What are you playing?

[BunnyAdvocate]

I just finished Fata Morgana this week and wrote up a little post on it if anyone is interested. (Beware lots of spoilers).

[Ranzo]

I've moved on to Fatal Twelve now and I am pretty far into it right now and I am loving it. I'm really impressed by the characters the writing and overall tone. I also like that it chooses to take the story in different directions to those I was expecting.

[adamstan]

Yesterday I finished Clannad. (with Steam's time counter at 67 hrs)

What can I say, it was great. @wei123 said that Tomoyo & Kyou were best girls, but while I love them, it isn't as easy to pick for me - they all were lovely. Tomoyo's was first "romance" route that I read (Misae's was more like an introduction to the world for me). Her and Tomoya were nice couple, I really liked it, but then...

I also love peace that Yukine brings, and her sweet, caring personality, I want to protect Kotomi and never ever leave her again, I want Mei and Fuko as my little sisters... Kyou is amazing girl too - I liked how she was on the same wavelength with Tomoya, and her ending had some really moving moments for me.

Spoiler

She reminded me of Hikari from Miagete - or rather it's other way around I suppose Hikari also loved the protagonist, but - in addition to being somewhat tsundere - she tried to pair him with Saya.

And then, I totally love Nagisa, and really like how her relationship with Tomoya was portrayed in VN. They need each other, and seem to be meant for each other and I totally get how she is main heroine. And let's not forget pair of greatest supporting characters I've seen - Akio and Sanae.

Spoiler

She did great job at being mother for Tomoya. His banter with Akio was hilarious. And all together they made really amazing family. Having such great in-laws seems like a dream, and goes against all stereotypes

AfterStory was great too, but saying almost anything will probably be spoiler...
 

Spoiler

 

First arc, showing how Nagisa and Tomoya's relationship slowly progressed was nice. Nagisa's death didn't hit me instantly, as the game was little ambiguous about it when it happened (maybe skip was too abrupt).

The scenes that moved me the most in the first AS run were Tomoya's reunion with Ushio (however I was mad at him in the first part of this arc) and reconcilliation with his father. Then, Ushio's last moments, oh my...

I don't have children, but have two little nieces that I really love, and children/family themes in VNs or anime always get me. I was in that minority of Sailor Moon viewers that didn't hate ChibiUsa

Kyou as kindergarten teacher was great too.

Strangely, the scene that moved me the most was Fuko's ending

Spoiler

when she starts to fade away at Kouko's wedding

That didn't only make my eyes wet, but it actually made me sob and cry. Thank goodness, that she finally got her happy ending too - I see that some readers dislike Fuko, but I can't. 風子ちゃんが嫌いになれない。　She turned out to be one of my favorite characters.

Now something about the game itself. Backgrounds were really nice, and characters were looking good too - I probably got used to Hinoue Itaru's style. Then, the music - that was totally awesome. My favorite tracks are melancholic song that plays during Illusionary World sequences, and both ending songs. I didn't have any issues with translation - it reads smoothly, and feels pretty lively.

So, after all, it seems like it's Nagisa for me. (BTW, I forgot to mention it, but oh how cuuute she looks in her waitress uniform )

So now, everybody sing:

"Dango, Dango!"

Great experience, 9/10

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

So, after I've dealt with my leftover academic duties, I was able to continue the agony also known as my Ebi-Hime marathon. Where the Sun Always Shines actually gave me a bit of a breather - it's this kind of casual, bittersweet story that deals with relatively heavy themes, but ends on a fairly positive note and leaves you in a good mood. It had good characters and was overall very decent, but was also possibly the least memorable thing from Ebi-Hime I've read so far. 

Lynne, however, which I approached next, didn't grant me similar mercy. It's greatly stylized when it goes to visuals, makes an excellent use of music and sound effects, and the convincing characters really get me involved in the story. It is, however, a horror through and through - not a supernatural one (at least it's debatable whether anything that happens is anything more than protagonist's mind playing tricks on her), but terrifying and brutal in this existential sense. It's a story that could happen in real life, but that only makes it more suffocating and impactful.

I only have one "real" story to go through, Six Days of Snow and then I'll be just left with the Ebi's April Fool's game, Learning in Love! I pretty much gave up on hope that the former won't devastate me even further, so maybe the latter will cheer me up a bit.

[PiggiesGoMoo]

Reading Danganronpa 2.  It has a lot of entertaining characters, and the trials have all been really good so far (and really sad and dramatic in some cases). I must say though, I find myself rushing through free time to get to the trials, and not bothering to buy gifts.  I don't really like the clear delineation between "free time" and "oh no someone got murdered" in the game, it makes the pacing seem predictable...  Like "oh it's a free time day? Welp, I guess nobody is getting murdered."  Still, I think the trials make the free time worth doing.

[Ranzo]

Still playing Fatal 12 and damn is it still finding ways of surprising me which is something that I absolutely love.

Odette has definitely been my favorite characters so far, I adore her and her shark teeth.

 

@adamstan I felt really differently about Nagisa I didn't like her at all, though I didn't hate her. In my eyes she is one of the worst examples of a character who has a random illness that makes them weak. You know the illness that just makes them weak but might also prove fatal later on. These are the characters that are designed for you to feel bad for them and want to protect them. And I absolutely hate that it feels like the story is trying to dictate how I'm supposed to feel. I want that to happen organically in a story. She also just didn't have much of a personality to me aside her love for her family and her obsession with dangos. I really felt that she lacked that substance the rest of the cast had. (Hell, even Fuko had more and she was like a space alien!) I did like her more when had the role of support character.

[adamstan]

3 hours ago, Ranzo said:

In my eyes she is one of the worst examples of a character who has a random illness that makes them weak. You know the illness that just makes them weak but might also prove fatal later on. These are the characters that are designed for you to feel bad for them and want to protect them.

There's some truth in this, yeah. So count me as one that easily falls for cheap tricks. After all, if it didn't work on anybody, writers wouldn't write like that OTOH there are some explanations for her illness connected to the Illusionary World (there was some discussion about that at kazamatsuri.org) [After story spoliers]

Spoiler

There are some speculations that her condition is somehow connected with "the place" (that place where Akio took her when she was dying earlier, he talks about it, later the hospital is built there) or even whole town. Same with Ushio, who is also the girl from the Illusionary World.

As I don't expect all characters to have strong or "interesting" personalities, I was OK with her. And, well, "love for her family" isn's some dismissable thing - it's pretty important for me. "She makes for a boring girlfriend, but great wife" - I'm not sure who said that, and if it was in-game or some forum post, but this quote fits Nagisa I think. "To love and be loved" - that's my dream.

Maybe that isn't exactly realistic, and indeed while playing romance VNs I often catch myself at thinking - "No way! There are no such girls as her! (at least not nearby )", but well, games are form of escapism, and man can dream, right?

Fuuko is cute weirdo, but certainly not bland.

All in all - I have pretty low threshold for suspension of disbelief, so unless there are GLARING plot holes or contradicitons, I just go with the flow of the story and enjoy the ride .

And, to stay directly on topic - now I'm starting Tomoyo After.

Edited July 18, 2018 by adamstan

[Inorin]

5 hours ago, adamstan said:

And, to stay directly on topic - now I'm starting Tomoyo After.

18+ or all-ages? You should probably try the latter since it has more content, especially in the epilogue (which imo is the best part of the vn)

[adamstan]

3 minutes ago, wei123 said:

18+ or all-ages? You should probably try the latter since it has more content, especially in the epilogue (which imo is the best part of the vn)

All ages. I bought whole Clannad bundle on Steam summer sale. After hearing how bad Key's h-scenes are, I have no desire to read any of them. When applying tl-patches to Air and Kanon I used all-ages options too. (In case of AIR that included mixing two patches. Supposedly GaoGao translations' patch is better, so I used this, and then added numbered "seenxxx.txt" files that make replacements/cuts for h-scenes from WinterConfetti's all-ages conversion)

Edited July 18, 2018 by adamstan

[Templarseeker]

Just started playing/reading Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048. Despite being a old game, the art itself looks very nice and been enjoying the RPG aspects of it, similar to most tactical turn based squad like XCOM or the old school Fallouts games! 

I've heard the game's being hard and unbeatable from other people in some areas in the Internet however I'll try completing it anyways lol 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Templarseeker

[Plk_Lesiak]

Started reading Six Days of Snow and at the very beginning there's this line from the protagonist, a writer:

It seems he takes a direct opposite stance from the actual author. I was tempted to say Ebi should hear her own advice here, but I guess we would miss out on some really great VNs if that was the case. The art in this though... I think there's some serious Fata Morgana inspiration here. Can't complain about that.

[HataVNI]

I'm currently playing HapyMaher and Planetarian in its german version. You'll notice they tled it three times though. Just did it to judge a german translation as a german person.
Else I'm trying to finish Evenicle but chapter 5 leaves me in a slump... Also I'm really disappointed by the lack of depth in the combat system and the difficulty curve. It doesn't get harder at all, very casual game.

Evenicle Review on Friday on our Website btw, stay tuned!

[BookwormOtaku]

Still making my way through Rea's route in Dies Irae and I am liking the direction it's going in for Rea and how it seems to be going in a different direction with Trifa and Lisa than the other routes. Though if I had a complaint...

Spoiler

wow, that was a really pathetic ending for Kei. I was kind of hoping that since this was the true route she might some kind of character development outside of her route in this one, but instead she just gets killed off before she can even do anything storywise. Really makes the F/SN Rin comparison people make with Kei seem like an insult to Rin since unlike Kei, Rin not only had character development but also a more active role in the story outside of just in her route

 

[douggle]

So I have hit a visual novel milestone for myself, after finishing Magical Marriage Lunatics(which was absolutely medicore the heroines all deserved to be in a better vn) and The House in Fata Morgana (Simply beautiful vn. ) I ve hit 150 completed VN's. 

Edited July 19, 2018 by douggle

[cro-mag]

I'm about to start "Subarashiki Hibi". Then it'll be "Remember11" and later either "Cou- Kuroi Ryuu To Yasashii Oukoku" or "Root Double". Have couple of free weeks, so gonna read through these VNs at last.

[Xykros]

I'm on a vacation, and instead of spending it wisely, I'm spending it by playing fucktons of games. I'm not even sure which one I can call the game I'm playing, but the last game I opened was Rance 5D, so there's that. 

[littleshogun]

Still stalled at Fureraba in Yuzuyu's route, so perhaps it would be better if I can go through her route by the end of this month and after that going to Misakichi's route.

[adamstan]

I just finished Tomoyo After (without dunegon minigame) - I played official all-ages enlish release .

I really liked the interactions between all five main characters in "common route" or first chapter - it was really funny. Little Tomo was sweet, and I loved how she urged Tomoyo and Tomoya to "get along" Kanako could be little annoying at the beginning, but I actually liked her, and then she grew on me even more, as she is pretty important in later chapters, and does some great things. She shares some personality traits (and a voice ) with Haruka from LB!, whom I also liked.

Love between Tomoyo and Tomoya is great here as well - certainly doesn't lose to Nagisa x Tomoya

After reading here and there about bittersweet ending

Spoiler

I was afraid that writers would kill off either Tomoyo or Tomoya, but fortunately it didn't happen - although the epilogue made me anxious right to the end, as it was somewhat ambiguous. But the last screen gave us (and them) finally the hard-earned happy ending.

EDIT: Apparently, he dies in first (pre-Memorial Edition) version. And some folks at kazamatsuri.org interpret current ending the same way - with their reunion from last picture being in afterlife/dreamworld/whatever...

Music and art was beautiful. It was the first VN I played with voiced protagonist - it turned out well too. Translation felt somewhat rougher than Clannad's - and there were few lines I had trouble figuring out - but still it was okay.

Overally - not as great as Clannad itself, but still very good - 8/10

(the score above doesn't account the "Dungeons and Takafumis", as I haven't played that yet)

 

Now, what to read next - Kanon, or perhaps something from different creators for a change of pace, to avoid Key overdose?

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by adamstan

[douggle]

Been an while since I ve put something on hold, but I decided to stall out on Noble Works. Its just so.... mediocre. I liked Dracu Riot much more in terms of cast, and story, the setting is more interesting in Dracu Riot, so I've decided to start up Trample on Schatten 

[littleshogun]

18 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Now, what to read next - Kanon, or perhaps something from different creators for a change of pace, to avoid Key overdose?

It's depend on you I guess, so there's no absolute answer in regard of this. Although in case you want to read Kanon, perhaps what I can say is that just consider the story was written back at 1999, so it might be cliche. Regardless of whether you'll take a rest from KEY stuff or reading Kanon, have fun on that later.

[adamstan]

I'm not turned off by cliches, so I should be OK with Kanon

However, I think that now I may dive again into ancient times, and read San Shimai. I liked Sakura no Kisetsu, and this seems to be its close counterpart, made around the same time and using the same engine (although localized 3 years later, in 1999) - and they even share some backgrounds (like classroom or school yard) which is little surprising considering they have different developers*. Of course I'm going for DOS version again

As a sidenote to my above TA review:

Spoiler

It seems, that most agree that Tomoya dies in each version   Damn you Key, where did KeyMagic ^TM go when it's most needed?

 

*now i see - one is made by "TIARE" and other by "JAST", but they both were just branches/brands of JAST Co.

Edited July 20, 2018 by adamstan

[r0xm2n]

Due to my PC not working for a few days ....... and due to me getting it working again temporarily, just so I can research and get an upgraded build ....... I'm basically not reading VN's for the time being.

Thus my playthrough of Muv-Luv is Stalled. I wasn't very far into it at least.

I'll promptly begin reading again on my new build.

[adamstan]

...and done with San Shimai. That was quick

It's probably because it is closer to typical adventure game than VNs, as there are no multiple routes. There's basically one story, with one good ending, and several bad ends. There are also some optional scenes which you can skip.

It was much darker than Sakura no Kisetsu. The plot was actually not bad, even if following some cliches. But not anime/moe cliches, rather b-movies It is also more h-heavy, although some scenes lead to bad end. The number of scenes is probably similar, but since there are no routes, it all happens in single story, so one may get the feeling that the protag fucks around too much, like he was some James Bond or whatever   . But there were some emotional moments here and there too.

In true adventure games fashion, bad ends aren't instant - they just change the epilogue you get. So you can trigger one, and then still play thru whole story until it shows.

"Adventure gameplay" aspect was executed better here, with less pointless choices.

Art is similar to Sakura no Kisetsu, it actually shares some assets with it (school backgrounds). I like the character design, following that 90's anime look. As I said when reviewing Sakura no Kisetsu, I'd really like to see some of that style in newer games.

Spoiler

Music was really good. Translation is on similar level - ther are some typos, missing words and few mismatched names, but overally it's readable.

Nice hybrid - or transitional work - between VN and text adventure. If you aren't put off by ancient technical limitations - try it. 7/10.

Works well with DOSBox. Unfortunately version that is downloadable from abandonware sites has one h-CG broken - lower half of image is messed up.

Also, web version can be played at Asenheim Project.

Edited July 21, 2018 by adamstan

[adamstan]

It looks like I have soft spot for old titles

Now I'm reading Mugen Yasoukyoku (Nocturnal Illusion) as I managed to run it inside XP Virtual Machine.

It was one of the first VNs I encountered twenty years ago as a horny teenager (along with True Love and "Paradise Heights" nukige...), but never made it past prologue, and first h-scene - I felt overwhelmed without walkthrough. The only one I finished then was True Love, as it was short. Time to change this, as we have abundance of walkthroughs today

I tried out "renewal" version ported at Asenheim Project website - which uses translation from original Win95 release - and while voice acting is nice, I found out that I prefer graphics and music from original, so I'm sticking with it for now.

Probably will try @Nandemonai's renewal translation patch when it's completed.

Edited July 21, 2018 by adamstan

[Thyndd]

After a much needed break from VNs for studies and other disgusting real life issues, I'm back to this wonderful world  

So to celebrate I've decided to start Rewrite, which is pretty much the only translated Key VN that I still haven't read. Let's see how it goes.