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I also tried my hardest... not to cry ;-; ~~ Missed opportunity btw not having Town, Flow of Time, People as the VN's title theme btw. I would've always looked forward to booting up CLANNAD if I had this boppin' theme to listen to: First thing's first: my original statement of being a seasoned veteran and not knowing how CLANNAD garnered 9+/10s ultimately held true for me. I give it an 8. LOL PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME, DON'T WORRY, 8 ON VNDB = VERY GOOD! AND CLANNAD IS VERY GOOD!!! SoL is just not my thing anymore. Totally for the record though, if I read this say, 5 years ago, I definitely would've given it an instant 9.5+/10 and slap it in my hall of fame in a heartbeat. I'm just old nowadays. CLANNAD is a story about a high school male protagonist, Tomoya, who was raised by a single failure of a father. He attends one of the most prestigious schools in the town, Hikarizaka, due to his exemplary basketball skills. Unfortunately, due to a scuffle with his father one day, Tomoya ends up injured and loses his ability to lift his right shoulder, forcing him to quit basketball. Losing his way in life, time stagnates for Tomoya as he goes about his days meandering without purpose, becoming labelled a delinquent by his peers in the process. Until one fateful day where he meets a girl underneath the sakura blossom trees... *Checks VNDB* jeezus christmas my synopsis sucks LOL But yeah, this VN is essentially 100% pure SoL about a high school delinquent boy going about his days, trying to find his way in life. If you come here expecting late game Little Busters Key Magic Tragics or Rewrite uber narrative shifts I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed; late game for CLANNAD is simply high school delinquent transitioning to post high school life and dealing with the trials that await. Coming of age slice of life is the name of the game here, and CLANNAD is probably one of the best in the business for this type of narrative. So make sure you're in the mood for this before you spend an extended amount of time on this like me (cough 1 month; my first save file is literally May 18 and today is June 17 ggez) That being said, finally time to talk about Absolute Spoilers: ~~ I'm totally gonna watch the anime next, and I'll update this post on my thoughts on whether newcomers who are thinking of getting into CLANNAD should read the VN or just watch the anime. I did watch the first episode though, and as someone who spent a month reading CLANNAD, I can already tell it's gonna be INSANELY good. All of the character introductions are ON POINT, everything from Tomoya x Nagisa's fated encounter; Ryou's clumsy shuffling fortune cards; Kyou's uber powerful dictionary throwing prowess; Tomoyo's ass kicking badassery; Tomoya x Sunohara's ridiculous bromance; even Sanae's "my bread is only good for... x" QQ.. Everything is EXACTLY as I would've imagined it to be animated. The animated world bustling with people feels alive compared to the limited 200X VN sprites. They even use the VN BGMs, same VN title OP song for the anime OP, and Nagisa's theme from the VN gets lyrics and becomes a flippin' Dango song for the anime ED. The heart and soul of VN CLANNAD is there in the anime. Oh, and Tomoya sounds hawt voiced. It totally makes sense why all the heroines fell for him now

I've seen some people argue about how the "VN medium" is dying. The arguments on both sides on whether it's dying or not make sense but outside some companies closing or losing employees I can't really confirm either way. What I can talk about, is how visual novels can improve their storytelling so the medium doesn't become too complacent, and I think applies to both Japanese-made VNs and any made outside it. I'd like to make a video about it but what wanted to get some feedback from other people in case I missed any major points below. General Improvements Narration/Monologue padding. I know one of the main reasons you read a visual novel is specifically so you can have narration, monologuing, and more time to build up to something. However, unless part of the is narration is specifically building up to something, I think a lot of this padding could easily be trimmed or removd to get to the point(s) a lot quicker. Protagonist voice acting. I know there are many reasons why you wouldn't include it, whether it's costly, or you want to increase the "self-insert" factor. The self-insert factor would make more sense in a nukige or even a romance-heavy story. But if part of a story is to have some semblance of a story or even emotional drama parts, it would make sense for the protagonist to be voiced in the non-18+ content. Protagonists with actual personality. The "plain" protagonist thing works in romance-heavy VNs where the focus is on the love interests. However, in anything with any semblance of plot or character development it would be nice if more characters had... any personality. I don't expect them all to be amazing, but I'd like more writers to at least try more. Some may complain they'd rather have a plain protag than an annoying/whiny protag, but I disagree, as I consider that a test that can go well depending on the story, or if not just a lesson learned and to try something different. More post-high school settings. Some story-oriented visual novels have ventured into post-high school age characters. But a vast majority still at least have implied high school age characters at the same minimum. And moege very clearly uses 18 year old high school trope vast majority of the time. It says something when Making * Lovers is one of the most popular moege out there now, popular enough to get a sequel in name. Moege/Charage A better way to differentiate between the two. Part of why I put these these two together is because sometimes it can be difficult to categorize some VNs since they can have a mix of fluffy slice of life and character-development oriented drama. It can be fine to have a bit of some drama in moe VNs, and some fluff in character-development oriented ones, but from what I see the fans of either moege vs charage would prefer a focused experience. For moege, more unique character archetypes or clubs. I know part of the appeal is just using archetypes of cute heroines and giving them different designs and making cute romantic stories. However, I think it would be good to either explore unique takes on character archetypes, or at least make more interesting, unique clubs to make characters have more interesting romantic motivations For charage, a way to make most character development stick. So many character-development oriented visual novels are route based, so it can be disappointing to see some well-developed characters lose it when you decide to go to a new route. Part of why I love Sharin no Kuni is because they found a way to make character development stick for all characters canonically, no matter which heroine you choose to romance at the end. There is an option for more non-route based visual novels but those don't seem to get as popular. Action/Chuuni Have a way for the action parts to be more animated. I'm not asking for the VN devs to have fully animated fights for VNs, might as well just watch an action anime at that point. I do think a little animation in certain key moments would help since a lot of the time action scenes in visual novels are just 30+ page essays describing every single detail that happens a fight with a single CG can ruin the pacing. Mystery Make the endings worth all the buildup. A whole bunch of popular mystery visual novel series I see have endings that disappoint people in various ways. I think a lot of times the mystery parts are just set up so well that it can be hard to meet the expectations by the ending. I think more careful planning and having a clear endgoal of what the reader learns at the end will help set up the mystery parts to be both great and consistent, which will in turn make the ending good too. Horror Just more made in general. You would think this would be a great medium for visual novel writers to capitalize on. The few horror visual novels we have seem good and varied, I just don't think there's enough to give proper criticism. Otomege More genres. It's safe to say that visual novels with male protagonists have a much higher spread of genres. Meanwhile, at least from what I noticed, the amount of genres in otomege in general is limited. Admittedly, it doesn't help that the otomege in general are much lower. Western Made VNs / OELVNs / EVNs Branching out more into their own. Admittedly a few of the most popular ones clearly take after Japanese VNs, but still mostly did their own thing. From the bunch I've looked around, I think most western made visual novels still try to attempt to copy the Japanese in terms of art style, settings, and story telling. I think they should just keep trying to do their own thing, eventually something will be big enough for other devs to be inspired from. This genre can't really rely on a Katawa / DDLC every 10 years. Can't really comment on any more genres, anyone else have any input on this?

Weird you made this topic, as the past couple of days I've been working on a script for a video that in many ways is all about this. Ultimately though, I think the only real solution is for actual writers (the type of people who write novels) to start writing VNs. While I won't say I am exactly optimistic that this will start happening, there are a couple reasons why I think this might happen. Simply, nobody really reads anymore. I mean that somewhat hyperbolically, but if you look at statistics the amount of people who read novels and short stories for entertainment has been dropping practically every year. I read a statistic a couple years ago that only around 20% of American's read more than 2 books in an entire year. The new media, notably video games and online videos have completely enthralled two generation (most millennials and the entirety of Gen Z). And lets not forget, that even boomers, many of whom qualify as being elderly, were the original TV generation. One of my favorite self-published books to come out in the past couple of years is false kotatsu. It's a great novella, and nobody knows about it. It has no reviews on Amazon, and on Smashwords the one review of it was actually written by a personal friend of mine (who recommended it to me in the first place). If you want people to read your novel these days, you need one of two things, and unfortunately talent isn't one of them. You need to already have a decent social media following, or you need to have a solid connection in the publishing industry. And even then, the amount of people who will read your work, compared to the amount of people playing the latest games, even indie games, is miniscule. So if you want to tell stories, and you actually want people to experience them, the one (false) option people think they have is to make a video game. Now this is going to be a point I will go into detail in my video, but while video games can certainly feature great writing, for a game to be good it is critical for its level of interaction to also be good. Interactivity is always at least slightly more important than writing in video games, even in plot focused ones. And if you disagree with me, please wait for my video because I go into much more detail in that (I already wrote that part of my script). Visual Novels on the other hand, are a medium that function under a different system of poetics than games do. Visual Novels is where writing is top dog. A great story won't save a game with completely ass gameplay. But great writing, combined with at least mediocre visuals and audio, can make for a great VN. Because visual novels are multimedia, and in many respects close to video games, the coked out brains of a generation raised on the screen can appreciate them more naturally than many of them can stomach to read a conventional book. Writers who want to share their stories would be wise imo, to start using that talent in making VNs. And likewise, visual novels would strongly benefit by having competent writers migrate over. Since it's a medium, that appreciates good writing above all else Tl;DR: This is exactly why I'm planning to make a video about everything I just wrote, because it feels like in many cases nobody wants to read anything longer than a single paragraph

With chuunige, that isn't the issue. Rather, the more CG-reliant a chuunige is, the lower the quality. To be blunt, the worst chuunige I've played in recent years, Ryakudatsusha no Raillore suffered precisely because it was 90% reliant on CGs and dialogue to tell the story. I know some people have trouble with the reading aspect... but the question you need to ask yourself when you start complaining about having to read extensive narration is... why am I not watching anime? Otomege need to get over DIDS (Damsel in Distress Syndrome). I don't mind that western VNs imitate Japanese visual styles. What I do mind is that they try to rehash Japanese writing styles and story types. I also don't want my VNs to preach to me (for some reason, some EVNs that look good on the surface are trying to lobby the reader on social issues that I get enough of in the news). Moege as in pure moege is a dead genre. As an umbrella, it is almost entirely made up of charage in modern times. Charage need stronger protagonists, and when they have a strong protagonist, they should stop nerfing them during the heroine paths to make the heroines stand out more (Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou 2 being a prime example of this type of massive fuckup, since the best part of the cast was the protagonist and he suddenly became a piffle in the heroine paths). Let's be clear... Narration/Monologue padding almost never happens in JVNs. Rather, the problem is 'meaningless SOL'. There is a literal ton of meaningless SOL in JVNs and entire JVNs that have nothing but meaningless SOL that isn't even amusing or interesting. Protagonist VA is definitely something that should be universal in games with VA. Self-insert being harmed by it is total BS. It is an excuse not to have to pay for it. I agree with the need to do away with high school settings. It's been done and overdone ad infinitum. Protagonist personalities definitely need to be revamped. If I wanted to self-insert into a moron or an average guy, I'd read 19th century literature.

+1 for Akio and Sanae being one of the ultimate best VN parents I think I'll finally give Clannad anime a go - rereading whole VN would take up too much time, but it might be nice way to re-live the story in a different way.

Aiyoku No Eustia (https://vndb.org/r24024) A fan transation project by Eustia Translations Partial Patch is out! https://mega.nz/#!no0DyQza!DZShSFgME_-iW6vaEdYy3oek-794a1yiuiW48U05dBQ Covers up to Eris' chapter (Chapter 2). Opening Movie: Description (modified VNDB description): Personal words: Translation Video Sample: Team: Project Lead/Translator/TLC: eplipswich @eplipswich Head Editor: Desertopa Head QC: Angeldeath Reserve/Former Members: Translator (Reserve): TakoRin @TakoRin Editor (Reserve): kumada Translator (Former): goodluckmyway/Be Water @goodluckmyway Editor/QC (Former): Vermillio @Vermillio QC (Former): Esham @Esham Progress: You can check out detailed real-time progress update at the following link: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AhHDq_NSwaAqgSnImaDDLTME-lmi?e=ai9dey ---------------------------------- You can follow me on Twitter: @eplipswich Job Opening(s): None at the moment, but feel free to PM me if you feel you can contribute to the project.

I'm still experimenting with various ways of image processing to create "256 color" versions of in-game assets. Unfortunately the method I proposed in March isn't suitable for all images that can be found in this VN, so I had to think about something else. And I tried the method that involves applying various amounts of blur to different layers, re-sharpening them using GIMP's tools, mixing and blending them to taste, and in final step converting image to 256 color mode. I think I still prefer original, but it looks promising - and since it will be switchable, there should be no problem For comparison - original 16 color assets: And the same scene in the "256 color mode" using processed images: At the very least, I think it looks better than Memorial Edition

Where's your video gonna be posted so I can watch it when it's out?

Most VN are japanese, that's why there's barely any woke diversity and all that, because that country haven't been tainted with such needless political conflict, as far as i know at least. And if you're talking about having a problems with VN that has anime artstyle then. The only race anime have is simply anime, no causcasian, latinos, asians, africans etc. if you have problems with anime, just treat them as it own thing, they all have the same oversize eyes and unnatural body structure, just treat them as a completely different fictional beings like dwarve or elf if you're really that desperate to have something to project yourself on. As for your complaint for not having a girlfriend, well wether you're young or not, like the comment above, just go outside and socialize, just try, and if you made a bad first impression with strangers then that's okay, don't think too much about it cuz what's the worse could've happen? And one last advice from a stranger, don't mix any IRL politics such as diversity with video games, it'll do nothing but ruining your experiences just like what you doing now, just don't think much about it, play the games enjoy the story, and try not to project any IRL politics you have in your head into the game you're playing, just disregard those thoughts thanos snap it if you can. and please, don't use VN or any video games to cope with your personal problems, just think about how you can improve your life, remember there are millions of solutions to any problems, and you just have to search for one

I never thought I would be the one to ever say this, but go outside and get some air. Seriously.

Nagisa Furukawa ^Miss little CLANNAD poster heroine in her prime right here, making everybody proudz :') I've been slogging through CLANNAD for several weeks now, and it's only during Nagisa's route that they finally officially dump the OP on you, so saving her route for last I was like l0l really?? Her route though was... surprisingly average; not much to say. Nothing special or out of this world happens. But at least Nagisa in general finally grew on me. I disliked her meek softspoken personality at first but she becomes less reserved and speaks her mind more often later on while maintaining that same slow, gentle demeanor. Very wholesome to be around. ...Which is why it is absolutely hilarious that Tomoya pervs out on her at the randomest moments. He's a pretty reserved protagonist overall in that aspect, so I just burst out laughing here: Really, Tomoya?? You're with one of the more wholesome heroines and this is what you scheme?! Out of all heroines I'd rank the route quality Kotomi > Tomoyo > Nagisa >= Fuko >= Kyou/Ryou > Others Speaking of the others, sorry I ran out of gas and had to speedrun Misae, and literally Ctrl-skipped skimmed through Kappei. Just gib me them lights! ~~ And so... I've finally reached Awesome Stuff. Wish me luck.

Been an age since I last posted here :(. I've been reading Sabbat of the Witch. I finished the Tsumugi route yesterday (I've already done Touko and Meguru), and I'm now on the Nene route. I'm really enjoying the VN though. It is the kind of VN where it's really easy to read for a bit then wind up getting sucked in and reading more than anticipated. I'm a big fan of the soundtrack, and there are a lot of really good songs in there. I also like the way they have two versions of the heroine songs, and yet somehow both versions sound really good. As usual for a Yuzusoft title (as far as I can tell at least), the art is also very well done, and the characters look charming and inviting. I also am enjoying the story. The premise felt a little bit forced at first, but it has been handled nicely. It must also be said: Nene and Touko are hilarious :D. My only complaint is that the characters don't seem evenly done. Like, it seems like the focus goes towards one or two of the heroines in general (even outside of their given routes), and that leaves one particular heroine only really getting space to shine inside her route. Other than that though it is quite well done. So yeah I'm really enjoying the VN. I remember really enjoying Noble*Works, and I can see this being much the same. I can see why it got so highly rated. Bonus song