Hotel Dusk, worth buying a DS for?

I'm asking this here rather than a general gaming forum because you're the kind of people who probably want the same things out of this game as me.

Hotel Dusk is probably the closest thing to a visual novel on console to come to the west so far. What's more, I'm hearing the story is really good.

Has anyone in this forum been playing it? What is your perspective of it from a VN players point of view?


Based on what I've heard so far, if this game was for PC or a console I own I would have already bought it.
But I hardly play Real Games at all these days, and if I were to buy a DS I can't think of a single other title I want.


Are there any other VN type games for this console in Japan? My Japanese is getting better, I can already read very slowly through some PC games, so I could look at the DS as a future investment for those imports if so.

The other visual novel type games for the DS are Phoenix Wright 1&2 (With 3+4 not out in English yet) and Trace Memory which is the previous effort by the team that did Hotel Dusk.

As for imports here is a link with some of the games coming out in Japan that you may like. http://heiseidemocracy.com/2006/11/0...he-nintendods/

I've just started Hotel Dusk so I can't say how good the story is. Although I did enjoy Trace Memory and Phoenix Wright 1+2.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Are there any other VN type games for this console in Japan? My Japanese is getting better, I can already read very slowly through some PC games, so I could look at the DS as a future investment for those imports if so.

Shakugan no Shana DS and Iriya no Sora DS.

The art style in this game is unique, and the dialogs are really well written. I haven't finished the entire game so I couldn't tell you about the overall plot, but so far the individual characters' stories are fairly interesting. I'd say the game is definitely worth picking up if you already own a DS.

The only thing I have against the game is the usual "walk around, click on everything until something happens" gameplay that players sometimes have to go through, which does get frustrating. If you've played any of the old LucasArts adventure games, you'll know what I mean.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All are considered and coined by Capcom as visual novels that are released in the U.S. which combines some point and click elements from traditional adventure games. They are linear though, and not a traditional visual novel or even adventure game (a la Ever 17). I highly recommend the first game and I recommend the second game if you really enjoyed the first. Both games are low in replay value though.

Trace Memory is not a visual novel at all, but rather a point and click adventure. There's nothing that makes it considered a visual novel at all. Hotel Dusk is on the way (I expect it to arrive in the mail this week) so I can't tell you about that but it's coined as an "Interactive Mystery Novel." Trace Memory is pretty meh, but probably worth $10, which is how much it costs right now at Toys R Us. It's about 6 hours long.

I'm playing Hotel Dusk right now and well after first 5 chapters or so, game's good but not at omg must have it level, actually I think liked Trace Memory better...though I'm yet to discover what's beyond all the mysteries in HD's story.

[GreatSaintLouis]

I'm a huge fan of classic detective fiction ala Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, so I'm really interested in seeing how Hotel Dusk plays out. Now if I can just find a copy...

Unregistered mentioned it a few posts up, but has anyone played Mediaworks' Iriya No Sora? I've been interested since the game was announced, and wanted to know if it's worth getting or not.