What are you playing?

[Dreamysyu]

So, after a long break with VNs I'm finally back. I'm currently reading Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning, and I'm loving it so far! Right now I've finished 3 chapters, and I'll try to write a more extensive reaction after I finish the whole VN.

[rax]

Finaly finished Digital Seclusion.It was a very good Visual Novel i liked.i got the bad end.Is there other endings or routes? I'm in doubt about it.

[adamstan]

6 hours ago, rax said:

Finaly finished Digital Seclusion.It was a very good Visual Novel i liked.i got the bad end.Is there other endings or routes? I'm in doubt about it.

I'm not familiar with this game, but usually VNs have more than one ending (except the so-called "kinetic novels"). If you're in doubt, it's best to search for a walkthrough/guide.

[fuyopon]

So, I finally finished reading the fifth chapter of Higurashi (aka Meakashi) and man, does it feel amazing to read it for the first time! The previous ones were all rereads so I kinda knew what to expect (although I didn't remember a lot) but this one, even tho it's related to the Watanagashi chapter, it had a completely different feeling~

Spoiler

I wouldn't call Shion your typical yandere, but I see the "dere" types as a spectrum (especially when it comes to tsundere and yanderes, who are usually the more complicated ones), and Shion would definitely be in it.

My comments (spoilers, obviously)

Spoiler

Chapter 2

Seeing Shion and Mion getting along so well is kinda weird ngl

Noooo, poor Satoko! I hate that sprite of hers, it breaks my heart :(( also, Satoshi's POV?? Woah

Chapter 3

So Shion can just cry at command, huh... Interesting, interesting. That means she was probably faking it in the telephone, if it was actually Shion and not Mion.

Chapter 4

Ryuukishi mentioned in the review session that she was trying to get sympathy from the reader but wow, she sucked at that huh. I mean, I never liked her much but knowing the shit she did to Satoko when she was just a child made me really fucking angry. As someone who spent their entire childhood afraid of being at home because of my entire family and terrified of everything because of it, it's not something you can just "grow up and deal with"!  And besides! Satoshi shouldn't be the ideal teen Shion thinks he is. He is supposed to be immature and childish but, just like Coach said, he was forced to grow up and be mature, that's what trauma does to you. That's what happened to me but now that I'm in a better place my brain has finally started to develop again (because yeah, if your brain is in "survival mode", it kinda freezes emotionally until you are safe again) it has caused all sorts of issues because I'm 20 and I have the emotional intelligence and stability of a 14 y/o. Satoshi isn't mature, it's just a fucking way to cope, ugh. I find Satoshi cute and all, but Shion just idolizes him way too much; that ain't healthy, gurl. Anyways, a child is supposed to cry and let it all out to be healthy, that much amount of stress and repression is literally killing them inside (like, cortisol isn't supposed to be so high for that amount of time because it becomes TOXIC to the body) and what does Shion do? FUCKING BEAT THAT CHILD EVEN MORE  Shion is a teen and is in love, I get it. Still no excuse to beat a fucking child younger than her. I just can't sympathize, sorry lmao

Oh, and also: so, Shion is the one Satoshi talked to before Watanagashi, about taking Satoko with her... Does that mean the one Keiichi talked to in chapter 3 was also Shion or was it Mion? I mean, Shion could have told her later on, since she can't go to the festival herself. But... there's no way Mion would know every exact thing Satoshi told Shion, just like Keiichi did, hmmm... I'm still not sure.

Chapter 11

I was already kinda expecting them to switch places, but I wasn't expecting them to have had switched names when they were little kids, woah; now that's a mindfuck.

Chapter 13/bad ending

The bad ending was depressing af, c'mon. I find Keiichi and Mion really cute together, even if Keiichi is a dense mf 

So far, this is my rank:

#1 Tatarigoroshi
#2 Watanagashi
#3 Onikakushi
#4 Meakashi
#5 Himatsubushi

Anyways, I'll give this one a 7,8/10! Next will be Tsumihoroboshi (chapter 6)! 
I can't wait to be with my boi Keiichi again~

[Seraphim]

Currently enjoying Kinkoi, but the following dialogue went completely over my head. Does anyone have any idea what it's a reference to?



In any case, it's one of the better VNs I've read lately, although there's a weird (and somewhat creepy) bug that causes face sprites to show up separated from the heads, but it doesn't happen too often. Here's an example:

(I might've added some additional text. *cough*)

Edited July 29, 2021 by Seraphim

[Eclipsed]

Fatal Twelve. It popped up randomly in the Switch store the other day, jeez y'all gotta market better!

 

Fatal Twelve is a, uh... battle of wits style battle royale death game? Except there's no hard violence- no epic Fate/Stay battles to the death. At the other end of the spectrum, there's no glorified verbal debates like Danganronpa's Class Trials. That's probably my biggest first impression disappointment going into this VN lol.

The basic premise is that 12 people died, and through an enigmatic process called Divine Selection they are put through a 12 week altered reality where none of them actually died. The goal? To eliminate all other participants via weekly Elections in the Court of Fate. Other than that they are relatively free to do as they please with their newfound time. In order to Elect someone, a participant must have their opponents' 1) Name 2) Cause of Death 3) Life Regret. An eliminated participant will have their death become reality once again, and any physical actions or influence they made between their original death and the current present is erased. The sole survivor of the Divine Selection gets the privilege to defy fate and live on while the rest perish as fate originally intended.

The whole process is supervised by none other than Parca, a snarky self proclaimed Goddess of Destiny.

Yo you're cute and all, but, I mean, wtf kind of name is Parca?

The 12 participants all have different backgrounds and circumstances ranging from mafioso, wealthy businessman, housewife, single old man, smuggler, rich indian prince, female child, and of course, our protagonist, your every day ordinary high school male high school female with a delinquent appearance: Rinka. She really is just a high school kid, as she mainly spends the first half of the Divine Selection just mulling about her school's upcoming culture festival and friendships, with her research into the other participants being limited to really amateur attempts such as trying to Google them on the internet. The adults do all of the heavy lifting, forming alliances and long con betrayals. 

Who looks more out of place here, the handsome Nigerian Prince or the delinquent schoolgirl lol.

The story plays episodic/weekly, with the first few weeks being easily forgetful since they were used to eliminate the fodder cast and establish the mechanics of the Divine Selection as well as give you a feel for how the other participants are going about their days. Might as well have called this VN Fatal Six, since that's when the remaining cast get to have some better interactions and scenarios with each other. As I said earlier, the weekly eliminations in the Court of Fate also leave much to be desired, as those segments really lack any climax feel. No oomph. One person just Elects someone, calls out their name, cause of death, and regret, and that's it. Moving onto the next week.

YO I FEEL SAD THAT THE DIVINE SELECTION ELECTION ELIMINATIONS BASICALLY BOIL DOWN TO LIST YOUR OPPONENT'S 1-2-3 LINERS AND NOT HOUR LONG DANGANRONPA CLASS TRIAL SEGMENTS
 

Pretty curious to see how this can end, like if there'll be any jaw dropping twists or if it'll just end straightforwardly.


~~
Another VN err otome that just came out today that I've been waiting for is Bustafellows. For some reason I thought this was made by the same devs IdeaFactory/Otomate who made the blockbusters Code;Realize and CollarXMalice, but apparently not. Still looks like it has the potential to be included in the list of high quality otome VNs that everyone who gets into otomes should read though.

You play as Teuta, a cheerful 21yo freelance journalist living in modern fictional U.S. New Sieg. Looking for her next scoop she happened upon one of the heroes, Limbo, a famous skilled arrogant lawyer on the side of justice. Hoping to catch an interview she calls out to him, but much to her shock he just collapses and dies, blood pouring out of his chest.

So what does she do?

She timeleaps one hour into the past into the body of another in order to warn Limbo about his impending doom.

...Oh yeah, this should be good.

[VernonZirconKitsune]

Started playing Togainu No Chi. The only thing I knew about it was that it was a BL made by Nitro Plus. I shouldn't have been surprised when It got really dark really fast, lmao. It still surprised the hell out of me, but it seems interesting enough so

[ChaosRaven]

8 hours ago, Eclipsed said:

YO I FEEL SAD THAT THE DIVINE SELECTION ELECTION ELIMINATIONS BASICALLY BOIL DOWN TO LIST YOUR OPPONENT'S 1-2-3 LINERS AND NOT HOUR LONG DANGANRONPA CLASS TRIAL SEGMENTS

So can tastes differ. I actually liked the straight to the point style in the VN and would have probably hated some comedic streched out debate battles. The main work is done out of the divine elections anyway. No reason to talk around the bush there.

[Seraphim]

Man, Magpie is awesome.

I just started reading Making Lovers and was slightly annoyed by how blurry everything looked compared to the delightful 1440p of Kinkoi, which I finished a few days ago. (It turned out to be a great read; especially the final route. Can't go into any details without spoiling it though, so I'll just leave it at that.)
Aaanyway, the whole "blurry" situation was easily remedied thanks to this wondrous app. I don't know how it works from a technical standpoint, but it basically lets you sharpen the image through upscaling. If you haven't tried it out already, I highly recommend doing so. You can pick it up here, and then you just boot it up, choose which filter to use (Anime4K has some serious sharpening, but I think I prefer the slightly less defined ACNet option), launch whichever VN you want to use it in and hit Alt + F11 when you're in windowed mode.
Unfortunately, the upscaling forces the game into fullscreen, so I think you're out of luck if you prefer playing in windowed mode. For me personally, I always play in fullscreen anyway, so that part doesn't bother me.

In any case, here's a comparison shot of the original image and one with the Anime4K filter I mentioned above.

Original:


Anime4K:


I suggest you open the images in separate tabs and switch between them, as that makes the difference a lot clearer. Also, it's obviously much more apparent on a large screen. I dunno how much of a difference it makes on a laptop or the like.

[Silvz]

45 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

Man, Magpie is awesome.

I just started reading Making Lovers and was slightly annoyed by how blurry everything looked compared to the delightful 1440p of Kinkoi, which I finished a few days ago. (It turned out to be a great read; especially the final route. Can't go into any details without spoiling it though, so I'll just leave it at that.)
Aaanyway, the whole "blurry" situation was easily remedied thanks to this wondrous app. I don't know how it works from a technical standpoint, but it basically lets you sharpen the image through upscaling. If you haven't tried it out already, I highly recommend doing so. You can pick it up here, and then you just boot it up, choose which filter to use (Anime4K has some serious sharpening, but I think I prefer the slightly less defined ACNet option), launch whichever VN you want to use it in and hit Alt + F11 when you're in windowed mode.
Unfortunately, the upscaling forces the game into fullscreen, so I think you're out of luck if you prefer playing in windowed mode. For me personally, I always play in fullscreen anyway, so that part doesn't bother me.

In any case, here's a comparison shot of the original image and one with the Anime4K filter I mentioned above.

Original:


Anime4K:


I suggest you open the images in separate tabs and switch between them, as that makes the difference a lot clearer. Also, it's obviously much more apparent on a large screen. I dunno how much of a difference it makes on a laptop or the like.

me trying to see the difference in my 1080p screen

[Seraphim]

Yeah, I haven't tried it myself, but the improvement might not be that significant on a 1080p monitor. I usually play on my TV, meaning large screen and 4K, and the upscaling works wonders then. I'm especially glad I don't have to put up with blurry text anymore!

[fuyopon]

I have been reading Higurashi: Tsumihoroboshi these past two weeks and boy, it was a ride! It's not my favorite one but it might actually be pretty close!!  

Spoiler

Chapter 3: Rena getting all comfy in her hideout almost made me tear up, what the hell. I miss being a little kid... I mean, I could still do those things. I can't wait until I move to the countryside again... sigh.

Chapter 6: I cried like a bitch, damn. I was fine until Satoko joined and forgave Rena... cries. Also, is it just me who prefers the original CG of Rena crying over MangaGamer's or the console one? Idk, I just found it more emotional, even tho I'm playing with the console sprites.

Chapter 13/Finale: Man, that fight was epic! But agh, that last tip left me so freaking confused again... I mean, a lot of stuff has been cleared up but I'm wondering how Keiichi and his friend will overcome the big Hinamizawa Disaster because I sure want them to do that 

This chapter might fit neatly into maybe third place (in my personal rank), hehe~ I'll give this one an 8,3/10!

Next is Higurashi: Minagoroshi! I can't wait! 

[adamstan]

I just finished Parfait ~Chocolat Second Brew~ Standard Edition

It was very good charage, with nicely written characters and their interactions - as expected from Maruto  

I started with Yui's route -

and it was very good. Yui is absolutely adorable lump of love, and perhaps the moest  of them all . Also, her being a musician additionally tugged at my heartstrings. Strongly intertwined with Yui's route is Rea

Spoiler

(actually they are step-sisters - Yui got adopted by Rea's family)

Rea is lovely classic tsundere - and I'd dare to say one of the better ones. Her banter with Hitoshi, the way she tries to hide her feelings, the way she blushes, her deredere side... Ahhh... I'm in love .

Those two girls are actually game's "cover girls", and I can totally understand why.

Next I've read two more standalone routes - Asuka's and Kasuri's. Those two routes, while not bad, felt a little flat - something was missing.

Asuka is actually the only high-school student in the whole VN, and Hitoshi is her tutor. Their relationship was nice, but, idk, somehow the route felt a bit like a side one.

As for Kasuri - I felt like there was lots of wasted comedy or drama potential - considering that in the prologue we meet her scary overprotective father, and then escape together in the middle of the night. Yet the man never reappears again. I guess that perhaps those two routes were relying mostly on h-scenes to make an impression? And of course that would get significtantly weakened in all-ages edition that I've read

Next pair was Ema and Rikako - they also share large part of common route, and the beginning of the two's respective true routes - here we face the only choice in the whole game other than map movement in common route.

Let's start with Ema

Her relationship with Hitoshi is quite complicated - she was his childhood friend (and perhaps the first love), then she became his stepsister, and then sister-in-law by marrying Hitoshi's (now deceased) older brother. Good route, with the two trying to untangle that mess and sort out their feelings.

And then Rikako's epic route

She's obviously designed as a main heroine - her route being perhaps the longest in the base game, and with three endings. When first entering Rikako's true route, we meet a bad end somewhere in the middle. It was really heartwrenching, but understandable, considering the mess their relatonship was, and their personalities. To unlock good end, you have to complete all previous routes (Yui, Rea, Asuka, Kasuri and Ema). Then there's Rikako's "normal" route, which is kind of glimpse, or preview, of good ending. And finally, after entering her true route again, it picks from the moment a little before bad end, and goes from there on quite an journey - to finally arrive at the sweet and heartwarming ending.
 

Spoiler

 

Yay! The family ending

 

The there were two additional routes exclusive to all ages version.

First was Mizuna

She's the waitress at Curio, and Rea's best friend. It was interesting route about insecurities, and how they can harm the relationship.

And then there was Mio

At first glance, quite tomboyish coffee vendor and genius barista. But there's much more to her. Her route was almost as epic as Rikako's, and outside of her route, she was quite good side character.

As mentioned before, I've read all-ages version. It has been rewritten in a very natural way. Some of the sex stuff has been replaced with kissing, and the stories were also extended significantly - there were some very good scenes that were not present in +18 version. Also, I was very surprised to discover that Mio and Mizuna were totally new characters (and not just side characters getting routes). They got integrated into the common route so seamlessly, that I thought they were always there. Their routes were also on par with the rest quality-wise despite having different writer.

When reading all-ages versions sometimes I think "Hmm, that's nice and all, but perhaps a bit of H stuff wouldn't hurt". It happened with that VN too. But then I checked out +18 version and was like "NOPE! Not that way!" . It was way too porny, and some scenes were inserted pretty randomly. So, for this game, all-ages version FTW.

So, to sum this up - very good charage, with amusing character interactions, nice art, voices and music. Out of 8 routes, there were only two a bit weaker ones. All in all - 8/10, great stuff.

Edited August 10, 2021 by adamstan

[adamstan]

Talk about coincidences, and deep roots of some tropes... After finishing Parfait, I just started playing ancient and obscure charage from 2000 (or 2003 for voiced edition) called Hachigatsu no Nostalgia ~the summer with you~ - since it's August right now  

In Parfait one of the heroines was Ema - blue haired sister-in-law, currently widow.

Imagine my surprise when I started playing Hachigatsu no Nostalgia and met Chitose - blue haired sister-in-law, currently widow

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by adamstan

[Seraphim]

I love the fact that "Heroine with Jeans" is an actual tag.

[Novel21]

I'm playing Steam Prison on Switch and I really enjoy game very much.

I'm going to play Island as well, curious about that one, since I have watched anime and like anime very much.

I'm not sure about other VN's for Switch.

[adamstan]

I just finished Hachigatsu no Nostalgia ~the summer with you~

What a letdown and wasted potential...

I took me 10 hours to complete four routes in Japanese (!) - it was unexpectedly short. The events feel quite disjointed and romance unconvincing. That's because the writing is so sparse that it feels like reading an abridged version or a summary For each character there's bunch of semi-random SoL events, one short H-scene and brief epilogue. I think it doesn't even reach the "charage level", since the characters are way, how to say it, undercharacterized? It's simple, short, old-school "bishoujo game".

Nanao's and Eri's routes feel like typical "summer eroge adventure" Natsuki's route promised more, with flashbacks and childhood promises - but it failed to deliver, because it feels like 90% of text has been cut out, and we're left with some random scraps. Chitose's route seems to make the most sense, and I think the writer has given her route a bit more attention - it felt a bit less unconvincing than the other three Besides, she's pretty hot

The engine is very crude, not having even a skip mode (!).

All in all - it's no surprise that this VN is so obscure - it certainly deserves it Not great, not terrible, but still a letdown - 6/10

Edited September 12, 2022 by adamstan
dropped the score from 6.5 to 6

[ChaosRaven]

2 hours ago, adamstan said:

I just finished Hachigatsu no Nostalgia ~the summer with you~

How do you decide, which of those old relics of VN development to play anyway?

It looks so incredible niche, that it's more something I'd expect to show up when clicking on "Random visual novel" in VNDB. 

[adamstan]

1 hour ago, ChaosRaven said:

How do you decide, which of those old relics of VN development to play anyway?

It looks so incredible niche, that it's more something I'd expect to show up when clicking on "Random visual novel" in VNDB. 

Sometimes I'm lured in by random images on VNDB front page. When image catches my attention, I then check out the VN page. If I find something interesting in the summary or in the tags, then sometimes I decide to give it a go In this case, I liked the setting and the mention of "buried memories" - it's a trope I'm pretty fond of. Sadly, this VN utterly failed to deliver what it promised

If not by images, then some of those obscure titles turned out when I did some searching by tags. Or they share some staff with other titles that I enjoyed. But it's all pretty random. Sometimes I stumble upon a hidden gem - or at least the title that I personally enjoy, even if it's unpopular, like Konneko or Amber Quartz, but then sometimes there's just disappointment.

Edited August 12, 2021 by adamstan

[ChaosRaven]

2 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Sometimes I'm lured in by random images on VNDB front page. When image catches my attention, I then check out the VN page. If I find something interesting in the summary or in the tags, then sometimes I decide to give it a go In this case, I liked the setting and the mention of "buried memories" - it's a trope I'm pretty fond of. Sadly, this VN utterly failed to deliver what it promised

If not by images, then some of those obscure titles turned out when I did some searching by tags. Or they share some staff with other titles that I enjoyed. But it's all pretty random.

My backlog of English VN's alone aready demands a high amount of discipline against random VN's. 

Not to mention that I'm still struggling to get my current Japanese VN Shin Koihime † Musou -Kakumei- Ryuuki no Taimou finished - it's just so ridiculous long. 

[adamstan]

3 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

My backlog of English VN's alone aready demands a high amount of discipline against random VN's. 

Not to mention that I'm still struggling to get my current Japanese VN Shin Koihime † Musou -Kakumei- Ryuuki no Taimou finished - it's just so ridiculous long. 

Yeah, my backlog is quite big as well. However recently I tend to prioritize reading in Japanese - it got strangely addictive. And well, I keep adding VNs to the backlog, and the order/queue often gets shifted around - when something seems to grab my attention, I might read it immediately, regardless of backlog

[Silvz]

I'm almost finishing Flowers 3 after reading it non-stop for a week after months stalling. I'm glad I did, because the story is so enjoyable, well written and engaging. The romance flows naturally and the mysteries actually made me interested in what was going on. I'm pretty excited for Flowers 4 [come on, Jast, release it already!]

 

That said, I just bought a fan-favorite on Steam - yeah, Steam! because from what I researched, for me it is the best version - Fruit of Grisaia! Unless something major happens, such as Reflection Blue being completed, I'll read Grisaia next. Do you have a recommended route order? Or should I go blind?

[adamstan]

6 hours ago, Silvz said:

I just bought a fan-favorite on Steam - yeah, Steam! because from what I researched, for me it is the best version - Fruit of Grisaia! Unless something major happens, such as Reflection Blue being completed, I'll read Grisaia next. Do you have a recommended route order? Or should I go blind?

Sadly I have no idea. I also have Grisaia on Steam, but it sits in my backlog for two years already, and I keep postponing it

[Seraphim]

Didn't they censor even dialogue outside of h-scenes in that version? Or maybe I've got it confused with some other VN.

[adamstan]

7 minutes ago, Seraphim said:

Didn't they censor even dialogue outside of h-scenes in that version? Or maybe I've got it confused with some other VN.

It's translation of console version and apparently it contains some rewrites.