Thems fighting words, I hope you can back them up ~
My lack of appreciation for the Litbus routes is notorious, so Iāll rephrase that to sound less Takaish. Thereās more strength in the Summer Pockets heroine routes relative to the ending routes than in Litbus or Rewrite 
By the way, should there be threads for Alka and Pockets?
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Hmm, where did I put my popcorn?
I would be quite pleased and satisfied if this game, route-wise, was just a step below the routes of LB or Rewrite or better or anything in between. Granted, thatās not saying much coming from someone who hasnāt read either game yet, but if the game is good then thatās the big prize in the end.
That isā¦assuming it gets translated and localizedā¦thereās still that bridge to build yet.
I think I might have to side with Takafumi on this one, at least in regards to LB. LB holds a special place in my heart as one of the first VNs I played through to completion, but I am definitely finding many of the main heroines of Summer Pockets more likable. The support cast falls short of previous games so far, but as in the previous games, that may change in the later routes.
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The game itself reception good enough with all people who always follow Key (Kagikko), it also achived best seller on PC game ranking on Amazon Japan (https://archive.is/EzhpO) and rank 4 on Sofmap (which canāt pass the new title of FrontWing released nearly same time)
For pesonal review as player in Japan, I rated the game better AIR but not at level of CLANNAD, Little Busters! and Rewrite. It make me happy as a true āKey gameā after really long time and it fully a Key game, would make people always rememeber about and have really good impact. But for fair about quality content, I think it still can be writting better. For commerical reception, it already very good.
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I canāt remember, but for comparison, how was AoKanaās release when it came out? Which had the bigger release and the more positive reception, AoKana or SP?
AoKana released like 3 or 4 years ago, I think canāt compare.
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After read four heroine routes, and still in Umiās route. I canāt judge this game easily much like previous Keyās works, there are some touching scene in this game but still this it canāt reach my high expectation, more like I already expected that the quality of game is lower than AB.
Overall, itās a good ride tho. But still Iām disappointed with this game. Tho I like the idea of the legends, Umiās routeā¦
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Just finished Pocket, this game moved me so much, Iāve made an account just to say this.
CLANNAD is not distant memory for me, was only a few months ago that Iāve watched the anime and finished the VN. Watching clips and hearing the OST now still makes me emotional.
Like many of you, I initially felt Summer Pockets is just a struggling attempt by KEY to get back what they had in their prime. After the first four routes, it still felt that way. But by the end of ALKA, I was holding back tears. Then Pocket happened and I just sat there, crying. To me, itās like they took CLANNAD and turned it up to 11. The family aspect and self sacrifice of both stories really hit it home for me.
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I canāt read Japanese, so I just want to know if Maeda had any songs in this I should listen to. @ me if you know any good ones! Though unsure if theyāll have any way to listen to them so soon after the game released.
Just finished the game. I think if you love Keyās works, youāll love it, but if you tend to be more critical and picky (like me) youāll find a number of issues. It maintains that magical Key atmosphere that people love but the actual writing quality falls short of their better works. Not to say the writing is bad, just definitely not their best. That said, I totally cried at the climax and the whole family love and self-sacrifice themes reminiscent of Clannad were really well done. Like all Key works, the biggest factor ends up being how much you resonate with the themes and story.
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Maeda writing lyrics for the grand ending song āPocket o Fukuramaseteā, which is the best song with me in the game. You can search itās name to listen on YouTube or Nicovideo.
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Found the track. Yep; love it! Iāll have to avoid reading the lyrics to it before I get the chance to actually read Summer Pockets.
So I really have no idea why, but it appears the pre-order store exclusive drama CDs are actually included in the gameās voice files. Thereās a bunch of stuff towards the end of the koe folder that doesnāt make a whole lot of sense, so I donāt know if this is a mistake or something, but I wonāt say no to free things.
z0265 - Shiroha
z0266 - Kamome
z0267 - Ao
z0268 - Tsumugi
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http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2018/07/post_172.html
Soundtrack is being made at the moment, no release date yet.
Na-Ga is doing the cover art.
Will be 3 discs with 48 tracks.
I canāt wait!
EDIT:
Found some twitter posts of people visiting the real life locations in the game:
Far view of the island
Ferry Terminal
Shirohaās secret spot
Cough
Snack shop, side street, cafeteria
Sea side path, light house
Katou familyās home
Bonus
Some guy singing Alka Tale with actual game CGs at some karaoke box
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http://offtama.hatenablog.jp/entry/2018/07/02/231712
This person did a comprehensive blog with heaps of photos of locations from the game!
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http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/summer/sp/car_auction.html
The Summer Pockets promotion itasha is going up for auction on 7/26.
I have yet to play the game, but I hope I enjoy it more than Rewrite. While I did enjoy a large bit of Rewrite, it wasnāt near the rest of the Key family by a long shot. For me, it is the least coherent of the games in terms of writing (waiting to read the new version that is to come out some day in English). I would also put AIR above Rewrite too.
So I still have high hopes for the game and the high rating have me intrigued.
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Following the post about the Summer Pockets main menu music trancription (Key Musical Transcriptions), I wanted to talk about the original piece itself.
Similar to the Tomoyo After menu music, this is a piece that kept me from starting the actual VN, and I think that the one thing that both pieces of music share in common is their simplicity in composition. Sure, Summer Pockets has some fucked up chords at times, but most of the time it sticks to regular major or minor chords and fifths, which arenāt something spectacular for a piece of music. And the whole track doesnāt have a single alterned note that deviates from its key signature. And yet with such simplicity of composition, it manages to grip the listener.
Most of the track uses arpeggiated chords and appoggiaturas (musical ornaments) that together with the breathtaking performance of the piece turn the simplistic composition into a complex music interpretation. The alteration of the tempo during the first seconds of the track and the last ones is almost impossible to transcribe, and I pretty much gave up with the transcription of dynamic expressions (forte, piano, pianissimo and so on) because the performer plays such an expressive take on the composition that pretty much every note should have a different dynamics anotation.
Without having yet played Summer Pockets nor knowing anything about its story I can tell that the music evoques a sense of relaxation as if the breeze was caressing the listener while heās falling asleep on the grassy slopes of the island. The listener could be either alone or with some friends, but Iām pretty sure that the listener is alone by the end, as the duration of the notes becomes longer and longer and the piece ends with a very basic ā5-1-5ā chord that doesnāt even specify if it has a happy feeling (major chord) or dull feeling (minor chord). Itās as if the end of the VN is going to be the main character being left alone in some bittersweet scene and then the reader has to decide whether thatās a good or a bad ending.
Overall, I canāt stress this enough, but the key to this trackās success is its simplicity and amazing performance. Add a relaxing blue and green drawing to an already relaxing piece of music and you have a perfect main menu.
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