ChaosRaven

And not to forget, there's British English, American English and my favorite - Scottish English 'Braveheart' style.

The second story of Suika AS is it for me.

No, I'm German. But it's still nice that someone is confusing me with a native speaker, since it means that my English doesn't seem to be as bad as I sometimes think it is. But I think the Japanese use English words in katakana much more heavily than Germans use anglicisms in German texts, at least in casual language. It can be different if it gets to specialist discussions in scientific, professional or certain hobby areas. I wouldn't even know how to accurately translate certain English terms from software development into German.

It's a very good VN certainly worth your time. Sion is also a very mature character, she just appears as a loli. I'm not the biggest loli fan either, but she's one my favorite characters. Overall there are three VN's with a 'god-loli' I think everyone should read even if not a particular loli fan: Eden for Sion, Comyu for Mayuki and Yosuga no Sora for Sora.

Well, the use of 'fancy' sounding words surely isn't unique to English people. The Japanese, and VN's in particular are probably the kings of fancy sounding words themselves. The heavy use of English words in katakana sometimes, despite having a perfectly fitting word in Japanese, is almost baffling. Though at least they get that somehow right most of the time, but things get worse if they think they have to use German for even more advanced 'coolness'. It's often spelled and used so wrong that it gives me the chills. And for some weird reason it's mostly for magic spells and such. I mean, why is German considered some kind of 'magic language' for them?! I speak and hear it all day but it's totally boring - no fireballs, no lightning bolts and not even a decent meteor strike from a beer tent full of bawling drunks. Yeah, I suspected as much. It's more a personal gripe of mine and something I'd have to blame the original Japanese script for I guess.

The H-scenes in Eden are optional extra scenes separate from the main story, so you don't have to read them. Really?! I read it in Japanese just recently and I don't think there was a finished translation patch at that time.

Koihime Musou got at least a re-edit for the hard copy. MangaGamer surely updated their own download version, but I'm not sure if the versions of *ahem* other download sources were updated. So depending on where you got your version, it 'might' be an outdated one. Still, I rarely hear complaints about the Koihime translation, so it might just be a certain part that's off-putting. I'd just go on for a while to figure out if it was just an exception or if the whole translation style of the VN isn't your thing.

I think the only thing that really annoyed me in Tokyo Babel's translation was the overuse of the term 'Raison d'être'. It appeared so often that I really don't want to see it anymore for the next two years. Not sure if synonyms like 'reason for being' or 'meaning of life' would have been valid though. It's not necessarily the fault of the translation if there's no other way to translate it accurately, BUT it also isn't an English term, it's french. But if foreign words are okay, then why was it necessary to translate Samael's 'Onii-san' to 'mister'? That's way more off the original meaning than 'reason for being' or 'meaning of life' would have been from 'Raison d'être', and I dare to say that more people in the VN and anime community know the term 'Onii-san' than 'Raison d'être'.

Usually I have them on, but sometimes if a certain voice is particularly annoying, I switch it off. Like Natsuhiko in Root Double who forced me to switch off all voices because it was not possible to deactivate just a specific voice. Well, the quality of the voice cast wasn't particularly high anyway, so it wasn't a big loss...

Besides Ai from my avatar I'd say Yurina from Unionism Quartet.

I finally managed to finish Tokyo Babel. (Decided to post my final review here since it fits better) The first route had to serve a bit as an ice-breaker to get me used to the awkward action-comedy-utsuge style of the VN. After that it was significantly easier for me to warm up and enjoy most parts of it. Mainly the comedy and story sections, while the action scenes somehow never managed to grab me and I ended up skipping most of them towards the end. Overall, I enjoyed the comedy and story parts the most, even if too much revelations were just presented on a silver plate instead of steadily dropping hints to make you find out the truth yourself. Ironically, I found the supposed strength of the game - the action scenes - the worst part of it, hurting the story more than benefitting it in most cases. I would have preferred it if the often surprisingly good story segments would have been extended instead. One thing that was consistently good though was Setsuna. Certainly one of the best protagonists I've seen so far, with a very good male voice actor. Art was okay, there was a lot of it but sometimes it was more mass over class. Music was good though, with the exception of the ultra cheap hard rock tracks often used for the battles. A superb pre-battle music though and some great suspense tracks. Favorite heroines: Sorami > Samael > Lilith > Raziel Final rating 6.5/10 (I really wanted to give it a 7/10, but the second half of Liliths route really soured my mood again.)

I only got one or two bad endings and just skipped the rest. But with the bad endings I got, I really didn't have the impression that they were necessary, and they weren't long anyway.

I finally managed to finish Tokyo Babel. Moved my final review here though since it fits better in the actual discussion thread about the title. On another note, I started reading Ikusa Megami Zero now. Since I had trouble hooking the game last time I gave the fan translation a try and it's not that bad so far. I guess it helps that I care more about the substance of the title and I'm not all too fanatical about translation standards, especially considering that English isn't my mother language, so I'm probably more tolerant to flaws. But it allows me to play the title in full screen which is a big improvement for a title with a tiny 800 x 600 resolution on a large screen. Currently, I'm still more troubled with the gameplay anyway. I died a few times in the prologue (!!!) already and got almost stuck at the first boss opponent - the large bird - in chapter 1. I guess I still underestimate the importance of grinding in Eushully games, though I admittedly made some tactical mistakes too. But still, the game is rather unforgiving. I mean, why is it that I have yet to die in a game like Diablo 3 after one and a half play throughs, even picking the highest difficulty the game allows me to choose, while I get my ass kicked already in the prologue and the first chapter in this one.

This VN looks really nice, I'll certainly give it a try when it's finally out.

I honestly doubt that Kouryuu will translate Dal Segno. Besides the obvious fact that he's currently fed up with translating so much slice life again, the problem still remains that as MG's lead translator he has managerial duties that limit his time for translation jobs. And if Dal Segno is as big as Da Capo 3 which I assume, then a translator should assigned to it that also has the necessary time for it, or it'll take 3 - 4 years again to finish it.

Rewrite might also fit the bill, though it would probably be best to wait until the new version Rewrite+ gets released. It's all ages though.

In general, if a nukige has at least a half decent story it looses the 'nukige' tag in VNDB and just keeps the 'high sexual content' tag. The most infamous example of a pure nukige with a story that is considered good by many is probably Euphoria and to a lesser extend Kyonyuu Fantasy. Shin Koihime Musou is also considered to have a much improved story about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in comparison to its predecessor Kohime Musou with a comparable high H-content. Two personal picks from me with a good ero-story combi would be Kiriya Hakushakuke no Roku Shimai for a semi-dark story and Unionism Quartet for a chuuni-moege. (The latter even got Clephas blessing) And there would be certainly more depending on your standard of a 'great story'.

It's not unusual that VN developers go rogue these days. Moonstone with Love Sweets, IG with Flowers, Key with everything except Clannad, Frontwing with Island, etc.

Since the quarterly forum fallout seems to be over now and all companies made their announcements, I guess it's save to post my impressions of the announced titles now. Order is companies with best announcements first and others last. Sekai Project: Some truly spectacular announcements this year again. And they already had some real highlights in the other cons before. I hope they can also translate all those titles in a reasonable time. Baldr Sky Dive 1 & 2 - Lost Memory and Recordare from Giga It was clear that such an epic license acquisition could only come from Sekai Project or an independent release. Both titles are apparently huge text monsters so this will probably take a while to translate. Although I'm not the biggest mecha or action fan, I'll definitely give those titles a try. Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma from Smile Yay, I wished for it and they licensed it. They get a hug from me for that *Hug*. It's so pretty it's a definite must buy. Guess I'll have to create a Denpasoft account for that since a 2 MB Steam version with a 5 GB adult patch would be a bit over the top. Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki from Palette A title I had my eyes on for quite a while, mostly because it's from the same company that also made Mashiro Iro Symphony. If this one sells it would be nice to also get Mashiro. Anyway, I certainly get this one too. A Magical High School Girl Um, I think I can survive without this one. MangaGamer: The releases from MangaGamer have to be taken with a grain of salt since they usually split their big announcements between AX and Otakon. So they still have some aces up their sleeves. The AX annoucements seem to have been made with the clear mindset of 'Something for everyone': Two moeges, an otome game, a BL title and... one of the sickest fetish nukiges ever. Dal Segno from Circus I guess Kouryuu got addicted to Circus titles and since he's finished now with Da Capo 3, he's in urgent need of more from it. I guess this should suffice for the next 2 - 3 years at least? Well, joking aside it's nice that they still haven't abandoned all of their old partners with quality titles. Since Da Capo 2 is still one of my most favorite nakiges, I'll most likely getting Dal Segno as well, provided it doesn't turn out as a big flop. Watashi ga Suki nara "Suki" tte Itte! from ChuableSoft To be honest, when I heard that ChuableSoft is interested in the western market I actually thought they would bring over Ano Harewataru Sora yori Takaku with the cool red-head Arisa which was fairly popular in Japan. This one however looks rather bland in comparison and I also can't remember seeing it in the Getchu awards or even in the top 50 sales ranking like the other one. Probably not a bad title but I'll most likely pass on it since there's better stuff to play. I would have bought the other one though. Bocchi Musume x Produce Keikaku Looks like a much smaller otome title than Ozmafia with just two main characters and a more generic story. Art is okay though. Still, I don't think I'll find the time to play this one. Hadaka Shitsuji A BL title which already has a fan translation, so nothing new. Apparently more on the fetish side. Looks overall much less impressive that No Thank You and the ratings seem to support that. Maggot Baits From a purely 'objective' point of view this is a rather high profile title. From a purely 'subjective' point of view this is *Insert several pages of ranting*. Frontwing: Island from Frontwing A rather highly rated title from the makers of Himagari. And it's kind of similar in the sense that it looks like boredom incarnate. Sure, it would be a once in a lifetime chance to date 'Pumuckl' but I'm not really into kobolds. Though Karen and Rinne don't look that bad. Haven't decided yet if I'll read it or not, but I it's hardly a must read title for me. Degica: Kimi ga Nozomu Eien from Age Considering that school slice of life and drama were the worst parts of MuvLuv, I've really no interest in this relic from the stone age. JAST: What does an English VN publisher do if he doesn't even have enough translators to get the announcement from 5 - 10 years ago done? Right, just picking up existing fan translations. Eiyuu*Senki Apparently a decent gameplay title, but the art is really not my cup of tea, so I'll pass on it. Katahane remake from Tarte Probably not a bad title, but I tried this once and I was like 'Jo sorry, I'm older than twelve'. Certainly not a title for me. Sweet Home Hmm, I get a strange feeling of deja vu here... Princess X My Fiancee is a Monster Girl Let me guess, they accidentally found this title in a trash can somewhere in the basement?! Aksys: I don't have a Vita and also won't get one so the titles have no relevance for me, even if some of them look interesting. Overall, Sekai Project has the most interesting titles for me by a long mile, followed by MangaGamer with some distance and Jast was the expected joke.

Yeah, that's why I don't really like time loop VN's.

The forum somehow fits very good to the VN genre. In regulars intervals there's a time loop that sends you straight back to the past to let you start from scratch...

I just stated the facts, nothing more. If you're unhappy that MG currently doesn't have plans for MB then send them a complaint, but don't let your anger out on me. At least they made a clear statement this time. In other cases like BaseSon, Caramel Box or Navel they just shilly-shally around, dropping hints and in the end just showing you the finger anyway. And believe me, if I'd make a real hate post it would look 'slightly' different.

While it's definitely possible that they get a new Clockup title, it won't be Maggot Baits. MangaGamer recently denied on Twitter that they've plans for that title. If they say it that clearly then it's out of discussion for them, at least for now. (Fortunately)