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Fuwanovel Battle Royale - Volume 2 - Chapter 1: The Beginning <??> Watched the screen in front of <him/her?> intently. Everything was ready. The time had finally come. All that planning, all that preparation. It had all been for this moment. “All the pieces are in place. Well then, let’s start the game, shall we?” <??> Pressed the button before <him/her?> with a wicked smile. “Hear me, members of Fuwanovel. You are here for a single purpose; to entertain me! Those who have their name announced over these broadcasts shall enter the arena, and fight to the death! Anyone and anything you see out in the arenas will be an enemy, so be careful… And ruthless. As far as the rules go… There are none, heh. Good luck.” Day 1: Members in this chapter: “The game has begun. Good luck.” “‘Alright, time to hunt.” Ranzo jumped down from the platform he was standing on, numbered ‘11’. He had woken up inside an unfamiliar room just moments before, where he had found his suit and weapons. After a short, confusing briefing from the person in charge, Ranzo’s <cell?> had opened, and he could walk out. What greeted him was a massive forest, full of large trees towering high above him. The large trees blocked out almost all the sunlight, making it hard for Ranzo to see where he was going. But, it was either straight ahead, or back to the cell, so Ranzo chose to keep walking. The “briefing” had been simple. “You are stuck here. You are to fight anything and anyone you come across. If you are the last alive after the game is over, you win. If you die, you lose.” “Gee, really? If I die, I lose? That’s a shocker.” Ranzo spun his scythe around his body with precision while he walked, clearly used to handling the weapon. A sabre hung from his waist in a makeshift sheathe, crafted from his belt. After having advanced through the forest for a good ten minutes, Ranzo reached a suspicious looking cave, marked with a number— “7”. “Hm, another contender?” Ranzo whispered, and gripped the handle of his scythe firmly while he scanned his surroundings. If his hunch was right, the numbers represented contenders in the “game”. He was 11, and “7” was a different Fuwanovel user, also entered in the game. Crack. Ranzo spun around instinctively at the sound of a branch breaking behind him, and in the same motion, he threw his scythe forwards. The sound of metal colliding with metal made Ranzo flinch for a brief second, and he lost sight of the person who had knocked his scythe out of the air. “Tch.” Ranzo gripped his sabre and chased the mystery person, like a wolf rushing towards a sheep. He had no plan. The only thing going through his head was: kill it. Whoever or whatever it was; kill it. Meanwhile SeniorBlitz ran as fast as he could through the forest, like he had the grim reaper himself on his heels. That was in fact what Senior had thought for a second when he saw the scythe fly towards him just moments before. Senior was not well versed in any kind of combat. He had, in fact, never been in a fight in his entire life. What he did have, however, was a special ability. The ability to know what to do, where to go. He couldn’t explain it well, but there was something guiding him at all times. If he was about to trip and fall, something in his mind would tell him to stop. If he ever got lost, something would guide him back home, even if he had no idea where he was. It was thanks to that power, that guide, that Senior was still alive. He had seen the scythe coming seconds before it was thrown, and had used the sword that was given to him at the start of the game to block its path. He had sadly dropped the sword in his escape, and was therefore now unarmed. “Stop running my friend, I wish you no harm!” His attacker was shouting at Senior from behind. Thanks to his ability, Senior knew that he would be able to shake off his tail if he just kept following the path laid out in his mind. He did not look back, he did not falter. “Tch, you little… How long do you plan on running for?” “I’ll catch you eventually you little slime! Just you wait, I’m coming for you!” The voice of his attacker grew distant, as Senior just kept on running through the forest. Before long, he had completely shaken off the madman running after him. “Haah, haah, haah…” Senior finally had the opportunity to stop for a breath. With his hands on his knees, he spent a few minutes calming down. He knew that the man behind him would not be able to find him for at least another ten minutes, thanks to his ability. “Alright, time to find a better place to hide.” Senior got back up, and started walking through the dense forest, looking for shelter. He figured it would be smart to find someplace safe to gather his thoughts. It would be best to do so before nightfall, so he started walking faster, following the path lit up in his mind. “Just about another hundred meters this way, and— Huh?!” “GRAARGH!” Senior was so focused on following the path to “safety”, he paid no mind to his surroundings, and did not notice the strange creature approaching from his left. Whatever it was, its massive jaw closed around Senior’s chest, and he was lifted up into the air and shook brutally back and forth, the sharp teeth of the beast ripping his flesh apart with each movement. “GYAAAAH!” Senior let out a primal scream, and tried to punch the creature with his free arm, but it was no use. The beast’s iron jaw remained closed, and the life soon drained from Senior’s body, as most of his organs and blood poured down onto the grass below him. His entire torso had been ripped to bits, and what was left of him was soon devoured by the beast, leaving only pools of blood and a few chunks of flesh behind. About an hour later, Ranzo arrived at the scene of Senior’s death. Taking one look at the pool of blood and gore, Ranzo clicked his tongue, and turned back. “Guess someone got to him before me. Oh well, time to look for the next guy, I guess.” Whistling a song to himself, Ranzo spun his scythe around, matching the song’s rhythm as he walked back into the depths of the forest, looking for new prey to hunt. Elsewhere: Arcadeotic sat at the end of a cliff, looking at the waterfall below him with a emotionless expression, balancing a katana on his feet. A single sudden motion would surely send the sword tumbling down the fifty meter long drop. Arcadeotic was wearing a blue yukata, stained red with the blood of a pack of wild boars he had killed an hour ago. After cooking some of their meat on a fire, he had eaten some for himself, then tossed the rest down into the abyss. He had no intentions of sharing the meat with anyone else, nor did he want the smell of the meat to attract possible predators. He had extinguished the fire as soon as he was done cooking the meat, but it might still have notified someone of his location. Nevertheless, Arcadeotic sat completely still on the cliff, staring out into nothingness. Sure enough, after another few minutes, the sound of footsteps could be heard behind him. Still, Arcadeotic remaind motionless, not facing his attacker. Sneaking up behind him was Thatcomicguy, clutching his spear with his right hand. In his free arm was a wooden shield, covered in thick leather. Other than his weapons, Thatcomicguy was completely naked, though his body was covered in blue war paint. Thatcomicguy snuck up to Arcadeotic until he was a mere two meters away, then stabbed at Arcadeotic’s back with his spear. Right before the spear hit Arcadeotic’s back, he jumped straight up into the air, grabbed his katana, and in the same motion as he drew it from its sheath, he cut at Thatcomicguy’s chest. Thatcomicguy barely had time to block the slice with his shield, and was forced back a few steps from the impact. Meanwhile, Arcadeotic landed gracefully on the edge of the cliff, and quickly moved in for another attack, cutting at Thatcomicguy’s left foot. Arcadeotic closed the distance between them in a second, and mercilessly sliced a deep cut in Thatcomicguy’s calf. “Ugh…” Thatcomicguy groaned in pain, and pushed his shield forward defensively, hitting Arcadeotic in the chest. Arcadeotic fell backwards, but quickly regained his balance. For the first time in the fight, Arcadeotic glanced at his opponent, and chuckled. “You look ridiculous.” Thatcomicguy paid him no mind, and tried to focus on his plan of attack. He should have the upper hand, even with the cut on his leg, as he had the longest reach thanks to his spear, and a shield to block the katana’s slashes. The leather on his shield had taken a hit already, and was already starting to come apart. It probably wouldn’t last too long. Seemingly having come up with a plan, Thatcomicguy stepped forward. Although the pain in his leg was nothing to joke about, he did not let it stop him. “Yeah, well, we’ll see who gets the last laugh.” Keeping just enough distance between himself and his opponent, so that the katana would not be able to reach him, Thatcomicguy thrust his spear towards Arcadeotic. Arcadeotic easily deflected the thrust, but as he was about to counterattack, Thatcomicguy swiftly changed his grip, turning his spear downwards towards Arcadeotic leg, and dug the tip of his spear into Arcadeotic’s knee. Arcadeotic winced in response, but didn’t let the pain stop him from fighting. Not wasting any time, Arcadeotic slashed two times, but both attacks were blocked by Thatcomicguy’s pesky shield. “Tch.” It became impossible for Arcadeotic to stand on his wounded leg, which meant he would be at an even bigger disadvantage than before. His strongest point was his speed, but without his full mobility, he would be unable to close the distance between himself and his opponent fast enough to stop the spear from keeping him at bay. “... An eye for an eye, huh?” Arcadeotic said to himself, as he tried to come up with a way out of the dire situation. He had cut his opponent’s leg, but in return, his own knee had been damaged. Both of them were less mobile, but it seemed like his own injury was a bit more serious. “Well, what can you do.” Arcadeotic walked forward with awkward steps, his wounded leg mostly just being dragged along the ground. “I’ll end this with one strike.” The bold statement from Arcadeotic made Thatcomicguy snicker. “Oh, is that so? Well by all means, come at me.” Thatcomicguy spat back, readied his spear, and covered his chest with his shield. There was no way Arcadeotic would be able to attack his opponent’s torso. And yet… “Hmph!” With a grunt, Arcadeotic jumped forward, and with all his might, he slammed the flat side of his sword into the wooden shield. The impact made Thatcomicguy stagger, and he let out a painful groan as he put all his weight on his wounded leg. Still in the air, Arcadeotic slashed downwards. His sword moved along the rough leather covering the wooden shield, until it reached Thatcomicguy’s exposed shoulder. The sharp blade slashed open the naked shoulder, making Thatcomicguy drop his shield. Unfortunately for Arcadeotic, he was unable to brace himself properly after the attack, and he crashed into the ground, dropping his katana. The air was knocked out of him as his chest collided with the rough ground. But, he wasn’t done there. Although the world around him was spinning, he used his healthy leg to kick violently at Thatcomicguy’s wounded foot. “Guaaah!” Thatcomicguy screamed, as he too fell to the ground, paralyzed by pain. Crawling towards his katana, Arcadeotic was ready to deliver the finishing blow. He gripped the hilt of his weapon, and turned towards his fallen enemy. Although every part of his body hurt, Arcadeotic somehow managed to stand, and moved towards his prey with clumsy movements. “Hya!” As he reached his target, he brought his katana above his shoulder, and slashed mercilessly at Thatcomicguy's neck. Clink. The sound of something breaking made Arcadeotic look at his sword in confusion. The katana’s blade had snapped in half, most likely a result from his fall. And since the blade had broken mid swing, he had not actually hit his opponent. “Well, shi—” Before Arcadeotic could finish his sentence, the tip of a spear dug into his throat, making a spray of fresh blood shoot out from the wound, dying Thatcomicguy’s skin in red. As Arcadeotic’s dead body hit the floor, Thatcomicguy dropped his spear, as the strength began to leave his body. “You… Tough bastard…” With those words, he passed out. Meanwhile, at the outskirts of the forest: “How’s this place?” “Hmm, looks good. We’ll camp here for now. Someone start a fire.” “Ugh, do you think there are any more of those things out there? I’m not sure I’m comfortable sleeping here, out in the open…” “Don’t worry, we’ll take shifts keeping guard. #28, #6, you two take the first shift.” “Huh? Who died and made you the boss?” Four figures, covered in mud and blood, were talking under the cover of a giant tree, just half a kilometer from the edge of the forest. The four of them were members of Fuwanovel, and contenders in the death game that had started previously that day. But, neither of them wanted to kill their fellow members, and as a result, they had formed a team. Shortly after they teamed up, however, they were attacked by giant monsters that seemed to live in the depths of the forest. Hungry and tired, the four of them had finally reached a seemingly peaceful area, and were setting up camp with what little resources they had. The four members were Sayaka (#28), Norleas (#9), Shikomizue (#13) and Kiriririri (#6). Shikomizue was the natural leader type, and had taken the lead of the group as a result, something that did not sit well with Sayaka. “Why do I have to listen to your orders, huh? I’m tired too! I want to sleep just as much as the next guy!” “Look, I don’t mean to be rude here, but in terms of actual combat abilities, me and #9 are the strongest. We need our rest, so that we can protect this group when the time comes. You and #6 are… Well you know.” Shikomizue gestured towards Kiriririri, a small girl with silver hair, who was poking the ground with a wooden stick, paying no mind to the conversation that was happening around her. So far, she had not participated in the fighting at all. “Okay, I’ll give you her, but we’re not that crazy! Master and I helped you in the fight against those… Those things, didn’t we?!” Sayaka pointed in the direction they had come from, where the group had fought against numerous strange beasts. Shikomizue scratched his head awkwardly in response. He did not want the group to start fighting among each other, as that would just make things worse. He wanted to figure out what was going on, and how to get out of it. In order to do that, he needed to get as many people as possible to form a team. If no one killed each other, the “game” or whatever it was, had to come to a stop. That was the conclusion he had reached. “Fine, I’ll take the first shift, along with… Her.” Shikomizue looked towards Kiriririri, who had just finished drawing a strange symbol in the grass. “Alright then, let’s get that fire going and—” “Get down, something is coming.” Norleas reached behind his back and fished out the two daggers he was storing in his jacket, then crouched down, signaling for the others to do the same. The group gathered together, and those who had them drew their weapons. “What did you see?” Shikomizue did not have to wait for a response, as a large bear, covered in metal plating, walked past them. It was looking around, like it was searching for the group. It looked… Off. It looked intelligent, just like the other beasts they had fought that day. “Something is definitely not right with these things. They started attacking us right after we formed a team. Almost like… Someone doesn’t want us to team up.” Shikomizue thought to himself, as he recalled the days events. Actually, every time they had been away for combat for a certain period of time, something would come and attack them. Almost like something, or someone, were controlling them. If that was the case, then... “Master, behind you!” Sayaka shouted to himself, and jumped forward. In the next second, a large paw covered in metal slammed down on the very spot Sayaka had been standing. Reaching into his maid uniform, Sayaka fished out a strange statue, in the shape of an anime figure. “They know we’re here master, so we might as well make some noise.” Turning the head of the statue around 180 degrees, Sayaka threw it behind the tree, where the second bear had attacked from. “Everyone, if you don’t want to go boom, I suggest you run!” Moments later, the figure exploded, turning the ground beneath it to ash, blowing the bear to bits in the process. The other bear was alerted to their presence, and jumped at Norleas, who slashed at its snout with his daggers before it had time to react. The beast roared in pain, and slammed its massive paw towards Norleas, who elegantly jumped out of the paws path, and went in for another attack. While the plate armor proved to be an obstacle, Norleas still managed to bring the massive beast down in a matter of seconds, as a flurry of dagger cuts tore into its hide like it was butter, always finding the unprotected parts of the bears body. Meanwhile, Shikomizue was fending of two wolves with his wakizashi katanas, holding back one wolf with each blade, as he pressed them against the wolves sharp fangs. “Where is #6? Someone cover her.” “Yes, yes, Master and I got her, don’t worry.” Throwing explosive statues at everything that moved inside the forest, Sayaka jumped around Kiriririri, who was sitting on the ground, watching the fighting happen around her with an indifferent expression. “Ohh, we’re gonna make master so proud, yes we are, tralala.” Sayaka sang as he looked up at the sky, throwing statues now seemingly at random. A few landed close to Norleas, but he simply moved out of their path with incredible speed each time, still slashing and stabbing any beast that came in his way with his daggers. The group fended off countless beasts, until finally, only one remained. It was a massive tiger, also covered in metal plating like the bears from before. The beast’s eyes were glowing in a strange blue light, and it moved faster than any other creature they had fought so far. Sayaka had tried throwing several statues at it, but it always got out of the blast zone before it was damaged. Norleas was unable to get close to the beast as well, as it was simply too fast. Shikomizue knew they were out of options. “Tch… Is this really how it ends?” He clicked his tongue, and started to walk towards the beast while he shook his head. “Am I really doing this?” After glancing over his shoulder, taking another look at his three teammates, Shikomizue nodded, and closed his eyes. “Listen up. I know what’s going on. These things are being controlled by someone. As long as we’re in a group, we’ll be sitting ducks. They are either being controlled by whoever started this fucked up game... Someone who wants us to keep fighting, or it’s another contender, in which case we should split up to try and find the bastard. So... Guys, split up. Run. For now, just get as far away from each other as possible.” “GRAAWRH!” Like it understood what Shikomizue was saying, the tiger roared, and charged at the group. It was not happy. “Yes come on, you stupid cat.” Shikomizue charged as well, running straight ahead, towards the beast’s fangs. Then… “GUAAH!” Shikomizue screamed in pain, as the tiger bit him, its large fangs digging into his left side. “I’ll keep this thing at bay… You guys… Run away… Now!” Lifting up his free arm, Shikomizue gripped his katana firmly, and slashed at the tiger’s front legs, which were not covered by armor. That should slow it down. The thing was, it would have been impossible to target its legs without making it stop first. And, the only way to do that was to make it stop moving, for instance, by letting it bite one of them. Shikomizue had realized this a while ago, as he watched his comrades fail to hit the beast, and he had given his own life so that the other three could live. “You guys better figure out what the fuck is going on here, and stop this ‘game’, alright?” Shikomizue looked over his shoulder, watching as his allies ran into different directions. No beasts chased them. Pleased that he his plan had worked, Shikomizue fished out a cigarette from pocket, and moved it to his mouth, his hand shaking. He didn’t have anything to light it with, but he still put it in his mouth, and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. That was his last breath. Norleas walked through the forest in silence. His daggers were still dripping with blood from the countless monsters he had killed. Still, he had not even broken a sweat. Killing was his job, after all. It was a breath of fresh air for him to kill beasts instead of people. It was strange. The person whose job was to take people’s lives had chosen to join an alliance to avoid killing others. It was different this time, after all. The people in question were his friends. His fellow Fuwanovel users. There was no way he could kill them. Sensing something moving behind him, Norleas gripped his dagger, and prepared for battle. But… “Oh, it’s just you.” He lowered his weapons. Behind him stood the strange girl from before, Kiriririri. “What, didn’t you hear what the boss said? We’re supposed to split up. What, are you scared in the dark by yourself?” Kiriririri didn't’ say anything. She simply lifted her arm, pointing into the darkness behind Norleas. “What? What is… It…” Norleas turned around to look at what she was pointing at, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Looking down at his own stomach, he saw a silvery blade sticking out from his chest, covered in fresh blood. “Wh-What…” “Hehe.” The laughter of a little girl was the last thing he heard, as his lifeless body fell to the floor. Kiriririri pulled the sword out of Norleas’ corpse, and it soon turned into light particles, vanishing into thin air. Kiriririri then simply kept walking through the forest with an emotionless expression. Kiriririri: Status = Alive Sayaka: Status = Alive Wildcards This Week? None Dead This Week: Still Alive:

I did a thread on the History of my experience in Fuwa and what the community was like from 2013 - 2016. I didn't hang around that much in 2016, and in 2017 I was virtually absent. But If you are interested in the early days of the forums, then check this out: Edit: This thread is a real goldmine for Fuwa history because it doesn't just feature my experiences, but other members posted their experiences as well. Particularly Sanahtlig. Other members also dug through and found old threads that they liked and shared those as well (check out zhurai's post).

One thing in common: You like it. No, seriously, that's it. Even for me, I do set out some criteria, but just keep breaking them one after another. Lots of vn I read have none of those criteria, but I still enjoyed them anyway, for...whatever reason.

Building on top of Zalor's post, I can give a quick and dirty version of my time here. Granted, I don't remember dates all that much. I joined early on in Fuwanovel's history because i needed help fixing sound in Never7. I never fixed it. I think early on, I didn't care about Aaeru hosting pre-patched torrents because for me, it was easily the best way to get a VN. I didn't trust purchasing through Mangagamer or Jast USA and this was well before steam VNs, aside from random ones like Analogue: A Hate Story, were a thing. Anyway, I read Ever17 and loved it a lot so I began to pick up other VNs and take part in more discussions on the forums. I never delved heavily into VNs though and mostly stuck to anime and gaming discussions. Early on, though, I remember clashing with sanahtlig. I don't know what the hell I was fighting with him over but thats hardly unique to me. Someone then made, likely tay or ryoji, a terrible mistake and promoted me to a moderator with some others, like Down and Steve. At once, I got into a big fight with aaeru over hosting licensed content. I don't recall what the it was though, possibly Steins;Gate? Or something related to it This went directly against a rule that had been set up, that Fuwanovel would not host licensed games. Anyway, I was kind of a dickwaffle and wasn't very nice. The staff ended up splitting into two camps over the issue. I do recall Ryoji and myself were on one side with Aaeru and Steve on the other. Then Tay stepped in like the mighty God he is, and somehow solved the situation. I think we ended up making it a rule that no licensed content would be hosted by Fuwanovel, that it was to be strictly fan TLs. This would come back to haunt the site when Clannad and Grisaia got licensed. Things chugged along for a bit, and I was quite active in doing nothing really. I do recall a spam war where suddenly everyone began posting AMA threads over and over. Your boi zakamutt was part of this if memory serves. By this point, aaeru's activity had begun falling off so Tay and Ryoji were left to deal with this situation. Ryoji favored the nuclear option of banning those involved. Tay wasn't too terribly eager to do so. I vaguely recall diving into the irc channel with him and talking the situation out. This marked the beginnings of the Coliseum of Chatter. Originally I think it was a single thread, and then a subforum, before it got split off into its own thing. Once again, Tay had achieved a middle ground. I think maybe one temp ban was handed out during all of this? Ryoji left the site, I don't remember the date but I remember it happening pretty vividly. Wasn't great. To try and bridge the gap, I volunteered to take the spot, never intending to actually keep it for a long amount of time. I admit, it was nice to finally be a higher rank than Steve, who was my nemesis on the site. I really didn't do much different than what I had been doing as a mod. I didn't feel it was my place to make any structural changes to the website so I tried to avoid doing anything major like that. The only thing I remember doing as an admin was spending 3 hours talking to steve in his cursed teamspeak channel to convince him that posting pictures of naked lolis wasn't great, and even posting p. risque ones could get people in trouble. Finally, after much talking, I finally convinced him to put them in spoiler tags and not post naked lolis. As the compromise, I went in and placed many of his pictures in spoiler tags to save him the effort. It was a dark, loli filled day for me, one I never want to repeat. Then the website blew up, thanks to aaeru pirating the software for the site. It was down for quite some time, nayleen stepped in and helped Tay get things back up. aaeru was long gone by this point, which complicated matters quite a bit. Regardless, Nay and Tay got things back up and running. I stepped down from the staff since I felt rather out of place, not knowing how to really help anymore. My activity declined somewhat around this time too, until Tay had a situation arise and had to leave for a while. As a result, Cybersteel took over the show and Steve was promoted to admin. Yeah... that was something. He asked me to come back as a moderator, thus beginning the meme of solidbatman joining and quitting the staff daily. I don't remember when it was exactly, that Clannad and Grisaia got licensed. Tay may have still been hanging around at this time? There was a huge debate over whether or not Fuwanovel should continue hosting those two VNs. I argued that they ought to be taken down as they were no longer fanTLs and a legitimate way of purchasing them was now available. Steve, and many others argued that because the official releases had a different translation, they technically were not the same and should be left up. The second part of their argument dealt with purchasing them from other countries (which as steam releases made little sense to me but not much about the VN community and culture does). They ended up being removed which marked the beginning of the end of hosting torrents of fanTLs on the website. Back to Steve's adminship. I ended up leaving the staff again shortly after when I realized I was only placed on the staff for optics. Steve, if memory serves which it may not as I am biased, really didn't listen to anyone and did whatever he really wanted to do. Admirable maybe, but I was not really in the mood to work under that knowing nothing I said or did would matter. In true Steve fashion, he argued with me for a couple hours trying to get me to stay on. Didn't work. Then Tay showed back up. What he managed to do still amazes me. He took down the torrents and kept Fuwanovel alive. I honestly have no idea how he managed to do this. Some members did leave over this and begin their own new fuwanovel thingy that does the same thing the old fuwanovel did. But the core of this site stayed intact. VNTS was revived by Zakamutt and Tay, and later Decay, who brought it into their current format. With the removal of torrents, Fuwanovel gained some legitimacy within the commercial VN industry. I've no doubt some fan translators still hate fuwanovel for hosting the pre-patched torrents but companies were willing to interact with Fuwanovel after the removal. FuwaReviews became a thing, and to be honest, thats all I cared about once we got it going. Ryechu did good work building some contacts within the industry to gain reviewers some review copies. I got into a twitter tiff with the Lupiesoft guy because I gave his shitty VN a low score after he gave us a review copy (the god damn game barely ran). I wrote the infamous Little Busters! review. The reaction was amazing. Doing FuwaReviews stuff was some of the most fun I think I had on this website. Regardless, with FuwaReviews, my interest in other parts of the site died off, and I no longer followed the happenings closely as they didn't concern me. Then I left all together for about 2 years before coming back in the past week due to boredom. So there is my 150% self-centered history of Fuwanovel. I admit its self-centered because all I really can remember is stuff I was involved with. Like I said before, I typically stayed out of VN discussions unless it was in regards to their distribution. Relevent comment from nay the bae about Steve:

Beat Valkyrie Ixseal Review Choukou Shinki Ixseal, (Beat Valkyrie Ixseal), is the newest game in AliceSoft's "Beat" series. (Same universe as Beat Blades Haruka and Beat Angel Escalayer.) Though, while the game is set in the same universe as the other two games, it can be played without having played either of its predecessors. (The only connection to previous games is a few small references, that are not important to the story at all. In fact, I'd recommend playing this game first if you plan on playing a game in the series. I will explain why later in the review.) Similar to its predecessors, Ixseal is a gameplay/ VN hybrid, where you advance through a number of stages, defeating monsters along the way until you reach the area boss. Upon defeating the boss, the story progresses, and you move onto a new area. In between gameplay aspects, you see normal VN styled scenes, which makes up the bulk of the game. The game is voiced throughout all the story segments, as well as the H-scenes. The only portions of the game that are not voiced are "filler" scenes, that appear between gameplay segments, outside of the main story. These are normally only added for comic relief, and are not actually important at all, so the lack of voice acting in these scenes means quite little. The story In Ixseal you play as Oudou Tsuguhiko, a perverted man who swears he is the true "demon king," the most powerful evil being in the world. His dream is to make all female students in the world wear bloomers as their official uniform, through the use of his demonic powers. His best friend, Kirika, always brushes Tsuguhiko's talk about demons and such aside as jokes, but it turns out that he is actually telling the truth. With the help of his servant demon Bezel, Tsuguhiko's true power as the demon king is awakened by a dark ritual, and the power of the seven deadly sins, (the source of the demon king's power,) pours into him. The ritual is interrupted shortly after, however, as an angel with the name Xillia shows up, with the intention of killing the newborn demon king. Bezel and Tsuguhiko escapes, but things only go downhill from there for Tsuguhiko. He is betrayed by Bezel, who steals six of the seven deadly sins from his body, and uses them to awaken six powerful demons, leaving Tsuguhiko with nothing but the power of lust in his body. Bezel tries to take Tsuguhiko's life, but fails because of the angel, who finally catches up to them, driving Bezel away. Sadly, Tsuguhiko's friend Kirika is killed in the struggle. Kirika is revived by Xillia, but this takes up nearly all her power, leaving her defenseless against the demons summoned by Bezel. But, through the power of lust, which still resides within Tsuguhiko, he powers up Xillia with demonic energy, and she changes forms from an angel, into the ideal warrior in Tsuguhiko's mind— a valkyrie. With the power of lust, the demon king powers up Xillia through sex, and with the combination of her own power and demonic energy, she grows stronger, ready to take on Bezel's army. Bezel, along with six of the seven deadly sins, (in the form of powerful demons,) plan on absorbing energy from all humans, so that they can take over the world. The demons create a barrier over earth, stopping other angels from coming down from heaven to help, leaving Xillia alone. Now it's up to Xillia and Tsuguhiko to stop the demons' onslaught before it's too late. While the gameplay part of Ixseal might make it sound silly, (have sex with the heroines to make them stronger, by injecting them with your demonic energy) the story is miles better in Ixseal compared to Haruka. I'm not sure I'd call this game a nukige, actually, as the story does truly work by itself, not relying on the abundance of H at all. (Unlike Haruka, where the H content is the most appealing factor by far.) The characters are well designed and interesting, and the story is good. Lastly, the protagonist is very well done as well. He is actually powerful; he is the demon king, after all. The story is about taking back the deadly sins stolen by Bezel, powering up Tsuguhiko with each boss defeated. While he does not do the fighting himself, he does not feel like a pointless plot device. You actually feel like you are the demon king, trying to reclaim your powers, and not a can of gasoline that exists only to power up the heroines. (Like in Beat Blades Haruka.) Sadly, Ixseal wastes a lot of its potential by sticking to the same formula that Haruka did. Instead of making it possible for the player to choose how to guide the protagonist from the start, (choosing to be good or evil,) the game has it set in stone that Tsuguhiko is a good guy at heart, and he acts like the biggest vanilla-pleb in history towards his comrades, despite the fact that he is the demon king, and his objective is ultimately to reclaim his powers. Not exactly what you'd expect from the demon king. The story is good, but it would have been even better if there was more choices in terms of how the protagonist acts, in my opinion. The more you learn about the origin of his powers, and the history of the demons, the more you feel like making choices to impact his decisions, but you are left following the linear story until the branching point that only appears towards the end of the story. Another issue I found with the structure of the game is that it is very similar to Haruka at its core. While the story is different, and the characters' motivations etc also differ from that of Haruka's, it still shares enough similarities that the story can become predictable if you have played Haruka. Because of this, I would personally recommend reading Ixseal first, if you have not yet read Haruka, as the plot twists will be more surprising. And, seeing as the story is without a doubt better in Ixseal, this way you will get more enjoyment out of the game, compared to if you read Haruka first. That being said, the game is still good, and some predictability won't ruin that. The gameplay: Similar to Beat Blades Haruka, the gameplay comes in two stages. The first stage is all about buffing your heroines by sleeping with them, raising their stats in the process. Then, you advance through an area, defeating monsters, collecting power-ups, and fighting bosses. Each time you lose against an area boss, you see a rape scene with that boss, (with a maximum of two scenes per boss,) and the heroine's "lust" meter is filled up with one stage. (If the lust meter gets maxed out, you will get a bad ending.) These scenes can be disabled in the menu, if you do not like to see scenes of that nature. Seeing as what types of H you make your heroines do during the first phase of gameplay is up to you, you can freely choose to be evil and only see dark H, or be nice and only see vanilla. (Or do a mix of both!) You also have two other meters to keep an eye on. The love meter, and the demon energy meter. (Actually has a different name, but this sounds cooler!) While this might sound complicated, it is actually very simple. The love meter is raised by doing things like going on dates with the heroines, while the demon energy meter is raised by doing evil things to the heroines. Depending on the stats you are left with towards the end, you can choose an ending with your favored heroine. Just like Haruka, the boss fights can prove difficult if you do not boost the stats of the heroines properly, so do be careful there. Overall though, the difficulty has been decreased quite a lot. While I found myself failing quite a few times during my first playthrough of Haruka, I did not get a game over screen once during my first playthrough of Ixseal. H-scene and ending variety Beat Blades Haruka is known for being filled with all sorts of H-scenes, ranging from normal vanilla, to hardcore rape, beastiality and more. Ixseal also has a varied roster of H-scenes, though not as many as Haruka. (I believe Ixseal has a bit over 100, while Haruka had over 150.) But, seeing as Ixseal is more story driven than Haruka was, they might have opted for more focus on the story instead of adding extra H-scenes. But, while the game has less H-scenes, the quality has not dropped. Even the vanilla scenes are quite good, (I phrase it this way, as I did not exactly play the game for the vanilla personally.) The voice work in this game is amazing, which adds a lot to the H-scenes. There is a large variety of different H in Ixseal as well, with most scenes being very hot. So, while this might not be as nukige-ish as Haruka, it sure does have its fair share of good H, too. Now, the endings. I had high hopes for the Ixseal endings, especially the bad ends. The Haruka bad endings were very good, though way too short. Seeing as we are literally the demon king himself in this game, I was hoping that the bad endings would be longer, and even better than Haruka's. The game has six primary endings, one bad and one good for each heroine, a harem end, and a "normal" ending. You can also get other types of bad ends through the game, but these six are the main heroine endings. (For comparison, Haruka had three endings per heroine, a good, a bad and a brutal end.) In Ixseal, they did indeed make slightly longer endings, though they still felt too short to me. The bad ends did somewhat live up to my expectations. I don't want to get into details to avoid spoilers, but they felt satisfying to a certain extent. (To me at least, as I want dark bad ends.) And dark they were. Kirika's ending was something out of an utsuge, and Xillia's bad end was definitely a cool way to tie the "evil" side of the protagonist into the main story. That being said, they were still too short, which in turn still made me feel a bit disappointed. With how long the game is, and how much build up there is to the climax of the story, I would have wanted endings at least twice as long as the current ones, perhaps even longer. Still, they were pretty good, all things considered. As for the good endings, they too were well done, and even though I did not have any plans on caring much about the vanilla side of the game, I do have to admit, I felt some feels towards the end of the good routes. Sadly, these too were a bit too short as well. If they do make another game in the series, I hope that they finally make the endings a bit longer for that one. Music, art, the heroines and more. Like I mentioned above, the voice acting in the game is stellar. It had to be hard delivering some of the messed up lines in this game with a straight face, lol. The six demons representing the deadly sins were all handled well, and all come off as creepy and "demonic" in their own ways. I especially took a liking to Pride and Wrath, as the two really fit perfectly for the roles they are meant to fill. The VAs do a great job of bringing the "essence" of their sin into their character in their voiced lines. The heroines were... good and bad. While Kirika had lots of unique aspects that made her fun and different from her "counterpart" in Beat Blades Haruka, Narika, Xillia was way too similar to Haruka in my opinion. The two are basically the same, boring character, just in different settings. That being said, Xillia has a very good backstory, which makes up for some of her blandness. Overall, I wanted the heroines to be more unique compared to the heroines in Haruka, and found myself a bit irritated at the similarities at times. Nevertheless, the story for each heroine was done well, so it was not a complete bust. Also, Kirika's ass is just amazing. (/ω＼) As far as the art goes, it's just great. The resolution was stepped up to HD, (Haruka's resolution was 800x600, which was a disappointment in my eyes.) The art is consistent and well drawn, and some of the CGs are truly badass. Like I mentioned before, the character designs were great, so I have no complaints about the art at all, tbh. I'm not really a music guy, so I can't give a detailed review of the music, so I'll just say this: I liked it a lot. There are over 30 music tracks in the game, all well fit for the scenes in which they are used. I especially liked the opening. Definitely a game I'd consider buying the OST for. Conclusion: Ixseal is much better than Haruka in my book. Pretty much everything I felt was lacking in Haruka was improved in Ixseal, (although it did not quite win me over when it came to the game's endings.) The story, characters, art, music and gameplay have all been improved, making a great overall experience. I rated the game an 8.4, which would have been even higher had the endings been longer, and more thought out. Still, this is a very solid game for both vanilla fans, and people like me, who likes games with darker H. If you're a fan of demons, angels and such, you'll definitely like this game. I am personally a sucker for anything that involves the seven deadly sins, so I was hooked from the start.

My name is Chaironiichan! I'm a writer by trade, so my past-time happens to be reading xD it's a good thing visual novels are perfect for that! I'm currently reading Fate Hollow/Ataraxia, Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort, To Love 2, Grisaia no Kaijitsu and playing Mass Effect I really need to master finishing stuff D: I'm also writing for NaNoReNo, for a project called Do Not Love - Violators Will Be Shot. Feel free to ask me anything about myself, about the project I'm working on, or just drop by and say hello!

@Shikomizue, your heroic sacrifice will be remembered. Great read, Dergonu, hope you'll not overwork yourself producing these. ^^

Derg, this is spot on, amazing! Shikomizue sure was cool!

Exposing @Zakamutt for having shit taste.

おはこんばんにちは、日本語上手の人はあまりいないから新しい仲間が増えてとても嬉しいです。もっと話したいならディスコ鯖に来てね☆ （リンクはこちらへ）

I've forgotten.

Oppai, oppai, and oppai for me

It isn't a unique phenomenon to Japan... it is the same type of thing you see in Trekkies, obsessive Star Wars fans, and others who imitate their favorite fictional characters to the point where they lose themselves in them. Chuunibyou tends to start around that age, but it can last for years or decades, depending on whether the individual in question is 'functional' despite their 'weirdness'. In Japan, it is generally portrayed as something that is outgrown by the end of middle school (which is actually usually the case in Japan, from what my friends tell me), and that is primarily because of the extreme peer pressure and sekentei obsession over there. In the US, where kids are mostly allowed to form their own personalities to an extent at that age, it can last a lot longer and go in seriously weird directions. Chuuni as literature isn't so much about 'coolness' as it is about theatrics. Extreme/exaggerated personality types, overpowered characters, larger than life individuals, incredibly detailed settings... these are all elements common to chuuni fiction. Which is probably why bibliophiles and story-addicts tend to fall for chuuni literature in droves. The mundane rapidly gets boring for this type of person, since they are looking for 'stories', not the reality going on around them in daily life. Chuuni can vary greatly, ranging from pure white knight heroism to dark-hearted monstrousness in its characters and settings. The key point is that it somehow transcends the mundane... which means that what can be considered chuuni will inevitably vary based on what culture and environment you were brought up in (to be blunt, someone who was brought up in a slum full of daily gun battles probably won't see a gunfighter protagonist fighting criminals as transcending the mundane). Chuunibyou is a function of the adolescent desire to, quite simply, do the same thing... transcend the mundane. *shrugs* It can be a negative, but some of the most creative people out there are of the type that experiences this 'disease' routinely.

Setting. The setting of a VN can make all the difference. Setting changes your characters, your stories, your tone. We have a bajillion VNs set in a Japanese high school. We have far fewer set in Cold War Europe, or early 1900s Japan. Having a unique setting, something to stand out, might be the single most important aspect of a VN.

Hey guys~ I'm IvyFetish, the illustrator for Arosia. Nice to meet you all!

Interesting characters, gripping plot, all routes (if not a linear game) must be balanced (as in one route is not clearly better than the other apparently lazily made ones). Not really what I look for first but it also helps if the game have a good voice acting and the h-scenes aren't over long that it overstay it's welcome.

I consider an amazing VN to be a VN with an great plot, good characters, and a lot of intrigue/mystery to both the plot and the characters.

Not sure if this fits here, but we're thinking of doing some streaming and one of things we'd like to do is play some tabletop games, kind of like D&D lite. We're going to keep the system really light and open and not crunchy. You don't need to know any rules or have any experience at all! You can play via voice or chat. We'll do a mix of Twitch and Discord for it, and we'll be streaming video/audio of us. I think Ivy is going to do some live sketching of monsters and characters while we play; and she is the official dice roller for everyone even. We're thinking ~2 hours for our first game, probably around 8pm PST on March 24th, unless we run into technical problems. We have room for 4-5 players. We're opening it up to you guys first, since you're our favorite community. We can easily fill the slots from other places if only couple people from Fuwa want to join in. Let us know if you guys want in!

True routes only ever work for me if they focus on a bunch of plot reveals for a mystery tbh.

Thanks for removing me from the roster.

That. Was. Marvelous. I know I didn't ask for anything to do with cigarettes, but you know me too well. That was an absolutely magnificent way to die. Bravo.

why is kiri so... kiri-like?

I will battle with you over the scathing fires of Hell. Sora's route is still far and away my favorite romantic route in any VN (disregarding games with a single, and thus canonical, pairing). The themes it tackles are beautiful, Sora's easily the most interesting girl in the cast (YMMV), that ending is unforgettable. I actually found it more impactful than the true route...

Are you kidding, we are so relaxed and cool. And the date is adjustable, and we'll definitely do more rounds. And if you're super, super shy, you can always type as well. But I would love to hear your beautiful accent. <3

Well, this sounds quite cool, although it would be super-late in Poland and I'm not sure if I can pledge to be available during that weekend (looming deadlines). If you go forward with another round I'd be very interested in joining though. If my shy nature and horrible accent aren't an issue.

Note: everything I write in this post is my personal opinion. And I know that in some cases it's not the most popular opinion. I recognize that most of the routes I mentioned have some good points which, for various reasons, didn't really work for me, and, on the other hand, the flaws of these routes may not be so important or noticeable for other people. You've been warned. Shizuru, Rewrite. Shizuru was one of my favorite characters in the common route of Rewrite, but her route was kind of... random. Though I don't remember much of it at this point, I only remember that the first 2/3 of her route were pretty boring and lacked any real meaning. The last 1/3, on the other hand, was pretty great. Sora, Ever17. Her route wasn't the worst thing ever, but was a bit pointless and was probably the worst in the game, which is a shame considering she was my favorite character at first (and the only one I didn't dislike at the beginning). Sachi, Grisaia. Her character was great, her route was kind of boring. I don't really have anything else to say about it. Haru, G-senjou. Yes, I mean it. Haru was definitely very entertaining character at the beginning of the game, and she is still one of my favorite female characters in VN's, even considering the fact that this VN is far from my favorite. Her confrontations with Maou in the "common route" were probably my second favorite part in the game. Her route though... It starts with the stupidest plot-twist ever, turns all interesting characters this VN had at this point into cheesy tropes, and at the same time adds a ton of edgy action which I personally didn't even enjoy. Well, the ending of her route, on the other hand, was really great, and when I reached it, I wanted to forget all the things I disliked before I got to that point. But when I remembered them... no. Aqua, Himawari. I mean, Aqua is definitely the best character in the game. She's the only one I liked in the "common route", and the chapter told from her perspective was really good, borderline great at some points. When I got to her route, all my enjoyment about the game totally stopped. First of all, Aqua is a good, but she can't pull the drama alone. If didn't care about any character but her at this point, then it isn't surprising that the drama simply didn't work. Even though I could always see that feelings I should've had about most scenes in her route, those feelings just didn't come. And then there are plot holes. I mean, I could buy it if the plot holes just contradicted more "scientific" things, But at the end of her route some plot twists kind of started to contradict even simple common sense. It was the last drop for me, and even though I technically didn't drop the VN after that, I decided to stall it for indefinite amount of time. I want to try to reread it at some point, because I still don't want to believe that the game that hyped turned out to be this bad, but, with all honesty, this will probably never happen.

I consider an VN amazing when, much like books, it manages to intrigue me to read further, manages to build up a meaningful cast of characters, build up a world that does not seem whitewashed, goes on to thoroughly explore this world and manages to build up a story worthwhile of afterthought. Generally I do not find myself getting stuck on small technicalities and as such I might overlook some parts; sound, picture, (etc...). The part important for me is the overall picture all these devices of characters, worldbuilding and the writer's ideas can lead up to. Ultimately I will not remember every song, CG, (etc...) in the VN and I will forget the bads or the goods, but if the overall picture was incredible I will leave it with a feeling of having touched a masterpiece, perhaps slightly self centered, ignoring the fact the VN was not actually punctually perfect (can any be?).

I've been lurking a while over here too, just decided to go ahead and make my account Thanks for the greetings, wei!

It's a pun for me, it could be read as (chair)(oniichan), which is, of course, "big brother chair" OR! it could be read as (chairo)(niichan) which means "brown big brother" That's why my profile picture is a brown chair! ...After typing it out, I realized it makes no sense, but that's how it is, honestly

The obvious would be to say that great characters, engaging story, good writing and so on makes a great visual novel. But in my case, what usually separates great from really good is something really vague and undefinable: a sense of passion and creative drive behind the VN. That the writer (& staff) had something they wanted to express from the bottom of their hearts. Particularities aren't that big of a concern to me, reading a story where I can feel the author is truly having fun or writing about what they found important is what I enjoy the most. It could always be me misunderstanding or reading too much into it, but this sense of heartfelt passion is what matters to me. Concept of what is "good" is always somewhat subjective, and I've found that setting too strict guidelines to myself about what a work needs have to be "good" or what I should to expect just leads to disappointment. I can only feel the world from my perspective, so it's better to have an open mind and seek out things that resonate with me personally. Those can be my great things. And if a VN managed to affect me enough for me to consider it great, I can at least hope the same is possible with someone else.

I would say... Personality? I don't know how to say it better, but for me a great VN has to combine its elements in a way that feel unique and immersive. Flowers felt like that thanks to the breathtaking art and carefully crafted characters. Analogue did it through clever introduction sequence and embedding its game mechanics within the story and setting. I don't think there's any one recipe, or set of elements that have to be amazing (apart from maybe the general quality of the writing - awkward sentences and obvious holes in logic won't get you very far). It's easier to say what a great VN can't have. For me it will be: - Flat characters - Boring characters without any an ounce of mystery - Obvious cliches without any spin to them - Painfully obvious plotholes Anything else I can live with, if the structure of the game and its main story/intrigue are rewarding enough. Even when its goes to art, I have to like it to get really immersed, but it doesn't have to be amazing - and I think what is considered pleasant to look at is quite dependent on personal taste.

In my opinion, Number one, Unique plot and Storyline ( mainstream can be good too, but It's will be bad if its too much similarity with other VN. ) , Nice drawing is number two, bad story with good drawing its meaningless, then, Good voice acting (especially heroine VA , it's can lift up their quality ), Protagonist personality ( I can't endure with loser or crybaby protagonist _- ) , and the last one, Heroine (Dere2, gap moe, or whatever, Its can be main factor for VN can be Good one ) .

Excellent characters are first in foremost in my mind when I think of a amazing vn. If it doesn't have that then it's just doomed from the start. A story that can really grip me from the moment I start it up. I want to be drawn in immediately give me something that I want to come back to. Good writing that is not overly focused on cliches, I'm fine with them being used on occasion but don't just give me nothing but that. Something utterly unique to that particular Visual Novel is another hallmark of a excellent vn. Whether it is unique setting, unique characters, unique story, unique art style give me something I have not seen a hundred bloody times. Finally, a great art style is a component that most truly excellent vn's share. Voice acting isn't a must when it comes to whether or not I think a visual novel is truly special but it does help.

Pretty much any VN where the main route is written by Maeda Jun.

* Either stirs the emotions, or is thought provoking. Maybe both. * Nice writing. * Great music that really nails whatever atmosphere the VN is going for. This I find really important... Anything other that that depends on the genre or the target audience of the VN itself. Not all VN's are fanservice or sexy, or are thrillers, or have gripping plot, or have warm fuzzy feelings, or will tug on your heartstrings relentlessly, etc.

Little did he know, he had already died by the time regret caught up to him.

Anything before 2000 is old for me. I actually prefer the art style from back then and I don't know why. I get warm fuzzies every time I see art like this:

Shadow of The Colossus for the PS4 is a remake of the PS2 game released back in 1876. The graphics hasn't been lightly touched here and there to make another profit from idiots like me who buy a game they already played and beaten. The graphics have been worked from the ground up to appear like modern day graphics. The game supports 4k resolution, and the environment has been reworked to include more textures, such as grass and rocks. You may be asking yourself "Mitch, the hell are you doing writing anything? Your grammar and sentence structure is so bad that I've contemplated blocking your illiterate ass several times." and you would be write. You may also be asking yourself why these details matter at all. Who cares about a little grass and some added rocks here and there? Well, you see with most remastered's they simply just up the engines lighting and maybe a few fixes on textures and character models, but to have a complete remake? That's something to be praised for. How many times has a game been just essentially re-released as a "remastered" and hardly anything was added? I mean, just look at the major differences from ps2, ps3 and the ps4. There is an obvious difference between each version outside of just simple furthering the render distance and upping textures. The PS4 version is the version you must have. It brings to life a level of definition that honors the original creators art. What else the remake adds is a photo mode with filters that can be accessible at any point by pressing down on the d-pad. New collectibles, the game keeps tracks of your statistics, and changes the controls a bit while still keeping the old school feel. Speaking of the old school feel, all you do is still kill colossi still. No new enemies, no hidden collectibles to gather except for some gold coins which no one is sure what they do if anything, no new colossi, just the same old giant, albeit pretty empty world. Of course, this emptiness could've been intentional and not simple a limitation of what the ps2 can handle. Now, there are bigger worlds from the ps2 era with more going on, such as GTA San Andreas, but you have to keep in mind that structurally, these are two different games. Now, I know its hard to wrap your head around the fact that this is not the same as this, but please bear with me here. GTA San Andreas focused on the feel of a large, living, breathing city. With citizens going about their day, gyms, fast food joints and a plethora of side activities. But the character models for GTA SA was very plain as far as animation is concerned. Sure there were unique ones with characters having arms stuck to their side, some people who slouch as they walk, etc, etc. While Shadow of The Colossus's character animations were complex. The main character flailed his arms around like he was constantly trying to shake something off, but it was detailed nonetheless. And of course there's the massive colossi's animations as well. Each was unique in design and in animation. This of course took up space on the memory and it worked. But enough of that, lets go back a little. Lets just take a step back from our monitors and look at the decision to keep the world practically bare to maybe give the player and the character you control a sense of mystery and forbiddeness in the land. The character is already doing something that is seems atrocious to his kind and even the gods as he is slowly punished for slaying these ancient creatures for a selfish reason, that is, to bring back a woman who has died. Apparently sacrificed for some ritual as well. The sense of loneliness is exactly what the character is. Alone. He acts on his own decision to bring a life that has already gone frolm the world and apparently for a pre-established reason. But dammit, he's gonna do it! He will climb that forbidden mountain, even if it means his life! He is being selfish but he must see it through for the one he loves! Of course, take that as you will. Still doesn't change the fact that it is quite empty aside from lizard tails and fruits to eat. Something carried over from the ps2 that back then wasn't as big an issue as it would've been today if it was first released today. A trip down memory lane except better than you remembered. With all the high resolution textures and character models your eyes can barely handle. And, for those who have been curios about this games hype back in the day but never got around to it, now's your chance... assuming it goes on sale, because 40 bucks is a bit much, despite my weak will caving into the idea of owning this game.

I'm just about done with the first chapter, but I won't have time tonight to edit it and get it formatted for my blog, so I'll post the chapter tomorrow instead. The future chapters will be posted every Sunday, though, so look forward to that. To build up some hype, the users who were chosen by the almighty RNG-sama to be in the first chapter are: @Kiriririri@Thatcomicguy@SeniorBlitz@Sayaka@Norleas@Arcadeotic@Ranzo@Shikomizue Who will live, and who will die? And who bribed me 1 nickel to win the whole thing? I'll give you a hint, his name starts with Fiddl, and he wears a dashing hat.

This is actually really beautiful and poetic. "I just want to think that something great is in there, in those... voids...and I'm real."

Ode to the Tsundere

May as well jump on the bandwagon for my 1 year anniversary on here.

Man, I've finally reached 1,000 post counts. It only took me 3 years, lol. My activity on this site has always been pretty volatile and spontaneous. Often I would be really active for a couple of months, then disappear for around half a year, and then return like nothing happened. It's for this reason that I don't feel like I know a lot of users very well. Especially newer ones. So I'm mostly going to dedicate this post as a retrospective of both my time here, and how much fuwa has changed. So hopefully even people who don't really recognize me, can at least take interest in some fuwahistory from this dinosaur ;P. The Fuwanovel community has changed significantly since I first joined in March 2013. Back then Fuwanovel was still a fairly new site, and the community was quite small. I really miss those days during the spring of 2013, which was my first round of activity on this forum. Back then, you ran into the same people all the time on the forums. There were few active users, but the ones that were active were fairly involved. A lot of the time it was the same people having conversations about different topics across the forums, and it felt like the community was a lot more unified. Whereas now, it seems to me at least, that users tend to stick to their favorite sub-forum or even thread (I feel like the people active on the fuwanovel confessions thread are their own sub-community, lol). I'm not criticizing this, and in a sense I feel like that is the natural progression of when online-communities get bigger. But back then, people would often post across all the boards; and you would see the same person’s views on different subjects. It allowed a chance to really get to know other users. Which is why even though the forums were fairly slow in activity back then, people remained; because of vibrant discussion and a comfortable small community. Regarding vibrant discussions, that was the reason I loved fuwanovel so much when I first joined. Before Fuwanovel, there wasn't really a good place to discuss VNs casually. The few other places where VN discussion did exist (notably vndb and JP), were fairly elitist and not welcoming to new comers and casual VN readers. Fuwanovel had a completely different vibe, everyone was outwardly friendly. Fuwanovel's goal since its inception was to make "VNs more popular in the west", and having a friendly community that welcomes the less initiated is crucial for such a cause. While admittedly most people that were active back then already had some experience with VNs, the friendly environment promoted discussion without fear of being judged. And I remember Aaeru (the founder of Fuwanovel) made it quite clear that fostering an anti-elitist vibe was a very important goal to her. But combined with being friendly, debate and intellectual exchanges were a huge aspect of many discussions back then. It was quite frequent that different sides would get into huge debates with each other, but would always have respect for the other. They were not flame wars because people were listening to the other side, and respected their views. I remember one of the first acquaintances I made on this site (I believe it was Sieg), was a guy I got into a long argument about G-Senjou no Maou with, and afterwards we became friends. Precisely because it was a small community, people usually posted meaningful replies and would then start a conversation with each other in the thread. If you are ever bored, I highly recommend looking at the really old threads on VN talk, as many of them are quite interesting. Aaeru would also very frequently get in huge debates with people (especially with Sanahtlig). Another aspect I miss about the old Fuwa, was the activity of the old staff, notably Ryoji, Tay and Aaeru. Ryoji has hardly been active since the summer of 2013 but was one of the first users to break 1000 post counts, back when merely having 100 was impressive. I will forever remember him as the Sage of Anime. He had been collecting and following anime since the 80's, and knew a lot about the topic. The only person who was his match was another user name Eldin, and when they conversed with each other we referred to it as "Ryoji vs Eldin". Both of them would talk about the most obscure anime that most people have never heard of, and get into intense debates about said long forgotten shows. It was quite entertaining, and fascinating to watch. Ryoji's wife, Kotomi, was also occasionally active on the site. It was always cool to see when the two of them posted in the same threads. Well, those were my thoughts on Ryoji, onto Tay from 2013. These days I feel like few people actually know Tay. I think for especially newer users he is the guy who runs the site, and is often too busy. But back in 2013 (and 2014 as well), Tay was really active. He would participate in many conversations, and he was a strong reason why many people felt that the community was so nice. He recognized users and got to know them. I remember after my first long absence from the forums when I returned, he sent me a pm greeting me back. That gesture deeply touched me, as already then, I felt like a lot of users that I once knew had left. This was back in late 2013, at that point Aaeru disappeared, and Ryoji was also no longer active, not to mention a lot of other formerly active people left. I didn't really know the new community (lol, this was back when Nosebleed was actually new) and I didn’t feel at home. But then with that one Pm from Tay, I knew that I wasn't forgotten. Tay really knew the community back then, and it was obvious he cared a lot about its users. This is still true about him, but now I feel he is too busy to be as engaged as he used to be, which I completely understand. I just want people to know that Tay really does care a lot about this community, and I am glad he runs this site. The last staff member I remember being active from 2013 was Aaeru. Unlike with both Ryoji and Tay, I never really interacted with Aaeru that much. She posted on my Introduction thread, and that’s about all I remember interacting with her. But what I do remember was her crusade against licensing and her vehement pro-piracy views. She believed two things very strongly about Priracy. 1) Was that Piracy was the most efficient means to spread word about VNs, and 2) That fan translators could do a faster job than official licensors and translators. To be honest with you, I agree with both these views still. I respect licensors, but Fan translators can translate any VN they want (they don’t need a license to do so), and I’ve noticed that they have usually been faster. Furthermore, of English translated VNs, I feel like more good ones have either been fan translated, or picked up from fan translators. They are still the backbone of the Western VN community in my view. Furthermore about Aaeru, it was her “Learn How to Read Japanese in 2 Years” thread that first motivated me to learn Japanese. I always assumed that it was an impossible task before that. But her thread convinced me that I could learn the language, and that motivated me to study. If it were not for that blog post, I probably would not know any Japanese right now. So I really must thank her for that. Even though Aaeru has long disappeared, I hope people don’t forget about her. While a lot of drama and controversy was started by her, we wouldn’t have Fuwanovel at all if it were not for her, and so we should pay our respects to her for at least that reason. The spring and the summer of 2013 were the golden age of the site for me. I’m glad that Fuwanovel has grown (and is continuing to grow). It makes me happy because it serves as evidence that Fuwanovel is succeeding in its mission statement to “Make Visual Novels popular in the west”. I have had plenty of great interactions with people during 2014 and 2015 (I have not been very active during 2016 thus far though). I’m constantly adapting to the community’s evolution and support where the site is going. But I don’t want the early days of Fuwanovel, the days that really first shaped the site, to be forgotten. I hope you guys didn’t mind my huge nostagiafest. In the title I mentioned that this was a "3 year retrospective". So if you are curious about my thoughts on 2014 and 2015 I would gladly share them. Every year of this site has been distinctly different, so I definitely have a lot to share. And if others have perspectives of old Fuwa to share, I would love to hear them.

I'm such a good guy telling people over and over how to "fix" this thing... I've lost hope for any fixes long time ago, there's also no letters to read in Michiru's route and some text skips in Yumiko's route. So yeah 18+ version have missing content, pretty awful bugs I would say... "FIX" (It's pretty much only "solution" for now) Create custom resolution for your PC in Nvidia Panel (1024x576) and set the custom resolution alongside normal game resolution to: 1024x576/1024x576 in BootMenu.exe>System Settings>Display1>GameScreenSize/FullScreenWindowSize

FuwaHistory Episode 7: The Fuwan Civil War - The Surrender of the Pirate Lord Outnumbered and outgunned, his ranks decimated by defections after a prolonged war of attrition and a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Grisaia, the Pirate Lord Steve and his Loli Brigade stand down--marking the end of the bloody Fuwan Civil War. The last obstacle to his ambitions eliminated, Archmage Tay turned his attention to the massive reforms required to end privateering in Fuwa waters once and for all.

With Sekai licensing both VNs, I believe it is time for Fuwanovel to remove both torrents as they are now easily in violation of the original policy of not hosting any licensed VNs. TL Wiki has already made their Grisaia patch unavailable, and I honestly think it would be a shame if Fuwanovel did not also do the same. If Fuwanovel really cares about making VNs popular in the West and helping the industry, it would be right to remove the torrent. Both VNs are now in the hands of Sekai to work with and Fuwanovel's responsibility with those novels should end here.

I support the idea. Fuwanovel originally wanted to aid in the production and distribution of visual novels in the West. I can understand the theory of spreading around free VNs to build up the initial fanbase, but I get the feeling we've gotten past this stage. We have a fairly sizeable community, and VNs are getting more exposure than ever now they're appearing on Steam. If Fuwa ever wants to seriously aid in the production of VNs, and not just low-budget free ones, it will need to eventually support the official products. Furthermore, the visual novel industry is struggling in Japan, and needs much support in the West. The industry needs funds to grow and we should be encouraging the purchase of such products when able.

I see this topic turned to something very different. First off, you don't pick a TL based on what a chance of C&D is, you pick a VN that you love, enjoyed and you want other people to enjoy. What you are saying is like some business thinking or whatever, which fan TL is not based around at all, they earn 0 money for their years worth of time. Having a "right" to stop someone doing something for free is just WRONG. It is wrong in fan TL, it is wrong in modding community (Skyrim middle earth mod). I already said this in some topic here, not sure where. It is exactly the same principle as if someone would stop a person volunteering to help old people across a road or helping them shop. There are assistants like that who get paid for it, they have no right to stop the volunteers. Those who get paid for this have one option and this option applies to this too as well as everything mentioned here - they have to offer better service than the volunteers. Often these volunteers are students so they don't have a car. If this senior assistant can offer a car, he will be offering a better service than the volunteer. And now lets see how it works in our world of games. .. Yes that is right, if the company wants people to pay for their service, they need to offer better service, in this case they would need to offer better quality translation in faster time. Or are you telling me they cannot compete with fan translators even though they receive money for it? What is it they receive money for then? Owning a license? Oh yeah they do, that's what is wrong with everything in this "intellectual property" bullshit. They should get money for job better done, job faster done. If they are unable to compete with volunteers, they are doing something wrong and they should have no right to stop volunteers. Now lets see Assassins Creed 2, do you remember? People who actually bought the game could not play it, were losing their saves. Where as warez copy was working just fine. They learned, they removed their shitty DRM, they added fun multiplayer - and look at sales for the latest AC3, people bought it, people who downloaded warez version of AC2 bought AC3 (I know many examples). Or did you miss the latest fiasco with EA and their SimCity 5? People couldn't play the game, people who preordered didn't receive their copies and some were forced to pay for new order without option to cancel their preorder at that time, EA didn't want to give refunds for a game that wasn't working. And lets see what happens with the next EA singleplayer title, I am pretty sure it will get pirated to eternity, I personally will never buy EA title, I will play the games still, warez version, but I will not support these evil publishers like EA. If a company wants me to pay for their copy of a digital files, they need to offere better service, do they have good multiplayer servers, do they offer instant redownload of the game (on steam or whatever), do they let me play offline? Do they make sure I don't lose my save and I have them in both my computer and cloud, not just only stupid cloud? Do they get rid of this region locking bullshit? I want to play the game on release, not a week later in EU release... If I'd had to wait for EU release, ill just play the pirate copy on the day of US release (or a day later which is about the time crack gets done). If they don't bullshit me and offer better service, I will pay, if not, I will just download and pay for free. So as you can see, I am (and many others) looking at paying for games as paying to the publisher. Developers already got paid, don't worry about them. People are much more willing to pay to developers than to publishers, just look at kickstarter... That speaks for itself. Publisher's job is to provide the service of the game to people, they need to do it better than warez scene, otherwise they are doing it wrong. That's why they receive money from sales. Just as western VN publisher's job is to provide better service than fan TL, faster, better quality. If they are not able to compete, they are doing it wrong and why should they receive money for it? Its not like devs receive anything from the sales. I am telling you, if there was kickstarter from some of the popular VN developers that they will hire professional TL studio that will be translating alongside the development, it would get funded in few days. You see people are willing to pay for things they like, you just have to provide a good offer... which releasing a game 4 years after the JP release is not. So I will say it again, having the right to stop volunteer (in this case Aaeru, alone in the project, working in day and doing this for free in her free time) just because they are unable to provide better service while GETTING PAID, is wrong, wrong, terribly wrong and once again wrong! See the forumula? [(Single individual * her free time) + $0] > [(team * paid time) + $$$$$$$$] that's not how it is supposed to work...