fun2novel

But guys, does Aksys has the right to announce ZE3? They just localize the games, they aren't the developers. If the Japanese developers don't say anything then how could Aksys even announce anything?

Dies Irae for me. I don't even want to imagine what will happen to me if I was to read Kajiri Kamui Kagura right now, lol.

Looks good but I'm still not completely sure about this one.

There is always a hope someone will translate it someday. I feel bad praising it so much because it makes a lot of people feel bad for not being able to read.

Whatever our hobby is there are always these once in a while moments when we get a chance to experience something that makes us glad we have this hobby, it defines and gives reason why we love what we do. Dies Irae is one such visual novel for me. Written by Takashi Masada, Dies Irae was his most ambitious work at the time. The game was a bit of a mess when it was first released. However it gained enough popularity and allowed Masada to redo the script, add two more routes, and polish up the visuals and turn it into the epic we have today. There were a few more versions of this vn published over the years like the PSP port, a pc port of the PSP port and so on. VNDB is your friend so look it up if you want to know more. It all begins with a long monologue by some mysterious personality talking about destiny, fatalism, predetermined choices and other stuff. You better get used to it because this story is full of long thought probing self indulgent philosophical poetics. Then we move on to the prologue, still no clear connection to the main plot and yet still immersive to read. The earth trembles by the sounds of the roaring cannons. A rain of dust and shells and hellfire suffocate every last breath. The screams of the victims are unheard over the screaming gunfire. Unknown to the blood stained history an event is about to occur that will set the course of certain individuals on a path of tragic destiny. The story begins proper in Japan as we are introduced to our protagonist and slowly the rest of the cast. The story is so dense and has such a sheer amount of layers of depth not a single moment is wasted. So much is going on that sometimes it feels as if the narrative is stretched too thin by trying to cover everything and show every character from every event at the same time. Somehow the insane narrative strategy successfully manages to juggle all that without being a confusing distracting mess of a story. It's really impressive how Dies Irae manages to stay consistently interesting without slowing down or getting boring for the entire length of the story. Not that there aren't slow moments but these are all part of the perfect pacing Masada fused into every scene so everything feel natural. There is almost always something new and interesting to discover at every corner. I can imagine Masada really putting all he's got into polishing the script into a crisp and shiny diamond the end result eventually turned out to be. This is an action packed vn full of the most badass cast of characters to ever show up in any visual novel I ever read. I dare you to find another vn with so much badassery and flavor of style. What makes it so good is how Dies Irae develops the characters and almost makes them come alive. Pretty much every character has a strong presence illuminating the entire stage, that's a good thing since you'll be seeing and hearing them a lot throughout this 60+ hours story. The graphics and sound is another area Dies Irae outdoes most everything out there. The character designs are great and the CGs are beautiful especially if you take into consideration that there are a lot of them and all look spectacular. The voice acting is just perfect, can't say much more except that the protagonist is also voiced and he is awesome. There a lot of music tracks spanning from rock metal to slow emotional music to an all out Mozart opera. Suffice it to say that Dies Irae is a feast for the eye AND the ears. The sheer scope of this work invites volumes of essays, theories, speculations and arguments. It is the visual novel that defines its own genre. It is the proof that visual novels are serious storytelling medium and they are here to stay. It's rare to see a product that brings every single perfect element into one beautiful whole and Dies Irae is one such rare breed.

I kind of want to know what happens next, lol.

You go 5pb. milk that cow for all it's worth.

It's a tough choice between Rosenbleu and Minato. But since we kind of know what to expect from the former, I'm really curious about Minato's new title. So I will go with Anekouji Naoko to Gin'iro no Shinigami. But of course Valkyrie Runabout should be read right after that.

here you go http://seiya-saiga.com/game/silkysplus/nanarin.html

How did you guys connect this to ZE3? Where is the escape there? This is obviously an announcement of of Half-Life 3!

You gotta find something this guy likes. People have this opinion that visual novels are slow and dull which can't be further from the truth, most of the time.See what anime he likes and find a similar vn. Some people also associate vns with standard video games too much, hence the 'wasted potential' and 'lack of choices' excuse. So it's important to set the right mindset. Phenomeno is a good short vn to start with. It's in the horror genre and it probably won't convert him completely but it's a good taste. Sya no Uta another horror title if he's into that. Personally, I wouldn't suggest F/SN. He probably will like it but since he has a strong resistance to visual novels and this one is really slow to get going. F/SN is usually for people who are already open to visual novels. My Girlfiend is the President is a good choice too. So ask him what kind of story he would like to read.

Phenomeno, Kikokugai and Hanachirasu all are supposed to be short.

A sad day to lose such a creative and prolific author, you will be missed. Rest in piece dear friend.

Don't forget Minori, they had the biggest overreaction to rapelay.

Just wanted to say thank you guys for your hard work!

The first pick for my series of epic anime has to be non other than Aim for the Top: Gunbuster! one of the best anime ovas every produced. EVER! This six 30min episode anime is more packed with more awesome than your average 26 episode tv series. Produced by Gainax and directed by non other then Hideaki Anno himself. The creators put so much love and passion into each and very frame you can't help but keep watching just one more episode and before you know it it's over. But it's over at just the right moment with just the right length and with just the right pacing. Don't be fooled by the girly shoujo style you're presented at the begining either, give it a minute and you'll forget that it's somekind of a shoujo show and be completely cheering for the main character. The 1st episode indeed starts very differently from what you might expect out of this show but this episode has a goal and it accomplishes it perfectly. Say what you will about Anno but the guy knows how to direct a story. This first episode also makes a lot and I do mean A LOT of homages to Aim for the Top shoujo anime about tennis. It's based on a popular shoujo manga. However what's amazing is how Anno was able to do in one episode what this show tried in 12. If you watched the original 70's Aim for the Ace anime (directed by the well known Osamu Dezaki) you will have a dejavu. It's not surprising, the Anno and the entire Gianax staff are huge anime fans have alot of love and passion for animation and storytelling and it shows up in their works a lot. Gunbuster is their love letter to the anime fans of that generation but it's just so happens this show transends generations and still relevant even today. It's not a very deep story, in fact it's not deep at all. What it does have is human characters trying standing up against all odds. There is just enough drama to make you connect with everyone and everything is kept within realism. The sci-fi elements aren't ignored either and are taken very seriously. So much so that they even produced several mini episodes explaining the science to the viewers. Not that it's so complicated that you'll be lost but it's a nice effort. Visually it looks fantastic. I love that old art style and portrays the awesomeness of the late 80's early 90's anime art long since gone. The art still holds well even today so many years since the first episode was released. The voices as awesome as well, being fans of anime Gainax staff knows how important a voice can be, not just the voice but the tone of the recorded sound. For that they add a bit of trebble filter to the voices to bring them closer to your ears. Speaking of sound, the music is another reason this is a hootblooded anime, there will be moments when the hair on your back will stand erect from awesomeness. Well then, I guess it's time to finish this. I hope you guys check this show out. Don't look for info on google, don't read the wiki, don't even read reviews. If you want a great epic anime try it out, I guarantee once you get past your initial impression you'll get hooked. Few things you should now before you go, it's a mecha show, it's hotblooded, it's slightly over the top. If that's not your cup of tea then I'm sorry but you probably won't like it.

I forgot to add Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime

In this case I would recommend G-Senjou Ever17 Remember11 I/O Cartagra Kara no Shoujo maybe Never7 - there is focus on romance but there is also an overarching story you mentioned Higurashi so I guess you'll like Umineko too I think Steins;Gate is good too, there is romance but it's not the focus most of the time I didn't play all of these myself, and even those I did play not all of them were good but try out a few see what you like.

There are plenty of visual novels where the romance is nothing but a sub plot and not the focus of the main plot. But it also depends on what kind of story you want to read. I could list a bunch of visual novels but without knowing what you like they will all be a hit or a miss.

Hey everybody, this is my 2nd blog. From the name you might have already guessed what this is going to be about but let me explain. You see, those who know me know I hate spoilers. I hate them with passion, I hate them deep inside my soul, I hate their mother and their father, I hate HATE spoilers. Sometimes I don't want to know the premise, I don't even want to know what happens in the first hour of any visual novel or rpg or any game I play. Which makes it harder to explain the premise and convince me why I should invest my time into this or another product. But the thing is that sometimes it's very difficult to talk about something and really show why exactly I love it so much, why I'm so excited about it, or even why it's the best thing EVAAAARR!!!! Whenever I write I find myslef with one hand behind my back censoring myself and taking out anything I might deem spoilerific. I want people who read whatever I write to enjoy and be surprised by these stories the same way I was. If I say that someone dies somewhere or a surprise character appears I think this will ruin the experience not just for the player but also disrespect the creator's intent to surprise the reader. But I also want a place to exress myself freely without worrying about spoilers. So this is why this blog exists. My Funtime Hour blog will not have any spoilers so if you are interested to but don't want to be spoiled go there. This blog will have a lot of spoilers, I'll be discussing characters, plots, detailed thoughts on what was good and bad, what I liked and didn't like, what are some of the best and some of the worst moments. Anything I feel like talking about. This blog will be for those who already played these games and are interested to read about them, either from a sense of nostalgia or just want to see what someone else thinks about it. This blog is also for people who don't give a shit about spoilers and just want to know what's so good about a particular game. So that's it, hope to write more soon! BTW, only comments relevant to the blog post's topic are allowed in this blog. Please do not talk about anything else but the game discussed in each post. We still need to avoid spoilers.

Hey everybody who reads this. I'm fun2novel and this is my new blog. Actually it's my first blog ever. Always wanted to have my own blog if only to wine and complain about the state of the industry today. What industry? I have no idea, I guess I needed a place to be heard, lol. But I was too busy or too lazy to make a blog. But here I am, finally taking the right step, at least I hope, it's kind of scary putting yourself out there, lol. Well, actually the truth is that I wanted to get myself motivated to write more. Writing I believe helps me grow and learn to express myself better in both writing and in real life as well. I plan to write a lot here and hope that at least someone will find it interesting. So what is this blog going to be about? First and foremost it will be about visual novels and video games. Especially the narrative aspect of those. I'll be talking not just about the plots and stories but also about the overall experience I got while playing. These wil be my thoughts although I will try my best to have both personal opinion and a more unbiased opinion. Some of you will hate me for saying some things, some of you will love me but at the end of the day it all comes down to how much you personally enjoyed it and the opinion of some asshole on the internet really doesn't matter (unless it's me ) Well anyway, time to finish this post. Cya soon guys!

Rest In Peace.

I'm so tired of people who have almost never played a vn trying to 'introduce' vns and alwayas spreading missinformation or just plain lies. Edit: I'm sorry but this is just a shitty article written by someone who thought he's very clever by googling 'popular vns' and just wrote a few lines aobut them. Obviously this person didn't even play half of those. Why not cover other vns like Dengeki Stryker, Cartagra, Kara no Shoujo, Saya no Uta, Ever17, why not explain that some have erotic and pornographic scenes but these are never the focus of most story vns. Show some depth and get people excited about these, not just hey I have to write 300 word article let me just select a few popular vns and copy paste their premise summaries.

Chaos;Child Yu-No remake Valkyrie Runabout! Sorcery Jokers Silverio Vendetta Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Bansenjin Kurogane Kaikitan -Senya Ichiya- Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru S Anekouji Naoko to Gin'iro no Shinigami

But don't you think it could mean that vn he said he is working on for 5pb. (Mages) ? Which I think turned out to be the Yu-No remake. You-know-what could very well be referencing Yu-No since it is one of the most popular vns in Japan.