Clephas
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Blog Comments posted by Clephas
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Heliotrope- Great theme, horrible execution. The protagonist is a total hetare, and the pacing is pretty screwy. I still replayed it last year, but my impression of it wasn't much better.
Hanafubuki- An odd game... just odd. Not what it seems like on the surface.
Maji Suki- Good game... not great.
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7 hours ago, Kenshin_sama said:Do even native speakers struggle to read stuff like this? Seems like it'd be a major hassle to read.
I don't remember any off the top of my head, but I remember running into a few English novels where I constantly needed to look up words, and I usually hate them, lol.
It happens, but you have to understand that people who read these types of games in the first place want to be drawn into a world of complexity and meaning. I never really had any problem with adding to my vocabulary in English or Japanese, so I usually just eagerly try to devour the meanings of any words I haven't encountered.
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Koko Yori, Haruka- One of 'those classics', games that generally came recommended when I was first getting started. I played it, I enjoyed it thoroughly (laughed and cried), then I promptly forgot about it. It's not that it isn't a good game (it is a good one), I've just never had the urge to revisit it, since I know all its mysteries.
Boku no Te no Naka no Rakuen- This game is a lot like AXL's 'swords fantasy' SOL games, though not in quite in the same style and being less humor-focused. A good game, if not a kamige.
W.L.O.- Considered a classic SOL comedy charage, I imagine a big portion of the people who started playing untranslated around the time it came out at least tried to play it. It is an excellent example of what is best about charage... but it is a charage.
Baldr Sky Dive1- Does this even need an intro at this point?
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One thing I need to add in here is that the girls do actually love Sora. It's just that he has no corresponding emotion other than obsessive/possessive attachment. As for the rapist thing? Technically only one time applies, since the girls (except for a certain cat-girl) were all luring/manipulating him into it every time for their own reasons (
SpoilerEven Misora, who used her 'eyes' to manipulate him when he was vulnerable and who never admits she is in control)
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It should also be noted that the base nature of the girls is almost identical to Sora's, albeit with more 'colors', because they are not as close to their own natures as he is. There isn't any romance in this because romantic love is fundamentally alien to Sora, and his reactions to the girls are a lot closer to a pet-like fondness or a wolf's attachment to his mate.
I advise anyone going into this VN not to consider any of the main characters to be human, as they are only mimicking us at best, lol. It's more like a bunch of half-blood Cthulhu deity descendants than humans.
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Devils Devel Concept- The true heroine is Mei, who isn't even present until her own path. There is a recommended route order: Kanata>Akane>Mutsuki>Misora>Mei. Kanata is recommended to be done first because the entire path (the first ending, anyway) assumes that you ignorant due to the protagonist's lack of interest in what is going on when it doesn't effect him directly. Believe me, the art style grows on you as you read. There are really only two truly twisted h-scenes in the entire game (one each from each of Kanata's paths), but the game has a lot of story H (including bits and pieces of characterization and plot into h-scenes). If you don't like H as part of the story, the game might bother some people. Also, Sanity's End got prosecuted for trying to take money to translate this game, which is why the translation was aborted.
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Suzunone Seven was the first of Clochette's good oppai charage and still considered a classic by many readers. Having replayed it last year, I can say it has aged well, and while the story isn't great, I liked the protagonist well enough.
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While there are some genres I prefer not to get involved with (mystery, sports), I reviewed a rather large number of non-nukige over the years in my blog. The truth is that JVNs aren't that diverse in terms of genre. Most that get released are your standard slice-of-life, with a minority being plot-centric, mystery, or action-focused. The reason that so many minor sub-genres have been formed in VNs (nakige, utsuge, etc) is precisely because of a lack of diversity on that end.
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6 hours ago, Xexac said:
Sakura no Kumo definitely sounds like it could be interesting. Hopefully they make the most of their setting
Are you skipping Hakuchuumu no Aojashin? I personally found the previous Laplacian game enjoyable so I might check it out.
Also would you recommend Midori no Umi?
Laplacian's games never really do a good job of making me feel the love.
Midori no Umi is pretty heavy on the psychological horror, and what has been done to the characters involved is about as awful as it gets. I can recommend it if you like that kind of thing, but it is a pretty surreal+stressful experience.
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1 hour ago, Fuez said:
In my opinion, Nier's charm lies in its lore. Imagine, everything begins from a single flower. Then, there is the rise of an occult, encroachment of danger to modern mankind and then androids. It's mind-blowing.
lol, don't spoil it for the newbies. We want to make them buy Drakengard and Drakengard 3, after all.
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4 hours ago, Zalor said:
At best I could only describe myself as a casual gamer, but I do enjoy jrpgs on occasion. Your criticism of Octopath Traveler mirrors my own in a lot of ways. I think the aesthetic of the game is nice, and I quite like the gameplay, but the story and characters were disappointing. Nier Automata I enjoyed a lot, and its probably the most memorable game I played in the past 2 years. I am curious what your thoughts on the original Nier are, particularly the one with papa Nier (who I find conceptually more interesting than his bishounen predecessor). I never got a chance to play it, and it seems like we are never going to get a port of Nier with papa Nier as the main character. But if you have played it, where does it stand in your list of Jrpgs that have come out in the past ~10 years?
Story-wise, the original Nier is an excellent game. While the gameplay suffers from the usual issues with camera angles that were endemic to most of the ps2 and ps3 era action-jrpgs, it was more than solid enough for a solo title more focused on plot than gameplay.
Despite the somewhat iffy nature of English dubs, I found Nier's cast to be superlative. The titular protagonist, Nier was a man with a very clear-cut motive and a powerful driving personality that was constantly razor-focused on his daughter's well-being and, later, that of his friends and companions.
Kaine, the game's sole heroine, is a foul-mouthed girl possessed by an insane serial-killer Shadow. Throughout much of the game, her role is to kick characters' butts when they start to brood, but, depending on the ending you get, her role changes drastically. Like many such characters with dark personalities and foul mouths in jrpgs, she has a heart of gold (though it is really, really hidden outside of specific moments).
Emil, the sole character seen in both Nier games, is a young man in the original game, suffering from blindness and from numerous other issues. He is the most innocent of the characters, with the possible exception of the oft-missing Yona, serving as a strong contrast to the somewhat antagonistic relationship between Nier, Grimoire Weiss, and Kaine.
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7 hours ago, KidBuu said:
I'm with you about Saga Planets is not good with comedy and it's not exception this time either. However, the true route is really worth to spend time on and it beats Fragile hands down this time in my opinion.
Well, it's still a hassle to read through all routes with just charage and lovey-dovey to reach the true end so it may be hard for some people.
I might consider it... but the heroines just don't do anything for me. They all seem to be standard-issue moege heroines, with none of the qualities that are interesting for me. If even one was interesting, I would consider just doing her path and using a save to get to the true ending, but that isn't the case with Kakenuke.
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18 hours ago, KidBuu said:
Well, we all agree that the drama and impact this time were toned down a lot compared to previous titles so I didn't judge it based on that this time. I did expect some intensive magic battles and heart breaking moments too at first but it turned out a light-hearted charage with just a little bit drama as spice. Still, I think it did a good job as a change of pace for their trademark of nakige and utsuge at some points in the past. At least it made me laugh a lot and I love the chilled atmosphere the entire game more than the others from Purple Soft.
So are you going to read Kakenuke from Saga Planet next? It has the same theme and lot of other elements. I prefer Seishun Fragile but I think you will like Kakenuke more.
I took a look at it and rejected it. To be honest, Fragile's humor was the thing that kept me going, and Saga Planets has never been that good with humor. They are best when they make outright plotge or dark nakige. Whenever they try to make something light-hearted, the quality falls drastically.
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12 hours ago, KidBuu said:
This is my first time posting in this forum and I don't know if I can discuss without spoiling here so I will keep it as vague as possible.
I have been waiting for your review about this game for so long and I wasn't disappointed. I agree with you this game lacks of emotional impact than their latest titles. However, like you said it's top tier as charage and the comedy is quite good.
About your opinion on heroines, I mostly agree with you about Hio and Toune.
Liz's route is best route for me despite she is not main heroine. In my opinion, her bright personality and lacking of common sense fit every well with her situation. I mean at least if I was in her shoes I would be like her and act the way she does in the story. About the forced drama you said, I think it does make sense considered the it's the problem she has to face sooner or later and she did grow up a lot after getting together with Yuuto so I can sympathize with how she thinks and feels. I'm satisfied with the finale as well as determination of Yuuto to completely solve all of her problems along with her way of thinking about magic. I really think her route is the most consistent in this story.
Meanwhile I'm a bit disappointed with Setsuna's route. The drama is good and all but I feel like it's a bit forced here instead of Liz. I can't help but think they just try hard in making her issue worse and worse to push us readers into the emotional train wreck. After all of that, she has zero growing up as a character not to mention main heroine until the very end. And what she realizes is just something she should have done it from the beginning. Unless I missed something, the only thing she does in her entire route is making troubles for Yuuto.
Complains aside, this game for me is very good at pacing and mood making so I didn't feel bored at all while reading. The comedy is top notch too so it's easily my top favorite of this month.
Btw, I wrote a review (more like a walkthrough lol) in vndb so I would be happy if you spend time to read it too. I'm not veteran VN reader like you so my understanding level maybe not as good as you. I'm still learning so I would appreciate if you can give me your opinions on it.
Have a good day.
What bothered me most about Liz's path is that her issues are issues that should have hit more in the common path than in her own path, save for the encounter with 'you know who'. The central conflict of the story, that which makes Setsuna as the main heroine, pops up in all the paths. However, I felt that Liz's issues should have been partially addressed in the common route then given complexity and depth in her own route, instead of treating it as a nonexistent issue outside of her own path.
To be blunt, this was an issue that came up with all the heroines. All of the heroines have at least some issues that should have come out in the common route but instead were restricted solely to their own paths. Moreover, while Liz's reactions make a LOT more sense after you've seen the flashback chapter in Setsuna's path, it is not really addressed in her path, which makes little sense.
In other words, this was a case of poor handling of the game as a whole on Purple Software's part, which is why I gave this lower than an 8 rating on vndb (meaning it wouldn't have been a VN of the Month candidate under my old rules). There were a ton of ways this issue could have been handled more effectively than it was, and it seemed like they made a lot of terrifyingly amateurish mistakes considering the polish seen in more recent entries.
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The Akagoei Fandisc has the advantage of being one of the best fandiscs out there, actually adding substantial after-stories to the original game, as well as a path/flashback that covers Kaito's life up until the point he meets the principal who drags him into being a bodyguard. This story is one of the most brutal stories I've seen in a game that appears moe on the surface, to the point where I honestly recommend that it only be played by those that aren't faint of heart. For those interested in playing Reminiscence, I highly recommend you play Tae's path (both versions) so you'll get the link between the two games (basically, Reminiscence is based off of a canon where Kaito had relations with multiple heroines, at the very least including Reika and Tae).
Yosuga no Sora is a game where the only decent path is the twincest one. Not kidding.
Crimson Empire was a pretty crappy otomege I played during my three month 'excursion' into the genre about five years ago. I played roughly twenty otomege during that time that had themes that caught my interest, and this one, like the others, was a perfect example of why the genre exists only to perpetuate stereotypes about the Damsel-in-Distress-Disorder (or DIDD) female protagonist.
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atled- Played the remake. Tbh, I don't like time travel stories unless they are one-way trips, for various reasons. As a story, it is good, but I honestly can't list it as a favorite.
Engage Links- I barely recall this game, but I don't think it was that good.
Concerto Note- Last year, I wrote a review for this in my blog. It was good and I liked the main characters. It is a plotge with a true ending that has real impact. I'm particularly fond of the genius main heroine, who makes an appearance in the sequel.
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Toppara is an excellent nakige with a focus on youkai.
Supreme Candy is a weirdly excellent game. Drawing on a number of genres and the Cthulhu Mythos, it is one of those games that shows why the era produced so many classics.
Sumaga is a kusoge. Sorry, I don't care what fanboys say. To me it is a symbol of Nitroplus's shift to less interesting stories and a focus on the psychedelic over actual plot. The entire setting is ridiculous, even by Nitroplus standards.
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Shikigami... I just barely remember the game. I recall enjoying it somewhat, but it wasn't good enough for me to want to come back and replay it someday.
Amatsukaze wasn't worth barreling through the gameplay, which was mediocre at best.
Secret Game was pretty good, at least as I recall. This is despite me sharing your dislike of escape games. I guess it is because they got the character dynamic right, and some of the endings were interesting.
Kamiten was an outright kusoge.
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On 8/22/2020 at 10:04 AM, Bolverk said:
Whatever suits you the best man. I find the litrpg, English light cultivation edition books are quite nice. Just adds a different taste to it all than the normal kind of stats stuff. Oh. Recalled another cultivation one, it's more of a scruff/haha at most cultivation/societies. Maybe you'll enjoy that one. It's called The Dao of Magic.
Finished the Completionist Chronicles... it was great, but Joe always seems to get the shit end of the stick (not uncommon for litrpg protags, but it is annoying). I would have liked him to have more time to develop his craft before they forced that last transition.
I don't mind cultivation being the base system, but damn... I get tired of all the ones who use cultivation having that obsessively exclusionary atmosphere. The only time it didn't bother me at all was with the Ten Realms, and that is because Eric and Rugrat were so awesome at surprising the stuck-up dipsh**s.
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18 hours ago, Bolverk said:
I can't really deal with static protags either. Chaos seeds is a somewhat unique in that it does the serious, but not serious feel really good. You've read some of them. I'd say Completionist Chronicles is similar. Also heard good things about The Realms. Level up or die is quite entertaining as well, although childish.
Been trying the Red Mage Chronicles... these apocalyptic ones tend to be a mixed bag... most have town-building and survival elements, but the main characters tend to be idealized in weird ways. It reminds me of the Shadow Sun series, because of the way things go completely to shit so fast. I read the first two Underworld books, but I'm starting to get bored... the pacing is godawful. Protagonist is funny and reminds me of the worst kind of gamer.
I thought about Reborn Apocalypse, but for some reason, books with cultivation are even more hit and miss for me than other litrpgs. The powerlusting and overbearing nature of the societies/systems involved are worse than the more western-style systems. Almost all cultivation protagonists start out as dunces and keep getting fooled over and over.
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On 8/19/2020 at 4:54 PM, Bolverk said:
Oh god, no clephas. Don't do this. That's how I felt as well when I started reading the litrpg books as well. Basically english isekai more or less.
Many of the litrpgs have excellent audible audiobooks as well. I recommend trying those for those who don't want to read and prefer to listen. I personally tend to keep my eye reading to books that doesn't have audio books.
Some other series I enjoyed were:
Reborn apocalypse series, audiobook is really good I'd like to mention. The Voice actor has the very very dark and edgy voice going down so good. I grinned like a moron while I listened to it.
Completionist Chronicles, good comedy, feels kinda like choas seeds in that regard and funky stat build going on in a weird world.
The Wraith's Haunt, has the I am in isekai yaay, but combined with fatalism haha.
Any suggestions for something similar to the Chaos Seeds? I don't really like dealing with the dunce protagonists (I dump any one of them where the protag stays a dunce past the opening chapters).
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Grisaia... ah Grisaia...
Sorry, couldn't resist.
People often try to present the series as something completely unique... and there are some elements to the series that stand out. However, these elements were all drawn from earlier VNs in one way or another.
School for exiled rich kids and problem children: Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no anyone?
Protagonist is a deeply mentally scarred individual who lacks common sense: Akatsuki no Goei anyone? (also Full Metal Panic, as Sagara and Yuuji have so many common threads it made me seriously laugh my ass off at the time)
Incestuously mutually dependent relationships between siblings: So many VNs it isn't even funny.
Heroines with extreme emotional disabilities and traumas: Again, numerous games, even before Grisaia came out
Twisted relationship with a heroine that began with a near-parental bond: Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no (again)
The list goes on... but I'm going to come right and say this.
Just because it isn't perfectly unique doesn't mean it isn't good. I will go farther in saying that anyone who is playing Grisaia in English is missing out, because what is said is often less important than what isn't said (the comedy aside), and English sucks at that kind of thing.
Now for second and third game... I seriously bashed the second game for being a repeat of Akagoei's second game, as both of them end after blasting you with the protagonist's past, though Grisaia took it a step further by making it a cliffhanger (which was horrible, since I had to wait a year or so to see the rest). Getting to know Yuuji's past was great, since the limited bits and pieces that are dropped as hints or comments in Amane's path aren't enough to give you a good idea of how Yuuji lived until now.
The third game is basically one solid storyline to the end, which is its primary draw and the one area where it completely trumps the original game, which was SOL heavy in comparison. The fact that it was a harem ending didn't bother me... I love harem endings, regardless of genre. My problem was with Michiru's standing in that ending, lol (Michiru being my least liked heroine of the original... no make that I just actively disliked her).
I did think that it channeled a little too much of the 'unify the original game's paths' drama into a single comprehensive story thread' idea. It reminded me of what a lot of early anime made from visual novels did, where all the heroines paths were sort of mashed together in the anime in an attempt to accelerate the story, often with mixed results.
With VNs, due to most of them being multipath, sequels rarely work out in a way that isn't awkward, and Grisaia is not an exception to this rule. I love Grisaia, but that doesn't mean it is lacking in flaws.
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7 hours ago, Tay said:
These LitRPGs are a bit of an acquired taste. Working on the Seeds of Chaos. Not giving up, just feel like a wanderer in a strange land.
So does Richter.
Overall, you have to be primed somewhat to really get into the genre. As far as I can determine, there are a number of qualities that benefit anyone trying out the litrpg genre.
1. Being familiar with and enjoying stat-based rpgs.
2. Being something of a stat/skill geek
3. being able to suspend disbelief sufficiently to dive into a world that feels somewhat artificial due to the presence of stats and obviously quantified growth.
For me, the recent growth of a similar genre in anime is what made it easy.
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Just finished the Stork Tower novels that have come out so far... more cliffhangers. I love Atherleah, but the way things keep expanding reminds me of a lot of sci-fi series that collapsed toward the later books because they couldn't keep track of all the balls in the air. Atherleah has some of the best qualities of a fantasy or sci-fi protagonist in a litrpg: a firm set of ethics, if not morals; the cleverness or intelligence to think outside of the box and challenge the system; and a personal goal that never quite gets lost in the constant deluge of events.
I just wish the author had organized this into arcs instead of just making things endlessly complex. The way Leah runs on a near-24/7 schedule due to future science makes me wince in sympathy regularly, and her schedule just keeps getting more packed.
Steam: Silverio Trinity append stories
in Clephas' VN home
A blog by Clephas in General
Posted
I thought about trying to explain the reasons... but they tend to vary from person to person. Some enjoy it because it makes them feel like they are better/more able than others, others purely like adding new vocabulary and grammar usage to their repertoire, and yet others just enjoy the magic of what can be done with languages if you are creative enough. To be blunt, I'm more of the last one at this point... early on, it was more a bit of reason one and two though. Nowadays, I've just gotten to the point where an interesting set of lines is enough to make me feel happy, which I know sounds weird.
To be blunt, Japanese is a much, much more flexible language than English... at least American English, anyway. The Japanese language never quite abandoned indirectness, which is seen as dishonest by many English speakers. It is also one of the prime reasons why it is so difficult to translate Japanese to English and why I can still find new things to learn by replaying games like this over and over. Americans habitually avoid indirect language outside of trained creative writing and politics, and anyone seen using it is seen as smarmy or dishonest (unless you agree with them, of course, lol).
Implied subjects, layered meanings, colloquialisms, etc etc... I can always find something new if I look hard enough in games like this.