Okarin

I agree with both. For me, I don't really get anything out of ¡5! new novels. I also have already read Koichoco, and the TL was good enough. As 'Shogun points out, these novels are looking similar to other ones in the market, maybe Nekonyan is running out of ideas. I'm more interested in their other ongoing projects. But these 5, they're like medium term, I think that only one or maybe two were advanced in their localisation. Anyway, it's to be expected, as the Western releases scape is mostly moege.

Magic the Gathering? That's based. When I played, more than 20 years ago, I liked to make powerful, trendy decks (in the middle of Combo Winter, that wasn't such a hot idea). But the prices in Standard and Extended soon spiked, and I decided to call it quits. I wish I was rich enough to play it, and play it seriously. So far, just a pipe dream for me.

Typically in each of the four seasons and even more. Sites like Denpasoft, MG and Jast also have fidelity points that you gain by buying content. You earn back a small amount.

You'd have to go to the VN circles themselves, which could be really sparse. I don't even think there's a proper Spanish VN group in Steam, which is why I'm in generic gaming groups and in Fuwa itself. But I checked several years ago, so I might be outdated. A good way would be contacting Spanish blogs dedicated to VNs, but I don't know how far they will reach. At least, if they get interested in your game, you can sell some copies. Take this blog from Latin America: https://thunder503.wordpress.com/ Other related media places, like anime fansubs, could also spread the word. But it mostly is a matter of word of mouth in the Net. Discord would be good, advertise it at every community you can, English or Spanish speaking.

Before there was anime or manga, there were videogames. Since in Europe, let alone Spain, we always get the smallest libraries of games... Japanese exclusives that stayed there were always coveted. They were regularly shown with a small commentary in the biggest videogames magazine of the early 90s (it still continues today). But those were things like JRPGs, not VNs. Until anime/manga was adopted, the VN/eroge industry seemed too alien, plus the language barrier for text-based games. When I talked about anime-based magazines of the late 90s, I meant that they dedicated articles to hot games of that era. But searching through scans, I've also found proof that these same mags promoted eroge of the time through mail distribution. Those tended to be outdated games with several years of age. I know I played Dragon Knight 3 in 1998. This even appeared in pricing lists in regular videogame mags. Done by the infamous Megatech in California, lol. Those oldie eroges probably sold horribly, unless the news got to some horny people with money to burn. Interestingly, the prices are similar to today's games on Steam. They were cheaper than regular videogames, much more than the old cartridge ones from 16-bit era (but these came in CDs). The games most probably stayed in Japanese, since I can't imagine any kind of localisation. They were the eroge of the time, but focusing on the sexual aspect and marketed with it in mind. Basically people would get some fap material along with a story in a foreign language. What is curious is that the sinopsis was localised, but VNDB also does that today. About games like Kanon, that most probably got commented in small circles around the year 2000, you really had to tackle them in Japanese, and as we know people really lacked understanding of it. If you wanted to read them in English, you'd have had to wait until mid-2000s or something, when you probably had already forgotten about them. I know that we never got Sakura Taisen (the first games), even when it was a regular console game. It's interesting that for the few people who knew some degree of Japanese, that were the people who spearheaded the anime and manga culture in Spain, some chain of distribution must have existed (it wasn't rare to get importation Japanese items, albeit at hefty prices. I once got a packet of Evangelion trading cards at my small place. Soundtrack CDs, albeit produced in Korea, I think, were also available). The internet in the late 90s was much more primitive but I believe importing eroge could be a thing. Otherwise, they couldn't say much about them. All of this applies to mainland Spain, in Latam things probably would be much more artesanal and fan-driven. There should have been some magazines or fanzines of their own there. Also it's important to keep in mind that wanting is not the same as doing. Some TL circles might want to be showered in popularity and recognition like every one of us do, but their methods are lacking. That means translating without a good grasp of the languages involved, or using the infamous MTL. I can totally see that being the case with some of these fan circles.

No, it translates everything. A couple of years ago, I'm thinking because it ran on previous-gen hardware, some words were not recognised. I still think this is the case, but the numbers have been reduced. So, it's not that the majority of it is not TLed, it's just some bits. Now, even names used in conversation would be TLed too, so "Sango" is "coral". The quality of MTL is getting sluggishly improved, but the problem is more about grammar, sarcasm, double entendres, nuances, etc. VNs tend to be full of innuendos (if not keigo), so it's hard for it to keep track.

Hi people! I'm back participating at Fuwa! Today, I'm gonna give you a rundown about this emerging language in the VN world, Spanish, and the place I'm in, the old metropolis. Spanish has been known lately for some translations we've had, sometimes before an English TL existed. Such is the case of Sakura no Uta, very coveted in English, that we Spanish readers could have and enjoy (I did). There's Sayonara wo Oshiete too, that later received an English one, but I didn't test it, and I remain unaware if it's indeed MTL; it is marked so at VNDB. There's no introducing VNs in Spain, and maybe Latin America, because they're already introduced, of sorts. At malls, you can sometimes find niche games, such as the idol game for Neptunia (PS Vita), or some obscure JRPG, but not normally VNs. I live in a small place so things might be different in bigger areas. Still, one of the best sources to procure VNs (for consoles) is Amazon. I've at least ordered Chaos;Child for PS4 from there. The order was like any other product. There were no issues procuring it, and there won't be, as long as it is in stock. But of course, Chaos;Child is a top-tier VN. What about some more obscure ones? I've run a quick search, and even a "kusoge" like Kotodama - the 7 mysteries of Fujisawa is still for sale for Switch, 3 years after launch, and indeed from first press. But just one copy. Here, it's far easier to find PS4 games of all sorts (including VNs) available long after their launch date. But not with Switch. Switch suffers from short production runs and low stock, leading to steep speculation after they're no longer available. The best known VN-likes in Spain would be things like Zero Escape, Ace Attorney, maybe Key games, and maybe sci-adv games. Outside of that, it would be classics like Higurashi and Nasuverse. I'd say that the people playing VN in consoles far outnumber the connoisseurs playing in PC, let alone full-blown eroge. But it all depends what circle of people you move in. After all's said and done, knowing English to an acceptable level is still rare in Spain (less with the newer generations, but still). This means the people who do well at it will have no hurdles getting into this sort of culture, whereas the ones who don't are barred from it. For example, when I was getting into anime and Japanese media, back at the end of the 90s, the medium used for sharing info wasn't the internet, but specialised magazines. Some people from Barcelona would dedicate a section of the 'zine to the latest trends in Japan, including VNs, of course. I think they talked about things like To Heart, and I kinda recall Kanon, too (the timeline matches, it being like 1999). Sadly I don't still have the 'zines with me. This example illustrates how a small group of people from the big city can follow Japanese trends no problem. But they're a different generation and all, and they were mostly focused in anime and manga, so it would be hard for them to cater to the VN world now. One example of a person that I know who talks about VNs (non-eroge) at every opportunity they get is the Youtuber "Puerta al sótano", which means "Doorway to the basement". In the video that follows, he talks about Robotics;Notes, no clue if he even got to finish it, but he will try VNs sometimes in his channel: https://youtu.be/--U8SuS4xBo Like me, he's a big fan of Steins;Gate. Even in an established site for all sort of videogame translations, like "Clan DLAN", the majority of users haven't played a single VN. We'll notice the trend that people from South America are far more accustomed to the medium than people from Spain itself. Also, the forum houses some fan TL projects, all from South America, I haven't seen any from Spain: http://www.clandlan.net/foros/ And yes, I have to say I don't know any fan TLers from Spain, but that fact is also in the process of changing. Spain has an established scene for anime subs, and some of them, among others, are trying to get into VNs and eroges. An example would be this: https://ko-fi.com/pescaderiasviral?fbclid=IwAR1x0EVitd9xZk4pdla0JoWGBS9FzGe1a8jbWb_z7L09y5z1jyUz7HimI2E Good people who are trying to get Himanatsu into Spanish, and if they manage to keep around, hopefully some others. As an example of a fansub doing eroge TLs, we have this one which I just looked up. They did indie things like Sepia Tears or Sweetest Monster, but I read those in English: https://vndb.org/p7762 There's also this group from Latam, who probably translate from English into Spanish, but when it comes to Japanese they tend to tap into MTL. They were doing Tokyo Necro (also MTL as per VNDB) before JAST announced it this summer. I think I'll be reading it in English. https://vndb.org/p6908 To boost VN popularity in Spanish-speaking countries, Spanish localisation would be much needed. People from South America tend to know English better than people in Spain, but that varies. Japanese is too much to ask outside of true Japan devotees. It's pretty hard to learn Japanese in Spain, since there's no exposition to it at all outside of Japanese media itself. And in Latam, it would be the same: people would only learn Japanese out of an inclination towards Japanese pop culture, probably aided by the media itself. So, the majority of the untapped Spanish sphere are EOPs, with a rise of the SOP titles. JOPs are too scarce and would be already dedicated to TL itself.

Self-insert reasons; but high-budget, serious VNs like Steins;Gate have fully-fleshed, voiced protagonists (Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child too).

Oh, that's easy! Hoshimemo is a really nice moege, top-tier. All the hate probably stems from: 1. People reading it after hundreds of moege, and thus getting tired; and 2. The first impressions found about it on the internet were either troll or uninformed. See how that guy, solidbatman, bashed Little Busters and so on, but Little Busters is really fine, if you consider the majority of VNs. Like you can bash Key as much as you want, but if you're a Key fan, criticising it for its peculiar humour and gimmicks is out of the question. If you're a fan, you have to like that or at least tolerate it. If not, of course you're gonna bash the thing! Then again there are genres suited and unsuited for each person, but hey, I won't rate a game shit if I acknowledge it's not my thing... unless it's moege, because that well is very dry by now. I rate moege that bring nothing new to the table as solid 5/10s, because you can read them and enjoy them but are ultimately insubstantial. The question is... shouldn't you read something more worthy of your time, instead...?

Why would you be interested in worst VN? I don't like to play bad games, so unless it's to keep away from them, I'm not finding much use to this discussion. That said, everyone should use VNDB to see if a VN suits them, and if you don't, just ask for recommendations!

I think that Noble Works is completely average and ordinary as a moege. It's also the Yuzusoft game I've least enjoyed. I played Sanoba Witch nearly to 100%, the majority of Dracu-riot, and was getting started with Amairo Islenauts -which looks like the most enjoyable, probably. But this? I could barely play two routes straight. So, Noble Works is a solid 5/10 work, I guess? Maybe even 4/10.

Well, I think that the origin of multiple routes was offering a girl archetype for different people... so as to cover more bases, and make the game sell better. For example, if at one point tsunderes are popular, put a tsundere character in there, but also put some more experimental character, and so on. Who really knows the inscrutable ways of moe? There are also completionists like me, who only consider a game done when I've finished all routes. If not I consider it "dropped" and it possibly tired me. People like that get the most of their games, playing them to the fullest. But this is not guaranteed, and there's a type of player who tends to do only one or a couple of routes, so they have to cover more bases. I WILL NOT get interested in a game that's the umpteenth attempt at generic moege, with meh art (in my eyes) and probably the old trite sex. For example, My Fair Princess, or Amatarasu Riddle Star. Sorry to all the people who love it, but this kind of game is a no-go in my book. I will have a lot more joy with some other type of game. The companies know this, and proceed accordingly depending on their target audience.

- Who cares about niche? What about roguelike RPGs? Aren't those niche too? If you really need validation to play something, just keep on with your Call of Duty. - That's not true. It's true that if you turn your story into a romance moege with 4-5 heroines and spicy sex scenes, you'll be more successful (since that's what we have come to expect). But you can do great stories with all-ages. Check out Shinimasu for example. - Yeah, fan TLs have it hard, but it's not all hardship; you can attract the attention of some publisher and get hired. And still, you do it because you want; not because of anything else. - I bet localisation companies proceed with their business without minding those things much. Not all fans are unhappy. Deadlines... well... what about regular videogames, don't those have delays too? - Yes, poor payment. Still, as with anything, there will always be people willing to do it. I wish that they were paid better. But to achieve that, the industry must improve. - Dunno, Ebi-hime seems to be doing alright, and there are some fans who consume EVNs regularly. - EOPs have a lot of games at their disposal now. I follow all localisation companies and I haven't got the time to play it all. There are some games I wouldn't play anyway but if you really like VNs chances are there are more TLed games out there than you can chew. - JOPs... again with validation. If you're happy with it, why do you need it to be popular? Some people do it precisely because it's obscure. If everyone was doing it, well... might as well do sports or something!

https://vndb.org/c4656 https://vndb.org/c26309 (These are more than your regular cuties.) https://vndb.org/c73711 (This is more like your regular cutie.)

Because people like the games themselves, not the medium in itself?? It offers some things very close to anime, but with eroge, you get more explicit scenes than in regular anime.