What are you playing?

[MaggieROBOT]

Just started Danganronpa 2, only played half the prologue and already killed my tamagotchi once.

Guess I'll be a terrible mother...

[Plk_Lesiak]

I've finished Go! Go! Nippon! yesterday, I'm probably going to play through the whole Nekopara series now (all-ages edition). I've grabbed it on a Steam sale for very little money, I think it would creep the hell out of me as porn (I can't fight of the feeling that the premise is pretty much sexual slavery...), but in the cut version it should work fairly well as a relaxing cuteness-fodder. That's the kind of thing I like to watch/read when I'm depressed or under a lot of stress - now I've got a cold, so I hope it'll let me turn my brain off and smile towards the screen like a moron. ;p

By the way, coming back to Go! Go! Nippon!... Do people seriously like that game? I guess it has it's charm, but when I see it praised in serious ways and getting a 4-star review on Fuwa... Just WTF? Wasn't the actual storytelling in it like the most cringy, trope-ridden thing out there? And that protagonist...

Edited November 29, 2017 by Plk_Lesiak

[syfjhz22]

Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu (夜巡る、ボクらの迷子教室) is a big surprise! Probably the best game of this year if you ask me.

 

MUST TRY!!!

 

Very positive story, such a rarity. The last similar one is probably 遥かに仰ぎ、麗しの, and I think this one is even better because its narrative is very realistic. This one has great CV performance as well, good music, pretty much great all round.

The only downside is that personal routes are not as good as common route. Personal route story can be much deeper for each student, but I guess this is the first for this type of game released by softhouse-seal, so you can't complaint too much.

Again, MUST TRY!

Edited November 29, 2017 by syfjhz22

[r0xm2n]

Reached an ending in CLANNAD just now.....

Spoiler

This empty, sorrowful world

[Akshay]

On 11/29/2017 at 6:22 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

I've finished Go! Go! Nippon! yesterday, I'm probably going to play through the whole Nekopara series now (all-ages edition). I've grabbed it on a Steam sale for very little money, I think it would creep the hell out of me as porn (I can't fight of the feeling that the premise is pretty much sexual slavery...), but in the cut version it should work fairly well as a relaxing cuteness-fodder. That's the kind of thing I like to watch/read when I'm depressed or under a lot of stress - now I've got a cold, so I hope it'll let me turn my brain off and smile towards the screen like a moron. ;p

By the way, coming back to Go! Go! Nippon!... Do people seriously like that game? I guess it has it's charm, but when I see it praised in serious ways and getting a 4-star review on Fuwa... Just WTF? Wasn't the actual storytelling in it like the most cringy, trope-ridden thing out there? And that protagonist...

It's not terrible, but something I would prob give a 6/10. It doesn't really feel like a VN, way to much infodumping. 

Feels like someone tried to make a trollish documentary in a VN format.

[Plk_Lesiak]

2 hours ago, Akshay said:

It's not terrible, but something I would prob give a 6/10. It doesn't really feel like a VN, way to much infodumping. 

Feels like someone tried to make a trollish documentary in a VN format.

Exactly, it's not really bad in what it tries to do, but I can't imagine taking it seriously as a VN. Or praising it as something more than a curious travel guide/digital trip thingy. 

Still, a lot of people seemed to love literaly every aspect of it.  It's also funny that a lot them say they've heard so many good things about GGN when I only heard that it's embarrassing as hell (that obviously skewed my perspective a bit, but I don't think it made a huge difference). I wonder where the difference in experiencing it lies.

[Eclipsed]

The ppl doing that Ciel Nosurge Youtube Fantranslating thingy actually finished some time ago, a glorious 252 videos (~59 hours and 30 minutes) worth covering the story bits and not really the Ion dating sim bits because that's apparently the other 50% of the VN so who the hell wants to do another 250 videos xD.

I only read the Ciel Nosurge summaries back then before diving into Ar Nosurge but it's now been about 2 years since I've touched these things so I might just spend my winter break reliving this universe because man was this stuff enjoyable

[Canicheslayer]

In recent days, I finished two VNs :

- Chaos;Child : In a few words, and depsite a slow (and strange) start, It was great - an excellent "possible" sequel to Chaos;Head . At times It was almost as good as Steins;Gate (this true ending is just...awesome). Almost only...because the protagonist and main characters (with one notable exception) are not as good (on the other hand, I liked the "antagonist force" - NO SPOILER). And one of the character chapters is a bit weak (Hinae).

9/10. My VN of the Year. Probably.

- VOID is a short Crime/Spying OELVN. The characters (especially the side cast) and the story are globally too cliché (someone has seen too many episodes of Burn Notice  ). Having said that, the Character Design is pleasant (Ciel and Julie are two dangerous cuties), the dark setting/atmosphere is cool and the True Route is interesting.

7/10

[ChaosRaven]

1 hour ago, Canicheslayer said:

Almost only...because the protagonist and main characters (with one notable exception) are not as good (on the other hand, I liked the "antagonist force" - NO SPOILER).

Could you elaborate a bit what's wrong with the protagonist? The one big problem with Chaos;Head for me was Takumi and judging by the tags the protagonist of Chaos;Child seemed to be almost the opposite, so I thought they learned from their mistakes created a much better protagonist this time. But I've now seen several comments that the new protagonist seems to be kinda... odd as well, and I'm getting a bit of a deja vu feeling of 'not again'. So is this another case of an absolutely unbearable protagonist who only people can stand with almost divine tolerance levels?

[Canicheslayer]

2 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

Could you elaborate a bit what's wrong with the protagonist? The one big problem with Chaos;Head for me was Takumi and judging by the tags the protagonist of Chaos;Child seemed to be almost the opposite, so I thought they learned from their mistakes created a much better protagonist this time. But I've now seen several comments that the new protagonist seems to be kinda... odd as well, and I'm getting a bit of a deja vu feeling of 'not again'. So is this another case of an absolutely unbearable protagonist who only people can stand with almost divine tolerance levels?

Do not worry about Takuru (Chaos;Child's protagonist) : he's pretty smart, proactive and he's not a hikikomori or an antisocial otaku Having said that, yes He's kinda odd (maybe because He's a bit shy or reserved), he's not very charismatic and He's a bit arrogant ("I know everything/They don't") and stubborn...But, believe me, He's seriously less annoying than Takumi/Chaos;Head's protagonist

Edited December 3, 2017 by Canicheslayer
2.1

[ChaosRaven]

On 12/3/2017 at 3:42 AM, Canicheslayer said:

Do not worry about Takuru (Chaos;Head's protagonist) : he's pretty smart, proactive and he's not a hikikomori or an antisocial otaku Having said that, yes He's kinda odd (maybe because He's a bit shy or reserved), he's not very charismatic and He's a bit arrogant ("I know everything/They don't") and stubborn...But, believe me, He's seriously less annoying than Takumi/Chaos;Head's protagonist

That's a relieve! I think I can deal with a somewhat arrogant protagonist - the ones from G-Senjou or Sharin were too - but a Takumi 2 would have been simply too much for me. 

 

So, I finished the third route of Dies Irae now, and considering I didn't really see a big difference to the first two routes - getting the same fights in a slightly different version for the third time - I think I leave it at that. I think there isn't too much to say about the VN so I keep it short. Overall, it's pretty much all about the battles. If you like that style you'll probably have a pretty good time with this VN, since you'll get LOTS of it. But if the battles don't click there's little else to keep you entertained.

That was probably my biggest problem, the battles were not really my cup of tea and bored me for the most part, and besides that there isn't much. That's not to say I couldn't enjoy battles in VN's. I think Fate, Chusingura or MuvLuv Alternative had some pretty awesome battles, but the ones from Dies Irae felt more like a 'Battle Rap' where the participants try to trash talk each other to death. Unfortunately, for me it was more like action-less battles with endless and pointless babbling.

I might still have liked it if the routes were more like the common route, which was still more of a mixture of mystery, combat and character interaction. But the routes itself were just one battle after another with predictable outcome. Plotwise there was barely anything of substance, just lots of trash talk and empty speeches, spiced up with some historic half-knowledge to make it sound more smart. I also didn't really get the point of the routes since the heroines barely mattered and the routes itself felt mostly like carbon copies of each other, with slight variations of the same battles all over again - just longer and more of it.

Ironically, I kind of liked most of the (non-villain) main characters, but it didn't really matter since the VN spent most of its time with battles or endless speeches from the villains. Unfortunately, with the exception of Trifa and maybe Lisa, the villains were mostly mindless grunts with barely anything interesting to do or say. Reinhard and Mercurius could have been better, but for the most part they were just sitting on the sidelines having coffee talk like two grannies.

Art was good though, especially considering its age, just not much diversity. Usually just different CG's with the same characters. Can't remember any side characters or NPC's being drawn. Music wasn't bad but could have been better overall.

IMHO, the VN would be more suited as an anime, since that type of action works better there - provided it's done by the right people of course, which doesn't seem to be the case for the current one I hear. I've recently watched Hellsing Ultimate which has a lot of similarities with Dies Irae and I enjoyed that one quite a bit even if I like the old version still a bit more. Though the comparison isn't entirely fair, considering Hellsing Ultimate was probably the anime with the highest production values I've ever seen. Half of an episode was probably more expensive than the whole Dies Irae VN. But I digress...

Heroine ratings (for what it's worth): Rea > Marie > Kasumi > Kei

Overall rating 5.5/10

[Stormwolf]

Dracu riot

Finished Elina and Miu

Spoiler

 

Elina was a nice route. Could have toned down the pervertedness a bit. It was a nice change that she was truly a perverted heroine, but i think it sometimes was a bit too much.Not a fan of the exhibitionism present, but it was a nice route.

Miu - i had hopes for her. Her jealousy and insecurity was nice.... In the beginning... The route was long and it was grating my eyes and ears as the route went on. Again, not fan of the exhibitionism or the masturbation scene where she continued while knowingly being watched (without knowing who it was). Seems the writer of the h scenes has a thing for exhibitionism. I won't say the route was bad, it has some nice action and was fun to read, just that the heroine could have been better.

Rio - Doing this one now and it has been a nice and cute route so far. I do hope we see some character development with her though.

 

 

[bogdankl]

I finished Kurugaya's route, that was... quite something to say the least... league better than komari, like not even close, okay I got to admit that until now this vn was funny for the most part but right now this vn got me by the balls, I was starting to think I was way to overhyped but now I think it might actually deliver

edit: rin beat sassassassasssami for the first time and I got an item... hilarious

i wonder if you always get the socks first time, just the taught of rin stripping sasasasami of her socks in the middle of the hallway is making me roll over

Edited December 3, 2017 by bogdankl

[Ranzo]

Got back into Flowers again and I got to the confession part

I'm really into Mayuri but a part of me wishes Erika was romancible

Anyway I played this song during that scene and it was absolutely perfect

It probably won't end well

[r0xm2n]

The endings in CLANNAD ........ are just something else. This VN invokes feelings no other visual novel has yet...

[Ranzo]

2 hours ago, r0xm2n said:

The endings in CLANNAD ........ are just something else. This VN invokes feelings no other visual novel has yet...

What ending did you get? But yeah two of my favorite endings of well anything are in that Vn (Kyou's and Tomoyo's)

[Plk_Lesiak]

8 hours ago, Ranzo said:

Got back into Flowers again and I got to the confession part

I'm really into Mayuri but a part of me wishes Erika was romancible

Well, Erika is the protagonist of the second game, so she's even more than just a romance option. ^^ I'm not sure what's going on with the western release of -Le Volume sur Été-, but I can't wait to play it, Yaegaki as a lead character sounds much more appealing that Suou BTH.

[Ranzo]

18 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Well, Erika is the protagonist of the second game, so she's even more than just a romance option. ^^ I'm not sure what's going on with the western release of -Le Volume sur Été-, but I can't wait to play it, Yaegaki as a lead character sounds much more appealing that Suou BTH.

Oh she is going to be the protagonist? I didn't really know that. I knew she was going to be in the next game but I didn't know she was going to be the lead. Yeah I'm really excited about it as well. Well with Erika in it there is probably going to be a lot less sweat and blush involved so that is something to look forward to.

[littleshogun]

On 12/4/2017 at 4:09 AM, ChaosRaven said:

So, I finished the third route of Dies Irae now, and considering I didn't really see a big difference to the first two routes - getting the same fights in a slightly different version for the third time - I think I leave it at that. I think there isn't too much to say about the VN so I keep it short. Overall, it's pretty much all about the battles. If you like that style you'll probably have a pretty good time with this VN, since you'll get LOTS of it. But if the battles don't click there's little else to keep you entertained.

That was probably my biggest problem, the battles were not really my cup of tea and bored me for the most part, and besides that there isn't much. That's not to say I couldn't enjoy battles in VN's. I think Fate, Chusingura or MuvLuv Alternative had some pretty awesome battles, but the ones from Dies Irae felt more like a 'Battle Rap' where the participants try to trash talk each other to death. Unfortunately, for me it was more like action-less battles with endless and pointless babbling.

I might still have liked it if the routes were more like the common route, which was still more of a mixture of mystery, combat and character interaction. But the routes itself were just one battle after another with predictable outcome. Plotwise there was barely anything of substance, just lots of trash talk and empty speeches, spiced up with some historic half-knowledge to make it sound more smart. I also didn't really get the point of the routes since the heroines barely mattered and the routes itself felt mostly like carbon copies of each other, with slight variations of the same battles all over again - just longer and more of it.

Ironically, I kind of liked most of the (non-villain) main characters, but it didn't really matter since the VN spent most of its time with battles or endless speeches from the villains. Unfortunately, with the exception of Trifa and maybe Lisa, the villains were mostly mindless grunts with barely anything interesting to do or say. Reinhard and Mercurius could have been better, but for the most part they were just sitting on the sidelines having coffee talk like two grannies.

Art was good though, especially considering its age, just not much diversity. Usually just different CG's with the same characters. Can't remember any side characters or NPC's being drawn. Music wasn't bad but could have been better overall.

IMHO, the VN would be more suited as an anime, since that type of action works better there - provided it's done by the right people of course, which doesn't seem to be the case for the current one I hear. I've recently watched Hellsing Ultimate which has a lot of similarities with Dies Irae and I enjoyed that one quite a bit even if I like the old version still a bit more. Though the comparison isn't entirely fair, considering Hellsing Ultimate was probably the anime with the highest production values I've ever seen. Half of an episode was probably more expensive than the whole Dies Irae VN. But I digress...

Heroine ratings (for what it's worth): Rea > Marie > Kasumi > Kei

Overall rating 5.5/10

Well your score was quite understandable considering that apparently you didn't like the writing of Masada there, and it showed every time you wrote about this. Oh, I also knew that you didn't like Tokyo Babel much and after knowing Clephas always compared both of Tokyo Babel and Dies Irae, it didn't need much work to guess that score. Anyway, apparently you didn't fit with Masada there and maybe chuuni in general, so perhaps you better be cautious about the VN with that genre if you want to try that. That said, some of your critic was almost the same as what Conjueror said as the negative so I understand some of your point there, and I think it's quite a good review there even though perhaps it's not quite preferable for the people who like Dies Irae.

PS - Sorry if this question was pretty personal to you beforehand. I was curious since you said that you always heard Germany in the bar and yet there's no meteor shower or something like that, and by any chance are you Germany? Just asking, and I apologize if you felt insulted by my question here.

[bogdankl]

okay is it just me or is the translation of lb kinda clunky

 

 

I had a scene where it was from the perspective of haruka and she was thinking about her past and she says a lot of things but I can't really understand them, like she says when she was first brought into this home, does that mean she is adopted, also says that she was beaten for not using chopsticks properly but I don't think it was by the parents we saw in the previous scene, also why have things in a parenthesis there was no need for that since she was thinking that and they could just put a comma instead, I don't know if the writing or the translation is weird but for the first time ever reading a visual novel I find myself struggling with the text[/spoilers]

 

this is like the dark souls of visual novel for me

or hey maybe it's just me, english isn't my first language

Edited December 5, 2017 by bogdankl

[ChaosRaven]

15 hours ago, littleshogun said:

Well your score was quite understandable considering that apparently you didn't like the writing of Masada there, and it showed every time you wrote about this. Oh, I also knew that you didn't like Tokyo Babel much and after knowing Clephas always compared both of Tokyo Babel and Dies Irae, it didn't need much work to guess that score. Anyway, apparently you didn't fit with Masada there and maybe chuuni in general, so perhaps you better be cautious about the VN with that genre if you want to try that. That said, some of your critic was almost the same as what Conjueror said as the negative so I understand some of your point there, and I think it's quite a good review there even though perhaps it's not quite preferable for the people who like Dies Irae.

Chuuni is certainly not my favorite genre, just like I'm not a big fan of shonen animes. Though that doesn't mean I wouldn't like some VN's with chuuni elements like F/SN. Tokyo Babel also wasn't that bad after all - I even upvoted it in VNDB to a 7 some time ago. Though Dies was reeeal hardcore chuuni, choosing 100% style over substance. And that's almost the anti-thesis of what I like: facts over style. Conjueror's review was pretty good - he certainly didn't try to hide its weaknesses. At some parts, I was almost starting to doubt that he even likes the VN. 

15 hours ago, littleshogun said:

PS - Sorry if this question was pretty personal to you beforehand. I was curious since you said that you always heard Germany in the bar and yet there's no meteor shower or something like that, and by any chance are you Germany? Just asking, and I apologize if you felt insulted by my question here.

I'm not exactly sure when I was talking about bars and meteor showers, but it's true that I'm German. 

[Fred the Barber]

5 hours ago, bogdankl said:

okay is it just me or is the translation of lb kinda clunky

 

  Hide contents

I had a scene where it was from the perspective of haruka and she was thinking about her past and she says a lot of things but I can't really understand them, like she says when she was first brought into this home, does that mean she is adopted, also says that she was beaten for not using chopsticks properly but I don't think it was by the parents we saw in the previous scene, also why have things in a parenthesis there was no need for that since she was thinking that and they could just put a comma instead, I don't know if the writing or the translation is weird but for the first time ever reading a visual novel I find myself struggling with the text[/spoilers]

 

this is like the dark souls of visual novel for me

or hey maybe it's just me, english isn't my first language

I don't know about those specific scenes, but the LB! translation is terrible; it makes that Newton and the Apple Tree youtube video I was ranting about yesterday look like Shakespeare. I was thinking about reviewing Little Busters! for FuwaReviews a while back when it came out, but after a few hours with it, I was so caught up in being annoyed at the translation that I wasn't having any fun with it. It's a shame Key started letting people butcher their games in localization lately (I'm looking at you, Harmonia. Clannad was fine, from what I recall, and I haven't played Planetarian), since I rather like them. Oh well. At least you can always watch the anime, I guess?

[Thyndd]

I finally finished Grisaia no Kajitsu, every route and every ending. Michiru's route was hmmm interesting, though the supernatural elements out of the blue, not present anywhere else in the VN, feel at least a little bit odd. But hey, overall interesting story, pretty emotional, her backstory was great and she's a fair contender for best girl position 

Also fuck the cat scene, made me cry my eyes out... I had a cat myself who went through a similar fate.

As for Yumiko, to be honest I thought the story was somewhat boring, very similar to Makina's story but without all that made it exciting. The girl was sweet though, I must admit, but that's par for the course in Grisaia.

Now I got a hold of Little busters! English edition and I'm replaying it for the good old feels. I think it was like 2 or 3 years ago when I played it for the first time, so most important points are still fresh in my mind, but who cares, quality is quality.

[HotTrax]

Hoshizora no Memoria - Steam ver backed and wasn’t really planning on playing all the way again but decided to check it out. I ended up finishing Komomo route.
Junjou Karen Freaks – Liked it. Very sweet heroines, good time. 

[RadicalCarenChan]

15 hours ago, Thyndd said:

Michiru's route was hmmm interesting, though the supernatural elements out of the blue, not present anywhere else in the VN, feel at least a little bit odd. But hey, overall interesting story, pretty emotional, her backstory was great and she's a fair contender for best girl position 

Very true. The supernatural element is pretty hard to swallow (even if everything else in Grisaia isn't exactly realistic). The route itself is interesting if you get past it tho, and yes, after reading her route (and playing her story in Meikyuu), I found no difficulty in seeing how she could be a fan favorite. I kinda hated her at first (never too fond on stupid and loud characters myself), but now I love her to bits.

15 hours ago, Thyndd said:

As for Yumiko, to be honest I thought the story was somewhat boring, very similar to Makina's story but without all that made it exciting. The girl was sweet though, I must admit, but that's par for the course in Grisaia.

I think it's a common opinion of Yumiko's route. I agree the route's not particularly exciting by itself, but I enjoyed it enough. Probably because that's the first route I read and Yumiko is my favorite girl. Her 'dere' is just too powerful. And I probably like her chemistry with Yuuji the most.