Clephas

just don't ask for Yumemishi.

First, apologies to those who actually want to read about some of August's releases. I went on vacation (vacation being a word open to interpretation when it comes to sleeping in unfamiliar beds and helping with my brother's kids), and when I got back, I found I had absolutely no urge whatsoever to pick up a VN. I guess that taking a true break from VNs for the first time in almost a decade (no VNs for five days straight) was enough to free me from the spell of my obsession. That said, Jinkou Bato was pretty amusing, so I had every intention of getting back to it, eventually. This game is based fifty years in the future, fifteen years after a disaster caused by technology (deliberately) gone wrong wiped out the global internet and reduced people to using wires and letters to communicate. This disaster was caused by artificial lifeforms based on the pigeon that originally served as self-replicating flying antennas. The maker of these 'artificial pigeons' made them begin to 'eat' radio and electromagnetic waves, literally stopping all signals not passed through a wire. This resulted in innumerable deaths, and it was such a huge economic and technological blow that the characters of the story are quite aware of how they live in a much-reduced world. Sora, the protagonist, is an orphan who hates the artificial pigeons more than anyone, as he lost his parents the day of the disaster. Living with this adopted family, he succeeds in building a set of radios that can communicate with one another without being stopped by the pigeons, and from there the story begins. Mmm... I'm going to be straight about my feelings on this game. First, I like the character dynamics. There is a lot to laugh about early on, and the intensity of Sora and friends when they make a certain discovery is pleasing to me, as I'm a bit tired of characters living without a sense of purpose in my VNs, lol. That Sora and the others are college students at a vocational university rather than high schoolers is nice as well... and an adult heroine who is bisexual is also nice, hahaha. That said, both Mizuki's and Akina's paths are weaker than the Tsubaki and Kaguya paths due to the fact that only Tsubaki's and Kaguya's paths actually confront the central issues head on. Mizuki's and Akina's paths both stink of escapism, and while that is fine on its own... it left me feeling a sense of distaste for the characters involved (yes, I want my characters to be better or stronger people than me). Tsubaki and Kaguya's paths are the true path. No, I'm not saying that they are separately the true path... rather, together they form a single path, in a really weird (if familiar from other otaku media) way. The path is... extremely emotional, and I honestly felt that Sora, from beginning to end, fulfilled his potential as a character... something that is pretty unusual for VN protagonists in general. Lets be clear, this isn't a kamige or even VN of the Year material. This is a nakige with a great main path and two so-so side paths. I say 'great', but the game's pace is really fast after the initial, lighter stages of the story. That said, there is no sense of choppiness to the pacing, and it feels like the events actually occur in the time you see them happen in the game (less than two months), as there are no excess SOL scenes whatsoever. If you want a relatively quick nakige with some amusement early on, this is a good choice. I honestly can't recommend it for someone who wants a grand and sweeping opera, though.

I was introduced to VNs by a friend in the anime fansub community over ten years ago. I got hooked by Tsukihime and within six months I was devouring untranslated VNs.

Lol... I'm curious how they edited the game to be without h-scenes, considering one of the early-on antagonists is a psychotic rapist who spends the better part of one scene with his pants down.

It isn't criticism... it is the same issue that pops up here, with the varying regions having different views and interests based on demographics and regional limitations. The political culture in much of the eastern part of the EU only plays lip service to the idea that free speech is a fundamental right. The western and northern parts have the influence of past political scholars and movements that have made free speech a positive to a greater extent than it is in the east, which is still feeling the after-effects of the Cold War. In the US, censorship isn't as extreme mostly because the ACLU jumps on people and the government, and the main issue that has people thinking of information regulation seems to be everybody finally figured out Facebook and Twitter are evil and have no idea of what to do about it...

Be honest, did anyone not see this coming? The farther east you get in Europe, the less they like free speech (with the exception of Germany, possibly). That said... while it is a troubling trend and the bill itself is a bit too far-reaching, I doubt that it will get abused horribly anytime soon (give it twenty years). PS: YAY! They are killing memes! I hate memes.

Moege- Moe-focused VN with no real content that doesn't support the focus. Character development is shallow to nonexistent in 'pure' moege. Edit: To clarify, moege as it is used outside of 'pure' moege is an umbrella term describing any game with moe elements. Pure moege were mostly dominant just before and for the first five years after the turn of the century. You will almost never see them now. Charage- An evolution of moege with a more intensive focus on character development and heroine stories. Until the last year or so, roughly 80% of all non-nukige releases were charage (I've noted a significant decline in the last year or so). Nakige- Games made to produce catharsis with happy/good endings. By definition, a nakige can't have heroine endings that are purely bad. Key pioneered one style, Saga Planets another. However, nakige has proved to be a lastingly popular genre. Nukige- Nukige is obvious... any VN where the h-content is the entire focus of the VN. Nukige will never die unless they outlaw hentai. Even in the slowest months, over two-thirds of all releases are nukige.

Well, essentially the above poll came down to a tie vote between Random Chuunige and Meguri, Hitohira. I'll give you a quick run down on the two choices that is a bit more detailed than the post above. Meguri, Hitohira Essentially, the protagonist of this story is a loner with the ability to see non-humans and other mystical beings. He has lived much of his adult life in despair, blaming himself for the death of his little sister, who was the only person who understood him and accepted his ability... and whom he believes died as a result. The protagonist is an artist, and when he goes to a small town with a run-down Shinto Shrine (no human dwellers), he encounters a loli goddess, who subsequently grants his wish... to meet his little sister again. I played the prologue of this game a while back to see whether it was something I'd want to sit down and play at length later, and my first impression is that the game is set up to be a mix of 'hohoemashii' warm-heartedness, catharsis, and a generally somber atmosphere. Random Chuunige The current candidates for this are Kaziklu Bey, Bullet Butlers, ExE, Master Re:Master, Muramasa, Jingai Makyou, Ayakashibito, and Tokyo Necro. Due to a number of requests, I've also added: Soranica Ele, Paradise Lost, Abyss Homicide Club, and an Ayakashibito>Bullet Butlers>Chrono Belt marathon. The most requested was Paradise Lost, and I had four separate people request that I do the marathon of the three related Propeller games. Since they all fit the bill, I decided to shrug and just add them in as options... in fact, I think I'll cut out the individual options for Ayakashibito and Bullet Butlers, just to make it fair when it comes to the random choice.

*Clephas promptly devours the spiritual energy used to conjure the lemons, using it form a loli Clephas who proceeds to eat everyone and everything in sight and on the site* You already exist in my stomach, so why do you resist? *Clephas grins cheerily, and the sky becomes a pulsing wall of flesh*

*Clephas looks up and smiles in greeting, a figure looking suspiciously like Zakamutt sliding down his throat, screaming in terror* Greetings and welcome to Fuwanovel. *gulps*

Ok, I know some of you are going to wonder why I bothered with this game. As the remake of Iinchou wa Shounin-sezu, this game exists as a reboot of a game that wasn't interesting in the first place. So, why did I decide to play this, despite having stopped VN of the Month? Pure perversity and contrariness, probably. The big problem with this game, saying it outright from the first, is that it uses a style that has more or less vanished due to its massive unpopularity with the target audience. Generally speaking, a comedy game that isn't really funny and a charage that spends a ridiculously low amount of time getting to know the heroines is going to be considered a failure, don't you think? Moreover, it kept the 'brief scene swaps' technique of yesteryear, where choices leading to heroine paths only switch out the scenes related to the heroine and the ending. There are six heroines in this game, and some of them actually get close to being interesting. Unfortunately, the heroines never step past their initial impressions as characters, and they all have the same clingy side once they get close to the protagonist. While I like clingy heroines, there are ones where that particular personality trait didn't make that much sense, and the actual process of turning from 'acquaintance' to 'lover' is so abrupt that it feels unnatural. This is especially true since character development in the common route is almost nonexistent and there is relatively little in the paths themselves. In other words, this game is pure amateur hour, from a writer who rarely does anything but nukige.

About the only time I approve of choices is when they lead to bad endings, normal endings, or alternate endings. Meaningless 'talk to a different person for a slightly different bit of SOL' choices got old to me years ago.

Most VN choices are essentially meaningless, only existing to create an illusion of player agency. 90% of them just give 'koukando' or do nothing at all except switch out the next few lines. Simply picking a picture of the heroine at the end of the common route would probably be less stressful.

As everyone knows, I've replayed dozens.

*Clephas emerges from the earth and smiles a bear-trap grin in greeting, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, the screaming of trillions of condemned souls echoing from his open mouth* Welcome to Fuwa.

Hopefully, this poll will work out better than Minikui Mojika did (sadly, my opinion on it has only gotten worse in hindsight), but I thought I'd give you all a chance to pick out which Random VN I will play after my current one. First, the VN I'm currently playing... Honoguraki Toki no Hate yori. I just started this one, and I probably won't finish it until I've played whatever I choose to from August's releases (there aren't enough releases for a poll this time around, lol). My interest in this one was resparked by Dergonu asking about it and recalling that it has a link setting-wise to Sakura no Mori Dreamers. Where Sakura no Mori only touches on the Cthulhu stuff in a very indirect way (it is never actually said outright and the only serious hint is in the sequel/FD), Honoguraki gives you hints almost from the beginning that something is a bit screwed up (I could feel my SAN points being shaved away after the first creepy scene, lol). Now... this is a list of VNs that I will either replay at some point or that have been floating around in my backlog for some time. Meguri, Hitohira- One of Shumon Yuu's 'classic' games, it is so old that it still uses the NVL system 100%, rather than the ADV system. Anything Shumon Yuu writes has the flavor of greatness... the only question is whether it is a greatness you can appreciate fully or not. Racial Merge- Random AXL game I pulled out of my hat because I remember liking how it dealt with certain social issues. It is one of AXL's sword fantasy series of games. Houkago no Futekikakusha- Hard utsuge that I can't really talk about without spoiling. This game has some serious issues that stop it short of being a kamige (primarily setting-related), but emotionally it is like getting smashed repeatedly in the gut with a bat wrapped with barbed wire. If I were to post on this, I would be doing so primarily for those who have already played it or been spoiled for it (since I've already blogged on it once before), so I don't expect this to win. Full Uso plus the original Uso series- This is a bit iffier... a marathon run of the Uso games followed by the after stories and extra stories provided in the fan/append disc. The Uso series follows a protagonist who can detect lies at a school with a hidden magical side through four different potential romances (all of them twisted or strange on some level). Draculius- This is actually a request that came up from someone after I mentioned it as my favorite harem story (despite the fact that I have outright reviewed this on two occasions). If you want to know where all the ideas in Libra came from, and where they were actually executed properly (without the protagonist being a worthless dip and the heroines being mostly boring), this is where. Random Chuunige- Yes, this is actually what it sounds like. If this option is picked, I will toss a sticky dart at a paper with squares of names of several chuunige I have not played within the last eighteen months (basic requirement in order to do a VN replay in most cases is eighteen months to two years) or have not played before, and I then play the one that it sticks to. Either that or I will roll dice, lol. Currently, the list includes Ayakashibito (Japanese version), Bullet Butlers, ExE, Master Re:Master, Muramasa, Jingai Makyou, Tokyo Necro, or Dies Irae Interview with Kaziklu Bey.

Bradyon Veda Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori (though it was only five centuries in the past) Komorebi no Nostalgica (rather than tech, history and culture were lost) Curio Dealer Tiny Dungeon series (though the remnants are only peripherally important to the story) Skyfish's Soleil series (though I don't think it is quite what you are looking for, it is technically true) Electro-Arms Re:Birth Colony and Fake Azure Arcology (both post-apocalyptic with surviving society in arcologies that have forgotten a great deal) Silverio Vendetta and Silverio Trinity (our future is the precursors, lol)

Weak heroine routes (other than Rinne), inconsistent writing quality, poor pacing, and an inconclusive true ending... Overall, it is a deeply flawed VN that, if I choose to go subjective over objective (objective being the review) that I actively disliked in retrospect. When I was doing VN of the Month, I was more or less required to treat it fairly based purely on what it was, but now that I'm 'free' I can say that I thought the game was a waste of the time I took to read it.

https://vndb.org/v22302 https://vndb.org/v16212 https://vndb.org/v15871 https://vndb.org/v11569 Edit: Keep in mind that in ladder-style paths, generally speaking, you will see a wall of choices for the main heroine and a single choice leading straight to an ending branching off from her path. FSN doesn't qualify since the branching occurs early and all the paths pretty much split off at the same point. Edit2: Think of it this way.... The main heroine's path is a single line. Each sub-heroine's path is a branch off that line at a specific point of the story (an arc represented by a rung in the ladder) or a floor of the building where things stop instead of moving farther upward. FSN doesn't qualify because all three paths go toward a resolution of the game's story... just three wildly different ones.

The Letter, then Himawari, then don't play either of the other two.

This was about the sixteenth untranslated VN I played... it was pretty good as nakige go, and it shares a setting with Hare Tokidoki Otenkiame. I remember crying until my eyes turned red and my face was covered with snot and tears during Akiho's path.

Moshimo Ashita ga Hare Naraba https://vndb.org/v100

https://vndb.org/v2616 https://vndb.org/v1651 https://vndb.org/v455

Draculius.

.... how did they turn the Flame of Logos to Roger Fire? Idiots...