What are you playing?

[sub-zer0]

 I just started Kohime Musou, and surprisingly, i like it alot( so far), the talk of war and tactics and the duels between the generals are pretty good stuff,it was historically accurate for a bit, then it took a sharp turn and I have no clue what is going to happen next.The battle scenes can be a real pain if you don't know what your doing, but if you have a grip on it, you can shorten the time by half or more, it is kind of repetitive, but I guess you get used to it after a while. 

. Having said that, I must admit that that this VN is gangrened by too much fanservice (some H-scenes were nice and/or funny but seriously...TOO MUCH, TOO LONG : more than than 50% of the novel, I think). And, to my mind, a significant part of the story was too rushed, almost botched...In other words, I'm slighly frustrated.

That sucks, probably won't read it then. Is the true route decent without too many H-scenes? Or are any routes like that? I like a good story and don't like the rest.

Majikoi S is pretty good, but compared to the original, there is way too much H, and there is no true route, since the unofficial "true route" was in the original Majikoi. The game still has a lot of content within it and can entertain you for a period of time( I skipped all H scenes and still spent like 30 hours on the game).There is 2 interesting routes filled with goodies,but in general, there is not as much action or events as the original Majikoi, since the original has an event( kawakami battle or war,if I recall correctly) every main heroine route, while S has less.You should give it a try if you haven't yet.

 

[kingdomcome]

Majikoi S is pretty good, but compared to the original, there is way too much H, and there is no true route, since the unofficial "true route" was in the original Majikoi. The game still has a lot of content within it and can entertain you for a period of time( I skipped all H scenes and still spent like 30 hours on the game).There is 2 interesting routes filled with goodies,but in general, there is not as much action or events as the original Majikoi, since the original has an event( kawakami battle or war,if I recall correctly) every main heroine route, while S has less.You should give it a try if you haven't yet.

 

The way you just explained it doesn't really make me want to try it lol. It just doesn't sound like something I'd like. The Kawakami battle was good, and the true route was great. Other than that, I didn't think it was that good.

[FinalChaos]

Couldn't bear all these Euphoria discussions, so I ended up playing it too.

Going for Nemu's route first, and till now the stuff is within bearable levels. 
I just hope that they give us a good reason for Nemu's behaviour.     

[DarkZedge]

Recently finished Majikoi S aswell and Koisuru Natsu, currently playing through Ayakashibito and Fate/Stay Night, going slowly though what about the rest of you?

[Canicheslayer]

Majikoi S is pretty good, but compared to the original, there is way too much H, and there is no true route, since the unofficial "true route" was in the original Majikoi. The game still has a lot of content within it and can entertain you for a period of time( I skipped all H scenes and still spent like 30 hours on the game).There is 2 interesting routes filled with goodies,but in general, there is not as much action or events as the original Majikoi, since the original has an event( kawakami battle or war,if I recall correctly) every main heroine route, while S has less.You should give it a try if you haven't yet.

 

The way you just explained it doesn't really make me want to try it lol. It just doesn't sound like something I'd like. The Kawakami battle was good, and the true route was great. Other than that, I didn't think it was that good.

Clearly, if you're not a fan of Majkoi, I'm not sure you can appreciate Majikoi S (too bad, the Koyuki Route is wonderful)

[Eclipsed]

Couldn't bear all these Euphoria discussions, so I ended up playing it too.

Going for Nemu's route first, and till now the stuff is within bearable levels. 
I just hope that they give us a good reason for Nemu's behaviour.     

since u are reading Nemu's first I recommend going Kanae's after and skipping the other routes (or at least breezing through and getting their H scenes), cuz they really have nothing to offer after Nemu's and it'll just be alooooootta repeating 'cept you already know what's going on(ish)

u likey Nemu btw? I hated her, she has nothing vs. Kanae. Kanae is life. Rinne's aight. Rika is trash

 

edit: actually, u can probably read Rinne's after Nemu so u can get some extra WTFs before you go Kanae(true) route which will explain everything

Rika and Natsuki's won't reveal anything and you'll just go through the motions, hence their redundancy if u go Nemu first

[Decay]

I would at the very least suggest people read Rinne's route before the Kanae route as it opens a different set of mysteries than the Nemu route. Kanae's route is the true route and has all of the answers, so reading that first will render every other route redundant.

[GetterEmperor]

Currently downloading Sekien no Inganock. Going to try and get through that before Ourai no Gahkthun is released. Pretty hyped.

[CeruleanGamer]

I finished all the Kansen (Infection) games. I didn't play Kansen Ball Buster because all I saw were really bad reviews on it and one guy even mentioned this shit was so horrendous, it didn't even feel like part of the series. I'll take his word on it. For the main 5 games, I'll rank them like this:

3 > 4 > 5 > 1 > 2

2 was probably the weakest, just because it didn't have the typical direct relationship when entering a heroine's route (felt like the protag was still on friend zone) and had the weakest cast of survivors. Also 2 missed potentials for additional heroines and they were merely treated as extras/zombie fodder. Even if 1 was slightly better than it due to better setting and more interesting cast. 

3 was clearly the best of all the Kansen games. If you just want a quick preview of a real zombie survival visual novel, this is all you need. The protagonist Wataru is really charming and has a rather amazing character growth as he goes through the ordeal of zombie survival with his company. The routes with each heroine had the best writing in the series and Wataru really connects with each of them, especially with Yuuho and Margarita (she has a sexy Engrish English/Spanish accent!)  

I love the QTE/timed choices in the game. I was using a walkthrough, but I still had to be quick on my fingers and read really fast. I thought it was a nice way of putting yourself on their shoes because you don't really have all day to make a decision in an infection/zombie apocalypse setting. You gotta be quick on your feet or become meat!  I also love the Aspect Switching feature of the game where it switches perspectives of the story amongst characters. This is a great way to do narratives/storytelling in VNs and I hope more VNs would use it, like Kansen (Princess Evangile sometimes did it too). It's nice to show what other people are thinking/doing, not just the protagonist. 

I might need to take a break from vns for now as workload caught up with me. These 5 games took almost 2 weeks of my time reading. They were well worth the $105 I spent on the set and it's nice to accessorize my vn collection shelf with some real survival horror vns.  

Some recommended me XX of the Dead: https://vndb.org/v17377 I read more on it and it has a rather interesting setting since the ANTAGONIST is the main heroine (or possibly one of the routes)? (I was like what?) I'm kinda intrigue how that's gonna go, so I will definitely start reading on that after my break. 

Edited December 12, 2015 by CeruleanGamer

[FinalChaos]

Couldn't bear all these Euphoria discussions, so I ended up playing it too.

Going for Nemu's route first, and till now the stuff is within bearable levels. 
I just hope that they give us a good reason for Nemu's behaviour.     

since u are reading Nemu's first I recommend going Kanae's after and skipping the other routes (or at least breezing through and getting their H scenes), cuz they really have nothing to offer after Nemu's and it'll just be alooooootta repeating 'cept you already know what's going on(ish)

u likey Nemu btw? I hated her, she has nothing vs. Kanae. Kanae is life. Rinne's aight. Rika is trash

 

edit: actually, u can probably read Rinne's after Nemu so u can get some extra WTFs before you go Kanae(true) route which will explain everything

Rika and Natsuki's won't reveal anything and you'll just go through the motions, hence their redundancy if u go Nemu first

Well as far as liking the girl goes, yeah I did like Kanae the most but you can't select her the first time. And I didn't have anything for or against any of the other girls except Nemu. While I won't say I hated her, but her attitude did annoy me. When to comes to such annoying/arrogant/manipulative ones, let's just say that I share the protag's sentiments.   

I would at the very least suggest people read Rinne's route before the Kanae route as it opens a different set of mysteries than the Nemu route. Kanae's route is the true route and has all of the answers, so reading that first will render every other route redundant.

I didn't know about the route revelations and stuff before. Since Nemu's route spoils Rika and Natsuki's, I'll put it on hold for now. I always read through all the routes and try to 100% as much as possible(somewhat of a completionist), so skipping the routes isn't something I'll be doing. Doing the true route last is something that I generally follow, so I'll be saving Kanae for the end.

Is there any preference which route I should do first between Rika and Natsuki ?   

[Ariurotl]

No, they're both very... peripheral. I'd say Sensei -> Rika -> Rinne -> Nemu -> Kanae is the best order.

[Eclipsed]

 Well as far as liking the girl goes, yeah I did like Kanae the most but you can't select her the first time. And I didn't have anything for or against any of the other girls except Nemu. While I won't say I hated her, but her attitude did annoy me. When to comes to such annoying/arrogant/manipulative ones, let's just say that I share the protag's sentiments.   

 

~~
I didn't know about the route revelations and stuff before. Since Nemu's route spoils Rika and Natsuki's, I'll put it on hold for now. I always read through all the routes and try to 100% as much as possible(somewhat of a completionist), so skipping the routes isn't something I'll be doing. Doing the true route last is something that I generally follow, so I'll be saving Kanae for the end.

Is there any preference which route I should do first between Rika and Natsuki ?   

Nemu's route doesn't "spoil" Rika & Natsuki's; it just reveals alot more than theirs, they don't reveal anything at all  (well, besides the post-common route shenanigans, but all routes reveal that)

As for Rika vs. Natsuki, doesn't matter. If anything it comes down to whiney kouhai vs. calm sensei. But yeah, I'm a completionist myself and I found their routes to be sooo KLFJDSKLASJKLDSJFKLAS boring, so hopefully with all of my complaining you'll get reverse-hyped and end up saying "yeah, even though the same shit happens except with a different heroine and I learned nothing new, it wasn't all that bad!@#"


~~
Hi five, I'm glad you like Kanae the most , you're a good person. Nemu can go rot

 

[Dergonu]

 

Hi five, I'm glad you like Kanae the most , you're a good person. Nemu can go rot
 

*Glares at you angrily*

How ... dare you! Nemu best girl, 11/10 times.

[B3A2T]

Currently playing Baldr Sky Dive 2.

Was expecting to start Makoto's route today but then I realised I need to read through the 記憶遡行 scenes to unlock her route. So many more days until Gray Christmas T.T

[Eclipsed]

*Glares at you angrily*

How ... dare you! Nemu best girl, 11/10 times.

*FinalChaos, do NOT read this!*  

Is that before, or after the true route? 

 

[Dergonu]

*Glares at you angrily*

How ... dare you! Nemu best girl, 11/10 times.

*FinalChaos, do NOT read this!*  

Hidden Content

 

well ...

Both

Nah of course, after. Still, the dominating, evil side of nemu is kind of a turn on, not gonna lie.

[FinalChaos]

 Well as far as liking the girl goes, yeah I did like Kanae the most but you can't select her the first time. And I didn't have anything for or against any of the other girls except Nemu. While I won't say I hated her, but her attitude did annoy me. When to comes to such annoying/arrogant/manipulative ones, let's just say that I share the protag's sentiments.   

 

~~
I didn't know about the route revelations and stuff before. Since Nemu's route spoils Rika and Natsuki's, I'll put it on hold for now. I always read through all the routes and try to 100% as much as possible(somewhat of a completionist), so skipping the routes isn't something I'll be doing. Doing the true route last is something that I generally follow, so I'll be saving Kanae for the end.

Is there any preference which route I should do first between Rika and Natsuki ?   

Nemu's route doesn't "spoil" Rika & Natsuki's; it just reveals alot more than theirs, they don't reveal anything at all  (well, besides the post-common route shenanigans, but all routes reveal that)

As for Rika vs. Natsuki, doesn't matter. If anything it comes down to whiney kouhai vs. calm sensei. But yeah, I'm a completionist myself and I found their routes to be sooo KLFJDSKLASJKLDSJFKLAS boring, so hopefully with all of my complaining you'll get reverse-hyped and end up saying "yeah, even though the same shit happens except with a different heroine and I learned nothing new, it wasn't all that bad!@#"


~~
Hi five, I'm glad you like Kanae the most , you're a good person. Nemu can go rot

 

Well then I'll go with Rika for now(for some reason I get the feeling that Natsuli's route will be the most boring).
For now the plan is-
Rika->Nemu->Natsuki->Rinne->Kanae
Though I might end up going back and forth with Nemu's route if Rika's ends up being too boring.
Yeah and thanks to you now my expectations of Rika and Natsuki's route is non-existent.

*Glares at you angrily*

How ... dare you! Nemu best girl, 11/10 times.

*FinalChaos, do NOT read this!*  

Hidden Content

 

Well........ you do know that is NOT the way to dissuade a curious soul. 

I somehow managed to confine my curious cat in Schrodinger's box, and satisfied myself by just opening and closing the spoiler at mach speed. 

      

[Ariurotl]

You're all wrong, Rinne best girl! Sure,

she is a little bit crazy and you're technically her dad (well, half-dad sounds about right, consult research notes for the exact value), but she's lovely and cuddly and wants your kids... and her mom is a bit on the quiet side, but still delightful company.

[Tyr]

Regarding the euphoria route order; I would not recommend reading Nemu und Kanae last.
Reading Kanae immediately after Nemu will make the first half of Kanae's route look like a redundant copy of Nemu's. Also, Rika's route is a pretty bad introduction to the "second half" of the novel. It does not get the pivotal point of the story across.
I recommend doing Nemu's route first. It has the best introduction to the second half and ends with a profound cliffhanger. (I like to think about Nemu's and Kanae's routes as the framework of the story, embedding everything else.)
The other three routes before the true one are essentially filler material. Rinne has the most story, Rika and Natsuki are not as important. Rika is a good light read after Nemu. Then get yourself some story again with Rinne's route. It also has Rika, so it's perfect after that. Even though Natsuki's route isn't as story-heavy as Rinne's, it's more important for the true end. So best read immediately before Kanae.
For the best reading experience, my recommended route order for euphoria is: Nemu --> Rika --> Rinne --> Natsuki --> Kanae.

[Eclipsed]

Swan Song.

I don't know the ending structures, but I got an end where

Kuwagata & vigilante corps raid the Daichi Society and wipe everybody out, with Kuwagata claiming he'll build a new society for the world afterwards.

Overall his transition to a powercrazed madman did not disappoint, he was able to get a glorious defeat from Tanomura, bang his ex-crush Yuka by force, and lead his forces to victory.

Did not like that Tsukasa got killed off-screen though, was expecting 1v1, maybe another end. And the making Aroe his "pet" though was just no. 


~~
Tanomura's awesome, his downfall & getting usurped by Kuwagata was some legit Naruto's Itachi situation,  and his 'fession scene with Hibari just too cute. These two are the most normal people of them all, screw everybody else, just killing and sexing each other.

[bogdankl]

finally gotten back to reading Hoshizora no memoria after fiddling around with some other stuff <and deciding on my next read> and started aoi's route <I am determined to see this vn through to the end and after that reading ren's review>

just a small little curiosity, is Isuzu voiced by two actors? I sometimes get the feeling in some scenes she sounds different than in the common route, tho that might just be bad sound mixing or just me being a bakabaka

[Ariurotl]

It's the Demon of Terrible Kuudere speaking through her sometimes.

[Eclipsed]

Swan Song's done (Normal end)

That was a good detox from KnS, but idk why, my heart feels heavy again, and there's tears down my face, but I'm satisfied, and have absolutely no interest in seeing the "good" end.

[Bastian77]

Currently playing Baldr Sky Dive 2.

Was expecting to start Makoto's route today but then I realised I need to read through the 記憶遡行 scenes to unlock her route. So many more days until Gray Christmas T.T

For me the final route was worth it going through all the memory regression. 

(It actually gives you the complete story on the past and all the flashbacks start making sense) And also you skip half of the days so its not as bad as you might think.

And the final route is so awesome that it will be worth all the time you invested getting there!

[Eclipsed]

Relevant (Swan Song spoilers)

Mind elaborating a bit on your thoughts about it?  I'm fairly interested about what you have to say.

Damn, thought I could get away w.o posting some misc. thoughts this time  (just lazy

And wow, there was a Swan Song VN Club? I wonder if I posted there during my "herpa derp, I'll read this" phase >.>

~~
Swan Song Normal End Misc. Thoughts

Tanomura x Hibari are fking adorable, their H-scene was fking adorable, and Hibari running over to hug Aroe w.o her underwear was fking adorable. But oh gawd, why does Tanomura have to die shortly after ;-;.

Should've killed Kuwagata when he had the chance earlier, but he was a nice guy to the very end. His "because you are my friend" scene was one of the more powerful scenes in this VN imo.

I thus expected a grand 2nd round b/w him and Kuwagata, but nope, he gets cheesed by smoke and then dies off screen. RIP.

~~
Hibari's subsequent breakdown and Tsukasa's handling of it was also one of my favorite scenes. We all know tsunderes and how they really feel compared to what they actually say, but I legit couldn't tell for a moment if she really did give up that moment

Uh huh. Suuure  

~~
No NO no NO NO you idiots! Don't go back to negotiate!@#

As much as I complained earlier that I wanted the story to shift to be about the internal conflicts in their society and Kuwagata 1v1ing Tsukasa, I knew right away that this final showdown could only end in bloodshed.

Hibari getting raped by Kuwagata 2x disturbed the fk outta me since she's my favorite character, and you won't believe how ironically relieved I was that the bloody towel Yuka unwrapped was Tsukasa's arm.. Isn't that funny? "Whew! At least it's not his head!"

~~
Why did they give you the 3x "use the spear / try to talk it out" choices LOL, really broke the tension/immersion of the scene, especially with the ding ding ding noise vs. buzzer if you choose to talk it out and die.
(I got baited and chose talk it out on the 3rd time)

ggez

~~
Yuka's interrogation of Kuwagata was beautifully done (especially when you factor in the later revelation of how she was able to manipulate countless men with her fake personality). It's extremely rare nowadays to get to see inside the minds of villains and their thought process, and it was interesting to see if he could be able to have a change of heart this late into the game (too bad Nozomi ruins the moment). 

I naturally really really REALLY hate Kuwagata, but can also fully appreciate his character & role in the story. He's one of the better antagonists out there for sure.

~~
Legit cried HARD during this moment:

Don't cry, Hibari... everything will be... okay............. ;-;

~~
Got my Kuwagata vs. Tsukasa 1v1, am satisfied.

I call hax, Tsukasa, you spent the whole game spamming "I see" towards errbody, you can't all of a sudden understand Kuwagata now!!@#

~~
Didn't really care for Yuka revelations; they ultimately didn't help make her character leave an impact on me, though I guess it does certainly explain why she was able to keep a straight/emotionless face in many of her bad ends. All in all, she made for some pretty good eye candy, so she's cool. *Cough*yes-that's-all-that-matters.

~~
RIP Aroe, worst poster girl ever, should've just put the entire cast on the cover amirite . 

While she didn't have much impact on the story itself, that's actually the point and why it's pretty damn tragic. Aroe just lived her life, completely innocent and oblivious to the hell that the world was in. Many of the bad ends where she mimics the last words of friend and foe alike gave me chills.

~~
Then Tsukasa dies and the music starts fading as he has his last thoughts playing in slow motion and that's when I bawled.



~~
I read the true end btw, after solidifying to my mind that the Normal End would be my canon end so I would be immune to any feeling robbed of an excellent tragedy.

Outside of everything being resolved too easily (let's be fair, if this was the Normal End, if the group went back to the school, even with Kuwagata hostage and confessing, they would've all died), the only comment I have to say is:

Ohhh, so that's why Taeko has the same hair & eye color as Tsukasa. Life makes sense .

Really cute how she calls him Onii-chan, btw.

~~
That is all. 8/10.