Clephas

The remake is pretty good, but it actually gets better if you've played the original, if only because the differences are interesting. The remake has infinitely better battle scenes, visuals, and music... There are also huge changes in antagonists and stuff like descriptions of the mythos go into more detail and are more interesting to read than in the original. I'd say that the action scene visual quality is about at the same level as Light at its peak (in terms of aesthetics), and the actual detail and writing is just a step or two below Light's second team (the non-Masada team).

It depends on the game. In the case of Tsukihime, the reason people encourage you to play all the routes is because the experience only grows richer with each route, and in the case of games in the same genre (known as chuunige or action fantasy) the story is frequently only partially told in any individual route. In the case of rom-coms, sol, and the like it is perfectly fine to just play the route of the heroine you like the most. In fact, the vast majority of people do just that. However, if you were to play Tokyo Babel or Dies Irae, both games pretty much require you to play all the routes to get the full experience. Honestly, it is up to you in the end. Even with rom-coms and the like, there are some VNs that benefit immensely from playing most of the routes, like Kin'iro Loveriche.

Oh, you also mention characters acting oddly to make the story progress, but this is fairly common in plot-focused VNs. In early VNs, it was mostly because of the philosophy of 'gotsugoushugi', which is a game-maker philosophy for plot-focused games with multiple routes where character actions and even personalities are warped at a moment's notice solely to move the story forward. The real issue is a matter of degree. For instance, there are a number of VNs I can think of off the top of my head where the personality change of a main character was so dramatic it completely broke me out of my engrossment in the story. The most egregious example of this I can name right here and now is Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou 2. During the common route of the game, the protagonist is an arrogant, immensely capable person with a wide variety of talents, but in each of the heroine routes, his personality gets toned down, his talents weakened, and his motivations twisted in ways that don't make sense even in the context of the route. This is an example of going too far with that kind of tactic. More subtle are the random bad endings that pop up in a lot of horror and action VNs (especially early ones) where the actual choices result in random horrible deaths that make absolutely no sense in the chronology of the story. These games were the reason I started resulting to using walkthroughs for all VNs, because I got tired of making choices, only to end up with senseless bad ends or normal just friends endings. However, at the same time, this degree of manipulation can actually result in a positive result, as while those endings were often frustrating, they were also part of the experience as a whole and made it richer in some way. To be honest, it is one of those JVN storytelling techniques that can be either excellent or horrible depending on how well it is utilized.

This isn't the only VN series that organically turned into a trilogy or a duology. A perfect example is Akatsuki no Goei. It has an almost identical approach to continuing things to Grisaia, in that the second game is a combination of after-stories and a route that covers the protagonist's past (which is incidentally even more brutal than Yuuji's). The big difference is in the third game, which is based off of the Kaoru route of the first game (non-romantic route). While it has a core story, it has three main routes and numerous heroines, the big change mostly being in what perspective the protagonist sees the story from. As an approach, it has its positives and negatives. Kinugasa Shougo, the writer for Akatsuki no Goei, hates conclusive endings, and it is pretty evident that Shangri-la (later absorbed by Akabei) forced him to conclusively end the main series in Tsumibukaki Shuumatsuron. His resentment came out in spreading the reader's attention across way too many heroines, in my opinion. Grisaia came out later, so I always figured that they learned from the excesses of the Akagoei trilogy when they made Grisaia into a trilogy, focusing on the cast of characters rather than expanding it massively.

Hapymaher's is a nakige, by genre, a game where the entire point of the story is to make you cry. The mystery elements are secondary. The most impressive parts of this VN besides the quality of the feels are the quality of the soundtrack and the genius with which it is utilized. To be blunt, there literally haven't been any VNs since it that have had such an excellent soundtrack that was also used so perfectly. The character designs are also unique and high-quality, if a bit overly influenced by Alice in Wonderland. As for routes, Yayoi's, Saki's, and Keiko's routes are interchangeable for order, so there isn't really a recommended order for them, at least in my experience. It is pretty much required that Alice's path be right before the true end, though. It is possible not to do the normal or bad end at all if you don't want to.

I never liked timed choices as a mechanism in VNs... most of the time, they were just annoying. I guess it is because if I wanted to feel pressured, I would just go play a normal video game like a shooter or an a Souls-like game.

Infinite Dendogram- It's been a while since Kvan and I have agreed on an anime, but this is one of those times. I don't understand why people bash this one so much... Bofuri- Overpowered iyashikei at its best. Tennen main character becomes overpowered through random silly actions like eating her enemies while they can't penetrate her defenses.

Translated Dies Irae (Kei) Dies Irae Interview with Kaziklu Bey Ayakashibito (Kaoru) Untranslated Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier (Iori and Tokio) Akatsuki no Goei 3 (Mai, Akemi, Kiyomi, Kanako, Kaede) Vermillion Bind of Blood (Ariya) Yurikago yori Tenshi Made (Aria) Zero Infinity (Eliza) Abyss Homicide Club (Kotoko and Yuu) Blade x Bullet (all of them) Gekkou no Carnevale (all but Anna) Gleam Garden no Shoujo (Luna) Shinigami no Testament (Irina)

Arifureta Shokugyou- An example of how an awful anime can come from a top-class light novel. The two biggest flaws of this anime are that too many episodes are spent on the labyrinth (basically the prologue) and the decision to use 2.5D animation for some of the monsters. The results were that some of the monsters just look off and don't match with the basic animation, thus making the combat less interesting than it could be. I recommend just reading the light novels instead. Isekai Cheat Magician- Extremely low-quality isekai. Cop Craft- A top-quality anime about a version of Earth where a fantasy world was connected to Earth through a gate, causing a massive war. The protagonist is a detective with a history as a veteran and the main heroine is an aristocrat from the other side of the gate. Katsute Kami Datta Kemono Tachi- A fantasy series focusing on a group of soldiers experimented on and turned into weapons of war. As time went by, they lost their humanity and now the last sane member is hunting them down. Maou-sama, Retry- This particular season's guilty pleasure for me, because the setting and story are all over the place. However, it is fun to watch, especially because of how it constantly mocks isekai tropes. El-Melloi Case Files Season 2- Normally I wouldn't bother mentioning this, but I love El-Melloi Case Files, lol. Uchimusume- An interesting variation on the Japanese-style high fantasy world. The world has multiple 'maous' and the mazoku are just another race. The protagonist is an adventurer who finds an exiled mazoku child in the forest by the skeletal body of her father. He brings her back to civilization and raises her as his own. Much of the story is tear-jerking or adorable (sometimes both) with the little girl jerking on your heart strings and just being an adorable little girl in general. There is some action to the series, and what is there is pretty good. However, it isn't a focus. Vinland Saga- Historical fantasy/drama focused on the era when the British Isles were colonized forcibly by the Danes. Extremely violent and bloody. Sounan Desu ka- A weird little anime about a group of girls who get stranded on a desert island. I recall it being weirdly fascinating to watch. Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka?- This anime is a comedy about a harem protagonist who is followed around by a bunch of perverted girls (all of them different types). It is generally a fun watch, but it isn't something to go back to again later once you've finished it.

Shortlist of translated dark non-romance focused VNs that are tled. Tokyo Babel- Romance is non-standard (under stress) type, action and plot-focused. Dies Irae- Ditto to above Hello Lady

I could list a lot more, but these came to mind more or less immediately. https://vndb.org/v3671 https://vndb.org/v18842 https://vndb.org/v10957 https://vndb.org/v10958 https://vndb.org/v370 https://vndb.org/v1335

Unfortunately, it is no longer available. This is no surprise, since it is from before the turn of the century and was likely never redone in a digital format. Also, please remember to put NSFW pics and borderline ones inside of spoiler boxes with NSFW warnings above.

90% of the patches (from 2005-2018) were done entirely through manual translation with mtl only being used for individual words. This was because it was only recently that some MTL apps/sites/etc could actually translate a complete sentence from Japanese to English coherently. Even now, they can't handle proverbs, colloquialisms, and slang/local dialects, so they are only used for 'rough' first-day patches, mostly on indie VNs. Edit: The reason I feel a need to mention this is because these people put a ton of work into something that didn't get them anything but prestige and has mostly been forgotten in the years since. This is literally hundreds or even thousands of hours of work in some cases, done in people's free time. While some of these fan patches were later purchased by localization companies and retooled for localization, there are still a number of games where my statement still applies.

I've been devouring web novels for some time now, so I have a pretty wide experience (within my preferred genres). My preferences probably won't match many of yours, but I figured I would make some recommendations like I used to with visual novels. Isekai'd+Overpowered/cheat protagonist Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukoku (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9902bn/)- Despite the anime being a flop, this is easily one of the best fantasy web novel series of the type. In addition, the LN version differs so greatly from the web novel that you can actually enjoy them completely separately from one another, which makes them double the fun. Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8611bv/)- Yes, the anime was mostly crap (except for Yue being a vampire goddess), but the web novel is awesome. It was also something of a trendsetter, setting the gold standard for the 'betrayed protagonist rises to be the strongest' trope. The web novel has a huge advantage over the light novel series in that the after-story (which is now longer than the original story) is godly and immensely fun to read. My Classmates were Summoned to Another World but I was Reincarnated (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16816452221074480581)- Basically, the protagonist dies during the summoning and gets reincarnated as a true vampire by the ditzy goddess of the world her classmates were summoned to and goes on a self-indulgent journey/adventure/rampage across the surface of the other world. The protagonist is definitely chaotic neutral in personality, though her actions often split off into chaotic good and chaotic evil depending on who she is dealing with. For people who want to laugh at a protagonist's absolutely insane antics, this is a good choice. Isekai ni Houchi-ge Riron o Mochikondara Isekai Saikyou ni Nareru Isetsu (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330652291194063)- Basically a gamer gets reborn into a rather harsh and massive fantasy isekai, where he uses sorcery to create autonomous spells that go around killing monsters so he can level up faster. He is a leveling addict and this story, like most of this author's stories, is full of insane characters (including the protagonist and heroine). This is one of the few male protagonist WN series I've met that doesn't include a harem. Toriaezu Shinu Wa (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16816700427424058338)- Made by the same author as Houchi-ge, it was his pilot work. It is complete (this author follows through and consistently posts his works, so you don't need to worry about fade-outs), so you can just dive in and read from the beginning to the end. In this one, the protagonist and his class get summoned to another world, and when he finds out some of his nastier classmates intend to assassinate him, he uses the plot to get out of town (faking his death) and gain his freedom. This one is pretty dark, the protagonist actively committing genocide and purges against religion (though the religion deserves it), and his girlfriend is a psychotic yandere who is incapable of empathy for anyone but him. However, the character personalities in this one are really well presented, which matches this author's style. Paradigm Parasite (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054891938248)- Protagonist is reborn as a parasite that possesses the corpse of a young noble and proceeds to rampage across the psychotic isekai he ended up in. He is utterly cold-blooded, pragmatic, and predatory by nature. This is a pure chaotic evil protagonist acting on his worst instincts throughout much of the story. Isekai'd+Adventurer/Not overpowered Jiriki de Isekai he! (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054941828435)- By coincidence, the protagonist manages to create a magic circle that transports him to another world... by killing him. The god who greets him informs him that his actions count as suicide, thus he won't be granted any special rewards. He is reborn as an orphan and regains his memories by accident, his skill (not a cheat skill) activating for the first time as a result of a near-death experience. He sets out to become an adventurer, living his isekai life as best he can. This series is complete, so you can just dive in and read it from beginning to end. Karyoku no Nai Kaze Mahoutsukai wa, Isekai nite Ken de Mau (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330652107435856)- An excellent story for those who want a reincarnated protagonist who isn't overpowered and lives his life as an adventurer. The protagonist is half-halfling, half-giant in a world that is a half-step away from the age of mythology. Annainin wa Isekai no Jukai o Samayou (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054918935123)- Protagonist falls through a gate to another world and is forced to become an adventurer in order to survive. Eventually, he is able to return to Earth and becomes a 'guide', teaching people how to survive on the other world. Modern Fantasy/dungeons (sometimes with an isekai'd then returned protagonist) Isekai Kara Kikan Shitara Chikyuu ga Fantasy Deshita. Ato, Make Heroine domo, Kocchi Minna (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330650225915619)- This one focuses on a protagonist who succeeds in killing the evil god in another world and returns to earth, only to once again face his childhood friend presenting his newest lover to him with a victorious expression. However, he doesn't care at all, as he is finally free of the hell of the other world! (He really, really hates the isekai). This series is mostly humorous as Nacchan's manic personality and immense power meets Earth's fantasy beings in clashes that are usually disastrous for the fantasy beings. Shachiku Kensei, Haishinsha ni Naru (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330657186803576)- Mix of dark humor and overpowered action as a guy in a business suit explores the depths of dungeons. It is updated irregularly but even just what is there so far is worth reading. Seikatsu Mahoutsukai no Gekokujou (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16816452218254294002)- Oppressed protagonist with a gift for the weakest school of magic discovers the sage system for his school of magic and develops it for combat, eventually becoming a famous dungeon crawler and magic developer. Series is complete and the battles are pretty cool. While technically the protagonist is overpowered, that is because he works hard at it and discovers ways to deal with the situations he encounters. Maou o Taoshite Gendai ni Kaetekitara Parallel World Deshita! (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054888599901)- An overpowered isekai protagonist returns to earth with his divine fox lover, only to find that he returned to a parallel world where dungeons emerged during WWII. The story is mostly ecchi+action+people being people. The series is complete. Onmyouji/Youkai/Modern Fantasy Gendai Onmyouji wa Tensei Lead de Musou Suru (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16816927863187332284)- The protagonist is reborn into a version of Japan where youkai and onmyouji are still at war with one another and uses his self-awareness to prepare for his future by building up his power young. Pretty fun to read, still ongoing if slowly so. Inousha ga Futsuu ni Iru Sekai he Tensei Shitara (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16816452218603293395)- Protagonist is reborn into what he thinks is a game world in the body of a villain who does pretty horrible things to most of the heroines. This series is pretty dark, and it becomes evident (through other perspectives) that this isn't actually a game world early on. The protagonist is technically overpowered, but so are a lot of the enemies and one of the main heroines. It shows the dark and hard sides of harems and political marriages as well, so for people who want a 'happy harem' story, this isn't a good choice. Demon Ruler (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054882154317)- Salaryman protagonist gains access to pocket dimensions where he can take out his daily stress on real monsters and gain money and power. Quite naturally, he enthusiastically dives into his new hobby. Fun to read, gets more apocalyptic after a while. Anata no Tenshoku wa 'Daiyoukai' Desu (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2559fp/)- One of my all-time favorites. The protagonist lives in a future where humanity's population once fell to critical levels and only recovered through the use of the 'oracle' system, which tells people their ideal occupations. When he uses it, it tells him his ideal occupation is being 'a great youkai', and he is introduced to the real reason why the system exists... to balance the supernatural with the natural. The protagonist is more than a little crazy, his adopted mother is Tamamo no Mae, his adopted father is Shuten-doji, and his adopted grandfather is Sojou-bou (he is actually descended from all three). This series has a lot of dark laughter, interesting action, and a few moments that will have you weeping until snot flows out of your nose. Too bad this author's other works are sub-par at best, lol. Fantasy, not from Earth Kami-sama ni Muriyari Ikikaesareta (https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16816452220822010394)- This begins as the sad tale of a young orphan boy (recently deceased saving a little girl from a wolf) faces the goddess who broke her promise and failed to protect his mother and himself. As a result, she tries to revive him, but he demands that he be allowed to die, drawing the attention of higher beings, starting a series of events that eventually results in him being granted access to all class skills and resurrected with two divine guardians. This is not a tale of a guy doing whatever the hell he wants and making a mess of the world. Rather, it is the tale of a boy who has suffered so much he no longer reacts to the little pains and reacts to others with cold rationality, ignoring most of the social rules in the process. The protagonist is rather wordy when he thinks someone is doing something wrong, and he has no hesitation about confronting people with it. Kurotobi no Seija (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9105fz/)- Cleric makes a deal with a dark god for power to get back at those who exiled him. Decent read for those who don't want an Earthling protagonist.

Sorry, but playing non-localized JVNs, especially old ones, pretty much requires the locale change. I'm surprised it even starts on a Mac, given the lack of emphasis on compatibility towards Mac computers in the JVN industry. My suggestion is to use a sandbox app and put Japanese Windows or English Windows on it, then install the game there. Sorry to say that that is the only workaround I can think of at the moment.

A few questions: Is it the PC version? If so, did you set you system locale and region format to Japan and Japanese format? (This is required for a lot of JVNs, and it can be done by using the search bar to look for the control panel and clicking on 'region') If it is the console version, I can't help.

Tokyo Babel- Action/fantasy game with a great set of heroines and protagonist. No sexual content. Dies Irae- Similar to above, choice of sexual content or not depending on the version (both versions available in English). Both of the ones above are somewhat dark, but since you don't mind the Nitroplus games, I figured you wouldn't mind. Edit: Nanairo Reincarnation is a horror nakige focusing on a protagonist who inherits his grandfather's talent for seeing ghosts and bonding with oni. There is some guro, but it isn't eroguro, just normal guro. There are no underaged heroines (one ancient being, one college student, one policewoman, and one other I'm not going to spoil).

My personal belief is that MTL should only be used like one would use an electric dictionary, looking up single words or phrases rather than just dumping a huge amount of text into it. For some reason, even today's MTL engines seem to have trouble with common colloquialisms and turns of phrase. Considering how often they are used, it is inevitable that careless usage of MTL will only produce poor results. In addition, when I occasionally test the freely-available ones on common narrative text, the results tend to get jumbled, which is probably because most of the data they put in is based on conversational Japanese, as opposed to the language more commonly used in literature. The results are better on dialogue but still several steps short of what can be done by a skilled translator, unfortunately.

Semiramis no Tenbin- Kamio Ami is the perfect example of the character you are looking for, a borderline sociopath who manipulates people as easily as breathing. Devils Devel Concept- While all the heroines in this game have a strong dark side, Amatsu Kanata fits your first profile perfectly. She is both passionate and cold-blooded, merciless and manipulative, a student forced to learn lessons in the nature of power at an age where most would have been learning the alphabet. Silverio Vendetta- Chitose Oboro Amatsu is a woman of contrasts. She is the cold-blooded leader of what amounts to be a secret police that specialize in purging internal threats as much as external ones, dealing with both spies and rebels with equal ruthlessness. At the same time, she is a passionate woman who holds to her single love with the particular yandere-ish desire that is typical of her family. Tokyo Babel- Lilith is the first temptress, Adam's first wife, and the mother of monsters. However, in the context of this game she is the penultimate manipulator, a demon in the truest sense. Ojousama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu- Himehoshi Arika is an extremely manipulative young woman whose early childhood formed her into the sly paranoiac she is during the story. The plays with others like toys, whether they are adults or those of her own age, and she doesn't hesitate to break them. She rarely shows this side to the protagonist, Hajime, but it is apparent behind the scenes of the major events of the story. Fuukan no Grasesta- No one better fits the description of 'honey trap' than Ekthel Ciol, the elven beauty who entraps the men at the lowest levels of Grasesta with her beauty and seeming willingness.

The important routes are translated in the former case. The two untranslated routes were left that way because they aren't worth reading.

Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no- I recommend this one (Shino, Tonoko, Miyabi routes) because the relationships develop slowly in stages. In particular, Tonoko's route is the one I recommend for what you desire. Komorebi no Nostalgica- I recommend this one because the characters are all friends at the beginning. They've known each other and been close for years, so there is no unnaturally fast part to the relationship. I might think of more later, but games where most of the paths have a solid friendship stage and no fantasy elements are pretty rare... the writers for ones with fantasy elements are generally several levels better than the ones who just write standard romance.

Rise of the Ronin is an open-world game that covers important events from 1853-1868 from the perspective of a ronin (masterless samurai) of the fallen Kurosu-han (fictional). This period of history is often called the 'Bakumatsu' (TL: The End of the Shogunate) or the events leading up to the Meiji Restoration beginning with the opening of Japan (signing of unequal treaties) and ending with the surrender of Edo to the Satsuma-Choshu forces. Your character is one of a pair of twins (you can choose male or female) who has a chance encounter with Sakamoto Ryouma before he enters Yokohama, and much of the central story is told from your outside perspective interacting with important individuals in one of four periods of the time: The anti-foreigner movement and Ansei Purges, the rise of the Anti-Shogunate movement, the breakout of open conflict in the streets of Kyoto (the Ikeda-ya incident and the first Choshu Rebellion), and the Boshin War. What I didn't like There were two major issues I had with the game, not having to do with the gameplay but rather with the story. The first was the blatant favoritism of the scenario team toward the anti-Shogunate side of things. The second was the blatant historical inaccuracies that were just plopped in. To be blunt, from the very beginning, you are encouraged (and not subtly so) to side with the Anti-Shogunate (Tobaku in future mentions) forces. It is at its most blatant in the prologue and first chapter, where your main character's homeland is destroyed by the Shogunate (Bakufu in future references) after a failed assassination attempt on Admiral Perry. In the first chapter, you meet a lot of famous and interesting figures in the Tobaku's historical membership, Sakamoto Ryouma, the silly drunkard Katsura Kogoro, the gambler Takasugi Shinsaku, and the idealistic young hero Kusaka Genzui, and for much of the main story you are basically following the major points of Ryouma's journey, even as you go off to do side-quests and the like along the way. In addition, the main Bakufu characters are a Geisha with a creepily subtle approach to things and an old man who seems like he'd order your death without a blink if he felt like it. The problem is that this deliberate placing of extremely likeable and idealistic characters on one side and a slightly creepy group on the other makes it natural to just choose the Tobaku side from the beginning. While later chapters introduce more interesting characters on the other side, such as Katsu Kaishu, the Shogun Yoshinobu, and the Shinsengumi, you are still encouraged at key points to take the side of the Tobaku, and it isn't even subtle. The second issue, historical revisionism, is actually tied in with the issue above. Two key points that I need to stress are the enthronement of Yoshinobu and the death of Kondou Isami of the Shinsengumi. The former, the enthronement of Tokugawa Yoshinobu as Shogun, is something that - in actual history - didn't occur until August of 1866, whereas in Rise of the Ronin he is already Shogun in 1858, when Yoshida Shoin is executed. This might seem like a minor revision, but considering how it was the internal disorganization caused by his predecessor's illness and inability to rule that led to Ii Naosuke having the power to order the Ansei Purges that martyred a lot of Tobaku philosophers and activists, the only reason I can see to treat his character the way they did was to make him seem incompetent, thus leading to more favorable impressions of the Tobaku side in comparison. The latter is less of an issue, except as a convenience for those who wanted the story wrapped up neatly in the second Edo chapter. However, losing Kondou early in the sequence of events (since he was still active after the surrender of Edo), was a somewhat questionable decision. I will admit that the event itself was incredibly emotional to watch in video, and a certain mission involving the Shinsengumi survivors afterward was equally so. What I did like The gameplay is the first thing that comes to mind. There are so many different ways to fight your battles in this game, from utilization of its nine different main weapon types (including bare fists), to the varying combat styles (particularly in the katana and nodachi styles), to the use of the hang-glider and horses to get around. The mini-games are interesting without being intrusive, and they include hang-gliding courses, target-shooting with a rifle, horse-archery, and mock fights in the dojo with NPC unique characters, all of them for prizes. For side-quests, you have collection quests for each region: treasure chests, Usugumo Dayu's cats, cleansing of violent ronin, and taking pictures of scenery. I should note that the cats and dogs in this game are ridiculously cute and a constant source of easy items that can at the very least be disassembled for upgrade parts. Completing all the quests in an area of a region gives you a reward that helps you advance your character or your bonds with NPCs. Your home, a small longhouse that is on the edge of town in each region, is a good place to meet random friend NPCs and interact with them without going to them. It is also the place where you initiate pilgrim dog and cat service missions, both of which are a steady source of income without effort. You can redecorate it with your favorite weapon, a picture or scroll, and six curios that attract different personality types amongst the NPCs you've met so far. In your house, you can also put together an ensemble through the redesign feature that lets you look less like a murder hobo. Story-wise, there are a ton of extremely emotional moments. This was a period of Japanese history that was full of heroes on both sides, many of them tragic and glorious at the same time. The fact that it is possible to save three major tragic heroes from their fates (Sakamoto Ryouma, Okita Soji, and Takasugi Shinsaku) earned points with me. The battle of Toba-Fushimi is a perfect illustration of why the samurai caste was doomed, as men with swords fought against others armed with rifles, gatling guns, and cannons. Being able to fight this battle and other key scenes from both sides without replaying the game from the beginning made the story as a whole come to life. Though I was a bit annoyed that your efforts don't make any difference in the final result (I love it when historical games let you break history), but the personal story was decent enough, in the end. Conclusion Rise of the Ronin is one of the better open-world games I've played, making others like Assassins Creed seem stale and boring in comparison. This might be because I'm a weeb and tired of AC's stale plotline, though. The story is impactful and emotional in a way purely western-made games never seem to manage for some reason, and it showed off why Team Ninja is one of the better game developers out there.

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken- One of my favorite anime, it tends to waver between iyashikei fantasy and something more action-focused depending on the episode. Regardless, the slime is overpowered. Goblin Slayer- It was really, really weird watching this at the same time as Tensei Shitara, given the massive difference between goblins in this and in Slime, lol. Anyway, a few important bits. This anime takes on the style choice of no-name characters (characters are either named for their roles or not at all), and the action in it is more D&D than modern fantasy. Casters and clerics only have a few uses of their spells, and weapons dull and get broken over time. Goblin Slayer's ruthless pursuit of greenskin genocide is both justified and gory to watch, even as his companions try to revive his humanity. Uzamaid- This is a comedy anime following a lolicon maid and the half-Russian hikkikomori loli she is taking care of. It is pretty funny, but it isn't something I'd want to watch repeatedly.

Tokyo Babel maybe? https://vndb.org/c15447 Edit: To be clear, this is literally the only VN that came to mind when I put together 'black hair, non-standard art-style, demonic heroine, and technically human protagonist'.