What are you playing?

[Thyndd]

1 hour ago, Dreamysyu said:

Well, as for me, excluding the time when I was on a vacation or too busy with irl problems, I was mostly trying to finish Grisaia trilogy. It took me a while to finish Meikyuu (I started it last winter, but stalled it a few times and only finished it recently) but my overall impression over it is still very positive. The after-stories were nice and funny overall, even though they lacked any kind of actual plot, and I kind of enjoyed reading all of them excluding Yumiko's. In case of Sachi, strangely enough, I somehow enjoyed her after-story a lot more than her actual route. As for the Grand route, I can't describe it as anything other than fantastic.

Hmm now I'm interested. Even though I loved Grisaia, I couldn't be bothered to read the sequels because I considered that there couldn't be much more that is actually worth to tell, now that everyone's past was revealed and the problems "solved". I was still considering reading Meikyuu after Rewrite though, as it's been a while since Kajitsu for me and I'm beginning to miss the characters 

Also I hope Rakuen takes a turn for the better!

[onorub]

3 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

On the other hand, I'm currently about 30 per cent into Rakuen, and so far it's very unsatisfying comparing it to the earlier parts of the trilogy. The 3rd person narrative here simply reads like bad writing, and the lack of Yuuji's inner monologues is also quite hurting the enjoyment. The comedy mostly consists of the constant bullying of Michiru, and it isn't even funny anymore, especially if you consider her backstory. And the story feels like a complete mess, with some weird new story points introduced and the lack of clear continuety with Kajitsu. Overall, yeah, I hope it gets better later, but my initial impression is already ruined.

If you get sick of it, at least play Prologue of Grisaia before dropping it completely, because i actually liked it better than the main story.

[Inorin]

2 hours ago, onorub said:

If you get sick of it, at least play Prologue of Grisaia before dropping it completely, because i actually liked it better than the main story.

@Dreamysyu You still gotta finish the main story to unlock the prologue though

[Okarin]

Playing Chaos;Head...

I'm right after the "imouto-saving quest" scene at the building's roof (the second meeting with Shogun)... the "sono me, dare no me" chanting in the square below was amazing. This game is chuuni and strange af.

[littleshogun]

Right now I'm already at level 4 love for Misakichi back at Fureraba, so normally I should continue with that. However, right now I finally get Your Diary with Crispy patch lol, so perhaps I'll try to see of how bad the translations were. I might not be able to understand it from the text alone, but I believe that my experienced from read both of Flyable Hearts and Soukoku no Arterial will help here lol.

PS - As for Rakuen, well I treated that as one of the FD seeing that the heroines story were already over in Kajitsu, and Meikyuu did a good job to give Yuuji some background. For the plot here, I would say that you better expect Hollywood movie plot in regard of Rakuen there.

Edited September 4, 2018 by littleshogun

[adamstan]

I finished YU-NO. It was totally amazing.

The plot was great. Mind you, it's first "multiple route mystery" game that I've played, but I really enjoyed the story. I was going in order suggested in walkthrough (Mitsuki & Eriko -> Ayumi -> Mio -> Kaori -> Kanna) - which is actually the only one possible without horrendous amount of backtracking. It's awesome how the small pieces of information slowly form big picture. But then, it still all gets turned upside down in epilogue, with its many twists Also, the idea of integrating the route system itself into the story was brilliant.

From main game, I think my favourite routes were Mio and Kanna, followed by Mitsuki/Eriko route. Then there's epilogue. Actually, calling it epilogue is understatement - it is longer than some routes. Maybe "True route" would be better word choice. It presents new settings, new characters, and - at least for me - it was great. I don't know if it was the source, or if writers had same inspirations, but first part of True Route, that is

Spoiler

Takuya's new family life

had very Clannad'ish vibe to me.

Whole game also reminded me story-wise of some great western point&click adventures like Gabriel Knight, Beneath A Steel Sky or Broken Sword series.

Now onto the presentation. I absolutely loved the looks of this game. I'm fan of art style used here (and in some other old VNs, like "Season of Sakura" or "Nocturnal Illusion" - basically, mid '90s anime style drawing), and it looks great - especially considering, that it was made using 16 color pallette. Both sprites and backgrounds are incredibly detailed, characters have blinking animations, they are nicely shaded - simply beautiful. I'd dare to say that it's one of the best looking VNs I played.

Music is brilliant - unless you absolutely cannot stand FM synthesizer sounds. But I love it. I think that it gets even better in epilogue, which sports some of the best tunes in game.

And then - voice acting. Brilliant too - and that shouldn't surprise, as there are some great actors at work here. Included among that cast are my two favourite voice actresses - Aya Hisakawa (probably best known as Sailor Mercury, or - for VN players - Haruko from AIR) and Kikuko Inoue (Belldandy from Oh! My Goddess anime and Sanae from Clannad). It's a pity that remake by 5pb doesn't have those voices - the cast is entirely new.

English edition by TLWiki does great job. It's like "definitive edition" of the game, with added voice acting and additional (after-h) scenes from Sega Saturn port and HQ music from original PC-98 version. And it worked like a charm on my Win 7 laptop Translation itself is also very good - it rivals many good commercial releases. It reads very smoothly, and there were some pretty good attempts at translating some word-play jokes. I spotted only one obvious mistranslation - at one point, Takuya has to meet with one of the characters, and they agree on 22:00 (10PM), which for some reason got translated as "22 hours". Other than that - great job, it was really good to read.

The game has one serious flaw - it's literally littered with blatant fanservice. Almost every CG features pantyshot, exquisite cleavage or both - even in most serious situations - sometimes it creates unwanted mood dissonance. On the other hand, h-scenes themselves aren't bad. There is one scene per heroine, they're rather short, and writers cared enough to give them some in-story justification Also, the after-scenes (AFAIK taken from console version, where they served as h-scenes replacements) are very good, with some nice dialogues showing connection and affection between characters - even though this isn't romance game.

Point'n'click gameplay can sometimes get little tedious, but it's not a dealbreaker - especially with walkthrough .

So final score - 8.5/10, totally recommended. (if aforementioned fanservice-induced-mood-dissonance doesn't bother you, you can even raise it to 9 )

PS Kaori was a bitch Kanna best girl  (from main part, as epilogue turns everything on its head )

That CG from Kanna's bonus happy end (unlocked after beating true route) is soooo sweet

Spoiler

 

[Fred the Barber]

Dear all you people talking about Grisaia and complaining about it getting stale: seriously, give Phantom Trigger a try. Same solid humor, way better pacing.

[Dreamysyu]

21 hours ago, adamstan said:

I finished YU-NO. It was totally amazing.

I feel really ashamed that I still haven't played YU-NO myself. From what people say about it, it feels like exactly my type of VN, but I always have something that I want to play a bit more.

[BlackCatPrincess]

7 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

I feel really ashamed that I still haven't played YU-NO myself. From what people say about it, it feels like exactly my type of VN, but I always have something that I want to play a bit more.

Yeah me 2 especially after checking out the screens on vndb. That is the old school anime style I remember from Yatterman when I was just too young to understand anything else than Doronjo getting naked in the middle of every episode. That influenced me

[adamstan]

8 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

Yatterman when I was just too young to understand anything

Haha, yeah, Yatterman and other ancient anime series on "Polonia 1" TV I remember also Yattodettaman, Daimos, Tiger Mask and Attacker - You! aired there. Most with italian dubs Ahh, sweet childhood times 

Edited September 5, 2018 by adamstan

[LanThief(HUN)]

Iv'e been playing whit this right now.

not bad for a change

https://vndb.org/v5154

Edited September 6, 2018 by LanThief(HUN)

[r0xm2n]

10 minutes ago, LanThief(HUN) said:

Iv'e been playing whit this right now.

not bad for a change

https://vndb.org/v5154

I approve

Every Visual Novel connoisseur needs to read that.

[LanThief(HUN)]

Just now, r0xm2n said:

I approve

Every Visual Novel connoisseur needs to read that.

I won't argue bout that

but 4 now my favorite is Komine Sachi

[Thyndd]

28 minutes ago, LanThief(HUN) said:

but 4 now my favorite is Komine Sachi

Slutty maid is bae. Have fun with Grisaia 

Ok, so I finished Akane's route (Rewrite spoilers ahead) and even though it's already 3 am here I really need to comment on it or else I'll explode. This route really is fodder for thought. This is gonna be long, let me warn you.

Spoiler

So @Dreamysyu already let me know that both Kotori and Akane's routes were written by the same guy, Romeo Tanaka. Fuck you Tanaka-sensei, but damn you are good at writing stories that makes you feel complete and utterly powerless. Then I learned that this guy's pen also was involved in things like Kana: imouto and Yume miru kusuri. It makes so much sense. 

I consider this route really well written with solid story telling overall, if some pacing issues here and there but nothing too serious, albeit it heavily hinges on the premise of accepting Kotarou's initial infatuation with Akane. Like, the girl showed him some kindness in a moment of weakness and he already fell head over heels for her to the point of not questioning anything and even be willing to give up his life for her. Kind of a bit too much, don't you think? And yes, this side of Kotarou's personality could already be seen in a lesser degree in other routes, damn, the VN even starts with an internal monologue of him saying essentially that, that he wanted something precious to protect and give his life meaning, but comparing its effects to the impact this had in other routes, it still feels like they went a little overboard on this one. In my opinion, this is the less believable romance in a VN that doesn't precisely shine at showing compelling romance stories  But oh well, if we are able to set that aside, this story really has a lot to offer.

In a continuation of the whole Gaia/Guardian dichotomy, this route starts off going deep into it, full speed, no brakes allowed. I actually thought this was going to be the central point of the story, and turns out it isn't at all, but I'll save that for later. For now, allow me to share some of my views on this topic so you can see where I'm initially coming from. The environmental pollution, climate change and overall effect of human technological progress in our planet is a real issue from the real world that has also been addressed in every possible way in fiction as well, so I definitely wasn't expected something new, and as expected, I didn't get it. At this point my only demand to a story that touches this topic is, please, don't trivialize it, don't make it an overly simplistic black-and-white where humans are a cancer to this planet who should voluntarily go extinct for the sake of nature (mind you, there are people who think like that in this real world of ours ). And honestly, yes, I was expecting it to have that sort of bullshit propaganda as soon as I found out that this VN had an environmentalist background. To my surpise this time around it did not, which I appreciate immensely.

I won't go into a full dissertation here because it's beside the point, but my general view on the issue is, as I see it, a very neutral one. You see, I can't bring myself to logically regard the human species as something intrinsically superior to any other life form on this planet that must be protected at all cost. That's just arrogant and has no basis whatsoever. At the same time, I don't see the point of the logic behind that self-depricating attitude some people have towards our species. We are essentially just another biological machine designed through natural selection to preserve our own life (or genes, more accurately speaking according to modern biology actually) and thrive in our environment, just like any other life form on earth. Claiming that every other species has the right to do that what they are programmed to do, but for some reason we don't it's nonsensical. I'm tired of listening to people saying "human beings are the worst". Mind you though, we are the only animal that actually has the ability to care for the well being of other species and our fellow human being. No other animal could care about murder, rape or individual rights, so if we are not comparable to other animals on this planet, what exactly are you comparing us with to say that "we are the worst?". Moral just doesn't apply to nature, and I can't help but notice the irony behind those who despise humanity for being immoral and idolize nature, when nature is amoral by definition.

Rewrite does a splendid job dealing with all this. It has the message that caring for our planet is the right thing to do, but it also empathizes how nature is, from our point of view, essentially cruel, ugly and filthy, and we human beings have every right to survive and not only that, get to the top and be the best we can aspire to be. A very "nietzschean" idea, represented through the different perspectives in the story in this and all the other routes.

Ok, so now going back to this route's story... It does a great job at making you feel conflicted during the first part of it. Even if you are one of those who believe we should voluntarily go extinct (which I'm not at all, as I explained in the last paragraph), you really must be a sicko for your views to align with Gaia's as they are portrayed here. As bad as it'd be to want to wipe out humanity out of some kind of religious devotion for our planet, this is much, much worse. Gaia's summoners are literally the worst kind of people you can come across, not only in Rewrite's world, but also in real life, the difference being that they are not called summoners, but school shooters, or you know, the crazy germanwings' bastard. They are people who are fed up with the world and don't want to live anymore, and instead of going away quietly by themselves, their resentment drives them to run over as many innocent lives as they can on their way.

So yeah, you know Kotarou is definitely not on the good side. He's being used and losing his humanity to help those who hate humanity. It feels bad. The big breaking point is actually his first kill. In a sense, I feel like Kotarou killed his human self in that moment. You might think it's not such a big deal, but this is the only route where we can see Kotarou purposely taking away another person's life (at least from what I've read so far), or for that matter, any other character from the main cast (not counting Lucia's going insane here). Being something so uncommon in this VN, I believe it definitely has its weight.

And then we enter the second part of the route, and the entry point is, for me, the revelation of how the holy woman's power works. And muh gawd this is brilliant. So at this point, or rather, until this point, you don't really know how to feel about Akane. I mean, if she weren't responsible for the biggest genocide in history, she wouldn't be that bad a girl, right?  Seriously now, you know she can be kind and caring; you'd be hard-pressed to classify her as a prototypical bad person, and that's genius. You might disagree with me here, but I don't think "bad people" exist, just bad actions (always from a certain human and moral subjective point of view, of course). Think about it, what does it even mean for someone to be a bad person? What would be required for someone to classify as one? A mass murderer? But why do they kill though? Perhaps someone who relishes other people's suffering? But can they really control what they enjoy or don't enjoy? Someone who lacks empathy? But how could someone be held accountable for something they lack? Of course someone who, for example, enjoys seeing other people suffer would be more likely to carry over a bad action in spite of being aware that society considers it bad (a necessary and sufficient condition for it to be bad) or even if they consider it bad themselves (a sufficient condition). But most of us would agree that a wrongdoing doesn't make a bad person, otherwise we'd all be terrible  At the same time, if that person who is likely to act immorally decides, for whatever reason, not to, are they still a bad person? 

There's the thing, when we think about a "bad person" we unconciously automatically associate it with someone who is intentionally ill-natured and thus responsible for it, but since a person's nature is completely out of their control, no one can be held accountable for that, losing all relevance in any moral argument. Furthermore, even the most ordinary of all people have little parts of their personality which makes them more likely to do something others would consider immoral (or familiarized brain parts, if you wanna call them that ), but in the end it's in our hands whether we act on those impulses or not, and one must only be judged for what one does, not for what one is. That's like the basics of our modern laws. And for the record, I'm not even sure whether one is actually responsible for their actions or not, but guess what, Akane's route also addresses that. The fact that the punish for her crimes is the exile from human civilization and not a stupid death sentence is just beautiful. Someone who has given in to their impulses has effectively failed to live in a human society. Remember what we discussed earlier, the fact that we are moral beings is what separates us from the rest of animals, so everyone who can't behave morally anymore must return to nature, the amoral place where they belong. Grand round of applause *clap* *clap*. Since we can't really do that we just lock them up in jail, but the symbolism is beautiful anyway 

 

Welp, this route was very different from the rest, but I liked it a lot. Now it's time for Moon and Terra to wrap up Rewrite 

[littleshogun]

As for Your Diary playthrough, I'd already decided with the playthrough plan here. For the first route, I think I'll going with Natsuki's so let's see what I could comment in regard of her route later.

[Thyndd]

Hmm, I finished Moon. 

Don't do drugs, kids.

Spoiler

So ok, I'm not exactly new to Key and by now I'm already pretty used to their schemes. I was not expecting to see this in Rewrite as it was not hinted in the heroines routes (or at least I didn't notice), but we all know that Key loves their parallel dreamy worlds, so yeah.

As for my interpretation of this route... I assume that this takes place in a different timeline, in which the Moon was already formed but life hadn't yet originated on Earth. I also assume that this is gonna be Terra's route timeline. So... the girl in the Moon, Kagari, the Moon's familiar and the only life form it could give birth to (wasn't it a rabbit though? ), knowing the future of the Earth in all other timelines, is trying to come up with a way for Earth to survive. Why is Kotarou there? I believe that it's due to the fact that aurora can travel through different worlds (they do say something like that, don't they? gravity somehow carries aurora or some weird shit ) and Kotarou and Kagari seem to have some unexplained connection for the moment, that I'm hoping I'll learn about in the next route. 

So, once she finally devises a plan, which Kotarou's message contributed to the idea somehow (I also hope to learn more about that in the next route), she sends all that information back to Earth so life can begin in that world line but this time with a brighter future.

So... a story about sentient planets and a guy who dates the Moon. Sure.

 

[BlackCatPrincess]

I have just finished Ayu route in Kanon.

 

All of my colleagues are asking me why for two days I barely spoke anything and what’s up with that thousand mile stare . It’s not like this is something totally new to me I mean Fuko’s route from Clannad is quite similar and I was half expecting that Ayu it the same case. I didn’t cry or anything while she “died” . Instead I realized that ghost are everywhere, watching us carrying for us all. It might sound  too cheesy but it is sort of reassuring. I am not alone and I don’t need problems in my life. They are there watching cheering for me. And also    I should do something with my life.

Edited September 7, 2018 by BlackCatPrincess

[Thyndd]

27 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

I have just finished Ayu route in Kanon.

  Reveal hidden contents

All of my colleagues are asking me why for two days I barely spoke anything and what’s up with that thousand mile stare . It’s not like this is something totally new to me I mean Fuko’s route from Clannad is quite similar and I was half expecting that Ayu it the same case. I didn’t cry or anything while she “died” . Instead I realized that ghost are everywhere, watching us carrying for us all. It might sound  too cheesy but it is sort of reassuring. I am not alone and I don’t need problems in my life. They are there watching cheering for me. And also    I should do something with my life.

Oh yeah, the post-key depression syndrome, a classic. Good luck dealing with that. I remember when I first watched Clannad (the anime, this was way before I got into VNs) and for a week I felt like a zombie 

[alpacaman]

Key's formula really is like a drug, withdrawal symptoms included. Some people even start seeing ghosts 

[onorub]

Finished ChuSinGura 46+1. Might have been one of the worst finales i've ever seen. It's a shame because the first 4 chapters were pretty good.

[Inorin]

Just finished Majikoi A-2. With that, I've now completed (the translated parts) of the Majikoi series. Thoughts (with minor Symphonic Rain and FSN spoilers):

Spoiler

While the plot may not be anything special for the most part, the character interaction between characters is amazing. Naoe is a pretty smart (and underhanded) guy which makes up for his lack of brawn with his brains, and generally cool-headed when tackling situations. The other characters were also likable for the most part (to the point where I can't even choose a single favourite) and a lot of them have their own after-stories, which is nice (though I would have liked Seiso to have her own after-story too).

I usually let my guard down in SOL VNs to enjoy the experience better, so Tsubame's character was something that slightly caught me off guard. I didn't quite catch her to be the scheming type, but to think that she could both outsmart Naoe and beat Momoyo in a fight is something else. She kind of reminds me of a certain character in Symphonic Rain, though she isn't as shrewd (or so I would like to believe). Speaking of which, Monshiro has the same seiyuu as FSN's Illya so this scene here made me raise my eyebrows a bit:

Overall, I've quite enjoyed the series. This is probably the only series that I've played with so many heroines, and thankfully, the route choices are pretty simple and do not have too many bad ends. I'm now looking forward to the A3-5 being translated  

 

 

Edited September 8, 2018 by wei123

[r0xm2n]

Well the wait for my new PC parts is over. My 27inch monitor got delivered to my door 20 mins ago.

This time next week I'll probably be playing MUV-LUV on it

[Thyndd]

12 minutes ago, r0xm2n said:

Well the wait for my new PC parts is over. My 27inch monitor got delivered to my door 20 mins ago.

This time next week I'll probably be playing MUV-LUV on it

Oh boy, my best regards to you  See you at the end of Alternative.

[adamstan]

I'm reading Koi ni, Kanmi o Soete now. Despite its shortness, it had somewhat slow start - first hour was too slow for my taste, but then it got better. Fortunately, characters are nice.

The ability to switch text language on the fly is nice bonus (press J for Japanese, E for English and C for Chinese). Will write more after finishing it.

[Plk_Lesiak]

Just going through let's plays of Time Tenshi games, while working on various stuff (including an MLP convention panel on fan porn - I'll bring photos! :3 ...Of the panel, I mean, not the porn. ) and I have to say, I have a strange kind of respect for devs that keep their ecchi VNs strictly in the fanservice territories, without going into actual porn despite how easy it is to sneak it in nowadays. There's something... Pure in the absurd trashiness of classic fanservice VNs, especially when everyone around already moved into fully-fledged eroge. For Silver Cow Studios time pretty much stopped in the era of Winged Cloud's initial releases and there's something borderline-admirable in that.

Plus, well, Time Tenshi is still like half a tier better than most Sakura games - I mean, it has an actual plot and follows it consistently, rather than forgetting about it every 10 mins to showcase random fanservice CGs. I'm positively surprised by it, even if it's still pretty much trash.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak