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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/22/15 in all areas
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I know that there is an Emi version:8 points
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Yeah, I said I was going to wait until I'd played at least two more heroines before I posted again... but Rin's path has enough impact that I felt a distinct need to post on it ahead of time. Misakura Rin is the protagonist's osananajimi... a childhood friend and one another's first love (this is said pretty much from the beginning, so it doesn't really count as a spoiler). For reasons the protagonist deliberately only hints at (typical Sca-ji) he has been avoiding any sort of contact with her for years... since she transferred out of the area. This is despite the fact that his memories with her are some of the ones he treasures the most from his childhood. To be honest, though Makoto's path is really good, the engagement with the protagonist and heroine is completely different in Rin's path. Unlike in my past experience with Sca-ji, the progression as Rin's personal issues are revealed in detail is carried out in a manner that is neither irritating nor excessive, and even the building of their relationship feels more natural than you generally see in a VN. Understand, if you have read a lot of Japanese literature, it is really easy to figure out where Sca-ji is going with Rin even without getting on her path. He lays the hints on pretty thickly, and the reaction of a certain fushigi-ko character (not a heroine) to Rin is the final nail in the coffin. If you honestly haven't figured out why the protagonist is so intent on avoiding building a relationship with Rin early on, you are probably pretty dense... though the details are - of course - only revealed in her path. In addition to the purely physical issues, there is a significant amount of psychological weirdness involved, and I have to make the suggestion that you keep in mind that Sca-ji can't seem to avoid inserting mysticism into any and all his stories on some level, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that read Ikikoi the way he tries to keep certain issues ambiguous throughout this path. I have to wonder if he himself has an ambiguous relationship with faith and fantasy, considering the way he writes about them. I honestly cried during the climax scene of Rin's path, and I was surprised to find myself actually ranking the path pretty high up there as emotional VN paths go... right up there with the true path of Irosekai and a few others that had me in tears. A lot of it is that the protagonist has that bad habit a lot of my favorite protagonists in emotional games have... he has an odd disregard for his own safety, health, and future when he puts them in balance with someone he cares about or even someone who simply needs his help. While I love pragmatist protagonists and even ones who can be cruel, that is mostly for the same reason as I like this type of protagonist... people that exist at extremes of the range of human personality are inevitably fascinating... far moreso than some humdrum 'normal' schoolboy, lol. Edit: Linguistic issues Now on linguistics... I don't think most people who read VNs really understand how a simple choice of words can alter how someone views a whole issue. Above, in parenthesis, I said 'typical' Sca-ji in relation to what I referred to as a bad habit in a previous post. Now, if I were a long-standing fan of Sca-ji, I probably would have said 'classic' Sca-ji. What is the difference? By using 'typical' there, I inserted a note of sarcasm/cynicism into an otherwise neutral statement. If I were to have said 'classic', that would have altered it to sound somewhat fanboyish... I wonder how many of those who read this blog even realize how much reviewers manipulate you through simple word choices like these? Not only that, ninety percent of a writer's skill is in figuring out how to insert emotion using subtle word choices like this. The reason Masada - the writer of Dies Irae - attracts writers and reading-addicts like flies is because his prose really is a work of art, designed to gain a very specific reaction without entirely making you aware that he is doing it. The reason Sca-ji tends to irritate people like me is that he lacks subtlety from the perspective of people like me. Now understand, he is perfectly subtle from the perspective of your average reader. I doubt most people will pick up on more than ten percent of the hints he gives... but for people used to figuring out subtle hints as second nature, it feels like he is laying it on a bit thick, to the point of extreme repetition. Sometimes this works (Rin's path is an example of this) and at others it doesn't (my experience of Subahibi). This is an entirely subjective issue and not one that the mainstream will ever even recognize is there without some jaded jerk like me going out of his way to point it out. However, I felt a need to say just why my bias is always going to be against Sca-ji, because I can't stop it from coloring how I write about him. Edit2: Rina and the Yuri path Rina's path is in some ways darker than Rin's. For all the depth of emotion involved in Rin's path, the entire thing was almost entirely between Rin and the protagonist, with only occasional intervention from third parties. However, throughout Rina's path, Yuumi plays an intimate role together with them. Indeed, a good portion of the path is devoted to a recounting of Rina's and her past from Yuumi's point of view, as well as the first meeting between Naoya and Rina. Yuumi as a child is pretty... messed up inside, at least partially because she is an honest to god born lesbian. In a moege, there would probably be a 3P path here... and while that kind of path is generally fun to read, it wouldn't have the depth this one did. After the recounting of the past, it splits into Rina's heroine route and a Yuri path between her and Yuumi. To be honest, I don't think I would have gotten as much from Rina's path if I hadn't chosen to do the yuri ending first, so I can honestly recommend it as something that adds some depth to Rina's ending, putting some things in perspective. Rina's path... is equally intimate to Rin's, but it lacks the kind of high-emotion cathartic drama that Rin's had (at least for me), at least in part because a great portion of the path was devoted to recounting the somewhat messed up formative time of Rina's and Yuumi's relationship. From a purely intellectual point of view, it was an excellent choice, but it had the effect of making the path deeper intellectually at the cost of emotional engagement, an occasional problem with that kind of flashback recounting.4 points
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Cursed Sight FuwaReview Discussion
Katatsumuri and 2 others reacted to solidbatman for a topic
Another day, another good OELVN. This one from our favorite mouse, InvertMouse. Read the Cursed Sight review here3 points -
Fuwanovel Confessions
Funyarinpa and 2 others reacted to Tyrael for a topic
Completely in line with all my expectations of you, tbh3 points -
Fuwanovel Confessions
rainsismyfav and one other reacted to LinovaA for a topic
Confession: I don't think I have ever been as honest to someone about myself as I have been today.2 points -
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Fuwanovel Confessions
LinovaA and one other reacted to luciodragao for a topic
I, Ducku, think that cats are way overrated, get a duck ffs2 points -
Hair and outfit match for the guy. Looks like that's the VN we're looking for. EDIT: Hair and outfit match for the guy: https://vndb.org/c20552 who is also from the VN. Be specific tahu.2 points
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Waifu WARS!
Kawasumi reacted to luciodragao for a topic
So, for some reason i ended talking about waifu's and it came down to which waifu was the best.. so... waifu wars! lets see who has the best one! QUACK! here is mine1 point -
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Waifu WARS!
XionsProphecy reacted to LiquidShu for a topic
wow that's actually pretty cool, where is she from? Y-you haven't played Final Fantasy VII?! Waiting for the remake Can we post multiple Waifu's as best?1 point -
Waifu WARS!
XionsProphecy reacted to Funyarinpa for a topic
wow that's actually pretty cool, where is she from? Y-you haven't played Final Fantasy VII?! Now I might, fuck1 point -
What are you playing?
Mr Poltroon reacted to Flutterz for a topic
What it's saying is that "let us" is considered somewhat dated, and that everyone uses "let's" these days.1 point -
cuteness overload I agree btw, Asashi is one of the best.1 point
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Although that's not really Saya I do applaud your awesome taste.1 point
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100% ready to go you needa upgrade your detective skills young grasshopper1 point
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Fuwanovel Confessions
Fred the Barber reacted to AaronIsCrunchy for a topic
It's probably better, there's a reason why most mousepads are flat. I think the bumps have got something to do with wrist support... and if you've got a mousemat with squishy boobs, the likelihood is that your wrist is gonna need a whole lotta supporting1 point -
Finished Rine's route in Natsukumo. Welp, my oppai-loli dreams are over, I guess I have to move onto the next route and more of the regular lolis, ew! Aside from Rine being my favourite character (not just for the breasts ), this was definitely the coolest route so far, too. I was afraid that Watanabe spent all his crazy imagination on HaruKuru, but he clearly had more than enough left for Natsukumo too. The idea behind HaruKuru is still a little bit cooler, but honestly comparing anything to that just feels really unfair. I guess I have one more (or two?) routes left in Natsukumo, and then it's finally time for Chaos;Child. It's getting quite hard to resist starting it right now, but there's nothing worse than starting too many VNs and then finishing none.1 point
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What are you listening to right now?
Kawasumi reacted to AaronIsCrunchy for a topic
This gorgeous piece of late 80s goth perfection.1 point -
Sakura no Uta part 2: Rin and some linguistic comments (edit: added Rina and yuri ending)
Chronopolis reacted to Ayana for a blog entry
I have only been reading early into Sakura no Uta so far and I'm already finding more enjoyment in it than I found in Subarashiki Hibi (I might even..). I'm sure you already know this, but Subahibi was the first considerably complete story (at least, thematically) Sca-ji wrote mostly by himself. As with but not because of that circumstance, he currently seems like more of an overtly earnest storyteller than a seasoned or great one. My bias towards Sca-ji lies at the principles he outlined in the latter most part of Subahibi and the philosophical idea he (attempted to) frame using the wonky narrative composition. Both traits of the story I put personal value into because they're certain reminders of something related to my situation and position (and because Subahibi was my sixth eroge xD) yada yada. But that bias doesn't make me love the game, it makes me love the creator as a person. At this point I'm all-accepting of his methods because I'd rather just converse with him, if through any possible medium. Although, I have no idea as to why other people like Subahibi... I feel this has to be said because I do want to look at things from a more "objective" standpoint and move on after making these distinctions. That way I can then say valuable things about his works and him as a person. Seeing your opinion honestly helps me with that.1 point -
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Hello, I found awesome song in some kind of opening. Not sure if it's fan made or it is official VN. Anyone know a name in roman lyrics? English: "Devotion of her who begins to go mad" find nothing ;/ Wanted to chek wwhat it is at VNDB. It looks like soem of official opening, but you know. Some people are just talented and doing stuff like this.1 point
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You can do! You can do! I've tried writing diaries of some kind on my end but I don't think it quite worked out. Mostly because I wrote them in the form of sending mail to my waifu and I couldn't think of what to say ;-;1 point
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Is there a VN that left a big impact on you (posiitive or negative) ?
MarcoCorvus21 reacted to MikeY91 for a topic
yeah i think i will also have a hard time getting over Narcissu haha, it was also the first time that i had felt this sad over a vn/anime. i hope that one day i get to the point where i can read it again too, maybe in 2 or 3 years lol and don't worry your English is fine1 point -
@Zodai he asked them all out, and got rejected by all of them jk idk either.1 point
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Western digital copy on Steam = 50$ Japanese physical copy (Memorial Edition) = 40$ (Amazon) I like SP's sense of humor.1 point
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hoooly shit, villainous protag, revenge, evil route, gang rape, abit ntr...really thxxxxx for suggesting it & off we go!1 point
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Fuwanovel Confessions
Kawasumi reacted to Fred the Barber for a topic
I don't promise to at least come visit you in jail and laugh at you.1 point -
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Gakkougurashi. OH SHIT pt.2, KURUMI VS. ZOMBIMEGU-NEE!@# Yuki, the Keyblade Master! To Kill, or not to Kill: the Infected Promise RIP Megu-nee (again): Best Girl Lives The Death of the Protagonist Tying up Loose Ends Season 2 Pls 9/10. TL;DR (not really):1 point
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Lucid9 (available for free on Steam)
Mr Poltroon reacted to Diamon for a topic
Haven't posted here in quite a while... We're still working hard on the common route! A lot of assets are being produced, thanks to the effort of everyone on the team! Guess I'll just post some assets, since sharing is caring First : our podcast episode 1 video! Cover art : Dizzyworld2, OST : Hustle & Bustle by Jason Walsh Participants : AnotherPlayer, Mac (Tips : do actually watch the video, you won't be disappointed! ) So usually, I often put a background update here with an asset, but this time, I'll do even better : a background speedpainting from Yuuko! And lastly, of course, some fanart, because you all deserved it after waiting for so long without any news : A bit late, but look at all the candy Akira got! (Drawn by Yuuko) That's all for the moment! Stay tuned for some further updates soon-ish! (And follow the thread if you haven't been yet! )1 point -
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I finally got my Tibalta and she's pure awesome. Not as good as previous girls in terms of detail and quality (see the pics below), but the posing, cute face and armor parts really make up for the rest. As usual, you can't really expect a prototype quality from mass produced copies, but it's still good enough. She needed a little bit of assembling, but all the parts came together without any issues and remain solid; diorama even has a metal bolt to secure the foot better. Besides nice looking, non-windowed box, she came with a couple of goodies as well - a short manga printed on a high quality, glossy paper and a motion comic(?) on the DVD, I have yet to check out. Embrace really makes great figures. DON'T MISS IT!1 point
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Look it's @Nashetania1 point
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only an Otaku would do something like that1 point
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Most fan-translations certainly aren't well done and even if they were there's still no guarantee that we'd have Seinarukana now. I get the frustration with companies picking up almost finished fan-tls (though I personally think official releases are good) but this wasn't the case with Seinarukana. Seinarukana started as a fan-tl back in 2010. The translator was a guy named nighteye. Sometime between october 2010 and april 2011 nighteye disappeared. He was replaced by a guy named Renkosuke. Later the same year, in July 2011 JAST announced that they had licensed Seinarukana, the project was currently 30% translated, far from a completed translation. However sometime during 2012 Renkosuke also disappeared. In february 2013 it was announced that a guy called Inskipp had been called in to replace him. It had also been decided that the old translation was going to be scrapped because of issues with the quality (nighteye's parts in particuliar were apparently pretty bad) and to improve the consistency. A short time afterwards Inskipp is replaced by Aroduc for some unspecified reason. Aroduc finishes his initial rough translation in august 2013. After that there was qc, editing and programming that needed to be done which would've taken a fair bit of time no matter what. This isn't to say that Jast have handled this project well, they haven't and it almost certainly would have been released by now if say, Mangagamer was doing it. But there are actually tons of fan-tls that were way more finished than Seinarukana was when Jast picked it up that still were dropped or stalled. We have no idea if Aroduc would have picked up Seinarukana if he hadn't been hired by Jast. It probably would still have been sitting there, half-finished without a translator just like dozens of other fan-tls.1 point