What are you playing?

[Suzu Fanatic]

Just starting up Lilith's route in Tokyo Babel - decided to read from the very beginning this time since it's the last route. I forgot a interesting fact she admits early on in the common route - she's a illusion/copy - as part of her raison d'être. Wonder if it's modular copy/pastes (fire and forget, so to speak), or linked connections from her "real" self.

I guess further reading will clear that up, perhaps.

 

Is the first medium that has ever made me want to look up biblical information - I ended up doing some research on "Lilith" shortly after buying Tokyo Babel, just to get a grasp on her roots.

[Canicheslayer]

Shinigami no Kiss wa Wakare no Aji : finished Shizuku's route. It was correct (mostly because our heroine is a good representative of the classic tsundere tribe). But not as good or promising as the common route (which was suprisingly funny, in my humble opinion). Most of the h-scenes were fairly hot (a bit too long, maybe). My rate would be 6,5 or 7/10.

I hope Honoka's route is better. She's so cute

[kingdomcome]

19 hours ago, Zenophilious said:

In her route (SPOILERS)

Ahh, yeah good point. I haven't read it in awhile so I forget some of the details. To be honest I still don't really like it, regardless if they're asking for it or if they're doing it for fun.

If I saw it in real life I'd definitely think it's bullying though.

[Nakajou]

Quote

And that's why Grisaia just angers me. They make good, possibly blood pumping situations...non existent. Instead we are getting a lot of fillers.

You're looking at the wrong route for blood pumping situations... except maybe

Spoiler

Not really a spoiler though... near the end of the story.

 

Quote

But I must add I started to really like this segment. No VN ever made me feel creepy disgust and literally itchiness. That's great.

You kind of developing a new fetish there mate...

[XReaper]

immediately paused all doujinshi to start hanahime´s trial. off we go!

[ChaosRaven]

Finished my first route in Aoishiro now. Although it was a bit slow I enjoyed it quite a bit. It had an overall mysterious atmosphere that always made you wonder what secrets might be hidden in the darkness. I also used the walkthrough only to correct choices that lead to bad ends and I ran in several of them that lead to either my or another chracters death. It was pretty funny though, since I really had to think about my choices and there was always the thrill of dying. And while I wasn't able to predict all outcomes in advance, correcting my last choice usually lead to a logical conclusion why the bad end was avoided. The only major exception was the route locking. I had to start with Yasumi but ran several times in a bad end because I was going for another character at first.

I was actually surprised about the high production values. Although the art looks a bit dated it had lots of CG's, all characters drawn, animation effects and more. The story was a bit confusing though. Lots of info about Japanese legendary creatures and gods. I guess finishing the other routes will reveal more information and shed light to unanswered questions. Romance was also more on the light side so far. It could have also been just a close friendship.

I'll continue with Migiwa now. Wasn't so sure about her at first, but she made some pretty cool stuff since then and I got quite fond of her meanwhile.

I guess reading 4 VN's at the same time is starting to take its toll, because my overall progress seems to be rather slow currently. 

[Canicheslayer]

On 07/04/2016 at 0:10 PM, Canicheslayer said:

Shinigami no Kiss wa Wakare no Aji : finished Shizuku's route. It was correct (mostly because our heroine is a good representative of the classic tsundere tribe). But not as good or promising as the common route (which was suprisingly funny, in my humble opinion). Most of the h-scenes were fairly hot (a bit too long, maybe). My rate would be 6,5 or 7/10.

I hope Honoka's route is better. She's so cute

Finished all the routes And Just as I feared, Honoka's was meh. Luckily, I really liked the true route. It was beautiful...NO, NO i'm not a lolicon. I swear it

Spoiler

Rhaa...Maybe just a little...?

Spoiler

 

[Suzu Fanatic]

Blah... Now that I'm done Tokyo Babel, I'm feeling wistful and not sure what to do with myself, lol.

Maybe I'll try out Dracu-Riot, since it appears to be legit~

[Funyarinpa]

might start symphonic rain

[DarkZedge]

Still doing Dracu-Riot! but had to alternate between it and something else because Mera's route got a bit slow and dull for me...that being said I do like Mera's character

[Fred the Barber]

4 hours ago, Funyarinpa said:

might start symphonic rain

I have a feeling you'd like Fal's route. You should play it just so I have someone to back me up on that one. Not sure how you'll feel about the rest of it, but the two unlockable routes make for a pretty great nakige IMO.

 

I'm trying to get through as much Fruit of Grisaia as I can in my currently limited time, but I'll be launching headlong into To Heart 2 late next week, whether I'm done with Grisaia or not. Still on Sachi's route in Grisaia - I'm really, really enjoying it. I think I landed in a good first one (in the sense that it's a good fit for me, personally). One brief thought on H-scenes:

Spoiler

So I just got through the first one with Sachi, and WTF, sound effects? Too lewd. I'll be the first to admit that even though I'm not "using" H-scenes, I'm not exactly reading them with clinical detachment, but those sound effects were just too much. I had to turn SFX off entirely in the settings menu before I could continue. I'll probably have to start switching them off and on around the H-scenes... which makes me want a settings toggle specifically for SFX during H-scenes, or something (or, really, for them to just not be there; does anybody really want to hear that? Voice acting, sure, I'm all for it. Sound effects? Lewd.).

 

[Eclipsed]

4 hours ago, Funyarinpa said:

might start symphonic rain

just be prepared it can be a snorefest at times. Even Fal's route, which only gets 'interesting' during the last 30 minutes

~~

Conflicted b/w continuing Babel, starting Haruka with Zenophil-chan, or blitzing Neko vol 2. Haven't really been in the mood for moes since KnS, but I'm also craving some H since I haven't read anything with them this year

Screw it, we're going with blitz Nekos Panda 2 -> continue Tohks Bible

[MrBanballow]

I finished off my first run through of Raidy III.
I decided to mess around while mapping out the last dungeon, and spent much of the time in Zoolander Mode.

*Reaches the end of a hallway that turns left*
"I can turn left."
*Hits the right arrow key three times and proceeds*
"... I'm not an ambiturner."

[the_dive]

Finished Tokyo Babel. It was good. 

 

Really just waiting for Da Capo 3 to release @_@

[Toranth]

Just finished Akeiro Kaikitan, And It Was Good.

Clephas already did a review on his blog, and he hit all the major points.  I'll disagree with Clephas in one thing though - I thought Akeiro was a better game than the already very good Nanairo Reincarnation.  Akeiro fixed what I thought the greatest weakness of the Nanairo was:  actual differentiation between the routes.  Nanairo had one story with short differences in the ending.  Akeiro routes can be very different (and much darker), but always for a good reason.  Each route results from the Protagonist choosing different actions in the Common part, learning different things, then acting on that info - and each makes sense.  This all cumulates in the True route, an amazing conclusion to the buildup in the previous routes.

 

The weak points of the game are a bit of lack of focus (for example: 3 routes are romantic, 3 aren't), a bit of reliance on the previous game for lore, and a bit of a Deus Ex to set up the True Route.  Hardly major, but they keep it from being perfect. 

Not sure if I'd go so far as to call it a 9/10, but it is one of the better 8/10s I've read.

[Tyr]

Silky's Plus is the worst thing that happened to the eroge scene in recent years and the fact that people like their games should really motivate me to finally commit sudoku... because if the majority of people think that this is what a "good" eroge looks like then there is really no reason to live for me anymore... since I will probably never get nice things again...

[Toranth]

44 minutes ago, Tyrosyn said:

Silky's Plus is the worst thing that happened to the eroge scene in recent years and the fact that people like their games should really motivate me to finally commit sudoku... because if the majority of people think that this is what a "good" eroge looks like then there is really no reason to live for me anymore... since I will probably never get nice things again...

Oh?  Pray tell, what do you think makes a "good" eroge?

[Tyr]

57 minutes ago, Toranth said:

Oh?  Pray tell, what do you think makes a "good" eroge?

Let me clarify that I wasn't implying that you or anyone who likes Silky's Plus' games has bad taste in eroge.

There are not many eroge companies which show the evolution of the medium in the last decade as good as Silky's does. Silky's was always trying to be modern and popular while its parent company elf stayed true to its roots. When Silky's Plus was formed last year, it essentially sealed elf's death. Economically speaking, abandoning elf was the right decision, but it's also sad for me to see something I really liked die.
For me, Silky's Plus is the perfect metaphor how the eroge scene changed throughout the years.

I liked the old Silky's games made in the 90s. For me, those games were "good". When I read a Silky's Plus game, I can see many elements and influences from Silky's older games, but they are all interpreted completely different, you know, more modern. (Neyuki no Genei is the best example, it's nearly a remake of an older game.)
And I hate it. Compared with their older games, everything is far worse in my opinion. Everything is a disimprovement. How the heroines are written, how they talk, how the routes are structured, how the MC behaves, and so on...

But I'm in the minority here. Silky's Plus' games are immensely popular. Most people like them. The way these games are designed is exactly what the audience wants.
This made me realize that I'm not part of the target audience anymore. What I want to see in an eroge is not what most people nowadays want to see. Silky's Plus' popularity and how I can't emphasize with it is the proof to my assumption. This make me feel even a bit lonely.

Well, that was everything I wanted to say, really. If you really want to know what I deem "good", well, read some of elf/Silky's games from the 90s or early 00s. ^^

[VirginSmasher]

I am currently playing Tokyo Babel. I finished Raziel's route a couple of days ago and I'm pretty excited to play the other two routes this week. 

[Turnip Sensei]

Started playing Gahkthun fandisk and it's pretty cool. The slice of life parts are good and it's nice to see more about the characters that didn't get quite enough screen time in the main game, for example Izumi. Some new light is also shed on the relationships between the members of Governing Council and their closest associates, and these are developed further. 

Overall it feels really similar to Fate/hollow ataraxia. You repeat set days (though this time it's not really a time loop), choose different events, mostly mundane, but there's also something bigger going on behind the scenes. I've only done one and a half cycle so far, so I'm also excitedly anticipating what is to come. That said, there's already been some pretty intriguing and unsettling foreshadowing, some even on the scale of the whole series, it's setting and timeline.    

[WinterfuryZX]

I just finished the first chapter of soul link. Quite good so far... 

[Toranth]

On ‎2016‎年‎4‎月‎10‎日 at 9:41 AM, Tyrosyn said:

Let me clarify that I wasn't implying that you or anyone who likes Silky's Plus' games has bad taste in eroge.

There are not many eroge companies which show the evolution of the medium in the last decade as good as Silky's does. Silky's was always trying to be modern and popular while its parent company elf stayed true to its roots. When Silky's Plus was formed last year, it essentially sealed elf's death. Economically speaking, abandoning elf was the right decision, but it's also sad for me to see something I really liked die.
For me, Silky's Plus is the perfect metaphor how the eroge scene changed throughout the years.

I liked the old Silky's games made in the 90s. For me, those games were "good". When I read a Silky's Plus game, I can see many elements and influences from Silky's older games, but they are all interpreted completely different, you know, more modern. (Neyuki no Genei is the best example, it's nearly a remake of an older game.)
And I hate it. Compared with their older games, everything is far worse in my opinion. Everything is a disimprovement. How the heroines are written, how they talk, how the routes are structured, how the MC behaves, and so on...

But I'm in the minority here. Silky's Plus' games are immensely popular. Most people like them. The way these games are designed is exactly what the audience wants.
This made me realize that I'm not part of the target audience anymore. What I want to see in an eroge is not what most people nowadays want to see. Silky's Plus' popularity and how I can't emphasize with it is the proof to my assumption. This make me feel even a bit lonely.

Well, that was everything I wanted to say, really. If you really want to know what I deem "good", well, read some of elf/Silky's games from the 90s or early 00s. ^^

Well, now I'm curious.  I remember Koihime fondly, but mostly my memories of Silky's are of the Ai Shimai series and other rape-ochi type nuki-games.  In fact, when I played Nanairo, I was pretty surprised that is was a Silky's game at all.

 

So what is it that you dislike about the modern industry?  Mostly, it seems to me like those sorts of games are still around... just "more" to them.  More characters, more scenes, more graphics... if you miss the brevity and conciseness of earlier games, that has been lost under the bloat resulting from massive disk space availability, I can understand.  But even just about everything else, including gameplay in games that still have, seems to have improved to me.

 

Which isn't to say that moeblob and cheap charage knockoffs aren't flooding the market.  But I think there is still plenty of good substance to be found, no matter what your tastes.

[Vorathiel]

On 4/1/2016 at 10:33 PM, Canicheslayer said:

I'm reading/playing it too. 30 hours on it (All that remains is the "true route" part) ...I absolutely adore the art, the music, most of the characters (Mayumi ), the cyberpunk universe....and the narration is terrifically interesting. But you have to read/play it little by little. Because, it's so exhausting (route C or D were more or less OK. However my poor brain wasn't prepared to Route E)

...and? ;d Have you managed to do some progress?

Today I finished route B and read routes C and D. It was so fast paced and godly written, that I was just absorbing the text, without reading it. Really needed that change of quality after few days with boring, stupid and bad written Grisaia.
Anyway - both of those routes were absolutly great. Level of mindblowingness was just right - high enough to 'not understand' what is going on, but not as high to completly fly from my mind.
Hopefully route E and then apostrophes would be as good as C and D. ^^

[LoganW]

 

Princess Evanglie!

I have almost finished Chiho's in 2 days 

 

[MrBanballow]

So, after finishing off Raidy III, I started up Hanachirasu.