Dreamysyu

Well, easier doesn't always mean fun. Though it probably does mean more fun for this particular game. At least for any sane person. Muhahahaha, the power outlet is drunk and screaming.

Started the final chapter in Trails in the Sky... First Chapter. This naming sure is weird. Anyway, the story started getting pretty interesting. I can't say I were particularly mindblown by it so far, but who knows, there's still time. The gameplay is fun. At this point I can say that I was absolutely right that I chose to play in the hard mode, since the normal mode would get very easy eventually. At the start I had some trouble playing in the hard mode and even had to grind for a bit, then it got to the point where it was still challenging, but not obnoxious, but right now, I feel, the game started to get a bit easy. Maybe I overleveled everyone a bit, lol. But I generally try to explore whole maps when I have a chance and complete as many quests as possible (though I still missed a few). Or maybe right now I have a lot of skills to choose from, so I can deal with the enemies more effectively.

To be honest, the review on vndb makes me mildly interested.

Well, Clannad indeed has some interesting decisions when it comes to the route system.

It's indeed very late. The new (official) release doesn't have this problem.

Well, I can't say I noticed any problems with the TL, though I'm definitely not the best person to judge. I was talking about the VN itself. Honestly, if I didn't know it beforehand, I wouldn't believe it was written by Ryukishi, because it feels as if someone tried to copy his writing style and failed to capture what makes it good to begin with. Still, that's just my opinion, of course.

Exactly.

The game I wished for last year (and several years before that) got licensed and turned out to be a pile of garbage. Honestly, I'll probably just vote for some random VNs from my wishlist I know nothing about, or just skip this year altogether.

I haven't read them myself, but it seems to be the common knowledge that the console exclusive arcs are pretty bad and make the whole game way too long. The exceptions are the arcs based on the manga created by the original author. EDIT. I somehow missed it when I posted it, but don't read the annotations unless you finished the first 4 arcs from the main game! https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=6399 https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=6398 Honestly, almost all openings are pretty good.

So, in the end I'm only watching Spider (lol). Well, I still have a month to catch up with everything else. Spider is good though. The CG is meh as expected, but story-wise it's a surprisingly good adaptation of the source material. I find it interesting that it doesn't try to follow it 100% and actually does a lot of things differently where adapting them as it is would be completely impossible, since the book heavily relied on the fact that we can't actually see what's happening to hide things in plain sight. For example, the connection between the MC and is made obvious in the flashbacks from the very beginning, while it was actually a pretty massive twist in the book. On the other hand, it's still managed to capture that level of mindfuckiness that the original had and which made it so fun to read. Though, I guess, it all may be not as obvious for the new viewers. It is really funny reading some comments complaining how predictable the story is because they can't be further from the truth, really.

Well, I'm not talking for myself since I personally really enjoyed Kajitsu and its common route, but there is a common complaint with the comedy that it's basically making fun of people with serious mental problems or having these mental problems. Other that that, I agree with you.

Yes to all three questions. Nothing, really. Well, maybe with the exception of this Wikipedia article. I'd say, expect something good. It's an amazing VN, and, honestly, it's better to experience it blind. Just note that it takes a while to get good. The second half is absolutely amazing.

Planetarian is written by a different author than most other Key games. It also does things quite differently. It's still a good place to start, I guess.

Indeed, there's no objectivity in art. Though porn games aren't art and are objectively bad and are the cancer of the anime industry that is destined to kill it. jk. TL Note: jk means joshikausei.

Happy birthday to @Clephas!

Otto agrees. PS. Welcome.

Belated happy birthday to @Silvz!

Reminds me of a certain dream scene in FSN. Edit. As for Hoshimemo, I'm actually in the same boat as @adamstan... with the exception that at some point after buying it I realized that this game is clearly very far from my tastes, so I doubt that I'll play it even if that new translation ever comes out (though at this point I'm pretty sure it won't).

Anime: I guess, Shinsekai Yori. Though Clannad is also up there somewhere. And The Twelve Kingdoms. Manga: I don't really read that many manga, and I generally prefer an anime adaptations if it exists, so the most stories I read in the manga format are generally pretty niche, and while they are nice on their own, I can't really say I remember reading something that amazing. I guess, I'll say Bokura no Kiseki (though I'm very far behind the translations, and, sadly, I don't think an official localization exists).

Are you talking about the Steam version here? I just learned that apparently the translation was heavily revised for it, and I'm a bit curious how accurate the current translation is. Anyway, I'm still playing Trails in the Sky, and I'm currently at chapter 2 of the first game. Overall, so far it's pretty good. The plot is somewhat cliche so far, but it still has time to change. Gameplay... well, I like it so far. I'm playing in the hard mode, and I'd say it's just hard enough to make the game somewhat challenging without making it tedious. I had some minor problems right at the start before I got used to the gameplay, but right now everything is going fine. The funny part: I found myself at thought that if the backstories of some minor and background characters were published in a short-story format, I would love to read those.

I mean, there are some panty shots, if I remember correctly, so it's more ecchi than Clannad, But it's still pretty much nothing compared to some other things. I may be mistaken, but I think Little Busters is even longer? At least, they are similar in length. Well, if you enjoy Key stuff, you will probably enjoy it. As for the other recommendations... Honestly, there are so many good things that I honestly don't know what to recommend.

I haven't played any of their games yet, but if that's a common problem in them then I probably shouldn't anyway.

One route in Rewrite is the closest thing I can think of. Not exactly that, but similar.

Actually, I may be wrong, but isn't War Ensemble a sequel to If so, releasing it before the original game probably wouldn't make much sense. And that's probably one of the least likely age games to get a translation.