adamstan

Sekai wants to compete with JAST in terms of speed it seems

I think this was aimed to be a joke about how Rika doesn't get enough screen time in common route Anyway, all-ages version cuts only h-scenes, and adds a bit of magic steam to onsen CG in common route, to cover "sensitive" parts (nipples and genital areas). OTOH, the CG with girls changing in clubroom is left unaltered, since there are no nipples visible there.

(quoting in open, since I think this part is spoiler-safe) There's some truth to this, but maybe it was their attempt to raise above the level of average moege I think that true route was actually one of the best parts of the game, while more typical "eroge" bits annoyed me a bit now and then.

So, as planned, I started reading Cruise Sign. Ah, the music and Kotori I'm encountering fair number of unknown words (by this I mean more than in other untranslated VNs I played before), and probably there'll be a lot more once glider fun starts - but that's where text hooking comes to help Having already read translated version of IMHHW probably helps a little too. BTW, according to the walkthrough at Seiya-Saiga, Akari's route isn't part of the main game, but is accessible from the menu as a part of Flight Diary. So, technically Steam version of Flight Diary with Akari DLC should be equal to console version, unless they used some additional censorship. I plan to grab it sometime later (maybe on winter Steam sale?) and compare them.

It didn't bother me that much, but perhaps I was blinded by Rika's cuteness But yeah, there are definitely some plotholes here and there.

Yeah, pretty nice. (and I can't stand Kasia Kowalska, or most of other our 90's-and-later singers, except early Varius Manx ). As for my personal list, Anri Kumaki still rules unrivaled when it comes to japanese pop. I think she actually became my favorite pop singer ever, not limited to Japan. There's new album coming out on 30th October - I can't wait!

Yeah, that's true. Since I read Misaki's route before Asuka's, just like you did, I also had my doubts about Asuka's ending - will it bring something more to the table? And well, still voted for Misaki as my favorite heroine and route But I can see where the notion of Asuka's route being the 'final' one comes from. I guess we could say, that game has two main/central heroines - Asuka and Misaki, and two "side/secondary" ones - Mashiro and Rika.

Probably she still is, but Misaki's route also makes a very good conclusion to the Masaya's story, and I'd consider her to be "alternate true heroine" I think Saki could be difficult to do, since she doesn't have enough exposition in common route, but I'd love Satouin's route as well.

Yesterday I started Konosora Cruise Sign for a moment just to check if my saved text hooking configuration still works after updating the emulator (it does!), and I was again reminded how beautiful the music in this VN is. Even the main theme alone, that can be heard in a menu, brings back memories and emotions... I also think that Kotori's route is the best, but I prefer to start with it

Also, in our speculations, we are forgetting the most important rule in such stories - cuteness overrules everything

Yeah, or there are some undocumented/unmentioned features of grav shoes Actually AFAIR we don't see them taking off - so maybe they took off together holding hands in paired mode, then separated for Rika's practice, but still not repelling each other?

Yeah, it threw me out for a moment too. However, there is an explanation. Remember the time when we first meet Asuka, right at the start of the game? As they are going to fly to school, MC configures their grav shoes into "paired flight" mode, which allows them to hold hands - they don't repel each other.

So it's basically the same as if you were reading all-ages edition, since it boils down to mostly just this - skipping h-scenes. It even keeps those cute cuddling after-scenes. Oh, and adds some additional steam to hot-springs CG. In case of Mashiro's route YMMV of course, but I checked H-scenes out of curiosity, and found them good enough to continue with them. I was just clicking faster through moans/sfx, but the dialogue put in between was nice Also, I think that you could actually convert non-steam edition to all-ages too, by renaming/moving "adult.dat" file. (But who would do that? )

Ah, I see. But then - assuming they did demosaic it - they'd probably have to remove Japanese text. If given such choice, I prefer to have both JP and EN text available than demosaiced HCGs, so I guess it all comes down to different priorities/preferences I could probably go as far as to say that for me mosaics just became another part of "anime" art style

Oh, is that so? Good to know. Guess I got my English mixed up a bit - I meant どうでもいい As in, I'm fine either way, and they don't bother me at all. But I have to ask - if mosaics make you pass on the VN, how did you manage to read untranslated ones? If it makes a difference, or if they bother you combined with translated text, just switch it to Japanese and pretend it's JP release, so they won't feel out of place Passing on it because of mosaics would be great loss IMO - it's great, even without sex scenes (but even better with them, mosaiced or not).

I finished Aokana recently, and absolutely loved every bit of it. 9/10 (more in Aokana thread) Now I think I have to take a break from VNs for a few days, and catch up with some other things. And then I'll probably tackle something untranslated again. Konosora Cruise Sign maybe?

No, I wasn't talking about it, it isn't Chuablesoft's title even (and I haven't read it yet). I meant "If you love me then say so" - which was developed after "Farther than the blue sky", but was localized first. It actually has part of story happening on Amanoshima Island, with members of Byakko club playing episodic roles. In terms of visuals yes, they are good, or even above average, but I didn't like the writing in them - and I loved the writing of h-scenes in Aokana. I don't care for mosaics Mosaics don't bother me at all, so this is non-factor for me. I have a bit different expectations from sex scenes in romance VNs, than from regular porn. Aokana fulfilled those expectations/desires for me - Chuablesoft's titles didn't. I felt like scenes in "Farther than a Blue Sky" and "If you love me then say so" did fine (or actually very well) as a porn, but nothing more, while I wanted that something more. On this we can mostly agree While romance wasn't strongest part of "Farther Than The Blue Sky" for me, overall story was good, and indeed true route was great. Still prefer Aokana very much (which is reflected in scores I gave them). **************** Exactly. It's even default folder name (and main exe file) in Mangagamer's version Sometimes I prefer to use aliases, since they're shorter.

No, it wasn't their last, but still they went out of business some time ago. Also, while indeed it was IMO better than, say, SukiSuki, still Aokana is waaaay better than any of those (not just considering h-content, but overally). The way i see it, while VN as a whole is good, h-scenes in Byakko are "just" good/not bad - they are your typical, run-of-the-mill-eroge scenes, while in Aokana they are great - of course only for those who like vanilla

If that helps - I first finished Mashiro's route in All-Ages version. When I installed +18 patch then, H-scenes were marked as unread, so I could skip directly to them. (and they were so good, that I decided to continue with +18 version for the rest of the game)

So, yesterday (or actually very early today ) I finished Aokana with Asuka's route. It's another masterpiece among charage that I encountered recently (after Mashiro Iro Symphony). Really, when I started it I didn't know what to actually expect from it, and it blew me away. All girls were cute, and all four routes were great for me, but if I had to pick the favorite one, it would be Misaki, but only by a hair's breadth FC/action stuff, comedy and relationships - all complemented each other nicely. Art was stunning - both beautifully detailed backgrounds, and character design. Add to this good music and FIVE different ending songs - simply amazing. Also, it's probably VN with most wholesome h-scenes I've ever seen so far (if you actually can say that about h-scenes ) - I loved that. They were very satisfying emotionally, and just cute, filled with love. And they mostly kept characters' personalities intact, which is huuuge plus. Look and learn, Chuablesoft! (except they're already out of business, so they won't ) 9/10, totally recommended, and I'm really glad it got official international release. (Aokana and YMK spoilers below)

Yeah, +1.

Yeah, I have Asuka's route left to complete yet, but so far, it was totally amazing, and definitely exceeded my expectations.

AFAIK not. NekoNyan is planning to release "Perfect Edition" as a patch later on, which is said to contain some extra scenes for Misaki, but I don't know if it's the console content (probably not, since they're talking about h-scenes as well) or something other.

Another quick impression - this VN does "anime episode format" thing pretty well - there's no annoying OP replaying, but there are nice previews at the end of each chapter, and I absolutely love those "eyecatches" (they are animated): Those chibi portraits really capture girls' personalities