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And by "a lot" he means "basic English".

Signalist Stars came at me from out of left field, smashing me across the face with a spike grenade. I literally wasn't expecting anything from this VN, as my recent experiences with new companies have left me unwilling to hope for better. This VN does, in my mind, fall into the charage genre, but it does it so well that I was left a bit stunned. Signalist Stars is based in a city where people who have a burning passion are encouraged to pursue it, regardless of what it is. In this city, for the most part, those who sneer at people who have bright hopes for the future and those that try to smash young people down with the hammer known as 'reality' are virtually nonexistent. For people who grew up without discarding their dreams, it is a utopia. Atsushi, the protagonist, is one of those people, a young man who desires to become a hero. He is the head of a committee devoted to dealing with the problems that pop up as a result of the somewhat indiscriminate nature of the city and school's affirmation of people's dreams. To be specific, this policy has led to 'geniuses' (people who excel in one area to insane degrees) being a little out of control, and the day to day life is a bit wacky and over the top. Atsushi is an idiot. I mean that literally. He is so stupid that he makes a chimpanzee seem intelligent sometimes... however, he has a nose for trouble, an endless passion for helping people, and a willingness to discard his own well-being in the pursuit of helping others. He also talks like a delinquent and loves a good fight. Trouble is his drug and peace is its aftermath, lol. Anyway, this VN is extremely comedic for most of its length, Atsushi's antics and stupidity creating so many running jokes that I found myself smiling constantly throughout most of the VN. However, if you asked me if this is just a straight-out comedy, the answer would be a definite no. This VN has some dramatic moments, with one major one serving as the turning point just before the route split and one in each of the heroine routes, where the protagonist and heroine must confront both of their issues as a team. This drama is fairly serious, though it tends to be resolved easily, in the fashion that is common to charage. Nonetheless, it adds just the right level of spice for me to consider this one of the most technically excellent charage out there... from a writing perspective. Unfortunately, there is one issue with this VN that is as annoying as hell. Of course, it is a technical one and one that will probably be fixed with a patch later on... but there are huge problems with the sound in this VN. To be specific, voice cut-outs, voice switches, sudden musical and vocal volume shifts, etc. For some reason, in this one area, this VN has points where it suddenly jars you with its imperfection. The actual BGMs used are 'common' ones I'm familiar with from other games, indicating that they are 'recycling' music from other VNs (probably at low cost). However, they are mostly used ideally. If it weren't for the technical issues (which might be programming-related) I'd honestly say that using 'generic' music wasn't a minus. Even if one ignores that this is a first effort on the part of this company, this VN is a gem. While it needs some polishing (preferably with a technical patch to fix the sound problems), it is one of those rare charage that appeal both to me and the mainstream without throwing either side out of the boat. If you asked me what I liked best in this VN, I'd have to say it was either the comedy or the character dynamics (both of which are intricately interrelated). My favorite heroine was Isumi, the 'witch' and my favorite character overall was Atsushi (yes, despite the fact that he is an idiot). Why do I like Atsushi? Because, despite being an 'idiot' character, he actually manages to escape the archetype, becoming something more than the frame that was used to shape him through the skill of the writer. VN of the Month, October 2016 This time it is a straight-out race between Sora no Tsukurikata and Signalist Stars. Both VNs escape genre and archetype flaws through skilled writing and surprising escapes from the traps of convention, and both VNs managed to surprise me with their levels of quality. They are neck and neck in my mind and almost so in my heart. So, when it comes down to it, I'm going to decide this Month's VN of the Month based on a smidgen of personal bias, simply because they really are that equivalent when I eliminate that bias. In other words, Sora no Tsukurikata is VN of the Month October 2016. Both games are going on my list of VNs to play from this year, though. For those of you who just want a comedic romance and slice-of-life (albeit an unrealistic one) Signalist Stars would probably be the better choice, whereas Sora no Tsukurikata is a far better choice for raw story and plot. Anyway, have fun yall, and look forward to November's releases! I won't be playing Nanairo Clip, due to my inability to enjoy any story focused mostly on the entertainment industry in general and the Japanese idol industry in particular.

I think we can all agree I've read a lot of VNs. *waits for audience laughter with a smile* *looks sad when the audience laughter recording doesn't work* Anyway, over the years I've encountered a lot of writers. Some were mediocre, others were decent, yet others were good... and some were just great. I decided to list the writers I honestly think have a lot of talent and whose works are something we, as VN fans, should at least keep an eye on. Tier One presents writers who are 'masters of their craft', to the point where they can be put onto a pedestal with few qualms. My list: Hino Wataru- Hino Wataru is Akatsuki Works' primary writer. His bad habits include a tendency toward overuse of line repetition (like 'soredemo, to' in Comyu and 'norowareta sekai' in Ruitomo) and an absolute adoration for hedge philosophy themes in each VN he writes. However, if you can endure his quirks, his raw writing is actually really high quality, and he does have a serious talent for scenario construction. It's just too bad that you can tell how he favors his heroines based on their path length and closeness to the 'true' heroine. Masada Takashi- Now, the first thing that comes to mind to any of us when we hear 'Masada' is the famous/infamous VN Dies Irae. For chuuni fans and fans of elaborate prose, Dies Irae is a drug more powerful than heroin. For people who want prose to be straightforward and easy to understand, it is pure poison. His adoration for the use of phrasing rarely utilized in modern prose, flowery descriptions, and poetic phrasing have also made him one of the most impossible writers to translate, though. His preference is for grandiose settings, 'archetypical characters escaping their archetypes', and over the top plot twists. He is surprisingly good at avoiding giving away future story developments to the reader, and his most brilliant characters are usually the antagonists of the story, rather than the protagonists or the heroines. He is also a first-class master of the art of presentation. Kurashiki Tatsuya and Takahama Ryou- These guys are what I like to call the 'Masada Fanboys'. Their prose, their scenario and setting construction, and even the cadence of their poetry is all an imprint of Masada. For those unfamiliar with Light's works, Kurashiki Tatsuya was the scenario writer for Maggot Baits (which had unbelievably good prose outside of the torture/sex scenes) and Takahama Ryou was one of Izumo 4's writers. While their writing shows off a rather obvious obsession with Masada's works, that doesn't seem to keep them from writing enormously enjoyable stories and characters. The biggest difference between them and Masada is that they tend to place more of an emphasis on the protagonist and heroines than Masada does (as Masada is a master of the 'supreme antagonist' as is evidenced by Amakasu, Reinhardt, Mercurius, and Hajun). Evidence of this is Vermilion, Electro Arms, Zero Infinity, and Silverio Vendetta, all of which were VNs that were defined almost entirely by the protagonist and/or the heroines. Kinugasa Shougo- The writer of Akatsuki no Goei (the series) and Reminiscence (the series), Kinugasa Shougo is perhaps best known for his character-based situational comedy, despite having a surprising flair for building a setting. He has an inordinate fondness for dystopian settings and characters who are either amoral or outright villainous. Kaito in Akatsuki no Goei is perhaps one of the most amoral protagonists I've ever come across, possessing a capacity for directed brutality that I've found nearly unmatched in VNs combined with an arrogance that causes endless hilarity throughout the VNs involving him. However, this writer does have one huge flaw... he loves leaving things unfinished and/or to your imagination. He never concludes his stories, and things almost never have a 'happily ever after' feeling to them after he gets done with them. Takaya Aya- Perhaps one of the most versatile writers on this list, Takaya Aya is Caramel Box's primary writer, having been responsible for many first-class VNs, including Semiramis no Tenbin, Komorebi no Nostalgica, Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic, Otoboku 2, and Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier. He is absolutely brilliant at creating empathetic characters and pulling the reader into their situations. He can do chuunige, slice-of-life comedy, nakige, and even a dark social commentary. Higashide Yuuichirou- Like Masada, Higashide Yuuichirou is/was (he is retired) primarily a chuunige writer and was Propeller's main writer until 2011. Unlike Masada, he specializes in a more 'standard' version of the hero. His protagonists are designed to inspire, his writing is full of humor (both standard manzai and self-effacing), and he has a mastery of catharsis that Masada simply doesn't possess. To be honest, I've only come across a few writers that can balance so many elements in a single literary work without having it all fall apart, and his works don't lose their flavor after multiple playthroughs. Takehaya- Takehaya is a master of catharsis, the creating of characters, settings, and scenarios that can draw out the emotions of the reader, forcing them into an emotional release despite themselves. All of his best works - from utsuge Konakana to the more recent Rakuen no Shugosha - rip into your heart and force you to make a place for the characters there. There are few writers out there that can do what he does, but I can't help but wish there were. Morisaki Ryouto- Morisaki Ryouto is a challenger for Takaya Aya in terms of versatility, capable of writing nakige, charage, hard sci-fi, chuunige fantasy (Fate/Hollow Ataraxia) and even heavy eros. While he isn't as brilliant as Takaya as a writer, he does have a gift for adapting himself to the genre he is writing, and it is always worth it to at least try anything he writes, even if the genre itself turns out not to suit your tastes. Shumon Yuu- Shumon Yuu is something of an enigma. He occasionally appears in the VN industry (every three years or so) and puts out a VN that is artistically brilliant (in the general sense) and possesses depths that are almost impossible to fully plumb in a single playthrough. Every VN he has put out since he hit his stride with Itsuka Todoku has been a kamige. He is also a light novel writer. He is brilliant at portraying both suffering and joy, drawing you into the setting and characters while presenting them in their best lights. If there is a writer in the VN industry I can say unequivocally is a genius, he is it.

I guess I'm looking for the sort of thing that makes me feel comfy, or is at least atmospheric. 30-35 hours max. Age doesn't matter (age of the VN). Preferably light on the SoL (really not my deal). Good music and atmosphere. PC, though I could also consider Android It's just that save for the Higurashi releases, there's very little on the horizon I'm really interested in (S;G 0, Root Double's Vita port... that's all I can think of right now.) As for examples, the closest would be something along the lines of Never7. SoL-like, comfy and friendly, but gets intriguing at the end.

TOP 10: 1- Sen no Hatou, Tsukisome no Kouki (~43562 copies) (Increase of 25% from previous game) 2- Tayutama 2 -you're the only one- (~21827 copies) (Increase of 149% from previous game) 3- D.C. III ~Da Capo III~ With You (~16491 copies) (Increase of 13% from previous game) 4- Shura no Chikandou (~10143 copies) (Increase of 50% from previous game) 5- Mama-Haha (~7383 copies) (Increase of 167% from previous game) 6- Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden 2 After -Osutashia no Yabou- (~7245 copies) (Increase of 176% from previous game) 7- Kanojo ＊ Step (~7153 copies) (Drop of 32% from previous game) 8- Natsu no Majo no Parade (~5819 copies) 9- Houkago ni Midareru Ane Kyoushi to Tonari no Heya de Aegu Imouto ~Koibito ni natta Onnanoko ga, Shiriai no Iya na Otoko ni Netorareru~ (~4830 copies) (Drop of 30% from previous game) 10- Yu no Mura Harem ~Kyonyuu Haramase Onsen Taizai Ki~ (~4393 copies) (Increase of 290% from previous game) Source: http://blog.livedoor.jp/twode_perf/archives/66804128.html

None. I rarely get back to books and fiction I've already read.

Confession: Before I started writing original stories of my own, I practiced my writing skills with fan fiction. I used to write crossovers and the like, some made sense while others were absurd. What essentially killed writing fan fiction for me was when a crazy fan of my crossovers started pressuring me to write what he wants to see, which was the first time I've ever experienced a crazy side of a fanbase. I have never wrote any fan fics since.

A second one got released though https://vndb.org/v17743

You read Everlasting Summer? If not, go for it. You might enjoy it, since it's precisely what you're looking for. Be sure to read all of the routes, though; it's the kind of a story, that benefits and grows with every single route finished. When you'll reach the conclusion, grab one Pioneer's Story, as it adds a lot to the backstory; when you're at it, might as well grab Wintertale for the feels.

I kinda get what they were thinking, but the issue is that they chose an EROGE and then censored the crap out of it. If they were speaking generally about visual novels, and picked an all-ages game, I'd be onboard. I mean, making VNs more well known is important! Trying to actually change who an eroge should be marketed for in general is absurd. I really don't know what went through their heads with that one. 12 year old girls shouldn't be their primary target with a game that literally has hours worth of sex scenes in it... An all-ages version on the side is a clever way to sell the game to more customers. No 18+ version at all is a clever way to literally lose the customers who would originally be interested in the game. I truly hope they understand this now, and go about this next game in a different manner. The other issue is the translation of course, and one can only hope their TL team is completely new, or that the old team has learned a lot since the last game was done.

I can relate to that. I once wanted to be a video game designer myself back when I was a kid, but I'm terrible at math and I later found out that it was a requirement. Additionally, my parents suggested that I should become an astronomer because I was very smart about space, but I would have to major in astrophysics which is, once again, math. Since then, I have said "screw it!" and decided to pursue a writing career once I discovered my talent for it.

Yeah, just about 2/ 2 and a half years ago I had a completely different dream, which was: I wanted to become a game designer/ programmer. I have always been interested in games in general, as well as making/ developing things, however I have never been very good at math. (Which would turn out to be the reason this dream crashed and burned ) I found out that in order to get into a university and study computer science, which is the recommended education in Norway for game designers, I needed to pass 2 hard math exams. (I don't know how the school systems are in other countries, but in Norway we have math "levels." They use letters, but I'll just replace them with numbers in case it isn't an international kind of thing.) Basically, I had barely managed to pass my "math-1 exam," literally the easiest there is. But, I had to pass 2 more exams, which were 2 entire levels over the math exam I had taken before. So, "math-3 and math-4" I guess. I spent over half a year of my life studying for the first test, but ended up failing it, which left me really depressed for a while. This was during my summer vacation, so I had about 2 months to think about what I wanted to do next, before starting school again. At that point I realized that there was no way I'd be able to actually get those math grades any time soon, and my dream was kinda broken. Instead, I decided to pursue my hobbies, and at the time, manga, light novels and anime were all pretty big hobbies of mine. This is all Japanese media, and so, I just kinda said to myself jokingly, "what about learning Japanese? Haha..." At first I thought that was a pretty strange thing to do, as it would take ages, and I didn't even have any jobs in mind at the time. But, after thinking about it a bit, I decided: "you know what? What the hell!" And, I just started. After a year of self studying, I began to actually look for official places to study, and after a while I enrolled in Oslo university, and have been going there since. (My goal now is to become a professional translator, and I couldn't be more comfortable and happy with my choice.) In retrospect, I'm actually really happy I did fail that math exam, as if I didn't, I would probably have spent who knows how many years pursuing something that I honestly don't think is fit for me. Sure, I like games, but thinking about it now, I really can't see myself actually working with stuff like that on a daily basis. Translation on the other hand, is something I'm really passionate about.

Are you making this? If so, you peaked my interest.

If the main character is Japanese it makes sense, right? I thing I'm working on is set in America but has a Japanese girl moving from Japan to America, so obviously it would make sense for her to have a Japanese name.

http://fuwanovel.net/reviews/2016/11/16/enigma/ I picked this one up because it looked interesting, but it really was my type of game. Enoyed it immensely.

Damn you, Kaguya. My backlog is the stuff of legends, and now you've gone and added another entry into it.

Confession: In college, I live on a floor with some obnoxious morons, at least one of which took it to waking me at night with loud bangs at my door. Tired of this crap and having exhausted the proper chain of command via my RA, I scoured all over the internet for the loudest, kinkiest gay porn out there. I made up a playlist, set it to Loop, and blasted the volume as I left for my day at school

*Choice* Investigate with Kirika Investigate with Koko ... "Anyways, thank you so much for choosing me!" ... I hate to break this to you Koko, but the only reason I chose you is because Kirika's route is literally locked until I finish parts of yours. This is literally my only choice, besides getting a 100% save and potentially getting spoiled to the story from that. Damn route lock system! GIVE MOAR KIRIKA NOAW PLZ! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

iamnoob

I guess there were enough 12 year old French girls to fund a new title.

Dont worry. @Darklord Rookeis approx. 73 years old.

You know, a person who chooses to learn a language has every right to choose why they want to learn a language. The fact they want to take the time to learn a language, even if it's just for a single core skill (reading, writing, listening, speaking), makes them that much better of a person to begin with in my eyes. When I was in middle school, learning a second language was one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life. Going into high school, I expanded that further and decided to major in French and Italian language studies when I reached college. I enjoyed it so much, that I ended up taking Latin, German, and ancient Greek for fun. Oddly enough, I ended up learning Italian because of a friend I met in an online game. I spent 5 years of my life learning a language, which included studying abroad my freshman year, all because of a silly game online. I don't even speak to that person anymore or know what happened to them. As a teacher of Japanese students, I can confidently say that everyone has a reason for learning a language. While most 2D animated fans outside of Japan hope to expand their reading skills, that doesn't mean they are retarded for wanting to do so. A lot of Japanese students only care about speaking English, and the comparison between cultures is what makes me respect language that much more. While it does make me sad thinking they are missing out on so much more by ignoring the other core skills, who is anyone to judge? Learning a language is a very difficult task, and even if some people find it a lot easier than others, it still takes time and effort. To those who want to learn Japanese for a hobby, I respect them for making an effort to begin with. Teaching ESL and EFL is an entirely different beast. The people who enjoy this hobby aren't required to learn Japanese, yet they do it out of pure excitement and enjoyment. Growing up, we've all had a dream, and even if that dream has changed at some point in our life, something still exists. Why call those who want to learn a language for a hobby they love retarded? I've taught preschoolers who don't even know their native language, and even then I can see the excitement on those children's eyes. I've talked with their mothers and I can tell they aren't doing this for their child's future, but because they want them to enjoy something and be excited. Even if you don't love kids, there really is a joy to seeing someone's face light up when they are having fun. And it's not just the kids. I've taught English to business students, a Japanese history professor for Korean students, a husband and wife who have some spare time, and lonely widows hoping to meet new partners in their life. I've taught elementary schools, junior high school girls, and high school students who don't even know what they want to do when they get older. It doesn't matter their age, the joy I feel as a teacher knowing they have reached that "ah-ha!" moment in their life and the excitement they feel being able to use the language for the purpose they want is all that matters. A lot of VN and anime fans don't show it, but I promise that at some point they have felt the excitement about being able to finally read or use Japanese in some way or another. Nobody is retarded for that; nobody should feel worse than they already are in a hobby that a lot of people find appalling to begin with. Language is a wonderful thing, and I feel those who want to learn it for whatever reason they feel like deserve a great amount of encouragement. While I wish individuals would expand their language learning beyond a single core skill, I always need to remind myself that the joy of being a teacher is watching your students grow. It doesn't matter their age, hearing their stories is always a joy. Nobody is retarded for learning a language, and should never, ever feel that way.

It's finally here!!!

Look what I got

I know nobody cares about this type of translation in this forum (for obvious reasons, for once the novel is already translated and second nobody really speak spanish in this forum xD) I'm doing a translation of himeko's epilogue and posting it here mostly to keep track of my own translation and have a place to share it. At first it was going to be an eng>spa translation but there are some huge mistakes on the translation itself (specially on the atogaki 1980 story) and also many sentences that don't make much sense or silly grammar errors that shouldn't be there even if they are silly (tons of these)... I don't know the guy who did the translation but it seems that he just rushed it and cut corners in some places because of time restriction, with more time and someone checking the script it could have been a good work. I don't like to complain or shit on others work but come on they are charging for it...it's not a free fan-translation project. Second by looking at the files itself (again with the huge help of Schwarzstorch who is editing the images, creating the patch etc) we found: *Inside the files of himeko is almost the whole ame no marginal script (untranslated) *The game "hides" the UI in some lazy way but you can still active it, just turn the windows transparency up or down and it will appear. *They used the same engine from sorairo (probably in this whole 10th anniversary narcissu project and ame no marginal) they just changed the script and CGs (with same engine I don't mean majiro but they actually grabbed it as it was in sorairo and didn't change anything besides the script and CGs), this isn't so hard to spot, I mean check this image and if you check the menu you can still see options that don't make much sense in this game, like changing the color of previous choices (in a kinetic vn ) and so on. *There are some files from the Mahjong minigame and many more things but you get the idea. In conclusion, it's going to take more time to check line by line to see if there are errors than translating everything from 0 so in the end it's going to take more time than I thought, but it won't take more than a month, on a side note my original idea was to add 1993 short story into this patch but I don't know if that's legal or not (probably it's not) so I dropped it. それだけだ EN ESPAÑOL: Para hacerlo breve ya que no tengo muchas ganas de escribir xD voy a realizar la traducción del epilogo de Himeko, mi idea era utilizar la traducción en ingles y pasarla al español pero debido a los muchos errores que tiene, gramaticales y también simplemente de mala traducción - el traductor utilizó atajos en oraciones complejas y se nota! - también hay cosas mal traducidas, ejemplo de algo muy tonto "１９８０ 中坊の日のこと。" como "The mid-1980s... those days..." en español es "En los mediados de los 80'... aquellos días" cuando debería decir algo como "Aquellas cosas que sucedieron en esos días de cuando era un alumno de secundaria en los 80'" xD queda medio feo así tan largo pero ya se dan un idea de lo que hablo. Ese kanji raro (difícilmente aparezca seguido en algún lugar viene de acá 中坊) es decir un estudiante de secundaria de ese periodo especifico, no de cualquier momento. (si no entendieron nada de lo que expliqué no importa!) La traducción va a tomar 1 mes, ma o meno - cachito más cachito menos xD , dependiendo de las ganas que tenga de traducir , calculo que voy a traducir unas 30 lineas al día y son casi 1000, y eso es todo por ahora.

Ok this seems to work pretty nice, I found an english version on the TLWiki if somebody else is interesed. Thank you very much sir Now if by chance someone would know of a wordwrapper that would make my day.