adamstan

Please forgive me spamming with my recordings (but actually that's what I'm really listening to right now - after I record something, I tend to listen to it a lot in the following days )
Anyway, I just uploaded my cover version of 誕生日 (Tanjoubi - Birthday) by one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Anri Kumaki, to celebrate birthday of another singer-songwriter - Yoko Matsuura I mentioned a few posts before I think it turned out quite nicely
 

Please forgive me spamming with my recordings (but actually that's what I'm really listening to right now - after I record something, I tend to listen to it a lot in the following days )
Anyway, I just uploaded my cover version of 誕生日 (Tanjoubi - Birthday) by one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Anri Kumaki, to celebrate birthday of another singer-songwriter - Yoko Matsuura I mentioned a few posts before I think it turned out quite nicely
 

For me, Sakura no Kisetsu is a classic. However, it's a bit unapproachable now, with old engine and awkward adventure-gameplay system - which is much more annoying than, say, YU-NO. As I wrote recently in recommendations thread:
 
Well, sometimes I do things on a whim, and shortly after writing the above, I decided to give it a try Actually it's quite fun for now - writing things in Ren'py is almost like directing your own puppet-show .
The goal is to rewrite Sakura no Kisetsu into standard VN structure with branching choices system - getting rid of the "look/think/talk with everything to trigger next scene" system. I do this by arranging texts from various "think" "look" and "talk" sections into the order that gives the best flow (and inserting small connecting bits in between where absolutely neccessary). I also plan to re-edit it or partially retranslate the lines that annoy me too much 
As I see, Brazilian Portugese translation uses similar approach, but they used assets (graphics and music) from the remake, which I'm not too fond of - they are very blurry, while the pixels from dithering are still very visible, so it's like the worst of both worlds . I'm working with assets from PC98 and DOS versions. I also plan to have switchable soundtrack, with all three versions available:  PC98 - original FM soundtrack, GS - PC98 MIDI music replayed with SoundCanvas soundfont and AdLib - PC DOS version FM soundtrack.
While browsing graphic files extracted from both versions I was surprised. I expected Japanese PC98 version to have mosaics (and if such were the case, planned to have mosaics on/off switch in the options), however, the version that is floating around the net is uncensored. Probably somebody hacked files with HCGs from English PC version into it? Graphics and scripts formats are identical between two versions, only music files are different because of different sound hardware.
I looked at files more closely and yes, it seems that some CG files were replaced - while all graphic files from PC98 have 1996-04 dates, HCGs have 1999-10.
For now I have ported first two scenes - talk with parents in Shuuji's home and first meeting with Reiko on the way to school - complete with music and sprites with facial animations, just like in the original Some preliminary screenshots coming in ~12 hours.
Of course for now it is all pretty basic - just full-screen background and standard ren'py textbox. I'm still not sure whether to go with that approach, or try something more like in the original, with borders etc, and the actual scenes taking just small portion of the screen? Also, I'm still not sure how much smoothing (if any) should I use while converting backgrounds and sprites. But we can discuss that when there are screenshots.
 
*I'm not sure in which subforum should I place it. It's clearly not "Original Visual Novel", it's also not exactly "Translation Project" (although probably some translating will be involved). Well, I hope our mods will help me by moving it into most suited section.

Well I finished Asuka's route. I'll expand more later but I'll just say I'm really glad I saved the route last. This route was arguably the simplest, but most fun and exciting and feel good route of em' all imo. Helps that Asuka herself encompasses that very well.
So that means I'm done with Aokana. Overall I definitely considered it a good time. Flying Circus was a nice way to introduce a new type of fictional sport, keep it interesting without infodumping a lot, and finding ways to have twists around it.
I suppose some people call it a moege cuz it's lighthearted but I thought there was enough character development and plot/goal consistency to definitely have an edge over other VNs.
I'd say the characters were mostly likable, and it helps characters outside the MC + main girls actually mattered to a decent extent. That said, some jokes and some of the timing of them got a bit overdone which hurt a few characters for me.
But I liked each route, they brought something unique to the table and I was more than fine with some being FC focused vs romance focused. I suppose there were some weird route detail inconsistencies but I've just gotten used to it due to different writers and stuff.
Visuals were obviously very good, and BGM was solid with a handful of standout songs. Can't complain too much on the presentation aspect.
But here's the fun part, route/character rankings... Funnily enough I'd say they're exactly the same.
Asuka > Rika > Misaki > Mashiro
Asuka- Her route felt like it branched from the common most naturally based on how things were going. But more importantly, it was the FC route that focused on the future of FC and many characters' futures and was just a lot of fun. It was also the route that had the involvement of almost every major character compared to every other route consistently, which I liked. This was the cheesy battle shounen route as expected, but I eat that shit up if done well and I definitely think it was done well. I've seen slight complaints of Asuka's romance/first H-scene being rushed but I thought it was... fine? Like the route writing the romance was very cheesy diabeetus inducing but I thought there was just enough to have me satisfied. Though it helps Asuka clearly was in love with the beginning so that helped smooth things. Speaking of Asuka, she's clearly the most simple character but I'm fine with that since she was built to be the unpredictable but innocent and honest deredere type which I enjoy well.
Rika- Outside a few details, I legit don't see what's wrong with her route. Were those details really enough to ruin a solid character oriented route? Both Rika and her route were nice and comfy and relatable and I like that. She had a goal, and while the villain was a bit edgey and probably got off too easy, I thought the way it was built up with how Rika was training was nice. The romance was decent enough.
Misaki- It's unfortunate, cuz I really see where the love of this route comes from. It's very unique, and develops the 'dark side' of a few characters in the most interesting way by far. The route has by far the most 1 on 1 time, which works out for 2 mains to develop more. However, I thought the romance was by far the most rushed, even with Misaki's 'chad' confession. Also having lots of 1 on 1 time with Misaki meant.... a lot more of her obnoxious joking which was very hit or miss for me.
Mashiro- God I really did not like Mashiro outside her route much... which sucks because part of why I like her route is that they made her so much better, especially when you get halfway through Ch 7. I wish this Mashiro was more of her standard personality in more of common/other routes. As it stands she's probably below a bunch of minor characters on my ranking. Anyway, her route was the most romance focused which made sense her liking Masaya made the least sense so they had to develop it the most so it worked out. Involving the development of more characters besides her was nice and she had some nice feelsy moments.
 
If I had to rank the minor characters since enough of them are relevant
Madoka > Minamo > Shindou > Satouin > Saki > Aoi > Shion/Prez > Masaya > Shirase > Arika > Irina > Minori
So yeah I generally enjoyed myself. I didn't consider this something that blew me as like king of moege potential or something but I did enjoy it. 
8/10

I'm currently feeling completely unexpected kind-of VN, and general, burn-out(?). I mean, last time I read a VN (Sakura Strasse) was over a week ago. Perhaps it's because MC makes it not engaging enough for me, so I don't have strong incentive to continue, but still, I totally wasn't expecting that. In the meantime, my other hobbies took over for a while. I guess I'll return to reading sooner or later, but now it feels really weird. Maybe I should just drop Sakura Strasse and switch to something more engaging, but then, after buying a physical edition (since there's no download one, and no pirated one either ) I feel a bit reluctant to do so... Should have tried out the demo version before buying...
Nevertheless looks like my tastes evolved a bit, and "pure" moege doesn't seem to work for me as well as it did before. Now I seem to need a bit of nakige as well.
Didn't want to clutter WhatAreYouPlaying thread with this, so I'm writing here...

Slowly slogging through Robotics;Notes, took me literally like a week just to do Phase 1 lol. I'm a huge slacker sorrz
Thoughts/First Impressions:
The 3D sprites + animations take some time to get used to. It's kind of like when you first red Steins;gate and it might've taken you some time to get used to the watercolory artstyle. Doesn't help that the N.Switch has some anti-aliasing issues compared to all the other versions (rip). But it eventually grows on you/you get used to it.
...I already miss YU-NO soundtracks. Stuff from the 1990s just had more identity and flavor. Everything in Robotics;Notes so far is forgetful generic elevator-tier sounding.  
Story takes a bit to take off, then again I'm barely starting Phase 2 so I'm probably speaking waaay too soon. I think it's the general overall premise/initial hook. Steins;Gate's premise was time travel. Intriguing. Chaos;Child was murder mystery supernatural. Interesting. Robotic;Notes? High school robot competitions. The main heroine Akiho is the genki-hardheaded-charge-towards-your-dreams-full-speed-ahead type but she just wants to do too much/has pretty unrealistic goals. Then we have the protagonist Kaito who doesn't help either with him being 100% disinterested in the Robotics Club (and being quite vocal about it too). He's more into his online pvp game KILL-BALLAD, where he ranks #5 in Japan. He sticks with Akiho though because they're childhood friends/the two need to watch over each other because of their Fast Forward and Slo-mo handicaps. On the plus side, the duo do have excellent dynamics and so far its a pleasure to see them interact with each other.
One of the great things about the Sci-ADV series is their continuity: R;N literally gives you a glimpse of 1.048596 in the opening, and you'll get a famous one liner about eyes pretty early on. Lovely callbacks, though I hope R;N can hold its own and not overly rely on the glory of its earlier siblings.

~~
Since it's ROBOTICS;notes-> Robotics-> technology, the devs got a bit more creative with the level of technological interactivity in the world you can have via Kaito's PhoneDroid/smartphone. Whereas in S;G you were limited to receiving and replying to texts only when the narrative demanded it, in R;N there is a barebones Twitter replica called Twipo that adds a hearty amount of flavor to the entirety of the cast/plot/setting via the characters twipping about their lives and ongoing events day by day, and Kaito can even reply to a handful of those twips. It's one of the things R;N does well and it makes the world feel alive:
Slight character reveal spoiler (though you learn their identity within a couple hours of meeting them so it's not too bad of a spoiler):
 

Welcome aboard @Senpai Ken who's offered to help with the translation. He'll be translating Misaki and Sumika's routes and has already begun on Misaki's. Here's hoping the curse is finally broken. Ruu \o/

Ekhm... Toradora would like to have a word with you   But yeah, those are rare.

I edited that part in the meantime. ^^ I meant that they nearly never reach the West (and neither do other tien-in VNs, we get some of the licensed JRPGs at best), outside of fan translation. And they would be great tools for making more anime fans interested in the VN formula. 

Good writing in pure waifu games makes the difference between a satisfying experience and absolute trash. I don't think even art or sex scenes can redeem a moege that doesn't do a good job of making the heroines endearing and/or interesting. Because if it can't suck you in and create this kind of emotional connection, it has no advantage over a random anime drawing or a hentai short you might find online with little to no context.
Of course, there's also the issue of taste, as some people will find even good renditions of moe archetypes unbearable after seeing them too many times... And then there's a subset of VN audience that can consume utter s*** unironically and somehow find in enjoyable. But generally, I think cleverly written slice-of-life never truly gets old and moe tropes are fun tools for that kind of content. In hands of someone with genuine talent, they can make for a great, light experience.
You can overdose on moe though and in the hands of a talentless hack it will quickly devolve into something disgustingly stale and uninspired. Which is, I think, why the formula has such a bad rep nowadays. Even on our market there's now more of it than anyone can reasonably process, and when done poorly it's really hard to justify its existence, as the only thing it will do that nukige wouldn't is waste a few days' worth of your free time...

You guys kind of underestimate the effort and resources necessary to make a decent VN. Art is really expensive, and voice acting even more expensive if it's meant to not sound like shit. VNs are a really good, cheap tool for people that want to create basic interactive stories for fun or are artists and want to apply their own skills in such a way... But when we get to levels of quality that could be attractive to a mainstream audience the difference between VNs and simple 3D game or other types of 2D games isn't that massive. And I'm not sure I have to remind anyone how huge 2D/retro gaming is right now, so we shouldn't really have to use AAA games as the point of reference...
Anyway, I think most arguments people already listed are valid (massive amounts on text in aggressively pushed "kamige", questionable porn, anime aesthetic)... But an important point people forget about is how many, often high-quality VNs don't have mainstream appeal because they defy expectation/do not provide the kind of interactivity Western audience wants. Every time I see Steam users complaining about a VN they played not being a game or having too few choices, it reminds my how either bizarre or dull the idea of interactive literature is for an average gamer... And at the same time, people who are not into games in the first place have few incentives to get into this particular niche of otaku media. And the way the industry handle stuff hardly helps. One genuine perk of VNs over other otaku media is conclusive romance, but for example, we in the West never get the anime tie-in titles that let you pursue a non-canon romance from popular shows. We never see VNs coming to the West with a proper marketing budget either. The result is that you have things like Steins;Gate and Clannad, with legendary-status anime adaptations, being the only VNs with proper reach, alongside gameplay-heavy adventure games such as Danganronpa or Ace Attorney and occasional lowest-common-denominator moe crap like Nekopara...
I don't know if I'm right about it, but the longer I look at it, the more botched the whole "bringing VNs into the Western market" feels. Mostly because it relies on the existing fan community nearly in 100% and its ideas of outreach stopped at MoeNovel's delusions of 12-years-old French girls playing Pulltop's waifu games. Either VNs truly have no appeal in the West outside of porn and the small crowd of people looking for romantic stories, or they are selected and marketed in an atrocious way. I would hope it's at least partially the latter, because that still can be remedied to some extent... Like not letting this category on VNDB to forever stay massively neglected.

Yes, writing is actually super important for moege.
Charage is actually just moege with good writing, but people just call them charage because their ego does not allow them to like moege.

Ah, now I see. Before YU-NO (and after it ) I played mostly charage of various kinds, so I went into it kind of blind, without specific expectations. Maybe that enabled me to enjoy it more, since it was the first of its kind for me.
Fully agree on your note about alternate happy endings. It would be really nice if they did it as you described.
Also, have to say that while I wasn't too fond of Kanna's remake sprite, she looks really good in that CG you posted. Generally, when I look at your screenshots, I start to warm up to this remake a bit. Maybe I'll really get it on winter or summer sale

Aight, finished YU-NO. I actually only had 1-2 more hours of readtime when I made my prior post lol.
Overall enjoyable. My failure to appreciate the final route as much as I could've was more due to my tendency to come into final routes waaay too overhyped. I blame Ever17. Ever since that VN I've always expected true routes to be mind blowing braingasm experiences so it can be very easy for me to bamboozle myself and end up disappointed.
One of the things I liked the most was the jigsaw puzzle plot revelation format, where every heroine route focuses on a core mystery and you only get the complete picture once you've read everything. It's a great way to keep the reader hooked.
Not gonna do too much of an indepth misc. thoughts, I'm kind of out of mental power atm sorryz
(Spoilers):
 
And that's that. Love reading VNs. Every time I finish one I get antsy because it's like, damn that was good, I wanna read another one like this, will the next VN i read even be as enjoyable? Then I pick a completely different genre and setting and then come to enjoy that and the cycle repeats. Question is... what shall the next VN be..? (and no, it's not gonna be AoKana, sorrz no pureblood high school SoL for me plx)
*Looks at the date* Oh, I know!
 

Actually that change of pacing didn't bother me much. Rather, the final route was perhaps my favorite part of the game.
I'd say that it was a bit artificially slowed down by all that adventure game mechanics. Of course final route makes some huge timeskips, but it still worked for me. And I really appreciated that it ditched the point'n'click mechanics.
Disclaimer: I played fan-TL of original with added voice patch. Maybe remake does some things differently?

Actually that change of pacing didn't bother me much. Rather, the final route was perhaps my favorite part of the game.
I'd say that it was a bit artificially slowed down by all that adventure game mechanics. Of course final route makes some huge timeskips, but it still worked for me. And I really appreciated that it ditched the point'n'click mechanics.
Disclaimer: I played fan-TL of original with added voice patch. Maybe remake does some things differently?

Alright I'm apparently 69% of the way done with 2017 YU-NO Switch ver. , so I'll do a midway thoughts review thing. I went Mitsuki -> Mio -> Ayumi -> currently gonna start Kanna's route

^----- 69%
 
It's been pretty fun so far. A bit "grindy" via the time travel/jewel save point mechanic because you'll have to frequently backtrack to recollect items that are needed to progress through whatever branch you are pursuing, because certain items are once-you-use-them-then-you-lose-them, even if you return to the past where you did not use that item yet, and so you have to return to the point where you actually got the item (did that make sense LOL) and then return to that branching point in order to see the other branch.
And then there's also the HUGE vulnerability where you forget to replace a save point (whenever you use a jewel it returns to your inventory AKA that checkpoint is removed from the map and you have to set the checkpoint again if you want to return to that point again but its soooo easy to forget when you're skip-grinding through the VN). AKA you set checkpoint A, load it, checkpoint A is now gone. If you continue the story without setting checkpoint A again, which is very easy to do, then you literally locked yourself out and if you want to go back to checkpoint A then you'll have to start the VN from the beginning and grind back to that point. Very annoying especially when you just want to see the other branch on a lategame decision.
One thing I like regarding the flow of the events though is how, uh, consistent? all the heroine routes are with each other. In other VNs with branching paths/multiple heroines it's very easy for the writers to just give whoever's not the main focus the vanish treatment, where in the back of your mind you're always wondering like, "Ok I'm currently flirting with girl A so they're obviously the focus, but I wonder how and what girls B/C/D/E are doing right now"...
Well, technically, the vanish treatment still happens, but since all 4 of YU-NO's heroine routes take place over a very, very meager 3 DAYS the writers have the luxury of allowing the reader to keep tabs on what the other heroines are up to, even if you aren't on their particular route. And the vanish treatment is a bit justified because even If you're off flirting with the hot teacher Mitsuki trying to find out what's the deal with Ryuuzoji, you'll still get glimpses of tsundere classmate Mio doing her Triangle Mountain investigations, you'll still see gentle stepmother Ayumi getting shrekt HARD by her Geo Technics controversies, and more often then not you'll bump into enigmatic student transfer Kanna mysteriously appearing and disappearing during pivotal moments as if watching over Takuya.
That being said, even though it's just 4 heroines over 3 days you may fall victim to the Time Travelers' Omniscient Burden, where you're burdened with knowing things Takuya technically shouldn't know because his own memories are reset every time you start over, and you can become overwhelmed with keeping track of what's going on/has happened/will happen/only happens in another timeline yada yada yada if you're not taking notes on the side or something lol. 
The remastered soundtrack is 9/10, very good stuff, idk, most of the BGMs just clicked with me. Very catchy and memorable and I found myself playing them in my head more often than I did any other VN that I've read this year. The heroines all have distinguishing themes appropriately titled after their names. I can't even remember any heroine themes of any VNs I've read in the past... Ok wait I just thought of one. Rewrite's Kotori's piano flower theme. Ok YU-NO's heroine themes have nothing on that tbh lmao, but the main point is that they were distinct and memorable to me and would bring a smile to my face to see Ayumi or Mio pop up on the screen with their accompanying theme.
Dialogue/writing/translation feels subpar, it's still readable but there are times where my very limited Japanese familiarity can call out the translation freestyling. One example being Takuya audibly saying he knows a girl's "three sizes" and yet the dialogue instead said he knew her height. I'm like dafuq, is that a result of censorship??. Also sometimes he/she pronoun is mixed up, very confusing when it happens. H-scenes are reduced to Takuya and the heroine professing their love for each other, making out, and then blacking out to post-coitus-cuddle dialogue. I actually prefer it that way, I was never into H-scenes to begin with and would always skip through them.
 
~~
Ok I'll be honest, I ended up wanting to write this post because I just finished Ayumi's route. Mitsuki and Mio were aight, nothing too special to note. But Ayumi, man oh man Ayumi, there was just something about her that drew me in so I was heavily invested into her. Dare I say it was the whole pretty, gentle, caring stepmother and forbidden love concept LOL. Overall her route wasn't too special either, more infuriating if anything due to the worst scumbag of the earth ever that is Toyotomi, but that bad ending though!
Misc. Thoughts/Spoilers! (Ayumi route)
 

Actually, no. (But it perhaps did happen with some of the moeges I played. Nevertheless I don't actively aim for that) Most of the times for me it's also just following the story - with various degrees of immersion. I just wanted to stress how much his attitude annoys me and makes me wanna smack him over the head (Well, Yuu-nee already does it, so maybe I don't need to )

I have to confess - I love their G.R.N.D. album.

New entry in my collection of ambivalent j-pop/anison fascinations, GARNiDELiA's music is kind of trashy... Or maybe very trashy even, but it's catchy and the vocalist... She's not just a good singer, but also has tons of charisma and seems to be the person behind the band's visual style, which is pure kitsch, but also elaborate and polished to the point where I can't help but appreciate it. Also their life performances are just SO TIGHT. ^^
 

So I finished the YU-NO remake. My main takeaway is that it was a poor decision to do a shot for shot copy (minus the h-scenes) imo. Not in the sense that the things that they reworked are necessarily bad, although the visuals certainly aren't perfect. I haven't played the original so I have no nostalgia for its artstyle or voice acting. But rather there is a disconnect between its updated packaging and its script and gameplay system which are both barely able to hide their age. For example the pacing, story progression and plot construction are pretty weird from today's standards. They totally made sense when the original came out. The multi-route mystery was a novelty at the time and I imagine employing a point-and-click adventure gameplay mechanics for progression probably made the most sense at the time but in a 2019 release the pacing feels excrutiatingly slow at time when you have to click different places on screen to get lots of tiny pieces of information, especially as most of what you learn doesn't really have an impact on the true route. I think a reworked script that employed a more modern VN-route structure and got rid of some its more dated aspects could have worked wonders for a YU-NO remake and made it worthwhile for both fans of the original and new readers. As for the remake we actually got, just upscaling the original art and adding the QOL features to the gameplay would probably have carried better results imo.
The current Umineko discussion has made me kind of want to re-read it next. Originally I planned to wait for Umineko Gold, but that project sadly seems to be dead in the water (pun somewhat intended).

Heavy metal girls from the band Show Ya Whole album is good:
 

Today I got another physical JVN from Amazon - this time it's Sakura Strasse by Palette.

Yesterday I finished Lovers ~Koi ni Ochitara...~, which is a remake of Love Escalator that I played before.
It's quite decent high school romance VN with some light dating sim elements. Main heroine is Rie, and her route is pretty good. I guess I actually shouldn't use the word "route" here, as it doesn't apply too much. The thing is - Rie and Takashi (MC) get together at the end of the prologue, and whole game is mostly about her. There are two side heroines, Noriko and Hanako, but they don't have proper routes. And to get their endings you basically have to be a dick and neglect your girlfriend, while dating side chicks instead.
It's all especially grating in PC98 version, where in story part there are no choices, and everything happens in dating sim part. By taking chosen girl to a date that she likes, you collect "relationship points". If you fail to establish good enough relationship with Rie she'll leave in December, and that opens path for other endings. But other than that, the story doesn't in any way react to the fact that you're cheating bastard neglecting his cute girlfriend. And as for Noriko and Hanako - apart from some scenes in prologue when they get introduced, they don't have any events at all. You just take them to the dates during dating sim segments - which are just a few repetitive lines, and once you get enough relationship points, you can take them to the love hotel and watch h-scene. And then hold ctrl key right to the end - which again is very short and rather unsatisfying. That's why, even though main route was good, I rated Love Escalator with 7/10. It would probably be 6.5 or even 6, but it got bonus points for great pixel art graphics But with only one good route per three heroines, it doesn't deserve higher score.
Now, having the bad out of the way, let's talk about good.
(this applies to both versions, I'll point out the differences in text where relevant)
While MC isn't exactly great person, he was relatable to me with his insecurities. And his indecisiveness comes back to bite him in the ass. I really liked the main story - it follows basic high-school romance conventions, but not necessarily moege conventions, since it predates almost all moeges So it isn't all fluff, flowers and rainbows - MC has his insecurities, there are rivals appearing a few times, and well, there's main problem of secretly dating a girl that your best friend has crush on. The thing that stood out - in a good way - was how side characters were treated. This VNs introduces tons of side characters - and almost all of them have sprite and voice. Also, the friends of MC and Rie aren't there just to provide background - they have their own little stories, and they even get short arcs shown from their perspective. There are lots of funny interactions between cast. Well, there's one thing this VN shares with lots of moeges - best girl Mayumi isn't a heroine

(and there were no fandiscs...)
Lovers ~Koi ni Ochitara...~  was great improvement over Love Escalator when it comes to the structure/system - it at least partially fixes the most glaring shortcomings of previous version.
Main story got extended - they added two additional arcs (school trip and cultural festival) that were only briefly mentioned in PC98 version. Also, there are lots of choices added - some are meaningless, but some affect relationship score, so now it isn't restricted to dating sim part. Noriko and Hanako got at least their mini-routes. When you unlock them by getting enough relationship points and failing Rie's route, there are two additional events for each of the girls. So while not full-fledged routes, it's great improvement over PC98 version. (Also, they added more h-scenes for them, with the first one happening in-story instead of dating sim.) Noriko's story was okay. Hanako's was a bit WTF to me, I don't get what did MC see in her, but to each their own Dating sim part was greatly improved and expanded. Now for each date spot there are bunch of scenes, which also form kind of mini stories (and some are random). Also, in some spots there are quite funny minigames of various kinds. Beating those unlock secret CGs or H-scenes. Which brings us to the next point... H-scenes.
Animated and interactive. It's quite interesting, since it adds kind of role playing element to the game. There are only two in-story scenes in Rie's route. The rest is up to the player. You can go to the love hotel or home on every date and keep fucking (and there's a lot of animations/CGs to discover), or you can have more "wholesome" relationship. It doesn't affect the ending, so it's possible to finish this VN with different approaches. And the H-scenes are also kind of separate minigame, where both characters gradually "level up". MC has "action points" - starting with 3, but can get up to 7, while Rie has "endurance" - some actions have greater cost, so when you overdo it by demanding too much, she'll either slap you (at low relationship/sex skill levels) or start to cry, so you have to watch out. So I guess it's kind of realistic in showing that when it comes to sex people need to get used to each other, and it was actually quite satisfying to observe how they gradually got more comfortable with each other. Also "leveling up" gradually unlocks different poses or variations of those.
For side heroines Noriko and Hanako the system is simpler - after the first time, if you go to the "H" date, you get three random poses each time.
The animations looked very good, and I found them quite hot. I think they were the best animated H-scenes I've seen so far.
So, considering all of the above, I'd rate Lovers ~Koi ni Ochitara...~ with 7.5/10. Good, but not without thorns - I stil miss a bit longer epilogues, proper routes for side heroines, and Mayumi's route And I still consider the way to enter side routes solely via dating sim part flawed.
Also, there's this review. I mostly agree with it.
For my next read I might finally try Bokuten. But it's also possible that I'll get tempted by Sakura Strasse or Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi

From what I can tell, giving hearts to girls that you don't choose doesn't make any difference whatsoever; the only thing that matters is the amount of hearts given to the girl you choose in the end. As I understand it, for Hajime himself to confess to the girl, you need to have given that girl a majority of heart points. If you pick a girl with either 0 heart points or one that has less heart points than any other girl, that girl will do a second confession instead and you get to choose whether or not to accept it.

To be honest, I have no idea why they even implemented this system, as it's mostly just needlessly confusing.