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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

Why the Nostalgia?

If some of you failed to notice, I've been going back over my list of ancient favorites amongst the moege/charage/slice-of-life genres.  Why am I doing this?  I actually have some good reasons, other than whims. First, I keep recommending these things to people, but when you start talking about a VN you last played five years ago, people tend to let it in one ear and out the other.  I mean, my long-term memory for games and books is pretty good, but my brain is fairly compartmentalized, so
Clephas

Clephas

4

Random VNs: Tayutama Kiss on My Deity (edit: and the FD)

First, let me say that this was the very first non-violent VN I played after jumping into Japanese-language (untranslated) VNs.  I should also say that it was the one that taught me that even a VN of this type (what I later came to call a charage) could have a truly solid story.  This VN is the reason I'm frequently willing to give charage the benefit of the doubt, and it is also the reason why I became somewhat obsessed with ojousama heroines.  Mifuyu is still one of the better ojousama heroine
Clephas

Clephas

1

A warning for September's releases (Tayutama 2)

In this month's releases comes a sequel I've been looking forward to for two years (since it was quietly first leaked), Tayutama 2. Tayutama 2 is based fifty years after the end of Tayutama (the original).  To be specific, it is based on the Mashiro ending from that one (straight out the best immortal heroine ending I've seen in any charage).  However, because it is based off of that ending, it spoils the main story completely, making it a necessity for you to have at least played Mashiro's
Clephas

Clephas

8

Ichibun no Ni Koigokoro and VN of the Month, August 2016

Ugh... can you say kusoge out loud twenty times fast?  I'm sorry, but it has been a while since I played a VN that was this awful outright.  It had all the elements, setting-wise, that a good story VN should have... a protagonist who gave up high school to work to support his sisters, twin sister heroines (yay for incest), a generally capable protagonist, a hikikomori neighbor heroine, and a lot of hints of potential story points that could have been used to enhance the paths. Unfortunately
Clephas

Clephas

1

Inochi no Spare

*weeps hopelessly, his face a mess with tears and other fluids* Inochi no Spare is an utsuge, produced by Akabeisoft3, the conglomerate company made from all of Akabeisoft2's subsidiaries except Akatsuki Works.  I'll be blunt, I didn't know what to think going into this.  It was blatantly an utsuge, right from the beginning... and one that is merciless in its descriptions of the characters' suffering. The disease in question is called Oumon Disease (fictional), which manifests initiall
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12

VN of the Month: Just letting yall know

September's VN of the Month is probably going to be a contest between Baldr Heart, Inochi no Spare, and Gin'iro, Haruka.  Why?  Everything else I dropped shortly after exiting the prologue, wanting to puke from the kusoge-smell.  It might not be fair to them, but Ichibun, Yuuwaku, and Triangle Love just aren't VNs that have any chance, with Gin'iro defining the field for slice-of-life and romance.  I can't bring myself to play anymore Gin'iro, but that isn't because it sucks... it is because I'm
Clephas

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17

Gin'iro, Haruka Part 2: Yuzuki

I'm going to be blunt... I can only take Tone Works games in small doses (one path at a time), so I'll be setting Gin'iro Haruka aside now, though I am interested in two of the remaining three heroines (despite Hinata's horrible VA).  Yuzuki's path actually starts out fairly similar to how you would imagine the classic 'imouto' path would if it was done by Tone Works... the slow growth into full sibling-hood, the slipping into habits that go a bit too far for teenaged siblings, then the rea
Clephas

Clephas

3

Gin'iro, Haruka Part 1: Common and Bethly

First, I'm going to say right out that this VN feels very familiar to me, as someone who dropped Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai.  I dropped that game for a number of reasons... but the biggest one was that I was extremely tired of slice-of-life and romance at the time.  Since Hoshi Ori (and indeed all games by Tone Works) is a pure slice-of-life/romance VN (not charage) it just was a bad time for me to hit on it.  As I studied my feelings about my experiences with the path I'd played, I went ahead and rat
Clephas

Clephas

2

Baldr Heart

Now, for those who are wondering, the reason I chose to play Baldr Heart first is fairly simple... it is the VN most anticipated this month, at least by the people I talk to.   Baldr Heart is the fourth game (if you count the Skydive and Zero games as a single game each) in the 'primary series' started with Baldr Force.  This series follows the evolving interrelations between humans, the net, extreme VR, and AIs, storywise.  The gameplay in all the games is a relatively fast-paced battle mech ac
Clephas

Clephas

5

Vn of the Month, July 2016

July was unique so far, when it comes to the quality of what was released.  Three VNs, Amatsutsumi, Senren Banka, and Floral Flowlove were all at a high level of quality that qualifies them as a potential VN of the Month.  As those who keep up with this blog know, I really won't name a VN of the Month if I don't feel there were any releases worthy of it. First, Senren Banka:   Looking back on it, it was an enjoyable experience, but I came to the conclusion that it was the weakest
Clephas

Clephas

0

Random Vns: Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu

Now, Ruitomo is one of 'those legendary VNs', the first kamige written by the Akatsuki Works team.  It is well-known and often discussed amongst vets of playing untranslated VNs, and you can see how this was the formative stage for a team that would go on to make numerous great games in the future, most of them chuunige. First off, Ruitomo isn't a chuunige, at least in the classic sense.  The protagonist is a trap who is bound by an inherited curse not to reveal his true gender, and the sto
Clephas

Clephas

4

Agobarrier: Some afterthoughts on a great writer

Agobarrier, who was the writer of Shuffle (the work most familiar to people here) was one of my favorite non-chuuni VN writers.  Ironically, his best works were all written after leaving Navel and its massive stream of liquid cash to form Rosebleu, my favorite comedy company.  I started going back through his entire library of works (or at least the ones I've played and own) since I heard of his death in mid-April, and as I replay his final work, Valkyrie Runabout, I feel a need to look back on
Clephas

Clephas

0

Random VNs: Shunki Gentei Poko a Poko

First, I should say that this is a low-price VN in the same setting as Hatsugamai (one of the better VNs released this year), written by the same guy who wrote that estimable VN, as well as Senren Banka, Love Rec, Satsukoi, Clover Days, Karumaruka Circle (Saga Planets), and Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai.  In other words, this guy is one of those rare, extremely high-skilled writers who regularly pumps out the highest quality moe-bait charage that so many Fuwans love but can also be loved by pe
Clephas

Clephas

2

Random VNs: Doushite, Sonna ni Kuroi Kami ga Suki na no?

First, I should say that this VN has major problems, despite the fact that I ended up enjoying it quite a bit as a whole.  This is true of most VNs (obviously), but in this case, the problems are a bit more obvious. The main problem is the number of choices... to be honest, the sheer number of choices in this VN completely breaks engrossment with it at most points.  Generally, the best parts of this VN are found when the choices are over and all that is left is the momentum until the end of
Clephas

Clephas

0

Random VNs: Damekoi Final part

Now, this is going to be a somewhat short post, despite the fact that Damekoi has turned into one of the better VNs I've played in recent years (well, for the first time, anyway).  That is because Asami and Mitoko's routes split at the same point and share at least some of the same events and text, and Asami's route is mostly done by that split. I'm going to be blunt... once you get past Himeo's route, it turns into a muddy and messy ren'ai drama.  The protagonist, Osamu, is torn between hi
Clephas

Clephas

1

Kimi to Yumemishi

Ok... this is by a new company by the name of Laplacian, and as a result, I didn't really have much in the way of expectations for it.  As a result, I wasn't disappointed... but they didn't manage to surprise me either, sadly.  This VN's protagonist has the ability to enter people's dreams when they dream about him and uses a perfume he designed himself to make people remember and dream about him when they go to sleep. This VN, when it comes down to it, is a straight-out moege.  The low-lev
Clephas

Clephas

3

Floral Flowlove

Now, as I stated in the previous post, Saga Planets' has two types of VNs it primarily produces... a story-focused type that doesn't avoid the kind of bitter drama that charage/moege tend to despite the moege-type visuals... and a 'strong charage' type that essentially is a more character-focused VN with many of the same strengths as the former type.  Floral Flowlove is the former type, being much closer to Hatsuyuki Sakura and the other 'Four Seasons Series' VNs.  As such, as in all VNs by
Clephas

Clephas

5

Saga Planets

As I've been playing Floral Flowlove, I've been recalling my experiences with Saga Planets.  This is one of a very small group of companies that has never produced a 'complete kusoge' in my experience, and they always manage to maintain a certain level of quality, though they do their best work in VNs with a strong protagonist. Saga Planets is unusual amongst VN producers in that their games (at least in my experience) always maintain a certain baseline of quality... and in that they don't
Clephas

Clephas

0

A small social Commentary: Online multiplayer gaming vs solo and in-house multiplayer gaming

There was a time when online multiplayer was the dream of a bunch of idiot techies who thought it was the best idea it was possible for anyone to have. Those were the days, lol. I'm not kidding... I can mark the general era when I stopped playing games with other people to the days when online multiplayer superseded in-the-house multiplayer and split-screen coop games.  For better or worse, I don't like playing games with strangers.  It is uncomfortable, and I never have time to get us
Clephas

Clephas

8

Poll: Which Random VN?

Now... I've been asked to play/replay several VNs and post on each by several people who read but don't post here, as well as several members.  These will have to come after I finish Damekoi  and after the VN of the Month (currently playing Floral Flowlove), but there is a distinct possibility I'll manage to play at least one more VN through before the release of Deus Ex later this month.  I've also had requests to play and comment on more JRPGs, but I'll be honest when I say there aren't a ton
Clephas

Clephas

3

Amatsutsumi

... it's been a while since my feelings on a VN have been as complex as my feelings for this one are.  I say 'feelings' because this VN has massive emotional impact... not as much as Hapymaher, but nonetheless a lot of emotional impact.  To be blunt, Makoto is nothing like Hapymaher's protagonist, so if you were hoping for more of his 'consumed by sorrow and despair but still living my life' personality, sorry, no luck here.  Makoto is... a blank slate.  I don't say this in a bad way.  For
Clephas

Clephas

5

Some thoughts on Charage/moege (positive this time)

Understand, I'm not a huge fan of the moege and charage umbrella genres.  This is something I'm sure anyone who reads this blog is already well-aware of (to the point of exasperation in some cases) and at this point, it isn't something I need to reemphasize.  However, I've noticed that I've never really mentioned what I do like about moege/charage and their positive elements...  and I thought I'd go ahead and put that down here.   1. Charage do make decent breaks from my workday, as they
Clephas

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3

Wow, what the heck is this...

... something to look forward to.  Amatsutsumi is nothing like what I thought it would be, in a good way (at least from my point of view).  Purple Soft really has been going off in weird directions with their last three non-FD titles... Hapymaher was a kamige, Chrono Clock was good... this one could go either way, but the beginning is pretty fascinating (in the way watching a car crash is fascinating from the outside). 
Clephas

Clephas

4

Aristear Remain

This VN is based a few thousand years after Tou no Shita no Exercitus, and without the background knowledge of that VN, it is a bit hard to get into the details of this one.  Unlike that game, this one has no gameplay and is instead a kinetic novel in the 'standard chuunige' style... which basically means that it isn't a high-detail wordsmith and CG artist's playground like the stuff by Light and Nitroplus.  Sadly, since this VN's setting had some nice potential to make such a game in. I'm
Clephas

Clephas

0

Senren Banka

Before I go into this VN, I should probably bring up a few facts I’ve noticed about Yuzusoft VNs in general.   First, while most Yuzusoft VNs have a central story that is vital to the heroine paths as well as the common route, the degree to which that central plot effects the heroine paths varies pretty wildly.  In some cases – such as with Nicola in Dracu-riot – the effects of the main plot are almost nonexistent, and in others – such as Miu’s from the same VN – the effects are dramatic and int
Clephas

Clephas

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