Game Review - Root Letter
Dustin Nichols
2017-01-03
PS VITA
Thank you DUSTIN NICHOLS for the wonderful review!
If you would like to write VIDEO GAME REVIEWS for BurningAngel, CLICK HERE!
If you would like to write VIDEO GAME REVIEWS for BurningAngel, CLICK HERE!
This is another visual novel-style game on the Vita, a genre the system is very friendly with. Described as "Phoenix Wright for adults" online, a series you know I love, I had to check it out.
In Root Letter, you play as Takayuki (although you can change the protagonist's first name), aka Max, a nickname he earned in school due to his intense personality and "Max Mode" (more on that later). Max is about to start a new job, but before that happens, he finds some old letters from a penpal in Shimane named Aya Fumino from 15 years ago. However, there is a letter in the stack Max has never seen before, one where Aya claims she has murdered someone. Max decided to head to Shimane to see if he can track her down, going to different locations and interviewing people who have been in the area for a while to see if anyone knows anything. The problem is, when he gets there, the address from the letters no longer exists; the house burned down years prior, and everyone tells him a girl named Aya Fumino died in that fire 25 years prior, meaning she should never have been able to write him.
Max senses there is more than meets the eye and begins investigating the city, tracking down the friends she mentions in her letters (which are only mentioned by nickname; Max has to find out their identities as well). The stories he receives from the residents of Shimane on Aya's disappearance range in everything from she never existed to she's a ghost to she was abducted by a UFO and many more in between. As the game progresses, you come across characters who Max suspects may be the friends Aya mentioned, and here the game leans towards Phoenix Wright's court system: you try to break the characters down by asking questions and presenting evidence that either proves you know what you're saying or contradicts their statements, and you can only make so many mistakes before the investigation ends. During these points, you will also engage in the aforementioned "Max Mode", a minigame where you have to select the right response at speed, and only have a certain amount of time to answer. If you can get all of the selections in the investigation part correctly, the characters will finally identify themselves and tell you what they know about Aya.
The game features five different endings, and the endings you get are based on how you remember how you responded to Aya's letters all those years ago (a mini-game at the beginning of each of the game's first seven chapters), so in order to see everything, you'll have to play through multiple times. Fortunately, there's a chapter skip option available at a certain point in the first chapter after you've beaten the game once, which does cut down on the repetition quite a bit.
The gameplay is simple enough, with everything you need mapped to the D-pad and the X button. The graphics are non-motion, but instead hand-drawn screens that look like they could have come out of a manga. Pretty, but nothing that will drop your jaw. It does feature full voice-acting (it's in Japanese, but all the text is in English, and you can read through the text faster than the actors speak), and a pretty catchy soundtrack. The game is also based in a real cities and features numerous real-world locations, as well as fictionalized versions of real people. If you're not an Otaku, this might not appeal to you, but those who are will appreciate the small touches.
The story is pretty good, but can be a bit confusing in parts. The endings, save for the "Happy" ending, leave something to be desired. One is a bit sad, and the other three just seem to end very abruptly. The campaign is also very short: you can finish your first playthrough in about seven hours, and each additional playthrough can be done in about 35-40 minutes, thanks to the skip option. You should have mostly no problem getting a Platinum trophy. There's one that you're likely to miss on your own, but there are plenty of walkthroughs available online that will help you net it and get 100% completion.
Overall, Root Letter is an enjoyable visual novel, but definitely not the best I've ever played. The story could have used some more beefing up, and a few more hours of playtime would have been greatly appreciated. Still, if you're a fan of the genre, it might be worth your time.
In Root Letter, you play as Takayuki (although you can change the protagonist's first name), aka Max, a nickname he earned in school due to his intense personality and "Max Mode" (more on that later). Max is about to start a new job, but before that happens, he finds some old letters from a penpal in Shimane named Aya Fumino from 15 years ago. However, there is a letter in the stack Max has never seen before, one where Aya claims she has murdered someone. Max decided to head to Shimane to see if he can track her down, going to different locations and interviewing people who have been in the area for a while to see if anyone knows anything. The problem is, when he gets there, the address from the letters no longer exists; the house burned down years prior, and everyone tells him a girl named Aya Fumino died in that fire 25 years prior, meaning she should never have been able to write him.
Max senses there is more than meets the eye and begins investigating the city, tracking down the friends she mentions in her letters (which are only mentioned by nickname; Max has to find out their identities as well). The stories he receives from the residents of Shimane on Aya's disappearance range in everything from she never existed to she's a ghost to she was abducted by a UFO and many more in between. As the game progresses, you come across characters who Max suspects may be the friends Aya mentioned, and here the game leans towards Phoenix Wright's court system: you try to break the characters down by asking questions and presenting evidence that either proves you know what you're saying or contradicts their statements, and you can only make so many mistakes before the investigation ends. During these points, you will also engage in the aforementioned "Max Mode", a minigame where you have to select the right response at speed, and only have a certain amount of time to answer. If you can get all of the selections in the investigation part correctly, the characters will finally identify themselves and tell you what they know about Aya.
The game features five different endings, and the endings you get are based on how you remember how you responded to Aya's letters all those years ago (a mini-game at the beginning of each of the game's first seven chapters), so in order to see everything, you'll have to play through multiple times. Fortunately, there's a chapter skip option available at a certain point in the first chapter after you've beaten the game once, which does cut down on the repetition quite a bit.
The gameplay is simple enough, with everything you need mapped to the D-pad and the X button. The graphics are non-motion, but instead hand-drawn screens that look like they could have come out of a manga. Pretty, but nothing that will drop your jaw. It does feature full voice-acting (it's in Japanese, but all the text is in English, and you can read through the text faster than the actors speak), and a pretty catchy soundtrack. The game is also based in a real cities and features numerous real-world locations, as well as fictionalized versions of real people. If you're not an Otaku, this might not appeal to you, but those who are will appreciate the small touches.
The story is pretty good, but can be a bit confusing in parts. The endings, save for the "Happy" ending, leave something to be desired. One is a bit sad, and the other three just seem to end very abruptly. The campaign is also very short: you can finish your first playthrough in about seven hours, and each additional playthrough can be done in about 35-40 minutes, thanks to the skip option. You should have mostly no problem getting a Platinum trophy. There's one that you're likely to miss on your own, but there are plenty of walkthroughs available online that will help you net it and get 100% completion.
Overall, Root Letter is an enjoyable visual novel, but definitely not the best I've ever played. The story could have used some more beefing up, and a few more hours of playtime would have been greatly appreciated. Still, if you're a fan of the genre, it might be worth your time.
