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Clephas

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Blog Entries posted by Clephas

  1. 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.
  2. Clephas
    I'm not going to go into detail like I did with Sumi's path, if only because my love for youkai isn't fulfilled to the same degree in Alice's or Natsuha's paths as it was in that one. Also, another reason is that the progression for both is far less dramatic than it is with Sumi's path.

    In Alice's case, the actual events leading up to the end of the main story are really dark and sad, and the path itself tends to be quite a bit more gloomy than the other two. In exchange, there is a lot more focus on the romantic aspects and the 'living together' parts. This is, in many ways, inevitable due to the fact that the bond between Sumi and Tohru was so strong from the beginning that the romance was pretty much predetermined in vector once they got over a few small issues. This is opposed to Alice's path, where both sides have a lot off growing to do... which is done mostly in the after story, rather than the main path. Similar to Sumi's path, this one had a few extra characters added in (whom I will not name in order to avoid spoilers), and as a result, the after story felt a lot like its own VN.

    In Natsuha's case... you can probably predict the main path from the original game based entirely off what you experienced in the others (the different regrets the protag has in both cases), as in many ways it is like a bringing together of the ideal elements from the other two in order to create a more complete whole. It does have the predictable incest issue, but once you are past that, you are into the after story. Natsuha's after story has the least number of ups and downs of the three, at least in part because there is none of the tension about 'what needs to be done' leftover from the main path, save for the obvious. I did find Natsuha's dreams for the future interesting, and I would have liked to see them achieved as part of the after story... but that is because the after story pretty much felt like a VN in and of itself, lol.

    Overall, my thoughts on this VN are positive, save for the fact that there are a huge number of H-scenes (something like seventy) - though most are optional ones that can only be seen through scene jumps - and the fact that the makers were so obviously indulging their disease. I also was a bit exasperated that all three heroines are such... perverts once the protag gets them behind closed doors (just how weird do these guys want their lolis to be?). The VN itself is huge... about the same or maybe a bit longer than Grisaia no Kajitsu. Also, I wish the protagonist had Emi with Sumi regardless of the path (lol)... a little girl that adorable deserves to be born.

    WARNING: This VN is unapologetically a lolige, as I said above. I am not a loli fan, so I found that to be one of the biggest barriers to enjoying this VN. I would have been a lot happier with no h-scenes being present in this particular VN.
  3. Clephas
    First, I should state that Monobeno is an unapologetic lolige. The extent the writers went to to make this game a lolige (even in Alice's path) is so ridiculous I had to sigh in exasperation. Sadly, it also has one of the best plots and some of the best characters you can see in a VN. Like this company's previous VN, Gothderi, dismissing it because it is a lolige is a huge mistake.



    I played the original version of Monobeno, where all the endings were extremely bittersweet and vague, and what I can say about this is that the after-stories provided give closure and really do remake this into a VN with happy endings, as promised. The actual original story hasn't changed significantly, and thus I'll mostly just note that the events in each path tended to be hectic, and almost universally it ended sadly/badly for certain characters.

    This also adds the story of Hishakaku and Tsumi, which was a huge benefit. Hishakaku (also known as Buppougataki Daisannyou Hishakaku) is the umbrella youkai that helped raise the protagonist and Sumi (the akashaguma youkai who is one of the heroines), and he is a natural protector, who reminds me of Auron from FFX, if you added thirty years, grandfatherly love, and a sense of humor. This story is unbelievably beautiful and sad, and it adds a lot of background to Hishakaku, while also leading you into the after stories of the various routes. (I cried a lot for the end of Sumi's after story because of this)

    Sumi's route focuses on the youkai/supernatural approach to the main conflict of the story, and as a result it varies greatly from Alice's (who is the other side, which focuses on the scientific approach). The romance, which comes to flower amidst the search for the truth of what is going on, is made more interesting by the fact of the protagonist and Sumi's intense interdependence before their parting years before the story began. The main route's ending is bittersweet, causing tears to fall in abundance before you move on to the after story.

    Sumi's after-story is actually about the same length as her original story, with just as many interesting events. Sumi and the protagonist's daughter, Emi, is an adorable little girl who has a nose for trouble and a tendency to run straight toward it... but she also inherited her mother's ability to bless with good luck and it is all directed to herself, so she generally survives it well. The progression of this story is focused on the interactions of humans and youkai, their differences, and why not all youkai can live with humans. A lot of the issues you might not have been able to come to terms with through the original path are much easier to do so here. Most importantly, this brings a full conclusion to the conflict of the original story... and Hishakaku is showed off at his best in a dramatic scene toward the end that had me in tears of mixed happiness and sorrow.
  4. Clephas
    I lost five posts with the reset, and I probably won't bother trying to resurrect Natsuiro Recipe, except to say that it was the first addition I'd made to the Chicken Soup for the Soul list in over a year... and I generally don't update that list unless I really believe a VN is worth it.

    Arcadia no Tomoshibi is a two-in-one VN downloadable only from DMM, sold for around a ten dollars. It is by Nostalgic Chord, the makers of Houkago no Futekikakusha, which was easily the best utsuge made in the last few years. The two VNs inside it are Rakuen no Shugosha and Merrybell wa Shinda to Papa ni Tsutaete. Though there are no voices in these VNs (this was obviously done on a bootstrap budget) it matters a lot less than you would think, because the way they use the art style and music in order to draw you in in these two VNs makes a mockery of the average VN in terms of overall quality.



    Rakuen no Shugosha

    Rakuen no Shugosha is a VN about a future where a small percentage of the population - both animal and human - have gained supernatural abilities that make them so dangerous that they rendered most modern weapons obsolete. When the story begins, you are thrown into action with a small unit of United Nations soldiers who are sneaking through the ruins of a dead city for the purpose of killing the 'most powerful human in existence'.

    The story is told by switching between the present (the hunt) and flashbacks of the past, that tell the story of the superman they are chasing and just why it ended up that way. This VN and its partner are both written by the same man who wrote Gunjou no Sora, and it shows in the sheer quality of the narrative and the near-perfect balance between the development of the characters and the progression of the story... leading to a very emotional conclusion.

    The art-style is far closer to that of an American comic artist than that of the anime/manga style that is dominant in VNs, and this adds to the general overall maturity of the characters. There are none of the usual sacrifices to the God of Moe, and the average age of the characters is forty-something.

    And this traditional comic-book art-style is used masterfully - along with the music - to reinforce the superhero image of Julius, the man they are chasing. In the flashbacks, he is an emotional, generous soldier with a love of children (and no, not in the sense our rotten souls would normally have it be) who will do absolutely anything to protect the innocent. In every concievable way, he represents the ideal of a superhero soldier, who acts without hesitation for the sake of others. The protagonist, with whom he shares a mutually antagonistic relationship at first, is his opposite, a clear-headed tactician who is good at seeing the big picture. In a lot of ways, their relationship is like if Lex Luthor and Superman had become the best of friends and the ultimate partners... or at least that is how it looks in retrospect.

    This VN lasts about five hours (for me) and can be very intense... and overwhelmingly emotional at times. By the end, you can't help but weep for the tragedy of what is going on in the present, and the ending leaves you with a bittersweet feeling that though the worst was prevented, there was no justice done. For artistic presentation (and I don't mean visuals but in the overall sense of using all elements to create a bigger whole), this is one of the better VNs I've played in recent years.


    Marrybell wa Shinda to Papa ni Tsutaete

    This VN is perhaps the most unusual portrayal of the 'protagonist gets pulled into a fantasy world' trope I've ever run across. The writer actively mocks the usual usage of the trope, instead creating a perfectly mundane - if saddening and terrifying for the characters - struggle to live through culture shock, dramatic personal change, and the formation of new bonds.

    The story is told from the points of view of the six 'family members', who are all people who were dropped into this new world when their section of Tokyo 'fell'. They are also the only survivors... and they find themselves indebted deeply to the indigenous city that manage to reach and the merchant guild that sells them their house. A great deal of the story is about a combination of simple financial struggles to make ends meet and pay off more of their debt... and of how the various characters adapt - or don't.

    This isn't a story that is prettied up in any way. The characters have mixed emotions toward one another, varying anywhere between trust to outright hatred. Midori, who is one of the two parent figures (the two college students) basically works in a hostess bar (though given the medieval tech, it is grungier), and Yuuya works as a hunter of monsters, barely managing to bring in enough money to pay the bills and pay back some of their debt.

    The choice to use an anime/manga style art style (unlike Rakuen no Shugosha's) in this case just emphasizes how different this is from your standard VN. There is no bow to the traditional tropes. There is only endless mockery toward those particular bronze idols. Like Rakuen no Shugosha, this VN is as much a work of art as entertainment and it shows.
  5. Clephas
    The idea of a harem is a very old one. In fact, there is literally no culture (prior to Christianity) that, sometime in its past, did not accept the idea of a harem in one form or another.

    However, it was never a simple system of one man simply marrying as many women as he wanted. In some places, it was a mark of familial wealth. In order to avoid long-term difficulties, a wealthy individual would take numerous wives, produce numerous sons, and split that wealth amongst those sons in order to prevent his fellow villagers or townsmen from turning on his family at some future point. In others, it was a mark of political power. An Emperor would take numerous wives, both to form alliances with his nobles and foreign countries and in order to ensure the continuance of his dynasty (in most Imperial dynasties, it was accepted that there would be vicious palace politics that would kill off numerous potential heirs). In old China, it was accepted that a man would take a primary wife and many concubines if he had the wealth to do so. The primary wife would be the mistress of the family, whereas the others would help administer the husband's estates under her direction.

    So why did the harem system go out of fashion? It didn't, really. Most men of power and wealth have mistresses, even today, and the attitude of most 'old money' families is one of resignation toward this kind of behavior. Of course, religiously and legally those living in the mostly Christian west can only have a single wife, but the tacit approval of wealthy and powerful men taking mistresses is a work-around common to almost all monogamist cultures.

    Now, for the morality of it... extract religion and hypocritical social mores from the mix, and you basically have three golden standards by which the idea of a harem might be condemned or approved:

    1. Are the men/women involved satisfied with the situation and well-treated?

    2. Does the male or female holder of the harem have the wealth to support his/her spouses and any resulting children?

    3. Are the resulting children happy and healthy?




    That's real life. VNs do it a bit differently. Because VNs tend to avoid dirty details (no, I don't mean H, I mean real-life style drama) and ignore inconvenient realities, the average VN probably wouldn't be able to fulfill those standards in the long run. This is because most VN protagonists don't have the capability or strength of will to both manage the inevitable internal conflicts of a harem (herding cats) and bring in enough money to support a large family. For this reason, most VN harems just don't qualify in my eyes as being a realistic idea.

    That said, there are VNs that actually consider the realities and make it seem like a realistic choice... but most don't manage it, lol. I especially have to rofl at harem nukige and moege.

    Now, for my personal viewpoint... I basically think that if you can manage to fulfill the 'golden rules' above, there is no reason why I should care if you have multiple wives/lovers. On the other hand, if you can't afford to have a wife and kids, you shouldn't. I hate optimists.
  6. Clephas
    Sakura Nikagetsu is a VN by the company known as Orange Yell. So far, Orange Yell has produced two VNs, including this one, both of them nakige that at times come just short of being utsuge.

    First, I should mention that the art is pretty under par in both this company's games, in comparison to the industry baseline (if you exclude nukige and doujin). The reason for this becomes pretty evident when you start reading, and you realize how well-written their games are... and how good the music melds with it. tbh, if I wasn't so sure this company was doomed to go bankrupt because of this approach, I'd have a lot of hope for this company's future, just based on these two aspects of the VN.

    The protagonist of this VN is an open and admitted lolicon, a genius 'human breeder' (in the Japanese sense that 'breeder' interchangeable with 'trainer') is locally known for having turned his three local osananajimi's (who were all three of them 'ponkotsu' in the same sense that a car can be a lemon) into 'proper human beings'. He is perhaps the most open and honest pervert I've ever seen in a live-together situation, and the way he takes advantage of every opportunity for a good time (stopping short of actual sex) outmatches that of any other perverted protagonist I've seen in a VN. Combined with the fact that he is a genius, manipulative, and overall all-powerful as an athlete, his perversion is pretty much his only weakness (a big one, as he has virtually no impulse-control).

    One of his osananajimis, a girl named Korobu, dies before the story begins in an accident, and one day, in front of her grave, an 'angel' appears and makes a deal with him to allow him to talk to Korobu just one more time. In exchange, he has to 'reform' four new 'ponkotsu' girls in two months' time, or his emotions toward Korobu will be taken away. Being a confident 'oresama' type character, he says yes immediately, of course.

    The four heroines are: The ignorant would-be yamato nadeshiko (Hako), the airheaded miko who talks to the doll sitting on her shoulder (Nayu), the cursed hikikomori who can sleep anywhere (Shimai), and last of all... the self-described spiritualist (medium) and ojousama (Mamori).

    Previously to joining this company, the writer did a couple of nukige that had surprisingly well-constructed stories (coincidentally, I read one of them early on in my VN career). I remember seeing the reviews from nukige-players that basically said 'eh, I just wanted ero, why are they making me read a real story?' back when I played it, lol. Anyway, he is really good at making you like his characters and making you cry. This VN is no exception, showing off his ability to create a situation and cast of characters that will draw your emotions in and hit you with some good emotional whammies.

    About two-thirds of the VN is the fairly-hilarious common route, where the heroines and the protagonist live together and the self-described 'angel' sometimes drops in to be picked on by the protagonist (or so the protagonist, Yasumi, says). The common route is mostly about how the somewhat over-protective Yasumi 'reforms' the girls, teaching them how to wash their own hair, put on their own clothes, and study for school (seriously, to one degree or another, they are that bad). They never do get over having no sense of direction, though.

    Anyway, each of the heroine routes took me about two hours to finish, making them about average length for a charage. However, since ichaicha was generally a secondary objective and low in amount, a great deal of story was packed into those two hour periods. I was actually impressed at the degree to which I was emotionally dragged into the situation in each case. That said, this is just a really solid nakige, not a kami-nakige. The 'true' ending is basically a short recounting of the story from Sakura's perspective, where she reveals what she was thinking and feeling during the entire business, and it ends in a pretty sad note.

    Overall, I felt that this VN would have had a good chance at VN of the Month if it wasn't for Sorcery Jokers. It is amusing, has a unique protagonist, a solid character dynamic, and some good cathartic moments in each path... just enough to make it a 'pleasant meal'.

    Now I have to figure out if there is anything else I should play before announcing the VN of the Month for July...
  7. Clephas
    First, the simple basis for understanding the way Japanese think about the supernatural. Simply put, Shinto, which was the country's official religion and is the religion that originated there, is an animistic faith, with a strong tendency toward the personification of nature and objects. Second, Buddhism was the dominant faith in Japan for centuries, when the various shogunates tried to weaken the Emperor's power by strengthening the influence of Buddhism as a rival faith.

    Why is this relevant? Shintoism personifies the dead and believes in the concept of living gods. The Buddhist tributaries in Japan generally believe in reincarnation. Both faiths create a belief that there are things in the world that exist alongside us that cannot be seen by 'normal' people. Both have a belief in life after death, and both have a concept of 'lingering' and 'ascension'.

    Generally speaking, Japanese spiritualists hold to a belief (or so they say) that if you can see a spirit, you can effect it and it can effect you. It is vital to understand this before anything else when dealing with Japanese spiritualism in general. While the idea of ghosts harming or possessing those who can't see them isn't denied by Japanese spiritualists, those who can 'see' them are thought to be more vulnerable, if left untrained ('training' generally resembling Buddhist asceticism and meditation).

    Now, the word 'oni' is perhaps the most overused name for spirits in Japan. This is because it can be taken to be any spirit that can and does cause harm, refer to humans whose souls have fallen into evil, and/or the legendary giant ogre-type creatures like Shuten-doji that litter Japanese legend. Because of this, it isn't uncommon for ghosts, youkai, and even some 'kami' (the animistic idea of gods in the Shinto faith) to be considered 'oni'. This should give you an idea of how useless any attempt to define what an oni is can be, and why it is so conveniently used in VNs, anime, and manga.

    A lot of this lack of discrimination comes from the fact that Shinto attributes souls to all things, whether they are humans, animals, natural disasters, or even inanimate objects.

    Now, the two attitudes 'traditional' people in Japan take toward ghosts tend to be: 'seal them up' or 'banish them'. While Shinto can be said to be nature-worshiping, it is at its heart a pragmatist's faith. 'Cleanse people's souls so they don't do bad things'. 'Cleanse a place to prevent possible disaster'. 'Worship a god so it doesn't squish you'. Simple, isn't it? Of course, there are a lot of deeper details, but that is what you should keep in mind as a core reality of the faith and its view on spiritualism.

    In otaku-media, it is extremely rare for fantasy anime that deal with ghosts, spirits, or demons to take a single-faith approach to it. You'll almost always see a multi-faith approach, with one or more being dominant (including Christian ones at times). Shinto is dominant the most often, though Buddhism tends to dominate when you get into stuff based a few centuries in the past. Onmyoudou, one of the original types of 'spiritualism' in Japan is very much a fusion of Buddhist and Shinto ideas, if you want an example, since it is extensively used in various anime.

    What does this all come down to? Basically, traditional Japanese viewpoints on ghosts and spirits tend to be ones of rejection, and this is something to keep in mind when reading a VN or watching an anime that deals with ghosts, youkai, or other supernatural beings.

    A few bits of vocab:

    kami- While it is a term that is also used for the Christian god, it is a universal term for all supernatural beings that have worshipers or need to be be/have been worshiped. By Japanese standards, angels and demons would be considered to be kami under the right circumstances, as the Japanese consider 'enshrining' a harmful existence to be a way to keep it from harming them.

    akuma- Simply, demon. This is a relatively modern term made of the kanji for evil and the kanji for 'that which is outside/heretical'.

    oni- both a name for a specific type of ogre-type youkai and a generalized umbrella term for evil spirits, humans who have fallen into evil ways to an extreme degree, and aspects of certain kami.

    youkai- spirits of Japanese legend. The most common are nature spirits, animal spirits, dragons, and 'object spirits' (Tsukumogami). It isn't uncommon for beneficial or powerful ones to be raised up as 'kami' and enshrined to gain the benefit of their blessing and prevent them from doing harm. Whether they are seen as having physical form varies based upon the individual viewpoint.

    Reibaishi- An almost identical concept to the Western 'medium'... basically someone who can see spirits and/or communicate with them and makes a living off of it.

    Jorei- Exorcism, though it is usually of spirits rather than demons.



    PS: This isn't complete... I'll be adding to it later, lol.
  8. Clephas
    Love, Vampire Flowers was one of the VNs I have been looking forward to, if only because Lovesick Puppies (by the same company) was such a hidden gem at the time. I won't say this approaches Lovesick Puppies for impact, because it doesn't. In comparison, it begins much more slowly and the problems tend to be more of the 'classic charage' type (well, the heroines' ones anyway). The big draw of this is that the protagonist is about as psychologically mature as you could hope for from a 'good guy' vampire, lol. Unfortunately, that very maturity is the cause of most of the boring parts of the early part of this VN. Not only that, but the makers of this VN indulged in a rather heroic effort to avoid getting to the point when it came to the common route, lol.

    So far, I've played two heroine paths, Chris's and Rie's. About two thirds of the VN is repeated text (since the actual choice to cause a split-off is in the prologue, I'm unsure if it would be called a common route, lol). This is the main reason why I felt like they took forever getting to the point. To be honest, in the two paths I've played so far, the biggest disappointment has been the somewhat hurried nature of the heroine paths in comparison to the overly drawn out common route. There was room in this for a story with a lot more depth and impact, and the protagonist himself would have provided more than enough ingredients for this, even without the heroines' own personal issues.

    That said, by charage standards, the heroine paths are quite good... it is just that there is so much potential in the setting that it can't help but be wasted on a 'normal charage'. This VN's setting would have made for a first-class nakige, if they'd gone for a heavier emphasis on emotional drama in general. I also felt that they misused the protagonist's flashbacks to his distant past, as the one in Chris's route would have fit a lot more in with Rie, considering her background. There were points where a clash of wills and ways of thinking should have occurred, logically speaking, but didn't, even though Haruto himself isn't exactly a weak-willed person.

    Basically, it was my impression that they started out trying to create a truly dynamic protagonist to drive a more in-depth plot... but probably had to downsize everything except the common route, most likely due to budget constraints. There are hints all over the place that they meant to create a much deeper plot but for some reason didn't do so, and that is immensely frustrating for me, given my fondness for a good story.
  9. 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.
  10. Clephas
    I left these two to last for the simple reason that they were obviously intended to be the main heroines. As usual, my instincts for the intentions of a writer were correct. There is a significant difference, both in depth and in detail, between these two paths and those of the other two heroines. First, in both cases, the protagonist's past (though different parts of it) is revealed, and there is something approaching drama involved in the story. Second, the heroines themselves are much deeper when you get into the story.

    That said, in terms of raw quality, this VN is nowhere near what I would have expected of this company after Reminiscence. While that VN had its problems, it also had an excellent degree of character development, with a depth to the scenario and setting that was very impressive, by any standard. If there had at least been something on the level of Aki's path in this VN, I would have been willing to forgive the abomination of Ruriko's and Kaede's paths... but both the other two paths were average-quality 'ojousama and lowborn' paths, with a few unusual twists due to the 'dark past' that made them slightly more interesting than usual.

    I don't really have much left to say about this VN... it definitely isn't VN of the Month level quality. It too obviously is aiming for a sequel/story fandisc, and the protagonist is immensely disappointing (in the end, he turns out to be a 'normal guy' with a dark past and an insanely arrogant personality, rather than someone capable). I can honestly say it will be hard to look forward to anything else by this company if they continue to use the new artist and writer.
  11. Clephas
    Ok... if just one path got gypped by the writers, I would have overlooked it as a minor flaw. It would have been worthy of irritation, but I wouldn't have bothered remaining angry forever. It isn't uncommon for a single heroine to pull the short straw when it comes to route quality... but after reading Kaede's route I have something I need to say.

    This game is incomplete!!!!

    Here are my reasons for saying that:

    1. Ruriko's route goes from dark revelations to sudden lovers to the ending in a ridiculously short period of time.

    2. Kaede's route is horribly truncated. The drama I was looking forward to at the end simply didn't happen, and the actual path ended on a 'what the hell?! Is that it?!' note.

    This is an obvious attempt to imitate the tendency of Akagoei's author to deliberately leave issues unresolved, but generally speaking, Akagoei's writer merely deliberately left a few loose ends in order to allow people to speculate about the future. This literally resolves NONE of the issues in this VN. Nothing is resolved, nothing is solved, and nothing gets done except short romance and a really quick love-life. This feels like a frigging trial edition rather than a complete game.


    Edit: To clarify, I have nothing against leaving some issues unresolved. However, this VN obviously has a ton of scenes that were either cut or just never completed. This includes ones along the way for events that simply never occur... an obvious example is the way the protagonist negotiates over a replacement for his bike in Ruriko's path. Unfortunately, for some reason, this never comes up again, even though it looked like a major story event might be coming together. Another example is the bike show (sort of like a gun show here in the US) that the protagonist hears about and thinks about going to in Kaede's path. For some reason, it never really comes up again, except as a convenient extra near the end.

    There are dozens of other bits and pieces throughout this VN that could have easily become the small parts of a greater story... and just never go anywhere. I have to wonder if the writers in this VN actually had any idea of what they were doing in the first place...


    Edit2: I should say that this game starts out really great... the way the protagonist and his butler switch gears depending on the situation, and the gratifyingly evil way things begin gave me a lot of hope for the VN. However, as I discovered afterward, all the good stuff happens in the Trial Version... if you played the trial, you've basically played all that was good in the game, sadly.
  12. Clephas
    For various reasons, I had high hopes for this VN. For one thing, it is by the same company that did Reminiscence and for another, I just liked the basic concept. However, there is one issue that is more than a little irritating... they used an entirely new main staff (new writer, new artist) and tried to maintain an aura of similarity to the Akagoei series without the heart and soul that made that series interesting.

    First, the protagonist is obviously a knock-off version of Kaito, with all the same basic qualities... except intelligence. They deliberately made him something of a bird-brain, and the combination with Kaito's free-spirited behavior and a 'spoiled brat' image doesn't really work very well. The fact that he really is exactly the way he appears most of the time makes this all the more irritating.

    There are serious hidden elements to the story, but a big problem with that is that the most important one is easy to figure out because of the first scene of the VN. In addition, while they maintained a similar theme about the stratification of society due to inequality of wealth and adding on a caste system, there is no explanation given so far about how things ended up like that. I'm unsure of whether it was deliberate or not, but there are some really big holes in the setting so far.

    Making it worse is that the protagonist is legitimately disliked by three out of the four heroines... heck, Yoshiko says from the beginning that she hates him and the only one that is actively friendly is Akari, who is nice to everyone. This is a bit hard on the stomach, as the protagonist is undeservedly arrogant.

    Ruriko

    Ruriko is the protagonist's maid, the girl in the pic above. She is the only one of the heroines who doesn't attend the school, and her personality is caustic, especially toward the protagonist. Her path is really lackadaisically designed, though it is both amusing and interesting in the sense of filling in some of the details. Unfortunately, the drama, which should have had a great deal more impact, was weakly presented and solved far too easily. Given a choice, I would have advised them to completely rewrite this path, giving it more intensity and a nicely tragic feel. Unfortunately, they failed in the attempt to fuse the serious with the funny in this path, and it shows.
  13. Clephas
    I'll be blunt... despite appearances, this isn't a chuunige. It is a sort of cross between fantasy, science fantasy, and mystery. I'll just say that I wasn't impressed by it... if only because there were numerous technical failures throughout the game (think the kind of BGM random cut-offs you sometimes encounter in older games), and most of the story is shared by all the paths... the only difference is in the epilogue, h-scenes, and who dies and lives at the end.

    The protagonist is a former detective who is living in virtual exile in a walled-off city occupied by foreign military forces. It is pretty much a lawless city, where just about anything can happen... which would have been more interesting if so much of the VN hadn't been the protagonist being pushed around, unable to adapt to events.

    For those who start reading this VN... it isn't your imagination. There is very little 'conversation' in this VN, though there is a lot of talking back and forth. Almost no one in this VN listens when someone else speaks and half the characters are either deranged or seemingly senile. The protagonist has something resembling common sense... except when it fails solely to make the story move forward after endless scenes that were probably intended to get you to like the heroines and other characters but don't quite manage it.

    A few examples... Antonio the failed mafioso who forgets what he told someone five minutes later and can't follow instructions to save his life. His friend Mint who basically repeats what other people say and acts like a small child with the body of a man. Colossus, the sneak thief who got trapped in the city because he thought the ladder over the great wall was a way into a rich man's house... it goes on and on. The number of people that are incapable of listening in this VN made me want to pound my head on a wall. If it were just one or two, it would have been funny... but almost every character in this VN shows signs of this quality at one point or another.

    It might sound funny but it quickly begins to wear on your nerves when you realize the conversations never go anywhere and there isn't a punchline.

    The mystery of this VN is revealed in bits and pieces along the way... but by the time you start getting an outline of what is going on, you've most likely grown to hate the entire cast of characters. There are some scenes near the end that are definitely intended to be emotional... but simply aren't because you haven't developed an attachment to them. The fact that this extends to the heroines to one extent or another only makes things worse.

    In the end, what am I trying to say? Don't play this VN unless you are a masochist... a really hard masochist. It really is painful to struggle through this mess.
  14. Clephas
    Well... first, I should say that Baldr Force EXE was the thirty-fifth untranslated VN I played. At the time, I didn't have a controller, and I ended up suffering from horrible wrist pain from playing using the keyboard. So my first piece of advice to anyone trying to play this game is to get a controller (most are compatible) that you are comfortable using. This shares basic gameplay with Baldr Skydive, though that game's battle system is quite a bit more advanced. As such, feel free to search my Random VN Thread for my comments on it, lol. It is an action-based system where you use three attack buttons in combination with being at short or long range, dashing, or sprinting (short dash) to combo up to twelve different attacks ranging from fist strikes and submachine guns (you'll use the submachinegun attack throughout the game, because of its utility) to beam bazookas and landmines.

    The actual story of this game is very different from what you'd expect from a similar VN today, simply because the choice of characters is different from what most modern readers have grown to expect. There is very little of the 'manzai' comedic byplay that is common to almost every VN made after 2006, and there are bad endings and horrible things that happen to the heroines just in the normal course of the route. While bad endings in themselves aren't rare, ones with story as extensive as these are a bit rare, lol.

    This VN's art quality is probably about the best you'll see in any VN from the same era. The CGs, the tachie, and the backgrounds are all about as detailed as you can expect from a VN made around the turn of the century, and all the characters are well-differentiated from each other (though the designs are familiar from various anime that ran before or around the same time).

    The musical quality is pretty high... no generic tracks here, though there are remixes of them in later Baldr games. Voices are a bit (quite a bit in some cases) less professional or more grainy than you'll have grown used to with modern VNs, though it isn't so bad as to break the experience.

    The protagonist is a young hacker who is a typical rebellious youth who ends up caught in a nasty situation through his own stupid actions. If you know basic tactics, you'll frequently find yourself facepalming early on because of the sheer stupidity of some of the things he does. Nonetheless, compared to the hetare or 'normal' protagonists that are common to most VNs, he is a definite improvement.

    There are a total of six heroines: Minori, Ayane, Ryian, Tsukina, Hikaru, and Ren. The route order is locked in stone, with you having to play Minori and Ayane, followed by Ryian and Tsukina, followed by Hikaru, then finally Ren as the 'true' heroine. Each heroine has multiple endings (one sad/bad one good at the very least) and a strong individual route that splits off at some point from the main route. Tsukina's route splits off the earliest, almost at the very beginning, whereas most of the other paths (except Ren's) split off about halfway through the game. This leads to lots of separate events with each heroine - none of them pointless. Just to warn you, like all Baldr games, the setting and story are fairly dark, so don't go in expecting rays of sunshine.

    If I were asked which - besides Ren's - stood out the most, I would say Ryian's or Tsukina's stood out the most. Both paths follow unique progression that puts you through an experience almost completely unconnected with the others in general flow. Ryian's is perhaps the hardest emotionally, whereas Renn's is by far the hardest in terms of gameplay.

    My overall thoughts on the game generally focus on the simple fact that going through six heroine paths in a VN with gameplay is frigging exhausting. Not only that, but there is a definite feeling of information overload afterward... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Nonetheless, the actual raw story is very well-written, if in a convention many newer VN readers won't be accustomed to. At the same time, the scenario design is of the highest quality... reminding me why Giga should never be allowed to make VNs outside the Baldr series, since it makes their normal works look like crap.
  15. Clephas
    Well, the answer to the above question is simple... I saw the monster girl anime for this season's first episode and got curious about what kind of content these games had... to be honest, I was planning to drop it inside the first few hours, using it as a break from more serious content before starting Baldr Force.. but I was surprised to find just how good the writing in these games is.

    That said, the early games (the Lamia and Alraune games) are nukige, as presented... and the H scenes are kind of guro in a lot of cases (to be honest, I can't get into the H in this series at all, lol). However, I was kind of stunned at how good the writing is in the ones I've played and how they created a sense of connection and continuity between all the VNs in the series. First, you have to understand that all the VNs prior to Monmusu Gakuen are written in the same general period of the setting's history and Gakuen is written in a period fifteen to twenty-five years after those (the kids from three of the VNs are heroines in Gakuen).

    The most solid of the VNs as a whole is the Arachne/Harpy/Cyclops VN, which focuses on Hibiki, a guy who basically gets summoned from Earth by Ariane the Arachne on a whim... The speed with which he adjusts to his new lifestyle is a bit unreal, but the interactions between him and the heroines are endlessly amusing... and the actual story of each path is touching enough emotionally that I cried, despite the fact that I had to skip past the H to keep from being ill in some cases (you can tell that the writer is basically acting out his fetishes with enthusiasm...).

    The Scylla/slime VN is the second most solid, with a somewhat... free-spirited pirate as a protagonist. The slime is a total moron who believes anything the scylla maid says... which wouldn't be so bad if the scylla's hobby wasn't making her look like an idiot. I spent most of this one just laughing... endlessly laughing. I laughed until my jaw hurt with this one. The general absurdity of the VN's premise doesn't in any way take away from the comedic character dynamic or the emotionality of the heroine paths (there is pretty much nothing emotional until you actually get on those two paths).

    Monmusu Gakuen is the weakest of the three I completed (three VNs in two days) and it retains a lot of the atmosphere of the other two... but in exchange, the H is even more guro and the number of heroines kind of dilutes the emotionality of the paths in several cases. Nonetheless, it is easy to get attached to them, simply because of the protagonist's point of view as their teacher.

    I came out of curiosity and stayed for the writing.

    I'm just curious... why is it that some of the best VN writers are the weirdest kind of pervert?

    Edit: I almost didn't write anything on these... but I felt I owed it to the people who might actually be interested in this kind of interracial romance story to at least say something about my experience. I just also felt the need to warn you that... if you have imaginings about the H, it is actually probably a bit worse than you imagined.
  16. Clephas
    The fandisc for the entire series actually brings all the characters - plus a new cast of one protagonist and three heroines - together, including extensive after-stories for both the first and second generation of characters (Gakuen being the second generation and the others the first). The new cast is based in an era fifty years after the events in the second generation, when most of the characters are elderly or deceased (with the exceptions of near-immortals like Suiku). The three heroines are the endlessly greedy baphomet (demon) Meti, the shy chimera tapir-girl Lettuce, and the dryad (whose name I didn't bother to remember).

    Overall, like most of the entries in this series, the standout aspects are the writing quality and the comedic character interactions. It is especially hilarious to see the casts of all the VNs (including the nukige) from the first generation interacting with one another to bring about the setting of Gakuen. Since the main story doesn't change at all (except for h-scenes) depending on which heroine you pick for the new protagonist, I went with Meti... and didn't regret it. I've always liked weird/insane heroines, and she definitely fits the bill.

    That said, the story in this VN is structured really weirdly, due to the fact that the protagonist and his friends are basically looking into the past and interfering with it... and if you aren't paying attention, it can be easy to miss important details. However, that is the mark of a well-written story in any case, as a detailed story usually means a good one, though not always.

    There is one VN in the series I haven't touched, other than the Alraune nukige... the mermaid one, but that is supposedly based after the events in all these games (though I only got that through some vague hints) so I am not all that focused on it (in total the games so far have covered over seventy years of history, after all).

    Final thoughts

    To be honest, I never expected to see this much detail out of what is essentially a low-cost series created by a company that originally produced only nukige. From a visual perspective, the VNs aren't excessively impressive, and the backgrounds are reused in each game where appropriate, for instance. Nonetheless, it is an impressive series of games purely from the perspective of writing, and if you don't mind feeling like you want to puke at some of the H scenes... this is a great choice for an experienced reader who is bored with normal romance and moege romance.
  17. Clephas
    I went ahead and played my way through this... for the most part, the story is slice-of-life, with a lot more focus on the comedic elements than in the main game. The result is a lot of hilarious scenes... and really little else for most of the first two-thirds of the game. The endgame story is supposed to be a tearjerking final battle... but to be honest, I hadn't developed enough affection for the new characters to feel anything for what was happening. Too much of the content was comedic, and as a result, there was more of an emotional disconnect than there was with the original game. While there were attempts to develop the new characters, the actual events were so... predictable (even by normal standards) that I just sighed in resignation and slogged through the last two battles (which were annoying as heck).

    The actual battles themselves are much easier than the original, mostly because you start out with Touka's supreme boss-killer skills... in exchange, a lot of Corona's skills were harder to use because the MP consumption was increased (to be specific, from 35 to 77 for the single-enemy barrier-stripper). Aka is as OP as Corona, though in a more conventional way. She is the most powerful Red Elemental besides Ayumu, though she is more useful, since she has both Red and Black attacks.

    For those who want more of Yumina's and Corona's cast's antics, this is an excellent fandisc... but for those who are already tired of the cast, it is probably more effort than it is worth.
  18. Clephas
    Normally, I don't finish the VN of the Month games so early (I'd expected to be forced to take more time out for Neyuki, and so I've been left at loose ends). So, I normally just pull a few random VNs out of my massive backlog (mostly stuff I got at really low prices through my friend in Japan), play them, then mini-review them. However, I've chosen to be a bit more ambitious this time around, since I have the time. I'm actually going to make a schedule!

    1. Kikouyoku Senki Gin no Toki no Corona (currently playing this)
    2. Baldr Force EXE
    3. Baldr Bullet
    4. You choose, something that isn't on my vndb list. If I don't already have it, I can probably find it. I'm going to be straight about this, the only rules are: no nukige, no rapegames, nothing that is obviously moe-bait (moe aspects is fine, but I am not interested in playing something like Feng's games or To Heart, lol), no translated

    Feel free to make suggestions to me in the comments, based on VNs you either played yourself or ones you want to play but can't because of your own lack of Japanese knowledge. Make sure you check my vndb list before you make a suggestion, as I don't plan to replay anything at the moment. Be aware that there is very little of interest that I haven't played between 2011-2015's releases, so I ask that requests be limited to VNs to 2011 or before.

    Even if I only manage to finish through Baldr Bullet by the end of the month, the requests made here will be taken into account in my decisions as to what to play next month and the month after.
  19. Clephas
    I'm in the midst of playing this game, and I thought I'd first give you a basic outline of what to expect.

    This game is based around four major aspects:

    1. Hitting enemies' weak spots (elemental)
    2. Getting enemies to hit your strong points (elemental)
    3. Use 1 and 2 to build up your MP to use powerful super-skills.
    4. Keeping Corona, Tokino, and Touka (the protagonist) alive while still keeping their levels up.

    There are a lot of other points and complexities, but it pretty much boils down to this. In most of the battles of the game, having any of those three die on you is an automatic game over. You don't want them dead and you don't want them weak, so by necessity you have to follow the advice in 1 and 2, lol.

    Characters (through chapter 14 of 21, anyway):

    Touka: The protagonist. His specialties are massive damage dealing (the highest in raw numbers in the game), incredibly weak defenses, and the ability to use his field skill 'sharing' to take on the elemental barrier of an ally of his choice. Until you manage to get his defensive skill, 'mikiri', using him pretty much requires that you pair him with Kumi, for her defensive support skill 'kabau' (protect). Once he has mikiri, you can choose not to use sharing, instead relying on him using that skill (while you have MP remaining) to survive enemy attacks. There is literally no one, including Corona, who does more damage than him before elemental bonuses.

    Corona- The dragon-girl who is the source of a lot of the story's troubles. If you think of her as a pure power type, you wouldn't be wrong... except she has two really standout skills: Dragon Breath and Dragon's Heart. The former is a skill that completely strips all the enemies in a unit of a layer of barriers in an instant (at a huge cost in mp) and the latter is a skill that restores 1 LP to any single unit. The latter is basically a resurrection field skill and Corona is one of only two characters that possesses such a skill (including Tsukioka, the extra character from the append disc). She also has a lot of HP and relatively few elemental weaknesses, which is helpful in keeping her alive.

    Tokino- The redheaded heroine. A Black elemental attacker with medium striking power. She is the weakest of the three main characters by far, due to her mediocre HP, mediocre attack power, and generally medium capabilities. Nonetheless, she isn't worthless (no character is, considering how few you have), so don't forget about her.

    Kumi- A Green elemental blonde loli wielding a halberd/battle axe. Her elemental barriers are extremely weak... but in exchange she has a ton of HP (#2 overall, behind Ryuuichi) and the skill 'kabau', which will save Touka's life until you get mikiri for him. After that, I seriously suggest just removing the skill, because it can only get her killed in most other battles, lol. Use her for decent attack power and the fact that she is one of only two green elementals.

    Kaname- A Blue elemental who wields a naginata. She is an odd one, with a combination of skills that allows her to both weaken enemy attack power and deal high amounts of damage. Because she is such a straightforward unit, there is nothing to really talk about except to say that she is one of your two valuable blue elementals, so be prepared to switch her around between units a lot. Her barriers are about equivalent with those of Tokino in terms of both HP and elemental coverage.

    Akane- Another damage powerhouse and a Red Elemental. She has the advantage of starting out with a powerful damage-dealing skill that strikes whenever an enemy attacks her, as well as the highest raw attack power of all the Red Elementals. On the other hand, she is so straightforward - similar to Kaname- that there is really very little give to how you can use her.

    Akechi- A powerful Black Elemental, who wields a bow. He is one of the three male fighting characters. His skills include a number of ones that weaken the enemy or strengthen his allies, as well as a field skill that lets your entire army receive an assault as if they were the ones doing the attacking (meaning your side strikes first each turn).

    Eri- Similar to Kaname, a straight-out power type and Blue Elemental. Unlike Kaname, she doesn't possess any significant support skills, so she basically exists only to do damage, and she has the second lowest hp, behind Touka. Using her is a bit difficult, as she tends to be vulnerable far too much of the time for comfort. Take particular care with her when facing her off against an enemy.

    Anastasia- One of the three Red Elementals, she is most useful for her support skills, which range from doing damage to every enemy as they attack to weakening the enemy against Red (thus allowing her to do more damage). She has relatively low HP and tends to take hard hits because of her barrier setup.

    Ryuuichi- A White Elemental who wields a lance. Two major points to be aware of are his counter-barrier skill (which comes default with him) and the weakness of his barriers. If you increase the counter-barrier, you can shave off huge amounts of enemy HP just in exchange for taking damage. He also has the highest HP in the game, so his large amount of weaknesses is actually an advantage if you you use him right. Do remember to deactivate the skill once the enemy's barriers are down, though... as it doesn't do LP damage. His damage rate is about identical to Fumi's.

    Asuka- Ryuuichi's adopted daughter and one of the two Green elementals. The thing you need to pay attention to with her is her defensive shield skill, which lets her defend each ally against a percentage of damage from enemy attacks, and her healing command skill, which heals large amounts of damage instead of attacking the enemy. When you are focused just on keeping your allies alive, these skills can be a lifesaver.

    Touka- The famous heroine from Ayakashibito and an append disc extra unit (Black Elemental). She starts out powerful and remains so throughout the game, simply because she starts with a skill that heals her and boosts her attack power, as well as both a Black and a White attack skill. This gives her a range of options that most units don't have until later in the game and allows her to remain useful throughout.

    Miyabi- One of the two main heroines of Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no (Red Elemental). She is about equivalent with Anastasia for attack power and defensive capabilities, but she starts out with two elemental attacks (Red and Blue), as well as a number of counter support skills. She remains fairly useful throughout the game so far, but not excessively so.

    Tsukioka- Append disc character and White Elemental. She is amongst the weakest of all characters in terms of attack power, and her only real advantages are the LP restoration field skill and dual elemental (White and Green) she possesses from the beginning. She does possess a healing support skill, but the conditions for it mean that characters with low max hp have difficulty finding a use for it.


    Edit:

    Yumina characters: Ayumu, Ai, Kirara, and Yumina join late-game. Compared to existing units, they are somewhat lacking due to their ability to use only one element. Nonetheless, Kirara's teleportation and Yumina's song field skills are immensely useful. Ayumu is fine as long as the enemy isn't strong against Red, as he has really powerful attacks.
  20. Clephas
    From the beginning I'm going to be blunt and say this VN is going to be a bit of a hard sell for most readers. There are several reasons for this.

    1. Rapid genre shifts (this thing jumps through hoops for at least four genres and shifts rapidly from serious, to sad, to scary... so rapidly most people will probably lose track of what's going on)
    2. There is a surprisingly large amount of rape and H in general for a VN that is only about five to six hours long for me (and about twelve to fourteen for slower people).
    3. The rapid-fire pacing and sheer number of meaningless choices

    Ok, first of all, this doesn't really function very well as a mystery, save for the first path. On the first path, you have no idea whatsoever is going on, and at the end of it, anyone with a brain will have figured out at least some of what happened. Second, this VN frequently slips into comedic turns (particularly because the protagonist is a perverted skirt-chaser who is utterly incapable of lying) that are often followed up by sad or mildly scary ones.

    There are a lot of points where this feels like haunted house horror (without the murder), and there are even more points where it feels like everything is just put there so the protagonist can make you laugh. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if most people feel the way I did when it ended... that the entire thing was a joke, collectively speaking.

    I can't really say who this would appeal to, because for every person that this hits the sweet spot, there is bound to be eight or nine who can't stand it. That is because it is so frenetic and weirdly structured. The true ending is fairly hilarious and actually quite pleasant... but people who go into this expecting straight-out mystery/horror will probably come out dissatisfied. If there were more VNs like this out there, I'd probably be able to define a new genre with this, because everything it pretends to be it doesn't quite match, hahaha.

    VN of the Month Announcement

    VN of the Month, June 2015 is: Love Rec by Alcot
  21. Clephas
    After finishing this VN, I had a lot of thoughts... mostly positive. There is almost nothing to complain about with this VN. It shows off the best of Alcot's style of work, with hilarious character interactions, good nakige scenes, and a strong true route and ending. From the perspective of someone familiar with the structure of this type of nakige (which is what it turns out to be), this one is fairly close to kamige level.

    First, there are four main heroines in this VN. Chiho, the deredere osananajimi who has absolutely no qualms about showing off either her love for Akira or her somewhat perverted/twisted personality. Miyuki, the tsundere ojousama amateur (almost pro) director with an incredibly demanding personality and a fondness for lolis that almost makes you think she is a female Steve. Nori, the professional video editor with the sweet, quiet personality and an intense otaku hobby (as well as being a devoted follower of idols in general and a specific virtual idol in particular). Last of all, there is Hitomi, the spirit of Akira's camera who materialized for the sole purpose of aiding Akira... and who has an almost endless hunger for food in general and sweets in particular.

    This game is unapologetic in its approach to comedy, ecchi, and its somewhat ridiculously off the wall character interactions... and that is probably its biggest overt attraction. For those who begin watching the VN, its comedy is what will draw you in. The decision to resurrect the 'loli true heroine' cliche actually worked out well in this case, as Hitomi was portrayed perfectly in her role, presenting the kind of vulnerability mixed with adorableness and sweetness that the community's lolicons absolutely adore. Akira, being a solid 'following his dreams' type, actually serves well as a male lead, which is a rarity in this type of VN, where the protagonist usually exists just to be a cipher.

    The downside to this game is that the heroine routes other than Hitomi's are somewhat overshadowed by Hitomi's route, which only makes sense in the bigger context. However, it isn't as much of a downside as you might think... since the true ending after-story is basically



    For those who enjoyed Alcot's previous works, such as Osadai or Naka no Hito, this is a great choice. This is also good for those who like the twin aspects of comedy and nakige-style catharsis and those who just want to sit back and enjoy a moe-style VN with a reasonably good story. While the story itself is yet another take on a familiar old trope, it is carried out well enough that you can't help but enjoy it anyway.


    Edit: I should have added that most of the nakige stuff (except for some heroine issues) is in Hitomi's path... This isn't an innovative game, and it doesn't add anything new to VNs in general. What it does well is utilize the cliches and archetypes about as well as it is possible to do, creating a high-level game of the type. If you have to follow the cliches of charage/nakige in general, this is a really good way to do it, in other words. This isn't VN of the Year material, but it is definitely VN of the Month material.
  22. Clephas
    First, I should explain Alcot's varying styles to those who aren't accustomed to me discussing this company. Alcot has three types of VNs it makes. One is the classic charage type, like Clover Days. The characters and story are funny but tend to be shallow, with little overall depth. Nonetheless, because the stories are funny, you still like them anyway. The second type are the more serious works, like Kurenai no Tsuki, which have more adult (not in the sexual meaning of the word) themes and an actual central plot. This type can range from mysteries to high fantasy, and of the three types it has the most varying quality between works. The third type is their fantasy/sci-fi comedy games. Starting with Osadai (Girlfriend is President) and including Naka no Hito, this type tends to keep the humor of the charage types (sometimes including silly story elements such as giant pandas with pretty human daughters) and include a much deeper type of character development (mixed with the humor).

    This game falls into the third category, at least from the common route and the first route so far. It has a definite element of fantasy to it, and the interactions in the common route are fast paced and generally hilarious. At the same time, the protagonist is one of the few 'normal guy' types I felt escaped that particular protagonist type's limitations, due to his addiction to his camera and his supportive nature toward those who catch his interest.

    Nori

    Nori is a young woman who reached the heights of pro video editing while still in middle school, but she gets dragged out of her hikikomori lifestyle through a combination of her big brother's efforts and the protagonist's encouragement (and timely questions). Her path has an indecent amount of ichaicha, but since she also grows a great deal during the course of the path, it is hard to complain. Her confrontation of her personal issues, in addition to the drama near the end, is the focus of the path, and it makes the ending a lot more satisfying than you normally would expect. While this route didn't contain an epilogue that could satisfy me, it is a solid path nonetheless and something to look forward to for fans of oppai.
  23. Clephas
    Well, you'll be disappointed to know that I am disappointed with this VN, even though I didn't have high hopes for it.

    First, I should explain the theory/template for a good trap protagonist VN.

    1. Protagonist is voiced (voicing the protagonist in these VNs with a sex-neutral-sounding VA generally gives you what you want)
    2. Protagonist is something of a submissive personality, when it comes to minor issues, but when it comes to anything major is proactive.
    3. Protagonist at some point stops being bothered by the fact that they are dressing up as a girl. (along with occasional sighs when they realize they are thinking completely like a woman)
    4. Protagonist is generally capable, earning the positive emotions he gets from the girls honestly.
    5. The discovery of the protagonist's sex by the heroine is in a suitably dramatic manner, thus generally overwriting the shock of the discovery of his lie (most of the time).
    6. The actual issue of his true sex is an object of humor to those who know the truth.

    I should say that 1, 2, 4, and 5 are violated by this VN (though 5 isn't violated by all the routes). To those who have played Tsuriotsu since it got the voice patch or Koi no Canvas, you will know what I am talking about with 1. A protagonist that is on the verge of being a non-entity without a voice will become a real person the second they start talking, and the lack of a voice actually feels weird when everyone considers the protagonist to be a girl. In 2's case, the protagonist is a near-complete submissive with a side of hetare. This is a downside in any VN, but it was particularly bad in this one... With 4... the protagonist is basically a nonentity, shy and generally hopeless. Again, this is a downer for any VN, but this also means it feels like he didn't 'earn' the heroines' affections, which is pretty much unforgivable in this type of VN.

    Now, for some general conclusions about the VN... this one only barely stops short of nukige territory when it comes to the h-scenes. The number per route (somewhere around seven or eight) is ridiculous, and - sadly - a large amount of the final parts of each heroine's story are a part of the h-scenes, thus making it almost a necessity to read them all. Making it worse is that the common route is ridiculously short and the heroine routes are of similar length, meaning character development is minimal at best.

    While I generally don't expect much of Moonstone, this was a particularly disastrous entry, in my opinion.
  24. Clephas
    To be honest, the harvest for this year so far has been kind of... less than impressive, to say the least. The best VN I've played this year so far was Silverio Vendetta, and even I think it would have been much better if it had only contained Vendetta's path. I'll come straight out with it and say there aren't any solid candidates so far, even though the year is almost half-over. Last year, by this time, there were four solid candidates - though the later part of the year blew most of them out of the water, and all the candidates from 2013 were concentrated around the beginning of the year.

    It is kind of worrying how little in the way of exciting VNs has been released so far this year, and while I am holding out hopes for the new game from Tigre Soft and one or two other possible releases, my experience so far this year is that all the major companies seem to be trying to spit out games that will make them a quick buck for small amounts of effort (fandiscs, shorter games than usual with fewer cgs, using newbie writers, etc). To an extent, that was true last year as well, but it has gotten worse since this year began. For someone who is basically plowing through an average of four or five new VNs every month (or six or seven, like last month), this is not just a minor issue but a real problem. While I found Silverio Vendetta in February to be immensely fun, there really hasn't been anything that blew me out of the water so far.

    Understand, this isn't a case of my standards being too high (normally, I would suspect that, but looking at the ones I've played so far objectively...). Rather, it is a case of the bar being lowered overall, by the companies doing the releasing. As an example, Giga released yet another visually impressive but somewhat subpar moe-battle VN near the beginning of the year with an obvious eye toward imitating (poorly) some of Majikoi's more enjoyable aspects, combined with some from the Ikki Tousen anime's concept. Normally, this VN would have been exciting, and it did have all the elements necessary to make a good VN... put together in such a manner that it turned out to be surprisingly bland.

    Sanoba Witch, which I had some rather high hopes for, also disappointed me somewhat. For all Yuzusoft's flaws, that company has always tended to understand where the line between serious and joke needs to be drawn in each of its games (ie Dracu-riot). Unfortunately, there was only one path in that game that I could unreservedly praise, and it definitely wasn't kamige material.

    Combine that with a poor showing by Minato Soft and barely acceptable works by Pulltop and a few other companies, and I have to wonder exactly what is going on in the eroge business right now.

    I know I sound unnecessarily condemnatory, and you would be right to say I'm being pessimistic. However, the fact remains that it hasn't been a good year so far, and six months without a kamige is downright depressing. Of course, you usually can only expect one or two kamige in a given year... but most of the best companies have been producing disappointments, so I think my pessimism is well-deserved, personally.
  25. Clephas
    I get people asking me all the time why I like this VN so much, and indeed, there is a lot about this VN that makes it a somewhat eclectic choice. The only thing that is even remotely moe is the basic visuals, and the arcs of the story range from the shocking to the creepy.

    First, the biggest reason is quite simple... Kamio Ami. It is really rare for a heroine to so completely shatter pre-existing standards of what a VN/anime/manga heroine should be. Ami is the single most pragmatic, cold-blooded, and manipulative heroine I've ever come across. She also mixes that with a hedonistic side that makes her even harder to read.

    The second reason is a bit more complex. This VN basically crucifies modern Japanese culture from beginning to end. It pokes holes in common Japanese preconceptions of what should be, and it outright sneers at the assumption many make that the law is there to protect people. I don't think I've ever come across a VN that so completely finds the most distasteful aspects of modern Japanese law and customs and dissects them for you to see.

    If you choose to take it that way, this VN can be seen as a symbolic jab at all the things the Japanese don't want to think about when it comes to their culture, whether it is the way their law treats domestic disputes or the fact that, of all the first-world nations on the planet, they have the least effective rape-victim protections. This VN is fairly merciless, and the fact that it is represented through two character opposites at both extremes of the spectrum - Ami (realism) and Eru (law and order) - only creates a higher degree of symbolism that reminds me of the best philosophical fiction I've read in English.

    Now... do you still wonder why I love this VN, or why I put it on the list of potential VNs of the Year for 2014? It isn't a kamige, but it is an impressive literary achievement. I'll be straight out and say this VN really picks its readers. Straight-out weaboo types and moege-lovers won't get into this (for different reasons), and those who want to keep their illusions about Japan will also be made to feel a little uncomfortable during the course of reading this VN. However, it is nonetheless something worth reading, for those who simply enjoy a good read.
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