Info about Memories Off 2nd:

Official game description:
\*This game is only available in Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.  
「メモリーズオフ」シリーズ２作目  
2001年に登場した恋愛アドベンチャーゲーム「メモリーズオフ2nd」をフルＨＤ移植。  
ストーリーを読み進め、選択肢を選んでいくシンプルなアドベンチャーゲーム方式を採用。  
選択肢でストーリーが分岐。複数のエンディングへと進んでいきます。  
収録シナリオ  
本編  
雪螢  
AfterStory  
Introduction  
かけがえのない想いと引き換えに……  
主人公「伊波健」は、私立の高校に通う高校３年生。  
ずっと変わらないと、信じていた。  
半年前から交際している同級生の「白河ほたる」との幸せな状況も、２人の関係も。  
しかし、ある出来事を境に変化が訪れる。  
些細な誤解。すれ違う心……。  
小さな変化は、やがて取り返しのつかないところまで膨らんで……。  
そんな最中、２人の間にある数え切れぬほどの想い出を振り切ってでも、一緒にいたいと思える女性が現れたとしたら……。  
健は選ぶことができるのだろうか？  
これから共に、かけがえのない想い出を築いていく、その人を────。  
STAFF  
キャラクターデザイン：ささきむつみ  
シナリオ：打越鋼太郎、中澤工、日暮茶坊、三浦洋晃、西川眞音、館山緑、笹成稀多郎  
キャスト：  
白河ほたる：水樹奈々  
南つばめ：池澤春菜  
飛世巴：仲西環  
寿々奈鷹乃：千葉紗子  
白河静流：菊池志穂  
相摩希・望：南里侑香  
舞方香菜：松来未祐  
稲穂信：間島淳司  
中森翔太：福山潤  
霧島小夜子：浅野るり

Release date: Jan 31, 2024

Categories: Visual Novel, Dating Simulation, Multiple Endings, Branching Story, Romance, Slice-of-Life, Anime Art Style

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 0; verdict: Insufficient Evidence; summary: No review content was supplied, so no Linux/Proton launch, performance, anti-cheat, launcher, or workaround evidence could be evaluated. The audit remains inconclusive.
- Steam Deck: score 80; verdict: Broken: launch failure; summary: The Steam Deck experience is mixed: two reviews confirm strong controller support, readable text, correct controller icons, and acceptable default performance, while one review reports a complete launch failure that persists after repeated redownloads. Because the game will not start for at least one user, the experience meets the criteria for a broken result despite positive compatibility reports.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00
  - Reasoning: The concrete pricing evidence is 59 CNY (roughly US$8.2) for standard entries, with additional bundle discounts and routine sales making purchases cheaper. Reviewers describe value as average due to dated presentation and translation issues, and they advise buying on sale or in a bundle rather than at a premium. This supports a fair base-game range around US$5–$10, with the current US$9.99 price only acceptable at the upper end.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 19.5h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Two reviews explicitly report total playtime for Memories Off 2nd: one says about 20 hours, and another says roughly 18-20 hours while describing six routes and multiple endings. This supports a full-game completion estimate of about 19.5 hours. No review provides a separate single-story completion time, a per-session length, or an endgame/afterstory duration, so those metrics are null.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Nostalgic Memories Off Veteran (buy)
    - Motivation: Reliving youthful memories and reconnecting with a beloved classic romance story.
    - Playstyle: Replays favorite routes, compares the remaster to past experiences, and values familiar characters and series history.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Series-Curious Newcomer (buy)
    - Motivation: Finding an accessible, acclaimed entry point into the Memories Off series and romance visual novels.
    - Playstyle: Starts with recommended routes or guidance, often beginning with Hotaru, and samples the game before deciding whether to explore the franchise.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Hotaru Loyalist / Pure-Love Devotee (buy)
    - Motivation: Protecting Hotaru and experiencing an emotionally pure, exclusive romance.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on Hotaru's route, avoids routes that feel like betrayal, and judges the story through the heroine's emotional suffering.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: pure love warrior
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Love-Triangle Melodrama Seeker (buy)
    - Motivation: Experiencing intense emotional conflict, heartbreak, and character psychology through a love-triangle story.
    - Playstyle: Explores multiple routes and painful choices to see different emotional outcomes and moral tensions.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Beloved heroine Hotaru (weight 0.34): Multiple reviewers adore Hotaru Shirakawa, praising her charm, kindness, and popularity. She is considered one of the series' most popular heroines and the official designated heroine.
- Emotional Hotaru route (weight 0.24): The Hotaru route is described as a timeless, bittersweet romance with a touching ending. Reviewers highlight its strong sense of mutual love and emotional impact.
- Series peak (weight 0.2): The game is considered the best in the series and the pinnacle, with a unique structure that makes it a masterpiece.
- Improved character development (weight 0.19): Character development is much improved compared to the first game, with deep and delicate growth.
- Masterpiece pure love route (weight 0.15): The Hotaru route is praised as a masterpiece-level pure love story and the most perfect pure love answer. It is recommended as the best single route to play.
- Excellent music (weight 0.14): The music is praised as excellent, and the piano BGM enhances the atmosphere.
- Charming art style (weight 0.14): The classic art style has a unique charm and is nostalgic and beautiful, with attractive character designs.
- Excellent voice acting (weight 0.09): The Japanese voice performances are particularly effective, with Nana Mizuki's portrayal of Hotaru receiving high praise for excellence.
- Tear-jerking ending (weight 0.09): The ending for Hotaru, including the bad ending, is described as very moving and almost bringing players to tears.
- Satisfying Takano route (weight 0.09): The Takano route is highly satisfying and well-liked, with a simple story that works well and big moments handled better than in some other routes.
- Classic and nostalgic (weight 0.09): The game is considered a classic of its genre, unforgettable and nostalgic.
- Engaging story (weight 0.09): The story is highly engaging, rich, and vivid, worth experiencing.
- Emotional story (weight 0.09): The story is emotional, realistic, and tear-jerking.
- Fun and good game (weight 0.08): Reviewers find the game fun to play and quite good overall.
- Included scenarios (weight 0.08): The game includes main story, Snow Hotaru, and AfterStory scenarios.
- Branching structure (weight 0.08): There are no instant bad-end branches other than final choices, and multiple endings and branches are available.

Common complaints:
- Protagonist is unlikable (weight 0.64): The protagonist Ken is widely criticized as indecisive, selfish, and a 'scumbag' who repeatedly hurts Hotaru. His lack of appealing qualities makes other heroines falling for him illogical.
- Technical and UI issues (weight 0.62): Players report various technical problems: lighting errors, aspect ratio cropping, missing quit button, no sprite viewer, poor save mechanics, and key binding issues. Some also encounter launch errors.
- Poor translation quality (weight 0.55): Many reviewers report frequent typos, mistranslations, and missing words in the official Chinese localization, making the text hard to read. Specific examples include mistranslating '逢魔之时' as '危险时刻' and inconsistent name transliterations.
- Guilt from cheating routes (weight 0.47): Players feel strong guilt and emotional pain when pursuing routes other than Hotaru's, as the protagonist cheats on his girlfriend. This is described as forcing the player to make morally wrong choices and ruining immersion.
- Route quality varies (weight 0.42): Several routes, such as Tsubame's, Shizuru's, and Takano's, are criticized for poor writing, forced misunderstandings, or lack of emotional payoff. Some routes are also too short.
- Other routes feel painful (weight 0.37): Routes other than Hotaru's are often described as agonizing, triggering moral guilt, and requiring players to force themselves through them.
- Story writing is weak (weight 0.31): Many find the writing overall poor, with forced drama, clichés, and lack of emotional impact. The story feels dated and less impactful than similar titles.
- Love triangle causes discomfort (weight 0.28): The central love triangle and infidelity themes evoke frustration and emotional discomfort for many players. Some find the cheating plots boring and repetitive across routes.
- Hotaru suffers in all routes (weight 0.26): Hotaru is repeatedly mistreated or made to suffer in every route, which players find hard to accept. The game is described as a 'Hotaru abuse zone'.
- Poor common route structure (weight 0.25): The common route mixes in character routes and makes the protagonist seem like a womanizer. Having a perfect girlfriend from the start removes motivation to pursue others.
- Dated art and interface (weight 0.18): The artwork and UI feel old-fashioned to players used to modern visual novels. Some note distorted proportions and a drop in art quality compared to earlier versions.
- Lack of cloud saves (weight 0.15): The series lacks Steam Cloud support, and some players have lost save data as a result.
- Voice and BGM issues (weight 0.1): Voice volume is sometimes too low, and BGM lowering is insufficient. Some players also note the opening movie was not remade.
- Bad endings feel forced (weight 0.08): Some players feel the good endings are forced, while certain bad endings seem more natural or better written.
- Pricing and value concerns (weight 0.07): The game's price is considered unfriendly, and the new game 'Double Reflection' has scary pricing with rough systems.
- Missing original content (weight 0.07): The remaster lacks some fan-submitted content from older PC versions and does not include append content.
- Hint system flaws (weight 0.07): The hint system in the remake shows correct answers during quizzes and cannot be turned off, which reduces player agency.
- Too many cryptic characters (weight 0.05): The story includes numerous vague and cryptic characters (riddlers), which some players find frustrating.
- No English language support (weight 0.05): The game lacks English language support, limiting accessibility for non-Chinese speakers.

Gameplay feedback:
- Multiple Character Routes Structure (weight 0.97): The game is structured around multiple character routes, each focusing on a different heroine. Choices determine which route the player enters, leading to various romantic outcomes.
- Visual Novel Genre (weight 0.74): The game is a visual novel (galgame) with emotional storytelling and slice-of-life romance elements. It includes multiple routes and endings typical of the genre.
- Specific Routes and Heroines (weight 0.44): The game features specific routes for heroines such as Hotaru, Nanami, Takano, Shizuru, and others, including a Snow Hotaru route.
- Branching Choices and Multiple Endings (weight 0.37): Player choices affect the story direction and determine which route and ending the player experiences. Multiple endings encourage replayability to explore different decisions.
- Afterstory and True Ending (weight 0.29): The game includes an afterstory and a true ending route, providing additional content beyond the individual heroine routes.
- Infidelity Theme and Breakup (weight 0.2): To pursue other romantic interests, the protagonist must break up with his initial girlfriend. This creates a theme of infidelity and emotional conflict.
- Romance Adventure and Dating Sim (weight 0.19): The game is described as a romance adventure and dating simulation visual novel with multiple romantic routes.
- Protagonist Starts with Girlfriend (weight 0.18): The story begins with the protagonist already having a girlfriend. This initial relationship plays a central role in the narrative and route decisions.
- Love Triangle and Emotional Struggles (weight 0.09): The story revolves around a love triangle and the protagonist's emotional struggles as he navigates multiple relationships.
- Common Route as Main Heroine (weight 0.09): The main heroine's route functions as the common route, meaning the initial story progression is tied to her perspective.

Performance notes:
- Cloud save data lost (weight 0.05): One reviewer reported that their cloud save data disappeared, indicating a potential synchronization or storage reliability issue that could cost players progress.
- Game fails to launch (weight 0.05): A reviewer stated the game does not launch and shows a config file read failure error, preventing play entirely for affected users.
- Lighting effects render incorrectly (weight 0.05): A reviewer noted incorrect light effects, specifically citing the beach swimming scene in Shizuru's route. This is a visual bug affecting scene presentation.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for newcomers (weight 0.21): Several reviewers describe it as the most classic and recommended entry point for newcomers to the series. Others consider it suitable for players new to the series and can be experienced independently.
- Worth playing overall (weight 0.21): Many reviewers state the game is worth playing, recommends playing it, or directly recommends it. Others say it is worth recommending despite some route flaws or highly recommended to experience regardless of whether you played the previous game.
- Must-play for series fans (weight 0.19): Frequently recommended as essential for fans of the Memories Off series and as a must-play entry. Many reviewers strongly recommend it to anyone asking which entry in the series is most worth buying.
- Route order recommendations (weight 0.15): Reviewers suggest playing the main heroine first, then other routes, and returning to the main heroine. Specific orders include prequel Snow Hotaru then Hotaru then Shizuru, and Tobari to Otonashi to Shizuru to Aima to Tsubame to Hotaru, with Hotaru last if completing everything.
- Good entry without prior games (weight 0.15): Recommended to play 2nd even without playing 1st, and can be experienced independently. Also recommended for those interested in the series regardless of previous games.
- Not recommended for some players (weight 0.14): Not recommended for those who need to empathize with the protagonist to enjoy the game, pure love fans should be cautious, and new players are advised to skip the teacher's route. Others recommend avoiding it if you prefer older women or dislike cheating themes.
- Hotaru route highly praised (weight 0.12): If only playing one route, Hotaru's is recommended; some suggest Hotaru's or Shizuru's if time is limited. Playing non-Hotaru routes is even described as a crime, implying players should stick to Hotaru.
- Recommended for pure romance (weight 0.12): Highly recommended for players who want to experience a pure and romantic love story. Also recommended for those interested in a solid slice-of-life romance with a great plot and exploring characters' inner worlds.
- Classic literary visual novel (weight 0.12): Recommended for those interested in a well-written visual novel with classical music themes, and as a literary work it is a perfect visual novel with a moving story. Also recommended for players who enjoy serious literary-style galgames despite the sloppy translation.
- Language barrier warning (weight 0.12): Not recommended for players who cannot comfortably understand Japanese, Simplified Chinese, or Traditional Chinese, as English is not supported. However, it is great for Japanese learners and those seeking an old-school visual novel for practicing Japanese.
- Recommended with caution (weight 0.12): Recommended to buy provided you have the right mindset, and only for players without strong moral baggage or those who like Hotaru. Also recommended for those who want to experience a heartbreaking love story about cheating.
- Nostalgia and classic appeal (weight 0.12): If playing to revisit your youth, be sure to try this game, and if here to experience a classic, do not miss it. Also recommended for players interested in the series.
- Recommended for fans (weight 0.12): Recommended for fans of the series and visual novels, and series fans should not miss it. If you like Memories Off, you can be friends with the reviewer.
- Route selection guidance (weight 0.11): Players seeking a relaxing experience are recommended to choose Baihe Ying's route, and if playing two routes, play Tsubame's as well. Best suited for single-route completion as the only way to avoid NTR.
- Reviewer recommends play (weight 0.11): The reviewer recommends playing the game, and directly recommended. Also recommended for those who enjoyed the previous game.
- Recommended with reservations (weight 0.08): Recommended only because it is a classic of the genre, despite the poor translation. Also recommended only for those who have played previous games or want to support the series; wait for a sale or bundle.
- OVA caution (weight 0.05): The OVA should be watched with caution due to fast pacing and forced NTR.

Other player notes:
- Full HD port of 2001 game (weight 0.32): The game is a Full HD port or remaster of the 2001 release, originally the second in the series. It updates visuals while retaining the original content.
- Best game in the series (weight 0.26): Many reviewers consider this the best game in the Memories Off series, often praising its scenario and emotional impact.
- Includes main story, Snow Hotaru, and AfterStory (weight 0.23): The package contains the main story, the Snow Hotaru prequel, and the AfterStory scenarios, offering additional content.
- Steam Deck Verified with controller support (weight 0.21): The game is Steam Deck Verified and fully supports controllers, with a readable interface on the handheld screen.
- Translation has typos and transliteration issues (weight 0.21): The official translation suffers from proofreading problems, including obvious typos and a name transliteration issue, which detract from the reading experience.
- Written by Kotaro Uchikoshi and veterans (weight 0.18): The scenario was written by eight industry veterans including Hizumi Chabo and Kotaro Uchikoshi, who later became famous for suspense games.
- Second entry in Memories Off series (weight 0.15): This is the second game in the Memories Off series by KID, serving as a sequel to the first game.
- Features classical music pieces (weight 0.15): The game includes classical music such as Beethoven's 8th Sonata, Liszt's Liebesträume, and Ravel's Pavane, which enhance the atmosphere.
- Supports Japanese and Chinese languages (weight 0.15): The game supports Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese for interface and subtitles, with Japanese audio only.
- Can be played without first game (weight 0.15): The game can be enjoyed without playing Memories Off 1, though playing the first game reveals Easter eggs and connections.
- Pure romance resonating with life experiences (weight 0.14): The story is described as a pure romance that resonates with players' own life experiences, focusing on ordinary love and daily life.
- Developed by MAGES, published by Spike Chunsoft (weight 0.12): The game is developed by MAGES. Inc. and published by Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
- Recommended entry point for series (weight 0.12): MO2 is widely regarded as the recommended entry point for the Memories Off series, praised for its brilliant scenario.
- Gallery lacks sprite viewer, includes promo art (weight 0.11): The gallery includes old promotional art but does not feature a sprite viewer, and may contain spoilers for certain routes.
- No Steam Cloud support (weight 0.09): The series lacks Steam Cloud save support, which some players find inconvenient for switching devices.
- Hotaru Shirakawa most popular heroine (weight 0.09): Hotaru Shirakawa is widely regarded as the most popular heroine in the game.
- Voiced by Nana Mizuki (weight 0.09): The main heroine is voiced by Nana Mizuki, and she also performs the final song.
- Remaster adds voice playback, removes transparency (weight 0.08): Compared to the original, the remaster adds uninterrupted voice playback but removes the text box transparency adjustment.
- Runs on SteamOS (weight 0.05): The game runs successfully under SteamOS, ensuring compatibility with Steam Deck.
- Japanese vocabulary intermediate and conversational (weight 0.05): The Japanese vocabulary is at an intermediate level and maintains a conversational feel, making it accessible for learners.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.19): Players are disappointed by poor translation quality, typos, and localization errors in the remaster. The story's dated writing, weak routes (especially Tsubame and Shizuru), and forced cheating mechanics fail to meet expectations, while missing features like the point shop and a poorly made PC port add to the letdown.
- Frustration (weight 0.16): Frustration stems from the forced cheating structure that makes players feel they are breaking up the main couple, combined with the protagonist's unfaithful and insensitive behavior. Poor translation with frequent errors, confusing route guidance, technical issues like launch failures and aspect ratio problems, and illogical narrative developments further aggravate players.
- Admiration (weight 0.12): Admirers praise the deep and emotional story, well-developed characters, and outstanding music direction. The thematic depth, structural symmetry of routes, and the series' peak quality—especially the character Hotaru—are highlighted as exceptional.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.11): Nostalgia is evoked by the game's summer atmosphere, music, and art style reminding players of their youth and first encounters with visual novels. Replaying after many years brings back memories of high school days, childhood purchases, and the golden era of the genre.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.07): Satisfaction comes from the well-developed characters, engaging plot, and emotional depth, particularly in the Hotaru route which provides a great sense of fulfillment. The flawless remake with comfortable UI and accurate translation also contributes to a complete and enjoyable experience.
- Guilt (weight 0.07): Guilt arises from pursuing routes other than Hotaru's, as every choice causes her suffering and feels like betraying the main heroine. Players feel bad about hurting Hotaru by cheating on her through playing side routes.
- Sadness (weight 0.06): Sadness is caused by emotional scenes such as Hotaru's confessions receiving silent indifference, the breakup scene, and the bad ending that caused weeks of distress. The emotional weight of choices and seeing Hotaru unhappy deeply affects players.
- Heartache (weight 0.05): Heartache stems from the painful love triangle where choosing one person hurts another, especially the cheating behavior that causes pain to Hotaru and Ying. The breakup scenes and ethically questionable routes create emotional distress.
- Affection (weight 0.05): Affection is driven by the charm of the heroines, especially Hotaru, who is seen as an ideal girlfriend, and the deep love story. Characters like Nan Yan and Tsubame also evoke strong fondness.
- Anger (weight 0.05): Anger is directed at the male lead's low emotional intelligence, indecision, and treatment of Hotaru, as well as the poor art quality and sequel ruining the first game's characters.
- Love (weight 0.04): Love is expressed for the character Hotaru, her charm, and her touching route ending, as well as for Shirakawa Ying and the game as a classic.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.04): Enjoyment comes from the well-characterized Hotaru route, developed characters, good music and art, and the atmospheric BGM that makes playing a beautiful experience.
- Moved (weight 0.04): Players are moved by touching endings, poetic routes, warm BGM, and emotional scenes like the track confession, as well as the story of the girlfriend leaving to study piano.
- Nostalgic (weight 0.04): Nostalgic feelings are evoked by memories of youth and summer, playing the game in middle school or high school, and the summer atmosphere and music that bring back strong memories.
- Dislike (weight 0.03): Dislike is aimed at the protagonist's personality and behavior, particularly the requirement to hurt the main heroine in every route, and the character Mikami Tomoya.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Annoyance arises from the protagonist's unfaithfulness and annoying behavior, the repeated suffering of Hotaru across routes, and the game's premise framed as a scumbag's memory.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Appreciation is felt for the game's strong impact, classic art style, emotional depth, well-designed story and routes, and high-quality voice acting and character development.
- Disgust (weight 0.03): Disgust is caused by forced NTR and cheating-themed direction, the protagonist's arrogant and unapologetic attitude, and the requirement to cheat on Hotaru in other routes.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion stems from hard-to-understand routes with open endings, unrealistic romance writing, and the mismatch between the game's high reputation and perceived low quality.
- Discomfort (weight 0.02): Discomfort is felt from the scummy protagonist's behavior, particularly in the Tobari and Otonashi routes, and the jarring experience of starting with a devoted girlfriend then pursuing others.}