Hands-on preview of Little Busters English Edition at character1!

Key News Blog Discussion
#1

Yesterday the 30th of April, our very own Japan correspondent RyuuTamotsu had the pleasure of attending character1 to check out the demo of Little Busters! English Edition on the Microsoft Surface! After chatting with VisualArt’s staff Ryuu went to check out the Prototype booth and was even given a tour of Little Busters! English Edition’s new features by Prototype CEO Toshio Tabeta! You can check out the footage above for all the details, but here’s a list of things that came up (some of which weren’t explicitly mentioned in the video).

  • It’s running in 720p HD.
  • It is running on a completely new engine, very similar to the console ports of Key’s games by Prototype with similar features.
  • It has been designed with the clear intent of being played on a tablet. All functions can be accessed through different touch gestures. That said, mouse and keyboard are also supported.
  • There is a function to jump back and forward between choices by swiping left and right.
  • Tapping with two fingers or pressing L on the keyboard changes the language between English and Japanese instantly.
  • You can fast forward (and fast-backward) by swiping across the text box left and right. The further you swipe the faster it skips.
  • A quick-save function is now available for the first time on PC.
  • Batting Practice is in, and can be played with touch controls or mouse by dragging Riki around and letting go to swing the bat. Runs very smoothly.
  • Saya’s minigame is also based on the 3D-rendered PS3 version. However, it is worth noting that no subtitles were present in this demo.
  • It is possible to resize/zoom the game window to display in whatever aspect ratio you prefer. Should please readers who are worried they are missing the top and bottom of a particular CG when running in 19:6, so everybody wins!

Hopefully, this will get people a little more excited to get their hands on this release. Don’t forget to vote on Little Busters on their Greenlight Page, and be sure to check out our Hype Van for lots of giveaways, including the chance to win a copy of Little Busters in time for release! The time is almost here at last.

Thanks to RyuuTamotsu and Glenn Irish for attending and recording the footage, and thanks to HeliosAlpha and Khsellhu for translating the video! Make sure to stick around til the end of the video for a special message from Baba-shachou.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://kazamatsuri.org/hands-preview-little-busters-english-edition-character1/
11 Likes
#2

Oh man, that looks slick! I kind of wish Clannad was that fancy.

#3

Oh my god that looks perfect in every way possible :uee: now I’m super hyped to play it on tablet especially

#4

That was a fun special message. Anyway, I’m hyped!

#5

One thing I don’t really get from the video is if you can still control the batting with the arrows like before. It’s great that they found a smooth way of playing it tablet, but I’m very comfortable with the normal PC controls.

#6

Oh my god I literally bought a Surface a week ago for this - I’m so glad they’re putting so much effort into the tablet features, it looks incredible!!

1 Like
#7

I would honestly be very surprised if they removed that feature :yahaha:

#8

You can control Riki with mouse now, you hold left click to move riki and he will swing when you release it.

#9

That sounds awful lol. Hope they kept the keyboard controls.

1 Like
#10

What Taka said, it would be terrible if the drag-and-drop was your only option for mouse. Now I also wonder how the drag-and-drop accounts for your aim if at all. Before you would hold backward to lob the ball above the characterssuicidal furballs, or you could hold forward to exact sweet justice on the fuckers.

5 Likes
#11

Hmmm, looks great, but there doesn’t seem to be a backlog of any kind. That’s probably the one thing that Little Busters! needed most, since the old system of just hitting a key to look back at the one line that was said previously was severely outdated. Especially in Little Busters! where it was incredibly sensitive where it would sometimes go like 10 lines back or forward in less than a second.

4 Likes
#12

Oh! Thanks for bringing that up @Pik3rob. I asked Ryuu about it and it turns out that yes, there is indeed a backlog function that can be accessed by swiping down on the textbox. In fact, you can even click on any line you want and wind-back to that line to experience it again! I’ll add this to the article.

2 Likes
#13

Now this is great. How many times have I wanted to read a very specific line in a VN and couldn’t get the full experience because I couldn’t see the characters’ sprites and possible screen effects (flashes or whatever).

2 Likes
#14

Or just wanted to hear “Zdogagagagagajuppashaaan!!”

4 Likes
#15

One thing: please tell me the baseball and other minigames are purely optional and don’t block progress in the game if you are hopeless at them.

a) I have as much knowledge/interest in baseball as an ant has in avant-garde theatre
b) I’m crappy at using keyboard/mouse controls

#16

For completing routes, the mini games can be turned off safely. There are some really funny scenes that you can unlock through them though.

#17

It’ll be hard for you then. You’ll have to learn a lot of strategy and types of batting that go with every different ball that the pitchers throw you. It’s a long learning process. Also, decision making is primordial as you should know when to redirect the ball to the first base to allow a second baser advance to third base at the cost of one out and…

Just kidding, just hit the suicidal furballs.

1 Like
#18

Can I just send Tomoyo in to bat for me? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

3 Likes
#19

So did I, before Little Busters.

In fact. I still do, I couldn’t give the slightest piss about the sport.

BUT, the practice is fun, it has literally the best music in the game, and amaaaaaazing atmosphere with the characters running around doing what they want.

I would advise at least keeping them on for the first and last run throughs.

3 Likes
#20

Alright, I can at least give it a go!