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Because otaku cant self-insert into any of these traits

Because those are incredibly boring and generic traits, especially if they're all together in one character. They remind me of Akihito from Comyu. Not to say a character can't be nice or caring, but basing an entire character off of some idealistic perfectly nice prince charming is really meh. These traits should be secondary, not primary.

I'm an obsessive VN player, and I doubt there are many here who could match my experience. However, there is one issue I've more or less deliberately closed my eyes to when it comes to VNs... and that is the sheer amount of anti-feminist propaganda inserted into untranslated Japanese VNs in general. There are a number of major, really obvious examples of this, and I'll go ahead and describe them for you. 1. The 'female teacher who never gets married because she acts too much like a guy' archetype. This isn't even a heroine archetype. It is just a side-character archetype... but literally the most common non-heroine, non-protagonist one in existence other than the 'idiot friend' one. How is this anti-feminist? First, it assumes women with certain qualities - hard-working, focused on their jobs - aren't attractive. Second - and more insidious - it assumes that all such women should want to get married, so it is something of a double-whammy. 2. The 'strong-willed heroine who becomes completely submissive the second she and the protagonist become lovers' archetype. This is perhaps the most insidious of the heroine archetypes when it comes to this issue. This is more or less a manifestation of the hidden widely-held Japanese male belief that even the strongest woman secretly wants to be dominated by a man. Yes, there are plenty of otherwise strong-willed women that use mild SM as stress relief, but the same can be said for men... 3. Otome games. Yes, I know some would protest this, but it is really obvious, when you play them. First, almost all otome game protagonists are easily-dominated wilting lilies or women who become so the second they meet a strong, handsome man. Second, even those that aren't spend a ridiculous amount of time being 'rescued' by men (Damsel-in-Distress Syndrome). Third... exactly how many otome games do you see that appeal to women who prefer to be dominant, in general? There are any number of such themes, archetypes, and concepts that demonstrate this little reality, but it is something you should probably keep in mind when you think you are going a bit over the edge playing moege, thinking real women might be like those on the screen. Remember that while some women really do fill the archetypes, they are exceptions, not the rule. At the same time, assuming that they should fulfill those roles/archetypes is one habit we probably shouldn't import from Japanese otakus, despite our taste in games, lol.

Me: “Well, one is about a high school kid who gets admitted into an all-girls high school and has to convince the student body to let him stay.” PRINCESS EVANGILEEEE!@#

I would respectfully inform him that all the characters are in fact 18 or older and only look like they're high-school age by mere coincidence.

1. When I hear a politician open their god damned mouth on the news. 2. Dodging the assholes on skateboards and bikes on campus. 3. When I pee all over the bathroom floor, because I masturbated too much.

DETERMINING A GOOD VISUAL NOVEL PART 1a First : Number of tears d(VNDB rating) ---------------------- + ∑ Excitement! X (MOE) (√ Hnngggggg) - --------------------- = β Time d (Fuwanovel) If β ≤ ∓ ∫Waifu Then it is a good VN.

~Keep calm and love on, fly me to the music. I dreamed about a world of fantasy, a world I could escape to. A world becoming real.~ Genres: Psychological, Drama, Romance, Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Superhero Intro Welcome to the Alexis University. You have been chosen to join our ranks unlike many others because of the unique and special gifts you possess. Here you will sharpen these talents and use them to reach greater heights. You will learn, meet friends, and excel at the highest level of achievement- If you survive first that is... SYNOPSIS: After moving back to New York, Marcus Maduka's life is changed forever as he is saved from certain death by a childhood friend, a mysterious girl that had given him special abilities. Soon he's enrolled in new school...A school that leads to another realm in the middle of Omniversal space.There they are reunited and she once again promises him extraordinary power beyond his wildest dreams, but it comes with a cost.... CONCEPT: Basically it's your average superhero story on a bigger scale with a couple twists. Throughout the story you will travel to many worlds and even different universes, however the main setting of the school is in a heaven realm known as Valteria. Here exists the Gods called the creators, better known as Valterians -They were created by the Elder Gods and given the power to create worlds. They gave birth hybrids and hallowed(Beings with Valterian blood or ancestors) The school in the story was made for these descendents. There are also various alien races in the across the Omniverse that co-exist on Valteria as well. There is a lot more to it but that will give you a good picture. CHARACTERS: Marcus Chime Maduka (Magnificent) Our lovable protagonist. He's quiet, but becomes rather talkative once you get to know him. He can be sarcastic and pretty cynical, he wants to know his purpose in life. He is given the power to become one of his heroes. Arabella Alexis (Galaxia) Omega class hallowed-Valterian hybrid that has the power to bend reality to her will. Arabella is outwardly cold and apathetic due to her isolation, but can be very caring an nurturing. Very passionate. Arden Saphira Sapere Dragonborne (Life Dragon) Valterian Dragon Deity-She is the King of Valteria. Arden is courageous and determined but can be a little vain. Very unwilling to show emotions. Robyn Khalil (Pace) Hallowed girl that was interested in Marcus at first sight. She's a bit of a tomboy, but calm and easygoing, she rolls with the punches but is quick to point out things she has an issue with. Devin Kallendrake (BloodReaper) Valterian Vampire God that is that is part of a Valterian secret society. She is an ancestor to shinso family of vampires. She acts very whimsical and carefree, but is actually very smart, analytical, and has a serious side. Evelyn Kallendrake (Mischief) Vampire God also part of the secret society, She's the twin sister of Devin but didn't grow as much. Most of the time she is very extroverted, outgoing, and upbeat. However she has no problem instigating problems and deep down is very sadistic. Yoko Minami (Tiamat) Yoko is a mix between two alien races called the Tainted and the Vivians. She is the leader of the student council and works with Arden. Yoko is quiet (when not dealing with Arden) and cold. Somewhat socially awkward when it comes to dealing with people. Struggles with her compulsions to kill. OTHERS Seal Cunningham Yvonne Alexis (Heaven's Riches) Brian "Bri" Lucas (Nephila) Jamie Foster (Rockhead) Killian Williams (Burner) Ruko Savannah (Lightspeed) Kazuya Fox ROUTES: Magnificent Love (Arabella) Enter The Kingdom (Arden) Age of Cypher (Robyn) Escape Fornever(Devin & Evelyn) Sinners Eden (Yoko) PROGRESS: Outline: 100% Script: -- Concept Art:-- Sprites:-- Backgrounds: -- CGs: -- Music/Sound:-- Coding: -- GUI:-- ALPHA/PROTO V1: Script:100% Editing-Proofreading:100% Artwork:100% Coding:100% Music/Sound:100% Natural Freedom: Fluxx:Writer/Artist/Scripter KinKrow: Editor TJ: Idea Bouncer Accha & Aviala: Character Design Badriel:Logo Qdr:Support Features I Would Like: Codex Stat Sheet Animations Notes: *Each character will have a class and rank *Character designs are not final Does the premise interest you? Which character interests you most? What questions do you have about the novel?

I feel like "Yeah, kinda. A lot of them are like that. I guess it's a Japanese thing, or it's just easy to write about or something. But! There's a ton of cool ones that aren't like that" would be a good way to dodge that landmine.

...I find it sad that in a forum dedicated to text-heavy games, so few people are interested in conventional books.

I love how this thread derailed.

Having to get my keys out of my pocket to unlock the door.

As long as there were pictures of real children, he got what he deserved. The punishment is certainly not a light one, though if they are stretching it and just making him look bad by saying (some may have been real), and they were all just hentai images then I think it's way too extreme, then again Canada is really against loli's and the like, and like mentioned earlier even high school girl hentai can get you in some deep water. Then again I don't live in Canada, and Indiana isn't as hard on hentai as most places, so I can't really relate to much of this.That being said, I have a hard time believing that a man who is a computer lab technician would carry around a USB containing illegal pornography, much less have it unprotected.

If I wanted to read a story with a character with all the positive attributes you listed earlier I would just read the New testament Bible. You said that "It is quite sad that people now think someone like that boring", but truth be told people always found those characters boring. To use classical literature as an example, the reason people enjoyed and continue to enjoy stories like Paradise Lost (where Satan is the main protagonist) or Dante's Inferno, is because chaotic characters/settings are simply more interesting.

if i skipped class to read it

Hello friends! Chances are that if you are reading this thread, then you know all there is to know about the many visual novel translation tools out there in the big world of Japanese eroge and are interested in mastering the art of reading your porn PC games by taking it to the next level. In this thread, I will provide a step by step guide covering the installation and use of the following visual novel translation materials: Translator Aggregator (TA for short) Interactive Text Hooker (ITH for short) Mecab Edict2 Now before I continue writing, let me be clear that this will not be a thread teaching you about the benefits of using programs such as the ones listed above. That being said, it will also not go into detail regarding the function of each program. If you are interested in knowing about the best way to start learning Japanese and reading visual novels, I recommend asking some of the awesome members of the community who have an extensive knowledge about how these programs work and ask them about which ones (if not others) they recommend and why. With that, I don't want to waste too much of your time, so let's get the ball rolling! If you are just starting out and have no idea what to do or what to get, simply follow this guide from start to finish after this point on and you will have everything you need in order to read visual novels with the programs listed above. If you have some of these programs and only want a few, simply jump to the appropriate section of each guide and everything will make sense from there. Here we go! Getting Started: Before you begin installing the following programs which I just mentioned, make sure you have the following items present and accounted for on your PC: An internet connection (like, seriously) A program that allows you to unzip computer files (such as WinRAR or another program of the same sort) A visual novel installed in Japanese for testing the programs (AKA: the game does not have any sort of English patch or partial patch which changes the language) A web browser (IE, Firefox, Chrome) that you understand how to use well STOP HERE! Did you get all the required items listed above? If you can't read this message, chances are you screwed up somewhere with the 1st one, making the rest pointless. Once you have all the items listed above, feel free to move on. Task 1 - Installing Translator Aggregator (TA): 1. Begin the installation by clicking on the highlighted link next to this text: http://www.hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php/94395-Translation-Aggregator?p=3648894#post3648894<--- This one right here. 2. On this newly opened window in your browser, click the big link at the top of the 1st post on the page. Don't see it? Here it is: 3. Save the file onto your PC anywhere you want to. I normally save everything I download from the internet to my desktop, but this is completely up to you. 4. Once you have saved the file, open it with your already installed zip program (i.e. = WinRAR). Once you open the zipped folder, extract the content to a location on your PC. HOLD IT RIGHT THERE PARTNER! When extracting the content of the zipped folder to your PC, feel free to put it anywhere that you can easily access it. It does not matter where it is located, so keeping it somewhere you can easily remember is best. 5. Once the folder is extracted, it should look something like this: As stated in the photo, open TA by clicking on the application. 6. After opening the program, a list of windows will be displayed. Since I am only covering how to install the programs listed at the beginning of this post, simply close the ones you won't be using by clicking on the tiny little "x" in the top right corner of each program. Here are 2 images to show you what I mean: Upon opening TA: Upon removing the unneeded programs: Good job! Feel free to adjust the size of the window as you see fit because you will want to have this open when reading your visual novels. 7. Rejoice! You have successfully installed and learned how to operate TA. Whenever you want to open this program, simply locate the application's shortcut and double click it. Easy as pie! End Task 1 Here Task 2 - Installing the Edict2 Dictionary: After successfully installing TA, you are probably nervous that it's only going to get harder, right? Nope! Let's install Edict2 next because it's as easy as pie: Easy: Click this link: http://ftp.monash.edu.au/pub/nihongo/edict2.gz. Wait for the page to finish loading. After it finishes, save the page by hitting Ctrl+S. Save it anywhere on your computer: As: Extract the file (if it is in a zipped folder) by using your zip program (i.e. = WinRAR). Once it is extracted, simply move the new file into your dictionary folder located in your original TA folder: Pie: Easy no? That's all there is to it. Good job! End Task 2 Here Task 3 - Installing Mecab 1. Another easy task for the least internet savvy people around, begin by clicking on this link: https://code.google.com/p/mecab/downloads/detail?name=mecab-0.996.exe&can=2&q=. 2. After clicking the link, download the file at the top of the page. It does not matter where you choose to save it (the desktop is generally a nice place): 3. After downloading the file, run the program and install it like any other normal installation. Simply hit the next button over and over again until you get to this screen: HOLY COW THIS TEXT MEANS THE NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT! Make sure the UTF-8 dictionary is highlighted before hitting the next button. 4. After this point, simply agree to the ToS and continue following the instructions until Mecab installs itself. Pretty easy stuff! 5. Finally, open Translator Aggregator and open the configuration settings for JParser. Make sure Mecab hinting is enabled: End Task 3 Here Task 4 - Installing ITH You're doing so well, so keep it up! This next task is a little more of a challenge, so simply follow these steps to make sure you don't miss any or make a mistake: Step 1: Begin by clicking this link: http://www.hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php/208860-Interactive-Text-Hooker-new-text-extraction-tool. On this page, you will notice a lot of other links and random text. All you need to worry about are the following downloads: If it wasn't already obvious, download these files. Remember that they will be zipped and will look like this: Step 2: Open the spoiler tag posted below and follow the on-screen instructions! Remember that you can change the name of the new folder to anything you'd like. Step 3: Here is what your new folder will look like inside: Now, it's time to ask yourself if you are the proud owner of Windows 10! GOODNESS GRAVY! THIS NEXT PART IS IMPORTANT! Do you own Windows 10? If yes, read on, otherwise, proceed to Step 4. 1. Click this link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/qai2bden95yol6l/ith3-w10fix_v1.7z. 2. Download the file located in the link: 3. Extract the file using your zip program and move it into the folder you created as shown in the 1st spoiler tag of Step 3: 4. After replacing the program in the folder you created, proceed to Step 4. Step 4: Once you open ITH, click on the option tab at the top as shown below and make sure the "auto copy to clipboard" feature is highlighted. After doing this, simply close the program. Step 5: Almost done. Next, select the ITH updater as shown in your newly created folder above. When you open the folder, it will look something like this: Update ITH and update the profile by clicking on their respective buttons. You will know it is complete when the hash check has passed. After it is finished, simply hit the end button. Step 6: For the final step in this long process, let's test it out shall we? Start by opening the following programs: An untranslated Japanese visual novel The ITH program (always run it as an administrator by right clicking the program before you open it and selecting said option) Translator Aggregator With everything running, it should look something like this: After opening all of the programs, do the following as shown in the spoiler tag below: Next, click through a few lines to register them in the text hook process. I usually click about 3-5 lines to make sure it is working properly: End Task 4 Here Finally, the moment of truth! Does it look like this? If so, congratulations you've done it! All you need to do is follow step 6 in this process for every other game you want to play and it will hook the text for you. Have fun! And with that, the tasks are complete. Congratulations my friend, I have nothing left to teach you. Still, should you have any questions, feel free to ask them in this thread. On a side note, you may have noticed that I did not include instructions for installing ATLAS in this guide. If you would like to do that, simply buy the program located on the website and follow the instructions there. Sorry, but it isn't my place to provide guides for pirating content; if you'd like that, look elsewhere. That being said, thanks for reading, and enjoy. A very special thanks to Bolverk for providing all of the links in the Japanese resource thread located here, binaryfail for providing the ITH fixes for Windows 10 users, and to Down for doing what he does.

Mhmm, another poll. This time, the Fuwa blogs. Do you use them? And what do you think of them so far?

Don't worry guys I got this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUamHEvVQy0

if you're stupid enough to fall over a carpat that lays on top of your carpet because you just moved in and forgot that you put it there and then fuck up your nose because it was in front of a table you can also get really really really badly injured in your own 4 walls

already finished these and practically every single one of these in your profile

Moved to Ongoing projects! Good luck! You have all my support and if you need anything don't hesitate to contact me.

Really love that you've brought in some diversity in the cast. The protagonist and other characters look cool : ) One small typo that caught my eye: "a world I could escape too" should use "to" instead of "too." Good luck with the project!

That's a good point. The only times near perfect characters can be interesting is if they fall from their grace, Hell even Jesus temporarily died. Your bringing up Greek tragedy just reminded me of Aristotle, and I think he said something quite similar. How when glorious characters fall, they must also fall from a grave miscalculation (or fate). Allowing the audience to sympathize, since misfortune or poor judgement is something everyone has experienced before. Regarding comedies though, they require flawed characters to be interesting

Sounds like an ambitious project. Good luck!

Most vn's are still built around the so called "tabula rasa" factor in terms of protagonists; it's prevalent in the entire genre of eroge, charage and galge. They are meant to be as generic and average, so the average player will be able to connect with them better. This is not a case with heavy, story-centric vn's where the major difference remains in the quality of the writing and the sole fact they are often based more on actual prose (NVL), than a script (ADV). All of those aforementioned traits would create a seemingly perfect character, and those do not exist - at least not in good prose and neither in real life. For a character to be realistic as possible, he or she needs to be as humane, as possible; in other words - they can be good or bad, or neutral but never perfect. Characters we often care the most about are a mix of those two bags - they are either decent, but fraught with conflicts and personal issues, or evil while whatever they do can still be justified in a sympathetic kind of way, which makes us root for them nevertheless. This turned up to eleven makes a grey-grey (or actually grey-black) characters, which are often straightforward, honest and carry on holding up to their own morals and beliefs; they will often do both good and bad things, but they do them because "it was the right thing to do", not because something says so, but because it's what they do. The issue with vn's is that most heroes of eroge often tend to be two dimensional, paper characters because it's what the market demands. This is mainly because:

1) Waking up with a headache from sleeping in until noon 2) When the Shockwave plugin crashes on Chrome 3) When your waifu isn't real

They have to be popular, and be good enough to create mass disappointment once they are made.

Downloading now! Me so excited! I'll give you my impressions once I finish reading it.

If the BGM is good.

When I'm legitimately sad that it is over and it drives me to take a look at its' half-baked fandisks/spinoffs that are not translated, getting frustrated by the lack of scientific progression of mankind (aka the VN reader), than giving up on trying to learn japanese in a day and just look up the spoilers. Than I get mad at myself for putting that much effort into trying to read a cash-in on the franchise.

You know, for Futekikakasha I loved the characters' friendship with each other so much that it filled me up with happiness/admiration/adoration. Because the threat they faced wasn't developed, it didn't sink in as real just felt like a part of the plot to me. But it did surprise me near the end that made me dismay. Konakana didn't really hit me emotionally, though it was interesting enough to experience the utsuge (it's kinda different). Muramasa didn't strike home, but it still was depressing in parts. More noteworthy where the couple times were I found myself swallowing bile in horror/disgust. As my first VN, Saya no Uta had me depressed for 2 weeks. Can say I wasn't ready for it and didn't even realize what was happening for a while. Just felt empty and like a veil of heavy gloom was always weighing down above my eyes. Gin'iro still comes off as the best depressing work I have played: specifically the first story and it's special "pair" story you see near the end of the novel. The premise sets it up to utsuge-like at a high level already, and then the actual story is the right length (shortish), memorable in it's text, and has a number of lasting-impression scenes which convey the emotions well. ...And then the pair story. If the first was the tragic mournful moon, the god, this is a glimpse of its dark side. There's also Gore Screaming Show, which has pretty damn heavy routes in ADDITION to a gloomy common route. I almost felt like crying in Kiika's route, I couldn't take it. Some of the depressingness comes from VN's down to earthness: the characters and the description both reference real life more than most stories).

Part 4 was almost completely typed up and ready to go, but Chrome's shitty backspace shortcut fucked me over and caused me to go back a webpage, erasing all of my work. I'll retype as much as I can remember tomorrow evening. As for the good news, with summer here, I will hopefully be pumping these out at a much faster rate. Maybe we even get to the mess of MGS2 before June?

Kiri y u do dis... Stop being a west pleb

"These tools are a little niche, but if you’re interested in keeping up on the TL projects, they’re right up your alley." - Tay So it's also been a month since the whole VNTL updates aggregator thingymabob was implemented. Basically we have the aggregator of ongoing TL projects, and Tay's weekly TL update posts based on this aggregator. Thoughts and feedback are appreciated -- especially ways to use, improve, or expand upon the ideas. If you think a feature isn't helpful, please say so.

If i had to point out a problem it'd be the fact that it's very limiting since it's based off of RSS feeds. So if someone has a thread only project their updates won't show up, although it works fine for most of the projects so this isn't a big issue or anything, just a limiting factor.

No it shouldn't since you've already unlocked everything. In general VNs have two types of save files: Regular save files that records a position in the story, these are in theory risk free to share but in many cases shouldn't be, and the global save files that records what text you've already read, what cg's you've unlocked, what routes you've cleared and unlocked etc. This file should never be shared unless it's 100% completed. While sharing the regular save files should generally be risk fee it is often a bad idea because of the common presence of unlockable routes in VNs. For example if you load a save in UBW or HF in F/SN without having unlocked those routes and view a cg while playing the cg library will crash when you open it unless you unlock the routes normally. So in most cases it's just better to use the skip function if you need to get to a specific point to avoid issues.

In the words of Twitch chat: Show him Katawa Shoujo next, since it's the only VN you need for a beginner.

I can listen to Journey for hours on end, so amazing~ This Rewrite BGM is first that comes to mind with favorite BGMs

No, that's not legal. And I certainly don't trust a fan project to produce something that is even close to on par with ZE1 and 2. And what is the other half of the profits going to? Maybe they meant proceeds?