Clephas

Yeah, that is why I generally suggest it. It is the best non-moege to start playing VNs in Japanese with. Relatively simple language for most of the game makes it an easy way to begin. Asking me for a tailored recommendation when you just want something easy will just have me suggest either this or a random moege. Edit: I might also suggest http://vndb.org/v100 if you wanted something softer (violence-wise). As non-Key nakige go, it is pretty good. The language is also relatively easy.

Don't worry, I despise the entire human race, and yet I still managed to make friends here. *juggles flaming scimitars and dances the welcome dance*

I probably should have said this before, but this is an excellent choice of games to translate. Though, I do think some things won't translate or will be difficult to translate. If I have a suggestion for yall, it would be to beef up on your art terms vocab, as well as figure out the painting names (the old paintings are mostly real ones, so it would be nice if you had it right). This game will present a unique challenge to translate, but then all VNs that aren't moege present their own challenges...lol

*unleashes a blast of evil power that pulverizes a thousand lolis into a crimson paste, then makes soup* Welcome to Fuwa.

I figured I'd put together a bit of info about the game in general and the battle system in particular for those interested in playing this game. The Game: This game is a VN with a card-style battle system. It is a fantasy VN with a fairly grim story and a pretty varied cast of characters. There are three possible paths to proceed through the game: the angel, demon, and human paths. Each of these paths splits off at the same point, and the basic story for each varies drastically, though certain common factors can be observed. For those who played Kamidori and Himegari, you'll notice a much higher quality of writing, as well as more interesting characters. For those who have played the Ikusa Megami series, you might find it a bit less satisfying (since those are Eushully's best games). The Battle System: Though most of the system shows up in ITH when you use the h-code, allowing you to actually read the tutorial, I'll summarize the battle system for those who have some trouble with it. First, the battles are set down on a grid with two rows and three columns. The leader card, which is also the card that needs to survive for you to win the battle, is placed on the field from the beginning of the battle. All cards possess four major parameters (I'll ignore special skills for the moment). These are HP (in yellow - or LP, in the case of the leader card), Attack Power (red-kougekiryoku), Control power (shihairyoku), and Cost. To put a card on the field, the spot you want to place it in has to have a Control power equivalent to or greater than its Cost. You can increase the Control power of a space by placing other cards (living being ones) in adjacent spaces. Since in the early game most cards only have a Control power of 1, that means the spaces adjacent to one such card will usually have only one Control power, allowing for the placing of a card with a Cost of 1 only. To increase it, you have to place other cards around that space, thus allowing you to place cards with a cost of 2 or three by surrounding that space from two or three sides. Later in the game, cards with a Control power of 2 appear, (most with a Cost of 3 have a Control Power of 2), allowing you to potentially put down cards with a Cost of 4 (the highest). Though it is a general rule that cards with high cost are more powerful than those below them, there are exceptions, and it is possible to make lower cost cards as powerful as them by equipping items on them. In battle, there are three stages to your turn. The first is card movement, where you can move a card one space in any direction that is unoccupied on your side (though the leader can move into an occupied space and send the card to the graveyard). The second is card placement, where you place cards from your hand onto your side of the field. The last is attack. In the attack phase, you can use the cards in your front row to attack any enemy card in a space in front of them or to either side (a card on the right side of the field can attack the enemy center or right, for instance). Battles are concluded by defeating the enemy leader card. Note on Replication: The protagonist's card gains the ability to replicate enemy cards early on in the game, by defeating them with his leader card. This is VERY useful, both for reinforcing your deck, for getting money (by selling them), and for gathering cards for fusion later on. Characters and levels: When characters gain levels, it fundamentally just gains you an extra of their first card and possibly a new skill or level of an existing skill. Also, some conversation events can only be accessed by characters reaching a certain level. Party Level: This is increased by fighting. Each battle nets you a certain number of points that goes to increase this. Increasing this lets you purchase more items, equipment, and even battle cards at the shops. I really suggest you get this to 5 or 6 in the prologue or first chapter, simply because you need certain special items only sold then to access certain conversation events. For those wondering which path they should take on their first playthrough, I'd advise you against taking the Demon path if you aren't ready for a darker story - and a darker protag. Edit: Here is a list of heroine endings you can get on each path. Angel: Mehiisha, Madoka, Mirai, Arisa, Shanel, Narumi, Akari Demon: Akari, Sayone Human: Narumi, Mirai, Arisa, Shanel, Akari Edit: Highest cost is actually 6, but considering the effort it takes to get a space ready for it, I can't see anyone bothering with them until your third playthrough, when you have the possibility (if you did the Angel and Human routes first) of obtaining the leader card with a control of 2. Edit2: Basic strategy for late-game bosses, in particular ones with regen ability. You should focus from the beginning on just getting rid of their servant cards, until they can't put anymore down, then shave the boss's hp with a three-point attack until he goes down. Since most late-game bosses have the greater part of their decks composed of cost 3 cards and have a control of 2, once you've disposed of enough of their allies, they won't be able to put down anymore of their cards, if they used up their 2 and 1 cards. Because of this, eliminating any cost 3 or 4 cards that start out on the field becomes a priority, as the presence of such cards allows the bosses to bring more such cards onto the field. Once you've gotten rid of these cards, I suggest retreating your protag to the back, if he has less than 60 LP left, and leaving it to your front line. Also, keep at least one control 2 card in the back to let you summon higher-level cards more easily, because otherwise you'll be slowed down significantly. Edit2 part 2: Incidentally, a lot of cards can level up, opening up higher hp, attack, and/or slots for item equipping. I seriously suggest you level up such cards, while getting the more basic cards that can't equip items out of your deck as early as possible. I'd suggest getting the cost 1 succubus card leveled up, as that will take the place of the mineral giant you can get early in the game once those cards are leveled. This will cover battles where using human cards isn't possible, such as in the arena. Really, I suggest you get at least one cost 1 card type from each race type fully leveled, to give you varied possibilities for arena battles and the like. Edit2 Part 3: Late in the game, it is quite possible to auto-battle most battles. As long as you aren't trying replicate a particular card, this is an ideal way of getting alchemy items, experience, jisseki (the points that up your party level) and the like. I seriously suggest that you get at least 20 of every card you can replicate if you have the time, as it will make things easier in later playthroughs or when you want to use alchemy to make items, equipment, or cards.

*eats a loli in greeting*

Welcome.

One thing I love about this kind of thread, it really shows the tastes of those who post in it. Obviously, I have a thing for fantasy-heavy plots, for instance...

http://vndb.org/v1552 This one is decent, is mostly everyday terms, and tends to range from a 4-5. Sorry to say, but VNs with great stories generally stick around 5-8.

There is no such thing... theoretically, if one were to make a VN for the sake of teaching small children their hiragana, you might make a level 1 VN... haha. You generally won't see any VN with a difficulty below 3... and as an example, look up the company name 'Norn', lol.

*uses foodbolg, his beloved enchanted stomach, thus allowing him to eat the moe before it can appear*

Welcome.

*Clephas dances with three hundred thousand nekololi ninjas wielding dual hatchets in greeting* Welcome.

Welcome to Fuwa.

*Clephas finishes eating the last of the former king's personal retainers*

For some reason, after Vermillion, that team has seemed obsessed with boobs. Satsuki is normal, but Shinobu and Leona are.... ... ... ... Well, a bit big. *understates the case* Personally, I stopped caring after a while. I did wonder at first why they insisted on the boobs, though I would have been more annoyed if they had been lolis.

This is just my impression... generally speaking, the anime quality wasn't any lower than it was last year. However, in the particular... there was no stand-out anime this year, at least so far. The Kingdom second season is about the only thing that comes to mind that is good enough to be obsession-worthy, and that is only because the previous season was so interesting. Log Horizon also comes to mind, but the problem with that one is that it is part of the 'trapped in an mmo' fad that got restarted with SAO being such a hit...

Unless something better comes along (which I doubt) my personal game of the month is Electro Arms -Realize Digital Dimension-. This game centers around Reiji, a delinquent with a cool head who is bored with life in general. The game has three main heroines, and four sub-heroines. The three main heroines have distinct paths, that are fairly long (though shorter than most chuuni genre paths) and get pretty exciting at the end. The sub-heroines' paths are non-existent, basically just excuses to give h-scenes for female side-characters, so just think of them as extras. The protagonist is the type of guy that takes pleasure in the trouble life throws his way... the more difficult the better. For that reason, it is quite a lot of fun to get behind his eyes... not to mention that he is an all-around genius with pretty sharp instincts. Unlike most games by Light, this one is not centered around gore and violence, though there is some of that. The main story is focused around the game (EA) itself, the players, and those who are interested in the tech behind it. Because this game is chuuni and thus an acquired taste, I'll go ahead and name the runner-up for those of you who are interested (since I haven't played the Ensemble game yet, this game's position isn't absolute, though). HHG- Megami no Shuuen made the biggest impression on me amongst the non-chuuni games above. My thoughts about it are stated in a post above, and thus I don't feel a particular need to restate them here. I will continue to post about games from this month as I finish them, but nothing really stands out amongst the others.

*orchestrates a coup de'etat and puts a rather ditzy-looking catgirl on the throne* Welcome to Fuwa.

Ok, here is my policy on using my basic ideas: Give me credit for the original idea, but past that you are welcome to use it as you want. I don't put stuff up on sites like these expecting no one will use it. In fact, quite the reverse. I would love it if someone made the game I described above a reality. I might even elaborate on aspects you are uncertain of, if you want.

I came up with this idea on a whim, but I thought about how interesting it would be to list up a bunch of game design concepts (not necessarily the mechanics, though it would be fine to include those as well), and present them to the community in general. Basically, you would set a basic theme, a genre, a story concept, and a list of ideas for how you would like the gameplay to work. Think of it as brainstorming and just jot down whatever you want to show off. This is just an example, made to give you an idea of what I mean. Genre: RTS, RPG, squad-based Story concept: Setting in a fantasy world, where sorcery is gradually being reduced to a science, usable by more than a tenth of the population (as opposed to the one in ten thousand of previous ages) and magic-users have become the new upper class in most nations. War has broken out between three nations over the territory of the Ryland City-States, a federation of twenty-three city-states that recently collapsed into civil war after the titular king and the Senate were slaughtered in an act of sorcerous terrorism. The three nations are the Dicel Republic, the Isolar Alliance, and the Cytal Hegemony. Each nation has its own sorcerous specialties and preferred paths of study. However, the war has fallen into a stalemate, with each of the three nations holding roughly one tenth of the City-States original territory after numerous conflicts and massive casualties in several terrible battles. Because of the degree of exhaustion the armies of all sides have suffered, they have begun to rely on mercenaries to do the dirty work of securing the country side and of aiding their conquest. Your protagonist is a mercenary officer, formerly of the City-State of Litonia. How he navigates the war will decide his fate and possibly the fate of his former homeland. Game mechanics: Player controls the protagonist and gives order to his unit (varying in size from five troops to one hundred) through hot-buttons. The protagonist uses varied sorcery and weapons to cut his way through the battlefield, earning as much money as he can along the way. Battlefields will range from simple open field battles, to forest ambushes of supply-trains, and sieges where sorcery flies alongside catapult stones to shatter walls. Outside of battle, the protagonist has the opportunity to interact with members of each faction (the three main factions and the surviving City-States) and make connections, earning him chances at work with better pay, as well as access to varied sorcerous research and powers. Search mode would allow the protagonist to search the ruins of ancient civilizations for useful artifacts of the previous age, and independent mode would allow him to purchase or otherwise obtain the services of different units or skilled partners in combat, purchase new and different or better equipment, or make political inroads within the local system. The amount of political influence the protagonist has gives him a better chance to be awarded with jobs from local officials and the factions.

VR is the result, not the cause. You can blame the fall in population on overcrowding and a growing belief that having a family young is a waste of time and energy.

lol, linguistic level is based off of word choice, kanji choice, sentence complexity, and dialect difficulty. Games with difficult kanji use and complex sentences tend to have higher linguistic difficulty, and those with the highest level of dialect difficulty and word choice are those given the highest of all ratings (Kajiri Kamui is currently the most difficult VN I've run across, due to its use of pre-modern terms and the only one to get above a 9 on a scale of one to ten). If it is above 7 then it is beyond your average beginner, and if it is below 4, you are dealing with elementary to middle school level Japanese (or worse, young people talk, lol). I'd have to reinstall a few games to give you an idea of the range, but I don't have any extra space on my computer's hard drive at the moment, so that'll have to be put to the side. Basically, at 4 you might be able to muddle through if you are able to get the gist of anime while watching it (though it would be borderline) and at 8 you would probably need to have translator experience or at least be used to reading complex kanji combos and sentence structure. Your average translator for a moege probably would barely be able to understand the gist of an eighth level sentence, whereas he could probably read at a decent pace for a 6-7, if not at super-speed (this is assuming said translator has no experience with this level of difficulty).

LOGH is the best space opera ever... too bad the genre is dead since Tytania. Anyway, welcome to the forums.