Vokoca

Reading bits and pieces of Muramasa between the finals madness... so it's really just little bits. The history infodumps are a pain to read, but it's pretty interesting at least. Well, I'm curious where the story goes for the group of students, but I'm assuming it won't go anywhere nice judging by the tone so far. If there's anything I really like about the VN so far, it's the awesome OST. And the writing is great, but it murders me with the history politics.

This is something I've never understood. Why are you people using walkthroughs for F/SN when there's that glorious hint corner? It's funny, fun to collect, and above all, it tells you exactly what you did wrong. Why would you need a guide then?

Flags are basically events required for something to happen - or to put it in the oter way, events that set things into motion. Lets say that in the beginning of the story, you make a choice A - and when you get to a later point in the VN, it checks if you made the choice A (= it checks for the flag 'A'), and it continues based on that result. Only some VNs do this though, there are also VNs that split the plot directly from the choices themselves.

Pretty much this. I usually skip them if they don't seem important. As for the worst.... as for being uncomfortable, Amane's h-scenes in Meikyuu were pretty good at doing that - and also a certain threesome scene in Totono was pretty horrible to read, but since that was fully intentional, I don't really hold it against it. If I had to go for really bad ones, I'd probably pick something out of Cross Channel if I'm to ignore the classic Nasu stuff. I get that they were sort of relevant to the main character, but even so.... they were so painfully long. And tat art that made everyone look like they were in elementary school didn't help anything either, geh. Haven't really read any nukiges except for(a part of) Kyonyuu Fantasy to judge on that front, but if I was to pick from that one, I've generally enjoyed Shamshel's h-scenes, but there's something about how they draw the breasts in the rest of them that puts me off. That's pretty sad, for a nukige about breasts.

Just do Sumika's and Meiya's. I've personally really enjoyed the humour in Extra (loved the overdramatic effects and such, exactly my thing), but as soon as they tried to do some serious drama, it kind of fell apart. I've only managed to do Kei's route outside of the main two, and it was... weird, to say the least. Definitely not fun to read. Not to mention the characters are mostly unlikeable, especially the class rep, ugh. At least the main pair is endearing.

Read it in Japanese then. You can be addicted and practice at the same time.

Well, I somehow read the Muramasa prologue up to the splashcreen. I did understand it, surprisingly enough, but man does it take me a long time to get through the longer textboxes... I have to look at pretty much every word. Should be possible though, it's still less intimidating than the NVL scenes in Hachimyoujin. I liked what I read, even if I'm not really into mecha (is this even considered mecha though?). I'll do my best to hold out before finals are over though, or I'm doomed.

Are you reading my mind or something? I have that VN ready for a long time, I was just afraid to start reading it since I was told it has really difficult fight scenes and such, and my Japanese isn't that great... but well, it had to come eventually. I really wanted to read it sooner or later... and hell, since I'm on the Nitro+ train already, I might just as well do that next! I had absolutely no problems with understanding totono, so I probably need something to knock me back to the ground and show me how much I actually still suck at this language.

If it has a better ending than HoshiMemo and less incest, it could be great. I'll check out the demo, finished the last thing I was reading either way.

Just finished Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, and I have to say that was the most unique thing I've ever played. Simply amazing - and just when I thought it could get worse, it only kept getting better, with an ending I didn't even think they'd have the guts to pull off. Simply amazing, I especially love the incredible attention to detail that was put into this VN. 10/10 without hesitation, anyone who likes visual novels should read this at least once in their life.

I'm personally studying Japanese on college, but even with our breakneck pace, I probably wouldn't be anywhere this far in such a short time if I didn't read a lot of VNs and didn't watch plenty of anime. Learning theory is good and all, but seeing the language actually used helps the most in actually understanding it, or that's what it feels like to me, anyway. It's definitely a great way to learn the vocabulary - but you should do some serious studying on the side for the grammar (and preferably kanji) to be able to actively use the language instead of just passively understanding it.

I'm so glad you mentioned it in that one thread, I'm absolutely loving it so far. I will probably finish it up today if I have the time, but I almost don't want to. Such a great experience, really.

I'd say this just really depends on how fast you're able to learn and how you do so, therefore trying to compare would be quite a stretch. That said, once you learn grammar decently well, it's easy enough to read VNs with the help of JParser or the like. Just don't use translators, that does nothing but hurt both the experience and your language learning. I've seriously studied Japanese just over half a year (if I don't count just lazily poking it the past year or two), I know only something over 400 kanji so far, and I don't really have a problem with reading VNs unless they're ridiculously hard. I do have to rely on JParser though, obviously.

So I thought I would go for Aoi's route in totono and... and... I see how it is now. I see what the VN is about now.... Oh god. That ending I thought was sweet before? I hate it now. So much. It was turned inside out so easily, and I've seen it so many times... ugh. It's safe to say I'm stuck now - though I couldn't stop laughing at that secret (?) scene after the credits, that might've broken the 4th wall more than anything else in that VN so far, and that's quite something. EDIT: Finally found the choice I overlooked, how did I forget that? What continued after that though... that's it. This VN is already 10/10 from me, unless it gets really horrible from here. This is too good, seriously. Everyone who likes VNs should play this, it's pure genius. Enjoy the ride, you have a lot in front of you!

I would actually argue reading VNs might be easier than watching an anime, since you don't watch an anime with an open dictionary. Well, it definitely depends on what VN you pick first, but that's my experience.

I was reading more totono, when a certain seemingly experienced character turned out to be a virgin in a h-scene anyway; and when confronted with that fact, the response was: "All heroines are virgins." ...she knows!

These phrases might still be better than Akatsuki no Goei's h-scenes (mainly in the last instalment), which always devolved into just "Aa aaA aAaa Aaa aaa---" for the last twenty lines or so. They didn't even bother with writing anything else, or any sort of narration - it was just that for the last third of a lot of h in that VN. Well, they did at least manage to make them important for the plot in certain cases.

The pitch is great. I'm already considering pledging, I'll check the demo and decide then

How about Kimi ga Nozomu Eien? The characters get together right in the prologue, so most of the story happens after the fact - though there are quite some twists involved. I haven't read the whole thing so I can't say how well it develops, but it might be what you're looking for?

I played some of her route since some guide I've come across claimed Shamshel's route comes after hers (I was planning on leaving the true route for later), but man, it's pure suffering. I really do hate her. And I still can't decide whether I like those h-scenes or not, I never thought a nukige would make me doubt myself. I feel like they tried to make it pretty serious and intense, but utterly failed. I know, right? I was never able to decide whether it was supposed to be cool or funny, and it just left me somewhat baffled instead. Thankfully Makina's route makes up for it even in this aspect.

But the fact that everything is really up to the reader is yet another factor that makes it a great vn, you could discuss it for days.

if it wasn't for his attachment to her he'd go insane. Having sex with her is like reassurance that he's not alone in the world. They were beautiful indeed, in their own way. Or did he really? Considering how the story goes, it could be argued she led him down an even more twisted path. But yeah, only rarely are the h-scenes integral to the plot. Even if they aren't, I really appreciate if they at least fit the story in some way or the other, and not just scream "This is here just for money!" I suppose Grisaia could be a decent example of including h-scenes that at least have some reason for being there (especially Amane's route), and Akatsuki no Goei handles them quite well as well. Then again, those examples work without the h-scenes as well, considering there are console releases of these titles. As for the VNs that would potentially be better without them, Hoshizora no Memoria first comes to mind (pleaase don't kill me D:) - if Key can do it I don't see any reason why Favorite couldn't, tese kind of stories are pretty much in the same category I'd say. So in the end, the best h-scenes are the ones that fit... which would make Saya no Uta the winner? That's kind of disturbing actually...

This might be actually the biggest problem with h-scenes - not how badly they're written or how much they fit or not, but the fact that they're exactly the same every single time save for some exceptions (which are mostly just limited to nukiges).

Just finished Miyuki's route in totono. That ended up being much happier than I expected. What a sweet ending, especially those few last lines were wonderful. I guess it's Aoi's turn next? If it even works that way, I still honestly have no idea what to expect, which is great. In either case I'm hoping for crazy things, so there'd better be some. How's that VN? I'm considering dropping the first one, as while kyonyuu (and beyond) definitely is my thing, the way they draw them so squishy really turns me off for some reason. And damn it Isis (Aishisu? ...spelling ) is such a bitch. Shamshel is the only reason I haven't dropped it yet.

Took a small break from writing kanji all day and decided to read it for a bit instead in totono. I've gotten to the bad ending (?), but the scary thing is that I felt so satisfied with it that I just stopped reading for today. It made the MC into the biggest loser possible, yet the conclusion was oddly comforting at the same time. I guess this confirms it - I thought I might've liked Takumi in C;H because it was one of my first VNs and that his archetype was different from what I was used to, but it looks like I generally like those loser-type protagonists and I find it easy to align with their train of thought, which is scary in and of itself. It went as far as the last choice basically screaming "BAD END!" and seemed like the worst thing to do, but I clicked it without a second thought. What are you doing to me Nitro+? Whatever it is, it's working... Also, forcing sex on someone under the pretence of 'needing more CGs' was the best thing I've read in a while. Yet I didn't biribiri D: