What are you playing?

[TexasDice]

Primal Hearts and Primal Hearts 2.

My verdict:

[Bredan]

2 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Interesting that you'd say that. The common opinion of Grisaia back when most people played it was that it was great because of the comedy, and that the common route was chock-full of it. But like anything else, it ultimately depends on what one likes. Any individual scene from the common route continues to be a barrel of laughs to me.

Read it years ago and can't remember everything, though I clearly remember the common route almost making me drop it. The comedy was honestly not enough to make me forget the defaults. Can't remember them all, but a sentiment of isolation, a world of papier-maché without substance behind. Isolation if done well (especially for psycho/horror) can be very pleasant, but that was not the case in this too isolated, too long and too repetitive common route.

I clearly remember two positive aspects though : 1. you spoke about the music not being good but I really loved them. 2. I read the fan TL at that time and I remember having thought that it was exceptional.

[Silvz]

5 hours ago, Bredan said:

Read it years ago and can't remember everything, though I clearly remember the common route almost making me drop it. The comedy was honestly not enough to make me forget the defaults. Can't remember them all, but a sentiment of isolation, a world of papier-maché without substance behind. Isolation if done well (especially for psycho/horror) can be very pleasant, but that was not the case in this too isolated, too long and too repetitive common route.

I clearly remember two positive aspects though : 1. you spoke about the music not being good but I really loved them. 2. I read the fan TL at that time and I remember having thought that it was exceptional.

the text itself was good, well written, but that was not enough. The music seemed very dated to me.

8 hours ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Interesting that you'd say that. The common opinion of Grisaia back when most people played it was that it was great because of the comedy, and that the common route was chock-full of it. But like anything else, it ultimately depends on what one likes. Any individual scene from the common route continues to be a barrel of laughs to me.

Yeah, it didn't click with me, sadly. I had high hopes for it.

I decided to play it safe and stalled Grisaia. Now I'm reading Angel Beats! and gosh, it's way better - in  my opinion, of course. I'm also reading World End Syndrome. For the first time in ages I'm trying two at the same time. Since WES seems to be short, I will probably finish it early.

 

[adamstan]

7 hours ago, Silvz said:

Now I'm reading Angel Beats! and gosh, it's way better - in  my opinion, of course.

I had Angel Beats on my radar, but what discourages me is that it's the first episode of the series that got discontinued

7 hours ago, Silvz said:

I'm also reading World End Syndrome.

I really liked the story, characters and the atmoshpere of WES. The biggest downside for me was map movement system, which got quite tiresome, and the fact that "less important" scenes during map movement segments were unvoiced.

Edited September 14, 2021 by adamstan

[adamstan]

BTW Yesterday I finished second episode of 9 -Nine-.

It was so engaging that I almost binged it - started on the late Sunday morning, and kept going at it until 2AM. 2 hours of sleep, go to work, and after I got back home I finished it, with ~16 hours on the counter.

In this episode there was more focus on the mystery plot than a romance. Also the overall tone got a bit more serious.

Relationship with Sora was kept rather on the wholesome side in the all-ages version, and I can't really complain about it - it was good route, and had good flow.

Ep2 also seems to serve as a more detailed introduction for Haruka, who's the next heroine.

So, this episode gets an 8, and today I'm going to start Ep3

 

I also took a sneak-peek into the adult versions of the first two episodes, but, as my forum title might suggest, I prefer the more wholesome variant presented in all-ages version. Those H-scenes were a bit too much. Thankfuly vanilla, but just too much of them crammed into very short time frame, which feels off. Also, I don't really like this style of animation - it makes the game look like those flash-based sex-sims The only animated H-scenes I liked so far in a VN were those in PC98 Love Escalator and its Windows remake Lovers - but those were hand-drawn, not vector animation, and it made great difference.

Also, I'd have to check it more thoroughly, but at first glance it seems that all-ages version from Sekai/Steam and Complete Edition that I'm playing are slightly different.

Edited September 14, 2021 by adamstan

[adamstan]

Yesterday I finished Ep. 3 and immediately started Ep. 4 of 9 -Nine-.

Ep. 3 was great, and Ep. 4 is very promising. I think I'll write more when I finish all parts. For now let me just say that Sora is probably the best character in this VN And the way route structure is incorporated into the story itself is IMO on par with YU-NO.

[onorub]

42 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Yesterday I finished Ep. 3 and immediately started Ep. 4 of 9 -Nine-.

Ep. 3 was great, and Ep. 4 is very promising. I think I'll write more when I finish all parts. For now let me just say that Sora is probably the best character in this VN And the way route structure is incorporated into the story itself is IMO on par with YU-NO.

I dunno, i felt that route structure was one of the most overrated aspects of 9-nine. Too much hand-holding in comparison to YU-NO or the Zero Escape series, especially in episode 4 since that had so many opportunities for puzzle-solving on par with 428.

[adamstan]

37 minutes ago, onorub said:

I dunno, i felt that route structure was one of the most overrated aspects of 9-nine. Too much hand-holding in comparison to YU-NO or the Zero Escape series, especially in episode 4 since that had so many opportunities for puzzle-solving on par with 428.

Ah, actually I'm not a big fan of puzzles, and YU-NO is the only "multi route mystery" of that scale I played so far (with the walkthrough on hand all the time ). There was also World End Syndrome, but it was pretty light. What I meant, that it has been well integrated into the story - as in having consistent and somewhat amusing in-story justification.

Spoiler

Especially once the meta fourth wall breaking occured at the end of Ep. 3, when it turns out, that the Overlord is not Kakeru but the player

Other VNs when routes were justified in-story that I played were two of the Key classics - Clannad and LittleBusters - but those were of slightly different kind.

Amber Quartz seems to have a bit similar structure to 9 -nine-, but there it wasn't spelled out clearly.

Edited September 18, 2021 by adamstan

[Silvz]

On 9/14/2021 at 2:40 AM, adamstan said:

I had Angel Beats on my radar, but what discourages me is that it's the first episode of the series that got discontinued

I really liked the story, characters and the atmoshpere of WES. The biggest downside for me was map movement system, which got quite tiresome, and the fact that "less important" scenes during map movement segments were unvoiced.

You can read Angel Beats without the other games. According to various sources, the game is a complete experience, with three main routes and a ton of content. The only thing it lacks are the sequels and a conclusion, but the latter you can watch in the anime version.

I'm loving WES. Loving. The map segments are bad, but I'm following a guide so it's not really a problem. I just wish there were more common scenes - as in scenes focused in the mystery instead of the characters - along the way. But I'm still in the beginning of Saya's route, so maybe it'll get better.

[adamstan]

7 hours ago, Silvz said:

According to various sources, the game is a complete experience, with three main routes and a ton of content. The only thing it lacks are the sequels and a conclusion, but the latter you can watch in the anime version.

That's good to know, thanks

7 hours ago, Silvz said:

I just wish there were more common scenes - as in scenes focused in the mystery instead of the characters - along the way.

From what I remember, there were some routes that were focused more on the mystery, and the others where focus was more on the characters. But when taking the game as a whole, I think it was more or less balanced. If memory serves, main story reveals were in Miu's route, and then in true, and I think that's why guides recommend playing Miu's route as the last one.

While I gave WES "only" 7.5, I also loved it - it lost some points mostly because of the map system and its associated woes.

Edited September 20, 2021 by adamstan

[adamstan]

Today I finished 9 -Nine-

Haruka's route (Ep.3) was sweet, one of the better executed romance parts in this VN. Also, in this episode the plot thickens, and we finally meet the actual villains. Overally great episode, and I gave it 8.5 score - but it was totally overshadowed by the grand final that the Episode 4 is.

That was truly an epic ride. In this part we also finally get closer to Noa and see her sweeter and cuter parts, as well as the hardships she faces. I got really attached to her, and the bad ending hit me right in the gut. Actually, my experience of this part was similar to Clannad -
 

Spoiler

 

When I was playing Clannad, Nagisa's death didn't hit me immediately - I started realizing and grasping what has really happened sometime later.

Now getting back to  Nine. When suddenly Yoichi appeared and started killing everyone with a smiling face, I was so dumbfounded and startled by the contrast, that I was just watching the events unfolding, unable to even make any emotional reaction - that is, until the CG with Kakeru holding dying Noa in his arms appeared. At that moment, it hit me like a wave - really, I almost physically felt a wave of emotions surging through me, and I was crying during that whole scene...

 

Of course it made the final showdown leading to the true ending even more intense and satisfying. Cute romance, epic fight, great character development, emotional rollercoaster - that's definitely a 9

New Episode is just extended epilogue, that ties some loose ends and gives epilogue for each heroine. Very nice, I especially liked Haruka's part.

Spoiler

And then at the very end there's short bonus scene where we (as a player, not as Kakeru) meet Sofie in her true form - it's just one CG and few lines, but it was a nice touch.

All in all it was definitely one of the better VNs that I played. While there were stronger and weaker parts, as a whole it did very well, and so for me Nine is 9

And I really saw some parallells with Amber Quartz - school SoL mixed with fantasy fight, superpowers, and character routes forming together the full story.

Spoiler

In one of the routes protagonist's male friend also became a villain, although not on the same scale as Yoichi in Nine.

Main difference was that Nine didn't have childhood friends, troubled memories, and Air-like medieval history episode

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

I played Complete Edition, which is Japanese All-ages version.

Perhaps almost everybody will go for H-version anyway, but it's worth noting, that Steam/Sekai Project's all-ages versions seem to be more censored compared to the Complete Edition. First two episodes seem to be almost the same, but there are some major differences in Haruka's route. I'll list what I spotted below under spoiler tags:

• Episode 3 (Haruka's route)

Spoiler

• The CG for the scene where Kakeru influenced by Haruka's power pushes her on the bed and starts touching her breasts is missing (replaced with white screen) and the text also seems to be shortened.
• Even though the text mentions Haruka wearing Kakeru's shirt, there's no sprite with her wearing a shirt - instead the one with her normal clothes is used. In the later scene, where she gives Kakeru a lap pillow after unbuttoning the shirt, it is also text-only in Steam edition, while in Complete Edition there's actually sprite variant with the unbuttoned shirt (in adult version there was a h-scene with boob sucking)
  
  
  (Yes, those are the screens from the "All Ages" version - but I guess Steam wouldn't allow that)
• The scene with the two getting together in a bath has been completely removed from Sekai's all-ages version, while in the Complete Edition it's intact.

So that means 2 CGs, one scene and one sprite version missing.

• Episode 4 (Noa's route)

Spoiler

• The CG of Noa playing with cats got sligthly cropped to exclude panties area
• The CG of Noa and Kakeru cuddling together naked (wrapped up in a blanket) got removed, and replaced with a Noa's sprite (wearing a shirt) against bedroom background

OTOH the CG with dying Noa in Kakeru's arms is more bloody in the Steam edition - but the only difference is that there are more red bloodstains on their clothes.

Also, Complete Edition adds Sprite Viewer feature in the gallery menu, that Sekai/Denpasoft versions don't have.

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

Now I think I'll take a short break, and then perhaps I'll try DameKoi (PSP version)

Edited September 22, 2021 by adamstan

[adamstan]

And so, as planned, today I started PSP edition of DameKoi

I just finished first chapter of prologue/common route. I see some comedy and drama potential, but I'm already a bit annoyed and tired by the protagonist. It seems that in the meantime my tolerance for the hetare protagonists has dropped significantly Well, it's too early to judge, so let's see how it unfolds. Mitoko is nice, and the three guys living at the house are funny   Also, MC's traits seem to be so exaggerated, that perhaps it's best taken tongue-in-cheek?

I have to say that language-wise this is much harder to read than 9 -Nine- was - at least for me.

Also, I guess this is caused by some compatibility issues, but when playing in PPSSPP it's quite glitchy when it come to screen changes - each time a character sprite changes pose or position, it disappears for a second, and sometimes there's a moment of a previous screen peeking out - weird. Or perhaps PSP port itself is buggy? I guess I'll never know...

Edited September 27, 2021 by adamstan

[adamstan]

On 9/26/2021 at 9:08 PM, adamstan said:

when playing in PPSSPP it's quite glitchy when it come to screen changes [...] Or perhaps PSP port itself is buggy?

Yesterday I got an actual PSP and tried it - the game runs perfectly fine on real hardware, so it's purely an emulation issue. Unfortunately for now I have to rely on PPSSPP since I need text hooking - retyping words manually into dictionary from PSP screen would be too much of a hassle

As for the Damekoi itself - I'm around third chapter and all heroines have been introduced. Protagonist is slowly improving himself. Somehow I start to like Kaya, and I'm really curious how in hell that cunning Himeo could become a heroine - so far she seems rather villainous I'd also perhaps prefer if Asami was main heroine - although some say that actually her and Mitoko are two "main" heroines, while Kaya and Himeo are side ones. But still main emphasis seems to be put on Mitoko judging by the title.

  

On 11/24/2019 at 12:47 PM, ChaosRaven said:

The VN tries pretty hard to be like an episodic anime, but fails because it's a VN and not an anime. There's too much switching around of perspectives without any reason that just drags the pacing down and the protagonist feels undeveloped and bland as a consequence.

Those things bother me as well - the game doesn't flow, it feels chopped.

Edited September 29, 2021 by adamstan

[Novel21]

I'm going to play Shuffle since I have just finished watching anime and then I'm going to play Flowers on steam.

[adamstan]

34 minutes ago, Novel21 said:

I'm going to play Shuffle

Which version of Shuffle do you have? I have Steam version from YumeHaven, which is apparently a port of PS2 version, but haven't read it yet. AFAIK currently none of the translated versions is available because licensing agreements have ran out.

[Larxe1]

https://vndb.org/v31125 Looked up one of the monthly releases and played some random game that doesn't take much commitment and played Hooksoft's Aikoi.

Looks like a childhood group kind of story with the mc leaving his friend group in his childhood and then returning for some reason. 

Hooksoft games are a hit or miss for me and I only played through the prologue right now and I skipped so many texts due to it presenting the prologue from the perspective of the MC in his childhood. I skipped for I think 10-20 mins and that is a lot of content if I actually read it. I really don't like children-focused dialogues, while I may understand the intent behind it, being that it tries to introduce the childhood group organically and have them grow up to serve as a contrast later on, it is a risky move that requires the writer to be competent in handling children's dialogue and making it engaging and for me I wasn't really engaged much. I read some random dialogues here and there just so I can get the gist and head on the reunion part.

I don't like skipping much and maybe this will be a miss from me, but I'll continue reading anyway until I get really bored out of it. 

Also tried reading Muramasa and its amazing albeit with a lot of unnecessary rape scenes, haven't finished it yet due to Tales of Arise

[adamstan]

1 hour ago, Larxe1 said:

Looks like a childhood group kind of story with the mc leaving his friend group in his childhood and then returning for some reason. 

That looks like something that I might like. Thanks 

[Novel21]

3 hours ago, adamstan said:

Which version of Shuffle do you have? I have Steam version from YumeHaven, which is apparently a port of PS2 version, but haven't read it yet. AFAIK currently none of the translated versions is available because licensing agreements have ran out.

I have steam version and I have downloaded 18+ one. 

[littleshogun]

@adamstan

Quote

Also, Complete Edition adds Sprite Viewer feature in the gallery menu, that Sekai/Denpasoft versions don't have.

As for that, actually the original version also have that as well although Sekai somehow decided to remove Sprite Viewer feature from their releases. The same thing also happen with Kirikoi, but at least Nekonyan had excuse that they porting it to the new engine and that they didn't have enough time to add Sprite Viewer feature to the new engine before the release, while as for Nine I don't think that the engine between original and translated are different.

For the topic, I did play several VNs such as Negligee Spring Clean and Amayui Labyrinth Meister. I'll talk about Amayui sequel sometimes later (What I get for now is that the gameplay took some of the aspect from Himegari), but let me talk about Spring Clean a bit. As for what I can say, I expect the girls will wear lingerie when they sell lingerie for a whole day and I get exactly what I expected along with having to chose which lingerie that would be the best for the customers. You better enjoy the girl in lingerie instead of expecting the story anyway when it come to Negligee (Duh), although admittedly some of the past from the main casts are quite heavy and that Hannah's ending in Spring Clean are quite depressing compared to the other ending (Not dark like many other bad end mind you).

Edited October 22, 2021 by littleshogun

[adamstan]

3 hours ago, littleshogun said:

as for Nine I don't think that the engine between original and translated are different.

They're the same - all versions of Nine use Kirikiri engine.

As for my playing - I reached sixth chapter in Damekoi, and in the meantime it all started to come together and make sense The very beginning was perhaps a bit too chaotic, but after getting used to that style now it's okay.

[Larxe1]

https://vndb.org/v23205  After flip-flopping from a lot of different VN's I finally settled on Swallowtail.  I didn't expect to be immersed in the story considering it felt very rough, both in writing and system but it was unique enough to stand out for me to gain my interest. There is actually is established relationships between the protag and the heroines, which is interesting, the story starts with you already going out with one of the childhood friends Rie, and shows flashbacks from the past also focused on Yuuna, which I think is the true heroine.

Yuuna was originally Shou's (The main character) girlfriend but she randomly disappeared in the festival which is the main focal point of the mystery of the game I guess. The prologue was hella long though I think I was in 5-10 hours before I saw the opening. Saeko is also one of the Ex's of Shou so you could expect that the MC isn't a donkan or hetare, but he's actually a competent and fairly popular guy, albeit a bit bland himself but it made him stand out in the sea of eroge protagonists who sometimes act like idiots or losers. Shou is actually a charismatic guy which made me like him.

The game alternates 50/50 between the past and the present, which is fairly unique but sometimes presented in the interface badly. This is the kind of game I like which seems down to earth with characters not acting like caricatures. I'll make a review when I'm done with this

[adamstan]

39 minutes ago, Larxe1 said:

https://vndb.org/v23205  After flip-flopping from a lot of different VN's I finally settled on Swallowtail.  I didn't expect to be immersed in the story considering it felt very rough, both in writing and system but it was unique enough to stand out for me to gain my interest. There is actually is established relationships between the protag and the heroines, which is interesting, the story starts with you already going out with one of the childhood friends Rie, and shows flashbacks from the past also focused on Yuuna, which I think is the true heroine.

Yuuna was originally Shou's (The main character) girlfriend but she randomly disappeared in the festival which is the main focal point of the mystery of the game I guess. The prologue was hella long though I think I was in 5-10 hours before I saw the opening. Saeko is also one of the Ex's of Shou so you could expect that the MC isn't a donkan or hetare, but he's actually a competent and fairly popular guy, albeit a bit bland himself but it made him stand out in the sea of eroge protagonists who sometimes act like idiots or losers. Shou is actually a charismatic guy which made me like him.

The game alternates 50/50 between the past and the present, which is fairly unique but sometimes presented in the interface badly. This is the kind of game I like which seems down to earth with characters not acting like caricatures. I'll make a review when I'm done with this

Thanks for another VN added to bookmark/wishlist

[fuyopon]

[Higurashi - When They Cry: Matsuribayashi]

It took me a whole-ass month, but I finally finished reading the Higurashi series!! Hooray!

Phew, it's been a long, long journey. I can't believe half of it was a reread too haha I won't touch another one of Ryuukishi's work until next year, but I did enjoy it a lot 

Okay, so... Let's talk about some things!
The whole talk about politics? BORING. Look, I usually handle info-dumping and stuff like this pretty well, but it felt so dragged, ugh... I was tempted to press skip.

Spoiler

• I really enjoyed the connecting fragments part, but it got a bit too long for a single chapter way too fast haha,, ha... It wasn't that bad, but some fragments were a tad boring.
• It's kinda frustrating how they just accept Hanyuu's horns?? I know it's to make a point about them not judging and Hanyuu finally being accepted, but this really challenged my suspension of disbelief lmao
• Irie's CG is truly something else; I love how I can find Jojo references even in VNs
• The scene with Satoshi and Shion broke my heart, damn,,, 

This was a good conclusion. It wasn't the best conclusion in the world, but it was satisfying and I feel like Higurashi is more about the journey itself than the conclusion. 

I really enjoyed the ride and all the emotions I felt while reading it! My next read of his will probably be Umineko!

Oh yeah, this chapter deserves a 6,5/10. The chapter alone wasn't as great as the others, but then again, it's hard to end something haha

----

My next "read" will be VLR, but I'm also trying to keep reading Maggot Baits and finally finish it! 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Fujoneko

[Silvz]

1 hour ago, Fujoneko said:

[Higurashi - When They Cry: Matsuribayashi]

It took me a whole-ass month, but I finally finished reading the Higurashi series!! Hooray!

Phew, it's been a long, long journey. I can't believe half of it was a reread too haha I won't touch another one of Ryuukishi's work until next year, but I did enjoy it a lot 

Okay, so... Let's talk about some things!
The whole talk about politics? BORING. Look, I usually handle info-dumping and stuff like this pretty well, but it felt so dragged, ugh... I was tempted to press skip.

  Hide contents

• I really enjoyed the connecting fragments part, but it got a bit too long for a single chapter way too fast haha,, ha... It wasn't that bad, but some fragments were a tad boring.
• It's kinda frustrating how they just accept Hanyuu's horns?? I know it's to make a point about them not judging and Hanyuu finally being accepted, but this really challenged my suspension of disbelief lmao
• Irie's CG is truly something else; I love how I can find Jojo references even in VNs
• The scene with Satoshi and Shion broke my heart, damn,,, 

This was a good conclusion. It wasn't the best conclusion in the world, but it was satisfying and I feel like Higurashi is more about the journey itself than the conclusion. 

I really enjoyed the ride and all the emotions I felt while reading it! My next read of his will probably be Umineko!

Oh yeah, this chapter deserves a 6,5/10. The chapter alone wasn't as great as the others, but then again, it's hard to end something haha

----

My next "read" will be VLR, but I'm also trying to keep reading Maggot Baits and finally finish it! 

You should watch Higurashi Gou/Sotsu as they are sequels to the original story.

[fuyopon]

33 minutes ago, Silvz said:

You should watch Higurashi Gou/Sotsu as they are sequels to the original story.

I will, but only after Saikoroshi-hen AND Umineko, as there are some important references in Gou/Sotsu (from what a friend of mine told me)