Разработчик: Innocenceイノセンス
Описание
Story
December, 2009. On a day in the last week of that month, I realized how slowly dripping tears had a shivering yet uneasy feeling. The coming of winter turned the air thin and cold. The clouds blocked out the sunlight that normally reached the ground making it seem as if the sun was absent.
Many days passed and life seemed to return to normal as if nothing had happened. To conceal my anger and confusion and slowly regain control of my thoughts, I opened my heart up to friends old and new to try at any cost to find a new place for myself.
But it is in peaceful moments such as these when even a single seemingly inconsequential action can set up a chain reaction like the endless waves of a once calm ocean turned violent, bringing to the shores of my mind the emotions I had thought were long locked away.
Key Features
- Linear route, visual novel
- A short but impactful story written in almost 70,000 words
- Story brought to life with 12 unique characters, beautiful backgrounds and a wonderful soundtrack.
Поддерживаемые языки: english, portuguese - brazil
Системные требования
Windows
- OS *: Windows XP, Vista, 8, 10
- Processor: 1.0 GHz
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: 1280 x 720
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 300 MB available space
Mac
- OS: OS X 10.6
- Processor: 1.0 GHz
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: 1280 x 720
- Storage: 300 MB available space
Linux
- OS: x86/x86_64
- Processor: 1.0 GHz
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Graphics: 1280 x 720
- Storage: 300 MB available space
Отзывы пользователей
In one word : Incomplete
I wish they would pick this up and expand it a bit. A lot of potential is in many places and they are still yet to be uncovered
A tragedy from different perspectives
It really gives what it's promising in a brief description at the top of a page.
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Since the first time I saw that game's page, I knew Last Stanza has strong bonds with me.
Because of that I hadn't courage to finally buy and read it until now.
Those bonds were even more powerful and unexpected than I thought at the first sight. It's almost like in Brazil there is another me, who wrote (and probably designed) that VN, so I can't help but "recommend" Last Stanza. And I feel sad for that story for it hasn't any real attention.
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Now I'll try to be unbiased and more useful for you, telling about the actual game.
+ Music. It suits the game just fine.
+ Design and artwork. A minor flaw: it's strange to not see any skyscrapers from the rooftop since it was said that there are lots of them around. Maybe I just got something wrong. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
+ Characters and their development are realistic. REALISTIC. That approach has its flaws (for someone characters may seem a bit inconsistent and alogical), but I'm fine with it. It's nice and fresh.
- The story, on the other hand, isn't that perfect: [there are no spoilers there, but just in case]
Lena has a strange role in plot development, a role that I don't understand quite well since it's pretty much like Beatrice's one; Charlotte's motives are blurry, probably because her arc was a rush. She definitely needed more time.
Still, if not for the rush ending (and things beneath the spoiler), it would be a pretty story.
In general, Last Stanza could have been a little more polished; its rough edges are capable of cutting someone's hand.
But if you're attracted by the game's page, go for it. It takes only 6 hours of reading and it wouldn't be a total waste of your time if you want to see a tragedy from different perspectives. After all, it really gives what it's promising in a brief description at the top of a page.
First things first. I recommend this game solely because I loved the atmosphere and last two chapters did leave me with a cliffhanger lot to think about. Definitely not because it's about dealing with the tragedy as description promised (because, simply put, it isn't).
Pros and cons for me look like this:
+ art. It's pretty and somehow strongly reminds me of old pixel games (like first Princess Maker ones);
+ music. Light and fits the game perfectly;
+ atmosphere. Fair warning: it's really slow. But I do enjoy a slow slice of life story from time to time and this one has an almost cosy feeling to it. But leads to a big con below;
- story. Definitely not what was advertised, most of the time it's like 'the tragedy' didn't affect anyone at all, still passes as a slice of life though;
-/+ characters. I'm actually not sure about them since being dull and illogical can also be a slice of life thing but...
And what didn't make into this list are last two chapters that made me change my mind about whether to recommend this game or not, I also see that they had an opposite effect on some people and I get that. They are a bit unexpected and quite hard to stomach moreover they don't give the story a satisfying ending but they made me think about it all over again and this is the thing that I love about stories.
this game was a total cliffhanger but i still like it
Death is always a hard topic. The mysteriousness and inevitability surrounding it can captivate, frighten, and intrigue. With the loss of life: it plants itself like a seed, with its roots spreading to all the minds that knew that person. Much like a weed, it's hard to pull away in its entirety. To see that loss permeate throughout one's way of life speaks volumes in a sense where no words can explain; and where that journey takes us is through the life of various students, finishing out the last years in high school, writing their Last Stanza.
It was a day that started out like any other for Liam and Beatrice, riding on the long bus ride to reach their school, one of the most prominent and sought after school's in the area. On their arrival, a large group of students, teachers, and bystanders crowd near the entrance. In the middle lay one black tarp over a lifeless body, some don't know who the woman was, or why it happened, but as the months pass after this sudden tragedy, it will soon change the course of life for those closest to her.
Last Stanza is a short, dramatic visual novel that centers around the grief and aftermath of the sudden passing of Liam's friend and classmate, Charlotte. With her mysterious death centering around the core plot, most of your story here is how classmates carry on her name, how they deal with the frustration and sadness, and how it affects their daily life. Liam's character is characterized well in portraying the struggles to keep your head high after someone close leaves so sudden and agonizingly. The somber inner thoughts with the hope of catching a glimpse of something as amazing as that person was: you can feel the emotion pouring out of Liam onto your screen, and it's a beautiful and engrossing experience.
But the direction in which Last Stanza starts to take on the latter half of the story just throws me for a loop. In an attempt to what feels like to spice up the story, one of the characters takes a dark turn and sees it as a positive step towards being with the one they love. It feels dark for the sake of being dark, and is wildly off-beat with most of the story. Characters tend to be happier more than sad with Charlotte's death, and for a novel that spends the first act portraying what a negative impact the loss of a friend can have, the second and third act feel almost like a different world. If this difference in opinion is to show how terrible the world can be, especially with the juvenile minds of high school students playing a prominent role, then the mission was accomplished, but it feels done in poor taste.
A lot of plot points that are touched upon also never get a conclusion or see the light of day. The biggest offender is Liam's infatuation with another girl, as when it reaches a fever pitch, is almost never spoken about afterward, almost like a visual novel checklist being marked off before heading to the next plot point. When the third act comes through, we learn more about Charlotte and her family, and it just becomes obsessively morbid. The final bit which explains the reasoning behind all the mysteriousness feels so shoehorned in because not once is it eluded to, or explained until right at the very end. What I feel was planned to be an, “A-ha!” moment where it all clicks together and explains all the scattered emotions just left me even more confused because the amount of hate and nastiness towards Charlotte feels so unbelievable. They could have kept in the feelings of jealously and envy of the situation between Liam and Charlotte, but for some characters to flat out say they were excited to see her pass feels gross to the touch. It is said, at least in one case, that one character is happy, but now knows how truly alone they are; but it's still so much to unpack in so little time that it's hard to get a feel for what side you're willing to take in this scenario.
I don't hate what's been brought to me here, but I guess I'm just confused in the direction in which Innocence wanted to take its audience. The unnerving dread of having to move on with someone you weren't ready to leave is conveyed so well through Liam, but every other character in Last Stanza becomes either cannon fodder for extra words, or so unbelievably brutal towards the situation it takes you completely out of the story. If Last Stanza took more opportunity to relish the somber feelings, and build upon its characters to show how one can grow from tragedy, it would be so much more. Alas, the scattered remains of what Last Stanza's narrative could have been after a solid beginning leave much to be desired after the credits roll.
[quote]
Follow A Review Is Worth 1,000 Words for more content.
[/quote]A kinetic novella dealing with the tragic loss of a friend. And how those who continue on cope with the loss.
The art is some of the better visual novel art I've seen, I love it ∩༼˵☯‿☯˵༽つ$$$ great game, take my money .
This game is about people who are dealing with recent loss of a person. One becomes depressed, another have guilty pleasure, and so on. While the premise is unique and refreshing, unfortunately, I can't say the game successfully delivered its message.
First, lots of character behavior seems either weird or poorly explained. For example, a male friend of male protagonist doesn't seem to care about the suffering of the protagonist. I guess the reasoning behind is that he is too obsessed with sports to notice it. However, if that's the case, he shouldn't be given the friend role anyway, Another example is the transfer student. She had abruptly rushed her romantic feeling toward the male protagonist, but the female protagonist doesn't seem to care much about her even when she is also hiding romantic interest for male protagonist. There should be more interaction between those two.
Second, the time interval between scenes were too long. Whenever scene changes, at least one month passes. I understand that writer wanted to deliver only impactful moments to players, but it made characters very distant that I felt like reading newspaper, not novel. In other words, characters seemed to serve as mere components of story, nothing more.
Third, too many characters have been mentioned before they actually appear in story. For example, the lost person of story is Charlotte. Her name appears early on whenever character talk about their inner feeling,but the actual information of her is revealed a way later. It was very hard for me to sympathize with protagonists since I had no idea about the lost person until the end. Several other character name also come to dialogue a bit early without any formation, making me confused as well.
In conclusion, I don't think the story has delivered its message effectively. I think it would be better if the story focus on a few character instead - twelve seem to be an excess. However, at least the art itself was nice and the idea was unique, so I think the team has potential. I hope their next story would have improved quality.
Дополнительная информация
| Разработчик | Innocenceイノセンス |
| Платформы | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Ограничение возраста | Нет |
| Дата релиза | 20.01.2025 |
| Отзывы пользователей | 75% положительных (8) |