Vokoca

I might be remembering wrong, but I think it had the same horrendous gunshot effect as Chaos;Head. Sure it was just one-time thing in both of these, but damn, that was bad... As for Skype, blame uni for this. I'm glad I have enough time to check this site from time to time... Oh, this can definitely be a problem too. AkaGoei has this bizarre problem too, where sometimes the action scenes are carefully described, and the other times it's just sound effects.... and pretty much no text at all. I didn't mind it too much since it usually went well with the pacing, but I can easily see this getting annoying if they used it too much.

I was mostly referring to sound effects/ambience with my question, but in terms of music, I definitely agree that it builds most of the atmosphere; I would even argue that VNs wouldn't have anywhere near as much impact with bad or no music at all. But yeah, I was talking strictly about the sound effects, not BGMs. For example, there's a scene in Chaos;Head where a certain character fires a gun - but the actual sound effect they used was so weak that it almost singlehandedly broke the whole scene for me. I'm pretty sure Steins;Gate had a very similar problem. I do realize this is a really nitpicky topic, but I was wondering what other people think about it. It's also nice to see which VNs go out of their way in this direction. Yeah, especially F/SN stepped its game up compared to Tsukihime... that VN was horrendous from the SFX standpoint... and BGMs weren't much better.

Umineko right after getting your mind blown? That can't be healthy...

You don't really lose anything at all. Those two are set in the same universe, but they don't depend on each other in any way. All you'll miss are some references/small connections, but nothing too important. Whichever of the two you read first/alone, you won't be in a disadvantage.

I think we can all agree that the most important thing in a VN is the story, with perhaps the art right behind. The soundtrack is also an important part, but what I feel like is quite overlooked are the sound effects. I've honestly never paid that much attention to them since they seems to be quite lazily done most of the time (very few, stock sounds), but after reading a bit of Totono, it brought to my attention just how important sound effects in a visual novel can be. They went for the little things like cars humming in the distance, footsteps echoing throughout the abandoned school at night and the like - but just these small details do wonders with the atmosphere. What do you guys think? Is sound design an important part of visual novels? Are there any VNs where you particularly liked/hated it?

After seeing just how scary applying VN-principles to real life can be in Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, I don't want to come anywhere close to that sort of mindset. As for using VNs... well, there was that time when I wrote a review on Umineko for my English writing course on the uni and got an A, so I guess they do come in handy in one way or the other.

It was a long time since I've read the VN, but I'm pretty sure it starts with a prologue centered around Rin, written from her point of view. Are you sure it's not that? You don't even get the title screen before you finish reading this part - so if you got the menu first, and/or a different scene, you might want to check your save folder, just to be sure.

Ended up starting Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi instead of Meikyuu in the end. I've gotten a bit past the (late) opening, and it's very interesting so far. I've never read anything that would constantly break the fourth wall in a serious tone right from the very beginning like this. Aoi's VN-talk is both cute and creepy at the same time. I'm just very curious where it goes from here... somewhere really crazy I hope, this is Nitro+ after all.

Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi The references might be getting a bit too out of hand here...

Oh, how are the routes in that VN? I keep holding off on Noah for some reason, yet I am really curious about it at the same time.

True routes somehow came to hold the promise of a better story for me, to such an extent that if a VN doesn't have a true route, it almost takes away from my enjoyment. I guess I like the stories with a grand finale, and not just a bunch of different endings.

If Muv Luv Alternative could be counted as a route, I'd pick that. The last third was screaming wasted potential with each line. If that doesn't count though, probably Aoi's route in HoshiMemo, because that was the only route I've read so far that was downright painful to get through. And I thought her character could get much better, boy how was I wrong... it did the exact opposite. And to think I even kinda liked her in some other routes....

Just finished Mai's, Anzu's, Kanako's, Shouko's, Haku's and Kaede's "route". Why did the last two have h-scenes, that was kind of disturbing. D: Please don't kill me loli fans. D: That said, the route as a whole was great, and the separate endings were pretty good. It just seemed pretty contradictory at parts, Well, I enjoyed Akagoei2 a lot in the end. The only downside were the lackluster endings. I might've expected too much, but each time I felt like the VN hyped me up for something that never happened in the end. All in all, the resolutions could've been much more satisfying, it just felt kind of half-assed this way.9/10 in the end from me. I feel really weird giving it the same score as the previous VN, but I guess that's how it is. The more serious tone was definitely more exciting than the first VN, but it never really delivered; on the other hand, the first VN never promised such grand things, so it didn't fail any expectations. I probably just overestimate the first VN for some reason. Anyway, not sure what I'm going to read next. Might finally get into Meikyuu, even if the routes don't interest me that much - well, except for the grand route, of course - or start Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi. Yeah, there isn't really any other way, is there? Aside from Yuuji's monologues and Makina-ben, it isn't that hard though. But considering these, it's definitely one of the harder VNs I've read so far, which is why I'm not so willing to jump into it.

It was mostly just the fact that it was different, so I found it more interesting than the old tired patte-- oh screw it, I just like weird things, I guess. It's funny how I found this scene much less disturbing than Amane's h-scenes in Meikyuu. To go back on topic though, I've noticed that what I seem to forget the most easily are names. This has to go a few years back at least though, where I don't think about it for a long time - I really couldn't tell you the names of the cast of Chaos;Head from the top of my head, for example, though I do remember the story and everything. Though it mostly depends on the length of the VN and the impact it holds. I mean, I've read Umineko around that time as well, and I remember the (much larger) cast pretty much perfectly. But then again, that VN is ridiculously long as a complete set, and I did read the second half a bit later.

It's strange that I don't really remember the bits from VNs that I liked, however, it's kind of a blessing as I can read wonderful VNs several times without knowing every plot detail. Should I feel bad for finding that scene more entertaining than 99% of regular h-scenes?

W- wha- ... Sumika is still the best girl for me. Speaking of HoshiMemo, I felt like everyone was yelling in there. It was probably just because of how vocal Chinami and Asuho were, both of which could get annoying (though Asuho doesn't come nowhere near Chinami's annoyance level). Though I honestly don't mind these things much, what I do mind are these nonsensical imouto characters. Who comes up with this shit, seriously. And Makina? Makina is amazing, period.

Welp, shit got suddenly real in AkaGoei. Liking it a lot so far, really curious where it goes from here. Still hoping Kaito gets to crush all the important people one after another by the end, that'd be great. I'm planning on checking out Michiru's route after I finish up Akagoei, or just do it on the side, so I can tell you whether they did or not when I read it. Though there are people who can confirm this much faster, obviously.

The Grisaia chibis are adorable as always. I wish I was screening all the funny bits in AkaGoei... but then I'd probably just screen every second scene.

I thought I'd take a break and just read listen my way through a different ending of AXANAEL to end the dayy off, but instead of the expected short one, I've stumbled right into the true ending! I was wondering why the plot was suddenly getting more interesting. But even with the amazing production values and the better climax, it wasn't anything absolutely mindblowing. 8/10 in the end from me. Well, the true end saved it, was a clear 7 before that. Anyway, the next Nitro+ thing I'll read will most likely be Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi - I am still too afraid of Muramasa and its language difficulty I heard about. Also played some more of AkaGoei2 before, got to the first choice in that last (?) scenario. I think I can now confirm that reading the Anzu route in the fandisc before continuing ended up being a great idea - the route relies on it quite a bit so far, so I knew exactly who certain characters were, what random utterances were referring to and it just added much more context to things altogether. Akatsuki no Goei is pretty similar, when it comes to the protagonists. But Kaito is even more badass than Yuuji, however impossible that might seem at first.

Well, don't take my word for it, you might enjoy it a lot. And it's not like the route is downright terrible or anything, it still has its highlights - it's just the weakest of the bunch in my opinion. Speaking of Michiru, her seiyuu is voicing this murderous psychotic character in the VN I'm reading right now. It's... pretty weird.

Finished up Anzu's route in Akagoei's fandisc. That was longer than I thought it would be! The ending was really sweet - but well, I'm just glad I can get back into Shuumatsuron now. It's time to finally find out who that awesome woman with purple hair is. EDIT: W-What the... this route just started and it already feels more epic than anything up to this point! And that OP! Ahh, I don't know if this is the true route or not, but I now see why it was locked. This... this had better be good, it got me really hyped. Yeah, that's exactly what I've meant. But if you compare something entertaining but out of place, and something poor and fitting, I think the former is better.

I do forget details over time, but it's not like I can just re-read something and feel like it's completely new again. Even if I feel like I forgot, I usually remember when I see something related to it - that, and you simply don't forget the ending and other important plot points, do you? That said, I can't for the life of me remember what was the first VN I've ever played. And it can't even be that far back, 2011-2012 I think? I know which were the first I played, but what exact one was the very first? ...not at all. That honestly kind of worries me.

Aw man, couldn't watch cause of uni stuff. Damn.

B-But I liked Takumi for exactly those reasons. It was one of the first VNs I've ever read, so I might be biased when it comes to C;H, but I found Takumi being a pathetic hikkikomori much more entertaining than a regular bland MC. Well, I just honestly found him quite easy to relate to in certain cases, just not in such an extreme amount, of course. I also had no idea how the delusion triggers worked, so avoiding all the ecchi might've made it more bearable too?