Anime Expo News Replacements

[Formlose Gestalt]

Anime Expo is usually the place where a lot of the VN Publishers drop their news, but this year AX is cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic. But that doesn't mean that there are no news to share.

Âge

The first round of news came from Âge the creators of Muv Luv. They had an event live stream on July 1st that you can watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIc6XHZiDEY

 

Announcements:

Muv-Luv Photonmelodies♮

Release: Summer 2020

https://twitter.com/muvluvseries/status/1278506748706357248

and

Muv-Luv Unlimited - The Day After

Release: 2020

https://twitter.com/muvluvseries/status/1278510380961034241

I guess that this is Alternative Chronicles Vol.1-4 but I can't quite confirm that since I couldn't catch the live stream. Besides that they also announced the translation of the Muv-Luv Alternative manga.

 

Jast USA

Jast and Ninetail announced a Kickstarter for Venus Blood -Hypno- named VenusBlood HOLLOW for the international release.

The Kickstarter should launch this Autumm.

You can find more information on the official website: http://www.ninetail.tk/tde12/index.html

https://twitter.com/Intl_Ninetail/status/1278741873306157056

 

Mangagamer

Mangagamer announced an expansion for Steam Prison centering around Fin.

 

https://twitter.com/MangaGamer/status/1278903093376270336

and

Jeanne at the Clock Tower ~Jeanne a la tour d’horloge~ from Liar-Soft

https://twitter.com/MangaGamer/status/1278903363569098752

Here is the website for more information: http://mangagamer.org/jeanne/

 

 

Sekai Project

Sekai Project had a panel at the online convention KuroCon on this Twitch channel. (Maybe there will be a VOD later on the channel?)

Here are the news posts on Sekai Projects website: https://sekaiproject.com/blogs/news/kurocon-2020-updates-announcements

And on Denpasoft: https://denpasoft.com/blogs/news/kurocon-2020-updates-announcements

Announcement 1:

9-nine-:Episode 4

https://twitter.com/sekaiproject/status/1279560338522824704

They hope to have Episode 4 quicker than the wait between Ep.2 and Ep.3

 

Announcement 2:

Karakara 3

https://twitter.com/sekaiproject/status/1279560593712672776

 

Announcement 3:

Slobbish Dragon Princess the newest VN by Whirlpool

 

https://twitter.com/sekaiproject/status/1279561225416785921

They are aiming for similar release window as the Japanese release this October.

 

 

Announcement 4:

Please be Happy by Studio Élan 

https://twitter.com/sekaiproject/status/1279559820316565504

Official website: https://vnstudioelan.com/games/please-be-happy/

 

They also showed an free HD Update for Hoshizora no Memoria -Wish upon a Shooting Star- and it's Fandisc Hoshizora no Memoria -Eternal Heart-.

https://twitter.com/sekaiproject/status/1279558951713964032

 

 

 

Since this news round will be a lot less centralized than usual I am certain that I will miss some news, so please post what ever news I miss in this thread!

 

I don't think Nekonyan had planned to attend AX, so I am unsure if there will be any news from them.

 

Edited July 6, 2020 by Formlose Gestalt

[Dreamysyu]

6 hours ago, Formlose Gestalt said:

Muv-Luv Unlimited - The Day After

Nice! I played the fan-translation of the first (zeroth?) part soon after finishing the main game, and it was actually pretty good.

[Seryuu]

JAST and Ninetail announcement

 

[Clephas]

Hypno is easily the best Venus Blood game in every aspect, from story to gameplay.  Definitely worth investing in.

Edit: In Hypno's world, the demons, long confined beneath the earth, unable to access the power they needed to sustain themselves from humans, discovered a way to convert the souls of the weak into artifacts called Tactica that could be used to fuel (literally, since using a Tactica gradually burns through the confined souls) their powers.  They then escaped the underworld and invaded Helvetica (a simplification) and killed the Goddess, claiming the lands for themselves.  Now, the four major factions have split off, and the stage is set for a new war of demons on demons, all of them wielding the souls of the dead as weapons...

Leonhardt and Anora, the game's protagonists, are a brother-sister pair who are so intimately connected (emotionally, sexually, etc) that they are almost literal extensions of one another.  Leonhardt is ambitious and ruthless, willing to do anything to escape the control of the Queen, and Anora will do anything to fulfill his wishes, shaving her own soul away bit by bit to serve the ends of her beloved brother.  

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 hour ago, Clephas said:

Hypno is easily the best Venus Blood game in every aspect, from story to gameplay.  Definitely worth investing in.

I'm still surprised they didn't double down with Ragnarok though. It seems to share a lot of the same appeal as Frontier, while also being that kind loose sequel that has extra value for people that liked the original but doesn't require the player to be familiar with it.

Kind of makes me wonder whether the Frontier project proved more lucrative as an expansion to the Western market or as the expanded/remastered Japanese re-release. It still feels to me that Ragnarok would be a more obvious choice if this was mostly about building up the English-speaking fan base... 

[Clephas]

1 minute ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I'm still surprised they didn't double down with Ragnarok though. It seems to share a lot of the same appeal as Frontier, while also being that kind loose sequel that has extra value for people that liked the original but doesn't require the player to be familiar with it.

Kind of makes me wonder whether the Frontier project proved more lucrative as an expansion to the Western market or as the expanded/remastered Japanese re-release. It still feels to me that Ragnarok would be a more obvious choice if this was mostly about building up the English-speaking fan base... 

Ragnarok is very much a downgrade sequel.  I don't say this to be mean but simply to state facts.  The world in which the characters are operating is a much 'lessened' but still 'the same' world as the one Frontier was in, so it is a bit less exciting... and in general, the whole setup makes less sense than Frontier did, story-wise.  It's fine if you are a true diehard fan of Frontier and just want more time in the setting, but it isn't as good a game in general.  Not to mention it was released after Hypno.

[Daydreamer97]

Mangagamer announcements:

 

[Daydreamer97]

I'm actually surprised that they announced two things I'm interested in. I haven't bought Steam Prison yet, but I will once the expansion's out. Also, liar-soft titles are probably the plot-heavy VNs I'm interested in the most so I'm definitely getting Jeanne at the Clock Tower once it releases.

[MaggieROBOT]

Oh wow wasn't expecting DLC for Steam Prison. I'm not particularly interested in a route for this character, but hey bonus content for any VN is an idea that I whole hearted support (And I'll get it anyway for the side stories).

Also we can never have enough liar-soft, their games are great.

[Mr Poltroon]

What's this? I expected to have to sell my soul to have access to a Fin route, but it seems the gods have been generous.
A "DLC" for an otome I've played. I never even considered this remotely possible.

[Dreamysyu]

To be honest, one of the things Steam Prison did right was not giving a route to Fin.

Spoiler

Yanderes must just rot in hell.

The other Mangagamer announcement seems cool though.

[Daydreamer97]

Spoiler

Apparently Fin is not a Yandere in his own route, according to one of the comments in the r/otomegames post. His and the MC's roles are reversed in his route so the plot is different and he's not a yandere.

 The expansion also adds bonus stories for the other characters.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Daydreamer97

[Formlose Gestalt]

Mangagamer is on a run this year. First Musicus! and now Jeanne at the Clock Tower two titles I am interested in. After not having much for the last few years this time I am very happy with their new licenses.

[Mr Poltroon]

3 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

To be honest, one of the things Steam Prison did right was not giving a route to Fin.

  Hide contents

Yanderes must just rot in hell.

The other Mangagamer announcement seems cool though.

Whaaaat? Nonsense.

Spoiler

Fin un-yandere'd himself every time it mattered. His love was such that in the majority of endings, despite his suffering and conditioning and mistreatment, he still accepted her and let her be, at the cost of his life. It was absolutely one of the things I most loved, that he could still crawl out of the abyss, if only for her. The world was most unfair on him.

Of course yandere also isn't bad,  but the route can tackle it however it prefers, so long as there's happiness.

 

[sanahtlig]

14 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I'm still surprised they didn't double down with Ragnarok though.

I'm with Clephas here.  Hypno is a great choice.  Even if they had to change the title to evade the censors.

[Silvz]

I'm so happy to see another Liar-Soft game! And this one has "normal" art? That's something.

[Clephas]

6 hours ago, sanahtlig said:

I'm with Clephas here.  Hypno is a great choice.  Even if they had to change the title to evade the censors.

The mind-break is pretty extreme in Hypno though... because while it is the best Venus Blood, it is also the darkest, potentially.  Chaos Leonhardt is easily the freakiest villain protag ever (especially with his beloved Chaos Anora by his side).  It is a lot like if you extracted the comedy from Soul Nomad & the World Eaters Demon God ending and slapped a bunch of tentacle sex and mind-breaking/soul-corruption into it.

[ChaosRaven]

Also looking forward to Liar-Soft's Jeanne. I'm admittedly a bit worried about the low VNDB rating, but the vote count is rather low and the EGS rating apparently a lot higher, so I'm still optimistic here. Not sure what to expect from the MuvLuv spinoffs. I think I'll need more info and maybe a review about them before I can make a decision about them.

The other stuff doesn't seem particular interesting, though I guess there's more to come.

I wonder when MangaGamer will announce their annual Rance title this year... 

Edited July 3, 2020 by ChaosRaven

[Formlose Gestalt]

I edited in the Sekai Project announcements. Once they tweet them out or make news post maybe I can link some more info but until then here is just a quick update. I hope I didn't miss anything. The stream also had Q&A section that was interesting as well as some update to some of their previous announcements.

Edited July 4, 2020 by Formlose Gestalt

[senhua1980]

Definitely will grab VB:H if the translation is good and added The Day After, Jeanne and Hoshizora fan disk to watch list.

Will pass everything else as Moe/Otome/BL genre generally is not for me.

Bought all the Trilogy + Melodies Steam version day one and will pass Photonflowers as the Altered Fable content will not be in it.

[Mr Poltroon]

10 minutes ago, senhua1980 said:

Bought all the Trilogy + Melodies Steam version day one and will pass Photonflowers as the Altered Fable content will not be in it.

This confuses me a little. Photonmelodies, which is what was announced to be released, contains the Altered Fable content. Photonflowers, which does not contain said content, was already released some time ago.
Your statement seems like it says you bought Photonmelodies and will not buy Photonflowers, when this isn't possible because the former has yet to be released and the latter is already available.

Has there perhaps been some mix up?

[Seraphim]

Probably just got the names confused. In any case, Photonmelodies will have all the content from Altered Fable aside from the h-scenes, radio drama and strategy game.

[senhua1980]

1 minute ago, Mr Poltroon said:

This confuses me a little. Photonmelodies, which is what was announced to be released, contains the Altered Fable content. Photonflowers, which does not contain said content, was already released some time ago.
Your statement seems like it says you bought Photonmelodies and will not buy Photonflowers, when this isn't possible because the former has yet to be released and the latter is already available.

Has there perhaps been some mix up?

Pardon for the confusion, yes what I mean is I bought Photonflowers and will pass on Photonmelodies as I prefer to read Altered Fable standalone directly because AFAIK in Photonmelodies there are some missing Altered Fable content

[Seraphim]

Photonmelodies apparently also includes these:

"Adoration"; a prequel to the story Duty ~Lost Arcadia~ which depicts Europe during the events of Alternative.
"Resurrection", a story about a European spy who is also featured in Total Eclipse

If I've understood correctly, they aren't a part of Altered Fable.

[senhua1980]

16 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Photonmelodies apparently also includes these:

"Adoration"; a prequel to the story Duty ~Lost Arcadia~ which depicts Europe during the events of Alternative.
"Resurrection", a story about a European spy who is also featured in Total Eclipse

If I've understood correctly, they aren't a part of Altered Fable.

AFAIK that two listed as AC 2-3's side stories. So Unlimited The Day After +  Photonmelodies = AC1-4 + Altered Fable (minus Ero + some bonus mini games). I suspect ero content will also be omitted for Unlimited The Day After because that's the only explanation I could think off as why they need to make a separate version as the more complete already exist.