What are you playing?

[Canicheslayer]

Chrono Clock. Just finished Misaki's Route. Again It was heartwarming...and a bit stupid too (so predictable...and the conclusion is so lame). That said, It is not really a problem because the girl is absolutely cute and adorable (an excellent specimen of the classical tsundere tribe).

Edited March 11, 2017 by Canicheslayer

[ChaosRaven]

I actually dropped 11eyes in favor of Da Capo 3. When they introduced Yukiko, another completely over the top idiot character, it was just too much. There's simply no way you'll ever get a half decent story with such a crappy cast of characters. There was almost no story progress and just some half decent red night sequences form time to time inbetween almost endless school life comedy scenes. That might have still been okay if those scenes at least would have had some quality, but I don't think I've ever read such unbelievable badly written slice of life and comedy scenes.  Still, I do feel a bit bad about Kukuri though, because she was actually a rather unique and likable character - calm and with a more subtle sense of humor.

Character ratings: Kukuri >>> Misuzu >>> Don't care >>>>>> Hate

Overall rating: 3 / 10

Regarding Da Capo 3, I'm really enjoying it so far. Though I guess it doesn't really have to be good for that, since almost everything would feel like Shakespeare when coming from 11 Eyes.  Still, Da Capo 2 and Hoshimem were pretty much my two favorite slice of life nakiges so far and Da Capo 3 has a similar style than it's predessor. It's moe slice of life, but more composed and not too over the top silly like others. The only thing I'm not too happy so far are the overly cutified character designs, at least from the main characters. From those only Charles really clicks with me so far, while Sara and Rikka are just on the okayish side and I'll most likely skip Aoi's and Himemo's routes. I kinda like Mikoto, but she seems to be just a side character which is unfortunate. I didn't meet all characters yet, but just judging from the character section on VNDB, there are several side characters that look better than most of the main heroines. And that's a bit... unusual to be honest. 

BTW, am I the only one who has kind of a messed up saving system in DC3? If I save a position and reload it, it's several minutes before the actual saving position and I have to skip forward to the true position. I think the only title I remember that had similar problems from time to time was Really? Really! years ago.

Edited March 11, 2017 by ChaosRaven

[Fred the Barber]

4 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

I actually dropped 11eyes in favor of Da Capo 3. When they introduced Yukiko, another completely over the top idiot character, it was just too much. There's simply no way you'll ever get a half decent story with such a crappy cast of characters. There was almost no story progress and just some half decent red night sequences form time to time inbetween almost endless school life comedy scenes. That might have still been okay if those scenes at least would have had some quality, but I don't think I've ever read such unbelievable badly written slice of life and comedy scenes.  Still, I do feel a bit bad about Kukuri though, because she was actually a rather unique and likable character - calm and with a more subtle sense of humor.

Character ratings: Kukuri >>> Misuzu >>> Don't care >>>>>> Hate

Overall rating: 3 / 10

FWIW, Yukiko gets a lot more interesting when you spend more time with her, but, yeah, I have to agree with most of what you said. Frankly your largely negative opinion of the game is reassuring, since I keep seeing people talk about how great 11eyes is, and I really thought it had a lot of problems, especially in the character department, which is typically an easy win for VNs.

[Vorathiel]

I was reading Steins;Gate 0 and I was so bored that I started...and finished Hanachirasu. And then, I came back and finished S;G 0.

Hanahcirasu:
Simple story, but with great setting, awesome, unique protagonist, really good writting and translation (Makoto is awesome!) and really emotionally intense fight scenes. Great depiction of fighting styles, moves and thoughts during battles. After finishin Hanachirasu I came back for a moment to 11eyes, just for a battle scene and I thought that I'm gonna puke, it was such a degradation of quality level in fight scenes. Back to Hanachirasu - Solemn and melancholic atmosphere throughout the entire game is an icing on the cake. I can't get more hyped for Muramasa. Hopefully I will live long enough to read it. Also - 'Joke ends' in second playthrough are absolute garbage, but didn't hit me strong enough to lower my grade for it.
9.1/10

And finally my most hyped VN ever, S;G 0.
And the biggest dissapointment ever, of course.
High points were really high, cast was great, Maho is now one of my favourite heroines ever. Writting was really good, and events were interesting.
But. It was filled with fluff and fillers. Boring fillers. 'Straight-from-fandisc' fluffy fillers.
I read it with suggested by almost everyone order. And after the Vega and Altair ending, rest of the VN was... completly non-engaging. Because I just knew that it's not 'canon', it didn't happened and it's just a simple 'what if'. So non of the (interesting in itself) events made any impact on me. After finishing this it become clear why S;G0 had structure like that, but what I felt while reading was just boredom.
Also -  there was a 'true ending', which presents a new plot thread...which is contained in some Drama CD, and not in any VN. Great.
Overall - too much fluff, really bad structure, and bad 'true ending' really dimnishes the experience of this, quite good VN.

So yeah - Not bad, but really unnecesary and skipable 'fandiscish' sequel to a perfect title. 8/10

EDIT:

2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

FWIW, Yukiko gets a lot more interesting when you spend more time with her, but, yeah, I have to agree with most of what you said. Frankly your largely negative opinion of the game is reassuring, since I keep seeing people talk about how great 11eyes is, and I really thought it had a lot of problems, especially in the character department, which is typically an easy win for VNs.

I agree with ChaosRaven statement as well. Cast is really..mediocre at best. I really was liking this title more than I should at the begining, but now, after Yukiko first fight scene I'm just... burned out for this title. But I will finish this, it's not nearly as bad and repulsive as first 10 hours of Clannad, to which I will never return.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Vorathiel

[Kawasumi]

TFW yukiko was the only reason you were interested in 11eyes in the first place lul

[Vorathiel]

6 minutes ago, Kawasumi said:

TFW yukiko was the only reason you were interested in 11eyes in the first place lul

But...why? : D She even have the second worst design, right after that childhood friend ;d

[Kawasumi]

Just now, Vorathiel said:

But...why? : D She even have the second worst design, right after that childhood friend ;d

I watched the anime, and yukiko had a character design that I really fell in love with, I cant really explain why, she just struck a chord with me, too bad the translation is fucking shoddy so I might end up skipping it anyway..

[ChaosRaven]

3 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

FWIW, Yukiko gets a lot more interesting when you spend more time with her, but, yeah, I have to agree with most of what you said. Frankly your largely negative opinion of the game is reassuring, since I keep seeing people talk about how great 11eyes is, and I really thought it had a lot of problems, especially in the character department, which is typically an easy win for VNs.

I was really trying hard to not make it one my infamous 'impatience drops', stalled it a bit and picked it up again, but at some time it got clear that this VN just isn't for me. Though I think people with a higher resistance to silly over the top comedy will probably enjoy the title more. Though part of the reason I dropped it is that my backlog is currently getting bigger and bigger and so I think I can afford dropping mediocrity. Amusingly, the last decision point to drop it came from your review - I just checked it again and thought that with just a 3/5 I'll probably won't be missing much. 

14 minutes ago, Kawasumi said:

I watched the anime, and yukiko had a character design that I really fell in love with, I cant really explain why, she just struck a chord with me, too bad the translation is fucking shoddy so I might end up skipping it anyway..

Reminds a bit of when I watched the Chaos;Head anime and I kind of liked it, but I just couldn't stand the VN. Usually it's the other way round. Though I have to admit that Yukiko probably didn't really get a fair chance from me - she was just another 'hyper' character when I just desperately wanted the VN to get serious for a change. 

[Kawasumi]

4 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Reminds a bit of when I watched the Chaos;Head anime and I kind of liked it, but I just couldn't stand the VN. Usually it's the other way round. Though I have to admit that Yukiko probably didn't really get a fair chance from me - she was just another 'hyper' character when I just desperately wanted the VN to get serious for a change. 

you know what, maybe the anime wasnt as bad as I thought lol

[Fred the Barber]

1 hour ago, Vorathiel said:

it's not nearly as bad and repulsive as first 10 hours of Clannad, to which I will never return.

Nothing drags like Clannad, man. Nothing. Seems like I take another point away from it every time I go back and revise my VNDB scores.

[Vorathiel]

It's not like Clannad drags. I just hated every single one person in the cast, and humour was vile, didn't clicked at all with me. I read route of dorm Lady (completly hollow waste of time) and half of Tomoyo route (from all the things I hate, the strict bossy archetypes are the worst).

But I just came back to Air, and read second route - Kano. And I was really surprised. It had working humour, really pleasant atmosphere and even final with 'Key magic' made sense. Usually it all comes down to some 'ethereal' mumbo jumbo with 'poetic' sentences without much cohesive content. But this time, while all that magic was unexplained, characters were reasonable about this, they were confused and surprised, and text was meaningfull and understandable. This type of 'key magic' I can get into. Usuall type (Minagi route from Air, most of the Kanon routes) is just not for me.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Vorathiel

[Canicheslayer]

After finishing Chrono Clock (Cro's route is disappointing and Miu's conclusion is a joke), I returned to D.C. 3. At first, I was less than enthusiastic because of Ricca (the girl is supremely hot but her story is just frustrating and felt a bit botched) or Charles' routes (really bad...and the H-scenes make the problem worse). And then, I started (EDIT : and finished) Himeno's...

Thanks to my patience because, for the moment, It's the best (EDIT) one of the best moments of the whole VN (Even if I'm not a fan of Himeno and even if I normally dislike Incest settings) 

Spoiler

At last I understand the ability of kiyotaka (his ability to control a dream) and the usefulness of this strange (and boring) prologue...And I liked the few references to DC1 or DC2 ^^

Edit : I'm reading Sara's route.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Canicheslayer
finished Himeno's route

[hydro]

Finished the main story of Kindred Spirits and most of the extra ones. This VN has a really interesting presentation. First you read all of the scenes from MC/Ghosts' perspectives for the month, then after that/before unlocking the next month you read the same/similar scenes from the perspective of the side characters. Then when you finish the VN they add a 3rd layer where they show you extra scenes that may add context that was missing in the main story, but may have disrupted flow/spoiled certain plot points if they were plonked in the main story. It's a very interesting way of going about things, and in a casual Yuri VN of all places. Then again to implement this storytelling method you would need many characters with a suitably large role in the story. Many characters even have scenes from before they were introduced at all in the main story, hence the disrupted flow comment if it wasn't done this way. And since all these pairings have 2 characters with their own thoughts, some of these extra scenes that give insight could be spoiler-y if in the main story.

Especially after reading their extra scenes, I really liked Aki and Youka; both as a pairing and as individual characters.

For a start it was interesting that the "goody two shoes" was more assertive than the "delinquent", and that it was the "delinquent" who was all nervous and fidgety around the "goody two shoes". Of course these are not accurate descriptions of their overall personalities, but these are their general roles that they transcend the cliches of. And they were both likeable and unique in their own right, especially Aki. I would find it hard to pin down a character from any piece of fiction I've seen/read that acted/thought/presented themselves in the same way she did. You could find broad examples, but none would give off the same feel from what I've seen.

[onorub]

Finished If My Heart Had Wings, bringing my number of dropped VNs down to under 15. I thought it was decent at best, as good-looking as the backgrounds are it was pretty easy to get bored by the plot before the good moments here and there.

Also finished Tomoyo After and having played the original version the prologue, middle and epilogue felt so disconnected from one another. It's like the Author started with the epilogue, thought it was too short, wrote the prologue as a setup and still thought it was too short, then wrote that whole middle.

Edited March 22, 2017 by onorub

[littleshogun]

Finished Misaki route at Chrono Clock, and I'll try to write my detail commentary about this later.

Edited March 17, 2017 by littleshogun

[Dreamysyu]

Finished Pygmalion earlier this week. Well, my final impression is that it is a pretty good VN, but it suffers a lot because of the lack of polish.

Overall, I like the themes this VN presented. They are nothing new, actually, they are almost as old as the human civilization. But here they are used quite appropriately in the story and created an engaging read overall. The story overall is quite well paced. Well, at least, for my tastes, which tend to be a bit unconventional in that regard. In contrast to Tokyo Babel, the other VN by Propeller I played, the battles don't last too long, and overall take a small portion of the whole story. On the other hand, the story was always rather unpredictable as a whole (though some key twists could be predicted, basically, at the beginning of the whole game) and kept my interest intact throughout the whole story.

On the other hand, the thing that bothers me a bit after I finished the game is that some aspects of the plot, which were brought up, could be explored more.

Spoiler

I mostly mean the Puppets and how they affected humanity. There are some other things, like Ibis' backstory, or emissaries of Ruka from other places, and how they were affected by the ending.

Overall, this VN doesn't explain too much, leaving to the reader the job of finding the hints in the story and some freedom of interpretation. Usually I don't dislike that approach, but it often leaves me with a feeling that something was left unresolved.

And now, the technical stuff. The art is not bad, though I disliked it at first. On the other hand, there are some times when the art clearly contradicts the written text, which gives some WTFs. I understand, that the moments like "draw an anime-style girl, describe an ordinary Japanese girl who looks nothing like a drawn girl" are pretty common for VNs and are understandable, but this problem doesn't end at them. Also, I noticed it twice when a CG appeared several lines too early, before the action drawn actually took place. In one case it doesn't really matter, but the other case happens during a battle, where such things are more important. The music is nice, but there is just too little of it.

Concerning the rating... It's either a solid 7/10 VN, or a very weak 8/10. I'm going to leave it at 8 so far, though I doubt it'll stay there for long.

PS: Also, calling this a yurige is a big trolling for yuri fans.

Spoiler

One. Single. Kiss. That's all, ladies and gentlemen, we've finished.

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by Dreamysyu
Five quite in the same paragraph is a lot...

[littleshogun]

7 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

PS: Also, calling this a yurige is a big trolling for yuri fans.

Maybe I should call it Shoujo ai game instead of yuri then. But then again, some people called Madoka yuri even though there's no kiss between girl or something like that, so that's that. Also keep in mind that this is all age, and yuri usually mean girl on girl sexual act. Just saying here.

Edited March 19, 2017 by littleshogun

[Vorathiel]

Finished Air.
Spreadsheet:

Spoiler

I really liked it. Summer was awesome, and I was a little dissapointed that plot threads from it was not prolongated into Air, but Air in itself was a nice, self contained story about 

Spoiler

mother loosing her daughter to dementia

Yukito and his whole role in that chapter was really unnecessary though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I stalled 11Eyes, because I needed new stimulus. I started Aoishiro. And I like it very much. Interesting cast, with protag-lady, who has slightly complicated character, great art, fantastic music, great thechnical aspects, and intriguing amosphere and story.
Above all it's all ages and yuri. I'm really hyped up. ^^

[ChaosRaven]

3 hours ago, Vorathiel said:

I started Aoishiro. And I like it very much. Interesting cast, with protag-lady, who has slightly complicated character, great art, fantastic music, great thechnical aspects, and intriguing amosphere and story.
Above all it's all ages and yuri. I'm really hyped up. ^^

I really liked that when I played it last year. Had a great atmosphere and interesting characters. Individual routes were a bit repetitive though.

[Funyarinpa]

Read like two minutes of Higanbana. This thing so far is the perfect antithesis to people who hate the original versions of Ryukishi07 works- the music drew me in from the first second, and the 4:3 photo CGs perfectly complemented the barren setting. The main menu is incredibly chilling for something so simple, holy shit.

[Vokoca]

Playing the YU-NO remake. Not sure if I'd even call this a visual novel, as it feels more like a full fledged point and click adventure game, but hey - let's go by the vndb listing, I guess.

So far, I'm enjoying it immensely. My main motivation to buy the game was the infamous flowchart and obtuseness of the overall systems, and it definitely isn't disappointing on that front. I'm making steady progress along Mitsuki's route (?), but I already missed so many branches with absolutely no idea how I even did that, that just thinking about replaying is hilarious to me already. Can't wait to get into the flag fuckery!

The remake itself is great - the text and systems the way they were, with VAs, OST and art remade. I know a lot of people have reservations about the art, but I like it a lot myself. Eriko might look a bit better in the original, but I prefer just about everyone else in the remake's art, especially Mio. Also, blinking CGs, wee!

Other than that, I've also started the remake of EVE Burst Error, which hilariously enough seems to work on the exact same engine as YU-NO's prologue. Let's see how many parallels I will draw between these - so far I prefer YU-NO much more.

[ChaosRaven]

Currently multi reading Da Capo 3 and Pygmalion...

I didn't really understand the purpose of the Da Capo 3 prologue, since it felt more like a trailer for Da Capo 2 just with cheaper and more slutty heroines,

Spoiler

but the actual main story is then located in Hogwarts with the protagonist being more or less the VN version of Harry Potter. Granted, it's actually an interesting premise, although the heroines were somewhat underwhelming so far. But that doesn't explain why the prologue had pretty much nothing to do with the main story. I mean, isn't the whole purpose of a prologue to give the reader an introduction to the story and not just showing... random stuff.

Considering Pygmalion, the prologue reminded me a lot of Tokyo Babel: Clueless girl, thrown back and forth between the real and an imaginary world, and no attempt to give even the most basic of explanations.

Spoiler

Such as, why are the oh so fanatical doll hunters worshipping an actual DOLL in their hideout, and why are they supposed to be the good guys in the first place. So far they didn't appear to be anything else than racist cold-blooded murderers who think not being 'purely-human' is enough justification to be killed. And I think I remember similar stuff about a very dark time in Europe just about 80 years ago. And if the dolls and eidolons are the 'angels', then what makes that the doll hunters?

I think so far the VN wanted to trigger those feelings in the reader to appear kind of thought-provoking, however it's really about time to give some solid explanations, since currently it gets more and more unrealistic why Mina should ally with the doll hunters instead of just taking that nice pistol she got from them and direct it at themselves.

 

[littleshogun]

2 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

I didn't really understand the purpose of the Da Capo 3 prologue, since it felt more like a trailer for Da Capo 2 just with cheaper and more slutty heroines,

  Reveal hidden contents

but the actual main story is then located in Hogwarts with the protagonist being more or less the VN version of Harry Potter. Granted, it's actually an interesting premise, although the heroines were somewhat underwhelming so far. But that doesn't explain why the prologue had pretty much nothing to do with the main story. I mean, isn't the whole purpose of a prologue to give the reader an introduction to the story and not just showing... random stuff.

 

No comment for Pygmalion there, although for Da Capo 3 it's probably for promotion like I said earlier at this thread (I mean for some old fan who think the location must be in Hatsunejima ie hardcore fan). After all, some people will always associate Da Capo with Hatsunejima although I heard that the prologue function will be explained on Himeno route.

As for real prologue, read the first side story because it's decribe the events when Kiyotaka entering London and introduction to Weather Vane character. That's all.

[ChaosRaven]

20 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

No comment for Pygmalion there, although for Da Capo 3 it's probably for promotion like I said earlier at this thread (I mean for some old fan who think the location must be in Hatsunejima ie hardcore fan). After all, some people will always associate Da Capo with Hatsunejima although I heard that the prologue function will be explained on Himeno route.

As for real prologue, read the first side story because it's decribe the events when Kiyotaka entering London and introduction to Weather Vane character. That's all.

So the prologue is actually just promotion for Da Capo 2 while the real prologue is hidden in some easy to miss side story?! Uh hu... 

[Vokoca]

Around 40% done with the YU-NO remake.... this VN is nuts! Each time I think I've gotten the hang of things, the VN just laughs in my face and just does something completely different. I'm enjoying the gameplay way too much, haha. And the story is shaping up to be pretty great too - it is going places, places I like. 

Unfortunately I won't be able to play in the couple of next days... not sure how I'm going to survive that. YU-NO is like that unnecessarily obtuse timeloop puzzle game I secretly always wanted, and I can't wait to get back to it.