Chronopolis

It's the feeling of working towards something, and the feeling of progress. I'm likely to enjoy grinding when the art/music/aesthetics are nice. I thing grinding generally causes you to associate yourself with the work you put in. So if you feel the importance and excitement in the characters, that makes grinding feel purposeful, which feedback. If the game lets me pick my play-style or make a somewhat unique character, it's easy for me to attach my efforts to that (working on my style of playthrough, or my somewhat distinct character.

I must say, VN boxes look fantastic. As for me, I ordered my first hard copy VN: Minato Gensou. I'll bet you my right shoe that you've never heard of this title: it's so obscure that I added the vndb entry myself. It seems to have fallen off the face of the internet, but surprisingly some used stores and also Amazon had it for pretty cheap. It's a small VN with the art done from the the guy who did Yume Miru Kusuri and Index. I'm quite fond of his old art style.

Play a rogue like. It's close enough, and better. Or maybe DayZ's the better equiv.

So excited for this game. The visual design is so pretty~

Got an older sister 6 years older than me. I remember bugging her a lot as a kid (I was a pretty impudent kid.). A long time ago, before I was in high school, we used to watch anime together. She'd bring me along to go play with her friends, back when I was really socially clueless and didn't have friends to go out with. She lives in another city now, and we only talk a few times a years during skype calls or visits, since neither of us are the type to actively keep contact. But she's still interested in what's going on for me, and vice versa. We talk about life and stuff. It's pretty nice, a sibling is like someone you can talk to about different stuff in a different way from other people. I think we both appreciate that. I think it was a close call, if we weren't able feel like we could speak frankly with each other, we'd be very distant at this stage. Since I had an older sibling and we weren't that close it isn't so relevant. By my guess you're sister will be able to tell and appreciate when you start trying to interact with her. It's great how you care for your sister, she sounds so sweet. Hope things get better!

I like it, but I'm pretty sure I'm overwhelmingly on the other side where I'll only devote myself to things which *I* want to do. I still overly worry about what other will think though, but ironically those are for the littler things. For the my overall direction in life I honestly don't care what people think: no one gains anything when you follow society's expectations. It can end up hurting you if you have to get people's approval to feel ok about something.

I'm something like that, except I might relax 2), we don't need to be able to talk about everything, but the person hopefully needs to be on a similar wavelength as me. At least a bit unsure, and open about life. Just accepting, appreciating, caring for, and walking together as people.

Well, I ended up confessing to my high schoo crush, on the very last day of high school. So if this was a VN it would be bad end where the heroine smiles knowingly with a sad look on her face : ) A VN end is meant to be bad or good. How real life turns out is just an "end". You can make whatever of it and from there go anyway you want.

gosh what a cute, feel-good picture Red hair's pretty hard, but one of these should do it. They're all very different characters actually. Kuon from Gurenka (only play Kuon and Elsrise's route, together reveal basically the whole story and the other routes suck.) Yukimura Toukofrom Hoshi Ori? Haven't played the game, but I'm if you like seishun that game should be great. Ami from Semiramis no Tenbin not a normal herione, not a normal vn. Satia from Ikusa Megami Zero She kind of dissappears for a while in the middle of the story (it's a gameplay VN). I'm not sure if she comes back. But that means she's present and active in the first bunch of chapters.

*Shivers*... I really don''t like the rape. But in anycase, reading NTR (Dark Blue was the VN) really changed me. I've seen VN's with gratuitous rape (Kizuato, Evernicle, IMZ), but NTR is like the devil. It's more insidious because the rape is a deliberate part of the plot. I'm staying away from NTR for this moment, because if I keep reading I don't have confidence that I'll be able to see normal charages and heriones the same way again. It's terrifying.

The one that sticks out for me is Semiramis no Senbin. Made me more aware of social phenomena, not the ones we think of when we hear the word, but little truths that hide in our everyday interactions. Where is the line between manipulating someone and just changing them by being next to them? Can you truly change who someone is? There are other works which influence me, when I read a strong VN which has a relevant statement or theme, it often affects my thoughts and might cause me to compare myself to that. I guess Houkago no Futekikakusha was the only time where I furiously liked the whole cast as a group. It sounds simple, but the emotions were so strong throughout reading the novel. Phew.

Yeah I totally agree on this. Beautiful art is just a pleasure to savoir. I actually made this topic after seeing Shoujo Shiniki Shoujo Tengoku's OP: It's not just the art that's fantastic, the way the editor composed the OP using the resources is masterful. The grand scenery shot in at the start makes me want to go there. The shots of sprites on backgrounds, good position and focus. Makes it feel more vivid than life, and hinting at some greater beneath the surface. And then the Japanese flavour explodes at 0:53. The use of particle effects and hair motion is a great way of utilizing detailed art work. Cheap vfx would have stuck out against the high-quality art. Personally the detailed bgs, the atmosphere and impact of the hand over face and the kistune mask, and the passionate/melancholic rock OP drew me in the most. Even though I know the game was reported disappointing I still need to play it to seek out what the trailer hinted at.

I'm at the beginning of 紫影のソナーニル as well (paused to go read other stuff), and I love the super indulgent unrestrained prose of the MC. Trying not to set expectations to what the story is going to be about: I think I'm just content to drink in the atmosphere/experience.

Are there any things that really draw you in to, or make you really excited about playing a VN? . Things like certain vndb tags (One True End, Multi-Route Mystery), things you notice in the OP, art style. They could be settings, like medieval fantasy, yakuza (badass!), European settings, western-style mansion (I find the setting very calming). Could be a favourite premise or genre. For me, while looking at CG's in vndb, besides pretty art, I look for impactful CG's. Stuff like Yuki from G-Senjyou. https://s.vndb.org/sf/44/17144.jpg Another thing that catches my eye BG art in CG's. For example, take this CG from Eden* https://s.vndb.org/sf/90/12590.jpg While the characters are pretty nice on their own, the BG is all properly done. It gives you the feeling of being there Stylized Art as well, like "A Beautiful" series or Steins Gate. A strong OP song pushes me to want to play the VN, since the VN kind of is represented by the emotions in the OP. Strong, non-formulaic cgs are another thing I like. Catagra's OP was a good example of both of these, it also has the hint of eerie supernatural, which I also like. Three bird with one stone! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPrmYs8_oYc What pulls you in to reading a VN?

Anytime where a character or the story gets warped because of fetishes or some other contrived reason. Stuff that is too cookie-cutter. Most anime tropes when applied directly: tsundere, yandere, etc. It's like a waste of text, stop talking. Huge tits/skin tight uniforms. E.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCFULDkc9fc (the OP is very pretty otherwise). Not my type of fan service, that's all.

It's great to see a great fantasy VN come out. Everyone I know from everywhere is raving about Utawarerumono 2. Hoping to get a PS4 someday to play those console games.

Dark Eroge often have high sexual content. Some have a stronger story element than others. If you are used to playing dark eroge, you won't give more than a nod to the sex scenes in a story-heavy dark eroge like euphoria (it's expected they will be there, after all), instead you'll really notice, wow this actually really tells a story. But if you're like most people and aren't used to the extreme ero, it's going to stand out and probably change your experience of the story. Usually in a negative way, since even if they may be tied in plot wise, most of those scenes purpose is for porn.

It's so refreshing to see VN's without much slice of life in them. The way you described really fits what I've heard of the VN, that it's a mature romance story.

I'm finding 不死姫 not bad actually. I appreciate the female protagonist and novel setting for the story (not set in a school setting, nor that kind of premise). The center of the story is her emotional journey and growth, and I think its depicted pretty well. She has a lot of doubts and fears, which is understandable, and they plague her during the story. It's not a complex story, there aren't that many characters. But each of them gets developed, each of them has a different interaction and impression from the the heroine (=the MC). Pretty interested/invested in the story. There's the enigmatic but amiable dude who shows up from time to time, but his presence doesn't obnoxiously interfere with the plot. The H-scenes are presented reasonably considering their context. Ok some of them were really long, holy crap, but more importantly, they are seamless. They don't break the narrative. The author Izumi Ban'ya. He's worked on countless titles (including Dark Blue which I've been reading), mostly darker ones with high sex content. The writer's language is pretty simple, but seems to put the basic effort to develop characters in his stories. Edit: On the 5th and final chapter. I'm pleasantly surprised. The story was about everything I was hoping it'd be. The main character's a great character...and for a story of growth, this is one of the more satisfying ones. It's also a story of her life. There are a lot of parts/impressions/issues to her life that the author depicts properly. The story is a bit sparse, all the details in the in between years aren't filled in. There could have been more episodes -- this is the opposite side of the spectrum compared to most vn's, who often show everything possible -- but as it is, the chapters carry the most critical/dramatic/memorable moments in her life. The start of each chapter more often than not brings a new atmosphere. You almost don't recognize her between chapters, until you see her interact and realize it's all a part of her character Some of the narration and character dialogue is a smidgen repetitive. The main character has the habit of over-speaking her thoughts directly. But w/e, I don't really mind. On a side note stuffed the weirdest, most gratuitous porn in a few of the bad ends. There are other serious bad ends, those ones might be semi-serious too, I just can't be bothered to go back and check lest I never be able to look at the story seriously again. God those H-scenes were weird. Good advice when you're immortal: don't get caught by pyscho experimenters. Thankfully, the h-scenes in rest of the story are in-line. Still not ok for the squeamish. There's some brutal shit in there. But the story also has one of the most kindness-filled chapters I've ever seen in a story.

To be honest, Komorebi was what got me irrevocably interested in AI's and what it would be like to develop and interact with AI with varying levels of knowledge, skills/cognitive ability, and humanness. God bless Flourite and Cinema. The downside to the VN was that there were unexciting parts, the character drama wasn't really deep nor dramatic. The AI/human interaction and setting makes the VN pretty special though. Takaya Aya has some interesting ideas.

I think a reason why people stick to Japanese media over western, is we find it more comfortable to adapt to what popular Japanese otaku media appeals to, where than what popular western media appeals to.

I recall reading that 2200 hour label before I started learning Japanese. The time doesn't really says it. The more important part is how the activity studying Japanese is like, and whether or not you can adapt to it. It's not that difficult. It's not like high level math, where if you don't develop serious intuition and analysis skills you'll never become competent. It's just a ton of work, and there are pitfalls for new learners who miss finding a reasonably effective method of studying. Throughout the process, there are places where you have to make your thinking flexible, and stop comparing Japanese to how English works (that's a whole other beast, and you could spend hundreds of hours becoming a linguist, except that it wouldn't help your Japanese at all.). Although to be fair, studying grammar is about as hard as studying any other course material, and reading native material a bit above your level is mentally exhausting. You can end up mentally spinning your wheels, or misinterpret a topic. Hopefully as time passes you learn where to spend your brainpower and what to just accept as being "some noun/word/thing" or "maybe some grammar I don't know yet". To give you a picture, if you some up all my Japanese VN reading and Japanese studying combined is probably about 2700 hours over 3.5 years. Can read unassisted basically all topics which aren't technical (vocab sometimes is a limiting factor). In an easyish light-novel in a familiar setting probably look up about 0.4 words per page , in actual modern literature aimed at adults, about 3-6 words a page. If you are used to reading off of TA, reading unassisted (off the VN text instead of the TA window) is just a matter of getting used to it (varying fonts, no word highlighting, no automatic furigana). It's faster to look up words while reading off of TA, which is why most people stay on it for a long time, until they get the common vocab down or start using J-J dics more. Nothing wrong with reading off of the TA window, the vocab lookup speed is great, the only downside is, when it comes to reading unhookable text: not being used to different fonts, and reading only having the kanji. Not that you can still use TA as a faster dictionary while reading off the the VN text. I don't want to put an hour count to how long it takes to start reading untranslated novels with a TA dictionary because that sort of gives the wrong impression. People get to that step at different speeds and using different methods. http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blogs/entry/779-japanese-learning-for-vns-skills/ It's not nearly as helpful for me to tell you how long it takes to learn 1000 words, as it is for you to try learning 50 first and see. Of course, everything: grammar and especially vocab/kanji gets easier to learn more the more you learn. Oh come on, one man's random entertainment medium is another man's laifu. How is Japanese going to help me, unless I want to work in Japan or be a translator (not like the pay is any better) . It's all subjective enrichment of one's life. I think what he means is that 1: Don't expect to get far unless you really want it, and have a solid reason. "I'd be cool if I could know Japanese", doesn't cut it. 2: There's more you can enrich your life with through learning Japanese, besides reading otaku media.

I have an idea of a few genres, including some of the more cliche ones, but not really of the slice of life, comedy/romance, or key style novels. While there's not enough VN's that you'll find mountains of anything you are looking for, there is a lot of different VN's out there. Strat-gameplay is a genre, so is cross-dressing (ok some of these are types, not categories), JPRG, Majikoi-style/Grisaia comedy, Chuunibyou, peaceful slice of life into drama, drama/supernatural, more mature romance, moe-quasi-medival, agents vs agent, utsuge, heavily stylized *katahane, wonderful world, yume miru kusuri*, modern-day/cybertech action, not to meaning the bunch of unique story/vision-driven works there are that are easier to put under their own heading. I've at least touched about 75 VN's, finished 10 in English, 15 in Japanese (only like 25 in total). Have about 80 in my serious wish list. I follow what more avid readers talk about and review. Odds are if it's a non-gameplay, story-focused VN, non-obscure title, I've probably seen it at least once while looking vndb.

Sure let's keep this thread alive. Besides playing Evolimit: Started playing 無限煉姦～恥辱にまみれし不死姫の輪舞～, which probably ends up being a story-heavy nukige. "Mugen Renkan is the story of an immortal slave girl who escapes the clutches of her horribly abusive captors and embarks upon a journey through the ages." The journey and immortality aspect got me interested. It's uncommon to have a story that moves from place to place. I also wanted to get my fantasy fix, was also considering was Tou no Shita no Exercitus. I don't have sky high expectations, but since the premise interests me enough, I probably won't feel the urge to criticize the story in the middle of a playthrough. We'll see how it turns out. It can't be as disappointing as Mangekyou 3.