Hey, the longest it’s been without a blog post here ever! I think the space between these sporatic posts gets wider every time; I’ll write something, write something a day or two later, and then not do anything for about a month+.

Anyway, that aside, I finished Saya no Uta yesterday, and oh man, what a ride. From my (few) experiences with visual novels (and hell, even regular novels), it takes me FOREVER to finish them. Simply because once I stop to go do something else, i’ll get distracted and before I know it, i’ve forgotten all about the novel, and it’s 4 hours later. This was different.

I managed to play through the whole thing in two sittings, and it probably would have been one if I hadn’t started so late the first night. The storyline is just GRIPPING. Everything in the main character’s world is completely fucked up, and he’s completely helpless to change any of it. Because the stuff that’s fucked up isn’t even real; his perception on reality is completely distorted due to brain trauma, and it causes him to see everything in the world as a sort of hell-on-earth. Everything he see’s is made out of flesh and organs, smells of rot and filth and garbage, people look like gargantuan flesh beasts, and speak in a tone that’s just horrific to hear while playing the game, let alone having to live with something like that every day. The one thing he doesn’t see in this distorted way is a little girl who visits him in his hospital room nightly, calling herself ‘Saya’. I don’t want this to turn into a synopsis of the plot through, so we won’t get into that too far.

First, my personal favorite part of this game; the music. Oh man is it creepy. It sets the tone for every scene perfectly, and never quite lets you forget that everything that’s happening to this guy is utterly miserable. And that’s just for the ‘normal’ scenes. Any time something important or scary is about to happen, the music hits perfectly, and doesn’t so much seem like music as it does a literal atmosphere that the game immerses you in. It draws you in, gets you tense, and then scares the crap out of you. Not to the point where you’ll jump out of your seat and start screaming, but enough to get you on edge, and probably turn the light on if you were playing in the dark.

Another thing I liked about Saya no Uta was that it didn’t focus on choices a lot. Now, some people like choices, and having 37 different possible ends to the story, but honestly, I don’t see the appeal in having to read a book 37 times just for the last 20 pages to be different. Simple, direct, and with a few different endings to choose from seems to me like the best format, simply because you can actually enjoy the story, not worry about the other 16 possible ways it could have ended.

The artwork was impressive, and at some points was honestly just creepy to look at. I’m no art expert, so I don’t feel comfortable criticizing it on a level where I sound like I know what i’m talking about, but it was well done. Everything was gritty, dark, cold, and easily let’s you know that this story won’t have too many happy moments. H-scenes were done well, but usually only had 1-2 actual CG’s to them. I think vocals play more of a part than visuals in making the H-scene’s ‘better’ overall, but honestly, you most likely won’t care too much. If you’re playing this SOLELY for the porn and nothing else, there’s better alternatives out there.

One other thing I’d like to point out is that the whole story doesn’t play out from the perspective of the main character. You go back and forth between him and many other characters, and it honestly makes it a LOT better. Hell, most movies don’t follow one character around the entire time. It gives you insight into stuff the main character doesn’t know (or realize) yet, and makes for real “Oh wow…” type reactions. The first death in this wouldn’t be NEARLY as good if you didn’t see it from another point of view first, and that’s not the only point where it makes a difference.