Tentacle sex and rape are the two big downers to this series. For a series with such good writing, it is amazing how quickly it becomes repetitive once h-scenes get into the picture. On the bright side, corrupting the heroines in Empire, Frontier, and Hypno almost always has immensely hilarious results after the mindbreak. It is kind of irritating that you pretty much have to mindbreak them to get the really good strategic skills, though.
Abyss
To be honest, this is the game in the series I liked the least. First, it is the first one that introduces the tentacle impregnation=new troops system that was the recruitment system for this and Gaia. Second, it has the weakest set of heroines and protagonist in the entire series. Third - and last - it uses a dungeon-defense gameplay model, which I despise. To be honest, the Law route of this game is incredibly boring, story-wise, with a huge amount of cliched jrpg knock-off plot twists. While this isn't unexpected, the main heroine's personality is the worst part of it... her idealism wears on you after a while, and both the protagonist and the antagonist are both weak enough not to be able to make up for it. The Chaos route suffers from 'we just stuck an evil route on it for mad science self-indulgence' syndrome, and the ending is, if anything, even more pathetic than the Law ending (think a bad ending in a chuunige with the positions reversed). While the story is actually mildly enjoyable while it is going on, the aftermath is singularly disappointing and dissatisfying.
Frontier
I'll just come out and say it... this would have been the perfect story if the main antagonist wasn't such a straight-out 'Me Dark Lord, Destroy world because me bored!' Kefka knock-off. Oh, the details are mildly interesting, but the last chapter is almost unforgivable. If it wasn't for the overwhelmingly good cast on the protagonist's side of things, as well as the game's excellent story as a whole (if you cut out the ending sections) this would probably be an eminently forgettable game. The protagonist's motivations, his background, and his abilities as a general and a warrior make him a really attractive main character, and the fact that he isn't just a mass of endless ambition and sadism (unlike many VNs along the same lines) is a huge attraction for this game. The actual gameplay is somewhat improved from Empire (the previous strategy-conquest game in the series) but the game balance is kind of broken at points (think sharp spikes in difficulty, especially at the beginning and end).
Gaia
... you almost have to be impressed about how completely they integrated the monster-birth recruitment system into this game. It isn't nearly as annoying as it was in Abyss, where it made the actual process of recruitment a matter of extreme annoyance (especially if you wanted to constantly alter the makeup of your forces). However, you do spend an inordinate amount of time staring at the little calendar part of the UI and checking to see how it will effect the power of the units you intend to birth. Again, like all the previous games in this series, it suffers from a lack of a good antagonist. There is nothing really sympathetic about the final antagonist (too faceless). The actual base story is much, much more interesting than Abyss... and the main heroine of the Law route is undeniably adorable, as well. lol (out of character for this company is that there are no h-scenes for this heroine, hahaha)
They also added a dungeon-raid event battle system where you send your troops through an enemy's dungeon, in addition to the dungeon-defense and construction that makes up ninety percent of the game. This is a definite improvement, and the actual dungeon-construction and defense is a lot more refined (though I still thought it was inferior to Demonion's).
Hypno
This is undeniably the best game in the entire series, from all angles but one - heroine development. Individual heroine development - usually done through a combination of sex events and conversational events - is a lot less deep than it was in the previous games (yes, it is somewhat weird to say that there is character development when it comes to mindbreak and tentacle-H, but it happens to be true). It also departs from the previous games' style in that you pick your path early on and have to stick to it (basically, you either decide to break Sylvia or become her friend by either continuing with the sex-training or picking her regular conversational events after the required initial scene).
This is perhaps the only game in the series where I actually found the chaos route worth playing, though the ending was perhaps less interesting than the actual antagonist and the process of going through the route. The Law route feels very much like a route to redemption from the hell his life has been for Leon and the world in general.
However, as anyone who plays this game from the beginning will notice, the true flower of this game's story is the relationship between Leon and Anora. The mutual interdependence, absolute trust, and unstinting love they give one another from the very beginning is touching, even though Anora is pretty much a neutral evil character and Leon a true neutral one, lol.
The Law route antagonist, as per the course in all the other games by this company, is a bit of a yawner, though the actual fight against him is pretty good.
In terms of the gameplay... it is undeniably improved far and above all the previous games in the series. Being able to invest resources in increasing your income of the four resources (food, ether, magical energy, and coin) as well as war (experience gained every turn automatically by all recruits) and medical (automatic healing on every turn) allows you to do something other than conquer to build up your base of power. The conquest itself is done in stage format rather than in continental conquest format, which has its downsides in terms of gameplay flexibility but has the advantage of not kidding you about how much freedom you have (both Empire and Frontier basically did the same thing but gave you the illusion you were freely conquering the world). The actual recruitment system, which has been evolving since Empire, reaches its peak in this one, where character customization is the most advanced so far, without the unnecessary complications of heroine impregnation in Gaia.
Overall
Overall, as a series... it makes you hate tentacles after a while, if you didn't already. It also makes some great protagonists (Empire, Frontier, and Hypno in particular). It also has very flat antagonists and gameplay that tends to be somewhat disappointing. Nonetheless, if you can slog through the H scenes (or just ignore them) Hypno - at the very least - is worth trying. Unfortunately, this series will destroy anyone who hates rape or tentacle sex, so I can't recommend it for the uninitiated... or for those who prefer soft H. To be honest, I started turning off my emotions after the first tentacles appeared and if it weren't for the fact that the moment the heroines' broke in Hypno was so deliciously evil, I probably wouldn't have bothered to read any of them. I'll never replay any of the games in this series, but I'll probably at least try the new ones in the series, if only out of curiosity to see whether they've improved the storytelling to fit my standards completely.
Yes, you were waiting for it, all you tentacle-loving freaks... this is the newest game in the Venus Blood series, as full of tentacles and sex-training as any of the others... I come to you having finished the Law route and after being forced to go back a chapter in order to get to the Chaos route on my second playthrough (apparently you absolutely have to start the 'goddess insanity' chapter, by failing to complete one of the monster-hunting side-quests).
The gameplay will be familiar to anyone who played Hypno, though there are differences introduced in the unit-creation screen, just as in all the others in the series (every game puts its own twist on this aspect). It is the sequel to Frontier, occurring some three hundred years later, and it is based off of a partial 'fallen goddess but still on Law Route' path.
The biggest difference in the gameplay from previous entries is the introduction of a 'research' system where you basically have to open each step in a tree to get access to other units. You expend medallions to get particular units on each 'block' that you've opened up, and what medallions are available to you determine what units you can access and how much of each tree you can complete (it is impossible to get access to all medallion types and units in the first or even the second playthrough due to difficulty and route issues). While this might not sound that different in fact, it was a great difference visually, making access to the various monster types more obvious than in previous entries.
The system of 'leveling up resources' is back from Hypno, allowing you to use research to level up your auto-healing, auto-experience gaining, and automatic resource allowance (at the end of each turn) independent from what places you've captured. I advise anyone planning to do multiple playthroughs to get everything as high as possible (focus on healing over experience and all the other resources before gold, since gold is the most plentiful resource).
Story-wise... it is standard Venus Blood. You come, you conquer, and you decide whether to make the goddesses love you normally or just drive them crazy through sex training. The actual basic plot is inferior to both Frontier and Hypno, though it it is more 'stable' in that it doesn't trip up in the last chapters like in the previous games. Unfortunately, this game suffers somewhat from being a direct and obvious sequel, as the shadows and persons of characters from the previous game pop up everywhere, distracting you from the protagonist's story.
I need to say something about the Venus Blood games here... it really is a shame that this company doesn't go 'legit' and start making non-ero games. The complexity of the skill system and the way you can make levels almost irrelevant through simply combining the right units in the same squad is incredibly rewarding. This is actually only the second game in the series where I actually explored this aspect of the game in-depth, but I was seriously impressed with the degree to which you can customize your army, creating the ultimate force. In fact, it wouldn't be far from the truth to say the outcome of all battles is entirely determined by the way you design your squads.
Sanah is something of a hard-ass when it comes for this game, always beginning on Hard mode... but I honestly don't recommend that for newcomers to the series. For one thing, the basic endgame difficulty level is pretty high even on normal difficulty, and playing hard mode on the first playthrough has certain annoyances like running short of resources at key points.
Anyway, for gameplay, this, like most of the Venus Blood games, is fairly enjoyable. As a story? Lots of potential here, some really interesting points, but in retrospect the story pales somewhat in comparison to previous entries in the series as a whole, despite exceeding most previous games when it comes to the endgame story.
One of the single biggest elements of most VNs in existence is slice-of-life. This entire post is based on this fact, and it isn't one that can seriously be argued against by anyone who has read more than a hundred VNs.
So what is slice-of-life? With VNs, it is a type of scene where bits and pieces of daily life, without any particular conflict, are portrayed. These can be humorous, mildly touching, or informative.
So what is the value of slice-of-life as a tool for storytelling? For one thing, it provides an opportunity to portray and develop the characters in their most 'natural' setting. Do you want to know what a character is like in peaceful times? Slice-of-life scenes are generally the tool used. Do you want to slowly develop a mild romance between two characters? Then slice-of-life is your friend.
In this sense, slice-of-life is a highly valuable tool. While extreme scenes, such as violent scenes or ones with psychological or intellectual conflict, are also valuable for developing characters and their relationships, it is the slice-of-life scenes that form the skeleton to which the conflict and/or drama adds flesh later on.
However, the problem with slice-of-life is that it is basically an exclusion of extremity. It is difficult - virtually impossible - to give flesh to a character with only slice-of-life. For better or worse, people bare their true strength and value (or weakness and uselessness) in situations where they are being tested by circumstance or opposition (whether intense or mild). This applies to VN characters, as well.
Slice-of-life is your friend... unless that's all there is. Sadly, a lot of writers make the mistake of thinking otherwise. I can't count how many VNs I've experienced that make this mistake, to one extent or another. Slice-of-life as a tool is a valuable friend and ally... but as the sole tool for constructing a story, it falls pathetically short all too often.
Edit: Understand, I came to these conclusions as a result of playing numerous VNs that made that particular mistake... and I'm including 'standard Vn romance' as slice-of-life. Romance is something I'll touch on separately in the next entry.
VN jargon can be one of the most confusing things on the planet for newbies, when they first start playing VNs. I say this as a straight-out statement because jargon-related questions are some of the most common ones I get from newbies, and jargon-related misunderstandings are pretty common. However, I'm not making this post to explain each piece of VN jargon's definition and the like, but rather to poke a few holes in the illusion of the 'stability' of the VN lingua franca that people like me tend to let people believe in for the sake of convenience.
First, the idea of the VN term that everybody assumes is used widely in Japan but really isn't. In VN otakudom, this is pretty common. First, I'll give you the examples I'm aware of off-hand.
1. Visual Novel- yes, this is a term that was coined by the Japanese, but it only ever took off here (there are occasions where it is used in Japan, but not in quite the same way we do). However, it has become the umbrella term for an entire medium over here, an umbrella term the Japanese don't use that way primarily because they lump all 'games' in together as the same medium. I see visual novels as a storytelling medium, but the Japanese see them as games, despite the lack of any real gameplay. This is not a matter of absolute definitions but rather a mindset, so I'm not going to insist my personal interpretation of the word is absolute here. The closest thing Japan comes to umbrella terms for VNs is 'bishoujo geimu', 'otomege', and 'gyaruge' (the first referring to male-oriented VNs with beautiful females, the second referring to female-oriented VNs of a certain type, and the third being a term that tends to change wildly depending on who is using it).
2. Charage- yes, you've heard me use this word a few times in the past... and indeed it did get used sometimes by Japanese makers or players to describe VNs of the type I use it to describe. However, if you want me to be straight about it... a few others and myself basically took the term, used it like crazy, and made it a piece of the jargon for the sake of our own convenience. It caught on here but it never caught on in Japan. Occasionally I still see someone use it in a Japanese board, but it is primarily a term used and defined by western players.
3. Chuunige- Actually, I'm pretty sure this was invented by the Fuwanovel community, lol. I use it because it is so convenient to describe the genre, but before it came around there was no jargon for the type of VN this has come to define. I actually laughed hysterically the first time I saw the term 'chuunige' pop up in a Japanese forum used casually to describe Dies Irae, and when I saw the easter egg in Semiramis no Tenbin where the writer said he'd been asked to try making a 'chuunige' I rofled hard. However, I'm about 90% sure we, the Western vn-players coined the term, even if it went over there at some point.
Terms that mean pretty much the same thing on both sides of the water do exist.
1. Nakige- for better or worse, this is probably one of the most well-defined VN genres. That is probably because Key did such a good job of forming the foundations for it, and the term caught on really well over there.
2. Utsuge- similar to above, this is a term that is used on both sides of the water, more or less in the same manner.
3. Otomege
Now that I've ranted on all that... I should probably give a few examples outside of VNs where this has happened... or at least one. Manga and anime are terms we use to describe Japanese comics and animation. However, in the eyes of the Japanese, both are umbrella terms for all comics and animation. Of course, there are terms that have gone over there that have also gone through mutations of their own (they are known as pseudo-anglicanisms), so don't be surprised if you come across katakana words whose meaning doesn't even resemble what they sound like (the katakana word for an apartment, for instance). While there are a lot of common points of understanding on both sides of the water, there are also a lot of points in our jargon that have warped and changed to fit our understanding or have been adopted here even though they got tossed to the side over there. Anyway, for those whose experience with the community has been confusing, Western VN jargon is, for better or worse, only just escaping its formative stages, so be patient with us lazy (and somewhat senile) old-timers. Jargon exists for everyone's convenience but defining jargon is a pain in the butt, as meanings change over time little by little.
Before I announce the VN of the Month, I'm going to go ahead and apologize to those who wanted me to play Honoguraki... to be blunt, I don't have the energy for it. Ragnarok sucked me dry, and I need to get away from undead and demons for a while. Moreover, I hate zombies in the first place (so many reasons), so I'd be unlikely to give a pleasant review or comment anyway.
Now... it is kind of startling how so many great games got packed into a single month. December 2016 was a monster month for story-focused VNs, with a relative dearth of charage/moege (with only two released). I played as much as I could, but after six games, including the monster known as Venus Blood Ragnarok, I feel drained and tired. The main reason I don't deny the existence of charage utterly (other than the occasional shining diamond I find in the piles of icarabu shit) is because even I need a break from bloodshed and darkness sometimes.
There were three releases that had the potential to become VN of the Month this time around...
Akiyume Kukuru
Ryuukishi Bloody Saga
Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai!
Now, to be blunt, Ou no Mimi would be my first choice. Why? Because, without the art bigots interfering, it is the most solid of those three candidates by several degrees. In fact, if this were six years ago, all things equal (including art), I would without hesitation have named it VN of the Month. While AXL doesn't escape its own unique formula, there is a reason why this company is a consistent seller despite reusing character art and music constantly.
However, we come to Ryuukishi, which is only a few steps behind story-wise and has the advantage of being an immensely creative story that doesn't fall back on tropes for the most part. It also has a more modern art-style that is highly-detailed, illustrating battle scenes and some of the more shocking guro scenes in loving detail.
Last of all, we have Akiyume Kukuru, which didn't fail to please as the third (and possibly final) game of Sumikko's 'Seasons' series. As usual, it provides the kind of meta-science mystery combined with violent and sexual humor that the company has become infamous for. For a certain type of reader, this VN is pure crack, though if you aren't the type it is aiming for, it will be a huge miss.
So what is the conclusion? In the end it came down to Ryuukishi and Ou no Mimi. I balanced Ou no Mimi's solid, well-narrated story against Ryuukishi's more innovative approach... and in the end I chose Ryuukishi Bloody Saga as VN of the Month December 2016. While AXL's works are really 'at-home' for me, I felt that Ryuukishi will probably have a larger impact on the VN community as a whole in the long run... and they were dead even on how I enjoyed them.
Now... look forward to VN of the Year 2016, which I probably won't finish considering until sometime next month. Fortunately or unfortunately, 2016 was almost as good as 2014 and 2011 for VNs...
First, VN of the Month 2016 basically comes down to a competition between two titles, World Election and Tsumi no Hikari Rendezvous. The other stuff from February was mostly... disappointing. Shugotate 2 is great... but one of my rules is that direct sequels and continuances of previous games can't compete if they require knowledge of the original to enjoy (and in this case that is true).
Both games in the posts above are solid VN of the Month candidates... and if they were in separate months, it is likely they'd both end up being the rulers of their individual months. However, looking at it objectively, Tsumi no Hikari Rendezvous edges World Election by a hair (actually, either one could be named VN of the Month, but I had to give Tsumi extra points for my bias).
That aside, lets move on to talking about what titles I'll be playing from this month.
March Releases
Might or might not play the VN below.
https://vndb.org/v18237
Giving Lose the benefit of the doubt, despite the ridiculous look of the VN below.
https://vndb.org/v18131
I avoided the anime so I could read the VN below without bias, so I'll be playing it.
https://vndb.org/v14303
I wouldn't be Clephas if I didn't play the VN below. However, since it is a side-story, it isn't eligible for VN of the Month.
https://vndb.org/v18685
I'll definitely play the VN below... but if it is as bad as its related VN (Koi no Aria) I'll probably drop it.
https://vndb.org/v18635
Almost certainly won't play the one below, unless I get extremely bored. Astronauts sometimes does really good work with fantasy rpgs, but most of them are straight rape-tentacle things.
https://vndb.org/v18761
Edit: Almost forgot these two, even though they were on my list of to-play VNs at the beginning of the year... March has a few too many releases though, lol.
https://vndb.org/v18651
https://vndb.org/v18495
This month was almost a no-brainer... while there were some halfway-decent charage releases, there weren't any that made a significant impression. I'm afraid I don't have time to read Giga's newest half-hearted-but-pretty-looking charage (work is busy) and I haven't actually played any VNs since i finished Ninki Seiyuu last week.
Silverio Trinity is VN of the Month January 2017. Normally, I wouldn't name a sequel as VN of the Month, on principle. However, in this case, the game itself warrants it. Silverio Trinity is one of those rare sequels I could actually conceive of standing on its own, because even when I extracted my prior knowledge of Silverio Vendetta, I still felt that it was an enormously enjoyable VN. The only point on which it doesn't stand on its own is in background knowledge about the Esperanto and the Great Apocalypse that is only infodumped in incomplete form in Trinity. Of course, not having full knowledge of the events at the end of Vendetta's path in Vendetta is a handicap, but not as much of one as it would have been with another game, lol.
For those wondering about VN of the Year 2016, I'm still reviewing the candidates... I've narrowed it down to three potential winners: Tokyo Necro; Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana; and Amatsutsumi. The most unlikely of those is probably Amatsutsumi, despite its feels (I knocked Floral Flowlove out of the competition last week). For those who complained to me about the fact that I'm not considering Senren Banka or Gin'iro Haruka, I actually have solid reasons besides personal tastes... I just don't feel like making a wall of text to explain the precise reasons why Gin'iro isn't in the running and I never really even seriously considered Senren Banka, lol.
Edit: Keep in mind that VN of the Year is the competition I spend the most time on every year, using up a minimum of the first two months of the year each year since I started, lol. Not to mention that 2016 was one of the best out of the last ten years in terms of high-quality releases (though the ones that weren't high quality tended to be singularly awful).
List of VN of the Year Winners so far
Hapymaher (2013)
Nanairo Reincarnation (2014)
Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier (2015)
Again, 2015 is probably the single worst year for VNs out of the last ten, and so Kikan Bakumatsu is actually lower in quality than several releases from both 2014 and 2016, so I almost didn't name a VN of the Year 2015, lol.
Well, this ended up being a contest between two charage... Shogun-sama wa Otoshigoro and Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni.
While I did not play Futamawari, so some will object to me naming a VN of the Month now, I will again repeat that I don't have any interest in that kind of lolicon story.
To be honest, it really isn't that much of a contest... Shogun-sama's flaws pretty much ensure it falls behind Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni as VN of the Month January 2018. The flaws are relatively minor, but seeing as Yorite was about at the same level of quality and didn't make any real mistakes, this choice was a no-brainer.
This is an update of the play status of June's releases.
Ai yori Aoi Umi no Hate- On hiatus/stalled for the moment due to gaming exhaustion. Plan to resume by the tenth.
Haruoto Alice ＊ Gram - Planned for play after Aiao.
Pure Song Garden! - Currently being played by Dergonu.
Tantei Seven- Dropped and labeled a kusoge by fun2novel, our resident mystery VN lover. No plans to include it in the contest.
I am completely done - though without playing Mirai Kanojo - and I'm not interested in continuing (the new month's releases are already coming out, lol). For those who are interested... the contest between the VNs came down to a four-way fight between Shirogane, Hanasaki, Valkyrie, and Utakata. Naturally, I considered them all as fairly as possible, but in the end I picked Hana no No ni Saku Utakata no as VN of the Month March 2015
For those who were expecting me to pick something else... sorry. I honestly felt it was the best of the crop, though there was nothing god-level in the group.
After discussions with the other contributors to this month, we decided that the VN of the Month for March 2017 is Haruru Minamo ni by Clochette.
The reason is fairly simple... nothing else met the standards for a VN of the Month pick from the March releases we played. Now, Haruru isn't a kamige (except that the heroines are kami, lol), but it is an excellent 'charage with a story', and it is definitely the type of VN I'll remember years from now. As such, I didn't really have an reservations about picking it.
As I mentioned, I am still looking for contributors to the VN of the Month. In particular, I'd like at least one person besides myself to play Amayui in May, so that I can have a counter-opinion. My opinions on Eushully's games tend to be either endless praise or harsh condemnations, so it would be nice to have someone to provide a nice companion or counter to my point of view.
For April's releases, I'm also looking for people to provide alternative points of view on the two candidates set for release on Friday... in particular, the one written by the same guy who wrote Nanairo Reincarnation and Akeiro Kaikitan, made by Palette (the one with all the nines in the title). April is pretty bare, but what is there looks interesting, lol.
Understand, I can work from bare opinions, and the more opinions I have, the better a post I can make. My personal opinion is all well and good... but I'm not going to be playing everything personally from now on.
I got asked what I was doing for this blog this month just today, by several people (probably because this is the longest time I've gone without posting since I started this blog). So... I suppose I'll go ahead and tell you.
First, the two titles I'm reading on request (though I was planning on doing one anyway).
Sakura no Mori Dreamers (reading now)
Ruri no Ie (yes, it is not exactly something I would normally bother with, but he was insistent... sort of like with Maggot Baits)
The rest of the releases this month I'm considering playing:
Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni naru
Seiken Tsukai no Proposition (by a new company, might suck, might not)
Natsuiro Kokoro Log (this is by Hearts, a company infamous for producing kusoge, lol)
Tarareba (by Aries, that makes decent to horrible charage)
Personally, from what I've played, if they don't screw it up, I think Sakura no Mori Dreamers will probably end up being the best. However, my past experiences with Moonstone's rare attempts to be serious tell me that that feeling isn't really trustworthy. Clear started out good but went downhill with terrifying speed, for instance. Their single best game is Maji Suki, and that was seven years ago... though Natsu no Iro no Nostalgia was pretty good, for Moonstone.
September 2017 Releases
I'm delaying VN of the Month September 2017 while fun2novel finishes up Farnese. I honestly don't know when to expect him to be done, but I don't think it will be much more than halfway through the month of November.
My schedule for October's releases.
October is chock full of first-class releases in appearance... and I'm just going to mention the ones I'm most excited for.
Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary (playing this right now... it is terrifyingly good, considering who made it)
Baldr Bringer (supposedly the conclusion to the mainline Baldr series. Who knows if Giga will actually stop their most profitable series, lol?)
Junjou Karen Freaks (yay! A kitsune heroine!! lol)
Kanojo wa Tenshi de Imouto de (After last year's thing with the ancient deities, this year they've gone for angels and shinigami... yay!!! lol)
For March's VN of the Month
fun2novel has finished etatoto and will be sending me his review at some point in the near future. Dergonu is currently playing Akumade, Kore wa ~ no Monogatari, though the current date he will be finishing it is unknown. When I have their reviews for these two VNs, I will announce the VN of the Month for March.
For April's releases
I've currently completed three VNs from this month. Koneko, Maou to Yuusha, and Tenpure. Only Maou to Yuusha, of the three, is at VN of the Month levels of quality, but I still have to finish Taiju (SofthouseChara's newest gameplay hybrid) and the second game in the 9 series by Palette. I do not plan to play Front Wing's new release at this time... (mostly because I don't have any charage energy left after the SOL overdose from Tenpure and Maou to Yuusha). I might get to it later in the month (I don't plan to announce April until after March...), but that will be after I've made a recovery, lol.
This one was a straight-out contest between Lost Echoes and Otoboku 3.
On the one hand, Lost Echoes has an excellent story and some seriously good heroines.
On the other hand, Otoboku has first-class writing, first-class slice-of-life, and excellent epilogues.
In fact, it was that last element that decided the contest... the two were neck and neck, but the difference in epilogue quality, which is much more important than most people credit it for being, was huge. Lost Echoes, for better or worse, ends very soon after the final climax for each path, and (in the VN's chronology) a month or less after the climax. Otoboku 3, however, had detailed epilogues that dealt with the thereafter of the heroines and protagonist, which is a huge plus for remaining in my memory.
So, in the end, Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru: Trinkle Stars was VN of the Month, February 2018.
It should be mentioned that my utter inability to play sports VNs made Tsubasa no Shita a non-starter for me from the beginning (I like combat and blood sports, but other sports suck as game themes except for seishun BS).
July was unique so far, when it comes to the quality of what was released. Three VNs, Amatsutsumi, Senren Banka, and Floral Flowlove were all at a high level of quality that qualifies them as a potential VN of the Month. As those who keep up with this blog know, I really won't name a VN of the Month if I don't feel there were any releases worthy of it.
First, Senren Banka:
Looking back on it, it was an enjoyable experience, but I came to the conclusion that it was the weakest of the three, when I compared them.
Amatsutsumi:
Floral Flowlove:
More problematic was that, as I looked back on it, I honestly couldn't measure an appreciable difference in overall quality between Amatsutsumi and Floral Flowlove. Normally, I have a clear conclusion on the matter of the VN of the Month shortly after I finish my last release from that month, but in this case, I continued to consider it right up until the last of the next month. My conclusion was that both games were of roughly equal quality, subtracting their flaws and considering their unique aspects. However, it was the use of the G-senjou story structure in Amatsutsumi that eventually made me pick Floral Flowlove as VN of the Month July 2016. Sadly, the systematic aspects of the ladder-type multi-path story crippled the VN in some unavoidable ways, though Amatsutsumi is far more emotionally stimulating. Floral Flowlove is just more complete in a general and technical sense than Amatsutsumi was. This is the single hardest decision I've made in a contest since I had to decide between Hapymaher and Komorebi no Nostalgica for VN of the Year 2013.
Now that I have confirmation from Dergonu that the game he was playing is not VN of the Month quality (he has stalled on it), I will move on to finally announcing VN of the Month for March and April.
March
March was a decent month, since it had three potential candidates for VN of the Month. Those candidates are:
Butterfly Seeker
AI Love
Unjou no Fairy Tale
Now, despite my rating of it, I'm going to go ahead and disqualify AI Love. Why? Because it is essentially a borderline nukige. It made its way onto my Chicken Soup for the Soul list, but, as I've stated in the past, that isn't necessarily an indication of kamige status. Rather, it is an indication of how good the game is at soothing and relieving non-violent stress.
So, this comes down to Unjou no Fairy Tale versus Butterfly Seeker. Based purely on my personal tastes, I'd probably go for Unjou no Fairy Tale, since I'm an admitted fantasy addict... but in the end, I had to (reluctantly) admit that Butterfly Seeker was the better VN. The depth of the story, the characters, and even just the details of the important events was such that I couldn't honestly give Unjou no Fairy Tale the victory for VN of the Month, March 2018.
My reasons for excluding Etatoto from the final running are... that fun2novel's own review and private comments didn't leave me with the impression of VN of the Month quality. Worth reading for a certain portion of the community? Yes. Worthy of being recommended on a larger scale... no.
April
Having dropped Taiju for the moment (SofthouseChara's newest SLG), I was left with only one viable candidate for April... Yuusha to Maou, to Majo no Cafe. This is perhaps the weakest VN of the Month candidate I've put up in quite some time, but it still easily won over Kari Gurashi Ren'ai, which is the only other game that hit my baseline standard. Naming it as VN of the Month, April 2018 actually troubles me a bit... given a choice, I wish that Unjou or AI Love had been released in April so I'd have a better candidate. I almost decided not to name one for this month, but I reluctantly decided that it meets standards.
First, I should mention that this was an awesome month. There are multiple releases worthy of consideration for the winner and there are two releases that will be added to overall consideration for VN of the Year 2017.
The actual twin candidates were: Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary and Imoten
The runner-up was: Junjou Karen Freaks
For various reasons, I avoided playing several VNs this month, including Boukyaku Shitsuji and Tsugihagi Make Peace. The biggest one with the former is that it is yet another VN in the same setting as the 'Uso series' by Campus. With the latter... it is that it is a relatively high-end charage appearing charage by a new company. To be honest, Tsugihagi is not something I want to play right now. It will probably take me until the end of the month to be human again after trying out Giga's massacre of that game. If I played it now, I'd take my anger out on it, and that would be... unfair.
Imoten and Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary are both great games... falling somewhat short of kamige level, but then, there haven't been any kamige releases this year anyway so far. I actually struggled a lot when considering the two. Either one could be VN of the Month for October... and in the end, I couldn't decide. As such, I announce the rarest of the rare... a tie for VN of the Month October 2017 between Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary and Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de!
I'm going to be honest... this was a month of unrealized potential and over-hyped games. To put things straight in my own words... I really, really don't want to name anything from this month as VN of the Month. If I were to name a VN of the Month based solely on quality and ignoring my own policies on sequels and remakes, it would definitely be Sengoku Koihime X. Nothing this month even gets in the same region as that VN, for all its flaws. Unfortunately, I do have a personal policy on naming direct sequels, fandics, and remakes as VN of the Month, so it isn't a full candidate.
On the other hand, Island, for all its hype, turned out to be something of a disappointment for me. I like Front Wing's games, for the most part, though I do end up disliking some of them. I honestly thought like the setting and characters looked interesting when I was reading up to it in the weeks preceding its release. However, when I got into it, I had a definite sense of dejavu, and not in a good way. To be honest, though I do like a good mindfuck sometimes, the somewhat absurd nature of the ones in Island left me a bit irritated. Moreover, the weakness of the initial paths and the true ending were enough to push it below the level I demand of VN of the Month vns, even if it will still be named on my potential recommendations for the year as a whole.
Wizard's Complex was, in some ways, my biggest disappointment for the month. It comes from Windmill, a company that has produced a number of first-class games (such as Kamigakari Cross Heart and HHG). However, the hopes I had crumbled with surprising speed once I actually started playing the VN. My misfortune in playing this VN was expecting more just because the company in question had produced more in the past.
Almost by default, this leaves Wagamama High Spec as the VN of the Month 2016... though I feel it is unfortunate that Island didn't blow it out of the water, as I'd hoped it would. Dal Segno, for all that it had its good points, had some severe problems that just made it impossible to take seriously, in the end.
September's VN of the Month is probably going to be a contest between Baldr Heart, Inochi no Spare, and Gin'iro, Haruka. Why? Everything else I dropped shortly after exiting the prologue, wanting to puke from the kusoge-smell. It might not be fair to them, but Ichibun, Yuuwaku, and Triangle Love just aren't VNs that have any chance, with Gin'iro defining the field for slice-of-life and romance. I can't bring myself to play anymore Gin'iro, but that isn't because it sucks... it is because I'm going to have to wait a few weeks to a few months so my memories of Yuzuki and Bethly fade enough for me to be able to bring myself to continue (just doing Yuzuki's path was kind of pushing it).
Now, it is almost time for my ritual yearly poll on whether to continue VN of the Month or not... and one thing I've noticed is that people are missing the point when I ask people whether I should continue or not. I'm asking people if they value me writing down my opinions on various VNs every month, not if they think it would be worth it from my point of view (which seems to be the assumption). Lots of comments telling me to take a rest... but none telling me what they actually think about the blog. This time around, I don't intend to do the poll, simply because it feels like a waste of time. However, I do want to ask the people who actually read this blog... do you get anything of value to you from reading the hundreds of posts on individual VNs I've put up here...?
After careful - extremely careful - consideration, I have chosen Nanairo Reincarnation as VN of the Year 2014. The runners-up were Semiramis no Tenbin and Bradyon Veda.
2014's top ten, based on quality with a 70% emphasis on story elements, a fifteen percent emphasis on sound, and a fifteen percent emphasis on visuals.
1. Nanairo Reincarnation
2. Bradyon Veda
3. Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai (yes, I didn't list this one as a runner-up, because I was physically incapable of doing so)
4. Semiramis no Tenbin
5. Hikoukigumo no Mukougawa
6. Satsukoi
7. Houkago no Futekikakusha
8. Hello, Lady
9. Kami no Ue no Mahoutsukai
10. AstralAir no Shiroki Towa
Story element evaluations were split fifty-fifty between intellectual and emotional impact. Ideally, any given story should touch upon the intellect and the emotions, leaving an 'imprint' behind.
First, let me state that 2015 is the flat-out worst year for VNs I've seen out of the last six. There was a lot of upward and downward flow hovering around the line known as 'mediocre' or 'average', but there were - saying it straight out - no kamige and few titles that really stood out from the crowd. It is definitely the worst year since I started VN of the Month, just two years and five months (or so) ago.
Unlike in 2013 or 2014, there are not a lot of titles I really even seriously considered to be in the running for this spot, even in a vague sort of way. While there were a few titles that jumped out at me toward the end of the year, I wouldn't have even seriously considered them in either of the two previous years. Heck, my top three titles this year wouldn't have even made it into the top twelve last year or the year before. That is how bad it was.
In 2013, the winner was Hapymaher by Purple Soft, its unbelievably high-quality soundtrack, art, presentation, and storytelling barely edging past Komorebi no Nostalgica for the win. While both games could pull both my emotions and intellect into play, Hapymaher's musical presentation gave it an overwhelming edge on that front, making it the winner.
2014 was also a hard choice... but in the end, it came down to Nanairo Reincarnation, the only VN that year that I honestly had no reservations about. Semiramis no Tenbin, Hello Lady, and a few others were runners-up that year (in fact, 2014 was an amazingly good year), but in terms of complete overall quality and appeal, they couldn't match Nanairo.
Unfortunately, 2015 just doesn't have any candidates that match those. Silverio Vendetta was immensely fun for me, but it has flaws in its structure that disqualify it, in addition to having way too niche an appeal. While I did praise it, Kyuuketsu Hime no Libra (which - as most of us know - has been Kickstarted for translation) just doesn't make it to the level I demand from VN of the Year Candidates. Sakura no Uta, for all that it does have its moments, has a deeply flawed overall flow and a lot of technical issues with the story presentation. Soreyori no Prologue was an interesting experience, despite being typically Minori (meaning sincerely annoying at several major points), but it wasn't a game I could seriously consider for VN of the Year. Natsuiro Recipe is probably the best 'iyashikei' product made in the last three years, but it isn't something I could honestly consider for raw quality. Koko Kara Natsu no Innocence had the typically high levels of overall quality I associate with Clochette (despite the boob fetish), but again, it wasn't quite there. Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori was an immensely fun ride, but - like Silverio Vendetta - was both deeply flawed and too niche in appeal to seriously be considered.
So what was I left to consider, really?
Basically it came down to Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier, a surprise entry in the last part of the year that tries to replicate, at least in part, the magic of Chuushingura (the VN, not the movie or the various books), except with a lot more bloodshed and in a steampunk version of the political and military conflict surrounding what led up to the Meiji Restoration. Now, at first I was tempted to think that I was jumping to conclusions, because it was so fresh in my mind... so I let almost two months pass before I made my decision, while I went about the task of reviving my memories of various VNs I played during the year.
It really was odd what came back to me during that time... Sakura Nikagetsu was one of the more memorable ones (definitely not VN of the Year material, but it was immensely amusing), as was Rakuen no Shugosha (a cheap kinetic utsuge in a total anti/non-anime style), and Sorcery Jokers (the most technically sound of the straight-out chuunige that came out during the year). I honestly had to reject the former two outright, simply because their visuals make them a no-go for ninety percent of the people I know, no matter how much fun or how high quality a psychological experience they might be. Sorcery Jokers was actually a lot harder to dismiss, when it came down to it. In terms of scale, I was really tempted to say it could compete with Kikan Bakumatsu... but if asked which left a better impression, I would have instantly said Kikan Bakumatsu.
To be honest, either title would have been a compromise. Neither is as good as any of the best VNs from the last four or five years. They are definitely good, as in being worthy of being listed as VNs to remember. However, I definitely wouldn't have put them up as candidates in another year.
For the idiots who kept asking me if I'd say yes to Bansenjin *spits on the floor* even Masada pisses on his own feet sometimes (too much of an attempt to recreate the success of the Shinza series).
As usual, I spent a lot of time thinking over this before I even considered making a decision. The original list of candidates at the end of the year (after the initial series of in-brain eliminations) is as follows:
Tokyo Necro
Akeiro Kaikitan
Amatsutsumi
Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana (knocked Inochi no Spare out of the running)
Tokyo Necro
Tokyo Necro is Nitroplus's first masterpiece outside of the Science series (Steins;Gate, for those who don't know what I'm talking about) since Muramasa, all those years ago. As such, it is an obvious favorite, being the sole chuunige kamige of the year, as well as a solid story from beginning to end even without considering my personal tastes (if anything, the presence of zombies is a negative for me, normally). It is brilliantly written from start to finish, with a masterful twisting of the elements of the setting to create a fascinating variance between the paths that made for some really interesting endgame story paths. In addition, the characters themselves were awesome, acting out their roles within the story in a down and dirty way that you generally don't get in most non-rapegames. In other words, this is Nitroplus at its dark and dirty best for the first time in over half a decade.
Akeiro Kaikitan
Like its predecessor, Nanairo Reincarnation, Akeiro is a brilliant blend of supernatural darkness with everyday life... and with real consequences rather than the moe goofiness that defines most such mixtures in VNs. It has mystery, it has horror, it has catharsis, and it has great characters. Depending on what path you choose, the protagonist's path through life is dramatically altered, as is the fate of the heroines. This reminds me of why Nanairo won the incredibly competitive 2014 competition so easily, despite the presence of Bradyon Veda and a number of other awesome games.
Amatsutsumi
Amatsutsumit is a game for those who want a good cry, and it shows. It lost out to Floral Flowlove in its VN of the Month competition, but the truth is that it should have been a dual winner, when it came down to it, since they were equal in quality from beginning to end, with only the ladder-style story structure causing me to rate it somewhat lower. Seen apart from that, however, it is an ideal example of Purple Soft's evolution from a third-rate charage maker to a brilliant maker of fantasy nakige since the release of Mirai Nostalgia.
Karenai Sekai to Owaru Hana
This is 2016's biggest surprise, an overwhelmingly powerful nakige that doesn't bother doing much more than stabbing your heart with the plight of the characters and their travels from the depths of despair up the staircase of hope. In terms of emotional impact, I can honestly say no other VN in this year even got close, which is why Inochi no Spare got knocked off the list by this one. I'll be straight... I'm a sucker for the heroes drunk on their own heroism, and the protagonist in this one fills that bill perfectly. As such, I literally spent hours in tears playing this game.
VN of the Year Announcement
Those four were the final candidates when I moved to my inner-brain semi-finals, and they fought one another viciously for a place in the finals, then the golden Pocky of VN of the Year. Karenai Sekai shattered Amatsutsumi in a battle that lasted only a few moments, and Tokyo Necro and Akeiro Kaikitan fought a brutal fistfight that ended with broken bones and Tokyo Necro's heel on Akeiro's head.
In the end, there came a brutal month-long battle in my back-brain between Tokyo Necro and Karenai Sekai, the two kamige blasting entire imaginary cities away in their attempts to claw out one another's guts. Again and again, they shattered swords on one another's bones and regenerated from seemingly fatal wounds in an instant. A continent sank beneath their feet, yet they continued to war with one another, even as their armies of followers drowned in the onrushing waters of the world's oceans.
In the end it was a matter of overall brilliance of design as a victory over pure emotionalism that resulted in Tokyo Necro being victor over Karenai Sekai, thus becoming VN of the Year 2016. Unlike 2015, where there were few to choose from, 2016 was excellent, with numerous candidates from various genres to pick from. While I won't go so far as to say the year was awe-inspiring, it was indeed a pleasure to read the VNs listed above, as well as those below.
Honorable Knockouts/Worthy of Memory
Floral Flowlove
Inochi no Spare
Senren Banka
Gin'iro, Haruka
Akiyume Kukuru
Ryuukishi Bloody Saga
Signalist Stars
Yomegami
Sora no Tsukurikata
Lamunation (this and Signalist were the best comedy VNs of the year)
Sakura no Mori Dreamers (knocked out of the running by Akeiro Kaikitan)
Soshite Hatsukoi ga Imouto ni Naru (knocked out by Floral Flowlove and Amatsutsumi for nakige candidacy)
World Election
Koi Suru Otome to Shugo no Tate - Bara no Seibo - (sequel, so not a candidate)
Ou no Mimi ni wa Todokanai (two great games by AXL in one year...)
As always, I took a ridiculous amount of time considering candidates for VN of the year, this year.
The final lineup of candidates were:
Aoi Tori
Kin'iro Loveriche
Bakumatsu Jinchuu Houkoku Resshiden Miburo (I determined that it, to an extent, stands on its own enough to be considered)
Suisei Ginka
Haruru Minamo ni
Eliminated:
Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary (lost to Aoi Tori)
Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de (lost to Haruru Minamo ni)
Oni ga Kuru (lost to Kin'iro Loveriche)
Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu (lost to Suisei Ginka)
Explanation:
While those five candidates made it to final consideration, I have to say for the fanboys that I never really seriously considered Kin'iro Loveriche for the final selection once those five candidates popped up. I reviewed my experiences of each VN individually, then compared them in my mind. While Kin'iro Loveriche is an excellent game, it just didn't match several of the other VNs on the list. If I split this into candidates by genre, though, I would consider this the nakige of the year.
Miburo falls off for a different set of reasons... in fact, it probably wouldn't have made it to the finals at all if I wasn't a weaboo and a Japanese history freak. It is good, it is detailed, and the bloodshed is awesome... but if you asked me if its raw quality is at the very top of the list, I would have said 'In another year, maybe.'
Suisei Ginka was a great game. I'll say that before I go through why it failed to make it through the final selection... actually, it just fails to get there because it just isn't good enough. Oh, the story is interesting and enjoyable, but truth be told, Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary was better in its limited battle scenes, and I honestly found the antagonists to be too weak for a chuunige. Great bad ending though.
Haruru Minamo ni is definitely my pick for charage of the year, if Loveriche is nakige of the year, lol. I'll state it outright... no other charage this year got anywhere close to Haruru Minamo ni. That isn't a surprise, because Clochette's formula (if not the boob obsession) is probably the best established one for the genre. However, it just didn't make it there.
VN of the Year 2017
Now, you've probably already figured it out from my explanation above, but Clephas VN of the Year 2017 is Aoi Tori. I probably could have picked any of these in a year with no other equivalent candidates and been satisfied with them as VN of the Year, but, after four 'layers' of consideration (I've been filtering candidates since March last year) this one was the one left over, having barely eked its way past the other VNs above. Any of the VNs that made it past the filter back in December really had VN of the Year levels of quality, which is unusual. 2017 was a good year for quality VNs, even if I didn't choose the one you wanted me to, lol.
This is the list, as it currently stands, of VNs being considered and those previously considered but disqualified for VN of the Year 2017. While this year hasn't been good for producing kamige, it has succeeded in producing a number of memorable ones.
Being Considered
Ojou-sama no Hanbun wa Ren'ai de Dekiteimasu
Oni ga Kuru. ~Ane ga Hinshi de Pinchi Desu~
Haruru Minamo ni
Suisei Ginka
Additions from 12/30/2017
Bakumatsu Jinchuu Houkoku Resshiden Miburo
Yami to Hikari no Sanctuary
Aoi Tori
Kanojo wa Imouto de Tenshi de
Eliminated/disqualified candidates/Runners-up
Silverio Trinity (Disqualified for being a direct sequel incapable of standing on its own)
Shin Koihime Musou -Kakumei- (ditto to above... with the addendum that it is also a remake)
Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou (realistically, this VN just hits my sweet spot and really isn't VN of the Year material)
Fuyu Uso (similar to Trinity and Koihime)
Hikari no Umi no Apeiria (funny, interesting, but ultimately falls short)
Additions from 12/30/2017
Kin'iro Loveriche (fun, good feels, but not quite there)
Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha (great first job by a new company, but it isn't a finalist)
Junjou Karen Freaks (funny fantasy with mimikko, but not quite there)
Bokura no Sekai no Shukufuku o (great nakige, great story, but not a finalist)
