onorub

Steel is the next review for 2005. 3days is the extra review from 2004 due to it winning a pool.

Code: Realize Collar x Malice Ayakashi Gohan (translation is a little unpolished though) Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk (has references to Black Butterfly, but they're fairly separate from each other) If you ever change your mind and try untranslated ones, Chou no Doku Hana no Kusari

I see a fair amount of VNs with punk rock/heavy metal aesthetic, so i would like to know if there's any VNs with rap/hip hop one. Some examples of "hip hop aesthetic" would be Boondocks or even Afro Samurai.

From what little i could understand from your question, you didn't play the Agave route from the original MajiKoi (where Tatsuko and Yamato get to know each other)? You have to play the 5 main routes on the original to access Agave.

(original: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/blogs/entry/2488-random-top-100/) I played so many VNs over the past year that i've managed to replace over a fourth of the list, so it felt adequate to post a updated version. 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 (will be updated if i make yet another version of the list) New entries are underlined. VNs i consider “close to great”: 100) Lamento Beyond the Void (great atmosphere and art) 99) EoSD for Busy Person + Extra (entertaining characters and endings) 98) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (great characters, good mystery-solving and story) 97) Comyu (good story, entertaining fight scenes) 96) Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome (entertaining story and endings, amazing common route) 95) Ar Tonelico II (good characters, great story and soundtrack) 94) Vampirdzhija Vjedogonia (entertaining story and fight scenes) 93) Danganronpa 2 (entertaining characters, good mystery-solving, good finale) 92) Danganronpa V3 (entertaining characters, great mystery-solving, good finale) 91) MajiKoi A1&A2 (entertaining characters and story) Vns i consider “borderline great”: 90) Fatal Twelve (entertaining story and characters, fun choice-making) 89) Evenicle (fun characters and gameplay) 88) Eve: Burst Error (entertaining story, great female protagonist) 87) Dangan Ronpa (entertaining characters, great story, great finale) 86) ChuSinGura 46+1 (entertaining characters, great fight scenes) 85) Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth (good story and characters, great finale) 84) Kikokugai The Cyber Slayer (great atmosphere, good fight scenes) 83) Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni + 2nd night (good characters, entertaining story) 82) Hapymaher (interesting story, good atmosphere) 81) Flowers: Volume sur Été (great art, charming characters) 80) Eden* (good story and art) 79) Utawarerumono (entertaining characters, good story) 78) Shikkoku no Sharnoth (good protagonist, great atmosphere, great finale) 77) Rance VI (entertaining characters, good story) 76) Paradise Lost (interesting story, entertaining fight scenes) 75) Kizuato (fun characters, great introductory route, great set of joke endings) 74) Hello, world (overall fun story, great set of normal endings) 73) Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk (great world building and plot twists, good characters) 72) Flowers: Volume sur Printemps (great art, charming characters, good use of mystery-solving) 71) Dies Irae: Interview with Kaziklu Bey (great art and fight scenes) 70) Ayakashi Gohan (amazing protagonist customization, fun common route) 69) Air (good story and characters, good soundtrack) 68) The Letter (favorite branch system for a linear story) 67) Symphonic Rain [1/5 routes done] (charming art and soundtrack, great at subverting expectations) 66) SeaBed (amazing atmosphere, interesting story) 65) Narcissu (good story and ending buildup) 64) Dengeki Stryker (entertaining story, great middle route) 63) Collar x Malice (entertaining story, good set of villains) 62) Chaos;Head (entertaining characters and choice-making, great plot twist, good world building) 61) Remember11 (good characters, great ending system, interesting ending) 60) Ourai no Gahkthun (good atmosphere and characters) 59) Nijuuei (fun story, good atmosphere) 58) Monster Girl Quest Trilogy (amazing gameplay, good story and characters) 57) Kusarihime (amazing atmosphere and background usage, good characters and endings) 56) Battle Goddess Verita (good story, great RPG gameplay) VNs i consider “near-classics”: 55) The House in Fata Morgana: A Requiem for Innocence (good story and characters, amazing art) 54) Eiyuu*Senki (great gameplay, fun characters) 53) Ayakashibito (good world building, entertaining fight scenes and characters) 52) Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino (great atmosphere and endings, entertaining characters) 51) Akai Ito (entertaining protagonist, good atmosphere, favorite OP song) 50) 11eyes (good characters and fight scenes, great atmosphere) 49) Tsujidou-san no Jun’ai Road (entertaining characters, good choice-making) 48) Sekien no Inganock (great art, great atmosphere, good characters) 47) Planetarian (good pairing, great dialogue) 46) 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (entertaining characters, good true ending) 45) Kira Kira [1/4 routes done] (good characters, great common route, great ending) 44) ef a fairy tale of the two (great story in the second half, good characters) 43) Chaos;Child (good choice-making system, good characters, good story) 42) 428: Shibuya Scramble (fun characters and story, amazing choice-making, greatest production values in the genre) 41) Sharin no Kuni (favorite single villain, great story, great plot twist) 40) Root Double (amazing choice-making system, good true ending) 39) Virtue’s Last Reward (great ending system, great multiple route mystery) 38) Kara no Shoujo (great atmosphere, good mystery-solving) 37) Aselia The Eternal (great world-building and New Game+ content) 36) Chou no Doku Hana no Kusari [1/5 routes done] (great atmosphere and protagonist) 35) Cartagra (great art, entertaining characters, great endings) 34) Aoishiro (great choice-making, entertaining bad ending branches on some routes) 33) White Album 2: Introductory and Closing Chapters [3/6 routes done] (fascinating characters, good story and atmosphere) 32) The Fruit of Grisaia (entertaining characters, great endings) 31) Code: Realize (amazing common route, entertaining story and characters) VNs i consider “classics”: 30) Rose Guns Days (great story and characters, charming art) 29) Mahoutsukai no Yoru (amazing production values, good story) 28) Kamidori Alchemy Meister (great RPG gameplay, amazing New Game+ content) 27) Battle Goddess Zero (favorite story in a VN-RPG hybrid) 26) Cross Channel (fun characters, great choice-making and ending) 25) Taishou Mebiusline (great route variety, good ending system, favorite vocal song) 24) Swan Song (amazing atmosphere, good story and characters) 23) Steins;Gate 0 (good story and characters, great use of true ending) 22) Sengoku Rance (entertaining characters, most replayable work in the genre due to amazing gameplay) 21) Rewrite (entertaining characters, good story) 20) Phantom of Inferno (entertaining story and characters, great atmosphere, great action scenes) 19) Yumina The Ethereal (entertaining story, amazing use of multiple routes for a VN-RPG hybrid, great true ending) 18) Kichikuou Rance (amazing gameplay and world-building) 17) Kara no Shoujo 2 (great mystery, entertaining characters, great true ending, favorite ED song) 16) G-Senjou no Maou (great true route, great soundtrack, favorite set of villains) 15) Song of Saya (favorite atmosphere, amazing use of endings, fascinating characters) 14) Muv Luv Alternative (great action scenes, great sci-fi atmosphere) 13) YU-NO (amazing route system, good story and characters) 12) Higurashi When They Cry + Kai (amazing story, great characters and soundtrack) 11) Dies Irae (favorite fight scenes, entertaining characters and story) VNs i consider “classics among classics”: 10) Umineko When They Cry + Chiru (favorite story, favorite soundtrack, great characters) 9) Wonderful Everyday (great story, good mystery, good characters, great alternate endings, favorite monologues) 8. The House in Fata Morgana (amazing story, favorite CG and character art, good choice-making, great soundtrack) 7) Tsukihime (amazing choice-making, amazing atmosphere, great characters) 6) MajiKoi (favorite overall character cast, most consistently entertaining work in the genre) 5) Little Busters (favorite common route, great true route, favorite post-true end content) 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 protagonist, favorite pairing, favorite ending) 2) Fate/Stay Night (great story, favorite ending system, favorite 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 VNs i didn’t read (raw VNDB ratings, 35 votes minimum): Rance 10 Flowers: Volume sur Automne & Hiver Baldr Sky Dive1&2 Soukou Akki Muramasa Ken ga Kimi Sakura no Uta Shingakkou Noli me tangere Shinigami to Shoujo Sengoku Koihime Schwarzesmarken Closing thoughts: After Aselia and Ayakashibito, i've read pretty much every translated VN i really wanted to. Also, after Hello world and Kusarihime, i feel i've read pretty much all older VNs with no chances of being translated i wanted to. Now i plan to be a little more laidback with my reading, making this kinda of the end of a chapter for me.

G-Senjou no Maou. At the time the experience blew me away, so much so that it sat at my top 5 for about 3 years before i eventually reflected on it and was like "it's not THAT good". Not it's not even on my top 10.

Disagree there, even if the translation itself is understandable enough, the text formatting would be unnacceptable by 2009 fantranslation standards. The last line or the last word of the sentence showing up at a new text box (could even happen with the period at the end of the sentence!), sometimes the text would fly off the text box... thing was a mess.

Which, in your opinion are the prettiest/most stylish school uniforms in VNs (not hottest, because otherwise people are just gonna point out Cosplay Fetish Academy and be done with it). To make it more difficult, i'm going with male/female combination, but you can go with whatever, since VNs don't really emphasize variety. My pick are the uniforms from Flyable Heart, where both males and females look good + there are regular and student council variants. KoiChoco is a close second.

^There is a two-route english playthrough of To Heart 2 on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1AzECNGnl5bBHlOdAxTdRciJ_KOz5yYE

Second half of Closing Chapter's total package, happens after Setsuna's ending on the regular portion of Closing Chapter.

One thing that doesn't seem to be talked about: from that one picture of apparently redone sprites, it seems that the art is gonna be updated. Maybe this will be the MajiKoi equivalent of Shin Koihime Eiyuutan? (extra material to show off the new art in preparation for a possible remake)

The biggest way VNs affected was in giving me a small handle on spoken japanese through brute force. They only made me more aware of storytelling through art and visual cues after comic books had already done so. They didn't encourage me to exercize or kept me from reaching depression like pro-wrestling did.

From what was available for free, that book seems to be way too barebones on the subject. It would be nice to see a work diferentiating the origins of the genre within pc gaming (erotic focus) and console gaming (non-erotic focus) or questioning if VNs are for western adventure games what JRPGs are for western RPGs.

Houzuki Masaomi from Sharin no Kuni. He just did an amazing job of being a obstacle for the main characters and making them far more interesting as a result. Honorable mention to the three villains from G-Senjou no Maou: Gonzou, Maou and [secret]. People brag about Maou, but i thought all three of them were amazing, with [secret] being my personal favorite.

If you're talking to VN consumers, the discussion with Lesiak is as good as it gets, because the question really should be aimed at VN creators. If i were to develop a VN it would be mostly because i liked choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid and would find it neat to put that in videogame form. Then again, i think i care about the choice-making aspect of the genre more than most VN fans do.

Is the sequel setup better or worse than the first Tokeijikake no Ley Line?

Did Aselia and i'm doing Tokimi next. Good to know Orupha's route is more complex than just her learning that the life of her enemy is valuable as well. Update: Did all routes and i really liked the New Game+ content and the chapters i complained about being better in different routes. The VN went from "borderline great" to "near classic" for me. Ranking down routes: Orupha>Aselia>Esperia>Tokimi>Uruka>Kyouko>Lesteena. Ranking down heroines: Esperia>Tokimi>Aselia>Uruka>Kyouko>Orupha>Lesteena.

After finishing Seinarukana earlier in the year, i've finished my first route in Aselia The Eternal. Plot was a lot better than Seinarukana and i loved the interactions with the spirits that can be permanently killed, but i still feel the plot got less unique as it went on. It went from being very interesting up to chapter 2, to being half interesting and half generic at chapter 3, to feeling completely generic at the last remaining chapters. So far, i'd say the overall package is as good as original Utawarerumono, but the New Game+ content might bump it up.

Also, keep in mind that Kyonyuu Fantasy 2 has a little bit of lore buildup to Gaiden 2, so make sure to read the series in the order they are released.

3days, Mindead Blood, Natsu no Tomoshibi, Rakuen, Dokoiku and Suzukuri Dragon. That month was just hidden gem galore.

^The only stuff that Umineko could possibly spoil is covered by the end of chapter 7 and even then, it's in such a vague way you would barely notice it.

Worst part is that if you look at the untranslated stuff, even Boy Love Games are starting to have more interesting settings. I think the fujoshi are gonna have all the fun come next decade.

Overall, i found it good, but didn't like it quite as much as you did. Roots almost single-handedly saved from being "just decent" and i'd say the worst parts were the routes that you skipped on recording (specially Nanami, if the protagonist has to listen to lenghty voice recordings so that the route could fit into the "multiple route mystery" you might as well scrap it).

Pretty surprised to see two people that liked Looking Glass Insects in a row (only liked the Kimika branch and the last half hour of the regular ending). My favorite was Jabberwocky I, because it took a lame plot twist and expanded upon it making the overall story amazing.

Between Chitose's route, Ayumu's route and the omake, i seriously think this might have inspired Blank Note's Himawari. There are way too many similarities for it to be a coincidence.