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
    [email protected]
    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

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