What are you playing?

[Stormwolf]

3 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Yeah, this isn't the first time I've encountered this, and it definitely won't be the last. (unfortunately)
This is one of the more annoying cases, though. While other VNs tend to mention it once or twice to tease the reader, this one keeps bringing it up over and over again with the same vague wording. I seriously doubt that the reveal is amazing enough to make all this repetitive buildup feel worthwhile.

I remember a manga (which i don't recall the name of) where they started talking about "that new weapon" in that bullshitty secretive way as you mention, just a panel or two before revealing it and saying it's name. It's just stupid.. I don't see the appeal of this. Like many other things, i bet it has origins from an anime or something way long ago which did it 10 times better. You see that often when digging through old anime/manga, that the original stuff did what we now consider silly tropes much better and in a more organic way. 

[novurdim]

22 hours ago, OdaNova said:

The sequel for me kind of went overboard with everything. I didn't like many of the cast (Chiaki was ace though), some characters went even more OTT and the constant fourth-wall breaking got on my nerves. It felt like, the first was a game but the second was just being silly and just going wild for the heck of it.

You'll definitely hate V3 

[littleshogun]

Currently play Damekoi, and I'll write more about it when I get the chance. For now what I can say is that the opening usage here is resembled underrated Koi Iru Chuu Lips in which the opening will play whenever the new chapters started.

[adamstan]

4 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

For now what I can say is that the opening usage here is resembled underrated Koi Iru Chuu Lips in which the opening will play whenever the new chapters started.

Ah, I loved Koi Iro Chu!, but this thing was actually annoying OTOH "previews" at the end of each chapter were nice. Heart de Roommate handled this whole "episode" thingy better - exactly because it didn't replay the OP each time.

So Damekoi does this too...

 

Edited May 30, 2019 by adamstan

[OdaNova]

On 28/05/2019 at 11:10 PM, novurdim said:

You'll definitely hate V3 

 A shame. I will try to give it a fair shot though.

[novurdim]

34 minutes ago, OdaNova said:

A shame. I will try to give it a fair shot though.

I honestly loved the second game more than the first: the trials are generally a lot better and more unpredictable (with the exclusion of the, erm, fourth?), the twists turn very well around the genre cliches and the knowledge of the first game betraying your expectations, characters are more likable and actually feel more *real* (the first's cast mostly looked like a sum of their archetypes tbh) etc. etc. To me, the first game seemed like a first attempt at writing something like this, while D2 actually let the potential fully shine through. Though Kodaka let them destroy the impression a fair bit with the horrible D3 anime, I still believe D2 to be the best in the series.

But true, it is going overboard at times. And if you disliked that part of D2, well, V3 is basically going EXTREMELY OVERBOARD. With everything. I really liked parts of it but more often than not it felt like Kodaka ran out of decent ideas and was just trying too hard to impress the reader with random weirdness at this point. The feeling intensified with every chapter culminating in the completely nonsense wacko finale. My dominant impression from V3 is that Kodaka is simply too tired from Danganronpa. Still, some parts and ideas of V3 are great so yeah, I wouldn't recommend skipping it.

Edited May 31, 2019 by novurdim

[adamstan]

Yesterday I finished to...

It's rather obscure charage from 2003 - it had only one vote on VNDB, and 74 on EGS, with average score of 60. It's one of those VNs I stumbled upon while clicking on VNDB frontpage random screenshots

Our protagonist, Takanori Sakai, makes living by doing various part-time jobs. As the game begins, he arrives in the small seaside town of 涼ヶ浜 (no idea how to transcribe it ), together with his foolish friend Tomoki Mimura, to work for a month in the small inn. He doesn't have any dreams or plans for the future - his days just pass by. OTOH Mimura is pretty carefree, and his main life priority are girls in swimsuits During this month, Takanori meets five girls, and maybe this will change his life?

Yep, pretty standard charage setup, but it's worth noting that at least it isn't school setting Furthermore, protagonist and three of five heroines are adults. (well, young adults, but still, not teenagers). So let's look at the heroines.

Miho Ogasawara is first person that we meet during the game. She's highschool student, who came to the town for a week with her friends from history research club - they're searching for local stories and legends. Miho is very serious and hardworking, but also very shy. However, she really wants to change herself. To do this, she later returns, to also work at the inn.

Youko Saeki is the owner of the inn - that means, she's Takanori's boss. At the first sight, she might be scary and harsh, but has also very caring side to her. She's the game's tsundere nee-san Besides the inn, she also does part-time job as life guard at the beach.

Satomi Mimura - Tomoki's little sister, with serious brother complex. She unexpectedly arrives at fourth or fifth day, because she couldn't stand being separated from "nii-chan". Token loli heroine Besides that, she, together with her stupid brother, serve as a comic relief - she often fights with Youko, accusing her of overworking her nii-chan, and having too big tits

Kyouko Shiraishi is another part-time worker at Youko's inn. Always cheerful and hardworking - but is it all that there's to her?

Mari Kitazawa - mysterious girl, that sometimes can be seen on the cliff or on the beach, always wearing the same black dress, wordlessly staring at the sea. It turns out, that she still mourns the death of her fiancee, who drowned three years ago while saving little girl during the storm.

 

******** (routes summary below, light spoilers possible) **********

First route I played was Miho's. She's very cute and likable character. Miho pretty quickly falls in love with Takanori, however he thinks that he's "unworthy" of her, afraid that he will "taint" her. Of course, pure and shy Miho thinks that it's her fault, and that he hates her. Because of this, he had to be scolded by Youko - TWICE, and her rants were epic "Do you think she doesn't have her own will? That she's just a doll? Bullshit - you're just protecting your pride!".

Next was Youko's route. She's loved by townsfolk, always ready to help others, but she doesn't let others to do anything for her. She turns down marriage proposals, as she doesn't want to abandon her inn, which she treasures above all else, 'cause she inherited it from her late aunt, who raised Youko after she lost her parents. She's also filled with regrets for going to Tokyo after graduation, so she wasn't there to help her aunt - that's why now she sacrifices herself for the sake of others. Seeing all this, Takanori wants to help her somehow, but it won't be easy to break through the walls that Youko built around herself.

Satomi's route is about growing up and "graduating" from her brother complex. When it comes to the love matters, she's even more clueless than Konomi from Princess Evangile Route itself is actally not bad, but it could do without h-content (or they could make her less loli...)

Mari is very difficult to approach, because she's completely lost in her grief. She rarely speaks or shows any reactions at all. This route was really good and emotional story about getting over tragic loss and starting to live again. It was much better that the three previous ones. Also, it's the only route with two possible endings.

Kyouko's route is another highlight. Her cheerful face masks some great suffering - she's very poor, working herself almost to death with three part time jobs.
Her parents were victims of bus accident when she was still in middle school. They haven't died on the spot, but fell in coma. After almost a year in hospital, they passed away, and Kyouko was left with huge bill... But that's also not the whole truth. There are several twists in this route and lots of drama, but the ending felt quite satisfying - I'm glad I saved this route for the end.

*************************************************

First three routes (Miho, Youko and Satomi) were not bad, but had some pacing issues. They lacked proper build-up for h-scenes, which happened a bit suddenly. Especially first Youko's scene came totally out od the blue. Also, scenes themselves were pretty meh, with rather stiff writing dangerously close to Ikea sex trope ("put the peg A into hole B") So those routes are what I'd call "standard eroge" routes. However, Mari's and Kyouko's routes are waaaay better, wandering into nakige territory. There are three different writers credited for this game's scenario, so that may be the cause.

The art is very nice. Characters have blinking animations both for sprites and CGs - I loved it. Voices are also good. However, the game feels a bit empty, because only main heroines and Mimura are voiced and have sprites. Also, music is almost nonexistent, because there are few tracks, and they don't loop, so for the most of the time game is silent (unless your reading speed is fast enough, but that's not the case with me ). Ending song is very nice. Also, the game marks already read text and chosen choices - neat feature.

I read this using ITHVNR + ChiiTrans combo. ITHVNR hooks it without any problems. As for the difficulty - I'd say it was on the similar level as ToHeart - there were certainly some things that I've missed, but it wasn't too hard to follow.

So, after first three routes I was a bit disappointed, but Mari's and Kyouko's routes redeemed it a bit. So finally, my score ends a bit higher than EGS average - 7/10.

 

[AustriaVNFan]

Yesterday I finished reading Grisaia no Kajitsu / Fruit of Grisaia. And while I still have no idea what Grisaia means (?) this was a truly awesome read. There were so many things done well in this VN that it's hard to count them all.

Let's start off with the main character. Although he did have his flaws Yuuji was definitely the most entertaining MC I have had so far. I really liked how he did try to act on things immediately that bothered him. He wouldn't remain passive until someone else solved his problems for him. I loved how he he did not start stuttering as soon as a girl spoke to him and how he could handle them quite well without being a macho. Although I did find his reactions pretty rude in the beginning, after a while you start accepting the MC the way he is and it even makes sense when you progress further into the game. I also really liked his attitude towards sex and relationships, I could very well identify with that. Even to a degree that for the first time in a VN I wondered how those H-scenes actually played out - especially in Sacchis route (since I was playing the censored Steam version). But in the end it's not really bothering me. So - great MC!

Then there is the girls: they are a really funny mix of totally different characters. The common route does an awesome job in making you acquainted with their habits and flaws. I remember the first dialogue between Yuuji and Michiru and how I thought 'WTF what kind of conversation is this supposed to be?'. Hard to believe that in the end I even got used to these conversations and actually even liked and enjoyed them. The common route is pretty long and just when I thought it dragged on for a bit too long the heroines routes finally started. Until then it's a lot of SoL stuff with many dirty jokes and other funny stuff. But in the heroines routes the game really starts to shine IMO (although there are many people out there who think the other way round). I gave this VN a final rating of 9.6 and will below name the reasons why I deducted those minimal points.

Also what made this VN so awesome was that there was no bad, stupid or boring route. Even the girls that I did like the least and where I thought they could never sensibly match with the MC had great routes and in the end I really liked all the girls nearly equally (because after their stories their behavior suddenly made sense). Well done on a novel where none of the heroines feel neglected or have a lackluster story!

I will now write a bit more about the individual heroines routes: Since there are spoilers I will make that section hidden.

Spoiler

First route I played was Michirus route: While the story is a bit far fetched and the only one where IMO they stepped a bit into fantasy land it was still very heart-warming. This route gets 0.1 point off for the main character pretty lacking in the romance department. Even in the end I somehow got the feeling that he wasn't really happy with his choice. I had real concerns about the MC being so unromantic but luckily he did a lot better in the other routes. In the end I found Michiru really cute while before I found her rather annoying.

Next route was Makinas route: I clearly found her the least interesting character after the common route and didn't expect much. But wow, her story really got me hooked and even made me respect her. Well done by the author to make me change my mind about Makina! Even though the prospect of Yuuji and Makina becoming a couple seemed impossible to do, in the end it made sense and you could understand why he fell in love with her. Still I deduct 0.1 points here because for some reason the end felt a bit rushed and it seemed very unlikely that they would suddenly be able to live their live together without many troubles after all that had happened before.

Which leads us to Sacchis route: Very impressive how Sacchis inner workings are presented and how you get to understand her character. I really enjoyed her route a lot and it's such a cool moment when you finally get to see her in casual clothing . It was funny how moved I was by that scene and how she seemed completely different. I do have to deduce 0.2 points for one thing though and that is blowing up the school. While the author tried his best to justify that measure and explained a lot how that was made possible it was still way too extreme and far fetched. That was probably the most disappointing moment in the whole VN for me. Still, 0.2 points off is not much and it was still a great route in the end.

Next was Yumikos route: Let me tell you outright that I found this route not only the best in the game but even the best route I have ever read in a VN. I found it hard to believe that my thoughts about what romance is about would ever be fulfilled so perfectly. There was simply nothing wrong in this route and I am sure I will read it again in the future because I liked it so much. And this perfect route was ended with a perfect ending. How sweet that was! I am still touched thinking about it

I saved Amanes route until last because I liked her most during the common route: This was also an awesome route. I found it really interesting that she was so sexually aggressive and how Yuuji thinks about that. Because isn't that often the case that when a relationship is too much about sex you wonder if it is really love or just sexual interest? Still through all that Amane still manages to be also extremely sweet. That's very well done. And then there is Amane's background story which would nearly justify a VN on its own! It's really long I find no reasons to deduct any ponts here as well. And wow, while I was already amazed that Yumikos route when 5 years into the future, this route goes even 60 or so years into the future! Nice, simply nice (although also a bit sad).

So as you can see I am really happy I started the Grisaia series. And of course I will now continue with Grisaia no Meikyuu which I have already bought in another Steam offer. Looking forward to it!

[adamstan]

Thanks for above review. I also have Steam versions of all three Grisaia games (got them on winter sale, I think ). It's good to hear that it's good

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by adamstan

[Stormwolf]

8 minutes ago, AustriaVNFan said:

Yesterday I finished reading Grisaia no Kajitsu / Fruit of Grisaia. And while I still have no idea what Grisaia means (?) this was a truly awesome read. There were so many things done well in this VN that it's hard to count them all.

Let's start off with the main character. Although he did have his flaws Yuuji was definitely the most entertaining MC I have had so far. I really liked how he did try to act on things immediately that bothered him. He wouldn't remain passive until someone else solved his problems for him. I loved how he he did not start stuttering as soon as a girl spoke to him and how he could handle them quite well without being a macho. Although I did find his reactions pretty rude in the beginning, after a while you start accepting the MC the way he is and it even makes sense when you progress further into the game. I also really liked his attitude towards sex and relationships, I could very well identify with that. Even to a degree that for the first time in a VN I wondered how those H-scenes actually played out - especially in Sacchis route (since I was playing the censored Steam version). But in the end it's not really bothering me. So - great MC!

Then there is the girls: they are a really funny mix of totally different characters. The common route does an awesome job in making you acquainted with their habits and flaws. I remember the first dialogue between Yuuji and Michiru and how I thought 'WTF what kind of conversation is this supposed to be?'. Hard to believe that in the end I even got used to these conversations and actually even liked and enjoyed them. The common route is pretty long and just when I thought it dragged on for a bit too long the heroines routes finally started. Until then it's a lot of SoL stuff with many dirty jokes and other funny stuff. But in the heroines routes the game really starts to shine IMO (although there are many people out there who think the other way round). I gave this VN a final rating of 9.6 and will below name the reasons why I deducted those minimal points.

Also what made this VN so awesome was that there was no bad, stupid or boring route. Even the girls that I did like the least and where I thought they could never sensibly match with the MC had great routes and in the end I really liked all the girls nearly equally (because after their stories their behavior suddenly made sense). Well done on a novel where none of the heroines feel neglected or have a lackluster story!

I will now write a bit more about the individual heroines routes: Since there are spoilers I will make that section hidden.

  Hide contents

First route I played was Michirus route: While the story is a bit far fetched and the only one where IMO they stepped a bit into fantasy land it was still very heart-warming. This route gets 0.1 point off for the main character pretty lacking in the romance department. Even in the end I somehow got the feeling that he wasn't really happy with his choice. I had real concerns about the MC being so unromantic but luckily he did a lot better in the other routes. In the end I found Michiru really cute while before I found her rather annoying.

Next route was Makinas route: I clearly found her the least interesting character after the common route and didn't expect much. But wow, her story really got me hooked and even made me respect her. Well done by the author to make me change my mind about Makina! Even though the prospect of Yuuji and Makina becoming a couple seemed impossible to do, in the end it made sense and you could understand why he fell in love with her. Still I deduct 0.1 points here because for some reason the end felt a bit rushed and it seemed very unlikely that they would suddenly be able to live their live together without many troubles after all that had happened before.

Which leads us to Sacchis route: Very impressive how Sacchis inner workings are presented and how you get to understand her character. I really enjoyed her route a lot and it's such a cool moment when you finally get to see her in casual clothing . It was funny how moved I was by that scene and how she seemed completely different. I do have to deduce 0.2 points for one thing though and that is blowing up the school. While the author tried his best to justify that measure and explained a lot how that was made possible it was still way too extreme and far fetched. That was probably the most disappointing moment in the whole VN for me. Still, 0.2 points off is not much and it was still a great route in the end.

Next was Yumikos route: Let me tell you outright that I found this route not only the best in the game but even the best route I have ever read in a VN. I found it hard to believe that my thoughts about what romance is about would ever be fulfilled so perfectly. There was simply nothing wrong in this route and I am sure I will read it again in the future because I liked it so much. And this perfect route was ended with a perfect ending. How sweet that was! I am still touched thinking about it

I saved Amanes route until last because I liked her most during the common route: This was also an awesome route. I found it really interesting that she was so sexually aggressive and how Yuuji thinks about that. Because isn't that often the case that when a relationship is too much about sex you wonder if it is really love or just sexual interest? Still through all that Amane still manages to be also extremely sweet. That's very well done. And then there is Amane's background story which would nearly justify a VN on its own! It's really long I find no reasons to deduct any ponts here as well. And wow, while I was already amazed that Yumikos route when 5 years into the future, this route goes even 60 or so years into the future! Nice, simply nice (although also a bit sad).

So as you can see I am really happy I started the Grisaia series. And of course I will now continue with Grisaia no Meikyuu which I have already bought in another Steam offer. Looking forward to it!

Spoiler

 

I agree with most of what you say. I liked Yumiko's route the best as well. The problem is i didn't like the ending. It was terrible. Yumiko wanted to escape her family, yet proceeded to inherit it..... WHY? This is some japanese mentality shit i just can't fathom. You see it everywhere. "You can't escape your obligations from birth" Kind of thing. It's pathetic. Her normal end was much better as they have to live like regular people. Nothing wrong with that.

Sacchi's did go too far i completely agree. It wasn't just a lapse of judgement or a spell of craziness. This took too long and too much planning. Either she's got a serious mental illness or the writers screwed things up a bit.

Michuru agreed

Makina agreed but i never found them as a couple compelling.

Amane agreed for the most part. Although the ending went on too long and instead of being happy it was borderline depressive. Not something to have in a good ending.

 

 

[r0xm2n]

Nice to see another person reading Grisaia and knowing how great it is.

It is the VN that got me very hooked on the genre in the first place.

....... and ChiruChiru best girl

[Inorin]

Just finished Zanmataisei Demonbane a while ago and I have to say it's a quite an interesting read. A chuunige with mechs is something that you don't see everyday, and for a VN from Nitroplus, it sure has a fair share of humour. Not too many flaws to point out, but

Spoiler

Metatron's identity and Sadalphon's identity were both too easy to figure out. However, I could never have guessed that Kouzou Hadou was actually Daijuuji Kurou; though I really should have known considering that he was able to "predict" the future. 

Fight scenes were okay, humour was decent and pacing was alright. I liked all routes equally, so I can't really choose a favourite. Final rating: 8.2/10.

[adamstan]

BTW, I have to ask one thing.

Some of you guys sometimes speak about "passive reading" of VNs. What's that? Does that mean watching playthrough vids on YT?

[Inorin]

6 minutes ago, adamstan said:

BTW, I have to ask one thing.

Some of you guys sometimes speak about "passive reading" of VNs. What's that? Does that mean watching playthrough vids on YT?

I don't how it is for other people, but for me "passive reading" means that I spend less than an hour of my time (per day) reading a VN. Anything more than that would fall under "active reading".

[Stormwolf]

1 hour ago, adamstan said:

BTW, I have to ask one thing.

Some of you guys sometimes speak about "passive reading" of VNs. What's that? Does that mean watching playthrough vids on YT?

Huh? Even while watching on youtube, you do have to read the text. 

[adamstan]

12 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Huh? Even while watching on youtube, you do have to read the text. 

Yep, but you don't have to click or make choices   That's why I was curious if it meant this or something other. "Passively reading" seemed like kind of oxymoron to me - so I thought it was describing the degree of interaction or sth.

Edited June 3, 2019 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

7 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Huh? Even while watching on youtube, you do have to read the text. 

Unless someone reads everything for you. But that can only apply to EVNs or VN without voice acting (that's how I experience most of those trash-tier ecchi EVNs, I just watch playthroughs). Unless you watch let's play where someone reads narration and you know Japanese well enough to understand the dialogues without reading... Well, my point is, there are ways to "read" VNs without fully paying attention to them and I do that a lot while working or doing exercises. 

[Stormwolf]

32 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Unless someone reads everything for you. But that can only apply to EVNs or VN without voice acting (that's how I experience most of those trash-tier ecchi EVNs, I just watch playthroughs). Unless you watch let's play where someone reads narration and you know Japanese well enough to understand the dialogues without reading... Well, my point is, there are ways to "read" VNs without fully paying attention to them and I do that a lot while working or doing exercises. 

I've seen those kinds of videos and they're cancer inducing. I cant fathom who likes to listen to some retard reading up loud every damn dialogue. Likely some new modern thing i'll never understand.

[Seraphim]

Finished Deardrops yesterday, and it was a bundle of disappointments that were salvaged somewhat by the true route. Here are my thoughts on the indivual routes:
 

Spoiler

Common route: It was basically just a copy+paste of KiraKira, with the difference of the band staying in one area rather than going on tour. They even crashed the culture festival, just like they did in KiraKira. Nothing interesting happened, and the constant vague references to "the incident in Germany" were a really aggravating way to build suspense. (Even in half of the heroine routes, you're never told what actually happened.)

Yayoi's route: Quite possibly the worst heroine route I've ever read. Literally the only thing going on is Yayoi's guitar breaking, them waiting for it to be repaired, the guitar getting stolen right away, them finding the guitar, and then confessing and having sex in a love hotel. Roll credits. The story about the band was completely dropped, there was no character development, and the route ended as soon as Shoichi and Yayoi got together, after like two hours of total play time.

Kanade's route: The second best route, but that doesn't say much considering how disappointing most of the VN was. It's a tolerable route, but I have four major issues with it.
1. It's utterly ridiculous how the route is initiated. When Riho gets sick during the beach festival, she just randomly decides that Kanade should replace her as vocalist. This doesn't happen in any of the other routes, despite the circumstances being exactly the same. None of the choices made to enter the route should in any way influence Riho, so that turn of events makes no sense whatsoever.
2. Why doesn't Kanade tell anyone that Shoichi was stabbed? Nevermind the fact that he himself was a complete moron for prioritizing a concert over his life, but how Kanade just goes along with it is beyond me. Even if he tells her not to worry about it, it should be pretty damn obvious how serious it is to be stabbed in the stomach and that getting him to a hospital should be a priority.
3. At the end of the route, Johann confesses that the whole incident in Germany was a misunderstanding and that he threw himself down the stairs in order to ruin Shoichi's career. If that's true, why is Johann so pissed at Shoichi? If Johann actually caused it all himself, he has no reason to be, and definitely not to the point of wanting to kill him.
4. Why the hell doesn't Kanade just join Deardrops? The fact that noone ever even considers this option during the entire route is simply mindblowing. They could have avoided basically all of the drama that way, since they wouldn't have to compete against each other for the major label debut, and they wouldn't have to feel like they're drifting apart either. When Kanade and Riho sing together in an alley, they mention that they're perfectly synchronized, so they would obviously work well together. Kanade knows how to play guitar and piano as well, so she could also take on another role than vocals depending on the situation.

Rimu's route: Drama based on misunderstandings is one of the cheapest tricks in the book and one of the premises I dislike the most. Thus, it was really disappointing to see an entire route revolving around that.
Once again, Kanade is acting like an idiot. Rimu went to her for advice about the whole "relationships within the band aren't allowed" business, but for whatever reason, Kanade doesn't tell her that she's taking it too literally and should just discuss it with the band. Not even when Rimu quits the band and joins another one does Kanade speak up, despite knowing the exact reason for why she did so. She just passively watches as Deardrops slowly starts falling apart. If Shoichi hadn't kept pushing for making up with Rimu, the band would have most likely been done for.
Speaking of Shoichi, if he had just explained about his and Kanade's phone wallpaper discussion and turned down Samejima's drinking invitation by saying that he already had plans with Rimu, all the drama afterwards could have been avoided.
To sum it up, people not speaking their mind when they should is the main issue with Rimu's route.
(Sidenote: Shoichi's love confession to Rimu during the Mu Mu concert was one of the cringiest I've ever seen.)

Riho's route: This route singlehandedly managed to improve my opinion of this VN from "borderline awful" to "decent". All in all, it's a solid route and I wasn't really annoyed by anything in the way I was with the other routes. The only thing I can think of is that I don't like how Riho pushed Shoichi to go back to Germany by making the band disband. Shoichi clearly said that he wanted to stay in Japan, but she just went ahead and forced her own values on him, like so many times before. But Shoichi seemed happy with the outcome, so I guess I can't complain about it too much.

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Seraphim88

[adamstan]

I just started Mashiro Iro Symphony. It's one of the VNs that prompted me to start learning Japanese (along with Konosora), so it's time to finally tackle it

[AaronIsCrunchy]

I'm actually reading something, for once in my life. Little Busters. I stared in the moe void and it moe moe kyun'd back at me.

 

It's really good. We'll see how that goes when I get onto a character route but for the time being I love the comfy friendship vibes and the minigames. 

[Stormwolf]

Wouldnt call little busters a simple moege. Not at all. Quite far from it in fact.

[Ranzo]

So I finished playing Fata Morgana and damn I guess they weren't kidding when they said it was a great vn. I can confidently state that it really lived up to it's hype. 

Here is a song that can go with it

 

[littleshogun]

On 6/4/2019 at 2:11 AM, Seraphim88 said:

Spoiler

Rimu's route: Drama based on misunderstandings is one of the cheapest tricks in the book and one of the premises I dislike the most. Thus, it was really disappointing to see an entire route revolving around that.
Once again, Kanade is acting like an idiot. Rimu went to her for advice about the whole "relationships within the band aren't allowed" business, but for whatever reason, Kanade doesn't tell her that she's taking it too literally and should just discuss it with the band. Not even when Rimu quits the band and joins another one does Kanade speak up, despite knowing the exact reason for why she did so. She just passively watches as Deardrops slowly starts falling apart. If Shoichi hadn't kept pushing for making up with Rimu, the band would have most likely been done for.
Speaking of Shoichi, if he had just explained about his and Kanade's phone wallpaper discussion and turned down Samejima's drinking invitation by saying that he already had plans with Rimu, all the drama afterwards could have been avoided.
To sum it up, people not speaking their mind when they should is the main issue with Rimu's route.
(Sidenote: Shoichi's love confession to Rimu during the Mu Mu concert was one of the cringiest I've ever seen.)

 

As for Deardrops here, I would say that Rimu's here is my least favorite route and the heroine and the reason is exactly what you say. Although in my case rather than Kanade I would put the blame on Rimu though, simply because she didn't have a common sense. Perhaps now that I looking back at both of Rimu and Yayoi routes here I can say that both of the routes were the redundant routes, although Yayoi's here is still better compared to Rimu's though (At least she (Obviously Yayoi) didn't indirectly causing the band to slowly falling apart when she realized her love to Shouichi). As for why Overdrive apply both of Yayoi and Rimu's routes, maybe at first they only write both of Kanade's and Riho's routes but in the middle of the production they changed their mind to add two additional routes so they can exactly have four heroines route, although in the end it's just my speculation though.

Edited June 6, 2019 by littleshogun

[adamstan]

I finished prologue in MashiroIro (meaning, I got to the opening). There's one thing that got me by surprise - there are few moments, when characters say something, but it's treated like "background noise", and those lines aren't put into textbox, which contains narration instead. Indeed, from what I've heard those weren't important lines, but nevertheless they caught me off guard I think it's the first time I see such a thing (apart from voice-only "Heart to Heart" radio show that you can listen to on Saturday nights in ToHeart).

I suppose the creators wanted to convey that protag-kun wasn't listening

Whatever, my first impressions are positive - it sounds and looks great - I really like the music, backgrounds are beautiful, and sprites have rich variety of poses.

Edited June 6, 2019 by adamstan