EVER 17: Out of Infinity

FIRST UP - THE DISCLAIMER - ever17 is what is termed a "visual novel". This means that it is a story-driven game that revolves around the plot and story, and not fancy graphics, animation, cutscenes, or blowing people up. There is actually little to no animation in ever17, not even moving mouths. If you're expecting to watch an anime episode, you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting to run throgh tunnels and caves with a gun the size of Rhode Island blowing up things, you'll be disappointed. If you're expecting a compelling and engaging story with interesting characters, and don't fret over the thought of reading text and dialogue, you'll be astounded. :) Now on to the review!The translated visual novel market is a pretty small one in the English-speaking world. There aren't many out, and the ones that are released tend to be ero-games with adult content, which makes the games more niche than this niche market already is.Luckily, this niche market has one very incredible game now in the form of ever17. While ever17 has some issues, it is hands-down the best translated visual novel/bishoujo game available, and anyone interested in the genre should own it.For starters, ever17 is packed with very talented voice acting from the likes of Souchirou Hoshi (Takeshi, and the Kid), Kana Ueda (Sara), Yuu Asakawa (Tsugumi) and others. The voices really help make this game even better than the already-incredible story makes it, by adding emotion and humor into it and making it come alive. Similarly, the music in the game is very good, and adds great effect to various scenes, sounding lighthearted, creepy, and intense as needed. The opening song, "LeMU ~the faraway Lemuria~" is incredible when viewed with the opening animation, which is synchronized almost flawlessly with the music and sets the stage for the rest of the game.As far as visuals go (beyond the opening animation) - ever17 has some fantastic character designs, and each of the characters in the game has a variety of poses and facial expressions throughout the game - they keep the "change the face but use the same body for 90 poses but with different clothes" technique to a minimum, and the game benefits. Throughout, there are some minor lighting animation effects here or there, but nothing major. Additionally, this is a game that's a few years old, and so it doesn't have animated mouths or anything of the sort - characters tend to be static and different poses are swapped around to show movement.Hirameki, the group that translated and released ever17, has had some weirdisms in the past with translations and scripts (see my review of Hourglass of Summer for some of them :) ), but ever17 is largely translated well - there were a few spelling mistakes and oddly-phrased sentences, but by and large the translation is done much better than their past releases, for anyone who is worried about that. This is a great accomplishment when you consider that a lot of ever17's text is about science, physics, pseudoscience, and philosophical concepts that could be very difficult to translate properly and correctly. I only had one quibble, and that was regarding the translation of a date, which they translated directly as Japanese YY/MM/DD format. I, being a stupid gaijin of course, assumed it was DD/MM/YY format... and so I was pretty confused because of that, until later in the game where it's explained and a lightbulb in my head went on.ever17 contains a load of unlockable extras when you finish the game's endings - and there are a lot of endings! I believe 11 total endings altogether (perhaps 12, I forget) - including good and bad endings for each girl. With each ending, you get some wallpapers, screensavers, system sound sets that you can use for Windows sounds like shutting down, emptying the trash, etc... and the ability to jump to various points in time during a girl's path - so you can drop right into day 5 of Sara's path, if you want. All in all, this is the most extras/goodies I've gotten in a visual novel so far, way beyond the usual "CG sets and memory scenes" you get in most of these types of games.Now that all the "side reviews" are done, it's time to tackle the most important quality of a visual novel - the storyline. ever17 starts out innocently enough (as long as you ignore the opening animation, which shows glimpses of what will happen) - a group of young people, anywhere from around age 12 to 24, all happen to gather at an amusement park/underwater theme park - LeMU. Very quickly, though, events unfold that drive the story along, and soon, the player (you get to choose which of two characters to play, each with completely different storylines for 2 of the 5 companion girls) awakens in a LeMU that is largely deserted except for a handful of other stranded folk.With sections of the park collapsing from the underwater pressure, food in short supply, and electricity and power going on and off throughout, those stranded learn they only have 119 hours before the pressure from the surrounding ocean collapses the bulkhead and floods the entire park, drowning them all. Scenes shift between light-hearted and care-free to intense and thrilling as the main character interacts with the others he's trapped with, learning about their lives, their memories, and their beliefs, all the while becoming closer to them.Plots revolving around physics, time travel, and geometric perception are mixed with fairy tale imagery of Rip Van Winkle (in the localized version, at least), genetics and inheritance, deadly plagues, and just what it means to "exist", often leaving you wondering just what on earth is going on and what sort of philosophy the game is trying to get at.After you've gone through the 4 individual paths for Tsugumi and Sora, You and Sara, you'll probably have some suspicions and inklings about what's going on based on the hints and clues strewn throughout - and then when you play the game through the fifth time, your character can finally begin to piece it all together and you'll be heading through the final, and most amazing, storyline.All four of the seemingly disjoint and different stories are drawn together in an incredible and understandable way that left me speechless at how well it was written. The strange themes and ideas from each branch are explained and worked together into a cohesive story that all culminates in one of the most memorable endings of any game available.I truly can't say enough good things about ever17 - it was one of the longer visual novels I've played through, with high (actually, mandatory!) replay value to get all 4 of the "original girls'" endings so that you can play through Coco's path for the final and true ending. The overlap in each path is minimal for the most part, since each main character only deals with two of the girls (Takeshi can learn about Tsugumi or Sora, the Kid can come to know Sara or You), and so each path is very new and unique from the others you may have already played, keeping the game interesting and fresh throughout each play-through. And the fifth path, Coco's, walks through a unique amalgamation of the individual paths as your character begins to unlock the mysteries of the events at LeMU park on May 1, finally learning what has happened prior, what is happening now, and even what may still happen in the future.It can't be stressed enough, but if you enjoy visual novels, ever17 is an absolute MUST HAVE - and even if you don't, I think it would be worth the purchase if you enjoy sci-fi/existential thrillers.

With the development of anime and manga popularity here in America there is one thing that never made the transition, Visual Novels. These "games" are not your typical action first person shooters or even adventure games. They have limited control over what can be done by the user. It's closest comparison would be a choose your own adventure book. Quite a few have already been translated into english but are of the adult variety. This is one of the first in hopefully, a long line of non-adult visual novels and it's a real winner. If you don't like alot of reading, this probably isn't for you. But if you want a memorable story that you will probably be thinking about long after the credits roll at the end, then this is for you.The basic plot is a group of young people ranging from 13ish to about 20 are involved in an accident in a theme park floating ontop of the ocean. The characters are trapped in one of the underwater sections of the park and are left with minimal time left before the water outside implodes the part they are in. There are 4 main story paths and a 5th one you can only get after completing the other 4. The 5th one is what brings it all together to one of the most satisfying conclusions I've ever witnessed.There is a bunch of future technology in this visual novel that are actually well thought out. Unlike other stories where it's put there either to be cool or to help move the plot along, these devices actually make sense and could easily be feasible within the next 20-30 years.It's not just the technology that makes sense. The entire story is pretty tightly woven, unlike many which have more holes then a clump of swiss cheese.This truly is the cream of the crop as far as interactive video entertainment.

Seeing as others have already done a fine job of giving this masterpiece the accolade it deserves, I am merely writing this review in support of their claims. Ever 17 is without a doubt the most profound, heart wrenching work I have ever had the pleasure of reading/playing. It elicits both thought-provoking questions and scenarios, and also great emotion. This is an absolute must-play for both visual novel fans and neophytes to the VN world.

Visual novels are a popular style of game in Japan. Your point of view is as one of the characters and you follow through several screens of dialogue until you come to a decision point. Once you make the choice, you follow the path of the story as chosen by your decisions. There is no animation and the majority of what you see on screen is text and images.Thankfully, many titles are available with English subtitles and with English menus. Among those, Ever17 is the best I've ever played and it ranks among the best games I've ever played in all genres.Graphically, the images are beautiful and an enhancement to the story. The text is well done in English, with only a few of the inevitable translation errors. Unless you also speak Japanese, most of these will pass unnoticed.The heart of Ever17 is the story. You play as one of the two male characters in the story and how you interact with the five female characters and the other male character determines what happens. And what happens is amazing. The storylines are deep and engrossing. These are characters you will root for, cry with, and enjoy right from the beginning.If you're looking for a visual novel, pick this one. If you're tired of the same stile of games you're used to playing and have never tried a visual novel, this is a great entry point.