Darklord Rooke

If yall played it patched and didn't buy the Japanese version, buy the official release when it comes out... we need to support this kind of thing.  *Clephas plans to preorder, despite the fact that he already has the Japanese version*

Divinity:Original Sin has shifted 160,000 copies mere days after it was released. So a big FU to all the publishers out there who thought isometric old school RPGs with complexity, tons of text, and a turn based combat system would never sell. Because not only is Divinity going to be a financial success, it's going to be remembered as one of the greatest CRPGs in recent history.
 
Rooke out.

Yes,
[url=http://vndb.org/v2002]Stein's Gate[/url]  Stein's Gate
 
 
 
Anyways gj, although I am not a big fan of ratings (I view them as something more personal so mass votes tell nothing).
And for Japanese untranslated stuff I prefer EGS since its much more accurate.
 
So that is for top ratings, I would agree that if you see low ratings (like up to 6) on both VNDB and EGS, it probably sucks for everyone xD So for filtering crap it is useful xD
 
 
 
One last thing, using the vndb Bayesian rating (the number you are posting) is very misleading, especially for non-translated and new titles.
Take example Irotoridori no Sekai (which you are by the way missing in the list), has an average vote of 8.44 and Bayesian to 8.10 (since only 159 votes on VNDB, compared to like 1000 on EGS). And then take its sequel Irotoridori no Hikari (I wouldn't really call it a fandisc, its literally a full length sequel almost as long as the original game) which is rated on vndb as 8.55 average but Bayesian pushed to 7.76 (well obviously if the original game has only 159 votes, the sequel will have even less since people have to finish the original in the first place). So according to this VNDB rating the sequel is worse than the original game, which is actually not how it is viewed by most people (EGS is like 81 for original vs 86 for sequel with like 1000 and 500 votes respectively). The second game is viewed as the better of the 2 and rightfully so.
 
This vndb rating system puts too much emphasis on the number of votes which for stuff like this causes inaccurate information about how people voted.
This will also never give a chance to newly released games, since they can never achieve so many votes as something like FSN.
 
So I would recommend switching to the average rating if you are going to do this, it won't change much for the top positions, but it will allow newer games to be in the top, where they belong. (and lets be honest if you're gonna be picking between outdated game released in 2001 or something and a game with awesome new effects and graphics and HD resolution, both of which are about equally rated as far as the writing goes - you will probably want to pick the newer one, where as vndb advises you to pick the old one).
 
 
just my 2 cents

I think the state of the official localization scene would make for an interesting topic, and perhaps some discussion of where it was and where it's going--or even why one should care about official localization at all.  Similarly, a discussion / debate about VN piracy and its impact would make for an entertaining episode I think.

Hey all, I would like to make a little spiel about the podcast if I may and something that I believe should be addressed going forward, so bear with me if you please. First things first though: the OP has been updated to reflect the next 3 episodes of the podcast. If you are interested in volunteering for any of them or want to ask questions about the topics and what they entail, please do so; the sooner we get the ball rolling the better.
 
That being said, I wanted to address the recent episodes I posted on the Mixcloud account and some of the issues surrounding them. It was extremely disheartening, no, soul shattering, to receive a plethora of messages from individuals on Fuwanovel berating the podcast and saying that the direction I have taken it is and always has been a waste of time. Now, this post is not meant to get angry at those people because in the end, I appreciate the suggestions and advice. However, what I want them and everyone to understand is that this podcast is something I take very seriously. I try to treat it with the same level of professionalism I would any other project I am passionate about, and because of that, I want people to understand that I will always try to put my best foot forward when it comes to producing it. Nothing is perfect, nor am I a professional in this field of work, however I consistently try to make a product people can look back and and say, "Wow, that was fun to listen to!"
 
Everyone gets nervous. Hell, I am practically shaking when we start an episode. What if it doesn't record and I wasted all these people's time? What if someone doesn't speak? What if we don't have enough time, or worse, run out of time? All of this is running through my head. I may be used to publicly speaking in front of others more than some, but in the end I am right there with everyone else: standing in my underwear praying nobody notices.
 
That being said, I wanted to post this to let everyone know that I appreciate criticism, however please understand what I, no we, do as a group is not a simple task. Organizing it is one thing, but producing it is another.
 
With that, thank you for the continued support and the enthusiasm for the project.
 
Best,
Ren

Most rpgs don't use either the ADV or the NVL storytelling (also, they don't have tachie).  Exceptions like Disgaea exist... but Disgaea just intermittently uses an ADV mode rather than using it for all the storytelling. 
 
There are eroge that are VNs but not all eroge are VNs.  Nukige are all VNs and they are also all eroge.  'Nuki' is basically one of the many Japanese slang words for masturbation, and it was pasted to 'ge' which is the word for game.  It is a game whose sole purpose is to 'nuku' (masturbate) whereas there are many eroge that focus primarily on plot or characters. 
 
Many classic-style jrpgs use an ADV-style dialog box, but because they don't have the tachie (with rare exceptions) they can't be considered to be part-VN for the most part.  Really, it would be more correct to say that ADV-style text boxes evolved from jrpg text boxes and went in a completely different direction with it.  The Agarest series is considered a hybrid because it tells most of the story in VN-mode, with tachie and everything, if you want an example of a console hybrid. 
 
Like 'VN' 'eroge'  is an all-encompassing umbrella, whereas nukige are a sub-genre that falls under the aegis of both VNs and eroge.  As opposed to this, galge (non-ero romantic VNs) fall under VNs but not under eroge.  On the other side, Illusion's sex fantasy games would be considered eroge, but they can't be classified as VNs, because they don't utilize VN storytelling techniques.
 
'Moege' is another all-encompassing umbrella that takes in most of the galge genre, all of the charage and nakige genres, and a good chunk of the VN and eroge medium. 
 
Generally speaking, unless a type of game is put out in large enough numbers and is distinctive enough to be placed in its own category, you won't see an actual sub-genre name pop-up over there.  'Chuuni', for example, is a relatively rare type of VN, and because of that there really isn't a name for it over there, though when I mentioned my name for it, my Japanese friends nodded and laughed because they knew exactly what I was talking about.  Utsuge, which were more popular between 2001-2008 than they are now, were given their own name, because enough were put out during that period for them to 'earn' an independent classification.  Many utsuge are also chuuni (the early Nitroplus games were mostly utsuge, at least some of the time), but some fall into no other category and others even have enough moe in them to be considered part-moege and charage. 
 
Basically, it is one huge mess.  To an extent, people like me, who have experience with all of this shit, can give you some guidance, but a Venn diagram isn't going to do you any good, because none of this is set in stone permanently (as evidenced by the fact that galge is falling out of disuse as a term, as fewer and fewer romantic-leaning games are produced without erotic content in the VN style). 
 
However, the basic definitions for eroge, nukige, and VNs are basically correct.  You have to grasp that 'VN' is a term mostly used here, whereas it is only used over there by the actual corporations that own the companies that make them.  Understanding that a nukige is a genre, whereas eroge is basically a wide-encompassing umbrella term, is the most important thing you should draw out of my early statements.

Perhaps the biggest difference between a dating sim and a VN is mechanics.
 
In a dating sim, you usually have some kind of stats, where you literally build up a visible gauge for the heroines by buying them gifts, taking them on dates, saying random crap to them, etc.  There is a pretty good reason why these are almost extinct...
 
In a VN, the game is essentially telling a story, no matter how trite or disgusting it might be (nukige tending toward the latter and moege the former).  The player's intervention is minimal and generally restricted to limited choices that pop up at various points of the story.  It is also told in either the NVL manner (the one where the text is across the whole screen) or the ADV manner (where it is in a box at the bottom of the screen). 
 
An eroge is, quite simply, any video game where actual erotic content exists.  I know, it is frequently used as a byword for VNs, but that isn't really accurate.  Basically, if it has actual sex in it, it can be considered an eroge. 

That sounds much better. The most common cause of incorrect solutions to social problems is the misdiagnosis of social problems themselves. This obviously lead to solutions which are incorrect because they address the wrong issue. What is the problem, and what are the symptoms of the problem. It requires much thought and much care *glares at Youtube author*
 
EDIT: @Babiker: You misquoted Wiki btw. VNs made up 70% of the PC GAMING MARKET in Japan in 2006, which doesn't say much because the PC market in Japan is quite small.

Umm... if anything, it is the fact that women are expected to end their careers if they marry over there.  It is pretty much a universal belief amongst anyone born prior to 1990 who works at a 'normal' job, so it is going to be at least another decade before society manages to dispose of that idea.

It's all about design and gameplay. You'd first have to ask yourself what truly defines a game and perhaps - what remains a "good", or rather - a meaningful game. Back in the old days, we were much more limited; higher emphasis often went not into the graphics, or sound, but mainly the game mechanics and simple ideas were often the most fun. Take Archon for example. I spent days and days playing it with my dad and sis back in the old days when C64 ruled the world; it had simple graphics and sound, and in overall was nothing more than a variation on a chess game - but with such a twist! When two pieces clashed, the game turned into arena-styled battle game and each piece had it's distinct pros and cons. It was even possible to beat such dangerous foes like a bishop with a mere pewn, provided a player was good enough to do so.

Ideas are often important as well. I'm not saying they are the soul of a game, since in the end only execution matters, but good games are often works of art; they always remain stylish and distinct in that sense that even if the graphics are simple, they will have that something "special". It's what made games like Cave Story very succesful as well; people fell in love with it's retro stylistics and simplified gameplay, which still managed to sport so much variety within the gameplay. I'd say that good games are often very challenging; they don't need to be ridicolously hard, but there's always that "line", visible within that distinguishes casuals from hardcore gamers, while still allowing everyone to enjoy everything.

I won't say modern games are bad, not at all. We still get very nice titles that prove the game industry is progressing onwards and there's a lot more to discover; the only issue is that most creators nowadays create games that don't contain any real content, only form. They have nice graphics and everything, stories written by the biggest scenario writers, scores composed by famous musicians but they always lack something, including a soul. It's perhaps why I reverted to retro gaming over the last few years and generally hold older games in much higher regard than any of the new titles; there's something in it, indeed, since most of modern games don't amuse me anymore.

One of the things I've noticed over the years I've spent as a gamer (almost twenty-two years now, to one degree or another) is that a technically superior game (such as Final Fantasy XIII) is not necessarily a 'good' game.  I've frequently asked myself why this is... and I've yet to come to a full conclusion.
 
So, I decided to use an example of a truly great game that wasn't necessarily technically superior to everything around it.
 
Dragon Force- It was the release that interested me enough to pick up the Sega Saturn, a Working Designs localization of a conquest-strategy/rpg.  There were eight different nations you could start out leading, each with their own storyline (leading to the same endgame, but meh) with a different protagonist for each.  There were a lot of different units you could use, ranging from generic footsoldiers and cavalry to gorgon-like dragons and zombies.  You could recruit generals by capturing them after defeating them in battle, and the object of the game was to crush the other large nations, capture their leaders, and recruit them into your army. 
 
Now why was this game great?  First, it was downright addictive.  The gameplay was never the same two playthroughs in a row (though the methodology was) and considering the limited capabilities of the Saturn, it startles me what they did with the limited resources they had available to them, looking back at it now.  Second, it had ridiculously catchy songs.  I found myself humming along for hours while I fought battle after battle, never really getting bored with it.  Third was the story... while - like all conquest-strategy games with story - it was mostly activated by your conquest of certain castles/areas, it nonetheless managed to draw you in nicely.  The desperation of the shattered Kingdom of Izumo, the ambition of Junon, the mix of isolationism and a sense of duty driving the elf queen Teiris... All of these things served as a nice beginning, and the endgame was surprisingly poignant (despite being extremely predictable story-wise from a veteran rpg-gamer's point of view).  Also, I rofled constantly at the beastmen and the really weird music they stuck on their story sequences. 
 
Now, those are ELEMENTS of what made the game great... but by themselves, all of them could be matched to one degree or another in a number of other games.  Generations of Chaos (the first one released in the US) was a direct spiritual tribute to Dragon Force, and it seemingly had a similar level in each individual area... but it failed to be as addictive or interesting.
 
Why?  Because a truly great game is like a puzzle, its elements fitting so well together that it creates a whole greater than the sum of its parts.  Games like Dragon Force and Chrono Trigger are unusual more for this quality than for any individual aspect of their gameplay or story.  They are almost works of art, rather than simple merchandise. 
 
Needless to say, I was fortunate to grow up in the early era of video games, because it gave me an appreciation for this kind of masterful game artistry that I doubt I could have obtained if I had begun in the PS2 era or later, where technology began allowing the creation of games with an unbalanced emphasis on a one or a few aspects of a game while still managing to gather in mainstream and casual gamers. 
 
I'm not saying such artistry is dead, because that would be patently ridiculous.  It is just a lot rarer, proportionately, because of the simple fact that it IS so much easier to produce relatively high quality games under current technological conditions.  To be blunt, gaming has suffered from the same thing that happened to every cottage industry after it hit assembly-line mentalities... predictability.
 
Of course, some indie companies are reviving what was best about the old era, but they are also indulging in nostalgia far too often.  Yes, I do like the FFVI style... but is it really necessary to copy it or Dragon Quest for EVERY SINGLE new jrpg-imitation that comes out?  *Clephas rolls his eyes in exasperation*
 
I'm not saying that the 'golden age of the jrpg' (the SNES and PS1 eras) was absolutely unequivocally better than the modern era of games... it was just oh so much easier to recognize a truly great game when you saw it, lol.

It's never about how original or unoriginal their ideas are, it's all about how well they execute them. There's a reason certain ideas BECOME cliches in the first place, and that is people are interested in these type of stories, and it's a solid base to launch an exciting tale. The world is full of stories full of overdone ideas going on to become best-sellers (Robert Jordan's books are full of dull cliches for example). It's also full of people who try original, great sounding ideas and falling flat on their face. Ideally you'd like a well-executed story which is original and fresh, but as long as the story is executed with flair and talent, I have no problem with how cliche'd the stuff is. 
 
I don't have enough information to make a judgement call yet, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

It's never about how original or unoriginal their ideas are, it's all about how well they execute them. There's a reason certain ideas BECOME cliches in the first place, and that is people are interested in these type of stories, and it's a solid base to launch an exciting tale. The world is full of stories full of overdone ideas going on to become best-sellers (Robert Jordan's books are full of dull cliches for example). It's also full of people who try original, great sounding ideas and falling flat on their face. Ideally you'd like a well-executed story which is original and fresh, but as long as the story is executed with flair and talent, I have no problem with how cliche'd the stuff is. 
 
I don't have enough information to make a judgement call yet, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

There have been instances in the past when overseas sales caused game series to be reincarnated in the form of sequels. They even localize it, at that.

It's never about how original or unoriginal their ideas are, it's all about how well they execute them. There's a reason certain ideas BECOME cliches in the first place, and that is people are interested in these type of stories, and it's a solid base to launch an exciting tale. The world is full of stories full of overdone ideas going on to become best-sellers (Robert Jordan's books are full of dull cliches for example). It's also full of people who try original, great sounding ideas and falling flat on their face. Ideally you'd like a well-executed story which is original and fresh, but as long as the story is executed with flair and talent, I have no problem with how cliche'd the stuff is. 
 
I don't have enough information to make a judgement call yet, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

He referred specifically to Japan because that's the game's primary market. Even though the titles sold well in the west for a VN type game, it still wouldn't have moved as many copies as it would have in Japan, where it sold poorly. Even Ace Attorney struggles to sell decently in the West, which was part of the reason we never saw AAI2.
 
At the end of the day the company in question doesn't care where the money comes from. If the game moves enough units then a sequel will be made. It didn't do well in Japan, and these sorts of games never do really well in the West, so there's no sequel. Move another 10,000 units in the West might just get somebody's attention. Sending somebody pretty drawings won't do anything.

Sekai Project is doing another kickstarter for the translation of a game called fault milestone one:
 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sekaiproject/fault-milestone-one-directors-cut

http://www.mediafire.com/download/10p5pv1lx3h97gf/Patch_GS3P20140616.zip
http://gbatemp.net/threads/tokimeki-memorial-girls-side-premium-3rd-story-english-translation.367491/
 
http://www.englishotomegames.net/post/89123502586/tokimeki-memorial-girls-side-3rd-story
 
say thanks to the team  
English Translation Project
 
Credits: Translation: jjjewel Spot translation: AmuletCross Programming/Hacking: jjjewel ASM hacking: thexyz, Mugi Graphic editing: jjjewel Editing: chocobikies, jjjewel, xMimii Beta-testing: chocobikies, jinny-jin, xMimii

It's never about how original or unoriginal their ideas are, it's all about how well they execute them. There's a reason certain ideas BECOME cliches in the first place, and that is people are interested in these type of stories, and it's a solid base to launch an exciting tale. The world is full of stories full of overdone ideas going on to become best-sellers (Robert Jordan's books are full of dull cliches for example). It's also full of people who try original, great sounding ideas and falling flat on their face. Ideally you'd like a well-executed story which is original and fresh, but as long as the story is executed with flair and talent, I have no problem with how cliche'd the stuff is. 
 
I don't have enough information to make a judgement call yet, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

The game which will force me to buy a 3DS *sigh*.

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say it's because every survey conducted in the recent past has shown women to be more avid readers than men. Some results have suggested almost double the number of women finish a book soon after opening it than their male counterparts, only 69% of men have read a book in the past year compared to over 80% of women, and men are far more likely to own books they have never read. Considering the state of the audience, I'm not surprised the only VN released on a console was otome. I should also point out that most consumers of commercial OELVNs are also women, which is why the english scene is dominated with otomes.

Why am I not impressed, as usual. I have to admit there's a bunch of cg art that looks really promising, but the overall concept and the renderings are just poor; speaking of which, this game is WAY TOO EARLY in development to be even considered worthy of kickstarting. You should only kickstart your game when it's more or less fleshed out and ready to go. All that's left should boil down to building upon the game. When I see projects like this getting kickstarted, it makes me even wonder whether people who do that are mature enough to pull off anything properly.

I agree with InvertMouse upon the rest - vn's are a niche medium. A lot of western players are actually illiterates with not a single working braincell, you can't expect them to not frown upon the very fact someone wants to give them a game where basically 100% of gameplay is compromised of reading a story and nothing else.

A lot of people also dislike eroge and h-content in general, that's usually associated with it; it's not a problem in terms of a playerbase, as it actually picks more of it's interest (if the art and story are good), but the main issue here is that it also attracts unwanted attention from mass media and certain people who'd like to see such type of art burning. Eternally.

Another issue with western developers is that they often blindly follow japanese cliches and settings and build upon them, instead trying to adapt them properly beforehand. This won't ever work and results in very awkward, unrealistic stories that look more like a poor attempt to wank at one's weeaboo'ish dreams. A lot of the stories themselves are ridiculously bad as well, since most of their writers don't even know what prose actually is. I will state it once again - school settings are a BAD foundation and they DO NOT work well for western vn's. Japan is the culture of cute; school settings only sell in Japan, not around here.

On the other hand, I can state what western readers like and would LOVE to see in western visual novels. We are generally full of angst and like deep and relatively dark stories - ones that are very few amongst japanese industry out of the same reason why people roll eyes upon school setting based vn's around here. In other words - MORE DRAMA & PSYCHOLOGICAL. We'd like to see more decent fantasy & sci-fi settings and by sci-fi I'm not talking about space opera; people often think sci-fi means STAR TREK, which is as bad as school settings (no honestly - if you want to make space operas, you'd better stick to your fucking school settings). We'd like to visit strange worlds and see incredible creatures (surreal stories or stuff that happens inside our heads, or dreams). Where's the magic? Where are the swords? We love ghost stories. We love horrors. We love thrillers and crime stories. MAKE IT HAPPEN. WHY IT DOES NOT HAPPEN?

Of all the western vn's I've seen so far, only very few of them actually managed to break the mold and become something more than another bland mecha space opera or another school setting based galge, where the main premise still revolves around fucking all the girls so you can get their hcg's and forget about it. Everything is so cliched with bad japanese setups, that it makes me cringe every single time when I hear about a new, "prominent" western vn project. All of the western designers divide into two categories - those who either blindly follow the cliched, japanese routines or those who completely separate vn's as a medium and make it so "western" - so boring and unattractive - it makes me want to read a book instead trying to give them a chance.

There's a lot of issues with proper direction. I know a lot of people for example, who won't read certain western developed vn's just because they aren't that appealing, their stories are very average and unorginal and they often lack the anime styled graphics and certain kind of approach, which attracts us otherwise. Then there's the main issue where a developer has to balance between all those things to make a really good western vn; it's a very delicate matter that more often leads to a failure when people making the game lack any sort of actual knowledge about visual novel medium. It often leads to cases where creators simply don't know or can't see, what could be done to make them more appealing to western fans and readers alike.

I don't doubt it's possible vn's will slowly gain more interest on the west, but it won't ever be some sort of a boom. Things need to change, people need to grow and mature as well. Some things might perhaps have to change in order for this medium to flourish. If anything, there's still a very long, rocky road ahead of us.

TL & DR

I think that in overall, people actually aren't that interested in reading anymore.
 
I should stop getting all worked up over this; it's not like you can force illiterates to read a story.

This makes me happy, I'm definitely interested in reading this VN. I wish you the best of luck dealing with that pesky little curse that has attached itself to your project.

Systems like E-mote or Cybernoids' Live2D have a lot of potential; the issue is, most of the time it's just a fancy and expensive graphical enchantment that does not add anything to the immersiveness of the story; unless the animations make a part of it, as in having some actual impact in a way how the interaction between player and the game is being established, there's no actual use for it besides making the characters on the screen a little bit more "realistic".
 
E-mote does not change anything in terms of interactivity in vn's. A lot of titles from PC-98 were a lot more immersive than most of modern eroge, since they gave players the ability to control actions during important moments or even h-scenes. There is no innovation, when it comes to that.
 
The only actual benefit of this system is making the game look a lot preetier and lively, while the line between a game and animation blurs even further. I guess it might be useful for bigger studios, if they add enough gainaxing it might increase their visual novel sales; it's hard for them to sell anything nowadays and remain competitive on the market.

Ugh, this thread is bananas... -.-'
 
A few points in no particular order:
1) A translation is converting the story written in one language into another, staying as close as possible to the original meaning. Period. It doesn't have to be literal (actually, it shouldn't), but it must include all scenes present in the original. Those can be rewritten to some extent if necessary, to make the whole story work well in a different language. However, cutting or severely twisting the original content as one sees fit is not an option here.
 
2) What Babiker brought up, when the original is altered to be more suited for the target audience, avoid possibly offensive stuff, etc. is NOT a translation. It's a localization (as already mentioned). That's a completely different form of art, that indeed allows, or rather - requires - a lot more adjustments to the source material. That includes even such liberties as changing the setting to the different country, replacing original names of characters or places to preserve their hidden meaning, changing references to existing people, pop-culture, folklore etc., rewriting potentially offensive scenes, and so on. This requires much greater effort from the localization team, and can easily result in a total trainwreck. Gyakuten Saiban -> Phoenix Wright is a good example of such approach (even kinda passable quality-wise). Both translating and localizing are valid forms of bringing foreign works to a different language/culture. Translation is obviously more faithful, while localization, being only one step away from the actual remake, is further from the source material, but can be easier to understand for an average reader, and if done right, may be just as good as the original (but that requires a huge load of effort and incredible writing skills). As far as the current VN fan-TL scene is concerned, an actually decent localization is simply unrealistic, so just forget about it.
 
3) Fan-translators can do whatever they want. That's a fact. If they think erotica is Satan's creation or something, they can always stick to all-ages titles. That's obviously the best idea.
If they do want to translate eroge though, the ideal approach would be making a full translation, and allowing people to disable H-scenes if they want. That's the only really fair option, and it satisfies everyone. And that's how all serious groups dealt with this issue so far.
Making a partial translation, by leaving the H-content intact, but untranslated, is also a valid option. It's quite similar to releasing only a few routes - simply an incomplete patch. The difference is that in the former case, groups usually plan to do the whole translation at first, but quit halfway because of reasons. Shit happens, I won't blame them for that. Planning to release unfinished patch from the start (that's not limited to H-scenes, patch for Hozuki's route from Sharin no Kuni FD also counts for example), is what I would generally consider a tiny little bit half-assed. Even if the translated part covers 99,5% of the VN, it's STILL incomplete. Of course, fantranslators can release unfinished patches, nothing wrong with that - if people care, they can translate the rest.
As for actually removing the H-scenes entirely, whether the reader likes it or not... Well, of course fantranslators can do this too. But at this point it's not a translation anymore. And if they didn't make a huge effort to convert the entire story to fit their target audience, it's not exactly worthy to be called a localization either. It's pretty much a fanfic (or a revision if you want ). Again, nothing wrong with that, it still can be a good fanfic. Just be honest with your readers.
 
4) Companies release all-ages ports of their games mainly for a single reason - to target wider audience and sell more copies. I don't see them removing 18+ versions as soon as the all-ages remake hits the market though, and while they cut the sex-scenes, they frequently add something to the console ports make up for it. Translators who pick all-ages releases over 18+ ones, usually do so with that additional content in mind, not because they don't want ero.
 
5) MoeNovel is indeed related with Pulltop. Still, completely screwed up Engrish release isn't that surprising - Japanese companies generally don't give a damn about the Western market, and even if they try to release something overseas, they have absolutely no idea how to do it right. Nobody from Pulltop would bat an eye even if MoeNovel released a blatant machine translation or something. They probably just made up a quick remake of Ageha's route for the sake of censorship, most likely without any consultations with the original writer (or with any writers actually). We'll see how they deal with this issue in the console port.
Oh, and the fact MN is related with original creators obviously doesn't make their version of KonoSora any more acceptable. And yeah, it's "their version" not a "translation" (much less "English translation").
 
To sum things up - yeah, translators can do whatever they want. And considering all that H-censorship and other TL-quality issues that are getting more and more frequent lately, anyone who is even slightly serious about reading VNs, should screw translations and start learning Japanese right about now.
And now excuse me, there's some completely unreadable garbage (also known as "If My Heart Had Wings"), that's waiting to be salvaged for far too long already.