欢迎来到 lainTSX：一个基于网页、开源的、英文重制版，再现了被低估的 1998 年 PlayStation 游戏《Serial Experiments Lain》。角色设计师安倍吉俊在采访中提到，游戏开发早于同名动画，这意味着《SEL》从一开始就是一个跨媒体企划。遗憾的是，游戏版并未像动画版那样获得广泛关注，最终被遗忘在角落里。
虽然你可以先从游戏或动画任一入口开始体验，但如果你已经看过动画，游戏会更容易理解——反之则不然。
如何游玩
关于如何真正"玩"lainTSX，解释起来有点棘手。这不是一个传统意义上的电子游戏，甚至称之为视觉小说也有些勉强（尽管它更接近后者）。"玩法"主要围绕着在菜单中选择文件，最终目标是体验全部文件内容。
文件类型：
Touko's Diary (Tda) —— 柊子的个人想法。
Lain's Diary (Lda) —— 玲音的个人想法。
Counseling (Cou) —— 柊子与玲音之间的对话。
Diagnosis (Dia) —— 柊子对玲音的诊断。
Digital Camera (Dc) —— 视频片段。
Polytan (P2) —— 玲音的玩偶熊 Polytan 的部件。
Saisei-kun (SSkn) —— 访问更多节点所需的升级。
Gate Passes (GaTE) —— 进入 Site B 所需的升级。
Talk (TaK) —— 玲音的随机语录。 游戏流程 在开始时，你会看到一个奇特而笨拙的枢纽界面，周围散布着许多蓝色球体。这就是主菜单，你最好尽快适应它。这些球体被称为节点（Node），每个节点代表一个特定的文件。蓝色节点表示尚未查看，灰色节点表示已经查看过。如果一个你已经进入过的节点仍然是蓝色的，那意味着你还没有真正听完/看完其全部内容。屏幕右上角有一个进度条，显示你当前在片段中的进度，建议在离开文件之前检查它。 现在你手头上有所有这些文件，你可能会感到非常不知所措。"天哪，"你可能会对自己说，"我该如何以一条线性、顺畅的路径来体验这个故事呢？"尽管你可能想按照一条直截了当的路径前进，但游戏会不断地让你偏离轨道。即使各个文件都有编号，每个关卡也都是前一个的直接延续，你也不存在一条直接的顺序来体验所有内容。即使你收集了所有收集品和升级，仍然有大量尚未解锁的内容。随着你推进游戏，越来越多的文件会不断堆积出来。此外，每个音频文件包含三个具有字面或主题重要性的关键词，而每个关键词会带你跳转到一个文件——这个文件很可能位于完全不同的关卡。我深信，这款游戏背后的艺术愿景之一，就是让玩家在关卡间跳转，通过他们最感兴趣的关键词或剧情元素，以自己独特的顺序来体验游戏。你可以自行决定如何看待这一点，以你认为最有吸引力的方式浏览文件。就我个人而言，我充分利用了这一独特系统，并因此更加喜爱这款游戏。当你只剩下少数几个节点时可能会变得有些繁琐——因为你经常被引导到你已经看过的文件——所以在那个阶段，我听完文件后直接退出，然后选择离我最近的蓝色节点。 Site B 一旦 Site A 全部二十二个关卡的所有节点都变为灰色，就是时候前往 Site B 了！这是 Site A 故事的直接延续，但这次只有十三个关卡。Site B 中没有 P2 或 GaTE 文件，但你需要在自由访问所有内容之前再找到三个 SSkn 文件。此外，还有一部名为《Serial Experiments Lain: The Nightmare of Fabrication》的一次性漫画，其故事发生在 Site B 期间的某个时间点，你可能会想去读一读。
通关后内容 以下内容涉及通关后的内容，请确保你已经观看了结局再阅读。 在观看最终过场动画并按下继续后，你将被送回到 Site A。这一次，出现了大量新增的蓝色节点！其中一些节点很有用或为故事增添了内容，但有一种新的文件类型——TaK，基本上是玲音的大约五秒钟的台词片段。大部分新增节点都是 TaK 文件。如果你想解锁更多内容，你需要逐一浏览每一个节点；两个站点加起来共有一百二十一个TaK 节点。当你所有的节点再次变为灰色后，再次观看结局，你将获得剩余节点——其中六十一个是更多的 TaK 文件。如果你刷完了所有这些并再次观看结局，你将得到……什么都没有。到此为止。你完成了。通关后内容相当繁重（尽管这可能是设计意图的一部分），所以由你自己决定是否有足够的"玲音精神"来完成它。
Touko's Diary (Tda) —— 柊子的个人想法。
Lain's Diary (Lda) —— 玲音的个人想法。
Counseling (Cou) —— 柊子与玲音之间的对话。
Diagnosis (Dia) —— 柊子对玲音的诊断。
Digital Camera (Dc) —— 视频片段。
Polytan (P2) —— 玲音的玩偶熊 Polytan 的部件。
Saisei-kun (SSkn) —— 访问更多节点所需的升级。
Gate Passes (GaTE) —— 进入 Site B 所需的升级。
Talk (TaK) —— 玲音的随机语录。 游戏流程 在开始时，你会看到一个奇特而笨拙的枢纽界面，周围散布着许多蓝色球体。这就是主菜单，你最好尽快适应它。这些球体被称为节点（Node），每个节点代表一个特定的文件。蓝色节点表示尚未查看，灰色节点表示已经查看过。如果一个你已经进入过的节点仍然是蓝色的，那意味着你还没有真正听完/看完其全部内容。屏幕右上角有一个进度条，显示你当前在片段中的进度，建议在离开文件之前检查它。 现在你手头上有所有这些文件，你可能会感到非常不知所措。"天哪，"你可能会对自己说，"我该如何以一条线性、顺畅的路径来体验这个故事呢？"尽管你可能想按照一条直截了当的路径前进，但游戏会不断地让你偏离轨道。即使各个文件都有编号，每个关卡也都是前一个的直接延续，你也不存在一条直接的顺序来体验所有内容。即使你收集了所有收集品和升级，仍然有大量尚未解锁的内容。随着你推进游戏，越来越多的文件会不断堆积出来。此外，每个音频文件包含三个具有字面或主题重要性的关键词，而每个关键词会带你跳转到一个文件——这个文件很可能位于完全不同的关卡。我深信，这款游戏背后的艺术愿景之一，就是让玩家在关卡间跳转，通过他们最感兴趣的关键词或剧情元素，以自己独特的顺序来体验游戏。你可以自行决定如何看待这一点，以你认为最有吸引力的方式浏览文件。就我个人而言，我充分利用了这一独特系统，并因此更加喜爱这款游戏。当你只剩下少数几个节点时可能会变得有些繁琐——因为你经常被引导到你已经看过的文件——所以在那个阶段，我听完文件后直接退出，然后选择离我最近的蓝色节点。 Site B 一旦 Site A 全部二十二个关卡的所有节点都变为灰色，就是时候前往 Site B 了！这是 Site A 故事的直接延续，但这次只有十三个关卡。Site B 中没有 P2 或 GaTE 文件，但你需要在自由访问所有内容之前再找到三个 SSkn 文件。此外，还有一部名为《Serial Experiments Lain: The Nightmare of Fabrication》的一次性漫画，其故事发生在 Site B 期间的某个时间点，你可能会想去读一读。
通关后内容 以下内容涉及通关后的内容，请确保你已经观看了结局再阅读。 在观看最终过场动画并按下继续后，你将被送回到 Site A。这一次，出现了大量新增的蓝色节点！其中一些节点很有用或为故事增添了内容，但有一种新的文件类型——TaK，基本上是玲音的大约五秒钟的台词片段。大部分新增节点都是 TaK 文件。如果你想解锁更多内容，你需要逐一浏览每一个节点；两个站点加起来共有一百二十一个TaK 节点。当你所有的节点再次变为灰色后，再次观看结局，你将获得剩余节点——其中六十一个是更多的 TaK 文件。如果你刷完了所有这些并再次观看结局，你将得到……什么都没有。到此为止。你完成了。通关后内容相当繁重（尽管这可能是设计意图的一部分），所以由你自己决定是否有足够的"玲音精神"来完成它。
Welcome to lainTSX: a web-based, open source, English recreation of the underappreciated 1998 PlayStation game Serial Experiments Lain. In an interview with character designer Yoshitoshi Abe, he said that the game started development before the far better known anime of the same name, which means that SEL was intended to be a mixed media project. Unfortunately, the game never took off as well as its television counterpart and ended up getting left in the dust. Although you could experience either the game or the anime first, the game will make more sense if you have seen the anime and not so much vice-versa.
How to Play
As for how to actually play lainTSX, that's a bit trickier to explain. This isn't really a video game and I'd even struggle to call it a visual novel (although it is closer to the latter). The "gameplay" revolves around selecting files in a menu and eventually getting to experience all of them.
File Types:
Touko's Diary (Tda) — Touko's personal thoughts.
Lain's Diary (Lda) — Lain's personal thoughts.
Counseling (Cou) — Interactions between Touko and Lain.
Diagnosis (Dia) — Touko's diagnosis of Lain.
Digital Camera (Dc) — Video clips.
Polytan (P2) — Parts of Lain's bear, Polytan.
Saisei-kun (SSkn) — Upgrades needed to access more nodes.
Gate Passes (GaTE) — Upgrades needed to access Site B.
Talk (TaK) — Random quotes by Lain. Game Flow At the beginning, you'll see an odd and clunky hub with a bunch of blue orbs. This is the main menu, so you better get used to it. Those orbs are called nodes, and they each represent a specific file. Blue nodes haven't been accessed yet and grey nodes have. If a node you already went through is still blue, that means you haven't actually listened/watched all of it. There's a progress bar on the top right of the screen which will show how far you are into the clip, so I recommend checking that before leaving the file. Now that you have all these files at your disposal, you're probably extremely overwhelmed. "Oh no," you might be saying to yourself. "How will I be able to experience this story in a streamlined, linear order?" Try as much as you want to go in a straightforward path, but the game will constantly discourage you. There is no direct order to experience everything in, even with the individual files being numbered and each level being a direct progression from the last. Even having gone through all the collectibles and upgrades, there's still a ton of stuff you haven't yet unlocked. As you chug through the game, more and more files will pile up. On top of this, each audio file contains three key words of literal or thematic importance, and each word brings you to a file that will most likely be on a completely different level. I strongly believe that part of the artistic vision behind this game was to have players jump around the map and experience it in their own unique order through whichever key words or plot elements they find themselves most interested in. Take this however you want and go through the files in whatever way you find the most engaging. Personally, I took full advantage of this unique system and found myself loving the game even more for it. It becomes a bit tedious when you only have a few nodes left since you're booted so often to files you've already gone through, so at that point I just directly exited out of files after listening to them and selected the blue node closest to me. Site B Once every single node on all twenty-two levels of Site A has become gray, it's time for you to go to Site B! This is a direct continuation of the story in Site A, and there are only thirteen levels this time around. There are no P2 or GaTE files in Site B, but you will have to find three more SSkn files before you can freely access everything you see. There's also a one-shot manga called Serial Experiments Lain: The Nightmare of Fabrication that takes place sometime during the events of Site B, so you're gonna want to read that.
Post-Game Content Everything below this line is post-game, so you should have watched the ending before reading this. After watching the final cutscene and pressing continue, you will be booted back to Site A. This time, there are a ton of added blue nodes! While some of these are useful or add to the story, there's a new file type labeled TaK which is pretty much just a five-second quote from Lain. A majority of these new nodes are TaK files. If you want to unlock even more stuff, you will have to go through each and every one of these; there are one-hundred and twenty-one in total, counting those on both sites. After all your nodes are gray once again, watch the ending and you'll get the remaining nodes — sixty-one of which are more TaK files. If you grind your way through all of these and watch the ending once again, you'll get… nothing. This is it. You're done. The post-game is pretty arduous (although that's probably part of the point), so you decide if you're Lain enough to complete it.
Touko's Diary (Tda) — Touko's personal thoughts.
Lain's Diary (Lda) — Lain's personal thoughts.
Counseling (Cou) — Interactions between Touko and Lain.
Diagnosis (Dia) — Touko's diagnosis of Lain.
Digital Camera (Dc) — Video clips.
Polytan (P2) — Parts of Lain's bear, Polytan.
Saisei-kun (SSkn) — Upgrades needed to access more nodes.
Gate Passes (GaTE) — Upgrades needed to access Site B.
Talk (TaK) — Random quotes by Lain. Game Flow At the beginning, you'll see an odd and clunky hub with a bunch of blue orbs. This is the main menu, so you better get used to it. Those orbs are called nodes, and they each represent a specific file. Blue nodes haven't been accessed yet and grey nodes have. If a node you already went through is still blue, that means you haven't actually listened/watched all of it. There's a progress bar on the top right of the screen which will show how far you are into the clip, so I recommend checking that before leaving the file. Now that you have all these files at your disposal, you're probably extremely overwhelmed. "Oh no," you might be saying to yourself. "How will I be able to experience this story in a streamlined, linear order?" Try as much as you want to go in a straightforward path, but the game will constantly discourage you. There is no direct order to experience everything in, even with the individual files being numbered and each level being a direct progression from the last. Even having gone through all the collectibles and upgrades, there's still a ton of stuff you haven't yet unlocked. As you chug through the game, more and more files will pile up. On top of this, each audio file contains three key words of literal or thematic importance, and each word brings you to a file that will most likely be on a completely different level. I strongly believe that part of the artistic vision behind this game was to have players jump around the map and experience it in their own unique order through whichever key words or plot elements they find themselves most interested in. Take this however you want and go through the files in whatever way you find the most engaging. Personally, I took full advantage of this unique system and found myself loving the game even more for it. It becomes a bit tedious when you only have a few nodes left since you're booted so often to files you've already gone through, so at that point I just directly exited out of files after listening to them and selected the blue node closest to me. Site B Once every single node on all twenty-two levels of Site A has become gray, it's time for you to go to Site B! This is a direct continuation of the story in Site A, and there are only thirteen levels this time around. There are no P2 or GaTE files in Site B, but you will have to find three more SSkn files before you can freely access everything you see. There's also a one-shot manga called Serial Experiments Lain: The Nightmare of Fabrication that takes place sometime during the events of Site B, so you're gonna want to read that.
Post-Game Content Everything below this line is post-game, so you should have watched the ending before reading this. After watching the final cutscene and pressing continue, you will be booted back to Site A. This time, there are a ton of added blue nodes! While some of these are useful or add to the story, there's a new file type labeled TaK which is pretty much just a five-second quote from Lain. A majority of these new nodes are TaK files. If you want to unlock even more stuff, you will have to go through each and every one of these; there are one-hundred and twenty-one in total, counting those on both sites. After all your nodes are gray once again, watch the ending and you'll get the remaining nodes — sixty-one of which are more TaK files. If you grind your way through all of these and watch the ending once again, you'll get… nothing. This is it. You're done. The post-game is pretty arduous (although that's probably part of the point), so you decide if you're Lain enough to complete it.