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What she says is にやにや which is a Japanese onomatopoeia for grinning (that she actually says aloud). English doesn't have that, obviously, so we went for smth like *grin grin*; grinnity is just something phonetical to make it read better (we're not the only ppl in the planet who figured that out). The Miley Cyrus reference had a Japanese idol that was infamous for revealing clothes that no English speaker would've ever known, so I just tled her name to something familiar to English speakers that should conjure the same image. Besides, I think it's either Raziel or Lilith who says that, and neither are Japanese, or teens for that matter. Yummers is something you say after tasting something tasty. ---- I think people recommended you searching the English words you didn't understand in google (not using google translate), since slang is not usually recorded in normal dictionaries. Tokyo Babel is full of Japanese slang, pop culture references, and memes — we only tried to convey them as best as possible in English. We didn't add anything that wasn't already there. If the game we're tling doesn't contain such things, then our translation doesn't contain them either. An English speaker should have an almost exact same experience with our version of TB as a Japanese speaker would have with the original (in a few instances I'd go as far as to say the English version reads better as Higashide is not exactly known as a master of prose himself). Anyway, it's not a watered down version like most fan-translations unfortunately are. I've been speaking Japanese for thirteen years now, and lived in Japan for almost seven of them, during which I got bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from one of the most demanding universities in the country studying everything exclusively in Japanese. If I could pass quantum mechanics class in Japanese, I'm sure I could handle Tokyo Babel. xD

First, let me say this outright... I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with the romanticization of war in fiction. I love bloody epic war stories even more than I love sushi and ice cream. However, one thing I've noticed as I've read various historical fiction and fantasy is that the bloodier and more horrid a war is, the more it gets romanticized. Western Examples The Hundred Years War- The Hundred Years War is perhaps the most obvious example of a war being romanticized in the Christian West. Joan of Arc, the Black Prince... and dozens of other villains and heroes who have made their way from history into fiction and legend from that era. However, the introduction of massive mercenary armies of this era scarred the continent for centuries to come, and millions died during this era from the war and diseases that spread as a result of the war. It was also a period of the rise of French and English nationalism and the creation of professional standing armies, both of which are mixed blessings at best. The Revolutionary War (US)- Now, I'm American... so naturally I instinctively take pride in our nation's war for independence... but as an amateur student of history, I am quite well-aware that the Revolutionary War was not a clear-cut conflict of freedom-seekers versus monarchists. To be honest, just reading the original, pre-US constitution tells me everything I need to know about the motivations behind the delegates at the convention. The self-interest, prejudice, and greed inscribed between the lines is fairly disgusting, considering the bluster that ended up in the papers at the time. The Trojan War- This is a genocidal war that started because a married princess took a liking to a foreign prince, had sex with him, then ran away with him. An entire civilization vanished because of this... a fact that I find unbelievably disgusting, looking at it from an objective point of view. World War II- I'm frequently fascinated by the degree to which this era is romanticized, despite the fact that there are still living witnesses to it. It is the deadliest war in recorded history, but memories of the reality are already fading in some parts of the world less than a hundred years later. Eastern Examples The Fall of the Han and the Three Kingdoms Era- This era is frequently portrayed as an era of military and civic heroes that eventually led to the rise of a great dynasty... but it was also a period that killed countless millions from famine, bandit raids, military plundering, and battles as massive as any seen in WWII. In the last census taken before the fall of the Later Han Dynasty, there were over fifty-six million citizens of the empire... and in the first census after the rise of the Jin Dynasty, there were only slightly more than sixteen million. This is perhaps the most romanticized conflict in history, and yet it is also the second-deadliest recorded war in human history as well (WWII being the deadliest). The Sengoku Jidai- I've mentioned that this period of civil war in Japan is highly romanticized over there... and that is actually an understatement, when it comes down to it. It was a period where power and influence were in a constant state of flux, with the Ashikaga Shogunate proven incompetent to rule and various warlords seeking to carve out their own pieces of the pie both for Clan and individual gain. However, very few of the 'heroes' of the age are seen as 'evil'. Nobunaga, while he was a social progressive, was also known for his ruthlessness and cruelty, as well as disregard for traditions and religion. Tokugawa, while he was a repressive social conservative, was also a builder of cities and a brilliant administrator. Hideyoshi, while he was a brutal conqueror, was also an example of a man clawing his way up from the cesspool to the heavens. Similar contradictions defined most of the great warlords of the era, with the Imagawa being both military expansionists and great cultural patrons, and the Hojo being great architects and engineers as well as highly ambitious nepotists. This is an era that has so many highly colorful characters whose actions were recorded in detail that it couldn't help but be romanticized... but the reality of it was that it was an era of starvation, desperate poverty, and immense uncertainty. The Bakumatsu/Meiji Restoration- I don't think I need to go into the degree to which this era romanticized the samurai culture and fed Japanese nationalism, because its result was Japan's policies leading up to and during WWII. This was essentially a large and brutal civil war between two factions (further split into many smaller factions) within Japan that disagreed violently over how to deal with foreign influence in the face of Ming China's rape-by-colonization on the mainland. Assassinations, political terrorism, and brutal oppression defined this period. In the end, what you got was a country who presented a strong face to the world but was still unable to come to terms with what it wanted to do at home. As a conclusion Human beings have a fascination with war that leads to its romanticization, and I honestly am no exception to that rule. I enjoy war period historical fiction immensely, and I have absolutely no objection to fantastical speculation on the capabilities and personality of individuals living in those eras. However, the immense cost - both economic and human - of war is almost always forgotten afterwards... and I intensely dislike it when someone chooses to forget just what those costs are. Fiction is harmless, but ignoring the lessons of history isn't.

Good day. I have been very active in the community and I am finally making my final push before my kickstarter in September. I will be launching my Prefundia in August and we are grinding like crazy to make it the best it can possibly be. Please comment on this very early version of what we plan to put out. We will be putting up hard numbers later this month and tiers. Genre:Adventure, Investigative, Management, and psychological Visual Novel Platforms:PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 Languages:English (Fully Voiced), English (Text) Visual Style: DreamWorks style graphics mixed with dark and mythological themes. Progress:~20% of the game completed. (20 hour game) Estimated release:~Summer 2017 “Whether friend or tyrant, I will become a King!" Welcome to the Rift, a dimensional tear located in Canaan where the ancient gods were created and where you must prove your worthiness to lead the world of men. You have allies and the training needed to fight, but nothing will prepare you for the wonders and horrors of the unstable plains in the Rift. Manage Respect, Relationships, and Mental will when making decisions. Assigning team members to missions best suited for them. Discovering weaknesses to epic enemies through investigations. Collecting real world lore and in game lore by discovering hidden items. Unlocking secrets of the past by collecting memory gems. Making timed decisions and avoiding damage in high intensity situations. Leveling up your characters to specialize in unique skills. Time In the game, everything will cost time to complete and characters may be away, unable to do a task available. Time is managed by the player and he has 6 months to prepare to face Nun. Special events will happen at certain times such as full moon cycles, changing of season, etc. This will give the player a level of management that makes them feel immersed. Leveling Each character has core stats which helps them succeed in feats. Completing certain missions and training will gain you very limited talent points to specialize your character in lore friendly ways. Respect You are a leader. You must earn the respect of your soldiers! Decisions you make and the success of those decisions will affect the confidence your allies have in you. If you fail a lot, they will lose confidence and go rogue during critical decisions. You may even lose command. A true Pharaoh never loses command… Kinship While how successful you are in decision making and your sense in the field affects the way they see you, it does not help one bit on how they think of you as a person. In order to get on their good side, you must appeal to their innate personalities. One cannot please everyone so make your choices wisely. It is worth noting that Kinship affects how allies act when not around you or when not commanded. Stability You are the strongest. Unfortunately, you are also the most flawed… You have an issue with Dementia and you must suppress these voices throughout your time in the Rift. The tradeoff is considerable though because when you were young, and you let the voices run wild, you could do things others could only dream of. In these dark days, will you allow your mind to slip in order to wield more power or will you avoid such pleasures and rely on knowledge of self? The rift has stood for thousands of years, since the day Nun arrived from the planet Nibiru. Located in the barren lands of Canaan, this void was created to keep the outside world uncontaminated while Nun worked on his creations. He spent centuries studying the humans and when he figured out this world, he created ancients similar to the life found on his home planet. They warred with each other inside the Rift until only 3 families remained. When they left the Rift, Nun used a stability gem to alter reality and hide the incomprehensible damage done. But now, thousands of years since the great sundering, Nun has created another race of beings to combat his creations from ions past. In order for them to prove themselves, they must survive the Rift, as it were during the time of the ancients. Stability is no more! Can the mortals survive the Trials of the Rift? There are many different types of quests in Black Sands. We will briefly go through some of them to better understand the gameplay mechanics involved in each. In Black Sands, time, health, and deployment all work against you as you stride to prepare yourself for the final battle with Nun. Scouting - designed to seek new quests exclusively. Minimal danger Investigation - A quest that requires discipline and perception. Player must decipher material and decide what is important and not. Proper investigation rewards secrets. Tracking - This is an extremely heavy skill check category that requires quick decision making and a little luck. These missions are available only once before they go back into the quest pool. Social - This is a quest where you develop relationships with the other characters and learn more about them. Instant Events - Automatically happen when certain criteria are met. May have nothing to do with prior tasks. Group Events - The entire group must participate. Nun will go over your notes and inspect your facility whenever this happens. Epic Events - Storyline Events that are either triggered by actions or chose by the player. These tend to have more decision making then other events. Exploration - A quest designed to explore unknown locations. These quests have no prior knowledge so player must use their wits to move forward. The farther you get, the better the rewards. These missions can be ended at any time but there is no guarantee you can return. This game is directly inspired by Dragon Age and Telltale. Their strong narratives and crucial game changing decisions inspired me to design a visual novel unlike any before it. Additional motivation was found in the way Hollywood depicts middle eastern and Saharan people. We do a lot of research and use annotations in game to teach the actual history behind the fantasy of our world. Future We will be converting all sprites to Live2d and making them look a bit more realistic and 20x more brutal. The goal is to make this like Conan while having the art leveling of pixar, dreamworks. How can I help? Follow us on facebook, Cosplay our characters, Share the hell out of this, and Pay homage to the gods by buying some of our merchandise. Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and remember, Nun sees all. We have these posters and more. You can support us while getting something tangible that will uplift both you and your families. Facebook Twitter Official Page Official Store Youtube

Random, out of the blue H-scenes? That's like Visual Novels: Abridged

Sure, 2 parties are involved in a contract, but the devs are the ones that own the rights to the game and all of its content, so it's not unreasonable to think they're the ones making decisions like "no announcing 18+ content until we say it's ok". It's their game after all. Saying Sekai Project decides to just shaft 18+ material is pretty ignorant imo. It doesn't make any sense for them to purposefully do that when it's such an important thing for most of the community. I'm not saying I know all the facts, I obviously don't, and I'm ALSO not saying "hey we should push the blame somewhere else", what I am saying is that we should stop whining and direct our efforts into something productive instead of pure anger at either Sekai Project OR the developers. Because dovac has already explictly told everybody they can't say anything at the time, you can conclude 2 things: Dovac is more than aware fans want an 18+ version of the game He is unable to let you in on any extra info but has promised to disclose it when an appropriate time comes Hearing this, the conclusion I reached is that all I can do at the moment is wait, because I'm pretty sure Sekai Project is already doing what they can to negotiate an 18+ version of the game. And if they're not, the most I'll do is just say something "hey it'd be nice if we could have this" on their page, not raise my pitchfork and alienate any form of discussion.

I'll believe in the Kaguya who believes in Eclipsed.

Don't worry. I will send Dergonu a corrupted version of the game.

It's ok. Believe in the me who belives in you.

English VAs have gotten infinitely better in the last twenty years (believe me, I know). However, in the same amount of time, Japanese VAs have taken things to master-level, while English ones are still stuck on the low end of professionalism in comparison. The few really good English VAs stand out so much precisely because there is no system here in the US for training VAs like there is in Japan. Heck, if you look at Atlus's games, you'll notice that in a number of them, they basically used people off the street or people inside the studio's various departments for a good portion of the VAs.

I published my full article on the subject.

Baldr Sky is a high-caliber action game/visual novel hybrid and GIGA's finest work, but eroge fans must unite if they want to see an uncut release. Sekai Project Forum Poll: Would you buy Baldr Sky if the full 18+ version were made available? Baldr Sky: Rallying for an uncut version of a landmark eroge

I firmly agree. I love Little Busters! especially (less so, earlier Key works that I've played), probably in part because of the vagueness of everything. I think it gave just enough detail for me to fill in the pieces in my own mind, and I found the resulting story very emotionally satisfying. So, the approach may be flawed in some ways and come off as lazy to some people, but it certainly worked for me.

I'll really check out Sanderson's thing later. Japanese games (VNs) may have their own particular brand of fantasy, but it still follows the rules for fantasy fiction. Although, in Key's traditional flavour, the drama and the feelz are more important even that consistency. It doesn't matter if the game makes sense, the focus is whether it moved you or not. At least, whole sense; because of that, the "mechanics" of the plot are somewhat hidden, obscure, or just unclear. And know what, in truth it doesn't need to be clearly explained, as it's not the point. Rewrite, on the other hand... like most of their recent works (Charlotte, huh) it bites more than it can chew with its plot. I only have cleared one route, and what I saw didn't fit my tastes.

As if I'd play a game that forces me to move.

There's a possibility that Giga will want this marketed towards mainstream gaming audiences as a semi-mainstream Japanese action game a la Odin Sphere (which I've actually seen Baldr Sky compared to a couple times). The existence of an official english-language version with pornographic content could sabotage efforts in marketing towards that audience, as practically no one in the traditional games media wants to cover games with that kind stuff, even set aside in an optional alternate version. Them just knowing that there's a version out there with porn is enough to set off alarm bells and to dismiss it as a porn game that should not be covered, lest they get ostracized as well. Of course, the problem is that this 18+ version already exists in Japan and they'll do enough research to realize this. I think the game is already screwed on that front and the most coverage you'll see for Baldr Sky in the gaming press is maybe a single unflattering post from Kotaku. Not to mention, it's pretty dated on the technical side of things, which adds to the barrier of entry. Giga and SP should probably give up hope of Sky gaining any kind of success even among the otaku gaming crowd. This is a really pessimistic post, but seeing how the media has treated eroge in the past, I just cannot imagine this will go any different.

holy mother of fucking shit this is wonderful finally some organic shitposting I've been participating on this forum for three years. I've seen people get off from fictional rape. I've seen people defend sexual harassment. I've seen people call for humanity's transcendence via anime. I've seen people call refugees "sand niggers". I've seen Euphoria, Dustmania and Maggot Baits get hyped on these forums. And, my friend, this post of yours is nevertheless easily the most disgusting thing I have ever laid eyes upon in this forum. edit: GET FUCKING SHREKT @Katatsumuri

http://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=396769

vs

You must be a comedian, 'cuz you're making me laugh

"The final chapter? Wait, you made chapters before this?" Well... no, but we had some small duels going on a while back and ... well, I felt like making a thread about this one, despite not even asking @Eclipsed if he is okay with it (You are, right buddy? ) Anyways! The amazing totally important super duel between: Dergonu, AKA the yuri fag, and Eclipsed, AKA mini Kaguya will start soon! (Once the damn Koiken Otome patch gets released.) Q: WTF is this? A: This is a silly little race we have been doing a few times when reading VNs. Since we both read stuff uber slowly, we started racing each other like the true snails that we are, and started keeping score. (And so far Eclipsed has won every round.) Erhem, anyways, that doesn't matter. All that matters now is this final round - this sudden death! Koiken Otome! Which one of us is the fastest reader?! Once the patch drops, we start reading and ONLY ONE OF US CAN COME OUT ALIVE! WHO WILL WIN?! I threw in a poll where you can vote on the one you think will be victorious. NOW, TO ARMS!!! (You know, once the patch is out...)

Hello there! Been playing translations from Fuwa for a long time, but now I decided to participate in the community. I'm an aspiring dev mainly interested in making VNs with RPG/Sim elements mixed in. I remember my first time playing VN was something like this (True Love, perhaps? Forget the title. Also the other one with maid-management in a mansion.), and it has kept me intrigued ever since. Still no active VN project for now, but I'm currently working on some helper tools that might interest you. Anyway, nice to meet you all!

Nyahaha! My hype levels are over 9000! Prepare yourself! (But you know, I'm still an old man and all now, so I'll probably only read for an hour before I need a nap.)

Idk why, but I think I'm actually gonna get shrekt this time

After following dovac's twitter for a few days, I've definitely come to think of him as a more sensible person than I used to. During this whole ordeal he has always been clear the problem is usually on the developer's end, not on Sekai Project's end. I'm pretty sure he's more aware than anyone else how important an 18+ release is for fans, and I doubt he's just putting it in the burner.

Baldr Sky Zero would probably suffer from the loss of H elements, but Skydive probably wouldn't, at least not much. I'll admit that it would probably be weird without Raine comforting the semi-permanently broken-hearted protagonist, but... Nonetheless, I honestly don't care about h-scenes.

Yeah, I'm not heading out into 95-degree, 99% humidity Tallahassee to catch a damned ratata.

One of the biggest reasons I don't go outside is because I live in Florida and there's nothing interesting to do around here. That and the weather sucks during the Summer. I do like to ride my bike once in a while, but only when there's something I need to do (like light shopping or getting movies/books from the library). I do feel like I really need to go out and exercise more, but I never have the incentive to do it. This would have given me that incentive, but my phone is really old and the game isn't compatible with it. Fuck my life, I need to get a new one

Actually people hate Key more than Little Busters itself.

So I just finished One Thousand Lies. Thanks a lot for the recommendation it was a great VN the only problem I have with it is that the ending felt kind of unsatisfying and had a lot of loose ends. Ah nvm that, apparently if you scroll over the extra part of the title added when completing the game an extra chapter is unlocked.

You'll need yet another playthrough, too, for the "true" ending! O: I'll give you this, though, for your troubles.

WHAT??? That's... amazing... and weird... I don't think this type of airing an anime ever happened before... I wonder if more studios would do this. Would definitely end the suffering of waiting each week for new episodes but at the same time that would alsovkill hypes... The epic kind of ugly. I feel like Subaru's entire development is just realistically develop a socially awkward otaku character in a fantasy realism world. All of his "I'm the MC of this series!" mentality makes some very ugly scenes that's just purely epic. Also yizz ufotable saving Zestiria's not so good story (hopefully).

OK that was good but why most people in there are wearing glasses?

At least I have something to do when my family forces me to go outside.

D'awwwwww this question is so adorably innocent. Must resist urge to corrupt.

Gotta fix some typos like "ware bouts" and "ions" - pretty sure this one should be eons, might be wrong though. I think the second paragraph on the "stability" topic could be reworked to be less expositive on the lore. Tbh, just get an editor to review everything and I guess you'll be fine.

Aiyoku no Eustia I have multiple reasons... but the first and most obvious one is the fact that it uses the G-Senjou no Maou type of path-splitting. Essentially, all the heroines other than Eustia herself are side-shows, and their paths literally make no sense whatsoever in the context of the setting, if you consider the factors involved in light of the true path. The second reason is that I don't like Eustia as a character or as a heroine. To be blunt, she has 'Victim A' spray-painted across her face, in my mind. I don't like weak/weak-willed heroines in general, and she is one of the worst heroines I've ever encountered when it comes to this. This combines with the issue from above to make things infinitely worse from my perspective. The third reason is the way the protagonist reacts to the events in the true path. I'll be blunt... I don't like indecisive protagonists, and you don't get much more indecisive than he is in the true path. My active dislike for the VN is made infinitely worse by the fact that I actually liked it a lot, until I played the true path. Suburashiki Hibi This one hits two of my pet peeves... one of which is the multiple protagonist issue. The other is VNs that are obscure for the sake of being obscure. Kamidori Alchemy Meister This one is a bit more obvious... after playing Ikusa Megami Zero (based in the same world), I played this... and was stunned at how much lower in quality (both writing and gameplay) it was in comparison.

Says the cuck. :^)

Attack! Destroy all the anime trash!

Your impatience is palpable. Just chill a minute.

Heh, XSeed is probably my favourite localiser.

Perhaps not the exact same universe, but it universes that work according to similar rules, that are a bit different to the rules of the one we live in.

The first episode of Amaama to Inazuma was absolutely fantastic. If you just want to see something so cute it quite literally hurts, yeah... May contain feels though.

Give me HuniePop tier VA and I'd be fine with that.

If you're ever in the Bay Area

If we take our idea of what's acceptable in professional English writing from Internet usage, we'll be falling down a deep, deep hole for a very long time. To Rooke's point, that tilde is a linguistic cheat, shorthand for emotion in situations where brevity and typing speed matter more than precision. Think of it as a one-character emoticon. And if we say this particular emoticon cheat is fair game, why not all the other emoticons? Rather than make thoughtful use of language to convey whether a person's dialogue is happy or sad or teasing, we could just stick :-) or :-( or :-P at the end of every other line. So much easier, right? I'll be blunt: it makes for lazy writing. And worse yet, it makes for uninteresting writing. Besides, you're kind of making my case for me. Your example shows the tilde (which looks a lot like the wave dash, but isn't) being used to indicate casual sarcasm. Then we have the wave dash (which looks a lot like the tilde, but isn't) being used to indicate bubbly joy. Oh, and also sometimes sarcasm. Oh, and also sometimes singing. So when a reader sees something squiggly at the end of a line, how are they supposed to interpret it? Is it uplift or put-down? Or pop hit? You might say the reader should figure it out from context, but in a translated VN, cultural context is an ocean away and linguistic context sits at the end of a long game of TL telephone. It's an iffy proposition at best. I'll be blunt again: to leave squiggles at the end of a line is to leave a work partially untranslated. And in this case, the burden gets shifted onto the shoulders of an unprepared reader.

To put another way, the ability to make games is completely different from the ability to play and evaluate them. Being good at making games does not give your opinions on what's good and what's not any more weight than people who are clueless on game development. On the contrary, I find that most developers who try their hand at games criticism end up having way too biased of a perspective to fairly evaluate them. They end up relating with development issues that other developers might run into and soften their criticisms as a result. But the fact is, criticizing game development is entirely different from criticizing games. Now, if we were to actually criticize the game development processes, I'd agree that arguments from experienced individuals hold the most weight. But that's not what we're doing here. What we're doing is simply saying "I think this is good" or "I think this is not good." The game development process has nothing to do with this evaluation and no additional insight into that process will make us better equipped to make these judgements. Because they are, after all, highly subjective and based purely on our own emotional responses to the games in question. Anyone can give these opinions, and they're never wrong.