Supah Kawaii Weeaboo

As I said recently in another topic, I pre-ordered the Vita-exclusive visual novels Norn9: Var Commons and Code: Realize. I'm not quite as enthusiastic for Amnesia: Memories, since it won't have a physical copy. In any case, all three should be released in English during fall 2015. Sekai Project is currently releasing the Grisaia stories on PC. However, as of July 25 2015, the company still plans to release them for the Vita in English.

I have strived to maintain a mindset of "Support the industry in order to have better products and translations." This applies equally to all of my fandoms. I'll pay money in order to show my support for VNs, prose fiction, comics, music, video and board games, etc. My most recent VN purchase was the Vita edition of Hatoful Boyfriend. Prior to that, I bought a copy of Oreimo Portable from a dealer at a local fan convention, and I decided to preorder physical copies of Norn9: Var Commons and Code: Realize. There have been times when it's difficult to justify purchasing a product. My top five issues that get in the way... 1. If the DRM requires that I need to log in, or start up while online, I will probably not buy it. 2. If the English release has an egregious amount of censorship, I'll likely avoid it. 3. If the translation is known for being a trainwreck, I'll skip it. (I learned this lesson after Lux-Pain.) 4. If there is news indicating that the product could have had an official release, but it was cancelled, I will not be inclined to import a copy. (For instance, Nanashi no Game could have been released in English... but it apparently wasn't interesting for the people who test screened it.) 5. A cartridge game specific problem. Most games for NIntendo DS and older cart-based systems only have a physical version, and it's not possible to modify a cartridge with a fan translation. So while I have thought about buying the original version of LovePlus, that purchase would mean that I would end up with an untranslated cart that I can't modify.

Of course. Everything is flawed. It would be ridiculous for me to say that women's fiction is superior to men's fiction, or vice versa. There are no perfect genres, demographics, or categories. Also, I do not consider any kind of entertainment to be irredeemable. The main character of "Bakudan Handan" is an interesting individual. She can take charge of a dangerous situation, and work well with other people. It's implied that she has amazing skills at deduction. She sometimes benefits by giving into her anger. Her main goal is survival, rather than finding a significant other. The main character of "Date Warp" is also fascinating. She ends up trapped in an alternate dimension, but deals rather well with the challenges that she faces there. In the recent past, I've struggled to like visual novels with boy x girl pairings. I keep asking myself questions such as "Do I find the main character sympathetic?" and "Is he just a Marty Stu and a stand-in for the reader?"

Grassland Symphony was an attempt to create a visual novel without words -- just using pictures and music. Its development stalled. Since there have been no updates in over two years, it's safe to say that it died quietly. If you're reading this and you want to create a VN in which every moment or action gets its own unique comic panel, then I will be interested. You might benefit by keeping it short and simple. Consider what the people who created Tell Her a Story did in a month. After you know that you can finish a project, then consider moving on to something more complex. I noticed that Down mentioned Understanding Comics. Some parts of the book are dated now, but it's still worth reading. If you're a writer, be sure to look through it, and then think about questions such as "How do I want to tell my story?" and "What form do I want it to take?"

After reading your post, Zodai, it sounds like you're concerned about having a creative team that's organized and able to get projects done. It's probably good to plan now, and make sure that you are prepared. After all, game and story development are both subject to Murphy's Law: if anything can go wrong, it will. I have seen quite a few indie and freeware video games never get past the planning phases, or stuck in development hell. Also, plenty of promising crowd-funded games have lead to unfinished or cancelled products. If you plan to work on "At the End of a Summer's Knight," then consider the following: * What experience can you bring? In other words, have you already finished work on one of your own stories, a number of drawings, or something else? * How much do you care about the story? I believe that you should commit to helping only if you're very interested in seeing it get finished. Otherwise, your disinterest will show. In the words of a rock band, "If you don't care then we don't care." * Are you concerned about money? If the answer is "yes," be careful. Not many indie games make money. Also, even if it manages to get released on a popular service such as Steam or Gamersgate, it might get ignored. A couple of side comments: * It's your choice what art style you use. If you ask me, I'd say "Whatever makes sense for the story." Sometimes a distinct type of art is appropriate. For instance, consider what the creators of Club Shuffle and Tell a Demon are doing. Discuss this if you believe that you will benefit. * It's your decision how you categorize your story. In my opinion, you will benefit by using words that represent it accurately, and present it in a positive light. You could call it "a porno dating sim" if you wanted. However, that phrase would be completely inaccurate if your story is completely worksafe, if it does not have simulation gameplay, and if it does not include any romance elements.

There are times when I have wondered if an electronic game can be anything other than a frivolous distraction. It's easy for me to consider video games to have no merits. But when I'm *not* being cynical, I remember all the life lessons that I learned from Persona 4, the mix of upbeat and mellow scenes in Dragon Quest 9, the slow but moving moments in Private Nurse, the characters' struggle to survive in Hakouki, and a bunch of other good examples. There have been times when I have been isolated and miserable. It doesn't help that I'm an introvert who has trouble trusting people. Every day is a struggle against apathy and negativity. A few things which have helped me include... * Seeking a professional counselor, writing down notes each session, and trying to follow through on advice. * Seeking activities outside of home and work. If you live near a decent size city, then look for local groups on Facebook or Meetup.com. You can definitely search the latter site by location and by interest. Consider attending a group in your area, and giving them at least two chances. * Trying to incorporate exercise into my life. * Thinking about priorities. I'm striving to have both short-term and long-term goals, and considering how I will achieve them. I do not want to give unwanted advice, and I do not want to ask too much. Think about which of these you might find beneficial. Then when you have time, take the first step.

Wow, a post from the Oge group... I really appreciated your work on Starry Sky in Spring, and I was glad to see the release of Princess Nightmare earlier this year. Thank you. Any chance that there might be a full translation of Under the Moon? I made sure to look what reviewer Hinano said about Miyako, Gakuen Tokkyu Hotokenser, and Zettai Meikyuu Grimm. All three of her reviews were positive. I'm having some trouble finding detailed discussions about Sanzen Sekai Yuugi. Maybe it's a bit too recent? I'm intrigued by the sci-fi story and the action girl protagonist. Other comments... * There's a moderate amount of adult boy x boy VNs in English, as well as a handful of adult girl x girl VNs. And as you probably know, it's all too easy to equate romance games with boy x girl porn games. However, there's maybe two or three girl x boy visual novels available in English which have even an implied sex scene. If you can find an untranslated adult otome game that is well-regarded with positive reviews, then please consider whether it will be worth the effort of translating. * Any chance of going professional? Earlier this year, Mangagamer finally announced its first localizations of a boy x boy VN (No Thank You!) as well as a girl x boy VN (Ozmafia). Would you benefit by working with them, Sekai Project, or another group of professionals?

My questions with visual novel translations are... * Does it work the first time with little effort? Most recent professional translations work on computers and consolves without having to make any modifications. * Are there technical problems? I wanted to like the first patch for Toradora Portable, but unfortunately it crashed when I tried to play it on my PSP. That was discouraging. * Is it distracting? I don't mind some typos and jokes. However, if the story has quite a few spelling/grammar errors, I'll get annoyed. If the translation is full of pop culture references or out-of-character swearing, I'll get annoyed. There are not many examples in anime/manga/translated game fandom where a single work gets more than one translation. Sometimes you can compare a fansub or a manga scan with the official English version. Every now and then, you can compare versions from different companies or regions. This is discussed in the Dueling Dubs article, if you're interested. But more often than not, only one translation exists.

Very true. I tried getting into Phantasy Star 2 in the early 2000s, and didn't have much success. The first three mazes were lengthy, full of increasingly tough foes, and not easy to navigate. A couple years later, I tried the first Phantasy Star game, and thought it was much, much more difficult -- including first person mazes and tough foes in the first few minutes! Other games I've (re)played in the recent past: * Dragon Quest 4. Even back in 1992, I understood that it had frustrating aspects, but I kinda liked it. Still enjoy the NES version, and I had some positive things to say about the DS version. DQ4 is four short stories that segue into a longer story. I got more enjoyment out of the first four parts, even though they have some annoying sections such as having to earn huge amounts of money as a merchant. It's a game I still enjoy every now and then in modest amounts. * Dragon Quest 7. I wanted to like it, but there were too many problems. The first couple hours just had a maze, and it took some guessing in order to figure out who to talk to nex. The story keeps becoming melancholy, and I'm not sure why. Progressing through the game requires finding a huge number of MacGuffins, and most of them are hidden in strange places. Only a few of the playable or relevant characters are interesting. * Chrono Cross. Back in the day, I thought this game was enjoyable early on, but that it lost steam due to a bunch of useless characters, and plot twists that just seemed to add to the time requirement. Replaying it recently, I remembered how the seven point battle system was interesting, and why I liked the elemental fields. However, I was annoyed by the camera tricks in every insignificant battle. * Suikoden 5. I devoted a bunch of hours to this game in the mid-2000s. Story buildup takes several hours, during which it can be a long time before there's any exploration or combat. Replaying it about a year ago, I was struggling with the loading times in towns. Combat was also much slower than the two original Playstation games. * Final Fantasy 4. When I first played the SNES version, I had been young enough that every plot twist seemed unexpected and enjoyable. I liked its modest level of challenge. More recently, I have played a couple of the 2D remakes. They make it easier to follow the story, make the characters' dialogue seem less garbled, and usually increase the challenge. So while I can't complain, I didn't like the PS1 remake all that much, and I'm not enjoying the PSP remake much either. The story just isn't a big deal now. * Lunar 1. The Playstation version was a personal favorite. Its gameplay was not much different from FF4. It mostly just carried the story, which I thought was a decent adventure tale with just enough humor, shipping, and cuteness. Some years later, I tried the GBA and PSP remakes. The former was okay, and I thought the latter had some merit. But again, I didn't have the patience or the interest to go through the story one more time.

Clephas said, "PS: People who like more serious stories frequently ask me 'How can you play so many moege when you know you'll have to wade through piles of shit to find the gems?' My answer - and this is unlikely to change - is that finding one gem is more than worth wading through fifteen piles of shit. Yes, my contempt for the average moege/charage is fairly withering... but that is because I believe there are limits on the value of the virtue of mimicry, though I don't deny that such a virtue exists." If you told me, "Nine out of ten cute romance games aren't interesting," then I might be tempted to reply, "But the remaining one of out ten is worth dying for." Perhaps this statement will not make much sense. I acknowledge that there are a lot of strictly formula stories, as well as ones that don't live up to my expectations. I also acknowledge that there will be just a few per year that I genuinely like enough to read them until the end. Keep in mind that I look for pop culture media that holds my interest. I don't care who wrote it, or what format it's in, or how expensive it is. I can talk for quite some time about all the fantasy / scifi prose fiction that I used to read, as well as a variety of comics and video games. That said, no matter how the story is presented, if I do not care about the fictional characters and their situation, then I will most likely not finish reading the story. One last thought: if you're frustrated by experiencing story after story that you don't enjoy, ask yourself, "What would Theodore Sturgeon say?"

I've purchased quite a few VNs over the years... JAST: the last one I bought from them was Yumina the Ethereal Mangagamer: the most recent one was d2b Versus Deardrops Hirameki: the final one that I purchased was Piece of Wonder Fan translated import: Remember11, because it wasn't too expensive Indie creators: Infinite Game Works by Sakura River Translated indie: To You of the Future I Give Every Song (the first Miku VN) PS2: Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love PSP: Hakuoki and Sweet Fuse Vita: Virtue's Last Reward and XBlaze Code Embryo Nintendo DS: Time Hollow and Lux-Pain iOS: Summer in Fairbrook, Tears 9, 10; and some that were almost free

Tokimeki Memorial 1 has a lot of versions. It started out on PC Engine CD (TG-16 CD), and later had releases on Super Famicom (SNES), original Playstation, Saturn, Gameboy Color, mobile phones, and PSP. A person known as Tokihacki had been working on an English patch a couple of years ago, but their site was offline today... Consider browsing the Playstation tools available at romhacking.net. If you have questions, the site has its own message board. You might also benefit from using the gbatemp.net forum. Why's this? Well, one reason is because you can find threads about the now-complete English fan translations of Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side, its follow-up (also the Nintendo DS version), and the third game (Sony PSP version). Also, there is a sub-forum just for PS1/PS2 games there, in the "Older Consoles" section.

Magic Users Club: pretty good six-episode series that combines magical girls with a science fiction story and a crazy love polygon. It also includes some dirty comedy... probably around a PG-13 level on the MPAA scale. If you finish and like it, then consider watching its sequel TV series. Lyrical Nanoha: the franchise is a distant spinoff of the Triangle Heart adult VNs, none of which are translated. It officially started with a TV series in 2004, then continued with two more seasons and some spinoff manga. The first two seasons have also been condensed and adaptated into theatrical movies. What makes it different? The title character is eager to become a hero, and makes efforts to learn her powers. There's a lot more science fiction and fight scenes than you might expect. Again, the mature content is around PG-13 level. The Pretty Cure franchise started over a decade ago with Futari wa Pretty Cure, and has become a multiverse since then. It has most of what you expect from a magical girl show: girl heroes fighting evil, shiny items which exist as merchandise in the real world, and characters becoming friends. There are a few male love interests, but they rarely play major roles. It has villains and fight scenes, but unlike the other two, it's basically a kids' franchise. Its rating would be PG at most.

Please state if you liked True Love mostly for its simulation gameplay. I remember enjoying it, and then waiting years for just one similar simulation game to be released in English. Also, please state if you are interested in visual novels for mobile devices (iOS, Android) or portable game systems. If you are, search this forum and perhaps also Reddit /visualnovels/ for relevant discussions. These days, I'm using my portable devices more and more, and my home systems are collecting dust...

If you have trouble learning how to use Ren'py, or figure something out, there are plenty of people who can help you on Lemma Soft. Also, there's quite a few alternatives available. Some of the programs are still in beta stages, and others are only being used by a few people (so it might be tough to get help). Think about what software will be best for your needs.