True Love Story
Encyclopedia
Dating sim
Dating sims are a video game subgenre of simulation games, usually Japanese, with romantic elements. They are also sometimes put under the category of neoromance. The most common objective of dating sims is to date, usually choosing from among several characters, and to achieve a romantic...
s (as distinct from the similar but unrelated title True Love
True Love (game)
, better known simply as True Love, is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by Software House Parsley and published by CD Bros., released on June 9, 1995 for the PC-98 and on December 6, 1996 for Windows...
). True Love Story and True Love Story 2 were released by ASCII
ASCII (company)
was a publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, and became ASCII Media Works. The company published Monthly ASCII as the main publication...
for the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
. True Love Story 3 and True Love Story: Summer Days, and yet... were released by Enterbrain
Enterbrain
is a Japanese magazine publisher established on April 1, 2000. Enterbrain magazines are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
.
The True Love Story land are notable for their gekō (下校), or walk-home system. When the player asks a girl to walk home with him from school, the game enters a special conversation mode. In this mode, in addition to the usual long-term, strategic
Strategy
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
"love meter", the girl you are conversing with has a short-term, tactical "heartthrob meter" representing her level of immediate interest in the conversation with you. The player is given the choice of approximately 30 topics of conversation to choose from, and the heartthrob meter will increase or decrease based on the appropriateness of his selections. High heartthrob can then be leveraged to ask the girl out on a date, or simply to effect a permanent increase in her love meter.
Later True Love Story games added further complexity to this system, such as a "combo" system measuring the number of consecutive good choices of conversation topics. In large part because of this system, True Love Story is one of the most gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...
-rich dating sims.
An OVA based on the True Love Story; Summer Days, and yet... story was released in 2003. It was 3 episodes long.
Games
There have been 6 installments in the True Love Story. All of them have been developed by ASCIIASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
except True Story 3 and Summer Days, which were released by Enterbrain
Enterbrain
is a Japanese magazine publisher established on April 1, 2000. Enterbrain magazines are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan...
.
Main series
- True Love Story (PSPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
: 1996, re-released on 1998): Player is a high school student who can pursue 9 heroines. - True Love Story 2 (PSPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
: 1999): Player can pursue 13 heroines, included his sister. - True Love Story 3 (PS2: 2001, re-released on 2003): Player can pursue 10 heroines, included his twin sister.
- True Love Story: Summer Days, and yet... (PS2: 2003, re-released on 2004): The only title of the series with an anime adaptation.
Fandiscs
- True Love Story ~Remember My Heart~ (PSPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
: 1997): Fandisc for the original game featuring new heroines. - True Love Story Fandisc (PSPlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
: 1999): A short game featuring two new heroines; a pair of twin sisters.