adamstan

With KEY I actually went backwards. At first I was turned off by character design in their older works, so I started with LittleBusters. I loved it, so then I played Clannad. I think that thanks to it I got gradually used to old KEY's art style, and then I was ready for Kanon, AIR and ONE Planetarian and Summer Pockets were also very good. But for some reason I have almost no interest in Rewrite...

I found some nice deals on amazon again Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na -Brighter than Dawning Blue- for PC - Windows 7 Support Edition and ToHeart2 DX PLUS - Regular Edition I've read fan-TLs of both titles, but it's nice to have originals. And I think one day I'm going to reread them untranslated. I'm especially curious about ToHeart2, since this edition has some additional content and routes from fandisc (which seems to have very polarised reviews ). Also, H-scenes in ToHeart 2 XRated felt tacked-on and out of character, so I'm looking forward to the all-ages version (After all, in case of this title, original was all-ages, with H version coming year later) BTW, before I noticed, I gathered quite a lot of physical Japanese (and one translated) VNs From left to right: Tenohira o, Taiyou ni Kanon Memorial Edition Natsu no Ame Sakura Strasse Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi (without box) World End Syndrome (the only translated one in this bunch) White Album Kono Oozora ni Tsubasa o Hirogete ~Cruise Sign~ Himawari no Kyoukai to Nagai Natsuyasumi To Heart 2 DX PLUS Mashiro Iro Symphony ~mutsu no hana~ Toradora! Sorairo Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o True Love Story To Heart PSE Ano Hi no Tabibito, Fureau Mirai Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na ~Brighter than a dawning blue When did that all happened? I still remember swearing that I'd never buy physical edition of VN (I'm also currently waiting for PS3 version of White Album 2 and PS2 versions of Yotsunoha and Konneko - they should arrive next week)

Well, I saw some Steam reviews when someone claimed that they clearly see where the h-scenes were cut from the Akari's route in Flight Diary - even though that route never had any And I guess that if there was only one route without h-scene, then people would still complain, that they can't lewd their favorite waifu. Sadly, that seems to be universal eroge rule - if there's a route, then sex scene is mandatory. Perhaps that's the leftover from dating-sim era - so that players who chose certain heroine wouldn't feel "cheated". You can also often see, that sometimes developers strive to provide equal number of scenes for each heroine, and it's obvious that some of them were added just to meet the quota.

Yeah. But sometimes there are games that were first released as an eroge, but H-scenes in them still feel forced and unnecessary - and in such cases I also prefer all-ages version if it exists. That was the case with the many VNs I've read recently - like Sorairo, Kono Aozora Ni Yakusoku O, or HimaNatsu I'm reading right now. Really, all-ages versions of those titles feel so much more consistent, and have better flow. There are also games which handle their ero stuff tastefully, with proper build-up etc - recent example I've read that comes to mind is Sakura Strasse. Mashiro Iro Symphony and Aokana were also very good at that (but so were their all-ages versions) But actually currently I first usually go for all-ages version - which usually means console port for untranslated, and Steam version for translated. Sometimes, especially if all-ages version is made by translation company, I feel like they didn't do good job, and then I switch over to eroge version. That was the case with titles localized by Solpress - Sakura Sakura and Under One Wing. They cut waay too much. But OTOH all-ages versions created by NekoNyansoft are great, and I never felt the need to download H-scene patch for Sanoba Witch or Making Lovers. And all-ages versions created by developers themselves for console ports also usually do the job for me. And often they come with bonuses such as extended scenario or new routes. As for Hoshimemo this thread started from - I bought it on Steam quite long time ago, but I'm waiting for the long-promised-by-SekaiProject retranslation.

Because otherwise horny players would moan about "censorship"

Sadly, oftens saves aren't compatible across different releases - and saves at sagaoz are obviously made for Japanese release.

Yesterday I finished first route in Himawari no Kyoukai to Nagai Natsuyasumi -extra vacation-. It was Daiya's route. While it's rather tropey ojou-sama story, I enjoyed it very much - it executed its tropes well enough . Daiya herself is cute , and actually the whole cast - including Yousuke, the protagonist - is very likeable. I had no problems to connect with them right from the start. If this route is indeed - like the rumors say - the weakest one, then I think I'm in for a treat and perhaps I've found another charage gem? I'm really liking the overall atmosphere of this VN. It's similar feeling to my other most-liked charages like Konosora, Princess Evangile and some others - it's just nice to be there and spend time with characters Mentor-like male side characters? Funny coincidence - I think that Father Arakawa from Himanatsu also fits the bill. Well, he's more like.. um... father figure for protagonist At first encounter he seems a bit silly with his crazy strength and devotion to martial arts (although you can also sense kind of friendship between him and Yousuke right from the start), but he offers good advice and support here and there, and it's obvious that he really cares about Yousuke and his group. Yousuke also mentions that he learned a lot from him. I'm looking forward to the remaining routes . (And it also looks like I should expect some mood shift, since apparently the route I've just read is an odd one ) I also, as usual, did quick comparison with adult version for this route. I didn't like neither h-scenes placement nor HCGs themselves I'm sticking with PS3 version, especially since it offers additional route for Tsukiko. Console version has +17 rating. It removes sex scenes, leaving just kissing scenes. But it doesn't shy away completely from the sexual themes - for example, during some makeout/kissing scenes protagonist mentions something like "let's stop for now, or I won't be able to control myself", and during bath scene Daiya notices his boner after she washed his back. The difference is that they get embarassed and just enter the bath instead of proceeding to fuck And well - they also spend the night together in protagonist's bed, so there's some food for imagination I liked it better that way, and I think that it fts the particular setting of this VN more.

Yesterday I started reading PS3 version of Himawari no Kyoukai to Nagai Natsuyasumi (which has just arrived) I'm still quite early in the prologue, but it looks promising (and pretty - art is really nice ) Unfortunately I have some technical issues with it (I don't know if it's just due to emulation, or the game itself is broken) - while it runs seemingly without problems, sometimes it will randomly freeze while advancing to the next line. And autosaves/quicksaves don't work properly in emulator. So yesterday I lost 3 hours worth of progress The workaround is to remember to save manually often (at least on scene transitions, when auto-save message pops up ). A bit bothersome, but it looks sooo much better than low-res PSP version, so I'm sticking with it

PS3 version of Himawari no Kyoukai to Nagai Natsuyasumi

Now that I think about it, after finishing true route I'm unsure about some details in World End Syndrome's plot (HEAVY SPOLIERS AHEAD!) : People who also finished it - what do you think about those points?

Aaaand - World End Syndrome already finished. It was shorter than I expected. Nevertheless, I liked it. From the three "questions" routes I think I liked Hanako's the best - it had the best flow, and I feel like their relationship evolved most naturally. Then, Yukino's route was kind of detective story, and then there was great Miu's route, and true ending following that. Those parts were definitely the best for me. Later part of Miu's route, and most of the "Truth" route had lots of tearjerking moments. Loved it. Some twists and reveals also got me by surprise - but I have to admit, that I'm newbie when it comes to mystery VNs, so perhaps I'm easy to fool My main complaint about this title is map movement system. The way it is implemented it kind of kills the flow of the story, and makes the whole experience unnecessarily fragmented. Unvoiced scenes were also a bummer. Still, the story itself was good, especially the finale, so I think it's 7.5/10 VN for me. ("potentially great title hindered by some annoying shortcomings" - namely underwhelming execution of map movement in that case). And WTF with that sequel teaser at the very-very-end? It means now we have to wait who-knows-how-long for the sequel... Somebody even angrily called WES "30 hour prologue to the sequel"

Except for (badly written) h-scenes

I just finished my first playthrough (prologue) of World End Syndrome My impressions so far - I like the setting, the characters, and little animations sprinkled here and there - blinking, lip-sync and various animated elements in the backgrounds. I'm not the fan of nameable protagonist, and scenes felt a bit disconnected sometimes. Perhaps some more narration would be in order? But then, perhaps it has something to do with protagonists' condition? Also, translation has been a bit of hit and miss so far. Dialogues are done pretty decently most of the time, but some lines in narration feel rather awkward. Like the use of present tense while obviously reporting past events that happened before. Nevertheless it got me interested, and I'm looking forward to subsequent runs, romancing those cute girls and discovering town's mystery

So, I finished PSP version of Sorairo. I have kind of mixed feelings about it. It was definitely enjoyable, and the concept with three "worlds" seemed interesting, but at the same time I feel like it was kind of unpolished, lacking that finishing touch. Also, quality of the routes was rather uneven. Ai's and Hanako's main routes were decent, but rather standard moege fare, without anything standing out too much. Side routes in each "world" were rather short - but they provided nice "what-if" scenarios or showed a bit different side of given heroine. Nevertheless, if it stopped at that, it would get 7/10 score at best. But there enters Tsubame's route, which screams "TRUE ROUTE" in big letters. It was great - much better and longer than the other two. It also tried to pull off a bit of Clannad (and did quite well at that), extending into struggles of adult family life of Kenji and Tsubame. Really great, and I'm glad that I listened to Accany's review's advice and saved this route for last. It's just a shame that there was only one such great route. So, after all, it gets 7.5/10. I think now I'll try World End Syndrome. I bought PS4 version, but I'm going to play Switch version in emulator... Sadly, there's no PS4 emu yet (and I don't have the console), and Switch physical edition seems to be sold out everywhere I checked... Still, both version have the same dev and publisher, so I feel this is alright at least from the ethical/moral point of view...

Content-wise Steam versions of IMHHW + Flight Diary + Akari Route = Cruise Sign (PS3 port that combines main game and FD). They are identical - I checked it thoroughly while reading Cruise Sign. It's just that main game suffers from bad translation. But, OTOH, FD + Akari are much better. They are by no means perfect, but can be read without cringing too much

Yay! Initial D FTW

This is preview of the new album from Yoko Matsuura, released on 2021-01-11. Yesterday the CD safely arrived in my mailbox, after crossing over 9000km I love it, it's really heartwarming and uplifting (I think I might have also fallen for her, even though I know it's rather pointless...)

Recently I've been feeling strong urge to re-read Princess Evangile and Konosora for the third time. It seems that they have become my "comfort VNs" . While they aren't the greatest that I've read, my feelings about them are almost exactly as in quote above. But before that I have to finish Sorairo, and then I think I'll try Worldend Syndrome.

Yeah, for me Umikana and Anofure are fine just as they are - no need for ero there. BTW, apart from Miazora's fandisc, last three Konno's games (Umikana, ATRI and Anofure) are all-ages. Maybe he gave up on H? (He wasn't too good at it )

It's been exactly 3 years today since I finished first Majikoi. I think my favorite heroine routes were Miyako, Mayucchi and Momoyo. But the ultimate best was true route, and it was what gave the VN such high score in my list (8). H-scenes in this one are numerous and while some of them were not bad, most are rather cringey. And Yamato's obsession with anal soon started getting on my nerves I think I might, just out of curiosity, check out the Steam edition, when JAST finally releases it

Akina is really great.

Yes, I read Noble Works, Sanoba Witch and Natsuzora Kanata - and liked them all. I intentionally skipped Dracu Riot because vampire setting puts me off. But Senren Banka and Riddle Joker seem interesting. (I also have BraBan and Tenshin Ranman on my "to read" list)

That's why it was relegated to fandisc But yeah, it almost kills my interest for that FD. What I'm really waiting for is Miazora's equivalent of Cruise Sign - all ages JP version of main VN plus stories from fandiscs - so I wouldn't have to deal with awkward h-scenes or Pulltop's random translation quality Win-win situation. I'd buy such release in a heartbeat, but I'm afraid they won't do it... It really puzzles me - Steam edition of Miazora is obviously translated from unreleased console version - so why not release it then? @ChaosRaven - you make me more and more interested in Senren Banka

Yesterday I finished main Ai's route in Sorairo. It was shorter than I expected, but OTOH that's understandable since each route has three versions, so if each of those was full length, it would probably get too big for rather standard high-school moege The route itself was nice - nothing outstanding nor groundbreaking, but also not boring - it was quite pleasant read, and two final CGs were very romantic If I had to complain about something - I'd like to see more interactions with other characters/group also during heroine's route, and not only in common route - I prefer that approach over the "isolated" routes focused almost solely on MC and chosen heroine. Well - it was just 1 out of at least 9 routes, so let's see how others turn out.

I used it to do thing that was impossible (or very difficult) before - to see at a glance which VNs from my list, backlog and wishlist have reviews, so I can check them out