Okarin

Key's SOL is pretty good. I don't laugh with the humour nor cry with the drama, but the plots are always pretty appealing (plus those superb soundtracks... though I don't count Clannad here). For example, Haruka's route in LB is pretty overboard, but Haruka herself is nice (or irritating, depends). It's a good ride but not top tier. In the end, it's just romance (or just deep friendship) but with elements not seen elsewhere. It's not cookie-cutter stuff like Period or Koichoco. They are also appealing in their own ways, but when you've played dozens of SOL novels you get pretty tired. I find most Key humour pretty underwhelming, I know most people laugh with all their might, but not me. That's why when they mix it freely with drama (such as in Angel Beats) I find it a bit baffling.

'Course, but I just wanted to read people's opinions. Suzu Fanatic and others mostly got it right. Little Busters characters are pretty good, and create a likable cast, but most of the routes don't hold up.

You throw a stone and are bound to hit someone with a Kud avatar or nickname here. I'm in dire need of a re-read of Little Busters, if they put it on Steam I'll go pay, but -even though Kud and Riki had very nice chemistry- her route wasn't that good in my opinion. Thoughts, threats, insults?

Haha, you know your ways...

Only if you prefer the beauty of an unavoidable bad ending

Harmonia. Better than Planetarian.

Yeah, support Key/Visual Arts. I already own Clannad, Side stories and Tomoyo after. Way to go for a complete Keyfag like me And we still have Summer Pockets in store!

9 posts in this forum and he already has a title... I'm envious... ...or maybe not, I don't know what title the Fuwa government would give me

How often did you get a perfect score at school? Does that answer you?

I haven't played Saya no Uta, but is this some kind of test of courage? Why test your mettle with it if you don't really like it? There are dozens of other VNs you can potentially like. At least my backlog is pretty long.

We're all Japanese media addict lock-ins, after all

I don't like H scenes because I'm close-minded about sex, and you are exceptionally open-minded about it? Haha, that was great, I tell you. If anything, I'd be close-minded about porn. It has been long understood that H scenes are there to reward the player for reading so far. Of course, in romance novels, they fit well. And knowing that the Japanese otaku are a lonely bunch, apart from the fact that there are many moe novels, the game makers try to address their demands, and their fantasies. A lot of visual novels are unrealistic, not only in the H, and try to pander to the audience. Nothing wrong with that if you strictly separate real life and VNs. About the H scenes themselves, they usually happen eventually, they show you intercourse, and then they are over, as quick as they began. In most cases characters don't talk about the deed afterwards. They are there more for the player than for storytelling purposes.

There are some eroge that revolve more around H content (maybe because the story is run-of-the-mill or downright bad, maybe they have amateur or cheap writers... maybe the heroines are just really hot), while there are some that don't. For example, I guess nobody would really miss the H scenes from Kanon if we removed them. Would it be censure? Of course, but the game wouldn't be significantly mutilated, in fact you'd only save some minutes of reading bad H scenes. They're completely insubstantial and even impromptu.

Not only is it porn, the majority of H scenes (axed or not axed) are pretty badly narrated, or boring vanilla intercourse. You know... like... porn. If you really feel this should be in your game, by all means boycott the censored release. In truth it's all up to you and nobody should judge you. For example, Littlewitch Romanesque: I think that having underage sex is too much for me. I'd only buy it if I wanted to play a raising sim, which I'm uncertain of, because I don't know the genre that well. But, since they have sales on Steam, I'd go for that (pornless) version, if I wanted to buy it. Since I'm not interested in the original porn.

Harmonia is good, even though since its sales were low compared with major games, the stickers are awfully expensive, but if you get 2 or 3 from playing, you might make good business. I got the full Clannad pack: main game, after stories and Tomoyo After, but I'm really a completionist in this case.

Of course, that would be similar to facing a native, C1-level English text with A1 level. Fearsome.

*It's something*

I bought myself Bravely Second for 20 damn bucks as a Valentine's present, does it count? *Forever alone...* In truth, it's no present, it's only that I wanted to get it while it lasted; the game seems to have sold badly and its price was reduced. I wasn't willing to pay more than 20, and 20 I paid. Neat.

About whether anime truthfully portrays Japanese life... I think it could go either way. I say that, in fact, lots of Japanese culture's staples are imprinted into Japanese media. It couldn't be any other way, could it? For example, it's really silly, but the influence of Shinto (a primitive religion, it will appear I'm bashing it here but I don't really despise it or anything) creates some weird ideas. Such as the notion of unavoidable fate... "unmei"... "sadame"... we in the West already covered that in The Matrix, and we concluded that destiny is a thing that we forge and choose on our own. No, I don't like being powerless against circumstances. Making a way through it all is a definite Western idea. Going back to anime, there are mountains of anime I already despise, so... could I be bothered to watch it all day long? I don't even do that here. It's just a silly hobby for me and I understand its limitations. Plus, in my life I've always got ideas and influences from here and there, focusing too much in a single thing is bad as far as I'm concerned. Too much exposure to something can be a pain. For me that would be lovely JRPG but I have a full allotment here and don't need to go to their mecca to be happy. In short, it's all about having a gauge of priorities and while hobbies can support me when things get ugly, there are more pressing matters in life. Signing up for a life in Japan I would consider sybaritic. And I'm somewhat spartan in some ways. Pleasure in moderation.

I focused on the point that he didn't understand about 90% of the words, and it really baffled me. Anyway I don't think my points are so terribly wrong.

There's no point in stuffing kanji into your brain, I see it as a waste of time. You know, when you're learning a new language and find a word you don't know about, you use a dictionary... at least in my generation, but what do I know? I'm an old geezer anyway. It's far better to start with the syllabaries and basic grammar, in order to accustom yourself to they way Japanese sentences are presented, and to identify the glue that ties all words together -hiragana is far more common than kanji in volume and some words are comprised completely of hiragana, like prepositions and so. And maybe it's just me but after being exposed to dozens of anime and VNs you learn basic vocabulary, some expressions and even accents. With VNs though the bad thing is that you'll mostly be exposed to girl's talk, and Japanese varies considerably depending on who speaks it. Then again, about kanji, there are certain ways of identifying them when searching for their meaning (in dictionaries, most likely). Another good idea is make a list of the more common words and create your own quick reference dictionary for regular use, maybe in a notebook. I warn, however, that drawing kanji takes some guts, for me is easy for some reason (well I started getting acquainted with kanji at 16 or so, but never did serious study).

I see it as scientific mumbo jumbo thrown in for flashy effect. The Schumann Resonance does exist, a subtle low-altitude magnetic field that envelopes the Earth, but whether it affects the biosphere, syncing with our brains, or even if it's impossible for us to live outside of it (e. g. in another planet or even a space station), it's very unclear. Anyway it's a cool reference, there's no denying it. Like the things Uchikoshi tends to put in his novels (Pygmalion Effect, Lemuria, DID, Memento Mori...) The coolest of the cool was the mention to hypertext, but I don't really remember what conspiracy theories were behind its apparition in Lain.

Well the obsession with the internetz and the notion that the internetz is "serious business"... I mean, dangerous business, if you will, is easy to get. After all it was all the rage in 1999, and all the way up to 2002 (when I first got it). Notify me when you get to the Schumann Resonance

Today I dual-wielded Koichoco and 1 hour of Clannad.

Rurouni Kenshin's original series isn't bad (the latter seasons are allegedly a bit weak), but a bit casual, just-for-fun stuff. Watsuki was a fan himself of Marvel Comics, Kenshin was like the Naruto of its time -even though that OAV is really dramatic and on a whole different level, but that's really a spinoff.