What are you playing?

[Stormwolf]

Yu-no but its hard as hell to play it. The dialogue feels artificial often because of the gameplay and the gameplay itself is.... its too much. It breaks up the flow of the story and you're cobstantly wondering if you're screwing up events or if you're playing it correctly in the first place.

Think im passing up this for its anime

[adamstan]

Ah, so there's actually someone here, who has read Amber Quartz

5 hours ago, Toranth said:

I liked Amber Quartz, but while I felt it was pretty good, it didn't go that extra mile into "this is special" territory.

(...)  Amber Quartz, like Mizuiro or Reconquista, just didn't have enough to make it stand out.

I would be nice if more people would recognize the quality hidden there, but the past 10 years have enough as good or better releases that it seems unlikely.

Yeah, I think I get it. I will write more when I finish it, but it seems to tick the right boxes for me personally, so I'm glad that I found it despite its relatively low popularity. Currently I'm near the end (I think) of Miyako's route, with Nayuta's route left (am I right thinking that it's kind of "true route"?), and so far I'm liking almost everything I've seen, except maybe for not too good H-scenes. They aren't horrible (I've seen much worse), just painfully mediocre. I guess I got spoiled by the few titles I read that actually had decently written sex scenes. Luckily there aren't that many of them in Amber Quartz .

Edited January 28, 2020 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

So, I've actually been reading stuff lately... I'm pretty shocked myself, to be honest!

And surprise surprise, Sakura Fox Adventure is short, derivative, unpolished garbage put together from unused assets made years ago! Who would've thought? Anyway, it seems I've stopped finding these games amusing lately even in an ironic way. They turned mundane from their sheer number, to the point even their failures are exactly the same every time and it's not fun to pick on them.

As a change of pace, I've also read Sweetest Monster and despite the fact I spoiled it to myself a while ago, I'm still sick to my stomach after finishing it. Quite literally. It's not the gore'y kind of horror, but a psychological one and it does A LOT to make the reader uncomfortable. I love how ebi-hime writes this kind of stories and the impact of this one is quite similar to that of Lynne... But this might be even more impactful, thanks to the art and that one demon catgirl who I'm quite likely to see my in nightmares for the next few days.

And staying with ebi-hime's work, her newest VN, Rituals in the Dark is... Not very impactful, to be honest. It's a fine story, but in the end it leaves the romance kind of unresolved and doesn't do anything that would stick with me, like most other ebi's titles did. In its minimalism, in a strange way, it reminds me of Lucky Me, Lucky You, but I didn't feel the similar charisma from the characters or a thought-provoking message. Maybe I was expecting a bit too much, but I think among all of ebi's stories, this is the one I'll remember the least in the long run, despite it theoretically combining things I very much enjoy (creepy climate and yuri).

I've also started reading Katawa Shoujo, now getting to the end of the common route and it's extremely charming. The heroines are immediately likeable and I really enjoy how the story is developing. I'm also really curious how some of the routes will look like, including those less liked (I mean, I have a hard time imagining Shizune romance...). I might be super-late to this party, but I'm definitely going to enjoy it a lot. :3

Edited January 28, 2020 by Plk_Lesiak

[littleshogun]

I should praise Winged Cloud though for going with female MC recently, in which I did complain about on how they prefer faceless and featureless male MC back at Sakura Beach instead of just focused on two girls. Although I only praise them for going with female MC, and I think it's the only pro from recent Winged Cloud VNs. For the other aspect? Let's just say that it would hard for them to make another Sakura Dungeon.

Edited January 29, 2020 by littleshogun

[adamstan]

7 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I've also started reading Katawa Shoujo, now getting to the end of the common route and it's extremely charming. The heroines are immediately likeable and I really enjoy how the story is developing. I'm also really curious how some of the routes will look like, including those less liked (I mean, I have a hard time imagining Shizune romance...). I might be super-late to this party, but I'm definitely going to enjoy it a lot. :3

Good luck, and have a walkthrough ready

[Stormwolf]

Started up muv luv extra and wondering what the heck im reading. Everything is over the top silly. If this tone doesnt represent the rest if the series then i cant see this as an essential read besides knowing where everyone met. 

Just a shame as the series can transition from silly to serious, sure, but changing their personalities from complete idiots will take quite some convincing. Should have gone for a more balanced style than non stop goofy comedy which rarely is even funny.

Edited January 29, 2020 by Stormwolf

[Mr Poltroon]

11 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I have a hard time imagining Shizune romance

She has, too.

[adamstan]

5 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

She has, too.

Still, probably the weirdest route is Rin's. But Shizune's is close second.

 

[Mr Poltroon]

2 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Still, probably the weirdest route is Rin's. But Shizune's is close second.

 

When I replayed Katawa Shoujo, I recalled really not enjoying Rin's route the first time around, but having greatly enjoyed the common route scenes with her on my replay, I believed my tastes had changed and I'd greatly appreciate her route!

No. Uh... No.

[adamstan]

It was my least favorite route as well, even though it had many good elements.

My two favorite routes and heroines were, quite unsurprisingly, I guess, Lily and Hanako. After those two there would be Emi and Shizune, and then Rin in the last place.

Since each route had different writer (with the exception of Hanako's route sharing one of the writers with Lily's), it's no surprise that they're so different.

Edited January 29, 2020 by adamstan

[Seraphim]

2 hours ago, adamstan said:

My two favorite routes and heroines were, quite unsurprisingly, I guess, Lily and Hanako. After those two there would be Emi and Shizune, and then Rin in the last place.

I second this.

I'd say Rin's route is either hit or miss; more so than any other route in Katawa Shoujo. The people who like it seem to really love it, but for everyone else, it ends up being pretty "meh". I think one of the main reasons is that a lot of people, myself included, find it a bit hard to relate to her personality and problems, which in turn makes it difficult to get truly immersed in the story.

[Dreamysyu]

Memory's Dogma Code:01. And, honestly, the story is such a mess. The ideas behind the story are actually pretty cool, even if it quite clearly has a lot of inspirations from the SciAdv series, but the problem is that the story just feels completely random and is going nowhere. Well, at least the character art is pretty good.

[littleshogun]

About Memory Dogma, well apparently they intend it as the first part so at least it's sort of justified that they didn't put enough focus on it (Apparently the ending is not resolving anything). I agree that the art is pretty good and that the cast is quite well known in anime, but it's just too bad that the developer decided to make this as episodic release, so we wouldn't get satisfying conclusion on this (Hopefully there'll be Memory Dogma part 2 in the future, even though I know that it'll take a long time to fulfill).

Edited January 31, 2020 by littleshogun

[onorub]

Finished HoshiOri and it was not up my alley, unfortunately. I appreciate how much chemistry each heroine had with the protagonist and i really liked that the after stories actually felt important, but a lot of it felt like a bore to me. If you only care about aww-ing about the heroines' chemistries with the protagonist, i highly recommend it and i get why it had such high ratings, but it just wasn't for me.

Can't rank the heroines down because i felt all of them had about equal chemistry with the protagonist.

Ranking down routes: Sora>Rikka>Touko>Misa>Natsuki>Marika.

Edited January 31, 2020 by onorub

[Stormwolf]

I haven't read all but marika had the best marriage ending i've ever seen in a vn. Thats noteworthy for me at least

[adamstan]

4 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

marika had the best marriage ending i've ever seen in a vn.

Now, that definitely increases my interest in this VN. I'm a sucker for marriage/family endings

[fuyopon]

Finished Danganronpa V3 two days ago and holy shit, I was NOT expecting that. The fun thing about Danganronpa is that even if you get spoiled on some things (and I end up getting spoiled even before I began playing it), it's still amazing to know how the murder was done and who did it (and why). Besides that, I kinda get why the ending has such a... split opinion (get it? get it?)

Spoiler

I mean, in a way, it isn't a satisfying ending, but hey, that's exactly what the characters wanted and what Kodaka probably wanted to tell everyone who doesn't Danganronpa to end: everything must end, and Danganronpa is done. I'm happy they ended it like that, although I would like to see the aftermath of the second game (more than what we got in the anime) and what really happened to the world... Nonetheless, it was a ending I enjoyed. Ah, just a little thought: you know what would be really awesome? Kaito actually being the mastermind. He has such potential! I mean, he is the bro character and your best friend, what better way to make a plot twist than that? I would love it so much! Also, I really liked the old (and possibly fake?) "pre-game" Shuichi and Kaito: Shuichi just gives me freaky vibes, which I love in a protagonist (honestly I would love to play a game in which we actually are the mastermind but we (the reader) don't know until the end); Kaito is an asshole and is the kind that would bully others, which I do not like but if he was actually like, the smart kind? I can appreciate that in a character (not irl, I'm not a fucking idiot)

 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Leonor
added the vndb link

[littleshogun]

Like flanepaladin said, I already finished Kami no Rhapsody Lavirie's normal end. Still have no idea on how to reach true end, but perhaps I may miss one character interaction here. Also while you can still use magic, well you'll probably more focused on bring more ally in the battle and thus you forgot to use magic. Besides with the mana system in which the deployment cost did share same mana as the casting cost, I think you'll going to find yourself to mostly use spell as long range attack except for some circumstances (I rarely use area spell here by the way). That said, there's many way to play Rhapsody though as long as you remember some countermeasure for some certain battles. I'll give the tips for the hard boss here, and perhaps I'll try to play Mistoria's route later now that we have improved patch.

For the hard battle, I can only think Zelgain, final boss, and dragon zombie. I don't know a surefire trick to fight Zelgain, but at least I can suggest you to use Elgamisera to tank those annoying 85 HP mooks with Guts (Revived with 1 HP) at first stage of final battle, bring some characters (Liwo preferrably) with Pierce to attack the 2nd stage final boss that have -50 damage shield (And please remember that Lutriche/Ostinard here is have artifact, so at least she can tank some heavy attack), and feel free to use shield for final boss battle (Basically it only have very simple strong attack, and thankfully it have no Pierce ability or shield). For Dragon Zombie that mod Clephas did call as difficult boss, actually you can just make sure that Forzaslein can have 74 ATK to bring down those annoying undead in one turn because she have Purify Undead medal, while you have Liwo as main attacker with Pierce and Counterattack medal. They should equip the medal that can give two action per turn (Forzaslein with Killing Reaction and Liwo with Double Action), and with it the Dragon Zombie should be downed easily (I have more trouble with the mooks though).

To answer when we should do the grinding, I think it should be when things start to get harder. But in general you should do as little as possible in order to maximize rune gain, and for Deadbeat dungeon I should stressed that you should clear it at Chapter 9 when all members are available (Of course after clearing all the area). In case you still think that it's not enough, you didn't need to worry much because you can carry the current state to NG+ (Keep in mind though that you need to at least level Eld to level 20 in order to unlock another dungeon, which mean more medal and more runes). Oh and please remember weapon point that you can fill in order to increase the attack (10 points to ATK/MAG should be more than enough, and you'll be able to fill all of it if you fully clear all of the areas).

Edited February 1, 2020 by littleshogun

[ChaosRaven]

So, I just finished Fata morgana no Yakata -Another Episodes-, but I was honestly a bit disappointed by it. It was supposed to tell the prelude of the main story in more detail, but some episodes felt far too stretched with nothing happening for an eternity and others which should have been of great importance were just left as a side note or not particular impactful. Several developments also felt a bit too artificially constructed for drama purposes.

I think the start was still good though and the episode with the old lord as shocking as it should be. But then more and more issues started to pile up:

Spoiler

Morgana's time at the brothel felt extremely stretched and Ceren got far too much attention for a character that wasn't all too important for the overall story. I also never felt a particular strong chemistry between Jacopo and Morgana.

The treachery of Gratien felt awfully constructed. He isn't the type to use poison and Jacopo beating him in poisoned state when he was probably not even actively traing anymore, was very odd. And that's not all, why was Gratien not promoted to head of the bodyguard after the revolt? New leaders usually try to surround themselves with their closest allies which is just natural and Gratien was perfectly fitting for that role. Jacopo being the only one from the whole revolt ascending to a new position felt very unrealistic.

The VN also presented Jacopo's reign as too black and white. He has only the best intentions and works hard 24/7, but people are just ungrateful and ignorant, making a lords change to a sadistic maniac pretty much 'inevitable'.

I was really looking forward to experience the scene, when the swordsman tried to free Morgana from slavery and ran amok, in more detail, but there was even less than in the main game.

After Morgana got free from slavery, she arrives at the witch's hut who had died 'very conveniently' right in time. It would have been more realistic if she would have been still alive to take Morgana in and teach her the basics of her job first. Morgana's self education felt a bit too far fetched.

And now my main complaint: Where was the rage of Morgana about the ultimate treachery of the man she thought to be her biggest ally - Jacopo?! With her last breath she should have been full of rage and hatred and spitting out a bloody curse to bring doom onto the whole city. Instead she didn't even recognize him and died almost 'peacefully'. This should have been the moment when a saint turns into an evil witch and there was literally nothing.

I guess part of my discontent might also be because Jacopo was the protagonist and I was never a big fan of him. But still, I think the main game showed much more effort and the story flow was more conclusive.

Overall rating 6/10

Edited February 1, 2020 by ChaosRaven

[adamstan]

I just finished Amber Quartz

I get the reasons why it might be not too popular, but for me it was great, and actually stands out among the VNs that I've read so far.

I think that one thing that hurts it might be actually... misleading marketing? I mean, judging from VNDB summary AND official developers page, it looks like pretty generic high-school moege, with added theme of memories, and the Protagonist with the troubled past ^TM. What's more, it keeps up this disguise for first two or three hours nearly perfectly. However, considering the length of the whole game I think it won't be too big spoiler to say out loud that it's actually something quite different - since the end of the first chapter, action and fantasy kicks in (and also a bit of mystery I guess).

If I had to compare it to the things I watched and read, I'd say that it is a mix of KEY's classics - I see the influence of Little Busters (group of friends!), Clannad (family), AIR and Kanon in various parts - and(please don't laugh)...  Sailor Moon (!), when it comes to the action parts, and also the way it mixes action and fantasy fight plot with slice of life and comedy. Also when it comes to the design of the enemies/villains - they are more grotesque than genuily scary, just like the monsters in SM anime were. I guess that to appreciate it, you need similar level of naivety Horror plotge veterans probably wouldn't enjoy it as much.

There is also quite decent romance added, but it definitely isn't main focus of the game, at least outside of the true route.

Characters were very likeable, and there were many emotional scenes, which often made me shed some tears. Also, I loved art style, especially character design. Music was pretty good as well, especially one of the battle themes.

So, after all, this VN was total surprise for me, as I expected something different, but it was a very welcome surprise

The story totally sucked me in. I sometimes dreamed about it, and kept wondering how will it unveil. I loved it. 8/10

Edited February 1, 2020 by adamstan

[adamstan]

It looks like I have some perverted attraction to ancient charage For my next read I picked up a 2003 one - Tenohira o, Taiyou ni. (After figuring out how to hook it - in this case AGTH is the only way)

It seems to have pretty good ratings on EGS, with the average score of 80. So far, it looks promising.

Initial setup (MC getting reunited with his estranged childhood friends) seems a bit similar to the Amber Quartz I've finished recently, but this is much older title. I was about to say that I feel some Yume Miru Kusuri vibes as well, but this title is also few years older than YMK. Let's just say that one of the MC's classmates looks like a prototype for YMK's Antoinette. Truly horrible person. Initial apatethic state of protagonist also reminds me of YMK a bit.

I'm really curious where will it all go.

 

BTW - I said that Amber Quartz looks unpopular with 370 votes on EGS. Certainly it isn't much when compared with top titles. But then, out of curiosity, I checked out EGS page for Princess Evangile.  Only 208 votes (and 2411 on VNDB, definitely thanks to translation). That shocked me a bit.

Edited February 2, 2020 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

I'm reading Legend of Everything by Kidalang, the An Octave Higher people (you might want to check this one out at some point @Zakamutt). It starts like a silly isekai story observed from the perspective of a gameworld inhabitant, but then is basically turns into a giant lecture on the "universe is a simulation" thesis. By this virtue, it becomes a giant mindfuck and by the point I'm at now, it's scary with how logical its arguments are. I pretty much hate the 3D graphics in it, but reading it is still tons of fun if you enjoy this kind of infodumping and science discussion. It probably won't offer much new to anyone who is super into this topic, but for me it proved to be pretty captivating, and actually managed to tie together the scattered pieces of physics knowledge I've possessed before...

More educational than Go! Go! Nippon/10

[Stormwolf]

On 02/02/2020 at 9:36 PM, adamstan said:

It looks like I have some perverted attraction to ancient charage For my next read I picked up a 2003 one - Tenohira o, Taiyou ni. (After figuring out how to hook it - in this case AGTH is the only way)

It seems to have pretty good ratings on EGS, with the average score of 80. So far, it looks promising.

Initial setup (MC getting reunited with his estranged childhood friends) seems a bit similar to the Amber Quartz I've finished recently, but this is much older title. I was about to say that I feel some Yume Miru Kusuri vibes as well, but this title is also few years older than YMK. Let's just say that one of the MC's classmates looks like a prototype for YMK's Antoinette. Truly horrible person. Initial apatethic state of protagonist also reminds me of YMK a bit.

I'm really curious where will it all go.

 

BTW - I said that Amber Quartz looks unpopular with 370 votes on EGS. Certainly it isn't much when compared with top titles. But then, out of curiosity, I checked out EGS page for Princess Evangile.  Only 208 votes (and 2411 on VNDB, definitely thanks to translation). That shocked me a bit.

Bit off topic, but has there been any advancements in the machibe translation the last years? Last i used was vnr with atlas.

[adamstan]

3 hours ago, Stormwolf said:

Bit off topic, but has there been any advancements in the machibe translation the last years?

I don't know - I use hooking only to look up unknown words. I send captured text to Chiitrans, which works as a parser and dictionary - after hovering mouse cursor over the word it gives me dictionary entries for it. And that's all.

There probably have been some advancements in MTL, but it looks like not too much when it comes to Japanese. What I know is that Google Translate is still pretty bad with JP. (or rather unpredictable) Other free online services too. There are some people who swear by MTL (even on this forum...) and claim it's perfectly viable way to read untranslated JVNs, but I cannot agree with them.

I've heard that some of the recent Japanese hardware electronic dictionaries/translators give considerably better results than Google, but those things are pretty expensive, and of course unusable with VNs

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by adamstan

[fuyopon]

I just finished the demo for Marco & The Galaxy Dragon. The beginning reminds me a LOT about Guardians of the Galaxy, it's pretty fun. It's mostly comedy in a sci-fi world, but I'm feeling some drama to come. Ah, yeah, and for those looking for romance in this one... there isn't going to be any, at least that's what I get from the demo. Anyways, you should give this one a go!

I'm also going to read Kara no Shoujo, wish me luck haha