Clephas

It was probably inevitable, without Agobarrier alive to bring life to his creation. The DC writers were never at his level (most generic writers in the old guard at Navel), and Jackson's style is pretty different. Trying to use Agobarrier's drafts without his style or talent was doomed to disaster from the beginning... and if they were going to transform it, they should have done so in a way that wasn't annoying.

To be honest, I had great hopes for this game, based on the fact that Agobarrier wrote up the drafts for the story before his unfortunate passing. I thought I'd see the peculiar humor, the deredere-MAX heroines, and the wacky antics that I associated with the original game. I expected running jokes (frequently used as accents to various scenes), and I hoped that Navel would finally regain some of its original 'magic'. Unfortunately, it seems that those hopes are a bit too high. Perhaps it was inevitable... the team that did this game was partly made up of the writers that have been doing the Da Capo games, which should have told me they would have a less amusing approach to things (though it saddened me that Ou Jackson didn't manage to force things into his style more often...). The loss of Agobarrier's unique style is sadly all-too-clear in this game, as, while it does channel some parts of the original, the way the most important scenes is handled is far more fumble-fingered and lacking in flare, which is just sad. That said, there were some parts where the writing quality suddenly jumped up massively, such as in any scene where Primula was involved (for some reason). To be honest, it was that very jump in quality that illuminated just how poorly some parts of the game - in particular the prologue and large swathes of the common route - are handled. What is truly sad is what they got perfectly right... the characterization of side characters. Primula, despite being, and all the side characters are really well-done. So it kind of amazed me that the heroines were so sloppily done. There is far more effective character development done in the common route for the side characters than the heroines (other than Lims, who has good characterization for the most part) considering their roles, which struck me as a horrible approach. Rishia in particular is a horribly awkward character from the very beginning, and while some of that comes from her character concept, more of it comes from everything from her VA to her sprite poses... not to mention an odd lack of face time in the common route. Her voice actor is a familiar and excellent one, so I can only imagine that it was the director that screwed things up... To clarify, the heroines that had the strongest characterization in the common route go in this order Lims>Kohaku>Kirara (I hate Kirara anyway though)>Rishia>Nelia. I say this because Kohaku gets more face time due to living with Raito and Kirara's characterization is so blatantly obvious that it can't help but be effective, if annoying. Nelia has the least amount of face time in the common route (even if you pick her 'side' of things in the various choices) than the other heroines, and Rishia suffers from her initial introduction. What is canon? Without spoiling the important stuff: 1. It is 100 years since the end of Shuffle. 2. A great disaster happened sixty years in the past. 3. Primula is apparently an eterna-loli and is still alive and well. 4. The current King of the Gods is the son of Shia's much younger (born after Shuffle) brother. 5. All characters other than Primula from the original have long-since passed away. 7. At least some of the events in each path actually occurred. 8. Rishia was very close to her great-aunt, Shia, who passed while she was still a child. 9. Neria was very close to Nerine, who died childless and was her adoptive grandmother. Primu- errr... I mean Limstone Lims was the first heroine I went after. This wasn't because of any fetishes on my part (my fetishes lead me to Nelia), but simply because she had the best characterization of the non-human heroines in the common route. Her development and even her story pretty much mirrors that of Primula's, up to a point. More is revealed to the protagonist than was to Rin in his time, and the development of their relationship - up to a point - feels natural and even touching. Unfortunately, the romance is handled... awkwardly. Considering this comes from a team known for having at least minimal skills in this area (if few others), I was awed at the way the romance in this path felt so unnatural. While this isn't a path-killer for me (because romance isn't that important to me as part of a story), it was a disappointment. On the other hand, the drama in the last part of her path and the path up to the actual relationship formation were both excellent... too bad the ending was a little wince-worthy in terms of quality. Nelia Nerine's adoptive granddaughter is a seductive young woman who has horrible characterization in the common route (if you read the official character profiles and compare them to the actual heroine in the game, there are almost no similarities). She has inherited her grandmother's recipe for tamagoyaki, and her path has some eerie similarities to Nerine's in Shuffle (in a generalized sense) without having the same impact. I won't spoil the original game for you, but I had to wince at the drama used in this path. I'll be honest, if more effort had been put into making Nelia into a real character instead of a caricature in the common route, this would have been a good path. Unfortunately, very little time was spent on Nelia in the common route relative to the other heroines, and this has an unfortunate dampening effect on the reader's emotional investment. I have to wonder after finishing this path if they just intend to partially mirror the paths from the original game... Rishia Rishia's scenes in the prologue are the single most awkward introduction scenes I've seen from a heroine in a commercial VN from a major name in over ten years... no, ever. To be honest, considering that intro scenes are something most charage writers do well, I didn't expect the awkwardness I experienced. I mean, I almost dropped the game inside the first half hour, which I wasn't expecting, considering how much I loved the original. Rishia's character eventually sheds the awkwardness created by the introductions, but I thought my feelings toward her would be ruined by the introduction to the very end. However, her actual path is a complete turnaround from my experiences in the common route. Suddenly (and jarringly) the quality of presentation goes up and Rishia goes from being a thin caricature of a heroine to an actual person. To some extent, this also happened in Nelia's path, but part of the reason this path suddenly took on depth for me was the way it tied into the story of Spiral. In fact, it feels like a direct extension of the political elements of Spiral, which is why it felt much deeper to me than it probably is if you haven't played Spiral. That said, the impact it had was enough to overcome the awful introductory scenes... but it still needs to be noted that this game is horribly flawed, not the least of which by the difference in style between the four writers (why they combined the writers of Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou and that fluff-fest series - Da Capo- I'll never understand). Conclusion Understand, I have no interest in the human heroines in this game. Kohaku is ok, but I find Kirara to be so annoying that the idea of romance with her makes me want to vomit. Anyway, this game's primary flaws lie in the common route, which is, to be blunt, mostly fluff. The character introduction for Rishia was botched, and there was a severe lack of face time for the two main heroines. These flaws don't make the game unplayable, but for fans of the original, it can't help but be a disappointment. Rishia's route manages to overcome most of the weaknesses of this particularly mismatched group of writers, but that is more because of the existence of Spiral than the inherent value of the story. Also, there should have been a path for Marine and Citron. Extra To add to the canon above, I should note that Spiral was apparently written as a prequel to this game. It occurs a few months before Rishia's arrival in the human world, and it is centered around an agent from the Divine Realm. I originally thought it was a prequel to Shuffle, but it turns out that it was a prequel to this game, lol.

Bullet Butlers is a game I specifically wrote up in a blog post on 'VNs whose stories transcend the heroines'. Most VNs, for better or worse, are to some degree defined by the quality of their heroines. However, Higashide - the writer of this game - has a genius for that kind of transcendence. It is why he now works for Type-Moon, lol.

Iroha- An excellent inaka youkai fantasy. It isn't a kamige, but if you like slow life in the countryside with a side of youkai heroines and mild mystery, it is a good choice. Django- I dropped this after the prologue... like some other Nitroplus games, it has overwhelming problems with presentation that will either make you love it immediately or come to hate it. Bullet Butlers- One of Higashide's 'Four Masterpieces' (Ayakashibito, Bullet Butlers, Chrono Belt, and Evolimit), and the one with the most unique setting. It is based in a detective noir atmosphere in a world where elves, dragons, goblins, orcs, and lizardmen coexist while constantly struggling against those who worship the deceased god of undeath (incidentally, the summary above gets the name of the Mystic One wrong... it is Rand - Randall in full).

Tokyo Babel Comyu

I remember Mangagamer claiming it was close to Tsukihime but most people who bought it complaining that it lacked content beyond the ero, which is the opposite of Tsukihime (where all the value is in the non-ero content).

One thing one needs to keep in mind when playing Shugotate, especially if one has already played trap protagonist VNs before, is that it came out in the era before the tropes had solidified into what they are now. Why is this significant? Because it was one of the games that created those tropes, along with the first Otoboku. In retrospect, this game's opening scenes at the school are some of the single most painful trap protagonist moments I've ever experienced. A lot of it is that far too much emphasis is placed upon the protagonist thinking people will find out he is a guy just based on looking at him (or rather, the protagonist's worries over it). This is more than a little irritating, and the whole freckles and overhanging hair wig thing just made it worse, lol. Anyway, where this game always excelled was in its weirdly comical action and story scenes... at the time, I laughed my ass off at it, but it comes across as tame now, having come back after over a dozen such games. I will say that Bara no Seibo, the sequel, goes a lot darker than this game, and there is none of that painful beginning part to bother the reader, showing both the degree to which the genre had matured and AXL's recognition of that fact. That is probably why they went through the trouble to reboot the game recently... though they kept the painful first scenes (albeit with more CGs and detailed writing).

Ogishima (Brandole) Jun The son of Id Brandole and Yukari of the Ogishima family. He was raised as a human by his mother, who sealed his vampiric nature on a regular basis since early childhood. While he seems mild-mannered on the surface, he has an incredible capacity for rage and ruthlessness in defense of those he considers family. He is highly intelligent, even brilliant. At the beginning of the story, Belche arrives to inform him that, if she thinks he is fit to rule, he will take over the Brandole Family of vampires and marry a woman of good family (Lian). Jun, while he resents the intrusion at first, quickly adapts to Belche's presence in his life, coming to see her as a mentor, a second mother (who loves him deeply and makes it obvious in a number of little ways), and vassal. His tendency to value 'family' (in a broad sense) over anything else is apparently shared by all men of his bloodline. As a Shinso/First, he is technically immortal (he can be killed but will eventually resurrect given time) and will turn anyone he bites or shares bodily fluids with. His blood, saliva, and other fluids feed his vampire virus to his servant vampires, maintaining their lives and powers. Belche (Elceranto De Annoyance) Belche is perhaps the most interesting character in the game. She was originally from Ireland (up to four hundred years ago, as the rumors and historical records are blurred and she herself states she forgot just how old she was), and she was turned into a vampire by Id Brandol in order to grant her revenge on those who had harmed her. She relates her experience of growing into vamprism as a process of 'staining a white canvas, as my common sense was blotted out by a frightening darkness' in a tone devoid of any emotion. To the entire Ogiwara 'family', she is a mother figure, gentle but strict, wise beyond words. To the enemies of her family, she is death and horror itself, the Witch of Cacophany, who brings death and horror with her wherever she goes. (it is also remarked a few times in the story that she is the most powerful Second to have ever existed) 「‥我が身は不老にて不死、死して尚、主人のために何度でも立ち上がる‥」 「我が名こそは最強にして最悪、我が名を耳にしたる者、正しき者には安らぎを‥悪しき者には地獄の響き‥」 「ブランドル家使用人、エルシェラント・ディ・アノイアンス‥我が存在の全ては、ただ主人のために‥以後お見知りおきを‥マスター‥ンむ‥」 "My flesh is untouched by age and undying. Even should I die, I shall rise again and again for the sake of my master. For my name is both the strongest and most terrible. For those who hear my name, let those who are correct find tranquility... and for those of evil heart, may they hear the echoes of Hell... I am a servant of the Brandole Clan, Elceranto De Annoyance. All of my existence is solely for the sake of my master... Pleased to make your acquaintance from now on, Master." Lian Lucie Dimermore Lian is a lesser First of the Dimermore family, which is known for the sheer amount of the vampire virus they carry in their blood. At first she comes across as arrogant and ignorant of the ways of the world outside of vampire society, but she is also deeply loving. Having been raised as a noblewoman intended to marry the successor of the Brandole Clan, she was originally promised to Id (who was MUCH older than her), a fact that did not in any way displease her, as he was one of the few adult vampires that didn't treat her as a bother or a tool to be used. She has the ability to alter the minds of those around her, and she has a tendency to use it with casual ruthlessness on those she considers lesser. Rika Pembleton Draculius's resident tsundere, a fake nun from a vampire-hunting organization who is insanely trigger happy, has problems with details, and is something of a zealot. Her fiery nature causes her a great deal of trouble, and she becomes Jun's first 'child', to both their dismays. Like many tsundere characters, she actually has an immense capacity for emotional dependence, and she also has a strong need to have a purpose in life, which is one reason why she is so zealous in her work. She is also Jun's first lover. She gains the ability to alter the flow of time, which also allows her to alter the trajectory of her bullets (an ability that was eventually given to the protagonist of 3rdEye's Bloody Rondo, along with part of the terminology used in this story). Of the characters, Rika probably changes the most obviously depending on which of the two paths, the joke path or the true path, you choose to go down. Takayanagi Misao One of Jun's closest friends, a trans girl who constantly clashes with Jun and Shuu for teasing her (because they both think of her as a boy and Japanese society didn't recognize trans officially at the time this was made save as a curiosity or a trope). She is fairly simple-minded, though reasonably intelligent (she gets good grades but is easily tricked and manipulated). She is something of a glutton and more than a little childish, constantly being mothered by those around her to a ridiculous extent. She is not a heroine in the story, though she wishes she was. Xeno Jailburn Lian's werewolf servant (she is also a vampire, since Lian's and Id's virus was used to allow her grow up healthy) who is obsessively loyal to her mistress. Despite her loyalty (which is absolute), one of her favorite pastimes is making fun of her somewhat naive mistress, and her sense of humor is definitely the most hilarious in the game. Like her mistress, she has a deep capacity for love, but that capacity is very narrowly focused, usually limited to people she considers family (which is a very strict delineation in her mind, stricter than Jun's). She takes great pleasure in rubdowns in her wolf form from those she trusts, but earning that trust is not easy, to say the least. She has the ability to turn into a liquid, which allows her to do things like hiding in Lian's shadow or entering areas through cracks in doorways.

An inherently contradictory statement/a statement or word that contradicts itself. Edit: To be a bit less snide, Japanese doesn't translate well enough to dignify the word. It can be interpreted, it can be channeled, etc, but translated isn't the word I'd use for our attempts to get across what is being said/written. The more you learn about the language, the more you realize how incompatible the way of thinking and cultural background is with English. It's like the way the native Hawaiians have so many words for the various forms of molten rock... nuance is the first sacrifice of any attempt to translate a language that different from our own.

ExE, as I mentioned before, is a perfect example of early chuunige, with a core of school life, a protagonist who starts normal and gains powers, and a mysterious connection to what is going on behind the scenes. This is what is called the 'Tsukihime formula' or the 'Gakuen Battle Formula', and most early chuunige vns were of this type.

*Clephas rises from beneath the earth, his pulsating tentacles enveloping thousands of mahou shoujos all at once* Whoops. *Clephas becomes a fat balding otaku wearing a shirt with Karura from Utawarerumono on the front* You saw nothing. Anyway, welcome to Fuwanovel.

Machine translation is a lie, and Japanese translation is an oxymoron.

Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai is one of my favorite games by AXL, which has consistently made high-quality games since the middle of the last decade. Ou no Mimi is based in a medieval fantasy village in a nation that is still recovering from a war that wasted most of an entire generation of young men's lives. The protagonist, Cactus (generally called Cas), lives his daily life as a self-proclaimed bodyguard for Baree Village while skipping out on working in the potato fields and taking long naps at the riverside. However, at night he really does protect the village, patrolling the area to look for bandits, wild beasts and monsters, and various other dangers that might harm the village. Cactus was originally a spy and assassin from an organization known openly as the Izayoi Knights and behind the scenes as the King's Ear. During the war, he carried out all sorts of dirty work for the King, ranging from assassinating enemy commanders to purging traitorous aristocrats. However, in the last days of the war, he was used as bait, along with his friend Collum, and his friend was killed in the process, though not before asking him to bring his heirlooms to his grandmother in Baree Village. When he arrived at the village after a long period of wandering, Collum's grandmother's kindness gave him a purpose, in quietly protecting his friend's village and family, while never letting on he was doing so. Now, none of this spoiler material. All of it is revealed in the prologue or in the Getchu page. However, a lot of people don't take second looks at AXL games because their art style is different from the current trends (though it has been refined over the years). So I felt a need to go into more detail about the setting than is usual. Now, this game, is for the most part, a medieval slice-of-life game with occasional moments of serious drama (in both the common route and the heroine routes both). This game probably has the darkest moments of any game made by this company, with the possible exception of Shugotate 2. Cas was a master of assassination and misdirection, and there are times in each path where he gets to show off that expertise. His primary weapon is the needle, followed by the long dagger. He is also a master of poisons and various chemical concoctions which he uses to provide specific effects, which can range from mundane stuff like laughing endlessly to instant death or the complete loss of all memories. The four heroines are Coreo, Thistle, Peony, and Jinnia. Jinnia is the princess of the Reste Kingdom in which Baree Village sits. She is a proud but kind-hearted princess with high ideals who can nonetheless admit when she is wrong. While she has led a very sheltered existence, she lacks the arrogant disregard for commoners which is common to her fellow aristocrats, and this leads to her being a much more interesting character than most variations on the princess archetype. Coreo is the daughter of a former mercenary and bandit who has spent most of her young life looking after her father and his small gang, who now work mostly by hunting meat and exchanging it with the villagers for veggies and various other goods. She fell in love with Cas at first sight and has been pursuing him for years, but she is innocent of most of the details of what goes on between men and women, which can lead to a number of amusing situations. Thistle (pronounced as Shizuru) is a poverty-stricken aristocrat girl living alone with her butler in the run-down manse at the edge of town. She is sweet-natured and compassionate, as well as being a glutton with a stomach that seems to have a black hole inside. She is also immensely clumsy, constantly tripping over her own feet or getting into other messes that put her in compromising positions (think lucky sukebe). Peony is an apothecary/doctor (literal Japanese term is kusushi, which is a pre-modern word for a doctor who is trained in the use of herbal remedies as well as minor surgery and diagnosis of various common ills) who is dispatched to Baree Village shortly after the beginning of the story... and turns out to be Cas's estranged adopted sister. Kind and impartial by nature, with a tendency to be harsh with Cas's apparent laziness, she serves as a tsukkomi character throughout much of the game. She is also the game's main heroine, though none of the heroines are neglected in any way. I have already reviewed this game in the past, so I'll conclude by saying this is an excellent game with well-written routes with just the right balance between SOL and drama in a medieval setting. For those who want something based outside of a school in modern Japan, this game is an excellent choice.

Shugotate - One of the two series that gave life to a curiosity sub-genre, the trap protagonist. In this case, it created the 'combat-capable trap protagonist in a plotge' sub-genre, which turned out to have a weird life of its own after this came out. A complete remake recently came out, with mostly aesthetic upgrades, though I haven't really played it yet. This game has all the elements you would expect of the genre, from the protagonist constantly worrying about getting caught while being disappointed no one realizes he is a man, as well as the comedy, characters, and writing of an AXL game. Ouzoku- SofthouseChara's most famous game. To be honest, this is one of those Rance-type games with a good story despite the fact that the protagonist is the worst kind of womanizer. The gameplay is decent, but it is somewhat reminiscent of Langrisser, with the need to heavily budget-manage as well as put out units that can be effective on the individual battlefields you are deploying them to. As such, it is not in any way suited for beginners to turn-based tactical gameplay. It also doesn't have a decent tutorial to help you learn the ropes, so most people will end up restarting from the beginning after running out of money partway through. ExE- Yuzusoft's first chuunige. Actually, its only chuunige. It is very much a representative of the early genre that was born with Tsukihime, with a school-going protagonist who suddenly begins to get powerful rather than having any skills of his own previously, a seemingly devious plot that the protagonist stumbles upon by accident that somehow has deep links to his tragic past, and heroines who mysteriously fall for him inside an hour of gameplay. In other words, it is a decent game, but it has all the flaws of the early chuunige genre to annoy the experienced while probably being one of the easiest entryways for people new to untranslated to try the genre.

I've reviewed this game on three separate occasions, so I don't think I should add anything except to say that playing the joke path is fairly hilarious if you've already played the true one. The joke path is a joke path for a reason, but half of it doesn't make sense if you haven't played the true path. It needs to be noted that while Jun is the protagonist, it is Belche who provides the glue to that sticks the entire setting together. Her attitude, her way of thinking, her treatment of Jun, her past, her reputation, etc all serve to bring the entirety of the setting to life early on. Not to mention she is a total badass when she lets loose and a scary capable maid (I mean, who else could turn Gatorade into new body parts?).

Forgot Ayakashibito... all the characters get sloshed in the early part of the game.

Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier (all heroines drink, so does protagonist) Nanairo Reincarnation Silverio Trinity Silverio Ragnarok Akeiro Kaikitan (Youko, the oneesan) Draculius (Belche and she smokes too) Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai Suisei Ginka Tokyo Babel Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou (both games) Hataraku Otaku no Ren'ai Jijou Sora no Tsukurikata Unjou no Fairy Tale Dracu-riot (though the vampire heroines don't get drunk) Fake Azure Arcology Re;Birth Colony

Pulltop is one of the many subsidiaries of Will, so if it is the Japanese version, what I said above probably applies.

A few company policies for Japanese developers: Purple Soft doesn't allow any form of streaming beyond demos, opening videos, and music. This includes things that are normally considered fair use, like actually verbally narrating scenes (dubbing your voice narrating the non-verbal text) or AMVs. On at least eleven occasions in the last few years, I've seen them (videos I liked getting taken down at their request) take down music videos, narrated clips, and video streams of playthroughs. Akabeisoft only allows openings. I've seen them take down videos that were essentially AMV clips on numerous occasions. Light allows AMVs, clips, rearrangements, etc, but they only allow demos for actually streaming the game itself (most of Light's games made in the last seven years have numerous AMVs, clips, and rearrangements, because of the obsessive fanbase). These are just the ones I know for certain. Will's policy was to allow demo to be streamed, but not the main game or clips, but I haven't seen anyone try anything more in a while.

Senshinkan- Ayumi Semiramis no Tenbin- Eru and Fumika Sakigake Generation- Yuria, Ouka Cocoro@function- Mina Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteiru 3- Mimi Mirai Nostalgia- Uta Hikari no Umi no Apeiria- Mashiro (really all the heroines to a greater or lesser extent) Tomofure- Sakurako Psychologic Love Comedy- Mitsuki (she's also a yangire though) Akabanzu- Hotaru Doshikuro- Urara Sanoba Witch- Meguru Golden Marriage- Touko Puramai Wars- Minori Nanairo Reincarnation- Iyo Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu- Yume Tokyo Babel- Lilith and Raziel Harvest Overray- Lilia Shirogane Spirits- Mei Nekonade Distortion - Kotoko Sankaku Ren'ai- Maho 11eyes- Kaori Akatsuki no Goei- Aya Otome domain - Hinata Floral Flowlove- Riku Butterfly Seeker- Haya Irotoridori series- Kyou Wakaba-iro no Quartet- Sofia Realive- Kaya Orefuka- Towa Unionism Quartet- Tia Hataraku Otaku no ren'ai Jijou- Akira

Draculius is a kamige, if you only play the true path. There is also a comedy side path, but I only recommend it if you aren't interested in seeing some interesting fights and character evolution. Kyuuketsuki no Libra was also an attempt to copy Draculius's success, though it failed due to a lack of a good protagonist and a character as strong as Belche. Kimi ga Aruji is a decent Minato soft game... but it isn't great. Tbh, it feels like a prototype for Majikoi without the sheer depth of characters. Touka Gettan is creepy. I don't say this because I dislike the game but because that is part of how the game was designed. For a certain type of reader, it is a good choice, but its approach to its themes can be disturbing.

It hurt... and now I cherry pick jrpgs instead of anticipating them. To be honest, every time I take a look at a review that has everything but story marked high, I end up reflecting on what mainstream gaming has done to the genre, and I get depressed. Anime hasn't really betrayed me... I love junk isekai. I do hate that truly good rom-coms and space operas have vanished, though. Visual novels have always been iffy. To be blunt, the skew toward moege/charage has always been a problem for me... in small doses, I like them as much as any other genre that isn't my favorite, but seeing 90% of all JVN (non-nukige) releases for years on end turn out to be charage drove me absolutely nuts. Worse was that I had a weird sense of duty that made me play them all, so I quite naturally burnt out back in 2017, after five years of that crap. I take breaks from VNs now, often lasting days or even a week or so. I've found that the problems start popping up mostly if I play several in a row, and that I can still enjoy any genre I didn't already hate if I give myself time between games. For English releases, I have to say I don't even pay much attention anymore unless someone mentions it to me... I liked it that Nanairo Reincarnation and Hapymaher (both excellent games) got English releases, but unless it is a truly remarkable (whether horrible or awesome) I just don't notice. While charage/moege are now localized more than plotge, chuunige, nakige, etc, the proportion is something like 2 charage for every three of other types (combined), which is a much better ratio than the one in Japan. This was the trend I noticed last time I checked anyway. More problematic is the rather excessive appeals being made by some Japanese companies by making games specifically to be released in both countries from the beginning. Pulltop, Whirlpool and Front Wing are the only companies really doing this, but it has led to such things as releasing series in parts (Corona Blossom, Phantom Trigger, Nekonin, etc) and horrible quality games that get caught halfway between appealing to Westerners and appealing to the Japanese (the Lovekami 'sequels' *spits with disgust*). While Phantom Trigger is fun to read, it is also a series that really needed to be released in larger chunks to be satisfying (if you have a year, you should be able to make something that takes more than three hours to read through going slowly, especially if you reuse as many resources as they do).

The same thing happened to jrpgs. As they became more mainstream, quality in general began a drastic flaw as efforts were made to appeal to casual and mainstream users. This led to the mistakes that eventually crippled the genre, such as reverse-including elements from MMO games into normal jrpgs and abortive attempts to 'upgrade' series that were mostly geared to old fans (Suikoden Tierkreis, Growlanser V, etc) that ended up killing the series outright in the long run. A lot of hardcore fans of jrpgs eventually just quit playing them or resorted to playing roguelikes and low-quality imitations instead. The relatively low number of high quality jrpgs made since then (there are a ton of mediocre copies of the few hits, such as the dozens of copies of the latter-era Persona games) says everything about what appealing to the mainstream can do to a genre. Some particular examples were the disappearance of quality music direction, the overuse of VAs to compensate for poor writing, and the increased tendency to ignore the story-driven gameplay that was the center of the jrpg golden age. Very few jrpgs actually tell an interesting story anymore, to the point where when one does (like the Legend of Heroes series or Tales of Berseria) it gets worshiped outright by the newer generation, who haven't experienced anything like it before unless they were already retro gamers.

The battle system turned me off in this game... so I went and played Baldr Force instead.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that it is a reading medium. Reading is something a relatively small part of the population actually takes joy in doing. Most people feel it is work. It is similar to the reasons why they still bother making anime dubs, even though the hardcore fans want nothing to do with dubs.