Eastern Mind

銃声とダイヤモンド - Diamond and The sound of a Gun Shot

Juusei to Diamond (Diamond and The Sound of a Gun Shot) is a recent PSP release in Japan by Sony Computer Entertainment, developed by Zenner Works, the small Japanese company who developed Okage for the PS2. As expected, the game is not fit for those who have weak Japanese reading skills, this being a rather heavy text adventure - or sound novel according to standards. As you can verify from all the in-game stills below, the visuals of the game are quite stunning - way up there with the likes of Anata Wo Yurusanai also for the PSP. Moreover, the game has an impressive sound effect work and this unusual soundtrack that mixes Argentinean tango with more contemporary sonorities and beats. Following the tradition of the genre, there is no voice work for the character dialogues to accompany the on-screen text.

In spite of the difficulties I managed to make my way through the Intro and first Chapter. The game starts in a fast-food restaurant where a mad man is holding the two waiters hostage. The main character of the game, Onizuka Youichi, is negotiating the release of the two hostages while pretending to be an ally to the criminal. In fact they are communicating so smoothly to one another that it’s hard to realize they’re in the middle of a crisis.

So far the criminal seems satisfied: that’s because Onizuka is leading him into the belief that he’s actually on his side.

Outside the store is the police barrier. Onizuka’s assistant and fellow freelance negotiatior Kamizaki Hiromi is lending a helping hand.

Meet Katagiri Yuusaku, the fair and forgiving boss who gets along very well with Onizuka.

Onizuka reports the situation: two men placed behind the counter. One door on the back leads to the toilets.

This is the easy going negotiator. Young and light-hearted.

The team is in the Police van digging up information that may be useful to solve this crisis.

Something went wrong. The perpetrator went berserk and now he’s waving his gun at the store employees. He seems highly unstable so the negotiators team is forced to act quickly.

Onizuka comes inside and takes the two out, assuring everything will be OK.

The strategy is to force the criminal to surrender by creating another hostage situation in that same space. The young detective points a gun at Kamizaki as part of act.

Commence negotiation. When the situation is dire, both parties enter a battle mode of sorts.

The yellow line in the middle determines the level of tension. It is also recommended that the emotion gauge never reaches its limit, otherwise it will become almost impossible to succeed. Whenever the player presents a valid argument, his portion of the screen will increase as shown below.

I wasn’t aware of the rules at first, so I lost a great deal of terrain. And thus mad man went furious. Notice how genuine his facial expression is.

The key to these negotiations lies not only in the selection of what to say next: there is also a certain timing for inserting the next input which may allow the player to gain more terrain using the same option. As seen above, Onizuka is winning terrain over his opponent.

Finally, he surrenders his weapon.

Onizuka checks up on the two attendants. All’s well that ends well.

The credits follow this rolling start. Nice touch with the divided screen, similar to the conflict situations during the game.

The 1st chapter begins with Onizuka and Kamizaki sitting on their desks, at the beginning of a new work day.

Yuusaku, the boss, arrives to the office and provides instructions.

The officer briefs the two on the next case they should follow, while laying some photos over the table.

Whatever happened to the glamour of detective investigations? Instead of the long black Caddillac, these negotiators cruise in a pink, economy class car. And guess what: the lady’s driving. Marlowe would be ashamed.

Arriving at the residence of the first name on the list, the two begin making a series of questions. I’m under the impression that the man in the raincoat is an informant.

This lady was rude and unwilling to help. All throught the conversation, she kept this glare pointed at Kamizaki. Unpleasant to say the least.

On the way back to the office, old Yuusaku presents us Nakamura Keisuke, a profiler returning from America, where he acquired new skills working at the FBI. I’m not so sure I trust him, as the Japanese tend to create a specific sort of villains with this specific look.

Finally, they meet with the woman on the picture at the hospital.

After a long day of gathering information, interrogating suspects and informers, matching the data with the computer database and travelling around in those economy class wheels, the two partners stop by the local bar for a relaxing drink. Even after work hours they keep discussing the case they’re investigating. Not a moment to spare for these workaholics.