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adamstan

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Posts posted by adamstan

  1. I checked out the remaster, since I had original bought from JAST.

    While porting to Ren'py is a welcome change, since it means no problem with running on modern systems, I'm not too fond of "remastered" graphics, since they seem to be just upscaled and "smoothed out", and frankly, this kind of art looks weird for me without some pixellation ;)

      

    6 minutes ago, johnnysasaki said:

    did they translate Asumi's final line in her True End in the remastered release?I remember that line was unsubbed,so I never knew to this day what she said...

     

    As for unsubbed lines - I have checked only a few scenes in the beginning, but, at least there, there were no changes - unsubbed lines remained voice-only. (In the prologue it's the Asumi shouting at protagonist before kicking him)

  2. Continuing Clover Day's, yesterday I finished my first playthrough of prologue/common route - going for Hekiru/Hikaru route.

    My impressions so far:

    • I'm loving the humor in this VN :D Nakigey moments also tug at my hearstrings skillfuly ❤️
    • Izumi, who initially seemed like an annoying brat, already grew on me, and I started to like her and find her cute ;)
    • Hekiru, with her obsession about MC, reminds me of Miyako from Majikoi :D

    I'm really looking forward to the routes :)

    BTW, I skimmed through common route in PC version to check for any obvious differences, but found only one:

    Spoiler

    Near the end of common route, when Hekiru sneaks into MC's bed and tries to talk him into having sex, in the PC version she uses the word セックス, while in Vita version instead she uses 合体. I actually thought it worked well, since it was the same word she used near the end of this scene about hand holding while sleeping - effectively saying something like "Okay, for now let's have sex with just our hands" ;) 

    Other than this, common route seems to be the same in both editions, all dirty jokes and risky CGs included ;)

    Spoiler

    Like Izumi's pantyshot or Tsubame's (SD) underboob ;)

    There's also one UI/technical difference - Vita edition allows to switch text box between default floating and fixed mode, which I found quite useful, since I'm not a fan of floating text boxes, and prefer the standard one.

  3. I haven't realized this game had its own thread. Since the thread has been necro'd, I might as well copy my impressions from the "What are you reading?" thread ;)

      TL;DR - One of the better moeges I've played - strongly recommended if you can stomach (or, like me, love) Slice-of-Life :)

    On 8/17/2022 at 10:38 PM, adamstan said:

    I started with Sora, since she was first both in the walkthrough, and on choices list ;) I'm still somewhere around the first half of the route, I guess (just reached the first kiss ;) ), but I'm loving it so far. Sora is so cute :abilove:

      Reveal hidden contents

    hoshiori-sora-kiss.png

     

      

    On 8/24/2022 at 7:58 AM, adamstan said:

    Yesterday I finished second route in Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai. This time I went for Marika's route. It was extremely heartwarming and wholesome experience - especially in console version, which adds one of the most heart-melting scenes near the ending.

      Reveal hidden contents

    Console version expands upon the topic of pregnancy and waiting for the baby - those additional scenes have Ryousuke and Marika getting all excited when they feel the baby kicks and such similar stuff. It was really sweet.

    (+18 version seems to have only preggo sex scene instead 😕 )

    Based on the two routes I read so far (Sora and Marika) I can see why this game is a love-or-hate thing - but for me it definitely lands on the "love" side, since I don't mind pure SoL at all, and the (let's admit - heavily idealized) way it portrays love also scratches all the right itches ;) It isn't the kind of VN I'd read one after another, but once in a while it's great. Just like with sweets I guess ;)

    After those two routes my gameplay clock reads 47 hours, and completion rate is at 30%, so this will be a looong journey.

    Now I'm starting Natsuki's route. Then I'll go with Misa, and I save Rikka and Touko for the last, since apparently those two routes are quite different from the rest - at least that's what I can get from reviews I saw.

     

      

    On 8/27/2022 at 1:21 PM, adamstan said:

    Continuing with HoshiOri, today I finished Natsuki's route.

    While "school" part of the route wasn't anything special (decent, but not outstanding), I really enjoyed her after story. It was - as it's standard with this VN - "just" a series of SoL scenes, but somehow they really clicked with me.

    Also, I think this was the first route that featured prominent additional "story" content as replacement for skipped h-scenes.

    (The console edition (+17) goes for the "off screen sex" approach, but it doesn't pretend that sex didn't happen - quite the opposite actually, it just doesn't show the act itself)

    In Sora's and Marika's case those were mostly afterglow/pillow talk scenes, but with Natsuki's route there was much more.
     

      Reveal hidden contents

     

    First, summer festival date in the school part:
    Screenshot-1.png

    And second - numerous bath scenes in after story, where they had some really sweet conversations:
    Screenshot-2.png

    Also, during the beach date in the after story, there's additional CG, and Natsuki has new swimsuit:
    Screenshot-3.png

    Besides those, there were also other smaller story-enhancing additions sprinkled here and there - really good job :)

    I have to admit that those additional scenes heavily contributed to my enjoyment of Natsuki's route - they were really well thought out, and I was surprised to see them missing from original +18 version, since they felt like they should be there right from the beginning.

    So now, after 60 hours of reading, I guess I'm near the half? Now there are Misa, Rikka and Touko left.

     

      

    On 9/2/2022 at 7:14 AM, adamstan said:

    Yesterday I started the famous Rikka's route in HoshiOri. I'm just a few days into it (still in June - I played only for 2 hours) but it's on another level already 😮:100:

    Look's like I'm in for a treat. And Rikka seems to be awesome character. I already liked to see how she opened up to others during other routes - I'm really looking forward to how they elaborate on that in her own route. For now she seems to be one of the cutest tsunderes I encountered so far :abilove:.

      

    On 9/6/2022 at 7:22 AM, adamstan said:

    Yesterday I finished Rikka's route in HoshiOri

    It was indeed quite different from the previous four routes when it comes to the structure and style, and it was great :)

    Rikka's school arc was amazing - both the first part, where she gradually opened up to Ryousuke and the rest of the girls, and the second, where she confronts her inner conflict. Meguru was also very welcome side character :) BTW the story of two pianist sisters reminded me about Yui and Rea from Parfait - the stories are different, but for some reason I immediately thought about them.

    After story was also very nice and heartwarming. BTW - I'm a sucker for marriage endings, so this VN so far was truly a feast for me ❤️ It's also worth noting, that console edition got vastly extended post-credits epilogue. In the original PC version it was just single scene of

      Reveal hidden contents

    Rikka and her twin daughters sitting at the piano.

    and the game ends there. In console version we get another arc after that - basically an after-after-story, and it was great

      Reveal hidden contents

    The whole Shionagi-friends group gets together once again and prepare a special guest performance for school festival. It was great to see the whole group doing something together again ❤️ It ends with Rikka and Ryousuke going on the night date on the beach, talking about their plans for the future - among the other things, Rikka suggests going to the love hotel, and speaks about having a third baby  ;)

    So now, with 102 hours under my belt, my feelings towards this VN are similar to @Seraphim's - my top routes are definitely Rikka and Sora, although I'm not sure which one wins. While Rikka's route was definitely of "highest quality", Sora's route had a bit higher emotional impact on me. Maybe it was because I read it first?

    Now let's see, what Touko's route has for me :) I honestly have no idea what to expect, since Touko remains rather mysterious character, but I'm eager to find out :)

    The only hint I can go by is that some people say that there's minor spoiler for Touko's route in Rikka's route. The only thing that comes to mind is

      Reveal hidden contents

    When Ryousuke walks near the park with Rikka and they observe children (and among those, one girl) playing soccer, he mentions that when he was little, there was also a girl that used to play with them. Rikka asks if that was Marika, but Ryousuke replies that no, since during that time she wasn't leaving the house much due to her illness. Could this girl be Touko - making the route's setup a bit like Sora's? Let's see :)

     

      

    On 9/11/2022 at 7:20 PM, adamstan said:

    Today I fininished Touko's route, and with it - after whopping 123 hours - I have completed console version of HoshiOri :)

    Touko's route is even more "odd one" than Rikka's - but that doesn't have to be bad thing. It has rather slow start, but once it gained traction, it was pretty enjoyable. Touko's cat-like personality was quite amusing, and the character development she undergoes is great. The thing it was missing the most (IMO) was the presence of other friends in after-story. On the other hand, there were few really nice thoughts about love and commitment weaved into it. Also, the school arc of Touko's route further cemented my love for Sora ;)❤️

    Additionally, in console edition, similarly to Rikka's route, Touko also got very nice and heartwarming post-credits epilogue.

      Reveal hidden contents

    The went for their honeymoon trip to the Australia, had some fun in the sea, and the story ends with them watching the stars in the mountains, and talking about future - including planning the names for their kids. I absolutely loved the part, when Ryousuke saw the falling star, and came up with the name "Hikari" for their second child ❤️

    So now, I guess it's time for some summary.

    It's very good moege, but only for die-hard slice-of-life lovers ;) I'm one of those so I enjoyed it - although due to the sheer length it can get a bit tedious. However, as I said in my previous post, the formula worked for me, even if it wasn't the best moege I played - that title still belongs to Mashiro Iro Symphony ;)

    The main highlight of this title for me is that it's oozing with heartwarming wholesomeness - which is especially pronounced in console version ❤️

    As for ranking of routes and girls... while I fully acknowledge the very high quality of Rikka's route, my personal favorite after all was Sora :)

    I actually liked all the routes (with different intensity), so it's a little difficult for me to rank them, but I think that going from top to bottom it would be something like Sora = Rikka > Touko = Marika = Natsuki > Misa - but they're all very close to each other.

    The VN looks beautiful, and I especially like the art style of sprites - I just wish there were more of them for side characters too.

    Considering all of this - it's a solid 8/10 for me :)

     

    On 9/11/2022 at 7:20 PM, adamstan said:

    Now let's take a moment to talk about differences between console edition and original +18 PC version. The console edition is rated at +17, and it takes similar approach to Princess Evangile - the sex happens off-screen, but it's fully acknowledged that it happens. Additionally, there some added story events (according to credits, it was done by original scenario writers). It's actually pretty bold for the console version at times - including the use of nude sprites if there's only close-up used in the scene (so the nipples aren't visible).

    The additional and replacement scenes actually enhanced the experience for me - the writers did pretty good job to convey the intimacy between characters, and added epilogues for Rikka and Touko are simply great.

    I skimmed through original adult version, but I found the amount and length of H-scenes to be overwhelming, and also some of those felt rather out-of-character, adhering too tightly to the porn cliches and tropes. OTOH, the lack of some additional scenes from console edition also was painful, since they felt really natural.

    Below I'll list the most significant changed/new CGs for each route.

    The common thing is, that each girl received additional pillow talk/sleeping together CG, if it wasn't there before.

    1. Sora

      Reveal hidden contents

    New event CGs: Hamburger date and planetarium date ;)
    Screenshot-01.pngScreenshot-02.png

    Pillow-talk CG:
    Screenshot-03.png

    I was quite suprised to see that naked-apron and bunny-girl CGs were kept, although they've been cropped to hide naughty bits ;)
    Screenshot-04.pngScreenshot-06.png

    Hot springs CG got the usual "nipple hiding" treatment.
    Screenshot-05.png

     

    2. Marika

      Reveal hidden contents

    First bath CG from common route - it's there, just the water was made less transparent to hide the nipples:
    Screenshot-07.png

    Super-sweet pillow-talk CG:
    Screenshot-08.png

    Two foreplay / making-out CGs - cropped, but kept:
    Screenshot-09.pngScreenshot-10.png

    With bunny-girl outfit we got additional birthday-party scene with a CG (and with sex implied afterwards)
    Screenshot-11.png

    And then the two ultra-wholesome pregnancy scenes I mentioned in my post about Marika's route ❤️
    Screenshot-12.pngScreenshot-13.png

    3. Natsuki

      Reveal hidden contents

    Additional summer-festival date CG
    Screenshot-14.png

    Natsuki already had together-in-bed CG, but there she was naked and fully exposed, so they made soft version of this, covering her up with bedsheets ;)
    Screenshot-15.png

    Additional bath scene(s) and beach date CG I mentioned in the post about Natsuki's route:
    Screenshot-16.pngScreenshot-18.png

    The scene with the two browsing the photos while lying naked together has been kept, just slightly cropped:
    Screenshot-17.png

    4. Misa

      Reveal hidden contents

    New in-bed CG:
    Screenshot-19.png

    Additional story event (during the typhoon night)
    Screenshot-20.png

    Lotion-spreading CGs during the vacation:
    Screenshot-21.pngScreenshot-22.png

    5. Rikka

      Reveal hidden contents

    New making out on the bed scene with two main variants - for school arc and after story
    Screenshot-23.pngScreenshot-24.png

    The pillow-talk CG got nipple-hiding treatment ;)
    Screenshot-25.png

    New bath scene(s) in the after-story:
    Screenshot-26.png

    Final CG from the added epilogue:
    Screenshot-27.png

    6. Touko

      Reveal hidden contents

    The CG of them sitting together in the unused classroom got cropped to hide panties - I actually found it strange, since there were already pantyshots and even bolder scenes in this edition as well:
    Screenshot-28.png

    New together-in-bed scenes - with many versions:
    Screenshot-29.pngScreenshot-30.png

    The CG that leads to the H-scene after the school festival has been kept - it just stays with Touko's yukata intact, with the main act happening off-screen:
    Screenshot-31.png

    And finally the scenes from additiona epilogue - Touko riding floating banana, and stargazing in the mountains:
    Screenshot-32.pngScreenshot-33.png

    And that's it. I know I'm the weird one, but I wholeheartedly recommend the console version. If the additional scenes have been indeed ported over to PC for Perfect Edition, then that might be also worth checking out for h-scene lovers ;) Although I've seen some reviews complaining that the merging was done sloppily in some places.

     

  4. 7 hours ago, ittaku said:

    As for the sex, the game has a great deal of sexual innuendo outside the H scenes so if anything the AA version is very heavily cut; not the other way around. The game was written as an adult game to begin with and then modified for an AA version.

    Yeah, and from what I'm seeing so far, most of it has been kept in the console port (it has +17/CERO D rating actually +15, I confused it with HoshiOri) :) I know that it might be considered weird, but recently I prefer most of my moege (and even moreso nakige) without H-scenes ;) I'm fine with sex jokes like those in this VN, or off-screen sex, like in Vita version of HoshiOri, but I don't enjoy reading most of the sex scenes themselves.

    (When I'm in the mood for eroge, I tend to go for 3DOELVNs or some RPGM shovelware ;) )

    7 hours ago, ittaku said:

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

    I think I'll go with this recommenadtion then - thanks :)

    7 hours ago, ittaku said:

    depending on which is your favourite pair of girls

    Currently I think I'm leaning towards Tsubame, but I'm still near the beginning, so it all might change ;)

    7 hours ago, ittaku said:

    Disclaimer: I'm the translator for the official localisation with NekoNyan.

    So we can expect some quality TL :)

  5. I continue Clover Day's - yesterday I landed a few scenes past the OP movie. So far it is amazing - it actually exceeds my expectations. While it uses lots of common tropes, so far they seem to be well executed, and it simply just "clicked" for me :)

    I laugh heartily on comedic bits, while emotional moments (mostly in flashbacks) made me shed a tear or two. Heroines are cute and likeable (well, apart from that annoying brat Izumi :P - but she's funny in her own way), and there's strong "Group of friends" vibe present :) What's more, many side characters also have sprites, which makes the world feel much more "lively" - the lack of those was what bothered me the most in the otherwise great Aonatsu Line for example.

    So yeah, there's the potential for great charage/moege here. Let's hope they don't mess it up in the routes ;)

    And good luck for NekoNyan with their upcoming English version :) Actually I remember watching the progress of @astro's FanTL project, and I was really disheartened to see it stalled. While in the meantime some things changed - namely, I got more inclined towards all-ages versions and learned enough Japanese to attempt to read untranslated VNs - which ultimately made me go with the Vita edition ;) - I'm still very glad that this got picked up for official release :)

    BTW, does anyone have some route order recommendations? Guide at seiya-saiga lists them in order Anzu -> Anri -> Hikaru/Hekiru twins -> Tsubame -> Izumi.

  6. On 10/13/2022 at 6:23 AM, adamstan said:

    I bought it few days ago - I guess this will be my next read, especially since it seems to be on the shorter side :)

    And once again it turned out differently than I expected.

    I was in the mood for something more lighthearted, so I tried to play Strawberry Nauts, which I got recently, but currently emulated version still suffers from many technical issues (like glitched voices or sprites not fully loading), so I put it back to the backlog.

    And I started Clover Day's (Vita version). I think I'm still at the prologue, but it looks very promising - I'm really enjoying the atmosphere and characters so far. I went with console version, because judging by the premise it seemed like one of those titles where sex scenes don't fit too well - at least for my taste ;)

  7. On 9/25/2022 at 6:05 AM, Clephas said:

    Duelist Engage

    Amairo Islenauts

    The rest was mediocre though

    Funny, I've read most of his VNs, but not those two - and I loved the rest ;) The setting of Duelist looked too over-the-top for my taste, and as for Amairo it looks like it has too much porn for me  :P (I also haven't read Pure Song Garden)

    And recently I've actually been thinking "It's time for new Konno Asta's VN, isn't it?" :P So I'm looking forward to this new title :)

  8. 14 hours ago, sanahtlig said:

    So yes, Valve being stricter than Sony--while simultaneously carrying actual porn--is headline-worthy.

    Yeah... Recently, when I was reading PSVita version of Hoshi Ori Yume Mirari there were numerous scenes where I thought "No way this could get a pass on Steam under current guidelines" ;)

  9. The +18 version I was using for comparisons was actually English fan-tl. I checked it out only briefly, but I have to say I was disappointed with how the translation reads. While I haven't spotted any obvious errors, it felt very stiff and "translationese". Either my standards have changed, or the editing was insufficient. I had much better impression of Hatsukoi 1/1 and Tsujidou-san translations by the same team. But it might be just me.

    (I used the older release of English patch - I didn't have 2.0 version - I hope they improved the flow of the text, although it's hard to judge by description alone)

    43 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

    It should be mentioned that both 18+ and Perfect Edition here have been translated, so you can enjoy both benefit if you can't read Japanese

    Yeah, but the experience might be a bit rough, since additional scenes have been done by different team and apparently in different style.

    Well, still better than nothing I guess ;)

  10. Today I fininished Touko's route, and with it - after whopping 123 hours - I have completed console version of HoshiOri :)

    Touko's route is even more "odd one" than Rikka's - but that doesn't have to be bad thing. It has rather slow start, but once it gained traction, it was pretty enjoyable. Touko's cat-like personality was quite amusing, and the character development she undergoes is great. The thing it was missing the most (IMO) was the presence of other friends in after-story. On the other hand, there were few really nice thoughts about love and commitment weaved into it. Also, the school arc of Touko's route further cemented my love for Sora ;)❤️

    Additionally, in console edition, similarly to Rikka's route, Touko also got very nice and heartwarming post-credits epilogue.

    Spoiler

    The went for their honeymoon trip to the Australia, had some fun in the sea, and the story ends with them watching the stars in the mountains, and talking about future - including planning the names for their kids. I absolutely loved the part, when Ryousuke saw the falling star, and came up with the name "Hikari" for their second child ❤️

    So now, I guess it's time for some summary.

    It's very good moege, but only for die-hard slice-of-life lovers ;) I'm one of those so I enjoyed it - although due to the sheer length it can get a bit tedious. However, as I said in my previous post, the formula worked for me, even if it wasn't the best moege I played - that title still belongs to Mashiro Iro Symphony ;)

    The main highlight of this title for me is that it's oozing with heartwarming wholesomeness - which is especially pronounced in console version ❤️

    As for ranking of routes and girls... while I fully acknowledge the very high quality of Rikka's route, my personal favorite after all was Sora :)

    I actually liked all the routes (with different intensity), so it's a little difficult for me to rank them, but I think that going from top to bottom it would be something like Sora = Rikka > Touko = Marika = Natsuki > Misa - but they're all very close to each other.

    The VN looks beautiful, and I especially like the art style of sprites - I just wish there were more of them for side characters too.

    Considering all of this - it's a solid 8/10 for me :)

    ******************************************************************************************************************

    Now let's take a moment to talk about differences between console edition and original +18 PC version. The console edition is rated at +17, and it takes similar approach to Princess Evangile - the sex happens off-screen, but it's fully acknowledged that it happens. Additionally, there some added story events (according to credits, it was done by original scenario writers). It's actually pretty bold for the console version at times - including the use of nude sprites if there's only close-up used in the scene (so the nipples aren't visible).

    The additional and replacement scenes actually enhanced the experience for me - the writers did pretty good job to convey the intimacy between characters, and added epilogues for Rikka and Touko are simply great.

    I skimmed through original adult version, but I found the amount and length of H-scenes to be overwhelming, and also some of those felt rather out-of-character, adhering too tightly to the porn cliches and tropes. OTOH, the lack of some additional scenes from console edition also was painful, since they felt really natural.

    Below I'll list the most significant changed/new CGs for each route.

    The common thing is, that each girl received additional pillow talk/sleeping together CG, if it wasn't there before.

    1. Sora

    Spoiler

    New event CGs: Hamburger date and planetarium date ;)
    Screenshot-01.pngScreenshot-02.png

    Pillow-talk CG:
    Screenshot-03.png

    I was quite suprised to see that naked-apron and bunny-girl CGs were kept, although they've been cropped to hide naughty bits ;)
    Screenshot-04.pngScreenshot-06.png

    Hot springs CG got the usual "nipple hiding" treatment.
    Screenshot-05.png

     

    2. Marika

    Spoiler

    First bath CG from common route - it's there, just the water was made less transparent to hide the nipples:
    Screenshot-07.png

    Super-sweet pillow-talk CG:
    Screenshot-08.png

    Two foreplay / making-out CGs - cropped, but kept:
    Screenshot-09.pngScreenshot-10.png

    With bunny-girl outfit we got additional birthday-party scene with a CG (and with sex implied afterwards)
    Screenshot-11.png

    And then the two ultra-wholesome pregnancy scenes I mentioned in my post about Marika's route ❤️
    Screenshot-12.pngScreenshot-13.png

    3. Natsuki

    Spoiler

    Additional summer-festival date CG
    Screenshot-14.png

    Natsuki already had together-in-bed CG, but there she was naked and fully exposed, so they made soft version of this, covering her up with bedsheets ;)
    Screenshot-15.png

    Additional bath scene(s) and beach date CG I mentioned in the post about Natsuki's route:
    Screenshot-16.pngScreenshot-18.png

    The scene with the two browsing the photos while lying naked together has been kept, just slightly cropped:
    Screenshot-17.png

    4. Misa

    Spoiler

    New in-bed CG:
    Screenshot-19.png

    Additional story event (during the typhoon night)
    Screenshot-20.png

    Lotion-spreading CGs during the vacation:
    Screenshot-21.pngScreenshot-22.png

    5. Rikka

    Spoiler

    New making out on the bed scene with two main variants - for school arc and after story
    Screenshot-23.pngScreenshot-24.png

    The pillow-talk CG got nipple-hiding treatment ;)
    Screenshot-25.png

    New bath scene(s) in the after-story:
    Screenshot-26.png

    Final CG from the added epilogue:
    Screenshot-27.png

    6. Touko

    Spoiler

    The CG of them sitting together in the unused classroom got cropped to hide panties - I actually found it strange, since there were already pantyshots and even bolder scenes in this edition as well:
    Screenshot-28.png

    New together-in-bed scenes - with many versions:
    Screenshot-29.pngScreenshot-30.png

    The CG that leads to the H-scene after the school festival has been kept - it just stays with Touko's yukata intact, with the main act happening off-screen:
    Screenshot-31.png

    And finally the scenes from additiona epilogue - Touko riding floating banana, and stargazing in the mountains:
    Screenshot-32.pngScreenshot-33.png

    And that's it. I know I'm the weird one, but I wholeheartedly recommend the console version. If the additional scenes have been indeed ported over to PC for Perfect Edition, then that might be also worth checking out for h-scene lovers ;) Although I've seen some reviews complaining that the merging was done sloppily in some places.

    Now I have to take a break - and in the meantime choose the next title to read. I'm leaning towards Hatsuyuki Sakura (PSV) that I bought together with HoshiOri.

  11. Yesterday I finished Rikka's route in HoshiOri

    It was indeed quite different from the previous four routes when it comes to the structure and style, and it was great :)

    Rikka's school arc was amazing - both the first part, where she gradually opened up to Ryousuke and the rest of the girls, and the second, where she confronts her inner conflict. Meguru was also very welcome side character :) BTW the story of two pianist sisters reminded me about Yui and Rea from Parfait - the stories are different, but for some reason I immediately thought about them.

    After story was also very nice and heartwarming. BTW - I'm a sucker for marriage endings, so this VN so far was truly a feast for me ❤️ It's also worth noting, that console edition got vastly extended post-credits epilogue. In the original PC version it was just single scene of

    Spoiler

    Rikka and her twin daughters sitting at the piano.

    and the game ends there. In console version we get another arc after that - basically an after-after-story, and it was great

    Spoiler

    The whole Shionagi-friends group gets together once again and prepare a special guest performance for school festival. It was great to see the whole group doing something together again ❤️ It ends with Rikka and Ryousuke going on the night date on the beach, talking about their plans for the future - among the other things, Rikka suggests going to the love hotel, and speaks about having a third baby  ;)

    So now, with 102 hours under my belt, my feelings towards this VN are similar to @Seraphim's - my top routes are definitely Rikka and Sora, although I'm not sure which one wins. While Rikka's route was definitely of "highest quality", Sora's route had a bit higher emotional impact on me. Maybe it was because I read it first?

    Now let's see, what Touko's route has for me :) I honestly have no idea what to expect, since Touko remains rather mysterious character, but I'm eager to find out :)

    The only hint I can go by is that some people say that there's minor spoiler for Touko's route in Rikka's route. The only thing that comes to mind is

    Spoiler

    When Ryousuke walks near the park with Rikka and they observe children (and among those, one girl) playing soccer, he mentions that when he was little, there was also a girl that used to play with them. Rikka asks if that was Marika, but Ryousuke replies that no, since during that time she wasn't leaving the house much due to her illness. Could this girl be Touko - making the route's setup a bit like Sora's? Let's see :)

     

  12. Yesterday I started the famous Rikka's route in HoshiOri. I'm just a few days into it (still in June - I played only for 2 hours) but it's on another level already 😮:100:

    Look's like I'm in for a treat. And Rikka seems to be awesome character. I already liked to see how she opened up to others during other routes - I'm really looking forward to how they elaborate on that in her own route. For now she seems to be one of the cutest tsunderes I encountered so far :abilove:.

    Also, her VA is extremely versatile - it's really hard to imagine that the person who voices Rikka also gave voice to characters like Airi from MashiroIro Symphony, Amane from Konosora, Satouin from Anokana or Karen from Making Lovers among others 😮

  13. 7 hours ago, Nemesis said:

    I find that their prices are way too high. It's usually cheaper to buy directly from Japanese publishers and have a third party export it for you.

    Yeah, PlayAsia's prices seem rather on the expensive side to put it mildly ;) I usually get my physical editions of VNs either from amazon.jp or from ebay (although I feel like ebay prices also have risen recently). And for download editions I alternate between Steam, DLSite and Getchu (DMM doesn't work for my area).

  14. Today I finished Misa's route in HoshiOri.

    While it was nice, I feel like it was the weakest of the four so far - although I cannot put my finger on why exactly... There were many nice moments, and Misa is ridiculously cute, but something was missing.

    But, whatever the case, now it's Rikka's turn! Let's see what the fuss is all about :D

  15. Continuing with HoshiOri, today I finished Natsuki's route.

    While "school" part of the route wasn't anything special (decent, but not outstanding), I really enjoyed her after story. It was - as it's standard with this VN - "just" a series of SoL scenes, but somehow they really clicked with me.

    Also, I think this was the first route that featured prominent additional "story" content as replacement for skipped h-scenes.

    (The console edition (+17) goes for the "off screen sex" approach, but it doesn't pretend that sex didn't happen - quite the opposite actually, it just doesn't show the act itself)

    In Sora's and Marika's case those were mostly afterglow/pillow talk scenes, but with Natsuki's route there was much more.
     

    Spoiler

     

    First, summer festival date in the school part:
    Screenshot-1.png

    And second - numerous bath scenes in after story, where they had some really sweet conversations:
    Screenshot-2.png

    Also, during the beach date in the after story, there's additional CG, and Natsuki has new swimsuit:
    Screenshot-3.png

    Besides those, there were also other smaller story-enhancing additions sprinkled here and there - really good job :)

    I have to admit that those additional scenes heavily contributed to my enjoyment of Natsuki's route - they were really well thought out, and I was surprised to see them missing from original +18 version, since they felt like they should be there right from the beginning.

    So now, after 60 hours of reading, I guess I'm near the half? Now there are Misa, Rikka and Touko left.

     

  16. Yesterday I finished second route in Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai. This time I went for Marika's route. It was extremely heartwarming and wholesome experience - especially in console version, which adds one of the most heart-melting scenes near the ending.

    Spoiler

    Console version expands upon the topic of pregnancy and waiting for the baby - those additional scenes have Ryousuke and Marika getting all excited when they feel the baby kicks and such similar stuff. It was really sweet.

    (+18 version seems to have only preggo sex scene instead 😕 )

    Based on the two routes I read so far (Sora and Marika) I can see why this game is a love-or-hate thing - but for me it definitely lands on the "love" side, since I don't mind pure SoL at all, and the (let's admit - heavily idealized) way it portrays love also scratches all the right itches ;) It isn't the kind of VN I'd read one after another, but once in a while it's great. Just like with sweets I guess ;)

    After those two routes my gameplay clock reads 47 hours, and completion rate is at 30%, so this will be a looong journey.

    Now I'm starting Natsuki's route. Then I'll go with Misa, and I save Rikka and Touko for the last, since apparently those two routes are quite different from the rest - at least that's what I can get from reviews I saw.

     

  17. 23 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:
    Spoiler

    Actually, I'm pretty sure that several text passages were almost exactly the same and I was pretty annoyed that they were tagged a unread. Though, it took me months to finish it, so if it's just about small details, I might have missed it. Nevertheless, even if there was a slight decline, it was certainly not even close to the state she was in Alka.

     

     

    Spoiler

    Maybe it's because of that time - did you take long breaks between the routes? I clearly remember her becoming more and more childish and clumsy after each cycle. But it also might be that we just perceive those things differently.

     

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