AI: The Somnium Files - Review (PS4) - Tarks Gauntlet

[@Crossbattle777]

Ai: The Somnium Files WAS my first visual novel. Now my Switch is just a VN machine

[@unleashed2724]

I have a hard time getting into VNs. But not Zero Escape and AI. Maybe because they didn't really feel like a VN, as it has gameplay elements. I guess you can say Ace Attorney has that as well (That took me a bit to get into, in the beginning for some reason though)

[@HFOfficial]

The grand finale of this game changed this from a great game to one of my favorite games of all time.

[@butterballporkbunthetoymak]

I kind of wish we got a Aiba standee instead of the Aset standee with the collectors edition. Eyeball Pikachu is adorable.

[@Neo-Abobo]

I actually passed on this game when it was released despite being a fan of most Spike Chunsoft games. This review has totally opened my eyes and changed my mind on it though. I tracked down a copy of the game for ps4 shortly after watching this video and am now stoked to get to it.

[@jmay8204]

Thanks for going back and reviewing this.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

What good timing on this review, I just picked it up and started playing. I was a bit worried because I didn’t like 999 at all, but so far so good. The humour is charming and the characters are cool.

[@MikManc]

I had to stop watching this review after 5 minutes because you completely sold me on the premise of the game and now I want to play it! I will definitely watch the whole video once I've played it and don't have to worry about spoilers haha.

[@NeoBlueCD]

AI was one of my favorite games of last year and I'm so happy that you finally reviewed it. It's truly a fantastic game.

[@ZMangz]

"Idol obsessed disappointment," I felt that one. Game looks really cool! Also digging the hair, mangz.

[@TarksGauntlet]

I am definitely not digging the hair. This covid-cut is not by choice haha. And for as much of a disappointment as Ota seems sometimes, he's a great character who really redeems himself.

[@ZMangz]

@@TarksGauntlet Join me in long hair gang. 2020 will be the rawring 20s.

[@sidewinder2057]

I'm a huge fan of Uchikoshi's work, but at the beginning, first 3-5 hours i was kinda disappointed by lack of challenging puzzles or deeper narrative. But it grew more complex and interesting, emotional and mind blowing the more I played. Somniums became more strategic, characters way more interesting and layered. It started like 7/10, it ended like 9.5/10, it hit all the right spots just like Uchikoshi's other works.

[@maroXUprising]

Will definitely pick this one at some point. There’s just a lot of games right now that I have an “eye” for. Plus my rpg Backlog is looking bottomless each day. Great review overall, heard a good amount of positive feedback before and this review seems no different. 👌🏻

[@thaiboypsp3000]

I’m playing this right now and was wondering why I never saw your review on it.

[@churibman]

Good timing on the review, it's 50% off in the eshop right now

[@ZackAceZero]

What a coincidence i just started it 2 hours ago! Feels fresh!

[@Fast_Travel_Gamer]

Holy crap this game looks incredible. I somehow forgot about this game again. I need to finally pick it up!

[@ZeromasterReviews]

i love how you always make games i'd pass on sound so interesting that i need to seek them out. Awesome job as always!

[@tjgii1207]

You sold me with 90% sodium, haha- Great review!

[@Road_to_Dawn]

16:33 I also had to look her up when I played the game, because she absolutely killed it as Mizuki and was the best part of an already amazing game. To my understanding, it’s pronounced “Bet-ger”, with a hard G sound.

[@Umbra_Witcher]

I LOVED this game

[@MultiWouf]

Game doesn't last long, but is mesmerizing the whole way through. Like, fireworks

[@TarksGauntlet]

Won't lie, The full run took me about 35 hours. Not quite as long as something like Virtues last reward, but definitely a decent run time for a visual novel.

[@Safersephiroth777]

I like the REIVEW of this game. No hard feelings of course.

[@TarksGauntlet]

I'm not entirely sure what this comment means to be honest. So, no hard feelings taken lol.

[@Safersephiroth777]

@@TarksGauntlet Oh you just have a spelling mistake on the title. That is.

[@TarksGauntlet]

Jesus christ. When I read your comment I looked to my title like 10 times to see if that was the case and my mind was just not picking it up! I guess nobody elses was either since you're the first to catch it. Thanks for the heads up dude. Fixing that now!

[@Safersephiroth777]

@@TarksGauntlet Eh that is fine. I don't really mind for mistakes like these. We all do these. I care for mistakes like wrong info and such and you never make mistakes like these anyways or if you do you fix them immediately. Keep up the good work!

[@DuoBeard]

Hungry Guy the sodium files LOL What the hell!!! Bwahaha I’ve heard this game is awesome, but hot damn. Looks like it certain is a must play. I have a feeling I would too recommend this game

[@WorthlessWinner]

As fast as this is compared to other visual novels, the intro is one of the slowest parts of the story and maybe one of the worst bits as it dumps a lot of bizarre stuff on you. i love the mixture of jokes and serious elements, I think they compliment each other well for the most part, though sometimes the silliness goes a bit too far; some of the "do these even count as jokes" ones seem like they were added just to raise the joke count, but there's more than enough well set up jokes that land when least expected to make up for that. 8:00 thankfully the punishment for clicking wrongly is usually a funny scene. I found myself deliberately trying NOT to get the right answer so i could see all the wrong ones first. 10:00 the game-play is a bit disappointing - they introduced a lot of things but didn't develop any one of them very much. But the attraction here is the plot, not the game. I love how some of the characters were introduced in KZbin and Twitter accounts in the real world a year before the game came out (the latter of which are somehow still being updated) as it helps flesh them out more than a game could. 18:20 there was a lot less exposition of that sort than in most visual novels and when it happens, it's usually telling you something about the character describing it to you in the process. The glitches and technical issues are the main issue I have with it.

[@quezxx]

Any chance of a review of 428: Shibuya Scramble?? Since getting into visual novels roughly 5 years ago this was the one I was initially put off by for some reason...finally got around to playing it and it was worth the wait. My top 5 VN: 1) Steins gate 2) Zero Escape trilogy 3) Danganronpa trilogy 4) Shibuya Scramble 5) Ai: The Somnium Files Any others anyone can recommend (PS4 only)? I’ve also played: Hatoful Boyfriend Chaos Child Death Mark Our World Is Ended Punch Line WILL: A Wonderful World Worldend Syndrome Va11 hall-a Zanki Zero And have on my to play list: Clannad Raging loop Root letter Spirit hunter NG Crystar The house in Fata Morgana Thanks!

[@TarksGauntlet]

428 was incredible. Reviewed that one here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWTagX-Erdhjes0 Some of the others in your "upcoming" list like Root Letter and Spirit Hunter are pretty sweet too. Clannad is next on my list since it finally got a physical release in North America. Also, not entirely sure Crystar is a visual novel. It's a game I've been pretty interested in though.

[@quezxx]

Sweet, will check the review out now! I think I’ve only been subscribed to you for 6 months or so and must have missed it when scrolling through your past videos. I think I remember seeing Crystar published by Spike Chunsoft so just automatically added it to the list, maybe I’ll watch a few short gameplay clips before pulling the trigger or wait for a possible review from yourself before pulling the trigger haha.

[@Road_to_Dawn]

Incredibly late reply, but I saw you had VA11 Hall-A in your list. A good companion game to that (made by a different developer, I believe) is one called Coffee Talk. While VA11 Hall-A is cyberpunk themed and set in a bar, Coffee Talk is fantasy-in-a-modern-time and, as the name implies, is set in a coffee shop.

[@sionteemo9697]

Best VN last year for me

[@archaen2321]

Just FYI, it's Pronounced "Eye: The Somnium Files". Great review!

[@TarksGauntlet]

I didn't really know what its canon pronunciation was. Always thought it was meant to be ambiguous cause of its play on words. A.I. - artificial intelligence Ai - eye, eyeball, Aiba (the A.I. Eyeball) and love, one of the core themes of the game. Kind of lame knowing it's meant to translate to "Love, the Somnium Files." It's not nearly as intriguing as a title.

[@archaen2321]

@@TarksGauntlet Yeah, I found out in an interview with Uchikoshi-san. They seem to have liked Ai=love and Eye=cyber eye as their play on words for whatever reason.

[@R3GARnator]

So Inception: The Game.

[@HybridAngelZero]

I know I'll catch hell for saying this, but I have something of a distaste for the Zero Escape series, so while I loved AI's art and character designs, it pretty much fell off my radar... but this review has actually convinced me to pick it up sometime, it looks really cool and absolutely radiates charm and heart.

[@TarksGauntlet]

Hey, if it ain't for you it ain't for you. Nobody should be upset that you simply have a different opinion. I loved the trilogy but felt especially in the third entry it took a bit of a nosedive. They're not immune to criticism.

[@HybridAngelZero]

@@TarksGauntlet True, I'm just used to getting... backlash for some of my more divisive opinions xD AI looks absolutely awesome though! :D

[@bamboofighting4576]

lol I haven't used KZbin much for months, come to look for a video on this game while it's on sale, and find you! Must be destiny, guess I have to buy it now.

[@butterballporkbunthetoymak]

Spoilers below BTW: So I will admit that I liked the game quite a bit but I felt like it could’ve been a lot better. For example a lot of evidence points to Date being the old Cyclops serial killer. And while I did enjoy the twist on both the true and worst possible route I feel like certain things could’ve been explored better. For example: I went down the left branch first particularly Mizuki’s and I was already kind of picking up on certain things like for example when Aiba said that they must have increased your dosage. Along with So telling Date near the end of Mizuki’s route that “you’re gonna be killed by your own father.” So before I started down the right branch I filled out the left as much as possible, my initial theory was that Date body and mind was So’s son and that he lost his memories when he committed the original serial killings six years ago (At first I believed that he may have been in shot or stabbed in the eye when one of the victims tried to fight back) however (When I went down the believe Iris route I changed my theory slightly, I believed that while Date was still So’s son So was part of a cult that needed sacrifices so Date from six years ago was helping out and because of Aiba’s protests of Date doing what Iris says in her shovel Forge Psync Iris might have been part of said cult. It didn’t help that at times her character portrait looked smug while giving instructions. ) So basically until going down the don’t believe Iris route and eventually the everyone is dead/murdered route I didn’t even think that the New cyclops killings and the old ones were the same person. For example on the start of the worst possible ending I figured that Boss killed So because he was corrupt and had been obstructing the investigation, due to playing the Zero escape series I thought that it was the true route first. Where Boss basically knew what had happened in the past routes and decided to kill So, to one get him out of the way and as a message to us because I still believed that Date was completely and utterly So’s son. When I saw the video on her computer I was like oh god she’s gonna kill us we were the original cyclops killer and killed someone close to her. We are screwed. Interestingly enough I wasn’t mad that I was wrong but more so that with all the bread crumbs and possibilities thrown out there only a very small handful of them were taken advantage of. More like I was slightly sad to see some of those awesome set ups go to waste. One route could’ve had Date be the original killer trying to stop the new serial killer and depending on your relationship ship with characters like Aiba, Boss or Mizuki you could’ve either taken down the new killer since you’ve turned your life around or if you do things like ignore Mizuki (which could be something like not asking if she’s okay or if she feels alright at least once during the route. If you do then she feels like you truly care about her and if you don’t then she begins to feel neglected because you’re treating her just like Renju.) and have a low relationship with Boss or Aiba then you decide to team up with the new serial killer because you don’t care about them so why should you want to protect them. While the above is just an example I feel like if more of the threads that were laid out got explored the game could be soooo much better. TLDR: While I adore the game I wish that it did explore all that it could’ve have. Which could’ve made the game even better. Also I don’t care about Hitomi at all, when Saito threatened to blow her up in the worst ending I was just like okay, I not giving you your body back lol. Did anyone else feel that way?

[@takerushirogane7583]

Mizuki best girl

[@toooydoeur]

🤢

[@willthemost]

Soooo when are you gonna play Root Double

[@TarksGauntlet]

Root Double? Not sure. Root Film? Hopefully around release.

[@willthemost]

Tarks Gauntlet gotcha, Root Double was directed by Takumi Nakazawa who was working under Uchikoshi during the infinity trilogy and 999/VLR and I think it’s a fantastic visual novel, it’s pure VN tho so I’m not sure how much that aligns with your taste/review scheme Also I just wanna say I love the level of engagement to where you reply to a comment that I just left on a 6 month old video :)

[@TarksGauntlet]

I'm still a pretty small channel so I'm lucky to still be able to catch every comment haha. I might not respond to them all, but I definitely see them. Also, I had no idea about who worked on Root Double. Will be adding it to my steam wishlist promptly. Thanks for the low-down!

[@willthemost]

Tarks Gauntlet no problem! It’s slower paced but I really loved it overall

[@TarksGauntlet]

@@willthemost I've played all the Legend of Heroes games in the current continuity. I got no problem with a slower pace :P

[@DracoRach]

I liked the game, but it was a little too silly and dumb for me, for example, they overuse the dirty magazine joke and even using it as a plot device to save the protagonist a couple of times......very anticlimatic. Also, the ending.....not sure if i loved it or hated it.

[@dynastystar5515]

I’ve already decided to pass on it for its identity politics