Barktooth

I know, right? Well, I shouldn't complain about it, it's a good thing I'm able to enjoy it, there's always still time to get jaded and stop being able to enjoy writing like this xD Then again I was pretty hard on Grisaia for some of the more ridiculous stuff there, yet it just doesn't seem to bother me in this VN as much. The most annoying things to me besides too much SOL were them cutting important scenes short and not tying everything up properly... But these were all pretty minor I guess, the scenes themselves still made a good impact, it just reverted back to SOL a bit too quickly for my taste after them. Yeah that pretty much explains it.

Finished Asuho's route in Hoshizora no Memoria, and surprisingly enough I have to say it was enjoyable. I usually don't like slice of life and romance, and there was a LOT of that stuff in this route, as well as the common route.. And yet, I wasn't bored of it at all (short of the hentai scenes, which as usual like in most story-focused VNs sucked). I wonder why that is. My guess so far is that the characters are just very good - to me, at least, most of them seem very multi-dimensional and interesting. Or maybe Asuho was just too damn cute. I'm actually feeling pretty depressed right now because I don't get to see any more Asuho I could read another route but that would be cheating on her, and if I don't read it, I don't get too see her. Dammit, this feeling sucks! All of that is fine and dandy, but even if the slice of life and romance was fairly entertaining, that alone wouldn't be enough for me to rate this VN highly. However, unless the other routes somehow ruin everything, I'm planning to give this a 9 or even a 10... because DAMN, I don't even know what it is, but I cried like a bitch during the scene where Neither of those scenes is actually even sad, so I'm not sure why I cried.. it might be due to that music track that plays during both of them. That is my absolute favorite BGM from any VN now, I think Or maybe they were just "beautiful" scenes. As in, everything came together perfectly. And while I predicted the Komomo one, the other one was a very satisfying plot twist to me. Either way, I sobbed into my pillow for over an hour after that. This VN ruined me lol

Finally started reading Hoshizora no Memoria today, somehow it's actually meeting my expectations so far (they were pretty high). Really loving the music and backgrounds which create a great atmosphere, and it seems to have some of the most beautiful sprites ever... If only they weren't so pixelated at 800x600 :( I'm also enjoying the story a lot, I'm a sucker for the whole idea of returning to your childhood town and reuniting with your childhood friends. Now if only there would be less boring comedy scenes with Chinami.. I mean, I don't think they could have made her ANY more annoying.

Depends on your area, I guess. If you're in Japan I'm sure you'd find some places like that, but as for where I live, there aren't even anime meetups, so there's definitely nothing for VNs

Yep, this is literally the reason I haven't touched Katawa Shoujo in months. I read Hanako route and it was just good, then I read Rin route and it made me depressed for 3 days... that feel when Rin isn't real ;_; I've tried reading Lilly route since then but stopped halfway through, I just can't care for the other heroines anymore. I usually try following a recommended route order, from worst girl to best girl to avoid this, but it didn't work out for me with Grisaia.. Read Makina and Michiru routes first, and they ended up being the best.. so I kinda skimmed through the other ones. Amane route had that one interesting part but I basically skipped everything else. Also very much suffer from the other problem discussed here where I stall on anime/VNs when getting close to the end. This problem seems to be much more prevalent with anime for me as well, I have so many that have 2-3 episodes left but I can't finish them. At this point I've forgotten everything about the story too and I'd have to start from the beginning if I want to finish it, so I just keep procrastinating on it.

This. I didn't consciously realize it until you pointed it out but I always just quickly skim through those parts of VNs.

I'm probably half way through Koharu's route and also thinking she is best girl so far. Michika might be able to change my mind though

Well, I honestly didn't understand the game that well myself, so I might be wrong here. I skipped some I have no clue about or don't remember whatsoever, but here's what I think about some of the other ones: -What is the source of the alternate dimensions? VN explains that they are created, but are largely unexplained. AFAIK the alternate dimension is just a huge familiar that allows people to be inside of it. It's a manifestation of that tree under Gaia HQ. Some researcher at Gaia probably created a tree familiar with this property, and was like "Oh cool, let's use this to create a bunker to store all our other familiars in!" -Why can Kotarou randomly enter the dimensions? He just randomly finds places in the "real" Kazamatsuri where it's linked to the alternate dimension. Other people have also found it before though most of them get stranded in the other dimension since it's probably just as hard to find the way back. I think the guy who leads Gaia (not Sakuma or Akane, the one from the other faction) explained it in.... Akane's route (IIRC) during his plan to evacuate the city. -Key appears in his room, haunts him, no explanation why. As Silvz explained, it's because Kotori implanted one of the key's ribbons in Kotarou when she was trying to fix him up. The Key is attracted to him because he has a part of her. -Why is there a copied version of the entire city? Gaia created it in the other dimension to store familiars. Don't remember if there was an exact reason for why it had to look like the city, but I guess maybe they already were thinking about it serving as a shelter for when Salvation happens. -Bubbly toxic river of pollution: Where does it come from? What is it? It was explained at some point, by Akane I think. IIRC it's because a bunch of pesticide used to keep the forest free of insects near the city was buried near that place? Not too sure. -Who owns the "Leaf Dragon" familiar? No idea. Don't think it was ever mentioned. -The origin of familiars is never quite explained. They’re a mysterious phenomenon. Not sure either. I think they came into existence as a manifestation of some people's strong desire to change the world, as opposed to changing themselves (What superhumans do) -Choice buttons have a different texture/feel to them sometimes. Starting with the 3 choices presented during Akane’s questionnaire in the club room. Do these have any significance? Dunno, I also thought it just meant it was an important choice. I guess it's where you decide whether you are a superhuman or a familiar master (don't remember what someone who uses familiars is called lol) (I remembered, it's Summoner, lol), or at least which idea you agree with more. Change the world is Gaia, change yourself is Guardian, and on first playthrough you don't know enough about the world so you are forced to choose you don't know. -The tiny familiars: Where do they come from? They said they are pairs, created from garbage? Don't remember exactly but they are the result of some kind of testing done at a Gaian lab for creating familiars. I think they were trying to make familiars into more independent beings or something like that (as in, not requiring a summoner to control them), but the experiment was shut down and Pani and Gil managed to escape somehow. -What happened to the boy that died in the cursed story? I think... he just died? Who knows if it's due to Lucia's poison or if it was just a coincidence (the boy was frail already). -I read somewhere else that Kotori is the "Voice" that Kotarou hears while Shizuru is in a coma. There are theories around this. Is there actually any evidence in the VN to support what actually happened here? How did Shizuru save Kotarou? I have no idea but I'm also interested in this. If anyone knows please tell me -Is Shizuru blind in her right eye? I don't recall this being mentioned in the VN anywhere. I suspected it after I realized that Shizuru seems to sacrifice a part of her body or "senses" to save someone. For example, she lost her hearing after saving Kotarou. So she would have lost sight in her right eye after saving her father. Very interesting idea, and seems plausible. I found it weird that she would wear an eyepatch just because of heterochromia. Then again, she does take it off when she is at "work", and there'd be no use in doing so if her eye was blind.. so maybe it's just partially blind or affected in some other way (maybe she sees in black and white from it?) -1 year later, Kotarou hears the Voice in his head again. It asks him to choose her over Akane. The voice talks poorly of Akane. Is this the same "Voice" from Shizuru's route? If not, what is the significance here? Also super interested in this, who is that voice? What does she mean? -While the world is ending, and while Kotarou is searching for the mysterious summoner that is massacring people, he gets brief visions through what appears to be the eyes of another familiar somewhere in alleyways. Golden bird familiar appears. Who is it from? Why can Kotarou see himself through its eyes? I'm guessing it's Akane, I think deep down she probably wanted to help him. -Kotarou is in a world where only him and Kagari (Key girl) are present (seemingly). There is no "time". Is he dead? He still recalls memories from the other routes (his past lives, branched based on decisions he's made). I would say he is neither dead nor alive, just outside of existence. All the memories are "possibilities" that the Earth had lived through as part of Kagari's plan to prevent it from running out of resources. Then again, I don't understand how Sakura could send familiars there. -Why does Kagari never speak? Or rather, she speaks SOMETHING, but Kotarou cannot understand. Is his intellect not advanced enough? Similar to reading the tree-shaped "Theory of Life" that Kagari is working on endlessly (he cannot comprehend it)? I guess she regards him as a lower level being so she doesn't make much effort to speak to him. But when she does, she spits out information at a super fast rate so Kotarou gets information overload and can't process it. She probably doesn't use sound to convey that information either, but rather directly beams it to his mind somehow, so he is "forced" to process it, but can't due to his lower intelligence. -Akane is able to look at Kagari's "Theory of Life" without getting head pains? I guess she is just barely smart enough to do that. But she probably still can't understand all of it as a big picture. -The "comment" that Kotarou inserted into the theory reads: "I hope to see you again someday. ~Tennouji Kotarou". How does this help Kagari figure out the solution to the theory? Don't really know why she wouldn't think of that herself, but I guess it tells Kagari that the key to saving the Earth is Kotarou. Which is true, what determines whether you get the common + girls routes (where Earth isn't saved) or Terra route (where Earth is saved) is the one choice Kotarou makes to capture, kill, or let the key be. Capture/kill leads to him getting hurt, Kotori saving him by planting Key's ribbon into him, and him falling into a coma for several years as well as stopping the aging process - so when he wakes up, he is the age of a highschooler, and the common route begins. But by this point he was in a coma long enough where by the time he again finds out about Gaia/Guardian/Key/Salvation etc, there's not enough time to save the Earth. However if he lets the key be, he doesn't fall into a coma and has enough time needed to save the Earth. As for the questions about the tree I personally don't think there's much meaning to them except Kotarou being drawn to Kagari. I guess he still loves her, as you said. Anyway I hope I didn't give you incorrect information, my memory is quite hazy already even though I read Rewrite pretty recently Hope this clears at least some stuff up for you.

I have this on my plan-to-read list, but am also probably going to wait until more episodes come out. Don't want to have to pause reading for years.

Heh well since you say it's short I might actually read it.. maybe. I rarely enjoy h-scenes in a VN, so nukige probably isn't a good idea.. but I'll at least try the routes of the pettanko characters xD

I just finished it like a month ago but I already want to re-read it, I guess I'll wait for this though (if it's even translated to English)

Well, it was a bit tough to choose which exact expression I like best, but I'd say it's probably these two: Also wanted to post one of Sachi from Sharin no Kuni but I was too lazy to find the exact expression I wanted

Unless you are going to have animated sprites with the mouths moving, I'd say it's better to have them closed while the character is speaking. Having it open would probably look unnatural, unless the character was shouting or expressing surprise.

Cool, was an interesting discussion to listen to.

Cool review, you've convinced me to add it to my ever-growing plan-to-read list

I try to read one a time, that way I can immerse myself fully in just one universe and enjoy it as much as possible. Sometimes I'll get either bored or read the best routes of a VN first and then not want to read the others, so I'll move on to something else temporarily.. and then like, never finish the other VN.

Rewrite has a lot of good ones, these are the two best battle tracks I'd say: Other than that here are just some of my favorites.

I'm also reading Grisaia right now, and I'd have to agree with a lot of what Vorathiel says. The common route was pretty bad, I didn't enjoy much of the comedy and the narration didn't do a great job at getting me to care for the characters. I just had to sit through hours of boring interaction between characters I didn't care about. Well, short of Makina - I really liked her in the common route They don't really reveal any of the problems of the characters in the common route, there is no interesting character development, no intriguing events happen outside of character interaction, no sudden drama that turns their peaceful life upside-down, etc. But overall, unlike some other VNs it just didn't pull me in and wasn't engaging - I was reading it for the sake of getting to the character routes. So far I've read Makina's and probably most of Michiru's route, and this changed my opinion about the game a lot. I liked Makina in the common route and her route was as good as I expected - but not surprisingly amazing or anything. However Michiru, while she was kinda annoying in the common route ended up having a marvelous route so far, totally changed my opinion of her and the game. I hope the other routes are just as good.. though from this thread it seems like only Amane's is, and she is my least favorite character lol.

Well, I'll admit that I haven't found a perfect waifu for me yet, but they would probably have to have these qualities: Looks: Not a loli but has small breasts and cute face. Preferably fairly tall actually. Hair color doesn't matter, but it has to be short and messy. Medium-sized eyes, preferably blue or green. Tomboy-ish, and someone who generally doesn't care for their looks much. Personality: Mysterious. It should be hard to predict what this character would do in any situation, the way she thinks should be hard to understand. Could act aloof and always look at things from an unusual perspective, or could be very calculating and have everything planned several turns ahead. Should be an introvert, or at least not someone who can't shut up as that's really annoying. Has to like video games, anime and or VNs of course. Not too clingy, in fact I'd prefer someone slightly cold and indifferent. Should be serious most of the time; doesn't like joking or doing stupid, childish things. Something like that I guess

Rewrite: Explore the mysterious alleys of Kazamatsuri Sharin no Kuni: Help reintegrate 3 girls into society Katawa Shoujo: The feels are intense

Haha, I liked the cheesy "lone wolf" personality Yoshino has, and it's pretty hilarious how Kotarou always made fun of him for that I wish I knew when I started reading it there would be no way to complete all the quests in a single playthrough anyway. Would have just used the skip button on Mappie segments and then did it all afterwards following a walkthrough. Konohana.. that's what I always called her in my head when reading, I guess this is due to some cognitive dissonance that results from the Japanese VAs pronouncing "Lucia" as "Ruchia" Her killing off the entire city was a pretty crazy plot twist I didn't expect, though.. I figured something was off when she went to see Kotarou like nothing happened, but dayum I didn't expect those scientists to use her as an anti-key weapon... At least I'm pretty sure Lucia never forgave herself for doing it, while Akane seemed to have forgotten the fact she literally killed off most of the human population and lived happily ever after with Kotarou TBH I kinda wish Kotarou would actually go through with Salvation in Akane's route. I think it would feel more consistent with his behavior the rest of the route if he did that. He basically blindly followed Akane, so I was hoping for a scene where he finally finds her in the sky and they hug each other as everyone around them disappears off the face of the earth. Nice and depressing, just how I like it Haven't read Little Busters so I'm not sure what you were expecting from Terra, but actually I got pretty much what I expected. I thought it would basically be the same as the heroine routes, and Kotarou is given one last chance to save the earth. Didn't think it would begin from his childhood, but that was a pleasant surprise. Hah yeah no problem about the questions, Rewrite is pretty long so it's no wonder you don't remember some of the details. Heck, I probably missed or forgot something myself which is why I'm confused about those things xD

Just finished reading Rewrite. It was quite different from what I expected it to be at first, but not bad because of that. Common route had some pretty funny segments, especially Yoshino-related scenes. I love that guy Also really, really enjoyed the whole mystery with Kotarou going to the underground space, encountering familiars, and other supernatural events. There was just the right amount of these to spice up the generic slice of life scenes and keep my attention. November 13th event was also done pretty well, when everyone just disappears. Really makes you feel despair. The Mappie segments seemed cool at first and helped with immersion, but on the 5th playthrough it got pretty tiring to have to search every spot on the map with the cursor to make sure you don't miss friends/quests etc. Even doing that, it's almost impossible you will get all of them by the time you finish the game, as there are certain ones you have to do in a specific order or on a specific route. A lot of the hidden question marks were also outright boring and not funny to me :/ Still, getting all the quests was well worth it for the oppai ending. And damn, didn't expect Akane to actually hold up her end of the promise. That's why she is best girl My favorite heroine route would have to have been Konohana's. The writing style certainly confused me quite a bit, even though I was right in the end to suspect she was Asahi. The only part I didn't really like is closer to the end when Kotarou just couldn't figure out what she wanted, and Konohana was being a little bitch. Akane was my favorite heroine but her route just didn't impress me as much. Chihaya, though, while my least favorite girl, had a surprisingly refreshing shounen-esque route which I actually enjoyed. First part of the Moon route was great, but they kinda ruined it when the rest of the Occult Club gang showed up. Dunno, it just felt a bit too generic and predictable. And really, he was able to summon them and they understood what to do instantly without any explanation? Ah well. Ignoring that, the route was still pretty cool and I loved the atmosphere. Terra route delivered. I enjoyed learning more in-depth about Kotarou's childhood, and it explained really well how all the other routes happened. As far as I understand, when he got the choice to capture/kill/leave the Key alone, he chose the capture/kill option in every route before Terra, resulting in him getting hurt, Kotori saving him by putting Aurora in his wound, and then him spending several years in a coma and forgetting everything about Gaia and Guardian. By the time he would wake up, it was already too late to stop the fighting and save Earth. The one thing I didn't really like in Terra is the Earth Dragon.. fight? Dunno if you can call it that. He just one-shotted him.. I guess it makes sense, in every other route Kotarou tried to preserve his life force by not using Rewrite too much, which limited his abilities. In this route he just used it as much as needed without caring for himself, and this probably allowed him to easily get enough power to kill the Earth Dragon, but still, it felt a bit underwhelming. There are some things I didn't understand though.. Who was the girl in Akane's route that spoke to Kotarou through his mind right after Kotarou tried going to the roof of the Gaia HQ? What did she mean by "Choose me"? Also, in Akane route again, when they evacuated to the underground space, why did they have to stay there? Didn't Kotarou stop Salvation midway by killing the Key? If so, wouldn't they be able to come out of the shelter after a while, when things settled down? I don't understand why they decided to stay there for a thousand years. In Shizuru's route, they basically did the same thing except they actually came out of the shelter after Salvation happened and were able to live on the surface again.

My first one was Chaos;Head, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I could really relate to the protagonist lol.

For me it would have to be the mood/atmosphere. That's influenced by a lot of things I guess, most importantly BGM and the setting, but art and characters have an effect on it too. The only reason I started reading Rewrite is because I thought the idea of the afforested city overgrown with trees was great.. though I was a bit disappointed by how it actually looks in the CGs. My favorite VN is probably Everlasting Summer because it has absolutely the best atmosphere of any VN I've ever read (granted, I haven't read many ). It doesn't have too good of a story or characters but the atmosphere totally makes up for it.

Sorry I'm necro-ing this topic, but it doesn't seem that there's another thread for Sharin no Kuni.. Anyway, I finished it the first time today with Touka's ending and it was great. Really amazing story overall and I love the characters (even Houzuki :P). Had a few questions though.. what illness is Natsumi talking about in the beginning of the game? Also, I was wondering about the sci-fi novels Kenichi and the other characters in the game keep bringing up. Are they really sci-fi novels from our world or are they history textbooks? And are they about our world, as in, the reader's world, and not the in-game world? I mean, even Houzuki reads them apparently, and I'm not sure why some sci-fi novels would really be this important. Is there some deeper meaning behind them?