What are you playing?

[Plk_Lesiak]

6 hours ago, Ranzo said:

That sounds like a great recommendation to me

It should be. :] The game's choice system and plot makes pushing the protagonist towards the bad ending quite painfull and the ending itself is properly horrible, but it was quite unique and I'm very curious what the better (good...?) conclussions look like. Sadly I won't have time to play it until the late evening at least.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[Thyndd]

Reading Kanon's route in g-senjou, I'd say I'm halfway through. Confused af.

Of course I don't want you to spoil it to me, but wtf man? Everything points to Kyousuke being Maou, that's obviously what the game wants you to think, what with the transitions and everything, plus Shiratori actually recognized him, so either they are in fact the same person or they are twins, hypothesis that kinda gets reinforced when at some point in Kanon's route he confirms that has (or had) siblings.

Then we have all the mess with Haru. She obviously knows Kyousuke from the past, which I inmediately noticed when she called him Kyousuke-kun and then confirmed when Kyousuke (Maou?) himself mentioned that her father was the mastermind that ruined his family. I assume that doesn't mean at all that Haru's Gonzou's daugther, but rather that Haru's father was somehow involved in what Mr. Samejima did. But it's all really, really confusing. What with Kyousuke acting like he didn't know Haru at all? Damn, he didn't even mention it in a monologue up until now. 

If Kyousuke and Maou are in fact the same person, then Maou would have access to Kyousuke's memories but seemingly Kyousuke only would subconciously know that he's Maou (as there are quite a few supposed hints troughout the story). This would kinda explain why this revelation took place during one of Kyousuke's headaches (perhaps the moment when the two personalities are merging?). Again, this is obviously what the game wants you to think, but I somehow doubt it's that straightforward.

To further complicate it, the ransom retrieval. Maou was still on the phone as Tsubaki saw the two cops approaching, so as far as I know, Maou couldn't be one of them (at least if we assume that Maou was indeed the one talking on the phone). Admittedly, he had an accomplice, that foreigner, which by the way could never pass off as a japanese cop, but we'll let that slide saying that Tsubaki was so flustered she couldn't notice, but in any case, who was the other guy? Someone that hasn't been introduced yet?

So yeah, I'm hitting my head against a wall right know  I feel like the game is mocking at me.

[r0xm2n]

Still playing Dal Segno....

That was probably the greatest "confession" scene I've seen yet. Not often the girl confesses first, and in such a way...

[Dreamysyu]

4 hours ago, Thyndd said:

Reading Kanon's route in g-senjou, I'd say I'm halfway through. Confused af.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Of course I don't want you to spoil it to me, but wtf man? Everything points to Kyousuke being Maou, that's obviously what the game wants you to think, what with the transitions and everything, plus Shiratori actually recognized him, so either they are in fact the same person or they are twins, hypothesis that kinda gets reinforced when at some point in Kanon's route he confirms that has (or had) siblings.

Then we have all the mess with Haru. She obviously knows Kyousuke from the past, which I inmediately noticed when she called him Kyousuke-kun and then confirmed when Kyousuke (Maou?) himself mentioned that her father was the mastermind that ruined his family. I assume that doesn't mean at all that Haru's Gonzou's daugther, but rather that Haru's father was somehow involved in what Mr. Samejima did. But it's all really, really confusing. What with Kyousuke acting like he didn't know Haru at all? Damn, he didn't even mention it in a monologue up until now. 

If Kyousuke and Maou are in fact the same person, then Maou would have access to Kyousuke's memories but seemingly Kyousuke only would subconciously know that he's Maou (as there are quite a few supposed hints troughout the story). This would kinda explain why this revelation took place during one of Kyousuke's headaches (perhaps the moment when the two personalities are merging?). Again, this is obviously what the game wants you to think, but I somehow doubt it's that straightforward.

To further complicate it, the ransom retrieval. Maou was still on the phone as Tsubaki saw the two cops approaching, so as far as I know, Maou couldn't be one of them (at least if we assume that Maou was indeed the one talking on the phone). Admittedly, he had an accomplice, that foreigner, which by the way could never pass off as a japanese cop, but we'll let that slide saying that Tsubaki was so flustered she couldn't notice, but in any case, who was the other guy? Someone that hasn't been introduced yet?

So yeah, I'm hitting my head against a wall right know  I feel like the game is mocking at me.

I want to comment on some things, but I won't since I don't want to accidentally reveal too much. Just a piece of advice: be open-minded, or you will be disappointed.

[Zidan209]

5 hours ago, Thyndd said:

Reading Kanon's route in g-senjou, I'd say I'm halfway through. Confused af.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Of course I don't want you to spoil it to me, but wtf man? Everything points to Kyousuke being Maou, that's obviously what the game wants you to think, what with the transitions and everything, plus Shiratori actually recognized him, so either they are in fact the same person or they are twins, hypothesis that kinda gets reinforced when at some point in Kanon's route he confirms that has (or had) siblings.

Then we have all the mess with Haru. She obviously knows Kyousuke from the past, which I inmediately noticed when she called him Kyousuke-kun and then confirmed when Kyousuke (Maou?) himself mentioned that her father was the mastermind that ruined his family. I assume that doesn't mean at all that Haru's Gonzou's daugther, but rather that Haru's father was somehow involved in what Mr. Samejima did. But it's all really, really confusing. What with Kyousuke acting like he didn't know Haru at all? Damn, he didn't even mention it in a monologue up until now. 

If Kyousuke and Maou are in fact the same person, then Maou would have access to Kyousuke's memories but seemingly Kyousuke only would subconciously know that he's Maou (as there are quite a few supposed hints troughout the story). This would kinda explain why this revelation took place during one of Kyousuke's headaches (perhaps the moment when the two personalities are merging?). Again, this is obviously what the game wants you to think, but I somehow doubt it's that straightforward.

To further complicate it, the ransom retrieval. Maou was still on the phone as Tsubaki saw the two cops approaching, so as far as I know, Maou couldn't be one of them (at least if we assume that Maou was indeed the one talking on the phone). Admittedly, he had an accomplice, that foreigner, which by the way could never pass off as a japanese cop, but we'll let that slide saying that Tsubaki was so flustered she couldn't notice, but in any case, who was the other guy? Someone that hasn't been introduced yet?

So yeah, I'm hitting my head against a wall right know  I feel like the game is mocking at me.

Spoiler

Just know, that Kyousuke's psychiatry visits aren't only for getting out of school. You will be even more and more confused when you enter Kanon's chapter and then be like wtf when u read the main route. Because, sadly G-senjou has that kind of "plot abandoning" in the sideroutes. And that doesn't mean they are bad, anyway. I think Kanon's route was the best out of the 3 sideroutes

 

[Akshay]

On 1/17/2018 at 2:51 AM, ChaosRaven said:

Finally finished Ourai no Gahkthun, and overall it was an enjoyable read, though not without flaws.

What makes this VN really stand out is its unique and mature Steampunk setting. A large academy on a small artificial island, located close to the coast of Marseille in an early 20th century France. Most  characters are already young adults instead of teenagers and the academy resembles more a university than a school. The VN also manages to create the right atmosphere for the right moment. Slice of life scenes have a classic soundtrack that perfectly captures the feeling of a Paris inspired, lifely city, while the darker scenes are backed by an eerie soundtrack. The battle scenes were also surprisingly well done, using animated effects and such, even if some end a bit sudden. They were also not too long which was a huge plus for me.

Although the VN is written from a third person point of view, it uses a rather interesting writing style to create a semi-protagonist feeling when needed. This is done through inner monologues of the characters where they share their feelings and thoughts with the reader, usually in a voiced manner. This is often done for female characters and for Neon in particular.

Story-wise there were lights and shadows. While Tesla was an overall interesting character with some supreme lightning powers, you don't really get to know a lot about him, even to the end. He just comes to the academy as a transfer student and rescues Neon from a near-slavery fate. Together they oppose the members of the student council who use some kind of demonic bell to gain special powers - also called arts in the VN. Most chapters then showcase a conflict with one of the members of the student council, though not all of them. And so you get to know that not all of the members are just bad guys and that there's more than meets the eye.

While the VN does a marvelous job in setting up a believable Steampunk world and creating the right atmosphere for it, its biggest flaw is certainly the story-flow and character development. To use a somewhat accurate comparison, I guess most people remember the infamous Windows progress bar and when it sometimes gets stuck at about ~X% for minutes, just to suddenly jump to the end in a second. And here it's pretty much the same. While in most chapters you get to know a certain side character better, this is usually not the case for Tesla or Neon and their relationship gets stuck very soon. The chapters are also very independent from each other, to a point that the order doesn't really matter. Usually chapters should build up on each other to create a homogenous story flow, but this isn't really the case here.

But in the last chapter the VN suddenly turns up to light speed story development and literally every story and character development you can image is squished in there. It goes without saying that this didn't work out without some sacrifices in the form of abyssal size plot holes like...

  Reveal hidden contents

Tesla apparently having killed Neons family without any info why, Neon forgiving him for that without any info why, everyone suddenly remembering that they were part of a big happy fucking family without any info why, everyone suddenly teaming up without any info why, etc.

So yeah, there were quite some questionmarks at the end. For that reason I find it difficult to really call this a story VN. I'd call it more a slice of life VN with a unique setting and actually entertaining slice of life since in every chapter there's new stuff happening with new CG's and sometimes even new characters. It was also somewhat interesting to see an unavoidable tentacle rape scene in a Steam VN. Granted, it was pretty tame, but WTF. 

So, since I overall still enjoyed the VN and liked most of the characters, I decided to call this a good slife of life VN instead of a bad story VN, so my final rating is 7.5/10. 

And yeah, I managed to finish a dreadful boring Mihiro route in Wagamama Highspec in about 3 months of time - I'm so proud of me. 

Still want to try Ashe's route, but I think I'll pass on the other ones.

it feels that the last chapter would be better if they put some more forshadowing and buildup to the final boss-thing.

It felt like they made a boss through hi m at the end and made a random story for him, rather than a slow build up culminating in the final fight. i enjoyed nearly everything other than this though

[Ranzo]

Playing Fault right now and it's okay? Grammer seems a bit messed up they keep changing tenses on the fly. The whole explanation of magic is also convuluted as shit.

[Dreamysyu]

So, two years after finishing the first Grisaia, I finally started playing Grisaia no Meikyuu, and I suddenly realized how much I missed this series, and I don't even consider myself a diehard Grisaia fan.

Also, I again realized that reading the all-ages version of Kajitsu was definitely a mistake (and that comes from a guy who used to unconditionally skip all h-scenes he encountered). But this series, basically, works much better in 18+, and the first h-scene I encountered was genuinely funny. I hope, the more serious parts won't disappoint when I get to them.

[Kaguya]

*Laughs in asian*

 

This is good gemu. 

[onorub]

Did all the endings of Banshee's Last Cry and even though i thought some of the parody endings went on for a bit too long, i was surprised by how good it was.

Has anyone played the sequel (Kamaitachi no Yoru 2) to give an idea of how good it is? I skimmed through a japanese playthrough of it and it looks like one the craziest VNs ever.

Edited January 28, 2018 by onorub

[r0xm2n]

It's official. Noeri (from Dal Segno) is one of the cutest heroines ever. She's up there with Michiru (Grisaia) and Mihiro (Wagamana High Spec).

[Thyndd]

Finished Kanon's route and all Chapter 3 in G-Senjou no Maou...

Now I'm supposed to go with Shiratori before moving onto Haru, but man, what a bummer, I really want to cut to the chase already. I'm seriously considering skipping Shiratori for now and then go back to it once I finish the true route. Could someone tell me how much I would be missing? Is it a no-no or semi-acceptable?

[Zidan209]

4 hours ago, Thyndd said:

Finished Kanon's route and all Chapter 3 in G-Senjou no Maou...

Now I'm supposed to go with Shiratori before moving onto Haru, but man, what a bummer, I really want to cut to the chase already. I'm seriously considering skipping Shiratori for now and then go back to it once I finish the true route. Could someone tell me how much I would be missing? Is it a no-no or semi-acceptable?

I think you should do Shiratori first, because there is one thing that is different and you would feel weird reading Shiratori's route after. If not for that, you could actually skip it, her route isn't that great, Kyousuke is just like a spectator most of the time

Edited January 28, 2018 by Zidan209

[Thyndd]

17 hours ago, Zidan209 said:

I think you should do Shiratori first, because there is one thing that is different and you would feel weird reading Shiratori's route after. If not for that, you could actually skip it, her route isn't that great, Kyousuke is just like a spectator most of the time

So be it. Shiratori's route finished, it was pretty meh. I've already started with Haru's route.

I've got up to the part when Kyousuke takes Gonzou as a hostage to allow his friends to flee. God that shit was really intense, I was on edge.

[Ranzo]

2 hours ago, Thyndd said:

So be it. Shiratori's route finished, it was pretty meh. I've already started with Haru's route.

 

  Hide contents

 

I've got up to the part when Kyousuke takes Gonzou as a hostage to allow his friends to flee. God that shit was really intense, I was on edge.

 

 

You haven't experienced anything yet

So it seems that Fault has got a lot more interesting which is good

First part completed. Overall I have to say I'm really impressed at how they were able to get over their rough beginning

Edited January 29, 2018 by Ranzo

[Thyndd]

G-Senjou no Maou finished. 

What to say... the true route's been a blast, freaking fantastic. But that epilogue... damn I was so not ready for that *cries a lot* Now I will be sad for the rest of the day, damn it.

Now I get what some of you meant when suggesting that I didn't take the side routes too seriously. In all honesty, I don't recall every single detail in every scene, even though I pretty much marathoned this VN over the course of just 5 days, but I seriously doubt they all add up. Sure, you could perhaps try to find excuses here and there to make up for the plot holes, but always at the expense of relinquishing the overall coherence of character behaviour and your own suspension of disbelief. So yeah, for me that's this VN's biggest blunder. A secret for good mistery writing is to not pull dirty tricks over your readers: they should feel like the truth was in front of their eyes all along, only they just couldn't figure it out. This includes of course providing every piece of information the characters solving the mistery have available and a honest, impartial narrative that doesn't attempt to misguide you. The complexity and originality of the story itself should be the one thing you cannot wrap your head around, putting yourself in the character's shoes and thus making the experience truly immersive.

Also I want to add, now that I got it over with, that the side routes are frankly pointless. Well, I guess they are called "side routes" for a reason. I think it's better to consider them not to be part of the story, but rather a bunch of spin-offs of "what-if"s. They don't contribute almost anything at the story. I was expecting that the character attachment that built up during the side routes would pay off in the true route, but nah, they are nowhere to be found aside from a cute little scene in the epilogue. Looking at it from this point of view, this is more a kinetic novel, since the choices you make actually don't matter at all for the main and only true story.

Well, I ranted over it a lot, so it may seem that I hated it, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I loved it and that's why I'm passionate about it. Great VN.

[Dreamysyu]

19 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

G-Senjou no Maou finished. 

Your opinion on the main twist?

[Thyndd]

36 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Your opinion on the main twist?

I kinda went over it in the spoiler, though maybe I wasn't too specific.

For me calling it a twist is a bit of a stretch. There is this irony that I totally saw that coming but at the same time I knew it was not possible without pulling it out of your ass, but what with all the emphasis they put on the transitions between Kyousuke and Maou's perspective it was too obvious. And granted, as I said before, you could make up some half-assed excuses to account for all those false hints, but that's the same as saying that those are all a bunch of "coincidences" that were shown to you in order to fool you. That's just a very lazy plot device with no merit whatsoever from my perspective. For fuck's sake, they even had to make up all that bullshit of "Kyousuke behaved like Maou's at some points in the story because he was going crazy and actually believed he was" to justify his sudden change of mood the day after he kicked Usami out of his appartment and also that encounter with Tokita when she told him that there was something weird with him. 

That's not the story trying to fool you, which is completely fine, but the narrative itself. I don't think that's intelectually honest. 

So yeah, that. The main twist: bleh. The rest of the story: absolutely stunning. That epilogue is going to hunt me for days.

[Mr Poltroon]

30 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I kinda went over it in the spoiler, though maybe I wasn't too specific.

 

  Hide contents

 

For me calling it a twist is a bit of a stretch. There is this irony that I totally saw that coming but at the same time I knew it was not possible without pulling it out of your ass, but what with all the emphasis they put on the transitions between Kyousuke and Maou's perspective it was too obvious. And granted, as I said before, you could make up some half-assed excuses to account for all those false hints, but that's the same as saying that those are all a bunch of "coincidences" that were shown to you in order to fool you. That's just a very lazy plot device with no merit whatsoever from my perspective. For fuck's sake, they even had to make up all that bullshit of "Kyousuke behaved like Maou's at some points in the story because he was going crazy and actually believed he was" to justify his sudden change of mood the day after he kicked Usami out of his appartment and also that encounter with Tokita when she told him that there was something weird with him. 

That's not the story trying to fool you, which is completely fine, but the narrative itself. I don't think that's intelectually honest. 

 

So yeah, that. The main twist: bleh. The rest of the story: absolutely stunning. That epilogue is going to hunt me for days.

 

Spoiler

Pffft. That isn't the main twist. That's a giant red-herring red-herring, to make you think that was the twist the story had to offer. The actual twist was the epilogue.

 

[Zidan209]

38 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

I kinda went over it in the spoiler, though maybe I wasn't too specific.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

For me calling it a twist is a bit of a stretch. There is this irony that I totally saw that coming but at the same time I knew it was not possible without pulling it out of your ass, but what with all the emphasis they put on the transitions between Kyousuke and Maou's perspective it was too obvious. And granted, as I said before, you could make up some half-assed excuses to account for all those false hints, but that's the same as saying that those are all a bunch of "coincidences" that were shown to you in order to fool you. That's just a very lazy plot device with no merit whatsoever from my perspective. For fuck's sake, they even had to make up all that bullshit of "Kyousuke behaved like Maou's at some points in the story because he was going crazy and actually believed he was" to justify his sudden change of mood the day after he kicked Usami out of his appartment and also that encounter with Tokita when she told him that there was something weird with him. 

That's not the story trying to fool you, which is completely fine, but the narrative itself. I don't think that's intelectually honest. 

 

So yeah, that. The main twist: bleh. The rest of the story: absolutely stunning. That epilogue is going to hunt me for days.

 

Spoiler

I felt like the epilogue was kinda obvious, but there was just no way you could think that because there just wasn't space for such thoughts because of the immersion. So it seems you also totaly fell for it and thought that the kid wasn't Kyousuke's. 

G-senjou has definitely two or more perfect characters, but sadly, not the protagonist. I'd probably give the highlights to Gonzou, despite Maou being so briliant.

Now, idk if you've read Sharin, but if you haven't, then you should check it out, since it's rather similiar to this one. It has a similiar kind of twist, but more properly concealed + some great characters

Edited January 30, 2018 by Zidan209

[Thyndd]

1 minute ago, Zidan209 said:

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I felt like the epilogue was kinda obvious, but there was just no way you could think that because there just wasn't space for such thoughts because of the immersion. So it seems you also totaly fell for it and thought that the kid wasn't Kyousuke's. 

G-senjou has definitely some perfect characters, but sadly, not the protagonist. I'd probably give the highlights to Gonzou, despite Maou being so perfect.

Now, idk if you've read Sharin, but if you haven't, then you should check it out, since it's rather similiar to this one. It has the same kind of twist, but more properly concealed + some great characters

No no, I knew the kid was Kyousuke's, for sure. I knew how it was going to end, but it was heart-breaking nontheless, and a beautiful conclusion.

I haven't read Sharin yet. A few days ago I opened a recommendation thread; Sharin was among the ones people suggested, along with G-Senjou no Maou. Perhaps Sharin will be the next I'll be playing.

[Dreamysyu]

7 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

 

  Hide contents

 

No no, I knew the kid was Kyousuke's, for sure. I knew how it was going to end, but it was heart-breaking nontheless, and a beautiful conclusion.

 

I haven't read Sharin yet. A few days ago I opened a recommendation thread; Sharin was among the ones people suggested, along with G-Senjou no Maou. Perhaps Sharin will be the next I'll be playing.

 

You know, it might be a good idea to wait for the official localisation.

As for your other comment, I will answer you when I get to my PC so I can use spoiler tags.

[Mr Poltroon]

5 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

 

  Hide contents

 

No no, I knew the kid was Kyousuke's, for sure. I knew how it was going to end, but it was heart-breaking nontheless, and a beautiful conclusion.

 

I haven't read Sharin yet. A few days ago I opened a recommendation thread; Sharin was among the ones people suggested, along with G-Senjou no Maou. Perhaps Sharin will be the next I'll be playing.

 

I beg of you, wait for the official release before playing it. At least before deciding whether you'd prefer the fan-translation or the official one.

[Funyarinpa]

higurashi's sixth chapter, come out you coward

[Thyndd]

5 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

You know, it might be a good idea to wait for the official localisation.

 

5 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I beg of you, wait for the official release before playing it. At least before deciding whether you'd prefer the fan-translation or the official one.

Well then, ok  Is it that bad or some the fan translation?