Moon (1997 video game)
Moon | |
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DVD game, Android | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Moon (stylized as MOON.) is a Japanese
Much of the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel brand
Plot
Setting and gameplay
Moon is set within a windowless facility owned and operated by the Fargo religious organization that aims to research what is referred to as the "unseen power". The Fargo facility shown in Moon is one of multiple facilities operated throughout Japan where new female believers looking to obtain the unseen power undergo "mental reinforcement" training. All men in the organization are either guards or researchers. New believers are split into three groups and segregated into three buildings for classes A, B and C which are linked together via an underground passageway. The accommodations and treatment of the trainees differ between the classes, with class A given preferential treatment, class B less so, and class C not given any of the comforts of the other two classes. This includes class C not having access to bathing, toilets, any kind of bedding or even private rooms. Classes B and C are also routinely raped by the Fargo men in the "tempering room".
Outside of the living quarters, all believers have access to a dining hall, and are allowed to freely move within the confines of their own facility. Training of believers takes the form of repeated visits to both the Minmes and Elpod rooms which contain devices able to interface with the trainee's mind. The Minmes device fixates on a specific part of a trainee's past mental pain so as to measure their mental strengthening. The Elpod device makes trainees face a duplicate of themselves, forcing them to reminisce on past disgraces to again measure their mental strengthening. There is also a "relaxation room" that is occasionally used in place of Elpod training which contains a bed so the trainee can take a short nap. Other locations within the facility include a small sewer below the underground passageway, and two sets of three holding cells. Beyond the holding cells is access to an area 20 floors belowground with a room containing a vast field of flowers.
Moon is a
To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. If not all conditions are met, the player is given an option to view a hint about which direction to take the plot, with seven hints in total. If all conditions are met, the player accesses the true conclusion to the plot. The player is also tasked to navigate the Fargo facility via the use of an overworld map of whichever part of the facility the player is currently in with the player's location indicated by a red circle. The game's story is divided into 20 days each with an English subtitle displayed mostly in white with a portion of it colored red. In the original game, a bonus role-playing game became available on the title screen after the game was completed at least once. This was later removed from the full-voice DVD edition of the game.
Story
Moon begins when high school girl Ikumi Amasawa[a] (voiced by: Ruru) arrives at the Fargo facility in search of the truth behind the death of her mother Miyoko[b] who was once a member of Fargo.[4] There, she meets and forms an alliance with two teenage girls—Haruka Mima[c] (voiced by: Aya) and Yui Nakura[d] (voiced by: Miya Serizono). Haruka is looking for her brother Ryōsuke[e] who works as a Fargo researcher, and Yui is searching for her sister Yuri[f] (voiced by: Komugi Nishida) who joined Fargo as a trainee. Ikumi is put in class A, Yui is put in class B, and Haruka is put in class C. Ikumi meets her roommate—an unnamed and mysterious young man referred to only as "Boy"[g] (voiced by: Arashi Tsunami)—and also a young woman and fellow class A member Yōko Kanuma[h] (voiced by: Satomi Kodama) who she interacts with when eating in the dining hall. Ikumi starts undergoing training and later meets up with Haruka and Yui on their third day at Fargo. They later locate Yuri in class C, but she refuses Yui's pleas to go back home with her. Yuri later loses control of the unseen power within her, but she faints when she sees Yui. The sisters are able to reconcile before the unseen power again goes out of control, killing Yuri in the process. Despite securing an escape route, Yui decides to stay to try to help other Fargo trainees. Ikumi and Haruka later locate Ryōsuke, who gives Ikumi a passcard to gain access to other parts of the facility, but this results in Ryōsuke being killed by Fargo's men. A few days later, Haruka—now under the influence of the unseen power—is ordered to kill Ikumi, but the power deserts her before she can do it, causing Haruka to go into hiding within the facility. However, Ikumi is then put in a holding cell, but she is freed by her roommate who is not human but an entirely different species first encountered 30 years prior.
Ikumi later finds the young man in a holding cell and learns that his species is the source of the unseen power. He also tells her that the purpose of Fargo was to find a way to implant that power within humans to create controllable super soldiers, and that his species has been held captive within Fargo's facilities. Ikumi tries to find a way to save him, but it is ultimately too late, and the young man is executed shortly afterward. Ikumi spends several days in deep depression, but when she uses the Minmes device, she receives encouragement from the young man who now only exists as a memory, allowing her to track down Fargo's founder, known only as the "voice's owner". Ikumi encounters this being in the form of a large red Moon, and a mental battle ensues with the founder and Ikumi using the unseen power. Ikumi prevails, resulting in the founder's death. At the same time, Yui finds Haruka in one part of the facility. Ikumi is then led to the dining hall by Yōko who tells her she has been ordered to kill her. Following a destructive battle, Yōko relents and saves both of them from dying. Yōko decides to leave Fargo and go back to the outside world with a promise to meet up with Ikumi at a later date. Ikumi uses the Minmes device one last time to have a conversation with her mother and say goodbye to her before also leaving the facility. Sometime later, Ikumi has given birth to her daughter Miyu,[i] and she is still close friends with Haruka and Yui.
Development and release
Moon's production was headed by YET11, the pseudonym of Tsutomu Yoshizawa.[5] Planning for Moon was headed by Jun Maeda, who also worked on the game's scenario with fellow writer Naoki Hisaya.[5] Art direction and character design was provided by Itaru Hinoue, while the computer graphics in the game was supplemented by Miracle Mikipon and Shinory. The game's soundtrack was primarily composed by Shinji Orito, with two tracks composed by YET11, and one track each composed by Maeda and Ishisan.[5][6] Excluding YET11 and Ishisan, the staff that created the game later became the founding members of the visual novel brand Key.
Moon was first released on November 21, 1997, playable on a
Related media
A 256-page novel adaptation written by
Reception and legacy
According to a national ranking of how well
Notes
References
- ^ Tactics. Archived from the originalon July 23, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
- ^ a b "Image screenshot from One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e with the Moon characters". Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved November 22, 2007.
- ^ BS-i.
- ^ a b c "Moon DVD's official website" (in Japanese). Nexton. Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
- ^ a b c "Moon staff information" (in Japanese). ErogameScape. Archived from the original on March 5, 2007. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- ^ a b "Dōsei and Moon Original Soundtracks". VGMdb. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
- Tactics. Archived from the originalon July 23, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ "MOON. メモリアルセレクション3800" [Moon Memorial Selection 3800] (in Japanese). Surugaya. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ "Moon CD LimitedEdition" (in Japanese). Comshop. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
- ^ "MOON DVD" (in Japanese). Nexton. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2014.
- Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved March 3, 2012.
- ^ "美少女ゲームストアアプリ「どろっぷす!」が登場。各タイトルは980円~の低価格で提供。アリスソフト、NEXTONらのブランドが参加" (in Japanese). Gapsis. June 15, 2012. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
- ^ "Moon" (in Japanese). Honya Club. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- Amazon.co.jp. ASIN 4877630147.
- ^ "タクティクス MOON.&ONE~輝く季節へ~ 設定原画集" [Tactics Moon & One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e Setup Original Picture Collection] (in Japanese). Surugaya. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
- ^ "PC News national ranking for bishōjo games; Moon ranks 44" (in Japanese). Peakspub. Archived from the original on March 7, 2006. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
- ^ "PC News national ranking for bishōjo games; Moon ranks 48" (in Japanese). Peakspub. Archived from the original on December 27, 2005. Retrieved June 14, 2007.
- Eternal Fighter Zero (Windows) (in Japanese). Twilight Frontier.
- ^ "「MOON.」CLARITY ART≪完全受注生産≫" (in Japanese). Nexton. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
External links
- Nexton's official Moon website (in Japanese)
- Tactics' official Moon website at the Wayback Machine (archived March 7, 2001) (in Japanese)
- Tactics' official Moon Renewal website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 23, 2011) (in Japanese)
- Moon at The Visual Novel Database