12Riven is the first and only game in the Integral series, based off of the popular Infinity series, made up of Never7, Ever17, and Remember11. Like most of the games in the Infinity series, the game has two protagonists.On May 20th, 2012, Renmaru Miyabidou (an Ordinary High School Student) receives a text from an unknown sender telling him that his childhood friend Myuu Takae will be murdered on the roof of a hotel. At the same time, Narumi Mishima, a cop, receives a similar text from her friend and co-worker Makoto, which also tells her to find Renmaru, as he is an ally. Renmaru arrives at the scene first, where he finds Myuu and a boy named Mei Kiridera, the leader of an organization called Psi-Climinal (an organization made up with those with the power of Psi), who intends to kill Myuu, as she is an interference to their plan, "The Second Eclipse Plan". Narumi soon arrives, and as things go downhill real fast, both protagonists split up in opposite directions, both which will lead them to opposing Psi-Climinal.This Visual Novel is noted for having a troubled production history- while it was being written, KID went bankrupt, and so production was halted until Cyberfront picked it up. It was originally supposed to be the first game in a trilogy, but poor reviews and sales killed chances of that.This game provides examples of:
Assimilation Plot- The goal of The Second Eclipse Plan is to use radio waves all around the world to give everyone Eclipse Syndrome.
Big BadLiminality. The closest thing they have to a physical Big Bad is Omega.
Bittersweet Ending- Narumi's Route. The Second Eclipse Plan has been stopped, but Makoto and "Chisato" are dead, and Narumi is left with many questions she knows she'll never get answers to.
Bowdlerization- In the PS2 release of the game, shots of a character bleeding had their colors inverted to censor the blood (though shots of smaller bloodstains were left alone). This was changed in the PSP version, as the originals were shown normally, and was partially averted in the PC version.
Furthermore, in the PS2 version, there was a scene cut where it showed Myuu as a kid getting bullied by other kids. The scene was cut to get a B (12+) rating, but the scene was put back in the PC and PSP versions.
Brought Down to Normal- Psi users in World A, who not only can't use their powers, but can only remain there for 12 minutes, with the exception of Myuu and Kiridera, thanks to the CODECS.
Cloning Blues- While Chisato isn't exactly a clone, she was the closest of the 24 Psi Clones to resemble Myuu, leading to her being experimented on. As a result, she resented Myuu (combined with Don't You Dare Pity Me!) until Myuu and Mei saved her from being vivisected.
Complete Monster- Dr. Inose, as shown in flashbacks, who was going to vivisect Chisato in order to gain a better understanding of her, not to mention treating her like crap.
Creepy Monotone- Those with Eclipse Syndrome tend to talk like this. In another example, when Tango's true identity as Omega is revealed, his voice shifts from innocent sounding to a cold, emotionless monotone.
Cute Shotaro Boy- Tango. At least, up until his true nature is revealed.
Determinator- Both protagonists, but especially Renmaru.
Dressing as the EnemyRenmaru does this in order to gain access to the school where Myuu and Maina are being held captive, where he receives help from Chisato, who hacks the school's database so that the data makes it seem like he's Omega, Chisato's "brother".
Downer Ending- Renmaru's Route. No matter what, either Myuu gets shot and killed by Makoto, or she gets kidnapped by Kiridera. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation for Renmaru, who remains trapped in World A. Worst of all, The Second Eclipse Project is a success, and it's heavily implied that the rest of the world kills each other off due to the lack of natural resources in World A.
Exposition Break- Very frequent (and a common complaint about the game).
Gondor Calls for Aid- In the final battle in World A with Psych-Liminal, the Mirage Kingdom and the Shimura Club appear to fight off the Mooks while Renmaru heads for the top floor of Integral Tower.
Myuu (海) and Mei's (鳴) names are spelled with the same kanji as their older sister, Narumi's (鳴海), because if she didn't type the NRM 66 retrovirus code, they would never have been born.
Chisato was named by Myuu, after the flowers she would constantly look at in the garden in the research facility where the two were kept.
Narumi's name comes from an anagram of "liminal" (Nallmii). When pronounced in Japanese, it comes out as "Narumi".
Megane- Omega. As it turns out, he is actually Renmaru, who normally wears contacts, but switches to glasses after he has to take his contacts out at one point. By the Epilogue, he's decided to stick to wearing glasses.
Meganekko- Maina.
Mob War- Though one of them isn't exactly a crime syndicate, the conflict between the Mirage Kingdom and the Shimura Club in World A is essentially this.
Obfuscating Stupidity- Maina knows almost everything about what's really going on, but keeps it to herself.
Off Model- One of the biggest complaints of the game were that many of the C Gs looked like this when compared to the character models. Most of those C Gs were redrawn in the PSP re-release to fix this, but some still look off.
Psychic Powers- Psi. However, this is mostly an optical illusion, as Psi allows its users to slow down their time to 0.5 seconds, allowing them to perform normal actions that will look like "psychic powers" in real time.
Red Herring- The game sets up many hints that Ohtemachi is the new leader of the Shimura Club, only for it to be revealed at the end that the actual leader is Maina (who is dating Ohtemachi).
Reverse Mole- Kiridera, though played with in that he's not working with any one team, but for his own intentions.
Sequel Hook- One that was never resolved due to the Integral series being cancelled.
Tykebomb- All the members of Psi-Climinal count, as they're all under the age of 18. This is best personified in the true Omega, who, once his cover is blown, is revealed to be a cold-blooded killer with no remorse.
Wasted Song - "Eclipse", a nice, five minute song that only plays twice in the game (one of those times being optional), where you'll only hear about 30-60 seconds of it (unless you wait it out).
You Gotta Have Blue Hair- Chisato. As it turns out, Myuu's real hair color is blue as well. This is justified, as those with the NRM 66 retrovirus are noted to have strange hair and skin pigmentation.
You Have Failed Me- Makoto was assaulted, then later murdered, by Omega, as punishment for failing to carry out her job to eliminate Myuu in World A.
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