Plk_Lesiak

As much as I believe you're right I don't think I'm brave enough to do without any AV software. It would freak me out with all the stuff I do on my PC.
I actually quite like my 360 Total Security, it has a few cool utilities outside of being a straight-up anti-virus. Might affect performance on weaker set-ups, but I'm now benefiting from a monster rig my brother have left behind when moving out, so CPU power is never an issue. :3
BTW, the said gamer's monster rig would most likely cry every night if it was sentient, being used primarily for writing in Word and displaying 2D anime ladies.

Well, thing is, you have no way of telling if that's true, and the record tells us that in fact it most likely is not.
As wary as you may be, there is certain malware that is simply unavoidable. Fortunately, we are not its target. 
Let's see, for the sake of an example, do you remember all the fuss Stuxnet made in 2012? That is deemed to be the greatest known endeavor to date in malware development, exploiting up to 4 zero-day vulnerabilities. FYI a zero-day vulnerability is an exploit the software company itself is not even aware of yet. They're obviously really difficult to find, and ludicrously expensive to buy, yet Stuxnet made use of 4. 
Well, when shit like that comes to light you realize that in all likelihood every system in the world is infected in one way or another. Even intelligence agencies put malware into commercial software. Ask Snowden about all that.

Antivirus is not enough! you need protegent, world's only antivirus with data recovery software.
Think beyond antivirus, think protegent!

Oh well, the e-mail adress not working would probably explains a few things. With Tay himself, I've figured out that much since registering on forums. Although I was never in a hurry, so I was less concerned with "timely" answer and more with receiving any feedback at all, from anyone. ;p
As we're on the topic of feedback, tyvm for yours. Probably as soon as I'm done with all the annoying university deadlines plaguing me right now, I'll start setting things up. 

Ah, that makes sense. My personal settings for new posts also show new blog entries, so I'll see them myself unless my usual behaviour changes radically in the future.
As for the mail to fuwareviews more specifically, that was kind of broken until like, a week or so ago and didn't really reach the people it should have (one of the reasons I tagged Decay in here). Apparently setting that stuff up is complicated or something. Not sure about the mail to Tay specifically though. In general expecting Tay to give a timely answer to anything is a bit risky because he's a very busy man, rip.

Since we're on topic, why Fuwa doesn't have a "fap" reaction?
Forum life would be more honest like this. "Like" sometimes is not quite wrong but not quite right.

There's your movement. Mitsuru is bae.

I'm interested in this, EVNs have always interested me. I think the problem I have with EVN reviews as primarily a JVN reader is trust in their opinions. Basically, my impression is that the EVN community has generally low standards. I mean, lower than mine. That's kinda terrible. This could of course just be differences in preference, but when I see something as badly constructed as say Taarradhin get 8's, I can't shake the feeling that something has to be wrong.
----
I'm not sure why you gave up on getting EVN coverage on the fuwa mainpage. We used to do some of this in the past; the issue is in finding qualified people willing to spend the effort (and I will admit to not spending much time looking for them). The Fuwa Reviews team is also looking for more reviewers for EVNs as far as I know, so that road's not closed off either (PM @Decay about that, maybe?). If you want to run an independent blog, I can also offer to republish anything I like enough - you can contact me using whatever method you prefer if you're interested in that.

As I look up to the night sky, I keep on thinking....
"........."
"(I can't see a thing, is it just too dark....?)"
"(No, that can't be it, maybe there's just nothing to see...)"
"(Or maybe I've fallen to a deep darkness and..........wait......)"
 
"Where is my glasses!?"
 
Oh, hi, hello, guys! こんばんは、こんにちは、おはようございます！
I'm Adhen, sorry for the boring intro since I am not a script writer, lol
I am currently learning to become a hacker but basically, I am a Translator (Jp-Eng, self proclaim) and a Proof Reader (is this how you call it??)
I've translated some mangas and VNs before, but never finished them (I worked solo)
SOOOOO I hope we can get along from now on! これから宜しくお願いします！ I don't know how to do intro......I think this intro is a bit long...omg....どうする。。。。

Well said.
Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think the setup the west has now is pretty good. People who want H gets it, (most of the time,) and people who don't want it has an option as well. The only vexing part of it being when X version comes out before Y version. (For example, the way it has taken over half a year and counting for Grisaia no Rakuen to come out in its 18+ form.) The system isn't perfected yet, but it's at least good everyone gets what they want in the end.
I still do find the system fascinating, though. (The cutting of content technically "meant" to be in the game.) But, it's working, so hey, can't complain.
Fiddle, what would this place do without you?
Never leave us, please. We need your memes.

Well... I usurp myself the right to be unreasonably romantic and skip the explicit content unless I think it's a crucial part of the experience. I simply like the romance in VNs and mostly don't care about porn, so I often don't mind it being gone. It might be a cultural thing, but I think it's more about personal preference.
But I also think that the more choice people have when it goes to how they want to experience a story the better - people should not be forced to receive incomplete product because other might find some parts of it offensive/uncomfortable. But I also don't see a reason why all-age versions shouldn't exist or should be seen as necessarily inferior. There might exist a way to balance everyone interests, but that would need major distribution platforms giving up on censorship (won't happen any time soon). 

Well... I usurp myself the right to be unreasonably romantic and skip the explicit content unless I think it's a crucial part of the experience. I simply like the romance in VNs and mostly don't care about porn, so I often don't mind it being gone. It might be a cultural thing, but I think it's more about personal preference.
But I also think that the more choice people have when it goes to how they want to experience a story the better - people should not be forced to receive incomplete product because other might find some parts of it offensive/uncomfortable. But I also don't see a reason why all-age versions shouldn't exist or should be seen as necessarily inferior. There might exist a way to balance everyone interests, but that would need major distribution platforms giving up on censorship (won't happen any time soon). 

Wouldnt this imply that all VN's are porn first and a story second? We arent really talking about Nukige here, and if it is nukige most of us kind of accept that we arent going to get that much of a story and that there will be lots of random sex scenes.
No, people are saying that if it doesnt fit in the story and feels like it has been hamfisted in to allow random Otaku to fap to it, why is it in the game. Not that it absolutely has to be important. That being said I personally prefer a h-scene to have some kind of meaning. Lots of VNs are trying to tell a pretty deep and meaningful story, what use is there for a bunch of pointless sex scenes. As an alternative example take the Lord of the Rings trilogy (a very different example I know and impossible given the market that it is being released for), but a bunch of sex scenes randomly popping up in there with little context would just cheapen the story and that is the same regardless of the media type. Eroge style LOTR, Eowyn reverse rap$s Aragorn any one?
I do remember googling some images for Mitsuru from Persona 3 back in the day to satisfy my own curiosity, and the fact I thought she was hot. But I wouldnt have wanted sex scenes with her in the game.

(actual footage of rl Ange)
 
Anyway, my opinion. For me, they are never useful for the plot. But I read them anyway, because why not? I don't skip pages of a book I like just because I find some parts useless. If it's bad, I can laugh. If it's good, I can enjoy. If it's painfully boring, I just endure.

I will make no effort in grandstanding by trying to defend my position by conjuring up some elaborate excuse, I simply like h-scenes because I'm a horny bastard. 
I've recently gotten allot of shit for rating some eroge higher than story centric visual novels on vndb. No, I don't think Funbag Fantasy has a better story than Kara no Shoujo, but they weren't aiming for the same goals. You can't rate a comedy on the same grounds as a action film, just as you can't yell at Stephen Hawking for being shit at baseball. I know that isn't what this topic is about, but I wanted to preemptively explain that before getting to the meat of the matter. 
The real question is how to feel about sex scenes in story focused visual novels. Well personally I like them, I'm the type of person that after becoming a fan of characters in fiction I look up fanfiction and doujin about them fucking. Having the porn in the source material beforehand is something I find incredibly convenient and a major time saver. Do I expect people to be fine with this? Absolutely not and I completely understand why people would dislike these elements in visual novels. Not everyone has a masturbation addiction to help deal with the condition known as "living", some people drink alcohol instead...... or they just like a great story to distract them from life. 
I find the question of whether "sex" can be used effectively as a narrative tool to be an interesting one. It's pretty common for people to cry out that an H-scene is "unrealistic", which always baffled me. We don't cry fowl when a FPS doesn't include a 40+ hour rehabilitation simulator after the player character is shot and no one complains that half of rom-coms don't end with a sloppy divorce. Fiction will always contradict reality on some level. I have never believed that a sex scene in any medium was "realistic" aside from Harry Turtledove books and quite frankly it kinda sucks. Realistic depictions of sex without dramatic flourishes are no different from depicting eating a meal or getting over a cold, it's just another boring part of life. 
Would I like more story centric visual novels with sex scenes integrated better in their plots? Absolutely, but as I stated before it's not that easy. Sex is a relatively boring act as a plot device, without going into FSN territory and inviting contrived reasons sex is required, it can only be used as a plot device in stories of youthful indiscretion, Romeo/Juliet rip-offs, and stories of jealously. In all three instances sex isn't even necessarily required and could be substituted with something else. Sex isn't as big as a deal as society makes it. Oddly enough I think the horrible act of rape is a much better plot device and something that society needs to be better and handling. This act of abject evil opens the door to a menagerie of storytelling opportunities, however if the writer isn't incredibly skilled and knowledgeable it will come across as a cheap shock tactic that is "trying too hard". 
 

I will proudly wear this badge
 
I'm a 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil dude and I love H scenes.
I've lived with my brother and his fg and I dunno about other people but they definitely have sex for at LEAST 15-20 minutes (but it includes foreplay and stuff) my brother has been pretty open at least to me how his sex life works.
We (half-)joked about hentai and how it compares to real sex and well outside the Japanese style high pitched moaning and the girl narrating everything that's happening it's not really that much different (but my brother still doesn't really get off to hentai, he's tried it and still much prefers 3D pr0n)

I thus name you Sir NowItsAngeTime of Fuwa, Knight of Hentai, Defender of Fapping. Speaking for the silent majority that takes full advantage of their favorite medium. :3

I thus name you Sir NowItsAngeTime of Fuwa, Knight of Hentai, Defender of Fapping. Speaking for the silent majority that takes full advantage of their favorite medium. :3

I thus name you Sir NowItsAngeTime of Fuwa, Knight of Hentai, Defender of Fapping. Speaking for the silent majority that takes full advantage of their favorite medium. :3

I will be the sole defender of H-scenes for fap purposes if necessary.

Man, 23 replies in just 4 hours - it's kind of clear where people's interests are lying in... 
Anyway, the presence of H-scenes strongly affects sales (just ask Minori about Supipara... or better not), so they are shoveled into every VN regardless of quality and if they are needed or not. There are definitely VN's with good H-scenes, but most of them are untranslated. And good art is a very important factor for good H-scenes, so if you don't have that even a good (ero) writer is in trouble.

I think Japan is kind of a weird case here. Every piece of media is oversexualized in incredibly bizarre ways, but when it comes to real life they tend to avoid physical intimacy or for that matter any kind of intimacy, since expressing your own feelings is not considered polite for them. So, Japanese media is not by any means a reflection of their society, if anything, it would be a mirror image: the complete opposite.
And for the latter part, I totally agree, and that's what I wanted to express in my post. There is no objective reason why a h-scene should be bad just because is has sexual content. What calls my attention however is that in actuality, perhaps depending on who you ask, but most people would agree that most of them are bad. I cannot help but wonder why, hence my little work of social speculation.
My thoughts exactly. I'm sorry but I cannot agree with the people who say "h-scenes are bad because they are not necessary". Well duh, a good OST is not strictly necessary either, but it does add to the work. 
I appreciate a well-written h-scene, as few as they are, that feels like a natural development in the story, where the characters act as they are expected according to their previous characterization. Like any other scene, it must integrate in the story as a whole, without being regarded as something special or strange.

One should keep in mind that just because a certain contribution to the story could be made without the use of H-Scenes does not mean the H-Scenes are unnecessary, for by that logic, most things are unnecessary.
Just because I am the author of "Gadsby" (which I am not) that does not mean the letter 'e' is unneeded.
Take into account games like Grisaia no Kajitsu and G-Senjou no Maou (which is actually a bad example because no official 18+ version exists), where the act is meant to display the emotions and scars of the characters. How you evaluate the H-Scene will then depend on the execution. If it devolves into a fairly normal H-Scene with the occasional mention of the character's emotions, then it may be failing to create a scene that meaningfully contributes to the story, instead creating some fan service (which can also be done badly, as Fate/stay night and Key VN's tend to demonstrate). If it devolves into Gahkthun and every line is a metaphor or euphemism used to describe the character's emotions, then it probably is making a greater contribution to the story than the former situation.
By my evaluation, Grisaia and G-Senjou are both more interested in providing good H material to the reader than developing its characters, because they certainly wouldn't need scenes that extensive for the latter. But as a wise someone once said somewhere: "Why not both?"
H-Scenes can also be used to characterise characters in ways specific to sex. In Majikoi and its sequels a lot of characters have specific traits that they only display during the deed, and, in that sense, contribute to the character. These would not manifest themselves if all we had was an "and then sex happened" line*, or if there was no sex at all. Of course, these don't quite contribute to the overall story/plot in most cases (though it depends). Margit's route in S (which, to be fair, isn't very good by most accounts) is entirely dominated by sex, and could not be done any other way -- more fitting for a nukige, really.
*Even if mentioned in conversation afterwards, the "show, don't tell" adage would dictate that explicitly writing the H-Scenes would be the best approach in these cases.
In Moege and certain Charage, where characters and their interactions ARE the plot, H-Scenes can obviously have a greater impact and contribute to the "story" in different ways. This is not always the case -- certain Yuzosoft VN's and the already mentioned Chrono Clock have a plot that supports the story by itself, and is not simply characters doing random stuff every day. Of course, if you've played a Yuzosoft VN you would know that in these cases the H-Scenes are very much fan service, and represent both a culmination of a relationship (sometimes -- exaggeration and blatant pandering in most routes creates and obviously unauthentic and fan service-y scenario) and a means to reward the reader after the considerable hours of investment already put in.
In fact, representing a relationship between two characters of ages around 18 without H-Scenes could seem out of place. Keeping in mind that everyone is different, most romantic relationships include sex at some point, and people around this age have, allegedly, more interest in the act. It also provides Of course, none of these require explicitly written out H-Scenes, and mere mentions could and should be sufficient.
By generalising my personal experience, it's in this latest sense that I appreciate H-Scenes. That is also why I skip the meat of them, as, from my point of view, their presence is necessary but depictions of them not quite. I remember how Brighter than Dawning Blue lacked H-Scenes, and that severely hampered my enjoyment. The characters had very little apparent displays of affection, and too late into the routes. Despite their age, displays of affection consisted, at most, of holding hands or being shy. The route might culminate on a kiss! Obviously, that by itself isn't a problem, some routes in Clannad or Little Busters! are similar. I imagine the problem arouse from the fact that the story had little more to offer than the character's relationships, and that the route I read, in particular, was about a more standoffish character.
 
My interests don't align, so I'm not well-versed on this topic, but the exploration of certain fetishes, such as sado-masochism, could in themselves be the topic the VN explores. Assuming most fetishes create emotions other than simple sexual excitement, these are topics that could be contemplated in VNs, and would necessitate semi-explicit scenes. Cute Demon Crashers! has a scene lightly exploring one, and due to how the VN is executed, all sexual acts in this VN, although explicit, are extremely tactful, and the culmination of the story (which would technically be a nukige, maybe?).
Yume Miru Kusuri is, I think, perhaps my best counter-argument to allegations that explicit H-Scenes add little value to Visual Novels that aren't focused on sex. The visual novel is about indulgence, youthful indiscretions, vice, drugs, pregnancy, and bullying. So yes, not your run-of-the-mill affair, but it should be credible that even more explicit H-Scenes could meaningfully contribute to these themes.
School Days is another good example, if you can be convinced that it isn't a nukige. I don't believe endings where where the protagonist essentially prostitutes himself, or endings where multiple relationships are tolerated because of his bed skills could be quite as effective without depictions of the act.
I'll also take a moment to mention Rance and its particular brand of disagreeable comedy, one that results from having a protagonist so dastardly and outside the norm. A form of black comedy that necessitates at least some explicit scenes to drive the point home and is unafraid of tackling many sexual matters in both comedic and serious manner.
 
All this said... I will concede most H-Scenes exist to provide fan service and check a checkbox. That checkbox that lets them put X-Rated on their game boxes.

Considering the usual novels i play for me H-scenes are nothing more then love scenes, if i notice there isn't anything relevant plot wise included i just skip them after i'm satisfied enough of the two characters showing there love for one another.