Clephas

The Poll To be straight with you, this is a suggestion that has been brought up numerous times by the small number of people I recommend books (in English) to. I am a bibliophile, with a focus on history, anthropology, fantasy, and science-fiction. It has been suggested to me that I should add book reviews/commentaries to my blog in addition to my posts on VNs. While this is in some ways a good idea... I'm unsure if it makes sense to post about non-otaku content in this blog. Fantasy VNs My first love has always been fantasy. When I was a kid, I found reality to be boring and had my own bout of chuunibyou, which lasted almost to the end of high school. That love of fantasy never went away, and I honestly have no desire for it to do so. Fantasy VNs make up approximately fifty-five percent of the VN of the Month quality VNs I've read over the years... a fact that is partially a function of my personal tastes and mostly a function of the fact that fantasy is 'flexible' in a way that most other genres aren't. To be blunt, the biggest selling point for the writer is that they can do whatever they want with a fantasy setting, as long as it is internally consistent. For the reader, nothing beats the escapism provided by fantasy. Fiction, to one degree or another, is about escaping one's own life to experience the life of another person or persons. Fantasy is, in many ways, the penultimate genre for escapism... but in exchange, it demands certain capabilities of the reader. One is 'suspension of disbelief', a skill/capability that allows you to take the setting seriously, as long as it maintains its internal integrity. Another is the ability to see fantasy characters as people. Sadly, some people are incapable of either, and those are the type of people who generally can't understand or enjoy fantasy... even the 'grittier' and more 'realistic' stuff. Science Fiction VNs There is that infamous Clarke's Third Law, that any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. This is the primary reason why fans of fantasy and science fiction find it so easy to go between the two... and also why the two genres tend to be in the same aisle at bookstores. Science fiction VNs again make up a disproportionate number of the best VNs out there, though to a lesser extent than fantasy (for the purposes of this argument, I relegate science-fantasy to the fantasy genre). Science Fiction, however, is interesting to a much wider audience than fantasy, in some ways. It is less flexible than fantasy, because the writer ignores established theories at his/her peril, and science fiction readers are often popular science junkies, leading to a somewhat higher standard when it comes to consistency at times. The main reason for the popularity of this genre is that it is the 'genre of hope and despair', the Pandora's Box of fiction. In the mind of an idealistic sci-fi fan, the visions given to us by sci-fi writers are prophecies of a potential future, and in the eyes of the more cynical, they are warnings against future perils. Either way, this genre is immensely fun to discuss with others, and it can lead to some truly interesting... and long arguments. Charage The people who began producing the slice-of-life focused genre of VNs that eventually became the single largest umbrella genre in visual novels other than nukige have a lot to answer for. Because this 'genre' takes in bits and pieces from other genres at need, it makes up roughly one quarter of my highest quality VNs list (most of them fantasy or sci-fi ones)... but, on their own, charage are a poison pill for the Japanese end of the industry. To be blunt, as Japanese society has begun to shift its attitudes, fewer and fewer people are playing non-nukige VNs in general, because charage are the 'face' of the medium. As older fans depart, fewer new fans take interest, and as a result, the medium itself suffers. That's not to say the VN industry is doomed... it's not, in the short term. Charage have momentum, and there is a solid core of people on the other side of the big salty puddle who absolutely adore even the most puerile moe-infested kusoge among them who will ensure the genre's survival for at least another decade. Unfortunately, profits are probably going to continue to drop from the medium's heyday all that time. I do like charage... but the sheer mindlessness of a lot of the ones produced in the last four years or so has left me exasperated. This genre sometimes produces some truly excellent games, but the sheer amount of filth I have to wade through comes very close to making it not worth searching.

September 2017 Releases I'm delaying VN of the Month September 2017 while fun2novel finishes up Farnese. I honestly don't know when to expect him to be done, but I don't think it will be much more than halfway through the month of November. My schedule for October's releases. October is chock full of first-class releases in appearance... and I'm just going to mention the ones I'm most excited for. Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary (playing this right now... it is terrifyingly good, considering who made it) Baldr Bringer (supposedly the conclusion to the mainline Baldr series. Who knows if Giga will actually stop their most profitable series, lol?) Junjou Karen Freaks (yay! A kitsune heroine!! lol) Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de (After last year's thing with the ancient deities, this year they've gone for angels and shinigami... yay!!! lol)

Do you actually want me to spoil this for you? In both games, the secret is vital to the experience. If you really want to know... MAJOR SPOILERS FOR Nanairo Reincarnation and Hotel.

https://vndb.org/v19223 https://vndb.org/v10958 https://vndb.org/v551 https://vndb.org/v3767 https://vndb.org/v7071 https://vndb.org/v9981

Hotel. Nanairo Reincarnation

DDC is one of the top ten games on my list... for being hard to translate. I'm sorry, but, considering its length and the fact that large portions of the game are difficult to read, much less translate... I honestly can't see any of the fan groups taking it on. Edit: To be clear, Dies Irae is about on the same level linguistically as this one at their hardest points, and it got translated... but Devils Devel Concept is even more niche than Dies Irae. The people who like it, love it... but the rest would probably drop the game after the prologue. I love the game, but I only suggest it to people I think will like it or who have asked for something similar.

As a side note... you might want to advise your sister to clearly figure out which genres she prefers. After she's sampled some of the best, she should have a good idea of what to look for, and you can just let her find her own way from there. Finding your own niche, even if it is with help, is one of the most enjoyable parts of the psychological mutation that renders you an otaku.

I disliked that 'women must be protected' BS that came out of him even when the female characters were so obviously infinitely stronger and more capable of him. That was worse in the Fate arc, but it showed up in all of them.

Overlord Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei One Punch Man Macademi Wasshoi (though you might consider filtering this one out, since I just picked it for being hilarious from day one... and it is kind of excessively ecchi/harem) Drifters Gundam 00 (just for the hell of it, see if she can get into it, lol) Shakugan no Shana (Maybe? It does get off on the right foot, even if the second season is slow) FSN UBW (Comes out strong from the beginning, exciting right until the end... if you can stand Shirou) Fate/Zero Seto no Hanayome (extremely humorous series)

Closest I can figure is the Soleil series, with all the Valkyries, reincarnations of heroes and gods, etc. Nasu basically ended that sub-genre of chuuni because no one could do it at the same level he did. Edit: There are plenty of awesome action-fantasy VNs out there... but Fate's heroic spirits are unique.

Complaining about Jast's slow release schedule is like complaining about death, taxes, and the weather.

Gokudou no Hanayome was released by Galactica (a sister company of Baseson and one of the many subsidaries of Nexton) back in 2011. I originally played it around the first time I started getting tired of charage... which was horrible timing, thinking about it in retrospect. To be blunt, I hadn't yet developed my current style of evaluation, and I didn't have as much appreciation for the good points of charage at the time, so I basically judged it based upon what it wasn't... an action chuunige. Needless to say, judging what amounts to a love-comedy charage by the standards of a chuunige is fundamentally ridiculous. The two genres are about as far apart as it is possible while both are still VNs. However, at the time, I didn't have the right state of mind to properly evaluate this game. Gokudou no Hanayome centers around Gokudouin Yuichi, the soft-spoken heir to the world-famous Gokudouin yakuza family... of which there are only three members (his father, Tokiko, and himself). Yuichi, having been distanced from the daily business of the family by his overprotective, somewhat yandere oneechan Tokiko, is living a relatively normal life until a young woman named Asahi, from another yakuza group that was once subordinate to the Gokudouin, arrives at his door, informing him that she is his fiance. Soon after, she is joined by the Italian mafioso Fran, Yuichi's cousin Sarasa, and the airheaded American sniper, Amelia. This VN tends to borrow the older style, with a combative relationship between the heroines (the current trend is toward friendly, non-violent rivals or 'only falls for him in her own path' styles) and a protagonist so dense he puts the anti-radiation shielding in a nuclear reactor to shame. The heroine paths are split into three arcs... one centering entirely on the mafia/yakuza aspect of things, contains Sarasa's and Fran's path. The second, mixing bits of science fantasy in, contains Asahi's and Tokiko's paths. Amelia's path is... a bit out there. Once you've played it, you go 'wtf', but I can honestly say I enjoyed all of the paths this time around. While the romantic aspects are mostly limited (the girls are pretty obvious about their feelings in the common route, so I guess they felt they could ignore that aspect in the actual routes) that didn't really break the VN for me. Overall... this VN is generally amusing, with decent comedy (mostly slapstick) and a wacky story. I honestly think that, with a little more attention to the details, they could have made this into a first-class VN, but as a charage, it is still worth playing. Edit: I meant to say this during the main post, but if I had to compare this to a VN or VN series, it would be the series that began with 'My Girlfriend is the President' by Alcot. The generalized atmosphere and some of the back and forth between the characters is very reminiscent of that and Naka no Hito. As a result, it made me smile more than once.

MG probably thought that their statement as written was counterproductive... since it is. I hate to say it, but at least some people who fantl are contrarian by nature (think at least half). People who would normally go to an 'official' localization company with their translations will sometimes release them instead if they get a C&D at the wrong time, as an example. As a rule of thumb, the type of person who would do that would generally react dismissively or negatively to this kind of statement, even if they felt neutral to the company before. A shorter, less confrontational post would probably get the message across without setting off that particular stick of dynamite, lol. That kind of admonishment has to come from within the community for it to be effective. When a company starts talking about money, a lot of people just turn off their brains. Edit: In the last few years, the localization companies have been avoiding statements like that while aggressively buying fantls. This has turned out to be a far more effective and efficient strategy than the original 'Bash, threaten, and admonish from high above' strategy that they used previously. The sheer number of fantl projects trying to release independently has definitely decreased and the number of official localizations has increased massively as a result. Occasionally, you will hear about another C&D, but that has become far less common than it was.

More like, in the current environment, careless fantl releases have a tendency to reduce the likelihood of an official localization. When the VN community was badly starved for translations of any sort (think when the total number was under forty VNs) and none of the current localization companies save JAST were in operation, fantranslations were the only way for the Japanese-incompetent to play a Japanese visual novel. A VN pretty much has to be first-class to get a successful (profitable) official release if a fantl is already out. That's simply human nature at work, lol. Edit: To clarify, I do not deny the efforts of fantl groups... being one myself. Without fantls, the current industry wouldn't be able to exist. However, there is a distinct difference in the effects on the industry between selling an unreleased fan translation to SP or MG and releasing a patch for free.

If I were to update that list, I'd have to completely redo it... some would be removed, others added on... it would be hours of work, which I don't have the time for right now.

When I first started playing untranslated VNs (right about the time Obama got into office), I had the luxury of cherry-picking some of the best titles in existence at the time for my initial lineup. In some cases, I just randomly grabbed stuff that met my tastes, and in others I went by recommendations by established vets like Accany. However, at this point in my VN experience, I had yet to start VN of the Month and I was basically seeing VNs solely by how they met my expectations and tastes, a tendency that most new VN players have. About a year ago, I began looking over the VNs I played when I first dove into the sea of untranslated VNs, and I came to a rather embarrassing realization... I probably hadn't given a number of them a fair shake, in retrospect. Sometimes, my opinion didn't change after playing them again, and in those cases I didn't bother blogging about them or changing my vote on vndb. However, occasionally I encountered VNs that I really had judged unfairly at the time in light of my current experience with VNs in general. As such, I've been picking out VNs from my initial set of votes (the first two years) and considering whether it is worth it to replay them. Hanachirasu I voted extremely low at the time... and that vote was quite correct. It is quite possibly the second worst VN I've played from Nitro+, behind Sumaga. After an initial re-sampling, I intend to replay Utatemeguri to confirm my impressions back when it was released. Lovekami I probably would have voted higher (an 8.5) under my current system. 11Eyes I actually wanted to give a lower vote to (A 5 or a 4) Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi was something I really didn't have a taste for at the time, and in retrospect I should probably go back and at least see if my impressions back then were flawed. The list goes on... Whether positive or negative, I found that a number of the VNs I re-sampled quite simply were improperly rated under my current system or my impressions at the time were skewed by the fact that I was playing so many kamige right alongside them. It is interesting how much an opinion can change with experience... and it is surprising to me how many of those games I actually have a much better impression of all these years later. Edit: Below is a list of VNs I plan to do for Random VNs when I have the time for this project. Gokudou no Hanayome (Yakuza love-comedy) Lovekami (The original, not the shitty ones that came out recently) Kanojo-tachi no Ryuugi (dark vampire incest love story) Boku ga Sadame Kimi ni wa Tsubasa o (Chuunige) Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic (Cthulhu Mythos action fantasy chuunige) Utatemeguri ('Gakuen Battle' type chuunige) Gekkou no Carnevale (Werewolves and living dolls, oh my!) Itsuka, Todoku, Ano Sora ni (I am about 90% sure I misjudged this VN based on what I was looking for at the time...) Duelist X Engage Ones I've already replayed or re-dropped Hanachirasu Kurenai no Tsuki (see my blog post) 11eyes Swan Song (If anything, my impressions were even worse this time around)

Hikki isn't a sociopath... he is just really really negative, bitter about his experiences, and has given up on having a decent social life. Sociopathy is an outgrowth of extreme Narcissism that results in the individual being incapable of empathizing with others or considering others to be anything other than tools, obstacles, or decorative artwork. Edit: As an example, a sociopath is the type of person who will arrange the death of a rival because that person happens to be in the way (obstacle), use even their own family to get ahead in life (tool), or ignore a man bleeding out on the sidewalk without even an stabbing of conscience (decorative artwork). Edit2: Just to be clear, there are people who will act this way even if they aren't sociopaths, but a sociopath will literally not feel any guilt or regrets in doing so.

It's common sense... most of the problems people experience with the net come from linking their real persona too closely to their net one. Facebook sells your information, Twitter sells your information, and even Reddit sells your information. Breaches of confidential databases are a daily occurrence, and having your face on the net is like asking for someone to steal your identity. DM... my friends hated it when I was DM, because I always got overenthusiastic on dungeon designs and we ended up with a bunch of dead party members. In the end, I went the last two years or so without ever once being DM, lol. I was even worse on Call of Cthulhu (my DM persona for that one is identical to my Clephas role-play persona).

Whether the tabletop type or the video game type, this isn't a good era for rpgs. Tabletop ones are still fun if you have enough close friends or fellow travelers to make it so, but the idea of doing them over the net doesn't really suit me... mostly because I try to keep my net persona as separate from my rl persona as possible.

Why I made this post. Devils Devel Concept is one of my favorite VNs and has one of my top 3 VN settings. The setting is so ridiculously complex and explained only in fragments along the way, so it is difficult to gain any real grasp on what is going on just reading any one path... Not to mention that there are a ridiculous number of details that can be lost along the way as you read. Sora is fundamentally an indifferent narrator when it comes to such details, because he doesn't have any interest in them, and the heroines aren't much better that way, only dropping tidbits along the way that can be easily misinterpreted without being able to see the whole picture. There are unavoidable spoilers in this post, but they aren't so much for the story as for the infrequent explanations of the setting the writer inserts along the way. In particular, I recommend skipping the part of the post covering the Genryuu, Old Ones, and Others and their servants until you've at least read both Kanata's and Mutsuki's paths. Mutsuki's path, in particular, takes on a lot of new meaning if you know the stuff about the contracts. This is mostly a glossary, drawing some base info from the in-game glossary but also adding parts drawn from the explanations within the story itself. Possible Spoilers if you go any further Demons- Powerful beings capable of rewriting reality at will. They are fundamentally inhuman in both appearance and motivation. They are the descendants of the creations of the Old Ones, possessing Devils Organs passed down directly from that source. Enja- The descendants of humans implanted with Devils Organs and an instinctive need to kill Demons by the Old Ones upon their defeat. They breed slowly amongst themselves and are extremely short-lived (with rare exceptions for those who rarely use their abilities, most don't live beyond the age of forty, with the most powerful tending to die or Fall in their twenties). The imperatives in their DNA have a lot of subtle psychological effects on them, ranging from mild social disorders to outright sociopath behavior. Their desires and hungers tend to be several degrees stronger than the average human, as well as being somewhat more... earthy. Out of self-protection, they tend to gather in clan groups based on bloodline or association. Hunters/Karyuudo- Enja who have chosen to pursue a life hunting and killing Demons. Henshitsu- As an Enja wields their Organs and live their lives, gradually they begin to alter, in fashions both subtle and not so much so. This can be displayed in strengthened instincts, vulnerabilities to certain types of food or light, the need to drink blood, or even the ability to live on sunlight and water. Once this change surpasses a certain point, an Enja falls and becomes a Stray Sheep, a monster without rationality or conscience that is driven by the most powerful impulses of the Enja from which they were born. Stray Sheep/Predator/Hosokusha/Itsudatsusha- Individuals whose Henshitsu has gone beyond the critical stage. Such individuals lack rationality or conscience and are often cannibalistic. They are also often driven by strong suppressed desires or obsessions from their life as a human. Sometimes they are born when an Enja dies in a conventional manner (of age, starvation, etc), but most of the time it tends to occur during battle or another extreme situation. Ro- Unique Devils Organs, usually based off a concept or element, that consume the concept or element they were named for and grant power to their possessors. Genryuu- A type of Enja, created by the Others rather than the Old Ones. Furuki Mono- The Old Ones, otherworldly beings who survived the void to arrive on Earth long ago. The Others- Otherworldly beings who preceded the arrival of the Old Ones. Spirits- Solid pot- A discriminatory term used by Enja to refer to themselves. Hollow Pot- A discriminatory term used by some Enja to refer to normal humans. Soujou-Soukoku- A reference to the natural magnetism/compatibility between individual Enja and Demons. This is the first and most powerful determiner of how a relationship between them will form, and it isn't uncommon for those with a high compatibility to fall into bed on first meeting or those with a low or negative compatibility to try to kill one another at first sight. Individuals with high compatibility enhance one another's abilities, whereas those with low or negative compatibility make one another weaker over time. Masou- Weapons created by the Enja to allow them to more effectively fight the Demons. These enhance their users' abilities (though usually at a cost in lifespan or psychological damage) and can provide new methods to corrode reality. Many have fallen into the hands of the Demons or have been partially broken over the millennia, though. Shinshoku- A term referring to the ability to corrode reality that defines both the Demons and Enja. The only limits to this ability are the individual's Organs, the amount of power they can produce at a given time, and the size of the area they can comprehend with their spatial awareness. Battle Flow- Battles between possessors of Devils Organs are a competition to see who can overwhelm the other's ability to corrode and alter reality. It isn't uncommon for Enja and Demons to die multiple times during a battle, resurrecting themselves as they go, and fatal blows generally are merely minor turning points in the battles of the most powerful. To achieve victory, it is necessary that one 'rewrite' the opponent into a 'deceased' state at a point where the balance of power in the battle has tipped irrevocably against the opponent. At lower levels, one or two deaths is often sufficient to end the battle, as resurrection and bodily repair require an iron will and a decent grasp of one's own physiology before it was rewritten or destroyed. More intelligent opponents prefer to create a situation where their enemy has no possibility to turn the tables in advance by choosing the field and 'corroding' its reality in advance (creating a branch world for that purpose). Kanata, Misora, and Mei are all three of this type, whereas Sora, Mutsuki, and Akane tend to be straightforward 'smash the wall down' types. Relationship between Demons and Enja- Demons and Enja instinctively hate one another on sight. This instinct is literally beyond their ability to control or suppress, and it is only through the mediation of a third party that the few 'rules' of the conflict between them were put together. The reasons for this instinctive hatred are generally considered to lie in the nature of the Enja's creation. Blood (Demon and Enja)- The blood of Demons is the most poisonous substance in the world. A human touched by a drop will die instantly, and even Enja often become ill from excessive exposure. To a lesser extent, the blood of Enja is toxic to Demons, but it takes many hundreds of exposures for this to actually become a problem for the Demon in question. Devils Organs- 'Organs' that grant Enja and Demons the ability to rewrite reality, adhering to rules determined by the individual Organ. Most Enja only possess one or two, with a few rare exceptions being born with three (generally destined to have a very short lifespan). While all Enja and demons can corrode reality, in what manner they do so is determined by these organs. Cabals- Organizations devoted to the protection, training, and organizing of activities by the Hunters. The ones most intimately involved in this story are the Isaribi and the Houjou. Both have a very pre-movie MIB feeling to both their activities and their attitude, as their agents tend to spend as much time disposing of evidence and witnesses as they do actually fighting Demons or hunting Stray Sheep. Dolls- Humans rewritten into 'modoki/automata', flesh machines that have been granted immense physical strength, agility, and speed to serve as the hands and feet of a Demon, Stray Sheep, or Enja. These individuals rarely retain much of their original personality or memories, and most are cannibalistic, needing to regularly eat large amounts of human flesh to maintain themselves. Ironically, even the least of the Enja can dismember them with hardly any effort, making them no better than a distraction in the battle between the two. Fear in Enja vs Fear in Normal Humans- Both humans and Enja are capable of feeling fear towards Demons. However, when a human encounters a Demon, they are incapable of even conceiving of resistance or putting up a struggle. When an Enja encounters a Demon, their fear is a simple product of a mixture of threat assessment and jealousy of their power. Fear of Demons freezes a human, whereas an Enja is still capable of acting. This peculiar type of half-rational emotion is one of the things that set Enja apart.

If you extract the endless bitterness and complaining, I can list some. To be honest, there are no identical ones in the VNs I've read so far (surpassing six hundred). In particular, the isolation thing... truly isolated protagonists in VNs tend to be timid or psychotic with nothing in between, so that was pretty much out of the question from the beginning. So... I focused on protagonists who have a somewhat colder view on life and a pragmatic outlook on most situations. https://vndb.org/v10804 https://vndb.org/v14760 https://vndb.org/v18881 https://vndb.org/v10642 https://vndb.org/v11726

Generally speaking, I suggest reading both the ero and the non-ero versions of the same part of the game. The ero parts of Kei's path are pretty laugh-worthy (her h-scenes are so weirdly combative that it made me nearly fall out of my chair laughing when I read it), for instance...

Either one would do nicely, though Dies Irae is my favored choice. Also, Dies Irae has some similarities to FSN, in a generalized fashion (Dies Irae is darker and even farther out in the abyss though). Edit: Also, I'm kind of surprised no Ayakashibito or Tokyo Babel on your vndb, considering your liking for FSN.

... nostalgia. I used to play DnD (or one of its many variations such as Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance) on a monthly basis... not to mention Cyberpunk and Shadowrun. Most of the groups dissolved after I graduated high school though.

I'm almost tempted to ask Tay if I can be a mod, just so I don't have to wait for those abominable threads to vanish.