Zalor

Lol, speaking as somebody who also reads VNs untranslated, you just sound like a pretentious asshole saying that. There are plenty of smart people out there who have interesting thoughts and opinions that don't know Japanese. Regardless, welcome I guess.

While it sounds like an interesting idea, it would ruin the whole message of the VN. I don't want to go too into detail about Swan Song since you haven't finished it yet, but it is certainly one of my favorite VNs. And the reason I love it so much is because it is pretty realistic about the bleak situation it is in. But yeah, as such a huge fan of this VN, I can only see ways how this idea would compromise the story, lol. Sorry for being no fun

Great, because the first two that come to my mind aren't translated. If you are looking for a great mindfucky story, then I think Sayonara wo Oshiete is the go-to VN to read. I even have a spoiler-free blog post here talking about the VN. After you have read that, I would recommend Subarashiki Hibi. This VN also has really good Mind-fuckery, but is a bit slow to get started and drags on in certain parts. But in general, it is a great VN. There is actually one other really good mind-fucking VN, but you have to wait until the last chapter to really get to that part. The whole VN is really interesting and nice to read so don't worry. I am talking about Symphonic Rain. Specifically the AL Fine portion. Another pro about Symphonic Rain is that unlike the other two titles I mentioned earlier, this one is translated.

Hmm... during the parts of the year when I am at school, I don't really care much for manga and anime. So I don't really consider myself an otaku during those times. But during vacations and holidays when I am at home, I tend to get pretty into anime sub-culture again. And I see myself as somewhat Otaku during those intervals. Overall though, I really wouldn't call myself an otaku these days given how much less I consume this stuff compared to when I was in High School. But I definitely used to be. I can certainly see why he doesn't want to be labeled as an otaku. There is social stigma attached to it. But, I don't think it matters. I think labels are kind of stupid and don't really matter much in the end.

You are asking this on a VN forum. So most responses I would guess would probably be pro VN. That said, I would recommend the anime over the VNs. I enjoyed the anime adaptation a lot more.

I'll be honest with you, while I like the VN, it has also disappointed me. It is dragged out in certain parts. The majority of the first chapter seems like filler, and some of the H-scenes almost made me drop the VN. Personally, I would play the VN because its denpa elements are good, and there isn't that much denpa (no less good denpa) out there.

This problem came out of nowhere, and I can't find a fix for it. Up until today, I never had any problems with Subarashiki Hibi. I have played all the way to the Jabberwocky chapter with no issues. But when I load up the VN today, when I am reading the text, the pop-up menu in the bottom glitches. There is a menu at the very bottom that gives you some options, such as saving, loading, config, etc. Iirc, when you play windowed, it just stays at the bottom. And if you play full screen, the bottom menu disappears unless if you put your mouse down there. Well, I have the problem where it is constantly flickering. Whether I play windowed or full screen, the bottom menu keeps flickering on and off. I have restarted my computer, I have run it on administrator, I have reinstalled the game (since I have the physical copy), but nothing. The problem is still there. What really pisses me off though, is that I have had absolutely no problems until today. I wonder if a recent Windows 10 update has caused this. I miss windows 7...

Fucking Finally! I thought they just forgot about Subahibi or something since they haven't announced anything in ages. I'm currently working through this VN when I have time, and despite a few flaws, I overall like it. I really want to recommend it to some friends of mine, but until it gets a translation I can't. I am most hyped since the Western VN community could always use more denpa!

I really want to read this. This is the first time that I have actually been excited by a western VN in years (the last one was Dysfunctional Systems by Dischan). I really like unique art styles. Most VNs stick to the generic anime look, but seeing this art work gets me really excited. I also like the choice to stay away from erotic content. There are a lot of VNs out there that have interesting stories, but throw in erotic content when there is little to any reason to included those scenes. Not including erotic content is a decision I full approve of. As for the story, with the little information you provided it definitely sounds interesting. I like the concept, but I can't say much more than that. Regarding characters, I really like Yoko's design and from the description she seems like an interesting character. All in all, I can't wait for the English translation.

^This pretty much. There were no jump-scares or any cheap tricks used to get a rise out of you. And the gore isn't that bad, and eventually just becomes part of the atmosphere. I managed to read Saya no Uta without any problems, and I'm the guy who avoids horror movies like the plague after getting nightmares for half a year after watching Ju-on: The Grudge.

I recently rewatched this. The first time, possibly even the first 2 times watching it, you won't understand jack shit. But this was my third time watching the show, and it was a really enjoyable experience this time.

Going to throw my 2 cents here despite having an essay I need to work on. The western VN market needs professional artists badly, but in order to get them they need an opportunity to earn money from making VNs. However, the market is still really small here, and investing thousands of dollars to release your VN is a huge risk. Demanding thousands of dollars is just going to kill VN development more than anything else imo. Even the people who do have the time, resources, and skills to make a decent VN will be hesitant, given how small the overall market is for them. I am glad to see serious and well-trained artists like Radi wanting to contribute to this medium. We don't have enough people like him/her, and the western VN market desperately needs professionalism. Anything that could discourage serious artists from developing VNs is a problem. You could argue that people who can gather several thousand dollars are serious enough to produce a good VN/game. But actually, it is more likely that these people will be more motivated by profit than anything else. If it costs thousands just to get your game on the market, then developers will have to focus more on making money on their title than on truly expressing themselves. A system that makes it more expensive to release indie VNs, will likely result in more Sakura Spirit clones than anything else.

I used to always read VNs full screen, but then when I started reading untld ones I needed the help of text-hookers. So that required me to play windowed. At this point I am so used to windowed mode, that it is my go too choice now.

Sucks to hear that your classmates are ruining the experience for you. Im friends with a girl who was going to be a Japanese major, but then switched majors because the other people studying Japanese in her year where mega weebs. The difference though, is that this girl skipped to the highest level Japanese classes after her first semester because she learned a lot through watching J-dramas in highschool. At first I thought that was crazy, but because she is Chinese she simply watched with Chinese and Japanese subtitles and learned the words while comparing them to the meanings of Chinese characters. My personal advice: If there is a good study abroad opportunity available to you, stick through the classes. If not, then dropping might be the right thing. By going to the county you can ditch your fellow weebs/foreigners and hang around Japanese people which is pretty fun. Also imo, the best language learning happens while abroad in your target country, not in the classroom. Just my 2 cents.

No problem, I always enjoy talking about VNs that I love.

Currently the translation is 40% complete. That is according to the TLwiki page here

Haha, sure. Its hard to describe Sayonara wo Oshiete briefly, but what makes it so interesting is that you are reading the narrative of a person who is going insane. You see everything through his perspective, so it plays with your perspective of reality. When weird stuff happens, is it because the MC is crazy, or is weird stuff actually happening? It's mostly that psychological aspect that defines Sayonara wo Oshiete as a unique and really interesting title. The title is currently getting translated, so hopefully in the near future it will be available to the English-speaking audience.

Swan Song is one of the best darker VNs I have ever read. It was also made by the same company who did Cross Channel.

Swan Song will grab your attention with in the first couple of minutes, and keep it until you finish reading it. Narcissu will also grab your attention instantly and keep it (and its only like a 2 - 3 hour read).

For the most part, I don't collect physical copies much. But I am pretty proud of my physical copy of Subarashiki Hibi. It was the first thing I actually bought when I visited Akihabara. My copy (which I think is just a standard copy) also came with an art book which is pretty cool.

I'm with you. Fuck Common routes. At best, they merely just irritate me. I normally view common routes as something I have to work through to get to the truly interesting stuff.

This is really nice of you, thanks.

Yeah, my suggestion would be to craft a basic idea of what you want your story to be. Then create a forum topic stating that idea and establishing yourself as the leader, and mention that you would like community submissions to be help make this work. That way you might recruit people to submit some sprites, music, etc. You could even make it a competition of sorts, saying that you will judge the submissions yourself and the ones you liked the most will be used in the project. I'm still pretty skeptical, but it couldn't hurt to try. And to be perfectly honest with you, the potential for this to succeed would increase immensely if you were a well know member in the community (like Tay or Zaka or Solidbatman). Or at the very least if you could get well-known members to support this idea with you. The community is more likely to join in on something that active members are enthusiastic about, since those people have already proven that they are committed to this site and community. The fact that you only have 3 posts and don't even have an avatar suggests to everybody that you are not serious about this community. Which would make it hard to recruit support.

A very long time ago, in around the end of 2013 I believe, this idea was attempted. But it never went anywhere, and I don't think it would go much better this time either. The biggest problem that prevented it from succeeding last time was that everyone had ideas that They liked, and wanted their idea to be the VN that the community would produce. Ultimately to make a VN, you need enough people to like 1 idea enough to want to work on it. But you also can't have too many people either, since that will increase disagreement. So a project open to a community is very difficult to achieve, since it requires severely limiting what average members can contribute, and having leaders who make the big decisions in how the VN will progress and be developed. And thats the problem, many people will probably disagree with the leadership, and ultimately choose to completely opt out. Katawa Shoujo is a rare case, and what helped a lot with that VN is that everybody already knew the idea they wanted to do. A picture of disabled anime girls sparked the motivation for people to create a VN about the idea. So at the very least the community already agreed on what the basic story would be about, which would be very difficult to achieve here. Since if you pick one story idea, the rest of the community might bitch about why "their's wasn't picked". Also, Katawa shoujo's most productive phases of development was when their was already clear leadership and roles that were assigned. Meaning that most of the productive development of Katawa Shoujo was not really a community effort, but the effort of an established team. The only other quality community made game I saw made was the Fire Emblem rom hack, Fire Emblem the Last Promise (its old name was Fire Emblem Tactics Universe, which was named after an old Fire Emblem forum that no longer exists). And most of the game was made once it fell into the hands of a guy known as Blazer, and it basically became his personal project. The community would submit map, music, sprites to be used, but he had the ultimate pick of what got used or not. In order for a Community project like this to work, it requires dictatorial leadership, which communities are fundamentally against, which is why successful Community projects are such an anomaly.

Welcome to the Forums! Yeah, having read 19 VNs should be enough to get into conversations with people. Also, don't worry about your English. There are lots of non-native speakers in this forum. But just remember, when you use the word "I", you should capitalize it.