Chronopolis

I'd say it takes about 2 hours a day for about 6 months (about 360 hours of study) to get to a decent place to try starting reading VN's. This is focusing on grammar and reading (not conversation or writing). A few people actually get through this in 6 months, but most kind of wind through it in 1-1.5 years. Another reason why the start takes longer is that its the part where you have to get used to studying Japanese, and also figure out what you should be studying about. It's very disorienting for the first while since you'll have no idea how close you are to being able to read. After that, about 1000 hours of reading and another 200 hours of grammar/vocab study (this part is very important, don't stop studying completely once you've started reading) and you'll be able to read 95% of VN's comfortably with dictionary assistance. This part probably takes another 1-1.5 years. Add another 1000 hours of reading and 200 hours of grammar/vocab study, and you can read most VN's without dictionary assistance without looking up too many words. I don't like to say "you can read VN's if you study for 5 years." It's more like, if you study for X amount of hours (with a non-silly study method), there's no way you won't make substantial progress towards your goal.

Wow, I didn't expect this VN was going to be a full blown jidai-saku. Takaya Aya, you've out-done yourself. I have a question though. Do you think one can enjoy it without missing to much one doesn't have much knowledge about historic Japan?

I got it working already, thanks though. The game data's in .arc and then inside those, extension-less script files.

にーにー seems the most intimate (in a sibling way) :3

Would any one know a way to properly insert the script files from Aiyoku no Eustia? The Engine's BGI. I tried using BGITools (http://tlwiki.org/index.php?title=Tools) and Crass. Everything seems to unpack and repack fine, but when I put the new encoded extensionless script files into the game directory and run the game, only the names are translated. Never mind, it works now. Looks like the problem was I copy-pasted just the the bgitools python files into another folder and tried to use them, while there were in fact a few other files the program needed. And also the the program can't re-encode certain some set of special characters, like M-dashes ('—'), you can use the shorter dash that the Japanese version uses, though.

Hapymaher is a little bit prosy. I had quite some difficulty reading it when I tried reading it last year. I have it rated as Moderate for vocabulary and a Moderate+ for prose. Where as the stuff you mentioned might be in the Novice or Novice+/Moderate- range.

Stagnation central

Favourite Visual Novels of 2015 Huh, out of these, SC2VN is the only one released in 2015, with Kami no ue having came out last December. They're also mostly pretty dark VN's (*shivers*). Now that I think about it, people have been playing a lot of dark vns these last 6 months. Favourite VN hype thread of the year: Maggot baits. Who would have thought I would get that hyped up for a VN only to go "nope" at the content. It was silly but the best kind of silly. Favourite VN reviews/suggestions: xReaper in "what are you playing", clephas's enduring blog, and decay's euphoria review. Even though there were some good VN's I don't think they were my highlight of the year. Met more people, did some blog posts, became a savage vn hunter on vndb, starting buying vns on dlsite. I guess my favorite part of the year was meeting more of you guys and talking about vns. You guys rock. And we got Euphoria and now Gahkthun released this year. It's good to see VN's and fuwanovel flourishing.

Playing 酷罪を受けるべき者 (vndb). It's...unique. A lot of eccentric characters, but those characters are quite the focus. It's a doujin work where a high school girl (a pretty bad mannered one at that) gets vanished away to a quasi-fantasy world. Also there's guro and other horrible things happen, but the VN has a way of pulling you in. The tone isn't always dark, and the characters are really... not straightforward? Anyways, will continue reading.

Well, this and that. Oh shit Tenshi wo fumaniade. Wonder who counts as the reverse trap in rui tomo (don't think it's akane, maybe a minor char) It's kinda funny that the only two hits are relatively well known titles.

Is there any vn with a trap protagonist and reverse trap herione?

Unavoidable heroine rape.. I think it sounds bad tbh. Typical crap where it tries to teach you that the best way to captivate a young maidens heart is through a good old fashioned raping. Yeah, that made me drop the VN pretty fast.

The system is pretty standard fare dystopia, but the friends things is ...what the fuck... Let's hope the people get mad at the right people.

Playing the trial. There's quite a bit to get used to, thank god the game reminds me you where you need to go. The combat system is close to real time, pretty interesting design. I usually have a hard time getting into rpg's that don't have a strong atmosphere or art. Trying to go into it blind as Mephisto recommended, so I guess I'll have to just wait to see what the story is about. From the start, the game's clearly going have to do something with the different races.

Thought the exact same thing. Played through Princess Sacrifice over the last three days. It's a nukige rpg/vn hybrid. Princess Sacrifice reminds me of games like one-way heroics and Elona. It's set in the same middle-of-the-road fantasy. The big difference is the story, and the ero. The story is decent, nothing special, but what was nice was how they layed out the scenes and exposition. It's shortish for an rpg, and yet they managed to pack in a lot of dynamic scenes and varied maps. You even got a cool build up at the end. Just a very well produced game, and the it's sales reflect that. On dl-Site it's the 8th highest selling game of all time with a whopping 23k downloads. The story was, while not particularly twisted, was consistently dark and kinda melancholic. There was some funny comedic moments, but the ero kind of (understandably) gives the work a gloomy feel. Feena, the main character, is caring, diligent, while still remaining a bit cheerful, but you remember her most for her dedication. She and many others get the short end of the stick (no pun intended). One of those things were you look back and wince in retrospect. Of course, if this doesn't concern you, than the game merely ends up being the funnest ero/rpg ever. I sort of wish there was more dialogue with the main character...the characters feel sort of distant because, compared to normal VN's, you have much less time to see them talk. But that's just how the game was designed, and any more would have disrupted the balance. Most of the text is devoted towards advancing the rpg plot (comes along with a lot of non-MC H-scenes), and explaining the lore of the kugihime (the sacrifical princesses) and the world. There's also a lot of world exposition tucked away in the defeated H-scenes for the various monsters. It's kind of a miracle how they balanced so much H into a story without wrecking the story. In conclusion, Princess Sacrifice is a gem of it's type. Short and sweet, and with ero everywhere.

Natsu, Semi, Shoujo Juniper's Knot SC2VN All these are short and good in their own ways. You probably know all the OELVN's much better than me

So there's a war pilot, zombies, dragons, solid char development, darkness, and moe? Wow...that's one hell of a mix mash. I'm interested. With the fantasy elements in the trailer, I'm kinda curious what kind of outlook the story has on the world. Maybe it's just a setting without too much additional thought, but I haven't seen enough of these to tell the difference.

Apparently Hatate runs a non-fiction regular publishing, but it doesn't get a lot of readers compared to Aya's Bunbunmaru.

Recommended fanfiction reading for Yuyuko: http://www.touhou-project.com/th/res/93369.html Uh, I'd like to see...Satori, maybe?

kairo tenshi FIST PUMPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Yup. It's been a while since I've played something I can just sit back and enjoy.

Most of her fanon portrayal is lighter than this (ie. she's haxxor strong but lazy and doesn't give a shit), but I've always liked this kind of stoic/solemn/serious interpretation of Gensokyo. Gensokyo is an interesting place in that a lot of different characters can bring a lot of different backstory and feelings towards the world. Also, nice choice of song. Very fitting.

Playing Utawaremono. Leaf has a thing with likeable (ie. undoubtedly good and pure) heriones. Yuzuha is my favourite. I like the tile-based cutscenes. The graphics fit well and they easily become an extension of the story. The plot is kinda new to me. It's like they took elements of a grand hero-rising war story, but cut away most of the character and setting detail. The result is a face-paced, albeit sparse, storyline. I hope the plot or character develops more in the future...I was intrigued near the start by the kenomimi villagers, but now it just feels like its in full tactics rpg conquest mode. The strategy part of the game is not bad. I just hate how you automatically lose if the MC dies, it's like a game of keeping the enemy away from him and your healer. Are there equipable items in the PC version? I hear them mentioned in the PS2 version. Edit: played a bit more, got a welcome slice of life and now things have gotten a bunch more interesting. This is fun!

For me, understanding the Japanese makes the inaccurate subtitles even funnier. At first they got in the way, but then everything clicked and it was gut-bustingly hilarious. It's like subtitles for subtext!

Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken Short, funny, and touching. (Wtf is going on with my fonts O.o)