What are you playing?

[ChaosRaven]

Well, she's an important character for reasons I don't want to spoil here, but since she's not a fighter like the others she's usually more at the side lines while the others do the job. I didn't really hold that against her since she's just a weak girl. You frequently get the choice to the best thing from her perspective which was okay for me. But she does interact with the others, she's just not particular useful in combat situations.

[Stormwolf]

3 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

Well, she's an important character for reasons I don't want to spoil here, but since she's not a fighter like the others she's usually more at the side lines while the others do the job. I didn't really hold that against her since she's just a weak girl. You frequently get the choice to the best thing from her perspective which was okay for me. But she does interact with the others, she's just not particular useful in combat situations.

Sounds like it's mostly just the same as male oriented vn's. Male oriented vn's have a weak male protagonist and strong female heroines, this is true most of the cases.

[alpacaman]

8 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

Hmm, romance or not, protagonist feeling like she's not part of the plot is not a good sign that :/ what's the point of a protagonist if he/she is redundant in the story?

It's like having an Indiana Jones movie where he is sidelined the entire movie. Would be terrible. Point is, the story belongs to the protagonist, otherwise it's best to tell the story from an outside perspective (not sure how to explain this) or jump between the characters the writers give a crap about as the story goes.

It's completely common in fictional media to have a protagonist who isn't the focus of the story. Most comedies have a straight man character as protagonist who gets thrown into other peoples shenanigans. Detectives in crime stories usually aren't the center of attention. Mad Max in Fury Road just happens to tumble into someone else's story. It seems to be even more common in Japanese media (which is one of the reasons I like VNs). The protagonist's role in these stories is mainly to be the perspective the reader or viewer witnesses the story through. That's why so many VNs with character routes have weak protagonists. If the protagonist just went along and solved everyone else's problems the heroines' routes wouldn't be very interesting most of the time. If you just switched to a character's perspectives once you enter their arc the story would feel very disjointed, which is why it's usually only used for short sequences or in fandiscs. It can make a lot of sense to have the protagonist mainly be a spectator depending on what kind of story you want to tell. Which isn't to say they shouldn't have a personality or their own arcs.

[nihilloligasan]

Sakura no Uta-been really looking forward to this after hearing about it from sca-di fans and seeing videos on youtube of it. unfortunately, i'm not that comfortable with my japanese skills yet, so i decided to read it in spanish. i'm still on the first chapter, but i've been enjoying it so far, and i'm excited for when things really start to get going.

[Trickay]

I decided not to go back to Chrono clock just yet Wei123 and pushed forward with some Grisaia.

I'm not as far through Meikyuu as would have liked, spent far too much time onboard this trip due to broken generator circuits... several full earths I had to chase down. Anyhow I just wanted to say that the first Asako/JB H scene was truly spectacular, genuinely hilarious to the point of weeping eyes in places. I think I'm about halfway so will probably advance onto Rakuen this trip.

Although after seeing several fan art CGs I'm really interested in Hapymaher; so maybe that'll be on the cards next (when I'm home).

[Stormwolf]

Reading ever17.

Spoiler

Cant say its all that gripping. Setting is fine, but the characters? Not so much. They're pointlessly secretive, generally passive and every character is annoying different ways, and some character revelations are pretty nonsensical. So much so that i cant take it seriously. Virus granting immortality? Please... The coco virus is better though, but its enough with 1 disease in such a story.

 

[Eurobeatz]

Muv-Luv Alternative and Grisaia no Kajitsu. I started MLA right after finishing Unllimited and was really into it at first (played for 7 hours straight) but I've honestly been struggling to get back into the mood since. I know it's going to be great though. Same goes for Grisaia, I'm not a slice of life fan but the comedy is right up my alley. Not really making any progress because I'm not in a great place mentally and I want to make sure I actually enjoy both of them. 

I'm going to be away from my PC next week because I'm going back home for my break from Uni, going to try and finish MYTH during that time because it's the only VN I have on my Macbook. I have really mixed feelings about it, and I've heard bad things about the ending, but hopefully it'll be an enjoyable experience.

[Dreamysyu]

7 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

Reading ever17.

  Hide contents

Cant say its all that gripping. Setting is fine, but the characters? Not so much. They're pointlessly secretive, generally passive and every character is annoying different ways, and some character revelations are pretty nonsensical. So much so that i cant take it seriously. Virus granting immortality? Please... The coco virus is better though, but its enough with 1 disease in such a story.

 

Spoiler

I agree. The story and the characters in Ever 17 aren't that great. What saves this game, however, is how it presents the overall mystery and the true route. I'd say, there are two ways to enjoy this story the most: you either try to solve the mystery yourself (it's possible, but you need to pay very close attention to detail), or just force yourself to read through the side routes to be mindblown after you finish the true route.

 

[Stormwolf]

30 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

  Hide contents

I agree. The story and the characters in Ever 17 aren't that great. What saves this game, however, is how it presents the overall mystery and the true route. I'd say, there are two ways to enjoy this story the most: you either try to solve the mystery yourself (it's possible, but you need to pay very close attention to detail), or just force yourself to read through the side routes to be mindblown after you finish the true route.

 

Spoiler

Its likely vague enough that its impossible to figure out as you'll likely discard the hints as you go because they don't mean anything to you at that time.

 

[Dreamysyu]

21 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

  Hide contents

Its likely vague enough that its impossible to figure out as you'll likely discard the hints as you go because they don't mean anything to you at that time.

 

Spoiler

Nope, it really is possible. I myself got quite a lot of things right, though, admittedly, I spoiled a certain moment from later in the game, which didn't really reveal anything concrete, but helped me a lot to place everything together. @Thyndd also got many things right, and he didn't know that spoiler.

I'd say, there is a certain "main twist" which is pretty much impossible to get if you never read over stories with the same twist. Every other twist is actually hinted a lot, you just need to notice these hints.

 

[adamstan]

I just finished Serika's route in ToHeart PSE.

Shy ojousama, leader of occult club, which, apart from her, consists of ghost members only*  

Spoiler

*literally ghost members

She's cute, and route was pretty nice, but it has one major drawback execution-wise - it's almost completely unvoiced!. It has some in-story justification - Serika is very shy and quiet, and most of the time she whispers, so we get to know her lines as 'reported' by MC - but it still seems like lazy move from devs. OTOH - first version was unvoiced, so if they wrote it like that from the beginning I kind of understand it - it wouldn't be feasible to rewrite whole story just to give more work to VA

Nevertheless I enjoyed this route very much, and it ended nicely.

Spoiler

Scenes with Serika patting Hiroyuki's head were very heartwarming. Pool date was nice too.

 

So, 3 routes completed, 7 more to go

Next one is Tomoko:

Kansai-ben speaking tsundere in glasses, voiced by Aya Hisakawa. Wonder how will it turn out...

Edited March 18, 2019 by adamstan

[Stormwolf]

3 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Nope, it really is possible. I myself got quite a lot of things right, though, admittedly, I spoiled a certain moment from later in the game, which didn't really reveal anything concrete, but helped me a lot to place everything together. @Thyndd also got many things right, and he didn't know that spoiler.

I'd say, there is a certain "main twist" which is pretty much impossible to get if you never read over stories with the same twist. Every other twist is actually hinted a lot, you just need to notice these hints.

 

Spoiler

Well, its likely something about time travel or alternate dimensions. Anyway, sometimes its best not to think too hard about it and let the plot twist hit you full force! Anyway, i do wonder how this vn will correct itself. So far the mc has made promises with 2 girls the moment he dies. And that was good endings. Either they'll run some multiple worlds stuff or some of these promises becomes entirely unfulfilled, which makes the routes utterly pointless and unsatisfactory. I must say i'm a bit reluctant to read the last two, as the vn has already told me how the regular routes end. Well, i'm still braving on to see what lies in store. True ending better make up for these bad endings disguised as good endings.

 

[Ranzo]

Decided to start playing If My Heart Had Wings because I guess I was looking for something light and fluffy before I restart a lot of the drama heavy vns I'd like to get through

I'm a few hours in and it seems fine so far and the girls that I've encountered so far seem pretty decent

 

I actually kinda like the protag and he actually seems like he has some issues to deal with and has the potential for growth which is sadly lacking in quite a few vns

Hopefully I won't want to toss him into a spinning propeller half way through the vn

[Stormwolf]

8 hours ago, Ranzo said:

Decided to start playing If My Heart Had Wings because I guess I was looking for something light and fluffy before I restart a lot of the drama heavy vns I'd like to get through

I'm a few hours in and it seems fine so far and the girls that I've encountered so far seem pretty decent

 

I actually kinda like the protag and he actually seems like he has some issues to deal with and has the potential for growth which is sadly lacking in quite a few vns

Hopefully I won't want to toss him into a spinning propeller half way through the vn

I want to throw most mc's into a propeller regardless. Either they're just written as terrible as they are, or they have some idiotic issues as a "reason" for them to act like a cookie cutter shitty protagonist. In the end, they're mostly all the same, "good" reasons or not. 

[Trickay]

Just finished Meikyuu...

Spoiler

I just wanted to say that the first Asako/JB H scene was truly spectacular, genuinely hilarious to the point of weeping eyes in places. But the ending is such a cliff hanger, almost like they cut a sequel in half. I'll move onto Rakuen next... ignore all previous plans I need to know what happens!

 

[fuyopon]

I just finished the last Chapter of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and I'm planning on finish VA-11 HALL-A once and for all!

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Leonor

[Plk_Lesiak]

For a long time now I'm watching regularly a playthrough of Shining Song Starnova. It's now on fifth route, which happens to be Nemu's and by this point I'm like 80% sick of this game. All the backstories and drama around the girls are just so over-the-top disgusting - they manages to be both cartoonishly exaggerated and genuinely disturbing to the point of being off-putting (I'd be pretty happy with literal shit-eating being exclusive to the clock-up games I read). Even in these small doses I find it occasionally hard to swallow and unlike a genuine utsuge, I don't think there's any real message or value within it (at least apart from compiling every horror story from the anime industry and then making all of them ten times more extreme). It's well-produced, has a lot of content and quite a lot of personality, but the longer I read it, the more I don't know what to think about it... 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[Mr Poltroon]

1 minute ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

For a long time now I'm watching regularly a playthrough of Shining Song Starnova. It's now on fifth route, which happens to be Nemu's and by this point I'm like 80% sick of this game. All the backstories and drama around the girls are just so over-the-top disgusting - they manages to be both cartoonishly exaggerated and genuinely disturbing to the point of being off-putting (I'd be pretty happy with literal shit-eating being exclusive to the clock-up games I read). Even in these small doses I find it occasionally hard to swallow and unlike a genuine utsuge, I don't think there's any real message or value within it (at least apart from compiling every horror story from the anime industry and then making allof them ten times more extreme). It's well-produced, has a lot of content and quite a lot of personality, but the longer I read it, the more I don't know what to think about it... 

I liked it a lot. There's a lot of "Idols r dark"  drama going on, but that's most definitely not the part I pay attention to or care about. I prefer to focus on everyone's interactions and coming together to have friendship win it all or some such.

[Plk_Lesiak]

4 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I liked it a lot. There's a lot of "Idols r dark"  drama going on, but that's most definitely not the part I pay attention to or care about. I prefer to focus on everyone's interactions and coming together to have friendship win it all or some such.

Yeah, I'd say the casual parts are very well done and girls' personities really shine in their routes. But at some point the kitsch cartoon villains and the over-the-top nastiness of the drama take their toll on me... 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[yelsha57]

After finishing Hello Goodbye, I have been reading EF. I did start over on chapter 1 ,because I got busy with other vns at the time. I like it so far. I'm on chapter 3 now. The ost and artstyle is beautiful. So far I rated it a 9, I might rate it a 10 ,since I heard it gets even better. 

Edited March 21, 2019 by yelsha57

[littleshogun]

Already finished with Paulette's route from Maitetsu, so I think I'll continuing Hitotsuba for now (Might as well take Mimari's route first seeing that apparently there's a bug that you can unlock her first sex scenes after you finished Hikari's route).

Edited March 22, 2019 by littleshogun

[adamstan]

I just finished another route in ToHeart. This time it was Tomoko.

It was very good route - clearly the best of the four I've read so far. At the beginning, Tomoko isn't even tsundere, she's genuine Ice Queen However once she's defrosted, she turns into really nice girl, that has some classic tsundere traits. That progress, and ending make the route really satisfying.

Also, even though it's all-ages release, her route has some pretty nice CGs (WARNING - SPOILERS!)

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

4 completed, 6 more to go.

Next one is Lemmy (レミィ)

I liked her in common route, let's see how will her own route do.

 

 

[Mr Poltroon]

Freakily Charming recently put out another game that I feel truly lives up to the brand name.
Whilst Hitomebore was a very sweet tale of dealing with 'different', and the other title has its own appeal and fanbase, Butterfly Affection, the newest title, deals with the truly creepy. It's not long at all, and takes less than an hour, so I do recommend you give it a try if you're interested in cohabitating with a Gothic horror.

[Plk_Lesiak]

11 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Freakily Charming recently put out another game that I feel truly lives up to the brand name.
Whilst Hitomebore was a very sweet tale of dealing with 'different', and the other title has its own appeal and fanbase, Butterfly Affection, the newest title, deals with the truly creepy. It's not long at all, and takes less than an hour, so I do recommend you give it a try if you're interested in cohabitating with a Gothic horror.

Do you have a convenient download link for it anywhere? I had trouble finding one.

[adamstan]

On 22.03.2019 at 7:01 PM, adamstan said:

Next one is Lemmy (レミィ)

I liked her in common route, let's see how will her own route do.

I just finished this route, and wasn't disappointed. The route had some backstory, and few truly heartwarming moments And Lemmy's crazy family

Spoiler

 

It turns out that she's "lost-childhood-friend" heroine - they met as little kids, when Hiroyuki got lost near Lemmy's house, and then he came there almost everyday and played with her.

But one day she suddenly moved to US with her family.

Then, this route makes use of the scene with lost boy in the shopping district from common route, as later Lemmy too helps lost girl in search for her mom, and Hiroyuki joins them. Then, she also remembers how they met for the first time. And well, this CG is quite heartwarming isn't it?

 

Ending was pretty sweet too

Spoiler

So now I have finished half of the game - and so far it delivers

Edited March 24, 2019 by adamstan