What are you playing?

[Trickay]

5 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Hmm, I also read the fan-tl'ed version, so I don't think this is important.

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It looks like he still remembers everything deep inside, but at the same time, the ending suggested that these memories are probably never going to resurface. So we could say that these memories belong to a different person, and they don't really matter to Takeru of that time. But, well, it's already a matter of interpretation. The ending is pretty open, so, unless a proper sequel gets announced at some point, we'll probably never know what exactly happened there. As for the sequel, it looks like the developers were always open to the possibility of making one, but it's already been more than 10 years since Alternative was released, so it looks like we'll never get it. Though, to be honest, I'd like to see what exactly happened in the Alternative timeline after the events described in Alternative, I don't think that another game with Takeru as protagonist would work.

Edit. Oh, and I forgot to mention that there is also this game. It continues right after the ending to Alternative, and it's much lighter in nature, but, apparently, the developers said that it's not canon.

 

Yeah i deffinately agree with you there Dreamysyu. Maybe given the million dollar kickstarter and western success a sequel could appear sometime, but like you said in the

Alternative timeline. That said only Kasumi and Yuuko would be there, though Yuuko was certainly was one of my favourite characters so it could work maybe. Age would probably be better off having the BETA arrive in the Extra universe to use all the same characters again, the plot could revolve around Takeru accessing latent memories and returning to Alternative Yuuko for TSF specifications.

5 hours ago, wei123 said:

 

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My take on it is that Alternative Takeru did not actually die, but rather, he simply just ceased to exist (since he wasn't from that world in the first place). After that, his memories simply transferred to Final Extra Takeru.

You can try Remember 11. It may not have as many bad ends as FSN (which has 40, smh), but the thing is that you will need to read the bad ends to understand the full story, unlike FSN where some are forgettable. 

I'll look into Remember 11 wei123, thanks. Couldn't help but notice your footer, has my spamming of this thread with OMG MLA comments rekindled your interest?

 

[BookwormOtaku]

Finally got around to finishing Marie's route in Dies irae and...it was a good enough ending: the fights were really good, Junichi Suwabe's performance as Reinhardt was excellent and really helps in establishing why the character is regarded as such a memorable villain and the ending hit all the right (even if somewhat expected) notes to be a good enough conclusion to the route's story. Played a bit of the after story too and so far it's pretty amusing considering whose POV we're starting with, even if I'm pretty sure I know how this is going to end.

I think after I finish the after story I'll get to finishing Sorami's route in Tokyo Babel before coming back and tackling Rea's route. Not sure what else there is left to focus on aside from Rea herself (though we have covered quite a bit about her already over the course of the game, so...) and that one hanging question at the end though which while I'm curious I don't see how the answer could have any effect on the story considering there doesn't seem to be any hints of this in any of the flashback material. Though I am hoping to see the following:

Spoiler

1) Actual  fight between Shirou and Bei (on equal terms) with a satisfying conclusion

2) What darkly funny death is Rusalka going to get in this route? In Kei's she gets used as a club by Schreiber before getting an off screen death that totally needed a Wilhelm scream and in Marie's route everyone knows about her impending death except her and her attempts to get Schreiber to help her backfire hilariously.

3) More Ren and Shirou bromance

 

[Jun Inoue]

Man, what a party pooper. I find out Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road has been translated, a VN I had left for dead a long time ago, I get it and manage to get it to work... to then actually check a couple reviews and find out the MC is some sort of wet blanket, passive MC with no common sense whatsoever. Can anyone who has played it confirm or deny this? Cuz it's rather heartbreaking to find out (but better to find out now than some hours into the game).

[BookwormOtaku]

2 hours ago, Jun Inoue said:

Man, what a party pooper. I find out Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road has been translated, a VN I had left for dead a long time ago, I get it and manage to get it to work... to then actually check a couple reviews and find out the MC is some sort of wet blanket, passive MC with no common sense whatsoever. Can anyone who has played it confirm or deny this? Cuz it's rather heartbreaking to find out (but better to find out now than some hours into the game).

I've played the game (and most of the FD) and I didn't think so regarding Hiroshi, the closest I can say the MC gets to that is in Maki's route though the story does try to justify it. Admittedly the fact that Hiroshi is supposed to be "normal" compared to most of the cast can make him a bit dull on his own, but I would say he makes a good enough straight man to the more over the top heroines. Here's my review for the game:

http://gamesforadultsandeveryone.blogspot.com/2014/03/import-games-for-adults-tsujidou-san-no.html

 

[Inorin]

10 hours ago, Trickay said:

I'll look into Remember 11 wei123, thanks. Couldn't help but notice your footer, has my spamming of this thread with OMG MLA comments rekindled your interest?

Well I was going to wait until the release of Photonmelodies to read Altered Fable since the existing translation patch only covers 3 routes but yeah I guess all the Muv Luv talk here just triggered my PTSD all over again

Edited March 29, 2018 by wei123

[Ranzo]

6 hours ago, Jun Inoue said:

Man, what a party pooper. I find out Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road has been translated, a VN I had left for dead a long time ago, I get it and manage to get it to work... to then actually check a couple reviews and find out the MC is some sort of wet blanket, passive MC with no common sense whatsoever. Can anyone who has played it confirm or deny this? Cuz it's rather heartbreaking to find out (but better to find out now than some hours into the game).

He is a bit of one yeah that's kind of why I stalled on it as well.  That and the sister.

[Jun Inoue]

6 hours ago, BookwormOtaku said:

I've played the game (and most of the FD) and I didn't think so regarding Hiroshi, the closest I can say the MC gets to that is in Maki's route though the story does try to justify it. Admittedly the fact that Hiroshi is supposed to be "normal" compared to most of the cast can make him a bit dull on his own, but I would say he makes a good enough straight man to the more over the top heroines. Here's my review for the game:

http://gamesforadultsandeveryone.blogspot.com/2014/03/import-games-for-adults-tsujidou-san-no.html

 

Ah, I see. I had actually found your review while doing Google fu, which added to the confusion with the MC and all.

I'll probably give it a shot, then, if anything out of trust in you and Minato Soft, and for fairness sake.

@Ranzo Hope I don't throw my mouse to the screen in frustration, as I'm somewhat picky with MCs (really, who isn't). 

You have me scared with mentioning the sister, though. I'm already generally unconvinced by incest, so...

Edited March 29, 2018 by Jun Inoue

[Plk_Lesiak]

I was going through some short yuri EOLVNs that were getting amassed in my "to-read" folder lately and finally got to play Butterfly Soup, a small VN that got a weird amount of mainstream attention... And while it's not a masterpiece, I can see while people noticed it. It's a pretty simple slice-of-life story with mandatory LGBT themes, but really managed to make it all charming and fun to read and the message about the challenges of growing up felt very much universal. Plus, it had this line:

Spoiler

 

I just wish sites like Kotaku would give some attention to the VN dev scene more often than once in every two years or so, there are so many better games that never get even fraction of the exposure Butterfly Soup got. :s

Edited March 29, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[Thyndd]

So I'm at episode 9 of MLA, and I think it deserves to pause for a minute and appreciate how amazing the wordbuilding is and how much care for detail they poured into it. And I'm not only referring to the technical details (leaving aside the quantum bullshit, that is ), which of course are important, but in my opinion less so than the true gem that is the society it builds. It's so damn realistic that it legit scares me. In the spoiler I'm going to elaborate on this a little. It's not going to contain major spoilers, but if you prefer reading MLA totally blind then it's probably for the best if you avoided it.

Spoiler

Ok, let's start with our own real world. In a world so culturally diverse, we had to learn the hard way that morality is far from objective. Every culture on earth, in every period of time, has a moral code ingrained in the collective mind that provides them with a sense of right or wrong, and different cultures have different codes. There are no absolutes. Thus we have to accept that, as much as we want to believe otherwise, our sense of rightness is not intrinsically superior to that of other people. 

Ok, that's for morality. Then we have ethics. Ethics attempts to build a code of conduct based on more objective criteria and upon agreement, and amongst the vast amount of criteria that are taken into account, probably the most important one is the common good, that is, the well-being of a majority takes precedence over the well-being of a minority. In our world that is of course not always the case. While the common good criteria is still really important, there are some individual rights that we consider unquestionable. For example, while human experimentation in medicine most certainly would benefit a great majority, however our current ethical code doesn't allow us to trespass the individual rights to life and "freedom". So there's this kind of balance, so to speak... which is actually very fragile and in a dire situation like war is the first thing that goes out the window. Not only that, but people usually ACCEPT that it has to be that way, giving birth to a new ethical code, even though their moral code cannot change in such a short period of time. That's not to say that they won't feel conflicted about it. Of course they will. And that's also not to say that all people will easily come to terms with it. They won't, hence the multiple methods of coaxing that originated during our history and MLA so beautifully displays, such as:

-Nationalism. It's been shown how easy it is to spur a sense of belonging to a group and make the members feel superior with respect to those who don't belong. This is easily exploitable to justify horrifying acts that a priori would seem unthinkable. In fact, it's my belief that every epic narrative ever employs this tactic to move the reader, including of course Muv Luv.

-Comradeship. Which is actually what is left from the previous point when the horrors of war break your flimsy heroic and patriotic ideals. As captain Isumi so wisely said, when you are face to face with death all you can think about is to protect your own life and the lives of your comrades in arms, with whom you overcame so many hardships. I'm fortunately no war vet, but I can totally see that being the case. That's why it's so important in the military to foster a sense of camaraderie.

-Fear and hatred. You fear what you cannot comprehend, and you are prone to hate what you fear. That's how we humans work, and again it's so easy to redirect that fear and hatred to the enemy and convince soldiers to risk their lives.

So yeah. The social behaviour in MLA is not original because it doesn't need to be. It's instead a really accurate picture of our history and ourselves.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Thyndd

[Inorin]

2 hours ago, Thyndd said:

So I'm at episode 9 of MLA, and I think it deserves to pause for a minute and appreciate how amazing the wordbuilding is and how much care for detail they poured into it. And I'm not only referring to the technical details (leaving aside the quantum bullshit, that is ), which of course are important, but in my opinion less so than the true gem that is the society it builds. It's so damn realistic that it legit scares me. In the spoiler I'm going to elaborate on this a little. It's not going to contain major spoilers, but if you prefer reading MLA totally blind then it's probably for the best if you avoided it.

  Hide contents

Ok, let's start with our own real world. In a world so culturally diverse, we had to learn the hard way that morality is far from objective. Every culture on earth, in every period of time, has a moral code ingrained in the collective mind that provides them with a sense of right or wrong, and different cultures have different codes. There are no absolutes. Thus we have to accept that, as much as we want to believe otherwise, our sense of rightness is not intrinsically superior to that of other people. 

Ok, that's for morality. Then we have ethics. Ethics attempts to build a code of conduct based on more objective criteria and upon agreement, and amongst the vast amount of criteria that are taken into account, probably the most important one is the common good, that is, the well-being of a majority takes precedence over the well-being of a minority. In our world that is of course not always the case. While the common good criteria is still really important, there are some individual rights that we consider unquestionable. For example, while human experimentation in medicine most certainly would benefit a great majority, however our current ethical code doesn't allow us to trespass the individual rights to life and "freedom". So there's this kind of balance, so to speak... which is actually very fragile and in a dire situation like war is the first thing that goes out the window. Not only that, but people usually ACCEPT that it has to be that way, giving birth to a new ethical code, even though their moral code cannot change in such a short period of time. That's not to say that they won't feel conflicted about it. Of course they will. And that's also not to say that all people will easily come to terms with it. They won't, hence the multiple methods of coaxing that originated during our history and MLA so beautifully displays, such as:

-Nationalism. It's been shown how easy it is to spur a sense of belonging to a group and make the members feel superior with respect to those who don't belong. This is easily exploitable to justify horrifying acts that a priori would seem unthinkable. In fact, it's my belief that every epic narrative ever employs this tactic to move the reader, including of course Muv Luv.

-Comradeship. Which is actually what is left from the previous point when the horrors of war break your flimsy heroic and patriotic ideals. As captain Isumi so wisely said, when you are face to face with death all you can think about is to protect your own life and the lives of your comrades in arms, with whom you overcame so many hardships. I'm fortunately no war vet, but I can totally see that being the case. That's why it's so important in the military to foster a sense of camaraderie.

-Fear and hatred. You fear what you cannot comprehend, and you are prone to hate what you fear. That's how we humans work, and again it's so easy to redirect that fear and hatred to the enemy and convince soldiers to risk their lives.

So yeah. The social behaviour in MLA is not original because it doesn't need to be. It's instead a really accurate picture of our history and ourselves.

I agree with all your points that MLA teaches you. but I think you're also missing a important point, which is

 

the transition of adolescence to adulthood. In Extra, we have our typical dense and bratty protagonist, Shirogane Takeru. In Unlimited, he's still dense af but shows a somewhat noticeable change in his attitude as he adjusts to the military. Here, many would have thought Takeru was ready to take on the BETA (I certainly did) as he showcases his excellent piloting skills, but Alternative makes you realise how wrong you were (i.e the most important trait to have in war is your mental strength, rather than your physical strength and technical skills). In the Yokohoma Base Incident (where CHOMP took place), Takeru was / we were made to realise (painfully) the harsh reality of the world in Alternative. After all his escapism and depression bouts, he becomes a more mature person in a sense, with his usual complaining and hesitation all toned down. And that's why we can have this kind of Takeru whom we all love

Edited March 30, 2018 by wei123

[Thyndd]

2 minutes ago, wei123 said:

I agree with all your points that MLA teaches you. but I think you're also missing a important point, which is

  Hide contents

the transition of adolescence to adulthood. In Extra, we have our typical dense and bratty protagonist, Shirogane Takeru. In Unlimited, he's still dense af but shows a somewhat noticeable change in his attitude as he adjusts to the military. Here, many would have thought Takeru was ready to take on the BETA (I certainly did) as he showcases his excellent piloting skills, but Alternative makes you realise how wrong you were (i.e the most important trait to have in war is your mental strength, rather than your physical strength and technical skills). In the Yokohoma Base Incident (where CHOMP took place), Takeru was / we were made to realise (painfully) the harsh reality of the world in Alternative. After all his escapism and depression bouts, he becomes a more mature person in a sense, with his usual complaining and hesitation all toned down. And that's why we can have this kind of Takeru after CHOMP

Spoiler

I mean, I dunno about this "transition" to adulthood, since I'm pretty sure almost every "adult" in peaceful and developed countries takes their rights for granted, but I do agree that it's in a lot of senses an eye-opener.

 

[Ranzo]

21 hours ago, Jun Inoue said:

Ah, I see. I had actually found your review while doing Google fu, which added to the confusion with the MC and all.

I'll probably give it a shot, then, if anything out of trust in you and Minato Soft, and for fairness sake.

@Ranzo Hope I don't throw my mouse to the screen in frustration, as I'm somewhat picky with MCs (really, who isn't). 

You have me scared with mentioning the sister, though. I'm already generally unconvinced by incest, so...

He's not that bad I think he does have his occasional moments. For one thing I like the fact that he will just chat normally with super aggressive people like it's no thang.

She's one of the worst characters I've ever seen. She's annoying, super clingy, and just so one note

[Thyndd]

Well then, this is the penultimate post I'll write about MLA. The next one will be once I actually finish it in order to give my final thoughts. I think I should have around 5 or 6 more hours left to go.

Spoiler

As afraid as I am to come off as some sort of monster, I actually laughed at the tentacle rape scene (I read both the all-ages version and the 18+, to clarify). I swear I tried to feel bad for Sumika, but the way it's written is so over the top and ridiculous that for a moment I thought I was reading Bible Black or something of the sort. Come on, they could've made it a little less hentai-like, couldn't they? 

The dialogue that came afterwards was sweet though and my eyes misted over a little 

 

[Dreamysyu]

41 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

Well then, this is the penultimate post I'll write about MLA. The next one will be once I actually finish it in order to give my final thoughts. I think I should have around 5 or 6 more hours left to go.

  Hide contents

As afraid as I am to come off as some sort of monster, I actually laughed at the tentacle rape scene (I read both the all-ages version and the 18+, to clarify). I swear I tried to feel bad for Sumika, but the way it's written is so over the top and ridiculous that for a moment I thought I was reading Bible Black or something of the sort. Come on, they could've made it a little less hentai-like, couldn't they? 

The dialogue that came afterwards was sweet though and my eyes misted over a little 

 

 

Does this way of inserting spoilers work? Well, I'll try to be vague in case it doesn't.

 

It's actually quite funny how different reactions for this scene are. Some people think it's very fitting, and some say that it's literally the worst scene of the whole novel and should've been removed. Just one moment: it is hentai, so asking it to be less hentai-like is a bit strange.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[Thyndd]

2 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

  Hide contents

Does this way of inserting spoilers work? Well, I'll try to be vague in case it doesn't.

 

It's actually quite funny how different reactions for this scene are. Some people think it's very fitting, and some say that it's literally the worst scene of the whole novel and should've been removed. Just one moment: it is hentai, so asking it to be less hentai-like is a bit strange.

Spoiler

Yep, it seems it works fine.

Well yes, it is hentai, but must it be? Why should it embrace all the tropes of a cheap hentai when so far it's been a serious story? I for one cannot take it seriously. My best effort would be an attempt at justification by saying that it portrays the filthiness Sumika was feeling so guilty about, but even then, I can't help but think that there were much better ways to do it that don't take you out of the narrative like that.

 

[ChaosRaven]

4 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

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Yep, it seems it works fine.

Well yes, it is hentai, but must it be? Why should it embrace all the tropes of a cheap hentai when so far it's been a serious story? I for one cannot take it seriously. My best effort would be an attempt at justification by saying that it portrays the filthiness Sumika was feeling so guilty about, but even then, I can't help but think that there were much better ways to do it that don't take you out of the narrative like that.

 

Spoiler

It was actually the same for me. The scene was so misplaced and silly that it was simply impossible to take it seriously.

The whole thing felt like the writer considered it a matter of 'National Pride' that a Japanese VN with alien monsters HAS to include tentacle rape - no matter what XD. I've probably never laughed so much about a tentacle rape scene than the one in MLA. Not that I'd have read a lot of them - not exactly my type of fetish. I think the last one I've seen was from Ourai no Gahkthun, and that one was pretty silly too. It didn't reach the ridiculous bogus level of the one in MLA though.

 

[Dreamysyu]

16 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

  Hide contents

Yep, it seems it works fine.

Well yes, it is hentai, but must it be? Why should it embrace all the tropes of a cheap hentai when so far it's been a serious story? I for one cannot take it seriously. My best effort would be an attempt at justification by saying that it portrays the filthiness Sumika was feeling so guilty about, but even then, I can't help but think that there were much better ways to do it that don't take you out of the narrative like that.

 

Well, it's quite common for VNs to have h-scenes that feel unnecessarily fetishistic, even though they make sense in the story. Let's be real, the main reason this scene was there was to make this VN 18+ and market it as such. At the same time, for me personally this scene worked pretty well, comparing it to some other h-scenes in other VNs, and I think it's actually quite fitting there. To think about it, this scene was fully narrated by Sumika, and her goal there was to alienate Takeru from herself, and that's why she chose to narrate it this way. Do I think this scene could be done better? Yeah, definitely. Like you say, cheap hentai tropes are there, and they do require some suspension of disbelief. Still, I'm personally satisfied with what we have.

[Inorin]

1 hour ago, Thyndd said:

 

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As afraid as I am to come off as some sort of monster, I actually laughed at the tentacle rape scene (I read both the all-ages version and the 18+, to clarify). I swear I tried to feel bad for Sumika, but the way it's written is so over the top and ridiculous that for a moment I thought I was reading Bible Black or something of the sort. Come on, they could've made it a little less hentai-like, couldn't they? 

The dialogue that came afterwards was sweet though and my eyes misted over a little 

 

 

You monster; that's no laughing matter! 

Ok on a more serious note, my take on it is that the event's necessary, but the way they portray it should be toned down.  Though I understand where the developers are coming from, since the scene is there to shock and disgust you. Hence, for maximum impact they decide to go for a more visual scene, though this makes it look like a scene straight out of a nukige.

Edited March 30, 2018 by wei123

[Trickay]

Good luck and enjoy the finale Thyndd.

MLA Spoilers:

I actually found the scene very fitting for explaining her motives and mental distress, I really enjoyed how it was done, but I did read the steam all ages version. While I'll admit it was a shocking and impactful for me at the time, I think it holds more relevance at the end and is definitely required. I was surprised to learn that they hadn't shown the gore in the 18+ version. Especially when Sumika's description vividly explains them dismantling her.

Oh and wei123 I totally agree with your thoughts on Takeru's character progression, reminds me of FSN Fate to Heavens Feel with Shirou.

 

 

[littleshogun]

Finished with Emilia's route at Hatsukoi Sankaime, and overall it was very light. As for Emilia, she was more or less a shy girl who afraid of ghost, and come as the transfer student from Russia. For the next route I'll go with Yurino's route, and I'll explain the reason for the route order when I finish with Sui's (The litthe sister) route.

As for Emilia's seiyuu, she was Momoi Ichigo in which it was the second time she was voiced a foreigner after DD. This time she show her new tone though, which is interesting considering that it was pretty different compared to DD (And Runa as well) - make sense considering what Emilia's character is.

Edit (12/16) - As for Emilia's route here actually her route did contain some additional info in regard of the setting (Kirigamine)

Spoiler

in that she's one of the earlier residents alongside her grandmother who been already dead. Also Emilia's grandmother here is the respected scientist that develop Kirigamine into high tech island that the cast have. For Emilia's story, she did suffer some memory loss because the death of her grandmother causing her to misremeber something, especially in regard of her meeting with her grandmother ghost in which instead of Kirigamine Emilia remember that she saw the ghost at the Russia. For more spoiler here, Emilia's route did consist of her grandmother ghost hunter, and Emilia only knew that the ghost is her grandmother at the ending.

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by littleshogun

[PiggiesGoMoo]

On 3/28/2018 at 4:30 AM, PiggiesGoMoo said:

I am about to start reading Subahibi, and am a bit nervous lol

Am in the midst of reading It's My Own Invention. I have a remote guess as to what's happening, but there is so much weird abstract shit that it's hard to come to any conclusions whatsoever.  I mean this is borderline "Art Movie" territory where the actual events of the story are so incoherent that you have to interpret everything metaphorically/symbolically, including the characters themselves, which are portrayed in a way that suggests they are just figments of the protagonist's "world" rather than their own independent existence.

There is also a pretty nasty, brutal scene that made me want to vomit.  Like come on now, did you really have to go into that level of detail? And I've yet to reach the worst scenes from what I've heard...

One thing that's interesting is that there seems to be a lot of Christian symbolism. Many crosses, and even a tree of life (I think it's the tree of life because it has 12 "fruits", exactly like in Revelations, except it's depicted as having 12 eyes looking at the protagonist).  There are so many esoteric references in this VN that it's starting to seem a bit contrived...

 

EDIT: Omg the desk... this is so depraved and ridiculous...

EDIT2: Ok, the story gets more coherent as this chapter progresses. While still bizarre, at least I have some idea as to what is happening.

Edited March 31, 2018 by PiggiesGoMoo

[Dreamysyu]

28 minutes ago, PiggiesGoMoo said:

EDIT: Omg the desk... this is so depraved and ridiculous...

 No badmouthing my waifu!

I mean, come on! Just look at her:

Spoiler

Isn't she the cutest thing ever?

[PiggiesGoMoo]

7 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

 No badmouthing my waifu!

I mean, come on! Just look at her:

  Reveal hidden contents

Isn't she the cutest thing ever?

[Trickay]

On 27/03/2018 at 3:01 PM, Dergonu said:

Alright, finished Kikokugai, and man, I loved it. The setting was really cool, the writing was fantastic, and the art in the remake is just...

I'm glad I grabbed this Dergonu, I just couldn't put it down this evening. I've not finished it yet but she's 60% if you know what I mean. 

I cannot wait to find out the reasons behind the betrayal.

Edited April 1, 2018 by Trickay
Typos

[r0xm2n]

Still playing Himawari....

Spoiler

END "Hinata Aoi"

For what is technically a "bad ending" ...... that was sure surreal, peaceful ...... and full of sunflowers!

This visual novel at times man....