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AKB4ty7

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  1. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Kin'iro Loveriche   
    This is the latest release by Saga Planets, the makers of Hatsuyuki Sakura and Natsuyume Nagisa.  This, like many of the games by this company, is an emotional game that sort of edges around being a straight-out charage, though it can't really be called a story-focused or a true nakige.  This kind of genre ambiguity is common to this company's better works, so in that sense, it probably wasn't a bad choice, overall.
    First, I should say I skipped Akane's path.  I played the first three heroine paths and enjoyed them, but Akane's path was so... cliched that I had to skip it after the midpoint.  I was also impatient to get to Ria's path, lol.
    Anyway, this game begins with Ichimatsu Ouro, the protagonist, encountering the princess of a fictional north-European superpower, and her dragging him to a school for elites as a result.  I'll be straight with you about this... disregard the getchu page info entirely.  Even the best of the info there is misleading, probably deliberately. 
    Anyway, Ouro, who was looking to get away from his life anyway, takes advantage of entering the new school, getting along with Sylvia, Elle (Sylvia's bodyguard), Rena (a friendly fashionista who is also Sylvia's friend), and Ria (a smoker and delinquent girl he meets on the rooftop) while managing to gradually make his own niche at a school mostly full of rich people. 
    Now, it needs to be said... there should have been an Ayaka path in this game.  Ayaka is a snarky little ass at the beginning, but she would have made a great heroine.  Moreover, it was rather obvious that the writer wanted her to be one (there are lots of elements that could turn her deredere at a moment's notice), so I'm expecting an FD with an Ayaka route, later, lol. 
    Getting back to the rest of the game (I'm writing this at nine in the morning, after not sleeping to finish it), Sylvia's path is easily the strongest of the three heroines that are available from the beginning.  Part of this is because of her generally affectionate nature, part of it is because of her position in life (Princess with insanely loyal followers), and part of it is because she is just that great of a character in general.  Her path actually has two different endings, depending on whether you've seen Ria's ending or not.  The second ending is basically an additional epilogue based several years after the end of the story, and it is obvious to see why you needed to see it only after seeing Ria's ending.
    Elle... is the classic straight-laced heroine that goes insanely deredere once she falls in love.  I honestly enjoyed her path immensely, even as I felt they were stretching credulity a bit with some of the twists and turns (based on Elle's personality, I honestly couldn't see her making some of the choices she did, even with Sylvia's encouragement).  Nonetheless, if you want to see a seemingly hard-edged woman go all soft and mushy, this is a great path.
    Rena... is the classic 'close friends suddenly become lovers' path.  The beginning of their romantic relationship is hilarious and the lead up into the ending is excellent, with a perfect epilogue, given the path they chose in life.  I will say that this is the only path where the protagonist stands up to his recent past in its entirety, so in that sense, it is perhaps the most complete of the paths up to this point. 
    Ria's path... is the game's main path.  Ria herself is not much of a delinquent... for all that she is foul-mouthed and a smoker, she is at the same time kind-hearted and very much at ease with the protagonist after a few initial bumps.  However, for her path... this is the path that threatens to define this game as a nakige... with good reason.  If you paid attention to the extensive foreshadowing in the other heroine paths, you will probably be able to figure out what the core crisis of this path is, but this is also the path where Ouro shows himself at his best, right to the very end. 
    Now, I need to go into Ouro, which I normally would have done first.  Ouro is mostly your average guy... save for the fact that he is insanely thoughtful and good in a crisis.  However, what is stronger about him is that he generally knows when he is at his limit and finds someone to lean on at the right times, without going all dependent and whiny.  That said, I really, really, really wish they hadn't made him of average-level intelligence and lazy when it comes to studying.  That particular trope is one I wish they'd chop up then wash down the drain in pieces, forever.
    Overall, this is an enjoyable game... the foreshadowing for Ria's path is a bit excessive, Akane's path was unnecessary, and this game needed an Ayaka path...  However, this was still a fun game to play.  I left this game behind with a feeling of satisfaction, and, if I still keep going back to wanting an Ayaka path (yes, I do), I'm sure Saga Planets will eventually oblige, lol.
    Edit: I should also mention that the reason Akane's path is not enjoyable is primarily because it doesn't 'fit'.  It doesn't fulfill a need the others don't, and Akane herself pales compared to the other heroines.  Worse, she is the only girl with a sprite who doesn't fit into that close 'circle' they have going, so there is almost no development of her character outside her own path. 
    In addition to Ayaka, this game could have also used a Mina path, if only because Mina (Sylvia's little sister) is so obviously on the edge of falling for the protagonist anyway in several of the paths... in the sense that a woman who loves 'reforming' men falls in love with one of her projects, lol. 
  2. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Aoi Tori   
    Aoi Tori is Purple Soft's latest project, a VN based in a girls' school in the mountains, where the protagonist, a priest (I'm assuming Episcopalian/Anglican for various reasons), goes to school as an exception, as he cannot live outside of the school without being taken by demons.
    Ritsu, the protagonist, possesses the power to take others' negative emotions, thus enhancing their feelings of happiness and joy, and this power works best when he has sex with them.  Now, given that he is a young man, you'd think from this description that he was going around finding girls that were in trouble and 'saving' them that way... given eroge culture.  However, if anything, it is the reverse... girls that are desperate to escape their personal reality come to him, seeking the happiness he can give, and he has reduced himself to something like an automatic mechanism for giving them what they want.  To be blunt, his point of view seems very close to that of a lifelong prostitute, save for the miraculous ability he possesses... moreover, a prostitute who didn't choose the work (his first experiences were all oneshota, apparently).
    One day, his monotonous days of sex and quiet prayer (it sounds odd, but outside of school, that is pretty much what it was like), a century-old vampire named Mary Harker appears before him, having intruded into his home behind the chapel, and he lets her stay out of kindness.  At the same time, a voice (referred to as the 'demon on the phone') tells him over the phone that he has a rather dark fate awaiting him and his power isn't what he thinks it is. 
    This night is closely followed by a number of meetings and reunions... a devout girl with a self-destructive streak a mile wide (Akari), the young teacher who stole his virginity (Risa), and the twin sister he never knew he had (Sayo).  In addition, you have Mikako, who is Risa's sister and Ritsu's only friend... and who is a genius as well as a pragmatist.  Overall, it is an interesting cast of characters, even for a Purple Soft game.
    I'm going to be blunt, the part that will put off at least some of you is the sheer amount of sex in the first part of the VN.  The game begins with two h-scenes, neither of which involves affection or love, and, while this is a good intro into Ritsu's situation, it also will probably drive the romantics amongst you a bit crazy, judging by my previous experiences.  So... if you can't stand a protagonist who doesn't bother refusing sex from women and is used to having sex with girls he doesn't know, you probably won't like this game.
    That said, there are relatively few similar h-scenes after this, probably in order to keep you from getting too swallowed up by his attitude toward sexual activity.
    Ritsu is a rather strange young man, even setting aside his destined role as the Prince of Darkness (Mary's term for it).  As the demon on the phone puts it, 'You are a madman who can only be satisfied by saving others.'  That fits him perfectly, and that part of his personality never really goes away.  He is fundamentally a giver, above all other things.  Even if he can be convinced by the heroines to be selfish in the now, when things come to a climax, he always falls back on that nature.  He is also a natural S and a hedonist (though he is not conscious of this most of the time), and he doesn't have it in him to become paranoid or maintain his anger for long.   That said, once he decides on the result he wants, he will literally do anything to achieve it.
    Mary Harker
    Mary Harker, in any other game, would be the true heroine.  I don't mean to be mean about Akari... she is creepy has hell sometimes, despite her apparent normality (you'll see what I mean if you actually read the first two h-scenes), but if I began this game without a walkthrough or seeing the cover of the game package, I probably would have assumed she was the true heroine.  The reason is very simple... she is the catalyst that sparks the game's engine at the beginning, and, given eroge custom, that heroine usually is the true one. 
    Now, her personality... Mary is probably the most cheerful and normal vampire I've seen outside of a 'nerfed' vampire setting (this one isn't, since just a bite is enough to turn someone and she takes injuries from her own prayers and the sun).  Nonetheless, she has lived a century, and that has had various effects on her psyche, though the biggest one is a growing awareness that maintaining her humanity and human persona is becoming harder and harder.  It is only because of Ritsu that she is able to have some kind of a hope for the future, and she is pretty dependent on him during the story.  Despite that, she is also sort-of an oneesan character outside of her own path.  She does have a lot of experience under her belt, and her attitude toward him at some times skirts the motherly.
    Her own path is... a clash of two people destined to live in darkness, her and Ritsu.  They are both people who don't understand romantic love at the beginning, so seeing them change is somewhat amusing, but the bigger issue is that their natures press down on them, making a happy romance difficult.  Overall, it was a highly emotional experience that I enjoyed thoroughly.  I do wish - as I almost always do - that she had a nice long epilogue after story, but I have resigned myself to not receiving what I wish for most of the time, when it comes to that.
    Akasabi Risa and Akasabi Mikako
    Akasabi Risa was the protagonist's first sexual partner.  Like all the girls who had sex with him in the past, she was seeking escape from reality by having him give her happiness, but she, unlike the others, was actually in love with him from the beginning.  Risa is a consummate actress, hiding her true intentions behind her feelings, a technique she apparently developed in the years she was away from Risa.  She is also essentially a 'giver' type, willingly giving everything for those she cares about.
    Mikako is a pretty unusual character.  If it weren't for her fondness for Ritsu and her love for Risa, I would be tempted to call her an emotionless sociopath, based on her surface actions.  I called her a pragmatist above, but this isn't despite her emotional reactions... it is her natural state of being.  Pragmatism is usually a product of socialization and rationality being prioritized over emotion.  However, in Mikako's case, she is able to (and does so automatically) completely analyze and render meaningless her emotions before they reach the surface.  Her love for Risa is pretty much the only exception, and it is that emotion that renders her as almost human (her fondness for Ritsu exists because she loves Risa and Risa loves him). 
    Now, the demon on the phone takes on a rather more direct role in this story than in Mary's, where he/she is merely speaking to the characters.  In fact, the demon's interference is what brings this path's conflict to the surface, and overall, it made this path more interesting than it otherwise would have been.  To be blunt, without the demon's 'help', it is highly unlikely that Risa, Mikako, and Ritsu would get together, based on the revelations in this path.  There are a number of reasons, but the biggest one lies with the fact that Ritsu quite simply doesn't have strong emotions toward his sexual partners normally (once he actually loves them, it is different)... not even remnant lust.
    Kurosaki Sayo
    Kurosaki Sayo is Ritsu's twin, separated from him at birth.  She is a cynical, emotionally twisted young girl whose only love is Ritsu (though she does have affection for others based on whether they make Ritsu happy or not) and whose hobby is toying with him and Mary.  She appears on the scene shortly after Mary's arrival, guided by the demon on the phone.  She is also a part of the demons' plans for him, and that plan is the center of her path.
    This path is an utsuge-style path... don't expect a happy ending.  There is a good reason why Sayo was given to a different orphanage by their mother, and that reason becomes apparent fairly early after Ritsu chooses her.  I enjoyed this path and it has some really good cathartic moments... but I honestly thought they were a bit excessively obvious in foreshadowing this one.
     
    Afterwards (read this if you don't mind a bit of spoilers)
     
    Remember, this is a spoiler.
    As techniques go, it is interesting, and I felt the need to mention it before Akari's path because of how it leads into it.
    Umino Akari
    Akari is... the girl whose outer personality and inner desires are most in conflict.  Akari is a devout Christian (Ritsu's assessment), kind-hearted, gentle, and takes pleasure in giving of herself to others.  However, she is also strongly driven to seek out danger, corruption, and self-destruction in every way, shape, and form.  As one of the milder examples... she is afraid of heights but she willingly participates in the school swim club's high dive competition.  A more extreme version is the one you run into at the beginning, in the first scene, where, after watching her friend have sex with Ritsu, she is drawn to him and has sex with him as well. 
    Akari's path is... interesting.  Actually, the beginning of the path is slow, because the story refrains from going to the extremes you saw in the common route and the other paths.  However, that slow build up is a near-perfect lead into the solid drama leading up to the ending.  There is actually very little I can say about this path without spoiling it, but I can say that I liked the ending.  I cried numerous times throughout the path, and the ending itself satisfied me completely, a rare event in and of itself.
    One thing I should note is that there is a distinct Chrono Clock reference in this path, which startled me a bit.  It was actually a stronger link than the mention of the kotodama-users early in the common route.  For those who are interested, I'll respond in a PM, but I'm unwilling to spoil this.  I did laugh though.  I'm unsure if this is an affectation or not, but it is interesting. 
    Overall
    I'm seriously tempted to scream 'kamige!!!' to the sky... but in retrospect, they game does have some distinct flaws.  The main one of these is the somewhat haphazard approach to the beginning of Risa's path (it felt kind of like they were shoving things along a little too forcefully in that one). However, even so this is one of the better games that have come out this year, and, in its own way, keeps the Purple Soft fantasy nakige tradition started with Mirai Nostalgia alive and kicking.  Where Chrono Clock fizzled and Amatsutsumi committed the sin of using the ladder-style progression system, this game manages to both satisfy and feel like it treats the non-true heroines well. 
     
  3. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu   
    This game is the second project made by Samoyed Smile, a subsidiary of the same corporation that owns Softhouse-seal.  This is, incidentally, why the game has the really crappy lip-sync and sex animations so familiar from that company's works.  That said, this company is not a nukige company, despite the lateral relationship.
    The game starts with a young teacher, Haruki, teaching a class of dropouts at a night school.  Haruki, having had horrible experiences at his first teaching job, has a poor attitude at first, primarily because he was lured by his estranged father with the promise of the equivalent of $4M in inheritance if he succeeded in graduating the last three students at the night school.
    Haruki is unusual amongst VN protagonists for being an adult with at least some experience in life, and as a character, he is extremely well-written, his humanity laid bare for the reader to see.  The situation is also unusual, since VNs with the kind of atmosphere you start with in this game tend to end up as rape/despair spirals in most cases.  The heroines are all a bit loopy and the protagonist isn't much better, when it comes down to it (situation-wise). 
    Common Route
    However, the game's common route is actually fairly uplifting, once you get past the initial bumps in the road involved in the characters getting used to one another.  Haruki and the heroines slowly get to know one another and even form the beginnings of something like a bond of trust, which comes to a nice high point before the heroine routes split off.  I honestly felt that it was nicely orchestrated, though I did feel that they included an unnecessary number of choices, considering that the events in the common route don't change as a result.
    Koshimizu Hayate
    Hayate is a spiky tsundere who never fails to fulfill the best - as opposed to the worst - standards of the archetype.  She actually has justification for her attitude, for one thing... she came across her flaws honestly.  She is also, despite appearances, probably the most 'normal' of the heroines under the surface.  Hayate is a Japanese male name, which should give you at least some idea of why she hates having her name spoken or written. 
    Hayate's problem, like the problems of many runaways, is with her parents.  I won't spoil it for you, but it is a pretty deep problem... it reminds me of Fumika from Semiramis no Tenbin, except Hayate is a lot more aggressive and less gentle, lol.  Her path is deeply touching, especially as she and the protagonist manage to get over or around their traumas and make peace with who they are.  The student-teacher relationship thing doesn't take its usual turns (probably because the night school itself is too intimate for that kind of social drama to occur), so you shouldn't expect the 'oh they got found out, so he  might lose his job!' crap you see with similar protagonist-heroine relationships in other VNs.
    Kadokura Riko and Kadokura Ayako
    I'm going to be clear about something... I hate real lolicon content in every way, shape, and form.  If this path had discarded the H content, I honestly would have loved it, but the h-scenes in this path ruin it.  This is one of the few cases where I honestly think that sexual content is an active barrier to enjoyment rather than a mere annoyance.  That said, this path is well written... 
    Riko and Ayako are mother and daughter.  Ayako is a weak-mannered, weak-willed young woman who had Riko as a young teenager and is now serving as a single mother to her.  Riko, for her part, is a 'good girl' (think Sachi from Grisaia, though not quite that extreme).  However, there are lots of problems with those two... and the two biggest ones are Riko's 'illness' and Ayako's inability to see anything in a positive light.
    This path is all about the nature of human weakness and it deals more with the protagonist's issues with his mother, as opposed to the ones with his father (which were dealt with in the previous path).  That said, he is far more pathetic in his 'down time' than he was in Hayate's path, so that was another reason why I honestly left this path with a bad taste in my mouth.  The main ending (Riko only) is happy, but the other one is obviously a bad ending, albeit one that is probably pleasant in the sensual sense of things.
    Niijima Kina
    Kina is a sweet-natured airhead.  I don't mean this as an insult... it is an accurate description.  She has a definite learning disability, and she is a natural airhead on top of that.  That said, she is also determined to learn and the first of the heroines to take a shine to the protagonist, partially because he actually takes the time to create a personalized curriculum for her and partially because he doesn't look down on her after a few initial bumps in their student-teacher relationsip (say what you like about him, but he has to force himself to act like an asshole in most of the cases where he does). 
    Kina's path is about even with Hayate's for quality, overall... but when you find out the full reason why she's attending night school, I guarantee you will either wince or cry.  They go into specifics, and it is pretty nasty at times. 
    Kina's path also shows off her best qualities as a character... such as her capacity for love and her empathy.  However, it also shows off some of her negative points... such as being consumed by hatred and being just a tad psychopathic at times, lol.  Unfortunately, despite rumors to the contrary, she isn't a yandere (I thought she would be, but meh), but she comes close to it sometimes.  Probably, if they had a bad ending for this path, she would have gone down that path, since she definitely has potential.
    Overall
    Overall, this game was a bumpy ride.  Is it good?  Yes.  Is it perfect?  About as far from it as possible while still being a good game.  Reading this game is a high-stress experience, and I actually found myself growing wistful for charage by the end.  Nonetheless, this game is of a type that is rarely seen these days, lining up with Yume Miru Kusuri for the heart-wounded heroines and screwy psychological twists.
  4. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha   
    For obvious reasons, VN vets rarely get up their hopes for games by new VN companies.  Generally speaking, most of them are charage or nukige, and those that aren't usually flop on their faces.  So, it should come as no surprise that the people I chatted with about this game generally didn't have any hopes for it. 
    However, that is probably because they didn't take a look at the team of scenario writers.  The first one, Gihara, was the writer for Tenka Gomen, Shin Koihime Eiyuutan, Shin Koihime Musou Kakumei (responsible for the rewrite), Harvest Overray, and Girls Be Ambitious (something of a cult classic for Japanese fanboys of a certain stripe).  Nissy was involved with Hanasaki Work Spring and Gin'iro Haruka.  Finally, Toishi Hiroki was involved with Sakura, Sakimashita and Floral Flowlove. 
    By most standards, that is about as solid a team as you can find for any single VN, even if it is essentially a combat sports charage in the same vein as Unionism Quartet and Shirogane Spirits.  So, after having done a bit of research on the game and its story, I picked it for my second game this month.
    Happily, I wasn't disappointed by the results.
    Oh, by any standard, this game doesn't even approach Aoi Tori for raw quality of storytelling or music.  It also has as much lost potential as any other fantasy charage that put effort into creating a complex setting (inevitably, they never go far enough).  The protagonist is a little too similar to some others I've encountered, such as the one from Walkure Romanze or Aokana, in that he starts out as a self-pitying loser and spends the entire game in a supporting role. 
    That said, for what it is (a combat sports charage), it is nice and fun.  The protagonist, Touki, is a swordsmith who makes spiritual blades combined with mechanical parts called 'Origami' who has lost his ability to make them, leaving him with a bunch of wasted talent and people wondering why he is wasting it (sound familiar?).  The combat sport in the game - called Jindou - is basically one-on-one ritualistic duels between wielders of these mechanized spirit blades (the blades grant the user increased physical abilities based on their ability to draw their power out), and three of the four heroines are competitors (two of them newbies, one the highest-rank veteran, a setup that is traditional to the sub-genre).  The last one is a fellow maker of Origami, an American arms dealer's daughter named Freesia. 
    The protagonist does manage to get past the big personal issue in the common route, so there is no 'diversion' onto another path in life as is common in many VNs with a similar protagonist (in other words, ignoring the protagonist's scars and leaving him as a loser).  This is a huge plus, as this type of character goes... but it is shortly after that event that the paths split.
    Shion
    Shion is the protagonist's kouhai, a girl who was going to give up the sword because, due to her high ability to draw out spiritual energy, keeps breaking Origami... and on top of that, she is excessively kind, making it difficult for her to consider hurting others, despite her choice of a future profession.  Despite her kind-heartedness, she is a power-fighter, breaking opponents with smashing blows and enduring attacks to lash out at the right moment rather than using technique or speed to overwhelm them. 
    Her path is... interesting.  It has the protagonist going farther into confronting his personal issues and past than in the common route, and as a result a rather nasty chain of events occurs that leads into the story's drama after the competition.  On a whole, that made this an interesting path... but I was left feeling a bit bored with the rather predictable ending bits.  This path could have done with a more bittersweet note in the ending, despite this being essentially a charage (thus requiring good endings).
    Tsubaki
    Tsubaki is the school champion and a member of the Suzakuin Family... a family that symbolizes the ultimate swordsman in their sport, because they do everything themselves, from training and fighting to management and the making of the Origami.  Tsubaki considers herself to be like an older sister to Touki, whom she lived with for three months as a child when she was learning how to make Origami.  Her style is efficient, defined by refined technique, foresight, research, and a cold drive to win.  As a result, she tends to let enemies come to her then destroy them with counter-attacks.
    Her path forces her to confront her own limitations and break the boundaries set by her family, and most of the drama comes from Touki helping her stand on her own feet and realize there is something beyond her training and family's expectations for her to live for.  It was a good path, overall... but it completely ignores the issues lurking in the background that erupted in Shion's path, so it left me feeling a bit unsatisfied.
    Freesia
    Freesia is the daughter of the CEO of a major arms-maker in America.  Upon meeting Miyako (Tsubaki's older sister) she became obsessed with Jindou and eventually discovered a talent for making Origami.  She is at the school as a special student, exempted from class because of her high scores and her father's connections.  Early in the story, she becomes obsessed with becoming Touki's student.  She is very aggressive and straightforward, never bothering to conceal her feelings about anything.  She is a perfect example of the fine line between a genius and an idiot (or a madwoman), as some of her Origami are... strange (when she made a light saber, I had to rofl).
    Anyway, her path is about the way of the craftsman, and it is kind of interesting... However, I feel that they approached it all wrong.  First, during the climactic face-off in her path, the results are sort of disappointing.  The fight itself is nice, but it feels too much like 'oh, she is the heroine, so lets let her have her way!'  Moreover, I am honestly confused that they chose that as the climax, since there is relatively little emotional buildup immediately before.  As such, I had to rate this path the lowest of the three I've written about so far, by several levels.
    Saya
    Saya is Touki's childhood friend (though he doesn't remember her at first), a brilliant swordswoman who, at first, has no idea of how to use an Origami.  Her attitude toward Touki is very much that of a close friend, rather than a deredere heroine, which is unusual for this kind of setup.  In addition, she is the 'true' heroine, though if you want to unlock her without playing the other paths, you can do so through the extras menu.  As a fighter, she is a speed type, quite simply the fastest of all the heroines by several levels.  In addition, she is also highly skilled, though perhaps a few levels below Tsubaki due to her inexperience with Jindou. 
    Saya's path is the 'true path' of this game, and the game treats it as such.  The storytelling has even more depth than Shion's path, and it delves far deeper into the past - both Touki's and that of his bloodline.  The fights in this path are several levels better than in the previous paths, at least partly because some of them are 'real' (you'll see what I mean if you read this).  In addition, several characters whose true desires and intentions never came into the open in the other paths come into play in this path, thus making it... your standard true path, lol.
    Overall
    Like a lot of 'true path' games, this game neglects the non-true heroines to an extent and places far too much emphasis on the true path.  However, as a whole, the game is a fun read.  The three non-true heroine paths read like charage paths, whereas the true one is almost a chuunige there at the end.  As a whole, the game is a bit higher in quality than Shirogane Spirits or Unionism Quartet, because it manages to feel 'real' at times (something neither of those games manages, because they never escape the 'combat sport' aspect of their stories).   In the end, it was a decent VN, and in another month would have been a decent candidate for the VN of the Month.
  5. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Playing and Replaying old VNs   
    First, I should define what I consider to be 'old' VNs.  I essentially define 'old' VNs by the 'ten year rule'.  When ten years have passed, generally the cultural references, the artwork, and even the sound styles have changed enough to be almost completely distinct from the most modern VNs.  At present, that means VNs made before 2007.
    Now, next I need to make a statement... I am not an art bigot.  One of the most negative issues I've run across in dealing with newer VN readers is art bigotry.  To be blunt, there are lots of people who won't read anything made before 2010 simply because the art style is so different.  To those people I say... 'every era has its own taste'.  While VN art has indeed gotten more refined in the ten years, to the point where it has gotten to where you hardly even notice the characters are drawn in the first place, I can straight-out say that quality art is quality art, regardless of the era.
    Now for sound... setting aside music, which really hasn't been refined at all in the last ten years (if anything, it has regressed, especially usage), voice-acting and sound effects have actually evolved a great deal in the last ten years... at least to the point that you are less likely run across the 'comical' sound effects common in a large portion of VNs ten years ago.  Voice acting has mostly evolved in the sense that people that once would have become pros don't make it anymore, so the industry has become higher cost (for the developers) and higher quality (for the consumers).  In that sense, I can understand some degree of prejudice.
    However, when it comes down to it... I'm a story addict.  Yes, I became an otaku because of the way the Japanese treated animation art.  However, it is the stories that have kept me going.  Now, in my less than copious spare time, I've been re-reading some old VNs... and I've noticed a few things I probably would have missed a few years ago.
    1.  Slice-of-life was less oppressive ten years ago-  I don't think I would have realized this if I hadn't taken this little trip to the past, but the excessively long slice-of-life scenes that define modern charage have been getting longer and longer per scene with every year.  Part of this is probably because of the nostalgia quotient rising for the long-time otakus in comparison with how it was previously.  However, it is a poisonous trend that is actually making the experience less pleasant and more tedious as time passes, unfortunately.
    2.  A well-drawn line can be as pretty as any hyper-quality modern artwork if done right- This is something I always asserted in private conversations, but I wasn't sure if it was pure nostalgia until I went back and actually re-experienced a few old VNs.  Yes, the styles were somewhat cruder back then... but the aesthetics were, if anything, more distinct and beautiful in and of themselves.
    3.  Ero was weaker... except when it wasn't - To be blunt, the emphasis placed on erotic content and the effort put into it was far lower in non-nukige VNs ten years ago.  Less interest went into making heroines more erotic and more was put into making situations erotic, probably to let the libido-poisoned brains of the average male actually look at the characters before they saw them naked, rather than focusing on projection oppai.  That isn't to say the erotic situations weren't erotic... but there was a far stronger emotional element involved because of the way they handled the character designs outside of h-scenes.
    4.  A good story might age badly, but the ones that don't, don't- Some VNs lose all their attraction as they age and more modern VNs exceed them in every possible way.  However, there are still gems out there that are as awesome now as they were the day they were made.  Rejecting VNs simply because they are old is a short-sighted approach that makes me feel nothing but contempt, after my experiences of the last few months. 
  6. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Anniversary 2017   
    Well, the fourth anniversary of my VN of the Month series of posts is coming in another week or so... and to be honest, I'm a bit amazed at how long I've kept this going.  Four years of playing most of the non-nukige VNs that came out each month, writing something on them, then picking one to be VN of the Month (or not, if none met my standards)... to be honest, my opinion hasn't changed much since the last time this time of year came around.  VN of the Month is one of the single most grueling tasks I've ever set myself outside of work, and I can honestly say that there are a lot of times when I just want to put it all aside. 
    However, I inevitably find myself coming back and playing more VNs.  If I take a week off from VNs, I inevitably tear back into my addiction with insane glee, and it usually at least takes three or four bad VNs before I finally run down and need a recharge. 
    I thought about making a poll asking if I should stop, like I did the other years... but the results - and the suggestions - are always the same, so I'm really more interested in what people have to say about this whole thing.
  7. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, VN staff: Shumon Yuu   
    I'm going to give you my basic opinion of Shumon Yuu straight up and without embellishment... he is a genius.
    I generally am reluctant to call any writer a genius.  I have read thousands of stories - if I include both books and VNs - and I can only name a bare dozen or so authors/writers I can honestly and unequivocally name as geniuses.  Of course, this is a subjective viewpoint... but it is backed up by significant experience, lol.
    Shumon Yuu is that rarest of the rare in VN writers/directors... a true artist.  Most decent VN writers have a flair for some aspect of their work, whether it is characterization of a certain type or amusing narrative... but Shumon Yuu goes past that, turning entire VNs into works of art as deep and expressive as any classical piece. 
    I'm not talking about him pleasing me on every aspect... several of his VNs lie outside my tastes to one degree or another... but it really doesn't matter when I'm reading one of his works.  It doesn't matter that I don't like a certain character or a certain plot element.  When the VN is complete for the first time, I always feel like something about what I just read ripped deep into me and tore out pieces of my being I hadn't yet known existed, bringing them into the light for me to see.
    I have read three VNs he wrote and two he helped plan/design.  The three he wrote are undeniably kamige, with a wide appeal and a unique approach to storytelling (which differs radically with each one) and the two he helped with are first-class VNs.  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.  Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier I named VN of the Year 2015... though that isn't really saying much, considering how bad a year that was (it did have a fascinating take on the Bakumatsu era though).  Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide was my second game by this writer, and I have played it three times now... each time rediscovering what  made me fall in love the first time.  Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo is a work of nakige/utsuge genius that still births new fans even today. 
    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?  It is probably because his works don't fit precisely into any of the existing/accepted genres, even if they sometimes use elements from them.   You pretty much have to be an omnivorous VN reader to run across him, because it is difficult to impossible to fit any of his VNs into an archetypical aesthetic.  Another reason is that he isn't very productive.  In the past seventeen years, he has been involved with the production of precisely eight VNs...  and he only wrote six of them.  He is also an LN writer, apparently, but he can't really be said to prolific there, either.  So... he tends to fall behind writers who produce something every year and jump at every chance to advertise their own greatness, lol. 
    He doesn't get recommended as often or as fiercely as Masada or Higashide, nor does he have the immediate impact of Akatsuki Works' writers.  In fact, even I tend to forget about him (though not his VNs) for years at a time... until I read something he was involved with and begin dancing with glee once again.  His works I never forget, but I frequently forget to follow him, hahaha....
    Also, he is a pretty subtle writer, so most people won't pick up on everything he is trying to express in his games on the first playthrough... one of those rare VN writers who gets better as you chew him, lol.
  8. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Akiyume Kukuru   
    Akiyume Kukuru is the third (and possibly final) game in Sumikko's 'Seasons' meta-sci-fi series.  It centers around a group of five 'Holders', people genetically altered at the embryo stage to possess possibilities that don't otherwise exist in Earth's evolution using artificial DNA and RNA known as XNA. 
    These five people are individuals whose actions or abilities have made them a threat to society/the government/etc., and they have been exiled to Ruruan, a closed city in Hokkaido where a quantum bomb was detonated, obliterating the possibilities of the area it covered.  In this area, objects and time move on a one-day time loop, causing objects and the shattered remnants of the people (blobs known as WASPs) to return to the state they were the previous day.  The only way for an object to cease looping is for an individual to purchase it, thus 'observing' it as being their own ('observation' in the Schrodinger's Cat meaning of the word). 
    Anyway, despite what sounds like a bunch of spoilers above, this is all basic everyday knowledge for these five people (six if you include their human loli-teacher).  These five were placed there both as an exile/punishment and in order to see what effect their presence would have on the damaged region. 
    This VN is classic Sumikko in one sense... in that it is full of meta-ideas and insane over the top happenings, as well as an immense amount of sexual and violence-related humor (which is also a signature of this series).  To let those interested know, this one is as distinct from Natsukumo as Natsukumo was from Harumade.  What that means is that the ideas it explores are fundamentally different while still being involved in concepts drawn from quantum physics and ideas (ideas versus the scientific meaning of theory).  To be blunt, most of the scientific terms involved are ones that are beyond the understanding of someone who doesn't major in physics (well, beyond a surface understanding anyway), so I advise anyone reading this to focus on the protagonist's interpretations, since those the ones most likely to be relevant (obviously).
    I honestly loved the characters - both the heroines and the protagonist - and I thought the game as a whole was a really enjoyable read.  I laughed a lot at this one, and other parts made me think.  I came to the conclusion that Sumikko is the only company I've ever encountered that can manage this meta-crap without making it sound like a pretentious teenager quoting Nietzsche.  That's mostly because the writer is rather open about the fact that he/she doesn't care if we understand every detail of what is going on, as well as noting (in a really subtle way) that all of this is a bunch of convenient interpretations of various thought experiments.
    Anyway... this is a fun VN if you can stand a few infodump-related headaches and like Sumikko's peculiar brand of violence and sex humor (think heroines that casually make serious death threats out of love/friendship and others that get hooked on not wearing panties...).   The characters are all nicely twisted, whether it is the ex-male (had his/her balls shot off during the conflict) Noa who used to be a bomber or Saori's belief that making her breasts sway is an art form... so that in itself would have made for a fun game.
    Don't expect any really huge mindfucks in this one, in comparison with the previous two.  For whatever reason, they didn't really focus on fooling you on the big points, preferring to catch you on the details (there is a mindfuck hidden in the story, but it is relatively mild compared to Harumade or Natsukumo). 
  9. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Character settings, game settings, and their use   
    This is a theme that actually doesn't come up very often in my reviews/commentaries on VNs these days, primarily because most VNs use what settings - whether those of the characters or of the game itself - to at least an adequate degree.  There are actually very few VNs that include setting elements that are interesting but never end up used... because it irritates the hell out of people who actually pay attention.
    The most recent example, which made me go off on a foul-mouthed tirade in private and a bash-post in my blog, is Hanidebi.  Just as an example is Aoi, one of the heroines.  Aoi is from a family that is extremely old (think the tenth century) and powerful/wealthy.  Even today, such families tend to exert a ridiculous degree of influence/control over their kids, especially their daughters.  In VNs, this tends to be even more extreme... so why is it that the only element of such a family that is used in the game is her moral upbringing, rather than her ties to her family or other issues that might have come up as a result of the type of family she was raised in?  Most VNs, even if they don't make it central to the story, at least would deal with the family issues (getting them out of the way) during the course of the game.  Moreover, she also has a yandere yuri kouhai who was supposed to be an ongoing source of humor for her path... but who mysteriously faded into the background early on in her path. 
    That is failing to utilize the setting.
    The same goes for Eufonie's other work, Koiken Otome, where they dramatically speak about the monsters who threatened the world and the purpose for the powers the characters possess... and then keep the game a fantasy version of a slice-of-life charage from beginning to end.  OK, it is perfectly fine to use such a setting in a fantasy charage... but when you introduce something like that, it is only natural to use it at some point in the story...
    This is a relatively rare issue... but when it does come up, it is rarely as bad as the two games above.  Most of the time, it is simply 'not going far enough'.  However, every once in a while, I come across games like these, that fail utterly to use the elements they presented.  I felt worse than the first time I ran across an NTR nukige by accident.
  10. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu!   
    http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b264/Rihochan/Ojomasu.png
    Now, this was a game I didn't really have high hopes for, but I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  While this falls short of kamige level (primarily due to the disproportionately short epilogues), it is definitely an interesting take on the trap protagonist ojousama-ge. 
    Generally speaking, trap protagonists and ojousama-ge go together like hot fruit pie and ice cream.  While the formula (begun with the original Shugotate by AXL) hasn't changed significantly since it came into existence, it has a lot of minor variants.  However, in this case they took a rather unusual path with the character settings... for one thing, the protagonist is not the timid type in any way, shape or form.  For better or worse, most of the trap protagonists in these games are somewhat timid but talented and deeply kind-hearted or are actually almost afraid of women (for hilarity's sake).  The protagonist in this game, Hajime, is an agent for an organization that primarily involves itself with money and politics, for no apparent goal beyond gathering power to itself.  Is it an evil organization?  The question is hard to answer based on what comes up in the game, but I sort of lean toward yes, considering what gets revealed in Arika's path. 
    Hajime is cool-headed, ambitious, and pragmatic on most issues.  He does have a tendency to help people where he can, but he doesn't go out of his way to help people that aren't actually in front of him.  He is also capable of being coldly manipulative when responding to the orders of the organization.  He also has none of the usual hesitations or inhibitions this type of protagonist tends to have about sex (he rather casually mentions he enjoys it but is quite capable of going without... and proves it).  This makes for some... interesting situations.  This definitely isn't a pure love game, but it isn't a nukige by any stretch of the imagination either.   The common route is seriously long...
    While there are numerous characters in this game, there are only three heroines.  They are: Arika (the granddaughter of his organization's leader), Benio (a young girl from an influential kenjutsu/kendo dojo), and Peko (the princess of a fictional East European country).   The other girls are basically Hajime's targets... he needs to gain influence over them for the sake of his mission, but they aren't love interests in the context of the game.  In fact, he rather coldly manipulates some of them, albeit not in a way that harms them (he actually helps them, in his own way). 
    Arika is... one strange girl.  In some ways, she is reminiscent of Kamio Ami from Semiramis no Tenbin.  However, she is far more open about her nature (she is a mischief-maker who just enjoys making situations more chaotic for her own amusement), and she isn't a near-sociopath.  She simply displays her affections in ways that are extremely troubling to anyone and everyone involved... or even merely in the vicinity.  She is also extremely lazy about anything she doesn't have an interest in.
    Benio is Arika's opposite.  She is simple, straightforward, and rather obvious about everything.  She is a lover of the way of the sword and has no real hesitation about living to become the next head of her rather large clan's dojo.  That said, she is rather blind to anything that isn't on the surface, and she frequently gets into fights with Arisa, who seems to take an endless pleasure in setting her off.
    Peko is perhaps the most easy to understand heroine in the group.  She is very kind-hearted and sensitive, with a strong sense of compassion and dignity fitting for postmodern royalty.  That said, she also has a surprisingly strong will hidden under that soft surface, and it comes out in full in her path.
    Overall, I found this game to be an immensely pleasurable experience, and while I could have used more action scenes and perhaps more cold-blooded manipulation on the part of Arika and the protagonist... this still turned out to be a game worth remembering.  I'm glad that this month already has at least one solid VN of the Month candidate, hahaha...
  11. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Haruru Minamo ni   
    I first encountered Clochette with Suzunone Seven, a game recommended to me by a friend who lives in Japan.  Suzunone Seven is one of the more memorable charage I've played, both for the depth of its story and the depth of its setting and characters.  Now, Clochette is frequently jokingly referred to as 'oppai central' or 'The Oppai Corporation'... or any number of other similar names, with good reason.  Their style has it so that all the heroines are either close to flat or... the opposite.  It is a source of ironic amusement to me that this company produces some of the best fantasy charage in existence on a completely consistent level.  In other words, I've yet to see a kusoge from this company, though Amatsu Misora ni wasn't memorable compared to its fellows.
    Speaking of Amatsu Misora ni, this game utilizes the same world setting as that game... a world where the kami of Japan exist and have a close relationship with the Shinto priests (guuji) that enshrine them.  If you want a crash course in Shinto concepts, this and Lovekami are two of the best non-dark VNs to turn to, in that way.  The protagonist is the descendant of a long line of such priests and is the older brother of an arahitogami, which is a kami that possesses the form of a living human being (in the legendary histories of Japan's Imperial family, the founding Emperor was also an Arahitogami).  His little sister is the 'kami of the mountains', the second generation to possess that title, and as a result both of them have been bound by her fate as a kami.  The protagonist, as a result, has become an overly serious, immensely capable youngster who is far too wise for his age when it comes to the doings of supernatural beings.
    At the beginning of this VN, a new 'Umigami' (kami of the sea) has been sent to take up the role in the town below the mountain, and it is Tatsuiki's (the protagonist) job to help her settle in.  Unfortunately, Kanau (her human name) is a bit... immature as a kami and is only barely able to use her powers and completely incapable of fulfilling the role demanded of an ubusukami/tochigami (a kami who protects a region and its people from harm).  As a result, he gets stuck helping her mature as a kami... a role he is surprisingly willing to take on. 
    The heroines of this VN are:
    Kanau- A girl who lost her parents in a traffic accident and was deified in the process.  She is kind-hearted, gentle, and extremely strong-willed.  However, she is also more than a little clumsy and slow on the uptake.  Nonetheless, her ability to keep going on in the face of suffering and misfortune is definitely a positive.  She is the game's true/main heroine, so I seriously suggest playing her path last, as it is the deepest of all the paths.
    Miori- The protagonist's little sister and the second-generation kami of the mountains.  Raised as an arahitogami and worshiped almost from birth, she carries out her role as a tochigami seriously but with the ease of long practice.  She is also immensely powerful, as she is also the overall tochigami for both the land and sea, though an ancient vow made by the first generation binds her to the mountain.  She is definitely a brocon imouto, but she is also very similar to her brother in her wisdom and perceptiveness, so she isn't one of those little sister heroines who does her best to seduce oniichan from beginning to end.  Her path is full of tribulations, though not the ones you would expect from an incest path.  In her path, the origins of the dual tochigami system in place in the region is revealed, as is the reason why the protagonist has such extreme effects on the various supernatural beings there.  I suggest reading this path after the other three heroines but before Kanau's path.
    Ema- Ema is Miori and Tatsuki's osananajimi.  Kind-hearted and intelligent, she almost instinctively does her best to help those around her.  The only downside is that she and Tatsuki have one of 'those' osananajimi relationships...
    Asumi- The daughter of a fisherman's family, she is an atheist by choice, despising all kami while doing her best to ignore their existence... kami of the sea in particular.  While she is apparently quiet and stand-offish, this is revealed to be a simple function of the fact that she is terrible at showing how she feels on her face.  She is very perceptive and instinctively grasps concepts that others take months or years to figure out in moments.  However, when she doesn't have any interest in something, she can be unnaturally ignorant about a subject.  Her path delves pretty deeply into the concepts of enshrining the dead and natural disasters to turn them into 'nigimitama' (the gentle side of a deity) from aramitama (the wild side of a deity). 
    Mei- Mei is a young raijin (kami of thunder) who comes to the city to help Kanau.  However, soon after arriving, she ends up wanting to be enshrined by Tatsuki (a phenomenon that is by no means unique to her).  She is a bit of a tsundere, with the typical extreme deredere mode that most tsundere obtain after they reach a certain point in a relationship.  She is also extremely innocent and naive when it comes to humans and interacting with them, as she was born from pure lightning.  Her path explores some of the pitfalls of the aramitama and the duality of the nature of a kami, and her personal growth is rather pleasing during the path.
    Now, let's discard the Shinto jargon for a moment and go back to what this game is all about... I'm going to be straight when I say that if you've played any of Clochette's games you probably have an idea of their style.  Their heroine paths have some of the best balance between ero, ichaicha, character development, and story that I've ever seen in the genre.  As a result, they are extremely easy to read, if you aren't made incredulous by breast size issues.  That said, the writer's fetishes definitely come out in the h-scenes (he definitely has a thing about impregnation), and I had to rofl at some of the sexual references during the heroine paths.
    The endings in this game are exactly what you'd want from a story-heavy charage.  They are reasonably detailed and extend far beyond the 'present' in which the main story is based, giving you a good idea of where the characters are headed and the happiness it has brought them.  As such, if you want to see what my idea of an ideal charage ending looks like, this is a good company to look at.
    Overall, this is a first class charage... one that reminds me of why I still dig through the rubbish for the gems. 
  12. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, My March Release schedule   
    I'm going to be blunt.  As soon as Persona 5 comes out, I'll probably drop everything and stop talking for at least two or three days.  As such, you can pretty much be sure that the time from now until the fourth is the time for me to play VNs, lol.  This month is, however, extremely heavy on the number of releases, if not the level of excitement that follows them (Minori's style is antithetical to me, so I really do want to offload Trinoline on someone else, despite their high quality productions).
    As such, I'm making a list of the VNs from this month and my priorities.
    Currently playing/finished
    Omoi o Sasageru Otome no Melody
    Haruru Minamo ni!
    Priority to play (in order)
    Hataraku Otaku no Ren'ai Jijou (same series as Hataraku Otona, which was awesome)
    Suisou Ginka no Istoria
    Noroi no Maken ni Yamitsuki Otome
    Kamidanomishisugite Ore no Mirai wa Yabai (the newest Oreyaba game)
    I badly want to offload onto someone else (low priority)
    Trinoline
    Amanatsu Adolescence
    Full Kiss
     
    Other (not sure if nukige or something else)
    Office de Sasou, Ecchi no Kanojo (looked interesting, lol)
  13. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Looking for partners for VN of the Month   
    As I mentioned in my previous post, I've simply reached a point where playing four VNs from every month's releases is now unfeasible.  However, at the same time, I wish to ensure that the role I set this up for in the first place continues to be fulfilled.
    The Original Purpose of VN of the Month
    The central purpose of VN of the Month is to give people a general idea of what they can expect going into a VN that is untranslated.  Is it enjoyable?  Who would it be enjoyable for?  What kind of genre is it a part of?  Is there something that makes this VN special? 
    The current situation
    I no longer have the energy to do everything I have been doing. Doing VN of the Month takes up amounts of time I'd rather be spending asleep, being social, or helping with translation projects.  Moreover, I'm currently in the middle of an apparent rush season for my work, so keeping up with it has become burdensome in the extreme.  However, I remember when all opinions of VNs were basically given off-hand in instant messaging and chat platforms, and no one really had any idea if a VN was any good, because of the troll voting that plagues all database sites.  While there are some English language VN bloggers out there, they mostly concentrate on translated entries and titles by companies everybody is already familiar with (such as Favorite, Pulltop, Yuzusoft, Minori, etc). 
    My solution
    I want to ask some of the people who regularly play new VNs on Fuwa to take some of the burden off my shoulders... in particular, I'd like to at least offload two of the charage from each month on some people so I can concentrate on VNs I have a standing interest in.  Preferably, I would like four or five people to do maybe one of these VNs each every two months (accounting for other people's reading speed and time constraints).  To be blunt, I have no interest in aiding and abetting another person's burnout by forcing them into handling a VN or two every month on schedule, so that is why I want the greater numbers.
    The issue
    Japanese readers are still a vast minority here, and I don't know if it is even realistic to expect anyone but me to even consider helping with something like this.  I know a few people who read fairly fast, but I honestly don't want to make a request directly that is fundamentally burdensome.
    If you are interested, comment on this blog post and we'll work things out in a PM.
    Edit:   Keep in mind that what I want are opinions.  To be blunt, I can write up a blog post based on someone else's opinions in under ten minutes if I need to, even if they themselves are terrible at writing or organizing their thoughts.  It is what I do for a living, after all.  In this way, the focus will shift somewhat... because I'll be handing things over to people who have a preference for the genre they are playing.  That's why I'd like to get some charage players on board.  While I personally strive for as little bias as possible, the fact is that charage reviews should be geared to charage lovers, and that is something I can't provide, sadly.  The same goes for mystery, sports-focused, and denpa types.  I have no taste for those genres, so it is best that I leave them to someone else who does like them. 
    Current new Members-
    fun2novel: Specialties are mindfuck, mystery, and chuunige.  I'll be depending on him primarily for mystery VNs, which I dislike.  For a start, I've asked him to take over Ouka Sabaki, since I can't bring myself to play it.  He's got a decent level of experience, and he is reasonably fast. 
     
     
  14. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, VN of the Month January 2017   
    This month was almost a no-brainer... while there were some halfway-decent charage releases, there weren't any that made a significant impression.  I'm afraid I don't have time to read Giga's newest half-hearted-but-pretty-looking charage (work is busy) and I haven't actually played any VNs since i finished Ninki Seiyuu last week. 
    Silverio Trinity is VN of the Month January 2017.  Normally, I wouldn't name a sequel as VN of the Month, on principle.  However, in this case, the game itself warrants it.  Silverio Trinity is one of those rare sequels I could actually conceive of standing on its own, because even when I extracted my prior knowledge of Silverio Vendetta, I still felt that it was an enormously enjoyable VN.  The only point on which it doesn't stand on its own is in background knowledge about the Esperanto and the Great Apocalypse that is only infodumped in incomplete form in Trinity.  Of course, not having full knowledge of the events at the end of Vendetta's path in Vendetta is a handicap, but not as much of one as it would have been with another game, lol.
    For those wondering about VN of the Year 2016, I'm still reviewing the candidates... I've narrowed it down to three potential winners: Tokyo Necro; Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana; and Amatsutsumi.  The most unlikely of those is probably Amatsutsumi, despite its feels (I knocked Floral Flowlove out of the competition last week).  For those who complained to me about the fact that I'm not considering Senren Banka or Gin'iro Haruka, I actually have solid reasons besides personal tastes... I just don't feel like making a wall of text to explain the precise reasons why Gin'iro isn't in the running and I never really even seriously considered Senren Banka, lol.
    Edit: Keep in mind that VN of the Year is the competition I spend the most time on every year, using up a minimum of the first two months of the year each year since I started, lol.  Not to mention that 2016 was one of the best out of the last ten years in terms of high-quality releases (though the ones that weren't high quality tended to be singularly awful). 
    List of VN of the Year Winners so far
    Hapymaher (2013)
    Nanairo Reincarnation (2014)
    Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier (2015)
    Again, 2015 is probably the single worst year for VNs out of the last ten, and so Kikan Bakumatsu is actually lower in quality than several releases from both 2014 and 2016, so I almost didn't name a VN of the Year 2015, lol.
     
  15. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Ninki Seiyuu no Tsukurikata   
    First, I should say that, left to my own devices, I would never have played this VN.  You ask me why?  It's because I avoid show-business themed VNs and anime like the plague.  If a rl friend hadn't begged me to try it, I would never have picked this VN up. 
    I should say that one thing I didn't like about this game is that it has a similar protagonist to the one from Aokana... a former talent in his field who gave up and ends up helping others 'rise to the occasion'.  To be honest, I loathe VNs where the protagonist is a has-been who doesn't even face his inner demons properly in most of the paths. 
    Now, getting that bit of salt out of the way, I can say that, without that, this VN is actually fairly high quality, both visually and story-wise.  The heroines felt 'alive' (an important aspect if you want to inject seriousness into the story), and their worries were ones even someone not involved with the industry can realistically imagine, thus making it relatively easy to relate to them.  The downside of this is that the protagonist is only a cipher for telling the heroines' stories and providing an excuse for h-scenes, so it will probably split opinions somewhat.
    The biggest problem, for me, was that I had no interest whatsoever in the subject matter.  I don't care about voice-actors and I couldn't care less about actors, singers, etc in general.  I'm only interested in the finished product, to be blunt.  I don't want to hear stories about show business, and I rarely take an interest in a talent one way or the other (writers being an exception). 
    As such, for me a lot of this VN was involved in fighting down my distaste for the entire mess as I went along.  For those who like the subject matter and don't mind the protagonist issues, this VN will be a good read.  Unfortunately, this isn't a VN I'll ever be able to appreciate without my own bias getting in the way.
  16. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, Replaying VNs   
    I've been asked in the past many times, 'How can you replay VNs?' and 'Isn't that boring?'.  In fact, I get asked that a lot with my 'Random VNs' posts.  I thought I'd answer this question...
    Replaying VNs is a matter of passion.  To be blunt, if it is in a genre I don't like or hits my pet peeves too hard, I can't bring myself to replay it.  The fact is, VN experiences don't change through multiple playthroughs, and in this way they are much closer to a book than to the interactivity of many games. 
    Something I should make clear is that I am a story-lover above all other things.  I don't just mean that I love games, anime, and VNs for their stories... I mean that I'll do practically anything to experience a good, well-presented story.  Hell, I learned Japanese for that reason.
    This is actually the reason why I have so much trouble with pure romance, mystery, and charage.  These three types of stories follow some of the most 'confined' story patterns in existence, with a very limited selection of story elements, and as a result they are far easier to predict than many fantasy, sci-fi, or even conspiracy-drama stories... at least for me.  This is particularly fatal for mysteries, since a lot of the attraction of the genre, at least to me (when I still liked them) was how much trouble figuring out 'whodunnit' or 'what is going on'. 
    Now, I have become experienced enough that very little surprises me.  Particularly, in the last five years or so, this trend has become marked in my own subjective point of view when it comes to VNs.  The issue now is the subject matter... what do I enjoy enough to experience pleasure with on a second run?  The genres I can take pleasure in on a second playthrough are limited... almost entirely to the sci-fi, fantasy, and conspiracy genres.  Rare exceptions exist, but that is due to a sheer, overwhelming level of quality or due to a powerful emotional experience that doesn't fade quickly through multiple playthroughs (Uruwashi no is an example of this type). 
    To be blunt, with most VNs, replaying them is impossible.  There are no new angles to explore, the feels no longer touch me, and I honestly have no interest in re-experiencing slice of life scenes, lol.
    So, it comes down, as I said above, to taste.  I can replay VNs i love multiple times.  However, I will never be able to replay say... Subahibi or Aiyoku no Eustia. 
  17. Like
    AKB4ty7 reacted to Clephas for a blog entry, VN of the Month December 2016   
    Before I announce the VN of the Month, I'm going to go ahead and apologize to those who wanted me to play Honoguraki... to be blunt, I don't have the energy for it.  Ragnarok sucked me dry, and I need to get away from undead and demons for a while.  Moreover, I hate zombies in the first place (so many reasons), so I'd be unlikely to give a pleasant review or comment anyway.
    Now... it is kind of startling how so many great games got packed into a single month.  December 2016 was a monster month for story-focused VNs, with a relative dearth of charage/moege (with only two released).  I played as much as I could, but after six games, including the monster known as Venus Blood Ragnarok, I feel drained and tired.  The main reason I don't deny the existence of charage utterly (other than the occasional shining diamond I find in the piles of icarabu shit) is because even I need a break from bloodshed and darkness sometimes.
    There were three releases that had the potential to become VN of the Month this time around...
    Akiyume Kukuru
    Ryuukishi Bloody Saga
    Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai!
    Now, to be blunt, Ou no Mimi would be my first choice.  Why?  Because, without the art bigots interfering, it is the most solid of those three candidates by several degrees.  In fact, if this were six years ago, all things equal (including art), I would without hesitation have named it VN of the Month.  While AXL doesn't escape its own unique formula, there is a reason why this company is a consistent seller despite reusing character art and music constantly. 
    However, we come to Ryuukishi, which is only a few steps behind story-wise and has the advantage of being an immensely creative story that doesn't fall back on tropes for the most part.  It also has a more modern art-style that is highly-detailed, illustrating battle scenes and some of the more shocking guro scenes in loving detail. 
    Last of all, we have Akiyume Kukuru, which didn't fail to please as the third (and possibly final) game of Sumikko's 'Seasons' series.  As usual, it provides the kind of meta-science mystery combined with violent and sexual humor that the company has become infamous for.  For a certain type of reader, this VN is pure crack, though if you aren't the type it is aiming for, it will be a huge miss.
    So what is the conclusion?  In the end it came down to Ryuukishi and Ou no Mimi.  I balanced Ou no Mimi's solid, well-narrated story against Ryuukishi's more innovative approach... and in the end I chose Ryuukishi Bloody Saga as VN of the Month December 2016.  While AXL's works are really 'at-home' for me, I felt that Ryuukishi will probably have a larger impact on the VN community as a whole in the long run... and they were dead even on how I enjoyed them. 
    Now... look forward to VN of the Year 2016, which I probably won't finish considering until sometime next month.  Fortunately or unfortunately, 2016 was almost as good as 2014 and 2011 for VNs...
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