Support NeoGAF

[Uthred]

Slightly tangential to the main topic, just wondering is there a ubiquitous SDK or programming language various companies use for VN's or is it all custom in-house engines?

 

[BosSin]

Slightly tangential to the main topic, just wondering is there a ubiquitous SDK or programming language various companies use for VN's or is it all custom in-house engines?

I don't feel that it would be so hard to develop an engine that showed a bunch of static backgrounds and slightly animated characters with text to accompany each frame.

I would hazard a guess at each company developing their own little "engine" as it would be pretty inexpensive

 

[InfiniteNine]

It's like other games in that they use licensed engines or create their own. 07th Expansion ususally uses Nscripter, Fate/Stay Night uses KiriKiri, and Nitro+ uses their own if I recall correctly.

 

[R_thanatos]

I've already read a lot of praise of Ever 17 and I'll definitely pick it up. But I've also read that it can take around 80h to finish and that's a pretty big commitment so I decided to try any of the other two first.
Remember 11 being a darker story would be perfect since I think there were some pretty unnecessary tone swings in VLR - e.g. Sigma's cat thing, and I'm all for something a bit more serious.

Not 80 hours .

At Worst you spend 25 hours on it.
Personnaly i used 15 hours to do it

 

[Atolm]

I've already read a lot of praise of Ever 17 and I'll definitely pick it up. But I've also read that it can take around 80h to finish and that's a pretty big commitment so I decided to try any of the other two first.
Remember 11 being a darker story would be perfect since I think there were some pretty unnecessary tone swings in VLR - e.g. Sigma's cat thing, and I'm all for something a bit more serious.

No way. 30h max for Ever17.

 

[cj_iwakura]

What's an ETA for Fate/Stay? Long as heck I assume.

 

[Basileus777]

What's an ETA for Fate/Stay? Long as heck I assume.

It's long. Maybe 40-50 hours.

 

[Clov]

Took me around 60ish, personally. I got quite a few bad ends starting out.

 

[Marche90]

What's an ETA for Fate/Stay? Long as heck I assume.

Loooong. Have you finished the Fate route at least?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Loooong. Have you finished the Fate route at least?

I'm almost finished with...

Spoiler

the prologue.

Soul Hackers is taking away my Rin time.

 

[Marche90]

I'm almost finished with...

Spoiler

the prologue.

Soul Hackers is taking away my Rin time.

I took around 3 hours to finish the prologue and 20 hours to finish the first route.

Welp, take your time with Soul Hackers, then, so you can come back and enjoy the VN without distractions

Spoiler

I still haven't bought Soul Hackers ;_; I'm poor as fuck right now, and I still need to buy that one AND SMTIV ;_; x2

 

[upandaway]

What's an ETA for Fate/Stay? Long as heck I assume.

F/SN registered a whopping 121 hours for me so I guess it would be around 100 hours getting 100%? And most of it will be unfiltered reading time because skipping scenes takes 0 seconds.

To compare reading speeds, S;G took me ~60 hours not counting skip mode.

Maybe I read really slowly...

 

[kiunchbb]

What's an ETA for Fate/Stay? Long as heck I assume.

60+ for me, I also played all the dead end(they are amazing), and if you liked the stories, you need to play the sequel Fate/hollow also (another 40+).

-----
On another topic:

Since I got ban from gaf for 3 month, I been playing a lot of game, I finished 2 route in Muv-Luv. Let me just say, what a boring game, or maybe I am just tired of traditional harem + light comedy combo. I remember some guide suggesting that I should finish all routes in Muv-Luv so I will be more attached to the characters when I start playing Extra and Unlimited. So far playing Muv-Luv just make me hate everyone. Extra and unlimit are better worth the 20 hours of suffering.

On the other hand, Devil on the G-String is absolutely amazing, definitely one of the best VN I experienced since Steins;Gate. The story structure is also very similar(minus the time travel and cellphone), at the end of each chapter, you either continue to next chapter toward the true end, or branch off to another storyline with a different heroine.

The story had good mix of comedy, daily life, and battle of wits. While it had a lot of light hearted moment, and booming romance, the story constantly reminding you that everything are fucked (or going to be). The battle of wit portion of the story is very well done, the puzzle doesn't felt unfair, there are no "evident hidden to the reader" that only appear when they present the solution. It managed to kept me up late at night until I got to the end of the solution.

Finishing all the routes took me around 30-40 hours, I finished the VN playing 4 days straights in my vacations. If you are looking for another fan translated VN to play, just try Devil on the G-String, you will not regret it. The characters(especially the heroines) are one of the main reason why the story is so great, but it is nearly impossible to explain without spoiling the story. I just hope my english is actually decent so I can convince more people to play it.

Oh, did I mention that the music is very memorable? It will stuck in your head for weeks after you finish the games.

If there is one complain I have it is the plot twist at the last chapter, it was really unfair, and came out in the middle of nowhere.

Now back to grind all the endings in Muv-Luv. -_-

 

[grim-tales]

Hey,
Though I couldnt get Hirugashi Parts 1-4 working, I downloaded Part 5 and it seems to work. Perhaps there was something wrong/a bug with Parts 1-4, I dont know.
Yes I know playing Part 5 now will seem very odd...

 

[kiunchbb]

Hey,
Though I couldnt get Hirugashi Parts 1-4 working, I downloaded Part 5 and it seems to work. Perhaps there was something wrong/a bug with Parts 1-4, I dont know.
Yes I know playing Part 5 now will seem very odd...

Have you try it with Applocale setting it to Japanese? May be take a screenshot of the error?

 

[grim-tales]

I havent got AppLocale I'm afraid, Mangagamer's version didnt open, then I tried eroge and that one opened but it crashed immediately, you get a dialogue with box with random characters in and "Yes" or "No" which doesnt go away.

 

[aravuus]

First of Remember 11; like I said before, great title. It almost immediatly throws you in. The prologue only takes around 10 minutes and after that the story already throws some serious plot at you. What I really like about the game is the more "darker" story; it's more like 999 than VLR. The thing this game gets a lot of slack for is the true ending. It ends really abrupt and it just feels rushed (Which it is). But if you really take the time to think about it and google some stuff you'll understand it. Personally I find Remember 11 better than Ever 17, but I'm one of the few who think that, since the general opinion is that Ever 17 is better. One thing that is pretty different from the other Uchikoshi games is that this game doesn't really follow the "Uchikoshi format". What I mean by that is that this game is more of a straight path, instead of multiple playthroughs. You'll be hitting a bad ending pretty easily, but instead of playing a whole new playthrough; you just rewind a few minutes/hours.

This is the main reason I can't bring myself to play Remember 11. I'm afraid it'll throw some awesome twists at me and never explain them. I know they mostly make sense when you investigate a bit online, but I like to see them explained in the game, I always get the feeling "this is probably non-canon because it's in the internet and not in the game" when I read stuff like twist explanations and so on.

 

[Basileus777]

60+ for me, I also played all the dead end(they are amazing), and if you liked the stories, you need to play the sequel Fate/hollow also (another 40+).

-----
On another topic:

Since I got ban from gaf for 3 month, I been playing a lot of game, I finished 2 route in Muv-Luv. Let me just say, what a boring game, or maybe I am just tired of traditional harem + light comedy combo. I remember some guide suggesting that I should finish all routes in Muv-Luv so I will be more attached to the characters when I start playing Extra and Unlimited. So far playing Muv-Luv just make me hate everyone. Extra and unlimit are better worth the 20 hours of suffering.

Now back to grind all the endings in Muv-Luv. -_-

Don't play through all the routes in extra if you're finding it tedious. You'll miss nothing plot related by skipping them and will only miss a few "oh hey it's that character moments" later on. Unlimited is even worse because the routes are carbon copies of each other with a few lines if dialogue changed.

 

[Burnburn]

Remember 11 being a darker story would be perfect since I think there were some pretty unnecessary tone swings in VLR - e.g. Sigma's cat thing, and I'm all for something a bit more serious.

Well it has some pretty humoristic dialogue, but they fit and are very few.

This is the main reason I can't bring myself to play Remember 11. I'm afraid it'll throw some awesome twists at me and never explain them. I know they mostly make sense when you investigate a bit online, but I like to see them explained in the game, I always get the feeling "this is probably non-canon because it's in the internet and not in the game" when I read stuff like twist explanations and so on.

The game does explain most of the things to you, but it does it very obscure. You have to get the right information from the "TIPS" section and combine them with the information you get from the bad endings. But, the thing is, getting those bad endings is a pain in the ass. For some reason; getting a lot of bad endings is really hard and takes a lot of precise choices. If you are willing to spend a lot of time getting all the bad endings and reading up on the "TIPS", most things will be explained. In the end, I think the ending is more a case of "I want to know what happens next" than "Why did this happen?".

 

[aravuus]

The game does explain most of the things to you, but it does it very obscure. You have to get the right information from the "TIPS" section and combine them with the information you get from the bad endings. But, the thing is, getting those bad endings is a pain in the ass. For some reason; getting a lot of bad endings is really hard and takes a lot of precise choices. If you are willing to spend a lot of time getting all the bad endings and reading up on the "TIPS", most things will be explained. In the end, I think the ending is more a case of "I want to know what happens next" than "Why did this happen?".

Alright. But you could go for the true/good/whatever ending right away, and just check up the explanations online after?

 

[Burnburn]

Alright. But you could go for the true/good/whatever ending right away, and just check up the explanations online after?

Yeah, I suggest (if you end up playing it) reading this site afterward. Answered the few questions I got left.

 

[aravuus]

Huh, maybe I should give it a try some day then

 

[kiunchbb]

Don't play through all the routes in extra if you're finding it tedious. You'll miss nothing plot related by skipping them and will only miss a few "oh hey it's that character moments" later on. Unlimited is even worse because the routes are carbon copies of each other with a few lines if dialogue changed.

That isn't very encouraging . Are Muv-Luv Extra and alternative really that good, or may be I should just skip those and play ever17....

 

[Basileus777]

That isn't very encouraging . Are Muv-Luv Extra and alternative really that good, or may be I should just skip those and play ever17....

It's fine with Unlimited because you only need to play through it once, just don't attempt to go through any other routes. And I'd definitely say that it's worth it to get to Alternative. If you've already gotten through the Sumika and Meiya routes of Extra (which is what you are playing now), just move onto to Unlimited and see if it catches your interest.

 

[kiunchbb]

It's fine with Unlimited because you only need to play through it once, just don't attempt to go through any other routes. And I'd definitely say that it's worth it to get to Alternative. If you've already gotten through the Sumika and Meiya routes of Extra (which is what you are playing now), just move onto to Unlimited and see if it catches your interest.

Thanks for the suggestion, I am going to to do just that.

 

[Solbringer]

That isn't very encouraging . Are Muv-Luv Extra and alternative really that good, or may be I should just skip those and play ever17....

Unlimited and especially Alternative are really that good. After you're done with Alternative, you're going to beg for Extra, so enjoy the shenanigans while you can.

Kinda surprising you don't like any of the characters though. Meiya's a crowd favorite.

 

[Marche90]

... God, how I hate both typing from my phone and my mobile connection. Lost a lengthy post because of that....

Anyway, what I was going to say was already said, so it's kinda fine. I just need to add:

Neither Extra nor Unlimited were ever that good. In fact, a bit of the opposite. In extra, move on, but try to read one more route (Ayamine's) A fairly important character pops up only in that route. Done that, move to unlimited and only do one route. Start Alternative after that. Happy reading!

 

[grim-tales]

Can't run Hirugashi Parts 1-4.. all I got was "File is broken".
This has happened with most VN's I tried to run. I give up :x

 

[InfiniteNine]

Can't run Hirugashi Parts 1-4.. all I got was "File is broken".
This has happened with most VN's I tried to run. I give up :x

Might be a downloading problem. x: Might want to try to download from elsewhere.

 

[grim-tales]

Maybe I'll try the VNDB and the links there?
Thanks BTW

 

[grim-tales]

Hey,
I'm having trouble running Umineko, I thought I got it working but made the mistake of closing the window, now I cant work out what I did to get it to run. I thought I followed the instructions at the witch-hunt site but I just get a black screen :s
EDIT: Its OK now, I got confused with moving things between folders etc but the English version of Episode 1 seems to work now

 

[Basileus777]

So the Dra+KoI patch has finally been released. And in the patch readme there's this:

Nitro+ was willing to let us release this game officially, but they were also adamant that JAST
release games in the order that they said they would - i.e., they'd have to release Saya, Hanachirasu, Django, and so on, before getting to anything new. Makoto estimated that this would take at least a year;possibly a year and a half or more. I am unwilling to wait this long to release a translation that was finished months ago, so here you go.

Oh, Nitro+, why are you such a pain to work with? No wonder JAST is so slow.

 

[Necrovex]

So the Dra+KoI patch has finally been released. And in the patch readme there's this:


Oh, Nitro+, why are you such a pain to work with? No wonder JAST is so slow.

Nitro + probably want their games to have breathing room. If too many VNs are released too close to each other, people will burn out on the genre, and the sales for each VN will be damaged.

That's my theory of what Nitro+ probably believes for the American market.

 

[Basileus777]

Nitro + probably want their games to have breathing room. If too many VNs are released too close to each other, people will burn out on the genre, and the sales for each VN will be damaged.

That's my theory of what Nitro+ probably believes for the American market.

Dra+Koi is a 2-3 hour story, releasing it isn't going to saturate anything. But yeah, that may be what they are thinking.

Having finished Dra+Koi, it's decent. It's short and pretty porn heavy considering the length. But it's a simple story that had its moments. It's boy meets girl with some craziness and fantasy elements. There are some funny moments too.

 

[Yirba]

Can't run Hirugashi Parts 1-4.. all I got was "File is broken".
This has happened with most VN's I tried to run. I give up :x

When did you download the game? If it was before a few weeks ago, it probably uses the old DRM software which won't work anymore. Re-download the game from MangaGamer's new website for the new version.

 

[grim-tales]

I downloaded it a few days ago or so I think (on Manga Gamer's site and also eroge) but thanks - it could be fixed now but previously (with MG's version) nothing happened when I clicked on the application to open it.

 

[Tribes of Trusty]

On the other hand, Devil on the G-String is absolutely amazing, definitely one of the best VN I experienced since Steins;Gate.

Well it's a entertaining read, but I didn't like it as much as you, as I wrote a few months ago :

Just finished G-Senjou no Mao, and the least I can say is...that I'm conflicted about what to think about it. Each time I liked something in it, I found someting else really cringeworthy.
I liked some of the classical music remixes (the O Fortuna one in Chapter V is particularly awesome) while others are abysmal.
There's a lot of CG scenes of good quality, but it severely lacks in certain scenes.

Spoiler

Haru's cameltoe jumpsuit made me laugh though

Some characters don't have a portrait while there's no reason for it. What, they couldn't afford to draw 5 more characters ?
The VA is good.
The routes have unequal quality. While Tsubaki's good (actual character development, events, closure and epilogue), Shiratori's abysmal. Kanon is irritating regardless of the route.
The plot is...let's say that while it has good moments, some of the plot twists and developments go from convulted to downright retarded

Spoiler

LOL CHILDHOOD PROMISE. LOL AMNESIA.

Also about the writing in itself

Spoiler

ok, this is Umineko-level trolling/bullshitting writing. I'm not bothered by the reader being deiceved by the narration, but here it attains new heights. LOL AMNESIA, HEADACHES AND COINCIDENCES. Seriously, the whole story as it is told to us is purely based on coincidences on how Kyousuke's fits occur at the RIGHT moment throughout the whole story. Seriously, there's red herring and there's...this. Plus, it still doesn't explain several things, like Mao's uncanny knowledge of facts around Kyousuke, why he calls himself Yousuke's other personality, or why he flat-out abandons is schemes in all the alternative routes (one theory would be in these routes he either abandons out of love for Kyousuke or he is really Kyousuke's alternate personality)

The VN is quite long, but seem at times artificially prolonged. The final chapter is great.
Maou's antics and schemes are awesome, so is his voice (Jun Fukuyama).


tl;dr : It's a decent VN, with good drawings, scenes and music, and the final is awesome. It's quite long, but the fundamental branching points are clearly determined (you'd have to be blindly unsavvy to not see them), so you can technically read the whole story and routes in one go, by returning to your save point.

And now...onto Chaos;Head

To me it felt like it wasted too much of its potential.

 

[LadyRiven]

The full English patch for DRAMAtical Murder has been released! I'm pretty stoked because I played some of it in Japanese a few months back and really enjoyed it. It's a yaoi game, but more importantly it's a really cool cyberpunk story with gorgeous art and great music.

 

[Marmaladefire]

The full English patch for DRAMAtical Murder has been released! I'm pretty stoked because I played some of it in Japanese a few months back and really enjoyed it. It's a yaoi game, but more importantly it's a really cool cyberpunk story with gorgeous art and great music.

I've been looking for something like this! I think I'll give this a try soon.

 

[kiunchbb]

Well it's a entertaining read, but I didn't like it as much as you, as I wrote a few months ago :


To me it felt like it wasted too much of its potential.

I do agree the

Spoiler

big plot twist

at the end is an insult to all the plots working up to it. But by that time I already had so much fun reading 10-15 hours worth of stories, and heavily invested in the characters and the world. The final chapter is amazing though, and certertainly made it worthwhile to bang my head on the table so I can forget about that horrible segment.

Sometime I felt the writers were too scare to make

Spoiler

the main character the bad guy,

since the main character is suppose to represent the player.

 

[Clov]

The full English patch for DRAMAtical Murder has been released! I'm pretty stoked because I played some of it in Japanese a few months back and really enjoyed it. It's a yaoi game, but more importantly it's a really cool cyberpunk story with gorgeous art and great music.

I remember hearing about this a while back. I know it's a Nitro+ game, so was Urobuchi involved in any way? I'll probably give it a play at some point regardless, I'm just curious.

 

[podracer35]

So about Fate/Stay Night... Should I just play/watch it after I finish Fate/Zero? I'm about 3 episodes in, and then realized that I might be missing out on something by not experiencing the stories in release order... >.>

 

[Marche90]

So about Fate/Stay Night... Should I just play/watch it after I finish Fate/Zero? I'm about 3 episodes in, and then realized that I might be missing out on something by not experiencing the stories in release order... >.>

Play it first. You will miss quite a bit if you just jump right into fate/zero

 

[kiunchbb]

So about Fate/Stay Night... Should I just play/watch it after I finish Fate/Zero? I'm about 3 episodes in, and then realized that I might be missing out on something by not experiencing the stories in release order... >.>

Fate/Zero does have some minor spoiler for Fate/Stay Night, but it isn't that big of a deal.
So just play in whatever order you felt like. My only suggestion is never "watch" Fate/Stay Night. The anime adaption is horrible, stick with the VN.

 

[Byronic Hero]

Fate/Zero does have some minor spoiler for Fate/Stay Night, but it isn't that big of a deal.
So just play in whatever order you felt like. My only suggestion is never "watch" Fate/Stay Night. The anime adaption is horrible, stick with the VN.

This is true. Even with the weirdly-placed H-scenes.

Oh Shiro..

 

[upandaway]

Even if you do choose to watch Zero before playing SN, then I would still recommend to rewatch Zero afterwards anyway. Just too many details that are glossed over too fast to understand without having experienced SN (not to mention

Spoiler

how the ending just barely means anything without having read Heavens Feel

). It's still enjoyable without SN but the full effect will need a rewatch.

 

[Verelios]

I do agree the

Spoiler

big plot twist

at the end is an insult to all the plots working up to it. But by that time I already had so much fun reading 10-15 hours worth of stories, and heavily invested in the characters and the world. The final chapter is amazing though, and certertainly made it worthwhile to bang my head on the table so I can forget about that horrible segment.

Sometime I felt the writers were too scare to make

Spoiler

the main character the bad guy,

since the main character is suppose to represent the player.

True, I think someone's even said before that it was changed partway through. Because from the beginning you can see signs of their intent, and then poof. Meh, it's a small thing.

If you liked G-Senjou then I would definitely say to check out Sharin No Kuni. It's a good outlook, maybe not as immediately engaging as G-Senjou, but it should be fun.

 

[podracer35]

This is true. Even with the weirdly-placed H-scenes.

Oh Shiro..

Well at least now I know it's not DragonBall Z, where people just die to be revived again.



I'm probably going to stick with Zero and finish watching it, then move on to play FSN at some later point... It's not going to be for a while, though, since I need to manage time to finish Ever17. Than after finishing FSN, I'll rewatch Zero.

Thanks for the help, guys! ^_^

 

[cj_iwakura]

Were any story sequences cut in the Realta Nua version of F/SN by taking out the h-scenes? I prefer the clean version, so I hope not.

 

[Awful Falafel]

http://dysfunctionalsystems.com/



It's only five bucks. Not a bad price at all for an interesting premise.

https://dischan.org/store/product.php?productID=8

I plan to buy this by the end of month, so I can't say anything about the quality of either at the time.

Any updates on this? Has anyone else given this one a shot? I had mixed feelings about Juniper's knot from them but these guys definitely have potential. I just want some sort of feedback before I gamble 5 dollars on it.