What are you playing?

[Dreamysyu]

Just now, cro-mag said:

Well i mean anime of 2006 year.

Yeah, that's the one I was talking about. In this particular case, considering how bad it was, skipping it and starting with the later series would actually work better, even considering that none of them are very good as the starting point either.

[cro-mag]

1 minute ago, Dreamysyu said:

Yeah, that's the one I was talking about. In this particular case, considering how bad it was, skipping it and starting with the later series would actually work better, even considering that none of them are very good as the starting point either.

I see. Well, as i already know one part of the story shown in that show + prequel which is Fate/Zero, might as well someday watch other 2 parts, starting from UBW. Maybe i really will catch up with the series, at least with anime help, as i did with monogatari. Thanks.

[Dark Cornflakes]

31 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

To @Dark Cornflakes: if you don't feel like reading the same story again, you can always skip UBW and move directly to HF after finishing Fate. On the other hand, I'd recommend you at least to try reading it. UBW anime is not a bad adaptation, but the problem with VNs is that it's usually simply impossible to adapt them completely faithfully. There will always be little details and the inner monologues that will be lost, and in most cases it's exactly these details that make an average VN good.

Oh, don't worry. I've heard these exact sentiments echoed by many. One of the reasons why I decided to read the VN was because people said the anime didn't give Shirou the proper characterisation, since a lot of his character comes from his monologues. I'll definitely read from fate route all the way to the HF route.

[r0xm2n]

Sorcery Jokers ...... reaches the end of Haruto's route. Thoughts....

Spoiler

- Well that was one heck of a fight scene ........ but victory is ours!

- Cue heartwarming reunion scene.....

- Cue the fingersnap ........ cue me knowing exactly who it is.....

- Cue me yelling "OH FUUUCK!!"

- Tragedy happens....

- Cue Riku's scream of terror....

Yep, that ended well

[douggle]

Made it to Chapter 5 in Evenicle, what a fun little game, Astrerix's cast of wives are great decent story too 

[adamstan]

Yesterday I finished Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road. 楽しかったです

Comedy was great in this - I laughed often and loudly . As for heroines - if you hate tsunderes, don't touch this game Of course most tsundere-ish is Renna, but Ai and Maki are too to some extent. Nevertheless, they're quite likeable

If I had to rank routes/endings, it would probably be Ai's True End > Maki = Ai's Normal End > Renna = Saeko - but they're close.

Azusa is also listed as side heroine in walkthrough, but her ending is more like another bad ending for Renna's route - she doesn't have any scenes/CGs or epilogue.

Similarly to Majikoi - if the choice is meaningless, it's worth to explore all options to read all funny bits. Game's system makes it easy with "skip to previous/next choice" buttons.

Art, music and voices are great. Also translation is pretty smooth - there were some typos / bad words here and there, but nothing major. Overally I like Tsurezure Scans' writing style - I liked their work in Hatsukoi 1/1 too.

I had great fun with it - 8/10.

[adamstan]

Just started Clannad yesterday, and finished Misae's route. I think it's one of the shorter routes, but the whole VN looks really promising. Music is absolutely beautiful, and damn, those onion-cutting ninjas already manifested themselves even in that short first route. I'm really looking forward to the rest of it.

[Inorin]

47 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Just started Clannad yesterday, and finished Misae's route. I think it's one of the shorter routes, but the whole VN looks really promising. Music is absolutely beautiful, and damn, those onion-cutting ninjas already manifested themselves even in that short first route. I'm really looking forward to the rest of it.

Tomoyo and Kyou best girls

[adamstan]

19 minutes ago, wei123 said:

Tomoyo and Kyou best girls

We'll see I'm starting Tomoyo's route today.

[Jun Inoue]

Played in one sitting Wolf Tails after reading a guy's comment on it being a nice, little read.

It was indeed fairly short and very sweet. The art's also great.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[littleshogun]

Evenicle, and right now in Chapter 3. It was quite interesting VN so far, albeit with many cliche anime/JRPG trope there.

[Eclipsed]

Aight, so, Fata Morgana round 3 after overwhelming majority vote in my recent 'what should i read next' thread 

First off, my last attempt was apparently dated from February of last year, wow does time fly >.>

Spoiler

I SWEAR I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DID IN BETWEEN THEN AND NOW, HONEST!

Second off, Fata Morgana really is good stuff; the shilling that happened when it came out is all justified, and I just need to stop being a slacker and finish this already because IT'S GOOD STUFF!@###INdoCTriNaTEdSHILL

I was making decent progress today too, but unfortunately i'm FORCED to take a break from reading and type out this mini-first-impression-review thing because the climax of the Second Door kind of broke me  (!HO1!!W C!OU!LD T!HE!!Y D!O T!HAT T!1O P!OL1L1Y OMFGGGG     ;----;

~~
Fata Morgana's basic premise is you wake up as some amnesiac dude in some eerie mansion and are greeted by The Maid who claims you are the current Master of the mansion (which is apparently cursed and leads to unfortunate fates for all of its inhabitants, gg). She is surprised that you are amnesiac, and so she invites you to experience the history of the mansion in order to unlock your true memories or something.

This leads to an episodic flashback narrative, where you view prior-residents-of-the-mansion's lives and events that lead to their imminent demise. Due to the episodic nature, it can take a bit to fully immerse yourself with each story arc since it has to develop these new characters and settings, but once you finally are committed and things are looking up, BAM the inevitable tragedy strikes and it's off to the next arc  : )

The arcs themselves cover themes on the more mature-dark tragedy spectrum, with the First Door featuring one sided incest and the Second Door focusing on being a human vs. being a monster. The characters in these arcs will all try very desperately to find some sort of middle ground they can be at peace with regarding these conflicts, and they do seem to find some solace once a certain mysterious reoccurring, red eyed, white haired, pale but beautiful woman comes into the picture, but unfortunately this light at the end of the tunnel also happens to be a double edged sword primed to place that final nail in the coffin..

Spoiler

"Hii, once I show up in your story, it's ggez"

 

Speaking of final nail in the coffins, Fata Morgana's climaxes are superb. You have all the right elements: dark themes/conflicts, messed up characters, a cursed mansion that ruins the lives of all its inhabitants...you KNOW shit's going to go down in these arcs, it's just a matter of when and how the characters will break. And man when they inevitably do, even though you knew it was coming, Fata Morgana manages to execute these climaxes in ways that maintain the "OH SHIT" shock factor and ultimately leave you with a satisfying(?) tragedy.

Artwork is okay, takes some time to get used to the goth style or w.e if you're like me who's more used to and prefers the current day moege style #yesihavebadtastestoobad

Soundtrack/BGM is great. I really like the BGMs during peaceful/tranquil moments when they occur, they really give a nice moment of reprieve from the perpetual ticking doomsday atmosphere of Fatamorgana. BGMs during horrific revelation moments were also on point in capturing the essence of the situation. The vocals were a good idea.

 

~~
As for the specific moment in Second Door that made me Alt-F4 and take a break, it was this(spoilerz obviously):

Spoiler

So fking tragic ;--;; omfg

As a previous lighthearted slice of life moege lover, I'm HORRENDOUSLY weak to tragedies like this  I haven't teared up buckets like this since, idk, Kara no Shoujo or something ;---;

 

OK, I FEEL BETTER NOW, TIME TO SOLDIER ON, THIS WAS JUST THE FIRST TWO DOORS I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT'S NE-


~~
update: Third Door

Unbelievably frustrating to slog through, manipulative plotlines are always disgusting to read especially when you have an utter moron like Jacop getting completely suckered for the entirety of it, jesus this guy was soooo hopelessly bad, it's pathetic because how he treated the wife was terribad even before the manipulation BS so i just couldn't accept the end game "i just wanted y'all to be happy"

 

[douggle]

Finished Evenicle which was incredibly fun, Aster is a great MC and the Wives were pretty great as well I liked all 10 which is odd with a cast that big you d think there  d be at least one bad apple in the bunch but nope! Also finished Chaos;Child which was a dark, somber, sometimes terrifying but overall bittersweet experience, was a great read over all.

[Jun Inoue]

5 hours ago, douggle said:

Finished Evenicle which was incredibly fun, Aster is a great MC and the Wives were pretty great as well I liked all 10 which is odd with a cast that big you d think there  d be at least one bad apple in the bunch but nope! Also finished Chaos;Child which was a dark, somber, sometimes terrifying but overall bittersweet experience, was a great read over all.

 

On ‎07‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 8:01 PM, littleshogun said:

Evenicle, and right now in Chapter 3. It was quite interesting VN so far, albeit with many cliche anime/JRPG trope there.

Huh, glad to hear that as I start Evenicle. The summary looked interesting but also somewhat of a mess, so I was unsure of what to expect.

[r0xm2n]

Some visual novels to give the antagonists a taste of their own medicine. Like Sorcery Jokers....

Spoiler

Ruu: The extremely twisted sister ...... get her own powers used on her ...... and is completely and utterly Psychologically Raped. Her mind was more or less destroyed. Pretty damn extreme...

Touya: The false god, the angel of ruin ...... is cast to earth like trash ...... then is discovered by his two most devastating killers, Fiona ..... and Ruu! Fiona gives her "blessings", while Ruu begins to psychologically torment him. Cue his scream of absolute terror as she activates her powers....

Sometimes, baddies create their own Hell on Earth

[adamstan]

Continuing with Clannad, I'm currently going for Mei's route. Then suddenly I hear familiar voice... No way, can't be, let's check... YUP!

Spoiler

Sanae Furukawa is Belldandy (both voiced by Kikuko Inoue)

 

Edited July 9, 2018 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

I thought that after playing tons of ecchi crap and then a few short, casual EVN getting through the catalogue of Ebi-hime's free VNs (other than the Yuri Game Jam ones I've read last year) might be a good change of pace. Now I see that it might've been a bit too much of a change...

I've started with Dejection: An Ode, which is a predecessor to Asphyxia - the same characters inspired by classic English poets, the same themes of depression, substance abuse and general despair. With Samantha, the gender-bent Samuel Taylor Coleridge, going through one giant meltdown during the whole story, which leads to an abrupt ending, foreshadowing her imminent demise. Really cheerful stuff. Although, Is This The Life?, a story of a teenager mentally falling apart after his mother's death might be even worse in that respect. In the first VN, there was at least something charming in the characters, you liked Samantha and pitied her for her turbulent nature and rampant depression that she had no control over. The protagonist in that second game is at once similar and feels much less understandable in his outbursts. I was tired of him half-way through and pretty much hated him by the end. Maybe it's because how different I am from him? The way he rejects other people's kindness, violently rebels against everyone around him... I guess that's also how people cope with a tragedy, but I still can't relate to it. Maybe to his general feelings (partially), but not their scale and the way he expressed them. It was building up frustration in me all the way through.

So, hey, this is quite a ride. I don't think I'm going to back down at this point (6 more VNs to go) and they're all really well written when it goes to prose and making believable characters, but that only makes the angst even more real. I'm scared to think where it all comes from. :s

Edited July 9, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[r0xm2n]

14 hours ago, adamstan said:

Continuing with Clannad, I'm currently going for Mei's route. Then suddenly I hear familiar voice... No way, can't be, let's check... YUP!

  Reveal hidden contents

Sanae Furukawa is Belldandy (both voiced by Kikuko Inoue)

 

You play enough VN's, you start recognizing some voice actresses (when they use the same voice at least). Sometimes even the characters they voice across multiple VN's have very similar personalities.

Then again, one voice actress can voice an "imouto" in one VN (Sorcery Jokers), only to voice a cat (yes, a cat!) and a timid basketball player, which funny enough, BOTH meet horrible ends (Grisaia).

[adamstan]

In this case, that's because I'm currently watching "Oh! My Goddess" anime, so I recognized that voice instantly, especially since she even speaks in similar manner.
Speaking of famous VAs in Clannad, there's also Megumi Ogata in Misae's ending (not listed on VNDB).

Spoiler

Looks that I was mistaken. Somebody wrote it in some review or post, and indeed Katsuki Shima sounds like being voiced by Megumi Ogata, but apparently it's Romi Park.

Earlier I had this experience with two Pulltop VNs - Hikari from Miagete has same voice as Ageha from Konosora (and they both are redheads ).

Edited July 10, 2018 by adamstan

[r0xm2n]

Finished Sorcery Jokers the other day. What a ride and a half that was! That VN had some rather profound themes too.

Asahi best girl (I just love how bold she is). While Ruu is ..... unforgettable (that scene when the tables FINALLY flipped on her was crazy extreme!).

 

Time for my next read ......... well ........ thy time has cometh!

*Installs Muv-Luv*

 

..... doesn't Sumika's voice sound familiar?

*checks VNDB*

Yep, has the same voice as Grisaia's Amane. Apparently all the big sister types have the same voice

[PiggiesGoMoo]

17 hours ago, r0xm2n said:

Finished Sorcery Jokers the other day. What a ride and a half that was! That VN had some rather profound themes too.

Asahi best girl (I just love how bold she is). While Ruu is ..... unforgettable (that scene when the tables FINALLY flipped on her was crazy extreme!).

+1 Asahi best girl. You like Michiru and Asahi... you my friend have good taste!

[Tweek91330]

2 hours ago, PiggiesGoMoo said:

+1 Asahi best girl. You like Michiru and Asahi... you my friend have good taste!

I disagree.

Fiona was the best girl in this game imo ^^. Nothing to say on michiru though, she was great

I'm waiting for the next 3rdEye game, it's in the making right now (well, they said so on their twitter ^^).

 

Other than that i'm playing rance 10 right now. Just finished my first playthrough (ended on route A) and it was pretty nice. The game is clearly meant to be played multiples times through, there is no way to see everything (or almost) in one playthough, or even two actually ^^.

The gameplay is pretty solid and it's full of references from the previous games.

 

I'd like them to make Rance 04 remake now, since i absolutly loved rance 03's remake (probably my favorite rance story wise).

[adamstan]

I'm still going through Clannad. For now, I have one thing to say -

Fuuu-chaaaan That feels train hit me really hard...

[Inorin]

Finally finished Root Double. Boy, what a ride this had been. While certain plot twists were predictable and could be seen from miles away (the identity of the test subjects), I quite liked how everything's connected together in the original routes and loose ends were tied up nicely in the Xtend epsiode. Pacing was rather slow, but that was due to the sheer number of endings. Bad ends were aplenty, which kind of reminded me a little of FSN and Remember 11, though thankfully those bad ends reached their respective conclusions rather quickly. Also, this was the first vn that I had read which had extensive discussions of telepathic powers so it was quite a refreshing experience.  Not quite what I had initially expected, since I thought it would be similar to ZE and E17, but it still managed to leave a deep impression on me.

Overall: 8.5/10

[Plk_Lesiak]

Continuing my adventure through the Ebi-hime's free VNs and the emotional rollercoaster only picks up speed. Lucky Me, Lucky You was actually the first non-pure-angst story among the ones I've read and I think it's superb. It's full of LGBT themes (I think it might be one of those degenerate games Bee was talking about when he got banned), but the characters feel surprisingly genuine and interesting. The protagonist (college freshman lesbian) uses foul language like I've probably never seen in a VN before and acts like a brat, but there's something surprisingly likeable about her, just like with her crossdressing, gay friend. And while those main characters sound like weirdos, it's never the main thing you think about or something the narrative focuses on. Their peculiarities are just part of who they are and the issues they face (especially the protagonist, who tries to cope with being dumped by a girlfriend she genuinely loved and to a lesser extent, being rejected by her family) are quite relatable and universal. In the end, it was a really great, casual story - the really nice art helped quite a lot too.

And after that came Round the Mulberry Bush, going back to the historical setting, themes of interclass romance etc... And was one of the most devastating things I've ever read. I knew there would be some heavy stuff ahead of me after the first game, but damn, this is harsh.