Scars Unseen

Been a while, but I've started a new one that warrants this thread's treatment. Knights of Sidonia: Evangelion without all the whining.

One thing that I might recommend to anyone just picking this up is to watch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien(also known as "Rumbling Hearts") before starting, or at least before Alternative. It's not really part of the story or anything, but it does introduce you to some characters that show up in Alternative and the events of the story are loosely referenced. There's also Akane Maniax, which is a rather absurd comedy(think Excel Saga levels of weirdness), but is pretty much a direct prequel to Muv-Luv Extra and introduces a character that you never meet and is only name dropped once in the visual novel.

Dark Souls 2 has been making my hours disappear. It's been a while since I've been pulled into a video game this heavily. I've also got Fract OSC waiting for me if I can ever pull myself away from DS2 long enough to try it.

So far the only H-scene I've liked in a VN was in Saya no Uta. Mostly because it's the first one I've encountered that existed to serve the story rather than as a break from the story to reward you for reading.

Everyone else in Muv-Luv Alternative.

Steins;Gate. I didn't realize that there was a true route after Kurisu's until I watched the anime. I still haven't gone back to finish it because as much as I love the VN, I hate the phone trigger system.

That may be. I think I recall going through Grisaia at a fairly relaxed pace at least through the common route.

Yeah, same thing here. Muv-Luv Extra felt like much more of a drag at a tiny fraction of the actual length. Grisaia was an incredibly enjoyable read for me from start to finish, with humor that made me actually laugh out loud on a regular basis.

Oh god... Playing Mass Effect after reading Saya no Uta got me thinking... What if the Banshee in ME3 is the Asari's true appearance?

Decided to take a short break from visual novels to play through the Mass Effect trilogy(finally got around to buying all the story DLC for ME3).

I'm the exact opposite. My biggest problem with the H-scenes in most of the VNs I've read(Saya no Uta now being a big exception) is that they don't add anything to the experience. Like the sex scenes in recent Bioware games, they are written with little concern for how they mesh with the overall story, serving as nothing more significant than a video game "achievement" handed to the player for little to no effort. At least humor shows that the writer is trying to entertain me.

I have(it was my first VN), and while KS's scenes weren't comically bad(well there was the equipment shed scene), they were mostly good at evoking how awkward teenage sex can be.

By the way, I find it odd that Saya no Uta of all games has the most tastefully narrated H-Scenes I've encountered so far.

So I finished all the endings for Saya no Uta(damn, that was a short one), and I found it quite enjoyable. Not quite the mind screw I'd heard it was though. Fairly predictable if you're into horror or weird fiction. Still, I liked it quite a bit. Trying to decide between G-Senjou no Maou and Clannad for my next one... I've heard good things about both, and I haven't read any of Key's stuff yet.

Well there is romance, and people have been touched, so you aren't wrong.

Playing through Saya no Uta. Kind of feels like The Twilight Zone so far.

Finished Darker than Black Ryūsei no Gemini, and my initial impression was not wrong. Kind of meh compared to the first season.

I'm originally from Texas, but for the past 7 years I've been living in Okinawa, Japan. It's not a bad place, as places go, but I am a little tired of the humidity.

"The depth of story telling in the better visual novels has made it difficult for me to enjoy JRPGs." "After playing (reading?) Steins;Gate, I realized that Bioware's stories are kind of shit." "Do you like anime? Do you like manga? Then think of visual novels as full color manga that are often fully or at least mostly voiced like an anime. They often seem to start off slow or even boring, but what is happening(in the better VNs) is that the author is taking the time not only to develop the characters, but to form a strong attachment to them in your mind. That way when the story does kick it into high gear, you truly care what happens to the cast. A good visual novel is a journey that will, at its end, leave you wishing wistfully for more time to spend with new found friends and mourning those that didn't make it to the end. It is a unique experience formed from a blending of media, and any fan of its component parts should at least experience it once."

Finished watching Darker than Black, which was amazing. Currently watching Ryūsei no Gemini, which is less than amazing so far.

School Days seems to be a VN that people either hate or love to hate. I'm kind of in the latter category, so I'd say that if you are looking for a highly animated VN, School Days is your best bet. Just don't expect to like any of the characters in it.

I almost always skip it. The only exceptions I can think of off the top of my head are Serial Experiments Lain, The Last Exile, Cowboy Bebop and Trigun.

I was working on a children's novel about a kid that discovers a time traveling device. I ended up quitting when I realized that some of the stuff I was writing could possibly give kids nightmares. It could work out as a visual novel instead...

I'll agree with that insofar as to say that I've sporadically been playing School Days without a guide, and I've yet to get a bad ending(the one time I tried to make stupid decisions on purpose I got a harem ending... wtf?). I still don't like him for other reasons already stated.

10 & 66 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbXVNKtmWnc BONUS! Have the Distant Worlds version while I'm thinking of it!