Competent main character

[pual]

I'm looking for VN's that have main character who works for organization and has some influence. Maybe something similar to Grisaia, Sharin no Kuni or G-senjou no Maou in that sense. Also I'd prefer if it has some plot and is not your slice of life moege. I mainly look for newer VN's (2006+) because they have good UI but older ones are welcome too.

[babiker]

Rewrite's protaganist, Kotarou, fit's the role, but only in some very specific routes, mainly towards the end. In the others he can feel very powerless, especially at the start. Another one would be Comyu's protag, he's not the most influential/powerful around but he's decent in both, and also the other characters and plot of both of those VNs are ten/10 stuffs, so yeah. :>

[Kaguya]

I'd hate on rewrite, but that's not the point of this thread so I'll restrain myself. Anyway, wouldn't suggest it for that.

The best one I can come up with translated would be Rose Guns Days. The protagonists change every season (with all of them coming together for the finale), but all have their experiences, tastes, personalities and are very much competent in their areas.

If you don't mind gameplay, there's the protagonist of Utawarerumono, who leads a revolution and manages a country.

If you're fine with revenge stories, there's Hanachirasu (the protagonist is the lover of the owner of an influential corporation, and said owner would a lot for his sake. He also works for them, and definitely is an incredibly competent swordsman) and Kikokugai - in this case, the protagonist used to be part of an underground society, and is out for vengeance on the people of said society...

Spoiler

Because they tried to kill him while on a mission, gang-raped his sister and used her brain to give life to sex dolls

There's a few other translated ones, but I can't think of any other particularly good.

[OriginalRen]

Key protagonists are the literal definition of not doing anything and being super useless (but nice) and getting every single woman to fall in love with you. Every Key protagonist also has the bumbling idiot friend who makes them look so much cooler than they actually are. They are the protagonists that never act on sex (because if men do that it's evil), thus showing ladies how it's done and then watching them become horny and proceed to consistently have sex until drama sets in.

When drama comes up in a woman's life, they stand there pretending they can actually solve something. In the end, they do literally nothing and merely wait for the right opportunity to have an epic speech reminding their girlfriend that they will and have always loved them even though they [the woman] are insecure about themselves and don't believe it's possible to have such an awesome boyfriend. At this point, time leaps occur and some magic is sprinkled on and everything is perfect.

The end.

[pual]

16 minutes ago, Kaguya said:

I'd hate on rewrite, but that's not the point of this thread so I'll restrain myself. Anyway, wouldn't suggest it for that.

The best one I can come up with translated would be Rose Guns Days. The protagonists change every season (with all of them coming together for the finale), but all have their experiences, tastes, personalities and are very much competent in their areas.

If you don't mind gameplay, there's the protagonist of Utawarerumono, who leads a revolution and manages a country.

If you're fine with revenge stories, there's Hanachirasu (the protagonist is the lover of the owner of an influential corporation, and said owner would a lot for his sake. He also works for them, and definitely is an incredibly competent swordsman) and Kikokugai - in this case, the protagonist used to be part of an underground society, and is out for vengeance on the people of said society...

  Reveal hidden contents

Because they tried to kill him while on a mission, gang-raped his sister and used her brain to give life to sex dolls

There's a few other translated ones, but I can't think of any other particularly good.

I've read Kikokugai but somehow didn't find it's way to tell the story appealing. Guess I'll look into Hanachirasu  and Coµ then. I don't mind gameplay if it's not awful.

[ChaosRaven]

I think the protagonists in Key's Clannad and Kanon were kind of okay, though they didn't work an 'organization'. Not a big fan of the newer Key VN's though.

Canvas 2 had a good protagonist I think. He was a teacher so if working for 'school' as organization is okay for you... lol

Innocent Grey has rather competent protagonists, especially Reiji from KnS. Cartagra's Shugo probably a bit less but i still liked him. They are kind of involved with the police as detectives so they have some influence.

[Segaco]

Black bunny has what you're looking for, if it wasn't for the 18+ content it would be better, but still, it's a good game, the protagonist is not powerless, well, he is for like, 10 minutes, but then he turns into a badass, and the gameplay is fun too, so if I were you I would give it a try.

[babiker]

11 hours ago, OriginalRen said:

Key protagonists are the literal definition of not doing anything and being super useless (but nice) and getting every single woman to fall in love with you. Every Key protagonist also has the bumbling idiot friend who makes them look so much cooler than they actually are. They are the protagonists that never act on sex (because if men do that it's evil), thus showing ladies how it's done and then watching them become horny and proceed to consistently have sex until drama sets in.

When drama comes up in a woman's life, they stand there pretending they can actually solve something. In the end, they do literally nothing and merely wait for the right opportunity to have an epic speech reminding their girlfriend that they will and have always loved them even though they [the woman] are insecure about themselves and don't believe it's possible to have such an awesome boyfriend. At this point, time leaps occur and some magic is sprinkled on and everything is perfect.

The end.

Looks like someone hasn't read Rewrite. I suggest you hold off from ignorant generalizations, dealing with Firecat is more than enough

[Eclipsed]

Cartagra + Kara no Shoujo series. Protags are detectives in 1950s era and there will be serial killings that they will have to solve

 

[Funnerific]

12 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

I think the protagonists in Key's Clannad and Kanon were kind of okay, though they didn't work an 'organization'. Not a big fan of the newer Key VN's though.

Canvas 2 had a good protagonist I think. He was a teacher so if working for 'school' as organization is okay for you... lol

Innocent Grey has rather competent protagonists, especially Reiji from KnS. Cartagra's Shugo probably a bit less but i still liked him. They are kind of involved with the police as detectives so they have some influence.

Don't know about Kanon, but Clannad and Canvas 2 all had your typical mostly hetare protagonists.

[Clephas]

You asked for characters who were competent members of an organization, so I crossed out VNs that just had outright competent protags.

Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate

Sinclient (this and the one above probably fit your desires the most closely)

Vermilion (this one is by Light, but it is also pretty much the easiest of their action titles to read)

Baldr Sky Zero (I honestly recommend you play Skydive first)

Gleam Garden no Shoujo

Izuna Zanshinken (watch out for the blood)

Rakuen no Shugosha (this is a kinetic novel, with only one - sad - ending and a non-anime art style)

Re:Birth Colony

Para-sol (make sure you install the updates from their website, otherwise the full story isn't accessible)

Reminiscence

Gunjou no Sora wo Koete (protagonist is a good pilot, but otherwise he is a bit... normal?)

[OriginalRen]

15 hours ago, babiker said:

Looks like someone hasn't read Rewrite. I suggest you hold off from ignorant generalizations, dealing with Firecat is more than enough

And this friends is what we call a butt hurt Key fan. I'm pretty sure the protagonist of Rewrite has a moron friend. If I'm not mistaken I want to say that Yoshino fits that role quite well. As for the heroines, they follow all of the classic Key character tropes. A carefree and energetic genki type, a classic tsundere, a shy girl who never speaks, an airhead, and a bitch who is extremely conceited. It seems to fit the formula perfect in my eyes. I'm not saying the game isn't good, but the formula is the same.

[WinterfuryZX]

Marina inoue from Eve Burst error.

Well, yes it's way older...

 

Edit: I meant Marina Hojou, sorry, I confused her with the famous voice actress, lol.

https://vndb.org/c1407

[Okarin]

Reading Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo at the moment. Well... it's divided into chapters (don't know how many). First chapter seems to be heroine selection, chapter 2 starts off very promising with heavy hitting shit. It's hard to talk about the game without mentioning the setting, but the protagonist is aiming to become a "Special Class Individual", a modern-day nobleman of sorts who watches over "criminals" and assists them on their path to rehabilitation. When the game starts, he can be as smart as goofy, but I expect him to get serious soon.

Shoichi Suganuma from Deardrops was a genius, but a musical one, a gifted violinist that studied that instrument from a young age. When the game starts, he has dropped the violin and returned to his hometown, and shortly after he picks up the guitar. As a master musician would be something gawdy for a male lead, he is portrayed as struggling with the guitar, and not being nearly as proficient with it as with the violin.

Another musical genius was Shuuichi Kuze from ef, a Fairy tale of the two. He starred in one of the latter stories and his life was pretty much a mess, but as a violinist he was godly. He, like Spiderman, has a rugged relationship with his instrument, and means to stop playing when... play the game to find out!

To complete the musician characters, Phill from Quartett! is a decent player, and a likable protagonist with a kind heart who handles situations with common sense. A well written male lead that's miles ahead the common moege blockhead/lazy/disinterested approach.

[Funnerific]

1 hour ago, OriginalRen said:

And this friends is what we call a butt hurt Key fan. I'm pretty sure the protagonist of Rewrite has a moron friend. If I'm not mistaken I want to say that Yoshino fits that role quite well. As for the heroines, they follow all of the classic Key character tropes. A carefree and energetic genki type, a classic tsundere, a shy girl who never speaks, an airhead, and a bitch who is extremely conceited. It seems to fit the formula perfect in my eyes. I'm not saying the game isn't good, but the formula is the same.

If anything, the protagonist is a moron and his friend is more normal.

Rewrite is worth it mainly for the true route anyway.

[Okarin]

This talk about mankind ruining their own place has me interested, at the very least it's a modern-day X/1999 rehash. It's just that I played Lucia's route first and it tired me endlessly. Also the thing never seemed to end.

I like Key shit but quite often I harbor mixed feelings with the uneven writing.

[pual]

11 hours ago, Clephas said:

Koisuru Otome to Shugo no Tate

Izuna Zanshinken (watch out for the blood)

Re:Birth Colony

Para-sol (make sure you install the updates from their website, otherwise the full story isn't accessible)

Reminiscence

All of these look more or less interesting, especially Izuna Zanshinken. Unfortunately I can't read more than maybe 5-10 kanji so that leaves Koisuru Otome (once the patch is complete). How hard are the others language wise? I'd rather not rely on machine translation so if they aren't that 'advanced' reading might as well start reading short untranslated VN's to eventually get on that level.

[Clephas]

50 minutes ago, pual said:

All of these look more or less interesting, especially Izuna Zanshinken. Unfortunately I can't read more than maybe 5-10 kanji so that leaves Koisuru Otome (once the patch is complete). How hard are the others language wise? I'd rather not rely on machine translation so if they aren't that 'advanced' reading might as well start reading short untranslated VN's to eventually get on that level.

You don't use jparser? 

Anyway, I'd say the hardest one in there is Izuna... the others mostly average between 5-7  on the 1 to ten difficulty scale. 

[Deep Blue]

reading a vn and constantly having to check the kanji meaning because you don't know  them is not fun at all   and it breaks the immersion, at least it does for me (im looking at you hello world  ) 

[pual]

59 minutes ago, Clephas said:

You don't use jparser? 

Anyway, I'd say the hardest one in there is Izuna... the others mostly average between 5-7  on the 1 to ten difficulty scale. 

I haven't needed it before but it certainly looks useful if it gives furigana and dictionary. On the other hand full machine translators (like google, don't know about ATLAS) most of the time fail to convey meaning of sentences. 

45 minutes ago, Deep Blue said:

reading a vn and constantly having to check the kanji meaning because you don't know  them is not fun at all   and it breaks the immersion, at least it does for me (im looking at you hello world  ) 

Yeah I can imagine it is after a while .

[Clephas]

12 minutes ago, pual said:

I haven't needed it before but it certainly looks useful if it gives furigana and dictionary. On the other hand full machine translators (like google, don't know about ATLAS) most of the time fail to convey meaning of sentences. 

 

You learn faster reading VNs with furigana from jparser or mecab than you do reading them bit by bit on your own. 

[Okarin]

ATLAS isn't that bad, but it's still bad.

I love furigana, but if you don't know many words you'll still have to look them up.

Also in VNs you encounter a lot of different accents, and that is tough.

[Stormwolf]

14 hours ago, Funnerific said:

If anything, the protagonist is a moron and his friend is more normal.

Rewrite is worth it mainly for the true route anyway.

They are both morons.

[Fred the Barber]

Alright, so before I continue derailing the thread, let me try to offer a useful suggestion: MajiKoi has a very in-control protagonist, and might be what you're looking for (looks like you haven't played it yet but were planning to, judging by your VNDB).

 

Now then...

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 0:32 PM, OriginalRen said:

And this friends is what we call a butt hurt Key fan. I'm pretty sure the protagonist of Rewrite has a moron friend. If I'm not mistaken I want to say that Yoshino fits that role quite well. As for the heroines, they follow all of the classic Key character tropes. A carefree and energetic genki type, a classic tsundere, a shy girl who never speaks, an airhead, and a bitch who is extremely conceited. It seems to fit the formula perfect in my eyes. I'm not saying the game isn't good, but the formula is the same.

You seem to be trying to make an argument of some sort in this thread, but you're missing an important connecting point: if the game is good, who gives a shit if it follows a formula?

That aside, even more importantly, why are you trying to shift the argument away from the actual topic (whether the protagonist has some influence and control over the situation)? Probably because Babiker was right and you know shit about Rewrite, and it was starting to show?

I'll grant you that the protagonists to all of Kanon, Clannad, and Little Busters! are total non-entities. They're pretty much there for self-insert purposes only (Little Busters! Refrain is not a redeeming chapter for Riki, to me; only for the male friends); it's actually hilarious how much more interesting the KyoAni anime versions of those protagonists are in the 2006 Kanon and Clannad. But we weren't talking about those games; we were talking about Rewrite. 

Rewrite's Kotarou has quite a bit more going on, particularly in the Terra route. He starts off as a total scrub, he knows it, and he works his ass off to get better, and we watch him every ass-kicking step along the way. He's a refreshingly different and interesting protagonist from Key. So if you don't know what you're talking about, maybe you shouldn't talk about it?

[OriginalRen]

1 hour ago, Fred the Barber said:

Alright, so before I continue derailing the thread, let me try to offer a useful suggestion: MajiKoi has a very in-control protagonist, and might be what you're looking for (looks like you haven't played it yet but were planning to, judging by your VNDB).

 

Now then...

You seem to be trying to make an argument of some sort in this thread, but you're missing an important connecting point: if the game is good, who gives a shit if it follows a formula?

That aside, even more importantly, why are you trying to shift the argument away from the actual topic (whether the protagonist has some influence and control over the situation)? Probably because Babiker was right and you know shit about Rewrite, and it was starting to show?

I'll grant you that the protagonists to all of Kanon, Clannad, and Little Busters! are total non-entities. They're pretty much there for self-insert purposes only (Little Busters! Refrain is not a redeeming chapter for Riki, to me; only for the male friends); it's actually hilarious how much more interesting the KyoAni anime versions of those protagonists are in the 2006 Kanon and Clannad. But we weren't talking about those games; we were talking about Rewrite. 

Rewrite's Kotarou has quite a bit more going on, particularly in the Terra route. He starts off as a total scrub, he knows it, and he works his ass off to get better, and we watch him every ass-kicking step along the way. He's a refreshingly different and interesting protagonist from Key. So if you don't know what you're talking about, maybe you shouldn't talk about it?

I actually do have every right to shit on Rewrite considering I've watched it being played many times. Just because you think I don't know enough about something doesn't mean I can't say it's bad. Do I not have the right to say alcohol is bad for you just because I don't drink as often? In the end, I think it's a crappy game and that people give Key way too much credit. Just because you get upset at people (solidbatman's reviews) for arguing why a Key game is bad doesn't mean I can't say it's bad. Charlotte is a prime example of this.