Clephas

As always, I played the one with the catgirls. lol This VN is a kinetic novel from the makers of Karenai Sekai, Sweet & Tea. At this point (the third game) the pattern the makers of these games are following has become apparent, though this game is not really on the same level as Karenai Sekai or Kemono Musume. The protagonist is generally amusing (he is the type that constantly sends conversations off track by saying random crap and then forgetting it ten seconds later), and his surrounding situation is interesting... However, I thought this VN was a bit poorly handled. There is a major genre switch about four-fifths of the way through the game, and that genre switch makes me go 'eh? Seriously?' i was left feeling that this game needed multiple paths, at least partially because at least half the cast of characters wasn't explored at all (though delicious hints were dropped here and there). In my mind, this makes the game something of a half-assed failure, since a well-designed kinetic novel should leave you with the feeling that 'this is how it was meant to be' rather than the feeling that 'they must have cut the other paths for some reason'. As amusing as the game was at times, the actual story was badly handled and the romance was so-so, at best.

Machine translators can't deal with scene context, implied subjects, and the extended sentences common to Japanese grammar. In addition, they often misinterpret verb forms and completely mess up the sentence to the point where it is unrecognizable. This is the reason why only the simplest of sentences that have a clearly delineated subject and use the simplest verb forms actually translate properly (and often not even then). Before even considering playing untranslated, you should at least know the grammar so you can tell when something is off... you can fill out your vocab along the way using a parser (puts romaji or kana above kanji). If you don't want to learn Japanese, you are out of luck. Machine translations will be inadequate until we can hook a person with a complete vocabulary and grammar knowledge of both languages up to a machine and download an entire copy of his brain directly into the digital realm (in other words, we won't see it in our lifetimes). The language just isn't suited for machine translation, especially since there are no languages directly related to it (romance and germanic languages are relatively easy to machine translate to English due to a large swathe of shared concepts and essential structural similarities). It doesn't even translate well into mandarin or modern Chinese, despite the languages partially sharing a writing system.

I eat everything at the computer... but my favored snacks (as in, non-meal food) are my local store-brand cheetos (the HEB brand crunchy ones are better than the real ones, lol), cold noodles (prepare a bunch of thick sphagetti, stick it in the fridge to cool, then cover it with a sauce made of chili oil, peanut oil, coconut milk, and a small amount of unsweetened creamy peanut butter), and melon-flavored powerade.

First, I should state that I'm avoiding the after stories for now, simply because I'll want to see them for the first time immediately after replaying the original game, rather than over a year after I originally played it, when my memory for details has faded as much as it has right now. As such, this post will focus on the Ayaka and Mina paths that were added on for this fandisc release. Common Route The common route covers a summary of the events that happened in the first game and serves as a basis for just how much Ouro has 'remembered' about his own past with certain female personages and what he knows about certain figures vital to the story. It also covers the basic (very basic) resolution of Ouro's personal issues (in a really off-hand manner) in such a way that it means the writers are just 'letting you know' they won't be important to the two new paths. This ends once the summary passes the winter holidays and school is about to go back in session. Ayaka Shirogasaki Ayaka was the heroine who should have been instead of Akane. I say this because it is the same thing every Saga Planets fanboy said immediately after finishing the game... Akane had no business having a path in the game when Ayaka didn't. The tightly-knit nature of the group of heroines other than Akane and Ouro made the gap between Akane and the others as a heroine far too wide for a mere genkikko to really be considered a serious heroine in comparison. Ayaka, however, makes a strong impression from the beginning and involves herself (albeit in a negative way) with them from the beginning. This path is hilarious. Anyone who played Rena's path will probably have some idea of just how hilarious a character Ayaka can be when she isn't putting her mind to it, but in her own path, I found myself giggling constantly. The way she and Ouro get together is so absurd, and the buildup to it is so... funny. Even after they became lovers, I couldn't take the serious stuff seriously because they made me break out laughing ever few minutes. I definitely rate this highly as an add-on path, and it is as long as the paths in the original game, so you can't say Ayaka was gypped. Ayaka also has a 'what-if' append story that appears in the extra section after you finish her path. This what-if is just as hilarious in its own way, and it focuses on what she 'knows' pretty early on. This what-if dramatically alters her attitude toward Ouro in a way that is as hilarious as she was in her path, if in a drastically different fashion... This is a path without any emotional catharsis, but in exchange you'll probably spend a great deal of time laughing. Caminal As anyone could guess by the way she and Ouro interacted in the original game, Mina's path's theme is, in opposition to the ero-comedy of Ayaka's path, a straight out cute romance. As such, there isn't a whole lot I can go over here without spoiling details, sadly. I will say that the relationship formation is typical for this type of heroine, in particular because, unlike Sylvie, she is a lot less honest/familiar with her own emotions. For Mina, who has a strong sense of herself as a princess first and an individual second, dealing with emotions like those born out of young love is a bit awkward. Unlike Ayaka's path, you probably won't find yourself laughing every few seconds, though Sylvie and the crew are as generally amusing as they were in the original game. The append story for Mina is a straight-out after story, focusing on the aftermath of the two settling in as publicly (at the school) acknowledged lovers and dealing with Mina's homeland (which isn't as dramatic as you might think). As usual, the focus is more on the cute romance, so you won't see any real drama here (there isn't really a ton of drama in the main path either). Conclusion While the new paths aren't as straight-out powerful as the ones in the main game, I found myself more or less satisfied at Mina and Ayaka finally taking their rightful places as heroines. The laughs I got out of Ayaka's path made it worth shelling out the money to get hold of this, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the append stories for the other characters once I get around to replaying the original, lol. Edit: Ok, so I couldn't resist. I broke down and played Ria's new path after all... I tried to stop myself, but my curiosity got the better of me... and I don't regret it. If Mina is cute romance and Ayaka is ero-comedy, Ria's new path is a pure catharsis. For those who didn't like the ending of Ria's path (there will always be those who complain when the ending is bittersweet like that), this path is probably what you were looking for. I enjoyed it and came out of it feeling good, which is nice... but I do think that this path is pandering a bit too much to fan pressure. Well, since it is a fandisc, I suppose that was inevitable, in any case, lol.

No? Mostly because VNs by nature essentially snitch people here and there from other mediums rather than being a starter medium by itself. I've yet to meet anyone who played VNs before reading books, watching TV, or watching movies...

Bradyon Veda - Bradyon Veda's world setting is seriously complex and interesting... but it has the disadvantage of being so complex that most people won't be able to read it. Tiny Dungeon - A series of five games written by the (deceased) original writer of Shuffle (please don't misconstrue the English version with the actual game, lol) this one has a pretty interesting setting. It has a very David Eddings-esque atmosphere and humor. Tokyo Necro - I'm not really a zombie person, but even I could tell that a huge amount of love went into this science fantasy futuristic setting... Ruitomo; Comyu; Hello, Lady - These games share a common world/setting designed by Hino Wataru and occur roughly about the same period of time (about thirty years altogether based on hints in the text). Satsukoi; Kanojo wa tenshi de Imouto de - These share the same surprisingly dark fantasy setting and are in a direct line from one to the next. Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide - It's Shumon Yuu... that says everything that needs to be said, really. Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary - Very well-developed setting that flowers the more you read the paths... Baldr Sky (zero and Skydive)- The Baldr universe in general is beautifully complex, but the two different settings presented in the two Sky series are unbelievably well-developed and fascinating to read about. Reminiscence - If you like social experiments, Reminiscence's twin arcologies and their interactions are worth reading just for that. Re:Birth Colony - Similar to Reminiscence, this game is based in a future where humanity lives in arcologies. It shares a generalized world setting with Fake Azure Arcology, but the society in this one is truly fascinating for its own sake. Akatsuki no Goei - Extremely dystopian future Japan where the social break between the wealthy and the average person is so great that they are almost not even the same species. Venus Blood Hypno - Dark world where souls are turned into weapons that fuel magic in battle.

Currently playing the Kin'iro Loveriche fandisc... probably post my review/commentary later today. Ayaka route is eroero/hilarious.

Saint Estella no Majo was pretty good...

Speaking as someone who played Dungeon of Regalias and part of Verethragna, the 'story' of their gameplay games is... just not good in general.

The Glorious Magical Bunnies have granted me another year of life in their infinite wisdom and grace. May they one day bless us with their living presence that we might pet their ears and feed them the sacred greens.

1) Learned grammar and basic vocab in high school, learned the rest as I went along 2) I was fansubbing anime before I ever began to play VNs... so about nine years? ten? Something like that 3) My first untranslated VN was Jingai Makyou, which is one of the hardest out there, so it was probably about as slow of goingas you'd expect. 4) I generally have a parser (furigana) on even if I'm not using it, simply because it takes too much time to read a VN without it... about two or three times as much. With books I have no choice but to do without, though. lol

Wow, there are a lot of VNs being released for February this year that aren't nukige... this happens occasionally, but usually it is four or five games. A few major names got concentrated into this month, as well as a bunch of games by new companies or new subsidiaries. To be honest, from my point of view, despite the fact that this is my birth month, there isn't much to look forward to. There is a new VN in the Shuffle universe here, but with Agobarrier, the universe's father, deceased, I can't say that I have a lot of interest in its continuance... https://vndb.org/v24748 Spiral is the aforementioned new game in the Shuffle universe, focused on a young spy from the god race who is ordered by his boss to attend a human school the princess is thinking of going to as a spy (and a trap). Given that this is the Shuffle universe, it is probably going to be standard rom-com fare, with some fantasy antics and drama. https://vndb.org/v23205 To be honest, since this is made by a subsidiary of More, which is famous for its impressively mundane SOL romance games... I can't say it looks interesting. Based on the summary, maybe some potential NTR/love triangle action...? https://vndb.org/v24717 The fandisc for Kin'iro Loveriche. Definitely going to play this, if only for the extra path for the snooty ojousama (who should have had a route anyway, since hse had more of a connection to the protagonist's group than Akane). https://vndb.org/v24564 This is made by the makers of Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana, which is one of the few kamige made in the last four years. As such, I'm going to play it... well, with a cat ear heroine, I'd play it anyway, lol. https://vndb.org/v23742 Evenicle II... to be honest, do you really think I'd play this? I barely got through the original, and Alice Soft's sequels tend to be iffy, in my experience. https://vndb.org/v23600 What looks to be an SLG sex fest from Astronauts' gameplay hybrid division. No interesting heroines (at least to me), so I probably won't play this. https://vndb.org/v24275 Made by the new subsidiary of a company famous for anything from standard moege to harem-ge, I might try it eventually, but probably not in the next month. https://vndb.org/v16516 To be honest, the premise of this game gives me a headache. Feng tends to use any excuse to produce third-rate rom-com SOL games... so it is hard for me to take them seriously.

It really isn't worth mentioning... because it is just one SOL scene that basically repeats the theme of 'if this were another life, maybe...' with maybe a slightly more serious undertone. Nothing comes of it, so meh.

The Uso series is the original series of kinetic novels made by Campus based in a school campus where magic and mundane exist in parallel. The protagonist of the Uso series, Sakurai Souichirou, is the head of the Cat's Hand Club, which is a jack-of-all-trades club that will take on just about any request, as long as the individual is willing to pay the price. However, that is merely the open face of the club, which has the purpose of gathering magical energy from the emotions of those whose requests he fulfills in order to power the magical artifact implanted in his body. This magical artifact is the Redline, a powerful tool that lets the person who is melded with it see the lies of others (portrayed as red text in the game's text boxes). Despite this ability, Souichi isn't cynical and is generally a good and straightforward person, though, in his own words, that is only because he met the right people. The main Uso series is made up of four kinetic novels, each following the path of an individual heroine (a similar setup to Tiny Dungeon, though the details differ). It begins in 'Spring', continues with 'Summer' and 'Fall', and concludes with 'Winter'. Haru Uso The spring-themed game of the Uso series follows the serial liar and school idol Himeno Satsuki as she essentially pushes Souichi into forming a relationship with her. This game is a bit heavier on the H content than the three games that come after, though some of that is because Satsuki has a pretty forceful personality under her pleasant atmosphere. The conflict in this story begins when Satsuki confesses her love for Souichirou (in the first scene) and moves on from there. The formation of their romantic relationship is sweet and frequently amusing, though it is mostly ecchi because of how it begins. While I normally don't like the trope used here, it is used in the least awkward fashion I've ever encountered in an SOL VN, so I was willing to overlook it. There is some serious drama, but this is immediately after Souichi starts to realize his feelings for Satsuki are real... and the drama will definitely come as a surprise if you haven't been paying close attention with an eye for mild mindfucks. It all comes to a happy end in the end, but it can be a bit wrenching emotionally at a few points if you've gotten to like the couple in question along the way (which I did). After Story 1 After Story 1 was present with the original game and is pretty extensive for an after story, mostly focusing on a much milder set of trials and tribulations that you'd see in any charage. That said, since you already saw the more dramatic scenes immediately before, it comes off as cute rather than boring, since it is impossible to shake the feeling that 'they'll be all right no matter what' after the ending of the main path. After Story 2 Drawn from Full Uso, this is based a few months after the end of the story, when the two have begun to live together and have settled in. Satsuki is starting to come into her own and has grown as a person, and Souichirou is feeling his way out of some of his more extreme donkan habits (yes, he is donkan). As in the previous after story, this one comes across as cute in comparison to the main story, and it mostly leaves you smiling at the lovers as they survive the trials any established couple is prone to. Natsu Uso Natsu Uso focuses on Izumi Aoi, a member of the student council who, even in Haru Uso, is rather obviously a deredere heroine hiding under a tsundere mask. That said, as is indicated from certain scenes in the previous game, the past between her and Souichirou is complicated and painful for them both, and it becomes central to the background conflict of her story. Aoi is pretty much the perfect tsundere heroine, but this is not because of her personality alone. More, this is because of how Souichirou's Redline underlines precisely when she's telling the truth and when she's lying. It's an experience worth having even if you aren't particularly into tsunderes, lol. Anyway, due to a certain event, Souichirou and Aoi end up forced together by circumstance and Souichi's inability to be dishonest. While both of them have serious hangups about the past, the fact is that Aoi is rather blatantly in love with him from the start, so don't expect this to be so much about relationship development as untangling the complex emotions the two hold for another and growing beyond them. The ending is pretty touching, and worth a smile or two. After story 1 Natsu Uso's After Story 1 is a lot more focused on ichaicha than Haru Uso's in the first half... not to mention having some really heavy h-scenes. Basically, for those accustomed to the tangled emotions that made up the atmosphere between the two in the path itself, this is a time when they are more open with each other. Aoi adorable-ness is more extreme here (which looks impossible until you've actually experienced it), and she gets really clingy (which is part of the adorable-ness). However, if you've come to know Souichirou by this point, you know he always puts what is best for others first. This is what causes the minor tribulations that make up the second half, though these aren't relationship troubles but rather troubles relating to Aoi growing as a person. After Story 2 Similar to Haru Uso's second after story, this one occurs in the school year after the original game. Aoi has taken up a place of responsibility, with Souichirou by her side. Settling in to their new rhythm, one of the issues that has plagued Aoi since before she met Souicirou rears its head once again. The resolution is pretty quick and not dramatic, but it is nice to see Aoi still following her chosen path. Aki Uso To be frank, the heroine of this story, Eris R Renford, has a wildly different story from the other heroines. As such, the path's drama is a bit more serious than in the first two games and her issues are mostly on her side, rather than involving her personal relationship with Souichirou exclusively (though that does come into play). Since it is treated as a spoiler and not stated in the previous two games, I won't reveal the core reasons for the conflict in this story. Eris is a heavy gamer, a wannabe NEET, and a generally lazy person on all levels. If Sou didn't kick her out of bed she would sleep all day; if Sou didn't feed her real food, she'd probably eat nothing but ramen and takeout; and if Sou didn't teach her, she probably would have dropped out of school long ago. In other words, she is completely dependent on Souichirou, which makes her the butt of numerous jokes both in her own path and in the other games. Her path/game is worth going through twice, if only to use a certain function that pops up on the second playthrough to lead you through the mindfuck hidden inside the dialogue. After Story 1 The first after story covers the growth of Eris after the turning point of the main game, along with a number of humorous and H scenes. Since there is pretty much nothing I can say about this without spoiling the main game, I'll just say that it was this after story that made me want a second after story for Eris, lol. After Story 2 For anyone who was expecting this after story to be full of drama based on the ending of the previous one, I have to inform you that, unfortunately, the events that followed the end of the after story 1 were spoken about in a short summary at the beginning (from the sound of it, they could have made a whole new VN out of them), and instead this is just another bit of SOL, which I found somewhat disappointing... though the Uso series characters are generally fun to read about. Still, it does close out Eris's story, even if it didn't fulfill my desires, lol. Fuyu Uso Fuyu Uso follows Teidou Setsuka, the daughter of a powerful (not just wealthy) family and the Student Council President of the mammoth school they are attending. She is beautiful, brilliant, and incisive. From the very beginning (Haru Uso) she has been openly pursuing Souichirou, though Souichirou is perpetually suspicious of her reasons and wary of her in general. This is, by far, the darkest of the four paths. Teidou Setsuka's personality is the hardest to read from surface cues of all the heroines (even Satsuki, who is a mistress of lies), and she is so capable she doesn't even really provide an opening to read her. I'm going to say that, like Aki Uso and Haru Uso, there is a mindfuck built into this story, though it is one (just like those) that you can figure out if you pay close attention to what is going on and the various cues you should have learned to pick up in the previous games. However, this story is, as I said, much darker than the others, which were essentially straight-out romances involving simple deredere heroines with various issues. Setsuka is... scary. I say this from the point of view of a guy who likes his VN heroines scary. I'd say that she is on my list of top 5 scariest heroines that aren't yangire (yangire heroines being scary because they are unpredictably homicidal). Damn, it is hard not to spoil this one, lol. Thankfully, this isn't the main company (Light) so this isn't a bad end path, hahaha. After Story 1 I'm going to start this by saying that, of the after-stories so far, this one shows the heroine's personal growth the most. For better or worse, Setsuka is pretty twisted up inside, and this covers her growth after the dramatic end of the main path (along with a number of really hot h-scenes). In a way, Setsuka's growth in this after story is as dramatic as the other heroines' growth in their own paths, and in a crappy charage, this would probably have been enough for a path on its own, hahaha. After Story 2 This is the shortest of the second after stories by far, probably because Setsuka's issues were resolved so completely in the original path and the first after story. It follows Setsuka and Souichirou after she has graduated, and it lightly touches on the aftermath of the original path (considering what happened, that isn't surprising). There really isn't much to it, but it was nice to see a less yandere-ish Setsuka, lol. Hare Uso Hare Uso is the harem story added for those who bought each of the original four games separately before this month. Essentially, all the events (including the sex) happened in each of the games, but Souichirou never chose any of them as his lover. Just to be clear, given that Souichirou ends up forced into the sexual situations in all four games (through different means), this is not as unrealistic as it might sound. Moreover, I was laughing throughout much of its hour long length. Harem paths with serious protagonists are always hilarious... Overall Overall, playing the Uso series altogether is like playing the best of the best of plotge/charage hybrids. It is amusing at times, heart-warming at others, and it brings tears out at the right times. The heroines are interesting and unique, presented in a first-class fashion, and generally given a depth of character development that has been lacking in recent years. By handling each path as a separate game with an intensive focus, Campus made the heroines feel like real people, rather than props or sex dolls (which is what most charage heroines end up being). While the series has its flaws, it is definitely worth playing as a whole.

Yes, those are the ones that I'm talking about. As of yet, there are no plans announced for a new Silverio game, but I don't doubt they'll reuse the setting at some point, considering how much effort they went through to build it up and the surprise success of Trinity (it surpassed Vendetta in initial sales). However, Trinity does tie off the loose ends from Vendetta, so in that sense, it can be considered to be 'complete'.

Silverio series (seriously recommend it) Vermilion Bind of Blood Paradise Lost Evolimit Bullet Butlers Ayakashibito Chrono Belt Tokyo Babel Ikusa Megami Zero Devils Devel Concept Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori Komorebi no Nostalgica Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made

I didn't find any h-codes so you probably need to try VNR or ITHVNR, judging by the game's age. The fact that no one posted any questions about text-hooking the game before means that one of the default options (linking multiple threads, using a different common text-hooker, etc) worked.

For those of you who are curious, I played this VN on a request from an old friend who wanted an opinion before he bought it (I already had the game, just hadn't opened it). This game is relatively short, being a kinetic novel, but that doesn't detract from the experience at all, at least in my eyes. Now, I was skeptical about the concept of a VN focused on romance between a middle-aged guy and a girl in school... for one thing, it is a theme that has been mostly avoided like the plague outside of nukige in recent years. For another, it is a type that is hard to pull off without it seeming like a self-serving old man writer vicariously enjoying time with young girls. Luckily, this game manages to pull the relationship and its formation off rather believably, which was a surprise to me. While this game isn't the type to get named in an awards show or make it to the top of my list of VNs to play, I can honestly say it was worth playing, and I don't regret the time spent on it. The relationship formation is extremely gradual, with neither of them having any feelings for each other beyond awkward friendliness at first. This made the slow shift in their feelings feel natural to me, as they began to get past their mutual loneliness and began to care for one another aside from the need to ease it. This isn't, for once, a story about an old man taking advantage of a much younger girl (if anything, she's the one who forces things along at the critical points), but it doesn't avoid the issues that inevitably come up in this type of situation either. There is some drama, but it ends on a touching note, with the major issues involving the characters' relationships solved for the most part.

Tayutama's anime doesn't bear much of a resemblance to the game... it basically turns the great Mashiro ending into a sad ending, which pissed me off to no end when I played the game and realized how badly I'd been gypped by the anime makers.

Nukitashi gave me headaches even after I finished it. It was sort of funny at first, but I had to force myself to finish it... I'm kind of surprised that Haru to Yuki didn't make it on there. I'm even more surprised that Love Holic and Kari Gurashi did.

It looks like a drama CD, music CD, and a book full of material related to setting up the plot and setting as well as artwork. It's all focused on Euphoria apparently.

I looked at his twitter... damn, he is really vague about what he plans to do.

My advice is to download all the text hookers. Textractor works for a lot of stuff but not everything. Some stuff will only work with good-'ol agth, others with the original ITH, and yet others with ITHVNR or VNR. While you can rely on your primary (Textractor in this case) you shouldn't hesitate to switch as needed or search out h-codes.

My preferred type of VN is chuunige, which are generally low on the eros... but the fact is that almost all the best Japanese-made VNs are eroge. All-ages versions come later, if at all (and in extremely small numbers), and generally don't sell well enough to justify their production, which is why they are so rare. The vast majority of non-ero VNs in Japan are otomege, the faux female-oriented VNs that do little but brainwash young girls into thinking DIDS (Damsel in Distress Syndrome) is normal. It takes a very peculiar aesthetic for a completely non-ero Japanese VN to succeed (5pb's two different Science series containing Steins;Gate and Ever17 respectively are classic examples). A lot of eroge that came over here since 2013, with the exception of JAST's releases, ended up with all-ages versions on Steam, but it needs to be said that the amount of backlash from that still makes me wince (happily, I was playing them in Japanese, so I didn't have anything invested in the explosive arguments involved). Indie (Doujin in Japan) games are the ones most likely to be all-ages, and these games can either be great or pure crap... and the best ones generally never get completed or end up buried in the dark corners of the web. Fortunately for beginners in the EOP community, there is a decent selection of titles in English with all-ages or low ero versions. However, for those of us who abandoned EO long ago, all-ages is a drop in the bucket, lol. As a note elaborating on my initial statement, I could do without ero entirely in about 80% of all chuunige (there is always a certain percentage where the sexual intercourse is so interwoven with the story that it stops making sense when surgically excised). However, if you stick to VNs for a while, you'll find it harder and harder to avoid eroge. As for nukige... it needs to be mentioned that nukige make up over two-thirds of the VN produced worldwide (even if you include doujins and indie stuff and OELVNs) if you count all those made in history. It is a very rare long-term VN player who hasn't at least experienced one nukige.