akaritan

Just like everyone else and their grandmothers, I've spent the last week or so playing Subahibi. Juuuuust kidding. Subahibi is not the VN to play with your grandmother. Anyway, well... I absolutely loved it. At this point I tend to be skeptical at best when the Japanese side hypes up a VN to this extent, especially after Himawari and Dies Irae (neither of which were awful per se, but I would take the time spent reading them back if I could). But thankfully, Subahibi was right up my alley and I couldn't have been happier with it. Even knowing that I don't understand it on a deeper level or have the background to do so, there's so much I appreciate about this VN. On a surface level, the music is beautiful and the art is quite good - everyone looks cute, but I never got that sense that they were "moe" or that the style didn't fit the VN. And the clothing looks incredibly light and floofy, ahaha. The pacing and atmosphere, barring the first chapter, were so on point that it would be a damned good VN on that merit alone. It also had a great sense on when to roll out information. At any point in Subahibi, I both felt as though I was learning more and that more questions were popping up. It was incredibly thematically dense- it left a lot to think about even after it was done. At the beginning, or even in subsequent chapters, I didn't feel that the characters were great, but by the time the game was over I felt that I had gained new perspective on almost every last one of them. My complaints are really minimal, but I'm leaving them in a spoiler tag. Anyway, Subahibi is fantastic and I'm glad I got to read it in my native language (though, I may reread it in Japanese down the line). My favorite chapter was Jabberwocky, Yuki best girl, Yuuki best guy. And I would highly recommend this one to anyone who can stomach it's content. It's not for everyone, but I certainly think that it's worth a shot if it looks up your alley. 幸福に生きよ！

I normally don't love otome, but this one seems like it'll be a good time. The main character is really cute and it looks funny. But to pick it up tomorrow, I'll have to binge Subahibi, and even then I'm still in the middle of Chrono Clock... How did I let this happen .

If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend checking out Monmusu Quest. Apart from the h content seeming to be pretty similar (I haven't read Violated Hero), it's a surprisingly good time for completely different reasons.

Room no. 9 would be pretty cool (and I don't think it's completely unlikely, as they're already partnered with the company that made No, Thank you). I'd be really happy if Trianthology or Iwaihime were announced. I also really want more Liarsoft titles, such as Fairytale Requiem or Gahkthun's fandisc.

Monmusu Quest's ost is usually mediocre-bad, but there is a small handful of surprisingly good tracks in the mix.

Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer might be a good choice. It's about a man trying to get revenge for his dead sister. It's really short and atmospheric. It's a favorite of mine and definitely worth a read.

I played Dies Irae and reached the climax of Kei's route today. I feel the need to reiterate that it's by no means a bad VN, but it's not great enough for me to want to put another 30-40 hours into it. So I'm probably going to go and play Chrono Clock next. It's a shame that I was in the middle of like three VNs when the reading club for it started, ahaha. As a palette cleanser, I read Love at First Sight. It's certainly nothing particularly special, but it's really cute and it doesn't overstay its welcome. The art style is also really striking. Contrary to what you'd expect for this sort of story, the art is sort of dark and almost bleary, but it works really well. The main heroine is especially adorable and the side characters played their role well enough. My only complaint is that I really hate the "bully character who has no personality apart from being a bully" trope, but that wasn't really enough to break the VN for me. I wouldn't necessarily strongly recommend it, but I don't regret playing it at all.

Long time no see! Having finished all of Kasumi's route and some of Kei's route of Dies Irae, I think I might drop it. It's certainly not a bad VN all in all, I think. The characters, story, and music are all pretty good... but I also don't necessarily feel that they're any more than that, and that's certainly not enough to drag me through another 20-30 hours of this. The thing is, I wasn't really invested in anything by the end of Kasumi's route, and especially given the length, that isn't a good thing. I'm honestly sort of bored with the VN and looking back on everything, it's failed to elicit even the slightest emotional response from me... Again, it is a solidly produced VN, and I don't even necessarily feel like it's particularly poorly done story, but it feels very style over substance... I'm sorry this is such a rambling mess, it's very late where I am. But if anyone thinks that I should keep going with it, I'd be happy to listen. And likewise, if anyone thinks that dropping it is the right choice, do say so, because I'm sort of on the fence right now. I also might pick up Chrono Clock. The girls look cute and I've heard good things, so I might as well give it a shot. It's been a long time since I've played a moege because I dislike 90 percent of them, but there's always a chance that it's part of the 10 percent, right?

Is there going to be a stream going like last year? If so, could someone link it?

I don't think it's necessarily nonsense. I'm sorry if my explanation is a bit unclear (as it's been months since I read it), but basically, things happen, and the explanations about why they're happening isn't necessarily given, so you have to think about it to understand fully. Furthermore, I remember feeling like there was a lot going on and you had to keep track of all of it.

Hey, shut up about Gahkthun. It's definitely worth a shot if you like Sakurai Hikaru's writing, and I'd only tell you to drop it if you already know that you don't. Koiken Otome Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort Myth Osananajimi wa Daitouryou: My Girlfriend is the President. Clannad I really can't comment on most of these, but from what I've heard you can drop Koiken Otome and Koisuru Natsu if you don't like moege (if you do, I can't really advise you either way, as I haven't read them). And from personal experience, I think you can definitely pass on Myth. It's great if you're expressly looking for something to confuse you, but apart from being a unique experience that you need to think about to understand, it doesn't have much value. Myth is horribly marred, more than anything, by its lackluster cast and throughout the VN it becomes really hard to care about them. And My Girlfriend is the President is just horribly, horribly boring. It fails to capitalize on its absurd premise and just becomes a lackluster moe game I felt as though I could probably get everything this VN offered done better somewhere else. And Clannad is a great tearjerker that develops its main relationship waaaaaaay beyond anything you usually see, but it's far too long for its own good so I'd honestly recommend passing on that one too.

Jesus Christ, I'm sorry. While reading Euphoria I remember thinking that I would rather chuck my laptop into a bathtub than have a parent find that game. I guess for future reference, if you can change your setup so that the screen is facing away from the door, I would highly recommend it. And I'm sure that even if you don't forget about this incident, I'm sure it'll stop bothering you eventually.

Does anyone know if there's a walkthrough for Mamono Musume no Sodatekata ~Lamia & Harpy~? It's untranslated, so I don't even really know where to look.

I honestly don't know myself. But that looks really nice, I'll give it a shot! This one looks cute too, thank you! As for the others, I've had enough reverse rape for a lifetime, so I probably won't touch them (at least for a long while). Thank you for the suggestions, though!

So, I badly need something to tide me over until Monmusu Paradox pt. 2 comes out. I want something with good art and a focus on Monster Girls. It doesn't matter if it's untranslated. A good story is preferable, but not 100% necessary.

A part of me really wants to play Koisuru Natsu even though I know I'd hate it, so I'm voting for that one in spite of myself.

Confession: I recently got a friend addicted to Monster Girl Quest. It was supposed to be payback for making me sit through Boyfriend to Death with her but she just ended up really enjoying it.

Nice to meet you~!

Ahaha, most of my answers will probably be the same as TexasDice's... Oh well, here goes. My favorite aspect of the game is the music. Much like TexasDice stated above, music is what the VN is about so it's very important that it's done right here. But apart from that, the VN carried a very distinct aesthetic, and the music is a big part of it. It's an incredibly stylish VN as a whole. The art has a sort of "pop" to it and looks very bright and colorful without being overbearing. The music's instrumentation and general tone is similarly striking and suitable. On a side note, the H scene track is genuinely one of my favorite tracks and I wish it was used more outside of H scenes. I didn't love how several routes felt sort of tacked on. It's not awful, but there's a distinct gap in quality between the Riho route and the rest that almost makes me feel as though the VN would be better linear (though, I think I'm the minority in preferring mostly linear VNs, so make of that what you will). I also didn't love the character of Kanade. I generally dislike the childhood friend archetype; they're an incredibly lazy way to make a heroine come with a prepackaged affection for the MC. For the most part she was fine, but I really wish her being in love with Shouichi wasn't so obvious from the outset. I think that these things are much better if developed during the VN itself... My favorite side character was probably Megumi, the stripper who served as a friend to Kanade. She only showed up in Kanade's route, but she was really funny and charming in her own right. She wasn't complex at all, but she did everything she needed to do and was fun to listen to. Honorable mention goes to the cat. <3 As for the forced auto-text during the concert scenes, I wouldn't change it if I could (even though 9 times out of 10 forced auto-mode drives me insane). There's a certain magic to the concert scenes that makes them incredibly powerful and evocative, and I think that's part of it. It's almost as though you're experiencing things in real-time with the characters.

I've had this experience several times before (thanks, Da Capo), and I really do think that you should just take a break, and probably drop Himawari too. If you dislike it to the extent that it's pushing you away from VNs as a whole, then reading more will be a huge waste of your time. Frankly, I don't think dropping VNs as a whole is a great idea, as you're probably just burnt out and I truly do think that there are still good experiences that the medium can offer you. However, that is your choice to make. What I would do is drop Himawari, and then do something else for however long until another VN piques your interest (be it weeks or months).

Moyatarou <3

I know, I just dislike it and am of the strong opinion that it leads to bland, boring characters and lessens the work greatly as a whole.

Character sprites also show effort on the part of the creators towards doing so in my opinion. I really do wish that more creators put more time into developing their main characters. After all, they are arguably the most important cast members and character designs and faces help show a lack of apathy and effort to avoid making a plain self-insert. Which isn't even to mention how it's sort of jarring when the main character is the only one with no artwork/voicing.

I just finished that scene, and I sort of agree... I mean, I quite like the "gig of the month" formula, but all of the romance teases with no actual payoff thus far are a bit irritating to say the least. Especially in the case of Kanade, it's so lacking in any degree of subtlety... But apart from that, I absolutely adore this VN so far and I don't know how I've kept it installed on my computer for a year without touching it. The cast is charming, the lack of high school is always a plus, and both the music and concert scenes are absolutely wonderful. It's a little thing, but the art has a sort of "pop" to it- the lines are thick and especially in the case of the hair, gradients are used less. I think that the style is really nice and fitting for the VN. I also wish more VNs gave their main characters faces.