ChaosRaven

There's a new interview with MangaGamer staff members Kouryuu and Good Haro on the review and blog site www.thedrastikmeasure.com. Like usual, there's not much new stuff they've talked about. Mainly a general introduction into what MangaGamer does and a little bit about their inner workings.
Still some interesting points:
- They don't have tentacles as door handles (yet)
- Their stance on VN's with extreme content: They don't intend to go further than Maggot Baits 'for now' (Hard to believe how they are even able to find new titles with such a harsh restriction... )
- The decision what titles to bring over is either done by the localization staff, the acquisition team (probably Evospace and ???) or they are approached directly by a Japanese VN company
- Good Haro apparently the only one among the senior staff with an interest in the otome and BL scene
- Why the Mangagamer site is... pink
- The ongoing challenge to get VN's with sexual content more accepted by the mainstream crowd via uncut Steam releases like Kindred Spirits or the specialized landing pages to avoid interferences with other titles
- No solution to the Steam key problem yet
- Minori apparently can call former team members back for work on Supipara if necessary. (That's interesting because I was always wondering how they'd get their artist back since he isn't working for them anymore. It seems like the original Supipara team really liked their project.)

Ever 17. You route:
Sara route:
True route:
So, yeah. I'm not an E17 hater (like I hate Sharin, Grisaia and Cartagra), but I didn't liked it. My hype for R11 and Zero escape series was lowered really really hard. I will say more - my faith in VN quality levels dropped very much. I don't believe in anything now. well, maybe in Umineko somehow. But I'm very sceptic about Subahibi, Baldr Sky, R11, DI, Muramasa, or basically anything. If E17 have 8.7 on vndb and the most popular grade is 10, then I have no more faith in this grade system. Shame, cause right now I have nothing to came to, when looking for quality VNs.

Thank you for reading this, and you're very welcome to discuss.

We are now friends.
Re: Ever17- I do agree that the first four routes get tedious, but for me Sora's route was utterly incredible though I played it before I played Tsugumi's, and I actually like it even more than the true route. However, although E17 is one of my all-time favorite VNs I do think that the four primary routes could really have used some differences amongst themselves (the calm atmosphere doesn't help, for the most part, either). 

Oh, I didn't know that. I never tryed a female Shepard so I've no clue how she is. I guess if I ever find the time for a second playthrough I'll pick her.
* Goes and checks all lesbian romance options *

Not my cup of tea.
The next MG titles on my list are Da Capo 3 and Pygmalion. Both are 100% translated and therefore have good chances to be still released this year.

Not gonna lie here, I try to avoid them like the plague. In most cases it's just low-end drama for cheap emotional kicks.
That's not to say there wouldn't be a few who are well written like...
But even in those cases it can hit me so hard that I don't consider it enjoyment anymore. I tend be highly protective towards characters I like and loosing them at the end therefore also bears a strong taste of personal failure. And I usually can't just snip that feeling of gloom and doom away, so it can last for days which I simply can't afford with a full time job where I have to be fully focused and concentrated each day. But it's certainly a matter of personal taste.
In general I prefer it if writers just make multiple endings, so everyone gets the ending he or she wants. And although I wouldn't call myself a big fan of School Days, I think that's something this VN/anime hybrid did particular well. The endings were in many cases a direct consequence of your actions and decisions, and that made reaching a good end a real achievement and not just something that was presented to you on a silver plate. But I AM a control fanatic - I hate it if a VN gives me the feeling to be helpless.

Well I just skipped thorugh 'common route' with Sora scenes (I'm right after the 'makeup' scene) and... I like it. I like new scenes and I like Sora.  So hopefully next 2,5 hours I have left of her route will not be a drastically downgrade of enjoyableness.
And I hate Tsugumi even more, at last in her route there was no sudden, uncalled gutpunching.

I loved ever17 most of the way through. WELP. also, lmfao
 
Also, Sora's route is the most touching love story I've ever seen bar The House In Fata morgana, so there's that.

I think if they don't manage to release Himawari this year, they might have to pay poor Conjueror a therapy against depressions... 

Not gonna lie here, I try to avoid them like the plague. In most cases it's just low-end drama for cheap emotional kicks.
That's not to say there wouldn't be a few who are well written like...
But even in those cases it can hit me so hard that I don't consider it enjoyment anymore. I tend be highly protective towards characters I like and loosing them at the end therefore also bears a strong taste of personal failure. And I usually can't just snip that feeling of gloom and doom away, so it can last for days which I simply can't afford with a full time job where I have to be fully focused and concentrated each day. But it's certainly a matter of personal taste.
In general I prefer it if writers just make multiple endings, so everyone gets the ending he or she wants. And although I wouldn't call myself a big fan of School Days, I think that's something this VN/anime hybrid did particular well. The endings were in many cases a direct consequence of your actions and decisions, and that made reaching a good end a real achievement and not just something that was presented to you on a silver plate. But I AM a control fanatic - I hate it if a VN gives me the feeling to be helpless.

Swan Song for sure. The POV switches a fair amount but the main protagonist fits this perfectly.
eden* also features a stoic protagonist, and is a well respected, short-ish single heroine romance story.
As much as I hate the protagonist in Wanko to Kurasou, he fits the bill here. edit: Crap, you already played this one. Not only that, it's on your list of protagonists that DON'T meet your criteria? Dude is cold as fuck. 
Uhh absolutely not either of these, lol. One of the biggest aspects of Cross Channel is how the protagonist is completely unable to control his emotions and impulses.

http://www.nutaku.net/blog/nutaku-sekai-project/
Key quotes:
"Nutaku will take a significant role in distributing the adult versions of upcoming Sekai Project titles." "We’ll also be lending our voice to requests for adult versions of games, ensuring that Japanese developers can be confident in a judgement-free zone of enthusiasts waiting to enjoy the product of their labors." "...these games are translated by Sekai Project and delivered to you with no changes on the part of Nutaku." "Nutaku will serve as the main distributor of the adult version of [ChronoClock], though it will also appear later in the year on DenpaSoft, Sekai’s adult wing." "We hope you share in our excitement for...hosting the adult versions of many future Sekai Project titles!"

Seems like you can access it with no proxies at all: http://egs.omaera.org/~ap2/ero/toukei_kaiseki/

There's some news about the Shin Koihime translation project. They released a preview patch containing the first chapter of the Shoku route (right after I read it in Japanese ).
Relevant blog post can be found here.
Though, not sure if it's a problem on my side but the link isn't working for me. 
Edit: Now it worked, but it took a while for some reason.

So you finished the entire Innocent Grey collection while I'm still in the first half of Flowers?! That's... depressing. 
Or you could marathon all Sakura games... 
On a more serious note, you could try to tackle Umineko if you haven't already read it. It's probably the longest translated VN and you seem to have the required 'reading persistence' for it. It actually looks pretty good with the PS2 art patch. Except you got tired from mystery for the moment and want to read something different.

Honestly, the true answer really depends on the story and the way it is told- even more so the latter than the former, seeing as retelling the story from a different perspective can change the entire feeling and theme of the story- and since I hate the average moege I have no definitive or sufficiently broad answer for you, I'm afraid.
There are some VNs that propose original approaches to the issue though:
Infinity VNs, I second- namely Ever17 and Remember11 deal with the concept in an incredibly entertaining and mindfuck way and they're in my top five for that. Same goes for 999 and Virtue's Last Reward.
The House In Fata Morgana has you part full and part limited omniscient as well as first person bits, it really jumps around with it and makes absolutely incredible use of that- VNOTY.
Umineko is similar in that it has many different perspectives, and it really helps that the broad cast of characters means you can see a ton of character interaction that could simply not be reasonably spun and revolved around a single protagonist- a great strength especially in a VN with a large cast as large as Umineko.
As for the "blank, self-insert protag" as opposed to "protagonist with personality", I'd say having a protagonist with a personality of its own is far superior. I do sympathize more with self-insert protagonists since the common archetype is similar to me, and it creates better engagement, but it crucially harms the story: The self-insert story gouges a hole in itself to accommodate the reader. Feeling like an outside observer to a story with a far better and fleshed out centerpiece is something I personally find far more enjoyable. 
However, that doesn't mean one should enjoy feeling like they are incredibly different from the protagonist and their personality- the challenge of the writer is to create such a protagonist that their troubles, emotions and thoughts line up as harmoniously as possible with the reader(s), that the reader learns the same lessons as the protagonist, that the reader and protagonist live the same life, dance to the same tune- enjoy days of serenity and happiness, worry at negative plot developments, and never forget the deepest losses and the brightest smiles. That is not to say that creating a protagonist at odds with the targeted reader's morality/expectations is a bad thing at all, though. Saya no Uta pretty much does that, for example: A jaded, selfish and evil outlook at the world that, I presume, didn't exactly resonate with most readers. However, SnU would not be the same without it- sometimes, it suffices to be able to comprehend and/or infer the personality, thoughts and motives of the protagonist- however, the closer to the reader a protagonist is without losing their own identity, the easier it is to create emotional engagement.

Certainly some valid points, although I found the interactions between Yukinari and his mother pretty much the worst part of the whole VN lol.
It's just the first chapter though, and I wonder what rating ef would have gotten just based on its first chapter. Not that I'd have any confidence that we'll ever see Supipara's later chapters 3 - 5...
Still, I think I'm currently struggling more with Flowers than I was with Supipara. 

Finished rereading Kara no shoujo 2.
Story-8/10-The story was good , but that cliffhanger was able to be worse than kara no shoujo 1 and the mystery was weak ( better than cartagra , but still weak ).
Art-8/10-Really liked the art
Ost-7.5/10- it was good.
So this vn is a 7.8/10
Ps: Because of some issues that happen , i will only be able to start reading Flowers at Monday.
Thank you for reading this.
 

People usually have the wrong view of learning Japanese for visual novels:
You don't learn Japanese so you can read untranslated visual novels. Instead you read untranslated visual novels as an excercise for learning Japanese.
So you don't waste your time on reading porn light fiction anymore, you spend your valuable spare time for something useful and educational and still have fun at the same time.
Hint: Might also help to convince your parents to buy you tons of eroge... 

I'm really feeling sorry for Aroduc, because it would mean that he's wasted a lot of time and effort for a translation that will go to waste.
But I still want to hear both sides of the story before I'm starting to point fingers on Sekai. 

That's just how PR-speak works.  I mean, really.  What do you expect him to say?  "These guys are well known for shady, underhanded tactics, but we decided to overlook that and give them a shot because everybody likes big fat sacks of cash money"?  Nobody ever says that, even if that's what they really think.
Instead they always say meaningless fluff like "We're really good friends with the guys at Nutaku and they're so awesome blah blah blah", whatever their real thoughts on the matter are.  Puffery in press releases and other official or public statements should basically be ignored.  Maybe Audi really means it, maybe not.  Maybe Audi and Nutaku really are all buddy-buddy, and maybe not.  I'm certainly not going to take Audi's word for it.

Yup, yup. Simple collor corrction (less gamma, more saturation), and everything looks more pleasan. Not as 'artsy' though. And I'm sure current pallette fits story aand setting better. Anyway - fast comparission.

 
 

Sorry, my statement wasn't really meant in an offensive way, but I admit it could be read that way. 
I think we can agree to disagree here, although I want to emphasize that I mentioned KnS explicitly as an 'adult only' suggestion. I had Eden and G-Senjou as tamer suggestions as well.
But you said it yourself, you have to consider the person whom you're suggesting something. And I certainly agree with that statement. 

I don't think it is, TBH. A lot of /VN/ and /VNTS/ users skulk around the Reddit boards these days.
Not to mention a couple of hundred people downvoting something isn't really going to make much difference in the long run. Especially considering you don't know who's doing the downvoting. 4chan's a place where you can be salty with your words, but Reddit's a place where you can be salty with your votes. I remember when SP was just starting, people on 4chan would urge others to be more active in Reddit's voting practice.
That being said, Chrono Clock's on $35,000 after ... 2 days? It's not bad. To me that sort of reaction signals anti-SP fervour is still a vocal minority among hard core fans. Probably says just as much or more than a couple of hundred downvotes on Reddit. Just my 2c. 
Also, casuals and people not involved in the VN community won't even notice.

My suggestions would be certainly Eden and G-Senjou for all ages and Kara no Shoujo for an adult only title. All of those really impressed me with their story and their audio-visual merits.