What are you playing?

[Fred the Barber]

Could not agree more with this assessment of Tsui Yuri, tbh. The bad endings are entertaining, at least.

[Plk_Lesiak]

Just a general idea: shouldn't this thread be pinned instead of all those super-outdated compilations? It's kind of a core part of the forums...

Anyway, to the topic. I was actually reading quite a few things lately, even though it doesn't show very much in my VNDB. I've finished the route I once skipped in Fragment's Note, Misha's (the deredere childhood friend) and read all the three arcs of After Stories. It's one of the very few genuine mobile JVNs (that is, counting those that actually tell stories and not the microtransaction-riddled messes just masquerading as VNs) that were translated into English and I can't really decide what to think about it. The main intrigue is quite cool and I like most of the characters, but there are just no limits to how dumb and repetitive this VN can get. The stepsister's and childhood friend's routes are nearly identical, the drama showing up after the main plot is resolved is utterly idiotic and drags on for an eternity. But I still kind of can't force myself to hate it, especially when reading it leisurely on my phone. After Stories were nice to read mostly because they skipped on serious drama and just focused on the protagonist and the heroine of your choice figuring out what their relationship should be like. And in the end, two things are certain: Eri is the best girl (she starts as a bit of a confused moron, but I think a slightly-traumatized teen could easily end up being that way – at least she has an actual personality) and Misha is annoying as f*** when she's not in a supporting role. But also, even if I'm reading through an utterly mediocre series, I find it impossible to not feel some connection to the characters and to not enjoy the whole thing more and more over time (well, Sakura MMO might be an exception, but that's beside the point...). I'm slowly starting to get into Fragment's Note 2 and I think I'll enjoy it even if it repeats most of the sins of the original – also because every VN reads better when it's your only entertainment during a long, boring bus ride...

I've also finished reading No One But You and well, it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons. I have a review of it more or less ready and it will show up soon, but damn, I'm sometimes amazed by what kind of monstrosities VN writers can produce. I think I've lost like 10% of my brain cells reading through Shiro's and Megumi's routes. Also had a bitter laugh after learning that ebi-hime wrote Chinatsu's route (it was okay-ish, way above the ones I've already mentioned for sure), not only getting involved in this trainwreck but also having her nick misspelt as "ebi-himi" in the credits. 

And continuing with ebi-hime, I went back to reading The Language of Love, happily reminding myself what a mature work by a talented writer looks like. It's utterly mundane in its flow and themes, but still manages to be original by tackling the kind of everyday scenarios and characters that aren't usually a part of VN's romantic fantasy, with a struggling single mother and a screw-up in his mid-twenties being at the center of it all. Also, it gave me that awkward moment of realization, that even these unusually old VN lead characters are still six-seven years younger than me. When did that happen?

Edited July 29, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[adamstan]

7 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I've also finished reading No One But You and well, it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons. I have a review of it more or less ready and it will show up soon,

I'm looking forward to it

7 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Also had a bitter laugh after learning that ebi-hime wrote Chinatsu's route (it was okay-ish, way above the ones I've already mentioned for sure),

Yeah, it was definitely the best route. It was also the first route I've read. Another semi-decent one IMO was Yui's. But Megumi's and Shiro's were utterly ridiculous...

7 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Also, it gave me that awkward moment of realization, that even these unusually old VN lead characters are still six-seven years younger than me. When did that happen?

I had that kind of sad "revelation" while playing Kazoku Keikaku - not only MC, but also Masumi, the older, mother-like, heroine, was younger than me.

[Ranzo]

Finished two pretty short vns

Over The Hills And Far Away

The setting was very unique and I'm a sucker for historical background

The two main characters were well done and had a good rapport

Unfortunately, I thought it was pretty short and the ending felt very rushed. It was bittersweet but I kinda saw it coming( I thought it would have been even more bleak)

Spoiler

I didn't figure that the mad tracker was the redcoats former partner but he wasn't established that much. Also how did Mai get away from the solders that quickly and without their involvement?

The ending was abrupt and a bit disappointing, I thought there might be a small epilogue but no, story ends.

I also played Lake of Voices which I thought was surprisingly good. The quality of the voice acting was even more surprising. It was tense at times, the art was good, the mc was good.

Bemelle was the best and he had the best voice for the role.

[Plk_Lesiak]

5 hours ago, adamstan said:

Yeah, it was definitely the best route. It was also the first route I've read. Another semi-decent one IMO was Yui's. But Megumi's and Shiro's were utterly ridiculous...

 

It was probably the best-written one, but my favourite is still going to be Ryo's. Unlike all the edgy crap, going for a light BL route with the best buddy character was actually a pretty ballsy idea and I like how it was handled. Plus the drama in it is straightforward and avoids those worst cliches (the sudden appearance of the "childhood promise" trope kind of soured Yui's route for me).

Chinatsu's route, on the other hand, is decent overall, but kind of exposes all the weaker parts of ebi's sensibilities. The mystery is quite obvious even by the end of the common route and later the piling of tragedy over tragedy overdid it in my perspective. It was going for this super-heavy emotional impact, but I kind of felt nothing by the point it ended.

Thus, my personal ranking is Ryo > Yui > Chinatsu >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Shiro & Megumi

Edited July 29, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[adamstan]

As for the "childhood promise" trope - for some reasons I seem to like it (as well as "childhood friend" heroines -> Chinatsu), and it was actually one of the reasons I liked Yui's route, but of course its execution in NOBY is seriously lacking. It was one of the first VNs that I've read (after Army Gals and Battle Girls from Dharker) - that probably "helped" it a bit, as I knew basically nothing about genres' tropes and cliches back then   (Although gigantic plot holes and inconsistencies of Megumi's route were already obvious). For some reasons I didn't like Ryo as a character too much, and BL is generally not for me, so that's it.

And then I read first "full-sized" JVN - if I'm not mistaken, it was Dal Segno - and difference was like night and day... Then followed Harukoi Otome (mixed bag...) and Princess Evangile (great), and after that there was no going back - the only EVN that managed to capture me since then, and stand on its own when compared to JVNs was Katawa Shoujo.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to NOBY review at EVN chronicles

Edited July 29, 2019 by adamstan

[yelsha57]

I bought Trinoline and Subahibi on Steam this month. I'm also continuing Saku Saku, and I have read Mio's route so far. I may start Chronoclock soon too. I just like to read different genres, depending on what I'm in the mood for.

Edited July 30, 2019 by yelsha57

[Plk_Lesiak]

Finally done with Language of Love... Quite a joyous experience, really. Like I've mentioned before, it's a celebration of mundane, imperfect romance, with two adults that kind of lose their way and then find new meaning to their lives in each other. A very slow-burn, awkward kind of love story, where neither side really knows whether they'll be able to make it work, but grow to care and depend on each other too much for things to go any other way. All with the unruly, 6 years old daughter of the heroine at the center of it, who's also the source of most of the story's humour and witty dialogue, where both the protagonist and the heroine has to fight with her stubbornness and irrefutable, childish logic.

Also, it features a wonderfully awkward, romantic h-scene. This is one thing I really didn't enjoy in Blackberry Honey, Ebi's other eroge - while the story there was quite excellent, the h-scenes were very porny and completely mismatched with the setting (with both language and various details – since when Victorian-era maids shaved down there???). Here everything stuck together perfectly, enhancing the overall climate and narrative. The whole experience probably won't be for everyone, considering how purposefully-mundane it all is, but it was a while since I was this satisfied with a VN – while it wasn't amazing, and basically didn't even try to be, there's hardly anything in it that I didn't like. A strong 8/10.

Edited July 30, 2019 by Plk_Lesiak

[Mr Poltroon]

5 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

there's hardly anything in it that I didn't like

I have one thing I didn't like, but it's not a fault of the game at all. It just doesn't apply to me and I'm not a fan.

Spoiler

The protagonist here was, uh, sort of suffering from depression and pressure. Even in this sweet title, ebihime finds a way to bring in the dark.
I get it. Not everyone is like me, and everyone has their own problems. I just don't like this idea that suffering/problems makes a character deeper. My life problem is that I can't empathise with all these brooding protagonists. What luxury!

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Mr Poltroon

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 minute ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I have one thing I didn't like, but it's not a fault of the game at all. It just doesn't apply to me and I'm not a fan.

  Hide contents

The protagonist here was, uh, sort of suffering from depression and pressure. Even in this sweet title, ebihime finds a way to bring in the dark.
I get it. Not everyone is like me, and everyone has their own problems. I just don't like this idea that suffering/problems makes a character deeper. My life problem is that I can't empathise with all these brooding protagonists. What luxury!

 

Oh, I understand fully. Now that I think about it, nearly every male protagonist ebi writes is like that to some extent (and some female ones too). Emotionally drained and introducing themselves through a prolonged, depressive monologue. I kind of associate it with her style by this point. On the other hand, here it fitted the story a bit more than in some other cases. The game really depended on the idea of both protagonist's and heroine's lives being empty in their own ways, and the relationship they built filling that void.

[adamstan]

6 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Finally done with Language of Love... Quite a joyous experience, really. Like I've mentioned before, it's a celebration of mundane, imperfect romance, with two adults that kind of lose their way and then find new meaning to their lives in each other. A very slow-burn, awkward kind of love story, where neither side really knows whether they'll be able to make it work, but grow to care and depend on each other too much for things to go any other way

Sounds actually interesting... might give it a go.

What about art and sound? (There are no screenshots on vndb)

Edited July 31, 2019 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

2 hours ago, adamstan said:

Sounds actually interesting... might give it a go.

What about art and sound? (There are no screenshots on vndb)

The sprites are a tiny bit off in their design, I would say, but not ugly by any means. CGs and the rest of the assets are better (done by different artists and missing the peculiar proportions, but still consistent in style enough to not make you feel a disconnect between them). The music is rather cheerful and very... Japanese, including a theme song with vocals. It fits the premise and setting of the story though.

[sarkasmus]

Currently I'm only playing the Date a Live VN, it's surprisingly enjoyable and nice for practicing japanese (I'm really glad more and more games include the original text).

Spoiler

 

[ChaosRaven]

So, I finished another otome VN: Nightshade - a tale about Ninjas. 

First, I wanted to say that I'm still a bit irritated that I have to revert to an otome VN if I want to read an action-loaded story about cool Ninjas, because the only other thing I get are a bunch of rotten sex fests from Black Lilith.  So, since I got that off my heart now, I can start with my review.

Nightshade is a story about the Kouga shinobi clan after the Iga clan was eliminated in the Tenshou Iga War, and its survivors fused with the Kouga clan. In that regard, it's a similar alternative Japanese history VN like Hakuouki, even if it doesn't quite reach the high level of it. The protagonist girl Enju is the daughter of the leaders of the Kouga clan and the former Iga clan and represents a symbol of their unification. When the VN starts she's pretty much a ninja rookie and sent on a mission with her companions to capture a famous thief in the capital of Kyo. The ninja's here fulfill different roles, depending on clan and current master. The range goes from private body guards and secret police like the Tokugawa, special agents and spies like the Kouga to simple hired mercenaries and assassins like the Fuma.

The common route is pretty much about getting to know all the characters and Enju's first mission to capture the thief of Kyo. The individual character routes start after that mission is over and things going horrible wrong afterwards with Enju on the run. This part was surprisingly good, even if it could have probably been a bit longer. Enju is certainly the best protagonist character from the otome VN's I've read so far. Though that doesn't say much I guess, since I didn't read that much otomes yet. Since Enju is a shinobi herself and not just a passive bystander, she's much more involved and proactive as usual. The VN also had a great feature to get more involved into Enju's thoughts and emotions. On the lower left side there was always her portrait showing her current expressions. Other VN's usually only show the currently talking character face there, but here you can always see how she reacts on what others say or what she herself says and thinks. I really liked that, especially since Enju was a rather pretty and charming character.

The quality of the routes varied though. The first route I read was from Choujirou. He's the leader of the Kouga group sent to Kyo and Enju's personal instructor. The character itself was great, but unfortunately his route not so much. A long time you've no idea what's going on and Enju is thrown around like a sack of rice between the guys trying to save her instead of doing something useful herself and I also found the resolution of the story fairly weak. On the other hand, it had some 'Red Wedding' like twist I simply didn't expect from that VN.
Fun fact: Choujirou was voiced by Toriumi Kousuke who also voiced Saitou Hajime from Hakouki, who is exactly one of the three characters I read the routes from in Hakouki.

The second route I read was from Hanzou, a former Iga member and now the leader of the private shinobi guard from lord Tokugawa. He's a real badass and considered the strongest ninja around. This was clearly my favorite route. Hanzou had a cool teasing relationship with lord Tokugawa who was my most favorite side character by a long mile. Hanzou and Enju also develop a touching Leon & Mathilda relationship, with Hanzou being the absolute super killer, giving her advanced training when they are on the run and fending off the other shinobi clans together. Hanzou also brings the best out of Enju. He likes smart and diligent characters, so Enju is forced to act that way if a romance relationship should develop. I also liked the plot resolution much more like in the previous route, even though I found the resolution about her father a bit too comic-book-villainy.
Fun fact: Hanzou was voiced by Toriumi Kousuke who also voiced Kazama Chikage, the arch-villain from Hakouki, who is another one of the three characters I read the routes from in Hakouki.
Fun fact-2: I thought that lord Tokugawa was a (pretty) woman in disguise the whole time, because 'he' looked and sounded so feminine. I couldn't believe the VNDB entry and even checked the gender of the voice actor... and apparently 'he' is supposed to be male. It was still so hard to believe that I was almost thinking about requesting a gender check. 

The third route I played was from Goemon. He appears like a simple womanizer at first, but tuns out to be a man of many secrets. The plot also develops rather different than the other two before, and involves the five elders much more. I liked it although it doesn't beat the one of Hanzou. Mainly because Enju was forced into a rather passive observer role here for a good part of the route. The situation demanded it and was well-founded, but it's still more fun to have Enju doing stuff and making decisions herself.

I wasn't so interested in the teenie connection of Gekkamaru and his brother Kuroyuki. Especially Gekkamaru was painfully bland. I was fine with  the routes of the three adults and therefore skipped the routes of those two. The individual routes have strong similarities anyway.

The VN also had some pretty good side characters, especially Tokugawa Ieyasu, but also Enju's two companions Kyara and Ennosuke.

Production values were decent even if it can't compete with Hakouki. Art designs were still good, although the images could have been a bit sharper. Story and characters were interesting although the villains were a bit lacking and made some plot resolutions disappointing. Hakuouki had much better developed villains. If the other four elders would have been as well developed as lord Tokugawa this VN could have even beaten Hakouki. Though Enju was certainly a better protagonist than Chizuru. The common and hero routes could also have been a bit longer I think.

Character ranking: (Tokugawa Ieyasu) > Hanzou > Choujirou > Goemon >> Kuroyuki > Gekkamaru (Still irritated that Tokugawa is supposed to be a dude, but I certainly like her him)

Overall rating 7.5/10

Edited August 1, 2019 by ChaosRaven

[Stormwolf]

Completely agree with you. So many otome with interesting settings. And what do we get?..... highschool, highschool and more highschool. They create what the audience likes best, so the average male japanese must be an absolute loser(well, no shit with the average protagonist in these games) while girls being far more interesting.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Stormwolf

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Stormwolf said:

so the average male japanese must be an absolute loser

The average male Japanese doesn't read VNs. If we recall how eroge players are often represented in manga and other Japanese media, then I wouldn't be surprised if they actually are seen as losers by the general public.

5 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

So, I finished another otome VN: Nightshade - a tale about Ninjas. 

You know, your review looks very intriguing. I was interested in this VN some time ago, but after my disappointment with several other otome I tried and since there was no information on whether it would even be good, I decided to skip it. But, if the protagonist in this one is actually pretty good, then I certainly need to give it a chance at some point.

[ChaosRaven]

3 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

You know, your review looks very intriguing. I was interested in this VN some time ago, but after my disappointment with several other otome I tried and since there was no information on whether it would even be good, I decided to skip it. But, if the protagonist in this one is actually pretty good, then I certainly need to give it a chance at some point.

I guess it depends a bit on what exactly you didn't like about the other otomes, and I didn't read that much myself, but if your main issue was the protagonist then I'm pretty confident that this should be an improvement. At least if you stick to the better routes like the one of Hanzou.

Edited August 1, 2019 by ChaosRaven

[onorub]

6 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

Completely agree with you. So many otome with interesting settings. And what do we get?..... highschool, highschool and more highschool. They create what the audience likes best, so the average male japanese must be an absolute loser(well, no shit with the average protagonist in these games) while girls being far more interesting.

Worst part is that if you look at the untranslated stuff, even Boy Love Games are starting to have more interesting settings. I think the fujoshi are gonna have all the fun come next decade.

[Stormwolf]

6 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

The average male Japanese doesn't read VNs. If we recall how eroge players are often represented in manga and other Japanese media, then I wouldn't be surprised if they actually are seen as losers by the general public.

You know, your review looks very intriguing. I was interested in this VN some time ago, but after my disappointment with several other otome I tried and since there was no information on whether it would even be good, I decided to skip it. But, if the protagonist in this one is actually pretty good, then I certainly need to give it a chance at some point.

obviously i mean the vn readers and not everyone else

[Seraphim]

This isn’t really related to this topic, but I’ll ask here anyway since I don’t think it warrants the creation of a new one.

To those of you who have read Higurashi and Umineko:

I’ve been putting off reading Umineko for a really long time since it’s apparently supposed to spoil some plot devices and whatnot in Higurashi. I’m kinda sick of waiting by now, so rather than wait another year or so for chapter 8 of Higurashi, I’m considering reading chapter 1-7 followed by Umineko as soon as I’m done with Tsukihime.

How far into Higurashi is the stuff that Umineko supposedly spoils? Will I find it out if I read chapter 1-7, or is there something in chapter 8 that will be spoiled if I read Umineko before reading that final chapter of Higurashi?

Edited August 2, 2019 by Seraphim88

[onorub]

^The only stuff that Umineko could possibly spoil is covered by the end of chapter 7 and even then, it's in such a vague way you would barely notice it.

[Seraphim]

Thanks! Another question: Are the Higurashi chapters somewhat standalone, or is there a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 7? I'm trying to determine how painful the wait for chapter 8 will be if I decide to read chapter 1-7 now.

[littleshogun]

As for that while it's not as bad as Meikyuu to Rakuen in that it ended before the big action, the cliffhanger is still there. Namely that it'll end in a downer note (You should understand it from the chapter name alone) and the main casts will resolve it in the next chapter, so yeah you better wait until Matsuribayashi if you prefer wait for the resolution (You can read the older version of Matsuribayashi though if you being impatient after read Chapter 7). Hope it'll answer your question here.

[Dreamysyu]

35 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

Thanks! Another question: Are the Higurashi chapters somewhat standalone, or is there a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 7? I'm trying to determine how painful the wait for chapter 8 will be if I decide to read chapter 1-7 now.

What @littleshogun said, basically. There's something like a cliffhanger at the end of the chapter 7, and ideally it would be the best to read chapter 8 right after that since it connects all the plot threads together, but the cliffhanger is not s big as in many other series.

[Inorin]

I've finally completed Hakuoki. I have no idea why it was listed as "Long (30-50 hours)" since it is definitely way longer than that (13 routes each in Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, with an average route length of ~3h; excluding Chizuru's route which is about 16 minutes), so I took it upon myself to edit the length to "Very Long (>50 hours)".

Well that aside, I've got to say that it has definitely improved my take on otoges. My first otoge was Amnesia, and I didn't really enjoy it that much (A yandere male lead? A protagonist who doesn't even talk? Yikes). Hakuoki also has a yandere-ish male character in the form of Kazama, but he's definitely much more toned down than the one in Amnesia.

Before I get to the plot, I have to say that it has quite a star-studded lineup of voice actors; with the likes of Ono Daisuke, Seki Tomokazu
and Miyano Mamoru in the mix (Warning: The following list is very long). Tldr; some of them have voiced characters for Umineko, Higurashi, Muv Luv, Fate, Dies Irae, Majikoi , Tokyo Ghoul, Attack on Titan and many other popular VNs/anime.

Spoiler

1. Ono Daisuke as Sakomoto Ryouma (Battler/Tohya and Kinzo from Umineko, Akasaka from Higurashi, the protagonist from Planetarian, Misumi Daisuke from Chaos Head, creepy history teacher from Majikoi, Kakeru from 11eyes, Yuuya Bridges from MLA Total Eclipse, K from Virtue's Last Reward, Kuujou Joutarou from Jojo)

2. Miyano Mamoru as Iba Hachirou (Okabe from Steins Gate, Shuu from Tokyo Ghoul, Pandora's Actor from Overlord, Light Yagami from Death Note, Bedivere from FGO)

3. Miki Shin'ichirou as Hijikata Toshizou (Assassin from FSN, Nasu no Yoichi from Majikoi)

4. Yusa Kouji as Harada Sanosuke (Karna from Fate/EX, Aoi Touma from Majikoi)

5. Morikubo Shoutarou as Okita Souji (Tajima Takahisa from 11eyes, some side character from Jojo)

6. Toriumi Kousuke as Saitou Hajime (Archer from Fate/EX, Ren/Lotus + Mercurius from Dies Irae)

7. Yoshino Hiroyuki as Toudou Heisuke (Takumi from Chaos Head, Haruta from Toradora, Ishida Saburou from Majikoi

8. Suzuki Takayuki as Yamazaki Susumu (Kusaka Tatsuhiko and Murase Naoki from Kara no Shoujo)

9. Ookawa Tooru as Kondou Isami (Tomitake from Higurashi, Ukita from Root Double)

10. Hatano Wataru as Motoyama Kotarou (Julius from Fate/EX, Leon Kuze from MLA Total Eclipse)

11. Koyasu Takehito as Takeda Kanryuusai (Dio from Jojo, Sagiri and Meiya's butler from Muv Luv, Sakuraba Hiroshi from Cross Channel, Yukidou Satoru from Remember 11, Astro Circle president from Hoshimemo, Hans from Fate/Extra CCC)

12. Seki Tomokazu as Ibuki Ryuunosuke (Gilgamesh from FSN, Daru from Steins Gate)

13.Tsuda Kenjirou as Kazama Chikage (Nico from Tokyo Ghoul)

14. Tobita Nobuo as Sannan Keisuke (Oogushi Suguru from Majikoi)

15. Kaji Yuki as Souma Kazue (Ayato from Tokyo Ghoul, Eren from Attack on Titan, Kouichi from Jojo)

Ok, now to the plot. Since the story is loosely based on real-life historical events, one can easily predict the outcome of certain events in the game given that they have some knowledge of Japanese history (well, not that the average non-Japanese VN reader would know much Japanese history, but still). This is also why some events can never be altered in all routes. 

Spoiler

Basically all the non-romancable men are fated to die: Gen, Kondou, Nomura etc 

With that being said, while events remain roughly the same in all routes, the ways in which they are approached in are different. Depending on who Chizuru ends up with, we get to experience things from different perspectives, giving us a very detailed insight on each major event. Some characters like Kazama and Sanan may come off as evil and creepy at first, but as we get to their routes, we start to understand their motivations better. 

On a side note, 1 thing I feel quite intrigued about is 

Spoiler

how Harada's the only human who didn't turn into a Fury and had a child with Chizuru. 

 

I had some expectations going into this VN, and I'm glad that those expectations were met. Plenty of action, decent romance and good pacing. Final rating: 7.8/10

Edited August 2, 2019 by wei123