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For the last month, we were going through the impressive catalogue of free VNs by ebi-hime, one of the most celebrated creators within the Western VN scene. As a conclusion to this series, it’s my great pleasure to bring you a short interview with none other than ebi herself. During our conversation, I’ve focused on the dominating themes in ebi’s works and topics directly connected to the freeware titles I was reviewing lately – if you want a more general overview of her inspirations and questions connected to her other work, consider reading the interviews done in the past by The Yuri Nation and Sekai Project. Also, if you’re not familiar with ebi’s free VNs, check out my previous posts about them (Part 1; Part 2) – they should give you the context necessary to understand what we’re talking about in the more context-specific questions. So, here it comes – hope you’ll all enjoy it! --------------------------------------------------------------- Plk_Lesiak: Thank you for accepting my invitation! I don't think there are many Western VN fans who wouldn't be familiar with your work, but can you share something about the person behind the ebi-hime label? ebi-hime: I’m ebi and I like cute things, maids, and magical girl anime... And that’s about it! Honestly, I’m not very interesting. PL: As you talked about your inspirations and interests in other interviews, I would like to focus on the dominant themes in your games. You're one of the few EVN authors that frequently set their stories in the West. Do you have a favourite setting to write about? ebi: I think England is probably my favourite setting to write about, because it’s the country I live in and I’m reasonably familiar with it (though I don’t know everything about England, of course). It’s easier to place my characters in a setting I know relatively well, as I don’t have to do as much research, and the end result feels more ‘authentic’. I also like setting stories in Japan because I got into VNs through reading a lot of Japanese VNs which were (what a surprise!) set in Japan. I also watch a lot of anime, and I went through a period where I exclusively read Japanese crime fiction, so I’m fond of Japanese settings! If I don’t feel like setting my stories in England or Japan, I’ll usually pick a European country I’m somewhat familiar with, like France or Italy. Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

He made it double elimination with a Winner's and Loser's Bracket. To determine what entries could got in, it seems like as long as it didn't have a fully released fan TL, or an official TL wasn't announced in some way with consistent TL progress it was allowed. One fan TL (Bishoujo Mangenkyou) got released towards the end of the contest. Here are the results : Winner's http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?&tid=470705&tclass=Winner's Bracket Loser's Bracket Rounds 1-5 http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?&tid=470705&tclass=Loser's II - Rounds 1-5 Part A http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?&tid=470705&tclass=Loser's II - Rounds 1-5 Part B http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?&tid=470705&tclass=Loser's II - Rounds 1-5 Part C http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?&tid=470705&tclass=Loser's II - Rounds 1-5 Part D Loser's Bracket Rounds 6-9 http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?&tid=470705&tclass=Loser's II - Rounds 6-9 Loser's Bracket: Top 4 and Grand Finals http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=470705&tclass=True Finals - The Top 4 So since I'm a stats nerd, I decided to extrapolate the relative 'voting strength' of how often people preferred to vote for each visual novel in relation to the winner, White Album 2. I mostly relied on Winner's Bracket since those had more votes, but in cases where weird results happened in Loser's Bracket where a VN over/underperformed or beat a VN that was lower than based on the other VN in the winner's bracket I did some little adjustments. The general mathematical equation I used to determine the proper % was "% in Match A" * "% in Match B" / 50 Rankings: 1) White Album 2 - 50.00% 2) Sakura no Uta - 49.50% 3) Soukou Akki Muramasa - 46.83% 4) Aiyoku no Eustia - 37.30% 5) Gin'iro Haruka - 32.54 6) Mahoutsukai no Yoru - 32.51% 7) Tokyo Necro - 31.56% Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai - 31.54% 9) '&' - Sora no Mukou de Sakimasu you ni - 31.07% 10) Hatsuyuki Sakura - 31.00% 11) Summer Pockets - 30.90% 12) Clover Day's - 30.57% 13)Iwaihime - 30.39% 14) Gunjou no Sora o Koete - 30.12% 15) Amatsutsumi - 30.10% 16) Suisou Ginka no Istoria - 30.06% 17) Ikusa Megami Zero - 30.04% 18) Robotics;Notes - 30.00% 19) Angel Beats! - 29.16% 20) Lovely x Cation - 29.10% 21) Inochi no Spare - 28.93% 22) Irotoridori no Sekai - 28.46% 23) Nora to Oujo to Norenako Heart - 28.21% 24) Sakura no Mori Dreamers - 28.00% 25) Kaijiri Kamui Kagura - 27.48% 26) Baldr Heart - 27.26% 27) Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu - 27.24% 28) ChronoBox - 27.18% 29) Gekkou no Carnevale - 27.08% 30) Amairo * Islenauts - 26.97% 31) Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen - 26.57% 32) Ore-tachi no Tsubasa wa Nai - 26.43% 33) Bishoujo Mangekyou -Tsumi to Batsu no Shoujo- - 26.32% 34) Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo - 26.23% 35) Sen no Hatou, Tsukisome no Kouki - 25.99% 36) Hello, world - 25.89% 37) Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou - 25.80% 38) Walkure Romanze - 25.77% 39) Pretty x Cation - 25.31% 40) Chaos;Head Noah - 24.21% 41) Reminiscence - 24.11% 42) Fate/Extra CCC - 24.09% 43) Himawari no Kyoukai to Nagai Natsuyasumi - 24.03% 44) Kin'iro Loveriche -23.70% 45) Making*Lovers - 23.37% 46) Koi x Shin Ai Kanojo - 23.34% 47) Kimi ga Nozomu Eien - 23.00% 48) Aoi Tori - 22.31% 49) Parfait ~Chocolat Second Brew~ - 22.83% 50) White Album 1 - 21.99% 51) Yosuga no Sora - 21.93% 52) Baldr Sky "Zero" - 21.56% 53) Bishoujo Magenkyou -Norowareshi- (fan TL released towards the end of the contest) - 21.02% 54) Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! A-5 - 20.82% 55) Ushinawareta Mirai o Motomete - 20.40% 56) H20 -Footprints in the Sand- - 20.20% 57) Dies irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~ - 20.05% 58) Schwarzesmarken - 19.92% 59) Paradise Lost - 19.91% 60) Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! A-4 - 19.83% 61) Saihate no Ima - 19.77% 62) Daiteikoku - 19.46% 63) Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi - 18.37% 64) Baldr Force Exe - 15.38% (Sorta Released during contest; Standard Version TL) 65) Kono Oozora ni, Tsubasa o Hirogete Snow Presents - 15.33%

Translation Prologue - 100% (1791/1791) Main School - 100% (2691/2691) Tonoko Route - 100% (8709/8709) Branch School - 35% (2039/5846) Total - 22% (15229/68206) TLC Prologue - 100% (1791/1791) Main School - 6% (157/2691) Branch School - 3% (187/5846) Total - 3% (2135/68206) Edit Prologue - 100% (1791/1791) Main School - 6% (157/2691) Branch School - 25% (1441/5846) Total - 5% (3360/68206) Ittaku has fully translated Tonoko's route. He'll be moving onto Miyabi's soon enough, but he can relish in this great achievement right now. Branch School in terms of both TL and Editing is going strong as well. We are still looking for a permanent TLC to work on this project. Please PM me if you're interested in working as a TLC for this project. That's all for this week. See you in another couple of weeks.

Saya's route is good. Unfortunately Orihime and Korona both suffer from having different writer, and feel more like "side routes". They have some good moments, but IMO overally were weaker than Saya's and Hikari's.

Definitely play Saku Saku: an underestimated (and, at times, even hated ) VN, but with a very cute Osananajimi heroine with a slightly psicological route.

Clear formatting on your post (the eraser on the left side of the toolbar) or set the text to automatic color so it can show up in themes with a white post background: Anyway, to answer your question, every time I see a game with populated backgrounds, I see people praise the backgrounds as feeling lively and lived-in. You never hear anyone praise a background for being empty, though. So generally, it's pure upside. The thing is, barely any VN devs actually have characters in the background because it's simply a lot more work. While people praise backgrounds for having characters, it's a luxury. I don't think anyone avoids VNs that don't have those kinds of backgrounds. It's probably not worth it for a small-time VN dev to spend all that time populating their backgrounds. Though I guess I should point out that the current best-selling VN dev, Yuzusoft, is a company that does populate their backgrounds. It helps lend an air of polish to your product.

Background shots typically don't have any people in them at all, even if it is in a crowded place. I would say though that it would make your vn stand out because I always remember the ones that do have a inhabited background.

I reinstalled for About 3 Times for it to Work . Just hope that it won't happen again. Seem like it might have been some bug . Thanks for your help

Jó látni egy magyart végre

Well, I've reread G-senjou no Maou a couple of times when I was translating it to Hungarian. Other than that, I've read the common route of Grisaia twice, and to practice my Japanese, I've reread Hoshizora no Memoria without the English patch too.

I would suggest not asking for any more recommendations until you do so.

Now if only Sekai would be so nice to finally fix its broken release :/

After reading most of Fureraba a few months ago, i probably got a moege overdose and played Evenicle, Subahibi and the entirety of the Muv-luv trilogy before returning and finishing Himari's route that i absolutely couldn't stand. As it turns out, i still did not have enough of the "plotge" VNs and picked up Umineko a few days ago. So i just finished episode 1 and praises are the only thing i can think of when trying to describe it. Despite knowing some tidbits about the story that was unfolding prior to reading through it, it was a really great experience, and the writing was absolutely perfect at setting the atmosphere. Can't wait to move on the next episodes and find out more and more about everything.

I mean, that's a bunch of content at the beginning of the game with a pretty crappy enough translation that they had to replace the person doing it with someone good. I'm looking forward to this game, and I'm going to be annoyed if the intro, UI, etc., are all badly translated.

@DSKS you need to make a VNDB and link it so people know what you've already read. Everyone has been going by the titles you mentioned in your OP and trying to help only for you to shoot them down. edit: whoops, I overlooked that littleshogun had already suggested this. I strongly second this suggestion.

Super into this game and its setting despite not playing it.

No mention of Evenicle (also Alicesoft) yet? I haven't played any games of this type yet but I'm looking forward to trying it out.

I think a large part of the success is due to the fact that 2 people pledged at the $10k USD tier. Kinda crazy, but it helped secure the goal, and it means two extra episodes for the rest of us. Those guys are goddamn heroes in my eyes.

I'm sure there are legitimate complaints to be had about the biman 1 translation that cummed out today, but who has time for that shit when you see THIS? PLEASE IGNORE THE FACT THAT THIS IS A MEME PATCH WITH THE NAMES WRONG RIGHT (thanks @HMN), THE OTHER TEXT BITS WILL BE THE SAME OKAY. YES THAT'S RIGHT, THAT IS THE MOTHERFUCKING DOUBLE HYPHEN STANDIN FOR A PROPER EM DASH. THIS IS POSSIBLY THE UGLIEST PUNCTUATION SHORTCUT IN EXISTENCE. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD USE THIS MONSTROSITY RATHER THAN EVEN A TECHNICALLY NOT APPROVED BY LIKE ANY STYLE GUIDE SPACED DASH? THE BIMAN 1 TL IS CONFIRMED SHIT. THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK ON LIVING IN A MOTHERFUCKING SOCIETY BOTTOM TEXT: UPDATE: MORE CRIMES AGAINST TYPOGRAPHY HAVE BEEN FOUND: BEHOLD THIS RIDICULOUS DOUBLE SPACING:

Holy shit we recorded this back when Summer Pockets had just come out. Anyway, in this lovely podcast me, @babiker, @Zander, and @Barry Benson (rip in permaban) talk about fan TL today (spoiler: it's dead, or maybe it's not dead, or maybe it's complicated). Then we talk about the past and present of today's Fuwanovel. Turn up the volume when bee speaks, he can't into audio editing.