MinDeaD BlooD ~支配者の為の狂死曲~ ~Shihaisha no Tame no Kyoushikyoku~ [Black Cyc]

Foreword: There are a lot of praising reviews of this untranslated game (1 2 3), which was a great surprise for me. Are we really observing a great mistreated masterpiece in this case?
Title: MinDeaD BlooD ~Shihaisha no Tame no Kyoushikyoku~
Developer: Black Cyc
Date: 2004-06-11
VNDB link: https://vndb.org/v1060
Youtube walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr5YBK4CASw&list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv8DxlQByl9ojtAByJ-gdpN6
Synopsis: Just off the coast of mainland Japan is the island of Chisakura, home to a city of the same name, where the heralds of darkness are slowly gathering. Host to a prosperous economy, with a nationally renowned academic institution for young women and an equally upstanding medical research facility, the community has unwittingly attracted the attentions of dreaded supernatural creatures with few equals: vampires. Yet even these immortal predators have daring individuals who hunt them, and a secret war between the two powers is quickly racing to an apocalyptic conclusion. At the center of this nightmarish struggle is a man who has the potential to tip the scales in favor of one side or the other. His choice of allies - the hunters, the vampires, or none at all - may very well determine the fate of humanity and the undead.

Game type: Vampire amnesia action nukige
Character Design rating: 6/10
Protagonist rating: 7/10
Story rating: 6/10
Game quality: 6/10
Overall rating: 6/10
Since there are other reviews, just some personal impressions are enough. NO. This game is NOT a masterpiece. It was a huge mistake on my part to even launch this game without checking it out properly. Let's try to observe some of its elements.
MinDeaD BlooD does have an ok story, but it's not a great one. The only "events" of the story is getting closer to different heroines and together triggering some kind of ending, often with action scenes. The "events" of bonding are dozens of H scenes with each heroine, over a hundred of events overall. Is there anything worthy about this game - action scenes / heroine stories / amnesia information recovery ? Nope. So why do all these people praise the story? Just one reason - because this game is a nukige. If nukige has some kind of plot involved, it's already treated as a great feat. And if there are complex routes and multiple different endings to contain mystery elements - it's fresh, it's new. Compared to Yami no Koe and Mushitsukai this game really has a good story. But compare it to any normal plotge - and MinDeaD BlooD becomes just an average nukige.
Game has over a hundred of H events, many have the same CG or slightly different CG. Those events are absolutely devaluated. They become mundane means of communication that repeat over and over during the 60 days course of the game. More than that, they are drawn in absolutely disgusting way, so it's no wonder reader gets an immunity over those and just skips them. When real heroines have their final bonding event, there's no emotion left for it, it gets skipped as well. Nukige nature of the game leaves a stamp of disgust on all its elements and really hinders evaluation of the story.
The only way to get game and story interesting is to introduce really interesting characters that start to live on their own creating meanings. I absolutely can't see serious heroines behind these chunks of meat. Protagonist Shizuru with his cool attitude is ok, but basically he is a serial rapist, and I don't have the slightest desire to get to know his psychology. 
Game composition is absolutely horrible. For each of 60 days we get to choose where to go both for Shizuru and vampire twins Mana and Mayu. It's absolutely impossible to do anything without a walkthrough here. Even with walkthrough it's very easy to screw something up. There are some 27 endings (don't cite me on that) with some 15 being named ones. But among those named ones most are still bad endings. Some endings only take couple minutes. Some are only accessible through normal mode (not easy mode) and only prior to clearing the rest of the endings. It's really a mess. There aren't heroine endings, just some named ones. Gameplay is such a torture. Hopefully, I covered all the big branches in my video. I really wanted to see all the meaningful branches to be able to evaluate the story properly, but this game does not care about readers at all.
In the raw outcome, MinDeaD BlooD can't be compared to normal plotge like 3days ~Michiteyuku Toki no Kanata de~. It has such gross nature, that it can be compared only to fellow nukige games, and these review scores of 7/10, 8/10, 9/10 should be treated as 7/10, 8/10, 9/10 among nukige games where having any kind of plot is already a boon. Vampire theme got a boost after Tsukihime, but none of the vampire visual novels were able come close to it. I call it Tsukihime curse.

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Ricky Nguyen said...

So, can you tell me how each of the endings are? Do you still remember what happened in any of the endings (not the bad ones)? I remember Saki's ending, where she and Shizuri were marrying, until he dies? Wait, he actually dies in front of Saki and the other vampire hunters (Yuka included)? Saki then has a baby, the only thing that Shizuru gave her. It also looks like she's visiting Translyvania while asking if Shizuru is still watching over her and their child? Can you explain what happened here? There's also the one where Yuka actually turns into a bonafide vampire, where she then kills her father. Where the hell were Mana and Mayu in that one? Please explain this to me as best as you can. Thanks!

Ricky Nguyen said...

Hey, kivandopulus, it's Ricky. Just adding more to my previous comment. How are the named endings to you personally? Are they worth going through the trouble of getting them? Do any of the heroines die in them? Hope to hear from you soon.

kivandopulus said...

The named endings absolutely not worth getting, because you pass all this mess just in order to see couple minutes of chaos followed by credits. I recordered initial ending, plus three different storylines with endings, but I was so disgusted by the first one that could not force myself to watch others, just skimmed through them. Can't really discuss story details because of that. But videos are up for checking, just need to overcome disgust.

Ricky Nguyen said...

I see, that's true. So, you can't really discuss story and ending details right now because you're with MinDead Blood's storylines? That's understandable.

The named endings are only a couple of minutes each (if not less), followed by credits and the 'The End' words. Considering that you have to pass through all the mess you experienced just to get to these endings (which are short as hell), and that you NEED a guide to get to said endings, yeah, it's not WORTH the effort or time. Thought the endings would be longer, not short like a couple of minutes (if not less than that).

Sure, MinDead Blood has a story, but it's a story for a nukige; it's nothing compared to VNs that concentrate on good plot (and little on H-scenes), like the 3days VN you just described. A nukige having a story is something fresh and new, but it's nothing groundbreaking considering what you have to read through to get to the plot, and it might not be worth it.

Would you actually recommend MinDead Blood to a fellow VN reader? From your experience, I believe you won't recommend it to anyone.

Would you be able to discuss the story of MinDead Blood with me sometime in the future if you're willing to? I checked out the videos you recorded, but I just go straight for the endings (while also checking them if any of the heroines die in them), even though I understand nothing since it's in Japanese. Said endings are 'meh' though; they're not interesting. Not only that, I don't understand them at all. Like you said, MinDead's story is okay in some regards, but it is NOT a great one. The "events" (especially the heroine ones) are mostly just H-scenes, so the nukige aspects ruins the story since you feel nothing for them. Not only that, some characters in some of the "endings" are missing and we don't hear from them again. Anyway, the story of MinDead Blood is crap, right?

Hope to hear from you soon, kivandopulus!

kivandopulus said...

I can't make conclusions, because the real story only begins after the initial route that I saw. Of course I saw all the scenes in the following routes, but without text it can't be discussed. I really need to find some time and courage to actually watch the rest of recorded videos. With all the disgusting sex scenes already cut in videos, it should be much easier to read. Can't really recommend this game to anyone not familiar with the hardcore nukige like Clockup games, Maggot Baits, for example.

Ricky Nguyen said...

I see, that makes sense. Take your time, relax a bit, and just watch the rest of the recorded videos when you're ready to do so. I will wait patiently til then. Just take your time to gather your courage. I want to ask, the recorded videos, they cover the different major branches/storylines of the story itself, correct? Is it possible that there could be more major storylines other than those four (including the initial route you saw) you recorded? I hope to hear from you soon!

kivandopulus said...

I'm 99% sure that there are no more long branches. I only missed one named ending, because needed a save made early in the game. All the other seen endings are 2-minute long.

Ricky Nguyen said...

I see, so that means that the recorded videos that you made are all of the major long branches of MinDead Blood's story. There's the initial route you recorded, along with three different major long story branches with their endings; the initial route is for Yuka, with the three different storylines (videos #3-5, video #2 is for the common route) being for the vampire twins, Saki, and (Yuka, Saki, and the vampire twins) respectively. I think that's it. Anyway, like you stated above, all of the seen named endings last for about 2 minutes, which is downright pathetic and not worth the effort to get them if they're that damn short. Of course, most of those named endings are bad endings, correct? However, since you said that you skimmed past the three different major storylines after the initial route, we can't discuss about the story details of the initial route and the three different storylines. Then again, considering that MinDead Blood's story isn't that good and the endings are short and unimpactful, I question that. Either way, I hope I can at least get some clarification about the storyline branches and their endings. Oh well, I'll have to wait and see what happens on your part patiently. I hope to hear from you soon.

Ricky Nguyen said...

Also, the endings lack any sort of meaning or substance to them, as well as being very short, which destroys any kind of emotional impact they might have on readers. Just adding to my previous comment.

kivandopulus said...

I still have not found time to read it properly to the end.
But if you're interested in plot, there's a good JP site that has visual novel story summaries. Here is one for MinDeaD Blood
https://seesaawiki.jp/w/esosmw658/d/MinDeaD%20BlooD%20Complete%20Edition

Ricky Nguyen said...

Yeah, I took a look at the site you gave the link for and read some of the summaries via Google Translate, but it was a mess and didn't lead to a cohesive summary. Tried to read it, but only became for nonsensical from the crappy translation, so I stopped. Anyway, how's it going on your part? Also, left a comment for Paradise Lost, please check it.

Ricky Nguyen said...

Well, the named endings are not worth trying to get if they are only about two minutes long before the credits hit. That's tricking short, especially when you have to go through the messed-up crap the VN throws at you when progressing through the routes. This game isn't a masterpiece, then?

kivandopulus said...

I seriously hate this game. I consider it to be a disgusting nukige with shallow attempts to put up a plot.

Ricky Nguyen said...

Yeah, that's true. It may have a "plot", but said plot is outright generic, not complex, and not engaging enough to induce interest with it. That about right? Doesn't help that it has so many H-scenes that bog down the already pathetic plot, as we talked about.

Anonymous said...

Looks like someone's salty.

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