Decay

I'm also playing Steins;Gate 0 and Steins;Gate is also far and away my favorite VN. Shower me with the praise I deserve for this. No, wait, don't, that would be really weird.

Nobody seems to understand what the hell 5pb/Mages is thinking when it comes to the PC. It's definitely not up to PQube, BTW, so don't blame them. Don't link to pirate stuff here.

Okay? You're saying there are plenty of companies out there but only mention ones who are already in the game here. What other companies out there with potentially successful titles are willing to license out adult versions to the west, and why do you think SP is ignoring them or passing on them? edit: The point I'm making here is that you can't just assume that there are tons of developers out there who are willing to release their games in english with 18+ content attached. Or that they offer the kinds of games SP would want. How many more moege does SP want to license? What direction do they want to take things from here? If they want to do a serious action/gameplay title like Baldr Sky, should they have not licensed that and gotten something else because the 18+ situation is tricky? How many great gameplay eroge are licensable with easy 18+ options? The original point being addressed was that someone thought SP had bad business practices because they struggled to secure 18+ versions. The reality is that licensing is hard as hell and almost every license is a struggle. We don't know the reasons why nobody has licensed Baldr Sky until now, but we do know that if Giga is resistant to 18+ releases, that would have been a much bigger hangup for MG and JAST. The point Nandemonai was making was that SP sees opportunity in these places other companies see trouble. How long did it take for G-Senjou no Maou to be licensed? Do you really think MG didn't approach AkabeiSoft2? The situation surrounding that is likely to be extremely complex, but if one of the reasons AS2 went with SP was because they were open to the idea of an all-ages-only release, that would make a lot of sense. Or I guess, the better way to put this is that if you make your stance on 18+ so rigid, you close a lot of doors. There may always be other titles for them to get, but not ones they deem equally good for their catalog.

Their earlier statement was that they were planning on releasing an English version ASAP. It very much sounded like they had the rights and it was something they planned on doing. They may have exclusive localization rights. My guess is that they actually started talking with some localization companies and realized it may not be as simple as they expected and changed their message a little as a result. Or they actually struck a deal with someone and are now forced to be vague due to not wanting to spill the beans.

Yes, SP has managed to acquire a large number of new licenses. There are an even larger number of companies who turned them down. Several of the companies SP has worked with are the kind that MG and JAST may never work with because they are heavily resistant to the idea of releasing 18+ versions of their games in the west. I feel like you're sort of missing the point here.

I believe Steam Greenlight requires you to have an english description, otherwise Valve will remove it.

Can't tell if serious. But yes, there are. At least, there are a limited number of quality VN titles from companies who are willing to license out to western companies.

A rights issue, perhaps.

I think what's especially strange here then is that they created a sequel 8 years later that is contingent on being familiar with the previous game's story. That seems like not a very smart way to make and release games.

This game seems to have an all-new cast, how essential is the first game really?

I don't know why you'd refuse to pitch in just because the goals are high. That doesn't sound very rational. You're still personally paying the same amount regardless! And you don't actually pay anything at all if they don't reach their goal, so you're not at risk of losing that money.

Ever since they picked up Grisaia.

My guess is that it will be $20 per part, or something along those lines. edit: I made a new thread:

http://prefundia.com/projects/view/project-to-lead-dies-irae-to-the-atziluth/11416/ Some bullet points: $160,000 initial goal. $500,000 for a new story. A split release, with both parts releasing May 2017. 18+ patch confirmed, will release 3 months later. Non-sexual content censored in the JP version of Amantes amantes will be restored. Both 16:9 and 4:3 versions will be available for people who dislike cropping. 16:9 version will have CG panning. Will be uprezzed to 720p/768p Translation team includes Conjueror, Garejei (the Tokyo Babel/Himawari duo), ReadingSteiner (Steins;Gate, Nympho Sensei Ryoko fame), and GundamAce (Root Double and I thought also Steins;Gate but it's not mentioned on the prefundia). It seems like they're addressing pretty much all of the major concerns right out of the gate. I'm sure some people will be disappointed by the delayed 18+ patch, but well, that seems to be how things are these days.

Ah, of course. To be honest, I wasn't sure which version was which when I made that post. Now that this has been pointed out, it definitely feels like they just picked whatever OP they liked best, or something along those lines. Or maybe it's a rights issue for the video as Sanahtlig suggested. edit: Prefundia is up: http://prefundia.com/projects/view/project-to-lead-dies-irae-to-the-atziluth/11416/

Another update: A youtube video appeared. It's the Also sprach Zarathustra OP, but more interesting is the English description: Now, this appears to be an edit of the original description, which used to have a broken link. I don't know the details of why this video was posted, but it seems like it may have been so on accident or something? Regardless, they're saying that the prefundia will be up in a few days, and they'll also start their social media promotion then as well. I also have concerns with this being the Also sprach Zarathustra OP instead of the Amantes Amantes OP. Hopefully this means that they'll release both versions, and not that they're choosing ASZ over AA just because a handful of people complained about the lack of boobs. I don't want to speculate much more on that until they've started their actual promotional campaign, we'll likely get answers soon.

Eh, Eden took me around seven-ish hours. The VNDB playtime system isn't meant to be based on firm hour counts, it's meant to be comparative. Saya no Uta being one of the listed examples for "Short," I feel Eden was roughly on par with that, maybe just a little bit longer. Basically think about what VNs it's equivalent to length to and look at what those are rated at on VNDB.

So, I actually read the first few hours of this. It dumps you in right after the events of the first game without explaining anything to you or bothering to introduce the existing characters. And everything that's happening is motivated by or directly related to the events of the first game. Terms like "SERN Rounder" are thrown around and you're expected to know their significance. The only explanations offered are the brief snippets from the in-game encyclopedia which are entirely inadequate for anything other than reminding forgetful fans of the first game. Basically, if you go into S;G0 without playing the first game, you will be completely and utterly baffled by the first few hours. Perhaps as things go on you'll be able to get a handle on what happened in the past and what's happening in the current story, but it's something you'll have to work at piecing together. And it's also something that will hamper your enjoyment of S;G0, while completely spoiling the first game in the process. Again, though, I don't think this is necessarily a negative. On the contrary, often times sequels that try to be new-player-friendly end up losing something by loosening their connection to their predecessors. I think such a strong connection to the previous game can actually be seen as a positive. And for a game review, I don't think something like "a translator giving incorrect information on a message board" should be a factor, but that's more due to my personal review philosophy of trying to review games on their own merits, not taking such outside factors into account.

Literally zero attachment. I can enjoy a character, and I can think a heroine is cute, but it never goes beyond that. You could do anything at all to my favorite heroines in other routes and I wouldn't care, as long as it makes for a good story.

Eh, it's a very common marketing tactic to downplay the significance of the predecessor when promoting a sequel. Or perhaps they meant that it was okay to just watch the anime instead of reading the original VN? That much seems true.

I read through the few S;G0 threads here and there wasn't any mention of that.

Rename the game's directory and it should work. It's a seriously odd error.

I'm not really convinced "is a story sequel" is a valid con. It's something worth taking note of, but it's certainly not a negative. Good review though.