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Voted yes. However, knowing the members of this community I'd like to ask that people NOT make it pervy. We're trying to draw in members from ALL aspects of the VN community, not just horny eroge fans. And before anybody mentions MangaGamer, people should remember their whole store is set up to make you feel as though you're browsing the wares of a back-alley sex shop, in the sleaze district. You mean we can't discuss the viability of this yet? \

I just took a look at MangaGamer's front page. It looks the tamest I've ever seen it. It's covered in pink, which is sort of weird I guess. As for the mascot, they should've stuck with the wholesome loli. To solve the issue of a single mascot not fitting everyone's taste, I recommend multiple mascots--one for each section. That way you can choose a route and cuddle the one of your choice. I recommend a smiling loli for the front site and social media to show that the site is family friendly and welcoming to strangers (perhaps too welcoming...), a cool kuudere meganeko for the official blog to show its bookish side, a fiery tsundere for FuwaReviews because of the "tough love", and a warrior girl getting raped by tentacles for the forums.

I agree with this idea. I suggest Run-chan. Blood type: A Favorite food: Epsom salt Interests: Dank memes

Clearly we need a generic male visual novel protagonist from CG scenes as our mascot. The one with the same haircut in every game that covers his face. Typical school uniform, too.

Ioruko here to share some fan art with you! I will be updating this topic when I finish a new piece of fan art! VN fan art: Mahoutsukai no yoru you can check out the process steps for this one here: http://ioruko.deviantart.com/art/Mahoyo-fan-art-process-593052599 Muv-Luv Alternative Fate/Stay Night These are the best I can present for the moment! If you liked them, you can check the rest of my art here: http://ioruko.deviantart.com/gallery Also I am not sure if I should post anime fan art on a visual novel forum, so I'll just post vn related pics

I barely ever post here, just kind of browse. I enjoy Jun Maeda's work, and I hope he gets better. I actually really like Key VNs. What I don't like is that this thread about a sick man has been derailed into a half assed flame war. There is no way that Maeda will ever see this thread, true, but show some respect for a respectable fellow human being. This is why I hate small, close knit communities like this. They just stew in their own juices until they become sour. Seriously, get over yourselves. Mad respect, Jun Maeda. You're a hard worker, and hopefully after a much deserved rest you'll be well enough to assess what's next for you. Best of wishes.

General feeling after having first read the original story: Man, that's unfortunate, I hope it's nothing serious. General feeling after having read the rest of the thread: *Facedesk....* *facedeskfacedeskfacedesk*

Liar-Soft definelty nails the character designs always

This is starting to sound like an OELVN. Next you're going to say it won't be voiced.

All I expect from OELVNs is mature writing for adults, appealing anime-style or fantasy-style graphics, a high fantasy setting with swords and sorcery, engaging RPG combat, 1000-year-old goth lolis, and sex with said lolis--all voiced in Tolkien's elven language. Is that too much to ask?

Well, this is the Fuwanovel mascot. It's kind of our theme. You should just make the mascot one big shitpost.

I'm glad I don't wear any jewelry or anything of that sort. It wouldn't match my usual attire. Also, this thread has gone completely off topic.

I must be one of the few who liked Harukoi Otome

I actually laughed lel

Game can be found here : https://store.steampowered.com/app/455310/Bloody_Chronicles__New_Cycle_of_Death_Visual_Novel/ Just a thing before we continue, if it isn't too much to ask, we would like to post our project that fuwanovel in order to create more exposure for it; with this being our first project, it is important that we can get people in the community to know who we and what we're making. Bloody Chronicles - New Cycle of Death http://bloodychronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/about-project.png Bloody Chronicles is a visual novel and Igrasil Studio’s first project. The plot focuses on Kazuki, who has lost his parents in an accident. After graduating from the police academy, he was recruited by Igrasil, a non-governmental organization which solves murders the police deem are impossible to explain due to lack of evidence. Kazuki’s partners include the crazy and funny Ishikawa siblings, Kaoru Moriyama (the daughter of a millionaire and founder of the organization), and Suzumi, the head of the organization. http://bloodychronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/character.png http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/a907fb3ec0cc6d893d9a251e0e156ea3.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/f0d134115efa90e47a6dab4cb01f6f12.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/053d1e7692d380e7b42a9403eec67ffa.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/6906237afb19e8d6a3f4223a14a284f2.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/88e9136e991d6991350263bdf4e0f1e9.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/5e639846eb1ee719e3efabf17ed1bb57.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/aab646dcf126f50e1de9dc5fbe5504ed.jpg The whole series will consist of 3 installments; the first part is “Act 1 - New Cycle of Death.” We’re aiming for the length of the entire series to consist of 40 hoursof gameplay, where the player will be able to make different decisions that will affect the ending. Like in most visual novels, the player will be able to establish close relationships with the series’ characters and get to know their personal stories. Please note that our studio aren't fans of "fanservice", so Bloody Chronicles won't be another dating sims game etc. Our game is broken into several chapters; these chapters are separated into seven days, where “Player Choices” will help or hinder the investigation. Player decisions and choices will affect the ending. http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/290b65a65925382fdacc3fc306cfc3e6.jpg Suzumi | Akito A & B | Kaoru | Aki oh, we won't tell you how to get the "DARK" ending... it's a secret! φ(ﾟﾛﾟ*)ﾉ Bloody Chronicles can be classified as a mystery, drama, slice of life, and action; the plot takes place in a modern day fictional universe called Utna http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/b7728499757d82b0b0ff1968d74fc3e9.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/6ed32b5031e8e5c8edb4d87bf36a006a.jpg Each of the character designs will include casual clothes, organization uniforms, unique poses, and different facial expressions. We’re aiming for each character to have 30 fully-detailed CG illustrations and their own original musical compositions. Casual / Uniform Clothes http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/a74fc2bde69a2ca3c342033600014c26.jpg http://bloodychronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/platfrom.png PC -Windows / Mac OS Linux Mobile - Android / Windows Phone / Xbox - pending http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/768cc91ecdcca36bb5d6902d2932c4e6.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/d5f88a495dd0c6e6e870b4b527147527.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/6c1bac1b8f0898cdb8b2d37005ce8047.jpg http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/03cf097494f37179af880a28eb3ad40d.png http://bloodychronicles.com/project-status/ Here you can see our project status! The bars below represent what is done and what we still need to do - updated weekly Meet our Voice Actors The main characters in the Bloody Chronicles series will be fully voiced. Skyler Davenport IMDb | Official Facebook http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/af13cb701fea0e9a31bf689c350467e5.jpg John Archer Official SoundCloud | Official Twitter http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/eb2c4125150b81a1ff719dff729c018f.jpg Sayaka Mashiro IMDb |Official Website http://prefundia.com/uploads/projects/8099/8cb310a5a02fda36f38c3c21fe026ff5.jpg Bloody Chronicles F.A.Q. 1.When game will be released - We're hoping for a release date of March 2017 2.Will the players establish close relationships with the characters?/ Will the relationships be 18+ or all-ages? - You can establish close relationships with every member; however, this game is all-ages/teen, so there won't be any H-scenes. 3.Where can we see your progress? - Here you can check our weekly progress http://bloodychronicles.com/project-status/ 4.Have you decided on a price for the VN - We're considering a price range of $15-19 5.Will the game be translated for other languages? -The game is being written in English, with input from our Japanese and polish members. In the future, we plan on releasing it in additional languages. 6.Will you add a Japanese voiceover? -We will focus on adding a Japanese voiceover once the English version is finished, provided our campaign is funded successfully. 7.Will the soundtrack be available for download? - We'll release the soundtrack for purchase with the game; alternatively, you can buy the steam exclusive edition which comes with the soundtrack and other extras! 8.Will you add steam trading cards? -Yes 9.How about achievements?. - Why not? It'll be fun! For more information visit us: Official Website with project status Facebook Twitter SoundCloud Bloody Chronicles Demo http://bloodychronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/bloodydemo.png We are excited to present the demo of our debut project, Bloody Chronicles! Enjoy the first prologue scene and some extra footage as well! This demo version is completely free! Please be aware that the demo version is an early version in development and the final product will be revised. We thank you for your support and hope you enjoy the demo! Bloody Chronicles Windows Version | Bloody Chronicles Linux Version | Bloody Chronicles Mac

It's supposed to be out in March, right? That's not enough time. It doesn't matter how big a team they can put on it, unless they push back the release date what they'll put out will have problems. I actually feel a bit sorry for Meru ... Theoretically there's nothing wrong with doing a TLC pass to fix errors, provided the translators they hire are proficient in Japanese. In practice it causes problems merely because translators translate in different ways, but if they're just focusing on accuracy it should be feasible they can fix most errors. Provided they have enough time, and provided they understand the original TL's style, and provided *insert a whole bunch of other stuff.*

I voted for S;G since i still have to fully commit to it been on my backlog for way too long like other things..It just never ends

Rewrite! It is without a doubt one of the best VN's I have ever read so far. All the girls have interesting (and fairly dramatic) backstories, are cute and make the whole thing a blast to read. It has by far the best comedic moments of any Key VN and the drama hits home. It is also a departure from most high school centric romance VN's since the whole thing is just a part of something much greater that really manages to 'get you', no matter what side you actually end up on. Highly recommended. Other than that, I fear you will hate Key's more traditional VN's like Clannad, Kanon and Little Busters because they are very much centered around the kind of dramatic moments you seem to dislike, so yeah...

You've already read the only really good Key VN which is Planetarian. It's time to move on before you fall into Jun Maeda's traps. I guess Air is also worth it.

when i become a bit more talented, which wont be for a while.

Autoquote because I forgot Ati (Sekien no Inganock)

Yes, absolutely! This would be awesome!

I really love the design of Carol from maggot baits. (Yes, I went there ) Her design is just perfect; subtle but deadly. The colors are great, the smaller details like the piercings and the cat ears look awesome and things like her stance when holding her sword too is just so cool. Her outfit is really simple, but it looks epic and fits well with the bright colors from her eyes and sword.

TAKE THAT! The original design for Phoenix Wright (inb4 lol english pleb) is what I believe to be one of the best designs for a protagonist I've ever seen. The designer had to make him look normal enough for as many people to immerse themselves into and relate to him as possible, while at the same time come up with a design that is iconic enough to be recognizable worldwide. And whoever drew Feenie up, nailed it. The blue suit immediately burns itself into your memory and the spiky haircut, alongside the iconic poses, provide him with an easily distinguishable silhouette.

Yes... YES!!! WHEN IS THE NEXT CHAPTER?!

Reminder that Tiag thinks Ikikoi is a good game.

Hm, rather good, actually In th first pic there are some wrinkles that could be erased for it to look better and Archer isn't actually looking at Rin, butI don't know if this is meant or not Anyways, good work

absolutely hideous. i dont know why you think you should share that crap. GET IT OUTTA HERE! jk. they actually look great. i especially love the second muv luv one since thats my favorite ending from it. good job and hope to see more.

i try.

Glad you asked! I've just finished the VN, and instead of working on some highly important stuff I have piled up, I shall reply and digress. Just don't expect any sort of cohesion. When I first started this VN, I'll admit, I had high hopes. To start with, it had Koestl as a translator, and his translation of Grisaia no Kajitsu very much made for half the VN's greatness. In my eyes, he proved himself as entirely capable of "translating", a broad term that can mean anything from converting a bunch of words from a language into appropriate synonyms of another language; to picking up the meaning of a sentence or paragraph and rewriting it in another language whilst attempting to maintain the same style, word usage and meaning. I'm specifically referring to the latter here: For examples, check many of Grisaia's word puns, language usage and referential/cultural jokes which, in the hands of many other translators, would have lost their significance in a western language. I was not disappointed on this front. I do not know the Japanese language. I could not possibly know (much like with Grisaia) whether the speech style, narration style, word usage, terminology or what have you has been faithfully translated. What I can vouch for is that it's certainly a cohesive, natural and, to many, I'm sure, beautiful work in its own right. I'm not here to debate whether "Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning" is Sakurai's story that has been respectfully converted into our language, or merely Koestl's modified copy. I'm here to state that, so far as I believe, "Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning" is a wonderfully written story. The English is phenomenal, in that it is anything beyond what I could ever write, has a vocabulary that is evidently larger than my own and, all throughout, the various stylistic choices make sense in context and work to make an entire cohesive, natural and beautiful work. Take this with as many grains of salt as you will, for I am not a native, nor have I ever read anything beyond the standard fare of Visual Novels, which certainly don't even compare. Most of what I've read does not even try to be written this way. That's a good point. What do I even mean by "written this way"? I find myself at a loss when asked to describe the writing style, so I'll instead broach my thoughts and opinions on the various aspects of the writing. From here on out, expect spoilers. Narration. Three chapters into this VN and I'd put it on the back burner. The VN itself was not bad, but there were things that very much irked me. Not the last of which was the omniscient narrator. Mind you, by themselves, I actually prefer a narrator who is aware of everything, who can describe everything with a degree of accuracy. What I hate, what I despise, is this characteristic combined with various others: Contradiction of facts for emphasis, his omniscience conveniently fails where the situation is most dire, for emphasis, repetition of the same sentences with slight or hardly any alteration, and hyperboles and metaphors. I'll try to exemplify these: The many times Tesla dodged undodgeable attacks, or avoided unavoidable contraptions. A quote where there were "Ten, twenty, thirty... countless numbers of knives were launched toward him." is the first to spring to mind. You'll notice these hardly qualify as bad writing or anything even remotely close. These are nothing but my own personal preference and I hate every last one of these writing tropes. It's these, in tandem with my general disinterest toward descriptions of battle where most of it is so hyperbolic that it's not possible for me to picture... that made me skip most action/battle scenes. Not just in Gahkthun, either. In Muv-Luv Alternative, in Rewrite, in Fate/Stay: Night, Tsukihime may forever burn in hell for it, and I couldn't even read more than an hour of I/O: revision II - I still don't know what this one's about, only that the writing made me steer bloody clear of it. I want to make lucid I am not absolutely bonkers and contradicting what I've said just earlier: The writing is indeed exceptional. Everything else but these literary devices were parts I loved, and I'm pretty sure that, to just about anyone else, what I've pointed out aren't even flaws, but commendable use of the language. After later on being urged to continue reading by multiple users of Fuwanovel itself, I ended up continuing the visual novel, and by no means did I regret it. Some of the literary devices I actually came to find quite charming: "Of the many rumours surrounding the Governing Council, this is one of the very few that happens to be true." x12 - Not that I really know much about writing or its devices. This "omniscient" narrator and blatant contradiction of previously stated facts can actually be used in a rather effective way, methinks. The way the narrator constantly switches with a characters inner monologue is effective. Very much so. It goes a long way to accurately represent the panic, confusion and emotional strife of a character, when we are given such a glaring contrast between narration styles... I can say it was highly effective with me. I could also tolerate the highly hyperbolic descriptions because of how... ridiculous the setting is as a whole. I would actually not be surprised if Nightingale had died a thousand times just by being looked at by... murderous red eyes in the sky. Another peculiar thing about the structure of the story, and this goes on to connect with the story and plot more than the writing itself, are the exercises for the reader - or fairytales. This Visual Novel is divided into twelve chapters. Each chapter starts with a small introduction, it either expands the setting, introduces new characters or starts smack dab in the middle of an already ongoing plot. When the VN first threw these "reading exercises" at my face I was pretty... intrigued. How weird. Such a strange way to tell a story. What's their purpose? What do they do? Initially, I was quite confused. They were minimalistic, and, more often than not, they seemed to have no real correlation to anything that was going on. How ignorant I was. How foolish of me. There were two aspects I was particularly fond of: These exercises, as a whole, required input from the player, and I believe that, for the most part, all of them tried to teach something. To showcase various paths for radiance. And let it be known, radiance, despite the name and main theme behind Tesla, does not always imply good and just. I'll come back to this later. The second part I really liked is how effective they turned out to be with me. I cried various times over the course of the VN, probably four or thereabout. The smashing majority were during these exercises. The music and the minimalistic images joined together, the narration and context derived from the main story itself, they come together and fill in all the holes forming a wonderful and emotional tale. The main story shows you the present, which you deem mostly incomprehensible a great deal the time, or fail to understand the context. Afterward, or sometimes in the very middle of what appears to be the climax, these calm, relaxing exercises suddenly appear and fill in all the holes. You learn the motivations. You relate the exercise characters to the real characters, you find out their past through this, and it is altogether more effective than flat out stating it all. These brought their own problems. After learning of the nature of these exercises, you start to spot patterns and can immediately deduce who the story will focus on within the first few minutes: See Émile's chapter with Louis-Charles. On the other hand, this can still be used effectively to induce false conclusions. See Berta's chapter - the exercises lead us to believe she is the woman in question (and in turn, may render the "she's actually female" reveal, rather stale) when she is actually her daughter. Not much of a twist, but it does show the writer was probably well aware of the flaw, with how they toy with is like this. Moving on from the reading exercises, I'll continue with the setting. I found it rather interesting if a bit depressing with a tinge of hopefulness. A Steampunk setting doesn't really speak to me. I have no strong opinions either way. Since this is a Steampunk setting and I'm not interested either way, that's out in regards as to why I found it interesting. This leaves an alternate history setting, which I liked, and copious amounts of references to a living, breathing world out there all throughout the story. Situations like Holmes existing, various historical personages with their own roles in history and my very own dictionary with a good deal of backstory all within. Add to all this how the characters and omniscient narrator refer to previous events constantly, things we don't know about, things we might have known about, were we an actual character in the story, and this works wonders for immersion. Of course, hating all things "bad" and "evil" like I do, I was very much saddened at the polluted and irreversible society they lived in. Also not a fan of how most of the "new" technology were things that have only recently been invented or things we can't even mimic with today's technology: See all the giant robots, androids and machines that make you learn on your own (I am guessing they were actually effective beyond being used for the chairman's schemes, here). As for the plot, I can say I actually didn't see it going anywhere far, which is why the last three or so chapters surprised me. For the first few chapters, I thought every chapter we'd get new characters and solve a mystery and help people. Of course, this sort of come and go episodic format doesn't do much for plot, unless they are all connected, and they certainly didn't seem all that connected, early on. I would actually have been fine if it kept up until the end. I liked the format and the various little stories. To me that was fine. But in those last three chapters they picked up the slack, kicked up the drama a notch, let the big bad go free, and made one of those "all those you've helped in the past band together and (in soviet russia) help you" sort of stories. Being a sucker for that sort of thing, I was rather satisfied. Of course, given how the VN had thus far focused the climaxes on the battles, It was rather anti-climatic when Tesla insta-kills the big bad after reuniting with Neon. Turns out the zenith of the chapter had been her trip to Tesla, not the fight itself. To go into further details, I feel I should focus on the characters and their respective chapters. Starting with Tesla. Because the narrator does not lie (even though he is omniscient: Umineko could stand to learn a few things about not lying to the reader in a mystery), we know right from the start that most of his claims are true, his true nature is one who does not lie, one who pursues justice, one who fights evil. We can also plainly see he is arrogant, brutally honest, curt and that he does not mince words. All of these are pluses to me, provided the arrogance has justification - which it does - in both skill and age. Speaking of age, given how he cannot lie, why is it that he was able to declare he was younger than he actually was? Whilst this made for a small comedic gag about not wanting to seem too old, I don't deem it as worth breaking character or principles for. Tesla makes, therefore, for one of my favourite male characters to speak of, in ideals and personality both. If I had to find a negative, him deciding he would need to atone for his existence with Neon, that he caused her love life such unnecessary strife because of his predetermined decision... would be my main flaw. Had he simply said, "My existence caused their deaths; by the time I found out, it was already to late.", had he simply explained the circumstances... the whole final chapter could have been avoided, really. Optimal scenario doesn't really make for much of a story, I suppose. Surprisingly enough, Neon's friends did not get much in the way of development. We know a bit about Annabeth's father and her methods as well of personality. Of Neon's friends, she was the one who appeared the most. Not that that helped me understand what her relation with JJ actually was, in the end. We never did get to find out Izumi's secret with the "headband" and tail, though foreshadowing made it obvious enough. Poor Albert was hardly present. At least JJ and Louis-Charles had chapters where they could be present more often, but no such mercy for Albert. Being kicked out of the beach chapter deeply hurt his overall presence in the VN. These general characters mentioned, I believe I should get some order around here and backtrack all the way to the first chapter... To the very start of the Visual Novel. It certainly knew how to make an impression. We start playing as this seemingly nice girl who goes to school and appears to be awfully shy... only to find out her real circumstances aren't anything so nice. We see her deluding herself, all in an attempt to stay at this academy for reasons yet unknown. All we know is that she had to, somehow. We slowly, or maybe rather quickly, see her breaking down, no matter what she herself claimed. We see the nature of the people she is dealing with. When, after a long, long, while, we see that she lost her highly unstable job, and that her boss was quite indeed on the verge of coming on top of her... It ends. I'm not sure if that's where the chapter ends, but I do know that the story perspective stops there, and we don't find out exactly what took place until... the bloody final chapter. I'll give you this: There's no reason we couldn't have found out about what happened earlier... but I guess it's fine. From here we see Neon in a rather shameless position for a while and are introduced to our main character, where he does a wonderful job showcasing the traits I've referred to above. Also, Jelly Beans - we'll come back to those. Speaking of things we'll come back to, try not to forget about the various "Q:"s we were put through at the start. Chapter 2 - or are we still in chapter 1? - does some things I very much enjoyed. After that dark and demoralising first impression, we are introduced to the hero who fixes everything, and he did fix everything, and this touched some of my favourite situations in media: A slave being given freedom or being treated like a human. It is actually rather strange how she found the audacity to complain at her new "Master" about all sorts of things... That aside, this chapter (or is it the next one?) includes the very first battle in the VN, with Walther. I wasn't really a fan of it, at all. Sure, I like to see overpowered characters using highly exaggerated powers with silly names as much as the next guy, but this is assuming the next guy doesn't like them much. On the other hand, I came to like Walther himself. The character we see here, this terrible first impression he gives us as... plainly evil, really... it disappears. Or at least, over the course of the visual novel, in the incredibly brief appearances he made over the course of the rest of the visual novel, my animosity toward him just simply up and vanished, getting replaced with love, of all things! By the time I got to the end I loved the guy, and it really is mysterious how it all came to be. Perhaps there's something wrong with my head, besides the obvious? It was in some random scene after this point that I temporarily halted the VN. When I got back to it, I found myself in Odile's chapter. This is the point where I thought I'd figured out the VN's structure with the various exercises for the reader and "mystery of the week" format. For the chapter itself, I don't have much in the way of impressions, beyond this being the first point in time Neon struck me as remotely interesting. More specifically, in the manner which she manages to read the emotions of a person somewhat accurately. Perhaps I like this trait because I'm a dimwit at it myself? Next up was probably Anne's, the iron lady's, chapter. Each chapter shows us a different form of radiance, some more twisted than others, and Anne's? Anne's radiance seemed to be in the right place all the way through. She simply needed to be more aware she cannot be an iron lady toward everything, all the time, no matter how much she wishes it. This chapter focused on showing us the various other sides of the Marshal and revealing a bit of JJ's backstory. All in all, I liked it. She seemed to have something going on with JJ, but we never saw anything too informative, so I suppose it'll forever remain a mystery. Not even our "omniscient" narrator seemed to be fully aware of it. Berta's chapter was set up to be the silliest thing yet. The story decided to break the rules of its own setting - or perhaps better put, take advantage of the Academia's constant bending of them - and include a beach episode. It can be said it most certainly came out of the left field. It was nevertheless appreciated: The reader mostly follows Tesla's point of view, and for good reason. The many lines he spouts during these scenes made some quite gold material. The whole love drama with Jo was entirely dispensable... but let's focus on what I really loved about this chapter: The reading exercises. The story they told caused many a tear to jump out from my eyes. I can only assume this VN is so overpowered it gushed dust particles in my general direction during these scenes. Either that, or these scenes touched on the right subjects for me, those being family, bonds, and love. I may or may not a have bawled a bit. I didn't quite understand all that much about her whole plot for revenge... I'm just glad she came to her senses in the end. I felt satisfied after finishing this chapter. From here on I was actually rather captivated for every scene about the council, as more and more of the members came to change their views and thoughts. Next up was Émile's chapter, which is also where I first understood how there were many sorts of radiance. Her thoughts and beliefs on how a ruler should behave, they all... seemed correct to me. And yet, simultaneously... no human being should have to be put through that. No friends, no emotions, no impartiality... that's what Tesla was trying to point out about her radiance. This is all the more amazing when you consider he's doing precisely the same thing, Tesla, by taking all burden up himself, so that others may live unhindered. Really makes you think about the many kinds of "radiance" out there. What is "just", what is "good", what is "tastiest? Chocolate or Jelly Beans?" This made the entire chapter interesting to me, this battle of ideals. I ended up really liking the resolution, with her "friend" trying to reach out to her, and said friend being helped by her own friends to do it. This is the point in the VN where I liked Neon the most, a girl who is perceptive with others' emotions, and believes in her friends through it all. Louis-Charles also got most of his development from Émile's chapter, not that I ever cared about him, much. Chapter 9, or whatever that really short chapter with the gate to hell was, is what I considered filler with a capital F, at First. Upon thinking about it further, even though it had no connection with everything else that was going on in the background, it showed some really good sides of Neon. Her ability to trust Tesla with all her heart, enough to put herself in harm's way just to help a random student, I loved that. Her apparent "No big deal, but would you kindly get rid of the monster now? It's trying to molest me, here." attitude also made for a rather amusing scene. Jo's chapter wasn't too interesting by my standards. I was unable to understand the conflict, and Neon's jealously irked me so. Still, I am a fan of mentally broken characters, especially when they come to heal, so I manage to salvage some enjoyment out of this chapter. From here, we go on to the big final chapters, and this is where everything culminated. It is almost strange how they managed to address so many plot points then and there. Why the Chateu d'if (or whatever the name is) was one of the first things present on the island, why the students were so easily manipulated, Tesla's backstory, and many other things. If I were to speak of what I liked? Anything after Neon regained here memories. What I disliked? Anything involving Neon before that point. How all the governing council members were related, plus Neon and the society member, is probably the most difficult thing to believe. In my eyes, that was entirely unnecessary. It would have been fine if only Neon was related, but everyone? A wee bit too much, I thought. A few more random impressions on the finale: Wilhelm's (...or was it Reich?) fall from glory happened far too fast, and we didn't get to see him until the end, where he still hadn't learnt his lesson. The big bad was about as absurd as expected. Florence never had a real chance to show off her powers, what with getting killed thousands of times over by the second. Tesla and Smilja's backstory really was the best here, it let me cry a bit more. Remember the Jelly Beans? Oh, so that's why. Remember the questions the game posed at the start? What do you think, now that you had time to think it over? The very best part was, as I've said over and over, Neon recovering her memories... for no apparent reason, actually; and going on her trip to save Tesla. Meeting all the people you've seen over the course of this VN, if only for the briefest of moments, to the sound of epic music, was epic in and of itself. ...I believe that is all I wanted to say. My impressions of this VN were mostly positive, and the finale succeeded in captivating and satisfying me. There is nothing else I could ask of a story. Since I don't want to offend certain people, certain dice, I won't put a numerical value that can be easily spotted from far away, and instead I'll say that it's a nine out of ten, and hide away in an unimportant corner most people won't ever bother reading. The best place to hide a tree is a forest, after all. This was the original conclusion to my post, for those interested: This VN is a bad VN. I wanted it to end a certain way and it didn't. I wanted it to have routes and it didn't. I didn't like some of the purposeful choices in narration. Some sprites and CG's were disproportionate and the UI and menus did not feel smooth as butter. 4/10 VN. Final note: While writing this I had a desk lamp next to me, pointed at some work I was supposed to have been doing, and every time I got up I seemed to get hit by said lamp. So I decided to make a counter for it. Hit my head on lamp count: 6 Post Scriptum Final Notum:

you can purchase it from here. http://www.dlsite.com/home/work/=/product_id/RJ054062.html/?unique_op=af or here. http://www.melonbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=IT0000125557

Personally, I'd just wish there was more of an investment from the community into the OELVN scene. Expectations for them are just too high, and in return most people will ignore them, which is a bad thing for a medium that relies mostly on word of mouth. It just seems like there is this vicious circle : OELVN are too amateurish => Projects get ignored => No feedback or support whatsoever => No recognition for the game => No sales (if the game is even released) => No funding and no direction as for how to make the next game => Next project stays amateurish (if there is even a next project) An exaggerated, but somehow accurate comparison I've seen not too long ago about EVN development : A lot of people are waiting until they see a great OELVN to give them hope about the scene, but that's not how it works. The more we are ignoring the objectively less good projects, the more devs will decide to take the red pill and go for the money. Now is the moment to support developers who are still brave enough to take the blue pill, even if what they are producing is not up to japanese standards yet. It's basically an investment in the future of the EVN scene. I say support, but it doesn't have to be monetary support. Feedback, constructive criticism, message of encouragement on their threads, reviews and articles, spreading the word...

The problem is that your example is still better than 90% of the released OELVNs.

Praise Maeda, his stories are awesome, I hope he doesn't die

-chan?

I voted for Steins;Gate because I want more people to play it. It's a must read in my opinion. I've heard good things about Remember11 and I've also heard the ending is really bad which is why I've been avoiding it for so long. Cross Channel was the second VN I finished in my VN career. I enjoyed it in its English translation, but if I'm to take Kaguya's word, I'd rather read it next in Japanese to see what he's talking about. Yu-No is a title I have to get to eventually as well and Exodus Guilty doesn't look interesting to me at all.

As the title says. ENJOY!

I was thinking about Cross Channel and Remember11, but went with latter, just because I heard bad stuff about CC translation, and R11 could be a 'gateway' title for me to KIDs' vns. Never heard about Exodus Guilty, nice to learn about something new, sounds interesting, but ratings are poor. Also - I've read S;G, and while it's best thing ever made by humans, I will not read it again for few years at least, so don't want it to win. Also Yu-No sounds great, but it's ultra complicated 'system' is rejecting.

Yes, I've seen this point of view often as well, and I believe it's true, to some extent. However, I've also noticed the opposite: if VN tries too hard to find it's own grounds and abandons all tropes and japanese roots, it has next to no chance to capture their audience. That's the point #2 I've showed in first post - being "too different" makes VNs fail. Would you read a VN about gay black man trying to fight discrimination and find his happiness? Or russian noir detective about solving crimes in the rainy alleys of Saint-Petersburg? A VN based on comic books in cartoon style with JRPG fighting system? A romantic stat raising VN in style and era of Pride and Prejudice? (I know I would) Or would you rather read japanese anime slice of life schoolgirl romance with 8 dateable girls? (I probably still would) I know those are obviously bad examples and don't represent anything, but what do you think the general audience would prefer? There were a few OELVNs that tried to firmly hold their ground, like the novels of MoeCube (Cinders, Solstice), but while they succeeded at it, I feel that's also the reason they didn't get much attention from VN fans. So some people want OELVNs to be unique and different. But I feel that most just want more Japanese anime stuff.

I actually like some of Winter Wolves games. Manly Planet Stronghold, Loren the Amazon Princess and Bionic Heart. The storywriting is pretty solid. I didint vote in any of the 3 options, since for the most part, it seems that OELVNs are usually very... very... poor in quality.

Yeah the neck band doesnt click with me... especially with a white shirt. Screams horrible fashion sense to me....

Good ol' Marenovel? : P

Don't know why you included me in the quote and made this as a general statement to both me and Babiker, but your attitude kind of irritates me. A person is in the hospital for an unkown reason. It could be serious. That's all I see. I don't care if he is a famous VN writer or a homeless man; its equally tragic. This thread just happens to be dedicated to Jun Maeda, and most people on this forum knows about his work. It's logical that they will say "I hope he gets better, I like his VNs." It's not shallow or anything like that. Saying you enjoy his work doesn't mean you automaticly put him above anyone else who might be in the hospital. Your attitude, and Ren's, is extremely juvenile. I hope you see that. I get it, jokes, bla bla, but this is a person's life and it's not really something to joke about.

They need a "red light district" in Steam where you cant buy or view games unless you have proper identification/credentials (e.g. date of birth/country restrictions linked to your Steam account). Might be hard to enforce since people can just falsify their shit but it's probably the roundabout way to do it.

Angel is the typical hard-tsun tsundere girl type. Ami is the pure virgin dom type. Tatsuko is the fluffy onee-san type. I would like more of their screen time too.

Played the game for a while, here's my feedback/suggestions: I would really appreciate it if you could add some sort of small tutorial/hintbox at the start because I wandered around for like 10 minutes before I knew what to do. Or just put some girls closer to your starting point ecause the initial area is so empty you really have no idea where you should be headed. All the girls I found at the start were just selling me stuff and I had no clue what to do with it. I also spent my only 10 bucks on a crepe and I have no idea how to earn money. After some more minues minutes I finally found a girl, and even then I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with her since there's no hint, you just have to give them a gift and then they'll go on a date with you. The dialogue is kind of awkward. And by kind of I mean almost always. I have never spoken to this girl and as soon as I give her a crepe she decides to go out on a date with me. Not only that, but when I pick a date spot and choose the date option, the first question she makes was "Did you miss me?" even though I had never met her before that day. The general pacing of the dialogue is also reallyyyy fast. It feels very unnatural to talk to the girls because things just move foward so quickly I don't even have a chance to know them. The choices also seemed really strange at times. Maybe it was the girl I picked, but I had a choice between "let's go to karaoke" and "let's go get drunk", I picked the first because it sounds like a normal thing to do and it somehow turned out to be wrong. I mean, I'm not saying I'm a ladies man, but I figured on a first date you don't go "let's partaaaayyy!!1!", maybe I'm wrong though. Like, really, what am I supposed to answer the question "What are you thinking about?" with when you only give me these 2 options? I thought I would be a really insensitive prick if I said "about the girl behind you" so I said "global warming" even though I think that's just as terrible, but apparently even that was the wrong answer. After some more awkward choices she says she had fun and then leaves me standing there. I spent the next couple of minutes picking up squirrels despite not knowing what to do with them, but they're cute so who cares. My AP goes down to zero, but I have no idea how to regain it because I've already eaten my crepe that I bought with all my money. There's tons of places that are locked and I have no idea how to unlock them either and there's only one other girl to talk to so I'm left with nothing to do in the game. I tried the game you can play on a date but that wasn't particularly fun since the pieces were all jumbled in up and on top of one another so I have to spend time pulling them aside and assembling them again, but that initial process always makes me lose too much time to get a decent score. Eventually I discovered you can sell the squirrels for money although I don't know where you sell them, but I felt really bad for them since they're cute and decided I'd rather not either way, so I'm now stuck in the game forever since I can't buy gifts. Okay that last bit was a joke (except the fact I still don't know where to sell the squirrels), I just figured I'd stop there because I think I've seen enough to give some feedback. Here's my suggestions to improve initial impressions and overall experience. You should probably have some form of menu music. Add an in-game menu that lets you quit to the title and save. I didn't know how to leave the game without closing the app and I thought if I did that I'd lose all my progress. As I mentioned earlier, a hintbox that pops up when you click stuff or some form of early tutorial would REALLY help because I was stuck for a while not knowing what to do. I don't know if it's randomized but you could really do with having the girls closer to you when you start isntead of literally the furthest area possible from you. Also please tell me you didn't use royalty free ukulele music for the BGM of the game. It doesn't matter what else you use, just not royalty free ukulele music. Please. A run button or some form of faster transportation would be really helpful considering you intend on having a big map with different areas to travel to. It's nice that you can choose to be male or female, but could be even better if there was some form of character costumization. Improve the dialogue/choices to make the girls sound more like humans because it felt really silly when I talked to one for the first time Game kinda lagged whenever I switched areas, you might want to try and smooth that out. It might just be my tablet though. Overall, BlewMyMoneyOnCrepesAndSpentMyTimeCatchingSquirrels/10. I think you have a solid foundation to build on here, don't get me wrong, but my initial experience wasn't particularly positive because the game feels so empty and the characters are rather lifeless. Edit: Eventually I found out where you can sell the squirrels and unlock the rest of the map, you need to actually buy the master key. Now I'm not going to sit here and lecture you on micro transactions, but I think locking so much of the game away behind a pay wall is kind of a poor decision because my earlier experience is already negative which makes me not want to spend 1€ to unlock the rest of the game. If you can improve the earlier experience though I think I'd be fine with paying for it since it can turn out to be fun if you polish it.