Seraphim

Determining what a visual novel is based on how the story is presented has always seemed a bit odd to me, and I don't think it should affect whether it should be considered one or not. If you ask me, story/gameplay ratio is the only thing that should matter, and going solely by that would probably make things easier, since you wouldn't have to take all these others factors into account and do in-depth analyses on every borderline title.

Any word about if this is supposed to conclude the story or if there will be more parts coming? I'm intrigued by this VN, but I'm not about to torment myself by reading something unfinished with no end in sight.

There's one at seiya-saiga, but it's in Japanese. If you can't read it, you might be able to make out which choices to pick by using Google Translate on the page, like so.

The soundtrack doesn't really interest me, since it's already available on streaming platforms and I don't even own a CD player anymore, but this is definitely an attractive collector's edition. The VN itself is one of my favorites, so I might end up buying this for that reason alone rather than with the intent of playing it.

Reading the English Steam version is definitely a safer bet then. If you want to delve into the console arcs later, all you need to play them on PC is a copy of Chapter 4.

That might work, yeah. I haven't actually gotten started on the console arcs myself yet, since I want to read them all in one go. Most of them are available in English on PC by now, but there are a few still in the pipeline.

Too bad you don't own a Switch, or you could've picked up that version for a measly ¥3960. It's, to my knowledge, the only release that includes the story in its (current) entirety ("all 19 console arcs, the drama cd arc, Hajisarashi-hen, plus the three Hou exclusive arcs", to quote VNDb). That's some serious bang for the buck. (Dunno if you're at the point where you can read Japanese without a text hooker though, so maybe it wouldn't help you even if you had the console.) EDIT: I just noticed that the Switch version was apparently later ported to PS4, so maybe that's an option for you.

I think you'd be fine with Higurashi then, so give it a whirl!

Yeah, that's what I figured as well. It'd be pretty weird to implement such a limit otherwise, when most of the other characters have names that are longer than that. Hard to say since I don't know quite how sensitive you are or what type of content affects you most. I found Higurashi a lot less disturbing than SubaHibi, but it's definitely a few shades darker and more impactful than World End Syndrome. In any case, I highly recommend you give it a try, because it's quite a ride if you're up for it! Just remember to grab the 07th-Mod.

Hands down one of my top 5 VN experiences last year, so I highly recommend it! You can rest easy. There are a lot of major plot points to unveil, and what you mentioned in your spoiler isn't entirely accurate anyway.

Finished World End Syndrome a few moments ago. I'm a big mystery fan, but I ruined the experience for myself here to some extent by unintentionally spoiling myself. Anyway, despite this and the cliffhanger-ish ending, I found the VN quite enjoyable as a whole, and I'm looking forward to see what they do with the sequel.

I honestly don't even remember any specific details. I guess that in itself is proof that it impacted me far less than that other scene, which I can clearly recall to this day despite the fact that this happened several years ago. I've been intending to reread MLA at some point, and I'll make sure to use the 18+ patch this time around to see what it's like then.

Yeah, that's the one.

I've heard many people say that that particular scene is so traumatizing and horrible, but it honestly didn't have nearly that big an impact on me. Is it a lot worse in the 18+ version of the game? Back when I read the VN, the 18+ patch didn't exist yet (it wasn't released until almost a year after the game), so all I know is the censored version. "That other scene" earlier in the VN affected me to a much greater degree, to the point where it actually triggered a panic attack. (I assume that's the kind of effect they were hoping for when they wrote it.) MLA is the only piece of media ever that has managed to do that to me.

Rather than just the "being called a pervert" part, I'd say any form of unfair treatment tends to be annoying to some extent. Some occasional playful teasing is just fine, but when it gets to the point where a heroine is making some sort of derogatory statement towards the protagonist at any given opportunity, it's too much and I usually find it hard to like those characters even if they start acting all cutesy later on. (Yeah, I'm generally not a big fan of tsunderes.)

Kinda expected that to happen. Given Valve's track record, I'm more surprised they actually let Alicesoft sell the original game completely uncensored on Steam.

I managed to get it eventually, but I unfortunately can't remember how, since it's been so long now. Sorry.

Just finished 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, and, well, I'm kinda underwhelmed. The overarching plot was pretty decent, but the presentation; not so much. I mean, you're just dropped in the middle of things without any idea what's going on, and then you're expected to keep track of a ton of characters and their relationships while the game jumps back and forth between different timelines in basically every scene. Things obviously got clearer as the story progressed, but the hours leading up to that point weren't very enjoyable and I don't feel like the conclusion to the story was satisfying enough to make up for it. I found the characters completely uninteresting, in large parts due to the sheer number of them, which effectively counteracted individual character growth. This is a common problem for me in games with a large cast, and this one was no exception. I could barely keep track of their names, much less care about what happened to any of them. Now that I'm done, I can say that not a single one of them left much of a lasting impression on me, save for maybe Miwako, who wasn't even part of the main cast. In conclusion, I wouldn't say this is a bad game, but I had quite high expectations diving into it and that ultimately ended up making this a lackluster experience for me when it didn't live up to them.

I'm looking forward to reading this, but there's no way I'm paying the ~60€ asking price in this region (~70€ if you don't own the other Muv-Luv games). I'm going to be busy with Nioh 2 and a few other titles for a while now anyway, so might as well just put this purchase off until it's on sale.

Prelude to the Fallen is just a remake of the original Utawarerumono, which was released long before (roughly 13 years) Mask of Deception/Truth. If you want the most out of your experience, you should definitely play Prelude before the others. You'll appreciate cameos and whatnot a lot more. (I sure did, at least.) And yeah, you can actually get some bonus items in Mask of Truth if you max out the BP and level of a character in Mask of Deception, but they don't make much of a difference if you ask me. They boost EXP and BP gain, but the bonus only affects the character the items are equipped to.

@Stormwolf You should consider reading this. It's based on part of Episode 8 of the manga and explains a bunch of stuff that was left out of the story in the main game. I also disliked how they were being so vague in Umineko, but this clears up at least some of the confusion and improved my impression of it overall.

I do, but I was under the impression that the difficulty and tactical positioning were something kept from the original game. Maybe that's not the case, but that doesn't really change the fact that there are quite a few things I don't like about the gameplay parts of Mask of Deception. Too high damage, too much RNG, no EXP for non-combatants, no decent ways to farm EXP on the side, BP being borderline pointless, and so on. I hear Mask of Truth at least adds shared EXP from the battles, so that's nice. Dunno if they did any other improvements than that, but I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Currently playing Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, after finishing Prelude to the Fallen a few days ago. Admittedly, that one was pretty easy, but what the hell is up with the enemy damage in Mask of Deception? Regular, run-of-the-mill enemies actually hit harder than the main characters of the story and can easily kill them in 1-2 hits, not to mention the AOE attacks that can wipe out several party members instantly. I imagine the developer being like: Makes it feel more cheap than genuinely challenging, really. Especially when you add all the RNG stuff and the fact that they've removed the position-based damage bonuses, which I considered one of the best parts of combat in Prelude.

Are you saying you have a Switch from another region? If so, you should be fine. It's pretty simple to change eShop locale, and I assume the same is true for accessing the Japanese one.