adamstan

Interesting. I'm kind of opposite. If VN manages to capture me with its characters and atmosphere, then I'm totally drawn in, and can read it even for 5-6 hours a day (basically, whole afternoon & evening ). I felt it quite strongly with Princess Evangile and Majikoi for example - I just enjoyed staying in that world and spending time with the characters. Now I'm rereading PE, and it's as enjoyable as it was then, and they're like good old friends. I was all like "Ah, Rise, Chiho, Ayaka, Ritsuko, everybody - nice to see you again " I tend to stick to one VN at any given time - the current exception is having Hanahira as kind of side-read, but that's more for JP learning. I just jump into it for an ~hour, read a scene or two, and put it back.

+1 But learning Japanese is good option too, if not for this VN, then for all those untranslated beauties.

If whowever did that patch just inserted translated scenes into script, keeping the rest intact, then they will feel horribly out of place most of the time.

Unfortunately I don't have the list. In my second post I wrote also about one Saya's scene. But all transitions are very smooth, and I had to check with +18 version to see where would the removed scenes be - and often was surprised . Maybe @Infernoplex could make a list assuming he has the scripts extracted for his translation project? I'd have to replay it on skip again, and currently I'm too lazy to do it

I wrote about it in the AFSOS thread. The cuts aren't obvious, as scenario has been rewritten and replacement dialogues have been recorded. There are two "fadeout" moments in Hikari's route, but they actually happen in slightly different places than the original h-scenes. Other scenes are hard to detect. As for the fanservicey CGs - in onsen scene in common route nipples are censored, which looks weird, cause they were erased instead of being obscured by steam or whatever, but the scene is still there. Also, there's different CG for this scene when MC stands up, to not show his "rocket" directly - instead we see his back. But the scenario here isn't altered, so it's obvious what he has shown them All in all - I consider this properly done all-ages (or rather +17) version, just like it would probably be done for console edition. Certainly not "butchering".

I'm currently rereading Princess Evangile, this time All-ages edition. It turned out that I read it almost exactly year ago (Nov 2017). It's still fun, and what stands out to me again is music - I really like it. On a side note, I could swear that those background-dialogues (like girls whispering about Masaya in the classroom, accompanied by SD CG) were voiced, but it turns out they weren't But then, it's not the first time it happens. In my memories, girls from Katawa Shoujo have voices (and some even from PE - I "remember" Hanako speaking with Ritsuko's voice, and Lily with Marika's) - and that one was completely unvoiced.

Runa's route wasn't comfortable read , but I'd say Yuuma was much worse in Yukino's route. So if you survived that, Runa's route shouldn't be as disastrous

Good point. We may facepalm at some of his actions, but they aren't pulled completely out of nowhere - he has some character of his own, and even his stupid actions have some cause.

And I totally second Konosora for having amazing music and lovable characters.

I greatly enjoyed some point'n'click adventure games with female protagonists (Art of Murder series, Chronicles of Mystery series, Secret Files series, Gray Matter), but I feel that otome games, as in guiding female protagonist romancing male heroes, are not for me. In romance VN I want to see cute girls, not cute guys

Most say that anime is much worse than VN, so if you already liked it, make sure to read the VN.

I get why they don't like her, but I like her nevertheless Some may also be annoyed at her route enforced as first.

From that list, go with IMHHW, just be sure to grab retranslation patch. It's the "safest" one from that list, without controversial protagonist (Hatsukoi) or heroines (Chisato from Koichoco ) However, I've read every one except Dracu-riot (vampires are not my thing), and liked them all. Even Chisato

Fair point. That can be good once in a while too. Just not to overdose it. And it has to be really well done, like @Akshay said. There's popular notion - not only about games, but about culture in general, like movies, music, books etc - that "dark, sad, disturbing and depressing" equals "mature", and thus is inherently better. I strongly disagree with it.

While I don't have anything against sad stories, please give me at least a little glimpse of hope at the ending. I doesn't have to be all super happy, but pure tragedy or depressing ending might be too much for me. AIR is good example of this - while its true ending was very sad, it wasn't utterly depressing, at least for me So while it is different from other famous KEY nakige - there wasn't happy ending like final run of AfterStory in Clannad or "that's not enough!" ending in Little Busters, it still OK for me and I rated AIR equally with those two, and considered it really great story. But if the "True Ending" is Bad Ending, meaning there's no hope, everything goes wrong and everybody dies in vain - that's too much for me. It probably would make me more angry than sad - so no catharsis from crying either VNs for me are kind of escapism, so I don't look for them to repeat worst aspects of reality.

Yeah, I was talking about references in other parts - which is still a major step forward compared to ridiculous amount of bleaching applied to Konosora. ("big eyes" ). I think my next read will be PE all-ages edition - I'm curious how Moonstone handled this issue.

And that would be big step backwards if that's the case. In Miagete, while scenario was rewritten to omit h-scenes (or leave them off-screen), references or jokes in other places were still intact. They should take after Sanoba Witch Steam edition - that's how "censored" releases should be made. And well, from what you are saying, Cruise Sign was done in a similar manner. Maybe that "PR guy" that acts as MoeNovel should be replaced with someone more sensible All in all, it looks like not bad release of ASFOS was kind of small miracle...

So what did they do when they were making Cruise Sign? If there were some changes similar to Sky Full of Stars made, then wouldn't it be wiser to base it on that version? Mind you, I don't know how Cruise Sign really is - maybe it was also made just by cutting h-scenes. Also, maybe the problem lies in the fact that Cruise Sign was published by 5pb and not Pulltop/Willplus themselves? Some licensing issues? Different engine/script format? Because it would be really stupid to do extra work with all that cutting again when there's all-ages version already just waiting for translation... Well, if they ONLY cut h-scenes, then maybe it will still work, although not as smoothly as in ASFOS. In Sanoba Witch there were no replacement scenes and yet it was good. And that's sad It looks like they really want FD to match abysmal level of original IMHHW release... Unfortunately they still do, because the problem isn't with Steam itself, but with translation service they are using (AGM).

Yes, Princess Evangile has nice art. If we're going by art quality, then I'd also recommend Konosora, Koirizo, Chrono Clock, Yoake, Fureraba, SakuSaku, KoiIro ... there are many good looking translated VNs. ToHeart2 is actually pretty good looking too. I also absolutely loved the art in YU-NO (original, not remake), but YMMV in this case.

That would be really strange. Console release "Cruise Sign" (contaning both main game and fandisc) came out in 2016, 3 years after english release of main game, but now that shouldn't be a problem. Why would Pulltop want extra work with preparing another all-ages version, if they already have one done? I hope it's not because they want to "match" the level of IMHHW original release... <shudders> What I would really like them to do, if they want to stay all-ages, would be to translate "Cruise Sign" (complete with Akari's route, which is exclusive to this version) and port it to PC. And of course, hire decent translators, if there are any left... Release it on Steam and profit - new route and translation should lure some buyers in... But, sadly, I don't see it happening I feel the same - this fandisc look to be purely fanservice'y kind.

I second Kanon and Yukizakura. Miagete also has winter episode.

Yep, looks like it. I wonder how will Flight Diary turn out. It looks like it has enough story to stand on its own without h-scenes, judging by it having +17 console version.

I'm the same. Both are good when used right. It's also okay with me if there's some "main heroine", who's given some more attention, even when there's no "True End". Like, in abovementioned Princess Evangile all routes stand on their own, but at the same time we could say that Rise was made somewhat "special" due to her backstory and the fact that she's the one who starts the whole thing. It's also interesting when there's some attempt to tie route system itself into the story - like in Little Busters or YU-NO.

Yes, but from what can be read here and there, it isn't limited to games, but in general Japanese professional translation companies that are hired as contractors tend to be pretty bad with English. It's apparently similar situation with various texts, documents, technical papers etc. Like various anecdotes from foreigners working at japanese companies or cooperating with them, where they receive some documents, supposedly translated by professional, expensive TL service, which are completely unreadable, worse than MTL... From those stories it looks like there is something wrong with translation business as a whole. Maybe those skilled enough go to be teachers or interpeters, and don't bother with translating texts? ********************* Of course, this may be all wrong, as it's based mostly on hearsay, but OTOH the state of VNs translated by Japanese companies, with few exceptions, seems to confirm it

I haven't read that version yet, so I don't know how much new content is there, and where is it placed. I just rely on descriptions from VNDB: for PSP release: " Contains new CGs and improved graphics. " for all-ages PC release: " Contains improved graphics and additional CGs from PSP version. " BTW, it seems that adult version is currently on sale at Mangagamer, being almost 50% off, going for $25 instead of regular $45.