#game-review #finishedgame2021 # AI: The Somnium Files  [Console:: Nintendo Switch] [Status:: Beaten] [Approximate Start Date:: 2020-12-25] [Finish Date:: 2021-01-03] [Clear Time:: 25h] [Total Play Time:: 50h] [nReplays:: 1] ## [Rating:: 92] The game is great. I adore the story and its ability to be compelling despite having a much smaller scope than a lot of other visual novels I've played. My only gripe is that some of the somniums are a little hard to play as their rules and logic aren't always consistent / clear on what to do. Better than [[AI The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative]] because of the story. # Playthrough Notes Took me almost 3 years to play it after release, but it quickly became a favorite of mine when I played it Winter 2020 in to early 2021. Played it on my own pretty quickly over the Christmas and New Years season. didn't go for 100% completion on art of levels, but did complete the full story. Started streaming it livedubbed on [[2022-12-03]] with my friends on my [twitch.tv channel](https://www.twitch.tv/voltagevo). # My Thoughts ## General A very exciting and interesting project by [[Kotaro Uchikoshi]], that simplified a lot of the complicated details related to his previous works in the Zero Escape Trilogy into something more palatable. The best way to describe this would be like anime CSI or Law and Order. I really appreciate that the game isn't about saving the world, or uncovering a long held secret that could rock the very existence of the world. It's a story about a detective who solves crime, and gets assigned to a string of serial killings that has a lot more going on beneath the surface. The story is concise, but still very fun to play. It's deep, but not so deep that you're questioning existentialism or morals. ## The Characters ### Kaname Date and Aiba Has there ever been such a universally appreciated visual novel protagonist as Date? He's funny, amusing, deplorable in a fun way, and all in all an excellent player in the story. He works well for the player to insert themselves into the story: this is a detective with amnesia who can't remember life beyond 6 years ago, but he's not weird. He has friends, ideals, motivations (thighs), and responsibilities. He is his own character, but just neutral enough for the player to relate. And he manages a very amusing and fun buddy-cop dynamic is with Aiba, which I think works perfectly in this game. In later games like [[AI The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative|Nirvana Initiative]] I found that the Mizuki/Aiba relationship wasn't as fun, and the Ryuki and Tama relationship was funny in its own right, but nothing compares to the originality of Date and Aiba. Aiba is really fun too since she more or less has to go along with whatever harebrained scheme Date throws out, and that leads to hilarious character interactions, especially in specific somniums. Also Aiba is the name sake of this note space, [[why myaiba]]. #### A Mundane Example of Transhumanism Aiba and Date's relationship is a weird, perhaps idealized example of [[Transhumanism]] wherein Date still has his entire agency as a human, but the the presence of Aiba allows him to accomplish superhuman feats like knowing to duck when being shot at, suriving high intensity combat situations and being able to access a wealth of knowledge without having to do anything. Aiba works well as an information supplier, but it's Date that's ultimately deriving conclusions on the information being presented. ### The ABIS Crew (Boss and Pewter) They're cool, and I like how the game makes them just shady enough to the point where you're actually shocked when one actually turns out to be a somewhat antagonistic force, and the other ends up being a genuinely good person. Pewter being gay is also kind of amusing given the amount of people in Japan who wouldn't expect that (but come on, with that outfit? Who just *wears that*?), and that it's a plot point to an extent no less. ### Mizuki One of the best characters in the game, and one of my favorite fictional characters in a vacuum. She's incredibly well-written, snarky, yet realistic for a 12-year old. Maybe a little more believable if she were like 15, but otherwise it is what it is. I love that Mizuki is the shining example of how a found family can mean so much more than blood family when she chooses Date over her parents, Shoko and Renju, at the end of the Mizuki route. My opinion on what they do with her character in [[AI The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative|Nirvana Initiative]] is for that game, but the themes of family in this game hit MUCH MUCH harder. She is another great banter partner with date too. - [[The Mizuki Route is a Found Family Story and it is Executed Incredibly Well]] ### Iris Another hugely important, but then also not at all important character in the game, Iris is the weird damsel in distress character on some routes? I don't quite know how to place Iris in the plot beyond being a suspect early on in one route and being the central protective focus of Date in the other. It's weird how she plays she different roles (but then again is she really the same person on either route?). I have to wonder if this was Uchikoshi trying to see how far he could go with shitposting in the form of a character who streams online, wanting to be an idol, who plays Shovelforge. Love me some shovelforge. #### The "real" Iris I really appreciate the way Iris's behavior foreshadows the true presence of the main antagonist during the early-to-middle parts of the game. To compare Iris's behvior, even in the idle "AI View" boxes, between the left half of the flowchart and the right side of the flowchart is akin to comparing the venomous Coral Snake to the completely harmless Milksnake. If you can spot the differences, you'll see the contrast immediately, but to someone who wouldn't kow the immediate difference (especially fi they picked the left side first), they might just assume Iris's bubbly streamer persona to be nothing more than a facade for in front of the screen. When Iris is stoically standing, or is perhaps more subdued, that is Saito as Iris, while the peppy, dancing and grooving Iris is the real Iris. ### Ota and Mayumi Ota is a pathetic little goblin, but I love that the game is fully aware of this fact. A 24-year-old dude obsessed with 18 year old Iris and friends with 12 year old Mizuki is weird. And the game doesn't pretend like it isn't, which is especially funny to me. Mayumi is also an interesting and tragic character, and I like how her sominum reflects her deteriorating mind, and it makes for a very wholesome ending by the end of Ota's route. # Favorite Moments / Memories - From my initial playthrough: Being awake at like midnight on the Annihilation route as my first route and expecting the snuff film to cut away, *and then it didn't*. - I love the twist reveal of Saito and how he hops between bodies, killing the others in the process in order to get back into his original body, the one you the player are in as Date. Love this spin on the "you were the bad guy the whole time!" twist. - It's also really funny that this game came out on my 21st birthday. - The Mizuki route and Psyncing in the captAIn - Invincible Rainbow Arrow # What were you doing when not playing this? - At the Cabin - In my apartment by my self at University Bay - Eventually streaming it with the livedub. # Relevant Links