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Chronopolis

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Posts posted by Chronopolis

  1. 8 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

    I think there are ways of telling the story through gameplay, without sacrificing one for the other. Total Biscuit liked to point to Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons as a game where the two are perfectly linked together, which made it one of his favourite games of all times. I like to point out to Freespace 2, a space combat sim. While it had occasional cutscenes, its story was in 90% told through what was happening in the missions (often with very cinematic moments, but ones that didn't take control away from you or unreasonably slowed down the pacing) and very thematic briefing screens. There was very, very little dissonance between the narrative and gameplay and pretty much every mission added something interesting to the story. The problems with VNs is... They're interactive novels. When you arbitrally couple them with another video game genre, you can hardly achieve this level of cohesion.

    Yep, there are smart/clever ways to mix the two (Freespace 2 was great) But they are the exception. In Freespace I imagine they had to consider what type of scenes they could portray within the gameplay. Using missions + briefings is a great gameplay+narrative link. For a good hybrid, you generally want to include meaningful dialogue during gameplay, and you also need to work to un-ambiguously frame the gameplay within the narrative (know what exactly happened in story terms).

  2. From a ideal standpoint, the moment you mix gamplay and narrative, one of the two has to give way.

    For VN's generally you want to prioritize the story and do everything so that the gameplay doesn't interfere with the narrative. (Actually I thought of mahou shoujo too, lol@Zakamutt). My gripe is that games in general have too many levels, and nothing sucks more than unneccesary levels also killing the story pacing. Just do battles, and if there are too few add extra levels on the side.

    If you prioritize gameplay, you now have the freedom to cater the story and pacing to what works best for the gameplay. You can't do this if you already have a plot planned out.

  3. Been reading VN's for over 8 years, but according to VNDB I've only finished 57 VN's (tried a lot more though). Nowadays, I got other hobbies, and I also like to read light novels and web novels, which kinda takes the place of VN's once you get into the story.

    I mainly get through long works by prioritizing them (whoops) over other responsibilities. You just go straight to reading when you have free time. That being said, I rarely read super long VN's, and I almost never finish all the routes unless its a plotge and doing so is required.

  4.  

    Blade Rondo is a fast-paced 2 player card game featuring beautiful gothic anime art. The gameplay is simple but sharp, a nice change from the usual collectable card games. A game takes around 10-15 minutes. There are also a few expansions out which haven't been translated yet.

    In order to play the mod you need Tabletop Simulator on Steam.

    Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1895115999

    Thanks to the original mod creator sakuya4667 and @Cyrillej1 for her awesome image editing work.

    PS: I actually did this TL last year but never got around to sharing it. The translation itself only took 2 days -- it took longer to figure out the rules xD.

     

  5. Other goals like writing, game dev, blogging, friends, work skills, etc. have become more concrete and important to me, such that I am no longer fine with centering my life around reading VN's. Actually my mind is so much on those things (regardless of progress or not) that I find it hard to immerse in VN's and keep reading regularly. Reading progress slows to a crawl.

    Reading lots of VN's used to be a goal in itself to me. Now, I just chip away at 1-2 titles while stalling the rest. I also play some short interesting works from time to time, those are good fun too. Overall, I've dropped from 12 full-length VN's a year to reading 3-4 full-length VN's per year. I definitely could do better, with this mystical thing called time management, lol.

    I still enjoy the medium a lot, but I think I like that familiar reading feeling just as much as the story. For discovering new kinds of titles, I rather do that for anime nowadays, as they are much shorter and -- everything is new to me in a way -- I haven't watched that many types of anime. (You could say I'm familiar with about 50% of VN genres, but only 20% of anime genres).

     

  6. I feel like organizing a server, then doing a group server project together (like making a mini-VN), or working on translating a shorter medium is better for having social interaction. Maybe because of the length of the text, lack of chapter releases (+ people following those releases), VN projects are pretty solidarity from my experience. I found more interaction/collaboration when I was helping with translating a LN in an existing discord server.

  7. On 9/25/2019 at 5:22 PM, Clephas said:

    They are also very, very long.  Also, you need to pick and choose which ones.  I wouldn't recommend Dracu-Riot or Senren, as both have action scenes that a beginner won't be able to read easily. 

     

    I wouldn't list any of those above as being in the 'easy' range.  Yume Mirai is about as hard as a charage can get, Leyline has action narration and internal monologues, as well as choices of language that will be hard for a beginner to pick up on.  Midori no Umi is out of the question as well.  In addition, all those games are long, lol.

    A rule of thumb if you are a beginner who wants something easy is to avoid anything with a plot... because you probably won't be able to read it. 

    I'd recommend Love Revenge or Erect as a beginning, since both are easy to read and aren't excessively long.

    Edit: Also, anything with excessive internal lingo or complex jargon should be avoided (unless the reader is already familiar with the subject matter).  As such, even if it weren't for other issues, someone unfamiliar with the occult who is just beginning shouldn't play something like Leyline or Dracu-riot.

    Hmm fair enough. I haven't played that many charage so I don't know many of the truly easy ones.

    I put Leyline because the sentences are short and the dialogue is super simple and standard if the reader's watched anime. It doesn't matter if you can't understand the one incantation, you can see what's going on. Most of the other ones are for the same reason, simple dialogue/short sentences.

  8. 6000 words is solid vocab start (it's possible to start from about 1000 words), but you really should study grammar if you want to read. For starting VN's a rule of thumb is you want N3 (maybe N4 at the very start).

    Here are some easy VNs

    *翠の海
    *そしての世界より
    *星織ユメミライ
    *Ley Line 黄昏時の境界線
    *この大空に、翼をひろげて

    None of these are short though.

    Reddit has a list too:

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KnyyDt7jimEz-dgeMSKymRaT2r3QKBPm9AzqZ6oUWAs/pub

     

  9. Started playing Otome ga Tsumugi Koi no Canvas . I'm playing for the icha icha to come, lol.

    It's a nice heartful charage. For a jousou vn the protagonist is sometimes impossibly good at being a maid, and there are overly kira kira sappy moments which kind of makes me roll my eyes.

    The art and voice acting is really great though. The characters outfits is quite good. My favourite voicing is Akie, who has the same VA as Irene from Eustia.

  10. On 8/5/2019 at 6:15 AM, koichi said:

    Yuuri (the series 1st heroine) is the best and cute, yeah. She (in my experience) is the type of heroine that is rarely encountered. i dare say she is the best heroine among the others in the series. Rather than the story, Yuuri character herself is the one that made the game fun to play.

    What was so rare about Yuuri as a herione?

    The series looks really light-hearted, I like the OP's. Grats on finishing it.

  11. On 8/2/2019 at 4:19 AM, KingDragoYT said:

     If it's good with you do you mind giving me your Twitter and we can maybe talk about visual novels sometimes. Give me some recommendations and stuff like that. Be my senpai in visual novels or something like that lmao. My Twiiter is @KingDragoYT

    Yeah, it's @Chronopolize. Feel free to pm me.

    I dunno, as a non-artist, I feel like its the easier and carefree to find a main job and do my hobby as a hobby (also the unknowns and marketing of entrepreneurship makes me uncomfortable). Finding a way to monetize your passion is a difficult task, you probably need some mentors along the way and a lot of work. There are varying degrees, from freelance workers who have some an online presence, to content creators who have a brand, to professionals who frequently work on company projects. Nowadays, online shops and patreon makes it much easier for a single person to monetize, though you still need the skill and an audience.

  12. When my head is full of the last VN I read, I find it helps to write all my thoughts down. Once I've written it down, I feel its easier to put it aside, I think because I know I've recorded it somewhere, and also the processing of writing stuff down helps to sort out jumbled feelings.

    Quote

    How did you move on from this sense of attachment/Heavy feeling and not feel like shit for knowing that you might never see these characters again.  

    If the VN was long enough, I usually find it satisfying enough remembering the journey that happened.

    If I'm really home-sick after finishing a VN, I might rewatch parts of it, to kind of ease off it. In rare cases I felt like I was thinking TOO much about the series. But it was not that hard to gradually get back to the normal life.

    If I finish a great route and have trouble playing the others cause I get stuck, I'll usually put the VN on hold. I don't think you can enjoy a story or route for what it is when you're mainly thinking about a different one.

    One of the worst things is when the VN is great, but its too short and leaves you craving more.

     

  13. Never been so hyped by an OP. I love how every single shot shows an element of the show. The main trio are exceptional, and the OP gets that across.

    Norman: A kind soul, but an unbounded mastermind.

    Ray: The brains, who despite being tsun and almost crazy, seems to act as the voice of reality among the three.

    Emma: Idealistic, loving, and true to a fault. Carrying the weight of a reckless dream, she withstands being ground into dust by way of her indomitable will and the help of those around her.

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