Three Sisters' Story 
(1999 JAST USA)


Synopsis:
You are Koichi. Your father commited suicide when you were 
a child. He was the president of a big company, but due to 
some financial problems, he threw himself in front of an 
oncoming train and was killed. Your mother tried to lead 
the family and somehow pay off your father's debts, but she 
couldn't manage and died a year later. You and your older 
brother Eiichi were separated, passed around different relatives. 
You are a young man now, you get a call from Eiichi out of 
the blue. He tells you that he has found out who was responsible 
for destroying your family... a man by the name of Shoji Okamura. 
Eiichi wants revenge, and you eagerly agree to help him. Thus, 
Eiichi puts you up in a nice place beside the Okamura house. 
You befriend the whole Okamura family -- composed of Shoji and 
his three beautiful daughters Yuki, Emi, and Risa. The problem 
is, you've fallen in love with Emi... so what will it be? Will 
you betray your family for the sake of the girl you love? 

Review:
Boasting of an intricate plot and distinctive characters, Three 
Sisters Story is a cult classic among bishoujo game fans. It is 
widely considered as the title that launched the genre in the 
English-speaking market. Online shops are always describing it as 
"the game that started it all". TSS is very popular, and it would 
seem that majority of avid b-gamers have already played it. 

I first played TSS back in early 2000. It was the second b-game 
I've played, with "Nocturnal Illusion" being the first. I remember 
having trouble finishing TSS back then. Anyhow, my memory of the 
experience has gotten pretty faint and so I re-played it once more 
for this review. 

TSS is admittedly a challenging title. Getting the best ending 
would definitely require some brain activity on the player's part. 
The things you do in the game determines how your story concludes. 
If you sleep around without protection, you can expect trouble from 
some very pregnant girls... or if you screw all three Okamura sisters, 
the one you love won't accept you. You really have to think before 
you do something (or just keep several saved game files!). It will 
take some skill and planning to see all the sex scenes and still 
get the good ending though. Failing to uncover some subplots will 
cause you to miss some of the steamy action. The final part of 
the game is tricky, but manageable. Making the wrong decisions 
simply meant game over. 

The artwork is excellent. The sexual content is also very graphic, 
although the male member is rendered invisibly in a few scenes 
(and I do mean very few). I found Koichi's monologues about the 
situation much too long-winded and repetitious though, and at times 
I just wished there was no "think" option. TSS is overall a good 
game with some replay value, as I doubt you can manage to get all 
the sex scenes and subplots in one go without cheating.