Finally I found such a treasure

[空袭拉瑞安总部]

I was initially attracted to music as a Vaporwave enthusiast. Before that I had played a lot of Japanese Yuri Games, mostly on Japanese campuses. I was curious about what would happen to a story set in Hong Kong, a place with a traditional Chinese cultural background, about the love between two women.

[ the following may relate to the story of the game. ]

In fact, at the beginning of the game I felt funny, I thought the leading character of the story would be Sam at first, but it was Michelle... my friends said her live are like Michelle’s, facing the computer all the day, crowded subway after work, you go home to your mother. It's Hong Kong 1986, but can it be Shang Hai 2020 or Tokyo 2020? The Art and visual effects of the game were excellent, and I was sure the art director had good taste after viewing the PV and seeing the UI on the main menu. However, I would like to mention that the background is sometimes too simple, the materials do not show the effect of the old Hong Kong signboards，the building surface is too smooth. The most important thing is, the city's streetscapes and subways are empty (because I've never seen an empty subway during office hours when I was in Hong Kong) and I guess it would be better to combine post-production with digital painting.

I love the color of the game, which reminds me of the photographs of Christopher Doyle and Wing Shya. The visual impact of that high saturation color. The color of the Hong Kong movies I watched as a teenager has become my impression of Hong Kong as a city, the video and music in the game (I wonder if the producer likes Wong Kar-wai too?) Remind me of Chungking Express. Sometimes I would do something while having the game on as background music.


In the past, the LGBT works that I have come across，which are close to the reality of lesbian life have been movies and a few comics. The game market is more dominated by Japanese light yuri, such works of the character age range are still more teenagers, rarely involving adult love story. The vast majority of Japanese visual novels deal with the carefree lives of lesbians in a fantasy relationship. Creating an illusory relationship can even become a business model that is constantly being used, without the need to think about the female perspective and the struggle.

Whether it is the film Saving Face or Geling Yan 's novel White Snake , they are in the context of traditional Chinese culture, but no one has ever dealt with games. Using this medium to talk about similar topics. I couldn't help but think, "how nice would it be if there have a game that understands the reality of gay and female culture in this situation? "

I am glad I can see in this work that Chinese women also have to face problems such as culture, family，identity. Because of these things that I felt that Sam and Michelle were real people, and that this relationship was so recognizable and different from other lesbian works. I particularly like The phrase "The old fashioned stone pendant of Sam's glided down my neck" ... because I myself had a habit of carrying amulet, when I was a child many people had as family heirlooms. They use the Chinese zodiac sign to calculate the age of each other. Talking about the time of the traditional Lunar Festival. Talking about where their parents came from. And Cecilia would say the interjection "Aiya" (well, I can even imagine the tone) ... These details make me feel like the characters are alive and I want to laugh. When I saw them talking about seafood, I realized that I hadn't eaten seafood since home quarantine, and I must go to the seaside in the future.

（Speaking of which... my favorite character is Michelle. It makes me happy to see her brave and free to smile when she follows her heart. She is so beautiful and lovely. She is Miss Hong Kong No. 1 in my heart. Actually, about the sex... I'd rather see Sam from Michelle’s point of view, and I'd like to see Sam Gasp and blush (sorry!

And about the voice acting, what I am looking forward to most is the Cantonese (Cantonese dubbing is already very sexy, and I really like the original sound of the Hong Kong movie actors speaking. I have seen the Guang Zhou game studios add Cantonese dubbing to their mobile games.) Almost all my friends in Guangzhou keep saying, "it would be better if Cantonese was dubbed. " I believe players from other parts of China will also like Cantonese very much.

Towards the end there was a discussion of politics in the game which I actually expected. It seems to me that it's normal for a realistic work to be political, politics is related to the lives of each of us. I find Sam and Michelle's vision of the future is interesting, not in terms of the usual ten years, but in terms of the year 1997, I'm thinking maybe the author wanted me to see this point in time. The date of Hong Kong's return to China was set in 1982. That is, just before the story began. Then it's normal for the characters to talk about it. I think it's also good for characterization. As a Hong Kong citizen, it is normal to think about one's future life. Finally, when the producer mentioned the Hong Kong issue, I read the paragraphs again and again in screenshots. I wonder: If Sam and Michelle had lived in the real world today, if they had stayed in their home, as if it were Hong Kong. Two people are already 57-year-old and 61-year-old, what they most want? Shopping, eating street food, taking the subway to wherever you want to go. No ordinary person would want society to be unstable. Those who truly love this land will not harm it, disturb the social order so that others cannot live a normal life. I support Hong Kong people to defend their legitimate rights and interests and make their voices heard, just like the two women's relationship and struggle with the outside world. They don't want to hurt anyone, right?

My English level is limited, I translated this game review into English in the hope that the team and other players can see this game review. There may be grammatical errors or word order is very strange, I hope you will bear with me.

Finally, thanks to this game, it inspired me to consider about many things. I think it's a treasure trove, I am willing to recommend it to my friends. I hope the players in the future will be able to say, "wow, there's a unique lesbian story. "

Thank you to the production team for bringing me such a beautiful, gorgeous, fantastic story and lovely characters (I love them so much. It’s an outstanding artwork.

I wish every reader who's read this far good health. Wish you can kiss and hug the person you love, no matter where you are.

[oracleandbone]

Hello!

Thank you for your insight and for your very constructive and helpful feedback.

Yes, the lack of crowds in the backgrounds was a stylistic decision. Hong Kong is very busy, but we did not want to represent this in the game to distract from the character art, though we agree that it might appear strange. Thank you for pointing out the sign boards. It is something we knew to be very representative of 1980s Hong Kong. We appreciate your comments and we will take note of them and keep them in mind for future updates when we can. We hope to have a Chinese translation and we’re glad to hear that you’re interested in Cantonese voice acting. We’ll do our best to provide this update as soon as we can!

Thank you for mentioning and noticing the colours in the game. Yes, we have watched Wong Kar-Wai movies and we really liked the cinematography and picture directing in the films by both Christopher Doyle and Wing Shya. We were inspired by the beautiful and emotional imagery they presented and we tried to present in our own way mood and atmosphere using colour and lighting in particular the full screen scenes of our game. Our game itself is a tribute and homage to the wonderful 1980s-1990s Hong Kong and Asian films we watched and loved. It makes us very honoured to hear that you see a similarity with our art to that of such talented artists and film makers.

We really appreciate you sharing your sincere thoughts. Your sharing is so important and touching to us. As we were writing back to you, there were tears in our eyes. 



Creating this story is very significant for us and your reading and understanding of it is very meaningful to us. We’re glad we could hear from your perspective. The game is very much a love letter to the homeland, the memory of it, and the wish to see it be better. What we wanted to do with this game project was to present a story that is culturally authentic and that the adult love story was realistic and reflected the very real struggles of LGBTQ people in Asia. We’re happy to hear you like Michelle. She is a very special character to us and her growth and change is something we wanted to represent gracefully with much humanity. There is much love we wanted to express in this story and we hope readers around the world could have a little more understanding of the culture and setting we wanted to show in the game.

We understand it is very controversial and polarizing to even discuss the subject of politics in relation to Hong Kong, but we really appreciate your understanding of the political context we presented in the story. You expressed in your words exactly what we wished to show in the story. The sense of dread and heaviness with the topic of the 1997 handover was something we wanted to present in the game as it was a very real issue that impacted the lives of Hong Kong people during that time and even till now. Like butterflies, our lives are short in the grand scheme of things. The love that we have might only be for a moment in this world that is so uncertain and unstable, but what we wanted to show in this story is that even in this short moment, we should have the ability to decide for ourselves what is best for own lives. Whether if one chooses to live for the happiness of others or one chooses to follow their own way to happiness, it is one’s own decision and either choice is valid. We should be able to decide then how we can navigate our way in this society and also have a say in the society we live in. To express LGBTQ love freely is still not easy in most places, but we want to give an encouragement to our readers. Life should not be lived in shame. There is nothing wrong with expressing your love. We all deserve to live with dignity and pride and to have a voice in the society we share, whether in Hong Kong or anywhere. We know this is such a lofty statement, but we really hope this reality can be achieved for everyone. If we can’t change the thoughts of others, at least let’s change first the thoughts and prejudices in our own minds. If there is a real Michelle and Sam alive in the world right now, we hope they are living their best and most fulfilled life in safety and security.

It is from our side to apologize that we cannot communicate to you in effectively in your language. But we really appreciate your effort to share to us and everyone your thoughts and feelings. We understood it perfectly. Your insight is very touching and meaningful and we’re so glad we could share this game and story with you. Thank you for giving us this opportunity.

Please know you can always contact us through email in our contact page. We really appreciate this discussion with you. Thank you so much for your encouragement and your support.

We hope you are safe and well and your loved ones too. We hope you can have delicious seafood by the ocean soon. We’re cheering you!

We wish for everyone too for their safety and wellness during this difficult time in the world.

All the best!

Sincerely,


Oracle and Bone

[GoldenTuna]

不適 您倆明明可以用中文對話..

[空袭拉瑞安总部]

Originally posted by GoldenTuna:

不適 您倆明明可以用中文對話..

制作组的两位好像都不会中文。我的中文版评论就发在测评区了，这篇英文的就是想放在论坛里能让制作组看到啦 ；）