The Hitchhiker's Guide to Sentimental Graffiti Disclaimer: Correct me if I'm wrong. If anyone volunteers to translate this into JIS, go ahead, but forward a copy to me. Save game. (Duh.) Check the arrival time of the bus in the destination city. If the arrival time is comfortably before 14:00 on the next day, consider hitchhike, instead of other types of transportation. Hitchhike (the truck) and the bus have the same travel times, with one exception (see below). "Comfortably" means at or before 12:00, which gives Protagonist, after he arrives in the destination city, three chances (12:00, 13:00, 14:00) to random-encounter an heroine. Also, allow a few hours for multiple attempts at hitchhiking and getting the wanted destination city. Reload and re-try hitchhike when necessary, or when failed attempts force the arrival time to after 14:00 (q.v.). (The abovementioned exception is when the truck sometimes arrives in the destination city six hours later than the bus. This delay/risk is repeatable in reloaded games, but does not seem to be city-dependent. Seems to happen more often when my protagonist hitched to Kanazawa (e.g., from Sendai or Tokyo), but also happened when he hitched to Osaka and Yokohama. BTW, if Protagonist cannot go to a city by bus because his movement points would become zero or negative, he cannot go to that city by hitchhike. My 2nd Play protagonist was once in Yokohama with 0 MP. (Thanks, Asuka-chan.) He could not ride the day bus to Tokyo (-1 MP), and no trucker braked for him. Seems when Protagonist tries to hitch, the game invisibly chooses a city. If he cannot normally go to that city by bus, his attempt fails.) If Protagonist is not in Tokyo, unless he does not mind a random encounter with the local heroine, do not hitchhike at 5:00. If he refuses the hitchhike and stays in the current city, he may random-encounter the local heroine at 6:00. (Sh_t.) The hitchhike destination city is partly random. Regardless of the current time, if Protagonist is not in Tokyo, and the next day is not a school day, the hitchhike destination city may not be Tokyo, and Protagonist can refuse the hitchhike. If the current time is before sunset, and Protagonist is not in Tokyo, and the next day is a school day, the hitchhike destination city may not be Tokyo, and Protagonist can refuse the hitchhike. If the current time is after sunset (at or after 18:00), and Protagonist is not in Tokyo, and the next day is a school day, the hitchhike destination city is probably Tokyo, and Protagonist cannot refuse the hitchhike. This may happen even when the current time is a Saturday night. OTOH, if the current time is after sunset, and Protagonist is not in Tokyo, and the next day is a school day, but the hitchhike destination city is not Tokyo, Protagonist may approve the hitchhike. When he arrives in an heroine's city after 9:00 on a school day, his Move (urban spots), Arbeit, and Rest commands are in B&W. When he chooses one of these commands, he gets the message that it's a school day and he should return to Tokyo. His MP is probably in red and low. As expected, when he tries to hitchhike again, the hitchhike destination city is always Tokyo, and Protagonist cannot refuse the hitchhike. On a school day, school begins at 9:00. Protagonist does not miss school when he arrives in Tokyo at 8:00. If Protagonist arrives in Tokyo at or after 9:00, and at or before 14:00 (?), Protagonist misses school (-1 MP from max MP), but does not miss his after-school Arbeit (Y5,000/day). If Protagonist can, for under Y5,000, return to Tokyo on a school day after school begins but before his Arbeit begins, return to Tokyo on that day. OTOH, if Protagonist will miss school *and* his Arbeit on the first school day, IMO he should hitchhike and return to Tokyo before the second school day. (Missing his school IMO does not hurt (to quote an ancient Japanese proverb, "Jinsei yori isei"), but missing his Arbeit hurts. (OK, so that's actually an ancient Hong Kong proverb, "Yau yi sing, mo yan sing.")) When Protagonist meets an heroine at or before 14:00, they may reportedly have a date Event that will be marked in the Calendar. (OTOH, when Protagonist meets an heroine after 14:00, I do not know if he will have a markable date Event.) If the arrival time of the bus is not on the next day, consider stopping at another city before the destination city. If Protagonist stops at another city, unless he does not mind a random encounter with the heroine of the other city, choose a spot where he is less probable to random-encounter that heroine. Else, he may accidentally random-encounter that heroine. (Note most transportation pass through Osaka to reach Kyoto, or pass through Tokyo to reach Yokohama. Kanazawa is different because it is on the opposite coast of Honshu from Tokyo.) If Protagonist arrives in the destination city or another city at or after 14:00, but before sunset, try to get an Arbeit. If an Arbeit is unavailable, or if Protagonist arrives after sunset (e.g., at 20:00 or 21:00), go to the spots anyway and try to get a rare night date Event. Else, if Protagonist arrives at night and before sunrise (6:00), consider go to the next city, or sleep (tent, of course, at +2 MP/hour). (The Youth Hostel costs Y2,000 and recharges 3 MP/hour.) When Protagonist arrives in the destination city at or between 6:00 and 14:00, be ready to random-encounter the heroine at the first spot Protagonist chooses, before he can save game. (All this hitchhiking about the whole d_mn nation feels more like Nobunaga no Yabou than Senti. ^_- Except random-encounter with Yuu-chan during hitchhike and meet an heroine at a spot in another heroine's city, did I miss other hitchhike conditions?) Here are some sample Bus/Hitchhike travel times for reference. Note most travel times are incremental. E.g., the Yokohama-Aomori bus takes 15 hours and the Yokohama-Sapporo bus takes 33 hours, thus the Aomori-Sapporo bus takes 18 hours (confirmed). From To Hours Aomori Sapporo 18 Fukuoka Nagasaki 4 Hiroshima Fukuoka 5 Kanazawa Aomori 19 Kanazawa Fukuoka 19 Kanazawa Hiroshima 14 Kanazawa Kanazawa 13 Kanazawa Kyoto 6 Kanazawa Nagasaki 28 Kanazawa Nagoya 23 Kanazawa Osaka 7 Kanazawa Sapporo 37 Kanazawa Sendai 13 Kanazawa Takamatsu 12 Kanazawa Tokyo 1 Osaka Kyoto 1 Osaka Nagoya 4 Sendai Aomori 6 Takamatsu Hiroshima 4 Tokyo Kanazawa 12 Yokohama Aomori 15 Yokohama Fukuoka 24 Yokohama Hiroshima 19 Yokohama Kanazawa 13 Yokohama Kyoto 11 Yokohama Nagasaki 28 Yokohama Nagoya 8 Yokohama Osaka 12 Yokohama Sapporo 33 Yokohama Sendai 9 Yokohama Takamatsu 17 Yokohama Tokyo 1 (Honestly, my 1st Play protagonist was in Yokohama when I began recording these travel times.) The "Akai Lantern Doori" Manoeuvre To waste time (eg, after Protagonist had the third Letter Event with an heroine, and the player wants to fast-forward to 1 March for the arrival of the fourth letter) and avoid meeting almost all the heroines, on Friday night, from Tokyo, ride the night bus to Yokohama. (Bus and ferry are the only two types of transportation on which Protagonist doesn't meet an heroine.) Go to Yokohama Chuukagai. (Visiting Chuukagai at night... I kept expecting to meet Inuzuka Saori ("One, two, three, four. Uchi wa Naniwa no rapper ya!") there and then.) Sleep. At 6:00, go to Hakkeijima. (Hakkeijima is safer than Chuukagai, MM21, and Zaki because Asuka-chan's less probable to appear at Hakkeijima, unless her Setsunasa is purplish-red (bad) or yellowish-red (worse). Though Hakkeijima isn't open 24 hours a day, Protagonist may meet another heroine at Yamashita Kouen.) Arbeit or sleep. If sleep, at 6:00, go to Hakkeijima and sleep again. (The real Hakkeijima is far from the Motomachi-Yamashita area.) If Arbeit, at 20:00, go to Yokohama Chuukagai and sleep. On Sunday night, hitch or night-bus back to Tokyo. If Protagonist sleeps in Tokyo, he checks his answering machine for messages, his mailbox for letters, and heroines may come to Tokyo and find him; all of which wastes the player's real time. The Arbeit in Yokohama pays only Y6,000/day, mildly more than the Y5,000/day in Tokyo. Actually, my 2nd Play protagonist spent several days of his Christmas-New Year vacation lurking and working in Tanuki Kouji, Sapporo, for Y10,000/day, without meeting Honoka. Alternately, when Protagonist does an Arbeit in Yokohama, when the Arbeit ends at 20:00, he may go to Yokohama Chuukagai, ride a night bus back to Tokyo, check for letters and messages, ride a night bus to Yokohama, go to Yokohama Chuukagai, and sleep. This may prevent a stream of letters and messages on the next Friday night, possibly forcing Protagonist to be in Tokyo at 6:00 on Saturday, in turn possibly forcing him to meet an heroine in Tokyo, and to miss a booked date on Saturday. REFERENCES Dengeki G's Magazine. January 1998. Tokyo, Japan: Media Works, 1998. Dengeki G's Magazine. February 1998. Tokyo, Japan: Media Works, 1998. Sega Saturn Magazine. 1998 Vol.5 (1998.02.13-20). Tokyo, Japan: Softbank Corp, 1998. Yokohama. Area Guide Vol.14. Tokyo, Japan: Shoubunsha Publications, Inc, 1997. Yokohama. JTB no Tabi Note Vol.8. Tokyo, Japan: JTB, 1997. Donny Chan. Sentimental Graffiti Link List. Ookura Raita. Sentimental Graffiti ~Saikai. Tokyo, Japan: Kadokawa Shoten, 1997. Ookura Raita. Sentimental Graffiti ~Yakusoku. Tokyo, Japan: Kadokawa Shoten, 1997. Robert Strauss, Chris Taylor, and Tony Wheeler. Japan: a Lonely Planet travel survival kit. 5th edition, October 1994. Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 1994. Various booklets, maps, and pamphlets picked up at airport, department stores, tourist information centres, and train stations (subway and surface) in Japan, in December 1997. Updated: 20 March 1998 Created: 2 March 1998 Thanks: My cheap Senti protagonist Shinjou Hayato (Yes, I lazily named my Senti protagonist after the Sotsugyou Crossworld protagonist.) Don "Gamera" Chan Toronto, Ontario, Canada donny.chan@canrem.com Hoshino Asuka fan (default) PS Best Ends as of 2nd Play: Asuka, Emiru, Honoka, Kaho, Manami, Rurika, Taeko, Wakana. __ "I spent hours and hours walking the streets of New York, even at night, and I never felt uncomfortable. I can't say that about some areas of downtown Toronto right now." - Bob Runciman, Ontario Solicitor-General, 1997