What are you reading? Untranslated edition

[Funnerific]

Since the old thread appears to be gone, I decided to restart it. Please merge it with the old one if you find it.

 

Just finished my first big untranslated visual novel, Astraythem! With my vocabulary of ~2000 kanji and ~3000 words it took me about 6 days of focused reading. What is this feeling of accomplishment?

The MLA vibe is strong with this one. It's not nearly as serious though. Also Tsukumo = Takeru, Hakase = Yuuko.

Now for the major spoilers

First, the rant.

The H-scenes ruin this game. Aside from mature Natsuki's second one, all of them feel unnatural. The most disturbing part is that the protagonist does it with whoever and doesn't remember his sister even once while doing it. I know VNDB says this game has 5 writers, but what in the world is this inconsistency? It just got worse and worse. First the optional (and veeery painful to watch) H-scene with Mimi, then the forced H-scene with Kuurin (don't even get me started on her "route"), then child abuse of the poor and innocent 14/15 year old Natsuki (blow + anal). And after that at the age of 27/28 she says she's scared and it's her first time even though she's just a technical virgin? Please, I'm fucking done. If anyone can tell me whether Chuable Soft's later titles (especially Ano Harewataru Sora yori Takaku) have the same problem, that would be a big help. This kind of thing really bothers me.

Another major problem I have with it is the protagonist. Just like Muv-Luv's Takeru, he's a total hetare except when it comes to fights. It's convenient that he starts with feelings towards the heroine and I didn't have to bear through generic donkanship, but that's the only good thing about it. In 95% cases he only thinks about the thing right in front of him and forgets everything else, creating the gap between the reader and the protagonist. Despite all the experience and foreshadowing he never changes and hurts the poor Natsuki over and over. Chapter 2, what did he come there to do? Save his sister. What he ends up doing is being Kuurin's pet, causing reverse NTR, a bunch of other unnecessary drama, creating yet another thing that ties Natsuki to the past. If you think about it, his goal was extremely easy so long as he succeeded in time traveling. Chapter 3, is there a single reason he shouldn't tell her he only has a few days left to live? If he only did that, everything would've been so much simpler. In the end, the bandana saving the protagonist was a massive coincidence he never planned for.

Also, isn't it an asspull that Natsuki showed no symptoms for 10 years after poisoning and then all of a sudden died within less than a week? I didn't really hate that part of the plot, it just feels off.

Finally, the ending. I didn't really get it, how did the Tsukumo that never time travelled end up merging with the one who returned from 1999? Perhaps it's just my insufficient language ability, if it wasn't an asspull and anyone can explain it to me that would be nice. All along I was thinking the best possible ending would be for the protagonist to travel to 1996 to try to prevent his kid version from losing his parents (and thus not crossing paths with the Sakurazuka family) and then himself stick with Natsuki without returning to the present time.

\Rant over

 

Now for the good stuff. Love the art, except for the pig nose at close range and the over-censorship in HCGs. Having 2 "different perspective" CGs for H-scenes was pretty interesting, however since most of the scenes themselves sucked it doesn't really matter. Love the music, I was surprised to find myself crying at the ending of chapter 3 even though I thought it actually sucked, although there's a lot of generic and tiring SoL in chapters 1&2 and I got pretty tired of the repetitive music. Above all, I love the idea of building a long story centered on a single heroine. Games like G-senjou no Maou tagged with "Central heroine" on VNDB can't even compare. Now if only I got to play a VN built on the same concept that takes itself more seriously, I'd probably love it to death.

 

I have to say I didn't get a single thing about all those star legends, nor was I trying to. Was it even tied to the plot somehow? There was a connection in Hoshimemo's star legends at least, but I didn't really feel it here.

Loved it while playing, but grew to hate some parts of it more and more towards the end (see spoiler rant).  If you've played it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this game.

[Deep Blue]

One like for that superb theme from muv luv (for you who is gone)

[Chronopolis]

How do you finish your first major VN in 6 days. Damn that is impressive. Grats. Ah, well I suppose now a days it would be like 60-70 hours of reading, except there is no way in hell I can read 12 hours a day.

[Funnerific]

How do you finish your first major VN in 6 days. Damn that is impressive. Grats. Ah, well I suppose now a days it would be like 60-70 hours of reading, except there is no way in hell I can read 12 hours a day.

I played a couple of this and that before, like a single route in Haruka na Sora and some insignificant stuff here and there, sometimes dropping it. Up until now my biggest accomplishment was finishing a single route in Haruka Kanata but it didn't feel like much. Also when I'm not in the mood to take vocab I just keep reading so long as I understand what's going on even if I don't know a few words, so there's that. Take is as you wish.

[Satsuki]

Haruka Kanata? Isn't that thing buggy to the point of unplayable, or so I heard?

[XReaper]

before i got dropped off in hospital & they forbade me using a laptop, i´ve been reading btw. re-reading fairytale requiem, rasen kairou2 & a bunch of of semi perverted nukige ala mainichi shabutte2 etc.

edit: rasen kairou2 is definitely one novel i strongly recommend reading, though beeing abit older, it has quite the very dark & depressing plot, which is nevertheless a great read aka goosebumps ahoi & welcome to human trash!

[Kanbe]

This month is going to be a dead month for me. No new releases I'm interested since Primal Hearts 2 got delayed 

Thinking about replaying Yuustia

[Satsuki]

This month is going to be a dead month for me. No new releases I'm interested since Primal Hearts 2 got delayed 

Thinking about replaying Youstia

I was kinda interested in Traveling Star, but then decided to screw it after playing the trial

[ittaku]

I'm not obsessed with reading the latest of anything. I just try to find titles that suit the styles I like to read, and older games are usually much cheaper 2nd hand.

 

Currently reading the H heavy 幼なじみと甘～くエッチに過ごす方法. Have a soft spot for the later team B-Y games even if their production values are not on par with big companies since they do ecchi sexual tension well without just being a nukige. Before that I played one of their older games まほこい～エッチな魔法で恋×濃しちゃう～ which was below average and had lots of dark endings I skipped and I wouldn't bother with it. I think they changed direction after this since just about every other one I've played has nothing but variant good endings. The first game of theirs I read was School ぷろじぇくと☆  which was lots of fun. I'm guessing their earlier games were meh and their later games had fine tuned their style which suits me fine. I'm also concurrently reading Clover Day's since I'm helping translate that project.

[Funnerific]

On 24.08.2015 at 4:52 AM, Satsuki said:

Haruka Kanata? Isn't that thing buggy to the point of unplayable, or so I heard?

It crashes like every few hours, but autosaves literally every line or two. My biggest complaint with it is how broken the gallery is, the CG variations will be shown in a wrong order (like in an H-scene it'll start with a "cum" CG and then move on to "clean" one, and so on). If you found a new CG at the time the game crashed, when clicking on it in gallery it'll be shown all grey "same as the crash screen". You won't be able to use a text hooker on it either, however it has a fullscreen windowed mode which speeds up the process of looking up words somewhat.

 

Otherwise I'd say it's a pretty good charage, judging by Haruka's route at least. The other 3 heroines appear awfully generic.

Edit: This game is one of the best things I've ever played.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Funnerific

[Sonitz]

ソーサリージョーカーズ

Still reading, though. 

[Clephas]

Boku wa Tomodachi ~I am not Sweetheart

 

It is a doujin VN released recently about a guy who is basically cursed to act as the 'idiot friend' for dozens of 'protagonists'. 

[Down]

I finished Kusarihime. At least I read the true end.

 

I'm really not sure of what I just read. The plot is very hard to follow: every time you (think that you) start grasping what's going on, a new element is introduced or the pattern you found is broken and everything becomes even more confusing. I'm frankly not quite sure how to fit some of the pieces of the puzzle if I am to take the events and explanations in the ending at face value, but at the same time there doesn't seem to be that much room for interpretation...

As in something like Forest, Meteor's plot in on the verge of being incomprehensible but maintains just enough to let you have a general feel of understanding, which makes the reading very engaging since you have to always be attentive. The writing itself is pretty neat too, it has some flavor yet remains simple enough, which helps.

 

I guess re-reading the game to get the parts I'm still missing should help making sense out of everything.

 

It's a pretty thrilling experience overall, the game is very atmospheric with some pretty incredible scenes and all throughout a varied panel of emotions being displayed. It's also well-paced despite its . I'm satisfied with what I read. This is definitely the kind of work I need to let sink in to get a better appreciation of, though.

 

 

I also randomly finished Eris' chapter in Eustia >.>

The contribution to the overarching plot was cool but Eris' story was a bunch of bullcrap and it was seriously a pain to go through some of that. I'm a bit hesitant now on whether I should continue that or start reading KnS 2...

[Bolverk]

Currently far into reading Fortissimo, Sakuuta (slow poke). Both are very good vn's. Sakuuta really looking forwards to the full version..

[LinovaA]

Currently reading Konata yori Kanata made.

 

It has definitely been exceeding my expectations in many ways. I don't know how I have managed to stay composed for as long as I have while reading this, but when I finally do break... I am probably going to cry like nothing else. Sadness aside, the characterization is done pretty well, and I have been particularly been enjoying Christel's antics. Yuu is also a qt3.14... so yeah. xD

 

Oh, and I am somewhere in Christel's route as of right now. Now that I am done work I can finally dedicate more time to reading.

[XReaper]

@down, believe me even after reading it for 7 times now, i still dont understand everything, because some things simply leave lots of room for different interpretations, like you wont get better explanations at all and you realize that the readers confusedness been intended from the get go. nevertheless it been a wonderfull read, full of weirdness & despair - all hail otherworldly chicks ergo

bad souls are meant beeing burned down to ashes

edit: getting my laptop brought tomorrow, so i can continue reading rasen kairou2 in the afternoon somewhere in the park near the hospital. story pretty much reminds me on stuff i´ve (partly) experienced back in tirgu mures...

[Chronopolis]

Playing Sono Hikari Sono Tsubasa ~Azathoth no Isan~, a doujin game I learned of from clicking on one of the random pictures that show up on the front page.

 

For a doujin game, the art and vfx are pretty detailed, this game seems to haven gotten a lot of love.

 

Speaking of the love, characters are all very caring of each other, which is one of my favourite character cast relations. They also turned that in to comedy in places. Of the first three characters we see after the prologue, the first is a extremely well-mannered girl who still manages to be 天然, a total goofball, and lastly we have the poor misunderstood shota who looks like a girl (He's the protag btw). The bgm is only normal quality, but is very calming and soothing along with the scenes. There's also sense of wonder towards the fantastical objects in the novel. Sono Hikari has really drawn me in and made me forget about judging the VN. There's some exposition and the story has some sci-fi elements lying around in the background, but man, the characters sometimes. They're so adorable it should be illegal. Squee~

[Funnerific]

Finished H2O -Footprints in the Sand-

What an unsettling mix of carefree comedy and harsh story it was. Loved it though. The plot, characters and music were pretty nice (the ED song is damn good), but probably the best thing about this VN is the art. I picked it because I liked how Ikikoi did some things like the protagonist with a face in many CGs and while I certainly was disappointed on that front, I still loved it. Dem >15 CGs with sunset in the background. the atmosphere.

Don't have anything to rant about this time, except for how much of a moege kusoge the side story Root after and another is.

Spoiler

It abuses the hell out of the "Easily forgiven" trope. I couldn't never forgive Yui for what she did and seeing her get along with Hayami felt plain wrong. What the hell was that yuri NTR scene? It was fine as a joke at first but...

In the complete edition, Yui route is mandatory for unlocking Otoha route, so I had to sit through that. Yui was meh as expected, the new protagonist was a hetare (and you know that part where Yui came to tell him she's going to be a bully and he didn't even try stopping her even though he wanted her to be different?) but Setsuna was something else. Such a great heroine is a waste on Kouichi. She's so cool she even has a comical moment in her H-scene (～～な、なんとぉ～～よよよ).

Hamaji route... I never asked for this. Not going to touch it either.

Finished Hayami's two after stories, plan on doing AS of other original heroines too after a break. Maybe I'll play Yui route just for more Setsuna, maybe.

That ED song, beware major spoilers (minor for Root after and another if you only played the original)

Out of curiosity I went to see the anime, was greatly disappointed several times over the first two episodes and dropped it before it distorted my experience any further. If I didn't have the game to compare to, however, I might have loved it.

 

Hayami best girl.

Edited September 16, 2016 by Funnerific

[ittaku]

Just to keep this thread alive..

Currently reading the H heavy 幼なじみと甘～くエッチに過ごす方法. Have a soft spot for the later team B-Y games even if their production values are not on par with big companies since they do ecchi sexual tension well without just being a nukige.

Finished up on this and it did exactly what I was hoping on the tension side. 3 girls, no bad endings, each girl has 2 alternate good endings and there's one harem ending. There was precisely zero challenging story line in this, it was a pure H fest.

I will probably be moving onto Sugar and Spice 2 next which was one of the 2nd hand bargains I picked up in Japan.

[storyteller]

I've been posting in the non-untranslated edition, lol.

Of course, I just finished Evolimit.
I should probably be moving in to Eien no Aselia next.

[Chronopolis]

Sure let's keep this thread alive.

Besides playing Evolimit:
Started playing 無限煉姦～恥辱にまみれし不死姫の輪舞～, which probably ends up being a story-heavy nukige.
"Mugen Renkan is the story of an immortal slave girl who escapes the clutches of her horribly abusive captors and embarks upon a journey through the ages."
The journey and immortality aspect got me interested. It's uncommon to have a story that moves from place to place.  I also wanted to get my fantasy fix, was also considering was Tou no Shita no Exercitus. I don't have sky high expectations, but since the premise interests me enough, I probably won't feel the urge to criticize the story in the middle of a playthrough. We'll see how it turns out. It can't be as disappointing as Mangekyou 3.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Chronopolis

[Beato]

Reading Utawarerumono Itsuwari no Kamen. It's pretty great so far. They've managed to keep pretty much all the good stuff from Utawarerumono like the fantastic atmosphere, good art and music and the fun slice of life scenes while also improving the stuff that weren't as good like the characters. In the original Utawarerumono the cast was fun and pretty likable but I only really cared about the Hakuoro/Eruruw/Aruruw trio who weren't exactly great characters either. This time I love the entire cast and they all play off each other really well.

Compared to the first game which was a mix of slice of life and war/politics Itsuwari no Kamen is mostly slice of life and the battles are pretty much all stuff that would be side quests if this was a regular rpg. Most of the scenes are just the characters hanging out with each other and lots of eating and drinking (especially drinking). That it's not a harem (yet at least) also makes everyones interactions feel much more natural. I'm assuming that there will be plot and serious stuff later but I honestly wouldn't mind if it just continued like this to the end.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Beato

[storyteller]

So, I decided not to go with Eien no Aselia and to play Semiramis no Tenbin instead.
Not in the mood for a gameplay VN.

[Bolverk]

Put aside Noble works for now. I got 2 routes left. I'll prbly go back to it again when I feel like playing a charage. But for now I've had enough.

So I started playing Baldr sky zero 1 (bsz) instead. In many ways it's good as old baldr sky (bs). But I am missing a big overall great story bs had. I am hoping it will come to it later. As currently I am just getting to know more of the world slowly. Although there is nothing wrong with that. I will get bored if this continues forever.

[XReaper]

 But I am missing a big overall great story bs had. I am hoping it will come to it later.

non wanting to dissappoint you, but nah, it wont.