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kivandopulus

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  1. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from rax for a blog entry, Saihate no Ima 最果てのイマ [Xuse]   
    Foreword: The reviews we have are pretty vague (1 2 3 4 5 6 7), so the impression of a very difficult work is created. I'm going to put all the dots so that there was not fear to read it.
    VNDB: https://vndb.org/v1278
    Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyO6B82c_GE&list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv9G-VbjOXlAvQZqm-u8F497

    Synopsis: This game tells the story of seven long-time friends. How they grew closer or further apart as they got older. The story is presented using a blog-like interface.
    The protagonist, Atemiya Shinobu, who was raised at a certain facility since young, had no one around him that could be called "friend". Being that way, the first thing he started doing after leaving the facility with his sister - Chidori - was to find and make friends.
    Benio Azusa, a tomboyish girl who lived nearby.
    Hondou Sayaka, a quiet yet sharp-tongued girl who was in charge of raising the pets at school just like him.
    Tsukamoto Youko and Itsuki, a pair of siblings who belong to a prestigious family around the area.
    Higuchi Shouji, a boy he knew by being attracted to by the similarities they both share.
    Izuki Fueko, a girl he met by chance.
    Together with Shinobu, they were a group of seven. Just like that, each and every one of them, who had never experienced the joy of having friends, was able to meet each other and become companions. The story begins in a quiet town colored by dusk. Around the seven friends, there were understanding, empathy, conflict, and what's more, fleeting love of adolescence. It was a friendship that could last forever.
    Such a simple happiness should have... lasted forever.
    That was until the "enemy" appeared.
    The "enemy" had disturbed the peaceful relationship of the seven people.
    Shinobu could not forgive that. He could not forgive the one that injures his companions, nor could he forgive the one that hurts another one's hearts. And when he realized all that, the world they reside in changed, rather then becoming the new world that it should have... they had arrived at the "sanctuary" instead.
    This is a story that describes the heart.
    A story that describes the thing located in the farthest end of a heart.

    Game type: Mindscrew circle of friends story
    Character Design rating: 10/10
    Protagonist rating: 10/10
    Story rating: 10/10
    Game quality: 10/10
    Overall rating: 10/10
    I just can't understand how it's possible to give any other score than 10 if game is played to the end. It's the third philosophical visual novel in history after Kusarihime ~Euthanasia~ and Cross†Channel, and it's just a great human story with the magic of Cross†Channel still present, and even on a higher level since childish pranks don't interrupt serious talk this time. But enough vague words.

    The structure of Saihate no Ima is very simple. There are four girls in the circle of friends - Azusa, Sayaka, Fueko, Youko - and there is a route for each this heroine told in a forced order. In the last Youko route we see a mysterious gothic loli girl Ima who says that Shinobu is not ready yet. And then all the four girl routes repeat again, but with more explanation and depth to the stories as well as the Shinobu mystery. In videos I call this second lap of routes as True heroine routes. After the end of True Youko route there's the True Shinobu route as I call it. It's something absolutely different from the rest of heroines routes. Basically, there are no four main heroines in there, but instead there is a whole new cast of characters. So, there are only nine structural parts in the game. Moreover, True routes generally include all or almost all the scenes from the Normal heroine routes, so I'd advise to skip Normal heroine routes overall and start with True heroine routes if you follow the video. That saves you from the bulk of repetition and allows to have a fresh view. There are actually some scenes in the Normal routes that don't present in True routes. For example, there is a step sister Chidori H scene in Fueko Normal route that does not present in Fueko True route. But it has little influence on the story, so I'd still stronly advise to skip Normal heroine routes or at least watch them after all the heroine routes and Shinobu True routes are finished.

    Again, the story is simple. Just mind it that heroine routes are not entirely romantic ones as different killer stories often in the core of the routes. Heroines are fleshed out so well that I absolutely adore  all four of them. Azusa has a perfect buid-up for her story. Sayaka the sulky ojousama really starts to shine in her route. Fueko has that beautiful a-ha effect upon taking down glasses. Youko is actually my favorite character for her sharp tongue and absolutely enthralling voicing that I can't ever have enough of. All the more difficult parts of this visual novel actually refer to retelling the concepts of modern world philosophy related to the core of the game, namely, the phenomenology of Husserl and Global village concept of McLuhan. Basically, all the spoilers of the True Shinobu route are given in the synopsis. This is a story of the heart, and the main mystery is the identity of the "enemy". Pretty much anything else would be in the spoiler zone already, so I hope you see everything with your own eyes.

    Basically, Saihate no Ima is an eternal ultimate masterpiece that shares the Olympus of intellectual visual novels alongside Kusarihime ~Euthanasia~ and Cross†Channel. Saihate no Ima deserves dissertations written on it just like George Henry Shaft's 160000-word dissection on Cross Channel. From these dissertations we'd be able to discuss the message of the game, follow all the hints and compare all the additional scenes in Normal and True routes as well as clicked links versions compared to non-clicked versions (since there are couple scenes available only when no links are clicked, actually). But unlike Cross†Channel the other two games are not translated, so we'll see none of those, to my great regret. Let's keep fingers crossed, with Kickstarter miracles are possible like the one with Dies Irae.

  2. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Emi for a blog entry, VN of the Month February 2023   
    One normal title per month is all we deserve these days   1. Red List Girls. [230223] 7th;MINT 1 The world has changed dramatically since the war. Humanity, once the supreme power on earth, was swallowed up by the power of the weapons it had created. As a result, the number of human beings has been greatly reduced. Scientific development ceased, but humans continued to kill animals.  However, there were a few humans who were concerned about the danger to animals. They created organization "Agape", the Organization for the Assistance and Protection of Endangered Animals. Organization started to transform the strongest of animals into the same form as Human.                             Girls who are a cross between animals and people. This is the story of the battle waged by animal girls with weapons in their hands to protect their endangered brethren. Partial release   2. FLIP * FLOP ~RAMBLING OVERRUN~  [230224] DiGination Ran Tsukigaoka is a genius girl, but no one truly understands her - even herself. She knows who she is, but she never experienced love. I admit skipping the sequel, but it was vanilla nukige with an AI girl - a super boring service game. This time heroine is a genius creator of AI, so it's at least more or less natural, though still a totally fetish little game.    3. SACRIFICE VILLAINS  [230224] CLOCKUP CRIME has reigned supreme in SCUM CITY since the day the SUPERVILLAINS showed up— However, at the heart of this evil nest lies a sanctuary known as JUSTOPIAN WARD. As a deterrent to the evildoers, the SUPERHEROES constructed this self-sufficient stronghold, which thrives despite the surrounding CHAOS. JUSTOPIA, the ultimate hero and bane of countless villains, is its FOUNDER, MAYOR, and CHAMPION. Justopia also founded the HERO SOCIETY and serves as its chairman, giving orders to the other heroes as they fight crime and bring peace to the city and the world. Yet, the crafty VILLAINS are growing stronger, and the HEROES are struggling to keep up... some of them have even betrayed the cause by swearing allegiance to the dark side in the most heinous way! If not the ASYLUM, to whom should Justopia seek assistance? This facility reforms criminals, and who could be more qualified to lead it than YOU? Capturing and reforming S-level villains must be done rapidly and efficiently. It's in your hands to rehabilitate these scumbags and put their power to use for JUSTICE again! Tried to find at least some gameplay elements in it, and no, it's just a pure nukige, and I would not include it unless it got translation at some point.   4. Sakura no Toki -Sakura no Mori no Shita o Ayumu- サクラノ刻-櫻の森の下を歩む- [230224] Makura 1 Even disappear into the inexhaustible world. Still, the sounds overlap and resonate. The time flows – one day, it will become poetry. A two story about geniuses, geniuses and mediocrities. Weak God and strong God. A story beyond happiness. That is the second act of the cherry blossom story. A genius chosen by God, a genius abandoned by God, and a mediocre man who resists God. What is the charism that dwells in beauty? Why is the fruit given only to the chosen one? "Where did we come from, who are we, where are we going?" A world united by the light of causal exchange. Can artists answer that question through beauty? A story told around Kusanagi Naoya after "Sakura no Uta". From that slope, Naoya and Ai went down while looking at the city of Yumihari. There were many untold stories leading up to it. About two geniuses. The true story of Natsume Kei and Kusanagi Naoya. Why do they continue to fascinate people even after Natsume Kei's death or when they break their brushes? A true painter, Misakura Rin, who is the embodiment of beauty itself. Why does she want to go beyond where they stopped? What about Hikawa Rina? What about Kawachino Yuumi? What about Toritani Makoto? And Natsume Ai? All human thoughts intersect. There is at least one English review already.
  3. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month June 1994 - Necronomicon   
    There are no masterpieces this month, but story-wise Necronomicon is the closest thing to a masterpiece.
    1. Libido 7 [940601] Libido 1 2 3 The main character of this game is a young girl Naru. She's trained in sisterly love by her sister. Game consists of short episodes about Naru and her friends. I'm very glad there's an English review since I was sure those are just random extreme H scenes with nameless heroines. Anyway, there's an absolute 0 of the story - just pick one of dozen stories and click through the end. It's the first game I could not make a video of since it'd be just a censored screen all the time. And since there's no story it's utterly useless to hook it and try to see opening scenes because there are none - just select the story and click. I tried several versions of it, but nothing really changed - there was no introduction. Absolutely soulless depiction of H scenes without character sprites or normal CG - just a trail of HCG. The impact of the work was tremendous due to cute heroines in fashionable dresses and extreme context. Who would have thought that such work would see the light of the day just a year and a half after introduction of censorship. I hoped to have video footage of every visual novel found up to 2000's, but have to admit now that soulless nukige take origin as early as the year 1994.  
    2. Private Slave プライベートスレイブ [940603] Raccoon (old) Hero is fond of crying women, but he can not reveal his secret to his cheerful girlfriend and thus seeks realization of his dreams with other women. It is a SM eroge, but without much emphasis on illustrations. Instead it tries to delve in psychology. A very unusual game in this regard. There are multiple branches despite the command selection format.  
    3. Ikenie ~Kyouraku no Shinden~ いけにえ ~享楽の神殿~ [940611] Cat's Pro. 1 This short game has a rather cryptic plot. The identity of the hero is unclear: we know only that he is a young male, most probably living in our time. One day he is resting after having had sex with a girl, and is mysteriously transported into a strange temple. Without knowing what this temple is, and only presuming it must be built by the Aztecs of Yucatan, the hero must find a way out of it, and back home. Weird maze full of spontaneous H events.  
    4. Trigger トリガー [940617] ZyX 1 Trigger consists of three unrelated stories, all of which heavily focus on explicit sexual content. The first story depicts violent and monster-related sexual encounters of a young woman. In the second one, a female detective attempts to investigate the murder of her father and gets captured by the criminals. The third story deals with a raid of mechanized pirates on a spaceship controlled by two young girls. The main difference of Trigger from other animated old visual novels is that it contains extreme scenes like tentacles and SM. There is some voice support as well.  
    5. Adirate あでぃらーと [940622] Manbou Goya

    Game consists of four short stories.
    1. Girl undergoes trials to enter the limited membership club
    2. Girl gets stuck, and there's the need to help her out
    3. Two young people with amnesia try to escape a mysterious hospital
    4. Kindergarten age girl gets caught and accused of witchcraft. Shories are very short and with a definite H-tilt. Scenario and approach is quite unique. For Windows 3.1 era it was really a breakthrough.  
    6. Ami - Kaze Tachinu 亜美 ~風立ちぬ~ [940624] Fairy Dust Ami-chan is a heroine from "Cream Lemon". Your job is to make an idol of her. Raising sim - typical, monotonous. Ami is cute and that's supposed to be the selling point of the game. Need to be a real fan of her and Cream Lemon...  
    7. Necronomicon ネクロノミコン [940624] FAIRYTALE HARDCOVER 1 2 3 Necronomicon is - as the title strongly implies - based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. The story is set in Lovecraft's fictional city Arkham somewhere in New England. It is said that a terrible ritual has taken place there, involving a woman giving birth to a demonic child. A journalist named Jonathan heads to Arkham to find out more about the dreadful rumors, and to explore the ruins of an ancient monastery. In the town, Jonathan meets other characters with their own agendas. Terrifying nightmares, like visions from the past, haunt Jonathan. Will he be able to preserve his sanity and solve the mystery? There are some impressions, but no good English review found so far. Game system is highlighted point and click inherited from Dead of the Brain 2. But scenario is one way road with no parts to get game over. First parts can seem monotonous as you just click on everything while gathering clues, but at some point story starts to develop heavily and grabs you till the end. There is like one H scene and with not a particularly cute girl. There are two endings... bad one and absolutely depressive one. So I like point and click mechanics, but to enjoy the game you should be prepared that it's a depressive Lovecraft experience ahead.  
    8. Paradise Arena ごくらくアリーナ [940624] Chime 1 A man named Shinichi encounters a mysterious young girl who tells him that she and her friends developed new technology that allows unprecedented immersion in virtual worlds. Shinichi is then chosen to be the test subject of the new virtual reality device, participating in adventures where his sexual powers are tested above all. Virtual reality situations are very exotic. The feature of the game is timer that starts with 100 and cuts the play once it reaches 0. Depending on the number acquired in each story the ending may change.  
    9. Venus ヴィーナス [940629] Software House Parsley 1 2 Venus is a fairly simple dating simulation game. The player controls a man named Saeki who gets acquainted with four young women, three Japanese and one Western. Each girl has her own preferences as well as parameters that describe her feelings towards the protagonist. The goal is to raise these parameters (and ultimately the girls' "love level") by repeatedly going on dates. From time to time the player is required to make choices that would influence subsequent dating. There is an internal clock that is advanced every time the player character goes on a date. Successful dating results in explicit erotic scenes. There is one impression in English, but game is really very simple. I would not be really surprised if it was made just in one month to bathe in the popularity of Tokimeki Memorial.  
    10. Cutie Cop ~Nusumareta File no Nazo~ キューティーCOP ~盗まれたファイルの謎~ [940630] Ice Soft 1 2 Cuty Cop is a game modeled after a Japanese TV show quiz, but with a background story: valuable papers have been stolen from the police department, and the only clue is a perfume smell, which most probably indicates a female TV star. The protagonist, a young female cop, has to participate in a quiz and give correct answers to questions related to Japanese TV shows. I'm not good with quizzes to say what lies ahead after all the rounds.  
    11. Nonomura Byouin no Hitobito 野々村病院の人々 [940630] Silky's 1 2 3 Cuty Cop is a game modeled after a Japanese TV show quiz, but with a background story: valuable papers have been stolen from the police department, and the only clue is a perfume smell, which most probably indicates a female TV star. The protagonist, a young female cop, has to participate in a quiz and give correct answers to questions related to Japanese TV shows. Each round has four questions, and if the player has chosen more than two wrong answers, it's game over. "Defeating" an opponent in a quiz leads to the next round against the next opponent. There are English reviews.  
  4. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the month May 1994 - Tokimeki Memorial   
    Tokimeki Memorial is the only masterpiece of the month.
    1. Circle Mate サークルメイト [940513] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon Hide is a member of the Club where members that enjoyed sexual pleasures were gathering. One day he gets to know that another club member Yuko is killed by the train and another club member Asako stops going to school because of that. A hired detective suspects Hide in this crime, so Hide starts his own investigation. This is an utsuge game full of depression and H scenes. The atmosphere resembles Crazy Fruit from 1992 the most. The mystery is quite shocking upon unwinding. This work has a lot of dark charm and is much less hardcore than contemporary utsuge, so should not be overlooked if you search for a good mystery story.  
    2. Twilight トワイライト [940514] Studio Twinkle 1 In "Twilight", the protagonist, who works for a mysterious magic-using organization, is set to Transylvania, to investigate the murder of a nun known as Sister Christa. A woman named Karen, who also specializes in black arts, goes to the monastery with the hero, but obviously has her own agenda. The goal is to find out the truth by questioning the suspects, keeping an eye on one's own safety... In the beginning of the game, the player can choose any of the six possible scenarios, each dedicated to a different suspect (all female). They all take place in the same monastery, but dialogues, events, etc., are completely different. The interaction in "Twilight" is confined to periodical decision-making; many of the decisions are "wrong", leading to the hero's death or otherwise premature ending. Atmosphere is created by live-photo images and monotone colors. It's a short one, possible to finish 6 stories in one hour. Drawing and character design are mediocre at best.  
    3. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 12 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第12話 [940520] Silence 1 In this episode Lime, Bass and Kokona depart to the magical world for the final confrontation against two powerful demons and their horrifying fusion known as the Hellraiser. The final episode the includes a serious battle and that also gives an epilogue for the whole series.  
    4. Super Ultra Mucchin Puripuri Cyborg - Marilyn DX スーパーウルトラむっちんぷりぷりサイボーグ マリリンDX [940525] JAST 1 2 Kenji was just a regular teenage boy who had a normal life, which included a girlfriend. However, everything changes when one day he comes home and discovers that his insane father has created a female cyborg. His previous attempts failed because he used an artificial brain; this time, to avoid this mistake, he takes out his son's brain and puts it into the cyborg. Poor Kenji gains a second life - as a beautiful artificial woman, whose task is to oppose a dubious world government organization. A bakage with RPG elements. RPG elements presented by physical strength and tactical fighting with enemies. Basically, the game has no plot apart of going somewhere with the aim to return initial body. Point and click system is used. So a weird work with a weird title it is.  
    5. Tokimeki Memorial ときめきメモリアル [940527] Konami 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 You are a young boy who is going to study three years at the Kirameki High School in Japan. Your goal is to win the affection of one (and possibly more) of the twelve beautiful girls who also study with you, especially of Shiori, with whom you were in love some years ago. This is a simulation game with a high-developed statistics system. You have to increase your statistics in different disciplines, depending on the girl you are interested in. You communicate with people via your telephone, and date girls by going with them to various places. You have to keep your promises, otherwise a girl will become angry and even tell bad things about you to other girls, which will spoil your reputation. There are tonns of English reviews on this game, so I'll only notice that it's the first classic dating sim and one of the first full voiced VNs. Its influence on following dating sims and galge was immense.  
    6. Holidays In The Sun なつやすみがまちどおしい [941] Bolze 1 You play as a girl who has made it her goal to have sex over the summer holiday. She can accomplish this by either being passive or active at various points in the story. There is an English review.  
    7. Liqueur りきゅ~る [94] Atelier Oz Hero comes to a town in search of adventures and gets to help different girls to get out of difficult situations. Ero-centered doujin game.  
    8. Morina もりな [94] Active Gamers Morina is a lively school girl. She has another busy day as usual when she reaches a mysterious world. Only pc-88 version is free and available to get and I hardly understood anything out of it.  
    9. Raika 蕾花 [94] Ringerbell A stripping card game with five girls as possible opponents and reward after each three games won. PC-98 version is a card game without visual novel mixes, but Win version might be different. H event is point-and-click with an additional reward of 2-screen CG for getting within time limit.  
    10. S.A. 2 S.A. 2 [94] A-Inn A collection of two short erotic stories.
    Scenario 1 is about main character's childhood friend being insulted in front of him. Protagonist tries to step in, but is coerced to have sex with childhood friend himself.
    Scenario 2 is about main character dating a quiet girl. But this girl has a dark secret - she is forced into a bad group where she gets into intimate relations with strangers. One of the well-known doujin series notorious for its graphic.  
    11. Wanderers [94] Crystal Soft 1 You're an adventurer and your best friend is that girl on the cover. So, what do you want in your adventure? Treasure and excitement! What does your best friend want? Lesbian elf sex! And so, both of you go off on a quest filled with magic, mystery, wonder, and elf boobs. There is an actual plot in there somewhere about ancient ruins, but it gets ignored for the most part in favor of more lesbian elf sex. There is an English review.
  5. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month April 1994 - AmbivalenZ -Niritsu Haihan-   
    Urusei Yatsura: Dear My Friends and AmbivalenZ -Niritsu Haihan- are the masterpieces of the month, but the VN of the month is AmbivalenZ -Niritsu Haihan- since it's original work and not just anime spin-off.
    1. Injuu Genmu 2 ~Brain Burst 淫獣幻夢2 ~BRAIN BURST [940401] Ringerbell 1 There is no real story in Injū Genmu II: Brain Burst!!; the setting is a certain magical land where three young, pretty, female magical creatures hold a contest. Innocent young girls will test the knowledge of the participant, and should he win, he will be treated to... a blood-chilling spectacle of said girl being raped by a tentacle monster. Just a H quiz game with tentacles.  
    2. Turn Over [940407] Tear Drop You've been accepted as a teacher to Seitoku Girls' High School. Did not find a single Japanese and did not bother to get through this beaten setting and mix of command selection and point-and-click systems to see if it was going somewhere.  
    3. Cherry Bomb: Chou-ojou-sama Sayaka-chan Nanpa Daisakusen チェリーボム 超お嬢さま沙也香ちゃんナンパ大作戦 [940407] Peppermint Kids
    Young girl Sayaka has transfers to main character's class. She is the only daughter of a powerful corporation and a returnee from France. Protagonist tries to conquer her heart, but is stopped all the time by the girl bodyguards. At such time he finds a mysterious gem. When he touches it, a voice is heard from nowhere... Game has adventure part and action xonix part which is really difficult for there is time limit. There are a lot of battles with the bodyguards.  
    4. Kekkou Kamen ~Oshioki Paradise no Maki~ けっこう仮面 ~おしおきパラダイスの巻~ [940408] Dynamic Production 1 2 When a Japanese game's title includes a word that can be understood as "corporal punishment" (shioki), it's not hard to guess the theme of the "story". Basically, the player is cast as one of Satan's minions, who also happens to be the new "punishment teacher" in the Sparta High School. As the protagonist arrives at the school, he quickly attends to his "duties". However, the sadist's efforts are thwarted by a mysterious, masked, completely naked woman. The player's job is to make sure this won't happen again - which means defeating the super-heroine, and continuing to torture young girls... There is an English review.  
    5. Zhuang Yang Jia Yao 壮陽佳肴 [940408] Studio Milk Hero is a narcissistic god on a training. While strengthening his spirit he has kept abstinence for 500 years and now he finally descends to the lower world. Chinese style bakage with mythological at and the same time vulgar atmosphere. Hero fights youkai, but it's the women that's his aim. Command selection formula and long H scenes make it especially painful. Special atmosphere leaves quite an impact and is memorable long after playing.  
    6. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 11 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第11話 [940411] Silence 1 In this episode the heroes meet a manager who arranges for them to attend a pop concert held by the local idol. Chaos ensues as a BEM appears on the stage, attracting the attention of journalists and the crowd. Last fooling around episode dealing with hidden camera and idols.  
    7. Arabesque! ~Shoujo-tachi no Orinasu Ai no Monogatari~ アラベスク ~少女たちの織りなす愛の物語~ [940413] Fairytale 1 The story of Arabesque begins in a mysterious way, when a young girl named Alice is approached by a man who calls himself "K". The two share a bizarre sexual experience, which Alice finds herself unable to forget afterwards. From now on, she is determined to find the mysterious K. She works in a mansion, serving another mysterious figure, a masked "Master", hoping to find clues concerning K's whereabouts by talking to the maids and learning about their own experiences. Museum type work in a western mansion, but contents in unsatisfactory. The whole premise sounds really stupid to me - come to mansion to do who knows what waiting for some K who does not seem to come. It's reported to have quite a number of fetishes and quite short volume, but I got bored with long absurdist talks already.  
    8. Concert コンサート [940415] AyPio You become the leader of a rock band of five girls. Will you make a name for yourself? Top down classmates style view without concept of time. The top down view makes the game more memorable, but gameplay is too boring and kind of difficult to try and see the end.  
    9. Urusei Yatsura: Dear My Friends うる星やつら~ディア マイ フレンズ [940415] Game Arts 1 2 3 4 5 6 It is the story of Ataru, a high school lecher who loves nothing more than to try his luck with every pretty girl he meets. Although he is generally good-hearted, he does a good job of hiding that fact. One day, Earth is beset by alien invaders who will conquer the planet, unless a chosen representative is able to beat an alien representative in their national game: Tag. Incomprehensibly, Ataru is chosen for the task. His opponent is Lum, gorgeous daughter of the invaders' leader. Shinobu, Ataru's long-suffering girlfriend, tells him that she could never marry a loser, and that he had better win the game of Tag if he wants to marry her. Ataru is filled with new hope, and against all odds, he manages to tag the flying Lum. Ataru is overjoyed that he can now marry Shinobu, but Lum mistakes his victory cry as a marriage proposal. She immediately accepts, and then the two are inseparable - not that Ataru likes it that way. Lum's unconditional love poses no challenge, and Ataru misses the thrill of the chase. Unfortunately, Lum dishes out a massive electric shock every time Ataru so much as breathes in the direction of another girl, so he's stuck! There are lots of English reviews.  
    10. Gakuen Senki ~Kyoufu no Puppet Keikaku~ 学園戦記 ~恐怖のパペット計画~ [940415] Foresight

    In late 23rd century was marked by a terrible disaster - the Third World War. Years have passed since the countries affected by it started slowly rebuilding. A league of nations was formed, consisting of "companions" from different countries. Suzuki, the representative of Japan, was also the founder of the most prestigious school of the new era - St. Innocence Girls High School. The graduates were invited to a grand opening held by a company that was successful in manufacturing giant robots. But terrorists of an unknown origin assaulted the place, killing most of the people. All the clues lead to St. Innocence school. Suzuki sends an agent (codename "Osamu") to infiltrate the school and find out what is happening. It's basically an RPG, so nothing to discuss.  
    11. Gao Gao! 2nd ~Pandora no Mori~ GAOGAO!2nd ~パンドラの森~ [940416] Four-Nine 1 2 3 A biological experiment that began in 1993 led to a terrible disaster in the beginning of 21st century. A virus that turned living beings into mutants and monsters has been unleashed. Soon the Earth turned into a terrifying place of chaos, as more and more human beings became infected. Unspeakable violence obliterated human civilization. Within a few years, humanity was on the verge of total annihilation. The Era of Darkness began. But not all hope was lost. Humans began building cities known as "Domes", isolated from the wilderness, protected by glass from all sides, cut from natural resources. It was possible to start building civilization anew. On one fateful day, the famous scientist couple Mizuhara were killed in what looked like an accident. Their project, which showed new ways of fighting the virus, descended into the grave with them. Their two children were separated and for a long time were unaware of their origins. But the wheels of destiny keep spinning, as the young Mizuhara is about to discover the truth about his parents, and perhaps bring new hope to humanity... I've prepared a full review.  
    12. Dare mo Shiranai... Ushinawareta Kioku no Tobira 誰も知らない・・・ 失われた記憶の扉 [940418] Xyz A woman is running through the night forest. She seems to be pursued by someone. Man sees a strange dream that she is terrified of an attack from behind. A disaster suddenly falls on the man and his lover. And the key word is "Misty Blue". Suspense horror novel. There are lots of branches in here but roughly they can be divided on two stories, of man and of woman. So difficulty is due to a big number of branches full of bad ends. Well, game is horrible, as for me. Protagonist is a woman so thoughts are very inconsistent. And it's not written who is talking so it makes less and less sense in the dialogues. Constant sudden twists of plot leave logic off the board. And the story is not that interesting - just about brother working on a secret project and of the flowers that have special power against the occult powers.  
    13. 2 Shot Diary ツーショットDiary [940421] Mink 1 2 Shot Diary is a collection of twelve short episodes of sexual nature, each told by a different young woman, presented as entries in their diaries. There is no connection between the stories. Each heroine has a different profession and social status (high school student, nurse, model, etc.), where each episode usually centers around a particular sexual theme (voyeurism, lesbian sex, rape, etc.). The game is almost entirely pornographic, with nearly each screen being a depiction of a sexual activity. Multiple stories format bloomed during 1993 and in case of this game it evolved into multiple H micro-stories. The quality is good, but plot is absent and there's little to discuss.  
    14. Jonason ~Kugutsu no Mai~ ジョナサン ~傀儡の舞~ [940421] Xyz 1 Kamome and Arisa are two freelance detectives, and their current assignment is to protect Kimiko Ichijou, the daughter of a wealthy oligarch. Three days before her birthday, someone tipped the detective off about a possible assassination attempt. Kimiko has been recently transferred to the prestigious Seika Girls High School. Kamome decides to infiltrate the school, working undercover under the disguise of a janitor. Soon he realizes that powerful figures from a corporation that Kimiko's family is part of are not about to give up, and his life is in danger as well... This might be the best action visual novel among pc-98 because since the very first minutes action is overflowing. There are car races and a lot of timed sequences when you need to click on the right objects within time limit or it's game over, so there is constant tension. But the second half is just wandering around the school as a janitor, so it gets somewhat monotonous. Point and click feels awkward with so much moving around the same rooms.  
    15. Princess Danger ぷりんせすでんじゃあ [940421] Studio Jikkenshitsu 500 years ago the Victorian kingdom built by Victorian I upon defeating the Devil suddenly disappeared after a period of prosperity. Ayumi is the direct descendant and 42th ruler of the Victorian royal family. With the help of her companion Puchi she starts reconstruction of the Victorian kingdom. It is said that waking up a great spirit and defeating a new devil is needed for resurrection. And God have mercy on poor souls who stand in Ayumi way! A gag adventure with its own absurdist charm. It features multiple parodies on media works of the time.  
    16. Atlantia アトランティア [940422] Japan Home Video A journalist is sent on a voyage on a huge liner to take an interview from an ambassador. Graphics of the game are dated and system is really bad as it's combination of command selection and point-and-click. No Japanese reviews found so it shall remain a mystery what's going to happen on a voyage.  
    17. Koko wa Rakuensou ここは楽園荘 [940422] Foster 1 2 3 4 You are Keigo Nakadai, a 25 year old average guy who makes his living doing odd jobs. Now he's got a job as a caretaker of a top class apartment block (thanks to your uncle who owns the place) where all the residents are women! So, while your uncle is off to Hawaii, you are in charge of taking care of the place in his absence. As you get 'acquainted' with the local residents, certain suspicious events that disturb the local residents comes to your attention, ultimately leading to the mystery of behind Paradise Heights... There are English reviews.  
    18. AmbivalenZ -Niritsu Haihan- AmbivalenZ -二律背反- [940428] Alice Soft 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shura is a knight who has devoted his life to two things: his beloved princess and killing evil demon monsters called Duendy. The Duendy goddess, Deirdre, was pissed that her children were being defeated by this knight, so she sent in some monsters to go kill Shura's beloved. Shura goes in to try to save his princess, but it's too late. Her soul had been destroyed and she was never coming back. Shura was heartbroken by this. He was also cursed to never age. he would forever have to live with the fact that his true love was dead and never coming back. All the while, Duendy torment him through the centuries and make his life into a living hell. Not wanting to fall into despair, Shura's heart fills with vengeance and promises to one day kill Dierdre and avenge his princess' death. In modern day Japan, Shura is off hunting Duendy when he comes across a girl that looks just like his princess. Interestingly enough, she's also very skilled with magic and has wings. She isn't the princess though, as much as Shura wants to believe otherwise. AmbivalenZ is an adventure visual novel that has interactive battle scenes and occasional map movement. It resembles an RPG, but it isn't. There are no statistics, no numbers, and no leveling up, almost as if the RPG is just a shell. It also has frequent "boss battles" where you could potentially lose based on how you choose how to fight. There are English reviews.  
    19. Gakuen Bomber 学園ボンバー [940428] Active 1 Gakuen Bomber begins with a dream; more precisely, the dream the protagonist of the game, an ordinary Japanese high-school boy, is having: that of his sister having passionate sex with... a female classmate. Since afterwards he begins to dream about spaceships and aliens, he assumes that dream had nothing to do with reality... or has it? Exploring the high school he attends, the hero makes some startling and not very unpleasant discoveries... Hero is set to uncover the truth about an incident that happened at school - in that regard content is normal. Using point-and-click system on the other hand was rare. Game is focused on chasing cute heroines including loli ones and character designs are well done here.  
    20. Halfmoon ni Kawaru made ~Ramiya Ryou no Niji-iro Tamatebako~ ハーフムーンにかわるまで ~蘭宮涼の虹色玉手箱~ [940428] Cocktail Soft 1 The game is based on the manga Half Moon ni Kawaru made by Ryo Ramiya. It contains four separate stories/games, which can also be defined as mini-games due to their short length. Each story contained is dedicated to a different heroine: Suzuka and her boyfriend escape from ninjas; they are ambushed by amazon warriors and get separated. Suzuka finds herself in a weird mansion overrun by monsters, and must fight her way with a sword. This game is an adventure with top-down movement; the goal is to find the way through the maze-like locations. There are also pre-set turn-based battles - Suzuka can choose between various techniques to defeat the foes. There is no RPG system of any kind. The sex scenes include grotesque encounters with monsters. Eve is a saleswoman in a large company that sells items for skin care and make-up. She has to explore the neighborhood and to convince customers to buy their products. This story plays like a standard Japanese adventure with first-person view and menu-based commands. The sexual content here is mostly of lesbian nature. The protagonist in this story is the "hero" of the entire game (default name Tatsuya); he offers his services to Selena, the queen of the medieval Rabbi-Rabbi kingdom. Evil bunnies are disturbing the peace in the country side, and the hero, aided by the lovely girl Nina, has to get rid of them and bring back the carrots. This is an action game, with bunnies popping out of holes in different stages, and the player character hitting them on the heads using various items (such as a house shoe). The shortest game tells the story of Titis, a lovely mermaid who dreams of marrying a human prince. In search for the love of her life, Titis gets to know the world of humans through a series of sexual encounters. This game is once again a typical Japanese adventure with menu-based commands and no movement of any kind (the player switches locations automatically, as dictated by the story). Different stories are of different genres and/or include different mini-games. Development is smooth and the only aim is to entertain.  
    21. Reira Slave Doll レイラ SLAVE(奴麗)DOLL [940428] Silky's 1 2 By the end of the 20th century pollution became so heavy that the hole in the ozone layer expanded greatly, resulting in an acidic rain that rendered life on Earth next to impossible. Mankind had to colonize space, and began producing artificial humans (androids) to work in harsh conditions. As the danger was averted, however, the usage of androids gradually shifted towards mundane life. Female androids, known as "slave dolls", were used for sexual purposes until some of them rebelled and turned to crime. Special agents called "hunters" were dispatched to capture rogue slave dolls. Ryō Kanō is one of those hunters, and he is sent on a mission to apprehend an android named Reira. I've got a full review on the work. I can't honestly call it a masterpiece, but I loved this cyberpunk story.
  6. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month March 1994 - Mirage 2 - Torry x Neat x Roan no Daibouken   
    Mirage 2 - Torry x Neat x Roan no Daibouken is the only masterpiece of the month.

    1. Mirage 2 - Torry x Neat x Roan no Daibouken ミラージュ2 トリーXニートXローンの大冒険 [940309] Discovery 1 2 The sequel to Mirage is set in the same world and features some recurrent characters, although the protagonist and the story are different. The main character is a young monster hunter named Etranze. He needs to slay a certain amount of monsters to reach a higher level, but meanwhile is struggling to be accepted among other heroes. This changes when he befriends Torry, Neat, and Roan, the three lovely ladies who work (of all places) in the local church. Soon Etranze is summoned by queen Irene, who sends him on a quest to find a magical artifact that will save her kingdom from great peril. You travel with the youngest of sisters Tree only as your support. A very solid user-friendly RPG with a good balance. Quite simple in systems, but that may be only for the best. Story scale is large and there's lots of depth, so the game sets a very high level standard for future RPGs. A masterpiece, of course.  
    2. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 10 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第10話 [940310] Silence 1 In this episode Lime, Bass, Mizuki and Kokona travel to the countryside. The girls decide to visit the hot tub, leaving Bass outside. A friendly BEM from a previous encounter appears and suggests that its kind may be used by the heroes to further their goals. More fooling around before the final! And it was high time for a fanservice episode, so here you go a hot springs episode. And the result is three monster jewels at once.  
    3. LIKE [940311] Ange Hero is summoned from America by his father and forcibly put into all girls school to find a bride. After releasing "Kiss" Ange got a lot of attention. And Ange had really cute character designs. There are only three commands to choose from, so system-wise it's a step back from "Kiss". There are all kinds of girls, but need to choose just one and turn everyone else down. But if decision is made, game goes right to ending and that was weird. The only bright point is actually the ending where you get to see the afterstories of each of girls you dumped. So it's a charage through and through, and rather mediocre one.  
    4. Viper-V10 [940311] Sogna 1 2 The third Viper has the same structure as the two previous entries: three unrelated stories with little interaction, but many animated sex scenes. The stories this time are: Northern Lights describes a competition between two young apprentices of kendo. The protagonist, a young boy, is challenging the girl Asuka, who claims to be better than him. He needs to practice in order to win, especially because Asuka promised him she will do whatever he wants if he defeats her... Children's Play tells the story of a teenage girl named Yuki, who is in love with an older school mate. One morning she goes to school, only to discover that someone has made pictures of her masturbating to the boy's photo... Read Under follows the adventures of a team of three female soldiers who have to infiltrate the base of an evil robot simply known as "Boss". One of them is captured, and the other two have to save her at all costs. There is an English review and it's more than enough for a collection of short animated H stories.  
    5. Fechi ふぇち [940318] Cat's Pro. 1 Feti is a short game that doesn't have a real plot; its entire text is a conversation between two "office ladies" (sometimes shortened in Japanese language usage to "OL"), Eri and Kazumi. They chat mostly about men, clothes, and sex. The conversation develops, until the two young women begin to get intimate with each other. Game focuses on several fetishes at once including peeping fetish, of course. It's definitely an unusual game, but it's only two diskettes, so the lack of contents does not let it to pretend for something more.  
    6. Possessioner ポゼッショナー [940318] Queen Soft 1 2 he year is 2035. A series of mysterious incidents began to occur in Tokyo. Young women disappeared under strange circumstances, and returned brainwashed, commanding armies of bionic monsters and assaulting human settlements. Such women were called "Possessioners". A special all-female squad was formed to face them in combat and bring them back to humanity. Game has a cool SF setting and CG, but actually it feels more like an eroge with the systems akin to Choukou Sennin Haruka. You constantly fight with your 4-girl team and watch lesbo scenes after each fight with the lost side. Fights are actually very challenging, so need to know well the strong sides of each girl and eliminate weaker enemies very fast. So it's pretty much a lesbian eroge, but the first to originate from battle rpg mix.  
    7. Injuu Gakuen ~La Blue Girl~ 淫獣学園 ~La★Blue Girl~ [940324] Dez Climax 1 2 Miko was just an ordinary Japanese teenager attending the prestigious private Himenogi Girls High School. Everything began to change when she witnessed two of her classmates making love to each other. While taking part in various sexual activities, Miko gradually realizes that supernatural demonic forces have taken control of the school. Based on manga by Toshio Maeda. La blue girl is probably the most famous hentai franchise. There's a good English review of it.  
    8. Emit Vol. 1: Toki no Maigo EMIT Vol.1: 時の迷子 [940325] Koei 1 2 3 Emit is an adventure game that is the first entry of Shibusawa Kou's "English Dream" series. The purpose behind the projects was to teach Japanese people the English language with the help of a thrilling narrative. On October 5, 1994, a seventeen year old high school student named Yuri meets a polite yet mysterious elderly gentleman at the crosswalk. Although puzzled by his questions, she answers them honestly to the best of her ability. As Yuri walks across the street, she hears the man mutter the word "Emit" to her. Yuri thinks nothing of the conversation until an oddly familiar yet attractive young man approaches her a month later on the street. There are English reviews.  
    9. Yami no Ryousen 闇の稜線 [940325] Illusion A car fell from the cliff and its driver is heavily wounded. He lies on the side of the cliff bleeding and awaiting his last seconds to tick. The driver wakes up in the house bandaged, but with a light memory loss. He was found and helped by a local family. First thing he gets to remember is that he went on a trip to ask Mayumi's father for marriage permission. But at the moment that he arrived, villa got attacked. Mayumi was raped and killed. He discovers from the newspaper that he is the main suspect and now it's the time to go undercover and find out the truth. The game actually starts as main hero lies on the cliff and it's by the end of it when he goes to uncover the truth. It's a suspense mystery story so during villa attack memory flash it's important to take notes to take a trail. But at the same time it's also a borderline work with strong NTR motive. Scenario alone has a lot of impact, but the game system here is absolutely outstanding as well. There aren't commands like watch, talk etc. Instead, there is a set of commands unique for each scene. Some of them are needed to be repeated at times. Another surprising feature is animation - it's not just eyes and lips, but also other parts of body, which is rare. At times text takes full screen as NVL, but most of the time it's kept compact in the right down corner. I really wanted to like this first Illusion game, but it ended up a nukige with some plot as side-dish. I struggled through first three scenes during the first hour of play, but when the heavily wounded hero regains consciousness only to see the hostess riding on top of him I lost all the hope in the story.  
    10. Floppy Bunko 25 - Sadistic Gamers Syndrome - Episode 3 フロッピーブンコ25 サディスティックゲーマーズシンドローム エピソード3 [940326] Sixteens Remake of Sadistic Gamers Part 3 Telephone Play No point bothering over remakes, and it is a remake according to link.  
    11. Emit Vol. 2: Inochigake no Tabi EMIT Vol.2: 命がけの旅 [9403] Koei 1 2 After Yuri's friend Outa Ichirou tells her that he met her the other day, even though Yuri hasn't seen Ichirou for a year, it becomes clear that a dimensional doppelganger is trying to steal her identity. There is at least one English review.  
    12. Emit Vol. 3: Watashi ni Sayonara o EMIT Vol.3: 私にさよならを [9403] Koei 1 2 Ichirou and Yuri's mother start getting suspicious of the doppelganger, not to mention that Yuri's return wrecks her plans to steal her identity. There is at least one English review.
  7. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month February 1994 - Dragon Knight 4   
    Dragon Knight 4 is the only masterpiece of the month.
    1. Bacta 2 The Resurrection of Bacta Bacta 2 The Resurrection of Bacta [940205] Himeya Soft 1 The sequel to Bacta directly continues the story initiated in the first game. The paranormal investigator Jinpachi Tanaka was unable to defeat the female demon Dirsala, and she intends to resurrect the mysterious magical creation known as Bacta. In order to prevent that Jinpachi must work together with the local police and his faithful assistance, all the while continuing to save young women from demonic possession in his own unique ways. There was just one obscure japanese review on the game, so gave it a try for an hour. And it was totally like prequel. Same "noone knows about Bacta", same gags at every step, same cool black glasses protagonist. Game is based mostly on examining everything and execution of fun commands that are present at every screen like dance in the street or launch an earth-sky system missile and plot is secondary since you don't have real aim or directions - just click at everything till encounter some event at one of the locations - then repeat. Searching for flags was troublesome for me since you really need to bruteforce it. Once I went for 2nd round of clicking everything just because i needed to look around at the street to notice i'm being watched and advance plot. Unlike Bacta 1, here the story ends and that's why there's more satisfaction in it.  
    2. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 09 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第09話 [940210] Silence 1 In this episode Bass and Lime encounter a vaguely familiar little girl in a shopping mall. Shortly afterwards Lime is attacked by her archenemy W. Pegasus. Even Bass in his demonic form has trouble defeating the enemy, but the two receive unexpected help. Fooling around is over now as the final approaches and old enemy shows up.  
    3. Ponkan ポンカン [940211] Ponytail Soft 1 Ponkan consists of three unrelated scenarios. In the first one a young private investigator attempts to unravel a sex-related conspiracy. The second scenario is set in medieval fantasy environment and focuses on two warrior sisters who got captured and thrown into a dungeon by monsters. Finally, the third scenario is dedicated to "sex fighting" between young women of various cultural backgrounds. So multiple stories genre is still alive in 1994. But the essence of it stays intact - to put in bizarre H situations together.  
    4. Metamorph Meena メタモルミーナ [940218] Apple Pie 1 In "Metamorph Meena" the player controls Mai, a little girl who has a crush on an older boy who, naturally, doesn't pay any attention to her. But one day she meets two imp-like creatures, one of whom is Pal, the 153rd prince of a magical world called Dream Star, and the other his court magician Pul. The two turn Mai into an adult young woman, and she begins to explore her newly found sexuality... I did not get far in the game due to nkpt glitch and anex86 inability to hook the game, so Mobygames article is all we've got.  
    5. Dragon Knight 4 Dragon Knight 4 [940225] Elf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Set 15 years after Dragon Knight 3 our hero Takeru along with Luna has finally settled down. All is at peace untill word of a mysterious force from another time invades Takeru's world and request for his help along with his allies has been sent. Takeru thinking it a good opportunity decides instead to send his son Kakeru on this adventure in his place. In retaliation for Takeru's decision, his old comrade Baan(Rolf in the English version of Dragon knight 3) sends along his own son Seiru to accompany Kakeru. With the torch passed from father to son will Kakeru and Seiru make their fathers proud? There are a lot of English reviews.  
    6. Etsuraku no Gakuen 悦楽の学園 [940225] C's Ware 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Amamiya Gakuen, a secret pleasure garden prohibited to men, is the site of a investigator's disappearance. What has happened to her? Her friend Yumi, has sent someone to find out. Inside of the ALL-GIRLS high school, lies a variety of voluptuous leasures. Everyone is indulging in not only lesbian pleasures, but all sorts of other temptations. Yet there lies a horrific secret hidden behind Amamiya Gakuen's walls... Game is localized and has multiple English reviews.  
    7. Jankirou 雀妃楼 [940225] Red Zone 1 2 Jankirō is an adult mahjong game. Only the four-player variant of the Chinese tile game is available. Player-controlled male protagonist can choose to travel through any of the three magical gates. Each gate contains five female mahjong opponents, from which the player must select three. The characters are united by themes: one gate leads to medieval characters and fantasy-themed creatures (a princess, a female elf, etc.); another contains exotic characters from past cultures or fetishes (including a woman wearing Nazi uniform); the last gate accommodates more regular young woman with specific biographies. I've no words for strip mahjong.  
    8. Floppy Bunko 24 - Sadistic Gamers Syndrome - Episode 2 フロッピー文庫24 サディスティックゲーマーズシンドローム エピソード2 [940226] Sixteens 1 You play as a student who is having trouble with his studies. Lucky for you, your teacher is willing to give you a supplemental lesson. If you’re smart enough, this lesson can turn into sex. There is an English review.
  8. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month January 1994 - Fuzoroi no Lemon   
    Fuzoroi no Lemon and Welcome to the Cinemahouse are masterpieces, but the latter one has fewer elements of visual novel genre and thus Fuzoroi no Lemon is the game of the month.
    1. Marble Cooking マーブルクッキング [940101] Negative 1 2 3 4 5 6 Marble, the young and innocent apprentice of magic, has always been curious about one of her master's possessions, the magic "Wand of Wishes". One day the curious girl uses the wand; as a result, an evil demon is unleashed into the world. The spirit of the wand, a rabbit-like creature known as Sirius, tells Marble that it is now her responsibility to save the world from the demon, whose vile plan is to brainwash and sexually abuse ripe pretty young girls! So there are seven stages, at which we... place carrots to summon a rabbit and watch HCG between the scenes. Something tells me this game is not so much about the story... Anyway, game even has English translation and a big faq in English... for those who want to reach perfection in placing carrots!  
    2. Gao Gao! 1st ~Radical Sequence~ GAOGAO!1st ~ラジカルシークエンス~ [940107] Four-Nine 1 2 The protagonist of the game is a college student named Yuuji Shibata. One evening, just after hearing on the news that someone has stolen a tiger, he goes out to a convenience store. On the way back, in a dark alley, he notices a strange creature, a young girl with cat ears and tail. She doesn't seem to remember anything about herself, except her name beginning with the syllable "Mi...", which afterwards earns her the nickname Mi. Yuuji brings her to his house and tries to introduce her to the world of humans. (which, naturally, also involves techniques of human procreation). But will Yuuji be able to keep Mi as his companion (sexual and otherwise), or will he have to face her mysterious past?.. I've prepared a full review of the game.  
    3. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 08 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第08話 [940110] Silence 1 In this episode Lime, Bass and Mizuki go to a fair and watch a magician's show. A BEM has disguised itself as one of the props, and Lime must become a magician herself in order to trap it. A light comical episode with circus focuses as theme. It's still far till the end, so fooling around is in full blossom.  
    4. Nanba Kousuke Ikasete Nanbo! 難波康介イカせてなんぼ! [940110] Altacia Kosuke is a graduating high school student who lives alone in Shinjuku. He has a secret passion for his classmate Miki and is anxious to confess his feelings to her before the final exam day. But as soon as he settles a date with Miki she dissapears and an unknown floating girl appears in a flash, then stumbles and looses consciousness. Girl is declares that a "holy war" is approaching and that the fate of humankind and Miki depends on Kosuke now. It turns out that legendary princess Kaguya actually married one of her five guards and while Miki is a descendant of Kaguya-hime, Kosuke comes from the line of her husband. In order to save Miki, Kosuke needs to sublimate passion of other girls. I can't help surprise seeing such elaborate plots devised just to chase girls. We circle around the subway stations looking for girls. But actual process is done in simulation manner. There are even stats for it. Game does not have a single japanese review or impression and I did not go far either.  
    5. Bell's Avenue 2 ベルズアベニュー2 [940114] Signa Works A collection of three main stories and several short kinetic stories:
    1. 小犬のワルツ
    2. UNDERDEEP
    3. パラゴンの災難
    4. FORUM
    5. BA散歩
    6. しおりの部屋
    7. minimum hour The structure and the content are very close to the previous part. Same over-sized body parts present.  
    6. Fuzoroi no Lemon 不揃いのレモン [940121] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon 1 Machida Haruko, nicknamed "Faru", is a young girl who was living together with her sister Mei. Mei has mysteriously disappeared, and one day Faru received a package, which contained a video showing her sister, tortured by unknown people, crying in agony. The young heroine heads to the high school Mei studied in. She tries to get a job there, in order to investigate the circumstances of her sister's disappearance, and bring her home safe... Yet another Classmates rival and this time even with the time concept. Main character is a shemale... so trap protagonists attack started in yearly 1994... Heaven's voice system was particularly useful, it's basically tips of what to do when stuck or bored. Game is strong in every division. There a lot of unique and cute characters. Story tries to have a serious narration, but with a shemale in girls school gags are inevitable and game manages to keep that balance of seriousness and bakage. So you wonder around the school , talking to several teachers and several students in order too proceed with the story. Characters can be absent at their spots and it's possible to miss an important event. For that the system of moving back in time with a nursery cabinet is introduced. In the second half of the game money is used a lot so it's important not to waste assets on fortune telling and such. Irregular lemon actually managed to save the fun parts and not to fall behind in any aspect, so it's definitely a masterpiece game.  
    7. Miho 美穂 [940128] Red Zone 1 Miho Premium Collection no.003 is dedicated to predominantly sexual experiences of a Japanese young woman named Miho during her work at a hospital as a nurse. The game's story is rather sparse, consisting of various encounters with doctors, staff members, and patients, most of which lead to sexual scenes, often with unsavory medical undertones and torture. Red-Zone title with hospital as theme. Does not have value apart of H.  
    8. Welcome to the Cinemahouse ようこそシネマハウスへ [940128] Hard Player controls film director of Cinema House on the planet Paraiso which is in the middle of war. Much of the crew was conscripted, military censure is ravaging, but for a man of passion everything is possible. Each character has behavior patter lasting for 24 hours. According to that pattern we devise a plot and arrange actors in SLG part. Mostly we just approve or disapprove suggested variants, so it's not difficult. It's possible to talk to actors and those talks are masterfully done. If you done screening but want to start anew or shoot additional scenes, the schedule gets tight. There is also human relationships dimension and unexpected troubles that come up. Parents would naturally object in indecent role offered to the child. But the ADV part of the game is probably even better. You can walk around the town talking to inhabitants in the top down camera Classmates style immersing in the atmosphere of warring city. Even though the length of the game is not big, the degree of freedom and the replay value is great. Believe it or not, many people are calling this game their favorite game among all the pc-98 games and it's definitely a masterpiece.  
    9. Koukou Kyoushi Sei Erika Jogakuin Hen 高校教師 聖エリカ女学院編 [940129] Wishbone 1 The game has a rather simple premise: the protagonist is a young man who is looking forward to his first day on a new job, that of a teacher at the prestigious St. Erika Girls' High School. Naturally, he won't be busy with teaching alone; the goal is to get acquainted with the various female characters that populate the school, including the nurse and many of the students. A game with huge map and lots of walking around. Point-and-click system does not make things easier as well. It's difficult to get to H events and huge time investments seem to be needed to figure out the rest.
  9. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month December 1993 - Demon City   
    As usual, December stacks the most masterpieces. HHG Heart Heat Girls , Rance IV - Kyoudan no Isan - , Demon City , Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku , Zoku Youjuu Senki -Suna no Mokushiroku-. I found Demon City the most enjoyable and thus it's VN of December 1993.
    1. Injuu Genmu 淫獣幻夢 [931201] Ringerbell 1 The plot of Injū Genmu is rather simple: the King of Beasts commands you, a lowly minion, to venture into the world of humans and bring him young, pretty girls. To do that, he must defeat them in the traditional Japanese matching card game hanafuda. There seem to be 12 rounds overall with HCG after each win. I have real doubts that this card game can be called a visual novel - maybe windows version, but definitely not pc-98 one.  
    2. HHG Heart Heat Girls HHG ハートヒートガールズ [931202] Cat's Pro. 1 2 3 4 HHG is set in a futuristic world, in which humans co-exists with androids, highly advanced cybernetic organisms. However, this co-existence is anything but peaceful, since android are going rampant, and a special police force known as ACP ("Anti Criminal-cyborg Police") is specifically assigned to deal with them. Two young and lovely police officers, Angelica and Apple, receive a S.O.S. signal from two army pilots, who were attacked by a mysterious female cyborg who called herself Patricia von Kreuzel. Upon arriving at the crime scene, the heroines find no survivors. Together with their colleague, a young detective named Keith, they must investigate and solve this case. There are English reviews, including mine.  
    3. Anniversary ~Natsuyasumi no Omoide~ アニヴァーサリー ~夏休みの想い出~ [931203] Chime 1 Anniversary: Memories of Summer Vacation tells the story of a young girl named Ringo. One night, Ringo witnesses an impish girl named Cherry seducing another girl. At first she feels repulsed, but after a while finds out that she is excited... soon she and Cherry become lovers and soulmates, unaware of the fact that Cherry is being hunted by the authorities... Graphics are very vivid, but number of commands is big. The story is funny, but filled with numerous spontaneous H yuri events.  
    4. Dragon Half ドラゴンハーフ [931203] Micro Cabin 1 2 One of the games based on Ryuusuke Mita's eponymous manga. The story focuses on the manga's protagonist, a cute half-human, half-dragon girl named Mink. She is in love with a pop singer and dragon-slayer Dick Saucer; however, to win his love, Mink has to find a magical potion to turn her into a human. In the game, Mink and her friend Lufa and Pia are having a vacation on the beach, listening to Dick Saucer's concert on the radio. When Dick mentions Mink in his "special thanks" speech, she decides to find him no matter what, even if it means changing her own nature. Cute. Simple. Addictive. Fun. There is a review in English.  
    5. Gakuen Monogatari '93 ~The Instinct~ 学園物語'93 ~The Instinct~ [931203] Foresight 1 Millions of light years away from Earth, on a planet called Cicero, there existed a highly advanced civilization. However, it was all but destroyed by a life form known as "Barius", a parasitic creature that caused living beings to completely give up to their sexual instinct and innate aggressive tendencies, effectively turning them into monsters. To avoid global contamination, the inhabitants of Cicero left their planet. The remaining creatures, infected with Barius, used a capsule capable of space travel, and eventually showed up in our galaxy. The capsule containing ferocious monsters is nearing the Earth. Unaware of this unimaginable danger, the protagonist of the game, a young teacher in a girls high school, thinks of nothing but sexual pleasures... I did not get much liking towards this erotic bakage. I am not fond of its graphics as well. The number of commands could be smaller. Still the pace is good and music is joyful  
    6. Youto Densetsu 妖刀伝説 [931208] Altacia Jubei is a high school student who comes from a shaman family of shrine protectors. The shrines hold the barrier between this world and Makai. One day the barrier gets breached and closest people to Jubei get attacked by a monster. I was actually very impressed by the game. Great music, fascinating story, fast-pace development, bright colors, wide use of animation. I only regret of not being able to finish it as pc-98 version gets stuck shortly after switch to last diskette.  
    7. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 07 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第07話 [931210] Silence 1 In this episode a new type of BEM has found a way to upset people's stomachs by disguising itself as food. Bass and Lime attempt to tackle the BEM, and Bass feels that violence would be the only solution. The second arc begins with a comedy episode as if nothing really happened last time. It's nice that the stories don't repeat previous ones, but have a different approach each time.  
    8. Rance IV - Kyoudan no Isan - ランス4 -教団の遺産- [931211] Alice Soft 1 2 3 4 Hundreds of years ago, the Master of Magic decided to use his immense power to bring peace to mankind and to annihilate the demons on the Earth once and for all. In a grand battle that lasted thirty-two years, his army defeated the demonic forces. However, as always in such cases, something went terribly wrong. Now the one who must correct things is Rance, a young warrior with nothing but sex in mind. As always, with the aid of his lovely slave Sill, Rance will prevail in his fight against darkness... but not necessarily against his libido! There are English reviews.  
    9. Maten Gakuen ~Jigoku no Love Love Daisakusen~ 魔天学園 ~地獄のラブラブ大作戦~ [931213] Birdy Soft 1 The tribe of demons dwells above the Himalaya mountains. The demon king Zenon is harboring a plan to occupy the Earth and subdue the humans under his yoke. But first, following a demonic ritual, he sends his son to a Japanese private high school. With his side-kick Zabo, who can miraculously change forms and genders, the young demon offspring is incarnated in a human form and has to deal with the hormonal problems most human teenagers suffer from. The last work of Birdy Soft. Technically there will be one more ugly weird work in 1996 and some nukige in 2002, but those don't count. The quality level is unstable according as the main staff left without finishing the work. Many different character sprites are reused over and over. But I liked the characters and the atmosphere.  
    10. Gokko Vol. 03 Etcetera Gokko Vol. 03 Etcetera [931216] Mink 1 "Etcetera" describes quite well the content of this game, which is the third volume in the Gokko series. While the two previous games were dedicated to certain themes or scenarios (doctor and school girls, respectively), the third one is a collection of multi-thematic stories of a sexual nature. The protagonist is a young Japanese male (default name Shouhei), and his first objective is to seduce his boss's sexy sister. In following chapters, the hero encounters other women (sports car driver, journalist, etc.), each encounter ending the way one would expect from an eroge. Lots of exotic situations this time.  
    11. Dennou Tenshi: Digital Ange 電脳天使 デジタルアンジュ [931217] IDES 1 A guy goes out one day and happens upon a vagabond floppy disk. He takes it home, loads it up on his computer, and watches in amazement as a girl pops out of his monitor. Some giant mecha land outside his house; female pilots emerge from the machines and congregate with the disk-born chick, who can control the mighty pink mecha. They all hang around for a while, lounging, talking, and bathing. A few mean girls (including an unpleasant "copy" of the pink-mecha pilot) show up in their own giant machines. There's a nice English review.  
    12. Doppyun Donpisha ドッぴゅんドンぴ写 [931217] Peach Soft Hero is an aspiring photograph to cover women photo sessions. But he actually is tired of those neat photos and wants to shoot usual girls outdoors in their natural environment and without being caught by the police. He looks up to a colleague who agrees to accept the hero as his apprentice if he made nude photos of a list of girls. Another Classmate imitation. I did not get to the girls part, but it's reported that the destructive power of this title had some notable impact on eroge history.  
    13. Yami no Ketsuzoku: Harukanaru Kioku 闇の血族 遥かなる記憶 [931217] Naxat Soft 1 Harukanaru Kioku is a re-imagining of earlier Yami no Ketsuzoku games. The basic plot follows the events that began in the first installment, but it is told in an entirely different fashion, with different scenes, dialogues, etc. For example, the game begins a short while before the starting point of the first chapter, and contains conversations between the protagonist Miyu Izawa and the murder victim Marie, which were not present in the original story. The visual style of the game is also quite different, with bright anime-like graphics atypical of the previous entries. Those remastered versions... Cuter, lighter version for pc-engine. Same serial killings and same key to them in Mexico. Voiced and... conversations can not be skipped, so it would be a torture for X68000 version owners. Actually, all three japanese reviews out there could not withstand unskippable dialogues. So great feature indeed!  
    14. Demon City デーモンシティ [931221] Cocktail Soft 1 2 On the continent of Barnhedge, there lies a kingdom named Vagrand. The inhabitants of the country are followers of what they call the "True Religion", which teaches them, quite simply, to enjoy life in all possible ways, without controlling their desires and lust. As a result, the capital of Vagrand became the center of corporeal pleasures, and its neighbors started calling it the "Demon City". The player controls a Vagrand knight who is sent by the princess Leticia on a confident mission. But intrigues and uncontrolled lust surround the hero everywhere: opposition in the palace, a young girl named Milk who wants him all for herself, and the mysterious cult of the Moon are all there to make the hero's life hard... Game has a borderline synopsis to my standards. Yuaranas who we play by actually has a profession of sex fighter which means that he is bestowed with power to forcibly adhere women to the religion of universal pleasures. He has 31 wives (only one appears in game though) and he's got much influence. There are seven characters to capture - princess, dancer, knight, librarian, nun. But actually there are less than 10 H-scenes which is not that much. Overall there are six chapters and just one ending. The setting is impressive. "Blue Moon" cult is expanding its believers circle preaching return to "love and purity" and the king orders us to reform that sect and bring them back unto orthodox pleasure religion. At the same time the strongest military unit in kingdom "Black Wing" wants to kill the heretics. Game is made by my most esteemed Cocktail Soft studio and I prepared a full review of it.  
    15. Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku 河原崎家の一族 [931222] Silky's 1 2 3 4 Rokuro Saito is an ordinary Japanese high school student. Summer vacation has arrived, and, as it often happens, he is out of money. Then he hears that Kawarazaki, a wealthy and powerful magnate, needs someone to take care of his mansion during his absence. When the boy arrives there, he is surprised to discover that the mansion is mostly populated by young attractive women - relatives, employees, maids, etc. Naturally, he is willing to concentrate on his job only inasmuch as it doesn't impede his advancements on the other "mission" - get friendly with every girl and... you know the drill. However, soon he begins to realize that something more sinister is going on in the mansion... I rate this work as a masterpiece and for that I owe an explanation. I still can't stand nukige, but this work was one of the pioneers of multi-story multi-ending traits and on top of that it spawned the "museum" type visual novels boom. And most importantly it finally derivated from command selection formula towards ADV with branches on choices. Today it feels like a totally normal game with a tilt into nukige, but at that time modern visual novel composition was way too bold. After a series of very narrow-minded works, Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku finally made the name of Silky's recognizable. Silky's was an experimental brand to produce multiple stories packs and minigames, but from this work it finally found its niche and concentrated on big stories with erotic content incorporated, but not being the only content provided. The work is also is polished well with great sound and graphics. That all makes it a masterpiece despite my desire to keep masterpieces list clean from nukige.  
    16. Night Walker Mayonaka no Tantei ナイトウォーカー 真夜中の探偵 [931222] Tomboy 1 Shido Tatsuhiko is not only a private eye…he is also a vampire with no real memory of his past. Joined by Yayoi Matsunaga, a female government agent, Riho Yamazaki, an orphaned teenage girl working as his secretary, and Guni, a little green imp, Shido must face demonic creatures known as Nightbreed. Meanwhile, Cain, the vampire who made him what he is now, is seeking him… Character design for this game is outstanding and there are some really good CG, but the plot actually lacks excitement and results in weak impression. It is one-way road with only couple additional CG to be missed on wrong choices. Quite an average adult work about vampires, so it was suddenly remembered only five years after release since the game mysteriously got anime adaptation.  
    17. Sei Jeremiah Gakuen 聖エレミヤ学園 [931222] Lunar Soft 1 2 Nishina Hitoshi is an agent of Secret Police and missioned to investigate the murder case in the Saint Eremiya girls school. Five girls of the school died from the destruction of soul. The destruction of soul is a very rare phenomenon, so it's entirely extraordinary that it happens at 5 girls at the same time in a place. To figure out the case you get a job of chemistry teacher in the school, with your standing concealed. And a girl-partner Kamishiro Izumi gets an entrance into the school as a student. You and your partner work severally and exchange information sometimes. St. Eremiya is a mission school and the president and the chief teacher are nuns. There are two English reviews.  
    18. Zoku Youjuu Senki -Suna no Mokushiroku- 続妖獣戦記 -砂塵の黙示録- [931223] D.O. It is now the year 2048. You are the captain of Anti Strangebeast Special Police (A.S.S.P.) created to deal with the nuclear post-apocalypse gene outbreak. You've repelled the beasts from the Sophia police district, but the battle is long from end. Next A.S.S.P assignment is to destroy the beasts outside Sophia police district and to weaken them. The time of direct conflict has come. It has a well-known English localized prequel Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048-. At first I blocked second part as eroge due to high amount of rape, tentacle rape and monster rape, but the third part in trilogy released in November 1995 was so amazing, that I had to reconsider about second part as well. So second part was released just two months after prequel and it at has roughly the same synopsis. The scale of the story got bigger, the volume increased as well. The SRPG part in Yuujuu Senki A.D. 2048 was horrible and it averted many serious SRPG lovers. In second part SRPG system is improved, so gameplay can be enjoyed. It's a well-rounded work that fixed the faults of prequel and prepared ground for the excellence of following part. The characters here are already alive, but the story still lacks real drama that would only take place in third game.  
    19. Sei Shoujo Sentai Lakers 聖少女戦隊レイカーズ [931225] Apple Pie 1 2 3 4 5 Akira Daidōji was just an ordinary teenager until one night he had a strange dream. When he woke up he was contacted by a mysterious stranger from another planet who told him that the Gadram Empire is attacking his homeland because they need the power of the so-called Laker Crystals to survive. Akira was chosen as the next guardian of the crystals. In order to defeat Galvan, the dark leader of Gadram, Akira has to discover five young girls with special powers and assemble a team for the upcoming battle. TBS with usually two stages of battle - first initial attack and then fighting in phantom zone. Between the battles there are events, often with H-scenes. The feature of this game is difficulty with landing attacks, especially at the beginning with chances of about 60% and even in the final sequences not going over 80%. So constantly need to unilize attacks from sides and rear that increase attack raiting thus swarming each enemy one by one. Also characters acquire EXP even when defending against an attack.  
    20. LEX Kyonyuu Monogatari LEX 巨乳物語 [93] Studio Sold Out

    A digital comic adventure in search of big breast girls. Each girl has a short situation introduction followed by inevitable H scene. Backgrounds are filtered photos.  
    21. Gegera no Joshikou Indoka Keikaku! Part 1 げげらの女子高印度化計画!Part.1 [93] Studio Sold Out Pie

    An all-girl school introduces co-education due to diminished number of students. Main character is one of the lucky newcomers. He gets a cold welcome by three girls clenching fists and one even holding a baseball bat. But when there's a will, there's a way. There are encounters throughout the school, but there is also a quiz that gives additional HCG as reward.  
    22. Anna Midaller's アンナミダラーズ [93] Toukyou Club

    Anna Midaller's is a cafe known for its pies, especially cream pies. This place is crowded. Let's investigate its popularity. Pretty random scenes, full H-tilt.   23. Tantei Imasato Misa Jikenbo: Itoshiki Onna yo, Satsui no Bishou o 探偵今里美沙事件簿 愛しき女よ、殺意の微笑を [93] Maimai
    My name is Misa Imazato. It's been three years since I started helping my father.
    My father is a retired police officer working as a private detective.
    Today he is outside the office pursuing a case. However, my father does not consider me an independent adult, so I'm always only answer telephone calls.
    What can I do to make him recognize me as a full-fledged detective?
    This time Misa will try to solve a new case herself. But her client suddenly burns down. And it turns out to be the beginning of  a well-engineered serial murder case. It's a detective story, so not for me   24. Tantei Imasato Misa Jikenbo: Sonzai Shinai Futatsume no Shinjitsu 探偵今里美沙事件簿 存在しない二つめの真実 [93] Maimai

    Amateur detective Misa starts her second case secretly from her father. This time two terrifying truths appear before Misa, and she needs to investigate both of them. It's a detective story, so not for meIt's a detective story, so not for me
  10. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month November 1993 - Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 2   
    Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 2 is the only masterpiece of November 1993.
    1. Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 2 大江戸探偵 神谷右京 Vol2 [931105] Altacia Ukyo was introduced to a client, but that client was found dead hanging on a rope. Moreover, Ukyo was attacked by someone shortly. Now it's his duty to investigate the truth behind the incidents. This time the story is about the debtor. New girl character is introduced and she helps with the investigation. It has everything that prequel had but with better atmosphere with more professional approach. Graphics is good enough and there is eye and mouth movement to make it lively. Directorship can also be praised since backgrounds and objects change each other in a nice fancy way. The game has an easy-going atmosphere and some HCG. All that makes it a masterpiece work, the last in the series since the series took the turn for the professional detective investigation rather that entertainment.  
    2. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 06 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第06話 [931110] Silence 1 In this episode a treacherous BEM uses magic that puts Lime to sleep near a swimming pool. Lime is then captured by a powerful demon named W. Pegasus, and it's up to Bass to rescue her. A serious and dramatic ending of the first arc. Only first six games are released on Saturn with voice and further six games have FM-Towns releases at best. Somehow pc-98 version gets stuck on the same place, so video footage is couple minutes short of the ending.  
    3. Kindan no Ketsuzoku 禁断の血族 [931112] C's Ware 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The protagonist of this game is a young boy named Ken Ohsato, whose parents were killed in a traffic accident. His father had worked for a big corporation before he died; its owner, a very wealthy woman named Reiko Hayami, decides to give the poor boy a new home. As Ken enters his new residence, he is pleasantly surprised to discover that from now on he will share a house with Mrs. Hayami's five young and beautiful daughters. But not all is simple - soon the young hero will find himself involved in complex relationships he would actually prefer not to have... Game has many English reviews.  
    4. More and More もああんどもあ [931112] Cuisse Koichi Shima runs a detective business in a downtown of Tokyo. He wonders around the district looking for work. Game's hardly known at all, but the mood is joyful, girls are nice and scenario has lots of comedy elements. It's an enjoyable work to play, but I could not get used to spontaneous H events.  
    5. Chiemi 稚恵美 [931119] Red Zone 1 There are three different scenarios. You end up on a different plane depending on which scenario you choose. You'll conduct an interview with the director in the beginning and how you answer her questions determines which path you take. There is an English review.  
    6. Dead of the Brain 2 [931126] Fairytale 1 2 3 4 5 The events of the game take place shortly after the ending of the first game. The devastating zombie invasion, caused by the scientist Dr. Cooger and his resurrection medicine, was finally stopped, and the young hero Cole could marry his sweetheart Sheila. But alas, if only everything could be so simple... A biker gang starts terrorizing the town. Sheila and Cole find a dead body in Cole's apartment. And soon they discover that not all the traces of the resurrection medicine were destroyed... There are English reviews.  
    7. DOR Special Edition '93 DOR SPECIAL EDITION'93 [931126] D.O. 1 DOR Special Edition '93 is neither a compilation, re-release, nor a remake; it is an independent entry in the DOR series. Typically for the series, the game consists of three completely unrelated scenarios. They can be accessed from the initial game "hub", which is viewed from a top-down perspective and allows the player to control the sexy demon Akuma, the series' mascot, as she runs around a small town, visiting houses that lead to the game's features: playing the scenarios, viewing the pictures, getting acquainted with the developers, etc. The first scenario tells the story of a Japanese businessman and treasure hunter named Hiroshi, who has organized a perilous expedition into South American jungle, hoping to find the legendary spring of eternal youth. However, on the way to their discovery, the group has to confront monsters and other dangerous specimens of the jungle... The second scenario is set in a pseudo Middle-Eastern environment, and focuses on a man named Farouk, who was cursed by an evil magician. In order to remove the curse, Farouk travels through a vast desert to a nearby town, hoping to find people who would help him in his predicament. The third scenario directly continues one of the scenarios of DOR 2. It is sub-titled Armored Fighter Gyleban, and is the second part of the story. The protagonist is the leader of a squad of female fighters, who confront an organization under the leadership of the evil Grauber. Grauber's warrior, a young girl named Meiya, switches sides and decides to help the heroes in their battle. I liked it how the stories got longer and more exotic, but overall it's the same DOR experience as usual.
  11. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month September 1993 - Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048-   
    Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048- is not really a masterpiece at all, but without strong competitors I find it entertaining enough to be called VN of the September 1993.
    1. Nurse Yuu no Muma Sensen ナースゆうの夢魔戦線 [930904] Wendy Magazine 1 2 "Nurse Yuu no Mumasensen" is an adventure game with a rather cryptic story. The player controls a young nurse named Yuu, who finds herself near a secluded military hospital, unable to understand whether she is dreaming or not. She then begins to work at the hospital, becoming more and more intrigued by the events happening in it. There is an English review.  
    2. Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 1 大江戸探偵 神谷右京 Vol1 [930908] Altacia Detective Kamiya Ukyo is asked for an investigation, but the client is killed with her head chopped off. There was Ukyo name in the will, so agency took up the case. The series had its fan base, but game was postponed for a long time due to underdeveloped graphical technologies. Author of the script was an active detective at that time and game synopsis based on real events. Still, first two games had about 60% of fiction still involved to give the story more depth. And since the work was written by criminal expert, there is quite much uncommon terminology used. These first two works are still done in anime manner and for pc-98, but later works for Windows platform get much more serious design and reality feeling. First work is not polished enough to be considered a masterpiece, but second work is right in that zone.  
    3. Tinkle - Zenimusume てぃんくる [930909] Agumix 1 The great evil was prevented by the four legendary heroes, but the threat has awoken again. Elven heroine Narushi and her loyal pet set on a journey to get four crystals that would break the enemy's defense. Each crystal is hidden in a three-layer labyrinth. There is a Polish review available with some machine translation.  
    4. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 04 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第04話 [930910] Silence 1 In this episode Lime and Mizuki work as waitresses in a local cafe in order to detect the presence of a BEM. After having located the monster they become unexpectedly attached to it, which makes it harder for them to recover the jewel. Each episode is very individual. This time Mizuki plays the most important role while our heroes just observe the drama from the side.  
    5. Mouryou Senki Madara Daikongourin Hen 魍魎戦記MADARA 大金剛輪編 [930910] Kogado Studio 1 2 3 4 The game is based on the manga series Moryou Senki Madara. The story is set in a mythological era in Japan, and focuses on twin brothers, Madara and Kage-Ou ("Shadow King"), sons of the evil Emperor Miroku. While Kage-Ou follows in the footsteps of his father, Madara fights against him and for the good of mankind. The game begins as Madara is gravely wounded in his fight against Miroku, but is saved by a young warrior named Seishinja, who lives together with his sister Himika. Before Madara is cured, Seishinja has to fight demons himself, with the help of the legendary sword Kusanagi. This is a small part of a big franchise of some five series of manga and supporting content. First you have to fight alone, then Madara awakens and main character shifts. Unless you have the game manual, you wont be able to know chakra (magic) combinations. This VN ending differs from original manga since the main character here is set to destroy the world and recreate it for himself and no happy ending is seen.  
    6. Night Shifter ナイトシフター [930910] Four-Nine 1 Once upon a time, there was a young boy who loved motorcycles. Riding through the night on his bike was what he enjoyed most - until one night he crashed into a car, and was taken to hospital. There, he wakes up to find out that he'll have to go through some injections and infusions, which scares him so much that he faints... and immediately finds himself mysterious transported to a bizarre magical realm, somewhat inspired by Alice in Wonderland, with well-dressed rabbits, smoking caterpillars, but also plenty of cute girls. It turns out that this Wonderland isn't that bad - but how hard will it be to conquer the hearts of its pretty inhabitants?.. Looks like this game imitated Classmates, but without time dimension and with much lower production values. Lawful and Chaotic personalities only influence some CG and speech. Choices that have to be done from time to time hardly influence anything at all. So there's hardly a plot, just exploration of Wonderland with ultimate aim to get out.  
    7. Viper-V8 Viper-V8 [930910] Sogna 1 2 The second entry in Sogna's long-running Viper franchise, Viper V-8 has the same format as its predecessor: three separate short stories with minimal interaction and animated sex scenes. The three stories are: Friday the 18th: Obviously, a parody on horror movies, telling the story of three young girls who were sexually assaulted by mysterious masked men when camping near a forest. Demon's Night is set in medieval times and describes a battle of three young heroes against a vicious demon. One of them is killed in battle, while the other (a girl) is captured by the demon; the remaining warrior, a young man named Ryu, has to rescue his friend. Alien Wars takes place in the future. A young space pilot named Sylvie is ambushed and captured by aliens who have nothing else in mind but to have sex with her... There is an English review.  
    8. Ayumi-chan Monogatari あゆみちゃん物語 [930915] Alice Soft 1 The premise of Ayumi-chan Monogatari is rather simple: the protagonist, a young boy named Kouichi, is in love with the most beautiful girl in his school, Ayumi Kawai. One day she admits that she also loves him, and they begin a relationship. Plot is virtually non-existant and the whole point is to try each intimate date something new to get new CG and eventually get 100% CG. Very few works had CG galleries accessible in game and I don't think any measured completeness of opened CG in percentage. And thanks to graphics and cute character design the game was really popular. The game was made in close partnership with the active bbs fans which is also an impressive model that no other company could pull out. It's an important game for the visual novel history, but apart of all the novelty I only see a nukige here.  
    9. Custom Mate カスタムメイト [930917] Cocktail Soft 1 A young man finds a mysterious box. Making sure no one is at home, he opens the box and finds a scroll with a magic incantation inside. He chants the magic spell - and immediately a cute female elf appears. She says she can create any girl the hero wants. But once the girl is created, he has to figure out how to win her good graces... An easy seduction SIM which precedes a wave of SIMs in the second half of 1990s. Graphics is quite uneven.  
    10. Kachou Shima Kousaku: Super Business Adventure 課長 島 耕作 スーパービジネスアドベンチャー [930917] Yutaka 1 2 The game allows the player to play the role as a Japanese salaryman as he goes on his "employment adventure" in order to accomplish negotiations for business deals. Occasionally, the player will have to do stuff with his girlfriend and explore his office building in order to accomplish things from his employer. Game was based on popular manga and it's very realistic - it deals with dirty corporations ethics, racism, pregnancy... so it was scraped for release in the West. Series are closely connected with the original, at times for the bad, at times for the good. For example, letters are presented as in the original with its complexity, but some of the choices player makes won't have effect at all since they weren't reflected in the original. So it might be a nice game to try unless it was japanese famicom only.  
    11. Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048- 妖獣戦記 -A.D.2048- [930917] D.O. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The apocalypse known as "The Third" occured as a result of mankind's tasting the deadly fruit of nuclear technology. The massive radiation released in the holocaust of world war mingled with the genetic fallout from biological weapons, creating horrific mutations that came to be called "Yoju". These beasts bred in the bodies of humans and multiplied, covering the blighted landscape and pushing humanity to the brink of extinction. It is now the year 2048. As mankind's final gamble in the struggle against the Yoju, a squad of genetically engineered cyborgs was created - the Anti Strangebeast Special Police (A.S.S.P.) whose members possess combat ability far beyond that of normal humans. They have been programmed with the complete database of anti-Yoju strategies and tactics researched over years of war. These female biosoldiers have become humanity's last line of defense against total annihilation, and you have been chosen to command them. There are English reviews.  
    12. Ah! an Ah! an [930922] Wendy Magazine A collection of two short stories: 1) Face of Hakuhaku 2) Yukari laboratory Both of stories have 2 and 3 branches and endings, respectively. Game was ment to be Vol.1 of the series, but never got continuation. Drawing won't be to everyone's liking. H events are the center of the game and those are animated. The stories are too short even considering branches.  
    13. Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor - Griffon Hen 機動警察パトレイバー グリフォン篇 [930930] Riverhill Soft inc. 1 2 3 4 Digital Comic Patlabor is based on the anime series Patlabor. In the near future, officers of Tokyo Metropolitan Police pilot giant robots called "Labors" to combat criminals. Like most installments of the anime and manga, the game focuses on characters from Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2, and the playable character is Noa Izumi. More specifically, the game follows the so-called "TV timeline", involving the Labor Griffon. There are English reviews.    
    14. Shangrlia 2 SHANGRLIA2 [930930] Elf 1 2 3 For a while peace was reigning in the magical Kingdom of Hyunckel. However, dark forces have emerged again. Commanding hellish creatures, they managed to capture the top female generals of the Hyunckel army, sealing them in special devices resembling eggs. Only three generals remained free, and they must liberate their companions and re-capture the land. There's little to be said. You either played prequel and don't need review or not played prequel, then it's better to start with that. The complexity of rules increased with sequel significantly.
  12. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Abraxas for a blog entry, VN of the Month August 1993 - Houma Hunter Lime Dai 03 Wa   
    A very weak month. But if choosing among ero-centered games, a mahjong game and an animated little masterpiece, I'd choose the last one. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 03 Wa is VN of August 1993.
    1. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 03 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第03話 [930806] Silence1 In this episode a fit of jealousy on Lime's side sends Bass to the hospital. Upon arrival, however, the two discover a very strange hospital manager and begin to suspect yet another BEM infiltration. This time the story is not so much about a youkai at all. Heroes just happen to find him after they deal with their own problems in the hospital. The recurring jokes start to appear and the series start to remind more of an anime episodes rather than a real game.  
    2. Mahjong Gensoukyoku II 麻雀幻想曲II [930806] Active 1 2 3 4 Mahjong Fantasia 2 is a direct sequel to the first Mahjong Fantasia game. The story mode begins with a reminiscence of the events depicted in the first game. The hero, Ring, is back with his girlfriend Tania, but mourns the loss of the lovely elf Raspberry. He travels to the Village of Elves, where he discovers that there might be a way to resurrect Raspberry - but it involved finding seven sacred golden tablets, guarded by fearsome opponents, which must be defeated in a game of mahjong... There are English reviews.  
    3. Poison Needle ポイゾンニードル [930810] May-Be Soft A collection of three short stories: 1) "Yuka's after-school" 2) "PM 12:00" 3) "Melody played with a finger" The stories are really short and ero-centered reaching some 30 minutes playtime total. The CG level is very uneven.  
    4. Denwa no Bell ga... 電話のベルが… [930817] Cocktail Soft 1 The protagonist of this game, a nameless young man, receives a phone call from his girlfriend. She is distressed and asks him to meet her immediately. From that point on, whatever happens depends on what the player decides to do... This is a grandfather of all the works with a big number of bad endings since the whole point of the game is in watching the bad endings rather than getting a single right one. But in the end plot does not matter at all and the focus of the game is solely H scenes.  
    5. Collector D Bangaihen - Gokuraku Dainishi Chiku Sales Daisakusen コレクターD 番外編 極楽台西地区セールス大作戦 [930823] D.O. After a successful mission in one residence unit the vibrator designer decided to spread his business over the whole town district. Top down view is much more comfortable than the 3D maze of flats. Graphics have been improved substantially. So only this version is polished enough for sale. The game system remains almost the same as the prequel.  
    6. City Knights シティナイツ [930826] Dott Kikaku Kusanagi Milan is the leader of the city knights girl heroes unit. Their bitter enemy is Dr. Wariwari who is a bio-scientist who has plans for the world unification and defeat of city knights. Three incidents have happened in Shinjuku with victims losing their underwear. Kusanagi Milan hurries to the most recent incident location for investigation. Another game that I could not find reviews for. And I think I know why now. I failed to find something while moving on the map for 10 minutes. And can't even trigger any door open. So the game is not really a pushover.  
    7. Marionette Mind マリオネット・マインド [930827] Studio Milk 1 Marionette Mind is a collection of three interrelated short stories depicting the adventures of an artificially created young woman. Each story is told and seen from the point of view of a different protagonist. In the first story, a young puppet-maker creates a doll of a young woman that becomes miraculously alive, and very soon discovers her sexuality. In the second story, she helps a broke performer in a puppet theater to improve his business and life. The third story is dedicated to battle puppets known as "kugutsu", where the artificial woman finally finds her home. There is some attempt to synchronize the stories as the last one is played from the viewpoint of Rio during the course of first two stories, but that's a failed attempt since the endings are very weak. After all, Studio Milk mostly produced games of genres different from ADV and joined the race only for some fast profit.
  13. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Zalor for a blog entry, VN of the Month November 2021 - Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki   
    There are as many as two games about GameDev, and since there's not much else to look at, one of them Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki becomes game of the Month.  
    1. Yuru Camp△ - Have a Nice Day! ゆるキャン△ Have a nice day! [211111] MAGES. GAME Take on the roles of Kagamihara Nadeshiko and Shima Rin, and enjoy a branching story where the camp contents change in a big way based on your choices. With “what if” scenarios not depicted in the TV anime, this is a game Laid-Back Camp fans will not want to miss. The game features various "what if" scenarios. What if everyone went to the Takabocchi Highlands, where Rin originally went solo? What if Rin camped solo at Shibire Lake, where she originally went with Nadeshiko? What if Rin brought a portable grill to Lake Motosu? Despite featuring the same scenes as the anime, you can still enjoy a fresh camping experience! In Laid-Back Camp: Have a Nice Day!, you can relive the Laid-Back Camp experience by visiting Lake Motosu, Fumoto Campsite, Eastwood Campsite, Takabocchi Highlands, Shibire Lake, Jinbagatayama Campsite, and Fujinomiya. Furthermore, Lake Tanuki Campsite, which only appears by name in the original comic, has also been added as a campground. But whether you are able to camp there depends on your actions. Anime Spin-Off  
    2. NinNinDays 2 [21118] qureate A young man is dazing off while working the night shift at a convenience store, when a girl stops in to ask for a meat bun. The one next to her appears to be her boyfriend, and after doing their shopping, the two of them link arms affectionately and take off. Just when the young man is thinking how nice it would be to have a girlfriend, a pair of girls in ninja cosplay show up. The girls just stare at the shop goods without buying anything in particular. Even worse, they're even chatting about ninja techniques or something along those lines. When he calls out to them to prevent theft, it becomes apparent that they have no money. Despite suspecting that they might try to steal something, he gives in and buys a bento for the two desperately pleading girls. The life of that young man is turned upside down from the moment of his encounter with the two young women. A roommate life with two female ninja, one a Chuunibyou, and the other a fanservice machine, is about to begin?! And so begins a new love story with two ninja girls! Sequel is released in English  
    3. Asatsugutori アサツグトリ [211125] Nippon Ichi Software Hibari wakes up in a strange room alongside seven other girls. An announcement from above confused the girls. "Only one person who survives till the end can leave the building." "We recommend that you give it all your best to survive for as long as possible even just for one second, and you may be able to use magic." A few days after the girls' mysterious communal life begins, an incident finally occurred. Hibari regrets not being able to stop the scene of death that happened in front of her. "If only I could go back before she died…" The next day, when Hibari wakes up and goes to the cafeteria, she saw the girl who died the day prior. The ability to travel back in time "With this power, you can start over as many times as you like. No one will ever die again." Console exclusive detective  
    4. Hoshi no Otome to Rikka no Shimai 星の乙女と六華の姉妹 [211126] ensemble Main character Yuki is a popular  streamer. Despite his cute looks he is actually a man. He impersonates as his sister to attend top high school for idols that is forbidden for men. Traps is not my thing  
    5. Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki 創作彼女の恋愛公式 [211126] Aino+Links 1 Our protagonist, Toshiki Kagami, is headed to Tokyo, where he will begin living with his cousin and her family. Unbeknownst to others, he harbors a desire within himself. He wants to rekindle that creative spark he all but lost now. He had a childhood friend, Aisa Ayase. They were two peas in a pod, always competing against each other, seeing who could create better stories. However, as they grew older, their thoughts and mindset slowly started differing more and more from each other. In the end, Aisa moved with her family to Tokyo. The now separated Aisa and Toshiki would still send letters to each other, talking about their current lives and, of course, sending each other stories for the other to read. However, once the prospect of entering high school drew ever so closer, the letters from Aisa all but disappeared. Nonetheless, Toshiki continued writing stories, making doujin games and eventually, he would debut with his first commercial light novel. And while the cultivation of his creative prowess was growing steadily, he hit a slump half a year ago. And so, he postulated that perhaps spending time with similarly aged creators would help him break free of his slump. Steeling himself, Toshiki enrolled in Saika Private Academy, a school designed for creators to gather in one space. With that, spring rolls around and Toshiki is in Tokyo, ready to start his new school life. And it is there that he reunites with Aisa once more. There are English reviews  
    6. Uchi wa Mou, Enki Dekinai. ウチはもう、延期できない。[211126] Sonora 1 Spring break. Miyamura Miku, a hobby writer of light novels, is approached by her older sister Miyamura Karin, who reveals to her that she's working as a voice actress for erotic games. "The company I am working for right now needs someone to assist with writing the sex scenes!" Karin asks for Miku's assistance. "Wait, I'm still a virgin, you know? I have no clue how to write such a thing!" At the same time the protagonist, Shiiba Masashi, is getting a sudden call from his big sister. "Jeez, we can't! We're delaying. Can't. Impossible. We delay." The one who keeps repeating these phrases like a broken record, is the protagonist's older sister, Shiiba Sayaka - CEO as well as scenario writer of the popular upstart eroge brand "Hades Soft". "If we delay now, then we're done for. The sponsors will be chasing us for the rest of our life in order to reclaim the cash. We have to find a solution or I'll be to the neck in debt! I'll come haunt you if this kills me, okay?!" And so, Masashi ends up being roped into helping them with their eroge development?! This game is centering around eccentric heroines like the key animator Suzumoto Chisa (pen name: Suzuse Akiko) and the reclusive graphic designer Sakakibara Ai. Here comes an ADV about creating eroge that's a little on the weirder side. IF YOU LOVE EROGE, DON'T JOIN AN EROGE COMPANY! There is an English review  
  14. Thanks
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Dreamysyu for a blog entry, VN of the Month November 2021 - Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki   
    There are as many as two games about GameDev, and since there's not much else to look at, one of them Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki becomes game of the Month.  
    1. Yuru Camp△ - Have a Nice Day! ゆるキャン△ Have a nice day! [211111] MAGES. GAME Take on the roles of Kagamihara Nadeshiko and Shima Rin, and enjoy a branching story where the camp contents change in a big way based on your choices. With “what if” scenarios not depicted in the TV anime, this is a game Laid-Back Camp fans will not want to miss. The game features various "what if" scenarios. What if everyone went to the Takabocchi Highlands, where Rin originally went solo? What if Rin camped solo at Shibire Lake, where she originally went with Nadeshiko? What if Rin brought a portable grill to Lake Motosu? Despite featuring the same scenes as the anime, you can still enjoy a fresh camping experience! In Laid-Back Camp: Have a Nice Day!, you can relive the Laid-Back Camp experience by visiting Lake Motosu, Fumoto Campsite, Eastwood Campsite, Takabocchi Highlands, Shibire Lake, Jinbagatayama Campsite, and Fujinomiya. Furthermore, Lake Tanuki Campsite, which only appears by name in the original comic, has also been added as a campground. But whether you are able to camp there depends on your actions. Anime Spin-Off  
    2. NinNinDays 2 [21118] qureate A young man is dazing off while working the night shift at a convenience store, when a girl stops in to ask for a meat bun. The one next to her appears to be her boyfriend, and after doing their shopping, the two of them link arms affectionately and take off. Just when the young man is thinking how nice it would be to have a girlfriend, a pair of girls in ninja cosplay show up. The girls just stare at the shop goods without buying anything in particular. Even worse, they're even chatting about ninja techniques or something along those lines. When he calls out to them to prevent theft, it becomes apparent that they have no money. Despite suspecting that they might try to steal something, he gives in and buys a bento for the two desperately pleading girls. The life of that young man is turned upside down from the moment of his encounter with the two young women. A roommate life with two female ninja, one a Chuunibyou, and the other a fanservice machine, is about to begin?! And so begins a new love story with two ninja girls! Sequel is released in English  
    3. Asatsugutori アサツグトリ [211125] Nippon Ichi Software Hibari wakes up in a strange room alongside seven other girls. An announcement from above confused the girls. "Only one person who survives till the end can leave the building." "We recommend that you give it all your best to survive for as long as possible even just for one second, and you may be able to use magic." A few days after the girls' mysterious communal life begins, an incident finally occurred. Hibari regrets not being able to stop the scene of death that happened in front of her. "If only I could go back before she died…" The next day, when Hibari wakes up and goes to the cafeteria, she saw the girl who died the day prior. The ability to travel back in time "With this power, you can start over as many times as you like. No one will ever die again." Console exclusive detective  
    4. Hoshi no Otome to Rikka no Shimai 星の乙女と六華の姉妹 [211126] ensemble Main character Yuki is a popular  streamer. Despite his cute looks he is actually a man. He impersonates as his sister to attend top high school for idols that is forbidden for men. Traps is not my thing  
    5. Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki 創作彼女の恋愛公式 [211126] Aino+Links 1 Our protagonist, Toshiki Kagami, is headed to Tokyo, where he will begin living with his cousin and her family. Unbeknownst to others, he harbors a desire within himself. He wants to rekindle that creative spark he all but lost now. He had a childhood friend, Aisa Ayase. They were two peas in a pod, always competing against each other, seeing who could create better stories. However, as they grew older, their thoughts and mindset slowly started differing more and more from each other. In the end, Aisa moved with her family to Tokyo. The now separated Aisa and Toshiki would still send letters to each other, talking about their current lives and, of course, sending each other stories for the other to read. However, once the prospect of entering high school drew ever so closer, the letters from Aisa all but disappeared. Nonetheless, Toshiki continued writing stories, making doujin games and eventually, he would debut with his first commercial light novel. And while the cultivation of his creative prowess was growing steadily, he hit a slump half a year ago. And so, he postulated that perhaps spending time with similarly aged creators would help him break free of his slump. Steeling himself, Toshiki enrolled in Saika Private Academy, a school designed for creators to gather in one space. With that, spring rolls around and Toshiki is in Tokyo, ready to start his new school life. And it is there that he reunites with Aisa once more. There are English reviews  
    6. Uchi wa Mou, Enki Dekinai. ウチはもう、延期できない。[211126] Sonora 1 Spring break. Miyamura Miku, a hobby writer of light novels, is approached by her older sister Miyamura Karin, who reveals to her that she's working as a voice actress for erotic games. "The company I am working for right now needs someone to assist with writing the sex scenes!" Karin asks for Miku's assistance. "Wait, I'm still a virgin, you know? I have no clue how to write such a thing!" At the same time the protagonist, Shiiba Masashi, is getting a sudden call from his big sister. "Jeez, we can't! We're delaying. Can't. Impossible. We delay." The one who keeps repeating these phrases like a broken record, is the protagonist's older sister, Shiiba Sayaka - CEO as well as scenario writer of the popular upstart eroge brand "Hades Soft". "If we delay now, then we're done for. The sponsors will be chasing us for the rest of our life in order to reclaim the cash. We have to find a solution or I'll be to the neck in debt! I'll come haunt you if this kills me, okay?!" And so, Masashi ends up being roped into helping them with their eroge development?! This game is centering around eccentric heroines like the key animator Suzumoto Chisa (pen name: Suzuse Akiko) and the reclusive graphic designer Sakakibara Ai. Here comes an ADV about creating eroge that's a little on the weirder side. IF YOU LOVE EROGE, DON'T JOIN AN EROGE COMPANY! There is an English review  
  15. Thanks
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Chronopolis for a blog entry, VN of the Month November 2021 - Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki   
    There are as many as two games about GameDev, and since there's not much else to look at, one of them Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki becomes game of the Month.  
    1. Yuru Camp△ - Have a Nice Day! ゆるキャン△ Have a nice day! [211111] MAGES. GAME Take on the roles of Kagamihara Nadeshiko and Shima Rin, and enjoy a branching story where the camp contents change in a big way based on your choices. With “what if” scenarios not depicted in the TV anime, this is a game Laid-Back Camp fans will not want to miss. The game features various "what if" scenarios. What if everyone went to the Takabocchi Highlands, where Rin originally went solo? What if Rin camped solo at Shibire Lake, where she originally went with Nadeshiko? What if Rin brought a portable grill to Lake Motosu? Despite featuring the same scenes as the anime, you can still enjoy a fresh camping experience! In Laid-Back Camp: Have a Nice Day!, you can relive the Laid-Back Camp experience by visiting Lake Motosu, Fumoto Campsite, Eastwood Campsite, Takabocchi Highlands, Shibire Lake, Jinbagatayama Campsite, and Fujinomiya. Furthermore, Lake Tanuki Campsite, which only appears by name in the original comic, has also been added as a campground. But whether you are able to camp there depends on your actions. Anime Spin-Off  
    2. NinNinDays 2 [21118] qureate A young man is dazing off while working the night shift at a convenience store, when a girl stops in to ask for a meat bun. The one next to her appears to be her boyfriend, and after doing their shopping, the two of them link arms affectionately and take off. Just when the young man is thinking how nice it would be to have a girlfriend, a pair of girls in ninja cosplay show up. The girls just stare at the shop goods without buying anything in particular. Even worse, they're even chatting about ninja techniques or something along those lines. When he calls out to them to prevent theft, it becomes apparent that they have no money. Despite suspecting that they might try to steal something, he gives in and buys a bento for the two desperately pleading girls. The life of that young man is turned upside down from the moment of his encounter with the two young women. A roommate life with two female ninja, one a Chuunibyou, and the other a fanservice machine, is about to begin?! And so begins a new love story with two ninja girls! Sequel is released in English  
    3. Asatsugutori アサツグトリ [211125] Nippon Ichi Software Hibari wakes up in a strange room alongside seven other girls. An announcement from above confused the girls. "Only one person who survives till the end can leave the building." "We recommend that you give it all your best to survive for as long as possible even just for one second, and you may be able to use magic." A few days after the girls' mysterious communal life begins, an incident finally occurred. Hibari regrets not being able to stop the scene of death that happened in front of her. "If only I could go back before she died…" The next day, when Hibari wakes up and goes to the cafeteria, she saw the girl who died the day prior. The ability to travel back in time "With this power, you can start over as many times as you like. No one will ever die again." Console exclusive detective  
    4. Hoshi no Otome to Rikka no Shimai 星の乙女と六華の姉妹 [211126] ensemble Main character Yuki is a popular  streamer. Despite his cute looks he is actually a man. He impersonates as his sister to attend top high school for idols that is forbidden for men. Traps is not my thing  
    5. Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki 創作彼女の恋愛公式 [211126] Aino+Links 1 Our protagonist, Toshiki Kagami, is headed to Tokyo, where he will begin living with his cousin and her family. Unbeknownst to others, he harbors a desire within himself. He wants to rekindle that creative spark he all but lost now. He had a childhood friend, Aisa Ayase. They were two peas in a pod, always competing against each other, seeing who could create better stories. However, as they grew older, their thoughts and mindset slowly started differing more and more from each other. In the end, Aisa moved with her family to Tokyo. The now separated Aisa and Toshiki would still send letters to each other, talking about their current lives and, of course, sending each other stories for the other to read. However, once the prospect of entering high school drew ever so closer, the letters from Aisa all but disappeared. Nonetheless, Toshiki continued writing stories, making doujin games and eventually, he would debut with his first commercial light novel. And while the cultivation of his creative prowess was growing steadily, he hit a slump half a year ago. And so, he postulated that perhaps spending time with similarly aged creators would help him break free of his slump. Steeling himself, Toshiki enrolled in Saika Private Academy, a school designed for creators to gather in one space. With that, spring rolls around and Toshiki is in Tokyo, ready to start his new school life. And it is there that he reunites with Aisa once more. There are English reviews  
    6. Uchi wa Mou, Enki Dekinai. ウチはもう、延期できない。[211126] Sonora 1 Spring break. Miyamura Miku, a hobby writer of light novels, is approached by her older sister Miyamura Karin, who reveals to her that she's working as a voice actress for erotic games. "The company I am working for right now needs someone to assist with writing the sex scenes!" Karin asks for Miku's assistance. "Wait, I'm still a virgin, you know? I have no clue how to write such a thing!" At the same time the protagonist, Shiiba Masashi, is getting a sudden call from his big sister. "Jeez, we can't! We're delaying. Can't. Impossible. We delay." The one who keeps repeating these phrases like a broken record, is the protagonist's older sister, Shiiba Sayaka - CEO as well as scenario writer of the popular upstart eroge brand "Hades Soft". "If we delay now, then we're done for. The sponsors will be chasing us for the rest of our life in order to reclaim the cash. We have to find a solution or I'll be to the neck in debt! I'll come haunt you if this kills me, okay?!" And so, Masashi ends up being roped into helping them with their eroge development?! This game is centering around eccentric heroines like the key animator Suzumoto Chisa (pen name: Suzuse Akiko) and the reclusive graphic designer Sakakibara Ai. Here comes an ADV about creating eroge that's a little on the weirder side. IF YOU LOVE EROGE, DON'T JOIN AN EROGE COMPANY! There is an English review  
  16. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from rax for a blog entry, Xenon ~Mugen no Shitai~ / XENON ~夢幻の肢体~ (C's Ware)   
    Foreword: This is Keno-san's scenario. He did not have much experience when we was thrown to produce scenario of the game that we know as Love Potion in two months time. Critics buried the game and that's why there was much more care in producing next game scenario - that was DESIRE, the game that I can't praise enough. The next year Keno wrote scenario for EVE burst error and on the wave of popularity moved to legendary Elf company where he kept working on EVE franchise and created another masterpiece YU-NO and then left for Abel company. He created a lot of wonderful scenarios after that but we're interested in Xenon ~Mugen no Shitai~ scenario. It was developed after DESIRE but prior to EVE. So it was the golden age for Keno and he was experimenting a lot, trying to further develop the already complex DESIRE structure. This resulted in Xenon -Phantom Limbs-.
    Title: Xenon ~Mugen no Shitai~
    Developer: C's Ware
    Date: 1994-12-09
    VNDB link:https://vndb.org/v7474
    Synopsis: Kōji, a Japanese high school student, experiences strange, recurrent life-like dreams. He finds himself in a space station inhabited by beautiful young women. As he tries to explore the dream realm he wakes up. His teacher, intrigued by his account of the bizarre adventure, urges him to travel back to the space station in his dream and report his discoveries to her. Eventually Kōji realizes that his dream and reality are tightly connected, and finds himself compelled to avert a grave danger.
    Structure: Three routes with 3rd route to have four branches for different heroines, then there is an extra small kinetic route or something like that.
    Length: Close to 10 hours, probably a bit less.
    Game type: Space mindfuck mystery
    Difficulty: Moderate. Flags are obscure so best to use guide.
    Character Design rating: 7/10
    Protagonist rating: 7/10
    Story rating: 10/10
    Game quality: 7/10
    Overall rating: 8/10
    Rating comments: Game is quite difficult to evaluate since there are two worlds with own sets of characters and there are even two protagonists (actually, even three) of varying charm. Not all the characters are cute, some look good only at CG. Game has great text but is lacking in some fields.

    Protagonist: Quite and ordinary japanese student on one hand and much cooler The Greatest and Toughest Space Pirate, Genius and Universe Champion on the other hand. I liked the latter much more!
     
    Characters:
     
    Megumi - real world girl, your lover and her papa is medical center sponsor

     
    Sayaka - real world government researcher

     
     
    Ryouko-sensei - real world  psychiatrist

     
    Mai - real world Ryouko-sensei sister, participates in experiments as catalyst

     
    Ranfa - space ship mechanic

     
    Fal - space ship researcher 

     
    Tracy - space ship captain assistant

     
    Bianca - space ship sleeping beauty in cryogenic chamber

     
    Story: 
    It's not easy to tell this game's story without spoilers. And this game's charm is only due to this mindfuck state of mind in projects constantly. If I tell the contents of 3rd route, game will be stripped of half of its charm. So I'll only roughly retell first route. Game introduction shows Kouji being taken out of hypnosis state by psychiatrist Ryouko-sensei. And this scene is repeated like 10 times throughout the whole game and it's great for the atmosphere - sometimes it's real awakening, sometimes it's just a dream. After introduction we find ourselves in some hospital chamber, bump in some weird looking (some exposing uniform) girl then discover naked girl wired to some cryogenic coffin.
    After that Kouji wakes up in the real world (I'll call it real for now although it's not that simple). He's questioned by Ryouko-sensei about what he remembered from the dream. Outside of the room he is greeted by Megumi, who claims to be his girlfriend and lover. There is also some strict government official lady Sayaka who does not let us go into computer room. And finally there is Mai girl who is very worried about Kouji condition. And from there it goes chaotic. This real world is constantly shifting with the dream world where there are four different space ship crew girls await - mechanic Ranfa, researcher Fal, captain assistant Tracy and sleeping beauty Bianca in cryogenic room (actually, it's the different sleeping girl, first one in the dream was actually Fal).
    So Kouji gets thrown from one world to another, sometimes without warning - we share consciousness and even items while there, so basically we've found some media disk in one world and could find the device to play it only in another world. Furthermore, we hear voice of some man from time to time. In real world we try to know more about the hypnosis treatment we undergo and to get to the computer room. In the dream world there is even more action - we investigate the sleeping beauties, try to find out about our identity and once even blow the ship.
    As for identity - that's another interesting story. Some ancient ruins were found on some planet and first research team was sent to investigate the ruins. Noone survived. Second research team was sent to investigate the fate of the first research team and.... noone survived, except Kouji. So everyone urges us to remember anything but in vain. Then there is the sleeping beauty Bianca who eventually wakes up and blames Kouji of killing the whole first and second research teams. Then there are reports that actually Kouji was not listed neither in 1st, nor in 2nd research team... So the main question of the game is WHAT am I? That's just an amazing start, but actually game does not live up to this fantastic start to the end.
    First chapter ends when Megumi gets kidnapped and as we rush to rescue her we get caught by Ryouko-sensei and get another charge from the mind machine that burns 2000-30000 of brain fibers in Kouji's brain and in the dream world Kouji steals the shuttle and flies to the Eriteia planet with ancient ruins to meet with Ranfa who promises to give answers to all the questions - and we get first chapter end while man and woman promise each other to become new Adam and Eve while staying on some wasteland.
    That is a fantastic first chapter. But then starts the second chapter and... Kouji just cries off the bat - I'm the Great Space Pirate, Genius and Champion of the Universe! So the beginning of the chapter feels like a comedy with most of the real world girls trying to calm him down and treat his craziness. But the sad part here that this is real space pirate who changed consciousness with Kouji and came 6000 years from the future. He's cool, reserved and he first persuades Rouko-sensei into being his slave, then with her hands does the same with Ryouko-sensei's sister Mami, then proposes to his girlfriend Megumi to become his wife, actually, slave wife! And together they manage to confront Sayaka successfully after some violent scene and burning 30k more of Kouji's brain vibers. 

    Third route finally gives some answers as we play as real-life Kouji on the space ship. Fourth route is just ero-bonus content, sadly. So what we have is awesome space mystery that gradually looses its mystery and turns into a set of ero-scenes.
    Theme: The recurring theme of the game is that of the dream. What is reality? Is it possible to percieve what's real and what's not? Game tells us a definite - impossible to perceive. The Confucius symbol of butterfly in human's dream is used a lot. Mai directly asks Kouji to be a butterfly in her dream. Since dream is as important as reality it's best to live a full life and take full efforts even in dreams.
    CG: There are very few event CG in this game and those few that exist are of bland palette. 
    Sound: Actually, it was to my liking. Especially the theme of Greatest Space Pirate was awesome. It's some heroic march so when it starts merrily, you always know that Kouji now has a different personality. And I totally adored the voicing of Rafna... she's the youngest character and her seiyu just did a miracle here with the special voice and intonations. And Rafna got the cutest character design and CGs on top of that.
    Overall comments: Scenario is second to none and text is really good. Game mechanics are finally driven from commands selection to usual ADV type, so story can be enjoyed to a bigger extent. I can't recommend this game to everyone since it does not reach the level of other Mr. Keno's masterpieces. But I can totally recommend this game if you like the space mindfuck mystery setting or if like good writing. Personally, I adore Vladimir Nabokov's books. Of course he has well known masterpieces like "Lolita", but I can take any of his novels and open them at any part and just start reading - the text is so good, complex, multi-level and rich that I get great pleasure just from reading a couple of pages. The same goes to this work. The aftertaste might not be the best, but while you read there's much pleasure in the process.
  17. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Chronopolis for a blog entry, Shoujo Shin'iki ∽ Shoujo Tengoku 少女神域∽少女天獄 -The Garden of Fifth Zoa- [Lass]   
    Foreword: Shoujo Shin'iki has some English reviews already, but they tend to focus on negative sides (1 2 3) even though game deserves better. Synopsis: Shun has always wondered what was on the other side of the stone walls surrounding and beyond the tunnel out of Kaijou-shi ever since he was a child. However, he never ventured out since every time there was an opportunity to do so, he fell ill or there was some family business. After he graduated from Seihoukan Gakuen, he decided right then to leave his hometown. The next spring, he received a call from his mother, asking him to come back for the Seikousai festival which he had always attended since he was small. His family kept the items for the festival, but this year’s event will be even bigger than normal. His imouto Sana and osananajimi Yuki both had been chosen as the miko for the kagura dance. As he was returning back to Kaijou-shi on the train, he reflected on why he left his hometown. He had found nothing special on the other side, just the beginning of a new life. However, it felt like he had lost something along the way. Then he could hear his osananajimi’s gentle voice: “Shun-chan, it’s been a while since you’ve been back”. He felt like those words livened his spirits and comforted his heart. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwGwDxf37gEk09JR45yzp8YI97UXpaB0j   Character Design rating: 8/10 Protagonist rating: 6/10 Story rating: 7/10 Game quality: 8/10 Overall rating: 7/10 Basic information can be acquired from synopsis and other reviews, but I want to focus on ups and downs right away. So these five thing things are what game is sometimes criticized for: 1. A lot of scenes are present in all routes 2. All endings are the same, except for Sana's which is short and vague. 3. Story sucks as a typical creepy village with occult customs 4. Action scenes are boring 5. No character development for heroines   To tell the truth, these are hard to oppose, but I'll try, anyway. 1. Those scenes are mostly transition ones to each individual routes and final scenes that have to be the same for the game's purpose. 2. Game concept can justify three similar endings and one special ending for Sana. 3. Story is clearly hommage to Leaf's classical visual novel Kizuato, so it has to follow ancient concept from 1996 to  an extent. 4. Game is atmospheric mystery utsuge. Action scenes aren't focused on here. At times of conflict one side is usually seriously overpowered, so there can hardly be a proper battle. 5. Are there really that many games with character development for heroines? We're not growing a bride here, and protagonist is in the center of the conflict, not heroines, so why should they be developing. Shoujo Shin'iki is a complex construction built over classical visual novels centered around beast, primarily Kizuato. Both games have same clan/shrine that seals beast madness instincts in males of the same blood, in both games there are for heroines with the youngest heroine having a special ending if protagonist for several times denies intimacy suggested to him. But Shoujo Shin'iki also introduces occultism and a multiple-layer mystery. What makes Shoujo Shin'iki a masterpiece for me is breathtaking graphics and heroines, fantastic atmosphere, complex setting, those ugly yet memorable ending scenes and the impact. All this beauty is repeatedly crushed by a single occult power burst. This repeats over and over creating aura of inevitability. But there is redemption, a way out of this loop which is indicated by Sana's special ending. That's the whole conceptual meaning of it. No use to wait here an afterstory of how they got married and raised kids. It's just not that kind of a game. With all that game has enough depth and complexity for those who seek it. And it's a rarity in the game when the meaning is concealed in the depth of the game and not in the ending. And then rereading the game main part brings in new depth. But if it's a masterpiece, why just 7/10? Because I tend to take disturbing scenes like these badly. All those endings and preceding events with Honoka create a depressing impression. Same route construction repeats for the 4 routes, so I'd read only two if I knew beforehand. The package of the game says "Story does not always has a happy ending". This is exactly such case.   
  18. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Hiroshi for a blog entry, TV no Kieta Hi テレビの消えた日 [Petit KeroQ]   
    Foreword: What is Petit KeroQ? Why creating a new brand was needed for this game? Those are the questions I seek answers for.

    Synopsis: 
    The time is twelve years ago.
    A comet of unprecedented proportions appeared in our Solar System.
    Its magnetic field was such that when the comet drew closer to Earth, it interrupted radio waves worldwide.
    That time was nicknamed "The Day Television Disappeared".
    The day the world lost its signal, our protagonist, Mimasaka Shingo, lost his parents.
    At the heart of this incident is his father's former boss, Hosaka Kenichi, on whom our protagonist who knows the truth has sworn revenge.
    Twelve years later, Shingo meets Hosaka Nanami, a highschool student. Forlorn memories connect and bind, in their cement the truth. Hosaka Nanami is… Hosaka Kenichi's daughter.
    Shingo thus decided to make her life a living hell. Perhaps, when his loved ones are ripped and grinded to pieces, that man might know the misery he once taught others.
    Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p87vQKO7tXg
    Game type: Nukige with a twist
    Character Design rating: 5/10
    Protagonist rating: 3/10
    Story rating: 4/10
    Game quality: 5/10
    Overall rating: 4/10

    As you can see from the scores, I'm furious. I've been tricked by KeroQ to play a full-scale sex slave training revenge nukige with a rapist protagonist, so I'm feeling pretty much like after MinDeaD BlooD. Not that description did not mention "make life a living hell", but is it really the only way for revenge? 

    Rage minute is over, so let's discuss the merits of this game. KeroQ would lose face if they did not try to justify sex slavery in some way. And - not going to spoiler here - it is justified... in some weird logic. Moreover, what I see here is an ancient attempt to make a reverse nukige - present hardcore action and via it get to know the girl and fall in love with her. And - as I see it - this concept fails in this game. The reason is because slave training itself does not really bear any sense or sympathy. And Nanami humanity is shown only in normal talk scenes. Basically, I don't feel that H scenes are needed at all for game concept. But take H scenes out, and... you'll get my video, a cripple just 8.5 hours long. 30 minutes for introduction, 4 hours for H scenes and just 1 hour for each of four heroines endings. Now try to imagine what kind of quality romance content can fit into ONE hour, and you'll get the idea about this game. Other three heroines are humiliated by this one scene left for each of them. And I'd also want to imply that in their endings heroines need to get emotional super fast, so they just go crazy and bitch about something absolutely stupid. Thus pretty cool images of sub-heroines in the common route get smashed, in my opinion.

    But let's return to Nanami as main heroine and her ending. It's canonical ending, but lacks logic so much that I wonder why writer considers readers so stupid to swallow it without asking questions. Everything is super-convenient and anti-persuasive. Every heroine loves our horrible protagonist from first second. And if you look those writers up... there is no SCA-JI at all, and main scenario writers aren't really notable for any works. So, yes, either writers are bad or they consider readers stupid. Or maybe we're supposed to be shocked by the fact that Nanami is not as simple as she looks from the beginning of the game.

    Main character Shingo is a rapist, which is pretty bad by its own. But he's also both not smart and maniacal. He forgets faces of his relatives, so he wants to have his revenge by hurting Nanami, favorite child of a person who sent his relatives on a plane during the day of comet fall. And by hurting Nanami he wants to remember faces of his parents... And his best evidence is ... because he appointed that person guilty in his parents death. Shingo memory is fuzzy, he can hardly make logical assumptions, and his inner monologue is constantly maniacally shouting the same things about revenge. Shingo is a worthy candidate for worst protagonist ever.

    I wanted to mention title individually - the day when television disappared. Sounds cool, but it's nothing but a pretty image for pasting TV screens and adding TV noise sounds wherever possible. The concept is that a certain day 12 years ago a comet struck the Earth and damaged its magnetic field. And you know what... magnetic field became too weak to support TV broadcasts, but it's absolutely enough to support mobile phone connection. But because this connection got weaker, almost no one brings phones nowadays. And you know what - all characters except Nagaru have one. So many contradictions that it's just lousy. Plane with Shingo parents lost control with the magnetic field damage and crashed. That's the whole connection of TV with the game concept. It's close to zero.

    What I want to conclude about TV no Kieta Hi is that it has nice heroines and graphics. Because pretty much everything except that is bad. All those immature characters bring only negative emotions. So, why is TV no Kieta Hi published under new brand Petit KeroQ ? It's not because company had that many works to give some ideas to subsidiaries. It's because game is of too low quality to fit KeroQ standarts. It's even so dark that it can't be published under Makura brand. Petit KeroQ is not a small KeroQ. It's a black shameful side of KeroQ.

  19. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Dreamysyu for a blog entry, VN of the Month July 2010 - Second Novel ~ Kanojo no Natsu, 15fun no Kioku~   
    Wow, I'm going to call as many as three games masterpieces this month - Tasogare no Sinsemilla , Para-Sol and Second Novel ~ Kanojo no Natsu, 15fun no Kioku~ . And the last one is something special, so it wins. It's definitely in my review queue. Micchi awaits cuteness from Sugar+Spice2 and fandiscs.  
    1. Executor Script エグゼクタースクリプト [100702] Triangle In a world where some people possess magic-like special abilities, Yamahito is a student who can use a power called ‘executor’. Together with his friend Shin they cause a commotion and one day, they were defeated by a girl named Primity Lumina, sent by the international organization Aproca to protect against ill-use of abilities. A few days later, Shin starts to use his powers to destroy the town to conquer the world. Primity Lumina approaches him to request his help in defeating Shin, while Shin also wanted him to join his side. Which he give in to the dark side or fight for justice alongside a cute bishoujo? Card battles is all I need to know about this game.  
    2. Fate/Extra [100722] Type-Moon 1 2 3 4 5 6 According to Nasu, Fate/EXTRA is a JRPG which takes place set in an alternate universe that split from the Fate/stay night timeline in the 1980s to 1990s. The Story is set in the in a school called Tsukumihara Academy, a fictional place existing with an artificial environment called the Moon Cell. There, the Moon Cell orchestrates a replication of the Holy Grail War using a system called Serial Phantasm or SE.RA.PH, which handles the summoning of Servants. Servant data is taken from the Automaton (Moon Cell Automaton), a spiritual computer system built on the lunar surface by a pre-human civilization and discovered by humans in the year 2032. The Automaton has monitored and recorded all occurrences on the Earth (including the activities of human heroes) since time immemorial. In this sense, it is similar to the Throne of Heroes, but it's possible to summons beings which aren't present in the Throne. Each of the 128 participants in the war must duel the other Masters in a place called the Arena, where failure results in deletion from both the real and digital worlds. When only one remains, the "Holy Grail" shall grant the victor's wish. RPG is localized and has English reviews  
    3. Tasogare no Sinsemilla 黄昏のシンセミア [100722] Applique 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  There’s a legend about an angel’s robe in the scenic town of Minakami-mura, in the middle of which there is a large shrine. An university student, Kousuke, visits his mother’s hometown during the summer break to do some part-time and reacquaints with some old friends while also meeting some new ones. However, their normal lives are altered by the presence of a mythic drug that can cause living beings to become abnormal. This is the local story of the monster named Yamawaro. There are English reviews  
    4. Trick x Logic Season 1 [100722] Chunsoft 1 After being pushed off of a building, prodigy prosecutor Yoshikawa Itsuki wakes up in Hell. Where the judge of human souls, Yama, asks Yoshikawa for his help with some unsolved cases. Yama usually reads a record of human deeds, the Akasha, to pass judgement on human souls, but in some cases he can't figure out whodunnit just by reading the Akasha. Hence the need for Yoshikawa's mind. He is to read the Akasha and figure out the culprit. If he cooperates, Yama promises to return him to the land of the living. There is an English review.  
    5. Albatross Koukairoku 信天翁航海録 [100723] raiL-soft 1 2 3 4 Aboard the Albatross is an odd captain and an equally crazy crew. With no map in hand, they sail to unknown islands, meet ghost ships and cross paths with giant monster fish. No one knows where they are heading… including the captain. But they still all stay together since there’s no other place for them. There are English reviews.  
    6. Classy ☆ Cranberry's クラ☆クラ CLASSY☆CRANBERRY’S [100723] Atelier Kaguya P-ch  1   The protagonist, Honda Rei is the only son of the world-famous Honda zaibatsu. While his genius scientist mother and his world renowned actor father are often busy abroad, he has his sister-in-law, an attractive college student, his childhood friend and best friend with him leading fun happy student lives. They attend a school for the ultra wealthy elite where the majority of the students are sons or daughters of financial heavyweights. However, there are also commoners attending the school, possible due to scholarships, too. Once, Rei saved a commoner student from a predicament and they became close because of it. And then comes the turning point. The school's boast, the legendary event, the "Advent Festival". Besides the fact that its events are different from normal schools' festivals, it has a school wide ball participated by all students. The center-point of which are the year's so called MVP, two students which are given the title of "Prince" and "Princess". It's not only a high honor, there's a well known legend that the two people selected will be forever tied to each other living happy lives. As expected Rei was selected as the prince. Unfortunately they have difficulty selecting the princess. The school chairman said, "I leave the decision on who would be the princess to you." Who would he select as the princess? You are invited to this erotic and moe ball! There is an English review.  
    7. Geki Tama! ~Seiryou Gakuen Engeki Bu~ げきたま! ~青陵学園演劇部~ [100723] Cassiopeia  Ikumi transfers to Seiryou Gakuen, situated at the foot of Mount Fuji, in the second school term. He is approached by drama club members Kikka, Rin and Yurina, who force him to join their club, which is short on members and is in danger of being closed. Even though he has never acted in a play before, they were all highly expecting him to help out. Then suddenly, something strange happened and he was possessed by the spirit of a general from the Sengoku! Will the play at the school fair be able to go smoothly now!? Moege. If you ask about discerning features, it's theater club theme that is focused mostly in final fourth route.  
    8. Gothderi -Gothic Delusion- ゴスデリ -GOTHIC DELUSION- [100723] Lose 1  Takamichi’s is troubled by his unsuccessful career as a teacher. One night he comes across a girl alone on the side of the road. She introduces herself as Lo, and acts unexpectedly mature and collected. After taking her to a police station, Takamichi leaves her in the hands of the authorities, when an explosion engulfs the station in flames. Unfortunately, the explosion is just the beginning of the hunt: Lo has become the target of bounty hunters. Takamichi returns to the police station and Lo, convinced by Takamichi’s determination to help her at the risk of his own life, invites him to become her minion. There is an English review.  
    9. Ore no Tamanokoshi ni Notte Kure ~ Itoko to Maid to Kouhai to Senpai to Sensei to ~ 俺のタマノコシに乗ってくれ~従妹とメイドと後輩と先輩と先生と~ [100723] Patisserie Kousuke is just an average student. But one day, he is kidnapped by some men on his way home and taken to a big house. The man in front of him says, "You, take over my position!" His a little bit erotic and slapstick life now starts.... It's not clear from the description, but it's inevitably a nukige. Basically, we get kidnapped and delivered to a rich lady house who eagerly learns things from common life from absolutely horrible protagonist.  
    10. Para-Sol [100723] Root 1 2   "Now", let's talk about the future for a little bit. In an SF world where cyborgs and androids are near reality, for some reason rumors of fantastic creatures such as werewolf and dragons started to spread. That time, one girl silently sent a mail to an unknown someone. A mail that's unknown to reach someone. Written inside is only one sentence. "Save Our Ship" But, by a stroke of luck the mail definitely reached somewhere. And, the girl received a reply. "wilco" There are English reviews.  
    11. GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class: Slapstick Wonderland GA 芸術科アートデザインクラス Slapstick WONDERLAND [100729] Russell Inside an airplane heading for Japan, Mari is clutching a sketchbook which once belonged to her grandma, who is now deceased. The sketches on it are what her grandma had drawn before she died, reminiscing about the days spent in Japan. To color the sketches: a promise Mari made with her grandma. What will be Japan like, the country the grandma so much loved? Feeling hopes and fears, Mari drifts off to sleep. The place she is heading toward as a short-term international student is GA (Geijutsuka Art Design Class). What kind of story will unfold, casting Mari and the members of GA? Anime spin-off  
    12. Memories Off: Yubikiri no Kioku メモリーズオフ ゆびきりの記憶 [100729] KID 1 2   The player takes on the role of Naoki Serizawa, the protagonist of Yubikiri no Kioku. Naoki used to live at Chinatsu's home but is now living alone. Naoki is a second year student at the private Tourin high school. Chinatsu Amakawa is also a second year student at the private Tohrin high school and is a classmate of Naoki's. As Chinatsu is concerned about Naoki at all times, she commutes to school with him and is always around him during school hours. Kasumi Nagumo is a runaway girl who suddenly arrived at the doorsteps of Naoki's place and is forcibly living with him at the moment. Orihime Hoshitsuki is the new math teacher for Naoki's class at Tourin high school. Lisa Caycy Foster is an American girl who has gone to Japan to study abroad temporarily. Lisa works part-time at a restaurant called Fuuruuyan and is where he meets Naoki. Lisa's reason for studying in Japan is because of her interest in Japanese history and culture. Shiina Kodou is a first year student at Tourin high school. She is very outgoing and loves gossips. There is an English review  
    13. Second Novel ~ Kanojo no Natsu, 15fun no Kioku~ セカンドノベル ~彼女の夏、15分の記憶~ [100729] Nippon Ichi 1 2 3  "Do you know this story?" Ayano starts telling a story. The scene is high school and characters named Ayano and Yuichi appear.... Naoya and Ayano trace back their high school life through her story. In the summer of the second grade, Naoya lost two important things. One is Yuichi, his close friend. He fell down from the top of the school building and lost his life... Also, Ayano, whom Naoya loved, fell down from the top of the school building as if following Yuichi. Five years later... Ayano can remember things only for fifteen minutes. She still doesn't know why she fell down. The story Ayano tells is about her high school life. By knowing the fact, he might be able to find the truth behind Yuichi's death and Ayano's behavior... There are English reviews.  
    14. Bunny Black [100730] SofthouseChara 1 2 3 4 5 Dierks is a perverted adventurer entered a labyrinth known as the Maou’s forest and was defeated by the maou himself. But taking pity on him, the maou kindly recruited him as part of this demon army. Given a second chance, Dierks has two goals: to rise in the ranks of the demon army, and to defeat and have sex with those girls who come to attack the maou. RPG has English reviews  
    15. Enbou no Felshis ~Horizon of the Earth and Sky~ 遠望のフェルシス Horizon of the earth and sky [100730] Ninetail 1 2 The Emilia Republic is situated on the northeast area of the Reindil continent. In the eastern town of Felshis is Voromia National Academy, which is well-known for training adventurers. Adventurers specialize in searching for and retrieving an important resource to all nations: dragon bones. Many young people aspire to be adventurers for different reasons: to satiate their curiosity, to become rich, to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps, to envision a world they have never seen. RPG has English reviews.  
    16. Motto Nee, Chanto Shiyou yo! もっと 姉、ちゃんとしようよっ! [100730] Candy Soft 1 2 3 4  Souma goes to an all-boys school by himself in Hokkaido. One day, he received a call from one of his older sisters, telling him that their father had become sick and collapsed. He quickly returns to Hakkakubashi and seeing his five downcast sisters and sickly father, he decided to stay to take care of his father. There are English reviews  
    17. Nanapuri. ななプリ。 [100730] TopCat Enor lives by himself in the wilderness of the Gullfoss continent. One day, he came upon a fallen girl by a nearby riverside and took her home to take care of her. Her name is Katarina and she is actually the Seventh Princess Edelweiss’ personal knight. They were pursued by attackers and now the princess is missing, so Katarina asks Enor to pretend to be the princess. So, he dresses up as a girl and goes on a journey together with her. It only looks like a fantasy plotge. In reality scenario is based on the seven princesses that we visit one by one through the loop (although only three get visited as a result). Same heavy repetitive development as in previous Topcat game.  
    18. Sora o Aogite Kumo Takaku 空を仰ぎて雲たかく [100730] Debo no Su Seisakusho 1 Adonis practiced under Danang to be a dragon trainer. One day, he came upon a young dragon girl Mint in the forest. She calls him papa, but it seems that she doesn’t remember anything except her own name. He takes her to his master’s house, where Danang tells her that as a dragon trainer, he was destined to meet her. They set out on a journey to discover her memories. RPG has English reviews  
    19. Steal My Heart ~Rhapsody of Moonlight~ すてぃーるMyはぁと~Rhapsody of moonlight~ [100730] Palette 1 Akitomo enjoys his peaceful school life, but one night, he met a mysterious thief and his world suddenly changed. All the unexplainable events and environment changes made him totally confused. What fate awaits him in the future? Phantom thief setting is not utilized properly outside of one route with other routes devoted to normal  heroines. Scenario is plain weak..  
    20. Sugar+Spice 2 [100730] ChuableSoft 1 2 Hibiki moves in with his older sister after his father went abroad for business. However, his cousin Fuuka also lived there and he worried about being able to get along with her since they are unfamiliar with each other. However, they get along nicely. One day, Fuuka asks him to come shopping with her and a friend since they need help carrying bags. He agrees, but when he arrives, he meets a senpai who he admires, Ginga. She asks him why he’s here and what he wants to do. Realizing that he doesn’t have a goal or a dream to pursue, Hibiki decides to begin living with a new purpose. There are English reviews.  
    21. Vestige -Yaiba ni Nokoru wa Kimi no Omokage- Vestige―刃に残るは君の面影― [100730] Alcot Honey Comb Kurou was reading a book in the library when he saw his older sister Shizu fall from the roof. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt badly. Kuro and their osananajimi Ruri are happy that she’s fine and don’t ask her what happened. Later, he finds out from his classmate Wakaba that she was fighting against some mysterious men. It is because they are after him, as he possesses the elixir of immortality ‘ochimizu’, so he decides to take part in the battle as well. Youkai confrontation work with lack of explanations and persuasive power.  
     
    BLOCKED   1. Shin Koihime † Musou ~Moeshouden~ 真・恋姫†無双~萌将伝~ [100723] BaseSon 1 2 
    Moeshouden is the final game in the Koihime series. In this fandisk, there’s no more fighting among the factions. Instead, all 52 heroines fight for Kazuto’s love. Or maybe he can settle for a harem in the true sense of the word.
    Fandisc   2. Muv-Luv Alternative Chronicles Vol.1 マブラヴ オルタネイティヴ クロニクルズ01 [100730] Age 1 2 3 4 5 6  New chronicles of Muv-Luv universe featuring director cut verisons of previously released Chicken Divers and Rain Dancers, along with a brand new Muv-Luv Unlimited The Day After, which details what happened following the end of Muv-Luv Unlimited. There’s also desktop accessories, movies and radio clips.
    Fandisc     3. Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai AfterStory 俺たちに翼はない AfterStory [100730] Navel 1  
    This Oretsuba fandisk has after stories for each of the 4 heroines, plus over 20 short-stories, a new OP and ED, as well as character songs and a tachi-e and scenery viewer. Also, the protagonists will be voiced except during H scenes!
    Fandisc   4. Otome Renshin Prister Fandisc ~Motto H ni Koi Seyo Otome!~ 乙女恋心プリスターFANDISC ~もっとHに恋せよ乙女!~ [100730] Escu:de
    This is the fandisc for Prister, with after stories for each of the 12 heroines, another stories for 6 popular subheroines, as well as a possible harem route.
    Fandisc
  20. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from droganpc for a blog entry, VN of the Month November 2009 - Hikari no Valusia ~What a Beautiful Hopes~   
    Hikari no Valusia ~What a Beautiful Hopes~ is VN of the Month, but for me it's not a masterpiece. I happened to play Sorafune and Shiden ~Enkan no Kizuna~ in the past, so will take Atori no Sora to Shinchuu no Tsuki for review. Micchi is understandably fascinated by Baldr Sky Dive2, but also lays hopes on Imouto Smile, Shiden and Suzunone Seven fandisc.   1. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift ブレイブルー コンティニュアム シフト, [091120] Arc System Works 1 2 3 4  The game is set after the events of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger. A few days have passed since the reported raid by Ragna the Bloodedge, The 13th Hierarchical City "Kagutsuchi" forgets to celebrate New Years, as his alleged involvement in the "Mysterious Bombing" and "Huge Pentacle Sightings" becomes the talk of the town. With the Novus Orbis Librarium offering no official explanation, the citizens voice their own theories, exaggerating and spreading rumors like wildfire. The name "Ragna the Bloodedge" is engraved in the minds of the people. Completely indifferent to the state of the city, the silver-haired Grim Reaper grips his massive sword and quietly bides his time—waiting for the chance to achieve his true objective. And then, the enormous "power" that has ensnared the "Grim Reaper" begins to activate... Fighting is localized and has English reviews.  
    2. Hikari no Valusia ~What a Beautiful Hopes~ 白光のヴァルーシア ~What a beautiful hopes~ [091120] Liar-soft 1 2  In a big city in the desert called Valcia, only young people called 'adept' are allowed to go out. The city used to be covered with a canopy, but people can see the sky and a lot of people visit the city through the canopy now. But this inflow of people gradually changes the city... Young people called "adept" are the ones who search into various ruined labyrinths full of treasures and danger, and fight against monsters called 'horror'. Recently, these monsters called 'horror'", which are supposed to exist only in the labyrinths, started to appear in the city. People are now afraid of the change of the city and the monsters. One night; a boy sees something shiny, another boy learns what to love, a girl finds the meaning of the starry sky, and an assassin sheds a tear of remorse... There are English reviews.  
    3. Koigoromo ~Mazu wa Korekite!~ 恋衣~まずはコレ着て!~ [091120] Catear One day, Minoru tells Sachi that he loves her. Sachi is surprised and says, "If you could disguise yourself as a girl, I'd say yes!" On the next day, Minoru appears in front of Sachi in a girl's school uniform. Sachi is excited to see his beauty and decides to... It's basically an animated trap game in specific style made for girls.  
    4. Usotsuki to Inugamitsuki ウソツキと犬神憑き [091120] Kuroneko-san Team Tsukumo’s father had always told him not to be near the forest when dusk approaches. However, he was curious and often tread near the forest even though he cannot walk well due to an accident. One day, he sees something red along the road… is this blood? Then he could smell the scent of a beast, even though he could not before. Was this the reason why he was told to stay away? It's about calm daily life at the shrine with various youkai. Then there are five different individual route with one counting as a True End. Atmospheric work with unusual heroines, but don't expect a thrilling story.  
    5. Shiden ~Enkan no Kizuna~ 紫電~円環の絆~ [091126] Akatsuki Works Hibiki 1 2  In this world, there are people with special abilities. Behind the face of normal human lives, people fight. Be it creatures from the dead, other humans or even creatures between themselves. That always happens, but the balance of the world is always maintained. This time, things are not going so smoothly. One man, together with three of his subordinates rise up from the dead. They seek destruction and control over the entire world. The four undead beings that cannot be killed now wages war against the world, starting from Japan. Their key is the shrine maiden, the only one left of her kind. There are English reviews.  
    6. Puzzle -Bokura no 48 Jikan Sensou- パズル −ぼくらの48時間戦争− [091126] Kadokawa Shoten A group of masked terrorists assaults an elite high school. The talented students will have to find a way to avoid being killed while also finding a way out. Timed search for pieces in order to escape? Too many elements that I detest.  
    7. Atori no Sora to Shinchuu no Tsuki アトリの空と真鍮の月 [091127] TopCat There is a school in a small village. One day, Haito, who is back to the village for the first time in six years, transfers to this school, but there are only four female students. According to them, people in the village believe in some kind of god. As he lives there, he gradually finds a secret the villagers try to hide... Beginning is atmospheric, but as the whole gods battle unfolds it gets confusing. Protagonist is cursed, and heroines try to break it, and scenario is the same for every girl. Heroines are rather interesting, so it's a good game if contrast between SOL beginning and fantasy development does not scare you.  
    8. Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recordare” Baldr Sky Dive2 “Recordare” [091127] Team Baldrhead 1 2 3 4 5 6 One day, Kadokura Kou awakes in a virtual battlefield. He, who is a skilled Simulacrum user, soon remembers that he was pursuing someone with Rain, his partner. Kou and Rain investigate the incident that ruined his peaceful school life known as "Gray Christmas", but various mysteries stand in the way of the truth. As time passes, he gradually regains his lost memories and re-unites with his friends. When all of the mysteries congregate, the door of truth opens... Action is localized and has English reviews.  
    9. Dark Blue [091127] LiLiM DARKNESS 1 2  "I'll save you right away!" I try to open the door, but I can't.... I try again, but nothing happens.... "Do I need a key to open this door?" But I don't have enough time to look for it. I can't open it.... I can't open.... I can't.... "Noooooooooooooo!!" I hear your scream from inside.... I can do nothing.... You'll never come back... never.... There are English reviews.  
    10. Imouto Smile 妹スマイル [091127] Citoron Soft Living alone in a huge mansion after the death of his parents, our protagonist gazes outside and sees a cute girl. He thinks to himself that life would be so much better if she was his little sister, a part of his family. He then hears a knock at his door and the girl introduces herself as his little sister. Imouto moege.  
    11. Natsuiro Penguin 夏いろペンギン [091127] Little Princess Since his parents have gone abroad on business, he now lives at his cousin's house in a town, where he used to live. He meets various childhood friends there. It's busy, but he enjoys his school life. This is a love comedy adventure game taken place in a small town. Who will stay by his side in the end...? It's basically a failed moege since heroines are drawn cute on the surface, but in fact are just templates with zero attraction. Text is really bad, first H event is sudden.  
    12. Sorafune そらふね [091127] Dandelion The world is full of mysteries. Even though the adults laugh and think it’s just pretending to explore and chasing a childhood dream, a group of friends head out to investigate these mysteries and understand the truth behind things in this world. I played it over a decade ago and wrote some impression that never published. So here it goes. Story takes place around our time, but technology was developing in a way that it became almost magic-like. 60 years ago protagonist Shinichi grandpa made first contact with aliens and learned to make intelligent androids. Story takes place in a maze of unexplored routes and roads that academy students set to explore. I had hoped for an average adventuring story since there were at least several sword-wielding characters, an adventuring party and an elf. So elf turned out to be alien exchange student, adventuring party - a group of powerless students and adventuring story turned into very vague mystery. All the plot actually takes only couple sentences - students found some kind of small spaceship in the underground maze and were led back home by some wizard. Later on that wizard revealed himself as some old dragon reincarnation and was put down by common efforts of academy staff and students. So the other 99% of the game time is pretty much another charage. Characters were actually memorable and well done, but with various nuts in their heads. Humor was ok, and I especially appreciated that two chibi characters constantly cut into narration to explain different setting details. To sum it up, it was a good try but weird setting and forcing charage over plot killed interest for me quite early.  
    13. Toshi Densetsu wa Hito o Kuu 都市伝説は人を喰う [091127] Setsugetsuka Software There is a rumor about "Tokiko's Cell Phone". If you call Tokiko, you'll need to remove her curse. If you don't, you'll die... One day, Atsushi, who works at a cafe, accidentally calls Tokiko. He soon decides to take action to get rid of her curse with other workers. Well, will he be able to get rid of her curse or...? We choose a girl and inspect locations with her every day trying to set flags. This mundane activity takes most of game's time. Eventually there is a crappy H event, and the curse is solved. The End.   BLOCKED   1. Last Waltz ~Hakudaku Mamire no Natsu Gasshuku~ Last Waltz~白濁まみれの夏合宿~ [091127] Guilty 1 
    It was just supposed to be a summer training. Yuki is a caretaker of the baseball club. She and other members stay at a training camp on the isolated island now. But one day, a civil war breaks out. Male teachers leave the island to see what's going on. However, they never come back. Several days later, they know that their ship is wrecked. Nothing to drink, nothing to eat, they gradually lose their self-control...
    Nukige, only including it because of missable review   2. Suzunone Seven! -Sweet Lovers' Concerto- スズノネセブン!-Sweet Lovers’Concerto- [091127] Clochette 1 2  Suzunone Seven! -Sweet Lovers' Concerto- includes several short stories with eight pretty characters. -Yuzuri's Story- Two months have passed since the trial. I am now living a peaceful life with my friends. Just one week before the graduation ceremony, Yuzuri visits Yukimura's house to write a speech in reply given during the ceremony.... Fandisc
  21. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Chronopolis for a blog entry, Soukou Akki Muramasa 装甲悪鬼村正 [Nitroplus]   
    Foreword: I somehow did not play this Nitroplus game earlier, but its universally high scores are intriguing.  Synopsis: In the first half of 20th century, Rokuhara Shogunate rules Japan with an iron fist of robotic suits of armor called Tsurugi, while the West wants to turn Japan into another military base. A policeman called Kageaki Minato arrives into a city of Kamakura to solve various different cases involving Tsurugi users (or Mushas), and when all other means are proven useless, defeats them with a skillful use of his own Tsurugi, the bloody red Muramasa. But he doesn't do that out of justice. He only wants to atone for his past sins and to defeat the most powerful Musha, one known as the Silver Star. “The devil I shall meet, the devil I shall cut. The saint I shall meet, the saint I shall cut.” This is the phrase that Kageaki says when fusing with Muramasa, and this is the phrase that tells both his past and his future… "Good and evil balance out each other." "This is not a hero's story. Those who aspire to become heroes are not needed." Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv8FwPtJGPnPuXZexYlIOvlf   Character Design rating: 10/10 Protagonist rating: 10/10 Story rating: 10/10 Game quality: 10/10 Overall rating: 10/10 You see the scores. I was absolutely sure that nothing can beat Coμ - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku this year since I rate it as 10/10, but Coμ is a conventional yet well done chunige while Muramasa is something abnormal, impossible, one of a kind - and in this regard beyond comparison. As usual, I'm going to be brief with impression since many people did it much better already (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9). Even more brief than usual since there is nothing to complain about. Can't attend any issues without mentioning the length of the game. It took me 105 hours to beat. That's insane. The script size says that it's roughly twice smaller than Steel and half smaller than Reconquista, but it's not how it feels as Steel took me 80 hours to finish and Reconquista just 42 hours. In Soukou Akki Muramasa some scenes need to be replayed for further routes, and everyone is voiced, so I guess it's an optical illusion of some kind, but it definitely feels that Soukou Akki Muramasa is the longest visual novel game that I ever played. Not going to trample over concept or characters (except that I hate Kanae for never opening eyes as eyes is the most important element in design of any character) - it has been done numerous times already. What I wish to focus on is what makes this game special. There are very few visual novels that don't center around heroines in some way. Most of those vns come from pre-Leaf era when there was no habit to prepare routes for different heroines (e.g. Eve: Burst Error or Luv Wave). Soukou Akki Muramasa does not focus on heroines at all. It's not a love story - heroines are just individualistic tag-alongs developing specific qualities inside protagonist. And for the same reason game is not afraid to get rid of the heroines. Routes distinction in Soukou Akki Muramasa is very formal and can be easily transformed to naming of personality traits or just remembering structure only by five plot chapters. Another thing that I adore in the game is constant urge to know what happens next. I can't actually remember any other visual novel with comparable thriller element involved. Text is very well done with descriptions and infodumping kicking in rarely. Everything is built around dialogues, and with every single side-character voiced it feels alive. Soukou Akki Muramasa hits all the right spots for me, but first chapter is worth reading even for chuni haters for its incomparable experience and impact. It's an epic integrate project that was only possible during golden age of visual novels. But its scale will astonish many generations to come.
  22. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from fun2novel for a blog entry, Abyss -Homicide Club- 殺人クラブ [Festival]   
    Foreword: Abyss is one of the more known doujin games and even has a fuwanovel recommendation page. But I could find only one English review, so it needs to be fixed asap. Synopsis: Sasayama Akira was born into a family of assassins and trained as a child to become one of them. However, due to psychological issues, his father decided to send Akira to a relative's house, to live a normal life. Several years later, Akira gets asked by the student council president to investigate a rumor of a group called Abyss, a shadowy group of students responsible for abducting and killing students in a grotesque game. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv_JpraEZN60LRLufWm3loZt   Character Design rating: 7/10 Protagonist rating: 7/10 Story rating: 8/10 Game quality: 7/10 Overall rating: 7/10 I'm still not ready to evaluate a doujin game without voicing too high. And abyss is huge. It was actually delivered in three different issues before the complete version with first one seeing the light in September 2007. As a result, completing all the routes took 38 hours, and such volume without voicing can be difficult to digest. The concept is simple - murders start to happen at school, and protagonist is dragged by a masked person to join the game. Basically, it's common battle royale concept that is popular in doujin chunige. But the actual game is neither pure survival like Killer Queen nor the battle of wits and hints like Umineko. We strive to survive, but also gather hints about opponents identities as well as learn to counter them. Quite a few mysteries pile up, and final Nami routes gives a lot of answers about protagonist past and ABYSS. And it's also not a simple mortal combat style game, because assassin means are deadly and fast, but also because multiple viewpoints are given throughout the story. We even start as a girl protagonist in common route. There's a lot to uncover, so mystery persists till the end. As for deficiencies, I still don't like this concept just because it's battle royale. Participants are placed in a limited space so that they make the story themselves like a sandbox. A lot of stuff and twists are put on top of that to make forget about the core concept, but I still don't see an interesting story behind it all. Well, I did not like any game with similar concept, even FSN, so safely ignore this point. It's been a long time since I played a game with a zero voicing. It's a matter of habit, but everything gets a huge minus from me because of that. BGM is mostly good, but there are some with just a few sounds on repeat to create tension or smth, and I'd rather hear normal melodies. Game system is horrible for auto reading. I had to put lowest possible speed, but huge chunks of text disappeared too fast after small ones, and vice versa. CG are uneven. Basically, all heroines are strong, but in other people's routes they become weak. Another nitpick is that setting of ABYSS organization feared even by police is loosely shaped, lacks detail. Battles are depicted poorly and settled with one blow usually, but buildup and wits battle prior to that is nice. Some heroines routes bring little new and can be considered bonus ones. Enough with negative points. On a bright side, in every route characters are mercilessly butchered, and you never know who or when gets to die. So there's a lot of room for emotional approach. Every heroine has her own story and motivation, and with so many masks identities remain unknown. Hints recovered throughout the game create doubts, but final route managed to take me by surprise, anyway. The good thing is that only couple heroines have traditional love scenes, some have violation, and Nonko has none at all. As you see, despite simple concept there's a lot of room for mystery, wits, tactics, twists, emotions and in-depth character stories. Don't let my evaluation scare you as it includes personal reasons. If you find such game enticing, you most assuredly won't be disappointed.
  23. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Chronopolis for a blog entry, Concerto Note コンチェルトノート [Applique]   
    Foreword: I guess Concerto Note won the poll for extra review, because of partial English release that turned out to be a total scam covering literally only the first three minutes of the game where absolutely nothing is told, and no introductions are made. A lot of years ago I took this bait as well. Now it's time to satisfy that curiosity.
    Synopsis: Shinya is stuck! He is forced to leave school when he comes back to school after long hospitalization. But one day, he meets his childhood friend, Rito, and she tells him about a new school and an western-style old house. Like this, he comes back to his hometown and meets Wakana, Shirayuki, Seika, and Sayori there. Kind people and new house... One night, a strange girl appears in front of him and says, "You'll die in ten days..." Her name is Tama and she kindly gives him the power to prevent it. However, this means he borrows luck from her in advance. From that day, various mishaps happen to Shinya and his friends. To stop it, they will need to get rid of other people's misfortunes... Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv9VENhmo_xhRdI9BEcFEP8I Game type: Plotge
    Character Design rating: 8/10
    Protagonist rating: 6/10
    Story rating: 6/10
    Game quality: 7/10
    Overall rating: 7/10
    As usual, if game has review coverage, I'm happy to present it (1 2 3 4). I did not pick this game on my free will earlier, because I'm strongly prejudiced against games revolving around luck concept. It's just so unrealistic that it makes me want to facepalm. Concept is rather simple and it's all in the synopsis. Tama prevents death and that eats up all protagonist's luck. Concerto Note is called a game for Rito and Tama for a serious reason. Other four main heroines have rather simple personalities and routes composition. In those routes H events are piled at the end, and luck mystery is resolved half-heartedly or even susbstitured with love, so protagonist can't see Tama anymore. Rito route on the other hand only has short H scenes in the middle, but the focus is on resolving the mystery up to the end of the route. Basically, only Rito route makes Concerto Note a plotge. Rito also has outstanding personality being an excessively rational genius and a childhood friend. But if you think that game revolutionarry breaks with tradition starting from ToHeart to present childhood friends as boring vegetables, you're only half right, because Wakana plays this role here just fine. Don't have much to say about this game, so let's see its downsides. Graphics is rough in many CG. Flowchart is pretty much useless as its only meaning is to present routes in forced order. Game has little humor in it. True End reminds me of Air too much, and I hate Air. Main character produces positive impression in SOL scenes, but suddenly becomes abuser in H events. Other four main heroines did not impress me, even Seika failed to meet expectations. I evaluate the whole luck concept really low. After Rui wa Tomo o Yobu approach to dealing with the curse is much weaker in Concerto Note. Basically, Rito is the only element that makes game memorable and outstanding. Interaction with her is always interesting, so I'll let the game slip as girigiri masterpiece. But there are other good features as well. Three male sub-characters are actually depicted rather well, not like usual placeholders for classmates. But what allows to keep reader's attention is good tempo and absence of forced scenes. Flow feels natural. So I'd say that text is skillfully written as it manages to advance story painlessly without tilt into humor or parody. I'd say that Concerto Note is a good game for beginners or those who can accept such concept. I could not suppress irritation during the read.  
  24. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Chronopolis for a blog entry, VN of the Year 2008 and POLL for EXTRA review   
    Year 2008 started with two failed months, continued strong, but by the end lost a lot of appeal for me. There is not a single full 10/10 masterpiece (although technically Dies irae reworked version may be counted), but the overall number of masterpieces is again 20, exactly the same as in 2007, so can't complain here. New portion of Visual Novel Openings 2008 with songs.
    My list of masterpieces in 2008:
    11eyes -Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shoujo- 12Riven -The Ψcliminal of Integral-  428 ~Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de~ Aion Garden Aoishiro Bifronte ~Kugaitou Kitan~ Chrono Belt ~Ayakashibito & Bullet Butlers Crossover Disc~ Concerto Note  Eien no Owari ni G-senjou no Maou Gouen no Soleil -Chaos Region- Kagerou Touryuuki Kara no Shoujo Nidaime wa ☆ Mahou Shoujo Princess Frontier Rui wa Tomo o Yobu  Sora o Tobu, 3tsu no Houhou  Sumaga Tri☆Stars Volume 7 A number that becomes magical for each year. Wanted to catch up with micchi blog that started monthly overviews in late 2008, and I'm finally there. As for VN of the Year, i'd nominate 12Riven -The Ψcliminal of Integral- .
    Covered three years in visual novels over these eight months, but now I'm taking a month or so break from new posts - will rest, update old posts with newly added works and fulfill a number of youtube requests to add leftover routes. See you somewhere in October. But last post before the short break will be extra review for the year 2008, of course. Traditionally, adding here untranslated masterpiece games that I did not pick up for review throughout the year, and if five slots aren't filled, getting some curious non-masterpieces in addition. Let's choose an EXTRA review for 2008 in this poll:
    Concerto Note  Sin Kurotoki Iro no Shoujo Sora o Tobu, 3tsu no Houhou  Sumaga Wizard Girl Ambitious
  25. Like
    kivandopulus got a reaction from Chronopolis for a blog entry, 永遠の終わりに Eien no Owari ni [Tama-Soft]   
    Foreword: There was very limited selection of games to choose from in December, but I chose Eien no Owari ni because of phrase unfinished masterpiece that I glanced in some review. The fact that Tama-Soft made Lost Child also matters a lot for me.

    Synopsis:
    There is a high school that will be closed down soon - one day, Keisuke transfers to that very specific school. On his first day, he visits the newspaper club, but Ryo, the club's leader, acts very coldly towards him. He soon finds out that the club has been doing nothing due to lack of club members. For some reason, the members are also very distant from each other...
    He gets interested in their strange relationship and decides to join the club. After joining, the atmosphere of the club gradually changes and their new relationship is established. However, he accidentally gets to know the reason why the members used to be distant to each other. It happened just when he transferred to the school...
    Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs4Gp5VU4Fv9HyOG7idnOMuKaGgSeqEFs
    Game type: Growth mystery nakige
    Character Design rating: 8/10
    Protagonist rating: 7/10
    Story rating: 7/10
    Game quality: 5/10
    Overall rating: 7/10

    In the end it's a SOL nakige with a twist of mystery, so just not a fitting genre for me, but still a masterpiece! It usually says a lot. It's rare to find something original and with human-like heroines in nakige, but it's exactly such case. But let's not jump to conclusions before the main part.

    Concept is actually unusual. I can't avoid minor spoilers which are needed to promote uniqueness of this game. So Keisuke comes to school and tries to unite newspaper ghost club who suddenly broke apart after some incident last year. And first week of the game is just perfect, a supreme masterpiece. Then during second and third week nothing really new happens, and at all ends in super aggressive development and denouement. As for scenario parts, we start as Keisuke, but then after flagging a heroine we suddenly turn into past with another protagonist Keiichi. And we already know that something bad happened to Keiichi, which resulted in club stopping activities. And we eventually get to the point when this something bad happens. But afterwards we get to present already, but we can't be sure of protagonist identity anymore. It might be Keisuke, might be Keiichi, might be the same person. Keisuke disappears from everyone's memory. It remains as a big mystery. And basically in this game past determines future. Past incident is different for each heroine, so future differs greatly, but considered the bad incident it's unwise to expect a happy ending.

    There are a lot of downsides of this game, hence the unfinished masterpiece label. Engine is even worse than in Lost Child in my opinion. I did not find text speed settings, so in the end text drew not instantly for me, and with higher than needed speed. Scenario is not impressive and has inconsistencies of common route with individual routes due to multiple scenario writers. Heroines are not flashy and lack charm. There are a lot of colorful side-characters, but none of them has voicing, so silence can last for a long time. Hozuki route is significantly shorter than the other two, and since Hozuki route is supposed to be the last, it creates a bad aftertaste. Absence of happy ending does not help evaluation either. There are only three routes which is below standard of four-five nowadays. No true route.

    In game's defense, it is able to nurture sense of uniqueness and present great nostalgia atmosphere and bgm. First week is the paragon of an inspiring beginning. Game is able to remain mysterious thanks to the false protagonist move. Heroines in this game are very human-like, not tied by any cliche. Clumsy relations with these heroines are really cute. It's very rare nowadays when creators realize the inevitable bad impression, but stay true to their concept and don't introduce standard elements to appeal to everyone. Eien no Owari is the last and lesser known game of Tama-Soft, but discovering such gems is twice as pleasant.

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