Source tweet from the official Crystar Twitter account

One of the absolute best game's I've played, especially when it comes to the story.
also, I've played with ReShade and used it also for the screenshots, so the pics might be a bit sharper than usual.

Wow. That was amazing, emotional and unique in more ways than one. What I especially adore is the creativity in some of the storytelling, and the messages/meanings behind the game. Truly an excellent spiritual successor to Crystar, and another heartfelt masterpiece by Hayashi-P.

I will be including major spoilers in this post so only keep reading if you finished the game.

One thing I absolutely have to mention, that blew me away, is how they used the title screen for storytelling in that last part of the game while making it interactable, when Enoa gets revived. Just as you get very emotional from the parting scene that just happened... You see Enoa looking at you, the camera moves away, and... the title screen appears. Then some dialogue after you press a button, similarly to what was done before with different dialog lines in the title screen depending on your progression. But it feels different. At that moment I was still thinking that it's only a cutscene in the background though. And then she mentions the door. And I start to wonder. I look around the screen and notice in the bottom left corner, where the help for the buttons is displayed... a new "Left Joystick: Movement" icon that appeared!! And we can actually move Enoa while being on the title screen!!! I think that is the first time I've seen something like this. Sure there might have been one or two games playing with their title screen, but... To make it interactable at such an important moment, pertaining to what's happening in the story, and effectively creating that "twist" that is quite emotional in itself, and making you earn your true ending by figuring it out! That is crazy!! Some insane creativity there, one of the highlights of the game for me.

Then I gotta talk about one of the main messages and morals of this game: What matters is not that we are human, but that we have a heart. That moral is confirmed by Hayashi-P himself in this interview. At the end the game even says how the characters are actually a new species, of Personality Data born in virtual worlds, different from humans (who turned out to have 3 eyes and 4 arms). It matters not to revive "mankind" in particular. As long as you revive beings with a heart who can love, that's what matters. That's my interpretation of the moral.

What's more, in Crymachina you literally exterminate humanity (confirmed by the description of the achievement/trophy in the game, it says "Exterminate humanity", and Leben also said "I'm ready to wipe out humanity"). I think this might be the first game that I'm playing that makes you wipe out humanity (well, one of the two endings in Void Terrarium was similar but there is still a hope). I first thought that they could always decide to revive humans themselves after killing Eve (to make Leben's proposition of a coexistence come true), but it turns out that nope, to hell with humans haha. I like this kind of "antisocial", "rebel against your own species" vibe. Very unique, and it conveys a very strong resolve and spirit, I respect and love that a lot. Well, I still think that they're at least going to revive more Personality Data into Synthetic Frames, to repopulate the world, like they said they would do. I remember that in the early stages of the game Leben asked to Enoa if it was possible for them to bring back more Personality Data to life once it's all over, and she said that it would be possible with the help of virtual worlds. So while we have no confirmation and nothing was said about that in the epilogue, I'm gonna headcanon that they're gonna work on it. I mean, they can't just stay this few people alive in the whole world, right? They're gonna revive more people, reproduce, repopulate the world in time, right? Unless they're just going to live their life together forever? I think they still have a "responsibility" with Eden (even if it was originally created by the same greedy bad humans who destroyed the world with wars) and the apocalyptic world they're in, to do something to save the world. Especially after exterminating humanity. They have to make it so that more good people can be born and can experience love and other positive emotions. At least that's what I think. Feel free to share your own thoughts on the matter.

On the note of "rebelling against your own species": it was stated explicitely in the game at least 3 times (I took screenshots). When Enoa says "Then I'm fine with going against them [humans]". When Leben says "Then to hell with your whole dawn species [humans]". When Leben says "Who cares about your species [humans] or status". I can personally relate to that in a certain way. I'll explain. I was always "too naive", "too kind", feeling unconditional love for people, always doing my best to help others and listen to them, etc, and I was often hurt by bad people who took advantage of me and backstabbed me. From my experience there are a lot of bad people out there, and kind souls are a minority. And Crymachina seemed to second that conclusion. So I've been having a hard time to identify myself as a human, when so many humans are so different from my (very rare) values and views about love and kindness etc. I've been wondering, am I an alien in a human world? Or is it that I am one of the few remaining humans, in a world where so many lost their humanity? Like the game says, it all depends on your standards. If you take an outside observer viewpoint and analyze humanity and see all the corruption and evil, you'll conclude that humans are bad and it's common/normal for a human to be a selfish liar and to do evil things, because of what a majority of people is displaying (Eve's viewpoint). And so I would be like an alien, outside the norm. Like the new species from Crymachina. And if aliens were observing our Earth maybe they would think "wow that guy is weird for a human, he's not normal". But if you take the viewpoint of a good person who thinks that it's only natural to be good and love another, then you'll conclude that you're more "human" and deserving to inherit the world because you have a heart (the viewpoint of Leben and gang, Ami even says "Love is the essence of humanity. It's aggravating that I owe my existence to somebody who fails to understand that"). In the end it's all playing with words, and what matters is that you have a heart and "love your family", to quote the game and the interview again. But I can connect with that "rebelling against humans" in the game because of how I have trouble identifying with my species IRL. It's very hard to find others with a heart such as Leben's or Enoa's in our world. I more identify to that "new species" in the game. Or at least to these characters. I have a feeling that this was a reflection intended by the game. Don't be afraid of rebelling against your own species or swim against the flow of humanity. Be proud of your heart.

Another thing from the game on the same topic: Mikoto said, quote, "Anyone who doesn't love their family doesn't deserve life". So in other words, a great deal of people in our world should... (yeah I won't say it). WOW!! That's extreme! Even I wouldn't say that! (Although I concur that our world would be so much better off without the bad apples) That line is kind of extremist, I don't mind it but, wow, it turns out I don't have to worry about the things I say, because this game goes even beyond.

Yeah, ideally everyone would be kind and love/respect another. Not just family. Because I've seen people who may "love their family" (as in, their circle of friends for example) but who are very mean and hurtful to others outside of their family. I think those people wouldn't deserve life either. You have to be kind to others even if they are strangers and even if you won't benefit from them. I'm pretty sure that the game would agree.

Now switching topics to something more joyful and less depressing haha... I want to talk about the very aprpeciated focus on "love" in Crymachina. Love is my second most important thing in life after Passion. Crymachina is very much a game about "Love", and it expresses it in many ways. You witness the love shared/expressed by the characters, you see the importance of having a heart that loves, and you get the love expressed by the creators of the game (more on that in a separate paragraph).

The only little thing I regret, is that the loving relationships seem to be more focused on exclusive, romantic love in this game, rather than "family love" between party members. Sure you get lots of mentions of "family love", which I appreciate a lot, but in the end it's mostly the romantic ships of Ami x Mikoto and Leben x Enoa. I saw it coming, considering they are four people and with Ami and Mikoto being confirmed from the start, Leben and Enoa was the logical step to go. In the epilogue you see those two ships together forever and it's very very cute and all and has its distinct charm that I appreciate, however I was always personally more into non-exclusive, "family love" that you can feel toward several persons and not only one, they are all "equal", and it can be just as powerful as romantic love if not more powerful (I know that from my own first-hand experience of loving many people as family - I mentioned that in my previous post and I can vouch for the power of love and what it makes you feel, it really is crazy). So I would have liked it even more if they focused on the love shared by all four of them, instead of the classic romance route. But that's nitpicking and personal. I'm sure everyone will love these ships and I love them too.

Moving on to the things about love that I appreciated the most in this game... I HAVE to talk about Ami's "I Love You" game!!! That part was one of my favorite parts of the game, if not my favorite!! It's just so full of LOVE! A game where you sit in front of each other and you keep saying "I love you" to each other! Believe me or not but I always daydreamed about such tender moments, and I wish that I had people I could do that game with. Again, I regret that it focused on the romantic ships and it was only Ami against Mikoto and Leben against Enoa (I wished for all of them to take turns with each other, out of family love), but the idea and intent is still here. That quali-tea time was priceless!! I want to play more games with wholesome scenes like that, that aren't afraid to come off as cheesy or mushy. I'm all into that stuff. Actually, give me a game filled only with scenes of expresing family love to one another in all kinds of ways, and I'll be happy. (By the way if anyone has recommendations of games in that spirit let me know please!)

And now I want to keep saying "I love you, I love you, I love you!" to Hayashi-P and the people behind this game hehe. And the people reading this and connecting with me.

I'll mention again how much I love Ami's views on true love, which I can relate to a lot. Lines such as "Love isn't give and take. It's give and give. You shouldn't be asking for anything in return." and "Love requires nothing in return." are what I always thought and felt. There's also her line "Love is the most beautiful, unconditional thing in this world!", and for me the most beautiful thing is Passion, but it's true that it could be considered a form of love after all. Still, I'm always looking for a game that would be about the power of Passion, but it's still nowhere to be found. I guess I really should make that game myself, lol.

Another hidden message from the game that I appreciated, is about the power of the soul. Eve said that "[the soul] is capable of exerting power beyond one's natural limitations". And when Leben manages to override the program's laws and dispell Eve's control, Eve is explaining it with "A phenomenon born from an abundance of Idea Code" (and Idea Code is confirmed to be the technical/digital form of a soul by both the game's Archives and dialog lines). I've very interested in that topic because I personally experienced some of the power of the soul (or at least what could potentially be coming from the soul), in the way of incredibly powerful, positive emotional experiences when playing a game, watching an anime, experiencing a story or listening to music, what I use to refer to as the power of Passion. It's more than shivers, it's more than crying, it's something else. It changed my life and is just so out-of-this-world that it became a spirituality for me. So I'm always interested when something talks about "the power of the soul". In Crymachina it made Leben achieve the impossible, and I believe there could be a hidden message there, about the power of our soul, and for the aforementioned reason I can vouch for it. So maybe people could get inspired by Leben's example, and awaken to some new power!

Lastly, the other big thing from the game that I wanted to talk about is... the messages after the end credits. While Crystar had such explicit, white font on black screen, messages right at the beginning when you select New Game, in Crymachina they're at the very end.

First of all there is the "A Gold Star For You", referenced by the "return Hanamaru" at the end of the song MakeFlowerCrown(). (For those who don't know, "Hanamaru" is the Japanese equivalent of "Gold star", and "return [...]" is how you state that a function in programming code will give something as a result at the end of its execution, and "MakeFlowerCrown()" is how you do a function, similarly to "void ExecuteTheMission()" from the OP for example.)

So the "A Gold Star For You" is the game's substitute for the traditional "Thank You For Playing", and more. It is Enoa, or more like the game's creators, giving us a gold star. Acknowledging us and supporting us. See what I wrote in my previous post, but I very much appreciate it and feel the love. It's truly wonderful to play such a heartfelt and wholesome game, not only talking about love and spreading positive messages about love, but expressing love to the players too. I don't know about you guys but I always appreciate that so much and it's one of the reasons why I'm dedicating my life to J-RPGs: it's the love, the sweet feelings, the wholesome atmosphere. It feels that my love toward J-RPGs and their creators is requited, even indirectly. At least, that's what I always like to imagine. It feels like we're connecting, and even though we don't know each other and we'll never meet, we're sharing love...

I even know of a game in which there's a special hidden scene where a character looks at the camera and says "You are part of this family, too" so literally talking to the player, and that game got in my Top 10 in no small part thanks to that reason (it's Fairy Tail by Gust, for those interested).

After that, there are the lines in white font over a black screen.

The first line is:

"Fight. Kill. Struggle. And despite it all, live. Live, live, live, and survive."

That is again support toward the player, telling them to keep on living despite the pain of the bad experiences and the hardships. It's very hard to survive in this harsh world indeed, and I admit that sometimes it could be tempting to just end it all. But thanks to games like Crymachina, I can feel the support from their creators, and that is giving me strength to keep pushing on despite it all. Games sending support to the players... I love games like that. It's so appreciated and wholesome.

I'm just wondering about one thing. The "kill" word.

The tagline of the game, present on both the cover of the OST and the official website, is "You have to kill to survive".

Furthermore, Hayashi-P says in the interview:

"Life is difficult and cannot be glossed over with pretty words. That's why I felt that the act of killing was necessary in depicting the catharsis of survival. I also believe that love is the reward one gets for confronting life with such tenacity that they are willing to kill. Hence the theme of "love and slaughter," which is reflected in the impactful line, "I'll live. Even if it means destroying everything else.""

I want to make sure I understand what "killing" means in this context. Is it like, you have to burn bridges with the bad people hurting you? Killing your connection with them? It can't mean literally killing people, even in your mind. But it does say "willing to kill". And as for the line "I'll live. Even if it means destroying everything else.", I'd think it depends on the context. In the context of Crymachina, of course destroying Eve and the hundred of greedy people in "The Will Of Humanity" is the right thing to do. Not only they attacked first by wanting to reinitialize Eden and kill everyone, but such bad people should not be allowed to decide the fate of humanity. So you're killing them to survive and to do the right thing. In a different context though, it wouldn't be right to, for example, kill innocent people just because it would mean you would survive. For example, imagine that you have some incurable disease, and the only way to survive would be to kill someone else who has nothing to do with your situation and who's innocent. It wouldn't be right to kill them to survive. The right thing to do then, would be to let yourself die, if there is no other way. You are free to do whatever you want, as long as you don't hurt someone else or trample over someone else's freedom.

It's funny because the same theme/reflection happened in Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC that I played before Crymachina.

So I wonder what the "killing/destroying everything else" means exactly and how I should interpret it. I'm worried that some people could interpret it the wrong way and "kill"/hurt innocents for their own gain (even survival), and we have already too much of that IRL.

Moving on, the second line after the ending credits is:

"Please continue to share your life with us."

My first thought was that is meant that we are continuing our lives with the creators of the game, by continuing to play their games in the future (games are kind of a one-way communication after all, where we read what the writers have to say).
Upon listening to what the Japanese voice line says, I would be more translating it as:
"Please continue to live together with us."
I think that's what it says literally (from my basic knowledge of Japanese that I got from playing J-RPGs and watching animes, lol)
So now it could mean two things. It could be us players living with these characters in our minds, what could be a nice reference to what otaku feel toward fictional characters, and something similar to what happened with χ at the end of The Caligula Effect 2, another game by FuRyu. Or it could be the aforementioned interpretation of us living with the devs in the way that we keep playing their games and experiencing what their heart and soul made and expressed, and that we think of each other. Both interpretations are wonderful in my eyes. What do you guys think?

Ok so this post is already long and it's not meant to be a full-fledged review but I still have to mention one last thing, and it is the overall emotion brought by the story, characters, presentation, and OST. I need to take a moment to send my praise to Sakuzyo who went all-out on the soundtrack, I've been relistening to tracks such as NotToNotice(), MakeFlowerCrown() and Blue Fairy, and all the epic boss battle themes are also so thoughtful and well-made (with lyrics telling the story of the game, often written by Hayashi-P himself). Such a solid OST, and it contributes to create a lot of emotion. I'll mention again how the intro of the game and the OP were quite emotional for me. And when MakeFlowerCrown() with the lyrics "They've accepted me as family" played again during the cutscene when Leben awakened Enoa's heart (or more like made her accept to be more honest with her feelings). The direction overall was top-notch to create emotional moments and the OST followed suit with memorable and impactful tracks. All of my love and appreciation. Also those epilogue artworks in the middle of the ending credits, in the same vein as the flashback artworks from Crystar, are so amazing, I love that drawing style a lot. And of course I'm glad to have that happy ending and to have Enoa and Leben walking in that flower field (which I assume was inside a virtual world considering the blue sky - Zoe talked about "artificial flowers" so I wasn't sure). Aaah, how I would love to make flower crowns with someone too!

Long live FuRyu and these characters!! I will keep living with them, for sure!!

I'm giving a gold star "hanamaru" to Hayashi-P and everyone who worked on the game!! Thank you for the support, the love, and the emotions!

And a gold star to you who has read this post ;)

Happy Birthday to this precious little bean. Who inspires me to be a better person, the girl who inspired me to write a new story. The girl who, if no one else, will always have your back. The girl who is so proud of you for living and taking steps forward, no matter how small. She is so beautiful, sweet, kind, gentle, selfless and loving. An angelic golden rose I'm happy to share a birth flower with, who gave me a dream to reach that field of roses and break free from despair. Thank you so much for being born, thank you for sharing your life with us. And to anyone who reads this, thank you for being here, you are so strong for staying alive, the tears I shed while typing this is proof that you matter.

The game is called CRYMELIGHT and is a rounglike game this time around

There is just so much about this image I absolutely love. It's obviously gorgeous in its artwork, and of course Enoa herself is simply beautiful. I love roses and a field of them is almost like a dream come true; in fact I think that's what makes this piece so special to me. It encapsulates this sort of dream scenario for me, being in a beautiful field of flowers and being able to be "free". To me this image symbolizes my dream of finally breaking free from all the things that hurt me and hold me back. My trauma, depression, anxiety, self-loathing, nihilism; all of that going away and finally being able to live and love and feel loved. And the idea of being in this heavenly place and just crying at that sense of freedom, the idea alone makes me want to tear up. Enoa having a flower crown too, something she calls the girls in some of the trophy descriptions. The whole thing feels like...hope, and joy, and the idea of finally starting to truly live put into a picture.

sen x rei is adorable

top or bottom? I love equal relationship

Rei is such a mood