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So this time I will review this doujin freeware kinetic visual novel created by Keinart Lobre which I enjoyed it a lot and I thought it needed a review for how good it was. I'm kinda lazy so this will be a pure text review and nothing more (sorry maybe I'll add some pics in the future xD ) The story follows the life of Ciarán Endyein and his friends, Ciarán is in last year of high school, a few month from graduation. He spend his time doing jokes and pranks with his friends Ziva Shani a wanna be psychologist transfer student girl that constantly tries to psychoanalyze Ciarán and his long time friend Ausse Ealdwine a pervert guy who only thinks about women all the time. Ciarán is what you can call a pragmatic person, one that is constantly saying witty comments or full of irony, teasing his friends, doing crazy stuffs, starting speeches for no reason which always end in a comical way, he calls himself the Joker or clown of the class along with his friends. He reminded me a lot to Morita Kenichi from Sharin no Kuni and that's always a good thing because there is a serious lack of those types of characters in visual novels. He is also a writer, he usually writes things in his little notebook that is always carrying around with him and because of this Ziva is always trying to analyze the reason behind that. Little spoilers ahead: The story really begins when he tells his friends some story about certain figure that he bought and got lost in the middle of the delivery and someone sent him an email about it, a really weird blackmail email which is not clear if it is actually a threat , some kind of joke or actually someone crazy writing nonsense. End of spoilers In the process of finding the real culprit behind that email Ciarán meets two new characters, a little girl (the loli) called Claire Argyris which is an airhead, a bit shy, constantly lost in her own world, saying things out of place but that from time to time will leave Ciarán speechless because she is not what it seems and last Luce Aurea, she is a kinda a tomboy but not to an extreme, I don't want to reveal too much about this character or Claire either. (There is another character but I can't say anything about him xD ) So far you might think that this is your typical visual novel, some slice of life with comedy but there is more than meets the eye, aside from the excellent comedy (yes it is actually really funny, most of the time with good humor) and the good pace that this novel has because it doesn't get boring through out the 10 or more hours that the novel last, there are times when the characters have this conversations about life, happiness, things they want to be, expectation from others, a bit of philosophy in the middle that reminded me a lot to subarashiki hibi WARNING: RANTS ABOUT SUBAHIBI AHEAD (if you don't like to read bad things about it don't read it.) XD this time it made sense and it wasn't forced than your throat in the most boring and weird way with scenes that went on and on and on just to get to the freaking point >_> END OF THE RANTS. The characters are well developed and all of them are very interesting, all of them with their own motivation and purposes, they are not there just to fill the gap, for example Claire is not the "loli" type just because the writer wanted a loli type between the girls. The music was good I think there are like 33 tracks and some of them are really good and stuck with me even after I finished reading the novel. About the art it was good too, maybe it lacked on the GCs a little bit but it is understandable, still the few once that you will encounter are really well done and they are in my opinion perfectly placed for moments that really deserve it. The sprites of the characters are good too, the artist is Bonkiru he is really talented ( image not from the vn xD ), so you can expect to see some good art. After reading the novel I had to re-read it again, yes it is that type of novel where you need to read it a second time because you discover new things that you missed the first time(specially to make sense some parts of the plot) and since I read it in Spanish the first time I did it in English the second, which brings me to the language topic, the translation was done pretty smooth, there were some jokes here and there that they didn't translate 100% but they were still funny. Overall I think this is one of those few exception to the OELVNs, it doesn't try to copy or mimic the Japanese visual novels, it's not about a Japanese boy (thanks good!) and even if the main character is in high school you wont find the cliche plot from the jap vns, it's also not a harem, yes even if it looks like one it is not. Right now is on BETA but the developer is asking for some help (he needs proofreaders) so maybe you want to wait until it's release or read it right now, either way I'm sure it wont disappoint you. Link to the thread of the novel

Beat Blades Haruka review, By Dergonu, Fuwanovel Beat Blades Haruka is a gameplay oriented nukige released by Alice Soft, which was recently translated and licensed by Mangagamer. The game offers 150 H-scenes, ranging from normal vanilla scenes to darker things like rape and beastiality. The game's appeal is clearly rooted in it's H-content, but does that mean that's everything the game has to offer? In Beat Blades Haruka you play as Ikusabe Takamaru, a boy who desperately wants a girlfriend. His friend, Narika, keeps getting in the way of his possible romances, something that irritates him quite a bit. But soon, his fairly normal life of being rejected by women and half-assing himself through school quickly comes to a halt when the beautiful ninja Haruka, who has traveled to our time from the past, suddenly appears in Takamaru's life. Chasing the evil Noroi who has lept through time with his follwers in order to turn the world into chaos, Haruka and her fellow Cresent moon members turn to Takamaru for help. It turns out, Takamaru is a descendant of the Dragonian, meaning he has the power to transfer strength to the blades of the crescent moon. (The blades being female ninjas.) This power, SP, is transfered from the Dragonian to the blades by ... Having sex. Takamaru's mission is to use the blades at his disposal to fight the four Tetra Sealers, Noroi's most powerful subordinates, take down the towers which connect to Noroi's realm, and to stop him once and for all. During the game, the player gets a whole lot of choices that will allow them to take full control of their destiny. Will you be the good guy, fighting to stop Noroi? Or will you give in to your dark desires, using the blades as tools for your own pleasure and gain? Offering a large variety of different endings, Beat Blades Haruka is a very unique gameplay nukige that allows its player to choose a lot more than just a singular ending, but they have the ability to impact the very way the entire game is played. The gameplay: During the story, a big part of your time will be spent preparing your heroines for battle. During the gameplay parts of the VN, you will be matched up against an enemy. You can spend SP, (sex power), that you accumulate through dragon syngery, (sex), to unleash powerful attacks against your opponent, and you train your heroines stats through either dragon synergy, training, castle raids or defeating enemies. The lower your stats are compared to your opponent, the harder it is to win. The stats highlited in blue, like the defense in this picture, means the stat is underleveled compared to your opponent, and the chances of winning are smaller. By losing a fight against a male Kainin, one of Noroi's lieutenants, the heroine will be raped and an option to skip the following rape H-scene will appear. (Unless you disable that feature in the option menu.) The gameplay is entertaining, though it is a little difficult at first. Getting used to what all the different stats does is a little bit hard and overwhelming, and the stats are also a little poorly balanced. For instance, by stacking a large amount of reflex, you will be able to sweep through the game, as your character will essentially never miss, and she will also dodge a lot of the opponent's attacks. But if it's the other way around, and your reflex stat is low but your other stats are high, you still wont do much damage, as most of your attacks will be dodged. Basically, there is too much focus on reflex, something that makes combat a little bit imbalanced at certain points in the game. Your opponents gets really strong in the late game, meaning their reflex stats are high, and so if you didn't train your heroine correctly, a bad end is waiting for you. (If you are defeated by a sealer, you get a bad end and a game over.) Still, these flaws aside, the gameplay is enjoyable. It's fun training up your heroine, either choosing to clear out the streets to protect the people like the good guy, or simply being an asshole and having your heroine raped over and over. (This increases her stats a great deal, however it gives you + brutality, and if the heroine is raped too much, it can lead to a brutal bad ending.) The variety offered to you makes playing the game a second, third or fourth time fun. The phase system, Libido and your dice While we are still on the gameplay part of the VN, there is a few things to note. The game itself is split into four parts, 3 phases and then actual story. The 3 phases are morning, afternoon and night phase. Between these phases the game's story progresses, and you see normal VN style dialogue as well as choices that you can use to impact the story, as well as your heroine's stats. During the morning and afternoon phase, you either train up your heroine by having sex, raise your libido or rest, in order to get more dice recovered. The night phase is spent actually fighting your opponents, and going on castle raids. (What exactly are these dice and how do they work?) The dice system in Beat Blades Haruka is what let's you make your "moves" in the phases. You get X amount of dice each day, based of your dice recovery. You can have a maximum of 8 dice at a time. The dice can be a number between 1 and 6, and the dice itself is used to "pay for" actions. As an example, if you want to sleep with haruka to increase some of her stats and her SP, you have to "pay" some dice. The lower levels of dragon synergy are cheaper, but give less stats, the higher levels are more expensive but give you more stats. The system is very forgiving. If you roll a 7 on something that needs 8 to complete, 7 will be subtracted from the action, so that in the next phase, it will only cost 1 dice. The dice itself is based off RNG, though do note that it is essentially impossible to soft reset for. Still, with the way the system is made, soft reseting for dice is not even needed, so there is nothing to worry about there. If you do it right, completing the game in the 99 days given to you is a walk in the park. Lastly, libido is a strange stat. It is what makes your dice recovery higher. Every 10 points of libido, your dice recovery goes up by 1. What does this mean? It means that after the night phase, you will get back X dice. So if you have a dice recovery of 5, the next day following a night phase, you are given 5 dice. Raising your libido is simple, and is done by either having sex with a female Kainin, choosing an option at a choice screen with (libido) next to it, or just clicking "raise libido". The game's value beyond H-content? We have already talked about the gameplay side of the game. It's entertaining, though very repetative and it's also focused strongly around H-scenes. (In order to prepare your heroine for a battle you have to have sex, and if you lose a battle, you get into a rape scene. H is a big part of this nukige, obviously.) But what about the story itself? Music, art, characters and such. What is the value of the game outside just the H-scenes? The character designs and art in the game is overall very nice. A lot of work seems to have been put into each character's design, though the personalities of the the main characters are fairly bland and simple. Most work seems to have been put into the kainins and tetra sealers. They are all very badass, pretty, hot, what have you. Each one of them has many small details that stand out, and are just overall very well made. The main characters are by no means poorly designed, but in comparison they do fall a little short. The art itself is very nice, with animated cut-scenes, well drawn backgrounds and detailed character sprites. The music in the VN is pretty good, offering a variety of tracks for different situations that fits well with the atmosphere of the scene. The story itself is what it is. The game does take itself seriously; it's not like it just jokes around and put all focus on H. The story is decent. There is moments where it will take you by suprise, certain moments that are more emotional than others, though the actual story is fairly short. The main focus of the dialogue aspects of the game lies in the different scenes you can get with the heroines and side characters by making choices. If you focus on one girl a lot, increasing her love hearts in the game, you will go on dates with her and get close with her. If you are an asshole and just have your blades raped and defeated, you will get unique scenes that deal with this. The actual main story that remains the same through all playthroughs is therefore minimal, as the game wants to keep the focus on your choices as the player. This is both a flaw and a strength in the VN. It's a flaw because it means that ultimately, the story itself is slightly underwhelming and short, but it's also a strength because it does mean the player feel like he or she is more in control of the outcome. All in all Beat Blades Haruka is a solid VN, offering unique and entertaining gameplay, a big variety of choices that lets the player impact the game's ending, though it does lack some impact in its delivery of the story. + Entertaining gameplay + Good art, music and character designs + A huge variety of choices that let's the player choose how the game is played - Slightly underwhelming main story - The main characters are a little bland and some more time should have been put into them - The stat system is a little imbalanced

Since I finished getting the acidic, poisonous, and unreasoning emotions out of my system - see this post: I was able to get through this VN without a lot of pain and twisted emotion such as I experienced with Soreyori no Prologue. First, this is a VN that people who prefer moege/charage will not like. I say this because, despite the high-quality visuals, this is - like most of Minori's more recent VNs - just a few steps too far in the direction of 'down in the mud romance drama' for the tastes of those who like the sappy, mindless romance that defines most VNs of the type. Also, I will say that the best heroine in this VN is Fuuka (for reasons involving my personal tastes that I won't spoil). Tsubura is just too... weak-willed for my tastes. Ai is the central heroine, but she is typical of some of my least-favorite Minori heroines in being a bit too... attached to her own metaphors. Having said that, this VN starts out in a way that I really didn't like (sparking the previous rave post that I used to lance that particular boil of toxic emotion), so I honestly can say that while the events in the common route were ones I didn't enjoy reading, they don't detract from the overall quality of the game. In fact, for people who like this kind of 'afternoon drama romance story', this will be a perfect treat. The simple fact that I don't enjoy that type of thing outside of a few specific scenarios is irrelevant to this fact, so remember that my personal distaste is pure bias, not a statement on the technical quality of the scenario. I honestly can't find a way to describe this story in any way without spoiling it. This VN is so dependent on its specific methodology of revelation in order for the reader to enjoy it that any spoilers here - even minor ones - would be criminal on my part, so I'm going to decline to do an in-detail analysis of what I read, outside of a few generalized statements. Tsubura, for better or worse, is a personality that will seriously split those who read this. Her path has some seriously good points emotionally, but as a character, she will drive some people insane, because she can be seriously pathetic as a person sometimes. Ai's path... is dependent on the common route, and the revelation of certain personality traits (and hiding others) is integral to telling her story, so I'll refrain from any further comment except to say that it feels like a 'typical Minori star-crossed, twisted into a pretzel romance, for better or worse'. Fuuka... is Tsubura's opposite. She is strong-willed, bad-mouthed, and pretty capable overall. She is my favorite of the three heroines (as I mentioned above) and her path stimulates one of my tertiary fetishes. However, her path will also split those who read it, though for different reasons from the other two paths. I have to mention this issue, despite it being one that most Minori readers are already familiar with... the unbelievably long h-scenes. For some reason, Minori seems to adore making h-scenes that last forever, have a ridiculous number of CGs, and are so intrusive into the story at some points that they actually make it hard to keep up interest in the story in general (there are some that aren't intrusive - and are even necessary to the story flow - but some are seriously...). Visually and audio-wise, this VN is of average Minori quality (which is higher quality than the average VN ), but there are definitely issues with the graphic system, such as stuttering in the animations and occasional random freezes (usually lasting only a few seconds). The random freezes stop if you turn off the animation, and I actually enjoyed the story more once they were gone... so I can honestly say the animation doesn't add anything to the experience one way or the other. In terms of raw scenario design and writing quality... the scenario design is pretty high quality, but the writing is somewhat spotty at times (daily life scenes are somewhat shoddier at times, whereas the quality jumps suddenly in the most vital scenes... not really noticeable unless writing is really an issue for you like it is for me). Overall, this VN wasn't a bad experience once I got past my own issues... but I think that VN readers in the community will be split based on personal tastes when it comes to the game in general. It isn't a kamige by any standard, and it is an unabashed soap opera type story (though without endless seasons of meaningless twists). However, whether that is a good or bad thing is entirely up to you. As I said before, some people will actually have more trouble than I did, particularly people who like the relatively simple romance that is the common fare of charage, nakige, and others of the type. There are some seriously strong emotional moments in this VN... but it is not really a VN that will stimulate the intellect, as it is basically an adolescent romance story.