By Eu
Title: アムネシア
Company: Otomate
Release Date: August 18, 2011
Platform: PSP
Official Site: http://www.otomate.jp/amnesia/
Walkthrough: http://otomenotomo.tyonmage.com/kouryaku/amnesia.htmlSynopsis
One day, the heroine wakes up to a dimension-like space. A spirit shows up in front of her and introduces himself as Orion. After a series of events, Orion ends up in her head which causes her to have an amnesia. The only way to get him out of it is to have her memories back. Now that she is in this dimension, there are parallel worlds before her. She needs to choose a world and face the life that awaits her there.
Wow. I’ve finally finished this after months of stalling this game. ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ
The story of Amnesia starts right after you choose your world. Initially, there are only 4 worlds (Heart, Diamond, Clover, and Spade) corresponding to 4 guys. Once you finished the Good Ends of each guy, a new world will open. That world will be the Joker World (I don’t know what better way to put it u.u) also known as the secret guy’s route. If you have a save file from before you choose a world like me, that will be discarded when you do Joker. You have to start a new game so that the “ジョーカーの世界” option or something like that will come up.
There is no common route in this game so after choosing, you’ll wake up in your chosen world on August 1. The story progresses until the last days of August. So you’ll stick with the heroine for 1 month on a daily basis. Little by little, you will gain pieces of her memory as she interacts with other people and experiences various events that can trigger her memory. Since going around with her amnesia is dangerous, she is accompanied by Orion (well he is stuck in her head so no choice). Most of the time, Orion is the one giving snarky remarks as he serves as the adviser of the heroine. But more of that when I discuss the heroine. xD
The gameplay is pretty simple although they have the parameter bars. Those parameters are for Affection, Trust, and Suspicion (I might have gotten the names wrong u.u). Affection measures the heroine’s feelings for the guy she is going after. Next is the Trust bar which is about how well is their relationship going. While the last bar is whether the guy is suspicious of her having amnesia or not. Nevertheless, you wouldn’t need to worry about it if you follow a walkthrough like the one I provided. Without having problems with checking the stats every now and then, Amnesia will be your usual VN. ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ
The theme of Amnesia is heavy with mysteries. As you go through each day, you will have to uncover lots of secrets. Some are fluffy and happy, others are deep and dark. If you want to play this for the romance, sorry but you’ll have to look somewhere else. Sure there are some romantic scenes per route but it leans more on a tragic romance. Despite that, this is a good game. It may be like a rollercoaster ride with all the revelations which often throws me off-guard. Still, it will make you think until the end.
On the other hand, I feel kind of detach from the game. The reason I could think of is that because the heroine doesn’t talk. You can only see bits of her thoughts when she remembers something or near the end of the route. Another thing is that there are long monologues which often results in my mind wandering somewhere.
Characters
Heroine
The heroine, being an amnesic and all, doesn’t have a default name so I named her “Harumi” lol (though I’ll refer to her as heroine all throughout the post). She is a college student and works part-time at Meido no Hitsuji. She lives alone, away from her parents.
She doesn’t have much of a personality thanks to her amnesia. As in she has the dead-fish eyes throughout the game. Most of the time, I tend to forget that she is around because Orion do all the commenting, narrating, and everything. Since she doesn’t talk as well, it is hard to relate to her. I know that you have to put yourself in her shoes but it isn’t working. Believe me, I’ve tried so hard. She is pretty much your average doormat heroine. /o
Orion
The spirit that invades the heroine’s mind!~ o/
Just like what I wrote in the synopsis, he has stuck in your head thus your amnesia. Orion is your bubbly narrator. He gives his two-cent on things to help her decide. The guys are commenting that the heroine is constantly spacing out. This is because she is talking to him and of course, other people can’t see him. After you gain your memory, you won’t be able to see or hear him anymore. This is actually one of the hardest things that I have to deal with while playing this. I don’t want to part with him~ （ つ Д ｀）
Probably my favorite character other than the guys. (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ He is too adorable~. But the constant parting is just T______T.
Shin
He is the heroine’s childhood friend who is younger than her by a year. Together with Toma and the heroine, he works at Meido no Hitsuji too. Back on their childhood days, he is aloof because of a rumor regarding his father. Nonetheless, he became friends with those two.
Shin and the heroine started going out for three months before she had her amnesia. He seems cold and uncaring. However, deep inside he really cares about the heroine. Among all the guys, he knows that she lost her memory at the start of the game and helps her gain it back no matter what.
Shin is cute though he tends to say lots of “馬鹿”. He uses blunt and cruel words a lot. His voice puts me to sleep at first but it sort of grows on me lol. Honestly, I don’t remember anything much to his route (played this months ago orz) since I don’t feel the chemistry between them. And it doesn’t help that I don’t see him half of the route. Too bad since I like Shin. Yet the mystery is very high in this one. It reminds me of Ace Attorney. XD
On other routes, he is waaay colder and his age difference from the other characters is very evident. He is a kid deep down lol. It is also cute when he refers to Toma as Toma-nii sometimes. (๑¯◡¯๑)
Toma
Toma is also a childhood friend of the heroine and Shin. Being the oldest between the three of them, he acts as the brother figure to the younger two. He is reliable in more ways than one. He seems to be a carefree guy…but looks can be deceiving right? (´･ω･`). And just like his childhood friends, he works as a waiter in Meido to Shitsuji.
Okay. So one thing that I noticed in terms of his character design is his thinness. Doesn’t he look too thin? I know that they are thin but he is thinner. Not to mention his right arm that looks weird when he raises it. :<
Enough character design bashing. Toma loves the heroine a little too much…and it’s not a good thing. In his route, you will mostly see Toma and Ukyou. Toma + Ukyou = RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! lol Anyway, yea, I got tired after all I meet in his entire route is Toma alone and just a few glimpses of Ukyou and Shin. It feels like nothing is happening. Well, you couldn’t do anything when you are stuck in his room, right?
Then we’ll get into his infamous cage of love. Ugh. Whenever he looks at her in that cage, he is like admiring a piece of art. ;w; Which made me wonder, why can’t she just fight or oppose him? But any plan against Toma is futile since he is smart/sharp. Nothing can get past him, not even the slightest wound. ._.
His route feels longer even if it’s actually shorter than Shin’s. And what grates my nerves, even more, is just his entire route is a big MISUNDERSTANDING. OMG >_> Not to mention, that the prettiest CGs in the entire game is in his route. In his bad ends, to be exact.
If the heroine and he are only just as cute as they are in the good ending, I would have loved this route more. Normally, I would have loved protective, older brother figure but he’d gone overboard. ;w; He doesn’t seem to know what to do with her. Or should I say, he doesn’t have the balls to make up his mind?
Kent
The stoic guy who is friends with Ikki. He is the heroine’s math tutor. Kent is the type of guy who thinks through things naturally even when it comes to love. Ever since Kent and the heroine got together, they fight constantly. So when the heroine starts acting weird, thanks to her amnesia, he suspects that she is hiding something from him.
In this world, I presume that the heroine is not a childhood friend of Shin and Toma? Unless I missed it though. 😐
Anyway, I love Kent~! He is so adorable beyond words (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧. I kinda dislike his monotonous voice when at the start but like Shin, it grows on me xDD. Just when I thought that Kent loves her less among the guys that I’ve played so far, he does the most adorable and sweetest thing I have ever seen in this game so far. There’s this part where he grabs pats her head. It is so sudden that I nearly fall from my chair ( ´艸｀). Too cute! He isn’t showing his love for her just like the other guys, say Ikki, but you can tell that he loves her so much in a very Kent-way of loving. x3
I also loved his normal and good ending. I’m like, “d’awwwww Kent (〃∇〃)”. He may look boring but he does the simplest yet sweetest things. He does things in his own way but he still considers the heroine’s feelings too. Enough to even melt my heart. ♡♥(。´▽`。)♥♡ //shot
Ikki
Ikki is the resident playboy of the bunch and has an army of fangirls who followed him around. Any girl that looks directly into his eyes falls for him. Because of that, many girls lined up to him. So they take turns in becoming his girlfriend yet for 3 months only. However, the heroine doesn’t fall for his magical eyes. This got Ikki’s interest and they started going out with each other. Unfortunately, they have to face the wrath of the raging fangirls first.
Based on the reactions of my twitter friends who have finished Amnesia, most of them loved Ikki. So I am wondering what’s the deal with this guy. I just don’t geddit. He is a playboy and acts cold to heroine when he is surrounded by his fangirls. For the first time, I can relate to the heroine. I am as dead fish as her and clueless at that.
I have that kind of thinking from start until the middle of his route. Then there is this CG where he looks so sad and lonely. WHY? Why does he have to look like that? He got almost everything a guy could wish for. So why? I’ve realized that he isn’t really a playboy. He is just flirty to hide the pain he is feeling. Ikki may act cold and villain but he will NEVER do something that would hurt her. Doing something like that would cause him pain as well. ;w;
Kishou’s voice made me love Ikki more. Sure, his playful voice is hard to resist yet it’s his sad and hurtful voice that got the best of me. It surely breaks my heart whenever I hear him speak with that tone. It is unbearable to take his strained voice because you can actually hear the pain he feels. I just want to hug him and say that everything will be all right.
I’m like whatever with him when I started his route. Until now, I think Kent is still the best guy in this game but along the way, he sure made me fall for him. So now I like the two of them~! <(ゝω•)~☆ haha
Ukyou
Ukyou appears in the other routes as some random guy who talks to the heroine. On some occasion, he goes psychotic and stuff. On his own route, he is a photographer who often comes out suddenly. That doesn’t change the fact that he is a mysterious person who seems to know a lot about the heroine.
This guy is weird through and through. The more I get to know him, the more confuse I get. I have to wrap my mind in anything that is revealed in his route. Ukyou looks like someone who isn’t capable of doing anything. But I’m wrong. He does the most heroic things all in the name of love. He throws away everything including himself for the sake of the heroine. However, there is very little romance in his route because of all the revelations. But then again, it makes playing the game fulfilling enough.
Art
I must say that I love the overall character design. You can see that they are very detailed (excessively detailed like Kent’s belts and Rika’s over-the-top hat/outfit?? XD) and fashionable. While the characters have a gorgeous set of outfits, the background is just very simple. It isn’t sketchy-like; rather it has solid and definite lines. But it fades in comparison to the clothes. The cause is probably to make the outfits stood out more especially with those darker shadings than the background.
Music
I admit that I hate the bg music for normal days because it puts me to sleep at first. The other songs such as the rock-ish op and ed songs are lovely.
Overall
Honestly, I’m a little tired of this game since I’ve been playing this for months so at the last parts of the game, I was like “Hurry! Finish alreadyyyy!”. Amnesia is a decent game, but not good enough to be one of my favorites. Nevertheless, I love how the sense of mystery in the entire plot although the romance part is a little sacrificed. Sure there are annoying (an understatement, believe me) fangirls and some cages but I guess that is part of the “mystery” lol. So if mystery is your cup of tea, then try Amnesia.
Just heard from a friend on Twitter that there’ll be another Amnesia game and an anime. WHAT? Seriously another game? =.=
Here’s one problem when playing this game, I can’t find the diamond world option D: Is anybody else having this problem or does SOMEONE knows a solution to this? D:
It does not appear when you are choosing worlds? Have you tried a new game then skip through Orion’s dialogue until the part where you have to choose among the four worlds? It should be there. ^^;;
Where can I get the save file with the completed routes? I ordered the game and I’d rather go straight for the Joker route instead of playing through the other four.
I don’t really know the answer for this. ^^;; I don’t really save my save files of the games that I finished so I won’t be able to upload mine. Sorry. 🙁
Man…. I really wish I could play this but I can’t read Japanese fully or even have a PSP 🙁
Hey, I was wondering how do you show backlog in the game?
Hmm, I guess try moving the joystick. It works for most games. 🙂