What are you playing?

[Thyndd]

I just picked up Fureraba and oh god, I'm enjoying this way more than I ever would've expected. I'm not the biggest fan of moege... Just because the lack of conflict usually puts me off. I mean, it's a fundamental part of storytelling to give your characters some goal, something at stake and some obstacles, that's what makes a story interesting, right? Well I still don't think I'm mistaken there, but who tf cares about plot when literally every single scene has you laughing your ass off or dying from a cuteness overdose, or both at the same time. I'm just a man dude... I can't help it. 

So yeah, I have still a bit left of Misaki's route, but if every route maintains this level of comedy and fluffiness... It's gonna be a blast. 

And once more, the lesson I once learnt the hard way about never writing off anything because of its genre pays off greatly. 

[adamstan]

The lack of "conflict" made Yuzuyu's route a little bland to me, but I loved all others - especially Misaki and Rina.

Rina's route had just the right amount of drama/conflict to spice things up a bit, and Misaki's - well, it was just great I think my final verdict was that Misaki was best girl, while Rina had best route.

Edited June 6, 2019 by adamstan

[Seraphim]

6 hours ago, littleshogun said:

Although in my case rather than Kanade I would put the blame on Rimu though, simply because she didn't have a common sense.

I honestly think Kanade's more at fault here, despite Rimu being the core of the problem. All of the other characters know that Rimu's a complete airhead, so Kanade shouldn't just let her carry on with her idiotic ways without saying anything. Basically, Rimu doesn't even realize what she's doing is stupid/wrong, while Kanade knows full well but decides to not do anything about it.
 

Spoiler

It's kinda funny how the "no relationships in the band" rule is one of the major concerns in Rimu's route, while Yayoi, the one who came up with the rule, breaks it without a second thought in her own route. It really shows that they're making a mountain out of a molehill in Rimu's route.

 

Edited June 6, 2019 by Seraphim88

[littleshogun]

I didn't remember much of Kanade back at Rimu's route though, mostly because my impression to Rimu was already soured my impression. In any case, rather than both of them (Kanade and Rimu) I would say that it's the writer's fault to write in a less than ideal manner to put it lightly for Rimu's route.

[Mago Ivo]

9 hours ago, Ranzo said:

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

 

I just want to thank you for the amazingly beautiful song.

I finished Fata Morgana almost a year ago and I loved it (ofcourse).

[OdaNova]

I'm just finishing up the True route for Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (999).

 

I agree with one of the characters though, if you throw all the scientific terms at me I'll just go cross-eyed...

I get that the theme of the story encourages the multi-playthrough, but I was getting a bit tired of going through the game again and again. Now I'm on the final true route though and it's getting spicy again so I think it's been worth it so far. Really looking forward to seeing the conclusion, but it'll have to be tomorrow as I'm bushed.

[Seraphim]

Finished reading Crescendo today and I think it's one of my best VN experiences so far. It was well written for the most part and I really liked the music and art style, despite not usually being a fan of shoujo design (perhaps there's a better word for it).
I only have two issues with it:

Spoiler

1. The protagonist's backstory changes depending on the route, making his personality seem kinda hollow and contradictory. In several routes, he's depicted as this righteous guy who stands up for what he believes in, and then in another route, he rapes his sister out of the blue. He's pretty sullen and serious most of the time, but despite that he's randomly laughing his ass off to not very funny jokes on several occassions in one of the routes. There are other examples as well, but the point is that his personality jumps all over the place. I would've preferred a backstory set in stone and then seeing his personality developing from that point throughout the individual routes.
2. Miyu's route. This is the only route that disappointed me. It's by far the worst route in the game, which is kinda weird considering you have to go through all the other ones to reach it.
A girl who's not been seen or mentioned a single time (as far as I can remember) just randomly appears all of a sudden through an extra choice at the beginning of the game.
I've seen the "OMG, SHE WAS DEAD ALL ALONG" (well, not dead per se, but more or less) twist too many times already to find it interesting, and it felt really obvious that the story was going that way, since Miyu kept refusing to meet up with Kaho and Ryou kept getting weird looks from people around town when he was hanging out with Miyu. One thing that doesn't make any sense whatsoever is how the owner of the antique shop could see Miyu although she wasn't physically there. It was never explained, so it must have just been a terrible and completely illogical plot device.

Now I'm moving on to Family Project, from the same developer. I've heard people speak well of it before and the VNDb score is similar to Crescendo's, so I'm hoping I'll enjoy this as much as that.

[adamstan]

5 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Finished reading Crescendo today and I think it's one of my best VN experiences so far. It was well written for the most part and I really liked the music and art style, despite not usually being a fan of shoujo design (perhaps there's a better word for it).
I only have two issues with it:

  Reveal hidden contents

1. The protagonist's backstory changes depending on the route, making his personality seem kinda hollow and contradictory. In several routes, he's depicted as this righteous guy who stands up for what he believes in, and then in another route, he rapes his sister out of the blue. He's pretty sullen and serious most of the time, but despite that he's randomly laughing his ass off to not very funny jokes on several occassions in one of the routes. There are other examples as well, but the point is that his personality jumps all over the place. I would've preferred a backstory set in stone and then seeing his personality developing from that point throughout the individual routes.
2. Miyu's route. This is the only route that disappointed me. It's by far the worst route in the game, which is kinda weird considering you have to go through all the other ones to reach it.
A girl who's not been seen or mentioned a single time (as far as I can remember) just randomly appears all of a sudden through an extra choice at the beginning of the game.
I've seen the "OMG, SHE WAS DEAD ALL ALONG" (well, not dead per se, but more or less) twist too many times already to find it interesting, and it felt really obvious that the story was going that way, since Miyu kept refusing to meet up with Kaho and Ryou kept getting weird looks from people around town when he was hanging out with Miyu. One thing that doesn't make any sense whatsoever is how the owner of the antique shop could see Miyu although she wasn't physically there. It was never explained, so it must have just been a terrible and completely illogical plot device.

 

I wouldn't say that the backstory changes - just we see different parts of it depending on the route. Or... wait... yep, backstory somewhat changes because there are choices during flashbacks, but I think his personality still mostly remains.

Spoiler

But yeah, having to "choose" rape during flashback to get Ayame's route is weird as fuck.

As for Miu's route - it got me, because I haven't read that many VNs using this trope yet when I was reading Crescendo.

Good luck with Family Project

I liked both VNs very much, although Family Project gets hard to read in some places due to editing issues. (the text almost literally falls apart in some lines...)

Edited June 7, 2019 by adamstan

[Ranzo]

Started up Cinderella Phenomenon and man is this protag a real snarky asshole! I love her already

 

[Seraphim]

7 hours ago, adamstan said:

I wouldn't say that the backstory changes

Spoiler

I might have worded this kinda badly. It would probably be more appropriate to say that his backstory is unclear due to the player never being told which events actually happened to him and which didn't, since the story goes in different directions depending on the choices. He supposedly only raped his sister during her route, since he mentions being a virgin in another one, but there was still an awkward distance and lack of intimacy between them during the other routes, so he most likely forced himself on her but just didn't go through with the rest of the act.

 

8 hours ago, adamstan said:

Family Project gets hard to read in some places due to editing issues. (the text almost literally falls apart in some lines...)

Yeah, I read a suggestion from someone about making an edit patch, but I doubt it'll ever happen so I'll just make do with this.
My first impression of the VN is great, at least. I tend to enjoy the premise of a group of misfits banding together, and it's pretty interesting how they manage to keep everything (so far) so lighthearted despite the characters dealing with some pretty heavy issues.

[adamstan]

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

  Hide contents

I might have worded this kinda badly. It would probably be more appropriate to say that his backstory is unclear due to the player never being told which events actually happened to him and which didn't, since the story goes in different directions depending on the choices. He supposedly only raped his sister during her route, since he mentions being a virgin in another one, but there was still an awkward distance and lack of intimacy between them during the other routes, so he most likely forced himself on her but just didn't go through with the rest of the act.

Spoiler

If I remember correctly, even when you choose "rape" option, he still finally remains a virgin, as they're interrupted anyways. So in all versions of backstory he forced himself on her, but haven't gone all the way. The only difference being in their attitudes.

 

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

Yeah, I read a suggestion from someone about making an edit patch, but I doubt it'll ever happen so I'll just make do with this.

It was actually me who attempted it, but you're right - it definitely won't happen soon I have all scripts extracted and prepared, but it's huuge, and I feel overwhelmed by it.

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

My first impression of the VN is great, at least. I tend to enjoy the premise of a group of misfits banding together, and it's pretty interesting how they manage to keep everything (so far) so lighthearted despite the characters dealing with some pretty heavy issues.

It can get pretty heavy in the routes, but I liked it.

Edited June 7, 2019 by adamstan

[Seraphim]

17 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Spoiler

If I remember correctly, even when you choose "rape" option, he still finally remains a virgin, as they're interrupted anyways

 

Spoiler

Unfortunately, they're only interrupted after he goes through with it. I wish it hadn't happened, since it severely lessened my opinion of Ryou as a character and didn't seem at all like something he would do, based on how he usually behaves. It's hard to accept that he'd do something so fucked up just because he found out that he's adopted.

 

17 minutes ago, adamstan said:

I have all scripts extracted and prepared, but it's huuge, and I feel overwhelmed by it.

Yeah, I can imagine. Kudos to all the fan translators out there who puts up with the massive amount of work that a VN translation entails, without getting paid for it.

Edited June 7, 2019 by Seraphim88

[adamstan]

23 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

  Hide contents

Unfortunately, they're only interrupted after he goes through with it. I wish it hadn't happened, since it severely lessened my opinion of Ryou as a character and didn't seem at all like something he would do, based on how he usually behaves. It's hard to accept that he'd do something so fucked up just because he found out that he's adopted.

 

Spoiler

Ah, so apparently it's so hard to accept, that my memory rejected/distorted it. But you're right, it's totally fucked up.

 

[Seraphim]

Just now, adamstan said:

Spoiler

Ah, so apparently it's so hard to accept, that my memory rejected/distorted it. But you're right, it's totally fucked up.

 

Spoiler

You might have just confused it with the other outcome from the choice before the event. If you choose "Do her", he goes through with it all. If you pick the other choice (I don't remember what it said), he still forces himself on her and gropes her chest, but they're interrupted before he penetrates her. Judging by how the story goes in the other routes, that's probably the canon backstory for Ayame.

 

[Ranzo]

3 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Unfortunately, they're only interrupted after he goes through with it. I wish it hadn't happened, since it severely lessened my opinion of Ryou as a character and didn't seem at all like something he would do, based on how he usually behaves. It's hard to accept that he'd do something so fucked up just because he found out that he's adopted.

 

Yeah, I can imagine. Kudos to all the fan translators out there who puts up with the massive amount of work that a VN translation entails, without getting paid for it.

Family Project was really good even though I've only cleared Aoba's route

[adamstan]

20 minutes ago, Ranzo said:

Family Project was really good even though I've only cleared Aoba's route

Good choice - it was the best route

[Seraphim]

I'm guessing this is one of those editing errors? The manager at the host bar is named Welcome, apparently. It's not a one time occurrence either; it's written like that every time he says or does something.

[adamstan]

Yes, that's his name Weird, but he's weird as well In JP version it's ウェルカム - so basically "Welcome" written in katakana.

But this line isn't too bad. It sounds a bit weird, but it's easy to understand. In later parts there were some lines that were almost incomprehensible. To at least try to understand them I had to "reverse engineer" them

Edited June 7, 2019 by adamstan

[Seraphim]

Oh, so that's really his name? I kinda thought someone messed up the coding somewhere so a random greeting ended up replacing his name.

[Ranzo]

Well I finished playing Cinderella Phenomenon and I got to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think that is almost entirely due to how great and well developed the protag was

She felt like a kindred spirit and I felt I could really empathized with her, I also liked how she showed a remarkable amount of growth without sacrificing the things I liked about her personality

The dudes were alright except Rumple, boy was he aggravating as a character and his route was the worst out of the lot.

It was a mistake to play his route last

I might give it a 7 or and 8

If I give it an 8 than it's all due to the protag

I'll probably play steam prison  next

Edited June 9, 2019 by Ranzo

[Mr Poltroon]

On 13/03/2019 at 7:15 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

Well, if you ever decide to check it out, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. At the very least, I've found it very inoffensive, which is in direct opposition to most Dharker games, not just those super-early ones.

So, I played a route in Highschool Romance and... I really really like it!
I had an inkling that any trap protagonists that aren't in a nukige will, by necessity, fit into my tastes, but I really like Shoji! He basically fits this

Once he gets used to the idea, after the first week or so, he becomes able to casually interact with everybody. And, unlike normal protagonists, he isn't constantly thinking about people's bodies or sex. Wonderful!
In one of the common route paths a female friend fell asleep on his shoulder and he ended up going to sleep too.
Do you know how much I love having a protagonist that doesn't go "I-I can't sleep." "I didn't sleep that night because my friend from school was sleeping over." Urgh, horrible.

(He's also smooth as h*ck once he knows somebody is interested in him but that's an aside)

[Plk_Lesiak]

18 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

So, I played a route in Highschool Romance and... I really really like it! (...)

Yeah, I guess these are all the things that summed up in my mind as this game's "wholesomeness". There's also something to appreciate with how the heroines behave (at least the classmates, the principal route has a very different dynamic for obvious reasons), quickly noticing something's off but respecting protagonist's privacy, at worst pushing him a bit to come clean. This really is such a weird game for Dharker, of all people, to make.

The sequel also has a little bit of these qualities, but damn, that game is just wasted potential incarnate. Great concept, characters, art... And all put together in a weirdly unsatisfying manner. At least the sheer incompetence of that fell more like something Dharker would do.

...

Edited June 10, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[OdaNova]

On 07/06/2019 at 12:29 AM, OdaNova said:

I'm just finishing up the True route for Zero Escape: The Nonary Games (999).

 

I finished it!

I liked it, they sure did their research on pseudoscience... That ending was a bit hmm though. 

 

Spoiler

I really wanted to see Akane and Junpei reunite, but I guess we have to go with the Alice cameo. There were one or two loose ends I'm surprised they didn't tie up in the conclusion given they accounted for most things? Er, well timey wimey stuff excepted. Hopefully will find out more in the sequel, but I'm going to have a break from reading visual novels for a bit.

 

[Ranzo]

I've started playing Steam Prison and it seems pretty good so far
I'm a fan of the protag she seems like a interesting character and I like that she's willing to be flexible as a person

[JoshB2084]

I am currently reading "non-SP" G-senjou no Maou.... It is very interest to reading!!!!