With our release of Chuablesoft’s If You Love Me, Then Say So! just a couple of days away, we’re excited to bring you all the second and final part of some exclusive comments from the director, Yoshi Kusakabe!
With such a bold concept for the game, naturally the heroines needed to be bold, too! We considered the option of going with ordinary women you would encounter in real life, but instead we tried running off in the complete opposite direction. Part of that was due to the scenario writer’s tastes… or rather him running wild on us. To be honest, sometimes I feel they were too bold.
Especially Yuki, you know? The dark lord of sex talk. You often see a male friend who loves talking about sex in other mediums, but it’s incredibly rare for that character to be a woman, let alone a beautiful one that can be pursued romantically. In fact, Japanese players were clearly divided between those who couldn’t see her as romanceable and those who loved her as an “unfortunate heroine.” Yeah. Well. I suppose that works.
Then we have Mahiru, another unfortunate heroine. She looks petite, but is incredibly naive… or rather, dumb. Terribly dumb. Is she not romanceable? Or does she stir your desire to protect her? I hope you’ll decide that for yourselves.
By the way, even though you can’t pursue her, the most popular girl was Maya. We actually planned on making her a heroine, and even had ideas for her route [Spoiler! Please highlight to view] (You could pursue Maya after Mahiru rejects your confession), but we didn’t have the budget to make that happen… What a shame!
とがったコンセプトのゲームなので、ヒロインたちもとがってるよ。「現実にいそうな等身大の女の子にする」って選択肢もあったんだけどね。真逆の選択肢に走ってみた。シナリオライターの趣味……もとい暴走という話もある。正直、とがらせすぎた感はある。
とくに友希な。下ネタ大魔王。「下ネタ好きの男友達」っていうキャラは他作品でちょくちょく見かけるけど、それが女の子で、しかも美少女で攻略可能となると、まずいないんじゃなかろーか。実際、日本のユーザーからは「恋愛対象として見れない」という人と「残念系ヒロイン万歳！」って人にはっきり分かれたね。うん、まぁ、それでいいんじゃないかな。
それから、まひるも残念なヒロインだね。見た目も小さいけど、それ以上に中身が幼い……というかアホの子だ。すさまじいアホだ。恋愛対象として見れない？ それとも保護欲をかきたてられる？ その辺は自分の目で確かめてほしい。
ちなみに一番人気はまやさんだった。攻略はできないんだけどね。ほんとは攻略可能にする予定で、シナリオも考えてあって、「まひるに告白して振られることで、まやさんが攻略できるようになる」なんて仕掛けも考えてたんだけど、予算が足りなくて実現しなかったよ……無念！