Chronopolis

I agree that a lot of story comes from characters and vice versa. You got to break things apart a bit finer. Looking some odd cases: there are stories with unique/cool characters, who get developed and act consistently during the novel. However those novels may have problems, like many plot holes, pacing, not dramatic enough, nothing really happened. Those are the stories I would call good characters, bad story. Good story, bad characters would be...the plot has good twists, or the dramaticness/writing/pacing/development is really good, but the characters are annoyingly shallow or stupid at times. If we are talking about character development and events whose significance hinges on the character's nature, then yeah, character/story it's either both or none. But there are other areas that fall under the blanket of "story".

expectations are the most important. I can usually enjoy both as long as I know before hand and am expecting it. It's a really good question and a tough call. I would normally say characters, but there's a lot of things that need to be a VN to make it quite enjoyable even if the story is soso. If the story is bad but the VN has moments which can make me go absolutely adore the characters, then it's all good. Although it's quite disappointing if you know the character or story would benefit from a stronger plot. If the story is good, but characters are shallow, as long as they are likable, it's OK. But this would imply the interestingness of the story is outside the characters and is something about the twists or setting (really?) of the VN. So it's a different kind of enjoyment. But if the characters are likeable I can overlook that.

The VN releases today! Hyyype. Kawasumi's signature keeps reminding me everyday to check out the novel

I duuno, basically never follow the latest releases.

Haven't touched Sakura no Uta yet, need to get to Subarashiki hibi first. I don't like the dempa myself, it's just fucking weird and not particularly enjoyable. Glad to have a perspective from someone who is not a raving fan.

Aww yea. So happy that a game like this is getting localized.

Relevant: Not a fan of vanilla hentai to begin with, so there's no way for me to be actually useful in this thread. Just felt like posting this. I'll go ban myself now, byebye. I never read this. I never read this!!! ARGGGGGGGG

I know the feel. Have fun!

Minami from Soshite Ashita no Sekai Yori (Not sure if it was that much character development, but she goes from carefree to crushed to overcoming that which was a cool drama to watch) Caim's development in Aiyoku no Eustia (particularly in the chapters other than the last). Maimi (the MC) from Mugen Renkan ~Chijoku ni Mamireshi Fushiki no Rinbu~ . Just a staggering amount of character growth. The whole VN is centered around her story, after all.

I like that. Simple, but room for an heartfelt friendship and eventful events, and dramatic. It's kind of like the inverse of last man standing, but this seems interesting. I wonder what would you talk about in the "last run"? There wouldn't be much to narrate with just one character. The way you told it, it seems like everything, including all the thoughts of the characters, are all settled by the last loop. Maybe an epilogue showing his final thoughts, or maybe his success against impossible odds.

There are things that feel urgent but actually aren't important in the long run. There likely is time you're spending each day doing stuff you actually don't care about. For me it's browsing reddit and facebook (when I'm unmotivated) or playing random games. You can make an effort to pull time from there. If after that you still have a list of things that are kinda important to you, it's up to you to decide which ones are more important to you. If VN's are your "me time" then by all means take some. You could also try and look for ways to keep doing both activities, but trying to get the most out of the time.

The site (entire site, not just the link) where I got (as well as ergriffen) is down, which is odd since I only played the VN a couple of months ago. I still have a copy though, can link in pm. Minato Gensou was uploaded in a few places, but it's all dead links, so I ended up purchasing one of the remaining copies. In general I think the urge to preserve everything you find on the internet a waste of time (that is from an individual point of view, from the point of view of posterity, certainly so), but since this was something that interested me I would have been pretty sad to never have been able to play it.

Would have liked to put the main title, but it's NSFW. Introduction:Koukyuu Shoufu （高級娼婦）, is the first of two games (the second being Hotel Ergiffen) released in 2002 by the unknown and defunct company Maple. It boasts an unusual painted art style by Haimura Kiyotaka (灰村 キヨタカ). These being his early works, he is much better known for his art in Yume Miru Kusuri （ユメミルクスリ） and the anime Toaru Majutsu no Index. This game is obscure. Like 1 vote on VNDB obsure. I could only find one (japanese) review of the game outside of eroge gamescape. As an old game without any well known company to be associated with, or classic status, it's been totally forgotten over the years. As an author's and writer's pet project, doubtless it was never well known to begin with. And yet, I find the game, and the two others similiar to it, quite enjoyable for the work the artist and writer put into them. Premise:Our protagonist Ouran, is a prodigal musician in Renaissance Europe. He used to play for the royal courts: people would pay a great deal to hear him play. That was, until a foul plot left him unwelcome in the palace. And so to the streets he went, left with but the clothes on his back. A mysterious lady comes, the widow of a baron. She's seen him before, apparently, and offers to give him room and board, in exchange for teaching music to some of her subjects. He's more than happy to grab this chance. A few hours a day lets him squander the remaining drinking his devils away. Then, one day the landlord shows him two girls, Elsa and Emilia. Their dance and song leave an impression on him.As he belatedly learns, the Lady dealt in the pleasure sector. Why she was running such a shady business out of her own volition, he did not know.At the start of novel he's presented with a choice. Having seen the potential in the two girls, the Lady wants Ouran to be instruct the two girls on prostitution and how to carry themselves among the opposite sex. She had them becoming, not a common whore but a courtesan in her sights. He was not particularly fond of the arrangement, but the Lady was correct in her assessment: as such a man of pursued skills, he could not so easily abandon potential talent. He would show them that much pity. The two were more oblivious than most, he later glumly admitted. Perhaps that was to be expected. To say "whore" is but a single word, and yet the path towards being one is littered with feelings of confusion and torment, of emptiness and shame. But there was still something in each of the girls which drew him. Perhaps there was something else to be found within these two months, however insignificant and transient. Through conversation, Ouran learn more about the two girls and the landlady(the baron's widow), and various going-on's of the world. The two girls Elsa and Emilia, meanwhile, follow the only path they have. CharactersEmilia (the girl in the opening picture) is perhaps the more expected of the two heroines. I don't really have a good grasp of her character, but I keenly felt her thoughts throughout the story. I really felt bad for her...Every step of the way, she was suffering. I found the setting pretty seamless in that characters' pasts fit within the setting, and minor characters had their own personalities. You didn't know exactly their nature the moment you saw them, you had to judge them as you met them. Here's Annet, one of the minor characters. She's ill-tempered, way older than she looks, and a bit of an enigma. And Analiza, the owner of the brothel. Even though there wasn't much on-screen plot, as a backdrop, the topic of the royal court （王宮） was brought up occasionally, along with that of rumors, marriages, families, and ranks. Overall for me there were many unfamiliar concepts. System:The production values are low overall, though the art, music, and text are arguably quite decent. It's also a pretty short game. It's worth noting that the game is raising sim (albeit a crude and cryptic one: I couldn't clear the damn thing!). Besides that, all the scenes happen between brief game menu's, seperate from each other. This is a common feature with this game and Hotel Erigriffen. It'd say it's pretty appropriate. It makes you step back after every scene and go "hmm" at what just happened, and before you click it, wonder what's going to happen in the next scene. Ero and PlotThere's one sequence of scenes for each of the two girls when the MC instructs them on the ways of courtesans. The scenes were completely different from the typical cliche anime presentation. I didn't find myself ever criticizing the unbelievability of the ero in the back of my mind. It was less the scenes were realistic, and more like a real life counterpart didn't really come to mind. The threshold between the ero and the plot was basically almost zero: they were pretty much entwined. The erotic presentation in those scenes was probably designed in some fashion, but they were also a major part where the MC would interact with the girls. The AtmosphereMy greatest praise for the two games is how the text, the art, and music, all work together to create the atmosphere. The music, likely to draw puzzled stares listened in a vaccumn, is shatteringly effective in conjugation with the art and text. To speak of the prose, there's not much objective I can say about it. If you like it you'll love it, if not you won't. While not repetitive, it's long-winded and can be hard to read. While the art in both games has the same painting art style, if you compare Koukyuu Shofu's art to Hotel Ergriffen's, you'll find the differences which resulted from the two atmospheres the games strives to bring out. The former brings out the European historic era with shades of red, maroon, brown, tan, orange, gray: all colours of the wood, garments, and furnishings of the presented world. Hotel Ergriffen's slightly disshapen heads bring out a mild sense of horror to the dreamlike atmosphere. The background is a blur of warm colorful specks with colors a mix between faint neons signs and city lights, and colour of reflected oil. The surroundings are often barely in focus. The colour scheme is "pink, green, white, and beige". Conclusion:Koukyuu Shoufu didn't leave me satisfied. But it was something different and something I don't regret seeing. It's like the author and Haimura banded up to bring the author's vision and Haimura's art to life. It's kind of brief and unsatisfying, but they get full points for embodying a style. The vn's never felt like the staff was being lazy with the writing, art, or characters. And that's why I didn't mind bearing with the janky interface and lack of satisfaction. Koukyuu Shoufu is one of the three games by this pair. The other two are Hotel Ergriffen and Minato Gensou (which actually takes place in the same location and shares some characters with Koukyuu Shoufu), which I'm reading now. Koukyuu Shoufu is probably the weakest out of the three games, because it's so limited, while not aiming for the crazy dream-like sensorial experience of Hotel Ergrifen. But, if the aforementioned portrayal of 'something' and the art interests you, you'll probably find any of these three novels somewhat enjoyable.

There were negotiations with JAST about 6 years ago, but they fell through because the English release would've been mosaiced. So no, GIGA was interested in the English market. The threshold is just a bit high given the sample set. You could basiean weight up to a total of 5-10 votes instead of 50 votes. Edit: err scratch that. What I'm trying to say is they could make the basiean scaling less strong, that is, stop affecting the scores of vns at 15 votes or so.

VN arrived in the mail:

Oh neat. Which server are you guys playing on? I started on Lamia. The refinement system is even more hard core than RO. +15 gahaha. Hardcore players, meet my friend 'overwhelmingly slim odds'. I'm on Lamia, too! o: What's your Steam name? Btw, did you get anything to +15? Jocking, right? Must be impossible, +6 is already such a risk xD It's Chronopolize, made it visible now. http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198067114890/

Oh neat. Which server are you guys playing on? I started on Lamia. The refinement system is even more hard core than RO. +15 gahaha. Hardcore players, meet my friend 'overwhelmingly slim odds'.

Wow, that's really cool. It's pretty cool when steps you take turn out to be rewarding ones. I can also attest to having gotten interested in 'story writing/structure' from VN's, to try and answer the question: "What are VN's? What the heck is this medium I like so much?". It doesn't exactly work to write a text story modeled after VN's, since they also got graphics (creates/demands a scene in of itself), audio (creates the atmosphere instantly), and voice acting working for them. But at the core, if not presentation, the storytelling and characters are shared between VN's and novels, which makes writing the latter perfectly good enough for me. But there are some areas where it might be hard to match the experience of a VN's. I'm wondering, what do you like about VN's? Did you have the idea of wanting to make a VN from the get go, or did you feel the story you come up with was made to be presented as VN? Good luck on your project. Hope it keeps going well for your project, looking forward to the demo. Welcome to Fuwa, btw!

I got a Key from the draw!!! Let's play! My steam is Chronopolize. Going to have fun trying to sneak over to fedimian. Varied level world maps are fun.

I've also liked that aspect of games, where player knowledge is very powerful. Though the game also has to be compelling, enough freedom and incentive to implement your ideas to justify spending the time learning the mechanics. Pretty sure Eve suceeds in spades there. Eve really is a cool game, I'm happy it exists. But too much of a time investment atm. It would take a lot of effort to get a good enough understanding to see what exists out there and what's possible, and then even if I succeeded at that, I'd get really addicted .

That Reset figure... SOO CUTE!!! I'm no figure expert, but it looks reasonably well detailed too.

Ho, a like soul. Welcome back!

I really like the promotional and in-game art. The VN's unique style/feel makes it easily stand out. Feels like a modern dark battle anime, but as a VN it'll have more space and freedom. The gore still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but if the characters are decent it'll be one hell of a cool ride.

Ahaha, that's such a cute sentence.

Wow, thanks for the notice, your awesome :). Registered,