What are you playing?

[Jun Inoue]

As I tend to do, I picked up a VN I had started and just kinda forgot about, Noble Works. Finished Maya's route, who we all know is best girl, and I'm now doing Shizuru's.

[Kurisu-Chan]

On 12/02/2017 at 1:11 AM, Vorathiel said:

I never got to like Jacopo. Always

  Reveal hidden contents

an asshole, and then in last part - complete moron, twat and cruel scumbag. So I didn't 'bought' his 'love' for Morgana and I do not 'ship' them at all. So I'm scepticall about reading their happy days in upcoming fandisc, but at the same time I'm sure it will be great.
(I'm more worried about upcoming another episodes for Vita, with new graphics, voices and modern setting, but I will probably never read it, cause I'm vita-less, so who cares.)

But it didn't hold me from giving Fata 9.7/10 and reaching my top 3 favourite VN, just after the whole Muv Luv series and first Kara No Shoujo2.

Isn't this just lovely?

<3

Since when are you a Steins;Fanboy? 

 

[Funyarinpa]

I ended up doing the stupidest thing I could do and booted up Clannad. Art is atrocious but I got through Umineko's original version three years ago, I'll be fine (though the sprites in this VN are even worse). So far -and by that I mean as far as talking to the girl eating anpan in the courtyard- I kind of like the music and the backgrounds, but honestly I feel like the game can't focus on a consistent tone. First it's desolate and depressing, and five minutes later it's your average goofy SoL scene with that blonde kid. I wish it'd stick to the lonely stuff for now, feels like that's what the game is going for the most. Also seems like there'll be a lot of classic high school setting shenanigans (that whole thing with the class president was generic as hell).

Edit: I'll also most likely stall it, I really don't have the time for large-scale games right now.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Funyarinpa

[Dreamysyu]

17 minutes ago, Funyarinpa said:

I ended up doing the stupidest thing I could do and booted up Clannad. Art is atrocious but I got through Umineko's original version three years ago, I'll be fine (though the sprites in this VN are even worse). So far -and by that I mean as far as talking to the girl eating anpan in the courtyard- I kind of like the music and the backgrounds, but honestly I feel like the game can't focus on a consistent tone. First it's desolate and depressing, and five minutes later it's your average goofy SoL scene with that blonde kid. I wish it'd stick to the lonely stuff for now, feels like that's what the game is going for the most. Also seems like there'll be a lot of classic high school setting shenanigans (that whole thing with the class president was generic as hell).

Good luck!You'll probably need it.

I personally liked Clannad anime very much, and it was the main reason why I got into VNs in the first place. But when I tried reading the VN, it was so boring and unnecessarily long that I dropped it after finishing one route. I don't know, maybe it's a good idea to try it again.

[Kurisu-Chan]

The VN is, really, really, really long.

Also DON'T FUCKING INSULT TOMOYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 

[Fred the Barber]

3 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Good luck!You'll probably need it.

I personally liked Clannad anime very much, and it was the main reason why I got into VNs in the first place. But when I tried reading the VN, it was so boring and unnecessarily long that I dropped it after finishing one route. I don't know, maybe it's a good idea to try it again.

Pretty much this. I don't know how I forced myself to read the whole thing, but the new stuff in After Story was sometimes worth it (everybody knows Clannad is all about After Story, right?).

[Mr Poltroon]

I've finished Kagura's route in LoveKami. By no means is it long enough to warrant individual thoughts, so I'll simply post my thoughts on the game thus far below.
I think it's about a 5 hour read to anybody that reads a bit faster than me, and likely shorter to anybody that reads at a reasonable speed. Each route may add about an hour to that, making for a total of 7 or thereabout.
Thoughts (no real spoilers):

Spoiler

 

Translation-wise, I am happy to say that it is neither bad nor plastered with typos -- a few were present at worst. If I had to describe it, the translation is rather liberal, with a few literal lines. I'd like to imagine that those lines come as a result of a bad day for the translator or him just giving up on thinking hard. Otherwise, liberally translated, to the point where I'm led to believe the tone is incorrectly conveyed at times. Egregiously, there was an occasion where the translation came out as "I guess you're right!" when she was actually saying something more akin to a haughty "Correct!". Take this with a grain of salt, of course, as I don't actually know Japanese.
As a non-native, I can't really tell if it flows smoothly or not, as I paid no attention to such.

Story-wise, I've already expressed my contempt at the ridiculous premise, but that's nothing new to visual novels focused on ecchi or sex. Most of the story takes place as the protagonist helps two of the girls to become idols, an idea which I actually rather liked. Watching them as they spent their days working to improve, coming up with plans, fighting amongst themselves, and even falling in love was rather fun. Unfortunately, here also lie some of the main issues I take with the game: Everything feels like it happens simply because that's what the plot says happened.

Two relatively unknown 'idols' form a duo by posting a video of them making the announcement, bickering included, and somehow the video goes viral. They post some actual practice sessions and the reaction is lukewarm at best. When the plot requires it, they perform well, when the plot requires it, the 'fans' don't play attention.
The execution came off in such a way that I can't help but think about that. I feel that if it had been done better, I wouldn't be bringing this up, or realising it at all.

Kagura's route mainly consisted of ecchi-drama-conciliation-romance-ending. Here comes another issue I had. The route was really short, taking less than an hour and a half for me to read. Clearly, this was nowhere near enough to substantially develop a thing, from the drama to the romance. It's this shortness that I think compounds the issue of everything seeming like it's following a script. There's no time for diversions, making for a scene full of ecchi transitioning to a new day with a scene full of drama to a new day with a scene full of romance. Mechanical.

I don't particularly enjoy ecchi. In fact, it can make me uncomfortable enough that I end up playing a small window. Most CG's had a single objective: Emphasising the breasts and genitals. I'd go so far as to say that they threw maintaining consistent proportions out the window. A few CGs were cute enough, as opposed to sexual, but I don't think I can pardon this VN for lacking romantic CGs of any kind. Within the (short) romantic section there were no hugging or kiss CGs. There was an arm-holding one, which I suppose is something.
The romance is there though. Kisses, hugging, cuddling, expressions of love are all there. It just lacks the CGs and length to truly support them.

I can say I really liked the music for this title. I believe no small part of it was due to the inclusion of random Japanese instruments in the peppy electronic and pop music. And, as is typical, I didn't much care for its vocal songs. Don't worry, that's normal with me.

The movement of the sprites has issues. I've not only seen it done better in other titles, such as Corona Blossom, my main issue with this one is that the mouth movement is often mismatched to the expression a character is wearing. For instance, a character who is making a surprised =o face will often use mouth movement that looks like =D or =3 and vice versa, =D expression making =o or =(. Pouty =< faces using =3 as mouth movement bothered me a bit, for instance.

The interface and engine are slick. I imagine this was a game made using their latest engine, even if all its features are technically wasted on this short, nearly choice-less, title.

 

It's not the shortest game I've played, and it's certainly not the worst.
I'll conclude by saying I don't believe I am in the target audience for this title, with its lack of substantial romance, and that it's instead a recommended read for fans of Sakura series or ecchi who prefer shorter titles. If you're looking for meaningful drama, romance or... just about anything, really, that is not idols or ecchi, then I'd recommend you play something else.

 

Since it's short, I'll be concluding the other two routes at some point. Who knows if I won't be surprised.

Spoiler

"as If My Heart Had Wings"?????????

Who am I kidding, with this big of a missed opportunity it's a 1/10 title.

 

[Deniz]

I started to Air.Two days according to the calendar on top.Its great so far.Adorable Misuzu.Lovely soundtrack and lots of choices.Also town CG's are pretty.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Deniz

[Barktooth]

Still reading Little Busters, and I have no idea what to think of it at this point. I'm through Komari, Rin part 1, Kurugaya, Haruka, and just now finished Kud's route.

Spoiler

And I'm quite perplexed in reference to the events closer to the end. Was she really chained up in a cave, before Riki teleported a broken metal piece into her hand, thereby unshackling her? That would be utterly preposterous, so I'm assuming it was all just a big metaphor of Kud being chained by her guilt and regrets. Still, I don't particularly enjoy the way they executed it for some reason. Something kept bothering me... I think even my well-trained skill of suspension of disbelief just wasn't enough to allow me to enjoy this scene properly. I may have liked it better if the VN had been more transparent about it being a metaphor. 

Or maybe it wasn't one after all. But in that case, I don't know how else to explain it. I'm hoping some future route sheds light upon what happened here (maybe Rin part 2? They did receive that message suggesting that their world harbors some sort of secret... Could it be that it's associated with Riki's dreams somehow? Kurugaya's route was apparently all a dream anyway... With this, maybe they can somehow justify everything.)

While it would be nice if they managed to explain all this eventually, I doubt that alone would increase my enjoyment of this VN by a significant amount. Even if it all makes sense in the end, a lot of developments seemed absurd and made me rack my brains (not in a good way, really) while actually reading, which was not pleasing, and the ends to most routes didn't feel satisfying (I'll have to say, Haruka's route and ending was pretty alright in this respect. Albeit, her family circumstances are quite unusual, TOO unusual, possibly...) Stuff like the accident on the Solomon Islands (What even happened? A rocket they were trying to launch blew up and that somehow caused a huge catastrophe followed by a rebellion? Seems unreasonable...), Kud's mom being murdered in the bad end, and then the route concluding without mention of how her trip went in the good end...

In any case, I'm not sure whether it's my approach to reading it, me being too stupid to grasp what's going on, or it requiring a formidable ability of suspending disbelief, but this VN is still far below my expectations. I hope it gets better at least for Mio route.

Edited February 18, 2017 by Barktooth

[Fred the Barber]

On 2/17/2017 at 10:45 PM, Barktooth said:

Still reading Little Busters, and I have no idea what to think of it at this point. I'm through Komari, Rin part 1, Kurugaya, Haruka, and just now finished Kud's route.

  Hide contents

And I'm quite perplexed in reference to the events closer to the end. Was she really chained up in a cave, before Riki teleported a broken metal piece into her hand, thereby unshackling her? That would be utterly preposterous, so I'm assuming it was all just a big metaphor of Kud being chained by her guilt and regrets. Still, I don't particularly enjoy the way they executed it for some reason. Something kept bothering me... I think even my well-trained skill of suspension of disbelief just wasn't enough to allow me to enjoy this scene properly. I may have liked it better if the VN had been more transparent about it being a metaphor. 

Or maybe it wasn't one after all. But in that case, I don't know how else to explain it. I'm hoping some future route sheds light upon what happened here (maybe Rin part 2? They did receive that message suggesting that their world harbors some sort of secret... Could it be that it's associated with Riki's dreams somehow? Kurugaya's route was apparently all a dream anyway... With this, maybe they can somehow justify everything.)

While it would be nice if they managed to explain all this eventually, I doubt that alone would increase my enjoyment of this VN by a significant amount. Even if it all makes sense in the end, a lot of developments seemed absurd and made me rack my brains (not in a good way, really) while actually reading, which was not pleasing, and the ends to most routes didn't feel satisfying (I'll have to say, Haruka's route and ending was pretty alright in this respect. Albeit, her family circumstances are quite unusual, TOO unusual, possibly...) Stuff like the accident on the Solomon Islands (What even happened? A rocket they were trying to launch blew up and that somehow caused a huge catastrophe followed by a rebellion? Seems unreasonable...), Kud's mom being murdered in the bad end, and then the route concluding without mention of how her trip went in the good end...

In any case, I'm not sure whether it's my approach to reading it, me being too stupid to grasp what's going on, or it requiring a formidable ability of suspending disbelief, but this VN is still far below my expectations. I hope it gets better at least for Mio route.

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that in all of this, you don't have more to say about Kurugaya's route. I found it one of the most intriguing ones. I suspect you're going to get even more annoyed by Mio's route, actually, but I definitely recommend you to stick with the game anyway, because Refrain is where Little Busters! really picks up, and you're almost there.

[onorub]

Finished Noble Works and when comparing it to Dracu-Riot, i'd say that Noble Works is better at romance and Dracu-Riot is better at everything else.

Shizuru has my favorite YukuSoft route so far, btw.

[Zidan209]

A few days ago, i started Majikoi. The reason was probably the rumors about it being a quite good comedy. And i have to admit that it met all my expectations, because some of the moments gave me some of the biggest laughs i've ever had.

I've done Wanko's route, now i'm reading Miyako. Also, i noticed that there are many Majikoi games, but there are characters that i haven't even met yet. Do they even appear there, or they are just something new in the fandiscs? Also, if someone can tell me in what order should i play them, because i am planning to read all of the translated ones

[littleshogun]

1 hour ago, Zidan209 said:

I've done Wanko's route, now i'm reading Miyako. Also, i noticed that there are many Majikoi games, but there are characters that i haven't even met yet. Do they even appear there, or they are just something new in the fandiscs? Also, if someone can tell me in what order should i play them, because i am planning to read all of the translated ones

Which character? Because I'm sure that there's a lot of characters that introduced in either original game or sequels. As for the play order, go with original first than S.

[Zidan209]

1 minute ago, littleshogun said:

Which character? Because I'm sure that there's a lot of characters that introduced in either original game or sequels. As for the play order, go with original first than S.

Pretty much most of the characters in the fandiscs. I only played the original game, and just one and half a route of it, so there still might be a chance for them to appear

Edited February 19, 2017 by Zidan209

[Mr Poltroon]

6 minutes ago, Zidan209 said:

Pretty much most of the characters in the fandiscs. I only played the original game, and just one and half a route of it, so there still might be a chance for them to appear

Majikoi -> Majikoi S -> Majikoi A;

Majikoi S is a sequel, and introduces most of the new characters. Majikoi A (all five of the releases that compose it) may introduce some of them as well. Majikoi A is basically as if somebody stapled more content into Majikoi S (a great deal of it better quality than what S got), so don't imagine the term 'fandisk' makes it lower quality or less enjoyable. Only two of the five Majikoi A releases are currently translated.

[Barktooth]

9 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that in all of this, you don't have more to say about Kurugaya's route. I found it one of the most intriguing ones. I suspect you're going to get even more annoyed by Mio's route, actually, but I definitely recommend you to stick with the game anyway, because Refrain is where Little Busters! really picks up, and you're almost there.

I think I've just decided to hold off on forming an opinion for Kurugaya's route until I read Refrain, as according to the guide, she has a more satisfying ending there. It was a good route but too short for my taste, and it didn't explain much of what went on.

Spoiler

It did have me guessing at what could be going on. I think I settled on some poorly thought through theory of Kurugaya being a time traveler, and thus not remembering (or knowing of in the first place) certain events that took place. This was, of course, totally off the mark, and allegedly everything took place in a dream world that was slowly fading away. I wonder what was happening in the real world at this time, though... Was Riki just in the middle of having a narcolepsy-induced nap?  I think I'll need to re-read the route and at least try to figure out where the dream started. I'm guessing it was when Kurugaya approached him at that place where they often drank tea some time after she stormed out of the broadcasting room following Riki's confession. She seemed to act differently then.

It's not that intriguing for me as I don't think there can be any good explanation for how this dream happened. I hope the VN can surprise me on that, though.

I certainly plan on finishing the VN, it's still a good read even if a bit annoying at times. Plus, having put 60+ hours into it already, the sunk cost fallacy wouldn't let me drop it now. I was expecting Refrain to be some short bonus content, but if that's where things really pick up, I'm looking forward to it.

[WinterfuryZX]

Finally finished Himawari, took me 2 month of my life....

Chapter 1 5/10

Chapter 2 8/10

Aqua Route 6/10

___/Aries Route 4/10

Asuka Route 7/10

Komorebi 8/10

Kagerou 8/10

 

Overall: 7/10

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by WinterfuryZX

[Noir]

Taking a break from Nurse Love Addiction to play G-senjou no mahou.

 

[MFrost]

Da Capo III ...so is it basically

 

Spoiler

just a prequel/alternate story occuring in "Weather Vane Academy" and having absolutely nothing to do with the group that was first introduced in the present timeline? or is there a 2nd part?
 

I wish Tomoe Gojouin had her own route though. I like her.

 

 

Edit: Daaaammmn Shiki is savage .

Spoiler

 

Edited February 22, 2017 by MFrost

[Kawasumi]

44 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

Is that the one about the violin with the magical G-string? 

g-strings are pretty magical  

[onorub]

Finished Hate Plus (it felt pretty much the same as the original), so now my number of dropped VNs is down to under 20. Woo!

[pual]

On 19.2.2017 at 10:40 PM, Mr Poltroon said:

Majikoi -> Majikoi S -> Majikoi A;

Majikoi S is a sequel, and introduces most of the new characters. Majikoi A (all five of the releases that compose it) may introduce some of them as well. Majikoi A is basically as if somebody stapled more content into Majikoi S (a great deal of it better quality than what S got), so don't imagine the term 'fandisk' makes it lower quality or less enjoyable. Only two of the five Majikoi A releases are currently translated.

Kokoro route in any of them?

[Mr Poltroon]

1 minute ago, pual said:

Kokoro route in any of them?

Yes. Unfortunately, in S.
I say 'unfortunately' for S actually produced some of the worst routes -- not only short, they had an excessive focus on sex -- exempting a couple. Kokoro's is not one of the exceptions.

[onorub]

36 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Yes. Unfortunately, in S.
I say 'unfortunately' for S actually produced some of the worst routes -- not only short, they had an excessive focus on sex -- exempting a couple. Kokoro's is not one of the exceptions.

I remember only liking Koyuki and Tsubame in that. Monshiro and Tatsunee felt like first halves of really good routes, and Kokoro and Margit felt like would be side routes on the original novel.

[Kabu]

23 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Yes. Unfortunately, in S.
I say 'unfortunately' for S actually produced some of the worst routes -- not only short, they had an excessive focus on sex -- exempting a couple. Kokoro's is not one of the exceptions.

That's strange, I only seem to remember the after routes for the original heroines, and the Agave after story, being like that.