What are you playing?

[Vorathiel]

Finished Majikoi A2.
Monshiro was meh, Seiso/Hegemon was GREAT, and finally - Cookie was 'ok'. Till the turning point around 2/3 in. And whoa it became so, so great. Awesome soundtrack, best in the series so far, great story, veriety of strong emotions, and one totally awesome CG that (along with the music in that scene, 'Wind blows throuygh my body' or something similiary tittled. Sadly - I didn't found it on youtube) made me incredibly hyped for... Baldr Sky and Schwarzesmarken. Moar serious and dark mecha VNs, please!

One of the other awesome pieces in soundtrack for Cookie route:

I love Majikoi.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Vorathiel

[Eclipsed]

Picking up Root Letter on a random whim, which usually means I have a >99% chance of actually being able to finish it, btw it's apparently been ~four months now since I finished a VN, last one being Remember11 back in September last year, wtf time flies #toomanyPS4games&beingbusywithlifeingeneral

Assuming I'm able to get back in the groove of things, I need to knock out unfinished business VNs Psychopass & I/O, then I'm thinking doing a Legendary like S;G0 or FataMorgana, then Flowers, then the other Legendary

And then since it's been a year and a half since I've read a full fledged charamoege (Princess Evangile back in Apr '15), with all the DCIII hype I'm thinking that series will be my go-to to satiate them high skoo SoL needs-

*Disappears, never to be seen again*

[kyrt]

13 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

In preparation for Da Capo III I decided to finally finish Da Capo II. Right now I believe I am missing Minatsu's, Otome's, Yume's and Sakura's routes, so I started with Minatsu. Additionally, I don't remember finishing Nanaka's route, but I do remember at least starting it...

I did the same! I had also not managed to complete Otome, Yume, and Sakura's routes. I've since started Da Capo III however I'm making slow progress due to being busy but it's decent for the most part.  Once I am done with Da Capo III I'll probably finish Tokyo Babel before switching to Labyrinth of Grisaia/Koiken Otome/Corona Blossom/Root Double/11eyes/Majikoi/Himawari or some new vn that gets released. 

[Deniz]

I started to One Kagayaku Kisetsu e.I really love reading old stuff.And it gives the as same great taste as Kanon.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Deniz

[onorub]

26 minutes ago, Deniz said:

I started to One Kagayaku Kisetsu e.I really love reading old stuff.And it gives the as same great taste as Kanon.

It's pretty fun to see certain elements of it that were used by the later works of that team when they became Key.

[Deniz]

34 minutes ago, onorub said:

It's pretty fun to see certain elements of it that were used by the later works of that team when they became Key.

Well ı'm glad that they left these lame h-scenes while doing Clannad.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Deniz

[Yuuko]

On 1/23/2017 at 4:32 PM, pual said:

Dracu-Riot! h-scenes are awful (mostly voices bother, overly done mosaic too), this is so far only VN where I voluntarily skip most of them with Ctrl. It's also focused on characters and not story. Also reading Root Double, which is pretty good :).

Overly done mosaic? I don't even...

 

[Eclipsed]

Got my first Root Letter ending.

Took about 6 hours. Root Letter's an aight experience so far, you basically play as nameable 32ish years old protagonist Takayuki from Tokyo who comes to Matsue to look for his long lost penpal Aya Fumino whom he exchanged a total of 10 letters with during their high school years 15 years ago. Reason being he's a sentimental douchebag, jk he finds an extra undated letter of hers that he apparently didn't read for all these years and in it Aya confesses she 'killed someone' so she's cutting off contact.
Yo dw, I just finally read this letter of yours 15 years later, but I like murder mysteries, sign me up!!

The exploration aspect plays like the Kara no Shoujo & it's investigation segments- you have free roam to visit locations on the map and can examine/probe the background CGs for extra information. There's no automatic progression in the narrative- you have to actively choose all the time where to go and what to do next; it's a bit of a chore but thankfully the game's pretty linear and handholds you on where to go via Takayuki's self monologues. Everything is also pure business in this VN; there is very sparse to no idle banter or slice of lifey scenes outside of the occasional witty remark you can make; anything you do, everywhere you go, everyone you talk to is all in your pursuit of Aya.

Why dis place soo big!?!! Me don't know where to go next :(( 


And so the hunt & stalking begins, Takayuki books a night or two (turns out his hunt will last an entire week by endgame) at the local Matsue Inn and then heads over to Aya's address. Cue the mystery time, the Fumino residence is vacant, has been vacant, and the neighbors say that Aya died 25 years ago. Wait, what? Weren't my letters from 15 years ago? Who the fk is the Aya I've been communicating with then?! This is some mistake, she MUST EXIST, RIGHT??? RIIIIGHT???!!!@!11

And so you spend the next 5 hours spending each Chapter of the game going on a wild goosechase to find out more about Aya by re-reading one of her letters and trying to locate her Snow White 7 Dwarves friends- Shorty, Fatty, Snappy, Four-Eyes, Monkey, Bestie, and Bitch (yesyoureadthatright):

Oh! Oh! I know someone who wore magatama pendants, let's go find that person and interrogate them!!!@#

Problem is, it becomes readily apparent that some dark, deep shit must have happened between this group of friends 15 years ago, because they all actively feign ignorance to the existence of Aya and adamantly deny their past high school aliases so it's up to you to explore the city and gather clues and information to eventually corner them and make them all fess up.

The eventual boss dialogue encounters are reminiscent of Danganronpa's Class Trials; the characters will vehemently deny who they were while you slowly whittle down their defenses by presenting your evidence until you finally just hit them with a YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE, BETCH, NOW TELL ME ABOUT AYA!@#$. It's decently entertaining and pretty straightforward so you'll usually know what to say and what evidence to bring up:

SNAPPITY SNAP SNAP, NOW SNAP UP AND TELL ME ABOUT AYAAAAA!@#


Who is Aya? Is she alive? Does she even exist? What happened 15 years ago?

The first ending concludes Takayuki and Aya's penpal relationship in the most abrupt and unsatisfying way ever, however the game hints that there are still many mysteries to be revealed:

[Fred the Barber]

I'm about 30 minutes away from finishing the remaining extra scenes in Kindred Spirits, and I've been debating what to play next, when, thanks to its discussion thread coming back to life, it suddenly hit me:

And so I shall, probably starting later tonight. Wish me luck and chocolate.

Edit: I finished all of Kindred Spirits. If you're on the fence about the "extra" scenes, get off that fence and go play them. They're beautiful, too. They can be kind of a pain to unlock, but they're unquestionably worth it.

Now, on to KoiChoco (tomorrow, after work and shit...).

Edited January 30, 2017 by Fred the Barber

[pual]

On 29.1.2017 at 10:58 PM, Kiriririri said:

Overly done mosaic? I don't even...

 

Well just something to complain about . The voice was main problem with it to the point I'd prefer Dracu-Riot all ages version.

Edited January 30, 2017 by pual

[Decay]

What was wrong with the voices, specifically? You can turn the looping moans/sound effects off if you didn't like those.

[Mr Poltroon]

Like I do!

#usefulcontribution

[Eclipsed]

Yay

Root Letter's ends are apparently all based on what replies you choose in your little P.S. statements to Aya after every letter, so thankfully after you get your first nasty unsatisfying abrupt ending which unlocks all the other ends the VN grants you a Skip-to-next-chapter function you can use so you can burn through the letters quickly

It's always funny how, for the sake of have branching plotlines, your decisions in these VNs can have such drastic effects; it's like whoop-dee-doo to avoid running into that sucky first ending and instead get the best ending with all the happy feels and loose ends tied up all nicely n' postivitutely all you had to do is blatantly mention that you have a thing for Aya and so by power of love EVERYTHING will work out just fine between everybody 15 years later . 

P.S. I totally didn't choose "P.S. Please tell me your measurements" reply during my first playthrough (yes they have that option) 
 

Everything worked out so nicely in this end actually that I'm hesitant to pursue the "Cursed Letter" and "Government Plot" ends.... I like to end my VNs on a high note :<

[Mr Poltroon]

I finished Otome's route in Da Capo II:

Spoiler

Not as bad as I feared.

First things first: I love sisters. No, not that way you bastard. I mean that I love non-romanceable sisters. I enjoy the existence of a sister character -- given, of course, that she is not clearly in love, infatuated or perverted. In fact, it's also the same with the childhood friends. What I really like is when they are what they are, a real friend or family, and aren't in love with the protagonist.
In short, I tend to like characters better when they aren't in love. If they do grow to love each other, then I want it to happen within the character's own route, if it has one. I dislike them being in love at any moment earlier than their route.

This is how Otome avoided one of the biggest pitfalls her "older sister/childhood friend" hybrid could have walked right into. She spent the 'common route' section of her route fawning over Yoshiyuki without 'going too far' or showing any sexual/romantic interest. They ate together, helped each other and so on. A memorable moment would be when she sat between his legs... for whatever reason. The 'sister', 'childhood friends' or 'cousin' archetypes are essentially the only kind of characters that can be even remotely close to the protagonist without necessarily eliciting a deluge of sexual thoughts: The famed "her sweet sent", "her smooth skin", "she's so captivating", etc. Note I say 'necessarily' because most still do, there's just a higher chance for them not to if they are 'practically family'.

Having avoided the pitfall they swiftly proceeded into the route proper and became lovers. A bit of a shame but fair enough. The romance was actually fairly sweet at times, so that was fine.

From there, DRAMA. The drama in her route was intriguing, mysterious and had to do with Yoshiyuki's past -- this made it interesting and relevant. It built up in such a way that we shared our frustration with the protagonist, then had 'the reveal' -- where tears may or may not be shed -- and then the bittersweet end. Sort of like a train crashing in slow motion: you already know how it'll end, but hold onto a sliver of hope. You pretend to accept the inevitable, whilst truly hoping it'll not come to pass. And so, the unavoidable occurs. Let there be tears.

And then comes the epilogue to just undo it all.
I've heard people claiming "the epilogue ruined the whole route/game" about whatever visual novel they have in mind. Until now, I merely disregarded such people's complaints, but, at the moment, I feel I can better empathise: The epilogue can indeed overturn the conclusion or tone or theme of the whole work, for people who care about such things.
So yes, the epilogue was a shift in tone. Sadly so, because this is one of the few more bittersweet or mostly bitter endings that I can claim with confidence to have 'liked it'. The epilogue itself seems like little more than an excuse to add the H-Scene in and rescind the way the route proper concluded.

Nevertheless, I appreciate things as they come. Relatively south as the epilogue may have dived, the rest was good so I liked it. And it's not like it's all bad: I've heard tell of spoilers that may connect to this epilogue and make it somewhat better. So something later on in the VN may be relevant to this.

 

 

I'm currently playing Da Capo III. I maintain my optimism, but I don't believe it surpasses Da Capo II in any aspect thus far (I don't think I've finished the prologue yet? I think I'm around Free time 5 or 6).

Thoughts so far:

Spoiler

Let's talk translation. My verdict is "not bad". Definitely better than most fan translations, yet subpar for most official translations. Discounting the abnormality that is Grisaia no Kajitsu's fan translation and keeping in mind that I haven't played the official translation of Muv-Luv, this is likely one of the best translations I've seen for a game of such a monumental size.
What's wrong? Putting aside standard problems of uninspired or lazy translations/expressions/choice of wording, this script, in opposition to most other official translations I've seen, has not produced any lines/translations I can say "Wow, that's good/original/etc.". There's even the chance that the game's to blame for that -- if the script itself is stale and uninteresting, it is only natural that the translation should be much the same.
A bit hard to swallow, since I rather liked both of the previous Da Capo's common routes, but possible.
If it sounds like I've got little to complain about, that's because I do have little. Not paying any attention and speed reading as I am...

As for the game itself, definitely less enjoyable than Da Capo II. Let's start with the bad. You know what's the worst thing a VN can do to me? Create a harem whilst having no intention of going through with it.
When every single love interest is already 'in love' and willing to be bedded right from the get-go I feel like I'm just wasting my time. And let's be honest, he could have sex with any of the girls in the Newspaper Club with a little persuasion -- or maybe none at all.
I traditionally like common routes. I like seeing the daily lives of the characters as friends. I take little pleasure in shows of jealousy or pervertedness, so my interest right now is minor at best. So yeah, that's bad. Not so bad is the protagonist.

Kiyotaka is a good guy. You know, the staple VN protagonist. Most people like putting them all under the same 'self-insert' umbrella, but I like spotting the little differences. For instance, Kiyotaka is as close to a natural playboy as I've seen in quite a while. Whilst some of the girls like him for (some bloody well) contrived reasons, some of them like him for conceivable reasons: like helping someone integrate into a new class or helping a girl to the infirmary when she needed it most -- the kind of little things the social guys can do effortlessly and create minor crushes. I know I once fell in love with a girl who volunteered to go with me get a glass of sugary water for my pale, feeble self. Caring about his friends, all of which happen to be cute females, to the point of obsession, he constantly gives them hopes that he has thing for them; renovates and rekindles the crushes they have for him. Kind of like executing maintenance.

I also appreciate that they keep some memorable tracks from Da Capo II. The 'comedy' music was great, some 'every day shenanigans' is also nice and so is some 'calmer' music. Now all they have to do is keep Sakura's upbeat theme and I'll be set.

Characters from the previous games reappear or have descendants in this one, and that's also interesting. I had a giant grin on my face when I visited the Detective Agency.

I have little interest in the 'dream' story. Reminds me of the kind of thing Key did often -- the kind of thing I hated immensely. Doesn't seem too bad so far... though I'm fairly sure it'll be important in at least a couple routes.

Let's rate the girls thus far:

On their own merits: Aoi/Sara/Charles/Himeno/Ricca

As romanceable characters: Sara/Ricca/Charles/Himeno/Aoi

Starting with Aoi, the main thing she's got going for her is the mean streak that comes out on occasions -- especially with Ricca. I like the trust she has in the protagonist, and I don't dislike a dependent girl. Add the poison tongue, sleeping habit and sweet tooth and she's definitely interesting.

Sara is always treated as the "harsh, common-sense girl" in the group, but she doesn't seem all that harsh. Or cold. Or mean. Or most things they describe her as. I still like her manner of speech and her archetype, so she wins from that alone. I'm not even sure what it is I like so much about her.

Ricca... The main thing is her favour is that she's upfront about her love for Kiyotaka. I like that. Don't much like her for any other reason, though.

Charles is pretty nice from a romantic point of view... I don't dislike the 'older sister' characters and her voice is nice, but that's it.

Himeno is the Nemu/Yume of the game, a prestigious position bringing with it the 'character I like least' award. Thankfully, she seems to mellow out more with each game, meaning I actually find this iteration likeable!

I still have hopes for this game. They clearly put quite a bit of money into it, and I tend to trust long games to be able to deliver some good moments. I feel that this one might shine in its routes as opposed to its start.

 

[Deniz]

Spoiler

Everything is fine but one thing in one.I'm not lolicon!

Edited February 2, 2017 by Deniz

[Decay]

1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I finished Otome's route in Da Capo II:

  Reveal hidden contents

Not as bad as I feared.

First things first: I love sisters. No, not that way you bastard. I mean that I love non-romanceable sisters. I enjoy the existence of a sister character -- given, of course, that she is not clearly in love, infatuated or perverted. In fact, it's also the same with the childhood friends. What I really like is when they are what they are, a real friend or family, and aren't in love with the protagonist.
In short, I tend to like characters better when they aren't in love. If they do grow to love each other, then I want it to happen within the character's own route, if it has one. I dislike them being in love at any moment earlier than their route.

This is how Otome avoided one of the biggest pitfalls her "older sister/childhood friend" hybrid could have walked right into. She spent the 'common route' section of her route fawning over Yoshiyuki without 'going too far' or showing any sexual/romantic interest. They ate together, helped each other and so on. A memorable moment would be when she sat between his legs... for whatever reason. The 'sister', 'childhood friends' or 'cousin' archetypes are essentially the only kind of characters that can be even remotely close to the protagonist without necessarily eliciting a deluge of sexual thoughts: The famed "her sweet sent", "her smooth skin", "she's so captivating", etc. Note I say 'necessarily' because most still do, there's just a higher chance for them not to if they are 'practically family'.

Having avoided the pitfall they swiftly proceeded into the route proper and became lovers. A bit of a shame but fair enough. The romance was actually fairly sweet at times, so that was fine.

From there, DRAMA. The drama in her route was intriguing, mysterious and had to do with Yoshiyuki's past -- this made it interesting and relevant. It built up in such a way that we shared our frustration with the protagonist, then had 'the reveal' -- where tears may or may not be shed -- and then the bittersweet end. Sort of like a train crashing in slow motion: you already know how it'll end, but hold onto a sliver of hope. You pretend to accept the inevitable, whilst truly hoping it'll not come to pass. And so, the unavoidable occurs. Let there be tears.

And then comes the epilogue to just undo it all.
I've heard people claiming "the epilogue ruined the whole route/game" about whatever visual novel they have in mind. Until now, I merely disregarded such people's complaints, but, at the moment, I feel I can better empathise: The epilogue can indeed overturn the conclusion or tone or theme of the whole work, for people who care about such things.
So yes, the epilogue was a shift in tone. Sadly so, because this is one of the few more bittersweet or mostly bitter endings that I can claim with confidence to have 'liked it'. The epilogue itself seems like little more than an excuse to add the H-Scene in and rescind the way the route proper concluded.

Nevertheless, I appreciate things as they come. Relatively south as the epilogue may have dived, the rest was good so I liked it. And it's not like it's all bad: I've heard tell of spoilers that may connect to this epilogue and make it somewhat better. So something later on in the VN may be relevant to this.

 

 

I'm currently playing Da Capo III. I maintain my optimism, but I don't believe it surpasses Da Capo II in any aspect thus far (I don't think I've finished the prologue yet? I think I'm around Free time 5 or 6).

Thoughts so far:

  Reveal hidden contents

Let's talk translation. My verdict is "not bad". Definitely better than most fan translations, yet subpar for most official translations. Discounting the abnormality that is Grisaia no Kajitsu's fan translation and keeping in mind that I haven't played the official translation of Muv-Luv, this is likely one of the best translations I've seen for a game of such a monumental size.
What's wrong? Putting aside standard problems of uninspired or lazy translations/expressions/choice of wording, this script, in opposition to most other official translations I've seen, has not produced any lines/translations I can say "Wow, that's good/original/etc.". There's even the chance that the game's to blame for that -- if the script itself is stale and uninteresting, it is only natural that the translation should be much the same.
A bit hard to swallow, since I rather liked both of the previous Da Capo's common routes, but possible.
If it sounds like I've got little to complain about, that's because I do have little. Not paying any attention and speed reading as I am...

As for the game itself, definitely less enjoyable than Da Capo II. Let's start with the bad. You know what's the worst thing a VN can do to me? Create a harem whilst having no intention of going through with it.
When every single love interest is already 'in love' and willing to be bedded right from the get-go I feel like I'm just wasting my time. And let's be honest, he could have sex with any of the girls in the Newspaper Club with a little persuasion -- or maybe none at all.
I traditionally like common routes. I like seeing the daily lives of the characters as friends. I take little pleasure in shows of jealousy or pervertedness, so my interest right now is minor at best. So yeah, that's bad. Not so bad is the protagonist.

Kiyotaka is a good guy. You know, the staple VN protagonist. Most people like putting them all under the same 'self-insert' umbrella, but I like spotting the little differences. For instance, Kiyotaka is as close to a natural playboy as I've seen in quite a while. Whilst some of the girls like him for (some bloody well) contrived reasons, some of them like him for conceivable reasons: like helping someone integrate into a new class or helping a girl to the infirmary when she needed it most -- the kind of little things the social guys can do effortlessly and create minor crushes. I know I once fell in love with a girl who volunteered to go with me get a glass of sugary water for my pale, feeble self. Caring about his friends, all of which happen to be cute females, to the point of obsession, he constantly gives them hopes that he has thing for them; renovates and rekindles the crushes they have for him. Kind of like executing maintenance.

I also appreciate that they keep some memorable tracks from Da Capo II. The 'comedy' music was great, some 'every day shenanigans' is also nice and so is some 'calmer' music. Now all they have to do is keep Sakura's upbeat theme and I'll be set.

Characters from the previous games reappear or have descendants in this one, and that's also interesting. I had a giant grin on my face when I visited the Detective Agency.

I have little interest in the 'dream' story. Reminds me of the kind of thing Key did often -- the kind of thing I hated immensely. Doesn't seem too bad so far... though I'm fairly sure it'll be important in at least a couple routes.

Let's rate the girls thus far:

On their own merits: Aoi/Sara/Charles/Himeno/Ricca

As romanceable characters: Sara/Ricca/Charles/Himeno/Aoi

Starting with Aoi, the main thing she's got going for her is the mean streak that comes out on occasions -- especially with Ricca. I like the trust she has in the protagonist, and I don't dislike a dependent girl. Add the poison tongue, sleeping habit and sweet tooth and she's definitely interesting.

Sara is always treated as the "harsh, common-sense girl" in the group, but she doesn't seem all that harsh. Or cold. Or mean. Or most things they describe her as. I still like her manner of speech and her archetype, so she wins from that alone. I'm not even sure what it is I like so much about her.

Ricca... The main thing is her favour is that she's upfront about her love for Kiyotaka. I like that. Don't much like her for any other reason, though.

Charles is pretty nice from a romantic point of view... I don't dislike the 'older sister' characters and her voice is nice, but that's it.

Himeno is the Nemu/Yume of the game, a prestigious position bringing with it the 'character I like least' award. Thankfully, she seems to mellow out more with each game, meaning I actually find this iteration likeable!

I still have hopes for this game. They clearly put quite a bit of money into it, and I tend to trust long games to be able to deliver some good moments. I feel that this one might shine in its routes as opposed to its start.

 

I knew you'd like the DC3 protagonist. I knew this because I hate him. I absolutely despise him, in fact. I think he is easily reaching my top 3 most hated protagonists list. 

I never thought I'd hate someone so much for being too nice.

[Eclipsed]

AHAHAHA IKR, I'M DA BEST, MAX POWAAAAAAAAAAAA LOLOLOL PLZ LOVE ME MOAR CUZ I'M SUPERIOR!!@#@!!!!111

 

Jeezis Kristo, Root Letter's "Cursed Letter" ending was sooo dark and out of place. You can't just have a Modern Day Japanese Town setting for 90% of the VN and then just because you make Takayuki be a narcissistic ass to his penpal Aya have the last 10% blitz you with all this horrific supernatural Corpse Party shit :
 

^Ya the dude literally got crow'ed.

These ends so far are at the very far corners of the spectrum; Bond of Marriage being the epitome of bliss and happiness, Cursed Letter being the ultimate fk all the characters...

Overall these routes seem to be very standalone-in-their-own-separate-universe kind of deal so I'm guessing there won't be any fancy pancy grand revelation route tying all of the little various facts you learn in each of them together or anything. A shame. Btw I would've loved to play Root Letter from start to finish with the same tone it had for the last 10 minutes of Cursed Letter, it was a decent horror flick.

[WinterfuryZX]

36 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

Btw I would've loved to play Root Letter from start to finish with the same tone it had for the last 10 minutes of Cursed Letter, it was a decent horror flick.

Next is the the steinsgaty ending, good luck.

[Funyarinpa]

spoiler tags exist man

[Barktooth]

Started reading Little Busters last week; finally finished a route today (Komari). So far, the game is a fair bit under my expectations, unfortunately. The common route was quite long and boring—pure slice of life, essentially. I was expecting something similar to Rewrite where they toss in some mysterious developments or otherwise once in a while to spice things up, but that was pretty much absent in LB.

Spoiler

Unless, maybe, you count Riki's narcolepsy. I don't know if that even has any significance to the plot later on, though, and it's mostly just lightly touched on during the common route, so it's not enough.

Komari is likely my least favorite character out of the cast so far, so I wasn't expecting her route to be exceptional, and that it was not. Still, I feel like Komari's character actually had little to do with why I didn't enjoy it that much. The storytelling and drama simply weren't handled that well, IMO. First, I don't like how the slice of life abruptly ends once you enter her route, and the way you only see one or two scenes before advancing to the next day. Didn't think I'd ever say this for a VN, but it feels rushed.

Additionally, I kept thinking there was some deeper meaning behind everything. For example, Komari's saying "I wish your eyes could see better" apparently really did mean that she just wished him to be able to find fun/happy things/places? That's lame. Then the drama happened, and again, it felt rushed. All that Riki did was let her rest for a few days, and when that failed, he drew a picture book in 1 day which instantly solved everything... It just didn't seem genuine to me. With how deep her emotional scars seemed, it's weird that Riki was able to get through to her that easily and that she (as far as the story reveals, anyway) didn't have any more relapses after that.

While I never expected to like Komari, I had high hopes for a lot of the other characters. So far, though, they don't seem THAT great... Futaki apparently doesn't even have a route in the normal version of the game, which is a big disappointment. (PE translation isn't released yet? I reckon I'll have to read the Japanese version later, then.) Saigusa is... okay, but she also annoys me quite a bit, which I didn't expect. I do like her mischievous nature, though. Kurugaya and Rin exceeded my expectations slightly, and I really like the latter's mix of being an antisocial and blunt tomboy. Nishizono is about how I expected her to be, and has potential for best girl. Not sure what to think of Kud yet, besides that she is cute.

The music is good, there are several tracks that I really like already. But all of them are action/cheery tracks, and I don't find most of the melancholic ones to be that good. Hopefully the remaining ones I haven't heard yet are better. Also, it actually feels like there are too many tracks... or rather, the game just throws them at you too quickly. I wish they'd instead introduce them more gradually, and reserve some for specific scenes.

Anyway, now to try to get onto Rin's route...

 

[Eclipsed]

Finished Finished Root Letter, so finally you guys'll be free from my spammings 

The Princess of Himegamori Forest ending was quite eerie. Moreso than Cursed Letter I'd say, because goddamit Aya. And A Government Plot end was really just ehhh and ends with a meh downer.

What Root Letter does well with these 5 routes/ends though is that they all have quite the unique spin on the same general timeline of events whether it be everything was caused by the supernatural like in Cursed Letter / Princess of Himegamori Forest, or caused by a cover up conspiracy like Government Plot, or just a plain ol' heartwarming reunion between two pen pals like Bond of Marriage

The unfortunate thing though is that all of these routes/ends are basically just 30 minutes of content because the earlier 5 hours of 'common' route is focused on tracking down all of Aya's high school friends and the detective/confrontational gameplay segments... A real shame, because some of the revelations in these routes have quite some oomph and wow power to them, but they never get to leave a meaningful impact on the reader since the story kind of just ends shortly after.

~~
Visuals/aesthetics: 9/10. They made quiet the effort on assets for this VN. Easily over 100 background CGs since theres like 20+ locations each with 3+ sublocations; every character even the nameless passerby ones will have sprites and be voiced, and I like the cutout photograph style. Character Artstyle itself was kind of ehh to me at first but it grew on me.

Music: 6/10. Nothing special. And dammit that title theme is present 99% of the time when you're exploring the city map so it gets stale REALLY quickly. I do like the character confrontation/investigation BGMs though.

Story:

• Common route: 5/10. Subpar. 5 hours of pure-business-no-fluff as Takayuki monologues to himself where he's going, who he's going to talk to etc etc in his pursuit of Aya, and it's basically you having to prove what you already know to stubborn characters.
• Routes: 7/10. They all have some interesting moments/revelations/events going on, but are waaay too short. Crossing Paths is a slap to the face, Bond of Marriage is the best everything-works-out-happily-ever-after (and what I'll consider the canon ending plx), Cursed Letter is a wtfmux supernatural horror, Princess of Himegamori Forest is another decent horror, Government Plot is meh conspiracy.

 

Overall 7/10. A short, decent story with some passable character detective/confrontational gameplay about some 32year old prick trying to find his long lost high school penpal from 15 years ago which will branch off into some pretty wild but short deviations as to the root of the mystery. Pick it up when it's on sale or something.

[Mr Poltroon]

Common Route (Chapter One) Impressions:

Spoiler

Since my last post I continued with the prologue for a short while longer. It was at this point that the game threw me for a hell of a loop. I read about someone speculating that the main writer couldn't decide if he wanted to make a traditional Da Capo story or a story about magicians set in London, and I'm inclined to believe this is true. Regardless, this change in setting come chapter one has its virtues.

In the prologue, every girl is in love with you. During chapter one, that is not so. Only the girl you choose to pursue develops feelings for you. This is really good -- congratulations on that. This also lets me pardon their choices in the prologue. Right now, I am imagining each of the girls in present time has a different memory of their time in London, a memory where they ended up with Kiyotaka, which is why they hold feelings for him so easily. Amakase's multiple parallel worlds theory would indicate the possibility. Ricca, the only one who retained semi-clear memories, most apparently shows her feelings. This could also not be the case -- maybe there's only one true timeline (likely where he ended up with Ricca, due to her memories of it) and Kiyotaka's small acts of kindness built him a harem.

Although I am praising chapter one, I will admit that when the setting change occurred, I was fairly ticked off. It felt like I wasted my time with the Prologue for no discernable reason -- after all, all the relationships with the characters reset! Turns out that was exactly what I wanted, though, so I am happy with the choice. That leaves us questioning the purpose of the Prologue in the first place, but I'll be patient and wait until I finish the VN before I get on its case.

There were a couple of missions that required interaction. Truth be told, they were simple, linear affairs, but they created a illusion of free choice and freedom that allowed for greater immersion. I loved that they did that. Reminds me of older Rance games where I had the option of 'search'ing mundane object or people, 'talk'ing with them, 'look'ing at them or moving around. Great for messing around.

Kiyotaka himself brought a few mysteries. He possessed a greater than usual magical ability, which was exciting to see. I kept waiting for a moment where he might make use of it -- and whilst said moment did come, his magical ability remains a secret from others -- I'm hoping her might reveal his powers during a route. He also appears to have a mission, in all likelihood to attempt to find a way to dispel a curse from Himeno or his family.

The Free Time for this chapter had a wider range of selection than the prologue, and I think one can go as far as using up their three slots just meeting random, non-romanceable people. Remind me to do that in one of my runs. Once again, giving us choice is nice, though it can also leave one a bit lost.

The 'student council elections' is a plotpoint I always like. Anything related to the student council, really. Liked it in Koichoco, liked it in Katawa Shoujo, liked it in Ikikoi, and liked it in Fortune Arterial. Enlisting Suginami's help, somebody who goes to every length to appear less reasonable than he is, made for some funny scenes. I really like how he's in every Da Capo, does not have a surname, and does not have an explanation behind his many mysteries.

Speaking of characters, a couple new ones showed up. Ian, a mage from a noble family -- complete narcissist, you know the archetype -- coupled with Rurika, a maid who does not seem to respect him much and makes fun of him at every possible opportunity. Truth be told, her true goal seems to be to witness interesting and fun developments, as opposed to educating or helping her master.

Tomoe is a character I find compelling. She's is lazier than she would have others think and I'm fairly sure she'll resort to violence to get things her way. She's an archetype, but precisely because she is an archetype, we can tell how her personality is from the few short interactions with her

Holmes and Watson also showed up, because why the hell would they not be present in London? Whilst I have little interest in Edward Watson, rumbustious little Mary Holmes is an engaging character. One of the main things I'm trying to understand is whether or not she really is as smart as she claims. Everything indicates she is, but she's had few chances to shine.

We also met Shiki in the flesh -- oops, maybe she doesn't have flesh? -- and she makes it a point to insult her master at any time that is convenient. They actually built an captivating dynamic between these two, because as hostile as she appears, Shiki seems to care for Edogawa more than a simple glance would have you believe.

And so, the 'deduction segment' between Holmes and Watson and Edogawa and Shiki was truly riveting to watch. It seems both Holmes and Edogawa may be smart, but in slightly different ways. Edogawa completely lacks knowledge; a necessary component to make deductions. Thankfully, Shiki is more cultured than Edogawa, enabling him to make the necessary deductions where information is available. Holmes, on the other hand, and rather faithfully to what little I've read of the original stories, easily goes off on a wild theories and needs to be grounded by Watson. When they both present their conclusions, Edogawa's makes sense, but is limited, whilst Holmes' is more daring and far-fetched. One of my favourite scenes thus far.

Sakura showed up. The character introduction on Sakura by MangaGamer spoiled me a bit on what she's doing here, but oh, well. I'm sure that, in typical Da Capo fashion, they'll still find a way to pull out of their behinds some insane nonsense to reveal during the 'true' route.

If I had any complaints it would be how little magic there actually is. No flashy stuff, you know? When magic does appear it does little more than compensate for the technological gap between eras.
 

I've also just started Sara's route and, uh, this is sweet. Like, goodness. <33333

Proper respect to the game for having all the development up to the confession occur during the common route. The route therefore starts with them already in a relationship, sort of.
This is, without a doubt, my preferred way to have a title of this kind structured.

 

Now then, I think this route may decide everything. Da Capo II had a common route I liked more, and also included some solid (and some malleable) routes. I want to see if Da Capo III surpasses it.

Edit: Forgot to add that I have teeny weeny problem with the art. They decided to draw lips on the female characters, something I just don't like.

 

[Dreamysyu]

So, Fata Morgana, again. I finished the fifth and started the sixth chapter and... it's great. I don't really read as many VNs as a lot of people on the forum, so it probably doesn't mean much, but I think it's the best VN I read... in a year, at least. There still are some minor problems that bug me, and maybe I'll properly write about them after I finish the game. But those problems are minor enough, so, I don't know, there still is a possibility that I decide to give it a 10/10 in the end.

A bit of story spoilers.

Spoiler

I must say, I liked the version of Michel in the fifth chapter much more than the version of him in the fourth chapter. Originally he seemed just an empty shell for progressing the story, but now he became a character I actually care for. Giselle is also an interesting character, though, I must say, her worldview is a bit too modern for a person born almost a thousand years ago. Overall, I have pretty little to comment the story of this chapter. It develops the characters and the relationship between them well, and the level of foreshadowing about Michel's... intimate problems and possible connections to the White-Haired Girl make the read engaging. The chapter is great, and relatable enough. I even teared up a little in the end, though those things are pretty rare for me. In the end, i guess, the knight who killed Michel was his brother? And he was the person who sent the paintings? At least, it seems so from Michel's reaction. Well, I'm pretty sure this is going to be answered soon enough.

The sixth chapter started excellently. I feel like it might become my favorite chapter in the whole story, if the future chapter won't be even better. So, we a going for Higurashi-style answer arcs, huh? And the witch got more or less properly introduced, and we finally learn some of her motivations. I must say, I didn't expect revenge to be her motive. I don't know, maybe it's a good idea to return to earlier chapters right now and try to look for tiny hints in them, though i doubt I'll be able to do that at this point.

And, finally, the last scene I got to. The White-Haired Girl got to the mansion for the first time, and we finally learn her name. At this point, I wasn't really surprised, since it was exactly the name I expected. I'm still not sure how to interpret it though. All the hints seem to imply that she is the same person as Michel. On the other hand, it doesn't explain why her character is so different from his, and why the painting said that the tragedies in chapters 1-3 are not his, so I try to stay open-minded at this point.

That's all I guess.

[littleshogun]

@Mr Poltroon Maybe they actually want to make London but decided to do Hatsunejima first as the demo because the business strategy. You know, for attracting Da Capo older fan which surely expect another Hatsunejima as the setting instead of London. Just my speculation here though, so it might be wrong. Oh, and I think if I may strictly speaking the first side story would be what I called true prologue for London arc, because it was quite long and more importantly telling us the story of how they knew each other. It also reveal some interesting thing like

Spoiler

actually there's one people who knew that Kiyotaka was Category 4 mage. Namely the person was Ricca Greenwood. Yes, Ricca knew that Kiyotaka powerful mage. But it's still secret to most of the casts though.

So I would suggest that you better read first side story whether you had the chance. Just saying.

PS - I finished Suzuno route and therefore I finished my Flyable Heart playthrough (Duh). I'll comment about Suzuno route later here.

[Eclipsed]

Guys, guys, you know all that shilling that bats and others did for Fata Morgana that annoyed the shit out of all casuals, mainstreamers, hipsters, and elitists alike?

Well, I just finished the First Door of Fata Morgana and now it's my turn to shill I mean comment on what I think of it so far 

~~
Alright, so Fata Morgana's premise seems to be you are this nameless amnesiac prick who wakes up in some place Rose Manor or whatever and this creepy ass maid is all "Welcome back Master! Wait, you lost your memory? Well shit, let's go time travel into various events of the past and you'll surely remember who you are and everything about this manor and its history"

And so I'm guessing the narrative will be an episodic flow with each Chapter / Door focusing on a specific time and the horrific events that occurred at the manor, and so we start off with the First Door of 1604 

And it starts off FKING SLOW. Goddammit who the fk are these sibling brats Mell and Nellie; Oh gawd, Nellie's this stereotypical spoiled little girl who loves her brother waaay too much in that kind of way -.-;;; The duo hail from the high nobility Rhodes family and spend their childhood years innocently playing princess and prince and reaffirming their devotion to each other.

And I'll still be the same age when I quit this VN right now, because goddamn this girl.

Cue the timeskip and now the duo's in their teenage years, Mell is a mellow 17 year old who is uncertain what to do with his life, and Nellie's 14 and still her clingy princess self much to her brother's dismay. There will be an apparent disjoint in the sibling relationship as Mell does indeed deeply love his sister Nellie, just not in that way, but he doesn't realize that her love towards him does swing that way and so he obliviously continues being her one and only prince. Wtf did I just say, idk.

Hrrrmmmm, you know what? You're right. Dearest Nellie, I apologize for my reluctance. We shall return to my quarters immediately, and make lov- NOT

~~
I was snoring bubbles at this point, scoffing and wondering how anyone and everyone who called this VN a masterpiece was just high off of "Ermahgawd this shit is something new, something different, look at the weird art, listen to all the various vocals in the BGM, simply fantastic this VN is!!@#"

But then they introduce the White Haired Girl and that's when things really start picking up. It's really nothing special or groundbreaking or anything, but her introduction was simply the defining moment in which this VN was able to give me three hard slaps to finally hook line and sinker me.

It's probably the way the scene was set up- very atmospheric and mysterious- Mell is walking around the manor in the middle of the night due to plot related insomnia when he stumbles upon one of the maid's chambers and decides to peer inside:

Ooooh, she's hawt- Oh wait i mean she doesn't see me- she doesn't see me- she doesn't see me she doesn't see m-

OH SHIT...!!!!

Turns out the White Haired Girl is a new maid for the Rhodes household, and of course Mell would love-at-first-sight-this gal, which would naturally eventually lead to conflicts with his little princess Nellie. The conflict is written VERY WELL imo, with some pretty decent WTF-worthy moments as to the origins of the White Haired Girl and the motivations and actions of characters friend and foe alike. I was talking alot of smack about Nellie but in the end I really liked her character . Mell himself grows from an awkward, uncertain shy dude to quite the romantic, assertive stud too 

D'AWWWWWW DAT'S MY BOI MELL!@#

~~
So Fata Morgana's an 8/10 for me so far. Art is weird, but it's an okay weird. Music is appreciated. No voices, goddamit. Story started off slow, since it had to set up its characters and setting but once shit goes down it gets pretty interesting. I have high hopes that the other episodes and characters will be up to par quality and add to the overarching mystery and eventually end the whole thing with a big bang.