What are you playing?

[t-elos]

Currently playing Kara no Shoujo 2. Easily one of the best VN's I have ever read, truly a amazing piece of writing. 

[ChaosRaven]

So, I've finished Wagamama High Spec after what feels like an eternity. (Technically I already finished it a few weeks ago, but I was just too lazy to post.) 

I had already started this in October last year and at that time I finished the common at a rather good pace. The way the protagonist and especially his sister Toa end up in the student council together with Kaoruko and Ashe was actually quite funny. I think the VN did take a lot of inspirations from Yuzusoft, since the sprites are very dynamic with lots of expressions that even change multiple time during a sentence. It's certainly very well done. And the plot arc about Kouki being a secret manga writer and his connection to Kaoruko was also quite amusing. I also appreciate that the VN has several decent support characters with Yukari and Karen in particular being almost more interesting than the main cast.

Unfortunately the VN also shares some weaknesses with Yuzusoft titles - the routes. While I had finished the common route comparably fast, it took me almost half a year to finish just Mihiro's and Ashe's route and I didn't really have the endurance for the others anymore. That's not to say they were bad, just very generic. Even the other heroines matter in the routes, so I guess it's fair to say that they were probably better than many other moege routes I've read. The main problem was more that I wasn't really 'interested' in the heroines. The character designs have a certain childish goofyness that make them cute and entertaining to watch, but lack the maturity I need to get the hots for a girl.
It's also common problem of romance comedy's for me, that the comedy parts takes so much seriousness out of the plot that the actual romance is left without the necessary tension to captivate me. And a certain passion and tension are necessary ingredients for a good romance to me. And I guess partly to blame is also my ongoing moege slump, that makes it harder to stomach generic moege plots than in my earlier VN years.

So in conclusion, I'd say this IS a well done romance comedy with decent art, lots of ero and likable characters. But besides that it doesn't offer a particular outstanding plot like Dracu Riot's action loaded vampire slapstick comedy for example.

Heroine rating: Yukari > Karen > Mihiro = Toa > Ashe > Kaoruko

Overall rating: 6.5/10 (feel free to add a grade if you're more into comedy and the cutesy character designs)

I've also started Saku Saku, but already stalled it in favor of Hapymaher. To still throw in a few comments about it, it's major selling point is probably the art. The character designs are attractive, although some like Tina are probably a bit too cute for my taste. The artist also put a lot of effort into drawing background characters. I'm not sure when I had the last time the pleasure to see a class room FULL with different students. I think only some older titles like Clannad, Da Capo 2 and Shuffle put so much effort into it.

Anyway, the plot in the common route is kind of ridiculous at first, but the VN kinda makes up for it a bit with some surprisingly good character interactions. Especially the protagonist is actually a rather cynical dude with dry humor. The plot gets somewhat more interesting when some Shinigami start to show up from nowhere. On the other hand, it declines so fast to comedic level that it looses almost its entire appeal. So far my plans are to play Ann's and Yuuri's route and skip the rest.

Didn't progress in Hapymaher far enough yet to really give a qualified comment about it, but so far it's rather promising with its mysterious dream sequences and Maia a really unique and interesting character as mischivous villain. It's not without flaws though, since the pacing is rather slow and Saki kind of annoying. But I really like that it gives more serious vibes for a change and isn't just light comedy. And Yayoi is kind of super hot - her route will certainly be my first. 

Edited July 22, 2018 by ChaosRaven

[adamstan]

I just finished Nocturnal Illusion. Interesting experience.

Again, it's VN in an text adventure game format, but here it works well. There are no routes, but instead you read through each heroine's arc, helping them defeat demons of their past that haunt them. At first glance it might look like a nukige, but it's far from that - I really liked the story, and it wasn't just an excuse for next h-scene (and, actually there aren't THAT many, they just seem packed due to lack of routes). What's more, h-scenes themselves are very nicely intertwined with plot - they aren't just random fucks. While some reviews claim that it still feels like "cheap excuse", they are justified by the rules of the illusionary world the whole story takes place in. After you get to know the story of each heroine, what they went through and how long they were wandering lost and lonely, it isn't suprising that they long for some intimacy and warmth. I have to agree with @Nandemonai:

On 15.11.2017 at 4:50 AM, Nandemonai said:

You can't recall a single case where an explicitly written out consensual sex scene meaningfully developed someone's relationship?  Well, I'll admit they're very very rare.  But I can name two games where this happens off the top of my head: Crescendo and Nocturnal Illusion.  Coincidentally, these two games also actually don't fall into two other common pitraps: 1) the girls' personalities don't disappear during sex (usually replaced with a broken record repeatedly demanding more pizza), and 2) The scenes themselves aren't ridiculously generic.

Yes, the vast majority of the time, sex scenes are there as porn for the players, who can be expected to want to see characters they like get naked.  And honestly, both of these games only manage this feat with one or two scenes.  But they do in fact pull it off.

Indeed, there are some good scenes. There are also some that feel like they had to be there as writers wanted to conform to eroge-standards of the time, exploring all popular hentai fetishes, so sometimes it feels a bit stretched, but nevertheless the game as a whole works.

I think that my favorite arcs were Maya, Yukina, Sari and Misao. By that I don't mean that others were bad, but these stood out for me.  I've come to really like Maya, and actually got smiling everytime I saw her smile in later parts of the game. Misao's relationship with protagonist was really funny. Yukina and Sari - these were pretty sad, but great... And it was a joy to see Yukina smiling after her arc.

Mistress was great character too.

The story is linear, but it branches at the end, when you choose one girl to return to the outside world with you.

I think that my favorite epliogues were Miwako, Sari and Maya. First two were really heartwarming, and third - beacuse I felt some strange connection to Maya, and I think she and Shinichi made great couple. Some epilogues have two variants - happy and bittersweet. For some reason bittersweet Arisa's epilogue made my eyes little wet.

Mistress' happy ending could be considered kind of True End (although officially game doesn't have such), but I'd like it to be little longer, and explain some more. Nevertheless final CG was nice and heartwarming.

I loved art and music - the latter was beautiful, and, at times, I'd say haunting. I also really liked the tune that played during h-scenes. The game, just like the other two oldies I reviewed before, features that oldschool anime-style character design - I loved it. I slightly missed those small random facial animations from JAST's '90s engine used by Season of Sakura nad Three Sisters Story - it was really great feature. Nocturnal Illusion is more static, but I still liked the whole presentation. I actually prefer original PC98/WIN95 art over the remake. Those almost-monochrome dithered backgrounds have certain charm.

"Adventure" gameplay is smoothest from those three titles, with lowest amount of pointless clicking. Still, while there are no bad ends*, having walkthrough at hand helps to not get stuck and progress the story at decent pace.

Spoiler

*Well, there's one choice in Arisa's arc that can lock you out of either her or Miwako's epilogue, but that's it.

Unfortunately, localization is poor. It feels like whoever was responsible for it, wasn't good with english So I'm looking forward to @Nandemonai's retranslation.

Time for the score. This game surprised me - it was much better than I expected, based on my past impressions from the prologue. I think I can give it even 7.5/10 (despite abysmal localization ).

It's a pity that it won't work on newer systems - XP or W98/95 virtual (or physical ) machine is the only way to go. Or web version at  Asenheim Project, but I feel awkward playing VNs in a browser window.

Edited July 22, 2018 by adamstan

[adamstan]

I just finished Meisou Toshi (Runaway City)

It was disappointing...

It tried to have some plot, but couldn't get away from being just a nukige. The story was boring and characters were bland. Year later TIARE (JAST) got much better, releasing Sakura no Kisetsu, but this was its exact opposite - pure '90s nukige with paper-thin characters and weak plot. And it's completely linear, except for the ending (basically you have to make some choices to avoid bad end), so all choices and whole adventure mechanic means just lots of pointless clicking.

BTW There is one interesting easter egg - while listening to conversations on the street, you can overhear some random guys speaking about Sakura no Kisetsu, even though it wasn't released yet - of course without mentioning the title. They discuss who is the best girl - Reiko, Mio or Aki? And how difficult it is to get Ruri.

Music was good, and the art was decent too, but I'm still disappointed. 5.5/10

Now I think I'll return to Key, and start Kanon.

Edited July 24, 2018 by adamstan

[adamstan]

I feel a little weird, writing third post in a row, but whatever...

I'm reading Kanon now, and it's good Yesterday I finished first route - Nayuki's.

I had one funny experience. At one time I was quite tired and sleepy, so decided to lie down a bit. Then, being half asleep I started to dream about Nayuki  - seeing something like scenes from VN, with my thoughts in a textbox nonetheless. And - not realizing that I'm lying on a sofa, not playing a game, I repeatedly tried to click nonexistent mouse button to advance the story

Edited July 27, 2018 by adamstan

[littleshogun]

Finished with Yuzuyu's route from Fureraba after delayed it for long time, and so my obvious objective for Fureraba here should be clearing Misakichi's route seeing that it's the only remaining unfinished route. I'll try to comment on Yuzuyu's route later, but overall my advice is still the same though that if you play Fureraba you better just expect it as normal moege/charage instead of epic story.

[Inorin]

Currently playing Analogue. Dayum the first part with the Override Terminal felt a bit like a Linux shell terminal to me, except that I could only run a few commands on it. Unfortunately, unlike Linux, pressing the up key doesn't actually let me see the previous commands that I had typed so if I misspelt something I gotta type everything again.

Spoiler

Anyways, the vn's quite short, so I'm looking forward to completing it by today.

Edited July 29, 2018 by wei123

[Inorin]

6 hours ago, wei123 said:

Currently playing Analogue. Dayum the first part with the Override Terminal felt a bit like a Linux shell terminal to me, except that I could only run a few commands on it. Unfortunately, unlike Linux, pressing the up key doesn't actually let me see the previous commands that I had typed so if I misspelt something I gotta type everything again.

  Reveal hidden contents

Anyways, the vn's quite short, so I'm looking forward to completing it by today.

... and I'm done. This has gotta be the fastest I've taken to complete a VN, and the thing is that I actually quite enjoyed it. The OS simulation thing was quite unique and enjoyable and all the logs were pretty interesting to read. Only problems I have with the plot are how 

Spoiler

the Hyun-ae's murder plot was just summarised within a single log instead of actually being expanded on multiple ones, and the somewhat unfinished conclusions in the character routes (I know Hate Plus addresses this but still)

 

[Ranzo]

I'm taking a slight break from 12 to play Flowers Dos since I've been awaiting its release with baited breath and an underlining agitation. I love it so far, Erika is my ideal protagonist I find her sarcasm and snarkiness to be refreshing. She really fits to my wavelength. While I liked Shou there were a few times when I found her meekness and timidness to be a bit frustrating. The references are as lit as ever, and I'm once again drawn to its peaceful and steady pace. I think it takes real skill to get a slow pace exactly right. Many vns and stories try but most times they end up being ponderous and aggravating. Flowers gets it right.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Ranzo

[t-elos]

Flowers ete, very good so far

[Zayne11293]

About to start reading Magical Marriage Lunatics again.  Started it awhile back but didnt get far and lost my progress.  Hoping it entertains me as much as other moonstone titles like Princess Evangile.

[adamstan]

I just finished Kanon.

It was beautiful. Can be seen as sort of prototype for later Key games, but still holds up on its own. I think my favourite girls and routes were Nayuki and Ayu (first and last played). Probably because we spend most time with one or both of them, whichever route we're on. Nayuki's route felt natural for first one to read, it makes nice introduction into the world.

Shiori, Makoto and Mai were good too. Makoto's story was really sad, but with many heartwarming moments near the end. Shiori's route was nice romance story. Mai's route was interesting, also with right amount of feels included. The setup for this route was very similar to Saya's route from LB!. The ending - in some ways - too. The nicest thing about this route was observing how Mai slowly opened up before Yuuichi as their relationship progressed. Then the ending hits somewhat unexpectedly, and whole epilogue sequence is vague enough that I wasn't sure if KeyMagic finally did it's work, or it was bittersweet one. Still, good route.

Ayu is main heroine of the game and her route is closest to "True Route" we can get here, that's why I read it last. It was really good, classic Key - but it started it all. Some of the most heartwarming CGs from these route for me were

Spoiler

Ayu sleeping with her head on Akiko's lap, and kiss scene by the station.

Music and voices were good. Backgrounds were beautiful, and character's look didn't bother me at all - I guess I got used to this drawing style by going gradually LB! -> Clannad -> Kanon. I actually liked them.

I played with All-ages patch. I briefly checked some of the h-scenes, and they feel so out of place and out of character, that it's best to go MoeNovel on them and pretend they never were there. Really, they feel like the result of applying Rule34 to the characters. Avoid at all cost. KEY stories don't work as eroge at all, period.

Translation was okay. It was smooth read most of the time. However it's slightly inconsistent. On one hand, it replaces some more obscure cultural references with Western ones (with clickable pop-up TL notes explaining what whas there originally for those who are curious), and that's good.

Spoiler

Like Piro lying like a sword in bed between Yuuichi and Makoto, or calling out to liars by saying that their pants are on fire and their nose grows longer.

OTOH later in Ayu's route they left ”ごちそうさまでした。” untranslated (with TL-note), which makes no sense at all. But apart from that, it's okay.

Overally - great experience, not as epic as Clannad or LB!, but for a first attempt - really good. 8.5/10

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, adamstan said:

Can be seen as sort of prototype for later Key games

Now it's time to read One.

Edited August 2, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[adamstan]

Yeah, may as well. Downloading now and adding to the to-read list

It's almost like looking for early/demo versions of your favorite song

Edited August 2, 2018 by adamstan

[Corrupted]

Currently early on in Hoshizora no Memoria. Pretty wow'd so far. I've been wanting a bigger one again, this one feels like it's gonna be grand. Super like the sister.

[adamstan]

I'm on the fence regarding the Hoshimemo.

On one hand - it has rather good score on VNDB, with 8s prevailing. OTOH there are some really critical reviews on Fuwa and elsewhere, and in addition to this, fan-TL is allegedly awful, and official release, while somewhat better, is broken (with some untranslated lines). Or did Sekai finally fix it perhaps?

Should I add it to my backlog, or don't bother?

Edited August 3, 2018 by adamstan

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, adamstan said:

Or did Sekai finally fix it perhaps?

It didn't. There have been no updates on Kickstarter for months. I recommend to wait at least until the end of the year to see if anything changes.

[cro-mag]

So i had a couple of free from work weeks and managed to finish 3 VNs. There’re some of my thoughts about them. I’ll make 3 posts because there is a lot of text, sorry about that. Couldn’t use internet all this time, so… Hope you don't mind.

Heavy spoilers alert.

Subarashiki Hibi.

I really enjoyed this VN. Among the things i want to say/complain about it are those:
1. Don’t quite like how some conversations were really long-drawn. Afterwards, when i finished reading, all of that didn’t feel like such a bother already. But still there’re many such moments. Like in times when

Spoiler

MCs talk with Otonashi (quite annoyed sometimes with some kinda philosophical stuff), or when Mamiya Takudji had talked about him being the Savior and such (that being said, “It’s my own Invention” route is a leader among these monologues), or some descriptions of mockeries. Although i understand about latter – it’s just for better understanding in what mental state Takashima Zakuro was when she decided to jump from the roof despite the fact that other 2 girls didn’t want to do it at the end. She really was in utter desperation… Which actually leads to the next point of mine.

2. I really feel sorry for

Spoiler

Takashima. She did absolutely nothing wrong and just wanted to live a peaceful life. All this makes me sad. Even more when i remember how happy she was being on a date with Yuki. I hoped that maybe at the very end in some true route she’d survive but… It was quite a painful reading with her mockery and other unpleasant moments. Very unpleasant moments.

3. Aside from point 1, there is one more thing that i can’t tolerate with. I’m talking about when

Spoiler

Yuki confronted Mamiya (i’ll just say that as that, all who read VN would understand) on the roof and when he stabbed himself with a knife into a heart. Seriously, what the heck? After that he casually came down the ladder and on the next day came up again as it’s nothing serious and nothing to worry about. Yeah, maybe it’s because of drugs, LSD and such, but… Really…

4. And about End Sky 2 ending. Confusing. Very confusing. My own thoughts atm when i finished were that maybe

Spoiler

all events did happen only into Otonashi’s mind? Or she's some kind of Creator or whatever. There are two points to back that up. First one is how Yuki suddenly disappeared from the roof when Otonashi’s classmate came in. Immediately afterwards first time in VN we see the world through Otonashi’s eyes and play as her a bit. So why and how did Yuki disappear? Was she on the roof at all? As for the second thought – it’s about how Otonashi always knew what did happen, what is happening and what will happen based on your choices in game, no matter in what route she was talking with characters, no matter who that was. She also knew about the whole Mamiya/Tomosane/Yuki situation. It’s like she’s a script writer. For instance, how in “Looking-Glass Insects” route in the “The End of Summer” ending, upon encountering Takashima she said to her that she’s chosen the right path (resist mockery), which eventually really did lead Takashima to a happy life and future (it’s a pity it’s only alternate ending). And in “Looking-Glass Insects” ending Otonashi said to Takashima something like “you chose the wrong path” (obeying mockery), which indeed did lead her to jumping from the roof.

Dunno, maybe i’m wrong about that 4th point, but that what i thought that time. Actually, that's what i'm still thinking.
Also some H-scenes here were... Like those which you don’t see everyday, that’s for sure. It wasn’t actually a pleasant reading. I wanted to be done with them as soon as possible tbh. Gladly, most of them happen only in

Spoiler

“It’s my own Invention”

route so that’s good at least. But they did put quite a heavy impression on me.
Overall, once again, it was an interesting reading. With plenty of sad moments as well.

To be continue.

 

[cro-mag]

In continuation to my previous post, the 2^nd VN I finished.

Remember11.

Well, just as i thought at the beginning – it stands between Ever17 and Never7 for me, with the former occupying the 1^st place obviously. I think for those who don’t go for Infinite VNs completion and just want to read a good story – they may easily skip Never7 and go for other 2, honestly. Now as for VN itself. If we put away the ending for now, i really enjoyed the story and all characters. It was very interesting to read how they

Spoiler

tried to survive in cold shack into mountains in one’s body, and at the same time did try not to be killed by someone in the other’s. Not to mention other mysteries.

I also very much like games/VNs/anime when characters

Spoiler

are trapped in some places trying to escape or survive,

so that made a reading even more enjoyable for me. Plus Ever17 was a masterpiece in my eyes so I had my hopes quite high. Wasn’t disappointed in the end.

Anyway, i have only one big complaint. No matter the personal/current circumstances, no matter what happened in her past or whatever, i

Spoiler

don’t like Rin at all. As well as those moments with her and food she took away. I find them utterly ridiculous. Seriously, i understand for what reason they added her and such behavior of hers (hunger, despair, coldness in mountains that change people etc), but really, one 35-year-old man and one 21-year-old girl (don’t count Yuni here) couldn’t do anything against her and couldn’t even talk back to her on even terms, behaving themselves like she’s really some kind of princess. I don’t say they had to do anything like putting her in cellar (like “Annihilation Yomogi Bad End”) or whatever but seriously, i find it all rather stupid.

Other than that – i have no complaints. Well, except for ending of course.

Spoiler

Seriously, what kind of ending was that? I guess they overdid it with too many unanswered questions, only added some hints in menu (!), plus 11 of these hints open up when you collect all others (!) And even with those you can only guess some things, often with no proof, and about other unexplained moments - you just have no clue about them at all. I don’t mind if there are some hints or when you have to think about something in the end to know the truth… But here it’s just to many unknown factors. Didn’t quite expect that from studio who made Ever17 and Never7 where you had absolutely no unanswered questions by the end of reading, as far as i remember. And here we have something like “The truth is yet to be discovered” at the end of epilogue. That’s ridiculous. Too many unexplained things, too many mysteries.

That alone doesn’t make game bad of course imo. Just think they overdid it with unanswered things. All in all, i’m gonna read full analysis soon for better understanding.

Anyway, that was a very interesting reading. What you’d expect from studio that had made Ever17. Naturally couldn’t stop.

Last time to be continued.

[cro-mag]

In continuation to previous 2 posts – the last VN I finished.

Root Double.

This is really an awesome VN. I consider it a masterpiece. Reminded me somewhat of Muv-Luv Alternative, maybe primarily because of thorough explanation of every little detail

Spoiler

(to say nothing of BC, which explained via physics and psychology in detail)

you encounter, thus creating a world you can believe in.
It was really a long ride for me (a week to be precise, because no matter how you look at it, it’s always quicker to read in your native language which was not the case this time, only for previous two VNs), but it was definitely worth reading. Sorry for the number of spoiler tags below, tried to do not spell even the names when unnecessary, just in case.

About Root After part. Actually, don’t have much to say here. I read it firsthand (and think that’s how everyone should read it) and liked it all very much. Maybe there were some moments to argue about – don’t sure honestly. Even doubt they actually were. Moreover, it was also about

Spoiler

“escaping from closed space”

kind of thing, like Remember11, so another good point for me. After Good Ending, couldn’t wait for continuation.

About Root Before part. It sure took a long time for that route to catch up with events in Root After, that’s for sure. What’s more, it wasn’t only

Spoiler

for enlighten you about events that happened before the incident, but as it turned out, also about certain boy’s tragedy with duration for long 9 years…

At first (especially if you’re reading that part first, before Root After) you may think that’s just too cliche sometimes. And that’s actually true. Childhood friend again, even 2 of them! Of course both are girls. Transfer student, from overboard to say the least! Again she’s a girl and of course she’s blonde. And at the end of first school day – “I’m gonna protect you and will be staying in your house”. Seriously, could it be even more cliche here? lol Well, later it becomes not so funny and you forget about all that. Btw, it was quite surprising to hear such VA of Salyu. Usually transfer girl has a different personality and way more cheerful voice so i was glad with that change. And overall i’m glad Salyu turned out to be

Spoiler

way better than you could think with first sight (another annoying tsundere girl who likes to command for instance. That was my first thought about seeing her, glad that wasn’t the case here).

I have some complaints about this route though. One of them is how

Spoiler

they started looking for terrorist. Actually Natsuhiko’s words and thoughts after Mashiro told him about possible terrorist attack are quite logical in their own way. And Mashiro getting angry at him because he didn’t take her seriously and didn’t take any action, plus “you’re not like your old self” part… Well, i think that’s all kinda lame. Because when you think about it, essentially, she meant it that way: “You didn’t hear me out back than 9 years ago and look what happened to Yuuri. And now… i want you to do the same thing again, but this time with me! Yeah, why not, we’re only 16-year-old students, so let’s go stop that terrorist! With no plan whatsoever” Do the same stuff again, recklessly going to danger, but with me. Mmm… I don’t say it’s everything wrong here but i’d wish they did that part some other way, because it’s like they’re saying that recklessly throwing yourself in danger is the correct way of doing things.

Also i have to say that among all characters in all routes the one i’m fond of the least is

Spoiler

Mashiro. I don’t say she’s bad, actually she’s way better that you could think. She did her best to support Natsuhiko after that incident, and did a good job.

It’s just i feel i have less connection with her than with anyone else, and she’s not exactly my type. In route Double we see

Spoiler

all characters’ past and know more about them, but still, for me Mashiro

stays as the most cliche person till the very end. Albeit, one more time, she’s better than she could be and i’m grateful for that. But she loses to

Spoiler

Yuuri in my eyes by all fronts, by all criteria. Yuuri is way better, and keeps on becoming better as the story progresses.

Also Natsuhiko, despite being also your average cliche boy in the beginning of Root Before, later he naturally develops as a character. Actually there is absolute no one person i could say that i hate or dislike him/her. And that’s awesome, all characters are different, all of them have their own motivation as well as back story and background, upon seeing which we better understand them. And how viewing their background was creatively written into story – that’s another point of praise. And not only main cast is great, i also like

Spoiler

Wataru and even Subject N.

But my favorite ones are

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Watase

among male (duh, not many persons to choose from here… But he’s really good, despite all certain things) and of course

Spoiler

Miyoko Tenkawa

among female – she’s just super awesome, loved her since first glance. I guess

Spoiler

Yuuri takes the 2nd place here. Kazami/Ena (3rd?)

are also good, not sure, they are just different, but all are great.
And considering characters and their background – Xtend episodes do another fine job to better understanding the cast. Albeit they’re available only after you finish the story, it’s still definitely worth reading (despite many of them you’ve already read during main game, they still sometimes bring some interesting little details to the story, like

Spoiler

Ena once having a dog named Sirius… That was actually unexpected and interesting to know that fact).

And when you figure out

Spoiler

WHO or WHAT exactly is reading their minds to pick at their memory,

you understand one more time how creatively that was done and how much work had been made by devs to surprise you and keep your interest.
Also,

Spoiler

Alice…

What a useful doll lol

About Root Double.
At first i want to say that during that route i couldn’t help but smirk to myself about

Spoiler

poor Watase. Yeah, he’s one of the reasons all that happened at all but seriously… He’s just Iron Man!)) He had fallen from heights; some debris had fallen on him… He got shot, blown away by explosion waves, punched by fire extinguisher, suffocated due to oxygen-deficient air, got burnt, punched by a certain girl, hurt his ankle (thanks to the same girl), got laceration on his head, and was choked with rope from behind… His memories were erased, then restored again, dealing blow to his mind nevertheless. He was also having headaches and had other symptoms due to high BC energy level like vomiting; also he lost consciousness a couple of times… And still look at him! He’s damn cyborg) I have a feeling all other characters combined didn’t suffer as much as he was)

Jokes aside, all of Root Double route was a great conclusion to the story. Well, if you can call a “conclusion” several hours of reading, with duration maybe equal to After/Before/Current routes combined… Anyway, it was really, really great, kinda hard to express with words. And the scene’s name

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“Grand Epilogue” at the end, as well as true ending’s name “Grand Ending” –

i thing it’s so befitting to events happening at the end. They’re really grand, for the lack of better word. And the way they made that grand ending route is another demonstration of creativity from devs’ side. It was very enjoyable reading for me. It was always hard to stop myself from continuation, only 4 am on the clock did its thing. And it’s not because i “wanted” to sleep, but because i “should” go to sleep, cuz “come on, man, don’t do this to your body!”))
And the only thing i don’t quite like in the ending –

Spoiler

harem part among Root Before cast.

Wasn’t necessary at all imo.

Also some words about music. OST is also very great, befitting the whole VN. Especially i loved these tracks:

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“Extra-Sensory Perception”

(main menu OST, and that’s so good i never tired to listen to it), “Words of Healing” plus some of personal characters’ OST like

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Yuuri, Salyu and Kazami’s.

Overall, i enjoyed the story very much, liked all characters very much

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(Miyoko and Watase in particular),

even more i liked them the more i’d been reading. But i guess it was to be expected. And i’m really glad that such VNs continue to appear, and hope they’ll continue to appear in the future. I guess everyone who like great stories and thoroughly created worlds should try this VN. And its ending is how it should be,

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no more sadness, no more despair.

This ending truly warms my heart. And at the true end of story i literally didn’t want to say goodbye to all of the characters after struggling with them all these

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9 hours of hell and prior.

I wanted to read a bit more, to know for instance if

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Miyoko did find some sort of cure to prolong Communicators’ lives…

But oh well, all good things come to an end eventually. Anyway, such an awesome story and touching ending. 10/10

Well, that's all for now. Sorry for such a sheet of text)) Next i really want to read "Cou- Kuroi Ryuu To Yasashii Oukoku", but dunno when it happens. I still have some video games to play.

 

[adamstan]

You got me interested in that Root Double. However I'll wait for next Steam sale

Today I started reading AIR. The very beginning was somewhat slow and tiring (but then, it conveyed MCs feelings and situation perfectly that way, so I guess it's good). As soon as we meet Misuzu, it kicks into action. And then there's one of my favorite VAs - Aya Hisakawa  - as Misuzu's mom. Looks promising.

BTW the heatwave we're currently experiencing seems perfect setting for reading this VN

[cro-mag]

6 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Today I started reading AIR.

I wonder if i ever get to that VN... Had been in my wishlist for some years, same with Kanon. I finally made some progress with Key's VNs last year after i finished Little Busters! Before that it was only Clannad that i read. And next plan was to start Rewrite. Which i actually wanted to read at first, but later discovered Root Double, so switched to that one.

[Ranzo]

I finally finished Fatal Twelve and I had a wonderful time with it when all is said and done. Rinka is definitely going down as one of my favorite protagonists. The remarkable thing about it was that it consistently surprised me and my expectations.

[Plk_Lesiak]

I'm watching a playthrough of Dharker Studio's Negligee  (2 hours in) and I'm... Liking it? The characters and the premise are very basic, but maybe it's because of the let's player making it funnier that it would normally be, but I'm actually enjoying the straightforward story and dialogues. The bickering between the heroines is fun and the interactions between them and the protagonist are rather cute. The fanservice is there, but not as everpresent and obnoxious it would be in a Sakura game. I wonder if something later on will manage to put me off, because so far it was a genuinely pleasant read, even if obviously still in the "trashy porn VN" category. It's probably my pro-yuri bias above anything else... 

The pricetag though... $20 for something this short and simple is a joke. I think it would be even rated on VNDB quite differently if it was sold for a reasonable amount of money - 8 to 10 dollars probably and surely not more than that. 

[Inorin]

@cro-mag How did Root Double remind you of Muv Luv Alternative? I've always felt Ever17 and 999 vibes from it, with a touch of R11 here and there, but I don't find it really similar to MLA.