[SFX: Sailing Eastward]
Welcome to my shrine for the Eastern Mind series!
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"Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou" (東脳 Tonno, "Eastern mind") is a 1994 surreal point-and-click adventure game by OutSide Directors Company.
Something of a cult-classic, Eastern Mind is remembered for its bizarre 3D graphical style, electronic soundtrack, and surreal plot inspired by Asian cultures and religions.
Eastern Mind has an original Japanese version as well as an official English translation (which is questionable at times...).
Plot:
Eastern Mind follows a human named Rin (pictured at either side of this paragraph) who awakens with their soul missing, having been eaten by a distant island called Tong-nou. Lent a soul from an elderly friend, they travel to Tong-nou, where they must die and be reincarnated 9 times, fulfilling the purpose of each respective life before they can regain their original soul.
Each of the 8 incarnations has a birthplace in one of the four countries of Tong-nou, and their purpose is usually given to them by their respective king. Each king has unique uses for you, and your soul... What's really going on in this island?
Gameplay:
Eastern Mind is a first-person point-and-click adventure game. The player guides Rin (and their other incarnations) through the land of Tong-nou, which is shaped as a giant green head (pictured in the sidebar; apparently that of Osamu Sato, the game's creator). The separate countries are accessible by clicking on parts of the face, such as through the ear or cheek.
There's also an inventory system, accessible through the furoshiki (a wrapping cloth used as a bag), where you'll have to collect and use key items. Items remain in your bag throughout every life so there's no worry about losing things (unless a thief comes along). Given that the game revolves around reincarnation/transmigration, death is quite inconsequential, and if you die before finishing your quest you can always start again. (Also, although the beginning cutscene says Rin effectively has 49 days to live, there is no real time limit on the game.)
▲ Above: A Fang-shing, a rodent that offers tips in gameplay; and the roots of the Tree of Life, Mingke-shu, where you choose what next life to play as by choosing what facial features to have.
- Favourite character?
- I really like Rin! What can I say, I like protagonists.
- Favourite king?
- I like Sui-gyou; despite everything, he seems nice ::-) Tou-gyou is also cool.
- Favourite incarnation?
- Probably Byou or Sha (though I admit I got really stuck on Sha's quest...) I also like Retsu because they are an ant ::-)
- Favourite location?
- I like the Helix Palace Luo-shang. The roof-top view is very pretty.
- Least favourite location?
- The forest Seng-lin in Ming-ken is a beast to navigate.
▼ Below: Sui-gyou, the King of Mon-chien; and Tou-gyou.
BUT WAIT... THE JOURNEY ISN'T OVER...
"Chu-teng" (中天 Chuten, "Mid-heaven") is a 1995 sequel to Eastern Mind that picks up right where the previous game left off.
Long thought to be lost, a copy was succesfully found and uploaded to the internet in 2013. This has no official translation as opposed to Eastern Mind, but thankfully there are a couple fan-translations. (The new translation makes an effort to mantain the naming conventions set by Eastern Mind, so sometimes in the English community, characters/places are referred to by different names.)
Plot:
Chu-teng follows Rin again, right after the events of Eastern Mind. Drawn to the Earth by its light, the remains of a being named Nan-shu (pictured in the sidebar) ask Rin to help recover the parts of his face that he lost while monitoring darkness in Ge-teng. Nan-shu is from Chu-teng, a triangle of celestial bodies in the sky, while Ge-teng is the space outside of it. Rin recieves Nan-shu's eye to use as a ship for travelling, and his ear to use as an tablet of information for their travels.
Far from an ideal place, Chu-teng is full of conflict, from the invading Darkness to its own wars between the different Palaces (what each celestial body is referred to as).
Personally, I love the way Chu-teng is sort of introduced as this force of "good", but is revealed to be full of internal conflicts. I think it shows that nobody is truly incapable of harm, and asks us to consider what is "good" and "bad" and why we think so. Just a personal thought ::-]
Gameplay:
Chu-teng controls much the same as Eastern Mind, as a first-person point-and-click adventure. A few scenes introduce fighting mechanics limited to their respective scene.
The mechanic of reincarnation is absent, so death is a real threat that will make you restart from your last save. The inventory system is also the same.
Information is added to the Tablet during gameplay and sometimes by loading discs characters give you. (This is in contrast to Eastern Mind's Book which has all information already.)
▲ Above: A member of the Su-game clan, the ancient group living on the Magatama Planet situated in the middle of Chu-teng.
- Favourite character?
- I like a lot... I think my fav is the next character below, but I also like Teng-hou, Sango-jin, and Oomedama. ::-)
- Favourite king?
- Suin-shin, the king of the Star Palace!
- Favourite location?
- I really like the Underground Palace of the Moon! It's quite eerie and appeals to my love of horror and the concept of living locations.
- Least favourite location?
- I got quite lost in the Sun Palace... Although I like its music.
Fun Fact: In the game "LSD: Dream Emulator", a face like Nan-shu's can be seen.
Another fun fact: On the old OSD website, Chu-teng was given the subtitle "Miracle Universe". Cute!
▼ Below: Teng-hou, the manager of the Milky Way; and Oomedama, a Meditating Giant of the Moon.
⚠ Content warnings?
The main warning for these games would be its bright colours and flashing imagery.
In Eastern Mind, there is a room with sexual imagery, but it prompts you to type your age before entering, and it's an optional location. (If you're under 18, the room should be censored.)
Chu-teng has fantasy violence at the center of its plot, but there isn't anything graphic.
LINKS
Downloads
• SatoArchives has downloads of all things related to Osamu Sato, including games, music, art, etc.
• MyAbandonware pages on Eastern Mind and Chu-teng.
• Rodafy's post on Tumblr of a "preconfigured DOSBox download with all 3 Osamu Sato games" (Eastern Mind, Chu-teng, and Roly Polys no Nanakorobi Yaoki). This is how I played Chu-teng! The translation is great. Here is a small bug-fix file and details on where to put it.
• Chu-Teng isolated upload from Rodafy.
• Chu-Teng's older translation for Mac; from this post by Mai-Chiu on Tumblr compiling various Sato games.
Walkthroughs
• Eastern Mind text walkthrough by lordgod666 on GameFAQs. I used this one when I got stumped.
• Chu-teng video walkthrough by Eroen515 on YouTube. No commentary and quite thorough! Here is their playthrough of the older translation with commentary.
Misc.
• Wikipedia page on Eastern Mind & it sequel.
• Outside Directors Company's old website on the Internet Archive.
• Eastern Mind wiki on Fandom.com. I've frequented this wiki and put up lots of info ::-) (You can replace "fandom.com" with "breezewiki.com" to view a simpler, ad-free version of the wiki.)
• Zoh-gaeru on Tumblr has a lovely collection of screenshots. (It's named after an Eastern Mind character, and modeled after the OSD site.)
• Eastern Mind OST on YouTube, uploaded by WarmOddities91. Here's a playlist of extended versions of most in-game music, uploaded by Frankfurtkaiser.
• Chu-teng OST on YouTube, uploaded by WarmOddities91. Here is a playlist of extended versions of the in-game music, uploaded by Eroen515.
All images on this page are derived from game assets! No copyright infringement is intended.