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This is an actual 11-year old girl who's a comedian lel

I'm not surprised rarely anyone outside from more sophisticated and experienced readers recommends Christine Love's games and that's fine. Then, you have new games, like Along the Edge; a great evn I'm sure barely anyone even heard of, despite having a topic on this forum? It's kind of sad people complain so much about EVN's - especially the hardcore otaku crowds - yet, at the same time, they outright refuse to reach out and discover what's it currently made of. Everyone just keeps on bickering about how "mediocre and low budget they are, yada yada" etc. But forget, that almost all prominent japanese studios began as doujin circles, with usually even smaller budgets (if any at all) than the current evn's. It took the genre in overall more than two decades to "grow up" and turn from sex romps into story-driven adventures and that was only the beginning of it's evolution. I'm sure evn's will achieve similiar results, just give them time; it's hard to talk about development, when their sole playerbase feels so detached.

Wow, that's so very nice from them to adjust to the inferior English market by producing some kusoge just for us instead of translating one of their better titles.

My opinion is closely aligned to Funyarinpa in his earlier message. I don't know if anyone else has spoken from the opinion of an OELVN dev yet, so i'll act as if i am the first. Naturally, i fall into the category of those who had their VN virginity brutally torn by Katawa Shoujo, but even then, after reading subsequent Japanese novels like G-senjou no maou, i never actually compared the two. Why? Because they were both great. This may sound like i'm trying to defend OELVNs but it's the undisputed truth. It doesn't matter how, why, what or who made a VN. A good story is a good story no matter what it's 'ripping off'. Some who've read this far might still disagree with my notion. Then let me explain a little further basing my opinion on facts and ideas. There are two popular VN forums sites for western otakus. There's our very own Fuwanovel and there's Lemmasoft. Fuwanovel strikes me as a Vn site that is mostly focused on Pure Japanese Vns as opposed to lemmasoft which tries to promote OELVNs. this is true because this forum has a sub-forum for OELVNs that sees even less action that most virgin NEETs. Neither of the sites are better than the other and neither of them are worse. But after browsing these two for a while, I've come to learn quite a few things about the differences between OELVNs and Jappy VNs. 1. Literature. OELVNs use a different style of literature as opposed to Jap Vns. To be precise, they are more focused on prose and the utilization of text heavy lines and powerfully fluid description. So it's almost like reading a paperback novel on screen with art. I myself dislike writing with prose, as i prefer utilizing Japanese literature and plot devices. An example would be the very well known Boke and tsukkomi routine (think Comyu). Most OELVNs are focused on delivering the story with excellent wording at the cost of visuals. 2. Art. Art is the main branching point and the OELVN's greatest weakness. i'll be blunt. Sometimes i see some projects on Lemmasoft and be awe-struck by the art used to depict characters... and not in a good way. It seems like OELVN devs are satisfied with utilizing low to medium-low quality for their projects to cut costs, as they are not companies who can shelve the heavy costs that comes with great art. Most of the freebies have low quality art, while the Commercial ones have medium low art. Like Funyarinpa stated, this community gathered because of Japanese art, music and style, so OELVNs with such art would have little to no impact on those used to the excellent qualities Jap Vns deliver. I'm an OELVN dev, yet I've never bothered to read a single OELVN except KS. (the ones I've edited and proofread don't count). This is because, before i am a writer, i am an Otaku. that means i love Japanese stuff. that means i want Japanese stuff. But attempting to produce something on the level of the Japanese is apparently being termed as a 'ripoff'. It makes you wonder what exactly the consumers want. Do they want westernized art? No. Do they want Japanese art? Yes, but not from you. A difficult situation indeed. 3. Communication. Another bane of OELVN creation. From what I've read/heard most Japanese devs are mostly located in a single room/complex/building during most of the VN's creation. Most OELVN devs do most of their communication over the internet. Something like this doesn't sound like a pressing problem from the perspective of a non-dev, but trust me, communication is what has lead to the crumbling and breakdown of most OELVNs. For example, an artist is working on a CG. Now CGs unlike sprites or Character designs, have to be done right from the get-go otherwise you're going to lose a lot of time in correcting it. So they send WIPs and Lineart sketches. You'd have to pray and hope your description and their understanding matched well, otherwise you'd have to restart. Jap devs, however, just need to look over their shoulder and check out their comrade's WIP, or the artist may even explain a better idea for positioning and perspective as opposed to the writers description. Also some associates on the EVN sphere can remain offline for days or weeks and there's absolutely nothing you can do but wait patiently for their return. The internet is difficult like that. 4. Commitment. Apart from one or two exceptions, most associates in the EVN creation are not fully committed to what they're doing, especially in the case of Artists. It seen by the style of advertising on lemmasoft. "Pay half to my paypal, i'll send a sketch and you pay the other half". After that payment is done the association has ended. Whatever the art is used for is not their problem, since it has been compensated by a few bucks. I'm not saying artists should work for free, but rather take a controlling share in what they draw for. Unfortunately for EVN devs 95% of artists aren't interest in Sales commitment or as it's called, "Rev-share". Yes, i know that economical and financial security play a part etc but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a problem. Another point under this, is that EVN artists hardly actually read the story their drawing for. I mean they just read the summary and draw based on whatever you give them alone, instead of mixing it with the emotions, perceptions and ideas you derived from reading. It still works for business purposes, but it would never match up to Jap Vns with their enthusiastic and moving work. Aside from these points, there are many other deep rooted and subtle difference that bar EVNs from making it big. I can't touch on everything since i don't have the energy for that, but i would spent a little more on talking about my 100% personal opinion. What the OP refers to as 'ripoffs' are those EVNs that utilize Japanese names for characters, Japanese locations and Japanese culture, while using western style literature, art etc and the writers themselves only have a second hand grasp of the Culture. Like Funyarinpa said, what the EVN community needs is that one (or two) project(s) that stands out from the rest with Art, Music and story that are original and compelling while delivering it in the style that Jap VN lovers want. Hopefully, with the increase of the EVN output, that one project may come sooner rather than later. EVNs may not be the best examples of VNs, but like all things that are shot down by humanity, it's just a mentality... which i'm also criminal of. Being someone who understands this very intimately, i hope that whatever i throw out would be to the satisfaction of both sides of the market and wouldn't fall into the demeaning category of 'ripoff'.

Obviously someone who has not tried many EVNs. Trust me, there are some really really good ones out there that do their own thing. You just aren't looking, and the community shits on them because they arent weeb enough

Description: Omni Link is a different kind of visual novel featuring space exploration, real-time combat, and choices that affect gameplay and story. Find love across the stars and learn what it takes to give everything you have for those you care about. Story: You play as Keb. A man of little consequence. An orphan without a past or a future. It's your first day on the job at Zaos Corporation when you encounter an alien vessel. Through a misunderstanding, your vessel explodes & binds you with an entity known as Ectype D-8, an attractive and powerful being of technology. You quickly learn that there is more to this ship and A.I. than meets the eye. The artificial intelligence is so advanced she is able to absorb energy from other ships and duplicate them. As well as use a mysterious ability called Omni Link. This comes at a time when an entity called "The Virus" awakens near the edge of the galaxy. Suns are disappearing and planets are dying. People discover that this threat is real. However, no one knows exactly what the Virus is or has lived to tell about it. On your journey you'll discover what it means to love and lose everything. The people you meet--a child prodigy, an ace pilot, a computer genius--will all come to depend on you to save them. Not because you're anything special... because you give everything you have. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W9-ySkjO-M&feature=youtu.be Steam Early Access: http://store.steampowered.com/app/529100/ Why Early Access? Besides my artist, and help from the game maker community, most everything else I've done alone. This includes advertisement, programming, most art, and I even wrote the theme song for the game. My excitement for the characters, the story, and gameplay has helped me work long hours. I can only do so much alone. I come to early access to involve you and ask for help. I want voice artists for the characters, more backgrounds, and art for you to enjoy. This is the only game of it's kind. A Man without a future Meets a woman from the past A powerful intelligence Links them together Learn from past mistakes A family to protect Adventure leads to strength Poll I added a poll that might be fun to fill out after you play the game and story. When we get to that point, I can learn what characters you like so I can focus on them or make changes if needed. If this thread lasts that long

*sighs*... Whirlpool really should stick to what they are best at... creating higher-tier charage (full cost) and just contract with a localization company.

まずはブランド的に新しい試みとして低価格帯タイトルの開発を進めております。 発売は春前ごろで海外向けに英語版でもリリース予定です。 http://blog.livedoor.jp/wp_staffblog/archives/cat_10021622.html What they are saying is basically that they are trying something new and will release a low price VN that will also have an English release. Release date will be winter/spring or so. http://store.steampowered.com/app/407310/

Not particularly. People don’t defend ‘bad’ OELVNs. However, people who come from a Japanese eroge background will tend to put a heavy emphasis on a) sex and b) art, and therefore dismiss OELVNs out of hand. People from a Japanese storytelling background will put emphasis on c) play time. This causes problems because these are not areas the industry outside Japan excel in. OELVNs tend to take the medium in a different direction than Japanese VNs. Japanese VNs are heavy on story and light on agency in games. OELVNs place a higher emphasis on agency, utilising to a fuller extent the ‘choice’ mechanic that the Japanese developers tend to use as a gimmick, but sacrifices overall length. Because of this, many people from the Japanese world will deride OELVNs for being crap because they don’t follow the priorities of the Japanese industry. Hypocritically though they then mock them when they’re TOO much like the Japanese industry. People into VNs for the ‘eroge’ will never like the direction OELVNs are going in. People into VNs for lengthy stories won’t appreciate that (currently) there isn’t the budget to make such things, or if there is more budget is spent on adding branches and consequences rather than length (like a book.) VNs are one of the unique mediums that can take advantage of non-linear storytelling. Interactive storytelling. Player choice and consequence. OELVNs are heading in a direction where all of these things are explored, Japanese VNs tend to be books with pictures. In the Japanese industry, hardly any of the advantages of the medium are currently being explored, and most VNs can easily be written as books. On the whole it's a stagnant industry. I find the Japanese industry comparatively boring. That is, they don't tell as good a story as a novel, but they want to pretend they are. Maybe one day they'll awaken to the potential of the medium they're writing in and I'll be interested, but at the moment I don't get anything from a Japanese VN that I don't get from a novel. I can go into more detail, but suffice to say that the OELVN industry is one with incredible potential, is growing rapidly, but is often derided by people unwilling to give it a chance. That is why they’re defended so vigorously. PS: I'd apologise for using the dreadful term 'OELVN' so much but alas, there's no suitable other atm.

Hm. In no particular order I'd say: Evangelion Yamato 2199 Patlabor (everything) Gunbuster Harlock 78 Gurren Lagann GaoGaiGar Planetes Rahxephon Zeta Gundam And worth seeing movies include Macross DYRL, Waga seishun no Arcadia, the two Galaxy Express 999 movies, the three Gundam 0079 movies... I'm probably forgetting stuff. Of course you've seen some of those already, but well.

Hey guys, It's dfbreezy here, your greenhorn Vn writer who's gonna use this blog to educate and enlighten readers as to the deeper workings and challenges in VN creation. The topic i'm going to choose for today would be Vn project recruitment. VN recruitment sounds easy at first because, hey, all you have to do is post an ad and wait for the interested parties to flow, right? Unfortunately that particular thinking process was quashed in a very short while. If you have ready and available money to pay, recruitment is never a problem. In such a situation it all boils down to what you want and how much you're willing to pay. But for a newbie, unemployed university student (like myself), such feats of maturity are far beyond our grasp. Recruiting for a free project is actually easier than recruiting for a paid project with delayed payment. That's because when recruiting for a free project, members are aware that there is no monetary gain whatsoever. For a commercial project, team members expect some form of compensation for their work (not always monetary), so in the case of money, they expect upfront payment. They may have their own complex pricing methods or they may utilize a general flat fee, but all in all, you have to pay something. Being a penniless soul planning to gather funding from Kickstarter, i tried to recruit a team of people on the notion of delayed payment. This, was the most trying time in the production process for me. This particular duty was made much harder due to the fact that all this is transpiring over the internet. Without seeing my face and knowing my name, i attempted to gather people to help produce my idea on the promise of future money that may or may not come depending on various factors. Laughable isn't it? But it didn't fail completely. With not a single penny exiting my pocket, i managed to gather writers, A programmer and composers. Satisfied with my recruitment, i turned to what i thought to be the easiest avenue. Artists. To sum it up, it took a whole month and 15 rejections for me to finally fill up those positions. Hardly anyone wanted to take the risk of trusting a newbie with no money with their time and experience. There's no way you can blame them for that... after all it doesn't align with reason to take such a risk. Nevertheless i gathered a suitable team and work begun on the project. Episicava had hit off and was going smoothly. I had quite a bit of a breather and a sudden increase in my leisure time, so i decided to work on a small scale project while Episicava's assets were being worked on. The recruitment process for RD wasn't as difficult as that of Episicava since, i fully utilized my wealth of information and tactful wording to gather a second team. It took me about 2 weeks to gather a full team for RD as opposed to the one month+ time it took for Episicava. Experience really is the best teacher. There are probably a few others in the same position as i am, wanting to work on an idea they have, but not being sure of it's advisable to move forward and recruit. To all those in such a situation, the truth of the matter would be to not recruit yet and to rather gather some funds, say at least $1000- $2000 if you're planning to use low quality assets. Another is to do the impossible and convince someone to work for free on a commercial project. If there's someone who can perform such a feat, i tip my hat off to you. To round up my short essay, recruitment, whether free or commercial, whether EVN or another language, would possess and create it's own challenges that only the lead dev can solve with his own power and actions. That is... if you don't have a dime to your name.

EXTERMINATE!!!!

More like, won't be an "english-centric thing" only. I don't want japanese studios to treat western playerbase like a foster child of vn industry. We deserve better treatment.

If more JP companies do this then maybe, OELVN can be eliminated?

Lol, actually Tali was the character I liked the least and the only one that wasn't loyal to me. I was somehow furious that she wanted to hide the actions of her father and come up with some poor lies instead. Well, I made sure that every single being in the whole galaxy got to know it and I didn't care that she hated me for it.

Persona 4 Golden. It sucked me in. Buying a VITA was an enjoyable mistake.

I'm new to the scene. I watch anime and have been writing for a long time, but I decided to make my first game and finish my first anime story. It's called Omni Link. The forum link has a video and outline: I also make 2D graphics and since my strength is sci-fi, that's were I decided to take my story. I love science fiction. When it comes time, I'll be on the lookout for good voice artists if you know any.

If there's anything that's dying right now, it's the olden fan community. We played our part and we're not really required anymore. The new playerbase is already voicing their opinions with their wallets, as things should be and all's fine with the world. It's an exciting time to be a vn fan.

I agree! I feel like this was kind of directed at me either way, so I'd like to clarify something. I'd like to clarify that I just meant to say that Japanese developers are far more likely to have a good grasp of Japanese cultural and artistic conventions and the skill to utilize that knowledge, compared to a given foreign VN developer. As a result , when foreign VN developers try to imitate VNs made in Japan in terms of literary and structural devices, they usually fail compared to Japanese VNs; this was one of my points as to why OELVNs trying to imitate Japanese art styles, etc. are very likely to fail.

Mmmmmmm, yummy Rooke. Tastes likes chicken.

Macross for the dogfights Patlabor 2 for the politics Nadesico for the satire Evangelion if you like pseudo-philosophy Planetes for the realism Harlock because you like pirates Gundam if you like war robots, but then again if you like war robots then why not watch ... Voltron Legendary defender (new series) - I know it’s not anime, but bite me.

Macross. All of it. Even Zero. When you're familiar with the whole franchise Frontier and (16 episodes into) Delta are beyond tremendous. The original changed all of the rules for anime and Plus has greatly grown on me over the years. Kidou Senkan Nadesico, and then of course, my fansub of the Gekigangar 3 OVA. It's a different take on the genre, definitely made by fans for fans. If not, it certainly comes across that way. As people have mentioned, Evangelion and Gunbuster are both required viewing.

I've only seen Pacific Rim... Loved that though, and how incredibly anime it is despite not being anime

That is your opinion. If you don't like it then fine, but no need to cut down something I enjoyed. I thought Gurren Lagan was stupid, but I never said anything like that, I kept it to myself. If you dislike something someone else enjoyed. fine but keep your comments friendly. The one thing I will agree with you on however was the ending.

I haven't watched it in well over ten years, but The Big O is a classic and probably worth your time. I've been meaning to watch it again, actually.

Hello! Hm. You'll want to stay away from titles with philosophy or intricate battle scenes, I guess. Maybe try out Planetarian or Deardrops. They're far from my favorite and my memory on the two is a bit foggy, but their english should be alright.

This is pretty cool, it would be nice to see some Whirlpool titles TLed. Maybe this will open up for more TLs in the future.

I predict this being taken down from Steam in 3... 2... 1...

Shouldn't matter for Clephas

Alright, thanks for the tip.

Still alive. The editor and me were talking about it a few weeks ago.

Have commercial releases eliminated doujinge market? No. OELVNs are just like doujinges and people do them because they enjoy it.

The first one. I'm pretty sure Mizunokuchi is the name of a place, not a person. The second one 2010年宇宙の旅 is 2010: Odyssey Two, the sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 2010 the film climaxes with Jupiter gets turned into a miniature Sun to fuel the growth of new life on Europa. So obviously someone is a sci-fi nerd. How that relates to gaming I have no idea. Also the formatting for this site sucks. Is there a way to edit in HTML?

I would like to play Secret Hitler, but I don't have enough people to play it with most of the time. So I was thinking I'd see how many people here play it or want to play it. I do have a Discord group for Tabletop Simulator. We mostly play Snake Oil and Funemployed, but I'd like to add SH to our repertoire.

The main writer left after the first one, which is why ME1 had a plot and ME2 was a glorified recruitment drive. It's not. ME1 is considered the strongest RPG, ME3 is the strongest gaming experience (and most polished.) ME2 is considered the weakest RPG of the three. Some RPG mechanics were put back into the 3rd one after complaints. The people who tell you ME2 is the strongest game are a) not hardcore RPG fans and b) still sad over the ME3 ending. 95% of the ME3 game is quite superior to ME2.

It isn't hairsplitting, actually. Nothing exists in a vacuum, everything exists relative to something else. I do 80 km/hr in my car RELATIVE to the ground. I'm happy RELATIVE to my default condition. This ice cream is tasty RELATIVE to my normal food (and especially when compared to this side of brussel sprouts.) The ball was passed forward relative to the passer, not travelled forward relative to the ground. When someone describes something as 'meaningless' they usually mean 'meaningless RELATIVE to my ideas of worth and what I perceive to be entertaining and important'. Unless of course they mean 'meaningless' relative to the games goals, but usually they'll explicitly say this in this scenario. Because the idea of a meaningless activity is relative to the person, it's useless as a general definition of a concept. Each person will have a different definition of the genre. So just some background material first. Diablo involves grinding for loot, which tends to be a bit different than grinding for levels. There's not much point grinding for levels in Diablo, when you started the original game people sought to get to nightmare as quickly as possible. You reach the level to unlock nightmare before you finish the game. I don't see much purpose grinding for levels TBH. Grinding for loot means the consumer is consistently rewarded for his activity, or anticipates the prospect of being rewarded for his activities. This is why so many people get addicted, it's a reward mechanism. Grinding for levels features no such reward mechanism. It's why it's an inferior mechanic when talking about consumer entertainment. It's inferior because there's nothing to make those activities enjoyable (except possibly a detailed combat system.) So what is grinding? Grinding for levels is gathering experience points for no other purpose than to gather experience points. When grinding for loot, the sole purpose behind those activities is searching for loot. In Etrian Odyssey the player's purpose is usually to reach the end of a dungeon, it's not grinding. In most Western RPGs there's a purpose other than gathering levels, which makes it not grinding. This isn't splitting hairs, it's getting to what grinding is and why grinding for levels is looked down on. What about those games where there's set monsters on the map and they don't regenerate? I answered the second question just above. What makes Fata Morgana an ... English style VN? Dear Western VNs, feel free to use as much English voice acting as you like. Go long, go hard :3

Finished Mass Effect 2 just now. Pretty epic ending although I think the story wasn't as good as in the first part. I mean, technically 80% of the game was gathering your team together. Each member then got a loyalty quest and then hardly interacted with you anymore. It was impressivly done, very cinematic and almost like an interactive movie, but it doesn't change the fact the story structure was extremely simplistic. It makes me wonder why ME2 is considered the strongest part of the series. Were people really that annoyed by the mako?! The resource gathering in ME2 wasn't that great either.

If people want generic stuff then let them have it.

Speaking of opinions, I'm of the opinion that people that speak ill of Western VNs have not played sufficient samples to form any sort of conclusion, and rely on, indeed, popular opinion (Sakura Titles are particularly popular despite being some of the worst examples) and art quality, which by itself is sufficient to make them scoff. Clearly, this must be utterly terrible. https://s.vndb.org/sf/24/43124.jpg Never mind trying the title, all Western VNs are crap anyway. Well, in my magnanimosity, I am willing to understand that art and budget are big factors to some people. Indeed, Umineko and Higurashi, as well as Muv-Luv, Ever7 and some older VNs have people not playing them because their art looks dated; and, oh, my voice acting! and, oh, my pretty interface! -- so it's not discrimination limited to Western VNs per say. Then comes the cyclical problem that Funyarinpa mentioned. If people refuse to buy their games, well, there's never going to be a bloody budget! Look at Sunrider: It comes as close to being a full budget Western VN as we've ever had. Plenty of sprites, CGs and (Japanese) voice acting, as well as a (Japanese) opening. All this because of the Kickstarter moneyz; certainly not off the sales of its, initial, free game, Mask of Arcadius. On the English side, I can think of few other titles besides Just Deserts that were voice acted and, as usual, when the game has voice acting, you have to make cuts somewhere, and as for this title, it's just filled with grindy gameplay. At the end of the day, the power of Western VNs lies in their pricing. You won't find them much more expensive than 20 dollars (most are either free or around 10), unlike almost all their Japanese counterparts (lying at somewhere around or above 40). Unless you're Sunrider, with, you guessed it! Its above average budget! The problem is the industry itself. When you're in an industry filled with corsairs, the power of low pricing does not seem to help you much.

Well, there's a cliff between the reputation of OELVNs and Japanese VNs in the VN community, and for good reason- most if not all OELVN producers are very small-scale startups that find their employees in the English VN development industry, which is in its infancy if you ask me (an example: the sheer amount of the "I found out about VNs, I liked them, now I want to create one!" threads and the number of OELVNs created with this mentality is insane). As a result, cyclically, there's less budget and less talent to go around; which makes relatively less money, which lends a comparatively less budget for future works, and so on. Furthermore, the developers being Western (assuming) while imitating a Japanese style of storytelling and art means that they will likely have some trouble with it as opposed to somebody who has grown up/been intimately familiar with Japanese culture and content from the outset (race isn't the defining factor, but upbringing/history of developers is- it determines the amount of exposure they have received of Japanese culture). It's just due to this disproportionate amount of exposure: It's only logical to expect that somebody who grew up within a culture and specialized in something related to that to be more proficient to some extent compared to somebody who decided to immerse themselves in that culture afterwards. I'm also talking about general trends, not individuals. It goes without saying that very few Japanese work on a VN being developed primarily by non-Japanese. The industry is divided in that regard. The VN community, logically, is (overwhelmingly) comprised of people who enjoy Japanese media- in its current state, you cannot sustain a hobby of VNs without having some level of interest for Japanese culture; there are way too few VNs out there not shaped to some extent by Japanese culture for that. So, it's natural in a sense that OELVNs are trying to replicate Japanese VNs- that's what the VN fanbase has congregated for. It is also worth noting here the true roles of Westerners (hereafter I'll use "Westerners" as simply a substitute for "non-Japanese") in the VN industry. The Japanese make VNs the Japanese want, and the interests and tastes of some people outside Japan align with these creations. These people whose tastes align with the Japanese are the Western VN community: We are (mostly, though there are exceptions like 999 receiving a sequel thanks to Western acclaim) outliers, and the Japanese VN industry just interacts with us for more resources and a bigger audience/customer base. Western thinking and culture has very little bearing on the Japanese VN industry's development process. Japanese VNs do not try to adapt themselves to include more foreigners, the foreign fanbase that exists has aligned itself to the Japanese part of the industry. As said before, the existing VN fans like the output of the Japanese. Due to the nature and structure of the industry, Japanese VN developers are far more successful at delivering this output. This puts OELVN developers between a rock and a hard place: If they try to "be Japanese", they are outclassed on every count. If they try to be wholly original, then they will be unable to attract the majority of the community. As such, OELVNs -and their developers- are rendered unable to influence the industry by themselves. The Western fandom, as said before, is founded on feeding from the Japanese VN industry- it adds practically no original thing of value or influence to the VN sphere. As such, unless it restructures itself to be less about Japanese stuff in VNs (all your -deres and classic slice of life novels and your moege) and more about the merit of the format and the stories the medium can tell, it can change nothing on a wide scale. However, this is also unlikely to be realized: It is very difficult to shift a community to principles and perspectives so wildly different from the ones that brought about the community in the first place (e.g. it's very difficult for anyone to cause the current VN community, based around Japanese culture, to shift towards appreciation of "telling a story via text, art and music all at once"). The amount of VNs with literary merit (independent of major influence of Japanese culture) is not sufficient to uphold and sustain the interest of the current VN community. This only leaves Japan itself as the possible catalyst of change toward a more global VN medium. However, why would Japan be compelled to do so? After all, the industry sustains itself on the Japanese works, the developers are most proficient in those sorts of works, those sorts of works are the ones that sell, that form the backbone of the VN customer base, that give the VN industry its reputation and determine the first impression it creates. Thus, Japan has no compelling reason to globalize the VN industry. Outside interference cannot be considered possibly influential on its own, for the current state of VNs is the thing that determines who joins the VN community, and why: Any influence on the community from the outside will be one that supports the current state of the industry and drives it in that direction. People won't become interested in VNs because they want to globalize and popularize the medium, they will do so because they like the Japanese (anime) culture, and as such, they won't be compelled to bring about a fundamental change into the industry. Therefore, there has to be vast cooperation within the whole VN industry if we want to see VNs as a global medium. Japanese developers and fans have to want it, the Western fandom ought to be especially supportive of it, and OELVN writers, instead of trying to snag themselves a spot in the Japanese status quo, need to create original works in this industry that take it beyond what we've come to think of about VNs if they want to ever be considered a serious part of the VN industry.

>EVN's are meh >KS is an exception because it was first This can't sound any more biased Instead making another pointless topic, where people will repeat the same things over and over again, why not use search and add something meaningful to one of the already existing topics? Like this one or this one, for example?

It says a lot when the best OELVN was done for free by some random chanfags.

But I was the first to express a reasoned impression of the game. Aren't the people who deliberately disagree with me and are only arguing with "muh feels" the edgy ones? Remember the time when "egdy" wasn't an insult used by third generation otakus to revile well thought out criticism of their favorite escapism outlets? Ah, good times.

My copy of Island arrived finally... and I bought a fooking weeb key chain ain't that weeb

Happy late 24th birthday here, @bigfatround0. Although your post earlier here slightly controversial (And at some time I argue with you), I still hoping you would had good year ahead of course.