Clephas

Just finished Hachimyoujin... and I'll leave my comments here. First, this game was written by the same guys who wrote Dies Irae, and it shows. For a game that uses every trope you could possibly think of from the chuuni genre, it really is amazing that they managed to create a story that really was fun to read. This is their style, unapologetically chuuni and with the sense of humor to make fun of itself at times (surprisingly frequently). There are some really good twists to the overall story, but what really defines this game is its antagonists... Amakasu Masahiko, Hiiragi Seijuuro, and Shinno Akikage make great antagonists... as do Dan Karuma and Kiira. This game has three individual heroine routes, and a grand route that includes an extra ending for the three initial heroines (as well as the grand finale) and two endings for Mizuki. If I had a problem with the game, it was that I thought the grand route endings, save for Mizuki's Ending 1, were somewhat disappointing. This is something I don't think can be helped, however. The events leading up to the climax and the climax are so intense that anything that comes after would inevitably be an anticlimax. I can't really go any farther into this, as I don't want to spoil this for those who want to play the game (and I ask for anyone who comments after me to do the same). However, if you want a decent fantasy, with overblown drama and powers, as well as minor mindfucks (though the experienced and jaded will probably see through most of them) this is a good choice. Second (I actually played this before Hachimyoujin), is Kimi ga Tame, Koishi Midareshi Tsuki no Hana, the otome game. Like most otome game, this game's protag suffers from the worst disease ever to befall a female protag... DIDS (Damsel in Distress Syndrome). It doesn't suffer from it as badly as most otome games, however. Thus, it is worth reading, despite the weakness. It has some minor political machinations, some minor action scenes (understand that my basic standard for action scenes on the lower end is Propeller), and an excess of romance at a time where it makes little sense to indulge in such. tbh, this totally took me out of behind the character's eyes. Romance is all well and good, but I prefer a protag that can prioritize or at least has a guiding principle, lol. This game isn't horrible, but it isn't great either. It has the weakness of characters changing too much based on which route you are on, as well. I know it sounds like I'm just bashing this game, but if I didn't nitpick the bad points here, someone else would, lol. However, if you want romance between a ninja girl and various guys (running from her masters to a psychotic swordsman) it isn't a bad choice. It does have some serious bloodshed and some melodrama. However, the fact that it is over-focused on the romance damages the story in this case. For those who want to try otome games, this is probably the most common weakness for story-focused VNs made for women... the romance and the story tend not to mesh very well. It tends to feel like you are reading one of those romance novels that clutter up the shelves at used bookstores because no one ever re-reads them.

Added Hachimyoujin.

When you are ready for the untranslated, check out my lists. Everything on them is good.

Kokoro from Evolimit, Rusalka from Dies Irae, and the club president from Lovesick Puppies.

It's a second-rate chuuni novel... like most second-rate chuuni novels, it shares some moege bad habits, such as late path splits and a bad habit of weak story-telling.

lol, stop spoiling Shinigami no Testament for those who haven't played it. Interesting technology, though the way people use it is...

VNs tend to touch on sex, even if they don't touch on violence. In most western countries, portraying sex is a taboo to one degree or another.

*Clephas sighs* I think I've mentioned how I feel about most nukige before? These are the worst kind... NTR fantasies galore. If you like that sort of thing, it is fine... but leave translating games that exist only for h-scenes to mangagamer and Jast...

I have a ridiculous amount of brainstorming for settings lying around... mostly brutal stuff. Sometimes a female protag, other times male (it is about 60/40 female/male). I just don't have the time to actually write them out like I used to... I once wrote out an entire vn, got an artist (who bailed on me a week later when someone offered him a paying job) and a programmer (who also bailed, when he heard the artist left). I pretty much write fantasy or sci-fi exclusively... and I usually mix in a lot of superviolence and gore. Also, infodumping... I have a bad habit of infodumping. lol

Incidentally, I am aware that the jutte (the blunt-tipped sword-breaker like weapon) was used almost universally (both along with a katana and by itself) by agents of the shogunate, from the lowest ranks to the police force, to the palace guards (even palace guards were frequently denied the right to possess a katana in the presence of the shogun). The katana was only used by the samurai caste, whereas many magistrates were not necessarily of the warrior caste. The jutte both served as a badge of office and as a weapon in emergencies. It was not meant to serve the same function as a sword-breaker, though popular myths would have it so.

Spears, naginata, and pikes were the primary weapons of first-choice for a samurai in battle. Using a club or an axe, similar to a sword, required the samurai to get closer to his enemy, thus making him more vulnerable to those with a longer reach. Also, I never said that the katana was a samurai's primary weapon, I merely mentioned its advantages as a sword. Swords have rarely been a primary weapon in battle by any force (with the exception of some two-handed swords such as the greatsword, certain large claymores, and the like). I said that the forging methods used in the katana were unique and amazing amongst pre-industrial cultures. Also, the katana started out - like most swords - as a weapon of last-resort, when the haft of their spear, pike, or naginata broke or they found themselves otherwise weaponless. Edit: Incidentally, the kanabou is basically a large club with an iron sheath and spikes or studs... and it was rarely used simply because of the sheer strength it required to use it effectively. It was a given that most common soldiers wouldn't be able to use it, and even a person with a naturally large frame would have difficulties wielding such a weapon effectively past the initial blow. The spear, the pike, and the naginata, all of which were lighter and had better reach, were the common weapons of those fighting in Japan during the feudal era. The katana/wakizashi combination we are so familiar with from samurai movies and the like only became a near-absolute standard after Tokugawa formalized the status of the samurai as a warrior caste. The katana was also more effective as a weapon for police forces in the large cities, as longer weapons tended to be difficult to wield in confined spaces in comparison. That, and the duels were the reason for the ridiculous degree to which kenjutsu developed in the centuries after the end of the warring states period. Last, the main reason that all born samurai were trained in multiple weapons, including the spear and the pike, was because one of the duties of a born samurai who wasn't a daimyo was the direct training of foot troops and militia in the use of the 'simple' weapons. The naginata, which requires more skill and training to use effectively than the spear or the pike (not to mention that it was mostly a cavalry weapon) was not a good choice for the training of new recruits. While samurai were warriors, it was almost unheard of during the warring states period for a fighting force to use them as its primary force, though archer units tended to have a higher ratio of samurai to ashigaru than in the spear or pike units. Samurai were officers, champions, and drill sergeants all in one (though a skilled/experienced ashigaru would be set to training the troops in a more established force, with the necessary wealth to maintain a large semi-professional force).

Asuesuka is on my sci-fi list and Midori no Umi is on this list.

Actually, it was because the presence of black powder weapons made it possible for peasants to kill a skilled samurai, thus making the samurai obsolete. Ieyasu wanted stability for his descendants, so he created a locked-in caste system and eliminated the presence of black powder weaponry in order to prevent the possibility of popular uprisings overthrowing his descendants' rule. Also, while the katana is a slashing weapon primarily, it is also quite effective at thrusting. In fact, when an individual is wielding one in both hands, it is actually better at thrusting than a rapier, as the natural movement of a two-handed thrust is to arch slightly and the two-handed thrust allows for more force to be behind the blow. Also, thrusting one-handed to the side without turning the body and behind is more effective with a katana than with a western weapon like a rapier because of that tendency to slightly curve the trajectory of the thrust. The reasons why rapiers/foils are primarily wielded from a side stance is not only to make it easier to protect the body by lowering the space exposed, but because straight thrusts don't come naturally in a forward stance. This is also the primary reason why western long blades tended to be hack and slash weapons prior to the rapier. Also, cavalry sabers are curved not only to allow for heavier blows along the curve but because a downward and forward thrust inevitably followed a curved trajectory. Edit: Also, Ieyasu created a system that was both decentralized and designed to impoverish the samurai, preventing daimyo from raising armies capable of challenging his family. This was accomplished by requiring daimyo to regularly perform civil works such as building aqueducts, maintaining roads, building fortresses, and other such projects, and he also required the daimyo to live part of the year in the capitol and maintain a residence there, thus further draining their resources.

lol... the katana is a technological wonder, from a pre-industrial standard. The idea of wrapping a hard edge around a softer core to create a weapon that both has a sharp edge and won't break the first time it hits something hard was revolutionary, and it also happens to be a idea that no other culture figured out. Part of this is because iron was so rare in Japan in the first place, leading to innovations in how to best use what was there, and another part of this was that the 'armor races' we saw in the West never occurred in Japan. Katanas are made for cutting through exposed flesh and the curve in their edges makes them ideal for slashing. Most 'kazu-uchi' (mass-produced, usually in a hurry) katanas were basically an iron edge wrapped around a bronze core. Very simple, but the edges nicked easily when they hit bone. Masterwork katanas usually utilize alloys and techniques thought up by master-smiths that let the edge hold even when it contacts bone or armor during a slash. However, the basic idea of wrapping a harder metal around a softer one to form an edge is still the basic methodology. Edit: Incidentally, another huge advantage to using a softer core in a katana is that katanas are lighter than weapons of a similar size in the west. This allows them to be used longer, for quicker strikes, and more control.

What kind of weapon does your ideal VN heroine wield? Current candidates: katana kukri dagger shortsword axe scythe spear crossbow handgun (normal) handgun (super-magnum) minigun bow sniper rifle submachinegun rocket launcher kitchen knife crowbar club baseball bat garrote assault rifle darts throwing knives poison piano wire weighted gloves brass knuckles fireman's hatchet revolver suicide vest And what would they do with it? My answer? Kukri and eliminating obstacles

lol, I possess no rl libido that can be directed towards real, fleshy human beings, unfortunately. My fetishes are only possible in 2D, and I will leave it to your imagination as to what they are... Edit: A warning to VN newbies... you WILL learn things about yourself playing eroge VNs that you probably didn't want to know. Edit2: Hint- it isn't even possible if crimes are committed, lol

The former. My fetishes would cause the more prudish to collapse foaming at the mouth and screaming in tongues.

Topic: VNs, fetishism, moe, and the mass-production of moege.

February candidate list: http://vndb.org/v12863 (haven't played anything by this company, not really much of a candidate) http://vndb.org/v12987 (a hopeful, despite being made by a company infamous for its lolige obsession) http://vndb.org/v13223 (being related to Pure Girl, I hope it manages to be as funny... but even if it is, I am curious as to whether it really is candidate material) http://vndb.org/v13694 (I love VNs where the protag isn't a hopeless loser at home, and this one has the homemaker protag tag... hopefully he is decent outside the house as well, lol) http://vndb.org/v13651 (speaking from experience, I wouldn't get my hopes up about this one... everything about it, from the cover picture to the website screams 'I'm just another moege!!!') http://vndb.org/v13718 (considering that Timepiece Ensemble was a decent game, I hope this one manages to match it in quality, despite being released so soon after it) http://vndb.org/v7584 (otome game candidate... no downloads available yet, but if I can, I'll play it and include a few comments on it for otome game lovers) February Special VNs: http://vndb.org/v12455 http://vndb.org/v13108 The former is chuuni, the latter is the FD of my 2013 VN of the year, Hapymaher. Both are excluded from the VN of the Month contest, the former for the reasons I stated in posts last month and the latter because it is a fandisc that is reliant on the story of the previous work in order to make sense.

lol... I'm replaying Harumade Kururu at the moment, and it has a loli... (I really wish the 2/28 releases would come out four days early...).

Thanks for the thanks, and you did get it wrong. lol Think the Japanese pronunciation for the 'e' sound and 'uh' for the 'a' sound. It was interesting to hear you guys talk, though I wasn't aware people were signing up for the lists, haha. Zakamutt's accent was great, in particular.

*does terrible things to the loli with two pickles, a bottle of chocolate sauce, and a spork, simply because everyone seems to expect it of him*

tbh, I never considered it to be a big deal... for one thing, uncensored can get really... blech if it is tentacle rape and the like. *remembers a particular mahou shoujo anime*

http://vndb.org/v8174 Playing this at the moment. I dropped it after it came out because I got busy with work, and then I wasn't in the mood for soft stuff (I generally need some good violence and hedge philosophy to get the juices running and relieve the stress from long hours working). So, it sat in my backlog until I pulled it out today. This is a game by Rosebleu, a company that produces nice comedy VNs with decent stories. Stellar Theater and its FD were great... if you like ecchi comedy with fantasy elements, lol.

Translated or untranslated? Remember, you have people on this forum capable of providing both.