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Clephas

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Blog Entries posted by Clephas

  1. Clephas
    Let's first lay out my basic view... I loathe microtransactions.
    I'm not an anti-industry activist, and I don't have a serious bone to pick with any individual company about them.  I've had a few bad experiences with them, but the reason for my loathing is something more fundamental, that I came to realize only after I'd put a year or so between my worst experience with them.
    First of all, my experience was with an MMORPG on PC, rather than a blockbuster title or a smartphone game.  As such, in some ways my experience is probably the most 'traditional' one for the original form microtransactions took... the 'pay-to-win' model of massively multiplayer games. 
    Basically, in that game, you could not only buy clothing and armor with real money, you could also massively accelerate your experience gaining and basically not even do several annoying but important quests that gained you new skills and and access to higher classes if you were willing to fork over enough money.  Now, this was the game that essentially put an end to me playing MMO's, even out of curiosity.  Before then, I'd only played subscription-model games, and as a result, I'd never experienced a game designed to essentially squeeze more and more money out of people in that manner.  My frustration kept growing, because up until then, I'd basically played games when they first came out until I reached the level cap, then dropped them, cancelling my subscriptions and deleting my account.  However, in that game, I kept on running into roadblocks to my curiosity about the world I'd entered, and when that frustration reached its peak... I made the mistake of indulging in microtransactions to speed things along.
    I probably wouldn't have realized what it was doing to me or my bank account, if it weren't for the fact that I got caught up in a minor scandal where a GM was raiding players' accounts using his administrative rights and selling off their non-bound equipment and items on the marketplace.  While it wasn't a direct result of my microtransactions, it nonetheless served to cool my head... and make me realize I'd basically thrown away money on virtual items, some of them with frigging time limits for their use.  I got my money back for the stolen items, but only after I flatly stated I wanted nothing to do with the game after that and threatened to lawyer up if they refused.  So, I managed to escape before I reached the degree of financial loss Japanese 'kakinhei' have been casually enduring for years before the concept wormed its way over here (incidentally, it is much, much worse in Japan, China, and Korea than it is here...).
    Microtransactions are essentially an outgrowth of the dlc concept, save without even attempting to give you value for value.  Once you've purchased dlc, it is yours, you can leave it installed without worrying the 'time limit' will run out, and you don't need to feel driven to show off how much money you wasted to people who were just as stupid as you were.  However, the most critical difference is that dlc isn't an 'infinite product'.  It isn't constructed to draw ever greater amounts of money out of the user and indulging in purchasing dlc or a season pass for a regular game you like isn't nearly as damaging to your wallet or your mental health as microtransactions are. 
    Edit: To be clear, I see microtransactions as being one of the most fundamentally dishonest types of scam directed at consumers to have cropped up this century.  The techniques are well-established, predatory, and poisonous, especially to those too young and inexperienced to realize that money doesn't spray in infinite clouds of green from the cards in their parents' wallet. 
  2. Clephas
    I recently got the impulse to go back and replay Eien no Aselia, which sat at the top (mostly by inertia and alphanumeric reasons) of my vndb votes for so long.  Eien no Aselia was one of the final games I played in English before I took the dive into Japanese untranslated VNs, and I hadn't replayed it since, though I played Seinarukana within a year of entering the labyrinth.
    Eien no Aselia is one of those few 'oldies' I found hadn't lost anything vital in the years since I last played it.  I still immensely enjoyed the story (which is only mildly different in Japanese), and I still fell in love with Aselia on first sight (I'm a sucker for bloodstained fushigi-chan girls with big swords).  I empathized with Yuuto's struggles as he went from a somewhat whiny standard-issue eroge protagonist to a fully rounded out human being with a lot of admirable qualities.
    Eien no Aselia is one of those rare hybrids where the gameplay is something you can pick up easily even though you haven't played it in almost a decade.  Oh, there were aspects I had to remember through trial and error, but I was using my old clear save, so I didn't have to bother with leveling or building anything other than ether gates... which made things a lot simpler.  I remember just how much pain I suffered on higher difficulties to get those maxed levels... and why I never went back after finishing all the heroine paths, hahaha.  The game is long, though it isn't nearly as long as Ikusa Megami Zero or some of the other strategy VNs.  Playing it from beginning to end seven times was more than enough for me in the past.
    A few aspects of the game have aged poorly (though not really the visuals, which were great for the time it was made).  The aspect that bothered me the most was that more effort wasn't put into developing the non-heroine spirits that you fought with.  While you could access scenes that did develop them somewhat if you made the right dialog choices and didn't let them die in battle, there is definitely a sense that the writers considered them disposable, despite giving them really distinctive personalities that came out on first meetings. 
    Replaying Aselia made me remember why I was so eager to see a third Eien Shinken game, and I'm still eagerly awaiting the day when the TBA on the vndb page for Shinyaku Eien no Aselia turns to a real release date. 
  3. Clephas
    Mayura

    Mayura is the second of the two secondary heroines... the protagonist's osananajimi who, predictably enough, has hidden her love for him since childhood (*pukes sand*). Anyway, having gotten my Minori complaints out of the way in previous posts, I won't bore you further with this. Mayura's route is your basic 'genki osananajimi' route combined with Minori's love of excessive drama. There are plenty of hard-hitting moments, that I'm sure that romance lovers will follow with excitement. The route itself is well-written (I'll give Minori this, for all their flaws, their writing is usually pretty good). If I have a complaint, it is that, once again, there is perhaps a bit too much focus on Touwa, though that is perhaps unavoidable, considering how much of the game is about her.

    Mayura herself is a lively otaku with a particular fondness for 'sentai' (think Power Rangers) and heroism in general. Mayura is perhaps the best supporting character in the game, aside from being a heroine, so I did manage to enjoy her path, to some degree (it is unusual for me to enjoy two paths in a Minori VN, so this is an accomplishment).



    Himeno Touwa

    Touwa is the central heroine of the story, and she is the center of the common path, has strong influence on the other two heroine paths (which you have to play to get to hers), and is the main reason I didn't like the common path, in an indirect sort of fashion. It isn't that I disliked her, exactly... it is more that I disliked the way the protagonist reacted to her and the way the common route turned out because of it.

    Her path... is about as intense as you would expect, after the previous two paths. It is definitely constructed as the climax of this VN, and there are things about it that are easier to understand if you played the other two paths (which is probably why they require you to play them). I really did like the way they played out the path, beyond the turning point before the climax... it was fairly hilarious (though really, most of Touwa's non-drama interactions with the protagonist are funny), and the drama was something romance fans will jump for joy over.

    Overall

    Overall, this is a VN that stops well short of kamige-level, but is definitely better than the average Minori game (ef), managing to at least be pleasing as a whole, even if it frequently angers or depresses in the particulars. It is important to understand that this is first and foremost, a romance, with a heavy fantasy element as an important plot tool. At times, it appeals too much to emotionalism (negative and positive both) to get you into the VN, and there is a distinct lack of appeals to intelligence. However, if you want something romantic and dramatic, this is a good choice... but don't expect a moege-type story out of it, lol
  4. Clephas
    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!
  5. Clephas
    I know many people have chimed in on the debate about what precisely VNs are to them... but the three main schools of thought pretty much come down to 'story-delivery system', 'pretty picture delivery system', and a mixture of both. To an extent, I can sympathize with all three... but I fall mostly with the 'mixture of both' school of thought with a leaning to the 'story-delivery system' end of things. Why? Because, when it comes down to it, all forms of otaku entertainment are story-delivery systems, when you get right down to it... even if that story is somewhat out there, disjointed, or so mixed in with pointless moe that it is hard to recognize. Of course, that is in the larger sense, so it is basically playing with sophistry on my part to think that way... *loves making it impossible for anyone else to win the argument*

    Nonetheless, it is a valid point. I love stories, in general. I live for fiction in all its forms, though the written word is my preferred way to receive it, preferably with narrative, not just dialogue. More than anything, my taste in VNs is shaped by this simple root cause... in the end, I'm a narrative junkie who needs his fix. Chuunige like Dies Irae give me that in the most obvious form, and every once in a while, a fantasy masterpiece like Ikusa Megami Zero comes along and revives my love of world-building and deep settings. Even more rarely, I hit gold with something like Konata yori Kanata made, which burns so deeply into my soul that it causes an epiphany.

    The last half-decade of my life has been pretty much shaped by my addict's pursuit of good VNs. As a result, outside of my work I'm pretty much the picture of the hikikomori erogamer (actually, since I work from home...). At the same time, I've more and more come to realize that almost no one across the water has any real idea of the potential of the medium in general for storytelling, despite having the best of all tools in all areas relatively easily at hand.

    If I walk through a section my local bookstore (any fiction section), I can pick out at least a dozen titles I've read and left their mark on my way of thinking and expanded my mind in general. Going through all the VNs I've played, I can name only about forty out of the five hundred that left their mark in a significant way on my mind and spirit... and that is seriously a small number, even proportionately speaking. Less than a tenth of all the VNs I've played have been something worthy of remaining for the future... and how sad is that? This is despite the sheer potential the medium has... When I think of it objectively, I'm sometimes driven to despair.
  6. Clephas
    Common

    First, I should say this VN isn't like Purple Soft's last few works. The common route is straight comedy and heart-warming antics combined with some minor drama and with a bit of personal growth for the protagonist on the side. It is good comedy and the personal growth is actually quite nice, since the protagonist as he started out would have driven me insane inside two hours. It is also relatively short, as are the heroine routes so far. I managed to finish the common route and one heroine route in around seven and a half hours...


    Makoto

    Makoto is a very straightforward girl, the daughter of a local yakuza group who has been ordered to live as a normal girl by her family. The funny thing is, she isn't one of those template heroines who dislikes her criminal family, but rather respects and loves them. This results in a rather hilarious personality that comes out a great deal in her route. This VN's route structure is really unusual, in that there is literally no H in the routes themselves, though there are a few nude scenes. As a result, this route passes by with relatively little ichaicha and most of its focus on the drama, which is one of the reasons why it is so short... there is no time wasted whatsoever.



    Michiru

    Aaah... Michiru is probably the most blatant example of the 'adoring little sister' I've seen recently... and combined with her being a total yamato nadeshiko and blind, this makes her the standout amongst the four heroines available at the beginning of the VN. One of her most hilarious aspects is how she sounds like a 'niisama-cultist' when talking to others, and how aggressive she is in her pursuit of her older brother... so naturally you'd expect a 'oh, I'm not sure if I can cross the line!' kind of route, right? Fortunately, my expectations were betrayed quite nicely on this, and the route itself is highly emotional, following a track I can guarantee you won't guess without spoilers. That said, it is mostly heart-warming and tear-jerking stuff, and that is one of its biggest draws.

    Because of the policy they are using for this VN - no H in the actual routes - it is really easy to focus on the plot flow, and there is none of that sense of 'you interrupted the story for a pink-colored scene?!' that comes so frequently with many VNs of the type. To be honest, I'm really surprised that no one has done this before, as having the choice as to whether to pursue the H in the extras section rather than go through it in the main game makes it a lot easier to enjoy the character interactions and story in general.

    Edit: Adding Misaki


    Misaki
    Ummm... I'll be frank, I was disappointed with Misaki's route... but that's because I went for the two most unique heroines - and least annoying - amongst the four starter heroines first. It isn't that it is a bad route. Indeed, if you go by the standards of your average VN (cutting the low and high ends off the curve) I'd say that it was in the upper ranks as individual heroine routes go... but after Michiru it just lacked impact. Misaki is one of those heroines who is a lot better as comic relief than as a heroine... or at least, that is how it felt to me. A big issue is that they reused Alice's face and voice (from Hapymaher) for her, and I was always a bit frustrated that Alice was the true/main for that one (I liked her the least, though I still liked her). Cutting out those emotions, her struggles are actually interesting, if a bit overly familiar for those who have seen (this really is a spoiler, though indirectly)

    That said, the theme for this particular one has been touched on so often in VNs lately that it seems overly dull...

    That said, if you weren't me, you'd probably be able to enjoy this route just fine - actually, you'd probably enjoy it a great deal - as long as you made sure to play it first or second (I'm not really interested in the annoying foreign girl heroine, since her speech patterns make me want to punch her).
  7. Clephas
    First, I should probably address those who questioned why I never played this VN before... the answer is that I did try this VN 'way back when' and couldn't get past the prologue. To be frank, the prologue of this VN is pretty... unimpressive. However, once you get past that prologue, you are put into what probably amounts to the best nakige I've ever played.

    This VN is a kinetic novel, with only a single ending. It combines elements of mythology, mystery, fantasy, and psychological horror (relatively mild) into a single whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. For those who love Araragi (to be honest, I think all of those who read this VN love Araragi) more than Hiyo... my condolences. There is only one path and it is Hiyo's.

    The child-version of Hiyo in the pic above is part of one of my favorite early scenes in the VN and the scene that pretty much locked in my love of the characters as a whole. I'm a sucker for appeals to emotions like the ones in this VN, and there is very little in this VN that doesn't appeal to your emotions on some level. The warmth and kindness of the three girls closest to the protagonist and the dynamic between the four of them is central to most of the story. While Hiyo-love indeed has a big impact on the story, romance in this VN is ultimately merely one of many themes, ranging from the obvious 'love of art' and 'autumn', to 'the nature of kindness'.

    For those who have seen the opening song on youtube... you should probably be aware that the entire OST for this VN is on that level or better. Like many of the best VNs out there, the musical direction and the choice of music in general is superb... a work of art. There are many Chinese-classical and hybrid Japanese-classical themes mixed in with various other types, and this adds to the atmosphere created by the 'old Japan' design of the school and dorms where all the events of the story take place. These aspects, combined with the plentiful expressions and poses given to the characters' tachie, are used effectively to create the 'personality' of the VN as a whole.

    The most important way to evaluate VNs that fall into the 'nakige' category is how much they made you love the characters, thus giving you a reason to cry for them. In that sense, I can honestly say that it leaves almost every nakige I've played in the dust (including all of Key's). The lack of massive casts of heroines and multiple paths serves to make every occurrence in this VN feel 'real', adding more impact to the sorrow, joy, hope, and pride that continually break your heart. I can honestly say that I feel Propeller used the 'kinetic novel' format to its fullest, succeeding in creating a story with an impact far in excess of what it would have possessed if it had been a multi-path story.

    Now... I feel it is about time I stopped praising this VN and spoke about the one issue that bothered me, even after I finished it...

    ... it truly amazed me how bad the VN is during the initial stages. It feels awkward and forced, and that sense of 'eh, what were they trying to do here?!' is so strong at first that it was enough to make me drop this five years ago without a second thought. Of course, back then I hadn't been as thoroughly 'trained' by years of playing moege that are far worse than this... but it is still a flaw in an otherwise awesome VN. That said, once it gets started, this VN is really, really hard to put down.

    Overall, the only people I can't recommend this to are the extreme moe and dark fantasy fans. For all that the designs are most definitely moe, the degree to which the characters suffer in this VN will be a bit much for the soft-moe addicts. For the dark fantasy fans... you'll probably be a bit put off by a lack of action and murder. This VN has precisely one action scene that would interest that type... and it isn't that long (though it is important to the story in general). Everyone else? If you can make it past the prologue, I can guarantee you'll fall in love with the characters, even if other aspects bother you.
  8. Clephas
    This is just my opinion, born of my experiences with both bad and good VNs with gameplay. Note that I more or less expect half of humanity (or more) to disagree with me on most or all points, so don't expect me to respond to every scream of rage at my apparent assumption of superior knowledge. These are written on the basis of the philosophy that VNs are trying to tell a story and are primarily a storytelling medium.

    1- Due to the nature of a visual novel (with the emphasis on the novel), the gameplay must not become more important than or overshadow the story completely. Gameplay should ultimately only be an aid to becoming immersed in the story.

    2- Eros is fine. You can't avoid eros in VNs, so I won't bother protesting against it. However, h-scenes should be meaningful (both to the gameplay and story progression) and shouldn't interfere with actual storytelling or be inconsistent with the overall plot.

    3- Eros combined with gameplay aspects should be minimal. By that I mean making an erotic element vital to the gameplay itself. Similar to overwhelming the story with gameplay content, it is very easy to destroy a good story with repetitive h-scenes and excessive ones that have a 'purpose' in relation to the gameplay.

    4- The elements of the story - setting, characters, plot - should be consistent and regular. What this means is that all elements of the story should be consistent with one another and the story itself should regularly interject itself into the gameplay (and not as 'slice-of-life' events or h-events 90% the time).

    5- The gameplay should be relatively simple and/or accessible without being boring or repetitive. Raising simulations and dungeon-crawlers most often break this rule, as both are repetitive by nature and the latter tends to deliberately set out to sabotage smooth game-play at every twist and turn. To be blunt, trying to insert the equivalent of a first-rate game into a VN story isn't going to work ninety-percent of the time, and complex or excessively difficult gameplay just gets in the way of telling the story.

    6- All decent VN/gameplay hybrids should have a full-inheritance (money, items, skills, levels) New Game + system in order to allow the obtaining of other endings without having to grind through all the difficulties of the first playthrough... or they should make the gameplay skippable entirely on a second playthrough, though including a high-difficulty option for masochists who love repetition is fine (though there shouldn't be any story-related rewards for finishing on higher difficulties).

    7- Solid endings. If there is only a single ending, let it be extensive... an actual reward for slogging through thirty to forty hours of gameplay rather than a five minute sop to the people who loved the characters and story so far. If there are multiple heroine endings, then let them be something other than an excuse for H-scenes and actually give you some idea of what will happen to the protagonist and heroine in the future.
  9. Clephas
    Pulltop's new VN, Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o looks beautiful, has a large cast of voiced characters with sprites, and generally is an obviously high-budget VN... but it is also a VN I'm not really interested in.
    You might want to ask why... after all, I like Pulltop's games in general, and it doesn't look any worse than the others by the same company, in terms of production values.  It is also being hyped a lot (inasmuch as VNs are ever hyped) and a lot of the people who have just begun playing Japanese VNs are excited... unfortunately, veterans are somewhat less so (with a few rare exceptions).
    Here are the reasons:
    1.  The existence of an the protagonist's memborship in an astronomy club.  I'm going to be blunt... no other club has so many protagonists as members of it in all of VNs.  For every four moege, there is one with a 'tenmon bu' and the protagonist is either a member or helps out.  The obsession with stars is more of an otome thing, so I can't help but wonder why... I really am tired of reading VN lectures on constellations I don't give a crap about.
    2.  The existence of two osananajimi heroines... the osananajimi heroine is the biggest cop-out heroine type.  The reason?  Because the simple statement 'we are osananajimis' becomes an excuse for laziness in character development and relationship development.  It also becomes an excuse for one of the most fundamentally idiotic tropes out there... the 'osananajimi>lovers transition'.  I have yet to see one of these that wasn't annoying and made real sense when you took a step back and thought about it.
    3.  The decision to include a non-entity protagonist.  Understand, one of the signs any given VN-maker will almost always give - without realizing they are giving it - when they are going to make the protagonist a non-entity or cipher is failing to give the protagonist his own character profile, even when other male characters have one.  I am sick and tired of this reliance on using 'normal' protagonists with a group of heroines harem.  It doesn't work and it doesn't make sense, so I wish they'd just stop it.  It is one thing if the heroine's link to the protagonist is non-love/non-interest before you get on the actual path... it is almost conceivable that way.  However, the dense idiots created by most of these companies just don't work as harem masters.
     
  10. Clephas
    As the title above indicates, this is a story about the love life of a working adult... to be specific, a twenty-five year old salaryman named Oga Itsuki.  At the beginning of the story Itsuki, who has already begun to settle into the dull exhaustion of the salaryman style of life, is awakened to just how pathetic his life is by his immediate superior, who suggests he try to change himself.  The amazing thing is that he does go through with it, and it changes his fate (makes it interesting).
    First, I should say that this VN won't be for everyone.  It has a lot of h-scenes, and the protagonist seems to attract lonely women (single and otherwise) who are desiring of a one-night-stand.  He even cheats on all of the heroines at least once (though the ones after theyofficially become lovers are optional scenes).  That said, this isn't a nukige... it has a bit too much story and makes too much sense for that (well, except for the fact that he attracts so many women). 
    This VN is pretty short.  I finished all the paths in about ten hours, about the same as a low-level moege.  The fact that comedy and everyday slice-of-life make up only a minority of the story is pretty beneficial here, as the story of each heroine - and the common route - progresses at a good, relatively fast pace that gets down to the meat of things without a lot of side-tracking.  There is no 'endless dating' period like you see with the schoolkids of your average charage, and the protagonist's relationships with the heroines are pretty interesting in and of themselves... well, amusing anyway. 
    I can honestly recommend this to someone who is tired of the endless school romances that plague VNs but doesn't want to head off into the wilds of Chuuniland to escape it.  Overall, this VN is a fun ride that is over quickly enough that it doesn't become boring or trite.  The endings are pleasant and the heroines are interesting enough that it really is worth getting to know them. 
  11. Clephas
    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).
     
  12. Clephas
    Tokyo Babel is scheduled to be released pretty soon, so I decided to replay it.  As Propeller is one of my favorite companies and Tokyo Babel has a more or less permanent place in my top fifty (when the number of VNs you've played passes five hundred, fifty is a good place to be, lol), so this doesn't bother me.  Tokyo Babel is one of the few purely all-ages titles from Japan on the PC, and it is a chuunige of rare quality that was obviously written with one of a dozen or so pairs of eyes on Masada and the rest on an internal vision that more prudish Christians would probably call blasphemous.
    Tokyo Babel is not only the name of the game, it is also the name of the setting, a remade version of Purgatory floating in mid-air, where angels, humans, and demons are working together desperately in hopes that they can convince God to stop squishing the universes.  This is not a VN for the excessively religious to play... to be honest, there were moments when even I felt uncomfortable and I've never seriously adhered to any organized religion, though I was raised Christian. 
    Some of the major characters include Astaroth, Belial, Carmael, Uriel, and many other famous or infamous demons and angels.  The three heroines are Raziel, Kugutsu Sorami, and Lilith.  Raziel is the angel who recorded all of creation in her book, the Sefer Raziel (this is partially taken from various apocryphal mythology).  Kugutsu Sorami is the first character you meet in the VN, whose ignorant untainted perspective gives you your first clear insight into the world from a human perspective.  Lilith is the first wife of Adam, who left him and who lay down with demons and produced all the monsters of the world (book of Enoch). 
    Understand, like a lot of stories using Christian mythology, it uses bits and pieces from Milton's Paradise Lost, medieval literature, Gnostic ideas, and many other elements and branching-off literature that went off in all directions since the genesis of that particular faith.  One thing to keep in mind if you are a Christian and were raised to believe that Lilith never existed is that the Bible is not and has never been what we would call 'complete', as each version had bits and pieces grafted on or removed based on what the powerful and influential of an era or region felt was convenient, necessary, correct, and/or all of the above.  The Book of Enoch is one of dozens of 'books' not included in the accepted versions of the Bible, that were considered paradoxical in the eyes of the church of the time.  So... just keep an open mind when reading up on this kind of thing, because Wikipedia isn't exactly reliable when looking up religion-related facts.
    Now, setting philosophical, historical, and other issues aside... this is a pretty enjoyable VN on a lot of levels.  Propeller developed its own (fairly hilarious in my opinion) style of humor that is incorporated into the story, and its effect in Tokyo Babel is one of humanizing the characters.  I don't think a lot of people who read chuuni really understand how vital a few moments of humor can be in giving life to a character, even in this type of VN.  While Masada and his type choose another path, Propeller's writers generally choose to use humor as one of the elements of their characterization.  On another level, this VN is chuuni crack.  The protagonist is a self-hating guy with a dark past and a deathwish seven billion kilometers wide, but he also has an even stronger sense of responsibility toward those he comes to care about, which is seen in the heroine routes.  The situation is one fit to drive even the most optimistic mind to despair, and there are bad guys behind the curtains, waiting to push everyone in the abyss.
    In other words, this is one of those VNs that has almost an infinite capacity for fun in a chuuni sense of the word.
    The art style of this VN is... unique.  In some ways, it feels like an elaboration on Propeller's previously-preferred style, but it was actually done by a completely  different artist from their previous works and it does show in a lot of places.  In particular, the vivid designs you see on the more monstrous demons and monsters in the VN shows this off very well.  Leviathan (the giant serpent) and the Seven Beasts from Setsuna's sword are two of the more distinctive examples of this art-style, and ones that honestly impress me even today. 
    Sound-wise... I'll be straight.  There is no such thing as a bad Propeller sound track... well, until Sougeki no Jaeger anyway.  Tokyo Babel's isn't as good as Evolimit's, but that's kind of like saying that Sasaki Kojirou wasn't as good a swordsman as Musashi (token weabooism, lol).  Generally speaking, the songs in this VN vary to a surprising degree, ranging from techno tunes, to rock, and even a few hymn-like ones.  The one thing that unifies them is that none are poorly used, lol.
    Now... down to the story.  I've already described the basic concept above, but now I'll get into structure.  This VN is split into three major routes after a pretty short common route (the trial ends about the same time you are supposed to head into the heroine routes, from what I've heard).  Raziel's route is the one that keeps you furthest from the 'deepest truths' of the VN, and having played her route is pretty good preparation for Sorami's route, as Sorami's route reveals some things that might make it hard for some people to read Raziel's route and take it for what it is.  Raziel's route has a bad end that is seriously... bad.  However, it is also a highly-detailed and reasonably long diversion from the 'good' (this is debatable) ending.  Sorami's path has a good ending (bittersweet but technically a good ending), a normal ending (really sad...), and a bad ending (like Raziel's, it is fairly long).  Sorami's path has a different focus on the events in Tokyo Babel than Raziel's, and I've heard some people describe Raziel's, Sorami's, and Lilith's paths as the Angel, Human, and Demon paths in that order... However, that is a pretty generalized statement and one that doesn't really feel correct, lol.  Lilith's path... is the true path.  I'm going to be blunt.  If you are silly enough to try to do Lilith's path first, you'll deserve your inability to figure out a third of the references in the path, because it is constructed so that the information from the previous two paths feeds directly into the events in that one.  In other words, if you haven't played the other two paths, Lilith's path has a lot of potential for being confusing.  Lilith's path has three distinctive bad ends, one true end, and one 'Setsuna' end, which is a branch-off from the true one.  Lilith's path has some of the best battles in the VN, and there are no secrets left in shadow by the end, which makes it a great way to end things.
    A few thoughts about Propeller as a company... Propeller doesn't really produce that many overwhelmingly attractive heroines.  I'm pretty sure that this is deliberate, as there is a definite tendency toward the story being more important than the heroines in these VNs.  For people accustomed to the extreme character focus that defines a lot of VNs, this has a potential to be problematic...  Take Ayakashibito, for instance... how many of you really, seriously were obsessed with the romantic aspects of the VN (if you read it)?  There are even heroines in Propeller games that are actually deliberately made to seem bland (the elf in Bullet Butlers, for instance) or somehow unattractive for situational/emotional reasons (Kaori in Ayakashibito).  This is a part of their style, which calls for heroines to not take up the whole of the limelight in the VN, and it is one of the reasons I honestly find their VNs so enjoyable, other than the sheer chuunige nougat that makes my mouth water.
    Overall, while Tokyo Babel is no Dies Irae, it does have a high level of quality, as well as being one of the few chuunige to dare to avoid the 'perfect happy ending' that has become standard even in many VNs of the type in recent years (for some reason, bittersweet endings are less popular these days...).   It can definitely play on your emotions at times (especially the endings), and there is just enough humor to keep the VN as a whole from being unbearably heavy.  Of course, if you dislike gloomy protagonists who don't really understand other people very well, there might be some abrasive moments in this VN for you... but Setsuna comes by that particular set of flaws honestly, so I never held it against him, lol. 
  13. Clephas
    Kanojo Step is the latest VN from Smee, a company famous (or infamous) for making old style first-generation charage (right down to being able to name the protagonist and having him be a non-person, as well as there either being no drama or only weak/easily resolved drama in the story).  As such, I wasn't anticipating a blowout hit, and I didn't get it, of course.  However, it did surprise me a bit in one aspect...
    ... and that was its comedy.  Ok, most of it is cheesy and 'familiar', but the timing of the comedy (usually emanating from the protagonist, as he is a 'class clown' style protagonist) is pretty much perfect and frequent enough that I spent about sixty-percent of this VN laughing.
    Unfortunately, the slice-of-life in this VN and the romance (which make up everything that isn't comedy) are... unimpressive.  They chose to go with heroines that were surprisingly dependent and deredere after they and the protagonist get together, and that wasn't a bad choice.  However, the simple fact is that there is a huge gap in the quality of narration and dialogue between parts meant to be funny and parts that are meant to be semi-serious.  This is the first VN I've encountered in a while where I felt like going to sleep whenever I wasn't laughing... and that isn't even an exaggeration. 
    Part of this can be attributed to the fact that the common route pretty much gluts you on everyday slice-of-life, and by the time you hit the heroine routes, it feels like being handed an apple pie after having gorged yourself on six others only an hour before.  Another part is that the way the everyday life parts are sectioned out is almost always the same, leaving you with a somewhat exaggerated sense of  monotony.  This, combined with the frequent meaningless choices and map movement systems (the classic type seen in a lot of older slice-of-life VNs that went out of style because they drove most people up the wall) made this a VN that reflected older styles... in a bad way. 
    For all the salt I just spat, this VN is actually fairly enjoyable most of the time... it's just that when it starts to feel monotonous, it really feels monotonous... Given a more story-driven plot combined with this same comedy and the complete elimination of the map movement aspects, it would have probably inched its way up into the top five percent of the charage I've played over the years.  Unfortunately, those aspects made for a VN that was far less than it could have been, at least from my perspective.
    Edit: Understand, the people who like the 'warm and fuzzy, devoid of any stains of negative emotion' charage will lap this up.  If I were to design a VN engineered solely to prick at 'mainstream' Japanese VN otakus' desire for 'an ideal everyday  youth' this would be what I would aim for.  However, as a story, it is fatally boring, unoriginal, and lacking in any entertainment value outside of the comedy, which happens to be hilarious.
  14. Clephas
    Ryuukishi is the sequel to Ryakudatsusha no In'en, which was released last month... or rather, Ryakudatsusha is a prelude/prequel to this game.  However, the fundamental nature of the game has changed greatly.  For one thing, this VN lacks the constant rape and mutilation scenes that were so a part of Ryakudatsusha...
    ... well not entirely.  There is only one rape scene, and there are a few guro scenes.  However, those scenes are not nearly as dominant as the ones in Ryakudatsusha.  For those who liked the prelude, this game might be a bit of a shock to the system.
    Anyway, this VN is based some time after the events in Ryakudatsusha, and Roy's manner and appearance have changed greatly.  The grim adolescent of the first game has become a smiling young wandering apothecary, and his sword is now no longer in evidence.  The setting is in a walled city at the foot of a mountain where a fire dragon lairs.  Despite attacks by the dragon at irregular intervals, the city has thrived for several centuries, and its knights have systematized the process of sacrificing their lives to draw the dragon away from the civilians, knowing they can do nothing else. 
    The tone of this game, despite its frequently bloody/gory events, is far milder than Ryakudatsusha.  There is some slice-of-life, which is mostly used for deepening the connection to the setting and heroines, as well as progressing the story.  There are also some seriously good fights in this game, as Roy sometimes is forced to show his old skills in order to protect the four female knights who serve as the harem/heroines for the game (yes, it is a harem, lol). 
    The actual progression of the game is kinetic, with all the choices merely creating changes in individual scenes, rather than the story itself.  The setting itself retains the darkness of Ryakudatsusha, while leavening the blood-soaked dough that is this particular fantasy world with lighter and gentler moments.
  15. Clephas
    Shinsou Noise is the first game by a new collaboration company called Azurite, which was founded as a joint effort by Silky's Plus and Liar Soft.  In this case, Liar Soft provided the writing staff and Silky's provided the art and programming staff.  It is also fairly obvious that the planning wasn't done by the Liar Soft team, given the general style of the story, which is more in line with my experiences with Silky's Plus (and thus lacks the annoying conventions Liar Soft usually indulges in).
    Anyway, this VN is a mystery VN, with the added element of a 'deduction game' that is part of the story.  The deduction game fits into the story, where the protagonist, a reception-only telepath who can't control his abilities to any significant extent, figures out who committed a crime at a specific time and place.  This game mechanic is... to be honest... not something I really enjoyed.  I mean, it was fairly easy to figure out all but the sixth-chapter stuff without the walkthrough (I had to resort to the walkthrough for the sixth chapter, where things aren't multiple-choice and you actually have to type in the answer).  However, to me the deduction game mechanic felt like it broke up the pacing of the game... perhaps it is because I prefer being a watcher over an active participant in mysteries, lol.
    There was one other element, which people will inevitably remark upon, that annoyed me.... it was yet another release that utilized the ladder-style story structure.  What made it worse in this case was that you could feel the writers trying to make you hate that you picked anything other than the main path, and at the same time, they created a requirement for you to see the other endings before you could view the true one.  I'm not going to rave this time, because I'm pretty emotionally exhausted right now.
    The story of this game is full of tragedies... including the big one that forms the basis for all the protagonist's actions in the main story.  What's more, regardless which of the two final endings you choose on the main path, it still feels like you betrayed someone.  There is no real sense of satisfaction that comes from completing this VN, at least for me...  perhaps it is because I so quickly became fond of Sakura.  Momo, the true heroine, is a true innocent... an absolutely-trusting mind who I found pretty much impossible to see as a heroine. 
    Overall, this game will probably split people who read it wildly between those left feeling like I am right now and those who love it for the Japanese-style mystery...
    EDIT: As an addendum, I'm going to put in my two cents about this game's theme...
    ... to be honest, both teams were obviously taking waaaaay too much pleasure in hurting the characters from start to finish, without the salvation of this being an utsuge or a nakige.  The actual heroine endings were all short and pathetic (literally pathetic) both in scope and in design.  I felt actively insulted with the final two endings, which felt like an anticlimax after all that had come before.  I don't know why they chose to finish things that way, but it left me feeling like I'd gone through all that vicarious suffering and striving for nothing.
  16. Clephas
    https://vndb.org/v20314
    https://vndb.org/v20339
    The games linked to above are the ones I would prefer to leave to someone else for March's releases.  For Giga's new game, the reason is that I can't bring myself to play anything non-Baldr by Giga.  For the other, it is because I don't like the theme (a k-on club).  Anyone who is playing one or both of these anyway, could you do me the favor of sending me your opinions when or if you complete them? 
  17. Clephas
    I'm going to be blunt.  As soon as Persona 5 comes out, I'll probably drop everything and stop talking for at least two or three days.  As such, you can pretty much be sure that the time from now until the fourth is the time for me to play VNs, lol.  This month is, however, extremely heavy on the number of releases, if not the level of excitement that follows them (Minori's style is antithetical to me, so I really do want to offload Trinoline on someone else, despite their high quality productions).
    As such, I'm making a list of the VNs from this month and my priorities.
    Currently playing/finished
    Omoi o Sasageru Otome no Melody
    Haruru Minamo ni!
    Priority to play (in order)
    Hataraku Otaku no Ren'ai Jijou (same series as Hataraku Otona, which was awesome)
    Suisou Ginka no Istoria
    Noroi no Maken ni Yamitsuki Otome
    Kamidanomishisugite Ore no Mirai wa Yabai (the newest Oreyaba game)
    I badly want to offload onto someone else (low priority)
    Trinoline
    Amanatsu Adolescence
    Full Kiss
     
    Other (not sure if nukige or something else)
    Office de Sasou, Ecchi no Kanojo (looked interesting, lol)
  18. Clephas
    Written by Kiririri and edited by fun2novel  and Me
    Trinoline
    If there ever was a time when the quality of a story was judged purely on its aesthetics then minori’s games would be tough opponents to defeat. Trinoline continues in the same tradition as many other minori games. High-budget top-quality visuals with a ridiculous level of attention to details. This includes blinking eyes and well done lip syncing, top-notch high quality CGs, and unusual camera angles, where you walk and look to the side at a character walking next to you while a long non repeating background scrolls by.  All that and more put this at the top of one of the most visually polished games around. Fortunately, visual novels aren’t judged purely on how good they look. Not usually at least.
    Trinoline asks valuable questions and explores some very interesting themes and ideas. It is set in a world where the science has advanced far enough to manufacture real, lifelike androids. Events become more complicated when our protagonist’s little sister dies only to later come back as an android. She is just an android and not his real sister of course, only an illusion of the real thing. However, the twist is that she has all of the little sister’s memories inside her, and the question is, 'does it matter if she is real or not?' Do memories make her his sister or is she just a replacement for what was lost to tragic events? What happens if your loved one comes back in android form? Are they the still the same person? Are androids even capable of love, even if they don’t have a heart? Do they dream of electric ships?
    Trinoline features three heroines. Yuuri, the childhood friend, skips school often.  However, nothing is what it seems on the surface. What does she hide behind that cheerful upbeat smile of hers? Her route was the least interesting, and it is a bit of a downer for much of it.
    Shirone, plays the role our protagonist’s “little sister”. She is the Trino (android) with the protagonist’s little sister’s memories inside her. It explores how and if love can bloom between a human and an android.
    Sara is the other childhood friend. She had a leading role in developing the Trino, a new kind of android. Because of her work, she and the protagonist haven’t seen each other in a long time. Her route is considered the true route and it explores the difficulties of developing an android and the problems in their thinking.
    The game is pretty equally divided between the common and all the other three routes, and it touches on very interesting issues.  However, at the end of the day I don’t know how I really feel about it.  I can't help but wonder if I actually enjoyed the game or not.  It doesn’t help how stupid the protagonist acts in some scenes and changes his opinions about androids from one route to the next with no consistency, with no regard for his personality. I wanted to like the game because I thought the heroines are really great. In addition, if it wasn’t iterated enough previously, the game is really beautiful. Unfortunately, the constant depressing atmosphere kept up throughout the game pretty much crushed me and every false hope I had for it. I don’t want to further elaborate on that to avoid spoilers.
    The game has a lot of great moments, but it also has many points that will split opinions. If you’re looking for a deep and exhilarating science fiction story, you won’t find it here. The narrative is slow-paced and takes its sweet time to build up. This is a game for those looking for a character driven nakige with some light sci-fi elements. However, it might keep you depressed most of the time, so take care if you don't like that sort of thing.
  19. Clephas
    Since this one was released in English already, I'm pretty sure at least a good number of the members of this community have already sampled it.  However, this is also the last VN for this month (that isn't a nukige).  This has been a month full of short kinetic novels that are parts of a larger story... a setup that I normally dislike intensely.  Since this game is only a partial, it isn't actually a candidate for VN of the Month (VN of the Month's rules require that the release in question be a full game that stands on its own, which means individually-released chapters and fandiscs don't count). 
    First, I will say that this game is significantly different from the original Grisaia series.  How is it different?  For one thing, all of the kids are, like Kazami Yuuji, individuals who are incapable of living a normal life for one reason or another.  For another, this game spends relatively little time in the protagonist's point of view, with the first chapter mostly being told from the teacher's point of view and the second chapter mostly being portrayed from the point of view of one or another of the girls.  Since this is an all-ages game, this works a lot better than it would with an eroge, where the protagonist's point of view is the one you use to judge the heroines. 
    After the incidents in the original Grisaia trilogy, the agencies Yuuji worked for eventually chose to purchase and reuse Mihama Academy as an assassin and spy training school for kids who, for one reason or another, can't live in the outside world.  The story in this game is focused on A Class, which is made up of members of SORD (students who are already working for the organization).  The nominal protagonist of the story is Haruto, who, like Yuuji, was part of the organization since childhood (apparently from earlier on in life than Yuuji, though).  This guy is a bit more sane on the surface than Yuuji, and he is definitely better at dealing with people.  That said, he has his 'black' side, which tends to show at critical moments.  Unfortunately for him, he does retain the remnants of a human conscience, lol.
    Volume 1
    Volume 1 focuses mostly on the teacher, Arisaka Shiori, and her encounter with the killer girls in her class.  Shiori is a straight-out normal person, whose only black mark is a mother who is in prison (incidentally, this is sufficient reason for her to be refused employment at any other school).  She is also a bit cowardly on the surface, but she is definitely a hot-blooded teacher in the old style underneath.  That said, the class she is teaching is, quite naturally, a bit beyond what she expected.
    In this volume, the writer uses Shiori's viewpoint to introduce you to the difference between the girls' viewpoints and that of the average Japanese person, while at the same time creating the conditions that lead to Shiori becoming the only truly normal person who deals with the girls and Haruto.  I have to give it to Fujisaki... he did an excellent job in this way, and the way he ended the chapter was excellent, in that it left me wanting more without giving me the voracious appetite that I experienced with Grisaia 2. 
    Volume 2
    This chapter focuses mostly on Rena and her issues.  Rena is a brainwashed assassin 'purchased' by Haruto at an auction for the specific purpose of making up for his inability to use guns.  She has no moral compunctions about killing, and when she is released from the restraints of normal life by Haruto's orders, she is pretty much a berserker, killing everything in her path.  The rest of the time, she is a big-eating girl who loves to ride motorcycles and clinging to Haruto. 
    She is aware of her faults, but she is just a little too stupid to be able to fix them.  She is also insanely devoted to Haruto, even aside from the brainwashing that created the loyalty bond between them. 
    This chapter deals heavily with Rena's past, which means some pretty nasty stuff that is just as bad - or worse- than Yuuji's, and so it isn't exactly for the faint of heart.  That said, it was an enjoyable read, and, like the first volume, while it leaves me hungry for more, it doesn't do that to excess (meaning I can wait for the next chapter with relative equanimity, though if this game goes beyond four chapters, I'll probably get murderous). 
     
    Overall
    If their goal was to catch my interest, Front Wing did an excellent job.  The first two chapters both stand alone to some extent, and there is no sense that they left you hanging.  For a game done in parts, this is about as good as it gets.
    VN of the Month April 2017
    There will be no VN of the Month for April 2017, due to a lack of viable candidates.
  20. Clephas
    Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas is the rarest of the rare... a charage that is also a kamige.  In fact, I've only encountered three charage that I consider to be kamige out of the hundreds I've played.  How did that happen?  Well, a large part of it is the writer.  For all that his first VN was a half-nukige with an absurd setting, his style is poetic, his settings deep, and his timing and pacing of events perfect. 
    Another part of it is the structure.  This VN has a very, very short common route... as in the prologue only.  After that, it immediately moves on to one of the five heroine paths based on the choices you made in the prologue.  The paths themselves are about one and a half times as long as the average heroine path in the average charage, with an extremely tight focus on the heroine and the protagonist's romance with her.  They are designed to make you fall in love with that particular heroine, to allow you to empathize with the course their love takes, and to let out the tears when the story demands it.  I cried numerous times the first and second times I played this VN, as the writer's rather poetic descriptions (inside Shin's head) of the heroines only make it easier to care about them and their relationships with Shin.
    The third element of this game that makes it great is the protagonist.  I honestly consider this protagonist - Miyami Mizuki (true name: Mizuki Shin) - to be the best trap protagonist in all of VNs.  First of all, he has been dressing up as a girl for so long that he does it quite naturally.  Second, he is fully voiced... every bit of his dialogue is voiced... and voiced in a manner that perfectly matches his character's personality as written.  Second, he is really, really good at whatever he puts his hand to.  He is a gourmet-level cook, a self-taught art-appraiser, a master of domestic chores (even the advanced ones that the head maid isn't familiar with, lol), and... a brilliant artist, though he has a trauma that prevents him from letting it out.  He is actually more girly than most of the girls in the VN, though he doesn't seem to be aware of it, hahaha...
    Chiharu
    Chiharu is Rena's bodyguard and a member of a family of bodyguards that has protected the Ootori family for centuries (Rena's family).  While she can sometimes take extreme actions, she is at heart a compassionate soul, with an intense desire to protect which led her to become a bodyguard despite certain physical disadvantages she possesses.  When alone with those few she is truly close to, she is rather straightforward in her affections, but she always puts others before her first, leading to trouble at times.  Her path is one of those few charage paths where I honestly felt that the romance was worth experiencing even on its own.  It helps that this writer is really, really good at portraying his characters' inner conflicts and emotions through narrating their thoughts. 
    One thing I absolutely love about this VN is Shin's (Mizuki's) poetic turn of phrase with internal narration.  I believe these lines are the best description of how Shin sees Chiharu.

    瑞希「……目が、きれいなんです」
    Mizuki "... Her eyes... are beautiful."
    怜奈「えっ……?」
    Rena "Eh...?"
    瑞希「お嬢様の隣にいるとき。千晴の目がきれいなんです」
    Mizuki "When she is at your side, Chiharu's eyes are beautiful."
    あんなにきれいなオレンジ、初めて見たんだ。――千晴の涙。
    I've never before seen such a beautiful orange.... Chiharu's tears.
    理屈じゃない。
    It has nothing do with reason or logic.
    仮にお嬢様が大洋だとすれば、千晴はその水底に落ちている、一個の石だと思う。
    If milady (Note: trying out a possible translation for ojousama as a title, lol) were to be seen as the ocean, I think Chiharu would be a stone lying at the bottom of it.
    でも僕はその石が好きなんだ。
    However, I love that stone.
    深い深い海の底で、人知れず輝きを放っている。誰に褒められたいわけでもなく、認められたいわけでもなく。
    Deep deep beneath that ocean's surface, she shines brilliantly, unknown to men.  She doesn't shine so that she will be praised or acknowledged by others. [note: took some liberties here]
    きっと宝石として大衆に愛でられる価値を秘めながら、ショーウィンドウへ並ぶことを拒み続ける。
    Though she is probably worth being adored by the public as a gem, she continually rejects being lined up in the store window.
    千晴は最後まで、海の底で『無価値』の原石であることを選ぶ。
    Chiharu will choose to lie at the bottom of the sea as a 'worthless' raw stone to the very end.
    海に寄り添うために。
    In order to nestle up to the ocean.
    海が広く深いと僕らに分かるのは、あの小さな石が落ちているからだ。
    The reason we can tell the ocean is deep and wide is because that small stone is sinking into it.
    あの不器用な小石が光っているから海は寂しくないし、もし誰かが溺れて迷いこんでも、その明かりを頼りに浮上できる。
    With that clumsy stone shining within it, the ocean will never be lonely, and if someone were to become lost and drowning there, they could rise to the surface, relying on the stone's light.
     
    Anastasia
    In this game, there are technically three 'sides' to the story as a whole... there are the Ootori-focused paths (Rena and Chiharu), the Karasuma paths (Yuki and Shizuku), and the stand-alone Anastasia path.  Anastasia is... a seemingly soft and kind-hearted woman on the surface.  However, it becomes obvious in her path that she is actually a mischievous, somewhat devilish young woman.  She is the curator of the museum seen in the prologue and the overall curator for the art fair that is held in the city toward the end of each path.  She does have a rather... unexpected secret however...
    Anyway, her path greatly differs from the other four paths in focus and rhythm, so I recommend that it be played last, since it partially spoils Rena's path.  While it has a rocky start in comparison to the others, it is nonetheless an excellently-written, high-quality path that is definitely worth reading.  On the popularity rankings, she got the lowest score (probably because her path's tone is so different from the others), and as a result, she doesn't have an after-story in the FD, but don't let that stop you from playing it, lol. 
    Rena
    Rena is the game's main heroine.  She is Shizuku's rival, Chiharu's master, and the daughter of the man who owns most of the town they live in (a fictional part of Tokyo repurposed into an Art Town).  She is very big-hearted, forgiving, and compassionate.  By choice, she wears her emotions on her sleeve, choosing to show her anger, her sorrow, and her joy on her face, restricting the display of her emotions in no way or manner when she is with those she trusts.  She tends to act on instinct, and she has a highly-developed sense of aesthetics, born out of being raised by and as an art-dealer and due to her own passion for art.  While not an artist herself, she nonetheless has an absolute devotion to the art world, and her evaluations of people tend to be colored by how they act toward art.  As such, she doesn't get along with the auctioneer Shizuku and despises Wolfgang (an annoying side-character and occasional antagonist). 
    Her path is perhaps the most complete when it comes to dealing with Shin's issues.  Shin, by nature, shapes himself and his desires to fit his environment, and his primary motivation is always to act for the sake of those he cares about (the heroines, in each path).  This is the one and only path where Shin comes to the fore as himself and the only path that reveals in full certain aspects of his past and current motivations.  At the same time, this path tends to be the most poetic of the paths, as he and Rena's attraction for one another is very... intense. 
    Note: The h-scenes in this path are very emotional and vital to the experience... don't skip them.  Normally I advise the reverse, but I make an exception for this game.
    Yuki
    Yuki is the protagonist's kouhai and a genius of modern art contracted with the Karasuma Corporation.  Shy and more than a little eccentric, Yuki by far has the 'cutest' characterization (right down to the dog-head pajamas she uses for work clothes).  Despite her sweet and innocent appearance, she has long experience with the bitter edge of society's tongue, and she has an intense dislike of the mass media.  She is the only heroine who has almost no relationship with the protagonist outside of her own path (she briefly appears in the common route and as a side-character in the other routes), but, in exchange, in her route, the relationship she develops with Shin is intense and close.
    One element of this game I've failed to speak about until now is the reason why I love the paths in this game... for better or worse, most charage paths involve the protagonist one-sidedly 'saving' the heroine from some trouble or helping her out with some issues.  However, perhaps the greatest attraction of this game's paths is that the relationships are so... mutual.  The protagonist doesn't just one-sidedly save the heroines, but rather he is saved by them in turn, rescued from the intense loneliness he feels even in the presence of others, as well as his bad habit of self-sacrifice.  The reciprocity in this game's paths makes for a far more 'equal' relationship than you usually see in a VN romance of any sort.
    Yuki's route is no exception... while the protagonist undoubtedly resolves the issues that plague her life, she also returns the favor by salving his spirit, saving him from himself in a way that can't help but bring tears to my eyes, even on a third playthrough.
    Shizuku
    Karasuma Shizuku is Rena's rival at school and in business.  Shizuku's family company is a second-line dealer, primarily auctioning off art pieces whose value has already been set by the art community, whereas Rena's Ootori family specializes in discovering and raising up new artists whose works have not yet been given a value by the art community.  In addition, the Karasuma corporation specializes in modern art, whereas the Ootori family specializes primarily in classical-style art like paintings, stone sculptures, and other such works.  Shizuku is extremely sharp-tongued and aggressive... with everyone except Shin.  She and Shin go way back... ten years back, to be specific, and when she sees him as a cross-dressing maid, she goes a bit berserk, jumping to all sorts of conclusions that make for some pretty hilarious events in the other paths.  In her own path... well, let's just say her path is a lot more comedic than the others at first. 
    By nature, Shizuku's first second and fourth priorities are Shin, even when it isn't her path.  She loves him, is aware of it, and she has little to no hesitation about using her immense fortune and personal influence for his sake.  She is also the only heroine that is willing to accept his decision without questioning when it comes to a certain issue... and probably the most passionately focused on him alone, as opposed to splitting their attention between art and him.   For better or worse, Rena is driven by a hunger for art, Chiharu by a desperate need to protect people and to find someone to accept her, and Yuki has numerous issues that are equal in importance to her when compared to the protagonist.  In that sense, it can be argued Shizuku is the most loving of the heroines, because she always acts for his sake, above all other things.
    It does, however, take a bit of effort to see beyond her cold mask in the other paths, lol.
     
    Conclusion
    Along with Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no  this VN is one of my top two charage-type VNs (in Uruwashi no's case, a nakige).  After having played this game a third time, my belief that this is a kamige has, if anything, become stronger.   This game is actually far shorter than it seems when you read it, but due to the sheer 'density' of the events in the game, it feels like a far larger story.  Any one of these paths would be worthy of being a true path in another VN, and it is a VN that is very easy to invest emotionally in.  For those interested in the fandisc, it should be noted that it had a different writing and production staff, and as a result, it is little more than an excuse for extra h-scenes. 
  21. Clephas
    I'm going to give you my basic opinion of Shumon Yuu straight up and without embellishment... he is a genius.
    I generally am reluctant to call any writer a genius.  I have read thousands of stories - if I include both books and VNs - and I can only name a bare dozen or so authors/writers I can honestly and unequivocally name as geniuses.  Of course, this is a subjective viewpoint... but it is backed up by significant experience, lol.
    Shumon Yuu is that rarest of the rare in VN writers/directors... a true artist.  Most decent VN writers have a flair for some aspect of their work, whether it is characterization of a certain type or amusing narrative... but Shumon Yuu goes past that, turning entire VNs into works of art as deep and expressive as any classical piece. 
    I'm not talking about him pleasing me on every aspect... several of his VNs lie outside my tastes to one degree or another... but it really doesn't matter when I'm reading one of his works.  It doesn't matter that I don't like a certain character or a certain plot element.  When the VN is complete for the first time, I always feel like something about what I just read ripped deep into me and tore out pieces of my being I hadn't yet known existed, bringing them into the light for me to see.
    I have read three VNs he wrote and two he helped plan/design.  The three he wrote are undeniably kamige, with a wide appeal and a unique approach to storytelling (which differs radically with each one) and the two he helped with are first-class VNs.  Chrono-belt, which is the crossover fandisc for Ayakashibito and Bullet Butlers, is such a work of genius at capturing the best of the spirit of those two games that I still get the urge to play it independently at times.  Kikan Bakumatsu Ibun Last Cavalier I named VN of the Year 2015... though that isn't really saying much, considering how bad a year that was (it did have a fascinating take on the Bakumatsu era though).  Tenshi no Hane o Fumanaide was my second game by this writer, and I have played it three times now... each time rediscovering what  made me fall in love the first time.  Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo is a work of nakige/utsuge genius that still births new fans even today. 
    So why are Shumon Yuu's works primarily known only to people that are a part of the 'in' crowd of veteran untranslated VN readers in the West?  It is probably because his works don't fit precisely into any of the existing/accepted genres, even if they sometimes use elements from them.   You pretty much have to be an omnivorous VN reader to run across him, because it is difficult to impossible to fit any of his VNs into an archetypical aesthetic.  Another reason is that he isn't very productive.  In the past seventeen years, he has been involved with the production of precisely eight VNs...  and he only wrote six of them.  He is also an LN writer, apparently, but he can't really be said to prolific there, either.  So... he tends to fall behind writers who produce something every year and jump at every chance to advertise their own greatness, lol. 
    He doesn't get recommended as often or as fiercely as Masada or Higashide, nor does he have the immediate impact of Akatsuki Works' writers.  In fact, even I tend to forget about him (though not his VNs) for years at a time... until I read something he was involved with and begin dancing with glee once again.  His works I never forget, but I frequently forget to follow him, hahaha....
    Also, he is a pretty subtle writer, so most people won't pick up on everything he is trying to express in his games on the first playthrough... one of those rare VN writers who gets better as you chew him, lol.
  22. Clephas
    It has turned out to be a big month, hasn't it?  Three good quality games in a row... one of which I was sure was going to be a kusoge (guess which one).  This month had a surprising number of non-nukige releases that I was interested in, and I didn't really want to leave any of them to anyone else (I was actually interested in most of them).  Here is a list of what I've played and what I might play before picking VN of the Month.
    Played
    Aoi Tori
    Kizuna Kirameku Koi Iroha
    Yoru Meguru, Bokura no Maigo Kyoushitsu
    On the playlist
    Bokura no Sekai no Shukufuku wo (looks like a mimikko charage, might be a nukige... either way, it stimulates my fetish)
    Maho x Roba (to be honest, I don't trust charage from Akabei subsidiaries.  However, I was asked to play this one anyway...)
    Azayaka na Irodori no Naka de, Kimi Rashiku  (might be a kinetic novel, looks mildly interesting... might use it for psychological rest, lol)
    Yurameku Kokoro ni Michita Sekai de, Kimi no Yume to Yokubou wa Kanau ka (this one looks interesting... but I don't like the protagonist description, so I'm not sure)
             
  23. Clephas
    For the hell of it, I decided to make up a 'suggested playlist' for people who like/are interested in chuunige who have just begun to play untranslated VNs.
    There are two variations on this guide.  One is a 'test the waters, gradually take a dip, then dive into the depths' guide.  The other is a 'Spartan Guide', which starts out with medium difficulty VNs and moves into harder and harder ones at the top tiers.  Each VN list will have four tiers, based on a combination of my estimation of difficulty in reading.
    For those unfamiliar with the term 'chuunige', some examples of chuunige that are translated are Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Sorcery Jokers, and Tokyo Babel.  I believe you can get the drift from those four examples, lol.
    Soft Landing
    Tier 1 suggestions (difficulty ranges from a 4-7 on a scale of 10)- Tiny Dungeon series, Draculius, Hyper→Highspeed→Genius (main path only), Ryuukishi Bloody Saga, ExE
    Tier 2 suggestions (difficulty ranges from a 5-7.5 on a scale of 10)- Bloody Rondo, Shinigami no Testament, Gensou no Idea, Sinclient, Innocent Bullet. Yurikago yori Tenshi Made
    Tier 3 Suggestions (note: VNs on this list range in difficulty from 6-8 on a scale of 10)- Evolimit, Bullet Butlers, Hello, Lady, Izuna Zanshinken, Devils Devel concept
    Tier 4 Suggestions (note: VNs on this list range from 6-10 on a scale of 10)-  Jingai Makyou, Soukou Akki Muramasa, Silverio Vendetta, Zero Infinity, Vermilion Bind of Blood, Tokyo Necro, Bradyon Veda
    Spartan
    Tier 1 Suggestions- Evolimit, Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made, Izuna Zanshinken(starts at the high end of 'soft landing' tier 2 up through the middle of tier 3)
    Tier 2 Suggestions- Hello, Lady, Bullet Butlers, Devils Devel Concept
    Tier 3 Suggestions- Vermilion Bind of Blood, Jingai Makyou
    Tier 4 Suggestions- Silverio Vendetta, Zero Infinity, Tokyo Necro, Muramasa, Bradyon Veda
    Some Last thoughts
    Understand, I know people who are just fine with conversational Japanese and even a number of native speakers who can't handle Bradyon Veda or Muramasa.  I honestly suggest you leave those two to last, no matter what. Bullet Butlers is slightly harder than Evolimit due to fantasy terminology.  Vermilion is the easiest of the Tier 4 from 'soft landing'.  I honestly suggest that anyone just beginning with this list do ExE or Draculius first, because if you can't understand what is going on in either of those even giving yourself time to do so, then you won't be able to play anything else on the list.
    Suggestions
    Toss aside stupid pride when playing chuunige and use a text hooker and kanji parsing engine (Mecab or jparser in TA will do fine).  Chuunige often use kanji in ways almost unique to the individual writer or that are so archaic that even a native speaker won't grasp them immediately.  This is a bad habit of chuunige writers in general.  Some writers even revive kanji that have been out of common use since the middle of the twentieth century. 
    Don't feel like you are a traitor for looking up verbs or nouns you haven't encountered before.  Almost all chuunige writers use 'literary Japanese', which is almost never seen in anime or manga.  Literary Japanese, just like literary English, still uses terms that went out of use in the verbal part of the language decades or even centuries ago.  Still, the verbs and nouns themselves are most likely in the dict on your parser, so it should be easy to look up their meanings. 
       
  24. Clephas
    This is the third game in the series that began with Chuusingura (please don't judge that particular work by the utterly shitty translation).  I do highly recommend that you play both Chuusingura and Bushi no Kodou before you play this game, because it is necessary to fully understand some of the events that occur (particularly in the true Hijikata ending).
    First, a bit of background about the Bakumatsu period.  Essentially, after Admiral Perry forced open Japan with the threat of his cannons, the Bakufu (also known as the Tokugawa Shogunate), was forced to sign the usual set of unequal treaties Western nations forced on Eastern ones with less advanced tech during that period of history.  Japan's peculiar double-headed political structure at the time, with the Emperor 'lending' his authority to the Shogun of the time in order to rule Japan and the then-emperor's stated wish for the exclusion of foreigners lent anti-Tokugawa factions and ambitious feudal lords the justification they needed (mostly to convince their followers) to start moving against the Bakufu.
    This was made worse when one of these factions succeeded in assassinating Chancellor Ii, who directed the political purges and authoritarian political moves of the Bakufu immediately following Perry's actions.  This gave others the idea to do similar things to anyone they saw as supporting the Bakufu, and Kyouto became the center of a bloody series of assassinations of officials and merchants who sided with the existing authority or benefited from foreign contacts. 
    The Aizu Clan, which was given the authority and rather nasty job of bringing peace to Kyouto, recruited ronin (masterless samurai) in order to form a police force that would capture or execute the other ronin making trouble in the city.  This resulted in the formation of the Roushigumi, which later became the Shinsengumi seen in Hakuoki, Peacemaker Kurogane, and the Rurounin Kenshin OVAs (Saitou Hajime in the main series was also a member). 
    Historically, the Shinsengumi, despite having suffered a number of internal disputes and factional splits in the years leading up to the fall of the Bakufu, were amongst the few who fought to the end against the new government, and Hijikata Toshizou's final death and his death poem are one of the most incredibly romanticized objects amongst samurai-loving weaboos of the classic stripe.  Some left-leaning history buffs in Japan blame the romanticization of the Shinsengumi and the characters from Chuusingura for the intense rise in nationalism and insane glorification of samurai culture that occurred leading up to WWII. 
    Now down to business... it should be stated that this game is about fifteen times more violent than Chuusingura was.  The protagonist and other members of the Shinsengumi killed people on a daily basis with swords in broad daylight, and they don't really hold back when it comes to portraying that. 
    This game is also just as long as Chusingura (maybe slightly longer) was, despite being essentially one long path for most of its length (with about a third of it devoted to individual paths).  This is because the story covers about six years worth of chaotic events, both political and personal.  Going into this game with a full knowledge of the fates of the Shinsengumi members, I couldn't help but wish some of their fates would be changed (hint: of the original membership, only Saitou Hajime and Shinpachi live to see old age), and there are a lot of characters I honestly wept for... no matter what game I see him/her in, Sakamoto Ryouma is always an admirable character and seeing the pointless deaths of a number of clear-eyed individuals with an eye toward the future is just as bad.  However, this game follows history to the end in the Hijikata path and for most of the game otherwise... and while the Shinsengumi might be cultural icons now, their lives were colored with blood and tragedy.
    There are four main paths, three side-paths (paths for heroines that die or are otherwise separated from the main cast for some reason), and one true path (Hijikata Ending 2).  The main paths include Okita Souji, Kondou Isami, Hajime Saitou, and Hijikata Toshizou.  Okita's path... well, if you've seen any of the many anime (except Gintama) where he pops up, you'll know what I mean when I say it ends on a sad and somewhat empty note.  Kondou Isami's path is marginally better (if you know about Kondou's historic fate, it is nice to see it changed).  Saitou's path is significantly better and more detailed, as are the three side-paths (which is somewhat ironic).  Hijikata's paths are, of course, the most complete-feeling and satisfying, though the first one left me in tears for a solid ten minutes.
    This game does have some major flaws... there was an obvious history buff's obsession with detail when it came to portraying a lot of the historical events involved, and that aspect could start to feel interminable in the space between the story's main turning point and the heroine paths.  However, I found myself willing to forgive that flaw in the end.
    Overall, this was an excellent story, and it takes relatively few liberties with history (beyond feminization of historical figures), which is unusual in Shinsengumi portrayals.  The most unusual aspect of the game (the protagonist's ability) was mostly a dormant issue for the greater part of the game, so it often left me with a nice illusion that I was seeing through the eyes of a real Shinsengumi member. 
    I was surprised at one revelation in the true ending, though...
     
    HUGE SPOILERS
     
  25. Clephas
    I felt like giving a you all a preview of the first quarter of 2018, after reading this blog post:
    I generally choose to refrain from posts like this that cover the future of an entire year, but I feel that I have a good grasp on what is coming out over the next three months that is worth paying attention to, based on my own experiences.
    Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol. 4
    This is something to look forward to for anyone who has liked this series so far... more assassin action based in the same universe as Kajitsu and the others.
    Yorite Konoha wa Kurenai ni
    Let's get something straight... I don't have an absolute faith in Lump of Sugar as a company.  If anything, their work over the last five years has proven to me that this is one of the least predictable moege companies out there.  For every great VN they make, they make at least two games (usually three) that are pure crap or mediocre.  The reason I keep going back to this company is for experiences like Hello,Goodbye, Tayutama (the original, not the sequel), and Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de.  This game looks like it is based in the far future of the same universe as Tayutama, where coexistence between humans and the spiritual beings have stabilized somewhat (based on the content from the Getchu page).  As such, I'm willing to give this the benefit of th doubt, despite the somewhat sour experience I got from Tayutama 2.
    Sora no Baroque
    So far, Light has yet to produce a bad game.  I have no reason to think this game, another work from Light's more prolific second team, will be an exception.  For chuunige fans, this is the game to pay attention to for the first part of the year.
    Chuuni Hime no Teikoku
    With a scenario team that was involved with both the original Love Kami (the later games had a different set of writers) and Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no, this is definitely a VN that will be worth looking at, despite being the first work of a new company.  Of course, it could end up being delayed for the seventh time... it wouldn't surprise me at this point.
    Shin Koihime Musou Kakumei Son Go no Ketsumyaku (note: The title used on vndb is incorrectly romanized)
    Originally planned for a release this upcoming summer, this game has been moved forward to February.  Like the release of Gi's rewritten route this past summer, we can look forward to a nicely reworked version of the original Go route from Shin Koihime Musou, which was already an excellently-written work.
    Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou 2
    This is worth noting because this series (of which this is the third game, despite the numbering) is one of the few non-nukige VNs out there that is set outside a school, and the previous games were enjoyable experiences. 
    Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteiru Mitsu no Kiraboshi (note: again, what is with the shitty romanizations on new entries on vndb of late?)
    This is the third game in the Otoboku series, a third game made over seven years after the second, which was a kamige.  Caramel Box has been a lot less prolific in the last few years than it was, so I was gleeful to find a new release by them coming up so soon.
    Unjou no Fairy Tail
    A new VN based in the same universe as Hoshi no Tsukurikata, meaning that we can look forward to yet more antics in a dystopian steampunk setting.
    Kieta Sekai to Tsuki to Shoujo
    This is the game for fans of Japanese horror mysteries to pay attention to this quarter.  A dark-looking game about a young man who has returned to his hometown, only to find the people around him disappear one by one.
    Butterfly Seeker
    A new game by Silky's Plus.  I am unsure if I want to hold out hopes for this game, as the writer is mostly an unknown, though he has worked for Liar-soft in the past.
     
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