Freestyle80 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Surprised with all the Monster Hunter references, I just bought World a few weeks ago so I appreciate them now Seraphim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphim Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 You'll probably see it quite a lot in VNs you read from now on! The Monster Hunter series has been huge in Japan for a long time now, so it's a pretty common reference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstan Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Just now, Seraphim88 said: You'll probably see it quite a lot in VNs you read from now on! The Monster Hunter series has been huge in Japan for a long time now, so it's a pretty common reference! If I remember correctly, there were some in Sanoba Witch too. (Meguru was a player, right?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphim Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Yup! The references are usually pretty subtle, but in Sanoba Witch's case, I remember them actively playing and discussing the game, much like in Aokana. adamstan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstan Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 5 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said: Yup! The references are usually pretty subtle, but in Sanoba Witch's case, I remember them actively playing and discussing the game, much like in Aokana. When they started playing in Mashiro's route, I had a bit of deja vu Seraphim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstan Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Another quick impression - this VN does "anime episode format" thing pretty well - there's no annoying OP replaying, but there are nice previews at the end of each chapter, and I absolutely love those "eyecatches" (they are animated): Those chibi portraits really capture girls' personalities Seraphim 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 23 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: You'll probably see it quite a lot in VNs you read from now on! The Monster Hunter series has been huge in Japan for a long time now, so it's a pretty common reference! yeah I know, I only ever played the psp version like 12 years ago but psps were rare in my country so didnt really have anyone to play with other than my one neighbour so barely remembered anything before playing World 4 hours ago, adamstan said: Another quick impression - this VN does "anime episode format" thing pretty well - there's no annoying OP replaying, but there are nice previews at the end of each chapter, and I absolutely love those "eyecatches" (they are animated): Those chibi portraits really capture girls' personalities Yeah the Chibi art is used pretty well with the comedy, like when Madoka was left out of their game session or Mashiro couldnt control her flight Madoka also deserves a route, she's hilarious and love her voice actress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphim Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 I'm pretty sure she, Reiko and maybe even Aoi would have had routes in Aokana Zwei, but there's not much point wishing for that now that both Zwei and Extra 2 have been cancelled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Oh damn I didnt know there was stuff planned, I guess Aokana was really costly and they couldnt break even? sprite hasnt really released anything after that I believe, did they go under? Btw does anyone knows whats the extra PS4/PSV stuff? Are those in the steam version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstan Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Freestyle80 said: Btw does anyone knows whats the extra PS4/PSV stuff? Are those in the steam version? AFAIK not. NekoNyan is planning to release "Perfect Edition" as a patch later on, which is said to contain some extra scenes for Misaki, but I don't know if it's the console content (probably not, since they're talking about h-scenes as well) or something other. Edited October 5, 2019 by adamstan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimvydasm Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Aokana was so good,i'm so happy it was translated and released in english. adamstan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstan Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 5 minutes ago, rimvydasm said: Aokana was so good,i'm so happy it was translated and released in english. Yeah, I have Asuka's route left to complete yet, but so far, it was totally amazing, and definitely exceeded my expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimvydasm Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 7 minutes ago, adamstan said: Yeah, I have Asuka's route left to complete yet, but so far, it was totally amazing, and definitely exceeded my expectations. i liked all girl's routes a lot,but Asuka's was my favourite,last fight in her route was the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formlose Gestalt Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 47 minutes ago, Freestyle80 said: Oh damn I didnt know there was stuff planned, I guess Aokana was really costly and they couldnt break even? sprite hasnt really released anything after that I believe, did they go under? Don't quote me on that because I have no source, but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that sprite didn't go under but decided to stop making VNs, to seek more profitable work elsewhere. (mobile games?) I think it was on twitter or Discord where someone more familiar with sprite or the Japanese industry wrote that, but I would be happy if someone could point me to a source that prove or disprove what I just said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphim Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 48 minutes ago, Freestyle80 said: I guess Aokana was really costly and they couldnt break even? They mentioned something about the industry declining 15% per year. I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but it's probably safe to say that Aokana didn't sell well enough compared to the development costs. 50 minutes ago, Freestyle80 said: sprite hasnt really released anything after that I believe, did they go under? They released the previously mentioned Perfect Edition and Extra 1, which serves as an after story for Mashiro and is in the process of being localized by NekoNyan, but other than that, they never got the chance to release anything else. While we won't see anything more from Sprite, it may not necessarily be the final nail in the coffin for Aokana. To quote an article from ANN:"sprite noted that it is not possible to "revive" the company, and the company has no plans for crowdfunding. sprite also clarified that there is no possibility of producing new works and continuations of old works for sprite, but noted in a Twitter post on January 30 that, following the sale of its IP and brand, that the IP may be revived by a different company with different staff." I have no idea what it would mean for the overall quality of the VN if a different company/staff takes on a new Aokana project, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 11 hours ago, Formlose Gestalt said: Don't quote me on that because I have no source, but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that sprite didn't go under but decided to stop making VNs, to seek more profitable work elsewhere. (mobile games?) I think it was on twitter or Discord where someone more familiar with sprite or the Japanese industry wrote that, but I would be happy if someone could point me to a source that prove or disprove what I just said. I think they declared bankruptcy like 5 months ago? I cant confirm though. As for VNs, they barely make any so ofcourse there's not gonna be much profit. The ones they made were fairly popular in Japan and won some accolades so its weird they made no effort to make more 11 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: They mentioned something about the industry declining 15% per year. I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but it's probably safe to say that Aokana didn't sell well enough compared to the development costs. They released the previously mentioned Perfect Edition and Extra 1, which serves as an after story for Mashiro and is in the process of being localized by NekoNyan, but other than that, they never got the chance to release anything else. While we won't see anything more from Sprite, it may not necessarily be the final nail in the coffin for Aokana. To quote an article from ANN:"sprite noted that it is not possible to "revive" the company, and the company has no plans for crowdfunding. sprite also clarified that there is no possibility of producing new works and continuations of old works for sprite, but noted in a Twitter post on January 30 that, following the sale of its IP and brand, that the IP may be revived by a different company with different staff." I have no idea what it would mean for the overall quality of the VN if a different company/staff takes on a new Aokana project, though. Oh well, we'll have to see what happens with that. I doubt we'll get anything but the demand for Aokana is certainly here judging from the massively successful kickstarter. Its sad though, sprite makes a lot of interesting characters, like the Sensei in Koichoco and Madoka in Aokana and never does anything with them lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formlose Gestalt Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, Freestyle80 said: I think they declared bankruptcy like 5 months ago? I cant confirm though. As for VNs, they barely make any so ofcourse there's not gonna be much profit. The ones they made were fairly popular in Japan and won some accolades so its weird they made no effort to make more I have heard nowhere that they declared bankruptcy! In the article that Seraphim88 quoted it states "The official Twitter account for the sprite company revealed on Sunday that the company will cease operations at the end of March, and its "sprite STORE" online store will also close at the same time." Cease operations is not a bankruptcy. In another article it is state that they halted operations. So their financial situation was never so dire that they had to declare bankruptcy instead they decided to stop and sell their brand (Sprite) and the rights to their games. What is left open for interpretation is if they made a loss with Aokana and decided to stop or if they thought that the profit of Aokana was to small for the effort that they put in and considering the trend for the Vn industry (declining) they decided to stop before they make a loss. But I guess it matter little in the grand scheme of things. Here are link to the arcticles I am referring to: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-02-11/aokana-game-maker-sprite-halts-operations-at-end-of-march/.143245 https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2018-06-26/aokana-game-maker-sprite-halts-operations/.133419 Edited October 6, 2019 by Formlose Gestalt Freestyle80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosRaven Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 The demise of Sprite wasn't particularly surprising, considering how long they took for their games. I'm not a big fan of the one release per year cycles of most studios and I'd vastly prefer 2-year cycles, but a development time of 4 years for Aokana is pretty damn long. You need a serious smash hit then or a very tiny studio with little operating expenses to compensate for that. And even then, if you need 3 years for a short fan disc then you don't have to be surprised if your finances aren't balanced anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 Finished a route atlast, man Rika is just adorable isnt he . I liked the pacing, route didn’t feel too bloated, i thought it would be unnecessarily long. Even the FC matches dont drag on too long, impressive that they managed to balance it Btw if anyone can tell me without spoiling too much Does Masaya actually return to flying in any of the routes? Is it just Asuka’s? It was a bit weird Rika never told him “ok now i’ll solve your problem!” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphim Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Freestyle80 said: Spoiler Does Masaya actually return to flying in any of the routes? Spoiler He does in Mashiro's, which is the only route I've finished so far, but it's just mentioned briefly rather than something that's actually a part of the storyline. Edited October 6, 2019 by Seraphim88 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 1 hour ago, Seraphim88 said: Reveal hidden contents He does in Mashiro's, which is the only route I've finished so far, but it's just mentioned briefly rather than something that's actually a part of the storyline. I see, thats a bit sad. Doing Misaki's route now, she's a bit annoying at the start of her route, hope she gets less depressing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphim Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 17 minutes ago, Freestyle80 said: she's a bit annoying at the start of her route She's been kinda annoying for most of the VN so far, honestly. It's probably mostly due to the fact that I generally have a hard time liking people who just do whatever they feel like at any given moment, never truly committing to anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyle80 Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Seraphim88 said: She's been kinda annoying for most of the VN so far, honestly. It's probably mostly due to the fact that I generally have a hard time liking people who just do whatever they feel like at any given moment, never truly committing to anything. I find Asuka's endless optimism a bit more annoying and Mashiro doesnt really interest me so just went for her route first lol Also I like the dynamic Misaki has with Masaya more than the other girls but who knows maybe I'll change my mind after doing Asuka's route as well Edited October 6, 2019 by Freestyle80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 I recommend saving Asuka's route for last. adamstan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstan Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Shaun said: I recommend saving Asuka's route for last. Yeah, +1. 6 hours ago, Freestyle80 said: Btw if anyone can tell me without spoiling too much Hide contents Does Masaya actually return to flying in any of the routes? Is it just Asuka’s? It was a bit weird Rika never told him “ok now i’ll solve your problem!” Spoiler He returns to playing FC in Asuka's and Misaki's routes. (Near the very end of Misaki's route if memory serves) Edited October 6, 2019 by adamstan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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