Real Sound - Kaze No Riglet

title:	Real Sound - Kaze No Riglet
url:	No link!
download page:	No link!
license:	retail
genre:	Adventure Games
developer:	Warp
platform:	Dreamcast, Sega Saturn
release:	1999
features:	sound, visuals
last edit by:	Richard

Description

Back in 1999 a Japanese company called Warp released what could be considered to be the very first big commercial audio game. The game's title was Real Sound: Kaze no Riglet (sometimes also Kaze no Regret) which translates into "Regrets in the Wind" or "The Riglet of the Wind". The game, that consists of 4 cd's (!), was only released in Japan for the Sega Saturn and the Dreamcast.
The man behind Real Sound: Kaze No Riglet is Kenji Eno, Warp's president. He was inspired to work with sound after receiving letters from some fans in Japan who were blind. Kenji Eno is acknowledged as being one hell of a game designer for being very unconventional, although most western gamers probably haven't played too many of his games. The game is produced by Iino Ken Osamu and features a luxurious cast of Miho's Sugaya.

The game index site Moby games features the following description: Mizu Sakura is a Tokyo elementary student who is transferred to a new school. There, she falls in love with a boy named Hiroshi Nonoichi. The two decide to elope together, fearing that nobody will accept their relationship at such a young age. However, Mizu never shows up for the meeting; a while later Hiroshi learns that she has been transferred to another school. Several years have passed. Mizu is looking for a job and Hiroshi attends college. It looks like both have moved on with their lives. But their past catches up with them when they learn about a mysterious disappearance in the subway system. Real Sound: Kaze no Regret is an audio game: it has no graphics or other visuals of any kind. Gameplay-wise, it is identical to visual novels, with written text and images being replaced by sound. The player listens to the voice-acted story, which is occasionally interrupted by a chime, prompting the player to make a decision and branch the plot.

(thanks to abdullah_mohammad for providing this description.

Since we haven't got a copy ourselves we can't tell you much else about the actual gameplay. What we know is that the game is basically an interactive audio adventure game which revolves around a Tokyo Love Story. After finishing the story there isn't much replayability except to run the story again. The game originally didn't feature ANY graphics on the Sega Saturn. When it was released on the Dreamcast it featured two play modes, visual and classic. The visual mode contains a series of still photographs that will be shown at certain portions of the game. The classic mode gives one a blank screen as with the Saturn version.

Warp has also released several big hit titles like Enemy Zero and D2 (both visually very rich games). Some parts of Real Sound: Kaze no Regret made their way into these two games. In D2 there are long scenes in the game where there's only a black screen along with a lone voice, and the player has to continue the game in that mode. Late in the game your character is rendered deaf and then blinded by a boss- but the game still continues and the player experiences the same visual and auditory limitations the character experiences.

The game is quite attractive for collectors due to its extreme curiosity and the fact that it includes some very stranges attributes like braille-cards, a bag with seeds (to plant!) and an extra transparant box with cloud motive. You might be able to still buy copies on online auction websites like eBay.

Contents of Sega Saturn Box, showing 4 cd's, a 4- cd tray, a booklet and a bag with seeds.