What are you playing?

[Ainz]

Having lot's of time on my hands I'm currently playing two VN's(or you could say stalling)

Noble Works - It was pretty fun at beginning(had similar feel to princess evangile) but it started to fail when entering routes maybe it was because I was expecting high dose of comedy and drama like in PE.

Hanachirasu - Had similar vibe compared to Kikokugai but I'm not sure action scenes currently don't feel so intense compared to Kikokugai also it feels like it's production values were a bit low.

 

 

[Turnip Sensei]

1 hour ago, Nerathim said:

 

Huh, I don't think so, I took a look at many screenshots and the grammar never stroke me even once as awful as Ar Tonelico 1's where every single dialogue feel soooo unnatural it is awkward. And in the case I'm wrong, well, I'd better avoid Ar nosurge then.

No no, Ar nosurge has way better translation than Ar Tonelico. The English in Ar Tonelico 1 is pretty clunky and simple in comparison. Don't know exactly how faithful Ar nosurge is to the Japanese script, but at least it reads well English. And what I've seen and remember comparing text to Japanese voice acting, it's pretty good.   

[AaronIsCrunchy]

4 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

No problem

By the way, if you already haven't, I'd recommend going back and reading Makina's bad end as well.  There's no important plot details in it, but it's one of the better bad ends.  IMO, all of them suck besides Makina's and Amane's, especially Sachi's.  Sachi's bad end is pretty funny, but it's still garbage.

Sachi's bad end is pretty damn lolbad, agreed. Pretty sure when it went back to the menu following it my first reaction was to say 'woooooow' loudly xD

I should probably read the other bad ends actually. The Sachi one kinda put me off but if Makina's and Amane's are actually kinda good, then I'll go back and do them again

[Dergonu]

2 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

No problem

By the way, if you already haven't, I'd recommend going back and reading Makina's bad end as well.  There's no important plot details in it, but it's one of the better bad ends.  IMO, all of them suck besides Makina's and Amane's, especially Sachi's.  Sachi's bad end is pretty funny, but it's still garbage.

More Kajitsu spoilers

  Reveal hidden contents

The choice to reach it is to kill Makina's mom at the end of her route.

Something something something garbage bag.

Spoiler

Aw no the garbage bag ... Why did you remind me!!!

 

[Tyr]

54 minutes ago, Turnip Sensei said:

No no, Ar nosurge has way better translation than Ar Tonelico. The English in Ar Tonelico 1 is pretty clunky and simple in comparison. Don't know exactly how faithful Ar nosurge is to the Japanese script, but at least it reads well English. And what I've seen and remember comparing text to Japanese voice acting, it's pretty good.   

I'm talking about translation errors here.

The English Ar nosurge translation completely butchers the game. Strange naming decisions and the typical meme inserts are not even the worst, that's to be expected from the NISA translation team. But they're also trying to erase every reference to Ciel nosurge (because Ar nosurge is a standalone game lolwat no it isn't) and the mistranslation of the integral seven dimension concept makes it impossible for the English reader to understand the core of the story. And due to NISA being the dimwits they always are, they also bugged the encyclopedia feature, so you can't access most of the help-topics which are essentially if you want to understand background and setting of the story and characters. English players of Ar nosurge don't understand its story, but that's not because the game is so complex, but because it's practically impossible to understand what's happening in the English translated game because it's missing dozens of pieces of important information and those which are still in the game are mistranslated.
And you know what? That's not even the worst yet. Far more offending is the fact that this game had no QC whatsoever because everyone notices immediately that the translator obviously had no idea in what context he's translating what because the amount of translation errors due to missing context is unbelievable. Just to point out one example: there is not one Cosmosphere Level without an "I/you"-error, resulting from the translator not knowing that these are "first person" choices.

If you compare this mess to Ar tonelico 1, AT1 is perfectly fine translation-wise. I don't know what high standards you have for niche jrpg translations, but AT1 isn't worse to read than other JRPGs at this time. Not saying it's good English, but at least it's not full of errors like AT2 and AT3 or simply a rewrite like Ar nosurge.

[Eclipsed]

Got the Knife Ending in 999

A decent first ending to get I guess, if you like slap in the face endings since it just left me with 999 unanswered questions with how abrupt it was

Spoiler

Okay so, keyphrase Junpei made before he got offed regarding Lotus being killed, assuming it's not a red herring, was "Who could need her number?" 

If that means what I think it means,

She's 8

Therefore, something something + her number would make a digital root of 9. so we'd need the perp(s) to be combination of 10 since adding Lotus would make 10 + 8 = 18 -> 1+8 = 9

SO THE PERPS ARE 3+7, or 4+6!!!!!! 

At least I can finally fast forward through text now, will go for Axe / Submarine -> Normal -> True or something; skipping the dummy end

~~
Regarding Ar Nosurge, I'll agree with Turnip in that it was a completely acceptable reading experience for a non-JP English-only pleb like myself. Idk how 'butchered' or 'rewritten' it was that Tyrosyn mentioned, dun care, ignorance is a bliss, as long as they didn't mistranslate left with right, I'd be fine even if they translated a simple "I ran up the stairs" with like an extravagant "I bolted up the inclining railway" ie. as long as I get the idea, we cool. #lowstandards

Though, definitely will never, EVER forgive the removing references to Ciel Nosurge. Earthes and Ion (especially Ion) deserve better.

[Deep Blue]

I was going to make a super review of dps set 3 but there isn't much to talk about, weird game is weird tha'ts it

[havoc]

managed to finish Noble Works and cartaga.

Noble works was a pretty fun ride, nothing special and in some ways very similar to Princess Evangile. But i needed something on the happy side of the spectrum at the time, and i generally like these types of stories if they are done good enough.

 

cartaga, I just need to lose this: The picture on the vndb page and the menu is a BLOODY SHAM.
And no i dont mean about the story, i read the synopsis, i mean about the type of character the person on the picture is. Such a big mismatch.
Not to say she was not a pretty adorable character.

On other news, I am thinking of starting on Long live the queen, but i am in doubt as to Werther it will be worth it as i generally dont really enjoy these choice heavy games.

[HotTrax]

Angenehm Platz - On the road to open the café. Funny stuff. 

Spoiler

 

I want to know what this monstrosity that she wants to feed them looks like.

 

 

[Eclipsed]

999

Oh jeez, Clover.........

Spoiler

Axe ending.

How the hell was Clover able to run with the axe part concealed in her back while running  

~~
I liked this bad end, it revealed plenty in terms of the internal conflicts among the cast while still not revealing anything about the grandscheme(?) of things.

I never bothered calculating out digital roots to find potential perps to Snake's murder, but once Clover just blatantly says it was 3+7 I was just like "Ohhh herpa derp derp" obvious is obvious (though it could also be 4+6, though I highly, highly doubt that(?))

That also means, in regards to Knife Ending, Ace was the one who killed Lotus at the end right? 1 + 8 + 0 = 9 = FREEDOM!!!  THINGS MAKE SENSE!!! Too bad Clover beats him to the punch in Axe : P

 

[TexasDice]

Alright, it's time for me to p(l)ay off my bets. 

Spoiler

 

[Eclipsed]

^ Good luck 

@ havoc LOL yeah, Kazuna looks so elegant, graceful, maybe a bit mellow or somber on that Cartagra cover image. Definitely did not match how energetic and bubbly she actually is

~~
Full time school + part time work qqmoar so all of a sudden I don't have much time to read 999, maybe I'll bring my DS w. me to play during gaps and be that awk kid in the Library 

Did make some progress towards Submarine ending though, Seven being a 

Spoiler

cop

is whatevers, though it has some pretty serious and regretful implications if he was truly involved in

Spoiler

Snake's murder

 

[Decay]

Started playing Aviary Attorney. I liked it a lot, but after playing for a few hours I'm kinda bouncing off of it.

The writing is funny and sometimes pretty clever, and the story gets darker than you might expect. But the characters are also all pretty shallow. They're just there to deliver the punchlines, it seems. And while it's funny, I don't know if it's funny enough to carry the whole experience. I think I want something that feels more engaging right now.

[Eclipsed]

Okay, Submarine + Safe Endings, currently Middle of Room 1 towards true end typing this out now cuz Clover's my fav character obviously,

Spoiler

Submarine:

Classic everybody dies scenario, I really, really, REALLY wanted to see how that shit went down, but nope you just stumble upon fresh killings 'til the end


Safe

Welp, I thought Safe meant like protected, saved, everybody lives, 'we're safe!" not literally based on the vault-to-protect-valuables safe

Ace being the perp for "Snake"'s murder makes Axe ending sooo much more tragic, Clover got it wrong and killed innocents. AND the 0 bracelet wasn't actually 0 so her 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 plan was borked. 

And for the record, hehe , I knew deep down it couldn't have been 3+7, Santa looks douchey but he's a good guy, same with Seven

Ace vs. Snake showdown in the incinerator was cheesy. In general the whole "you just need the bracelets, and only bracelets brah" felt like a cheap loophole

No comments on the end itself, still just a bunch of wtfs, who's Zero, where June's body go, dis some sort of simulation crap or what.

 

Mid-true route (Room 1)

I like how it is actually possible to get the right Door sequence for the True End based on replays and knowing which rooms give which key info, especially compared to something random and hard as fuh like Steins;Gate Kurisu flags,  but eh, walkthrough all the way

~~
Felt super good to have Clover realize that it wasn't Snake's body that they found, Axe ending averted . Will report back on the results of True End later.

 

[Funyarinpa]

2 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

Okay, Submarine + Safe Endings, currently Middle of Room 1 towards true end typing this out now cuz Clover's my fav character obviously,

  Hide contents

Submarine:

Classic everybody dies scenario, I really, really, REALLY wanted to see how that shit went down, but nope you just stumble upon fresh killings 'til the end


Safe

Welp, I thought Safe meant like protected, saved, not literally based on the vault-to-protect-valuables safe

Ace being the perp for "Snake"'s murder makes Axe ending sooo much more tragic, Clover got it wrong and killed innocents. AND the 0 bracelet wasn't actually 0 so her 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 plan was borked. 

And for the record, hehe , I knew deep down it couldn't have been 3+7, Santa looks douchey but he's a good guy, same with Seven

Ace vs. Snake showdown in the incinerator was cheesy. In general the whole "you just need the bracelets, and only bracelets brah" felt like a cheap loophole

 

Mid-true route (Room 1)

I like how it is actually possible to get the right Door sequence for the True End based on replays and knowing which rooms give which key info, especially  compared to something random and hard as fuh like Steins;Gate Kurisu flags,  but eh, walkthrough all the way

~~
Felt super good to have Clover realize that it wasn't Snake's body that they found, Axe ending averted . Will report back on the results of True End later.

 

oh my sweet, sweet summer child

[Ike]

20 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

Okay, Submarine + Safe Endings, currently Middle of Room 1 towards true end typing this out now cuz Clover's my fav character obviously,

  Reveal hidden contents

Submarine:

Classic everybody dies scenario, I really, really, REALLY wanted to see how that shit went down, but nope you just stumble upon fresh killings 'til the end


Safe

Welp, I thought Safe meant like protected, saved, everybody lives, 'we're safe!" not literally based on the vault-to-protect-valuables safe

Ace being the perp for "Snake"'s murder makes Axe ending sooo much more tragic, Clover got it wrong and killed innocents. AND the 0 bracelet wasn't actually 0 so her 4 + 5 + 0 = 9 plan was borked. 

And for the record, hehe , I knew deep down it couldn't have been 3+7, Santa looks douchey but he's a good guy, same with Seven

Ace vs. Snake showdown in the incinerator was cheesy. In general the whole "you just need the bracelets, and only bracelets brah" felt like a cheap loophole

No comments on the end itself, still just a bunch of wtfs, who's Zero, where June's body go, dis some sort of simulation crap or what.

 

Mid-true route (Room 1)

I like how it is actually possible to get the right Door sequence for the True End based on replays and knowing which rooms give which key info, especially compared to something random and hard as fuh like Steins;Gate Kurisu flags,  but eh, walkthrough all the way

~~
Felt super good to have Clover realize that it wasn't Snake's body that they found, Axe ending averted . Will report back on the results of True End later.

 

I really like reading your progress on this game, and I'm glad your're enjoying it ^^

I was wondering if you were planning on reading Virtue's Last Reward, since it's its sequel.

[Suzu Fanatic]

15 hours ago, TexasDice said:

Alright, it's time for me to p(l)ay off my bets. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Nice, I'll be the first to admit it has its flaws - but it still a great ride - I bet my name on it . Praise be to Suzu, amen.

[Yuuko]

Almost done with reading Snow...

All the 2003 routes have been shit except for Shigure route that I enjoyed a little more. The newer 2006 routes are lot better and I like them. Interestingly even though the game made me hate the girls in 2003 routes, somehow the feels still hit me in the ending

 

Also couldn't decide what to play next so decided to make a poll that somehow turned into this...... http://strawpoll.me/6710939

[Vorathiel]

Kara no Shoujo 2. Lil' spoilers ahead. Apologize for my style, but I have this guy's voice in my head, so I'm much more shouting than I should. ;p
 

Spoiler

 

 

Holy hell. That 'filler' at the begining, this 6 whole hours without protagonist, was one of my best experience I ever had with VNs. Pure 10/10. awesome cast, mood, story, music, art, everything.

And then back to Reji. Okay, it started, characters, case, investigation, okay, neat for now... and after an hour everything suddenly drops so hard, that it's painfull.
Suddenly no mood, no tension, no story, much slower pace... There even was an entire scenes devoted only to tell how big Yukiko boobs are, and how Yukari is cooking dinner. Like I care that she peel the carrots and fried the onins. And I could endure all of that if cast would be as good as in Kara 1 (not to mention the awesome cast in that 'filler'). But no.
I'm at the beginning of 'main' story and new characters are annoying. I'm really afraid for the rest of the game.

Kohane is just as much 'Tojiko2' as you could get, but this time it's not working. She's more obnoxious, and more dumb than great Tojiko (whom I surprisingly for myself liked really, really much). Not working.
And girl in the cover. Oh my god... Angsty teenager, who burst into 'awkwardness' in almost every situation. I'm reading rather fast and not wait for a voice acting to say full lines. And all I can hear from her are:
'ekh', 'akh', 'agm' 'um' 'ano' 'eto' 'y', etc! She starts every sentence with this. Speak up girl, I want to hear you!
She's shy, nonvisible, calm, and seems to be shallow (as a character, not as a person). Not intriguing, I'm not interested in her at all. And what Kyoko is saying to Reji about her?! "She's kinda like her."
Well, NOT AT ALL. Toko was a great, intruguing, lively, but melancholic, sociable, but closed, active and smart character. Yukiko has nowthing of her. Nothing!
Fortunatelly Reji said she is not as Toko at all.
Ugh. Give me back my Yu Futami, my favourite character in Cartagra No Shoujo series so far (besides Toko and Stella).


EDIT:
I know some of those 'sounds' like 'Ano', or 'Eto' are actually words, but starting every sentence with "... ano... ... ...somethinsomething" is painfull to listen.

[Kawasumi]

playing this awesome new vn called "japanese vocabulary" you should totally check it out  

[Eclipsed]

15 hours ago, Ike said:

I really like reading your progress on this game, and I'm glad your're enjoying it ^^

I was wondering if you were planning on reading Virtue's Last Reward, since it's its sequel.

That's the plan

~~
Still not done with 999 True End, just barely into that big ass junk room passed the library,

Spoiler

Silver is Zero(?)??? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Again, not impressed by the whole "Hurr durr 3's bracelet is actually 0, June's 6 is 9", feels cheap.

I'm waiting for the true mindscrew that earned this VN all those 9 ratings on VNDB, but I'm not seeing it. Still really enjoying this though. but CMONNNN HIT MEE

[Eclipsed]

STILL not done, but,
 

Spoiler

"All I saw on this screen is a reflection of my own face"

Alright boys, finally got the mindscrew I wanted, 999 is masterpiece, read now pls 

[Funyarinpa]

17 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

 

Alright boys, finally got the mindscrew I wanted, 999 is masterpiece, read now pls 

Told you..

Very glad you're enjoying it. You aren't done until you are. 

[Tyr]

9 hours ago, Vorathiel said:

Holy hell. That 'filler' at the begining, this 6 whole hours without protagonist, was one of my best experience I ever had with VNs. Pure 10/10. awesome cast, mood, story, music, art, everything.

And then back to Reji. Okey it started, characters, case, investigation, okay, neat for now... and after an hour everything suddenly drops so hard, that it's painfull.
Suddenly no mood, no tension, no story, much slower pace... There even was an entire scenes devoted only to tell how big Yukiko boobs are, and how to Yukari is cooking dinner. Like I care that she peel the carrots and fired onins. And I could endure all of that if cast would be as good as in Kara 1 (not to mention the awesome cast in that 'filler'). But no.
I'm at the beginning of 'main' story and new characters are annoying. I'm really afraid for the rest of the game.

Thank you for writing this. These are exactly the same thoughts I had too.

I honestly can't understand the "village filler is boring but after that it gets good"-people.. it's exactly the opposite!

And oh my god those fucking school girls scenes. Kara no Shoujo 2 is so good most of the time but when those three girls get a scene it immediately ruins every bit of mood or tension. Especially this Tojiko-ripoff.. PLEASE DIE ALREADY. PRETTY PLEASE.. ANYBODY.. JUST KILL HER ALREADY!!! 

These girl school scenes are the worst thing I read in a long time... oh the irony that Innocent Grey decided to focus on the worst thing of KnS2 for their next games, haha. What were they thinking? "We are so good at writing murder mysteries and so bad at writing yuri... let's drop the murder mystery stuff and just make an all ages yuri series next!"

[Eclipsed]

Okay, 999's done

It's a 7/10 game with decent scenario, characters, and escape room gameplay

Then it becomes a 999/10 in the last couple hours True End with the revelations, seriously some of the best mindblow revelations I've read, very fun, still have a bit of difficulty wrapping my head around it all so I'm mass researching, if anyone feels like posting a quick sum sums for me feel free : P

I found some cute images that kinda explain some of the mechanics,

Spoiler

The link b/w Junpei & Akane was so powerful it traversed time itself yada yada yada, Akane's experience from the first game was why she was able to send solutions to Junpei in the second game making him godly at solving dem puzzles (and even godlier with each subsequent playthrough) :

It's also why he's able to gain knowledge from the bad ends; since in Akane's perspective she's seeing into the future and all the outcomes... Knife? NO ty, Axe? NON ONONONONO. Coffin/Dummy end? I have no idea. Safe? OHHH, now we can get passed Coffin end and into True End like it's 1999 LRLRLRLRLR 14383421!@#

An EXCELLENT way to make a story out of replaying the game



But the best moment in the game was at the last puzzle where the role was switched and it was Junpei's turn to send Akane the solution, and they even flip the DS screen to symbolize it. Trippy shit man

Dunno what Virtue's Last Reward will be about, but #HYPE


~~

59 minutes ago, Tyrosyn said:

I honestly can't understand the "village filler is boring but after that it gets good"-people.. it's exactly the opposite!

The "village filler is boring but after that it gets good" people officially declare war against the "village filler is good and after that it gets boring" people!!!