I’ve just completed most of the character routes, minus Refrain and all that comes after. So, here are some thoughts about the story in general.First of all, it’s too long. Until I played Little Busters, I had forgotten why I like the Kyoani adaptions so much.
Now I realize it’s because they cut most of the slice of moments, which went on for forever and rarely made me laugh. This length is furthered by the “battles” and the baseball “games”. I thought that they’d be interesting at first, and didn’t choose to turn them off. That was a bad mistake. I am thoroughly sick and tired of the repetitive motions, especially since you have to go through SO MUCH of the same material just to get into another character’s path.Second of all, I have a problem with the sound.
The BGM was nice, the opening is great, but OH MY GOD KOMARI’S VOICE MAKES ME EARS BLEED. Rin and Kud aren’t much better.Third of all, the game is too complicated. Really, I appreciate the effort and the lengths they went to to make each play through slightly different, but this is making me wish that all games were like Nanatsuiro drops again (only 2 decisions, simple and easy). On top the the 300 million choices, there are some choices which are locked after the first play through, and I’m SURE that they’re there JUST to annoy people like me.
See, I really DON’T like it when I want to remember what something was about but can’t. So, when they present a choice and then lock your decision, I try to remember what happened if I chose the locked path, and then I can’t remember, and then I get frustrated. There are also 300 million flags that can be triggered.
Of course, the flag activates 1/4 of the story later, because, of course, it’s ridiculous to let you influence an event as it happens. You just HAVE to do it a few hours beforehandNext, we have the story itself, which, other than long, can be described in 3 words: confusing as hell. Yes, Key has always written stories where not everything is explained, where there’s an air of mysticism and whatnot. But this time, it’s gone a bit overboard.
I’ve been assured that the true ending explains a lot, but as of right now, I’m disappointed with the writers.Also, I must comment on Sasami’s followers. They use power-ups. However, using a piece of Sasami’s chewed gum as a power-up? Eww.Now, for the character paths.Komari is just like the main heroines of all the other Key games at first glance. Happy-go-lucky, childish, gently, kind of quiet. You know how it is. Of course, since she’s a Key girl, she has a tragic past and isn’t all right in the head.I was constantly being distracted by her voice.
Natsumi Yanase, oh, Natsumi Yanase, why do you insist on screeching your way through your roles? For some reason, she always voices my favorite character whenever she shows up. I suffered through Chihiro in Ef, Ryou in Sanarara, etc etc etc, wasn’t that enough? But that aside, I definitely thought that the story was good. Her reasons, her reactions, it was so creepy yet so interesting at the same time. The bad ending particularly impressed me.
The pure shock of what had happened has left a lasting impression on me. Whenever Thin Chronicle plays, I get shivers nowKud was the second route that I went through. Seeing the huge amount of fanart dedicated to her and the fact that she’s the only one getting a sequel, I guess she’s the most popular character? At the beginning, it felt like Komari’s route all over again. Happy girl with a troubled past that catches up with her and whatnot.
However, the feeling ended up being quite different.The first turning point came when her alienation from her classmates was brought up. Something in that resonated with me, because I was also an immigrant, and I knew what it was like to know that people were talking about how strange you were, giggling at the things that you were doing wrong.The second turning point was when they became separated. Unfortunately, there was a barrage of political jargon which went completely over my head, but the emotions that they portrayed was so intense. Too bad the plot went over my head along with the rest of the political jargon, that ending made no sense whatsoever.Haruka is a genki trouble makerwith a troubled past (we just can’t get away from that, can we?). In her route, we see the effects that her family has had on her, along with her continuing confrontations with Kanata, who is her twin.Again, I thought that some of the plot elements were unclear or ridiculous, but the set up was pretty nicely done.
I have to say that I was really reminded of Ef when I read her story, although I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I completed the bad ending first, so when I started on the true ending, I was pleasantly surprised with a nicely inserted plot twist which pretty much warrants a second reading so you can see just how many hints were thrown at you.Haruka is also the character with the most inconsistent art. Her two standing poses are different enough, but fluctuations in body proportions continue on in the event CGs. For instance, the above image makes her look much younger than she is (almost Chikotam-ish), and you can see from the first Haruka image how off the anatomy is.Yuiko was weird.
Her path was weird. It made no sense whatsoever. Moving on.Mio was the character that intrigued me the most from the very beginning. The beautiful BGM of piano and strings that was her theme song, the way that she loved books and birds, the way that she deadpanned at everything I have good memories of the other quiet Key girls (Kotomi from Clannad and Minagi from Air), so I had too much expectation when I started.But, in the end, I didn’t feel interested. I just didn’t care. Yeah, something happened to her. Yeah, the protagonist is trying to help her.
Yeah, stuff is happening. But I felt like I couldn’t care less about it. Although the one thing that I noticed is that her seiyuu really did a great job with her (it’s always the quiet ones).Rin’s path was odd. First, we have her bad ending, which bored me. Second, we have her true ending, which reminded me too much of Iriya no Sora for me to enjoy it.
Something just doesn’t feel right with the writing, just like most of the Afterstory in Clannad. I don’t know, the relationship between her and Riki (the protag) just seemed too forced.However, I haven’t seen Refrain yet, and that’s supposed to be the best part of the story, along with the part that gives out answers, so I guess I’ll have to see how the story goes. There was nothing even remotely complicated about the story. It’s all explicitly spelled out for you in Refrain, beyond that, you’re not.supposed.
to know what’s going on before you play Refrain.Also can’t agree with your assessment of Kurugaya’s route, her route is very closely tied to the over-arching plot, hence why you can’t get her true end until after Refrain. It made no sense? It made all the sense, given the context of the story.I do agree with Komari’s voice though. Awful, especially those ‘fueeeeeeh’s” of hers that make your ear drums implode.
Contents DescriptionLittle Busters! Is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 playable on Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. Little Busters!
Is Key's sixth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. An adult version of the game titled Little Busters! Ecstasy was released on July 25, 2008 for Windows, unlike Kanon and Air, which were first released with adult content and then had later versions with such content removed.
Ecstasy was later ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PS Vita. An English version will be released by Visual Arts in 2017 on Steam; the translation will be done by Fruitbat Factory.The story follows the life of, a high school student who has been a member of a group of friends named the since childhood. Riki brings multiple girls at his school into the Little Busters to have enough people to play a baseball game.The gameplay in Little Busters!
Follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters by the player character, which increases to nine in Ecstasy. There are additional mini games added into the gameplay, such as battle sequences that resemble fighting games or baseball batting practice, which serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during battle, and improve their statistics. Both Little Busters! And Ecstasy ranked as the best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of their release, and Ecstasy would go on to sell over 100,000 units. Key went on to produce an adult spin-off of Ecstasy called Kud Wafter in June 2010, which expanded on the scenario of Kudryavka Noumi, one of the heroines from Little Busters!There have been five manga adaptations based on Little Busters! And five based on Little Busters!
Two are serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine, another four are serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Festival! Comic, two are in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace, one is in Ichijinsha's Comic Rex, and one is in Ichijinsha's Manga 4-koma Palette. Comic anthologies, light novels and art books were also published, as were several music albums. An Internet radio show aired between June 2008 and October 2011 hosted by the voice actors of Rin and Kyousuke Natsume and Kudryavka Noumi.MinigamesBesides being a visual novel; Little Busters! Also contain various minigames. All minigames are optional and the outcome of minigames does not influence the story; however some scenes can only be seen if a specific minigame is won or lost. Battle Sequence Minigame: Two members of the Little Busters fight each other using slapstick weapons.
The player takes control of Riki and tries to hit balls pitched by Rin. The player must try to hit as many of Rin's balls and try to make other members catch the ball; who will return the ball to Riki so he can make a combo. There are also many on the field; if one of them is hit by the ball Rin will become angry.
By playing the minigame and making high combos, the statistics of all members will go up. Baseball Match Against the Team Captains: At the end of the common route, the will have a baseball match against the captains of all sport teams of their school. After clearing many routes (so Rin and Riki's stats are higher) and doing Batting Practise every possible time; it is possible to win against them. Dungeon Crawler (Ecstasy only): This minigame appears in 's route. Riki and Saya explore a dungeon beneath the school and must clear various puzzles as they go deeper into the dungeon.
Shooting Game (Ecstasy only): In this game Riki and Saya fight the during the dungeon crawler. First time clearing the dungeon; a circle filled with numbers 1-12 like a clock will appear; while Saya shouts either of these numbers, the player has a short time to click on that number to shoot the Darkness Executives. The game will gradually become harder as more enemies appear. The second time in the dungeon the player has to shoot the Darkness Executives himself as they enter the screen. For the game is also an easy mode available. Various other small minigames such as 'Saving the Cafeteria'.Little Busters! EcstasyLittle Busters!
Ecstasy is the adult version of Little Busters! And contains sex scenes with all the heroines. Besides the adult content, Little Busters! Ecstasy also contains three new routes, for, and a new character,.
Saya's route contains new minigames: a first person shooting minigame and a dungeon crawler minigame.An all ages edition of Little Busters! Ecstasy was released as part of the Key 10th Anniversary Memorial Box on July 31, 2009, which is known as., an anime adaptation of the Ecstasy routes, was announced on September 16, 2013 during the KSL Life event. It started airing on January 29, 2014.List of Releases. The original all-ages version was released on July 27, 2007. Little Busters!
Ecstasy, released on July 25, 2008. The adult only version of Little Busters! Also contains 3 new routes, and.
Little Busters! Memorial Edition, released on July 31, 2009 as part of the Key 10th Anniversary Memorial Box. This is the all ages version of Little Busters! Ecstasy. Little Busters! Portable Edition; which is Little Busters!
Ported to various (handheld) Playstation consoles. Little Busters! Has been ported to Playstation 2 (released on December 24, 2009); Playstation Portable (released on November 25, 2010); Playstation Vita (released on March 22, 2012) and Playstation 3 (released on March 20, 2013). Little Busters! Perfect Edition, released on November 30, 2012. This version is released to celebrate the release of the Little Busters!, it is the same as the Memorial Edition but contains an additional CG.
The DVD also contains a Little Busters! Desktop theme for Windows as bonus. An official English translated version of the game will be released by Visual Arts on Steam in 2017.
The translation was done by Fruitbat Factory. This will be an all-ages version of the game similar to the Perfect Edition.Spin-off GamesHeroine got her own spin-off visual novel called. Key also released a visual novel containing short sidestories, which is known as. So far, 5 volumes have been released for Android and iOS; with the first released on October 29, 2012.A 3D animation and dancing game of Little Busters!; was released by Illusion on March 4, 2011; and contains 3D models of Rin and Kudryavka and various locations of the visual novel. On January 29, 2014, a Blu-ray game called was released as part of the first volume of Blu-rays of the animation. Little Busters!
Also has many doujinshi games (mainly fighting games and RPG's).Litle Busters! Also has its own online game developed by Visual Art's:. Characters from Little Busters! Also appear in the online games, andLittle Busters! Also has its own card game:; which is developed by Arclight and released in 2010 and is based on the Battle minigame.
Characters from Little Busters! Also appear in the trading card games, and.See also.References and Citations.