I have finally finished the game, between all my activities. In short, it’s  beautiful and sad at the same time, which I guess is the type of game Minori is good at. The main theme is the end, end of  one’s life, end of the world, and how one face it. The game depicted this quite well, and what I liked particularly is the background, as it’s really detailed to the point of looking real, but still adequate for the character. It shows the world as beautiful it can be, but also conveys the atmosphere. I must warn that the rest of the post is just things I noticed, and is a spoilerish.

The game can be divided in 3 parts, each with a different title screen image. The first part is in a laboratory, which looks more like a great european house. The color are rather vibrant, but confined, with a certain sepia tone, and red. The only form of green is the military uniform. It’s an oppressive feeling for the reader, and you realize it when you reach the second part, which is mostly outdoors. The color design is totally different from the first part of the game since it represents the world. I think it’s tied to the story, since it follows the environment of Sion, who has never seen the world.

Aside of the background, there is also that little bit of poesy in the story. It uses symbols and images in the writing which I guess is their trademark. Starting from the middle of the second part, you know there will be an end, a tragic one, since Sion doesn’t have much time left. The heavy theme is easier to talk when the writing is close to poesy. A rather striking moment is when Rio ask what Sion was digging for in the field. Her answer was her “grave”.

What I wondered during the whole game is whether who end first. Somehow, as you are attached to the character so you would rather see the world end first so that you don’t see people die. But it’s the other way around, and while it’s harder for the reader, it’s more beautiful in the writing.

My only wish would have been a longer third part for the game, the part when there are only two on the planet, what the eden is on earth. It was short and developing the story of two people alone would have been nice ( in fact, I just remember Planetarian when writting this ), especially considering the title of the game. But Sion is sleeping more and more, so the interaction are fewer.

To conclude, I would say that it was a very good story, which I liked, and it was nicely completed by the writing, visual and sound. In fact, I wrote in my first post a “journey toward the end of the world”, and I think it fits the experience perfectly now that I have finished. The end is something important, and everyone has their own way to approach it in eden*. Facing it, running away from it, waiting for it. It’s this sort of story. And to finish, I think the game would be easy to adapt to anime, in 12-13 episodes… let’s wait for SHAFT?

eden* CG: part 1 1GB  part 2 339MB  opening 155MB

PLUS+MOSAIC Download 621MB, containing the NSFW stuff, be it H-scene, pantsu or blood. I also think there is some additional normal scene.

[update]: Contrary to the CG, the movies are in 768×468…. weird resolution.

In the future, a star will bring destruction upon earth, erasing all life. Humanity has 100 years left until the end. During these years, there were wars, terrorist attack, but earth finally rallied under a unified government. Hopes are turned toward a migration plans to space. The project was initiated by Sion, a Felix, or in other word, a genetically modified human. The plan progress and it’s reaching it’s last stage and this is where the story begins. As Haruna Ryo, a soldier, you get a new mission;  protect Sion.

That’s the premise of the story; I didn’t get too far after 4 hours… I just reached the opening movie which is this time in 1024×640 goodness. Well people knows already about the game op, though I have no rip of it for now, so you still have Youtube left. However, I do have the CG… which is over 3GB with PLUS+MOSAIC included. Like ef, the number of scene is impressive, and by great artist: Chikotamu and Kim-chee. Contrary to other eroge, the animation in game is richer. Faces have eyes animation, and lips sync; and the biggest change is certain the cinema angle used. Shot reverse shot are used for some dialogue, and you also have the character focus. All in all, it gives the game a better finition than other.

Of course, to accompany the art, the composition of Tenmon. The game really have wonderful music. It’s mostly calm and soothing one, though there are some upbeat one for comedy scene, and some tense one. Well, here is my favourite so far : edenBGM006_2

So I will continue on my journey toward the end of the world. As for the CG… I need to sort and think about where to put this.