akaritan

Just finished The Shadows of Pygmalion. It's an absolutely gorgeously produced VN; the character designs, the CGs, and the music are all quite good, if not the best I've experienced. Furthermore, the pacing and tone were absolutely spot-on. I do so love a good utsuge, and the true end had quite the impact. However, a few things sort of spoiled the experience for me... the biggest problem I had with Pygmalion was that the characters could feel incredibly flat, and by the end I just couldn't bring myself to care deeply about them. My favorite was Yang, and that was because I liked her character design more than anything. The fact of the matter is, as a general rule I'd rather read a VN with amazing characters and a bland plot than the other way around. And sadly, I found issue with Pygmalion's plot as well. As stated above, it has fantastic pacing and the tone is just right, but many of the plot twists felt far too sudden and forced. Pygmalion introduces information that changes the nature of its story several times, and it started to feel nonsensical by the end to say the least. Sometimes these twists were executed well enough to make me more interested, but more often than not they just seemed too far out of place, and it reached a point where the VN became a tad bit difficult to keep track of... But I suppose if you expressly want something unpredictable, it could do the trick for you. And again, I seem to be in the minority as far as not loving this one, so take this with a grain of salt

Eyyy, I'm back. Sorry I missed the start, I was away for a week. However, I just got back and binged on Pygmalion for four hours until I finished, so there is nothing stopping me from partaking in Deardrops. It's been on my list for a long time, and both the art and what I've heard from the music are genuinely appealing (as is important for a VN about a band), so I very much look forward to it.

Lovecraft is absolutely delightful, I hope you like it! It's been a while since I've read Mountains of Madness, but I do fondly remember the experience.

i r8 sp00ks/10 hora hora

Off the top of my head, Deardrops and G-Senjou could qualify. Probably Quartett, though I haven't read it so I don't know.

Although I wasn't a very frequent participant, I greatly enjoyed myself in the ones I did take part in. In fact, I discovered Swan Song, one of my favorite VNs, through one of the reading clubs. So yes, I would be interested in a revival.

Good review, was a blast to read. I've been considering picking this up, and it's very nice to see opinions on it.

I'm back, bitches Though, I sincerely doubt that anyone noticed me gone, ahaha. I just finished the third part of Monster Girl Quest, and while it was not a masterpiece by any means, I ended up liking it far more than I thought I would. The characters and world had a way of growing on me, and the plot ended up significantly more expansive and large scale than one would ever, ever expect of a monster girl/reverse rape nukige. The protagonist has character by the end; while he's puerile and immature in the beginning, he grows and changes and by the end is more fleshed out than most VN protagonists (though, that isn't saying very much, ahaha). I also genuinely adore Alice, the main heroine, and her interactions with Luka were one of the best parts of the game in my opinion. The ending was incredibly, incredibly rewarding, and I was very glad that I ended up picking this up in spite of myself. With that said, there are several large problems that keep me from recommending it, much to my dismay... for instance, the art is horribly, horribly inconsistent. You have attractive, well-designed characters such as Alice and Tamamo, and then you have nightmare fuel such as... *shudders* leech girl. Yes, I will never understand the notion that adding breasts and vaguely female features to a leech makes for an arousing experience... and designs that are downright repulsive to look at, coupled with poor art, was a frequent occurrence in this game... the music, apart from a few standout tracks, was also relatively lacking. There wasn't really anything that made my ears bleed (apart from the H scene track), and I suppose it did its job well enough, but don't go in expecting much from the music department. My biggest problem was, in the end, the H content. I've certainly never been one for playing VNs for the porn in the first place, but I imagine that even if I was MGQ is not where I would go for it. The H scenes are generally brief, generally drawn poorly (apart from Alice's), and all in all not something that I can imagine enjoying. Even if I was explicitly looking for monster girls, I'm sure there's a better VN that I could find. And I can't help but feel that it would be much better with the smut replaced; I don't think they do much, and at its core the VN is a genuine and enjoyable experience. However, because of them, and to a lesser extent the art, I can't see myself recommending this one to a great many people. With that said, if you don't think that the heavy H content would be a deterrent to you, I would say that you might want to give this one a shot. I really do feel that although this one isn't for everyone, or even most people, there are also quite a few who would probably enjoy it if they tried it. tl;dr: I r8 snek/10 would get assaulted by Alice again.

Sorry for the late reply. Yup, that's what it was. I have the Himawari soundtrack on my phone and I stumbled upon that track by chance and it clicked. Good call.

Hi, I feel like I've heard this song somewhere in another VN and it's driving me insane, does anyone know what else it's been used in? Thanks in advance.

Berta from Gahkthun please, if it's not any trouble

Sorry, I probably threw you under the bus, ahaha. I've heard you speak of it quite glowingly several times though, and I figured you'd do a much better job selling it than I would.

If you liked Saya no Uta maybe you should give Kikokugai and/or Hanachirasu a shot. They're both short, dark Nitro+ VNs and Kikokugai has the same writer as Saya. If you don't mind untranslated, it sounds like Sayonara wo Oshiete is right up your alley (though I haven't read it myself, so take this with a grain of salt, perhaps @Zalor can elaborate?).

Umineko no Naku Koro ni has a battle of wits plot, and it's also very, very good (albeit long).

<3

Buckle up kiddo, you're in for quite the ride

Sorry, I was gone for a day and couldn't reply. But thank you for your help. Although Symphonic Rain sounds really good, and I do plan to get around to it soon, it also sounds like a slower burn, which isn't really what I'm looking for right now. So I'll be reading KnS next, and again, thank you for your help!

Hi! I'm sort of lost as to what to read next, but I think I want to either get back to KnS or read Symphonic Rain. If you could inform me as to what Symphonic Rain offers, and whether you think I'd like it more, I'd be grateful.

Hi! Nice to meet you. I tried to read Subahibi, but my Japanese was far too poor... how long have you been studying? And if you're ok with something less "anime", The House in Fata Morgana is tearjerking horror-type, and also very good (though it's not yuri).

It makes me happy to hear people talking about RGD, I consider it to be one of the better VNs I've read and it truly is underrated. It's probably the only long VN I've read where I honestly have no complaints about the pacing, every second is just a blast.

Fata and Umineko

The big ones are Tokyo Babel and Ayakashibito. I've also been meaning to look in to true remembrance and symphonic rain for a really long time now.

I just finished Sonohana New Gen, and I have pretty mixed feelings. With that said, it's clearly not my VN, so don't take any of this to mean it's bad. In fact, I think it's much better than the previous entries in the series, and for better or worse there's far less H, so if you think you'll like it, you probably will. The thing is, it's also much longer than previous sonohana games, which made it harder for me as time went on. I think my biggest problem with it is the music, ahaha. They've used the same set of tracks for the entire series, and it got to be so grating by the end of New Gen that I pulled up youtube and just started playing things in the background, which I've never done before. The other big thing is that Rina, and to a much smaller degree, Ai, drove me up the wall at times... but I don't really think I'm giving it enough credit, either. The characters that didn't irritate me and the art could have a real charm to them. I found many of the CGs to be absolutely gorgeous, and they may even end up being new wallpapers down the line. Also, this is a really weird thing to praise, but Ai and Aya's hair clips are great and I love them. Obviously it's not the deepest title, but there were several exchanges between the characters that I could genuinely appreciate in a way I really didn't expect from this VN. I think I would have liked it far more if the music had been less overused and if not for the few characters that I found to be irksome. tl;dr it's cute. If you think you'll like it you will. If you think you won't, you won't.

You really couldn't go any better than Fata Morgana if you want something out of the traditional VN box. It's the closest I've ever seen a VN get to perfection and probably the only one I would wholeheartedly consider to be a masterpiece. I'm not sure about "epic", per se, but it's incredibly intricate and well woven, and it made me weep like a small child, which not many things can do.