Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/08/19 in all areas

  1. I've got a good handful of english manga but it's all at home in Florida and I'm up in Ohio during the school year. What do have on hand though is my Japanese music. Ask me about any of these and I'll tell you what the best songs on them are. EDIT: I messed up the formatting. There are two more pictures inside the spoilers.
    2 points
  2. Sakura, Moyu is the latest game by Favorite, the producers of Hoshimemo and the Irotoridori series. For those who aren't yet familiar with Favorite, I should tell you that there are three things this company is known for. For one, they produce first-class 'nakige' in a unique style full of pastel colors and manipulation of visual and narrative perspectives. Second, they are known for their excellent stories and characters, regardless of which writer they have on the job. Last of all, they are known for being lolicons (lol). No, I'm not kidding. The fact that every one of their true heroines at least looks like a loli at first glance says everything, hahahaha. Sakura, Moyu was written by Urushibara Yukito, the same writer as the Irotoridori games. As such, it should surprise no one that the setting is layered and complex and the story not at all what it seems on the surface. It should also surprise no one that there is a lot of emotionality in this game... but I don't think anyone was expecting just how emotional this game is. To be blunt, I spent roughly 80% of this game either on the verge of or in tears. Considering that the game is one of the longest games I've ever played (at least partially so because I so thoroughly relished Urushibara's writing style), that's a lot of tears... and a lot of tissues *glances at the overfull wastebasket next to his pc and the empty tissue boxes lying around it*. However, there are some issues with this game that need to be mentioned to get them out of the way. Few games are perfect, and this one is no exception. To be specific, Urushibara has always been mediocre at the romantic elements of his games. Unless the romance exists at the end of a path full of suffering and despair or occurs in an incredibly stressful situation, he can't seem to write it very well (in other words, he is good at dramatic love but only a bit less than average at everyday love). As a result, the romance in the first two paths (Chiwa's and Hiyori's) feels abrupt and forced... not to mention the fact that the beginning of Chiwa's path is so at odds at first with the game's atmosphere that I had to put the game down for two days to get past the emotional disconnect it created. Hiyori's path is somewhat less problematic but still feels forced and abrupt, so I'm basically saying that readers who have high hopes for romance in these two paths will probably be disappointed, at least to an extent. One other issue that always nags at you as you play the numerous paths is the treatment of Kuro, the game's true heroine... to be blunt, like all of the Favorite true heroines, the story is set up so that if you aren't on her path, she gets screwed over to one extent or another. Now, if you don't instantly fall in love with Kuro during the opening scenes, like I did, this might not be a problem for you, but one reason I spent the end of every path in tears and couldn't empathize with the characters' happiness was precisely because of this. This game is very much a story of self-sacrifice... to the extent that it feels like every time you turn around, someone is sacrificing something for the sake of someone else. The creatures of the Night (the underworld-like dream realm the characters fought in ten years before the story's beginning) are, as is openly stated, driven to feel unconditional love for humans, and as such, their excessively kind hearts spend much of this game suffering as a result of human actions and the tendency of humans to disregard their own happiness at the oddest of times. This is also a game full of loneliness... to a degree that 'loneliness' or 'lonely' (さみしさ and さみしい) are the two most common words in the game by an exponential level. All of the main characters in this game suffer from loneliness to one degree or another at some point. Some take it on of their own will, others have it inflicted upon them, and yet others endure it because it is their fate. As such, there are very few points outside of the relatively few standard SOL scenes (compared to the game's over length) where the game isn't somber in atmosphere. This game is also unbelievably layered and complex... so much so that it reminds me of games like Harumade Kururu and Ever17 in retrospect. It has been a long time since a writer managed to keep me so thoroughly in the dark about so much of the game's general story for so long (the last time was Bradyon Veda), and, in that sense, I'm grateful for this game's existence. I do, in fact, like how it all (the main story) ends, and I even liked how each of the individual paths ended, taken by themselves (If i ignore how Kuro gets screwed over). I also found myself to be completely satisfied once I finished the game... to the extent that I don't think I'll ever be able to replay this game. This game was very high stress in the sense that I was constantly being bombarded with the characters' emotions, and as such, it isn't a game that would be easy to come back to any time soon. The sheer length of the game also adds to this. In conclusion, this is a game that is worthy of the legacy of Favorite as a company, worthy of being the first mainline project since the release of AstralAir in 2014. It has problems and the game is probably one that is emotionally stressful. However, for catharsis addicts, it is a worthy addition to their collection of nakige and utsuge, lol.
    1 point
  3. After reading VNs for over 2 years now and coming here again and again to either read some walkthorughs or to get ideas for new VNs to read I decided to create an acount, something I usually never do. But I did so in this case because I know that the VN genre will continue to fascinate me for a long time to come and it is fun to discuss VN related things. As my name may indicate I am not a native English speaker so please be lenient with me if I use overly complicated or weird expressions from time to time. Also, as you may see from my vndb profile, I read a lot of different VNs, I am not stuck with just one kind of VNs. A good story is the most important thing for me, although I also like romance and good heroines to chase. Mind you, I even read an otome VN although I am male and might do so again, if the story is good. And I will conclude this post with a real newbie question: How can I change my profile pic? I mean the one on the left side of the posts - the one which is currently just the letter 'A' in my case? Help is very much appreciated!
    1 point
  4. Dreamysyu

    Hidden Pearls

    The Shadows of Pygmalion. I only started reading the demo because I was in the mood to read something trashy, but, as the game progressed, I found myself enjoying it more and more. Almost everyone on Fuwa agrees that this game was a pure disappointment, but I actually kind of liked it overall, even though I definitely see all its flaws.
    1 point
  5. onorub

    Hidden Pearls

    The Letter (forgotten after a few youtubers finished it, but has one of the best branch systems in the genre) Kizuato (only spoken about in historical discussions, but has a really good introductory route and entertaining joke endings) Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia (closer to good than great, but it's a fun action story) EoSD for Busy Person (seriously entertaining if you've ever been a part of the Touhou fandom)
    1 point
  6. If your main goal is to widen the selection of visual novels you have access to, buying a new platform is a poor way of going about it. Instead, you should be text-hooking PC VNs and playing them in Japanese. There's a handful of PS Vita-only VNs in English, whereas there's literally thousands of PC VNs that are available in Japanese but not English. More generally, if you can't think of at least 5 games you'd buy right now if you had a given platform, it's not worth investing in. Multiply that by at least 2 if the platform is at the end of life.
    1 point
  7. At this point in time, much as I'd like to say yes, I'd have to say no and suggest instead that you either buy a PS4, or a Switch. The Vita has a LOT of VNs as already mentioned, but most of those are in Japanese, and while there are quite a few in English there aren't going to be very many more (especially physically), so you'd cover your bases by going with the PS4, which has a lot of the same VNs alongside several others (Clannad is on PS4 for example in English, but only in Japanese on Vita) and should still get more VNs for a while to come. If you like otome games then it'd be an easier recommendation, but you didn't say anything about those in your post. The Switch on the other hand looks like it will pick up a lot of the market of the Vita but that'd be a longer-term investment that need you to wait for the library to expand.
    1 point
  8. Kickstarting three games in one month of time? Good luck.
    1 point
  9. Seeing the goals, it makes me wonder how much they spent on buying the rights/license? They must have spent a lot to have to go this far beyond anything else they've kickstarted.
    1 point
  10. So this was just announced. Here's a link https://gematsu.com/2019/02/pqube-and-art-co-announce-visual-novel-kotodama-the-7-mysteries-of-fujisawa-for-ps4-switch-and-pc Welcome to Fujisawa Academy—an educational institution where nothing is as it seems and every pupil hides a secret. Having enrolled as a transfer student, everything feels pleasantly familiar. The pupils are friendly, the staff attentive. All the ingredients for a successful academic career. But you’re not here for a quiet life. Having made a pact with Mon-chan, a sarcastic demon fox, you wield the power of Kotodama – a means of coercing the truth from those who seek to lie to you. It’s not a power to be used lightly. Tasked with infiltrating the secretive Fujisawa Academy it soon becomes apparent that uncovering the sinister goings-on behind the seemingly normal façade may give you more than you bargained for…
    1 point
  11. At least we didn't have dinner with Kazuhiro Shida as the prize, because I remember that Koropukkur did have one and it looks unrealistic to me (Who want to have dinner with VN illustrator (Admittely well known one) anyway). Okay the goal was definitely higher than both of their previous Sol Press VNs at 85,000, which is almost three times of Newton VN KS (At 2.7 times). Not to mention that it's only for the first VN, and if we remember we have Irotoridori as the trilogy (VNDB set Hikari as FD though) so Sol Press decided to add stretch goal to Hikari (170,000) and Akai (245,000), which obviously would be very tall order to have all trilogy to be translated. I just wonder if Favorite VN would be better left as fan translation instead of officially localized, because from what I saw apparently Favorite ask too much money for the localization cost there. It's just my assumption though, so I may be wrong on that. Good luck to the KS, and I hope it'll be successful.
    1 point
  12. I'm afraid that it's not a collection just yet, as I have literally only two dinos at my hands right now ;w; Maybe when I get to my family house on the weekend I'll find some of my old stuff to bring back, tho If it didn't get thrown away, of course. My parents never liked dinos much. Right now the only thing I can show you are those Ramphorynhus and Coelophysis I've bought today:
    1 point
  13. Looks like I'm back to figurine collecting But no, not the cool (and expensive) anime figurines - I mean dinosaur figurines. Yes, really. I'm regressing back to my 8-year-old self, Lord have mercy... Damn you, YT science channels, for re-sparking my interest in paleontology! >:( I can't help it, they're so cool... ;v;
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...