I keep reading people saying, "Oh it's a lot of the same", "They re-used animations", "The gameplay is too much like the first one." I can't agree completely. While there are similar aspects in overall look and feel, WM takes a more experience based approach to leveling up and story progression than Summer Memories, which was definitely more grindy and just plain out task repetition at times. I felt like for a good 2/3 of SM I spent time managing the clock to try and get homework done which kept me from...other pursuits. WM certainly has some of that held over, but if you actually played the game, the various quality of life improvements do enough to make it perceptibly a different game. Yes, the base character models are essentially the same, except in winter clothes, although spoiler - Suzuka got her hair cut. There's new art for the...cutscenes, and an inset animation window for other...actions. Menko is there, but there's a new move or two you can learn, and it's much more important to the overall story. The right-click menu allowing you to go directly to the heroine you want, as well as see her stats was for me the biggest improvement in the game. I liked SM, but WM takes the best aspects of its predecessor, (kind of like Baldur's Gate 2 did with BG1) and then leans more into letting you realize more of the ultimate prize on your first playthrough. Though, like SM before it, is not meant to "finish" in one run. This is a full sequel, not a glorified expansion, as some have argued. You should play SM before you get into this one. There's a couple of lines at the beginning that recap SM, but that first interaction with Aunt Miyuki won't have as much impact if you didn't play SM. From what I've gathered from reading online, there's most likely going to be a Spring Memories. Not quoting anything, but there's several little dialogue items in WM that point to Boku coming back to stay with them once more. Also, Miyuki-san is best girl.
A couple of hours to get through. A couple of the puzzles I thought were a little bit odd to solve. Some items hard to find onscreen. I mainly finished it just to see how the story ended.
THIS is the game that finally hooked me. Wing Commander 2 did it first for me. THEN #3 came out. Funny, I found my CD's for this the other day, and thought, "You know, if I load up DosBox on my computer, I can make this work..." Thank you GOG, for bringing all the great games that replay worthy to the place where i can enjoy them. It's also Ginger Lynn Allen's best acting ever...well, it was the only acting of hers that I have playing with my parents around.
