What are you playing?

[Seraphim]

I thought I'd finally get around to reading Air now that my workload is much lighter, but I'm having some trouble with my saves. To be specific, they keep disappearing randomly when I start the game. It doesn't happen every time (for example, it worked fine both yesterday and the day before that), but now they're gone again and it's getting more and more annoying (and time-consuming) having to skip through the game to find the point where I left off in my previous session.
The saves are still in the SAVEDATA folder, but the load screen in the game is completely empty.
Any idea what causes this and how I can fix it? I've tried running in compatibility mode and as administrator, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

[adamstan]

That's weird. At least I haven't experienced anything like that when playing AIR, even though I've done some risky things with it like switching between the two TL patches, or even mixing them.

[Dreamysyu]

13 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

I thought I'd finally get around to reading Air now that my workload is much lighter, but I'm having some trouble with my saves. To be specific, they keep disappearing randomly when I start the game. It doesn't happen every time (for example, it worked fine both yesterday and the day before that), but now they're gone again and it's getting more and more annoying (and time-consuming) having to skip through the game to find the point where I left off in my previous session.
The saves are still in the SAVEDATA folder, but the load screen in the game is completely empty.
Any idea what causes this and how I can fix it? I've tried running in compatibility mode and as administrator, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I'd probably just run it in a windows XP virtual machine. Trying to run older games on newer systems is a nightmare.

I doubt that's the case if the files still appear, but maybe you should check that none of the game files are set to read-only. Also, maybe reinstalling the game and putting it on a different drive will help?

[Jardic47]

@Seraphim88 have you tried deleting the folder and starting the game? I do that a lot and it fixes save issues for me.

[Seraphim]

22 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

I'd probably just run it in a windows XP virtual machine. Trying to run older games on newer systems is a nightmare.

I've never had any trouble like this before, though. I've been able to run Moon, One and a bunch of other supposedly problematic games just fine on Windows 10, but if nothing else works, I'll give a virtual machine a go. I don't have any experience using one, but I guess it can't be that hard to set up.
 

10 minutes ago, Jardic47 said:

have you tried deleting the folder and starting the game? I do that a lot and it fixes save issues for me.

Nope, haven't tried that, so I will do so now and keep my fingers crossed I won't run into any further issues!

[Jardic47]

It's not a guarantee that it will work, that is just my first step if nothing works. If saves were an issue, that is my first attack of choice. Go after all the .SAV files if you think they are corrupted as well

[Seraphim]

This would have felt a lot less ominous if this wasn't Higurashi:
 

Spoiler

 

[Dreamysyu]

Incidentally, I also decided to return to When They Cry series for a bit.

Looks like some kind soul decided to go and make a VN adaptation of the Confessions chapter from Umineko manga. (Are we allowed to discuss something like that of this forum? I don't know, I'll delete this post if it's considered problematic.) The truth is, though I pretty much knew the content of this chapter, I never actually went and read the manga, so the story was new for me. As for how my impressions go, as it turns out, I managed to completely forget how great Umineko soundtrack is. Also, Umineko was always the best because of how amazing its cast was, and this chapter focuses on probably the most interesting and developed character from the cast, so it was interesting to see what they went through. On the other hand, well, there was a very good reason why this chapter wasn't included in the original VN, and I kind of feel like the very existence of it kind of contradicts what the last episode of Umineko was trying to convey. On the other hand, this chapter makes makes the story feel more complete, so I don't know, I have mixed feelings about it.

By the way, I was thinking about finally going back to Rose Guns Days, which I really should've finished years ago, but does anybody know if the download version is still available somewhere? Mangagamer don't have it anymore, and, as far as I can tell, neither do popular Japanese sites.

[Jardic47]

2 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

Incidentally, I also decided to return to When They Cry series for a bit.

Looks like some kind soul decided to go and make a VN adaptation of the Confessions chapter from Umineko manga. (Are we allowed to discuss something like that of this forum? I don't know, I'll delete this post if it's considered problematic.) The truth is, though I pretty much knew the content of this chapter, I never actually went and read the manga, so the story was new for me. As for how my impressions go, as it turns out, I managed to completely forget how great Umineko soundtrack is. Also, Umineko was always the best because of how amazing its cast was, and this chapter focuses on probably the most interesting and developed character from the cast, so it was interesting to see what they went through. On the other hand, well, there was a very good reason why this chapter wasn't included in the original VN, and I kind of feel like the very existence of it kind of contradicts what the last episode of Umineko was trying to convey. On the other hand, this chapter makes makes the story feel more complete, so I don't know, I have mixed feelings about it.

That is how I felt about the series. I never played it, but I know what happened from people on discord. They talk a lot about it and i agree on the soundtrack. It was awesome. 

 

2 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

By the way, I was thinking about finally going back to Rose Guns Days, which I really should've finished years ago, but does anybody know if the download version is still available somewhere? Mangagamer don't have it anymore, and, as far as I can tell, neither do popular Japanese sites.

It was only a patch, but I would recommend looking on a pirate website for this. I do have a link to the actual patch if you want it.

Here is the link to the patch for the game. https://www.witch-hunt.com/stage_rgd4.html

[Seraphim]

Done with chapter 2 of Higurashi! I was a bit disappointed by

Spoiler

the twin switcheroo plot twist, since it's been done to death in both movies and games over the years. As soon as you learned that Mion had an identical twin, I immediately figured that at some point, one of them would pretend to be the other. Honestly though, I was actually thinking they might spice it up by pulling a double twist by, rather than just Mion pretending to be Shion over the phone, making it turn out to actually be Shion pretending to be Mion. I was kinda expecting some big reveal in the torture dungeon at the end, along the lines of "Shion" in the cell having Mion's demon tattoo. Shion's attitude was shifting a lot from scene to scene, so I figured she was hiding her real personality most of the time and would use that to her advantage in one way or another, but it never happened. Maybe it will in one of the other chapters. I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Other than that, I'd say this chapter was better and more exciting than the first one, and I'm looking forward to reading chapter 3 next weekend!

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

Done with chapter 2 of Higurashi! I was a bit disappointed by

  Hide contents

the twin switcheroo plot twist, since it's been done to death in both movies and games over the years. As soon as you learned that Mion had an identical twin, I immediately figured that at some point, one of them would pretend to be the other. Honestly though, I was actually thinking they might spice it up by pulling a double twist by, rather than just Mion pretending to be Shion over the phone, making it turn out to actually be Shion pretending to be Mion. I was kinda expecting some big reveal in the torture dungeon at the end, along the lines of "Shion" in the cell having Mion's demon tattoo. Shion's attitude was shifting a lot from scene to scene, so I figured she was hiding her real personality most of the time and would use that to her advantage in one way or another, but it never happened. Maybe it will in one of the other chapters. I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Other than that, I'd say this chapter was better and more exciting than the first one, and I'm looking forward to reading chapter 3 next weekend!

Well... Let's say that I'm curious to see what you will think about the answer arcs.

[Seraphim]

If I were to theorize a bit, I'd say I'm highly suspicious of

Spoiler

Shion. Mion was acting pretty strange in the torture dungeon at the end, so I'm still not entirely convinced that was actually her. One thing that stood out to me especially was that when she was talking about desposing of Rika's and Satoko's bodies, she was speaking like they were just nuisances to her. Even if the real Mion actually killed them to cover up her crimes, I find it hard to believe she would actually disrespect them post-mortem like that (considering the fact that they used to be friends). Shion, on the other hand, wasn't friends with them (as far as I know), so for her to speak of them like that wouldn't be nearly as odd.
The police found Mion's body in the well, saying she fell down there while attempting to flee or hide, but it could just as well (no pun intended) have been a case of Shion orchestrating everything and then pushing Mion down the well to pin the blame on her and attempt to solidify her role as the culprit.

It's going to interesting moving forward and see if I'm right on the money with any of this.

[fuyopon]

2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

I'm looking forward to reading chapter 3 next weekend!

Oh boy... Honestly, chapter 3 is my favorite so far <3 It's not as long as chapter 2 (I think?) but it's the hardest one to theorize about  I just gave up on theories as soon as I finished that one but I'm gonna get my theories back as soon as I re-read everything before chapter 5  

Spoiler

I never thought I would feel for Satoko this much, damn novel.

 

[Dreamysyu]

5 minutes ago, Leonor said:

It's not as long as chapter 2 (I think?)

Hmm. Maybe I'm misremembering things, but I thought chapter 3 was actually the longest in the question arc.

[Seraphim]

The intro screen for chapter 3 actually has "The Shortest Scenario" as a tagline and says that the difficulty is "the worst", so I imagine I'm going to be somewhat confused!

[Seraphim]

Decided to pick up 428: Shibuya Scramble again, which I put on hold a couple of months ago for whatever reason. Almost immediately, I was met with this:



I think it's safe to say those researchers were right.

[r0xm2n]

1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said:

Decided to pick up 428: Shibuya Scramble again, which I put on hold a couple of months ago for whatever reason. Almost immediately, I was met with this:



I think it's safe to say those researchers were right.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist ....... Predictive Programming is a thing.

Many forms of media have subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) references to future events. Sometimes referencing events 30 years into the future.

How, or why this happens ......... is anyone's guess.

[Seraphim]

Well, to be fair, this particular guess wasn't exactly specific or far-fetched in any way. With people travelling more than ever, it's only natural that any contagious diseases would spread globally at a faster rate than before.

[fuyopon]

I haven't updated my progress on 11eyes in a long time so I guess it's finally time! I finished the common route two weeks ago and I just began Yuka's route. I'm surprised the route would be this long as this is not even the true ending but if there's one thing this vn does a lot, is to drag things for way too long soo....

Spoiler

 

I'm gonna be honest, I don't love the comedy here but I really laughed with Takahisa ending his sentences with "Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche" hahaha Also, Kukuri inviting us on a date? Was not expecting it, having in mind I am in Yuka's route :x 

Oh yeah, if there's one thing this vn does well is the creepy transition of slice of life to the Red Night setting... It's hella unsettling. But not just with the Red Night; any change of tone or mood is done well (e.g.: when Misuzu talks about the way Kakeru's muscles are adapting way too quickly and that is unnatural  ).

 

I stopped reading as soon as they got into the Red Night but I will be updating my reactions daily as I'll try to read an hour every day c:

[Daydreamer97]

I've been reading another indie otome called Dark Nights. It's like Cinderella Phenomenon in the sense that it's a high-quality medium-length indie vn which probably should have cost money but is free. It's also something I've been looking forward to for years because the art is really pretty and Pinlin, the solo dev who worked on it is seriously talented and her art is absolutely gorgeous. So far, I'm only on my first route but it's been doing a good job at setting this horror tone and a multi-route mystery.

I also played another free-but-should-have-been-commercial indie I've been looking forward to- Ebon Light. There are love interests but it's not a traditional otome (although I do count it as one) because the romance is more of a side thing than the main thing. It's more plot-focused and is a little more game-y with stats. It also has beautiful western-style art and a dark fantasy aesthetic which really kept me hooked. You get to shape the MC's personality in this one so there's a lot of branches and ways to get a good ending.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Daydreamer97

[Jardic47]

I have been rereading the Majikoi series lately in my spare time. I have enjoyed it the first go round, but I haven't finished it since I finished Momoyo's route. I think the game is good, but I enjoyed it more with a good cup of warm sake.

 

I have also been playing Senren Banka a lot as well, but I haven't played this one since release day and I got bored after a few chapters. I normally play these games when I have time, but i have been in a gaming rut and I have been waiting for some new titles to come out. Maybe I need to get something for me to learn Japanese so i can play some of the untranslated games. 

[fuyopon]

Sooo I've read more on 11eyes and this time I've read this whole Red Night episode I left off the other day.

Spoiler

So yeah, the fight with Acedia. I really liked it! It wasn't as repetitive or dragged as the others. That demoniac sword's invocation from Musuzu and the hands and needles piercing her arm was kinda gross but I guess that was the point? I liked it; right after that, the cut across Acedia's face (or his sister's?) was pretty satisfying.

Kinda random, but I wish they gave Kakeru a full voice-acting bc I find his voice really interesting... I mean, it's not unique at all but I enjoy a little more personality to his character (other than being a fucking emo, that is). 

About that Lisette cross-vision bit... Boi, I felt really bad for her :(( That kinda gave me kuroinu vibes, yikes. I was NOT expecting it but I mean, the knights did say she had "sinned" so there had to be something coming for her. But man, biting off her tongue? That's nasty.

I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would, maybe because the pace is faster now and there is more action and mystery and not as much slice-of-life bs (I HOPE).

[alpacaman]

Finished Totono last night.

Spoiler

I really wanted to like it but for how much thought went into the little details the main points the game is trying to make seem weirdly half-baked, especially when it comes to player agency.

My main issues with the NTR-scene have already been discussed by @Seraphim88 and @Dreamysyu. The scene itself even makes some sense in theory. In the first route you as the player choose to curse Miyuki to get her good ending because the protagonist is too scared to get NTRed by her otherwise. But in Aoi's route you're suddenly totally fine with getting NTRed because you want to get Aoi's ending, which of course pisses Miyuki off, to put it mildly. The problem with how the game plays this is that it isn't the player who decides to change his stance on NTR, it's the in-game protagonist. There isn't even an "Accept Aoi anyway"-choice that at least points out the player's hypocrisy to some degree.

Another thing that bugs me is that for all the game's talk about you as the player needing to take responsibility for your choices it lacks any hint of self-awareness. It never acknowledges that it basically forces you into this course of action with its enforced playing order and every choice against Aoi leading you back to an ending you already read. It trains you from the beginning to go along with Aoi's wishes (from the point you get a preliminary ending if you choose to not change the game world), yet punishes you when you do just that. To me it feels like rather lazy writing that someone as smart as Miyuki isn't able to see that it's the game's rules rather than the player's decisions that set her up for despair, despite being able to access the backlog and save states. 

Anyways, there is a lot of cool stuff in Totono, I just wish they thought their premise through more thoroughly instead of trying to be as edgy as possible.

 

[fuyopon]

Day 4 of reading 11eyes. This time, we spend time with Tachibana and Yuka, mostly.

Spoiler

To be honest, I'm feeling a little weird spending so much time with Tachibana and her little "date" scene... I don't mind it but I'm in Yuka's route :x I think the thing that makes me uncomfortable is that I'm liking Tachibana more than Yuka xD It's not that hard since Yuka is fucking annoying but still,,

"And in my eyes, the ghost of my sister no longer hovered over her." (Kakeru, after his date/talk with her on the rooftop) Ah, yes, now that it doesn't seem like incest, I can date her lol

When they were talking about Vlad and his "sadistic means" and life... I'm just expecting Kakeru to go bat-shit crazy by his eye, I CAN FEEL IT.

And finally, "Their names are Latin for the Seven Deadly Sins"... I mean, I get it, the original reader is Japanese and probably doesn't know Latin or a lot abt Christianity but as a Portuguese speaker, this wasn't exactly something new or surprising haha

I'm pretty excited to see how the story is going to develop for Yuka and Lisette

[fuyopon]

Day 5 of reading 11eyes. This time, we got into yet another Red Night and a fluffy maid event.

 

 

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 Advanced issues found

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Spoiler

So, I'll write some of my notes.

• Oh man, that almost-kissing scene with Yuka... I like this bold Yuka!
• It's really curious that Kakeru and Yuka never met the others before on the rooftop, even though they go there all the time, apparently. Coincidence? I don't think so!
• I'm getting suspicious of this whole Kakeru-and-Yuka-being-adopted thing. Not that I'm doubting, it's just that there mush be more to it...
• Misuzu is utterly adorable in that maid outfit but I must say that, although her panties are really pretty (I want a pair for myself, please), Takahisa can go fuck himself for all I care, ugh. Yeah, he is the "funny" perv but c'mon, that's just being an asshole. Other than that, the band-aid panties in Shiori really disturbed me, holy shit...

Oh yeah, if there's one thing I like is the contrast between paces: the common route was dragged to a point of exhaustion but Yuka's route is really fast and to the point, which is getting me really excited to keep reading it!