Lucius

False. Next person has attempted or succeeded in accessing the deep web before.

In my opinion, this is just one massive circlejerk among the self-entitled and the privileged. On one hand, you have the Steam community who complains about the overpriced VNs even though they fork out thousands of dollars every year for pre-order exclusives and pointless DLC skins, getting ripped off by companies like Blizzard and Activision. On the other hand, I could understand where some of the more sensible complaints might be coming from. Considering Steam is famous for giving special discounts for old AAA games like Witcher 2 and whatnot, I can see why some people might just be a tad surprised at the prices of VNs when they have no prior knowledge how much a visual novel costs in Japan. I mean, let's be fair - this isn't f***ing Japan. This is Steam, comprised of mostly Americans and non-Japanese. So if you want to support your favorite VN companies for the goal of 'securing the future of visual novels', then go right ahead and fork out all your money. More power to your privileged ass. But people on Steam are going to complain about the pricing regardless because that's what they've been doing throughout their time spent on Steam due to what Steam represents - massive discounts, getting games at a cheap price for the underprivileged. Is it a problem for localized VNs when people aren't willing to pay for the prices of said localization? Probably yes. But IMO, if you chose Steam (choked full of Steam sales every month) for the sake of earning a profit, you probably chose the wrong client there, pal.

I can't imagine it. Next person actively uses Skype.

To be fair, I do agree about the pacing somewhat, particularly in regards to the pacing of the final chapter, or rather, the epilogue. It took me a long time to complete G-Senjou because I kept putting it on hold in between each chapter (it's a habit of mine to read several VNs at a time in between each route), but by the time the end-game rolled around, it kept me engaged quite effectively, and I pretty much just wanted to find out if there's some major epic twist awaiting me, what with all the things it had thrown at me so far. And for what it's worth, I was honestly pleasantly surprised at that final twist at the end,

So I got the PSP version of Corpse Party in hopes of adding another game to my Vita library later on, Corpse Party: Blood Drive. The PSP Corpse Party isn't too bad so far - I just completed chapter 1 in a brief period of time (albeit using a walkthrough, heh heh). On the technical side of things, it's a bit annoying, as there's no auto-play function, so the voice-acting can come off as awkward when I don't know when to move forward with the dialogue. An auto-play function is quite a crucial element of VNs as it allows the voice-acting to play smoothly without awkward pauses in-between. I checked out the configuration settings, and I don't think there's an auto-advance function like Persona 4: Golden. Oh well. It's but a small gripe, though nonetheless annoying. On the storytelling side... yeesh. They weren't kidding about how grim this story is. And we haven't even got to chapter 2 yet. Looks like it's going to be a massive slaughter. I feel sorry for the characters already, and I haven't even known them that well.

It's kinda ironic you complain about elitists, yet went on the elitist path by placing yourself on a pedestal when talking about the money people had to fork out. Just something I feel I should point out. Also, you called them weebs when you said something as weebish as "learn JP or don't read it"? lol Oh man, the irony. Anyway, on-topic: I agree that the Steam community can be cancerous... but honestly, saying a community is "cancerous" at this point means absolutely nothing. You might as well call them a bunch of "faggots". The terminology means nothing. It's a stupid insult. I do agree that they can act like a bunch of alpha male a-holes who think that these story-centric VNs have no place among the gaming community, and while I could see where they're coming from, the way they expressed said opinion was honestly just embarrassing. 8 year old Minecraft Let's Play gamers are more literate than they acted. It's pretty much a cesspool comparable to YouTube comments. I don't really care, to be honest, since I don't get my VNs from Steam.

I agree. She should have ended like that. It might create more mess for the story, making it hard to conclude, but it would be way better off an epilogue than what we got. And after all,

This one would probably find lots of use in the forum.

Tried playing the demo of another Atlus game, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, after I heard about its multiple endings. Things didn't turn out the way I expected, as it turns out to be one long and linear hack-and-slash experience. I get that it's a demo, but even after looking up the "first hour" of the the non-demo game on YouTube, it looks like it just has more hack-and-slash in a side-scrolling perspective that I'm not very fond of (the side-scrolling more so than the hack-and-slash). Boy, I'm running out of Vita games to download already, and it's only been one and a half month since my purchase. Anyway, I'm also downloading the Tearaway demo and also the Toukiden: The Age of Demons demo. I highly doubt they would surpass my low expectations for them, but who knows. Think I'll just buy Danganronpa 2 eventually and call it a day for the Vita.

Okay, I'm a mom-basement dwelling piece of shit weeaboo, and I take offense to that, because I clearly don't like NTR hentai. I clearly like rape hentai.

So I've finally completed G-senjou no Maou at long last. Now, this VN isn't technically that long compared to the likes of Grisaia no Kajitsu, but for some reason, it felt like it's a longer reading experience than Grisaia, probably because Grisaia was more engaging with its jokes and banter for me, making me forget about time itself as it slips by. Due to this reason, I realized just how long it has been since I last completed a lengthy VN. The last lengthy VN I completed was Grisaia, and that was about 1-2 years ago, so there is a sense of fulfillment from this completion. I still have Umineko Chiru (just about to start chapter 6) and euphoria (finished two routes, including Nemu's first route) to go, so I'm probably not gonna complete another VN for a while. Now, about G-senjou... Since it's one of those 'highly acclaimed' VNs which many people wowed over the epilogue, talking about how amazing it was, it begs the question whenever I finish reading one of these, "Just how perfect was it? Were there any flaws that prevent me from giving it a full 10/10?" It's an inevitable conclusion I would always come to, and I hate to be that one guy who always has to nitpick something everybody else loves, but here it is: I don't think G-senjou is a masterpiece, period. I feel that it's definitely one of the most well-written VNs of all time (or at least, of the handful of VNs I've read), and if adapted into an anime, it might be able to compete against the likes of Fate/Zero and similar series. Its characters can be realistic, its drama fairly relatable, and it isn't exactly like your typical story of a hero defeating the evil demon, treading towards more interesting and unpredictable territories. That being said... (here comes the 'but')... The epilogue itself felt just a little picturesque. I'm quite a cynic myself, and I don't believe any person on this planet can be perfect or a saint, even Mahatma Gandhi himself. I believe every man is flawed, and the way fiction likes to paint the hero as this self-sacrificing individual who saves the damsel in distress by giving up his own well-being, I just don't buy that. It's stupid, and I'd be incredibly turned off by that. It reminds me of a recent video made by the YouTube sensation, LeafyIsHere, where he mocks a Korean music video featuring KISS. The song was "Because I'm a Girl", and it features this guy who gave his own eyes to this girl he loves whom he indirectly blinded in an accident. Leafy's remarks were mostly satirical, claiming that if this is real life, he would never trade off his ability to see for a girl, and on some level, I agree with the sentiment. Now, here's a disclaimer, I've never fell in love before aside from silly crushes at school, so maybe love could indeed drive a person to do such stupid things in real life, I don't know. But from a realist's point of view, it's stupid, and rather unrelatable. "Very storybook-like" is a good description for the epilogue. Speaking of the 'gritty twists' in the story, there's the other problem: too many f***ing twists. A while back, there was a post criticizing Umineko for this problem, on how Umineko keeps on surprising the audience with, "But wait, there's more!" Well, there you have it, G-senjou suffers from the same problem. Just when you think an arc is over, the element of shock factor bounces the story back into unrealistic tension because of a Gary-Stu villain whose plan goes perfectly. Like, what is this guy, The Joker? Nobody's plan goes this perfectly, period. So yes, the story still suffers from deus ex machina and certain unrealistic moments that just boggle the mind, finished off with your sunset-sprinkled storybook ending. Like, there is literally a freaking sunset at the ending! What the actual f***. But in all honesty, I don't hate the story, even if I might sound like it. I stand by what I said earlier when I said that this was one of the most well-written VNs I've read so far, but I feel that I just had to bring up the little peeves and gripes I have to be satisfied with myself. Oh yes, something I forgot to mention - the other non-main heroines. They never did get a finality to their character arcs in the true end, which is kinda realistic and that's good, but it also makes it a bit lackluster in hindsight. I know I complained about the storybook ending of Haru, but I was kinda hoping for some closure if this is indeed the true end of the story, that's all. In hindsight, I probably should've posted this to "Unpopular VN Opinions" instead. Oh well. *braces myself for the hate-camp*

I would actually love to see an ironic VN where Frank criticizes the weeaboo nature of visual novels and just similar anime-related mediums, just making fun of it in a satirical manner. Like, maybe show him cringing in front of an h-scene. LOL

I think, aside from the well-drawn CGs, there's also the animated cutscenes and OPs, and of course the voice-acting that affect my interest in whether if I would buy a Japanese VN or an English one. Because honestly right now, lots of OELVN just don't have the production-quality to warrant my money, particularly the voice-acting aspect which I feel is very important in a VN (to me). The stories have to be good, of course, but if you want me to sit my ADD ass down for several hours reading text, you should probably have something engaging in return to keep my attention occupied. lol That said, the only OELVN I could remember reading was Thousand Dollar Soul, and that was a really good story. The lack of voice acting didn't bother me in the least, but that's probably because my ADHD wasn't as bad back then. But yeah, it was a good example of what an OELVN can do. Hopefully, more OELVNs in the future can follow in that example instead of copying the Japanese VNs' 'high school life' setting because that's just getting old.

Yeeeees. Gimme dat sweet pussi, b0ss. *makes disgusting sipping sounds with my saliva* But seriously, I would be interested. It would be kinda a weird and awkward story to read through probably, given the nature of the show, but who knows. A major plus would be if Papa Franku provides the voice himself. So yes, someone just do it please. ORE WA OCHINCHIN GA DAISUKI NANDAYO~~~

Personally, the main draw, and the main reason why I bothered to read the Chinese version of this game, was because of its very nonlinear nature resembling the likes of Clannad. Its branches are still not as massive as School Days, but for what it is, it's a very attractive game to play just to see which ending or route I would end up with. It's not like one of those multiple-route VNs with very few choices either (Grisaia comes to mind), so the conversations felt more natural to me, and I like that kind of VNs. I heard about all kinds of bad things about the VN and the h-scenes, but to be honest, I've seen a lot of bad stuff among VNs. I mean, I'm playing euphoria right now, and its h-scenes can go to absolutely disgusting level, and I'm fine with it because it's so common now that nothing surprises me. I have a lot of time to kill, so killing time on a mediocre trash of a storyline isn't something that would bother me that much as long as I get a good balance of fun in return, and from your review, it seems that it's not all 'bad' with this VN, and there's some good in it. I personally love tragedies, actually, so that's another draw for me. Even if this goes to melodramatic level, I'll take a melodramatic tragedy over a well-written but saccharine slice-of-life comedy (Majikoi) any day. The tension and drama can be quite engaging, and I just love the shock factors that come with stories like this... even though I've already seen the 'twist' happening in the anime. That being said, with the kind of quality you've told me about in your review, I think this won't be on my priority list any time soon. With the other stuff I've got going on right now, maybe I'll just wait for the English edition to come out.

I read a couple of'em during my hentai-searches every now and then (c'mon, I'm a guy; what do you expect). It's not my favorite genre in terms of the more 'crude' hentai, particularly due to it being more suited more for masochists than 's-guys' like myself... But yeah, the point is, I could understand the appeal somewhat, fantasizing about the loss of control. It's actually not a very strange fantasy, considering the similar fantasies women have about losing control to someone stronger, etc. Anyway, NTR definitely isn't my favorite kind of hentai at all. Why would I watch someone steal the fun of sexing my waifu anyway? I wanna join in!

This channel has been my main source of anime cuteness for the past few months.

That logic makes sense, but it does make the developer statement all the more weirder now because, why would he make a statement like that if the previous Trails games contained carrying your old saves over to the next game? I feel like they would either find a way to carry your stats from your PS3 playthrough to the PS4 game (unlikely), or they would just ignore the old saves altogether, rendering your sidequest completion rather pointless. Then again, people do make all kinds of spontaneous statements over the media, so it might just mean nothing for all we know. From what you described about the sidequests, it seems unlikely that they would not only abandon the Vita gamers, but also ignore the effort you put into sidequest-completing. I mean, it's not like we're talking about a company like EA or Activision here that actively screws over its consumers.

I'm guessing that's jargon only those who played the Cold Steel games would understand. Anyway, justified or not, it still doesn't change the fact that it might be possible (speculation or not) that I'd be paying money for two-thirds of a story, so till the 'speculation' clears up, I can't see myself paying for what is literally a gamble. I understand why the content-cut would justify the exclusivity, but I feel like that's something that could be corrected with DLCs, further spin-offs, or just further sequels altogether. It would cost the company a lot more to do that, but again, the alternative would be to give people like me a reason not to buy any of the games at all. It probably wouldn't be a big loss for them, seeing how the Vita market is going downhill in the international areas, but it's just such a shame some of us might have to miss out on a potentially good game series like this because of exclusivity. Like you said, it's just a speculation, so who knows, right? However, the reasons you gave made it far more likely that the PS4 exclusive might be deemed necessary. Considering that there are other game series that incorporated such a move (Virtue's Last Reward/Zero Time Dilemma), I think the use of "speculation" to describe this is understating the likelihood of the exclusivity. On a more personal (and slightly off topic) note, unlike Zero Time Dilemma, the options for the speculated cross-platforming for Cold Steel III is far more restrictive than what VLR/ZTD had to offer. I know that not everybody owns a PC, but for me, ZTD being on PC instead of a console I don't have access to was a good fortune for me, because I could now access the first game using a DS emulator, the second game with my Vita, and the third game on my PC. With something like Cold Steel III, the PS4 emulator is still pretty much a myth at this point, and isn't likely available till 2020 or later even. And unlike Cold Steel, even though the ZTD developers released those three games on three different platforms, they still announced that they might release the first and third game on Vita anyway, so it's a far better investment and a wiser approach. Again, I understand the content restriction problems for Vita when it comes to Cold Steel, but the kind of effort they put into giving a wider range of accessibility to their games, that's something commendable that I should bring up if we're going to talk about this.

Well, since the second Cold Steel has been released, perhaps those of you that have completed the game could help share your thoughts on whether if Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 worked well as a duology instead of a trilogy... though I feel I already know the answer, with all the talk about how the Trails games build up their stories around an entire trilogy (which is why the first installment was often slow in pacing). Regardless, this is a pretty big deal-breaker for those who've yet to experience Cold Steel yet, so they've just lost one potential customer. By the way, it also doesn't help that Sony has said before, "If you can't afford the PS4, you can't afford our games." Oh yeah, making games PS4-exclusive is sounding shadier by the minute. Maybe "shadier" is a strong word, but at least something along the lines of "bad taste".

So, I tried my best to search "Gaming Talk" for an appropriate place to voice my thoughts about this, but this is the best thread I could find, so... Is it true that Trails of Cold Steel III might be a PS4 exclusive? If so, that's a pretty dickish move for Vita-only owners. I mentioned that I was on the fence about buying the first game, and just as I was ready to finally go and grab this game off PSN, I read an article talking about how the creator was thinking about making it a PS4-exclusive... just totally nullifying my desire to get the game for my Vita at all. Like, what's the point of someone like me buying the game if there's a possibility I won't get to finish the story? It's a pretty dumb marketing move for those Vita-only owners who've yet to experience the Cold Steel series. I get that the Vita is not as popular nowadays, but that's probably only in the western regions, whereas in Japan, you still have quite a lot of selection for the Vita, so I don't get why this decision was considered to screw the Vita owners over. Anyway, this is just incredibly frustrating, and now I'm back to being on the fence about buying it - again, a third time. Hopefully, the LoHs fans out here could clarify my doubt and tell me this isn't likely to happen.

Well, if I ever replay P3 again in the future, I guess I could always play the P3P version just for that.

Yeah, I know. The female protag really intrigues me for some reason.