Clephas

*frees the loli from enslavement, gives her some candy and a gun, and then he tells her where to aim on a lolicon's body* 

Though this year did have a few kamige ('kami' being god and 'ge' being 'game'), including Hapymaher, Komorebi no Nostalgica, and Natsu no Owari no Nirvana, I carefully considered over the past few weeks, as I finished the last of December's interesting releases, which I would pick.  I also briefly considered Madou Koukaku as a candidate, but concluded that it did not match any of the other three in story quality, though it has excellent gameplay.  That all three candidates came out in the first quarter of the year might say something terrible about the VN industry in general, but the fact is that most years, we are lucky to get just one or two games worthy of entering into the annals of legend (otherwise known as my favorites list, lol).  Having three worthy of consideration, all coming out around the same time, is not a negative thing. 
 
Komorebi no Nostalgica, which I introduced to several people who were interested in science fiction but wanted something that more seriously approaches the concept of an AI, in a number of ways, is an excellent game overall, with a truly great cast of characters.  This game had few noticeable flaws, and I'm still engaged with the characters emotionally, even nine months later.  As such, there was never any doubt it would be a candidate.
 
Hapymaher is the new game that made me cry the most this year.  That might seem like a dubious recommendation, coming from me, but it is rare for me to actually break down and cry just in the course of a game, rather than only at the climax.  I cried through about one third of this game, and it easily has the best soundtrack I've seen in a non-Propeller game in three years.  More importantly, it uses all those soundtracks effectively to enhance its somewhat whacked-out story and makes it feel alive using the old-fashioned methodology that used to make jrpg stories so beloved.  The story itself is fairly weird, something of a mindfuck for people not used to this kind of thing.  However, this doesn't detract in any way from the reader's enjoyment.  If the game has a flaw, it is that some people won't be able to bring themselves to like the protag and others will find the Alice in Wonderland themes (there is definite influence) irritating.  I didn't, despite hating that book, but I know some people can't even stand references to it.
 
Natsu no Owari no Nirvana was one of two great utsuge produced this year.  It has a somewhat odd story, where the protagonist (the son of Enma, the Japanese-Buddhist Judge of the Dead) has to cleanse and judge the souls of three sinners.  The story overall is fairly sad, and the true ending will have even the most stoic feeling at least a little down.  This is contrasted with the protagonist's rather hilarious antics (he is something of a layabout) and the goddess Kannon's rather... interesting treatment of him. 
 
 
In the end, however, it came down to the first two, Komorebi and Hapymaher.  Nirvana sometimes hits too light a note for an utsuge, and while it is an immensely enjoyable VN, both Hapymaher and Komorebi are on a different level entirely.  At that point, I had a choice between a game that had made me think, as well as laugh and cry (Komorebi), and a game that had engaged my emotions on a number of levels (Hapymaher), leaving me to make a rather hard choice.  It could have gone either way.  I'd decided on one or the other a half dozen times in the last two weeks, and I almost posted the result for that momentary decision any number of times.
 
However, in the end, I decided that Hapymaher was the only possible choice.  It is a game that meets the highest standards on every level, but more than anything else, its music takes it to levels Komorebi couldn't achieve with the story and characters alone.  So, officially, Clephas' VN of the Year for 2013 is Hapymaher, by Purple Software.

My favorite genre, as most of you probably know, is chuuni.  Chuuni is a genre where the protagonist is generally at the center of events, able to effect those events, and the story is generally filled with melodramatic plot and spoken lines, meant to be taken absolutely seriously.  An example of chuuni anime, for example, would be Fate/Zero or Code Geass (to give you an idea of what to look for).  Chuuni comes from the word 'chuunibyou', which is a common stage of development for teenagers, when they desperately want to believe they are more than they are and sometimes even convince themselves they are more than they are.  Many people who get addicted to fantasy and science fiction tend to get addicted during this stage of their lives, and it is also a stage of life that people generally look back on with embarrassment once they get over it.  This is the reason why the Japanese stuck 'byou' onto the end of the word, which has the same kanji as the one for disease, lol. 
 
For those who simply enjoy fantasy and melodrama for the wild ride it can give, chuuni is pretty much the ultimate genre.  Chuuni also tends to tackle philosophical issues that get left by the roadside as people mature, simply because people start thinking that it is somehow embarrassing or pretentious to consider such issues as if they were the first person to do so ever.  Not to mention that many of the best writers in the otaku industry write chuuni VNs, light novels, and manga.  This is because it is a genre, similar to the ero genre, which simply has none of the limits that other genres tend to put on themselves.
 
That said, here I am going to put down a list of chuuni VNs, both translated and untranslated, for the reference of fanboys.
 
Translated
Muv-luv Alternative
Fate/stay Night
Tsukihime
Comyu (partly translated)
Eien no Aselia
Yumina
Kagetsu Tooya
Phantom of Inferno
Demonbane
G-Senjou no Maou (yes, it is chuuni, and even though I don't personally like this game, it is nonetheless a technically good game)
Sharin no Kuni
Sekien no Inganock
Rewrite (yes, it is chuuni... it was deliberately written to be chuuni)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Shikkoku no Sharnoth
Soul Link
Grisaia no Kajitsu
Cross Channel
Koihime Musou
Ayakashibito
 
Understand, I'm mostly listing all of these to give you a sense of just how wide the chuuni genre is.  While games like Comyu, Tsukihime, and FSN are most commonly labeled as such, games such as Sharin no Kuni and G-Senjou can be included for their degrees of melodrama, complex plot twists and turn-arounds, and attempts at hedge philosophy.  This should also tell you that a lot of translators are hidden chuuni fans, to one degree or another.  If nothing else, chuuni games are full of content that is well-considered and thought out, which tends to attract those with the passion and interest for translation.  To an extent, games like Hoshizora no Memoria also have chuuni elements, albeit not strongly enough to consider them primarily as chuuni games.
 
Untranslated
Evolimit
Bullet Butlers
Chrono Belt
Devils Devel Concept
Dies Irae
Draculius
Eden*
Abyss- Homicide Club
Futagoza no Paradox
Hapymaher
Ikusa Megami Zero
Jingai Makyou
Sinclient
Ruitomo
Soukoku no Arterial
Soukou Akki Muramasa
Sousei Kitan Aerial
Tiny Dungeon (entire series)
Tokyo Babel (non-ero, for those who prefer things that way)
Vermillion Bind of Blood
Yurikago Yori Tenshi made
Bloody Rondo
Boku ga Tenshi ni Natta Wake (avoid this if you are scared of utsuge)
Danzai no Maria
Electro Arms
Gleam Garden no Shoujo
Gekkou no Carnevale
Gurenka
Hello,good-bye
Legend Seven
Owaru Sekai to Birthday
Para-sol
Shinigami no Testament
Shinjisougeki Carnival
Shuumatsu Shoujo Gensou Alicematic
Soranica Ele
'&' Sora no Mukou de Sakimasu you ni
Trouble@Vampire
Tsubasa wo Kudasai
Bloody Call
Gensou no Idea
Shin Koihime Musou
ExE
Gothic Delusion
Fortissimo (every version)
Heliotrope - Sora wa Shi ni Itaru Kami no Ai (this one is both an utsuge and has a sort-of hetare protag, so it is an acquired taste)
Innocent Bullet
Jesus 13th
Kajiri Kamui Kagura
Kouyoku no Soleil
Noel
Secret Game/Killer Queen (the entire series)
Seinarukana (Aselia sequel)
11eyes
Shoujo Shin'iki
3 Days
Tokeijikake no Leyline
Yatohime Zankikou
Zero Infinity
Izuna Zanshinken
8/13/2014 edit
Hello, Lady
Bradyon Veda
Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin
Houkago no Futekikakusha
 
 
There are a few genres that chuuni is almost completely incompatible with, such as 'original' or pure moege, but to make a good story, with decent drama, it is almost impossible to avoid putting something with chuuni elements in it.  The truest sign of chuuni influence is melodrama, after all.  Even the nakige genre has chuuni influences, as can be seen in Clannad and Air, (the reincarnation issues in Air, and the general melodramatic emotion-pulling that made Clannad so popular).  For the fun of it, try picking up chuuni elements in your favorite anime and video games.  Don't bother with jrpgs though, since those things are mostly straight chuuni, lol.

Detailed character art, examples of tachie, and a more detailed outline of the story and characters.  I could come up with better than that in ten minutes.

Survival, action, mystery... my best recommendation to you would probably be Kurenai no Tsuki.  It is a decent supernatural mystery with some action and a logical progression of events (though the logic of it is generally hidden from the protag).   http://vndb.org/v2031
 
Another possible recommendation for you would be the Secret Game/Killer Queen series, though that one is no so much a mystery as a battle royale/survival sort of thing.  http://vndb.org/v5435 I'd suggest playing the latest version of this one first, as it leads right into Killer Queen/Secret Game chronologically... though some prefer to play Killer Queen/Secret Game original first. 

Welcome to Fuwa *summons a pretty girl who immediately falls in love with the thread's author, her eyes obsessed and a knife hidden under her clothing*

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

This thread is very simple, but perhaps more interesting than you might think. 
 
What ten fictional characters have given you the most inspiration, joy, laughter, and food for thought?  Think carefully on this.  Fanboyism is all well and good, but you should think carefully and consider - what characters have had the most lasting effect on you?
 
1) Anomander Rake- Oddly, he is one of the few characters of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson that you never once get behind the eyes of.  Nonetheless, if I had to pick a character who was the most inspiring in the series, just off the top of my head, it would be him.  He gets off-hand compliments from various oddballs in the series, and his actions are always honorable and (perhaps more importantly) thoughtful.   He is a Tiste Andii, a member of a race of black-skinned beings that live unbelievably long lifespans and who are perpetually morose due to the absence of their goddess.  For three hundred thousand years after his people's goddess abandoned them, he simply went about the task of protecting his people from themselves, giving them causes and reasons to live.  At the same time, he made others' causes his own, protecting many and opposing tyrants.  Perhaps what he is most infamous for is his sword, Dragnipur, which absorbs the souls of those it kills and sets them to eternally pulling a wagon that represents Darkness in its perpetual flight from chaos.  However, despite the sheer power he wields (he is also a Soletaken - basically a were-being dragon) he can take the time to find joy in the happiness of one of his servants falling in love and he will be the first to tell them to prioritize that love over his service. 
 
2) Hinaori Kagome- The true heroine of Comyu (a VN that is in the process of translation by Amaterasu).  She is Akihito's self-described 'deredere osananajimi'.  She is vicious, sadistic, and contemptuous of virtually everyone.  She is also utterly ruthless with anyone who threatens Akihito, who is her priority number one, though she is just as contemptuous of him at times as anyone else.  Her favorite weapon is a kukri, which she wields with careless skill that is terrifying to those around her.  She is also a genius (as in a Hawking-level genius) and Akihito's name for her is 'the Black Witch'.  Incidentally, she is the only heroine I've run into so far that no one has successfully attempted to turn into a cookie-cutter archetype in other VNs.
 
3) Shigure Sora- Ok, two 'evil' characters in a row, but that's Clephas for you, lol.  Shigure Sora is the protagonist of Devils Devel Concept (another VN).  He describes himself as being 'broken' and has the habit of smoking cigarettes on the roof (bad cigarettes at that) at school, having sex with his sexfriend Mutsuki, and killing demons on his way to the convenience store.  He is lacking in certain emotions normal humans need, such as guilt, love (though he does possess an odd sort of attachment to people he likes to be around), and empathy.  Despite this, he is very rational most of the time, and due to his high degree of self-awareness, is something of a philosopher.  He doesn't believe in objective morality, and he continually lectures others when they ask him about it that all 'good' in the world is simply that person's 'evil' or their subjective perspective.
 
4)  Kokoro (real name: Chenfui)-


 
5) Ilya- Every VN fan and a lot of anime fans know Ilya.  As such, I'll set aside the long description.  Simply put, she was the female character who left the strongest impression amongst the first VNs I played and it still strikes me hard now that she always seems to get the short end of the stick.  C'mon Nasu, let the girl have a life for god's sake.
 
6) Konata- The protagonist of Konata yori Kanata Made. 


 
7) Belche- One of the heroines of Draculius.  She is a 500 year old vampire, a loli, and a maid.  Not to mention that she is ruthless, powerful, and brilliant. 


 
Ganoes Paran- The very first character whose eyes the author gets behind in the Malazan Book of the Fallen.  He is a surprisingly resilient young man who endures the unendurable and always does his best for those that he has a responsibility to.  The manner in which events take hold of him in the early books only serves to make him more admirable when he takes something resembling control over his own destiny.
 
9)  Harry Dresden- The protagonist of the Dresden Files, an urban fantasy novel series written by Jim Butcher.  His antics as a wizard in Chicago both amuse and fascinate throughout the book series so far, and he will make you laugh on a regular basis, if only because he is such a smart-aleck that can't seem to stop from using Star Wars references on a regular basis.
 
10)  Magus- One of the antagonists of Chrono Trigger and the man who started my ongoing obsession with pointed ears, pale skin, dark clothing, and cool-looking bad guys. 

I came up with this idea on a whim, but I thought about how interesting it would be to list up a bunch of game design concepts (not necessarily the mechanics, though it would be fine to include those as well), and present them to the community in general.  Basically, you would set a basic theme, a genre, a story concept, and a list of ideas for how you would like the gameplay to work.  Think of it as brainstorming and just jot down whatever you want to show off. 
 
This is just an example, made to give you an idea of what I mean.
 
Genre: RTS, RPG, squad-based
 
Story concept:  Setting in a fantasy world, where sorcery is gradually being reduced to a science, usable by more than a tenth of the population (as opposed to the one in ten thousand of previous ages) and magic-users have become the new upper class in most nations.  War has broken out between three nations over the territory of the Ryland City-States, a federation of twenty-three city-states that recently collapsed into civil war after the titular king and the Senate were slaughtered in an act of sorcerous terrorism.  The three nations are the Dicel Republic, the Isolar Alliance, and the Cytal Hegemony.  Each nation has its own sorcerous specialties and preferred paths of study.  However, the war has fallen into a stalemate, with each of the three nations holding roughly one tenth of the City-States original territory after numerous conflicts and massive casualties in several terrible battles.  Because of the degree of exhaustion the armies of all sides have suffered, they have begun to rely on mercenaries to do the dirty work of securing the country side and of aiding their conquest.  Your protagonist is a mercenary officer, formerly of the City-State of Litonia.  How he navigates the war will decide his fate and possibly the fate of his former homeland.
 
Game mechanics:  Player controls the protagonist and gives order to his unit (varying in size from five troops to one hundred) through hot-buttons.  The protagonist uses varied sorcery and weapons to cut his way through the battlefield, earning as much money as he can along the way.  Battlefields will range from simple open field battles, to forest ambushes of supply-trains, and sieges where sorcery flies alongside catapult stones to shatter walls.  Outside of battle, the protagonist has the opportunity to interact with members of each faction (the three main factions and the surviving City-States) and make connections, earning him chances at work with better pay, as well as access to varied sorcerous research and powers.  Search mode would allow the protagonist to search the ruins of ancient civilizations for useful artifacts of the previous age, and independent mode would allow him to purchase or otherwise obtain the services of different units or skilled partners in combat, purchase new and different or better equipment, or make political inroads within the local system.  The amount of political influence the protagonist has gives him a better chance to be awarded with jobs from local officials and the factions. 

lol, what's 4chan? But seriously, taking a bunch of permatrolls seriously is a waste of time and energy. Even if you are jaded you should make an effort to be a decent human being. I don't join major social networks, as a personal policy. My primary reasons are my belief that the human brain degenerates when it is exposed to large groups of people as opposed to conversations with a smaller group and my distaste for people who can't bring themselves to look at reality. Not only that, obsessing over other people's opinion of you - in the form of kudos, thumbs ups, etc. - has a lot of bad effects on an individual's mental health. Cynicism and constructive criticism are one thing, but being poisonous without making a legitimate point is a habit far too many people are into on the net.

*Clephas does the evil dance, calling on the spirits of eroge to bless MottainaiVN's arrival with an endless libido and thousands of pretty traps that will transform into pretty girls if he finds true love with them*

http://vndb.org/v9205 (non-ero, but I found the romance in it to be fairly mature, with its own logical progression, though there is a lot of melodrama in the game overall)
http://vndb.org/v604 (this is one of my oldest favorites and the romances for the main school heroines - Miyabi, Donoko, and Shino are good, though the protag is a teacher so he goes through the usual 'teacher-student relationship' internal dilemma)
http://vndb.org/v551 (All but one of the paths in this one are tragic, short-lived love, but what's there is very well-done, if somewhat melodramatic)
http://vndb.org/v6411 (great game overall... though the true ending is somewhat harem-ish and there is a threesome ending in the 'sun school' endings)

Game of the month candidates for the November releases:
 
http://vndb.org/v12487 (as this is chuuni, I'll be playing this first)
http://vndb.org/v12795 (this will be the second one I play, because I liked the original)
http://vndb.org/v12856 (Ensemble's games tend to vary greatly in quality, so I'm sort of wary of this one)
http://vndb.org/v12981 (chuable's last game was awful, so I don't have much in the way of hopes for this one)
http://vndb.org/v12982 (Alcot Honeycomb, and thus worth playing.  I've yet to encounter a game by this company that didn't provide at least a decent level of entertainment)
http://vndb.org/v12985 (debut title, might be a nukige, taking a chance on it anyway)
http://vndb.org/v12988 (nekoneko soft and thus a chancy proposition... but I'll try it anyway)
http://vndb.org/v12992 (low priority, since the parent company only makes nukige... but I heard this was intended to be a moege, so I'll try it and give my honest opinion, lol)
http://vndb.org/v13260 (seems like your classic love-comedy, nothing to get excited about)
http://vndb.org/r29096 (remake of a classic, so worth taking a look at)
http://vndb.org/v9913 (previous games by this company sucked, but I'm giving it a chance)
 
Edit: tbh, I'll probably only play the top three, the Alcot game, and the Kazoku Keikaku remake right away and wait for the others.  I can only take so many moege in a single month, lol. 

Welcome.  If you've run out, feel free to learn Japanese so I can bombard you with suggestions, lol.  I'll be happy to drown you in an endless sea of VNs that will corrupt your soul and make you over into someone who will never look at a 3D woman/man/it again.

I use utorrent myself.  Welcome to the forums.

A Fuwanovel forums member introduction thread.  *looks at solidbatman incredulously, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world*

And October's winner is... Walkure Romanze More&More (http://vndb.org/v10983).  Normally I wouldn't choose a fandisc as game of the month, but the original game was a decent seishun drama and charage with an interesting setting that made a good case for loving each of its heroines.  In addition, this game followed in its footsteps quite well by giving three new unique routes that maintained the quality of the original (in addition to two of the heroines being ones everybody wanted in the first one, lol) while not trying to copy the original's paths.  For this, I felt confident that I was right to view this game as a game in and of itself, capable of standing on its own within limits. 
 
For those who want to ask about Cocoro@Function, I decided not to choose it for a very simple reason... they shafted two of the heroines with non-paths that turn them into sub-heroines put there only for loli h-scenes.  It hit one of my major pet peeves (if you aren't going to have a main heroine whose route beats all the others in quality, then all the heroine routes should contain roughly the same amount of content and depth of story).  However, if you stick to the other three routes, you do get a decent quality charage with nice - if not great - individual heroine routes. 
 
For those interested in Usotsuki Ouji to Nayameru Himesama, check my comments thread on vndb.  Standard Whirlpool fare does not equal worthy of game of the month, in my mind.
 
For those who were interested in Chiisana Kanojo... think your typical shallow moege that is almost a nukige and you will have a picture of what it was like. 
 
The Monobeno fandisc is your standard fandisc, unlike the Walkure Romanze one, and, as such, it wasn't a serious candidate.

http://vndb.org/v453
http://clephasstomach.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-draculius.html
 
 
Relatively easy language for a story-focused VN.
 
http://vndb.org/v5909
http://vndb.org/v551
http://vndb.org/v4868
http://vndb.org/v4806
http://vndb.org/v100
http://vndb.org/v1335
http://vndb.org/v3767 (this entire series in order of release)
http://vndb.org/v9890
http://vndb.org/v10803
http://vndb.org/v11863
http://vndb.org/v10026
http://vndb.org/v8213
http://vndb.org/v7302
http://vndb.org/v7772
http://vndb.org/v828
http://vndb.org/v4942
 
I hope that was enough for a start.
 
Edit: All of these have 4-6 difficulty as their average and 7 as the highest.  Honestly, there is nothing but crap amongst those easier than these.  Thankfully, 6 and 7 almost never pop up in any of them, so you'll be on easy street for much of it.

Welcome, Alphy.  Great to have you.

*looks disappointed no one has given a loli for him to do terrible things to* Hello, welcome to the forums.

*looks sad that no one understood the wonder and beauty of his decoration of the gift-lolis*

1) Yes, a definite yes.  I love sister routes, especially twin sister routes.  I have a thing for the forbidden and obsessively passionate relationships when it comes to romance, and sister routes tend to provide that more often than the regular 'I just met you but I love you' sort of VN romance.
 
2) I don't believe in censorship in literature or complete fiction, though I personally despise rape and am not fond of hard BDSM (anything beyond a blindfold or maybe tying the hands makes me wither, lol).  My only stipulation is that one should also understand where pro-censorship people are coming from.  In their eyes, fiction is not just fiction, it something a writer could see themselves doing in many cases.  Also, you shouldn't underestimate the amount of influence the written word can have on the reader.  A half a decade ago, I would have considered it disgusting to speak about my personal fetishes with others, and now I have no problem making jokes about it.  That is almost entirely due to my obsessive playing of VNs.  It is this influence that pro-censorship people fear, and it is a legitimate fear... though fear is not a good enough reason to ignore the principles of free speech.  Vulgarity and the like are matters of subjective perspective, and as such they are not legitimate reasons to suppress the freedom of expression. 

lol, editor is basically another name for a proofreader, translation-checker is the one who fixes the translation (after editing).  Management of groups changes depending on the members (since some groups are just fine without one and others only need reminders or an organizational chief) though it is wise to choose someone who is good at managing people or herding cats, if you have the occasion to choose one.  Don't mix up editing with translation-checker, though a tlc must have the same skills as an editor, as he has to keep from creating grammatical errors as he goes...  His job is as much fixing needless tl mistakes the editor created as it is fixing the original translation. 

Register on this thread if you're interested in participation on a project and have the available time and commitment.
Alternatively, you could look for a project yourself in this thread here:
https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/7108-list-of-projects-currently-recruiting/

Format
1) Handle (the one you use or plan to use):
2) Positions you can fill:
3) Types of projects (VNs) preferred:
4) Availability (edit this one as you get involved in projects):
5) (VNs most interested in producing an ftl for:
6) Motivation for joining in on ftl:
7) Conditions* (any additional conditions, under which you will or won't work):

*Please mention whether you are fine with working on Yuri, Yaoi and Otome games.

It is recommended you don't say 'anything' on your 'preferred VNs' section. You should always pick games that fit your interests or were good enough to keep your interest even after it has tortured you for several hundred hours. It's one thing to take anything when you are making money, it is quite another to do so when you are a volunteer.

Example (by Clephas):




This thread has various rules to ensure the highest accuracy and usability:
-Do not register here if you believe you will be unavailable soon after. Commitment is necessary for projects.
 
-Please make sure to click "Show 'edit by' line" when editing you post, or at least, add a date for when it was last updated if you can help it.

-This thread will be heavily moderated to assure only posts which fulfill all the conditions will remain.
-If you fail to follow the format you will be PM'ed and we will inquire about what you missed. You will then edit your post with the missing information or will have it edited by a board mod.

-People who still remain on this thread will all be PM'ed by a board mod in order to ask whether they are still as readily available as they were when they registered. This will happen irregularly (but probably not more than 3 times a year).

Something to look forward to, when Amaterasu gets done tling it, lol.  Hinaori Kagome, from Comyu. 

Welcome to the forums.