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Visual Novel Community Thread: No Auto Read Required
- Thread starter Vylash
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You need only look at the content of the opening movie for C;C Love Chu Chu to know that that's never happening. I agree they might regret not spacing the R;Ns.
I didn't expect an announcement of a Switch or Switch/PS4 port of Noah today, but I hoped for one. With no version on modern systems Japan-side, Spike Chunsoft have nothing to localise, even if hurdles were cleared. I guess a PC release could happen, but that's a long shot.
I would have said that'd need a modern port Japan-side to prompt that, but that's not what happened with 428. Western PS4 version out of nowhere. I really hope it'll come someday.
On Friday I have completed Aokana, more specifically Misaki's route, and here is my impression.
In conclusion, Aokana is a solid visual novel, I recommend it.
Yesterday I finally started Robotics;Notes Elite, and I was surprised that I didn't remember accurately everything from the anime (for example, the reason why the last episode of Gunvarell was cancelled. Probably I will remember continuing to play R;N, though.
Misaki's route has definitely been my favourite route, even though Asuka's route was very good as well. The biggest, decisive factor that made me consider this route the best one in Aokana is Misaki's characterization, and as the same time Masaya's. Misaki feels a natural character, she is far less perfect than Asuka (here). All her feelings are totally understandable. She is envious of Asuka despite liking her, she fears to lose and decides to run away from FC, she admits she is the twisted one when she hoped Asuka to lose against Satouin.
"This is how it feels to envy another person's talent", Misaki says (here). Who has never envied someone else? Who is like Asuka, who thinks everything is fun and never envies or blames other people? I am sure everyone is a Misaki. It is natural of a human being. The most important thing is to acknowledge this feeling, and go beyond it. Misaki manages to do so, thanks to Masaya. At the beginning of the fall tournament, she is so happy to have been able to reach that beach, after hoping so much a meteor would have destroyed it. That is the greates moment of the whole VN, in my opinion. I would have been fine with Misaki losing to Inui, I am honest. And instead she won, and she did it after a serious but natural and human training, with the help of Prez, Shirase andMinamo Mask (a fantastic group, byt the way! I enjoyed so much all their conversations). And the same applies to the final fight against Asuka - Misaki won by a slight margin, because Asuka made a mistake and Misaki was good enough to exploit it.
As I suspected, Misaki was also the boy because of whom Masaya decided to leave FC. I was happy that the players are given an immediate confirmation, since at that point it was quite obvious after playing all the pevious routes. Related to this aspect, I found the character development for Mayasa quite good in this route. He understood that he is as Misaki, that he is jealous of everyone playing FC and decides to return to the sky as a player again, after his final conversation with Shindou. His chiemistry with Misaki is also better than with the other heroines - Asuka is on the same level, actually, but Misaki is a bit better. Yeah, I have become a Misakitic as well, I cannot deny it (here).
A final note, unrelated to Aokana. This is the first VN where the eye disease I have had for around 8-9 years is cited, that is the floaters (here). I was really surprised, since it is an uncommon disease for young people, something you must bear for your whole life and it is not well-known at all - the few people I told about it don't know the existence and the nature of floaters at all. My first thought is that perhaps the scriptwriter suffers from floaters, as well.
"This is how it feels to envy another person's talent", Misaki says (here). Who has never envied someone else? Who is like Asuka, who thinks everything is fun and never envies or blames other people? I am sure everyone is a Misaki. It is natural of a human being. The most important thing is to acknowledge this feeling, and go beyond it. Misaki manages to do so, thanks to Masaya. At the beginning of the fall tournament, she is so happy to have been able to reach that beach, after hoping so much a meteor would have destroyed it. That is the greates moment of the whole VN, in my opinion. I would have been fine with Misaki losing to Inui, I am honest. And instead she won, and she did it after a serious but natural and human training, with the help of Prez, Shirase and
As I suspected, Misaki was also the boy because of whom Masaya decided to leave FC. I was happy that the players are given an immediate confirmation, since at that point it was quite obvious after playing all the pevious routes. Related to this aspect, I found the character development for Mayasa quite good in this route. He understood that he is as Misaki, that he is jealous of everyone playing FC and decides to return to the sky as a player again, after his final conversation with Shindou. His chiemistry with Misaki is also better than with the other heroines - Asuka is on the same level, actually, but Misaki is a bit better. Yeah, I have become a Misakitic as well, I cannot deny it (here).
A final note, unrelated to Aokana. This is the first VN where the eye disease I have had for around 8-9 years is cited, that is the floaters (here). I was really surprised, since it is an uncommon disease for young people, something you must bear for your whole life and it is not well-known at all - the few people I told about it don't know the existence and the nature of floaters at all. My first thought is that perhaps the scriptwriter suffers from floaters, as well.
In conclusion, Aokana is a solid visual novel, I recommend it.
Yesterday I finally started Robotics;Notes Elite, and I was surprised that I didn't remember accurately everything from the anime (for example, the reason why the last episode of Gunvarell was cancelled. Probably I will remember continuing to play R;N, though.
We haven't had news about Occultic;Nine Switch port, with the additional content. for a while - 2018? I don't find more recent news.
Anyway, I still think Spike Chunsoft should have released Robotics;Notes Elite now, and DaSH next year. Many of us (I am the first) would have bought both of them anyway.
So after having reached the first character end of Robotics;Notes DaSH after 10 or so hours, I really hope the rest will be a bit different and/or tone down Daru a bit (or better, a lot). I enjoyed his mannerisms when he was a sidekick in Steins;Gate, but even after having experienced Frau for all of Elite, he's rather grating and somewhat overwhelming now and feels more like an excuse to inject lewd stuff for the sake of it while Elite had almost none (at least visually).
I actually don't mind lewd in general (I liked Our World is Ended and also had no problems with the antics in Somnium Files), but for now I feel it's something DaSH really would be better off without.
I actually don't mind lewd in general (I liked Our World is Ended and also had no problems with the antics in Somnium Files), but for now I feel it's something DaSH really would be better off without.
Holy shit I can't hold all this Key news - forgot there was an event. Wasn't there going to be a new Planetarian project?
yes, a prequel called Snow Globe
"This story occurs before the events of the war that brought the world to ruin; at this point, Yumemi has been working at the Flowercrest Department Store's rooftop planetarium for about ten years. One day, Yumemi begins to act strangely, culminating in her simply walking out and wandering around the town. The staff of the planetarium are bewildered, and one of the workers—a woman named Satomi Kurahashi—is ordered to go follow Yumemi and bring her back. Before long, Yumemi begins to run out of battery power. "
Okay, doing as I said and sharing my thoughts on Aokana now that I have actually completed all routes.
Going into this year, I never would've expected a romance VN would end up becoming my front-runner for GotY, but here we are. It ended up being exactly what I needed in a VN, or any story right about now, and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to play it.
First of all, I must compliment it on being one of the most well-paced VNs I can remember. Nothing felt padded or superfluous. The breezy, cozy island setting in the summer and light tone compared to what I'm normally used to were also welcome. Very much enjoyed the interactions between the main cast, and was pleasantly surprised by how sensible Masaya could be concerning behavior and interactions even with his occasional screw-ups taken into account, certainly not something I would expect from the lead of a VN with eroge origins. And, for something else I'm certainly not used to but also believes deserves attention, I actually appreciated there not being a route labeled as a "true" end. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's possible to make the argument that Asuka's route is the closest thing to one, yet clearly Sprite didn't seem all that fussed about making players accept one possible outcome for the story and invalidating all others, with the finale chapter where Masaya says goodbye to Aoi after she quits teaching to go back to FC also leaving which choice was made ultimately ambiguous (but then, I've also read that said "finale" is just a what-if following the bad ending where he focused on no one in particular, as the dialogue indeed points to that). Then of course there's the fact that they chose to make an official expanded epilogue for only one of the girls based on fan response through Extra 1, which ended up being Mashiro (and years later, now that they are working on an Extra 2, they once again pass on enforcing a "canonical" choice by focusing on Misaki). The anime adaptation eschewing ALL potential romances even with shifting the viewpoint from Masaya to Asuka is another can of worms, understanding not wanting to alienate fans of any one specific girl by saying the pairing with her counted more than anyone else's, but at the same time I have no idea how the story would even work anymore given how important the love that blooms between Masaya and whichever girl he chooses ends up being for his development as well as hers.
Ultimately ended up liking every route, but naturally personal preference still led to enjoying certain ones more than others, and will comment on them in the order I chose them:
Adored Asuka's cheerfulness and innocent wonder, but all of the hyping up of Saki Inui and Irina Avalon as the ultimate threat really started to wear on me, and having to resort to turn off the balancer on Asuka's Grav Shoes for her to have any hope of winning once Irina had Saki use her shoes' second mode or whatever didn't sit well with me even with foreshadowing regarding both things. Found the reveal of Kunahama as a former missionary school, thereby explaining the crosses embroidered into the collars of the girls' uniforms, interesting.
Rika's shift to be at least a bit less serious and not as easily flustered was fun to watch, and even though there wasn't an emphasis on actually winning the FC fall tournament, the threat posed by Kasumi Kurobuchi felt far more real as a result of her not only setting out to scar people mentally but making a point of harming her opponents physically. Thought it before starting her route, but I would say that Rika has the best theme song of the four heroines overall.
Misaki's was a real roller coaster for me, as I did tire of how the majority of her Episode 7 was focused on practically twisting her arm to return to FC and I found interactions with her exhausting thanks to her almost never taking anything seriously as she went on silly tangents, but did enjoy her interactions with the Masked Skywalker and much preferred the first-round upset win against Inui without all of the theatrics from Asuka's route. Between the schism caused by Misaki leaving and Aoi relieving an unfocused Masaya of his duties as coach so that she could train Asuka and Mashiro herself so that he could sort out what he needed to with Misaki, resulting in the least amount of interactions between the main cast of the routes, not to mention the constant emphasis on the creeping darkness plaguing him since he first turned his back on FC (every route has at least some references to the negative feelings and regrets from his past, but nowhere near as pervasive), I personally considered it the weakest of the routes overall in spite of not disliking Misaki herself.
And finally, Mashiro. From her antics to coping with the indirect ways she had of showing how much she cared about Masaya, she couldn't have been more cute. Given her prior history of introversion and passion for gaming, I admit these were also factors in her resonating with me in particular among the girls. It was also a joy seeing her become stronger as a Skywalker (couldn't have been more thrilled to see her learn how to Airkick Turn), and heartbreaking to see her cry after losses came even after trying so hard but refusing to let anyone see herself like that. Seeing her able to win against Misaki and proving the merits of hard work over innate talent after she had been downplayed so much in other routes couldn't have been more cathartic, to the point that I couldn't care less about the full results of the FC fall tournament being glossed over following that unofficial match. I also considered her route having the most emphasis on scenes from her point of view instead of Masaya's than any other, pre-branch focus on other cast members included, a positive, and helped that much more in establishing her as her own person rather than just a tagalong for Misaki. Personally, I ended up liking Mashiro and her route best overall (even the scene ahead of the credits stuck with me most), so I'm already looking to double-dip on PC once the localized Extra 1 is out early next month.
Ultimately ended up liking every route, but naturally personal preference still led to enjoying certain ones more than others, and will comment on them in the order I chose them:
Adored Asuka's cheerfulness and innocent wonder, but all of the hyping up of Saki Inui and Irina Avalon as the ultimate threat really started to wear on me, and having to resort to turn off the balancer on Asuka's Grav Shoes for her to have any hope of winning once Irina had Saki use her shoes' second mode or whatever didn't sit well with me even with foreshadowing regarding both things. Found the reveal of Kunahama as a former missionary school, thereby explaining the crosses embroidered into the collars of the girls' uniforms, interesting.
Rika's shift to be at least a bit less serious and not as easily flustered was fun to watch, and even though there wasn't an emphasis on actually winning the FC fall tournament, the threat posed by Kasumi Kurobuchi felt far more real as a result of her not only setting out to scar people mentally but making a point of harming her opponents physically. Thought it before starting her route, but I would say that Rika has the best theme song of the four heroines overall.
Misaki's was a real roller coaster for me, as I did tire of how the majority of her Episode 7 was focused on practically twisting her arm to return to FC and I found interactions with her exhausting thanks to her almost never taking anything seriously as she went on silly tangents, but did enjoy her interactions with the Masked Skywalker and much preferred the first-round upset win against Inui without all of the theatrics from Asuka's route. Between the schism caused by Misaki leaving and Aoi relieving an unfocused Masaya of his duties as coach so that she could train Asuka and Mashiro herself so that he could sort out what he needed to with Misaki, resulting in the least amount of interactions between the main cast of the routes, not to mention the constant emphasis on the creeping darkness plaguing him since he first turned his back on FC (every route has at least some references to the negative feelings and regrets from his past, but nowhere near as pervasive), I personally considered it the weakest of the routes overall in spite of not disliking Misaki herself.
And finally, Mashiro. From her antics to coping with the indirect ways she had of showing how much she cared about Masaya, she couldn't have been more cute. Given her prior history of introversion and passion for gaming, I admit these were also factors in her resonating with me in particular among the girls. It was also a joy seeing her become stronger as a Skywalker (couldn't have been more thrilled to see her learn how to Airkick Turn), and heartbreaking to see her cry after losses came even after trying so hard but refusing to let anyone see herself like that. Seeing her able to win against Misaki and proving the merits of hard work over innate talent after she had been downplayed so much in other routes couldn't have been more cathartic, to the point that I couldn't care less about the full results of the FC fall tournament being glossed over following that unofficial match. I also considered her route having the most emphasis on scenes from her point of view instead of Masaya's than any other, pre-branch focus on other cast members included, a positive, and helped that much more in establishing her as her own person rather than just a tagalong for Misaki. Personally, I ended up liking Mashiro and her route best overall (even the scene ahead of the credits stuck with me most), so I'm already looking to double-dip on PC once the localized Extra 1 is out early next month.
Going into this year, I never would've expected a romance VN would end up becoming my front-runner for GotY, but here we are. It ended up being exactly what I needed in a VN, or any story right about now, and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to play it.
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Anyone else here back the Tokyo Chronos collector box? I'm not sure if there is a physical PC copy with mine (since I opted for the physical PSVR copy) and there is another disc inside. Not sure if that is a physical PC copy or not, but comes in a blu ray case which makes me think it's an anime? Haven't opened it up yet, but didn't see anything on the campaign details for that tier.
Man wtf I don't want to be depressed, gonna play Iwaihime first then. Started playing it, was expecting the creepy/weird shit to come later in the game, boy was I wrong...
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I bought it due to your praise.
Ill play after I finish with MuvLuv photon melodies.
That's great to hear, glad that I was able to convey how I felt about it so effectively. Very much hoping that you enjoy it, too.
Song of Saya is on sale. I've listened to the OST for years. Is the game still gross if I just play the censored version? Seems like it could be good Lovecraftian horror based on the demo.
Also, we got any wild ones in here that play lots of VNs on Japanese release? I can read JP and am curious if there are any must-play games that haven't been translated. I've never played an otome game, but I'm considering Bustafellows.
I have not played it, but several people I follow on Twitter played Bustafellows and really enjoyed it.
only a few hours or so into it so far but got around to Raging Loop and it's been pretty good so far
edit: my main issue with it so far is kinda trivial but it's a bit tough for me to parse out all these names(just as one example there's this guy named Kiyonosuke and everyone calls him Kiyo which okay fine I can remember that but even with that in my memory every single time I read his name fully spelled out I have this moment of "who?" and there's a lot of long names like that in this)
edit: my main issue with it so far is kinda trivial but it's a bit tough for me to parse out all these names(just as one example there's this guy named Kiyonosuke and everyone calls him Kiyo which okay fine I can remember that but even with that in my memory every single time I read his name fully spelled out I have this moment of "who?" and there's a lot of long names like that in this)
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so far my first impression of R;N is less than stellar because:
1) never mentions how I am supposed to open the darn app thing and I found out by mistake
2) actually replying and doing stuff with the apps and collecting the geotag feels like a chore whereas the phone in S;G and the delusion triggers in C;C weren't nearly as annoying/bad
edit: having to look around and zoom into random shit is distracting
1) never mentions how I am supposed to open the darn app thing and I found out by mistake
2) actually replying and doing stuff with the apps and collecting the geotag feels like a chore whereas the phone in S;G and the delusion triggers in C;C weren't nearly as annoying/bad
edit: having to look around and zoom into random shit is distracting
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bit into the second "route" on Raging Loop and that noise Rikako keeps making is both repetitive and annoying enough that I keep seriously considering muting her character in the options which i've never thought about doing for a specific character in a VN before
other than that i've continued to enjoy it
other than that i've continued to enjoy it
Done with Muv-Luv Photonmelodies..... is trash.
Not only the audio quality of the VA is by far the worst I've ever heard in any media, the "story" is set on the Extra universe AND this is Extra Reloaded, silliness to the nth degree.
Radioactive NV trash, stay away.
Not only the audio quality of the VA is by far the worst I've ever heard in any media, the "story" is set on the Extra universe AND this is Extra Reloaded, silliness to the nth degree.
Radioactive NV trash, stay away.
It looks like ININ will also be making an NA copy of Root Double for Switch. These NA versions can be hard to come by, and Amazon sometimes has them listed, but VGP is the best bet in getting them (there's a few other ININ games coming soon too, but Amazon lists them as "Currently Unavailable")...
Oh wow they haven't even made it to the production stage with it? I know some of their past games only got delayed by a month or so, but maybe they should change the date to "TBD" for now.
I'm fine waiting, but I think it's the biggest delay we've ever seen for a release from EAS.
I'm really enjoying Aokana as my first VN (Mashiro route). So much that I went ahead and bought Extra1 on Steam the minute it went live. And also bought the first audio drama from NekoNyan.
Guess I'm all in for this series.
Guess I'm all in for this series.
Can't believe Majikoi is finally coming. I've heard high praise, but haven't read the fan translation as I couldn't find a copy of the official JP release easily and held out hope it would come out eventually.
Waiting paid off - straight to the top of the Steam wishlist it goes.
Waiting paid off - straight to the top of the Steam wishlist it goes.
Hang on a minute - I've just found out that only the Kazama family is voiced in Majikoi - they couldn't secure the rights to the full voice cast.
Apparently it was either that or bankruptcy, that said I kinda expect an "unofficial" patch with the voices to pop up, in case that happens I'd advise to be quick to download it, people are asshole and I expect that it'll happen the same that happened to the "unofficial" 18+ patch of Baldr Sky
Yes the OG "unofficial" link at least.
Iirc people reported it to hell and back or something, at least I vaguely remember reading that, don't quote me 100% on that though, maybe I just remember wrong
Damn. It's on my wishlist and I hadn't given this a download. I've heard parts of the edited version are quite literally broken.Yes the OG "unofficial" link at least.
Iirc people reported it to hell and back or something, at least I vaguely remember reading that, don't quote me 100% on that though, maybe I just remember wrong
There are links in the Steam forum. And worst come to worst, you can just ask for somebody to re-upload it for you.
Another of my most wanted Switch ports. Here's hoping NISA bring it West.
Just an FYI, the 25th ward is extremely misogynistic and transphobic.
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The 25th Ward: The Silver Case Review | RPGFan
Folks, I'm over 30; I already know that nothing matters, and I don't need a labyrinthine, rape-happy adventure game to tell me that.
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