Vokoca

Slowly started myself, kind of hard to read something like this with people around, so it'll probably take me a while, haha. Only 6 h-scenes in so far - nothing much is happening, but the constant flow of strange and uncomfortable hints and remarks keeps it really entertaining. Harumi is probably the most interesting character so far, with Kazuki close behind - not really much to say about the rest of the cast so far. EDIT: And finished the VN! Enjoyed it even more than I thought I would - characters were incredibly likeable and the comedy was great. If it wasn't for this, most of the VN would probably feel boring, but thankfully I found the slice of life just as enjoyable as the sci-fi that comes in much later. It also nearly gave me a clock PTSD, that's quite an achievement.

I read quite a number of console VNs, so naturally I buy all of those (or get them from PS+, but money goes in there too). Also bought Muramasa and Senshinkan for PC, because I wanted to have those shiny boxes and artbooks.... As for English VNs.... got VLR from PS+, and bought the first two Corpse Party games. That was about two years back though, I don't think I'll be buying anything English now.

Just finished Hello Lady!. It was a very enjoyable read overall. Art was great, music was nice with some catchy tracks (and the SFX design was probably one of the best I've heard in a VN so far - gunshots are sharp and loud, punches have the right hefty sound, there's even a handful of more abstract suspense sound effects that really add a lot), and the story was for the most part great. The writing was.... well, it is Hino, so the writing was very flowery to say the least. I really liked it, but I have to say that when Hino decided to take his overly dramatic monologue narration and actually incorporate it into dialogues, the 'poetic' speeches almost felt a bit awkward at times - but hey, that's also a part of chuuni, I suppose. What I didn't like much is that while Hino has decided to take this story places, especially considering the main theme, there are still lines he's not willing to cross. It didn't outright clash, but it left me wishing that he could take things a bit further at several occasions. I'd also say the story structure and the route system didn't work so well together (by the time the routes split, there is a very clear objective in sight - which means not much of it is accomplished in certain routes, or, worse, it is actually repeated in all of them, taking away from the impact a bit), but it doesn't by any means break the experience. Speaking of routes, the VN is very much above average when it comes to functionality in PC VNs. There's a very nice self-updating scenario select mode that somewhat acts like a flowchart as well, marking chapters with choices, as well as the choices you actually made. The VN goes as far as showing you the amount of affection points you have with each heroine (and one other 'special' stat), which is really nice. On top of all that, it has hilarious hint corners, and I haven't came across those ever since Type-Moon stuff. Oh how I missed those, hint corners are great! Overall an 8.5 from me, a very fun VN.

Oh god, how can you use that font? It's a pain in the ass to read.

Who knew FSG was such an incredibly hostile environment where everyone hates each other. Who'd even want to visit such a group?

Oh, nice, I will probably play it too, then. Was slowly making my way through Kara no Shoujo again (this time in Japanese) to catch up so I could move onto the second one anyway. Nice timing.

Nope, but Konami is a character in the game, and so is Capcom, Square, Enix and... whatever B-sha is, haven't met her yet.

So yesterday at around 10 PM, I thought I would have a quick look at Amagami (since I have the Vita version from PS+), thinking I would just close it moments later because it didn't look that interesting. Well, I did close it later.... at 6 AM. At first it was the perfect utsuge simulator. MC is a loser? Check. Manipulative annoying as hell heroine that makes the MC thousand times worse? Yeah, check, I somehow ran into her first. It was pure pain and suffering - and then I met Techno Rihoko, the best grill. The power of osananajimi characteristics and moe (Kiririri.... what have you done to me?) was more than enough for me to make a 180° turn on the game. No but really, it was around that time I finally started understanding the main movement/calendar system. It looks pretty intimidating at first with new events appearing, disappearing, getting blocked and what not in a huge honeycomb pattern - but after spending a bit of time with it, it becomes surprisingly comprehensible, telling you everything you need to know. If you're going to fail, it's probably not going to be due to ambiguous choices, which is a good thing. I guess they could've worked on the help screens a bit more since they don't really help much at all - but it's not somehting you can't figure out on your own with a bit of trial and error. Anyway, after suddenly pumping around 8 hours into it out of nowhere, I am around halfway through the calendar - and after the first successful confession, woo. I need to wrap up Hello Lady! fast, since Amagami seems like something I will be playing quite a bit. It scratches that itch I had ever since reading Clannad, which was one of my first VNs - in hindsight, one of the reasons why I liked Clannad so much might've been its similarity to a dating sim with the absurd amount of choices and heroines.

Took a break from Witcher 3 to play some more of Nepnep VII, and.... damn, I really want to hate Konami for all the shit they've pulled recently, but K-sha is easily my favourite girl so far. Such dirty tactics...

Main heroine with glasses? ぶーぶー I've finished Eru's route in Hello, Lady! and currently making my way through Saku's. Can't really say much more than I said before. While Hino seems willing to go places, there still are lines he's not willing to cross, and that's quite disappointing. Still, a very enjoyable read nonetheless, curious how the last route will pan out.

From the title, I was expecting a moe iteration of the Last of Us Clickers. What a disappointment.

Once, there was a person who read Sayooshi with machine TL, and the summary of the plot he gave when he was finished was almost even more fascinating than the one in the VN - that is to say, it was completely different. Sayooshi isn't some extremely vague work, and even if there are some finer points, it usually goes out of its way to point out where things stand with a sentence or two every so often. And the person with the machine TL missed all of that completely, even plot points that were apparent halfway through the VN already. Could be just the individual reader for sure, but I think this puts machine TL into perspective quite well. At least when you use a praser, you probably already have enough knowledge about the language to spot the mistakes it makes anyway, but with machine TL, where you rely on a different language completely, that's not really possible.

As an outsider, to me it seems they make almost nothing but fandiscs, actually...

I thought it was a dick... ;_;

Finished Tamao's and Sorako's routes in Hello Lady! Tamao's route was okay - kind of an introductory route I suppose, it wasn't really anything that special. The little plot that it did reveal was nice, though. Sorako's route had a great middle point. There were some amazing fight scenes and certain things got resolved in a way I really liked... that is, except for the ending. Not really even mad about leaving things unresolved for the next routes, because that's only to be expected, but it does that one thing I hate in endings. That's just my personal pet peeve though, so I can't hold it against it that much. The scene before the second opening, and the opening seamlessly blending into it is still my favourite part of the VN though - the mood there was perfect, and it got me incredibly hyped for what could come. I really do hope at least the true route delivers on that. Please, Hino! Also I'm salty that Hishia doesn't seem to have a route. She deserves the true route, screw Saku.

After finding out just how huge the Sakuuta trial is (can I really call it a trial, with routes and all?), I've decided to go back to Hello Lady! for now. Might just wait for Sakuuta to come out, I like going into things as blind as possible, so the first few scenes were enough for me. As for Hello Lady!, just reached my first bad end. I was a bit worried about the structure at first, afraid I might screw up the order somehow, but this was the best possible way my first playthrough could've ended. Nice trial run. Very much liked what I've seen so far - Hino's writing is great as usual, and the entire VN is really enjoyable. Shinri makes for much of the enjoyment, but that's how it should be - the main characters should be the most important characters in a story, in my opinion. Or well, that's the way I prefer it, anyway. The fight scenes are also very enjoyable, giving me that nice chuuni fill, without crushing me completely like Masada would, haha. Very much looking forward to reading more of this VN, I'm enjoying it much more than I've thought I would from the intro.

Aboard the hype train!

Fucking disgusting.

I just woke up and this is the first thing I've seen. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Well, somehow pushed myself through both of the twins' routes in KonoSora, although I honestly had to reach for the ctrl button a few times on the fluff scenes. Asa's route was just a whole load of nothing, but the second one (despite being what it was, bleh) at least had some character development and backstory in it, so it wasn't all that bad. Just got Amane's route left, though I might take a break in the form of a different VN again before I read that. Well, her route seems to be regarded as the best one, so I'm kind of curious about it at least.

Looking forward to the next poll consisting of just Albatross, Dies Irae, Saihate no Ima and Bradyon Veda. Hm, I am not the only one spoiled on the genre shift then? I kind of know what the shift involves and it worries me... hopefully they actually go over that part first. Damn it VNDB.

Hm... I was planning on reading Kururu eventually either way, so, if that ends up being picked, I'm in.