Flowers (video game series)

Flowers
Le Volume sur Printemps cover art, featuring (left to right) Rikka, Suou and Mayuri
Genre(s)Visual novel
Developer(s)Innocent Grey
Publisher(s)
Artist(s)Miki Sugina
Writer(s)Hatsumi Shimizu
Composer(s)Manyo
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, Android, PlayStation 4
First releaseFlowers: Le Volume sur Printemps
18 April 2014
Latest releaseFlowers: Le Volume sur Hiver
15 September 2017

Flowers is a series of yuri-themed visual novel video games developed by Innocent Grey. The first entry, Flowers: Le Volume sur Printemps, was released in 2014; three more games were released in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Titles

Video games

  • Flowers: Le Volume sur Printemps is the first game in the series. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 18 April 2014,[1] and by Prototype for PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita on 9 October 2014.[2][3] The game was released in English for Microsoft Windows on 17 August 2016.[4]
  • Flowers: Le Volume sur Été is the second game in the series. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 17 April 2015,[5] and by Prototype for PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita on 22 October 2015.[6][7] The game was released in English for Microsoft Windows on 15 July 2018[8] with a Steam release planned for 25 July 2018.[9]
  • Flowers: Le Volume sur Automne is the third game in the series. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 27 May 2016,[10] and by Prototype for PlayStation Vita on 17 November 2016.[11] An English release was announced on 5 July 2018.[12]
  • Flowers: Le Volume sur Hiver is the fourth game in the series. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 15 September 2017,[13] and on 16 March 2018 for PlayStation Vita.[14]
  • Flowers: Les Quatre Saisons is a collection of all four games. It was released for the PlayStation 4 on 7 March 2019 in Japan.[15]

Other media

In addition to the video games, other media based on the series has been released: Six audio dramas have been published, as part of the limited editions of the Microsoft Windows and console versions of each game;[16][17][18][19][10][20] the games' music has been published as three soundtrack albums;[21] and two fanbooks based on the first two games have been released.[22][23]

Development

The Flowers series is developed by Innocent Grey, with art by Miki Sugina. Unlike their previous games, the developers decided to not focus on characters' deaths, instead depicting female students' everyday life, and how they cooperate to solve mysteries. Even prior to the first game's release, it was decided that there would be four games, representing the four seasons.[24]

During their panel at Anime Expo in July 2015, JAST USA announced that they would localize and publish the first game in late 2015;[25][26] the localized demo was eventually released in February 2016,[27] with the full game planned for both physical and digital release in March 2016.[28] Due to translation errors, JAST USA had to delay the game to allow time for heavy editing and quality assurance; the game was eventually released in English in August 2016.[29][4]

Reception

Famitsu review scores
Game Famitsu
Flowers: Le volume sur printemps 31/40[3]
Flowers: Le volume sur été 33/40[7]
Flowers: Le volume sur automne 33/40[11]
Flowers: Le volume sur hiver 33/40[30]

The series has been well received by critics.[3][7][11][30] Marcus Estrada of Hardcore Gamer called Primtemps's release "great news for yuri fans", and described the series' artwork as "gorgeous".[4][31]

References

  1. ^ "FLOWERS [PCゲーム]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. ^ "FLOWERS [PSP]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "FLOWERS [Vita]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Estrada, Marcus (16 August 2016). "Yuri Visual Novel Flowers Launches Today". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  5. ^ "FLOWERS -Le volume sur été-[PC]". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas, Inc. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  6. ^ "FLOWERS夏篇 [PSP]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "FLOWERS夏篇 [Vita]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Flowers -Le volume sur ete-". JAST USA. Archived from the original on 2018-07-21. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  9. ^ "Flowers -Le volume sur ete- on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-21. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  10. ^ a b "FLOWERS秋編『叶わぬ恋でも、想い続けるができますか――』" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  11. ^ a b c "FLOWERS秋篇 [Vita]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  12. ^ "New Announcements from Anime Expo 2018". JAST USA. 2018-07-04. Archived from the original on 2018-07-21. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  13. ^ "FLOWERS - Le volume sur hiver - <初回限定版>" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  14. ^ "FLOWERS冬篇". www.prot.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2018-07-21. Retrieved 2018-07-21.
  15. ^ Romano, Sal (January 29, 2019). "Flowers: Les Quatre Saisons adds 'Four Seasons' mode, 'Waist-Up' portrait size". Gematsu. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  16. ^ "FLOWERS春編『女の子を好きに為ったら、いけないんですか?』" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  17. ^ "FLOWERS春編" (in Japanese). Prototype. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  18. ^ "FLOWERS夏編『好きな人の為に、何かしてあげたいと思ったことはありますか――』" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  19. ^ "FLOWERS夏編" (in Japanese). Prototype. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  20. ^ "FLOWERS秋編" (in Japanese). Prototype. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  21. ^ "FLOWERS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK シリーズ" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  22. ^ "FLOWERS ファンブック" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  23. ^ "FLOWERS夏篇 ファンブック" (in Japanese). Gungnir. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  24. ^ Sato (11 March 2014). "Kara no Shoujo 3 Could Be In The Works As Early As Next Year". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  25. ^ "JAST USA Adds SoniComi, Flowers PC Games". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  26. ^ Ishaan (5 July 2015). "Kara no Shoujo Developer's Flowers Visual Novel Being Localized". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  27. ^ Priestman, Chris (27 February 2016). "Localized Demo Of Kara no Shoujo Developer's Visual Novel Flowers Released". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 10 July 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  28. ^ Estrada, Marcus (24 February 2016). "Yuri Visual Novel 'Flowers' Getting a Limited Edition". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  29. ^ Estrada, Marcus (7 March 2016). "Visual Novel 'Flowers' Delayed to Improve Quality". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  30. ^ a b Romano, Sal (6 March 2018). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1527". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  31. ^ Estrada, Marcus (27 December 2016). "Flowers – Le volume sur ete – Getting an English Translation". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2017.