I got Tsuchiura’s date ending, at least. A date ending is a slightly inferior but much easier to get ending that only requires about 600 Love Points. The ultimate end would be the ‘perfect’ ending, but the requirements are a pain. Not only do you need 1000 Love Points and 1000 Rival Points but you also need to view several randomly occurring events for each potential suitor or you can kiss the ending good bye.
That’s why although I would have loved to get Tsuchiura’s perfect ending, I’m not going to go back and give it another try. Maybe later in the future, but not any time soon. Stat raising + event hunting just became too much trouble after a while. For example, raising your sadness stat is supposed to help with getting Tsuchiura, but it seems you have to raise it a LOT before it makes a blip on his Rival radar. That’s weeks of spamming the same interpretations over and over again on top of all the regular practice I have to do. Furthermore, despite all my efforts at speaking constantly with Ryo, I only managed to trigger 3 CGs by the end. The Japanese FAQs suggest that some events are time dependent, e.g. before selection X or Y. Other events are stat dependent, i.e. you have to have X love points and Y rival points. And the only way to know all this? FAQ your way through or buy the strategy guide.
Slight disappointment aside, the date ending wasn’t too bad. The romance in La Corda d’oro is very understated, so getting a confession is about as good as it gets. Ending details: Bolo tries to confess to Tsuchiura before the final selection, but he says the timing isn’t right and asks her to save it till later. After winning the contest, she goes up on the roof and begins to play “Love’s Greeting,” a special piece the fairy gave her. Tsuchiura hears the music and comes running over. He asks her to continue what she was going to say. Then without giving her a chance to say anything, he says he feels the same way about her. Fast forward a few days? weeks? and you get a CG of the two on a date somewhere. It was a rather ugly CG, tbh, didn’t look like Tsuchiura at all. But the concept was cute, and Tsuchiura’s non-confession confession is so like him.
Having said all that, I’m not quite done with La Corda d’oro yet. I’m having a hard time letting go because I love the gameplay but the guys just don’t interest me. But I love the gameplay. But the guys… eh. So I replayed it and tried to get Yunoki-sempai, but I made a wrong choice in week 2 and his love points went down to zero. Then I thought of going after Ousaki, but he’s such a bore. Rrrgh, but I don’t want to stop playing. The teacher is too scruffy, so he’s out. The two girls are annoying. Tsukimori is a prick, but it might be fun to see him blush…
Okay, it’s settled. I’ll try to get Tsukimori and Kahara’s date endings at least and then call it quits for good the foreseeable future with La Corda. For this edition, at least.
I don’t think I will ever understand why “sim with stats” games also have “need to hunt down events that you can’t possibly know without an FAQ” requirements. Seems like a bit of an extra step that doesn’t serve much purpose except making you read an FAQ because it tends to be disconnected from general number building.
I don’t really mind the treasure hunt. It makes for nice surprises in future replays, for one thing. The part where I have a problem is where triggering those random events is critical to getting a good ending (or any sort of ending, in certain games). If it’s a fun but completely optional addition, I’m all for it. The Tokimeki Memorial games are very good on that score.