Plk_Lesiak

'06? We have quite a veteran here then! Welcome to Fuwa, I hope you'll find our little community satisfactory.

Yeah, it's definitely an important topic, after all western VNs have to differentiate in some ways to actually get any kind of footing, being "like the Japanese stuff but without the budget" is not really a place you want your game to be in as a developer. For now, I think, the biggest source of strenght for OELVNs is different profile of the creators (a lot of women and people that don't blindly copy the more problematic tropes typical for Japanese media). I absolutely adore some things that come from Yuri Game Jam or NaNoRenO because of the originality and passion involved in those projects, but also how they construct female characters and romance. But these are mostly very niche products produced by individuals or tiny teams, bigger studios need to have a bit more courage in finding their own paths for the genre to lose a bit of its "weeb" stigma and have any chance to reach a broader audience, or even to get proper respect from the current VN fanbase. And the fact that people always argue both ways with this topic simply means there's no one "right" approach, the quality of the end effect is most important. Although, the market seems to be getting oversaturated, being generic is probably the worst thing you can do in a time like this (unless you can offer enough shiny anime boobs to bait in the ecchi crowd, after all, the VN sales on Steam might be going to s****, but not for Nekopara and Sakura games :p).

Thank you! ^^ I've touched on the artstyle thing a bit in my Starlight Vega review and various posts both on the blog and all over the forums. I think some people might be hesitant to play a game with a very distinct, western artstyle, such as Cinders, but more often than not games that try something different, but keep the art decent-quality and consistent are well received. In today's post you have the example of Brilliant Shadows, most of Ebi-Hime's work is also pretty far-detached from generic anime style, but is widely appreciated. I think it's a bit of a superstition that VN fans are very conservative in this regard - how the OELVN market looks is more about the developers not wanting to experiment/taking the relatively easy and safe road of imitating what everyone is used to seeing, rather than attempting to create a unique aesthetic.

Confirming that the links didn't work for me without turning on my VPN. The whole series is untranslated so don't have much use for these ATM, but they look cute I guess... EDIT: I might just hoard them for the distant future when I'm able to read them though...

Happy Chinese New Year! Well, while most of you dirty Westerners might not care about the lunar calendar, Steam definitely does care, as just yesterday evening a new giant Steam sale started. It's a pretty short one (will only last till Monday), so I was in a slight rush to put this out, but thankfully I've managed and can offer you another list on recommendations for OELVN that are on sale now and definitely worth your money. Of course, remember that there's a lot amazing offers on JP VN, including a -60% discount on Steins;Gate, a -55% one on Nurse Love Addiction and another huge sale on Clannad. Still, I always encourage you to look at the western-made side of things, this time exclusively with games costing below 10 dollars: Have a great week everyone and don't spend everything on VNs. Or maybe even do spend everything, let's support the market!

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! Just like during the Steam Winter Sale, I offer you a short list of interesting, worthwhile offers on Western-made VNs that popped up for the occasion of Chinese New Year. The Steam market is still a pretty strange place - since forever, some of the best OELVNs available there are absolutely free (honourable mentions in this regard go to Cinderella Phenomenon, Lucid9, One Thousand Lies and CUPID). Thankfully, there's also a lot of interesting, commercial titles that are worth your attention. Be sure to check the previous post, if you didn't buy the games listed there - most of them now have similar, or even deeper discounts. Now, to the new stuff! The order in which the games are listed is more or less random, and consider all of these games equally endorsed by me, unless I say otherwise in their descriptions. -------------------------------------------------------- Cursed Sight (-30%, $4.19) Invert Mouse was once a regular poster in the developer blog section of our forums - while he seemingly gave up on communicating with our little community, it shouldn't prevent us from appreciating his fairly unique, story-driven VNs. Cursed Sight is one of his earlier works, offering a fantasy setting stylized after ancient China and a story avoiding typical romance cliches, but rather trying to present interesting drama and ask some slight philosophical questions. While it's fairly unorthodox and might not be to everyone's taste, it's definitely worth trying out, especially for the current, modest price. The Last Birdling (-25%, $6.74) Continuing with Invert Mouse's work, his latest VN is an emotional story about friendship beyond prejudice and once more will offer you some pretty heavy, non-romantic drama that is far-detached from usual tropes of the genre. With production qualities somewhat higher than in IM's past titles, it's an interesting proposition for those looking for an enjoyable, slightly out-of-the-box experience. Sweetest Monster (-30%, $4.19) Ebi-Hime's horror kinetic novel is a very different piece of work than her yuri titles but offers one of the strongest additions to its genre among western-produced VNs. Viewed from the perspective of a middle-aged man going through a marital crisis, Sweetest Monster's themes and story structure will offer you a distinct, engrossing experience you won't easily forget - and all this coupled with really impressive production qualities. The Way We All Go (-75%, $1.49) The Way We All Go is one of Ebi-Hime's earliest titles and a relatively forgotten one, but the somewhat-simplistic visuals shouldn't fool you. It's a dark, complex story, with impressive route variety, a huge number of endings and solid writing - much longer and more intricate than the usual OELVN of that era and way beyond most things you can buy for such a small price. Just be sure you're ready to see some death and violence if you want to try this one out. Hate Plus (-33%, $6.69) I'm sure you did buy Analogue: A Hate Story the last time I told you to, so why not look at its sequel? Hate Plus follows essentially the same investigation/database exploration formula, this time showing us the events that led to the Mugunghwa "year zero" disaster - the incident which threw the colony ship off-course and started an age of technological and societal regress we can observe in Analogue. With more fleshed-out route system, immersive UI and the same great-quality writing, it's another top-rate western VN and a must read for those interested in our fledgeling weeb-game market. Love Ribbon (-30%, $6.99) Full-sister incest love story might sound like an excuse for trashy porn, but Love Ribbon takes this concept and does something you don't really see very often - make a serious, emotionally striking forbidden love drama, written in such a way that you can pretty easily imagine it happening in real life, with the same problems and outcomes as those shown in the game. While it has its share of unlockable h-scenes, Love Ribbon's core content makes it one of the most interesting and compelling examples of the genre even outside of just the OELVN scene and something I vigorously recommend to all yuri fans out there - also, the all-ages version should be a worthwhile read for anyone without clear aversion to shoujo-ai or incest themes. Sunrider: Liberation Day (-75%, $6.24) While for me personally the sequel to Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius felt in many ways like a step backwards when compared to the original, it's a quite interesting and enjoyable VN/turn-based strategy hybrid. Love in Space's ambition of conquering the Japanese market might have effected in a slightly bizarre, misguided attempt at "Japanisation", with full-JP voice acting and some caricaturally-implemented eroge tropes, but Liberation Day still captures quite a lot of the space-opera charm and well-developed gameplay that the series relies on. I would also like to mention that the first Sunrider is still one of the best free OELVNs out there, while during this sale you can also buy its rather amusing dating sim spin-off, Sunrider Academy, for close to nothing, 90% off the regular price. Crimson Gray (-50%, $4.99) Decent VNs centered around a yandere heroine are not something easy to find, no matter if we look at the Japanese or Western market. Crimson Gray takes that somewhat-ridiculed and often trashy theme and turns it into a solid, well-paced psychological horror. While in many ways minimalistic, it's a very focused and effective game - one that knows exactly what it wants to achieve and delivers in a way that should satisfy most fans of the genre. Brilliant Shadows - Part One of the Book of Magic (-30%, $4.89) One of the more unique and visually striking OELVNs on Steam offers many of the traits I most enjoy in non-JP visual novels - unorthodox story, unique setting, a strong female protagonist and yuri themes that go beyond fluffy romance or cheap fanservice. Non-Japanese voice acting, while not perfect, is quite solid here and the game as a whole shows a lot of imagination and character, being a worthy read for anyone looking for the less-usual approaches to the visual novel formula. Solstice (-60%, $7.99) After the highly-appreciated Cinders, MoaCube's second title further establishes that Studio's highly-distinct approach to the VN formula. With its extremely detailed, non-anime artstyle and intrigue slightly more akin to the classic western adventure game than typical visual novel storytelling, Solstice will definitely not be to everyone's liking. It's possible to argue though that the visual fireworks alone make it something worth experiencing, especially for the relatively modest price of $8. ----------------------------------------------------------- I hope you've found this list interesting (and possibly even helpful)! Making these let me realize how small the commercial OELVN market still is. While there is a substantial number of western VNs showing up every year, the most interesting ones even now tend to be freeware titles created by hobbyists, and the products that actually ask us to pay money for them are more often than not very average or impressive in some respects, but deeply flawed - those games might still be interesting to some but are quite hard to blindly recommend. There's a lot of talent and interesting ideas in the scene, but it takes quite a lot of time and dedication to dig through all the mediocre stuff (and the tons of utter shovelware infesting Steam) and find those few, truly valuable titles. Still, as long as I have time and strength for it, I will try to fish out worthwhile OELVNs for your (and my own) enjoyment. Have a great week everyone!

So, in the upper-left corner, you have a slight hint...

Hope you'll enjoy them! ^^ Professional voice acting is indeed expensive, but many English VNs are passion projects that amateurs work for with little pay (or completely without one). Sounds of Her Love was the first project by a studio that simply wanted to show themselves to the VN community in good fashion and is now working on a bigger, commercial title, also with voiced heroines. Seduce Me is a quintessence of amateur VN and is at times bizarre with its visuals and voices, but was made through a genuine effort of a fairly large team of people and can be quite amusing in its clunkiness. In general, apart from Pixelfade, very few Western studios did VA in a way I would really enjoy, most often it's either very inconsistent in quality or only partial (ex. another pretty horrible game, Sweet Volley High), and I really hate when the same characters have both dubbed and silent lines.

Uh, well, I know some, I'm just not sure whether I'm comfortable with recommending them. xD From the top of my head, Sounds of Her Love is a very simple, but cute (and free) romance VN with only one heroine, her VA is quite good. Seduce Me is another freebie, a very cheesy otome game with three yuri routes - it works well if you're into "it's so bad it's good" type of things. Sadly, most good western VNs actually know their limits and don't attempt full voice acting. What's strange, there's some with decent voice acting that are nonetheless utter trash and I wouldn't suggest anyone to read them (like with Carpe Diem: Reboot).

Welcome to Fuwa! Your English is really good BTW. There are obvious reasons why we don't see Japanese VN fans around here, but I think language barrier also adds to it. If you're looking to train your English and you're at least a bit interested in our western weeaboo culture, you should read Katawa Shoujo, it's free and all that. Also, the link in my signature leads to a blog all about the sad VN-imitations us weebs produce in the West.

Fault series is something you would probably enjoy.

This sounds good. Anyways, you probably won't bother, but I'm actually super interested in Fuwa history. You could tell us a bit about Steve and all the lolicon drama that led to banning the topic on the forums? And I wonder what happened to OriginalRen that he seemed so bitter about Fuwa by the end of his period of activity around here? I want to see all the dirt. (but I actually don't have the time to dig through the old posts much )

I remeber I've played with the slider set on pretty long delay and x8 mode. Is there a seperate text speed slider there? I don't think there's any secret/method to it, you just have to tweak it until you find the right balance (but yeah, I don't think x1 is ever useful, not sure how they came up with this system).

TBH, its probably one of the least disturbing things with "all loli heroines" tag. I would still rather avoid getting involved, hearing sirens or seeing a police car near my house would forever become a source of anxiety.

They're just like our lives, superficial, pointless things, spawned from ill-placed passions and ultimately futile. Meaningless in the scope of the universe and faint even within the span of human history. Why do we even bother?

It might a vote of pity, but I will nonetheless accept it and keep it close to my heart.

Fuwa takes pride in its quality shitposting, often elaborate to the point of utter confusion both on the side side of the spammers and their audience on to what extent their were serious and what they wanted to achieve in the first place.

No OELVN would win a content around here. Maybe on Steam, yes, but Fuwa is still way too much into weeb purity and appreciation of everything truly Japanese.

No worries - it's true, I think he would have to write the joke for the full effect. :> I appreciate the pun in my option though, it's now a major contester for my after-500-posts title. Earlier I was simply planning to go with "Dweeb", as I think my identification with early-Kaminomi Keima is only getting more valid over time.

I find this poll's lack of @Zander disturbing. Also, I barely resisted the temptation of selfcest, but the 0 votes I'll ultimately end up with will be an accurate indication of both my social status and my self-esteem, so I'm ok with it.

Confession: I was asked today whether I'm secretly @sanahtlig. I will take the fact someone seriously considered that being a possibility as a huge compliment.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Tell your waifus/husbandos that you love them, no matter how many dimensions they might have!

Good that it's the 2D games that really matter.

I've binged through the main storyline of Sunrider: Liberation Day last night (there goes my illusion of self-control) and man, when Mr. Poltroon said the series is "super-weeb"... Only after seeing the first ten minutes of the sequel I truly understood what he meant. It's actually pretty hilarious, how much they tried to make a Japanese game for the Japanese market, creating this bizarre caricature of one in the process. Without Japanese voice acting and all those weird cinematic cutscenes, the first game felt much less absurd and over-the-top, but I guess Liberation Day's camp has its own charm, you just need a bit of time to get adjusted to it. ;p The story however, especially the ending, felt like pure BS... Just the exact kind of contrived drama-factory and sequel-baiting I despise in many space operas - they just don't know when to stop with the weird plot twists and depressing turns of events. I think many people were as disappointed as I was, considering Love in Space made that alternative-timeline DLC with happy endings (and the possibility to chose romance routes, what was already a strange omission in what is essentially another space harem). Now, let's see what it has in stores for me...

Play Fragment's Note on your phone or tablet and learn the true meaning of mediocrity, even while taking a dump or being stuck in public transport.