Nekojishi: Lin & Partners
Nekojishi: Lin & Partners is an upcoming video game that is self-published by Studio Klondike. It is a direct sequel to the 2017 visual novel game Nekojishi and the first game in the series to be released on a home/handheld console. The game features a new setting featuring returning characters, as well as new characters and gameplay.
| Nekojishi: Lin & Partners | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Studio Klondike |
| Publisher(s) | Studio Klondike |
| Director(s) | Adam Sheng |
| Producer(s) | Pache |
| Designer(s) | Dylan Wunsch |
| Writer(s) | Pache |
| Composer(s) | The Consouls |
| Series | Nekojishi |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | Q4 2021 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
It is scheduled for a release sometime in late 2021 for the Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, and MacOS.[1]
Gameplay
Unlike its predecessor, the game is an role-playing video game that uses top-down perspective with 3D graphics. In game, the player controls Lin Tian-Liao, followed by his three anthropomorphic cat spirits, explores the city of Taipei to complete objectives in order to progress through the story. Many characters will join Liao throughout his adventure, humans, and troubled spirits alike. Discover their past and grow close to the ones you care about. During the game you'll discover new characters, some of which may even join Liao on their adventure, lending their hand to Liao during debates in order to get the upper-hand.
You'll also be able to get to know the spirits you meet in the world by undertaking side quests along your main adventure. The bonds you make with the various spirits that accompany Liao on your journey will make their arguments more powerful in debates.
When the time comes for Liao to convince a spirit, a debate begins. Debates are real-time RPG battles where the player uses Argument Cards to damage their opponent's credibility (HP). Using cards makes use of Inspiration Points (IP) which are replenished every turn. In some scenarios, you may even need to use specific clues gathered in the adventure to disprove statements made by your opponent! Choose correctly and you'll leave them wide open. Make smart use of Argument Cards and their effects to show your opponents your way of thinking! The cards you have access to will change depending on your progress in the adventure, what characters are by your side, side quests completed, and other secrets hidden in the world. The combat bares resemblance and draws parallels to Square Enix's "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories".
Story
Setting
An adventure set in modern-day Taiwan where it is filled with culture, folklore, and the spiritual deities, other known as "Yaoguai", that cause Liao so much trouble. In Lin & Partners you can explore the world, talk to characters, solve puzzles, undertake quests, and more.
Plot
Three years after the events of Nekojishi, the main human protagonist, Lin Tian-Liao (voiced by Sean Chiplock), graduated from college and strapped for cash, and those closest to him, the three anthropomorphic male cat spirits Lin Hu, Likulau, and Yan Shu-Chi are desperate to help Liao get a job. One day, he found a job at Lin & Partners Architects LLP, an architecture firm specializing in the restoration of haunted locations, and solving the problems of the beast-man spirits dwelling within them. As Lin & Partners grows, a larger company looms near. Liao and the others must uncover their motives and ideals for tradition in modern society.
Development
Nekojishi: Lin & Partners is being self-published by Studio Klondike. Development was financed through a crowdfunding campaign on the website Kickstarter. The campaign was launched on March 3, 2020 with a goal of $70,000 SGD (US$50,000); the goal was already reached as of March 5, 2020, two days after the kickstarter campaign was started.[2] On March 12, 2020, they announced they've met their first stretch goal to include "Debate Cut-ins" with the goal of $85,000 SGD (US$60,000).[3] On March 30, 2020, they announced they've met their second stretch goal to include "English Voice Acting" with the total of $150,000 SGD (US$100,000), twelve hours before their fundraiser ended. At the same time, they've also released an announcement of their new and final stretch goal to include the game's "Animated Opening" of the total of $200,000 SGD (US$140,000),[4] but it wasn't reached. On March 31, 2020, the kickstarter has ended and they reached $163,539 SGD (US$114,719).
They stated that "It is the biggest project we've ever worked on by far. It's been in planning since 2017, gone though iteration after iteration, and now we're finally ready to share our vision with you all. Throughout the planning of this game we've grown immensely both as a team and in our capabilities. We feel we've come a long way since the visual novel we pored everything we had into back in 2017, and we really want to have the chance to take this next big leap."
The story of Lin & Partners was first drafted even before the release of the original Nekojishi. In 2017 there was a discussion about what Liao and the cats would do after the story of Nekojishi. From there came the idea of them meeting other spirits, and resolving the conflicts between humans and spirits just like Liao had done with the three main characters of the original Nekojishi. The context to this adventure would be that Liao is opening up an architecture firm that specializes in design surrounding the principles of Feng Shui— the Chinese geomancy based around the existence of spirits in places. As such, Liao will be called in to help on sites in need of spiritual improvement, such as suspected haunted properties where the root of their issues will really be tied to yaoguai and other spirits interfering with the human world.
They originally planned to make "Nekojishi: Lin & Partners" a comic series; however, in 2018, they decided to adapt this into a video game sequel to Nekojishi in response to the demand from the "Nekojishi" fan community. Later, they also released a different Nekojishi comic called The Divine Battles which was published by Pawprint Press.
In the beginning Lin & Partners, it was planned as a 2D simulation-puzzle game in the vein of games like "Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer" where the player needs to re-design spaces to meet given requirements and resolve Feng Shui related issues. Your success and failure in do so would influence the course of the story. By late 2018, they were about to release an announcement for the game. They even released the teaser website linandpartnersllp.com. However, just a few days after this release, Klondike assessed that the game we had planned conflicted with the story they wanted to tell. At this time, they also swapped from 2D sprite characters to 3D models to give them more flexibility and make room for the more complex scenarios found in an adventure game. And soon after, Klondike switched from their 2D scenes when they realized producing them was both too time-consuming for lead background artist too restrictive to iteration, especially with their small team. Since then, they've been building the framework that will allow them to make Lin & Partners a reality, from scene pipelines, animation tools, gameplay and scripting and they're finally at a point where they feel ready to share their game with the world.[5]
Pache, the lead writer and creator of the project, gave a very solidly affirmed there wouldn't be a sequel to Nekojishi. However, his thoughts and feelings towards the story and the characters evolved over the coming year as Nekojishi went into production. New ideas arose, and that's where the concept for Nekojishi: Lin & Partners originated. The development of this project began not long after the release of Nekojishi and has taken until now to bring to a reality through every hurdle we’ve had to traverse along the way.
Unlike the previous game, the game features new artstyle that is different from the first game. This was explained that they stated "As a part of this, we needed to adapt the visual style of Nekojishi and its characters from a visual novel into a more expansive and detailed world." They also stated that they will be releasing the art book which includes both Nekojishi and Nekojishi: Lin & Partners art as the artbook as it was planned to release during the Nekojishi's original crowdfunding, but the goal wasn't reached.
Controversy
After the announcement of Nekojishi: Lin & Partners, there has been rumors from social media that Studio Klondike has been underpaying workers or artists during production. Studio Klondike took notice of this and released a statement regarding the allegations; "Recently we have taken notice of several statements and rumors on social media across our audiences on Weibo, Facebook, and Twitter. We have taken the time to collect them, and with full transparency, offer the facts that form our understanding of the situation." They have listed number of questions and clarified them on their official site.[6] Four days later, an update version of their statement and released an info of their cost of the production of the original Nekojishi from another crowdfunding site "FlyingV" on the official Studio Klondike site. [7]
References
- Nekojishi: Lin & Partners - Announcement Trailer, retrieved March 7, 2020
- Funding Goal Met, retrieved March 7, 2020
- First Stretch Goal Met!, retrieved March 12, 2020
- VA Stretch Goal Hit + Final Stretch Goal Revealed, retrieved March 30, 2020
- Nekojishi: Lin & Partners Kickstarter, retrieved March 7, 2020
- Klondike Statement 7-3-20, retrieved March 7, 2020
- Klondike Statement 11-3-20, retrieved March 11, 2020