snowbell55

Any reason why Majikoi A-5 is more desired than Majikoi A-4? Seems a bit strange to see that...

These sales are so tempting . On the one hand, there are a lot of titles I want to read (like ef: a fairy tale of the two and the Da Capo trilogy). On the other, I already have a lot of VNs I need to finish and the prices will likely be the same during the holidays...

I agree here. Like, my most anticipated release is Amagami, and as has been said, I wouldn't be able to read it at all if it weren't for the team putting in the effort to translate it and also make sure the VN works with the translation. That's just one of 4 VNs in the same series (I mean spiritual successor here not literal series): KimiKiss, Photo Kano, Reco Love being the others, and of those 4 two have anime and/or manga releases that divert from the source VNs. That's just an example of one series, but again, those are all VNs that probably won't get localizations, meaning it's either hope for a fan translation, or learn Japanese, which isn't necessarily possible for some people and will also take rather a long time. I can understand wanting to have the translation be an excellent one, but TBH at the end of the day I'd rather be able to read the story, and doing so in English is (for me) far easier and faster than doing so in Japanese. I can understand too (and sympathise with) having higher standards for an official release (for obvious reasons), but again, I care most about the story, and if I care enough about the story to want to read it then having a readable translation is what matters to me. It's the same thing with H-scenes. Do you get the full content and breadth of the experience that you would if you were reading the original release? No, but what you *do* get is in a format that's easier to digest and still provides you with the story that you couldn't read otherwise.

I think it'd be The House in Fata Morgana for me. I feel really bad saying that (a friend gifted it to me) but I can't seem to get into it and whenever I try and read it, I wind up feeling super sleepy within 30 or so minutes. I wish I could get into it, and I want to keep trying to do so as it seems to be a really well received and interesting VN, based off comments both here and elsewhere, but I haven't quite figured out how to get past wanting to sleep...

Happy belated birthday @Kiriririri and @littleshogun, and happy birthday to @Mr Poltroon. Hope you all have had (or will have) a wonderful day :).

I'd agree with alpacaman in that it does depend on what kind of story you're looking for, but there are several really good titles on your list - several have mentioned Grisaia (I'd recommend that as well) but there's also Fate/Stay Night, and Steins;Gate (both of which are very good reads if you're into something a bit more serious) as well as a bunch of others I don't know enough about to comment, so I'll stick to a more general recommendation for choosing what to read when. Maybe you can read one or two of the shorter VNs to help you get into the flow of things, before tackling some of the longer VNs - all three of the ones I mentioned above do have some SoL parts that (depending on your tastes and mood) can be slow to get through. If you want to get stuck into a particular world/story for a long time right now I'd recommend Grisaia since the first is on its own quite long and you have both expansions so assuming you like it you can keep reading afterwards. Given your comments in the anime thread, I'd probably put Toradora Portable further away, so you have time to digest the anime before diving in to [what is probably] the more story-dense VN. Other than that I think pick one and commit to reading it and think about the other options as little as possible (easy to say but hard to do) while you read the one you've picked.

Happy birthday to @wei123 and @Kabu - hope you both have a great day :D.

Thanks for the post - this looks really interesting in terms of the theme, and I like the art style a lot as well. Going to be following the progress intently.

Same here, except for the bit about liking Miagete since I haven't read that yet. Definitely looking forward to this, though, for multiple reasons, but I'll be drawing a lot of comparisons to Hatsukoi 1/1 for obvious reasons. One would be that I like the artstyle and the use of vibrant colors in general, like in this pic. It is very vivid, and I like the lighting as well. One thing Hatsukoi 1/1 did very well was the CGs and just general backgrounds, and this looks (at first glance) to be much the same, and the soundtrack is likely to be in the same bag there as well. I also liked Hatsukoi 1/1's characters and comedy (especially the side characters), and they could well be improved here too I'm also optimistic that the "proactive protagonist" tag will mean not having to read through frustrating routes like that VN had. I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is that IMO Hatsukoi 1/1, despite its weaknesses, did have several strong points and made me like (and hope for) Tone Works' output: I'm hopeful that this would be a [much] better read. Another big reason is that IMHO the way Tsurezure Scans handled Hatsukoi 1/1 was very impressive - speeding through it so quickly and putting out a very solid patch. They've gone back and redone it but tbh I didn't find any issues I can remember with the first release, so even if they take twice as long with this patch, I'm optimistic that it'll still come out very well in the end. Hopefully they can go onwards to Gin'iro, Haruka after - there's nothing wrong with being greedy from time to time, right? :D. Wow - when i started writing this, my stance was more one of "keep an eye on it" but now I really want to read it :S. Between the star/astronomy theme, the standard high-school-romance theme, and things like "pure love story" and "osananajimi heroine" in the tags, it should be a good and relaxing read.

Just wondering for curiosity's sake more than anything: is the "Prototype" mentioned on the bottom right of the pic the same "Prototype" that were involved with Little Busters English Edition, or?

What do you think of Da Capo 3 X-Rated? Have you read any of the others in the trilogy before? Y'know, I've been thinking for a bit that our tastes seem to be pretty similar and having read your review of this I now am convinced they are and kind of really really want to read this. I was interested at first, but that combo of tsundere + childhood friend + twintails + canon heroine is much too strong for me to ignore lol. Thanks for writing the review :D.

LOL Yuma. Yuma is excellent and hilarious :D. I'd also submit Shinonome Satsuki from Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate, but you have to finish the VN at least once before you can get to her route.

Your post spoils a pretty important part of the route... Regardless, yes that's the heroine in question. Explanation below and hidden in case someone wants to go into the VN blind.

I've already posted the story of how I learned about VNs here. What made me stay with VNs instead of anime, manga, or light novels, though, is several things. 1: I like that the stories are mostly complete, compared to anime/manga which can often tell only part of the story before stopping (something like Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry for example, has more LNs than the anime adaptation presents), or can get cancelled partway through leaving the story unfinished. I really don't like unfinished stories. This pair of issues seems to be especially prevalent with anime which can change (sometimes drastically) between the VN and the anime - just one example would be Kimikiss, which apparently split the MC (from the VN) into two and focused on two heroines apiece. I might be wrong but I think the fifth heroine wasn't really present in the anime either. 2: I like several of the common tropes present in VNs/anime/manga/light novels (like childhood friends and high schools and tsunderes and crazy, sometimes out-of-this-world stories), so I get to enjoy them for that, but fortunately VNs wind up being longer than most of the other formats so there's more time to get engaged in the stories that're told. I guess it gives me an idea of what to expect but not have all the details laid out allowing me to be surprised. Kind of like going to a buffet restaurant, but having the actual meal be something different every time, in a sense? 3: I like that you have choice in where and how you want the story to progress, rather than being tied to just one interpretation (as you would be with most manga or anime). I find this especially useful for romance VNs (which I read often): compared to romance anime you get to pick your favorite heroine, and you aren't obliged to even read the routes of heroines you dislike, whereas with an anime or a manga (or an LN), that choice wouldn't be available to you. 4: In addition to being complete, you often get more than one genuinely distinct story with a VN. Something like Fate/Stay Night, for example, gives you three of them, whereas the anime adaptations have had to split that into one season (Fate), two seasons (UBW) and three movies (HF) respectively. I find that to be a lot less common with the other formats, and I feel like it helps me to get more value for money out of VN purchases as a result: if you like the world there are multiple stories that can be told without having to start reading a whole new story from scratch and get over the hump of "who are these characters, what's the setting, etc".

Well, I get to cross an item off my VN bucket list today - I finished off The Fruit of Grisaia. Just the Yumiko route, mind, but still, I'm really happy about it as it's one VN I've been wanting to read since having finished Katawa Shoujo, which means, in essence, about as long as I've been reading VNs. Unfortunately, though, I didn't really like it and I'm quite underwhelmed thus far (probably due to having overly high expectations). Part of that is probably because I wasn't actually all that interested in Yumiko (I stumbled onto her route by accident) and the other part is most likely because I found her route to be, well, underwhelming. The Fruit of Grisaia Yumiko route spoilers Things aren't all bad though - I really liked the SD art, and the common route sections were great too. I also like the music, and the extras portion of the VN is the best I've come across yet, with several options I've not seen before, like being able to choose specific scenes to replay. I really like the amount of options they packed in there. I'm still hoping (and expecting) that the other routes will be better, and I'm going in terms of least interested to most interested, so will read the Makina route next, then Sachi, then Amane or Michiru (still undecided) before finishing with whichever route from the previous two I haven't read yet. It is entirely possible, though, that I might make a pit stop and read eden* before continuing onwards.

Wait what happened with Narcissu? Why was reading it at a summer resort that bad? Thank you both! I'll be sure to do so in one or two sessions then. This is really helpful since I was thinking it'd be easiest to read through it over the course of a week or so. Would like to get the most out of it though. Hopefully it'll live up to the hype :D.

More than me, that's for sure! Thanks again - it's much appreciated :).

Thanks a lot - I really appreciate it! Just one other thing then - is 8-10h an accurate assessment of the length or?

I need to read Eden*. Going to have to bump it up on the to-read list. Is it really depressing though, or (assuming you can answer without spoilers)? Not quite up for something that's too "hit you in the feels" atm.

I'd say "a bit mean" is a fair assessment, but then again I do like the character in question, and said character (Sumiyoshi Chisato) is polarizing (partly because of her behavior, and partly because you're forced to read her route first, as it is important for later routes). If you want to try Koichoco and it looks like something you'd be interested then give it a shot - it's got quite a few positives to stand in contrast to the negatives. To stick to the topic at hand, I try and give a VN a few hours and if I'm really not feeling it I move on. I've realized that some VNs do take time to get going, so it's not fair to judge them super early, but after that period (2-3 hours) if I'm not interested then I move on to another VN. The hard part is usually at the beginning though, but the same rule applies if it does start to get dull: stop and read something else. I just don't think it's worthwhile to try and force myself to enjoy something when there are other stories out there that likely don't need as much "forcing" for me to enjoy.

I'd agree with Kiriririri but say that it depends on the VN. For some VNs you're not going to miss anything (Clannad PS4 for example) but for some you're probably going to be missing out (Grisaia Vita). Admittedly neither of those directly apply to your question, but it is worth noting that you'd be best off figuring out what your position on H-scenes is in general before deciding to read on those platforms. Like Kiriririri said though, the library is going to be very limited (unless you understand Japanese), so (if possible) moving to PS4 or better yet PC will mean being access several (and a lot, respectively) more than what you would with the Switch and Vita. That said, advantages to reading on those platforms would be portability (making it easier to read while out and about if that's something that concerns you), trophies (for Vita that is), and also (though this depends on you) being a physically more comfortable experience than sitting and reading on a TV (via a console) or monitor (for PC). Also, this doesn't really apply to being more romance-focused, but there are quite a few VNs / otome titles that aren't on PC that you could read (Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and bad Apple Wars being but two examples). For what it's worth, I've taken to preferring to read multiplatform VNs on console (PS4 that is) over PC if possible, because while I do like reading on PC, I also really like earning trophies and VNs are good for that. I also find that physical releases of a VN are more common on consoles so I can get them without breaking the bank, and I also am not as worried about H-scenes being there or not there.

I've been reading The Fruit of Grisaia and enjoying it thus far. I find that it looks (on the surface) similar to a lot of stuff I've read, but yet it keeps subverting my expectations, so I'm very interested to see how it winds up in the end. I like the background art, though, and the music isn't bad either. I also can't help but notice that I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Yuuji, but it's admittedly refreshing for him to be the way he is rather than the more generic "I've done loads of part time jobs" "superman" that Masaya and Takumi were from Princess Evangile and Noble Works respectively. So far though, the standout has to be Michiru who is, frankly, hilarious. They chose a GREAT VA for her, and whenever she starts whining, there's this kind of high pitched twing in her voice that makes her sound really frustrated. It's hilarious :D. And the things that Michiru does (and doesn't do) just wind up being so ridiculous and funny. I usually try and save my favorite heroine for last, and I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I want that to be Michiru or Amane. It's strange - usually I wind up binging a VN (even ones I'm not super enthused for), and that hasn't happened here, but I'm still enjoying it a bunch. We'll see how it goes.

That's a really fantastic collection :D. It's always nice to look at collection pics, and VN collection pics especially since they seem to be relatively rare. I said it before in a thread of yours a few weeks ago but the PE physical copy is the one I'd want most but I think I've missed the boat on that one . If you don't mind sharing, what did you think of ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two and Gin'iro, Haruka? And also, what are the two Favorite titles in the second Japanese PC VN pic? It's also surprising to see how many of those VNs have animes as well...

Putting this in spoilers in case someone else doesn't want to see it. This doesn't spoil events, just the VN title.

Just a bit confused here so I'm not following where you're coming from. What about Mangagamer would make them seem like they don't plan things through? I agree with your other comments and for me they've become my second favorite localizer behind Mangagamer. I really like the no-fuss approach they've taken to, as well as the committment to 18+ Steam patches. That and their announcements are more often than not for stuff that fits my tastes.