adamstan

(Should post it in this thread, not the one about ages of characters...)
Yesterday I finished Hotaru's route (Cruise Sign and Steam versions). OMG, so much cuteness And nice character development for Hotaru. Sweet little route, and sweet little Hotaru  
As with previous routes, Steam version is identical to Cruise Sign version, no additional censorship. Translation is similar to Akari's route - not great, not terrible So now, onto the Kanako's route.

The screenshot is indeed from Kanako's route.
Flight Diary was quite good yes. New routes were nice and the sequel routes had some good stuff too.

I recently caught Steam MoeNovel's release of Flight Diary messing up in the act!

Looks like nice little game. Thanks for mentioning, adding it to the backlog

First of all, as expected, I didn't get very far in Konosora. I guess, this type of school life VNs don't really interest me anymore unless they are focused on comedy.
And now, it looks like I finally finished something longer than 30 minutes.

May Sky is an old free doujinshi VN which I just randomly found installed on my PC. Don't ask me how it happened. Probably installed by aliens or something.
That said, in spite of the ugly character portraits, the game is surprisingly nice. It's a rather simple story of a romance between two people who seemingly have nothing to do with each other. Good thing is that the protagonist is in his early twenties and has to deal with some typical problems for that age.
I don't really have much else to talk about here. The only real flaw I found in this story is that the ending started to feel a bit too stretched out, so I decided to skip the bonus epilogue. I still enjoyed it nonetheless. 7/10
Ame no Marginal. It's a short supernatural VN by the authors of Narcissu. Overall, as I was reading it, I found it a bit disappointing compared it to its famous predecessor (and I'm not even a big fan of Narcissu to begin with), but after I finished it I realized that I might've missed what the story what the story was trying to convey, so I may raise my evaluation in the future after I think it through. Still, compared to Narcissu that brought some serious problems that real people are facing today, this one felt just tragic for the sake of being tragic, and I didn't even feel particularly sad. I mean, I know some religions in the past could be pretty fucked up, with human sacrifices and all that stuff, but it never really concerned me, so I just couldn't bring myself to care. And by the time I actually started to care about the girl, the story already ended. But, with all that criticism, I enjoyed it. Unlike most other VNs, it's decently well written and doesn't have any filler whatsoever, and if the sequel light novel was available in English, I would definitely read it. I'm giving it 6/10 so far, but, like I said earlier, there's a chance that I'll change my opinion about it in the future.
And now I'm back to Katahane. Well, I still like it, but I feel like it started to get a bit boring, and that's exactly why I stopped reading it for some time. But it looks like now I finally have some motivation to read VNs again, so I'll most likely finish it.

There is a group, kinda sorta in between the ESRB and a Standards & Practices body, called SoFuRin / EOCS.  Like the ESRB, it was formed in response to political pressure.  Game developers would agree to abide by their restrictions and for awhile, all the major VN makers were members.  This body actually standardized the way the schools are described, and it used generic words that don't imply anything about the age of the students, and it mandated not discussing the issue.  (It also banned real incest for awhile, but that was eventually relaxed.  This is why so many games did pseudo-incest, where protag-kun is adopted or bangs all his step-sisters or what have you.)
This is wrong.  It depends on what jurisdiction you're in, and the Miller Test (the controlling law in the area) has a lot of stuff but it essentially boils down to 'if it turns the stomach of the jury you're going to be convicted'.
 

Chisato from Koichoco, rather fall off a cliff than listen to her rambling on 

I have not played the game, but know more or less what the linked blogpost reveals:
 

I just finished Akari's route from Flight Diary. Pretty nice, on par with the rest of the VN quality-wise. Akari has really cute side to her
First I've read original PS3 version, then, to compare, translated Steam version.
I'm happy to report, that they're the same, there is no additional censorship in Steam version, despite some rumors. Actually after reading the original version, I couldn't imagine anything that could possibly be removed, as it's totally wholesome and all-ages friendly Turns out I was right
I was really worried about TL after reading @phantomJS's comment in the thread about Steam edition. I don't know if they patched it, or whatever, but it wasn't bad at all. First of all, this time it definitely was edited, and it's visible that somebody put some conscious effort into it, and had some stylistic vision. While there are few slightly mistranslated lines, and some questionable translation choices*, it's mostly coherent, comprehensible, and actually reads quite smoothly. Nowhere near the mess the main game's translation was. It leans towards the "liberal" side of the spectrum, but doesn't go into "overwesternization" territory - it's just that some lines are reworded to convey the meaning in a bit more natural way than strictly literal TL would. Personally, I'm fine with that.
One line was translated in quite amusing, and, dare I say, ecchi way (Who would expect that from MoeNovel release?)
I also have to applaud the TL team for clever way of rewriting the scene, when Akari switches to calling Aoi by his first name. Since the TL ditches honorifics, and all characters are on first name basis most of the time in translated version, I was really curious, how they solve it (especially since they screwed up that very thing in the ASFOS). It went surprisingly smooth.
All in all, if somebody wants to read Akari's route, and doesn't know Japanese, Steam version is safe way to go. It's certainly readable, and no content cut compared to original.
*I just wish they left nicknames "Anchan" and "Mabou" / "Makun" intact, since I got used to them. As for Anchan, it was replaced by his first name (Tatsuya), and as for Masatsugu, TL or editor decided to give him "Masa" nickname, and it's used whenever there was "Mabou" or "Makun" in the original - unnecessary, if you ask me. On the other hand, changing "Hat" (ハット in original) into "Hatty" actually works well.

I just finished Akari's route from Flight Diary. Pretty nice, on par with the rest of the VN quality-wise. Akari has really cute side to her
First I've read original PS3 version, then, to compare, translated Steam version.
I'm happy to report, that they're the same, there is no additional censorship in Steam version, despite some rumors. Actually after reading the original version, I couldn't imagine anything that could possibly be removed, as it's totally wholesome and all-ages friendly Turns out I was right
I was really worried about TL after reading @phantomJS's comment in the thread about Steam edition. I don't know if they patched it, or whatever, but it wasn't bad at all. First of all, this time it definitely was edited, and it's visible that somebody put some conscious effort into it, and had some stylistic vision. While there are few slightly mistranslated lines, and some questionable translation choices*, it's mostly coherent, comprehensible, and actually reads quite smoothly. Nowhere near the mess the main game's translation was. It leans towards the "liberal" side of the spectrum, but doesn't go into "overwesternization" territory - it's just that some lines are reworded to convey the meaning in a bit more natural way than strictly literal TL would. Personally, I'm fine with that.
One line was translated in quite amusing, and, dare I say, ecchi way (Who would expect that from MoeNovel release?)
I also have to applaud the TL team for clever way of rewriting the scene, when Akari switches to calling Aoi by his first name. Since the TL ditches honorifics, and all characters are on first name basis most of the time in translated version, I was really curious, how they solve it (especially since they screwed up that very thing in the ASFOS). It went surprisingly smooth.
All in all, if somebody wants to read Akari's route, and doesn't know Japanese, Steam version is safe way to go. It's certainly readable, and no content cut compared to original.
*I just wish they left nicknames "Anchan" and "Mabou" / "Makun" intact, since I got used to them. As for Anchan, it was replaced by his first name (Tatsuya), and as for Masatsugu, TL or editor decided to give him "Masa" nickname, and it's used whenever there was "Mabou" or "Makun" in the original - unnecessary, if you ask me. On the other hand, changing "Hat" (ハット in original) into "Hatty" actually works well.

Unless it's kinetic or have a very easy choice, I'll use it. And yeah it's my habit that I always search the walkthrough when I'm about play a VN, and save it in the VN folders.

I like having a walkthrough at least to learn the structure of the game/know what kind of conclusions I can aim for. I usually don't follow it early on, only using it after I've done one or a few "blind" runs and want to quickly check out alternative routes/endings, but I also like the feeling of having it on hand whenever I need it. Also because I review VNs and want to 100% most of them to get the full picture – trying to do that on my own is just a massive waste of time. 

<confession time>
I usually used walkthroughs even when playing traditional adventure games....

I'm the same. I use walkthroughs all the time.

always, dont have time to pick choices one by one and see what i get. i play vn for the story however i did play charage/moege from time to time so the decisions part is unnecessary

Most VN choices don't make a lick of sense, so I gave up on doing without a walkthrough long ago... it is too annoying to figure it out on my own.

finished reading it. even more random than Suki to Suki to de Sankaku Ren'ai. 
i think the vn selling point isnt the story nor the h-scene but its random scenes and jokes that made on the way. the story is less than Suki to Suki to de Sankaku Ren'ai and h-scene is just a fan service (chapter 1-5 is common and 6-10/11 just lock you in the route which 3 of them is h-scenes.) and after story is still a fan service (7 chapters where 6 of them is h-scenes). (maybe graphics and sound too but still)
if has moments, a lot or jokes, reference and 4th wall joke. at the low price with 10-11 hour or reading??? (i finished reading it within 6 days) it is worth it even with reduced functions during the original.
my favorite moment was 
there are minor issues tho (can someone verify this?):
1. chapter select is available from the start and it appears that you can view every chapter from the start, even the after story. and without using "full open"
2. you cant toggle skip unread or skip read teXt. skip at the bottom skips read teXt and "ctrl" skips read teXt but scene skip at the top skips read teXt.
3. once you reach the route/character selection. if you select a route/character, eXit then go to the route/character selection, the neXt scene is unlocked. fully skipping the scene.
4. few teXt isnt translated mostly character name and a image that looks like a line (someone on discord says its in chinese lol). also a character teXt is in the body of the message boX. and at one point (when luna pulls lamune), you can see a piece of code maybe its her rotation.
5. a few lines doesnt sync with what they saying... maybe its translated differently but at one point the voice says lamunation but the line says a long line composed of 2 sentences.
6. i cant unlock BGM mode even with full open. anyone knows how???
7. theres no narrator route,witch and solaris
 
still a good read. might post images later for more information from discord

<confession time>
I usually used walkthroughs even when playing traditional adventure games....

I would really like to not use one, but since I don't want to miss any CGs or risk getting spoiled by accidentally going in a bad route order, I always end up using walkthroughs anyway.

I'm the same. I use walkthroughs all the time.

I'd just like to correct one thing
Originally (I mean in PS3 version, Cruise Sign) Akari's route is also part of the Flight Diary, not the main game. I guess it's there as a replacement for the Himegi Sisters threesome route from the +18 Flight Diary, as perhaps it would be difficult to convert that into all-ages version What's even more interesting, like I stated in "What are you playing?" thread, main routes in Cruise Sign are line-for-line, scene-for-scene identical with IMHHW.
But of course all that doesn't mean anything if translation is shit... 

VNDB being full of shit again...
How can the VN be labeled "Medium (10 - 30 hours)" if you have a whooping 60k+ lines?! For comparison purposes, Miazora is around 45k lines (labeled "long" on VNDB), and the most complete version of Cocoro Function is around 57k of lines (also labeled "long" on VNDB). This shit makes 0 sense.
Anyway, I remembered this thread as I was thinking about grabbing scripts from older G-Collection VNs. Sadly, yeah, it seems the scripts are always encrypted differently, and there doesn't seem to be any tool that can deal with them universally. What a pain in the ass, sigh...

Amazing work. And yes, it's best to hold off until everything is ready ^^

So I'm sure most of you have realized by now that I've finished translating the main story . Never had I translated something faster than any other parts of the story, also because I knew that I was at the last stretch at least for the main story.
So now, all that's left is translating the side stories/appendix stories. I will be translating the side stories while the rest of my team handle the editing and QC of the main story, so chances are, I might finish translating the side stories as well before they finished their editing and QC of the main story.
My original plan was to release another partial patch covering just Saint Irene's chapter and fixes for Eris' chapter, but seeing that I'm done translating the main story, I might hold out until we're done with everything, including the side stories.
But yeah, either way, milestone achieved! Yay!

The game is pretty funny and generally enjoyable to read, though it lacks narration outright.  I especially loved the fact that the penguin drinks my Dad's favorite beer.