Signalist Stars came at me from out of left field, smashing me across the face with a spike grenade. I literally wasn't expecting anything from this VN, as my recent experiences with new companies have left me unwilling to hope for better.
This VN does, in my mind, fall into the charage genre, but it does it so well that I was left a bit stunned. Signalist Stars is based in a city where people who have a burning passion are encouraged to pursue it, regardless of what it is. In this city, for the most part, those who sneer at people who have bright hopes for the future and those that try to smash young people down with the hammer known as 'reality' are virtually nonexistent. For people who grew up without discarding their dreams, it is a utopia.
Atsushi, the protagonist, is one of those people, a young man who desires to become a hero. He is the head of a committee devoted to dealing with the problems that pop up as a result of the somewhat indiscriminate nature of the city and school's affirmation of people's dreams. To be specific, this policy has led to 'geniuses' (people who excel in one area to insane degrees) being a little out of control, and the day to day life is a bit wacky and over the top.
Atsushi is an idiot. I mean that literally. He is so stupid that he makes a chimpanzee seem intelligent sometimes... however, he has a nose for trouble, an endless passion for helping people, and a willingness to discard his own well-being in the pursuit of helping others. He also talks like a delinquent and loves a good fight. Trouble is his drug and peace is its aftermath, lol.
Anyway, this VN is extremely comedic for most of its length, Atsushi's antics and stupidity creating so many running jokes that I found myself smiling constantly throughout most of the VN.
However, if you asked me if this is just a straight-out comedy, the answer would be a definite no. This VN has some dramatic moments, with one major one serving as the turning point just before the route split and one in each of the heroine routes, where the protagonist and heroine must confront both of their issues as a team. This drama is fairly serious, though it tends to be resolved easily, in the fashion that is common to charage. Nonetheless, it adds just the right level of spice for me to consider this one of the most technically excellent charage out there... from a writing perspective.
Unfortunately, there is one issue with this VN that is as annoying as hell. Of course, it is a technical one and one that will probably be fixed with a patch later on... but there are huge problems with the sound in this VN. To be specific, voice cut-outs, voice switches, sudden musical and vocal volume shifts, etc. For some reason, in this one area, this VN has points where it suddenly jars you with its imperfection. The actual BGMs used are 'common' ones I'm familiar with from other games, indicating that they are 'recycling' music from other VNs (probably at low cost). However, they are mostly used ideally. If it weren't for the technical issues (which might be programming-related) I'd honestly say that using 'generic' music wasn't a minus.
Even if one ignores that this is a first effort on the part of this company, this VN is a gem. While it needs some polishing (preferably with a technical patch to fix the sound problems), it is one of those rare charage that appeal both to me and the mainstream without throwing either side out of the boat. If you asked me what I liked best in this VN, I'd have to say it was either the comedy or the character dynamics (both of which are intricately interrelated). My favorite heroine was Isumi, the 'witch' and my favorite character overall was Atsushi (yes, despite the fact that he is an idiot). Why do I like Atsushi? Because, despite being an 'idiot' character, he actually manages to escape the archetype, becoming something more than the frame that was used to shape him through the skill of the writer.
VN of the Month, October 2016
This time it is a straight-out race between Sora no Tsukurikata and Signalist Stars. Both VNs escape genre and archetype flaws through skilled writing and surprising escapes from the traps of convention, and both VNs managed to surprise me with their levels of quality. They are neck and neck in my mind and almost so in my heart. So, when it comes down to it, I'm going to decide this Month's VN of the Month based on a smidgen of personal bias, simply because they really are that equivalent when I eliminate that bias.
In other words, Sora no Tsukurikata is VN of the Month October 2016. Both games are going on my list of VNs to play from this year, though. For those of you who just want a comedic romance and slice-of-life (albeit an unrealistic one) Signalist Stars would probably be the better choice, whereas Sora no Tsukurikata is a far better choice for raw story and plot.
Anyway, have fun yall, and look forward to November's releases! I won't be playing Nanairo Clip, due to my inability to enjoy any story focused mostly on the entertainment industry in general and the Japanese idol industry in particular.
First, I should say that I have no taste for loli-shota whatsoever, so I'm going to drop this now that I've finished one of the paths and gotten a feel for what this VN is like. So... this turned out to actually be a loli-shota game, despite my hopes otherwise. I have no idea of what Akabeisoft is thinking, turning its main child brand into a sub-brand that produces random games, but I can honestly say that I wish they would stick to one or two genres...
Now, this is one VN that has no business being localized outside of Japan. I say this because all the characters are blatantly underage until after the climax (after-story I saw so far was decent). They even refer to themselves as kids and they are immature right down to the voices. As such, I very much wanted to drop this VN inside the prologue. However, I'd promised I'd finish this one, if only to see if they would escape that... and they didn't.
Now, I'll say that the idea for the story, in itself, is not awful. This kind of 'Home Alone' style setup is pretty amusing, and if this were an all-ages title, I might have been able to sit back and enjoy it. However, the inclusion of h-content was a huge downer in this case, at least for me...
The characters all have their problems with adults, ranging from Orino's insanely controlling parents to the teachers' betrayal of Sen. For that matter, the protagonist has his own abusive environment to deal with. As a result, you end up with a bunch of characters who have unified around defiance of the adults in their lives by fortifying a run down love hotel, which was funny in and of itself.
Is this game amusing and interesting? Yes? Is it something I'd recommend? Not in its current form.
Update: To be clear, I didn't drop this because it was boring... I just happen to have a distaste for shota-loli focused content... In addition, considering things just from the plot and setting, this game really is interesting. Unfortunately, its possibilities are stunted by only focusing on the characters during that one period of their lives, when it would have been more interesting to see how their personalities evolved as they became adults... To be blunt, the writer went for a loli-shota thing when he could have actually made a first-rate VN story, just based on his writing and the way he presents the characters and setting. Another option he could have chosen would be to go for the all-ages route, where he would have been able to tell the characters' stories in more detail (the hints he drops about the male characters' problems are tantalizing) while discarding the hindrance of h-content (no, I'm not a prude... I just think straight-out loli-shota is distasteful).
For those who are wondering, I am currently replaying Unionism Quartet before moving on to A3 Days. It has been long enough that I didn't recall most of the details, so I needed a refresher. At the same time, I'm playing Dishonored 2, so I'm dividing my time in half between VNs and gaming right now.
I don't plan on doing a full post solely on Unionism Quartet, so I'm going to just relate a few impressions here before I finish Yulia's path (I already finished Silvia's, Jubei's, Yuno's and Mariel's... meaning I did all the secondary and sub-heroines before I hit on the game's true heroine, lol).
First, as non-bloody combat VNs go, Unionism is actually fairly good. It actually ranks up there with Walkure Romanze and a few others I could name... if nothing else, the protagonist is decent. However, replaying it in light of the fact that a fandisc/sequel was just released, I'm a bit dissatisfied, as it has become rather apparently that they intended to sequel this thing to death from the beginning, based on the way they did the endings (all the endings are short and based only a short time after the end of the main story).
The game's story structure is of a type I'm sure veterans are familiar with... essentially, you pick a heroine and some scenes change and are added on, but the main story doesn't change to any significant degree, leading to a significant amount of repeated text, for those who dislike that kind of thing.
First, I should state that this is a VN I was unsure of from the beginning. The concept of the 'rehabilitation program' in the VN is so similar to some manga and anime that have gotten attention recently that I had to shake my head in exasperation... not to mention that the concept is also at the core of why so many Japanese otakus like the school life slice-of-life charage that are produced in such profusion.
The VN starts out from the perspective of Hahakigi Hinako, one of the three heroines available from the beginning. Hinako's perspective is the one through which you form your first impressions of the Tryment (not sure of this is the correct romanization, since no info has been given so far that might reveal it, lol) Plan's 'reform school'. Hinako is a young woman who failed at work due to her social ineptness (extreme stage fright, inexperience with working with others, etc), and as a result she lost her job and was left with no idea of how to proceed. This project was then suggested to her as a possible way to return to the workforce, and she chose to go with it.
It is probably best that your impressions of the world are formed through Hinako, as Tsukasa - the male protagonist - is something of an unreliable narrator (deliberately so on the part of the writer) whose viewpoint has some seriously gaping holes in it. It becomes apparent even in Hinako's path that something weird is going on on the island, but it mostly seems irrelevant during the common route.
The two heroines I started out with were Kaizou Momo and Ootate Ruka. Momo is a genius programmer and a researcher of artificial intelligence whose reasons for coming to the island are left to your imagination in the common route. She is childlike, cheery, and more than a little emotionally needy. However, she is appropriately brilliant, as is shown repeatedly in her path. Unfortunately, her path ends on a somewhat confusing note, revealing little about what is going on except indirectly. Ruka is a serious, intelligent young woman who was once part of a law firm that fell apart for reasons that would be a spoiler (lol). Her path is somewhat more revealing about both the setting and Tsukasa than Momo's, but, again, you are left to fill in most of the details on your own through speculation. The ending of both VNs feels definitely incomplete, and they are probably just setups for the Ai path, most likely.
So far, this VN has been interesting to read... but it is also looking to be pretty short. Though, most of the reason for that seems to be the fact that the VN wastes very little time on the romantic and slice-of-life aspects that would have been the center of a charage. Since it is so obvious that the heroine routes aren't meant to be complete in and of themselves, I'm going to reserve judgement until I've completed the remaining routes.
Now, for those who are wondering, the reason I chose to play Baldr Heart first is fairly simple... it is the VN most anticipated this month, at least by the people I talk to. Baldr Heart is the fourth game (if you count the Skydive and Zero games as a single game each) in the 'primary series' started with Baldr Force. This series follows the evolving interrelations between humans, the net, extreme VR, and AIs, storywise. The gameplay in all the games is a relatively fast-paced battle mech action system that evolves a lot of explosions and bullets flying. Except for Zero, the series retains a pixelated appearance that is reminscent of the ps2 or psx eras for its gameplay. The series tends to be heavy on the dystopian elements, as well as transhumanism. Zero's setting in particular is horrifyingly dystopian, with children selling reservations for their own body parts and dismemberment videos in advance to strangers on the streets.
Baldr Heart doesn't go that far... though it definitely strays into the area of mad science. I can't really say a whole lot about the setting without spoiling Skydive and Zero, sadly. This game is based 200 years after those games and the events in them are the base upon which the entirety of the society in Baldr Heart is constructed.
Now, I feel a need to address the biggest complaint from those who were looking at this game. The fact that most of the characters are students... a definite divergence, as the series has in the past had most of its main characters in their early to mid-twenties, save for a few rare exceptions. That fact is one of the series' main attractions for many readers, as many VN fans go to the Baldr series specifically to escape the slice-of-life-in-a-school-setting that plagues most VNs. So, in the eyes of many fans of the Baldr series, this was a huge betrayal... or at least a turn-off.
Typical of a Baldr game, this element, that would normally have been a simple way to dumb it down for the 'mainstream' (as so many readers name it contemptuously) is actually used to accentuate the sharp differences between the Baldr world and the modern Japanese settings of most normal VNs. While it is true that Sou isn't as bitter and broken as a lot of Baldr protagonists either begin as or end up, he nonetheless has his own share of horrifying experiences in his past, and he has taken lives in combat before. He is a mercenary who returns to his homeland after receiving a brain injury trying to save a young girl trapped in the net.
There is a play order to this game... Tsukuyomi>Mao>Yuri>Nagi. With each successive path, more of the game's mystery is revealed, until you reach the core of things in Nagi's path. I'm going to be blunt... if you thought Yuri's path was a bit screwy, Nagi's is even twistier. The Baldr series loves its mindfuck plot twists filled with pseudo-science and philosophy, and in that sense, this is the Baldr series at its best. However, this story structure means that Tsukuyomi's path, in particular, is fairly unsatisfying since it reveals next to nothing about what happened in the past or what is going on during the story. I also felt that the game fell back on emotionalism a bit too often for my tastes... while it almost always comes down to that in any given Japanese game, I honestly thought the 'Fay' were going a bit too far that way. I know they were probably searching for a new theme after Zero, but I still found it a bit trite.
That said, this is still a Baldr game, and thus a mix of filthy human desires and high ideals stain the world crimson with the blood of thousands along the way, leaving me satisfied that Giga didn't abandon the series core precepts. They were just a bit too obvious when they designed the setting and theme, lol.
Overall, this game will get mixed reactions from Baldr fans while being perhaps slightly more accessible for those who might have had trouble with the much darker atmosphere of the previous games... in that sense, I think Giga probably made a mistake, as that dark atmosphere is one of the series' attractions. As a VN, it is very well written and smooth to play... showing off the skills of Giga's writing staff to their fullest. It reminds me of why so many who read Giga games say 'Giga is great... if you just play the Baldr series.'
Mmm... first I should explain why I chose to do Hinako last before the true route. Hinako is the secondary protagonist of the VN, the one who introduces you to the characters as well as to the nature of the rehabilitation plan in the story. As a result, Hinako's character development is jump-started, to the point where she is incomparably developed compared to Ruka and Momo.
Hinako is probably the strongest person in the VN, at heart. Of course, she has her - rather obvious - weak points, primarily due to her lack of social experience. However, she is also a big-hearted young woman with a strong sense of compassion and love for others. As a result, it is rather easy to get to like her, and it was tempting to do her path first as a result.
Her path, like Momo's and Ruka's, is short and inconclusive (for reasons that become apparent after you finish Ai's path) in the sense that very little is revealed save for Millia's origins and her relationship to Hinako. I honestly was touched by that particular set of revelations, though the path itself was pathetically stunted, just like the others.
Ai's path is just the reverse... you get to discover Tsukasa's true past, the origins of the difficulty that pops its head up in the other paths, and... it is basically a standard true path, lol. To be honest, I actually liked Tsukasa's character development in this path, since it is deliberately neglected and/or stunted in the others. However, if you were to ask me based on this path whether I would name this VN a 'true great', I'd have to say no, unequivocally. It is a good path... but it stops there. There is too much infodumping toward the end, especially.
Something I'm sure people have noticed in my posts in this blog is that I almost invariably compare VNs I'm reading on to either a genre standard or a similar VN in the past. To be blunt, this is a shortcut, as it is incredibly tedious to write out an extensive analysis of a genre-typical something that is only minutely different from a hundred other VNs of the same type.
Comparisons provide a frame of reference, giving the readers a chance to figure out what they can expect based on previous experiences. In that way, my VN blog is a bit more geared toward relatively 'experienced' readers of VNs than it is to those just getting into reading VNs. After all, if you have never read a charage, you won't have any point of reference to understand what I'm referring to when I indicate something is a charage.
Understand, I recognize this limitation... and in the end I have to shrug. One of the issues I've made a point of reinforcing in the past, when working on VN of the Month, is to eliminate spoilers and try to be as objective as is possible, though in some cases this involves me posting something immediately previous that warns the readers about my prejudices and how they are likely to effect my viewpoint on what I'm reading. I'm categorically prejudiced against Minori, for instance... and just letting people know just how I feel prior to posting on a Minori game (and reminding them each time another one comes out) gives you a realistic expectation of how I will be looking at the VN in question. Similarly, I periodically reinforce the knowledge of my dislike of the charage genre (or rather, my dislike of many of its conventions) to help those who read my blog keep in mind that it isn't exactly my favorite genre.
In the case of chuunige, my prejudice is in perfect opposition to my prejudice with charage. I am naturally inclined to give chuunige and fantasy VNs in general far more leeway than I would ever grant any charage... and thus I almost inevitably make an effort to savage any chuunige I play critically in retrospect. A perfect example would be Zero Infinity and Electro Arms... both are by Light, a company I adore... and both are games that I found to be immensely fun to play. However, in both cases I found myself lingering on their faults in the aftermath, savagely criticizing Zero Infinity's blatant Masada-worship and Electro-Arms' prolific sub-heroine paths and obsession with busty main heroines. Did this mean I didn't like them? Quite the opposite. I enjoyed both immensely... but I felt obligated to be even harsher than them than I would have with a charage.
Similar things occur whenever I find myself getting deeply interested in a VN. I feel a sick need to nitpick at something, the more I'm enjoying it, as if I were some masochistic fanboy that likes driving himself into a rage. This is a disease that has crept in as I've been posting on VNs, making it difficult for me to just sit back and enjoy the ride with many that I otherwise would have at least given a better chance.
Understand, some of those VNs I would have enjoyed immensely before I hit the three hundred VN mark. Unfortunately, my habit of blogging on just about everything I play has left me with a sense of obligation to those who read this blog, to be as unbiased as it is possible to be or to at least warn those reading about my prejudice and bias beforehand.
As a clarification, I was never particularly fond of the dating stage of a charage heroine's path... just to let you know. 'Cute' interactions grow stale really quickly when you've seen it a hundred times before (literally) in all its permutations. It is also why I inevitably praise routes that step off the beaten path if they don't suck outright.
For the last two years or so, I've gotten repeated requests to unequivocally name my top VNs made up until the present, ignoring objectivity, my vndb votes, etc. I've more or less just ignored most of those requests, because it is a pain in the ass to name a 'favorite' VN in the first place. I've made lists of VNs I loved from various genres, and I've also made lists of VNs for a specific purpose. However, I've avoided making a list like this one up until now, mostly because my 'favorites' switch out so often.
Let's get this straight for those who are going to criticize my choices... these are the VNs I like the most, not the fifty best VNs of all time. I make no pretense to preeminence of opinion in this case, because I'm also discarding all attempts at objectivity. What a person likes is ultimately a matter of personal tastes, not a matter of logic.
Why did I make it fifty? Because my number of VNs played, setting aside replays and nukige, is over six hundred already (with replays and nukige, it is closer to eight hundred...)... I'd be surprised if I didn't have this many VNs I considered wonderful.
Keep in mind that these aren't in a particular order.
1. Evolimit
2. Dies Irae (the one by Light)
3. Ikusa Megami Zero
4. Nanairo Reincarnation
5. Semiramis no Tenbin
6. Bradyon Veda
7. Vermilion Bind of Blood
8. Hapymaher
9. Tiny Dungeon (as a series)
10. Bullet Butlers
11. Chrono Belt
12. Ayakashibito
13. Otome ga Boku ni Koishiteiru 2
14. Chusingura
15. Draculius
16. Otome ga Tsumugu, Koi no Canvas
17. Silverio Vendetta
18. Konata yori Kanata Made
19. Grisaia series
20. Akatsuki no Goei series
21. Reminiscence series
22. Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no
23. Harumade, Kururu
24. Soukou Akki Muramasa
25. Tokyo Babel
26. Tasogare no Sinsemilla
27. Komorebi no Nostalgica
28. Yurikago yori Tenshi Made
29. Izuna Zanshinken
30. Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba
31. Kamikaze Explorers
32. Devils Devel Concept
33. Suzunone Seven
34. Baldr Skydive series
35. Baldr Sky Zero series
36. Toppara Zashikiwarashi no Hanashi
37. Tsuisou no Augment (series)
38. Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier
39. Shin Koihime Musou (series not including the original Koihime Musou)
40. Soshite Hatsukoi wa Imouto ni Naru
41. Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide
42. Irotoridori no Sekai
43. Noble Works
44. Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate (series)
45. Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo
46. Jingai Makyou
47. Sakura, Sakimashita
48. Abyss Homicide Club
49. Re:Birth Colony Lost Azurite
50. Owaru Sekai to Birthday
Surprisingly enough, Sora no Tsukurikata has managed to avoid driving me insane with rage. *pauses for the gasps of shock and the screeches of terror from the audience*
In the end, this VN managed to mostly avoid the violence you would see in most VNs with mafia members as main characters, and it did so without going down the 'total moe-moe' route that most VN writers would have chosen in the same case.
Haru is the main heroine of the game, but her route doesn't relegate the other heroines to inferiority like many other ladder-type main heroines do. Thankfully, it feels almost identical to the other routes, save in that her route not only uses the events in her arc but also the other arcs to make it over into a complete story. That was a nice choice on the part of the author, in that it made the other heroine routes 'real' without taking away the fact that Haru was the main heroine.
Haru is... a bit weird. She's an up and coming mage with a penchant for sticking her nose in other people's business and a cheerful optimism+childish idealism that would be annoying if it weren't also leavened with a surprisingly high capacity for reason and an impressive ability to concentrate on solving a problem. She is, in the end, a normal kind-hearted girl, but this is one of those rare cases where that didn't turn out to be a bad thing.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Haru's path and the others is that the protagonist's personal issues are revealed and resolved in full, though perhaps not in a way that I would consider satisfying. In fact, I thought the events leading up the end of the fourth arc and the beginning of Haru's story were way too rushed. It seemed as if they deliberately truncated the protagonist's personal suffering in order to focus on Haru... and while that is typical for the average charage, it surprised me in a VN that has been so very atypical otherwise.
One thing I liked about the endings in the VN is that they all extend several years past the climax of the story... and into the period of time where the characters have chosen their paths in life, rather than merely going with the flow.
Now, for my verdict on what I enjoyed most about this VN... it was the comedy, of course. The character dynamic in this VN clicks in that ideal way that you see in the best VNs (though the antagonist is weak and/or a non-entity for most of the game), and that leads to some amusing running jokes.
Overall, this VN was a fun ride. It isn't an especially violent one (well, outside of Rizal cursing anyone who uses a gun to die repeatedly and be resurrected until they go insane), despite the mafia element. This surprised me, considering the way the VN began, but it wasn't as much of a disappointment to me as it might have been. This is no kamige, but it is definitely VN of the Month material.
Foreshadowing is one of those elements in all forms of literature and entertainment media that is pretty much unavoidable. To be specific, it's been around since at least the time of the Greek tragedies, lol.
However, how a story uses foreshadowing says a lot about its style. In a lot of chuunige, for example, it gets laid on pretty thick, though they generally choose their moment for 'grand effect' and melodrama. In nakige, it is usually as a prelude to a tear-jerking event in the immediate future. In an utsuge, it is a hint of disaster... and in others, it is an overused tool of a hack author.
It just depends on how you use it.
Understand, I have nothing against it as a tool in and of itself. It's unavoidable if you read fiction, unless you actually go out of your way to avoid stories with narrative and dialogue that hints at a potential future.
However, I occasionally run across games (not since a year ago, so this isn't a recent thing for me) that transform foreshadowing from a mere element of the story to an intrusive alarm bell constantly ringing in the background. For some reason, the more meta the theme of the story, the more the writers want to constantly bash you over the head with various levels of cues to be ready for what happens next. I/O does it, Subahibi does it, and even Futagoza no Paradox did it sometimes.
Why is it that VNs that are trying to fool you do their level best not to fool you?
The third arc of this story focuses on the homonculus, Noa.
Noa is a homonculus made by an old alchemist named Kagari, who dwells atop the hill overlooking the city. She is the game's resident loli, a sweet, slow-speaking, kind-hearted girl who raises vegetables as something of a cross between her lifework and a hobby. Naturally, like most characters of her type, she is widely loved by the game's characters.
The third arc and Noa's path pursue knowledge of Noa's past, her nature as a homonculus, and her relationship to Kagari. Her path itself is fairly standard for 'an artificial being coming into free will' path, and it is not without its own tribulations as a result. I thought the reactions of the other characters to the protagonist picking Noa were the most hilarious so far, and Noa's affections are pretty cute, even for people accustomed to moe-moe characters.
I still think Kazuha has the best path, but Noa's is nice as well, lol.
The second arc of this story is focused narrowly on the aftermath of the first arc and Yurika.
Yurika is a rare type in VNs these days... a sexy adult woman who isn't another man's wife or widow (yes, I went there). She is a member of the 'Virgin of Chains', the more 'peaceful' of the two mafia groups dominating the area. She is the protagonist's friend, occasional partner, drinking buddy, and sex friend.
She has a somewhat nihilistic attitude toward life and an absolute love of teasing the protagonist... and anyone else who leaves an opening for her. Like all the heroines in this VN, she is fairly attractive, though she is somewhat overly pessimistic at times. Of course, she has very good reason for this, but I won't spoil that for you.
In the aftermath of the second arc, I took pleasure in reading her path, which was a bit more icha-love focused than Kazuha's was at first. It does fall into the classic 'it was nice up to this point precisely to outline the drama' area, so the drama near the end of the path is pretty satisfying, and I honestly enjoyed the atmosphere of the path as a whole. I will say that I preferred Kazuha's path and I thought they could have gone a bit farther with her personal story (I thought that they glossed over a bit too much detail when it came to her eye).
As I began this VN, I decided to change my approach to how I would handle it. My dislike of ladder-style story structures will probably cause me to go berserk when I finish the final (Haru's) route, but for now, I'm going to evaluate the story based on each arc and its associated heroine route, ignoring the VN as a whole until I've gone through the final route.
Now, the protagonist of this story is a pretty archetypical character... a PI who has been scarred and run down by life living in a town ruled by a vampire, controlled by two mafia organizations, and dominated by something approaching a capitalist caste system, where the financial circumstances of the individuals involved determine their social status completely and it is almost impossible to climb up the ladder, though it is relatively easy to fall down.
Technology in this world hovers about the level of the 1980's, with the biggest differences being the existence of real-life magic and magical beings, as well as beast-people (cat-people, bunny-people, dog-people, etc). The protagonist isn't a wielder of magic, if you are wondering. His role is something close to a neutral party in the realpolitik landscape, due to his role as the vampire Rizal's representative, as well as his personal relationships with high ranking members of both mafia groups.
This VN has a lot of situational comedy in it, ranging from Haru 'fixing' machines by hitting them and using magic to Chiroro's (a chibi homonculus that is something like a servant to both the protag and Haru) foul mouth toward the protagonist and fawning on Haru. I honestly enjoyed the back and forth between the characters through most of the first arc, and I doubt that will change through the rest of the VN.
The first arc covers the introductions to the characters and the city of Naoka, and it ranges from non-school slice-of-life events (protagonist and Haru going out to solve problems as part of their work) to moments of tension in the shadowy underworld of Naoka. The first route that branches off is Kazuha's...
Kazuha is the VN's resident genkikko+doggirl. I honestly fell in love with her from the first (I mean, she is working to support her twelve siblings and is endlessly cheerful and generous by nature... what could you not like about her? Not to mention that she is a mimikko, which automatically skyrockets my impression of a given heroine based on my fetishes, lol), so, while I'm sad she isn't the true heroine, I was happy to get a chance to see her route early on.
And it is a surprisingly detailed route... in fact, it is roughly equivalent to 1.2 times the length of the average charage heroine route, in my experience. It doesn't mindlessly focus on the heroine and protagonist's love affair, instead involving all the characters (a bad habit with many VNs of this type is to sideline the massive cast of characters during the side-heroine routes, weakening the setting in general) in a dramatic mess whose impact is equal to that of the story arc previous to the heroine route.
So, my initial impressions of this VN based on what I've played so far are positive... let's hope they stay that way.
For those of you familiar with my tendency to bitch and moan about this kind of story-structure, I don't really need to explain... but I'll do so anyway. The 'ladder-style' story structure is the style used in games such as G-senjou, Aiyoku no Eustia, and Sen no Hatou. While it does make it easy to fit in a 'true' path (the true path being main street) and breaking things down into 'arcs' makes for a more expansive story, that is at the cost of increasing irritation in a way that would never have come up in a kinetic novel (which all VNs using ladder-style should be).
What is that irritation? Meaningless heroine routes.
There are two types of heroine in a ladder-style VN. There is the true heroine and the 'fake' heroine. I'm not kidding... all heroines other than the true one are fakes, as are their paths, in most cases. Amatsutsumi was an exception, but it was a rare one, lol.
Now, in order to explain this, I'll outline how most of the games using this style tend to play out. There is a main story going on, both in the foreground and the background. In most cases, the background elements of the story that don't come out until you are in the true heroine's path preclude all possibility of the sub-heroines' paths actually existing in the context of the greater setting.
Another quality of these games is that the true heroine is almost always one of the least-interesting/attractive heroines in the group, both personality-wise and setting-wise. Airheads, ditzes, weak-willed victims, naive princesses, and overconfident self-proclaimed geniuses with an impenetrable belief in their own correctness (if you haven't figured it out Eutia>Hatou>G-senjou)... the list goes on, but you get the picture (again, Amatsutsumi is the exception rather than the rule). I honestly have no idea of why all these companies that choose to use this style do it this way...
Now, frequently the true path itself has excellent storytelling with round antagonists and protagonists whose value as a character far outweighs the weakness of the true heroine... but this brings up another issue. This issue is: the other heroines. The elements of the setting, the personality and objectives of the antagonists, and even the personality of the protagonist sometimes render all other heroine paths as literally impossible in most cases. If you don't mind SPOILERS for Eustia and Sen no Hatou, I'll give you some examples below.
Now, as to why that's a problem... I know it is nitpicking... but when I empathize with a heroine, fall in love with her by proxy, and see her off to a happy ending, there is nothing that can possibly drive me more insane with rage than the 'true' ending of the heroine path completely invalidating the possibility of that small happiness even occurring. Eustia's best heroines are all 'fake' heroines, the same goes for G-senjou and Sen no Hatou as well. The Leyline trilogy also suffers from this particular issue.
So do you understand now why I hate this type of VN structure? I have good reason to despise it. I still respect the makers of Namima no Kuni no Faust for choosing to make the game kinetic and just add the other heroines 'endings' as 'what if' scenarios in the extras far more than I will ever respect the makers of the games I mentioned above.
This isn't even mentioning that, by having heroine paths split off earlier, you lose a great deal of the story meant to develop the characters in the first place.
Why did I bring this up again...? Because, for the fourth time this year, I've come across a VN that I was interested in that uses this never-to-be-sufficiently-damned story structure, Sora no Tsukurikata. Damn all non-charage makers who follow fads like this particular one to hell, I say.
October is turning out to be a frustrating month, with the VN I was most interested in delayed until December (for some reason, December seems to be getting all the most interesting ones...). I honestly had hopes that October would break the 'dry spell' I've been experiencing since I completed July's releases. There is still a possibility of that happening, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Right now, I'm busy with work, trying to open up a nice quiet period so that I can get all of October's releases out of the way in as short a time as possible. This is because I have a ridiculous amount of conventional games coming out next month on my list to play, and I don't want my VN habit getting in the way like it has the last few times a new game came out (yes, I'm that much of a VN junkie).
Anyway this is the list of releases for October I plan to at least try to play:
Nanairo＊Clip (I haven't played anything by this company, so I have no idea of what to expect, but it looks like a standard charage)
Unionism Quartet A-3 Days (the fandisc to the original game, mostly playing in case they give solid after-stories to the neglected heroines from the original)
Sora no Tsukurikata (Lovesick Puppies maker Cosmic Cute's newest game... definitely my initial pick for the month)
Reminiscence Collection (Random VNs rather than VN of the Month, but I can't resist)
Re: Lief (seriously, the Japanese finally crossed the line with this one, but I can't resist)
Signalist Stars (new company, looks like an oppai-girl charage)
Furerute Love Connect (charage, obviously... might or might not bother, considering how I dropped Nephrite's first game after only two hours of play because it was so boring)
Gusha no Kyouben (Akabeisoft3 is pretty hit and miss, and now they are doing comedy... I'm curious as to what this will turn out to be)
First thing that anyone thinks when they see a VN written by Choco Chip is 'nukige!!!'. That isn't precisely correct. I've played exactly three games by this guy that impressed me, though that was over four years ago. Those three games were Prima Stella, Sarasara, and Sakura Iro Quartet. Randomly, I decided to pick Prima Stella back up, and I relived my ancient experiences with it, gaining new impressions relative to what I've experienced since.
First, my impressions are universally positive about this game. For those of you who feel negative about that kind of thing, there is sex in the common route (at least one scene for each heroine), but the situations in which they happen aren't too unrealistic as VN situations go, lol. One of the reasons that Choco Chip's games almost always get put down as nukige is because of his fondness for sexuality in the common route... and that impression isn't entirely wrong. Most of his VNs really are nukige, through and through. His VNs are from an era where it wasn't a 'sin' for a nukige to have as solid a plot as your standard VN (as it has pretty much become now, save for rapegames).
Prima Stella starts with the protagonist, Kousuke, an aspiring swimmer, throwing himself in front of a car to save a girl and little boy without regard for his own safety. He spends two months in a coma, and when he wakes up, his body is withered and he is barely able to raise his arms. Well, he manages to finish his basic rehabilitation (enough to live a normal life), but he quickly realizes that getting back in top form is going to be difficult at best, impossible at worst, especially at a school with no indoor pool. It is at this point that he gets invited to attend school at a famous rich girls' academy, in order to take advantage of the facilities there. Given the chance, he takes it, and it is there he meets the girl he saved, Shizuka.
This is all given away in the summary, so I'm not really spoiling anything, lol. Anyway, the common route of the VN focuses on his and the heroines' trials and tribulations, as they all fall in love with him, with legitimate cause (yes, this is the biggest difference between your run of the mill charage, moege, or nukige... there are legitimate reasons for the relationships to form). Other than that, story-wise there is nothing revolutionary. The actual heroine paths are as solid as the common route (which is fairly high quality), and the heroines themselves are quite attractive as people.
One of the things that most charage made in the last few years lack is dealing with heroines deep psychological problems and troubles, and one of the things I liked about this VN was that such troubles do pop up in the story. Shizuka and Tomoe in particular get a huge dose of this kind of thing, and having the protagonist unwind their twisted hearts is one of the more pleasurable experiences of the VN.
Edit: A few words about the difference in how I felt about this game at the time and how I feel now. Understand, having played numerous games of the type since my original playthrough, my viewpoint on slice-of-life VNs has changed immensely. The first time I played it through, I didn't have the 'eyes' to really see the loving detail that Choco Chip put into this VN... and I didn't have the right mindset to appreciate this type of VN to the fullest (thus my revised vote on vndb).
One thing that is lacking in today's VNs is the characters' tribulations. For better or worse, heroines don't have any major issues, protagonists remain the same through the entire VN, and there is no central story to motivate the relationships' growth. Of course, there are exceptions... but VNs like this one, where the tribulations of the characters go beyond the minor 'drama' that is common in most VNs have gotten rarer and rarer over the last half-decade.
This is a simple post putting forth my views on what the largest pitfalls are for a fantranslator, both in the immediate sense and the long-term.
Immediate
1. Making promises: Anyone who starts a translation is bound to do something stupid... such as setting a deadline or predicting how long it will take them to do something. Even experienced translation groups trip and fall into this particular trap. Nothing good comes of making promises, primarily because rl exists.
2. Agreeing to translate/edit/proofread something you aren't interested in: This links to motivation. To be blunt, no fantl will be able to finish work on a VN if they don't enjoy the original or at least prefer the genre it is in. Fantls are a labor of love not a workplace with a set salary and a boss telling you to get back to work or he'll dock your pay. Passion about the subject matter is necessary to get anywhere on a fantl project.
3. Taking on a job you aren't qualified for: This mostly applies to beginner fantls... to be blunt, don't take on something you can't read easily. If you can't read and fully comprehend the text of the VN you've agreed to translate, don't even make the attempt.
4. Machine translations: Don't work.
5. Looking up your name/reputation/etc: Some people get addicted to looking for positive reactions to their work. Unfortunately, this also means that they stumble across the negative responses and can damage their confidence in ways that can destroy a project.
Long-term
1. The choice to announce a project or not: Many who translate VNs use community comments to help them build motivation. However, choosing to involve the community in your project is a two-sided sword... it cuts both ways. Negative comments, people asking you when it will come out, and complaints about the translation of any partial you put out can obliterate your motivation and cripple the project.
2. Internal group chemistry and mechanics: No matter how you look at it, the translator is the origin and star of any given project. Without the translator it goes nowhere... but translators can't be the ones going around motivating the group to keep working. It's inefficient and emotionally draining for the person in question, and it is the number one cause of project failure I've seen related to group chemistry, when the translator finally falls apart. An editor's role only seems minor to a translator. It is actually a job that can be equally frustrating to that of the raw translation, and a decent translator's secondary job often becomes tlcing and explaining his own work to the editor. Thus, my advice to any fantranslator is find an editor you can talk to and get along with, or you'll regret it later. My advice to editors is: Be patient. Many translators really don't like going back over their own work, so just keep an eye out for potential signs that they are at their limit.
3. Burn-out: This can potentially happen to any fantl position. It is also related to all the things above, since it is a state where all motivation is lost and the individual in question basically just drops out of the project. Apathy toward the project and ignoring group members are fairly common signs of this. Whether it is permanent or not depends on the individual, but it can take years to recover mentally and emotionally once you've reached this stage *speaking from personal experience*
Compared to 2015, this year has been an excellent one. That isn't to say that we saw a glut of first-class VNs like in 2011 or 2014, but there have nonetheless been several releases worthy of consideration for a VN of the Year award from me so far.
Candidates so Far
Inochi no Spare
Amatsutsumi
Floral Flowlove
Tokyo Necro
Akeiro Kaikitan
Close but not quite there
Koi Suru Otome to Shugo no Tate ~Bara no Seibo~ (a direct sequel, so not a potential winner)
Senren Banka
Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru
Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku
Since there were no really worthy candidates last year (I named Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier the VN of the Year, but I would have preferred to leave it blank), this year is definitely the one to watch.
Ok... as random choices to play go, this one was probably a horrible choice. Yuyukana starts out as and rarely escapes the standard charage model (there are some tear-jerking moments at the end of some of the routes, but it isn't at nakige level).
First, you have the tsundere osananajimi. Then you have the ojousama who mysteriously comes in every morning to cook breakfast for the protagonist whose parents are not living at home. Third you have the mysterious transfer student who professes her love for the protagonist. Fourth, you have the fushigi-chan girl whose first loves are books and dried squid.
This is about as standard and archetypical a cast as can be found in any charage (literally, I felt like the protag from Kami nomi zo was in the back of my skull whispering about the archetypes), and that is easily the biggest downside of this VN. The mysterious aspects, which could easily have been used to shape the story into something more complex and interesting, are left to the very ends of the heroine routes, making for a singularly boring standard common route and heroine routes that are frighteningly shallow for something made in one of the best years in the past decade.
The humor was stale three years before it came out, the heroines feel like 'standard-issue waifus', and the protagonist is a dense-as-lead non-person who is accompanied by an equally standard-issue 'perverted best friend' character. Character-wise, you don't get any more shallow and lacking in flavor than these.
Worst of all, they never do manage to draw you into the characters or the story before things get serious in the heroine paths. The weak character development and lack of anything resembling intelligent design in the story (incidentally, it is so formulaic it makes Shuffle seem unique) make this a perfect example of what not to do when making a charage post-2008.
Despite that, it falls short of kusoge level... it just isn't something I would gladly go back to play again.
Edit: Also, no Yayoi path is a huge minus... the biggest problem with 'modern' charage is that unwillingness to pursue interesting adult heroines, lol.
VN of the Month September 2016
My final conclusion after playing Sen no Hatou was that none of the games that came out really stood out enough for me to consider them VN of the Month material. Sadly, I have to condemn September 2016 to be one of those months devoid of a winner.
No, the title isn't the name of a VN... at least as far as I know. It essentially means 'the lifestyle of a special normal/average person'. This is the wording that came to mind when I thought about the standard charage protagonist...
Now, slice-of-life is by nature just that... a slice of the characters' lives outside of whatever conflict or set of events that determines the flow of the story. There are slice-of-life moments in almost all VNs (except for a few sex-only nukige, mahou shoujo rape VNs, and a few other types). So, I can honestly say that I have nothing against slice-of-life in and of itself.
No, my problem is with 'normal' life. To be blunt, I don't see the attraction of everyday life in a high school, even with added moe events and the like. Oh, in moderation it can add flavor to a VN... but it is also one of the types of scene that is most likely to get boring the longer you experience it. It is this aspect that makes so many charage into kusoge. I don't mean that all charage are kusoge because of an excess of this type of slice-of-life. However, roughly two-thirds of all charage make this mistake... of granting the reader a near infinite amount of pointless ichaicha (flirting, being lovey-dovey) in the heroine paths, forcing the reader through endless irrelevant interactions with other characters in the course of the common route (often without comedy or conflict to break it up into manageable 'bites'), and damning the reader to experience typically formulaic routes to falling in love with and getting together with the heroine.
In other words, the problem with charage isn't so much the basic subject matter... it is the inability of many of the writers to 'spice' it enough to keep it from getting boring and tasteless. I've experienced charage that bring to life this kind of subject matter to a surprising degree, leaving deep impressions on my psyche. It is these that keep me coming back to sift through the garbage for gems, even as the mountains of crap stain my brain with puerile attempts to recapture a youth that never happened or could happen.
Understand, when I say 'spice', I don't necessarily mean the fantasy/sci-fi stuff I adore... it can be something as simple as the protagonist having a solid goal in life, being capable in a certain area, or growing immensely as a result of events in the game. As an example, even setting aside the wacky setting, the protagonist in Noble Works is overall capable and his personality quirks born from his years of poverty and near-isolation are what turned it from what could have been your standard half-baked attempt at an ojousama-themed game into something worth re-reading. It would have been all too easy for Gin'iro Haruka to fall into the trap of dehumanizing the protagonist, thus ruining things totally, but they gave him depth as a human being (albeit as a 'supportive friend/boyfriend/husband) that made experiencing over ten years of his life multiple times interesting.
In other words, this is another rant on how removing the humanity and any roundness from a VN protagonist will also ruin the VN as a whole. I'm currently going through one of the many charage in my backlog (Yuyukana) and the protagonist from this one is a classic 'I have no idea why everyone is angry at me' normal/donkan/harem protagonist of the type mass-produced since just after the turn of the century. Experiencing this VN is bringing back to me (as if I really needed to be reminded me) how much of an abomination this particular cliche is. Why is it so hard for charage-writers to comprehend that the perspective you have on the story is as important as the heroines and side-characters?
This is a mini-VN planned by and written by Hino Wataru of Akatsuki Works, the company responsible for Ruitomo; Comyu; and Hello, Lady. It was released for free at the beginning of the month, and it is done in a style that feels a lot like one of those close-ended hour-long 'preview' OVAs that sometimes come out a few years in advance of a potential TV anime release (Noblesse, Beelzebub, Phantom, etc). In other words, it is done in the form of a single 'episode' in the life of the characters, serving as a prologue, and introducing characters and setting the stage for a future release or releases.
Something that should be noted in advance is that this VN mentions the characters from Ruitomo (without using their names) in the context of their relationship to the protagonist's 'grandmother' (Izuru). This is backed up by the fact that the protagonist, Akeno Yuuri, follows the same 'profession' that Izuru does... as a 'katariya' (the meaning doesn't really translate that well). Basically, those who master this profession have the ability to create intentional changes in others through words they speak (in most cases, these changes are dependent on the others' expectations or desires, from what Yuuri says). I won't go into any other details on this, because it is a spoiler. The protagonist gets mixed up with the Kouga family, which runs the area through his client.
Another aspect that should be noted in advance is that this VN reuses a lot of resources from previous games by Akatsuki Works... in particular the city backgrounds from Hello, Lady and various songs and sound effects from other games. For those that are bothered by this kind of thing... give up. The game is free, so AW recycling backgrounds, BGMs, and sound effects really isn't a big deal.
For those looking for a translation... don't bother. This VN utilizes so many subtle plays on kanji in its mere four hours in length that it even makes Ruitomo's text seem easy. If I were to try tling it without ruining it, I'd be pulling out my last few hairs inside a minute.
This VN is standard Hino Wataru in style... which means a lot of quirky characters, a protagonist who has a bad case of ennui and a tendency toward hedge philosophy, and a general sense that whatever is happening at the moment is the most important thing in the world while saying the opposite openly in the text, lol. I enjoy Hino Wataru, but for every person who likes him, there are two that hate him, so this VN will definitely pick its readers.
Action-wise, there are some nice scenes, which mostly seem to be designed to whet your appetite for more (again, I got this sense throughout the VN that they were advertising as much as trying to make a game).
The narrative is, of course, high quality... Hino Wataru was quite obviously enjoying himself when he wrote this (believe me, I can tell when a writer is just writing what he wants to write, versus what he has been paid oodles to write, haha), since Yuuri is the type of guy who will drive a lot of people crazy. He's a natural con artist with a heart of gold, a persona that changes from moment to moment, and a virulent hatred of soba noodles. He also spends a ridiculous amount of time being insulted by the girls who will probably end up being the heroines of whatever future game or games he stars in, lol.
While this isn't a VN of the Month candidate (as it is obviously intended to be a prelude or prologue to something else) it is nonetheless an enjoyable side-trip for me as I continue on my journey to avoid playing Sen no Hatou as long as possible *snickers*
Kanojo Step is the latest VN from Smee, a company famous (or infamous) for making old style first-generation charage (right down to being able to name the protagonist and having him be a non-person, as well as there either being no drama or only weak/easily resolved drama in the story). As such, I wasn't anticipating a blowout hit, and I didn't get it, of course. However, it did surprise me a bit in one aspect...
... and that was its comedy. Ok, most of it is cheesy and 'familiar', but the timing of the comedy (usually emanating from the protagonist, as he is a 'class clown' style protagonist) is pretty much perfect and frequent enough that I spent about sixty-percent of this VN laughing.
Unfortunately, the slice-of-life in this VN and the romance (which make up everything that isn't comedy) are... unimpressive. They chose to go with heroines that were surprisingly dependent and deredere after they and the protagonist get together, and that wasn't a bad choice. However, the simple fact is that there is a huge gap in the quality of narration and dialogue between parts meant to be funny and parts that are meant to be semi-serious. This is the first VN I've encountered in a while where I felt like going to sleep whenever I wasn't laughing... and that isn't even an exaggeration.
Part of this can be attributed to the fact that the common route pretty much gluts you on everyday slice-of-life, and by the time you hit the heroine routes, it feels like being handed an apple pie after having gorged yourself on six others only an hour before. Another part is that the way the everyday life parts are sectioned out is almost always the same, leaving you with a somewhat exaggerated sense of monotony. This, combined with the frequent meaningless choices and map movement systems (the classic type seen in a lot of older slice-of-life VNs that went out of style because they drove most people up the wall) made this a VN that reflected older styles... in a bad way.
For all the salt I just spat, this VN is actually fairly enjoyable most of the time... it's just that when it starts to feel monotonous, it really feels monotonous... Given a more story-driven plot combined with this same comedy and the complete elimination of the map movement aspects, it would have probably inched its way up into the top five percent of the charage I've played over the years. Unfortunately, those aspects made for a VN that was far less than it could have been, at least from my perspective.
Edit: Understand, the people who like the 'warm and fuzzy, devoid of any stains of negative emotion' charage will lap this up. If I were to design a VN engineered solely to prick at 'mainstream' Japanese VN otakus' desire for 'an ideal everyday youth' this would be what I would aim for. However, as a story, it is fatally boring, unoriginal, and lacking in any entertainment value outside of the comedy, which happens to be hilarious.
First, a little background for those who didn't read my previous posts on the subject. I'm one of those rare souls who read Aiyoku no Eustia, by this same company, and came to hate it in the end. I have reasons... even good ones. The biggest one is that the side-heroines' endings make no sense in the context of the story as a whole. This isn't a joke and it isn't something that can actually be denied by anyone who finished the main path (Eustia's). This is actually the thing I despise most about the 'ladder-type' story progression seen in this and G-senjou. The inconsistencies in the setting and plot as a whole bother me, precisely because those side-heroines almost always seem to be more interesting than the main ones (this seems to apply to almost all VNs that utilize this story structure, for whatever reason). This is not so much an excuse for how I feel about this VN as an excuse of why I temporarily abandoned playing it. I got so stressed out when I found out it used this story structure that it took me seventeen days to get back to it.
Sen no Hatou is August's second chuunige. In some ways, it echoes Eustia's flaws while escaping others. The thing that both VNs share is a massive hole in the setting (again, anyone who plays the main path of either game is going to run across that hole). However, on the bright side, Akari makes for a far better true heroine than Eustia. Eustia was a weak-willed, weak-spirited, and overall weak heroine in every possible way. Akari, despite being politically naive (sorry, but no matter how you look at it, she is that), is a far stronger spirit and she grows a lot more during the story than Eustia does, which shows that August at least learned something from us hecklers' complaints, lol.
I did play the secondary heroines' paths, and they generally had interesting endings... that just aren't possible when you consider the elephant in the room waiting beyond the door to the true path. Considering the nature of said elephant, there is no way any of those endings could have turned out that way, logically speaking.
The common route has its ups and downs, with plenty of blood shed for the 'hungry' ones such as myself. If I have a complaint about this aspect, it is the relatively low number of combat CGs (considering August's investment in artwork, you'd think they would have included more than there were...), but the clever usage of the sprites made up for a lot of that. The protagonist, being your classic stone-faced samurai by nature, tends to bear a distinct resemblance to numerous other 'donkan' protagonists, but, considering his origins, this isn't surprising. For those looking for slice-of-life or comedy, this VN won't be a winner in your eyes. August went completely for the 'serious storytelling' bug, so no scene is wasted and everything is focused on progressing the story. From my point of view, this is a plus, but for people who have fond memories of more 'peaceful' works by this company, such as Fortune Arterial or Hitsujikai, this would probably be a disappointing aspect.
There are some really great moments in this VN... but as an addict of chuunige and fantasy-action VNs in general, it was a bit too obvious when it started stealing from Chuusingura and Hachimyoujin (yes, by Masada). While stealing stylistic approaches and setting concepts is common in chuunige, those moments were definitely 'ah, I've seen that before' moments for me, and since August's team just doesn't have the flair for this that Light and the makers of Chuusingura do...
Some of my complaints about the setting from my previous - raving - post and certain pms were eased by things revealed during the progress of the story (the elephant mentioned above helped with that). As such, you can disregard most of that rave, save where it concerns the annoyances of this story structure.
As story-focused VNs go, this VN does manage to move the emotions and there are moments where it is exciting, but when I compare it with other VNs with similar themes and concepts, it tends to lose out on the details and in terms of impact. It is definitely above 'common' chuunige like ExE by Yuzu Soft, but I can't really classify it as being in the same league as works by Nitroplus, Type-moon, or Light. I did think the way they ended it was a bit cheap (I sighed in resignation there, since I was hoping to be allowed to cry for an hour after the end based on what was happening up to that moment), though. The addition of extensive after-stories in the extras section is a huge plus and a familiar one for those who read Eustia. In the end, I enjoyed this VN, and it was an interesting one to play. However, if you were to ask me whether it would remain in my heart forever, I'd have to say no.
PS: For those who love Eustia, understand that I consider this VN an improvement in some ways, but in terms of the raw setting, Eustia was about equally as interesting. The biggest improvement, to me, was the decision to use a true heroine who doesn't grate on my nerves by the end (in opposition, Tia drove me insane every time she came on the scene, and I hated the way Kaim acted in her path).
Tsukikage no Simulacre is a mini-VN by Akatsuki Works' sibling brand, Applique, which specializes in solid story-focused VNs ranging from nakige like Toko o Tsumugu Yakusoku to hard sci-fi stories like Re:Birth Colony. Applique is also responsible for the creation of Tasogare no Sinsemilla, which is a classic VN that I still remember well to this day.
This VN, like Hinonai (reference the previous post), seems to have been created as a combination prelude/advertisement for a future, more extensive VN. In this case, it looks to be an occult horror/mystery. The fact that the mystery of what is going on is never revealed to the reader by the end of the VN only reinforces this idea.
However, if it is a mere prelude, it is an excellent one, since it definitely caught my interest. The focus of this VN is the mystery 'living doll' of the Kisaragi family, which is said to have been the creation and loyal companion of the family's founder until his death, when it ceased to move. At the beginning, the protagonist is called to the Kisaragi head family's home to participate in a ritual marriage to the living doll, a ritual that has been carried out countless times in the past, though its full meaning was lost long ago.
The protagonist himself is a member of an estranged cadet family of the Kisaragi, which has gone its own way over the years, while maintaining a frail connection to the rest, which run a corporate conglomerate specializing in mechanized technology of various types. He has a unique talent that lets him instantly be able to tell what is wrong with any mechanical device that he knows the makeup of at a touch, a talent that never sees use throughout the VN (further reinforcing my belief that this VN is going to see a sequel, at the very least).
The music in this game is... atmospheric. Seriously, the atmosphere in this VN is defined through most of its length by the BGM, setting the stage for events in the main path (there is a secondary 'nothing happened' ending, but it is fairly irrelevant). I was really impressed with what they did with it. The visuals are standard Applique, bringing back nostalgic memories of Sinsemilla and other games by this company.
Story-wise... it is incomplete. It is enjoyable, but the way it ends makes it obvious that the writer intends to put out future entries and maybe make it into a series or a full VN. It ends on a slightly less satisfying note than Hinonai, but then, the incident in the VN isn't resolved, so that is only natural.
One thing I didn't notice until recently is that there is a severe lack of (non-nukige) sports VNs out there. The reason I didn't notice? It's fairly simple... I have no interest in conventional sports (martial arts-related sports being differentiated from 'normal' sports). There are protagonists and heroines who are athletic in many VNs, and there are a few combat-sport VNs (like Walkure Romanze and Aokana). However, all-in-all the lack of sports VNs is... amusing on the surface.
When you think about it, the reason is fairly simple. A lot of otakus and otaku writers just aren't sports-lovers or players. Most of the people wanting to use VNs to relive their youth aren't the type that played sports, so few VNs are sports-related as a result. It's a pretty simple explanation when you think about it, but it made me laugh when I figured it out.
