Decay

You should do a full review for the hub, we need more otome reviews!

See also: Root Double.

When I first read Fate, like 4 years ago, I knew pretty much nothing about it, and when I saw all of those stats and ability descriptions and stuff, I was so confused. I actually thought it was going to turn into some weird SRPG part of the way through for quite a while.

Eh, he freaking stepped on her, and she's small. And then she profusely apologized afterwards. The misandrist scenario you're imagining didn't transpire.

The first isn't on VNDB, is that a VN?

That's a quote box, not a spoiler box, just saying.

Upper blighttown is one of my favorite areas. Enjoy getting sniped with toxic darts from a mile away!

Oh, well, that makes a little bit more sense. No one tell everyone RTing this on twitter, it's better this way.

What the actual fuck?

There's a lot to it, but not necessarily in the depths. Some of the later areas have a lot more hints about the world, and there's even a new NPC who shows up at some point and drops a small infodump on you. Key word is small.

So Volume 3 will be the one that uses 3D models instead of 2D sprites? Their 3D tech actually looks pretty good.

The game is clichéd in quite a few spots. But really, it's not just that it's clichéd, I read and enjoy all manner of clichéd stories. The problem is that the game reaches those cliched moments and then fails to dig any deeper, and fails to deconstruct any of its key tropes. Nor does it cleverly utilize them with good writing. They just play it completely straight. It does present some novel ideas, particularly surrounding memories, but most of what surrounds those concepts is largely unremarkable. WARNING: Spoilers for the entire game ahead!

Also be aware, there's the fan translation that translated the combined version, and then the MangaGamer version which is only offered piecemeal. The MangaGamer version is a much superior version simply due to the improvements to the translation.

That's the resolution they are in the game, and the best you'll get.

I've gotten to rank 5 a few times but I really don't have the patience for hitting legend. I think your best shot at doing so was last month with a solid all-round deck like Zoo while the meta was still chaotic. It'll be much harder trying to reach it this month.

Although they're called "routes," they're not really, and the "end" to route a will be continued later in the VN. So it's not like the whole story is coming to a close there.

If you're 20 hours in and are experiencing that kind of thing, then you're likely VERY close to the end of Route A. And Route B is a completely different kind of experience. So maybe you should just power through?

"according to our understanding" So do they have no one who has even read the thing? How about instead of trying to understand what the VN might be like, they actually give reading it a shot? Might be a smart idea if they want to, you know, translate it and all. It's hilarious that they're actually just flat-out wrong in this case.

Just for kicks I played a bit of 3 when it came out, and the gameplay was very tedious and boring. These games are essentially nukige, the main point is the h-scenes and you will not get a particularly compelling story out of them, nor will their gameplay enthrall you. You play to fap. I guess the dialogue was slightly amusing from time to time. I stopped pretty much after beating the first boss in 3 (and losing to it, a couple of times, you know, for the very interesting "plot"-filled bad ends), so maybe things changed, but that's not how it was looking.

All of Makina's h-scenes are among the funniest h-scenes I have ever read. They're pure comedy gold. I love them to death. edit:

They have cures for the vampire virus for when a patient is newly infected. They tried it on Yuuto, and it didn't work. Yuuto's case mystified the doctors. It later turns out just a little bit into the common route that he's a "vampire devourer," a very special kind of vampire. I haven't actually read any single route to completion yet, though, so I don't really know how or why that actually happened, or if it's ever explained at all. edit: Okay, so, @Justin579, if you want the answer to your question, you'll have to wait until the full Miu route translation is released. The answer lies within that.

VNs in Japan may be slowly dying, but the scene is definitely growing in the west. Many people believe the Steam market to be oversaturated right now and I kind of agree. So a minor bubble burst may hit within the next year or so. But I believe the people to be hit hardest by that will be groups like winged cloud and ajtilley, while the major localization companies will still perform about as well as they have been for some time to come. That's my prediction.

As conjueror pointed out in this thread as well, the writing style was rather dull in the JP version, and I guess the translation carries that over faithfully. Joy.