, better known simply as True Love, is a Japanese erotic visual novel

Visual novel

A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...

 developed by Software House Parsley and published by CD Bros.

CD Bros.

CD Bros. is a Japanese erotic bishōjo video game maker with several divisions. Their products are localized in North America by J-List under the G-Collections label....

, released on June 9, 1995 for the PC-98 and on December 6, 1996 for Windows. It was localized

Language localisation

Language localisationThe spelling "localization", a variant of "localisation", is the preferred spelling in the US and Canada. is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation to account for...

 in Europe by Otaku Publishing and distributed in North America by JAST USA

JAST USA

JAST USA is a licensor and distributor of English-language bishōjo games, some of which are as dating sims or eroge. It was founded in 1997 with Sakura Soft's Season of the Sakura and JAST's Three Sisters' Story as its first eroge titles...

 in January 1999.

Gameplay

Unlike traditional, even modern visual novels, which are characteristically uninvolved beyond the periodic decision to make, True Love incorporates elements reminiscent of a role-playing game

Role-playing video game

Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...

, for which it is also occasionally categorized.

The game is played through a series of virtual days, consecutively spanning three months. At the start of each morning, players designate an activity to pursue for evening, night, and in the case of weekends or vacation, daytime: studying, practicing art, exercising, grooming

Personal grooming

Personal grooming is the art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. It is a species-typical behavior that is controlled by neural circuits in the brain.- In humans :...

, recreation, taking a break, going to work, shopping or fulfilling a promise. Each choice affects the overall being of the player at the conclusion of the day, and points are distributed among stats for passion, appearance, fatigue, scholarship, strength and art. Depending on the level of these stats, and the order of schedules made during particular days, the player will shift their romantic focus and possibly trigger nonlinear events and encounters over time. In addition, working generates income and shopping allows the player to voluntarily spend their money on items for themselves or to give as gifts.

Plot

Daisuke is a single, nineteen-year old Japanese college senior living in the fictional city of Meiai, forced out by his parents at the idea that independence may attract him a partner. On top of his quest to find a girlfriend, Daisuke is also indecisive about what direction to go in his academics.

Characters

Mikae Morikawa

Mikae is Daisuke's childhood friend, having met him in kindergarten; now an adolescent co-ed attending the game college him with a less than platonic eye. Although she can be meddlesome, Mikae is the most down-to-earth, well-rounded of girls to court with no overall preferences.

Kazuhiko Miyoshi

Kazuhiko is Daisuke's closest if not best friend. He enjoys video games and is quite knowledgeable, especially about the girls who populate the college. He has a younger sister name Arisa.

Chiemi Fujimoto

The second girl to encounter, Chiemi is captain of the girls swim team. Athletic to the core, Chiemi is a robust, competitive, steadfast character with a love for exercise and a fear of caterpillars.

Yumi Matsumiya

Yumi Matsumiya is one of the college's professors, principally Daisuke's. With a history for low grades and procrastination, she takes deep concern for his academic development in her classes, counseling him to maintain his studies and do his homework. Single, and much to her confusion, she takes a more than comfortable attraction to him but becomes most frequent when his

Mayumi Kamijo

Mayumi is a temperamental schoolmate Daisuke bumps into on his way to campus and several times thereafter. Their beginning acquaintances are initially bitter and fierce but they gradually warm up to each other and become friends. Mayumi can be a handful with her habitually spitfire personality, however she is kind and sensitive. In spite of her alibis and defense, she can often be found wandering around sex shop

Sex shop

A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...

s downtown.

Remi Himekawa

Remi is the vice-president of the student council, often regarded as the most intellectually gifted of school. As the daughter of a multimillionaire business magnate

Business magnate

A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...

, Remi carries herself with the utmost sophistication, spending most of her time studying in school or at the public library. She takes a genuine interest in Daisuke when his intelligence rises and comes to find that she thoroughly enjoys being around him; a change from the otherwise posh lifestyle she's grown bored of.

Miyuki Tanaka

Miyuki is a shy, soft-spoken girl who enjoys drawing, painting, and is even a member of the art club. She is formally introduced to Daisuke through Mikae and takes an interest in him when his concentration in art increases. Though anemic, feeble and sheltered, Miyuki comes to show a much more lecherous, unseen side to herself.

Misako Sayama

A voluptuous and enticing woman who is often found walking around the downtown city area at night, Misako is a nursing student living off-campus. Her first impression of you is an endearing one, however frequent workouts and visits to her ultimately get her attention. Her father, a physician, operates the clinic at Daisuke's college and even visits as a fill-in nurse.

Ryoko Shimazaki

Ryoko is a renowned singer-songwriter known by the stage name Sonoko. She transfers to Meiai later in the game and joins your class, disguised with eyeglasses and new hairstyle, seeking to graduate from college and abandon her much popularized life. An orphan by extension of her parent's death at childhood, Ryoko's brother Tadaaki has since become her promoter and manager.

Arisa Miyoshi

Arisa is Kazuhiko's peppy younger sister, who at a year younger than him, does not look her age. She attends an all-girl's college and takes a deep admiration for Daisuke when he rescues her from drowning.

Anze

At first encounter, Anze seems like no more than an ordinary schoolgirl. It is revealed later on however, that she is actually an angel from Heaven, sent down to Earth by God to retrieve a relic she dropped and lost. As part of her punishment, Anze transforms into a cat after ten days of searching, though this can be stagnated if Daisuke finds the item himself.

Reception

True Love, by most accounts of the game's history, was met with lackluster response in Japan. One reason cited for this is that True Love was the fourteenth release by Parsley, a company that had become known for mediocre quality titles at the time of release. The game's localization, especially in North America, however, was generally quite the opposite and is often considered a classic example of the genre.

Footnotes

"Daisuke" is the default name used for the main character if one is not provided.

External links

• http://parsley.ume.gr.jp/ Official website of the game's developer