adamstan

I have to confess - I love their G.R.N.D. album.

So, after all I got distracted again, and started reading another moege from Palette - Sakura Strasse instead of Bokuten

And today it's sweet pop again - "Zutto" by Mariko Nagai

Heavy metal girls from the band Show Ya Whole album is good:

Yesterday I finished Lovers ~Koi ni Ochitara...~, which is a remake of Love Escalator that I played before. It's quite decent high school romance VN with some light dating sim elements. Main heroine is Rie, and her route is pretty good. I guess I actually shouldn't use the word "route" here, as it doesn't apply too much. The thing is - Rie and Takashi (MC) get together at the end of the prologue, and whole game is mostly about her. There are two side heroines, Noriko and Hanako, but they don't have proper routes. And to get their endings you basically have to be a dick and neglect your girlfriend, while dating side chicks instead. It's all especially grating in PC98 version, where in story part there are no choices, and everything happens in dating sim part. By taking chosen girl to a date that she likes, you collect "relationship points". If you fail to establish good enough relationship with Rie she'll leave in December, and that opens path for other endings. But other than that, the story doesn't in any way react to the fact that you're cheating bastard neglecting his cute girlfriend. And as for Noriko and Hanako - apart from some scenes in prologue when they get introduced, they don't have any events at all. You just take them to the dates during dating sim segments - which are just a few repetitive lines, and once you get enough relationship points, you can take them to the love hotel and watch h-scene. And then hold ctrl key right to the end - which again is very short and rather unsatisfying. That's why, even though main route was good, I rated Love Escalator with 7/10. It would probably be 6.5 or even 6, but it got bonus points for great pixel art graphics But with only one good route per three heroines, it doesn't deserve higher score. Now, having the bad out of the way, let's talk about good. (this applies to both versions, I'll point out the differences in text where relevant) While MC isn't exactly great person, he was relatable to me with his insecurities. And his indecisiveness comes back to bite him in the ass. I really liked the main story - it follows basic high-school romance conventions, but not necessarily moege conventions, since it predates almost all moeges So it isn't all fluff, flowers and rainbows - MC has his insecurities, there are rivals appearing a few times, and well, there's main problem of secretly dating a girl that your best friend has crush on. The thing that stood out - in a good way - was how side characters were treated. This VNs introduces tons of side characters - and almost all of them have sprite and voice. Also, the friends of MC and Rie aren't there just to provide background - they have their own little stories, and they even get short arcs shown from their perspective. There are lots of funny interactions between cast. Well, there's one thing this VN shares with lots of moeges - best girl Mayumi isn't a heroine (and there were no fandiscs...) Lovers ~Koi ni Ochitara...~ was great improvement over Love Escalator when it comes to the structure/system - it at least partially fixes the most glaring shortcomings of previous version. Main story got extended - they added two additional arcs (school trip and cultural festival) that were only briefly mentioned in PC98 version. Also, there are lots of choices added - some are meaningless, but some affect relationship score, so now it isn't restricted to dating sim part. Noriko and Hanako got at least their mini-routes. When you unlock them by getting enough relationship points and failing Rie's route, there are two additional events for each of the girls. So while not full-fledged routes, it's great improvement over PC98 version. (Also, they added more h-scenes for them, with the first one happening in-story instead of dating sim.) Noriko's story was okay. Hanako's was a bit WTF to me, I don't get what did MC see in her, but to each their own Dating sim part was greatly improved and expanded. Now for each date spot there are bunch of scenes, which also form kind of mini stories (and some are random). Also, in some spots there are quite funny minigames of various kinds. Beating those unlock secret CGs or H-scenes. Which brings us to the next point... H-scenes. Animated and interactive. It's quite interesting, since it adds kind of role playing element to the game. There are only two in-story scenes in Rie's route. The rest is up to the player. You can go to the love hotel or home on every date and keep fucking (and there's a lot of animations/CGs to discover), or you can have more "wholesome" relationship. It doesn't affect the ending, so it's possible to finish this VN with different approaches. And the H-scenes are also kind of separate minigame, where both characters gradually "level up". MC has "action points" - starting with 3, but can get up to 7, while Rie has "endurance" - some actions have greater cost, so when you overdo it by demanding too much, she'll either slap you (at low relationship/sex skill levels) or start to cry, so you have to watch out. So I guess it's kind of realistic in showing that when it comes to sex people need to get used to each other, and it was actually quite satisfying to observe how they gradually got more comfortable with each other. Also "leveling up" gradually unlocks different poses or variations of those. For side heroines Noriko and Hanako the system is simpler - after the first time, if you go to the "H" date, you get three random poses each time. The animations looked very good, and I found them quite hot. I think they were the best animated H-scenes I've seen so far. So, considering all of the above, I'd rate Lovers ~Koi ni Ochitara...~ with 7.5/10. Good, but not without thorns - I stil miss a bit longer epilogues, proper routes for side heroines, and Mayumi's route And I still consider the way to enter side routes solely via dating sim part flawed. Also, there's this review. I mostly agree with it. For my next read I might finally try Bokuten. But it's also possible that I'll get tempted by Sakura Strasse or Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi

I like to click on them, but big part of my list is not from quotes, but from random images on the frontpage.

Recently I stumbled upon this: Pretty weird mixture of disco and synthpop from 1981

Today I got another physical JVN from Amazon - this time it's Sakura Strasse by Palette.

When I buy a VN on Steam/DLSite/wherever I usually download it immediately. I also don't uninstall the ones I've finished, so my HDD is full of VNs. I also keep disc images for the few disc-based VNs that I own. Having unread titles sitting on the HDD helps me remember that I should read them at some point

Two? Damn, I'm in!

Today I finished Love Escalator, but since I wasn't completely satisfied with it, now I started reading remake - Lovers ~Koi ni ochitara~ (I found working hook for it) - to check if they fixed the most annoying problems. I'll write more on both titles together, when I complete it.

Thanks. It's good to know that Textractor can also work with PPSSPP. I've been using CheatEngine with HookAnyText plugin for that so far.

Playing Love Escalator using NekoProjectTH with Textractor is much smoother than Win port with AGTH Now I also could make the window double-sized (1280x800), so now it's a breeze As for the game itself, I'm liking what I see. It isn't the greatest thing I've ever seen or played, but interesting enough to keep me hooked I like how it looks, and Rie (main heroine) is cute It's also worth noting that this version has actually better opening than the remake (unless the latter has another one somewhere later). It's a nice animated sequence, in the style of anime openings, while the remake has only some credits appearing over the backgrounds slideshow. The story itself so far is rather generic high-school romance, but not as fluffy as typical later moeges. Also, the game itself is a mix of VN and dating-sim segments, a bit like Fureraba or SukiSuki. I'll try to write more when I finish it.

I'd say it was probably mainly because you didn't like Nagisa. And, as you pointed out later, it was apparently too old-fashioned for you, and so it clashed with your (more progressive) worldview. So there's no wonder it didn't work for you. (For example, I seem to like it exactly for some of the reasons you disliked it for...)

I'm going through it. However, that aforementioned Windows patch is a bit buggy - it doesn't play sounds (only music, and with some bugs), there are no screen transition effects other than fading, so most scene changes are abrupt, skipping doesn't work properly, and it's a bit laggy/unresponsive in general. But! Today I found out about NPTH - a version of NekoProject II PC98 emulator that is compatible with text hookers. Yeah, I'm horribly late to the party, since it's been out for 5 years already Well, better late than never I tested it with Textractor and it works like a charm So I'm probably going to restart with this emulator, skip through already read scenes, and continue from there.

I had different plans, but today I started reading Love Escalator - apparently the last VN released for PC98 (in 1998 nonetheless ), and one of the last games for this system at all. I thought about reading it for a while (or its 2003 Windows remake Lovers), but PC98 version couldn't be hooked from the emulator. Remake works in theory (and has voice acting), but the hooking is broken - it misses large parts of text - no matter which tool I use (ITHVNR, AGTH, Textractor - all give the same bad result). According to vndb there was Windows release of Love Escalator , but I couldn't find anything about it on the net. (it turns out that actually there wasn't ) But then today I found out about a patch for PC98 relase that ports it to Windows - and it's hookable with AGTH Also, I feel like I prefer the look of the old version actually. If only it was also voiced... Well, cannot have it all...

Found it - it was "Funk Fujiyama" by Kome Kome Club:

Hilarious I remember hearing a bit similar '80s song, but don't know the title. Will try to shazam it next time it comes up on the radio

Ah, one of those nukiges with ridiculously long titles Sadly, not my cup of tea...

Nice I recently heard "Ito" by Miyuki Nakajima - pretty sweet love ballad from 1992. It has been covered by many artists. Since it moved me too, I decided to record my organ cover as well Here it is:

I think I like the third one the best. Pumping dynamics compression on the first one kills my ears. Coupled with vocal processing makes it sound a bit too "modern US" for my taste. However that third one is pretty good. The second one has a bit similar mood, but I like those synth sounds on the third one more.

So, yesterday I finished it. It was quite decent nakige. It definitely has strong KEY vibe - especially Sasara's and Chihaya's routes. Also, common route is rather short, and each route tells its own different story - a bit like in Making*Lovers. The setting is like this - Souta comes in the beginning of December to the strange island where the summer never ends. Actually he comes every year, to help his aunt Miho, who's running a guesthouse. And there he meets (or doesn't - it is possible to never meet Chihaya and Sasara) the heroines, and stuff happens There's also a legend, that somewhere on the island there's a mirror that grants wishes. LIke I said before, I started with Yuiko's route. She's Souta's cousin (Miho's daughter) and the first person we meet in the game. Her route seems to be the default one, if you don't actively go for another. It is the most stand-alone, and perhaps the shortest one of the three stories, maybe a bit like a "side route", but it is good to read it first, since in other two routes there are some light spoilers for it. I was initially a bit worried, since Yuiko looks like a loli, but fortunately it's mostly her sprite. I mean sure, she's almost flat-chested, and behaves a bit childish sometimes, but still she's the same age as MC, and when she turns serious it shows. Also, in H-CGs she's drawn in a more mature way. I liked how this route made use of the "group of friends" trope, portraying friendship between Yuiko, Souta (MC) and Goro. It also touches up very lightly upon the island's legend. Yuiko is also good supporting character in other routes. After that I went with Sasara's route. She's the mysterious girl that we briefly see during preparations for the festival. Her route was very emotional, full of KEY mood, with family as one of its main themes. It also explains island's lore about granting wishes. Anything more would be a spoiler, so I'll stop here, but I really liked this route. It also has interesting quirk. There are two endings - two versions of epilogue - and they are determined by And lastly I read Chihaya's route, since she seemed to be the main heroine. First thing to say is that she's totally cute, moe incarnate, one of the cutest heroines I've seen. And also very kind and nice. I can understand why Souta falls in love with her almost instantly. But then drama hits, since she seems to lose her memory every three days, due to past accident. There's more to it, but that would be too spoilerish, so let's leave it at that, since it's mentioned even in summary on vndb This route is kind of intertwined with Sasara's, or, to be more accurate, it also is strongly based upon island's "wish granting system" that was featured in Sasara's route. Chihaya's route also has two endings. On the first playthrough we're locked onto the "normal" one, and then on the second run there's additional choice that unlocks "true end". Both are more or less "magical", but my main complain would be that the "normal end" seems to be more developed and better written than the supposed "true ending", which seems to be a bit over the top with and it lacks post-credits epilogue. But still it was very good route. Supporting cast was also good. Yuiko (outside her route), Futaba (her younger sister), Goro and Miho - I really liked their interactions with Souta. Well, Futaba was mostly comic relief, but she was very good at it Art is great - like I said before, backgrounds are very detailed, and I really liked the style in which characters were drawn. Especially Chihaya's sprite - she has that look taken straight from 90's anime that I love There were also quite funny SD CGs, especially in Sasara's and Chihaya's routes. Music is also good, emphasizing the mood of the scenes. H-scenes were also decent. Very vanilla, but that's exactly my thing so I won't complain. They weren't too much out of character, and there was love in there, so I'm satisfied (although I skipped through some of the moaning and sfx lines ). They were definitely placed better than in some of the Natsu no Ame's routes. While playing this VN I also often noticed, that some of the tropes used here also appear in the recent Summer Pockets, - the setting seems very similar, and the prologue, with the MC standing on the ferry's deck and gazing at the sea and approaching island. When it comes to the final score, I'm a bit troubled tbh. I really enjoyed this VN, but at the same time I feel like it lacked that something special. Perhaps it's difficult to beat KEY when it comes to nakige, and when looking at it as just a charage, I guess I got spoiled by Mashiro Iro Symphony... But still, Natsukana is very good charage/nakige, and I strongly recommend getting it, especially since it can be got quite cheap on DLSite (2750JPY). 8/10 PS I also found it quite easy to read - of course, with the help of text hooker and dictionary, but still. It felt much easier than Natsu no Ame or To Heart. I think it could be added to those "beginner friendly charage" lists. Now, what to read next... Perhaps I'll need some break, but after that... maybe Bokuten?

And if my eyes don't deceive me, previous default theme is "Spectrum" one. (Or it's the one I've been using so long that I started to think about it as a default one ).

Thanks Yumi Matsutoya is great.

Thanks guys