Clephas

Since they supposedly intend to add in the Yumizuka path, I'm going for it... I already have the money set aside for whenever it comes out. I just hope they don't make me wait another ten years.

Eien no Aselia comes to mind for english-translated... Yoake Mae yori Ruri Iro na... the Tiny Dungeon series, Marginal Skip, Shinjisougeki Carnival (this is a non-ero, non-romance violence and blood-fest with no voices, so I'm unsure if its what you want). I'm pretty sure Duelist X Engage has a heroine like you are looking for... Understand, all but Aselia are only in Japanese. However, they are all decent games (Eien no Aselia being easily one of the best game stories I've ever encountered and Tiny Dungeon being just all around great as a series). This is just what I came up with on the spot... lots of heroines with aristocratic blood who are ojousamas in eroge, but princesses are relatively rare.

Problem with Utwarerumono was that certain elements were cut out besides the sexual ones... I especially found it saddening that the sickly girl didn't have his kid in the anime...

Most of my experiences with vns turned anime have been negative... Tsukihime's anime, while good in and of itself, is pure blasphemy from the point of view of the fans. Not to mention that the violent parts are so nerfed it might as well be a school drama. The biggest reason is the tendency to 'fuse' paths when making the anime. Tsukihime and FSN's anime both suffered from this. Taken for themselves, the anime were decent... but anyone who had played the games inevitably found themselves wondering just how they turned the cohesive and brilliantly written Nasu stories into that weird collage of a story. If they only turned kinetic novels into anime, this wouldn't be a problem, but trying to turn all the paths in a vn into a single anime path tends to have weird results.

Just don't make the mistake of relying on an English-Japanese dictionary for anything other than simple object nouns. Even after more than a decade, I still run into words whose meaning is subtly different from what the dictionary says in an important way. One of the reasons VNs are a good way to learn - once you've gone beyond a certain level - is that the combination between the spoken and written language helps you grasp these subtleties better....

If you mean temporarily (in the sense they 'die' during the Holy Grail Wars), then the answer is a qualified yes. If he was able to outmaneuver them (an unlikely prospect even in Nanaya Shiki mode) it is possible. Ryougi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai could do it without a doubt (in the complete sense by killing their true existence and not just their form). Though again, it's a qualified yes in the same manner.

Dragon Force for the Sega Saturn. It was one of Working Designs' localizations, and I've yet to find a more addictively fun strategy game. As for VNs... definitely Yurikago yori Tenshi Made. A relatively recent release (only about a year old) but I've yet to find anyone else in the english-speaking community that has played it.

I propose that sub-forums be constructed for the discussion of the major types and genres of VN. That way, if people are looking for a particular type of VN, they'll know where to ask. The sub-categories I suggest are Moege, Nakige, Utsuge, Action (possible sub-category within this one for Chuuni?), Nukige, VNs with Gameplay, and Odd One Out (for types that don't quite fit into any of the genres, like Namima no Kuni no Faust). For descriptions of each: Moege: VNs where moe factors are the driving force of the game (imouto, mimikko, etc.) Nakige: VNs where cathartic release is a primarily element, but where the endings are generally 'good' Utsuge: VNs where the story is fairly depressing and where endings tend to bring out feelings of sadness. Action: VNs with strong action elements at the center of the story. Chuuni?: Games with a strong sense that everything centers around the protagonist or where he plays an absolutely vital role in the setting, and where there is a strong sense of melodrama to the story Nukige: VNs where the focus of the game is sex and ero in general (most often at the cost of weakening the story greatly) VNs with Gameplay: VNs where gameplay elements such as strategy, turn-based rpg combat, or platforming are included.

I am the type of player that has to like the protagonist of a game in order to enjoy it. 1- Devils Devel Concept: Sora is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the psychological structure of the Enja from a normal' human's point of view. He is selfish, obsessed with fulfilling his obligations, and extremely arrogant. The fact that he has the power to let him get away with it and is intelligent enough to make it seem as if it were not wasted on him is a nice cherry for the top of the cake. 2- Shiranui Yoshikazu (Evolimit): I mostly like this guy because he epitomizes what you'd expect in a 'hero' in the 'frontier spirit' sense of the word. Driven by curiosity, a sense of obligation to the girl who exists only in his subconscious mind, and a fiery (quite literally) determination to get what he wants done done, he is also something of a pervert and is perfectly willing to make a fool out of himself on a regular basis. 3- Hiro (Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made): A guy with what the people around him call 'chokketsu-nou', his id tends to open his mouth before he thinks, leading to all sorts of hilarious results (such as blushing from Tomoe - who happens to be a guy - and broken fingers or limbs from Ume). His personality is... distinct. To be honest, talking too much about his personality would ruin the game totally for you (as his personality is a central plot element), so I'll leave it at that. He is perfectly capable of conversing civilly one moment and shattering the skull of his dining mate the next simply because the other mentioned the wrong person to him.

Dies Irae: Makina's Deus Ex Machina, which is a manifestation of his desire for an eternal end... literally 'ends' anything his fists touch when it is activated. Sort of like an absolute death spell.. if it hits. Devils Devel Concept: Sora's ability to Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made: Protagonist's ability reshape his body as needed (in some really gruesome ways) when he feels threatened. This ability is merely an initial stage of his true power, but it's great in and of itself. The fact that his style of sword-fighting incorporates this ability into its (rather brutal) moves only makes it better. Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made: Ume's body. She is literally indestructible by any sort of outward stimuli (in one of the funniest scenes early in the game, she gets hit by a semi, and the semi's front caves in, the trailer flipping over). Though she is vulnerable to attacks that rewrite reality to a state where her body was 'damaged from the beginning'. This body comes along with a rather nasty set of instincts and personality traits as well... but that just makes it more fun (for the player, anyway).

Suggestions devoid as much as possible of genre bias: Konata yori Kanata Made, Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu, Ayakashibito, Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba. Reasons: Konata is easily the best Utsuge I've ever played, and if you aren't crying inside the first hour of playing you are heartless. Ayakashibito and Ruitomo are both 'new classics' with wide audiences. Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba is one of the best non-Key nakige out there. Understand, I don't need translations... these are games I've already enjoyed myself... I'd like to be able to discuss them with more people, but I'm not so hungry that I couldn't do without...lol

I'd seriously push Suzunone, Kamikaze, Tenshi no Hane, and the Tiny Dungeon series... not to mention Ayakashibito and Evolimit. The first three seem to meet your standards perfectly, the Tiny Dungeon ones in their own way, and the last two are just awesome games. Dracu-riot was good but not great and Whirlpool's games tend to imitate one another very strongly in both in visual style and general plot flow. On the bright side, there are lots of 'twin heroines both love the protagonist' endings in Whirlpool games, for people who have that fetish, haha...

Magus Tale, Ima mo Itsuka mo Faluna Luna, Suzunone 7, Kamikaze ☆ Explorer!, Dracu-Riot, Tenshi no Hane wo Fumanaide, Sukimazakura to Uso no Machi, the Tiny Dungeon series, Ayakashibito, Evolimit (if you don't mind settings that are somewhat out there), Primary ~Magical★Trouble★Scramble~, Ryuuyoku no Melodia -Diva with the blessed dragonol-, 77（セブンズ） ～And, two stars meet again～. Those are the ones that come to me off the top of my head. Ayakashibito and Evolimit are both action-centric, just to warn you. Edit: None of these are translated, incidentally

Asking whether routes are necessary is kind of silly. Nothing about games is necessary... However, if you ask it in the sense that 'I prefer games with only one path to the ending' then no, it isn't. They are called 'kinetic novels' and only have one path, which leads straight down a set path to a set ending. Unsurprisingly, some of the hidden gems I've come across in my 250+ VN-playing career have been of this type (primarily because the non-nukige ones tend to be works of love). As a recent example, Namima no Kuni no Faust. A single path to a single ending, with tons of drama and interesting events along the way (along with a setting that both stirs the interest and chills to the bone). Sinclient is another recent one with an excellent story (though it goes kind of flat toward the end). It is simply that most of the ones translated so far have been multipath and that most VNs are multipath as well.

Mmm... you have a thing for NTR? In any case, games without romance are extremely rare, period. For that matter, plots without some sort of romance are almost non-existent. Now, if you rephrase the question of whether it is possible for a VN not to be focused on romance... the answer is yes. There are some VNs that don't have a focus on romance, but rather solely on the story. However, these are by far in the minority (I can only think of one or two off the top of my head) and tend to be niche within a niche as far as players of the medium are concerned. In addition, they are almost all released on consoles. The fact is, relationship drama is one of the central elements of human behavior... and that makes games easier to sell.

I already had some of the first game translated... I have it in Dropbox, but I haven't had that much free time (relatively speaking) over the past few months, so I hadn't gotten around to doing much work on it. Get on Fuwanovel's irc channel on Rizon and pm me if you want to talk further.

Finished SinClient. Some thoughts on the game... Lots of twists and it is easily the most plot-centric game (other than maybe Namima no Kuni no Faust) I've played in the last few months. The protagonist is intelligent and capable, though he is somewhat hot-headed about the people he likes, with a strong sense of justice. He is not overly sentimental when it matters though, as he doesn't seem to have any problems pulling the trigger when it is needed. The story begins like the Bourne Identity and turns into a combination of a spy story and conspiracy theory story at about the midpoint. If I have a complaint it is that the after-story is mostly focused around the world events and doesn't give you any picture of the actual characters (though there are little captions in the ED song about them). I started Zero Infinity a few hours ago and it is tickling all my story fetishes, so I don't have any complaints. I definitely recommend what I've played so far to chuuni fans, as the protagonist seems to be one of those weird but intelligent guys with his own philosophy that people like me love.

Moved on to SinClient. The initial events of the story rather strongly resemble those of the Bourne Identity... As a strong positive, the protagonist isn't showing any signs of idiocy so far, and he is definitely capable. Well, we'll just have to see if it lives up to its promise.

I was bored, so I decided to bring up one of the most cliched forum topics for anime fans everywhere... what is your top ten list of anime? 1. Kara no Kyoukai 2. Code Geass (whole series) 3. Legend of the Galactic Heroes 4. Legend of the Legendary Heroes 5. Claymore 6. Shakugan no Shana (all three seasons) 7. Fate/Zero 8. Noir 9. Juuni Kokki 10. Ai Yori Aoshi

I'm considering what I want to play next, now that that Ocelot game that came out last month turned out to be less than interesting... I could play the new version of Dies Irae, but I finished my second playthrough of Act est Fabula only seven months ago... It's a great game but I prefer to leave at least an eighteen month gap between replays of games, even when new versions come out. I may just wait until Friday, when Light's new chuuni game comes out... or I could pick a random moege out of my backlog and see if it doesn't bore me out of my skull.

Side-paths that make no sense in the context of the greater story split off along the way to the only real ending for the game. G-Senjou and games like it would be better served if they eliminated the other girls as heroines entirely and made them into complete side-characters. While a good number of VNs have 'true endings' and/or 'true heroines', games like G-Senjou produce a central story then split off extremely weak side-heroine paths that distract from the main story and rarely make sense in the context. If they wanted to provide an excuse for h-scenes with the various girls, they should have just put them in the extras section after you completed the story, making it into a kinetic novel.

I've never been able to bring myself to give anything more than lukewarm praise to G-Senjou... I hate that particular story structure with a passion so intense that wherever I've encountered it (Eustia being another example) I've tended to come to hate the game with a passion later. Right now I'm replaying Bloody Rondo, having finished Lovekami for the second time (it was as good as I recalled). Bloody Rondo's greatest weakness as a game is that all the other paths are so much weaker than the Luna path (though Lynette's path has some of the best 'more or less wholesome by Japanese standards' h-scenes I've run into in an action-vn) and that all the heroines except for one are airheads to one extent or another (Sayaka being the exception, though she can be stupid as well). Still, it did some things right, like the antagonists (Francesca is a superb psychotic antagonist such as is rarely seen in modern action-vns) and the protagonist (who is reasonably capable and not an idiot). The game is more of a stepping stone for 3rd Eye's second game, Shinigami no Testament, which was actually one of the better action-vns I've ever played than an excellent game in and of itself. Bloody Call had all the problems endemic to the Otome game and the generic action-vn game genre. Somewhat foolish, virtually helpless protagonist who relies on the heroes for everything through much of the game (and who only becomes reasonably capable near the end). The protagonist also has the action-vn bad habit of suddenly becoming fairly powerful despite a lack of any training on their part. While this is almost reasonable in the case of a world-structure where magic is virtually all-powerful, the Bloody Call universe lacks that kind of 'Mwahaha, I crush you with the absolute difference between our powers' kind of situation that makes that kind of personal growth feasible from a storytelling point of view. Edit: Incidentally, even when I like a game, I'll still point out the parts I thought were done poorly. I like Bloody Rondo a lot, for instance. However, I recognize that it is an only slightly above average product for the genre that uses a lot of the usual cliches and doesn't try anything particularly ambitious (though it does have some truly beautiful CGs).

I more or less agree that many VNs include h-scenes more as an obligation than anything else. Moege and nukige being exceptions, of course (as no one in their right mind would play most moege without h-scenes and the point of a nukige is the h-scenes). Nakige and a good portion of the action/story-focused VNs do not need h-scenes at all. Of course, action games are more likely to include the h-scenes in a timely manner, but when they do include them badly, they are completely out of place.

And so Clephas re-registers... Mwahaha...

How about registering as a fantranslator by proving you can translate a random set of complex lines taken from various vns/eroge infamous for their wordiness? You could then authorize them for various game types based on how well they managed it. Well, that would require a lot of personal management... so it might - probably - not be workable. Still, I had to throw it out there as an idea. Just letting any random guy register a random translation will result in some truly... unfortunate line choices.