Seraphim

Reading HaremKingdom. We're dangerously close to actual kamige territory, I'm laughing so much. Peak Smee content.
 

According to TV tropes most erotica writers are horny teenage girls (although perhaps that doesn't apply to VNs)
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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

Couldn't agree more! Harem Kingdom quickly became my favorite Smee title (well, actually, one of my favorite nukige altogether, to put things in a grander perspective) and this is one of the prime reasons. Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that all of the girls are or become pretty assertive, and that's always a big plus in my book.
Lastly, I also have to praise HIkari's vulgarity, which I find equal parts funny and refreshing, since it's something we rarely see in VNs, at least to this degree.

There are times where I don't mind them and they work really well as a relationship culmination or showing new facets of a character, but my pinky honestly is always cuddling the Ctrl button.
 
Anyways, Visual Novels! I have honestly not found too much time for regular Visual Novels (in the last... year), spending my time more with adjacent stuff like Ace Attorney (a lot... every game... including The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles) or Danganronpa.
However, I have been playing around with a couple of gameplay Eroge. Specifically, I replayed Re;Lord in order to move onto the finally, finally released Re;Lord 2. Still in the middle of the second game but my primary impression is... The action and fast paced clicking strains my wrist if I do it too long... I actually like the gameplay, I just can't control my clicking strength and strain when trying to play it well.
But in regards to the second game, I am so far pleased! They've opened up the gameplay scope, introducing an economy system and equipment to spend it on, as well as two new types of attack. Particularly good is that they changed the UI to make each unit strong or weak to certain types of attack. I'm satisfied with the current system if for the third game they decide to focus on plot rather than improving the system.
The other thing I am doing is replaying Venus Blood Frontier to really get the most out of it before trying to move on onto the latest title Ninetails localised. My first playthrough was on easy because learning all the systems... is a bit of a chore. And I stand by that. But with some external help, I'm chugging along to actually finish it on Normal semi-effectively. Thankfully, savescum and guide hell doesn't actually deter my sense of accomplishment at all, so I'll milk that feeling.
Also... On and off playing some Rance games. I did Rance 01 way back, and then did Rance Quest; the two recent releases which I'd never played before. Now I'll probably move on to replaying 02, and seeing if I consider III or IV (the only obstacles are game design, not graphics. They actually look decently... decent.). Anyway, on and off, I guess I'll just continue replaying this series on an infinite loop until Rance X releases in 2057.
This all said, I did play one actual, traditional Visual Novel: Smee's Harem Kingdom.
Now, the premise makes it seems like a nukige. Well, if it is, it has an awful lot of slice of life for one, and it bloody well is Smee funny, too. I must first of all praise the translation team, who have just the right touch of absolute bonkers that a Smee title needs in its language. Honestly, the real gold in this title is that because of the "harem" premise you get to see all the characters interact in every route, and that's absolute gold. It's also very funny self aware so, one of my favourite visual novels like Fureraba.
Finally, trying out Your Turn to Die which... isn't a Visual Novel, I guess, but here's a spoiler box. I'm still within the first chapter:
 

Yeah, I get what you mean. Back when I started reading VNs, I read h-scenes in their entirety because I wouldn't want to risk missing out on anything story related, but there's usually nothing even remotely noteworthy in them so I just skip past most of them nowadays. I can imagine there being a few scenes that are worthwhile in White Album 2 though, so I might pay more attention there.

Yeah, I get what you mean. Back when I started reading VNs, I read h-scenes in their entirety because I wouldn't want to risk missing out on anything story related, but there's usually nothing even remotely noteworthy in them so I just skip past most of them nowadays. I can imagine there being a few scenes that are worthwhile in White Album 2 though, so I might pay more attention there.

I think the main issue is that it's usually just straight up porn in most cases. If it's done right, sex scenes can add depth to characters and their relationships, but titles that manage to pull that off are pretty rare.

I got burned on previous Maruto's titles - especially by final h-scene in Folklore Jam, but I found scenes in Parfait or Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o also to be rather detracting from the game's overall quality - all-ages versions were better and more consistent for me.
So while his character and relationship writing is great, I don't trust him on ero stuff In each case it felt like something added because "PC VN has to be eroge".

Yeah, I get what you mean. Back when I started reading VNs, I read h-scenes in their entirety because I wouldn't want to risk missing out on anything story related, but there's usually nothing even remotely noteworthy in them so I just skip past most of them nowadays. I can imagine there being a few scenes that are worthwhile in White Album 2 though, so I might pay more attention there.

I also have WA2 on my backlog, but since I'm going for all-ages version (PS3), no translation for me
Actually, when I think about it, recently I switched almost completely to playing VNs in Japanese. I never thought that would actually happen 😮 The last VN I read in English was World End Syndrome (because text-hooking from the Switch emulator was impossible back then) in February, and before that, Making Lovers in June 2020.
I have two weeks off starting next week (basically to the end of the year), but I don't think I will go with White Album 2 for my next read. First I have to finish Damekoi. And then, on the 24th of December Yuzusoft releases PC port of their all-ages version of Tenshin Ranman (previously available only for PSP) - and I think I will read either that or '&' - Sora no Mukou de Sakimasu you ni - (PS3 version).
I'm becoming more and more of an "All-ages junkie" I'll read an eroge every now and then (when there's no good all-ages version available), but more often than not I find the H-scenes in eroges I read a turn off - either because they are just generic porn scenes featuring porn stunt doubles of the characters from the VN, or because of their jarring placement (or both )

Damn, it hit you hard, huh? Glad to hear you're back on track!

I haven't started any new VNs since my last post here. I'm basically just waiting for the White Album 2 translation to finish, which should be any day now according to the project updates. I really hope there won't be any delays, since I have time off from work until the second week of January, making this the perfect time to take on a longer read.

Since I caught covid at 7th November, I had almost six weeks long break in reading. Recently I finally almost fully recovered, and so I resumed reading Damekoi PSP.
Currently I'm at 13th chapter and going for (or actually already almost entered) Asami's route. While I had some complaints at the beginning of the game, it gets better and better as it goes, and as I got used to it.
I'm loving how the relationship between Osamu and Asami is portrayed, and I'm really rooting for them. Let's see how it unfolds.

In 3DOELVNs those are usually signs of early incest version that has been poorly covered up for patreon purposes

Same here. It's by far the Key VN that had the biggest impact on me.

I wanted to vote for Planetarian, but for some reason it's not an option.

Disclaimer: I am not personally involved in this project. I am just posting this progress update to inform the masses and get the project the acknowledgement and recognition it deserves, since this project has been flying under the radar for such a long time.
The Translation phase of the Ciel Nosurge Offline fan translation patch project is now finally 100% complete (as of last week)! Sooooo if you guys haven't known by now, there has been a fan translation project underway for Ciel Nosurge Offline during the past several years, with significant progress on it being made during 2020-2021. For context, Ciel Nosurge takes place in the same universe as the Ar tonelico series but is not considered a sequel to it since it takes place way before the events of the series. Though Ciel Nosurge ended up not being officially released in the West, however, for some reason, its sequel, Ar Nosurge, did. I am aware of Surge Concerto DX, which released in Japan earlier this year, though unfortunately, I have little to no confidence we will get any Western localizations of it so this is probably the best bet for playing a fully translated version of Ciel Nosurge. Anyway, I am hopeful we can get the patch release within the next year if not in the next few months, depending on how the editing and testing phases progresses.
Source: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/revatail_hymmne/ciel-nosurge-offline-translation-patch-project-t1044.html
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v15061
 
P.S. For anyone interested in the Ar tonelico series, the Ar tonelico II fan retranslation patch is a thing, if you guys want to check it out!

Today I finished World End Syndrome. It was fantastic, I loved it and it got me hooked through the whole story. I just wish the routes were longer - it felt that when the routes were finally starting to get interesting, they ended.
 
Now I'm still reading Angel Beats and plan to finally restart SeaBed. This is one that I've read for some time and didn't enjoy because it was too slow-paced. But now I got it on the Switch and am actually pretty excited to try it again.

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).

Currently reading Harem Kingdom, where I was met with this:



I couldn't help but be reminded of a certain scene from this old gem:



Anyway, I rarely read harem or isekai titles, but I have to say that Harem Kingdom is one of the more entertaining reads for me lately. It can be pretty hilarious how each of the girls try to one-up each other in order to get the protagonist's attention!

Currently reading Harem Kingdom, where I was met with this:



I couldn't help but be reminded of a certain scene from this old gem:



Anyway, I rarely read harem or isekai titles, but I have to say that Harem Kingdom is one of the more entertaining reads for me lately. It can be pretty hilarious how each of the girls try to one-up each other in order to get the protagonist's attention!

[Higurashi - When They Cry: Matsuribayashi]
It took me a whole-ass month, but I finally finished reading the Higurashi series!! Hooray!
Phew, it's been a long, long journey. I can't believe half of it was a reread too haha I won't touch another one of Ryuukishi's work until next year, but I did enjoy it a lot 
Okay, so... Let's talk about some things!
The whole talk about politics? BORING. Look, I usually handle info-dumping and stuff like this pretty well, but it felt so dragged, ugh... I was tempted to press skip.
This was a good conclusion. It wasn't the best conclusion in the world, but it was satisfying and I feel like Higurashi is more about the journey itself than the conclusion. 
I really enjoyed the ride and all the emotions I felt while reading it! My next read of his will probably be Umineko!
Oh yeah, this chapter deserves a 6,5/10. The chapter alone wasn't as great as the others, but then again, it's hard to end something haha
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My next "read" will be VLR, but I'm also trying to keep reading Maggot Baits and finally finish it! 

Don't worry, most of it is written in a more normal manner! From what I've heard, the Japanese original could feel quite pretentious at times, so I assume that they just wanted to stay true to that with the localization.

Oh, right, to those of you who'd like to know what you can expect from the translation, here's an example:

I just finished Muramasa, and, well, it was a worthwhile experience, but not much more than that. It's definitely on the good end of the spectrum; it simply fell short of my, admittedly high, expectations. To say it in clearer terms, I wouldn't place it among my top 10 VNs, as suggested on VNDb; maybe not even my top 30.
To name a few things I disliked about it:
- The protagonist. Yeah, he's pretty much the definition of an antihero and he's expected to grow on you over time, but I still think you'd need to be able to symphathize with him somewhat from the getgo to truly immerse yourself in the story. Sadly, that is something I was unable to do for a good part of the game. I realized there was probably some reason for his actions, but not knowing those, I could only judge him based on the information I had been fed. This made me not really care one way or another whether he lived or died, which made battles, among other things, lose a lot of impact. Speaking of...
- The fight scenes. They're probably my biggest issue with Muramasa, considering the fact that they make up such a large part of the game. Basically, I found them too long and over the top for my tastes. I could accept the premise of "Okay, foe, in order to beat you, I will unleash my ultimate attack, which cannot be avoided. <1 second later> Damn, he avoided it. Let's boost my power although I was already at the maximum and try again. Rinse and repeat." back in the days when I was watching Dragonball or Naruto, but I've kinda grown past that by now and don't find it nearly as entertaining or exciting as I used to. (This also happens to be one of the reasons I haven't read Dies Irae yet.)
- The rape scenes. I can't recall a single one that was actually relevant to story progression in the grand scheme of things, meaning they were all just there either for cheap shock value or to cater to the tastes of the people who actually enjoy that stuff.
- The info-dumping. I realize that many people might want to know every little detail about every little thing, but to me, it just felt tedious and bothersome. At one point, it caused me to literally start nodding off on the couch, so I ended up skipping past that part of the game just so I wouldn't get completely bored out of my mind. I think this is actually the first VN where I've skipped something that wasn't an h-scene, which should speak volumes about how disinterested I was.
- The true ending. This came so out of the blue, I had to take a moment just to realize what had happened. I was entirely convinced I was on one of the regular routes and would later end up on some true route revolving around
but then it just ended and all I was left with were a few missing CGs from earlier choices and the knowledge that all the stuff I thought were just a bunch of sidenotes in pursuit of something greater were actually what canonically happened in the story. It was a cocktail of confusion and unfulfillment.
To not end this post on a negative note, I'd like to mention that one thing that Muramsa deserves praise for is its translation. I remember seeing one person making a comment about this being the new golden standard for localizations, and while I can't attest to the accuracy compared to the Japanese original, which I haven't read, this is without a doubt one of the best VNs I've read in terms of prose.