BookwormOtaku Posted May 23, 2020 Posted May 23, 2020 Finished Annerose and I overall enjoyed it: decent action, good artwork and voice acting. Kind of wish it was longer to expand more on some of the side heroines. Still I can't help but wonder something... Spoiler why did they even bother making Miki's H scene avoidable? The game pretty much assumes it happens regardless of your choice. Quote
bakanoumami Posted May 23, 2020 Posted May 23, 2020 Steins;Gate, like 10 years too late but better late than never, I suppose. Good stuff. Also some otome mobage on the side (Liar!/Obey Me!) Quote
Silvz Posted May 23, 2020 Posted May 23, 2020 5 hours ago, bakanoumami said: Steins;Gate, like 10 years too late but better late than never, I suppose. Good stuff. Also some otome mobage on the side (Liar!/Obey Me!) play Steins;Gate 0 after it Quote
Seraphim Posted May 24, 2020 Posted May 24, 2020 (edited) 13 hours ago, Silvz said: play Steins;Gate 0 after it I'm still waiting for the Steam improvement patch from Committee of Zero. At this point, I'm starting to doubt it'll ever be released, so maybe I should just go ahead and play the game without it. Edited May 24, 2020 by Seraphim88 Quote
Seraphim Posted May 24, 2020 Posted May 24, 2020 I've had a pretty productive weekend, finishing up 428: Shibuya Scramble as well as reading both chapter 3 and 4 of Higurashi. I originally intended to just read one chapter a week, but chapter 4 is much shorter than the rest so I figured I might as well read that too so I can get started on the answer arcs next weekend.428: Shibuya Scramble The story isn't all that interesting on paper, but the way it's presented, combined with the great soundtrack and an interesting and quirky cast of characters, make for a memorable whole. Although I do have to say that, for a completionist such as myself, it was quite a pain to get all endings and jump back and forth in the timeline to find all the hidden content. My favorite part of the game was after the Mean Clean bonus scenario, when you got to view behind the scenes footage from the recording sessions. After seeing static images with silent dialogue for 40-or-so hours, it made a surprisingly big impression on me to get to see the actors actually play out some of the scenes those images were taken from, along with hearing them speak for the first time. On that note, I actually managed to find a documentary with interviews with the cast, which I will definitely check out when my Japanese has improved some more.Higurashi, chapter 3 As I mentioned in a previous post, chapter 3 is called "The Shortest Scenario", but in actuality, it's basically as long as chapter 1 and 2 so I don't really know why they chose to use that tagline. The chapter itself was... hard to get a grasp on. It was equal parts exciting and confusing, with a lot of new questions raised, like Spoiler why there was another Keiichi attending the Watanagashi festival while the current one was out murdering Satoko's uncle. The events at the festival were seemingly exactly the same as what took place in chapter 2, except that Keiichi turned Shion away here for one reason or another. He still ended up outside of the ritual implement storehouse, which is where she led him in Chapter 2, for some reason, though. All of these events, including the "demoning away" incidents, could probably be explained by some sort of many-worlds interpretation, but I'm guessing it's not quite that simple. For one thing, it doesn't explain why some of the characters start acting really out of place at times. Higurashi, chapter 4 By far the shortest chapter of the question arcs, but I imagine that is because it apparently wasn't originally planned as part of the main series. In chapter 3, they refer to chapter 5 as the actual continuation of the story, so chapter 4 is really more of a filler episode. It was still a good read with some well executed and intense scenes, but it falls behind the previous chapters in terms of quality, in large parts due to the fact that there aren't any truly significant developments in the story that we didn't already know about. I also find Ooishi annoying, so him having such a large role in this chapter affected my overall impression. (My opinion of him improved somewhat, though.) The thing that stood out the most to me in this chapter was when Spoiler Rika's behavior suddenly changed. She started laughing and acting eerily similar to Takano. It's clear from the previous chapters that something's up with Takano, especially considering that she's up and about despite supposedly being dead at the time. I'm looking forward to finding out what's up with that. I've been getting exponentially more confused as the story in Higurashi has moved along, so it's going to be very interesting finding out what the hell is really going on. Mr Poltroon and Dreamysyu 2 Quote
onorub Posted May 24, 2020 Posted May 24, 2020 Finished Totono and while i thought the storytelling was a lot better than DDLC, one thing i found interesting was the different approaches each vn had for their true ending and the reason why i prefer DDLC's is on the spoilers. Spoiler While Totono acts like trying to get the endings for both girls is disrespectul, DDLC gives a true ending if you savescum for getting scenes with all the girls, showing appreciation for that. My take is that when you go for a VN as a reader rather than a self-insert, you'll most likely fall in love with the world of the VN itself rather than a specific character. Therefore, NOT going for all the girls to see all that the specific world of the VN has to offer is actually disrespectful to the world itself, and i feel DDLC kinda nailed that message. Dreamysyu 1 Quote
Silvz Posted May 24, 2020 Posted May 24, 2020 2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: Hide contents why there was another Keiichi attending the Watanagashi festival while the current one was out murdering Satoko's uncle. The events at the festival were seemingly exactly the same as what took place in chapter 2, except that Keiichi turned Shion away here for one reason or another. He still ended up outside of the ritual implement storehouse, which is where she led him in Chapter 2, for some reason, though. All of these events, including the "demoning away" incidents, could probably be explained by some sort of many-worlds interpretation, but I'm guessing it's not quite that simple. For one thing, it doesn't explain why some of the characters start acting really out of place at times. These questions show how hard the games are and that you haven't figured them out yet Quote
Seraphim Posted May 25, 2020 Posted May 25, 2020 8 hours ago, Silvz said: These questions show how hard the games are Yeah, no kidding! There's a ton of information to take into account, some of which contradict each other, so if someone actually manages to figure out the entire mystery simply by playing the question arcs, I'd say they deserve something like this: Silvz, Mr Poltroon, adamstan and 1 other 2 2 Quote
Eclipsed Posted May 25, 2020 Posted May 25, 2020 I had the most randomest "Oh hey I wonder what Spike Chunsoft made over the past couple years, I was a real big fan of Danganronpa/Zero Escape" Not really feeling up for 'dungeon crawling rpg' so I skipped Zanki Zero But I splurged on Al Somnium Files, an adventure sci-fi murder mystery (?) https://vndb.org/v26532 Also randomly picked up the modern 2019 version of YU-NO even though they're just the publisher for that https://vndb.org/v1377 Mr Poltroon and Seraphim 2 Quote
Mr Poltroon Posted May 25, 2020 Posted May 25, 2020 7 minutes ago, Eclipsed said: But I splurged on Al Somnium Files, an adventure sci-fi murder mystery (?) https://vndb.org/v26532 Liked it a whole lot. Quote
Seraphim Posted May 25, 2020 Posted May 25, 2020 Same here! The over-abundant sex jokes got kinda tiresome, but other than that, it was a great game. Hoping for some kind of sequel at some point! Quote
fuyopon Posted May 26, 2020 Posted May 26, 2020 I had a few days on no-reading but I'm back with it and I'm hoping I can keep reading at least 1 hour a day So, 11eyes again haha Man, I felt like in only an hour, a LOT has happened. The pace really is different So here, my comments so far! 19 Advanced issues found ▲ 3 1 Advanced issue found ▲ 0 Advanced issue found ▲ Spoiler Is Yuka's route the NTR route? First was my little date with Kukuri, now Shiori being tsundere with me... What next, Kaori? Shiori is my spirit animal: always reading like there's no tomorrow. I don't... have a "real me". - Shiori; I sure hope they don't let her go to waste because I'm getting my hopes up for a char development here, c'mon guys D: She doesn't have a route so I hope she doesn't end up as only a mysterious girl. Also, that quote gave me the feeling that there will be strong relations between Lisette and her. In that cross-view in which Lisette meets Michael, it's supposed to be serious and dark but then he yelled "Hallelujah!" and I lost it Alright, my theory so far is that Lisette created the Red Night so she could seal her magic and "wicked power" and also destroy that world, also destroying herself? Maybe she wants to save herself by destroying her magic, idk. She probably wants to protect the real world, for some reason tho. lmao even Yuka can feel the NTR coming, she's jealous at. Chill, brudah Kakeru being a punching bag to Misuzu and Yukiko... god, I wish that were me So, apparently Kukuri has a dead sister? They ain't related by blood cuz she's adopted but there's more to it, I know it. Her dead sister would be the same age as her nowadays were she alive. Finally, I ship Takahisa and Yukiko so much <3 It helps that they are canon lol man, Yukiko's route is going to be weird (now THAT is the ultimate NTR route, oof) Quote
fuyopon Posted May 27, 2020 Posted May 27, 2020 Day 10 of reading 11eyes! Man, today was a big ride, holy moly. I just wanna jump to certain parts but I will write everything I wrote down on my notebook, hehe. Spoiler Man, I really ship Takahisa and Yukiko; Wait, what? Takahisa is sleeping around with Saiko? Holy shit... I mean, I shouldn't be surprised but still-- I only saw them as family, not lovers or, as Saiko puts it, "fuck-buddies"; Bruh, the Saiko h-scene with Kakeru wasn't totally uncomfortable at first but it sure as hell was unexpected with me being in, you know, YUKA'S ROUTE. Ah, yes, this is definitely the Ultimate NTR Route; Oh man, so Saiko loves loves Takahisa but knows he loves Yukiko (more) and left her because of that... poor Saiko disclaimer: this was me before that cross-vision, we'll get to that later, yikes. After the h-scene when Yuka wakes up, the fact that Kakeru tries to act normal makes me so fucking uncomfortable, holy shit D: I never thought I could regret an h-scene so much, oof; Oh noes, an h-scene between Takahisa and Saiko, can't tell who's the protag here lol the worst thing? They recycled the h-scene material from the one with Kakeru and Saiko Jesus, that one cross-vision in which Takahisa pushes Saiko, naked, against the window... yikes forever. Finished that and wow, now I just feel bad for Saiko and I understand why Takahisa wants to keep his distance from her... Quote
fuyopon Posted May 28, 2020 Posted May 28, 2020 Day 11! Hmmm, today's reading was interesting for sure. There were many things happening but I didn't write down a lot. 2 Advanced issues found ▲ Spoiler Oh, so Yuka has some kind of magic? Like Acedia? Man, it's so weird how Kukuri can just heal them after the fight and suddenly they don't feel tired or hurt. I still feel tired from reading that alone lmao I like how naturally Takahisa told Yukiko his feelings for her, awn. Maybe there's hope for him. Update: I take it back, Takahisa is a still an asshole, sigh Quote
Daydreamer97 Posted May 28, 2020 Posted May 28, 2020 (edited) I've been playing more of Ebon Light and seeing such a high-quality free/PWYW game is really a delight. The main story is the same throughout your playthrough but the branching is really unique and provides a lot of replay value. For one thing, your MC has stats which help define or shape her personality and there's a variety of choices you can make to increase/decrease these stats which impact the storyline. The painterly style is beautiful and provides a unique aesthetic for this dark fantasy game which also has a lot of interesting lore accessible from an in-game glossary. There's also MC customization available so you can change the MC's hair style/color, eye color, skin tone, and even clothes later on. However, what I love the most about this is that your personality doesn't impact whether your love interest stays with you or not. I mean, you can play a sweet, kind main character or a ruthless, cunning one and still get a happy ending. The story involves a young woman who drinks something she shouldn't have (which kinda gives her abilities) and gets taken to an island full of elves with a militaristic society. From there, she can choose if she just wants to survive or seek power- although, power may be the key to her survival. It's quite choice-heavy so again, a lot of branches. Also there are emo elf LIs. Each playthrough is fairly short- maybe four hours, but the branching makes it so that things don't get stale. In any case, I have been following the development of this game for years and the end product is everything I wanted and then some. It has garnered quite a few fans in the otome game community and I really want to share it with everyone. Seriously, please check this game out. You don't really even have to romance anyone to get a happy ending. It's a good plot-focused VN with romance and emo elves I happen to love. Ebon Light is a very unique game and one of the best VNs I've played. And did I mention it's free/PWYW? Edited May 28, 2020 by Daydreamer97 Mr Poltroon 1 Quote
Mr Poltroon Posted May 28, 2020 Posted May 28, 2020 2 hours ago, Daydreamer97 said: I've been playing more of Ebon Light and seeing such a high-quality free/PWYW game is really a delight. The main story is the same throughout your playthrough but the branching is really unique and provides a lot of replay value. For one thing, your MC has stats which help define or shape her personality and there's a variety of choices you can make to increase/decrease these stats which impact the storyline. The painterly style is beautiful and provides a unique aesthetic for this dark fantasy game which also has a lot of interesting lore accessible from an in-game glossary. There's also MC customization available so you can change the MC's hair style/color, eye color, skin tone, and even clothes later on. However, what I love the most about this is that your personality doesn't impact whether your love interest stays with you or not. I mean, you can play a sweet, kind main character or a ruthless, cunning one and still get a happy ending. The story involves a young woman who drinks something she shouldn't have (which kinda gives her abilities) and gets taken to an island full of elves with a militaristic society. From there, she can choose if she just wants to survive or seek power- although, power may be the key to her survival. It's quite choice-heavy so again, a lot of branches. Also there are emo elf LIs. Each playthrough is fairly short- maybe four hours, but the branching makes it so that things don't get stale. In any case, I have been following the development of this game for years and the end product is everything I wanted and then some. It has garnered quite a few fans in the otome game community and I really want to share it with everyone. Seriously, please check this game out. You don't really even have to romance anyone to get a happy ending. It's a good plot-focused VN with romance and emo elves I happen to love. Ebon Light is a very unique game and one of the best VNs I've played. And did I mention it's free/PWYW? I saw your recommendations last time and I greatly appreciate them. However, this particular one seemed to have a style such that I decided to leave it be. That said, given what you are describing now I simply cannot ignore it, I see. Not a fan of dark stuff, generally, but I'll see what I think of it. Daydreamer97 1 Quote
fuyopon Posted May 29, 2020 Posted May 29, 2020 Day 12! I haven't read as much as the other days but man, today's cross-visions were something else o_o" Spoiler "And well, when it came to people like the Black Knights trying to get in the way of Kakeru-kun's and my happiness... I didn't care if they died." - big yandere Yuka vibes, oof Wait, what? Yuka's sudden memory of Ayame Garden came out of nowhere I wonder what that was about, it was only a split second but I saw blood... Update: oh gosh, Yukaia is definitely becoming a yandere, yiiiiikes... Quote
Seraphim Posted May 29, 2020 Posted May 29, 2020 Chapter 5 of Higurashi = done. Spoiler I was apparently right to suspect Shion, and my theory about it not being Mion doing horrible deeds in that torture room turned out to be right on the money. (Well, it was technically Mion since they'd been switched at birth by mistake, but that revelation doesn't really change anything about the whole torture room situation.) I was feeling a bit bad for Shion and her unrequited love at first, but as soon as she started blaming Satoko for all the problems within the Houjou family, all my sympathies went out the window, and then she just dove straight into madness from that point onwards. Satoko had to endure some awful stuff in chapter 3, but the torture scene with her in chapter 5 was downright heartbreaking. I'm hoping that isn't the true ending for her, and it might not be, since it's contradictory to some of the other endings. The many contradictions between chapters are actually what I'm most confused about, and I have no idea how they all tie together. I hope the explanation for it all will prove satisfactory. The characters who currently intrigue and confuse me the most are Rika, with her spot-on prophecies and sporadic Takano-like behavior, and Takano herself, who's basically a living contradiction. Rena's also a bit of an anomaly, with her severe attitude changes and oddly sharp instincts. Other than that, it was nice to finally get a confirmation that the Sonozaki's weren't behind the incidents (although that effectively means that Shion's victims were killed for nothing). I'd been suspecting that was the case, since it all seemed a little too convenient. As of now, I don't have a clue who the real culprits are, what with all the contradictions and characters frequently exhibiting strange behavior. I'm hoping for some jaw-dropping reveals in the upcoming chapters! Three more to go. Silvz, Dreamysyu and Mr Poltroon 3 Quote
Silvz Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: Chapter 5 of Higurashi = done. Hide contents I was apparently right to suspect Shion, and my theory about it not being Mion doing horrible deeds in that torture room turned out to be right on the money. (Well, it was technically Mion since they'd been switched at birth by mistake, but that revelation doesn't really change anything about the whole torture room situation.) I was feeling a bit bad for Shion and her unrequited love at first, but as soon as she started blaming Satoko for all the problems within the Houjou family, all my sympathies went out the window, and then she just dove straight into madness from that point onwards. Satoko had to endure some awful stuff in chapter 3, but the torture scene with her in chapter 5 was downright heartbreaking. I'm hoping that isn't the true ending for her, and it might not be, since it's contradictory to some of the other endings. The many contradictions between chapters are actually what I'm most confused about, and I have no idea how they all tie together. I hope the explanation for it all will prove satisfactory. The characters who currently intrigue and confuse me the most are Rika, with her spot-on prophecies and sporadic Takano-like behavior, and Takano herself, who's basically a living contradiction. Rena's also a bit of an anomaly, with her severe attitude changes and oddly sharp instincts. Other than that, it was nice to finally get a confirmation that the Sonozaki's weren't behind the incidents (although that effectively means that Shion's victims were killed for nothing). I'd been suspecting that was the case, since it all seemed a little too convenient. As of now, I don't have a clue who the real culprits are, what with all the contradictions and characters frequently exhibiting strange behavior. I'm hoping for some jaw-dropping reveals in the upcoming chapters! Three more to go. Just came by to say that I'm loving your spoiler-free impressions of the story. Keep on going, I think the answers are pretty satisfying, although they may not be what you'd expect. Oh, and play Umineko after it. It is even better than Higurashi. Edited May 30, 2020 by Silvz Seraphim 1 Quote
Seraphim Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 4 hours ago, Silvz said: Oh, and play Umineko after it. Yup, that's the plan! I've been putting it off for years just because people recommended playing Higurashi first due to there supposedly being some shared elements or something. I don't really know any details, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I've seen a spoiler about Umineko containing Spoiler a time loop, but I'm hoping that's something that's present from early on, like in Higurashi, rather than some game-changing reveal towards the end of the story. Other than that, I've managed to dodge any information about Umineko, so it's basically a blank slate for me. I've also started reading Raging Loop whenever I'm not reading Higurashi. I'm not usually a very big fan of werewolves, but it works well in this case and the story is pretty intense and engrossing right off the bat. My main concern is that my brain might overheat from the Higurashi + Raging Loop Mystery Combo Attack, so maybe I should start considering something like this: fuyopon and Mr Poltroon 1 1 Quote
Seraphim Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 Oh, right, I ran into a weird glitch in Higurashi. All of a sudden, a second Keiichi popped up. Made it kinda hard to take the scene seriously! fuyopon and adamstan 2 Quote
Dreamysyu Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 Higurashi. Spoiler 10 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: I was apparently right to suspect Shion, and my theory about it not being Mion doing horrible deeds in that torture room turned out to be right on the money. Yep. I was waiting for your reaction for this particular reveal. Now, let's see what you'll think about the next chapter. By the way, chapter 6 is my personal favorite (and 5 and 7 come next). Seraphim 1 Quote
Silvz Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 3 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: Yup, that's the plan! I've been putting it off for years just because people recommended playing Higurashi first due to there supposedly being some shared elements or something. I don't really know any details, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I've seen a spoiler about Umineko containing Hide contents a time loop, Umineko's is way less impactful than Higurashi's. While the latter restarts everything in each chapter, in Umineko the story goes on through each chapter. Seraphim 1 Quote
Seraphim Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 That actually sounds preferable! Some of the stuff in Higurashi feels a bit repetitive because they talk about it over and over again in each chapter. It's not too much of a bother, but I think there's some room for improvement/streamlining. Quote
fuyopon Posted May 30, 2020 Posted May 30, 2020 Day 13! Today's reading was... a little of everything lol Training, lovin' kisses and nightmares! Spoiler Yukiko is in loooove~ Jfc the finger-sucking scene was hecka suggestive... Kakeru sure likes too suck That training tho... I wished I could've felt more empathy for him :/ Wait, did Liselotte want to take Yuka's body before she forgot everything? Every time things get cute between Yukiko and Takahisa, he just gotta ruin everything... ugh. Okay, so... did the same thing that made the kids go bat-shit crazy in Ayame Garden happen to Kakeru's sister? That's why she killed herself? Hmmmmm... more questions. Quote
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