12Riven

12Riven ―the Ψcliminal of integral―

Japanese PlayStation 2 Box art
Developer(s) KID
CyberFront
SDR Project
Publisher(s) CyberFront
Director(s) Ken Wakabayashi
Artist(s) Yū Takigawa
Bomi (character designer)
Composer(s) Takeshi Abo
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Windows
PlayStation Portable
Android
iOS
Release date(s)
  • JP March 13, 2008 (PS2)[1]
  • JP April 16, 2009 (PSP)
  • JP TBA (Android)
  • JP TBA (iOS)
Genre(s) Visual novel
Mode(s) Single player

12Riven ―the Ψcliminal of integral― is a Japanese visual novel developed by KID, CyberFront, and SDR Project and that was released on March 13, 2008 for the PlayStation 2 and April 16, 2009 for the PlayStation Portable.[1] There is a regular edition, and a special edition which included the game's original soundtrack. KID are known for producing the Memories Off series, and the Infinity series which includes Never 7: The End of Infinity, Ever 17: The Out of Infinity, and Remember 11: The Age of Infinity. When KID declared bankruptcy in November 2006, production on the game was halted until CyberFront took over and resumed production.[2][3] The game was meant to be the successor to the Infinity games by being the first title in the Integral series. However, overall weak sales and the closure of KID led to these plans being scrapped.

The game had two different PC releases on April 4, 2008. It was released as a standalone product[1] and as a part of the Infinity Plus pack (which includes PC versions of Never 7: The End of Infinity, Ever 17: The Out of Infinity, Remember 11: The Age of Infinity and 12Riven).[4] A port for Android and iOS is also planned.[5]

Plot

Characters

Protagonists

Renmaru Miyabidō (雅堂 錬丸 Miyabidō Renmaru)
Narumi Mishima (三嶋 鳴海 Mishima Narumi)

Other characters

Myū Takae (高江 ミュウ Takae Myū)
Voiced by: Ai Nonaka
Mei Kiridera (霧寺 メイ Kiridera Mei)
Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze
Maina (マイナ)
Voiced by: Rina Satō
Ōtemachi (大手町)
Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe
Chisato Inose (伊野瀬 チサト Inose Chisato)
Voiced by: Ai Shimizu
Omega Inose (伊野瀬 オメガ Inose Omega)
Voiced by: Naozumi Takahashi

Story

The story of 12Riven takes place on May 20, 2012 with Renmaru Miyabidō biking his way speedily towards the abandoned Integral (インテグラル Integuraru) building after receiving a message on his cellphone that Myū, an old friend of his, would die at the building's top level today at noon. When he gets there, he checks his wristwatch and sees that it is 11:24 AM.

Elsewhere, Narumi Mishima is on her motorcycle heading towards the same location. She has received a request from a friend and coworker asking her to help save a girl named "Myū" at Integral. Narumi must save Myū to prevent the execution of the "Second Eclipse Plan" (第弐エクリプス計画 Daini Ekuripusu Keikaku). Narumi has never heard of this phrase before, moreover, the message was sent with the "XXX Lv6" marking. This was a rating scale for the severity of a situation and a level 6 marking has never been used. Even a large scale terrorist threat was set at level 5. The message also indicated to Narumi that someone named Renmaru may be there, that he will be on her side.

Renmaru finds nothing at the observation deck of the building, but when he goes outside onto the opening of the building, he finds Myū injured on the ground. Renmaru also finds her attacker there but is unable to defeat him because every time Renmaru tries to connect a blow, he is thrown onto the ground himself by some unknown force. At this point, Myū's attacker draws out a gun, he takes Myū and threatens Renmaru to leave the place quietly after he counts to ten with his eyes closed. Renmaru does not know what to do and stands there hopelessly. Right as the attacker counts down to one, Narumi arrives at the scene and points her gun at him.

Development

12Riven and Memories Off 5: Encore, another game that was under development by KID, was originally in danger of not being released when KID filed for bankruptcy in 2006.[6] Both games were resurrected in 2007 by CyberFront when they acquired KID's intellectual properties.[7]

Release history

12Riven was originally set to be released on December 6, 2007[8] but it was delayed to February 14, 2008.[9] It was once again delayed further to its final release date on March 13, 2008.[1] Both the standalone PC version[1] and the bundled version with the Infinity Plus package was released on April 4, 2008.[4]

Music

12Riven's music is composed by Takeshi Abo. Both the game's opening theme, "Third Bridge", and ending theme, "Process" (プロセス Purosesu), are performed by Kaori. Both theme songs were included in a CD single that was sold on April 23, 2008[10] and debuted on Oricon at 144th place.[11] Chomaru Shikura composed and wrote the lyrics to both tracks and Kōji Ueno handled their arrangements. For the release on PSP, new opening and ending themes sung by Yui Sakakibara were recorded. The opening theme is named "Toki no Nai Sekai" (時のない世界) and the ending theme is named "Distance".[12]

Reception

On its first week of release, 12Riven garnered a respectable amount of sales by placing thirteenth in national game sales in Japan and third place for PlayStation 2 games.[13] However, the game failed to garner strong enough sales like its predecessors. Because of this, any future plans for further games in the Integral series were cancelled.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "12Riven's official website" (in Japanese). KID. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  2. ↑ Chris Winkler (2007-02-02). "Kid is Back". Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  3. ↑ "12Riven's official website's "Reports" section" (in Japanese). 2007-05-21. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "CyberFront's Infity plus website" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  5. ↑ "Infinity Visual Novel Series – Never7, Remember11, And 12Riven – Coming To iOS". Siliconera. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  6. ↑ Winkler, Chris (2006-12-01). "Kid Files for Bankruptcy". RPGFan. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  7. ↑ Chandran, Neal (2007-07-01). "RPGFan Previews - Memories Off #5: Encore". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  8. ↑ "Famitu's 12Riven preview" (in Japanese). 2007-08-30. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  9. ↑ "12Riven's demo campaign" (in Japanese). 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  10. ↑ "Comments from Kaori, the singer to Process, ending theme to the PS2 12Riven, has arrived" (in Japanese). 2008-04-03. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  11. ↑ "Oricon Style's ranking information for Kaori's Process single" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  12. ↑ "Yui Sakakibara's Official Website - Information section" (in Japanese). 2009-04-20. Archived from the original on 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2009-04-20.
  13. ↑ "Weekly Sales Ranking for March 10th - March 16th" (in Japanese). 2008-03-20. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-16.

External links