What are you playing?

[FruitsPunchSamurai]

  On 3/12/2014 at 4:06 PM, Scars Unseen said:

So I finished all the endings for Saya no Uta(damn, that was a short one), and I found it quite enjoyable.  Not quite the mind screw I'd heard it was though.  Fairly predictable if you're into horror or weird fiction.  Still, I liked it quite a bit.

 

Trying to decide between G-Senjou no Maou and Clannad for my next one...  I've heard good things about both, and I haven't read any of Key's stuff yet.

Go for G-Senjou, it's pretty awesome and one of the best antagonists i've seen in a VN

[Scars Unseen]

By the way, I find it odd that Saya no Uta of all games has the most tastefully narrated H-Scenes I've encountered so far. 

[Flutterz]

  On 3/12/2014 at 4:29 PM, Scars Unseen said:

By the way, I find it odd that Saya no Uta of all games has the most tastefully narrated H-Scenes I've encountered so far. 

Have you played Katawa Shoujo?

[Scars Unseen]

  On 3/12/2014 at 4:30 PM, Flutterz said:

Have you played Katawa Shoujo?

 

I have(it was my first VN), and while KS's scenes weren't comically bad(well there was the equipment shed scene), they were mostly good at evoking how awkward teenage sex can be.  

[Vokoca]

  On 3/12/2014 at 4:29 PM, Scars Unseen said:

By the way, I find it odd that Saya no Uta of all games has the most tastefully narrated H-Scenes I've encountered so far. 

Yeah, I also found it funny how the h-scenes that should've been the most messed up ones from everything I've read were actually the most tolerable from the bunch. Well, the most tolerable I've seen so far was probably in AXANAEL, where they ditch the awkward narration entirely and get things done quick, no awful prolonging and repetition... man those Cross Channel h-scenes still give me nightmares, and I even skipped most of them.

 

As for what to read next, I would also lean towards Clannad. A great starting point for KEY VNs, and it is one of my all time favourite VN if just for the ridiculous amount of content. I haven't played anything with so many routes in it, it really gives you quite a bit of freedom. I recommend trying without a walkthrough at least a few times to see where you end up.

[Zakamutt]

I'd personally pick g-sen, b/c I think g-sen is better than clannad~. Anyway, my personal H-scene favorite for quality of writing combined with actual hotness is probably LEAVEs, but I have no idea if anyone agrees with me here.

[Toranth]

So I was recently playing Base-son's Appare! Tenka Gomen. It's got a lot of character ends with a lot of repetiton, though, so I took a break after finishing and before moving on to the fandisk, and switched instead to ChuSinGura 46+1.

OMG, quality whiplash. Appare is a kinda-humorous game about a normal guy sent to a super-large island in the modern era that deliberatly immitates Edo era Japan. ChuSinGura is the of a modern normal guy tossed into tale of the 47 Ronin - a famous story of revenge set in Edo era Japan.

But the quality difference! Appare is shallow humor with an attempt to give a plot tossed on to the true(?) storylines, and some moe characters.

The game proceeds by choosing character centric episodes, with some common story-type episodes interspersed. Unfortunately, the epsiodes were not well thought out or organized, as characters would frequently refer to events that player had not seen (by not choosing that episode), and thus made little sense. Also, because of the unconstrained choice structure, none of the character specific epsiodes could ever advance the character or plot at all - rendering 75% of the game meaningless.

It jumped the third or fourth shark about the time the heroes learned that all of Japan's ills over the past century or two (including WW2 and the Bubble) were caused by jealous Western nations, and only this school of teenage samurai was keeping Japan in its rightful place as the greatest nation on Earth.

When you toss the erratic voice acting and quality control issues onto the poor plot and mediocre characterization, even Base-son's usual good art couldn't pull this game above average.

ChuSinGura is solidly written, with characters that have major development, it has lots of historical accuracy, and even though the tale is famous, the details can go all over the place, leading to some very interesting developments in the story.

The episodic structure (it was originally published as three squential games) was deliberate used as part of the narrative, and each episode cleanly and clearly built upon the rest. Unfortunately, there was a bit of an issue with episodes 4 and 5 - They seem to have been added when the complete package version was released, and although they are a very good 'true' route ending to the entire sequence, it doesn't merge smoothly with the first 3 (especially the ending of ep 3) and suffers from some tone change issues.

Good art, top notch voice acting, and plenty of high adrenaline combat scenes kept the story exciting and immersive.

So, I played a meh-quality moe game about the Edo era, then a top-notch game about the Edo era, and now I'm supposed to go back the meh-moe again? Hell, no. Maybe later, but in the meantime, I think I'll move on to something more interesting. Like Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai - or maybe watching paint dry, that might be better, too.

(あっぱれ? Not あわれ?)

[douggle]

Just started Dawn of the Golden Witch.

[Soradragoon]

just finished fate and I'm starting tsukihime.

[monkeysrumble]

  On 3/13/2014 at 12:34 AM, Zenophilious said:

Now, if you want terribly narrated h-scenes, read Fate/stay night.  The narration completely ruins the mood in most of them.  Really, I think in one point one of the heroine's lady parts are compared to seafood, and in another one Shirou says that the sex "feels so good he could vomit".  Not joking.

 

The memories of them make me giggle a bit. I don't remember the seafood one though.

[Albedo]

I think the seafood one is from Tsukihime. Relevant link: http://whynasu.tumblr.com/

[jaxter0987]

  On 3/13/2014 at 2:27 AM, Albedo said:

I think the seafood one is from Tsukihime. Relevant link: http://whynasu.tumblr.com/

I don't even.... Second thoughts on even reading Grisaia now...

[BookwormOtaku]

  On 3/13/2014 at 2:27 AM, Albedo said:

I think the seafood one is from Tsukihime. Relevant link: http://whynasu.tumblr.com/

Is it strange that my reaction to that link was "Ha! I've read/heard funnier and weirder ero scene dialogue. B) "?

[Vokoca]

  On 3/13/2014 at 5:10 AM, jaxter0987 said:

I don't even.... Second thoughts on even reading Grisaia now...

I thought Grisaia had pretty good h-scenes, I didn't even skip them--- but yes, there are some purposefully hilarious ones.

[jaxter0987]

  On 3/13/2014 at 8:21 AM, Vokoca said:

I thought Grisaia had pretty good h-scenes, I didn't even skip them--- but yes, there are some purposefully hilarious ones.

I wouldn't mind if it was the most cheesy cliched H scene. Humor in H scenes however, does not sit well with me. I'd probably put up with it to continue the story but that's definitely a con in my book.

[Scars Unseen]

  On 3/13/2014 at 9:52 AM, jaxter0987 said:

I wouldn't mind if it was the most cheesy cliched H scene. Humor in H scenes however, does not sit well with me. I'd probably put up with it to continue the story but that's definitely a con in my book.

 

I'm the exact opposite.  My biggest problem with the H-scenes in most of the VNs I've read(Saya no Uta now being a big exception) is that they don't add anything to the experience.  Like the sex scenes in recent Bioware games, they are written with little concern for how they mesh with the overall story, serving as nothing more significant than a video game "achievement" handed to the player for little to no effort.  At least humor shows that the writer is trying to entertain me.  

[Izuru]

Re-Playing Grisaia Sachi's Route

[Yukiru]

Playing Dysfunctional systems and some others.

Also, Fate/SN's H stands no chance against Kagetsu Tohya's

[Pointless Spirals]

  On 3/13/2014 at 2:54 PM, Yukiru said:

Playing Dysfunctional systems and some others.

Also, Fate/SN's H stands no chance against Kagetsu Tohya's

 

I've never actually heard anything about Kagetsu Tohya's H-scenes. How bad are they?

[Tempest]

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, So far it's pretty good!

[Yukiru]

  On 3/13/2014 at 6:09 PM, Pointless Spirals said:

I've never actually heard anything about Kagetsu Tohya's H-scenes. How bad are they?

I'll describe them with one word: Mollusc.

[Vokoca]

Finally got back to Hoshizora and finished Yume's route. At the end, I thought that it was actually good, but then 

  Reveal hidden contents

it suddenly wasn't actually the end and the VN went into full-bullshit mode. Hyper space wave sensitivity sickness...? Seriously? Was that the best they could come up with? And what was wit that double ending? That probably bothered me the most... were they unsure how to end it so they just went with both? I wouldn't even mind if it was executed better, but they just rolled back time like it was nothing... and I won't even get started on how little sense the second ending made. It was funny how I even cared more about Mare than Yume at that point.

 

Anyway, I see the VN still isn't over... is Mare's route even worth reading? I honestly can't see anything they could add to the story without it feeling useless and stupid.

 

But it's not like I hated the VN, still an 8/10 for me, though it's leaning close to 7. Depends on Mare's route I guess.

[Flutterz]

So I started and finished Ballad of an Evening Butterfly, and it is by far the strangest VN I've read so far.

Going to read My Girlfriend is the President next.

[Bolverk]

Completed Reminiscene, all routes. Overall I enjoyed this novel quite a lot. Though it did kinda hard these weird routes at the end that didn't add any big points to the story. They kinda told some parts of the story that you wouldn't know of otherwise. But the be honest some of those routes were simply.. Boring. Noticeable Rin and Nozomi's routes. Aki's route was great, Kizuna and Akusera was okay. The secret route ofc I liked haha.

Routes were a lot lot better combined into the story in Akatsuki no goei Shuumatsuron. Almost seemed like the writer in reminiscence made the story, then added the choices. Well this might just be kinda messy because he will contiune the story in the sequel. We will see I guess.

 

I am popping back to reading Draculius now. Kinda put that one the shelf way to long because my slow reading at the time messed up the pace in the novel. I read a lot better now haha. So it feels a lot more natural.

[FruitsPunchSamurai]

So far i've done a good portion of Lovely x Cation and so far i've enjoyed it. The dating sim elements and romance are done pretty well. And Sera Sensei is damn beautiful and sexy you know. I also like that you get to name the protagonist ^•^