What are you playing?

[Noble Phantasm]

Currently playing Tsukihime (not the remake lol). 

The graphics are like sand in my eyes, but as a Type Moon fan, I must grind through it!!

Hope it will be worth it lol

[onorub]

Playing Higanbana and the use of "bully" derivatives in the Yukari chapters is drinking game worthy. Sometimes it is used four times in one paragraph!

[kyrt]

On 1/2/2017 at 7:44 PM, Noble Phantasm said:

Currently playing Tsukihime (not the remake lol). 

The graphics are like sand in my eyes, but as a Type Moon fan, I must grind through it!!

Hope it will be worth it lol

You could just wait for the remake...they are almost out of fate spin-offs to milk after all. I'm sure they'll get around to it eventually. Watch them announce it on April 1st of this year. The joke will be that no one will believe it's a real announcement. 

[Funyarinpa]

Progressed like crazy in Root Double.

Almost 30 hours in.

Spoiler

I'm a few chapters into Root D. I'm currently at Ena's memories. Quite enjoying this route so far. There's just a few too many coincidences in the cast's backstories for my taste (Watase was the rescue worker who rescued Jun, Watase saw Communicator A who was the one who killed Ena's dad etc.) but it isn't a very big deal. The pacing feels like it has slowed down a bit and Subject N's behavior is too fishy. I quite like the ethical themes posed between Natsuhiko and Watase, and their current relationship. I am quite looking forward to where this goes after all malice is erased. 

 

[Noble Phantasm]

21 hours ago, kyrt said:

You could just wait for the remake...they are almost out of fate spin-offs to milk after all. I'm sure they'll get around to it eventually. Watch them announce it on April 1st of this year. The joke will be that no one will believe it's a real announcement. 

The remake will take like years more to come, gonna have to do it now....

They are still going to milk HF movies, FGO anime (which im pretty sure is going to happen), and the kaleid liner series

[littleshogun]

Tried demo for both of Da Capo 3 and Loverable. I'll try to give my comment on those two later.

PS - By the way I'd still had my Flyable Heart playthrough delayed here. Siiiiiiighhhhh........

Edited January 6, 2017 by littleshogun

[Funyarinpa]

Finished Root Double.

Spoiler

I liked it, but it wasn't on the level of Ever17/Remember11 for me. In the Nakazawa VN hierarchy, it'd place in the middle between Never7 and Remember11 for me. I enjoyed it but I think its atmosphere was pretty weak and I think it could have taken its ethical dilemmas further. Watase turning his back on Q simply because he learns that Q was to blame for the Rokumei City Arson and the gas explosion felt a bit weak to me, He's just like "Oooooooooh, seriously? Welp, fuck Q then." Also, Watase seems to be more remorseful about doing illegal things than he is about the lives of the people who died in LABO. I could surprisingly sympathize with Watase, both his actions and motivations. I was surprisingly murky on if Watase was really that wrong all along, or about the "Hurt one to save a million" thing. I don't know if they were aiming for ambiguity, but I like that that is the end result regardless. Natsuhiko was a great character as well. Loved the twist in the last few lines (it more or less proves that the "Senses Sympathy System" you were using throughout the game belonged to a consciousness born within LABO and thus that you were seeing as that thing throughout the entire game), and called the phantom Yuuri. Didn't like that Subject N was Nagisa, pulling that "ooooop, she ain't dead, she TOO was captured!" doesn't really stick well with me. Nagisa seemed that she aged too little as well (physically). I liked all routes, my favorite was probably the ending of B and most of C. Decent batch of characters, and blissfully no romance. Favorites overall were Watase, Natsuhiko and perhaps Miyako and Yuuri (just because she's so endearing). Felt like there was too little mystery to it by the end of Root D, though. I can see that it culminated in a climax between characters, but much of the mystery of Root A was solved by Root B and C (plus early Root D or wherever you learn that Yuuri was a test subject). It isn't a sudden drop-off and a blue-balling like Remember11 at least, which did have a purpose, but it still did not feel all that cathartic. Willing to give I/O another try sometime now. Didn't read the Xtend stuff yet. Is there a video that compiles all unlockable epilogue scenes? I think I only saw Tachibana's, lol

 

[Vorathiel]

On 1/4/2017 at 3:32 AM, onorub said:

Playing Higanbana and the use of "bully" derivatives in the Yukari chapters is drinking game worthy. Sometimes it is used four times in one paragraph!

But is it good? Care to say anything more about it?

[Fred the Barber]

I picked up Tenkiame and posted in the "what are you reading: un-TLed" thread, but it's a bit much for me to just relax over, so to avoid frying my brain when I'm trying to take it easy, I decided to pick up a TLed game as well, and thus I finally started Yurirei. Initial thoughts:

• I love the art style. It's a lot less generically moe than most of what I read, and I think it's beautiful.
• I also love the soundtrack. I know at least some is done by the same people who did the Gahkthun and Inganock soundtracks (unsurprising, given it's all Liarsoft), which are two of my favorites, but it's a completely different style than those. The upbeat, catchy pop-rock tracks are particular standouts.
• The initial motivation honestly feels like a pretty lame hook, but I forgive it because the plot that falls out of it is super cute.

Haven't had a lot of time with the characters yet so I can't say much there, but I'm really happy about the direction this is going and looking forward to playing more.

[Decay]

13 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

I picked up Tenkiame and posted in the "what are you reading: un-TLed" thread, but it's a bit much for me to just relax over, so to avoid frying my brain when I'm trying to take it easy, I decided to pick up a TLed game as well, and thus I finally started Yurirei. Initial thoughts:

• I love the art style. It's a lot less generically moe than most of what I read, and I think it's beautiful.
• I also love the soundtrack. I know at least some is done by the same people who did the Gahkthun and Inganock soundtracks (unsurprising, given it's all Liarsoft), which are two of my favorites, but it's a completely different style than those. The upbeat, catchy pop-rock tracks are particular standouts.
• The initial motivation honestly feels like a pretty lame hook, but I forgive it because the plot that falls out of it is super cute.

Haven't had a lot of time with the characters yet so I can't say much there, but I'm really happy about the direction this is going and looking forward to playing more.

Kindred Spirits is just a simple, feel-good VN. There aren't enough of those, to be honest. With almost all other VNs,  you either hop aboard the drama train or you get mountains of moe and/or ecchi practically shoved into your face. Kindred Spirits is interested in none of that, and it makes for a pretty great change of pace.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Decay

[Vorathiel]

Majikoi A2.

Very uneven.

First route, Monshiro was one of the worst and most boring Majikoi routes ever. Absolutely nothing, hard streched few hours of completly nothing.
Second route, Seiso. My god, Takahiro is a god of light tonned chuuni. Amazing first half of the route, Seiso is great charatcer, and all those fights and 'power levels' and intrugues are just really god and fun to read. Especially considering the fact that fights are really short and not overlly detailed. Can't wait for more, hope this will keep it's quality level.

[onorub]

On 08/01/2017 at 10:09 AM, Vorathiel said:

But is it good? Care to say anything more about it?

Oh it was good. My least favorite Ryukishi story, but it's because the other ones set the bar so high.

Anyways, finally started YU-NO. Ayumi has the best chemistry with the MC so far and it's disturbing.

Update: Ayumi's route gotta be my biggest guilty pleasure of all time. That VN sold me on a guy screwing his stepmother, goddamnit!

2nd Update: A "gameplay" combination between YU-NO and Fate/Stay Night would be the greatest VN of all time gameplay-wise. (in-between route puzzles + high amount of bad ends)

Edited January 12, 2017 by onorub

[Slowpoke]

Started Cross Channel.

Starting off kinda slow and boring imo. Hoping it picks up.

I here there is some twist or something. It cant all be some pervert trying to get into his classmates pants.

[Funyarinpa]

3 hours ago, Zenophilious said:

It likes to pretend it's a sane, generic VN at first, but it's really not.

Guess I'll have to give it another try lol

[Decay]

I'd say that it's almost good that CC has deceived you two, but that deception has almost made you not experience the real Cross Channel at all, so I'm not sure how to feel about that, heh. The initial twist is pretty widely spoiled and I think even the VNDB description spoils it. It's pretty hard to get people to play it if they aren't spoiled on it, because it's a hard sell otherwise.

[Deniz]

I'm reading Sharin No Kuni and enjoying it so far.It's like beta version of Gsenjou and has the good sides of it.

[Funyarinpa]

18 minutes ago, Zenophilious said:

I'd recommend doing so.  Even with ixrec's TL, it's still quite good, and definitely worth reading.  I really can't talk about my favorite parts without spoiling them, but it's actually pretty complex and very interesting.

If Taichi being an asshole turned you off, just know that there's a reason he's like that, and it is actually addressed in a meaningful way.  He's kind of a major turn-off for people expecting a...more tolerable protagonist  lol

A good thing to keep in mind when reading Cross Channel is "things aren't what they seem".

I've heard of  (CC spoilers, I think?)

Spoiler

the stuff about a "cycle", I think it was a week long? And that the protag was addicted to rape and was thus kept away from society? Or something. I recall that the protag hallucinates about raping one of the heroines but that's just about the only interesting thing I recall about the whole thing. 

Felt it was too boring and dropped it before the first cycle was over. Welp. 

 

[Slowpoke]

8 hours ago, Zenophilious said:

Eyyy, long time no see  o/

I haven't exactly heard people complaining about CC being boring  lol  I certainly didn't think it was.  It likes to pretend it's a sane, generic VN at first, but it's really not.

I mean the boring part could be that it seems like a generic VN at first lol BUT I know its not, I just gotta stick wid it.

 

I like Taichi at least, he's funny to me lol

[onorub]

Finished YU-NO after some marathoning, so here's my thoughts (might have some unpopular opinions):

The Good - Great OST, characters are memorable enough, the puzzles between routes are amazing (best showcased in Kanna's route), plot twists are coherent, historical value for being the first VN with multiverse approach.

The Neutral - Storytelling is about as good as the Hideo Kojima adventure games making me wonder why people were so blown away, the gameplay towards the end of Mio's route can be a little tedious.

The Bad - The final route is ruined by a certain kind of romance for me.

Overall it was good (i'd even call it great gameplay-wise), but i don't consider it one of my all-time favorites. Maybe i'm failing to put things on context properly or something.

[Slowpoke]

On 1/13/2017 at 0:17 AM, Zenophilious said:

Yeah, if you don't care about him being a massive jerk all the time (a decent amount of people don't seem to be able to get over that), he's pretty funny.  I really liked his absurd brand of humor, it came out of left field every once in a while and made me laugh just because of how silly his jokes and bits could be.

 

He's not that big of a jerk imo. Just pervy I guess. Its starting to get more interesting even though im still on route 1/ week 1.

That Nanaka girl said that there is a reason to hurry up and build that antennae. And then there school is special or something and Taichi is like hella smart and freaks out about blood

[Fred the Barber]

Finished the main story of Kindred Spirits (apparently there are now bonus scenes? is this something I should play? probably). It was amazing. This is kind of a depressing thought, but I really won't be surprised if it ends up being my favorite VN I play this whole year. I'm a sucker for sweet romances like this, and I liked the variety of characters and the amount of attention paid to each of them. For instance, seeing a sharper side to Maki's personality late in the game was a great way to add a little depth to her character, and really made me like her a lot more; or for another example, there were some surprises with Tsukuyo in her H scene which I thought were cute.

This is obviously just a matter of taste, but I especially appreciate that the game tells a lot of interrelated romance stories without it being essentially a harem. I guess I'm much more a fan of the game pairing up a bunch of couples and telling me each couple's story, rather than me picking routes to match up a single protagonist with one of many love interests. Maybe it's because I like having a headcanon where everybody is happy? Or because I feel bad about making the protagonist "cheat" on the previous route's girl when I play through again? Couldn't really say.

I'm a huge fan of the sprite art, too; moderately more realistic body shapes are always a pleasant surprise. And while I wish there were more background tracks (the game is moderately long, and the soundtrack they use for most of it rather short...), I was glad that they saved a few good tracks to introduce in the late game. Both the music for the school festival and the H scene music (surprisingly) were quite good, though nothing ever did match up to the game's go-to BGM track, which plays over the title screen.

I wish I knew of literally any other localized VN that was like this, in terms of tone and themes. I just really like straightforward romances (by which I mean stories that actually depict a relationship being built, not what passes for a romance in most moege or nakige), I guess.

[Vorathiel]

Finished Himawari.
My spreadsheet:

Spoiler

It would be a really good VN, if it would be like last two 'Afterstories'. Much better written, much more intersting characters, (shitty graphics in only ~5 CGs, no sprites at all, thank god), much better themes and ideas , which was completly absent in "main" story (which is ridiculous, whole structure of this VN is very jumbled). But anyway - this really decent/good last hours with this title provided me with much needed tranquilizers, and therefore I will not have a PTSD from this title (this 'honor' belongs for now only for Sharin no Kuni, Killer Queen and partially - Grisaia1, and Hoshizora no Memoria).
Overall it's a waste of time. Not really 'different' from 'regular' charage, interesting setting is completly unutilized, characters are awfull(Aqua) to not intersting(Aries in 2048) at best and it have single one most terrible character I ever witness. Chinami from Hoshizora? Pff. Kazuna from Cartagra? Not even close. Touka from Sharin no Kuni? Okey, she's close, but only close. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Amamiya Daigo. Worst. Character. Ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also finished Seiso route in Majikoi A2.
9/10, great route.  A lot of 'slightly chuuni' motives, some battles of wits, great romance and relationship progress and very fitting and surprisingly good written (I read them in their entirety!) H scenes. Very satysfying 5-6 hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...and started Air, by Key. I like the start it was funny. Riddiculous, retarded - yes - but funny. I hate from the start only two 'side' characters, which is a very good sign in charage (I loathed almost whole cast, protag included, in Clannad, and that's why I dropped it in the middle of the first 'big' route, Tomoyo). I like the atmosphere, I like music, I like humour.... but nothing great in here as of yet. I started with Tohno Minagi route, heard it's the best one, so I expect to enjoy it a lot.

That's all for today, Vorathiel out.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Vorathiel

[Nandemonai]

2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Maybe it's because I like having a headcanon where everybody is happy?

...

I wish I knew of literally any other localized VN that was like this, in terms of tone and themes. I just really like straightforward romances (by which I mean stories that actually depict a relationship being built, not what passes for a romance in most moege or nakige), I guess.

It's a common fact in many VNs that there's unhappiness for whoever you don't pick.  That has always kind of bugged me.  In fact, even though they're the most ridiculous endings of all, usually the harem endings are the happiest.  That's kind of silly.

If you want romance that feels real, I recommend picking up Spice and Wolf and Crest/Banner of the Stars.  Edit: Oh, and the Yuka route of Crescendo.  I actually find she has the best bad ending of any game I've ever seen.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Nandemonai

[littleshogun]

Tried back to Flyable Heart, and right now there's some interesting reveal at Yui's route. Also I did resumed some of my stalled Yumina playthrough and right now it's about to entering 2nd part. That's all that I could said.

[BookwormOtaku]

Been playing Rance VI and it's been okay so far. The battle system's nice though grinding for orbs and cash does get boring after a while. Storywise it's been okay so far (took care of the serial killer thing and then the bit with Urza)...Rance is basically the same over the top anti-hero I remember from what I played of Sengoku and saw in the OVA of the first game so the comedy's decent. About the only thing is the plot elements that are happening outside of Rance's view are way more interesting than with Rance's and leave me wondering when I'm going to see more of that.