As you can probably tell by the title of this blog, I'm going to be reviewing Root Letter (also stylised as √Letter) which was released on the 16th of June in Japan, the 28th of October in Europe and then on the 10th of November in North America.
I found out about this game purely by chance. It came up as a sponsored advertisement on my Facebook news feed and I was immediately attracted to the game because of the gorgeous artwork. I think it was around it's release in Japan I found out about it, so I had to wait a while for the release;; But it was definitely well worth the wait! It really is a unique and visually pleasing game that I would happily recommend to anyone! (⌒▽⌒)
So at the risk of making this opening too long, I'll get started~! ^^;
--SPOILER WARNING--
I really only put this at the start as a warning, but I actually feel this time there won't be any spoilers. The only thing that may be counted as a spoiler is that I'm going to name the endings, so if you don't want to know about them, just skip that part~! ^^
~ ~ ~
[ Root Letter (√Letter)
Developed for the PS4 and PS Vita game systems ]
Plot Outline~
Set in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.
The protagonist decides to visit Shimane upon finding a letter from his old pen pal, Aya Fumino, who he was corresponding with while they were both in their last year of High School. The letter he found had no post mark and said that she had "killed someone" and that she must atone for her sins. After that, the protagonist never heard from her again. In the hope that he would have eventually met her some day anyway, he journeys to Shimane to find out the truth behind her letter and to also find out if everything Aya had ever told him was a lie.
During his time in Shimane, he meets various people who were all Aya's classmates in High School each one as reluctant as the next to speak about her. They all have their own reasons for not wanting the player to find out the truth and avoid the topic of Aya at all costs.
..though he cracks them all eventually >:D
Gameplay/style and specifics of the game~
Root Letter is a Visual Novel which, if you don't know what that means, is a game mostly based on reading through the dialogue with very little action on your part.
As for the genre, it's mostly an Adventure/Suspense/Mystery game. Since you're trying to discover what happened to Aya and the truth behind her last letter...it really is like you're playing detective or something :,)
What makes Root Letter slightly more unique than most other Visual Novels is that it includes two new forms of gameplay. These are;
The Adventure Part;
This is where you will enter the Investigation Mode and interrogate Aya's old classmates in order to get information out of them about her and also what kind of relationship said person had with Aya.
The Simulation Part;
This is where the player relives his past interactions with Aya through the letters they sent to each other. You'll see the letters Aya sent and then the player will reply and you'll choose a response to the questions Aya asks at the very end of her letters.
Each choice leads to a different ending and as far as I can tell, there is no specific order in which to view each ending as they're quite separate from each other.
You will progress through the game by visiting different places and talking to different people and there are quite a few ways in which the game offers you to move onward with the story.
Move;
This is how you move to different areas of the location you're currently in or you can bring up the Overall Map and move to a completely new location entirely.
As you can see, there are a number of different places to visit and you just use the directional keys to scroll until you find the place you want to go to. After a certain point in the game, you can travel to Izumo City by pressing the { L } key, but there is only one location for you to visit over there and... It's an odd place, I can tell you that much right now :,)
Ask;
This is the option you use if you want to get more information on certain things from the people you're interacting with. Some people are more helpful than others :,)
Check;
You'll enter this mode when you need to explore your current surroundings in order to find items and/or clues.
You use the directional keys to move the magnifying glass around and it'll turn red (like in the picture above) when you've passed over something you can investigate further.
Inventory;
This is how you view any items you've found or acquired throughout the game and use them if necessary.
Think;
If you're ever stuck and don't know what to do, use this option and the protagonist will hint at something for you to do or somewhere for you to go. This option is also used as a way for new questions to appear when you're talking to someone or if maybe you need to double check something in your surroundings again.
Guidebook;
You use this to get more information on the location you're currently in or if you need to visit a place you haven't been to yet, you'll use your guidebook to find out where it is and then it'll appear as an option to go to on the Overall Map.
Smartphone;
There are quite a number of things you can do with this option...even though nothing you do here affects the flow of the game unless someone calls or sends you a message. Even then, you don't have to do anything as it gets done automatically by the protagonist :,)
You can view what Items you've collected from every gameplay, Save your game, Load your game, adjust the in-game Options and once you've completed one play through, you'll be given the option to Skip the main chapters all the way up to Chapter 8 which can never be skipped.
[ RANDOM TIP WITH SERAH ]
Make sure that you reply to the letters before you skip the chapters! The game doesn't have the ability to remember past replies, so you're response to Aya's question will be left blank. I do recommend using this option, though. I did after the first gameplay and it does help speed it along and you really don't miss anything since you can pretty much remember everything you did in all those chapters, anyway :,)
With the smartphone, you can also view what endings you've currently achieved along the bottom.
SIDE NOTE! How cute is SHIMANEKKO?! ;ω; He's the mascot character of Shimane and.. Uwaa~ He's just way too adorable~! ♥
Characters~
As always, this is my favourite part of the reviews I do! *ω* I just... LOVE talking about the characters! ^O^
Name; Aya Fumino
Age; > <
Occupation; ...
Seiyuu; Noriko Hidaka (though a "fictional actress" was created for her called AYA)
She's freaking cute, I'll give her that much! ♡
Aya Fumino was born in Tokyo and is the protagonists pen pal from 15 years ago when they were in High School. She come across as a very kind and compassionate girl but as you begin to investigate her disappearance and the events that happened, the player will begin to question everything he thought he knew about her.
Name; Yukari Ishihara
Age; I'm not sure... I think in her 30's?
Occupation; Curator of the Shimane Art Museum
Seiyuu; Kikuko Inoue (but I THINK a "fictional actress" was created for her too called YUKARI)
Yukari is one of the more nicer people in the game :,) She is much more tolerant of the player and while she does hide things like everyone else, she isn't mean and annoying about it ^^;
While Yukari was growing up, she lived in the shadow of her older sister who went to a prestigious university. As a result of this, Yukari ended developing a bit of an inferiority complex. But now she's older and has a successful career, she's much more optimistic now.
Out of everyone in the game...I think she was my favourite character-- Or maybe one of my top favourites since I have another one I really like :,) I think it was because after investigating everyone else and because of how annoying they all were, it was nice to find someone who wasn't bratty like the rest of Aya's classmates :,) She had a more grown-up feel to her and I found that quite refreshing and ended up liking her a lot because of it ^ω^
Name; Jun Omori
Age; I'm guessing again he's in his 30's ^^;
Occupation; Owner of Patisserie Pure
Seiyuu; Keisuke Komoto
Jun is...quite the delicate one :,)
Like he might topple over if the wind blew on him; he's just very sensitive :,)
He owns his own cake shop, he has a lovely fiancé, he is also kind and gentle and...seems to have quite a great life from the outside! But he's actually hiding quite a dark fear as a result from something that happened in the past;;
He is one of the more reluctant ones to speak about Aya and, while he is very sweet, it does get a bit annoying trying to get him to talk :,) His fiancé gets proper angry with the player on several occasions, which... Yea, I felt a little bad about :,)
But Jun is genuinely a good person, so I can like him fairly easily :3
Name; Kousuke Tanaka
Age; Again, in his 30's :,)
Occupation; Works at the Matsue City Offices
Seiyuu; Hiroshi Iwasaki
To me, he is probably the most annoying one (;¬_¬)
Even after interrogating him and hearing about how he was in High School with Aya, I still didn't like him much? I mean, maybe I could pity him.. But not really like him;;
He just pushed the boundaries of "Annoying Character" too far to return back :,) The amount of times he told the player to "Go away!" and refused to talk to him, just... Seriously .-.
It was majorly annoying.
As a person, he's mild-mannered which... I don't know, feels a bit generous :,) I think he's really quite rude. ALTHOUGH! In his defence (..surprisingly!) the player is very pushy :,D So in some cases, I can understand this guy's feelings towards him >ω<
Tanaka also has very little confidence and a bit of speech impediment; like he stumbled over his words a lot when cornered.
He was also the smartest person back in High School but his grades suddenly started dropping.. You find out the reason for that in the game;;
Name; Masaya Watanabe
Age; Look... I'm just going to say everyone is in their 30's! XD
Occupation; Baseball Coach and Matsue Oba High School
Seiyuu; Shusaku Shirakawa
Masaya isn't too bad in terms of being annoying :,)
In fact...the more I sit thinking about him, the more I like him?? He has quite a lot of funny facial expressions and I also think he's the one who gets along with the protagonist the best; he helps him out from time to time, though...he may not always want to :,)
When he was in High School, he dreamed of being a professional baseball player but after he got injured, that dream got further away;; But it's not all bad, I guess? I mean, he's coaching the baseball team at his old High School and I think that's pretty impressive, too! Like, leading the next generation of kids to baseball tournaments and stuff! ^ω^
He is a little bitter due to that, but he's also kind and helpful; he is often the one you see helping out his old classmates the most. He can be short-temperd as well..
But I still like him! :3
Name; Misaki Murakami
Age; In her 30's :,)
Occupation; A TV Presenter at San-in Chou TV
Seiyuu; Hyosei
I just have to say that I think she is really HOT! ♡/ / /♡
Misaki and Yukari are my favourite characters and are also the two whose character designs are my favourite, as well! ♥ ..I'm honestly straight (..well-- XD lmao!) but I can't stop looking at her legs right now--- You never really see them in the game, so.. Yea..! *cough* //////
A-ANYWAY!
While Misaki is blunt and can be very rude, I really like her :,) Granted her character design is a contributing factor, but I still just really like her. She also seems to get along fairly well (within reason) with the protagonist towards the end of the game :3 She doesn't remain harsh towards him as much as other characters do :,)
But the reason is fair enough since they all just want him to stop digging up their pasts ^^;
Aside from being blunt and rude, Misaki is also very driven, charismatic (my personal opinion) and kind which is shown in her past with Aya ^ω^
So...yea!
Misaki, I like. I think she's actually my first favourite, followed by Yukari who is my second ♡
Name; Shota Nozu
Age; 30's >ω<
Occupation; Works as a Bartender at Nakamura Bar
Seiyuu; Kazuhiro Sunseki
I.. Um-- I mean, I think.. Ohmygod!! Nozu is SO attractive! Like, seriously HOT! ♥
Which, I have to say, is good because it's really the only thing he's got going for him :,)
Nozu is another one who wants the protagonist to leave and stop bothering everyone with questions about Aya; he even stalks him and tries to kill him at one point! (O∆O)
Nozu is...really bitter about his life;; He grew up in a wealthy family and was very spoilt, but when it was brought to light that his father's company had been involved in fraud, him and his family suddenly found themselves on the brink of poverty;; And being a bartender is hardly how he envisioned his future, so... I guess you can't blame him at all for being bitter ;A;
But what bothers me the most is something he did or...tried to do in High School involving Aya, so.. That's why I can't like him :<
I'm sitting here trying to think of something positive to say about him... But I really can't think of anything;; He...helped Yukari move into her new condo, so... I guess he can be helpful? :,)
I'm sorry, Nozu :,) But I really can't think of anything!! *hides* >A<
Name; Riko Sasaki
Age; 30's :,)
Occupation; Housewife
Seiyuu; Yumi Toma
Riko is...not very nice :,)
Again, she's an awkward one when it comes to getting her to talk about Aya .-. Most of these people are, actually.. So that's hardly anything new :,)
When Riko was in High School, she was very beautiful and talented and dreamed of becoming an actress. But it never worked out for her, so now she's just your average housewife married to your average guy. Riko has a daughter who it seems she's forcing into the world of Show Business so she can live the excitement through her and while her daughter seems to succeed in the Theatre Group she is part of...you can easily detect jealously within Riko.
As a person, she is also a bit short-tempered, harsh and rude. Though... I guess she occasionally shows moments of being kind?? Maybe?? You know what, I might be wrong about that since I don't remember that happening at all :,)
QUICK NOTE!
For the people who have played this game, I know I've missed a character out. It wasn't an accident, I did that on purpose as that would be a major spoiler to the people who are reading this and haven't played the game yet;;
Endings~
Being a Visual Novel, Root Letter obviously has multiple endings and these endings are determined by the response the player gives to Aya's letters :3
This game also doesn't have any accidental Game Overs and stuff like that, it's just the set endings you can get.
There are five possible endings for you to get and they are;
- The Bond of Marriage (which unlocks after your first playthrough)
- Crossing Paths
- The Princess of Himegamori Forest
- A Government Plot (which unlocks after your first playthrough)
- The Cursed Letter
Obviously The Bond of Marriage is the True Ending, so I would personally try to save that one for your last playthrough ♥
In my opinion, all of these endings (excluding The Bond of Marriage and Crossing Paths) are really creepy and oddly disturbing :,) ESPECIALLY A Government Plot. I mean, you can probably tell by the title of the ending, but it really is, like... Whoa! ;A;
The Cursed Letter is pretty terrifying and The Princess of Himegamori Forest is super creepy and weird, too :,) But I really think A Government Plot is the best one at being weird :,)
God..! Just thinking about it is giving me the chills :,)
Regardless of all that, I do recommend trying to get all of the endings :3 Because...well, where would the fun be in that if you didn't, right? ^ω^
[ RANDOM TIP WITH SERAH ]
To save yourself numerous playthroughs if you're not really into that, there are a few blogs that have cheats to get each ending, so you can always look to those if you want to get a different ending each time you play :3 ..though it really isn't that hard if you just pick different letter responses each time you start a new game ^^"
My Thoughts~
As for my personal thoughts on the game, I have to say I really did love it! ♡
I loved the uniqueness of this game; meaning that I liked the letter responding part and investigating all the different characters and then confronting them! Which also proved to be a challenge sometimes since it could be a bit tricky figuring out what to do or say next! O:
Another unique thing that I thought worked especially well was that the Shimane in the game was the Shimane in real life! There were articles I read online saying that the game developers went around Shimane taking pictures of real places and then altering them into the style of the game we see! ^ω^ And even some of the people we see in the game are based on real people in Shimane, too! Just that their personalities were altered a bit to fit into the story, but even so that's still incredible! *ω* I mean, obviously Aya and her classmates aren't based on real people, but the fact pretty much everything else is in this game...it's almost like you were actually there in Shimane! :3 When I go to Japan one day, I really hope to visit Shimane Prefecture myself and see all these beautiful and interesting places with my own eyes ♥
Also the characters designs are amazing as well! In fact...I honestly can't find a fault in any of the game graphics; everything is just so beautiful~! ;ω; ..an especially BIG thank you for Misaki and Yukari! I loved them the most! But everything~ The surrounding areas, even inside shops! It was all just so pleasing to look at ♡
I already mentioned this briefly, but I do like the added feature of being able to skip chapters after the first playthrough :3 It's not because any of those chapters are boring or anything like that, it's just that nothing would change since the first seven chapters are the same no matter what happens. The only thing that changes are your responses to Aya's letters, so it makes sense to skip the first seven. That way, you can reach the start of one of the endings faster ^^ ..although I'm not sure why you can't skip Chapter 8 because that seems the same each time too... But, oh well! :3
The Endings were also...really great ^^; Even the super weird and creepy ones :,) In all seriousness though what I liked most about the endings was looking back at the letter responses and understanding how they lead to each specific outcome! O: Also each ending was completely different! Sometimes with Visual Novel games, you get references from other endings in each other and some events that happen may also occur in other endings, too. But with Root Letter, each ending stood on it's own completely different from the next! Even some of the characters turned out differently too which was also interesting! It definitely made each ending exciting to play through, that's for sure! :3
Also going back to the characters, I thought they were pretty interesting, too! Even the ones I didn't like had a level of fascination to them; mostly linking that to how they were in High School and how certain events lead them to live the lives they currently had. If there was a character I really didn't like, it would be Tanaka. I could have done without him around :,) But everyone else made up for him being a total annoyance >ω< I especially liked Masaya, Yukari and Misaki ^^ I liked how Yukari in particular was especially close to Aya. I liked seeing what their relationship was like in their High School days and how it broke apart in different ways because of said events that I can't mention because SPOILERS :,) Referring to each character now, they all were very unique and had very different characteristics which made investigating each character different from the next and also a lot of fun! ^O^
Along with pretty much every video game these days, you can earn trophies! :3 With this game, all you need to do is pretty much play through every route and BAM! You've earned your Platinum Trophy :,) There are a couple that require a little more effort, but they aren't hard to earn even then! If you're curious of how to earn them... Cheats are always good ;D Plenty of cheats online to help you earn those last few trophies! I used them and everything went smoooooothly, so yey! >ω<
A little bit of fun information about this game is that it's the first in a brand new series! *O*
Kadokawa Games (who developed Root Letter) have said that there will be more games to follow Root Letter and that they're part of a new series called The Kadokawa Mystery Game Series *O* And they'll also be bringing back (hopefully!) the fictional actresses they created in this game to feature again in the new games to come! So I, for one, am very excited about this and can't wait to see what games follow Root Letter! And if they're anything like Root Letter, I know that they'll be worth the wait and make for a very exciting game to experience! :3
My Overall Score~
For this section, I'm going to score out of 10 on each main feature :3
So, we have..
- Graphics: 10/10 (I couldn't fault anything about the graphics! Simply stunning!)
- Music: 7/10 (The music wasn't amazing, but it did set the scene quite well)
- Character Designs: 9/10
- Content: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Root Letter really is just...one of kind ♥
I had a lot of fun playing it and I was very moved in The Bond of Marriage ending;;; In fact, many elements moved me quite a lot, but then... I don't know if that counts as saying anything since I'm a very emotional person ^^"
..anyway!!
I would happily recommend this game to anyone who enjoys Visual Novels. If you're also a fan of mystery games, then Root Letter is definitely the game for you! If you're thinking about playing it, but aren't sure... Seriously. Just take my word for it and PLAY. IT.
Honestly, if you think you'll like it... Then you probably will! It's a great game! Really great! :3
~ ~ ~
So that was my review for Root Letter.
I hope it wasn't too long-- though out of all the games I've reviewed, I'm pretty sure it was the shortest ^^; So if you did think it was long... Maybe stay away from my Zero Escape game reviews :,)
If you have any questions regarding my review or the game, please leave a comment below and I'll answer as best as I can! ^^
Thank you for reading and have a great day~! :3
BYESIES~! c:
xoxo~
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