mjriedstra

I have no idea how three games ended up in your drawer, but as you say, there's probably some logical explanation. I'll add my own little story just for kicks. When I was about seven years old, I was terrified of the dark. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night and want a drink, but be too scared to get out of bed. One night when I had awoken and had been sitting at the edge of my bed for about five minutes, unwilling to take the first step, a radio turned on in the room next to mine. It was my aunt's room. She was staying with us while she went to university. But in the night, listening to her radio play, I remembered that she had gone home for the summer. Nobody was in the room. After about twenty minutes of being stuck halfway between horror and curiosity, I worked up every ounce of courage in my body and went into her room. I turned on the light and looked around. There was nothing strange in the room. The radio was playing happily. It had a mechanical switch that had been in the off position and had been flipped to the on position. I turned it off and went back to my bed. It took me hours to fall back asleep. In the morning, and to this day, I was sure that I hadn't dreamed it. But rationally, it being a dream seems the most plausible explanation. It's also possible that the switch had been accidentally flicked to part way between on and off and a small tremor had shaken it back to on. I still think about it once in a while.

I have the feeling that when they dive off the starting platform, they actually bounce into the air when they hit the water. Disqualified for flying.

I tried some Japanese milk tea the other day. It was basically ... very milky tea. Truth in advertising, I suppose.

Living through a natural disaster is a pretty good reason to miss a post or two. Best of luck out there. Natural disaster: 0 Tay: 1

It looks like they've finally distilled Sakura down to its purest essence (?). I guess this is good for its fans and not much of a difference for people that aren't fans.

I think the reason for this is that ultimately, it's not very interesting to watch the same events unfold multiple times in slightly different ways. The Endless Eight arc of Haruhi, for example, is one of the most hated story arcs in anime history despite being part of one of the otherwise most-watched shows. I do think it's possible to keep certain elements consistent between routes if the developer really wanted to try, and at times I've also been jarred by story elements disappearing from one route to another for the sake of plot expediency. However, it's best to think of most VNs as being several different stories packaged on top of one common setting and character set, which it is the job of the common route to introduce, rather than to think of them as an over-arching narrative told through multiple routes (which usually isn't the case). I've personally struggled with this a lot. The game I'm developing takes consideration of the strange genre convention of replaying a common route over and over to see different stories later on. I've never loved that convention, so I'm not using it. But I still wanted the player to be able to experience each different branch of the story as a unique experience. Figuring out the best way to structure it has been a challenge. One game I respect in that regard is Majikoi. Its "common route" is actually a series of sub-stories that allow you to choose which heroine's route you want to see without ever replaying the same content.

I think I'm going to re-read Eyeshield 21. Hiruma is still one of my favorite characters of all time.

Muv Luv is a good one in terms of story elements. I thought about mentioning it, but I don't know if it suits the OP's request for a modern style of presentation. That's a very subjective criteria I suppose.

Snow Sakura at least features somewhat of the right settings. It's the only VN I can think of where the whole story takes place in an isolated, snowbound region (it's a town, but a tiny one). There's no sports in it that I recall, though.

In terms of art and presentation, you're setting the bar pretty high by wanting things to measure up to Konosora and Hoshimemo with a moe/romance focus. Many games at that level are still in translation. They're not fully up to the same standard of presentation, but you can try: Little Busters! To Heart 2 Harukoi Otome Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru Fortune Arterial (not all routes are translated) Shinigami no Kiss wa Wakare no Aji (heavier content)

I woke in a ditch, clutching the stuffed carcass of some extinct bird from New Zealand, sweating bullets to the point that my makeup was running ... and wondering why I was wearing makeup to begin with. The best thing about tofu is...

You must be a supernaturally (supernatural ... get it? get it?) pure person if it took these responses to open you to the sugoku ecchi possibilities of ghost-hood.

I haven't heard of any groups taking direct requests, but if you have a suggestion to make as to a game you think is good and that will be popular, I don't see anything wrong with just asking publicly here in the forum to see what the level of interest is like. Someone may know of a group that's searching for a good new project.

The original YU-NO is one of the few "top tier" old school VNs that I haven't yet been able to make myself finish. Not sure why, but something about the art rubs me the wrong way, which is very strange as I usually don't care that much about visuals if the plot is good, and supposedly it's excellent. So, I'm looking forward to this pretty hardcore. The new style appeals to me.

This is a fun concept. China is a rare setting for this type of "fish-out-of-water" story. I enjoyed Go Go Nippon a lot for the "introduction to culture" aspects. Maybe this will do for China what that game does for Japan. I also for some reason find the idea of a basketball-loving, KTV watching Chinese guy pretty amusing. That should be a fun character. Good luck with the project.

I can't think of a single game that really fits the criteria. I'm far from an expert on Otome as a genre, but a plot-oriented, non-BL Otomege with h-scenes sounds like a rare animal to me. I'll be interested to see if anybody finds one.

So ghosts are basically the Fight Club of the afterlife? What happens to the ones that get discovered? <Ghost> Heheheh ... I'm so sneaky. <Person> Dude, there's a ghost over there. <Ghost> Oh sh— <Person> ? Maybe not.

Sounds interesting. I've always been very partial to Final Fantasy VII and the city you describe reminds me a lot of Midgar in some ways, though with a more truly steampunk level of technology. Is that text from within the game itself, or just from the lore you built around the story?

If I were a ghost, and I knew I was a ghost, I would probably spend most of my time trying to prove to people that ghosts exist. And probably fail hard, since if ghosts do exist, they're doing a lackluster job of convincing me, even though I've been checking. And I'm sure someone like me would be trying.

Comyu fits your request pretty well. It has action, tons of non-main character centric conflicts and a dark and deep story. Only possible drawback from your perspective is that it has ... not mecha, but well, the action has some aspects that can be considered mecha-like in a way. I still think you'd like it. Phantom of Inferno also fits all of your criteria perfectly.

Maybe this marks me a failure as a purist, but I think following the walkthrough is almost necessary for certain games, Rewrite being a prime example. The sheer enormity of the story and the pixel-hunting nature of the mini-game would have made it nearly impossible to see most of the content without a half-dozen playthroughs. It's worthwhile to follow a good walkthrough step-by-step to get each ending and most of the easter eggs without pulling your hair out.

I'm rewatching Cross Game and remembering why it's my favorite sports anime (and manga for that matter) of all time. Even though, in a lot of ways, it's more about complicated human relationships and dealing with grief than it is about sports.

Steampunk is a fun and under-represented genre, so hopefully you'll do well and raise interest levels in steampunk stories. When you say it's a "fantasy adventure," do you mean in terms of the story content or are there actual gameplay elements?

Rewrite, in my opinion. It's got a strong sense of humor, interesting side stories, philosophical implications, and lengthy, well-differentiated routes. Princess Evangile isn't a bad story by any means, but aside from the good art, it's fairly mundane by comparison.

20 years ago I spent so many hours playing and replaying the original X-COM that I had nightmares about chryssalids. Then recently I spent another few weeks playing Enemy Unknown. If this game is anywhere near as good as its predecessors, I'll be playing it as well.