What are you playing?

[Seraphim]

1 hour ago, littleshogun said:

you better wait until Matsuribayashi

 

1 hour ago, Dreamysyu said:

it would be the best to read chapter 8 right after that

I think I'll try to endure then, since the final chapter probably won't be out for quite a while. From what I've heard, it's more or less finished already, but I doubt Mangagamer will release it this year even if that's the case.

[Ranzo]

So I've decided to once again dramatically switch tracks completely in the tonal change department.

I started playing Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai, and I have to say my fucking god is it so much better than Hatsukoi! Like holy shit, it's like the difference between night and day.

Ryou is an actual character and not some frothing, slime excretion that was shat out by some deformed pestilence.

The male best bud is not some loser pervert whose soul reason for being is to make the protag look better by comparison. Plus, he has an actual girlfriend! It's amazing!

I pretty much like all the girls for the most part which was not the case in Hatsukoi (rip kyou and maya..you deserved better)

Here are my initial impressions on them

Ousaka Sora: She's cute and has blue hair so she already reminds me of another blue haired girl that I like so she's alright with me.

Shinozaki Marika: On the spectrum of childhood friends I think she is pretty decent. I tolerate childhood friends a lot more when they have spent some time apart and not just lived next door to the protag since forever. I hope she doesn't pull some childhood promise shit though.

Segawa Natsuki: She's a real spitfire and she reminds me of Sachi from Sharin No Kuni so I quite like her.

Narusawa Rikka: More proof that moody girls with long black hair are my weakness

Yukimura Touko She's also a real spitfire and she seems like she could have a nice teasing game going

Okihara Misa: She's probably the character I'm least enthused about but she seems like she could be a little interesting.

 

An there you have it folks

[Ranzo]

HOLY SHIT THE PROTAG ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFE SEX! IN A VISUAL NOVEL! WILL WONDERS EVER CEASE???

[Seraphim]

Hoshi Ori is nice, but it's too long. There's not that much going on in the story, so I don't get why it has to be so massive. For me, it just resulted in it starting to feel repetitive after a while.
There are way too many h scenes as well. Rather than adding a ton of scenes with like one CG and miles of filler text, I'd prefer if they had just a couple of scenes per heroine and used more CGs in each one.

[Fred the Barber]

6 hours ago, Ranzo said:

HOLY SHIT THE PROTAG ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFE SEX! IN A VISUAL NOVEL! WILL WONDERS EVER CEASE???

Clearly you never played I Walk Among Zombies. Its commitment to safe sex in a zombie apocalypse setting is really quite impressive.

[Plk_Lesiak]

23 minutes ago, Fred the Barber said:

Clearly you never played I Walk Among Zombies. Its commitment to safe sex in a zombie apocalypse setting is really quite impressive.

Well, that's honestly a scenario in which I'd really want to prevent causing random pregnancies...

[Ranzo]

4 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

Clearly you never played I Walk Among Zombies. Its commitment to safe sex in a zombie apocalypse setting is really quite impressive.

Necrophilia is a crime

[snowbell55]

I've just finished Da Capo - well I say finished but I only read 3 routes - Nemu, Sakura, and Kotori) and Kotori Love ExP and honestly, I was left *quite* disappointed by the both of them. It's been said that Da Capo hasn't aged so well, and the translation/editing has some issues, and I did find those two concerns were ones I shared as well. It was a bit surprising, too, because I'm usually okay with plodding through books/VNs like that, but here it did feel like there were quite a few issues, to the point where they detracted from my enjoyment of the VN. The thing I was most disappointed by was frankly

Spoiler

just how absurd some of the situations wound up being. For example, Nemu coughing out cherry blossom petals, Sakura somehow becoming Junichi's teacher, and Kotori being able to read minds.

 It felt like it was forced, didn't really have all that much of an explanation as to how and why it was happening, and felt like they were being more and more ridiculous for the sake of it, and that really damaged my immersion in the story, as well as my desire and ability to care about the characters. It didn't help things much that Junichi seemed to complain regularly and be rather curmudgeonly. 

Kotori Love ExP felt like more of the same, so it was easier to get into since I did actually enjoy Kotori's route the most and by that point I knew what to expect, so getting to see more in that route was nice, but the stories themselves weren't particularly amazing or gripping, and felt like run of the mill stories. It felt like a fandisc, which I suppose it is, but it didn't really feel like it added anything to the experience. Contrast that to (for example) Princess Evangile W Happiness which did have some nice stories for the heroines and also added "routes" for the supporting cast (Marika's, Mitsuki's, and Ruriko's being especially good). 

It's not all bad though - the setting was one I enjoyed, the soundtrack was really good (though short), and (especially in Kotori Love ExP) the artwork was also quite nice, with the CGs being a particular highlight. I also really enjoyed the earlier slice of life portions and the use of the alarm clock to influence what happens next. I think overall it was worth spending the time reading through them. It's just... I'm probably being quite critical, but I was hoping it'd be something like Koichoco, which I liked despite its divisive parts, and I was hoping I'd be able to "get" why it's been such a popular series (at least by the looks of it. That... Didn't wind up happening, and instead it felt like a overly generic VN that tried too hard. It's also made me somewhat reluctant to read Da Capo II. I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, but hopefully it'll be a more engaging read, as it's been a while since I've had a VN that leaves me actively wanting to read it.

Edited August 3, 2019 by snowbell55

[WorldofAI]

I just finished up Momoiro Closet (Ended near end of last month). The ending was long winded and there was just a bit too much dialogue to progress at a steady rate.

New titles I'm presenting on my YouTube Channel:

Lovekami - This is not Divinity Stage, Useless Goddess, and Healing Harem found on Steam but the original visual novel released in 2010. The three spinoff titles are all based on this visual novel and deals with all the information stated in the prologue.

Adventure of a Lifetime - Yes, I ended up presenting the Moenovel version of this title. It's all ages in its original form so I don't think there is much loss. One thing I don't like is how the dolphin got a new name "Phin" instead of the original name "Q-Taro".

Behind the scenes, I'm working on finishing Love Sweets. I'm working through each of the main character routes and I'm getting a little bored with it. Either the female character is upset that the main character doesn't admire her or the main character finds something special with the female character.

 

[Inorin]

42 minutes ago, WorldofAI said:

Useless Goddess

Thought you meant this one for a moment there LOL

[JoshB2084]

1 hour ago, WorldofAI said:

Lovekami - This is not Divinity Stage, Useless Goddess, and Healing Harem found on Steam but the original visual novel released in 2010. The three spinoff titles are all based on this visual novel and deals with all the information stated in the prologue.

 

Lovekami.... MoeNovel..... *groans*

[WorldofAI]

23 hours ago, JoshB2084 said:

 

Lovekami.... MoeNovel..... *groans*

Heh... MoeNovel hasn’t picked up the first Lovekami game which is what I’m playing. It was released back in 2010 and is not in HD. There are people begging for this VN to be butchered localized on the MoeNovel steam forums.

The actual producers are Pulltop. Sadly, MoeNovel and Pulltop are under the same umbrella Corp WillPlus. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by WorldofAI
formatting and word change

[JoshB2084]

5 minutes ago, WorldofAI said:

Heh... MoeNovel hasn’t picked up the first Lovekami game which is what I’m playing. It was released back in 2010 and is not in HD. There are people begging for this VN to be butchered localized on the MoeNovel steam forums.

The actual producers are Pulltop. Sadly, MoeNovel and Pulltop are under the same umbrella Corp WillPlus. 

 

 

MoeNovel almost... No, always ruined and butchered  KonoSora FD 18+ to all age...  There's no twin sisters routes in all age version...

[Ranzo]

Finished Sora's route in Hoshi and I have to say I was very impressed

I especially loved the long epilogue that took place years into the future

That's a feature that I've wanted to see in Visual Novels for such a long time

Sora was real cute and I like how they supported each other in their careers and other endeavors

Problems I had with the vn so far

1. Not enough cgs, there were a lot of scenes that I felt really would have been a lot more powerful with them added to it

2. Way too many sex scenes they litter them into the vn I feel and over half of the cgs are devoted to it. It's a real shame

3. They fucking suck at doing kiss scenes, I don't know what the problem is but every time protag and Sora kissed they would never connect their lips

so you were instead subjected to air kisses while all the while the text is trying desperately to convince us that they are indeed kissing. Kiss scenes are my favorite type of cg and it seems weird that they borked those scenes. (I mean look at this image, what were they thinking?)

4.  Why didn't they have a sprite of Sora giving the thumbs up? She does it all the time and it wouldn't have been that hard to do.

Anyway, on to the next route. Oh, and here is the song for Sora's route

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by Ranzo

[Inorin]

Started reading Muv Luv Photonflowers. Watch this space

[Seraphim]

4 hours ago, Ranzo said:

I mean look at this image, what were they thinking?

Haha, I took a screenshot of this CG from the same scene when I was reading Hoshi Ori, just because I thought it looked stupid.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Seraphim88

[Inorin]

Completed Muv Luv Photonflowers. This VN is basically split into 2 sections: Extra and Alternative.

The Extra section has 1 main story and 6 side stories. The main story is about 4 hours long and the side stories about 15-35 minutes each.

Each side story is from the perspective of each member from the female cast:

1. Best Friends Forever: Sumika
2. Never Judge a Book: Chizuru
3. The Case of the Misssing Tail: Miki
4. The Yakisoba Festival: Ayamine
5. Learning to Love: Meiya 
6. Learning to Lead: Meiya

Of all the side stories, I liked Meiya's the most because they were the most entertaining and actually tell us what her life was like (albeit briefly) before the start of Extra.

As for the main story, it leaves off where Sumika's route in Extra ends. Nothing particularly interesting here, except for some serious relationship drama which all started from the debate of soy sauce and steak sauce. 

Now, on to the better part: Alternative. The Alternative section has 5 stories, 2 of which I skipped (Rain Dancers and Chicken Divers) since I had already read them. Thankfully, the other 3 (Atonement, Confessions, Inheritance) were engaging enough on their own, so that's good enough.

1. Atonement: Takes place around the time when Marimo enlisted and during Operation 9-6. Most other characters are really just filler characters, with the exception of Akai. Akai may come off as a terrible person at first, but as the story goes on, he starts to improve and you start to understand his motivations better. In the original story, there were rumours that Marimo deserted her squad on first sortie, but we get to know what really happened on that day in this story here.

2. Confessions: The longest story and the only one with redrawn art in Photonflowers. Since this was taken from the 2011 remake of Kimi Ita, you probably wouldn't understand some of the Kimi Ita references made in it. Well, not that it matters much, since this story takes place during her enlistment and not before it. Anyways, the story here follows Isumi and her 3 other squad mates, with Marimo playing the "bad guy" instructor (a huge contrast to her character in Atonement). At the start, Isumi is aloof from her squad mates, but through countless hardships, her bonds with them are strengthened. Then, one big event happens which would later change her and her squad mates forever. I really appreciated this story a lot since her background was barely touched upon in the original story, though its likeness to Unlimited rather than Alternative means that there are no BETA fights.

3. Inheritance: The shortest and takes place during the aftermath of Operation 21st. Characters who appear here are Captain Isumi's sisters. Main character here is Akira, who's one of them. At the end of the story, we see briefly that Akira had been involved in Operation Sledgehammer. Would really have liked to see more post-Ouka content, but I suppose this was as far as it went.

All in all, can't really say it met my high expectations (except for Confessions), but at least it provides some important background information on Isumi and Marimo. Overall, a 7/10

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by wei123

[Ranzo]

Oh damn Four-Eyes-Kun just gave the protag a box of condoms

 

This is getting pretty wild!

[OdaNova]

The next VN I'm hoping to start is the House in Fata Morgana, though, I might prioritise Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma first so I can finish that trilogy -it has been a bit of an up and down journey so far with that series, but I'm glad I've given it a go.

 

I just got (rudely) reminded of an old VN. Got a notification on Steam about Notch: The Innocent Luna Eclipsed Sinners (bit of a mouthful), was pretty fun to see someone leaving an xenophobic comment on my review because it was negative.  Gentle reminder to turn off comments on reviews in future I suppose.

[Templarseeker]

I've just recently finished reading/playing WORLD END ECONOMICA. The game is practically about the Stocks Market, getting flighty rich and second chances. Just my cup of tea since that's what I'm currently striving to reach insurmountable mountain called success or happiness. whichever names it was. Sometimes I forgot why I'm doing it in the first place lol 

I'm still thinking my own options to play/read for the next game. Should I play The Expression Amrilato or Serment-Contract with a Devil or something different? 

Hmm... Choices... Choices... 

[cro-mag]

It’s been nearly year since I last posted here (and been here at all sadly). But eventually I reached for my 3 weeks vacation and, as well as in previous years, finished some VNs in free time. I’ll write some thoughts about them in different posts, to explicitly differentiate them from each other. That’s gonna be some wall of text, so sorry about it in advance. The order will be: Sharin no Kuni, Kara no Shoujo, Eden of Grisaia, Comu – Black Dragon in a Gentle Kingdom.

And I 'll cover Sharin no Kuni right here. Cuz actually I don’t have much to say about it. I liked it. Actually, that’s all. I have no questions I found unanswered or something like that in the end. It’s still not as great as some other VNs I’ve read such as Grisaia, G Senjou No Maou, Root Double, Ever17 or Mul-Luv Alternative, for instance, but it is good. Also, it doesn’t have a heroine i like so much as in some other VNs, but oh well.

Moving on.

[cro-mag]

Kara no Shoujo.

Well, it is also quite interesting. But for me some parts feel less interesting than others for some reason. For instance, I’m not quite fond of one of the mysteries of this VN - Toko. Both Toko. I guess the main Toko was supposed to look like intriguing character with some dark background and rather vague past, but for me she was kinda blunt person, and I was almost not interested in her in the slightest, despite her request to

Spoiler

“find her true self”.

I wondered what it means of course, but other part of VN, which is about murders, was more interesting to me. Well, it’s not unexpected, I guess. It was cool that there were

Spoiler

2 different cases.

Also VN has some really nervous moments and unpleasant scenes. I feel really sorry for

Spoiler

Tojiko, that’s true. I truly hoped she survives in true ending, but even before I reached this route, I figured out that’s not gonna happen. Also Hatsune is good, and Nene. Shame that latter is also killed.

And actually, I never talked about technical realization of VNs. Not even once, cuz for me it was always handled pretty good and I didn’t have anything to complain about. Well, what would you expect from a visual novel? Sadly, Kara no Shoujo did manage to surprise me here, and not in good favor. Things that I encountered:

1. To start skipping previously read text you have to at first switch to next page of it. Meaning – new day comes, text appears at the bottom, you know you’ve read it, but you’ll be able to skip it only after you click to proceed to the next part of text, only then “Skip” button activates. Well, maybe it doesn’t sound so important, but… If  text is being skipped right now, and new day comes, skipping is stopped. And you have to skip it manually again. But “Skip” button won’t appear unless… Go back to the beginning))

2. Sometimes text won’t start skipping at all, despite I’ve already read it. I’ve found a way to fix that – save, read 1-2 screens, load just saved data – profit. “Skip” button is available.

3. The other way around – sometimes if text is being skipped right now and you encounter a part you previously didn’t read – it is ignored and skipping continues. Whooray… Manually stop and read from log.

Spoiler

4. In the very last one of “investigation” scenes you have to search for clues in the murderer’s hideout. And for one of the endings you have to find a postcard among bookshelf on the top of the desk. For other ending – you don’t have to find it. So the thing is – I found it by accident with 1^st click on the road to the ending that requires you to NOT find that card. So I reloaded, skipped through it, got the ending eventually, and switched to another route, where I had to find postcard. And really – I’ve been clicking for a whole 2 minutes trying to find that damn pixel where this postcard is! If you’re not following the guide and don’t know there’s something inside that bookshelf, you may never find it at all. Well, it’s really a very small issue, but still, frustrates sometimes. Especially when in another “investigation” scene you can find a photo, but game suddenly decides that you’ve searched enough and throw you out from scene forcibly. Maybe it’s all not so important, but such technical defects really could be annoying.

That’s all I have to say about Kara no Shoujo, I guess. Only 2 VNs remain.

[cro-mag]

Now for Eden of Grisaia. That’d been rather long road for me. 1^st game I’ve read about 6 years ago, 2^nd one – about 2 years ago and finally managed to start the 3^rd one. Well, English translation speed didn’t help sadly, but I’m not complaining. It’s great that had been translated at all.

I’ve always liked Grisaia. I’ll never forget “Angel’s Howl” route from 1^st game. And after 2nd VN’s ending I was really looking forward to 3^rd game. Which didn’t disappoint in the slightest. And the thing is – I knew beforehand what will the ending be. And actually – that’s the only thing I didn’t quite like before starting to read it, cuz I don’t like

Spoiler

harem endings.

But the main thing is still a road to that ending, meaning – the whole plot. And that was great. I’m sure some people would disagree here, but for me it was a very fitting conclusion to trilogy – I would even called it as a little adventure. Tbf, it turned out to be not about what I did think it will be about. I mean – I also knew beforehand that

Spoiler

girls from Mihama will go on saving Yuji and he’ll eventually be fighting Oslo. But man, I didn’t think saving Yuji would be the most part of VN. But I’m not complaining, cuz it was really interesting to read. I like how not only 5 main heroines, but also many people, even from Yuji’s past, shared determination to save him. We even saw Miliella and Jimmy, who also played very important roles in operation.

As for operation itself – Thanatos sure knows how to handle things. She instructed a lot of people to do their respective parts for common goal – like collecting a puzzle piece by piece. Not to mention that Thanatos – is Kazuki, well and good, my favorite character in trilogy. We knew from 2^nd game that she’s alive, and didn’t believe she’s dead even in 1^st game, but it was a pleasure to finally see her again. There were really some emotional and touching moments with her, Yuji and Amane, as could be guessed. I was looking forward to them as well.

Also humor is still here. There were some scenes where I really was laughing out loud. Most of them were of course involving Michiru. Well, she’s hilarious! How she

Spoiler

flew from country to country making money, was sinking into the sea, was riding in a car which Amane drove (which was sometimes annoying and fun at the same time), was picking up Thanatos’s phones for 5 of them…

It’d be kinda boring without her, wouldn’t it? She’s natural mood maker. Indestructible one lol)) Also I’d like to see voice recording for her and Makina irl, cuz the way these two talk sometimes – it’s just a joke in itself With their personality and Makina’s accent.

As for ending –

Spoiler

when I finally got to this, the fact that's a harem one already didn’t matter much for me. Because I have a feeling that’s the only way this trilogy could come to an end. Technically, they could again make a mini-route for every girl, but… Dunno. May be hard to choose.

And the last thing. I actually have some questions regarding the ending. On the one hand – they seemed to explain everything thoroughly, every detail, even how

Spoiler

Kazuki actually survived in that forest (I did not expect we’ll return to that cursed place one more time, and with kinda plenty of text to read, but that was a pleasant surprise, so again – no complaints here, I wanted to know that myself).

On the other hand – some questions remained unanswered, even big ones, as it seems for me. So:

Spoiler

1. How the hell did Yuji survive the explosion in the end? It was supposed to annihilate anything in radius of 1,5 km. Also how did he manage to flee from Tartarus with those heavy wounds? And the last thing – where did he lie in hospital? Cuz that time he still couldn’t return to Japan, I think, because JB didn’t regulate all things and problems yet.

2. Where is Miliella? After she returned from Tartarus after delivering Yuji there she should be on that submarine, cuz again, she couldn’t return to Japan because she would be arrested. JB pulled the strings for her? Well, they could at least explain that then…

3. Two questions regarding Kazuki:
   1. Who the hell put that artificial tool (?) on her left arm, and for what purpose?? She was supposed to function as Thanatos anyway and never leave her capsule, so what was that all about? She “just” broke her arm in that accident. Well, arm will soon be cured, and that’s all, what about this tool? Feels like some kind of a joke, really.

   2. Maybe it’s something with translation, or whatever, but… Back in the forest Kazuki wrote 2 letters to Amane – one in case she doesn’t escape from the forest and returns here, the other in case she flees and discovers this letter after many years (which exactly what happened as we know). So in first letter Kazuki wrote that she’d likely be dead by the time Amane finds her and either be dismembered or Amane will read that letter in front of her dead body. In second letter Kazuki said something like “Until we both alive, we’ll meet again in the future”. So… Isn’t she saying here that she survived, in that first part? Back then it didn’t matter for Kazuki’s survival whether Amane escapes or not, she believed she’ll still be dead in a few hours at max. But from that part in 2^nd letter can’t you read that she’s implying she survived? I remember reading the same letter in 1^st game (not knowing ofc about other letter) and back then I thought “Kazuki is alive for sure. She’s practically saying that here”. I’m a bit confused about it tbh…

Guess that’s all for Grisaia. Still one VN left.

[cro-mag]

So, the last one, - Comu – Black Dragon in a Gentle Kingom. I may be mistaken, but won’t be surprised if not many people have never heard of that one. But I know for a fact that the main reason I wanted to read this VN is pure subjective – I liked characters’ design and especially Kagome. That simple. Didn’t even pay attention to plot’s summary. Same way it was with Tsujidou-san no Junai Road. Back then it was Maki. I can talk a lot about Tsujidou, and already did it actually somewhere on this forum, so I’ll skip that part and only say that Maki didn’t disappoint me eventually. She’s great. Kagome on the other hand… Despite her looks, she turned out to be my least favorite character because of her personality. It’s awful, really. But later about that.

I only finished common route and Heroine 1, Heroine 2 and Heroine 3 routes. Two more left. And honestly, judging by girls only, and not by story, - I feel like I’ve seen all the best stuff already. By the way, party consists of:

Spoiler

womanizer, a witch (how she’s often called by MC, that’s Kagome), ally of justice, otaku loli, fake maid and lone wolf, biting everyone he sees.

Quite a company!

Common Route.

It’s a premise to other 5 routes. And the longest one. At first I even wasn’t sure whether to continue reading this (I started last year, but only managed to read a few hours, then had to stop) or read Katawa Shoujo. Cuz Comu’s in English, Katawa Shoujo has my native language translation, and I was a bit tired after Grisaia English marathon. But decided to give Comu a chance and didn’t regret it eventually. Yes, Kagome fell in my eyes, but others only rose! As I said, common route is a premise to 5 heroines’ routes, but so much is happening here, it could be considered as a separate route. It has some pretty big and important avatar fights with the most important one ending the route.

Heroines 1, 2, 3.

Guess I won’t go deep into every route. Just say that in VNs when you can choose a route I prefer going from my least favorite girl to most favorite one. Here you have to go “Heroine 1” route first, then technically you can choose between 2, 3 and 4, but devs planned as 2->3->4. After all of them 5 is available. So I went as devs planned. And turns out I’ll be playing my least favorite ones as last 2 routes… Damn. But oh well, such is life. Btw, just in case i'll cover names of heroines's routes in spoiler tag, cuz in game itself you never know which route will be the next one, as devs themselves refer to as "Heorine 1", "Heroine 2" etc, until you actually finish it.

Have to say that 1st and 2nd routes really have much plot regarding comus, connectors and avatar fights. These routes consist of all of that 100%. And events going there are on a really large scale – be that an opposition with

Spoiler

Caesar’s Legion or avatar gigs.

Former is a

Spoiler

Benio’s route. She’s literally “ally of justice” as she’s calling her herself. By that alias you can imagine what to expect from her and you’d be right. She’s weak to obscene jokes (and we can hear them pretty often, especially when Haru is involved). But as a whole, not very interesting character. Not bad, not great either.

Then it’s

Spoiler

Hisoka’s route. Our transfer student, which actually appears only here. She’s nowhere to be seen in common route or any other routes. Dunno about 5th though. And she’s become my favorite girl, on par with Mayuki, despite until this route I didn’t even know who’s that. Well, I just like her type in VNs. The more I read – the more I liked her. And you can feel all tragedy when you discover that she’s one of the Nomad’s connectors. And you will have to fight her eventually. To death. And actually, man, it would be hard to read as it is (emotionally). But that’s not all. Starting from some point, when party has to fight Wolf Pack comu, so much things start to happen, you have almost no time to take a break. At one moment I was like O_O what the hell is happening here all of a sudden? Avatar is summoned in daylight and attacks school, many students die, then we prepare to fight who did this, but they go rampage and attack people from audience on par with other avatars from their cabal, even more people die… Then MC returns home, where Kagome killed 3 people who tried to assassinate her… And that goes on. Well, THAT was unexpected. A day ago they just lied on a school rooftop glancing at a blue sky, and now this! All in all, both first routes were great plot-wise, but Hisoka wins as a girl for sure. And she plays a way more important role in her route than Benio in hers.

So,

Spoiler

Mayuki

next. Have to say, devs finally did unimaginable thing –

Spoiler

they made me to like loli lol)) I don’t like loli, not my type. The only one I could tolerate with – Shinobu Oshino from Monogatari (I guess there is another one, but don’t remember who is it), but Mayuki beats ’em all! She’s great, from first sight. Her personality’s great, her clothes are fun, frog cap - no comments. She often tells lies, but not to harm others, just for fun, and that doesn’t cause troubles. Like “you know, I can’t sing at karaoke, because I have some brain disfunction from my childhood, which causes some problems with my ears etc”, she says with sad face and almost crying. And when everyone try to comfort her she’s like “Thank you… Also, I lied”. That’s Mayuki. As for route itself – that has the least things connected to comus, connectors and avatars compared to first 2 routes. Only half of her route involves that. Also there are only 2 avatar fights, and not so intense like in previous routes. But I liked it. Quite a change of pace after what happened in Hisoka’s route. Also compared to other routes – here we almost never see other main characters (aka members of our comu) until almost the very end. Previously screen time was almost equal with slight focus on respective heroine. Here’s almost always Mayuki on screen.

As for 4^th and 5^th heroines. That’s

Spoiler

Ayaya (what a name, seriously) and, presumably, Kagome. I only started Ayaya’s route. And won’t be surprised if there will be even less comu and avatar related stuff here than in Mayuki’s route. Well, she’s not a connector, to say the least. As for the girl itself – she’s very boisterous and loud person, loving her Senpai. Okaaay… I don’t expect much tbh.

As for

Spoiler

Kagome… As I said – she fell in my eyes thanks to her personality. She reminded me of Momoyo from Majikoi and Maki from Tsujidou when I first saw her, but… She’s often called as a witch by MC, handles everything perfectly, cooking included, can kill 3 assassins trying to assassinate her etc. But her personality is awful. She lives 2 doors down from MC, but goes to his home like its her own. She calls herself his partner and “beautiful girl guardian”, but often jokes on him (not funny), insults him, says some other unpleasant things, pays no heed to others, does what she wants, all her advices are “let’s kill them”… And other bad traits I just lazy to write about. It seems she also had some sort of tragedy in her life (we’ll know in the last route, had a hint in 3^rd one), as well as MC, but that fact doesn’t improve my impressions on her. Too bad, I had my hopes.

Also I have to say about 2 more things.

First. In every route so far we collect some hints to the whole story about Girl A, avatars, connectors, terrorists’ attack 5 years ago (that's not a spoiler)… But never get full answers. Hope we’ll get them in the last route, cuz there are really some questions that should be answered. I think. Also there is plenty of CGs undiscovered, according to gallery.

Second. Aside from Kagome’s bad personality, another thing that annoyed me at some point – repetition of some thoughts again and again. Seriously, especially in

Spoiler

Benio’s

route, 2nd half, sometimes I felt like they copy-pasted some things and put them into different places. And I had to read over and over and over again the same things, but in different order… And the phrase “I remember the red color” – I think I’ve read it, like, 20 times already, among common route + another 3. If not more. I understand all that tragedy that MC’s gone through, but… Might be annoying, really.

Also, dunno, maybe they could make avatar fight better. Like, you know, how fights were handled in Majikoi and Tsujidou. With more sound effects and some animations – albeit just moving sprites. We’re talking about monsters fighting here, so it could be better.

And I love the music. And after last year when I absolutely loved “Extrasensory Perception” – main menu OST from “Root Double” VN, this time it’s “Let the Fairy Tail Begin”, also from the main menu. And, like in “Root Double”, that’s not the only one great track.

 

Don’t know when I’ll be able to finish last 2 routes, cuz vacation’s over and I have some games to be played, so… Hope I’ll manage somehow and it won’t take a whole year again to continue. Also i hope not to disappear from this site for a year again...

 

Well, I guess I’ll stop for now. Sorry for a wall of text again.

[Seraphim]

I'm reading Kagetsu Tohya at the moment and just saw this:



"Kuk" is the Swedish word for "cock"  (not the animal), so that entire passage is unintentionally funny to me!