Gotomomi

The Breakfast Review
So, I would say that this is a work that's trying very hard in multiple directions: it's trying to convey an atmosphere, a culture, an artistic statement ... it seems it's also trying to express itself in a foreign language. It's perhaps a little over-ambitious; I'm not sure that it quite manages to reach as far as it's trying to. It's like kedgeree -- interesting, and perhaps a little exotic to most -- just a little bit overcooked in this case. I would follow it with chrysanthemum tea, no sugar, just a hint of bitterness.
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Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling
With that said, though — if you take the game on its own terms, I found that it offers a great deal of freedom, openness, and depth of world state. Not only that, but the confusion seems to be an intentional part of the game’s aesthetic. At one point, the protagonist can get into a conversation about how Gotomomi (the city) is difficult for newcomers to navigate and that the experienced people who live there never seem to take the time to help out novices. If a player gets to the point of winning this thing on their own, it will almost certainly because they too have put in the time and become experienced — a sort of accretive PC.

All this may make Gotomomi a hard sell for the time-constrained play of IF Comp, and some players will simply never enjoy a game unless it gives them more direction, but there are others who might really find it interesting. If you think you might be one of those, just set yourself up to play sometime when you’ve got a lot of hours to spend, and take plenty of notes.
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Renga in Blue
This is a concept I really wanted to work — I love the idea of an open world situation where you’re just trying to scrounge up cash. Having a dynamic cash variable separates puzzles from a lock-key dynamic in a pretty big way. Unfortunately, I ran too quickly into loops or unwinnable situations and the characters and story just weren’t compelling enough for me to try to push through it.
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Reiko's Ramblings and Writings

The goal seems to be to make enough money to buy an open ticket on the shinkansen, which can be accomplished a number of ways. By the end, the reason almost doesn’t matter, but there’s a bit of exposition at the beginning about the PC running away from her family and her father’s hired goons. The process of acquiring the money mainly involves taking multiple short-term jobs in the area, some not so legal, and solving puzzles to complete those jobs.
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