The BL game "No, Thank You" does something similar, although in that game additional lines and scenes unlock that are tied to each route clear. You get more of the protagonist's inner thoughts by clearing any route, and certain extra scenes by clearing certain endings. There is no "true" route in that game, but the text skip feature is very fast so it doesn't take too much additional effort to see everything.
The yuri game "Kindred Spirits on the Roof" adds around 50 scenes of varying length that you can select after clearing the game.
I haven't read those two VNs you mentioned but it sounds like they have a similar approach to their NG+ content. In my experience, long NG+ content is rather rare in Visual Novels so it's great to learn about other examples.
What I thought makes Revelation Mode stand out is the option to replay the same scenes but you can now read other people's thoughts. I still haven't finished RL so that feature might not be as special as I imagine it based on descriptions and reviews, but you seem to like it so far which is promising.
People weren't exaggerating how bad the final arc is.. What the fuck happened? Such an awkward tonal shift and a lazy conclusion. Baffling considering all the setup and exposition It "required".
It was a pretty fun experiences though. Not exactly what I expected when I heard Werewolf x Visual Novel, since it's super linear and without any room to actually make decisions, but it's still pretty good in its own way. Great characters, thick atmosphere, and a surprisingly interesting protagonist.
Ultimately it was betrayed by its ambition and incapability of controlling its scope, tone, and themes. That last quarter was such a mess, I'm still in a state of disbelief.
There are three main routes, and the assigned roles are fixed at the start of each route. There is also a fixed scenario order, so you can't play the routes out of order.
NG+ adds additional lines (mostly the inner thoughts of the protagonist that were previously hidden to the player, or from characters central to the route) as well as other added scenes including nighttime scenes with the wolves. Many of the bad ends also have additional lines added. It also adds an extra section to the hint corner after each bad end, mostly joke-y scenes and explaining a few of the more mysterious bad ends. These extra bits are meant to be read in the same order that the bad ends are accessible to you in the main game.
Been reading Revelation Mode and the extras and I have to ask.. Are those meant to link the game with Death Match Love Comedy, or are they blatant set up for a sequel? I'm confused..
Been reading Revelation Mode and the extras and I have to ask.. Are those meant to link the game with Death Match Love Comedy, or are they blatant set up for a sequel? I'm confused..
The bonus endings were very entertaining and I liked that they provided a short little "here's what this ending would be if it was more serious" sort of deal in the afterwards. I also liked how it expanded on the bad ends too, not just the main route, giving you more details about how/why the protagonist dies in some of them or what happened afterward in others. I think it also made some of the late game twists a bit easier to accept, since they end up woven into the plot a bit more when they're not hidden from the player.
Highlights:
The added lines in the convenience store scenes that turned them from fairly amusing exchanges into utterly hilarious passive-aggressive ex-lovers quarrels.
The extension to the final bad end on the main routes where Haru/Mujina-sama and Rikako argue over Haruaki's corpse, especially Haru/Mujina's insane Hikaru Genji plot that makes Rikako go "nope" off a cliff.
The bonus ending for Haru. Silliness aside, her and Mujina ended up being my favorite characters. I would've liked seeing maybe a bit more of a "serious" take on that ending, but I appreciated that the afterward basically went "there's other ways this could have worked out too, just imagine it".
Rikako's bonus ending, cause Haruaki getting tentacle raped for eternity made me laugh like a 12 year old and Mujina also had a nice bit in it.
Everything involving Meiko/"The Goat of a Thousand Hells". Especially the bit where the Migura guys try to explain the concept of the "badger" role to her and she doesn't get it.
I still have the Extra stories to get through, but I believe I've cleared 100% of everything in the main story now.
EDIT: Cleared all the extra stories and the last easter eggs, so I'm 100% clear now I think. That's four main endings, two bonus endings, 27 bad ends + that one easter egg segment, five extra stories that are all around an hour long each (except the last one which is a bit on the short side), and an entire NG+ playthrough with added lines and entirely new scenes.
I'm kind of exhausted, but I had a good time.
EDIT 2:
if I didn't already know this was already midway through development when Bloodborne was released, I would have thought there was some clear inspiration going on there. What with the Japanese take on western concepts, corruption, blood, cycles, dreaming, giant abominations out of nowhere, and "man, I remember when this was supposed to be a game about hunting werewolves" elements and all.
The third main scenario (six on the chart) was more of what I wanted from the game in the first place, but I ended up skipping through the rest for trophies. Most of my guesses were right, including the super dumb ones unfortunately.
Here's a better trophy guide that doesn't require watching a video.
Clear the game and watch every scene in the flowchart. This will give you all the trophies except three. You may have to replay that one choice with five keys associated with it in route 2 to collect some of the non-essential ones.
Remaining trophy #1 and 2: Make sure revelation mode is turned on, then go back to the second to last and last choices in the third route. There should be new options available at each of these. The scenes these lead to will unlock two of the final three trophies.
Remaining trophy #3: Once all of the above is done, go into the Album menu from the title screen. All of the numbered bad endings will be listed, which will take you to their corresponding hint corners. The very last one (its #27 I think) isn't on the flowchart, it's an easter egg hint corner that unlocks after you get every other ending. Read through it and the trophy should pop.
So, now the big question. Is Raging Loop a game for you? Well, if you are turned off by Visual Novels, then no (Hell, if you are turned off by Visual Novels you probably haven't made it this far through the review). If you only like the "dating sim" type of VN then again, you may want to pass this one by. For everyone else, if you like a good, intriguing story with a lot of twists and unexpected events, then I suggest giving this game a play. Just don't blame me if you end up playing all night…
I was fully into this VN and enjoyed the ride. i'll have to agree that it stumbles by the end but overall it was a great experience and i can totally get why this game had a cult status in japan.
Also more VNs should have something like revelation mode, i expected a gimmick but it actually adds quite a bit of new scenes and dialogue which added replay value (very rare to say for a VN) even if you just skipped to see new content like i did.
I just finished the third route, and I think I have an idea of what all the people expressing distaste for this game's conclusion are talking about. Dammit!
Ah well, I'll see this through to the end... can't deny that the game has been an absolute blast up to this point, so I got my money's worth whatever happens.
I'm playing this on PS4 at the moment and having a blast so far... Very early days though. Was meant to be my Halloween game but it's stretching much further than that...
Finished this last night and I absolutely loved it. Gonna have to try and get my hands on other VNs by the same team. I genuinely could not put this one down.
So this looks pretty rad, is there any squick sexualization or anything I should be worried about? I tried to get through Death Mark and just couldn't do it
So this looks pretty rad, is there any squick sexualization or anything I should be worried about? I tried to get through Death Mark and just couldn't do it
Nothing comparable to the explicit depictions in Death Mark, just the odd banter or joke. The game even pokes fun at itself for not going down the cheap fanservice route:
Nothing comparable to the explicit depictions in Death Mark, just the odd banter or joke. The game even pokes fun at itself for not going down the cheap fanservice route:
Man the entire like first 3/4 of this game is so good, but then it goes all Professor Layton on you and pulls on this nonsensical twist out of left field that doesn't feel like it makes much sense at all. This game reminds me alot of Higurashi and Umineko even with the whole "the journey is more interesting than the destination" feel too.
Just finished the game myself last Friday. An excellent ride, and absolutely worth playing - even considering the weak final 15% or so of the game, this just might be my personal favorite of all the VN's I played in 2019.
The revelation mode is very nice in theory, but a little clunky in practice: since you're generally going to use "skip unread text" to advance to the next bit of new content (which amount to spoilerrific internal monologues of all the characters throughout the main story), you often need to use the text log to backtrack and see the context for the new content. As such, its best saved for an RTTP playthrough, so you can skim through all the "regular" text again.
Finally, the side stories that unlock after the main game ends are also a nice extra if you enjoyed the main plot and the characters.
Overall, I can't recommend this enough. For fans of VNs with the general tone of Zero Escape, this is must play stuff.
The end of the game where you "piece everything together" involves jumping around the flowchart for a bunch of extra scenes that kill the pacing after the ending of the third route, which is the high point of the entire game.
Some (not all) things that appear supernatural on their surface have mundane explanations that somehow manage to be much more ridiculous than "a werewolf ghost did it". If you've read Umineko, it's like if Battler's completely random "small bombs" level guesses turned out to be accurate.
One character's backstory ends up being quite ridiculous and lacks much emotional weight (mostly because the story actively makes fun of them even outside the "silly omake" parts for what is some dire stuff).
Ultimately I still enjoyed it quite a lot, including most of the ending. NG+ mode made me appreciate some things the story was going for a bit more too. Despite some not so good bits, I'd still highly recommend playing it.
Finished this game early. Absolutely loved it. Probably the best paced visual novel I ever played. The game never felt like it was wasting my time, which is always my biggest complaint with almost ever VN I've played. Every scene felt important. Also loved how it wasn't overally reliant on sexualization again a big issue I have with most VN. Localization was really good as well.
Also just finished it, absolutely loved everything up until the final route. (Which doesn't mean I didn't like it, just...)
I am pretty dense and slow, so a lot of what was happening in the final route really confused me. Haruakis smug explanation of a lot of what he was doing was just lost on me. I thought the introduction of Mitsuji just comes out of nowhere considering she's a Sheep God and also ... Haruaki's ex? Even though they never interacted that way?
The Wolves at the end, confused me a lot. Haru's God personality being real or not??? Confused me. But I guess she is real and she was only faking for one ending?
I got the Rikako evil Spider god stuff, I thought that was a pretty sad blight though as I loved her on the 2nd route and her motivations weren't nice. :(
Either way, confusion aside. Loved the fuck out of it. Will play Revelation mode and the side stories at some point.
