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Larxe1

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  1. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Playing Aonatsu Line. Giga games rarely surprise me but aonatsu line surprised me by just being normally good and pulling off tropes i normally see. What I really am surprised about Aonatsu Line is the male side character Chihiro, IT IS INCREDIBLY RARE AS HELL FOR ANY school life romcoms in VN to have cool and reliable male side characters that fulfill the typical best friend roles ( while also having a sprite). Its a big positive thing for me if a male side character in a school life romcom vn is not incredibly perverted, exist only to make the protag look better in comparison, and doesn't really have any redeeming qualities and is used only for laughs.
    Im only a few hours in but color me surprised
  2. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Playing Futama Renai from Asa Project, It's been so long since I read another VN lol since I lost the energy to read.  Picked a random recent release and I played this game. Another game from Asa Project, Renai Karichaimashita, I liked because of its change to the typical setting which is being a rental bf, while I absolutely did not like Renai X Royale because it was too average, Most of their games are average to good in quality but I was looking for romcoms with different settings no more "loser protagonist gets with school idol/childhood friend etc etc. Rental boyfriend setting was kinda new and Futama Renai was kind of new to with the setting being the protagonist is a cheating bastard while he has a reason why he two-times, he still knows he was trash on choosing to two time.
    This was a college setting so there isn't a lot of school-life shown so far (only few hours) and that already made me happy. So far, I was surprised that the jokes are kinda toned down unlike the typical Asa project game. They got the slight change of setting from Renai Karichaimashita without the usage of tons of jokes as usual form Asa Project. It just seemed kinda like a normal VN with possible drama ( I don't know if they will actually pursue that drama or do it badly since this is an Asa project game). I'm interested in the story so far and hopefully they don't drop the ball too hard or avoid the drama they set-up and answer it with jokes
  3. Love
    Larxe1 got a reaction from Rahman N in Can you guys recommend me VNs in which MC(guy) is handsome and popular among girls?   
    Natsu no Ame - MC is a popular football player in their school, untranslated though
    Swallowtail - A bit of a polarizing work, personally I liked it. The MC is extremely popular and referred to as handsome by the school, has a lot of ex-relationships with some heroines. Also untranslated
    Kind of hard to find vn's with a handsome or popular MC, usually it's just "average" mc
  4. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to littleshogun in Getchu Bishoujo Game Awards 2021   
    Time for Getchu Award 2021, and the winner is Sousaku Kanojo. Also here's all 20 VNs that get the award below, and you can view the source from this link.
    1. Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki - Aino+Links

    2. Happy Live, Show Up! - FAVORITE

    3. Meikei no Lupercalia - Uguisu Kagura

    4. Motto! Haramase! Honoo no Oppai Isekai Chou Ero ♥ Succubus Gakuen! - Milk Factory
    5. Monkeys!! - Harukaze

    6. Kunado Kokuki - Purple Software

    7. Nee Nee Nee - Atelier Kaguya
    8. Omoide Kakaete Ai ni Koi!! - Hooksoft

    9. 9-nine- Shinshou - Palette

    10. Waga Himegimi ni Eikan o - Minato Soft
    11. Yubisaki Connection - Hooksoft

    12. Madohi Shiroki no Kamikakushi - Lump of Sugar

    13. Role Player: Okayu Shimai no Nenmaku Portrait - Gurigucha Live! - Akabeisoft2
    -
    14. Venus Blood HOLLOW International - Dual Tail
    -
    15. Amayui Labyrinth Meister - Eushully
    16. Homestay A La Mode - Atelier Kaguya HonkyTonk Pumpkin
    17. Yukiiro Sign - Wonder Fool

     
    18. Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai - Perfect Edition - tone work's

     -
    19. D.C.4 ~Da Capo 4~ Fortunate Departures - Circus

    20. Fuyukara, Kururu - Silky's Plus

    Once again there's additional awards for each categories, and here's the categories awards below.
    Best Scenario: Meikei no Lupercalia Best Game System: Senkou no Clarias Best Graphic: Kunado Kokuki Best Soundtrack: Happy Live, Show Up! Best Movie: Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki Best Character: Ayase Aisa from Sousaku Kanojo no Ren'ai Koushiki Best Erotic Contents: Motto! Haramase! Honoo no Oppai Isekai Chou Ero ♥ Succubus Gakuen! I'll try to comment more on this later on, but if I may something right now it's quite convenient that we have Hollow available in English and that we just got Hoshiori Perfect Edition full translation patch two days ago so at least we already have two title already in English (Coincidentally both of the title are actually re-release). Also I know that I wrote 'Best System' at one of the category in the last year list, although now that I look at it actually the full sentence mean 'Best Game System' so I decided to translate it as such (By the way I'm quite surprised that Clarias is the one that won the award instead of Amayui Labyrinth Meister, but perhaps it mean that GIGA can still make some nice gameplay there).
  5. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Reading Sousaku Kanojo, https://vndb.org/v31136
    I actually wrote a long review for this but I accidentally deleted it and it is now lost in history, and I don't want to type it again since i'm lazy and there are a lot of reviews for it out there considering it is a hyped game i guess with its production values. It was enjoyable but ironically for a game about "creators" or writers and the author making fun of cliche otaku developments, they do the same cliche otaku developments in the routes. 
    The aspect that makes this vn for me good is Kiriha, which should have been the main heroine since there was a lot of Kiriha content in the common route even moreso than Ayase the main heroine. A lot of things happen to the mc due to kiriha and kiriha is in turn changed which is good but bad for the main heroine Ayase since she's a bit overshadowed and if you headover to vndb reviews a lot of them just tell you to read Kiriha's route which is what I would say too. She's a modern tsundere and sometimes an asshole but a cold and pragmatic person which is not the kind of tsundere you usually see in charages. Usually in charages, tsunderes are emotionally driven but Kiriha is pragmatic and calculating in achieving dream, this aspect isn't totally lost in her route too.
    Also the game really likes to shove the word "creator" on you. It's always "This is what a creater will do" or "as a creator" and the plot does sometimes touch upon the theme it is trying to say which is "How much are you willing to sacrifice to be a creator" which is a weird theme to be trying to do since it is out of place in this rather happy go lucky but sometimes melodramatic vn. Meikei no Lupercalia did that sacrifice thing a lot better since the game really took it seriously and built on it but it felt kinda cheap in Sousaku no Kanojo where the serious stuff it's trying to do is not given too much attention making it look like the writer trying to make a story that is out of his depth.
    I say a lof of shit about sousaku but I did enjoy it a lot it has a strong common route, and entertaining cast of heroines, but this is just a high quality (production-wise) charage, there's no tragic depth here or something. There is tragedy but it felt cheap.
  6. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    According to TV tropes most erotica writers are horny teenage girls (although perhaps that doesn't apply to VNs)
    *********************************************************************************
    Going back to the main topic...
    Two days ago I finished DameKoi.
    It didn't exactly WOW me, but still I consider it to be very good. I had a rough start with it - it took some time to get used to the format, but then it kind of gained traction, and from the third or fourth chapter onwards everything was ok.
    I really liked the characters and dynamics between them - which seems to be one of Maruto's highlights. Heroines are one thing, but also side characters were very well done. I loved the trio of Mitoko's classmates - Matsuru, Rinko and Tsuyoshi. Three guys living at the house were also quite funny, and brought in some "Maison Ikkoku" anime mood
    I did routes in the "ladder order", meaning Kaya -> Himeo -> Asami -> Mitoko.
    Kaya was nice girl, and I enjoyed her route, even if it's clearly kind of "side" route. It wasn't anything special, but still nice.
    However, in the beginning I couldn't possibly imagine how in the hell Himeo could become love interest for Osamu Thumbs up for pulling this off Himeo turned out really lovely, although when it comes to blonde classic tsunderes, I still think her spiritual step-sister Katori Rea was even better Nevertheless her love for both Osamu and Mitoko is something to see. It was also nice to see how she grew up.
    Then there was Asami. I said it already, but I really loved how the game subtly shows the lingering feelings between her and Osamu and the intimacy they once shared as a married couple. If Mitoko's route wasn't as well done as it was, this would be perhaps my canon route - I really rooted for Asami and Osamu getting back together, since it was quite obvious they belong together - they just had to grow up to it.
    Mitoko's route was a hell of a ride - a true rollercoaster, and well, considering the stormy nature of teenage feelings, and the mess this kind of love is, I consider it well done. It did pretty good job at portraying Osamu's and Mitoko's struggle with their own feelings.
    I think it's good to play it last, since the "True" end unlocked after completing all other routes is actually the whole second (or rather third) part of the route, with quite significant portion of the story in it. Without it the route just kind of cuts off right in the middle.
     
    As you might know, I played all-ages version, and I have to say that its only drawback was low resolution, since it was available only for PSP. Otherwise I loved it, especially since I found animated H-scenes from the Mangagamer's release and their placement totaly not to my taste. The scenes themselves looked like slightly polished-up scenes from flash-based porn games, and while that's what ultimately brought me to VNs, today I don't like that kind of sex scenes outside the nukige - and I don't consider Damekoi a fap fodder.
    On the other hand, additional scenes in console release were great - they expanded the story, often were heartwarming or just funny, and the story had much better flow. I'd take them in a heartbeat over generic porn scenes. And according to the credits and cover, the PSP adaptation was also written by Maruto and Kikakuya group he's member of, so it all fits well.
    Apart from the various scenes scattered over the whole story, the most significant additions are added or extended post-credits epilogues for heroines who didn't have them in adult version. There's also completely new epilogue for the whole game (continuing from Mitoko's true end, accessible from main menu after clearing all endings) - so PSP version has 7 endings in total.
    That last epilogue is a bit similar to the "The Day I Found My Wings" from Flight Diary, since it's told from Mitoko's perspective.
    Below under spoiler tags are CGs unique to PSP version:
    Kaya:
    Himeo:
    Asami:
     
    Mitoko:
    So all in all, it was very nice VN with some minor drawbacks. I'd love to get high-res PC backport of the PSP version.
    8/10
  7. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from Dreamysyu in What are you playing?   
    https://vndb.org/v31262
    Reading Monkeys! 
    It's a very lighthearted story, I'm still in the first few hours of the game and the presentation does kinda stand out from other vn's, There is early on a large amount of cg's but it is mostly in the form of a manga, so basically its like reading a voiced manga sometimes while coming back to the VN format again. 
    It has both a trap protagonist and an outrageous setting. Usually I dislike trap games, because well, I'm not really into traps but more on that I dislike the common trope of trap protagonists being a mixture of extremely kind, and girlish. Like trap protagonists are usually the same just like how self insert protagonists in random moeges are the same. The trap protagonist here Saruyoshi is kinda a fresh take on it since I don't think I have read a trap VN before where the protagonist was a delinquent, but yeah idk I don't read trap vn's a lot.
    The setting is outrageous in the sense that it is fun but just dont think about it too deeply lol, I was able to notice a lot of weird holes in the setting but I think that I nor future readers should take this setting a bit too seriously just suspend your disbelief.
    I'm still early on so I can't say if its good but it did pass the test of me not dropping it within the first hour, I drop a lot of VN's in the first hour if it doesn't hold my attention but Monkeys is a standard lighthearted vn so far with good execution and a unique presentation for me. Also Karasu's VA is new but her voice is very nice, looking forward to her career in the future
  8. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from alexfang452 in What are you playing?   
    https://vndb.org/v31262
    Reading Monkeys! 
    It's a very lighthearted story, I'm still in the first few hours of the game and the presentation does kinda stand out from other vn's, There is early on a large amount of cg's but it is mostly in the form of a manga, so basically its like reading a voiced manga sometimes while coming back to the VN format again. 
    It has both a trap protagonist and an outrageous setting. Usually I dislike trap games, because well, I'm not really into traps but more on that I dislike the common trope of trap protagonists being a mixture of extremely kind, and girlish. Like trap protagonists are usually the same just like how self insert protagonists in random moeges are the same. The trap protagonist here Saruyoshi is kinda a fresh take on it since I don't think I have read a trap VN before where the protagonist was a delinquent, but yeah idk I don't read trap vn's a lot.
    The setting is outrageous in the sense that it is fun but just dont think about it too deeply lol, I was able to notice a lot of weird holes in the setting but I think that I nor future readers should take this setting a bit too seriously just suspend your disbelief.
    I'm still early on so I can't say if its good but it did pass the test of me not dropping it within the first hour, I drop a lot of VN's in the first hour if it doesn't hold my attention but Monkeys is a standard lighthearted vn so far with good execution and a unique presentation for me. Also Karasu's VA is new but her voice is very nice, looking forward to her career in the future
  9. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    I just found nice easter egg / reference in DameKoi.
    Do you remember a game they played in chapter 7 during the
    Buntarou says that he remembers this game being a VN, while Yoshinori says that he grabbed the assets of said VN and remade it.
    Actually, all the locations they mention and the music that is playing is from first Hermit's VN - Folklore Jam (also written by Maruto).
  10. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    That's a tough question. Sora is for me definitely the best character, as she shines throughout the whole series, and brings light into every episode But when coming to the "choose your best waifu" problem, that's another dimension To put it simply, I loved them all. And each episode was better than the previous one. In first episode I thought that Miyako was very sweet girl, and I wouldn't mind a girlfriend like her. But then came Sora's route, and I found it to be very good too. Haruka was also lovely, and I really liked how she developed as a character. And then there was Noa. I didn't care too much about her throughout the first three episodes - especially since she was always staying on the side. But her episode turned this all upside down and made me fall for her head over heels.
    So, however contradictory it might seem - Sora is my best character, Episode 4 is my best episode, and I'm unable to choose my favorite heroine.
  11. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Yeah it seemed to work because it was rather self-aware in what it's trying to be. Sora and Kakeru's banter felt real and also extremely funny to me lol, Tanezaki Atsumi's voice elevates their banter to another level or maybe it's just because I'm biased as hell because Tanezaki Atsumi is my favorite voice actor.
    Who's your favorite heroine and episode? Although I feel like your favorite heroine is already Sora though lol
  12. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    While most of the characters were rather tropey - which seemed to work perhaps thanks to fantasy elements in the setting? - there's one exception, and that's banter between Kakeru and Sora, which, at least to me, felt surprisingly natural. And maybe that's what makes Sora the best character  
    As for your complaints towards Sora's route - that's where all-ages version shows its superiority
    Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Steam editions without adult patches, since there are parts where they are overly censored (especially the Haruka's chapter). The only "proper" all-ages version is Complete Edition, (available in two physical versions and on DLSite) which unfortunately is untranslated. But if one wants to read -Nine- in Japanese, it's great (and it's in 1080p ) Besides, the epilogue is all-ages only anyway
    **********************
    As for Damekoi,
    Few days ago I finished Kaya's route. I liked it, although it shows that she's just a "side heroine" I have stopped for a moment, because last few days I've been too tired to read, but maybe I'll return to it today.
    BTW I again did a quick comparison between the All-ages edition that I'm playing and +18 MangaGamer's version (so far only for Kaya's route). And once again I lean heavily towards all-ages version, even if sometimes it felt a bit too tame (but then, it has +15 rating). I found the replacement scenes added in the PSP version to be much nicer than too-many badly-animated H-scenes from MG's edition. Really, some of those animations looked so bad it's not even funny   I was very disappointed to find out that scenes like
    were just the replacement scenes, and were completely absent from adult version - they fit the route so well. Also, all-ages edition added very nice post-credits epilogue for Kaya (and I assume for other "side" heroines as well, but will know for sure after finishing them)
    It's a pity that all-ages version is available only on low-res PSP though I wish there was PC or PS3 port...
  13. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from ChaosRaven in What are you playing?   
    Wow lol, I tried to read 9-nine in one go, I actually played the original one with Miyako but got bored of it right after the plot twist, I then just skipped to Sora's and well I read the whole saga in a week and its really good.
    9-Nine as a series is good in the sense that it doesn't have some insane character depth or central plot element, it's just that it does every standard trope really well and sometimes does it spectacularly. Most of the characters are the usual character stereotypes, without much depth to them, but I liked reading their dialogues and stories anyway since they're well executed. To be more specific, the characters felt very unreal, they didn't have any sense of realness to them in the sense that their traits don't feel real, it rather feels instead that they had specific traits in mind to appeal to each otaku fetish, and made a character around them. While this may be a harsh thing to say, it was still enjoyable in its own way.
    9-nine's last game around Noa was probably one of the best last games in episodic stories like this, where every information in the past games are used and everything led to that moment but its hard to say much about it without being spoiler-ish.
    I'm not gonna make a review about this since there has been a ton of reviews about 9-nine already, I only make reviews on games without reviews. 
    Spoilerish thoughts:
     
  14. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Wow lol, I tried to read 9-nine in one go, I actually played the original one with Miyako but got bored of it right after the plot twist, I then just skipped to Sora's and well I read the whole saga in a week and its really good.
    9-Nine as a series is good in the sense that it doesn't have some insane character depth or central plot element, it's just that it does every standard trope really well and sometimes does it spectacularly. Most of the characters are the usual character stereotypes, without much depth to them, but I liked reading their dialogues and stories anyway since they're well executed. To be more specific, the characters felt very unreal, they didn't have any sense of realness to them in the sense that their traits don't feel real, it rather feels instead that they had specific traits in mind to appeal to each otaku fetish, and made a character around them. While this may be a harsh thing to say, it was still enjoyable in its own way.
    9-nine's last game around Noa was probably one of the best last games in episodic stories like this, where every information in the past games are used and everything led to that moment but its hard to say much about it without being spoiler-ish.
    I'm not gonna make a review about this since there has been a ton of reviews about 9-nine already, I only make reviews on games without reviews. 
    Spoilerish thoughts:
     
  15. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Okay finally finished, I now know why some people say the ending is vague. While this maybe a spoiler, if people are gonna read this it would be important to know that this down-to-earth story has a sci-fi element to it that felt tacked on which was essential to the ending.
    Its hard to say much without spoiling others too but, the 80% of the game was amazing with extremely good character interactions and atmosphere for me but the last 20% may be polarizing for some people since it went into sci-fi territory. 80% of the game was about moving on from the past (which was Yuna's sudden disappearance). Each route helped Shou grow to be a better person to face his traumas but the last 20% vexed me in that I did like it but it was a big downgrade from the amazing experience I had. Some people would probably like that aspect but personally I would have preferred if it remained down to earth and realistic about moving on from the past instead of engaging in sci-fi stuff, the sci-fi stuff felt tacked on and worked something like KEY magic if you read clannad.
    Spoiler thoughts:
    if anyone is curious for a review, I have on up in the vndb page later
  16. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Just finished the third route, Imozawa Erina. I rarely read alot of routes in a VN due to me quickly losing interest due to the atmosphere of the game and such. Unexpectedly I really loved this game's story and all the routes, I don't think I had a moment where I was bored because  I really loved the atmosphere of it being very adult-like, or something like the atmosphere of a college life with problems being encountered by young adults and not the teenagers normally in stories.
    Imozawa Erina is the genki girl that I usually am not interested in but there is a very interesting contrast to be had with Erina. Erina is the closest friend of Yuna, Shou's original girlfriend who randomly disappeared. Erina lost Yuna, and then she also lost her mother, she grieved and in contrast to her natural genki and friendly character, she became thorny and pushed people away. What's interesting to me about it is that normally, in stories the thorny side becomes the main personality, but in Erina, her thorny side was simply a facade because she was grieving and pushed everything away because she blamed herself for everything, it was easy to break through her thorny side because she was always seeking help and Shou gave that to her. Her route is really interesting in that the progress of their relationship felt natural without like a big moment that dragged them into a relationship but something very natural like they just naturally had fun together and helped each other in their weakness, naturally this ended with them asking each other out.
    The ending was good but unsatisfying because I did want to read more, I felt like there should have been more, but in the end their route indeed solved most of their character problems by supporting each other, I just wanted to see more casual romantic stuff because I really liked their pairing. This is one of the rare VN's where i feel bummed out when I finish a game because I wanted more of their character and dialogue but alas, its not a pretty long game.
    Going to my next route now, and the mystery of Yuna's disappearance isn't given much clues to in the first three routes but it seems like there will be something in the next route of Kasumi.
  17. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Just finished my 2nd route in the game. Its a ladder type of story which I admittedly dislike because sometimes it feels like it cheapens the route, like when you diverge from the ladder by choosing a route early on, you miss out on the true story, and that respective heroine's end is not the proper path to play on, but Swallowtail tries to solve this problem by making viewing each part of the ladder by making the routes themselves have their own contribution to the story.
    I am writing this yet again while sleepy since I basically read this novel the whole night and finished Yuka's route which was amazing for me. Yuka's route hits all the buttons for a heroine for me by being something like a coodere like Kazusa from WA2 but also being highly aggressive of what she wants and being upfront while also being very shy. 
    What truly makes this route amazing for me is it is important to give the context for the story and the route which is as I referred to earlier, Yuna is Shou's ex which suddenly disappeared and she shares the same looks and a lot of same personality traits with Yuka but they both have very obvious differences once you get to know them better. The route is obviously also centered around this shared commonality, as Yuna is a trauma and an obsession for Shou, and Yuka is something like  a living reminder of his past that he wants to forget that still continues to haunt him even up to today. The story of the route actually progressed very neatly and felt very adult-ish. I mean that in the way that Highschool romances that dominate the vn genre right now feel very immature and sometimes in a fairytale kind of way but the romance progression in this game felt very real and something that may actually happen IRL except the vanishing part. I don't want to spoil too much about it but the route is very fulfilling. 
    Also what I hate about this ladder style of route is that sometimes the ladder is structured around rejecting the girls and If you really get in to the story it is kinda hard to do it. I skipped the 1st route which was Saeko, Shou's ex and IMO they wrote her well with her being still in love with Shou and regretting her decision to break up with him. It wasn't explained why they broke up so you have to play her route but I didn't like her well enough to play her route but that is simply because she is not the kind of heroine I like. Rejecting Yuka which I really really liked was kind of hard but it wasn't much of a rejection of a confession per se, but rather rejecting the crucial step that will start their eventual relationship.
    Yuka on the other hand, which is the 2nd route, has you also going through the same problem as Shou. It is easy to sympathize  with him because most of the drama is centered around him still not fully getting over Yuna, and as he falls in love with Yuka, he begins to doubt his own feelings about Yuna and it is interesting since the player too will probably be confused about the two but eventually get over the problem the same way as Shou as you also begin to notice how different they are. 
     
  18. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Thanks for another VN added to bookmark/wishlist
  19. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    https://vndb.org/v23205  After flip-flopping from a lot of different VN's I finally settled on Swallowtail.  I didn't expect to be immersed in the story considering it felt very rough, both in writing and system but it was unique enough to stand out for me to gain my interest. There is actually is established relationships between the protag and the heroines, which is interesting, the story starts with you already going out with one of the childhood friends Rie, and shows flashbacks from the past also focused on Yuuna, which I think is the true heroine.
    Yuuna was originally Shou's (The main character) girlfriend but she randomly disappeared in the festival which is the main focal point of the mystery of the game I guess. The prologue was hella long though I think I was in 5-10 hours before I saw the opening. Saeko is also one of the Ex's of Shou so you could expect that the MC isn't a donkan or hetare, but he's actually a competent and fairly popular guy, albeit a bit bland himself but it made him stand out in the sea of eroge protagonists who sometimes act like idiots or losers. Shou is actually a charismatic guy which made me like him.
    The game alternates 50/50 between the past and the present, which is fairly unique but sometimes presented in the interface badly. This is the kind of game I like which seems down to earth with characters not acting like caricatures. I'll make a review when I'm done with this
  20. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    That looks like something that I might like. Thanks 🙂
  21. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from Novel21 in What are you playing?   
    https://vndb.org/v31125 Looked up one of the monthly releases and played some random game that doesn't take much commitment and played Hooksoft's Aikoi.
    Looks like a childhood group kind of story with the mc leaving his friend group in his childhood and then returning for some reason. 
    Hooksoft games are a hit or miss for me and I only played through the prologue right now and I skipped so many texts due to it presenting the prologue from the perspective of the MC in his childhood. I skipped for I think 10-20 mins and that is a lot of content if I actually read it. I really don't like children-focused dialogues, while I may understand the intent behind it, being that it tries to introduce the childhood group organically and have them grow up to serve as a contrast later on, it is a risky move that requires the writer to be competent in handling children's dialogue and making it engaging and for me I wasn't really engaged much. I read some random dialogues here and there just so I can get the gist and head on the reunion part.
    I don't like skipping much and maybe this will be a miss from me, but I'll continue reading anyway until I get really bored out of it. 
    Also tried reading Muramasa and its amazing albeit with a lot of unnecessary rape scenes, haven't finished it yet due to Tales of Arise
  22. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    https://vndb.org/v31125 Looked up one of the monthly releases and played some random game that doesn't take much commitment and played Hooksoft's Aikoi.
    Looks like a childhood group kind of story with the mc leaving his friend group in his childhood and then returning for some reason. 
    Hooksoft games are a hit or miss for me and I only played through the prologue right now and I skipped so many texts due to it presenting the prologue from the perspective of the MC in his childhood. I skipped for I think 10-20 mins and that is a lot of content if I actually read it. I really don't like children-focused dialogues, while I may understand the intent behind it, being that it tries to introduce the childhood group organically and have them grow up to serve as a contrast later on, it is a risky move that requires the writer to be competent in handling children's dialogue and making it engaging and for me I wasn't really engaged much. I read some random dialogues here and there just so I can get the gist and head on the reunion part.
    I don't like skipping much and maybe this will be a miss from me, but I'll continue reading anyway until I get really bored out of it. 
    Also tried reading Muramasa and its amazing albeit with a lot of unnecessary rape scenes, haven't finished it yet due to Tales of Arise
  23. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    It seems that they fixed it in all-ages version. There, if you enter Rikako's true route without completing others (especially Ema's true, and Rikako's normal, that is kind of a glimpse or foreshadowing of true ending) you get bad ending:
     
    Apparently they wasted too much time and budget on h-scenes In the all-ages version the story got expanded a bit here and there, and with the porn interludes removed it felt perhaps more coherent, but still there could be more.
    I guess that's my main gripe with h-scenes in this title. Like I mentioned in my pseudo-review - when reading all-ages edition I thought, that perhaps a little bit of H wouldn't hurt. But sadly the scenes are IMO very badly placed and they feel exactly like porn interludes starring the MC and chosen heroine - they follow common porn/hentai cliches and tropes too much. To put it in other words - those aren't MC and his girl making love to each other, but MC and his girl performing a porn scene. The distinction might be weird, but that's how I felt about it. There were some VNs I've read where I didn't feel this disconnection, or it wasn't as pronounced - but there aren't many of them...
    +1000, I hate that system too. At least in non-remake versions, you get the flowchart, where each event is marked and after you complete the route, it also lists all conditions connected with it - such as "this event is neccessary to get X route, and to unlock it you have to first see event Z" etc.
    However my dislike for map movement taken to the extreme like in this game (and other GIGA's titles written by Maruto, such as Parfait's prequel Curio or Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o) is based on the fact that it makes common route extremely fragmented, and kind of DIY thing The obscurity of conditions itself doesn't bother me that much, because, taught by past experience, I always play VN's with a walkthrough on hand
  24. Like
    Larxe1 got a reaction from adamstan in What are you playing?   
    Finally, finished Parfait, I'm just going to ignore Asuka and Kasuri. Finished Rikako's route and in short, her route is probably the most memorable, while Rea's character is the most memorable for me. Rea is probably going to be one of my favorite tsunderes in VN's and probably how I would go define good tsunderes, her tsun isn't that tsun that it kinda makes you think she actually despises you, just the right amount of tsun that makes you think she doesn't mean anything malicious by it and most of the time her being tsun makes sense and helps the MC, and why the hell am I suddenly praising Rea when this post was supposed to be about Rikako lol, I'm just writing down a stream of consciousness.
    Rikako's route is what I consider the true route, but more exactly the route where the most story and effort was probably put into. Honestly, it is kinda weird that Rikako's route doesn't require Ema's route to be finished. I think a lot of the enjoyment would be diminished if you didn't know what happened with Ema and the MC in the past, which only Ema's route explained. You could probably only rely on context clues to know what happened between Ema and the MC, and what happened there is very, very relevant in Rikako's route. 
    My thoughts on the route was that I really did like it a lot, it was kinda refreshing seeing the MC working hard towards the relationship to work because Rikako has a lot of problems that needs to be solved before they can be together and the MC did that a lot. It was really different where the MC wasn't so clearly defined and was more like a self-insert in Yui and Rea's route. Rikako's a good heroine that has a lot going on for her and against her which is kinda hard to talk about without spoiling the whole thing since its a main plot point too in her route being the mystery.
    All in all Parfait is a good vn, not perfect, it still has a lot of flaws that I'm not sure if it's just unrefined Maruto writing or production limits. Game felt short for me, it did kind of gloss over some scenes where it could have been further expanded or scenes where it should have been shown because there are scenes where they just kind of skip over it and just tell it happened. 
    Also fuck map-type choice VN's lol, It's fine but if you put specific flags to trigger the true ending or other flags to reach the end you want, and it isn't intuitive and easy to understand, it's a bad design choice. How tf was i supposed to know you needed to hang out with Yui in that specific day to reach Rea's true end.
    Probably my next VN is , probably https://vndb.org/v18145 or when Muramasa gets released in EN. But idk, I'm always open to recommendations and random novels but I'm probably not going to read again for a few weeks, I only read Parfait because it was Maruto.
  25. Like
    Larxe1 reacted to adamstan in What are you playing?   
    That's why sex right after confession is bad trope
    Yep, I had the same feelings. Game repeatedly suggested that MC and Rikako share some (troubled) past, but as a heroine she didn't seem that interesting, especially compared to Rea But the actual route was amazing.
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