What are you playing?

[Eclipsed]

I've been looking for another VN series that I can binge on my Vita. I did Muv Luv earlier this year, a handful of otomes (still have like 6 more in my backlog) and recently did Chaos;Child

And it looks like I'll settle on Utawarerumono. They apparently released the (translated) second and third Uta games Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth a few years ago but barely released the first game retitled Prelude to the Fallen this year, lucky me 

[Mr Poltroon]

49 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

I've been looking for another VN series that I can binge on my Vita.

Really justifying that purchase huh.

[Seraphim]

After a somewhat longer wait than expected, the 07th mod for chapter 8 of Higurashi finally dropped a little over a week ago, and I'm now done with that chapter as well as the main series as a whole.

Spoiler

The beginning of this chapter was probably the most boring part of the entire series, what with all the info-dumping and characters without sprites sitting around talking politics and whatnot.
The part with Takano's backstory kinda fell flat for me. It's pretty clear that it's supposed to tug at your heartstrings (there would be no need to go into such detail about her suffering otherwise), but it becomes hard to truly sympathize with the hardships of her youth when you know how twisted and cold-blooded she is as an adult. I mean, we're talking about a person who has no qualms about downright executing children to get what she wants. The fact that she herself, when she's asked to take responsibility for everything that transpired by ending her own life, starts bawling like a baby and pleading that she doesn't want to die, speaks volumes about what a selfish and pitiful person she truly is.
She's "saved" by Tomitake claiming that she suffers from Hinamizawa Syndrome, but that honestly seemed more like an excuse to spare her from having to shoulder the entire burden and repercussions of the failed operation rather than the actual reason behind her actions, considering the fact that she had been obsessed about finishing her grandfather's research by any means necessary long before she even went to Hinamizawa.
I think the best kinds of antagonists are the ones that you can sympathize with to some extent despite their questionable actions, but Takano's utterly unlikeable in that regard. Not once does she care about anyone other than herself and her grandfather, so why should anyone care about her? She's told towards the end that she doesn't have a single ally and I'd say that's a fitting conclusion for a person who does nothing but use and abuse others.

On a completely different note, I've been wondering about what Akasaka's role in chapter 8 would've been like given the fact that chapter 4, which he's the protagonist of, wasn't supposed to be a part of the series originally. Would this mean that they'd just toss this unknown superhero-type character into the mix in the final chapter or that he wouldn't be a part of the script in the first place? Removing him from the story altogether would alter the progression of events quite a bit, so it would be interesting to know how that would've been handled.

Speaking of Akasaka, the whole scene where he rescues Rika from Okonogi and the mountain dogs was quite the chuunifest. In just a few years, Akasaka's apparently gone from amateur to some kind of martial arts god that can easily beat people who have been doing this kind of stuff much longer than he has. Admittedly, most of them weren't combat specialists, but they far outnumbered him and should've been able to easily take him down if they just worked together. Furthermore, there was a group of ten or so mountain dogs just letting Akasaka fight Okonogi one on one without interfering in any way. Normally, they'd also attack Akasaka, or at the very least carry out their objective by apprehending Rika, but instead they chose to just stand around doing nothing, jeopardizing the entire mission for no reason whatsoever. It was fun to watch, but not very believable.

Likewise, the battle at the hill was also more than a little far-fetched. That a handful of kids would be able to single-handedly take down like four full squads of armed professionals by using some homemade traps, is some next level Home Alone shit. Kevin McCallister would've been proud.

One thing that kinda blows my mind is why noone told Oryou or any other influental people (like, say, the yakuza syndicate that's run by Shion's and Mion's parents) about this major event that could possibly wipe out their entire hometown and everyone in it. I mean, it's not like they'd have to inform the entire village, but they could get some well-needed assistance and greatly increase their odds of success by letting a select few capable people know about the situation. Hinamizawa even has a history of coming together against threats from the outside, so it's really odd that they wouldn't use that to their advantage at such an important time. It would fit the story well, to be honest.
That said, the chapter ended without a single casualty for the first time in the entire series, so maybe getting others involved, however logical it would be, would've resulted in a more gruesome tale. I'm generally a sucker for happy endings, so even if things wrapped up a bit too conveniently, I'd say I'm satisfied with the outcome.

Higurashi was a great read with a lot of both expected and unexpected twists and turns, and now I'm, more than ever, looking forward to seeing what Umineko has in store for me.

EDIT: Oh, right, I should mention that I ran into a couple of funny typos and bugs during my playthrough. At one time, they were referring to "the dam conflict" as "the damn conflict", and on a few other occasions, I saw a reappearance of the bug that randomly inserts character sprites where they aren't supposed to be. Here's one example, but the best one is when a delighted Mion forced her way into a scene she wasn't even a part of, blocking the view for several characters while they were discussing important matters. You can see what I mean here and here.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Seraphim88

[fuyopon]

Alright, after some time without updating my reading life, I'm back! I've been reading Kara no Shoujo 2 every day and I would say I'm mid-way through it  I'm loving it so far! Even more than the first one, I'd say. Besides that, I've been trying to finish Gyakuten Kenji. It's pretty great! I'm starting Mei's route in Clannad, I'm curious to see what's going to happen around her and Sunohara! 

(Spoilers for Kara no Shoujo 2)
vvvvvvvvvvv

Spoiler

Honestly, my suspicions are very much centered in Nanako and Naori... Nanako could be even helping him, but I doubt they would repeat the same thing again (at least I hope not).

 

[ChaosRaven]

I finally finished Ouka Sabaki (aka Master Magistrate) and it was a very nice read overall. The combination of a murder mystery with a past Japan Bakumatsu setting, staring the Shinsengumi, was certainly quite unique. It was also the first time I've played a VN with Phoenix Wright style court gameplay. That said, I'm not sure if the gameplay really worked in favor of the VN or against it. While it was certainly interesting, I had the feeling that its somewhat comical execution with the whole 'talking down' and 'showdown' stuff, lessened the dramatic impact of the story a bit. Though that might be just personal preference.

The plot structure of the VN reminded me a bit of Sakura no Mori † Dreamers. There's a very long common route with several connected cases and the heroine routes are more or less just tagged on. The plot itself was actually pretty good. There are four major cases, although the first one could be considered more a tutorial case to learn the gameplay mechanics. What was definitively impressive was how interconnected the cases were. Some events I first thought were relevant for a former case, actually got important in a later case. And some later cases were a direct consequence of the outcome or events of the former cases. That was definitely better as in Sakura no Mori † Dreamers, where the cases had a bit too much of a 'monster of the week' pattern.

Another thing I really liked was the rather large cast of well-made side characters. Almost every case introduced new characters and existing characters could play a different role in the new cases. I was particularly impressed about the voice acting. Not only were all and not just the main characters voiced, the overall quality of it was also pretty good, even the male characters. I'm actually a bit curious about the voice acting royalties of this VN.

That said, not everying was gold. While the character sprites were quite decent for the most part, I can't really say the same for the backgrounds. There weren't too much and most of them looked a bit bland. Ironically, that actually helped to find certain key items in the investigation scenes. XD
The CG's were also a bit of a hit and miss. The black and white sketch CG's didn't really fit to the overly bright and colorful backgrounds, and I would have vastly preferred less but fully colored ones.
The audio tracks also felt a bit sparse and repetitive. This combined with the bland backgrounds and the focus on the court gameplay made the VN frequently feel a bit dry.
In general, the VN felt a bit too light for a murder mystery. Though, on a positive note that also means that I'd recommend this VN to people who don't want a full gloom and doom murder mystery like Kara no Shoujo. But for me personally Sakura no Mori had a stronger emotional impact even if the story of Master Magistrate was objectively better. The routes also felt a bit weaker here, the ones of Sakura no Mori at least had a final epilogue case.

The gameplay nature of this VN also made the matter of prove a bit difficult in some cases. If there's definitive prove to convict a suspect, it can make the case too easy to solve. But if almost everything is guess-work it can be pretty hard to prove. I think the first three major cases had a good balance, but the last one? Sorry, I think if the culprit wouldn't have rewarded every correct guess with a willing confession, a conviction would have been almost impossible without further investigation. Nevertheless, most conclusions and actions felt logical, there was only one thing I simply didn't understand:

Spoiler

When Shimei had Toujou in the court when he revealed his true identity, how could Shimei be arrested by him? I mean, it was the court of Nakamachi where the magistrate of Kitamachi should have exactly zero authority. Furthermore, at that moment he was top suspect of an attempted murder on the shogun. Even if his identity is revealed as a magistrate, he's still suspected of high treason and should have been arrested for that by the Shinsengumi. Why did they follow Kagetora's orders instead? And not to mention that True-Shogun-Loli was also in the court and on Shimei's side. Did I miss something and Kagetora was elected to Tenno inbetween, or why did he suddenly have interregional super-executive powers?

Nevertheless, with the exception of the short and tagged on wannabe routes, I enjoyed the VN quite a bit.

Heroine ranking: Iroha > Rimu = Sakura > Koume >> Shino

Final rating: 7.5/10

I think I enjoyed it as much as Sakura no Mori † Dreamers, so I decided to give it the same rating. Both had rather different strengths and weaknesses though, so the experience itself was different.

Edited July 21, 2020 by ChaosRaven

[Mr Poltroon]

45 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Nevertheless, most conclusions and actions felt logical, there was only one thing I simply didn't understand:

  Reveal hidden contents

When Shimei had Toujou in the court when he revealed his true identity, how could Shimei be arrested by him? I mean, it was the court of Nakamachi where the magistrate of Kitamachi should have exactly zero authority. Furthermore, at that moment he was top suspect of an attempted murder on the shogun. Even if his identity is revealed as a magistrate, he's still suspected of high treason and should have been arrested for that by the Shinsengumi. Why did they follow Kagetora's orders instead? And not to mention that True-Shogun-Loli was also in the court and on Shimei's side. Did I miss something and Kagetora was elected to Tenno inbetween, or why did he suddenly have interregional super-executive powers?

 

This is simple and complicated simultaneously.

Spoiler

It's simple because in the end it only happened because he pointed a sword at Shimei and threatened his life (that it got to that point was due to the Shisengumi letting Saito in, but whatever. She's an element of chaos with her every action.).

It's complicated because for all intents and purposes both magistrates had the authority to arrest one another at any time. During court, as one of the suspects, is decidedly one of the times when it looks least legitimate to do so, hence the threat of force. And if you're under arrest, you lose your authority unless your subjects choose to obey you. Which happened in Tojo's case due to, once again, the threat of killing Shimei. Once Shimei is under arrest, then Tojo has legitimacy and does in fact have the authority to retain him, much like he had the authority to arrest him.

Unlike today, authority was vested by the shogun and you'd only manage to hold onto your authority if people obeyed you. If they don't, it's the same as having none, and what matters is the aftermath and not how you got there. Force is what grants authority. Exact same reason why the commander of the Shisengumi can afford to arrest you. His subordinates obey him and not you so long as there is reasonable cause for doubt, and him arresting you is one of the things he can do if he claims you are conspiring against the Shinsengumi.

In short: Because these people all have a measure of authority to conduct arrests, in the moment it'll win whoever controls the "army". The aftermath they can just come up with whichever justification they want and it's fine, due to their role and authority.

As for why the "shogun" did not intervene... Her desire to remain impartial is probably it. There was no saying with absolute certainty that Shimei wasn't a suspect, and especially so if Tojo was innocent. Basically, it's politics and judgements far below her level. Both Tojo and Shimei would be better at investigations and legal matters than her, and both do have authority over the case, so she'd have no business intervening, if she were impartial.

 

[ChaosRaven]

37 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

This is simple and complicated simultaneously.

Spoiler

The problem is that threatening Shimei with a sword should be an almost suicidal action, because it looks like an act of desperation and an indirect confession of guilt. Without being backed by an army, it would be Tojo & Saito against the whole shinsengumi corps, which would have been certain death for them a soon as Shimei wouldn't directly be threatened anymore. Only Takeru as the commander of the shinsengumi should have the power to decide this conflict in that situation. But since they knew each other well, that could have been actually the case.

Still doesn't make sense to me that the Shinsengumi had to pledge to get Shimei free. I think Tojo must have had a higher authority, with Shimei being new and all, otherwise the whole situation wouldn't make sense. I think if the situation would be reversed and Shimei being in Tojo's court, threatening Tojo after being convicted, he would have been killed on the spot or as soon as he'd released Tojo. That said, not even Shimei itself did understand the situation at that point, so it was certainly intended to be quite confusing by the writer. XD

Though it made sense that Koume couldn't interfere, since she wasn't the official Shogun and almost nobody knew about her status anyway.

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by ChaosRaven

[Mr Poltroon]

14 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

  Hide contents

The problem is that threatening Shimei with a sword should be an almost suicidal action, because it looks like an act of desperation and an indirect confession of guilt. Without being backed by an army, it would be Tojo & Saito against the whole shinsengumi corps, which would have been certain death for them a soon as Shimei wouldn't directly be threatened anymore. Only Takeru as the commander of the shinsengumi should have the power to decide this conflict in that situation. But since they knew each other well, that could have been actually the case.

Still doesn't make sense to me that the Shinsengumi had to pledge to get Shimei free. I think Tojo must have had a higher authority, with Shimei being new and all, otherwise the whole situation wouldn't make sense. I think if the situation would be reversed and Shimei being in Tojo's court, threatening Tojo after being convicted, he would have been killed on the spot or as soon as he'd released Tojo. That said, not even Shimei itself did understand the situation at that point, so it was certainly intended to be quite confusing by the writer. XD

Though it made sense that Koume couldn't interfere, since she wasn't the official Shogun and almost nobody knew about her status anyway.

 

Spoiler

I agree that it looks that way from Shimei's side, but from Tojo's side it looked like a really elaborate frame-up to the point Shimei looked plenty guilty and trying to sweep the incident under the rug quickly by arresting Tojo. Which is actually what was happening, due to the commander's actions.

The outcomes if the Shisengumi resisted would've have been the death of Shimei and possibly another magistrate. Not positive for anyone involved. It's flat-out better to let the arrest run its course. Shimei telling his people to resist would've probably resulted in the fight you'd expect, but in the moment, everyone was too flabbergasted and worried about Shimei.

Even after releasing Shimei, it was only done in Tojo's home province, where the troops therein would be loyal of many years, like Saito. Without anybody of authority getting involved, Tojo was literally the only person of authority left. Outside of outright insubordination by all members of Shimei's province, which would lead to armed conflict with Tojo's, there was nothing to be done here after the point Tojo arrests Shimei.

If the situation were the opposite and Shimei had someone like Okita ambushing Tojo in court, I think it would've turned out just the same way. Tojo would be under arrest and Shimei would have the authority to put him in trial later. That said, Shimei wouldn't do things the way Tojo did, and Tojo has much more experience and connections, so it is hard to even imagine the situation.

It is true that Tojo's reputation and presence would help crush objections from uninvolved parties much more than Shimei's, though.

 

[ChaosRaven]

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I agree that it looks that way from Shimei's side, but from Tojo's side it looked like a really elaborate frame-up to the point Shimei looked plenty guilty and trying to sweep the incident under the rug quickly by arresting Tojo. Which is actually what was happening, due to the commander's actions.

The outcomes if the Shisengumi resisted would've have been the death of Shimei and possibly another magistrate. Not positive for anyone involved. It's flat-out better to let the arrest run its course. Shimei telling his people to resist would've probably resulted in the fight you'd expect, but in the moment, everyone was too flabbergasted and worried about Shimei.

Even after releasing Shimei, it was only done in Tojo's home province, where the troops therein would be loyal of many years, like Saito. Without anybody of authority getting involved, Tojo was literally the only person of authority left. Outside of outright insubordination by all members of Shimei's province, which would lead to armed conflict with Tojo's, there was nothing to be done here after the point Tojo arrests Shimei.

If the situation were the opposite and Shimei had someone like Okita ambushing Tojo in court, I think it would've turned out just the same way. Tojo would be under arrest and Shimei would have the authority to put him in trial later. That said, Shimei wouldn't do things the way Tojo did, and Tojo has much more experience and connections, so it is hard to even imagine the situation.

It is true that Tojo's reputation and presence would help crush objections from uninvolved parties much more than Shimei's, though.

 

Spoiler

I think I somehow missed that Shimei was actually imprisoned in Tojo's home province. That certainly explains why they couldn't get Shimei free anymore. Tojo was probably aware that he technically shouldn't have the authority in Nakamachi to arrest Shimei, but who would oppose willingly a well known hardliner magistrate from Kitamachi? He probably speculated rightly that nobody would dare to resist him in such a confusing situation if he just threw in his full personal authority, and took advantage of that. The voice actor actually did a great job to support this. I was almost blown away when his teasing voice suddenly changed to dictator style. I thought at first that another person had entered the court. It was certainly a quite memorable scene. 

 

[adamstan]

Recently I finished Hinako's route in Natsu no Ame. And well - it wasn't bad, but yeah, contrary to Hinako herself, it was indeed kinda... flat? Had many nice moments, but felt a bit unfinished. So I have to agree that it's the weakest route of the game. But it had nice H-scenes

Currently I'm on Misa's route, and so far it's great.

Edited July 25, 2020 by adamstan

[Eclipsed]

I'm on a roll with VN's this year must be cuz of the pandemic and all the staying at home

So I managed to finish the Utawarerumono - Prelude to the Fallen. It's the 2020 remake/remaster of the original 2002's Utawarerumono. Clocked in about 32hours, more VNs need to incorporate a play time with your save file smh.

First off, I'll post my favorite BGM from it so I can be all nostalgic while I type this out:

(OK, this BGM is a bit misleading because this track totally sounds waaay too tragic- this VN is actually pretty lighthearted throughout LOL- but the few times something sad/tragic happens and this music plays I always loved it).

I read Chaos;Child before this, which was a modern high school SoL/pseudoscience adventure. Utawarerumono is a medieval light fantasy adventure featuring animal people and was originally written in 2002. Big contrast 

The protagonist is a nameless amnesiac guy (go figure) who wakes up in a rural village called Yamayura. He was apparently found gravely injured and slowly nursed back to health by a local villager cutie by the name of Eruru- the main heroine of the story. She's the typical nice girl next door supportive caring type with good mannerisms but can also throw the occasional jealous fit. And she also has fluffy ears. And a fluffy tail. Which the protagonist gropes after pondering if they were real or not (they're real by the way). Anyways before the protag can question this any more its revealed he also has an unconventional feature of his own: an unremovable mask which further adds to his mystery:

Whoop dee doo, nameless amnesiac protagonist with a unremovable mask further obscuring his identity. And I still don't know what animal the folk from this VN are based off of. Squirrel? Fox? Lemur?

Protag then is introduced to Eruru's younger sister, Aruru, and their grandmother Tuskur, the chief of the village who welcomes him with open arms and grants him the same name she gave her late son: Hakuowlo. Haku would spend the next few weeks recovering and mingling with the villagers. He's a capable protagonist: he teaches them how to properly cultivate their land to grow crops, and even how to forge iron to trade and bolster their economy. None of the villagers were knowledgeable in these aspects at all. Gives you some good brainstorm candy for just who Haku is or where he could be from for him to know these things (you'll probably be wrong lol).

Eventually the peaceful slice of life days will come to an abrupt end and the VN will shift to a warring nations adventure narrative and throw in some SRPG gameplay. There's about 30-40 SRPG levels/battles that you'll play through in the entirety of the 20-30 hours it takes for you to read through this VN:

Spoiler

 

The SRPG was aight. Your characters are pretty OP; the only way you could lose is if you try to rush through things and so you let a unit go too far and they get mobbed to death. I built all my characters as glass cannons (minus Aruru- she's a beast of a tank) so I could just one shot enemies. Who needs defense. Though I didn't bother playing HARD mode...probably'd get my ass kicked lol.

 

There are many friends and enemies, love and betrayal, ups and downs, happy and sad moments to be had as you expand your empire. The story is linear but in between battles you are given a bit of freedom in which slice of life events you want to read (none are missable, thank god, because you'll eventually exhaust them anyway so feel free to pick whatever order you want). There's also a glossary to help with all the fantasy terminologies like the different races, locations, religions, etc... Definitely helpful. The total overall narrative is effectively 15% peaceful village slice of life, 75% warring nations conflict + the slice of life in between battles, and 10% Hakuowlo revelations.

Story: 7/10 It's a solid medieval adventure light fantasy thing. Some of the conflicts between nations were meh and probably could've been cut imo but ultimately they do help expand the world and lore. Slice of life moments were pretty good. End game revelations about Haku are pretty cool, nothing meta or mind blowing.

Characters: 7/10 They're all extremely one dimensional, I mean c'mon its 2002 whattaya expect heh, but they're all given their own little story arcs and were likeable nonetheless. Particularly fond of Eruru & Aruru, they're the poster girls ofc they'd win. Oboro was a total bro, they totally pulled off the 'starts off a complete prick and then becomes your right hand man' pretty well for him. Hakuowlo himself was entirely capable and leader material, no complaints. 

Art: 7/10 Pretty good looking despite 2002. Idk if they improved or just used the original assets.

Music: 6/10 (original), 8/10 remake. The remake version I played offered two BGM settings: original: offering only the original Uwatarerumono tracks, and remake: offering the original + sequel tracks. Original is pretty lacking, I would change the settings back and forth just to see what the original played on certain scenes and yeah it's pretty limited. Remake would change tracks in the middle of scenes based on what was happening whereas original would use that one track for the entirety of the scene.

Gameplay/SRPG: 6/10 I'm just not a fan of SRPGs, lel. But it was aight.

Overall 7/10 enjoyable VN. I may watch the 24 episode Utawarerumono 2006 anime, I heard it's what many people would do before reading the next entry back then since it was the only translated version of the first entry at the time, but I'm ready for Mask of Deception! Pretty interested in seeing what they'll do with the narrative, there's literally 13 years between the release of the first and second VNs. So the writers were like, oh yeah, y'all remember that VN we made a decade ago? Let's make a SEQUEL!

Misc Thoughts/Comments (SPOILERS)!!

Spoiler

-This VN has tragic moments, but typically tends to lean towards the lighthearted end of the spectrum and so darker events would get glossed over. Tuskur, the chief of Yamamura village dies after a scuffle with one of the feudal lord's grunts, but not before entrusting Haku with her granddaughters and the village, and so Haku goes on his conquest to liberate the land. He does so successfully, becomes the new owlo (emperor) of the country and renames it Tuskur.

Then in one of the random warring nations conflict, Yamamura village gets decimated entirely along with all of the villagers, leaving Eruru and Aruru to be the sole survivors of their village. The VN never really gave Haku and the girls a dedicated scene to reflect/mourn over such a big loss. They get sad for a bit and then kind of just get over it.

-I didn't get Yuzuha's purpose. She was this frail terminal sickly girl who everyone loved and cared for unconditionally and wanted her to grant all of her wishes. Ultimately she ended up having Hakuowlo's child before passing, to leave proof that she existed in this world. But Haku already has Eruru as his love, YO WTF MAN I WONDER HOW ERURU REACTED TO THAT. I MEAN, DIDN'T HE BECOME ONE WITH ERURU ALREADY:

Spoiler

I heard the original VN had some light Hscenes. This one only goes as far as saying they become one and then fade to black kekeke.

-Same with Kuuya. Didn't get her purpose. She was the owlo of another country and randomly took interest in Haku when he became the owlo of Tuskur and kept having random middle of the night meetings with him. Then she and her nation becomes the big bad and declare war on everybody because they were tired of being outcasted. Eventually she downfalls and due to trauma regresses to a childlike mental state. What was the point.

-There's a very weird powerspike that happens when Tuskur is battling Kunnekamun's Abh-Khamus (the 5meter tall robot army). Literally they give you an SRPG battle where you have to survive X amount of turns and all of your units deal 0 damage to the Abh-Khamus. Once of those forced lost battle types. Then Haku goes one on one vs a general Abh-Khamu to buy time for his people to evacuate, then he gets oneshotted, and Aruru + her pet legendary tiger Mukkuro try to protect and they get oneshotted and Aruru almost dies... TL;DR the Abh-Khamus are pretty well depicted as an unbeatable foe. Narratively they also took out an entire top3 power ranking country in 4 days. Then all of a sudden in future battles they're not invincible anymore you can one shot whole armies of them with no explanation provided.

-I liked that the beginning mystery questions that were just brushed off- like Haku's mask, why the people of this world have ears and tails, etc. turned out to be vital to the late game lore. Regarding humanity: Earth's surface has unfortunately regressed to become inhospitable to humans, and so the only people that do live on the surface are the anthropomorphic animal-human hybrids races. As for Haku: his mask is a mark of his deity origins- he is the God Uitsualnemetia that the people of this world worship and can make contracts with (give me your mind body and soul and I'll grant your wish). Eruru was actually initially only at his side because she sold herself to him in exchange to save Aruru prior to the Haku waking up at the very beginning of the story. I too felt the guilty shocking distant revelation of "all this time Eruru was only loyal and caring because she was forced to" though we all know her feelings of love towards Haku are indeed genuine by the end. But alas, he is sealed away...

I really really wonder if the sequels will deal with this:

10+ YEARS LATER DEVS BE LIKE, EYYY LET'S MAKE A SEQUEL CALLED MASK OF DECEPTION!@#

COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!!!!!

 

[starcraft2]

I recently finished marathoning the LN YouJitsu and since there's a 2-3 month wait for vol14, I've decided to continue on Kinugasa's other works. I read the Akatsuki no Goei 5.5 years ago so now I'll read the sequel,  Akatsuki no Goei ~Tsumibukaki Shuumatsuron~ before finally moving on to Reminiscence. Been so long since I read the prequel so hopefully I didn't forget too much. Also can't believe it's already been 3 years since I last read a VN (Sen no Hatou)...

[Eclipsed]

Theyre finally here 

[Inorin]

13 hours ago, Eclipsed said:

Theyre finally here 

Have fun

[adamstan]

So, I have just finished Misa's route in Natsu no Ame, which means completing whole VN.

Misa's route was truly wonderful, almost like from the different game I mean, Rikako's and Midori's routes were also pretty good, but this one really outshines them. On the surface, in the beginning it might have look like your typical moege teacher route, but it really goes beyond that. Mostly thanks to Nene (It reminded me of Language of Love a bit). I love how, especially the second part, is focused on the themes of family. Romance part is also the best among four routes - it was the only route, where first sex scene didn't jump out of nowhere There was proper build up to that moment. It was really lovely, heartwarming route - I laughed and cried a lot, even though it wasn't full-blown nakige. Epilogue was also sweet.

Spoiler

Family ending! My favorite kind in charage. Well, they aren't married yet during the epilogue itself, but are engaged and act like a proper family already.

So my ranking of routes would probably be something like Misa >>> Midori = Rikako (cannot choose which one I liked more, as their moods were quite different) > Hinako (lovely heroine, but the route itself feels unpolished, a bit disappointing, especially since I'm always keen on osananajimi routes).

Graphics, music and voices were really good - no complaints from me at all.

I agree with Joyjason's review, that it was nice touch to have epilogues narrated by heroines.

If all routes were of the same quaility as Misa's, this VN would easily be the 9, but since the other three lacked that extra something, after all I'll settle with  8/10. Very good charage, with decent pacing, one outsdanding route, two very good ones, and one a bit weaker. So while my review isn't as enthusiastic as Joyjason's one, I'd still recommend this game to anyone who isn't allergic to a bit of SoL, or Konno Asta's writing Not bad for his first VN

I think it could gain some popularity if it got decent translation, but perhaps now 800x600 resolution might put off some people... after all it's 2009 VN. But I'd love to see what Nekonyansoft could make of it

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by adamstan

[adamstan]

Today I started reading one of the early Yuzusoft titles - Natsuzora Kanata (thanks to someone mentioning it recently on vndb forums). Since I just started, I can only say that, at least at first glance, the art looks very pretty - there are quite detailed backgrounds. Also, opening was very nice.

Edited August 4, 2020 by adamstan

[Soul Hunter]

Just finished Chaos;Child, great game which I really enjoyed the twists and the mystery, the impactful scenes were also very well done, but there are so many questions in my head, I didn't understand a lot of the things that happened, about the delusions and stuff, my only issue is that it's not my type of game  , since there is NO ROMANCE at all:

 

Spoiler

There is only one confession in one of the routes (didn't read all of Hana and Kazuki because meh), but Takuru never starts dating her (Hinae), in Senri's route it's not clear if they start seeing each other as lovers, their relationship is too sibling-ish.

And about the true ending, it's fine having a kind of sad ending, actually I found the true ending well-written, it's just not my type of ending since Takuru ends up alone, so meh, in Rewrite for example Akane's route doesn't end 100% happy, but I loved that a lot since Kotarou stays beside the woman of his life, in C;C Takuru ends up completely alone, even his friends are gone for good, so it didn't have that much of an impact in me emotionally, just read and thought "yeah cool".

Well, that aside, I recommend the game for anyone, the atmosphere and the twists are very good, and some of the characters also, and the ARTSTYLE  .

Edited August 3, 2020 by Soul Hunter

[fuyopon]

1 hour ago, Soul Hunter said:

since there is NO ROMANCE at all

oh man, I might like this vn more than I thought!  

[fuyopon]

[CLANNAD] Alright, I just finished Kotomi's route, and wow...! This is the first Clannad route that made me shed actual tears :')

Spoiler

Initially, I was curious about Kotomi and her strange behavior... actually, I really think it would make sense if she were in the autistic spectrum.   After some time, she started to grow on me, not to mention that she can be hilarious!  Now, for the trauma and breakdown scene and the whole childhood part... man, that broke me. It kinda triggered me and I think that's the only reason I cried: I could relate to it. I can lost my family in my childhood, just not in the literal physical sense. They are still here, but they aren't. Oh well, back to the route. I really had a hard time going through her scene when she is looking for her parents because of that amazing voice acting.  Fuck, man, that really got me. Lastly, the only complaint is the "bag going around the world thing" lmao that's just...  

Next is Fuko's route!

 

[adamstan]

I cried in Kotomi's route too...

10 minutes ago, Leonor said:

Next is Fuko's route!

Good luck Fuko's route was another one that made me cry - and I really didn't expect it judging by her behavior in common route. But well - that's the point of nakige I guess In the beginning Fuuko was just some annoying little brat, but near the ending...

************************

As for my current read (Natsuzora Kanata), yesterday I entered Yuiko's route (I'm saving Chihaya's route, who seems to be central heroine, for the end). I really love the art style of this VN. Sprites use flat shading, and backgrounds have level of detail that sometimes is close to the backgrounds of sprite's VNs (Koichoco and Aokoana) - there are even some, where there are people with faces in them, like this one from festival:

Characters are also likeable. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that two of three heroines seem to be lolis, at least when it comes to body shape.

Edited August 4, 2020 by adamstan

[alpacaman]

Finished Necrobarista yesterday which I was mildly hyped for before its release. It looks fantastic, at least as long as your computer has enough power, because the game renders everything as it happens, even the OP. I'm a sucker for VNs that have actual visual scene direction, and in that regard Necrobarista might be one of the best titles out there. As for the story itself, it is kind of a mixed bag, which stems mainly from the game struggling with properly setting up its central conflicts. For example, early on there is this scene where this seemingly bad guy comes into the bar and tells the owner he's come to collect debt. Then the OP starts. It makes the reader think the central conflict will revolve around the main cast trying to resolve this situation. But then this thread gets more or less dropped until the epilogue where it gets solved through a deus-ex-machina and in the meantime the "bad guy" just kind of sticks around as he's friends with one of the main characters. When it comes to world building though, the game really shines, giving you a feel for the world through small anecdotes and vignettes instead of just infodumping all the rules on you. I also liked how the game handled its small-scale character conflicts, which felt genuine for the most part and led to a few very nice emotional scenes.

Overall I'd say the game is worth checking out just for its visuals (at least as long as your PC meets the recommended system requirements). And if you're looking for a low-stakes slice-of-life story in an unusual setting, you probably won't be disappointed either.

[onorub]

Finished two longish vns over the past few weeks: Kajiri Kamui Kagura and Our World is Ended

Kajiri Kamui Kagura: my biggest mistake was thinking it was simply Dies Irae with an Ancient Japan facepaint, when i felt it was closer to a Dies Irae take on the Tale of Momotaro, as crazy as it sounds. Thought it had worse pacing than Dies Irae, because while i felt that had short to mid-length battles with short cooldown periods in-between, KKK had long battles with long cooldown periods in between, which wasn't quite to my liking. Biggest proof of that is that those spectacular battles against the Tenma didn't make me go crazy while this one short battle at the end of Shiori's route kept me glued to the screen. Still a great VN, but not a classic like Dies Irae.

Our World is Ended: most bizarre case of a VN getting better as it goes. Beginning is god-awful while the second half or so becomes a pretty decent plot about moving on from death. Biggest problem for me was most of the dialogue that when it wasn't crappy comedy just came off as stuff from a rip-off from a newer Persona game. Also, it's pretty funny how quick this game is to parody stuff from other games when it had supposedly serious stuff that could easily be made fun of, like

Spoiler

Yuriy going all "SCIENCE!!!" when giving his villain motivations and Reina dying four times (five if you count her death from before the game started).

Overall, a borderline good VN and i advise you to wait for at least 10 hours before you drop it because of the crappy humor.

[littleshogun]

Playing Shoujo Dominance, and I like that the designer draw the main heroine like a strict office lady (Especially when she wear the glass) while in fact her setting is that she's just a cheerful high school student with some case of father complex (ie Electra Complex). It's not like I suspect the director planned to have usual wife husband nukige only to change the mind in the last minute to make the heroine as the daughter in order to follow their previous Amayakase and that the illustrator already draw the wife heroine, and once again I never suspect that it's the happening behind the VN at all (It must be only a coincidence that the MC said that the daughter really like his late wife, and yes that must be it). Other than the blood daughter heroine, nothing much happen until the ending when you either marry or live together without marriage which both of them did have some complication.

Spoiler

Marriage - At least it's pretty much quite normal. Although normally people wouldn't have sex in the church when the female bride wearing the wedding gown though, but what do I know about father daughter marriage in nukige anyway.

Live together without marriage or something like that - Okay, that ending is definitely slightly abnormal. While I can accept if the mom have foursome with two twins daughters, having the daughter do the foursome with two granddaughters while three of them being pregnant is certainly would raise some question. And not to mention that the unborn babies would certainly end up as the wives of the MC (And how old the MC would be when the unborn daughters grew up anyway?).

My suggestion for Shoujo Dominance would be just wait for something more interesting when it come to nukige, such as Mugen Renkan, Yamizome, or Hypno. Or if you want to try something right now just play Haruka, Escalayer, Frontier, or Monster Girl Quest.

Edited August 9, 2020 by littleshogun

[adamstan]

On 8/4/2020 at 9:12 AM, adamstan said:

As for my current read (Natsuzora Kanata), yesterday I entered Yuiko's route (I'm saving Chihaya's route, who seems to be central heroine, for the end). I really love the art style of this VN. Sprites use flat shading, and backgrounds have level of detail that sometimes is close to the backgrounds of sprite's VNs (Koichoco and Aokoana) - there are even some, where there are people with faces in them, like this one from festival:

Spoiler

Characters are also likeable. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that two of three heroines seem to be lolis, at least when it comes to body shape.

So, yesterday I finished it. It was quite decent nakige. It definitely has strong KEY vibe - especially Sasara's and Chihaya's routes. Also, common route is rather short, and each route tells its own different story - a bit like in Making*Lovers.

The setting is like this - Souta comes in the beginning of December to the strange island where the summer never ends. Actually he comes every year, to help his aunt Miho, who's running a guesthouse. And there he meets (or doesn't - it is possible to never meet Chihaya and Sasara) the heroines, and stuff happens There's also a legend, that somewhere on the island there's a mirror that grants wishes.

LIke I said before, I started with Yuiko's route. She's Souta's cousin (Miho's daughter) and the first person we meet in the game. Her route seems to be the default one, if you don't actively go for another. It is the most stand-alone, and perhaps the shortest one of the three stories, maybe a bit like a "side route", but it is good to read it first, since in other two routes there are some light spoilers for it. I was initially a bit worried, since Yuiko looks like a loli, but fortunately it's mostly her sprite. I mean sure, she's almost flat-chested, and behaves a bit childish sometimes, but still she's the same age as MC, and when she turns serious it shows. Also, in H-CGs she's drawn in a more mature way. I liked how this route made use of the "group of friends" trope, portraying friendship between Yuiko, Souta (MC) and Goro. It also touches up very lightly upon the island's legend. Yuiko is also good supporting character in other routes.

After that I went with Sasara's route. She's the mysterious girl that we briefly see during preparations for the festival. Her route was very emotional, full of KEY mood, with family as one of its main themes. It also explains island's lore about granting wishes. Anything more would be a spoiler, so I'll stop here, but I really liked this route. It also has interesting quirk. There are two endings - two versions of epilogue - and they are determined by

Spoiler

ejaculation choice in the last H-scene To put is simply - in one of the endings, they have a baby

And lastly I read Chihaya's route, since she seemed to be the main heroine. First thing to say is that she's totally cute, moe incarnate, one of the cutest heroines I've seen. And also very kind and nice. I can understand why Souta falls in love with her almost instantly. But then drama hits, since she seems to lose her memory every three days, due to past accident. There's more to it, but that would be too spoilerish, so let's leave it at that, since it's mentioned even in summary on vndb This route is kind of intertwined with Sasara's, or, to be more accurate, it also is strongly based upon island's "wish granting system" that was featured in Sasara's route. Chihaya's route also has two endings. On the first playthrough we're locked onto the "normal" one, and then on the second run there's additional choice that unlocks "true end". Both are more or less "magical", but my main complain would be that the "normal end" seems to be more developed and better written than the supposed "true ending", which seems to be a bit over the top with

Spoiler

time travel mumbo-jumbo

and it lacks post-credits epilogue. But still it was very good route.

Supporting cast was also good. Yuiko (outside her route), Futaba (her younger sister), Goro and Miho - I really liked their interactions with Souta. Well, Futaba was mostly comic relief, but she was very good at it

Art is great - like I said before, backgrounds are very detailed, and I really liked the style in which characters were drawn. Especially Chihaya's sprite - she has that look taken straight from 90's anime that I love There were also quite funny SD CGs, especially in Sasara's and Chihaya's routes. Music is also good, emphasizing the mood of the scenes.

H-scenes were also decent. Very vanilla, but that's exactly my thing so I won't complain. They weren't too much out of character, and there was love in there, so I'm satisfied (although I skipped through some of the moaning and sfx lines ). They were definitely placed better than in some of the Natsu no Ame's routes.

While playing this VN I also often noticed, that some of the tropes used here also appear in the recent Summer Pockets, - the setting seems very similar, and the prologue, with the MC standing on the ferry's deck and gazing at the sea and approaching island.

When it comes to the final score, I'm a bit troubled tbh. I really enjoyed this VN, but at the same time I feel like it lacked that something special. Perhaps it's difficult to beat KEY when it comes to nakige, and when looking at it as just a charage, I guess I got spoiled by Mashiro Iro Symphony... But still, Natsukana is very good charage/nakige, and I strongly recommend getting it, especially since it can be got quite cheap on DLSite (2750JPY). 8/10

PS I also found it quite easy to read - of course, with the help of text hooker and dictionary, but still. It felt much easier than Natsu no Ame or To Heart. I think it could be added to those "beginner friendly charage" lists.

 

Now, what to read next... Perhaps I'll need some break, but after that... maybe Bokuten?

[Kabu]

Currently going through Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai, which to this point has been absolutely amazing, though Natsuki's route was absolutely the weakest link thus far (despite me still loving her as a character). And now I'm on my final route, which is Rikka's, which I had been looking forward to as I've heard all kinds of praise for it even in comparison to the others. However... I'm not seeing it yet. Rikka herself, despite being absolutely fine in the other routes, is coming across as extremely unlikable and bitchy for seemingly no reason and I absolutely hate it.