What are you playing?

[adamstan]

Yesterday I finished Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na -Brighter than Dawning Blue-

Common route did nice job of introducing characters, and establishing very nice atmosphere. I'd say, it was kind of heartwarming - it felt really good to just spend time with Tatsuya's family and friends.

On the first playthrough, we're locked onto Feena's route

It reminds me of Koichoco, but I think Feena won't be as polarizing character as Chisato It's almost impossible to dislike her. She's by no means perfect, but nevertheless very likeable character, and her route was pretty enjoyable experience, with just right amount of drama to not make things stale.

Then I went with Mia's route.

If you're fan of cute maids, this is route for you Very sweet.

Next there's lovely imouto, Mai

This was also rather good route, with family as its main theme.
 

Spoiler

There's no incest as they actually aren't blood related - Mai was adopted, but they kept it a secret.

After that I read Natsuki's route

I think this was my favorite among the romance routes - Natsuki is very beautiful, and is Tatsuya's childhood friend (so she gets bonus points from me ). Their relationship progresses nicely, it's probably most romance-focused route in the whole VN. Drama near the end was maybe a bit forced, but still very good route and adorable heroine.

Then, Sayaka-neesan (actually a cousin )

Another family-themed route, and also touching themes like what it means to be an adult etc. Good read.

Green-haired Midori

Natsuki's best friend and classmate. This route was also among my favorites. It is the third route about family, but from different angle than Sayaka's and Mai's. Midori herself was very sweet, there were many good comedy bits before they finally confessed, and the scene near the final,

Spoiler

when she made up with her parents and they all played together

made my eyes wet.

Estel, another girl from the Moon

This was good too. Estel is almost classic tsundere (or even Ice Queen, at least towards the Earthlings who she despises), and it was very enjoyable to watch how she little by little opened up to Tatsuya and changed herself. I'd say also that this route serves as a first part of the setup for true route, giving us some insight into Moon-Earth relationships.

The last route, which is unlocked after completing all previous, was Wreathlit.

Mysterious little girl, who is almost like a stray cat. This route also gives the reader some more background needed for true route.

And then there's Feena's true ending - it picks up exactly where Feena's route ended. It was pretty surprising. Don't want to spoil too much, but it gave off some strong YU-NO vibes.

Spoiler

Missing father who was historian, exploring ancient ruins for lost technology...

There was also lovely bath-scene with Feena
The route was quite long, and very good ending to the whole game.

Another nice thing is that other characters still play significant role and don't disappear during routes.

The VN is all-ages (it is backport of PS2 version), but it is very good. @Stormwolf asked how romance is in this VN in all-ages version. I'd say that it didn't suffer. In romance-oriented routes there's lots of kissing, holding hands, cuddling and flirting, so we don't miss anything by lack of h-scenes. And for some characters h-scenes would make things super-awkward (like Mai or Wreath).
Also, Estel's and Midori's routes are only in this version, and main story got expanded compared to first PC (H) version, so overally I think it is superior.

Grahpics are absolutely beautiful - both backgrounds and character designs. I especially liked the characters - they have a bit of that old-school anime-like design that I love. Music was also good.

Unfortunately translation isn't the best. I'm aware that it is unfinished patch, with almost year worth of editing not implemented. There are also some mistranslations and awkward lines here and there. It is readable, but rather rough. Of course the routes that were translated the last (Estel, Midori, Wreath and true) suffer the most. I spotted one particularly amusing mistranslation in Midori's route:
 

Spoiler

 

When I read I was like "WTF?" - second Midori's line doesn't make sense in the context at all.

Actually she says "なんかさ、音楽も楽しいこともうれしいことも、全部どうでもよくなっちゃって" which would rather translate to something along "Music, fun things, happy things... I didn't care for any of it anymore" - and that fits with the previous and next line. As for the origin of this error, I suspect that どうでも got mistaken for とっても - when you're tired they can look somewhat alike

Also, the line before says それだね、小学校六年の時, which means "in the sixth grade" rather than "six years ago", but here, by pure coincidence both versions are correct, as they are in the 12th year now (high school 3rd year), so sixth grade was six years ago

 

Also, in Wreath's lines, sometimes "そう" and ”はい” are translated in a way that doesn't fit the context - like そう translated almost always as "I see", while in some lines it evidently meant just something like "yes/that's right". In the final route she is asked about something by Mai, (like "hey, was that blablabla?" kind of question) and confirms by saying はい, which got translated as "Okay", and it didn't make sense in a context ("Yes" would be more fitting).

I'm sure that it all would have been caught and corrected during TLC and editing stage, but unfortunately some parts of this patch are just 1st pass translation, so those kinds of problems are inevitable.

Also, while we can argue infinitely about honorifics , leaving "Itadakimasu", "Gochisousama", "Oba-san" and "Oji-san" untranslated was very bad idea. Actually, if there weren't some scenes where characters make fuss about them, I'd opt for removing honorifics from this translation too.

Another problem is that in Midori's, Estel's, Wreath's and true routes there are some images with parts of the story (like Estel's lecture) and they aren't translated.

But, setting TL problems aside, it was very enjoyable experience, 8/10

It was first VN by August that I read, and after it I have really high hopes for Aiyoku no Eustia

Edited November 7, 2018 by adamstan

[ciel_yuri]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:25 AM, LemiusK said:

Sigh. Just got to the R18 scene of Muv-Luv Alternative...

Sigh. Sigh. Should really have stuck with the All-Ages version. This is just so damn stupid.

I mean, I've seen my share of hentai, so I'm not squeamish or anything, but it does break the immersion. Makes it all feel like one big parody.

You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought Nasu was the one who wrote this, given how Heaven's Feel turned out. Guess the rumor that many Japanese VN writers are closet perverts isn't that far from the truth.

Personally, I hate censorship for the most parts, but in some cases, I would actually favor the All-Ages version when the sexual parts don't add anything to the story (Key's VNs like Clannad comes to mind), or when they even detract from the story. This is definitely one of those cases.

I'm glad I read this. I've been playing the Vita versions and wondering if it was a good idea. I don't like missing R18 scenes if it goes well with the story and builds on the relationship of the characters, but H-scenes for the sake of H-scenes can be pretty stupid. I'm hardly ever alone, so it just makes things more awkward too. Especially, if they're ridiculous ones.

[LemiusK]

Ah, finally finished Corpse Party: Blood Drive. To pick a word to describe my overall experience... well, I guess "disappointing" does come to mind. lol

For starters, the ending was painfully short, even the "True End." After so many hours of hard work, it's actually quite a short ending that leaves much ambiguity to the many characters' fates. When compared to many popular visual novels in general, like Fate/Stay Night or even something like G-senjou no Maou, Blood Drive feels like one of those mediocre Japanese horror movies where it ends on an unsatisfying note, only telling you that the evil has been vanquished, but nothing else beyond that. Well, being a horror story, I didn't expect a happy ending or anything, but we didn't even get to see how the characters dealt with the aftermath of the events that lasted three whole games.

And then there's the characters, which aren't that amazing to begin with. Don't get me wrong - I did enjoy certain moments, even the plain whitebread Satoshi. But if you ask me if there's any unique characteristic about them, or any clever subversion the story does with them, it all comes down to none of that, as it's a bunch of rather generic anime archetypes. So yeah, I wasn't really that invested in them in the third game especially, particularly because there's a lot more insight into their relationships in the first game, which made me more attached to them. Here, the story isn't really character-focused, or at least relationship-focused, so while I do feel some tinge of sympathy for some of their fates, it's just not as emotionally engaging as the first game.

And speaking of the story, boy does it drag on and on. The good stuff doesn't even begin 'till like Chapter 7 or something. There's a lot of exposition and pointless meandering in the story, all so the villain could pull a "Aha!" plot-twist like it's some clever ruse, which really wasn't. The "villain" in particular was so predictable and edgy, your typical tragic backstory edgelord trying to justify his desire to destroy everything with a shoot-the-dog story. You know, typical anime stuff.

Overall, I'm kinda glad I managed to stick with it 'till the end, but I couldn't really say I came out feeling satisfied I spent time with these characters, especially with that lackluster and abrupt ending. 5/10

[Clockwork Loli]

I'm reading Fate/stay night.

Spoiler

Saber is bae.

 

[Stormwolf]

17 hours ago, adamstan said:

Yesterday I finished Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na -Brighter than Dawning Blue-

Common route did nice job of introducing characters, and establishing very nice atmosphere. I'd say, it was kind of heartwarming - it felt really good to just spend time with Tatsuya's family and friends.

On the first playthrough, we're locked onto Feena's route

It reminds me of Koichoco, but I think Feena won't be as polarizing character as Chisato It's almost impossible to dislike her. She's by no means perfect, but nevertheless very likeable character, and her route was pretty enjoyable experience, with just right amount of drama to not make things stale.

Then I went with Mia's route.

If you're fan of cute maids, this is route for you Very sweet.

Next there's lovely imouto, Mai

This was also rather good route, with family as its main theme.
 

  Reveal hidden contents

There's no incest as they actually aren't blood related - Mai was adopted, but they kept it a secret.

After that I read Natsuki's route

I think this was my favorite among the romance routes - Natsuki is very beautiful, and is Tatsuya's childhood friend (so she gets bonus points from me ). Their relationship progresses nicely, it's probably most romance-focused route in the whole VN. Drama near the end was maybe a bit forced, but still very good route and adorable heroine.

Then, Sayaka-neesan (actually a cousin )

Another family-themed route, and also touching themes like what it means to be an adult etc. Good read.

Green-haired Midori

Natsuki's best friend and classmate. This route was also among my favorites. It is the third route about family, but from different angle than Sayaka's and Mai's. Midori herself was very sweet, there were many good comedy bits before they finally confessed, and the scene near the final,

  Reveal hidden contents

when she made up with her parents and they all played together

made my eyes wet.

Estel, another girl from the Moon

This was good too. Estel is almost classic tsundere (or even Ice Queen, at least towards the Earthlings who she despises), and it was very enjoyable to watch how she little by little opened up to Tatsuya and changed herself. I'd say also that this route serves as a first part of the setup for true route, giving us some insight into Moon-Earth relationships.

The last route, which is unlocked after completing all previous, was Wreathlit.

Mysterious little girl, who is almost like a stray cat. This route also gives the reader some more background needed for true route.

And then there's Feena's true ending - it picks up exactly where Feena's route ended. It was pretty surprising. Don't want to spoil too much, but it gave off some strong YU-NO vibes.

  Reveal hidden contents

Missing father who was historian, exploring ancient ruins for lost technology...

There was also lovely bath-scene with Feena
The route was quite long, and very good ending to the whole game.

Another nice thing is that other characters still play significant role and don't disappear during routes.

The VN is all-ages (it is backport of PS2 version), but it is very good. @Stormwolf asked how romance is in this VN in all-ages version. I'd say that it didn't suffer. In romance-oriented routes there's lots of kissing, holding hands, cuddling and flirting, so we don't miss anything by lack of h-scenes. And for some characters h-scenes would make things super-awkward (like Mai or Wreath).
Also, Estel's and Midori's routes are only in this version, and main story got expanded compared to first PC (H) version, so overally I think it is superior.

Grahpics are absolutely beautiful - both backgrounds and character designs. I especially liked the characters - they have a bit of that old-school anime-like design that I love. Music was also good.

Unfortunately translation isn't the best. I'm aware that it is unfinished patch, with almost year worth of editing not implemented. There are also some mistranslations and awkward lines here and there. It is readable, but rather rough. Of course the routes that were translated the last (Estel, Midori, Wreath and true) suffer the most. I spotted one particularly amusing mistranslation in Midori's route:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

When I read I was like "WTF?" - second Midori's line doesn't make sense in the context at all.

Actually she says "なんかさ、音楽も楽しいこともうれしいことも、全部どうでもよくなっちゃって" which would rather translate to something along "Music, fun things, happy things... I didn't care for any of it anymore" - and that fits with the previous and next line. As for the origin of this error, I suspect that どうでも got mistaken for とっても - when you're tired they can look somewhat alike

Also, the line before says それだね、小学校六年の時, which means "in the sixth grade" rather than "six years ago", but here, by pure coincidence both versions are correct, as they are in the 12th year now (high school 3rd year), so sixth grade was six years ago

 

Also, in Wreath's lines, sometimes "そう" and ”はい” are translated in a way that doesn't fit the context - like そう translated almost always as "I see", while in some lines it evidently meant just something like "yes/that's right". In the final route she is asked about something by Mai, (like "hey, was that blablabla?" kind of question) and confirms by saying はい, which got translated as "Okay", and it didn't make sense in a context ("Yes" would be more fitting).

I'm sure that it all would have been caught and corrected during TLC and editing stage, but unfortunately some parts of this patch are just 1st pass translation, so those kinds of problems are inevitable.

Also, while we can argue infinitely about honorifics , leaving "Itadakimasu", "Gochisousama", "Oba-san" and "Oji-san" untranslated was very bad idea. Actually, if there weren't some scenes where characters make fuss about them, I'd opt for removing honorifics from this translation too.

Another problem is that in Midori's, Estel's, Wreath's and true routes there are some images with parts of the story (like Estel's lecture) and they aren't translated.

But, setting TL problems aside, it was very enjoyable experience, 8/10

It was first VN by August that I read, and after it I have really high hopes for Aiyoku no Eustia

That was cold water over my head though. Absolutely cant stand Chisato. Did my absolute best at forgetting the fact that she was the main heroine. In this though it seems they force her on you with an additional true ending.

[adamstan]

7 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Absolutely cant stand Chisato. Did my absolute best at forgetting the fact that she was the main heroine.

Ahh, it looks that I've been misunderstood!

Feena has nothing in common with Chisato. When I said "reminds me of Koichoco", it was just about the same construction of VN, with being locked on main heroine's route at first playthrough. They are completely different characters.

Edited November 8, 2018 by adamstan

[ciel_yuri]

9 hours ago, LemiusK said:

Ah, finally finished Corpse Party: Blood Drive. To pick a word to describe my overall experience... well, I guess "disappointing" does come to mind. lol

For starters, the ending was painfully short, even the "True End." After so many hours of hard work, it's actually quite a short ending that leaves much ambiguity to the many characters' fates. When compared to many popular visual novels in general, like Fate/Stay Night or even something like G-senjou no Maou, Blood Drive feels like one of those mediocre Japanese horror movies where it ends on an unsatisfying note, only telling you that the evil has been vanquished, but nothing else beyond that. Well, being a horror story, I didn't expect a happy ending or anything, but we didn't even get to see how the characters dealt with the aftermath of the events that lasted three whole games.

And then there's the characters, which aren't that amazing to begin with. Don't get me wrong - I did enjoy certain moments, even the plain whitebread Satoshi. But if you ask me if there's any unique characteristic about them, or any clever subversion the story does with them, it all comes down to none of that, as it's a bunch of rather generic anime archetypes. So yeah, I wasn't really that invested in them in the third game especially, particularly because there's a lot more insight into their relationships in the first game, which made me more attached to them. Here, the story isn't really character-focused, or at least relationship-focused, so while I do feel some tinge of sympathy for some of their fates, it's just not as emotionally engaging as the first game.

And speaking of the story, boy does it drag on and on. The good stuff doesn't even begin 'till like Chapter 7 or something. There's a lot of exposition and pointless meandering in the story, all so the villain could pull a "Aha!" plot-twist like it's some clever ruse, which really wasn't. The "villain" in particular was so predictable and edgy, your typical tragic backstory edgelord trying to justify his desire to destroy everything with a shoot-the-dog story. You know, typical anime stuff.

Overall, I'm kinda glad I managed to stick with it 'till the end, but I couldn't really say I came out feeling satisfied I spent time with these characters, especially with that lackluster and abrupt ending. 5/10

I enjoyed Blood Drive, but it definitely was the weakest of the three I played (Sachiko's Birthday game was never available in English back then, so I have no idea how that stacks up). I don't really remember it that well, but gameplay wise those damn wandering ghosts still stand out in my mind. Exploring the school was a way bigger pain in the ass than it needed to be.

[LemiusK]

11 minutes ago, ciel_yuri said:

but gameplay wise those damn wandering ghosts still stand out in my mind. Exploring the school was a way bigger pain in the ass than it needed to be.

I think the gameplay definitely distracted a lot from the story for me. I became less interested in the characters and storyline as the gameplay dragged on. I'm surprised this even qualifies as a visual novel, considering that 50% of the game is more like an adventure horror game.

I don't know. The fact that the first game had a stronger focus on the characters' relationship with each other (and how tragic it became when they lose them) made a stronger impact on me. Blood Drive, on the other hand, had a meandering plot that, as I said, served merely to set up a superficial plot twist before getting to the climax. I think the game almost expects you to be familiar with the new characters from Sachiko's Birthday, because there's a blatant lack of that visual novel element where the story familiarizes you with new characters first. I think the lack of that connection just left me utterly indifferent to their fate.

I think the biggest disappointment is that I actually had to go out of my way to buy this online because my local Playstation store doesn't have this in-stock. It wasn't cheap to acquire this game through such means, not to mention the time wasted.

Edited November 8, 2018 by LemiusK

[littleshogun]

As for that matter, I think Feena is far more elegant compared to Chisato which of course Feena herself wouldn't have similar bad moments like Chisato. But you still right though that Feena is the main heroine of Yoake, so more or less her story is quite prominent there. Also before expecting something grand with Yoake, one must remember that this is at most was only charage so you better expect that as charage, because I remember that some people disappointed the disparities between the premise and the VN content itself. The graphic was still good even though Yoake is the VN from back a 13 years ago. Too bad though that Yoake here is underrated one, mostly because people were already watched the anime. The minor mistranslation (I'd chose to just shrug those off) and the lack of H scenes didn't help at all, in which the latter was worse compared to Aselia because August didn't even re-released the PS2 backport with sex scenes for both of Midori and Estelle (I understand though that August probably need more time if they want to apply it, but it's still a shme). Well if no sex scenes could work for both of Miagete and Aselia, it should work for Yoake as well. By the way I'm fine with some image got untranslated, although it's obviously inconsistent though because we have some translated picture at the beginning.

As for the topic I decided to wait until Misa's patch released though before playing Hoshiori, because I'd heard that Misa's route was the least favorite from one detailed review that I saw so I though it would be better if I clear her route first, and besides it shouldn't be long wait to have Misa's patch here. Also I'll lready decided which route that I'll pick in Sanoba first, and it'll be Tsumugi's.

[adamstan]

8 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

By the way I'm fine with some image got untranslated, although it's obviously inconsistent though because we have some translated picture at the beginning.

That's because the patch is unfinished - it is internal beta for the translation team, which was leaked by one of the editors, when group's main hacker/coder couldn't do anything for the few years. There was actually some editing and TLC done after this version was made (and those pictures were translated too), but they were never compiled into the working patch The patch that we have was released in 2016, but it was actually made around 2013.

https://www.reddit.com/r/visualnovels/comments/4te0e4/yoake_brighter_than_the_dawning_blue_100/

8 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

Also before expecting something grand with Yoake, one must remember that this is at most was only charage so you better expect that as charage

Right, but for a charage it's very good IMO.

8 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

Too bad though that Yoake here is underrated one, mostly because people were already watched the anime

From what I've read, the anime wasn't good

8 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

Well if no sex scenes could work for both of Miagete and Aselia, it should work for Yoake as well.

It works, I have no complaints at all.

Edited November 8, 2018 by adamstan

[ciel_yuri]

2 hours ago, LemiusK said:

I think the gameplay definitely distracted a lot from the story for me. I became less interested in the characters and storyline as the gameplay dragged on. I'm surprised this even qualifies as a visual novel, considering that 50% of the game is more like an adventure horror game.

I don't know. The fact that the first game had a stronger focus on the characters' relationship with each other (and how tragic it became when they lose them) made a stronger impact on me. Blood Drive, on the other hand, had a meandering plot that, as I said, served merely to set up a superficial plot twist before getting to the climax. I think the game almost expects you to be familiar with the new characters from Sachiko's Birthday, because there's a blatant lack of that visual novel element where the story familiarizes you with new characters first. I think the lack of that connection just left me utterly indifferent to their fate.

I think the biggest disappointment is that I actually had to go out of my way to buy this online because my local Playstation store doesn't have this in-stock. It wasn't cheap to acquire this game through such means, not to mention the time wasted.

Yeah, it's kinda debatable whether or not games like are actually VNs. As far as the series, I think Book of Shadows felt most like one to me. Wandering around exploring things in these kinds of games can be a lot of fun, but when you're forced to run away from things non stop it can get tiring. Especially when it has nothing to do with the story and is just some random, endlessly respawning spirit. I kinda like how Danganronpa did exploration for a VN type game. You couldn't die or anything, but it still felt suspenseful and let me appreciate the uneasy atmosphere of the school.

[LemiusK]

Episode 10 of Muv-Luv Alternative was shorter than I expected, given that it's the final battle and all. But man... it's finally come to an end. A grand epic finale worthy of the hype.

Sigh. Gotta hate it when good stories end. lol

Though I've gotta be painfully honest, I actually don't have as hard a time leaving Muv-Luv behind as I do towards other franchises.  It's one of those cases where you acknowledge and respect the hype surrounding something, but you're just not as personally invested as everyone else. It's a reaaaally solid story with amazing characterization, don't get me wrong, but I don't know, I just don't feel that torn up about leaving it behind.

I guess if I'm to be honest, it probably comes down to not being that attached to the characters. I was going to blame it on all the infodumping dampening my experience, but then I remember how much I liked Fate/Stay Night (or specifically, Saber's character) in spite of the infodumping. Muv-Luv has a very clever way of growing its characters, but none of their personality just appealed to me the way other VNs/anime did. Even my favorite girl, Ayamine, was only so because I found her to be witty and funny, but no deeper connection than that. I might have changed my mind if there was actually an Ayamine route in Alternative to further explore the character, but I doubt it.

This is going to be the same case with many VNs I've played and will play in the future, so I won't bother boring you again with a similar post next time. G-senjou no Maou, Saya no Uta, Corpse Party, and the Zero Escape VNs are all examples of popular visual novels I acknowledged the quality of, but not as crazy or fanatical as everyone else. It takes a really special kind of VN that go above and beyond the average quality to really get me singing praises about how much of an impact it has on me; timeless and epic stories like Steins;Gate, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Clannad, and of course, Fate/Stay Night. Muv-Luv Alternative, unfortunately, won't be on my AAA list. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you; I'm extremely fussy. Second place is still considered great in my book.

That being said, I will still be browsing the Muv-Luv spin-offs in the future. I am a bit curious whether if there would be sequels where

Spoiler

humanity in the Alternative universe continue their fight on Mars and other planets.

But first, I need to finish clearing up some of the unread routes in Unlimited and Alternative, of course (I sort of rushed into Alternative without clearing all the routes in Unlimited because they were all so similar). I'm currently at the "Final Episode" of Alternative, so I guess farewells are not too far away.

Anyway, to bring this verbose statement to a close, Muv-Luv Alternative is great. I enjoyed all the clever subversions they did for the harem setting. And you know, I have to talk about the music too, because that's a pretty solid soundtrack up there. Some of my favorites were the grander trumpet scores played during the closing of a large battle, and man, the theme songs inserted between scenes definitely boosted my spirits in the face of a grim battle ahead. "CARRY ON, MY WAY!" lol

Final Rating: 9/10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that Alternative is out of the way, I could hopefully get back to my favorite blonde tsundere over at Grisaia no Meikyuu soon... Then after that, I might see if I could spare some time for Ever17.

Speaking of Ever17 - which I've dropped twice now - I remember that the second time I dropped, I was probably very close or at least halfway through the first route of the game. I was at the point of the story where

Spoiler

they're trying to cure the virus of someone. Can't remember whom though. It was either a virus or a medical condition; can't recall.

Anyway, if someone could clear that up, I'd appreciate it.

[adamstan]

19 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Then after that, I might see if I could spare some time for Ever17.

It looks like today new patch for Ever17 has been released.

[LemiusK]

lol Okay, I spoke too soon. There's a bit more to talk about regarding the final episode of Alternative. For starters, can't wait for Altered Fable to be fully translated now, if ever. lol Probably gonna pick Kashiwagi's route this time, as she caught my eye during Alternative (though technically, she already piqued my interest back in Muv-Luv).

And then and then and then... there's that 

Spoiler

Muv-Luv Extra theme at the end... mhmphhhh...

Well, the rumors were right, it definitely hit in the feels there, as the theme took on a different context there at the end.

Now see, THIS, this is how you do an ending, not that ambiguous nonsense. This is how you do a satisfying ending where you get proper closure and feel like you've came a long way with awesome characters. Very solid and fitting conclusion. Definitely a case of

Spoiler

"Earn your happy ending."

Hm. Think I'll throw in something a little extra:

Final Rating: 9.5/10

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

But first, I need to finish clearing up some of the unread routes in Unlimited and Alternative, of course (I sort of rushed into Alternative without clearing all the routes in Unlimited because they were all so similar).

Don't bother. The "routes" in Unlimited are basically the same anyway. Alternative doesn't even have routes (technically, there's one scene right at the very end that depends on which girl you favored during the walkthrough, but I'd just recommend to watch it on YouTube).

1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

That being said, I will still be browsing the Muv-Luv spin-offs in the future. I am a bit curious whether if there would be sequels where

  Hide contents

humanity in the Alternative universe continue their fight on Mars and other planets.

 

I don't think any of the spin-offs cover that, sadly. I myself would love to see a proper sequel with this as a setting.

You know, not being crazy about a VN even when you acknowledge its quality is pretty normal. I actually feel the same way about quite a lot of VNs. Not every good story will work for you personally.

1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

G-senjou no Maou, Saya no Uta, Corpse Party, and the Zero Escape VNs are all examples of popular visual novels I acknowledged the quality of, but not as crazy or fanatical as everyone else.

1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

I was at the point of the story where

You almost finished a route I believe. Also, Ever17 gets a lot better when you start it for the second time (if you choose a different protagonist).

[Ranzo]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:25 AM, LemiusK said:

Sigh. Just got to the R18 scene of Muv-Luv Alternative...

Sigh. Sigh. Should really have stuck with the All-Ages version. This is just so damn stupid.

I mean, I've seen my share of hentai, so I'm not squeamish or anything, but it does break the immersion. Makes it all feel like one big parody.

You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought Nasu was the one who wrote this, given how Heaven's Feel turned out. Guess the rumor that many Japanese VN writers are closet perverts isn't that far from the truth.

Personally, I hate censorship for the most parts, but in some cases, I would actually favor the All-Ages version when the sexual parts don't add anything to the story (Key's VNs like Clannad comes to mind), or when they even detract from the story. This is definitely one of those cases.

I tried tellin' cats that waiting for the 18 patch was a bad idea but they never listened to me. Yeah I found it really weird and off putting as well.

And yeah I wish the characters had been a bit better initially especially design wise. I ended up really loving the cast that joins the team later in Alternative and I wished that they had been the main girls. I did like Meiya quite a bit.

 

I played Corpse Party for the first time recently and while I enjoyed my experience I think it is certainly one of those games I would have liked more had I played it when I was younger. A lot of the horror stuff just didn't click with me and walking through all the samey rooms and hallways got old after a while. I also really didn't like that guyz younger sister. For one thing she is supposed to be in Middle School yet they have her talking like she's in kindergarten or elementary school. Middle School girls do not talk like that unless she has some developmental disability I know they were trying to make her seem innocent but they should have just made her younger. I also really didn't like how most of their arc was dedicated to her really needing to piss. It was weird and stupid. Also, I thought the ending was just whatever for me. Nothing was really solved and it seemed like bait for a sequel. One which I don't quite feel like chomping at.

 

I'm playing Crystalline you know that EVN that was made by the fine folks behind Ace Academy and while I'm sort of enjoying myself there are some issues I have with it. One, the story is pretty basic it's your classic Isekai tale that has already been done to death but that's okay the characters are decent and the writing is decent. The second thing is the boob physics. I hate boob physics they are always real off putting and fake. A woman putting her hands on her hips and slightly leaning forward will not cause her tits to ruble like some kind of earthquake. The last thing and worst thing about it is the amount of references. There is just too fucking much and they are not very funny and quite annoying. Referential humor can be funny only if it used in small doses and not all the fucking time. Visually however I think it is pretty great and the backgrounds are damn good. 

[Funyarinpa]

2 minutes ago, Ranzo said:

And yeah I wish the characters had been a bit better initially especially design wise. I ended up really loving the cast that joins the team later in Alternative and I wished that they had been the main girls. I did like Meiya quite a bit.

 

I'll second this.

[LemiusK]

8 minutes ago, Ranzo said:

I ended up really loving the cast that joins the team later in Alternative and I wished that they had been the main girls. 

To be honest, aside from Kashiwagi maybe, the only other girl from the later team I was really fond of was Akane, but only because I already liked her tomboyish attitude from the KimiNozo anime. Still waiting for Akane Maniax to be translated...

That said, 

Edited November 8, 2018 by LemiusK

[Dreamysyu]

Well, it looks like I finally finished the common route in Dies Irae. I am not sure where exactly each route splits out, but according to the walkthrough I already passed the last choice leading to Kasumi route. And, well, my first reaction is that this is a pretty good VN, but so far I don't really see anything that would make it stand out above all the others.

I'll just make a list of things I liked and disliked so far:

+ Overall, the writing feels good. Except for (actually quite rare) SOL scenes, I never really felt bored.

+ I was kind of skeptical about the setting when I first heard about this VN, as I generally don't enjoy these "good guys vs bad guys" settings, but the villains are pretty well written, and the "good guys" aren't exactly that generically good either, so we'll see.

+ The action scenes overall are quite engaging. The plot armor for the important characters is obviously present (though it will probably become looser in the character routes), but the exact outcome of each battle isn't really that predictable.

+ The character art is pretty nice.

+/- The music somehow manages to change between really good songs and the songs that literally make my head hurt.

+/- There are way too many intermissions. It becomes pretty confusing to keep track of which information the protagonist already knows and which we know from some external source. That said, the main problems with the story structures like that is that the protagonists quite often end up looking like complete idiots in the eyes of the readers, but DI manages to avoid that so far, and the intermissions never reveal too much.

+/- The plot itself is pretty average (and quite predictable) so far, but from what I understand the plot is not the main selling point of this VN. The characters also don't really stand out so far to me personally, but I hope it'll change in the character routes.

- Kasumi, and quite a lot of scenes where she is involved. They somehow managed to make her a very generic osananajimi character, and most scenes where she is involved just make me cringe.

Well, that's it. I don't feel like giving this a numerical rating so far because it can still change very much, but overall it feels like a very enjoyable VN, but I don't really expect it to become one of my favorites.

[adamstan]

I just started Sanoba Witch. For now I have to say that dual-language option (with both EN and JP text visble simultaneously) is great feature, although it probably slows me down greatly, as I'm trying to read original text along with translation

[Stormwolf]

1 hour ago, adamstan said:

I just started Sanoba Witch. For now I have to say that dual-language option (with both EN and JP text visble simultaneously) is great feature, although it probably slows me down greatly, as I'm trying to read original text along with translation

It's a good thing, but useless for me  It's one thing to know which japanese letters make the english sentence, but i'd never know what's what since they're structured differently. With romanji it would be a bit easier i think, but that would look like a mess

[LemiusK]

Rereading Ever17 because my save data was lost. Decided to just wing it and pick whichever option I feel like for my first playthrough to make it feel more natural. After looking at the flowchart, it seems like I'm heading for Tsugumi+Sora Bad End. Oh well.

Couldn't stand Tsugumi's edgy loner attitude enough to play nice with her, so I didn't pick the nicer options for her this time (as opposed to my original playthrough). Became closer to Sora this time round, but still not enough to earn enough points because I listened to Coco's joke instead of paying attention to her at the beginning. C'mon, it was a hilarious joke. I'm annoyed that Takeshi didn't laugh one bit at the joke. Poor Coco.

Speaking of whom, Coco is soooo cute. Best gurl of the game. She seems like someone whom I could just hang out with all day, joking around. Well, I kinda understand why they wrote her that way, since I could still recall vague details of what happens near the end of Tsu+Sora's route. Feels bad man.

Sora's infodumping got me to fall asleep, literally. Then again, I was reading at 2 in the morning, coincidentally the same in-game time Sora was infodumping in the VN. Gah, I didn't bother trying to figure out half of what she said.

Anyway, can't wait to get on Coco's route soon.  

[MaggieROBOT]

10 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Decided to just wing it and pick whichever option I feel like for my first playthrough to make it feel more natural.

Nice to see someone that feels the same about choices as me! ^^  Walkthrough is useful for endings hunting and for getting those pesky 100% completion but it take all the fun out of the game. I love to experiment, to try, and pick what feels natural and to figure out how can I favor my best girl/boy.

...Although because of this refusal to look at walkthroughs my first ending on my first VN ever was the Bad Ending 13 of FSN (the one you get for insufficient points with Saber on the last day, you know?). The backtrack still haunts me to this day. Fun times.  

[onorub]

1 hour ago, MaggieROBOT said:

...Although because of this refusal to look at walkthroughs my first ending on my first VN ever was the Bad Ending 13 of FSN (the one you get for insufficient points with Saber on the last day, you know?). The backtrack still haunts me to this day. Fun times.  

You managed to get that ending blindly? I've seen walkthroughs about how to get that ending for 100% completion because it's so hard to get. Then again, if it was your first VN you probably weren't aware of affection points. I wonder how you did against Illya's affection wall in Heaven's Feel or any of the routes in Amnesia Memories.

[MaggieROBOT]

11 minutes ago, onorub said:

You managed to get that ending blindly? I've seen walkthroughs about how to get that ending for 100% completion because it's so hard to get. Then again, if it was your first VN you probably weren't aware of affection points. I wonder how you did against Illya's affection wall in Heaven's Feel or any of the routes in Amnesia Memories.

Yeah, I had no idea the points existed, and I always prefered Rin over Saber soooo... So I can attest, it's a easy ending to get if you keep favoring Rin, although you have to go back to day 9 to fix this shit for the true ending (it's salvageable after that, even if you didn't bothered before).

After that trauma, I didn't even try to go UBW and HF blindly, I almost did advanced math with the guide to calculate all points for a minimum backtrack run.   I do the same with other games known for their obnoxious flag/points system now.

Meanwhile, it took me a while to get some normal endings in Code Realize, as I kept getting too many points with the heroes and it was locking me in the best endings. (I know about the scene selection, but my honor didn't let me get the easy way out wwww)

Edited November 11, 2018 by MaggieROBOT