adamstan

Ahh, it looks that I've been misunderstood! Feena has nothing in common with Chisato. When I said "reminds me of Koichoco", it was just about the same construction of VN, with being locked on main heroine's route at first playthrough. They are completely different characters.

Yesterday I finished Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na -Brighter than Dawning Blue- Common route did nice job of introducing characters, and establishing very nice atmosphere. I'd say, it was kind of heartwarming - it felt really good to just spend time with Tatsuya's family and friends. On the first playthrough, we're locked onto Feena's route It reminds me of Koichoco, but I think Feena won't be as polarizing character as Chisato It's almost impossible to dislike her. She's by no means perfect, but nevertheless very likeable character, and her route was pretty enjoyable experience, with just right amount of drama to not make things stale. Then I went with Mia's route. If you're fan of cute maids, this is route for you Very sweet. Next there's lovely imouto, Mai This was also rather good route, with family as its main theme. After that I read Natsuki's route I think this was my favorite among the romance routes - Natsuki is very beautiful, and is Tatsuya's childhood friend (so she gets bonus points from me ). Their relationship progresses nicely, it's probably most romance-focused route in the whole VN. Drama near the end was maybe a bit forced, but still very good route and adorable heroine. Then, Sayaka-neesan (actually a cousin ) Another family-themed route, and also touching themes like what it means to be an adult etc. Good read. Green-haired Midori Natsuki's best friend and classmate. This route was also among my favorites. It is the third route about family, but from different angle than Sayaka's and Mai's. Midori herself was very sweet, there were many good comedy bits before they finally confessed, and the scene near the final, made my eyes wet. Estel, another girl from the Moon This was good too. Estel is almost classic tsundere (or even Ice Queen, at least towards the Earthlings who she despises), and it was very enjoyable to watch how she little by little opened up to Tatsuya and changed herself. I'd say also that this route serves as a first part of the setup for true route, giving us some insight into Moon-Earth relationships. The last route, which is unlocked after completing all previous, was Wreathlit. Mysterious little girl, who is almost like a stray cat. This route also gives the reader some more background needed for true route. And then there's Feena's true ending - it picks up exactly where Feena's route ended. It was pretty surprising. Don't want to spoil too much, but it gave off some strong YU-NO vibes. There was also lovely bath-scene with Feena The route was quite long, and very good ending to the whole game. Another nice thing is that other characters still play significant role and don't disappear during routes. The VN is all-ages (it is backport of PS2 version), but it is very good. @Stormwolf asked how romance is in this VN in all-ages version. I'd say that it didn't suffer. In romance-oriented routes there's lots of kissing, holding hands, cuddling and flirting, so we don't miss anything by lack of h-scenes. And for some characters h-scenes would make things super-awkward (like Mai or Wreath). Also, Estel's and Midori's routes are only in this version, and main story got expanded compared to first PC (H) version, so overally I think it is superior. Grahpics are absolutely beautiful - both backgrounds and character designs. I especially liked the characters - they have a bit of that old-school anime-like design that I love. Music was also good. Unfortunately translation isn't the best. I'm aware that it is unfinished patch, with almost year worth of editing not implemented. There are also some mistranslations and awkward lines here and there. It is readable, but rather rough. Of course the routes that were translated the last (Estel, Midori, Wreath and true) suffer the most. I spotted one particularly amusing mistranslation in Midori's route: Also, in Wreath's lines, sometimes "そう" and ”はい” are translated in a way that doesn't fit the context - like そう translated almost always as "I see", while in some lines it evidently meant just something like "yes/that's right". In the final route she is asked about something by Mai, (like "hey, was that blablabla?" kind of question) and confirms by saying はい, which got translated as "Okay", and it didn't make sense in a context ("Yes" would be more fitting). I'm sure that it all would have been caught and corrected during TLC and editing stage, but unfortunately some parts of this patch are just 1st pass translation, so those kinds of problems are inevitable. Also, while we can argue infinitely about honorifics , leaving "Itadakimasu", "Gochisousama", "Oba-san" and "Oji-san" untranslated was very bad idea. Actually, if there weren't some scenes where characters make fuss about them, I'd opt for removing honorifics from this translation too. Another problem is that in Midori's, Estel's, Wreath's and true routes there are some images with parts of the story (like Estel's lecture) and they aren't translated. But, setting TL problems aside, it was very enjoyable experience, 8/10 It was first VN by August that I read, and after it I have really high hopes for Aiyoku no Eustia

Welcome to the dark side (or maybe this is light side? dunno... ) Clannad itself fortunately didn't have +18 version (apart from Tomoyo After), but it is true for other Key VNs. The only one where h-scenes were passable was ONE (it wasn't under KEY label, but same people involved). Kanon's scenes were awful, AIR's weren't good either - fortunately all-ages patches exist for both of these. Same with LittleBusters.

Yeah, I read everything that got translated so far, meaning S, A1 and A2. They're pretty good too.

Yeah, after a while I really got used to them, like they were my friends too, or like I was one of them. Very nice atmosphere. True route is great as well. As for girls - all were nice, but I think I loved Miyako the most But, after some time I started to skip some parts of the H-scenes, as they started to be somewhat tiring. They went a little over the top with them for my taste But still, I rate Majikoi very high. I'm curious how will JAST's localization turn out.

B...bb...but s....sales and discounts...

I read AIR during this summer's heatwave - yeah, that was immersive, maybe even a bit too much

Can't choose - I read great VN for every season I think For winter there was Kanon and Yukizakura, for summer - AIR and Konosora, for spring there are countless, probably because sakura combined with new school year make great setting for moeges Indeed I have hard time to pick a VN with autumn theme. Hatsukoi 1/1 spans different seasons (depicted by changing cursor), and there is autumn too... hmm...

If that's the reason for the lack of dubs - thank goodness I hope that before dubs become the thing I'll be able to read untranslated Or at least that translated versions will still provide original voices. No dubs for me. (although, they'd certainly provide more "headroom" for translators, because then nobody can complain that voiced lines do not match the text )

I don't like them. Well, if each "episode" can be considered stand-alone VN - like three parts of F/SN - then it may pass, but things like Daresora, with hour-length episodes, and months of waiting for the next one, are unforgivable. 許さない！

Currently I'm reading Yoake (fan-translated all-ages version). For now I completed Feena's route, and so far I'm liking it. Will post detailed impressions when I finish it.

Oh, that's nice. I don't use twitter, and don't follow panels etc, so I was relying on their homepage only. Although, TBH I'm more interested in Yotsunoha... oh well, hope that it will get released soon too.

I'm still waiting for release of Yotsunoha and Sakura Sakura , yet still there's no release date And they announce four new titles? Aren't they biting more than they can chew?

Great, that's how all "censored" versions should be. So more "+17" than "all-ages" Based on your description, I can go without H-patch.

Nice, I think it's the best way to publish VNs on Steam. Out of curiosity - how does all-ages version compare to the full? Is it good on its own, or is adult patch a must? If I remember correctly from some other thread, there are lots of h-scenes.

In ancient Sakura no Kisetsu if you choose other route with ending at school (Reiko, Mio or Kiyomi).

Today I started another ancient show - Kimagure Orange☆Road . After first episode it looks promising. And I'm already loving the music They say it isn't as good as Maison Ikkoku, but just by a notch, so I hope for a good time. BTW - superpowers and delinquents? Smells like Majikoi and Tsujidou combined

This. Recently I often browse VNs on VNDB using random screenshots from the front page. Often I click on promisingly looking oldschool art only to be disappointed that it's just another one of countless shitty 90s nukiges. I'm probably hoping of discovering another YU-NO (or at least Sakura no Kisetsu ) , but well, there was a reason that those games became classics, while hundreds of their counterparts didn't. OTOH If by "old" one means "between 2000 and 2010" then yes, there are many good titles in that timespan.

Finally I got back to reading VNs - yay As a warmup I read Yukino's afterstory for Hatsukoi 1/1. Sweet and nice. I really liked Yukino as a heroine (osananajimi!) despite her route's flaws, so this was nice addition. My only complaint is about h-scenes. They were okay-ish I guess, but overloaded with "technical details" for my taste. I don't need description of every single move and every single drop of bodily fluids It makes the scene tedious/awkward to read. I prefer more "romantic" approach to h-scenes - less technicalities, more feelings - like it was in Koiiro or PrincessEvangile (at least that's the impression I had). Scenes in Hatsukoi afterstories had some feelings in them as well, so they weren't utter crap, but IMHO were unnecessarily stretched by aforementioned details.

As promised, I checked all my Steam VNs. Here's the list of the ones that worked without Steam client: Chrono Clock Dal Segno Enigma Fureraba Himawari IMHHW/Konosora (with Retranslation patch) Koi ni kanmi wo Soete (Love sweet garnish) Princess Evangile W Happiness (base Princess Evangile didn't work) SakuSaku Grisaia Trilogy (Kajitsu, Meikyuu, Rakuen) I suppose that Retranslation patch for Konosora replaces game's executable file, as other Pulltop titles refused to run steamless.

I just finished Midori no Hibi If I had to describe it with one word, it would be heartwarming. Very nice mix of comedy, romance and little bit of feelings here and there. Really enjoyed it. Ending was a bit weak but still 8/10.

Yeah, they went overboard with some of those. But it seems that such scenes are some kind of "trademark" for "dating sim" moeges. I recall similar scenes (classroom, roof etc) from other VNs too. So it could be the case of "everyone does it, so let's include it too" - just pure fanservice.

AFAIK some VNs on the Steam are also in fact DRM-free - that means, if you copy it somewhere else from the Steam folder, it will run standalone. In that case Steam serves just as a fancy launcher. I'll try to check it with my Steam VNs, and report back.

Thanks for reminding about Yoake - I think I should add it to my to-read list too Moon princess, huh?

Well, I feel like my chances of getting into relationship are close to zero (if it didn't happen during the last 34 years, why should it happen now?), but @ittaku raises very good point. Still I don't collect physical versions, but that's because of lack of space and their high prices. And yes, just in case that tiny chance materialized, too Initially I frowned upon Steam and digital distribution in general, but as I am running out of shelf space (occupied mostly by music), this actually is a blessing And, contrary to games, I prefer my music in physical form (CDs, records, tapes etc)