Kagami

 

I think that what most people don't know is that I don't edit any of the images I put here in any way other than to crop it if I feel I really have to or if there's a lot of blank space on one side. What you see on this blog is exactly what everything looks like to be on Second Life, no editing or tweaking involved. 

That being sad, I'd like for people to understand just why some of these pictures here are so dark -- because this sim is supposed to be dark and spooky! Welcome to Kagami, the August Japanese Horror Event that is beautiful and entirely free to play. 

Teleport to the sim, gets your free HUD, select your language, and then prepare yourself for a brilliant storytelling experience as you set out to save a friend who was spirited away into another realm. Filled with little trinkets and goodies, Kagami is a classical Japanese tale of spirits and lost family, sending you into another world filled with a different set of rules. You follow the clues to find your classmate Kasumi, and find out the truth behind her family. 

 So what can I say about this one without spoiling it? Not much, I suppose. I'll let you follow the storyline to figure out what's going on, as there are a lot of people to speak with and items to be found. It's a surprisingly simplistic story with more love than there is fright, but the sounds incorporated are rather brilliant. I do suggest turning up the sound on your computer for these areas, and not being afraid to click on everything. Thanks to the HUD, camera control is sometimes taken from you in order to either progress the story or to add to the drama, and it's a feature I actually approve of. Often times, it's far too easy to complete a story just because we can break the rules of reality and start looking through walls and far beyond where our avatars can actually reach.

Having our characters' control wrested away from them is quite brilliant, and certainly adds a flair to the story despite knowing that you're in absolutely no danger at all. It's somewhat startling to realise your point of view has been taken from you, or that you can't move immediately as you would like to.

On another point, I'd like to point out that this event was beautifully translated. Was the wording at its absolute best? As a writer, I can't exactly give them that much credit. But was it more than comprehensive and written in a way we understood the emotions of the story? Yes. Yes, it absolutely was. 

You can immediately tell that a lot of time and love went into this event, from the places that you go to the immaculate scripting for not only a free HUD, but dozens of NPC characters and interactive objects. For a horror event, it's not too scary. But then again, it might be on the scarier side of Second Life. Either way, it can still be enjoyed as a wonderful Japanese summer festival.

Shamera is wearing (in the first picture) an entirely free (outside of hair) mesh head and outfit from *COCO*BDJ.