one of them if you turn right and keep straight. Get it?"
Ayako: Arigatou. It looks like if we turn right here, then head straight, we'll be fine.

Translator's note: The American is voiced in somewhat accented but decent English, and his lines are written in Japanese. Meanwhile, Ayako speaks in her usual singleton English words and phrases, mixed in with Japanese. It's just as confusing as it sounds.


Goon: That's amazing, you can talk to foreigners like that.
Ayako: I guess it is. I feel like we really connected there.
Goon: Well, let's head back.
Ayako: Yeah, let's go.
Goon: (We made it back to the hotel just fine. Great job, Katagiri-san.)

End Ayako Tangent

9/3: Walk home with Yuina


Yuina: The class trip is coming soon.
Goon: Oh yeah, huh? (I forgot where we're going, though.)
Yuina: It will cut severely into my experiment schedule.


9/9-9/14: Class Trip, Yuina edition



Pretty much all of this already happened in my Shiori run because it kept me from getting bored. So, please refer to Chapter 11: Fall 1996, Bear Territory Part 1 for the run-through. The main difference this time is that Yuina is in permanent blush mode.



Well, there is one more difference: since the Computer Club necessitates tons of rest if you don't want to stress out and get sick, Goon's stamina stat is truly disgusting in this run. So the alien fight also took 6 fewer minutes than last time, because attacking speeds up Yuina's build time.



The most important thing does not change: light years still measure distance, not time. Yuina gets corrected for the first time in the game.

Next time: Yuina cheats at games.

[Texaporte]

Yuina, Chapter 4: It's Only Cheating If You're Caught

So, remember earlier, when Yuina told Goon that video games are a waste of time? Well, her position hasn't changed, but she can still have a good time at the arcade...

9/23: Date event with Yuina


Goon: Let's go to the medal corner.

Reminder: The medal corner is an area of a Japanese arcade where all of the coin/ticket redemption games are. They have one in Rhythm Heaven Fever!


Goon: Himoo-san, I'm going to the bathroom. Be right back.
Yuina: Do what you want.

Goon: Ahhhh, much better.
Goon: Hmm? What's with that crowd?


Goon: Hi, Himoo-san, what's going on? How'd this huge pile of coins...
Yuina: I believe I have found my calling.
Goon: Um... can I ask you something?
Yuina: Go ahead and ask.
Goon: Did you hook something up to the machine?
Yuina: I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about.
Goon: I mean, I don't care, but...
Goon: (That suspicious-looking cord is pretty obvious...)
Yuina: Sigh... if only I could make ATMs pay out like this. I would never have to worry about research funds...
Goon: (...What is this girl thinking?)


Yuina: It sure is nice to take a break every once in a while.
Goon: Can I invite you out again some time?
Yuina: If my schedule frees up.

Himoo Yuina, ladies and gentlemen.

9/30: Ayako's birthday


At this time I'd like to point out how much thought that the designers put into making the bad gifts as mind-blowingly awful as possible. As an example, for Ayako's birthday in year 2, you can give her swimming goggles. And for Saki's birthday in year three, you can give her a 1/8th scale figure of herself. That doesn't even count the sea cucumber. As usual, the best option is the good-but-not-great option for girls other than Yuina, so in this case the right choice is perfume and not the HR Giger art collection.

10/6: Baseball event with Saki

Japanese baseball fandom is a weird thing to see coming from an American perspective. There's a fan section that dedicates itself to writing, performing, and singing songs for each player as he comes to bat ([video type="youtube"]Uzwc-cFig7Y[/video] for proof that I'm not making this up - I learned Tyrone Woods' song in 2008 when I went to a Chunichi Dragons game in Nagoya), baseball games have an innings limit so that everyone can get home before the trains stop running, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.


Saki: Alright, we've got something going now!
Goon: Nijino-san, you really like baseball, don't you?
Saki: I love it! I really wanted to see this game.
Goon: Oh? I'm glad.


Saki: C'mon, c'mon... base hit!
Goon: Nijino-san-
Saki: Do it, do it... Home run!
Goon: Nijino-san?
Saki: No, don't just give up halfway!
Goon: (She's way too into the game to hear me.)

Goon: (Hmm? Did she finally notice?)
Saki: Hey, you should cheer with us too!
Goon: O, okay...
Goon: (I give up.)

10/12: Culture festival year 2, Computer Club

Goon: Today's the culture festival.
Goon: The computer club is showing off a game today. I should go get ready.


Yuina: Games are such a waste of time. Did you make this one?
Goon: I did, but... I'm pretty nervous about it.
Yuina: Is that so? I can evaluate it for you, if you want.
Goon: Really? That'd be great.
Yuina: Very well. Start playing the game.
Goon: Huh? You're not going to play it yourself?
Yuina: Silence. Just play, already.
Goon: Yeah, yeah.

And the mini-game is...


Twinbee Time Attack! And yes, at this title screen, the Konami Code works. Hit up up down down left right left right X Circle, and you'll start the game with full power-ups.


Seeing this sure does bring me back... to the day when there was no option for rapid fire and you just had to slam on the fire button until your wrist snapped in half. Not all nostalgia is good, people!


Yuina: It may be a waste of time, but it is pretty good.
Goon: R, really? That's great coming from you, Himoo-san.
Yuina: Games truly are a pointless pastime...

In other works, Yuina would probably wink at the camera and play with the 4th wall a bit. But nope, she means it.

12/16: Saki event


Goon: It's lunch. If I don't hurry over to the cafeteria...
Saki: Gundayu-kun!
Goon: Oh, hey, Nijino-san.
Saki: You're heading to lunch, right? Did you bring your own?
Goon: No, I was thinking of going to the cafeteria.
Saki: Then I'm glad I caught you.
Goon: Huh? Why?
Saki: I, um, I made too much for myself.
Goon: (This seems like a wonderful situation.)
Saki: I don't know if you'll like it, but... could you eat some of it for me?
Goon: Yes, I'll eat it. This helps my budget out a lot, thanks!
Saki: Thanks... the weather's great today, so wanna eat outside?
Goon: I don't mind. Let's go to the courtyard.
Saki: Yay, let's go.

As a note, once Saki reaches the blushing state, instead of blinking, she starts winking. The effect is kind of cute for the first time, and then every time after that it just becomes a disconcerting facial tic.

[timg]http://lpix.org/1581844/Saki's facial tic.gif[/timg]


Saki: Here you go. I can't guarantee you'll like it, though...
Goon: Thanks!
(chomp) (chew) (gulp)
Saki: H, how is it?
Goon: It's... aw...
Saki: What's wrong? Are you okay?
Goon: Awesome!
Saki: Don't scare me like that! I was really worried for a second. So, what do you think?
Goon: Seriously, it's delicious. Your cooking is amazing.
Saki: I think you're exaggerating. But thanks, I'm glad. There's a lot, so eat as much as you want!
Goon: (I am such a lucky guy for getting to eat such delicious home cooking...)

For reference, she goes back to blinking like a normal person for this scene. Thankfully.


Eating Saki's lunch is worth +10 stamina, which is why she's an amazing support character for any run which involves the high-stress, stamina-intensive sports clubs. PS, I hadn't shown you Yuina's :science: sprite yet, so here it is.

12/21: Praised? by Yuina for a perfect week of :science:


Yuina: You've been looking less stupid lately.
Goon: Y, you think so? Thanks.
Goon: (Alright, I'm motivated now!)

Himoo Yuina, ladies and gentlemen. I'm not sure if this is :allears: or if this is :golfclap: :flame:

12/24: Dodge the Christmas party

On 12/23, Goon's Looks are at 92, which can be brought to 100 quite easily in order to meet the requirements for the Ijuuin Christmas party. But you know what? Screw it! It's safest to stay home and not risk getting Megumied out of nowhere.


Man in Black: I beg your pardon, but I cannot allow you inside wearing such clothing.
Goon: What? Is that so?
Man in Black: Indeed. My instructions are very clear.
Goon: (Damn. I guess I have to celebrate Christmas alone this year.)


Goon: Merry Christmas! I'm having so much fun.
Goon: Ugh, next year. Next year I'll have a merry Christmas for sure!

I didn't mention this last time, but spending Christmas alone actually raises your stats - it's worth +10 Guts and +10 Stress. It's pretty good for the RPG mini-game!

1/1: New Year's with Yuina

(ding-dong!)
Goon: Hmm? Who could that be?
Mailman: Here are your New Year's cards.
Goon: (Awesome! I got cards from Himoo-san, Nijino-san, and Mikihara-san.)

Megumi is in third place. WHY!? And... now you see why it's best to dodge the Christmas party in this run.


(ding-dong!)
Goon: Hmm? A visitor?
Goon: Coming!


Yuina: Happy new year.
Goon: Happy new year. To what do I owe the pleasure of this rare visit?
Yuina: Stop making a big deal out of it. Now, we're going to hatsumoude.
Goon: Option 1: Good idea, let's go.
Yuina: Obviously. Now, hurry up and get going.

Remember: Most people ask. Yuina decrees.


Goon: Shall we go pay our respects?
Yuina: I don't believe in any god, but I will go through the motions for now.

Stam is at 300 and affection is more trouble than it's worth, soooo it's definitely time to wish for grades again.


Yuina: You must have made a trivial little wish, yes?
Goon: I, it's a secret. What about you, Himoo-san?
Yuina: Mine is a secret too.
Goon: O... oh. Hey, want to go pull our fortunes?

Unlike pretty much every other girl, Yuina doesn't stutter when she says this one. She just says it as a statement of fact, not a way to cover up something embarrassing.


I pulled the worst fortune, purely for the next conversation.


Goon: (Man, such bad luck to start the year...)
Goon: This sucks, I got daikyou...
Yuina: Paying money just to feel bad about your fortune is for fools.
Goon: (Now I feel even worse...)


Yuina: This year looks like it will be a good one.
Goon: W, why's that?
Yuina: Because I have declared it so.

Himoo Yuina, ladies and gentlemen. :allears:

Next time: The home stretch. Himoo cheats at more games, and Goon learns his Limit Break!

[Texaporte]

Yuina, Chapter 5: Wizardry

We're in the home stretch! As usual, year 3 is about coasting along and not making anyone angry. I'm not bothering with covering it, but over the 8-ish months covered by this post, Goon had to defuse about 7 bombs.

4/4: New school year


Goon: Starting today, I'm a senior. Just a year until graduation...
Goon: In order to be Shiori's ideal man...
Goon: I have to keep working on my spirit.
Goon: Plus, I'm kind of a slob.
Goon: But, it looks like I can get along with Himoo-san just fine.
Goon: In any case, I have to work hard.


Goon: Oh yeah, I have guidance counseling today. I should go to the faculty room.
Goon: (What should I do after high school?)

Yuina plans to go straight to working at a first-rate company after high school, so let's see how Goon's looking at that requirement.


Goon: I want to go straight into the working world.
Goon: (I told my counselor about my plan for the future.)
Teacher: With your grades, you can make it into a third-rate company.
Goon: I see.

Wait, what?! At this point, I had to look up what it takes to get a job at a top company:

[fixed]Stamina: N/A | Lit 135 | Science 135
Art 135 | Sports N/A | General Knowledge 65
Looks 65 | Guts N/A | Stress N/A[/fixed]

Okay, so Goon is 20 Lit below hitting that requirement. We'll have to make sure to spend some weekends working on that step. Note that this is completely optional - Yuina herself won't care where Goon goes, it'll just be one line in the epilogue. But hey, we gotta amuse ourselves somehow! Speaking of which...

5/31: Rei stops by to mock Goon


Goon: (Sigh... nothing's going right this week.)
Rei: Peasants certainly do yearn to pursue pointless endeavors...
Goon: ......
Goon: (Ugh, I don't want to do anything anymore.)

I love the thought of this happening in a high school comedy - Goon has a bad week and a computer goes out on him, and as he's frustrated and trying to fix the problem, Rei casually walks into the room out of nowhere, mocks him, and walks off. Everybody just stares and wonders if he was waiting outside for the perfect time to come in and be an asshole...

6/8: Bowling with Yuina

This is one of the last couple of events with Yuina. Enjoy!


(usual pleasantries)


Goon: H...Himoo-san. What's with this score?
Yuina: Hehehe... what do you think it is? A genius is a genius no matter what she does!
Goon: Um, Himoo-san...
Yuina: What now?
Goon: You can only get this score if you get nothing but strikes.
Yuina: What are you getting at?
Goon: Have you even gotten a single strike so far?
Yuina: And yet, look at the scoreboard.
Goon: The machine must be broken. That's the only way...
Yuina: How rude. Computers cannot be wrong.


Goon: Whoa, there's smoke coming out of the machine.
Yuina: Is that so? Well, it appears to be time to go home.
Goon: Himoo-san, did you do something to...
Yuina: Time to go home!
Goon: ......

Himoo Yuina, ladies and gentlemen.

8/3: Fireworks with Yuina


Yuina: Not bad, are they?
Goon: They really are pretty.
Yuina: Soon, the day will come when they shoot these fireworks just for me.

Welp.

8/12: Computer Club Summer Camp, Year 3


Yuina: I looked over the software you gave me yesterday.
Goon: Pretty good for what it is, right?
Yuina: Not bad. A normal person would be quite satisfied with this.
Goon: Thanks. I think I'm going to write my own OS next.
Yuina: Do what you think you will enjoy.
Goon: If it's possible, I'd like you to help me ou...
Yuina: Sorry, but that would be a waste of my talents. You will need to do it alone. Good luck.

8/16: Animeeeeee

Goon: (It somehow feels like... there's power flowing through my body.)


Goon: (Whooooooooooooooa!)
Game: Mastered the Computer Club Ultimate Technique: "Cyber Fang".

9/7: Boss fight!

Pretty much all of this is the same as Chapter 18 of the Shiori run. Here are the differences:


1: Yuina is part of the fight now. She is one of the two best characters to have in combat, because she's a black mage and tosses attacks for 900-1500 damage. Goon, with 150 Sports, does about 800-1300. It's pretty awesome.


2: Cyber Fang is a lot niftier than The Pied Piper of Hamelin.


3: Yuina's victory animation is basically :words: incarnate

10/11: Culture festival: Mild War Crime Edition


Goon: Today's the culture festival.
Goon: The computer club is doing a hacking demonstration in the exhibition room today. I should hurry and set up.


Yuina: I have endured the unendurable and suffered the insufferable. Finally, this day has come.

Translator's note: Yuina is quoting Emperor Shouwa's (in?)famous Gyokuon Housou here. The full line is "However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable." I'm... I'm not sure what to make of it, actually.

Goon: Himoo-san, what're you so excited about?
Yuina: N, nothing... I am not excited at all.
Goon: Hey, about today's demonstration. We aren't actually going to attack a computer, are we?
Yuina: Wouldn't you like to know?
Goon: Aren't the programs on military satellites equipped with layers and layers of protection?
Yuina: Just watch. You will see.



For reference, the text in the top left says (Top Secret) Amazing! Hacking Demonstration.

Idol Angel Yokyun is a reference to Idol Tenshi Youkoso Youkoso Youko, and Idol Legend Elilin is a reference to Idol Densetsu Eriko. Both were anime with main characters based on actual Japanese pop idols of the '90s.

Next time: I'm so into you, but I'm way too smart for you

[Texaporte]

Yuina, Chapter 6: I'm so into you, but I'm way too smart for you

For those of you who didn't watch the stream of the (relatively uneventful) last 6 months of Tokimeki Memorial, here's a quick look at what you may have missed:


You got to see just how annoying it was to have 3 or 4 girls a week running up to Goon and asking him to go home with them, just to have Goon shoot them down every time.


Megumi tried to bomb 2 or 3 times.


It forced me to go on a date with Megumi, where all she did was look at monkeys. Yes, monkeys.


Then, chat told me to give Saki the 1/8th scale figure of herself for her birthday. She was... not exactly happy.

And now... we bid a fond farewell to Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You.

10/11: The last few lines of the culture festival


Yuina: Did you witness my genius at work?
Goon: Himoo-san... what the hell ARE you?
Yuina: Muhahaha... the world will be mine very soon.
Goon: (That's how the culture festival ended.

1/1: New Year's Day with Yuina

The only portion that changes here is:


Yuina: Graduation is this year.
Goon: Yeah, it's really coming up on us soon.
Yuina: This year, I will succeed. By any means necessary.
Goon: At what?
Yuina: For now, that is top secret. We are going home.

2/28: The Final Battle


Yuina: I have been waiting for you, Gundayu-kun.
Goon: Hi, Himoo-san? What's going on?
Yuina: You are in the way of the fulfillment of my ambitions.
Goon: I don't remember ever getting in your way, Himoo-san. And what do you mean by ambitions?
Yuina: To take over the world.
Goon: Ta...Take over the world? You're joking, right?
Yuina: All physical preparations have been made.
Yuina: But because of you, the emotional preparations are still incomplete.
Goon: Wh, why is this my fault?
Yuina: If I defeat you here, everything will be settled.
Yuina: Now, prepare yourself.
Goon: Wait a second, Himoo-san. There might be collateral damage if we fight here in the park. We should head to the beach.


Goon: Cut it out, Himoo-san!
Yuina: True World Domination Robo!!

The robot she summons starts the fight by hitting you with three attacks in sequence:


Obedient Drill Punch


Despotic Missile Shower


World Domination Mega Beam

Under normal RPG rules, this could potentially be really annoying. However, for some reason, only one of those attacks actually does damage. I guess this is what Yuina meant by emotional preparation!

The robot pretty much dies to any attack, so of course I used Cyber Fang to kill it. There is no kill like overkill!


Robo: Gkkkhhhhh...


Yuina: I... I lose. I have been utterly defeated.
Goon: Are you okay? Any injuries?
Yuina: My path is certain. And now, I must excuse myself.
Goon: Hi, Himoo-san...

"Himoo-san, could you build that robot again? It was REALLY COOL."

3/1: Graduation day!


Goon: The graduation ceremony's finally over. The principal's speech went on for way too long.


Goon: Huh? There's a letter for me in my desk. Who's it from?
Goon: Let's see, "I'm waiting for you under the legendary tree". There's no name signed anywhere.
Goon: I have to hurry.


When you compare this to how Shiori walked up in silhouette back in chapter 20, it's pretty nifty. The little shrug really adds a lot of character here.




Goon: Hi... Himoo-san...
Yuina: I was waiting for--
Yuina: I'm sorry for calling you out to a place like this
Goon: Is... Is something wrong? You're not your usual self, Himoo-san.
Yuina: It's... it's fine. I've decided that I'm going to change.
Goon: What? Change?
Yuina: Yes. I'm going to change.
Yuina: Up until now, I've been drunk on my own talent. I've looked down on other people.
Yuina: No matter how you look at it, I was an awful girl.
Yuina: I thought that all of the girls talking about love and romance were fools.
Yuina: But at some point, a new feeling started filling my heart.
Yuina: I quickly realized that I was in love with you.
Yuina: But I was a woman who sold her soul to a demon named Science.
Yuina: In order to suppress those giddy feelings, I lost myself in my research.
Yuina: But... as graduation approached, those feelings grew stronger and couldn't be contained anymore.
Yuina: So, I challenged you to a fight in order to completely reject that love.
Yuina: The result... I don't think I even have to say it, but...
Yuina: I lost everything to you.
Yuina: I can't stand the thought of you hating me.
Yuina: I'll give up my ambition to rule the world.
Yuina: Because my ambitions have changed... to being loved by you.
Goon: To tell you the truth...
Goon: Himoo-san, I...


Yuina: R... really?
Yuina: Then my ambitions have been fulfilled!
Yuina: I'm so happy...
Yuina: I think...
Yuina: Even if I'd taken over the world, I wouldn't have been this happy.
Goon: I'm happy too.
Yuina: I'll try my best to become a woman you can love even more.


And that is how the curtain closed on my three years of high school.

When I think about it, it feels like all I did was go to the computer club.

In any case, I'm really glad I graduated.

An elite company has already offered me a job, so I guess there's nothing more to say about that.

Oh yeah, Yuina is also going to work at the same company. We're both hoping we can work in the same department.

She's still conducting some suspicious research, but I feel like I will always walk by her side.

Because, like the legend this school has passed down through the years, our love will last forever.



There will be a brief intermission while I update this thread to be about Tokimeki Memorial 2!

[Texaporte]

With the last post, we bid a fond but probably not permanent farewell to Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You. Which, of course, means that it's now time for...

Let's Play: Tokimeki Memorial 2!



Tokimeki Memorial made Konami a ton of money. Character merchandise, spinoff games, sold-out concerts... Konami wasn't stupid. They knew that the formula worked, and they intended to outdo themselves with the sequel, which was released in November of 1999 - 5 months before the release of the PlayStation 2.

Table of Contents
Meet the Cast!

What's new in the second game?

The most obvious change is that Tokimeki Memorial 2 takes place in Hibikino, a city right next door to Tokimeki Memorial's Kirameki city. Hibikino is apparently the sister city of Eugene, Oregon, because holy crap that green and gold color scheme burns itself into the eyes.

The original Tokimeki Memorial for Super Famicom came in at around 3.2 MB. Tokimeki Memorial: Forever With You added a whole lot of voiced lines and graphics, and it weighed in at 480 MB. If you look, you can see where they had to cut corners in order to be able to squeeze all of that voice data onto a single CD - tons of repeated lines with very small variations, and only 5 unique events for each character. Tokimeki Memorial 2 blew it out of the water in terms of size, spanning 5 discs and weighing in at a whopping 2206 MB.

So, there's more of everything. More music. More voiced lines and unique events for each character. More mini-games. More character animation, both for the 2D sprites and for the super-deformed 3D character models. More places to go. More character interaction - as in, the characters can actually talk to each other and appear at the same time! More male characters - and all of them are actually, confirmably male... although there is that weird dream you can have about Takumi. And overall, a whole lot more personality!

There were a few significant quality of life changes, most notably with the bomb system. It's way easier to dodge bombs in Tokimemo 2 than it was in the first Tokimemo, and even if you do brain fart and let a bomb go off, there's a relationship chart that shows how much the girls like each other, which in turn affects how they're affected by bombs from other girls.

Tokimemo 2 also heaped on new features along with simple gameplay changes. I'll be going over these a lot, but the earliest features you bump into are EVS (Emotional Voice System) and the childhood portion of the game.

What's the Emotional Voice System?

It's Konami's predecessor to the Vocaloid system (note that the development of Vocaloid started in 2000, and was first released in 2004). For the EVS, all of the Tokimemo 2 voice actresses recorded every Japanese phoneme, and by patching together those files, the game can produce something that sounds like your name, instead of that awkward pause wherever $playername appeared in the script of the first Tokimemo. Certain names break in the Japanese-only sound system (I remember "Dom" sounding especially heinous), and it has some pretty severe restrictions due to hardware limitations. One girl's voice data devours pretty much an entire PlayStation memory card, and you can only have one EVS active per playthrough. In addition, only Hikari and Kasumi were available for EVS in the original game. To get EVS for any of the other girls, you had to use add-on discs that came with copies of the Tokimemo 2 magazine, the Hibikino Walker (affectionately known as the Hibikino Stalker for its in-depth coverage of all of the characters).

Overall, though, it's a pretty neat system. You can download extra EVS discs from the PlayStation Network, and yes, I will buy the EVS disc for whichever girl becomes the target of the first playthrough!

What's the childhood portion?

The childhood portion of the game represents 5 days in 1992 when the PC is 8 years old. It's meant to establish relationships between many of the characters, and provide more backstory than "This is Shiori, and you'll have to take my word for it that we've been friends forever, because she'll treat me like I don't exist for two years." It's full of Childhood Promises and other devices that you can find in pretty much every teen romance anime/manga ever, and it also makes Hikari seem kind of annoying, but it pays off later in the game.

Like many other gimmicks, it's neat the first time you see it, but becomes annoying on later playthroughs - thus why I'll only be doing it once, and doing it Perfectly.

Why are the Japanese so fixated on childhood friends, anyway?

It's not just the Japanese. What the Japanese call an osananajimi ("childhood friend") operates on many of the same levels as the "Girl Next Door" and "Girl Back Home" archetypes that have been a staple of fiction for centuries. It's an easy way to establish the kind of relationship between two characters that takes the entirety of When Harry Met Sally to build otherwise. Want to show that two characters have a strong familial/fraternal bond that hints at the potential for romance?

Step 1: Write the words "Remember that time when we...?"
Step 2: Make up something that the speaking character would remember X years later
Step 3: Profit!

On a less jaded level, the osananajimi archetype is a flexible tool that sings to different parts of the Japanese soul. In many cases, the osananajimi is the Sibling You Never Had But Is Okay To Marry, playing the role of a playmate and surrogate family member to legions of latchkey kids deprived of parental affection. Or, to the many Japanese who move from suburban and rural areas to work in the city, the osananajimi represents everything that is good back home, the Family and Tradition that have been left behind and replaced by the Office and the Corporate life. And in many teenage romances, the osananajimi is a desperately needed anchor/safety valve in the turbulence of adolescence, a person who knows who you were and accepts who you are becoming - and conveniently happens to be both pretty and very much in love with you. There are many more levels to it, but that's a topic for a completely different time (plus, The World God Only Knows has already done a ton of yelling about it).

Let's get into the cast, and the first character poll!

[Texaporte]

Meet the Cast!

Okay, enough about that. What about the characters?

I'm glad you asked! Here are brief profiles of each girl:


Kinoshita Hikari
Successor to: Fujisaki Shiori (kind of)
Club: Track and Field
Wants: Her childhood friend.
CV: Noda Junko (AKA Konno Mitsune in Love Hina, Xing Cai in Dynasty Warriors)


Minazuki Kotoko
Successor to: Kisaragi Mio (kind of)
Club: Tea Ceremony
Wants: You to notice Hikari.
CV: Kosuge Mami (AKA Bathyschape in Narue no Sekai, and not much else)


Kotobuki Miyuki
Successor to: Asahina Yuuko
Club: Tennis
Wants: To stop being so unlucky.
CV: Takano Naoko (AKA Megumi Reynard in Martian Successor Nadesico, Kohaku in Melty Blood)


Ichimonji Akane
Successor to: N/A
Club: None; Works as a waitress
Wants: The rest of her family to do some goddamn work
CV: Nomura Mayumi


Shirayuki Miho
Successor to: Katagiri Ayako (kind of)
Club: Drama
Wants: A prince on a white horse
CV: Tachibana Hikari (AKA Princess Zelda in pretty much everything, Ayame in Power Stone)


Akai Homura
Successor to: N/A
Club: Student Body President
Wants: To eat, sleep, and sometimes kick people.
CV: Kumai Motoko (AKA Li Syaoran in Card Captor Sakura, Yuna in Japanese-dubbed Lilo and Stitch)


Yae Kaori
Successor to: N/A
Club: Volleyball
Wants: To be left alone.
CV: Murai Kazusa (AKA Clover in Japanese-dubbed Totally Spies)


Sakura Kaedeko
Successor to: Nijino Saki
Club: Baseball
Wants: To stop being treated like a kid. Also, a baseball championship.
CV: Maeda Chiaki


Ijuuin Mei
Successor to: Ijuuin Rei and Himoo Yuina
Club: Computer
Wants: You to know that she owns you. Yes, you.
CV: Tamura Yukari (AKA just look at her goddamn Wiki page, you'll find something you recognize, she's been an A-lister for a decade and a half)


Asou Kasumi
Successor to: Fujisaki Shiori
Club: Concert band (instructor)
Wants: You to be nicer to Hikari
CV: Torii Misa (AKA the announcer/narrator for a ton of Japanese variety shows)

And you said the girls talk to each other?

Not only do they talk to each other, they have relationships with people who are not the main character, and their own stats which they build in the exact same way as the player - every week they'll pick an activity and do it. As their affection rating rises, they'll be more and more likely to pick the same activity that the player does... and if they know someone else has a high affection rating toward the player, their friendship will suffer, too.

Because I love fighting games, I made a matchup chart for you and put it on Google Drive:



Is anyone as Nintendo Hard as Shiori?

Yes. Her name is Kasumi. She's a teacher. I am disqualifying her from the poll because we already saw Utter Perfection, and going down the path of Utter Perfection a second time is a waste of how interesting Tokimemo 2's characters can be.

Is anyone as annoying as Megumi?

No. Thank God, no. The closest thing is Hikari, because she automatically leaps up to the highest affection level at a certain point in the game. But she's nowhere close to being as bad as Megumi. More forgiving game mechanics are part of it. Genuine likability is another part of it.

Will you show us the Forever Alone ending again?



Here you go.

When do we start?

As soon as the first character poll is done! Starting with Tokimemo 2, I'll be streaming semi-regularly, so keep an eye out on my channel at http://twitch.tv/vibratingsheep!

So without further ado, let's have the most important vote of what will probably be the first of two runs (maybe even three or four, depending on how angry I get at Tokimemo 3) through the game! We know what kind of kid that our Goon will be... but What kind of teenager will Goon2 become?


A: A sensitive, caring soul.

Vote for this option if: You want to see just how much more story Tokimemo 2 can offer with improved character interaction and more disc space.


B: An ideal sidekick.

Vote for this option if: You like Kaichou Kicks, or want to get revenge for the Tokimemo 1 vote so that :science: wins


C: A bad boy.

Vote for this option if: You're curious why Miho appears twice in this poll, or if you want to do nothing but bodybuild, sleep, and get into fights.


D: Doesn't matter, Hikari will like Goon2 anyway.

Vote for this option if: You want to have time to mess around and explore the game on easy mode.


E: A baseball player.

Vote for this option if: You want to play a ton of baseball, and you don't mind that Kaedeko moves away at the end of the first year.

In summary:
A: I'll be the hero you've been dreaming of
B: I will never leave you alone
C: I am the man who will fight for your honor
D: I will always love you
E: Baseball.

The poll will close on Tuesday night after I'm done streaming and capturing childhood, plus the first couple days of school!

Next time: Have you seen my childhood?