onorub

The only way to find any objectivity in a genre is to have enough experience in it to be able to easily identify what a work is going for and judge it accordly. For example, i consider HoshiOri barely decent because the barebones drama doesn't appeal to me at all, but i do recognize that it accomplishes what it sets out to do, which is deliver a comfy atmosphere where the chemistry between the protagonist and the heroines is the focus, which is why the very high ratings aren't strange to me at all, because it's a great VN for the target demographic (objectivity) while is a decent VN for my tastes (subjectivity).

Honorable blocked mention goes to Shingakkou (author is the main writer of Gore Screaming Show), which i never touched but i keep hearing is the best BLge ever made.

When it comes to presentation in VNs, one discussion that i've seen is that VNs are more like plays than novels. I'd agree with this take because authors that become overly descriptive with every action as if writing a novel makes the reading more tiresome than if a visual or sound effect was used. Thinking about it a bit more, i went a step further and now i think that sprite presentation in VNs may be akin to puppet plays, because the art limitations make it to that the characters can't have the same amount of expressions as regular plays do. Add that to my tiny experience with messing with VN engines where if you're making a conceptual script beforehand, making it in a play format feels more confortable than in a novel format. Finally, the way CGs and sprites are combined work similarly to comic books, where the cooldown moments make more use of certain angles and tricks that the present medium has to make the scenes more interesting while the big key moments have more complex imagery, with the definition of a big key moment being up to the narrative genre. I'd like to know more thoughts about it. What storytelling media would you compare VNs to from a presentation standpoint?

Even though cutesy style of commentary is not up my alley at all, one thing i do appreciate about vtubers is that they brought back the "hidden face" aspect that youtube gaming had back in the late 2000's. I feel that community became too much of a cult of personality in the early 2010's with the face reveals.

Fortissimo is a cliche battle royale story, but it's still pretty good. Also, even if you weren't the biggest fan of RuiTomo, i highly recommend the fandisc because the final route in it is unlike anything else in the series.

Yay. Such an aesthetic choice would be the final step into their third world transformation.

Just wondering, what rating were you going to give Fake Azure Arcology with the routes you played?

Nah, just PVs from what i saw from the guy's twitter. It's likely the same as the openings for the PSVita version of Fate/Stay Night.

...on console. GG, MTL-only folk.

Hashihime of the Old Book Town. You can't get more unusual and forbidden than gay love in the 1920's.

As far as i know, the playthroughs are meant to complement the reviews and not the opposite. If you have to choose between reviewing VNs based on a BGM-less experience and playing everything off-screen, it's best to play everything off-screen.

Just link japanese playthroughs by this point whenever possible (it's easy if you look up the japanese name of the VN on google and filter with 20+ minute videos). Then again, there is always the option of unlisting everything so that only the people that read the review can watch playthroughs like you did with Sayooshi. You would release playthroughs so fast and often that you were bound to leave stuff uncensored by accident, so just making another channel and going your merry way is not really an option.

Do you people think you might be able to release the full thing by the 10th anniversary of the game?

Watched a few videos of it and just comes off as a plain version of Deus Ex to me.

I consider it a classic among classics, but believe it or not i ended up slightly disappointed. So many people called it the best thing since sliced bread that i thought for sure this would make my top 5 and it didn't because i found stuff to complain about (mainly the pure adventure game portions and how over the top the final battle was), similar thing happened with SubaHibi. I'll still praise Ichijou's route until the end of time as the greatest antagonist buildup i've ever seen on the genre, though.

More of a curiosity thread than a recommendation thread. Those have been rare-ish cases, but i've been finding some chuunige where the slice-of-life is better than the action and wanted to see other cases where people thought the same. For me, the three standout cases were Steel, Alicematic and Devils Devel Concept. Devils Devel Concept in particular was a case where i was half-tempted to skip the action scenes just to come back to the slice-of-life.

I just knew you were going for Abyss Homicide Club. MajiKoi is on my personal top 10 while Kurai Nichiyoubi might be the most underrated VN of 2009 imo.

Previous: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/blogs/entry/2871-random-top-100-one-year-later/ Managed to replace one fourth of the list again, which surprised me as i thought i would take at least two years for that. I will probably take 3 to 5 years to replace another fourth, as i read tons of top tiers in the last 14 months. Like before, "not a be-all-end-all list by any means and i care about choice-making gameplay a lot more than other VN fans do, so if some of my placements look ridiculous, that's why." youtube playlist version: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYFP5FO6EHdqvR4S0KWZDMllPXy3hZjaY (again, will update it along with the list in case one fourth is replaced) New entries are underlined. VNs i consider “borderline great”: 100) Kizuato (fun characters, great introductory route, great set of joke endings) 99) Hello, world (overall fun story, great set of normal endings) 98) Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk (great world building and plot twists, good characters) 97) Gekkou no Carnevale (good atmosphere, fun characters and story) 96) Flowers: Volume sur Printemps (great art, charming characters, good use of mystery-solving) 95) Flowers: Volume sur Automne (great art, charming characters, amazing slice-of-life) 94) Dies Irae: Interview with Kaziklu Bey (great art and fight scenes) 93) Baldr Force (good world-building and story) 92) Ayakashi Gohan (favorite prologue in the genre, fun common route) 91) Air (good story and characters, good soundtrack) 90) The Letter (favorite branch system for a linear story) 89) Symphonic Rain (charming art and soundtrack, great at subverting expectations) 88) SeaBed (amazing atmosphere, interesting story) 87) Raging Loop (great ending system and atmosphere, entertaining characters) 86) We Without Wings (fun character interactions, good atmosphere) 85) Narcissu (good story and ending buildup) 84) Monster Girl Quest Paradox RPG (great rpg gameplay and world-building) 83) Machi (amazing production values, fun story and characters) 82) Iwaihime (good atmosphere and production values) 81) Dengeki Stryker (entertaining story, great middle route) 80) Collar x Malice (entertaining story, good set of villains) 79) Chrono Belt (good atmosphere, story and fight scenes) 78) Chaos;Head Noah (entertaining characters and choice-making, great main plot twist, good world building) 77) Caucasus (great atmosphere and ending system) 76) Rui wa Tomo o Yobu (entertaining characters, fun atmosphere) 75) Remember11 (good characters, great ending system, interesting ending) 74) Ourai no Gahkthun (good atmosphere and characters) 73) Nijuuei (fun story, good atmosphere) 72) Monster Girl Quest Trilogy (amazing gameplay, good story and characters) 71) Kusarihime (amazing atmosphere and background usage, good characters and endings) 70) Kurai Nichiyoubi (amazing ending system and atmosphere) 69) Kajiri Kamui Kagura (interesting characters and story, fun fight scenes) 68) Jingai Makyou (amazing ending system, fun story) 67) Battle Goddess Verita (good story, great RPG gameplay) 66) The House in Fata Morgana: A Requiem for Innocence (good story and characters, amazing art) 65) Eiyuu*Senki (great gameplay, fun characters) VNs i consider “near-classics”: 64) Ayakashibito (good world building, entertaining fight scenes and characters) 63) Ayakashi (amazing production values, fun story) 62) Angel Beats 1st Beat [2/4 routes done] (amazing choice-making, fun characters) 61) Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino (great atmosphere and endings, entertaining characters) 60) Akai Ito (entertaining protagonist, good atmosphere, favorite OP song) 59) 3days (great choice-making, good multiple route mystery) 58) 11eyes (good characters and fight scenes, great atmosphere) 57) Tsujidou-san no Jun’ai Road (entertaining characters, good choice-making) 56) Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin (fun characters, fight scenes and story) 55) Sekien no Inganock (great art, great atmosphere, good characters) 54) Sakura no Uta [1/5 routes done] (great atmosphere, interesting characters) 53) Saihate no Ima (amazing atmosphere, interesting story) 52) Root Double (amazing choice-making system, good true ending) 51) Planetarian (good pairing, great dialogue) 50) Virtue’s Last Reward (great ending system, good multiple route mystery) 49) 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (entertaining characters, good true ending) 48) Kira Kira [2/4 routes done] (good characters, fun common route) 47) ef a fairy tale of the two (great story in the second half, good characters) 46) Chaos;Child (good choice-making system, good characters, good story) 45) Bullet Butlers (amazing world-building, fun characters) 44) 428: Shibuya Scramble (fun characters and story, amazing choice-making, greatest production values in the genre) 43) Summer Pockets (fun common route, entertaining characters and story, great choice-making) 42) Sharin no Kuni (favorite single villain, great story, great plot twist) 41) Kara no Shoujo (great atmosphere, good mystery-solving) 40) Aselia The Eternal (great world-building and New Game+ content) 39) Cartagra (great art, entertaining characters, great endings) 38) Aoishiro (great choice-making, entertaining bad ending branches on some routes) 37) White Album 2: Introductory and Closing Chapters (fascinating characters, fun story and atmosphere) 36) The Fruit of Grisaia (entertaining characters, good endings) 35) Code: Realize (amazing common route, entertaining story and characters) 34) Chou no Doku Hana no Kusari [3/5 routes done] (great atmosphere and protagonist, favorite set of bad endings, greatest use of soap opera elements) VNs i consider “classics”: 33) Taishou Mebiusline (great route variety, good ending system, favorite song in the genre) 32) Rose Guns Days (great story and characters, charming art) 31) Mahoutsukai no Yoru (amazing production values, good story) 30) Kamidori Alchemy Meister (great RPG gameplay, amazing New Game+ content) 29) Battle Goddess Zero (favorite story in a VN-RPG hybrid) 28) Cross Channel (fun characters, great choice-making and ending) 27) Baldr Sky Dive1&2 (fun gameplay, story and world-building) 26) Swan Song (amazing atmosphere, good story and characters) 25) Steins;Gate 0 (good story and characters, great use of true ending) 24) Sengoku Rance (entertaining characters, most replayable work in the genre due to amazing gameplay) 23) Rewrite (entertaining characters, good story) 22) Phantom of Inferno (entertaining story and characters, great atmosphere, great action scenes) 21) Yumina The Ethereal (entertaining story, amazing use of multiple routes for a VN-RPG hybrid, great true ending) 20) Kichikuou Rance (amazing gameplay and world-building) 19) Kara no Shoujo 2 (great mystery, entertaining characters, great true ending, favorite ED song) 18) G-Senjou no Maou (great true route, great soundtrack, favorite set of villains) 17) Song of Saya (favorite atmosphere, amazing use of endings, fascinating characters) 16) Muv Luv Alternative (great action scenes, great sci-fi atmosphere) 15) YU-NO (amazing route system, good story and characters) 14) Higurashi When They Cry + Kai (amazing story, great characters and soundtrack) 13) Dies Irae (favorite fight scenes, entertaining characters and story) VNs i consider “classics among classics”: 12) Umineko When They Cry + Chiru (favorite story, favorite soundtrack, great characters) 11) Wonderful Everyday (great story, good mystery, good characters, great alternate endings) 10) FullMetal Daemon Muramasa (great fight scenes, amazing protagonist, favorite antagonist buildup) 9) The House in Fata Morgana (amazing story, favorite CG and character art, good choice-making, great soundtrack) 8. Tsukihime (amazing choice-making, amazing atmosphere, great characters) 7) MajiKoi (favorite overall character cast, most consistently entertaining work in the genre) 6) Little Busters (favorite common route, great true route, favorite post-true end content) 5) Hashihime of the Old Book Town [1/5 routes done] (amazing visual/sound directing and atmosphere, favorite protagonist, dialogues, monologues and written route) 4) Ever17 (great story, favorite multiple route mystery, great true ending) VNs i consider “all-time greatests” 3) Steins;Gate (great story, entertaining characters, favorite pairing, favorite ending) 2) Fate/Stay Night (great story, favorite ending system, favorite overall route, favorite single choice) 1) Clannad (favorite route system, high amount of optional scenes, amazing After Story, fully explores choice-making in a school drama setting) Top vnstat recommends: 1) Aiyoku no Eustia 2) Rance Quest through 10 3) Baldr Heart 4) Hanachirasu 5) Kishin Hishou Demonbane 6) Irotoridori no Sekai&Hikari 7) Steins;Gate Phenogram&Darling 8. Sumaga 9) Outlaw Django Closing thoughts: After i finished Muramasa at the beginning of 2020, i seriously thought i could quit reading VNs without a shred of guilt because nothing would even sniff my top 5 again. Then Hashihime blew my mind and made me fall in love with the genre all over again. The fact that a doujin BL that a few hundred people would know about had it never gotten translated managed to get such a reaction out of me made it clear that a masterpiece can come from absolutely anywhere and now i'm on that rabbit hole more than ever in a way that it might take a ton of disappointments for me to get burned out ever again, specially now that i'm reading tons of untranslated stuff.

Name won't be localized as Rumbling Hearts? Boo.

There WAS a horrible Flyable Heart translation, but it was so bad VNDB mods considered it a troll and deleted the entry for it. One of the highlights of that translation was "taiyaki" being translated as some nine-word atrocity. Special mention goes to Amagami for being my favorite dating sim of all time.

In a roundabout way, yes. Even though moege is aimed at the vanilla crowd, Flowers pulls the "cute girls doing cute things" aspect better than most moege.

But that's the thing, a good writer but even be able to make "cute girls doing cute things" engaging. It may be yuri, but the Flowers series is as good as it gets with that because of the banter between characters. Some moege are well-liked because of good chemistry between characters and some are liked because of good comedy. That's what i mean by "making cliche work".

I watched this video from one of the comic book channels that i watch, and it randomly make me think about moege in the sense that maybe moege is the art of making cliche stories interesting. It's interesting to think about how making someone get into pure slice-of-life through sheer good writing is what might truly make a good author. I just wanted to hear more thoughts about this.

Talestune in general gets zero attention despite having a bunch of fantranslations, even for a doujin group i wonder why it's that bad, as i thought Ludesia was fairly enjoyable and i might try Harvest December. Since you're including blocked games with missable reviews, you'll probably see a bunch of otome and BL when you get to the 2010's. 2011 in particular is the year where those genres really stepped their game up for me.

The thing is that for a proper translation for OreTsuba, the translator would have to do good research on lingo for japanese youth, THEN do good research on lingo for english-speaking youth to keep the same spirit in the dialogue. Unless the translator is an obsessed fan doing a major passion project, he would probably have to request twice the regular pay.