adamstan

Well, yesterday I finished it - after 36 hours, according to Steam timer. It was great fun - it just ticked the right boxes and scratched right itches for me First thing that grabbed me was lovely "classic" art style, and facial animations for character sprites - blinking and pseudo-lip-sync. I felt almost like playing remastered Sakura no Kisetsu Music is great too, and some of the tunes also feel like lifted almost straight from that classic era - for example that upbeat theme that plays during most Kurumi's scenes. Characters were also very likeable - Tooru, Naoki, Akira and Masashi make really nice group. I actually didn't have any problems with Naoki - either as side character or protagonist. It gives that "group of friends" vibe that we loved in Little Busters or Majikoi - it isn't as strong, but it's there. All four heroines are lovely too - if I had to choose one to take home, I'd take Sakura I really loved all her different sides - she resembles Ritsuko Kitamikado a little (not visually, mind you ). On the surface - very strict and cool, but hidden underneath is quite playful and jealous girl. And why specifically Ritsuko? Just compare those two scenes Also, her hairstyle is one of the few short hairstyles that I really like - usually I prefer longer hair. Nanako's route (and some parts of common) have numerous Maison Ikkoku anime references, which I loved. The dorm looks very much like 一刻館, Tooru gets room No.5, his indecisiveness rivals that of Godai, Akira and Naoki keep invading his room - and there are some scenes in "sub routes" where Naoki behaves a little like mysterious Yotsuya, and finally Nanako shares many personality traits with Kyouko - mostly how she gets angry at Tooru after jumping to conclusions And the phones in both houses are identical It all added another layer of entertainment for me - loved it. Akira is pretty good - if maybe a bit violent - osananajimi, and she makes great pair with Naoki. She has also surprising caring side to her However Kurumi's route was really nice too, so I'd have hard time choosing best girl for Naoki. (Actually it's the same with Sakura vs Nanako). One of the things I liked about Kurumi's route were some fourth-wall-poking scenes, like when she stated on various occasions that "this is just like in eroge" The "map movement" segments were pretty nice too, with pixel-art chibi sprites, resembling a bit those from LittleBusters batting practice, and NES-style music. Sakura Sakura is very lighthearted, but does it in a really charming way. I laughed very often seeing the banter between Naoki and Akira or Masashi, or Kurumi fooling around with Moe (who gave her such name? ) Also, all characters are still present during the routes - which is always welcome. The game is pretty unusual in one aspect - there's almost no narration (outside h-scenes), all story is delivered almost exclusively through dialogues. It works, but sometimes may be a bit confusing - during some scenes I had to check the backlog to make sure what's going on. I started with all-ages version, and completed Nanako's first route, but something felt off - like, some jumps in the story were a bit too sudden. Unfortunately, all-ages version of Sakura Sakura is really poor hack-job. I don't know if original console version was the same, or if it was done by SolPress exclusively for Steam edition, but it simply doesn't work. There are no replacement scenes, and cuts are waaay too broad, cutting off pretty important bits of dialogue or story as a result. So for this game adult patch is absolute must-have. It is free, so no problem here. That brings us to the h-scenes themselves. They were nice refreshment after disappointment that SukiSuki was for me. While they are still full of hentai/eroge cliches, it didn't bother me, because for most of the scenes writers managed to make them "love scenes" rather than just porn. It's clear that all that characters do is expression of their love and affection towards each other, and not just fapservice for the player (Well, some of the scenes in Nanako's after story have more fanservicey feel to them, but still they're good) And they don't break characters personalities. There are also some nice bits of dialogue - before, during the act and after - and cutting them is pretty big loss. Now let's talk a bit about translation. There is "honorifics on/off" switch in the options menu, and in theory it looks like nice idea - including two versions of translation, to satisfy both camps. Unfortunately, it's rather messy. Default setting is "Off", but this version doesn't work too well. It looks like it was done with some kind of automatic replacement, with "honorifics on" version as a base. It almost always defaults to characters first name, event when it doesn't make too much sense - especially when switching from last to first name is significant story point and marks important progress in the relationship. Also, replacing both "Nanako-sensei" (in dorm) and "Sakura-sensei" (in school) with just "Nanako" sounds really off. It should have been at least "Ms Nanako/Sakura", just like they did with Bitou-sensei. After a bit of toggling, I finally left that switch in the "on" position, but that version suffers from some lack of QC as well - some of the lines are still translated as if they were from the "off" version, and sometimes honorifics are messed up - like senpai <> sensei or san <> kun. Also, it's a bit inconsistent - probably due to multiple translators. For example, the way Naoki speaks about Sakura. He often says something like "Kirishima no nee-san" ("桐島の姉さん"?), and even in "honorifics-on" version it's often translated as "Little Miss Kirishima" (which I like, as he mostly says it in a tongue-in-cheek way). However, in some cases he refers to her as just "Nee-san", and that was left untranslated - unnecessarily IMO. I personally think that this game could have been translated properly without honorifics, but it would require some more work from the team - as it is, "non-honorific" version doesn't work, and "honorific" (or "weeby" ) version has its issues too. Despite those complaints, it was great experience - 8/10. (I think it would have been 8.5 with more polished translation)

Yep, I know - that's why I added disclaimer if you want to be legal Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I certainly wont buy two expensive copies. So probably I'll skip it for now - maybe sometime in the future it will get official PC release. My backlog is long enough that I don't feel pressure to play it

I looked into that Chaos;Child patch, and it looks like major PITA to install and use - if you want to be legal, you have to buy TWO versions of the game - Japanese PC version and English console version, then extract scripts from console patch, and finally apply PC patch installer With official console translations, it's really surprising that there's no official English PC release.

There is also MTLed version of that walkthrough already floating around (but because it's MTL, it won't align perfectly with choices text in-game - you have to guess which one fits the best ) Also, for some strange reasons, the expected playing order isn't reflected in walkthrough's structure - you have to jump between sections. Order expected by walkthrough is Ayame -> Chiho -> Yuuki -> Mahiru -> Rinka

Yep, exactly this.

Ah, it's roughly translated guide from seiya-saiga. For it to make sense, you have to play it in "strange" order. (different than the flow of the text - save numbers give some hints). The order for this walkthrough to work is: Ayame -> Chiho -> Yuuki -> Mahiru -> Rinka (for example - going with this walkthrough, you create Save #6, which makes branch for Rinka's route, during Yuuki's "reverse confession" route)

I'd rate Sanoba higher than Fureraba.

Yeah, that's why with face and voice removed for a brief moment I wasn't sure if I'm not still playing as Tooru. Well, I guess that's what promotion from "idiot-friend-side-character" to "protagonist" does to people

I started Naoki's arc. I have one minor complaint - I wish they kept his face and voice as a protagonist too... I actually like voiced protagonists - it worked pretty well in Air or Planetarian. And here, since he already was pretty well developed as side character in Tooru's arc, sudden switch to faceless/voiceless form is a bit jarring.

No, it has partial patch only. The Fandisc/side story "Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai ~Houkago Shippo Days~" got translated however.

I think the question was "Do we count translations as releases or not?"

Yeah, I liked them all. I went with Tsumugi -> Meguru -> Touko -> Wakana -> Nene1 -> Nene2 order. If you started with Meguru, I'd suggest going for Tsumugi next, and then Touko and Nene. Nene2 is "true route", and is a continuation of Nene1, that's why I think it's best to keep Nene's route for last. Tsumugi was good introductory route for the "magical" part of the story, and also, while still good, the weakest one for me, so it's good to do it near the beginning. It's like - it was good route, but each next one was even better than the previous. (Wakana is a side route that can be played at any time, but AFAIK it unlocks after completing at least one main route).

Out of curiosity - which one would you consider the best? I have hard time deciding, but indeed despite writer's efforts to force Ai upon us, it didn't feel that bad to go for other girls. (and I did her route first)

I loved Yukino as a character but her route is considered by many the worst in the whole game. MC does some really facepalm-worthy shit there The ending is nice, but the route requires some endurance to get through (for me it wasn't that hard, but I understand where do critics come from. Well, one of the first VNs I read was infamous Harukoi Otome - after I survived Yuika's route, where for maaaany days in a row the protagonist would just whine to himself and do nothing else, Hatsukoi 1/1 was nothing compared to that )

YU-NO for example actually made it major story element Fortunately most of the times I don't feel like that, but sometimes the game keeps reminding you of this - like YMK with Aeka. That's why I saved her route for last. (like doing side-quests in RPG before moving main story to the next chapter )

I think I'm closest to the first option in the poll. Meaning, I sometimes develop feelings for the heroines in the VN or anime I'm watching, and sometimes even wish that they were real, but usually I get over it - otherwise I wouldn't have been able to read other routes or other VNs But still, some of those 2D girls have their own little space in the corner of my heart. I experienced this for example when rereading Princess Evangile recently - I almost instantly felt like coming back home, and was really glad to see them again

Yesterday I finished Nanako's route. It was good I will elaborate when writing final impressions after completing the VN, but for now I have to say, that for this game adult patch is a must-have, as the so-called "all-ages version" is really half-assed. Also, maybe I'm weird, but I don't hate Naoki at all. As a side character he's rather funny.

Have you completed both endings and reverse confession scenario for the route? I completed the game using walkthrough from seia-saiga, and had all CGs unlocked.

After reading those critical opinions, I'm even more curious how will it play out for me. I can agree, that I probably would have been better if all four girls (yep, Akira included ) would have been just heroines for Tooru instead of that protagonist split, but OTOH up until now (a little bit after prologue) I had really great fun with it. Let's continue and see...

Wow, it keeps getting better and better Dorm looks suspiciously like Maison Ikkoku, and we get assigned to room 5. Now, that's nostalgia... And that line from Naoki, golden:

Ah, I've been avoiding Eden because of it reportedly being an utsuge. As for Sakura Sakura - I feel very nostalgic playing it - it's not only the blinking, but I also sense some of that old school style in general (at least in a prologue). Character design, music - it all looks very promising.

I just started reading it, and... Blinking sprites are back! I'm in love Had to wait 20 years for that... (last time I saw it was in DOS VNs from old JAST, like Sakura no Kisetsu...)

Finished SukiSuki. Mixed feelings... (slightly edited "review" from game's main thread): But now, after rating SukiSuki with 7.5, I feel that I have to raise my Kazoku Keikaku rating to 7.5 too, as it was IMO much better VN - it was just dragged down by editing mess, but I'd still feel bad if it had lower score than SukiSuki. Now I think I'll try Sakura Sakura thanks to Steam Winter sale

Yep, same here. I read through the route, but had to skip the h-scenes. They were way beyond the line for me. I mean, come on, in-story she's 13 or 14, but resembles rather 8-10. As you say, she's total child. H-scenes with such character are just creepy, period. Other than that, the route was actually decent (but still my least favorite). ************************************************************************************ Actually, just a while ago I completed SukiSuki. I have really mixed feelings about it. Choice system with it's dating-sim approach was really tiring, I'd prefer more traditional structure, with choices at branching points. The way it was, before locking onto a route we're limited to short scenes, that have to be episodic in nature, as reader can watch them in random order. That somehow limits the possibilities of proper build-up etc. I felt that sometimes there were too sudden jumps in relationships, or in general things felt rushed. My favorite routes and heroines were definitely Rinka, followed by Yuuki. Ayame was nice too, but drama in her route felt a bit forced - like writers were trying too hard. Chiho's route was weird and a bit confusing, but enjoyable, and I wrote about Mahiru in the beginning of this post... Like some other posters in this thread, I prefer "normal/non-confession" endings for Yuuki and Rinka, although that's close tie. Sadly, h-scenes seriously dampened my enjoyment of this VN - just didn't align with my tastes I guess. I can see that there was lot of attention paid to them by creators (animations etc), but I didn't enjoy them - they were filled to the brim with almost all bad eroge cliches, and I didn't feel too much love there, just porn. Something was off. Also, for each heroine they were following basically the same formula/scenario. They could have been cut out just like in Steam version of Sanoba, and I think I'd enjoy this VN more that way - sometimes the way the scenes were written and main "eroge sin" - how characters changed during them - killed the mood for me I played the routes in order suggested in walkthrough - Ayame, Chiho, Yuuki, Mahiru, Rinka. After first two I thought I would rate it around 7, and Mahiru's h-scenes made it even lower, but I have to give some bonus points for Rinka and Yuuki - those two routes save this VN. It still isn't worth 8 IMO, as I feel it isn't as good as other titles I gave that score, but I think 7.5/10 will be fair. Overally I enjoyed it, but still feel a bit disappointed... Ah, about the translation - "dude" wasn't the best word choice ("bro" would've been better ), but the rest is decent. Engrish converted to other languages (Spanish, and - in one scene - German) also is featured just in a few scenes, so not really an issue. **********************************************************************************************

Or for Hoshimemo...