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  1. Perhaps the most universal complaint of those who read Japanese VNs, regardless of their tastes, is the bland, non-people, average protagonists that make up better than 90% of all VN protagonists. This trend began with the first moege, as a technique to allow people to self-insert more easily, but the tradition has worked against VNs more than it has worked for them, with protagonists with unique quirks turning out to be almost as important to a VN's lasting popularity as heroine quality. Unfortunately for those new to VNs, it is impossible to tell at a glance whether a protagonist will be interesting or not based on the cover, since most protagonists don't have a tachie, voice-acting, or a character description on the official site, lol. So, as a service to my fellow Fuwans, I decided to go ahead and make this list. The greater majority of these games will be untranslated, but I will go ahead and list ones that are translated that I know of. Feel free to help me add to the list, though this one is for Japanese-origin games, not EVNs. The baseline for these protagonists will be that they are either unique, unusual, or capable (intelligent, talented, and/or skilled at something and have something approaching a personality) without deliberate nerfing of their qualities to make heroines stand out more. Harem protagonists who are merely kind to everyone will not count for the purpose of this list, and characters whose personality/capabilities/talents/skills get toned down in the heroine routes will also not qualify. Translated Tokyo Babel Ayakashibito Hello, Lady (soon) Hapymaher Noble Works (yes, he does make the baseline) Dracu-riot (assuming the official release comes out) Nanairo Reincarnation (soon) Tsukihime FSN Comyu (yes, I include this... because even if you hate Akihito's man-whore qualities, he is definitely not a cardboard cut-out character) Rance games (I hate the Rance games, personally, but you can't say he isn't unique) Majikoi Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road (Dai only seems sheeple on the surface... he has enough depth as a character to qualify) Eien no Aselia (while his personality is standard for a jrpg protagonist, it has enough twists and unique qualities to make the list) Seinarukana (similar to above) Fata Morgana no Yakata (I wavered because of the way the game is structured, but I chose to list it anyway) Grisaia series Kikokugai Demonbane 11eyes Rewrite (I hate this protagonist, but he stands out, even if he is a dumbass) Animamundi Baldr SkyDive (whenever it comes out) ChuSinGura (I honestly wavered on this one, both because the protagonist is a moron and because I don't consider this to have been truly translated) Cross Channel Daiteikoku Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai Dies Irae I/O Yumina Kyonyuu Fantasy (yes, I'm serious even as I'm laughing) Planetarian Rose Guns Days Sekien no Inganock Gakthun Sharin no Kuni Shikkoku no Sharnoth Shin Koihime Musou (apparently tl is at 100%, so I'm including it) Sorcery Jokers (Senri!!!) Tears to Tiara Tokeijikake no Leyline series Venus Blood Frontier (whenever it comes out) Wanko to Kurasou Eden* Untranslated Akeiro Kaikitan Ikusa Megami series Soukoku no Arterial Fuukan no Grasesta Madou Koukaku Silverio series Tiny Dungeon series Zero Infinity Electro-Arms Soranica Ele Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier Komorebi no Nostalgica Devils Devel Concept Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana Evolimit Bullet Butlers Tokyo Necro Soukou Akki Muramasa Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai Shugo no Tate series Amatsutsumi Floral Flowlove Aoi Tori Mirai Nostalgia Bradyon Veda Draculius Gensou no Avatar Abyss Homicide Club Hyper→Highspeed→Genius Inochi no Spare Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo Konata yori Kanata Made Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de Jingai Makyou "Hello, World" Natsu no Owari no Nirvana Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas Rui wa Tomo o Yobu Ryuukishi Bloody Saga Vermilion Bind of Blood Satsukoi Sinclient Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide Suisei Ginka Yurikago yori Tenshi Made Izuna Zanshinken Tasogare no Sinsemilla Valkyrie Runabout Sekai o Sukuu dake no Kantan na Oshigoto Haru to Yuki Semiramis no Tenbin Tsukiakari Lunch Tsuisou no Augment Kamikaze Explorer Prism Recollection Houkago no Futekikakusha Izayoi no Fortuna Natsuzora no Perseus Minamijuujisei Renka Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary Sakura no Mori Dreamers AstralAir no Shiroki Towa Irotoridori no Sekai Senren Banka Reminiscence Akagoei series Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru Harumade Kururu Haruru Minamo ni Kin'iro Loveriche Love Rec. Natsuiro Recipe Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic Sakura Nikagetsu Iroha ~Aki no Yuuhi ni Kagefumi o~ Campus's Uso series World Election (seriously push this one for fantasy charage lovers) Curio Dealer Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai Lamunation Sora no Tsukurikata Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa Sakura, Sakimashita Amairo Islenauts Blade x Bullet Gouen no Soleil Dekinai Watashi ga, Kurikaesu Doushite, Sonna ni Kurokami ga Suki na no?! (more charage with some plot) Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake Butterfly Seeker Fake Azure Arcology Re:Birth Colony Gekkou no Carnevale Hatsuyuki Sakura Gurenka Hikari no Umi no Apeiria (this guy's personality is so out there you wouldn't even be able to tell if anything effected him, lol) Hotel. (this is also a joke from me that I can share only with those few who have read it, lol) Kamigakari Cross Heart Kimi to Boku to no Kishi no Hibi Witch's Garden Kono Sekai no Mukou de Kouyoku no Soleil Lovesick Puppies (more food for charagamers) Toppara Zashiki Warashi no Hanashi Naka no Hito Nado Inai Natsuiro no Nostalgia Ojou-sama wa Gokigen Naname Onigokko Otomimi Infinity Para-Sol Prima Stella Paradise Lost Kajiri Kamui Kagura Sanzen Sekai Yuugi (only Otomege I know of that fulfills the prime condition) Primal x Hearts Tayutama (original only) Shinigami no Testament Shogun-sama wa Otoshigoro Stellula Eques Codex Tasogare no Himekishi (seriously, the protagonist is subject to some interesting stuff, like akuochi and/or corruption of characters) Toki o Tsumugu Yakusoku Unjou no Fairy Tale Yuganda Uso no Koi to Letter Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou Request includes G-Senjou no Maou Aiyoku no Eustia Watashi no Real wa Juujitsu Shisugiteiru Shirogane no Soleil Root Double Edit: A lot of these characters stand out due to personality traits or quirks, as much as anything else. The key point is that the protagonist is a 'person' instead of a cipher or catalyst. For those who wonder why I didn't include Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou 2, the reason is pretty simple... in every path, the protagonist's individuality vanishes and he becomes enslaved to the heroine's character needs.
    2 points
  2. Actually, the dudes are exactly the reason Little Busters is a good game. The girls are just window dressing and a way to get you to spend some time with the characters and learn to like them all. In the end, it's all about the bromance.
    2 points
  3. Welcome to my top 10 list of translated VNs for 2018, and I think it's the right time to make this seeing that 2019 is almost come. As for the rule, there's no yaoi, otome, fandisc (ie Fata Morgana fandisc), and re-release (Konosora and Chaos Child). As for my list here, my taste here is quite personal so I'm sorry if some of your favorite titles didn't available here. Here's my list of top 10 translated VNs for this year, and I hope that you'll enjoy it. As for the score currently I'm based on the VNDB average score at July 27th, 2023, although it may be change in the future seeing that the scores is often fluctuated. 10. Hapymaher (VNDB 7.44, Erogamescape 78) While I did admit that I was interested with this VN because of the costumes that the girls wear in the dream, I also can see that the costumes here is quite sexy so much that it did distract the reader's attention from the real meat of this VN which is the mind screw story that have some nakige element. I understand that the distraction may be deliberate, but it's still a waste though to have that kind of sexy costumes considering that this isn't nukige lol. As for the premise, it was in regard of the MC Tohru Naito who is burdened by his past that he was lost his family, so much that he can't rest because he did have lucid dream every night that he keep felt awaken in the dream. One night he saw two mysterious girls Alice and Maia, with the former was trying to help Tohru while the latter keep doing something bad. From there Tohru keep trying to find the solution to his own problem, while Maia somehow keep dragging the other girls into Tohru's dream. Since this VN involving people entering dream, what I can say is that it would be better to just enjoy the show instead of keep thinking seriously of how is that even plausible because it'll be hurt you head if you think it. Oh and almost forget to say that Hapymaher here did have Alice in Wonderland theme. 9. Sorcery Jokers (VNDB 7.47, Erogamescape 79) The first 2018 release from Mangagamer that was announced back at Otakon 2016, and it's setting was in regard of a city which got some magic user that was exist after years ago when the magic was suddenly came to the existence. While at the first glance it made people felt more content seeing that they manage to a normal life, beneath that there's some secret plan happening and it affected the life of several people. Two of those people are Senri (The magic using criminal) and Mutsumi Haruto (Ordinary school boy), and from there they'd try to understand more about what's happening around them in which they may need have a hard time to do that. As for the MCs each of the MC got two heroines each, and yeah I did say it in plural because in Sorcery Jokers we'll going to have two MCs (The aforementioned Haruto and Senri). That said, since this VN involving some combat and world building we won't see much romance at least until you finished the VN, and for more info this VN is a linear one with the feature that you need to unlock the scenes first. Also while there's only two MCs occasionally we also can see the perspective from three other heroines (The fourth heroine didn't have POV), or to put it simply it's like 11eyes Cross Vision system. Speaking about Haruto, I did hear that his 'not playing fair' catchphrase is annoying although I would say that Haruto here is overshadowed by far more cool Senri, and that you can slightly understand there's a reason of why Haruto is like that if you know the twist (The twist remind me of Tales of the Abyss's own twist). 8. Maitetsu (VNDB 7.71, Erogamescape 77) Since the heroines here are designed to look like child, Lose was afraid of the ban for overseas release so much that they censored panty shot in the VN as well. That said, it's still fair enough compared to what Pulltop did to Miagete because at least Sekai also released the 18+ patch for this in that it unlock the sex scenes if you didn't mind with it. Nowadays there's also the patch to restore the censored contents, so censored contents shouldn't be an issue anymore. For the premise here, we got out MC Soutetsu who suffer train accident in his childhood come back to his hometown in order to save the town from the potential water pollution thanks to the plan to build an aircraft factory. Some time later, he find a doll which turned out to be an android known as Raillord which supposed to control the train, and seeing that Soutetu got an idea to revive the train so that the town didn't need to depend on the factory as income source of the town. By the way the Raillords here are pretty much the train's life, so it's understandable if you asking about the setting if you heard it first. The questionable setting and early controversy aside, Maitetsu here did have a lot of technical talk about train itself. 7. Fureraba ~Friend to Lover~ (VNDB 7.66, Erogamescape 81) The first time I find this VN was through the opening song, in which I did hear it when I'm binged Astral Air opening. One time I let my Youtube video player to play next video in the play list, and it happen that one of the video was Fureraba opening in which I'd find it addictive because it's sounds melancholic. Anyway after I'd hear the opening I search about the VN, and turned out that it's a VN from Smee in which back then there's no hope to be translated even though I'm quite interested with that. At least until Nekonyan did their debut and announced Fureraba as their first title, in which they'd release it quickly at the same month that they promised (March). As for Fureraba, while the opening sounds melancholic actually the game itself is full of humor so we can say that it got some mismatch lol. The premise is simple though that namely it's about Kyousuke (The MC) who strife get his girlfriend, and that you must accomplish it through the small talks between the heroines. As for the heroines, there's estranged childhood friend, best friend, very rude classmate, and very shy popular senior girl. Overall I did enjoy this VN and if you want more Smee VNs, there'll be more considering that Nekonyan picked Making Lovers. 6. Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road (VNDB 7.72, Erogamescape 78) I did repeatedly say that it'll be better if we didn't expect Majikoi from this seeing that both premises are already different, but seeing that the tone is the same along with the fact that there's Takahiro who is infamously have big influence in each of his credited works, it's hard to say that it's not like Majikoi here. So perhaps the right word for Tsujidou here is 'Majikoi but no Majikoi', in which I know it's hard to understand but at least I'm certain that Tsujidou here will be full of comedy. Anyway the premise is that our Hiroshi who is far more normal compared to Majikoi's MC did spot the beautiful delinquent at his class Tsujidou Ai (The main heroine) did looking cute while pick a cat, and from there both of Hiroshi and Ai sort of in relationship for a while. At the same time, Ai was dubbed as one of the three strong delinquent in their territory along with two other heroines (Renna and Maki). For more info, this is the second Tsurezure's work that in which Trip didn't like Maki to put it lightly and said that Hiroshi here is worse compared to HatsuKoi's Yuuma. Even so, they still managed to finish Tsujidou and I'm sure that most people who've been looking forward to this would be grateful, so I appriciate their work on this even with the fact that Trip dislike this. 5. Evenicle (VNDB 7.78, Erogamescape 82) The first attempt from Alicesoft to make new franchise now that they already ended Rance franchise, although both of Evenicle and Rance did share some of it's lore though. As for the VN story itself, it's self contained enough considering the scope was covering of the whole Evenicle world instead of a part of the whole world like Rance, although judging from the sequel we may have many different worlds for Evenicle series setting though. As for the first Evenicle premise, it's in regard of Aster who want to marry both of his childhood friend only to be stopped by the rule that man can only have one wife unless he became the knight. So Aster decide to become the knight in order to be able to marry both, and from there he met several other women who one way or another become his wives while at the same time he face several enemies who based on Seven Deadly Sins. As for the gameplay I think it's like the combination of Final Fantasy 4 with fixed five party members with specified roles, and Final Fantasy 4 Heroes of Light with battle system that based on 5 BP that will regenerate by one per turn (Also with the Seven Deadly Sins). Overall I did find that Evenicle here is quite good. 4. Island (VNDB 7.80, Erogamescape 82) Frontwing 15th anniversary project, and instead of ask four writers like back at Grisaia this time they decided to ask Goo to write this, so it's normal if we expect some sci-fi from this considering that Goo did write Himawari who is also known for some sci-fi element. As for the premise, it was in regard of Setsuna who at first didn't remember his name until a girl with the name Rinne call him with that name, and so Setsuna decided to go with it and helping Rinne while at the same time try to understand his own self. We also have the setting that there's a legend that Rinne here is one part of the three families in an isolated island, and that there's a rumored curse that was supposed to be happened because of apparent past mistakes that was done by supposed Setsuna's and Rinne's ancestors. Almost forget that like Tsujidou you can have a romance with the three family daughters, although since this is all age VN obviously we wouldn't have sex scenes (At least Yukari Tamura as Rinne here is more than enough tradeoff lol). Like Grisaia, Frontwing also adapt Island into anime and it should be good if for the conclusive ending only (The anime was kind of rushed though), while at the same time the VN was ended in slightly less conclusive note. 3. Sanoba Witch aka Sabbat of the Witch (VNDB 7.84, Erogamescape 80) Back at last year I did thought that Sekai will bring more Yuzusoft VNs, and turned out I was wrong because the one who release it first was Nekonyan. Also to elaborate more Senren Banka license was moved from Sekai to Nekonyan, leaving Sekai with Tenshin Ranman and Dracu Riot in which both of those are frozen so any chance for near future release is small. So let me redact my statement by saying that there'll be more Yuzusoft VN in the future because Nekonyan have Senren Banka. Anyway as for Sanoba's premise here it's about of how love that was started from masturbation, and it make sense in the context. Or if you want to be concise it's about our MC Shuuji who can perceive the emotion saw Nene who was masturbate in the library which turned out it's because of her witch contract that cause the horniness, and Nene sign the contract in order to fulfill her wish just like Madoka. While they say witch, I would say that magical girl here is more fitting to Sanoba but then again both of those are almost the same. For more info, this is the first officially localized Yuzusoft VN while at the same time the third (The second if you still wait for Dracu Riot official release) translated Yuzusoft VN, and once again there'll be more in the future thanks to Nekonyan. 2. Flowers -Le Volume sur Été- (VNDB 8.33, Erogamescape 81) Also known as Flowers Summer and the most interesting JAST release at this year out of four releases to me. As for the premise, it's in regard of Suoh who attend Saint Angraecum (Latin name for orchid) and currently suffer some heartbreak after the event from the previous Flowers (Released back at 2016) happened. Thus our snarky wheel chaired girl Yaegaki Erika took unto herself to recover Suoh and become the MC of this VN, and obviously we'll going to see of how Erika will handle her own problem in which she did find a new friend with the name Takasaki Chidori who'll later become her soulmate (This is shoujo ai VN after all). As for the whole Flowers itself, one may remember Maria-sama ga Miteru (Marimite) anime in which also did have the same setting, and also both of Flowers and Marimite were happened to be the tetralogy. Since this is the second part of tetralogy, obviously there'll be two more in which as of now JAST was working on the third part and hopefully they'll work on the fourth part later, and seeing that it's JAST I would say that it'll took them a long time to even release the third part. That said, the main part of Flowers Summer here is still resolved though so it would be fine if we play this as standalone VN just like Kara no Shoujo duology. 1. 428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de~ aka 428: Shibuya Scramble (VNDB 8.36, Erogamescape 84) Currently the only VN that got Famitsu score 40/40 in which in term of video game it would be a big accomplishment (Only 25 games as of 2017), and obviously it mean that Shibuya Scramble here would be a subject of hype. Although as for that, I think the hype was pretty much justified seeing that this VN is quite unique because instead of usual anime like drawing, the creator decided to use photograph which mean that it's obviously will cost a lot. As for the premise, it start simple enough with a detective was tasking into resolve the kidnapping case by giving the ransom money to the kidnapper. Of course things turn out to be not as simple as the first look, and so the detective decided to unravel what's really happening behind the kidnapping. Other than the detective, there's four other characters who somehow are involved in the kidnapping case and you'll going to see from the perspectives of all of those characters so essentially we'll going to have five MCs. Other than PS4, Shibuya Scramble was also out for PC so you can play it if you didn't have PS4, although you can only use the keyboard to play it. Almost forget that if you like Canaan anime, you should check Shibuya Scramble here seeing that this VN is the prequel for the anime itself. As for of the VNs at this year, I would say that with Nekonyan being aggressive looks like it'll be possible that we can get more VNs title. Although of course the situation can be change though because it's still up to the company whether they can release it or not, and we know that the company situation could be easily changed. With this year was almost close, let's look forward to 2019 later with more potential VNs release. PS - As for the title, I'm just combined Flowers school place setting (Saint Angraecum) with Shibuya Scramble, so we got 'Angraecum Scramble' for the title although of course there's no big scrambling zebra cross in the school in Flowers like back at Shibuya.
    1 point
  4. The New Year is just a few days away, so why not take a look today at another appropriately-themed VN? Ebi-hime is probably best known for both yuri romances and horror VNs, but in reality created a huge variety of slice-of-life and mystery titles, both borrowing from different formulas and simultaneously breaking their rules, ultimately escaping any kind of easy classification. Games like Empty Horizons or Asphyxia are clearly identified with common labels such as “otome” or “yuri”, but they pretty much never cater to the reader’s expectations taken from reading other visual novels within those genres. There are also certain elements extremely common for ebi’s work, regardless of topics or conventions she’s trying to tackle. Deeply flawed, painfully realistic characters, extensive internal monologues of the protagonists and a nostalgic aura are almost constant elements of her writing, making most of her stories fairly easily recognizable and differentiating them from the typical Western-produced VNs. Ebi’s latest release, A Winter’s Daydream, while at first glance might look like a silly comedy, can be accurately described in only one way. It’s an ebi-hime VN through and through: slow-paced, introspective and handling serious, existential topics despite any humorous elements and the wacky premise. And, as you can easily expect from this particular author, it does all those things in a thoroughly satisfying way. Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com
    1 point
  5. On the "games for girls" side of things, I think 2018 was a pretty solid year. We got the localization of both Psychedelica games, and Sweet Pool recently. For Japanese releases, there were Cendrillon Palika as a Switch exclusive (as the Vita is dying in the West because Sony itself is trying to kill it, it's a good thing to expand the market), Piofiore no Banshou, a fandisk for Collar x Malice, and some great BL games from first-time developers, like Mahoutsukai to Tenshi to Akuma and Nie no Machi.
    1 point
  6. Something similar occurs in Ef: The first tale(and the latter tale too). You play as og mc then get switched to his friend who had a voice who now doesn't and now the og mc has a voice. Makes absolutely no sense to me. If you're going to pay a VA for lines for the character, you might as well go the whole way. Though, I can understand if their budget wasn't the greatest.
    1 point
  7. I started Naoki's arc. I have one minor complaint - I wish they kept his face and voice as a protagonist too... I actually like voiced protagonists - it worked pretty well in Air or Planetarian. And here, since he already was pretty well developed as side character in Tooru's arc, sudden switch to faceless/voiceless form is a bit jarring.
    1 point
  8. My favorite characters ? Hmm... i like the fighter, or underworld type that's generally feared and aggressive, but actually has quite a dere side to her (i guess Ai from Tsujidou-san Jun'Ai road falls right into this one). Another one i like is one with yandere vibes, but not over the top bat shit crazy like Nishi Mayuko i actually disliked her, more like Akane from Renai Bokun: Other ones i'm really fond are characters like Margit, Tatsuko, Tsubame, Seiso (in her emperor mode) and Lin/Rin, all from the Majikoi series or girls like Nagamitsu Maya From Noble Works, she was my favorite in that VN. The ones that i really loved but don't fit into that bad/fighter girl type are Mayuzumi, from Majikoi, or Kotori and Nanaka from D.C.
    1 point
  9. I think the question was "Do we count translations as releases or not?"
    1 point
  10. Yes, I do, for pretty much every story I come to love. I feel sad when the story ends regardless of the type of ending, since I won't be able to keep experiencing it (that doesn't necessarily mean I'm not satisfied with the ending though!). I'm sad about not being able to keep those characters company probably forever, unless a sequel comes out. And yes of course, if the character in question is a tier A waifu the feelings only intensify Some would call having this sort of investment for fictional characters stupid, but I believe that as long as it's within what's reasonable and healthy, it just means you are enjoying those stories and characters to the fullest. I'm sure the authors would be really pleased
    1 point
  11. I have three types of fascination with characters. One is partially intellectual and linked to my fondness for 'difference'. Psychologically strange, twisted, and generally way out there people fall into this realm. A few examples would be the near-sociopaths Hinaori Kagome (Comyu), Shigure Sora (Devils Devel concept), and Kamio Ami (Semiramis no Tenbin), as well as a few stranger examples such as the yanderes of Gun Knight Girl. The second is character 'relations'. This can be a friendship, a deep familial bond, or an intense love match. A few examples of this include Eri from Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa, Suzu from Ayakashibito, and Shizuku from Evolimit (the order is reversed, incidentally). Last of all is admiration for a person who transcends the common ruck of humanity. I don't restrict this admiration to rl people like Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa, as an example of greatness is an example of greatness, regardless of fiction or non-fictional origin. A few examples include Dmitri and Shou from my previous post, Shizumine Ryuuji from Inochi no Spare, and Tokiwa Itsuka of Houkago no Futekikakusha. These people are individuals who fight through their agony for the sake of others, giving of themselves despite their own desperate straits, sometimes even giving up their very lives or something even more important to them. Their reasons might be personal and rooted in their own personal darkness, but their willingness to break themselves in the service of others still rips my heart out of my chest every time.
    1 point
  12. Dreamysyu

    What are you playing?

    So, done with Aselia's route. I wanted to make a mini-review of the game at this point, but, to be honest, I have too many conflicting thoughts about the game right now, and I need to let them sink for a while to turn my thoughts into a reasonable form. The last battle was a bit annoying though. It wasn't particularly difficult, but continuously moving the squads from one part of the dungeon to another kind of killed my enjoyment. I'm not sure I'm going to read all the routes though. It feels from the story structure that the differences between routes is pretty small, and replaying all the battles for 7 times might be a bit too much. On the other hand, I just found on the fan-translators' forum that if you max out the stats of all the characters in super-hard mode and then play the game in the easy mode, and then you will apparently be able to finish all battles very quickly and without much thinking. I don't know, I'll see how it goes. Also, I'll try going for Lesteena next, I guess.
    1 point
  13. Plk_Lesiak

    What are you playing?

    Speaking of grimdark and questionable shock value, I'm done with euphoria (once more, no real spoilers incoming, but vague impressions/hints that some people might still want to avoid before reading the VN)! And well, it was... Something. I mean, I'm not sure even how to describe the post-death game part. Discount Higurashi with porn? That could work. It was all... Serviceable, but really not much beyond that. The true ending also wasn't that rewarding. There were some really cool ideas (the bait-and-switch in the final route was very cool in theory), but the way things played out in the end... I really had no clear reaction to it and considering I've spent two whole days with this game, that's pretty sad. I should feel more after following these characters and storyline for so long. After Natsuki and Rika, I went for Rinne... It started really strong, but once more, the epilogue part was just plain weird and confusing. Even after finishing the whole game and learning additional details to her backstory and personality, it didn't make much sense to me, but even beyond that, it was pretty... Alienating? The ending had very little emotional impact IMHO. Also, by that time the various "shocking" scenes lost their novelty so much that I wasn't reacting to them at all, especially considering how little most of the characters deserved compassion. This is a general complaint - this type of game should make you feel sympathetic for the characters to be effective in its storytelling, but euphoria pretty much undermines that in every route (and, of course, with the unbelievably dumb h-scene dialogue). I guess what's left is just weird porn, which, by the midpoint, was pretty much neither disturbing nor hot (Rinne's route, BTW, probably came the closest to, at times, actually being hot, with the genuine connection between her and the protagonist - one which, of course, fell apart later and never returned). Nemu's route was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be and made even more interesting after you know the full picture. The hints are fun and the struggle between her and the protagonist intriguing. And the final route is... Messy and anticlimactic? I didn't buy into pretty much anything in it when it goes to character's interactions, and the main reveal was even more lukewarm than I've expected. The dynamic between the protagonist and Kanae was a bit weird, but most importantly, made completely meaningless by the later events. The premise behind the death games was just edgy nonsense. But, well, I can't say it didn't try to do some interesting things beyond the insane variety of disturbing porn, and didn't have its genuinely captivating moments, even if those were relatively few and far between. 6,5/10
    1 point
  14. Relative to the era in which it was released? Tsukihime. There was literally nothing like Tsukihime at the time it was released, and it set the precedent for doujin circles going professional, which was one of the reasons for the rapid explosion in plotge that occurred in the years immediately after. The question is too broadly defined, lol.
    1 point
  15. I quantify an "NTR game" to be something built entirely out of the fetish, so most probably no.
    1 point
  16. I don't see why I need to give proof to make a post, but sure. It's talked about in this twitter chain, for instance. (And other places on twitter related to VNs; just use the search button.) There is also the Imolicious situation, where the devs were simply told they were not allowed to submit their game because it had content exploiting children. (Even though it clearly didn't.) Just look up the dev on twitter for more info. And of course, Key to Home, which was already banned a while back. These are just some examples. There is also this.
    1 point
  17. And once again, Steam picks up their pitchforks. Not only are they removing store pages for VNs, they are banning them, which means that you can no longer submit an altered version; if they ban your title, it's banned for good. No going back. (In the past you could submit a new, altered version to get your game on steam, and they only banned very specific games like Key to Home, but now they aren't allowing this at all, I guess.)
    1 point
  18. In my case I gravitated towards Erika because she was most in line with the way I thought and felt about things. Also yes, you were the only one that liked that ending, but don't worry Shou's winter will come at some point, be sure to check back in the next three years. I go for a certain type of character I guess you can say, and if they are in whatever weird parameters I set for myself I'll probably always have intense thoughts and feelings associated with them. The characters I'm most interested in remind me of someone I'll probably always hold close to my heart. In the end I'm a bit sad when their story ends like I would after having finished a really good book. I think it would be more interesting to think of taking over the mind of a protag and living out their ambitions rather than just bringing said waifu to your world. But for that it's less out of my intense love of a character but my intense hate or apathy for the dense and stupid protag. I just know I could do it better. Watch out which one you choose though cuz those dense fuckers have no idea what birth control is.
    0 points
  19. Both. Because why should language be a barrier to good stories?
    0 points
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