Sayaka

I guess I should have mentioned why I was interested in her in the first case which is that I find her attractive and we have a lot of common interests and feelings. I did say shooting for a year but for me that's quite a lot because I've not been in a relationship that has lasted that long. While I did say she's not my ideal I said that while not knowing what my ideal is even supposed to look like. But yeah I have been upfront about my doubts

I feel kinda bad for your girlfriend tbh, it sounds to me like you don't really want this at all. Is she aware of how you feel about this?

Confession: I've just finished writing a 5k words paper on VN fan translations, follow up to the conference I was posting about a few months ago. I still have to check it up once more and do some dumb paperwork before I can submit it, so I'll be done around 2 am and I'm already a day behind the deadline, hoping they don't care enough to reject it because of that.
So, kids, try to avoid mixing hobbies and work too much. I really love VNs, but I also kind of hate them right now... 

This is something I've posted on Reddit earlier, but I thought I might as well spread the awareness of Valve's BS here too. After a month of keeping the release build in review (SSS was made by Sunrider's developers, Love in Space and is published by Sekai), Valve said that it will not let the game on the platform (even though it seems to have a proper all-ages version and an adult patch, just like Maitetsu, released at the same time by the same publisher) until their new filtering tool, basically the way to make the waifu games invisible for those that are scared of them, are implemented. The problem is, they don't give even an approximate of when that might be. The tools might arrive next week, or next year and devs that put the work and marketing towards their releases this summer might get stuck in limbo for who-knows-how-long. I guess long, because the tools will most likely go live as beta feature and stay like that for a while before they're fully implemented. It seems that SolPress' Newrin is in the same situation, although that company didn't invest their last two year into this one project and can probably live with an indefinite delay.
All in all, Valve is a f***** shitty company as always, I at least hope they won't wait another year to implement those filtering tools and that they'll actually make them useful. Then they can go back to not caring what people what people upload on their storefront - that way they'll at least not actively screw over decent developers.

I'll just mention the chronology along with a short description. All of these works take place in the nasuverse, though they largely follow independent timelines.
1. Kara no Kyoukai - Gives a interesting background information about the nasuverse. Nasu's first VN Tsukihime is loosely based on this. This was originally a light novel series, later adapted into an anime movie series by ufotable.
2. The Visual Novel Series following the fate of Tohno Shiki -Tsukihime, Tsukihime+, and Kagetsu Tohya. Melty Blood was a game spin off that used charecters from Tsukihime.
3.The Visual Novel Series that follow the fate of Emiya Shirou - Fate/Stay Night (try to play the reality nua version for the avalon ending), Fate/hollow Ataraxia. The first two routes of the Fate visual Novel have been adapted into anime series while the third route(heaven's feel) is being turned into an anime movie series. This was based on the Light Novel Fate/Prototype which had a female protagonist, and saber (King Arthur ) was male.
4. The light novel Fate/Zero. THis was written after Fate/Stay Night but chronologically takes place before it. Interestingly this was not written by nasu. This LN was also adapted into an anime by ufotable.
5. The game series following Hakuno Kishinami and his servants include - Fate/extra, Fate Extra CCC, and Fate Extella.Fate Extra CCC is currently untranslated.
6.Mahoutsukai no Yoru is a VN released in 2012 following Aoko Aozaki and occur chronologically before Tsukihime. THis is currently untranslated.
7.Fate/Apocrypha, is a 5 book LN series set in a parallel world to the original Fate/stay night, where the Einzbern's summoned a Ruler rather than an Avenger in the Third Holy Grail War, it focuses on the conflict between two factions. (the red and black faction). It is being adapted into an anime and the LN is not yet fully translated.
8.Fate/Grand Order is the new android/ios rpg that adds a bunch of new servants and lore to the nasuverse. The players are the masters and you can collect servants which then undergo turn based battle. (not exactly pokemon, but the turn system is kinda like that.)
Several Short LN sides have been released such as Fate/Labyrinth (side for Fate/Apocrypha),  or Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, (Side to Fate/Zero)
Edit -  To answer your question, both Fate/Prototype and Fate/Apocrypha are LN's which deal with the third holy grail war, though different events mean that the very nature of the war is different.

Confession: Okay, so I managed to get my learner's permit yesterday with 40/48 questions answered correctly on the test. Holy yikes the test here in Florida was way harder than the one I took for Texas. I was only allowed to get up to 10 questions wrong, so I was getting a little shaky once I got to 6, and the other two I answered incorrectly out of sheer nervousness (at which point I started deep breathing exercises). I almost failed the vision test too, but only because there were a couple letters that were easy to mistake for others. Probably didn't help at all that I haven't had my glasses updated in a few years... Yeah, I guess it was something of a miracle that I even got my permit in the first place, lol. And don't worry, I will update my glasses soon!
In other news, I discovered a cool new way to boost my exercise by reintroducing caffeine back into my daily routine! I had given it up in the past when I was desperate to get my sleep under control because I was so used to drinking it in the afternoon and didn't like the idea of drinking it in the morning (I just didn't feel like it). But eventually the sleep deprivation I've been experiencing has hurt my ability to concentrate on studying due to lack of energy. After watching Doctor Mike's video on sleep, I got the idea to start drinking tea again to see if it could help at all, and it ended up helping me in ways I wasn't expecting it to! It was thanks to that extra energy I from that tea that my performance in both studying and even exercising has improved. It worked so well, in fact, that I went from running on the elliptical for 47 minutes at a moderate pace to 65 minutes at a slightly elevated pace. In fact, I wasn't even tired by the end of it either, so I think I'll try running that with a little more resistance tomorrow. Studying has also been a little more tolerable, though I'm still having issues concentrating for longer than 20 minutes.  Maybe I should take up meditation or something.

AAAAAAAH SHIT!!! WAIFU WAAAARSSSS!!!!$#

I agree with you regarding the dynamic between Reiji and Alice, it's really cute. I love that there's only one romanceable character, which I think had been a common complaint with the Kickstarter ("urgh, only one girl?"). It's refreshing to have one girl to focus on.
It's nice to hear you're finding Momoiro Closet readable despite other VNs being hard to read recently. I found it very readable myself, especially when low on concentration. It's lovely and fluffy and funny to read. The focus on Frill & Lace as Alice's obsession is cool; I have a thing for fictional fiction.
There are two routes.
Chuuni imouto is secret best girl.
 

so yeah, looked around the forums and saw that there was no official thread for this vn despite it being out for a while. wanted to talk a little about it so i made this. \  /
 
 
for a while now its been hard for me to read vns lately. im bad when it comes to reading vns as i stall them heavily but its been a lot worse lately. i think i know the cause and just gonna have to deal with that. momoiro closet is the first vn ive read in a while where i feel like i really want to continue reading.
 
for those who may not know, momoiro closet is about a young girl who is secretly an otaku. with a father whos in politics and is against the otaku culture and most of her schoolmates looking down on the hobby, she does her secret fangirling for a manga/anime series Frill & Lace. that is until our mc, reiji, learns of alice's secret. he asks that she hang out with his lonely sister who loves to cosplay as a character from the show. she agrees and alice grows closer to reijis family and of course reiji. also shes a massive nymphomaniac.
 
im nearly finished with the vn and ive really been enjoying it mostly for the dynamic between reiji and alice. i like their interactions with each other. they just go well together and just naturally start to develop feelings for each other. ive kept reading because i just wanted to see what new way their relationship would grow and havent been disappointed. 
 
for those who are curious, there is only one character you can romance with two routes. neither at this point seem to be bad routes. finished one route so far and am on the second. not sure if theres more but will keep you posted.
 

Rejoice Fuwa for I have returned and I bring glorious news to help bring about the BL Revolution 
Announced in the very early hours of this morning JAST is officially bringing to West -
 
DRAMAtical Murder 

Togainu no Chi

Lamento -BEYOND THE VOID-!

For those looking for discounts, there's a Reddit post trying to pinpoint all the JP VN ones, I'm making the list of best (discounted by 40% or more) EVN ones in the comments. Steam seems dead ATM, so I've stopped adding new ones temporally. ;p
And, when it goes back alive, I'm definitely grabbing Dies Irae (first time I see it actually discounted), Harmonia and a few small ones.

You do what
Oh never mind you meant Kiririri not Kiriririri
Everything is okay

I hope you give Dark Souls another try down the line too, hahaha. Bloodborne is simply an exquisite game. I hope you enjoy it. 
***
Feeling too pansy to continue SH2 tonight, I decided to spend some time with Prey and it was 3AM before I know it. Holy shit, it's even better than I expected, easily my favorite first person game of all time if this keeps up. More than five hours in, there are a measly 4 enemy types (2 of which were introduced in the last hour) and that's just about the only criticism I could have for this game, and even that is offset by just how many ways there are to take out those two types. Repeatedly throw a computer at them, shoot a pipe and burn them down, turn them into crafting materials with a grenade, the list goes on. It's magnificent. 

Teaching all the important parts of the Japanese culture

Thanks for the welcomes!
That's a tough question to answer. My favorite video game is Mass Effect 2 (ironically, since I generally prefer turn-based combat to real-time) and the other two main trilogy games are also pretty high up there. 80 Days is my personal favorite piece of interactive fiction (I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it's a VN, even if it does have its own VNDB page). My favorite VNs that I've read so far are Butterfly Soup and Digital: A Love Story. eden* is really good too. Other games I like include (in no particular order) Final Fantasy X; The Away Team; Chrono Trigger; Bastion; Papers, Please; Knights of the Old Republic; the Dragon Age series; To Be or Not to Be; Undertale; The World Ends With You; and Remember Me. I also have a soft spot for the writing in Fallen London, even though I don't quite have the patience to play it regularly... (I own Sunless Sea but haven't gotten to it yet. Story of my goddamn life.)

Kono soba? These buckwheat noodles?

Aww, poor Lesiak.
The nicest looking sites which come to mind are:
https://vnreviews.blog/ Conjeurer's Blog
https://tanoshimi.xyz/ Moogy and Co.
https://mimidoshima.wordpress.com/ Kastel
https://gareblogs.wordpress.com/ Garejei
https://omochikaeri.wordpress.com/ New releases by Micchi and Zen
I don't really follow VN blogs though, I just go look for reviews or vndb comments after finishing a VN.

YT hates you

I've been analysing the sexual content of VNs, what's become more common, what gets the best ratings, and what content tends to come together; and thought I'd present some of my results in a slightly different way: in a quiz! Using the extensive character database on vndb, I tracked which appearance and personality traits were more or less likely to engage in types of sexual activity, and put the results in a quiz format so you can enter the tropes and it'll tell you how the percentages diverge from the average.
This is a slightly silly way to present the results, but I thought you guys might enjoy it.
You can try the quiz here.

Gotta love the classic standards of "explicit violence is just fine, but depictions of our own unclothed bodies is sick and wrong"...

Confession: I'm not sure how to interpret any of the smileys we have, but I still use them a lot.

Yes

For a second I thought you meant porn involving books, instead of books containing porn. 

I can just imagine a GOG curator reading DDLC with a checklist:
Good ❌
Old ❌
Game ❌