Mr Poltroon

Oooh, I'm back to my pink badge. Nostalgic, almost. A tease for what's to come: I jest. I'm only here to play the part of the janitor. Dealing with people is too hard. I'll leave that to someone else.

Yes. For all intents and purposes I never 'read' the question arcs. I have a good idea of them from the anime and other sources, and I believe I've read Episode one, but no more than that.

I'm surprised by Saekano. Sakurasou no Pet, huh? What did you like about the emotionlessness here?

It is difficult to reconstruct my timeline, but not impossible. Making use of my first posts on Fuwa, along with my votes on VNDB, it is possible for me to figure out what I played first, Early 2014: Ever17 - The Out of Infinity - Remember11 - The Age of Infinity - Never7 - The End of Infinity - Umineko no Naku Koro Chiru Little Busters! When I started Visual Novels, I avoided 18+ like the plague. What I do not remember, however, is what made me first try an 18+ game. Well, I actually do know what made me: Fuwanovel. Its list of games frequently showed me the 18+ tag, and I was compelled to try one out. I would like to say the first one was Katawa Shoujo, but I remember I at least saw the H-scenes in that one. This does not align with my memories of skipping the H-Scenes in my first few VNs, and I do remember skipping them in both Sharin no Kuni and Hoshizora no Memoria, which means the first 18+ title was likely one of the prior two. Sharin, I think, is the most likely candidate. The first VN in which I even attempted to read (and to my amusement found that I had little interest in them) the H-Scenes was G-Senjou no Maou. Now in my later later years I have found that I may have been somewhat overeager in my efforts, for I skipped certain scenes with Usami from G-Senjou that we supposed to be rather emotional and touching. An alternative possibility for my first 18+ VN springs to mind: It was precisely because I ended up disliking the scenes in G-Senjou that I skipped all the scenes for a few VNs. This would place my reading G-Senjou before Sharin and Hoshizora. This research has, however, reminded me of something I had long forgotten: I have actually skipped a wealth of content in Hoshizora no Memoria. Didn't finish a route, and skipped most of a couple others. My standards and tastes have clearly changed.

Which other works, if I may ask? Emotionless characters are something of a preference of mine, you see. Incidentally, I've watched one episode of Overlord II. I am very much up to date with the current season.

I believe the main reason to think they will release physicals would be their claims to do just that. At least SanobaWitch will have a physical release, as can be seen in the FAQ page, and they are not opposed to others, should the opportunity arise. http://sanobawitch.nekonyansoft.com/

If you're in a second run, you could potentially just go for whichever route you went the first time, skipping everything. This way, you'd finish the game a few times by repeating the same route which should, in theory, increase your stats. I believe this is the best I can come up with.

Yesssss.

This reminds me, I recommend you, or anyone reading this thread, give Cute Demon Crashers a try. I think it has some of sweetest H-Scenes I've seen.

Holy hell. Spoilers for Yume Miru Kurisu:

I beg of you, wait for the official release before playing it. At least before deciding whether you'd prefer the fan-translation or the official one.

Does not like pink blood. 0/10 Review. Doesn't get the "essence" of the game.

By all means, please enjoy yourself. There have been cases where external opinions have affected my opinion of a title. Don't let that happen. If you're enjoying a 'mediocre' title, please do so. Any time time spent doing so is time not spent on excellently regarded titles you might later consume and enjoy. I think the bane of most badly regarded titles is that not enough people even try them with any patience (Not that that's a bad thing. Your time is your own, and there are plenty of other things you could do that you find to be more rewarding investments). In other words, take every opportunity to enjoy things you usually would not, and leave those that you normally would enjoy for another time. That will maximise your overall enjoyment, or so I believe. Incidentally, since I am posting in this thread, here are some things I'm really looking forward to starting: Envy my slow consumption rate and crappy standards, peasants!

The surface. Bunny Black has a sequel. That clarifies things.

The Libra team is helping with PR. They are not connected to the translation team, and the translation team is made up of different people than the ones from Libra's TL team. I'll refrain from commenting on their capabilities beyond saying that they are patently more capable that Libra's translators were.

It's a pretty cool after story, actually.

That's the bad ending. If you pick the other choice in her route, you'll have a better one. And yeah, that is a pretty sick ending once you realise what's going on.

I'll also add that I find Sachi's after story to be bloody brilliant.

You're not supposed to win your first (few) baseball match(es), but I will not go so far as to say that it's impossible. At any rate, you won't have Kengo for your first one, at least.

Cinderella Phenomenon is a FREEeeee Otome game which you can get on Steam or itch.io. This is the story of Lucette (or whatever you choose to name her), the Crown Princess for the Kingdom of Angielle. Like all other Otome games I've played, this game has an ongoing mystery and a plot, and so I'd actually recommend the following route order: Rod Karma Rumpel Fritz (locked at start) Waltz (locked at start) Turns out this is also the order the developers recommend. Such a shame I only noticed this today, after having already played it. Common Route (Light Spoilers): One idea I've always found interesting is the idea of having a Tsundere be a protagonist. Not those cheap Tsunderes who are only violent to hide their embarrassment. I mean the real Tsunderes who, for one reason or another, have a distaste for people and are generally verbally or physically aggressive towards most others. Do not take 'Tsundere' to be a degrading term that marks the protagonist as a simple 2D cut-out with no real personality. A person may be a Tsundere for any number of reasons. That is what 'depth' is. Her motivations, desires and thoughts are what makes her a character, and not simply the way she acts. Lucette is called 'Ice Princess' by the denizens of her Kingdom, due to her icy cold heart. That should give you an idea of what kind of protagonist we're dealing with. Because of this protagonist, however, the story was truly unique to read through. It is not often that one gets to see the inner workings of a Tsundere, and I was astonished by how mean she was to everybody, and how selfish she seemed. Towards the start of the game, I quite disliked Lucette, but it's interesting to note this dynamic: Seeing a Tsundere from the outside makes me want to gain her trust, become her friend, melt her cold interior. But seeing her from inside her own head? Knowing her thoughts and thought processes? More often than not I was sad or mad at her. How could she be so... not good? Regardless, this common route also contained most of the funnier moments of the game. It's always interesting to see Lucette dishing out the sass and verbal abuse, and she even has worthy rivals in the sarcasm department. There's also something quite charming about a Princess struggling with a broom. A number of characters are introduced during the common route. Parfait is an incredibly powerful person that, unfortunately, overworks herself to no end, and this is reflected in her sprite, being the most sickly-looking character in the cast. I actually really like that they were able to convey this tidbit through the character sprite. She is a very good person, which makes it all the more hilarious when her honesty lets slip certain scathing comments about people. Delora is perhaps Lucette's only true rival in vitriol, though perhaps without any real ill-intent. Capable, witty, and, most infuriatingly of all, generally right. Waltz is a young boy that does puppet shows in the streets, gathering tips in the process. Also known as resident nice guy. Karma is a person whose narcissism is immense, comparable only to their apparent laziness. Rod is Lucette's step-brother, who has generally avoided interacting with her. Fritz is Lucette's personal knight and perhaps the only person she doesn't actively degrade. What a feat. Rumpel is an amnesiac. He is also an unparalleled flirt. One of the main sources of comedy in this story. (From here on, spoilers in spoilers, silly) Rod's Route: Rod's route is the route which least delves into the real intrigue of the story. For this reason, it is the recommended route to start with. I just feel bad for the writer. Writing 'Emelaigne' so many times must have been hard. Karma's Route: In this route we're given some pieces of the puzzle, but are left mostly in the dark. Rumpel's Route: This route throws all the pieces at our face and then doesn't do anything with them. It's great for teasing stuff, I guess. For the love of god, don't start with this one. My favourite romance in the whole Visual Novel. Fritz's Route: I really like knights. There's something about servitude and dedication... Wait, that doesn't sound good for a healthy relationship. Waltz's Route: The culmination of everything. Highly recommended that you read all else first. It will definitely better your experience. Cinderella Phenomenon's greatest feat is perhaps how the story forms a coherent whole. It is a story of stories, and in each of those stories different characters are given the spotlight. This makes it so that, by the end of the entire experience, you have had an opportunity to know everyone, and bond with everyone. Each route is as if a chessboard were laid out with only slightly a different arrangement of the pieces, and we, once again, watch the game slowly play out. At the start, we don't know anything about the other pieces or the board. But as we play through the routes we start learning where the other pieces are, and what they are. We become capable of telling in which direction the game is going, but we have precious little control over it. Lucette may be the protagonist, but we do not truly command her. It's precisely this feeling of wanting to unravel the mysteries that could become a weakness. I failed to follow the recommended route order and started with Rumpel. Unfortunately for me, Rumpel's route reveals far more of the setting than the other two routes available at the start. While this made Rumpel's route extremely satisfying as my initial experience, it is now hard for me to tell if starting with Rod's route would have made the overall experience more satisfying. As I said, though, each route tries to tackle different characters and turns of events, meaning that even if you know a lot about the overall mystery, there's always little mysteries and backstory to find in each route that you'll come across in no other. But I'll be honest. The main reason I read this story, as with most others I read, was for the romance. This game delivered. Because Lucette is a Tsundere, these are some of my favourite romance stories: melting the ice queen. With cute and kissing CGs to go with them, each romantic interest had a dynamic with our protagonist. I felt some had more chemistry with her, but that is likely just me and others would think differently. The romance is not always the focus, but it is there, and it makes me happy. And so, by mixing all of the events together, by knowing everybody's stories and ambitions we can choose the perfect story for ourselves. Who did she end up with? With whom did she interact? None of the events is necessarily stuck to any one route, and the possibilities are limitless. If you're willing to, you can imagine your own perfect world, in which you decide what Lucette and those around her did, and how the events unfolded. If I were to come up with a negative, then it'd be that the choices have no rhyme or reason to them. I didn't even notice I had made the wrong choices until suddenly everything was dead and I got an achievement for it. Thankfully, they have a system specifically for preventing this, so you don't have to consult external guides to get a good ending, and it can even be quite interesting to see how dialogue changes depending on your choice. Speaking of negatives, the Common Route is an essential component of the story. What this means is that your first route will be better specifically because you can better judge the main character's character growth. Once you finish the first route, if you skip the common route, you'll have 'forgotten' how Lucette was at the start of story, and her growth as a character won't be as vivid and heart-warming in future routes. P.S. I've had this post sitting as a blog Draft for over a week. Only know did I get to finish leaving a few spoiler comments (You can probably tell which ones by how much I don't remember any more).