Thyndd

I finished Umineko's first episode and Beatrice's dojo () and man was it fun. I think I'm supposed to rack my brains with this VN, so let's start the guessing game as early as now.
Warning, Umineko spoilers ahead, obviously, but also some from Higurashi and Ever17. 

I mean, I've already gone through Higurashi... so I've already experienced at least a little of what Ryukishi07 is capable of... maybe?  We'll see. And on that note, I'm currently halfway through chapter 1 and came across the first mystery, when:
Anyway, so far I'm enjoying the atmosphere and the characters. At the beginning the youngsters seemed a bit bland in comparison, but now they are starting to get some development. I can't wait to see what's all the fuss about, what with all the teasing 

Damn, I thought for a moment I accidentally posted this to CoC. With six posts actually being relevant to the VN itself. 😂

So just to give an update: I finished translating Saint Irene/Lavria's chapter (Chapter 3) last Friday ^^. Just didn't get to post an update here until now.
Next up would be Chapter 4 (Licia's chapter), and this is going to be the longest chapter to translate with about 12500 lines, so yeah, it's going to take me quite a while to finish translating this.
As for partial patch-wise, I'm still doing final checks on Chapter 2 (Eris' chapter) before handing it to QC. QC on Prologue and Chapter 1 (Fione's chapter) is more or less done, so just Eris' chapter left and some final checks before we release the partial patch

VLR is the sequel to 999, so you should read 999 first anyway. You don't have a real choice anyway as long as you don't own a handheld, since for PC they are exclusively sold as a bundle.
 
In the case of 999 I agree, since at first it's pretty cryptic which route your choices send you down. But once you think about it, the way you reach the good routes is pretty logical because you just have to keep following the characters that gave you important information at the previous door. In VLR I found the AB system to be one of the best parts since you could never know what implications your choices had, but the immediate impact was still obvious (certain characters liking you more/less). All branches except for the bad endings gave you new information necessary to understanding the greater mysterey or at least someones motivations. My main problem with the branching system was that there was a lot of repitition between them since a lot of events happened no matter what choices you made before but tiny line changes force you to read a lot of the content several times.
 
I agree that this part of the discussion should be moved to a different thread.

I think, if I understand you correctly, some chuunige should fit that. Fate is the first one that comes to mind. Like, it's basically it, no? Tsukihime fits partially: the story divides into two big branches at the beginning based on the plot, but after that you again choose a heroine in a more or less standard way. I'm not sure if Tokyo Babel fits. You technically chose an enemy who the protagonist is going to fight first and not the heroine, but, I think, all the routes were still pretty character-based from the very beginning, so it's probably not that.
To be honest, that's exactly what I find annoying. In quite a lot of plotge it doesn't even matter who the protagonist hooks up with, because the difference between routes lies a lot deeper. I think, I already wrote about it at some point, but I just believe that the classical route structure just makes the stories in VNs a lot more rigid than they should be. If you pick up a non-otome/yuri VN with multiple routes, you know that it's going to be about a male high-school student surrounded by cute girls and only by cute girls, and there's no way away from this formula, at all. And if you pick up an otome, it's going to be the same, just gender-reversed (and probably not set in a high-school).
By the way, I don't want to further derail this thread, so maybe we should start a separate thread for this topic.

you poor, wonderful, innocent fucker.
Do it. Just download the voice only patch and get started.
Godspeed.

I think the time has come for me to play Umineko. I've been putting it off because it's long af and from what I've heard, a pretty dense read, and I'm lazy  Furthermore, I easily get obsessed over a mistery or challenge of some sort and yeah... I can waste all day thinking about it, so I'm pretty scared of what Umineko might do to me. 
I only know the basic premise. The head of some rich family is going to kick the bucket and everyone gathers in an island to discuss over the inheritance, then they get killed   The setting looks like something out of Meitantei Conan. Oh, and I've also heard that:

 
Well, that's all, wish me luck 

So, yeah, I was reading it pretty passively, so it took me some time to finish it, but I'm more or less done with Grisaia no Rakuen. Well, I'll be blunt, the main story is probably the worst part of the whole main trilogy. For some reason the authors decided to drop everything that made the story in the previous games actually good. Character development? Gone. Actually, I feel like even the development from the previous games was dropped for the sake of comedy. I mean, none of the characters felt particularly different from how they were at the beginning of Kajitsu, other than Michiru turning from a lovable idiot into an annoying idiot. Yuuji's monologues are also gone. The comedy, by the way, is pretty repetitive and mostly doesn't even feel funny at this point. Actually, it's quite noticeable that the authors simply ran out of ideas at this point. The story is mostly written in a 3rd person narrative, but it honestly reads like bad writing. Other than that, the pacing is also pretty bad, and the author somehow decided to add weird sci-fi and conspiracy theory elements to the last part of the series. And the ending... is weird, I guess. I don't know, maybe I sound overly negative, because I still can't say I hated this story, but I didn't like it either.
So, yeah, I'm kind of disappointed. I honestly don't feel like reading the After Story. Actually, is it even worth reading if I didn't like the main story? I don't know, Maybe I'll return to it at some point. So far, I'll just drop it.
The Prologue, on the other hand, is really nice. It's nothing amazing, and pretty short, but overall, it's simply a pretty good read.
Final ratings: 5/10 for the main story, 7/10 for the Prologue, 5.5/10 overall.

Believe me, this spoils almost nothing. Good luck!
Just don't read it too fast. Umineko is the best if you give yourself some time to stop and think for a bit.

I think the time has come for me to play Umineko. I've been putting it off because it's long af and from what I've heard, a pretty dense read, and I'm lazy  Furthermore, I easily get obsessed over a mistery or challenge of some sort and yeah... I can waste all day thinking about it, so I'm pretty scared of what Umineko might do to me. 
I only know the basic premise. The head of some rich family is going to kick the bucket and everyone gathers in an island to discuss over the inheritance, then they get killed   The setting looks like something out of Meitantei Conan. Oh, and I've also heard that:

 
Well, that's all, wish me luck 

Well, I wish you the best of luck Umineko's not an ordinary murder mystery where everything gets revealed in the end. Most things are purposely made vague and you gotta wrack your brains to figure out what the murders are all about. Even if you search online for answers, there won't just be a single theory to explain everything. If you still have doubts after finishing the game, I would suggest reading the manga (which is what I'm doing now btw) since I've heard that it explains many vague areas which weren't properly covered in the vn.

I think the time has come for me to play Umineko. I've been putting it off because it's long af and from what I've heard, a pretty dense read, and I'm lazy  Furthermore, I easily get obsessed over a mistery or challenge of some sort and yeah... I can waste all day thinking about it, so I'm pretty scared of what Umineko might do to me. 
I only know the basic premise. The head of some rich family is going to kick the bucket and everyone gathers in an island to discuss over the inheritance, then they get killed   The setting looks like something out of Meitantei Conan. Oh, and I've also heard that:

 
Well, that's all, wish me luck 

Dude, you're creating these threads like twice a day now!!!!
So I'll recommend this instead, have a good week: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/

Hmm I've heard that VNs and even anime are not a good medium for terror a lot, and yeah, I agree to a certain degree, but I think it also depends on how you are to define "terror". There's also the fact that what is scary or not obviously is a completely subjective experience, so I can only speak for myself. Honestly I don't think I've ever consumed any form of media or literature that I found genuinely scary. Fear is a very strong emotional response to a threat or danger, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna feel threatened reading some piece of fiction. That's not to say that I can't feel uneasy and uncomfortable on my seat reading something that is meant to be scary. In that sense, I can't see why VNs can't be as effective as your typical novel. Anime is different in my opinion. One reason people often give for its uneffectiveness in terror is that the animation makes it easier to separate between reality and fiction, and I tend to agree. VNs however don't have that constraint since they can decide what to show at any moment and what to leave in the dark or up to the descriptive narrative. The only thing that isn't really available to VNs are obviously the freaking jumpscares you see in Hollywood movies, but yeah, that's a very cheap and shabby way to scare people. There's absolutely no merit in that. 
So TL;DR, as for me a piece of fiction can only make me uneasy, and both VNs and books have accomplished that, I can't really understand where people are coming from when they say they don't get the same reaction from VNs compared to other mediums. Another different matter is the fact that there are not many terror VNs (translated, at least) in comparison to other genres like fantasy, sci-fi or romance, but I don't know if it's necessarily because the medium is less suited for terror 

Hmm I've heard that VNs and even anime are not a good medium for terror a lot, and yeah, I agree to a certain degree, but I think it also depends on how you are to define "terror". There's also the fact that what is scary or not obviously is a completely subjective experience, so I can only speak for myself. Honestly I don't think I've ever consumed any form of media or literature that I found genuinely scary. Fear is a very strong emotional response to a threat or danger, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna feel threatened reading some piece of fiction. That's not to say that I can't feel uneasy and uncomfortable on my seat reading something that is meant to be scary. In that sense, I can't see why VNs can't be as effective as your typical novel. Anime is different in my opinion. One reason people often give for its uneffectiveness in terror is that the animation makes it easier to separate between reality and fiction, and I tend to agree. VNs however don't have that constraint since they can decide what to show at any moment and what to leave in the dark or up to the descriptive narrative. The only thing that isn't really available to VNs are obviously the freaking jumpscares you see in Hollywood movies, but yeah, that's a very cheap and shabby way to scare people. There's absolutely no merit in that. 
So TL;DR, as for me a piece of fiction can only make me uneasy, and both VNs and books have accomplished that, I can't really understand where people are coming from when they say they don't get the same reaction from VNs compared to other mediums. Another different matter is the fact that there are not many terror VNs (translated, at least) in comparison to other genres like fantasy, sci-fi or romance, but I don't know if it's necessarily because the medium is less suited for terror 

For what it's worth, Yumiko's route was also my least favorite. I liked her character, but her route was for me, as you said, pretty uninteresting. My favorite routes were definitely Sachi's and Amane's. Without spoilers, Sachi is a big hit or miss and I ended up loving it  (it might be totally different for you though), while Amane's route is the most generally considered "solid route overall", and it's many people's favorite. Makina is also pretty interesting... as long as loli stuff doesn't weird you out  And as you've already experienced during the common route, her lines are gold, so you ain't getting bored. She was my first Grisaia heroine btw, being the order I followed Makina -> Sachi -> Amane -> Michiru -> Yumiko. It's often suggested as a starter route because it provides a little more insight into Yuuji's character, which is appreciated when it comes to understanding his interactions in the other routes down the line.
Michiru... I adore her, but her route doesn't harmonize at all with the rest. Really, if you feel like taking a break from Grisaia, reading Michiru's route can ironically have a similar effect  

For what it's worth, Yumiko's route was also my least favorite. I liked her character, but her route was for me, as you said, pretty uninteresting. My favorite routes were definitely Sachi's and Amane's. Without spoilers, Sachi is a big hit or miss and I ended up loving it  (it might be totally different for you though), while Amane's route is the most generally considered "solid route overall", and it's many people's favorite. Makina is also pretty interesting... as long as loli stuff doesn't weird you out  And as you've already experienced during the common route, her lines are gold, so you ain't getting bored. She was my first Grisaia heroine btw, being the order I followed Makina -> Sachi -> Amane -> Michiru -> Yumiko. It's often suggested as a starter route because it provides a little more insight into Yuuji's character, which is appreciated when it comes to understanding his interactions in the other routes down the line.
Michiru... I adore her, but her route doesn't harmonize at all with the rest. Really, if you feel like taking a break from Grisaia, reading Michiru's route can ironically have a similar effect  

I read Sono hanabira ni kuchizuke wo, the first game, which is both my first yuri eroge ever and my first nukige (that I played to completion, at least)  The only other nukige I tried was Nekopara and couldn't get past the first half (is Nekopara a nukige? I mean, it must be right? I can't fathom why else people would play it). Welp, since Sonohana is very short this time I managed to finish it in not much more than 2 hours. 
I went in with zero expectations aside from some cute yuri scenes, but I'm not even the biggest yuri fan, so not even that factor could've made it more appealing for me. Verdict? Wow, it's actually not terrible! Of course I wouldn't expect full-fledged characterization in a 2 hour long game, 1 hour being exclusively dedicated to h-scenes, but the relationship between Yuna and Nanami had some interesting aspects. Honestly, the fact that I went back and forth between feeling conflicted by the nature of their relationship (you know, emotional blackmail) and seconds later I understood that as some sort of game they both enjoyed is a pretty amazing feat for this kind of game. I can definitely see why it's considered top quality within the yuri eroge world.
Not the kind of thing I'm used to reading, but now and then it's good to try new stuff 

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.

As others have said, I'll read whatever happens to catch my attention, without looking at its procedence. It might as well be made by some bushmen in the Kalahari desert for all I care.
It just so happens that, let's be honest, JVNs usually outdo EVNs in pretty much every aspect. It's not a fair comparison of course, as they as supported by big companies with huge budgets, but the world is not fair  That said, any indie developer can have a great idea for a great story, and even if they don't have the resources to make it shiny and appealing, that alone can perfectly make it worth the read by its own merits.

The EUs roof is already burning and they have nothing better to do than pouring fuel into the flames....
I've been defending the EU for years, saying the concept is not beyond saving but I'm starting to get to a point where I'd love to see the whole construct crash and burn hoping it's done better the next time. (Who am I kidding, people never learn from their mistakes.....)
 
Concerning the effects of this:
I don't think it'll be an apocalypse for the internet. There'll be ways to circumvent it and plattforms outside of the EUs reach (outside of the EU or not entirely legal). It'll be more of a pain at some points but not the end of the internet as we know it. (And I don't think it's something that'll last, at some point even the EU will have to notice notice that the law will drive away new companies from them and cut off future potential of economical growth only to give temporary life support to outdated forms of media-buisiness-models)

I'll play almost any vn if it is good I don't care if it is an evn or jvn or whatever.

TNW recently spoke to lovers and haters of the Copyright Reform in-depth, but the controversy of the proposed reform can be boiled down to two contested articles, number 11 and 13 — which would effectively establish link tax, censorship machines, and ban memes.
Article 11 (a.k.a. link tax) would force anyone using snippets of journalistic online content to get a license from the publisher first — essentially outlawing current business models of most aggregators and news apps. This can also possibly threaten the hyperlink and give power to publishers at the cost of public good.
Article 13 (a.k.a. censorship machines) will make platforms responsible for monitoring user behavior to stop copyright infringements, but basically means only huge platforms will have the resources to let users comment or share content. There’s a worry that this could lead to broader censorship, with free speech vehicles — like parody, satire, or even protest videos — potentially untenable under this system.
https://thenextweb.com/eu/2018/09/11/eu-parliamen-copyright-reform-internet-censorship-machines-link-tax/
Other problematic measures were passed as well, including Article 12a, which prohibits sports fans from posting their own photos or videos of sporting events online, while stating that only event “organizers” have the right to do so.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3kenb8/the-eu-can-still-be-saved-from-its-internet-wrecking-copyright-plan
Good job EU. Nice work. We all hate your guts. Please retire.