Lily of the Valley

[h1] She said, "Hello, mister, pleased to meet ya."[/h1] 标题取自Angus&Julia Stone的歌《Big Jet Plane》。第一次见到Lily时我脑子里响起的歌。 剧本有着超出我预期的优秀文笔。通完之后点开评测栏，一时间不知道写什么。思绪纷乱，如鲠在喉。 其实对于结尾，本质也是最核心的身份谜团设计，稍微有点不满意。不满意的原因大抵是前期写得实在好，后期节奏却总觉得力有不逮；结局算是合理，但是匆忙又唐突。这可能是我对于本作仅有的小小抱怨。 一场漫长的别离与重遇，同时存在于时间、空间和心灵。以终结作为起点，然后，迈向终结——也可能是另一个起点，谁知道呢。 阅读期间，脑内不断有关于类似主题的，喜欢的作品的回忆苏醒。麦克劳德的短篇之一《去乱岑角的路》，胡塞尼《群山回唱》里关于萨丽娅、马科斯和奥蒂的章节（大概是第八章）。或许还有伯格曼的电影《野草莓》。 老实说我并没有预判到会在游玩一款休闲avg的时候联想一系列世俗意味上大概更“严肃”，更“重量级”的东西......但是，有时作品传达给人的感受的确是共通的，就像将一颗石子丢进湖里，涟漪扩散开来，在很多地方传回新的纹路。这个游戏无疑是足够激起一些回声，唤醒一些思索的作品——如果你愿意用心读。 Lily所呈现的命题过分沉重。哪怕我的确已经不止一次目睹过她降临的痕迹，事到如今，无论写什么，仍然感觉有种有心无力的苍白。我不知道应当如何结束这篇评测，姑且摘录一段上文提及的短篇小说里深深触动我的片段好了。如果你喜欢下文引用中描写的氛围，那么，很推荐你尝试这款游戏。 [i]“有时我们于无光的恐惧中，很难分辨梦与真实。我们或于夜阑之时醒来，却因为方才梦里的世界要好上太多，便硬凭自己意念的力量要回到那种忘忧的快慰中。有时情况正好相反，我们又会掐自己，或用指节去磕铁的床沿。有时，噩梦是没有边界的。”[/i] [i]“僵直地躺在父母家的床上，白天所有的画面和情绪都相遇、飞旋在我心里和眼前的黑暗中。所有的期望和恐惧，过去的，当下的，都互相碰撞和纠缠。有时我们见到‘当下’的尽头，‘过去’会隐约显得更为重大，因为我们除此再没有别的东西，除了‘过去’，我们觉得再没有什么可以懂得。我感到我正朝往昔坠落，希望能拥有更多的过去，因为我的未来正变得越来越少。”[/i]

[I] Lily of the Valley [/i] is a short visual novel with just one choice, I wanted to type a crucial one buut xD then pondered how true it actually is XD. The result is inevitable anyway. Does it really matter how we leave?! Perhaps, it does or…?! Reading through this novel I decided I'm a fan now! I've found second visual novel author whose writing is a real pleasure. The very process of reading is so enjoyable, I'm exсited. The choice of words is brilliant. It's always kinda a blow to my self-esteem :) Years of learning English and still soooo many new words, no other novels enlarge my vocabulary so much. I feel so grateful! Reading through ebi-hime novels is both entertaining and educational. Summer sale is on now, so I've bought this dev's other novels. That's a gift she writes so much. I do hope it'll be this way for many more years! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995881732 Welp, returning to this story. Having read some other ebi-hime's novels, I knew I shouldn't expect something lighthearted and shallow despite cute art associated for me personally with something peaceful and rustic. I had some astonishing, mind-blowing experience before with her novels buuut still I wasn't prepared :) This story is a gem, I'm happy I've dug it out from my long list of unplayed novels in the library. I lloved how this story made me contemplate about some eternal questions one more time. Some topics aren't actually fun to tackle: death, meaning of life, interaction with close relatives or with the whole society in general. I can't say it felt (at least for me) like the novel gives any specific answers or some concrete right way of dealing with things. But that image of MC's mother was inspiring. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995943289 This novel is one of those that truly leaves a lasting impression. It's unbelievably cheap, has cards and achs, so plus one perfect game in steam collection. Perfect in all senses :) Though I was a bit grumpy at the end when it turned out I couldn't get 2 last achs,as I didn't click at the girl appeared in the main menu, then she was absent at the next launch aaaa but yeah, I get it, no second chances ;) Time IS fleeting. The message is clear xD Carpe diem. Luckily, skipping through the routes helped and I read all the available content. Though as I understood from reading the guides, initially after the release if you didn't do it at once, you really lost that chance ;( I'm glad it's changed. Praises: +great writing; +art is awesome; +two art style options for chars, old and new; +three art styles for the word box, that's the first time I remember it in the novel, it was fun, I'd like to have this choice in other VNs as well; +lloved it when the game closed on its own indicating the END; +achievements; +cards; +it's cheap. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995482427 Complaints: --typos (I spotted 3, for ebi-hime novels it's a lot xD); --2 last achs were not that obvious to get; --heavy topics (suicide, death, funerals) and depending on a player's perspective not very optimistic endings may be hard at some sensitive periods of life. So, it's emotional, thought-provoking and beautiful in all senses visual novel. Highly recommended! <3 [table] [tr] [th]More thoughts about the game in a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/readingnook/discussions/0/3816285823499794550/] Reading Nook [/url][/th] [/tr] [/table]