Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume is a Japanese post-apocalyptic visual novel developed by Key, a brand of Visual Art's whose previous works include Kanon and Air. It was released over the Internet on November 29, 2004 for Windows PCs, and is rated for all ages. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation Portable, as well as mobile devices. The story centers around a middle-aged man who comes across a malfunctioning robot in a dead city. The man, known simply as "the junker", stays with this robot for a time and attempts to fix the projector of the planetarium where the story takes place.
Key defines Planetarian as a "kinetic novel", since its gameplay offers no choices or alternate endings. Instead, the player proceeds through the story solely by reading. The story is written by Yuichi Suzumoto and Planetarian is one of two Key games not to have Itaru Hinoue as an artist, using Eeji Komatsu instead. The game's soundtrack was composed and arranged by Key's signature composers Magome Togoshi and Shinji Orito. A light novel of short stories set in the world of Planetarian was released in April 2006, and three audio dramas have also been produced. In the February 2007 issue of SoftBank Creative's Gemaga magazine, the PS2 version ranked first for console games in terms of satisfaction; the game had ranked fourth in the previous issue.
GAMEPLAY:
Planetarian is a post-apocalyptic visual novel in which the player assumes the role of the junker. Unlike traditional visual novels, no choices are given to the player in Planetarian to advance the story, and there is only one possible ending; this is what Key referred to as a kinetic novel. The player can choose when to advance to the next dialogue screen or put the game on auto play. In this respect, the player does not play the game as if it were a video game, but plays it rather more like one would play a music track on a CD or play a DVD film. During gameplay, the player can choose to hide the text from view and go back to any previous lines. The game can be saved at any point in any of the five save slots available, and a load option is available where the player can load any of the automatically saved chapter markers, or choose to load any of the manually saved games.
By length of story, Planetarian is the shortest of Key's games. Excluding the opening and ending sequences, there are 16 parts to the story; the first half is set within the planetarium while the latter half is set outside in the ruined city where the planetarium resides. The novel takes four hours and forty minutes to complete on auto play. After the game has been completed at least once, two new options appear on the title screen. The first is a feature that allows the player to view twenty images of CG artwork observed in the game. The second option allows the player to listen to eight of the nine music tracks featured in the game
PLOT:
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world. It is said that due to the depletion of natural resources, overpopulation, and the failure of the Space Exploration Project, humanity has virtually eradicated itself through biological and nuclear warfare, turning a once prosperous civilization into complete ruin, cast in darkness and poisoned by constant rain from nuclear fallout. One military invasion in the past was at Mare Nectaris. The bloodshed continues 30 years after the war in a dystopic world via automated war machines, which kill anyone trespassing into their territory. Of the remaining humans, there are those known as "junkers" who go around scavenging for anything in order to survive; the protagonist in the story is one.
The main location where most of the story takes place is the fictional Flowercrest Department Store in a derelict city. It is based on the real Matsubishi Department Store of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka in Japan, although the planetarium on the rooftop is fictitious. The onset of the story takes place within the planetarium which is where the protagonist first meets Yumemi. The most prominent feature in the room when a show is not taking place is the large black planetarium projector called "Miss Jena", which is placed on a stage in front of the seats. The planetarium has electricity when the protagonist arrives, but only for a short time. Once a year, for 168 hours, electricity in the planetarium is operational, but the projector is broken. The rest of the floors in the department store are in ruins; mold and rats run rampant.
STORY:
While dodging detection from war machines in a ruined city, the protagonist enters a building with a dome on the roof to search for usable supplies. Once inside the dome, he meets Yumemi, who offers to show him a special commemorative projection especially reserved for the 2,500,000th customer, although he is in fact the 2,497,290th customer. Despite his aggravation with her, he agrees to attend her show. However, the projector device, "Miss Jena", has broken down and is in need of repair. After he repairs it, Yumemi starts the show, presenting a projection of the starry sky, something that cannot be seen from the surface because of the polluted skies. The power goes out in the midst of the show, but Yumemi proceeds through the rest of the event with no visuals at the request of the protagonist.
MANUFACTURER'S DESCRIPTION:
SF digital Novell to stage the near future, depicting the interaction with humans and robots! One day, the main character in the world, to recover the relics valuables left behind artificial plummeted by war triggered by the collapse of the universe development is, meet commentary employee robot a "dream" in the planetarium. Day and flows quietly and "dreaming" people. Every day, such as nostalgia is far shake his mind ....
FEATURES:
- First person perspective.
- 2D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- SCIFI, Futuristic & Anime themes.
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