You know, I'm just going to start out by saying that the Memories Off series has really started to grow on me. I know it's probably just a simple psychological reaction. When you spend about 100 hours through 3 lengthy games in the same setting, things kind of start to feel endearing and even nostalgic similar to the Trails series.
Spending 100 hours over 3 games (not for "pro" reviewers)
Speaking of Falcom, here we are on the 3rd game and I'm almost starting to feel like Shin is some galge equivalent of Adol. In the first game, he was your buddy in high school. In the second game, you happen to meet Shin after he dropped out of school and moved into the same building. He even got you that part time job over the summer at the family restaurant he was working at to save money to travel to India. This time, you play as a college student and Shin is a buddy that happens to be living nearby after he returned from India.
The guardian angel of galge guiding you to snatch some... um hush money? #MAGA
In the first game, you grew up with 2 girls as childhood friends and some stuff happened involving rain and whatnot. In the second game, you started out already with a girlfriend. This time, you start the game after your girlfriend left you 3 years ago without saying a word. She of course shows up out of the blue near the beginning of the game. Why did she leave? Are you going to somehow get back together or pick one of the other delectable girls you happen to meet? Are you going to be a two-timing asshole like the last game? You'll have to play to find out for yourself!
Oh geez Kanata, now my bed smells like another girl! Febreeze time! (not even joking here)
This game definitely feels a bit different in the beginning maybe because you no longer have a convenient school setting to meet with JKs everyday (damn riaju!) though rest assured, there are still some JKs ripe for the picking. Let's not get into the legal ramifications of being a college student dating JKs, these were simpler times. Or given that this is a clean game, maybe all you did was hold hands and smooch though I find that hard to believe.
16? Well, I guess it depends on which state you live in...
Kidding aside, this 3rd iteration of the series definitely seems more adult even though you're a privileged loser (#onepercent) whose parents apparently have enough money to afford your college tuition, living expenses, and your own private accommodations without you having to earn a dime. No awkward hand made sign to keep roommates out for shagging necessary. But I'm not talking about that kind of adult. What I mean is that the girls are literally adults and have grown-up people problems (eg finance) except for the Kashima sisters and Tama aka the "where the fuck are your parents?" JKs. In the end, this is indeed a Memories off game in all the ways that matter. Every girl has their own life issues and there are tons of great drama to be enjoyed.
But Neo, what about your little sister? You know, the one in a wheelchair???
You'll also have plenty of nostalgia time to see what some of the girls from the previous games have been up to. For example, Yue is still such a sweetheart, you can't help but fall in love with her again. I mean as the player, no you're not going to try to steal the first MC's girlfriend. That's a line that the game doesn't cross.
C'mon Yue, ditch that loser from the first game!
Some of the characters are a bit too quirky for me such as Hibiki who seems to have about a first grade education or Tama who seems borderline mentally impaired, her communication skills are so bad. I'm saying that even as a die-hard fan Nagato Yuki fan. Some of girls routes are not as thoroughly fleshed out either. For example, I would have liked to have seen more dere from Isako-chan. Still, for me, this was my favorite Memories Off game so far and I found the true route really took things in a direction I didn't expect. Without getting into details, let's just say this game definitely has some of that rain theme going on. I also liked how this was less of just a straight up galge with a male cast larger than just Shin and one other guy.
Wow, we look so cool! I hope the girls are noticing!
This is another one of those games like most post 90s Japanese visual novels that starts off really slow and frankly kinda boring. However, I would say with the true ending and plot points from other routes that tie neatly together, it's definitely worth the initial slog. Fully recommended renai drama goodness especially if you've played the first two games.
Ahh, the good ol' days!
Score 4 no wait 3, but I can't seem to break up with 4, but 3 is such a sweet number, please 4 take me back after all! Ok, let's average it out to 3.5 #polygamy? out of 5 (36 hours to complete)
Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely
So after finishing Memories Off last year, I went and finished the sequel Memories Off 2nd in less than a year, which is good considering the series has been revived and another game is on the way. At this rate, I might be able to get caught up on the series in... 2026?
Oh boy, that's a lot of girls, I hope I can keep up.
2nd is a sequel to the first game in a way that I have a feeling is going to be a signature feature of the series going forward. The 2nd game has almost nothing to do with the previous game so you don't need to play it in order. However, it does take place after the events of the first and only a few train stations away geographically. There's also one character from the first game and Tomoya is now a dog (lol not really). It also tried to maintain the whole rain theme from the first game in one ending though it felt kind of forced.
This game has the usual diverse cast of girls to choose from though this time around, there's a slight, super minor, teeny weensy problem. You start the game with one girl already chosen for you so to speak. In other words, you start the game with a girlfriend, you lucky dog you. And no, she doesn't die nor is there anything wrong with her except maybe her awful taste in men. So yeaaaaaah, you're going to have to be an asshole to get all those other women.
Yup, you're going to have to be an asshole in this game
As usual, this game maintains the series standard as being perhaps the most pure and orthodox model of a traditional galge. Once again, there is almost no fan service and many of the girls have some sort of backstory with quite a bit of drama. There's also many awkward or emotional scenes, particularly when your girlfriend reacts in almost every conceivable way as you break her heart in like 11 out of the 12 possible endings: denial, anger, disappointment, sorrow. I mean, it got kind of ridiculous, seriously, around the 4th or 5th time. If you consider that the list of possible options to cheat with include her best friend and her older sister, it's like JESUS. You are SUCH an ASSHOLE.
Aww so cute. Ok, time to break up this family! #homewrecker
Fortunately, as the After Story bonus scenario shows, the true ending is supposedly sticking with your original girl after all. Kind of boring but of course not unexpected. The PSN 100 yen sale version I played includes Pure Story as well. It was kind of weird that they decided to voice the main character in Pure Story as it kind of broke the immersion. Also, Hotaru sounds very different maybe because the VA is older? Ah, the ravages of time. Oh wait, a Japanese woman, never mind. #loli4life
Hot dayum, she's almost 40 now?
Score: 3 pretty good breaking up with your girlfriend simulator out of 5 (39 hours to complete)
I actually found out while digging into the inner recesses of the Closet of Shame™ that I already had bought a copy of Memories Off Duet at some point which means I own a physical copy of both this game and the first Memories Off. Umm, did I mention I only paid 100 yen for the PSP digital licenses on a PSN sale? C'mon, it's so cheap! SALE!! BARGAIN PRICES!!!
Welp, there goes another 40 hours of my life, down the drain
Given the ever shrinking space left for shit, I probably really should get rid of my PS2 copy but I dunno. I liked the first two Memories Off games enough to want to keep them, which is really perhaps the biggest endorsement I can give for a game. Not the best game but it's definitely good ol' traditional stuff.
Minor potential spoiler warning. Stop reading here if you care.
I do have to rage a bit here on one of the endings which made absolutely no sense at all. I can't talk about it too much cause potential spoiler but how the fuck do you just slap two Kanji characters together and make 2 people into one? Oooh, this is a Uchikoshi scenario. Never 7 reference eh? HA! Feel free to discuss in the comments if you played this game (crickets)...
Ahhh, kyurei syndrome eh? You clever you #spoilers
Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely
So I decided to check out the Memories Off series once 5pb. was kind enough to put a bunch of their PSP titles on a 100 yen PSN sale. Not to mention the fact that I have a stack of these games that I might want to get rid of once I finish them. (I'm running out of room in the shame closet.) There's like a bazillion titles in this series so it must mean they're good right? I mean every Call of Duty I've ever played has been like one masterpiece after another.
Yeah ok fine, COD jokes are getting old. SORRY
Apparently this game was super popular(?) because there's like a bazillion ports and on every possible type of media: manga, anime, novel, and drama CD. The PSP version I played contains the prequel Memories Off Pure and a new! exclusive!! After Story which as the amazingly clever title suggests is a story that takes place after the main game. By the way, I am NOT planning on playing the ponjan spinoff Festa.
2 down... umm 7 more to go?? I'm so confused.
I'm up to my 5th galge (6 if you count Never 7 which kinda is but not really), and I've started to notice that the more recent titles are a lot lazier in the branching path territory. Harvest OverRay has like a total of 3 dialogue choices and bitter smile. even kept a score to show you exactly which girl's branch you were heading for. '&' has a bunch of new choices that pop up as you unlocked certain endings that have nothing to do with the girl it leads to. The common theme I've found is that you have one main branch that you only really play once, then you go back and pick one branch per girl.
Memories Off on the other hand recalled some of the fun of those choose-your-own adventure books back from the day. There's tons of dialogue choices and branching paths all over the main scenario before you enter a girl's route. Even once you enter a certain route, there's plenty of opportunities to derail into the bad ending. However, the game makes navigation simple by showing you an avatar of the girl approving or disapproving of each dialogue option. I enjoyed trying to keep track of the various paths and finding the tiny bits of dialogue that would change just to make the narrative consistent.
31,971 messages... hmm, that's a lot of dialogue but how's the battle system?
Interestingly enough, I happened to get to the True ending on my first blind playthrough in about 9 hours. It's not hard thanks to those avatar hints but usually, the true ending is something you unlock at the very end and I guess the PS version is a lot more difficult to get the true ending. Combined with Pure Story and After Story, I was able to unlock 11 of the 13 endings blind and still spent a bit more time exploring some of the other paths.
I thought the VA was pretty good, except for Ayaka. All the girls were cute and unlike the hentai censored consumer port games I've played till now, they weren't all up in your business for absolutely no reason. (I know it's not actually hentai, I'm just trying to the make it easier for the non-jhipster philistines to understand.) In fact, as crazy as this sounds, it was kinda nice to play a pure game with no obligatory pool or hot spring fan service scenes. I don't think there's a shred of fan service to find in this game.
Almost like a real girl, if you were like umm... 2D n shit. Darn!
As for the additional added content, while the prequel was a nice side-story to fill out some of the details of the main character's past, After Story was pretty meh. Maybe too much time had past to get the original voice actors but there's no VA and no branching paths and the story was a bit silly to boot. I did find it interesting to see the reinterpretation of the character design with a more "modern" look.
Welp, another fine work from the post moepocalypse era
Score: 3 pre-moepocalypse nostalgia out of 5 (34.5 hours to beat)
Overall, I enjoyed Memories Off (I spent over 30 hours on it after all). I thought all the characters were charming, and the illustrations pretty good. The true ending was touching and all the girls definitely had their own story to tell. In particular, Minamo's route was pretty messed up especially since in this version, she doesn't open her eyes at the end unlike some of the other ports.
Looks damn good for a remake from Neo Geo Pocket Color!
While After Story wasn't much to write home about, the PSP port didn't have any technical issues and had all the necessary features in terms of sound options, etc. Certainly worth the 100 yen I paid on PSN. I'm not sure yet how After Rain fits into the series but I guess I'll figure it out when I get to the pile of PS2 games in my closet. If you're looking for a nice pure story about dealing with loss while getting to know some cute girls, I would say give this one a shot.
The music was just the regular ol' visual novel stuff.
Scale
0 - Awful
1 - Bad and not worth your time
2 - Has some flaws but still enjoyable
3 - An average enjoyable experience
4 - A great game
5 - Masterpiece of a caliber only found very rarely
