adamstan

?? I don't remember there being any bunny girl in Kanon... Did you perhaps mean Anyways, I don't recall any of the routes being particularily bad compared to others. Translation has its share of problems, sure, but not to the point of becoming complete gibberish. Are you sure you are speaking about Kanon?

It indeed looks weird. However, if, like you've said, there can be different characters in that scene, the devs probably didn't write separate text for each case, and instead opted for a generic one, with names possibly inserted by some kind of script based on your choice. (you know, something like %partnername% placed in place where the name should go) So in that case it seems like a lazy programming/scripting. Or even not as lazy as it seems, as in Japanese you could probably write those lines without using any personal pronouns, just with name here and there - but that becomes problem in English, which requires subject in each sentence (or even part of compound sentence) to be explicitly stated and, contrary to Japanese, prefers pronouns instead of names. Like, in Japanese, sentence with "Moe" in your second example wouldn't require additional pronoun when talking about disappearing inside the building. Name at the beginning would be sufficient to establish topic/subject, and after that you don't need it anymore until new subject/topic comes. Actually, you could write that particular sentence using similar pattern in English too, something like "Moe shrinks away in the distance until disappearing inside the building", but maybe translator or editor decided that it sounds awkward to them.

I'm waiting for the next "Shovelware Adventures" episode then

Very nice review. Nevertheless, I think I'll skip this VN You titled your thread on r/vn "Shining Song Starnova - the most "Japanese" EVN ever created [Review]", and after seeing that I obviously immediately thought about Katawa Shoujo. But comparing my impressions of KS and what I read in your review of SSS, it seems that they approach the issue of being "Japanese EVN" very differently. KS managed to fool many people into thinking it was translation of JVN (which is pretty big achievement, I think), and in my memories there are Japanese voices even though it was unvoiced However, it didn't went over the top with "weebness" as SSS apparently does, and it was very good decision (they even presented quite decent in-story justification for dropping honorifics ). The most obvious example of "over the top weebness and edginess gone wrong" is probably No One But You, and I'm quite sure that SSS doesn't drop to such horrible levels of atrocity, but while I probably could somewhat enjoy it two years ago (after all, I enjoyed some aspects of NOBY back then), today it would be too much.

Actually those versions at JAST Archive are done by Asenheim as well - JAST decided to make them available oficially.

It's a third "big" untranslated VN that I'm reading (and fifth in total). I wouldn't say that it's particularly difficult - if you're already reading manga and LNs, you should manage with it too. Grammar-wise I'm probably somewhere between N4 and N3 levels, and I get most of the lines, I think Of course I'm much slower than when reading translated VNs, but it still is rather smooth experience. As with most VNs, it's useful to get at least a bit familiar with casual speech, common contractions etc - Tae Kim's chapter on slang does pretty good job on it. Also, Angie (アンジェ), the maid heroine, likes to sprinkle her lines with keigo, but most of the times they are still rather easy to comprehend. So I'd say - give it a try. The tricky part are some voice-only lines - it happens when characters say something in the background, while MC doesn't pay attention to them directly. Text box usually contains narration at those times. They happen mostly (or even only?) in common route, and are usually rather simple, but of course you cannot hook them

It was the same for me, so now finally reading it (still with the help of text hooker of course) feels very satisfying The second motivator was Konosora, but it got retranslation patch before I learned enough to try it (However still there's Cruise Sign to read)

Ah, right, it seems I got my Ries mixed up . AFAIK, some people claim that those characters are new subgroup - tsunderie

I just checked my list. From the 55 titles I've played so far, over a half (30) is "old" (2009 and before), and 20 from those are from 2004 and before...

Links are broken. Now I see vndb links instead of titles, but they link to this thread. But I saw them before. From those I recognize only Akatsuki no Goei and Mashiro Iro Symphony. I'm reading Mashiro Iro now, it's great, but it seems like it would be a PITA to translate, mostly because of "onii-chan", which here cannot be replaced by dude And honorifics usage in general. It's like - I'm reading it, it isn't insanely difficult, but whenever I try to imagine english version, I cringe or am completely lost So finally I may cast my vote to AnG.

Come on, don't be so harsh. Obviously, Multi was the best (and, maybe, thanks to her influence, we got Planetarian), but Tomoko was great too (Classic tsundere in glasses? Count me in!), and, contrary to some other decent characters, had also good route But I agree, Yui Horie is great. And now that I browse her roles, she indeed also voiced many characters that I loved. Maybe Megumi Oogata also deserves a mention in this thread? I think she's great as well.

Ah, the narration. Then it indeed feels weird. Could you check how it is in JP version? (It seems that Steam version is bilingual) I'm really curious if it's the case of original writing or the translation.

Are they referred to as such in dialogues, or are you talking about "name tags" for unnamed characters? In Japanese it is pretty common to refer to 3rd persons as "あの人 (ano hito)" - "that person", when speaking politely, cause "彼女/彼 (kanojo/kare)" - "she/he" - are considered to be too direct and thus may be interpreted as rude. It has nothing to do with "gender neutrality". But that would apply just to some dialogues. And in translation it is usually converted into "he/she" (except when used in another way, to show coldness/distance/anger etc - like, you know, tsundere girl is angry at her friend and "not speaking with them"/"doesn't know them at all", so they carry all conversations through another person, with lines like "Please tell that person over there that I'm not talking with them" ). If speaking about name tags for "unknown" characters, yeah, probably lazy programming, they made single "character" for all of them instead of separate male/female ones. So it may be programming issue, original writing issue or translation issue.

I think I found it in TLWikis map. Since their website seems to be down ATM, I'll reupload this: According to this, it's the path where you leave the storehouse immediately, go to the well, and then back to the storehouse? (without using the rope to get silver medal)

I finally managed to get it, but, sadly, I don't remember how

Hisakawa Aya - Sailor Mercury, Skuld in Ah!MyGoddess, princess Tarta in MKR2, and for VNs - Haruko in AIR, Eriko in YU-NO and Tomoko in ToHeart. She's also great singer Inoue Kikuko - probably most known as Belldandy form Ah!MyGoddess. She also voiced princes Tatra (sister of abovementioned Tarta) in MKR2. VNs - Ayumi in YU-NO, Uraha in AIR and great Sanae in Clannad. BTW, absence of those two voices is great loss for YU-NO remake Wasn't she voicing Taiga in Toradora? If so, then +1 from me

No, definitely not, I assure you I was just going to ask you how were the h-scenes in this since you've already read it If it's as you say above, then indeed that might be problematic. That was the issue I had with all-ages versions of Sakura Sakura or Hitotsuba (also, the cuts were too broad), and that's why I switched to +18 versions for those. There's some truth to that. But then - with PE I've read both versions (+18 first) and yet I slightly prefer all-ages in this case. The important thing is - did they put the effort to convey the intimacy between the characters in other ways, or not. Because yeah, those emotional dialogues are important, but countless lines of moans, sound effects and narrating every single thrust can quickly become tiresome, and not all writers can find good balance I mentioned above some games where I finally chose +18 version. But then OTOH there was SukiSuki, where I really lamented the lack of proper all-ages edition Its H-scenes were awful for moege. There was no love at all in them - just mechanical fucking - at least that was my perception. Also, let's not forget Key classics (Kanon, AIR, and LB), where h-scenes totally ruin the mood... BTW I'm still curious how will Cruise Sign turn out for me, as H-scenes in Konosora were pretty good, and besides they seem to be rather essential plot point for Ageha's route. +1

Yeah, but number alone says nothing. I've already mentioned Sanoba - Nene's route reportedly had 9(?) h-scenes, yet Steam version didn't feel butchered at all to me - Nekonyan did great job there, cutting just the intercourse itself, but leaving everything else intact. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Same with Princess Evangile - Steam version is port of console version - just like Noratoto - and I think it was really good, despite reading +18 version first. Story-important scenes (like the first time) got similar treatment like Sanoba, while some semi-random scenes got seamlessly removed, and it was actually beneficial to the flow of the story (I even forgot that there were so many there ). While I can understand the desire for H, nevertheless since this Noratoto Steam release is based on already existing JP all-ages version, I feel like calling it "butchered for the West" and comparing it to original release of IMHHW is a bit far fetched and unfair. Of course, it's also possible, that Harukaze didn't do as good job as Moonstone or NekoNyan, and console version will feel incomplete - but then, the outrage should be directed at "poorly done all-ages version", and not just at the act of doing all ages version itself. I'm probably going to play this after I finish MashiroIro, and then I'll gladly report my impressions here. NoisyPixel's review seems to be favourable despite the lack of H (although they mention, that sometimes it didn't went smoothly).

Well, I'm 35 now, and I just started recently (reading school moeges and watching HS romcom anime ) And, isn't @ittaku way past 40 and still doing this? (I think he mentioned his age in some post)

I think I'm going to give it a try. I'm genuinely curious if they managed to keep it good without h-scenes. H-scene count in 18+ version wasn't exactly low (according to this post, 7+4+5+4), but then, OTOH, two best all-ages versions of eroge that I've read were Sanoba Witch and Princess Evangile, which also had numerous h-scenes originally, yet all-ages versions were great. I wonder how's it with Noratoto, and the game is cheap enough that it doesn't hurt to try

I just finished first route (Airi's) in Mashiro Iro Symphony. W O W It was great - if it will maintain similar level for remaining three routes, it's clearly aiming for 8+ score. For a moege it is indeed amazing. Nice humor, great romance, likeable characters, great art, music... I also loved SDCGs that appeared here and there. かわいい... I'm truly impressed. On to the next route (but tomorrow... )

I have to admit, the prologue/first chapter was dragging terribly, and I was very close to dropping it. However I'm glad I survived through it, as the rest of the game was worth it, at least for me.

Should I read Grisaia before it, or is it not necessary?

Welcome to the dark side Yeah, Keyakizaka46 is good. I personally also like many songs by AKB48. Both groups (and many others in "48 group") share the same producer (Yasushi Akimoto), who writes all the lyrics. Music is made by various people/bands. OTOH most of the Hello!Project idol groups (Morning Musume etc) were rather meh to me - maybe those were the ones you found in the beginning. As for '80s/'90s pop - I absolutely love all CDs by Aya Hisakawa (久川綾). Some songs from Seiko Matsuda (松田聖子) from late '80s/early '90s are pretty good too. There's also ton of great songs on the Sailor Moon related CDs (not all were used in the anime) - they can all be downloaded at sailormusic.net - that's what was my gateway drug into japanese music Songs for Slayers and Magic Knight Rayearth are great as well. However it turns out that most of my japanese CD collection is from '00s. The great thing is, that they still keep many features from earlier years - it isn't like in the western pop, where new style comes and almost completely wipes away the old. When trying to 'date' japanese song, you can only say "not earlier than" - if there are for example instruments/sounds used that weren't used before. But you can find many songs recorded recently, that could as well be released 20 or 30 years ago - that's what I like about japanese pop the most. They don't discard the past - they build upon it. Some of my favourite singers / acts (apart from the ones mentioned above): Anri Kumaki ( 熊木杏里 ), Ai Kawashima (川嶋あい), Miyako Hasegawa (長谷川都), Maiko Fujita (藤田麻衣子), FictionJunction / Kalafina and other Yuki Kajiura's acts, Ayako Ikeda (池田綾子), Kayoko Yoshizawa (吉澤嘉代子), Minako Kawae (川江美奈子) Most of those are singer-songwriter type - quite different from idols. Going back to the '80s, I have also compilation CD of Mami Ayukawa (鮎川麻弥) - some nice songs there, including pretty good cover of Modern Talking's "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" Not sure which ones/how many of those will you like, but at least you have some names to put into YT search to check out For ultimate cheese, sounding like straight from the eighties, check out girl going by stagename KOTO (not to be confused with Dutch spacesynth band ): I love how they nailed perfectly every aspect of '80s aesthetics (including both beatuiful synth sounds and horrible visuals )

I second recommendation of Koi iru Chu Lips. (How could I overlook it while writing my first response?) As for Wind , it was mixed bag for me - it has serious pacing issues. However I liked the art, and there were some emotional moments there.