ChaosRaven

Not bad! Those are some pretty decent titles. NekoNyan certainly seems to have build up some good connections to the VN scene.
Maybe I should send my hopeless prayers for the Shin Koihime † Musou -Kakumei- trilogy to them. 

I'm about to make the thread here. Oh well. Anyway, here's the project in case you didn't want to browse Nekonyan's site. Also note that I add the 'Secret Project' here, and the reason is because all of Nekonyan's announcements are their secret projects.
Secret Project 1 - Ren'ai Karichaimasta

Because of his family's unique circumstances, the only thing Yuki put his faith in was that "Money will make my little sister happy." To this end, he regularly worked a part-time job until late at night.

His goals were to graduate as soon as possible and get a full-time job. But, one day as he was leaving for work, his little sister told him, "If Yuki isn't going to college then I won't either." He knew he couldn't put such a burden upon his little sister.

So, in order to gather the necessary sum of money to enter university, Yuki signed up for a "human employment rental" website. It seemed extremely suspicious, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

He starts his new job...and for some reason, a girl in his class asks him to be her pretend-boyfriend. Then he's hired to pretend to be a woman's lover, another girl's friend, and even the older brother to a pair of twins!

The details of his fake relationships with these girls begins as soon as he takes their money!
Secret Project 2 - Cafe Stella to Shinigami no Chou

Takamine Kousei was living a carefree college life until, one day, he tragically died in an accident. But then, the bizarre happened: Takamine Kousei opened his eyes again. And what's more, when he woke up, it was the morning of the very day he had died. He proceeded to relive the same day, unable to grasp the reality of his situation. Kousei soon realized that his previous experience was not some prophetic dream, nor was he experiencing deja vu; everything was taking place the exact same way.

Overwhelmed by fear due to the unbelievable situation he has found himself in, he came back to the place where he had died. Then, at the moment of the accident, Kousei met a death goddess accompanied by a talking cat. The death goddess informed him that he has not yet avoided his death. In order to escape his grisly fate, Kousei must assist the death goddess with her work. And naturally, this means the opening of a café together.

By rewinding the world, Kousei may have overcome his fate for now, but can he overcome the certain death his future holds for him? This is the story of one man's love and his defiance of the world and his own fate... maybe?
Secret Project 3 - Sugar * Style

Spring needs to be a more fun season!!!

Getting deceived by an evil woman, having a had debt made by my parents who ran away at night... After a consecutive streak of trouble I was unable to decide on what to do after graduating. But then, I was helped by my kind relatives who introduced me to a local specialty school where I enrolled.

"This time I'll will enjoy my life!!"
And full of expectation in my chest, I reached the "Hidamari Dorm".

It turned out that it was a dorm where only women live in. It must be the place for my fateful encounter...! Is what I thought, but naturally, everyone was wary of me as the only man...!
But I won't give up...! This time, this spring, I will definitely enjoy myself!!
Secret Project 4 - Mirai Radio

July 10, 2061, Sunday. City: Nariyama. Prefecture: Chiba.

Yamanashi Sora redevelops the radio while tinkering with some components.

"...Just in time."

That day marked the fifteenth year since the artificial pigeons started consuming electromagnetic waves.
Sora began broadcasting with the radio left to him by his father.

The next day, after his first rocky broadcast, a mysterious message is picked up by the radio.

"This is a follow-up report on the Firmament's fall on August 1st. The death of a civilian named Yamanashi Sora has been confirmed at the former site of Terminal 1. A number of injured people has also been confirmed in Nariyama's International Sky Academy."

It’s a radio broadcast from the future.

“I'll... die in three weeks...?”

After listening to the ominous broadcast, Sora steps into the terminal for the first time in fifteen years. It was the former gateway to Japan, the same place where Sora lost his parents. The building was in ruins, a shadow of its former glory, now a nest to countless artificial pigeons. There, Sora meets a silver-haired maiden. She looks straight at Sora, gently brushing a still artificial pigeon's head with her finger.

"...You won't die."

The girl says calmly while Sora stands dumbfounded.

"Because I have decided so."
“Because I want you to.... look up at the sky and smile, Sora.”

This is how Yamanashi Sora and Hazuki Kaguya met.
Secret Project 5 - Aoi Tori

November, winter.
Sitting at the base of two mountains is Kirihara Academy, an all-girls Christian boarding school.
Men are normally forbidden on the premises, with the sole exception being the protagonist Shiratori Ritsu, who both attends the academy as a student and serves as a priest.

Ritsu has the power to bring "bliss" to anyone he touches, with the potency being higher if it's sexual in nature.
He's targeted by demons for having this miraculous power, and has never once left the academy.
The girls consider him an "angel", with many coming into his carnal embrace in search of "bliss".

Burdened by the sin of killing one of these girls, Ritsu vowed to put others' happiness above all else.

Caught in a chaotic mix between the pure and the obscene, Ritsu spends his days on the precipice of insanity.
That would soon change, however, with the arrival of a single girl.
The curtain of our story rises, and Mary Harker, a vampire at the end of her hundred-year long journey, takes the stage.

Sharing the spotlight with her, is the voice of a demon on the other side of the phone.

Can the power of "miracles" really bring people happiness?
What is the value of being born into this world?

This is a story of life woven with words of prayer--
PS - First of all I like the announcements very much and I look forward to Sugar * Style release at April 30th later even though apparently it's less good compared to either Fureraba or Makeover. While Cafe Stella here is sort of predictable, I'm still look forward to the release of it. Good job that Laplacian got Nekonyan to license Mirai Radio, and perhaps Nekonyan here might be the one who'll license Aojashin even though apparently Laplacian will try to going independent there. Karichaimasta here looks like Sukiren in that it'll full of comedy or something like that, although looks like it'll be better compared to Sukiren. Lastly Purple Software here is really flexible when it come to localization partner, and I'll look forward to the eventual release of Aoi Tori.

Yesterday NekoNyan went ahead and did a bunch of announcements, as can be found here:
https://nekonyansoft.com/blog/time-to-reveal-the-sekrit-projects-and-other-news-part-1
And in a nice bit of a prank, they immediately followed up with an unexpected(?) part two! And indeed, unexpected announcements were found within:
https://nekonyansoft.com/blog/time-to-reveal-the-sekrit-projects-and-other-news-part-2
I have to say, NekoNyan has successfully established itself as consistently producing excellent titles. One looks at their translation teams and we get translators like Blick Winkel and ReadingSteiner, and editors like DxS, Decay and FredTheBarber, as well as their own regulars. I'm glad things seem to be going well for them.

I agree that those types of games and VNs can both be lumped under the broader category of Interactive Fiction, but I wouldn't call them Visual Novels. I think reading is a critical component for anything to be considered novelistic.

IT'S HERE!!!!!!! THE SEQUEL!

Looks like Sakuranomori Dreamers didn't do too well. Beaten by the likes of Maggot Baits, Euphoria, Escalayer and crap loads of Rance. Maybe we just don't deserve story titles. 

I also forgot to mention, that yesterday I finished Himawari no Kyoukai to Nagai Natsuyasumi. It took me ~90hrs over three weeks, so perhaps half or one-third of my "normal" (translated) reading speed
It was great story about friendship, family and time, with a bit of magical undertones - a little KEY-like.
In my previous post I mentioned Daiya's route - it was quite typical ojousama moege route, but very enjoyable. Then I read Ruka's route - it had very different mood, with a bit of mystery and magic, and quite interesting twist. Tsukiko's route (console only) was again more lighthearted, but it also featured some additional foreshadowing for Yomi's route.
Yomi's route, unlocked after completing those three above, is kind of pre-true route It made the most use of the supernatural parts, and was quite nakige'y. I loved it.
Completing Yomi's route unlocks Hina's, which is The True Route. Hina is much younger than the rest of the cast - when we meet her, she's little girl who just came to the Oboshiro church after loosing her parents (or so it seems), and Father Arakawa is taking care of her - just like he did for Yousuke (protagonist) years ago.
Hina is really cute, and quickly becomes friends with Yousuke and the girls. It's really heartwarming to watch how they all are doting over her in common route and some parts of the girls' routes .
Hina's actual route branches off early part of Yomi's route. It covers an (unexpected) link between Yousuke and her and ultimately ends with Yousuke becoming her guardian, and them living in (now closed) Oboshiro church. (I think the conclusion itself isn't that big of the spoiler, since the most interesting parts lie inbetween.) Luckily, Yousuke isn't lolicon, so there isn't any H stuff in this route in any version of the game Overally, this route was very heartwarming.
But that's just a first part. After completing little Hina's route, the following part of the true route unlocks from the main menu. It is continuation of Hina's route after ten years timeskip, following the struggles of Yousuke's and Hina's family life and her growing up. It was really nice family-focused coming of age story. I think we could draw some parallels with Matsuri's route from Kazoku Keikaku, although it is a bit different. But the common point of two people with considerable age gap falling in love remains. Here we also get to know more about Hina's family. Daiya, Ruka and Tsukiko also come back as supporting characters. It was quite a ride, definitely pinnacle of this VN. And the ending was very fulfilling.
Art and music is gorgeous. Voices were also nice, I'd just wish that all characters were voiced. As it is, only female characters are fully voiced. For male characters, only three of them are voiced - Father Arakawa, Daiya's grandfather and one other guy who's identity should remain secret, since it's a bit of a spoiler Other male characters are unvoiced and spriteless - those two things combined often tripped me up a bit, since I had to stop for a moment to check if the line I'm just reading is protagonist or one of those characters But that's just a minor complaint.
It would also be nice, if common route had some more variety/branches. As it is now, while it has lots of choices, those choices are just convoluted way to select the route, and in common route they change just a few lines, if anything. So after a first playthrough, common route consist mostly of skipping
I also skipped through +18 PC version. I didn't like placement of most of the H-scenes, and also I strongly dislike the style of HCGs this VN uses, with big focus on the genital area often taking up to the half of the screen. It's fine in the nukige, but in romance story I'd prefer something less obviously porny. Aokana did great job at that with most of its HCGs. So with that considered, I'd take additional Tsukiko's route of the PS3 version over those dubious H-scenes
Time to sum up this horrible wall of text - HimaNatsu is definitely one of the charage gems, and I'm really glad I read it. 8.5/10
 

There were a few official English announcements and releases, but mostly a bunch of fantranslations or patches.
 
 

It's strange that Mashiro Iro Symphony wasn't translated yet. We got SakuSaku and almost the whole 9-nine series from Palette, so the absence of Mashiro Iro Symphony is a bit weird.

My personal favorite KEY work is Kanon (their first title). I mean this as a huge fan of Kanon when I say that you should probably watch the 2006 anime adaptation of Kanon instead of diving into the VN. In general I think its a good introduction to KEY. For one, every major work of KEY has mostly been derivative of Kanon (and ONE, which is a VN many of the founding staff of KEY made for another company). So if you like Kanon, its safe to say you will like their other stuff. 
The reason I recommend the 2006 anime, is because it hits all the high notes of the original VN, but cuts a lot of the fat. This is one of those few cases where not only is the anime adaptation good, but arguably (at least in my opinion) a bit better than the source material. It is also only 26 episodes long, compared to Clannad's anime which in total is 52+ episodes long. And the real core of Clannad is really in the last quarter. So if you don't want to invest in a huge VN to first dip your toes with KEY, this is what I personally would recommend. Planetarian as others have been recommending is also a fantastic starting place. 

It's the time for Getchu's award, and the winner is Cabbage Soft newest detective VNs Sakura no Kumo. It's also interesting to note that there's no Tsui no Sora Remake despite that the new contents did quite well done from what I'd heard, but then again perhaps the focus is on the non-remake VNs that was released back at 2020. Anyway, here's 20 VNs that got the award below and you can view the source from this link.
1. Sakura no Kumo * Scarlet no Koi - Cabbage Soft

2. Dohna Dohna -Issho ni Warui Koto o Shiyou- - Alice Soft
3. Hakuchuumu no Aojashin - Laplacian

4. 9 -Nine- Yukiiro Yukihana Yukinoato - Palette

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5. Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE - Key

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6. Amakano 2 - Azarashi Soft

7. Hamidashi Creative - Madosoft

8. Mama x Holic ~Miwaku no Mama to Ama Ama Kankei~ - Atelier Kaguya Bare & Bunny
9. Kara no Shoujo - The Last Episode - Innocent Grey

10. Ren'ai x Royale - ASa Project

11. Kouyoku Senki ExS-Tia 3 - Lusterise
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12. Bishoujo Mangekyou -Kotowari to Meikyuu no Shoujo- - ωstar

The fifth and closing story for the Bishoujo Mangekyou series.
13. Akatsuki Yureru Koi Akari - CRYSTALiA

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14. Houkago Cinderella - Hooksoft

15. Nekotsuku, Sakura. - Lump of Sugar

16. Real Eroge Situation! 2 - Jitaku Studio
17. Kakenuke★Seishun Sparking! - Saga Planets

18. Suiren to Shion - Hibiki Works

19. Seishun Fragile - Purple Software

20. HaremKingdom - Smee

There's some additional awards for each categories as well, and here's the awards based on the categories.
Best Scenario: Sakura no Kumo * Scarlet no Koi Best System: Dohna Dohna -Issho ni Warui Koto o Shiyou- Best Graphic: Amakano Best Soundtrack: Summer Pockets REFLECTION BLUE Best Movie: Hakuchuumu no Aojashin Best Character: Chief from Sakura no Kumo * Scarlet no Koi Best Erotic Contents: Real Eroge Situation! 2 I'll comment more on those VNs later, but overall I can say that I hope some of those will be localized in the future.

From my understanding when Evenicle 1 came out on Steam it was during the time Steam allowed just about anything regardless of content, if they tried to release that today it would likely get rejected, Steam is just very inconsistent with it's policies related to such content but I've also heard they banned a bunch of all-ages visual novels for no reason at all.
I don't think Evencile 1 will ever be removed from Steam unless the license expires, it wouldn't be in Steam/Valves best interest to try to remove it for any other reason, the backlash for that would likely be pretty big.
This just means Evencile 2 will be released uncut with mosaics and DRM-free on different storefronts.

Kinda expected that to happen. Given Valve's track record, I'm more surprised they actually let Alicesoft sell the original game completely uncensored on Steam.

It doesn't really have multiple protagonists, as far as I understand from playing the fan-translation of ep. 0 and all the information I've seen online. Episode 0 is pretty much a standalone story on its own, which pretty much introduces the setting and has different characters than the later episodes. Starting with ep. 1, it's pretty much one VN split into parts, and these parts all have one single protagonist. If you are confused by the vndb pages, then, like I mentioned in my previous post, the Japanese release of Alternative Chronicles consisted of multiple non-connected stories, and most of them were already released in English, while this release only consists of TDA, which was only a part of the original games. This is why this release is marked as "incomplete" on vndb.
PS. Also, for the same reason, the length tags may not be accurate. For reference, as far as I remember, episode 0 on its own was somewhere in the lower "short" category, maybe even "very short". The later episodes may be longer.

Yeah he even wrote a blog how much he didn't have fun with it:
https://nisekoirantslations.wordpress.com/2018/03/19/and-done-time-for-a-long-nap/
 
Well I don't know if he doesn't already has a job and just wants to keep VNs as a hobby.

About Yumeutsutsu, I did remember that the writing between four routes are very different. By very different I mean looks like each writer did what they think it's the best when it come to narration, and therefore the perspective writing between four routes are vary. To elaborate, Saki's route didn't have perspective but instead there's only non-stop conversation (ie no monologue) just like the manga without narration, Nana's perspective is fully focused on Nana with few lines back to Ai, Marie route has standard everchanging perspective between Ai and Marie, and lastly Kokoro's route is goes as normal with Ai in charge of monologue just like common route. Also I like that the textbox color here is reflect on which character perspective that currently the reader read. As for the twist, let's just say that it's not as surprising as Hakuai although it's still quite wham in the VN itself. Either way have fun in regard of Yumeutsutsu.
For both of Carnevale and Rhapsody, well don't expect much in regard of those two is the good advice that I can give. Although it's less in regard of the VNs are bad and it's more that you better not expect something amazing in those two VNs because after all disappointment was born from high expectation. That said, those two VNs are still good on their own so have fun in regard of that. Also Carnevale engine here is really bugged, so it would be wise to follow the translator advice to not right click on it (Although admittedly it's quite annoying in that you can only use keyboard to access the menu). In case you have doubt on the translation thanks to translator infamous translation of Cross Channel in the past, I'll just say that the translation is okay despite some of awkward wording, or to make some comparison here I have more problem with typo at 11eyes than Carnevale's translation and yet I still say that it's nice to have 11eyes translated.

Yes, I read Noble Works, Sanoba Witch and Natsuzora Kanata - and liked them all. I intentionally skipped Dracu Riot because vampire setting puts me off. But Senren Banka and Riddle Joker seem interesting.
(I also have BraBan and Tenshin Ranman on my "to read" list)

Did you read a Yuzusoft title before? For moe you usually can't go wrong with them. On VNDB at least, the most popular Yuzusoft title seems to be Sanoba Witch, but it probably depends a lot on what people have already read and Senren * Banka is newer. The just recently released Riddle Joker seems to be rather strong in the plot department though, so that will probably my next Yuzusoft title (after a reasonable break).

Finally finished some titles...

It took a while, but Senren * Banka was very sweet. Probably my favorite Yuzusoft title so far (just played Noble Works and Dracu Riot before though) and ended up playing all routes except Koharu's. It still had the typical Yuzusoft problem that they come up with a decent plot (for a moege) in the common route, but then more or less drop it in the character routes. Only Lena's route somewhat built up on it. I think they could learn a lesson or two from 9-nine how to successfully keep things interesting with reasonable effort.
Nevertheless, as a moege it certainly succeeds. In that area, it's hard to argue that Yuzusoft know their trade. The characters were very likable and had a good chemistry with each other. You really got family vibes from them. Like usual in a Yuzusoft the sprite dynamics were most excellent and made the characters feel more lively than ever. It also had a competent and caring protagonist. I really liked his dedication to his sword fight training. It's a pity it couldn't be used more. It would have been great to see some *Chusingura action* with him.
Heroine ranking: Lena >= Yoshino = Mako = Murasame = Roka > Koharu
I really have a hard time picking favorites here, since I liked most heroines almost equally. Though I think I liked Lena a tiny bit more than the others.
Overall rating 7/10 (Could have been higher if they would have put more emphasis on story)

Also finished Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden 2, the second fan disc for Kyonyuu Fantasy. I don't think this can be called a nukige anymore. In the first two hours you don't even see a girl, and the first H-scene happens after eight hours or so. They literally *plundered* all their previous Kyonyuu Fantasy games, including KF2 to get the sprite and image resources necessary to realize a full cross-pseudo-European conflict involving Spain (Iberia), France (Fronce), England (Hillsland), the Holy Roman Empire (Edellandt) and probably Denmark (Nordland). It's actually pretty impressive that they managed to pull that off, full with intrigues and wars.
On the other hand, it's still rather 'cheaply' made, so it's essentially just more of the same. It also suffers from Lute's harem being too big with only Shamsiel, Gladys and Aphrodia having useful roles from the old cast. Lute's antics also slowly get old, especially in the later parts when every problem is solved by him just walking in range. It's a lot more interesting when he actually comes up with a crazy idea or turns an enemy into an ally.
Heroine ranking: Gladys > Aphrodia > Shamsiel > Emeralia > Rosalyn > Estoria > ... (too much effort to list them all)
Overall rating: 6.5/10 (I originally wanted to give a 7, but Lute's *demi-god* problem solutions were just lame)

Well, Iwaihime was an odd one. I read a few chapters and then had a look at VNDB again if this was really written by Ryuukishi07. While the structure of VN resembles his previous works, the writing itself... does now. I'm not the biggest fan of Ryu, but my usual problems with his writing is that he doesn't find an end and just goes on and on until he suddenly comes up with a troll twist I hate. But on the other hand, he can also come up with some really powerful writing.
In Iwaihime however, you get an almost lightning fast pacing. Considering I usually like fast-paced VN's, this should have been perfect for me. However, this wasn't simply fast-paced, there were just essential parts missing. No proper character introductions, scene build-ups to create tension pretty much didn't exist. The chapters show-casing the different heroine problems felt like copy & paste with slightly different scenarios. Overall, it felt like the VN was written by a complete amateur, since not a single thing was decently done - it was more like a rough draft of how the VN should be structured than the full thing. Ryu must have really hated working on this, probably because it was contract work and not his own. It was obvious that he just wanted to get it over with, so he could work on his own stuff again.
Heroine ranking: Meh
Overall rating: 2/10 (Seriously, this was just bad and not me being grumpy for a change...)
Next on my list are Kami no Rhapsody and Gekkou no Carnevale. Though Gekkou is so unstable under Windows 10 that you can only use hotkeys, because accessing the game menu via right-click freezes the game. Story sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it's worth going through those hassles.

To me it feels like somebody wanted to have him work on this since he was known for writing horror, but they didn't realize what made his previous works good and gave him too many constraints for the actual writing. It's funny how this VN completely contradicts what Ryukishi himself believes about writing good horror.
By the way, I'm currently at chapter 5, and it made my impression even worse than I wrote in my previous post. It just went in the most cliche direction possible. Honestly, I'll probably try reading it a bit more, but I'm very close to following @Silvz's advice and just dropping it completely.

Finally finished some titles...

It took a while, but Senren * Banka was very sweet. Probably my favorite Yuzusoft title so far (just played Noble Works and Dracu Riot before though) and ended up playing all routes except Koharu's. It still had the typical Yuzusoft problem that they come up with a decent plot (for a moege) in the common route, but then more or less drop it in the character routes. Only Lena's route somewhat built up on it. I think they could learn a lesson or two from 9-nine how to successfully keep things interesting with reasonable effort.
Nevertheless, as a moege it certainly succeeds. In that area, it's hard to argue that Yuzusoft know their trade. The characters were very likable and had a good chemistry with each other. You really got family vibes from them. Like usual in a Yuzusoft the sprite dynamics were most excellent and made the characters feel more lively than ever. It also had a competent and caring protagonist. I really liked his dedication to his sword fight training. It's a pity it couldn't be used more. It would have been great to see some *Chusingura action* with him.
Heroine ranking: Lena >= Yoshino = Mako = Murasame = Roka > Koharu
I really have a hard time picking favorites here, since I liked most heroines almost equally. Though I think I liked Lena a tiny bit more than the others.
Overall rating 7/10 (Could have been higher if they would have put more emphasis on story)

Also finished Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden 2, the second fan disc for Kyonyuu Fantasy. I don't think this can be called a nukige anymore. In the first two hours you don't even see a girl, and the first H-scene happens after eight hours or so. They literally *plundered* all their previous Kyonyuu Fantasy games, including KF2 to get the sprite and image resources necessary to realize a full cross-pseudo-European conflict involving Spain (Iberia), France (Fronce), England (Hillsland), the Holy Roman Empire (Edellandt) and probably Denmark (Nordland). It's actually pretty impressive that they managed to pull that off, full with intrigues and wars.
On the other hand, it's still rather 'cheaply' made, so it's essentially just more of the same. It also suffers from Lute's harem being too big with only Shamsiel, Gladys and Aphrodia having useful roles from the old cast. Lute's antics also slowly get old, especially in the later parts when every problem is solved by him just walking in range. It's a lot more interesting when he actually comes up with a crazy idea or turns an enemy into an ally.
Heroine ranking: Gladys > Aphrodia > Shamsiel > Emeralia > Rosalyn > Estoria > ... (too much effort to list them all)
Overall rating: 6.5/10 (I originally wanted to give a 7, but Lute's *demi-god* problem solutions were just lame)

Well, Iwaihime was an odd one. I read a few chapters and then had a look at VNDB again if this was really written by Ryuukishi07. While the structure of VN resembles his previous works, the writing itself... does now. I'm not the biggest fan of Ryu, but my usual problems with his writing is that he doesn't find an end and just goes on and on until he suddenly comes up with a troll twist I hate. But on the other hand, he can also come up with some really powerful writing.
In Iwaihime however, you get an almost lightning fast pacing. Considering I usually like fast-paced VN's, this should have been perfect for me. However, this wasn't simply fast-paced, there were just essential parts missing. No proper character introductions, scene build-ups to create tension pretty much didn't exist. The chapters show-casing the different heroine problems felt like copy & paste with slightly different scenarios. Overall, it felt like the VN was written by a complete amateur, since not a single thing was decently done - it was more like a rough draft of how the VN should be structured than the full thing. Ryu must have really hated working on this, probably because it was contract work and not his own. It was obvious that he just wanted to get it over with, so he could work on his own stuff again.
Heroine ranking: Meh
Overall rating: 2/10 (Seriously, this was just bad and not me being grumpy for a change...)
Next on my list are Kami no Rhapsody and Gekkou no Carnevale. Though Gekkou is so unstable under Windows 10 that you can only use hotkeys, because accessing the game menu via right-click freezes the game. Story sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it's worth going through those hassles.

Finally finished some titles...

It took a while, but Senren * Banka was very sweet. Probably my favorite Yuzusoft title so far (just played Noble Works and Dracu Riot before though) and ended up playing all routes except Koharu's. It still had the typical Yuzusoft problem that they come up with a decent plot (for a moege) in the common route, but then more or less drop it in the character routes. Only Lena's route somewhat built up on it. I think they could learn a lesson or two from 9-nine how to successfully keep things interesting with reasonable effort.
Nevertheless, as a moege it certainly succeeds. In that area, it's hard to argue that Yuzusoft know their trade. The characters were very likable and had a good chemistry with each other. You really got family vibes from them. Like usual in a Yuzusoft the sprite dynamics were most excellent and made the characters feel more lively than ever. It also had a competent and caring protagonist. I really liked his dedication to his sword fight training. It's a pity it couldn't be used more. It would have been great to see some *Chusingura action* with him.
Heroine ranking: Lena >= Yoshino = Mako = Murasame = Roka > Koharu
I really have a hard time picking favorites here, since I liked most heroines almost equally. Though I think I liked Lena a tiny bit more than the others.
Overall rating 7/10 (Could have been higher if they would have put more emphasis on story)

Also finished Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden 2, the second fan disc for Kyonyuu Fantasy. I don't think this can be called a nukige anymore. In the first two hours you don't even see a girl, and the first H-scene happens after eight hours or so. They literally *plundered* all their previous Kyonyuu Fantasy games, including KF2 to get the sprite and image resources necessary to realize a full cross-pseudo-European conflict involving Spain (Iberia), France (Fronce), England (Hillsland), the Holy Roman Empire (Edellandt) and probably Denmark (Nordland). It's actually pretty impressive that they managed to pull that off, full with intrigues and wars.
On the other hand, it's still rather 'cheaply' made, so it's essentially just more of the same. It also suffers from Lute's harem being too big with only Shamsiel, Gladys and Aphrodia having useful roles from the old cast. Lute's antics also slowly get old, especially in the later parts when every problem is solved by him just walking in range. It's a lot more interesting when he actually comes up with a crazy idea or turns an enemy into an ally.
Heroine ranking: Gladys > Aphrodia > Shamsiel > Emeralia > Rosalyn > Estoria > ... (too much effort to list them all)
Overall rating: 6.5/10 (I originally wanted to give a 7, but Lute's *demi-god* problem solutions were just lame)

Well, Iwaihime was an odd one. I read a few chapters and then had a look at VNDB again if this was really written by Ryuukishi07. While the structure of VN resembles his previous works, the writing itself... does now. I'm not the biggest fan of Ryu, but my usual problems with his writing is that he doesn't find an end and just goes on and on until he suddenly comes up with a troll twist I hate. But on the other hand, he can also come up with some really powerful writing.
In Iwaihime however, you get an almost lightning fast pacing. Considering I usually like fast-paced VN's, this should have been perfect for me. However, this wasn't simply fast-paced, there were just essential parts missing. No proper character introductions, scene build-ups to create tension pretty much didn't exist. The chapters show-casing the different heroine problems felt like copy & paste with slightly different scenarios. Overall, it felt like the VN was written by a complete amateur, since not a single thing was decently done - it was more like a rough draft of how the VN should be structured than the full thing. Ryu must have really hated working on this, probably because it was contract work and not his own. It was obvious that he just wanted to get it over with, so he could work on his own stuff again.
Heroine ranking: Meh
Overall rating: 2/10 (Seriously, this was just bad and not me being grumpy for a change...)
Next on my list are Kami no Rhapsody and Gekkou no Carnevale. Though Gekkou is so unstable under Windows 10 that you can only use hotkeys, because accessing the game menu via right-click freezes the game. Story sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it's worth going through those hassles.