What are you playing?

[Seraphim]

While we're on the subject of Little Busters, does anyone know if there's some way to instantly switch between languages in-game? (I'm playing the English Edition on Steam.)
It feels like being able to switch back and forth could be good for my Japanese reading practice, but it's a bit annoying and roundabout having to enter the game menu and then "Config" every time I want to do it.

EDIT: I managed to find a solution on my own. There are a bunch of unlisted keyboard controls that don't appear in the in-game settings, apparently. Pushing L switches between English and Japanese.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Seraphim88

[Mr Poltroon]

17 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

While we're on the subject of Little Busters, does anyone know if there's some way to instantly switch between languages in-game? (I'm playing the English Edition on Steam.)
It feels like being able to switch back and forth could be good for my Japanese reading practice, but it's a bit annoying and roundabout having to enter the game menu and then "Config" every time I want to do it.

Press L.

[Seraphim]

I actually managed to find the answer elsewhere, but thanks anyway! Being able to switch seamlessly is pretty awesome!

[r0xm2n]

Reading Higurashi, ch 1............

Spoiler

WELP! The other shoe dropped!

....................

........ those sewing needles .......

...... if I keep reading tonight, I'm gonna have some nightmares!

 

Why doesn't Fuwa have a Rena emote?

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, r0xm2n said:

Reading Higurashi, ch 1............

  Reveal hidden contents

WELP! The other shoe dropped!

....................

........ those sewing needles .......

...... if I keep reading tonight, I'm gonna have some nightmares!

Do not worry, you are yet to reach the most disturbing parts. Ehehe.

[Seraphim]

I want to start reading that so bad, but I know that if I do so now, I'm going to regret it when I'm done with all the current chapters and have to wait for the conclusion. I really wish they'd release chapter 8 along with chapter 7 this month, but I guess we'll have to wait another year for it.  

[OdaNova]

On 04/07/2019 at 7:01 PM, OdaNova said:

Just got round to starting Virtue's Last Reward. 

I finished 999 last month.

Early days yet but VLR looks pretty interesting, similar games different concept. I've finished one route so far, guess I have 8 more to go. 

 

I'm still on this, hitting almost 25-30 hours now and it is getting exhausting. I like the concept but jumping around the different routes to unlock them gets tiring, especially as there are only so many different ways you can explain something I already know before it gets boring. (Text skip doesn't work in every instance of repeated explanations unfortunately.)

I'm on the supposed final route now, and that means I've done 8 routes just to get to this point. 

Spoiler

I think it is pretty lame that if you 'win' the game, everyone conspires to restrain or do harm against you (for the bad ends), yet when others win they're mostly passive observers that wilt in the face of adversity. 

I would have appreciated if in one or two of the bad ends he gets out and 'wins', a Pyrrhic victory or whatever - I know he can escape in Dio's route, but it is only ever with other people.

 

Another issue I have is that sometimes character personalities do a complete 180 depending on the route. Sometimes, I can absolutely understand the logic or motivation behind it, or I can identify an event that would cause them to act that way, but sometimes I feel they're just being dicks for the sake of it. 

Alice route for example, most of the game presents her as smart, capable and friendly and she goes Ally in I think every single route, but exclusively for her route she's getting on her high horse being a bit cruel saying anyone voting ally is an idiot etc. I get that it fit with the purpose of that arc's point, but it still made me a bit iffy about it. Tenmyouji was a bit similar, starts out quite likeable but going down his route he's a nasty piece of work.

I do like all the characters and their motivations so far though, though Dio really needs to die more. Really looking forward to the reveals in the last route (Phi) and I genuinely do enjoy the story and the mystery, I just think there are so many routes that it becomes exhausting to get through them at times...

 

I'm just waiting to find out what the whole 22 year old guy looks like an OAP reveal is going to be, since conveniently the game doesn't seem to have any mirrors and Phi in particular seems pretty mean about his face... Even Quark is terribly formal with him in some routes, but I can't figure it out.

 

[Inorin]

5 minutes ago, OdaNova said:

 

I'm still on this, hitting almost 25-30 hours now and it is getting exhausting. I like the concept but jumping around the different routes to unlock them gets tiring, especially as there are only so many different ways you can explain something I already know before it gets boring. (Text skip doesn't work in every instance of repeated explanations unfortunately.)

 

Wait till you play 428 Shibuya Scramble lol

Edited July 7, 2019 by wei123

[ChaosRaven]

Finally finished Grisaia no Meikyuu - The Labyrinth of Grisaia. It's quite a while since I read the first one, but since Meikyuu mainly was about Yuuji's back story, it wasn't really a big issue that I couldn't remember anything anymore.

I did start directly with Yuuji's back story and not with the after stories of the heroines. I'm not exactly a big Grisaia fanboy and the Angelic Howl side story part was the only thing I really liked about it. Yuuji didn't play a role in Angelic Howl and in the common route he was mostly presented as some kind of idiot agent for the lulz. So I was a bit hesitant of what to expect.

Fortunately, I didn't get disappointed. The writer took Yuuji's back story for the most part equally serious as Angelic Howl. The first part in particular was outright gloomy. Domestic violence, abuse, rape, suicide - it was quite dark, but also very well written. Although most people seem to appreciate Fujisaki Ryuuta mainly for his slice of life comedy, I think he's a much better story writer. I think I was able to symphatize with Yuuji for the first time here - he showed so much more emotions than the soulless shell in Kajitsu. It was also nice to see some real action for a change.

Spoiler

Especially the story arcs with Heath Oslo were great, when he started his 'special education'. Kind of reminded me of Azai Gonzou from G-Senjou no Maou - a really impressive villain. Too bad there weren't that much scenes with him later on, but I guess there's hope for the third part Rakuen considering the cliff hanger at the end.

I also really liked the story arc when Yuuji got together with Asako and Yuria. Asako was just chaotic enough that it was believable that she took Yuuji in. Asako and Yuria also had a very good chemistry as friends with each other. It was really soothing to see their friendly bantering slowly freeing him from his traumatized state. At that point I really enjoyed the shift to a lighter tone.

Though, his military education a bit later was already a bit too much comedy for me. The previous arcs were definitely stronger. Though Asako's fate hit me pretty hard, I really liked her a lot.

While Yuuji's back story was overall still pretty good, there was unfortunately one thing that was just bad. The writer might be decent in comedy and good with story but he's outright awful if it comes to romance and H-scenes.

Spoiler

The H-scenes at the start with Kazuki were obviously just to fullfill the H quota, but it was at least easily ignored. But forcing Yuuji into an affair with Asako although they clearly had a mother-son relationship was just inexcusable, and making him (comedy-) rape Yuria was also just rubbish. Not sure what's the point of suddenly presenting your main character as a soulless scum protagonist from a cheap nukige. To be honest, I was almost surprised that they didn't make him bang his own mother and dog as well. Ironically, the only character where it would have made sense - Milliela Stanfield - wasn't sexually involved at all.

I wish I would have played the all ages version to get spared of that crap. 

I also played three of the after stories: Amane's, Yumiko's and Sachi's. Though I dropped Amane's after story pretty soon when Amane reflected on how she gets horny when Yuuji treats her like shit - thanks I'll pass on that one. Fortunately, Yumiko's was much better. I think she's the only heroine that really has a good chemistry with Yuuji. Their relationship feels so honest and I just love her super cute facial expressions. Sachi's was somewhere in the middle. She's certainly one of a kind with her maid antics, but she also feels a bit too much like an artificial comedy character.

Overall rating: 7/10 (Could have gotten a 7.5/10 if they would have spared me the H quota in Yuuji's back story)

Edited July 8, 2019 by ChaosRaven

[OdaNova]

On 07/07/2019 at 1:21 PM, wei123 said:

Wait till you play 428 Shibuya Scramble lol

I have that on my wishlist as I stumbled upon it.

Do you recommend it?

[alpacaman]

So far I haven't read from anyone on this forum that they didn't like 428. I'd definitely recommend it.

[Ranzo]

So recently I played a few different vns

First I played Season of the Sakura a very old vn from 96 and I thought it was pretty decent

It had that old style charm even if the whole look, talk, think mechanic is dated as hell. I thought it was also weird that it is plainly set in a high school even though the vn claims otherwise.

After that I switched tones completely and wrapped up playing Higurashi part dos

I  thought it was pretty creepy though the ending seemed to be trying to be mysterious for mysterious sake

Also, does the beginning of the story start the same for each chapter? I can see how that might get stale

How many of the same festivals will I witness?

After that I switched gears yet again and played Lingua Fleur: Lily a short Chinese vn of all things

I really enjoyed it and I loved the fact that it was actually set in a University for once. Plus, the writing was actually very well done. I was impressed

Now I decided to play Cupid because tonal shifts are fun for the whole family.

These achievements though

Edited July 9, 2019 by Ranzo

[Ranzo]

I finished playing Cupid

I really enjoyed it, interesting premise, good writing, and it was pretty dark and twisted.

If I had to choose a song that encapsulated this vn it would be this one

 

[Inorin]

5 hours ago, OdaNova said:

I have that on my wishlist as I stumbled upon it.

Do you recommend it?

Intricate route system, (some) humorous bad ends, good story and huge emotional payoff. Definitely would recommend 

[adamstan]

5 hours ago, Ranzo said:

I thought it was also weird that it is plainly set in a high school even though the vn claims otherwise.

It's just the translation that claims otherwise In original it is just high school, that also has middle-school branch - Aki and Mio are middle-school 3rd years, being one year younger than Shuuji. They're in class 3-A, not 1-F as in translated version That way teams on sports festival make sense (since they all are from A-classes), as well as the writing on Mio's swimsuit in one beach CG, which clearly says "3-A"

5 hours ago, Ranzo said:

the whole look, talk, think mechanic is dated as hell.

Yep. But the VN surely has great charm. That's why I started remake project, trying to adapt it to "modern" structure with typical choices system. Old translation with new system is already playable, but it will take some time (year or two at least, I think...) to complete, since I want to also translate the parts that are missing from JAST's translation, and re-edit it a bit.

Spoiler

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by adamstan

[Seraphim]

Currently reading Little Busters, and I heard that your stats increase for every route you finish. Does it only influence the fighting minigame, or baseball as well? Is there any point in doing that/those minigame(s) during my first playthrough or should I just wait until the last one?

[adamstan]

If memory serves, stats were important for baseball too.

Edited July 9, 2019 by adamstan

[Mr Poltroon]

Stats influence baseball, of course. They need to run and catch balls and all that good stuff. Characters are good at different things precisely because of their stats.

[Dreamysyu]

10 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

Currently reading Little Busters, and I heard that your stats increase for every route you finish. Does it only influence the fighting minigame, or baseball as well?

Stats in the minigames and the baseball game are the same. From what I understand, it's pretty much impossible to beat the baseball game on your first playthrough, but later it becomes a lot more trivial.

11 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

Is there any point in doing that/those minigame(s) during my first playthrough or should I just wait until the last one?

Well, there's not really much meaning to the minigames to begin with, so just do what you want. I'd recommend not skipping them for a few times at the beginning while you're still not tired of them, and skipping them afterwards.

[Seraphim]

Oh, I had no idea the stats were shared, but I guess that makes sense since I can't remember ever getting a stat increase from the fighting game. Anyway, I'll probably skip the minigames for now then. It kinda feels like wasted effort to struggle with it now if it'll become easier later on, especially considering the randomness of the fighting.

[r0xm2n]

The Battle Rankings were what made Little Busters common route so much fun. Don't take it seriously, and just watch the waifus battle it out.

Sometimes the RNG scripts some funny results. I swear, Komari is quite strong in the battle rankings at times....

The RNG can also script some dramatic baseball matches too (in one match, on the absolute final ball, Rin won the entire game with a home run).

[adamstan]

Yeah, battle rankings were fun - especially the titles given to losers

[littleshogun]

Still playing Damekoi, and currently at Chapter 6. And yeah it play the opening at the start of each chapter, although there's no ending song at chapter ends like back at Koi Iru though. So yeah better get used to Damekoi's opening if you interested to play it (Understandable).

Edited July 13, 2019 by littleshogun

[Seraphim]

It can be kinda annoying when games and VNs do that, but you can always skip it with a click of the mouse button if you don't feel like watching it! I think I only watched the entire thing once during my playthrough.

[Kosakyun]

Started playing KoiChoco. Was initially interested in it because of how beautiful the art was, but was a bit weirded out with the combination of themes in its title. I've been reading for around three hours, so I haven't gone far enough to really get into depth with any of the story elements.

Spoiler

I admit, having absolutely no knowledge about the story of the game really helps in keeping you invested in reading. I really like it when games tease you with the different plot points they'll be using for the different routes along the common route, so the bouts of discrimination, scandal, and politics happening in the background of the SoL scenes really helps me keep going. Chisato's weird ritual with chocolates, the fact that students need to work in a factory as part of their scholarship, and the "Oosawa incident" they keep bringing up whenever things start concerning the current Student Council President are some of these teasers they keep poking at me as a reader.

I stopped at the part before they made the internal election for the club's running representative. If there's anything I feel weird about regarding that, it's that I share the same sentiments with Oojima on the matter - it feels forced to make him participate in the elections. Feels like a super underdog story where some unknown guy suddenly wins the Super Bowl because he tried. But then again, I guess that's what makes it interesting. What kind of tactics will a club about eating sweets and snacks employ to help their representative win the hearts of the masses? How will they incorporate the overall socio-political atmosphere the school has with regard to its student population and systemic organization? How can sweets and snacks possibly make people vote for them? Will they even win? Will they even run? Aaaah, pretty damn exciting!

As for the characters, I'm liking Isara the best right now. I'm such a sucker for deredere characters. But it's pretty damn obvious that there's some deep hurting happening inside of her. She smiles too much, and too much always means something. I hope whatever her route ends up being, it deals with the issue of scholarship students nicely. I'm really excited to read her route. I'll save it for last though! By the way, she just physically hurts me whenever Oojima talks to her. Goddamn, what a ball of fluff. She fell from the heavens, with "..Aha!" as her mantra. Goddamnit, aha. That smile can kill, aha!

Spoiler

 

Yaoi sticks.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Kosakyun
...Aha!