Chronopolis

All story discussion for Ikusa Megami Zero goes here. If you see a post that marks the week's check point, any posts below that could contain spoilers up until that point. Conversely, don't post spoilers of anything past the stopping point. Info: Week 0: Install VN. Get to the first check point by next Tuesday. (11/25/2014) Week 0 Check point: Finish the prologue (about 1-3 hours). Resources: Comprehensive Mechanics Guide: http://hazama78.net/megami0/tips.html (the most important things probably being how physical attacks and magic damage are calculated) Attribute Effectiveness Table: http://eushully-ikusazero.wikidb.info/%E5%B1%9E%E6%80%A7/ Formation Information: http://hazama78.net/megami0/form.html

Hi, I'm from Vancouver as well. Good to see some local fans Welcome to fuwanovel!

Deep characters aren't that common in VN's, and the pool is smaller for male characters. I guess it turns out to be the MC a lot. For sure Minato Kageaki from Muramasa. He is open-minded when assessing others, very humble in his speech, incredible demanding of himself morally and against the law. He's got a vast pool of trivia and domain knowledge for a man in his late 20's, meaning he can (attempt to) small talk with any almost anyone. And he likes big butts. And doesn't deny it. I wouldn't have made it through all Muramasa's long fight scenes and eccentrics characters if I didn't have his constant train of thought reaction all the way through. There's Caim from Eustia. He's got lots of snark, but sometimes its very resigned snark, the kind you get from being bashed around and been through a form of hell. He tries get them to act in a way that seems obviously right based on his experiences and values, but those change as he does, and the solid existence of 'right' starts to crumble away under his feet. Oh right and Okabe Rintarou from Stein's Gate. It's been so long, but I know I loved the parts where he would speak with bravado but at the same time he'd be quivering or contemplating or scorning himself inside. All three of Kageaki, Caim, and Okabe are voiced, and while they both were sufficiently deep characters aside, I think places where they really benifited from the voice was for expression emotion. Voiced characters definitely have the advantage when it comes to shouts of desperation or gasps of utter bewilderment. Also, having a voice emphasizes the following thought in cases when the MC speaks a line, and then immediately has a thought about it after. Kageaki and Okabe were the strongest characters in their stories and indispensable. Caim, rather than him being the strongest character, the interaction between him and the main heriones was the most captivating thing ever. Though, beneath the shiny stuff, a lot of the story 'belongs' to him, so it is hard to think of the novel without him. There's also minor characters like Ryu (the MC Subaru's dad) in Asuseka. In a game where the MC is deeply rooted in his friends, and equally so his family and neighbours, Ryu is makes you feel lucky to have him as a dad, and makes you want to succeed for him. Kanda Kosuke from Futekikakusha, I just like his voice.

I might play Hakoniwa. I like Cabbit and their cool menus/chapter selections. The mystery/lots of splits excites me and somewhat ends up being my cup of tea, now, it's only a matter of the characters and the charage portion of the game. If the branches are relatively grounded and consistent like in Midori no Umi, I'd be happy for a mystery that stretches the entire novel instead of dropping off halfway like in Midori no Umi.

Personally, what has me off suicide, is there's just too much interesting things to learn and experience in the rest of my lifetime, to throw it all away. I do, want to meet more people, discuss stuff with them, hear their opinions and reactions to stuff. I may be a introvert, but even for that I've spent far too much time alone. I like people. Having interesting conversations with them is one of the things that brings me true happiness. I've identified one of the reasons I love caring for and wishing the best for characters is it that I can understand them and on top of that care for them. It's like "Ah, such a character existed! How awesome/impressive/terrifiying/lovable/heartwarming/noble!" IRL there are some people who I care for and a few people who I know well, but there are arguably none for whom both apply. In recent months, I've been trying to think about the stories I'm reading and connect them, because I want to eventually understand the VN medium, it's stories, their composition, characters and the ideas behind them. I also want to get a sense of what are the other reactions people have to the same works, and why. I think I felt a need for progression and so as I thought about stories and started to recognize archtypes and other structures, as a side effect, I've began to see through the most paper-thin characters/stories, and stopped being able to truly care about them. They are too thin to provoke anything more than an instinctual "ah, I like characters/events/moods with this trait 'squee'. Depression for me takes the form of hesitating to do what I'm going to do just because it might go to nothing, feeling like I can't possibly start on one of the few important matters to me, and yet still suffering from some anxiety when I delay it (procrastination), and feeling like a failure. I thought I was, while not altruistic in the true sense, sometimes liked to help people. But after thought, I realized I mainly wanted to help people because I want their learning to be more effecient. I respect efficient things, and it somewhat pains me to see people clearly wanting something but struggling with procrastination or bad methods. For the procrastination part, when I see that frustration, I see myself, both a few years ago and a bit now, in them. So, sometimes, I just help people just because I want things done with some semblance of efficiency. In the I'll try to care more about the people who matter to me, but I've been able to accept that. Besides, if not at that particularly moment, on an ongoing basis, I do probably wish them the best.

Pick and run 2 concurrently, just in case. Groups have died just because a certain VN wasn't appealing to everyone. 3 months of non-participating just because I can't get into the VN is discouraging.E Edit: I am up for the untranslated group. Hey, It seems like we have well over 20 names for the main group, and 7 for the unTL'd group. I should have guessed, I think many people are dying for a more social vn reading experience.

Might take a break from RuiTomo for a moment again, maybe finish Secret Game/Killer Queen first. Or maybe I should just go with some no-bullshit utsuge, any tips? Gin'iro...or Konakana ("the gentle, strengthen your faith in humanity, utsuge"), which I'm reading atm. Actually Catagra is a good timely choice here depending what you want on the side with your utsu. Based on the 1 thing I heard about tenshiwake, I wouldn't recommend it yet... Like I said earlier, having finished Muramasa 　a bit ago, I'm reading Kona kana. I tried resuming asairo, but the bizareness turned me off and so I'm pushing it off one cycle or so. Also tried Catagra. For some reason, it's only now that I'm super aware of the fact that if you take away the murder mystery, Innocent Gray's games are literally just spending time with a bunch of bishoujyos. Innocent gray is good enough to make heriones that stand up to a first impression, but their characters are rarely deep.

Reading fast is definitely an asset. Might I also add (or repeat) Reading comphrehension. Critical thinking (such as in dissecting and understanding stories). Being able to express said critical thinking in writing. Communication skills. Use of active (deliberate learning). Sorting out what really matters to you. Are there any good resources on speed reading you'd reccomend? I read sort of average speed in English, in practice 300 words a minute in novels (maybe about twice as fast reading online forums), but then my japanese reading speed is pretty slow (comparing to plp of similiar skill level), even in cases where I ought to have enough knowledge.

I thought I had enough of Innocent's gray's setting, but somehow the Catagra PV appeals to me more than the Kara no Shoujo one. The atmosphere is just as strong in either game, perhaps its the more distinct character design (in later games, all the heroines look similar) and much more vivid/dazzling cg+scenery shots versus the abstract theme of the "egg and shell", which I felt didn't come across in KnS as well I would have liked. I wonder if Catagra has a branching story of any length.

Ha, the first two characters instantly made me think of Eustia and Eris. Other than that, the background cgs are mindblowing, again. It'll get a lookover, atleast, from me sometime. Great dialogue, mildly fascinating setting, and great bg's would earn it that much.

I have them on an external disk. Unless they are kusoge and I never want to think about them again. Btw, I have to say, those are some well written poll choices .

http://meta.japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/756/resources-for-learning-japanese

Got the first 340 lines of Houkagou no Futekikakusha. Not great, but usuable, I think.

HYPE HYPE HYPE. Welcome aboard. Still only half-way through Kanae's route though. Lol. Well at least Muramasa explains it's own morality explcitly. Is Jackson's writing really that difficult to read though?

Mm, I started reading HoshiOri as well.

This game is an oddball and hard to describe but I like it, so I thought I'd randomly talk about this game, Gin'iro. Each of the stories touches on one or a few themes, while also having a connection to the Gin'iro (The Silver Thread). Of the five stories, 3 of them take place a few hundred years ago, while 2 of them take place in modern times. The two stories don't really utilize the modern setting and are more of hurtful emotional and interpersonal drama. One of the themes that is touched upon are the lives of people, which go unrecorded in the annals of history. Lastly, two of the five stories cover the circumstance behind the creation of the Gin'iro. Being an utsuge through and through, Gin'iro is a for-everyone game. Furthermore, being broken up into 5 stories, it's not so great if you want to be interested by the same character all game long. It's also devoid of moe. Some of the characters were quite remarkable (not sure if likeable is the right word...), while others were hard to look at at times. I have troubling telling how strong the individual stories are, how cohesive the stories are, or how the themes hold everything together, which makes it hard to score the game, and leaves me with an empty feeling at times (beyond the ustu, lol). They might be mediocre, good, or great, I don't know. Except the first story, which I strongly believe is beautiful and equally special in concept and execution. For those interested in an unorthodox game with a lot of sobering circumstances and thematic substance, Gin'iro might be worth a try.

Do you read LN's? Another medium (Sturgeon's law still applies) to explore.

Play whatever you want, I'll still read your posts. To be honest, I've always been a little perplexed at how you (and some other power-readers on vndb) can trudge through so much banality. I would find it just as or more interesting if you did more in-depth articles about a few VN's you played and liked. The collective reader base will sort through the good and the bad, not nearly as fast as the Clephas Express™, but eventually. Edit. One way I found the beneficial, other than the obvious identification of odd gems, is it gave a different perspective of VN's, slicing mainly from the structural angle. But I think the thread you've built up is pretty much a sufficient survey size to fulfill this purpose. Not really a huge need to continue.

IMO, if you looked this hard for redeeming points, you'd find it tons of other vns. Some of the scenes from Clocktop seem so silly that I can't take the rest of the game seriously without "disregarding" what happens in the H-scene. From what I've seen in Euphoria, they could have kept all the same themes and hid most of the h-scenes. Even showing them, there would have been many ways to utilize them rather than making them brainless. I was curious and checked it out...and after getting an idea of what can and is done with the premise, that curiosity is sated. I'm not going to sicken and bore myself and feel bad for any more than a bit short of a masterpiece.

Don't hate on him and just enjoy.

Minami Route! No seriously, I came to like the slice of life, maybe because the novel also feels very down to earth. One of the only VN's where I enjoyed it from start to finish "as a slice of life + route" VN.

Tokyo Babel (http://vndb.org/v9205) I like the voices and the character interaction is not bad. There's interesting things all around, but not knowing how to approach the chuuni makes me uneasy. Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo (http://vndb.org/v1483) Woahhhh that OP video. It had all the atmosphere the game had so far, with motion! Izayoi no Fortuna (http://vndb.org/v9913) The protagonist is a bum, but after overlooking that I have relatively few quibbles and it's roughly enjoyable.