Leaderboard

Something I'm sure people have noticed in my posts in this blog is that I almost invariably compare VNs I'm reading on to either a genre standard or a similar VN in the past. To be blunt, this is a shortcut, as it is incredibly tedious to write out an extensive analysis of a genre-typical something that is only minutely different from a hundred other VNs of the same type. Comparisons provide a frame of reference, giving the readers a chance to figure out what they can expect based on previous experiences. In that way, my VN blog is a bit more geared toward relatively 'experienced' readers of VNs than it is to those just getting into reading VNs. After all, if you have never read a charage, you won't have any point of reference to understand what I'm referring to when I indicate something is a charage. Understand, I recognize this limitation... and in the end I have to shrug. One of the issues I've made a point of reinforcing in the past, when working on VN of the Month, is to eliminate spoilers and try to be as objective as is possible, though in some cases this involves me posting something immediately previous that warns the readers about my prejudices and how they are likely to effect my viewpoint on what I'm reading. I'm categorically prejudiced against Minori, for instance... and just letting people know just how I feel prior to posting on a Minori game (and reminding them each time another one comes out) gives you a realistic expectation of how I will be looking at the VN in question. Similarly, I periodically reinforce the knowledge of my dislike of the charage genre (or rather, my dislike of many of its conventions) to help those who read my blog keep in mind that it isn't exactly my favorite genre. In the case of chuunige, my prejudice is in perfect opposition to my prejudice with charage. I am naturally inclined to give chuunige and fantasy VNs in general far more leeway than I would ever grant any charage... and thus I almost inevitably make an effort to savage any chuunige I play critically in retrospect. A perfect example would be Zero Infinity and Electro Arms... both are by Light, a company I adore... and both are games that I found to be immensely fun to play. However, in both cases I found myself lingering on their faults in the aftermath, savagely criticizing Zero Infinity's blatant Masada-worship and Electro-Arms' prolific sub-heroine paths and obsession with busty main heroines. Did this mean I didn't like them? Quite the opposite. I enjoyed both immensely... but I felt obligated to be even harsher than them than I would have with a charage. Similar things occur whenever I find myself getting deeply interested in a VN. I feel a sick need to nitpick at something, the more I'm enjoying it, as if I were some masochistic fanboy that likes driving himself into a rage. This is a disease that has crept in as I've been posting on VNs, making it difficult for me to just sit back and enjoy the ride with many that I otherwise would have at least given a better chance. Understand, some of those VNs I would have enjoyed immensely before I hit the three hundred VN mark. Unfortunately, my habit of blogging on just about everything I play has left me with a sense of obligation to those who read this blog, to be as unbiased as it is possible to be or to at least warn those reading about my prejudice and bias beforehand. As a clarification, I was never particularly fond of the dating stage of a charage heroine's path... just to let you know. 'Cute' interactions grow stale really quickly when you've seen it a hundred times before (literally) in all its permutations. It is also why I inevitably praise routes that step off the beaten path if they don't suck outright.

You are hired by FuwaReviews effective immediately.

Uh, no, it really doesn't. It reads like crap if you can understand English well enough to see when a sentence is clunky. Going off of the description of the game's Steam page (since I refuse to buy it), the English looks pretty terrible. Want me to point out a few choice mistakes? By the way, I'm not an English major. I've taken beginning English classes in college, which are mandatory for everyone, and high school English classes before that. I haven't taken any advanced English classes and I don't write that much in my spare time. "Training" would be a better word choice to go along with "apprentice", but it's passable. Not much wrong with this sentence, honestly, other than that it lacks detail. It would have been nice if they described Adonis is some form, instead of just plopping him into our laps as (presumably) a male that wants to be a dragon tamer. Without even noting the lack of a "the" before "forest", this sentence is pretty crappy. A sentence that would read much better would be something like, "One day, while training alone in the forest, he meets a dragon girl named Mint.". While simply stating the dragon girl's name directly after describing what she is works for basic comprehension, it's extremely sloppy. If they really didn't want to use "named", they should have done something like "...meets a dragon girl, Mint, while he...". Overall, not a terrible sentence, but it's not good for readability, and the "trains alone in forest" makes it sound like it was written by someone that has a poor grasp on English. Surprise, surprise. I'd personally use past tense for this whole description, as present is kind of odd for this, IMO, but it's not really that big of a deal and is more about my writing style. This literally makes no sense. Never having a girlfriend wouldn't prevent someone from calling them daddy. It's not normal in everyday life to just call people "daddy", but the second half of this sentence doesn't mention this, does it? Furthermore, "girlfriend" is the word they were looking for, as "girl friend" is one of the ways people will use to prevent people from thinking that they're in a relationship when they're really just friends with a girl. To someone that's fluent in English, this could be taken to mean that he's never had a single friend that was female, and as such, is a poorly constructed sentence. Is it implying that since he's never had a girlfriend, he's never had a chance to reproduce, and that's why being called "daddy" is weird? I don't know, because the sentence doesn't really say that. If the reader has to go out of their way to figure out the meaning of a sentence, then you've done a pretty bad job at writing. "He EXPLAINS her...". Dafuq? You can't explain someone. You explain things to people. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt here and just assume that they forgot to add in a "to", and not that they're incompetent and don't understand how to properly use "explain". Missing comma between "but" and "mistake". Some comma placements are optional, but this one is not. It's basic sentence structure. Ugh. This sentence is the worst one so far. Get ready for a quite a few complaints. "In confusion" is a pretty bad way to start a sentence. It's typically used for short moments where the subject is confused, not long periods of time. It makes it sound like he's confused and just wanders over to Dannan's house while having no idea what's happening or why he's there. A more typical usage of "in confusion" would be "In the confusion, Bob ran into Lisa and dropped his candy bar." Not technically incorrect, as far as I can tell, but it sounds pretty stupid. Also, there's yet another missing "to". I'm sensing a pattern here. "...what he is confessed there..." What the actual hell?! Where's the person confessing to him? You need someone doing the confessing to have the subject hear a confession. It's also the wrong word to use there, and no, synonyms can't all be used interchangeably. "Confession" has a negative connotation, usually one of guilt from doing something wrong. You'd "confess" to the cops when they catch you, you'd "confess" to having cheated on your wife, or your parents would "confess" that you were adopted. You wouldn't "confess" to the main character that a girl is destined to be trained by the main character, especially when the girl has only just appeared and the person (Dannan? I don't know, it doesn't say. His name has now also been spelled "Danan" and "Dannan". Pick one, for God's sake.) wasn't specifically intending to deceive him. Something like "learns" or "discovers" makes the sentence a little less stupid. Hell, even "told" makes much more sense the way the sentence is written. "...is the fact that Mint is the girl who destines him as a dragon tamer." Ummm...is she destined to him as a dragon trainer, for him to train? If so, that would be yet another missing "to". Am I to assume that her mere existence shapes his destiny, or does she read his tea leaves to tell him his destiny or some other bullshit? I thought he was already training to be a dragon trainer. This raises so many questions that I really don't care about. "Memory loss dragon girl"? WTF is this garbage? They've already given Mint a name, so why shouldn't they use it earlier in the sentence, where it would make the most sense? Is this really a good way to refer to a character, by summing up all of their attributes? I guess I can now walk up to my friend and say, "Hey, tall brown-haired college man!", and he'd look up, knowing that I was talking to him, and not think my choice of words was weird in any way. "Makes a contract with" or "agrees to be the partner of" would both be better choices here, without completely re-writing the beginning part of the sentence. "Contract" is a very formal word, usually for legally binding agreements. It doesn't really fit in this sentence all that well. Did they draw up a contract and have both parties sign, or something? Because that's kind of what it sounds like. Is Adonis being employed by Mint to help rediscover her memory? That would be quite odd. "...and they begin their journey to see around the world in order to find out Mint's lost memory." Replace "see" with "travel", it's a terrible word choice unless they're just visually searching the world without leaving a set place. "Rediscover" would be a more apt word than "find out". Trying to "find out" someone's lost memory sounds hilariously stupid, and isn't something most people would choose to say if they had a decent vocabulary. So, yeah, it's quite shitty. I'm sure an English teacher or major could rip even more holes in that tiny description than I did. Also, notice how the official screenshots only have extremely simple sentences that consist of only a couple of words. It's almost like they're trying to hide that they're unable to string together longer sentences without them sounding like broken English. Who'da thunk it This whole description reads like it was written by someone that is learning English as a second language, and is mostly relying on dictionaries and spell-check to make sure what they're saying makes any sense at all. I wouldn't even read it if it was free, which it isn't.

Hey guys! There's really no reason I'm posting this but......have a nice day I guess?

Eclipsed is Louise. Louise is Eclipsed. So it has ever been. So it shall always be.

Seriously

confession: I reached 4k posts and it doesnt feel special D:

To me, some of the best games that are must-plays are platformers, like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy (masterpieces among Mario games), Sonic Adventure 2 (regarded really faithfully despite its flaws), the Donkey Kong Country series (old or new, they're both fun and creative), Kirby's Return to Dreamland (the best Kirby entry to date), Banjo-Kazooie (the classics), RosenkreuzStilette (a faithful shout-out to both Mega Man and Castlevania), and Cave Story (the granddaddy of indie games). And also SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom because it's a good underrated gem of a platformer, but I'm embarrassed to suggest this because it's SpongeBob. For RPGs, the Tales series is worth trying too, especially Symphonia, Abyss, and Vesperia, which are considered the best in the series. Xenoblade Chronicles is a masterpiece that should never be left out because of how awesome it is. And while this may be controversial to some, I still recommend giving the Neptunia series a try because of its characters and plenty of shout outs to gaming and pop culture. And while this may turn some people off because of the sheer difficulty, the Touhou games are worth trying out too.

I personally find it fascinating as a case of study. I really meant it when I said it's the king of generic anime. It's like the best anime to study genre-particular clichés and how to do them the worst possible, and the art of making blockbusters out of terrible material without improving the source one bit. The MC is a Frankenstein monster of all the MC clichés that exist, the heroine is the awful kind of tsundere that makes 0 sense, the deadpan loli is just lazy and broken, the boobfest loli is an example of sexism in anime, etc. I love it xD

>calling anything made by Overflow a masterpiece >implying subjective tastes in storytelling are universal Obvious troll is obvious, guys. Why is anyone even talking with this guy again? This is obvious clickbait garbage intended to start an argument.

This is probably why everyone left. Look, there's a small supply of people willing to work on these projects for free. There's more games than could ever be translated by the community. There's more good games that people want than could ever be translated. Your project's work need to be extensively redone, other projects' doesn't. I know it's hard to put yourself out there and ask for help, and get none. I was worried the same thing would happen to my project. But you aren't entitled to help, and people aren't selfish for not working for you for free.

I'm sorry but lashing out at the community and blaming them on the quality of your work doesn't reflect very well on you. The reason nobody wants to be your proofreader is because the level of quality is actually so poor that literally every single line would have to be rewritten from the ground-up. It really is that bad. That's an unreasonable service to expect from people and no one is selfish for not wanting to do it. You're sounding very entitled right now.

Ok. and I don't really care about someones opinion who thinks that Summer Days is a good VN

What are some games you've played that were so good, you'd recommend them to almost anyone? This is sort of a recommendation thread where you explain why these games are such a masterpiece and why they are "must-plays". I don't personally have any games that I'd call must-plays or masterpieces, but I do have a few I enjoy that I'd urge others to play. Namely the Ace Attorney games (mostly to those that have never heard of it, since pretty much everyone I know knows about them), because of it's well thought out and intricate mysteries, along with it's comedy sections and a healthy helping of drama. Catherine, for it's moral choices, more-than-meets-the-eye story and challenging puzzles. And the Hitman series, for it's excellent stealth mechanics and (mostly) non-linear level design. Basically, what are some games that you've enjoyed thoroughly, and why did you enjoy them so?

Hey there Fuwa-community! I am Youssef (most ppl irl call me Yoshi), currently living in germany. I'm still a student and not quite a VN-veteran yet, but I'm working on it. I've read about 30 VN at this point (favorites being "Rewrite, Little Busters!, the 3 Grisaia-games and Aiyoku no Eustia) and watched quite a bit of anime (favorites being Guilty Crown, Charlotte and Angel Beats!) as well. I enjoy JRPGs like the "Tales of..."-series and most anime-related content in general. I'd be happy to talk about anything of the above, share my opinion and get to know your opinion(s) on the topic (as there's barely anyone I can talk to about those topics ). Ahh and I also play League, if... well I doubt it matters here at all. xD But anyways, enough about me and since I can't seem to find any other solutions, let's end this with one of the most cliche phrases I know of: I really hope to get along with you all!

Well, 7.5 is usually considered 8 in these cases. Even Wikipedia asks for donations, so your question is very interesting.

7+8=15 ... 15/2=7.5 ... Am I missing something? xD

For the record, if I watched this right after something like Rakudai kishi no Calvary I would've burned Asterisk to the ground fierce no hesitation, but for now I'm a tasteless ignorant sap

I liked Nana's hair style most, so I voted for her. I hope I didn't flunk this test.

Not sure if this counts as it isn't strictly a vn the same way that Zero Time Dilemma isn't and it still focuses on sexual harassment as the primary "plot" motivator, but Itazura Gokuaku is a personal favorite game of mine. The basic overarching plot is the protagonist stalks and molests one of the heroines, while gathering info on them till they have enough to blackmail the heroine into engaging in sex acts. I should also mention that the gang-rape content is completely optional if that stuff isn't your thing and the endings are probably the happiest of any visual novel that focus on rape. Here is the vndb link https://vndb.org/v1758

I realize that everyone has different taste, I meant to create a thread where everyone can share their opinion on what "must-play" games are. I also realize that there is no such thing as a "must-play" video game, hence why I have quotation marks. By "must-play", I mean games that a particular person enjoyed and would strongly recommend to others. Not that the person must play them, but simply that another loved it and would like for them to play it.

You should have compared Rewrite to Kiminozo from the beginning, people could have taken you seriously.

Rewrite is definitely Key's weakest work and a game that ultimately highlights their fall as a studio, at least for me. However, with that kind of comparison OP made, he can't be taken seriously.

People have such shit tastes

It's not my favourite game, but I'd really recommend people play The Talos Principle due to its interesting take on the puzzle genre. The main puzzles themselves are difficult, but then you've got puzzles between puzzles, and puzzles to get to more puzzles... all wrapped up in a pseudo-philosophical storyline based around a robot fella that may or may not have a god. And it's really, really nice to look at. I'd recommend Football Manager as I've played it pathologically for years, but... I've played it pathologically for years. Don't do FM, kids.

As adorable as Nana is, Louise not being next to your name confuses me even now.

Disgusting

As for albums, I can recommend "Ultra Beatdown" and "Sonic Firestorm" As for individual songs, I can recommend you to give a listen to "Defenders", "Symphony of the Night" and "Seaons". Beware though, Defenders, Symphony of the Night and Seasons have a new singer, but I actually like his voice a lot. But I can understand why people say that ZP Theart (the old singer) was better

lol... Doshikuro doesn't come into its own until the final path, so I can honestly say that it was a crappy ride until I got there. The constant choices made it ten times worse an experience that it otherwise would have been, too... The protagonist's fetishism was reasonably funny but the main game was a miserable experience as a whole, despite its funny moments. It was only when it was complete that I felt like I'd enjoyed myself... so I stand by my original decision to drop it, as well as my rating for it when I went back and finished it.

Too late

We can still call him that.

I do believe this means, the aircraft body needs checking and inspecting and err, it must be done otherwise it's not kay? Cause, burden.

Another thing with light novels is that the way they're structured is because of the Japanese language. They're written in simplified kanji in order to save young readers a lot of trouble of having to look up complex definitions from dictionaries, which actually works in Japan, but not so much when they're translated into English. When they get translated, the simplified kanji actually results in broken sentence structures of exposition and telling, which when compared to an actual OEL novel, is not really neatly organized. To someone who has read, say, Harry Potter or The Hobbit, if they switched to reading a light novel afterwards, the reader will find the difference between the literary quality glaringly obvious. It should also be noted that a lot of more recent light novels are intentionally being written as scripts for possible anime adaptations, since a lot of Japanese authors nowadays really like to see their work get adapted. This causes their structure, when translated to English, to break up even more. I'm not saying light novels are bad (I enjoy reading them myself), however from a literary standpoint in the English literature industry, they just don't amount to much. But if you still want the light novel feel in your story, then what I recommend doing is reading actual English novels to learn their more organized structures while still retaining that feel you're going for. Just be sure to avoid a lot of anime and Japanese references since a lot of English readers will never understand them, unless your target audience is the anime fanbase that is.

Welp... I didn't plan to outright do this on my first day in the forums, but hey: I just HAD to reply to this topic. Rewrite was legitimately the first VN I've ever read. I really wasn't that used to reading fluent, english text yet and I also wasn't used to the general concept of VN at all. Oddly enough, I finished Rewrite within less than a month, completing all routes (except the hidden, bonus route). In hindsight I had the time of my life. I often hear people talk about Rewrite's common route being way too long. And I might have to agree, because many people make valid points on this argument. HOWEVER, It didn't feel that way to me at all when reading Rewrite for the first time. I laughed at the hilarious comedy, all the stupid stuff Kotarou does with the occult club and other characters. Nothing they did was completely meaningless to the plot, because these "useless" scenes were meant to deepen the relationship between multiple characters as well as give you a chance to get to really like them. In short: It gave life to the main heroines. While I have to admit that other VN have better art, I don't think the same goes for the music. I can't count the times I at least teared up when hearing "Koibumi"/"To you who never lies" even years later. Proof, that the story really touched me (; I will always remember you Shizuru ). While I definitely can't agree with your opinion, I can accept that you find Rewrite lacking in some departments (I will refrain from mentioning the "Days"-series at this point) as the common route can feel to long and some routes have parts that can be considered as illogical. It still stays a really good VN for me though, because I am willing to overlook potential faults the game has as Rewrite has many aspects, that were executed brilliantly. (Rewrite being the reason I even got into the VN-scene.) Lastly, PLEASE NOTE, that this is just my opinion about Rewrite and wasn't intended to offend anyone. If you have anything you'd like to say about the VN, I'll be glad to listen. It's always a good thing to get to know other's opinions on a title you like.

Not really a metal fan, but holy shit is this song amazing.

Writers will lose their jobs before translators lose theirs. It's reached the stage where machines can write short, informative journalistic pieces at a human level. That is, readers are presented two articles, one written by an AI and one written by a human and people can't pick between the two. Take the test http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/08/opinion/sunday/algorithm-human-quiz.html

ill pay you 10x more

You can't be serious.

I think there might be a Key element to this particular issue.

After long break, I finally came back to Swan Song. I'm around 3/4 of the story (basing on youtube playthrough). Shit's depressing man. I can't read it like first 1/3 of the game - 10 hours non stop. I had enough after just 2. I just couldn't stand how everything is shit, every action characters take is turning ugly, every situation is terryfying and even the small happy scenes/situations are making me sad, because I can see how small that happiness is in the vast ocean of depression. And I just know/feel it will be even worse. I love it.

It's definitely a real possibility, and it was disguised because the OP provided a very select amount of context. I'm automatically suspicious when context is cherry picked the way it was, because context is king and the meaning of something changes drastically depending on that context. It's manipulating, TBH.

Trump is so dumb that there's a decent number of people convinced his campaign has either been a huge joke or just a "let's see if this rolls" idea that got out of hand. And, really, it makes sense. You see Trump, you read his ideas and politics, and realise how little he seems to understand about anything moderately related with ruling a country. Most 3rd party professionals agree that his plans and ideas will either not work or set the country's progress back. So while it's an interesting article (it does make kind of a morbid, ironic sense that the US might suffer what they have done to so many others), Trump wouldn't really have that much power anyway, with all democrats against him, and lots of republicans also completely refusing to support him. I'd say Trump represents the part of the US that has still not quite caught up with the rest of the "modern" world, which is why you'll see that most of his loyal support groups are basically bigots. I personally believe he never had a real chance at presidency. Edit: Also

I'm still game to edit this.