Jake Hunter: Memories of the Past

[grim_tales]

I just started playing this game and its OK so far. I like the noir atmosphere. But because its a hard boiled story (Hotel Dusk like) theres not much humour.
The animation could be better, theres just 1 stock picture when you speak with someone.
The localisation works well, Jake seems to smoke an awful lot
It can be annoying sometimes when I'm not sure how to progress, choosing the right option on the dialogue tree to make something happen.
Do the episodes have to be played in order?

This post has been edited by grim_tales on Mar 16 2011, 10:19 AM

[Tantei KID]

I played the original, so I'm not familiar with the localised names.

You don't really need to play the cases in order, though it's a bit more fun. Though you could skip most of them and just play the last case ("The Old Memory" in the original), because somewhere in the beginning you're given the choice to go over some old cases of Jinguuji (== playing the earlier cases).

Regarding the animation, most the cases are actually ports of mobile games, so they're rather light on a lot of things.

[professor_wright]

I only got to early case 3 before I sold it. I just thought it was SO BORING.

[Judgemaster64]

I love the game and wish they bring more over(and do it right the first time around)

[Tantei KID]

I wouldn't expect too much of new releases, as the last 4 Jinguuji releases have not been translated. I'm going through the 'newest' (released in the summer last year) at the moment, which is 'more of the same', but still awesome.

While the first DS-game focuses a lot on Jinguuji as a character (naturally though, featuring remakes of the original Famicom games), the later ones feature much more natural, modern hardboiled detective stories, going into topics as coin-locker babies, estate development in Shinjuku, NEET's, homeless people, hikikomori, bullying at school, the effect of mass-media etc. They're actually good stories, and it's a shame people don't seem to focus on that at all. (To totally plug my own site, I occasionally make use of my Jinguuji Saburou tag.)

[grim_tales]

I had a look at the Jake Hunter Unleashed episodes though - they look mad

[grim_tales]

Just finished the first case and [spoiler]In some ways it reminded me of AA 3-2 because of the story about surgery gone wrong - and the ending was quite emotional. The music was good. The resolution to the case was rather AA-like, IMO.[/spoiler]

This post has been edited by grim_tales on Mar 18 2011, 05:27 PM

[Tantei KID]

I touch upon it here, but while the first case is considered a remake of the Famicom original, it features a totally different story. The plot has been changed completely and while some names that appear in the original also appear in the remake (for example the victim), the characters are totally different.

The original story went a bit like this (including solution!!!) (it's been a while, so forgive the gaps):

[spoiler]The body of a hostess is found in Shinjuku Central Park. The mystery is how the body got there, as policemen stationed at Shinjuku Central Park are pretty sure no one could have committed the murder and left the body there, as they were patrolling. Jinguuji is asked to investigate by Kumano, and finds out that the hostess was the illegit child of a wealthy land owner and that he died the same day. In the end, Jinguuji unveils that the hostess was killed by her boyfriend (because she wanted to dump him) and the land owner's secretary (for the money) and that they dumped the body in Central Park by using a hangglider. [/spoiler]

Gameplay-wise, the changes are for the best though. The first game was very quirky, with a RPG-style top-down Central Park to explore, a time-system (connected to smoking) and other strange things that made it kinda cumbersome to play through.

[Jack Lamber]

In my desperate attempt to find more golden games like PW and PL (and now 999) I stumbled upon this one. Would this be a good buy for me? I'm pretty fussy about mystery games, especially visual novels. For example, I haven't really cared about finishing Hotel Dusk yet, because the story wasn't intriguing enough for me.

[grim_tales]

How come I cant continue my game on the same file?

[Tantei KID]

Because it wouldn't really matter / add something. All cases are unlocked from the beginning anyway and every story is stand-alone.

[grim_tales]

Fair enough I guess

[grim_tales]

In the 2nd case some of Jake's exchanges and thought processes reminded me of Phoenix [spoiler]like the part with the crazy quiz guy in Chinatown, it was a bit like Nick meeting Dr. Hotti This case was more tragic than the first one, the ending was similar though.[/spoiler]

Jake has a thing for Yulia IMO, but he can't say it.

This post has been edited by grim_tales on Mar 20 2011, 09:42 AM