VN Reading Club - May 2015 (Coμ -Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku-)

[Terancam]

If I had to choose between Benio and Mayuki ... ... sorry, but I prefer Benio. 

BUT ! I'll always be Kagome's fan. ( and do like Ayaka too, but so what ? ) 

[Rabbit]

I might aswell say my impressions so far, ive finished heroine 3 since I was allready reading it before I had joined, so to minimize spoiling ill tell you which heroine route i'm gonna talk about before the spoiler warnings. The scene selection tells you after you've played through a heroine which heroine number it is.

Ive enjoyed the VN so far, nice CG, enjoyable voices as mentioned and I really like the BGM, aspecially the funky one.

I like the characters but there are some that's too energetic for me.

 

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, minor spoiler for those who hasn't done one route yet:

I really dislike how he has sex with other girls when i'm one heroine's route, aspecially through heroine one, I know they haven't made any commitments yet but still it irks me

Heroine 1:

Benio, the two that posted before me favorite girl, and my 2nd to least favorite girl and my least favorite route so far, it kinda felt pointless to me, they fought the king and they even lost, there is a hint that they might have possible maybe reached him, and they didn't even officially end up togeather which kinda annoyed me

(Being a sucker for romance) 

Heroine 2:

My favorite route so far, my favorite girl aswell, the ending was good and they even made another ending where I can indulge myself in my fantasies that they lived happily ever after, which may not be for everyone but i'll happily live in ignorance if that's the cost.

Not much to say about Heroine 3 other than:

She was very cute and it was fun seeing Akihito being picked on for his loliness x) I aspecially loved seeing some very adorable sides of Izawa when he was blushing, loved it. Other than that the route was fine, abit slow paced compared to the other two but that's not neccesary a bad thing

 

So the month has ended, ive been hidding from the thead because of spoilers and I was abit slow on the VN, but ill post this here anyway because why not. The VN was ok in my book, not one that I found to be great but it was worth it to read, the girls was good and alot of the conversations and philosophical toughts was nice, I give it a 8/10. The only thing that I personally would like is if some of the side routes were better and I would love a route with Kururi :>

 

Heroine 4:

I found Ayaya to be really cute and probably my 2nd favorite girl, but this is probably the route ive liked the least so far (Though it was still decent and achieved it's point), it was pretty much just a moege with no story other than getting together. The fights was anti climatic though that was probably the point, but atleast the finalboss name made me smirk. Despite feeling somewhat dissapointed at the end I did grin throughout most of the route so I guess it did achieve it's point even though i'd prefer a more action filled route because that was the reason I chose the VN when I was looking for something to read.

 

Heroine 5:

Unsuprisingly the best route, being the true route i'd be annoyed if it wasn't good, I liked seeing a different side of Kagome and she was really cute during h-scenes and the promise between them was nice. Gasai dying was really sad, i'd love to have a route where Akihito sided with the legion. The most annoying part and the part that kinda ruined the route for me was the suprise h-scene with Yoruko where he obiviously cheated on Kagome with, atleast in Benio's route they weren't really togeather. Also another sad part was that my best gril died yet again 

 Tho it was a good VN I doubt i'll ever bother re-reading it.

 

My best gril is Hisoka... Yeye I like rocks...

but so what?

 

I like these kind of girls, not my favorite heroine ever but in this particular VN, tho I would absolutely love to have her in the VN even more I understand why she wasn't in it too much, they shouldve made her route longer tho if it's possible to do so without prolonging and pushing it too much.

 

 

Once again, we have conflicting opinions.

Of course, Benio is best girl. There's no other alternative.

 

There will always be people with confliction opinons, Benio is my least favorite heroine. :>

But so what?

[Toranth]

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, minor spoiler for those who hasn't done one route yet:

I really dislike how he has sex with other girls when i'm one heroine's route, aspecially through heroine one, I know they haven't made any commitments yet but still it irks me

Ok, I've seen this complaint a bunch. So, my comments on Benio's route and this issue.

Sure, it does seem wrong that in Benio's route, in a non-nukige, the main character goes off and sleeps with other girls, even if they hadn't started dating yet.

But is NO ONE bothered by the fact that Benio goes and has sex with someone else AFTER they've started dating? If I was calling out someone in this route for their sexual mores, it wouldn't be Akihito.

[Rabbit]

Ok, I've seen this complaint a bunch. So, my comments on Benio's route and this issue.

Sure, it does seem wrong that in Benio's route, in a non-nukige, the main character goes off and sleeps with other girls, even if they hadn't started dating yet.

But is NO ONE bothered by the fact that Benio goes and has sex with someone else AFTER they've started dating? If I was calling out someone in this route for their sexual mores, it wouldn't be Akihito.

 

No,I agree that is wrong, and any arguments against it, as far as I can think of would probably have been an excuse. I did say that I realized that they hadn't made any commitments yet but it still irks me. I do think I may be judging the protagonist more than other characters. He didn't really do anything wrong in that route on a moral viewpoint,

but he did in other.

[Kosakyun]

But is NO ONE bothered by the fact that Benio goes and has sex with someone else AFTER they've started dating? If I was calling out someone in this route for their sexual mores, it wouldn't be Akihito.

 

I didn't quite catch this.

Benio did it with someone else after Akihito and her started dating? What?

Or is this about Haru?

 

My best gril is Hisako... Yeye I like rocks...

but so what?

 

...Is that Hisoka? And lol I read 'rocks' wrong. Sorry, Rabbit.

[Rabbit]

I didn't quite catch this.

Benio did it with someone else after Akihito and her started dating? What?

Or is this about Haru?

Yeah it'd be about Haru.

 

 

...Is that Hisoka? And lol I read 'rocks' wrong. Sorry, Rabbit.

 

What? Nono, that's not Hisoka I just felt like putting a picture of a cute rock to make my point that I like rocks (nearly everytime ive mentioned I liked Hisoka I was asked if I liked rocks) :> And what did you read "rocks" as? I'm curious... Oh waite, nvm I think I got it 

 

Edit: I just noticed that ive written Hisako instead of Hisoka <.< it's too late into the night for me.

[Kosakyun]

Yeah it'd be about Haru.

 

I'd do it too if I were her----/slapped

 

Edit: I just noticed that ive written Hisako instead of Hisoka <.< it's too late into the night for me.

 

That's what I meant when I asked if that was Hisoka. I thought you just spelled the name wrong.

Also, I'm glad you know what 'rocks' I interpreted. After all, they're also as hard as rocks.

[Fred the Barber]

I just completed Comyu, so though this topic may have been dead for a week, I shall revive it anyway!

 

Thoughts on Heroine 5 route:

It's nice seeing everything come together and seeing all the sprited characters' purposes fully explained. We've had a lot of people lurking in the background without much of a purpose until now - Hana-sensei, the Owner, Benio's father, and Ayaya's uncle all get to play their role. Even Yoruko didn't really have much of a role to play until this route. Moreover, all the unsubtle little hints finally got turned into big reveals, which was nice.

 

I also really appreciated that they saved some of their best background music tracks for the end of this route - things were getting very repetitive, so it was nice to get a change of pace.

 

It was wonderful to finally Kagome be humanized, and to even get a few scenes from her point of view. Her flawless plot armor didn't really bother me much -

 

And overall thoughts on the game, no spoilers:

Music

Solid, and they did a good job of rationing some of their better stuff for the late game, but I think they just needed more. It was getting pretty repetitive by the end, and there were a few pieces (especially "A Gentle Kingdom") that I was downright sick of by the time I was done.

 

Art

Fine, but didn't seem like anything special. I'm not big on giant robots, so all of that stuff did nothing for me. Character sprite art was quite good, and I quite enjoyed some of the expressions. CGs were very good as well, and I especially enjoyed the last few CGs of the game.

 

Story

Ok, but with the way the final route kind of covered everything, it felt a bit like they wrote one single story, and then picked little pieces of it to turn into 5 routes. I like having a "true" ending well enough, but it seemed like it lessened the experience a bit because so much of the ground had been covered already. I'm more a fan of the way Rewrite did its last two routes and its "true" ending, by pretty much completely separating them from the earlier parts of the game, rather than this approach.

 

One thing I learned from reading Comyu: as... stimulating... as they sometimes are, I really do prefer my VNs without H-scenes.

[TehRealOne]

 

One thing I learned from reading Comyu: as... stimulating... as they sometimes are, I really do prefer my VNs without H-scenes.

 

Double Loli H-Scene? 

would have preferred some Yoruko x Gasai action.

[Kosakyun]

I think Haru's lewdness makes a bigger impact because there are H-scenes.

 

I do think it would still be solid even without the H-scenes. 

[Fred the Barber]

Maybe it's just a result of my being older, but the H-scenes with the younger/immature members of the cast just make me uncomfortable. The scenes with Haru, in this case, I did not mind. It's certainly just a matter of personal preference, but given that VNs tend to feature rather young people (relative to my age), it's just easier to avoid the H altogether.

[GLM4475]

Hmm, this thread is still open, eh?

[Kosakyun]

Maybe it's just a result of my being older, but the H-scenes with the younger/immature members of the cast just make me uncomfortable. The scenes with Haru, in this case, I did not mind. It's certainly just a matter of personal preference, but given that VNs tend to feature rather young people (relative to my age), it's just easier to avoid the H altogether.

 

You make me curious.

 

About that, I can't say I fully understand, given that I'm closer to the characters' ages in most VNs than you. I guess it just goes to show how the characters can affect each one of us differently. That's also nice.

[Fred the Barber]

I turned 30 a couple weeks ago. Sigh. So, the apparent age of most VN characters is well outside my "strike zone" (a term I hadn't actually heard used that way until I read Comyu, amusingly enough...)

 

On the meta note, it's actually kind of surprising, given how small the audience for VNs is and the reputation associated with them, but it seems like they're really a pretty rich medium, given that there's a fairly broad range of backgrounds, ages, etc., here who all enjoy them. We probably are each getting a fairly different experience.

 

One other thing I wanted to mention about Comyu: the translation seemed really well-done to me. In general, does Amaterasu Translations do really, really good work? They also did Rewrite, that I've read, and both were undoubtedly the best-executed translations I have read (both in terms of technical execution and raw translation). That includes putting them above any professionally-translated VNs I've read (including at least one by each of Sekai Project, Jast, and MangaGamer). That, plus the quality of the two games I've read which they had translated, makes me really want to just take whatever they translate and read that (Cross Channel, in particular, is waiting in the wings, so that's very tempting...)

[TehRealOne]

I turned 30 a couple weeks ago. Sigh. So, the apparent age of most VN characters is well outside my "strike zone" (a term I hadn't actually heard used that way until I read Comyu, amusingly enough...)

 

On the meta note, it's actually kind of surprising, given how small the audience for VNs is and the reputation associated with them, but it seems like they're really a pretty rich medium, given that there's a fairly broad range of backgrounds, ages, etc., here who all enjoy them. We probably are each getting a fairly different experience.

 

One other thing I wanted to mention about Comyu: the translation seemed really well-done to me. In general, does Amaterasu Translations do really, really good work? They also did Rewrite, that I've read, and both were undoubtedly the best-executed translations I have read (both in terms of technical execution and raw translation). That includes putting them above any professionally-translated VNs I've read (including at least one by each of Sekai Project, Jast, and MangaGamer). That, plus the quality of the two games I've read which they had translated, makes me really want to just take whatever they translate and read that (Cross Channel, in particular, is waiting in the wings, so that's very tempting...)

[Jakez123]

You might like Ayakashibito, since it's chuuni too you should try it. Sadly the music isn't as good and varied as Comyu's but it's very catchy imo.

[Kosakyun]

One other thing I wanted to mention about Comyu: the translation seemed really well-done to me. In general, does Amaterasu Translations do really, really good work? They also did Rewrite, that I've read, and both were undoubtedly the best-executed translations I have read (both in terms of technical execution and raw translation). That includes putting them above any professionally-translated VNs I've read (including at least one by each of Sekai Project, Jast, and MangaGamer). That, plus the quality of the two games I've read which they had translated, makes me really want to just take whatever they translate and read that (Cross Channel, in particular, is waiting in the wings, so that's very tempting...)

 

They do nice translations, yeah. But that doesn't mean that each of their releases are top-notch, I guess. An example would be Cross Channel, from what I've heard. You can ask some of the members here about that. I haven't read it, nor would I know how it compares to the original one. Something about being too literal or some stuff. I guess sometimes, the translating style of a person just doesn't fit the visual novel they're translating. At least, that's the conclusion I've reached. Not saying that you shouldn't read Cross Channel though. I'll probably end up not hating on it anyway.

[Nosebleed]

You have Ixrec to thank, he's the main translator for Amaterasu and he is pretty much on par with koestl (the guy who is translating the Grisaia trilogy among other things) in terms of quality.

 

Cross Channel's translation problem was mostly the author's peculiar prose style, Ixrec ended up rewroting most of the script and it doesn't portray what the original text aimed to portray as well.

 

Cross Channel was also one of Amaterasu's first projects so they have evolved a lot since then and Comyu and Rewrite were their most recent projects so the quality went up a lot.

[Fred the Barber]

Good info, thanks.

 

For what it's worth, I'm not only praising the translation: the quality of the proof-reading, for instance, is also noticeably higher than the few professionally-translated VNs I've read, as well as other fan patches. There are also no technical problems (which professionally-translated VNs do sometimes have), and text flows naturally (I'm reminded of the Little Busters! fan patch which never did text wrapping... kind of unfortunate; or some translations where you see blank text boxes from time to time; that sort of thing). The translation is the most obvious good part, because those various other angles don't slap you in the face quite as hard when they're done poorly (as long as they work at all).

[TehRealOne]

Good info, thanks.

 

For what it's worth, I'm not only praising the translation: the quality of the proof-reading, for instance, is also noticeably higher than the few professionally-translated VNs I've read, as well as other fan patches. There are also no technical problems (which professionally-translated VNs do sometimes have), and text flows naturally (I'm reminded of the Little Busters! fan patch which never did text wrapping... kind of unfortunate; or some translations where you see blank text boxes from time to time; that sort of thing). The translation is the most obvious good part, because those various other angles don't slap you in the face quite as hard when they're done poorly (as long as they work at all).

Interesting, does that affect your experience or ability to read a novel?

I think that the high quality of translation, etc makes it much nicer to read.

[Kurokusari]

Anyone else get irritated by the sheer number of times Akihito brought up "the color red"?

Not as far as to say irritated but just simply annoyed.

If anything, the line "but so what?" irritated the heck out of me.

[Nimbus]

Dunno about anyone else, but lack of text wrapping massively irritates me.  If it's good enough, I'll just force myself through it, but if it's average or meh quality, I might just drop it for that reason.

 

Anyone else get irritated by the sheer number of times Akihito brought up "the color red"?

Akihito bringing up the colour red was one of the most annoying parts of Comyu in my opinion.

 

 

Not as far as to say irritated but just simply annoyed.

If anything, the line "but so what?" irritated the heck out of me.

That was another part I didn't like from Comyu. The writing was just really repetitive in some places. 

[Kurisu-Chan]

Akihito bringing up the colour red was one of the most annoying parts of Comyu in my opinion.

 

 

That was another part I didn't like from Comyu. The writing was just really repetitive in some places. 

 

My most annoying part was when.

 

When Akihito violated 2 childs, an elder woman, killed a woman, was unfaithful to his true love...etc

Oh, basically, i was annoyed by Akihito.

[TehRealOne]

My most annoying part was when.

 

When Akihito violated 2 childs, an elder woman, killed a woman, was unfaithful to his true love...etc

Oh, basically, i was annoyed by Akihito.

Im pretty sure Comyu was tagged with flawed protagonist on VNDB.

So that's kinda to be expected. 

[SoulJustIn]

even Akihito very annoying......

 

I still like Coμ Vn.