ChaosRaven

I think you're right about that and I take my statement back since it's simply to general. I've read lots of books in my younger years with action scenes too (god that makes me sound old), like BattleTech, Shadowrun, etc. So it works if they really take a narrative writing style to describes a scene. For example: "He carefully hid behind a small hill following the movements of his enemy. Then after a short moment of hesitation he made his decision and shot his heavy laser targeting the right leg with weaker armor of his opponent."
Unfortunately, what I often see in VN's instead is some kind of comic book approach. The 'narration' in those cases then looks more like "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee!!!" followed by five minutes of cling and clang sounds and the screen flashing in every color the rainbow has to offer. Then it contnues with a "Muhahahahah... now you get that back!!!" followed by another ten minutes of disco flashing supported by a chain of very, VERY simple words that almost makes you want to cry. In short, they try to let flashy screens do the job instead of the narration, and for that an anime or a straight comic would simply be better. Those at least show a bit more than the same screen over and over again, just with a different color.
So the key question would be if the action scenes in Tokyo Babel will also consist of endless repeated 'Shonen Power' scenes or if they are more descriptive and with unique images instead of flashing screen x 1000.

I think you're right about that and I take my statement back since it's simply to general. I've read lots of books in my younger years with action scenes too (god that makes me sound old), like BattleTech, Shadowrun, etc. So it works if they really take a narrative writing style to describes a scene. For example: "He carefully hid behind a small hill following the movements of his enemy. Then after a short moment of hesitation he made his decision and shot his heavy laser targeting the right leg with weaker armor of his opponent."
Unfortunately, what I often see in VN's instead is some kind of comic book approach. The 'narration' in those cases then looks more like "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee!!!" followed by five minutes of cling and clang sounds and the screen flashing in every color the rainbow has to offer. Then it contnues with a "Muhahahahah... now you get that back!!!" followed by another ten minutes of disco flashing supported by a chain of very, VERY simple words that almost makes you want to cry. In short, they try to let flashy screens do the job instead of the narration, and for that an anime or a straight comic would simply be better. Those at least show a bit more than the same screen over and over again, just with a different color.
So the key question would be if the action scenes in Tokyo Babel will also consist of endless repeated 'Shonen Power' scenes or if they are more descriptive and with unique images instead of flashing screen x 1000.

I think you're right about that and I take my statement back since it's simply to general. I've read lots of books in my younger years with action scenes too (god that makes me sound old), like BattleTech, Shadowrun, etc. So it works if they really take a narrative writing style to describes a scene. For example: "He carefully hid behind a small hill following the movements of his enemy. Then after a short moment of hesitation he made his decision and shot his heavy laser targeting the right leg with weaker armor of his opponent."
Unfortunately, what I often see in VN's instead is some kind of comic book approach. The 'narration' in those cases then looks more like "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee!!!" followed by five minutes of cling and clang sounds and the screen flashing in every color the rainbow has to offer. Then it contnues with a "Muhahahahah... now you get that back!!!" followed by another ten minutes of disco flashing supported by a chain of very, VERY simple words that almost makes you want to cry. In short, they try to let flashy screens do the job instead of the narration, and for that an anime or a straight comic would simply be better. Those at least show a bit more than the same screen over and over again, just with a different color.
So the key question would be if the action scenes in Tokyo Babel will also consist of endless repeated 'Shonen Power' scenes or if they are more descriptive and with unique images instead of flashing screen x 1000.

I think you're right about that and I take my statement back since it's simply to general. I've read lots of books in my younger years with action scenes too (god that makes me sound old), like BattleTech, Shadowrun, etc. So it works if they really take a narrative writing style to describes a scene. For example: "He carefully hid behind a small hill following the movements of his enemy. Then after a short moment of hesitation he made his decision and shot his heavy laser targeting the right leg with weaker armor of his opponent."
Unfortunately, what I often see in VN's instead is some kind of comic book approach. The 'narration' in those cases then looks more like "Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeee!!!" followed by five minutes of cling and clang sounds and the screen flashing in every color the rainbow has to offer. Then it contnues with a "Muhahahahah... now you get that back!!!" followed by another ten minutes of disco flashing supported by a chain of very, VERY simple words that almost makes you want to cry. In short, they try to let flashy screens do the job instead of the narration, and for that an anime or a straight comic would simply be better. Those at least show a bit more than the same screen over and over again, just with a different color.
So the key question would be if the action scenes in Tokyo Babel will also consist of endless repeated 'Shonen Power' scenes or if they are more descriptive and with unique images instead of flashing screen x 1000.

A visual novel isn't exactly the best medium for action, simply because of the lack of 'motion'. It's still possible, but you have to be very good at it. From the titles I played, only MuvLuv Alternate and Fate/Stay Night managed to impress me with their action scenes. The bridge fight in Fate/Hollow Ataraxia in particular was breath taking.
But considering that even Ayakashibito had already too much action for my taste, I'm not really convinced that I will enjoy this. I'm therefore considering to await the overall reaction on the title first before I decide to buy it.

Wow, I met a person who actually liked Shiratori's route.  That's so rare I have to make a note in my calendar about that...

Well, judging by Japaneses VN sales rankings like Getchu, the Japanese are certainly the last ones that should blame anyone else for wanting moeges...

I guess the only two releases worth mentioning of both companies are ImoPara 2 and Maitetsu.
I'm fine with ImoPara2 since it's more than I would have expected from such a small con, especially considering what rubbish MG 'could' have announced.
Sekai Project seems to have gotten inspired by Jast's Starless and do the same with Maitetsu just with lolis instead of fetish content. It's fascinating to see how our precious English VN publishers manage to always pick the most outrages titles between hundreds and thousands of other top VN's that would be perfectly save. Anyway, I'm not into loliges so I can fortunately follow the whole affair with a bemused smile. 

I guess the only two releases worth mentioning of both companies are ImoPara 2 and Maitetsu.
I'm fine with ImoPara2 since it's more than I would have expected from such a small con, especially considering what rubbish MG 'could' have announced.
Sekai Project seems to have gotten inspired by Jast's Starless and do the same with Maitetsu just with lolis instead of fetish content. It's fascinating to see how our precious English VN publishers manage to always pick the most outrages titles between hundreds and thousands of other top VN's that would be perfectly save. Anyway, I'm not into loliges so I can fortunately follow the whole affair with a bemused smile. 

Eww, tentacle rape.

...no Uta. Oh wait! 

In a way I'm relieved that they at least made a clean cut now.
So potential fan translaters at least won't keep away from their titles anymore, just because they respect a partnership that was actually long gone.
And maybe that makes them an interesting partner for Sekai Project now. I would gladly back a Kickstarter if it would be for Oretsuba or Tsuriotsu.

...no Uta. Oh wait! 

It really is too bad they didn't manage to release Tsuki ni Yorisou, Otome no Sahou

Work has definitely stalled, I won't deny 2015 was a pretty slow year for us. It's a mixture of burn out and high turn over rate. But we are hiring if people wanna help. Think I have things updated on what we'd need help on.

Thank you guys for your continuing support by the way. We know this is taking longer than anyone would like, and it really does mean a lot to us that you're still rooting for us. 

"only". you realise that´s been pretty sadistic, dont you?

I miss this forum being active. Ah well.

Updated March 18th, 2016.

I list my top three gameplay VN's according to how much I liked them and not ranked by the quality of its gameplay system.
1.) Koihime Musou

One of the first VN's I played but it's still one of my absolute favorites. The gameplay parts are rather light though - it's certainly not a gameplay VN. But the short battle sections were still a nice distraction.
2.) Kamidori Alchemy Meister

Certainly the best gameplay VN I've played so far and I really liked the setting and the characters (mainly Serawi). My main gripes with it was that it was rather grindy and therefore very time consuming.
3.) Demonion

I played that mainly because of M&M's art, but the dungeon keeper gameplay was pretty fun. It had two gameplay modes, a tower defense part for the dungeon defense and an attack mode to conquer territories. I liked that they didn't make a grinding game out of it and the gameplay parts were short enough that they didn't completely dominate the story sections. Though the biggest problem of the title were the lack of story and character development - it's still a nukige at heart. Fortunately, the rapy parts weren't that much of an issue since the VN was rather light hearted.

Okay, I finally finished it, or at least one play-through which is certainly enough for me. But man, that was that dull - its only saving grace is probably the gameplay part which was surprisingly addictive and fun. It wouldn't be enough to motivate me for another play-through, but for the first one it was entertaining enough.
I tried to go for Subaru first, which unfortunateley failed since she turned out more as a side character than a full heroine who only joins the team much later on. So I was more or less stuck with Haruka. Narika was pretty much out of discussion since I've probably never seen a girl that looked less like a ninja girl than her. She also had such a high pitched voice that I was almost relieved when she didn't participate in conversations and I wasn't forced to keep my drinking glasses away from the speakers out of fear they might burst.  However, for better or worse conversations outside H-scenes were a rarity anyway. That's not to say that the other heroines would have been much better, they were just less annoying. Haruka pretty much had no personality at all and Subaru who at least had the potential for a cool ninja girl was left just as a mere side character.
I was actually surprised that a Subaru route was unlocked after my play-through with Haruka. Though considering that Haruka's route more or less only consisted of a few more H-scenes and maybe half a page more additional text, that's certainly nothing special. Except that you have to beat the final opponent with your chosen girl which was a very bad surprise for me since my far strongest character was Subaru and not Haruka. 
There's also little to no story, since the game mainly consists of the gameplay parts and picking H-scenes. The text and dialogue inbetween is usually just repeated over and over again with the exception of some rare key scenes.
And even the H-scenes were overall more tedious and boring than anything else. That's not to say they were badly drawn - considering their age they were fine for the most part even if I did hate the protagonist shadow obscuring the girls. The main problem was that they lacked a decent setup that gets you in the mood. They were just training after all, a mechanical act like making your daily coffee for breakfast or bringing out the garbage, nothing more. No tension or emotional bond to make them more engaging. And if that wouldn't be enough already, you have to play every H-scene three times (!!!) to get the full version of it.  I've also seen repeated H-scenes beyond that, so the total amount of unique H-scenes isn't really that high, especially considering that there are only 2,5 heroines. And if you don't play the evil route you can just cut them in half.
The overall production values were more on the average side. The title has only partial voice acting and the heroines just 1 - 2 different body sprites. For the most part I was just looking at a few 'hovering' heads talking with each other. Having just played a Yuzusoft title with a highly dynamic sprite and facial expression system, this was almost a slap in the face.  On the other hand, most side characters were drawn so I at least didn't have to endure exciting conversations with air, void and emptyness. 
Despite my not exactly glowing review, I wouldn't go so far to call it a bad title. While it's certainly light years away from something like Kamidori, I'd say it's at least comparable to the Raidy titles quality wise. It's still a lot better than what MangaGamer and Jast were churning out in their cheap nukige days and it's certainly fairly priced compared to what they charge for their cheap nukiges from Softhouse Seal & Co.
Overall, I'd rate it a subjective 6.0, but since I only played the good route I grant it a more objective 6.5 since it also offers an evil route I didn't play. This getting a high rating on EGS can probably only explained with the time it was released. Those days, the production values were probably a lot higher in comparion to the average VN than today where it would probably hardly reach a 60 on EGS anymore. So time definitely matters for ratings, especially for those that just rely on artistic and technical merits instead of story and writing.

I share a lot of your gripes with the VN, and I'd recommend you to play Amanes route which has a rather long back story part called 'Angelic howl'. This story section about Yuuji's sister Kazuki and Amane is the by far best part of the VN. It's very serious, shocking and touching, and Kazuki is a fantastic character.
The only other routes I played were Sachi's and Yuminko's. From those Yumiko's route was horrible and Sachi's was mostly boring and the ending was idiotic beyond believe.
I didn't like Michiru and Machika enough to play their routes, but at least Makina's route is supposed to be almost as good as Angelic Howl because it was written by the same writer.

I share a lot of your gripes with the VN, and I'd recommend you to play Amanes route which has a rather long back story part called 'Angelic howl'. This story section about Yuuji's sister Kazuki and Amane is the by far best part of the VN. It's very serious, shocking and touching, and Kazuki is a fantastic character.
The only other routes I played were Sachi's and Yuminko's. From those Yumiko's route was horrible and Sachi's was mostly boring and the ending was idiotic beyond believe.
I didn't like Michiru and Machika enough to play their routes, but at least Makina's route is supposed to be almost as good as Angelic Howl because it was written by the same writer.

This was actually irritating me a bit in Conjuerors VN contest. I had the impression that many voters thought that Hatsusaku is just a light hearted moege. But most comments I've seen from people who actually read it implied more that it's a more sophisticated and mentally exhausting VN, maybe even comparable to the true route of ef. You hardly need a 'recovery VN' for a feel good moege.

Especially in the anime...
I'd also add Elis from Canvas 2, Nemu from Da Capo and Michika from Imopara and Kagome from Comyu. Rise and Chiho from Princess Evangile could also fit the bill - they are at least fighting over the protagonist. And considering that Ai from Tick Tack goes full netori at a certain point I'd also include her.
In general, imouto and onee-chan characters tend to be very attached to the protagonist, although I wouldn't call all of them necessarily possessive because of that.

For me, the perfect waifu is a being which helps me improve myself.
A waifu will comfort me when I'm sad, will motivate me when I'm lazy and will support me in achieving my goals.
When I wake up in the morning and I don't know why I should even get out of the bed, I look at my dakimakura beside me and it makes me smile and let's me think that life isn't so bad after all. And when I was a bad boy during the day I don't even dare to enter the bedroom at the end of the day because she's there and I know she's disappointed of me and that breaks my heart and I swear to myself that I will be a better person in the future.
That's what having a waifu is all about in my opinion.
Speaking of waifus, I haven't seen any waifu material in the last 5 years to be honest. Nowadays, all characters are only wish-fulfilling otaku-pandering with no mind of their own. Only fetishized moe-tropes.
I think the worst thing with otaku media in the last few years (and the reason why I think it's objectively bad) is that it doesn't even try to improve the reader/watcher anymore. Back in the day, waifu games had a protagonist who needed to go trough some character development before the heroine would fall in love with him. He needed to try to be worthy of her. The message was "Even you can be awesome and be loved, if you're really trying."
Today, everyone loves the protagonist from the beginning for no reasons and every part of the heroine's personality is designed to cater to some superficial fetish like hair color or the amount of tsun and dere. The message here is "We love you even though you're a disgusting hetare." In my opinion that's the most harmful message you can give to the modern otaku audience.

Translation Aggregator can work quite decently in combination with Atlas if you know how to setup a title properly, as long as the title doesn't use too difficult Japanese.
One of the biggest problems for the machine translators are usually the names, because those are often not clearly distinguishable from normal words. Especially my personal favorites - one-kanji names like 歩 (Ayumu) from Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi which is used in the very common word 歩くfor walk. You really don't wanna know what fairy tales Atlas can create out of sentences with this name... 
However, you can increase the translation accuracy quite a bit by preparing a name table for Translation Aggregator. That's usually the first thing I do before I start a new Japanese VN. It's also very helpful for weird katakana constructs if the VN is written in extra-cool Japanese where every second word is an English word written in katakana.
The table below is an example of a name table I used when playing Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi. And if you still don't understand a sentence you use JParser to look up the word. And the more you read the easier it will get.
Though I'm currently using Chiitrans myself where I add the names on the fly because I don't get the text dropping problems between ITH and TA under control.