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adamstan

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  1. Like
    adamstan reacted to NYM in What are you playing?   
    Finally going through White Album 2, because y'know, tis the season and all. I pretty much knew I would like it since I had seen the anime adaptation many years ago and thought it was a standout in the genre thanks to its refreshingly flawed and realistic feeling characters. And yeah, I'm loving it so far. Almost done with Introductory Chapter, and I'm ready for the wild ride I'm sure closing chapter is going to be.
  2. Like
    adamstan reacted to Eclipsed in What are you playing?   
    Felt in the mood to read some trapped VNs, idk why 🤷‍♂️ happy holidays 🎅🎄

    Killer Queen - it's a 2006 isolated trapped / killing game ruleset type story. Being 2006 it's one of the earlier attempts at such a genre, and boy does it really show. I totally didn't care for the characters, and the shit that happens was very yawn inducing, nothing special and just drags. Doesn't help that the protagonist is a total pacifist, geebus writers that ain't gonna work in this type of narrative rofl 5/10. There was a remake in 2008 with a bit more moeified artwork and a more fleshed out story (~2-3x the length of the original) but not translated.
     
    The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass - Ok so, you want some trapped mystery sci-fi and you've already read all the Root Doubles and Ever17s and Zero Escapes, look no further. This VNs got 8 characters trapped in a gemstone exhibit museum called Ashiya Tower centered around the mysterious gemstone- the Sekimeiya itself- and they'll be in for a world of mindscrews- including you.

    The blue haired gal above is Shiroya. Best girl of course.
    Sekimeiya's made by amateur group Trinitite (their Twitter page says "Three people working to create plot-focused visual novels") so it unfortunately means that there's only like 10 CGs in a 25-35hr reading experience, and no voice acting, but other than that this VN is pretty well made.
    The writing is... very dense, to put it lightly. This is a VN where you can and will easily lose track of wtf is going on simply due to its sci fi mystery nature and so by the end of it when it is truth seeking infodumping time and the VN starts recapping everything and asking you to fill in the blanks it can be very  but everything IS technically answered and/or can be deduced. The protagonist himself Atsuki can get very longwinded when something mindscrewy happens and it can be tiresome to listen to his self theory-crafting (which he will do ALOT):

    5 minutes later something happens, and then you'll get another wall of text like this, no joke.

    There is a built in chapter/scene summary where you can input your own notes, an ingame map of the building, and a backlog where you can literally Cntrl-F to search through the text to help you keep track of things, but I just powered through this VN and took the twists and turns as they came without stressing too much being on top of things. You should pretty much be able to theorize the bigger stuff going on, and it's just the little nuances where you'll just have to take the L because yeah like I'm gonna remember what X person did Y time ago after A person did this B time ago etc etc.
    You only get access to the absolute disgusting mess of a flowchart when you finish the game and I guess want to spend additional time bridging the gaps of whatever you might've missed:
     
    ~~
    8/10 Here's my end results lol. They had the gall to have an entire stats thing of what % questions readers got right and whatnot. Pretty interesting stuff though.

    I got 41/94 (43%), putting me right in the middle of the pack of ~63% of players getting 30-49% of the ?'s right. Top 5% of readers who got 70%+ ?'s right: I call BS LOL they must've used a walkthrough or something!!
  3. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from Shiawase_Rina in Favorite protagonists of VNs you played 2022   
    For a moment I thought - "How could I forget about that great protag?", but then I remembered, that I read 9-nine in 2021
    Damn, makes me hesitant to play WA2
    Perhaps it's time for me to read it? It's sitting on the shelf and on the backlog, and I'm currently "free" VN-wise
  4. Like
    adamstan reacted to Seraphim in Favorite protagonists of VNs you played 2022   
    Well, the VN itself is great, but it hits hard and most of the bad stuff happening is because of Haruki's inability to commit to one girl for most of the VN. He seems a lot more human than your average VN protagonist, which is probably the main reason why his actions throughout the story made me start to dislike him so much. Makoto from School Days is, as I've already mentioned, a whole lot worse, but he's such un unbearable bastard all the time that you can't even take him seriously.
     
    It had been sitting in my backlog for ages by the time I finally got started on it. I knew it was supposed to be good, but I was under the impression that this was just comedy/romance through and through, so it kinda hit me out of left field when I realized there's actually some drama and serious topics here as well.
    It turned out to be one of my best reads of the year, so I highly recommend you give it a go!
  5. Like
    adamstan reacted to Guimu in Favorite protagonists of VNs you played 2022   
    I haven't played many VNs this year but probably my fav MC is Tyler from Loopers. Energetic and never give up vibes from start to end which is cool for me.
     
    Just saw adamstan's post, we are in the same page XD
  6. Like
    adamstan reacted to Seraphim in Favorite protagonists of VNs you played 2022   
    I don't think I can decide on one, but the top 3 for this year are probably Kakei Kyoutarou from Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai, Niimi Kakeru from 9-nine, or Narita Shinri from Hello Lady (whenever he's not sexually harrassing people out of nowhere).

    Might as well list the worst protagonist while I'm at it, and there's no competition whatsoever there. It's Kitahara Haruki from White Album 2. I think the only VN protagonist I dislike more is Itou Makoto from School Days, but he's in a league of his own and I haven't read that VN in years now so it doesn't qualify here.
  7. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from Shiawase_Rina in Favorite protagonists of VNs you played 2022   
    I've read only 9 VNs in 2022, and there weren't many outstanding protagonists in them If I had to choose, then perhaps it would be Tyler from LOOPERS.
  8. Like
    adamstan reacted to Nemesis in What are you playing?   
    Finished Hello Lady and started Tsui no Sora Remake.

    ハロー・レディ!
    Saku route - The main mysteries are finally answered. But the answers are a trainwreck. The story is lacking a core, like the author is not sure what he wants to tell.
    There's some Gundam, Doraemon, Index, and Oreimo reference added in too.
    Overall, it's a fun game. But rather lacking in the story and writing.

    終ノ空 remake
    Chapter 1: Yukito Minakami - We get introduced to our protagonist, Minakami Yukito, and his childhood friend Wakatsuki Kotomi. There are a lot of recurring characters like a teacher that looks good for a bike model, Otonashi Ayana, Takashima Zakuro etc.
    When they get to school, they hear rumours of
    . Then, we get Yukito reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason before he gets interrupted by Otonashi-san quoting Tractacus' last line "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." This is pretty much Scaji giving his own lecture on philosophy and criticizing Kant for talking metaphysical nonsense.
    This entire work is pretty much a lecture from Scaji-sensei. After that, he introduced a bunch of Nietzsche concepts, although he doesn't quote directly. People can't be satisfied with a boring, peaceful life when they have no goal. They need stimulation even if it leads to fear and anxiety. Mamiya's famous speech is slightly different from Subahibi in that it's filled with Nietzsche concepts about how social orders are lies filled to control us like livestock compared to speech about the concept of death in Subahibi. How the concept of good and evil were created to create social caste so that people can feel superior to others by being "good." Morals are decided by the concept of self-interest, but we like to pretend that they are some universal truth that we discovered.
    Yukito wonders about the meaninglessness of life. Death comes to all equally, so what meaning is there in living when we are all fated to die? There are people who accept their fate and live quietly until they die, but there are also others who struggle against their fate and try to find meaning in their life. To do that, they have to break out of the norms of society. Then, he argues that just being alive is a blessing by itself even if we are cursed to die.
    Chapter 2: Kotomi Wakatsuki - Nothing new here except we get to see things from a different perspective.
    Chapter 3: Zakuro Takashima -
    This work just reminded me of how much of a genius Scaji is.
  9. Like
    adamstan reacted to Clephas in When the good ending isn't the longest/last ending   
    It's not an unusual concept.  To be blunt, Sunao's ending in Semiramis no Tenbin is basically a bad ending that happens if you miss the flag for Ami's ending.  As for bad endings that are longer than the good endings... less common but also something that happens regularly in utsuge in particular.  Sora no Baroque comes to mind, for instance.
    However, you have to ask yourself... do you really want a bad ending to be the one thing people remember when it is all over?  Because the longest and most detailed endings are the ones people remember the most.  In good VNs, the true ending generally is never shorter than the other endings and is often longer many times over for this precise reason.  It is also why - if a heroine exists for the true ending - picking a poor quality heroine for the true ending usually damns the game to the kusoge pile.
  10. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from ittaku in What are you playing?   
    Yesterday I finished Clover Day's with Izumi's route.
    @ittaku - you were right, this route was amazing ❤️ I'd say it was on par with Anzu's route when it comes to the plot - they could be called sister routes perhaps I mean, they feature similar themes and struggles - but this time it was about Izumi's family, instead of Yuuto's.
    And Izumi as a heroine is absolutely lovely - one of the cutest tsunderes I've encountered so far ❤️
    So, if I had to rank the routes it would be Izumi >= Anzu > Tsubame > Anri >>> Hekiru/Hikaru.
    So, it makes for one meh route (H/H), one decent (Anri), one very good (Tsubame) and two outstanding ones (Anzu and Izumi) - not bad
    There's decent presence of side characters throughout the rotes - big plus. It was especially pronounced in Tsubame's route Art looks very good, and I really like the character designs. Music is ok - nothing outstanding, but does the job.
    I played Vita version, but I actually own PC version (standard one, not the Plus). While - at least when skimming through PC version - H-scenes weren't exactly up to my taste, I'm a bit disappointed with the all-ages edition, since it features no extra content at all, except the unlockable "extra scenarios", that are just 1-2 minutes long skits, similar to those in Majkoi's menu Even some additional CGs for "normal" scenes would be welcome, but there's nothing of that, it just skips the H-scenes, and that's all. Well, thank you, I could have done it myself with Ctrl key, and wouldn't have to struggle with some emulator glitches
    But that's a minor complaint, and all in all I really enjoyed this VN - strong 8/10. (Would have been 9 if the two lesser routes - Anri and Hekiru - were of the same quality as the three better ones)
    I think that - after a short break - I might try Tsui no Stella as my next read (unless some other title distracts me ).
  11. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from Kosakyun in What are you listening to right now?   
    Please forgive my spam, but I really have to share it with you (and I'm actually listening to it on repeat for a last few days )
    Recently I did a cover of "Yume no Tsubasa" (a song written by Yuki Kajiura, originally from "Tsubasa Chronicle" anime). I love this song, and wanted to do it for a long time, but it absolutely needs a female singer. And some time ago Yoko Matsuura (japanese local singer-songwriter from Otsu, whom I befriended thanks to very unexpected chain of events) invited me to do a collaboration video - so I suggested doing cover of this song together, and here's the result:
    I played the keyboards and did all the programming and editing, while Yoko played piano - and we're both singing of course
     
  12. Haha
  13. Like
    adamstan reacted to Nemesis in What are you playing?   
    Finished Rance 03 and started reading Hello Lady!.
    Overall, Rance was a fun game with an ok story and good world-building.
     

    ハロー・レディ!
    First impression is the art is way too generic for me. I don't like it at all. MC on the other hand seems interesting.
    Lol, so much Jojo references though. Hume is the school chairman. The students here are too sheltered for people who don't hesitate to attack people with lethal force.
    Eru giving a big speech on supporting eroge industry by buying physical Limited Editions.
    Tama Route - kind of meh. The writing is rather mediocre. It has some interesting concepts, but it just seems like writer is not good enough to execute them.
    Sorako's route
    Eru - She is a hilarious character. I think her and Narita have good chemistry. ボケボケコンビだね。
     
  14. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from ittaku in What are you playing?   
    Yesterday I finished Tsubame's route in Clover Day's
    While not as rich plot-wise as Anzu's, it was very good. There was healthy balance of humor and drama, Tsubame is both hot and cute at the same time, and I really liked the whole acting club setting and parallels between the play they were doing and real life
    Also, seeing Izumi in this route I couldn't help but think about
    Now there's only Izumi's route left to read, and I'm really looking forward to it
  15. Like
    adamstan reacted to mokuroh in What are you playing?   
    Finished 月姫 -A piece of blue glass moon-

    Not a fan of the Nintendo Switch but after playing Pokemon Scarlet I figured it was a good time to finally pick this up. Never read the original but this one was pretty poggers. Nasu’s writing was compelling and immersive without the need for overly flowery prose or deep philosophical inquiry. There was never a dull moment and the screenplay of the game itself was very polished and beautiful as expected from an end of 2021 release. The backgrounds, sprites, and scene transitions are all woven so seamlessly that the visuals look as if they were taken from a movie. Most importantly I found myself being able to actually empathize with all of the main characters and exploring the world out of curiosity. It’s been a while since I had this much fun reading.
     Also the voiced version of 魔法使いの夜 comes out in less than 2 days. Hands up hands up. What a time to be alive
     
  16. Like
    adamstan reacted to solidbatman in Raging Loop: Kinetic Gnosia   
    I finished Raging Loop last week. I went in expecting another find the werewolf type game and came out of it realizing I never got to play the game. Yet, I never once realized it until the final credits rolled. Yes, Raging Loop is essentially a kinetic novel. While there are choices that branch, the choices always lead to bad endings that unlock keys for the true ending. There are no character endings, only the true. 

    That aside, Raging Loop was an enjoyable read, though perhaps not up there with my all time favorites. The story opens with you, a dude named Haruki riding your motorcycle. You broke up with your girlfriend (yo self insert!) and are just aimlessly riding. You come across a weird village after wrecking and meet a wonderful lady named Chemi who loves to joke about killing you. But she gives you beer and seems to really like you so lets just put that little character quirk on the back burner for the next ten hours or so yeah? Things are going nicely though the villagers do not really trust you since you had crashed in a river where they put their dead. Then, the mists show up and everyone freaks the hell out saying the wolves are coming. Some people get killed and thus begins The Feast, a trial in which the villagers must sus out the wolves and hang them. Various people will have guardians that give them specific powers to aid during the feast. For example, the Crow can check the person who was hung to see if they were human or a wolf. Its your typical fare in this genre except you really do not play the feasts. They are all on a set path that you really do not alter except to get different keys by getting yourself killed from time to time. 



    Yes, you will nearly always die. Its a loop. Hence the title. Your goal is to find a way to break the loop and to do so, you must see all of the different endings. Quickly, your goal changes from simply surviving to uncovering every mystery the village has to offer. A nifty feature that this game has is a choice tree. At any time you may jump back to previous choices from any branch you are on to use the keys you gain during routes to unlock new branches. It saves you from having to have a bunch of saves and constantly reload as you just pull up the menu and go to the choice. The choice selection will even show you which keys you need so you can quickly find out where to go with the keys you've gathered. Its nice, but again, this novel is kinetic. You will end up on the true ending simply by playing. Do not fret if you perish. It is a loop. You'll be back. 

    anyway i'm down bad for rikako and i hope she feels the same way


    hey girl
  17. Like
    adamstan reacted to Nemesis in What are you playing?   
    Finished Asairo.

    きっと、澄みわたる朝色よりも、
    葉が赤色に牛われるものを"紅葉"
    葉が黄色に牛われるものを"黄葉"
    葉が褐色に牛われるものを"褐葉"
    これはそれぞれが泣いた結果。
    この涙を総称して、"紅葉"と呼ぶ。
    Just like how trees lose their leaves to survive, we shed tears to be able to move forward.
    Everything written by Shumon Yuu is overflowing with Wa(和). I'm glad to have experienced this piece of art that represents Fall and 紅葉. It lacks the analytical thinking of Scaji, but it's pretty much saying the same thing in a more poetic point of view. Pain comes with happiness and kindness. Pain is needed for us to be able to distinguish happiness from everything else. I think I've said too much already, this is best experienced for yourself.
  18. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from ittaku in What are you playing?   
    Yeah, when looking from that POV, it's good to have it out of the way Luckily while weakest, it was still decent enough to keep me reading.
    For the first few scenes in the common route I found Izumi rather annoying, but later she grew on me, and I'm really looking forward to her route
  19. Like
    adamstan reacted to ittaku in What are you playing?   
    The H/H route is the weakest and adds little to the story, which is why it goes first. Izumi and Anzu score the most plot in their routes, arguably Anzu's the most, but I just prefer Izumi as a heroine which is why I leave it for last.
  20. Like
    adamstan got a reaction from ittaku in What are you playing?   
    Okay, so yesterday I finished my third route in Clover Day's - it was Anzu.
    So far the VN was very uneven for me. Common route was brilliant - like I said in my previous post. All heroines are lovely, and I really liked both the humor and the more serious bits. But then the first two routes I read - Hekiru/Hikaru and Anri - were slightly disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high?
    As for the Hekiru's route, I was really looking forward to it after what I've seen in common route. But
    Anri's route was better - perhaps partially thanks to the side characters having bigger role. I really liked school election plot and the friendship with Mizuho. Gave me some Koichoco and Princess Evangile flashbacks What I didn't like about Anri's route was that it was relying too heavily on many Imouto x Oniichan tropes But all in all, it was decent - although I expected more.
    And then Anzu's route hit - whoah, that was amazing 😮 It's hard to believe, that it was written by the same author as Anri's route.
    Although I'm not sure, if it was right move to put this route in the middle, instead of the end - it had strong "true route" vibes, with it being more "Takakura family route" than "Anzu route". Nevertheless it was amazing nakigey story - no complaints here. And that plot twist with
    Now, that's some KEY-worthy stuff ❤️
    Now let's see what Tsubame's and Izumi's routes have in store for me
  21. Sad
    adamstan reacted to Nemesis in Giga is shutting down their operations on the 31st of March 2023   
    Nope. If you go to Giga's official site:
    http://www.web-giga.com/close/
    「戯画」ブランド商品の販売終了 2023年3月31日(金) ※パッケージ商品およびダウンロード販売商品も全て同日終了となります。 最後にお手元に残したいお客様におかれましては、販売終了日までにご購入いただけますと幸いです。
    They stop selling everything at March 31, 2023.
  22. Sad
    adamstan got a reaction from Templarseeker in Giga is shutting down their operations on the 31st of March 2023   
    Giga's parent company - Entergram/TGL stays in business, so there should be no problem with older titles. It just means no new games under GIGA brand I guess.
  23. Thanks
    adamstan reacted to Clephas in Giga is shutting down their operations on the 31st of March 2023   
    I played the Baldr series up to the point where they for some reason decided to make the last game a piece of crap (both battle system and story).  I still don't get why they destroyed the traditions of the series to create a mindless game obviously designed for mobile phones rather than pc or consoles.  
    Giga has been showing signs of collapse for a while now.  The over-production of the 'kiss' series, which was never that popular even amongst romance VN lovers, was another sign of this.  In addition, Giga's development costs were always excessive for the genre, which probably made it worse due to the borderline nature of sales of VNs.
    Harvest Overray was decent, but after that I came to the conclusion that Giga was incapable of producing anything truly superlative outside of the Baldr series.  This was confirmed by my first attempt to play a game from the 'kiss' series, which was a total kusoge.
  24. Sad
    adamstan reacted to HataVNI in Giga is shutting down their operations on the 31st of March 2023   
    Giga was very popular and a staple of the Japanese visual novel/eroge industry, but the west barely got any of their first-party titles. We might onlym know them through Baldr Sky actually. Any other giga titles you have played? Which have you looked forward to to eventually get localized?
  25. Yes
    adamstan got a reaction from Zakamutt in The Fuwanovel List of Cool EVNs   
    Yeah, actually I read this VN thanks to @Plk_Lesiak's recommendation
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