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Visual Novel Community Thread: No Auto Read Required
- Thread starter Vylash
- Start date
I think Umineko's going to become my second favorite VN ever after I finish this reread. What an excellent story.
I saw the announcement and I'm super excited for it! But I didnt know it's coming out soon. Do you know when?
Just going off memory, but I believe the booth said september, so it's actually coming out ahead of "doHna:doHna" which is interesting since that was the title that we knew about which was getting pushed hard on their blog.
A bunch of games were announced from Mangagamer at Otakon, namely:
The Expression: Amrilato
Fxxx Me Royally!! ~ Horny Magical Princess ~
Farther than the Blue Sky
Beat Angel Escalayer R
The Expression: Amrilato
Fxxx Me Royally!! ~ Horny Magical Princess ~
Farther than the Blue Sky
Beat Angel Escalayer R
Dug out my old Japanese copy of Muv-Luv Extra+Unlimited. Man, it did not launch in Win 8 system. So I installed a Virtual Box and got it running on virtual Win XP. It finally ran.
Finally be able to experience this game!
Finally be able to experience this game!
yeah it's the remake from 4 years back, I'm glad more of Alicesoft's classics are going to be enjoyed by the masses.
I kind of worry for Toushin Toshi because as great a series as it is...I know a ton of people who won't play an older game with those visuals so I doubt it'll be brought over.
That's not even talking about Diabolique, or Only You Recross.
the only reason I haven't bought it already is that I don't have any money in my prepaid debit card rn, buying it tomorrow or tonight
In-house staff. Most of their translation/editing work is done through independent contractors.
Almost done with Umineko, and I realized that
The tears just won't stop...
うしろみや can also be read as "the family that watches over you."
The tears just won't stop...
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Just bought the concert and redownloaded the game, how do I access it?
You access it from your local file directory. It is the file that is 7 gigs. You can right click the game in steam client and find local files.
YAY i was waiting for this since discovered it by chance while searching for vn's to play on vndb, i really like the artstyle, hopefully the rest is good too.
Wow awesome, I've been wanting this since the anime. Hopefully they're bringing at least one of the console versions along with PC (PS4, Vita, or Switch.)
I really liked it, but I have an affinity for female-sports anime. It was a good way to adapt it, eschewing the male MC and romance elements.
Wrapped up Mask of Deception.
If only the whole game was like the stuff from Invasion on [ spoiler] onwards, it'd be an easy 5/5
But unfortunately, the whole game was 30 hours of boring, sleep inducing slice of life stuff and 10 hours of awesome.
I hope Mask of Truth has better ratio.
If only the whole game was like the stuff from Invasion on [ spoiler] onwards, it'd be an easy 5/5
But unfortunately, the whole game was 30 hours of boring, sleep inducing slice of life stuff and 10 hours of awesome.
I hope Mask of Truth has better ratio.
The below portion doesn't spoil any events - I'm just using it so that someone who doesn't want to know anything about the sequel doesn't see anything inadvertently.
Keep at it. MoT still has some SoL segments, especially early on, but it is much more action focused. If you liked the latter parts of MoD then MoT should be quite to your liking.
Hopefully it won't be farmed to some one of these publishers putting machine translations on Steam.
OP
OP
WHAT? omg I'm so pumped, I've been wanting aokana for a while
Looks like every visual novel that is not being allowed on Steam as they implement the new discovery features (or whatever it's gonna be) will be delayed by months
https://twitter.com/The_Doddler/status/1029948389385887744
https://puu.sh/BeVXC/0f59d86a89.png
https://twitter.com/The_Doddler/status/1029948389385887744
https://puu.sh/BeVXC/0f59d86a89.png
Obviously I don't know the game in question here, but... love it when their cool new "we're gonna profit off of bigotry but you can't judge us cause we'll let you sell progressive things too, and you'll get your anime games" policy doesn't even include the last bit, love it.
I don't care about physical Vita games as long as they actually deliver them at all.
Started Muv Luv after some tweaking to get my cart working on 3.60. Hoping it lives up to its rep!
Started the House in Fata Morgana last night, got through the first door:
Edit: Door 2
Edit 2: Door 3:
Door 4
Edit 3: Door 5
I started kind of annoyed with the incestuous love storyline and the degree of freedom afforded Mell--the first son of a noble family joining the church?!.
But...it crept up on me and these very strands made the climax incredible. Mell's romance and his generosity takes a self-absorbed turn, repeatedly pointed out by the white-haired girl's remark that 'only a noble would think that.' He coldly abandons his sister to her fate while at the same time promising to use his personal privilege to elevate the life of the white haired girl and then you have the final scene with a beggar before the church.
In the background, I think he wants his sister married because on some level he understands how she feels for him. There is a focus on him being uncomfortable with the way she is around him and points where he is brought to outright deny that she feels some such way for him and I think both of these speak to him sensing her feelings on some level and just wanting them to go away. Moreover, even after she tricks him into kissing her, he tries to write it off as madness and push it away from himself. The ending is also interesting in this respect because he is glad that the white-haired girl doesn't seem to know and he wants to continue his affair with her despite its incestuous nature. This speaks to a lack of sympathy.
I mean, it does make sense that he would want to look away. The experience that night was maddening and her love does transgress the brother-sister relationship but still there is more going on there. Nellie's forbidden love is a transgressive expression of something quite relevant.
I also think part of the issue here is that Nellie wanted the sort of relationship she could have with her brother, but wouldn't find in a marriage arranged within and cloaked within polite society. Similarly, Mell doesn't want the sorts of lives on offer for him and despite his diligence, he just wants to get away from it all and live a different life that he makes himself, e.g. again the stuff about Nellie, but also what he said about not liking the priest, and his desire to go live abroad. The white-haired girl provides an escape and a positive personal choice. As he gets wrapped up in this personal choice, his civility and concern for others progressively falters (e.g. again Nellie and the final beggar scene). Mell gets wrapped up in what he can provide the white-haired girl: a lover, a husband, noble parentage, fancy dresses, etc. He shines his privilege upon her and ignores his sister.
The narrative in the background about the father and mother is also interesting. Again the white-haired girl is a charity case where it becomes clear later there is a personal reason for making the exception. The father's absence comes to perhaps speak of more than what it is written off as by Mell. The painter's fate becomes a mix of the outsized power of ostracization the privileged have and a real transgression.
But...it crept up on me and these very strands made the climax incredible. Mell's romance and his generosity takes a self-absorbed turn, repeatedly pointed out by the white-haired girl's remark that 'only a noble would think that.' He coldly abandons his sister to her fate while at the same time promising to use his personal privilege to elevate the life of the white haired girl and then you have the final scene with a beggar before the church.
In the background, I think he wants his sister married because on some level he understands how she feels for him. There is a focus on him being uncomfortable with the way she is around him and points where he is brought to outright deny that she feels some such way for him and I think both of these speak to him sensing her feelings on some level and just wanting them to go away. Moreover, even after she tricks him into kissing her, he tries to write it off as madness and push it away from himself. The ending is also interesting in this respect because he is glad that the white-haired girl doesn't seem to know and he wants to continue his affair with her despite its incestuous nature. This speaks to a lack of sympathy.
I mean, it does make sense that he would want to look away. The experience that night was maddening and her love does transgress the brother-sister relationship but still there is more going on there. Nellie's forbidden love is a transgressive expression of something quite relevant.
I also think part of the issue here is that Nellie wanted the sort of relationship she could have with her brother, but wouldn't find in a marriage arranged within and cloaked within polite society. Similarly, Mell doesn't want the sorts of lives on offer for him and despite his diligence, he just wants to get away from it all and live a different life that he makes himself, e.g. again the stuff about Nellie, but also what he said about not liking the priest, and his desire to go live abroad. The white-haired girl provides an escape and a positive personal choice. As he gets wrapped up in this personal choice, his civility and concern for others progressively falters (e.g. again Nellie and the final beggar scene). Mell gets wrapped up in what he can provide the white-haired girl: a lover, a husband, noble parentage, fancy dresses, etc. He shines his privilege upon her and ignores his sister.
The narrative in the background about the father and mother is also interesting. Again the white-haired girl is a charity case where it becomes clear later there is a personal reason for making the exception. The father's absence comes to perhaps speak of more than what it is written off as by Mell. The painter's fate becomes a mix of the outsized power of ostracization the privileged have and a real transgression.
Edit: Door 2
I'm a bit mixed on this chapter.
I guess the biggest thing is I really didn't enjoy the role of the white-haired girl in this chapter. I liked parts of it, e.g. Yukimasa's simultaneous joy at her blindness (i.e. his ability to hide his appearance) and his lingering misgiving that he thought she just thought he was human because of her blindness. I also liked the shift in their relationship where he started not wanting to be seen as a man but as a beast precisely as he became more "human." From the depths of his madness, being human was salvation. As he peered beyond that madness, it was his damnation. I think this last part played well with the twist that he'd always had a penchant for murder. I liked the psychological story of Yukimasa and the white-haired girl played a role in that.
So what didn't I like about it? Well, she was just sort of there, spilling virtue. I think it would've been better if the story had reflected back on her (i.e. played on her repeated insistence that she was the same as him: there could've been an interesting turn to the story there). I guess I wonder why the maid character alone wouldn't do. I feel the story maybe had too many arcs, namely he went from beast to tame to beast to tame to beast when it could've perhaps just been beast to tame to beast? I don't know. If there had been more to the white-haired girl's role I'd probably feel differently. Feeling this way in the background also made the titillating scenes less palatable, e.g. the bed scene made much more sense in chapter 1 because Mell and the white-haired girl both had a story.
I enjoyed the Pauline storyline but in keeping with the above, I do think it could've been tighter paced.
I guess the biggest thing is I really didn't enjoy the role of the white-haired girl in this chapter. I liked parts of it, e.g. Yukimasa's simultaneous joy at her blindness (i.e. his ability to hide his appearance) and his lingering misgiving that he thought she just thought he was human because of her blindness. I also liked the shift in their relationship where he started not wanting to be seen as a man but as a beast precisely as he became more "human." From the depths of his madness, being human was salvation. As he peered beyond that madness, it was his damnation. I think this last part played well with the twist that he'd always had a penchant for murder. I liked the psychological story of Yukimasa and the white-haired girl played a role in that.
So what didn't I like about it? Well, she was just sort of there, spilling virtue. I think it would've been better if the story had reflected back on her (i.e. played on her repeated insistence that she was the same as him: there could've been an interesting turn to the story there). I guess I wonder why the maid character alone wouldn't do. I feel the story maybe had too many arcs, namely he went from beast to tame to beast to tame to beast when it could've perhaps just been beast to tame to beast? I don't know. If there had been more to the white-haired girl's role I'd probably feel differently. Feeling this way in the background also made the titillating scenes less palatable, e.g. the bed scene made much more sense in chapter 1 because Mell and the white-haired girl both had a story.
I enjoyed the Pauline storyline but in keeping with the above, I do think it could've been tighter paced.
Edit 2: Door 3:
I liked this chapter.
I do wish they had run with the gilded age capitalist story more; it was mostly supplanted by the gangster story that emerged in the back half. It shows up again as a sort of throwaway plot point when Jacopo gets stabbed. It also sort of ties into the gangster story with Jacopo's father's vision. I wish they'd gone more into the moral issues that were brought up in the original scene. I think that would've brought the elements more together.
Still, I liked the gangster story, mostly in how it crafted Jacopo.
I also think, again, the white-haired girl wasn't especially interesting but I do think the letter writing arc was handled well (i.e. the increasingly rote, maddened nature of it; it was also interesting to think of wrt the story in the first chapter) and that she was a better character here than in chapter 2.
I think the approach to Jacopo was interesting. I thought the Maria twist was quite clearly telegraphed--and I don't have a problem with that--but I felt it tied into an interesting twist about Jacopo that made him much more sympathetic despite the monstrous nature of his treatment of his wife. He was trying to stifle what he thought was her adultery both out of jealousy and out of a desire to not kill her according to the "rules" he thought he was supposed to live by. This doesn't excuse his behavior or make it not the case that he should have actually spoken to her but it makes it understandable on a level that is not just "he's a shitty man that mistreats women." In the end, the tragedy is brought on by his nature (as well as hers and Maria's) but his nature isn't wholly disgusting. This is the essence of tragedy. If the fate is not written into the nature, it is just virtue/pity porn (which I think a lot of the white-haired girl content verges on). If there is nothing sympathetic about the nature, the fall is not tragic. Tragedy needs to walk that line.
I do wish they had run with the gilded age capitalist story more; it was mostly supplanted by the gangster story that emerged in the back half. It shows up again as a sort of throwaway plot point when Jacopo gets stabbed. It also sort of ties into the gangster story with Jacopo's father's vision. I wish they'd gone more into the moral issues that were brought up in the original scene. I think that would've brought the elements more together.
Still, I liked the gangster story, mostly in how it crafted Jacopo.
I also think, again, the white-haired girl wasn't especially interesting but I do think the letter writing arc was handled well (i.e. the increasingly rote, maddened nature of it; it was also interesting to think of wrt the story in the first chapter) and that she was a better character here than in chapter 2.
I think the approach to Jacopo was interesting. I thought the Maria twist was quite clearly telegraphed--and I don't have a problem with that--but I felt it tied into an interesting twist about Jacopo that made him much more sympathetic despite the monstrous nature of his treatment of his wife. He was trying to stifle what he thought was her adultery both out of jealousy and out of a desire to not kill her according to the "rules" he thought he was supposed to live by. This doesn't excuse his behavior or make it not the case that he should have actually spoken to her but it makes it understandable on a level that is not just "he's a shitty man that mistreats women." In the end, the tragedy is brought on by his nature (as well as hers and Maria's) but his nature isn't wholly disgusting. This is the essence of tragedy. If the fate is not written into the nature, it is just virtue/pity porn (which I think a lot of the white-haired girl content verges on). If there is nothing sympathetic about the nature, the fall is not tragic. Tragedy needs to walk that line.
Door 4
I feel this was a better story for the white-haired girl in that I think her reasons for wanting to be with Michel, while still altruistic, had more of an internal, relate-able narrative (which was also supported by getting a closer access to her thoughts). I also appreciated its tight pacing.
I think Michel's curse made being an untouchable outcast explicit in an interesting way, leaving it as a seemingly uncrossable barrier.
I guess what I am still seeking from the white-haired girl is for her to actually cross a line wrt the witch stuff. Most of the characters have done this kind of thing, including, apparently Morgana the other witch. She approached a line in the first chapter, and I think that was her best chapter in that regard. Still, this was a different chapter where it didn't have quite the same basic intent.
I think Michel's curse made being an untouchable outcast explicit in an interesting way, leaving it as a seemingly uncrossable barrier.
I guess what I am still seeking from the white-haired girl is for her to actually cross a line wrt the witch stuff. Most of the characters have done this kind of thing, including, apparently Morgana the other witch. She approached a line in the first chapter, and I think that was her best chapter in that regard. Still, this was a different chapter where it didn't have quite the same basic intent.
Edit 3: Door 5
First I'll go back to Door 4: It was pointed out to me that there was extra text hidden in the log of Door 4 so I went back and read that after finishing Door 4. I've since seen answers to some of the questions (not all) it raised for me but here they are:
It is a lot like Door 4 in the broad strokes--two broken people finding solace in each other isolated within the manor--but it goes more into their broken nature, both in terms of what broke them and in terms of how this built them psychologically. The story of not being able to touch each other despite wanting to was much less abstract here and revolved around Giselle having been traumatized by repeated rape. Michel wasn't so nonchalant about his fate nor about being branded a demon as he (and the white haired girl wrt the latter) was in Door 4 either and it created an ugliness to his character that mistrusted her and lashed out at her.
Scenes like the night in his room where he interrogated her and believed the worst of her simultaneously operate on the level where you have a silenced rape victim being again silenced and branded vicious rather than victim and also on the level where you have a shunned outcast and recluse reacting quite naturally in distrusting an intrusion of the outside world that has always spurned him and rejected him.
The romantic arc then has more material for overcoming the distance their pasts and suffering has put between them, e.g. the twist on the not able to touch premise.
I appreciated the further psychological depth and felt it handled the rape storyline well.
- How much of the story is false? Some of the quotes suggest there are wholly false scenes, while the "xxxx" stuff suggests words have been changed.
- Who is Morgana? The Maid calls herself this after Door 4 and it makes sense that she would be there talking to you but outside the scenes throughout the Door but...Michel also called himself Morgana once and this was erased from this retelling, perhaps for a reason? I do not fully trust the maid.
- Who am I? The extra text suggests Michel. Ever since I first saw him, he was a suspect. The other suspect being the white-haired girl who repeatedly showed up and was reincarnating per Door 4. The Maid claims after the Door that I am the White-haired girl, but I tend to not believe her.
- What was the "betrayal?" Who betrayed whom? The scene in the observation tower is all "xxx"'d out and it is suggested that Giselle might not actually be there after the scene where the blood lands on her. Furthermore, I kind of want there to be a twist about the white-haired girl after the last couple of doors so I kind of hope there is a story there.
- I don't think it neatly fit either paradigm, but it fit the latter better imo. The overall structure of the tales is similar. Many of the scenes repeat in a rougher fashion, but there are also story arcs that were missing, e.g. Giselle's time in the town (a result of a very different "I'm going to reach out to him at his quarters" scene). I think it is particularly interesting how Giselle and Michel swap roles in a certain way: Giselle's past is the reason they cannot "touch" and Michel is the one hounded as a witch, with it eventually catching up to him and leading to his death (and her eternal suffering). But it wasn't just that there was a missing twist and a secret proper angle to view things from, as if the story were just missing a Maria-esque twist, which the retelling would add.
- Well, it appears neither Michel nor the Maid (given the Maid/Giselle twist). I do think Michel hearing her in his head provides an alternate explanation (other than Morgana=the Maid) for the red text in door 4.
- Okay, it appears I am indeed Michel although the game tried to trick me into accepting that I was the white haired girl.
- Again, chapter 5 wasn't really chapter 4 plus a twist but rather much much more. This turned out to be more that their relationship had serious problems and that they hurt and misunderstood each other for a good while, both intentionally and without malice, particularly Michel. Moreover, the ending is changed to be much less hopeful as well as not a choice of the survivor but of the deceased.
- Who is the white-haired girl? She is sort of brushed aside as possibly an illusion at the beginning of Door 5 but then her portrait, the one that showed up in chapter 3, is shown to have been ripped up by Michel. Moreover, it seems Michel has some sort of past with a woman, where he was rejected. I'm guessing these things connect although just how they do is confusing. Moreover, Michel didn't want Giselle knowing about this part of his past and feared her learning of it although he also just seemed afraid of the relationship failing. I wonder if it has something to do with the curse in the Door 5 version, where just what that is is left ambiguous.
- How does Giselle become the maid? Is her prolonged, ghastly life an effect of the bargain with the witch?
- Building on these two: How do the first three doors connect?
- Who is the witch and what is Michel's relationship to her? He claims he never heard her until he entered the mansion but the reader is also not given access to their conversations. What is their content? What is Michel's relationship to her? What sort of bargain does he make with her at the end? Did he really bargain with the Devil (or Morgana) at some point? Who is she? The events in the village are eerily similar to the description of when the witch reaped the village. Was she responsible for that arc of the story and did she drive Giselle back to Michel?
- Why exactly did Michel's family have him killed? This was left unsaid, perhaps unimportant but might tie into the exact nature of the curse, which Michel avoided going into.
- And what is the curse...Michel's curse in Door 4 was an embodiement of the curse of the manor--what he touched withered and died, quickly and directly in his case whereas with the manor, they fall to elaborate tragedies over time. Michel doesn't have this curse in Door 5. His curse is different in Door 6. Is it still a statement on the nature of the curse of the manor? Does understanding it cast everything before now in a new light?
It is a lot like Door 4 in the broad strokes--two broken people finding solace in each other isolated within the manor--but it goes more into their broken nature, both in terms of what broke them and in terms of how this built them psychologically. The story of not being able to touch each other despite wanting to was much less abstract here and revolved around Giselle having been traumatized by repeated rape. Michel wasn't so nonchalant about his fate nor about being branded a demon as he (and the white haired girl wrt the latter) was in Door 4 either and it created an ugliness to his character that mistrusted her and lashed out at her.
Scenes like the night in his room where he interrogated her and believed the worst of her simultaneously operate on the level where you have a silenced rape victim being again silenced and branded vicious rather than victim and also on the level where you have a shunned outcast and recluse reacting quite naturally in distrusting an intrusion of the outside world that has always spurned him and rejected him.
The romantic arc then has more material for overcoming the distance their pasts and suffering has put between them, e.g. the twist on the not able to touch premise.
I appreciated the further psychological depth and felt it handled the rape storyline well.
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So new post :P.
Door 6
Door 6
I liked the way they capped the chapter off with acknowledging the parallel where Giselle and Michel had swapped places; I'd been enjoying that at the back of my mind throughout the chapter. In the original story, Michel is left alone in the mansion. It is dark, the windows are closed, and Michel is broken down by being alone, being tormented by a witch, and simultaneously hoping to be saved by humanity from outside the mansion and believing it will never come. Moreover, he had internalized the world's view of his nature to some extent, seeing himself as a monster, to which his imprisonment spoke. Then Giselle comes, she starts opening the manor up and they clash and collide but eventually come to each other and the darkness of the manor is lifted. In this chapter, Giselle experiences the darkness Michel faced 1000-fold, Michel comes back to her, and she is hurt in such a way and has internalized the darkness about her in such a way that she would reject him but he forces their reunion and then the darkness starts to lift (only to come back at the end).
I'm very curious about Michel's relationship with Morgana. Why did he revive her? He said he met her in the manor. I'm a bit unsure of that. Sometimes I think maybe it goes deeper and towards the reasons he is in the manor to begin with, his so-called bargain with the devil. It could also, of course, be just as he said and he revived her in response to his exile as a way to lash out at the world. Also, how did he revive her and in what sense?
I'm also curious about the white-haired girl. I still think that Morgana is the white-haired girl, at least in some sense. IDK. I think Jacopo's line about what her name was could point in that direction. I guess it could just be that Michel=Michelle but I don't believe that. I believe the white-haired girl was the instrument of Morgana's revenge and her avatar (perhaps in a loose sense). Hence it being specifically Mell and Nellie that the mansion sought to devour (later just Mell was referenced as the prey). I mean, in each story the white-haired girl is the catalyst to tragedy:
Door 1: Mell's affair with her pulls him away from Nellie and her nature as his half-sister pushes Nellie over the edge. Losing her ruins Mell's life and Mell and Nellie can not go back to the (uneasy) way they had it.
Door 2: She really brought his internal struggle to the boiling point and forced him to look.
Door 3: Her existence is part of Maria's disillusionment with Jacopo and her nature (combined with Jacopo's and Maria's scheming) drives the tragedy.
I don't think this is all in for a twist where she secretly was playing everything this way. Despite what I said above, I also hope it is not (major retcon this far out isn't so fun). But...I still think she is probably in some sense Morgana's pawn.
I also still think there might be something to a past between Michel and the white-haired girl.
As to Morgana, Door 6 purposefully elided when she spoke with Giselle about what her revenge was about and who she was. Still curious about this story.
So I think going forward I'm about to learn more about Michel, Morgana, and the white-haired girl in particular.
Also, I think they handled going back over old content well. The chapter is well-paced and I appreciated things like the montage of chapter 1 location images that refreshed the story without spending much time.
I'm very curious about Michel's relationship with Morgana. Why did he revive her? He said he met her in the manor. I'm a bit unsure of that. Sometimes I think maybe it goes deeper and towards the reasons he is in the manor to begin with, his so-called bargain with the devil. It could also, of course, be just as he said and he revived her in response to his exile as a way to lash out at the world. Also, how did he revive her and in what sense?
I'm also curious about the white-haired girl. I still think that Morgana is the white-haired girl, at least in some sense. IDK. I think Jacopo's line about what her name was could point in that direction. I guess it could just be that Michel=Michelle but I don't believe that. I believe the white-haired girl was the instrument of Morgana's revenge and her avatar (perhaps in a loose sense). Hence it being specifically Mell and Nellie that the mansion sought to devour (later just Mell was referenced as the prey). I mean, in each story the white-haired girl is the catalyst to tragedy:
Door 1: Mell's affair with her pulls him away from Nellie and her nature as his half-sister pushes Nellie over the edge. Losing her ruins Mell's life and Mell and Nellie can not go back to the (uneasy) way they had it.
Door 2: She really brought his internal struggle to the boiling point and forced him to look.
Door 3: Her existence is part of Maria's disillusionment with Jacopo and her nature (combined with Jacopo's and Maria's scheming) drives the tragedy.
I don't think this is all in for a twist where she secretly was playing everything this way. Despite what I said above, I also hope it is not (major retcon this far out isn't so fun). But...I still think she is probably in some sense Morgana's pawn.
I also still think there might be something to a past between Michel and the white-haired girl.
As to Morgana, Door 6 purposefully elided when she spoke with Giselle about what her revenge was about and who she was. Still curious about this story.
So I think going forward I'm about to learn more about Michel, Morgana, and the white-haired girl in particular.
Also, I think they handled going back over old content well. The chapter is well-paced and I appreciated things like the montage of chapter 1 location images that refreshed the story without spending much time.
A dev talked a bit with a Valve employee that was helping host a dev meetup
https://twitter.com/MOOMANiBE/status/1032451539359526912
There are some interesting bits (at least in my opinion) regarding the VN being held back until the new features are implemented:
- valve seems aware they need better communication and they should work on it
- flagging is done by a team of contractors looking for criteria (the employee is uncertain if said criteria are public)
- this has been done in an effort to comply with "porn laws" and appease "certain groups" (not my words, I'm quoting the dev)
- LGBT content is important to valve
- they hope the issues will be fixed when the features are implemented
- the filtering system will include violence as well
In other news Island is out and I'm gonna buy it tonight since I'm kinda curious about that VN, I read a Steam thread saying that is connected to Himawari (???) and that kinda concerns me since that's the only VN I have ever dropped after starting a playthrough.
edit: also the tl of Fortissimo by SakuraGame is garbage (not a surprise) and it hurts my soul because I like chuuni stuff and I was hoping to read that in non butchered english one day.
https://twitter.com/MOOMANiBE/status/1032451539359526912
There are some interesting bits (at least in my opinion) regarding the VN being held back until the new features are implemented:
- valve seems aware they need better communication and they should work on it
- flagging is done by a team of contractors looking for criteria (the employee is uncertain if said criteria are public)
- this has been done in an effort to comply with "porn laws" and appease "certain groups" (not my words, I'm quoting the dev)
- LGBT content is important to valve
- they hope the issues will be fixed when the features are implemented
- the filtering system will include violence as well
In other news Island is out and I'm gonna buy it tonight since I'm kinda curious about that VN, I read a Steam thread saying that is connected to Himawari (???) and that kinda concerns me since that's the only VN I have ever dropped after starting a playthrough.
edit: also the tl of Fortissimo by SakuraGame is garbage (not a surprise) and it hurts my soul because I like chuuni stuff and I was hoping to read that in non butchered english one day.
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Ah, she was saying she might ask stuff so I'm glad to see she did.
I assume "certain groups" means "payment processors", but...
More Fata Morgana thoughts:
Between Door 6 and Door 7:
Between Door 6 and Door 7:
Starting at the end: okay, so the white-haired girl is Michel. I don't think this means she was not the avatar of Morgana's will, especially after reading Morgana's story, but she is not Morgana like I had come to think.
This is interesting. I'm guessing Michel's "bargain with the devil" has to do with the statement that he no longer had a female body (just read in the letters)? Or maybe not. In any case, the picture I'm getting is that Michel wanted to be a man and this comes to a head wrt his love for Aimee (if I remember her name correctly). I imagine Michel's "curse" is a mix of stepping outside of gender lanes people think he should be in and maybe, again, actually trying to perform magic to become a man.
Maybe not this latter thing though, thinking back to door 5. Michel didn't want to consummate his relationship with Giselle even after she told him she was ready to try and work through her issues with sexual contact. Having a female body could be what he kept referring to as something he'd have to work through with Giselle and about which he feared rejection? The scene before Door 7 suggests this imo. Yet that letter...hmmm...
Also, deciding if you are the white haired girl or Michel makes much more sense now. I went back to those decision points to see the alternate endings after I got the bad ending for not clicking deny it fast enough and it was a bit odd that the various white haired girl routes ended with you so explicitly being the white haired girl. It makes more sense when you are both.
I was also puzzled why Morgana wanted you to accept yourself as the white haired girl. If she were the white haired girl what would that accomplish? This doubt was in the back of my mind.
As to Giselle, her reaction is interesting given where the maid was at wrt white haired girl/Michel but she seems reverted? Certainly no longer looks like the maid. Curious where that goes.
But, moving on, Morgana: I thought they paralleled the original stories well: Mell chose Nellie over Morgana and pitilessly discarded Morgana only to lose both much as he chose Michel over Nellie and pitilessly discarded Nellie only to lose both. Similarly, Yukimasa slaughtered Morgana to preserve the woman he tethered himself to as a means of becoming human, and then he slaughtered Pauline while so tethered to Michel. I have a harder time drawing as direct a line with Jacopo but he did use Morgana to make his relationships with others run more in his favor while Michel entering his life was a catalyst to losing Maria, his friend.
The story with her mother seems to sort of line up with the legend of the witch, but distorted to be about a witch rather than a saint (perhaps a statement on the perceived unclean nature of her miracles, as with what happened at the lord's manor and at the church, by people hearing the stories later? Also as a way to ease consciences about how she was removed from the village?)
I am curious about the brothel. Does it have a parallel in the rest of the story? I do not know. The closest I can think is Michel/Morgana but that relationship seems to have been more rocky than the happy times Morgana describes. Plus, where are the prostitutes and it isn't like it changed Morgana's disposition as far as I can tell. So I'm going to keep thinking about this going forward.
I also think it is interesting comparing Michel's "witch" nature in Door 4 versus Morgana's here. Blood is a killing agent in one, a healing agent in the other. Michel's death (in both versions) with his blood flowing down from the observation room is again a point of connection with Morgana's death.
In any case, I really enjoyed Morgana's story
This is interesting. I'm guessing Michel's "bargain with the devil" has to do with the statement that he no longer had a female body (just read in the letters)? Or maybe not. In any case, the picture I'm getting is that Michel wanted to be a man and this comes to a head wrt his love for Aimee (if I remember her name correctly). I imagine Michel's "curse" is a mix of stepping outside of gender lanes people think he should be in and maybe, again, actually trying to perform magic to become a man.
Maybe not this latter thing though, thinking back to door 5. Michel didn't want to consummate his relationship with Giselle even after she told him she was ready to try and work through her issues with sexual contact. Having a female body could be what he kept referring to as something he'd have to work through with Giselle and about which he feared rejection? The scene before Door 7 suggests this imo. Yet that letter...hmmm...
Also, deciding if you are the white haired girl or Michel makes much more sense now. I went back to those decision points to see the alternate endings after I got the bad ending for not clicking deny it fast enough and it was a bit odd that the various white haired girl routes ended with you so explicitly being the white haired girl. It makes more sense when you are both.
I was also puzzled why Morgana wanted you to accept yourself as the white haired girl. If she were the white haired girl what would that accomplish? This doubt was in the back of my mind.
As to Giselle, her reaction is interesting given where the maid was at wrt white haired girl/Michel but she seems reverted? Certainly no longer looks like the maid. Curious where that goes.
But, moving on, Morgana: I thought they paralleled the original stories well: Mell chose Nellie over Morgana and pitilessly discarded Morgana only to lose both much as he chose Michel over Nellie and pitilessly discarded Nellie only to lose both. Similarly, Yukimasa slaughtered Morgana to preserve the woman he tethered himself to as a means of becoming human, and then he slaughtered Pauline while so tethered to Michel. I have a harder time drawing as direct a line with Jacopo but he did use Morgana to make his relationships with others run more in his favor while Michel entering his life was a catalyst to losing Maria, his friend.
The story with her mother seems to sort of line up with the legend of the witch, but distorted to be about a witch rather than a saint (perhaps a statement on the perceived unclean nature of her miracles, as with what happened at the lord's manor and at the church, by people hearing the stories later? Also as a way to ease consciences about how she was removed from the village?)
I am curious about the brothel. Does it have a parallel in the rest of the story? I do not know. The closest I can think is Michel/Morgana but that relationship seems to have been more rocky than the happy times Morgana describes. Plus, where are the prostitutes and it isn't like it changed Morgana's disposition as far as I can tell. So I'm going to keep thinking about this going forward.
I also think it is interesting comparing Michel's "witch" nature in Door 4 versus Morgana's here. Blood is a killing agent in one, a healing agent in the other. Michel's death (in both versions) with his blood flowing down from the observation room is again a point of connection with Morgana's death.
In any case, I really enjoyed Morgana's story
