
Famicom Detective Club Part II
Famicom Detective Club Part II
If anyone wants to play an engrossing adventure/mystery/Snatcher-esque game with a good bit of J-horror and a great soundtrack thrown in, I highly recommend this SFC remake of the original Famicom Disc System title. It has an excellent fan translation, which can be found here. You'll have to find the rom on your own, though. But the .net has some good places; I hear there's a Nation devoted solely to ROM(s) out there, in fact. 

I hear it's also quite the underdog. It's good that someone gives a home to them.
I've played this game, and thinking about it I've come to the conclusion that I don't like Japanese adventure games such as this very much. The problem I have is that eventually you'll just have to run around doing everything the game allows, and finally some action will trigger an event that allows the plot to continue.
Let's take an example. You need to talk with someone so you go to his (or her) office, but he isn't there. What do you do? Go look for him elsewhere? No, according to the logic of these games you wander around doing all sorts of things until some completely unrelated event triggers the person returning to his office.
I've heard people say that these are more like interactive books, and the story is what is important. Sure, if the game has a good story I can suffer through these annoying gameplay mechanics once. What I really hate is when there are alternative endings to the game, and those are determined by a handful of choices you make scattered throughout the game. I don't have the patience to click through 90% of the exact same story to see the remaining 10% changed.
Now, I'll admit that not all Japanese adventure games have these flaws. To mention a couple of examples, Snatcher and Radical Dreamers avoid the usual pitfalls for the most part. Although I find it odd that Gillian seemed to completely forget giving Katrina his address and as a result scoured the entire city when she was not at home.
I've played this game, and thinking about it I've come to the conclusion that I don't like Japanese adventure games such as this very much. The problem I have is that eventually you'll just have to run around doing everything the game allows, and finally some action will trigger an event that allows the plot to continue.
Let's take an example. You need to talk with someone so you go to his (or her) office, but he isn't there. What do you do? Go look for him elsewhere? No, according to the logic of these games you wander around doing all sorts of things until some completely unrelated event triggers the person returning to his office.
I've heard people say that these are more like interactive books, and the story is what is important. Sure, if the game has a good story I can suffer through these annoying gameplay mechanics once. What I really hate is when there are alternative endings to the game, and those are determined by a handful of choices you make scattered throughout the game. I don't have the patience to click through 90% of the exact same story to see the remaining 10% changed.
Now, I'll admit that not all Japanese adventure games have these flaws. To mention a couple of examples, Snatcher and Radical Dreamers avoid the usual pitfalls for the most part. Although I find it odd that Gillian seemed to completely forget giving Katrina his address and as a result scoured the entire city when she was not at home.
Are you sure there are no alternative ending scenes? If we are talking about the same game, it gives you a score at the end about how much your 'partner' likes you. I can't help but wonder if a high enough score would give even just a couple of extra lines from her. Can't really be bothered to go through the game again trying to please her every chance I get.