When Our Journey Ends - A Visual Novel

I kickstarted this game on the strength of the art, and on that front it delivered. It sports gorgeous water-color styled illustrations and animated backgrounds, and some interesting character design inspired by Japanese folklore. It's the writing that disappointed me. The story itself is fine, but the writing style is awkward and circuitous. I am all for creative writers taking license with language, but the grammar used in the English text was often ungainly and made the story feel tedious. I can't comment on the Russian text, but the English version would benefit greatly from a skilled editor. The game is also very short--Steam tells me it took 0.9 hours to finish the entire game, with multiple endings, minus some of the extras that I didn't finish. The overall leagth is not as much the issue as the lack of choice, for me. Almost none of the choices in the game are far-reaching. [spoiler]There's a part where the main character is being tested in certain ways, and instead of giving the player choices and putting the onus on us to pass these tests, that part is entirely kinetic, ie no choices. The game neglects a good opportunity to get the player more invested in the story by forcing us to address moral dilemmas in the character's shoes.[/spoiler] TL;DR it's really pretty but very short and not fantastically written.

Honestly, I wish there was a neutral option, but since there isn't, I have to lean towards not recommending. I supported it on kickstarter so I payed like $11 for it, and I was really excited for it. The art style is beautiful and full voice acting, but it's really missing depth. From what I can tell, and I've played through the game several times trying different combinations of choices, there are only two endings and they don't differ that much from each other. The endings (not too much of a spoiler, no names or anything but just in case) : [spoiler] One ending is that you ride the train with one of the characters, the other is that you ride alone. [/spoiler]. The only choice that matters in at the end of the novel. Also, I think the achievements/trading cards are broken because I have not received any steam achievements or cards from playing the game. So here's your tl;dr +Great art style +Full voice acting (English) -Choices don't really matter -Only two endings, not much of a difference between them -Very short, took me less than an hour to complete -(Possible) broken achievements/trading cards

I really loved this VN and the story its loosely based on. On her way home from school, Mariko who spends her train rides alone (as she is the only passenger), gets transported to a magical world in-between the spirit world and human world. What's not to love? Pros - Beautiful art - Engaging story - Fun characters - Animated backgrounds Cons - Kinda short - The extra stories were 'hard' to find (not really, but I wasn't aware of them and found them by accident) Conclusion: If this visual novel only had its main story to offer, I would have been a little disappointed. For its quality, it would still be well worth its price, but I felt the main story could have had some more user input, or at least a little bit more story to offer. The extras really give this visual novel a well-rounded story and while everything combined is still kind of short, I greatly enjoyed how this 'Journey Ended'.

“When our journey ends” is a fantasy Visual Novel about a girl that rides a train (where she is the sole rider due to the remoteness of that brings her to a station called “Midway” that lies in between the human world and the spirit world. And here is where I’m going to stop talking about the story as I don’t want to throw out any spoilers. There is a lot I want to discuss concerning the storyline and this time I will purposefully leave it as my 2nd to last category so there are no spoilers (Music and Audio will come last as it will refer to the story segment). Art - Backgrounds The backgrounds are really beautiful, they seem to be hand painted with poster paint and they are fabulous. Clearly a lot of love and attention has been put there and the color scheme really gives a fantastic feel of a mix between nostalgia and fantasy. I really loved how the backgrounds were animated with things like snow falling, water moving and leaves being blown by the wind. I also liked the scenes in the train a lot, fantastic use of movement to give each scene a feeling. Art – Sprites I liked the people sprites, I think not having the typical anime style helped with the feel of the VN a lot. I liked how they had this mix of traditional feel but the fabrics looked very much like fabrics. Very nice touch. The “spirit” sprites I liked less, they were kind of freaky and rubbed against the feel of the VN. I think “fantastical” looking humans may have been better but I’m sure it will be split opinions on this one. Duration and Gameplay I went with I think was probably the most basic arc. Now I’ve read the (current) other review out and apparently there are other hidden tracks. I read a bit of the “aftermath” bit and that felt like a whole chapter in itself (incidentally you can’t save during that bit so I recommend that maybe the dev fix that, I’m sure the segment is short but sometimes people like me read VN’s when we’re in the airport and sometimes have to close our computers at a moment’s notice). The VN was short following the most basic arc, around an hour and ten or so. Don’t trust what it says above my review as I had to step out to cook my dinner and left the VN on so that tacked on at least 20 minutes to the game time. Not a lot of choices so I do wonder to an extent where these hidden tracks are, or perhaps each choice leads to a completely different arc. I somehow doubt it as my arc felt like I was getting everything right and that other arcs lead here too, but who knows? I may give this game another play through if I have time. But going back to what I was saying about the choices, it does feel a bit like it’s a kinetic novel and that the choices just give you different levels of information, but don’t quote me on that one and give all choices a go if you have time. UI Very nice UI, loved the whole train theme. I don’t know if the text box taking over the whole window was necessary during narration as narrated lines rarely took up more than half the textbox (in narration mode) but in general very nice UI. Perhaps the font could be a tad bigger but I’m really pulling at straws for that one. Story Time for the big one, if you don’t want spoilers please stop reading now. So clearly this is heavily inspired by Studio Ghibli’s “Spirited Away”, the devs clearly don’t deny this as it is the name of the first achievement. Now I feel like the inspiration for this is from the third act of “Spirited Away” where Chihiro takes a train to go and see Yubaba. The train scene is one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema and one almost feels like there could have been a whole movie in itself about that train and it’s many fantastic destinations. I get the impression that this was the springboard from where the devs took this story. This is not a criticism, if anything it is one of the things that excited me most about this VN and I was really expecting it to somehow take off from there, which it did… to an extent. I don’t mind when media takes inspiration from other media and builds on it. True “originality” doesn’t really exist as we must always pull inspiration from other art and build on it. When I started reading this VN I knew that they would pull heavily from “Spirited Away” but I didn’t mind at all as I wanted that universe expanded on and in general I felt they did a pretty good job. The writing is solid and I actually really liked the concept a lot. The first and third acts are good. The first act set up the story and got me really excited for the adventure the MC would go on. The third act was a nice resolution and I must say it did give me a warm feeling inside. The middle, unfortunately felt very rushed and a bit formulaic. As I said earlier, it would have been nice to have some choices there or at least been given a chance to answer the riddles (they were quite obvious anyway). Music Very nice music. The quality of the music production is really good! I can tell that the director for this game asked the composer for it to take inspiration from the musical score of “Spirited Away” (by Jose Hisaishi). I feel for one or two of the tracks it gets a bit too close to the soundtrack of “Spirited Away” to be just inspiration. As for the rest of the soundtrack, very nice melodic tunes that really set the scenes really well. I do feel that there should have been music in the final emotional scene (you will know what I mean when you get there). Oddly enough that bit was silent and that I found quite odd. I love the fact that some of the tracks hero the clarinet, an instrument that really has not seen the limelight much with the current trend in film/game scoring. I tip my hat to the composer for that! Conclusion I’m sure the developer is reading this so I have a message for you. You’ve made a really beautiful game, well done! You should be really proud of yourself! I only write long reviews like this for games that I feel have potential to be really great and only have a few small flaws stopping them getting there. If a game is crap, I don’t bother writing a review like this. You’ve made a work of art and I can see all the effort and love you’ve put into this! Again, well done! TL:DR Recommended even at full price, beautiful game.

Visual Novels for me draw me in on the basis of the art and story and the art definitely is fantastic with only one or two exceptions. The background artist especially deserves commendation. The story is lacking, but rather than look at this as a 'novel' it is best looked at as a 'fable' or 'short story' and putting it in that context it feels just right. Treat this as a snack, not a main course. There are a few missed opportunities as far as the player choices throughout as ultimately they don't impact the outcome too much. This can be a deal-breaker for some, so keep in mind that the story doesn't do much to deviate from it's pre-set route. This is 'on rails' from beginning up until the end. (Heh). My only true complaints come from a technical standpoint. The text boxes for speech take up only the lower portion of the screen as one normally expects. The rest is viewed in a larger box that takes up most of the screen. It is mostly transparent so the art can be viewed through it, but it is jarring to go from a small box, to large and then back to small again - especially within the span of a few moments in places. This I could understand more if the text took up more space than was available and it was important to view all at once, but rarely does it show more than what would have fit at the bottom and text can scroll through multiple panes if necessary and it wouldn't interrupt the flow. Also, the 'auto' feature didn't seem to work though this is a bug rather than a deliberate choice. Annoying as these two technical snags were, this didn't do anything to sour my overall experience. Overall, I think this was well worth my time and while it certainly isn't my favorite VN of all time, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone. I went into this game knowing that it would be shorter and not expecting anything that one would typically expect from big-budget studios especially on what was shown to me before hand. After playing I found some of this is true, but the love of the developers is clear and I am glad I took a chance and backed it.

Ямато (яп. 大和, «великая гармония, мир») — историческое государственное образование в Японии, которое возникло в районе Ямато (совр. префектура Нара) региона Кинки в III—IV веках. Существовало в течение одноимённого периода Ямато до VIII века, пока не было переименовано в 670 году в Ниппон (яп. 日本) — «Японию». Происхождение Вопрос происхождения государства Ямато весьма сложен, поскольку нет синхронных исторических письменных источников, которые засвидетельствовали бы его появление. О возникновении Ямато рассказывается в японских источниках начала VIII века. Многие предположения исследователей основываются на работах археологов. Последние ассоциируют возникновение и утверждение власти яматоских государей на Японских островах с распространением культуры курганов яматоского типа в период Кофун на большей части архипелага. Ряд исследователей старается связать становление государства Ямато с раннегосударственным образованием Яматай и его правительницей Химико, однако у этой гипотезы недостаточно аргументов. Название Существуют разные предположения насчёт значения слова «Ямато», но достоверно оно неизвестно. Древние японцы не имели письменности до принятия китайской иероглифики, поэтому не смогли оставить потомкам объяснения названия их страны. С принятием иероглифов «Ямато» записывали знаком 倭 («карлик»), которым китайцы пренебрежительно обозначали жителей Японского архипелага, но с V—VI веков такое написание было заменено на более изысканное 大和 («великая гармония»). Наконец в 670 году официальное название государства и династии Ямато было изменено на «Ниппон» (яп. 日本, «источник солнца»). Несмотря на переименование, слово «Ямато» не вышло из обихода. Оно продолжало использоваться в средневековье и в новое время для обозначения «Японии» в первую очередь в частной переписке или религиозных обрядах синто. Для большинства японцев «Ямато» потеряло пренебрежительный оттенок древности, который придали ему китайцы. Оно стало поэтическим названием страны, наподобие названия «Русь» в России. Политика государства Древнеяпонское государство Ямато было довольно агрессивным образованием. С IV по VI века яматоские монархи подчинили себе западные, центральные и большинство восточных земель острова Хонсю, завоевали остров Сикоку и поставили под свой контроль север острова Кюсю. С проникновением на Японский архипелаг китаецентричной политической философии, правители Ямато начали рассматривать соседние племена как варваров, которых необходимо «возвращать» под монаршую руку. С VI по IX века яматосцы вели постоянные войны на севере острова Хонсю с племенами эмиси (прото-айнами) и кумасо и хаято на юге Кюсю. Результатом такой политики стало уничтожение или ассимиляция этих племён. Ямато также проводило активную внешнюю политику, в частности в Корее. Его постоянным союзником на полуострове было древнекорейское государство Пэкче, воевавшее против других соседей — древнекорейских государств Силла и Когурё. Весьма активной сферой влияния японцев на Корейском полуострове являлась также небольшая южнокорейская конфедерация Кая (позднее поглощённая Силла). Неоднократным вторжениям японцев на протяжении всей своей истории подвергалось государство Силла. Однако в 663 году когда сначала пэкческие, а затем и посланные им на помощь экспедиционные японские войска были разгромлены коалиционными армиями Силла и Китая династии Тан, государство Пэкче прекратило своё существование, а придворная знать Пэкче эмигрировала в Японию. Потеряв таким образом главного союзника на континенте, японцы, умерив внешнеполитическую активность, отбросили амбиции относительно Корейского полуострова и сосредоточились на внутриполитических проблемах.

When Our Journey Ends is a short, touching VN, but one plagued by more issues than I can ignore. The story starts with an introduction to Mariko, a high school student who is soon to graduate. She is also the only person to use a specific train, due to being far out into the country and having no other way to get to school. One day she dozes off in her usual seat on the train, and wakes up in a strange station she's never seen before during her commute. The VN mostly concerns itself with how she gets home, why she was brought to this strange land, and her feelings and thoughts on growing up. The art is charming. I found the sprites a little stiff but appealing in their own way, and I enjoyed the cute painterly backgrounds and the fact that some were animated (waterfalls with running water, or falling snow, etc). The music was also peaceful and very relaxing. The game is very short and can be finished up within an hour, depending on your reading speed (not necessarily a bad thing, just keep it in mind if you tend to put a certain expectation of play time for x dollars on a game). The main issues come from some of the writing and decisions made in laying out the game. There's a segment where Mariko is tested, and the player is offered no choices during this part. For the most part I think the whole game should have just been kinetic, since the choices the player is offered don't seem very important. In the afterstories the voice clips started playing for the wrong lines, which got distracting. Achievements also don't seem to work automatically, although apparently that can be fixed if you feel like poking around in game files (I was too lazy). For these issues I wouldn't recommend the game unless you're buying it cheaply or getting it bundled.

just keeping this until you fix your broken achievements

Текст в игре не полностью переведен на русский в части рассказываемой истории (хоть и заявлено наличие русского языка), не знающим английского покупать не советую.

There will be spoiler in this review. The game has lovely art and a good concept. That's where the good ended for me unfortunately. I took me longer to complete it than most because I completed it 100% but I was also complaining to my friends while I did it. The characters and the story lack depth. There are holes. The choices don't matter. At the beginning the writing almost sounds like the MC looks down on the people who live in that rural area with her, making her sound pretentious. (In big part due to the particular wording that's rampant across this game.) The MC is made out to be intelligent, yet I found myself incessantly baffled by her choices. You've been taking the train for [i]how[/i] long, and you're seriously questioning that you just never noticed this stop that it never stopped at? Yeah sure, let's walk into a spider demon's house for tea. [i]And then stay the night![/i] And this was right after I was so proud that she finally have a reasonable response upon finding out a strange man kidnapped her by running away. The game makes her go through trials to get back home, but the trials all feel worthless. The MC doesn't actually learn anything new or change and grow as a person. She is pretty much the same as she started. What was even the point other than busy work and making friends with all these yokai? Yokai, which by the way, are known to be tricksters and demons/monsters/spirits but are ever only makes strides to be her friend. It felt like yokai were used as a flavor different from human than actually taking to heart that these are non-human creatures. I never understood why the train was going to stop running, either. Is [i]no one[/i] in that rural area ever interested in going to the city? They're just cutting contact entirely? Do they all just drive when they get old enough? I have no idea. It's a shame the art is fantastic and the idea for it is so promising. Rather than explore and develop this game, instead if feels like they just wanted it over and done with and released the most basic game they found acceptable and called it done. It also frustrated me that sometimes the dialogue box just up and covers the entire screen even though the text never warrants it. Why? The backgrounds are beautiful and you're covering it with this thin layer instead of letting it shine. It's a shame because I really enjoyed Forgotten, Not Lost. I don't know what changed between the two games, but hopefully their upcoming game A More Beautiful World doesn't retain the same problem. TL;DR I pretty much went through the entire game mystified with the permanent question of [i]why?[/i] Characters and story lack depth and the things the writing claims doesn't match the behavior of the MC.