I was still extremely wary of the dating sim genre when I wrote this for reasons that aren't a lot of fun (and touched upon in another TokiMemo article linked to in the one underneath), so discovering how welcoming this game was felt like something of a revelation at the time.
The game's cast are more than capable of just being friends - with you, with each other - and will go out of their way to be nice in a normal and reasonable way, even when you're not the perfect student or a confident teen Romeo.
It says a lot about the damage that Tokimemo 3 did to the mainline series' reputation that, to this day, 4 is rarely discussed or even really acknowledged in dating sim circles in favor of the first two games and Love Plus as its Konami dating sim contemporary at the time. That's genuinely a shame because as Kim's excellent piece explores, it's easily the most gentle, thoughtful entry, both in terms of its mechanics and onboarding process, as well as its writing on the whole. Even if some routes are best enjoyed after playing the original, if you've always wanted to take a crack at a Tokimemo and the language barrier isn't an issue, there's genuinely no better place to start. It does a brilliant job of easing new players into Tokimemo's systems and structures while showing off some of the best dialogue and storytelling the genre has ever had to offer.
Anyway, you should read all of Kim's dating sim pieces on her site. They're very refreshing and do a lot to relieve the echo chamber that tends to form around these sorts of games both positive and negative, especially overseas. I love her work. 
