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fun2novel

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    fun2novel

    Posted · Edited by fun2novel

    4 hours ago, littleshogun said:

    Speaking about Kamen Rider, funny enough Urobochi was work on Kamen Rider later (Gaim) which expectedly more dark than usual Kamen Rider - you may already watched Gaim though.

    Yeah that is interesting. I didn't watch Gaim yet.

    4 hours ago, littleshogun said:

    Since you mentioned Phantom of Inferno there in regard of Nitroplus engine, I would prefer them to release that with the original engine instead of using messy DVD player like Hirameki did for the translated version, because I'm sure that it would be easier to PC user for playing Phantom of Inferno. Oh well.

    I agree. The English version of Phantom of Inferno is literally unplayable. I tried all kinds of video players and nothing works. If you want to play this version (some say it's the best one) then I suggest you try the PS2 port. It's exactly the same but without the same problems. The only difference (that I know) between the English and the PS2 versions is the opening.

     

    kivandopulus

    Posted · Edited by fun2novel

    The fact that they gave 'samples' of all three stories before starting the 'present' chapter did not bother me. I think it was the right thing to do present->past->future chapters in that respective order. But I have to disagree about the story. The entire story was bad. Kano, may his soul rest in peace, had great ideas but a lot of time the execution was not up to par. The 'present' chapter had boring characters, the protag was insufferable, the story just went no where and felt pointless. The 'past' chapter was even worse, it's as basic as a final fantasy plot can get. The idea is interesting, the protag is determined to go against the gods. Great idea but really, it's like a 5 year old wrote it, it's a typical boring story about the 4 elements of earth, wind, fire, water. I was bored enough that I decided to drop the 'future' chapter in the middle.

    This is not a well done story. Excellent idea and a great premise, but not well executed story.

    Edit: Like I said it had some interesting ideas. For example, in the non dvd version like the playstation and the dreamcast ones, you had to jump between different times to gain clues for puzzles in another time. The gameplay was pretty much lost in the dvd version.

    kivandopulus

    Posted · Edited by fun2novel

    Do whatever you feel like you want to do, it's your blog. You don't want to add links because it takes too much time, you add an image for each vn that you found somewhere on the net, and a link to a youtube video, which takes just as much effort as adding a link to a review.

    But you don't want to bother downloading and playing these games on an emulator for a few hours at least and give your readers an opinion from a first source experience. You don't want to take screenshots, and if the game has no youtube video you'll never bother to record your own video and upload it.

    Basically do whatever you feel like. It's just that you update your blog really fast and it shows just how much effort you put and the quality of your work. I think you have a great idea and a lot of heart in what you're doing. But just a little more work can go a long way in making a better user experience.

    kivandopulus

    Posted · Edited by fun2novel

    17 minutes ago, Guest stop this pls said:

    He doesn't.

    I see.

    Then how about at least linking to English information. All it says is, there are two English reviews or something like that. Or there  is information in English. At least show links if you don't want to add anything of your own.

    Just an idea. Because to be honest, I have vndb with the same information, at my fingertips, and it's easier to look up vns there than in a blog. And googling for images and videos on youtube takes no time at all.

    Calendula

    Posted

    1 hour ago, littleshogun said:

    Nice review there Calendula, and I think I could said that it was the best entertaining review that I'd ever read up to now. Look forward to your next kamimoege review thing later.

    PS - To both @Asonn and @fun2novel, here's an article that might help you two to understand the review. Although the score was genuine though, and therefore I would said that it's the best to not question that.

    And that supposed to be funny.... Becuase... because... Why? Because that's the joke? Oh... ahahahaaha I get it >_>

    Clephas

    Posted · Edited by fun2novel

    1 hour ago, Norleas said:

    like Itsusora that judging by the brand, chara designs and common route seems like a moege but then with a crazy spin we have norse epic battle running.

     

    I heard about that. Is every route turns into what you described or is just one of the routes or something?

    My friend played Tenshihane for example, and he says the vn has two halves. One side is the usual charage thing, but if you pick the other side it totally turns chuuni. One part sounded very exciting to me, while the other made me not want to read it.

    Edit: fixed some typos.

    Clephas

    Posted

    Spoiler

    Chrono-belt, which is the crossover fandisc for Ayakashibito and Bullet Butlers, is such a work of genius at capturing the best of the spirit of those two games that I still get the urge to play it independently at times.

    Isn't this primarily a Higashide Yuuishirou work? I haven't read this one yet  and Shumon Yuu has been involved with it in some capacity, it still doesn't look like his style.

    Spoiler

    So why are Shumon Yuu's works primarily known only to people that are a part of the 'in' crowd of veteran untranslated VN readers in the West?

    I think it's that his work is more of requires a special kind of mindset to get into. He is one of these nontraditional writers that you don't really know if it's going to be worth putting so much time reading when your Japanese is still pretty weak. In this case there is even less chance for you to really enjoy his works. Works by Higashide, Masada, Takahama Ryou & Kurashiki Tatsuya, Romeo, and even Ou Jackson, are much more easily identifiable and you know what you're getting into before you dive in.

    I avoided Shumon Yuu because I can't understand him and I don't know if he is someone I'll enjoy or is his vns just too deep and smart for my head. That's not to say I will never read him, of course I want to read Itsusora, Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo., and Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide. But I also don't feel like I'm ready to read him right now, other works seem like they can give me much more immediate gratification and satisfaction thank these vns.

    Clephas

    Posted

    Quote

    1.  The 'standardized' voiceless protagonist- For better or worse, there was a long period of time when VN protagonists outside of chuunige were forbidden by industry custom (unspoken, unmentioned) to have a personality beyond the standard 'nice guy, dense, harem-building' protagonist with no voice-acting.  I'm going to be straight with yall... this kind of protagonist is a long-standing attempt to create a convenient means for self-insertion into a situation, because his personality is nonexistent, he has no voice of his own, and in some cases you can even name him.  Obliterating the individuality of the protagonist became a common tool in VNs around the turn of the century, even as story-focused VNs became more and more distinct from their nukige and moege brethren.  This protagonist is an outdated, absolutely worthless relic of a time where people had forgotten the cardinal rule of interesting fiction... a boring point of view makes for a boring game.

    I agree. At least story vns should have voiced protags. Alas, even many chuuni vns have unvoiced protags.

     

    Clephas

    Posted

    Great advice. Just one little nitpick:

    Quote

    7- Stay away from pure mindfucks- I shouldn't have to explain this, but I will... the value of a mindfuck is in its surprise.  Games centered on a mindfuck, with the sole purpose of trying to fool you into thinking one thing while something else is going on, are terrible for VN replays.  This is because they are probably the  most spoiler-vulnerable genre out there.

    I don't see why it should matter if it's a mindfuck or not. Why should it be any different from any other vn? If you read Tokyo Babel or Dies Irae you already know what will happen, then why even bother rereading them? If you think a story is good it shouldn't matter what genre it is. The entire point of mindfuck is to tell a good story not the twists. Twists don't mean shit if the story is bad.

    kivandopulus

    Posted

    Why don't you just put each candidate in a separate spoiler tag. This way you won't need to hide the text your self. I think that would make things more comfy and easier to read.

    I know how hard it is to find information and write about old and obscure visual novels. I have written a lot of articles about old visual novels but for one reason or another decided not to publish them. So yeah, I know it's an incredibly difficult task. So do as much as you think you can.

    fun2novel

    Posted

    40 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

    For Infinity series, from what I read somewhere else both of Uchikosi and Nakazawa work together only on two Infinity series (Never7 and Ever17). After that apparently there's some friction between those two and they decided to work separately. Also the friction was could be the reason why Remember11 were incomplete, or so what I'd read and therefore Uchikoshi left the development (Just consider Remember11 as Nakazawa's work). And for more information there, I think I'd also read that Uchikoshi sci fi was more lighter than Nakazawa ie more easily understandable (I couldn't be sure though). Maybe I could add more info regarding the duo if possible, or perhaps there's some user here who could give the info as well.

    Both worked on all 3 Infinity games (both worked on a few other games before as well). There were a lot of problems with Remember11, main one is KID's financial troubles, they were in a rush to make some money and had release the game as soon as possible to make some money from sales. Because they had less than a year to finish the game, as the deadline was approaching the pressure rose and they couldn't come up with the ending (because they didn't have time to properly finish the story). Uchikoshi wanted to end it one way, Nakazawa a different way. Eventually the game was released in the state that it is.

    Considering they had less than a year of development it's pretty amazing what they were able to do in such a short time. The game is pretty if you ask me.

    47 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

    Higashide other than his works at Propeller, he also work as the assistant writer for Princess Waltz. Granted his position was only as assistant for the main writer, but looking at the VN setting I think it's definitely had some his influence. Just my impression here, and it could be wrong.

    Actually, when I was making the list I wanted to put Princess Waltz here as well. I debated on it for a long time but because this list only shows some of the better works by each writer and I wasn't sure just how much writing Higashide actually did himself I couldn't add this game to the list. But you are correct, Princess Waltz is a very interesting game and worthwhile to try. I haven't played it long enough to really know though.

    53 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

    Murasaki, while Dengeki and Baldr series was his best works, he also write Duel Savior as well which was translated back at 2012.

    Yeah you are correct. However what I did is just to let people know about some of the most notable works by each writer, and out of those only what I think are the best works. If someone tries any of the vns I listed and likes it then they can go to VNDB and find out more works by this writer. Nakazawa worked on Memories Off but I don't think it's his best work. He also worked on Subete ga F ni Naru which is a very interesting vn but I don't know how good it is yet.

    1 hour ago, littleshogun said:

    I think that's all I could think of here for more elaboration, and maybe I'll add more if possible. Keep in mind that once again I maybe too biased or wrong here.

    I welcome all comments and feedback.

    fun2novel

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Clephas said:

    so they didn't manage to make back their investment cash and the company crashed and burned.

    I wouldn't go that far, they probably could still go on and continue their work. The closed down because of principle, Victor Ireland was fed up with the bullshit his company had to go through with every game they want to work on and not being allowed to release the Growlanser game separately was the last straw. At least according to his own words before the company finally closed down.

    It really does seem strange that Sony would do that, what's the point. That's the first and I think the only time I ever heard of a console manufacturer intervening with a publisher AFTER the game has already been approved. They can limit the number of discs pressed like they did to WARP's D.

    4 hours ago, Clephas said:

    Edit: A large part of the cost for Growlanser was licensing fees and paying for a first-class VA setup (large amounts of voiced text, dubbed by the best English VAs of the day... huge costs), which ballooned each game's pricetag for the company beyond the entire Arc the Lad Collection.

    I am not surprised, there are a ton of voices in both Growlanser games. The Arc the Lad games are the ones Bernie Stolar prevented them to release, it wasn't until close to the playstation's life that it finally came out in English. In a better edition than Japan has ever got.

    4 hours ago, Clephas said:

    Edit2: You have to remember, while WD had used VAs before, most of them were concentrated in a minority of scenes (Lunar) or in animated cut-scenes (Dragon Force).  Not only that, the business itself wasn't fully established for gaming until FFX came out with a full VA cast and basically dragged jrpgs into the modern era... it was after that that Growlanser was released, and the price for VAs had gone way up from the days when Lunar was being localized.  The results... were predictable.

    Yeah but don't forget games like Snatcher and Metal Gear Solid, both came out long before Growlanser and both have voices not even matched by today's games. It doesn't matter if voices were popular or how much they were used, what mattered whether the people behind it care enough to put this kind of effort. Final Fantasy X had horrible voice acting and I don't even want to talk about X-2. Even Xenosaga Episode I didn't always have good voice acting, I mean it was good in some scenes and pretty bad in others. Episode II had a few changes, some for the better some for the worse. But Episode III had the best voices of all, even those actors that were bad in Episode I suddenly sound good and professional in Episode I. So it comes down to competent and how much the people behind the games care about their projects.

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