What are you playing?

[fuyopon]

4 hours ago, Daydreamer97 said:

Going to re-read The House in Fata Morgana after a long time of not playing VNs because dumb translation controversy just reminded me that this is my favorite VN of all time. Also, the chapter select after you finish the game is a godsend because sometimes, I just want to pick and choose which chapters to re-read.

Honestly, I haven't read it yet but this controversy has picked my interest in it. People can be so fucking dumb sometimes

[SweetMonia]

I just started Harmonia. Because it seems good, and I wanted to play something short for a change.

Edited May 6, 2020 by SweetMonia

[Seraphim]

Just finished Totono. I kinda wish I hadn't been spoiled to such an extent beforehand, but I still think it was a great read overall. It was shorter than I expected, though. I thought it would be somewhere on the upper end of the 10-30 hours listed on VNDb, but I finished it all in roughly 10-or-so, even though I'm a pretty slow reader.
I'm honestly not sure how to convey my impressions without giving away anything myself, so maybe we should just leave it at that in terms of unmarked text.

A few random, spoilery notes:

Spoiler

- Some of the scenes kept me on edge to an extent few other VNs have managed to do.
- I'm glad there was a happy ending. I was afraid it was all gonna end in misery.
- The NTR was horrible. I knew before I started playing that there would be some form of NTR involving at least one of the girls, but it was way worse than I imagined. It honestly didn't even make sense to me why things went down the way they did. Aoi said she had to sleep with Haru to preserve her existence because Shinichi's route ended, but what decides that and what decides to which point Haru's route (or any other possible sexual partner she has in the future) can act as a replacement? It just felt like a stupid pretext to force NTR into the game.
- I chose Miyuki over Aoi in the end, and it was mostly because of the whole NTR thing.
- The h-scene where Miyuki has sex with the player rather than the protagonist was a pretty interesting twist that I haven't seen in any other visual novels.

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Seraphim88

[Dreamysyu]

I finished Enigma. It was okay, but not really as good as I expected. To be honest, I feel like this VN would be better if it had fewer endings. The way it is now, the route system is just way too confusing. From what I understand, it would probably be better if I skipped some of the endings, and technically, according to the walkthrough, only three are required to reach the true end. The problem is, there's no real indication in the game itself of what to play and what to skip. Usually when it comes to this type of mystery VNs it's better to read every single ending, because otherwise you may miss some crucial information. The problem is that the choice system is pretty complex, and it's easy to forget where you are in the story and what choice leads to what result. In the end, it just messes up the flow of the story. And it doesn't help that you can skip the ending credits, so I had to watch them 18 times for every non-true ending.

As for the story itself, I guess, it was okay. There isn't anything amazing in it, but it's not a bad way to waste your time. The mystery is overall not very interesting, but the characters are pretty nice, with the exception of a certain annoying

Spoiler

yandere,

and, I guess, a musclehead who is there only to mess things up when the plot requires. I don't like that some aspects of the mystery were left unanswered, but, well, it's just personal preference. Also, nice troll:

Spoiler

midway through the first route I was convinced this is bl.

I'm giving it 6/10.

Now, let's start Totono. I'm not sure if I'm going to like it, I've heard that there are some elements in the story that I'm not a fan of, but I hope they are done well.

[Seraphim]

After going on a few emotional roller coasters lately, I decided I should read something lighthearted for a change. Here we go!



All jokes aside, I've been looking forward to this for years and have by some miracle managed to completely evade any spoilers all this time.
I figure now that the final chapter is just a week away, the 07th mod for it should be released by the time I finish chapter 7 if I play through one chapter every weekend starting now.

[Mr Poltroon]

22 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

I play through one chapter every weekend starting now.

Gosh I wish I had that kind of time

[Seraphim]

Well, to be honest, I have no idea how long the chapters actually are, but my work hours just got cut by 40% because of a certain virus so I'm pretty sure I'll manage!

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

Well, to be honest, I have no idea how long the chapters actually are, but my work hours just got cut by 40% because of a certain virus so I'm pretty sure I'll manage!

If my memory serves me right, each chapter is about 10-15 hours, with the exception of chapter 4, which is a lot shorter.

Also, good luck with Higurashi! It's been years since I read it, but I think it's still one of my favorite VNs. Actually, I read it soon after I finished the anime, which was okay, but I can't say I liked it that much, but the fact that I already knew the story made me realize just how well constructed the story in Higurashi is. Everything makes sense in the end, and even small details in the beginning may hint to the bigger picture in the end. I will probably replay it myself at some point, now that the new translation is almost finished.

[Inorin]

Finished Dies irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~ a while ago, and wasn't expecting much, but I'm glad it (slightly) exceeded my expectations. Decided to give it a 7.5 in the end.

Now, on to Utawarerumono. I'm very much looking forward to exprerience the trilogy; it's probably one of the few translated popular VNs which I have yet to experience.

[GXOALMD]

The first two chapters are about 10 hours each.  Maybe one day I'll bother to find out how long chapter 3 is.

[fuyopon]

9 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Well, to be honest, I have no idea how long the chapters actually are

Personally, the second one is the longest but each of them took me about 9 hours to finish. Good reads!

[MDruidd]

I've done all Funbag 1,2 and Gaiden 1,2. Already have Gin'iro Haruka but some ppl telling that have long common route so skip after finished this one ( Hanachirasu)

[Tasuke]

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, Sorry; i  belatedly realized that this was a VN-specific thread. Moved to; LINK

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by Tasuke

[Jardic47]

I have been trying to play Ane Yome Quartet, but to my suprise, I can't get used to VNR. So have been waiting on some games to come my way. But i have been playing Making Lovers and i am feeling good about it so far.

[Ranzo]

So I started playing Dreamers and I liked it for a while but now it's kinda boring me

I wish there were a lot less slice of life shit

Spoiler

Also I don't like how they keep trying to convince me that fucking my sister cousin is a natural thing to do

 

How many chapters is this supposed to be anyway? I'm on like chapter 6

[Seraphim]

2 hours ago, Ranzo said:

Spoiler

Also I don't like how they keep trying to convince me that fucking my sister cousin is a natural thing to do

 

Spoiler

Yeah, it felt pretty awkward how adamant Miyako was about Shinji and Hatsune hooking up.

 

2 hours ago, Ranzo said:

How many chapters is this supposed to be anyway? I'm on like chapter 6

There are

 

11-13

depending on which route you pick.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Seraphim88

[Daydreamer97]

I've been playing an indie otome EVN called Changeling and it's really really good. The art wouldn't be for everyone but the story and characters really makes up for it because it does have one of the best otome stories I've read. Not very romantic (but appropriate for their situation) although heavy on plot and characterization. It's a high school otome I actually like because of the dark urban fantasy story and how it also makes fun of common paranormal tropes. It's also probably the longest indie otome game I know of. Plus, I'm really looking forward to the dev's next game because it looks like it's going to be longer (9 routes!) and the art style and QoL looks to be dramatically improved.

[Seraphim]

Just finished the first chapter of Higurashi! I thought they'd start off slow since this is basically just the prologue for the series, but it turned out more intense than I expected it to be.
They did an excellent job of building atmosphere. Despite my high tolerance for horror, some of the scenes actually managed to creep me out a bit. First and foremost, the one where you find out

Spoiler

Rena was idling just outside Keiichi's room for an hour, while he was on the phone with Ooishi.

I expect things will only escalate from here.
Honestly, I would love to continue with the other chapters right away, but if I plough through them like that, I'd probably be done quite some time before the 07th mod for chapter 8 is released, and it would suck having to wait weeks for the conclusion.

A question: When should I read the console arcs? For example, according to this flowchart, it seems like Taraimawashi, Tsukiotoshi and Someutsushi take place between chapter 3 and 4 of the main series. Would it be preferable to actually read them before I read chapter 4 or should I put off reading all the console arcs until I'm done with the main series? (A couple of the console arcs haven't even been translated yet, apparently.)

Edited May 10, 2020 by Seraphim88

[Mr Poltroon]

Could you confirm that your link is indeed working? It seems to lead nowhere to me.

@Seraphim88

[Seraphim]

Something must've gone wrong, but it should work now!

[Silvz]

2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Just finished the first chapter of Higurashi! I thought they'd start off slow since this is basically just the prologue for the series, but it turned out more intense than I expected it to be.
They did an excellent job of building atmosphere. Despite my high tolerance for horror, some of the scenes actually managed to creep me out a bit. First and foremost, the one where you find out

  Hide contents

Rena was idling just outside Keiichi's room for an hour, while he was on the phone with Ooishi.

I expect things will only escalate from here.
Honestly, I would love to continue with the other chapters right away, but if I plough through them like that, I'd probably be done quite some time before the 07th mod for chapter 8 is released, and it would suck having to wait weeks for the conclusion.

A question: When should I read the console arcs? For example, according to this flowchart, it seems like Taraimawashi, Tsukiotoshi and Someutsushi take place between chapter 3 and 4 of the main series. Would it be preferable to actually read them before I read chapter 4 or should I put off reading all the console arcs until I'm done with the main series? (A couple of the console arcs haven't even been translated yet, apparently.)

They are not canon, but you can read them AFTER the series chapter they are related to.

[Mr Poltroon]

2 minutes ago, Silvz said:

They are not canon, but you can read them AFTER the series chapter they are related to.

Right. About this. What does 'canon' mean here? Because I know there are chapters that are not canon in the sense that they don't fit with the setting and tone.
But are there chapters that would fit with the setting and tone but simply aren't canon because they represent and alternative scenario or were made after the original story concluded?

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

A question: When should I read the console arcs? For example, according to this flowchart, it seems like Taraimawashi, Tsukiotoshi and Someutsushi take place between chapter 3 and 4 of the main series. Would it be preferable to actually read them before I read chapter 4 or should I put off reading all the console arcs until I'm done with the main series? (A couple of the console arcs haven't even been translated yet, apparently.)

I personally haven't read the console exclusive arcs, but it seems to be common knowledge that most of them are pretty bad and aren't really worth reading. And they aren't really written by the same author anyway. The only real exceptions are the arcs based on manga-original arcs, written by Ryukishi:  Onisarashi-hen  and  Yoigoshi-hen   . (Here are the links to MU pages, but don't click on them before you finish chapter 3, there are SPOILERS in the description: 1 2). Onisarashi was heavily rewritten and split into two parts for the console release: Someutsushi-hen (the question arc) and Kageboushi-hen (the answer arc). From what I understand, Yoigoshi was included in the game as is. I don't really follow the fan-translation, so I don't know if these are already translated or not.

I can't really talk about how they are in the game, but as for how my experience with the manga goes, Onisarashi is totally worth reading, while Yoigoshi is skippable. And I personally read them after I already finished the main game, and it was totally fine this way. Though I definitely wouldn't recommend reading them before chapter 6, for spoiler reasons. Someutsushi should be fine right after you finish chapter 3, since it was included with the first three chapters in the first part of the DS version.

[Seraphim]

If the console arcs aren't that important, I think I'll just focus on the main series for now. I'm planning to read Umineko, which I'm even more psyched about, as soon as I'm done with Higurashi, so I might as well delay any Higurashi side stories a bit in favor of that!

[Silvz]

10 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

If the console arcs aren't that important, I think I'll just focus on the main series for now. I'm planning to read Umineko, which I'm even more psyched about, as soon as I'm done with Higurashi, so I might as well delay any Higurashi side stories a bit in favor of that!

Umineko is my favorite VN, so I can't wait to hear about your impressions on it