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[jonjonaug]

I got a few of those actually. Always appreciated.

But yeah, patience people. Let us actually have the answers before you demand we give it to you, sending death threats via Twitter and whatnot ain't gonna do a lick of difference. I understand 18+ is this mythical deal breaker for many and that anything else is censorship the likes of North Korea, but with barely days passed since the agreement was struck (as was mentioned 5 times at the panel), just show some understanding that the company needs to actually work in the midst of AX craziness and aftermath.

Maybe you should have waited to hammer out these details before announcing the game then? I was at your panel, you guys were literally Googling Youtube videos to use as trailers because you didn't have properly prepared video files like every other company presenting things. It smacks of being utterly unprepared and just rushing news out the door.

EDIT: Also deriding fans by calling this "censorship the likes of North Korea" is kinda shitty. I personally don't really care either way, but I don't think it's fair to write off the concerns of people who do care even if it does seem silly. Other companies with big titles (age, Frontwing) are releasing both 18+ and all ages versions of their games, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect it here too.

 

[afreaknamedpete]

Steins;Gate really is living up to the hype. Moves a whole lot slower than the anime but it's alot easier the follow than the anime which got me lost at times and the mystery is pretty gripping. Okabe is alot sillier than I remember, but then again this is the kind of person that would interrupt conversations mid-stream just to answer emails.

It LOVES extreme close-ups though. No respect for personal space.

 

[calc84maniac]

It's 1280x720, which is still pretty standard. You can try fiddling with your gfx cards options to throw some extra filtering on it or to downsample it.

That's only the console versions. PC version is 1024x576.

 

[SpeedBeatz]

It's that and Sharin no Kuni's KS has had very little promotion. They haven't even been able to get sites to write about its existence. You can't just put a KS with a 140k goal out there and expect it to propagate itself. Hopefully this failure doesn't kill off Frontwing's interest in future localization efforts.

Hopefully hearing this from the source will be a little encouraging: TOM and Frontwing are both very actively reading and working to respond to feedback, especially in regards to getting media coverage and expanding reward choices. Things aren't quite moving as fast as might be ideal, since there's a lot of back-and-forth involved, but more updates will definitely be rolling out steadily. (Hi, I'm the new international PR guy at Frontwing! I only just started so we're still getting into the swing of things, but I'll be handling most of the social media outreach, etc. starting in the near future. I can PM a mod some proof if need be.)

 

[fertygo]

Baldr Sky 18+ content should've quite easy to patched in isn't it

 

[hamchan]

I really want the Sharin no Kuni KS to succeed. It may have got off on the wrong foot but it seems like they're committed to listening to the community and fixing the problems. It's a well received VN that I haven't read yet and I want to support an official release, so here's hoping.

 

[Knurek]

Things aren't quite moving as fast as might be ideal, since there's a lot of back-and-forth involved, but more updates will definitely be rolling out steadily.

Kicktraq for the campaign has dipped below 100% projected as of today (and has been steadily going down for the past few days), so unless some steps are taken soon, I don't think you will succeed.
Which is a pity, given that I'm one of the backers. Do you have a contingency plan in place if the worst comes to be?

 

[Basileus777]

Hopefully hearing this from the source will be a little encouraging: TOM and Frontwing are both very actively reading and working to respond to feedback, especially in regards to getting media coverage and expanding reward choices. Things aren't quite moving as fast as might be ideal, since there's a lot of back-and-forth involved, but more updates will definitely be rolling out steadily. (Hi, I'm the new international PR guy at Frontwing! I only just started so we're still getting into the swing of things, but I'll be handling most of the social media outreach, etc. starting in the near future. I can PM a mod some proof if need be.)

Thanks for the response. Hopefully things pick up as I'd like to see the KS succeed.

Baldr Sky 18+ content should've quite easy to patched in isn't it

The engine is apparently difficult to work with, but I don't know if that extends beyond the gameplay aspects and into messing with CGs/text.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

So now this thread has a SP employee, a Mangagamer employee and a Frontwing employee.

 

[Curler]

So now this thread has a SP employee, a Mangagamer employee and a Frontwing employee.

This is a good thing We can each voice questions, concerns, etc directly.

 

[Lain]

So now this thread has a SP employee, a Mangagamer employee and a Frontwing employee.

Who is the Mangagamer employee?
I bet a Jast employee will also show up when it'll be time to lock the thread.

 

[Marche90]

Who is the Mangagamer employee?
I bet a Jast employee will also show up when it'll be time to lock the thread.

Yup, wondering that too. I've been lurking the thread since forever and I don't remember him/her!

Also, welcome, Frontwing's PR person!

 

[Chairmanchuck]

Who is the Mangagamer employee?
I bet a Jast employee will also show up when it'll be time to lock the thread.

Oh. It was JAST, not Mangagamer.

 

[Marche90]

Oh. It was JAST, not Mangagamer.

????

Who is it? Can you link a post from him/her?

 

[Chairmanchuck]

????

Who is it? Can you link a post from him/her?

Oh. I am totally confused. It was another forum, not sure where. Seems right now we have at least SP and Frontwing

 

[Anko]

Oops. I'm a little late(?) but as titled, Nurse Love Addiction the yuri VN by Kogado studios is now on sale on steam in both English and Chinese! I believe it will be 15% off for the first week.

As previously said, it's a fun and silly little VN. Do give it a go if you like yuri. It's as yuri as it gets.

I will post my thoughts on the localization when I can. Understandably, the team at Kogado seem to be very excited about this release and for fans all over the world to get a go at it. I'm really looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on some of those endings too...

 

[bomblord1]

I actually made a thread about this but thought it would be worth mentioning here as some of you may have missed it and or might be interested in it and I've been trying to spread the word about it.

Virtual Novel is a VR Visual Novel by Virtual Novel studios.

Virtual Novel is a powerfully immersive story-driven game, built from the ground up for VR.

By adopting the familiar mechanics of the visual novel genre and adapting it into an immersive experience, Virtual Novel allows you to become part of the story like never before.

As a transfer student starting your second year, enroll at Takayama High and get to know your fellow classmates before embarking on the emotional, hilarious, and sometimes frightening journey of Virtual Novel. Your decisions shape your experiences throughout the game, and your choices will lead you and your classmates down different paths as you all do your best to get through the school year.

Website: http://virtualnovelgame.com/
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/VirtualNovel

I actually got to take place in their performance test recently and it was mindblowing I've been fanboying about it for a while now. Text is surprisingly easy to read in VR with their implementation although it gets a bit harder at lower resolutions (the default Vive resolution is comfortable and 160 is great the test allowed you to go lower to test performance but I never needed to but I did test the lowest and it was a bit harder without leaning in a bit).

 

[perorist]

it's a fun and silly little VN

Definitely worth picking and playing, though.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Time for a throwback! Rainbow Girl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cjMrBELE9I

 

[grim-tales]

Started playing Life is Strange - its pretty good so far although it doesnt run the best on my machine (I'm on PC), its quite slow and lags somewhat It kinda reminds me of Ghost Trick on the DS for some reason.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

So... the Umineko release that just came out. Is that the complete story? What am I missing if I buy it?

 

[Shizuka]

So... the Umineko release that just came out. Is that the complete story? What am I missing if I buy it?

First four chapters, the question arcs. There are another four chapters unreleased by now, the answer arcs.

 

[Basileus777]

So... the Umineko release that just came out. Is that the complete story? What am I missing if I buy it?

It's the first half of the story. So it'll only need one more release after this and shouldn't end up in a Higurashi situation where it will take forever to be all on Steam.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

So, if I were to buy the game now and play through it, will I be really upset when I realize I have to wait for the rest?

 

[Knurek]

So, if I were to buy the game now and play through it, will I be really upset when I realize I have to wait for the rest?

It ends on a massive cliffhanger IIRC.
There are also no voices in the game yet (and probably won't be there for a while), and I really can't imagine playing Umineko without voice acting.

 

[jonjonaug]

So, if I were to buy the game now and play through it, will I be really upset when I realize I have to wait for the rest?

Hm...it's hard to say without spoilers.

The first four episodes are totally solvable stand alone mysteries on their own, and episode 3 is the only difficult one. Plus it'll take a very long time to read to begin with, they're all around 12-15 hours each at the least. Chiru serves a different purpose than the Answer arcs of Higurashi. Their purpose is more to deconstruct the first half rather than provide solutions, semi-spoiler:

Spoiler

the only actual straight up "here's what happened" you get in them is a single 10 minute scene in episode 7, and even that might be difficult to understand if you haven't figured it out for yourself

. You can leave a gap of time between 1-4 and 5-8 without much trouble. Episode 4 sort of ends on a cliffhanger, but it also provides a resolution of sorts to a lot of things set up early. It's a real mid-series climax.

 

[Lain]

Looks like the SP preorders for Nekopara nendos are live.

Finally, you too can own your very own catgirl! NEKO WORKs is excited to announce that these Nekopara catgirls are all groomed and dolled up for their figure debut. Based on the highly popular Nekopara franchise, these fluffy tailed girls work at La Soleil, a little café that serves up meownificent cakes and tea. Along with Shigure, these girls turns the life of Kashou Minaduki upside down.

The Nekopara Collectible Trading Figure Box will contain 60mm PVC display figures of each girl from the Nekopara universe, and comes with a cat-shaped stand each for the ultimate display showcase.

Additionally, each set comes with a printed shikishi (drawing board) with an exclusive new illustration drawn by series creator and illustrator Sayori. The shikishi are all individually signed by Sayori as well, making it the purrfect collector’s item!

The boxset is exclusively sold through Sekai Project’s preorder store for North America, South America and Europe. Preorders are open now and will be taken until August 31st. The 8 figure set including the exclusive shikishi retails at $100 USD and slated for a December 2016 release. Some kittens wait a lifetime, but Nekopara fans only need to wait until the end of the year before they'll have their hands on their very own mail order catgirls.

The Nekopara Collectible Trading Figures Box preorder can be found at:
preorder.sekaiproject.com

 

[Anko]

Definitely worth picking and playing, though.

It's just that one end. Oh okay, maybe two.

But they're what makes them fun.

 

[Dangansona]

In chapter 3 of Steins Gate, can't decide who is more unbearable: Mayuri or Okabe. It used to be only the latter...

Tuturuuu~

 

[AtomskEater]

Really enjoying Fata Morgana. Been playing for 10 hours and thought things were coming to a close, but it just keeps coming with the twists. Was hoping to get to Umineko yesterday but at the same time I'm not trying to rush Fata Morgana along.
I think the music and sound design helps elevate it, sometimes I get legitimately creeped out playing at night, in the dark with headphones. It makes me yearn for a good "collection of ghost stories" vn with some solid production values.

 

[StereoVsn]

S:G's fullscreen mode works perfectly fine on modern Windows last time I checked (unlike some older VNs), why would you need to use zoom?

Don't like full screen with VNs and usually don't run it on main monitor (34" uwidescreen doesn't work well with VNs).

 

[Wichu]

I'm half-way through Tatarigoroshi on Steam and I'm still surprised at how different each Higurashi chapter is. Although the first half is terrible anime trash each time, I love that when it gets serious the tone is different each time. It's cool to see each chapter expand on the previous one and play with my expectations. Can't wait to see how this ends (if only it would release faster).

 

[The Silver]

Hm...it's hard to say without spoilers.

The first four episodes are totally solvable stand alone mysteries on their own, and episode 3 is the only difficult one. Plus it'll take a very long time to read to begin with, they're all around 12-15 hours each at the least. Chiru serves a different purpose than the Answer arcs of Higurashi. Their purpose is more to deconstruct the first half rather than provide solutions, semi-spoiler:

Spoiler

the only actual straight up "here's what happened" you get in them is a single 10 minute scene in episode 7, and even that might be difficult to understand if you haven't figured it out for yourself

. You can leave a gap of time between 1-4 and 5-8 without much trouble. Episode 4 sort of ends on a cliffhanger, but it also provides a resolution of sorts to a lot of things set up early. It's a real mid-series climax.

been a while since I played umineko, is there a really good indepth video or something that tries to explain all the mysteries?

 

[hamchan]

I'm half-way through Tatarigoroshi on Steam and I'm still surprised at how different each Higurashi chapter is. Although the first half is terrible anime trash each time, I love that when it gets serious the tone is different each time. It's cool to see each chapter expand on the previous one and play with my expectations. Can't wait to see how this ends (if only it would release faster).

To be honest, I kinda hope that they start cutting or editing all that game club nonsense at the start of the chapters because they've taken up a significant amount of time in the first two chapters. Like, I get it guys, you sure do all this slice of life stuff, but can we hurry up to the horrific parts already.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I'm half-way through Tatarigoroshi on Steam and I'm still surprised at how different each Higurashi chapter is. Although the first half is terrible anime trash each time, I love that when it gets serious the tone is different each time. It's cool to see each chapter expand on the previous one and play with my expectations. Can't wait to see how this ends (if only it would release faster).

I definitely felt like it was the strongest of the three chapters released so far, especially because of how it went in a different direction than the first two did (although all of them have been fairly unique in their own way), and I thought it had the strongest character development of them.

I just wish that it wasn't a seven year wit between each chapter.

 

[Basileus777]

I finished ZTD and boy do I have a foul taste in my mouth. Uchikoshi really did run out of ideas after 999.

 

[Taruranto]

I'm half-way through Tatarigoroshi on Steam and I'm still surprised at how different each Higurashi chapter is. Although the first half is terrible anime trash each time, I love that when it gets serious the tone is different each time. It's cool to see each chapter expand on the previous one and play with my expectations. Can't wait to see how this ends (if only it would release faster).

Usually slice of life scenes in VN repulse me, but I really liked the ones in Higurashi, they really help enrich the setting and character interactions, by the time you reach the last two episodes, you are really fully immersed in Hinamizawa, and you even get a sense of the building locations and such.


The scene in Rei with

Spoiler

all the shops closed because they are going to leave the village soon

was depressing.

Meakashi-hen still the best novel though, despite being completely different from the others. It's such a great, sad story. Especially that ending, fucking devastating stuff.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I finished ZTD and boy do I have a foul taste in my mouth. Uchikoshi really did run out of ideas after 999.

There's parts of the game I really did enjoy, and I thought the idea of the fragment system was good.

But man did some of the story twists/reveals really shit the bed near the end.

Spoiler

The whole "I released Radical 6 to stop a religious fundamentalist because I figured if I wiped out three-fourths of the Earth's population odds were he'd be one of them" is possibly the dumbest story detail I've ever heard, Delta's "complex motives" were ridiculous and made no sense, and the whole ending seemed to just wrap everything up way too neatly in a tremendously unsatisfying way. "Lol, I just did all of this so that you guys would decide to all work together and help save the world; pay no attention to that serial killer over there".

A couple of the endings were enjoyable, and there were some interesting moments sprinkled here and there, but I really kind of wish there had been no sequels to 999. As a conclusion to a trilogy, it's just a tremendous let down.

 

[InfiniteNine]

I finished ZTD and boy do I have a foul taste in my mouth. Uchikoshi really did run out of ideas after 999.

Yeah this makes me feel better about not getting it right away. 999 was great and I kinda lost faith in him after VLR.

 

[Basileus777]

There's parts of the game I really did enjoy, and I thought the idea of the fragment system was good.

But man did some of the story twists/reveals really shit the bed near the end.

Spoiler

The whole "I released Radical 6 to stop a religious fundamentalist because I figured if I wiped out three-fourths of the Earth's population odds were he'd be one of them" is possibly the dumbest story detail I've ever heard, Delta's "complex motives" were ridiculous and made no sense, and the whole ending seemed to just wrap everything up way too neatly in a tremendously unsatisfying way. "Lol, I just did all of this so that you guys would decide to all work together and help save the world; pay no attention to that serial killer over there".

A couple of the endings were enjoyable, and there were some interesting moments sprinkled here and there, but I really kind of wish there had been no sequels to 999. As a conclusion to a trilogy, it's just a tremendous let down.

I enjoyed the middle of the game, but it suffers from a lot of poor writing that really amps up in the terrible ending stretch.

Spoiler

I actually saw the Delta twist pretty early because I went and typed his name in the showdown and saw the ending where he gets shot. But I tried to convince myself that they really weren't going to pull a "cameraman is the killer" twist, but alas. The game basically lies to you to try to keep Delta a secret and it comes off as incredibly insulting. And everything continued to go downhill from there. The writing around Delta's character is a failure in pretty much every regard. And don't get me started on "reformed Mira" and her happy ending with Eric in the files.

I liked Carlos though, he's the only character that didn't come from a previous game that I can say that about.

 

[Taruranto]

I'm interested in Uchikoshi next novel at this point, I guess it will reveal whatever he was a one trick-pony or he just lost the plot with VLR.

 

[Basileus777]

It makes me appreciate Root Double not going for a crazy twist. ZTD flopped hard in its attempts and it would have been a much better game if it had played it straight.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

It makes me appreciate Root Double not going for a crazy twist. ZTD flopped hard in its attempts and it would have been a much better game if it had played it straight.

Yeah, honestly pretty much the thing I was thinking about as the game was ending was "man, after Root Double this really just seems like a crazy mess".

The overly twisty nature is something that really hurt ZTD, compared to Root Double, which did have its twists, but also understood that the story should be a coherent one to follow, and there should actually be foreshadowing and some sort of thematic reasons for the twist.

And going from something like Root Double which had really strong character development, to Zero Time Dilemma where the characters are honestly pretty shitty, it's just night and day. And while Root Double definitely had an ending that perhaps wrapped things up a tad too cleanly, it at least felt earned to me, compared to Zero Time Dilemma's ending which just felt completely unearned.

I really hope that Uchikoshi can get away from this sort of narrative in the future. You don't need to always be one upping your crazy twists. I feel like he's taken the wrong thing away from why people loved 999 so much. Because while the twists were pretty great, the story was backed up with some really good characters, a setting that made sense, and a pretty tense plot. I'd be hard pressed to tell you much about most of the characters from Zero Time Dilemma aside from Eric and Team D, and even VLR's new cast was pretty weak aside from Sigma and Phi.

 

[Basileus777]

YI really hope that Uchikoshi can get away from this sort of narrative in the future. You don't need to always be one upping your crazy twists. I feel like he's taken the wrong thing away from why people loved 999 so much. Because while the twists were pretty great, the story was backed up with some really good characters, a setting that made sense, and a pretty tense plot. I'd be hard pressed to tell you much about most of the characters from Zero Time Dilemma aside from Eric and Team D, and even VLR's new cast was pretty weak aside from Sigma and Phi.

It's funny that you mention Phi because her presence in ZTD feels like something forced because of how they ended VLR as she does nothing of consequence in the entire game.

I wonder how much planning Uchikoshi really did because ZTD actually makes VLR seem superfluous and it doesn't feel like a natural followup. I don't think these are the types of stories you write as a trilogy, it puts pressure to find a bigger and bolder twist and the way these stories are structured doesn't really lend itself well to direct sequelization.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Yeah, Phi is pretty much completely wasted in Zero Time Dilemma, aside from a few scenes here and there.

I think it's pretty clear that while Uchikoshi had some sort of plan for a third game while working on VLR, whatever vague plans he had bear almost no resemblance to what Zero Time Dilemma wound up being.

Spoiler

The epilogue with the whole "?" thing and mention of Kyle traveling back with Sigma to take part in the events at Dcom is completely forgotten about, Uchikoshi's mention of Snake playing a role in the third game is also forgotten about, and whatever his plans for Radical 6 were originally, I can't imagine it was this.

It feels to me like he probably had no real major plan for the game, hence we get a phoned in Radical 6 explanation that is ridiculously dumb, and Radical 6 itself only rarely features in the game at all. He seems to give up at writing "old Sigma in a young body" almost immediately, so aside from scenes where he talks about his life experiences in the meantime, he basically acts exactly like Sigma except slightly less pervy. Free the Soul is pretty much completely ignored.

Increasingly, I feel like he probably had no real plans at the end of VLR, but put in the sequel hooks figuring he could make shit up when he got there (maybe with one or two ideas in advance), and then decided (or was told by some executive) to make ZTD a good jumping on point once it was greenlit, and also realized that he had no real story, so just winged it.

 

[Taruranto]

For some reason I think Uchikoshi had a story in mind for ZTD. I mean, you don't write something like

Spoiler

Kyle epilogue

in VLR without clear insight of the things to come.

But... dunno what happened. I guess he either didn't end up planning the story that much or budget got in the way?

Spoiler

Delta

stuff is stupid no matter how you spin it though, and his connection to

Spoiler

Brother

is OBVIOUSLY blatant retcons.

 

[Shizuka]

ZTD must be one of the worst visual novels (yeah, I'm calling it one) I've ever played. What a way to deflate all my excitement and bury it six foot deep. Jesus, I need Steins;Gate 0 ASAP.

 

[Xenoflare]

I'm interested in Uchikoshi next novel at this point, I guess it will reveal whatever he was a one trick-pony or he just lost the plot with VLR.

To be completely honest, VLR in particular, resembles greatly of his older works, Ever 17 and Remember 11, though he had a much smaller role in R11.

I got VLR from PS+ and bought into the rave thinking it was something totally unique, if it wasn't for the staff list I thought that E17 was plagiarized

Edit: It has more to do with ideas and plot devices being recycled, it can go to the realm of pleasant nostalgia or feelings of being cheated depending on your perspective

 

[Yuuichi]

Sounds like I never have to play ZE since I know ever17 backwards and forwards then.

 

[hamchan]

14 hours into Zero Time Dilemma and still loving it. Never finished Ever17.

Guess I'll end up loving ZE3 too then like the previous two games.

Glad I put off Ever17 for so long so I couldn't see the recycled stuff in the Zero Escape series and realise that Uchikoshi is washed up or something!