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Seven Mysterious Mansions is a three-disc adventure game produced by Shibusawa Kou. It is one of the few adventure games from Koei to feature 3D models for its characters. The game is set in a contemporary setting, roughly taking place in the mid or late nineties. Even so, there are several historical references within the game's puzzles. The game's story was written by Kageki Shimoda, a novelist, picture book writer, and entertainer. Shimoda also acts out live action segments played throughout the game to give clues to the player. IchirÅ Nagai provides the sporadic narration. One day, a young man from a high-classed background named Ippei is called to the office of his uncle, Shujiro. Shujiro is the current head of his family who is concerned about seven mansions left behind by the last clan head (Ippei's grandfather, Shuhei). The seven mansions were strangely built in a Big Dipper formation on a remote island and have never been fully explored by the family members of Ippei's generation. Shujiro wants to create a resort where the mansions are located yet feels that there is a marvelous treasure or secret left behind by their ancestors. Too aged and busy to explore the buildings himself, Shujiro asks Ippei to unlock the secrets for him. He gives the eager youth a key to the first mansion and a riddle left behind by Shuhei. Before Ippei leaves, Shujiro warns him that there are three dangerous people already on the island apparently searching for anything of value left there. As Ippei explores each mansion, fragments of his family's history are slowly revealed to him. His family founder is tied to the Takeda family, specifically from Shingen and Katsuyori's branch. After the latter's fall, the family founder ran away from the Takeda hunt issued by Oda Nobunaga and sought safety in the area of the seven mansions. Ippei's grandfather fashioned the seven mansions in honor of the Takeda clan, the characteristic four diamond crest and references to the Twenty-Four Generals being scattered within each mansion's dwellings. After discovering their actual heritage, however, Shuhei learned a dark side to their family and thus built the seven mansions to hide it. Ippei's job is to learn what it is before it is lost forever. |
