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adamstan

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Posts posted by adamstan

  1. Nah. This VN is great, but remake does nothing for me - unless they make Hi-Res PC port of PSP version (Mutsu no Hana), and keep it all-ages - now that would be interesting :D

    (Most of the scenes that were added in all-ages edition as replacement for sex scenes were really good, and I'd take them any day over the h-scenes. Also PSP version had another additional route apart from Sana's - it was for new character Yutsuki, who is exclusive to console version)

  2. Yesterday I finished Tsui no Stella (it took me 19 hours)

    I don't think I could add much to @Nemesis's review, but I mostly agree with it :)

    I loved it. It was great story about being (or becoming) human and relationships.

    Also, as one of the reviewers already pointed out, フィリア's name could be transliterated in two ways - and both are meaningful. One is the "canon" Philia - because that's the greek word for "love" Jude named her after. But it could be also romanized as Filia, which is latin word for "daughter". Nice little touch.

    I've read only two Tanaka Romeo's works so far (YMK and Kazoku Keikaku - and both only in English) - but his style is visible in this VN. At the same time, he fit pretty well into the KEY formula :) Indeed this story was an emotional ride, with many teary moments.

    Spoiler

    Delilah's death 😢 I think that was the fist scene that made me actually cry... At least in this story - unlike Planetarian - Filia survives, and carries on...

    8.5/10, definitely recommend :) I see KEY plans to release official translation this year - I hope it goes smoothly, so more people could enjoy this great story. Since the setting is pretty universal (not explicitly Japanese) - there shouldn't be too many things prone to getting lost in translation.

  3. Yesterday I finished third chapter of Tsui no Stella so I guess I'm still near the beginning.  (Currently I have time for reading maybe once a week, so I'm progressing rather slowly)

    I really wonder, what is it with all those robot girls that makes every one of them grab me by the heart? Planetarian's Yumemi, ATRI, Dal Segno's Ame, ToHeart's Multi, and now Filia - I honestly have no idea 😮

    BTW Willem kind of creeps me out - I have strong suspicion that he might turn out to be a villain. But of course it might be just a red herring and playing with reader's impressions and expectations - we'll see ;)

  4. On 1/7/2023 at 10:44 PM, Shinyun226 said:

    Currently making my way through Snow Portable (the PSP port of Snow)

    51E9nP0dzlL._AC_.jpg

    Before saying anything about the game itself, I've gotta complaint about the issues with this particular port.
    It's my own fault for not properly researching this ahead of time but... I kind of wish I had just gone with the PS2 version instead as the PSP version is really kind of a mess.

    • This version is only partially voiced (DC and PS2 both were full voice) due to what later turned out to be some misguided assumptions about how much they could fit on the UMD + load time concerns. Prototypes PSP port of Kanon apparently had the same issue but somehow all the PSP ports they did after that were magically full voice....
    • Save labels are bare-bones (they only list the in-game date and nothing else) 
    • No proper backlog (you have to manually cycle back one textbox at a time)
    • And worst of all, the skip feature can't distinguish between read and unread text. Not the first time I've had to play a game like this (the PSX version of ONE Kagayaku Kisetstu he was like that too) but.... it makes going through all the routes a huge pain.

    The trade off though is this is (presently) the only all-ages version of Snow with the Nazo no Shoujo route so... I guess I would have had to play this version in the long-run anyways if I wanted to play every route.

    These annoyance aside, I just finished my first route (Sumino's) and am enjoying the game overall. It definitely has elements that are very derivative of both Kanon and Air (The very inconclusive ending to Sumino's route, and the fact that you unlock something called the "Legend" route right after feels very Air-esque), so I can see where a lot of people consider it a rip-off, but so far I think it still manages to differentiate itself enough.

    Either way I'm apparently only 22% through the CGs (may not be the best metric for progress but... it's something) so... still got a lot more game left before I can pass any real judgement.

    Thanks for this post :) I also have Snow in my backlog, and I plan to go with one of the console versions as well. It's a pity that PSP port is such a technical mess - I might try PS2 one instead in that case. And then perhaps switch over to PSP just for that one bonus route. The question is - is that new route worth it? It differs from game to game. For example, all-ages exclusive Mikoto's route from Tenshin Ranman was easily the best route in the whole game for me ❤️ , while on the other hand additional route in And really soured the experience for me, especially since it was unlocked last 😕

  5. 7 hours ago, Seraphim said:

    Niimi Kakeru from 9-nine,

    For a moment I thought - "How could I forget about that great protag?", but then I remembered, that I read 9-nine in 2021 ;)

    7 hours ago, Seraphim said:

    It's Kitahara Haruki from White Album 2

    Damn, makes me hesitant to play WA2 :(

    7 hours ago, Seraphim said:

    Kakei Kyoutarou from Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai

    Perhaps it's time for me to read it? It's sitting on the shelf and on the backlog, and I'm currently "free" VN-wise ;)

  6. Yesterday I finished Clover Day's with Izumi's route.

    @ittaku - you were right, this route was amazing ❤️ I'd say it was on par with Anzu's route when it comes to the plot - they could be called sister routes perhaps ;) I mean, they feature similar themes and struggles - but this time it was about Izumi's family, instead of Yuuto's.

    Spoiler

    And that Izumi's family's story gave me some Damekoi vibes. It also reminded me a bit about Little Buster's Haruka and Kanata, although thankfully Sayonji family wasn't nearly as fucked up as Saigusa/Futaki ;)

    And Izumi as a heroine is absolutely lovely - one of the cutest tsunderes I've encountered so far ❤️ :abilove:

    So, if I had to rank the routes it would be Izumi >= Anzu > Tsubame > Anri >>> Hekiru/Hikaru.

    So, it makes for one meh route (H/H), one decent (Anri), one very good (Tsubame) and two outstanding ones (Anzu and Izumi) - not bad :)

    There's decent presence of side characters throughout the rotes - big plus. It was especially pronounced in Tsubame's route :) Art looks very good, and I really like the character designs. Music is ok - nothing outstanding, but does the job.

    I played Vita version, but I actually own PC version (standard one, not the Plus). While - at least when skimming through PC version - H-scenes weren't exactly up to my taste, I'm a bit disappointed with the all-ages edition, since it features no extra content at all, except the unlockable "extra scenarios", that are just 1-2 minutes long skits, similar to those in Majkoi's menu :P Even some additional CGs for "normal" scenes would be welcome, but there's nothing of that, it just skips the H-scenes, and that's all. Well, thank you, I could have done it myself with Ctrl key, and wouldn't have to struggle with some emulator glitches :P

    But that's a minor complaint, and all in all I really enjoyed this VN - strong 8/10. (Would have been 9 if the two lesser routes - Anri and Hekiru - were of the same quality as the three better ones)

    I think that - after a short break - I might try Tsui no Stella as my next read (unless some other title distracts me ;)).

  7. Yesterday I finished Tsubame's route in Clover Day's

    While not as rich plot-wise as Anzu's, it was very good. There was healthy balance of humor and drama, Tsubame is both hot and cute at the same time, and I really liked the whole acting club setting and parallels between the play they were doing and real life ;)

    Also, seeing Izumi in this route I couldn't help but think about

    Spoiler

    Sana from MashiroIro Symphony.

    Now there's only Izumi's route left to read, and I'm really looking forward to it :)

  8. Please forgive my spam, but I really have to share it with you (and I'm actually listening to it on repeat for a last few days :D )

    Recently I did a cover of "Yume no Tsubasa" (a song written by Yuki Kajiura, originally from "Tsubasa Chronicle" anime). I love this song, and wanted to do it for a long time, but it absolutely needs a female singer. And some time ago Yoko Matsuura (japanese local singer-songwriter from Otsu, whom I befriended thanks to very unexpected chain of events) invited me to do a collaboration video - so I suggested doing cover of this song together, and here's the result:

    I played the keyboards and did all the programming and editing, while Yoko played piano - and we're both singing of course :)

     

  9. 15 minutes ago, ittaku said:

    The H/H route is the weakest and adds little to the story, which is why it goes first.

    Yeah, when looking from that POV, it's good to have it out of the way ;) Luckily while weakest, it was still decent enough to keep me reading.

    15 minutes ago, ittaku said:

    I just prefer Izumi as a heroine which is why I leave it for last.

    For the first few scenes in the common route I found Izumi rather annoying, but later she grew on me, and I'm really looking forward to her route :)

  10. Okay, so yesterday I finished my third route in Clover Day's - it was Anzu.

    So far the VN was very uneven for me. Common route was brilliant - like I said in my previous post. All heroines are lovely, and I really liked both the humor and the more serious bits. But then the first two routes I read - Hekiru/Hikaru and Anri - were slightly disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high?

    As for the Hekiru's route, I was really looking forward to it after what I've seen in common route. But

    Spoiler

    I didn't like that they forced a threesome ending for Hekiru and Hikaru - it felt like a cheap cop out. But OTOH that's standard eroge fare, so perhaps I should expect it :P

    BTW was it only me, or some parts of Hikaru/Hekiru drama were similar to the story of Kyou and Ryou from Clannad?

    Anri's route was better - perhaps partially thanks to the side characters having bigger role. I really liked school election plot and the friendship with Mizuho. Gave me some Koichoco and Princess Evangile flashbacks :) What I didn't like about Anri's route was that it was relying too heavily on many Imouto x Oniichan tropes :P But all in all, it was decent - although I expected more.

    And then Anzu's route hit - whoah, that was amazing 😮 It's hard to believe, that it was written by the same author as Anri's route.

    On 10/22/2022 at 11:13 PM, ittaku said:

    Hekiru/Hikaru->Tsubame->Izumi->Anri->Anzu, or

    Hekiru/Hikaru->Anri->Anzu->Tsubame->Izumi (my preferred)

    for plot reasons, depending on which is your favourite pair of girls (as they are paired routes) and whether you want to do them last.

    Although I'm not sure, if it was right move to put this route in the middle, instead of the end - it had strong "true route" vibes, with it being more "Takakura family route" than "Anzu route". Nevertheless it was amazing nakigey story - no complaints here. And that plot twist with

    Spoiler

    Shion being Yuuto's real mother, and Nodoka being a ghost (?) of his unborn twin sister

    Now, that's some KEY-worthy stuff ❤️

    Now let's see what Tsubame's and Izumi's routes have in store for me :)

  11. 6 hours ago, Nemesis said:

    Nope. If you go to Giga's official site:
    http://www.web-giga.com/close/

    「戯画」ブランド商品の販売終了 2023年3月31日(金) ※パッケージ商品およびダウンロード販売商品も全て同日終了となります。 最後にお手元に残したいお客様におかれましては、販売終了日までにご購入いただけますと幸いです。

    They stop selling everything at March 31, 2023.

    Damn, that's weird. So despite the publisher staying in business, they effectively turn all their games into abandonware?

  12.   

    6 hours ago, Nemesis said:

    I'm going to get all the giga games that I'm interested in before they shutdown.

     

    1 hour ago, Templarseeker said:

    I wonder who's gonna pick the rights to translate/localize their titles, Sekai Project maybe?

    Giga's parent company - Entergram/TGL stays in business, so there should be no problem with older titles. It just means no new games under GIGA brand I guess.

  13. 41 minutes ago, HataVNI said:

    Any other giga titles you have played?

    I've read their 3 titles written by Maruto:

    Chocolat ~maid cafe "curio"~
    Parfait ~Chocolat Second Brew~
    Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o

    and Aonatsu Line

    I liked them all - the latter three were 8/10 for me, while Chocolat got 7.5.

    I also have some of their moeges at the wishlist/backlog.

    41 minutes ago, HataVNI said:

    Which have you looked forward to to eventually get localized?

    Currently none, since I reached the point of being able to read untranslated moeges ;) But if memory serves, Parfait is getting translated by Sekai Project.

     

    PS I actually haven't read Baldr Sky, and have no interest in it ;)

  14. 5 hours ago, Nemesis said:

    Overall, it's a a slightly above average moege.

    I wonder what my impression of Kisaragi Gold Star will be, when I eventually get to it ;)

    Currently I'm going little by little through Clover Day's - recently I don't have that much time for reading, so I'm reading around an hour/day, so I'm still on the Hekiru's route - I entered the second part of the route (got achievement/trophy for completing the chapter ;) )

  15. So far there are two:

    1. I've read Princess Evangile three times. First time +18 English version (it was one of my first VNs), then All-ages English version, and finally, last year, All-ages Japanese version (PSP). And it's very possible, that there will be fourth time ;) There's something in that VN that pulls me back - it was a lovely feeling to revisit it, and meet old friends again. It become my "comfort VN" - together with the next one...

    2. Konosora (If My Heart Had Wings) - this one I read two times - once in English (with retranslation patch), and then later I read PS3 version - Cruise Sign in Japanese (I even actually bought physical copy of it). I think I will revisit this one too some time.

    I guess we could also count MashiroIro Symphony (2 times) - but this was slightly different case, since those two reads were back-to-back - I read PC version, and then PSP one in one go.

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