LAsuka

Yes, I don't understand why people are not considering reading it due to the possibility of running into violent H-scene, which will likely comprise far less than 1% of the game, and can easily be skipped (with your eyes closed if you so prefer). You are reading it mainly for the other 99%, which you would likely enjoy. Gekkou no Caneval is another story. Its SOOOO boring that I could not continue past the 5-hour mark. Muv-Luv Alternative had an extremely awful, revolting sexual assault H-scene, but that didn't stop it from being enshrined as one of the best VNs of all time.

Getting a new interest, finding a new hobby with VNs could possibly be said to be the ultimate form of flattery for a story.

Anybody played and find Ikusa Megami Zero very hard? I keep having to grind just to defeat early game bosses and each stage is sapping my energy to continue further. I've seen rave reviews about it online but I can't summon the motivation to play any more dungeon crawling.

Its pretty clear what happened if you read the VN more carefully. They are together, but they decided to call off the engagement because they want to focus on the band and not complicate things with the engagement and the wedding preparations.

Well... if you want to see Aokana Zwei with all the aforementioned possible routes, vote with your wallet.

Hot take, but I literally can't stand Dies Irae. I'm halfway through Rea's route and I can't take any more pretentious dialogue (that portends to be 'grandiose' and 'insightful') and random Nazi bullshit. Also, Rea and Ren has no chemistry. Gekkou no Carneval is SOOO BORING. Probably gonna wait until something more worth playing comes up. Until then, there's a huge backlog of games to start on.

I would say 9-nine- is a pretty good game. It starts off pretty slow and pretty unremarkably, but things really pick up from episode 3 and episode 4 is a really great finale. I did a brief review of the tetralogy that you can find here.

Good idea in theory, impractical in practice. Pros 1. There are many people fluent in Japanese who do not want to commit to a long project without pay, but translating ~1000 lines is far more manageable and would entice more people to apply. Cons 1. Different people inevitably have different writing styles/translation interpretation, so trying to make the style/translation interpretation consistent would be infinitely difficult, if not impossible. And that's assuming their Japanese level is about the same, which is highly unlikely. 2. Translation teams already fall apart when its only 5-6 people with translators disappearing off the face of the Earth. Managing ~70 people with editors and TLCs is pretty nigh impossible. You would be lucky if you're left with half of the translators you started with in 6 months. 3. You are going to get tons of haters because the VN community is VERY VOCAL about a sub-par translation of a highly acclaimed visual novel. 4. With this many people, the company is highly likely to learn about this project at some point, and you may be hit with a C&D. Or there may be a troll who tells the company on you. There are just some neutered people like that in the world.

Honestly, I agree that the bad end route itself should be marked as mature due to the nature of the depressing and melancholic tone, as well as the sheer lack of hope that it presents. There are also some mature themes such as suicide and the nature of life, so not exactly All-Ages friendly, but worthy of an 18+ rating? I don't think so. In fact, since most VN players are already above 18, they should have the emotional and psychological maturity to be able to take the themes presented with a pinch of salt, so even the mature themes are more or less a moot point. So, obviously there are clear double standards involved in Steam's increasingly obfuscating and opaque rating system.

If you're talking about skilled protagonists, the ones I can think off the top of my head are Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (MC is a 'Special High Class Individual) and its sequel, Yuukyuu no Shounenshoujo G-senjou no Maou (The MC is the brain of a Yakuza Empire) 9-nine series (MC is not an anti-hero, but is highly capable, especially in the final episode) Muv-Luv (Extra, Unlimited and Alternative) - MC starts off whiny, weak and insubstantial, but transforms into one of the best protagonists probably of all time Ayakashibito (MC is an escapee from an internment camp) Sorcery Jokers (The MC with white hair is a true badass) There's probably a bunch more, so I'll update this if I remember.

Might want to preface that the "complete" 18+ restoration patch for Noratoto (PS Vita) used machine translation for most of the H-scenes. There is still an ongoing one in Fuwa using proper translations, but its nowhere near complete. I guess the machine translation is serviceable given that most of the text in H-scenes are just moaning and really silly nonsensical dialogue or euphemism-riddled verbose, but some people want proper English erotica so to speak for whatever reason.

Turns out that Sekai indeed did release Island Days in three languages (Japan, English, and Chinese) on the same day as Nine Episode 4... I think you meant Island Diary. Some exciting news this week I guess. Very excited to read Aiyoku no Eustia, which seems set to release maybe around the start of Summer (hopefully!). Nekonyan doing a great job as usual localizing some decently interesting VNs, although I wish they expand beyond Yuzusoft and Smee, but more VNs is always good. Also very excited about Hello Lady but its been stuck in developer hell for the better part of a year, so I'll keep expectations in check. Thanks for the updates every week.

Maybe its time to try the classics: Muv Luv (Extra/Unlimited + Alternative; Alternative Chronicles if you really like this) --> Probably Universally known as the best VN released in English Fate/Stay Night --> Universally praised as the crown jewel of a pseudo-historical fantasy Tsukihime (Remake may be coming, but its already been 8 years in development and radio silence) --> Universally praised from the writer of F/SN, but a bit dated Princess Waltz (One of my favourites) --> Commonly compared to F/SN, not as brilliant, but still pretty good Kira Kira --> One of the first VNs I played, still very good. Deardrops --> If you loved Kira Kira and their crossover: d2b Vs Deardops - Cross the Future "What a Beautiful" series/Liarsoft - Sekien no Ignaock - Shikkoku no Sharnoth - Gahkthun of the Golden Lighting and the upcoming Sona-Nyl of the Violet Shadow Kamidori Alchemy Meister (spend almost 200 hours playing this) Farther than the Blue Sky I walk among zombies series (the entire series is finally released, so you can play it one after the other) Comyu Ayakashibito ...Plenty others, but this should be a good selection Also check out the list from Kaguya (50 VNs to read before you die).

Saya no Uta. 'nuff said. Others that I can think of: Salthe You and Me and Her

I don't think they explicitly mentioned they are not making Aokana Zwei. After the resounding success of the English release version, it would be kinda stupid to revive only to create one new visual novel. EXTRA 3 has not been announced, so its likely they will skip straight to Zwei. I think they are waiting to see the sales of EXTRA 2 to see whether there are enough sales to warrant creating another full price sequel to Aokana.

One thing I can't get over is during one of the H-scenes, she says something along the lines of "You can't see it can you? Of course, there's a mosaic in the way.", while the translation states, "You're lucky, you know. In the Japanese version, there's a mosaic in the way". And this game, is of course, un-mosaiced. This made me laugh so hard. Am I weird?

Thanks as usual. Your succinct VN news summary covers most of the events in the VN world and is comprehensive and insightful.

I'll actually advise against skipping FF2. Although I like Lute as much as any other person, I actually prefer Ruin (FF2's Protagonist) as the protagonist because he actively participates in the plot, rather than simply stumbling through sheer dumb luck. Some of the ways that he deliberately talks circles around his foes as well as around the heroines are also actually very endearing. I also prefer the heroines and the political landscape of FF2, but that's personal preference. I do believe that FF Gaiden 2 is the best entry in the series though.

Sound a lot like Narcissu - all the entries in the series. The main characters are both slowly dying of an unnamed, incurable disease. Its freeware, so the graphics aren't anything to write home about, but the prose is pretty great.

Why choose one when you can have both? if you play a trap game you have both GxG for a while, and then BxG after the identity is revealed. Jokes aside, I'll play anything with a good plot, even shounen ai, although I prefer stories that are more BxG and GxB specific. I agree that the Japanese cultural paradigm features a lot of hapless female protagonists that require salvation my some male alpha, with some exceptions. I don't generally play OEVNs so I can't comment on that.

My two cents: 1. Perhaps it speaks something about the lack of truly great reading material that I have read (despite me being a lit major) but I find that some visual novel storytelling exceeds pretty much every other form of literature I have read. Stories such as Muv-Luv Alternative, G-senjou no Maou and Fate/Stay Night are in my own opinion, some of the pinnacle of the genre - at least those translated in English. 2. The art and sometimes animation that occurs in VNs treads the fine line between being able to visualise it, yet leaving out just enough to allow my imagination to fill in the gaps. Although books can portray scenes that allow vivid imagination of the entire scene, these scenes have to be grounded in some logic. However, I find that VNs allow you to imagine incredulous scenes that is otherwise nigh impossible, yet leaving out enough such that your imagination is allowed to enhance the scenes. 3. H-scenes and the ability to romance your favourite heroines. 'nuff said. 4. The sheer breadth and depth of VNs. I guess this applies to most of Japanese visual culture, but VNs, as a sub-genre of visual culture also has a dizzying array of themes and stories to tell, and they are sometimes beyond anything the western world has conceived. Stories such as Island, Wonderful Everyday, Ever17 and the Liarsoft games (The WAB series), are just some of the examples of prose that simply does not exist (at least as far as I know) in English literature. There's much more to why I love VNs as a genre - such as the music, production values and even the psycho-social culture, but the above are some of my main reasons.

Short VNs (~5 hours) with super warm and fuzzy feelings that I've played: KARAKARA and its sequel, KARAKARA 2 Love's Sweet Garnish

Living in country where its summer all year round and I need to travel a couple thousand miles to see snow, or autumn leaves... I don't know if I'm qualified to answer this question, but... Spring: For light-hearted chara-ge and moe-ge like Princess Evangile or Majikoi Fall: For crazy heart-pumping chunni-ge like Dies irae or Fate/Stay Night. I guess some nakige works too. Winter: For melancholic and despairing naki-ge, maybe Narcissu?

YU-NO I've heard fantastic things about this visual novel, and have attempted to play it more than once - but every time I try it kinda drop it midway because the system is infuriating, and the art is pretty old. That said, apparently there's a remake coming soon, so there's that. Steins;Gate, CLANNAD Now before you raise pitchforks and torches to burn me at the stake, let me explain. Apparently these few VNs had a pretty good anime adaptations (some of the best, actually), and because of that, most of the twists are already spoiled for me, and I don't get any interest playing it. My policy now is that if an anime has a VN counterpart, I will always play it first, or wait for it to be translated, unless there is beyond a shadow of a doubt that it will ever be translated. SubaHibi I've also heard great things about this, but seriously, the first chapter really turned me off, and while the second and third chapter had its moments, I really need to get into the mood to enjoy this series. Also, because its seriously weird (in a good way, though weirdness need some time to get used to). I will eventually finish this... someday. Kara no Shoujo 2 The extended flashback scene was WAAAY too long, and while not bad per se, overstayed its welcome. I'm going to get back to it soon, since its Halloween and all. ... Pretty much a lot more which I've forgotten (Phenomeno, KoiNatsu Resort and Myth is some I kinda remember), these are the most memorable ones. Cross Channel is generally a slow burn and I can emphathise with dropping it because until beyond the halfway mark its seems like a weird slice-of-life and you have no idea what's going on. It gets better later though, though I must admit, the ending really left much to be desired.

It was succinct and "to-the-point", which is commendable. I would have liked if you spent a bit more time on the game-play aspects. The game-play, while not brilliant, served as an entertaining distraction and a breather between the H-scenes. Of course, the main draw is still the H-scenes, but I felt the game-play was decent too. It required efficient management of resources to make sure your peace points wasn't too low, and not to spread your resources too thin between the 3 heroines. It is perfectly possible to lose the game if you intend to train up all your heroines evenly, resulting in your main heroine being too weak even to defeat minor bosses such as the Kainins (I should know...). Otherwise, this was a good review which pretty much sums up the game, which was a pretty fun ride, all things considered.