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Visual Novels Community Thread | A Little Something for Everyone
- Thread starter Yuuichi
- Start date
What happened?
Chairmanchuck
Member
Woah. Didnt see that.
But yeah. I dont know. I dont want to play a 11 year old VN, that actually already got a TL-patch 6 years ago.
Isnt that mostly because they will wait for the Vita version?
At the start they tried to sell the sound and gallery modes as DLC which people did not like for good reason.
Plus they said they were using the fan translation, which made the announcement thread very toxic.
Basileus777
Member
Chairmanchuck
Member
Just watched the Supipara Opening, since I usually like Minori titles.
Judging by the Opening that game seems quite boring. Looks like some typical slice of life game with some magic thrown into...
Judging by the Opening that game seems quite boring. Looks like some typical slice of life game with some magic thrown into...
Madison Paige
Member
I finally made my way through Saya no Uta after several years of planning to get through it, and... I don't know, I feel a bit mixed on it.
So... yeah. I guess my overall impression is that it's a pretty solid VN, but not really something I'd recommend for those new to the genre. I'd give it a 6/10 on the scale of what I've played thus far.
While I think that the horror elements of the novel were superb, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, I have a couple reasons why I can't fully get behind this one. First and foremost, the ero content was truly revolting and I'm having a hard time understanding how this game is so highly recommended to beginners. Like, yeah, I get that it's a perfect example of a short VN that wastes no time getting to the mystery (as someone who intends to write a VN in the future, I find it extremely admirable because of that), but I seriously can't imagine telling someone new to the genre that this is a game they should check out. I feel like it would convince most people that the genre is nothing but stories written around perverted sexual trash. While I know that it is essentially a requirement for most eroge to succeed in Japan, I think now there are so many series (Zero Escape, Hotel Dusk, Ace Attorney, Danganronpa) that are much better as far as "gateway drug" games are concerned, and even after that I'd recommend that people go into something like Fate/Stay Night or Ever17 before going into something like this. I'll accept, though, that I live in the United States and therefore my view on sexual content is possibly very different from the rest of the world's, and definitely Japan's. In other areas it may not seem like that big of a deal, but to me it was pretty gross.
My second complaint has more to do with the downfalls of being a short VN. Although it was engaging from a thriller perspective, I never really started caring much about the characters, and it felt like none of them really got their chance to reveal themselves to me as interesting people. When they died, I didn't care. This made me thankful for the slower, more slice of life parts in other VNs (especially stuff like Higurashi and STEINS;GATE) because when the shit hit the fan in those, I found myself DEEPLY caring about the characters and the screwed up situations that they found themselves in. This game, unfortunately, fell short there. Also, the endings, while conceptually brilliant, seemed sudden and as if they were missing that little extra "something" to make it feel like a proper conclusion. Right now, even though I kind of like the vague feeling of it, I still feel like the game really needed a true route, or an after-credits sequence, or SOMETHING.
My second complaint has more to do with the downfalls of being a short VN. Although it was engaging from a thriller perspective, I never really started caring much about the characters, and it felt like none of them really got their chance to reveal themselves to me as interesting people. When they died, I didn't care. This made me thankful for the slower, more slice of life parts in other VNs (especially stuff like Higurashi and STEINS;GATE) because when the shit hit the fan in those, I found myself DEEPLY caring about the characters and the screwed up situations that they found themselves in. This game, unfortunately, fell short there. Also, the endings, while conceptually brilliant, seemed sudden and as if they were missing that little extra "something" to make it feel like a proper conclusion. Right now, even though I kind of like the vague feeling of it, I still feel like the game really needed a true route, or an after-credits sequence, or SOMETHING.
So... yeah. I guess my overall impression is that it's a pretty solid VN, but not really something I'd recommend for those new to the genre. I'd give it a 6/10 on the scale of what I've played thus far.
cj_iwakura
Member
F S/N has some really, really revolting trash too. And it drags like no other. I'd NEVER recommend it to a beginner. Or, uh, anyone.
I mean, Sakura no Uta fits that description and it's probably the best game I've ever played, so...
Madison Paige
Member
I liked it a lot and never really thought it dragged (at least, not once I got used to the characters), but I also played it after having played through 20+ish VNs, so maybe I'm off base by suggesting it. I also haven't played Heaven's Feel yet (one of these days!). Even so, I had a pretty strong emotional experience with the Fate route in particular, and I think that it's a great example of the type of powerful experiences the medium is capable of.
cj_iwakura
Member
All the trash is in UBW and HF.
Especially HF. UBW is the best route, but even then you have
random trashy sex because why not.
Unless you played the edited version. Even those have hours upon hours of UNLIMITED COOKING WORKS.
Madison Paige
Member
Hmm, yeah.
The scene in the Fate route I was okay with, because the way it was written was actually quite emotional in a way that made it seem, at least to me, that it served a purpose of added character development in somewhat of a mature way (at least, mature in comparison to almost all other shitty sex scenes I've had to play through during my wild foray into the wacky world of VNs), but the UBW scenes just felt tacked on. I had been expecting it at that point, so it was just an eye roll, but even so I was disappointed after the first one convinced me that maybe that kind of content CAN have a place in a VN's story where it actually adds to the experience instead of detracts from it. The sexual content in HF is actually what has made me take so long to play it, I was very excited to go into it riding off of the amazing hype of UBW, but then I heard that it has like six sex scenes instead of one or two, and that makes it sound pretty unappealing to me.
I also found the cooking stuff to be not THAT bad if I remember correctly, but like I said, I've gotten really used to VNs doing similarly ridiculous things to give excuses for calmer moments with the characters (never forget
kick the can
Basileus777
Member
Well it was the first visual novel I read, it's actually a fairly common one that got people into VNs. Though I suppose that was ages ago when VNs were barely known in the West and certainly weren't widely accessible like they are now.
Same here lol, and yeah I knew its eroge.. so mandatory sex scene and all that jazz is expected.
cj_iwakura
Member
I deliberately played the unedited version because of how 'important' that content is to HF, and I call BS.
Absolutely nothing that the revised version couldn't do instead. It's sick at worst(Shinji), tasteless at best(Sakura's private time).
Basileus777
Member
Realta Nua PC has a patch so there's little reason to even see those scenes if you are playing now.
Eh...I kinda like the H scenes in HF? For being there, I mean, the actual writing in them is atrocious but I like the idea of them a lot more than in Fate or UBW. In those scenarios there's always some ridiculous "we gotta do this because REASONS" justification going on. The replacement scenes in RN make more sense with the characters too, it makes no sense that Rin didn't present "just have sex with Saber" as a solution but it totally fits with her character that she didn't bring up the much riskier plan in RN-Fate until there was no other option. Also it's hilarious that in the Fate route Shirou's like "Have sex? I dunno Tohsaka, that sounds hard" but in RN-Fate he's like "Risk my life for potentially no gain? Heck yeah I'll do that!".
While magic bullshit justifications are also present in HF to some extent, that scenario also takes the time to focus on how Shirou and Sakura are physically attracted to each other. Their relationship was always ready to go, as opposed to Saber and Rin which builds over time, and it felt like that was just an excuse for them to justify something that they both want but are hesitant about doing for their own reasons (both of them thinking they don't deserve to be happy). Replacing that with blood sucking is just less interesting.
Regarding the one sex scene in HF that really doesn't have much to do with the story either plot-wise or thematically,
Sakura sending Rider after Shirou to give him a sex dream but being crushed when he dreams about Rin instead of her is like the most perfect case of bullying ever
Well, ain't this nice for VN lovers with a 3DS?
FuRyu is bringing a few indie VNs to the 3DS, incluiding:
-Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
-The House in Fata Morgana
-World End Economica.
For the first one, I wonder if it can be self-published, for the second one I don't have my hopes up, seeing how MG doesn't deal with consoles, and for for the last one... AKU-AUDI!!!!!!!!
FuRyu is bringing a few indie VNs to the 3DS, incluiding:
-Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
-The House in Fata Morgana
-World End Economica.
For the first one, I wonder if it can be self-published, for the second one I don't have my hopes up, seeing how MG doesn't deal with consoles, and for for the last one... AKU-AUDI!!!!!!!!
Unless of course the JP version has the ability to switch to English, in which case I'm set because I have a Japanese 3DS
Weeeeeeeeeird.
AtomskEater
Member
Does anyone mind letting me know about how far I am in Muvluv Extra? The in-game date is 12/20,
I'm enjoying it for what it is, but man it feels like it's dragging on now. And while I can see a few hints of things that will probably lead into the next entries, there's no overarching plot to keep me interested.
we're at the hotsprings and everyone got drunk last night and now we're playing air hockey for some reason.
I'm enjoying it for what it is, but man it feels like it's dragging on now. And while I can see a few hints of things that will probably lead into the next entries, there's no overarching plot to keep me interested.
You're close to the end.
That's weird, huh. I started Fata Morgana this week and was thinking it'd be neat to see on other platforms. Doubt we'll get that here though...
This is reminding me that I really should finish/restart Higanbana at some point. I played most of the first release and never got around to the rest despite picking it up.
Haha, yeah. Tonally, Higanbana gets a bit off after the first episode, or should I say campy. It doesn't detract much from the story, and coming off Umineko I completely understand why Ryu07 went in the direction he did, as it's much more similar to Higurashi in comedy and he explains why in the afterthoughts.
Great VN that I was just a bit disappointed with regarding continuity/flow.
Basileus777
Member
AtomskEater
Member
Thanks, that gave me the push to get through it.
Not a bad vn, just not terribly exciting. Here's hoping Alternative is more to my liking.
Nice avatar, btw!
Too bad the comic at the end isn't translated, though.Translation Status Update July 24 from /r/visualnovels
Originally from /jp/ on 4chan
Fuwanovel version
Originally from /jp/ on 4chan
Fuwanovel version
Finished playing the OELVN Lucid9. Not a bad little game; it's a murder mystery thriller, completely free, and currently unfinished. The team producing it, Fallen Snow Studios, is apparently making the game during their free time. Inciting Incident is what's currently released on Steam, and it's advertised as the common route of the game, more-or-less.
Don't let that fool you, though- Inciting Incident pretty much wraps up the premise of the game- pursuing a serial murderer, while still leaving loose ends as a nice/terrible cliffhanger for the reader.
It took me about 9 hours to get through the game my first time; while I enjoyed it overall, I did feel that the writing could have been a bit tighter. The characters' personalities came off a little too stronger for my liking, I wasn't a huge fan of the character art, and the game drags for the first 3 hours or so. But despite that, when it gets going, it gets going, and has some very nice, tense situations to get lost in.
Overall, a game I'd recommend looking into; decent writing and the low low price of free made it an entertaining diversion from my usual.
Don't let that fool you, though- Inciting Incident pretty much wraps up the premise of the game- pursuing a serial murderer, while still leaving loose ends as a nice/terrible cliffhanger for the reader.
It took me about 9 hours to get through the game my first time; while I enjoyed it overall, I did feel that the writing could have been a bit tighter. The characters' personalities came off a little too stronger for my liking, I wasn't a huge fan of the character art, and the game drags for the first 3 hours or so. But despite that, when it gets going, it gets going, and has some very nice, tense situations to get lost in.
Overall, a game I'd recommend looking into; decent writing and the low low price of free made it an entertaining diversion from my usual.
I find western devs who insist on writing VN with Japanese characters pretty funny. These ones are voiced in english too!
Finished Root Letter yesterday, thought it was good but not great.
Its a beautiful looking game, mostly well written and the soundtrack fits the atmosphere. The gameplay is split into scavenger-hunt-like sections where you try to find people and AA-like sections once you found them. You try to get them to tell the truth by pressing their statements and presenting evidence you collected. This is sometimes interrupted by a feature called Max-Mode thats supposed to give you the feeling of urgency, but I didnt think it worked very well since theres no punishment for picking wrong answers until you get the right one by chance.
The city, sights and people are well realized. You feel like youre on a vacation in the real city of Matsue, investigating what happened to your old penpal Aya from 15 years ago. Its definitely a slow burn and while the game always gives you the choice of where to go next, all places except for the one where the story will advance are almost always empty. The game flirts with that great sense of knowing where people might be at what time of the day (like Shenmue/Deadly Premonition), but it doesnt really use it effectively.
My first playthough took me roughly 18h (31% of trophies), you can unlock one of three endings on your first playthrough and 2 more endings, one of them being the best ending, unlock after youve beaten Root Letter once. Its a very hand-holdy game and the ending is only influenced by the choices you make at the beginning of each chapter. The game gives you the option to skip full chapters starting with the second playthrough, so unlocking the other endings will take you 2-4h each if you use this function.
Dont want to go into details because of spoilers, but feel free to ask if you want to know more about the game.
Its a beautiful looking game, mostly well written and the soundtrack fits the atmosphere. The gameplay is split into scavenger-hunt-like sections where you try to find people and AA-like sections once you found them. You try to get them to tell the truth by pressing their statements and presenting evidence you collected. This is sometimes interrupted by a feature called Max-Mode thats supposed to give you the feeling of urgency, but I didnt think it worked very well since theres no punishment for picking wrong answers until you get the right one by chance.
The city, sights and people are well realized. You feel like youre on a vacation in the real city of Matsue, investigating what happened to your old penpal Aya from 15 years ago. Its definitely a slow burn and while the game always gives you the choice of where to go next, all places except for the one where the story will advance are almost always empty. The game flirts with that great sense of knowing where people might be at what time of the day (like Shenmue/Deadly Premonition), but it doesnt really use it effectively.
My first playthough took me roughly 18h (31% of trophies), you can unlock one of three endings on your first playthrough and 2 more endings, one of them being the best ending, unlock after youve beaten Root Letter once. Its a very hand-holdy game and the ending is only influenced by the choices you make at the beginning of each chapter. The game gives you the option to skip full chapters starting with the second playthrough, so unlocking the other endings will take you 2-4h each if you use this function.
Dont want to go into details because of spoilers, but feel free to ask if you want to know more about the game.
Mmm I'm interested in that game, but Amazon jp reviews were pretty bad right? The important thing is characters and stiry are interesting?
calc84maniac
Member
I've heard that Amazon jp game reviews in general tend to be heavily weighted towards the negative. Not sure why.
Amazon reviews are often really low because of some small nit-pick that Japanese fans had with a character/gameplay-change/etc.
But with Root Letter, it could be that a lot of them went in expecting a thrilling mystery novel. It's a lot more "slice of life" than I thought it would be.
Check Mangagamer's Twitter account, or just click that link to that TL status thread.
Basileus777
Member
Basileus777
Member
Supipara is out.
And so is ChuSingura46+1 S chapters 2&3. I wonder if they'll actually end up completing this despite their awful Kickstarter. Maybe I'll check out the free chapter and see if the translation is any good.
And so is ChuSingura46+1 S chapters 2&3. I wonder if they'll actually end up completing this despite their awful Kickstarter. Maybe I'll check out the free chapter and see if the translation is any good.
I love how they have somehow been managing to be able to put them up, despite not getting all their bunches of monies.
I'll wait until the entire game is out and get enough info on the translation's quality.
Chairmanchuck
Member
Anyone knows if you buy Supipara whether you get all chapters or just the first one?
Sweet! I was thinking about getting Higanbana, and this makes things way easier than having to buy the discs in Japan.
Just the first chapter as the title on steam says.
Translation Status Update July 31 from /r/visualnovels
Originally from /jp/ on 4chan
Fuwanovel version
Originally from /jp/ on 4chan
Fuwanovel version
VNDB says Fata Morgana is medium length (10-30 hrs). That is still a huge range tho.
And Higanbana (the first part) is short (2-10 hrs). And that's the same for the second part as well.
InfiniteNine
Rolling Girl
Way too long, I guess I'll go with Higanbana... although I forgot I still have Higurashi Hou to read.
Kinda worried about that, I'm not a fan of those sequels written years after, hopefully it doesn't end up tainting my memories of Higurashi. :S