This is advice and a review for the Japanese Windows adult anime game 
"Rakuenso Part 2" (KR2, Kokowa Rakuenso Part 2, Koko wa Rakuen-so, 
Here is Rakuenso 2, something like that...) from Foster, and the 
English version called "Return to Paradise Heights" (which I'll 
abbreviate to "RPH") from Otaku. It runs under Windows 95 (and 
possibly Windows 3.1x for the Japanese version). RPH is no longer 
available for purchase as all known stocks have been bought, but 
since Otaku gave up due to piracy, I'm mostly going to talk about the 
Japanese version (KR2) from now on, although nearly everything will 
apply to the English one (RPH) as well. It was a very good port from 
Japanese to English, but see my review near the end of this file.

Video resolution needed is 640*480 256 colors. The game will switch 
to this mode while running, and back when you exit or switch out. The 
original game distribution was apparently on CD-ROM (the English one 
is about 96 MB), but the pirated Japanese one that I got is missing 
the WAP and WAV files, so it doesn't have any voice and few sound 
effects. All necessary files necessary reside in one directory, which 
I suggest you call KR2 to make things easier. You'll need Japanese 
text viewing software to make the most of KR2, although it's not 
absolutely necessary. A MIDI device is needed to hear music.

The game "before" KR2 was also made by Foster, and called "Paradise 
Heights" by Otaku. I'm not sure if it was called "Rakuenso Part 1" 
or something similar in Japanese, since I don't have it, and you don't 
need it to play this one.

Li Sun provided a description and a saved game file (kr2save.zip) 
quite a while after I got this game. You only really need the MO file 
from it to enable the Photoshop, and that will work for both the 
Japanese and English versions.

Li Sun said: There have been some changes since part 1. The six rooms 
are now the same guy, 2 original girls, 2 new girls, and his friend. 
Now the guy works as a toy designer and his friend manages the 
building. He still gets all the girls (well, except one), including 
some girls at work. This time, he might get a girl to love, if they 
don't make part 3.

Before you start the KR2.EXE program, make sure the KR2.INI file has 
been modified to point to the KR2 directory where all the files are. 
The 3 "dir" lines should all be identical, e.g. "DataDir=H:\KR2\". 
Don't mess with the other lines in the file, especially not the 
"AUTOEXE" one (while that one controls where the game starts, it will 
crash if you change it). You must also have the KR2.INI file in your 
C:\WINDOWS (or equivalent) directory, or the game will not work. I 
tried KR2 with the VoiceDir entry in KR2.INI pointing at the RPH 
CD-ROM, and it worked!

Once the main program (KR2.EXE for KR2, or RAKUEN2.EXE for RPH) 
starts, you have no normal Windows controls unless you use keyboard 
commands, e.g. Alt-Tab. The mouse does all the work in the game. 
Right- or left-click while text is slowly printing out to finish it. 
To exit the game, choose the bottom (System) option of the main menu, 
then the bottom option on the menu at the bottom of the screen.

While some of the WAV noises are played correctly in my copy of KR2, 
a lot of them are not found (when I wasn't using the WAV file on the 
RPH CD-ROM), so I had to suffer through a lot of "popups" to that 
effect, sometimes over 5 in a row! This doesn't occur with RPH, 
showing that you get what you pay for.
One difference between KR2 and RPH, besides the language, is the 
action of the Voice/Text switch in the system options (bottom entry on 
the main menu, then top line in the box at the bottom of the screen). 
In KR2, Voice mode will not show the text for the girls, you'll only 
hear the voice from the 95 MB of file named WAV. In RPH, Voice mode 
will still show the English text when the Japanese voice data plays 
for the girls.

The Photoshop shows up as the "CG" option in KR2, "View CG" in RPH, 
third down in list of 4 main menu options. Click on this option, and 
then you get the pictures in the photoshop, one at a time. Each one is 
shown with two options: the bottom one exits back to the main menu, 
the top one goes on to the next picture. When you get to the last 
picture, it always goes back to the main menu. You will get sick and 
tired of that "venetian blind" transition effect here, and while 
playing the game.

While the saved game file that I got from Li Sun's site has both the 
MA and MO files in it, you only need the MO file to enable the 
Photoshop (CG) for the game. If the Photoshop isn't enabled, you'll 
get "Thank you for playing" (or the equivalent in Japanese) on the 
screen, and be bounced back to the main menu. Li Sun has the file 
available for download, even though his instructions may be a little 
cryptic. But in case it goes away, or you want to do it yourself:
to enable the Photoshop, change the value of byte $FF in the file MO 
from $00 to $6c ("l").

Note that if the MA file is read-only, the game will crash when you 
try to save your progress in the game.

So, all that's left is a review:
As I said above, RPH is an extremely faithful port of KR2. This 
extends all the way to strange text like "Thank you for finishing" 
when you exit the game. And there's a Windows .HLP file on the CD-ROM 
that you won't ever see unless you go exploring, but it only gives 
you the same information as in the online help in the game, just 
without the pictures of the girls.
There may be some replay value in this game, but I think there's only 
one ending. One of the significant choices in the game is to walk to 
work with Tamami or instead go to breakfast; going to work lets you 
see Saeko giving a blow job and you get invited to dinner and sex 
with Harumi, otherwise you see Miki. But it doesn't seem to change the 
ending with Tamami.
Pretty good graphics, decent voice (voices sounded a little fuzzy 
while talking) and sounds and music, but you can tear through this 
game in several hours at most. But since there's only one choice that 
you can make that changes what H pictures you see while playing, yet 
doesn't change what's in the Photoshop, I have to lower the rating for 
this game. At least it tries to tell a story besides all the sex, but 
most of the H was gratuitous and thrown in just to bulk things up. Own 
it if you must have all the English H games, but don't go out of your 
way to find this title now that Otaku's gotten out of H games and the 
stockpile over at J-List is gone. There are much better titles 
out there with more replay value and less "sex with almost any woman 
within range, then end the game with the only one you haven't done 
yet - who's suddenly your true love for NOT doing it until then?!" 
Sigh, I guess that explains why it seems acceptable for Japanese men 
to have a mistress and mess around with the office girls, yet expect 
their wives to stay at home.


If you have anything to add to this file, let me know.

Peter Karsanow - bishoujo.helper[AT}sbcglobal{DOT)net
http://www.geocities.com/hentaihelper/