adamstan

Yes, I compared the all-ages versions. Of course after applying the +18 patch Sekai/Denpasoft edition is the same as Palette's adult version. Another difference is resolution - Palette's complete edition is 1080p. But that's also only for all-ages - they didn't make +18 complete edition at all. So all +18 editions and Steam all-ages edition are 720p only.

Not only that, there were also some scenes and graphics missing. Details below:

This. And I guess for Palette, they rather aimed for consoles than for Steam itself - they created all-ages complete edition, which they released for PC, while PS4 and Switch releases are scheduled for June. BTW Steam version of Nine (Ep. 1-4) is more censored than complete edition, and, as I mentioned in my review, while I really liked the complete edition, I think Steam version removes too much.

Which reminds me that perhaps one day I should check out the sequel

Yeah, you're right, I exaggerated a bit or my memory played a trick on me - we "only" had to break up with her, but yeah, it wasn't especially ugly - breakups happen sometimes. (I played it 4 years ago, so my memories got a bit hazy) But route structure in Lovers was truly awful - there in order to unlock side routes you really just had to completely ignore Rie so she would leave you. And those routes weren't even worth it

Well, the drama has already arrived, since I don't mind some drama if it's well done - let's see how they did it. And even though this game features hetare protagonist, he didn't annoy me too much so far (But then, it was only prologue) OTOH I dislike the setup when you have to be a dick towards your girlfriend to enter other routes (like it was with Lovers or Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road), so I'm glad that it doesn't seem to be the case here.

Yesterday I completed the prologue in StarTRain - reaching the opening movie. It has a bit unusual setting for a charage, because we start with a protagonist in a relationship. His girlfriend is two years older Nami, whom he met one summer night a few years ago while he was watching falling stars. So now there's second part of common route waiting for me. So far I met three (of four) heroines - tsundere childhood friend Kanade, shy but cute Asuka speaking with Kansai accent, and a bit mysterious Yomogi from parallell class. According to walkthroughs there's also fourth, unlockable heroine - Nanami, but she hasn't appeared yet. As for Sunohara (), this time it's not one person, but a couple - MC's friend Hiroki and his girlfriend Maiko. BTW, they get together during the first hour of the game So far I have two issues with this VN, but they're technical ones, and seem specific to the PS2 version I own. The music gets cut abruptly during scene transitions instead of fading out - it makes those transitions a bit jarring. It was the same in Konneko - perhaps it's an PS2 or emulator issue? The font used in this release is a bit hard to read due to low resolution, but somehow I managed to get used to it. But nevertheless I'm a bit puzzled why didn't they used something simpler. 640x448 isn't that small, and it should be possible to have more legible font. But they used bold and shadows, which make the fine lines in more complicated kanji just blend together. Form over function At the very beginning I also had to get used to different style, but over the course of the prologue I got hooked, and now I'm looking forward to the rest of the game.

Last Thursday I finished Chocolat ~Maid Cafe "Curio"~ (I played "Standard Edition" - all ages PC version) It was nice, but had its share of problems. I'd say that in some way it has that unpolished "early work" feel - something like what ONE is when compared to KANON. Heroines were all very nice, and, as usual, Maruto writes nice, engaging character interactions, but the quality of the routes is very uneven. In my previous post I complained a bit about Misato's route. On the contrary, Midori's route which I played next was great (it's also heavily connected to Kanako's story). Mako's and Suzu's routes were so-so, not great, not terrible. Then there was another very good one - Sayaka's. I really liked her as a character, and her route was very emotional. And then there's epic final - Kanako's route. It's much longer than other routes and features quite a backstory. The concept is a bit similar to Rikako's route from Parfait (or rather the other way around ) - Kanako and Daisuke have been together in the past, but then their relationship fell apart. And just like in Parfait, at first attempt we're locked onto bad ending. After that there's additional hidden route for Chiroru/Tirol (チロル) After this cute and funny interlude, Kanako's true end gets unlocked. And after completing her route - there's another epilogue accessible from the main menu. It also features some flashbacks about Kanako's and Midori's relationship. It was veeery satisfying, especially the final CG, where for the first time we see So if I had to rate route's quality, it would be Kanako > Sayaka = Midori > Suzu > Mako > Misato. Apart from uneven route's quality, the map movement system is a chore - it's very difficult to track down missing events, because there's no flowchart with timeline, like in later games (Parfait, Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o), but just the list of events grouped by heroines. The descriptions of the (seen) events also aren't as good as in those later games. And this version (together with PS2 port) has already streamlined choice/map movement system. Adult and Dreamcast versions are even greater mess, since they extend the map movement system also far into routes themselves, which is nightmare. It's also worth noting that Standard Edition features much better music. I'm really surprised that this soundtrack hasn't made it to the 2021 remake - the remake features upscaled artwork and a bit streamlined system, but it uses the old soundtrack from 2003 version, which TBH sounds more like a poor General Midi soundtrack from the late '90s, and not in a good way It kind of clashes with nice graphics - perhaps it would be more fitting if the game was done in the PC98 pixel-art style So, summing it all up, this VN gets 7.5/10 from me. It has one great route, two very good ones, and three mediocre ones. (I count Chiroru's route as a part of Kanako's story). It was a bit rough around the edges, but all in all I enjoyed it - thankfully the true ending was satisfying Since I'm sucker for VNs with nostalgia and memories themes, I think my next read will be StarTRain (PS2 edition). It looks like it's the first VN written by Nanaumi Sou, who latter has written Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi (which also sits in my backlog ) and Kazato sisters' route in Konosora.

Yes. Essentially this isn't the "series" - it's single VN split into 4 (or actually 5) parts. Each of the four episodes contains single route. This is emphasised in the Complete Edition, where to unlock each route, you need to complete the previous one, and then after stories get unlocked after completing all four main episodes.

Recently Sekai Project announced that final episode of 9-nine will get released on Steam on 2022-03-18. The release will contain all three language versions (JP, CN, EN) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1890120/9nineNewEpisode/ This episode was all-ages right from the start, so there should be no need to worry about any censorship in this release.

@Fujoneko, thanks for another item added to backlog BTW - do you happen to know what's the difference between the regular "Root Letter" and "Root Letter: Last Answer" editions?

Yeah, I'm also sad to see the forum die - and turning it into nothing more than an annoucement board for YT vids seems to be just another nail in the coffin I agree with @Zalor, and I think I already wrote something similar under your other video topic, @NowItsAngeTime - I don't mind your videos, but I wish you'd care a bit more about forum - it's okay to post your video, but please also write proper post with a summary at least... I'd really hate to see this forum completely die, since it's the only vn community I'm comfortable to engage with - reddit's and especially discord's format is absolutely not for me - they're too fast-paced and chaotic. (I browse threads on r/visualnovels from time to time, but I feel too intimidated by it to even try to write anything there...)

Okay, sorry for posting two times in a row, but... I already finished both Misato's endings - "normal" and "true". And if it took me ~3 hours to read both of those in Japanese, then that means those "routes" were extremely short It didn't surprise me that "normal" ending was very short (under 1 hour), since it was the same in Parfait. Then I got to the unlocked Misato's true route - and it also went in a blink of an eye Sure, sometimes the routes get too long and dragged out, but this was another extreme - almost all "filler" has been cut out, and because of that the whole route feels rushed. Misato is cute, the few making out and/or date scenes are nice, but it's all too short! As if I was reading an abridged version. Let me give you a summary of the route: And from that point the route started flying at ridiculous speed... Credits. The end. It all happened over two or three scenes and around an hour of rather relaxed reading. If that's not short then I don't know what is...

Few days ago I started reading Chocolat ~Maid Cafe "Curio"~ (PC all ages version) Yesterday I reached the beginning of the first route - I'm starting with Misato's route. So far I'm liking this VN. As usual with Maruto's titles, the character interactions are well written and engaging. As for characters themselves, I have kind of deja-vu, or even the reverse one , since I started with the sequel ( Parfait), and some heroines seem to be based on the same tropes. Misato, whose route I'm on currently, looks like proto-Yui from Parfait - except that she's not a musician But considering how lovely cute ball of moe Yui was, I'm not complaining - another such heroine is warmly welcome Misato - Yui Another close match seems to be Kanako - she looks a bit like protoype for Rikako. But in that case is less about appearance and personality, and more about role and setting. Looks-wise she's closer to Ema. And, while we're at it, both games begin with almost the same shower CG - in Chocolat it's Kanako, while in Parfait it's Ema. Other heroines are also interesting - a bit rough childhood friend Midori, shy Sayaka, relaxed, motherly Mako and brand-new step imouto Suzu There seems to be one more heroine, but for now she remained hidden, so I cannot say anything about her. Map movement system in this game is very old-school, almost like in dating sims, but with the stats hidden. You have two map choices on almost every day, but not all are connected to the events - sometimes all you get is short generic SD slideshow, and supposedly it gives you relationship points. And after meeting certain conditions events are trigeered. This has been streamlined in subseqent GIGA's VNs (like the sequel Parfait or Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o) - in those titles every map choice leads to an event. I'm looking forward to this VN - it seems promising After that I think it will finally be time for White Album 2 (although perhaps not directly after this). Chocolat is probably the final Maruto's "pre-White Album 2" title I plan to read. https://vndb.org/s216 I think I'm going to skip Mama Love. While it is sometimes described like a "reverse Damekoi" (young MC and older heroine), and I had it bookmarked, it seems too nukigey for my taste. V.G.Neo and DUEL SAVIOR don't interest me at all - first one is part of larger series that I have no interest in, and the second one seems to be some weird hybrid. That leaves only Chocolat's prequel - Ripple ~Blue Seal e Youkoso~. While it might be interesting as a first Maruto's VN, I'm not too inclined to read it. Also, none of the VNs mentioned in this paragraph has all-ages edition (besides hybrid Duel Savior), and I still haven't recovered from the final H-scene in Folklore Jam which really soured the experience for me (For White Album 2 I'm going to read PS3 version)

And so I did this, and thus yesterday I finished Tenshin Ranman Happy GO Lucky PC. First let's talk about two mini-routes. Mahiro's route was very nice - even if nothing groundbreaking, it had some twists and rather unusual start of the relationship. I enjoyed it very much. Yukari's route is nothing to write home about - it had its funny and touching moments, but as a whole felt rather... pointless and ungrounded? I guess this was the most "eroge'y" route out of all - feels mostly like a fanservice for players with teacher fetish Well, it also gave some background for the Yukari's character, so that's a plus. Ruri's route has quite different structure from the rest, and seems to be the actual true route (at least for the base game) - in this route we get to know more about Haruki's curse and Hime's and Ruri's past. It was really good. But, to my utmost surprise, actually the best route was Mikoto's route, which is exclusive for all-ages version Or perhaps I should call it Wakaba's route, since that's the name she uses through the 99% of the game. In the previous post I speculated that perhaps Mikoto/Wakaba is Hime's superior, but it turns out that I was wrong - she's just another goddess of the same level I was expecting pretty typical "console bonus route" - nice, but nonessential. Instead I got the best, most developed route of the whole game - it was easily level or two above all other routes, really. It even had the most CGs I liked almost everything about this route. First - Wakaba/Mikoto was really likeable character, and she managed to be both cute and hot at the same time Coodere, but with veeeery strong "dere" part, and ultra-masochistic closet pervert, which is mostly played for laughs, but works really well The relationship between her and Haruki kind of grows organically, and doesn't feel rushed or forced just by the route choice. It was really nice to observe those two gradually getting closer and closer to each other. The route also takes lots of hints from KEY's school of nakige. Of course, drama worked only because I already got attached to her - and it made the good ending all more satisfying. So basically, a surprise, but a welcome one So, time to sum it all up. The game looks really nice, as expected from Yuzusoft. This edition uses the latest version of Yuzusoft's UI, with flowchart and other conveniences, which is very nice. Voices were also very good. If all routes were as good as the last Mikoto's route, this would be easily 8.5. But while they weren't bad, they also weren't really standing out - AFAIK it was the first work based on what would later become "Yuzusoft formula". And so for what it was - a nice, if a little generic moege with one outstanding route - I feel 7.5/10 is right score. ************************************************************************ Now I think I'll take a few days break, and then I'm going to read another Maruto's work - this time it will be Chocolat ~Maid Cafe "Curio"~ which is prequel to Parfait. I bought Chocolat ~maid cafe "curio"~ Standard Edition - First Press Edition (PC all-ages release), and it should arrive in a few days

I personally didn't like sex scenes in 9-nine either - mainly because of the animation style, but also I thought that there were too many, had issues with their placement, and still found them too "porny" for my taste. So for this game I also preferred all-ages edition (the Palette's Complete Edition - not the Steam one). I think the last VNs where I enjoyed H-scenes, and found them relatively "wholesome" (with some exceptions) were Palette's Sakura Strasse and Yuzusoft's Natsuzora Kanata (and those games don't have all-ages versions anyway ) I also loved the way the relationship was depicted - sex included - in the short EVN called The Language of Love.

I haven't played Kinkoi yet, but since often H-scenes instead of being "characters making love to each other" turn into "characters performing the porn scene", I tend to avoid them and go for all-ages editions whenever available And with a few VNs that I played recently, even if when playing the all-ages version I thought "hmm... a little bit of sexy stuff wouldn't hurt", checking out the actual scenes from +18 version was a huge letdown more often than not.

Yesterday I finished another route in Tenshin Ranman - this time it was Aoi's route. It was good route - perhaps even better than Sana's. I have soft spot for childhood friends, but I think this wasn't 100% typical osananajimi route. I mean, Aoi wasn't the kind of childhood friend that would come everyday to wake him up, bring the homemade school lunch and confess her everlasting love Instead they had pretty nice friendly relationship, with healthy amount of banter. And so they struggled pretty hard to step-up to the lovers level. The thing mentioned in the spoiler above is the story gimmick that could be seen already in various charage titles, but nevertheless they handled it pretty well. Also, when they finally overcome the difficulties, the route has quite good dose of ichaicha - even in All-ages version. Or, dare I say, the making out in all-ages version of this route is even sweeter than the sex in the original version So, all in all, very nice moege route. Now I think I'll try the two mini side-routes for Mahiro and Yukari, and after that I'll tackle Ruri's route (which is recommended by various reviewers to be read last), and then finally Mikoto's route, which is exclusive to all-ages version. It seems that Mikoto is another goddess. Also, interesting fun fact - this game seems to be the first untranslated one to be reviewed on the Joyjason's blog, and there he said that he prefers all-ages version - even though he confused the platform it was released for back then (it should say PSP, not PS2) Judging by my experience with the game so far, I second this I also read Micchi's and Zen's review, and my feelings about routes seem to be exactly opposite. They thought that Aoi's route was the worst, while so far it seems to be my favorite one. Hime's route that I played first wasn't bad, and the "plot/action" part about preparations for school festival was nice, but the romance part felt somewhat lacking.

Yeah, that would make nice reason for reread **************************************************** Today I finished another route in Tenshin Ranman - this time it was Sana's (little sister) route. It was great - much better than Hime's route, at least for me. How to say it... - it had proper tension, and just the right amount of drama. And quite satisfying ending.

I have high hopes for WA2 - but at the same time I'm a bit afraid to start it - I had similar feeling about Clannad I have very fond memories of LB!, but it might be too long to reread right now, with my backlog So far I've reread Princess Evangile (two times - once in English and once in Japanese) and Konosora (in Japanese).

Yesterday I finished first route in Tenshin Ranman Happy GO Lucky - Hime's route. It was... okay, I guess? How to say it... it wasn't bad, there were lots of quite funny moments, and I cannot say I didn't enjoy it, but at the same time it felt a bit bland - as in, it didn't make me want to immediately read the rest of the routes. I'll probably do it anyway, since there might be some gems hidden there, and the game isn't bad, but I guess I expected something more from the "main girl's" route. Or perhaps it's just that the standard Yuzusoft's moege formula doesn't work for me as well as it should? So far I finished four Yuzusoft's games - Noble Works, Sanoba Witch, Natsuzora Kanata and PARQUET. And even though I rated them all with 8 points, I think that nakigey Natsukana was the best. Perhaps I should raise its score to 8.5? Sanoba Witch and PARQUET also had nakige elements. And Noble Works might be a bit overrated by me, since it was one of the first few VNs I've read.

Same. Actually I was interested in it even before the whole "controversy" - on the contrary, I was quite happy that original developer is releasing non-porn version for PC (and that said version also includes Japanese text). And here's the link to the game's page, where the writer talks about all those changes: https://laplacian.jp/yonagi/en/column/column-05/ Now, if someone would be so kind to port Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai - Converted Edition to PC I'd be really happy, since so far it isn't playable in emulators... (It kind of runs on Vita3k, but without sound and it's rather glitchy)

@ChaosRaven thanks for your review I'm even more late to the party, since I haven't started it yet. I got interested in Higurashi after I found out that I liked World End Syndrome (BTW where's the damn sequel!?). I'm still on the fence whether to read this in Japanese or in English, since it's already veeeeery long, so with my JP reading speed it would take ages to finish. How would you rate translation quality?

I just started Tenshin Ranman Happy GO Lucky PC. It looks very nice, has the distinctive Yuzusoft's art style, and seems to be nice charage. UI in this version is indeed updated, and seems to be the same as in, for example, PARQUET, with flowchart, lots of skipping and rewinding options etc I just completed the prologue, and during the OP sequence I encountered one weird bug - videos are flipped in both axes - meaning they're upside down and mirrored I haven't found the patch online - perhaps it hasn't been released yet. Video files themselves are packed into KiriKiri's *.xp3 archives, so fixing that would probably involve unpacking, unflipping them in some video editor, re-encoding and repacking... 面倒くさい...

Okay, yesterday I finished '&' - Sora no Mukou de Sakimasu you ni -, and while it was good, I have to say that Nine was better Main themes of And seem to be friendship and the nature of wishes. The routes can be divided into few groups. First there are three "introductory" routes - Riko, Tsukasa and Maki. What surprised me is that each route tells completely different story - after finishing Riko's route I expected that this is the gist of the main plot, and now other routes will just fill in the gaps or reveal more, but it was nothing like that. Of course, each route features some kind of trouble related to artifacts, but that's the only thing that connects them. Those routes mostly let us know the characters more, and provide lots of background info, and also bits and pieces of information about artifacts. I enjoyed those routes, and even though romance isn't the focus here - it's treated like in some action-adventure games or movies - but it was still nice to see MC getting closer with a girl I also laughed often, both in common route and in character routes - and Riko's little sisters are one of the cutest and moest things I saw in a VN for a long time . Moving on to the next level, there is Yae's route. It featured very amusing, almost RPG-like adventure with lots of action and kind of set the ground for the true route, introducing some of the important threads and characters. And Yae herself is very interesting girl to be around Completing aforementioned four routes unlocks Urara's route, which is over twice as long as the other ones, and serves as a true route, tying up together all bits and pieces from other routes, and revealing the truth behind the artifacts and wish-granting tree that spawned them. Relationship between MC and Urara is also a bit more developed than in other routes, but it still isn't the main focus. Nevertheless I found this route to be very good, especially since I liked Urara, so I have no problem with her being the main heroine. While the finale wasn't as epic and emotional as Nine's, it was still very good. And I think the game should end right there. However, there's more - and perhaps that's where they overdid it a little. First, completing true route unlocks mini-route for Seira - cute girl who's the first character we meet in the VN, right in the prologue. It has a bit of fandisc-feeling, presenting kind of light-hearted what-if alternative to the main story. Seira is cute, her story was fun, but nothing special. And then console version adds one more route - which seems to be half-joke one, but it was a huge letdown for me The main problem was that the "heroine" of this route is a trap Juri. The story in this route was pretty absurd, wandering into Majikoi territory, and while it was supposed to be about restoring the severed friendship - kind of an answer to one of the other endings - it was packed with weird lewd undertones that didn't sit too well with me, so I finished the whole VN with kind of sour aftertaste Like I mentioned before, I played All-ages PS3 version. It is the "lazy" kind of all-ages version - which might be considered both good and bad, depending on the point of view and implementation. It doesn't alter the story or give any replacement scenes - it just skips the porn, but the characters are banging off-screen. Almost Steam-ready The only additional content in PS3 version is the abovementioned Juri's route - which sadly I didin't enjoy too much. I'd prefer to have Shouko's route if anything - she appears in many other routes, and with her backstory it could make for pretty interesting route, perhaps in the YMK vein... So, to sum it up... This VN looks great - I really loved the art, although it would benefit from some more backgrounds and CGs. Music was also nice, although it got a bit repetitive after some time. Main story was quite engaging. So, considering all that, even though by the time I finished the game I was a bit disappointed, I still think it deserves at least 8/10. PS While I didn't find it overly difficult to read, it would be a bitch to translate, because it often features kanji puns or creative furigana usage, that would require long-winded explanations in English in place of the few words used in JP. ********************************** My next read will be probably Tenshin Ranman, since I recently grabbed newly released all-ages PC port from DLsite