- Cross Days
-
Cross Days クロスデイズ
(Kurosu Deizu)Genre Drama, Erotica, Harem Game Developer 0verflow Publisher Stack (Windows)
AiCherry (DVD)
PalaceGame (PSP)Genre Visual novel Rating EOCS: 18+[1] Platform Windows 2000+[2], DVDi, UMD Released March 19, 2010 (Windows)
April 28, 2011 (DVDi)
July 29, 2011 (UMD)Audio drama Radio Cross Days Station Lantis Net Radio Original run January 8, 2009 – March 25, 2010 Episodes 64 Manga Written by Yoko Kagura Illustrated by Homare Sakazuki Published by Kadokawa Shoten Demographic Seinen Magazine Monthly Comp Ace Original run April 26 – August 10, 2010 Volumes 2 Related series Cross Days (クロスデイズ Kurosu Deizu ) is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, released on March 19, 2010 for Windows.[3] It was subsequently redeveloped as a DVD game by AiCherry[4] and for the PlayStation Portable by PalaceGame.[5] Cross Days is the third installation of the School Days line of series, succeeding Summer Days.
Following the game's release, Cross Days made transitions into other media. A manga serialized in the Kadokawa Shoten magazine Monthly Comp Ace was circulated from April 26 to August 10,[6] collected into two volumes by the company. A concurrent radio drama broadcast during development and the game's original soundtrack was published by Lantis, as were three novels and other print.[7]
Contents
Gameplay
Cross Days, in typical visual novel fashion, is essentially played by watching and listening to episodic sequences of story and then selecting, or ignoring, clickable actions or responses when they are presented to the player. These choices are intricately linked to alternating routes of plot, moderately changing the direction of the story as each is made, ultimately leading to erotic scenes between characters and one of various endings. In order for the player to watch all the possible endings, he or she will effectively have to replay through the game several times, making different selections along the way.
Like its predecessors, Cross Days is presented with, considerably improved, limited animation. The game is audibly stereophonic with lip-synched voice acting, sound effects and background music.
Plot
Yuuki Ashikaga is a high school freshman in his second semester, who from his regular visits to the library, grows enamored by Kotonoha Katsura, a fellow classman who frequents to read. Despite being in a relationship, she genuinely reciprocates his interest. However things become complicated when his sister, Chie, introduces him to Roka Kitsuregawa, a friend of hers who also shares a connection with him. In an attempt to make herself seem harder to get, Roka claims that she is equally interested in Makoto Itou, another schoolmate. Her lie is unsuccessful, as Yuuki, aware that Makoto is Kotonoha's boyfriend, decides to ask her about the affair.[8][9]
Setting
Unlike in Summer Days, the story in Cross Days is not rewritten as a spin-off of the original story, but occurs during the events of it,[10][11] making the game a parallel series to School Days. As such, the undisclosed location of the story remains the same with focus made prominently on campus. All signature characters and their established relationships appear in the game, with six new cast members.
Characters
Main article: List of School Days charactersYuuki Ashikaga (足利 勇気 Ashikaga Yuuki )
- Voiced by: Mahiru Nakano
- The main protagonist of the game, Yuuki is a student in year one of class one, bright, reserved and a member of the school book club. His ordinary life takes an unusual turn when he is caught between the hearts of two girls and the confusion that ensues when one claims to like the boyfriend of the other. A generally mannered character, Yuuki suffers from an inferiority complex and is thus easily manipulated, especially by his older sister.
Roka Kitsuregawa (喜連川 路夏 Kitsuregawa Roka )
- Voiced by: Hasu Minaduki
- Roka Kitsuregawa is a student in year one of class two who is a member of the girl's basketball team. She initially comes upon Yuuki in the library, and following a more developed introduction, becomes attracted to him. Like her crush, Roka is also short and petite, standing roughly his height and equally tender.
Development
Cross Days was officially announced by 0verflow on their website on October 12, 2008;[12] the game would be released as a regular edition and limited edition bundled with a PVC figurine of Kotonoha.[13] Enterbrain notably followed up on the game in their December 2008 issue of Tech Gian, published October 21,[14][15] showing first ever screenshots, reporting on the story and characters, and mentioning that Cross Days would contain 3D animation with a meticulously reworked plot and male protagonist.[9] ASCII Media Works and Gakken later published similar articles in their respective issues of Dengeki G's Magazine, Dengeki Hime and Megami Magazine on October 30.[15]
Promotion began shortly after. Besides periodically keeping the public informed on development[16] and characters, 0verflow consecutively released downloadable, non-playable benchmarks of the game from November 1 to May 4, 2009.[17] After briefly selling telephone cards at Dream Party 2008 in Osaka on November 16,[18] the company began pre-orders on November 21, giving out limited character bookmarks to customers.[19] Stores doing likewise reportedly filled reservations in days.[20] Peculiarly, on December 5, 0verflow announced that a set of USB teledildonics, collectively known as SOM, would be compatible with Cross Days, manufactured by Goods Land.[21][22] Trial versions of the game, released to about 125 select retailers, were disclosed by 0verflow on December 26[23] and at Comiket 75.[24]
On January 8, 2009, 0verflow announced that, like School Days, Lantis would be airing a weekly, episodic Internet radio drama of the game's characters, titled Radio Cross Days, starting on January 8.[25] Broadcasts were made regularly on Thursdays, finishing up on March 25, 2010 with 64 sessions aired.[26]
Patches
On March 29, 2010 0verflow announced that an outdated DLL had been released with retail versions of the game. A 372 KB replacement was provided via download.[27] The following day another patch was released to bring copies of the game up to version 1.00a.[28]
Trojan scare
Shortly after Cross Days was released, unlicensed copies of the game began to aggressively circulate Japanese peer-to-peer networks.[29] 0verflow responded by discreetly releasing trojan horses, disguised as the game, in conjunction.[30] Users duped into running the bogus installers had private and personal data collected and published to a blog for public access;[31] NetAgent, a property rights company, reported that at least 5,510 people were tricked.[32] Those wishing to have their information removed could do so after acknowledging to viewers that they had attempted to download the game illegally. Interestingly, the intrusive nature of the virus was found to be stated in the installer's software license agreement.[33]
In spite of the otherwise effective countermeasure, a third-party iteration of the trojan was discovered in conjunction with its original, behaving identical to it but demanding compensation for copyright damages.[34] NetAgent reported that at least 661 had been tricked with a payout of at least ¥3,833,800 or roughly $49,912.62.[32] Avast! was later found to trigger false-positives in legitimate copies.[35]
Reception
Cross Days was met with critically mixed reception. Prior to its release date on March 19, 2010, the game had been postponed a total of six times: February 27, 2009, April 24,[36] June 26, November 20,[37] December 18,[38] and January 29, 2010.[39] Like Summer Days, the much anticipated game was released to several promotional campaigns,[40] many of which were intercity screening venues that spanned operation from March 5 to 14.[41][42] It premiered as the third most sold game on Getchu.com during this time,[43] ranking twelfth for the first half of the year[44] and thirty-first for the whole.[45]
Media
Manga
Based on the premise of the game, Cross Days was published into a manga. Written by Yoko Kagura and illustrated by Homare Sakazuki, 0verflow announced on April 4, 2010 that it would make its serialization debut in Monthly Comp Ace on April 26.[46] The series was circulated until August 10, published by Kadokawa Shoten into a two volumes released November 26, 2011[47] and June 25, 2011[48] respectively.
Books and publications
In addition to the manga, Cross Days was made into other print. The first of these was a strategy guide and artwork book by Junji Goto, character artist for 0verflow, titled "Cross Days Visual Fanbook" (ビジュアル・ファンブック Vijuaru Fanbukku ) and published by Kinema Junpousha on August 7, 2010.[49] The subsequent three releases were light novels by different authors but whose cover art was drawn by Goto and illustrated by Jet Yowatari, each retelling the story of the game. Cross Days, a novel, was published by Harvest Books on September 15, written by Mutsuki Mizusaki.[50] Another novel titled "Cross Days ~Omona ru uso, Omona ru omoi~" (クロスデイズ ~重なる嘘, 重なる想い~ ) was released on October 22, 2010 by Shueisha, authored by Hiro Akizuki.[51] The final novel, "Cross Days Kitsuregawa Michi Natsu no koi no Ruru" (Cross Days 喜連川路夏の恋のルール ) was written by Yoko Kagura, author for the manga adaption, and was published on October 29 by Kill Time Communication.[52]
Audio CDs
In a fashion similar to its predecessors, the original soundtrack of Cross Days was reproduced for distribution alongside the game, initially scheduled for February 27, 2009.[53] As this was the first of the later six postponements however, the album was republished and deferred to June 26. Following the second delay, the soundtrack was held indefinitely until 0verflow announced on April 16, 2010[54] that it would be released April 24. Containing the game's theme songs and background music, the album consisted of one disc and twenty-five tracks.[55]
Radio Cross Days was the second and final audio compilations made for the game. It was announced for release by 0verflow on March 26, 2010[56] and published by Lantis. The set consisted of two separate discs, each holding thirty-two segments of broadcast comprising the sixty-four total that were aired.[57][58]
Merchandise
Considerable effort was made to market and promote Cross Days before and after its release, including the sale of brand merchandise. Besides the figurine bundled with the limited edition, 0verflow and partners sold wall scrolls,[59] shower curtains, cushion mousepads, dakimakura[60] and Zippo lighters.[61]
References
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External links
- Cross Days at 0verflow (Japanese)
- Cross Days at the Visual Novel Database
Categories:- Manga series
- Eroge
- Japan-exclusive video games
- Visual novels
- Bishōjo games
- 2010 video games
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