What are you playing?

[Riku]

Oh yeah, play AAI too! AAI1 might not be the best, but AAI2 is freaking amazing and my favorite Ace Attorney.

[littleshogun]

Finished with Subahibi, and for the ending what I got is 'Wonderful Everyday'. I'll try to write my detailed comment later on, but at least my life here changing a bit if someome ask me whether my life is changing or not after finished Subahibi (The change is that I finished another VN here lol).

As PreCure fan, I like that SCA-DI did had Hasaki mentioed PreCure by asking Tomosane can become one or not. While Tomosane himself said that he can't be a PreCure, actually it's not impossible though because he at least looking handsome XD. More importantly, fan also like to joke that there's some interesting male cures candidate, so I think Tomosane himself is the good candidate for another male cure XDD.

Spoiler

Although Hasaki mentioned PreCure here, actually it's impossible though that she knew PreCure because the year is should be at 2009 and Hasaki mentioned PreCure in the flashback back at 2001 (The incident was happened at 7 years ago and Hasaki came to the village a year before that). But if we follow the in-promotion year (2012), the series at 2004 (The supposed in game year when Hasaki mentioned PreCure) should be the original which is only consist of two girls, so I understand Tomosane hesitation of he became the Cure XD.

Long story short, the in-game date here was inconsistent with real life date if we treat in-game year as 2012.

Edited May 11, 2018 by littleshogun

[Inorin]

I've just completed Shizuru's route in Rewrite; it was so much better than I expected. The first 3 routes were decent enough but this route tops all of them tbh. I was gearing towards a low 8 rating after clearing the first 3 routes but now I'm not so sure anymore.

I'm still not done with Akane,Terra and Moon so hopefully I will enjoy them even more than Shizuru's route.

[Weiterfechten]

So I finished reading Doki Doki Literature Club!. I felt I needed to read it after all the attention it has been getting and to get a break from reading the massive novel Sakura no Uta and yeah it was kind of what I expected after having been spoiled about all the major plot points. I still enjoyed it though.

Spoiler

I kind of wished some parts were further explored, like the breaking of the fourth wall and the "routes" generally. Some parts of the horror element too felt a bit shallow and well not exactly scary outside of the "jump scare" effect, compared to Umineko and it's "horror" elements which I felt slowly crept up on you reading. This might just be an after effect of me having been majorly spoiled but, meh just something I thought of while reading. 

Still definitely an impressive feat for an OELVN and something of an eye-opener for my view of the "genre" (my first VN was Katawa Shoujo but since then I have not read a single one). I guess the game is too short for me to really make a thorough review of my opinions so I will just stick to leaving this small notice.

[r0xm2n]

Still playing ef....

And Kei is officially my favourite Kuudere heroine. She's really grown on me somehow.

[Thyndd]

23 minutes ago, r0xm2n said:

Still playing ef....

And Kei is officially my favourite Kuudere heroine. She's really grown on me somehow.

Wouldn't she be more like a Tsundere rather? 

Anyway, I'm not that big a fan of that first love triangle. For me it was the worst part of ef. In case you eventually feel the same, I just wanted to let you know that it gets better later on 

[snowbell55]

On 4/17/2018 at 7:41 PM, Jun Inoue said:

Happy to hear that! And I very much recommend to have Mask of Truth ready, because the moment you finish Mask of Deception... you're not gonna want to wait and see what happens. Good luck with the epic journey!

Gah - you were so right. I just finished it (Mask of Deception) earlier today and man, that ending... That ending!!! Now I *REALLY* want to read Mask of Truth but seeing as I want a physical copy I'll have to wait a bit to get it which is a bit frustrating as I want to read it right now lol... Such a great read, though, and it was really fun. It had me hooked pretty well towards the end, and I really enjoyed it. 

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception ending spoilers

Spoiler

That last scene though - the way Kuon just incinerated the shadows - that was actually a bit scary, since she seemed to be mostly fun and friendly the whole time and never really showed a sense of "danger" like Atuy or Cocopo (XD). I really wonder if she was holding back all this time or something. And I really wonder how things will change in Mask of Truth with her gone. 

Poor Nekone though... 

 

That was actually a really good VN, come to think of it. 

Edited April 28, 2018 by snowbell55

[Jun Inoue]

16 minutes ago, snowbell55 said:

Gah - you were so right. I just finished it (Mask of Deception) earlier today and man, that ending... That ending!!! Now I *REALLY* want to read Mask of Truth but seeing as I want a physical copy I'll have to wait a bit to get it which is a bit frustrating as I want to read it right now lol... Such a great read, though, and it was really fun. It had me hooked pretty well towards the end, and I really enjoyed it. 

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception ending spoilers

  Hide contents

That last scene though - the way Kuon just incinerated the shadows - that was actually a bit scary, since she seemed to be mostly fun and friendly the whole time and never really showed a sense of "danger" like Atuy or Cocopo (XD). I really wonder if she was holding back all this time or something. And I really wonder how things will change in Mask of Truth with her gone. 

Poor Nekone though... 

 

That was actually a really good VN, come to think of it. 

Haha, indeed! I had my share of suffering, as I first watched the anime of Mask of Deception, then the game... and, finally, we got Mask of Truth.

Spoiler

Poor little Nekone is in for a world of sorrow....

I hope you don't have to wait for long, or you'll go crazy.

[Mr Poltroon]

4 minutes ago, Jun Inoue said:

Haha, indeed! I had my share of suffering, as I first watched the anime of Mask of Deception, then the game... and, finally, we got Mask of Truth.

  Reveal hidden contents

Poor little Nekone is in for a world of sorrow....

I hope you don't have to wait for long, or you'll go crazy.

Would I like those games? I've been considering buying the two of them for a while, but I prefer romance over story and I'm not sure how console games deliver on that front.
(I haven't read spoilers, evidently)

[snowbell55]

1 hour ago, Jun Inoue said:

Haha, indeed! I had my share of suffering, as I first watched the anime of Mask of Deception, then the game... and, finally, we got Mask of Truth.

  Reveal hidden contents

Poor little Nekone is in for a world of sorrow....

I hope you don't have to wait for long, or you'll go crazy.

Oh dear that must've been painful... I'll just ask one thing - would you say Mask of Truth is better or worse than Mask of Deception?

And fortunately I don't think it should be more than two or so weeks, so that ought to be enough time for it to still be fresh. 

55 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Would I like those games? I've been considering buying the two of them for a while, but I prefer romance over story and I'm not sure how console games deliver on that front.
(I haven't read spoilers, evidently)

Ehhh it seems you'd be better off looking for something else, unless you're willing to give it a chance. This is pretty story-focused.

[Canicheslayer]

Finished Chuusotsu. A nice suprise. The dystopian setting is solid, enthralling. And Arara is really a cool, crazy/funny, and cute character 

8/10

 NOT A TRUE SPOILER : Screenshots 

Spoiler

TRUE SPOILER ALERT

Spoiler

Likewise, time loop is another one of my "fetishes"...especially when it goes wrong for the protagonist 

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by Canicheslayer

[Thyndd]

Still reading F/SN, Fate route. I have a couple of questions...

Spoiler

So I got to the part where they explain all the mess around King Arthur history with time flow diagrams and stuff. It's only natural for time altering stories to be paradoxical, but I feel like there's something really strange with this one. At first I thought that Arturia was kinda scammed by the Holy Grail  I mean, her wish is the Holy Grail itself, but instead of directly granting her wish, she is sent to fight for it, which she would have to do anyway for any other wish she asked for. That makes me think that such a wish like "I want to change history" is not allowed even in exchange for the Servant Contract. The only way she could change history is by obtaining the Holy Grail, and the only certain way to make sure she obtains the Holy Grail in life is by sending her over and over to the Holy Grail War. Since she eventually has to die for the history to be as we know it, she will eventually obtain the Holy Grail. Ok, if I understand that correctly, that's pretty clever. However, there's something that is nagging me. Saber is not a Heroic Spirit like the rest of Servants, who are beyond time. Her existence when summoned depends on her being alive on that hill. But here's the thing, once she finally obtains the Holy Grail and changes history, she would have to die on the hill and become a Heroic Spirit, but since history would've been changed, Arturia would never have become King, never would have formed a contract and therefore could never become a Heroic Spirit. This all hinges on the fact that she is not currently a Heroic Spirit. If she were, then we could say that since she's beyond time it doesn't matter that history was changed and call it a day. And thinking about it this way, wouldn't it mean that her wish is actually free? I mean, she still has to fight until the past is remodeled, but unlike other Servants, once her wish is granted, she won't have to fight in the Holy Grail War anymore and Arturia will enter the rebirth cycle, thus actually granting her the original wish, which is to save Britain, and a second life. From that perspective, wouldn't be Saber the one scamming the Holy Grail? 

On a side note, RIP Archer. He was cool.

On a second side note, wtf was that "magical energy sharing" LOL

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Thyndd

[Inorin]

29 minutes ago, Thyndd said:

 

  Hide contents

So I got to the part where they explain all the mess around King Arthur history with time flow diagrams and stuff. It's only natural for time altering stories to be paradoxical, but I feel like there's something really strange with this one. At first I thought that Arturia was kinda scammed by the Holy Grail  I mean, her wish is the Holy Grail itself, but instead of directly granting her wish, she is sent to fight for it, which she would have to do anyway for any other wish she asked for. That makes me think that such a wish like "I want to change history" is not allowed even in exchange for the Servant Contract. The only way she could change history is by obtaining the Holy Grail, and the only certain way to make sure she obtains the Holy Grail in life is by sending her over and over to the Holy Grail War. Since she eventually has to die for the history to be as we know it, she will eventually obtain the Holy Grail. Ok, if I understand that correctly, that's pretty clever. However, there's something that is nagging me. Saber is not a Heroic Spirit like the rest of Servants, who are beyond time. Her existence when summoned depends on her being alive on that hill. But here's the thing, once she finally obtains the Holy Grail and changes history, she would have to die on the hill and become a Heroic Spirit, but since history would've been changed, Arturia would never have become King, never would have formed a contract and therefore could never become a Heroic Spirit. This all hinges on the fact that she is not currently a Heroic Spirit. If she were, then we could say that since she's beyond time it doesn't matter that history was changed and call it a day. And thinking about it this way, wouldn't it mean that her wish is actually free? I mean, she still has to fight until the past is remodeled, but unlike other Servants, once her wish is granted, she won't have to fight in the Holy Grail War anymore and Arturia will enter the rebirth cycle, thus actually granting her the original wish, which is to save Britain, and a second life. From that perspective, wouldn't be Saber the one scamming the Holy Grail? 

On a side note, RIP Archer. He was cool.

On a second side note, wtf was that "magical energy sharing" LOL

 

 

Once you get into Heaven's Feel, you will understand that it is actually the Holy Grail that does the scamming, but I won't say further since you're not even close to this route yet. 

Reply to your first side note: Aye, RIP

Reply to your second side note: It's Type Moon's sorry of an excuse to insert H-scenes. To this day, I am still perplexed and intrigued by Rin's actions during the first H scene LMAO

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by wei123

[r0xm2n]

That moment when you're reading a VN, and you go, DING, "that character sounds EXACTLY like another character I heard before!". And a quick check on VNDB confirms it. In this case, ef's Miyako and Grisaia's Amane are the same voice actress.

And I'm thinking "why didn't I figure that out 10 hours ago!?".

Also that moment when a character in a rather underrated VN (Torta in Symphonic Rain) ..... is also voicing two VERY well known characters (Clannad's Nagisa, and Higurashi's Rena).

Heh

[Thyndd]

15 minutes ago, wei123 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Once you get into Heaven's Feel, you will understand that it is actually the Holy Grail that does the scamming, but I won't say further since you're not even close to this route yet. 

Reply to your first side note: Aye, RIP

Reply to your second side note: It's Type Moon's sorry of an excuse to insert H-scenes. To this day, I am still perplexed and intrigued by Rin's actions during the first H scene LMAO

 

Spoiler

Oh yeah, I can see that. It's pretty clear that Saber's wish won't be granted. The reason why I don't know, if it's whether it's impossible in the first place (it is, I mean, paradoxes everywhere, but if you are reading time travel stories you kinda have to get over it) and she was rudely scammed or she changes her mind at the end. But in any case, this story is supposed to take place in more or less our world, where Britain exists as we know it and therefore the King Arthur legend "took place". I would be surprised if they changed that fact claiming that it is actually our world that is the "alternative" one  Plus, you know, plot convenience. 

 

11 minutes ago, r0xm2n said:

Also that moment when a character in a rather underrated VN (Torta in Symphonic Rain) ..... is also voicing two VERY well known characters (Clannad's Nagisa, and Higurashi's Rena).

Heh

Oh yeah, I was totally freaked out when I found out that Nagisa and Rena shared seiyuus. I never imagined Nagisa could sound so scary  Better not make her angry, Tomoya.

[Inorin]

Finally done with Rewrite. Officially speaking, I was done with it after completing the Terra ending yesterday. However, I had to complete a lot of quests to get to the optional route, which I finished just a few minutes ago.

Well, what can I say? Rewrite is known to be Key's longest vn and fundamentally different from other Key works, with the second point being my motivation since I never really liked Clannad in general.

The common route had its funny moments, but due to its sheer length, it could get bland at times. The individual character routes were all good; with Lucia, Shizuru and Akane being my favorites.  However, what really stood out for me was the Terra route. It shows you the true nature of Kotarou and what he really was like before the events in the common route. Everything in this route was in stark contrast to the happy go lucky atmosphere in the common route and made all the terrible things that happened in the character routes look like nothing. Battle scenes were not the best but you could still feel the tension. Deaths were aplenty which is really quite surprising, since most Key VNs do not deal with this. Thus, it felt more like a utsuge than a nakige to me.

In a nutshell, it's the best Key vn I've played. I may not have played a lot of Key vns, but I am sure that this will continue to remain as my all-time Key favorite, even if I am to play more Key vns in the future. The fact that it was so different from other Key vns compelled me into playing it, and it did not disappoint. 

Edited April 29, 2018 by wei123

[AlphaSixNine]

Finished Funbag Fantasy + Sideboob story. I'm really not a fan of oversized breasts and lactation but the story and characters were pretty fantastic so I ended up loving it anyways. Hoping we get Gaiden 2.

Playing HoshiMemo too and finished Isuzu route, wish the VN didn't have enforced playing order. I'm not too motivated to go thru the other heroines to get to Secret heroine and Mare. Stalled for a bit and switching my focus to something else

Now for what I'm playing... just started Magical Marriage Lunatics!! mainly because I'm a sucker for stoic loli heroines. Aiming for Luluna route first. So far so good. 

[Jun Inoue]

14 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Would I like those games? I've been considering buying the two of them for a while, but I prefer romance over story and I'm not sure how console games deliver on that front.
(I haven't read spoilers, evidently)

1

If you're looking for the romance aspect, I wouldn't recommend them. They are very plot + character heavy, so the game never "goes" into actual relationships. There's a very obvious crush between the two main characters, with really cute scenes, but it's not a defining aspect of the game nor does it have much "screen time".

@snowbell55Hm... Mask of Truth might be better due to it being the half where the story is truly "realized" and where you learn all the stuff about the characters and world. It's the true climax of the story, so it has that going for it. On the other hand, if you are more into the casual side of the game, then Mask of Deception will be the good old times that you miss.

Edited April 29, 2018 by Jun Inoue

[onorub]

Played Guilty Crown Lost Christmas. Story was just decent (and i hear the story in the original Guilty Crown anime is worse, WTH) but it was certainly a visual spectacle.

[+StrikeR+]

I just finished Tsujidou-san Virgin Road, Yoiko's route, AND IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!! I absolutely loved it, they play several elements just right in this one, not leaving a bad after taste, and even the protagonist was amazing for once, Yoiko and Ai best girls ever >.< ... I'm now proceeding ahead with Ai's story :3.

[Inorin]

11 hours ago, Thyndd said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Oh yeah, I can see that. It's pretty clear that Saber's wish won't be granted. The reason why I don't know, if it's whether it's impossible in the first place (it is, I mean, paradoxes everywhere, but if you are reading time travel stories you kinda have to get over it) and she was rudely scammed or she changes her mind at the end. But in any case, this story is supposed to take place in more or less our world, where Britain exists as we know it and therefore the King Arthur legend "took place". I would be surprised if they changed that fact claiming that it is actually our world that is the "alternative" one  Plus, you know, plot convenience. 

 

Oh yeah, I was totally freaked out when I found out that Nagisa and Rena shared seiyuus. I never imagined Nagisa could sound so scary  Better not make her angry, Tomoya.

Let's not forget that Sumika (Muv Luv), Amane (Grisaia) and Natsumi (Sharin no Kuni) all share the same seiyuu, even though their personalities can't be any more different.

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by wei123

[Dreamysyu]

5 hours ago, wei123 said:

The common route had its funny moments, but due to its sheer length, it could get bland at times. The individual character routes were all good; with Lucia, Shizuru and Akane being my favorites.  However, what really stood out for me was the Terra route. It shows you the true nature of Kotarou and what he really was like before the events in the common route. Everything in this route was in stark contrast to the happy go lucky atmosphere in the common route and made all the terrible things that happened in the character routes look like nothing. Battle scenes were not the best but you could still feel the tension. Deaths were aplenty which is really quite surprising, since most Key VNs do not deal with this. Thus, it felt more like a utsuge than a nakige to me.

Oh, I agree about Terra. People often criticize it because it isn't very well connected to the rest of the VN, but you know, it's still a very good story by itself and it's a very fitting conclusion for the type of story Rewrite is. I generally like darker stories with good world-building with interesting "political" situations and good character development, and Romeo's routes, especially Terra, really shine in that. I'd love to reread Rewrite one day, but I'd rather wait for the retranslation to be released before that.

12 hours ago, Thyndd said:

Still reading F/SN, Fate route. I have a couple of questions...

  Reveal hidden contents

So I got to the part where they explain all the mess around King Arthur history with time flow diagrams and stuff. It's only natural for time altering stories to be paradoxical, but I feel like there's something really strange with this one. At first I thought that Arturia was kinda scammed by the Holy Grail  I mean, her wish is the Holy Grail itself, but instead of directly granting her wish, she is sent to fight for it, which she would have to do anyway for any other wish she asked for. That makes me think that such a wish like "I want to change history" is not allowed even in exchange for the Servant Contract. The only way she could change history is by obtaining the Holy Grail, and the only certain way to make sure she obtains the Holy Grail in life is by sending her over and over to the Holy Grail War. Since she eventually has to die for the history to be as we know it, she will eventually obtain the Holy Grail. Ok, if I understand that correctly, that's pretty clever. However, there's something that is nagging me. Saber is not a Heroic Spirit like the rest of Servants, who are beyond time. Her existence when summoned depends on her being alive on that hill. But here's the thing, once she finally obtains the Holy Grail and changes history, she would have to die on the hill and become a Heroic Spirit, but since history would've been changed, Arturia would never have become King, never would have formed a contract and therefore could never become a Heroic Spirit. This all hinges on the fact that she is not currently a Heroic Spirit. If she were, then we could say that since she's beyond time it doesn't matter that history was changed and call it a day. And thinking about it this way, wouldn't it mean that her wish is actually free? I mean, she still has to fight until the past is remodeled, but unlike other Servants, once her wish is granted, she won't have to fight in the Holy Grail War anymore and Arturia will enter the rebirth cycle, thus actually granting her the original wish, which is to save Britain, and a second life. From that perspective, wouldn't be Saber the one scamming the Holy Grail? 

On a side note, RIP Archer. He was cool.

On a second side note, wtf was that "magical energy sharing" LOL

 

Spoiler

Well, Fate doesn't really explain these things so I don't think there's much sense in speculations like that, but it's a common knowledge that Nasuverse is actually a multiverse with all the possible scenarios existing at the same time. If we assume that, then it's quite natural to assume that time paradoxes don't really exist there. But, well, there are some other plot points in the other routes that are also worth discussing in that sense, I guess.

 

On 4/26/2018 at 4:10 PM, Thyndd said:

I even came to like Tousaka, and I'm kind of a tsundere hater.

Well, the thing about tsunredes is that this trope became way too overused recently and completely lost the appeal it originally had. Tohsaka is different because her tsundere attitude actually makes sense, and I never felt like she was too cold towards Shirou. I like characters like that.

[Thyndd]

3 hours ago, wei123 said:

Let's not forget that Sumika (Muv Luv), Amane (Grisaia) and Natsumi (Sharin no Kuni) all share the same seiyuu, even though their personalities can't be any more different.

 

That just goes to show how insanely good these seiyuus are, my god...

2 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Well, the thing about tsunredes is that this trope became way too overused recently and completely lost the appeal it originally had. Tohsaka is different because her tsundere attitude actually makes sense, and I never felt like she was too cold towards Shirou. I like characters like that.

Yeah I agree. I'm a hater towards the general current usage of the tsundere trope, thus you could say that I'm a tsundere hater in general, but there are very remarkable exceptions 

2 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Well, Fate doesn't really explain these things so I don't think there's much sense in speculations like that, but it's a common knowledge that Nasuverse is actually a multiverse with all the possible scenarios existing at the same time. If we assume that, then it's quite natural to assume that time paradoxes don't really exist there. But, well, there are some other plot points in the other routes that are also worth discussing in that sense, I guess.

I see, but anyway, I didn't even want to focus on the paradoxes themselves. I mean, a paradox is generally so because it violates causality, but here we are dealing with magic and stuff that intrisically violates the laws of nature, so I couldn't care less about that  

[kooolm]

Currently reading Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2. Fan translation is surprisingly on par with the official releases. Like it even more than the first one, hope the ending will be awesome as usual.

[littleshogun]

Finished with Subahibi and also finished Himahina's route at Fureraba. I'll try to write some in depth though about Subahibi later, so what I can say for now is that I have fun with it even though I already know the spoiler. For Himahima's route (Fureraba), more or less it's just her and the MC being bacouple, so if you can't handle too much saccharine you may ctrl-ing her route.

Edited April 30, 2018 by littleshogun