The new routes are all at least decent, with a few routes being standouts compared to the others, though I do think their importance has been a bit overblown (I imagine mainly because they simply weren't available in English up until recently).
It's certainly nice to see the heroines get more time focused on them, but Chaos;Head itself is a complete story, and while the new content reveals a few more things not in the original game, they still feel largely supplemental. If you didn't like Chaos;Head to begin with, these probably aren't going to change your opinion.
I'm also not a fan of the choice to make these romantic routes. Giving Takumi romantic routes with all of the heroines feels so tone-deaf to his character arc in the game. It feels as though the writers might have realized this too, as the romance elements are definitely downplayed, but it still feels out of place, and I think most of the routes would have been better without it.
Where this release fails, unfortunately, is its presentation compared to the original PC release. Noah is often touted as the "Definitive edition" of Chaos;Head, but this is really in terms of it having additional content only.
For starters. I'm not a fan of the choice to change the letterboxed image with the text box below it to an inset text box. There is of course, no way in hell a publisher is going to retain a 4:3 aspect ratio when the visual part of the game is practically widescreen to begin with, but it doesn't change the fact that the game looks worse for it. Aside from my preference of the text below the image just looking nice, the textbox often clutters up the screen, especially since Chaos;Head makes use of a lot of diegetic text, which can sometimes appear behind the actual textbox.
The real travesty here though is what they did to the delusion trigger system. In the original release, the delusion triggers appeared in the space above the image. This of course, needed to be reworked, given that the space no longer even exists in Noah, and the new UI for it just looks terrible.
In the original, the delusion triggers would, visually speaking, appear subtly during a scene. The main indicator was not visuals, but the loud pulsating sound effect that accompanied it. The sound is somewhat annoying, but it all plays into the mechanic. Once you click one of the delusions, the sound goes away, and it really makes you WANT to give into Takumi's delusions, especially in some of the scenes where the delusion trigger is visible for a longer time.
The new system on the other hand, announces its presence by bulldozing into the scene with a screen-covering effect, with a transitional effect you're forced to watch, even when fast-forwarding. Furthermore, actually clicking either of the triggers covers the remaining portion of the screen in a green or red swirl, and starts a loud heartbeat sound effect that doesn't leave until the end of the trigger period. It's almost the exact opposite of how it was executed originally.
There's also the structural changes, which I'm not too huge on either. In the original Chaos;Head, there was practically no reason to get the normal ending at all. After all, it's literally just the true ending, but it's missing the final scene. Not only that, but the ending feels incomplete without the true ending scene, and the alternate Ending B isn't unlocked until you beat the true ending anyways. The choice to end the game on Ending B (an overt bad end at that) AFTER the player has already seen the true ending is certainly an odd one, but Noah only exacerbates this problem further. With 1 ending now changed to 7 unlocked from clearing the game for the first time, there's now over 10 hours worth of content unlocked after already getting what is essentially the real ending.
Noah attempts to remedy this by changing things so that you can only get the normal ending on a first playthrough, with the true ending locked behind finishing the other routes, but it ends up doing more harm than good. The normal ending still represents most of the true ending, which means that the structure still suffers from having 10+ hours of content after the climax. On top of that, the true ending itself is only actually a couple of lines, so it ends up in an awkward spot where the normal ending isn't satisfying on it's own, and the true ending isn't substantial enough to stand on its own 10 hours after the normal ending. I can't say I don't understand the reasoning behind this, but it ultimately doesn't solve the problem, and mainly just amounts to rereading the climax for a second time.
I could get into more minor complaints (like how they ruined Takumi's figure shelf), but I'll leave my nitpicking out of this. Is all of this enough to ruin the experience? Certainly not. Many people will probably see these as minor complaints, and would rather just play the version with all the content, and that's fine. Plus, CoZ's new translation will probably be more than enough to steer anyone away from playing the original version, but I can't help but think the best way to experience Chaos;Head would be a version with all of the new content that still retains the presentation of the original version.
It's certainly nice to see the heroines get more time focused on them, but Chaos;Head itself is a complete story, and while the new content reveals a few more things not in the original game, they still feel largely supplemental. If you didn't like Chaos;Head to begin with, these probably aren't going to change your opinion.
I'm also not a fan of the choice to make these romantic routes. Giving Takumi romantic routes with all of the heroines feels so tone-deaf to his character arc in the game. It feels as though the writers might have realized this too, as the romance elements are definitely downplayed, but it still feels out of place, and I think most of the routes would have been better without it.
Where this release fails, unfortunately, is its presentation compared to the original PC release. Noah is often touted as the "Definitive edition" of Chaos;Head, but this is really in terms of it having additional content only.
For starters. I'm not a fan of the choice to change the letterboxed image with the text box below it to an inset text box. There is of course, no way in hell a publisher is going to retain a 4:3 aspect ratio when the visual part of the game is practically widescreen to begin with, but it doesn't change the fact that the game looks worse for it. Aside from my preference of the text below the image just looking nice, the textbox often clutters up the screen, especially since Chaos;Head makes use of a lot of diegetic text, which can sometimes appear behind the actual textbox.
The real travesty here though is what they did to the delusion trigger system. In the original release, the delusion triggers appeared in the space above the image. This of course, needed to be reworked, given that the space no longer even exists in Noah, and the new UI for it just looks terrible.
In the original, the delusion triggers would, visually speaking, appear subtly during a scene. The main indicator was not visuals, but the loud pulsating sound effect that accompanied it. The sound is somewhat annoying, but it all plays into the mechanic. Once you click one of the delusions, the sound goes away, and it really makes you WANT to give into Takumi's delusions, especially in some of the scenes where the delusion trigger is visible for a longer time.
The new system on the other hand, announces its presence by bulldozing into the scene with a screen-covering effect, with a transitional effect you're forced to watch, even when fast-forwarding. Furthermore, actually clicking either of the triggers covers the remaining portion of the screen in a green or red swirl, and starts a loud heartbeat sound effect that doesn't leave until the end of the trigger period. It's almost the exact opposite of how it was executed originally.
There's also the structural changes, which I'm not too huge on either. In the original Chaos;Head, there was practically no reason to get the normal ending at all. After all, it's literally just the true ending, but it's missing the final scene. Not only that, but the ending feels incomplete without the true ending scene, and the alternate Ending B isn't unlocked until you beat the true ending anyways. The choice to end the game on Ending B (an overt bad end at that) AFTER the player has already seen the true ending is certainly an odd one, but Noah only exacerbates this problem further. With 1 ending now changed to 7 unlocked from clearing the game for the first time, there's now over 10 hours worth of content unlocked after already getting what is essentially the real ending.
Noah attempts to remedy this by changing things so that you can only get the normal ending on a first playthrough, with the true ending locked behind finishing the other routes, but it ends up doing more harm than good. The normal ending still represents most of the true ending, which means that the structure still suffers from having 10+ hours of content after the climax. On top of that, the true ending itself is only actually a couple of lines, so it ends up in an awkward spot where the normal ending isn't satisfying on it's own, and the true ending isn't substantial enough to stand on its own 10 hours after the normal ending. I can't say I don't understand the reasoning behind this, but it ultimately doesn't solve the problem, and mainly just amounts to rereading the climax for a second time.
I could get into more minor complaints (like how they ruined Takumi's figure shelf), but I'll leave my nitpicking out of this. Is all of this enough to ruin the experience? Certainly not. Many people will probably see these as minor complaints, and would rather just play the version with all the content, and that's fine. Plus, CoZ's new translation will probably be more than enough to steer anyone away from playing the original version, but I can't help but think the best way to experience Chaos;Head would be a version with all of the new content that still retains the presentation of the original version.
7 Comments
I'm aware that one of the routes is Takumi's delusion, and I wouldn't really include that route in my criticism of the routes including romantic elements, but I didn't want to write something blatantly spoiler-y in my review when it doesn't really change the core of my point, which still applies to most of the routes in the game.
My problem with the routes having romantic elements between Takumi and the heroines isn't that they're extremely prevalent within the routes themselves, but rather that creating a route system where Takumi builds up a romantic relationship with the heroines feels really dissonant with the games themes of Takumi being an eroge-obsessed shut-in who needs to open up and stop living in his delusion. Calling them "romantic routes" was a bit of a hyperbole, but there's DEFINITELY romantic elements to the routes, and the fact that they're there at all is my problem with it.
If I'm being honest, I think the fact that the romance elements are pretty subdued makes it all the more baffling that they chose to include them at all. With the exception of the Rimi route (which is the OTHER route I wouldn't include in this problem, since Rimi is supposed to be Takumi's romantic interest in the base game anyways), most of the routes would've worked perfectly fine in absence of the romantic elements, but instead we needed to have an awkward scene where Takumi and Ayase kiss in the closet, because having character-specific routes in a visual novel apparently necessitates that the mc has a relationship with the girl in the route.
My problem with the routes having romantic elements between Takumi and the heroines isn't that they're extremely prevalent within the routes themselves, but rather that creating a route system where Takumi builds up a romantic relationship with the heroines feels really dissonant with the games themes of Takumi being an eroge-obsessed shut-in who needs to open up and stop living in his delusion. Calling them "romantic routes" was a bit of a hyperbole, but there's DEFINITELY romantic elements to the routes, and the fact that they're there at all is my problem with it.
If I'm being honest, I think the fact that the romance elements are pretty subdued makes it all the more baffling that they chose to include them at all. With the exception of the Rimi route (which is the OTHER route I wouldn't include in this problem, since Rimi is supposed to be Takumi's romantic interest in the base game anyways), most of the routes would've worked perfectly fine in absence of the romantic elements, but instead we needed to have an awkward scene where Takumi and Ayase kiss in the closet, because having character-specific routes in a visual novel apparently necessitates that the mc has a relationship with the girl in the route.
>My problem with the routes having romantic elements between Takumi and the heroines isn't that they're extremely prevalent within the routes themselves, but rather that creating a route system where Takumi builds up a romantic relationship with the heroines feels really dissonant with the games themes of Takumi being an eroge-obsessed shut-in who needs to open up and stop living in his delusion.
That's called a self contradiction. The only romance present is at best hinted on. How is there romance in, for example, Yua's route? It's about her personal conflict. Or Sena's which is focused entirely on worldbuilding? Kozue's is just "everything ever goes wrong all at once" sort of development. Which has a confession in the very last scene, which honestly barely counts as one considering the "circumstances". The only one which actually has some romantic elements is Ayase's, and that's just because it's supposed to be a fantasy interpretation of what's been going on in the novel, to oppose a scientific one.
You are just grasping at straws here, honestly. Sure, you can nitpick away and find romance there, but every single side route is just Takumi choosing to run away instead of facing reality (none have him awaken if you don't count the "cheat), which ends in various ways depending on the girl. Either way that's not the focus, and there's a seperate game you can be mad at for having dating (Love Chu Chu).
I agree that Noah was overhyped, but considering how incredibly niche the novel is and how it'll never escape S;G's shadow either way, I think it deserved its moment in the spotlight. And those routes are still way better than a joke that those were in S;G.
That's called a self contradiction. The only romance present is at best hinted on. How is there romance in, for example, Yua's route? It's about her personal conflict. Or Sena's which is focused entirely on worldbuilding? Kozue's is just "everything ever goes wrong all at once" sort of development. Which has a confession in the very last scene, which honestly barely counts as one considering the "circumstances". The only one which actually has some romantic elements is Ayase's, and that's just because it's supposed to be a fantasy interpretation of what's been going on in the novel, to oppose a scientific one.
You are just grasping at straws here, honestly. Sure, you can nitpick away and find romance there, but every single side route is just Takumi choosing to run away instead of facing reality (none have him awaken if you don't count the "cheat), which ends in various ways depending on the girl. Either way that's not the focus, and there's a seperate game you can be mad at for having dating (Love Chu Chu).
I agree that Noah was overhyped, but considering how incredibly niche the novel is and how it'll never escape S;G's shadow either way, I think it deserved its moment in the spotlight. And those routes are still way better than a joke that those were in S;G.
From what I understand, Love Chu Chu's entire premise is that Takumi is stuck in a delusion, but I can't comment on how it's actually handled, because I haven't read it.
I don't really think it makes sense to write off Kozu-pii's route just because the confession comes at the last minute, especially given that the confession is built up to by the route leading up to it. Just because it isn't explicitly stated doesn't mean the elements are there, and I think this extends to the Yua and Sena route's, in spite of them never really having an explicit confession. If you don't think that it was all that present to you/didn't affect the experience, that's fine, but I personally felt there was a clear romantic undertone to most of the routes, even if it wasn't the focus of most of them.
Of course, I'm not trying to say the routes are some sort of happy ending for Takumi where he gets the girl and lives happily ever after. My overall problem with the routes is that they feel fairly detached from the main game. They feel like fandisk content that's been awkwardly forced into the main structure of the game, and I feel it hurts the game, and even the scenarios themselves to a certain extent. The romantic elements of the routes are just one of the elements of the routes that makes them feel out of place in the overall game to me.
Actually, it's funny you bring up the S;G routes, because while the routes in C;HN are probably better written on their own compared to S;G, I think S;G character routes actually make a lot more sense as an overall part of the story. This is getting into a whole other topic entirely, but I have some issues with S;G's overall thematic elements; the second half of the game is spent with Okabe trying to undo every little change he made to the timeline, presenting the idea that the past shouldn't be changed, only for the true ending to suddenly go back on this because "actually, the future was already fucked, so you should change the timeline anyways." It's clear that S;G was PROBABLY trying to go for more of the message that Okabe should be careful with changing the past, and shouldn't treat science as some sort of game, but it makes a large part of the game feel wasted on Okabe desperately trying to re-reach an already doomed future by undoing the things he did for the others around him.
The character routes are ironically the saving grace here. They're one of the few places prior in the game where it's presented that Okabe COULD have refused to revert his changes and tried for a different future. It's one of the only places in the whole game prior to the true end where Okabe's regret over changing the past and decision to recklessly undo everything is presented as his OWN decision, rather than as a thematic point of the game itself. The content of the character routes themselves is somewhat superfluous and a few of them have some major issues, but unlike the C;HN routes they form a solid part of the overall narrative, and I think the S;G would've been worse without them.
I don't really think it makes sense to write off Kozu-pii's route just because the confession comes at the last minute, especially given that the confession is built up to by the route leading up to it. Just because it isn't explicitly stated doesn't mean the elements are there, and I think this extends to the Yua and Sena route's, in spite of them never really having an explicit confession. If you don't think that it was all that present to you/didn't affect the experience, that's fine, but I personally felt there was a clear romantic undertone to most of the routes, even if it wasn't the focus of most of them.
Of course, I'm not trying to say the routes are some sort of happy ending for Takumi where he gets the girl and lives happily ever after. My overall problem with the routes is that they feel fairly detached from the main game. They feel like fandisk content that's been awkwardly forced into the main structure of the game, and I feel it hurts the game, and even the scenarios themselves to a certain extent. The romantic elements of the routes are just one of the elements of the routes that makes them feel out of place in the overall game to me.
Actually, it's funny you bring up the S;G routes, because while the routes in C;HN are probably better written on their own compared to S;G, I think S;G character routes actually make a lot more sense as an overall part of the story. This is getting into a whole other topic entirely, but I have some issues with S;G's overall thematic elements; the second half of the game is spent with Okabe trying to undo every little change he made to the timeline, presenting the idea that the past shouldn't be changed, only for the true ending to suddenly go back on this because "actually, the future was already fucked, so you should change the timeline anyways." It's clear that S;G was PROBABLY trying to go for more of the message that Okabe should be careful with changing the past, and shouldn't treat science as some sort of game, but it makes a large part of the game feel wasted on Okabe desperately trying to re-reach an already doomed future by undoing the things he did for the others around him.
The character routes are ironically the saving grace here. They're one of the few places prior in the game where it's presented that Okabe COULD have refused to revert his changes and tried for a different future. It's one of the only places in the whole game prior to the true end where Okabe's regret over changing the past and decision to recklessly undo everything is presented as his OWN decision, rather than as a thematic point of the game itself. The content of the character routes themselves is somewhat superfluous and a few of them have some major issues, but unlike the C;HN routes they form a solid part of the overall narrative, and I think the S;G would've been worse without them.
I understand the feeling of them feeling unfitting, but I think most of that feeling for you comes from the fact that you played the original first, lol.
Granted, I did too, but as a while has passed and my memories faded a lot, going and playing this version now felt "right".
The structure of "reach the main end => get fucked over => try all the failing possibilities => see the true finale" worked really well if you don't have any attachments to other versions of the game. The "romantic undertones" are still something that exists more in your delusions than in reality, as, duh, the character focused route focuses on the protagonist getting closer to a character. You may search for undertones as you wish, but what's there is definitely not a love story, it's still a story of escapism and failure, just played out differently every time.
About S;G, I can ironically claim the opposite: as I started with the anime, seeing the alt endings felt like they don't belong and are just padding. The game throws a cute concept at you, and then fades to black. You don't get even a reasonable glimpse into your heroine of choice, it's just there to be there and to force the player to once again use a guide.
I can't exactly comment on the themes and message, as I see that your interpretation has some value but also... I understand that the big bad guy of the series has so many schemes on top of schemes, that them having an alternate plan in case one of their pawns fails just seems like a very logical development, and to get rid of that one is get rid of the creation of time machine itself (so they use robots the next time instead I guess).
Granted, I did too, but as a while has passed and my memories faded a lot, going and playing this version now felt "right".
The structure of "reach the main end => get fucked over => try all the failing possibilities => see the true finale" worked really well if you don't have any attachments to other versions of the game. The "romantic undertones" are still something that exists more in your delusions than in reality, as, duh, the character focused route focuses on the protagonist getting closer to a character. You may search for undertones as you wish, but what's there is definitely not a love story, it's still a story of escapism and failure, just played out differently every time.
About S;G, I can ironically claim the opposite: as I started with the anime, seeing the alt endings felt like they don't belong and are just padding. The game throws a cute concept at you, and then fades to black. You don't get even a reasonable glimpse into your heroine of choice, it's just there to be there and to force the player to once again use a guide.
I can't exactly comment on the themes and message, as I see that your interpretation has some value but also... I understand that the big bad guy of the series has so many schemes on top of schemes, that them having an alternate plan in case one of their pawns fails just seems like a very logical development, and to get rid of that one is get rid of the creation of time machine itself (so they use robots the next time instead I guess).
The thing is, I only played this a few months removed from the original C;H. Moreover, the route structure is a problem I already had with the original. Noah exacerbates a problem I already had, but with routes I feel are a lot less necessary than the B route.
I already addressed most of this in my review, but my problem with the normal ending "not being satisfying" is mainly because it's just the prologue of the game again. The true end adds a few lines that importantly recontextualize the prologue, but are simultaniously not enough to stand on their own as a sort of epilogue 10 hours removed from the first playthrough. This isn't to mention how, in removing the true end from the first playthrough, the question answering sequence is also replaced in the first playthrough, which really sucks because that's such a hugely impactful part of the climax, and a lot of people aren't going to see it during their initial experience because of Noah's restructuring.
I already addressed most of this in my review, but my problem with the normal ending "not being satisfying" is mainly because it's just the prologue of the game again. The true end adds a few lines that importantly recontextualize the prologue, but are simultaniously not enough to stand on their own as a sort of epilogue 10 hours removed from the first playthrough. This isn't to mention how, in removing the true end from the first playthrough, the question answering sequence is also replaced in the first playthrough, which really sucks because that's such a hugely impactful part of the climax, and a lot of people aren't going to see it during their initial experience because of Noah's restructuring.
Well, I realize that some of your complaints are valid, but it comes down to subjective preference in the end. I enjoyed the side routes a lot, and they are even canon in way that, major spoiler, they're delusions that Shogun projects to Takumi so he finds the will to live and fight.
The biggest problem is how you need to waste 2 hours of real time skipping through the entire game 5 times with only short intermissions sprinkled in. Why waren't the branching points in the chapters the story actually branches off I have no clue. Still not as bad as Phone Trigger or that schizoprenic "route" structure that Robnotics;Notes uses tho.
I still believe that Noah is a superior release, even if I really miss that Al Azif figure.
The biggest problem is how you need to waste 2 hours of real time skipping through the entire game 5 times with only short intermissions sprinkled in. Why waren't the branching points in the chapters the story actually branches off I have no clue. Still not as bad as Phone Trigger or that schizoprenic "route" structure that Robnotics;Notes uses tho.
I still believe that Noah is a superior release, even if I really miss that Al Azif figure.
Lemonov
8 months ago
That's why it doesn't. Routes barely have any romance. One doesn't even focus on a title heroine, just on a delusion of her.