What are you playing?

[Dergonu]

Well since I'm here.
Playing Chusingura 46+1 for the second time. Been a long time since I last played it. A long time since I played any VN at all tbh.

This has always been in my top 3 VNs of all time, and that def has not changed.
Actually playing the all-ages version this time. The official Japanese vita port is actually a great port of the game without butchering anything of the content. Even adds in a lot of new scenes, too. Pretty neat. So far I'm reminded once again why Kuranoske is the best girl and why chapter 1 is goat. On chapter 3 atm, and I do remember this absolutely destroying me last time so let's see how my feels hold up.

Chapter 2 was already pretty rough with ... well, if you know you know.

 

Anyways, if this actually gets me back into VNs I do still have 2 other Inre games I have to get to. Apparently they aren't nearly as good as Chusingura and bushi no kodou, but it's still Inre so I should give them a read.
Edit: Too lazy to change my signature, apparently the last game I played was Tetsu to Ra w

[alpacaman]

Started reading Cross Channel after @AmelieDoree's glowing review using the Amaterasu TL since it's supposed to be the only out of the three that's at least attempting to be somewhat accurate. I really like the game so far, but the TL notes are killing me sometimes.

Like what the hell is this? 1) "My stomach bug" is not a personification. 2) English has a metaphor with the identical meaning: "my stomach growls". It's even comparing the noise to one an animal makes. 3) The phrase "stomach bug" also exists in English, and means something different.

I'm usually quite lenient when it comes to TL quality, at least as long as there is some basic flow to the translated text, but when it's making me read three lines of text consisting of a wrong translation accompanied by a wrong TL note to explain a three word Japanese phrase that has an accurate three word English translation, it takes me out of the scene. So much so I decided to interrupt my read through and rant on the internet about it.

 

Edit: the next line is "like a beast". Goddamnit.

Edited October 15, 2023 by alpacaman

[Dreamysyu]

2 hours ago, alpacaman said:

Like what the hell is this?

There was a period when I was reading a lot of Japanese web novels fan-translated into English, and this kind of shit is exactly why I don't read them as much anymore.

But yeah, Cross Channel is a really good VN. Admittedly, back when I read it my proficiency in English wasn't yet good enough to understand all the nuances, so I've been thinking about rereading it eventually.

[LostPomegranate]

What am I playing right now? IxShe Tell - literally started playing it because I enjoyed the word play in Japanese, it's not bad, but it's not great either, just a meh SOL moege I think.

 

What have I played in the last 3 1/2 months while I've been off-work for medical reasons and effectively "re-found" that I love VN's (read a bunch in the 00's, and effectively read none from about 2008 until this summer, aka nursing school through now):

 

Muv Luv, Muv Luv Alternative, Gin'iro Haruka, Grisaia no Kajitsu, Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai, Kin'iro Loveriche, Kin'iro FD, G-senjou no Maou, Majikoi, Majikoi S, Cafe Stella to Shinigami no Chou, Noble Works, Sharin no Kuni Himawari no Shoujo, Making Lovers, Making Lovers FD, Riddle Joker, Sanoba Witch, Fureraba, Koi ga Saku Koro Sakura Doki, Princess Evangile, Princess Evangile FD, Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate

 

I may have a problem, my wallet is crying a bit, but weirdly I've spent less on VN's than I would for the same "time investment" in "normal games". With that said, I really hope Tone Work's's stuff gets officially picked up by anyone, but it's so lengthy that I doubt it...cost of official translation would be too high to realistically make a profit unless they charged 50-60 per sale. Also, I probably should've noticed this earlier, but typing out the list made me realize I pretty clearly have a SOL moege / charage thing...huh.

[fuyopon]

On 10/21/2023 at 10:30 AM, CgSquall said:

I may have a problem, my wallet is crying a bit, but weirdly I've spent less on VN's than I would for the same "time investment" in "normal games".

I can't say the same for myself I remember at the beginning of this year spending my first ever salary on VNs.... like, around 200€ on them. I swore to never again.

[Ray-Out]

Don't judge me harshly, but I decided to try it... is it worth telling here what kind of game this is? If anyone is interested, google it, otherwise she’s not particularly “kind”)

Dohnadohna

[littleshogun]

Well it's not like it's a taboo to telling what is Dohna Dohna here anyway seeing that most of VN readers are already know about it (It even has an article in regard of it at the main page), and yes I know the VN can be not kind at any time even ignoring that taboo topic. That aside, have fun with Dohna Dohna there. 

[OdaNova]

 

My Visual novel reading has taken off recently.

 

I finished off Tuition Academia (https://vndb.org/v33905)

 

Not the greatest of games, not the greatest of stories either. I liked the concept of the roleplaying being an utter slut, but they didn't really take advantage of it. Also that hidden ending didn't really work for me, at all.

 

I've completed; The Great Ace Attorney (both) (https://vndb.org/v15125)

 

I really liked it, I thought they pretty much nailed a lot of the British memes/cultural call outs, though it did get trying at times and they might have been able to trim some of the dialogue ~ I really didn't need hints for the 99th time we go through the deduction mechanic for example.

 

I also started and finished Doki Doki Literature Club (https://vndb.org/v21905)

 

I thought the concept was very clever, unique and somewhat interesting, though the ending was diminished partially because Academia kinda pinched it as well. I didn't think this story went far enough with the concepts, it was too short and too quick. I would like to see this kind of plot point dragged out over an in-depth story where you're constantly gaslit, and it would really tick the boxes for me.

So, I didn't really see the hype from the casual fans I guess.

 

I bought and completed Paranormasight (https://vndb.org/v42561)

 

Now, that was a treat! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Having a smart little story that connects well and some well written dialogue and characters worked for me. The main ending did fluff its lines and go into melodrama mode though, but I liked the concept and I thought it was just generally smart, didn't disrespect the reader's time or intelligence. I really liked how they incorporated gameplay elements into the story (saving for example), that was neat.

 

I have just bought on the JAST Halloween sale, three VNs;

 

1. Gore Screaming Show (https://vndb.org/v933) 

 

Really sounds interesting, and is my 'horror' pick for Halloween I guess. 

 

2. Hanachirasu (https://vndb.org/v430)

 

Not sure what to make of this one, but I'm up for something different.

 

3.  Study and Steady (https://vndb.org/v24689)

 

I don't know what has drawn me to this one, but it sounded interesting and maybe a little conventional from the previous two I just nabbed. And sometimes comfort food is okay. So we'll see how I get on with these.

[OdaNova]

Edit: Double posted =x

Edited October 31, 2023 by OdaNova

[kokonokyuu]

Right now, I'm trying to blitz through imaimo. So far, my favourite character is matsuri

[alexfang452]

I'm currently reading through Haishin 2 and My Summer Adventure: Memories of Another Life.

[chasekilleen]

Reading all three of them

[LostPomegranate]

So...currently I am reading KamiYaba (English title Kamiyaba: Dicking destiny on a dicey deadline) and have been for about a week now. The localization for this is pretty terrible...translation itself doesn't seem horrible, just every choice the translators made and their general grammar, spelling, etc. It reads too me like someone was translating out loud to dictation software and then never bothered to check what the software thought they said.

 

But since my last post just shy of a month ago I have read Primal Hearts, Primal Hearts 2, Kimi o Aogi Otome wa Hime ni (or My Fair Princess), Wagamama High Spec, Ren'ai x Royale and Hatsukoi 1/1. Out of all of these I'd really only recomomend the two Primal Hearts and WagaHigh personally. And a few routes in Hatsukoi are really good, and the rest are worth playing if you're a huge tone work's fan (and I am), although it's frustrating at times.

 

At the rate I am going, I am going to run out of (at least good) visual novels to read pretty soon...

[Eclipsed]

Yaho, time for another one of my sporadic shilling of the few VNs that I've read over the past few months.

SHINRAI -broken beyond despair- it was an alright Halloween Party murder mystery between 10 middle school friends. What's great about it is that you can have totally logically sound but incorrect deductions at the very end as to who the master mind is and you'll feel like a total dumbass afterwards when the protagonist realizes her mistake. 7/10

"Remember, these are a buncha middle schoolers lol."

 

Fragment's Note+ & Fragment's Note 2+ This was apparently a mobile-VN made 10 years ago, remade for the Switch recently as + versions. Gee, wonder how their sales went lol. Anyways Fragments Note is a standard charamoege high school slice of life, with the twist being that in the first game the protagonist's future daughter travels to his time in order to prevent a tragic fate that would befall him if she were to not intervene. That's pretty much the only thing that kept me interested in this VN, cuz I just can't with HS SoL nowadays lol. 7/10

"Guys I'm not a Lolicon I swear lol, but Miu is just too cute."

 

Fragment's Note 2 is an indirect sequel taking place 1 year later at the same high school, but with a different protagonist. What I found particularly interesting is that this protagonist was only briefly mentioned in the first game, and now he has his own story! Talk about Ascended Extra. I'm a sucker for these types of continuity in stories. Even better, one of the unromanceable heroines from the first game (because plot) is actually romanceable this time around hehehe. Unfortunately, most of the plot is wasted on the protagonist's trauma, because a core theme of this VN is to conquer your inner demons and move on type of deal. 7.5/10

"^This here's Ayame. And hori shi she might just be my most guilty pleasure character ever lol. She's the doting gentle older sister type. Totally gives my pink-haired heroine bias a run for its money"

 

Paranormasight: Hoh boy, if you are ever looking for a supernatural battle of wits murder mystery, look no further. Paranormasight's gotchu covered. Simple premise. 7* Mysteries of Honjo, 7* Curse Bearers with relics/kill methods based on those mysteries, and you're in for a good time. Only gripe is the whole deathnote-style kill or be killed thriller gameplay is literally reserved only for the PROLOGUE, yes only the PROLOGUE, and the rest of the game after that is piecing together the mystery/lore/character motivations and does away with the climactic character confrontations. Also kind of short, clocking in only 10-15 hours. 8/10

"Give me a 30hr VN that's purely more about these type of character confrontations sizing each other up before going for the killing blow and you'd have a masterpiece lol"

 

Yurukill: Four pairs of "Prisoners" and "Executioners" are taken to a 'theme park' Yurukill Land and the winning pair that makes it through all the 'attractions' will get the Prisoner exonerated from their crime, with the Executioner having any wish of theirs granted. This VN seriously doesn't know what it wants to be, murder mystery, escape game, Danganronpa logic puzzles, bullet hell shoot 'em up... it implements all of these mechanics, so like a jack of all trades but master of none. Fun enough though. 7/10

"Totally unrelated comment, but Rina totally looks like someone who would appear in like Fata Morgana or something LOL"

 

Suhoshin: Another short (~5-7hrs) murder mystery VN (see a trend here?) this time taking place in a more medieval setting. Interesting, up until you get to a certain midway point and get one of those infodumps that totally ruins the intrigue because the characters just know too much about what they are dealing with at that point. 7/10

"Oh yes, you'll totally always frustratingly be one step behind the killer lol -_____-"

 

Currently reading: Kunado Kokuki Gee, Purple Software really liked the Kotodama gimmick that they made in Amatsutsumi didn't they >.>. I didn't get very far in Amatsu before I got bored of the high school SoL as usual, but Kunado Kokuki is set in post apocalyptic man vs machine setting and the Kotodama gimmick is quite intriguing there.

"And let's be real, Haruhime (center) is a God-tier heroine lol. Ruler of the nation, gorgeous as fuh, and has the same exclusive Kotodama powers as the protagonist. It's a match made in heaven."

[fuyopon]

6 hours ago, Eclipsed said:

SHINRAI -broken beyond despair- it was an alright Halloween Party murder mystery between 10 middle school friends. What's great about it is that you can have totally logically sound but incorrect deductions at the very end as to who the master mind is and you'll feel like a total dumbass afterwards when the protagonist realizes her mistake. 7/10

Oh wow, someone who played this one! Fuwa interviewed the dev and has a review on it, if you'd like to check it out

[fuyopon]

Alrighty, it's been a long time since I last talked about what I've been reading!
I finally resumed Umineko last week! I keep a daily log on Notion, so I'll just:

DAY 41 (DEC 9) — Episode 2's "???" + beginning Episode 3

Spoiler

DAY 42 (DEC 10) — Episode 3

Spoiler

Read 30 minutes today, but nothing to share here!

Spoiler

I do find it a bit sus that Beato demands ppl not to see the magic... like, why...?

Edited December 11, 2023 by Fujoneko

[LostPomegranate]

So my reading rate has slowed down and I started multiple VN's that I've stalled out on (Rance 6, Evenicle, Libra of the Vampire). But here is my Christmas (or Holiday) update

 

But, currently I am reading Nukitashi - which frankly I did not have high hopes for and only started reading it on the recommendation of a friend, and I am pleasantly surprised. If you can suspend your disbelief about the premise itself and just enjoy the immense amount of dirty jokes / humor in it, it's actually a pretty good VN with a surprising amount of plot development in it.

 

Since my last update I have also read Hello,good-bye (good multi-route mystery / thriller), Otome Domain (somewhat disappointing crossdressing story), Edelweiss (super hit or miss with its aged perverted humor, was a miss with me), Dracu-Riot! (good Yuzusoft title), and Sugar Style (<3 Smee's works).

Edited December 25, 2023 by CgSquall

[fuyopon]

20 hours ago, KoreyKun said:

I will technically be finishing Higurashi soon. It's been a very fun ride so far and I've loved every second of it. Later moving on to the side stories. After I will play Clannad or Continue Iwahime

Loved higurashi!

I found CLANNAD and Iwaihime both a bore, but for different reasons: I just played CLANNAD after many VNs, and I find it underwhelming and messy, especially when I don't care for the whole "family" theme throughout the whole game.

For Iwaihime, I just found it bad overall lol. Bland "mary sue" protagonist and not very interesting cast, too many descriptions where some gore could be added and meh conclusion due to the two previously stated issues.

Hope it's just my opinion and you enjoy it tho!

----------------

I've been busy with life but managed to advance on Umineko and finished What's your wifi password? It's a short, silly OEVN about you being bored, looking for the wifi password of your friend's place and instead finding her brother. It's a wholesome talk

[Eclipsed]

Frontwing is totally doubling down on the whole cute young poster heroine in an oceanic setting lol. Finished Ginka and currently reading ATRI

"I'm something of a Ginka-lover myself"

[chasekilleen]

I have bought and I am playing Geminism

[mornysern]

I've been kind of replaying G-Senjou no Maou because I was in the mood, and just started on ユユカナ -under the Starlight- which I got from Japan during my holidays second-hand for only 1500 JPY!

indigocard activate
jjsploit.click
 

Edited January 11, 2024 by mornysern

[ChaosRaven]

I guess it's time to post some mini reviews of the VN's I've played in the last half year or so, before I forget about them. I list them in the order how much I liked them.

The last VN I read is the first episode of Tokeijikake no Ley Line and it's also the one I liked the most. I haven't read a VN so far that managed to capture the feeling of a Hogwarts magical school so well like this one. The art style is really great, even if the sprite dynamics felt a bit too static if you're used to Yuzusoft stuff. The music is also decent most of the time, even though some tracks felt a bit repetitive after a while.

The protagonist was a pretty cool dude and the heroines were also very likable. The VN does focus mostly on the story, with the heroine stories being rather short. But the VN did actually commit to the story, so almost everything was drawn that was actually happening, which is in no way a small feat. According to Steam it took me about 25 hours to read, which is pretty fine for the prelude to a trilogy.

Heroine ranking: Tsubaki > Fuhito > Ushio > Rito > Neko

Overall rating: 7.5/10 (Could get even better depending on how the trilogy continues)

Tokyo Nekro was a VN I had a particular technical interest in, because it's using an actual game engine. Meaning it has a lot of animated characters and stuff. And in general I'd say the VN did succeed in what it tried to achieve. While the background textures did feel rather PS2 area outdated, the characters itself turned out surprisingly well. The combat scenes in particular deserve praise. At least the third person scenes, because they were pretty well done, while the ego scenes felt a bit too much like cheap Doom imitations. Nevertheless, the VN had a visual fidelity that bordered on an anime.

Story wise it was a bit hit or miss. I was actually lucky to accidentally end up in Con Su's route, which actually felt like the true route. It wasn't really a romance route and more of a platonic friendship route focused on Con Su and Ilia and their origins. I was also lucky that an update had overwritten the adult patch. I restored it for the other routes and I did regret it. The H-scenes felt completely random and all over the place ranging from vanilla to disturbing. I heard that Ilia's route would be the main route, but I'd definitely disagree. It was just running after Milgram forever. It shared a lot with Mitsumi's route, but Mitsumi's was better since it was shorter.

Something that was irritating about the VN were the two protagonists. I'm not a big fan of that in general, but this was really exhausting. The protagonists did switch so frequently that they were almost rotating. Sometimes even other characters got protagonist which made it even more confusing. Another annoying thing was the helmet view, that blocked almost half of the screen.

It did took me almost 50 hours to finish the VN with only the Kiri route left, which felt a bit too long for my taste. I'd also give a small warning that this VN has some VERY gory scenes, that can easily compete with Kara no Shoujo. And I'm not talking about simple zombie splatter, but stuff like opening the skull of an arguably living person to manipulate its brain.

Overall rating: 7/10 (Could have been better with single protagonist and less edgy content)

Next is Hello Lady. The highlight of this VN is probably the protagonist and the male voice actors in general. The story is a bit of a spin off of the Count of Monte Cristo. While the protagonist was kinda cool, his frequent Casanova phases of excessive sexual harassment got old and tedious pretty fast. Another problem of the VN was the lack of commitment towards the story. It felt like they took the CG set of a pure moege and tried to twist it with a half assed story where barely anything plot relevant was drawn.

Another problem was the lacking chemistry between the protagist and the heroines. I never got the feeling that they are more than just playthings for a few days to have some fun with until they are thrown away. His maid Hishia Mori felt like the only one he seemed to have some feelings for. The routes therefore felt very lackluster since neither the romance nor the plot was convincing. Especially since the routes felt extremely repetitive and the true route wasn't much better either. In total it did cost me almost 60 hours to finish the VN and it was in no way worth that time. Maybe 30 hours, but not 60.

Heroine ranking: Somehow none of them really clicked with me, even if I didn't dislike them...

Overall rating: 6/10

Next was Cyanotype Daydream. This was a rather odd VN, since it's pretty much split in 3 side stories and a final true story. I've seen comments comparing this to The House in Fata Morgana due to its plot structure. However, I beg to disagree. While the introduction stories of Fata Morgana have a lot to do with the actual plot, introducing most of the main characters, the same can't be said about the ones in this VN. They share a bit of a 'broken romance' theme, but besides that they are so unrelated to the actual main story that you could just pick a few random VN's from VNDB and read those instead. Even worse, none of them was particular convincing and I skipped most of them after a while since I found the characters not particular likable and the storys somewhat boring.

That said, the actual main story is actual quite decent with likable characters and an interesting world. However, it suffered from the fact that a lot of resources were wasted in some rather mediocre side stories. The VN would have been a lot better if they would have fully commited to the main story and flesh out the world with more characters.

Heroine ranking: Yonagi > Izumo > don't care

Overall rating: 6/10 (I'd rate the main story higher, but forcing those mediocre side stories on me demands punishment)

Okay, I wish they would have stopped the Flowers series with the last part -Le volume sur automne- on a high. Instead we got this. So, there are two main problems with this VN. First, there's no romance arc this time, so the VN has to rely on its final revelation plot to justify its existence. Which leads us to the next problem, that the revelation plot was a complete joke and it came extremly late. Even some of the micro mysteries of the predecssors were better than that. Furthermore, it tried to antagonize some of its best characters which just made no sense. There were also almost no new characters, and the whole slice of life that was left felt like copy & paste from the previous VN's.

Overall, this was a fan disc at best and even for that it did a poor job. My personal recommendation would be to just skip this VN, since it adds nothing of worth to the series.

Overall rating: 5/10

So, that was it for now. Currently reading the recently translated TypeMoon VN Mahoutsukai no Yoru, with the second episode of Tokeijikake no Ley Line next in line. 

Edited January 15, 2024 by ChaosRaven

[adamstan]

I haven't made any progress with WHITE ALBUM since my last post in autumn, so I think it's pretty safe to say that I don't feel like finishing it

Therefore I decided to Switch   to Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai ~Library Party~

 

Edited March 13, 2024 by adamstan

[Ray-Out]

Finshed Winter Memories (It is very good for some eroge playn, pity that devs are making some s*** rpg when thay are good with some hentai games only), dawnloaded Seven Days (it is toooooooooo prety looking), sometimes playn Reverse1999 (the only good gacha-online game for an adult man) and now... well need a puse with that staffff.  For now I am Just drouned again in Disco Elisium (patalogic like 10\10 adult reader game)



b

[Eclipsed]

Okay so, hear me out, there's been a long ass drought of Ace Attorney, and so you should totally checkout Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane. It's a heavily inspired Ace Attorney indie VN that'll make you feel right at home. Kinda pricey at 20 bucks, but you get the standard 5 case Ace Attorney experience with all the fun point and click exploration/investigations and climactic cross examinations with moderatos and allegros and slightly over the top characters you could ask for. And yes Arcane is in the title because there's also magic. Like, this 'dumbass noble mage totally used the magicks to commit this crime' type of magic

Spoiler

^This clown here's Nick- I mean uhh Tyrion Cuthbert (Teer-ee-on? Ty-ry-on? Cooth-bert???). Yo Idk dafuq kinda name the devs were going for, but at least he got the desk slams like Nick.

 

^This cutie here is Maya Fey. She's a mage named Celeste this time around, and Tyr's actually competent sidekick/bodyguard. Btw Tyr has his own built in Athena Cyke's Mood Matrix via his "Eye of Horus" where he can involuntarily pick up on people's thoughts and emotions (yellow text + purple/blue emojiis above). Kind of makes him overpowered at times with the level of omniscience he can get but it's cool. Not every day you get a protag who can Maximillion Pegasus Millenium Eye these fools

 

^This hottie's Aria Steelwind. The female Miles Edgeworth I guess. She's cool. Ice princess type.

 

There's also romance, if you care for that LOL!

Spoiler

^Ngl i wouldn't ship Nick and Maya, but Tyr and Celeste? sign me up

 

 

 

^They totally did Aria's cool calm and collected ice princess persona DIRTYYY lol

 

Go play it