Kashimashi! Girl Meets Girl: Hajimete no Natsu Monogatari

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5 /5

Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl The First Summer Story was released on the PlayStation 2 on March 30, 2006 in Japan.

The game's story begins at the outset of summer vacation. Hazumu's homeroom teacher Namiko Tsuki suggests Hazumu and her friends take a one-week trip to a small mountain village with a hot springs resort. Hazumu's grandparents reside in this town, and two new characters are introduced into the story. Three other female characters are introduced as possible love interests for Hazumu; two are the same age as her, and the third is the somewhat older landlady of the resort. The goal of the game is to pair Hazumu up with one of the five female cast of characters. The gameplay's main system comes from Hazumu's indecisive personality. If the player shows more interest in a particular character, the other characters get annoyed that Hazumu is ignoring them, which is displayed by a tension meter. The more Hazumu ignores a particular character, the higher the tension between that character becomes. This ensures Hazumu stays good friends with the possible love interests. In order to view the ending of a particular character, a certain amount of tension will have to be between the other characters, but this cannot be too great or the ending will not show.

The gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent simply reading the text that appears on the game screen which represents either dialogue between the various characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. An important aspect of the game (as in nearly every visual novel) are the "decision points" which appear every so often which give the player the chance to choose from a limited number of options. The time between these decision points is variable and can occur anywhere from a minute to much longer. The game pauses at such moments and depending on which choice the player makes, the plot will progress in a specific direction. Each plot line can be achieved through multiple replays.