adamstan

Well, since it is really short, I just read Planetarian You were right @Flutterz, it is good. But so sad again, even more so than AIR ending... It reminded me of Ame's ending from Dal Segno. Both of these robot/AI heroines became almost human by the end of the story. And the track "Perfectly Human" that played during final scenes was so haunting... It was somewhat similar to the song that played during Dream World sequences in Clannad. The protagonist had some nice character development. BTW - it seems that the planetarium in Miagete (and especially its projector) was inspired by this story. To sum it up - great story, packed with feels, definitely recommended - 8.5/10

I'd say that PE doesn't have that problem - although it is slice of life, there are lots of things happening, heroines are great, and other characters don't completely disappear after entering the route - but of course their role is smaller. I liked PE very much, but after reading some opinions here and there I completely lost interest in MML.

Maybe the difference is that now they are disabled by default and you have to manually switch them back on, while previously they were enabled? That way new users arent hit by "offensive" content.

I already have "One", so probably I'll go with it. As for Rewrite - I'll wait for official localization, that apparently is in work.

Yesterday (or rather today around 2AM) I finished AIR Wow, that was a ride... First is "Dream" arc - something like "School" in Clannad. I played in the order suggested by @Flutterz's walkthrough - Misuzu, Kano and then Minagi. There are some other walkthroughs that suggest reversed order (meaning leaving Misuzu for the last playthrough). Actually both approaches make sense. Since Kano's and Minagi's stories can be considered side-stories, and Misuzu is main character, playing her route last makes sense story-wise. OTOH, reading it first gives game a structure somewhat similar to LittleBusters While Misuzu is main character of whole VN, and I love her, the best route of Dream arc is Minagi's. Minagi is lovely, first impression somewhat similar to Kotomi from Clannad. Michiru was annoying at first, but as I got deeper into the story, I grew fond of her as well. And the ending of this route hits hard with feels... This route also has interesting quirk, because Kano's route is significantly weaker, but still enjoyable, and she was very likeable character for me as well. Misuzu is great, but her route serves mostly as introduction for later arcs. After completing three heroine's routes, there's "Summer" arc. It has no choices, and gives backstory for "Girl in the sky" and her connection to Yukito. It was good, packed both with comedy and feels. Also, it features another VA I really like (first being Aya Hisakawa as Haruko) - Kikuko Inoue as Uraha. Then comes "AIR" arc - something like "Refrain" or "After Story". Main heroines of this part are Misuzu and Haruko. It was great, but it hits right into the feels many times, as its very bittersweet. At the end, I cried my eyes out There are some glimpses of hope but overally, from 4 KEY VNs I read (Kanon, AIR, Clannad and LB!) this is definitely the saddest one, without clear happy ending provided by KeyMagicTM (like Clannad After Story's final run or LB's "it's not enough!"). I'm completely used to Key's art style, so no complaints here, and backgrounds are actually really good. Music was good too. I tried both English patches (WinterConfetti's and GaoGao's), and finally switched to the former (with All-Ages addon from Takafumi). Both have their share of problems, but they aren't game breaking, so just pick your poison Great emotional ride, and it's for me right up there with Clannad and LB. 9/10

I didn't play Hoshimemo, so I don't know how they compare, however as for imouto routes in general (from the VNs I've read), there is one in WagaHigh and SakuSaku.

Hmm... I was almost sure that Fureraba didn't have honorifics - or they were at least partially removed. Will have to replay to check... I remember "senpai" being used here and there, but others not so much...

You got me interested in that Root Double. However I'll wait for next Steam sale Today I started reading AIR. The very beginning was somewhat slow and tiring (but then, it conveyed MCs feelings and situation perfectly that way, so I guess it's good). As soon as we meet Misuzu, it kicks into action. And then there's one of my favorite VAs - Aya Hisakawa - as Misuzu's mom. Looks promising. BTW the heatwave we're currently experiencing seems perfect setting for reading this VN

Well, I recently finished Kanon, so may as well read AIR next.

I'm on the fence regarding the Hoshimemo. On one hand - it has rather good score on VNDB, with 8s prevailing. OTOH there are some really critical reviews on Fuwa and elsewhere, and in addition to this, fan-TL is allegedly awful, and official release, while somewhat better, is broken (with some untranslated lines). Or did Sekai finally fix it perhaps? Should I add it to my backlog, or don't bother?

Yeah, may as well. Downloading now and adding to the to-read list It's almost like looking for early/demo versions of your favorite song

I just finished Kanon. It was beautiful. Can be seen as sort of prototype for later Key games, but still holds up on its own. I think my favourite girls and routes were Nayuki and Ayu (first and last played). Probably because we spend most time with one or both of them, whichever route we're on. Nayuki's route felt natural for first one to read, it makes nice introduction into the world. Shiori, Makoto and Mai were good too. Makoto's story was really sad, but with many heartwarming moments near the end. Shiori's route was nice romance story. Mai's route was interesting, also with right amount of feels included. The setup for this route was very similar to Saya's route from LB!. The ending - in some ways - too. The nicest thing about this route was observing how Mai slowly opened up before Yuuichi as their relationship progressed. Then the ending hits somewhat unexpectedly, and whole epilogue sequence is vague enough that I wasn't sure if KeyMagic finally did it's work, or it was bittersweet one. Still, good route. Ayu is main heroine of the game and her route is closest to "True Route" we can get here, that's why I read it last. It was really good, classic Key - but it started it all. Some of the most heartwarming CGs from these route for me were Music and voices were good. Backgrounds were beautiful, and character's look didn't bother me at all - I guess I got used to this drawing style by going gradually LB! -> Clannad -> Kanon. I actually liked them. I played with All-ages patch. I briefly checked some of the h-scenes, and they feel so out of place and out of character, that it's best to go MoeNovel on them and pretend they never were there. Really, they feel like the result of applying Rule34 to the characters. Avoid at all cost. KEY stories don't work as eroge at all, period. Translation was okay. It was smooth read most of the time. However it's slightly inconsistent. On one hand, it replaces some more obscure cultural references with Western ones (with clickable pop-up TL notes explaining what whas there originally for those who are curious), and that's good. OTOH later in Ayu's route they left ”ごちそうさまでした。” untranslated (with TL-note), which makes no sense at all. But apart from that, it's okay. Overally - great experience, not as epic as Clannad or LB!, but for a first attempt - really good. 8.5/10

That blog post was brilliant, thank you for bringing it up. So, everything has been said years ago

Just make sure to use new retranslation patch for KonoSora (if you want english).

If that means no Japanese voices - please, noooo! (EVNs are different matter of course). Just like with anime - I strongly prefer subs over dubs. More on topic - if to get more popular VNs have to completely change from what they are now - I don't see the point, and I don't want it. いやだ！

For once I'll be quicker than @ittaku and recommend To Heart 2 If you liked Majikoi, then give Tsujidou-san No Jun'ai Road a try. Then, for fans of Konosora there's also Miagete (A Sky Full Of Stars) - if you're OK with all-ages version (I liked it). I also second recommendations of Clannad, SakuSaku and Fureraba.

Sasami and Saya are standalone stories, Kanata's route is connected with Haruka's. I enjoyed all three of them, totally worth reading. Dungeons in Saya's route might be little tiring, but Saya herself makes it worth suffering a bit As for the length - from what I remember they are normal.

I feel a little weird, writing third post in a row, but whatever... I'm reading Kanon now, and it's good Yesterday I finished first route - Nayuki's. I had one funny experience. At one time I was quite tired and sleepy, so decided to lie down a bit. Then, being half asleep I started to dream about Nayuki - seeing something like scenes from VN, with my thoughts in a textbox nonetheless. And - not realizing that I'm lying on a sofa, not playing a game, I repeatedly tried to click nonexistent mouse button to advance the story

That's not too bad. I already have some backlog, and new titles are coming out, so definitely can wait that much.

Yeah, I also haven't read Rewrite, but love the other Kotori Maybe it will get released before 2024?

I wonder if it would be possible to create "hybrid" version, that would combine @Nandemonai's translation, voice acting from Renewal version, but use graphics and music from original version? That would be perfect for me, as for some weird reasons I like the look and sound of original more. I suppose it would require porting to a different engine... Is Ren'py the answer?

Indeed, trains were what drawn me to Maitetsu. Fortunately I'm not too familiar with english railway nomenclature, so I hope it won't bugger me too much I'll be reading all-ages version.

I just finished Meisou Toshi (Runaway City) It was disappointing... It tried to have some plot, but couldn't get away from being just a nukige. The story was boring and characters were bland. Year later TIARE (JAST) got much better, releasing Sakura no Kisetsu, but this was its exact opposite - pure '90s nukige with paper-thin characters and weak plot. And it's completely linear, except for the ending (basically you have to make some choices to avoid bad end), so all choices and whole adventure mechanic means just lots of pointless clicking. BTW There is one interesting easter egg - while listening to conversations on the street, you can overhear some random guys speaking about Sakura no Kisetsu, even though it wasn't released yet - of course without mentioning the title. They discuss who is the best girl - Reiko, Mio or Aki? And how difficult it is to get Ruri. Music was good, and the art was decent too, but I'm still disappointed. 5.5/10 Now I think I'll return to Key, and start Kanon.

I just finished Nocturnal Illusion. Interesting experience. Again, it's VN in an text adventure game format, but here it works well. There are no routes, but instead you read through each heroine's arc, helping them defeat demons of their past that haunt them. At first glance it might look like a nukige, but it's far from that - I really liked the story, and it wasn't just an excuse for next h-scene (and, actually there aren't THAT many, they just seem packed due to lack of routes). What's more, h-scenes themselves are very nicely intertwined with plot - they aren't just random fucks. While some reviews claim that it still feels like "cheap excuse", they are justified by the rules of the illusionary world the whole story takes place in. After you get to know the story of each heroine, what they went through and how long they were wandering lost and lonely, it isn't suprising that they long for some intimacy and warmth. I have to agree with @Nandemonai: Indeed, there are some good scenes. There are also some that feel like they had to be there as writers wanted to conform to eroge-standards of the time, exploring all popular hentai fetishes, so sometimes it feels a bit stretched, but nevertheless the game as a whole works. I think that my favorite arcs were Maya, Yukina, Sari and Misao. By that I don't mean that others were bad, but these stood out for me. I've come to really like Maya, and actually got smiling everytime I saw her smile in later parts of the game. Misao's relationship with protagonist was really funny. Yukina and Sari - these were pretty sad, but great... And it was a joy to see Yukina smiling after her arc. Mistress was great character too. The story is linear, but it branches at the end, when you choose one girl to return to the outside world with you. I think that my favorite epliogues were Miwako, Sari and Maya. First two were really heartwarming, and third - beacuse I felt some strange connection to Maya, and I think she and Shinichi made great couple. Some epilogues have two variants - happy and bittersweet. For some reason bittersweet Arisa's epilogue made my eyes little wet. Mistress' happy ending could be considered kind of True End (although officially game doesn't have such), but I'd like it to be little longer, and explain some more. Nevertheless final CG was nice and heartwarming. I loved art and music - the latter was beautiful, and, at times, I'd say haunting. I also really liked the tune that played during h-scenes. The game, just like the other two oldies I reviewed before, features that oldschool anime-style character design - I loved it. I slightly missed those small random facial animations from JAST's '90s engine used by Season of Sakura nad Three Sisters Story - it was really great feature. Nocturnal Illusion is more static, but I still liked the whole presentation. I actually prefer original PC98/WIN95 art over the remake. Those almost-monochrome dithered backgrounds have certain charm. "Adventure" gameplay is smoothest from those three titles, with lowest amount of pointless clicking. Still, while there are no bad ends*, having walkthrough at hand helps to not get stuck and progress the story at decent pace. Unfortunately, localization is poor. It feels like whoever was responsible for it, wasn't good with english So I'm looking forward to @Nandemonai's retranslation. Time for the score. This game surprised me - it was much better than I expected, based on my past impressions from the prologue. I think I can give it even 7.5/10 (despite abysmal localization ). It's a pity that it won't work on newer systems - XP or W98/95 virtual (or physical ) machine is the only way to go. Or web version at Asenheim Project, but I feel awkward playing VNs in a browser window.

It looks like I have soft spot for old titles Now I'm reading Mugen Yasoukyoku (Nocturnal Illusion) as I managed to run it inside XP Virtual Machine. It was one of the first VNs I encountered twenty years ago as a horny teenager (along with True Love and "Paradise Heights" nukige...), but never made it past prologue, and first h-scene - I felt overwhelmed without walkthrough. The only one I finished then was True Love, as it was short. Time to change this, as we have abundance of walkthroughs today I tried out "renewal" version ported at Asenheim Project website - which uses translation from original Win95 release - and while voice acting is nice, I found out that I prefer graphics and music from original, so I'm sticking with it for now. Probably will try @Nandemonai's renewal translation patch when it's completed.