What are you playing?

[cro-mag]

14 minutes ago, Mago Ivo said:

I'm playing Subarashiki Hibi (Wonderful Everyday) and I was happy with the novel until I came across the most awful and unforgivable thing I saw in a visual novel. Ignorance and propaganda! Mamiya Takuji said some unforgivable things about the thing that saved my life many times and the think I love the most - Cars.

I'm sorry, I might come as crazy after that post, but I have huge need to write what I'm about to write.                                                                                                                                  After all, this thread is about what we're playing now so I think that it must be alright to share what we like and what we don't like about the visual novels that we read.

Even if this is the best VN in the world, I'm seriously thinking about dropping it because some uneducated, ignorant writer decided that his character should just randomly rant about cars.

Because my statement may seem bold, I'll point out everything wrong he said about cars.

"Cars are just nuisances. No other mode of transportation does as much damage to the environment."                                                                                                                                          It's been proven time and time again that cars cause less pollution than trains and planes (even per passenger). And don't even start me about ships.                                                                      I have the data of many studies considering the subject, if someone is interested you can easily find information on the internet, if you can't, you can PM me and I'll show you some.

"There's almost always just one or two people in a single car. And they put out so much exhaust." I don't understand what is wrong with just one or two people in a single car?                                By exhaust, does he mean exhaust gasses? Cars put out exhaust gasses but again : Plains, trains, ships and even cows put out more CO2 than cars.

"A train doesn't put out any exhaust at all... Cars are just annoyances." I don't know about Japan but here, most trains are diesel-electric, and they aren't nearly as "clean" as diesel cars,              because all cars (especially diesels) are very harshly regulated to produce levels of pollution which the car engineers before 15 years thought were impossible.                                                        Even electric trains are more polluting than cars if we consider things like : the making of the infrastructure for trains, production of batteries and that more than 65% of all the electricity comes from fossil fuels and almost 40% is from coal. And on top of that trains are very inconvenient and hugely expensive.

"The number of people smoking has been declining lately. I wish the same thing would start to happen with cars." This will never happen, there will always be people who are passionate about cars.

"Car exhaust is just as bothersome as cigarette smoke." I don't go around, shoving my car exhaust gasses in people's faces, but some smokers don't care where they exhale their smoke.

"And what's even more annoying than that... Girls like guys who can drive." What's wrong with that? There are some men who drive cars just to impress women but they are less than 20% of all drivers.

"Are you stupid? Don't use a car. Just ride the train..." I have gone to the trouble of working countless ours and have invested huge quantities of blood, sweat and tears (literally) for my car,            and some random kid tells me to ride the train? That is never going to happen.

"Everyone talks about going green and how we should save the planet, so why do they drive cars?" Because cars are "greener" than anything other from walking and scooters.                                  I know that almost nobody believes in that one, because of the media, which is screaming in our faces everyday (for more than 40 years now) that cars are dirty and cause a billion deaths a year    and the oil is ending in 10 years time, according to the media we’re also supposed to have hit the next ice age,                                                                                                                          and apparently the world is going to ignite and turn to ash like a cartoon character if we don’t immediately stop using anything that the government doesn't profit on and return to the stone age.

"Well, I guess that's just how it is... They're just being manipulated by the media. Because the media has to answer to the big corporations."                                                                            Which are bigger players, the ministry of transportation or car manufacturers?

"Yeah, it bugs me... Those fools should just die." I hope he dies many times in the novel if that is possible.

"Pretty much all the guys who are into cars are lowlifes... Well, either that or gearheads. And pretty much only idiots like cars." What basis does he have to say that?                                          That's like me saying "only idiots like skiing" or something like that. That is just ignorant.

Wow, i never thought that in such VN as "Subarashiki Hibi" if anyone would be arguing about something that would be... cars. Well, that was unexpected. You're free to point your opinion ofc and that was rather interesting to read tbf. Not everyday that happens. Anyway, now i'm interested what would your thoughts be about things that will happen down the road... If you decide to continue, that said.

P.S. VN was released first time in 2010, so... Things may be outdated) About pollution, for instance.

Edited August 27, 2018 by cro-mag

[Mago Ivo]

I probably overreacted because I'm experiencing lack of sleep. I thought about it rationally and I came to the conclusion that this thing about cars is probably around 0.000000001% of the whole novel and it's obviously not important to the plot, so it would be unreasonable and stupid to drop the vn because of that. I've decided to continue with the novel, but I don't know if I'll write about it, because I have difficulty expressing myself properly.

[Plk_Lesiak]

2 hours ago, Mago Ivo said:

I probably overreacted because I'm experiencing lack of sleep. I thought about it rationally and I came to the conclusion that this thing about cars is probably around 0.000000001% of the whole novel and it's obviously not important to the plot, so it would be unreasonable and stupid to drop the vn because of that. I've decided to continue with the novel, but I don't know if I'll write about it, because I have difficulty expressing myself properly.

Just remember, that things said by the characters are not necessarily the message of the author. Maybe it was put there to rile you up (though probably not to this degree ;)), to make the character pretentious etc. Don't take it at face value, especially in a VN like Subahibi 

Although I agree with most things in that rant. >.>

[Turnip Sensei]

Took way too long (I blame the ridiculously hot summer), but I finally finished Flowers Winter.

It didn't quite reach the heights that Summer & Autumn did, but I'm both pretty happy how everything tied together (even thought the mysteries weren't never the strong point) and bit sad that it's now over. It wasn't the 4 years it was for some fans, but I grew pretty fond of the series. Flowers nicely filled the craving for good slice-of-life that isn't at all satisfied by moe, but also positively surprised with it's character depth. I'm still blown away by Yuzuriha's and Erika's characterisation. Plus with the unabashed love for culture, be it novels, movies, plays, fairy tales... Flowers is such a warm and positive series. 

Other Flowers fans might also appreciate that I just recently picked up the first volume of Flowers novelization (plus another cute yuri novel), so I guess I'm not saying goodbyes to series quite yet.

Spoiler

  I wonder what should I read next?

[Dreamysyu]

15 hours ago, Thyndd said:

As if Greenpeace and Al-Qa'eda had a child

Loool.

15 hours ago, Mago Ivo said:

I'm playing Subarashiki Hibi (Wonderful Everyday) and I was happy with the novel until I came across the most awful and unforgivable thing I saw in a visual novel. Ignorance and propaganda! Mamiya Takuji said some unforgivable things about the thing that saved my life many times and the thing I love the most - Cars.

You're definitely overreacting. Mamiya says a lot of other things which are simply wrong from logical perspective, and, like @Plk_Lesiak guessed, the things he said are definitely very far from what the author actually thinks.

[Funyarinpa]

Finished my reread of Umineko today.

Took me 90 hours total, with the PS3 sprites and voice acting.

A 10/10 visual novel, indeed. Not really my *favorite*, but the way it turns every concept on its head, the way just about every scene has five (or fifteen) hidden meanings, the immensely varied music, the stellar voice acting, the amazingly well-developed characters, and my undying love for the original art style all cement Umineko as one of the highest-quality stories I have ever experienced.

Felt short this time around, even. Took me only a month instead of three, though. Finished EP6 in two days which was cool.

I don't adore it as much as I respect it.

It's also made me realize I'm still shit at parsing, paying attention to, and understanding stories and characters.

[adamstan]

I started YU-NO. So far I finished the prologue - and I'm really liking it and curious what will happen next. Art and music is great (I'm playing with PC-98 FM music pack), and it has two of my favourite voice actresses - Aya Hisakawa and Kikuko Inoue

Edited August 27, 2018 by adamstan

[BookwormOtaku]

Now that I've finished Nier Automata I'll be using my PS4 to play Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, which I am enjoying, especially as more connections to the first game are showing up. Still, as I play further I can't help but wonder why Kuon isn't the main character instead of Haku. Considering who she is and the fact that the game pretty much makes it clear she's a badass and fairly intelligent that at least on paper sounds like a better protag choice than "Amnesiac guy who's kinda like Hakuoro except not as competent".

[LanThief(HUN)]

I just finisd Magical Marriage Lunatics!! and Imouto Paradise! 2 next is going to be this

https://vndb.org/v369 (Koihime † Musou ~Doki ☆ Otome Darake no Sangokushi Engi~)

[Thyndd]

I'm done with Lucia's route. Moving onto Chihaya now 

Spoiler

So dumb. So much so that the only explanation I could find is that even if Lucia's poison doesn't kill you it will still leave you with serious brain damage, and not even Lucia herself is immune to that. Why did this route turn into such clown fiesta? 

I don't even know what to say anymore. I'm outta here.

 

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Thyndd said:

I'm done with Lucia's route. Moving onto Chihaya now 

  Hide contents

So dumb. So much so that the only explanation I could find is that even if Lucia's poison doesn't kill you it will still leave you with serious brain damage, and not even Lucia herself is immune to that. Why did this route turn into such clown fiesta? 

I don't even know what to say anymore. I'm outta here.

 

 

If you are talking about the ending, then yeah, it's pretty dumb. To be honest, I often notice that pretty much all Ryukishi's works tend to have a bit of childish nativity in them. I feel that it actually adds to experience in both Higurashi and Umineko, but it's also the reason why I didn't really enjoy his later works as much.

But, still, I personally liked Lucia's route. It was the first Ryukishi's work I read, and it made me interested in him enough that I decided to check out Higurashi anime, and later Umineko visual novel, which became my most favorite VN ever. [/spoiler]

Btw, my personal route ranking for this VN is something like that:

Terra = Moon > Akane > Lucia > Kotori >> Chihaya >> Shizuru.

Well, it was my first VN ever, and my tastes definitely changed since then, so I'll probably change the ranking after I eventually replay it.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[alpacaman]

I've reached the last route or "Saga" (as the VN calls is) of Cho Dengeki Stryker. As long as the writers don't mess that one up horribly the VN is a pretty fun read.

It's really good at mocking many of the tropes you would expect from a superhero vs. evil empire story aimed at children like the villains and protagonist living next door without recognizing each other in their civilian outfits. But it still manages to always take its characters serious enough to keep the reader engaged. The story gets darker than I expected (the whole Mirror thing is pretty messed up) which really helps the VN imo because this way it feels like there really is something at stake and it shakes up the black/white morals you often get in these kinds of stories. The only real weakness imo was Haruna's character because she is too one-dimensional and stereotypical for her importance to the overall plot, which weakens the impact of some of the more emotional scenes.

Spoiler

On a spoilery side note, the sex scene in her route is just placed sooo stupidly and I really don't know if it's a really clever meta joke or just lazy writing. After learning that they only have eight hours to save their own lifes and the ones of nearly everyone they know, everyone else present at the time conveniently leaves the room so she and and the protagonist can bang. And guess what happens: Many people die because of Yamato saving the day just before the time limit runs out, including of course Haruna! Only the power of Deus ex Machina brings her back.

Additionally there is another route that builds on hers, only without the sex scene (because you pursued a different girl) and here the protagonist makes it in time to at least save Haruna. I mean, this has to be by design, hasn't it?

 

[Thyndd]

1 hour ago, Dreamysyu said:

  Hide contents

If you are talking about the ending, then yeah, it's pretty dumb. To be honest, I often notice that pretty much all Ryukishi's works tend to have a bit of childish nativity in them. I feel that it actually adds to experience in both Higurashi and Umineko, but it's also the reason why I didn't really enjoy his later works as much.

But, still, I personally liked Lucia's route. It was the first Ryukishi's work I read, and it made me interested in him enough that I decided to check out Higurashi anime, and later Umineko visual novel, which became my most favorite VN ever. [/spoiler]

Btw, my personal route ranking for this VN is something like that:

Terra = Moon > Akane > Lucia > Kotori >> Chihaya >> Shizuru.

Well, it was my first VN ever, and my tastes definitely changed since then, so I'll probably change the ranking after I eventually replay it.

 

Yeah, I'm talking about the "ending", which would be everything that transpires after the date. It's not only dumb, but also so out of character... While reading I was thinking "has everyone gone suddenly nuts?". You know you are acting like a retard when it's freaking Chihaya who calls it out btw 

The thing is, I was really enjoying this route, even with the little inconvenients that I mentioned in previous posts. That's why I flipped a table. For me this is equivalent to simply end the route abruptly without an ending at all. Give me back my characters and make a proper ending please!! 

 

[Ranzo]

3 hours ago, Thyndd said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yeah, I'm talking about the "ending", which would be everything that transpires after the date. It's not only dumb, but also so out of character... While reading I was thinking "has everyone gone suddenly nuts?". You know you are acting like a retard when it's freaking Chihaya who calls it out btw 

The thing is, I was really enjoying this route, even with the little inconvenients that I mentioned in previous posts. That's why I flipped a table. For me this is equivalent to simply end the route abruptly without an ending at all. Give me back my characters and make a proper ending please!! 

 

Spoiler

Yeahhh, that ending was always a bit shit for me it just seemed to drag on and on. The whole mall fight was excruciating and Kotarou kept acting like a dumbass till the end. Still she is definitely one of my favorite characters and her route had some of the best moments in vns that I've played.

 

Edited August 28, 2018 by Ranzo

[littleshogun]

If this could help, the Lucus's route was written by Ryukishi07 in which it's obviously make the tone different from the rest. As for Koutarou at Lucia's route, I would like to guess that it's probably Ryukishi's style to have him written like that.

[Ranzo]

Moved back to playing Hatsukoi again for some reason, I guess cuz I like Maya and Kyou a lot and want to finish their routes. Let the loud shit talking of the pussy ass, bitch ass, herb busta protag recommence.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Ranzo

[adamstan]

I think we may need some way to more clearly distinguish this VN (Hatsukoi 1/1) as there is another game named JUST "Hatsukoi", which is totally different. But I have no idea how... maybe adding vndb link under the title whenever it's mentioned? Of course "1/1" is much more famous, so maybe there's no big risk of confusion?

[littleshogun]

5 hours ago, adamstan said:

I think we may need some way to more clearly distinguish this VN (Hatsukoi 1/1) as there is another game named JUST "Hatsukoi", which is totally different. But I have no idea how... maybe adding vndb link under the title whenever it's mentioned? Of course "1/1" is much more famous, so maybe there's no big risk of confusion?

Add VNDB link is always the viable option, but as for how I distinguish it I'd call Hatsukoi 1/1 as HatsuKoi there - note that I'd use capital 'K'. Oh and Hatsukoi there is definitely less popular one lol.

Edited September 1, 2018 by littleshogun

[snowbell55]

I've been reading The Fruit of Grisaia and enjoying it thus far. I find that it looks (on the surface) similar to a lot of stuff I've read, but yet it keeps subverting my expectations, so I'm very interested to see how it winds up in the end. I like the background art, though, and the music isn't bad either. I also can't help but notice that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Yuuji, but it's admittedly refreshing for him to be the way he is rather than the more generic "I've done loads of part time jobs" "superman" that Masaya and Takumi were from Princess Evangile and Noble Works respectively. So far though, the standout has to be Michiru who is, frankly, hilarious. They chose a GREAT VA for her, and whenever she starts whining, there's this kind of high pitched twing in her voice that makes her sound really frustrated. It's hilarious :D. And the things that Michiru does (and doesn't do) just wind up being so ridiculous and funny. I usually try and save my favorite heroine for last, and I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I want that to be Michiru or Amane. It's strange - usually I wind up binging a VN (even ones I'm not super enthused for), and that hasn't happened here, but I'm still enjoying it a bunch. We'll see how it goes.

[Acrylic7]

Just play Fate/Hollow Ataraxia until last chapter. But cannot finish it since I cannot trigger event to advance the plot. Anyway, I already watch the rest via youtube. Really like the ending. Make me want to play Fate Stay Night even though I already watch the anime years ago. 

[r0xm2n]

What I'm Playing?

Currently that's ordering parts for my new PC, and getting my Dad to build it. I started actually ordering parts just now.

My return to reading VN's is imminent (now on an awesome 27inch monitor).

 

21 hours ago, snowbell55 said:

I've been reading The Fruit of Grisaia and enjoying it thus far. I find that it looks (on the surface) similar to a lot of stuff I've read, but yet it keeps subverting my expectations, so I'm very interested to see how it winds up in the end. I like the background art, though, and the music isn't bad either. I also can't help but notice that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Yuuji, but it's admittedly refreshing for him to be the way he is rather than the more generic "I've done loads of part time jobs" "superman" that Masaya and Takumi were from Princess Evangile and Noble Works respectively. So far though, the standout has to be Michiru who is, frankly, hilarious. They chose a GREAT VA for her, and whenever she starts whining, there's this kind of high pitched twing in her voice that makes her sound really frustrated. It's hilarious :D. And the things that Michiru does (and doesn't do) just wind up being so ridiculous and funny. I usually try and save my favorite heroine for last, and I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I want that to be Michiru or Amane. It's strange - usually I wind up binging a VN (even ones I'm not super enthused for), and that hasn't happened here, but I'm still enjoying it a bunch. We'll see how it goes.

Nice to see a new person reading Grisaia.

What I love about Yuuji is his hilarious inner monologues. Guy has an interesting way of looking at the world....

You like "ChiruChiru"s voice now? Wait till you read her route (especially her goofy, and downright CUTE laughs). Honestly, she's still my favorite VN girl ever

Amane's route is ...... pretty special too ...... for entirely different reasons ....

[Thyndd]

I've read Chihaya's and Shizuru's route from Rewrite. Now I only have Akane left and then I'll move onto Moon and Terra, which I assume are like the true routes of the game (?).

Welp, I'll share my opinion on these two routes.

Chihaya:

Spoiler

It was a pretty dull route tbh, but I can't say it was too boring either. It's just nothing special. The characters were bland (Chihaya had more development during Lucia's route than in her own, which is just sad) and the situations felt uncompelling and a lot of times rushed. It also tried to follow the "law of the coolest", which says something like "everything is allowed in a shounen as long as it's cool enough", but failed miserably at it producing some very absurd scenes. As much as I trashed it, it's still decent enough "filler" and it introduces some handy concepts for Shizuru's route, so it's not just a waste of time.

Shizuru:

Spoiler

I feel very conflicted about this route. The writing was pretty bad, the building and tension the story needed were nowhere to be found, and everything felt disconnected. On the other hand, I really liked the content of this route. And Shizuru, she's so precious . It's also the first time I got to see Guardian failing and humanity being wiped out. I'd really want some more info about how that shelter is able to protect people from a supernatural cataclism, but oh well, I guess it's not that hard to accept something like that may exist in that setting. Plus it was seemingly built by a more advanced civilization, so that'd explain why Guardian couldn't create an evacuation plan in case they didn't make it. 

The ending makes sense as I understand it. If Kotarou didn't cut off his connection to Shizuru they both would've died eventually, so it was really the only option. Yeah ok, it's pretty dumb that it all came to that due to a totally meaningless forest trip, and even though real life is in most cases meaningless, we expect meaning in fiction at least, so I can see why someone may see this as disappointing. In any case, having Sakuya's precedent, Kotarou's transforming into a tree didn't quite come out of the blue and I think it has a kinda beautiful poetic, symbolic meaning to it.

This could've been such a great route if only the writing was better though... As is, it's just good.

My current rating on the routes, without considering my personal fondness for the heroines, goes like this: Kotori > Lucia=Shizuru >> Chihaya. 

Spoiler

Now it's time to join Al-Qaeda for good and help end this miserable world 

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Thyndd

[alpacaman]

On 28.8.2018 at 8:53 PM, alpacaman said:

I've reached the last route or "Saga" (as the VN calls is) of Cho Dengeki Stryker. As long as the writers don't mess that one up horribly the VN is a pretty fun read.

It's really good at mocking many of the tropes you would expect from a superhero vs. evil empire story aimed at children like the villains and protagonist living next door without recognizing each other in their civilian outfits. But it still manages to always take its characters serious enough to keep the reader engaged. The story gets darker than I expected (the whole Mirror thing is pretty messed up) which really helps the VN imo because this way it feels like there really is something at stake and it shakes up the black/white morals you often get in these kinds of stories. The only real weakness imo was Haruna's character because she is too one-dimensional and stereotypical for her importance to the overall plot, which weakens the impact of some of the more emotional scenes.

  Reveal hidden contents

On a spoilery side note, the sex scene in her route is just placed sooo stupidly and I really don't know if it's a really clever meta joke or just lazy writing. After learning that they only have eight hours to save their own lifes and the ones of nearly everyone they know, everyone else present at the time conveniently leaves the room so she and and the protagonist can bang. And guess what happens: Many people die because of Yamato saving the day just before the time limit runs out, including of course Haruna! Only the power of Deus ex Machina brings her back.

Additionally there is another route that builds on hers, only without the sex scene (because you pursued a different girl) and here the protagonist makes it in time to at least save Haruna. I mean, this has to be by design, hasn't it?

 

The last route was an appropriate finale for the VN. I thought it could have done something more interesting with its setup but went for the "even bigger final boss". Still It wrapped everything up nicely and its message never seemed too forced.

 

Since then I have picked up Root Double and finished the first 1 1/4 routes. The comparisons to the Zero Escape series are pretty obvious with the story starting out in a deserted but inescapable facility and the story using similar supernatural/sci-fi concepts. But it does enough things differently to not just seem like a clone, e.g. the plot has no real branches except for bad endings but it's still told in a non-linear fashion which so far is done well.

The only thing that's really annoying me so far is the choice system. Instead of just presenting you with multiple choices there is a mechanic where you pick a value from 0-8 for every character affected by your next action with a higher number meaning you having "higher senses" for them. While sounding interesting in theory it's never quite clear beforehand if having higher senses for someone means trusting them more, caring more for them, having confidence in them or whatever and depending on the situation this can lead to the protagonist doing the opposite of what you wanted him to do. And there are nearly no decisions where you need other values than 1, 4 or 8 to progress, so having such a nuanced system seems like a waste.

[Dreamysyu]

Rewrite spoilers

Spoiler

3 hours ago, Thyndd said:

This could've been such a great route if only the writing was better though... As is, it's just good.

Yeah, I agree. I personally really liked everything that happened after that happened after that bike chase scene, and the ending was literally my favorite in the whole VN. On the other hand, overall I felt that this route was simply very boring to read. Chihaya's route was overall pretty entertaining and introduced some interesting concepts, but overall it's just way to dumb to be taken seriously and has a ton of plot holes. Tonokawa really did a much better job writing the routes for Little Busters than for Rewrite. I don't know, maybe he just can't write more action-oriented stories.

Well, the remaining three routes are written by the same guy who wrote Kotori, and I expect you to like them.

 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Dreamysyu

[Dreamysyu]

Well, as for me, excluding the time when I was on a vacation or too busy with irl problems, I was mostly trying to finish Grisaia trilogy. It took me a while to finish Meikyuu (I started it last winter, but stalled it a few times and only finished it recently) but my overall impression over it is still very positive. The after-stories were nice and funny overall, even though they lacked any kind of actual plot, and I kind of enjoyed reading all of them excluding Yumiko's. In case of Sachi, strangely enough, I somehow enjoyed her after-story a lot more than her actual route. As for the Grand route, I can't describe it as anything other than fantastic.

On the other hand, I'm currently about 30 per cent into Rakuen, and so far it's very unsatisfying comparing it to the earlier parts of the trilogy. The 3rd person narrative here simply reads like bad writing, and the lack of Yuuji's inner monologues is also quite hurting the enjoyment. The comedy mostly consists of the constant bullying of Michiru, and it isn't even funny anymore, especially if you consider her backstory. And the story feels like a complete mess, with some weird new story points introduced and the lack of clear continuety with Kajitsu. Overall, yeah, I hope it gets better later, but my initial impression is already ruined.