Clephas
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Need to add one more character
Kizuna (child/Reminiscence heroine)
Kaito meets Kizuna by chance when he ends up working part-time in a brothel during the alternate version of route B. Kizuna is a highly intelligent child who is wise far beyond her age. That said, she is still a child, with a child's wants and needs. She has an oddly cold attitude toward death, despite her otherwise childish nature.
SpoilerShe is also Kaito's daughter and the main heroine of Reminiscence.
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7 hours ago, Riku said:
By the way, which version should I read? Trinity, or the original?
Trinity is a better choice. It adds some details onto some of the endings.
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2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:
I kind of see where you're coming from with the "annoying adverts and intrusive programs" in Windows versions released within in the last seven years, but I also kind of don't since I'm pretty sure literally all of what you're talking about can be turned off, and since most of the data is anonymized and harmless anyway. I run Windows 10 on all my computers; I turn the data collection stuff off. If you're paranoid and believe that turning it off doesn't actually mean they stop collecting data, well, I can't really argue against conspiracy theories, but you can rest assured that Google is probably collecting 100x the amount of data off your web searches and that they're not even pretending to offer you a way out of that, regardless of what version of Windows you're running.
I also kind of don't get the anti-touchscreen rant. Tablets are nice, man; try playing a VN on one sometime. I hardly play any VNs on my desktop since I got a good tablet. That's not to say I don't prefer a console or a PC for playing something requiring more interaction, like an RPG or an FPS, but there are plenty of games that play great on touchscreens, and it's honestly really nice to be able to curl up on my sofa or my favorite armchair with a VN, rather than sitting at my desk. And if you want to see what great games you can have on a touchscreen, go give Auditorium a try sometime.
I'm not quite as old as you are, but I'm pretty close. I honestly tend to think of myself as being kind of a Luddite at times, as far as technology is concerned, at least compared to the people I work with (I'm a software engineer, so, it's a relative thing). But I promise, when it comes to technology from the last seven years or so, it's really not all bad.
Mmm... with the touchscreen issue, it is as much about cost-to-functionality ratios as anything else. I trialed a tablet a few years back to see if I could enjoy messing around with it... and I hated every second of using the touchscreen. It was slower than any of my computers, even my work pc I bought seven years before, and I'm big, so holding it with one hand while finger-flicking got tiring fast. When I looked at the price tag and compared it to purchasing a laptop or a desktop, I could get the same functionality for one tenth of the price... so in the end, it just didn't look like it was worth it. If I could rip out the hard drive and processor and replace it with something more useful, I might get use out of it... but those pieces of crap don't allow for that kind of customization (and yes, I've fiddled with my laptops too, because they had parts that didn't work like advertised).
From point of view, all devices smaller than laptops are crap for gaming of any sort...
Edit: Also, I hate inputting data into those things... keyboards are so much easier and those dinky little things designed to go with them have too-small keys and aren't designed for blind-typing (I have big fingers).
Edit2: I did think about getting a smart phone for the new Valkyrie Profile, but my friend told me it wasn't what we were waiting for from the series... it is just an excuse for Squeenix to squeeze more cash out of fanboys.
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As far as I can tell, it looks like they are aiming for a Haruto Harem, since the girls are insanely dependent on him emotionally and - to some extent - financially. No routes doesn't necessarily suck, but it is done in a style that differs from what we are accustomed to.
The reason I didn't have any really negative impressions of the game is because it was an 'in the shadows' setup from the very beginning. There was no attempt to make the girls seem truly normal (which would have been annoying, considering how casually they take lives), and the people running the school were very straightforward about what they wanted from Shiori from the beginning (to serve as an example of normality to balance out the girls' lives).
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6 hours ago, fun2novel said:
I was just kidding of course. I like his books too.
I never developed a fondness for his books... mostly because I was forced to read them by my uncle when he went crazy over the DaVinci Code when it first came out...
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48 minutes ago, fun2novel said:
Great advice. Just one little nitpick:
I don't see why it should matter if it's a mindfuck or not. Why should it be any different from any other vn? If you read Tokyo Babel or Dies Irae you already know what will happen, then why even bother rereading them? If you think a story is good it shouldn't matter what genre it is. The entire point of mindfuck is to tell a good story not the twists. Twists don't mean shit if the story is bad.
I said 'pure mindfucks'. A pure mindfuck is where every element of the game is designed to trick you into not seeing the surprise while at the same time hinting about it in such a roundabout way that when it is over you go 'oh yeah, so that's why he said that.' Generally speaking, I've yet to encounter a VN of this type that felt replayable, no matter how good it was on the first playthrough. Even Harumade Kururu was borderline, because it was so hilarious even apart from the main story.
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5 hours ago, Chronopolis said:
The setting screams Koromoebi no Nostalgia lool. It's different when you use an issue for it's gloom/depress value first, instead of intending to develop it evenly. Haven't investigated into minori's games that much but I'm starting to feel like they aren't my cup of tea either. Nice job on the level review.
From what I saw, it wasn't like Komorebi, though they both dealt with AI and the possibilities of human emulation. For one thing, Komorebi wasn't gloomy, lol.
Anyway, Suisou Ginka no Istoria... I might drop it, as it is getting hard to go anywhere with it. The game is just too depressing without that spark of 'something' to make me want to go all the way through it.
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In addition, now that I'm not riled up at having to play a minori game (which sent me into two separate rants the previous two years), I can honestly say the thing I hated most about them was that, for all their visual quality, the company couldn't seem to give up on turning anything and everything gloomy... and they have an inordinate fondness for the main heroine breaking it off with the protagonist in the prologue (to be more specific, in the last two games before Trinoline the protagonist did something incredibly insensitive or stupid that turned them completely against him).
I won't deny they are different from the common ruck of non-violent VN makers, but they just happen to hit on some of the elements I dislike the most in the romance novels I used to help with (blech).
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As a note to anyone who reads this... I kept my alterations to a minimum, as I am not the one who experienced the game. I fundamentally dislike minori as a company and their preferred plot-designs, so I'll be offloading anything by them onto someone else, from now on, lol.
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26 minutes ago, Chronopolis said:
The EGS readers loved it, so I think its going to be good!
*Clephas snorts with laughter, spewing rum out of his nose in a wave that returns to the past to swallow Atlantis*
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On 3/25/2017 at 3:07 AM, BookwormOtaku said:
I'm definitely interested, but the main problem for me currently (and why I haven't been able to make many new reviews) is my current job situation (work night shift, company changing owners and searching for possible alternatives) and living situation (looking for a new place). Hopefully at least half of this will be sorted out in July and I can make time to play/finish more VNs
Feel free to join in then... Given months like this one, where nine games have been released, I'd someday like to put together a team that handles all of the non-nukige VNs released in a given month (for PC).
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On 3/25/2017 at 10:54 AM, Dergonu said:
I have been thinking about reading Amanatsu Adolesence, however I don't read particularly fast, and I'm pretty busy, so idk if I'll be able to get my thoughts about it to you in time. But, if I do end up finishing it fast enough, I'll send my thoughts on it your way.
I'm more or less resolved to delaying VN of the Month announcements by a month or more, so that would be fine...
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8 hours ago, Vorathiel said:
You're right basically, knowing inner thoughts of a person is easiest way to know and symphatize with this character.
But consider this:
Charage are usually 'put yourself in' stories. That's why we have such a bland protagonists, obviously. But if you want to have that immersion into game/vn/story, you cannot show inner thoughts of any other characters than protagonists. It's immersion breaking because protagonists does not know what other characters are thinking.
Switching perspectives is a good thing and it suits story driven VNs/books/anything. It's a simple yet strong writting tool. But when it comes to charage, where immersion is really important, it's just of putting. And lazy.
Why lazy? Well, when comes to 'put yourself in charage' writter must show heroines and other characters interesting by their dialogues, actions and interactions. Which is sometimes very hard to do. Going into their heads is lazy, it's like cheating. It's basically the same type of 'tool' as "protagonists is secretly reading heroines' diary and get to know what she thinks". Both are shitty, both are lazy.In my experience, it is rare for a charage to have the necessary depth necessary for a true 'dive into the story for a vicarious experience' experience in the first place... simply because the perspective provided by most charage protagonists is less than compelling.
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3 hours ago, Fiddle said:
Oh, that's what you meant by "partners."
Not everyone here has college-level writing skills. Expecting that from everyone is more than a bit unfair.
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2 hours ago, Kiriririri said:
I read around 2 charages each month but I don't know how to review things so RIP (My opinion is also trash w.) My future is also too uncertain that I could start this. You'd have to wait for June to get me in this.
Good luck.
Feel free to just send me a bunch of opinions, unedited. Stream of consciousness is fine. I'll edit it into something readable, send it back to you to see if it fits how you felt about the game, then post it if you are fine with it.
The only real requirements of the mini-reviews for a charage are:
1) were the characters well-developed?
2) What were your favorite parts of the VN?
3) What kind of reader do you think would like it?
4) Are the endings satisfying?
These are the basics of 'reviewing' a charage based mostly on its narrative and characters. If there was something you liked especially about the audio or visual aspects, feel free to throw that in as well. All of this is going to go through me in the end, so I'll probably end up 'fixing' a lot of the text so that it is readable in some cases. However, as long as you can give me your answers to the questions above, it will be acceptable to me. The point of this blog is to inform readers before they read a VN, so they can know if they might enjoy it, so they can avoid kusoge or go in with the knowledge that 'it is this type of story'.
As a charage player who actually enjoys them, your opinions will probably provide a flavor I myself can't produce on my own, since charage are quite a distance outside my favored genres, given a choice.
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45 minutes ago, Narcosis said:
It's quite amazing you're able to burn through so many titles a single month. I can't really imagine myself to read so many titles in such a short timeframe. Considering most of those games aren't really the types you'd enjoy normally, this makes the whole task feel more like reviewing games, rather than reading them out of your own personal enjoyment. I'd consider dropping the VN of the month in that case, continuing it might even cause further unwiligness to discover new games and that can develop into a serious burnout with time. Give yourself some time, read the stuff you'd truly enjoy and provide less, but with more quality. I'm sure most of us come here to read your musings on the very best and most unique of vn's.
One of the problems with that mode of thinking is that VNs are very much like books, in that you can't tell what the content is like by the cover in a lot of cases. I remember when I played Erect, I'd anticipated 'just' a nukige and was planning to drop it if my supposition was right... but it actually turned out to be something a lot better. In the same way, I've encountered a number of games that looked generic on the surface but had hidden depths. Just looking at the covers of most Clochette games, for instance, you would never imagine the quality of the narrative and settings in those games... That was my main reason for my search.
This is born of my belief, nurtured when I began expanding my anime horizons about the turn of the century, that genres I am not really suited to can still have stories I can enjoy. This was confirmed repeatedly in my experiences... but at the cost of experiencing some truly horrid anime and VNs, lol. I'm a story addict... whether it is a personal story or a grand one, I love a good story. I read, I read, and I read... I live to read.
Edit: Also, there is nothing more pointless than telling a junkie he has a bad habit... he knows but he doesn't care if it destroys him, lol. I'm the guy who rearranged his entire lifestyle around playing VNs, after all.
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On 3/19/2017 at 2:33 PM, Narcosis said:
It's not a slump. You're simply changing like we all do. Despite my wilingness to learn japanese and general fondness for vn's, I found myself incapable to play them on a regular basis and I can't really force myself to do so either. I'm kind of still slowly plowing through my backlog (currently on 魔物娘の館 彗星館異形録 ～人魚の章～
), but it's not really enjoyable when you force yourself to do things, that used to bring joy in the past. Just... I don't know - it's not like my interest in vn's vained or anything, I'd say the opposite, but I simply don't feel like playing all the games I wanted to. Maybe it's because I'm more focused on creating something of my own nowadays. Maybe because I have a decent job that finally allowed me to afford things I could only dream of a couple years ago; that aside, there's life and various obligations to consider as well. Sadly, reading and playing vn's remains time consuming. I'm not the kind of person to waste a couple days worth of time on a silly moege, I might not even enjoy that much.
At times... we just need a longer break.
No, it isn't a change. I apparently still enjoy VNs (I tested it with a few older ones I still have installed). I seem to have just burned out on the VN of the Month thing... I've been playing four to six VNs every month for since September 2013 from the month's releases, and as a result... I've grown extremely tired of driving myself to keep up. Considering that at least two out of every month's releases are pretty much guaranteed to be kusoge, it is actually surprising that I didn't fry long ago.
Edit: Think about it this way... left to my own devices, I probably wouldn't play about one out of three of those VNs in the first place. I'd check them out in advance and decide based on the concept and possibly the writer whether I was interested, then play them or not based on that. With VN of the Month, I usually at least attempt to play everything of interest from a given month, though there are some companies and series I refuse to touch. While that has resulted in a surprisingly large number of gems falling into my lap, that doesn't make up for all the shit I have to wade through on a monthly basis to find those gems anymore.
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8 hours ago, vkalvkal said:
Since I really (I mean, really) enjoyed Zestiria, I plan to play Berseria. I'm just afraid to play it and enjoy it even more than the former, since it'll probably mean that I'll end up caring a lot more for its protagonists, and we all know what happened to some of them (Eizen) or at least some are mentioned, and they didn't end up well in Zestiria.
Sorry for making an off-topic question, but since I've only played Zestiria and both Xillia, I have to ask: is Tales of Symphonia Chronicles any good or interesting? I found it at a store and I'm considering buying it, but I have no idea if it would be worth my money.
Symphonia is from the pre-Abyss Tales games, and its battle system is 2D side-battling (not scrolling since the screen stays stationary). Story-wise, it had some influence from FFX in some areas, but the first game was good... I never got around to the second. However, people tell me the game hasn't aged as well as some of the other titles.
Xillia and Graces are mostly universally considered to be the worst main-series Tales titles, so I wouldn't use Xillia as a basis for comparison. I'd say Symphonia and Zestiria are about on the same level for story.
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2 hours ago, Valduran said:
Interesting, haha. Sounds oddly similar to a villain-protagonist I write. Getting around to reading that one pretty soon here most likely so it'll be interesting to see if he can hold up to my standards. ^^
Out of curiousity, did you first read it pretty close to when you first started getting into native language VNs?
DDC was one of the first fifteen or so I read, along with Tayutama, Dies Irae, and Jingai Makyou... I'd just started, so my reading speed was so slow it took me a full week to finish it, despite having a lot more free time than I do now. It wasn't the kanji that was the problem... it was the way the writer uses so many unusual turns of phrase, complex phrasing, and is generally twisty-minded.
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5 hours ago, Valduran said:
Awesome, another solid-sounding Akatsuki Works title to look forward to!
Moreso due to that last comment. Words cannot describe how sad it makes me that real men are almost impossible to find as protagonists in VNs lol.
If you asked me who the absolute manliest protagonist in any VN I've encountered is (devoid of moral judgment) it would be Sora from Devils Devel Concept though... He basically acts on instinct, is devoid of even the concept of regrets, and is as possessive as hell. Unfortunately, he is also a bit... overpowering and overpowered, lol. However, he is too inhuman to really be considered a 'man', I guess. hahaha
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14 minutes ago, Riku said:
And another Akatsuki Works VN added to the backlog. Perhaps I should really try reading one instead of thinking I should wait to have a better Japanese. Which one is the easiest?
Also, it's not on VNDB, or this time the protagonist isn't voiced?
Yeah, he isn't voiced. Honestly, I wish he was... but, given that this is an Akatsuki Works game, if there is demand and the VN sells well, they might make a voice patch later. It happened with Ruitomo.
The easiest? Probably Ruitomo or this one. If you want something a bit more action-focused, Hello Lady is manageable, though the action scenes and Narita Shinri's manner of speaking (his deliberate choice of roundabout phrasing) might cause you trouble. I'd also recommend Izuna Zanshinken or Yurikago Kara Tenshi Made for action types (both by Akatsuki Works Black). Both are pretty bloody, lol.
If you want to challenge yourself, just break down and play Devils Devel Concept. You'll be able to tell how much your Japanese skill grows by how much more you understand on later playthroughs (I did, lol).
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1 hour ago, ChaosRaven said:
True words. Although I wouldn't call myself a particular fan of slice if life VN's, I do consider slice of life 'scenes' as very important for almost every VN. They are the calm breaks inbetween the action or more serious story parts of a VN, and essential to develop characters and relationships. Ideally, they happen in 'sine waves', iterating between story and slice of life parts. Though there's certainly still a lot to say about how to write actual good slice of life scenes...
A lot of the problem is that a lot of slice-of-life writers don't seem to understand that experiencing the daily life of a boring incompetent is... boring.
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7 hours ago, Narcosis said:
Ah, that's a really good one. It's still on my backlog, though and I never really got to playing it. @Clephas-sama, should I? Should I just drop everything and finally read this one?
Should you drop everything? Depends on how much you love mimikko and whether you are playing something you find interesting already.
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6 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:
Just curious, are you gonna test Clochette's upcoming Harumina? While I heard good things about their titles and they are certainly very popular in Japan, I could never warm up to those strange face designs. However, they somehow fixed that in Harumina and the faces look really beautiful now. I'm therefore really thinking about picking it up and reading it in Japanese this time.
Clochette's games are mostly pretty high quality... Amatsu Misora Ni was the only one I didn't enjoy thoroughly. So, yes I'll be playing it.
Amayui Castle Meister part one: Gameplay
in Clephas' VN home
A blog by Clephas in General
Posted
There are more character events, in comparison to Kamidori. However, in exchange, the main story is kind of... weak until you get to the points near the end. Part of this is because the main heroine is an optimistic airhead (optimistic airhead main heroines don't combine well with high fantasy). Another part of this is because so much of the gathering is random, so when you need a certain ingredient, it is almost guaranteed not to pop up for hours, lol. This breaks up the story a lot... the downfall of this type of game.