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On 2/10/2022 at 10:14 AM, adamstan said:

Now I think I'll try the two mini side-routes for Mahiro and Yukari, and after that I'll tackle Ruri's route (which is recommended by various reviewers to be read last), and then finally Mikoto's route, which is exclusive to all-ages version.

And so I did this, and thus yesterday I finished Tenshin Ranman Happy GO Lucky PC.

First let's talk about two mini-routes.

Mahiro's route was very nice - even if nothing groundbreaking, it had some twists and rather unusual start of the relationship. I enjoyed it very much.
 

Spoiler

 

It turns out that Mahiro was a bit weird as a child, and she'd been shunned out by other kids. And since she feared the rejection, she started to act out the "good girl" - basically trying to perfectly fit into other people's expectations. 

She asked out Haruki pretty out of the blue, just because during one conversation at the beach he suggested, that her smile looks a bit forced - so she kind of hoped that maybe he'd eventually see through her shell. But at the same time she still feared rejection and continued her act, so their first attempt at dating ended up in a disaster - Mahiro never showed her true feelings or gave any opinion - she was just a "yes-girl". Haruki couldn't stand it, and so he said they should break up.

But of course we couldn't end moege route at that - things happened, and finally they earned their good ending :)

 

Yukari's route is nothing to write home about - it had its funny and touching moments, but as a whole felt rather... pointless and ungrounded? I guess this was the most "eroge'y" route out of all - feels mostly like a fanservice for players with teacher fetish ;) Well, it also gave some background for the Yukari's character, so that's a plus.

Ruri's route has quite different structure from the rest, and seems to be the actual true route (at least for the base game) - in this route we get to know more about Haruki's curse and Hime's and Ruri's past. It was really good.

But, to my utmost surprise, actually the best route was Mikoto's route, which is exclusive for all-ages version 😮❤️ Or perhaps I should call it Wakaba's route, since that's the name she uses through the 99% of the game.

In the previous post I speculated that perhaps Mikoto/Wakaba is Hime's superior, but it turns out that I was wrong - she's just another goddess of the same level ;)

I was expecting pretty typical "console bonus route" - nice, but nonessential. Instead I got the best, most developed route of the whole game - it was easily level or two above all other routes, really. It even had the most CGs ;)

I liked almost everything about this route. First - Wakaba/Mikoto was really likeable character, and she managed to be both cute and hot at the same time ❤️ Coodere, but with veeeery strong "dere" part, and ultra-masochistic closet pervert, which is mostly played for laughs, but works really well :D The relationship between her and Haruki kind of grows organically, and doesn't feel rushed or forced just by the route choice. It was really nice to observe those two gradually getting closer and closer to each other. The route also takes lots of hints from KEY's school of nakige. Of course, drama worked only because I already got attached to her - and it made the good ending all more satisfying.

So basically, a surprise, but a welcome one :)

So, time to sum it all up. The game looks really nice, as expected from Yuzusoft. This edition uses the latest version of Yuzusoft's UI, with flowchart and other conveniences, which is very nice. Voices were also very good.

If all routes were as good as the last Mikoto's route, this would be easily 8.5. But while they weren't bad, they also weren't really standing out - AFAIK it was the first work based on what would later become "Yuzusoft formula". And so for what it was - a nice, if a little generic moege with one outstanding route - I feel 7.5/10 is right score.

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

Now I think I'll take a few days break, and then I'm going to read another Maruto's work - this time it will be Chocolat ~Maid Cafe "Curio"~ which is prequel to Parfait. I bought Chocolat ~maid cafe "curio"~ Standard Edition - First Press Edition (PC all-ages release), and it should arrive in a few days :) 

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On 2/19/2022 at 6:27 PM, Fujoneko said:

Fault:

Imo the second part is a lot better, and I agree with @alpacaman that it works on its own. Though there is also something like a cliffhanger there, so there may be some sense in waiting another decade for 2b. :makina:

Also, Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell deserves more attention than it gets.

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Few days ago I started reading Chocolat ~Maid Cafe "Curio"~ (PC all ages version)

Yesterday I reached the beginning of the first route - I'm starting with Misato's route.

So far I'm liking this VN. As usual with Maruto's titles, the character interactions are well written and engaging. As for characters themselves, I have kind of deja-vu, or even the reverse one ;) , since I started with the sequel ( Parfait), and some heroines seem to be based on the same tropes. Misato, whose route I'm on currently, looks like proto-Yui from Parfait - except that she's not a musician ;) But considering how lovely cute ball of moe Yui was, I'm not complaining - another such heroine is warmly welcome :D

Misato                                                   -                                                  Yui
113809.jpg11433.jpg

Another close match seems to be Kanako - she looks a bit like protoype for Rikako. But in that case is less about appearance and personality, and more about role and setting. Looks-wise she's closer to Ema. And, while we're at it, both games begin with almost the same shower CG ;) - in Chocolat it's Kanako, while in Parfait it's Ema.

Other heroines are also interesting - a bit rough childhood friend Midori, shy Sayaka, relaxed, motherly Mako and brand-new step imouto Suzu :)There seems to be one more heroine, but for now she remained hidden, so I cannot say anything about her.

Map movement system in this game is very old-school, almost like in dating sims, but with the stats hidden. You have two map choices on almost every day, but not all are connected to the events - sometimes all you get is short generic SD slideshow, and supposedly it gives you relationship points. And after meeting certain conditions events are trigeered. This has been streamlined in subseqent GIGA's VNs (like the sequel Parfait or Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o) - in those titles every map choice leads to an event.

I'm looking forward to this VN - it seems promising :)

After that I think it will finally be time for White Album 2 (although perhaps not directly after this). Chocolat is probably the final Maruto's "pre-White Album 2" title I plan to read. https://vndb.org/s216

I think I'm going to skip Mama Love. While it is sometimes described like a "reverse Damekoi" (young MC and older heroine), and I had it bookmarked, it seems too nukigey for my taste. V.G.Neo and DUEL SAVIOR don't interest me at all - first one is part of larger series that I have no interest in, and the second one seems to be some weird hybrid. That leaves only Chocolat's prequel - Ripple ~Blue Seal e Youkoso~. While it might be interesting as a first Maruto's VN, I'm not too inclined to read it. Also, none of the VNs mentioned in this paragraph has all-ages edition (besides hybrid Duel Savior), and I still haven't recovered from the final H-scene in Folklore Jam which really soured the experience for me :P 

(For White Album 2 I'm going to read PS3 version)

Edited by adamstan
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21 hours ago, adamstan said:

Yesterday I reached the beginning of the first route - I'm starting with Misato's route.

Okay, sorry for posting two times in a row, but...

I already finished both Misato's endings - "normal" and "true". And if it took me ~3 hours to read both of those in Japanese, then that means those "routes" were extremely short 😮 It didn't surprise me that "normal" ending was very short (under 1 hour), since it was the same in Parfait. Then I got to the unlocked Misato's true route - and it also went in a blink of an eye 😕 Sure, sometimes the routes get too long and dragged out, but this was another extreme - almost all "filler" has been cut out, and because of that the whole route feels rushed. Misato is cute, the few making out and/or date scenes are nice, but it's all too short! As if I was reading an abridged version. Let me give you a summary of the route:
 

Spoiler

 

When we meet Misato in a common route, it turns out that she's kind of ojousama (but a very modest and humble one), and she ran away from house, because she wants to try to work and become independent. At first she's very clumsy and seems to know nothing about world, but she's very enthusiastic and eager to learn.

"Normal" ending doesn't touch upon her circumstances at all, it's just a bit of ichaicha and some generic line at the end. Okay, as expected from "normal end".

But then, let's move onto "true" ending.

In a otherwise quite nice pillow talk scene, Daisuke (MC) says that if they are going to be together, he'd need to get along with her parents - pretty obvious, isn't it? Misato says, that she also had arranged marriage planned - well, as expected from ojousama ;) - and it was another reason she left her house.

 

And from that point the route started flying at ridiculous speed...
 

Spoiler

 

In the next scene we're at the "Curio". Suddenly, a scary man in a kimono appears, accompanied by a group of henchmen in dark suits and sunglasses. The man asks for a Misato, and it turns out he's her father (what a surprise :P). He demands that she returns immediately. Daisuke tries to reason with him, but he just gets beaten to the pulp by one of the underlings, and then they take Misato away. After he wakes up, Hiroyuki (chef) tells him, that Misato's father is actually the head of pretty famous yakuza group.

Next scene, a week or two after. Daisuke visits (now empty) Misato's room, and there he finds something that encourages him to try to take her back. It's only briefly mentioned, that he's been spending lots of time in this empty room and got rather gloomy.

So now he suddenly decided to infiltrate Manai family's mansion. Then in a pretty ridiculous turn of events, he meets various members of "Curio family" (other heroines), who hand him the items needed for his quest. So he gets into the mansion (with the unexpected help of his friends), scolds the boss himself and finally gets the girl back :P

Cue the ending - very short wedding scene.

 

Credits. The end. It all happened over two or three scenes and around an hour of rather relaxed reading. If that's not short then I don't know what is...

 

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Just finished Root Letter and I enjoyed it a lot!! It was very nostalgic as I first played the first 5 chapters back in 2017~18 on my PS4 :choco: I was loving it and I've been wanting to get back to it since then. I'm listening to its soundtrack while I write this, so that does tell you how much I liked it haha

Well, let's see!

  • As I mentioned before, the OST is great! It's not something out of this world, but its sooo good to set a relaxed or tense environment :illyasmug: I get immersed in the story in seconds with the music playing in the background.
  • Just like the soundtracks, the art is very soft, giving it relaxing vibes. The whole setting is like this ngl; so if you are expecting a thrilling and scary mystery story, well, it's not exactly that, but it's not always fun times either. Oh yeah, the backgrounds are 10/10.
  • The characters were pretty good too - nothing super "wow" but they did a fine job for their roles, enough to keep me playing. No one was super annoying or frustrating to talk to, so that's a win in my book.
  • The gameplay mechanics were okay, I think. They aren't exactly original but their use gave the whole game a different feel to it, which I enjoyed. I feel like without them, the game would be pretty linear and boring, maybe? The only thing that was kinda annoying after some hours of play time was the "Max Mode" (oh, and sometimes the whole "investigation" minigame) - like, sure, I get why he does it but what's really the point to turn it into a minigame? Like, it doesn't add much and it's not even logical, you can't guess what's the thing he is supposed to say LOL
  • The plot itself was "just" OK. It was a pure 7/10, but my enjoyment of it was a 8(,5?)/10 :footsip: like, the first ending was my favorite, just because of how WTF it is and the whole "scary" feeling it gives. The true ending was SO disappointing istg :ganbarimess:

Plot holes?

Spoiler
  • In bad end #3, how the hell are they supposed to explain it in the other routes? Like, the other routes seem to be somewhat consistent with everything we know about the events but this ending is just "surprise bitch, everyone is working with the government and your penpal is a secret agent too"; like, I can't see Sanpei or the other guy from the restaurant working with the government and just being all fake in the other routes lol
  • In the True Ending, if it wasn't that big of a deal to Shiori, why couldn't she just TALK with them??? Like, is she that petty that she wanted all of this just so they could make up?? LOL okay That's fucked, Shiori
    oh, and the wedding ending was shit - out of nowhere and felt pretty shoehorned idk :baobao:

This week's reading will be a rereading, actually! Amnesia: Memories! I really liked my first reading of it (9/10) hehe I can't wait to see if it still holds up. I'm also excited for this one because I'm reading it for my VN club and it's the first otoge I'm reading for it, and, well, the majority of the ppl there are either guys or ppl who don't usually play anything outside of bishoujo games or both so I'm glad we're stepping outside of the confort zone, heh :beatosmug:

Edited by Fujoneko
typo
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15 hours ago, adamstan said:

BTW - do you happen to know what's the difference between the regular "Root Letter" and "Root Letter: Last Answer" editions?

ah, yeah. It's doesn't appear to change too much, according to the VNDB note abt it:

Remake of the original game with live-action graphics and adjusments to make it easier to play. The game will feature two modes, “Drama Mode” and “Original Mode.” In Drama Mode, the game’s live-action actors will perform as the characters in the game, both visually and vocally. The game’s setting of Shimane is also depicted in live-action. In Original Mode, the game uses Taro Minobosi’s original artwort and original voice cast. You can switch between these two modes from the title screen.
A resolution chapter that reveals the truth of the ending that was previously untold has also been added.

A friend of mine played this version and chose the live action art and while it isn't bad, there are some scene that just look weird and somewhat comical in supposedly tense moments lol

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Last Thursday I finished Chocolat ~Maid Cafe "Curio"~ 

(I played "Standard Edition" - all ages PC version)

It was nice, but had its share of problems. I'd say that in some way it has that unpolished "early work" feel - something like what ONE is when compared to KANON. Heroines were all very nice, and, as usual, Maruto writes nice, engaging character interactions, but the quality of the routes is very uneven.

In my previous post I complained a bit about Misato's route. On the contrary, Midori's route which I played next was great (it's also heavily connected to Kanako's story). Mako's and Suzu's routes were so-so, not great, not terrible. Then there was another very good one - Sayaka's. I really liked her as a character, and her route was very emotional.

And then there's epic final - Kanako's route. It's much longer than other routes and features quite a backstory. The concept is a bit similar to Rikako's route from Parfait (or rather the other way around ;) ) - Kanako and Daisuke have been together in the past, but then their relationship fell apart. And just like in Parfait, at first attempt we're locked onto bad ending. After that there's additional hidden route for Chiroru/Tirol (チロル)

Spoiler

チロル is a fairy living in a cafe, and her "parents" turn out to be Kanako and Daisuke - she's the character from the picture book Kanako was writing, and Daisuke has given her the name. And she wants "Papa" and "Mama" to get back together and finish her story.

After this cute and funny interlude, Kanako's true end gets unlocked. And after completing her route - there's another epilogue accessible from the main menu. It also features some flashbacks about Kanako's and Midori's relationship. It was veeery satisfying, especially the final CG, where for the first time we see

Spoiler

Kanako's happy and innocent true smile ❤️:)

So if I had to rate route's quality, it would be Kanako > Sayaka = Midori > Suzu > Mako > Misato.

Apart from uneven route's quality, the map movement system is a chore - it's very difficult to track down missing events, because there's no flowchart with timeline, like in later games (Parfait, Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o), but just the list of events grouped by heroines. The descriptions of the (seen) events also aren't as good as in those later games.

And this version (together with PS2 port) has already streamlined choice/map movement system. Adult and Dreamcast versions are even greater mess, since they extend the map movement system also far into routes themselves, which is nightmare.

It's also worth noting that Standard Edition features much better music. I'm really surprised that this soundtrack hasn't made it to the 2021 remake - the remake features upscaled artwork and a bit streamlined system, but it uses the old soundtrack from 2003 version, which TBH sounds more like a poor General Midi soundtrack from the late '90s, and not in a good way :P It kind of clashes with nice graphics - perhaps it would be more fitting if the game was done in the PC98 pixel-art style ;)

So, summing it all up, this VN gets 7.5/10 from me. It has one great route, two very good ones, and three mediocre ones. (I count Chiroru's route as a part of Kanako's story). It was a bit rough around the edges, but all in all I enjoyed it - thankfully the true ending was satisfying :)

 

Since I'm sucker for VNs with nostalgia and memories themes, I think my next read will be StarTRain (PS2 edition). It looks like it's the first VN written by Nanaumi Sou, who latter has written Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi (which also sits in my backlog ;) ) and Kazato sisters' route in Konosora.

 

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Playing Evenicle II right now, and to noone's surprise, it didn't take very long for the first rape scene to show up. I like Alicesoft's games in general, but I still find this and some of the other questionable content (like the mandatory prostitution minigame in Dohna Dohna) they're so adamant on including in every title quite offputting.
They're also kinda playing down the seriousness of it all by wording it like this:

SJ4uNF.png

I guess that means that theft could be considered non-consensual borrowing, and murder could be non-consensual life expectancy decrease.

They've also somehow managed to make the UI even worse than in the first game, by putting more pointless bloat (that can't be hidden) on-screen. To my knowledge, that huge picture of a house doesn't serve any purpose whatsoever; it's just there, taking up like 15% of the screen at all times. If you want to make the minimap, which is quite awful in itself, visible, an entirely new window pops up in the lower left and takes up even more space.

I could list a bunch of other annoyances related to gameplay, but I think you kinda just have to roll with it and go into this game knowing that it's going to be a pretty horrible experience gameplay-wise.
I just hope the story will be exciting/entertaining enough to make up for all the bad stuff.

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Yesterday I completed the prologue in StarTRain - reaching the opening movie.

It has a bit unusual setting for a charage, because we start with a protagonist in a relationship. His girlfriend is two years older Nami, whom he met one summer night a few years ago while he was watching falling stars.

77755.jpg59403.jpg

Spoiler

Sadly, they break up at the end of the prologue - yesterday I reached exactly that point. Looking at them and their relationship, it was inevitable, but nevertheless it made me sad :(

So now there's second part of common route waiting for me.

So far I met three (of four) heroines - tsundere childhood friend Kanade, shy but cute Asuka speaking with Kansai accent, and a bit mysterious Yomogi from parallell class.

59400.jpg59401.jpg59402.jpg

According to walkthroughs there's also fourth, unlockable heroine - Nanami, but she hasn't appeared yet.

Spoiler

Although she looks quite suspicious to me - I have a feeling she might turn out to be Nami, or have some connection to her. From the glimpse in the OP, she looks similar, they share second character in their given and family names - Aida Nami (藍) vs Hata Nanami (羽), and they're voiced by the same person. But for now I have no idea how will it turn out.

59403.jpg<< Nami    Nanami >>59404.jpg

As for Sunohara (;)), this time it's not one person, but a couple - MC's friend Hiroki and his girlfriend Maiko.

59407.jpg59406.jpg

BTW, they get together during the first hour of the game ;)

So far I have two issues with this VN, but they're technical ones, and seem specific to the PS2 version I own.

  • The music gets cut abruptly during scene transitions instead of fading out - it makes those transitions a bit jarring. It was the same in Konneko - perhaps it's an PS2 or emulator issue?
  • The font used in this release is a bit hard to read due to low resolution, but somehow I managed to get used to it. But nevertheless I'm a bit puzzled why didn't they used something simpler. 640x448 isn't that small, and it should be possible to have more legible font. But they used bold and shadows, which make the fine lines in more complicated kanji just blend together. Form over function :P

At the very beginning I also had to get used to different style, but over the course of the prologue I got hooked, and now I'm looking forward to the rest of the game.

Edited by adamstan
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17 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Queue heavy drama if relationships are established early!

Well, the drama has already arrived, since

Spoiler

They broke up in the prologue. And at first glance it looks like Nami doesn't have a route/ending.

I don't mind some drama if it's well done - let's see how they did it.

And even though this game features hetare protagonist, he didn't annoy me too much so far ;) (But then, it was only prologue)

OTOH I dislike the setup when you have to be a dick towards your girlfriend to enter other routes (like it was with Lovers or Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road), so I'm glad that it doesn't seem to be the case here.

Edited by adamstan
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10 minutes ago, Stormwolf said:

Cant remember having to be a dick in Tsujidou though. 

Yeah, you're right, I exaggerated a bit or my memory played a trick on me - we "only" had to break up with her, but yeah, it wasn't especially ugly - breakups happen sometimes.

(I played it 4 years ago, so my memories got a bit hazy)

But route structure in Lovers was truly awful - there in order to unlock side routes you really just had to completely ignore Rie so she would leave you. And those routes weren't even worth it :P

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4 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Yeah, you're right, I exaggerated a bit or my memory played a trick on me - we "only" had to break up with her, but yeah, it wasn't especially ugly - breakups happen sometimes.

(I played it 4 years ago, so my memories got a bit hazy)

But route structure in Lovers was truly awful - there in order to unlock side routes you really just had to completely ignore Rie so she would leave you. And those routes weren't even worth it :P

Indeed. You could break up that fake relationship. It was fake. Because she didn't treat MC well really. You could choose to ditch her and move on and that's where it branches out. Even if you do stick with her she won't be a good GF until waaay late in the route and the sequel. 

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Played Your Diary + H

It's the newer version of Your Diary with new routes for that one senpai character and Kaho, the best friend character and wingwoman in the original game. Surprisingly, I didn't like much of the characters here enough to pursue a route except for Kaho which is the additional route. I didn't expect that as normally additional routes kinda suck and feel padded on for new content but surprisingly I liked Kaho's route a lot and probably due to me liking Kaho's character type a lot. I usually love best friend or very cheerful kind of characters as seeing the gap of them being light-hearted and always joking around and the contrast of them being embarassed and having a hard time in romance is kinda cute. Kaho's route kinda tries to get into that awkward stuff and as she is the wingwoman of the childhood friend who likes the MC, as expected one of the main dramas that they do is with the kind of love triangle? It's hard to say because there isn't much drama of the love triangle present. The drama is focused on Kaho just not wanting to be honest to her feelings due to not wanting to hurt the childhood friend. The drama of that is solved well, very lightly like a very light romcom way of dealing with the problem that is kinda laughable but it's not that bad.

The route all in all is kinda fine, not bad is what I would rate it. I thought of making a review on in vndb but I literally only played the common route and 3/4 of Kaho's and skipped a lot so I thought I shouldn't write a review for a game I didn't technically finish.

All in all, it is a fairly high quality game. I loved Kaho's route and some people may enjoy the game too.

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Currently reading through Hello Lady and started OMNIMUS

In Hello Lady, I have finally read the last part of the common route. Now, I am currently at the start of Tamao's route. It has many moments that keep me invested and excited to see what happens next. I like Tamao's range of emotions. I like seeing that more than Tamao's constant tough girl side. 

In OMNIMUS, a doctor is developing a virtual environment after the world has gone through many crises such a decrease in water supply, wars, and overpopulation. Although there are good benefits to come if this is completed, there could be something the doctor is hiding. The protagonist is someone that is testing the virtual environment. Our protagonist is a guy that has been woken up from a coma. He is one of the individuals testing the virtual environment called OMNIMUS. So far, the story is fine. 

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On 3/18/2022 at 7:22 AM, adamstan said:

Yesterday I completed the prologue in StarTRain - reaching the opening movie.

It has a bit unusual setting for a charage, because we start with a protagonist in a relationship. His girlfriend is two years older Nami, whom he met one summer night a few years ago while he was watching falling stars.

77755.jpg59403.jpg

  Reveal hidden contents

Sadly, they break up at the end of the prologue - yesterday I reached exactly that point. Looking at them and their relationship, it was inevitable, but nevertheless it made me sad :(

So now there's second part of common route waiting for me.

So far I met three (of four) heroines - tsundere childhood friend Kanade, shy but cute Asuka speaking with Kansai accent, and a bit mysterious Yomogi from parallell class.

59400.jpg59401.jpg59402.jpg

According to walkthroughs there's also fourth, unlockable heroine - Nanami, but she hasn't appeared yet.

  Reveal hidden contents

Although she looks quite suspicious to me - I have a feeling she might turn out to be Nami, or have some connection to her. From the glimpse in the OP, she looks similar, they share second character in their given and family names - Aida Nami (藍) vs Hata Nanami (羽), and they're voiced by the same person. But for now I have no idea how will it turn out.

59403.jpg<< Nami    Nanami >>59404.jpg

As for Sunohara (;)), this time it's not one person, but a couple - MC's friend Hiroki and his girlfriend Maiko.

59407.jpg59406.jpg

BTW, they get together during the first hour of the game ;)

So far I have two issues with this VN, but they're technical ones, and seem specific to the PS2 version I own.

  • The music gets cut abruptly during scene transitions instead of fading out - it makes those transitions a bit jarring. It was the same in Konneko - perhaps it's an PS2 or emulator issue?
  • The font used in this release is a bit hard to read due to low resolution, but somehow I managed to get used to it. But nevertheless I'm a bit puzzled why didn't they used something simpler. 640x448 isn't that small, and it should be possible to have more legible font. But they used bold and shadows, which make the fine lines in more complicated kanji just blend together. Form over function :P

At the very beginning I also had to get used to different style, but over the course of the prologue I got hooked, and now I'm looking forward to the rest of the game.

Okay, so yesterday I finished StarTRain 

It wasn't without problems, but I enjoyed it. It's kind of mix between high-school rom-com and KEY's classics - I feel like it borrows some ideas from Kanon and Clannad.

Main focus of this VN seems to be the true meaning of happiness - and, to extent, how relationships fit into that.

At the beginning of the actual common route (after the prologue) Tsukasa is quite depressed after breaking up with Nami (I previously tagged it as a spoiler, but it's such a big part of the setting, that it's hard to talk about this VN without mentioning this). He's rather weak, and she was his whole world so now he feels like he lost the meaning of life. He also keeps wallowing in self-hatred.

Depending on the choices, he can get closer to one of the three heroines, and there's also a "friendship" ending, which I wouldn't call bad - it's a bit like Crescendo's normal end.

Kanade's route was perhaps the closest one to the typical romance VN. Tsundere childhood friend having a long-time crush on donkan protag-kun, and all problems that stem from this situation ;)

Spoiler

Actually she confessed to him for a first time right after he broke with Nami, but then she ran away and turned it into a joke.

I liked this route even if it was full of cliches usually associated with tsunderes (and small tits ;) ). Also, Kanade will get jealous in other routes, and then deny it in a classic tsundere way ;)  And I absolutely love two final CGs of this route:

Spoiler

gsdx-20220330193154.png

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Asuka's route was the first one directly touching the topic of happiness. In the common route she said very important thing - "If you don't love yourself, you cannot become happy". And despite being very poor, living in a small rundown apartment only with her mother, she never gives up, always keeps smiling and encouraging others. Of course that's only the surface, and her route is focused on her family problems, especially her strained relationship with mother. I really liked it, and it's this route when I thought about Clannad, even though the setting is vastly different. Besides, Asuka is cute :)

Yomogi's route was quite a surprising one. In the beginning, and on the surface, it looked like another cliched moege route. But soon quite creepy undertones appeared. Yomogi and Tsukasa were both in similar situation - dealing with past breakup. And so they decided to date to escape the loneliness. Not very healthy already, but Yomogi's situation was actually even heavier -

Spoiler

 

She panically feared the loneliness, because when being alone she was feeling completely lost, and not even sure if she's living or not - so she yearned for the relationship as a confirmation of her actual existence.

Tsukasa noticed, that they actually don't know almost anything about each other - they just seek the presence of the other to fill up the void, but it made him feel even worse than when he was single.

After noticing how unhealthy their relationship become, Tsukasa decided to break up with Yomogi. This resulted in her suffering an emotional breakdown.

 

After a few days and some events Tsukasa finds himself in Yomogi's room, and her in a rather miserable state, and he's faced with a choice - stay with her (forever...), or go home. (Or, in adult version - have sex with her or refuse and go home). The first choice leads to a bad end, and I think it was actually more pronounced in the all-ages version. It showed really unhealthy co-dependent relationship.

Spoiler

 

In this scenario Yomogi becomes complete recluse, Tsukasa moves to her house and becomes her only point of contact with outside world - like she said, "I don't need and want anything but you". It felt really heavy and heart-rending when she said "It's okay, it doesn't feel lonely" with an empty eyes...

In adult version it wasn't as grave, or rather it was told in a more roundabout way, since they basically became a pair of sex addicts, skipping school and spending almost all their free time locked up in a room and fucking :P

 

When choosing to go away, some more drama ensues of course, but thanks to it the characters grow up a bit, and then finally they are able to meet together again, this time in a healthier way. Really nice route, providing some good observations and food for thought.

 

Completing those three above routes unlocks another choice during the test of courage near the end of common route, and this is where we finally meet Nanami - who initially gets mistaken for a ghost ;) and can proceed to the true route of the game.

And this route was a hell of a ride. Nanami is a mysterious girl, who appeared at night at the school. She looks like a younger version of Nami (voice included), and she's great at playing flute. It turns out that she's on a trip (or a runaway ;) ) and she's been sleeping there because she ran out of money. For a few nights Tsukasa goes to school and brings her some food, but then somebody notices suspicious activity at the school and so Nanami gets locked out from her temporary room, which makes her end up staying at Tsukasa's home - and that's where the fun begins. While Nanami looks like a spitting image of Nami, her personality is very different - she's very optimistic, and she finds joy in every little thing.

Spoiler

And unlike the Asuka's case, it's 100% real.

Of course the two get closer and closer to each other, and suddenly Tsukasa noticed, that he's really happy when he's with Nanami. But sometimes she says some weird things - like that she used magic to get here, and, like in Cinderella's story, soon the magic will wear out...

And that's where the story decides to hit us with a KEY punch.
 

Spoiler

 

Actually Nanami is terminally ill, and she spent most of her life at hospital. She really wanted to experience the normal life at least for a while, and see the world, so she mustered up all her strength, and ran away to spend her final days on a trip (that's what she meant by "the magic"). And so it happens, that one summer night, just when the two finally confessed love to each other under the great tree in the school yard - she dies. And there's no "KEY magic" to the rescue...

Of course Tsukasa gets depressed again, and he's in even worse state than when he broke up with Nami. The remaining part of the true route is about getting over this loss and finding happiness despite of it - with a great help of his friends and Nanami herself, whom he meets in a dreams, on board of the titular "Star Train" traversing the sky, and being a reference to the "Night on the Galactic Railroad" novel by Kenji Miyazawa.

Gradually he learns to live and smile again, and finally, he accepts Kanade's third (!) confession, and they end up together - so it turns out that Kanade is this game's actual true heroine :)

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Another thing I'd like to praise is the Maiko and Hiroki duo. They're much more than a comic relief (although they're great at that) - they're Tsukasa's true friends, really caring for him, and helping in need - especially in true route.

WHoah... this became a huuge wall of text...

Time to sum it all up. I really enjoyed this VN, although the technical issues I mentioned in my initial post hampered that enjoyment a bit - the experience wasn't exactly smooth. Nevertheless true route was a great ride, and the standard routes also were decent.

I also checked out PC adult version, and while I prefer the way the story was changed and extended for the console version, it also isn't bad. The only route that IMO suffers from the "eroge logic" (=="Each heroine needs a sex scene") is Nanami's route - it's the only one when it felt out of place. OTOH the big plus of PC version is resolution - 800x600 isn't much, but it looks much better than the 640x448 PS2 version.

All in all - it was nice charage with a bit of a twist. 7.5/10

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

Recently I got physical Switch versions of Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai and Aonatsu Line, and I think my next read will be one of those.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally finished rereading Amnesia: Memories! It took a week longer than I was expecting (I did a route per week) but I did finish it :ehehe:

Well, I'm gonna be honest: it wasn't as good as when I first read it, but oh well, that's what usually happens when you read something you feels nostalgic about. It's a 90/10; though it's so damn satisfying when it's still good even after all these years :iamslain: Well, maybe one of the causes I didn't like it as much this time was the big focus on romance when I was going to reread it expecting more mystery lol  Anyways, back in 2016 I gave this a 9/10 and now it has a 7.8/10, hah.

Heart World - Shin

Spoiler

Oh boy, the tsundere route... Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against tsunderes, but Shin is just so... childish? Like, rude. Yeah, that. There's a reason his was the only route I barely remembered, oof-

The sudden kisses were a big turn off for me, honestly. Maybe it's exciting for straight women and such, but oh gods, it was really uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY by the fact that he was basically a stranger to us :baobao: Oh, and another thing that bothered me that seems to be almost a trope in romances: the "we were childhood friends but now that I've got a crush on you we can't keep being friends - we either date or we go our separate ways" thing; like, wtf? As someone who is aromantic, this might sound strange, but couldn't you just tell your feelings to your crush and if they reject you, couldn't you cope in healthier ways??? You look so insecure, bro. 

It's a good thing I read this one first, as it really was the least memorable one; the only good scene imo was the last bit with Toma and Shin, as it shows the big reveal AND it foreshadows (along with one of Shin's bad endings) Toma's yan yan side, let's say. Ngl I would love to see a scene of them as a throuple, it looks hella cute~

Spade World - Ikki

Spoiler

I don't have a lot to comment on this one, but I'd like to hear more about his "condition" - which, actually, wouldn't he be one of the human Nhil tried to help?? :sugoi:

I feel like Ikki is much better as a secondary character, kind of like the mischievous friend asjhdbasjhbd Oh yeah, the bad endings were darker than I what I expected :peek:

Diamond World - Toma

Spoiler

People usually like to roast this route a lot, and I GET IT, I really do! Ho-we-ver! Toma is, in my honest opinion, a really good yandere and he's done in a more realistic way, instead of the usually over-the-top way most yanderes act. I do like yanderes in general so I might be a bit biased, but I don't like them just because they fit the archetype - they have to be a well-written character. I like Toma because he's not perfect, as much as the game tries to make it so in the beginning: he has basic flaws and that nice side of him IS also him! Just like a lot of abusive, manipulative and possessive people, he doesn't believe what he is doing is truly wrong, as fucked up as it is. Sure, he is self-aware to a degree, but he believes everything he is doing is for the "best". He does have a bunch of insecurities, which they actually show, instead of making him go fully yan out of nowhere like a lot of them do.

If there's one thing I didn't like (besides the whole route feeling soooo dragged) is the endings - the normal ending felt more of a good ending than the good end itself. The heroine accepting everything and being this submissive felt really weird and forced the whole "I can fix him" narrative, which is a big ew for me LOL

Clover World - Kent

Spoiler

The best route imo! It's another tsundere, but this time it's a good balance between tsun and dere! Kent feels more mature and, at the same time, more awkward when it comes to socializing and romance haha kind of like me, except I am sometimes even denser than him, mostly because I don't feel romantic attraction and totally forget most people do kasndkasjnd as an autistic person, I also understand Kent not understanding some social cues and taking some things literally, so it was fun being like "*nod* *nod* I get you, I get you" while Orion freaks out-

Kent is adorable, he's like a cute hamster. I feel like he's the only character I'd be willing to romance if I was playing this blindly haha though I feel like if I met him irl and we became friends, I would text him as little as he does... Poor Kent!

The only thing that bothered me a bit was Kent's jealousy... It was too much.

True Ending!

Spoiler

Joker World - Ukyo

Spoiler

Here we are, it's the big finale! :yes: When I first played it, this was the big "WOAHH!?!?!?" route but now that I know the big mystery, it was a pretty soft route?? Aside from that, I did like how they answered the "why is August so cold" question, as weird as the answer was. Oh, and that bad ending with Toma? Creepy.

 

And that was it!! It wasn't as amazing as when I first read it, but hey, at least I have refreshed my memory and my score on it. I'm 55% done with Maggot Baits, and I'm trying hard to finish it! It's super interesting so far, and it's curious how the heavier stuff seemed to all appear in the first 30% (?) but then, it softens? Not that I'm complaining, I am digging the plot!

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Finished the second episode of Supipara a while ago. I've read the first one years ago already and due to the whole funding campaign mess, the seond one vanished from my radar for quite some time. I then picked it up after Higurashi since I wanted something short and also to get it finally finished.

Overall, it was okay. As typical for a Minori VN, the atmosphere was a bit more on the melancholic side, which I quite liked. The second episode focused on Ange, which is the resident tsundere in Supipara. Her story arc is about compensating for the loss of her mother by making a deal with the witch Alice to gain special powers to help others. Those special powers enable her to see into the future and prevent bad things from happening. However, that powers also comes with the price of sacrificing parts of her happy memories. Naturally, when she gets closer to the protagonist, this is causing problems to their developing relationship and the protagonist tries to help her overcome those issues during the route.

It wasn't the deepest plot arc, but still nicely written due to the likable characters. However, Ange itself felt a bit like she was written too much to fit the tsundere cliche. While undoubtly a good person, she talked a bit too much nonesense for my taste. Meaning, she lacked the sharp intellect to back up her foul mouth.

Actually, the true star of this episode - just like in the first one - is Alice the witch. It's pretty obvious that she was intended to be the main heroine, destined for the final true route. She resembles Yuuko from ef a lot, being Minori's unique smart-dere character type. Funny and talkative, but also smart and mysterious. I absolutely adore her.

Graphics were still impressive, due to the many CG's and the fantastic scene lighting, even if some of the character faces felt a bit simple for todays standards.

It's a pity that the VN could never be finished, because the ending of the episode made it quite obvious that the first two episodes were just small fragments of a much bigger story. Especially Rikka and Momiji seem to know a lot more than they were willing to reveal so far. Not to mention Alice, who's quite obvious a big blob of hidden secrets. It also makes the VN hard to rate since it's obviously incomplete.

Heroine ranking: Alice >> Momiji > Rikka > Sakura > Ange

Overall rating: 7/10 (I'd rate the story lower since it's just incomplete, but it gets a bonus for Alice, atmoshere and graphics)

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I've also read Making*Lovers and frankly it wasn't my cup of tea. It took me literally months just to finish Saki's route, because it was just so painful to read. The writing was extremely goofy and didn't fit the cast of supposedly adult characters at all. Actually, there was not a single character that seemed to have a mental age beyond 12.

There was also pretty much no common route at all and the characters started dating like they were coupled by a dating agency. An overlapping friendship theme also didn't exist since the heroines only exist in their own routes (juding by Saki's route at least). The protagonist -let's call him Hamster-kun - was also presented as somewhat mentally retarded and really annoying. It's as if they made the idiot friend the actual protagonist. A plot also didn't really exist, so you're stuck with an endless loop of dumb and unfunny jokes, connected by some arbitrary H-scenes.

In terms of positives, the art was quite decent - it's a pity that it was wasted on such a bad writer. The custom dates were also a good idea and some of the heroines at least had potential.

Generally, I think the writing would have fit more to loliges or at least school life VN's with a strong comedy theme. For a romance VN involving adult characters, it felt just completely inappropriate. But to be perfectly honest, I don't think I'll read another VN from this writer or company again. Just not my cup of tea.

Heroine ranking: Don't care

Overall rating: 4/10

Edited by ChaosRaven
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Today I started Aonatsu Line - and made it to the OP movie, so I guess I completed the prologue ;) 

So far I'm really liking what I'm seeing - mainly the nice friendship between the characters. Even though this game isn't about saving the school club on the verge of demise, I got similar warm, fuzzy feeling like when reading Konosora :) 

I'm reading Switch version, and this presents additional challenge, since I have no H-code for this version so far. But OTOH this VN seems to be on the easier side language-wise, so this might be a good thing - I have to concentrate more on the text itself, and I'm not so easily tempted/distracted by mouseover dictionary. Now, since I have to look up unknown words manually, I use it as a last resort, and try to infer as much as possible from context. Interesting experience :)

It seems, that Alka Translation group wanted to translate this VN, but sadly the project is stalled for now, since they ran into engine problems :( 

 

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