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About this blog

This is a blog primarily focusing on but not limited to VNs.  It is primarily designed to express my opinion on otaku media (jrpgs, anime, manga, LNs, VNs, etc), individual VNs, and otaku community issues.   Most of the posts are related to my VN of the Month and Random VN columns, originally started in threads in the forums. 

As of March of 2017, I'm also looking for people to help with VN of the Month.

Entries in this blog

Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol 4

First, I'll give you links to my observations of the first three chapters of this game. Contains Chapter 3 Chapters 1 and 2     Now for Chapter 4... as I said in my post on Chapter 3, the bottom line for this is that if you liked the first three chapters, you'll like this one.  It is humorous, it is bloody, and it contains an odd mix of the grim and abnormal slice-of-life.  I laughed out loud - literally - several times while playing this game, and I honestly liked the
Clephas

Clephas

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Sora no Baroque

For various reasons, this is one of the rare occasions when I didn't aggressively look forward to a Light game. The first reason is that the setting/story descriptions in the Getchu and homepages were vague and of no real use.  The second was that a crossover was announced between this and Nemurenu (the recent Clock-up title with Kurashiki as the writer) recently.  The artist for this game (at least the character design, anyway) is Ueda Metawo, the artist from Gore Screaming Show, Mind
Clephas

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A likely delay for VN of the Month, January 2018

To be blunt, there is no way I'm going to be able to use more than an hour or two each day for the next week for VNs.  My work pace is currently at the highest it's been since the summer of 2013.  I, quite frankly, had to cut sleep out of my schedule to get through Shogun-sama, and that is costing me in focus and energy now.  As such, I am unsure of when I will get to the next VN.   Of late, my days have consisted of work>eat>take nap>more work>eat>take nap>yet more work&g
Clephas

Clephas

1

2nd Experimental Book Post: Honor Harrington

First, I should mention that I'm a huge fan of David Weber.  Even his crappiest book is still interesting to read (the crappiest book being Out of the Dark, an Independence Day-style story where the world is saved by Dracula, lol).  However, the Honor Harrington series is my favorite series written by him. Beginning with On Basilisk Station, this military sci-fi series begins focused on the character known as - obviously - Honor Harrington, a young warship captain getting command of a new l
Clephas

Clephas

2

Shougun-sama wa Otoshigoro

This is the newest game by Alcot, based three hundred years before Onigokko (yes, it is a prequel, sort of) during the time of the infamous Tokugawa Yoshimune (who is the central character of the jidaigeki Abarenbou Shogun), the first Shogun to take the title based on the 'gosanke' system set up by Ieyasu to prevent the end of the shogunate due to the end of his direct descendants.  The protagonist of the story is a young man who has been dragged into the body of a person of the same name in the
Clephas

Clephas

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Random VN: Venus Blood Brave

After almost three months of playing it about a half hour a day (usually right before I sleep), I finally finished this one... I didn't have the time to devote to this all at once, so I've been inching forward to victory since it came out back in October. First, this is the latest Venus Blood game in the 'monster birth' side of the series (except for Hypno, all Venus Blood games fall into the 'Goddess Corruption' or 'monster birth' types in a general sense).  Unlike Gaia and Abyss, which re
Clephas

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Clephas Guide to a fun untranslated chuunige life

For the hell of it, I decided to make up a 'suggested playlist' for people who like/are interested in chuunige who have just begun to play untranslated VNs. There are two variations on this guide.  One is a 'test the waters, gradually take a dip, then dive into the depths' guide.  The other is a 'Spartan Guide', which starts out with medium difficulty VNs and moves into harder and harder ones at the top tiers.  Each VN list will have four tiers, based on a combination of my estimation of di
Clephas

Clephas

6

Shinsou Noise ~Jushin Tantei no Jikenbo~

Shinsou Noise is the first game by a new collaboration company called Azurite, which was founded as a joint effort by Silky's Plus and Liar Soft.  In this case, Liar Soft provided the writing staff and Silky's provided the art and programming staff.  It is also fairly obvious that the planning wasn't done by the Liar Soft team, given the general style of the story, which is more in line with my experiences with Silky's Plus (and thus lacks the annoying conventions Liar Soft usually indulges in).
Clephas

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A preview of the first quarter, 2018

I felt like giving a you all a preview of the first quarter of 2018, after reading this blog post: I generally choose to refrain from posts like this that cover the future of an entire year, but I feel that I have a good grasp on what is coming out over the next three months that is worth paying attention to, based on my own experiences. Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol. 4 This is something to look forward to for anyone who has liked this series so far... more assassin action based in
Clephas

Clephas

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Why I always play games with nonhuman heroines first.

My name is Clephas, and I am a pervert. lol, just kidding... or not.  Considering how long I've been playing eroge, I'm definitely a pervert.  However, that isn't really what this post is about. When I look at the VNs for a month, the first thing I look for are chuunige, then fantasy/sci-fi, and then non-human heroines (though the last two are interchangeable depending on my mood).  The distant fourth is an interesting protagonist, the fifth is an interesting heroine (if I don't find a
Clephas

Clephas

6

Random VN: Love Revenge (REVISED)

Now, I know what you are wondering... 'Why did Clephas pick a charage for a random VN this time around?"  The answer is not as straightforward as usual.... This game is about as close to being the 'perfect' charage as I've ever encountered.  That's not to say it is exceptional in every way.  There are better written and better presented charage out there.  However, I've yet to encounter a charage that utilizes every single element included to the greatest degree possible like this one does.
Clephas

Clephas

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The Sad Fact about Replaying VNs

The sad fact about replaying VNs... is that VNs don't have replay value. That's not to say it isn't possible to replay a VN and enjoy it.  With many of the more complex VNs, it is impossible to take in the entire thing on your first playthrough, so it is usually worth a second one.  Others are so well-written or have such great characters that they are worth reading again and again.  Yet others are just so much fun or are so funny (games made by Rosebleu, Lamunation, etc) that they are wort
Clephas

Clephas

5

Crazy Charage Settings

Now, I love nothing more than an interesting setting, and I'm tired of normal charage in general... so one of the biggest points that can be used to draw me into a charage is a crazy setting.  Crazy charage settings are settings that have no possibility whatsoever of happening in real life or are so far outside of common sense that they are inconceivable as a real possibility to most people.  This includes fantasy settings and sci-fi settings, but more often it includes a simple concept tak
Clephas

Clephas

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VN of the Year Candidates so far

This is the list, as it currently stands, of VNs being considered and those previously considered but disqualified for VN of the Year 2017.  While this year hasn't been good for producing kamige, it has succeeded in producing a number of memorable ones. Being Considered Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu Oni ga Kuru. ~Ane ga Hinshi de Pinchi Desu~ Haruru Minamo ni Suisei Ginka Additions from 12/30/2017 Bakumatsu Jinchuu Houkoku Resshiden Miburo Y
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VNs of the Month, November and December 2017

November 2017 I delayed this one so I could get fun2novel's input on Yurameku Kokoro ni Michita Sekai de, Kimi no Yume to Yokubou wa Kanau ka (As he put it, this game is boring as hell and spends way too much time implying things without actually doing anything).  While November had some surprisingly great leases (Kizuna Kirameku being primary amongst those), Aoi Tori was the only conceivable winner for the VN of the Month, November 2017. December 2017 You might think me a bit pr
Clephas

Clephas

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Bakumatsu Jinchuu Houkoku Resshiden Miburo

This is the third game in the series that began with Chuusingura (please don't judge that particular work by the utterly shitty translation).  I do highly recommend that you play both Chuusingura and Bushi no Kodou before you play this game, because it is necessary to fully understand some of the events that occur (particularly in the true Hijikata ending). First, a bit of background about the Bakumatsu period.  Essentially, after Admiral Perry forced open Japan with the threat of his canno
Clephas

Clephas

6

Nemurenu Hitsuji to Kodoku na Ookami -A Tale of Love, and Cutthroat-

First, a short intro... this is the second Clock Up game where Kurashiki Tatsuya (one of Light's second team of writers) has been involved, and those who played the previous one, Maggot Baits, will recognize the atmosphere and 'flavor' of the story instantly.  This is a game devoid of salvation in any real sense.  The protagonist and the other characters are universally the scum of the Earth (Mirei being the only exception, though she is a bit screwy too), and their lifestyles and pasts range fr
Clephas

Clephas

4

Random VN: Niizuma Koyomi

First, yes I decided to write about another nukige... a nukige with story.  Now, the reason I decided to play this one is because of my fondness for kitsune heroines (my fetish is everlasting), and I thought, going into this, that it was going to be a sex fest from day one... but the actual amount of h-content in this game is quite a bit lower proportionally to the story than is the norm in a nukige.  In fact, this game actually has solid heroine paths that impressed me with their quality.
Clephas

Clephas

1

Conquest Strategy VNs (Sangoku/Sengoku Hime series in particular)

Conquest strategy games, as opposed to RTS, are games where conquest operates on a strategic (large-scale) rather than tactical level and is unconcerned with the activities of individual soldiers (soldiers are numbers, not capable of individual action).  They involve the capture of strategic points in order to hold territory and the keeping of order and management of general resources (wealth and troops, as opposed to specific resources like wood, stone, and food). There are certain rules t
Clephas

Clephas

1

December Release: Sangoku Hime 5

I should note that I've been following this series since I played the third game two years ago, and I'm going to rehash some of my feelings about it as a whole. The first three games of the Sangoku Hime series had a number of good and bad points, even if I don't compare them to the Sengoku Hime series, which has been refined a great deal more due to it already being on its seventh installment. Pros 1- Male sprites are... badass cool, in general.  Insanely detailed, actually impres
Clephas

Clephas

0

Maho x Roba -Witches Spiritual Home-

Maho Roba is the latest release from Akabei Soft 3, the subsidiary made by conglomerating staff and resources from a number of Akabei Soft 2's other subsidiaries.  Now, this game is in a different vein from the games previously released... in the sense that this company has done pretty much everything but a fantasy charage since it was formed.  ... I'll be straight with you.  My first thought upon finishing this game was that it is exactly like another half-dozen 'average quality' fantasy c
Clephas

Clephas

4

Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu

This game is the second project made by Samoyed Smile, a subsidiary of the same corporation that owns Softhouse-seal.  This is, incidentally, why the game has the really crappy lip-sync and sex animations so familiar from that company's works.  That said, this company is not a nukige company, despite the lateral relationship. The game starts with a young teacher, Haruki, teaching a class of dropouts at a night school.  Haruki, having had horrible experiences at his first teaching job, has a
Clephas

Clephas

1

Microtransactions and my views

Let's first lay out my basic view... I loathe microtransactions. I'm not an anti-industry activist, and I don't have a serious bone to pick with any individual company about them.  I've had a few bad experiences with them, but the reason for my loathing is something more fundamental, that I came to realize only after I'd put a year or so between my worst experience with them. First of all, my experience was with an MMORPG on PC, rather than a blockbuster title or a smartphone game.  As
Clephas

Clephas

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My VN Reassessment Project (UPDATED)

When I first started playing untranslated VNs (right about the time Obama got into office), I had the luxury of cherry-picking some of the best titles in existence at the time for my initial lineup.  In some cases, I just randomly grabbed stuff that met my tastes, and in others I went by recommendations by established vets like Accany.  However, at this point in my VN experience, I had yet to start VN of the Month and I was basically seeing VNs solely by how they met my expectations and tastes,
Clephas

Clephas

1

Bokura no Sekai ni Shukufuku o

This game is the one I've been waiting for... a mimikko nakige that doesn't ignore the setting or human nature. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist, Kazuki takes in a puppy he finds abandoned in the park, feeds her, and then falls asleep with the half-feral cat he feeds occasionally watching.  When he wakes up, they've both transformed into mimikko, a catgirl and a doggirl...  Soon after, it becomes apparent that shortly after this event, pets around the world began turning into
Clephas

Clephas

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