What are you playing?

[starlessn1ght]

Finished Moeka's route in S;G Hiyoku Renri no Darling. I enjoyed it.

 

Currently reading Suzuha's route and Remember11.

[Fred the Barber]

I am really, really enjoying WEE Episode 02. I am not especially fond of them changing everybody's names to be less anglicized... but I deal with that, because the story is still great. It breaks my heart over and over again, and I love it.

 

I really appreciate that this VN makes people my age into relatable characters, with sprites (because otherwise you're not important) and reasonable world-views (because otherwise you're a caricature). I'm used to seeing nothing but high schoolers around in VNs, and on the rare occasion an older person appears, they're inevitably a representative of The Man, and either a total idiot or just plain evil. Characters like Lisa/Risa, Serrault/Cerrow, and Rena (new to Episode 02) make this VN much more appealing to me.

 

Lots of grammatical and spelling mistakes in this script, though (mostly missing words, of the sort that your brain naturally fills in if you're reading fast). It's really disappointing how many errors per sentence these professional translations have in general, but this is one of the worse ones I recall reading (ballpark of 10 errors I've noticed so far, and I'm only a few hours in). Good fan translations really do a much better job than professionals, still, and that's kind of sad.

 

At any rate, I'm maybe 3 hours in at this point. Given how long the last one was and the feel of things, I'd guess I'm 1/3 of the way through, and I'm looking forward to the rest! I do fear that the ending to this one is going to be even harsher than Episode 01, though, and then I'll be left hanging for who knows how long until Sekai Project releases the last episode, but I guess that's how it goes when you're enthusiastic enough about something to read an incomplete work.

[sub-zer0]

Just finished Majikoi S, and it was great, not fantastic or awful, but above average. There was way too much H and i was really sick of the it for the most part. The routes were shorter, but there was a couple of good ones. I really enjoyed Koyuki's route because it has a pretty good story compared to the rest of the routes(which was mostly H). I had high hopes for this because the original Majikoi was really good, now I'm gonna put my high hopes for the Majikoi A series( whenever they get translated or I learn Japanese to the point where I can read them). but Majikoi S was pretty disappointing to me, loved the series, but it did not meet my expectations, but its not so bad that it would fall near the Mass Effect 3 level <---total disaster. i'm gonna start reading a VN that I have high anticipation for, Steins;Gate. I love quantum physics, and I really enjoyed the theory in Muv-Luv alternative,so I'm pretty sure i'm going to enjoy Steins;Gate as well since it has to do with the concept of time.

[Decay]

I've finished several endings in School Days so I feel like writing a little about it. I've already shat on the animation. It's still terrible throughout the whole thing. Is the rest of it good enough to make up for the animation deficiencies? No. I still find it a pretty amusing and compelling game, but it's never amusing for the right reasons (more because of the laughably bad animations among other issues), and the only compelling part is the amount of choice that you're given which affects the narrative. But that choice needs to come along with some strong writing in order to be worthwhile, and you won't find that here. The drama is contrived, the characters are inconsistent, the storylines are sometimes laughably stupid, and there are many frustrating moments where it feels like your choice is ignored.

 

Oddly enough, I don't seem to be hating Makoto as much as everyone else. Every time this game comes up in conversation, you immediately hear hate for Makoto. He comes up often in worst protagonist discussions. But... I dunno, he just seems kind of normal? He makes some boneheaded decisions, but he does some cool stuff, too, and overall it's almost impressive how much like a normal teenager he comes off as. I suppose people want something more, but it's at least slightly interesting to witness a normal person try to untangle this messy web of relationships. Granted, I haven't gotten any bad ends yet, so I can't say for sure that my opinion will remain the same. I think people may have only watched the anime and judged Makoto solely via that, but in the game he seems fine, honest. 

 

The storylines themselves are kind of bad. I'm going to go over one in detail because it does something I rather dislike. This one is about Setsuna. Setsuna, one of the side heroines, had one end to her. She is the side heroine with the most effort spent on developing a relationship between her and the protagonist, and is also the only one that doesn't have an ending of her own. Her ending is actually a joke end appended to one of two other possible endings for other heroines. That in of itself is kind of bullshit. But I also take issue with the way that story branch is handled.Mild spoilers ahead:

 

The way the story develops, Makoto becomes distanced from both Sekai and Kotonoha after developing a relationship with both. Setsuna steps in. This is the only episode that has a unique OP just for it. And it's perhaps the longest episode in the game. It  starts heavily focusing on Setsuna, develops a relationship between her and Makoto, and in the end of the episode they even confess feelings for each other. And by the way, she's moving to France, and will never be seen again. Literally so, there are two more episodes after this and she is a non-factor in both. The game just abruptly drops that entire plot arc. Makoto never thinks of her again except during the very beginning of the next episode where she is seen off, their tryst will end up mattering not in the slightest, and her absence is merely used as a plot device for Sekai to feel lonely. The way the game dropped everything that built up in that episode felt so abrupt and shitty. I felt like it is representative of the overall feel of the game where plot threads are picked up and dropped at will and the whole product feels like a rushed mess. Well, at least Shiny Days is primarily about Setsuna, so maybe we can find some gratification there once that comes out in a few weeks.

 

There is still one more major story branch I've yet to touch on, one of the Kotonoha ones. I'll get an ending or two in that and that may be all I play of this. I'm certainly not going to 100% it. Overall, though, I'm certainly not too hot on it. The animation gimmick was such a waste. It's terribly done, and it makes me wonder how much money they would have saved making it a sprite-based game with intermittent animated cutscenes. If they did that they could use more of the budget on the cutscenes that were there and make them actually look decent. And for the rest of the game, proper sprites and occasional CGs would look a lot better than the garbage we ended up with. I see now that there's a very good reason 0verflow went bankrupt.

[WinterfuryZX]

Paying Rose Guns Days season 2.

[douggle]

Finished part 2 to the Chiru Chiru Magical Girl vn, funny as well, I enjoyed it.

[LinovaA]

So as I said before the rollback, I am playing Houkago no Futekikakusha.

 

It's really good thus far. Just made it past:

 

The fight between Yuka and Itsuka.

Jeezus man that CG of Jun and Yuka. Wasn't expecting it to ramp up like that.

 

Let's just say the feels masochist in me is extremely pleased with this visual novel.

[Lexyvil]

Whoa... I lost about a week worth of posts? I think this is the second rollback I've witnessed on here in the span of 4 months, though the first one didn't seem as bad a this...Anyway~ I'll re-type most of what I remember:

 

I started playing Danganronpa.

So far I'm really enjoying it~ I started it without expecting much but I finally decided to give it a try as I saw it was among the top ranked VN's on VNDB (when ordered by rankings) and also because I hear it's good.

 

I love it so far, the characters are a bit wacko and strange but I can tell it goes with the theme and it's probably the beauty of the game. I just finished Chapter 1 last night and, I have to say, it's quite awesome to know that it had a Phoenix Wright element in it. Not only that but the game really reminds me of the board game "Clue" too, which is a plus in my book~

 

Only a few hours in-game and it already threw things at me that made me shocked. I have a feeling I'll enjoy it more as I keep playing.

[SanadaShadow]

I DLed Edelweiss. I feel like I'm just gonna bash it by the end of the month.

[the_dive]

Finished Dengeki Stryker. It was aiight. Followed the classic Overdrive formula. Not that its a good or bad thing of course

[Turnip Sensei]

Finished Sekien no Inganock yesterday just before the rollback, and I loved it. Now I'm just collecting my thoughts about it and waiting for someone to revive the VN Club-thread, because I don't feel like double posting or editing my older post.

 

I also read Ame no Marginal. I have a habit of reading one short VN after reading something bigger for little reset before the next visual novel.

The beginning was definitely the strongest part of the game. The characters were presented interestingly in their prologues and it really drew me in to the story. And so it was little annoying that the protagonist was pretty much forgotten right away. I would have wanted to see little more conclusion on him, as for the rest of the story he was just a plot point to flesh out the girl.

 

I liked the way the divided the story in two different paths, jumping between perspectives is always something I really like. They could have done it with forced reading order or flashbacks, but separating them made them more impactful.  

 

Ending was little stale for me. It wasn't bad, but it lacked conclusion and it didn't live up to the rest of the story. There was plenty of powerful moments in the story, so it was little disappointing to not have one in the ending.

[Zantax]

And... finally finished Akai Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai. Well, it was definitely a good read, but compared to Irohika this time it is in fact just a bonus disc, not a proper sequel, because there is hardly any plot (well, there is some in drama part, but it's not very good and doesn't really count). What you get is a lot, A LOT of soft feelings. There is some humor and small everyday struggles but I feel that pouring that soft feelings and calm mood into reader is a main purpose of this VN. I personally expected and somewhat wanted it, so I'm satisfied.

One more thing - why we get Ichigo only now? Why we couldn't get her faster and with a proper route? She is such an amazing and interesting character, I would gladly throw away Tsukasa and Kyou to make place for her, and I even could give up on Mio if I had. Such a waste of a great girl just for short support role :/

[LinovaA]

Finished up Asagao's and Shiori's routes in Houkago no Futekikakusha.

 

The structure of the VN is pretty clear, but it still manages to destroy my soul at every turn.

I do pretty much have a good guess at how the rest of the VN is going to go, but of course, I am probably wrong. XD

 

Spoilers Ahead:

Seriously...

Spoilers.

Every route before Haruka's will be basically consist of two classmates dying and then having Itsuka and the main heroine of that route duke it out in the end, just before Itsuka sends himself back in time by accident.

I am not sure about the what of what is within Haruka's route, but I am pretty sure that it will lead to the final clue of that will lead Itsuka to a choice that will allow him to save his friends.

Then again, this is an utsuge. There is probably some twist somewhere in here that changes everything and will destroy everything about my soul. xD

[Satsuki]

Going to do a suicide mission on Sakura Beach.

Aghhh, I wanna die...

[WinterfuryZX]

Just finished Rose Guns Days. The final chapters were awesome, Rk07 never cease to entertain me.

[mjriedstra]

Currently replaying Majikoi S, stalled on Cross Channel and about to start World End Economica ep 2. Been waiting for that for over a year so I'm savoring the buildup.

 

... Or I'm lazily putting it off because I'm busy. Or both!

[Funyarinpa]

Playing through Sachi's route in GnK. OMG, the art is killing me. It's close to Yumiko's in ugliness, but I still think Yumiko's is worse up to now. I dunno who is the responsible, Akio or Fumio... At least storywise, the route is succeeding.

[TexasDice]

 

Playing through Sachi's route in GnK. OMG, the art is killing me. It's close to Yumiko's in ugliness, but I still think Yumiko's is worse up to now. I dunno who is the responsible, Akio or Fumio... At least storywise, the route is succeeding. 

mfw Yumiko's CGs were one of my favorite things about the game

 

ಠ_ಠ

[Mr Poltroon]

 

ಠ_ಠ

That is clearly an artistic showcase of Yuuji's badassery. It is such that it even defies the laws of physics.

 

 

Currently reading Kira(start shape symbol thingie)Kira, it is reasonably entertaining during its common route. However, I must admit I preferred Edelweiss' premise and overall common route as a consequence.

 

I have finished Kashiwara's route.

She's very nice. Very cute. Very lovable. She confesses during the trip and our protagonist decides that he's some cold logic robot and logic tells him she won't love him for long and only fell in love because it's the only guy she reasonably knows. Which means he just conveniently ignores her crush until the 'sickly rich girl is stuck at home' plot asks for it - for a bunch of hours.

That's actually what this route does best. It wastes time.

First they spend a bunch of time on the trip. That's fine. But this time was time they could've spent actually doing some reasonably date-y things or lover things was just more quasi-dating spending time together off on some tropical island working at a hotel.

Second he goes back home. We spend a bunch of time seeing him wallow in self-derision, and thinking it won't work out between them, and denying love or whatever. At least that's what it seemed like to me.

Then he suddenly decides he loves her, they meet up, make up, make out, H-Scene. And more hours of trying to convince a stubborn old man. They do and we get a sex scene and end. Bye bye.

 

Where's the romance? We had a couple of moments, like the first time they met up, their first H-scene and their second H-scene, but that was it. The rest of it was:

the band segment, which was more about the rock club, Thomas and the other guy.

Protagonist thinking about Kashiwara at home for far too much time. And she'd confessed before, too.

Protagonist arriving and spending days learning about her family. (Because when he arrived they had a two minute meeting, if that, pretty much)

Convincing the old man.

 

I did cry, but I'm still not satisfied with how I felt it had no romance. I built up my expectations too much.

[TexasDice]

You read the, in my opinion, second weakest route first. Go on.

[Mr Poltroon]

You read the, in my opinion, second weakest route first. Go on.

Second weakest.

I would say there are 3 routes, but I'm unsure of how large the true ending actually is.

So, out of 3 routes, the second weakest, is also the second best. How wonderful!

 

Also, I bloody hope Kirari's isn't your favourite.

[Decay]

Second weakest.

I would say there are 3 routes, but I'm unsure of how large the true ending actually is.

So, out of 3 routes, the second weakest, is also the second best. How wonderful!

 

Also, I bloody hope Kirari's isn't your favourite.

There are actually four routes. Guess which character has two.

 

I'd say that Kashiwara's is the weakest of them all. 

 

edit: Maybe it's more accurate to say 3.5 routes.

[TexasDice]

Is the cat out of the bag already? If so:

Also, I bloody hope Kirari's isn't your favourite.

Yes, it is.

 

About the true ending, spoilers:

I, for my part, am not a fan of the true ending. It tried to make me feel something specific, but I didn't really care/the impact wasn't as big as in the original story.

 

Also, an ending requiring a continuation to bring closure is not an ending.

[Satsuki]

Sakura Beach - Mission Completed.

At least I'm still alive, somehow...

[kooolm]

Finished Steins;Gate yesterday! Never Alt+F4 when the credits roll, never! The game is amazing, play it if you haven't already. Also, the lost posts due to the rollout make me sad and it looks like someone has undone my actions on this worldline :C