Maybe a little shy of three years ago, I encountered my first John Dickson Carr book. This was not long after Umineko was first released. And I started getting into Phoenix Wright. This left me hungry for more and more mysteries, especially entries in the EVN field. I wasn’t so lucky at the time, though, as what offers there were didn’t impress me much. But things have turned around quite a bit since then.

The first big notable mystery EVN entry is Each Uisge by Jake, which was a brilliant and fun Higurashi-esque psycho-thriller with a good dash of mystery. I loved every second of it. Some time after, The Stolen Diamond Ring by Nekomura Games was released. It was polished, it was pretty, and for a simple premise, it was well executed. Oh, and inexpensive too, which always helps. I quite enjoyed every second of it. April of this very year, I and my Team BG released our own mystery vn, Fuyu no Tabi, which was quite the ride to create. We all had a blast making every second of it.

But the most recent entry to this vn genre, sakevisual’s Jisei, gives me a lot of hope for the present and the future. It has all the polish of the other commercial mystery contender, Diamond Ring, and then some. It throws you right into the murder maze from the start, and forces you down a curvy path with no end in sight. Up until the very last second, no one jumped out at me as the suspect, despite the uncoverable secrets each of them guard. We catch whispered glimpses of our hero’s past and story, but his whole hand remains unrevealed… and at the end, there are still questions enough to carry interest over into the next installment of what hopes to be a series worthy of this intriguing start and mysterious series detective.

It was a fun experience that everyone should get a chance to play through. So go out there and buy it already. Play, observe, learn. And then go create your own mystery. I can’t ever possibly get enough cases to crack wide open.

Get to it ———   http://sakevisual.com/jisei/

*Ahem*… You’ve all heard the quote. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars,” which is attributed to one Brian Littrell. That alone is enough grounds to pay it as little mind as possible. For the English Visual Novelist, even more so. This is terrible advice.

There is nothing wrong with ambition, as long as it is coupled with ability. This doesn’t mean talent. You don’t have to be good at what you are doing. You just have to be able. A lot of people now are diving into projects way above their ability, hoping that hole will be filled in by someone else with the proper skills perhaps. That’s not a way to get things done. Instead of wanting to make a project, more and more people are coming off as if they just want to manage a project. Get all the credit with none of the work, directing people to do what they need them to do. You won’t be able to take off like that.

But of course, that’s not what these people want at all, anyway. A lot of them propose these shoot-for-the-moon ideas not to breach the atmosphere, but to simply get a few feet higher off the ground from their contemporaries. The arena of EVN fandom has changed from a place of game makers to idea pitchers. And nothing is gonna get done like that, except the creation of a Perpetual Praise System. A world where people are too busy patting their neighbors on the back for their ingenious ideas instead of working on said ideas and producing something that means something.

Reign in your ambition to meet your ability. You don’t have to start small, you just have to start within the bounds of yourself. Sometimes that’ll be bigger or lesser than your neighbors, rivals, friends. But you’ll leap ahead once you finish, when they haven’t even crossed the starting line. If all you’re looking for is praise and flattery, keep pitching your moon-landing schemes. You’ll get it, rocket-loads full of empty admiration and excitement. But if you want something more filling and fulfilling, you have to create substance to receive substance. It’s a simple equation that you can master.

But… This isn’t going to change. The EVN scene has too much of this backwards momentum to change direction now. My ranting for reform is my own shoot-for-the-moon pitch. But being in the same position doesn’t help me understand how they think. How does the reward of praise outweigh the reward of creation? Maybe it’s a smaller profit but more cost effective. ‘Course, some things are worth the high cost. When the return is priceless, invaluable. And far more permanent.

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Ryou and the Fuyu cast stumble upon a massive blood stain on the floor of a cornered off room in the snowed-in lodge they are staying in. No body turns up, but one of their own, Souichirou, has completely vanished from the house, leading everyone to the same conclusion. Murder. Thus we reach the entrance to the murder maze of Fuyu no Tabi… What lies at the exit? Does the exit even exist? How do we reach it? Ryou finally pieces it together, the snow dies down, the path clears, and they follow the route to the end of the maze to discover that the identity of the culprit is…….

…none other than the supposed victim himself, Souichirou!! Confusion hits the entire cast, except Ryou who miraculously pooled what little evidence he had into the correct conclusion… but even he is plagued with an enormous unanswered question… If everyone is now in the cabin… who was the victim? Ryou, more than anyone else, is surprised by the answer. For it is Ryou’s own unmoving body lying on the floor of the cabin. As Ryou realizes just what has occurred, he fades slowly away, hopefully able to move on to a better place…

But wait a second… is this kind of ending allowed in a mystery story? Your detective is the victim and he solves his own murder?? Well… no, this kind of thing is generally frowned upon. Sure, it might be a dramatic and exciting conclusion to some psychological thriller or whatever… but for a “proper whodunnit”? Doesn’t fly. And so we come to the most important question:

Is Fuyu no Tabi a fair mystery?

The answer to that is the quite obvious… yes and no. Okay, maybe that wasn’t so obvious. But hear me out for a second anyway, especially you mystery diehards already shaking your head wondering how I can defend this piece. Especially especially those who swear by Knox, now even more popularized by Umineko. Well, the man did create a rule about the use of Chinamen as a stylistic no-no, as opposed to the genuine fairness of the puzzle itself. Only so much stock can be put by the guy, though he does have his uses. And I’ll fess up, I think Dlanor is terribly cute. Certainly my favorite new answer arc character. Anyway, we’re obviously not following the Law of Knox here ( and certainly not the more demanding younger brother, S.S. Van Dine. Which I’m sure has its uses too, but I’m in no hurry to learn them ).

I can easily fess up that Fuyu is not a fair whodunnit. There’s no evidence showing that Ryou is a ghost, or that Souichirou is still alive, and really, only the note might suggest that Souichirou actually killed anyone. This is touched upon in game, but our characters misinterpret its meaning, of course, because they are all operating under the impression Souichirou is the victim, much like the player is. And of course, that keeps you at arms length from the solution at all times.

But I personally feel that Fuyu is closer to a “howdunnit” instead. Much like the Phoenix Wright series (where in most cases you know the culprit), or many of the mysteries in Umineko, the excitement comes from figuring out how more than the who. And that’s what Fuyu is, really. Do we, the authors, ask you to finger the cuplrit? Nope. It certainly wouldn’t be fair to ask that of you. Of course, this was a part of the original plan. That the choice would be a list of suspects. But really, then I couldn’t defend this piece at all if I did that. So we decided a different approach. Instead, we authors ask you “where is the issue preventing Ryou from solving this mystery?” Thus the list of contradictions and misconceptions at the end, opposed to a list of characters. Now, is this question solvable? I sure hope so. I don’t know how many people got it in one, but I’d like to think it is possible.

After all, we even tried to steer your hand in that direction. The whole game, we build a case against Ryou. And a great many of you picked up on this. “Why didn’t Ryou explain his alibi? Why doesn’t anyone question his actions?” He is even given a place of power as the detective, and the opportunity for both the murder and disposal of evidence (as the only person outside the mansion at all before the snow dies down). Sure, there are practical reasons why Ryou didn’t explain his alibi. It could’ve given away too much. The attention of the investigation would’ve focused on him, with his weakest link alibi. And that would be counterproductive to the telling of the story. So, yeah, there were writing reasons for it. But there’s also story and puzzle reasons for it. It got most of you to exactly the place we wanted you to be. Suspicious of Ryou. And when that choice finally appears, and you look at Ryou’s list of suspects [ Takako, Takeshi, Asuka, Chiyo, Nobuyuki, Kenichi, Kasumi ], it should jump out that your prime suspect isn’t actually in that list, leading you to the correct choice. Sure, the theory that leads you to this choice doesn’t line up with the actual result of this choice. But we as authors did want to reward you for, well, playing into our clever little scheme. Yeah, we toyed with you. This is a mystery, you should be used to it.

[ Now someone could easily argue that the choice regarding someone lying about their alibi should be the correct one, but that's a semantic game. Ryou doesn't lie about his alibi because he doesn't even give one. Sneaky, sneaky. And I'm sure that only confused people when they got the bad end and Chiyo outs Ryou. But who said this should be easy, right? And really, you Umineko players out there should know to watch semantics and word choice. Shame on you. ]

What might have made this story harder than some other mysteries, ignoring the twist ending that’s at odds with the genre, is the need for trust as a tool to solve it. You have some evidence of course, which is necessary. But you have to trust that it is accurate. This is fairly easy. And sure, it is sometimes misinterpreted by the characters, as in the note. But the note itself does not lie. ( And if you really take it at face value, like what was first suggested, it seems a little more natural for the killer to lure the victim in with a note than the other way round… which is what ultimately happened. Trust, brothers. )

But you also have to take everyone at their word. Where most of the cast is concerned, they do have an alibi by at least one other person during the window of opportunity, but you can always suggest that both parties were lying and drag accomplices into it. After all, mysteries teach us to trust nothing. Except Fuyu, which really wants you to take people at their word. Because their word is right. Even if you don’t know that yet. If you trust everyone and the evidence, you see that they couldn’t have done it. If you trust Ryou along with everyone else, then no one present could’ve done it at all, which should lead to the right answer. If you’re suspicious of Ryou, which is what we authors put our trust in you doing, we lead you to the right answer too. It’s all about trust, as contrary towards standard mystery solving advice as it is. And isn’t that what the murder game is about? Trust in the author that we won’t betray your expectations of fairness?

Of course, we totally did. As a whodunnit, we completely robbed you. HA HA! Suckers. As a howdunnit, we get a lot closer to more level playing ground. In the end, whether or not Fuyu is fair is a decision left up to you to make. I made the case that it is in some regards, which I hope some agree with. Of course, it was released on the cusp of April 1st, so you really should’ve been prepared anyway.

The next mystery will play by the “rules”. Whenever we care to write another one.

But the current development was our attempting that wily ol’ challenge, Nanoreno, for this year. There was a bit of talking and planning in that last week of February when suddenly Enerccio hit upon a really exciting idea that we all thought was worth pursuing. And now that things are beginning to wrap up, I can look back and say it definitely was. The writing for this project was quite a ride and it’s been really fun. There’s this pretty long span in the middle that I had to write that I couldn’t stop thinking on, getting more and more excited. “Oh, maybe I can include this…” “I definitely have to touch on that…” “If it were me, I’d bring up this…” “Damn, man, this is too much fun.” For what’s usually a high pressure time for most of the EVN scene, I sure had a blast. ‘Course, having a co-writer takes off a bit of the pressure.

But us using this month to pound out this quick visual novel made me realize just how much has changed within the scene, especially Nano season, since I first arrived at LSF. And more, how much I’ve changed and come to expect from the scene and Nano season. Back in March 2007, I began Starlit Sky, and my goal, other than to tell a good story or make a strong debut, was just to finish that FIRST vn. With long starts into both Evergreen Valley and Songs of Araiah at the time, I needed something just a little smaller and more manageable, and I really really just wanted to get something out there. To prove to myself that I could do it. That I really was a visual novelist. Well, it took a little longer than expected, but come mid-May, I accomplished exactly what I set out to do. And I haven’t been prouder of a work since Starlit Sky.

In 2008, I attempted Nano again with Temple Glen… and well, that only recently saw completion, in a completely /completely/ different form that the original plan. There were a few things I wanted to accomplish here, like beating the beast that was Nano this time, and writing an actual branching story… but the primary goal was actually just to release something with Yvanc’s art in it. It didn’t really go to plan. It was quickly dropped, pushed aside for months, and just by chance, really, saw a last minute revival effort that at least resulted in a release of some kind… In 2009, I just came off of finish Mirai Imouto during February, so I skipped Nano entirely. MI had two big goals of its own though… to make a game with Kik, and to make a game for Enerccio and Yvan as a gift. I have to say it accomplished both very well, and I managed to do it in just over a month, so it was almost nano-material.

But now, in 2010, it isn’t so much about finishing on time, or with people, or the act of /finishing/ in and of itself. It just so happened that the opportunity to break from our current project to tackle something we wouldn’t have dived into otherwise presented itself, and it just so happened that Enerccio dug up a really amusing idea that we just had to see executed… Now, instead of a goal or a challenge, it’s barely a means and more of just an excuse… an excuse to try something I know I wouldn’t have otherwise, probably putting it off for months and months and months… And now that things are wrapping up, and it’s actually taking a real shape instead of just staying an idea… ( and that we actually might finish on time, which is exciting ), I’m really glad I had this excuse.

Every Nano season has brought with it something different. But this was the first time I’ve used it to really break away from my comfort zone and experiment with a story I always wanted to try but was hesitant about. And that really makes it the most important Nano for me thus far, even despite the fact my first and favorite vn resulted from my first nano. Now was this experiment a success??? Well, I guess we just have to wait for the reader reaction… so look out for it in the next couple of days…

Fuyu no Tabi: A Winter Trip ( Team BG – Nanoreno 2010 )