Wow, I can't believe it's already been 5 years since I completed and released this Visual Novel initially.
Of my three VNs, this one was my favorite to work on and what I would consider the best of the bunch. (But you should still read its sequel because it's great too.)

It was a long time since I last went through this story's script before last month when I started working on this update project and I was surprised by the number of small issues I found. Back when I originally worked on it, I was working from my bed with a wireless keyboard and mouse while looking at my work on a TV a couple of feet away from my face with my cat beside me. I no longer use that TV and my cat is no longer with me. Things change over the course of half a decade, but returning to this project felt like a time machine. It was nice to go back for a while.

Looking at the game now on a proper computer monitor and a fresh perspective allowed me to fine tune it to be far cleaner than its original release. The VN has been polished to near perfection (nothing's ever perfect and I wouldn't be surprised if a typo or twomillion still slipped past me) and some QOL changes have been implemented as well. Below is a list of the updates to the VN.

* Game Engine has been updated to the latest build of Visual Novel Maker.
* File Size has been reduced to nearly half its original weight. (Got a clue.)
* Load Times have been improved considerably on low end systems.
* Screen Flashes have been drastically reduced in intensity. (Your eyes have been spared.)
* Auto Save on Slot 1 has been removed. (It was broken and unfixable anyway.)

* Some graphics have been updated and cleaned up. (ex. certain memorable Dia expressions.)
* New Recap option added. There is now the original full-length recap and a new condensed approx. 3 minute recap to choose from when choosing to recap the 1st VN on the main menu.
* Skip function will now continue skipping even when a text box closes. (speed runners rejoice!)
* Numerous typos have been fixed. (Special thanks to isara on x for pointing a number of them out, believe it or not there were way more he didn't even notice, and he sent me a whole stockpile of them!)
* A number of lines of dialogue have been altered, removed, added and expanded on. (Yeah, I George Lucas'd this thing. Great reason to replay and test your memory!)
* Double periods.. have been replaced with proper triple periods... (Why the hell did I use doubles instead of triples? I swear I spent most of my time just correcting those!)
* Yoshiko's gameplay pacing has been improved.



Now if you'd like to migrate your old unlock data from the previous version of the VN, copy over your globalData.vndata file from the old version folder to the new 5th anniversary edition folder. (Windows only, sorry Mac frens.)
This will carry over your episode unlocks and CG gallery data, however, keep in mind that the skip function will not work properly for most scenes until you've read them completely again due to the aforementioned script changes. Nearly every line in the game had at least some kind of tweak in this version.

Do NOT copy over the SaveGame.vndata files. These are your individual save states. The reason why you shouldn't copy these over is because your old save files were made with the old version's script and will likely lead to crashes or other errors and issues when loaded.
If you come across any issues after copying over your old globalData.vndata I'd advise you delete it and restart from scratch. (I tested it and there were no issues but just in case I'm leaving a disclaimer.)

With Aqours performing as a group for the last time this past weekend, I feel like this is truly the end of a chapter of my life. When I started this story it was just a fanfic on Pastebin written before the first episode of Sunshine even aired, now the voices behind the characters are moving on from Aqours to new beginnings in their lives and so must I, but I will always treasure the time I spent enjoying these characters in their official media and well as the versions of them I crafted in this series of visual novels. This is my final love letter to Aqours and the old Love Live, but just as the characters will always be with and a part of the seiyuu's lives, so will they remain a constant presence in mine.

Until next time.

Thank you for reading this post and thank you for reading this VN in the past, now or in the future.
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