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[Despera]

As pointed out by cj in this thread:

As I've said, the Lain PSX game is an odd duck.

It's not even really a game at all. It's a simulator.

You navigate a Lain avatar through a cyclical interface to access her journals, voice recordings, and assorted clips of her interacting with society.

It gets VERY repetitive, but there is a ton of content if you have the patience and time to unlock it all.

As seen, her avatar is very playful and light-hearted, kind of like her original form before Wired-Lain takes over.

I don't know who did the anime scenes, but judging from the wildly different style, probably not Nakamura.

There are moments very reminiscent of the show's aesthetics, though.

The diaries are mostly Lain talking about anything from classmates to her parents. Is it meant to be the same Lain we know, or an alternate reality?

Either way, if you love Lain and want another dose of her strange world, it's certainly worth a look.

Serial Experiments Lain for the original PlayStation was a 1998 Japan-only title. I remember being interested in the game back in the day, but was turned off by the lack of an English translation.
Now with that obstacle out of the way, it's time to get sucked into Lain's twisted reality again.

Translation available here: http://psx.lain.pl/

All that's left is to snatch a copy that is least expensive from somewhere on the wired...

 

[bobawesome]

Close the world, open the next.

I've always wanted to try this out. This is great news.

 

[CorySchmitz]

Nice. Gonna check this out for sure.

 

[Slowdive]

Oh awesome, I've been wanting to play this for a while.

 

[Canis lupus]

There was a Lain game??

The creators themselves did not call it a game, but "Psycho-Stretch-Ware",[12] and it has been described as being a kind of graphic novel: the gameplay is limited to unlocking pieces of information, and then reading/viewing/listening to them, with little or no puzzle needed to unlock.[39] Lain distances itself even more from classical games by the random order in which information is collected. The aim of the authors was to let the player get the feeling that there are myriads of informations that he would have to sort through, and that he would have to do with less than what exists to understand.[12] As with the anime, the creative team's main goal was to let the player "feel" Lain, and "to understand her problems, and to love her".

per wiki, sounds really interesting...

 

[gngf123]

Neat. Shame about the price of the disc, though. £120 at best, near £200 at worst.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Very excited. I dabbled with the raw version, and it's one strange game. It's sort of like Snatcher if you spent the whole game messing with the crime lab CPU.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

It's a PDF though. Was expecting an actual patch.

 

[cj_iwakura]

It's a PDF though. Was expecting an actual patch.

The game is 90% voiced content. People are working on it, but it's one massive undertaking.

 

[RangerBAD]

Oh, this would explain your username, Despera. I never realized before now.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

God is real just popped into my head.

In a few years I'll hopefully pick up a copy when I have the expendable income.

 

[Squishy3]

I wonder if this game is what the Hate series drew its inspiration from. Ideas are super similar.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I wonder if this game is what the Hate series drew its inspiration from. Ideas are super similar.

Kind of... but Hate is way more interactive. You don't have any role in Lain's story, you're just an observer with access to her archives(or something like that).

 

[Fularu]

Isn't that game like... super hyper expensive? (like 300+$?)

 

[cj_iwakura]

Isn't that game like... super hyper expensive? (like 300+$?)

It's extremely rare, even in Japan. Someone posted an image of it at a shop where it was tagged with a 20k+ yen price tag.

I was close!

 

[cj_iwakura]

Wow, this is heavy stuff.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Goddamn Lain looks jarringly off in the anime screencap you posted OP. Like almost like a cheap doujin. Normally it'd be a huge detractor, but in this case it kinda adds to Lain's mindfuck "nothing is sacred" vibe.

 

[Lucumo]

Many fine folks have dedicated time and money to make the translation possible. Unfortunately this project's lofty ambition to integrate the translation back into the game will not be realized. With the translation text release, The Serial Experiments Lain PSX Game Translation Project will be closing its doors. By the end of 2014, this website may be no more.

But if more fine folks would like to pick up where this project left off, let us know! It will probably take mature, self-motivated individuals with time, assertiveness, and good communication skills.

=(

Oh, this would explain your username, Despera. I never realized before now.

Why did you have to remember me of this? I never pay attention to user names, so I would have avoided crying right now...

 

[Palypso]

Would it be possible to read the translation while playing the game?

The translation is clearly numbered, does the game use the same enumeration?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Would it be possible to read the translation while playing the game?

The translation is clearly numbered, does the game use the same enumeration?

Yes.

When you select a diary, just read along. Most of it is audio-only. If it's not, it'll say so.

Most if not all of the in-game text is already in English, so in a way, this is a very appropriate translation method. Subs would be convenient, but hardly necessary.

 

[li bur]

Neat. Shame about the price of the disc, though. £120 at best, near £200 at worst.

Damn there goes my hopes of paying this game. Any chance of youtube/twitch LP?

 

[Fourth Storm]

Damn, this is a blast from the past. Lain was a pretty trippy anime. I'd be interested, but I fear finding a copy of this one legally will not be worth the hassle.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Damn there goes my hopes of paying this game. Any chance of youtube/twitch LP?

I could, time allowing.

 

[ponpo]

It's extremely rare, even in Japan. Someone posted an image of it at a shop where it was tagged with a 20k+ yen price tag.

I was close!

Someone here. Will proxy it to one of you for unreasonably high fees. PM me ( ≖‿&#8790

 

[TheChaos0]

Present day, present time. HaHaHaHaHaHa!

I've been meaning to check it out for a long time, maybe now is the time.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

This is super awesome. One of my favorites back in the day. Congrats to the team for their release!

 

[Despera]

Oh, this would explain your username, Despera. I never realized before now.

Yep. And now I'm reminded of it whenever I browse GAF

It seems that the average price of the game right now is ~$200. That sure aint cheap.

 

[Max]

great series

 

[HyperZone<3]

damn, holy crap, whoa.

this is significant. I mean, wow man. Golly.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Since I have the game, I'll see what I can do to make up a video or something, maybe with annotations of the translation. I never got too far into it. You have access to all the archives from the get-go, but a lot of it is inaccessible.

 

[Dreamgazer]

Great series, horrible game.

A let's play won't even do people much good, since the story isn't even told in order and the "anime" parts are less than 10 minutes.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I see this anime recommended a lot for those who liked Evangelion.
Obviously sans the Mecha side does that hold true usually?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Can't seem to get Fraps working. By the by, SEL only works with ePSXe. I never got it to work with pSX.


And as for Evangelion/Lain... yeah, wildly different. Lain is a lot more psychological, and has little to no action.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Can't seem to get Fraps working. By the by, SEL only works with ePSXe. I never got it to work with pSX.


And as for Evangelion/Lain... yeah, wildly different. Lain is a lot more psychological, and has little to no action.

Sounds good to me then.
That aspect of Evangelion is what I enjoyed the most.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Sorry Cyberians, this isn't happening unless anyone knows another emulator that supports it. Silver Case, sure. SEL, nope, unless I recorded videos the ugly way.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Sorry Cyberians, this isn't happening unless anyone knows another emulator that supports it. Silver Case, sure. SEL, nope, unless I recorded videos the ugly way.

Don't know much about the PSX EMU side but hopefully someone can help out here.
Since i'm pretty curious now.

 

[monocromo]

I see this anime recommended a lot for those who liked Evangelion.
Obviously sans the Mecha side does that hold true usually?

Both are amazing.

 

[LordBaztion]

Remember they day animax was made avaliable in Perú, Serial Experiment Lain was in its last week of transmision, the following week it was replaced by Vandread or something like that. Since then I have wanted to watch it and this thread just serve me as reminder.

OT: cool.

 

[Dreamgazer]

Sounds good to me then.
That aspect of Evangelion is what I enjoyed the most.

Lain is often compared to Evangelion since the two series began to gain recognition in the US/west around the time frame.

That said, Lain doesn't go into much self-explanation like Evangelion does. You will most likely have to look into some of the terminology used in the show and read some of the director interviews to better appreciate it.

*stare at the unloved Infinite Ryvius in the corner*

 

[cj_iwakura]

Lain is often compared to Evangelion since the two series began to gain recognition in the US around the time frame.

That said, Lain doesn't go into much self-explanation like Evangelion does. You will most likely have to look into some of the terminology used in the show and read some of the director interviews to better appreciate it.

Sadly, those interviews are now post-mortem.

 

[Dreamgazer]

Sadly, those interviews are now post-mortem.

At least he gave me a good Kino movie *sigh*

 

[super-famicom]

Whoa, this is pretty cool. I really enjoyed the anime.

Here's the theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-PkAQcuZOw

 

[Murder. She Wrote]

First Thought: There was a lain game?! Awesome.

Second Thought: Oh wait, I hated that anime.

 

[bobawesome]

Whoa, this is pretty cool. I really enjoyed the anime.

Here's the theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-PkAQcuZOw

Serial Experiments Lain introduced me (and many others, I would assume) to Bôa. It's a shame that they're not more well-known as they have great songs outside of Duvet.

 

[opticalmace]

Whoa, there was a Lain game? Had no idea.

I still have the dvd boxset of the show somewhere.

 

[raebodep]

Oh wow, I always wanted to play this.

 

[LiK]

I met the artist and producer at Otakon way back in the day. Got a bunch of stuff signed. Such an awesome anime.

 

[hateradio]

First Thought: There was a lain game?! Awesome.

Second Thought: Oh wait, I hated that anime.

It's a decent anime, although I don't really understand what's going on because I tend to zone out when I watch it.


Boogiepop Phantom is probably worse, if I recall.

 

[bobawesome]

I just looked at the price for the game on eBay and

'd.

 

[Evil Monkey DTT]

I have literally wanted to play this game for years. Holy shit this is a moment of pure joy!